According to Mitch Joel, the author of Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone, we no longer live in a world of six degrees of separation, but rather six pixels of separation – effectively changing everything we know about doing business, as the online realm becomes increasingly relevant in communication and decision-making.

Joel notes that it is crucial that all companies leverage digital channels to get their voice “out there” by connecting with others, becoming better community citizens, and, ultimately, making strategic business moves that will increase revenue, awareness and overall success in the marketplace.

Here are some of Joel’s key tips for engaging consumers through digital channels:

• Drive consumers to take action and keep them engaged
• Be active in blogs, micro-blogs (Twitter), podcasts, online social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn), sharing sites (YouTube, Flickr), user-generated content (audio, videos), and wikis
• Be compelling and consistent in everything you do
• Add value to the conversation – add personal insights and establish yourself or your business
• Be present, active and involved – respond to questions asked and ask your consumers questions

Digital channels will work for you based on what your users, community members and readers do with your content. It is important to understand that your reputation is online – so be helpful, sincere, credible, responsive and FAST!

It takes time to build content – find your voice, develop a community and earn trust and respect. Digital channels are about building real relationships, with both current and potential customers – they are built on trust and trust alone – and trust is built slowly over time.

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Social media started as a peer-to-peer connection tool – it was something people used to stay in touch, post photos, and share news and events. In the beginning, it was a channel used among friends and colleagues, like any other social venue.

Within a year or two of the social media explosion, corporations began to see the value in social media outside of conversations between peers, and they leveraged these concentrated cyber venues to connect with their customers, validate their brand, and sell their products.

The business tactics worked – and millions of people began to interact with these companies, posting on their Facebook pages, re-tweeting their tweets on Twitter and commenting on YouTube videos. But, even though this movement has exploded over the last several years, most of the companies involved are still B2C companies.

So – how can a B2B company benefit from Social Marketing?

According to Paul Gillin, author of “Social Marketing to the Business Customer,” the answer is simple.

In his book, which focuses on how B2B companies can successfully engage in social marketing, Paul Gillin lays out some best practices that all B2B marketers can benefit from. He argues that business buyers are looking to make decisions as quickly and intelligently as possible, and that the Internet is the best place to engage these buyers. He writes that social marketing tactics are not right for all B2B companies, but used in the right ways for the right corporations social media can be a very effective business-to-business tool.

Below are what he considers to be the top 3 benefits of social marketing for B2B clients:

1. Social media offers a way to humanize a business

Your online presence is the “face” of your company, resonating with people and engaging them in what your company has to say. Being able to connect with customers online is effective because it is essentially an extension of your brand, through a channel that your customer understands and can relate to.

Using your name, or even a picture of your face, is a literal translation of this (and it has been done!) – but another way to achieve this is by starting a company blog, and giving your company a voice.

2. Social media can provide opportunities to achieve market intelligence through surveillance

With social media you have the opportunity to monitor what is being said about your industry, from potential buyers and the general public. This information can make you more intelligent about your industry, and can be used to strategize future plans. You also can use your role in discussions to show your thought leadership and expertise.

3. Social media allows a company to discover new product opportunities or holes in the current market

As a member of the social media community, you are also a part of online conversations and discussions on new products, trends or news in your industry. More importantly, you can also monitor what your competitors are doing – or what they are not doing.

For example, you can monitor what people are tweeting or blogging about a competitor and get clues on how you can also be optimizing your business or using opportunities to get ahead.

With the right strategy and tools, B2B companies can (and should) effectively take action through social marketing channels.

For more information and additional resources, check out Paul’s website here.

Kelsey Rodenbiker
Zer0 to 5ive Strategist
Twitter: @KRodenbiker

In marketing and PR, attention is often focused on the ability to write the perfect press release or successfully pitch the media to secure a placement. Not often is attention paid to the art of working in teams – a fundamental skill all those in marketing and PR should possess in order to be effective.

Being a team player leads to added creative brainpower and more productive results. However, the ability to work with peers in a constructive way is often challenging, time consuming and requires a great deal of compromise.

Adam Bryant, author of the New York Times column Corner Office, interviewed dozens of CEOs to get their input on what qualities foster the ideal team player. Here are a few key takeaways:

Nothing is more important than the ability to deliver what is expected of you, when it is expected of you. No surprises, no excuses. Being reliable is the cornerstone of being a team player.

Just like in sports, it is imperative to cover your position consistently, but the best players are the ones who are able to spot the opportunities to score a goal or steal a base. Don’t be afraid to be a playmaker–– your team will appreciate your ideas and forward thinking.

While it may seem straightforward, team objectives should be established and discussed often to ensure everyone has a common goal. It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of everyday business operations, but keeping objectives at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts, will keep team members focused and stimulated.

In many industries, including marketing and PR, teams are in constant rotation. The ability to work in ad hoc teams and adjust to different personalities, different managers and different work styles will make life a whole lot easier. How do you do this? A good start is by applying the three steps above with each new team!

I would recommend this book as a must-read for anyone in PR and marketing. Corner Office demonstrates the importance of being a team player, and offers valuable advice on how to be most effective while working as a team.

Are you ready to implement your team smarts? Set, GO!

Kristen Filippini
Zer0 to 5ive Strategist
Twitter: @krissyfilippini

In Part 1 of my review of Brand Simple, I focused on brand-related definitions and an explanation of Allen Adamson’s 5 steps to helping your brand succeed.

Another key takeaway from the book is Adamson’s explanation of the Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) – an incredibly powerful proprietary diagnostic tool for understanding how a given brand is performing relative to all other brands in the market.

[image from http://www.brandassetconsulting.com/site_pages/powergrid]

To begin the analysis you must score the brands for:

• Differentiation: How different is the brand from others in its category?
• Relevance: How relevant is the brand to its target audience?
• Esteem: Does the target audience like the brand?
• Knowledge: How much does the target audience know about the brand?

According to Adamson, there is no “correct” method for how you should develop a score for each – that is really up to you and the industry that you are in.  If you are able to do primary research, these four questions could easily become objectives for a consumer survey.  In an academic setting, you could secondary research to compare brands using the BAV.  The key is to be scientific, keeping your analysis methods consistent across the different brands you are studying.

Based on those scores (i.e. the bar charts), your brand falls into one of four quadrants relative to Brand Stature and Brand Strength.  As in most 2×2 tools, the top right quadrant is often considered the most interesting.  Note that the difference between Leadership and Mass Market is differentiation.  To reference some well known examples, Coke and Pepsi would likely be considered mass market, while Apple would likely be considered to be in a leadership position because it is more differentiated from its competition.

Adamson doesn’t spend a ton of time on this tool in his book, but it really could be an entire book on its own.  He points out that the BAV is more than just a brand’s report card, it can be a diagnostic tool for identifying what areas the marketing team should focus on to improve the brand’s stature and strength.  This type of methodical analysis can focus a fragmented strategy by identifying next steps for improvement.

I find that I go back to Brand Simple at least once a year for reference.  To keep up with Adamson’s latest work and/or just to review the concepts covered in this book, check out the Brand Simple blog at http://www.brandsimple.com/blog/.

Rachel Colello
Zer0 to 5ive Senior Strategist
Twitter: @Rachel990306

Brand Simple, written by Landor Associates expert, Allen P. Adamson, is essentially a “brand bible.”  First published in 2006, it explains in clear, actionable language, what the best brands know and how the most successful brands succeed.  Yes, the examples are now six years old, but for me it is Adamson’s clear language that keeps this book relevant and useful.

[For a more comprehensive outline of the book itself, visit http://www.brandsimple.com/]

Key takeaways from this book include:

1. Clear vocabulary and definitions

Brand idea: Simple, differentiated, and relevant meaning. What a brand stands for in people’s minds.

Branding: Process of creating and managing the signals that generate images and feelings about a brand.

Brand signals: Anything that is an expression of the brand idea.

By keeping it clear and simple, it is possible to define a brand in a useful way – bringing branding down from the concept clouds into the land of action.

2. Five steps to help your brand succeed:

1. Establish your brand idea
2. Capture the essence of your idea
3. Get your employees engaged in the idea
4. Consider your brand’s name
5. Create brand signals beyond the name

For each one of these steps, Adamson shares simple tips that seem like common sense, but it is their simplicity that makes them actionable and useful.

Some of his tips include:

• When establishing your brand idea in step one, keep it simple!  Get out of your office, talk to your customers, and don’t get bogged down in research (use it, but be cautious of drowning in it).

• It is important that the essence of your brand idea be clear. By identifying your brand driver, you’ll have the structure in place to then choose your name, symbols, and tagline.

• Adamson stresses the importance of dissecting the customer’s brand journey, and then working with your employees to ensure that the brand is carried consistently through each step of that journey.  This method is not only a prudent way to think about the customer experience, but also to help ensure employee engagement.

• When creating the brand signals, it is important to go back to the basics and ensure that all four “P’s” of marketing are included: price, promotion, place, product.  Seems obvious, but again, we need the reminder – it is all too easy to get caught up in new flashy logos and website designs.

Following Adamson’s methodical steps will help to ensure that your brand is comprehensively pulled through your entire marketing mix.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my Brand Simple review, Adamson’s explanation of the Brand Asset Valuator!

Rachel Colello
Zer0 to 5ive Senior Strategist
Twitter: @Rachel990306

Any professional knows that in order to keep up with changes in their field, they need to be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things.  Reading books by other professionals in the field is an easy way to stay on top of changes and learn from others. One book that should be required reading for all PR and marketing professionals is The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott.

Here are a few of our favorite takeaways:

The Old Rules:

• PR was only about speaking through the media
• Marketing was one-way broadcast advertising

Under the old rules, companies relied on one-way communication through expensive advertising or media placements secured via a PR firm. Companies spoke and consumers (sometimes) listened, but had no way of engaging directly with the company.

Those days are over.

The New Rules:

• On the web, the lines between marketing and PR have blurred
• The Internet has made public relations public again
• Companies must drive people into the purchasing process with great online content

The Internet has transformed how companies communicate with consumers. Now, two-way web-based communication is key as consumers become part of the conversation with, and about, companies and their products and services.

So, how do you make the most of the new rules of marketing and PR?

Tip #1: Engage with Social Media

• The Internet is a massive focus group
• Active participation can pay off exponentially

Under the new rules, social media allows companies to engage directly with consumers and monitor their opinions. Companies should determine which social media tools are appropriate for their business and target audience, and offer content that consumers can respond to and share.

Tip #2: Realize that Content is King

• Know your goals and let your content drive action
• Add videos and other interactive content
• Keep content updated

Consumers feed off of content, both written and visual, and visitors need to be engaged to stay on your site. Provide online content that consumers can easily access and update it regularly so that consumers will return to see what’s new. However, don’t provide content just for the sake of it – know what your goals are and provide content that aligns with those.

Tip #3: Use New Rules for Reaching the Media

• Pitch bloggers
• Don’t tell journalists what your product does – tell them how you solve consumer problems
• Target one reporter at a time

The media is no longer relegated to print. Savvy PR professionals will establish relationships with bloggers and online journalists, as well as print and broadcast journalists. More importantly, journalists today don’t want to know what your product is and how it works – they want to know how it solves consumer problems. Under the new rules, the wants and needs of consumers should drive all action.

Tip #4: Use New Rules for News Releases

• Find good reasons to send releases all the time
• Include keyword-rich language
• Create releases that appeal to consumers

Today, marketing and PR professionals should use news releases to reach buyers directly – our primary audience should no longer be solely journalists. Sending quick news releases on a regular basis provides content for your website and keeps your company in the thoughts of the media and consumers, while also aiding with SEO. As David states, millions of people read news release directly, unfiltered by he media, so speak directly to the masses, driving consumers into the sales process.

Easy to understand with a number of case studies as examples, The New Rules of Marketing & PR is a must read!

Sarah Weddle / Lisa Graham
Zer0 to 5ive Strategists
Twitter: @SarahWeddle and @LisaMargetich