pr, branding and positioning to take on goliath

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Make your business larger than life

Christine Perkett@missusP@seedepthinc

PR, BRANDING AND POSITIONING TO TAKE ON GOLIATH

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1. The Importance of Branding

2. Today’s PR: Opportunities and Challenges

3. Today’s Best Tools For Startup Marketing Budgets

4. Case Studies

5. Framework for Self Sustaining (Almost) PR

6. Additional Resources

AGENDA

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1 THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING

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Account for 54% of all U.S. salesProvide 55% of all jobs

Provide 66% of all net new jobs since the 1970s

U.S. Census Bureau

28 million

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HOW MUCH DOES BRANDING MATTER?A lot, especially when you’re

the little guy!

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“Your brand is your voice in the marketplace, and it is your proposition for disruption.”

- Amy Cosper, Entrepreneur

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1. Establishes Credibility

2. Creates Trust and Loyalty

3. Improves Recognition

4. Generates Interest

5. Builds Value

6. Is More Than a Logo!

Branding isn’t just what you tell people, but what they believe based on the signals

your brand sends.

A Strong Brand

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A Great Brand Story:

• Taps into your target audiences’ emotions• Ties your values to your brand promise• Conveys the overall brand experience• Is powerful: relevant, memorable, consistent• Builds a strong and loyal customer base

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Story Ties Into Promise

#BrandPromiseBrandStory@missusP

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Getting to Brand Position• Vision - should define a company’s ongoing purpose and overarching

goal. It should be bold and aggressive – it may even feel unreachable. • Mission - defines the practical goals of the company and clearly

defines what a company does. It should answer three questions:– What is it that we do?– How do we do it?– For whom are we doing it?

• Elevator Pitch - should be a high level description of a brand that is persistently used by employees when asked what the company does

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Getting to Brand Position

• Positioning Statement - a specific, focused statement that competitively positions a brand vs real or perceived competitors.

• Tagline - The tagline is a catchy descriptor that’s memorable and brief; often dramatic for effect.

• Core Messages– Leadership Position– Unique Value Proposition– Competitive Differentiators

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Getting to Brand Position

• Proof Points– Proof Points are stats or stories that can back up a brand’s claims. They can

be snippets of results for customers, credibility builders such as awards or speaking gigs, etc. They are the “proof” that our approach delivers stronger results, that our agency has experienced and respected executives, and more.

• SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities Threats– Real and perceived

• Key Audience ID– Determine the key audiences for your brand and define key messages for each

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1. Memorable

2. Consistent

3. Clear

4. Responsive

“A brand is what sticks in your mind associated with a product, service or

organization – whether or not, at that particular moment, you bought or did not buy.”

– Tronvig Group

Best Practices

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2 TODAY’S PR: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

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“PUBLICITY IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. A GOOD PR STORY IS INFINITELY MORE EFFECTIVE THAN A FRONTPAGE AD.” 

- Sir Richard Branson

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#PRNotDead@missusP

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Promotion

RelatableRelatablePromotion

that is

#RelatablePromotion@missusP

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BUT IT DOES TAKE INVESTMENTMoney

People

Interesting Stories

Time

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1. Business Goals

2. SMART plan

3. Tools & Resources

4. Management

5. Measurement

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MUST HAVES

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“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make but about the stories you tell.”

- Seth Godin

#storiesyoutell@missusP

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1. Topical, timely

2. Emotional

3. Controversial, surprising or entertaining

4. Relevant

5. New

6. Informative

7. Resourceful/helpful

A Good PR Story

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Get Out Of Your Own Head

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1. Social media– Where’s your audience?– Chats; hangouts

2. Blogging– Key terms– Guests

3. Media outreach– Comments– Bylines

If You Can Only Pick Three…

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1. Focus

2. Don’t panic

3. KISS

4. Read

5. Invest in relationships

6. Humanize your approach

7. Get writing

8. Be realistic

9. Cross-channel investment

Elements to Success

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3 BEST TOOLS FOR SMBS

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1. Money

2. Time

3. Creativity

4. Tools Overload

SMB Challenges

Source: Chiefmartech.com 2016 Marketing Technology Landscape

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1. PR Executive– $$ variable

2. PR Consultant– $1000-5000 per month

3. PR Agency– $5000-$10,000+ per month

4. DIY– Resource-dependent

PR Options

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1. News– Make sure it’s meaningful

2. Stories– Topical, timely, unique, relevant

3. Facts/Figures– Data-centric world

4. Proof points– Customers, other

5. Make it easy

The Right Mix

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Best Tools on a Budget

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4 CASE STUDY DU JOUR

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CHALLENGER BRANDS

Must fight their way to market

leadership!

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“…ran his campaign sensing the feeling of dispossession and anxiety among millions of voters.”“reads the waves of resentment and rides them to a popular victory.”- The New Yorker

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5 PR FRAMEWORK

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A GOOD PR FRAMEWORK

Is almost self sustaining!

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1. Visual, Unique Content1. Make it more visible through title, descriptions, tags2. Piggy back on user-generated content; include their voices

• Increases amount of content and further engages your audience

2. News & Social Calendar1. Not just yours: ”Hallmark,” industry2. Include assignments

3. Empower Advocates; Assign Ownership1. Executives2. Customers3. Partners4. Employees5. Fans

PR Framework – Key Elements

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1. Business Goals

2. PR Assessment, Audit

3. PR Plan: no more than six months at a time1. Include Goals, Strategies, Objectives2. Budget and Tools3. Timetable: editorial and social media calendar4. Team and Assignments

4. Measurement and Analytics– What’s working? What isn’t?– Measure what matters

PR Framework - Non Negotiables

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#measurementmatters

@missusP

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6 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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Additional Resources

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THANK YOU.@MISSUSP

@SEEDEPTHINC