Everyday Influence

The Society for New Communications Research Recognizes SAP’s Industry and Influencer Relations Program with an Award of Excellence!

I just returned from a quick trip to Botson where I attended the 3rd Annual Society for New Communications Research Symposium & Awards Gala to receive an award of excellence, recognizing the success of the Industry and Influencer Relations program at SAP!

The Society for New Communications Research or SNCR (www.sncr.org) is a leading global nonprofit think tank dedicated to the advanced study of new media and communications tools, technologies and emerging modes of communication, and their effect on traditional communications, business, culture and society.  The membership of SNCR includes the industry’s top practitioners (corporate and nonprofit) and thought leaders in communication research, design and execution.

On behalf of each and every valued member of the Industry and Influencer organization at SAP that I have the opportunity to lead, I want to thank SNCR for the great recognition and for the opportunity to showcase our program and share our experiences with peers and colleagues in the industry.

I encourage all communication professionals to visit SNCR’s website at www.sncr.org to access and contribute to their research and thought leadership. They are contributing greatly to advance the education, design and best practices associated with new communication in the industry.  Membership is affordable and the access is priceless!

In preparation for the awards ceremony I was asked to share a few insights or lessons learned about how communications programs need to change given emerging new channels and blurred boundaries betweens the many roles influencers play today.

Two insights that I identified to be most relevant are as follows:

1. The first is to design your communication and influence programs with a business purpose in mind.

Given the current conditions in the marketplace it is more important than ever before to understand the objectives and business challenges that your company is facing.  How has the competitive landscape changed? What are the opportunities or adjustments that your company is making to become more competitive (e.g. delivery of new products/services; entrance into new markets; etc.)? What issues or trends are affecting the industry and how can your company advance or influence them in an effort to support larger business objectives?

With an understanding of these fundamental issues you can more cleanly identify the right influencers (thought leaders, industry experts, or communities) to engage to collaboratively advance a larger market agenda to support your business and external stakeholder groups.

2. The second deals with managing the sense of ‘loss of control’ when communicating in a Web 2.0 world.

The reality is, if you want to control your message these days, you should advertise.  What is unnerving for many marketing and communication professionals about managing influence in a Web 2.0 world is that social media forces you to play by what I call ‘crowd rules.’ And crowd rules dictate a fair level of transparency, authenticity, agility, honesty [you can continue to fill in the blank] but most important crowd rules require you to LISTEN.  No longer are the ‘house rules’ of marketing and communications effective where you can create a message or position and expect it to automatically resonate or stick in the market.

If we look at Word of Mouth (WoM) as an example.  In the old model of WoM, if a customer has a good or bad experience with your company’s product or service, they might share the experience with a neighbor, friend or colleague at work. In this old model of WoM the collective community experience with your brand would eventually create a community reality in a viral fashion over a ‘period’ of time.

The affects of this in a Web 2.0 world are much different.

In a Web 2.0 world if ‘a’ customer has a bad experience with your company’s product or service and they share that experience in a blog or other form of social media (like Twitter) this experience can reach hundreds, thousands or millions of people overnight – around the world.  This can cause great brand destruction and turmoil if you are not prepared to address it.

Now, even in ‘crowd rules’ not everyone expects a company to be infallible.  You just have to listen.

If you have good sensory awareness and respond to negative issues quickly - if for nothing else than to show corporate humility - and engage with a negative blogger or disgruntled customer/community to understand the issues, you can quickly turn an adverse situation into great opportunity by 1. Fixing the product and service issues that can help to advance greater business opportunities and 2. You have the opportunity to turn a negative blogger or customer into a net promoter – which is the greatest form of advocacy/influence you can hope for.

Social media changes the rules of the game in an era of new marketing and new communications, by forcing companies to be more accountable.  I personally think that this is a great thing.

If you understand and learn to work within the crowd rules of Web 2.0 in an authentic and agile way, you will increase your company’s brand value and overall experience in the industry.

I would like to thank SNCR again for the great recognition!

Marketing and Communication Opportunities – in a Period of Recession

I have received several emails from colleagues and peers in the industry wondering ‘why I have been dark’ on my blog for the past two months.

 

Like many marketing and communications professionals I have been heads down in business - making adjustments to programs and activities for the remainder of 2008 and planning for 2009.

 

To say the least, the affects of the financial crises and daunting uncertainty across global markets has put significant pressure on companies to aggressively manage both the bottom line (expenses and operational budgets) and top line growth (sales and revenue generation).  This intensive thrust to ‘back to basics’ management impacts all departments and organizations.  Managers are required to make adjustments to their operations to become laser focused and efficient AND deliver more value and results (and some cases - much more) with less resources (and in some cases - much less).

 

These circumstances pose a number of challenges for many marketing and communications professionals to adapt to.

 

I personally have an optimistic view of the situation.  Looking back at history, the market goes through a correction once every 10-15 years (e.g. recession in the late 80s; and the dot.com bubble bust in 2001).  Our current situation is definitely the worst ‘correction’ in several decades, but nonetheless a correction it is.

 

Although tough and challenging to go through, what history shows is that numerous product, service and technology innovations tend to emerge out of each market correction or crisis.  All of which fuel new business models and market and career opportunities.  These innovations come (in part) through a flushing of inefficiencies, consolidation of ‘players/companies,’ and a refocus on creating and providing more value. The companies that plan and adapt appropriately will be the big winners (both old and new companies).

 

As a communications executive, I see this as a great opportunity.  The power of thought leadership, relationships and collaborative industry influence that largely extends from programs driven by communications departments is a great ‘currency’ that gains tremendous value in any economic recession or down turn.  As communication practitioners, our role in helping to guide the market renewal process is critical.

 

What do I mean?

 

The results delivered through well structured communication and influence programs do not require huge budgets or mega teams to drive.

 

The effects of positive ‘unpaid media,’ external thought leadership and word-of-mouth and advocacy programs delivered through successful press, analyst, blogger, customer, employee, community and other influencer relations programs costs very little to execute AND generates very high returns for your company.  The benefits can be realized through the advancement of your company’s competitive position; positive reputation management; validation of new market/business opportunities; and 3rd party education, thought leadership and best practices that increase visibility and confidence that your business is a valuable and smart investment (for shareholders, customers, partners and employees).

 

Further to this, the use of existing technologies and social media strategies (among other things) offer marketing and communication professionals a tremendous and low cost way to disseminate messages with great scale and build awareness and maintain relationships with influencers (internal and external) in an increasingly global and dynamic business environment.

 

I believe that 2009 will bring a number of significant and positive changes to the marketing and communication profession.  I predict that we will see greater adoption and more innovative use of social media; new designs of communication and marketing organizations that adapt to a new influence ecosystem; more focus on customer and ‘community’ engagement; new metrics and measurement designs; and increased ‘insight’ programs to support corporate decision making.  These changes will contribute to a much needed renewal of marketing and communications that will help to evolve our profession to become more strategic, vibrant and valued across all industry sectors and geographies.

 

I encourage all of my industry peers and colleagues to take advantage of this opportunity with an optimistic outlook.  Challenge yourselves to better understand your business and industry environment. 

 

Look for new opportunities to provide value. Understand how to better use the ‘process’ of communications and the power of relationships to advance your company’s position in the industry and drive positive awareness, thought leadership and confidence back into the market!  And lastly - be bold, be proactive, and be proud!!!