We had an interesting session with a prospect today and as usual we follow our own Fuzion process when we approach this work and construct a brand communications plan for them.
This successful family owned business are interested in renaming their business and bringing the family name into the naming of the company.
We facilitated a brand workshop with them a few weeks ago to tease out the rationale for this name change including the risk of leaving the existing name behind.
While there is no right or wrong here, each option comes with a number of challenges and the bottom line is whatever choice is made it must feel right for the team running business.
It’s our job to help them with that decision and whatever the outcome, to then bring that brand to life visually across all platforms and most importantly to their target audiences with the full suite of communications.
They decided after much deliberation to use their family name.
Somehow putting your own name over the door makes a big statement
Greg
Greg is a partner at Fuzion Communications, a full service Marketing and PR agency with offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland. We help businesses with their brand development.
We are part of an international network of independent PR agencies that handle Crisis PR communications for clients across Europe, called the CCNE, or the Crisis Communications Network Europe.
This week a query came from one of the European clients of the group about Twitter, about the relevance of the platform and if we felt with all of the Elon Musk shenanigans that clients should consider moving away from it and onto something else.
While it was my favourite social media platform for such a long time it does break my heart a little (or a lot) to see how toxic it has become, but at the same time a very interesting question had been asked.
The client query had some very specific questions, which I will get to in a moment, but I did feel there were some broader questions that should be asked first, which we should all think about in business:
Is your target audience(s) using the platform?
If you go fishing you go where the fish are, after all!
If you believe that your audience is using the platform then that should be a big yes, but also consider how they are using it, why and when.
What about the relevant media?
What we find is that the media are normally very proactive on social media. It is a lively platform and one of the main reasons why journalists are active on Twitter is because of the powerful search function.
If there is a breaking story they can very quickly see what is being said and by who.
Everyone in business should identify the relevant journalists and publications/media outlets for their industry, follow them, understand them, observe their posts and hopefully connect and get to know them.
How many followers do you have?
It is so difficult to build up a following on any platform these days without significant advertising budget. If you do have a good following then clearly people using the platform find that you are relevant to them and it would be foolish not to take advantage of this.
Have you developed a strategy for Twitter as part of your overall social media strategy?
Each of the social media platforms can do quite a different job for you, so it is important to understand your overall objectives, the nature of your target audiences and then be clear about the role of Twitter as part of this.
For example, if you have a business or organisation that is mainly consumer facing then Facebook and Instagram would be your priority social media platforms. However, you may decide that Twitter could be very useful for interacting with industry stakeholders and media.
Could Twitter be part of the way you deliver Customer Service?
This week we were providing Twitter training to a government agency that deals with the general public. I was very surprised to learn about how many queries they would receive from the general public via their Twitter account.
They said that people were very surprised to get responses to queries so quickly – what a great way to improve the public image of your business/organisation!
Are you using Twitter for Posting, Interacting, Search and Competitor Tracking purposes?
While a business may use Twitter predominantly to push out messages there could be a huge role for:
Interacting with customers/clients
Jumping into conversations when the subject matter is relevant
Using the powerful search function to track industry topics and relevant trends
Tracking competitor activity
Could you interact strategically with Partners, Customers, Prospects and Stakeholders?
By carefully following other Twitter users in the above categories you can interact with their posts, mention them in yours and use the platform to strategically build the right relationships.
Is there a cause you are championing?
There are times when you need to put a spotlight on an issue, get people’s attention and yes, call out organisations or individuals when it is needed.
Whether you are lobbying about an issue or using the platform to get the right attention, Twitter can be an incredibly powerful tool.
Being honest, there are times when it can be the only way to really get the right attention for an issue!
So while considering the relevance of Twitter with the backdrop of Elon Musk and all of the potential changes the above questions should be answered first.
If there is a case for using Twitter because of that, then go for it and we will see in time how it evolves.
As I mentioned there were some specific questions and how I responded to them:
How is Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter received in your respective countries?
In Ireland we are very unhappy mainly because of his treatment of employees and we are also very wary of him allowing crazy, nasty content (even more than now!!) back on the increasingly toxic platform.
Have you already had similar requests?
I would say people have been pulling away from Twitter because of the increasing toxic content on there generally as well as a general nervousness about posting anything on there.
Any recommendations that you are making to clients?
We are not making strong recommendations, but we are talking about its diminished influence and pushing people back to LinkedIn for B2B scenarios and Facebook/Instagram for B2C.
However, it does quite a different job that the others cannot do.
Are you in fundamental exchange with customers about alternative platforms (eg. Mastodon) and do you already have insights?
There is some very quiet talk about Mastodon but this is really just with avid social media users and we are not seeing the relevance of it.
We have opened accounts on it just to see how it works and will keep an eye on it as it develops.
So, to summarise I would say even though it is far from the enjoyable and supportive platform that it once was, it still has many uses and these can be very powerful.
As for the toxicity, I would advise staying away from this as much as possible. The trolls are there in abundance and be careful not to get drawn in by them.
From a business point of view it is so important that you operate any of your social media accounts professionally, From a personal point of view, try to be positive, upbeat and nice!
As I write that last statement I need to look at my own use of Twitter and yes, it does get very nasty and yes I do join in – shame on you Greg!!
Happy tweeting folks and lets hope Elon learns quickly, that if he wants to protect his investment and keep users and advertisers, he needs to keep it clean.
Greg
Greg is a partner at Fuzion Communications, a full service Marketing and PR agency with offices in Dublin and Cork, Irelandthat offers social media training and consultancy to clients.
For anyone who is running any Google Ad campaigns you will probably have seen the big shift in Google behaviour over the last couple of years.
Basically, they are encouraging you the customer, the marketer to get out of the way and let their AI take over!!
We’ll allocate your budget for you..
We’ll choose the copy for your adverts..
We’ll come review what you are doing, make recommendations for change and then to make life easy, we will even implement them automatically!
All of this is “cloaked” in a “your campaign results will improve“
This was the message I received today for one client campaign:
Unlock your account’s full potential Opt in to automatically apply recommendations to help you reach your goals by applying the right recommendations at the right time.
We’re here to help you reach more of your marketing objectives Our Google Ads team understands the dedication it takes for businesses like yours to succeed. That’s why you can automatically apply recommendations – which makes sure that you’ll never miss an opportunity to reach potential customers by regularly applying tailored recommendations to your account.
They understand the “dedication” it takes for businesses like yours to succeed – really??!!
and…that’s why you can automatically apply recommendations….I love the logic!!!!
Press “yes” at your peril, because before you know it, you won’t know whether you are coming or going, your adverts will be applied randomly and the only certain thing will be the amount you are spending, and certainly not how you are spending it.
Our advice is
understand your objectives
understand how each of the Google features work
carefully apply these, in full knowledge of what you are doing and why
stay in total control of your messages and budgets
review your results carefully and adjust campaigns accordingly
Along with your SEO work, Google Ads are a brilliant, powerful way to generate excellent leads for your business, but please please stay in control.
We don’t want to hand even more control to Mr. Google!
If you need us to help you, you know where we are…
Welcome to the first of our Fuzion Friday series, where we put 21 devilishly difficult questions to a team member, giving you an insight that Freud would be proud of.
Leading the way is Partner and Liverpool nut Greg!
Tell us something about you that nobody else in the team might know.
I managed local bands for a few years, many moons ago
What film have you watched more than five times?
Planes, Trains and Automobiles – a genius movie by John Hughes
What work are you most proud of in the past year?
I did a series of podcasts for the Heritage Council, which were all quite different
Dream job?
Doing any job as part of Jurgen Klopp’s team
Favourite brand? – Why?
Liverpool FC – I think football teams are the ultimate brand that we all have a deep connection to. You might change your partner, but you never change your team!
Favourite Holiday Destination?
That has to be Siena in Tuscany in Italy for the Palio. It’s a beautiful city that oozes history and character as well as having great food and wine of course.
Best lesson from your career?
Stay positive – when things are tough, roll those sleeves up, and get stuck in
Eurovision or World Cup?
World Cup!
Who is the joker on the team?
That could be me !
Recommend a podcast.
I think Hidden Brain is very clever.
Reality shows – Love or Hate?
How about ‘detest’?
Dinner party with 3 people – dead or alive – who do you invite?
Jurgen Klopp, Robert Plant and Ken Robinson
If you could be anywhere in the world – where would you be & what would you do?
I would have a little music store/café in Siena.
Who is your role model?
Jurgen Klopp and my dad
What was your first job?
I had my own newspaper round
Death Row meal?
Spaghetti Bolognese
Favourite book?
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Your a grammar nazi oar not?
Not really
First album you bought or downloaded?
Boomtown Rats’ debut album. I caught it in a small store in Dungarvan while staying with my uncle and aunt.
Work from home – or office?
This social creature discovered he likes working from home!
I sat down with Alma Brosnan (Head of Social Media with Fuzion) recently for an episode of the Win Happy podcast to discuss some of the latest trends with social media and digital marketing and the different things that anyone in business should be looking out for this year.
We had a really great conversation, and whether you are someone operating in a B2B (Business to consumer or community) or a B2B (Business to Business) sector the conversation is well worth a listen.
While things keep on changing and evolving and you always need to be alert to these changes, the one thing that never changes is that vital never ending job you need to do to have a successful business or organisation:
You need to keep on telling your story to your target audiences, wherever they are and whether they are looking or listening it is your job to reach them.
So, absolutely …watch those trends, know and understand where and how to reach your audience today and tomorrow but always:
Know your story and what is special about it
Know your target audience(s) and how your story resonates with them
Make sure that when your audience come looking that you convey that story quickly and accurately
Have a plan that proactively tells your story all of the time
And as I say on the Win Happy podcast….Thanks for listening!
It’s important to me that I am learning something new all of the time, whether it is something professional or personal – in fact it was one of my New Year’s resolutions last year and again this year,
A love of Italy and a dream of returning there (Tuscany please!) in a post Covid world (we can dream at least) had learning Italian on my list.
I had heard from my brother Colin that the Duo Lingo App was a great way to learn so I signed up for the free App and quickly switched to the subscription version – you can only watch so many adverts every time you make a mistake!
As well as Duo Lingo I also signed up for some other courses including video editing on the Udemy platform. The courses on Udemy are really affordable and when I signed up I was determined to complete them.
The big learning difference between each is that Duo Lingo have thought deeply about how people operate, their will power (or lack of), their ability to stay focused and stay the course and how your motivation can change from the minute you sign up to afterwards when all of the other life stuff can throw you off track.
I guess in a way it’s like the gym membership in January, which starts with all of the very best intentions and ends up how it always does unless there are some very special motivation factors that will keep you coming back.
With all of that perspective Duo Lingo successfully gamified their App and built in features that keep you on course and keep you coming back.
They give you points for every exercise you complete, they send you messages to stick with it, they put you in a league table and constantly tell you where you are on that table!
When you complete an exercise they ask you to go again and earn double points, they tell you how you compare with others and they give you bonuses for being an “early bird”. The other very clever thing is they allow you to follow others and it lets you know when those people hit certain milestones and you can congratulate them from within the platform. That’s how I found out my sister is also using the App and how my brother is pretty serious about learning Spanish!
The most addictive element in my opinion is the “days streak” that you are on and you get constant messages to remind you that your “streak” may end if you don’t do an exercise!
It’s a very simple thing but it has me each day waking and thinking that I better do an Italian exercise to make sure I keep my streak going. A new habit has infiltrated my busy life!
I couldn’t tell you the last time I did a session on the video editing course – in truth when I go back to it I will probably have to go back to earlier sessions as I will have forgotten what I had learnt.
Knowing how I work and my busy schedule I was careful enough to schedule times in my diary to do the training sessions on Udemy but mostly that never worked out because something else took my time and attention – I haven’t missed a day of Italian learning in 146 days (not as important to me as the editing),
My point in all of this and making the comparison between the learning systems is that I know and you probably do as well that learning which involves some new habits is really really difficult and unless there is something significant motivating you then you probably won’t stay the course,
As well as my own objectives this year and the things I want to change both personally and for the business I do need to think about gamifying these in some way to increase the chances of success.
Is it a league table, setting reminders in my calendar, having a learning buddy, making a no messing time of the day/week that can’t be interfered with, counting my successive days and rewarding myself when that happens – maybe a very very special of red wine from Tuscany from the fabulous Wine Buff ?
Whatever it is I need to crack it.
What do you do to stay on track with those New Years resolutions and good luck with them!
The Authority Gap – Why women are still taken less seriously than men and what can be done about it.
On the latest episode of the #WinHappy podcast I chatted with political and economic journalist, broadcaster, non-executive director and author of the best seller, The Authority Gap, Mary Ann Sieghart.
Her life experiences and three years of extensive research brought her to writing this book and taking on the challenge of closing the gender gap.
Mary Ann wants men to listen so when I reached out to feature her on the podcast she agreed.
We had a lively discussion including areas where there might be a different type of authority gap when it comes to men such as parenting.
It’s a big issue, that I suspect we will always grapple with..
I do love my pint of stout and as someone who has worked for Guinness and for a subsidiary of Heineken, who produce both Murphy’s and Beamish in Cork I think I am in a position to chat about it!
During lockdown I think enjoying a creamy point of stout in a pub with friends was quite possibly the thing that I missed most of all and was most grateful when we were able to return to our favourite local.
Where I live in Ballincollig in Cork I am blessed to have the White Horse Bar, Restaurant and Music Venue just down the road from me and a little further away, and on a tricky narrow road we have a wonderful “old man” pub called the Inniscarra Bar.
To stay Covid extra safe Kay, the very lovely proprietor of the Inniscarra Bar tried her very best to keep serving outdoors as long as possible complete with a little canopy and an outside fire, and even outdoors the regulars quickly had their regular seats, just as they would have had inside.
On one particular Thursday night I slipped down there with my fantastic neighbour, Brian for a couple of pints and we sat on a bench outside,
I asked for my pint of choice ‘Murphys’ to be advised against it by Kay who warned that it wasn’t pouring too well and I would be better off with either a Guinness or a Beamish. Two of the regulars overheard our conversation and remarked that the demise of Murphy’s was a sad state of affairs as it was always known as a “Murphy’s House”.
For me, it’s crazy that this could happen in any pub in Cork, but I wasn’t surprised as I hadn’t noticed any activity around this brand in quite a while.
A few days later while doing my grocery shopping in Dunnes Stores I noticed Murphy’s Stout cans on the shelf with new horrible (at least to me) purple and pink branding.
“What in the name of god are they doing with that fantastic brand” I thought to myself and I wondered what the logic was behind this garish change.
That weekend I was chatting with my soon to be son in law, Mark and the conversation turned towards the new Murphy’s can. It turns out it wasn’t just me felt this way and this young man also hated the new branding – the beauty of the old brand is that it carried weight and some class and was confident, self assured and rooted in tradition, but this?!
Our first world problems!
A few days later while in town getting my hair chopped I happened to bump into an old buddy of mine who works for Heineken in Cork. I hadn’t seen him for an age so we had a great chat and before he left I had the opportunity of asking him what the hell was going on with Murphy’s!
I told him about the Inniscarra Bar experience and gave him my feedback about the new branding on the cans and after a while he turned around to me and said..
“Ah….you are not our target audience!“
That put me right in my place and we finished up our conversation and on my way home I reflected on what he had said to me and the sad fact that I was now 56 and thought yes, I was probably no longer the target audience, possibly no one’s target audience!
I thought some more and it started to bother me.
While you might make changes to your brand to appeal to a “new” audience, maybe you should first consider the fools who actually do ask for it and figure out what they like about it, as there might just be some valuable nuggets worth holding onto and the build from these.
When the government pulled the plug on our supermarkets in the middle of Covid (if things weren’t miserable enough) from “multi-buy” offers on alcohol and including them in their “loyalty points” or “€10 off 50” deals, it was time to change my drinking habits!
The change of habit wasn’t drinking any less but it was a change as to where I was now going to purchase my wine!!
So instead of typically buying my six bottles as I was doing with my grocery shopping, I had now moved to purchasing a case of 12 from one of the online suppliers!!
The little piece of magic in this whole e-commerce transaction was a timely email (they send them approximately once per fortnight) from the wine supplier with the latest “20% off Italian wine” or “New wines from Portugal” teaser message, which would prompt me to click, click, click, start browsing and then selecting, then to checkout, credit card details please, confirm transaction and presto!
As we have all been working from home getting a case of wine dropped to the front door isn’t an issue as there is always someone here to take it in. Add to that the convenience and the joy of opening a case and seeing what you did actually order.
From the wine suppliers point of view their simple email was a powerful piece of marketing / promotion – their email hits my inbox in the middle of my busy days and it nudges me gently to consider stocking up and despite being really really busy I invariably get diverted for 5 minutes to quickly place the order (in truth it isprobably quicker than browsing the aisles in the wine section of the supermarket and there is extra information about each wine available to me).
Nudge, buy, nudge buy, nudge buy…
This company were emailing me for years BUT it was only when the supermarket scenario changed that they became relevant to me.
The whole process was very effective and efficient and on some days the mixed cases of wine would actually be delivered on the day I placed the order.
I was happily doing this for months and when the 5km restriction lifted I was looking forward to placing an order for some extra special wine as we were about to take a week’s break at beautiful Sheep’s Head in West Cork.
Just to be sure I rang the company the morning before we were due to head off to ask if the delivery would be with us before 2pm the following day – I wanted to be sure we had wine on time and also to be sure it wasn’t sitting outside the front door for a week!
“I’m sorry but we can’t guarantee delivery before 48 hours” I was told by the voice that answered..
“That’s ok, but I know your deliveries are really prompt. I order from you the whole time, can you at least check with someone?”
“Em, no there is nothing I can do, that is our policy” (that response always sets me off…)
“Can you please check at least?” …. “No, sorry, that is our policy“.
I was really disappointed and made a mental note to try to find an alternative supplier when we came back from our week’s holiday.
Despite this decision of mine the compelling, well timed emails kept coming every two weeks and I kept ordering until one day when I was making a brief visit to the office I popped into my favourite wine store in town and was delighted to chat to the friendly staff there and asked them to make a special recommendation for a meal that night.
As they were wrapping my purchases I apologised to them for not being in there for a while and explained that I had been working from home during lockdown and resorted to online ordering.
They politely informed me that they did online deliveries, something I never realised but I was surprised as I was sure that I was on some database of theirs.
I told them about the “trick” about the fortnightly e-newsletter that their competitor was employing to great effect and their response to me blew me away..
“We don’t like to sell or force ourselves on anyone”
“Ah come on guys, are you for real? Have you any idea what you are missing out on. Of course it’s selling, but it is also informing and prompting and all part of their service”
Eventually they considered what I was saying and said they would mention it to the franchise owner.
Because I really like them (and they do have great wines!) the next time I needed a wine top-up I looked for their website and ordered my case from them and not the other crew.
The order was delivered swiftly and the next time I ordered I was pleasantly surprised to see an extra bottle that I hadn’t ordered come with the delivery as a gift with a special note of thanks from the owner for giving them the business.
To wrap up my “wine story” I have continued to order wine from my favourite wine store, they still don’t send out e-newsletters with offers, news or suggestions which I would really appreciate but I am really happy to give them the business because they are nice and they do appreciate the business.
The biggest irony of all is that when the e-newsletter comes in from their competitor I use their well timed email as a prompt to order from them!
As for the competitor, their regular customer has disappeared and they will never know why unless they spot this change of trend and ask the question…
Mrs “sorry there is nothing I can do” sent me and my business on my way.
The e-commerce lessons we learn from this story:
Get online
Make sure your customers know about the service
Get an e-mail database going and use it tactically and frequently
Make it easy for people to sign up
Be efficient at processing orders
Look at patterns of ordering and try to figure out why when it changes
Build a relationship with the customer just like you do in person
and remember….there is always something you can do!!
I received an email newsletter from a really fantastic brand this week that featured special offers, new products, deal bundles and suggestions for Father’s Day gifts.
Visually it was executed well as I have come to expect from the brand, with superb photography that showcased the quality product range perfectly, clearly placing it the very “premium” category, which it most certainly is in.
However, there was one huge, but very simple thing missing from the e-newsletter.
They left a big part of their brand behind, and in the “click of an email campaign” they managed to relegate who they were to a lower league and they became another commodity retailer.
Even though they have my name there was no personalised “Hi Greg” and there was no attempt anywhere to start the communication with a friendly on brand message, nor any attempt to briefly update me on the recent exciting developments (things relevant to the reader) in their business.
The view might be that people have no time for any of that when they are online and it should be “BOOM” lets get straight down to business, but the crazy thing is that this company is the total opposite of this – they pride themselves on customer service and the relationship with their customers, and in person there is no one better but for some reason on this occasion they left so much of what makes them special outside the door!
The big lesson in this ….don’t leave who you are outside the door just because it is an online e-commerce transaction.
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