The most important relationships in your business are the ones you already have. We spend so much time searching for the next big thing, new project, new client…we miss or take for granted what is right in front of us.

Since we started implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®) at 8THIRTYFOUR, we made it a priority to map out our processes and develop a scorecard in which we rate ourselves and our performance. A big part of that scorecard is client satisfaction, it is our goal to communicate continuously, effectively and responsively with our existing client base. If we are not keeping clients satisfied then we are not doing our job.

We make communication a priority, it is all about the relationship we have with our clients. Below are just a few of the items we incorporated into our process.

1. Quality content. This might not seem like such a big deal, but each month I sit down and I write a personal message to our clients and share agency, client, community and industry news. I handpick all of the content and then our crack designers, assemble it into an easy-to-read newsletter.
2. Customized reporting. We know that many of our our clients identified communication as a pain-point. In the past they had been burned by other companies that didn’t communicate their activities, results or priorities. Each month our clients receive a report that details our efforts for the last 30 days, how it aligns with their goals (they determine these in our initial strategy session), what the results were and what our recommendations moving forward for continued success. We then add some sweet graphs, a personal note and off it goes.
3. Party time. Quarterly we host an event at our office and invite 8THIRTYFOUR friends, family and clients to relax and enjoy whatever crazy theme we came up with. It is important we take the time to connect outside of work hours. By the way, mark your calendar for 8/3 at 4:00 p.m.
4. Be our guest. If you are following us on Instagram, you know we are out in the community almost every night of the week and we get lonely. We ask our clients to be our dates on a regular basis to galas, networking events, luncheons and more. If there is an event you are interested in, there is a good chance we are going.
5. Thank you. Sometimes a simple handwritten note speaks volumes. We take the time to tell our clients, in writing, what badasses they are.

We continually analyze and refine our process and are always open to suggestions. How do you communicate with your clients?

The use of social media is a hot topic around our office lately. We have a social media policy at 8THIRTYFOUR, it is all of one paragraph and states that employees are expected to engage with our brand, share our content and be good ambassadors. What it fails to get into is the type of content, posts, expectations, etc. to ensure the company brand is protected.

It is important to me that each employee feels free to express their opinions, share their personal stories and utilize social media how they want. However, as a business owner, I also have to manage and protect my brand.

When I rewrite our policy, I will be sure to include the following and I encourage you to do the same.

1. Indicate what is confidential to the company. For example, sharing information on a RFP response, client work, financial information, etc. Make sure an employee understands what content they need to ask approval on before sharing. A good rule of thumb is mirroring the content shared on the company social channels.
2. What are the consequences? It is fascinating to me the stuff people will share online without considering the ramifications. Social media does not happen in a vacuum, something you share with a few hundred friends can easily go viral. Be sure your employees are clear on the repercussions. Firing? Suspension?
3. Encourage an open dialogue. As I said earlier in this blog, we are having this discussion internally. Employees have to feel they can come to you with questions as it relates to social media.
4. Social media is a reflection of your culture. I ask employees to use their best judgment and to remember they are ambassadors of our brand. We are a progressive agency and do not shy away from uncomfortable topics, that being said inform, educate and share. Use the platform to appropriately and stop with the damn selfies.
5. Avoid the illegal. Nothing much to say about this one, except don’t do it. It is necessary for a company to state “don’t use social media for illegal activities.”

A company’s social media policy should educate employees on usage and give examples of what is and isn’t acceptable.

My advice to employees is, anything you put out there to be seen should be intelligent and well-thought out. Too often we use social media as a passive aggressive way to share our opinions. How about writing a blog and then encouraging the discussion to happen there.

So many stories.

I had a friend pose a question to me this past week on the future of social media. Will it remain an important tool for marketers? Has fake news, spam accounts and the ever present trolls reduced the value? I would also add changing algorithms and the trends towards pay to play to the list.

The networks we are all familiar with such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. will exist in some form in the future. Each of these companies are working to address fake news, spam and the troll issue. Does it make these networks any less valuable?

Yes and no.

The Value:

1. A two-way conversation. Social media is unique as it gives customers a platform to interact and communicate with a company. Marketing is no longer a one-way interaction where companies push out a message and customers have no opportunity to respond. Social networks are often an extension of a company’s customer service or their main portal to deal with complaints.
2. SEO. A social presence enhances a company’s search engine optimization. The more content you share and traffic you drive back to your website the better your results will be. This won’t change in the foreseeable future, how social interacts with your online presence will.
3. Pay to play. As marketers we want to focus on organic growth and save our money. Social networks give preferential treatment to the company’s that advertise, which seems kind of shitty but in reality is still a great value. Running ads on Facebook or Instagram is much more beneficial than a billboard off the expressway.

What will change:

1. The networks we are so familiar with now will evolve or become extent. What you see now is a lot of copycatting. Take the ‘stories’ feature for example.
2. Third party apps. How we manage the networks will improve with better tools coming out to cut down on the amount of time dedicated to scheduling and monitoring.
3. How we use social will most definitely change, although I couldn’t tell you how. Whether a company is using it strictly for customer service, product sales or as brand awareness…the networks will change to better serve these needs.

We will never go back to the traditional ways of marketing. Consumers are demanding more from companies as it relates to transparency, service and communication. 20 years ago the United incident would have received little coverage. Companies now have to conscious of the fact that they are always being watched and held accountable. Social media plays a large role in this and will continue to do so in the future.

Public relations can only do so much. PR practitioners can build brand awareness, attract attention to new products, manage a crisis and so much more. What we can’t do, is run your company. PR Daily News says it best, PR can minimize the damage caused by operational and managerial missteps, but it can’t fix stupid.

When a company fucks up, there are several ways to handle it. Below is what I recommend and there are plenty of tales to scare you into doing so.

1. Everyone screws up at some point, but do you keep making the same mistakes? Learn when shit goes wrong, build processes that will alleviate your customer’s pain points. Educate your employees and give them the autonomy to implement the right solution, even if it isn’t mapped out in your standard operating procedures.
2. Communicate well. Whether this is ongoing communication with your customers or right after shit hits the fan, do it often and well. Whether you like it or not, social media exists and your customers are using it. Don’t be scared, this offers you a great opportunity to interact and catch issues before they become gigantic snafus.
3. Be human. Be empathetic, put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You have the opportunity to take a really awful situation and turn it around and show that you are more than a million or billion dollar company. If the same thing happened to you, how would you want to be treated?
4. Be honest. If you screwed up, admit and then detail how you will prevent this from happening again. As consumers, we want to know that you care and that you can own up to wrongdoing if and when it happens.
5. Invest. Put your money where your mouth is. Are you properly training your employees to deal with tough situations? Are they taught problem solving, empathy, and more?

These are all suggestions your PR counsel will suggest, will you take them up on it?

Is your logo outdated and no longer relevant to your customers? Do you even know how your brand is perceived? A brand’s mark can be very subjective as individuals see and interpret things differently based off their own experiences.

When we work with companies on a rebranding or branding effort it is incredibly important that our process allows for as much research and feedback as possible. By doing this, we are able to build consensus and ensure everyone understands the creative direction.

This doesn’t mean that an entire company of 200 people will be chiming in and directing efforts, it means that they are given the opportunity through either interviews or a survey to answer key questions that will give us valuable insight. Your employees and customers all interact with your brand differently, by seeking their input you are laying the right foundation for successful branding.

Seth Godin says it best, A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.

This time of year, a lot of companies will reach out to us in an effort to incorporate marketing into their strategy for the new year. Prior to forming a relationship or hiring a communications agency, work to define your needs.

Pull together your team for a quick brainstorm and map out the below:

What were the biggest marketing challenges we faced in 2016? This could be anything from creative, content generation and email marketing to media relations and more.

Read the full article at GRBJ.com.

834 was set up to be an integrated communications agency, which means we can manage all your needs under one roof. We build a strategy, we implement the strategy and we measure the strategy. All of this takes time. We like to think we are magical unicorns, but alas we are merely human.

When hiring an agency you, as a company, are also investing in a relationship. We work for you, but it is also a collaboration. As hard as we may try, we will never know your business as intimately as you will.

Success is being transparent, offering constructive feedback and taking the time to educate.

Here are a few tips for getting the most out of your agency relationship:

1. Invite them to team meetings where they can experience firsthand the company dynamic. By observing the culture and day-to-day operations they will get a sense for the personality of the company. This will assist them in translating your company’s culture to the accurate voice in all generated content.
2. Meet regularly to check-in and update on upcoming events, tradeshows, meetings, industry happenings, etc. If you see something in the news or are out at a networking event send your agency contact an email or text. By keeping them apprised of up-to-the-minute happenings, they can post appropriate information to your social channels.
3. Give feedback. Everything an agency creates is sent for client approval. Take the time to review and give direction. The more time you spend with the agency of upfront the quicker they will familiarize themselves with company voice and tone.
4. Establish a point person. By having one person in the company supplying the agency with information you will cut down on confusion and misdirection. Empower that person to lead and instruct the rest of your team to follow.
5. Invest in the relationship. If you truly want to see results then you need to be realistic and understand it takes time. Your marketing program is not going to be built in a day and it sure as heck isn’t going to show a return in a week, two weeks or even a month.

Having a qualified team of professionals working on behalf of you is worth the investment, but the investment goes both ways.

The 834 team does weekly check-ins to ensure all processes are being followed.

When we recommend communication activities for our clients and outline tools, tactics and timeline; one of the most common responses we hear: “We don’t have time for that, we are a small team.”

If you don’t have the budget to hire 834 for implementation of your communication strategy, then you have to identify how to integrate the additional responsibilities into your already busy schedule.

1. Identify a point person. Someone within the company needs to own the communication. That doesn’t mean this person is responsible for the implementation and reporting, it means they lead and delegate. This individual should set up reoccurring team meetings with a set agenda that pulls in all participating parties for progress and milestone review.
2. Develop a system. It can get very confusing remembering who is doing what, when they are doing it and what next steps are. Utilize tools such as Basecamp or any of the countless others to track to-dos, meeting notes, timeline and time as it relates to each task.
3. Develop a reasonable timeline. The timeline your marketing agency outlines, may not be feasible for
   

   Strategy implementation can be exhausting, but the results are well-worth it.

   your team. If 4 blogs a month is freaking you out, then start with 2. Recruit guest bloggers that can generate content for you, so you only have to manage the posting and sharing. There are tons of time-saving efforts you can implement that will parcel out responsibilities to multiple parties.

4. Set aside time. If you are responsible for scheduling social media for your company then set aside time every Sunday night for 30 to 45 minutes to schedule for the week on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (to name a few). Use a service like HootSuite or TweetDeck to schedule and monitor your networks. Set up a Feedly account so it pulls articles based on topics that are relevant to your clients and industry.  Then check your networks 15 minutes every day to respond to comments, messages, retweets, mentions, etc.
5. Outline the process. Perhaps one of the most important items a business needs to do is to develop standard operating procedures. For example, outline how a press release is written and distributed. What are the steps a team member needs to take to successfully share company news with the media? Outline the process for social media, content development, creative, email marketing and more. If you can outline all the steps, then you can streamline the process and that will make it easier for a small team to implement a communication strategy.

The fact is, if it is important enough, a company will find time to do it. While communication is the first line item in a budget cut, it is also what is responsible for raising awareness on a company’s offerings. If you can’t find time to work on the tools that support sales and lead generation, then how will you continue to grow financially?

Or just hire us and all your headaches will go away. Just a thought.

As we gear up for another week of media announcements, press conferences, media training and pitching, I wanted to share some tips on media preparation.

Reporters use interviews to gather information and flesh out their stories. It is the basic tool of news gathering and a great opportunity for your organization to communicate its messages to its target publics.

Public relations and media training is well worth the time and expense in order to ensure spokespersons can fully capitalize on media opportunities and avoid missteps.

Ultimately, the choice is yours. Below are my top ten tips for media interview training. As you review them, keep in mind that no matter how friendly or seemingly innocuous, no interview is a casual conversation.

1. Never wing it. Successful message delivery depends on preparation. Invest time and effort in rehearsals, whether working with a professional media trainer or your in-house public relations team. Get your spouse or partner or a trusted pal to lob questions at you. Think through how you will respond to tough or hostile questions by developing and practicing clear, honest and appropriate answers.
2. Start small. Try smaller venues before hitting the big time. Trade shows are a good starting point where you can conduct a large quantity of media briefings with what is typically a relatively friendly community of journalists. Take charge of your nerves. Being nervous is normal, but don’t let your body language send messages of fear or doubt.
3. Be in control of the interview. Be the first to speak by assertively introducing yourself and initiating a handshake. Jump right in and ask a few basic questions of the interviewer, such as who else they’ve spoken to and how much time they’ll need. Doing so puts you in the driver’s seat.
4. Return to key points as often as possible.
5. Minimize distractions. Turn off your cell phone or give it to someone else.
6. Make eye contact with the journalist. If the reporter is present, do not look at the camera. Holding eye contact is critical to projecting a positive and confident image. Looking down can make you seem uncooperative, while looking from side to side can make you look shifty or evasive.
7. Do not repeat an interviewer’s negative comment as you respond to a question. Always frame answers in a positive way.
8. Avoid jargon, industry language and acronyms. Reporters are communicating the information you give them to the general public. It is important to speak in terms everyone can understand.
9. Never speculate. It is human nature to give it your best shot at coming up with an answer, but in a media interview, being pretty sure can harm your organization’s reputation. If you don’t know, say so and promise to do your best to find out the correct answer and get back to them.
10. Be responsive, but always remember your purpose. You aren’t there to be a talking head and answer the interviewer’s questions; you are there to communicate your key messages. While you should not be evasive, you should always work your messages in.

I definitely encourage you to hire a professional to assist, it is worth the investment.

So you hired us…because we know stuff. We clearly have a track record of success in public relations or you never would have come to us in the first place. Since this is the case, you need to trust us, listen to us and stop micromanaging us.

The below is what drives PR pros mad, like foaming at the mouth mad.

1. Make that go viral. Listen you are not Chewbacca mom, so your product release isn’t going to get the same attention unless you light yourself on fire  and run around naked. Even then…you don’t decide, the public does.
2. Remove that word that makes zero difference, but it really irritates me. And move this quote here and that one there and is that two spaces? Should it be one? Stop making inconsequential edits! We know what we are doing.
3. Can you let the reporter know this is the only day that works for me at this exact time and they will need to provide me with questions beforehand. Let’s remember they are not your employee and they don’t give a shit what is most convenient to you. It is their playing field and you are just the water boy.
4. When will we be on Hoda & Kathie Lee? Even though our customers don’t watch the show because it is not relevant to them at all, I would still like to see us on there. My kids would think it’s neat. Weirdly enough we have a strategy to the media we pitch and we choose the publications that will actually make an impact on your business. Also, Hoda and Kathie Lee are too busy drinking wine, stop bothering them.
5. Yes! I am completely available that day, so please send…this is time-sensitive….and we receive an out-of-office when coordinating an interview. I don’t care if you are in the 5th Circle of Hell, you better pick up that phone.

I say this with so much love – butt out and let us do our job. Of course we have your best interest in mind, why would we work ourselves out of a job? We love having a conversation and answering your questions but when we have research and experience that back up our recommendations – LISTEN.