Category

Communications

Sep 06
Love0

UVa Football and its Effect on Doing Business in Charlottesville

By Communications, Media

I have a confession to make: I’ve never been to a UVa football game. I’m not what you’d call a huge football fan and so, be forewarned, when I do, inevitably end up at a game some time in the future, seat me near someone who doesn’t care if I chatter away the entire game. Except for halftime, of course. I revere marching bands.

So as oblivious as I seemingly am to college football in my college town, I’m not at all, really. The schedule for games is on my fridge; I’m aware of when everyone with whom I do business will be heading to a game. I know when orange and blue are appropriate to wear (and where). I know when to avoid the grocery store and stocking up tailgaters.

You can’t, in other words, live in a college town and completely ignore football. In St. Louis, there was a similar impact on business with the St. Louis Cardinals (I am, despite my football apathy, a major league baseball fan). Opening day in the spring in St. Louis is a regional holiday; no one works and everyone watches, listens to and celebrates baseball.

What regional reasons for celebrating shut down your business? How do you change your behavior with clients and customers on or around game day? 

Sep 01
Love1

When Cute Doesn’t Cut It: Rep. Ed Markey on the East Coast Earthquake

By Communications, Crisis Communications, Media, Public Relations

The east coast earthquake of late August, 2011 may have damaged (perhaps insignificantly) the North Anna nuclear power plant situated 12 miles from the quake’s epicenter. NBC Washington reported the story, quoting Representative Ed Markey, D-Mass. from a statement urging further research into the safety of the plant. 

“Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., sent a letter last week to the NRC pressing the agency to determine whether the ground motion exceeded North Anna’s design and

Getty Images

to use the most up-to-date geological information to assess risks to nuclear power plants.

“There needs to be a seismic shift in the way in which these plants are protected from earthquakes or other natural disasters,” Markey said in a statement.”

I suspect a staffer in Markey’s office thought they were being cute, throwing the phrase “seismic shift” into a statement about an earthquake, but tensions are high, and weak humor from politicians (or their writers) is not at all appreciated.

Costly natural disasters are no time for puns; it’s important to be careful with language, even if you think it will never reach the masses.

 

 

 

 

Sep 01
Love1

13 BIG Things We Love about Charlottesville, Virginia

By Communications, Media, Public Relations

I’ve self-ordained as Charlottesville’s curator of what we love about our town. I cataloged 32 Small Things We Like About Charlottesville, Va., which led to an opportunity in Woman’s Day Magazine reaching more than four million. 

Now I’m thinking BIG and asked friends and followers what big things they like about our home in Central Virginia. The results are in:

  1. The Lawn at the University of Virginia
  2. John Paul Jones Arena (and specifically, basketball games at JPJ)
  3. Shenandoah National Park
  4. The Downtown Mall
  5. The Blue Ridge Mountains
  6. Monticello
  7. Two excellent hospitals/health care systems, Martha Jefferson Hospital (with a brand-new facility) and the world-class presence of the University of Virginia Health Care System
  8. Our designation as the locavore capital of the world
  9. Food! (Great farms, bakeries, restaurants, wineries, breweries and more!)
  10. The great musical legacy; that big acts come to town when they could easily pass a town this size by in favor of larger venues
  11. The Charlottesville Community Scholarship Program, established by the Charlottesville City Council to help make higher education accessible to all citizens and employees of the city
  12. It’s a small town with all the culture of a big city
  13. The (mostly) open-mindedness of the people who live here

This list is by no means complete. What would you add? Remember, we’re looking for BIG!

 

 

 

Aug 31
Love1

Why You Won’t See “Target Audience” or “Drive Traffic” on this Blog

By Communications, Media, Social Media

I am an impassioned believer in the culture of social media. I believe that social strategy works because of the culture and those that sidestep, shortcut or throw money at it to make it work will be sorely disappointed.

What is the culture of social media?

The culture is founded on shared information, transparency (before it became a buzzword), authenticity, real, personal experiences, (yes, Virginia, even in business experiences). The culture eschews the idea of TARGETING prospects and audiences. The beauty of blogging and subscribing to content via RSS feeds changed the way the world consumes information. We were given the power to choose what we take in; what we absorb. The onus was put, at last, on us, to opt in to the information we want and conversely, block that which we don’t.

The Currency of the Digital Age

Instead of TARGETING people (and that is an unfriendly, militaristic concept, isn’t it? Are they targets because we are shooting at them?) we, instead, create content that is genuine and interesting and in doing so attract those who are interested in the topic, the service, the product, etc. We pull in people who want to read, watch or listen to what we have to say. If it’s five or 500,000, it doesn’t matter, as long as the people who arrive feel rewarded, and honor us by paying for what we offer with their attention, the currency of the digital age.

Herding Cattle, Leading Lemmings

Look: I’m a small business person. I am an entrepreneur. I want eyes on my website and know that when those numbers increase, the warm leads I have grow and turn into new business opportunities. But there’s no cattle prod here. There’s no workaround that is consistent with the practice of developing authentic, solid business relationships. Any quick fix  that promises to “drive traffic to your site!” is not consistent with the values of those doing business today. It’s not a long term, big picture view of building a business that values people, their opinions and their dollars.

Decide what kind of business you want to be in, and engage accordingly.

Aug 30
Love0

Defining your Brand Position: Hint; it’s Not About You

By Communications

A logo is a brand image; not the position or definition of the brand.

Ask five people in an organization what the company’s brand position is and you’re likely to get five different answers. Ask five of their customers and you’re likely to get the same answer all five times.

Why is that?

What your brand position is not:

  • It’s not your mission statement
  • It’s not your logo or your “look and feel”
  • It’s not your service or product offerings
  • It’s not what you think it is
My friend Ken Mueller of Inkling Media summed it up nicely when he wrote Word of Mouth is THEIR Mouth not Yours.  Similarly, your brand position is what your customers believe it to be.

Your Brand is the Promise you Make and Keep When Interacting with Your Community

First, let’s define your community. It is those you serve, those interested in what you do, your employees and by extension, often, the families and friends (and sometimes neighbors) of those employees. What’s the promise? It is what you do and how you do it. If the community values what you do, that’s part of your brand. If they think you’re awful at it, well, that’s part of your brand, too.

What’s your promise? Is it what you want it to be? If not, what’s your plan for making a change?