For many, 2011 was a year of getting on more solid financial footing. That said, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese calendar—and Jan. 23 was the Chinese New Year Day.
So what lies ahead for your business in the Year of the Dragon?
According to a recent article by financial planner Katy Song, 2012 will be a year of unpredictability and intensity in financial matters. It will also be a great year for innovative businesses and ideas, she says.
But you don’t need various interpretations of what the Year of the Dragon may or may not mean to know that you can make this year a success—if you sign more clients and bring in more new business than you did last year. Regardless of whether you’re a PR, advertising, marketing firm—or an entrepreneurial business in ANY sector—these no-nonsense tips will help you sell your way to more success in 2012:
1. A network works. Ask your friends, colleagues and best clients for referrals and prepare to offer them an equal number of referrals (or at least a very generous thank you gift) for every referral they provide. Remember, people tend to have friends that are like themselves – so a great client has the potential to create more great clients for you.
2. Pitch what you know. No one wants to be first. Have examples of similar sized companies, companies in similar industries, and demonstrate the results you were able to achieve with those companies.
3. One size does not fit all. Be prepared to customize products and services to your clients unique business needs. After all, no one really looks great in a moumou.
4. Be prepared and don’t walk into a conversation cold. Know the competitors, how they size up against the competitors and identify some potential gaps.
5. Good questions are the key to being great at sales. Unlike popular folklore, the best sales people are the best listeners, not talkers. It’s not a matter of talking someone into something they don’t want, it’s a matter of listening to what the person needs, and determining if and how you can deliver it. The better attention you pay to their needs, the better suited your proposal will be and the more likely you’ll get the sale.
6. Sales are a process of elimination. “No thank you” can be the best answer you can hear from a prospect that is not interested in what you have to offer. I too often see desperate sales people try to hold on to a prospect because they can’t bear to hear no. If you listened attentively and presented what you believed the prospect asked for, and you still got a no – move on! A match is a two way street and you don’t want to try and work with someone that isn’t interested in working with you. Sales is a numbers game, make sure you have plenty of opportunity, so desperation isn’t part of your sales process.
7. Be specific. When you ask for a referral, be specific about what you want. Think about the size and type of company and what the perfect prospect would need from you. The more specificity, the closer the match.
8. Defining next steps in the sales process with your prospect is one of the best ways to ensure you understand how the prospect will make their decision. You can help the prospect outline their buying process and ensure you stay current with what they are looking for to make their decision.
9. Establish rapport with your prospect. Sometimes a sales person can dive right into business too quickly. There’s a fine line between becoming too much of a schmooze and too “hardcore” sales. Find a nice balance with your prospect by doing things like mirroring their communications style and pace, remembering personal facts that they mention and subsequently inquiring about them, but most importantly making sure that every meeting you conduct with them, you meet their needs.
10. Know when to walk. Honestly, in this economy very few sales people have felt like they have the opportunity to walk away from an opportunity. However, in some cases that is exactly what you should do. Are they trying to price you out of any profit on the deal? Are they asking for contract concessions that leave you vulnerable? Do their demands for service seem unreasonable? Usually people are on their best behavior when they begin a new relationship with a vendor. If the prospect starts out badly in the sales process, they will be a nightmare when they become a client. In fact, don’t just walk, run!
• Work hard.
• Deliver “crazy good” client satisfaction.
• Play hard.
Those are the top three mantras of Trainer Communications; oh, and let us also remind you that we have a ton of fun along the way.
We just enjoyed an amazing holiday party at Trainer for all of our employees and significant others. It was a progressive party format starting with a champagne bottle sabering contest here in our office (yes, really!), followed by a gourmet, sommelier-led wine tasting with paired appetizers, followed by a shopping spree at Williams-Sonoma where Trainer picked up the tab of course, followed by a delicious dinner at a 5-star restaurant, and a cocktail night cap at a watering hole featuring a pool shark who taught us all how to shoot like Minnesota Fats.
Our office always looks great with all of our employees taking artistic license to dress up their offices and cubicles to recognize the holidays in their own personal way; however, this time of year a few Trainer employees really went crazy as they tried to win the “Best Decorated Cubicle” contest at Trainer Communications. For those of you who can’t come by the office to see this first hand, check out the video. Ho Ho Ho! Happy Holidays and cheers to a Happy New Year!
Trainer Communications hosted its first ever SharkTank event on November 17th and I must say, what a show! From big name journalists to empowering executives, I have never felt so privileged to be surrounded by so many influential people.
SharkTank is Trainer Communications’ spin on the SharkTank television show. SharkTank allowed executives from technology companies to go in front of a panel of journalists to pitch his or her company. The journalists then provided immediate feedback on the pitch and let the executives know what worked and what needed improvement.
Being an account associate and this being my first “big kid” job, I learned so much and have grown professionally through this experience. I have never known another public relations agency to produce an event the caliber of SharkTank which allows public relations professionals and executives to build one-on-one relationships with those who can help put their companies on the map.
In today’s world, having a journalist write about a company gives it more recognition and hopefully contributes to more revenue growth. This panel of judges included business, broadcast and technology reporters from The San Jose Mercury News to Forbes to ABC.
I have always thought to myself, “How do people in this industry build relationships with journalists?” If anything, this event taught me how to do just that.
Step one: treat journalists like actual people and not someone who will just write a story for you. While I was mingling around the beautiful ballroom at the Hotel Vitale in San Francisco, I noticed executives and colleagues of mine talking to the journalists about their personal lives, asking questions like, “What instrument do you play?” or “How is your mother doing?”
It’s interesting how much journalists appreciate PR people to actually act like humans instead of pitching robots.
Step two: invite them to spend time with you outside of work. Invite them for a drink or to another networking event you think they might like to attend. This way it actually shows the journalists that you aren’t just thinking about them for their writing skills, and that you really do want to have a relationship with them beyond just a professional one.
Before you know it, you will have made a new friend. Friends that can not only teach you a thing or two about the industry, but who can also teach you how to respect one another. Respect the other person for who they are and for their time.
The final and maybe the most important step: be professional while attending a networking event. Trainer had invited these journalists to attend this charity event to not only help raise money for Baykeepers, but to also build relationships and create stories. Part of our job was to introduce the executives to the journalists to make sure the journalists received enough information about the executives and their companies.
We have to value the journalists’ time because it is very limited. I’ve learned that the journalists will appreciate you more if you bring them the stories they are actually interested in. Journalists truly appreciate having public relations professionals do a little research on them before approaching them.
All in all, this event was a huge success. I have learned the dos and don’ts of how to build relationships with the press and will be implementing what I learned in my daily role as I continue to grow my career with Trainer Communications.
I’m here at Interop New York and when I first saw the news of Steve’s passing last night come through Twitter, I, like thousands, felt a sense of loss and sadness. In the aftermath, I have seen media legends — Om Malik, Walt Mossberg, and Anderson Cooper — all comment on what this loss means to technology and Silicon Valley; but I wanted to write what it means to the PR community.
Jobs did an amazing thing; he transformed high-tech concepts and produced universally-loved devices that my Mom had to have. He put color in machines; he made using a computer easy; he made getting a computer fixed easy (thank you Genius bar!); and he made technology cool again. I’ll admit that my Mom has a Macbook and an iPod, and just got the iPad 2 for her birthday.
By making his products user friendly and intuitive, Jobs broke down the education barrier for millions of people making it easier for them to understand technology worldwide. And for us PR pros, we were able to take that knowledge and apply it to our own clients. Wi-Fi, yes your iPhone can use it. Security? Yes, it applies to your iBook too. Before Jobs, only a handful of people both in press and technology would understand what an “app” is and what it could do for you.
Steve Jobs also taught the PR world other valuable lessons including how to present to an audience (ever been two minutes late to an Apple keynote? Good luck finding a seat. He was that good.), the value of being passionate about your products and how never to lose sight of what’s important for the customer.
So yes, we lost a brilliant thinker and a genius entrepreneur; but for PR, we lost a man who was the Willy Wonka of technology — able to bring pure imagination and wonder to technology — which for the most part has been cold and hard to understand. So thank you Steve Jobs. We here at Trainer Communications will miss you and will continue to learn from all that you taught us — especially, a little color goes a long way.
This entry was written by Erin Lumley, posted on October 7, 2011 at 3:39 pm, filed under Marketing, PR. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
With the wild popularity of YouTube, Flip video cameras and the iPhone, it seems that almost everyone is a videographer and producer these days. The technology is so user friendly – shoot, edit, share – anyone can produce a video, right?
It all depends on your definition of quality. Granted, most of us aren’t ready for Hollywood, nor do we need to be; but for businesses – especially technology companies looking to video as one more way to evangelize stories in a professional manner – you may want to think twice about “Joe iPhone dude” shooting, editing and producing your new product launch demonstration or customer testimonial video. As the saying goes, “you get what you pay for.”
Here are five tips to consider when shooting and producing a high-quality video for your business:
1. Less is more and “make it move.” Research shows the most widely watched videos are less than 60 seconds. That’s not to say longer videos aren’t also successful, but you need to know how to make a video “move” and stay engaging for its entire duration.
2. Beware of rookie shooting mistakes. Everyone’s first inclination when using a video camera is to pan and zoom. Such camera moves are inherently slow moving, which is the last thing you want when you are trying to produce a fast-paced, tight video.
3. Short and sweet sound bites. The best sound bites are only 3-5 seconds long. Look for a producer with a television background who both knows how to ask questions like a reporter to illicit conversational, succinct sound bites, and who can “hear” a sound bite – this is an art.
4. It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it. The most brilliant people in the world can deliver the worst sound bites on camera. A monotone voice and stiff body language will ensure a video flop. Tap a former reporter to conduct the interview so your spokesperson loosens up and becomes as smooth an orator as someone in the Oval Office.
5. Tell a story. Everyone loves to listen to a good story, so plan your story in your shoot. The best videos are ones that weave a story-telling element along the way. This is a lot easier said than done – again, consult a professional who can capture the right pictures and voices to tell a story to keep the viewer engaged and tally up thousands of YouTube views.
Indeed, in the digital age, video production has become commoditized, and because it’s so popular and “everybody’s doing video,” quality standards are often compromised. So how can you protect yourself and verify if someone knows what they are doing before engaging them on a video project?
Just like you screen a job applicant, consider asking your videographer a few questions from the following list (only the good ones will know the right answers!).
1. Why is it important to white balance a video camera?
2. What does the phrase “wide, medium, tight” mean to you?
3. What is the purpose of a cutaway shot?
4. Do you typically butt-cut your sound bites? Why would you do this?
5. What’s the difference between A-roll, B-roll, and voice overs?
Oh yea, if you want to know the answers or consult with us about how to distinguish “Frank’s Flip Cam Productions” from true video professionals, we are happy to assist. Just contact us here – no need to disturb your Hollywood agent. Or if you are really creative, submit your questions via video and we just might post them on TrainerTV!
We’ve come to expect entertainment in our personal and our work lives these days, putting the creative pressure on marketing groups to more effectively get the word out. It turns out that many animations are slightly modified versions of old-school cartoons. They are far more entertaining than talking-head videos, and they are fun to share. Let’s face it – they are “edutainment” (education meets entertainment). The fun comes from the sarcastic tone or the thinly disguised competitor that is being portrayed as “old school” or perhaps “not the brightest bulb.” The animation gets extra points if it teaches or reminds the viewer of something important, or best of all, causes them to take some action.
Below is a snapshot of a very entertaining animation that Trainer Communications recently produced for our client Nimsoft (a division of CA Technologies). If you would like to see it in its entirety below:
If you are considering animation to help share your story, consider the following tips:
1: Hire a professional animator to help you execute. Don’t waste time trying to figure it out in-house, and don’t assume a former web developer can create an artistic animation.
2: Animations have to be simple. One obvious message told in a funny manner is the best format. When the story gets complicated, your audience gets lost.
3: Keep it short. Animations are generally less than three minutes. Ideally, your animation will be less than two minutes. If it’s done well, you’ll have plenty of time to get your point across.
4: Start with a strong story board. Get the script reviewed and approved before the animation begins by the decision makers. This means everyone should be comfortable with the script and the direction of the animation. Radical changes in script and direction can make a reasonably priced animation become unaffordable and can double the time it takes to complete.
5: Limit the characters in your story. Remember, each character will need a voice and voice talent is pricey! Prepare to pay several hundred dollars per character.
6: Set investment expectations accordingly. The animation drawing and scripting is typically priced between $2,000 and $4,000 (depending on length and not including voice talent). The more complex, the higher the cost.
7: Allow enough time to produce your animation. If you are super efficient, have clear direction on the script, and have a good sense of humor and some in-house talent to support the animator – you can produce a two to three minute animation in about four weeks (if you have a reasonably easy approval process with the decision makers). Allow more time if any of these variables are different.
If you have more questions about animations, please don’t hesitate to contact the team here at Trainer . Check back next week for the specifics on creating video!
The saying has been around forever, and it’s never been more true than today: A picture is worth a 1,000 words! In today’s time-starved generation – where every concept has to be more quickly understood than the last, learners crave information that is easy to understand. The National Department of Educational Psychology confirms that people are primarily visual learners. The message is: if you want someone to understand a new concept, create an image.
Many companies are now adopting an infographic format to communicate quickly and effectively with their audiences. This format aggregates interesting data that demonstrates a trend or supports an opinion and presents it in a chart form accompanied by a few descriptive words. This type of content is often colorful and entertaining to the viewer.
Before you proceed with your “Monet moment,” consider the following 12 tips for effectively developing an infographic:
1: Keep the message simple. Infographics fail if you are trying to convey too many concepts. One key point is sufficient.
2: Your audience must be able to understand your point in just seven seconds (or less). Don’t make your audience work too hard to decipher the chart or graphic.
3: Simple bar charts still win with publications. Sadly, Trainer learned that clever designs don’t always win. We spent hours designing a wonderful “heart” infographic for one of our clients around Valentine’s Day. It was too hard to understand. Yet the simple bar chart we created a few months ago for a client (below) was quickly picked up by CNET.
4: Geography differences are of particular interest. For example: which areas of the country do things more often, faster, better, spend more money on something, etc. These charts are incredibly popular.
5: If you have access to information that provides a contrarian perspective, that type of infographic will likely garner interest.
6: Focus on statistics that will have wide-spread interest. Cast a wide net when you produce your chart. For example “hiring trends for college graduates in the U.S.” will be far more effective than “hiring trends for mechanical engineering students in Detroit.”
7: Infographics “experts” are readily and affordably available on eLance and ODesk. With a little creativity and access to some substantiated data, you can hire a graphics expert for very little investment and create a visually interesting chart.
8: One short sentence. That’s all the space you have to say what you mean.
9: You are representing this information as valid and correct, so don’t use someone else’s information. Leverage Survey Monkey or Zoomerang to develop your own data.
10: If you are conducting a survey, make sure your sample size is significant and your questions are well designed so that you can accurately interpret and represent responses and trends.
11: If you are conducting a survey, make sure your survey audience is appropriately suited to understand and respond to the questions you are asking.
12: If you are a service provider or a SaaS vendor, you will likely be able to aggregate information that you already have.
If you have more questions about infographics, please don’t hesitate to contact the team here at Trainer http://trainercomm.com/contact/. Check back here next week for the specifics on creating animation!
There’s a popular sentiment that the pen is mightier than the sword. Well, in these days, it’s a metaphorical pen – and in most cases– a keyboard or keypad. The point is: he who publishes content wins. Companies are quickly jumping on the bandwagon to publish their own thoughts on the industry, their own statistics, and even their own entertainment to attract the highly-coveted impressions, click-throughs, and social media engagements sought by marketers.
Trends are converging that force companies into self-publishing content: a shortage of journalists and an onslaught of big ideas. With reduced advertising budgets and a severe staff shortage, most publications are only too happy to accept vendor-neutral, informative, content on current industry events, trends and opinions. This provides an unprecedented opportunity for companies of every size to become a thought leader. One warning: don’t think old school. It’s not (only) about contributed articles; in fact these days, it is much more about graphics and entertainment than a traditional 1,000 word opinion piece.
Following are a few ways to own and publish content that will set your company apart. In subsequent blogs, we’ll dive into the “how to” develop these powerful forms of content.
1) Infographics
Aggregating interesting data that demonstrates a trend or supports an opinion into a chart form with a few descriptive words is both colorful and fun. It embodies the idea “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
2) Animation
If you have a sense of humor, animation may be one of your best tools. No longer are geeks satisfied by boring lingo – they want to be entertained and animation (particularly when it is humorous) goes over big with the tech community.
3) Lights, Camera, Action!
There is a reason YouTube has become the number two search engine in the world. It turns out people really like watching news and entertainment, not necessarily reading it.
4) Statistics, Lies, and Damn Lies
People really enjoy surveys – especially if you have a reasonable sample and an interesting topic (contrarian opinions are always good).
5) The Payback of a Click
With so many stories being judged by the “click” rather than by a reader’s review, a slide show is a solid way of publishing opinions on publication sites. Publishers get paid by the click and slides create a lot of clicks.
6) The eBook
Amazon and others have made it easy for you to self-publish opinions in a book available to your customers, your prospects, or your staff. Now your fan base can easily find you on iTunes.
7) Social is Sweet!
Relevant Tweets, Facebook updates and LinkedIn status updates are great content platforms. It’s short, easy and sweet! Graphics and pictures are awesome attention grabbers. Remember to use bitly links back to your website so you can easily track who is consuming your content.
Check back here in a few days for the specifics on how best to implement these ideas and become the King of your content.
Coming out of last month’s extremely successful IT Security Trends and Issues 2011 VIP event, Trainer Communications wanted to share our best kept secrets for making an impact. With conference season in full bloom, the following are some surefire ways to get your company noticed:
1 ) Host a VIP event
VIP events are great opportunities to connect your customers, prospects, and industry pundits. Use these opportunities to show how much you appreciate your customers by presenting awards for their great work, leverage the pundits to talk about the future, and let the great networking illustrate the value you provide to the greater community.
2 ) Get creative with lower cost sponsorships If you have the budget for advertising at major conference you may not want to blow it all in one place. Consider creative solutions that tie into your integrated marketing plan. For example, if you can’t afford the $15,000 fee to hang your banner in the expo — consider investing in sponsoring the bags for conference attendees or booth freebies that attendees will appreciate that simultaneously help you anchor your value proposition. A stylish company branded tote bag or notepad can go a long way at major industry events where everyone is struggling to organize themselves – literally on the run. Drawings and give-aways always make for great booth traffic, the iPad and the new Thunderbolt are two electronic gadgets that will definitely attract bodies. Our favorite low-budget conference visibility tip is hands down, napkins. Placing company branded napkins in busy areas where there may be food and drink is helpful for the attendees and subtly reminds them of your presence. (Check with conference sponsors, of course! ) The point is there are many opportunities to make your presence well known, evaluate options based on the amount of time your audience will spend with them, the “wow” factor you’ll get from them, and obviously, the cost.
3 ) Capture video for long term SEO One of the greatest things you can do to improve your web traffic (long term) is to create dynamic video content. Get on the right side of Google search engines by uploading videos to YouTube that tie back to your website. Even a simple live report from your booth can capture search engine attention – especially if you use the right keywords.
4 ) Create resources for media If you have a product or service announcement that you’re debuting at a conference be prepared for the fallout. Have USB sticks prepared with press releases, head shots, bios, and survey results so reporters can write a story on your news even if they don’t have the time to take a briefing. Don’t forget to have customer quotes and contact information for customers and company officials easily accessible on the sticks as well.
5 ) Visualize your data and announcements Infographics are in and here to stay. Reporters and bloggers often don’t have the time to sift through your 30 page survey report to get the facts they need in time to meet their deadlines. Do the heavy lifting for them and organize your findings in a more easily digestible format. Check out Trainer’s RSA infographic featuring our clients comment on key trends and issues in the IT security.
6 ) Conduct booth surveys to elongate the news cycle Don’t assume the marketing opportunities end with conference. Conduct research from your booth space and announce the findings at the conference or at a later date to further validate your solution or the market problem it solves. Use this information to follow up with reporters and analysts you may have met for the first time at the conference. Make sure your surveys are unique and ensure you have a plan for getting a reasonable sample size. You’ll need to survey hundreds of folks, so prepare to have a nice incentive to make those numbers.
7 ) Live Tweet instant updates and connections Relevant Tweets get picked up by Google search and are a great way to build your brand awareness via search engines. Utilize a monitoring tool like TweetDeck to stay up to date with conference related hashtags so you can identify influencers and own the conversation.
8 ) Embrace the LaunchPad If you’re a midsize company with an enterprise solution, don’t underestimate the power of a LaunchPad presentation if you are denied a traditional speaking track. LaunchPad submissions tend to be more social in nature and they include social media and video components. Most LaunchPads end with a demo presentation of your nominated solution – something you can’t do in vendor neutral speaking tracks!
9 ) Unusual demonstrations captivate media attention There’s a fine line between being sensational and commanding an audience. Think differently to create a demonstration that’s appropriate for the event. If you have a disruptive product or solution don’t be afraid of staging a protest against the norm. If you don’t have the finances to think big consider using social media to go viral with a relevant demo video or controversial animation. We have used vehicles (Winnebago’s as our demo booths – chauffeuring journalists up and down the Vegas strip demonstrating technology). We have also used sports cars with logos that magnetically attach to the car to pick journalists up to take them to a demonstration facility off the show floor.
10 ) Let your customers do the talking No one likes getting the used car salesman’s pitch. Current customer success, told from their perspective, will help you develop instant credibility and take higher ground when talking to prospects. Arranging for your customers to speak, appear at a company sponsored event, provide quotes for marketing materials and press releases, provide the detail for written and video case studies, and speak with media on your behalf, will further increase your visibility and credibility at the conference.
What’s the main takeaway? “Don’t bore Nina.” Or in this case your audience.
Check out this infographic showcasing Trainer Communications’ high tech pr programs featuring our clients and friends commenting on the latest industry stories. If you weren’t able to attend our RSA luncheon in February this infographic is a great way to catch up on Stuxnet, Anonymous, Mobile, WikiLeaks and Google compromises.
