Posts Tagged “Boston PR”

Over the last few years, I have noticed a division in the types of marketing people I meet. Some colleagues have referred to this as data driven vs. marcom/branding types but in my mind this view never really worked. While the increasing measurability of the web does provide an unfair advantage to marketers with MBAs and an undergraduate degree in something unsexy like engineering or chemistry, it always seemed like there was something more at play.

In recent weeks, I’ve been a part of a team that is transforming its product development philosophy from a “waterfall” (lots of time building a fixed specification followed by a long development cycle) to an “agile” approach (shorter development cycles with lots of iterations since you can’t really know reality until you try something). Software developers have employed this methodology for years but it isn’t just a more effective way to get “good enough” products out on time. It is a way of thinking that can be embraced by other  functions including marketing.

I know that many of the world’s greatest dictators/managers want to believe that marketers can accurately predict the future but they can’t. I’ve never been able to do it and as a result have resorted to an iterative approach that relies on low cost testing of media and programs. This makes the ad sales reps at the trade magazines or WBUR radio angry but the fact is that marketing is as much about science as art. I know, I know, we all have to build a brand by spending money on difficult-to-measure things like PR and advertising. By using iterative, agile tactics, however, it is possible to mitigate your risk, improve your overall marketing ROI and put a smile on your pointy headed CFO’s face.

Taking inspiration from an article on the Web 2.0 organization, I created this table that highlights what I see as some of the key differences between a traditional waterfall and an agile approach to marketing.

Did I miss anything? I would welcome any other suggestions people might have for the list as I don’t think it is exhaustive.

1. Get a shiny new “persona”. Using the name your parents gave you is boring. Why be Frank when you could be something hipper like Days.fm or Tangyslice. Check out the Internet Anagam Generator where there is an endless supply of hip sounding yet meaningless names at your disposal.

2. Join Twitter and start following the cool people.

3. Start reading Valleywag.

4. Get a new haircut and dark rimmed glasses. This is one of those rare moments in your professional life when a receding hairline plays to your advantage. Go ahead. You can do it.

5. Use Facebook to make fun of your boss’ inability to put his cellphone on vibrate (and see if he notices (sorry Mark)).

6. Dream up unproven, speculative social media promotions and pester your Marketing Director to drop everything because “the future is now”.

7. Attend a Mzinga lunchtime BBQ – again this is where you can meet really cool people.

8. Hire a new PR firm – Despite my recent poking at some of the “old school” firms, these guys are really up on what works and what doesn’t (sorry about the old school label Shift Communications, I let my past experiences cloud the fact you have some of the top social media people in Boston).

9. Get a new PDA/iPhone. I went with the stylish Blackberry Pearl as it works like a PDA yet feels like a phone.

10. Sign up for HelloTxt or Ping.fm so you can look like a hero by posting your status updates everywhere with one click.

11. Find a couple of friends for regular Twitter banter and inside jokes (OK, enough with the duck jokes).

12. Bore your suburban neighbors by endlessly babbling about how social media will change their lives.

13. Sign up for every social media site you can find to see if there really is something different out there.

Social media coolness is a few clicks away. What are you waiting for…

“The Final Pitch” can be the most entertaining and frustrating part of the selection process. We started with goals of understanding the strategic strengths of the principals and quality of the proposed team for our account. Both Limeduck and I have experienced the classic agency “bait and switch” (ie the killer pitch from the partner only to get stuck with a team full of underwhelming fresh grads learning the ropes). Since we already had at least one phone call and one in-person meeting with each team, we were focused on getting to know the people who would ultimately do the work.

The real first test was when we asked that the proposed account team deliver the final pitch. After the initial shock of this request subsided, each of the finalists found a way to trust its people. While the pitches tended to follow the scripts, we eventually got authentic responses from the individuals and a clear view of the team dynamics.

Things we looking for:

• How comfortable was the principal in keeping quiet while we probed for original thought?
• How fresh were the ideas?
• Did these people really understand and use social media?
• What members of the team had relevant experience with Web 2.0 clients?
• Did they really understand what we did and viewed us as more than just another account?

Many intangible measures come out during “The Final Pitch”. We were looking for signs of learning. For example, how did the team refine its initial ideas from the first meeting to the final pitch? We also believe that Firstgiving is doing something truly different so were expecting a unique pitch that reflected this belief. And finally, we were looking for how the team worked together as this is a reasonable proxy for how they would work with our team.

Stay tuned for more details about how put it all together.

Based on the criteria from my previous post, we made the following short list of candidates:

• PerkettPR (referral from friend at ConstantContact)
• KEL and Partners (found them Googling)
• Topaz (Limeduck worked with them before and raved about working with @DougH)
• Version 2 Communications (Got recent LinkedIn connection from old colleague Rob Halpin who is working for Maura FitzGerald’s new agency)
• Waggener Edstrom (family friend Jon Bornstein just landed there)

Here are some of the other well known Boston PR firms that we knew about but didn’t consider:

• Schwartz Communications
• PAN Communications
• Shift Communications

These were under the category of “old school firms I have worked with in the past or knew their reputation”.

Stay tuned for more info about how we evaluated each firm.