‘Trustability’ and why negative reviews are good for business
The counter-intuitive headline ‘Negative reviews drive sales, claims marketing expert’ on Marketing magazine’s web site caught my eye. But as I finished reading I was left none the wiser about why. Normally I would have stopped there and thought no more about it but the man behind this claim is Don Peppers, a widely-acknowledged marketing expert. To get to the reasons for Peppers’ claim I had to spend an hour watching his presentation at a recent conference about social media and marketing. I heartily recommend you make the same time commitment. He’s a great presenter and you’ll probably come ... read the full post »
19 July 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : advocacy, B2B, reputation, selling, trust.
A great, creative example of how to win business using Twitter
I really like how a freelance Dutch creative duo used Twitter to get noticed and ultimately hired by a hard-to-reach group that happens to spend a lot of time on Twitter: creative directors in advertising agencies. Naturally, I'd prefer read the full post »
04 July 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : new business, proactive, selling, social media, Twitter.
A journalist calls asking for your comments. What should you do first?
Most business people are understandably wary of talking to journalists because they know they don’t control the outcome. They worry about looking stupid, being misquoted or misunderstood. There are techniques you can deploy to minimise all of these possibilities but for this posting I want to talk about another danger: finding you’ve ended up offering the unintended ‘contrarian’ viewpoint. This happened recently to a university professor who was invited alongside myself and three other very experienced PR professionals to offer his views on the importance of selling in public relations. ... read the full post »
30 May 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : communications strategy, media coverage, media relations, public relations, selling.
Pleading and humour aren’t enough to get you into editorial pages
Some people find this Youtube video of a mock-plaintive junior at PR agency Ten Yetis amusing. Maybe it did the trick but it left me feeling a little embarrassed for her. If I was her client, I’d be wondering if that’s all there is to pitching journalists – and wondering if I didn’t need a little more marketing savvy injecting into my PR efforts. Why, for example, was there not one single good reason offered up to the journalist to write about the product in that video? Why do readers need to know about ... read the full post »
03 May 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : adding value, media coverage, media relations, pitching, PR firms, reputation, selling, USP, YouTube.
Why we need to hear less from you and more from your customers
Most people old enough to be in senior management roles today know the slogan 'Let your fingers do the walking'. It did wonders for promoting Yellow Pages and joined the advertising hall of fame back in 2002. But how about ‘Let your clients do the talking’? Nope, that doesn’t resonate quite so loudly does it? But it should, because credible endorsements from others are one of the most potent sales tools in business-to-business, especially if you’re selling professional services. PR professionals call this ‘third party endorsement’ (TPE) and, well managed, it can win you business, forge alliances, improve recruitment ... read the full post »
07 January 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | 1 Comment »
Tagged : communications strategy, marketing, new business, reputation, selling, third party endorsement.
Pitching is on the rise – but who really pays and how much does it cost?
Most companies who hire marketing services firms love to assert their power by making their suppliers jump through hoops from time to time, and it’s an increasing practice. Which is why, a few times each month, suppliers of advertising, public relations and other marketing services have to participate in a time consuming and usually fruitless ‘beauty parade’ game, otherwise known as pitching for client business (other businesses use the more generally known term: selling). I’ve been on both sides of the fence on many occasions and can tell you it ... read the full post »
18 May 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | 1 Comment »
Tagged : agencies, agency management, Microsoft, new business, pitching, PR firms, PRCA, selling.