Invasive Marketing?

We all know the implications of an increase in seemingly tailored marketing. Advertisements are geared toward consumer interests and the prevalence of smart phones make shoppers sitting ducks for marketing sharp-shooters. Rob Martin, the principle and managing director (or "strategist") at MM2 Public Relations, identified two main factors as to why the consumer-marketer relationship has become more of a two-way communication model resembling a typical teenager-parent relationship:

1. The shift in media influence (from print to radio to TV to internet to smart phones)

2. Consumer interactivity (consumers are dictating the way things are going)

Integrated marketing, or the combination of PR, marketing and advertising, utilizes mediums to reach its audiences. Depending on the primary target, these ways of reaching people can vary. However, according to Martin, 1/3 of Americans own smart phones and 40% of non-wners want to buy them in the near future. "The smartphone has changed everything and this be the most influential medium there is," he said, "the smartphone is becoming the water-cooler of the future."

So now that we have the ability to personalize messages sent to consumers and track them down in a mall to alert them that there is a sale taking place in a store near their location that they visit "x" number of times  and purchase an average of "x" items from its online store per month, how personal is too personal? When does integrated marketing become invasive marketing?

When creepiness outweighs convenience and individual privacy is at risk, companies must be considering just how much permission they have to essentially stalk consumers. Daily email and catalog deliveries have evolved into direct conversation through Facebook and Twitter or push notifications of special offers as well as which of your friends have purchased the same item. Community seems to have gone digital. Communicating face to face with others appears to be a part of the past while many rely on social  interactions with strangers on the internet. At some point in the near future there must be a digression from this intensely invasive strategy during which companies and their integrated marketing teams must reevaluate principles of privacy.

And the Homework Never Stops...

Apparently, not much changes after you graduate with four years of homework and a communications degree under your belt. The evident fact that homework never seems to stop became clear after Michael Lake, head of the Dallas Burson-Marstellar office, walked us through a presentation he and his team pitched to one of their latest big clients. Slide after slide of this impressive power point was filled with research and statistics from which campaign slogan would resonate better with different audiences to a table that shows which political affiliation is more opposed to online gambling and why.

According to Lake, extensive research like this is paid for by the client after the account has been landed, however Burson-Marstellar often does a small amount of research even before they meet the client for the first time in hopes of teaching them something about their field or industry they hadn't realized. "We've learned that clients love data," Lake said, "and we try to do some unique research so we can show the client something they've never seen before." Having the upper hand in an informational presentation is how this company became one of the best. 

So what kind of things go into this research? You might assume that it is very surface level and similar to a marketing focus group where a handful of people eat cookies to determine if they're good or bad. And to be honest, this may be the approach other PR firms take, but at BM? Not a chance. The 20+ slide research Lake presented to us was so thorough that no tactic, audience, potential procedure, website feature, or opinion was left unanalyzed. 

The intensity of this procedure may seem a bit over the top, however in a business where one not only has to promote or increase awareness about a product or campaign, but must change the opinions of others, the research helps Lake and his team completely understand his audiences and what they react to. In the process of developing this campaign, Lake presented both a negative and positive approach in an attempt to determine through research which would resonate better with his target audiences. As it turns out, different audiences reacted differently to each approach. With this information, Lake now knows how to address certain groups of people when promoting his campaign depending on either their political affiliation, demographic, age, etc. Talk about strategic communication. 

Whether you are promoting a new brand of toothpaste or attempting to change public opinion on a controversial issue, the importance of doing your homework never diminishes. Just as a future employer is more inclined to hire an interviewee that researched his/her company, large clients that are about to spend significant amounts of money want to be assured that the PR firm they are potentially hiring can provide a service that their own in-house team can't. 

Misconceptions of Agency Life

The polarity between the hardened fast-paced environment of agency PR life versus the cushy, always-the-same-pitch mentality of corporate life has undoubtedly created an impression in my thoughts, and, like most uninformed preconceptions, was wrong.

This past Wednesday our communications class was able to host two members of the largest independent PR company in the world, Edelman. Jenn Little, a PR professional with years of professional experience in the field, is a veteran of both agency and corporate life whereas Ashley Maddocks, a recent graduate, is still developing a firm footing at the company. The two offered alternate perspectives on the PR world and painted a very different picture of life in an agency with high profile clients such as Burger King, Dove and Dickies workwear.

While the fast-paced environment that agencies are known for is often true in waves and felt even more at the small regional office that the two work at where junior executives, including Maddocks, often feel the brunt of the workload. According to Little, "Ashley's biggest challenge is knowing what has to be done, when it needs to be done, and how she is going to get it all done." While senior members of the corporation often have more of a hand in creating the plans, it is up to Ashely and her colleagues to implement them by making client deadlines and managing materials. As for corporate versus agency speed of work, Little added, "I don't think there's anything slow in PR because we're always communicating."

One thing that did surprise me is the interconnectedness between agencies and other PR professionals both in the corporate world as well as through the area's local boutiques. Little warned, "if you want to do PR in the Dallas Ft. Worth area, you better have a stellar reputation because there's a really strong networking area," as Maddocks added, "everybody knows everybody at least through someone else." These words of advice were reinforced with a story about an intern whose poor performance at another firm was communicated through Little's office and was ultimately denied the position... scary if you think about it.

Here's one aspect of agency life (and corporate life for that matter) that isn't surprising at all: the importance of WRITING. Maddocks explained that "you talk to reporters, it's great, it's fun, you might go to an event here or there but primarily your job is writing," emphasizing this point by listing the documents written that day, including a few press releases and a pitch among others.

Perhaps what surprised me the most on this subject was the permeability between agency and corporate PR positions. While I was under the impression that once students were out of college they were offered a small grace period in which to determine whether they fit in a corporate office or PR agency and once they decided, that was your home for the rest of your career. To my surprise, Little worked for a university, an agency and Pizza Hut before taking the job at Edelman... and seemed to transition seamlessly into each role. In addition, Little was able to incorporate her passion for sports into her agency lifestyle, both through different clients and Edelman's open policy of finding your niche within the company's departments.

According to Maddocks, she loves PR because "you get a lot of opportunities to get experience that no one else will get." And both agree, in this business it seems like almost nothing is valued more than experience.