There’s a lot of coverage right now about personal resolutions like eating healthy food and exercising, however brands and marketers should also consider activities that they want to change this year. If 2011 wasn’t up to par, or you wish you had done things differently when it came to your marketing activity, you’re not alone. It’s healthy to take a pause and review what worked and what didn’t over the course of the last year, and make appropriate adjustments.  Now is the time to evolve and learn from the past.

Our team here at CMD did a lot of evaluation on the strategies and tactics that we implemented for our clients over the past 12 months and without question, it was helpful. After all, the definition of insanity is performing the same function time and time again and hoping for a different outcome. The bottom line? Status quo rarely works.

So, here are three resolutions that brands should strongly consider in 2012 if they want to shake things up and keep evolving in 2012:

Plan, plan, plan: It’s easy to look quarter-by-quarter, but nothing brings clarity to a marketing initiative like looking ahead 12 months, especially when it comes to content on your social channels. Take a shot at planning out your content for the year by asking yourself, “Where are all of our tradeshows? What messages do we want to hit, and when is the right time to deploy?”  Just like attacking a cluttered closet that you’ve been meaning to get to, keep the valuable content items and toss the rest. It will clear your mind and your marketing plans.

Pull the trigger:  How many of you have an idea in the drawer that’s never seen the light of day? Like a bowl-induced, New Year’s Day football coma, inertia kills marketing success quickly. Sitting on an idea or making a plan and thinking it to death doesn’t generate results. Take a proactive approach this year, trust your agency to deliver a campaign that hits your objectives, and go for it.

Remember traditional PR: Because I’m in the Earned Media/Public Relations group at CMD, I’m biased toward utilizing traditional PR channels. I love calling the desks at publications and pitching a great story. Social media has dominated the conversation the past four years, but remember that there are still traditional media outlets that can spread your word far and wide. They are looking for content. A few strategic pitches could bring you more good luck than a dish of black-eyed peas (it’s a Southern New Year’s tradition, look it up.)

What are your marketing resolutions for 2012?

Thanks to video streaming services like UStream and Livestream, which take live video footage from a webcam and serve it up for audiences on the Internet, the capability for brands to broadcast from a trade show or event is achievable. In fact, UStream has partnered with Facebook so if you have a Facebook fan page you can live stream content directly into the social network. But, think about the process and setup before you jump in with both feet. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

Earlier this year our team proposed a live stream engagement for a client from their largest trade show of the year. The idea was to pull the video feed into the company’s well-trafficked community and involve viewers in each day’s activity. Armed with nothing but a web camera, a laptop with a dedicated WiFi signal, and a few prayers, we recommended the live stream tactic in order to expand the footprint of the company’s booth beyond the show walls and reach those who could not attend.

Did it go off without a hitch? Yes, in a manner of speaking, but there were some lessons learned:

• If given the option for a hardwire Internet connection, take it. We relied on a wireless signal which connected well from the depths of a busy trade show floor, but we would have received better picture quality with a high-speed connection.
• Prepare. There’s no detail too small to rehearse or write. Treat the live stream as you would a television show. Everything needs to be scripted.
• Test the technology multiple times. The CMD team tested the equipment at least three times before we departed from the agency, and then again at the show floor the day before the event. Just to be sure, we didn’t promote until we knew it would work.
• Have a good microphone setup. Trade show floors can be noisy, so we invested in a wireless microphone package that provided excellent sound quality and took the worry out of live streaming the event. Nothing is worse than capturing video and not being able to hear the people on camera speaking.
• Bring grip tape. Don’t worry, you’ll find out why if you try live streaming video from your next event. OK, here’s a hint: chances are excellent you will need to either tape something together for the short term, or hold something back that’s in the frame, or both, so trust me on this one.

What questions do you have about live streaming?

As a homeowner I was happy to leave the lawn care to someone else. As a marketer, I was happy for the company, because its plan had worked: develop a strategy for outreach (go door-to-door), print a leave-behind with a call-to-action (flyer) that was enticing, and process the order. In my case, this company’s marketing resulted in success.

Full disclosure. Not a true representation of the author’s lawn.

Or did it? When I needed to get ready for winter, I wanted to work with the company again. I went to their website, sent them an email about coming back to my neighborhood . . . and never heard back from anyone. I took the next step and called the company. Left a message. Nothing.

This spring, a different company left me a flyer for lawn aeration, fertilizing and seeding services. I bit again, but not before thinking about how the other company lost me as a customer because of its lack of customer service. I would have used the original company again given the chance, but that chance never arrived. Sound familiar?

As marketers we should be monitoring how our customer care department is treating the new clients that our campaigns earn. Are they letting those hard-earned buyers get away? Factor some time into your future campaigns to make sure the customer service team is on board, supporting your plans to acquire, and hopefully keep, new customers. After all, the easiest way to new business is to please existing customers.

What do you think about the connection between marketing and customer service? (And if you need a good lawn care company, drop me a line. Happy to make a referral.)

Bill Fisher, CMD Account Supervisor, Earned Media

PORTLAND, Ore. – CMD, one of the leading integrated marketing agencies on the West Coast, continues to strengthen its award-winning social media and community management team with the hire of Bill Fisher as an account supervisor in its earned media group.

In his new role at CMD, Fisher will help implement community program planning and development along with social media strategy for agency clients.

With more than 10 years of experience, Fisher possesses a unique combination of skills in web technologies and community platforms paired with a background in traditional and digital marketing. Before joining CMD, Fisher worked for Via Training as a community manager for one of Microsoft’s award-winning community programs. Prior to specializing in community programs, he was a marketing and training content manager, copywriter and digital information architect for clients including Hewlett-Packard, Comcast, Microsoft and Best Buy. Fisher holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa in Film and Video Production.

“Community management continues to grow as an integral part of holistic social media programs, and CMD is dedicated to securing the best talent to meet that need,” said Darcie Meihoff, CMD vice president and managing director/earned media. “Bill will have an immediate impact on all phases of community management, from building and nurturing communities to executing programs and analyzing and reporting community activity.”

About CMD

With an arsenal of specialized disciplines, CMD takes a synergistic approach to tackling the toughest marketing challenges in a new era of communications by using the right blend of powerful solutions—including digital, advertising, social media, PR, promotions, film and video and more. Headquartered in Portland, Ore., and ranked among the nation’s top 20 independent agencies, CMD works with some of the world’s leading brands including Microsoft, JELD-WEN, Intel, McCormick & Schmick’s, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, NW Natural and Timber Products. CMD also has offices in Seattle, San Francisco and New York, and can be found online through the CMD website, Twitter, Facebook or blog.

Selected to be on the docket as an expert blogger was CMD Earned Media team member Melissa Lion. She will be one of just 250 people tapped to present at the national conference in March in Austin, Texas.

Melissa Lion, CMD senior account executive and social media expert, will present at this year’s SXSW Interactive Conference on blogging and working with brands.

Her presentation, From Personal Blogger to Professional Marketer, was voted into the top 10 percent of submissions by SXSW fans nationwide from a field of 2,500 entries. Lion will cover topics such as revising your resume to highlight blogging and community management experience, and the qualities marketers and brands are seeking.

“Melissa has a terrific instinct about today’s digital marketing environment and will do an outstanding job representing CMD, and Portland, on the biggest stage in social media,” said Darcie Meihoff, APR, vice president of the Earned Media team. “Her experience as a blogger brings a solid perspective to our clients’ marketing efforts, including content creation and community outreach.”

In Sept. 2010, Lion presented her topic along with Julie Yamamoto, account director of the CMD Earned Media team, at Wordcamp Portland.

Lion made the jump from personal blogger to professional marketer in 2010. After freelancing for four years as a blogger, a consultant and teaching private classes on social media and narrative as well as blogging, she revamped her resume to highlight the blogging skills in which marketers would be most interested. She joined the Earned Media (PR/Social Media) team in March of 2010 as a senior account executive working on such clients as Intel and JELD-WEN. Follow her tweets at SXSW on her handle, @melissalion.

“Bloggers are always trying to find ways to monetize their blogs,” she said.  “This topic turns that idea on its head. It’s about using your blog and experience with social media to gain a regular paycheck doing what you love.”

About CMD
With an arsenal of specialized disciplines, CMD takes a synergistic approach to tackling the toughest marketing challenges in a new era of communications by using the right blend of powerful solutions – including digital, advertising, social media, PR, promotions, film & video and more. Headquartered in Portland, Ore., and ranked among the nation’s top 20 independent agencies, CMD works with some of the world’s leading brands including Microsoft, JELD-WEN, Intel, McCormick & Schmick’s, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, NW Natural, and Timber Products. CMD also has offices in Seattle, San Francisco and New York, and can be found online through the CMD website, Twitter, Facebook or blog.

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It was a good question, considering that content is right behind a sound strategy as the number one priority for any successful social media initiative. As we’ve seen over and over in our client campaigns, content drives everything else. It has to be interesting for the other pieces to fall into place and achieve overall goals. These channels are always on and the need for content becomes a beast that needs constant feeding.

Why is Paul out of step with the rest of the band? Let's discuss on social media.

My friend’s question led me to search for an analogy that could be easily understood by those who might not be too familiar with what it takes to use social media successfully. Then it hit me, on Sunday morning, listening to the radio: the Beatles.

Yes, if you’ve ever heard a Sunday morning Beatles show you now know where social media content comes from. The answer: it’s everywhere. No detail is too small to become content, as these shows demonstrate. For the past 40 years, retrospective Beatle radio programs have created the blueprint for giving people what they want to know: behind-the-scenes, never-heard-before, unique-angle, never-too-small pieces of information.  And it never gets old.  If you analyze it, the overall strategy of these shows is to keep the Beatles relevant after all these years. They’re still on the radio, so it must be working.

Consider the stories and segments on these programs that help accomplish the mission. What was Paul wearing when he recorded “Yesterday?” That’s content. Newly discovered practice session recordings? Content. When is the anniversary of the first “Ed Sullivan” appearance? Content. What was left behind in the studio after the White Album was made? That’s content, as told by the janitor on duty that day. These are the types of questions you can ask yourself about your company and brand when you’re tasked with populating a social channel. If it’s relevant to your brand, and engages the audience, it’s content. When paired with a strategy and objectives, this type of material can put your brand on the right social media path.

It’s a long and winding road, this social media machine, but at the end of the day the interesting details are what your audience wants to know about your brand.  That’s why they follow and friend you. You can fulfill the promise of great content and find interesting topics that support your brand and mission, you just have to look and ask the right questions.

What, Paul is the Walrus? That’s content.

Where do you get your social media content ideas?

Receiving awards in categories ranging from traditional public relations to innovative social media campaigns, the CMD team had a nearly perfect showing with 90 percent of its submissions earning honors from a panel of nationally recognized and accredited PR professionals.

“This year’s awards represent our team’s dedication to achieving and exceeding business objectives through a wide range of well-planned, strategic communication,” said Darcie Meihoff, APR, managing director of CMD’s earned media group. “We are honored to have our work recognized by fellow peers and leaders in the industry as we continue to expand our breadth of expertise across all forms of traditional and digital media.”

Some of CMD’s award-winning work included organizing an international video game development competition, revitalizing a traditional brand’s newsletter, hosting a national scariest utility bill competition and upgrading a public school library’s computer lab.

Since 2006, the CMD team has received 21 PRSA Portland-Metro Chapter awards, as well as international recognition for outstanding achievements in earned media.

About CMD
With an arsenal of specialized disciplines, CMD takes a synergistic approach to tackling the toughest marketing challenges in a new era of communications by using the right blend of powerful solutions – including digital, advertising, social media, PR, promotions, film & video and more. Headquartered in Portland, Ore., and ranked among the nation’s top 20 independent agencies, CMD works with some of the world’s leading brands including Microsoft, JELD-WEN, Intel, McCormick & Schmick’s, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, NW Natural, and Timber Products. CMD also has offices in Seattle, San Francisco and New York, and can be found online through the CMD website, Twitter, Facebook or blog.

In case you haven’t heard it, here’s the background: two weeks ago, Gap tried to introduce a new logo to replace its decades-old blue box icon. Customers and designers piled online to heap criticism and venom on the new artwork, and ultimately forced the retailer to bring back the old version in a public show of humiliation (and probably at great expense).

I’m not a graphic professional, but I know where to find some experts in the field. So for a little perspective I asked some of CMD’s design pros for their thoughts and what they would have recommended to Gap. Here’s a little taste:

Jenn Brewer, CMD designer, says brands need to look at their logo and brand history while keeping an eye on their audience when they go through a rebranding exercise. Only then can a redesign campaign (slight modifications or a total overhaul) be determined. Does she think Gap should have given in to the criticism?

“No, it should have been confident enough in its new logo that it could rationally and intelligently deflect the criticism,” she said. “Giving in to the criticism tells me that perhaps the company was not in agreement about the new logo in the first place.”

Thom Marchionna, CMD creative director, said that a logo is only the tip of the spear for a brand evaluation, and other companies could learn from this situation by paying attention to core issues first before introducing a refreshed logo.

“Solve any underlying business problem first, such as product quality, customer service or differentiation,” he said. “Only when you can make a promise to your audience that things are positively better and different, can you introduce the symbolism that reinforces that. To do otherwise is like putting a fresh coat of paint on the hull of the Titanic.”

And what should Gap have done differently?

“Pretty much everything,” he continued. “Forget the lousy logo. Those happen all the time. Entrusting a logo redesign to a traditional ad agency may have been the first mistake. A branding firm would have started with more probing questions, the first three of which might be, ‘how much equity exists in the current logo with our most loyal customers and influencers?’ ‘what is the nature of that equity?’ and ‘what do we risk by changing our symbol?’”

Marchionna said the real failure, in his opinion, was a surprising lack of understanding of the power of the social web.

“It is the most immediate and powerful focus group technology in history,” he said. “And it dictates a code of conduct that one would expect a company such as Gap to be attuned to. Its response to the criticism was disingenuous at best and tragically underestimated the audience’s intelligence to see through ill-conceived efforts to save face. All of which violated the implicit social contracts on which all relationships are based: trust, honesty, and authenticity, to name but a few.”

As this situation showed, indeed every brand change is now open to debate and fair game for backlash by the public and the marketing community. The key to success, in my opinion, is to do the research, answer the tough questions that need clarification internally, and have the confidence to stick to what your gut tells you. I had a basketball coach once who said “you can’t lie to yourself,” so if Gap was lying to itself about its overall business shortcomings and thought a new logo would help distract the public, it was asking for criticism.

What do you think?