By Nanette Collins, Marketing and Public Relations
In 1964, Marshall McLuhan famously wrote “the medium is the message,” a profound catchphrase and concept that’s been repeated by marketing and communications professionals with great reverence ever since. Almost 50 years later, the concept is still relevant, but has evolved into something more accurate to describe today’s communication process, “the company is the channel.”
This form of communications is pretty easy to spot because it’s a strategy employed by most large companies in their efforts to protect their public image and promote themselves. They carefully cultivate a well-crafted corporate message and how it’s delivered through communications channels that they control.
Just think of single-vendor events that have become essential marketing tools for companies over a certain size, for example. In direct contrast to an industry trade show, the company directs almost all aspects of the event, from the venue, to the goal, messaging and positioning to the individuals and partners who are invited to attend. Pesky corporate gadflies and unruly industry influencers will not be admitted!
The advent of the internet, corporate websites and social media opportunities has created an added advantage for large companies by creating communications channels that can be readily exploited and strictly managed. Blogs, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and other forms of social networking are changing a formerly steadfast dynamic. Companies can self-publish and eliminate or marginalize what were formerly influential industry gatekeepers: editors and market analysts.
In the past, these were people companies had to foster relationships with and engage, or suffered the consequences. The advantage to having an industry influencer tell the company story is the immediate credibility a company receives by having an unbiased third party writing about it. These influencers filtered corporate messages and interpreted the company story their way, not always to a company’s liking, a perceived disadvantage by the corporate marketing department. That’s not to say they intentionally skewed the story. It’s more likely a matter of interpretation or their understanding of the message that was delivered. Sometimes the message was delivered correctly and received accordingly, sometimes the communications was garbled.
And, the company had little recourse then. Of course, they could complain to the publication’s publisher, threaten to pull advertising or write a missive pointing out inaccuracies that might have appeared in a letters to the editor column. The company could complain to an executive of an analyst firm and threaten to drop its subscription, though it hardly mattered. Companies needed the publications and analysts to communicate and deliver their messages.
As I used to tell irate marketing executives who didn’t like the coverage their companies were getting, if you want to guarantee your message delivered your way, advertise. I know it sounds dismissive and flippant, but that was the way the world worked.
Of course, advertising was among other marketing programs available to companies with deep pockets that included direct mail, seminars and events. The combination of marketing programs helped balance the external view of the company and, more important, keep it visible.
Today, that dynamic has changed … and how! While companies still employ some of the more reliable marketing programs, the need for third-party credibility is barely talked about any longer. And, as for our industry influencers? Some are still influencing us as independent gatekeepers and are important voices. Amazingly enough, many others have been hired by some of the larger companies to write for their blogs or magazines or develop other promotional materials.
This turn of events shouldn’t discourage marketing professionals at smaller companies or startups who need to build corporate awareness and visibility, but there is a need to be creative and resourceful. Just because a small company or startup is, well, small and has limited resources, there are still ways to exploit all communications channels and build a presence to rival the bigger companies. Instead, the company needs to think like a big company and take advantage of available channels to position itself as being bigger than life.
Positioning a company to be bigger than life requires thinking big. It starts by establishing a set of goals and objectives, and measurements to assess the success of each program. Next, take a look at the viable industry channels and determine which ones fit your needs. They could include industry events and conferences, online publications, industry-related LinkedIn groups or other companies’ blogs.
A not so secret secret: Many of these channels are looking for content and fresh material and, most likely, would welcome regular contributions. For sources of content, scour around your company website for whitepapers and older material that can be cleaned up and repurposed. Or, ask a writer like Bryon Moyer for help; someone who’s a versatile and clever writer with a deep technical background.
Large companies have a steady stream of news releases on all sorts of announcements. A small company has news, too, that should be touted and news releases are a way to stay visible. News releases are a cost-effective way for image building as well.
As a small company, it’s hard to devote resources to keeping a blog updated. Instead, offer to provide a monthly or quarterly post to a partner. It will be visible and can be posted on Facebook, LinkedIn, Tweeted about and sent as an e-newsletter to a contact database.
This is just a smattering of what’s possible and should show you that anything’s possible when you’re creative and resourceful.
One final point: Public Relations and advertising are different forms of marketing. Advertising is paid placement, as I mentioned earlier. As a PR professional, I place articles in communications channels for my clients and we are not charged. However, these days, I’m conscious of the shrinking number of communications channels and ask that marketing executives consider setting aside budget to support those channels that have a strong following.