Yahoo Looking More and More Like a Bunch of Yahoos

May 16th, 2012 No Comments
Yahoo's PR folks must be sad

Yahoo's PR folks must be sad and mad.

Yahoo is dominating headlines once again and once again it’s not in a good way. All Things D broke the news earlier this week that CEO Scott Thompson was to step down.  From there, the negative stories went on and on.  The overwhelming reason given for the changing of the guard seems to be due to an error or lie (depending on who you ask) on Thompson’s resume that an activist shareholder had made public.  It’s got to be frustrating to be a PR manager for Yahoo these days.  Here are three things Yahoo should consider to salvage any public favor it may have remaining.

Stick With the New Guy
After Thompson’s resignation, Ross Levinsohn was apparently named interim CEO of Yahoo.  Yahoo should seriously consider removing “interim” from Levinsohn’s title as – from a public perception standpoint – it will be damaging for Yahoo to get yet another new CEO considering it has had four new full-time CEOs in a five year stretch.  It’s difficult for anyone – from shareholders to users – to believe Yahoo is going anywhere good with no one really running the ship long enough to steer it anywhere.  The longer a search takes for yet another CEO only compounds the problem.  This seems to stem from shareholders that call for such moves as ousting a CEO and not considering the PR damage being done along the way.  It’s time to stop the leadership madness if Yahoo is to salvage any positive reputation it may still have.

Tell Us What You Really Think
Assuming Levinsohn gets the nod to remain CEO, he should move quickly to lay out plans that are clear to shareholders, users and all parties in between.  And no more trying to make everyone happy or vague “fluffery” either…  “We’re going to innovate for our users” or “We’re prepared to finally move at lightning speed to serve our customers better” or “We’re going to be at the forefront of providing meaningful content.”  Etc., etc.  Given the state the company has put itself in such vague public statements just do not cut it and will only draw more ridicule.  I understand the need for confidentiality in what Yahoo will actually do but at this point, you need to throw a dog a bone before he bites you – again.

Go After Google
I mentioned in a previous post how Yahoo could make their PR manager’s jobs easier – and create a true public perception of a company on right path.  Yahoo should have clear – and bold – plans and this would certainly help in shifting PR perceptions.  Here’s a re-post of that section from the previous post…

Forget search.  I mean develop a mobile OS.  That’s right, another mobile OS.  It doesn’t even have to go to market.  Just showcase you can do it.  Auto manufacturers often develop concept cars that never get sold.  They use them to borrow innovation for makes that will get sold.  It also adds prestige to the auto brand – “yes, we can build great things.”  Yahoo should take a page from this and do it too, with a mobile OS that illustrates it could be competitive.  Then, promote it – a lot.  Do so, even if it never catches fire or is never even sold.  It just may turn out to be worthwhile to sell but at the very least it will add some prestige for Yahoo, if done right.  It can also draw strong engineering talent to a company seemingly seeing an exodus in such talent. This talent will likely bring new bolder ideas to the table as well.

Yahoo should also compete with Google Docs.  The company would do well to have an equivalent or better solution than Google Docs.  With an estimated 300+ million Yahoo Mail users, Yahoo Docs can easily be marketed to a large user base already having Yahoo Mail accounts.  Like a mobile OS, Yahoo Docs would help showcase that Yahoo can be a technology company and a media company at the same time.

There are many more technology considerations Yahoo can make but in my opinion, the company’s closest competitor – or at least the company it may be most compared with – is Google and going after Google by providing competing technology solutions should go a long way for Yahoo.  It will also take strong PR and marketing efforts to go with it – innovation and publicity need each other for maximum success.  Yahoo does not come across as a savvy marketer and it needs to change this too but, it needs to have something to ‘Yahoooo’ about to start…

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Marketers STILL Hesitant About Social Media: Getting Over It

May 11th, 2012 No Comments
business struggles to take on social media

Business struggles to fully embrace social media

So, a recent report from Forrester Research highlighted by Mashable suggests only 49 percent of marketers have fully integrated social media into their brand-building strategy.  The reports finds that marketers are overwhelmingly aware that social media is important with 92 percent agreeing it has fundamentally changed how consumers engage with brands.  But, the story states, social media activities remain in a silo apart from the rest of marketing plans.

It is more important than ever before for marketers at all levels – from SMBs to enterprises – to engage in social media and measure a return.  What return you want to measure depends on your goal: is it as simple as to grow followers or as complex as to impact brand perception in a certain way?  Or, is it something else.

To start, it’s important to assign a manager of social media – part of the holdback with many companies is a clear understanding of who’s in charge of social media activities.  Typically, this should be within the function of public relations – your PR manager; your PR agency; etc.  If you use a PR agency, it’s important that your social media activities come direct from the company, not your agency – IMO ;-)   In other words, your PR agency should provide guidance and recommendations but, Tweets, Facebook posts, etc. should originate from the actual company.  If you are having your PR agency actually engage in posts, etc., it is a best-practice that full disclosure is clear.  You don’t want to give the impression that Tweets, posts, etc. are from you and then have followers find out later that it was from a third party. Ghost tweeting  – or anything similar in any other social media network – can be viewed as unethical.  I know social media requires time that some executives claim they can’t make.  The reality is that claiming time is not available is no longer a valid answer.  Social media is too important to not make the time.  Hence, one should ensure someone is assigned to manage it – and actually do the posting.  At the very least, if you ghost Tweet, you should get approval beforehand of the content from the person it will be attributed to.

Many companies are now hiring social media managers and this is certainly fine.  But, it is important that this person has a PR background since the function of social media is in actuality relations with the public.  A savvy PR person will help ensure PR etiquette and PR objectives are in line.  Social media requires establishing a symbiotic relationship and PR is the best role that seeks this – far more than marcom, sales, c-level executives, etc.

Once the role of social media management has been assigned to a person or team, a strategy can then be made.  Start with a list of ideal social media networks to engage in – not all of them are a fit every time.  Then, clearly define the goal for each one and if the goal of one network impacts the goal of another.  Another factor to consider is how much integration one wants between social media networks.  For example, should you integrate Foursquare or Yelp with Twitter – as a brand, do you want your check-ins to the grocery store to be Tweeted?  Sounds silly but there are many integration questions such as this one to consider.  This is also why it’s important that social media policies and guidelines be established across an organization.

Once this is figured out, you’ll want to determine the branding you want within each social media network – the layout and messaging within each.  Consistency between all of them is often the best choice but, this is not necessarily a hard rule.  Finally, you’ll want to figure out how active you want to be with each network – do they all require the same level of activity or some more than others?  Think back to your main goals for each network to help you determine an activity level.

Don’t forget to continually evaluate your results and to modify things as needed.  Sometimes, you’ll want to change the look and feel of your presence just for the sake of change.  Then again, you may not want to.  This is a key point – social media strategies can require change very often; certainly far more than any other marketing function.  Be prepared to shift as needed.  But, more than anything just get in on it.

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Public Relations for AT&T Seems a Tough Going

May 3rd, 2012 No Comments
AT&T's bad perceptions on service quality

AT&T needs to prove it can be speedy and promote it right

Whose you’re wireless carrier – it’s a quick conversation many of us has had amongst friends and colleagues.  And, when I hear someone say they use AT&T, I can’t recall ever hearing a response better than “they suck” with a nod in agreement in return.  “I’ll be switching once my contract is up” ends the conversation.  And, it’s been happening for years.  Harsh.  I can imagine this is a common discussion about AT&T across the country and apparently, recent sales figures seem to indicate maybe it’s true.  The usual negative feedback is almost always rooted in service quality – data connections are slow; frequent areas with no signal – dead zones; too many dropped calls.  It must be tougher than usual – for such a large well-known company – to do PR for AT&T.  So, what can AT&T do, from a PR perspective, to change these perceptions?  Here are three key areas AT&T should focus on.

We’ve Said it Before – INNOVATE
This something you’ll find throughout many of our posts…  In technology, everyone knows it’s about the latest and greatest and the latest and greatest changes fast.  AT&T no doubt has a perception of providing slower data connections than their main competitor, Verizon.  This is no matter what the commercials say and no matter if it’s true or not.  Yes, we know it’s expensive for AT&T to keep upgrading its network to be the fastest without question.  But, that’s the business they’re in – it’s their primary cost of doing business – and consumers don’t care what it costs AT&T.  Consumers expect it or they’ll go to someone else they perceive to have done it.

Sell that Innovation
If AT&T is capable of it (meaning their network can actually deliver the goods), they should sell / promote plans that guarantee minimum high-speed connection download speeds.  ISPs do it for broadband to the home and AT&T should do it for their wireless smartphone data plans.  The service should ensure that so many metro areas (say their top 10) will have a certain download speed (say no less than 5 MB) no matter where you are in their coverage map or they’ll provide some form of remedy – free coupon for a certain amount; etc.  This helps create – or in AT&T’s case, change – a perception of higher quality.

They should also continue to push for differentiating devices like they did when they got the iPhone and recently, the Nokia Lumia 900.  A new Windows Phone with even greater hardware specs than the Lumia 900 would be helpful here.  When they marry fast speeds with fast devices – that’s what consumers want to hear.  Even if consumers opt for lesser devices or speeds, the perception of AT&T being the fastest draws more consumers to them anyway.  It’s important to be the fastest even if all your consumers don’t use the fastest speeds or devices.

Strut Your Stuff
Now, with innovation in hand and new more powerful devices to showcase, AT&T should embark on a strategic PR, social media and marketing campaign to truly showcase that they’ve finally done the innovation they were supposed to have done long ago.  Again – whether true or not – a consistent perception among many consumers is that AT&T is behind in network upgrades compared to Verizon.  They need to change this and the only way to do so is to actually prove it.  Assuming this, AT&T should embark on a product review campaign – take their top hardware-spec devices for the three main / top OSes and deliver them to leading trade and mainstream media to conduct device and service performance reviews.  Showcase that they can meet an SLA of a minimum speed in given metro areas.  With each positive review, make sure the word is spread across social media networks each and every time.  When they do advertising campaigns, don’t just claim you have a fast network.  Instead point out that this media outlet or that media outlet found it to be the case.

AT&T’s credibility will get them nowhere right now when trying to claim triumphs.  It must be accomplished via PR – through product and service reviews by unbiased third parties that find triumphs for them.  Then they can use those reviews as proof-points.  But, AT&T should be careful not to do this prematurely – the innovation better be real.  Without it, existing perceptions about them will linger or get worse.

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