Our expertise now demonstrably at work

The owner of the firm we hired to do search engine optimization (SEO) for one of our clients had attitude to spare. When our principal, Judi Schindler, questioned him on his first so-called report, he erupted and insisted on dealing directly with the client’s CEO.

I’ll guarantee you that the last thing our client wanted was deal with this guy. But it was the consultant’s rationale that really hurt. “You don’t know anything about Web sites. I can’t work with you. You don’t even have a Web site.”

Ouch.

Actually, we do know a fair amount about Web sites. In fact, we’ve worked on several this year alone for various clients. It has been kind of embarrassing, however, that the months have sped by since the merger that created Hodge Schindler Integrated Communications, with only a temporary page up that linked back to our old sites.

No longer. Our new Web site is now live, and this issue of our newsletter reflects a redesign that accordingly ensures we’re projecting a consistent image.

Web sites and SEO are only two aspects of today’s new media environment, and almost old-hat given the pace of change that’s shaping it. In this edition of our newsletter, we explore “old” and new strategies, discuss how to tap into the potential of Web logs (blogs), and offer up a “TIC" (tongue-in-cheek) view of the “language” now taking hold in this brave new world.

Wishing you all the warmest regards with this holiday season,

Making the most of traditional and new media strategies

By Sally Saville Hodge

For all the public discourse (and it’s hard to escape), we still encounter many PR and marketing professionals who are mired in the traditional tools of the trade.

There’s nothing wrong with tradition. But the contents of our toolbox are growing – fast – and communications professionals who intend to be more than merely order takers need to figure how to make them work most effectively, separately and together, to meet business objectives.

Consider: One survey indicates that 70 percent of consumers use different forms of media simultaneously. A different study showed that business professionals using media simultaneously paid most attention to online channels (41 percent) followed distantly by newspapers (20 percent) and television (18 percent).

What are the implications for communications approaches?

Well, you can still shoot for getting news coverage in the local daily or the business and/or professional press. There’s no denying the credibility and third-party endorsement value of media coverage. But put the clips to work, and not merely with a link to a PDF of the article (or of the entire Web page if it appeared online). Drive it out by creating a simple letter, or even a newsletter, that touches on topics relevant to your target buying markets, and mentions the coverage with a link back to where it’s posted.

It’s also key to stay on top of even the simplest ways to marry traditional with new strategies. We recently completed the first of two rounds of a traditional direct mail campaign for one client where the oversized, hard-copy postcard steered recipients to a personal URL (pURL), a unique landing page housing a brief questionnaire that, completed, provided the client a qualified lead for sales calls. The first round alone provided enough leads that even if only half closed, will pay for the entire campaign.

And it’s imperative to consider the business’ broader positioning in devising communications strategies that support and solidify it. We’re in the process of helping another client launch a blog that will discretely underscore its leadership in creating conversations among intended parents, egg donors and gestational surrogates about in vitro solutions to family creation. It’s another part of the mix (also including traditional media relations and advertising) that’s being combined to build this client’s brand.

The good news is that there are more tools than ever, and new ones are being deployed at a dizzying speed. That means the possible combinations of tactics will continue to grow – exponentially. The trick for marketers will be to keep their eye on business objectives and to not get swept away with (or scared away by) this steady stream of new options. Carve out time to get familiar with the new choices, and as one of our clients suggests, get in there and test and learn.

Sally Saville Hodge is president of Hodge Schindler Integrated Communications.

Blog ‘conversations’ engage customers

By Helena Bouchez

The number of blogs tracked by recognized Web authority Technorati is soaring ( 113 million from about 10 million just three-and-a-half years ago) as everyone from tweens chronicling their first crushes to major corporations seeking to prove their relevance boards the blogging bandwagon.

Blogs, regularly updated journals published on the Web, are powerful, Technorati believes, “because they allow millions of people to easily publish and share their ideas, and millions more to read and respond. They engage the writer and reader in an open conversation, and are shifting the Internet paradigm as we know it.”

Indeed.

The notion of engaging current and potential customers in an open conversation is new to marketers, and resistance, understandably, is high. But resistance is also – as the old Star Trek catch phrase goes – futile.

Over the past five years the number of communications outlets has skyrocketed, along with it the frequency and volume of messaging being pushed out. And consumers have responded, some certainly by purchasing more, but most by increasing their ability (personally and technologically) to filter out messages they do not perceive as relevant. As a result, marketers must now earn the right to the customer’s attention before a single message is ever deployed.

Arguably, the only way to regain customer attention and trust is to somehow engage them in conversation. A study by academicians Roxana Moreno and Richard E. Mayer showed that speaking directly to someone is more effective than a more formal lecture tone. Why? Because the brain thinks it’s in a conversation and therefore has to pay more attention to hold up its end. It appears the brain wakes up when it’s being talked with as opposed to talked at.

And so it makes sense that in order to engage customers, marketers must create reasons to talk with them, not just at them. And that’s where a blog used in concert with other marketing tools, can become an invaluable asset.

One business that has embraced blogs, (and new media in general) is the Eastman Kodak Company. It plays on its history as “America’s Storyteller” and uses it to synch with consumers. Neither of Kodak’s two blogs are product showcases, or a feed of executive corporate-speak. Instead, in A Thousand Words Blog, everyday employees write and photograph the people, places, and things they’re passionate about. A Thousand Nerds Blog offers consumers a chance to read (and comment) about the technology and innovations that come from the scientists, researchers and inventors of Kodak.

Alas, even if they think a blog sounds like a good idea, most business leaders and few marketers have any idea where to start – or what to say. Gapers Block editor and professional blogger Andrew Huff says companies need to understand that blogs represent them the same way a news release or a spokesperson interviewing with the press does. So while the writing may not necessarily need to be as formal, the content must be thought through and its implications considered before it is published.

Given the enormous potentially positive effect combined with hidden complexity behind this simple medium, businesses wishing to incorporate a blog into their marketing program should first engage in a conversation with a communications partner familiar with the medium. They should also consider the additional marketing efforts that need to be wrapped around the blog in order to ensure its success.

Helena Bouchez is a vice president of our agency.

AAMOI, U Need 2 RTFM 4 MLAs*

YGLT! I know the headline looks FUBAR but whether you want to decipher that Verizon texting commercial or chat/blog like a pro, this glossary will make you an expert in ETLAs.

YIU it’s dense and you’ll never need 2 know quite this much, but IMHO, some of this language is creeping N2 everyday vocabulary. You don’t want to follow among those who CADET and be like PCMCIA.  Since TPTB force me to blog, then I say IIABDFI, TYVM (TIC). So I’m going WNOHGB - and some will think it’s a WOTAM - but after writing this, I will be ROTFLTIC.

Ashley Weber, Account Executive

*As a Matter of Interest, You Need to Read the F-ing Manual for Multiple Letter Acronyms.

Short takes

WYCC-TV (Channel 20) features ARR
Since beginning work with Chicago-based Alternative Reproductive Resources (ARR) in April, we’ve scored some great placements thanks to a combination of a well-positioned client and ongoing interest in issues revolving around in vitro solutions to infertility. ARR was one of the country’s first agencies to specialize in bringing intended parents together with egg donors and gestational surrogates. One placement that turned out particularly well for the way it covered all sides of the topic appeared on WYCC (Channel 20), produced by Medill School of Journalism students at Northwestern University. Click here to see the video.

New co-branded collateral for Friedman Corp./IBM
When enterprise resource planning (ERP) software maker Friedman Corporation had an opportunity to partner with IBM to create co-branded collateral, Hodge Schindler was tapped to write and design the entire suite, which included a pocketed folder, two-page brochure, three case studies, a key features sheet and a client list. Not only did we manage the entire process, we also worked directly with IBM to ensure the project met its complex identity requirements. Click here to view the entire package.

Brand and marketing consultancy Prophet nets marketing news column
A one-two punch of the client’s high industry profile combined with great media relationships has led to a monthly column authored by two (alternating) senior partners of Prophet in Marketing News, the flagship publication of the American Marketing Association (AMA). When the AMA was planning a major redesign of Marketing News, it decided to bring some new columnists on board. Editor Lisa Keefe contacted Sally Hodge to see if our client Prophet, a leading brand and marketing consultancy, would be interested. Its senior partners Kevin O’Donnell and Andrew Pierce were. To read their first contributions, click here and here.

DBE Certification achieved by HSIC
An agency note: Hodge Schindler recently won certification as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE). This qualifies the firm to compete for contracts involving federal funding that require a certain proportion is awarded to businesses that are socially and/or economically disadvantaged.

How to contact us

Hodge Schindler Integrated Communications is located at 900 N. Franklin St., Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60610. Our phone is 312.666.6662; fax is 312.666.1670.

To contact any of our team members via email, please use their first initial-last name-at-hodgeschindler-dot-com.