Corporate Eye

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Archives for September 2008

Brands Embrace Gastrosexuals

Thanks to a study paid for by food company PurAsia, a new demographic has been named – the gastrosexual.  What’s a gastrosexual you ask?  It’s a new term used to refer to men who like to spend time in their kitchens, and it’s a term that brands targeted to the overall male demographic are embracing quickly.

Imagine the Porsche kitchen or Peugeot salt and pepper shakers.  Don’t laugh – both are already a reality.  German luxury kitchen maker Poggenpohl already created the new P7340 kitchen for the gastrosexual crowd complete with Porsche and Peugeot branded design elements and products. [Read more…] about Brands Embrace Gastrosexuals

Texting: The New Corporate Communications

What is the next best most effective form of communication for corporate businesses?

Newsletters allow businesses to disseminate their information on a regular basis. Whether that’s weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly, corporate communications via newsletters has been a preferred method of communications for years. They can be managed online and offline, which can increase its marketability and effectiveness.

Blogging is another very popular form of corporate communications that has become an effective strategy for communicating with clients in most any business industry. It has taken the Internet by storm and allowed corporations and organizations to blossom within their niche and attract new customers. Some companies attribute blogging for increased sales and growing customer bases. As new business blogs are being added to the blogoshpere on a daily basis, the potential for any business’ growth is exponentially increased within each of their target markets.

But there is now a newer (although not new) form of communication that will soon prove to be the next “in” thing to do to communicate with customers: Text Messaging

Text messaging allows you to send short messages of 140-characters or less via a wireless instrument like your cell phone or Blackerry. Most any type of marketing message can be sent through text messaging and allow you to market and/or communicate more efficiently with customers. New technology allows businesses to send out short quips to their customer base about a myriad of topics; news, developments, product sales and product reviews. Customers enjoy texting because they’re able to get certain business information before it becomes available to the public. So how can text messaging help your media relations?

Standard blogging usually requires a full-time blogger and/or researcher to compile articles and posts and make them available to the public. This arrangement works well for some companies, but in other industries, a full-time blogger or writer can be an overkill, a bad match or economically unfeasible. In cases like these, it is more than appropriate and even suggested to do things that will reach as many people as possible and save money in the process. Text messaging could be the answer.

How Can Your Company Use Text Messaging Effectively ?

* If possible, assign a person to the task of texting your customers. Inform customers of sales, specials and discounts through this medium and always ask for their comments and opinions. This increases sales and your sites networking abilities.

* Communicate on a frequent basis with your clients.  Create brand identity and branding through communication and with customers.

* Send frequent text message updates to your customer data base to keep them alert on company developments and change.

What are some things that your company can do to make text messaging more effective? Can any industry benefit from texting? Can it be counter-productive for any business?

Kick Ass Sustainability Professionals Reach Critical Mass

Critical mass is the name for a global network of bicycle-based mass protesters. They assemble in cities in huge numbers and pedal through the streets in order to demonstrate that they, too, are traffic.

Am I suggesting that sustainability professionals should join their ranks? Er, no.

Critical mass is also the minimum amount of fissile material needed to create a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Once the chain reaction has been started it will carry on with only the addition of fuel to keep it going.

Am I suggesting that a certain number of sustainability professionals have “gone nuclear”? Certainly not!

However, this month’s launch of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) is a critical moment in recent history, allowing a mass of sustainability experts around the world to reach out to one another for the very first time ever. [Read more…] about Kick Ass Sustainability Professionals Reach Critical Mass

Interbrand Announces 100 Best Global Brands 2008

For the eighth consecutive year, Coca-Cola tops the list of the best global brands in 2008.

Each year, Interbrand ranks global brands and puts together a list of the 100 best global brands.  While most of the results tend to remain relatively unchanged each year, the 2008 list shows some big jumps and some huge falls.  As you’d expect, financial services companies such as Citigroup and Merrill Lynch saw double digit percentage losses on the list, while brands like Google and Apple jumped double digits. 

It’s interesting to look at where the companies on the list of the top 100 global brands originate from and what industries they’re in.  For example, 3 out of the top 10 are in the computer hardware or software business with a fourth in the internet services business.  Together, computer-related business make up 40% of the top 10 best global brands in the 2008 list. 

Check out the top 10 best global brands in 2008 according to Interbrand below: [Read more…] about Interbrand Announces 100 Best Global Brands 2008

Who Is Your Investor Relations Site For?

Have you ever thought about who your target audience is?

Marketers obsess over their target audience like Gollum over his ring.  No one wants to waste dollars or effort where they won’t be received well.  That’s why you’ll never see an ad with a purple haired snowboarder doing a back flip off a cliff in the AARP magazine.  (Note to our non-American friends: American Association of Retired People)  But, have you ever thought about who your target is with your Investor Relations website?

Sure, your target audience is investors.  But, what kind of investors?  Sally Housewife?  DayTrader Dan?  Analysts?  Employees?  Each group might want to see a little something different.  Even more important, each group might NOT want to see some things.  So, who is your site for?

Employee Investors

Most IR sites seem to be primarily targeted at public investors.  This may be less of a strategic choice, and more a function of what information is available that can be easily published without any legal fears.  Prospectuses, annual reports, and the like are all generated according to rules and regulations governing what can and must be published for the general public.  But, not all investors are alike.

Some companies provide various stock programs to their employees.  Whether stock options, ESPP programs, or even company stock as an option in a 401(k), these programs help establish not only employee loyalty, but a sense of being on the same team as management.  After all, if the stock price rises, they benefit too.  Most companies administer such programs and provide information regarding them via their internal Human Resources systems.  But, what about after these employees leave the company?  Whether by retirement, or just moving on, some of these former employees will still be desirable shareholders.  Is there anything on the IR site for them?  Just a name and phone number as a contact can be very helpful for employees who left long enough ago to no longer have current information on how to reach someone.

As a former financial advisor, I helped many long time retirees, or even their widows with their holdings of company stock.  Often times, they had spent years in retirement without selling a single share of stock.  Now, the confusing certificates and statements aren’t much help when they need some extra cash, or if their beneficiaries are wondering what they have and what they can do with it.  As a professional, I know to start by checking Bank of America, but that doesn’t always help, and your average widower has no idea where to even start.

IR Best Practices

If your company offers stock based compensation or other programs to your employees, be sure that the statements they receive have not only an internal information system on them, but a public one as well.  A great place to include that is on your IR website.  Not only is this a logical place to look for advisors, retirees, and beneficiaries, but it also reminds your other investors that you have a program that helps build shareholder value via your employee and former employee shareholders.  Direct posts or information regarding retirees who remain shareholders would likely be frowned upon, but there is nothing to stop a thorough investor from clicking on a “Retired Shareholders” or “Employee and Former Employee Link.”  Should they draw the conclusion that your company must have a healthy amount of loyal employee and retiree shareholders, that is only good news for your mission to increase investment and investor confidence.

For examples to look at, both Total and Michelin have employee shareholder sections on their websites.

Advantages of Social Networking for Corporate Blogs

One of the first things that a new blogger learns when he or she joins the online world of blogging is to network, network, network. This mantra is heavily engrained into his business through other blogs, blogging manuals and books and by studying other highly successful blogs. It is a widely held belief that a blog (or any business for that matter) cannot be successful without deliberate and calculated formulas in marketing and connecting with customers. Corporate blogs, often by their very own definition, are maintained by senior levelers or any other upper level manager within the company who has a vested company interest and wholly understand the integral importance of effective networking. Since they are ultimately responsible for the content and tone of the blog, it would stand to reason that the blog’s writer or author must have some degree of maturity and responsibility.

If your company maintains a corporate blog, no doubt you’ve also joined or participated on social networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, StartUpNation, YouNoodle and a host of others. Social networking is an invaluable tool for existing businesses and new startups alike. The benefit that a business or entrepreneur can gain from being an active part of social networking sites can create phenomenal ROI (return on investment) of your time, talents and creativity that you place in your blog.

Seasoned bloggers understand the benefits of networking with their sites and visiting and commenting on other sites. They know that in order to ramp up their blog traffic and connect with other power-bloggers who aspire to high-profile status, they must find and network with other bloggers in their niche industries in business. And in addition to networking with other sites in your field of specialisation, providing solid, valuable content is even more important while networking. It would be very bad business for your blog if your readers found the content on your blog unsuitable or worst, boring.

New bloggers are often jaded by all the hype and buzz that abounds on the internet concerning social networking. Often as loners, new bloggers make the mistake of thinking that they can make a go of it alone and increase their own blog traffic. This most often happens with new bloggers who are new to internet marketing, social networking or the online world altogether. However they fail to realize that nothing could be farther from the truth.

Corporate blogs need traffic to thrive. They need readers in order to have a purpose and an audience with which to share their information. Therefore, if a corporate blog has aspirations of taking their blogs to the next level, they must first realize the inherent benefits of consistently maintaining a valuable, enriched blog that readers refer to over and over again. Hence, the need for social marketing. Here are some advantages of social networking for blogs:

1.) Join sites that complement your business’ purpose. If you sell a specialized product or service, find the social networking site that responds well to it. You don’t want to make the mistake of selling or advertising (perceived) useless products to a third party.

2.) Visit other blogs in your niche area on a daily basis. Read and comment on their blog. This is a sure-fire way to drive traffic to your blog.

3.) Write compelling, crafty content on your blog and website. People want not just content but valuable content. Be sure to update the blog daily (if it is of that compelling nature), but no less than three times a week.

What other reasons can you offer that are advantages for network blogs? Does your organization employ any of these strategies?