Shape of Things

There are two types of companies: those who care about the quality of their content and those who simply follow a PR or communications template.

The former develop content based on the need of their customers for information that will help them do their jobs better. The latter do it because they feel obligated to check off a box in their marketing/PR to-do list.

First option or distant runner-up?

It’s difficult to directly prove the benefits of great content. But it’s like great design: you know it when you see it. Or more importantly, your customers know it. And it will be reflected in the incoming traffic to your website and your website’s stickiness — how long your target audience lingers on your site.

A well-researched, well-written and cogently stated case study, technical article or white paper might not directly translate to sales leads, but it builds trust, confidence and a sense of identity. It can be the difference between positioning your company as the first option when a potential customer is making a buying decision or being considered a distant runner-up.

A matter of choice

Who do you get to generate compelling content? Again this separates the committed from the window dressers. Almost always the best choice is to have content generated by an internal engineer or developer — a peer of your target audience — and then have a skilled editor mold it into shape.

Another choice is to hire an outside consultant with proven writing skills and deep knowledge of your industry. That person will cost you a lot more than a generic writer who might only dabble in your particular field.

When hiring a writer, think of hidden costs. The writer who has both skills and industry knowledge will likely get it mostly right in the first draft, and completely right by the second draft, sparing review and rewriting time from your highly paid technical and marketing people. Although more expensive initially, that person will save a lot of money in the long run and give you something likely to resonate with your target audience.

What’s your company?

How you communicate says a lot about your company and its culture. Are you a leader or follower? Are you a partner or exploiter? Are you distinctive or generic? Are your customers worth the extra effort and expense or not? Do you want a relationship with your target audience or a one-night stand?

What you say and how you say it means more than you might realize.

A recent article in the New York Times documented attempts at Yoplait to imbue its yogurt with authenticity to ward off competitors such as Chobani and Fage. After experimentation, focus groups and name changes, corporate researchers uncovered a story about Yoplait making yogurt in small batches, just like French farmers did for centuries. Voila, instant authenticity!

“Instead of culturing the ingredients in large batches and then filling individual cups,” the company’s news release reads, “Oui by Yoplait is made by pouring ingredients into each individual pot, and allowing each glass pot to culture for eight hours, resulting in a uniquely thick, delicious yogurt.”

So, you can reverse-engineer authenticity. Brands for years have traded on nostalgia and history to become hip even when they never were in their heyday (PBR, anyone?). But do people really believe the stories?

Authentic doesn’t necessarily cleave to history, of course. Something new can be authentic. That’s what I think about American Giant, a company that makes honest, high-quality t-shirts, sweats, jackets and hoodies. They don’t exaggerate who they are. They stand for good things: quality, durability, fit. Their story is well-told and free of hyperbole. It feels genuine.

My life was marked by skepticism at an early age. Perhaps that’s why I gravitated toward journalism as my first career choice. It’s a trade where you need to be suspicious; lies are everywhere and your mission is to uncover truth. I don’t think I’m alone in bringing a similar attitude to my life as a consumer. There’s a lot of fake stuff out there and we’ve learned not to be taken as suckers (at least not repeatedly).

I think we all have finely tuned shit detectors. Fabricated stories — like lip-syncing, synthesized horns or butter substitutes — might pass muster for some, but for the rest of us they will always make the needle jump into the red.

Try all you want, but you cannot manufacture authentic. You can build it into your company’s culture, but you can’t retroactively bend a suspect culture to resemble authentic. It’s either there or it’s not. And we know the difference.

“Can we talk?”

It was a signature phrase for the late comedian Joan Rivers; a way to establish intimacy with her audience.

A song with that title was an R&B hit for Tevin Campbell in the early 90s, communicating the desire to get closer to a woman he loves.

It’s even the title of this mindfulness article.

But it’s a question rarely asked by companies to their customers.

In corporate marketing and PR, we hear often about customer-centric communications. But, sadly, most of the time it’s literally lip service. More often, companies talk at or to their customers.

There are many reasons companies don’t talk with their customers. Perhaps the most self-empowering reason of all is pure corporate hubris: Marketers believe customers really don’t know what they want until it is presented to them. You could call that the Mad Men Justification.

So, companies just move ahead blindly, not really knowing what motivates their most important customers; developing products based on what coders or designers in a back room think is important.

Marketers believe customers really don’t know what they want until it is presented to them. You could call that the Mad Men Justification.

It’s easy to avoid the ignorance is bliss syndrome once you develop a handful of questions that push key buttons linked to customer wishes, desires and anxieties.

“What gives you the most satisfaction in your job”?

“What are the biggest obstacles to implementing new technology within your organization”?

“What are the problems that keep you awake at night”?

“What would best help you do your job more effectively or make it more pleasant”?

“Who are the people that influence purchasing and what must you do to justify purchases”?

You probably could think of others that are relevant to your industry or business, but you get the idea.

So how do you engage customers to answer these questions? That’s an easy one based on my experience, because people want to talk about themselves and their jobs. And a token gift of company swag never hurts. Here are some ways to engage:

• By making appointments (ask for 10 minutes tops) at trade shows or randomly engaging people on the show floor.
• By conducting focus groups at lunch or dinner at user-group meetings, trade shows or customer visits.
• By asking customers questions over the phone.
• By setting aside a few minutes during company visits.

Who should ask these questions and compile the answers in a report? It could be account executives, but in my experience they are sometimes too defensive. Better that it’s someone not directly connected to sales. It could be an internal marketing or PR person, or better yet a third-party who knows the industry, but is only connected to the company through this type of work.

After tabulating the answers and documenting trends, you have a qualitative overview of what a representative portion of your customers want or need from you. Not a profile, but a true representation from actual customers.

There might be surprises. There might not be surprises, which is a gift in itself. Whatever the results, it all starts with that three-word question: “Can we talk”?

I was talking with a friend this morning who is selling his company on the idea of internal branding. It seems everybody in this fast-growing company has a different story on who the company is and what it does.

On the surface, this doesn’t seem like a bad thing. After all, if it’s internal, who cares? Let everyone make up their own stories about their employer.

Only problem is that there’s no such thing as internal when it comes to communications, especially now when everyone has personal broadcasting channels and the enterprise might be spread throughout the world. So, as controlling as it might sound, spreading the brand identity internally is just as important — perhaps even more so — than what a company says externally.

Given this environment, companies have to ask themselves: Do our major shareholders, our employees, really know our story, and are they invested enough in it to spread the word?