We're all in the communications business. But how do we know if we're really communicating with each other? One of the most fundamental ways is acknowledgment.
 
The nature of their work necessitates that law enforcement and the military grasp this concept. In fact, military protocol says that for true communication to happen, there must be:
 
1. communication sent
2. communication received
3. communication acknowledged
 
This makes good sense in our daily lives, as well. When we receive a request from family, friend or business associate, best practice is an immediate response so that they know their communication has been received.
 
Why is this important? Because until the sender hears from you, their natural tendency is to think: "I wonder if she got that? Did it go to ‘junk'? Does he know that I must tell my boss when we'll have an answer?"
 
The recipient may think, "I'll get back to them when I get the answer." However, the longer the delay, the more anxious the sender becomes. And because trust is the cornerstone of all relationships, that unresponsiveness can damage it.
 
At minimum, a response like "got it" is cardinal. Mentioning timing is even better: "Got it. Be back to you by Friday." When we get those acknowledgements, we know we've communicated.

 Smart brands are turning their online newsrooms into centralized news headquarters that include news stories, photos, videos, financial and organizational updates, social media feeds, blog content, reviews and media coverage. What was once a simple webpage with a chronological list of press releases is now a constantly evolving source of fresh, compelling content.
 
TEKGROUP International, Inc.'s "2012 Online Newsroom Survey" results showed that 97 percent of journalists surveyed consider an online newsroom important. Journalists use online newsrooms as major sources of current and compelling information when researching for articles. Improving newsroom content can also improve your website's search ranking and, according to Google's Content Guidelines, "the best way to get other sites to create relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content."
 
Brands that see the importance of expanding their newsrooms are becoming publishers, reporting on a variety of topics. One brand leading the charge in sharing diversified content is Verizon Wireless. Its News Center includes industry news and articles written by employee contributors. Users can filter news by region and topic and check out the live Facebook, Twitter and YouTube feeds. Coca-Cola's Press Center includes video and image libraries with promotional and corporate community content that can be easily distributed on social media. This makes it easy for consumers, bloggers, analysts, investors and journalists to access, use and share the information.
 
Turning your online newsroom into a digital hub of your organization's content promotes your brand's cause and helps establish your industry expertise.

Steve Jobs had it right so many times and in so many different ways. I recently stumbled on yet another way his brilliance transcends his untimely death. Here are my five favorite rules the Oracle of Palo Alto followed when selling his ideas:
 
Write a single sentence description for every idea. Concise enough to fit in a 140-character Twitter post? Now that's strong.
 
Create a villain — a problem in need of a solution — that allows the audience to rally around the hero. Let that hero be you and your product/service.
 
Stick to the rule of three. Divide the presentation into three parts (four at most), as your audience is only capable of retaining that much in their short-term memory.
 
Create visual slides. Steve Jobs didn't use bulleted lists. Instead, he relied on photographs and images. When he unveiled the Macbook Air, Apple's ultra-thin notebook computer, he showed a slide of the computer fitting inside a manila inter-office envelope. That said it all.
 
Make numbers meaningful. If we forget to put large numbers into a context that is relevant, they'll be lost on the audience. The bigger the number, the more important it is to find analogies or comparisons that make the data relevant.
 
It all really adds up to simplicity, which by now we know is the mantra behind almost every success we see in the world — from technology to clever advertising to making a real impact. Give it a whirl for your next big presentation.

A consumer demographic has re-emerged since the recession and, while they are small in numbers, they are strong in spending. Prepare to get reacquainted with HENRY.
 
HENRY stands for "High Earners Not Rich Yet." Currently defined as those making $100-$250K, they encompass about 21 million households and represent 90 percent of affluent consumers, which in total account for more than 40 percent of all U.S. consumer spending. They are the "heavy lifters" when it comes to economic spending.
 
Unity Marketing's "Annual State of the Luxury Market Report" indicates that, while the ultra-affluent cut their spending nearly 30 percent, HENRYs have increased theirs by 11 percent. They are optimistic about the future, but more careful about purchasing behaviors. HENRYs have dual incomes and work hard to have it all — kids, a mortgage, vacations. Despite their high earnings, they are not wealthy and must make trade-offs to have the "accessible luxury" they desire. They appreciate quality and justify their purchases as rewards for their hard work.
 
How can we best market to HENRYs? Understand that 81 percent are willing to pay more for quality and they prefer smart brands that offer status symbols. They mostly consume traditional media, including television, radio, magazines — and 98 percent of them are online. They are more likely than any other demographic to own a smartphone. HENRYs are not blind brand loyal and require a payoff in quality and value to stay with a brand. Continued commitment to your products and services, coupled with integrated audience engagement strategies, are the best ways to keep HENRY spending on your brand.

Smart brands are grabbing consumers' attention in bold ways—from innovative 3D projection on landmark buildings and mannequins to rich, multi-screen experiences that enable viewers to dig deeper into the content they want, to apps that encourage users to explore and share music, ads and TV shows. Inspired brands have found a way to reach consumers using traditional media in non-traditional ways.

This was the conversation held last Wednesday at our latest Knowledge Tap event – Let's Get Engaged. Industry experts Joshua Cohen, president & CEO of Pearl Media; Garrett Jamison, YuMe's director of southwest sales and Eric Zimostrad, senior manager of media partnerships at Shazam LA, joined our VP of digital production, Aaron Dubois, to illustrate how brands are using online, out-of-home and broadcast media in new ways to share their brand message and to excite and engage consumers. To get more details, be on the lookout for our panel video.

The next Knowledge Tap event will be here before you know it. Please help us make it even better. We'd love to hear your feedback or ideas for potential topics. Send us a tweet @phelps_agency with the hashtag #KnowledgeTap.

My friend, Mike Dicciccio from Pennsylvania, asked for my opinion on key essentials for business success in these times.
I answered that companies need:

1. Transparency: There is no place to hide. The truth will come out. And transparency allows you to gather people's thoughts and buy-in on important matters. It builds trusts and allows you to aggregate the brain power of all involved.
   
   
2. Culture that attracts and holds talent: Transparency is part of that. So is exhibiting high levels of trust that beget more freedom, flexibility and the chance to learn from one's own successes and mistakes. If I trust you, you feel it and return the feeling. It's an upward spiral.
   
   
3. A Customer-Centric organization: Not organized by function. Not hierarchical. One that's organized around the client and built for speed to market, with some sort of "crowd sourcing" mechanism that allows for the consumer point of view to be baked into the process.
   
   
4. An unquenchable thirst for new and better ways: Don't make today's decisions with yesterday's information. Example: the use of a specific software is usually considered a tactic. Like a bomb is a tactic in war. But a nuclear bomb is more like a strategy. That's the role new technology can sometimes play.
   
   My friend, Sue Meany from New York, was on the email string and she added:
5. I would add to Joe's thoughts, the need to monitor staff levels to projected business levels. Tied to this would be having close relationships at the right level with clients so you're clear about upcoming budgets.
   
   And my friend, Bob Morrison from Georgia, chimed in with his words of wisdom:
6. I agree heartily with Joe's observations and Sue's additions. I boil the issue down to three things companies need:
   Cash flow, or there is no business.
   Financial management, or there is no future.
   Great creative, or there is no agency.

So, to review: Mike asked the question of a small group of agency presidents. I "replied to all" with my answer, and the others filled in the missing ingredients of "dollars and sense" to make the answer more complete. That process of improving on an idea illustrates the benefits of #1 above. As Howie Cohen once said in his famous campaign, "Try it. You'll like it."

Happy New Year!
Joe

The best way for businesses to increase customer following in social media is to push out good content to naturally attract followers. And, it's critical to know and understand the people they want to reach to get their attention — and keep it.

These were the key issues discussed on Wednesday when we kicked-off our Knowledge Tap event series at our Santa Monica office. Our ballroom was transformed into a happy hour where clients and friends joined us for an evening all about customer engagement through social media.

Industry experts, including Chris Falcioni, West Coast sales director, Shoutlet; David Henzel, VP marketing, NetDNA; and Dillon Wilson, director of strategy and campaigns, PartnersHub, joined our social media coach Janette Rizk for this exclusive panel discussion. Keeping with our theme, guests tweeted their questions and comments during the panel for everyone to see on our live Twitter feed.

If you missed this event, our next Knowledge Tap is slated for February. More information to come! If you attended the event and have feedback or have a topic you'd like discussed, send us a tweet @phelps_agency with the hashtag #KnowledgeTap.

Consumers are being bombarded with messages through several mediums simultaneously. They aren’t just watching TV—they're looking at second and third screens, surfing the web on a tablet or looking up the latest app on their smart phones. With this new generation of consumer behavior trends we are now witnessing an even stronger need for IMC—all communication avenues delivering one brand voice.

More than $171 billion (that's $171,000,000,000!) is the projected amount to be spent in 2012 in the U.S. on marketing communications. With people being inundated by so much commercial information, how can we expect to get our customers' attention unless we’re relentlessly consistent and efficient in the placement of our message?

Research shows that whether it's a TV commercial, in-store promotion, website or editorial, most often people don't consciously differentiate between the media they absorb. They just consume the messages.

It's repetition that burns a brand's message into the minds of customers. That's why it's called branding.

IMC reflects how the customer sees it – a flow of information about a company or product from indistinguishable sources. One brand, one voice.

All information about a company combines systematically in the mind of a consumer as a "brand." The way people formulate ideas about brands is a natural process. What happens when messages are integrated? What happens when they're not? Consistency and integration promote clarity. Inconsistency promotes confusion.

Natural systems are the most powerful. An animal's body is a system. A cow is a system. You can't cut a cow in half and expect it to produce milk. So it follows that you can't cut a marketing communications program apart and expect it to perform at its highest level.

To minimize entropy (the disorder of a system) and maximize syntropy (the alignment of energy and form), marketing communications must be integrated into one seamless system. Fast Company recently published an article related to the power of IMC within B2B companies: http://www.fastcompany.com/3002425/creating-winning-b2b-integrated-marketing-campaign. What approaches are your campaigns taking to reach the consumer quicker and with more efficiency? Have you recently modified any of your strategies to incorporate more disciplines under the marketing umbrella?

Employers continue to face a challenge that has existed since the beginning of business – recruiting and retaining great talent.

What is the best way to ensure that you are offering the best for your associates? You make hiring the most integral part of your business strategy. Only the best cultures can attract those that will contribute effectively to your business and culture.

Leadership's purpose, after setting the mission and vision for the company, can almost be distilled to:

• Find the right people.
• Provide them with the structure and resources they need.
• Show trust by getting out of their way and allowing them to do what they've committed to do.
• Hold them accountable to their own goals.

This cultural mindset will improve employee retention by enhancing their commitment to the organization, as opposed to their merely "obeying" in order to earn money.

Here's an example of how we show trust at The Phelps Group. We say, "We only hire adults." This means we don't have to tell people when to be at the office, what to wear or how to treat each other. It has minimized the number of written policies and is a reflection of how much we trust our associates.

Our associate Ed Chambliss (who received the top IMC graduate student award when he received his MBA at Colorado University) said it this way in a memo to me:

"I overheard two ladies talking about their company's travel policy. The policy (from a large Hollywood studio) was amazing. It actually dedicated six single-spaced pages to travel policy, including a chart indicating which level executive is allowed to fly First or Business Class (if the flight is over seven hours, of course.) I also caught a glimpse of an entire paragraph outlining how unused airline tickets must be returned to a participating travel agency.

This experience crystallized for me the difference between The Phelps Group and other companies where I've worked. It's one way our organization treats us like responsible adults. In contrast, many companies treat their employees like children – forcing management to act like parents.

We're all responsible adults who, treated as such, will work together to get things done.

To me, this how companies need to treat today's knowledge workers. Our culture treats us as adults. And, given that opportunity, we'll use our common sense to get the problems solved. Isn't that what it's all about?" Well said, Ed.

What is your company's strategy to bring the best people? How do you ensure you keep them engaged in their position over the years?

Inc.com recently published a great article regarding hiring strategy -
http://www.inc.com/les-mckeown/how-to-hire-great-people-every-time.html.

Joe Phelps
Founder/CEO

The Phelps Group is one of L.A.'s "Best Places to Work" for the sixth year in a row by The Los Angeles Business Journal (LABJ). The agency ranked #26 among all mid-sized companies – 25 to 249 local workers – in Los Angeles.

The "Best Places to Work in Los Angeles" program is a countywide program managed by Best Companies Group. Best Companies Group conducted thorough company assessments through a two-part process designed to gather detailed data about each participating company.  In part one, the employer completes a questionnaire and in part two, employees of the company complete an employee survey. The collected information was combined to produce a detailed set of data. The workplaces were ranked based on this data.

The Phelps Group offers a range of progressive workplace benefits, including reimbursement for education classes and programs, ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan), telecommuting, pet-friendly work environment, green workplace program, full-feedback environment, competitive pay and health benefits, weekly educational seminars and hosted lunch twice a week.

We work in an era where "clocking in" and "clocking out" no longer produces the greatest results in a creative environment. Part of creating a healthy working environment is ensuring that we provide our associates with a healthy work life balance. A burnt-out associate will never have the ability to produce the results of their rested, focused counterparts – energized by the feeling of freedom.

Freedom, expressed as time and place – where I want to be when I want to be there – facilitates taking care of other life chores as needed; experiencing more of the joys of family, friends and new challenges; the flexibility to work from virtually any place at any time; and to be connected to families and communities more than ever before.

We can have more of that flexibility now, because technology is allowing us to sever the tether from our offices and desks, yet stay in touch with our teammates.

Professional service people often are thinking about their work challenges in the shower, on the freeway and, too often, when they should be listening to their spouse and children. They're working, or have the potential to work around the clock. This is a far cry from the "leave-it-all-at-work-when-the-whistle-blows" mentality of the factory workers and, to a great extent, many of the white-collar workers of modern-day bureaucracies.

The combination of this desire for freedom, the flexibility made possible by communications technology and the "always on my mind" mental work calls for an organizational system that's at the other end of the spectrum. The departmentalized, "always-in-your-face" pyramidal hierarchies invented for factory work are simply outdated.

We're in a new world with new freedoms and tools. New environments create demand for mental adjustments. So here's a recommendation on how to use the new tools and freedoms:

For new technologies to enable more flexibility, they must benefit the client, the client-based team, the individual and the agency. We must understand when personal presence is required for effective teamwork as well as the bandwidth needed for various types of communications. The communication methods below are listed from the least to the most bandwidth:

• Texting: the most narrow of bandwidths. Good for short messages with no emotion-related content. Good for quick questions/answers, schedule changes, etc.
• Instant Messaging: good for exchange of quick information, facilitates instant feedback and can help members align on next steps or solve minor issues quickly.
• Emailing: more information, more uses, encourages inclusion of more people in the communication.
• Voicemail: can handle more emotionally-laden communications due to voice inflections. Allows sender to off-load at their earliest convenience. Allows receiver more thought time prior to response.
• Video conferencing: the advantages of real-time, with even more voice and body language inflections. Can be negatively affected by poor audio and video orlack of access by some. Can provide acceptable bandwidth to save travel time and expense.
• In-person meeting: The most robust of human communication situations -- real time response, vocal inflection, facial expressions, body language, maximum resolution and audio quality and easy sharing of physical objects. The most powerful tool for leaders. Facilitates clear communications and inspiration for improved performance.

These are just some advantages and disadvantages for each communications tool.
I'm sure you can think of others. As you do, please share them with us.

Joe Phelps | CEO

Marketers often talk about the challenges of targeting U.S. Hispanics. While Hispanics are united by language, in reality there are many differences that can present obstacles to a successful campaign.

A quick look at Miami and Los Angeles, two cities with significant Hispanic populations, provides an example of the nuances which make Hispanics vary from each other within the target. The Miami Hispanic population is primarily composed of Cubans with an infusion of South Americans. Many moved to the city looking for political freedom, are often more educated and have been able to secure employment as white-collar professionals. Los Angeles Hispanics are primarily of Mexican origin and from Central America. They made their way to U.S. for an improved standard of living. Lacking higher levels of education, California Hispanics tend to find employment as blue-collar workers. The significant differences among Hispanics can be easily addressed by what marketers practice every day. The secret to Hispanic marketing is no secret at all. It comes down to cultural relevance.

Cultural relevance is not confined to ethnic marketing, it is found in any successful marketing campaign, whether the target is adult moms, children, millennials, pet owners, coffee drinkers or Hispanics. Cultural relevance requires a deep understanding of the consumer, gender, race, media habits, consumption patterns, insights, etc. In the case of the Hispanic market, cultural relevance will even dictate language preference because not all Hispanics speak Spanish. It's no secret that the same processes used for a successful general market campaign are also required for a successful Hispanic campaign.

Hispanic Insights Examples

• Many in our society have distrust for advertising and avoid it whenever possible. Yet some Hispanics welcome advertising as source for valuable information.
• While non-Hispanic consumers may to turn to government agencies for assistance, some Hispanics avoid these agencies because of a distrust of government.
• Acculturated Hispanics who prefer to speak English at home will turn to Spanish-language media for content; radio for salsa or regional Mexican music or Spanish language newspapers for information on elections abroad.

Too often marketers complain about prior Hispanic efforts that weren't successful. Yet a closer look demonstrates that the campaigns lacked the cultural relevance found in successful strategic plans.

More clients are taking a closer look at Hispanic audiences as new opportunities for growth, which stresses the importance of culturally relevant campaigns driven by strategic plans and consumer insights.

The Phelps Group has Hispanic cultural expertise and can help clients apply it across marketing communications channels. If you have questions about Hispanic marketing or are looking for a resource, feel free to contact me directly at alex_perez@thephelpsgroup.com.

Alex Perez - VP, Total Market Strategist

 

Great ideas can come from the source you least expect. In companies where ideas fuel the business it is easy to fall into a trap of non-disclosure. Someone comes up an idea and they want to own it, grow it and execute it. They want to perfect it before they show it.

What most professionals don’t realize is that a good idea has the potential to grow into a great idea, and all it takes is a little collaboration. Inviting others to give their input opens the door for “outsight” --  ideas to help influence the project from an outsider’s perspective.

The thinking is that the client and our self-directed, client-based teams make the decisions on the work. Not department directors. The cultural element that adds creative power and security to this model is an understanding that all work will be subjected to the opinions and feedback from the entire agency. We call it "putting more brains on the work." It begins with commitments from the associates when they join our group that they will expose their work as it moves through its stages of development. It's enforced by peer pressure. After all, our work is shown to thousands and often millions of people. So it’s smart to take the time to get the opinions of at least our associates.

Some of the factors that led to the development of these feedback devices are:

1. The speed at which jobs are produced nowadays often doesn't allow for copy testing. This increases the risk that the intended message may not be the message received or remembered.

2. The cost of a mistake can be crippling considering the large number of people who see our work and can be affected by it, and the cost of the media required to reach them.

3. We're capitalizing on the chance to improve the work by getting more minds on it – more ideas, more proofing.

4. People working day-to-day on an account can develop personal and team tunnel-vision. Fresh thinking from outside sources helps eliminate this problem.

Once again, our basic philosophy is reinforced: Find great people, bathe them in feedback and get out of their way as they make the decisions they're best prepared to make.

The Harvard Business Review offers a good article on the subject. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/06/let_your_ideas_go.html

Do you feel it’s safe to share your ideas while in the embryonic stage? How do you ensure there is a collaborative spirit embedded in your team dynamics? Tell us about ways you have to make this happen.

Joe Phelps | CEO

In most major religions, God is on the throne. As long as that priority is followed, everything flows smoothly from there.

Another way to view this – which is espoused by the major Eastern religions – is we are all one. This is especially true when the definition of an agency is considered.

An agency, by definition, is not a supplier to the client. It represents the client. It works on behalf of the client. It is, in effect, the client. Most professional service firms' long-term self-interest will be improved if they adopt this "agency" mindset.

We exist as one with the client. What is good for them is good for us – for we are them. We are their agency – not a supplier.

At The Phelps Group, we believe that what is truly good for the client, will, at least in the long term, be good for us. Any attempt to put the needs of our firm over those of the clients' is short-term thinking at the expense of our long-term success.

Have you ever been in a situation where you were caught between the orders of your company’s department head and the client's needs? That conflict of interest most often exists because of a flawed organizational model.

By demolishing function-based departments, and organizing around the client, you help assure that the client’s needs are always on the throne. Then, no one ever has to question who they work for. You always know you are working for the client.

Using The Phelps Group as an example of how this works: There is no account management department and no director of client services. So it's always crystal clear to our team leaders and managers that they are working directly for our clients. There is no media department and, therefore, no media director. Our media specialists know that they work directly for the client (and client team) they serve.

Our most experienced people with proven abilities to do and teach – who would be department directors in other organizations – are our coaches. When our specialists need additional thinking from someone else in their discipline, they’re encouraged to seek it from whomever they wish and, of course, their coach is often their most qualified consultant.

But the coach doesn't mandate the answer. The specialists report directly to their team and their client(s). There’s no doubt about for whom our specialists work.
To read more on the subject follow the links below :

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/03/the_value_in_wowing_your_customers.html

http://pyramidsaretombs.com/Company_Organisation/?chapter=100

How do you ensure your team delivers only the best every time? Is customer service deeply embedded in your company culture? Do you have examples of reaping benefits from taking the extra step?

Joe Phelps | CEO

Marketers are often in a quandary over the best time to post on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to maximize customer engagement. Is it in the morning when many people check their Facebook page before they go to work? Is midday better because users look at their Twitter stream during lunch? Is evening best? Which days of the week generate the most engagement? And what about B2B versus B2C — are the dynamics different

Here are some insights from a recent article, Timing Your Social Media":

 

• Smart marketers are posting during the workday.
• For B2B, Twitter engagement is consistently higher during the day on weekdays, with Monday and Tuesday being the highest.
• B2C engagement is notably higher in the evenings and on weekends for Facebook, with Sunday being higher than Saturday.
  

 

While timing is important, it is even more important for companies to be strategic about social media by making sure the messaging is aligned with other marketing efforts. Regardless where it is in our 24-hour news cycle, compelling content rules. It comes as no surprise that the best way to engage your target is to create enriching, interactive content that will interest them any time of day.

 

Janette Rizk | VP, Social Media