Channeled Thoughts

As I celebrate the achievements of African Americans and their contributions to American society this Black History Month (BHM), I look to see how businesses are honoring BHM and developing campaigns around it to reach their African American audiences. I did a quick Internet search, which pulled up companies like AT&T and Coca-Cola that are effectively creating campaigns centered around BHM and reaching their target audiences.  AT&T is an example that I am very familiar with.

Open Channels Group and I have had the opportunity to work on AT&T’s 28 Days BHM campaign for the last three years on behalf of our client, Fleishman-Hillard. AT&T created the 28 Days campaign in 2009 to celebrate the history, contributions and culture of African Americans, past and present. In its first year, the campaign was centered on setting goals, sharing them with a like-minded community on the 28 Days Facebook page, and proactively working to achieve them through daily tasks.

In 2010, the AT&T 28 Days campaign shifted its approach to focus more on motivating consumers to use their voice, share their vision and move into action during BHM and throughout the year. The campaign also added a speaker series tour to bring the 28 Days message and experience to cities around the nation. Each of the speaker series events features a well-respected African American keynote speaker who inspires local residents to achieve their goals.

Now in its fourth year, the AT&T 28 Days campaign has a captivated audience that returns every year for these speaker series events and AT&T has extended 28 Days events into new markets such as: Dallas; Raleigh, N.C.; Cleveland; and Detroit. Visit att.com/28days to find out more about the campaign.

AT&T has used social media as part of the 28 Days campaign to reach, engage and inform its African American audience. They tweet with the hashtag #att28days and use the Twenty-Eight Days Facebook page which features community discussions, polls, photos, videos, and information about the 28 Days speaker series tour.

28 Days is effective because AT&T has developed a campaign that is not only relevant to the audience it is trying to reach, but it also provides a unique experience that makes people want to come back year after year. AT&T has also figured out how to reach and engage their target audience using social media.

Companies that are trying to reach a multicultural or other target audience should consider a few things:

• Is it relevant to your audience/age group?
• Is it centered around a special time or celebration for that target group?
• Will it leave the target audience with a positive view of your business?

In addition to AT&T’s successful 28 Days BHM campaign, here are two other companies that are effectively marketing to African American consumers:

• American Airlines: created a social media site dedicated to the ‘Black Traveler’ at blackatlas.com.
• Proctor & Gamble: launched the website myblackisbeautiful.com in 2008 to celebrate the beauty of African American women and promote black self-esteem.

Is your company having trouble effectively reaching its multicultural audience? Open Channels Group can help. Contact me and I’ll tell you how.

A new year gives way to new ideas, new dreams and endless possibilities. Open Channels Group entered 2012 with a vision for growth in creativity, services and continued success.

We have already begun making progress toward reaching these stepping stones of success. We have internally promoted two members of our team and positioned them in leadership roles to take our agency to the next level. Chris Turner is now our senior vice president of communications and Corey Lark is our new director of digital communications. OCG also welcomes two new employees to the team in 2012 – Keisha Jones as director of operations and me as an account executive. With our internal growth, OCG is maximizing our potential as a leading agency in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and beyond.

Most importantly, this year we have expanded our capabilities. As we’ve told you before, “We Are PR.” But, did you know we are a full-service public relations agency? We pride ourselves on staying current with industry trends and providing clients with premier communications and public relations strategies. With this goal in mind, we are now offering additional digital services such as video production, photography, Web design and development, search engine optimization, advanced social media, and more. We see the wave of digital as an opportunity to showcase talents and expand our portfolio of what we can do for current and potential clients.

The sky is the limit for what OCG can do for our clients!

I’d like to thank *NSYNC for providing me with my official theme for 2012, “digital, digital get down.” If you’re signing the song in your head and starting to judge my choice of theme (and probably music) – STOP! Don’t get caught up on the lyrics because they are completely irrelevant, it’s just those four words that I’m talking about and its those four words that really sum up my mission for Open Channels Group (OCG) in 2012.

If you didn’t know, OCG is a full-service PR agency. We’ve been offering digital services prior to now – social media, email marketing, strategy and analytics, design, etc. – but had not been categorizing them as such. However, with our big 2012 digital push, we’ve expanded our digital services to include: Web design and development, SEO, mobile marketing, photography, and more. Our team is passionate about taking a 360-degree approach to PR, utilizing both traditional and new communications strategies to create a well-rounded campaign. And that’s why we’ve increased our capabilities, so we can take this 360 approach to the next level.

We’ve got big things on tap for 2012, and as our new director of digital communications, I couldn’t be more pumped! If you want to stay on top of what’s happening at OCG, you should definitely follow us on Twitter at @openchannelspr and ‘like’ us on Facebook at facebook.com/openchannelsgroup.

There is obviously only one way to close out this post, and that is by asking this pivotal question: Who is your favorite member of *NSYNC?

Comment below or tweet me your answer to @coreylark!

Last Thursday, everyone’s favorite micro-blogging site announced very interesting news. In a post titled, Tweets Must Flow, Twitter let the world know that “they give themselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country– while keeping it available in the rest of the world.” They also “built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.” Twitter displays its transparency through a partnership with Chilling Effects, an online chronicle of legal issue activity. On the Chilling Effects page, those interested can see complaints sent to Twitter, as well as the sender and the reason for the complaint.

With the outcries of SOPA and PIPA just dying down from a week ago, this leads one to believe, that maybe, just maybe, the heads behind social media communities are slowly beginning to comply with the government. A progressive effort to successfully censor the Internet, if you will.

In my opinion, it is a bit hypocritical and cowardice of Twitter to take such measures to increase its wealth. However, business is business, correct?

Jeff Bercovici of Forbes wrote an article entitled, “Shocker Twitter Censorship Shows It’s Just a Business, Not a Savior.” Twitter will now comply with laws of countries like Turkey, which “outlaws any discussion of the Armenian genocide”, and France who just “passed a bill making it a crime to deny the genocide happened.” Self expression is something that social networks encourage, and quite frankly that’s the beauty of them. Monitoring or putting certain regulations in place would be helpful, but to block information from another country is drastic and completely defeats the purpose of a social networking site. The joy of sharing information on the Web, whether it be negative or positive, will now be tainted on the site.

An article in Forbes describes Twitter’s new move as “Social Suicide.” Subject matter in twitter posts now makes a difference, like never before. This could affect potential protests and other governmental outcries.

“You can’t service all of humanity if you allow the needs of politics to triumph over the needs of the people. And if you can’t service all of humanity, what is your relevance,” said Forbes contributor Mark Gibbs. This poses the imperative question: How can a computer-based program really filter through and determine which tweets violate a countries’ requests?

I suppose Twitter will answer this question soon. In the mean time, I’ll be biting my fingernails in anticipation of the next social suicidal attempt. What are your thoughts on Twitter censorship?

Excitement filled the room as guests began to arrive for the AT&T 28 Days kickoff event on Monday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day – at the House of Blues Dallas. AT&T started the 28 Days campaign in 2009 as a celebration of Black History Month, with the goal to motivate its consumers to use their voice, share their vision and move to action beyond the month of February.

House of Blues was packed with guests waiting to see what the night had ahead for them. I attended AT&T 28 Days as an intern with Open Channels Group (OCG). OCG supports AT&T multicultural on behalf of its client, Fleishman-Hillard. The OCG team was on-site working hard to ensure that the event was a success – handling registration, coordinating media and making sure everything ran smoothly.  Grammy-winning, artist, actor and author, Common returned as the host for this year, and the speaker was Emmy-winning digital lifestyle expert and tech-show host Mario Armstrong.

Armstrong exceeded my expectations. He engaged the audience with his humor and charm, and challenged us with his intellect. Reminding us of our past, with African American firsts, he encouraged us to look towards a positive future. “You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you came from,” Armstrong reminded. While teaching what characteristics are in a history maker, he inspired us to, “do what you are passionate about, visualize where you want to go and believe in yourself.” Armstrong truly seemed to motivate the crowd of all ages. As a result, I will never forget to go after my passion and know that I am on the right track by doing so.  In his conclusion he gave “Words to Live by” which were:

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch you habits, they become your character.”

Common – who I am a big fan of – closed the show, taking the audience by storm with a performance of “Blue Sky” off his latest album, The Dreamer/ The Believer. There’s nothing like hearing one of your favorite artists live, especially when they are an astounding performer.

When AT&T 28 Days comes to a city near you this is an event you will not want to miss! Learn more about AT&T 28 Days at att.com/28days, and follow the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #att28days.

As 2012 nears, organizations like Open Channels Group begin strategizing new techniques to keep our targeted audiences’ interest. One of our commitments as a brand is to continually engage and understand audiences that reflect our niche, multicultural communications. However, with the increasing growth and influence of the multicultural community, what a challenging task that continues to be. Therefore, I pose a few questions to you:

• Are you effectively reaching your audience?
• How are you reaching your audience?
• Is it a ‘circle of life’ relationship? 

Don’t worry, this isn’t a call to the wild, just a minor call for self-reflection.

When thinking about your message, consider your organization’s image and the key takeaway for the audience.  Your message should be compelling and easily understood through the multiple avenues your organization uses to connect with them.

Here a few tips to keep in mind as you strategize for the new year.

1. Know your audience.  Identify your consumer or fan base, know who is rooting for you and who wants to work with you.  Understanding the community that embraces you allows your organization to learn about the audience it serves, what their needs are and what’s in demand.  This also allows your organization to learn about itself, whether there are areas for improvement, or if you’re providing stellar services.
2.  Tell your story.  Okay, you’ve identified your audience. Now, it’s time to keep them captivated.  What you say should align with your organization’s culture, and even more so it needs to reflect the character of your audience. Check your message and content strategy by asking the following questions. Does it support the beliefs or values of your target audience? What do they expect from you? Is your message organic and authentic?
3.  Stay connected.  Use multiple streams to reach your audience.  Are you tired of hearing, “check it out on Facebook?”  The truth is, Facebook is not a good fit for every organization. But, are you meeting your audience where they are? Do a market analysis to find out where your audience is and how they receive information,  whether that’s through a monthly newsletter, text messaging, your Twitter feed or an app.  Whichever medium, you must bait them and capture their attention.

At Open Channels Group, when we’re planning public engagement campaigns for transportation and planning projects, we try to understand if the target group is high-tech, which is the tech-savvy/early adopters;  low-tech, non-Smartphone user, newspaper readers;  or   mix-tech ,  individuals who read the newspaper, but own an iPhone.

According to a Wickware Communications study, “The Medium is not The Message”, social media is the hot new trend, but if it’s not right for your brand and if you do not have a compelling message, what’s the point?  Your audience wants your organization to speak to them through your image, captivate them visually and convince them to buy into your brand.

Incorporating these tips into your new year reach-out strategy could help you build a stronger relationship with your target audience.  Not only will this keep your organization relevant, but it could help you better maintain existing relationships, which could possibly lead to new business.  And who doesn’t want new business?

The bottom line is, you want the chain to your audience to be everlasting, leading to a continued circle of life relationship.

Last week, two news stories about people’s use of Twitter grabbed my attention, for completely opposite reasons.  One focused on a very proactive and inventive use of the social medium, while the other…well, not so much.

Let’s start with the latter.  The NW Daily Marker, a political blog covering the Pacific Northwest, reported that three Capitol Hill staffers in the office of U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen had been proudly tweeting about their less-than-stellar work and life habits: drinking on the job, watching Nirvana videos and insulting their boss.  The trio seemed quite proud of their poor work ethic and horrendous judgment. You can read more details here, but note that many of the tweets in question are inappropriate to view at work or if kids are around.

Needless to say, this story spread quickly – it was picked up by the Seattle Times and several Washington, DC publications.  Rep. Larsen immediately terminated the rogue tweeters, putting an end to the news story.  The lesson from this tale is fairly straightforward, but bears repeating:  don’t put anything on Twitter (or Facebook or any other public site) that you don’t want your boss to see, or worse, to end up in the news media.  For employers, it’s a reminder that companies and organizations need to have policies in place to deter employees from making these kinds of mistakes and embarrassing their co-workers and employer.

Now, before you lose all faith in Twitter and the people who use it, consider a great communications campaign last week right here in North Texas by the Arlington Police Department (APD).  Chief Theron Bowman hosted a virtual ride along – a tweet-along (!) – for the public and APD’s nearly 2,000 followers to illustrate APD’s focus on stopping drink drivers.  For 4.5 hours, Chief Bowman tweeted updates and pictures from the APD Twitter handle, @ArlingtonPD, while riding with a veteran DWI officer.

Through more than 150 tweets, many of them replies to people tweeting questions, Chief Bowman sent a clear message that his department is serious about cracking down on DWIs, and they have the means to find and stop drunk drivers.

As media become more fragmented, APD showed how you can effectively get your message out in a traditional medium (the newspaper) and a new medium (Twitter), and how the two can complement and reinforce one another.  Great job, APD!

As for the three former congressional staffers, hopefully they learned a valuable lesson.  However, with their tendencies to drink at all hours of the day, they may want to avoid Arlington.

There are billions of Web pages on the Internet.  The hope of someone finding your website without any help is like someone trying to find a needle in a haystack.  In today’s business world, you need to invest in an online strategy in order to be found.   Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is at the top of most businesses’ strategy.

In a recent survey from MerchantCircle/Reply.com, the question was asked: “If you had to put all your marketing time and budget into only one channel what would it be?”  SEO topped the chart, receiving 32.9 percent of the vote.

Now, why is SEO so important?

1.    It brings targeted traffic to your website.   On average, search engines drive 41 percent of external traffic to websites.  SEO helps to make your website more relevant and increases your ranking and visibility in search engines.  In most traditional marketing, businesses are usually begging for conversion, but that’s where the magic of SEO lies.  With proper SEO, you are assured that people who see your Google ad or browse your website are searching for keywords that are relevant to your products or services.  SEO focuses on those keywords to get the ideal traffic for your business.

2.    It builds credibility.  A website that ranks high in its keyword searches is generally considered more professional by the average user.  It shows users that the business is reputable and established.

3.    It’s cost effective.  Compared to other traditional marketing tactics, SEO is cheaper and lasts long than most other campaigns.  SEO is free if you or someone in your company has the time to do it yourself. It also can bring a higher return on investment because SEO guarantees high conversion rates,  thus increasing sales and your overall profit.

4.    It has measurable results.  The C-suite loves cost effectiveness and measurable results.  With SEO you can actually quantify the results of your effort.  Tools like Google Analytics and Woopra are able to help monitor your website’s performance in search engines.  They even provide graphs and charts to elaborate details on conversion rates, popular keywords, referral sites, page views and more.

If you have a website that has not been optimized, now is the time to look into SEO.  It’s never too late to rise to the top of search results!

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays an increasingly prominent role in the corporate world today.  Companies are investing more money and resources than ever before into CSR, and key strategic decisions are frequently guided by CSR considerations.

In its simplest form, CSR is based upon the principle that corporations have an obligation to give back to the communities they do business in and conduct their business in a responsible manner, that is respectful of people and the environment.

While most would agree that corporations should give back to the community through charitable contributions, employee volunteerism and other good deeds, and work to protect the environment by reducing energy consumption or increasing use of recyclables, CSR is not necessarily at the core of a company’s function.  In other words, a CEO who views his primary responsibility is to maximize shareholders’ value (as all generally do) may discount CSR efforts if he cannot see an immediate and tangible correlation to the bottom line.

David Vogel, a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, authored an article entitled “CSR Doesn’t Pay” for Forbes in 2008.  In it, he wrote: “The belief that corporate responsibility ‘pays’ is a seductive one: Who would not want to live in a world in which corporate virtue is rewarded and corporate irresponsibility punished? Unfortunately, the evidence for these rewards and punishment is rather weak. There is a ‘market for virtue,’ but it is a very limited one. Nor is it growing.”

Vogel essentially says CSR is irrelevant to a company’s financial performance – some do it and are profitable, just as others ignore it and are profitable, as well.

For a different perspective, one can turn to a piece in the December 2006 Harvard Business Review in which Michael Porter and Mark Kramer contend that if “corporations were to analyze their prospects for social responsibility using the same frameworks that guide their core business choices, they would discover that CSR can be much more than a cost, a constraint, or a charitable deed – it can be a source of opportunity, innovation, and competitive advantage.”

Porter and Kramer advance their concept of “shared value” as the best approach to CSR: “The essential test that should guide CSR is not whether a cause is worthy but whether it presents an opportunity to create shared value – that is, a meaningful benefit for society that is also valuable to the business.”

Both articles are worth a read to gain somewhat differing perspectives on the value and best approach to CSR.  In my opinion, the Porter and Kramer approach is the right one.

Of course, CSR is inextricably linked to a company’s public relations efforts.  A good CSR program will yield positive PR benefits, while the lack of one can result in negative publicity.  Companies have to decide which they want.

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CSR is sometimes used as an antidote to bad publicity.  Consider the banking industry: a lot of Americans are angry at Wall Street in general – and the banking industry in particular – for the financial collapse that plunged the country into an economic downturn from which many have still not recovered.  Big banks are especially vulnerable to this anger in light of the bailout funds many of them received from the federal government, a bailout which infuriated the public.

Once such bank, Bank of America, released its first-ever CSR report this year.  Here is an excerpt from the release announcing the report:

“Bank of America continued its commitment to the health and well-being of communities, including:

• Providing $200 million in philanthropic giving despite the challenging economic times, making the bank the second-largest cash giver in the U.S.
• Providing over $1 billion in loans and investment to more than 120 community development financial institutions, and investing more than $48 billion in credit to nonprofit, government and anchor institutions.
• Providing $168.5 billion in community development lending and investments in 2010, the second year of a 10-year, $1.5 trillion community development goal. “

Recently, Bank of America has been running TV ads that hammer home the “commitment” and “investments” referenced above.

This is a good example of a CSR initiative that is implemented and then amplified through public relations, marketing and advertising efforts.

In public relations, establishing working, personal relationships with the media is key to gaining coverage for a client. In the last few years, establishing these types of relationships with bloggers and online-only news publications has become very important in getting the word out about a client and their projects. With the continual decline of the newspaper industry and the emergence of online news as the go-to source for information for many people today, determining who are the key bloggers and online communicators to reach out to for campaigns has become a critical step in the media outreach process.

In multicultural campaigns that I have worked on in the past, I have noticed that I garner more news coverage from bloggers and online-only news publications than from traditional media outlets like TV and newspapers. Here are some reasons why:

• Bloggers and online-only news publications are always looking for something to discuss or cover for their site. Their goal is to continually have a conversation with their audience on various topics.
• Blogs and online news publications are easily accessible and their stories receive instant feedback from readers.
• Blogs and online-only news publications specialize in certain topics or subjects, while  traditional media typically covers a broad spectrum of news which makes it harder to gain media coverage.
•  TV stations and newspapers do not have the manpower and resources they had in the past to dedicate to covering stories. A lot of them are understaffed and many of the reporters carry on multiple roles as editors, photographers and videographers.

Getting key bloggers or reputable online-only publications to cover a story about your client or campaign is very important because they can help you get the word out to the specific demographic that you are trying to reach. The really good publications or blogs have a large readership that come back every day to read new content which in turn can help put more eyes on your client and their campaign.

Another reason why bloggers and online-only publications are important is because they are very active in the social media space. Many of them have Twitter and Facebook accounts that they use to communicate with their readers and post stories. PR professionals can use these social media outlets to connect and pitch story ideas to the key bloggers and online-only publications that they are trying to reach.

According to the 2010 Pew Research Center’s annual State of the Media report, the Internet has become the second most popular source to go to for news. With online access being readily available on smart phones, tablets and other wireless devices, it has gotten easier for people to go online to read the news on blogs, online-only news publications, mainstream newspaper websites  and TV news sites. Local television came in as the most popular source for people to view news. As more people continue to go online for their news, bloggers, news websites and online-only publications will continue to gain popularity and play an integral part in helping PR professionals gain media coverage for their clients and campaigns.