If you work in the IT industry, you’ve been hearing about big data for years. These large datasets give users insight into business trends, aid in scientific research and discovery, and much more. The idea of mining big data to uncover meaningful insights can be carried into B2B communications as well, albeit on a smaller scale.

This can be accomplished by getting curious about a client’s data – poring over recent survey results, delving deeper into research reports, summarizing key message points from recent announcements, etc. Ragan’s PR Daily calls this “data-driven PR,” and offers a few examples in the article 4 examples of data-driven PR results.

Most businesses have access to a wealth of data. Get curious about it and see what big data can do for your B2B communications program.

This BtoB magazine headline caught my eye: “CMO Council finds only 9% of agencies doing a good job expanding capabilities.” Ouch! Its hard to thrive as an industry when you are lagging behind the evolutionary curve like that.

Apparently, 22 percent of the more than 250 senior marketers surveyed feel their agencies are struggling to transition their business models and services in the digital age. What’s worse, a whopping 51 percent say their agencies are playing catch-up with new technology.

Maybe they need to switch agencies. I understand that its really hard to keep pace with the rapid changes in the media and marketing landscapes. But, we’re meant to be expert advisers, sussing out what works and what doesn’t so our clients don’t have to.

At McBru, trying out new technologies, tools and approaches to getting our clients their unfair share of customers’ hearts and minds is a way of life. It can mean the occasional flop, but we tend to succeed a lot more than not, and when we fail, we fail fast, learn from it, and do better the next time. Its woven into the fabric of our collective DNA to be intellectually curious, and more than a little neurotic about getting great results. The combination is a good one when it comes to adopting new approaches, adding new services and delivering the goods for clients.

And, we’re actively looking for like-minded pros who might be a fit on our team. If you’re interested in learning more about us, email me at kerry@mcbru.com. Dinosaurs need not apply.

Over the last week, a couple of things happened that made me think about the importance of language and localized content, especially in a business setting. The first thing was humorous in nature. A Japanese department store posted English language signs in its windows for a sale using an unfortunate four-letter expletive.  Although I do not know whether or not it was intentional, it did garner enough attention that it was covered in more than a few places on the web and spurred discussion in the blogosphere on language and translation.

The other thing was a fascinating email and conversation with a colleague on the importance of not only knowing the spoken language or languages of the country you are trying to do business in, but also having the context of culture and history in order to communicate effectively.  In this particular instance, my colleague was referring to Mandarin which to westerners already seems complex enough with its thousands of characters. However, as my colleague explained, it has also posed unique challenges to the computer industry, which has primarily been driven by Americans using a language that only has 26 characters. Think about the poor developers that had to tackle the problem of coming up with programming solutions to handle all the characters in character based languages – challenging indeed!

It’s all interesting stuff. And it’s also a reminder to keep various things in mind when working with multinational companies where localized programs will need to be developed.  Perhaps the most important thing is to work with partners that have a true understanding of not just language, but also culture, history, politics and in some instances the technological challenges of using computers to write in languages not based on the Roman alphabet.

At McBru we work with many companies that have a multinational footprint. As such, some of the campaigns we work on need to be translated and localized into other languages in other countries. There is nothing like the insight you will get from choosing translation and localization partners that are immersed in a specific culture and language. It’s the difference between making an embarrassing mistake and capturing a truly valuable lead.

Over on the AdPulp blog, Dan Goldgeier bemoans how infatuation with new technologies are killing the craft of advertising. “Are the fundamentals worth teaching and practicing anymore?” he asks.

Well, yes. It’s true that many are playing with social media, mobile devices, and the like without applying basic lessons that work across most media. As a result, the campaigns become mistargeted and disconnected from business results.

Across my years in tech B2B advertising and direct marketing, I’ve absorbed several fundamental rules that apply just as well in the age of Facebook and smartphones.

1. The list (or audience profile) is most important. The best creative and the most compelling offer are wasted if they’re delivered to the wrong audience. For example, tech B2B decision makers are not going to make an evaluation or buying decision through a mobile app.
2. The offer is next in importance. If you’ve done your homework, you know what your prospects find valuable. B2B buyers like trusted information, so your campaigns should make it easy and safe to request the information.
3. Think about measurement early. Define your metrics and goals at the beginning of the process. And those metrics should make sense to the VP of sales.
4. In B2B, quality is more important that quantity. For example, all that nonsense about the value of Facebook fans pales in comparison with interacting with a key influential blogger on Twitter.

Whenever we work on a campaign at McBru, we keep fundamentals like these in mind. What would you add to the list?

I first covered this new thing called Google+ in this blog post last June. After a skyrocketing launch, adoption rates plateaued, then dropped off. Many new users signed up for an account but have not been as active with it as with their other SoMe channels (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). As G+ pages were only for individuals, businesses were left wondering how G+ would affect them.

G+ has made two important changes recently that is shaking things up again. In November, Google launched “pages” for businesses or brands. Similar to Facebook, users can create company pages and use G+ as that company. Many early movers jumped in but the results were not immediate.

But just today, Google launched another initiative that will certainly take G+ to the next level. “Search plus Your World” is now merging the worlds of Google Search and G+ together. Check out this quick video overview.

Here are the three main features as described on Google’s blog:

• Personal Results: enable you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts—both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page.
• Profiles in Search: both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following.
• People and Pages: which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community. 

With G+ pages showing up prominently in Google searches, it’s a whole new ballgame. Community managers need to start exploring the many potential advantages of G+ for their companies and brands. It’s easy to get started; first, set up a G+ for yourself, then set up a page by walking through a wizard here. Give it a go and tell me what you think.

I love this time every year. People are so full of optimism, vowing to keep their New Year’s resolutions and make this year the best yet. Some resolutions might stick and some might not, but the point is to make this year better than the last. Yes, that’s right – optimize 2012!

This principle of optimization can –and should – be applied to your b2b advertising programs as well. I’ll give you an example. We recently created a banner campaign for a client and even though it was performing above industry standards, it wasn’t getting as high a click-through rate as we had achieved in previous campaigns. (Plus, we have high standards at McBru and we’re not happy with being average). So we optimized…

We started by tweaking various parts of the ad and testing out each change for a couple weeks at a time to see if we could isolate that critical element that would improve our click–through rate. And lo and behold, we discovered that when we switched out our somewhat general call to action with a much more specifically worded one, we saw the click through rates double. They jumped from an average of .35 to .65 in our two test publications!

What can you learn from this? If your initial ads/plans/projects/New Year’s resolutions don’t work like you wanted, you should try and try again until you find the magic element that will improve your performance. Happy 2012!

(Photo credit: optimizedsoftwareconsulting.com)

If you’re like me, you read a lot of marketing-related newsletters, blogs and publications. Every year about this time, there is a bevy of articles and posts discussing which strategies worked best last year or which tactics will have the greatest success this year.

As marketers we spend a lot of time thinking about what’s working. Sometimes we look at what’s working and say “Let’s do more of that.” Or we present to our managers on the status of our projects and focus almost exclusively on what’s working.

Taking a cold, hard look at what’s NOT working isn’t as much fun as celebrating what’s working. It means someone’s idea failed. Or someone’s prediction was wrong. It can also be challenging to fix or put the brakes on something that’s not working because change can be difficult; it’s often easier to keep doing what you’ve always done, even if it isn’t very effective.

But if you don’t look beyond the successes, you risk spending your time and resources on the wrong things or continuing down a path that won’t get you to the desired destination.

There is a moment in the movie “Anchorman” when a character says of his cologne: “60% of the time, it works every time.” Perhaps the start of this new year is a good time to start thinking about the other 40%.

Are you that guy? Every new project begins with a wall o’ sticky notes. All is well in the early stages of planning–those friendly little brightly colored squares can move wherever and whenever with ease. Each note is a part of your grand design of how the project will run. You know who is doing what, when, and where. In the midst of the action, that’s when it starts to literally fall apart. Eventually you’re frantically picking up random notes from the floor, desperately trying to affix the grit-covered stickum to the wall. Or maybe you’ll fall victim to the well-meaning intern who thoughtfully “cleans” the conference room, removing your yellow, pink, and blue papered plan for world domination from the whiteboard. You don’t have to be that guy. There is a better way.

No need to hyperventilate from withdrawal. You can still make use of those Post-its! Here are a few options for fellow PM’s out there who are addicted to those 3×3 squares.

Baby Steps- Not ready to totally move away from your usual routine? These online solutions will work for you.

Post-it Digital Notes

Corkboard

Wallwisher

Scrumblr

Big Boy Pants- More advanced, but still comfortable enough that you don’t feel like you’ve gone completely cold turkey.

Trello

Stixy

Skinnyboard

Lino

Graduation Day- Tools that will take you to a whole new level!

Evernote

Twiddla

Edistorm

Springpad

There are many online sticky note substitutes. With a little time and investigation, you’ll find one that works best for your needs. Most are collaboration-friendly, so you might find a solution that will work for your entire office!

The technology is there. Time to move away from using Post-its for planning and organization and return them to their higher purpose…miniature flick football.

Professional communicators have a lot to convey. Most of us engage in a variety of communications every day, using the spoken word, e-mail, and more formal written documents to reach colleagues and clients—and often use multiple forms of communication to contact the same individuals multiple times in the course of a day. It’s no wonder that we sometimes find it difficult to keep our more official written communications formal and clear when it’s just part of the day’s blur of informal phone calls and e-mails.

You should always strive to communicate as clearly and elegantly as possible in written documents or e-mails to clients. Don’t forget – if clients don’t know you personally, your written word is the best evidence they have to assess you, and for many people, clear writing infers clear thinking. To make the best impression, use your best writing style.

Here is one tip to improve the clarity and vitality of your writing.

Say good-bye to got. English is a hybrid of many languages, with historical linguistic overlays from a variety of tongues. For better or worse, the linguistic forms derived from French and Latin roots are associated with more formal and learned English communication, while words and structures derived from Anglo-Saxon and German roots are considered less sophisticated.

This distinction, rooted in the medieval history of Great Britain, may today seem arbitrary, but it lives on in the usage of verbs such as “got” and “gotten.” Most English speakers would recognize that the phrase “I received the letter” is more formal and precise than “I got the letter.” While both convey the same basic information, the first sentence (with its Latinate verb) is, to most readers, more stylish and descriptive than the second (with its Germanic “got”).

Consider the following examples:

• I got home.
• I got angry.
• I got a ticket.

In each case, more precise verbs can be substituted for “got” to enhance meaning and style (for instance: arrived, grew, bought). As a stand-in for other verbs, “got” should almost never be used on its own because there is almost always a more meaningful and descriptive verb to take its place.

English is also rich with verbs composed of “got” plus a preposition: get up, get out, get away, get over, get down, get around, and on and on.  Unsurprisingly, these verbs are also courtesy of old Germanic forms, and more precise Latinate forms exist for each of these. In formal writing, you should always consider substituting a more exact verb for these “get” verb phrases (for instance, for “leave” for “get out” and “escape” for “get away”). However, even in formal writing some of these “get” verbs are acceptable, particular in writing for an American audience. You need to use your judgment and know your audience. Using “arise” for “get up” may seem over-formal to some readers, and would you have started reading this blog if I had titled it “Eschew Got”?

With the holiday season upon us, we are reminded that helping others is the best gift anyone can give. Keep in mind that a good way to help is to volunteer your professional talents! By volunteering professionally, you are not only providing a service that you know you are good at, but you end up helping your community grow and succeed. I personally volunteer my graphic design expertise to a nonprofit called Creative Cares, which helps connect people in the creative industry with other nonprofits who need help with their graphic design, advertising, or marketing.

However, you don’t need to be a designer to use your professional skills to volunteer. McBru is honored to support the efforts of organizations such as the Software Association of Oregon and we accept suitable pro bono projects as our bandwidth allows . There is always a need for assistance in marketing /PR, copywriting, social media, branding, and so much more.

So find out what you are most passionate about in your professional career and see if you can use that to help others. After all, you want it to be fun for you as well! Give the gift of your professional talents and help make that holiday feeling last all year round.

If you want to know more about how you can volunteer professionally, check out some of the following websites, or call your favorite local nonprofit to see if they need professional volunteers.

Creative Cares
Cacthafire
Woman On Call
Smart Volunteer