Articles Written by the Edge Marketing Team


Even while some organizations thrived by helping others pivot to remote work, or found new opportunities that proved quite lucrative amid the ongoing pandemic, collectively most of us are saying “good riddance” to 2020.

As we anxiously put this year in the past, there certainly are some lessons and a few new perspectives to take with us as we continue forward. Many of us have found gratitude for the simple things in life, more patience and tolerance and, for parents of school-aged children, there is a renewed appreciation for teachers.

Marketers and business leaders are also taking this opportunity to reassess their operations, including a review of how to reach their various target audiences and with what messages. For most, the best place to start is by revisiting their overriding business goals and how their marketing or PR objectives aim to support those. Reaffirming what it is we are trying to achieve is a critical first step in determining the best strategies and activities to pursue and the only way to effectively calculate ROI.

Now more than ever, we are all required to take a fresh look at what really brings value to our organizations and to redefine success. In-person events, for example, whether for one-to-one sales activities or broader marketing initiatives, have been replaced by virtual meetings and conferences. So how do we measure the value or the success of those events? As with in-person events and all marketing strategies and activities, success depends on what you were trying to achieve in the first place.

Industry associations and other event organizers are working hard to reimagine conferences and sponsorships; however, the vendors on whom they rely to absorb much of the cost of hosting those events may not be as quick to jump on board as they would hope. Many providers are rethinking their strategies to see past what they have always done and to hone in on what they should be doing today to achieve their current objectives – which may include expanding media coverage, basic brand-building, generating leads, promoting thought leadership, other objectives or any combination of these. As such, measuring success is different for every vendor, depending on what they are trying to accomplish.

With respect to 2020 virtual events, yes, many left much to be desired; but, if we’re being honest, the lack of vendor-attendee engagement at most of them is not exactly new. Even at in-person events, many attendees only visit exhibit halls to collect their tchotchkes, play with puppies, fill out their vendor bingo card, register to win bigger prizes or maybe because that’s where they have to go for lunch or snacks. If you are in the camp who thinks it all feels very forced, you’re not alone.

Sure, there are vendors doing some clever promotions around a new product launch, for example, to drive booth traffic. Those few are the ones that understand they’ll get out of it what they put into it and are already finding creative new ways to connect with their targets in the absence of in-person events – but they are usually the minority. Many vendors seem to think if they write a big check to be a sponsor that results just magically happen, and they will always be at least somewhat disappointed with the results – and at a competitive disadvantage.

Is there room for improvement with virtual events? Probably. But is there a one-size-fits-all solution? Probably not. And that isn’t a bad thing. The current circumstances are prompting more companies to reset their expectations and revisit what they’ve always done, shifting focus to what they should be doing based on their current goals and objectives.

About the Author

As a senior consultant and account manager, Jennifer Marsnik helps Edge clients develop and implement strategic PR and marketing plans that support their overall business goals. An avid sports fan, she lives in the Twin Cities area where in pre-pandemic times she enjoyed regularly attending Twins baseball and UofM Gopher football games with her family throughout the summer and fall seasons. This year she’s been playing more golf and will continue cheering on her teams from the comfort of her sofa. Skol, Vikings!

/by Jennifer Marsnik

Oftentimes when people think of branding, they think of a company logo. But branding is so much more than that. Yes, a company logo is part of the overall branding, and in fact, it’s a very important part, but it’s not all that you need to think about. The brand of your company becomes the identity of the company. Your brand identity needs to be unique, show who you are, speaking to your audience while making you stand out from your competitors.

Creating Your Brand Identity

When looking to create your brand identity there are so many things to take into consideration:

  • What is the mission of your company?
  • What are your goals?
  • Who are you trying to reach?
  • What do you want your target audience to feel and see when they come across your brand?

All of these things are important to identify before you create your brand identity.

Making sure you are creating the right image and identity to convey what the company is all about can seem daunting, but it’s the most important part to creating a brand identity. Create your mission and make it part of everything that you do.

The Importance of a Logo

As mentioned above, the company logo is just one part of your larger brand strategy, but it is a very important part. Your logo becomes the face of your company. It should show what your company stands for and how you want to be represented in the market. The company logo is what is going to represent the organization on everything you do – website, presentations, marketing materials, tradeshow booths, company gear, business cards, the list goes on. Does your logo represent you in the right way? Does it tell the audience you are trying to reach what you stand for? What you do? Is your brand something your target audience can relate to? When designing a company logo you need to take into consideration these things and so much more! You need to consider where you will use it, the color scheme you want to use, the guidelines around using your logo on different materials, whether or not there are parts of your logo that can be used alone or does it all need to be together. All companies should also have brand identity guidelines that can be shared with anyone using your logo so they know the parameters for where and when it can be used. Protecting the face of the company is incredibly important.

Pay Attention to the Competition

Obviously, it’s important to know your audience. But it’s just as important to know your competition. Make your brand is something your customers can trust. Make sure it stands out from your competition and that it is not similar in look and feel to your competition. You want to stand out for what you do, not get your key audience confused between you and a similar company.

Present the Brand Consistently

Most importantly – be consistent in your branding with everything that you do. Make sure you have the brand identity document created and available for anyone who may be using your logo. Remember, colors, themes, overall feel, images, etc. all matter. When someone sees your company logo, you want them to feel like they know you. That they can trust and relate to you.

So when creating your brand identity, make sure to take your time and think through what is important to your company and to the audience you are supporting. Be consistent. Display trust. It will make a difference.

 

About the Author

Nicolle Martin is a senior account manager for Edge Marketing. She has more than 20 years of experience doing public relations and marketing in the legal and accounting industries.

/by Nicolle Martin

Raising awareness around your company and its offerings should mean more than throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing if it sticks. A strategic PR and marketing plan will get you closer to your goal, whether that’s recognition in thought leadership, an appealing product for potential investors, more clients, or all of the above.

Getting information about your company in front of the right people is integral to your success. A winning PR and marketing strategy will include both media relations and analyst relations, but what’s the difference between the two?

 

The point person  

Who do you send up to bat from within your company, when you secure a meeting with the media? It depends on the reason for the meeting: Is your company announcing a new product or offering, a new hire, or investor news? The answer to that question will determine which representative should take the media interview. You want your spokesperson to be prepared with key messages and able to articulate that story in a simple, direct manner. Media opportunities can result in lead generation, as well as influencing and changing behaviors and perceptions.

When meeting with an analyst, your message should be tailored to that analyst’s area of expertise. Not only should the point person be able to clearly and concisely communicate your messaging, key features, benefits, and offerings; they will also need to possess a high level of tech savviness. An analyst will typically have a more sophisticated level of understanding of your corner of the industry, your product, and market trends than the average member of the media. Your analyst/spokesperson pairing is important to consider, and a developer or member of the product team is generally the best bet.

 

Depth and breadth of the conversation

You may have heard the phrase, “A mile wide and an inch deep,” which is a fitting way to sum up the media’s area of interest. They’re often looking at a broad landscape and, generally, they just can’t devote the time required to dig into any one area too deeply. When meeting with members of the press, it is important to know the journalist’s “beat” or area of coverage, and be able to fit your story into that narrative.

An analyst’s focus tends to be the opposite: They most likely have a very targeted level of expertise in one or two specific areas of the tech industry, but their knowledge runs deep. Analysts are consistently learning everything there is to know about your industry’s unique challenges and the tools available today. They analyze the current market, and they identify the trends emerging on the horizon.

Scheduling a briefing to keep analysts up to date on your company and products is essential. After all, they are often informing your clients’ and prospects’ purchasing decisions. Provide the analyst with your slide deck, presentation materials and agenda in advance of the briefing. Analysts want to see the product in action, but be sure to maintain control of demonstrations and scope. A briefing is not a speech; it’s a conversation: Good analysts are very well-connected and informed and can offer valuable insights. Through listening, you can determine the potential value that might result from a more extensive analyst relationship.

 

Timelines

You should always work to maintain ongoing relationships with media but, when engaging with a journalist, it’s typically because you have an announcement; be it a new product or feature, an upcoming event, or investor news. You want to get that news out to as many eyes as possible, and often as quickly as possible, especially if the news is time-sensitive. The timeline from pitching to the media to the news hitting the wires is often only days or even hours.

Analysts, on the other hand, conduct their research, analyze the data, and then publish their findings, resulting in a much longer turnover time of a month or more.

Output aside, an analyst can also be a long-term, trusted advisor and ally to a technology vendor, helping you shape and define your product, your strategy, and your messaging, which brings me to my final point.

 

Investment

By leveraging your media relationships, you can secure coverage that will expand your brand awareness and create the market perception you seek. This can be done through multiple channels: Earned, owned, shared and, of course, paid media. It may be tempting to only try one media channel at a time if you have limited resources. The reality is that, in order to generate leads and build brand awareness, paid, owned, shared, and earned media need to work together (For more on this, check out Vicki LaBrosse’s article, here.).

In contrast, an analyst is trusted to be informed, insightful and, most importantly to businesses looking for purchasing recommendations, unbiased, and a paid relationship with a vendor will not affect that. Analysts know what your customers want, what is happening elsewhere in your market, and what is coming down the pike.

Through paid analyst relations, you can gain feedback and guidance on your business strategy. On top of that, you are more likely to be mentioned in their published research findings. Being recognized by an analyst firm as a vendor to watch can be an invaluable tool when leveraged by your sales team. That third-party validation is worth its weight in gold!

Media relations and analyst relations are very different creatures, each requiring unique messaging and allocation of your company’s resources; however, as part of a comprehensive and strategic marketing and PR plan, they both lend themselves to increased recognition and credibility in your industry, which will improve the bottom line.

 

About the Author:

Tanya Amyote joined the Edge team in December 2016, as marketing assistant, Excel guru, and token Canadian.

When not solving the world’s pivot table problems, Tanya is an avid reader, fountain pen user, and dog lover: She and her husband, Brian, have one young son, James, and three rescue dogs: Luna, Gary, and Gus.

/by Tanya Amyote

Public relations, marketing, and advertising are well-established disciplines focused on communicating specific messaging to specific external audiences at specific times. Today, more executives are realizing the importance of intentional, purposeful messaging shared within their organizations.

Despite that recognition, internal communication remains an often-overlooked function. This is especially true for small- and medium-sized companies in which employees wear multiple hats and leaders often assume everyone has the information they need, when they need it. Today, when people in remote work environments may feel particularly disconnected, internal communications that promote engagement are more important than ever.

Just as with external communications like PR or marketing, a good internal communications strategy prioritizes the dissemination of the right information to the right people at the right time. It also entails collaboration among company leadership, and members of the human resources and marketing departments, to ensure messaging is tailored appropriately for each audience.

Getting started requires outlining the different categories of information typically shared internally, and understanding the organization’s various audience segments, what types of content they most easily digest or find valuable, and the best channels to reach them.

A few common types of internal messaging include:

  • Executive announcements/top-down memos
  • Peer communications
  • General business updates
  • HR information communications
  • Change communications
  • Crisis communications

There are countless others, and many will overlap. Recognizing the most common situations that occur within your organization will help to anticipate what types of communications should be part of your plans. Understanding how to align various components will ensure the right type is used to reach the right internal audience for each message.

In addition to planning for all relevant types of communications, it’s helpful to identify the channels your organization uses – or should consider adding – to its mix for distributing internal communications. As with external communications, outreach to internal audiences should include the formats and outlets they most use to absorb important information.

Some useful channels for sharing internal communications may include:

  • In-person meetings/presentations
  • Emails
  • Intranets
  • Collaboration or project management platforms
  • Podcasts/webinars
  • Videos and infographics
  • Social media
  • Newsletters
  • Printed materials

Employees are the lifeblood of most organizations. Beyond their core roles in supporting the business, they also are ambassadors of your brand, which is why keeping them engaged and positive is critical to overall success. Internal communications play an important role in employee engagement, which can also improve productivity and reduce costly turnover.

Much internal communication occurs even without a dedicated plan; however, formalizing the activity with a thoughtful, purposeful approach will help to reinforce company values, vision and mission; promote transparency; and build trust among management and employees alike to increase employee engagement and satisfaction. Developing a strategy around internal communication shouldn’t wait for a pandemic or any other crisis to arise when you wish one were already in place.

About the Author

As a senior consultant and account manager, Jennifer Marsnik helps Edge clients develop and implement strategic PR and marketing plans that support their overall business goals. An avid sports fan, she lives in the Twin Cities area where in pre-pandemic times she enjoyed regularly attending Twins baseball and UofM Gopher football games with her family throughout the summer and fall seasons. This year she’s been playing more golf and will continue cheering on her teams from the comfort of her sofa. Skol, Vikings!

/by Jennifer Marsnik

The planning, coordination and expense your company has put into live events have come to a halt. What do you do when your event, trade show or conference has made the shift from in-person to virtual hosting? How do you plan for new product or corporate announcements, in-person networking and lead generation in a virtual environment? Most events are going virtual through 2021 and beyond. It is necessary that your company adapts and develops its PR strategy to boost brand visibility and enhance media participation. Virtual events can still give companies a chance to connect with their audiences, including journalists planning to attend the show. Consider these tips to maximize press engagement for virtual events.

Engage Early
The relationships you have with media and influencers should be established long before the start of an event. The event is the opportunity to connect socially, but it should not be the first nor the last communication until the next event. Reach out to journalists well in advance of the event and supply them with information about your company and upcoming announcements. Ask if they would be open to engaging virtually by inviting them to a press conference or offering one-on-one meetings with company executives. Theoretically, taking an event online could increase media participation. Reporters no longer need to travel and commit to 2-4 days for event attendance, resulting in a flexible opportunity to learn about your company. If your news can be announced in advance of the event, ask to schedule meeting time with press prior to the event to ensure your best chance of media coverage.

Amplify Breaking News
If you have news to announce and the conference is the appropriate time to publicize it, go for it, but do realize others can overshadow your news. Prevent this from happening by tying your news into a larger story or trend that is being discussed in your industry. This makes you more compelling for media and influencers to talk to. Consider hosting an interactive press conference using a livestream or webcast. This is a great format for exciting product launches or major announcements. There’s also the opportunity to offer private one-on-one meetings with executives and members of the media that can be held on a videoconferencing platform where you could demo your product and still get some of that face-to-face interaction you would have at a live event. Be sure to have preproduced multimedia content available for download afterward. Consider creating a custom media kit stocked with important content such as product fact sheets and launch announcements.

Get Social
Take advantage of social media, before, during and after an event. Find out if there is a hashtag associated with the event and use it. Attend the keynotes at the event and live tweet using the hashtag. Encourage visitors to your booth or speaking events to engage with your own brand’s Twitter handle. Ensure your company employees know about the hashtags and encourage them to share content. Also, blog early and often. Create blog posts on subjects pertinent to the event and share them over your social channels. Do this several times during the weeks leading up to the event to create excitement about your company and among your customers, influencers and media. Continue to blog throughout and after the event as well.

Follow Up
Be sure to follow up with members of the media who attended your event or met with you one-on-one. Virtual events allow for promotion long after the conference has ended by directing media to your website to access video, press releases and in-depth content.

With innovative planning, you can still make PR work with virtual events. While product launches may look a little different, there is an opportunity for brands to stand out and drive media visibility and press coverage during virtual events.

About the Author

Vicki LaBrosse, director of global public relations, Edge Marketing, has more than 17 years of marketing and communications experience in both the legal and accounting industries. She works with clients to develop and execute comprehensive PR and marketing strategies that will help grow their business.

/by Vicki LaBrosse

How many applications are open on your device right now? And your second device – likely a mobile phone – how many alerts have you received this morning? Which message or alert has captured your attention?

In the digital age, where posts are limited to 140 characters and conversations may contain more emojis than text, the average human attention span has shortened. According to a study by Microsoft, the average human being now has an attention span of eight seconds. This is a sharp decrease from the average of 12 seconds in the year 2000. This means it’s more important than ever to quickly capture and keep the attention of prospects and leads.

As storytellers, authors and educators, marketing professionals can overcome the attention deficit with interactive content that engages the reader.

Static black on white text is boring. Visually interesting, interactive multimedia content is captivating and will inform and engage readers on any device. Whether in a news article, white paper or e-book, readers love a challenge, enjoy quizzes, factoids and drilling down for detail on the information that matters to them. When they are engaged and actively participating, readers offer more information about themselves, helping marketers build out the lead or customer profile and better understand them.

To increase reader engagement, meet the reader with content that is compelling, engaging, easy to access and easy to experience. Here are four ways to render content in a more engaging, interactive way:

  1. Provide value with a calculator.

Calculators do a lot more than solve math problems – they also provide self-qualified leads. Prospects appreciate a calculator they can use on their own to determine the cost of a product or service or to compare their needs against your solution. Calculators in the legal and accounting services industries may offer, for example:

  • Billable utilization calculations
  • SaaS vs. on-premises software cost comparison
  • Managed services pricing calculator
  • ROI calculator to determine return on investment for practice management software

With a self-service calculator, an interested prospect can determine if your product is a fit for them and whether it is affordable within their budget before they speak to a salesperson. Calculators can shrink the sales funnel and deliver better qualified leads, so make an effort to capture user contact information when they try the calculator. Effective calculators can deliver conversion rates of 40-50%, according to one platform provider.

  1. Include video or interactive email images.

Have you ever found a video thumbnail so compelling that you just had to click on it? Video is extremely attractive. According to Wistia, emails that contain a video thumbnail see 40% more engagement. But creating videos can be expensive and time-consuming, and crafting good-quality content requires talent and experience.

B2B brands have been somewhat slow to adopt TikTok – the new darling in short-form mobile video. It achieved over 1.5 billion downloads from the App Store and Google Play in 2019. It is already more popular than LinkedIn, Twitter and Snapchat and showing no signs of slowing down.

If your brand isn’t quite ready for TikTok, an image rollover can be a great alternative. Rollover or mouse-over images are ubiquitous on the web. E-commerce websites often feature images of products where an alternative view is displayed when the visitor hovers a cursor over an image. A rollover image is a great way to highlight key features on a technical product image.

  1. Build revenue with surveys and quizzes.

People love quizzes and surveys. It’s part of human nature that we love to share our thoughts, and we like that quizzes help us compare ourselves to others. Create a quiz or survey to attract new and high-converting leads, to understand and qualify different audiences and to gain insights into their preferences.

Surveys tapping readers’ perspectives on the economy, industry trends, firm management practices or technology adoption can be a source of valuable information that can be communicated across a variety of channels and content formats:

  • Pre- and post-survey emails and social media posts
  • A downloadable survey report with thought leader perspectives on the results
  • A live webinar presentation on survey highlights, offered jointly with an industry luminary or high-profile client
  • Infographic highlighting key takeaways from the survey
  • A video interview with an in-house thought leader or an industry partner
  1. Develop dynamic white papers.

White papers are a great way to establish your business as an authority on a particular industry topic or issue. The challenge is that the often complex nature of white papers can make them dry and unengaging. Consider improving the reader experience with interactive content.

Incorporating a quiz, assessment, timeline or infographic into a white paper can add interest to the paper and keep readers engaged. The interactive content can be hosted online rather than sent as a static PDF, so analytics can also be gathered to see what parts people interact with most.

Interactive content is one of the fastest-growing areas in content marketing. To succeed with interactive, think from a mobile and software mindset, rather than a printed content mindset. As a result you will build a more interesting, engaging experience for leads, educating, challenging and delighting them as they move through the customer journey.

 About the Author

Megan Miller is a senior consultant with Edge Marketing, assisting clients in development and execution of strategic marketing plans and implementation of marketing technologies. A global technology hound, Miller has built brands, trained teams and introduced successful products for global companies and startups. A certified e-discovery expert, Miller has written on trends and topics in electronic discovery, consumer electronics and the internet of things – before the IoT was even a thing. Her work has appeared in Attorney at Law, US Tech, TechnoLawyer, ACEDS and other industry publications.

/by Megan Miller

These are unusual, highly stressful times. Across every industry, jobs have been reduced or eliminated. Movements have been limited to those deemed essential. Parents are working from home while their children are getting educated from home. News headlines are grim with reports of financial losses, illness, and death.

The only places to find stress relief seem to be in a long walk outside, a glass (or two!) of wine, or the bottom of a Doritos bag.

But does it have to be that way? What if you could spend 10 minutes every day not just reducing stress and anxiety, but also improving creativity so you can solve your most pressing business challenges?

Move over, Cool Ranch. Meditation is here.

Numerous academic studies have shown that meditation increases cognitive flexibility, which leads to greater creativity. Subjects of these studies have displayed an increase in the key components of creativity: problem-solving skills, originality, insight, sustained attention, and mental flexibility.

These are potent skills for business owners and their employees to develop right now, especially during a time when organizations are looking for new ways to do business, increase or preserve sales, support staff, and maintain client satisfaction. Staying relevant these days requires creativity.

Research on creativity suggests that it is unlearned as we age. Children are born with more creativity and tend to unlearn it as they progress through traditional education systems. Other research indicates that we produce our greatest insights and biggest breakthroughs when we are in a more meditative and relaxed state of mind. This is likely because meditation develops the key components of creativity. Adults can use meditation to relearn creativity.

In a recent unscientific study of one, I leaned across the desk I currently share with my husband and asked if he felt meditation increases his creativity. Several years ago, he started meditating to manage symptoms of stress and depression. “Meditation leaves space in my head for more and better things,” he replied. Creativity is not the only benefit of meditation. It can also improve attention, reduce stress, decrease anxiety, and bolster moods.

How much should you meditate? Research varies, but somewhere between ten and twenty minutes per day on most days seems to provide sufficient benefit.

How do you get started? Don’t bother googling how to meditate, or you will get overwhelmed by the “rules”. In my experience, getting started really isn’t difficult. Here is what has worked for me:

  1. Find a place where you will not be disturbed.
  2. Sit in a comfortable position. It can be on the floor, on a pillow, on the couch – wherever you are comfortable and can sit up, with your spine straight and your chest open.
  3. Set a timer. This way, you won’t have to think about how long you’ve been going, which you’re going to do anyway.
  4. Close your eyes.
  5. Breathe – whatever way you can. It doesn’t have to be in through the nose and out through the mouth. I suffer from allergies so, this time of year, I can only breathe through my mouth.
  6. Pay attention to your breathing. Notice how air moves into your body and back out.
  7. Bring your focus back to your breathing. Inevitably, your mind is going to start wandering. When you notice that happening, you’re not doing anything “wrong”; just refocus back to breathing.
  8. Repeat steps 5 to 7 until your timer goes off.

This practice might not work for you, and that’s okay. If it doesn’t, there are really great apps that can guide you through any number of different ways to meditate, and thousands upon thousands of articles on the internet that can offer up other ideas.

In addition to the benefits of increased creativity, reduced stress, and improved mood, meditation has also shown to increase feelings of compassion and unconditional love toward all living things. In these stressful and uncertain times, we all could use a little more of that.

About the Author

Cindy Kremer Moen is working on practicing unconditional love for her two adult/teenage sons and husband, who are all observing stay-at-home orders and working/schooling from home … all the time. In addition to working with several Edge clients, she currently is also cleaning the kitchen – constantly – and reigniting her love for Doritos.

/by Cindy Moen

We are facing a new time in the history of our country – and the world – and learning to adapt can be challenging. We are all adjusting to either working from home or working differently, social distancing and doing our best to keep our family and friends healthy and safe.

Marketing and sharing information about your organization is also challenging. You need to continue to showcase your offerings, but what is the best way given everything else people are dealing with today? It is important for all organizations to continue to communicate with their customers and clients about what they are doing as companies. Are you open? Are your products available? Do you have tech support lines open? But what about talking about new offerings and carrying on with the marketing plan you had laid out for the rest of the year? Here are a few tips:

  • Be considerate. Everyone is experiencing an overload of information right now given what is happening with COVID-19. Make sure the information you are bringing is relevant and interesting to your audience. Be thoughtful and considerate to only share information that will be interesting to them at this time.
  • Know your audience. You may have to change the way you market. Take a look at the medium you normally use to reach your audience. For example, if your company has advertised on billboards in the past, this is not a good option right now. People are spending more time on digital media. Get information on the publications your audience reads and consider online ads. You should also be working with a public relations professional who can help you in reaching out to editorial staff to get your message to your audience.
  • Modify your message. If you planned to launch a new offering in April and it’s still ready for launch, take another look at the offering and think about what aspect of that product is important for what organizations are facing today. While you may have had a key message identified before, is it still relevant or is there a better way to showcase what this offering does based on what people need now? Think about what people are facing today and make sure your message is on target to help them in the current crisis. If it doesn’t, consider putting a hold on releasing the product. Make sure you don’t miss the mark with your messaging and that what you are talking about is relevant today.
  • Be creative. With trade shows and conferences being canceled in all industries, organizations need to get more creative with their messaging and outreach. There is competition for engagement and leads, and for the most part, everyone is distracted with the health crisis we are all facing. Your marketing and messaging need to be on target, professional and creative to get the attention you want.
  • Look at the future. Plan now for what you will want to do after the country starts to return to “business as usual,” even if it is in stages. Get your team together and look at the 2020 plan that you had in place prior to the coronavirus. What modifications do you need to make? Look at the product offerings, timelines, budget and staffing. Make a new plan.

Remember, now is not the time to stay quiet. Your customers, and the industry, want to know what you are doing. If you are making efforts for the community to help get through this pandemic, talk about it! Let people know how your team is and what changes the organization has made to keep your employees safe. Show that you have empathy for what is happening and are not just focused on the bottom line. Now is the time to share the human side of your organization.

 

About the Author

Nicolle Martin is a senior account manager for Edge Marketing. She has more than 18 years of experience doing public relations and marketing in the legal industry.

At Edge, she works with clients to market their companies through many different avenues to corporate legal departments and law firms.

/by Nicolle Martin

Originally published on Legaltech News

Welcome to marketing during COVID-19 (aka coronavirus), a time where face-to-face marketing efforts like conferences, seminars, and on-site sales calls are minimized in favor of safer, virtual forms of contact.

How will this affect marketing to law firms and corporate legal?

Digital marketing is crucial, yes. But face-to-face meetings – when they can happen – make immediate impressions, allow you to gain information quickly, and can melt time off year+ sales cycles for B2B technology companies.

Legal technology conferences put companies right in front of their prospects and clients – not only on the exhibit floor but during educational presentations, demo sessions, parties, and networking. Companies spend months planning for them to promote brand awareness, win leads, and close deals. But if these conferences and the chance for in-person meetings decrease, how can marketers fill the gap? Here are a few ideas.

Click to read the article on Legaltech News.

About the Author
Melanie joined Edge Marketing in 2010 after an in-house career focused on marketing, public relations, and communications for private and publicly traded technology companies. Since then, she’s helped close to 50 technology companies make lasting and beneficial impressions in the legal and accounting communities. Her guiding mantra: “It’s not about results. It’s about the RIGHT results.”

As senior account manager for Edge, she creates cohesive PR and marketing plans formulated to help businesses reach their goals. A typical day includes anything from strategic planning, brainstorming and writing content, and delivering new ways to engage the media and target markets.

Known for her “helium hand” (but she likes to call it leadership), Melanie is a past president of the Austin chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) and a former board member for the Houston chapters of AMA and the Public Relations Society of America. She lives in Austin, Texas, and actively spoils her two dogs every day.

/by Melanie Brenneman

As a business owner, you are acutely aware of the fundamental risks and benefits of thinking outside the box. You know the pros and cons of taking that leap of faith and you have done it, successfully. You have carefully crafted your company and everything that entails, and you are, justifiably, proud of everything you and your team have accomplished.

So, then what?

With so many factors to consider (your company’s reputation and longevity, and employees who depend on you for their livelihoods, to name just two), it’s no wonder successful entrepreneurs can find themselves in a tug-of-war between contentedly trucking along the same safe, well-worn road as always, or forging into uncharted territory.

Here are three ways to nurture an innovative mindset, as you consider your firm’s “then what”:

Challenge the status quo.

There is a time and place for tradition, and business is not it. Take a step back and ask, “Why do we do this, this way?” If the answer is, “It is just the way it’s always been,” then it could be time to change things up.

Remember Blockbuster Video? In 2000, they rejected the opportunity to acquire a scrappy little startup called Netflix for $50 million. Instead, Blockbuster teamed up with Enron (Yes, that Enron) to start their own video-on-demand service; however, focusing so myopically on their brick and mortar stores, Blockbuster walked away from the first major iteration of widescale VOD.

It did not take long for Netflix to start chipping away at Blockbuster’s customer base; not by undercutting them, but by reimagining movie rental in the digital age with its mail-order DVD rental service. In five years, when Blockbuster finally hopped on the bandwagon and started its own similar service, Netflix already had 3 million customers, none of the overhead incurred in physical retail, and was well on its way to launching the streaming service we know today.

According to this study by PwC, 81 percent of homes in the United States used Netflix in 2019, versus 68 percent who are pay-TV subscribers. As for Blockbuster, they’ve gone from almost 9,100 stores worldwide at their peak in the early 2000s, to one single location left in the world.

Just because it’s the way it has always been, does not mean it’s the right way, or the only way.

Don’t compete: Create.

Keeping an eye on the competition can be a necessary evil for a business owner. It can trigger innovative ideas and strategies for your own brand; however, you can set yourself apart by reframing your thinking: You are not competing with another product/service: You are creating a new solution in the existing marketplace.

What do Play-Doh, Post-Its, and the Slinky all have in common? They were all created unintentionally, by inventors who were intending to create entirely different products. Play-Doh was intended to clean coal residue from wallpaper. The inventors of Post-Its wanted to create a super-adhesive and ended up with the opposite. The Slinky was invented by a naval mechanical engineer who was developing springs to support and stabilize sensitive instruments aboard battleships.

When these innovators took a step back, they saw that their product served an entirely different purpose than they’d originally intended, and they rolled with it.

Though you likely have no intention of changing your company’s commodity from wallpaper cleaner to a children’s toy, recognizing a different need you could fulfill may help unlock your imagination.

Be a brave, lifelong learner.

Trends, laws, and technologies are changing continually, and you can use that to your advantage. Stay current by taking formal and informal opportunities to learn. Expand your opportunities for growth, both personally and professionally, by taking a class or joining a society or club (or creating one, if one doesn’t exist!). Check out inspiring or informative podcasts and YouTube channels. Don’t know any? Ask around: Everyone loves recommending their favorites. Skip the Seinfeld rerun one night a week in favor of doing some reading, or even just going for a walk. Get out there, and allow yourself to dream big!

As a business owner, you already embody the frequently-used quote with variations attributed to everyone from Nelson Mandela to Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Being brave does not mean you’re not scared: Being brave means you are scared and you do it anyway.” Commit before you know all the answers, and take that leap.

 

About the Author

Tanya Amyote is Marketing Assistant, database and Excel guru, and token Canadian at Edge. Tanya possesses a strong work ethic, impeccable communication skills, and a can-do attitude. In addition to their son, James, Tanya and her husband, Brian, have three rescue dogs: Luna, Gary, and Gus.

/by Tanya Amyote