Today’s Best PR and Marketing Executives Employ “Creatalitics”

“How do fevers in the human brain produce the dreams and visions that become transformed into blazes of insight?” The Creative Brain

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When I was in college, I was proud to be studying at a University that had its PR program in the School of Business, resulting in a Bachelor of Science in Business degree. This was – and stills seems to be – a rarity in the field. Most PR and Marketing degrees are housed in the School of Communications and/or result in a Bachelor of Arts. In the past, this seemed to make sense for PR – it reflected the creative arts side of the field – writing, event planning, branding, messaging, etc. But today, with the explosion of analytics and data in the field, PR and Marketing executives have to think differently. They need to use both sides of their brain – the right, creative side and the left, analytical side. (Luckily, my degree prepared me for both before the market turned that direction.)

The creative side of the brain is still crucial to coming up with marketing strategies, branding and messages that appeal to people. We have to understand how to entice strong emotions that lead to action. Once that action is taken, we now have to use the right side of our brain to determine if that action resulted in value to our organization (or our clients’ organizations). Our creativity is crucial when it comes to content – we are in fact content creators and publishers in the day and age of social media. It takes fun, whimsy and innovative risk taking to create content that’s really going to stand out. But in order to truly create the best content, we need to use the right side of our brain to analyze how that content – if that content is working.

It’s not enough anymore to say “That was a really catchy headline” or “The logo is awesome” - or even to just write a creative pitch that gets a reporter’s attention. We now need to drill down and, after the reporter writes his or her article, analyze if the messages within drove the right interest. Was the article placed in the right outlet? Did the messages appeal to the right audience? What did they do as a result? Did they click through to our site? Did they buy? Why or why not?

This movement is also reflected in the banter about CIOs and CMOs battling for budget and suddenly sharing some tech responsibilities. CMOs are responsible for more data-driven decisions than in the past, and that includes managing the website’s content (which CIOs also need to make sure doesn’t then result in slower performance or other issues), and purchasing analytical software. As Dell chief information officer Andi Karaboutis recently told ZDNet, “Things for which I work together with Karen [the CMO]? Analytics, big data.”

And thus, today’s best PR and Marketing executives are what I’ve dubbed “Creatalitics” thinkers. They combine really creative and innovative ideas – those “dreams and visions” with data and analysis – the “blazes of insight” that tells them if their creations go beyond initial appeal and into the world of actionable value to the company’s bottom line. How are you using “creatalitics” in your PR or marketing position? If we can help you better undersatnd and merge this new way of thinking into your organization, let me know.

Persuasive Picks For Week Of 8/5/13

google_prGoogle updated its webmaster guidelines that target core PR practices around press releases. Silicon Valley journalist blogger and ZDNET contributor Tom Foremski weighs in on the negative impact this will have for the press release. Check out his take Did Google just kill PR agencies? to find out more on the updated rules on links and keywords in press releases and how they may affect your future release plans.

Facebook Changes News Feed To Bump Up More Relevant Content - Called “Story Bumping,” the changes move up older stories to the top of a user’s News Feed if they missed them during a previous visit to Facebook. Forbes writer Tomio Geron clarifies the changes and shares some initial reactions and results.

29_29NOV_010.jpgAll marketing practitioners are seeking ways to save money and get a bigger bang for their budget buck. How to do that isn’t at all obvious. MarketingProfs‘ Ardi Kolah explains that sometimes the answer can be staring you in the face and offers 10 Ways to Stretch Your Marketing Budget

Social has become a critical component of the overall digital advertising market. As Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others have emerged as social network leaders, they have created powerful new ways for advertising to reach consumers. In fact, some $11 billion will be taken in advertising revenue in social media in the year 2017 - that’s according to this incredible infographic that looks at the rise and rise of ad sales on social sites. A Brief History of Social Advertising via The Next Web.

Persuasive Picks for week of 1/23/12

WebProNews writer Drew Bowling shows how social media was used in the workplace this past year in Facebook Accounts For 80% Social Media Traffic World-wide and other fun facts about social media at work.

Dr. Trevor Davis provides commentary on the excitement and usefulness of social media in his ZDNet post titled Listen to social media and find out what’s trending

‎Lara O’Reilly of MarketingWeek says that Brands can’t afford to #fail when it comes to social media crisis… in her latest report.

Allie Gray Freeland gives MarketingProfs readers a lesson in PR 2.0 in this slide show named Five Tips for Online Public Relations Success

Persuasive Picks for the week of 08/29/11

Social Blue Prints15 Case Studies to Get Your Client On Board With Social Media
This Mashable post from Jonathan Rick provides 15 recent social media case studies along with the underlying principles that went along with their success.

Snackable Content: The Key to Engagement
I first heard the phrase “snackable content” a few years ago. At the time, it stood out as a great way to describe the type of content that brands should be creating and offering up to their online communities. Fast forward to this past week, and once again the term resurfaces and remains just as relevant as you’ll see in this MarketingProfs post from Glenn Engler.

Social business holds steady gap behind consumer social media
Dion Hinchcliffe provides a detailed look into the current state of social in the enterprise, complete with stats and links to other resources via this post on ZDNet‘s Enterprise 2.0 blog.

The importance of being human
Next to listening, adding a human element to your efforts in the social space online is one of the best things you can do for your brand. Francois Gossieaux breaks down the concept of “humanization” and explains whey you should care via this post on iMediaConnection.

How Social Media Users Engage with Marketers on Twitter
This post from eMarketer.com shares some highlights from a recent Lab42 survey that revealed how users react to, follow and engage with brands on Twitter. Perhaps the results prove the need for more humanization?  :)

Persuasive Picks for the week of 02/16/09

Jeff Glasson is on vacation this week so I’m throwing up what caught my eye for this week’s Picks.

Debunking Six Social Media Myths - B.L. Ochman of BusinessWeek claims that resistance to social media is futile, and that “If your business isn’t putting itself out there, it ought to be.” This post covers many myths that surround social media that everyone should be aware of “before taking the plunge.”

Cece Salomon-Lee, author of the PR Meets Marketing blog, took it upon herself to dissect the social media prowess of O’Dwyer’s list of top 100 independent PR firms (of which PerkettPR is not a part only because we do not share revenues). Her findings caused quite a stir - 59 comments and counting as of this post. Seems to me that agencies are using some old reasons such as “our clients don’t need social media” and “it’s the cobbler’s shoes syndrome,” as defense against not being involved in social media. As I mentioned in my own comment to the post, they’re missing opportunities in this vein for their own relationship building, whether or not they’re executing campaigns for clients.

On the other hand, Jennifer Leggio of ZDNet took on a bit more comprehensive research, which she unveiled in a survey report “Is ‘Social PR’ for Real; Which Agencies Get It?” - also focused on PR and social media. Her takeaways were invaluable for both agencies and clients - and she kindly reminded us all that client results matter first - whether in traditional PR, social media marketing or both. We’re proud to be included among the firms recognized for having both - and as one of only sixTop Considered” - consistently named as a viable consideration for clients considering an agency switch. (To which we say, give us a call!)

Our client Lotame continued the social media and PR conversation on their Social Media Remix radio show yesterday - hosting yours truly and PerkettPR’s EVP Heather Mosley. You can listen here to the recording.

And one of my favorite social media campaigns of the week combined two of my personal passions: technology and fashion. It was Fashion Week in New York and I had the privilege of being involved this year as a Board Advisor to Style Coalition, a new organization focused on advancing professional standards in content creation and increasing the effectiveness of advertising messages within this realm. We held a Digital Moda event on Tuesday night to bring together designers, bloggers and new media marketers - an innovative alternative to the traditional runway shows typically seen at NYFW. So I was thrilled to see a well-recognized fashion brand, BabyPhat, also embracing new media that evening. They Twittered from their runway show, including timely posts of photos, commentary and video - giving consumer fans all over the Internet a feel for being right there in the middle of the action.