Linked In
How Brands Use Messages
November 03, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
In my writing workshops, I emphasize the importance of targeting messages.
Who is the audience?
Why do they need to receive your message?
How will the message add value to the message’s receivers?
For a company specializing in branding issues, targeting a message is not merely important -- it’s crucial. Every day brings the incredible challenge of increasing awareness, interest, and sales of branded products in a massively crowded marketplace.
Mastering this challenge begins with creating quality messages that surpass the clutter of information available for trade media, consumers, and licensees.
Earlier this year, Nickelodeon and CBS Consumer Products alumni J.J. Ahearn and Jason Korfine launched Licensing Street -- a boutique licensing and consulting company headquartered in New York City. Licensing Street has a dual focus -- entertainment characters and brands.
Jason breaks down the communication function of Licensing Street into two parts.
There are two pieces -- trade marketing and consumer marketing. Through trade media, we disseminate information to inform licensees of available opportunities. On the consumer side, we’re looking to send information that creates product awareness and drives retail sell-through.
Technology gives Licensing Street and other small businesses the chance to compete effectively for attention to messages -- press releases, corporate announcements, product roll-outs. J.J. counsels strategic thinking in using technology to identify your audience and craft your messages accordingly.
We advise our clients to distribute their messages with a targeted approach rather than a shotgun “spray and pray” approach.
You can do business from anywhere in the world. You can disseminate your message on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, a blog, or a traditional press release. Technology has leveled the playing field. If you have a level playing field, you don’t need a huge budget to send your message. The downside is the potential for your message getting lost in the white noise created by so many other messages. Then nothing breaks through.
david@davidkrell.com
In my writing workshops, I emphasize the importance of targeting messages.
Who is the audience?
Why do they need to receive your message?
How will the message add value to the message’s receivers?
For a company specializing in branding issues, targeting a message is not merely important -- it’s crucial. Every day brings the incredible challenge of increasing awareness, interest, and sales of branded products in a massively crowded marketplace.
Mastering this challenge begins with creating quality messages that surpass the clutter of information available for trade media, consumers, and licensees.
Earlier this year, Nickelodeon and CBS Consumer Products alumni J.J. Ahearn and Jason Korfine launched Licensing Street -- a boutique licensing and consulting company headquartered in New York City. Licensing Street has a dual focus -- entertainment characters and brands.
Jason breaks down the communication function of Licensing Street into two parts.
There are two pieces -- trade marketing and consumer marketing. Through trade media, we disseminate information to inform licensees of available opportunities. On the consumer side, we’re looking to send information that creates product awareness and drives retail sell-through.
Technology gives Licensing Street and other small businesses the chance to compete effectively for attention to messages -- press releases, corporate announcements, product roll-outs. J.J. counsels strategic thinking in using technology to identify your audience and craft your messages accordingly.
We advise our clients to distribute their messages with a targeted approach rather than a shotgun “spray and pray” approach.
You can do business from anywhere in the world. You can disseminate your message on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, a blog, or a traditional press release. Technology has leveled the playing field. If you have a level playing field, you don’t need a huge budget to send your message. The downside is the potential for your message getting lost in the white noise created by so many other messages. Then nothing breaks through.
Law Firms and Linked In
October 21, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Phil Cox founded Global Law Marketing to bring his marketing expertise to law firms that want to increase their presence in the highly competitive legal marketplace. Incorporating the law firm’s brand into an online marketing strategy can be tricky, but it can also be lucrative.
Generally, a law firm does not have an online brand. It has the web site. I want to change that because distinguishing your service goes beyond the web site. The biggest challenge in advising law firms is getting partners to decide on their goals -- where do they want the firm to go and how do they want the firm to get there? They need to plan for it.
Activity needs to be directed towards growing a client base. Blogs, webinars, and free educational breakfasts will be part of an overall marketing strategy. But the firm’s marketing managers and outside advisors must budget and manage the activity properly.
Planning and executing a marketing strategy are twin challenges that are massive, complex, and necessary for law firms. But the vast, untapped resource of the Internet allows solo practitioners to compete with firms possessing deep war chests for marketing. The marketing strategy remains paramount, no matter the firm’s size, specialty, and coffers.
Law firms are not working with social media, generally speaking. I want to change that. The trick is to brand yourself as an expert within a given area. One option is the creation of a group on LinkedIn around that area. You manage the group and drive the knowledge transfer. You don’t want it to be generic. Rather, you want to create a niche topic for a target group. Blogging is also a good marketing tool if you blog about a specific area of law.
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In the interest of full disclosure, Phil contracted me earlier this year to handle the copywriting for the web site of a Global Law Marketing client -- a prestigious, mid-sized law firm based in Mexico City. For more information on my copywriting and consulting services, contact me. -- David
david@davidkrell.com
Phil Cox founded Global Law Marketing to bring his marketing expertise to law firms that want to increase their presence in the highly competitive legal marketplace. Incorporating the law firm’s brand into an online marketing strategy can be tricky, but it can also be lucrative.
Generally, a law firm does not have an online brand. It has the web site. I want to change that because distinguishing your service goes beyond the web site. The biggest challenge in advising law firms is getting partners to decide on their goals -- where do they want the firm to go and how do they want the firm to get there? They need to plan for it.
Activity needs to be directed towards growing a client base. Blogs, webinars, and free educational breakfasts will be part of an overall marketing strategy. But the firm’s marketing managers and outside advisors must budget and manage the activity properly.
Planning and executing a marketing strategy are twin challenges that are massive, complex, and necessary for law firms. But the vast, untapped resource of the Internet allows solo practitioners to compete with firms possessing deep war chests for marketing. The marketing strategy remains paramount, no matter the firm’s size, specialty, and coffers.
Law firms are not working with social media, generally speaking. I want to change that. The trick is to brand yourself as an expert within a given area. One option is the creation of a group on LinkedIn around that area. You manage the group and drive the knowledge transfer. You don’t want it to be generic. Rather, you want to create a niche topic for a target group. Blogging is also a good marketing tool if you blog about a specific area of law.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the interest of full disclosure, Phil contracted me earlier this year to handle the copywriting for the web site of a Global Law Marketing client -- a prestigious, mid-sized law firm based in Mexico City. For more information on my copywriting and consulting services, contact me. -- David
The Power of a Handshake
June 09, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Social media is a necessity for networking in the digital age.
From microblogging on Twitter to posting on Facebook to making connections on Linked In, social media allows us to exponentially expand our network with a few keystrokes.
Sometimes the old-fashioned way works, too. Nothing replaces face-to-face conversation, handshakes, and body language.
When I attended the International Trademark Association Annual Meeting last month in Seattle, I was part of a group approximately 7500 strong. Like other trade association conferences, the pace is challenging.
From early morning to late night, I created new connections, reinforced existing relationships, and cultivated new business. I met people at workshops, seminars, and after-dinner parties in a continuous loop during the course of a few days.
And the conversations all began with a handshake.
I got an assignment to write an article about legal writing through a chance meeting with an editor from Marcasur, a Latin American intellectual property law magazine. She asked about Write This Way and the conversation ended with the assignment.
I learned about an article in need of an author for The Trademark Reporter, INTA's scholarly journal. Topic -- Trademarks in Virtual Worlds. My discovery came through a conversation with a friend at a Mariners game. My friend is a premier intellectual property litigator and a member of the editorial staff at The Trademark Reporter. I immediately volunteered to write the article about this relatively new phenomenon.
A couple of hours before the Mariners game, I attended a cocktail hour for the media. Since I had an extra ticket in my block of tickets for the game, I invited a law firm marketer whom I met at the cocktail hour. He and I are having lunch today to discuss a potential web site copywriting project involving one of his international intellectual property law firm clients.
At the same cocktail hour, I met a British legal journalist who later agreed to be a member of the writing workshop I will moderate at the INTA 2010 Annual Meeting in Boston.
I also connected with an already existing contact who graciously arranged to send the materials for the Write This Way CLE workshops to the decision makers at her downtown Manhattan law firm. Getting in front of the decision makers is the first step to creating new business. To be fair, our conversation in Seattle took place via E-Mail, however, we first met a couple of years ago at a legal seminar -- not by following each other on Twitter, friending each other on Facebook, or joining each other's network on Linked In.
To be sure, those actions have a definite place in networking. One ignores social media at his or her peril in the digital age.
But don't discount the power of a handshake.
david@davidkrell.com
Social media is a necessity for networking in the digital age.
From microblogging on Twitter to posting on Facebook to making connections on Linked In, social media allows us to exponentially expand our network with a few keystrokes.
Sometimes the old-fashioned way works, too. Nothing replaces face-to-face conversation, handshakes, and body language.
When I attended the International Trademark Association Annual Meeting last month in Seattle, I was part of a group approximately 7500 strong. Like other trade association conferences, the pace is challenging.
From early morning to late night, I created new connections, reinforced existing relationships, and cultivated new business. I met people at workshops, seminars, and after-dinner parties in a continuous loop during the course of a few days.
And the conversations all began with a handshake.
I got an assignment to write an article about legal writing through a chance meeting with an editor from Marcasur, a Latin American intellectual property law magazine. She asked about Write This Way and the conversation ended with the assignment.
I learned about an article in need of an author for The Trademark Reporter, INTA's scholarly journal. Topic -- Trademarks in Virtual Worlds. My discovery came through a conversation with a friend at a Mariners game. My friend is a premier intellectual property litigator and a member of the editorial staff at The Trademark Reporter. I immediately volunteered to write the article about this relatively new phenomenon.
A couple of hours before the Mariners game, I attended a cocktail hour for the media. Since I had an extra ticket in my block of tickets for the game, I invited a law firm marketer whom I met at the cocktail hour. He and I are having lunch today to discuss a potential web site copywriting project involving one of his international intellectual property law firm clients.
At the same cocktail hour, I met a British legal journalist who later agreed to be a member of the writing workshop I will moderate at the INTA 2010 Annual Meeting in Boston.
I also connected with an already existing contact who graciously arranged to send the materials for the Write This Way CLE workshops to the decision makers at her downtown Manhattan law firm. Getting in front of the decision makers is the first step to creating new business. To be fair, our conversation in Seattle took place via E-Mail, however, we first met a couple of years ago at a legal seminar -- not by following each other on Twitter, friending each other on Facebook, or joining each other's network on Linked In.
To be sure, those actions have a definite place in networking. One ignores social media at his or her peril in the digital age.
But don't discount the power of a handshake.