It’s time to go back to work! I hope you had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend and are rested and ready for what can often be the busiest time of the year.
The first three quarters of the year have been fairly busy for me. Some of the projects I have been working on include: creating website content for two small businesses, writing and copy editing ebooks, blogs and web pages for a technology company, and creating a message strategy and brochure for a nonprofit.
On my website, I finally posted a case study of a client I worked with last year, Pebbles of Hope.Check it out.
Below, I discuss how far we’ve come in the world of digital communications.
Remember, if you need any marketing materials to be written or copy edited, I am here to help.
With best wishes,
Deborah
Digital is in the mix!
A few years ago, I attended what would be among the first of many talks aimed at public relations professionals about social media. In the room that day there was a lot of angst and even push back. “Old school” PR practitioners did not believe that you could substitute social media for PR efforts. By golly, they were going to keep sending press releases out, by fax or even by courier.
Fast forward to today. The concepts of content, digital marketing and search engine optimization and marketing (SEO/SEM) have not only been adopted by the marketing communications industry, but have been warmly embraced. We know that just doing digital is not enough, and doing it without looking at your overall communications strategy is definitely a bad idea.
When I was in grad school, we were taught the integrated marketing communications approach. What was being integrated was public relations and advertising, sponsorship, other marketing functions. The idea was that to be effective you had to use all the tools at your disposal, and do it smartly. Today, we have to incorporate digital into the marketing mix.
Digital includes anything online: website, email, social media and video, for starters. In essence, digital is just another communications channel, but on steroids. People are far more dependent on digital today than on other forms. Most people search for information online, read reviews on sites like Yelp, and interact with friends on social networking sites.
And yet many times, marketing and public relations practitioners don’t really try to understand the digital space. What makes Google find your website and why is this important? If you don’t understand the basics of search, you may be putting all other communications work at risk because your website may not be findable.
Digital can’t be an afterthought to round out your communications plan. It must be front and center. And it must play nicely with the rest of your communications tools. In other words, it’s time to understand and integrate digital into the marketing mix..
Communications tip: Read a grammar book!
It seems that not a day goes by without me spying a grammatical mistake. Recently a headline on a local news channel’s website read: "Missing boy found safely." I am sure the searchers were safe, but the story wasn’t about them, it was about the boy. He was found safe, thank goodness. We could all use some grammar refreshers. You might try reading the excellent Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia O’Conner or you could check out Grammar Girl’s fun website for some "quick and dirty tips."
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Let's work together!
Deborah Brody Marketing Communications services:
▪ Writing and copy editing of marketing/communications materials ▪ Communications and social media consulting ▪ Communications and social media audits ▪ Customized blog training and workshops
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