Customer Communication Archives -

Your Customers are Talking About You. Do You Know What They’re Saying?

If you’re not on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites —and believe it or not, many people are not!—you may be missing out on some very important conversations. Some of these conversations may be about you!

When we worked with a client recently, we did some quick online research, and they were shocked to find how many discussions about their product, relative to their competitors’ products, were taking place.

Some were good, some were not. Continue reading “Your Customers are Talking About You. Do You Know What They’re Saying?”

Content IS King – Regardless of Who Said It!

While there’s a debate about where the phrase “content is king” originally emerged, Bill Gates is widely given credit for the phrase and wrote what Fox Business calls a “remarkably prescient piece” back in 1996 in which he “accurately foresaw the content boom years before Google, WordPress, Facebook and YouTube even existed.” The rest, of course, is history.

Organizations of all kinds have jumped on the content bandwagon, recognizing that the trusted relationships they have with patients puts them in a prime position to share content on a wide range of topics of interest to, and representing value for, their audiences. Continue reading “Content IS King – Regardless of Who Said It!”

This is Not the Time for Blatant Sales Pitches, But Don’t Lose Touch!

With millions of people out of work and countless businesses shutting their doors temporarily, or even permanently, many businesses are wondering whether they should maintain their marketing communication activities.

Our Advice: Yes, But…

Continue reading “This is Not the Time for Blatant Sales Pitches, But Don’t Lose Touch!”

Are You Telling Your Customers About the Great Services They Receive From You?

Customer reviews, client reviews, best PR firm, public relations, content marketing

It’s important for any business to know whether or not their customers are satisfied with the service the company is providing – the same applies for products, but we’ll focus on services here. Many companies ask customers for feedback to gauge their experience, and this can take many forms, including surveys and post-purchase emails among others. This feedback could be asking for a simple thumbs up, thumbs down or sliding scale review of the overall service, or it could ask more specific questions, focusing on different aspects of the service: timeliness, quality, likelihood to repeat business, likelihood to recommend to others, etc. Continue reading “Are You Telling Your Customers About the Great Services They Receive From You?”

Gaining a Better Understanding of Where Your Audience is Coming From

What event or events would you say have had the greatest impact on the United States during YOUR lifetime? It’s a question put to 2,025 adult survey respondents in a mid-2016 Pew Research Center poll, the results of which were covered by Claudia Deane, Maeve Duggan and Rich Morin. Before looking at the article, try to answer the question yourself. What are the 10 historic events during your lifetime that have had the greatest impact on the country? Continue reading “Gaining a Better Understanding of Where Your Audience is Coming From”

Best “Hack” for Planning/Running Public Relations Campaigns

The idea of hacking used to be associated almost exclusively with the computer industry. A hacker was someone who found clever or clandestine ways around computer safeguards. But more and more, hacking has acquired a broader application, associated with developing and exploiting unconventional means to accomplish a task in a variety of industries and settings. Public relations (PR) campaigns are no different. Continue reading “Best “Hack” for Planning/Running Public Relations Campaigns”

How to Get Customers to Spread the Good Word

by Linda Pophal

I wrote a post recently about the value of positive public relations compared to other ways of generating awareness and preference for organizations. I made the point that what others say about us (e.g. positive word-of-mouth) is always more impactful than what we say about ourselves. One reader followed up with a question: “So how do we get our satisfied customers/alumni to talk about us more?”

This was my response: Continue reading “How to Get Customers to Spread the Good Word”

How Will You Make Your Audience Want To?

I’m a big fan of EContent, a media outlet that focuses on content related to digital publishing, media and marketing. They have a number of very influential contributors* who write about trending topics, and useful strategies and tactics to help readers succeed in the online world.

It’s one of the many media outlets that I try to read as often as I can. Recently, when browsing through the topics on their homepage, I came across a piece by Theresa Cramer, the editor of EContent: Lessons From Serial: The Myth of the Shrinking Attention Span. I found it to be a very thought-provoking piece, and I was especially struck by one particular line in the piece: Continue reading “How Will You Make Your Audience Want To?”

How Will We Use Email in 2015

As smartphones have become increasingly common and many—particularly the millennial generation—have turned to texting as their go-to method of communication, some have questioned the future of email as a means of communication in both personal and professional settings.

I was asked recently by a reporter what I felt the future of email is and, particularly, how we are likely to use email in 2015. Will email go away? Will it remain relevant? These are very much the same questions that have been asked of other forms of communication: Will email replace “snail mail”? Will online chat replace phone calls? “Yes” and “yes” in some cases.

Generally, though, rather than reflecting a potential replacement, these new methodologies create new options and opportunities. Continue reading “How Will We Use Email in 2015”

Connecting, Via Email, With Powerful People

In a recent blog post by Peter Sims in the Harvard Business Review titled “Tips for Cold Emailing Intimidatingly Powerful People,” Sims discusses tips and strategies for “cold-emailing” the big shots and captains of industry we all want to know. When it comes to marketing efforts, defining a list of individuals you want to get your message to and shooting them a personal email is about as targeted as it gets, so knowing how to effectively reach out to leaders, influencers and big spenders in your industry is a great arrow to have in your quiver. Continue reading “Connecting, Via Email, With Powerful People”