Coupons as PR

I'm back!!!

Today i would like to discuss about coupons as PR.  

Can coupons can be used as a public relations tools?? or they are firmly in the marketing campaigns?  Business experts have argued about this for ages actually...and the influence of the internet hasn't exactly helped to settle the scores.

In fact, its probably blurred the lines even more website like Groupon, MAD and Foursquare are changing the face of the coupon and making it more of a way to interact with customers rather than simply get them in the store..right?

Whichever side you're on, marketing or public relations, it barely matters; what matters is getting those folks through the front door and buying the stuff.  Coupons are a great way to do that.  So how you all thinks that its effectively can used them as a PR tools??

In event???

One things website like Foursquare do so well is to create "hype" around a store's coupons.  The managers have been know to pull off some pretty elaborate situations for their business, resulting in a veritable swarm of new customers. For instance becoming "mayor" of a restaurant can get a customer free stuff like drinks, food or even merchandise. 

How it does translate to the public relations??

To stay mayor that long, user must go to the story to check-in.  If users are holding a contest to get these coupons, then people have a chance to talk to you and to their fellow customers about the experience in that place.  This is translate PR quite easily, especially if you also combine the experience with other social media in Facebook.

Other social media

Speaking of other social media, this is also a perfect way to bring public relations to the store while also giving the customers a break.  Many business will give out deals if folks "like" their own page or business page.  That;s a great way to bring in a new people.  The promise of future coupons can be a great way to ensure those users don't jet as soon as they're gotten what they need from their initial coupons.  Coupons can come in the mail all the time, but users wouldn't say that interacting with customers at all.  But to give people opportunity to "earn" them, like coming to the store and using their phone to check in, then it becomes something else entirely.

Social Media on the Rise - Declined

Social media rising to the top or sinking to the bottom when it comes to advertising and marketing.  It seem like we get a different answer depending on who we ask for?.  Some will say that it's on the decline, that people are beginning to realize there's no replacing a real live human.  Others says that's ridiculous and there's no time like the present to jump on the bandwagon..

What you choose??

The Rise
Clearly many aspects of social media on the rise considering the advent of brand new social media platforms every day.  Most of these are very specific platforms, like oneclimate which is platform for not to profit/social change organizations and lovers.  These randomly pop up and vanish all the time.  The enjoy a wide variety of success, depending on how large the niche is they operate within.  There are also major release like Google plus.  Plus is expected to make huge impact on the social media market landscape, taking on giants like Facebook and Twitter.

The Decline
When someone says social media is in decline, they don't mean the actual practice of it.  I've seen it more accurately describes as moving away from calling everything and more towards streamlining social media into the rest of the marketing in one smooth stream.  When business social media first started, people were unware of whether it was going to turn into just another way for companies to shill for their product.  This will caused the current practice to creating social identities for otherwise faceless companies.

Crisis Plans - Basic Needs

Today i would like to write about social media crisis and the basics plans company needs.!!!

Does your company have a social media back-up plan??? do you???

When a crisis hits, we as a PR person in our company need to jump on it immediately.  Otherwise, things can easily spiral out of control.  If we don't know what to do, we can easily miss the chances or make a things worse..

What Good???

A major incident spread through the internet like wildlife showcasing just on how important social media really is actually??? I read about the case of "an editor at cook's source magazine".  A cooking and recipe rag in the north-east US, decided to rip off a recipe she found on the internet.  When the victim contacted her about the compensation, the editor responded she should be lucky because the magazine included her at all.

What can we do??

A social media crisis plan doesn't take too much work to set up.  Start by determining what the potential problems might be, will it likely be something about the product or service.  Known in advanced what might get throw the way so that we can prepare to block it when the situation actually arises.  Instead of floundering around, or ignoring the situation like cook source did, we will have a step by step plan to follow.  We have to consider by giving everyone on staff separate tasks.  when time is of the essence, say during a major product recall, we may not be able to handle angry facebook and twitter posts all at once. 

Think of the social media crisis plan as our fire drill.

The Keys to Social Media Success

There are many keys to success with social media.  Instead of just having to use one to unlock a door, you're required to use many for just only one lock!! One door might need the build relationships key as well as the do proper research to unlock the key.  Another door requires the learn SEO to build a community and to hire social medai manager keys before it opens.

However the prizes behind these door make the effect and key searching well worth it, whether you're already required a few of these or are just starting out and need some motivation, by knowing what the end result is can be very helpful.

Deep Loyalty with Customers

This is the one of the biggest doors we can unlock, and it may require most of the keys we have on the social media key ring.  These keys include "branding", "tweet useful info" and inspire confidence among many others.  Loyalty from the customers can result in long term ROI and steadily increasing revenue.  However, it's not about money.  Brand loyalty might also mean forgiveness in the face of a good or scandal.  Also, it can vbe used a gateway to future loyal customers when we tell all the friends and family members about us.

Better Reputation

For this door, we need keys like "respond to gripes on Facebook", "donate to charity" and "have a back-up plan in case of a disaster"  Behind this door lies the opportunity to be better known throughout the world as a reputable business.  When the general public sees how well we handle a crises of everyday questions and complaints, it will eventually strike them that we treat customers like each one is a treasure.  When it happens, the public will become confident that when they deal with us they will get a satisfactory customer experience.  From the moment they enter our shop or log into our website, all their needs will be met.  Confidence in the business willingness to always do the right thing can quickly translate into money in the pocket. 

Become a brand

Are you really want your business to be known for your product??? i think YES! When people think of custom made pencil toppers, of course you want them to think of your custom made pencil toppers right??.  if this is the case, they we should need social media keys like "perfect logo" and be more creative.

Actually branding is all more about a "feeling" than anything that we can put hands on.  Creating a brand isn't simple, but if we can pull it off, people will associate our business with a certain feeling or aura.  To fulfill that side of themselves, they will head to the front doors and but away.  

To achieve all this, we must simply get the right keys!..