To the best of your ability, make sure your logo and slogan are used to support your brand’s message, but don’t leave a rigid impression with your audience. Don’t just tell them how great your product, service or company is. Instead, engage them through social media by developing a brand story that addresses your Unique Selling Proposition. Blendtec is a great example with their series of inexpensive “Will It Blend” YouTube videos. The videos show how robust the blenders are in a humorous way.

Keep in mind that good branding generates good feelings.

Social media gives you the opportunity to go above and beyond for your consumers by sharing tutorials, freebies and resources, while also facilitating two-way communication by accepting feedback from target audiences. Sharing and receiving information can benefit your organization by demonstrating your commitment to your social community and customers beyond what’s expected of you. This practice will help you position your brand as community-oriented.

Zappos.com is a great example of a company that successfully engages the public through social media. CEO, Tony Hsieh, believes it’s important to add personality to tweets and to interact with the public. Tony frequently tweets inspirational quotes, funny pictures and business-related content in a humorous and conversational tone. He has provided incentives for customers to donate to LIVESTRONG, and he has used Twitter to direct consumers to the corporate blog to explain a recent pricing glitch with Zappos.com’s sister company 6pm.com. Tony has also generated conversation about his company by choosing to randomly upgrade customer’s orders to overnight shipping. The Zappos brand has definitely become a model for organizations looking to build a relationship with the public through social media.

The Takeaway

By engaging in social media, you’re setting your organization up for success. Social media has become such an effective public relations tool because it helps build symbiotic relationships between people and businesses. Getting in on the action will help you build your brand in the minds of consumers.

Some organizations develop style guides to ensure they present consistent messages to their audience. A style guide is a set of standards used for the writing and design of documents. Grammatical and graphic consistency is important to in order to maintain a cohesive organizational identity.

A strong slogan will incorporate a Unique Selling Proposition. A Unique Selling Proposition must have three specific components to be effective.

1. It must tell the customer “if you use this product or service, you will get this specific benefit.”
2. It must offer either uniqueness of the brand, or a benefit not seen elsewhere in the product’s market.
3. The proposition must be strong enough to attract new customers to your product.

For example, FedEx has used various slogans such as:

• “Relax, it’s FedEx.”
• “The world on time.”
• “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.”

However each of these slogans maintains a consistent Unique Selling Proposition.

Once your brand has been thoroughly established within your industry you can refresh various elements of your brand. It’s okay to evolve, just make sure you don’t confuse your customers. Delta is a great example of successful rebranding.

Delta unveiled its updated brand on April 30, 2007. The new brand honors Delta’s heritage, while at the same time reflecting a modern look for an airline that is focused on the overall customer experience.

The Takeaway

Your organization should be concerned with developing a well-positioned brand because you will gain insulation from your competitors, loyal customers who are less price-sensitive and ultimately a financial asset.

Sometimes you can influence those perceptions positively and sometimes you can’t. Strategic branding endeavors to position your product as the most beneficial option for consumers. Effective branding should set out to create an image of what your brand stands for, differentiate your product within its industry and state the benefit.

Create an Image

Your brand should create an image of what it stands for. Every interaction that occurs between you and your customers should support that image. Amazon.com is a great example of a brand that has created a strong image. CEO Jeff Bezos said, “We’re not in the book business or the music business. We’re in the customer service business.” Customer service at Amazon.com extends beyond the warehouse to your front door. You can log on and track your order, cancel it or change the shipping method. If the product is subpar they will ship you a new product before you send the original one back.

Differentiate Your Product

Your brand must be clearly differentiated from competitive brands. Psychological positioning is extremely important in markets with similar products. It’s the difference between buying Acetaminophen and Tylenol. Customers don’t just buy products or services, they buy brands. They buy the feeling it gives them, the reflection it has on them or the benefit it affords them.

State the benefit

Make the benefit clear to the consumer. Don’t try to be too clever, and don’t focus on more than one benefit at a time. For example. Apple’s slogan “Think different” endeavors to position Apple products as a tool to help you stand out from the crowd.

Remember, customer perception of the benefit you offer is important, but following through is even more crucial. To garner user loyalty and build credibility you must live up to your reputation. Delivering products of value is an important aspect of obtaining return customers. Apple follows through by consistently providing quality innovations to their customers, as evidenced by their massive and fanatic following.

The Takeaway

Developing a branding strategy will help you convey what your brand stands for, separate you from your competitors and clearly communicate the benefit you offer.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Taproot Creative marks its five-year anniversary this week by acknowledging recent successes and naming former creative director, Jonathan Edwards, the new vice president of creative and partner.

Sean Doughtie founded Taproot Creative in Tallahassee in 2005 with one employee. The firm began as a website design and development agency, but with the addition of talented and experienced team members, it quickly expanded its areas of expertise to include graphic design, advertising, public relations and social media.

The company now employs a staff of eight individuals possessing nearly 60 years of combined experience across multiple communications disciplines. Since its first year in business, revenues have increased seven times over, and profits nearly doubled in the last year alone, in spite of the worst economic recession in recent history.

“Despite the economic challenges of late, our firm continues to grow and prosper by adapting to the rapidly changing communications industry and remaining committed to providing clients with personalized service.” said Doughtie. “We work to help clients understand the benefits of strategic communications and empower them to leverage leading-edge technologies and trends to achieve measurable results.”

Throughout its five-year history, Taproot Creative has served and advised governors, U.S. senators and multiple members of state legislature, along with non-profit organizations, professional athletes and major corporations.

“Though we’ve developed award-winning campaigns for clients in more than a dozen states, we’re proud to call Tallahassee home,” said Doughtie.

For more information about Taproot Creative, visit www.TaprootCreative.com or call 850-309-1900.

Use of Social Media Roils 2010 Elections

TALLAHASSEE, FL (wfsu) – This week Senator George LeMieux tweeted the news of his daughter’s birth and Congressman Kendrick Meek’s campaign credited Facebook with helping him collect 145,000 voter petitions to qualify for the U.S. Senate race. As Margie Menzel reports, the use of social media is a whole new political art.

You could tell it was a panel on social media by the number of audience members blogging, tweeting and checking their email throughout – nearly every last one. The host: Florida Associated Press political reporter Brendan Farrington. The occasion: the AP’s pre-session Legislative Planning Day. The audience: reporters. The panelists included 26-year-old Phil Vangelakos, owner of Republican-affiliated Brushfire Media, who was thrilled to be sharing a panel experience with Adam Smith, political editor of the St. Petersburg Times and creator of the paper’s Buzz Blog.

“I’m not a newspaper reader,” said Vangelakos. “I’m probably outside of all your demographics. But I’m right there with what Adam does. My work day in and day out with candidates lives and dies by what goes on on that blog.”

With the rise of the Internet, the news cycle has gone from the next day’s paper to 24/7. Responses to new developments fly thick and fast. And as Smith observed, not everyone has the knack. In St. Petersburg’s recent election for mayor, for instance…

“The guy who had the most money paid consultants at a very sophisticated social media campaign. He was tweeting all the time. He was Facebooking all the time. And basically he annoyed the hell out of everyone in the city, and he came in third, and he spent a fortune and the consultants did well,” Smith said.

Also on hand: Democratic consultant Steve Schale, who ran the state’s 2008 Obama/Biden campaign – arguably the standard-setting campaign for social networking.

“If there is anything we learned in the Obama campaign in 2008, it’s that the Internet can be used to get people to do the kinds of things that win campaigns,” Schale said. “People don’t go online and get excited and vote for you, but if you can use the Internet so that people can make phone calls to their friends from their home. We used it to assign voters to people so they could go out and actually turn people out to vote, to write checks. Almost 300,000 people gave money to the Obama campaign in Florida. We registered almost 90,000 people through the Internet.”

Vangelakos said the 2010 election cycle features Republican candidates who know how to use the Internet.

“Bill McCollum, my old boss – he knows the Web, he understands the Web, he’s prosecuted crimes on the Web, and now he’s using the Web to further his campaign.”

As to former House Speaker Marco Rubio, who has since surged ahead of Governor Charlie Crist in the Republican contest for U.S. Senate, Vangelakos said the Internet has been key to his success.

“Marco Rubio, six months ago, was a shoestring campaign that with a couple of ferocious bloggers and some Youtube videos and a web site is on the verge of toppling just a political dynamo in Charlie Crist,” Vangelakos said.

Sean Doughtie of Taproot Creative has done work for Rubio and such GOP powerhouses as Jeb Bush, John Thrasher and Dean Cannon.

“You know, in Twitter you can ask a question to a candidate as a person, and it also provides those candidates the ability to become human,” said Doughtie. “It’s very difficult to relate to a lot of elected officials. The world that they live in is very different from most of us. It provides them an opportunity to show their humanity, to show the personal side, what goes on inside their head, what makes them tick.”

But that same availability may give a candidate enough rope to hang him- or herself, said Adam Smith.

“You know, it’s going to work for Marco Rubio,” said Smith. “Nobody remotely believes Charlie Crist is sending a tweet.”

Schale went further.

“I think the real social media application going forward in the short term is really this opportunity to organize movements,” he said. “I think Marco Rubio, for example, has done a really good job – not so much of using the Internet to gin up momentum for him, but to use the Internet to harness what was, I believe, for some time a movement against Charlie Crist.”

So does the Internet give an insubstantial candidate substance? No way, said Sean Doughtie.

“I don’t believe that social media is going to win a campaign for any candidate. But I do believe that improper use of social media or ignoring it can certainly lose a campaign for a candidate,” said Doughtie.

“I think it’s a very important tool for communicating your message, but at the end of the day, it’s a candidate’s message that’s going to win or lose an election.”

For the past four years, I have focused on readying myself for a career in public relations. Now, I’m at a crossroads. Do I go to grad school in hopes that it will give me a professional edge long-term? Or do I seek a full-time position that will provide me with “real-world” experience and put me on a path to earning accreditation in public relations? Which is more important?

The questions are relentless and sometimes debilitating. Will the investment of grad school be worth my time and money? Will a graduate degree make a difference in my career through a higher salary or more prestigious job position? If I don’t go to grad school now, will it be more difficult to do so in the future if I change my mind?

In most other professions, these questions wouldn’t be relevant. In fact, professionals in other fields can’t understand why I wouldn’t choose grad school over starting my career. But public relations is different. Apparently, you don’t even need a college degree in the industry to practice public relations, which appalls me, but that’s another story.

From my understanding, it seems the most important factor for anyone entering this profession is their level of experience and “real-world” accomplishments. If that is indeed the case, then grad school would only postpone my ability to gain that experience and achieve impressive results. Right?

Recently, after endlessly wrestling with all these concerns, I presented my dilemma to my internship supervisor at Taproot Creative, Stacey Getz. Her advice? You’re going to love this: There is no right or wrong way to go. In other words, as significant as this decision seems to be for me right now, whatever I decide will not make or break my career.

Well, you know what? I think she’s right!

Who says that grad school won’t pay off? If I choose to go, whether it’s now or later, I will gain invaluable knowledge and life experiences that will only contribute to my long-term success. And if I never go, I can rely on the professional experience I gain through my first full-time job, and eventually, I can earn accreditation in public relations to help solidify my credibility in the industry.

Bottom line: There are many roads to success, and I don’t have to follow any specific one. I can blaze my own path. As long as I know where I’m headed, I’ll get there eventually, even if it means making a few mistakes and changing direction from time to time. After all, isn’t that what makes life the adventure that it is?

I’d love to hear from others out there who are going through this same predicament, as well as PR professionals that wouldn’t mind sharing their advice. What’s the best next step for a budding public relations practitioner?

Brown was the Republican candidate in the blue state of Massachusetts vying for the late Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat. Brown initially trailed his opponent, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, by double digits in the polls. That is until the launch of a comprehensive and strategically coordinated social media campaign sky-rocketed Brown to the national stage.

A week before the election, Brown raised more than $1 million — more than he had raised throughout his entire fundraising period — in a 24-hour money bomb promoted almost entirely through the Internet and social networks. Brown also raised a significant amount of money from out-of-state supporters who glommed onto the grassroots movement facilitated by social media.

Granted, Brown’s campaign integrated multiple means of communication in its voter outreach efforts, but what put the candidate over the edge was the campaign’s attention to and strategy surrounding social media.

Oh sure, Coakley did the social media thing as well. But she couldn’t leverage it in the same way. Her message simply would not resonate with a public that was downright disgusted with the goings on in Washington.

Fortunately for Brown, times were ripe for his conservative message. However, his message in and of itself wouldn’t have been enough to propel him ahead of Coakley, who demonstrated strong liberal support, with President Obama himself stumping for her just days before the vote.

Brown had to find a way to sincerely deliver his message hard and fast to a hungry audience. And he did so by figuratively stepping down from his political pulpit and leveling with the conservative grassroots, primarily via tools like Twitter and Facebook, and a range of other viral technologies, including e-mail and texting.

It was like lighting one blade of grass in a field plagued by drought. His message spread like wildfire. Online third-party support from average Joe’s and Jane’s added instant credibility to Brown’s efforts in a mesmerizing public display of the word-of-mouth phenomenon.

We could write a book detailing every factor that played into Brown’s victory (and we’re sure someone will). But in the interest of saving time, here’s our key takeaway:

Armed with the right message (pun intended), Brown’s campaign understood three important facts:

1. The Internet is the most influential medium.
2. Word-of-mouth is the most impactful method of communication.
3. Social media is where the Internet and word-of-mouth intersect.

The rest is history.

So, we thought we would share the top 10 questions to ask a prospective web design firm and offer some insight into the type of answers you should receive. Feel free to add any you think we missed.

1. Are your websites custom-designed, or do you use templates?
We have our own opinion on this one, but in reality, it’s a matter of personal preference. If you are looking for something that uniquely and accurately presents your brand, your best bet is to hire a firm who will design your website from scratch. If cost is an issue, or if you don’t put much stock into your online presence as it is (a big mistake in our opinion), then a design template may suffice.  

2. Do You Offer Any Consulting Services?
There are firms that will simply accept your wish list with no questions asked, deliver the site and then wash their hands of the project. Other firms may advise you on establishing and managing your complete online presence — from your website to search engine optimization and social media. And finally, there are firms who take a much broader, strategic approach. These folks will help you work through questions like, What are your overall communication objectives? What do you hope to accomplish through this new website? And, Do you have a plan to drive new and repeat traffic? In this case, you are paying for more than just a product or service, you are paying for a higher level of expertise.

3. Do you outsource any/all of your services?
This is an important question to ask because it will determine whether you have direct, quick and easy access to the people who are actually tinkering with your site. Essentially, if all design and development is done in-house, your questions and any potential issues are more likely to be addressed without any unnecessary delay. Furthermore, it can be difficult for a web firm to manage and hold accountable any staff who are not part of that organization, which could create additional challenges.

4. How do you account for search engine optimization (SEO)?
Plenty of firms will claim to be experts in SEO, but don’t be fooled. There is no magic formula that will automatically rocket your site to the top of a search result. Instead, your chosen firm should be well-versed in constructing a correctly built site that can contribute to search engine rankings through the use of valid XHTML and CSS, as well as layouts that give preference to content. Constantly updated and relevant content when presented in a properly constructed site, will increase your page ranking, as will limited (if any) use of Flash and Ajax. In short, just remember: Content is king.

5. How do you ensure your sites meet ADA Accessibility Standards and are 508 Compliant?
More than a decade ago, Congress enacted Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which deals with making technology more accessible to people with disabilities, including the visually impaired. To avoid costly and unnecessary lawsuits and/or a public relations nightmare, your site should meet these standards. It is a simple process, but many developers are still not familiar with the guidelines. For example, all images on the site must be supported by compliant alt-text. Limiting the use of Flash and JavaScript will also make your site more accessible to the disabled and visually impaired.

6. Tell me about the content management system you use.
A content management system (CMS) allows you to easily update all of the content on your website, even if you don’t know how to manipulate code. Typically, your web design firm will offer you either an off-the-shelf CMS or a custom-built version. An off-the-shelf program is a package solution that generally gets the job done but often limits the design and functionality of your site. A custom-built CMS, while slightly more expensive, can be tailored to meet your exact needs. Any problems that arise with a custom-built CMS can usually be addressed quickly and easily, whereas problems with off-the-shelf products need to be handled through that company’s customer service. However, thanks to the continuing influx of new tools and plug-ins, your web developers might have the capability to build custom applications on top of existing CMS platforms, offering you the best of both worlds and likely the most cost-effective option.

7. How do you ensure your sites display and function appropriately across multiple browsers and platforms?
Your web design firm should be familiar with HTML and CSS standards set forth by the W3 Consortium (W3C) and know how to test for syntax errors, cross-browser validation and future compatibility. This is important because your website visitors use different browsers (Explorer, Firefox, etc.) and different platforms (Mac, Windows, etc.) to view your site, and you want to ensure that your site displays and functions the same way for everyone. Proper coding also helps with search engine visibility.

8. Can you provide me with a few references, as well as a list of sites you recently completed?
It’s always beneficial to check out your prospective firm’s past work, where you should pay special attention to aesthetic appeal and ease of navigation. You may also want to call a few of their references. Here are some questions to ask:

• Were there any delays in the launch of your site? Please explain.
• Can you rate the firm’s customer service on a scale of 1 to 10?
• Did you run into any technical problems? If so, how quickly and effectively were they addressed?
• Were you pleased with your overall experience?

9. In general, what do you charge for your services?
This is an obvious one, but it is important to note that you generally get what you pay for. In web design, the cost is typically relative to the experience and expertise of the design and development team, as well as the time it takes to ensure a quality product. The amount your organization wants to spend on a website will ultimately depend on the value you place in your brand and its online presence. In other words, what is perceived as cost-effective to one business can seem outrageously expensive to another.

10. Why should we hire you over another firm?
This may seem like a cliche question, but the answer will give you a feel for what the firm believes are its biggest assets, be it quality, cost, value, customer service, experience or any number of other strengths.

Hope this helps. Feel free to add your own questions below or comment on any of ours.

There is a notable difference, though, between being inspired and replicating ideas without injecting your own mark into the work. There’s a difference between paging through a design gallery in an attempt to jostle your brain into coming up with something new and absorbing someone else’s style and technique. It’s the difference between creating and duplicating.

Unfortunately, it’s become a common problem that continues to make its way throughout the industry, watering down and diluting design in such a way that everything begins to look the same. Fewer and fewer young designers are leaving their mark because most of them are far too busy trying to make their work look as much like their seemingly unified source of inspiration as possible. With the proliferation of CSS galleries, cheap stock resources, which now includes not only photographs, but also illustrations and design elements, the skill and thought that once made good design possible has given way to near-instant gratification that may reflect another’s work, but is nothing more than a plagiarized imitation. The pain-staking craft that once went into typesetting, illustration, layout, color theory, not to mention concept, is now too often, at best, an afterthought with many designers.

To be completely fair, a small part of the problem is born of necessity. Web design trends change at an ever-increasing pace due to improvements in function, code and standards. What may have appeared fresh and cutting-edge only months ago will likely become staid and pedestrian shortly thereafter.

There’s also a certain level of expectation in web design. There’s a natural ebb and flow to all forms of design, but web, in particular, is slightly more fickle in its demanding adherence to trends and fads. Even a uniquely designed site is likely be easily identified as having been created during a particular period of time, possibly down to a specific year. The audience as a whole has been somewhat trained to have these expectations, so it’s difficult for a designer to embark into entirely new territory without receiving a bit of grumbling and hesitation from the client.

But that shouldn’t be an excuse for a lack of originality. Far from it. It’s an ankle-high fence that designers must work within and be aware of rather than a justification to reduce design to look-alikes and photocopies. The safest and easiest method of creation is one that doesn’t require the struggle to actually create. By allowing inspiration to give way to duplication, designers can safely achieve the expected look-of-the day quickly and efficiently. Get it done. Get paid. Move on. It’s understandable why so many would take this approach even though it’s so obviously flawed.

The value of good design should stretch far beyond such a short-sighted solution. As a client, you should expect the designer tasked with creating your work to be capable of delivering something that’s not only effective, but also suitably unique. There’s no point in having the face of your company blend into the background because it was “inspired” by hundreds of other designs that all look nearly identical to one another. Your company, and your dollars, deserve better.

As a designer, it’s time to extend yourself past the point of influence in order to create something based on your own style. Design is effective when it has a voice of its own, not when it fades into the white noise of the imitators. It may be impossible to be entirely original, but it’s necessary to be relentlessly authentic. Design shouldn’t be limited to the tools of the trade. Design isn’t Photoshop or Illustrator, but is instead born from the gray matter between your ears. Each designer’s personal style and vision is what has the potential to make the work meaningful and memorable.

Aside from the obvious (i.e. billing structure, client references, etc.), consider posing the following questions to your would-be PR agency. The information you gather could ultimately save you valuable time and money.

1. Who will be doing the work and what is the extent of their professional experience?
Many times, top level executives will reel in your business only to turn your account over to their most recent entry-level hire as soon as you sign on the dotted line. That’s not to assume that the new guy (or gal) will provide any better or worse service than the highest-paid exec. But still, you should know what you’re paying for. Ask to meet the person who will be handling the day-to-day activity on your account, and get to know them before agreeing to contract terms to ensure their skills and experience meet your needs.

2. How will you know whether the campaign is successful?
A good public relations agency will help you define your goals and establish measurable objectives so that everyone knows what success should look like in the end. They should be able to explain how their proposed tactics will positively affect your desired end result, be it an increase in product sales, a change in attitude or opinion among target audiences, a marked increase in association membership, a candidate’s election to public office or an organization’s desired change in public policy.

3. Have you had success with similar public relations campaigns?
Ask the agency to provide a couple of case studies outlining previous campaigns with similar goals. You’ll want to note the original objectives of the campaign, the methods used to achieve those objectives, the budget, and of course, the outcome. Was the campaign successful? How do you know? What unforeseen challenges did the firm have to overcome? How were those challenges managed? Were the results timely?

4. What tactics will you employ to help accomplish our goals?
Public relations is not the equivalent of publicity. While earned media is a common tool used to accomplish public relations objectives, it certainly is not the only one. If a PR firm goes on and on about press releases and news hits without any mention of other one- and two-way communication tactics, take heed. And if “getting in the news” is your only goal, the firm should be the first to counsel you otherwise.

5. What challenges do your foresee for our campaign and how might you address them?
Your public relations counselors should be able to anticipate certain challenges with regard to your campaign and explain how they will either work to avert those challenges or confront them should they become unavoidable. The answer to this question will demonstrate their knowledge of the PR industry and the extent of their experience in dealing with similar campaigns.

Above all, your public relations agency should be comprised of people that you respect and regard as trusted advisors. Generally speaking, public relations is an inexact science. However, well-versed PR professionals understand how to implement proven methods to help accomplish your goals. You must be able to let go and acknowledge that they know what’s best for your business or organization with regard to communication. If you aren’t comfortable doing so with a particular firm, you should probably look elsewhere.