Our Generation's Question: To Blog or Not to Blog?

The Inc 500, published by Inc magazine (my guilty pleasure/bible for creative ideas), has brought up an interesting analysis of how these successful companies use social media. Interesting to note is that there seems to be fewer companies blogging these days preferring Twitter and Facebook to engage with customers. As a blogger, Tweeter, and poster I can appreciate this. When life gets busy it is very difficult to make time to compile thoughts in any kind of coherent way that might be interesting to people. On the flipside, the people who follow me on Twitter and Facebook are family and friends with an entirely different taste in the kind of information I deliver. No, my Mum does not really care about defense technology. She only cares that I still have a job (go budgets!).

Frank Reed from Marketing Pilgrim breaks down why this trend may not be something companies in the B2B space should use as a beacon for driving their social media program. He points out that "Twitter and Facebook responses are a mile wide and an inch deep"meaning that real, valuable feedback can't be given. Really, are thousands of "I love my new shoes" and "I hate bananas" all that valuable to you? I know from past experience that tracking the "I love you" Tweets was nice from a quantifiable reporting standpoint. But it was the detailed responses with valuable insight that enabled my clients to foster change and develop better relationships with their customers.

Andrew Elvish Brings Tailored Services to M&S with Atelier ID (Part Two)

DTP: Can you describe one of the programs/initiatives you are most proud of?

AE: Well, obviously, I am exceptionally proud to have been a part of the team that created Presagis.  CAE made a very savvy move in acquiring the leading software companies in their respective technical specialties, but aligning all of those companies and products and technologies under one umbrella brand was a major undertaking.  Having the opportunity to lead such a significant rebranding effort was something that was both exciting and scary at the same time.  We wanted to honour all of the hard work that went into building the individual company and product brands that made up Presagis, while at the same time creating something new, powerful and industry changing.  But what made the Presagis project so rewarding was not just the re-branding that went on, it was the fact that I was working alongside a team of highly skilled engineers, product managers, sales executives and customer support experts, who were busy at work ensuring the products and technology lived up to the vision of a unified company and technology roadmap.  It was extremely challenging, but Presagis both as a brand and a portfolio of products, has gone from strength to strength over the past five years.  It is something for everyone who was involved to feel proud of.

DTP: At I/ITSEC we saw one of your clients, MASA Group really amp up their presence at the show. What is the company working on and how is Atelier ID helping them to achieve their goals?

AE: Thanks – I’m glad that you could see the change!  MASA is an excellent example of a company that is taking advantage of the changes in the M&S market to further the penetration of their constructive simulation products in both this market and others.  As a growing company, it became clear to MASA that both demand and competition were increasing for their brand of cutting-edge AI technology, and their potential market was expanding as well.  To ensure that they were maximizing their exposure and clearly communicating their competitive differentiators to their global audience, they turned to Atelier ID to begin working with them on a variety of out-bound marketing and PR initiatives.

Right now we are working with the MASA team to support them in their public relations outreach in North America and the U.K. as they continue their expansion into the homeland security, emergency management and serious games markets.  A move like this requires a company to leverage its skills and successes in its traditional markets while making its commitment to the new markets and their constituents clear.  So we are working with the team at MASA to ensure a strong central message that is meaningful across their worldwide M&S, homeland security and serious games markets, while developing stories that are resonant specifically to the concerns and needs of each group of potential clients. We also have a few other exciting new projects coming down the pipe, so you’ll have to stay tuned!

DTP: You and I have talked at great length about the value of integrating marketing and PR programs to get the most out of a campaign. Do you have any advice for companies that may just be starting to approach this?

AE: The first thing, and it seems obvious, but know who you are before you do anything.  How do people perceive your company and its products?  How do you want to be perceived?  What is your story?  What is your brand promise?  Who are you now, and who do you want to become?  If you have trouble articulating answers to these questions then you would do well to take a bit of time to solidify some thinking around these points.  The reason I say this is that if a company does not have a solid, well-articulated picture of who it is and where its going then increased marketing and public relations could serve to underscore this lack of direction, and it could have serious consequences for both the brand and the company.  The good news is that the vast majority of companies intuitively know who they are and where they are going, and it is a matter of firming up the story, getting internal buy-in and writing it down – start simple, but stay consistent.  This way, you have a central document that can act as a guideline for all of your outbound activities whether that is PR, email marketing, events, tweets or graphic design.  In so doing you have a fundamental thread that runs through all of your activities and enables one activity to enhance and amplify the next activity.  The more you stick to telling your unique story in a consistent and disciplined way, the more your customers will ‘know’ you and feel comfortable approaching you.

DTP: One of the fun things about working in marketing is the opportunity to shake things up with a BIG idea. At the same time, this can be scary for companies that aren’t used to taking risks in a creative capacity or within a conservative industry. What advice can you give to people looking to create transformational programs?

AE: Don’t be afraid!  Trust me, if you take a calculated risk and execute it flawlessly, I can guarantee you that your competitors will be following your lead in six months.  The key words are calculated risk, and flawless execution – those are the parts that take planning and preparation.  Also, part of this comes back to knowing yourself as a company – is your big idea consistent with who you are, or who you would like to become, or is it simply a big idea?  Once you know the answer to that then you need to build a plan and flesh out the details – if the idea is big enough, or if it’s a bit off the beaten track, you can be sure you will get lots of questions about why you are doing it.  That’s nothing to be afraid of, but you should know yourself how to address skeptics, or naysayers – the best plan for this is to know why you are initiating a big idea and what the desired outcome is.  Next be sure and build buy-in, both internally and externally.  Having your entire company excited about a project means that they are likely to endorse and engage with the big idea, helping spread its effectiveness and reach.  Externally, bring on board some key influencers outside of your company, or at very least solicit their input and opinion.  Again, having a core of support for your initiative out of the gate is an excellent way of ensuring success.  Finally, set out a plan to build anticipation and buzz around your initiative whether it’s a new advertising campaign, a micro-site, a conference or seminar, getting people curious is important.   It isn’t easy to launch a new big idea into the market, but if it is thoughtful, well-planned and relevant to your target audience then you stand a strong chance of success.  (and afterwards when you see your competitors doing the same thing six/twelve months later you can take the satisfaction that you did it first … and probably better ;)

DTP: What can we expect from Atelier ID in 2012 – any hints on your big ideas?

AE: Right now all of our big ideas are for our clients!  Honestly, starting a new business with a roster of clients, means that you have very little time for the promotion of your own business – I am actually still surprised we found the time to get our website up and running!  Nevertheless, 2012 is already shaping up to have a slew of interesting new projects on the horizon.  Our experience in 3D graphics and M&S software has given us entry into some new fields including the RFID market, personal and retail security, as well as high-end electronic component design.  So I doubt there will a dull moment in 2012 for Atelier ID.

Andrew Elvish Brings Tailored Marketing Services to M&S with Atelier ID (Part One)

Name: Andrew Elvish
Title: President & Lead Strategist
Company: Atelier ID
Home Base: Montreal, QC
Twitter: @AtelierID
Web: http://www.atelier-id.ca
Pets: an abnormally intelligent pug with an addiction to off-track betting
Quirks: a strong desire to stamp out the use of the phrase “At the end of the day” – it must be stopped!
Contact Info: aelvish@atelier-id.ca

DTP: You’ve recently started Atelier ID, tell us about the company and your services.

AE: Atelier ID is a company dedicated to the creation of powerful and intelligent brand and identity campaigns.  The word atelier means “workshop” and like a workshop our company brings together the right team to address our clients’ needs and draws on a select group of like-minded publicists, designers, analysts and web technologists.  We bring our clients the skills and robustness of senior marketing expertise without the overhead and long-term commitment of fully staffing a marketing department.  I like to think of Atelier ID as a marketing-team-for-hire.

What makes us most unique is our knowledge and experience in a very targeted and challenging market: modeling & simulation software technology.  There are very few marketing and design firms that can fully understand the complexity, demands and challenges of this particular market, and even fewer who can produce exciting, interesting and compelling brand and identity projects for their M&S customers.

DTP: How is Atelier ID different from an agency? What can clients expect from your team?

AE: Atelier ID is founded in a strong business-oriented approach to servicing the needs of our clients.  Having worked in-house for several software companies over the past 15 years, most recently as the Vice President of Marketing for Presagis, I have found that traditional marketing and PR agencies often do not have the time or desire to fully understand the specific demands and drivers of markets like M&S.  Thus, my teams and I often decided to assemble our own teams of designers, PR experts, analysts and web technology specialists.  Teams that are specifically appropriate to our business needs and strategic goals.  Many companies can benefit from this type of specific approach to marketing and communications, but do not have the in-house expertise, connections, budget, or bandwidth to build such a team.  Seeing this need in the market was a key driver for the formation of Atelier ID – we bring strong domain-specific knowledge and the resources to build and execute world-class marketing campaigns for our clients.  Campaigns that align to our customer’s strategic vision and product roadmap and deliver results for both the business and its investors.

Probably the biggest difference between an agency and us is that we don’t have an army of Vice Presidents that get trotted out in front of the client, only to be replaced on signing with an 18 year-old intern.  We are a small team of dedicated marketers, designers, PR executives, writers and web specialists, and we don’t take on a vast number of clients.  Thus, clients can expect to receive a high-level of attention and service at every stage of their project – even after the project is delivered.  Combine that with the low overhead of a small team of individuals, and our clients get a powerful team of hand-chosen experts, focused on our client’s business, for a fraction of the cost of a traditional PR or marketing agency.

DTP: In your experience how is marketing in the M&S community different from other industries (ex. Consumer or enterprise technologies)?

AE: The M&S industry is an exciting realm – especially for companies willing to take a bold stance in the marketing and publicity of their products.  My feeling is that many M&S companies – especially COTS software companies – shied away from focused marketing and public relations, as their business models were often based on tight service-oriented relationships with one or two major clients.  However, over the past ten years a greater level of industry consolidation has been taking effect and smaller companies are being combined into larger companies.  As companies grow it is not as practical, or profitable, to maintain a service-only style organization and there is an increasing need to diversify the client-base, geography, and product offering.  As this shift takes place, companies are finding that targeted marketing and publicity are key tools to helping them speak to their customers while at the same time providing and effective platform for differentiating their product offering from their competitor’s.  Thus, the companies that take an early and strong lead in building awareness around their brand and identity stand to reap greater rewards in the increasingly competitive M&S software market.

One of the key differences about the M&S market grows out of the fact that it hasn’t had need to market itself as vigorously as a consumer technology, nor even as hard as other business to business technologies.  As a result there has been a traditional reticence towards publicizing or marketing one’s technologies – indeed, many customers in this market demand a high level of discretion from their software vendors due to the sensitive nature of the projects that they are undertaking.  While this is completely understandable and part of the unique characteristic of the M&S market, many companies err too far on the side of caution and often let great opportunities to communicate pass them by.  There is a strong sense of community in the M&S market, and even amongst competitors there is a camaraderie, so the desire to know more about one another, about successes and innovations, ideas and opinions is certainly there.  At this year’s I/ITSEC you can see how much the industry has changed in a few short years – only two years ago it was considered almost comical to leverage Twitter and LinkedIn to promote your company at the show, and now we are seeing even the most reserved companies tweeting and re-tweeting each other’s news.  So, yes, M&S is conservative by nature and by necessity, this is a fact, but what we are seeing is that companies who can take an intelligent, measured and strategic approach to marketing and public relations can gain a real competitive advantage – and this is what excites me about the M&S market.