Renaming and Redesign Was No Small Decision

We’ve seen an interesting change recently in our local business media market: the former Small Business Times changed its name to BizTimes Milwaukee and redesigned both its weekly print edition and its website.

On the surface, the move seems an obvious choice. Small Business Times has been about a lot more than “small” business for many years; the old name was pigeonholing the paper’s appeal in a way that no longer applied. Meanwhile, its website url, www.biztimes.com, already reflected the wider net for business news that the operation was casting.

So bringing it all in line under the name BizTimes—for consistency across the mission, actions and communications of the company—made perfect sense.

But that’s not to say the overhaul was an easy thing to do. Brand and name changes take a lot of time, money and guts. The move also put BizTimes into more obvious, direct competition with a much larger counterpart, The Business Journal of Milwaukee.

As times change, smart companies know they must continue to evolve, as must their marketing communications efforts. It’s impressive that the BizTimes team had the vision and will to undergo this transition and celebrate it as a positive step forward for the future.

How to Reduce Costs and Increase Your Flexibility

If you’re thinking about reducing costs right now, you certainly aren’t alone.

Unfortunately, cutting back is a necessity for many companies these days. But blind, blanket spending freezes or reductions aren’t good for business (at least not if you plan to make it out of this downturn in any position to compete).

Maybe it’s time for a more thoughtful analysis, particularly if any of your fixed costs can be converted to flexible expenditures.

In this downer of an economy, fixed costs like overhead really put the squeeze on your cash flow and your bottom line. Cutting these costs can be painful both emotionally and physically, maybe even dangerous. Flexible costs, on the other hand, easily can be turned on or off or in between.

It’s in your best interests right now to have as many costs as possible fall into the latter category. And the quickest way to do that? Outsourcing.

I’m sure you’ve already heard the whole argument for outsourcing non-core competencies, so no need to rehash it here. But at a minimum, I should point out that there’s more to it than simply reducing your overhead (which is pretty good by itself).

With the right outsource partner, you also gain access to broad, deep expertise, experience and perspective (as well as productive capacity) that you’d simply never be able to sustain in house. And you get those benefits without shouldering extra overhead burden.

At Scheibel Halaska, for example, we’re members of IPREX, one of the world’s largest networks of independent public relations agencies. Our IPREX partners provide global cultural knowledge and communications expertise—but only when our clients need it. So we don’t have to employ experts on the Chinese, European or Latin American markets whom we only need for certain programs. You can read more about our IPREX relationship in a previous post.

Your business may be able to unload fixed costs by outsourcing marketing, IT, HR systems or something else. Just make sure you do your homework, of course, to find the right partner. In the short run, it just might help you accomplish your goals while still keeping your CFO happy. And in the long run, it just might become your secret weapon.

Don’t wait around for your own bailout

After a long slog of an election cycle, we at last have a new president-elect of the United States. The campaign is behind us, but one huge factor in the outcome will be with us for some time: the current gloomy economic climate.

Late last week, as Barack Obama met with economic advisors to consider the crisis, we got more bad news—this time about rising unemployment and the failing American auto industry.

So, not good, obviously. And it makes sense for Obama’s team to start tackling these issues right away. However, something we’ve said before on this blog bears repeating right now: Don’t leave your company’s future to actions or assistance from Washington.

Rather, survival and success depend on your company’s will, vision and ability to compete. There’s never been a more critical time to carefully examine what you do that customers value and how you can most efficiently provide it. Then, of course, do everything you can to convince people to buy your products and services. In other words, focus not only your operations, but also sales and marketing efforts.

Regardless of what the new national leadership does, it’s your leadership that will determine the future of your company.

Confidence, Compassion and Composure

Why ‘Emotional Intelligence’ Matters More Than Ever

So, how’s morale?

The recent economic turmoil has frayed even the steeliest nerves. And if the ups and downs are haunting you—be honest, now—then they’re probably spooking everyone else in and around your organization.

There’s no better time for a check on your “emotional IQ.” The term, which refers to a person’s ability to identify and manage the emotions of themselves and others, was the timely topic of a program put on last week by Tempo Milwaukee. A panel of executives from a variety of companies explored the most “emotionally intelligent” communications approaches for leaders during the current economic crisis.

What’s your company doing to weather the storm? What new pressures does this put on the team to perform? These are the kinds of questions on the minds of employees and customers alike. Company leaders can rise to this communications challenge by deploying emotional intelligence in understanding, acknowledging and addressing these concerns.

It’s about more than just telling people things will be OK. After all, empty reassurances and blind cheerleading won’t overcome the worries. And left unchecked, low-key fretting can turn to full-scale panic, which can wind up dictating the (wrong) direction of your company.

Leaders must be in tune with these cultural mood swings. And they must address them without reflexive emotional responses. Verbal diatribes, email flame wars and the like only escalate the negativity.

Instead, you’ve got to step back, take a deep breath and then confront the issues head on in a thoughtful manner. Project confidence, compassion and composure, and do it continuously—in all employee communications, customer newsletters, press interviews, etc.

Such emotionally intelligent leadership can help keep companies strong for when the outlook inevitably turns brighter in the months ahead.

Expanding Your Reach through Strategic Alliances

Is it better to have actual facilities in far-flung places, or just friends there?

For many companies, there’s no debate. Owning bricks and mortar in foreign lands just isn’t feasible. That’s probably never been truer than in this tenuous economy and tight credit market. Nevertheless, for more and more businesses, having a global presence is still essential.

The good news is that there’s a way to expand your reach without taking huge risks in terms of capital and credit: through well-crafted strategic alliances. That’s what many of our international clients have done. And it’s what we’re doing, too.

Last week, I attended the annual conference (in Boston, Mass.) of IPREX, one of the world’s largest networks of independent public relations agencies. IPREX puts us in a valuable partnership with reliable, accountable PR teams on the ground all over the world. So we have immediate access to cultural knowledge and communications expertise—whenever and wherever our international clients are doing business.

We not only support each other’s communications programs. We stretch our thinking, we provide each other access to both geographic and market-specific competencies, and we share best practices with a diverse group of professionals. It’s a far cry from the “not invented here” mentality or partisan politics that too often put individual success and the greater good at odds.

So perhaps it’s time to think differently about your competitors. Beneath the surface, you might just find a strategic ally and a company whose market and niche expertise may actually complement yours.

In an increasingly sophisticated, volatile and interconnected global marketplace, you might say that’s the best of one world.

Walking the Talk of Brand Evolution

We talked a couple of weeks ago about the importance of evolving your brand. But if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

Well, it’s like home maintenance. Better to reinforce the roof before it caves in. Or think of it like a romance: You’ve got to keep it fresh.

Never get too comfortable with your brand, because the marketplace in which your brand lives is always changing—and besides, there’s always room for improvement. We aren’t just saying that. Right now, we’re launching a new Scheibel Halaska website, with an updated, refocused brand message.

We took some time to look deeper into what our clients care about and what we do that accelerates their success. That gave rise to a new tagline and a complete redesign of InsideSH.com.

The new site was a long time coming … but it won’t be long before you see more changes. That’s because we’re determined to keep our public face lively and up to date, just as we’re working every day to keep our services relevant and valuable to our clients. After all, it’s what we tell our clients (and blog readers) to do all the time.

McCain vs. Obama: 3 Lessons in Online Marketing

It’s shaping up to be a fascinating home stretch in this U.S. presidential election cycle. More interesting to us as BtoB marketers, however, is how the candidates are using online technology to share their message.

Some obvious contrasts:

Barack Obama’s campaign has long been recognized for taking advantage of web 2.0 interactive capabilities, including customizable my.barackobama.com home pages for supporters. That’s two-way communication, a conversation with the audience.

John McCain’s approach has been more traditional, using the web as a broadcast medium and airing the latest campaign commercial on the home page. That’s one-way communication, talking to the audience.

But the biggest difference is probably that Obama appears to have a more comprehensive, integrated online strategy. For example, the initial announcement of his VP running mate pick via text message.

These are generalizations, and the McCain team has been catching up in many ways. That’s what’s so great about online: you can keep improving as you go along.

So, without further ado, three lessons for marketers from observing the candidates online:

Exploit interactivity. The web is ideal for reaching more targets than ever—and understanding what they’re thinking. So seek every opportunity to engage your audiences. Calls to action, polls, comments threads are perfect ways to start the conversation.

Pursue an integrated strategy. The most advanced, innovative uses of online technologies aren’t worth much if they aren’t means to an end.

Continuously improve. Your website, like the technologies that support it, can and should constantly evolve. Shouldn’t be a problem, because the marketplace is always changing, so you should already be in a continuous improvement frame of mind. Simply extend this mindset to the web.