Godin on two ways to deal with "no"

Since opening our doors in April 2001, the team at GroundFloor Media has faced our share of rejections with both existing clients as well as potential clients. "No" is never an easy word to stomach, but sometimes our best lessons have come from how we have handled the rejection. As new business will be harder to come by in 2009, and existing clients are faced with tightening their belts, we will hear this word more often than not. Ramonna read Godin's new post on two ways to deal with "no" and sent it on to me.I thought it was worth passing on as we head into the new year.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/12/two-ways-to-dea.html

You could contact the organization that turned you down and explain that they had made a terrible mistake, the wrong choice and a grave error. You could criticize the vendor they actually selected, bring You could even question the judgment of the prospect and try to teach them to make better decisions in the future. And, while you're at it, challenge the fairness of the decision-making committee itself, and explain how a more fair process would have favored you at the same time it would have helped the organization that turned you down.

Or

You could be more gracious than if you'd won the work. You could send a thank you note for the time invested, you could sing the praises of the vendor chosen in your stead and you could congratulate the buyer, "based on the criteria you set out, it's clear that you made exactly the right choice for your organization right now." That doesn't mean the criteria were right, it just means that you're not attacking the person for being an impulsive lunatic. You could even outline what you learned from the process and what you'll be changing in the future. And you can make it clear that you're in it for more than just a sale, and you'll be around if they ever need you.

Couple questions:

1. Which one will make you more likely to be invited back, or to be the backup if the first choice fails?

and

2. Which one will increase your word of mouth at the same time it improves your organization's feeling about itself?

It's a no-brainer, I think. So how come the first is so common?

Thanks, Mr. Godin. You always seem to have it right.

Running with the Elvi (or is it Elvises?)

For many world travelers, it is a lifelong aspiration to see the thrill of Pamplona, Spain’s annual Running of the Bulls. However, for the team at GroundFloor Media, that thrill took the form of participating in the “Running of the Elvises,” or more commonly referred to as the Las Vegas Half Marathon this December.

Months earlier in August of 2008, our company’s president and vice president, Laura Love and Ramonna Tooley, invited our team to consider taking on the challenge of the “LV 1/2.” Some of us called it more of a dare, rather than an invitation, on their part. But given that we’re a goal-driven group of people several of us threw caution to the wind, said “count us in,” and figured we’d somehow sort out the consequences later.

On the theory that the team that runs/jogs/walks together stays together, our rag-tag group of 30- and 40-somethings embarked on our rather improvisational training efforts over the late summer and early fall. Despite sprained ankles, shin splints and varied levels of fitness, our rag-tag team of Olympic wanna-bes set off to Vegas the first weekend of December to accomplish our mission: cross the finish line in ample time to catch our flights back home.

Fueled by a team pasta dinner the night before, our race-morning arrived bright and early on December 7th. Against the backdrop of the famed Vegas Strip, pre-dawn fireworks, 11,000 other runners and at least five dozen runners dressed as Elvis Presley, the starting gun went off at 6:05 a.m. – and we were on our way.

Cutting through the masses of running humanity, we each found our own comfortable pace and tackled the course. And, as you might imagine, the city of Las Vegas offered an anything-but-dull collection of scenery to keep runners and walkers visually distracted mile by mile. The first half of our journey spanned the length of the Strip from the “family friendly” luxury casinos and hotels to older historic Freemont Street area, while the course’s back half was speckled with flop houses, bail bonds offices, taxi depots and adult-only dance clubs. And, from beginning to end, we had the companionship of runners dressed up as showgirls, “professional” showgirls dressed up as pedestrians, high-school marching bands, Japanese taiko drummers, the LVPD and, naturally, a very broad array of running Elvises. At mile six, the course had a run-through wedding chapel for those so inclined to say “I do” in between sips of Gatorade – complete with Elvis as your best man and a showgirl as your bridesmaid. But, we’re happy to confirm that no members of GroundFloor Media even slightly slowed down their pace at this part of the race.

The exhilaration of reaching the finish line to the cheers and shouts of hundreds of spectators was a thrill for each of us that just might possibly rival that of seeing Pamplona’s Bulls. Goodness knows some of us were about as graceful as a bull by the time reach reached the course’s end!

~Amy Claire

Adopt a Family or a Child for the Holidays

As you may know, I sit on the board of a very special place -- Tennyson Center for Children (www.childabuse.org)-- and GroundFloor Media has been very involved with this wonderful organization for years. The Home was founded in 1904 as an orphanage, and today we treat abused, neglected, and at-risk children ages 5-18. We serve 600+ children and 1500+ family members each year.

I know many of you look for ways to support those who are less fortunate during the holiday season. If you would like to adopt a family or some of the kids who live in the cottages, Tennyson Center supports those that are in desperate need of holiday gifts for their children. Families are asked to create wish lists containing items ranging from gifts for their children to essentials such as food certificates, toiletries and linens. Donors then deliver those items to the TCC campus after which therapists and case workers distribute the items to the families they work with so closely. They have 70 families left to adopt this holiday season. The gift requests range from $150-$400 per family, with an average of $225 per family for all of their holiday gifts.

If you or your company is interested in adopting a family, either let me know ASAP or call Tricia Muniz at 720-855-3358 or tricia.muniz@tennysoncenter.org.

I hope you will consider making this a Holiday to remember for a family in need.

The Downtown Denver Partnership Leadership Program Rocks and "Walks"...

The Downtown Denver Partnership Leadership Program (DDPLP) is an amazing program filled with an incredibly talented group of leaders. This year's class project was called Putting Our Best Foot Forward and our own Carissa McCabe was part of this cool effort. I have posted a link below to YouTube that shows the video that was produced by the members of her class to support the live presentation they gave a few weeks ago.

For those of you who don't know very much about this program, the idea is to immerse the class in the Denver Area Plan (Denver’s 20-year plan for improving our downtown). The group (all had to apply and were selected to attend the DDPLP) had to dig into research to determine how they could make Denver more pedestrian friendly.

Carissa taught the rest of us GroundFloor Media pedestrian novices that Denver is ranked No. 4 in the country for walkability.

GroundFloor Media wasn't the only firm represented in this class. There were more than 70 other downtown leaders from companies including Molson/Coors, Corona Research, Vectra Bank, the Colorado Rockies, the Office of Economic Development, The Kenney Group and many, many others.

Enjoy the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjfFV5Z30Vg

"Message Me" CVC

GroundFloor Media was asked to host a message training session at the Colorado Voices for Coverage conference today. So although the weather was less than ideal and I left the office with enough gas to make it 6 miles (trip distance 14.8 miles), I managed to get us to the Qwest Learning Center unscathed. My faithful sidekick Amy Moynihan and I fought the IT battle and won just in time to talk about how the group could engage healthcare reform stakeholders who are not currently active in the reform process. This conference was an opportunity to bring together sectors of the community that typically do not interface and provide education in both organizing and the policy process.

Our good friend from Tennyson Center or Children and Every Child Matters, Becky Updike, asked us to host this session. Basically, The Colorado Consumer Health Initiative was one of twelve state based advocacy groups selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Community Catalyst to participate in the Consumer Voices for Coverage grant initiative, which supports state health care coverage efforts by fostering strong and robust advocacy infrastructures. Its a bit of a maze to try and figure out who is on first, but Community Catalyst is a national health advocacy organization dedicated to quality affordable care. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing the nation; all RWJF philanthropy efforts are devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans.

The Colorado Consumer Health Initiative is leading the statewide collaboration and will be supported by a leadership team of organizations including: the Business Forum on Health, the Colorado Council of Churches, and the Colorado Progressive Coalition. The Colorado Voices for Coverage project seeks to organize health reform at the state level to remove barriers that block consumers from adequate health care. The project will increase the understanding, commitment, and capacity of a broad group of stakeholders to bring underrepresented perspectives into health care policy discussions, to connect diverse constituencies, and to build sustainable state-wide advocacy network required to implement meaningful health reform.

Whew... I need a message map just to track the players involved in this worthwhile initiative.

It Takes a Team to Blog

Many of GroundFloor Media's clients either have a blog or are ready to dip their toes in the blogging waters. We consistently explain to clients that maintaining a blog is similar to maintaining an editorial calendar for a newspaper or your internal newsletter. It takes a team of people to keep a blog relevant, interesting and up-to-date. Seth Godin's blog post, "Death of a personal blog?" makes some great points along those same lines. I hope you enjoy it... http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Happy Thanksgiving!
~Ramonna

Too Small to Fail?

Once again, Seth Godin's post strikes a cord. If you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur, it's worth a quick read. In summary, Godin says the secret of 'small is the new big' thinking is that you won't fail and you can't fail and you don't need to worry about a bailout. Not because you're small in headcount or assets, but because you act small. If you act small and think big, you are too small to fail. You won't need a bailout because your business makes sense each and every day. You won't need a bailout because your flat organization (no matter how large it is) knows about problems long before they're too big to deal with. And that's just big thinking.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/too-small-to-fa.html

We're #2!!

This morning, for the third consecutive year, GroundFloor Media, was recognized by the Denver Business Journal as one of the Best Places to Work in Denver in the small company category. In 2007 GroundFloor Media was recognized as the No. 1 place to work in Denver, and now in 2008 we were recognized as No. 2. Despite the turmoil in the marketplace, there is a lot to be thankful for these days. A team that sticks together during these tough times will most certainly come out ahead. Ramonna and I are thankful for the GroundFloor Media team members that make this truly a great place to work!

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/11/24/focus24.html


GroundFloor continues to distinguish itself as a leader
No. 2 small-size company
Denver Business Journal - by Ryan Peacock Special to the Business Journal

Stephen Swofford | Business Journal
At GroundFloor Media, the No. 2 small-size company on the Best Places to Work list, employees participate in the Get Grounded program, which outlines a goal of committing 20 percent of services to nonprofit organizations and pro bono accounts.

This is the third consecutive year Laura Love — who founded public relations firm GroundFloor Media in 2001 — has seen her company being named a “Best Place to Work.”
“It’s so important for us because it’s an employee-driven award, and our people are our biggest assets,” Love said. “We grew very carefully. Most everyone on our team came to us as a referral from somebody else on our team.”

GroundFloor Media is comprised of senior-level talent that’s enabled the firm to achieve substantial success with a client roster that includes CH2M Hill, Qdoba, and the City and County of Denver.

“I think the hardest thing to find in any economy is top talent, and especially when you’re a company like ours who only hires senior-level people,” Love said. “I think we attract the best in the industry because of the work culture and flexibility we offer.”

Balance between personal and professional lives, along with community involvement, are core principles for Love and her employees. They’ve been strong partners with Tennyson Center for Children, providing public relations support. And the firm’s own Get Grounded program has a goal of committing 20 percent of services to nonprofit organizations and pro bono accounts.

There is yoga in the office every Wednesday, and some employees are training together to run a half-marathon in Las Vegas in December.

“For the size of the company that we are, we’re really proud to offer the type of competitive health care benefits that we do,” said Ramonna Tooley, vice president and managing partner.

Employees are encouraged to pursue professional-development opportunities that appeal to them.

An example of this occurred when a few employees were interested in social networking, and Love gave them full support to develop the firm’s capabilities in this area.

“From an employee standpoint, they have taken the program and built it from the ground up, and now it’s a major part of the services we can offer to clients,” she said.

Turnover continues to remain low, hovering at around 6 percent.

“When you look at it, we have broken every rule and done it in a way that works,” Tooley said. “We tend to err on the side of our employees despite what our business advisers tell us sometimes.”

Top PR Moments of the 2008 Election

Now that election fever has finally started to subside, the team at GroundFloor Media thought we’d throw our hat in the commentary ring and list the top public relations moments of the 2008 election, along with the lessons we can learn from each of them. Some are examples of PR greatness and others probably made you cringe, but they’re all worth reliving. Enjoy!

Note: To be fair, these are not listed in any particular ranking order.

Obama’s ill-chosen remarks about bitter working class voters who "cling to guns or religion"
PR Lesson Learned: Test your key messages before saying them in public.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-04-12-obama-comments_N.htm


Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric
PR Lesson Learned: Don’t skip the media prep session.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbg6hF0nShQ


Joe Biden’s prediction that “Obama will be tested by a crisis during his first six months of administration”
PR Lesson Learned: You’re never really off the record.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpiNfuG8YY8


McCain Spokesperson Michael GoldFarb on CNN refusing to name Obama’s so-called anti-semitic associates after repeatedly saying “We all know who we’re talking about”
PR Lesson Learned: Make sure your spokesperson should really be a spokesperson.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JdjZEfxk2w


Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe publicly choosing his family over the election
PR Lesson Learned: If you hire people with the right priorities, you’ll rarely have to worry about cleaning up after them.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/02/obama-campaign-manager-would-choose-baby-over-obama/


Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live
PR Lesson Learned: Being able to laugh at yourself goes a long way with people.
www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-palin-rap/773781/


During the final debate, McCain saying to Obama “I am not George Bush. If you wanted to run against George Bush, you should have run four years ago.”
PR Lesson Learned: A good sound bite can silence even the greatest of spokespeople.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KmJlQcbIDI


Sarah Palin getting booed by Pittsburgh residents after congratulating them on the Phillies’ World Series victory
PR Lesson Learned: Know your audience.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nRR4PmyVKQ


Obama leveraging social media to rally and unite his supporters
PR Lesson Learned: Don’t underestimate the power of social media to help further your cause.

http://adage.com/campaigntrail/post?article_id=126336


Joe Biden bearing his emotions about raising his two young sons after the death of his wife and daughter
PR Lesson Learned: The more you can humanize a story, the better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbrFFHUlSlQ


Any other PR moments that deserve to be immortalized on our blog? Just let us know!

Award-winning Campaigns

I have to take a minute to brag… We were recently awarded the 2008 Grand Gold Leaf Award and 2008 Nonprofit Project of the Year Award from the Colorado Healthcare Communicators for work conducted on behalf of our clients, The Children’s Hospital and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, respectively. I was on the Colorado Healthcare Communicators board for five years and never even saw a Grand Gold Leaf. As one of our clients put it, “The strength and quality of our partnership was on full display at the ceremony with the wonderful acknowledgement by our peer professionals.”

Not only did GroundFloor Media and The Children’s Hospital receive the Grand Gold Leaf Award for the campaign, “The Children’s Hospital Makes 111 Miracles Happen,” but this campaign also received a Gold Leaf Award in the media relations category. This campaign consisted of an aggressive, proactive local and regional media relations strategy during The Children’s Hospital’s move to its new state-of-the-art facility at I-225 and Colfax in September 2007.

For the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Division, we received the Nonprofit Project of the Year Award and a Gold Leaf Award in the new media category for the What If? Colorado social media campaign, which was comprised of both traditional and non-traditional public relations components, including a reality competition.

I’m extremely proud of our team members at GroundFloor Media and have to commend them publicly for continually generating fresh, strategic ideas to help our clients meet their marketing and business objectives!

Film For The Troops

In honor of our armed forces, individuals and companies continue to create programs that give thanks to the men and women who have served – and continue to serve - our country. Today is Veterans Day and it marks the date of an event that ended 90 years ago today: World War I. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, a defeated Germany ended four years of the bloodiest war in human history. As we continue to engage in present day combat, the service men and women may have different faces, but their commitment to our country does not waiver.



The members of our armed forces don’t enjoy the same luxuries we do and often we take even the smallest luxury from granted. There is a program called Films For The Troops that is collecting new and used DVDs for Colorado troops in action as well as wounded American soldiers. Films For The Troops, a program of the Colorado Film & Video Association (CFVA) and the Denver Film Society, and sponsored by Bellco Credit Union, collects DVDs annually and this year hopes to collect 1,000 DVDs to send out right after Thanksgiving to arrive to the Troops in time for the holidays.

If you have new or used DVDs (rated G through R) that could use a new home, please consider donating through Tuesday, Nov. 25. Here are some more details on locations:

Bellco Credit Union will accept DVD donations at all 15 of its Denver metro branches which are located in Aurora, Centennial, Denver, Englewood, Glendale, Lakewood, Littleton, Northglenn, Parker, Westminster and Wheat Ridge. A full list of branch locations, including hours of operation and contact information, can be found at www.bellco.org.


Five American Legion Posts will also collect DVDs. These locations include:
Post 1 - 5400 E. Yale, Denver, CO 80222
Post 178 - 1655 Simms St, Lakewood, CO 80215
Post 32 - 315 S. Bowen, Longmont, CO 80501
Post 22 - 11081 Irma Dr, Northglenn, CO 80223
Post 1992 - 16070 E. Dartmouth Ave., #6, Aurora, CO 80013

A semi-permanent bin has been placed in the box office of the Starz FilmCenter, which is located at 900 Auraria Parkway (9th St. & Auraria Parkway) in Denver, and DVD collection bins onsite at the Festival which runs Nov. 13 - 23.



GroundFloor Media also has a bin at our office: 1923 Market Street in Denver. We welcome you to stop by with a donation if you find yourself in our neck of the woods!



Thanks for your support.

Poop Happens

The write up in last week’s Denver Business Journal says it all. I’ve never been so proud while laughing so hard, so I have to share…

AND NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: Speaking of disgusting things, how ‘bout that “Animal Grossology” exhibit in Parker at The Wildlife Experience, way south of Denver, where South Peoria Street meets Lincoln Avenue — and the farther away, the better.

“I have a nephew who is 12, and he thought it was AWESOME!” says Amy Moynihan of GroundFloor Media, which landed this prestigious account. Animal Grossology features a number of interactive and hands-on exhibits, “and you can dissect owl pellets [in animated form], and there’s a big cow that demonstrates how their digestive systems work. There’s lots of game stations, so you can make slime and fake poop.”

School and children’s groups have toured the exhibit, and there are educators and volunteers present to help. More fun facts to be gleaned: A dung beetle can roll dung 50 times its weight, which rivals any politician. Also, cows are the gassiest animals on Earth, which also defies belief as we’re assaulted by political commercials this fall.

When the Gold Pick Awards come around next fall, someone oughta nominate GroundFloor Media for:

• Headline of the Year: “Animal Grossology Exhibit Lands at the Wildlife Experience Featuring Pooper Scoopers, Blood Suckers, Vomit Munchers, Slime Makers and More!”

• Company President Quote of the Year: “Snail slime and the dung beetle, otherwise known as ‘nature’s pooper scooper,’ definitely qualify as unique story angles!” says Laura Love in a GroundFloor Media news release.

The exhibit runs through April 26, with hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. It’s closed Mondays, and we’re guessing that’s when someone places a giant fumigation tent over the building and has at it. Info: www.thewildlifeexperience.org or 720-488-3300, if tiny bugs haven’t burrowed their way into your cellphone.

Fuse Me

In this insane world of PR, we’re constantly juggling multiple conversations with colleagues, reporters, clients and even our clients’ customers. In this age of instant connectivity, that usually means an inordinate amount of e-mails, Facebook wall posts and tweets. Maintaining these online conversations can be challenging, even overwhelming at times. I’ve tried adhering to the principles of Inbox Zero or GTD, but truth be told, the only time I clear out my inboxes is when I’m on a transatlantic flight. And usually, I just want to sleep or watch a few really bad movies with subtitles.

Enter Fuser.com. Fuser.com is an online tool that lets you to check your e-mail and social networking accounts (Facebook, Myspace and Twitter) in one secure place, so you don’t have to log into tons of different Web sites each day. Once you’ve registered your accounts you’ll get your messages delivered to one online inbox that you can access from any Internet connection. You can reply, send, forward – basically do all the things you’re used to doing already – from within Fuser.com. It’s free and you don’t have to download or install a program to use it, so you can access it easily from work or home.

Now, for the disclaimer… we began working with Fuser last year when they unveiled the initial version of Fuser.com. As one of the first companies to offer Internet users a way to avoid “inbox overload” while also helping them increase their connectivity, it was easy to understand why people instantly starting using it. Earlier this month, Fuser unveiled a new version of Fuser.com that is 40% faster, offers a completely new user interface and a slew of more message management features. Once again, the response has been great and we’re excited to be part of the Fuser.com fan club.

Fuser also has a cool viral marketing campaign going on that includes a microsite with some pretty hilarious videos and emails. You can see it at http://www.nevermissamessage.com/ (as in, “with Fuser.com, you’ll never miss an important message again). Here’s an example of what may happen to you if you miss a message:

Religion, Politics and Burritos

Two topics we’ve all been taught to avoid in business meetings and casual conversations are religion and politics. But when GroundFloor Media looked for a way for Qdoba Mexican Grill to enter the world of social media, we decided to enter a conversation already taking place, rather than trying to create a new one. And what better topic to enter than one about the upcoming election?

That’s how TasteBudPolitics.com was born, and nearly 100,000 unique visits later, it seems to be a great strategy. Qdoba’s campaign is a nonpartisan look at 1) how Mexican foods describe people’s personalities – or Q-dentities – and 2) which candidates and issues are important to those people who take the personality quiz.

Personally, I find it fascinating how closely the national Taste Bud Politics results have tracked with national voter polls. And I find it extremely interesting that the only Q-dentity that supports John McCain more than Barack Obama on the national front is the “chips & salsa” group and that, based on analysis conducted by Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, Mc Cain is a chips & salsa personality. There are a couple of great articles about consumer product marketing campaigns that are playing on the election; if you’re interested see Joy Davis’ article in the Rocky Mountain News (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/oct/25/companies-rev-up-ballot-games/) and Mike Beirne’s article in Adweek (http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/esearch/e3i6d1955ff988810b8dcab2f3399bcf90e).

No matter your Q-dentity or your political party, I urge you to get out and vote! In Colorado, you can vote early in a variety of locations through Friday. To find your early voting polling place, contact your County Election Officials (http://www.elections.colorado.gov/DDefault.aspx?tid=147).

Child Abuse is Not to be Ignored

A cause that is very near and dear to my heart is hosting its annual fundraiser event tomorrow evening. Like many people that get involved on a board level of a non profit, it is often easy to lose sight of the real issues at hand. Instead, we get caught up in the development plans and the lack of available grant money, HR issues, event logistics, and other areas that while absolutely necessary for the viability of an organization, are often a far cry from the real social issue at hand.

The Tennyson Center for Children (www.childabuse.org) is an unbelievable organization. It is Colorado’s leading residential and day treatment facilities, serving the most abused and neglected children ages 5 to 14. Why is this so important?

You may not know that Colorado has the ninth highest rate of children living in poverty and Colorado experienced the nation’s fastest rate of growth among impoverished children from 2000 to 2006, according to a recent study. Clearly, children in our state are not getting a fair shake – and the results can be downright devastating. Since 2001, the number of child abuse reports has risen by more than 60 percent in our state – yet the number of child caseworkers has only increased by 8 percent. Almost half of the child abuse reports made in Colorado in 2007 did not have the proper follow-up because our system is by all accounts over-burdened. Colorado continues to investigate 13 child deaths statewide that were reported cases of child abuse that “fell through the cracks.”

This haunts me. As a parent, I can only try in some way to understand the devastation these children must feel. What we do at Tennyson Center is to attempt to save these children from this dark place. We provide them -- most often for the first time -- unconditional love. We give them back their hopes and dreams. We try and become the stepping-stones to a life where again they can trust and love adults.

Board reports matter very little in the grand scheme of things. Don’t they?

How many boxes do you have?

Seth Godin is truly genius. And it’s not just because he says I don’t have to be perfect to succeed. The man just gets it. His recent post “Do you have 16 boxes?” http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/do-you-have-16.html puts it all in perspective. We can all sit around and focus on the failing economy and how the next 18 months are going to smell of the new-age-greater-depression or we can look at what’s happening around us and realize that good still exists – in our companies and in our personal lives. If you have built a strong foundation for your business, this economy simply cannot bring it to a screeching halt. Godin mentions that when something is going wrong, when the economy is out of sync, we panic. We obsess about just one of the sixteen boxes and ignore the others. We talk ourselves into hysteria about how, "none of our customers have any money," or, “in this bleak economy, we'll never make a sale." Instead of building up the other 15 boxes, we sit in the corner, worrying about that one box that's completely out of whack.

So let’s all focus on the 15 boxes that really, really work in our businesses and cut the conversation about things that are quite simply beyond our immediate control. Boxes are so much nicer that way.

Cause-related marketing still works, even if this economy doesn’t

With the Dow closing down 400 points today, its good to know that some things are still working. The 2008 Cone Cause Evolution Study, just released by Cone and Duke University http://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/index.php/2008/10/17/cause-related-marketing-still-works-study-shows/#more-462 showed that, once again, consumers feel that if everything is equal, they would switch from one brand to another if the other brand is associated with a good cause. The study also shows consumers spent nearly twice as much time looking at cause-related ads compared to generic ads and that the cause, the nonprofit organization associated with it, and the product itself are all important factors in the purchase decision.


So for those working to maintain their company’s cause-related marketing programs, the study shows that the causes Americans care most about include:

Education 80%
Economic development (job creation, income generation) 80%
Health and disease 79%
Access to clean water 79%
Environment 77%
Disaster relief 77%
Hunger 77%

GroundFloor Media clients including Qdoba Mexican Grill, Morton’s The Steakhouse, and Bellco Credit Union, are shining examples of how, when times get tough, they still embrace programs that support causes that matter to their employees, customers and key stakeholders. Now that is something to smile about as the closing bell rings.

Acting Smart by Acting Small

I just have a few minutes this morning, but I’d like to point people to Seth Godin’s recent blog post about acting small -- because it just makes so much sense, especially during these challenging economic times. As he explains it, “A small acting bank would never have invested in tens of thousands of loans that they hadn't looked at. And a small acting startup wouldn't hire dozens of people before they had a business model...” Check out the entire post at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/. It’s worth a few minutes of your time today!

~Ramonna

A Fan of Roadless Forests

Growing up in Oklahoma, I didn't really appreciate a good forest. Well, probably because the only forest was the one that my dad created when he forgot to trim the shrubs in our backyard. However, since moving to Colorado nearly a decade ago, I have grown to appreciate the roadless forests. They safeguard our watersheds, protect wildlife habitat, and allow us to hunt (even though I am not a personal fan), fish, camp, and hike. As you may have heard, the current administration is moving forward with an 11th hour attempt to open Colorado’s roadless forests to drilling, mining, logging and road building. We have until Oct. 24 to make comments.

Please take a minute and email U.S. Forest Chief Gail Kimbell and ask her to stop the roll back of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and support the strong protections it guarantees for Colorado’s roadless forests.

http://www.environmentcolorado.org/action/preservation/protect-our-forests?id4=ES

It takes less than a minute and is well worth every second!

Tough Times Call for Strategic Measures

It’s hard to turn around today without hearing news about the economy, and companies large and small are taking precautions to ensure they weather the storm. We’re no different – tightening our belts a bit more than usual and examining each expense to make sure it’s necessary right now.

When it comes to communication strategy, we practice what we preach at GroundFloor Media. We know we must stay the course and focus on our own communication and marketing initiatives as we continue to hit rough waters. Like companies much larger than us, as business owners we all share the knowledge that cutting all efforts to communicate, both internally and externally, will certainly backfire. The messages may change in challenging times, but the communication channels need to remain open so that customers, shareholders and employees can remain confident in our companies.

Those of us who have survived challenging economic downturns in the past know that the first thing many companies cut is public relations and advertising budgets. While this somehow seems to make sense to some individuals initially, it is not a wise long-term strategy. Of course, it can’t always be “business as usual” during an economic downturn; however, strategic communication agencies can help clients make smart decisions and tweak programs so that companies are using cost-effective measures to reach out to their key audiences. For instance, this may be the right time to institute that blog strategy you’ve been considering for so long. Many social media tactics, like blogs, provide cost-effective ways to engage directly with your key audiences and provide your company with instant feedback from consumers, shareholders and/or employees. It may also be time to open up the internal communication channels so employees know their fears are being addressed and that management is available and open to questions and feedback.

Sure, now is a good time to reevaluate your overall communication strategy and shift priorities and dollars toward programs that are more targeted and cost-effective, but as with all decisions these days, it is not time to panic. Following are some links to insightful articles about communicating during tough economic times for entrepreneurs and agencies alike:
http://www.prweekus.com/Challenging-economy-demands-firms-to-focus-on-their-strengths/article/119549/
http://www.briansolis.com/2008/10/in-down-economy-tomorrows-leaders-are.html
http://www.pr-squared.com/2008/10/cut_the_pr_agency_are_you_sure.html

~Ramonna