Marketing Briefs

Businesses have an increasing need for dynamic access to expertise and specialized knowledge. Today’s emerging technologies can facilitate access through subscription-based services. Many B2B companies have the skills, credibility, and technology to turn what has been a cost center into a revenue generator – and to cement their customer relationships in the process.

Is the newspaper industry "toast," as Warren Buffet has said? Local news stands to suffer the most if so, given that it was the unique province of local newspapers. But that might present an opportunity for companies to take up the cause of local reporting.

Does your Net Promotor Score (NPS) give you all the information you need? NPS is a helpful start to understanding how your users feel about your brand. Digging deeper, a vibrant online community can provide much valuable insight into the sentiments beyond the score itself, giving your company a clear path forward for improvement.

Are you still using Ad Value Equivalency (AVEs) to measure the effectiveness of your PR? AVEs have been discredited and should never be used as a measure of anything, particularly not value. Here's why.

The only way corporate mental health initiatives can be successful is if they are aligned with communication efforts. There are several functions of corporate communications that are necessary to consider when evaluating a company’s approach to mental health.

Are you encouraging your communications team to showcase their effectiveness? Keeping a team motivated—to do their best work and to continuously improve—is a real leadership challenge. Kami Spangenberg, Vice President, Corporate Communications, RTI International, suggests giving your team the opportunity to highlight the business impact of their work to senior leaders through targeted annual reports.

Is your brand at risk? Branding carries economic risks that are, on the one hand, similar to other corporate risks—theft, fire, weather-related damage, etc.—but different in that they attack the value of intangible assets, like brands. If you are not yet affected by Brand Equity Risk (BER), it’s almost certain you will be, so you need to manage it like any other risk your organization faces.

How does an active wear brand become an activist icon? Deliberately or despite itself? Can product, purpose, profit, and politics mesh—or do they risk unraveling? And what’s the story behind the unconventional Patagonia beer? These questions and more will be answered in The Conference Board Marketing and Communications Center's April Monthly Chat.

How do you respond when someone publishes a story about you that isn’t true? Here’s how Mayo Clinic handled such a situation in August 2018 when CNN ran this: “Escape from the Mayo Clinic: Teen accuses world-famous hospital of ‘medical kidnapping.’”

Is your organization evaluating its internal communication in a way that makes business sense? Measures of internal communications often focus on intranet usage or employee satisfaction or engagement. Companies rarely measure employee attitude or behavior change, understanding of key messages, or internal communication’s impact on strategic and financial objectives. These and a range of other metrics will give more insight into the effectiveness of internal communication on business results.