a recent interview with BBC Radio Northampton on Branding- a new vision for the Post Office (62 minutes into show)
alan j seymour
BBC smashes streaming record during the World Cup
13 years ago
Friday 30 October 2009
'Branding'- Debating the issue in the Postal Strike
a recent interview on BBC Radio Northampton- (62mins into show) on 'Branding- the future of The Post Office'
Saturday 24 October 2009
Sunday 11 October 2009
Follow my "PRMatters(Brick Road!!)"
My site is active, my creativity is blossoming, my motivation is mercurial, my literacy is loquacious and my meanderings are meaningfully measured- made to measure for my boxes to be ticked, my fans to become fanatic and my potential followers to put their heads above the blogging parapet and say 'PRMatters you are the blog for me!!"
Come and say hi and lets us start a new PR Movement where persuasion and commentary, interest and comment, knowledge and opinion all raise their status for the future of marketing communications
Welcome to the 'wizard of blogz!!'
Alan J Seymour
PRMatters
Come and say hi and lets us start a new PR Movement where persuasion and commentary, interest and comment, knowledge and opinion all raise their status for the future of marketing communications
Welcome to the 'wizard of blogz!!'
Alan J Seymour
PRMatters
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Public Relations Spin-'Truth or Fiction?'
Spin-‘Truth or Fiction?
The debate surrounding Public Relations activity and business ‘kudos’ is becoming increasingly an issue in the public domain. Some notable business disasters emanating from the events surrounding Baring’s Bank and Enron, as well as other ‘gaffes’ like Gerald Ratner’s infamous ‘knocking’ of his own products as ‘crap’ have led to a heightened spotlight for greater visibility and accountability.
Can we blame PR for creating an angry public? We are becoming a much more litigious society and feel that ‘blame culture’ and having easy scapegoats are the norm. A Marketing Communications analyst recently writing in The journal of marketing communications’ rather provocatively entitled his article ‘this company sucks .com’ where he inferred that with the advent of instant gratification through the world wide web that companies are laying themselves open constantly with feedback channels on line for people to always complain!
Surely the argument should be that in a pluralistic society PR is about giving ‘voice’ where the voice gives authority, credence and value to ‘groups’ and ‘publics’ who may well share as well as having different values. The result of this phenomenon’ is that, rightly so, self-preservation comes through ‘self-presentation’ where we can deduce the ‘attention for advantage’ syndrome.
We undoubtedly now inhabit a ‘promotional culture’ universe where one of its distinctive features is an ‘argument culture’ where Tannen(1998) argues: ‘Our spirits are corroded by living in an atmosphere of unrelenting contention-an argument culture-….which urges us to approach the world-and the people in it-in an adversarial frame of mind’.
However there is a clear distinction to be made in PR activity-where the notion of ‘positive spin’- is prevalent and necessary because one can always distinguish between positive need for making an argument in public for a point of view than the just negative view of having an argument for its own sake. On this basis one could argue both spin is always relevant where truth overtakes fiction and consequently and that ‘voice’ or ‘words’ can be significantly more relevant thus countering the view that ‘actions speak louder than words’!
The concluding notions about PR values and roles in a modern society should centre on engagement with its publics. PR is very much the ‘voice’ of mass-mediated interests and opinions. Sometimes there is a blur with the increasing emphasis probably driven by ‘American’ society‘s preoccupation with ‘commit to nothing, admit to nothing approach’ to anything contentious. However these ‘voices’ are always persuasive by intent whether they are heard as the self-rampant publicist or the ‘Victor Meldrew grumpy old man’ protagonist.
Perhaps a good summation of my thoughts on this Public Relations perceptions and values or morality of ‘Spin’ is best argued by the Victorian philosopher John Stuart Mill who argued that ‘Truth is what is left after public argument’. The fiction is probably the natural outcome of society demanding ‘a good story’.
Alan J Seymour
October 2009
The debate surrounding Public Relations activity and business ‘kudos’ is becoming increasingly an issue in the public domain. Some notable business disasters emanating from the events surrounding Baring’s Bank and Enron, as well as other ‘gaffes’ like Gerald Ratner’s infamous ‘knocking’ of his own products as ‘crap’ have led to a heightened spotlight for greater visibility and accountability.
Can we blame PR for creating an angry public? We are becoming a much more litigious society and feel that ‘blame culture’ and having easy scapegoats are the norm. A Marketing Communications analyst recently writing in The journal of marketing communications’ rather provocatively entitled his article ‘this company sucks .com’ where he inferred that with the advent of instant gratification through the world wide web that companies are laying themselves open constantly with feedback channels on line for people to always complain!
Surely the argument should be that in a pluralistic society PR is about giving ‘voice’ where the voice gives authority, credence and value to ‘groups’ and ‘publics’ who may well share as well as having different values. The result of this phenomenon’ is that, rightly so, self-preservation comes through ‘self-presentation’ where we can deduce the ‘attention for advantage’ syndrome.
We undoubtedly now inhabit a ‘promotional culture’ universe where one of its distinctive features is an ‘argument culture’ where Tannen(1998) argues: ‘Our spirits are corroded by living in an atmosphere of unrelenting contention-an argument culture-….which urges us to approach the world-and the people in it-in an adversarial frame of mind’.
However there is a clear distinction to be made in PR activity-where the notion of ‘positive spin’- is prevalent and necessary because one can always distinguish between positive need for making an argument in public for a point of view than the just negative view of having an argument for its own sake. On this basis one could argue both spin is always relevant where truth overtakes fiction and consequently and that ‘voice’ or ‘words’ can be significantly more relevant thus countering the view that ‘actions speak louder than words’!
The concluding notions about PR values and roles in a modern society should centre on engagement with its publics. PR is very much the ‘voice’ of mass-mediated interests and opinions. Sometimes there is a blur with the increasing emphasis probably driven by ‘American’ society‘s preoccupation with ‘commit to nothing, admit to nothing approach’ to anything contentious. However these ‘voices’ are always persuasive by intent whether they are heard as the self-rampant publicist or the ‘Victor Meldrew grumpy old man’ protagonist.
Perhaps a good summation of my thoughts on this Public Relations perceptions and values or morality of ‘Spin’ is best argued by the Victorian philosopher John Stuart Mill who argued that ‘Truth is what is left after public argument’. The fiction is probably the natural outcome of society demanding ‘a good story’.
Alan J Seymour
October 2009
'Persuasion-Perspectives on Communication'
Perspectives on Communication: Meeting the Challenge of Persuasion for Business in today’s competitive environment.
Alan J Seymour: Senior Lecturer in Marketing & Public Relations
Your business is changing, has changed, and will need to change ever more dramatically, to meet the ‘persuaders’ challenge in the dawning of the new business age we are all entering. As Philip Kotler[1] so eloquently but practically put it “In the coming decade marketing will be re-engineered from A-Z. There is little doubt that markets and marketing will operate on quite different principles in the early years of the twenty first century”. I will endeavour to project a vision of how this might be applied to your business.
My suggestion to you is that the most influential businesses will organise demand rather than supply; where the dominant form of marketing revolves around helping buyers to buy, rather than helping sellers to sell.
The way your business operates is primarily determined by the way you communicate. Effective communication is about breaking down barriers. I am reminded of the lyrics uttered in the famous musical ‘Paint your Wagon’ I talk to the trees, but they don’t listen to me, I talk to the birds, but they don’t understand”. The ultimate guideline therefore for effective communication is remove the noise! Ensure you make it easy for your customer’s to say yes and difficult to say no! The customers mind is like an umbrella- it works best when open- so stimulate it with positive messages, personal incentives and active involvement.
Try and break the mould by being positively different, maybe turning right occasionally when you have always turned left. The adage that ‘familiarity breeds contempt should be re-written as ‘familiarity breeds favourability’ where the better known company is the better regarded. It is imperative that you have a story to tell and your products/brands/service indicate four key characteristics:
1. Memorability
2. Image
3. Distinctiveness
4. Packaging for Purpose
These are sure ways for success and beating the competition. Additionally your business needs to focus on what I term ‘reputation management’ where your business strives to maintain the following core principles:
I. Be clear about your own distinctive purpose and values
II. Be prepared to give a lead in all relationships you foster by communicating a consistent themed message
III. Be clear that all your relationships are reciprocal
IV. That your business is also not ‘closed’ but part of a wider system
V. You will need to be flexible and prepared to compromise and manage ‘trade-offs’ to benefit stakeholders
VI. Have measures for assessing performance and change.
Remember we are all competing for the consumer’s attention. You are now competing in the ‘attention economy’ where wealth of information tends to blur and create a ‘poverty’ of attention. Your message and information therefore needs to stand out and be ‘memorable’- hence the need to communicate directly with the buyer to relate to them individually and to ultimately persuade. This involves direct ‘talk-to-talk communication’ where the age of ‘mass speak’ is reduced and a more personal dialogue is being developed. Hence a new preponderance of persuasive marketing is being fostered through ‘relationship marketing’ and MPR (marketing public relations)-the business of what I term ‘familiarity marketing’. This approach is engendered by:
1. tailored objectives
2. specific outcomes orientation
3. unique benefits
4. personal attention from inception to completion
5. ultimate consumer focus driven activities
6. win-win-win scenarios-business-customer-stakeholders
The ‘menus of persuasion’ should constantly be refreshed by having feedback dialogue and channels of communication with current existing and potential customers. Remember that time is the ultimate non-renewable resource’ – use it wisely and effectively
Alan J Seymour
Autumn 2009
[1] Philip Kotler, Kotler on Marketing, Free Press, 1999, p205
Alan J Seymour: Senior Lecturer in Marketing & Public Relations
Your business is changing, has changed, and will need to change ever more dramatically, to meet the ‘persuaders’ challenge in the dawning of the new business age we are all entering. As Philip Kotler[1] so eloquently but practically put it “In the coming decade marketing will be re-engineered from A-Z. There is little doubt that markets and marketing will operate on quite different principles in the early years of the twenty first century”. I will endeavour to project a vision of how this might be applied to your business.
My suggestion to you is that the most influential businesses will organise demand rather than supply; where the dominant form of marketing revolves around helping buyers to buy, rather than helping sellers to sell.
The way your business operates is primarily determined by the way you communicate. Effective communication is about breaking down barriers. I am reminded of the lyrics uttered in the famous musical ‘Paint your Wagon’ I talk to the trees, but they don’t listen to me, I talk to the birds, but they don’t understand”. The ultimate guideline therefore for effective communication is remove the noise! Ensure you make it easy for your customer’s to say yes and difficult to say no! The customers mind is like an umbrella- it works best when open- so stimulate it with positive messages, personal incentives and active involvement.
Try and break the mould by being positively different, maybe turning right occasionally when you have always turned left. The adage that ‘familiarity breeds contempt should be re-written as ‘familiarity breeds favourability’ where the better known company is the better regarded. It is imperative that you have a story to tell and your products/brands/service indicate four key characteristics:
1. Memorability
2. Image
3. Distinctiveness
4. Packaging for Purpose
These are sure ways for success and beating the competition. Additionally your business needs to focus on what I term ‘reputation management’ where your business strives to maintain the following core principles:
I. Be clear about your own distinctive purpose and values
II. Be prepared to give a lead in all relationships you foster by communicating a consistent themed message
III. Be clear that all your relationships are reciprocal
IV. That your business is also not ‘closed’ but part of a wider system
V. You will need to be flexible and prepared to compromise and manage ‘trade-offs’ to benefit stakeholders
VI. Have measures for assessing performance and change.
Remember we are all competing for the consumer’s attention. You are now competing in the ‘attention economy’ where wealth of information tends to blur and create a ‘poverty’ of attention. Your message and information therefore needs to stand out and be ‘memorable’- hence the need to communicate directly with the buyer to relate to them individually and to ultimately persuade. This involves direct ‘talk-to-talk communication’ where the age of ‘mass speak’ is reduced and a more personal dialogue is being developed. Hence a new preponderance of persuasive marketing is being fostered through ‘relationship marketing’ and MPR (marketing public relations)-the business of what I term ‘familiarity marketing’. This approach is engendered by:
1. tailored objectives
2. specific outcomes orientation
3. unique benefits
4. personal attention from inception to completion
5. ultimate consumer focus driven activities
6. win-win-win scenarios-business-customer-stakeholders
The ‘menus of persuasion’ should constantly be refreshed by having feedback dialogue and channels of communication with current existing and potential customers. Remember that time is the ultimate non-renewable resource’ – use it wisely and effectively
Alan J Seymour
Autumn 2009
[1] Philip Kotler, Kotler on Marketing, Free Press, 1999, p205
Saturday 3 October 2009
The University of Northampton
Northampton Business School has an excellent portfolio of subject options and opportunities in:
Sports Marketing,PR,Brand Management and Leisure Management
For more details contact
alan.seymour@northampton.ac.uk
Sports Marketing,PR,Brand Management and Leisure Management
For more details contact
alan.seymour@northampton.ac.uk
Sports Marketing Discussion-please contribute to this forthcoming paper
I would welcome any informed opinion or views to add to my research and forthcoming academic paper AND enquiry on the question relating to the role of sports marketing and sports marketers
Please add your comments or forward views, evidence or any relevant material.
Many thanks
Alan J Seymour
The case for sports marketing
Are sports marketers an emerging cohort to be admired as a force in marketing or simply adding to the belief that they are merely accomplices to mediocrity in new marketing approaches?
Abstract:
Consumers and Publics alike today are insatiable and as a consequence Sport has become the elixir of new and modern marketing trends. Shank, M (2005) suggests sports marketing is “the specific application of marketing principles and processes to sports products and to the marketing of nonsports products through associations with sport”. As a consequence one can infer sport has become not only big business, but a stand alone entertainment industry worthy perhaps of a mantra label for all things ‘generation lifestyle’. Clearly this has led to fierce debate and ongoing dialogue, discussion and argument as to the validity and perspectives offered for the case for sports marketers to be taken seriously?
This paper seeks to add to the debate by clarifying the current position of sports marketing within academia as well as engaging with sports students, practitioners and the industry as a whole in establishing benchmarks for sports marketing to join the mainstream school of marketing excellence in both theory and practice.
The study and research will focus on case studies and action research methods, with support from academic enquiry on current marketing research and programmes of higher educational provision in the sports marketing arena.
Key words: sport, marketing, consumer, participation, publicity, sponsorship, promotion, globalisation
Alan J Seymour
October 2009
Please add your comments or forward views, evidence or any relevant material.
Many thanks
Alan J Seymour
The case for sports marketing
Are sports marketers an emerging cohort to be admired as a force in marketing or simply adding to the belief that they are merely accomplices to mediocrity in new marketing approaches?
Abstract:
Consumers and Publics alike today are insatiable and as a consequence Sport has become the elixir of new and modern marketing trends. Shank, M (2005) suggests sports marketing is “the specific application of marketing principles and processes to sports products and to the marketing of nonsports products through associations with sport”. As a consequence one can infer sport has become not only big business, but a stand alone entertainment industry worthy perhaps of a mantra label for all things ‘generation lifestyle’. Clearly this has led to fierce debate and ongoing dialogue, discussion and argument as to the validity and perspectives offered for the case for sports marketers to be taken seriously?
This paper seeks to add to the debate by clarifying the current position of sports marketing within academia as well as engaging with sports students, practitioners and the industry as a whole in establishing benchmarks for sports marketing to join the mainstream school of marketing excellence in both theory and practice.
The study and research will focus on case studies and action research methods, with support from academic enquiry on current marketing research and programmes of higher educational provision in the sports marketing arena.
Key words: sport, marketing, consumer, participation, publicity, sponsorship, promotion, globalisation
Alan J Seymour
October 2009
Success is Contagious!
‘Striving for success- benchmarks of achievement’
Roosevelt so famously remarked ‘the only thing we have to fear is fear itself’. I sometimes feel that business sometimes falls into the very same mindset- in other words the scope for success and achievement is considerably limited and constrained by lack of drive, ambition or goal setting. Business and marketers in particular need to be able to progress initiatives and drive forward their business by clearly ‘going the extra mile’ as well as realistically appraising competitive distinctiveness and opportunities for growth and development.
As a new cohort of graduates enter my 'sphere of influence' and aspirations for many of my students are highlighted at this time, I am clearly reminded how uplifting success is and how benchmarks and ambition are reflected and mirrored in student successes. I think business could draw many parallels from this scenario. The need to be disciplined and focused must be met. The essence of research and planning to achieve objectives is paramount. The resultant ‘feel- good factors of reaching targets and being rewarded impacts on how well we are all measured. The use of ‘best practice’ and commendations from others about a job well done enables people and business to have differential advantage and competitiveness.. Finally the accolade and confirmation that you have achieved excellence is the clearest benchmark of achievement. Tom Peters was clearly right in his seminal text ‘the pursuit of excellence’ when he remarked that what distinguished all good companies (as with successful students) was the consistency and dedication to the pursuit and aspiration to be the best.
I suggest, as I am reminded and exhilarated by previous student successes at this time, a simple 6 step portfolio and benchmarks for marketing success:
• Invest in the overwhelming power of marketing- be the best
• Accentuate a ‘positivist’ approach and eradicate the ‘loser’ mentality
• Appreciate achievement and success- wallow in it , publicize it expand from it
• Ensure you develop a winning mentality and thank the contributors to this success
• Never stop- be ahead of the competition and strive for greater gain
• To be the best you need to position yourself as an expert and leader in your field
A final recommendation and directive should always be try and focus on what is best for you! This might sound too simplistic but most businesses fail or don’t achieve the success they either strive for or merit because they are too busy imitating what works best for others or their competitors!
Your business should always therefore start and finish with the client or customer by targeting and goal setting against their needs, value and niche value. You will then be able to develop from a position of strength and success and lead to more meaningful and successful relationships which in turn will lead to growth of vital networks and exemplars for future successes.
The adage success breeds success is the biggest truism in marketing!
Alan J Seymour
October 2009
• Accentuate a ‘positivist’ approach and eradicate the ‘loser’ mentality
• Appreciate achievement and success- wallow in it , publicize it expand from it
• Ensure you develop a winning mentality and thank the contributors to this success
• Never stop- be ahead of the competition and strive for greater gain
• To be the best you need to position yourself as an expert and leader in your field
A final recommendation and directive should always be try and focus on what is best for you! This might sound too simplistic but most businesses fail or don’t achieve the success they either strive for or merit because they are too busy imitating what works best for others or their competitors!
Your business should always therefore start and finish with the client or customer by targeting and goal setting against their needs, value and niche value. You will then be able to develop from a position of strength and success and lead to more meaningful and successful relationships which in turn will lead to growth of vital networks and exemplars for future successes.
The adage success breeds success is the biggest truism in marketing!
Alan J Seymour
October 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)