Online Reading (and viewing!)

Internal communications

General
Simply-Communicate.com
Talking Internal Communication
IC magazine
Culture to engage
The Employee Engagement Network
Great resource with internal communications professionals from around the world sharing resources, tips and tricks of the trade.
British Association of Communicators in Business
International Association of Business Communicators
Cut Through Communications

Articles & presentations
'Workforce Generations: Time & Space' - Tim Wright

The older members of the workforce (Traditionalists, Boomers, and older Gen X) plan and schedule. Meetings, though lamented, are sacrosanct. Gen Ys, on the other hand, view reliance on scheduled meetings inefficient and frustrating. Their preference is for instant (likely electronic) communication when/if needed.

'To motivate front-line employees: don't just thank them, use their insights' - John Cadell

I am focused on one particular group of employees–those who interact directly with customers. This includes customer-service reps, retail clerks, bank tellers and account support staff. It is a group with tremendous insight, and a group that’s held in low esteem in companies I’m familiar with. To borrow a phrase from my friend Matthew Achak, “Nobody listens to the reps.”

Great post on how companies should listen to their employees who interact regularly with their customers. These groups know how the customers are really feeling …

'Why Knowledge Sharing Is The Future Of Organizations And What Leadership Should Do To Embrace Such Power Change' - Robin Good

Today, there are indeed huge opportunities awaiting for those organizations which have not only the courage to acknowledge these deep transformational changes but which have also the will to embrace and integrate these new trends in their own way of working.

'Social Media drives greater employee engagement' - Neville Hobson

The feedback from the field has been phenomenal,” says [Eric Frank, Director of Marketing for the Business Publishing Division]. “This campaign has kicked off a new wave of communication across the organization, where newsletters and e-mail blasts are being replaced by this new approach to strategic and tactical communications.

'10 news stories that might be happening under your nose' - Consultmyagent.com
Has an external communications focus but is just as relevant to internal communications and keeping employees up to date on exactly where the company is going.

It is important to remember that your company’s public relations is not a once-in-a-while occasion, like when you launch a new product or forge a new partnership. Your company’s story lies in your hands. We all have a story to tell, it is just a matter of finding it.

Teemu Arina on communities, events, mobile and lots more (video with accompanying slides)

We move from the mechanical age of speed to the digital age of real time.

If Henry Ford had asked people what they wanted, they would have said 'faster horses'.

Employee social networking (case study)

Though e-mail still occupies an important stronghold in the nascent world of Intranet 2.0, social and employee networking communications is best embodied by instant messaging, discussion forums, and RSS technology.

'What does social media mean for internal communication' - Steve Crescenzo

… it’s hard for many executives to accept the fact that they can no longer control the information flow at the organisation. To these people, who grew up with typewriters instead of computers, information is power … and they have a hard time giving it up.

'Intranet offers bright future for internal communicators' - Giraffe Forum

The future of internal communications is about helping employees do things, rather than getting employees to do things. It’s about the word in action. The intranet is not a place to change hearts and minds. It’s a functional utility space where employees come to complete basic day-to-day tasks, like finding people, checking procedures, searching for job vacancies and training opportunities.

'Scenes from a Social Enterprise' - PR squared

What will happen when a corporation is empowered to view which employees are the most prolific ideamakers, the most connected across hierarchies?

'New Canadian Research Shows Social Media is a 'Game-Changer' for Internal Communications in Challenging Economy' - press release

Social media is the most significant trend impacting internal communications in Canada, according to a new study conducted by NATIONAL Public Relations. Nine-in-ten respondents say that when it comes to facilitating dialogue with employees, social media has the potential to dramatically redefine and re-energize internal communications, making it a 'game-changer' for employee engagement.

'Home Depot remodels internal communications' - Susan Rink
Nice example of good implementation of one of the key principles of internal communications - employee understanding of and alignment with the organisation's goals.

As I engaged in some casual conversation with the cashier, he mentioned that Home Depot is making a number of changes, all designed to win back customers and build loyalty. That’s right, the cashier told me.

'Build Your Brand from the Inside Out' - Morgan Daloisio

UK telecom and cable provider Virgin Media and open source technology provider Red Hat are two companies known not only for their strong brands externally, but also for the unbreakable link they’ve built between their brands and cultures. Employees at Virgin Media and Red Hat don’t just know their brand slogan or tag line; they embody and deliver it to customers day in, day out.

'Companies should encourage social networking among employees' - Allen Adamson

The brand-awareness initiatives at Best Buy run top down, bottom up and across departments. In addition to the applications suggested and/or built by employees, for instance, Chief Marketing Officer Barry Judge asks for input online via Twitter and on his own site, BarryJudge.com.

Branding

General resources

Articles / presentations

Public relations

General
PR Squared

Articles / presentations
'PR does not stand for press release: Equalizing spikes and valleys' - Brian Solis
Essential reading for any PR professionals who are having difficulty 'getting' how the internet has changed the way they should be working.

P.R. is not spin. The difference between PR of yesteryear and Public Relations of today and tomorrow is our ability to understand the pains and challenges of our customers and connect our value proposition to those specifically looking for it, where they’re looking for it. Our job is not deceive or mislead stakeholders. Our job is to establish an interactive channel where we share and learn, directly participating within the markets that define our business.

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'The seven elements of good PR' - PR Squared

Good PR doesn’t need to know Larry Ellison or Kevin Rose or anyone in particular in the media, either. Even though such relationships can come in handy, good PR almost always “gets ink” because a good story has been well-told to the right people.

Marketing

General

Articles / presentations

Really detailed presentation with supporting figures which illustrates how contemporary marketing is definitively moving to be more about conversations than broadcast. I personally don't see any difference between marketing communications and community management - they all come under the umbrella of marketing and engagement with the brand.

If you talked to people the way advertising talked to people, they'd punch you in the face. - Hugh McLeod

'Customer Experience: Managing it from start to finish' - ICC Decision Services

If you broaden your thinking, great customer experience has no start or finish. It’s a rotating wheel. Even after the customer has left the store, the data received from purchases can be used to build loyalty programs and maintain contact information for customer service follow-ups. Part of building a customer-centric approach is creating processes that are integrated with each other and the entire customer experience.

'Marketers fall short in communicating good deeds to customers' - Allen Adamson

Getting consumers to understand the difference between brands' good deedsand their promisesare equally difficult tasks. In a cluttered marketplace, brands can only stand out if they establish a point of differentiation, and then bring that differentiation to life.

'The top ten lies marketers tell (with bonus)' - Guy Kawasaki
If you're avoiding the majority of these you must be doing something right. I've seen all of these personally, in most cases more than once sadly.

5 "Conservatively assuming that each user only tells three additional people, we will have an installed base of five million bythe end of the first year." Do you know why we've heard about MySpace and FaceBook? It's not because it's easy and commonplace to amass millions of users. It's because it hardly ever happens. Whenever a marketer makes a forecast like this, add one year to the timeline and divide the installed base by 100.

'When trying to engage people on the Web, timing is everything' - Allen Adamson

Online marketing

General

Marketing @ alltop.com (aggregator)

Articles / presentations
Social networks not much of a marketplace

The overall impact of a brand's presence on social networking sites was shown to be minimal in terms of impact and perception. 96% of respondents said their opinion of a product brand did not change if that brand had no presence on a social networking site, and only 11% of social networking users reported following any major brand through a social networking site, and just 12% of respondents said their opinion of a brand changes if that brand maintains a social networking presence.

Will tweet for food - Brandchef
This is how it's done properly on Twitter.

'6 Lessons From the Best Marketing Campaign Ever' Influential Marketing Blog

"The real trick is to have something worthwhile to say that people can't help talking about. You need a good story."

This campaign was certainly all over the local radio stations here in Ireland for a period of at least a week with (presumably) no local spend whatsoever.

'Three steps to building an online brand' - Bernard Lunn / ReadWriteWeb

47 examples of viral marketing
Whilst some of these aren't strictly 'viral', there are some great examples of creative thinking and low-budget success amongst them.

Miscellaneous

Stuff that doesn't really fit anywhere else

Anil Dash on the future of new media

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