Versant Blog Center

Creating a Connected Culture

Ben Hannemann

Will Ruch (CEO/Managing Partner, Versant) and John Murray (Attorney, Lindner & Marsack, S.C.) invite you to participate in a Web-based seminar titled “Creating a Connected Culture: World 2.0 Employee Communications” on Tuesday, October 13, 2009.

This presentation will share a variety of World 2.0 communication tools and strategies, including how to create and foster a positive workplace culture, how to engage employees around the organization’s goals and how to encourage constructive dialogue that connects employees with the organization.

This learning will benefit all levels of management and human resources who need to develop effective communication strategies for connecting with employees.

Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. CST
Duration: 90 minutes
Cost: Complimentary

To Register: Send an e-mail to lgurrath@lindner-marsack.com

Sharing Learning with the International Association of Business Communicators

Mary Dingeldein, Human Resource Director, and Dee Johnson, Account Group Director, VersantWorks,�spoke�to members of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) on Wednesday, September 23, in Madison, Wisconsin. Their topic was How to Create a Performance-focused Culture through World 2.0 Communication Strategies.�

About the program– Focusing employees on achieving results has never been more important than it is today. This learning session helps participants gain an understanding of how to create and foster a workplace culture that builds and sustains commitment from high-performing talent.

Additional details can be found on the IABC Web Site http://madison.iabc.com/meetings.htm

Good and Timely

Will Ruch

When clients pass along good books to read, I take note. The most recent book came from a long-standing client who heads up HR at Lincoln Financial. The book is “Who’s Got Your Back – The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success – and Won’t Let You Fail.” Here’s a link to the author, Keith Ferrazzi’s Web site: http://www.keithferrazzi.com/WGYB/.

What did I take away from the book? Deep relationships create lasting results that will help fulfill your dreams and goals for both the business and the personal aspects of your life.
�
I have always believed we are in the relationship business – this book helped me make an even greater commitment to that wonderful business of relationships.

Starting Down the Social Media Path

Korre Johnson

At Versant, our sense is that the tide has finally changed and more businesses now are recognizing the extent to which their competitors are already involved and gaining traction in social media. Considering the seemingly constant attention social media draws, it is not surprising that many businesses are worried about missing their opportunities to leverage social media before it is too crowded to make an impact.

Often the anxiety we sense from these organizations is rooted in the simple fact that their leadership and decision makers, on a personal level, have never actually participated in any social media channel (except for maybe LinkedIn). So without ever setting up a Facebook profile, how will they understand how a Facebook fan page works? Without ever setting up a Twitter account, how will they understand the etiquette of retweeting?

Now this is not a problem that needs to be purely solved before their businesses can become active in social media, but it does highlight the amount of learning that often needs to occur before many organizations are willing to invest the time to make their efforts worthwhile.

Given this, below are a couple resources that Versant recently created as part of our inSHORT Learning series that are related to helping organizations gain a better understanding of social media marketing:

Twitter as a Marketing Tool �

At its core, successful marketing is all about developing relationships, and Twitter is a simple tool to help expand and build those relationships. This episode of inSHORT Learning provides a review of Twitter and how it can be used as a marketing tool.�

Monitoring Your Brand Online

What are people saying about your brand online? How can you keep track of what your competitors are doing online? This episode of inSHORT Learning reviews a few online tools that are great starting points to help you monitor a brand’s online presence.

Feel free to leave a comment or connect with us on Twitter to share your learning experiences of marketing through social media.

- Korre Johnson

Don’t Interrupt the Conversation, Join it

Brandon Meves

As I was reading through my friends’ Twitter updates yesterday morning, I ran across a tweet that inspired me – @thatwoman_soho: “Marketing is an introduction to the conversation. Social media tools and channels allow the conversation to flow freely.”

The quote hits upon one of the main ideas of social media – it’s social. It’s about conversation and sharing. If you find something in the social media space of interest or of value to you, give something in return, whether it be a comment, your ideas/perceptions or even a simple retweet. This is what keeps social media going, and it’s a beautiful thing.

Her quote also subtly points out that marketing is different than social media. Are they related? Certainly. Effectively using social media is indeed a great way to market yourself or your organization as well as extend the reach of your brand.

Sometimes though, people tend to view social media as the silver bullet for their marketing solutions. After all, you can’t avoid the news and publicity it’s receiving everywhere you look. Many of your friends or coworkers are likely using at least one or two social media tools, as are small to large businesses and even the president of the United States. Considering the growth of social media we have had in only the last few years, it’s no wonder why some have placed social media on the pedestal they have. But is it really the “wonder drug” for marketing in the online world?

Potentially, but only if used for the right reasons. Keep in mind that social media is driven by the communities of people who use it, and that the people logging into these spaces have an objective in mind with little patience for interruptions. Let the conversations flow and add your own useful interactions to them, but just remember that marketing in this space requires you to continually add value to the conversation.

If things are done right, your following will grow and garner trust in you, making your marketing more successful. Just don’t interrupt the conversation, join it.�

You Don’t Know Me

Korre Johnson

I have never talked to your recruiters.

I have never sent you my resume.

I don’t hang out on your Facebook fan page.

I don’t know anyone who works at your company.

In fact, I have never even heard of your company.

Yet, I’m a perfect fit for your hiring needs.

And I would excel in your culture.

So, how will you find me?

Can you believe it? I actually think YOU have to find me.

I guess you don’t know me and never will.

An Emerging Double Standard in Business Communications

Ben Hannemann

You find yourself on the phone with a prospect, or maybe it’s a face-to-face meeting with a client, or networking at an event or trade show. In each of these situations the expectations across any organization are likely to be pretty consistent and clear; at that moment you are the organization, so represent it in the best possible manner. Every day millions of professionals, across a broad array of industries and skill sets, are trusted to do just that.

Seems pretty straight forward, but why is it that this level of trust is not always so easily transferred to the social media space? The trust and related freedom to share insights, discuss an idea, or talk about a service provided by your organization that is common place in the “real world” can suddenly come under a microscope of perceived marketing perfection. Fear of a documented misstep and the desire to put out only the best, most aligned messages, drives rules, processes and approvals that take the “social” out of social media and make it just another marketing channel.

Certainly, as representatives of our organizations, we must always put our best foot forward. But a key step in leveraging the benefits of social media is recognizing that in many ways the perceived control risks are not much different than the risks all business take when engaging in a discussion with a prospect or client. Developing social media policy is a sound business decision, but ensure that it empowers your associates to engage in the conversation, and start to put the power of social media to work for your organization.

What do you think? Should organizations take the risk of trusting their employees more in social media?

Great Relationships Create Award-winning Work

Will Ruch

Winning industry awards are a compliment to the strategic and creative teams that concept and produce the work. At Versant, we take a broader and more inclusive view of award-winning work. We believe it has a lot to do with the leap of faith that a client takes with us when they move forward with our ideas and are willing to stretch creatively. We can only win awards when clients trust us enough to create work on their behalf. And because these awards span a number of categories and industries, we believe this recognition confirms our company-wide commitment and ability to succeed in creating breakthrough work that gets results.

Some of our recent awards include…

Health Care

A Gold Aster Award (for excellence in medical marketing) was awarded to Versant and our client, Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging, for the PDI Teleradiology Web site we produced for them (www.pdi-teleradiology.com).

Grocery

Another recent award for innovative interactive work came from the Sixth Annual S.I.A.A. (Service Industry Advertising Awards) competition for our work with grocery chain, Fairway Market, in the greater New York City area. The Web site, www.discoverfairway.com, has become a key promotional tool for Fairway Market and a model for new store openings, with fun and engaging webisodes featuring Fairway personalities, weekly specials and recipes, e-mail sign-up and event announcements.

Legal

In the legal category, Versant and Davis & Kuelthau, a Wisconsin law firm, have won a prestigious Legal Marketing Association award for excellence in brand identity. You can see the new DK brand at www.dkattorneys.com.

Transportation

Versant and Southeast Wisconsin Transit Partners have received the Transportation Marketing & Communications Association (TMCA) 2009 Compass Award. This awards program recognizes organizations in North American transportation that have created innovative, results-oriented marketing and communications programs. Versant and SEWT were recognized for the “My Ride” television campaign.

Great work is a result of relationships with great clients!

Push for Creative L&D Communications

Will Ruch

I recently participated in Human Capital Institute’s Learning Innovation Network roundtable discussion and asked fellow members to consider the following:

Are you pushing for creative L&D communications?

Is it unexpected?
Is it interactive?
Will it stick to the business?

Why? Because creativity is too often overlooked as organizations pursue higher L&D awareness, strive for more engaged L&D users, and demand increased value from L&D investments. Admittedly, pursuing creative communications is not the easy, standard approach (think long, boring e-mails). It requires a keen understanding of your audience. It requires collaboration and buy-in from leadership. But most of all, it requires thinking outside of the box.

During the roundtable discussion, I had the opportunity to present case studies of our recent work with two clients who are both doing very innovative things in L&D: Cengage Learning and Kohl’s Department Stores. For Cengage Learning, our case study focused on developing and launching an L&D brand identity for Cengage Learning’s global workforce. For Kohl’s Department Stores, our case study focused on building cross-generational Kohl’s associate engagement through creative L&D communications.

Throughout the roundtable discussions, the group saw the importance of creative communications clearly revealed as members shared their L&D case studies and discussed current themes impacting their L&D functions, including:

Blended learning
Mobile learning
Social learning
Open source learning

Without question, the world is shrinking and becoming increasingly flat. Case in point, the Did You Know? video that our Learning Innovation Network facilitator, Jeanne Meister, opened the roundtable discussion with. So I challenge any leader in L&D to consider the themes above in relation to their L&D function and ask themselves the same question I asked the group. Are you pushing for creative L&D communications?

Don’t Take My Word for It

Will Ruch

Social media and technology are accelerating the pace of conversation, and everyone is talking about everyone else more than ever before. This matters to you as a business person because there are likely conversations going on right now that are influencing your company’s brand and the relationship someone might want to build with it. You can’t control it, but you can influence it. By remaining authentic and transparent in everything you do, you can be genuine in your approach and invite your brand ambassadors to help share your story as well.

At Versant, we rebuilt our Web site to be a communications hub of sorts, to share what we do and what we are about, and also provide ongoing learning that we hope will help our clients and others.

Our new site is designed to be a reflection of who we are and how we’ve built this company. It showcases our work, yes. But it also lets you know what it’s like to work with us and how we create communications that connect. And because we believe strongly in what we have to offer, and the importance of transparency, we’ve even included how we do what we do. That might be gutsy for some firms to do, but at Versant, that’s how we do business.

But don’t take my word for it. After all, I can talk nonstop about our work and our great team. Our new site also lets our customers tell our story. On the site are both written and video testimonials from many of our clients and I encourage you to look at these. Let me know what you think. After all, it’s your opinion that counts, not mine.

Versant Blog Center

Creating a Connected Culture

Sharing Learning with the International Association of Business Communicators

Good and Timely

Starting Down the Social Media Path

Twitter as a Marketing Tool�

Monitoring Your Brand Online

Don’t Interrupt the Conversation, Join it

You Don’t Know Me

An Emerging Double Standard in Business Communications

Great Relationships Create Award-winning Work

Health Care

Grocery

Legal

Transportation

Push for Creative L&D Communications

Don’t Take My Word for It

Twitter as a Marketing Tool �