Brand Central Station

An article posted to BtoB Magazine’s web site a while back pointed out an interesting result from a recent Hearst survey: nearly 50% of all b-to-b marketing budgets are spent on online programs.  That spend covers everything from web site development/enhancements to online advertising to SEO to webcasts to Social Media … you get the idea.  The survey goes on to explain that trade shows account for 17% of marketing budgets, direct marketing (12%) and print (11%) account for most of the rest.

But like most media property-driven market research, it ignores a significant pool of resources that often go untapped by most b-to-b marketers and the media.  I understand why.  For a magazine or other media outlet to try and identify how much money and human resource is dedicated to internal communications, training and organizational behavior, they would have to step waaaaaay out of their comfort zone.

It’s kind of like asking an amateur astronomer to find Dark Matter in the universe using his existing, backyard telescope.  They may have an idea where to point the telescope, but they can’t really see what they’re looking at.

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Another in our series of Friday motivational posters …

If you think you can do better, go here or here and make one for yourself.  Then send it to us and if we post it, I’ll send you a Brand Central Station t-shirt.

Times are tough.  We all know that.  And the employment news lately has been bad.  Nearly 600,000 people lost their jobs in November.  And unlike past job losses and economic downturns, the news is reported in real time by those employees directly impacted by the cuts.

Thanks to blogs, IM’s, discussion boards, social networking sites and micro-blogging tools like Twitter, employees are writing about their personal experiences – and the effect is rippling through organizations that have nothing to do with the layoffs.  Kami Huyse, writing in her Communications Overtones blog, provides seven suggestions to HR directors on how to approach announcing layoffs and handling the resulting need for discussion and empathy inside the organization:

The layoff (especially mass layoffs) will most likely be blogged, Twittered or otherwise related in a public forum

The company should consider putting out an official story about the layoffs and voicing genuine concern

The company will always be the bad guy, but this can be mitigated by doing the right thing

A personal touch is needed for these situations, forget mail, e-mail or SMS messages

Minimize faceless and policy-driven thinking

Remember that investors, future employees and your mother is watching how this is handled

Remaining employees will be demoralized by a brutal layoff – they could be next after all, plus they will have survivors guilt

HR staff and corporate managers shouldn’t fall into a trap of thinking they only have to worry about employees’ feelings when layoffs hit their operation.  The social aspect of online media today means that the losses and trauma experienced by employees at one company are now shared through their informal networks – networks that extend beyond the walls of the enterprise and can include friends, family members and colleagues at other businesses all over the world.

Job loss creates very real grief in both the person losing the job and that person’s friends and family.  According to this piece on job loss grief, written by Carolyn Wilkin at the University of Florida, there are steps to the process of dealing with job loss grief – and there are things people can do to help their friends through those steps.

Corporate owners and managers should be proactive though, recognizing the potential for lost productivity if they fail to recognize and deal with the side effects of the broader economic stresses on the economy.

Here’s this Friday’s motivational poster …

If you think you can do better, go here or here and make one for yourself.  Then send it to us and if we post it, I’ll send you a Brand Central Station t-shirt.

Every Friday I’ll be posting a motivational poster …

If you think you can do better, go here or here and make one for yourself.  Then send it to us and if we post it, I’ll send you a Brand Central Station t-shirt.

Ragan Report’s Mark Ragan provides this excellent video post on how to shoot better pictures for your publications as part of a larger post on improving picture quality in your corporate collateral and communications pieces.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Be4VtbgJo]

Excellent post and excellent information. Well worth the time to watch (and share) the video.

Given the economic challenges facing small and large businesses today (check out article on marketing during a recession, here), effective communications with employees is quickly rising in importance among managers and ownership.  A recent survey of executives at 425 large businesses (conducted by Message Bank, LLC) showed that these senior managers are increasing their communications efforts with shareholders and customers (as expected) but also with employees.

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