In our last article we introduced the idea that many websites and social media channels miss their target audiences and fail to make the needs of the audience the primary target of the content .
Research shows that consumers complain that content that misses the mark is often perceived to be:
- Is either egocentric or essentially narcissistic in self promotion.
- Interrupt the audience with content that is either misleading or of no interest to the audience.
- Offends the values and feelings of consumers.
- Attempt to manipulate or subtly coerce consumers into engaging or purchasing.
- Has no clear call to action or purpose of content is not clear.
- Contradictions between one part of the content and another.
The goal of any business online has to be to build an audience who loves your content and whom aligns to both your message and your brand values. The messages should stroke their interest and tap into relevant themes in their life and latent or active needs they have.
Brand values are a two-way street. The brand values of the business must align to the personal values of the audience and that must be reflected in the conversation or communication process that leads to engagement.
The goal will always be to create loyalty and followers. This can be termed fellowship which naturally over time leads to subscription, purchase, buy-in or adoption in its many forms that equates to the retailing aspect of that business.
The goal is to either create a sale or desired behaviour, or to create passionate subscribers to the brand. Ideally they will become brand ambassadors who talk about you, promote you, and share or like your content.
There are some good strategies as well as some poor strategies or examples which one should avoid. In the last article we touched on the key points that a content management strategy should seek to satisfy.
We will expand on that theme in part 3 of this article series. The scope of this article is to argue more about what not to do or emulate if a business or personal brand wants to build a successful audience assuming that both the business and the audience have some set of positive values representative of the average person in society.
There is a lot to consider to get it right and you need to get it right as there is so much online noise out there that getting heard is hard enough. However getting heard and then being misunderstood or ignored is a tragedy to be avoided.
We will now consider via some real life examples that have hit in-boxes in 2014 what we argue are some of the avoidable marketing initiatives now popping up around the place. We will consider why such efforts damage brand integrity and values whilst often serving agendas not necessarily ethical or honest or at least consumer centric.
Some of the common forms of misguided approaches to online content marketing and digital business channel communication include:
1) SUPER HERO ASSOCIATION
There are some websites and online content strategies that try to promote through association via name dropping or aligning to recognisable but perhaps morally or ethically compromised personalities. Remember that your brand values will be seen by others in terms of what you stand for and whom you associate with.
I recently got emails promoting a leadership tour by Jordan Belfort, the “Wolf of Wall Street”. He and his wealth creation promoters would have us believe he has spun himself through some transformation and is now a much acclaimed financial and leadership figure!!
Come on who do these promoters lake the public to be? There has been a lot of negative press around this guy that calls into question the wisdom of his promoters in building a campaign based around such notoriety.
For example a recent 60 Minutes TV program segment implied that hanging out in Australia put Jordan at arm’s length from his creditors and so by inference we are supporting a morally wrong action when we turn up or associate with him doing so. Belfort explained to the press that an American tour will be used to repay debts to those caught up in his past schemes but the 60 Minutes interviewer showed they were not convinced of this.
The wealth creation firm that promotes Jordan Belfort and themselves through this association, must have cringed at these disclosures and his recent dummy spit and walk-off in the 60 minutes TV program. The various media articles and interviews that have occurred since have pointedly challenged the façade of Jordan Belfort with some well researched and targeted questioning that motives he had been trying to convey to new audiences in this Australian tour.
What we saw was a person explode in rage when they lost control and were exposed with claims that pointed to a less than wholesome past and which put a question mark over the integrity of his leadership and right to influence others in business or leadership matters. The key challenge was that he was living out of integrity and honesty by not having paid off $100 million of the $200 million debt to his USA victims from his Wall Street fraud years.
The line of argument followed by critics was that it could be perceived that the vague verbal contract with backers in Australia that he has concluded might make it hard for creditors to pin down and make recovery from. Anyone viewing this60 Minutes segment and then later finding an email promoting his tour engagements would be fair minded to wonder how ethical is the promoter of this speaker.
The respected financial commentator, Marcus Pedley, noted that his promotional website had a disclaimer on it which read “WARNING: In the wrong hands these persuasion tactics could be used to manipulate your customers and the people in your life….”. As Marcus noted it astounds him that the real estate industry, which suffers such a poor integrity reputation, could countenance promoting the appearance of Jordan at one of their premier events!!.
Marcus aligns to my own observations when he comments that “what must it look like to the real estate client base for an industry to endorse the sales techniques of a convicted man?”. He notes quite rightly that it’s not a good look for the real estate industry via association.
Belfort is now living in Australia and working as a motivational speaker, aligned to brands such as the business and wealth coaching company who sent me their emails about him. The expose and commentary by analysts on Belfort, by association, damaged the integrity of any business brand promoting his speaking engagements or sponsoring his tour.
His attack on 60 Minutes reporter Liz Hayes just deepened the emotional sense that the wolf had been caught in a trap!!. I cannot help but wonder what the financial education group spruiking the claims of a convicted fraudster of Wall Street, would want me to buy into, by wanting me to hear him in person at one of their seminars?
How damaged and desperate must I be to want to go and hear from someone who has shown in the past to have little moral fibre and no financial nous other than that for self gain, deception and what comes across as an appearance of narcissistic self grandeur..
My critics may say well everyone has the right to redemption and to turn over a new leaf. Yes but that means genuine contrition and repair to those damaged by their past misdemeanours.
All the press that I read such as the Wall Street Journal shows that there is still a legacy of mums and dad investors in America bankrupt or out of pocket by Jordan’s old schemes and who have not been contacted for redress or compensation.
2) RAUNCH RECOGNITION
What some business brands are increasingly trying to do is to cash in on the increasing raunch/celebrity culture that exists in part of our society. The idea is there are people who would flock to see anyone famous, regardless of whether that is for positive or negative reasons. In my opinion the Jordan Belfort promotional tour highlights this sad trend.
There are business operators out there who live and act from no moral compass and they are merely money machines to whom the means justify the monetised end. The problem is that social media is merciless and the public are quite sharp in detecting hypocrisy and exposing it.
Facebook and other social media puts pressure on the weak minded to showcase that they are somebody important and so the weak minded run about looking for that important photo opportunity or moment to tell the world how they were in proximity to someone famous. This may be digestible at the personal level but clear boundaries should exist so this form of grasping does not flow into one’s business presence.
Any brand that aligns itself to morally questionable people runs the risk of being outed in mainstream and social media. Having said that, now watch next time some infamous but morally repugnant person comes to town and notice how owners of business brands fall over themselves to be photographed in selfies with these people at their event.
I watch in horror how many of these photo opportunities can end up on business Facebook timelines. The rule in business is that you should align your promotional material to people and events which show and amplify your own leadership values and your company values.
It is for this reason that smart business operators like Sir Richard Branson are very mindful of with whom and what promotional opportunities he appears at, or might be perceived to be endorsing via association and proximity. It’s a long way back from a damaged brand so resist the temptation to use notoriety as your theme in a campaign or post.
I went to the thuggish Mike Tyson event a few years back only because I was invited by someone else. I watched in fascination and horror at the number of business people who wanted their selfie done with this public figure who has had to fight charges of partner bashing and rape apart from being a world hero boxer.
It detracts from brand values when fans then post that photo to their company Facebook or Pinterest site? Keep that stuff to personal social media accounts please!!.
3) YOUR THE MAN, YOUR THE MAN, YOUR THE MAN!!.
There is a trend emerging in the maturation phase of businesses online where their online presence is not creating traction or leading to business generation. Some spruikers in the market notice this and then target the anxious business owner poor self esteem by a technique of puffery.
What happens is the typically narcissistic spruiker shows up and gives you a slap on the back and says something akin to “YOUR THE MAN, YOUR THE MAN, YOUR THE MAN!!. Beware for when a narcissist shows interest in you then the slap on the back means either you have something they want(often money), or you just had a knife lodged in your back on the way through!!
In the last few months I have been back slapped and groomed with approaches and emails which tell me I have the opportunity to be recognised as one of the communities top 100 business Influencers, or that I have been recognised as an UNSTOPPABLE!!. Nice compliments if genuine but a deeper look shows up some issues for my brand if I was to engage.
They are both cute terms and if I was insecure and struggling I might be tempted to latch on and grab the accolades that suddenly mean someone recognises me and that maybe I am someone after all!! But when you know who you are you are advised to just get on with the job and let the results of your work define you and your brand.
A smart business operator will aid this with some astute curation of their social media and online content to showcase principles that builds a sustainable brand. This energises the brand values you stand for and actually demonstrate what you do, rather than what you or someone else says you do.
Consumers are cynical these days courtesy of an advertising and marketing industry that has since post WW2 spun all sorts of contrived claims to sell goods and services. Just watch Mad Men to get an insight into the deceptive manipulation culture of the advertising industry!!
So the problem with anyone that would create some form of ranking or contest that lists entrants into some ranking or order or award is what objective process and categorisation of applicants would take place. The integrity of any such process stands on the transparency and objectivity of the process and the credibility and clear lack of conflict of interest in the organisers in running such an event.
If you take the Telstra Business Awards for instance there is a clear and quite detailed lengthy process one must go through when nominated for such an award. The process has clear evaluation criteria, a clear transparent process and decision making team who have no conflict of interest in the outcome.
As a result the Telstra Business Awards stand for something meaningful and to have been nominated or to have won has significance that one can rely on. The award has credibility.
The problem that I had with the awards event I was approached to be part of was the whole process was not transparent and the money raised went into the coffers of the organisers who run their business for self-gain. The award process had no real selection criteria, no evaluation criteria, no clear process and was a popularity contest rather than a sign of affluence at all.
The whole exercise also centred itself around the business networking scene which at best is a competitive dog eat dog, desperate scene where envy, collusion, and poverty consciousness is rife!! Secondly the businesses who operate or consult in digital social media channels already had a head start and a clear advantage via the fact it was a social media driven event so the result was always going to be skewed.
The process was also to centre itself around paid fees to participate which in itself may rule out some of the most influential if they chose not to play, but social media voting on the organisers’ social media channels was the process by which we had to vote. The organisers stood to build their own followership, amplify their brand, and make money so it was a very compromised arrangement that smacked it being more about the promoters than the entrants.
Social media is full of polls, contests and asked questions designed to create and build a conversation. These are often fun, informative and spontaneous rather than contrived behaviours.
My inbox filled up in the weeks leading up to the outcome with emails pleading me to vote for people who were probably not influential but also whom had no relationship with me. The behaviour this contest drove was not only those I truly knew but also those who had taken my business card but had not previously bothered to contact me before.
Now I had desperate wannabes pestering me for my vote. This just damaged my view of them and their brand that they were so superficial and shallow to think they could court my vote in such a self-serving way without being genuinely considerate of me. It’s probably why they struggle in their business and need a leg up through such a marketing ploy as this.
An event such as voting for recognition needs to be more than a popularity contest and one that is based on clear values, principles, demonstrated achievements and outcomes. I now get emails with tag lines that boast of being in the “top 100” and I switch off with suspicion as the event does not evoke a sense of transparency or fairness but seems to be a promotional tool for the organisers and those who paid to take part.
A glance at the list revealed that the social media consultants and active social media users ranked well but I noticed some very influential business persons who did not make the list. Whether like me they declined or whether they are not social media savvy I do not know but it did not seem to me to produce an outcome of the most influential business people that I would place in any such list.
Imagine if the Academy Awards were based on actors and actresses attracting the most votes on their social media audiences. We would have Kim Kardishan as best actress and Paris Hilton as best supporting actress. Jordan Belfort might even get the best actor nomination!!
The most popular or biggest user of social media would likely win but not necessarily the best actor or the best actress. So it is with any business awards which rank based on social media followings and the ability to email and influence audiences to vote for them.
The process lacks objectivity, transparency, auditability or credibility if it wants to be recognised as an “awards” event . Instead one could position it as both a promotion and a money spinner for the organiser and their brand .
If you get used to promote someone else’s agenda and brand when you just get sold “YOU’RE THE MAN” you may have just got involved in something that might not serve your business brand interests. The rising levels of education and aware consciousness in society is dictating that consumers now expect far greater levels of truth in marketing and advertising than ever before.
For me Conscious Business is all about substance over image, values over money making, as doing good is good for business anyway. So I would not compromise my brand by being part of something that violates my brand values.
Meaningful does not always mean popular and leadership means taking a stand on principles when people look to your actions to understand how to behave themselves. A true leader may or may not be popular and but they are normally respected for the consistent truth and set of values they stand for, even in the face of a majority trending elsewhere.
In another email I was told how UNSTOPPABLE I am and would I like to go off to the Antarctic and do some form of Happy Feet with a hundred other UNSTOPPABLES. I was intrigued by this LinkedIn contact as it was based on an idea that the attendees were special, clear thought leaders, thinkers, leading edge, outside the box etc.
My problem with this one is again the agenda and the idea. The Antarctica is a priceless treasure of pristine ecosystems that has been placed off limits until recently from exploitation through international treaty.
The Antarctic is also currently under extreme stress courtesy of global warming and unprecedented glacial sheet melts and other patterns emerging which are not clearly yet understood. We need small Happy Feet footprints in pristine ecosystems as our carbon trails, rubbish, viruses and presence or interactions can materially affect such environments.
There are numerous reports from scientists from bodies such as the CSIRO and Climate Change bodies who warn that human exploitation of the Antarctic for pleasure tourism represents a real risk to the continued integrity of those pristine environments. Imagine a cruise ship sinking and fouling the ocean with diesel and oil.
Just last year a Russian based pleasure vessel became ice locked in this exact environment and was stranded for over a month while rescues were attempted. Any idea that venturing to the Antarctic somehow creates or denotes the presence of alpha male and female leader unstoppable warriors is simply narcissistic self-indulgence in my opinion.
I simply could not get my head around being a Conscious Business leader and flying or boating off to such a fragile place for a narcissistic indulgence of what useful outcome that could not be achieved by hiring the local 5 star hotel for a week!!. It’s really all about “me me me” on a grandiose level and reminds me of that old discredited tradition of business people who used to go on safari to Africa and kill that lion or elephant to prove their prowess somehow.
I suppose there will be the Facebook timelines full of photo opportunities with Percy Penguin, snow drifts, and bottom of the world splendour but what as an UNSTOPPABLE have I given consideration to others or given back to the world from this indulgence.
Maybe like the Japanese I will couch it all like whaling in terms of scientific research!! A lot of concerned citizens on the planet will be alarmed that a group of business leaders tore off to one of our threatened ecosystems and maybe blindly talked in contradiction about what role we as business leaders can do for our planet and environment by being sustainable in our business practices.
Global consciousness now includes a heightened concern for our world environment which scientists now claim is on the verge of the “sixth great extinction” of species across the globe by virtue of human activity and exploitation of the environment. Conscious leadership acts morally from a sense of awareness of how their actions impact sentient beings and their environments and this is becoming what the community expects of business leaders more and more.
What horrified me was the whole experience was supposed be based on a foundational value of “Planet Governance”. Hello!!, how enlightened can one be to trample over a unique part of the earth in an “unstoppable” way and claim to be moral leaders that we should all look up to.
What would be more authentic would be to go to some degraded environment where once it was a flourishing ecosystem and sit in its despair and ruins and contemplate why we need to change business practice before it’s too late. Sitting around in opulence and affluence is not a known driver to assist a person to feel the suffering or dilemma of others.
The insular 4 star cruise model, complete with drinkies at 5 o’clock is part of the problem of humans who would isolate themselves behind cosy walls and not feel the reality or gravity of circumstance. My critics will argue that the trip will motivate the attendees to want to save this special environment and be moved to do so. Maybe?
We humans already do what we can to stay in denial around our planetary suffering by our desire to live in gated housing enclaves, and live in houses with air conditioners and landscaped fenced off back yards. We remain unsustainable in our approach to life just so we do not have to really notice or feel the dying planet and the degradation we force upon it.
If you are not identified with the problem then how can you really say you will be energised to find the solution to that problem. I would rather sit in the cleared fields of Sumatra where jungles once swarmed with monkeys, or in the cleared expanse of the Amazon rain forest and feel the tragedy of what is clearly a tragedy of our own greed.
The problem is I might find very few people want to shell out $18-20K to spend a week in such a setting and so maybe the majesty of the setting will sell more bums on seats and in cabins. The event itself is fine in idea but its execution creates contradiction about the agenda of the event and its alignment to stated values.
It is narcissistic and unconscious in the world of Conscious Business to use or exploit people, animals and environments for our own special experience or gratification where we could achieve our business goals some other way. So again I declined the invitation as it did not align to my understanding of leadership and contribution.
To me, the event is out of step to community and global values but represents the current trend of creating awesome experiences that somehow make you a hero and special by being chosen to be part of. We fiddle and indulge while Rome burns.
I find this disconnect between claimed values and actions occurs a lot in business. The proffered values in many businesses are typically more about marketing and image than about substance. When values are not internalised within the leaders and within the company culture you will find this disconnect occurring between words and deeds.
There is an old saying “Hear their words but note their actions”, which simply means you know who you’re dealing with by virtue of what they do and not what they say or claim. For me the UNSTOPPABLES are really part of the old school UNSUSTAINABLES and what the world needs to move beyond.
We each need to think deeply about the decisions we make in respect of our personal brand and of our business brands. A lack of congruence between a brand value and an activity undertaken by that brand will be noticed and it will affect the credibility of that brand and those people behind the brand.
More than ever the hypocrisy in business is being seen and reported. Social media tools make everyone a commentator, a journalist and a publisher so beware!!
4) BE THE EXPERT AND BE RICH!!
Another trend in the marketplace are the amazing claims of spruikers that they can enrol you into a Master Class that will make you an expert of some field of endeavour and after the course you can be attracting up to $10,000 per day income!!
The gullible want to be special and being told you’re an expert is one way you can get back slapped by someone to feel good, be given a fancy scroll and graduation ceremony, and then be betrayed by finding that no one treats you any more seriously afterwards.
There is no shortcut to becoming an expert. It is a matter of formal knowledge plus extensive experience in major real life applications. Doing a course and having a fancy word document generated certificate on a wall means nothing.
If you base your credibility on the back of attending such contrived events by people who are ultimately there to earn their income by having your bum on their seat, you are introducing desperation into your brand, and the risk of being accused of being as much a fraud as them.
There are those business types who try to craft an argument that their clients using their system went from being broke, depressed and unemployed to overnight A-Lister fashionistas earning incredible respect, wealth and lifestyle. It’s a derivative of that reality TV dream of being plucked from obscurity and having your moment in the sun where your real talents will be recognised and rewarded.
Brand integrity comes in part from creating a compelling story that includes values such as credibility and honesty. Having a compelling story or claim minus the brand values is a recipe for a damaged or discredited brand, yet my email box has spam wave after spam wave of this stuff each week that tends to morph over time as the spruikers pitch to a new theme and a new audience.
5) FROM ZERO TO HERO
A marketing trick that has been used in many industries is based on the theme of the ordinary transforming into the extraordinary. It is commonly based on an average person taking some product or follow some process and become extraordinary as a result.
The Health product industry has long suffered from sellers of quack cures making such claims. Meanwhile we find in the services industries some spruikers will not just claim to have transformed others from a lowly situation into shiny new people who are the new leaders and superstars of society. They may try to claim they are a walking testimonial of that transformation themselves.
They will claim they were down and out drug dealers or hobos who made good themselves, or those who have redeemed them from past bad ways. They now want to share the wisdom of their miraculous recovery and transformation with you for a fee of course, ala Jordan Belfort.
This model is risky and may have some context in the psychology therapy marketplace where this miracle recovery scenario is appropriate to the audience and the nature of the psychological work and issues that accrue to that industry. Sharing the insights and fruits of one’s own recovery may be a credible story and offer hope to others.
However when we see others using this formula as their credentials to get you to follow them into buying wonder drugs, or to take wealth creation, human potential development, and investment portfolio coaching and mentoring services then run for the hills. Hope is a major tool of manipulation.
Anyone who claims to have gone from zero to hero without the application and discipline of study, hard work, and a demonstrable journey and timeline of gathering experience is to be considered suspect. If they then promote systems out there that equate to the Monopoly game card of “Go Straight to Go and Collect $200” then if it worked then it would be mass consciousness by now and everyone would be doing it.
Quick success and wealth can occur. There are entrepreneurial innovators who create new business models and are disruptors of existing business dynamics in doing so, or those who inherit money or win lotto. New trends do arise and early adopters can become very rich.
However the reality is that the aspiration to success and wealth creation involves a longer term process and is not an event or a weekend. Regardless of what product or service you offer then keep the claims reasonable, verifiable, and truthful as the world is a better educated place now and hype is likely to attract the attention of prosumers who are critical, analytical commentators about brands and the claims they make.
6) SCARCITY SCARE CAMPAIGNS
The scarcity mentality concept is a way in which some marketers try to create urgency and momentum for the consumer to act. It might be either due to a scarcity of time(e.g. closing down sale), or limited supply such as there being only a few items in stock or available for sale.
We have all had those emails in our inboxes which claim that there is some special offer going around that there are only certain seats left for you the privileged punter to have first go at before they fill those seats with someone else. The reality is that any decent business will tell you that they will try to not turn away customers but allow for additional attendees through some means, or supply more stock where demand exists.
The idea that they will turn away a punter who rings up after those 20 remaining seats have filled is a myth for most events out in the marketplace. Only the most popular brands tend to authentically fill auditoriums and the rest fill sections of an auditorium.
The spruikers who use this scarcity strategy rely on the scarcity consciousness of the punter jumping quickly to buy in to an event that obviously is in demand. How cheated do they feel when they typically find out the marketing claims are not true and the venue is only half full when they attend.
Jordan Belfort’s promoters got caught out in this ruse. A recent desperate email claimed “A lot of people are joining Jordan Belfort Live for a lot of different reasons”. The only problem is that not a lot of people are signed up to join Jordan Belfort live.
An expose news article that came out soon after this email revealed that the promoters of Jordan Belfort’s Australian tour were dumping his appearance tickets to all his shows. The tickets can be found on discount distribution channel Scoopon for a massive discount to their advertised prices. So much for the need to rush to buy one of his tickets.
The article quoted that only low ticket numbers had been sold to his events which belies the manipulative marketing claims that go with the email promotion. The promotional email claimed he has created a Twitter storm amongst winners called “eagles”(hopefully not the Football team who are not winners right now!!) in Dublin and London.
My relatives in Dublin tell me there was controversy on social media about his presence but more along the lines of 60 Minutes questioning his credentials rather than universal acclaim!! The advertising states he has spoken in front of 10,000 people in the last 2 weeks which includes the real estate convention gig that he did in Australia to an audience who were not there to directly see him but to hear from real estate experts.
If he is that popular then why is there a need to resort to a discount seat dumping strategy in place to get eagles and ducks on seats? The average person would also ask this question and wonder how authentic is the marketing claims and so brand integrity of the promoters.
The world is far more informed today than ever before and a business takes a real risk when it promotes contrary to the behaviour or truth behind the product or service on offer. Marketing campaigns which manipulate audiences are likely to be seen for what they are and give the cynical public another reason to move on.
The brand damage from behaving inconsistently in messages or being misleading is likely to be significant.
7) IMITATORS VERSUS INNOVATORS
Any business needs to have and know their point of difference. For instance in setting up TV2U Global we had a clear technology point of differentiation where we can send content to any device, anytime, anywhere, and measure the impact through advanced metrics in apps.
Unlike our competitors we do not need cable or dedicated networks or set top boxes. Our customer experience is premium and consistent. We know our point of difference and how to market and share that with our audience as a genuine proposition.
Tv2u Global worked to have clarity about our message and we are evolving an online content communications plan and strategy. We talk to that reality and contain those messages around our brand values.
Any business needs to know itself whether it is an innovator or imitator or something else. The point of difference in each may span the user experience, features, functions, price, and customer service factors to name a few.
Whatever you are needs to be a key theme of all content marketing that audiences can easily and quickly qualify and find if they follow up your invitation or proposition. The internet is a crowded place where getting your message across is difficult and takes time and so we do not want to lose an interested party once our messages attracts their attention.
The timeline of your social media and internet presence is a story telling exercise that should reveal your key messages, point of difference, offers and expose your beliefs, values and needs to your audience over time.
In some cases a scarcity mentality in the owner starts to show up not long after investing key energy, money and time in getting a business going. For these owners they will notice how their business plan may have been optimistic in its target deadlines for those goals which one would ideally seek to attain in the short term.
In these instances I notice how survival needs then trump core values and the message to the market becomes distorted, desperate, increasingly frantic, manipulative, contrived or even deceptive. A business ideally has a plan which it executes and importantly one should then resist the temptation to imitate competitors where one’s own offering has a clear and compelling point of difference that the audience understands and wants.
I have seen many a great strategy abandoned in the face of crisis. For some there may be a temptation to imitate or copy others instead and this can be folly where that action or initiative was not part of the original plan or strategy.
It may be at this point where some of the poor choices like those outlined in this article are taken. Some businesses do not get it. They think any attention or comment is good publicity and while exposure may generate an audience and brand awareness it may not be a positive brand awareness that results.
In Part 3 of this series of articles I will look at how while content is king, and assuming you get your content right, a content delivery mechanism that reaches the right audience is the ace in the deck.