Last weekend, The Austin American-Statesman featured TREW Marketing in the “Statesman Startup Spotlight.” In a Q&A-style, the article highlights TREW’s startup roots, planted by co-founders and long time friends and colleagues, Wendy Covey and Rebecca Geier. The two shared many discussions over lunchtime workouts and combined their individual passions to form the agency uniquely focused in B2B science, engineering, and IT industries.

The Statesman Startup Spotlight shows that in a crowded marketplace of marketing and advertising agencies, TREW distinguishes itself from competitors by staying true to our niche and using smart, collaborative business tactics. For instance, TREW organizes into small teams to meet clients’ marketing needs, where one team may be executing an entire Web redesign for a customer in Germany, another is leading a product press tour in New England, and a third in Silicon Valley for a trade show – leading event PR, social media, and developing new business for the company. In these ways, TREW has been able to grow in our industry and maintain close relationships with our customers, many of whom have been with TREW since our founding.

TREW has also been named a BtoB Top Agency in 2012 in the small agency category. To compile the list of Top Agencies, BtoB Magazine surveyed agencies in its database through an online form in four categories (small, midsize, large, and interactive). The finalists in each category were selected based on percentage of total business that is B2B, revenue growth, client wins, and innovative work. We were included in the Top Agency Special Report for achievements in the following marketing programs:

• Product launch success with 125% more media coverage than any launch in the client’s history
• Search advertising program with an 82% increase in AdWord click-through-rates and a 60% decrease in pay-per-click spending
• Product launch with media coverage in top trade magazines Test & Measurement World, Design News, ECN Magazine, Design World, and Engineering TV of Dynacar, the world’s first fully validated vehicle model simulator by Wineman Technology and Tecnalia Research
• Web Redesign for DISTek Integration which received a 37% YOY Web traffic increase, 68% increase of time spent on site by visitors, and 92% increase of organic search traffic
• Consistent visual and textual branding for communications and 12-month marketing plan for DISTek Integration

• 34% YOY revenue growth from 2010 to 2011
• 179% increase in site web traffic to trewmarketing.com
• Launched an award-winning e-book, Smart Marketing for Engineers, that resulted in a 600% increase in web traffic for TREW
• Online and print coverage in the Wall Street Journal for being a finalist in the publication’s “Small Business, Big Innovation” national competition

Completing Q1 of 2012, TREW is off to an impressive start to the year. In addition to these features, TREW has increased first quarter revenue earnings by 145% from 2011, and also was recently covered by The Austin Business Journal for a marketing partnership with Kline Technical Consulting.

To read the full article on TREW’s Startup Spotlight from Austin American-Statesman, click here.

Your brand is your company’s control center, or what we like at TREW to call “the brain”. It is the collective set of experiences over many years that shape who your company is and its unique value proposition. In marketing terms, your brand is personified both visually – through your company logo and branding styleguide – and contextually – through words, such as your mission, vision, and positioning statements; core company and product-level messaging; and company and campaign taglines.

With a smart, creative approach, TREW Marketing brings years of experience helping companies shape their brand and identity with a service we call the Branding Brain. Below are elements illustrating our approach and Branding Brain success with three client examples – The Hogg Foundation, Starmount Systems, and Alfamation.

To Develop the Brain, First Know the Heart

To position a company, both visually and contextually, it’s important to first know about the company’s heart. What is the company and its team uniquely passionate about and capable of delivering that no other company can? This requires a lot of listening – in person, via research, and persistent studying.

For The Hogg Foundation, TREW conducted an in-depth market research project, focused on internal leadership and staff, as well as external groups of stakeholders and consumers.

Market research included:

• 21 hours of qualitative in-person interviews with all staff
• Over 800 external quantitative online surveys
• Research analysis and findings

Following this market research, TREW Marketing gained honest stakeholder insights that led to recommendations for branding, messaging, and communications.

Starmount, a retail software solutions provider was undergoing an entire brand redesign, and partnered with TREW to develop core branding elements, including mission, vision and positioning statements; tagline concepts; and company and product-level core messaging. The TREW team worked closely with company business, technical and marketing leadership and conducted qualitative competitive analysis over several months to understand Starmount’s unique value proposition in a highly competitive retail software marketplace.

Alfamation, a test and measurement solutions provider, selected TREW to manage their rebranding efforts by crafting their “brain,” including company logo and brand guidelines; product logo creation; creative guidance for software, hardware packaging; core company and product level positioning and messaging; and mission statement and tagline. TREW began this process by interviewing company business and sales leaders and key partners as well as studying the competitive landscape and market opportunities.

Listen Actively and Patiently

Choosing words in branding statements is a slow, methodical, creative and patient process. For the Hogg Foundation, through our deliberate process, a key vision crystallized – to move from speaking about mental illness or recovery, to the more progressive, all-encompassing term, mental wellness. It was also important to emphasize their mission’s focus in the state of Texas, while being mindful of their strong awareness and influence nationally.

Through much research and group discussions, TREW developed the following mission and vision statements for the foundation:

Mission: The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health advances mental wellness of the people of Texas as an impactful grantmaker and catalyst for change

Vision: The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health will invest our knowledge and resources to move Texas forward in achieving mental wellness

Although Starmount serves a completely different market place of retail Chief Information Officers (CIO) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) at large retailers such as Urban Outfitters or Home Depot, getting to their unique value proposition and company positioning followed a similar process: rolling up our sleeves, listening and asking many, many questions, to ultimately get to the Starmount heart.

Out of this process and a collective understanding of Starmount’s unique software products and services and very talented and experienced team of retail software developers, we were then able to develop the brain, including the following mission and vision statements:

Mission: “Starmount software brings the power of online retail to create relevant, engaging in-store shopping experiences”

Vision: “To transform the in-person shopping experience and make retail stores relevant”

For Alfamation, the TREW team sought to capture their passion and scientific knowledge for creating out-of-the-box products and services for design, test, and manufacturing engineers and managers in the automotive, consumer electronics, telecom, and medical industries. It was important for the mission, tagline, and logo to convey their innovative culture and present the company’s broad family of software and hardware products to customers globally. Through our same deliberative process, we developed their brain, including these elements:

Mission: “We leverage our scientific passion and knowledge to imagine and create new ways to engineer functional test systems”

Tagline: “Imagine a better test solution”

Live Your Brand – Everyday. Everyway.

Building off the core ”brain” elements, The Hogg Foundation and TREW created and prioritized organizational goals, core values, and made their branding elements visible at all touch points in the organization through activities that included:

• 4 organizational goals and detailed recommendations
• Re-designed website with robust content management system and clear navigation
• E-newsletter template extending the web design brand experience
• Established core values embraced by The Hogg Foundation’s internal and external audiences

Starmount’s “brain” came to life with a custom, integrated 12 –month marketing strategy and activity plan, resulting in:

• Communications Brain used as messaging guide for primary company and product communication
• Consistency and efficiency gains by using Brain vs. reinventing messaging with each new activity
• Scalable and integrated mix of low- and high-cost media investments to generate demand

Once Alfamation’s core elements of the “brain” were developed, TREW integrated their branding across all marketing disciplines with a 12-month marketing plan, including:

• Website re-design which resulted in 100% increase of pages viewed from previous site

• Leveraging the company and product level positioning and messaging “brain” with the design and production of Alfamation’s booth at NI Week; developing their promotional strategy; and creating technical product brochures

• Compelling email marketing campaign that extended their trade show success, and generated a response rate 2.6 times greater than the industry average

December is here and will quickly fly by.  If you have marketing budget dollars to spend before the year’s end, you are feeling the pressure.  We’ve put together a list of quick, effective marketing investments for you to consider.

1.  Invest in Google Adwords.  Not only are Adwords ideal for reaching a very specific audience, and easy to measure; you can have them live within 24 hours using your corporate credit card.  Be sure to follow best practices — see our Spotlight blog post on this topic for more details.

2.  Reach out to your database. Send an end-of-year email to your customers and prospects.  Be sure the message is not too sales-oriented…offer valuable information such as tech tips and industry news.  Or simply say thank you for their business.  Have not been keeping up with your database?  Use December to update your records, determine ways to segment your target audiences, and perhaps begin plans for a 2010 quarterly newsletter.

3.  Start a blog. December is a great time to set up the back-end mechanics of your new company blog (which would launch in 2010).  These include creating a WordPress account and feeding that account into your website.  Your blog should match the look and feel of your website, which likely means a small amount of creative work.

4.  Refresh content on your website. Conduct a head-to-toe sweep of your website, updating messages and improving your writing (active voice, tighten phrases, etc.).  While looking through your site, uncover lead acquisition opportunities, such as existing white papers and presentations, and post them behind short forms for web visitors to complete.  TREW Marketing writers/editors can be a great resource for this work.

5.  Thank your staff. Has your team gone above and beyond to meet their goals this year?  Be sure they are recognized for their efforts.  This can range from the very simple, such as bringing in bagels and coffee for a surprise treat, to gift certificates or a formal holiday/appreciation event.  An appreciated team will be a motivated team for you in 2010.

6. Gather 2010 marketing plan feedback from an expert. This is an ideal time to bring in a TREW Marketing consultant as a sounding board for your 2010 plans.  During the one or two-day session, we review goals, major marketing campaigns, core messages, and investment by media.  We uncover ways to strengthen your messages, integrate innovative marketing tactics, and measure impact and success.

Contact TREW Marketing and put your December and 2010 marketing plans in motion.

One of the smartest marketing investments you can make is creating a compelling set of modular presentation slides that can be leveraged across a diverse set of audiences and speaking opportunities. TREW Marketing has provided this service to many clients, and have seen the benefits first-hand:

Efficient. Rather than starting from scratch for each presentation, save that time by removing slides that are not relevant and making minor adjustments to improve relevancy for the audience.  Every re-use is time saved.  You can even use the core presentation on your website or on LinkedIn (through SlideShare) for additional exposure.

Consistent. By utilizing a common set of slides, rather than creating new for each presentation opportunity, you are much more likely to be consistent with your messages.

Impactful. Because of the thoughtful, creative and thorough work you put into creating the core presentation, your slides are more compelling, professional, and error-free.  This presentation will have a much greater impact than that set of slides you used to throw together last-minute before a big opportunity.

Sounds pretty cool.  What is the process?

1. Engage TREW Marketing. Collaborating with a 3rd party helps you hone your core messages, taking out possibly ambiguity and weak or in-the-weeds info.  Our perspective is both fresh and informed by decades of experience in business communications.

2.  Start from where you are. Do you have presentation material, even that one great slide that you think would be good to include?  Often clients will supply 4-6 presentations or other documents for us to pull information from.

3. Outline all possible audiences. Which modules are needed for each audience?  How much overlap is there between audiences?

4. Pull in stakeholders. Core presentations should have a long, active life, but only if everyone is on board.  Key stakeholders, such as leadership, need input and approval to the content

5. Test and rework. Give the presentation a time or two, then meet back up for tweaking.

6. Integrate into marketing outlets. Through the presentation development process, often strategy may change direction or other big decisions are made.  These likely have an impact on messaging used in other media vehicles, such as the web.  Be thoughtful of changes that may be needed in these areas.

Interested in creating a core presentation for your company or organization?  Contact TREW Marketing at info@trewmarketing.com to get started.

A message map is a framework used to create compelling, relevant messages for various audience segments and for organizational alignment.  Whether you are launching your company, introducing the next big product/service, or preparing for other major marketing campaigns, messaging mapping is an important step in communicating effectively.

There are numerous variations of message map frameworks out there, some very basic and some quite elaborate and complex.  For the purpose of this introductory blog, I will cover the basic, core elements of a message map, applying them to a massively-popular fictitious company called Wendy’s Widgets (WW).

WW is about to launch a major software upgrade.  They have determined the launch date and key marketing activities, leading with an industry trade show.  To prepare for these activities, product management, sales, and marketing meet to create a message map.  Here are the steps they will follow:

1. Identify key audience segments. Because the launch coincides with an industry trade show, there are several distinct groups of people that the WW staff will be targeting, including media, investors, existing customers, and potential customers.
2. Discuss high-level goals for the audience segment. What do we want from the audience? Product sales?  Media coverage?  Word-of-mouth references?  What are potential roadblocks in the path to achieving these goals?
3. Discuss core messages and speaking points. How can this software be used?  What are major benefits and features of the software?  How is the software uniquely differentiated from competitive products?  How will this software change the industry landscape?  Does the software represent a business shift for WW?   Does it have implications to other WW products?  What major companies are using this software?
4. Map key message to audience segments. Existing and potential customers will be more interested in benefits and features, while investors want context of how the product enhances/changes the business.

Snapshot of a Message Map Summary

Once the group has vetted their WW software upgrade message map, they may choose to test their messages with a limited group of their target audiences.  The completed message map will be leveraged across multiple marketing activities, such as press releases, articles, direct marketing, advertising, and presentations.  It will also be distributed to sales to gain full alignment behind messages.

As the WW software launch is underway, marketing will measure results of individual activities and gather input from sales.  This may lead to messaging tweaks and changes.

Way to go, Wendy’s Widgets, in using message maps to develop and hone messages, forge organizational alignment, and ultimately grow software revenue.

TREW Marketing often facilitates the message mapping process for clients.  If you are interested in learning more about this service, please contact us at info@trewmarketing.com.

With the outbreak of swine flu in the past week, we see once again that when crisis strikes, there is little time to prepare, and quick and decisive action is critical to effectively responding. During such a time, one action you will likely be faced with is responding to the media.

Here are 7 things to remember in responding to the media during a crisis. In later posts, we will address steps to prepare for a crisis as well as responding to employees and customers.

7 Things to Remember in Responding to the Media During a Crisis

1. Remain calm and breathe
2. Contact your communications/PR specialist
3. Get the facts
4. Develop your message(s) and know what you won’t say
5. Be accessible and available
6. Avoid “no comment”
7. Designate your spokesperson

To learn more about TREW Marketing’s media and crisis communications training, including case studies of the good, the bad, and the ugly, check out our services page or contact us today.

1. Remain calm and breathe
When the media calls – or more often during a crisis, shows up at your doorstep – it is important to stay calm. A great way to do this is by breathing. Physiologically, by focusing on breathing, you can keep your heart rate moderated and maintain normal blood flow to your brain. This helps you keep a clear head to communicate effectively and decisively.

If, instead of staying calm and breathing, you immediately jump to action, and forget to breath, your body will involuntarily fire into “flight or fight” mode, causing a number of resulting behaviors, including increased adrenaline and respiratory rate, and decreased ability to think rationally.

By focusing on controlled breathing, you can maintain a sense of calm and clear thinking needed to execute a successful interview.

2. Contact your communications/PR specialist
It’s important to contact the person is in charge of working with the media, whether at your company or external agency, as soon as possible. They not only may be the first to be called by the media for a response, they will also ask you questions you may not have thought of, such as facts about injuries, ways you prepared for the crisis before it occured, what employees may be saying, or rumors you may need to respond to.

By alerting them and bringing them into the preparation immediately, they will not be caught off-guard when the media call, which could unduly cause even more questions and distrust. And they will help you prepare by putting themselves in the shoes of the media to role play and help you craft your response.

3. Get the facts
During one crisis I faced, a building was evacuated and nearly 15 emergency vehicles were on-site within minutes. News crews were on the way, I was sure. I immediately found the fire chief and asked him the basic questions: was anyone hurt, was the building evacuated successfully, did they know the cause of the fire? I was happy to learn there had been no injuries, and the fire chief praised the manner in which employees evacuated. I also learned that a fire drill had just been practiced 2 weeks prior.

Within a matter of 1-2 minutes, I had all the facts I needed to prepare our spokesperson for an immediate press interview. And it was just in time. The cameras were rolling when I reached our spokesperson. I gave him the facts, and he went on camera ready to share what we knew. In the end, the story was killed, and the media left seeing that there was no (bad) news to report.

4. Develop 1-2 concise messages and know what you won’t say
As in any interview with the media, you need to know what your message(s) is and what they likely will be asking. In the case of the fire scenario in #3, our messages were: 1. all employees evacuated safely, 2. there are no injuries, 3. we are working with fire officials to determine the cause.

You can see these messages are short – no more than 10 words, and two of them are only 4 words – and they are fact-based. In a time of crisis, you want to stick to the facts as much as possible, and practice Q&A so you can work on bridging to these important messages from a variety of different questions. During this time, you can also discuss and practice answering questions on topics you cannot share, such as exact injury counts or other facts that you may not yet know. These are all things your PR specialist can help you prepare for.
It is best in any interview, especially during a crisis, to keep the number of messages to a minimum. You don’t want to try and communicate too much – just a simple message of the facts and how you are responding is the most important thing to communicate.

5. Be accessible and available
In a time of crisis, news will break rapidly. The more you make updates available to the media and you are accessible for interviews, the better chance you have of controlling what story gets told. If you hide behind your office door or do not answer or return the media’s inquiries, the story will continue to be told without you.

6. Avoid saying “no comment”
Human nature is to distrust the person who answers “no comment”. It’s OK if you do not know the answer to a question. In the case of the fire example in #3 above, we did not know the cause of the fire. However, we did not choose to refuse all interviews because we didn’t know. Our spokesperson appeared on-camera and via phone and told reporters we did not know the cause of the fire, but as soon as we received more information from fire officials, we would let them know. They were satisfied with this answer and anticipated an update when the facts became known.

News media don’t want to be scooped. So, in the case where you are waiting on further details, the best course of action is to set a time when you will provide an official update to all media, even if it is to report that you still do not know anything new. The media will rest easier knowing they will get an update at the same time everyone else will. It doesn’t mean they won’t still try to go find out on their own, but you have made yourself available to them and helped them by providing a time when you will offer a new update on what you know.

7. Designate your spokesperson, and (if you have time) practice
It is important to designate a spokesperson who will speak to the media before they show up. This way, the person who’s going to be responsible for carrying the message to the public knows what is expected of him or her; they can immediately begin preparing by reviewing the facts, practicing the messages, role-playing Q&A, and all the while, breathing to stay calm for a relaxed and informative interview.