Universal Information Services

Posts for Universal Thoughts

This time of the year brings forth hundreds, if not more, of opinions on what trends or tricks you need to use for the coming year. For the public relations and media relations industry, many of these top X lists speak to utilizing the latest tools for social media, or embracing internal content to drive your communication efforts. These ideas are all good ideas as content is truly king, and the social media tools are great for amplifying your messages. For a great example of a "Top Trends List", check out Liz O'Donnell's post. In the end, this short post focuses on the #1 thing you can do to enhance your public relations and media relations.

This is a core fundamental, the epitome of #samerules for #newtools, it is the art of the "Thank You". Yes, providing a real "thank you" is just good business. Whether serving clients, or working with the media across any channel, showing your appreciation reinforces a relationship and helps ensure that relationship can grow.

At Universal Information Services we provided a bit of a tongue-in-cheek play on saying thank you with a cup of coffee or hot cocoa.

Our news monitoring and media analysis clients are attracted to Universal because of our culture, the fact we enjoy what we do, but most of all, because we appreciate working for them. Oddly enough, the aforementioned qualities are the most often heard reasons our new clients cite for leaving their prior vendors. So if you're going to do one thing in 2012, or even here at the end of 2011, tell those you appreciate, "Thank you". I thank you for taking time to read my posts this year and look forward to presenting #newtools of 2012 and emphasizing how your fundamentals, or #samerules, are key in the coming year. Cheers...and Thank you!

Let me start off by saying at Universal Information Services there are some clients I do not want to date. Not because they are too much work, or a pain in the neck, or their margin is too low, but rather because they are already in a love affair with their current vendor. This post briefly explores the accelerating nature of marketing through the #newtools of social media, but focuses more on the #samerules of a positive customer relationship and why that leads to lasting love between client and vendor.

In the news monitoring industry, there are only a handful of services that provide complete news monitoring, media contact management and releasing, plus the ability to analyze all your media exposure...some would call that the whole package. There are many more news monitoring services that service a part of our industry by focusing on broadcast news, or media measurement, but few who can do it all. Therefore, in order to grow we must feed off of each others clients for a certain percentage of client base growth.

Through social media tools like Youtube, Facebook, and especially Twitter, we can amplify our message related to our strengths and relay testimonials from existing clients to prospective clients. I would call that advertising that we are "available to date". Primarily a "pull" marketing tool, the fun social media tools actually provide some great inbound opportunities. Yet, we still maintain a "push" marketing effort to reach out to those who haven't yet found the value in social media. Being honest with myself, I estimate 80% of our prospects are using one of our competitors. Therefore, in order to get to that 80% we must pull them away from a service like cision, Critical Mention, or TVEyes. At Universal Information Services I can tell you we don't want most of their clients. We only want clients who are unhappy and considering some kind of change. I would call those clients "available and hot".

As a user of services, news monitoring or otherwise, you should really think twice before dumping your current vendor for the "promise" of something better. Ask yourself these two questions before entertaining a pitch from a service competing against your current vendor.
1. Am I satisfied that I'm paying a fair price to my vendor in exchange for the services they are giving me?
2. Am I satisfied and pleased with the level of customer service, support and results my current vendor is giving me?

When we find a prospect that is happy on both accounts with their current vendor, that is a signal to move on. Realistically, my service will always be competing against what was considered by this client to be a good service. Not that I can't compete and surpass the quality of my competitors, but it is not the best position to be in when you will always be compared to an enjoyable relationship. It's kind of like dating a new person and having them continually talk about how great their old boyfriend or girlfriend was. Fundamentally, no news monitoring service can keep all of their clients happy all of the time. At Universal Information Services we hope to help those who are looking for better quality, faster turnaround times, or a more competitive cost for the services they need. In other words, we want to only "date" those clients that are really ready to move on or are unattached.

If you answered yes to the above two questions, I would suggest you tell the next competing vendor, "I'm flattered, but I'm seeing someone else". This can help save you much time spent listening to pitches for services you don't need to change, and will also let the competing vendor move on to a better prospect...not that anyone wants to be "that guy" at the bar.

Simply, if you are happy with your vendor stay with them...reward them for breaking their back to make sure you get the best service possible. If you find a competitor pitching a tool you need, ask your current vendor if they can provide that tool as well. Open communication is the key to any relationship. More often than not, your current vendor has all the same tools AND knows exactly how you want to work...already. This is in your best interest as you've invested months or even years into a relationship with your current vendor. How much is that investment worth to you and how long might it take to establish a functional relationship with a new vendor? Changing vendors does not come without costs.

I'm very interested in the psychology of "change". I'd love to hear your thoughts on why you change or don't change when a new vendor comes calling. Of course, if you're not seeing anyone, metaphorically, give me a call. I'd love to meet you.

Gina Svendsen serves as Media Analysis Director for Universal Information Services.

This blog entry is my rant—my opinion. In writing this post, I am putting myself “out there” for a discussion –because without discussion, it’s just me on my soap-box. As the Director of Media Analysis for Universal Information Services, it's also a great diversion from analytics.

I have a slew of nieces and nephews from college-age all the way down to elementary school age, so I’m always wondering, “What can I learn from these great kids and apply that to my life?” As I was brainstorming over this blog post, it donned on me. Transparency. I learned about transparency in a media relations class in college. This old rule has changed over time and, I believe, is MORE important today and will begin to change even more over the next five years.

Today’s younger generation knows way more about this than we do because of Facebook and mobile devices. I just read that the web is older than today’s incoming college freshmen—their posts on Facebook are transparent, with the person behind the post showing their authentic self. They post the good, the bad and the ugly. (I am amused by the number of people on Facebook who air their own dirty laundry! But this is another blog subject for the future.) But seriously, I think we can learn something about transparency from the younger generation and apply it to our industry. I’m talking about being MORE authentic and transparent, more than you are right now.

When I think about transparency in PR, I instantly think of the Toyota gas pedal problem. Toyota didn’t own up to the problem right away and the end result was they lost customers. Toyota forgot the second part of the old rule. If you own up right away, we will be incredibly forgiving. The younger generation has a real problem with this because their transparent, digital lives are chronicled on Facebook. Their meaning of transparency is much different—much more stripped away. More transparent than the transparency we learned about. To them, even privacy is different. It is also stripped away, and private is not ‘as private’ as it once was. The younger generations are consumers and soon to be our peers and they have different ideas on being transparent and private.

Now, I’m not suggesting you go overboard with this idea and post the bad and the ugly, but sit with this a few minutes and think about it: how can you, your brand, your company be more genuine and transparent? More than you already are? Research has shown that by doing so, you will show your friends, your consumers, your employees a true self, and this will gain trust. Trust gains more followers, fans and customers. Trust gains the word of mouth advocate, the most desired customer out there.

Stop hiding your personality, the younger generation doesn’t! You have one, don’t you? Put some personality into your announcements, press releases, or blog. Do you “put on” a corporate façade –if this is you, pull up! The younger generation can already see through your front and they don’t appreciate the legalese. And of course, this will all come full circle when there’s a big screw up and you have to quickly admit your fault (and what you plan to do to fix it) because then everyone will forgive you. If you don’t the opposite will happen.

Comments (2)

Many books have been written and many speakers have spoken on this topic. I happen to prefer the way the guys behind 37signals lay it out in their book REWORK. Basically, you need to have a purpose behind your business. If you don't know why you are providing your service or product, and your staff doesn't believe or understand the purpose, you'll never reach your true potential.

This doesn't mean you have to have some lofty, philosophical purpose to save the world. Rather, it can be as simple as, "We just make really comfortable shoes". With almost every product and service a commodity, being different is not easy. Knowing what or how you should be different, relative to your competition, is a good start.

At Universal Information Services, we know there are only about four companies that compete in the "complete news monitoring and analysis" space, and we're one of them. Two of the four use a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, where your interaction with those companies is primarily through a portal...you serve yourself, you support yourself. Universal also offers most of our news monitoring through our SmartView and Print Portals, but we know what makes us different is our hyper focus on customer service and support. Yes, that mission can often sound hollow, but when your company has a rhythm that includes a service and support focus, your clients will feel it.

We do lose lose clients when the grass looks greener to them, and sometimes that other vendor is a good fit for them. Still, I'm always enthused at the number of clients that come back to us after a year with another news monitoring company because, "they just didn't take care of us like Universal did". For me, that's the ultimate compliment. Taking care of clients is what every company should be doing, that should be your purpose.

I'd like to think we only gain and never lose a client, but that would be naive for any business to expect. Regaining clients, or rather reclaiming clients because of the service and support of your team, that is the most powerful key differentiator out there. The #samerules of making your customer happy has not changed, you simply have #newtools to serve them with...and serve them better you should.

Comments (2)

Coming off the third year of the Big Omaha Conference, an event that promotes itself as "The Nation's Most Ambitious Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship", I can attest that this event is like no other in the World. Yes, there are the high powered speakers who have "made it" with an idea PLUS luck, timing, venture capital and/or bootstrapping. Yes, there are great parties that punctuate each day's events. Yes, there are even visits from politicians.

What makes Big Omaha different is the atmosphere that is baked into the DNA of the event. It comes from a crazy recipe that is one part the attendees, one part the speakers, and a large part the organizers. What Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson, of Silicon Prairie News, have accomplished with their team is an event that can trigger that spontaneous emotion that inspires people. Like that one concert you attended that almost seemed spiritual, Big Omaha takes a planned and orchestrated event into the ether where only those who have attended can truly appreciate.

From my perspective, I'm looking for inspiration to help fuel the continued growth of our 103 year old company. Yes, I've started and sold two other companies. Yes, I've purchased three companies and worked through the integration issues related to that strategy. But each week I'm faced with how I can continue to improve the customer experience for our clients and deliver the innovative news monitoring and media analysis services our clients expect.

Truthfully, my path to innovation resembles that of a serial entrepreneur. Each one of our service innovations is like giving birth to a new startup company. Yes, we have the administrative and accounting platforms in place, but from vision through execution the same problems can derail an innovative service at any time. Worse yet, a competitor could beat us to the punch (maybe that's not the worst thing, but it is possible and not desired).

For me, one of the greatest take-aways came from Gary Vaynerchuk, yes, that wine guy and author of Crush It and The Thank You Economy. Gary reminds us it is "all about the customer experience". Customer service is like playing defense only. But, providing a great customer experience is where the game is won. Innovation must focus on the customer, it must answer the question of, "But Why?"

If your innovation, startup or new service doesn't provide an obvious solution to the user, and a great user experience, keep looking. I'll write more on answering the "But Why" question at a later date, but this is another example of my #samerules #newtools philosophy.

If you made it to BigOmaha 2011, let us know what your top take-away was. If you missed it, well, don't make that mistake again. Inspiration on innovation is not easy to capture on a calendar.

Interestingly, this blog post started out as an experiment to find out how engaging location-based mobile platforms truly are. Many people won't deny that they've either not heard of Foursquare, or have heard of it and asked, "But why?" Like all #newtools in the social media world, or any new tool for that matter, adoption only occurs if the question of "Why?" can be answered. Why participate in Foursquare? Why would I want to take the time, effort, or bother checking in as I travel about my day?

I've tested/played/worked Foursquare for about a month now, and my basic summation is that Foursquare does not suck. I know I've only scratched the surface of what circumstances and environments are right for location based social tools like this, but here's what I can share so far.

First, Foursquare seems to work best when your community, or your friends, operate on a level playing field. If for example you spend most of your days at a desk in an office, but the rest of your friends or family are mobile and moving throughout the greater environment, you will never score well. You may become Mayor of your office, or even your cubicle, but you'll never have the points you get from checking in and a variety of places. Besides, there's just not enough engagement in this scenario to make it worthwhile if you don't go anywhere.

Second, Foursquare is awesome for close groups of friends or families. When you mix the game theory with the ability to comment and post pictures, your result is a somewhat competitive platform that engages the group. I enlisted my family (2 kids, a wife, plus me). We now scramble to check-in from our smartphones, or iPOD Touch in the case of my daughter, to see who can maximize their points. You soon learn the strategy to maybe be the second person to check in and garner those additional points because your "BFF" is there. I know, kind of corny, but so is Karaoke and that's hugely popular.

Finally, Foursquare is great for business to consumer location based check-in and event check-in. Restaurants, soccer fields, movie theaters, grocery stores, office buildings, concerts are all among places you can check in. If you don't see it, add it based on the GPS location of the space you want to add. There are obvious marketing benefits to what you add and how you name it, not to mention the tips you might post...or hopefully your visitors post. Offering discounts and consumer generated recommendations are very good reasons to try Foursquare.

Where I think Foursquare fails, simply because of the model and not their platform, is that it offers very little in the way of business to business engagement. I have a hard time applying the location-based game platform to a B2B model, but maybe someone can suggest ideas and leave them in the comments below. Still, at a simple level, it has provided an engaging platform that my whole family can participate in no matter where we are. I even enabled my Android phone as a 3G mobile hot spot with Verizon so my 10 year old daughter can play when there's not wi-fi in the wild for her.

Next step for my Foursquare use: Try and get the office team on board and competing during the week. I'll update this post at a latter date.

Comments (1)

With Groupon and LivingSocial the behemoths in the geospecific advertising world, and more niche deal sources coming on line every day, are we getting too much of a good thing?

As a guest blogger for The Daily Cowbell I explored the problem of daily deal overload. My opinion on the matter likens the situation to that of news saturation. To much information makes it difficult for the consumer to to discern between the options, and therefore they tune out. News or discounts, over-amplification of "the message" creates noise...much like when you turn your sound system up to 11.

Visit the Daily Cowbell and tell me what you think. Too many deals, not enough, or just right?

Next topic: Foursquare for the Family-increasing utilization by involving the whole gang.

Over the last few months Universal Information Services has had the opportunity to acquire two outstanding news monitoring companies. On December 31st we acquired Worldwide News Monitor out of Wisconsin and on February 28th we acquired Quality Services of Alaska.

For some, including myself, I always viewed acquisitions as points in time when companies felt expansion was important to their bottom line. After completing three of these acquisitions over the past two years, I have found that buying a going concern, someone's business, has very little to do with expansion and almost everything to do with adding new relationships.

In this economy, the companies that succeed have found a way to maintain relationships with their customers and users. Relationships, whether with your product or your service, is all that you have to sell. I'm sure there are atypical scenarios contrary to this statement, but they would be the extreme exception to the rule.

A good relationship with your customer is worth far more than the dollars they spend with you. Your happy clients become your greatest advocates and most credible evangelists. Sure, one can engage the #newtools of social media or hire a PR firm to bolster their brand in the business segment of their choice, but that all pales when compared to organically expanding your base of happy customers.

In our recent acquisitions we looked at two things before moving forward: Our relationship with the selling party and the relationships they've established with their clients. A relationship based on mutual respect and shared values can ensure a positive process during what can be an emotional time...selling someone's well built business. If the seller has focused on building relationships with their customers, then the buyer will be gaining loyal customers.

When Universal acquires a news monitoring company the care of their existing customers is our primary focus. We keep it simple. Only after we have begun the process of building our relationship with them do we discuss new services that are now available to them through Universal Information Services.

In this way we've found growth through expanding relationships is the best way for us to expand our client base. I'm sure there are other ways to grow, but if you aspire to be the best in your industry I don't think there's a better way. Whether you acquire new relationships through an acquisition, or you let your existing clients help you grow your business, it still comes down to the power of that relationship. See our video welcome to our new clients in Alaska.

Tell me what you think. I welcome any thoughts or illustrations that underscore or take exception with the power of the client relationship.

Comments (1)

At Universal Information Services we have several core values that reinforce our mission and vision. One of our core values is to be "honest and direct with all clients and teammates". For the team at Universal, as well as our quality competitors: Cision, Burrelle's/Luce, and VMS, this means we're not going to purposely mislead a client into thinking that we cover all media: Print, Broadcast, Web, and Social Media, if we don't...but we do. Some "news monitoring" services are guilty of the bait & switch when portraying themselves as complete. However I have no problem naming my competitors that do provide quality services, that's just part of being honest and direct.

The bait & switch occurs when a prospective client becomes enamored with a pretty report, a slick proposal, or even the promise of a great service rate. In these cases, service rates can be tied to an extended contract that is ironclad so you can't get out once you learn you've fallen victim to the bait & switch. When you ask if they cover all media, these services offer a "yes" in that they do cover print, broadcast, and other sources as long as those sources can be found freely and openly on the web! Again, the buyer must really understand the answers they are getting...#samerules for the #newtools.

Services that really only offer online monitoring can be missing much of the local public affairs and news content clients need, plus the high-end sources behind paywalls. And since these vendors operate primarily as a SaaS (software-as-a-service), the ability to get customer support can be limited. As the saying goes, "buyer beware". We are all trained to trust, but verify when comparing products from different vendors. There are real savings out there for companies, government agencies, PR firms, and non-profit organizations. These savings can be substantial when you bundle multiple services with a news monitoring vendor, as long as that vendor truly has what you need.

Our core values support our brand promise to provide a fantastic customer experience to all clients. To that end, if Universal can't help you with a specific need, we have no problem directing you to a vendor who can help you. If we can help you navigate the landscape of news monitoring and media analysis, give us a call. If you need a good reference for the finest cupcakes in the world, give us a call. We don't do cupcakes, and we'll tell you that, but we do know where to get them.

Leave your comments about pricing models, truth in marketing, or where to get the best cupcakes. Cheers!

Comments (1)

I am guilty. I too have asked our sales people to structure our news monitoring prices into "bundles" so that we can offer discounted rates. In our case, we do this in order to entice clients to use Universal Information Services. In the news monitoring industry there are now two types of companies. Some companies are able to discount one or more of their higher margin services, when taken in a package of services (aka "bundle"). I believe this is a good practice for the vendor as well as the client receiving the discount. Some competitors to these benevolent bundles sometimes bristle at this approach and lament to their prospect, as they slip away, that "you are paying for that discount somewhere". Well that's not always the case. In our case, and that of other quality services, we want to earn clients by providing great value for all their needs.

I know that Cision, Burrelle's/Luce, VMS, and even Vocus can offer some cost efficiencies when a client takes multiples services in a discounted bundle. Vocus is a bit different in that they are only an aggregator of others news tracking tools, and those tracking results are then paired with their very nice media contacts database and distribution system. So when speaking of the true news monitoring services, I'm speaking of Cision, VMS, and of course my own company (insert questions of bias here), Universal Information Services. For the aforementioned companies it is true that you can save money when bundling services from them. No bait and switch here.

In recent years, several services have cropped up that only monitor news they can find online, but also offer bundled services where you can choose your services. The difference between these companies and those mentioned above is that they are web content only. If you consider one of these self proclaimed news monitoring services, be sure you ask the following questions as you entertain their news monitoring and media analysis.

1. When you track the printed media, are you actually searching published newspapers and magazines, or are you only finding the lesss than 40% of published content by searching the web?
2. When you monitor broadcast news, are you really monitoring what has aired, news that has been broadcast, or are you only searching TV and radio sites that have a presence on the web?
3. When you track websites for me, can you customize your data set so I can have you add online sources that may be small but are important to me?

If your prospective vendor can't answer these questions in an "honest and direct" manner, keep looking. If they attempt to blur the line with an answer like, "All of that content is available on the web, and we get it all", keep moving. Most print and broadcast content is NOT available on the web, or is not completely accessible, and therefore requires a truly complete news monitoring service.

I probably could have titled this post, "If it is too good to be true, it probably is". Yes, #samerules regardless of the #newtools. We do have more statistics and details on finding a news monitoring and analysis service that best fits your needs. Give us a call or contact us directly. Your comments are always welcome. Part two of this topic next week.

Comments (1)