Most informed agency leaders will agree that a big part of what our clients want, and are willing to pay us for, is our thinking. We bring years of experience, coupled with tactical knowledge and creativity to marketing challenges. So why is it that so many agencies are willing to give it away for free?

Over the past couple of months we have been told by more than one new business prospect that while they love our creative thinking and want our experience/approach, they are having a tough time making a decision because the other agency(ies) have given them a complete plan, and of course, we have not. What?! A complete plan? From the one hour conversation they (maybe) had when they were asked to pitch the business, they have enough insight into the company, its brand promise, its customers, competition, and goals to present a plan? Folks, I call BS.

Really experienced CMOs/Marketing Managers will know they are getting a cookie cutter approach, since it isn’t really possible for that kind of strategic development in the 7-10 days they gave as a deadline for an initial proposal. Unfortunately, there are lots of people making decisions about hiring an agency who know very little about marketing and even less about how agencies work.

I am tired of competing for business with agencies that don’t even respect their time or intellectual capital enough to get paid for it. People, you should get paid to write a strategic plan. I know times are hard, but if you set the expectation that you will just give away your thinking in order to get an ongoing retainer, you not only hurt your own revenue stream, you hurt the reputation of an entire industry.

In particular (since I’m on a roll now), we see this in social media pitches. Since most agencies have very little experience in social media planning or management, they have developed a cut-and-paste approach. Take one part Facebook, one part Twitter and insert client name in the blank. There is very little customized or original thinking happening. I believe we are going to start seeing the carcasses of that type of approach all over the business landscape.

It’s too bad too, because social media presents loads of opportunity for the PR industry. But only if we use our smarts and don’t treat it like another tactic to be added onto a long list of “to dos.”

This week, our PR team spent a day with Nick Kalm, founder and president of Reputation Partners in Chicago, one of our Pinnacle Worldwide partners, talking about the importance of crisis planning and reputation management. We had to dream up all the worst things that could happen to our clients. Not good for a bunch of overactive imaginations. It got ugly.

Fortunately, Nick helped us focus on what we could and should do to help our clients prepare and manage through any potential crisis. As uncomfortable as it got, we were all glad we did it.

We talked through messaging, phone trees, who speaks to whom, how to conduct drills and all the potential audiences aside from media and social networks, such as employees, customers, vendors, trade associations, investors and the many stakeholders that matter in a crisis. Many thanks Nick — not only are you very tall, you are very wise, especially when it comes to crisis planning and reputation management.

Have you thought through the potential crises that face your company or client’s business? Have you got a plan?

Whether you do or don’t, check out our interview with Nick for some words of wisdom on crisis planning and reputation management.

Here are some more of my takeaways from this exploration into the brain and how to reach it through marketing:

1. Memories are not cameras or snapshots. We use senses and stories to put meaning to the experience and then the memory.
2. “Melts in Your Mouth. Not In Your Hands.” There’s a lot of sensation being painted with those two simple lines. That’s what our brain responds to.
3. You remember most of what you see and least of what you hear. No wonder people are always saying “Don’t you remember? I told you, you’re just not listening to me.” They”re right. We’re not.
4. Along the same lines – we all tune out every ten minutes. It happens all day long. I think that’s why social networks are so appealing. They give us that “check out” excuse.
5. Keep it lively and short. Ten seconds is a really long time. Ten minutes is a movie. Engage an emotion and keep your audience with you longer.
6. Video is way more effective than text. Learn how to do it well.
7. There aren’t enough neurons in our heads to remember all the info being thrown at us. Our brains can handle 7-10 pieces of info at any time. Don’t overload your ad, pitch, blog post, etc. with too many points. We can’t handle it.
8. Brands are made of memories, metaphors and stories.

There’s more. But your brain can’t handle it. So I’ll stop.

Carol asserts that multi-tasking is a myth as our minds are linear. This was confirmed in a recent NYTimes article stating that “technology is rewiring our brains.” But as Carol pointed out, rewiring is evolutionary. Perhaps in another generation or two, the brain will be able to juggle multiple messages and tasks at the same time, but right now we’re kidding ourselves – we can’t successfully pay attention to a number of messages or inputs simultaneously.

I sat down with Carol and asked her a few questions about the human brain and marketing:

Some key takeaways about the human brain for marketers:

95% of cognition occurs below the level of conscious awareness – In other words, we make decisions mostly from our subconscious and emotional brain centers. Touching someone’s emotional center, repeatedly, is going to be more successful than throwing “information” at them. All text rarely works.

80% of communication occurs through nonverbal means – A big challenge for digital marketing. Emails and short word communications leave out a lot of the message.

66% of all stimuli reach the brain through the visual system – We need to see something in order to understand it. We need to paint a picture to capture the senses.

My conclusion, confirmed by Carol in our video interview, is that video and photos will continue to grow in importance in digital marketing. Apple’s addition of video to the iPhone4 isn’t random. We want pictures. We want stories. Words just aren’t enough.

1. Don’t rely on slides. Unless your slide visually (not with words) supports the point you’re trying to make, they are a crutch for you and a distraction for your audience. Think about whether or not you could make the case without any slides at all. What would that feel like? More eye contact with your audience? Would it feel more like a conversation than being “presented to?”  If you do use slides, use them sparingly. And keep them visual. According to our presentation coach Nancy Stern, there is nothing worse than a presentation that is what she calls a continual slide swipe. One after another after another….glazed eyes are guaranteed.

2. Figure out what your three key points are and make them well. Tim Ferriss posted a great outline of how he prepares for public speaking on his Four Hour Work Week Blog. He keeps it to three points and he uses the PEP approach – Point, Example, Point. Love that.

3. Tell stories. We want to hear stories, not bullet pointed facts. The most persuasive people in history have all been great story tellers. It’s powerful stuff and will keep your audience engaged.

4. Rehearse. There is very little that we observe as well done that has not been rehearsed. From political speeches to stand up comedy to really good business presentations. Rehearsal makes us better. Saying it out loud gets us comfortable with the material and shows us what’s weak and needs work.

5. Avoid up talk, you know, like and um. We all have our verbal tics. Some are more annoying than others. Most take away our authority. As an agency based in SoCal we are surrounded by people using up talk and it seems to be getting worse every year. If you don’t know what I mean, watch this video by Ronnie Bruce. And then speak with conviction!

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

As you climb up the ranks at an advertising or PR agency you become very good at whatever it is you do for your clients – write, pitch, manage, organize events, design things. What you don’t get very good at is learning how to run an agency. How do you deal with hiring, firing, client contracts, your first pregnant employee, your first lease, payroll and making a profit? The myriad items juggled everyday by agency owners are rarely discussed. Besides, everyone’s too busy on client work to think about that stuff.

When I discovered PRSA’s Counselors Academy about five years ago, I felt like I had finally found “Agency U,” the place where I could learn all the things no one had had the time to share. The annual Spring Conference, this year in Asheville, NC, is one big share. Before we had social media sharing, we had the Spring Conference. You need to know more about new business? Perhaps managing difficult employees? What trends should you be paying attention to in the coming year? It’s all discussed in an open and honest environment, peer to peer.

This year, we’ve got rock stars from PR, Social Media and Leadership attending the Conference:

Brian Solis, principal of FutureWorks and author of Engage, talking about The Future of PR and Social Media

Jay Baer, Social Media consultant and author of the Convince & Convert blog, leading a PreCon to help attendees Create Smashing Social Media Strategic Plans in 7 Steps

Randy Hall, founder of 4th Gear Consulting and organizational leadership coach, helping you Lead Your Business Through the Recovery

This year’s program is aimed at the future. Roundtable topics (always my favorite part of the Conference, other than the eating and drinking parts) include such subjects as Succession Planning; Building Talent Within; What’s a Social Media Community Manager?; and Agency Leadership.

If you manage or own an agency, no matter how small, and are looking for a group of peers who understand exactly what you deal with everyday, find a way to get yourself to Asheville on May 20th. There are discounts for hotel, air and early bird reg.  I’m just not sure what will leave you more inspired, the mountains in the spring or all the learning you’ll take home.

Tiger Woods. Toyota. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. The list goes on and on, doesn’t it? The list of people (brands, really) and companies (brands for sure) that have lost their reputation.

Last week, I heard a terrific presentation by Peter Morrissey, President and CEO of Morrissey & Company, professor at Boston College and author of the respected Mount Vernon Report, on reputation. He defined reputation with words such as character, integrity and authenticity. He further postulated that reputation is one of the most valuable assets a corporation can have. And while protecting the asset of corporate reputation is the primary goal of public relations, it is not a goal always shared with corporate marketing, which can have shorter term sales objectives depending on revenues, time of year and inventories.

What builds a reputation? Peter says its a combination of people, products, conduct of business and financial performance. Ultimately, he says, it is simple acts that build the content of character over time.

As I read the latest Associated Press story this morning about Toyota’s recall debacle, I was struck by the news that Toyota has beefed up its public relations support. Of course they have. Once again, public relations is brought in to clean up a mess, rather than being at the table prior to a crisis to provide strategy. (I’m guessing that’s the case, because if PR has been legitimately involved all along, they should be fired).

Public relations is continually sidelined by marketing and lawyers who have the ear of the C-suite and usually the bigger budgets. But that formula is wrong. The advent of online news and the 24/7 cycle, combined with the velocity of social media, has created a situation where public relations must be involved in communications planning at the highest levels of decision making.

Toyota’s engagement in social media gets a grade of C+ at best. While the outpouring of support on Facebook has been huge, there has been nominal posting in response. Toyota doesn’t even have a Twitter account, so their engagement there is a big fat zero. Yet the conversation on Twitter about Toyota is endless. Interestingly, Jim Lentz, President and COO of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, is going on a Live Digg Dialogg today to answer the public’s questions. Digg? Really? They are playing it safe by testing the waters on a relatively small social network to see how it plays before going big time on the mainstream sites. When you have a big global problem, playing it safe is not a winning strategy. There should be teams working around the clock, actively engaging on social networks. Toyota’s message should be clear by this point and those teams should be supporting it every day, every hour. It’s going to take a lot of work, in every media and social channel on the planet to rebuild Toyota’s reputation. These are mistakes that cannot be undone and each day the hole gets deeper. Or in Toyota’s case, several million dollars bigger. Tiger, are you listening?

This is particularly the case because (effective Dec. 1st) the FTC has put a stake in the ground regarding transparency in the social media world, and while we will see over the next six months if they were just saber rattling or for real, companies ignore certain aspects at their own risk. One of the most potentially troublesome pieces of the new FTC regulations is the requirement that companies monitor and correct misinformation posted to social media sites about their products or services. That is a lot of liability in an enormous landscape.

As I think about the coming year, there are two things that I believe every company that is engaged in social media and/or public relations should be considering. Neither has to be very expensive, but companies that don’t implement them will be at a competitive disadvantage, and possibly high risk, in 2010.

1. Twitter search and Google Alerts (which are both currently free) are great, but they are not a guarantee that you are catching every mention about your company on the millions of blogs, forums, tweets and Facebook posts made each day. Invest in a credible monitoring service. It will save your team time in gathering posts and also provide a reporting structure. Some that we like and have heard great things about include Filtrbox, Radian6, Scoutlabs and Spiral16.

2. Set up your online press room. No more excuses. If you do not have a press room on your website, which is preferable, then go directly to pitchengine.com and set one up. It’s $50 a month for a dynamic, linkable, social press room. The web is where the media go first for info. If you don’t make it easy for them, they will find another company that will.

Simple, but I believe very important for any company still holding on to the belief that doing social media and public relations without the right tools is possible.

It’s tough to ask for money to support the arts while children go hungry and families live on the street. Yet, without the arts to reflect our imaginings and relieve our sometimes relentless reality, this life is less worthy of the struggle. Artists take risks and express beauty and pain in ways that we need. And art takes many forms – some that is familiar or humorous and some that is awkward and just plain weird. Sushi, A Center for the Urban Arts, located in San Diego’s East Village, has been home to more of the latter than the former, so it has a harder time finding big dollar donors. Its support has always been grassroots.

Sushi provides a home for artists who are usually struggling, yet still committed to offering up contemporary, multidisciplinary art for our collective enjoyment. It has been a center of alternative art in San Diego for nearly 30 years, yet like so many other non-profit organizations, has been battered by the financial tightening of the past year.

Will you join me in supporting Sushi? I don’t always understand what I see there, but San Diego shouldn’t lose one of the only places that supports art that’s pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum from The Old Globe. Communities that value art need both.

We are asking for whatever you can afford (from $10 – $100, it all counts). Our goal is $30,000 by January 15th to pay for 2010 programming. Highlights for 2010 include Dutch artist Oscar Prinsen, Russian physical theatre company ARTEL, international Fringe Festival favorites Die Rotten Punkte and San Diego’s own acclaimed choreographer, Patricia Sandback.

In addition to our online ask, we are selling some furniture here on Craig’s List and all proceeds will be donated to Sushi. We’re also cooking up a really cool all-ages photography class with Paul M. Bowers that will happen in January, with proceeds going to Sushi (watch the Sushi homepage for more info soon).

Thank you for reading, considering and hopefully making a contribution today by clicking on the ChipIn link on this page.