experience matters

Abbey Klaassen at Ad Age wrote a great article on June 29, 2009, “Forget Twitter; Your Best Marketing Tool is the Humble Product Review” about how the humble product review is one of your best marketing tools. She distills much of the article into a poignant insight (“marketers are learning to listen”) while also pointing out that some listening channels such as Twitter or Facebook have less structured information and can be difficult for marketers to implement into their processes.

But when it comes to listening (and I mean really listening), there are times (as I believe Abbey would agree) that product reviews may not be enough. We believe MROCs (market research online communities) are able to bridge part of the gap between the richness and depth of qualitative consumer feedback and structured information.

With many of our clients expressing interest in learning more about these private communities, and after my last post, we thought it might be worth a quick discussion. So, we’ve put together this simple checklist to help you determine whether a market research online community is right for you.

1. You want to know all about your target audiences – deeply. Communities are about evolving with your customers rather than doing point-in-time research. They are ideally for clients that are committed to continual learning, or have the desire for it – because consumers don’t wait until your survey or focus group to have great feedback or ideas.
2. You need to control the conversation. Our clients often need customers to focus on their questions, which is much harder to do in public communities. Community clients also rest much easier sharing confidential information or assets when members have at least agreed to non-disclosure legalese.
3. You need to know who’s talking back to you. Community respondents are profiled in depth (demographics, attitudes, behaviours, etc.), so we can look at how comments and discussions may differ among subgroups (gender or generational differences). In public communities, you may know a person’s screen name, country, and maybe age at best.
4. You need decisions faster. One of the most beautiful benefits to private communities is that you can have data coming back in hours instead of the weeks needed to plan and implement traditional research methods. Market researchers, rejoice!
5. You wish your best customers were sitting beside you. The flexibility of communities allows you to ask whatever questions you want, whether large and in depth or quick one-offs that wouldn’t normally justify a traditional research budget. This means you can get meaningful consumer feedback on your specific needs before making important or even not-so-important decisions.
6. You are looking to control costs. For companies that gather the right amount of consumer insight to inform decisions, the cost of building and maintaining communities can often save over a given year compared to traditional methods. Sometimes communities can replace other methods, and sometimes they build in incremental context. But consider a (slightly oversimplified) example of spending $15-$25K in a traditional, 2-hour focus group with 20 people, with the same amount for a month of time with 200 people.
7. You want to look like a star at your company. Trust me, I’m still reaping the benefits at Critical Mass for getting our own (first) community off the ground. But in all honestly, my brilliant team of researchers is entirely responsible for the continual homeruns.
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This post was previously posted at iMedia Connection.

Former CMer David Armano wrote a popular post here in early 2008 entitled 10 Ways Digital Can Help You Thrive In A Recession. I encourage you to read it – its lessons remain salient today.

David’s post examined the opportunities offered to brands by a poor economic condition. And some marketers have caught on. But many still believe some common online marketing myths; an especially dangerous practice during a recession.

In the spirit of David’s post, here are 10 marketing myths de-bunked in order to thrive during the recession.

1. Things are stable now – I shouldn’t rock the boat.

The boat is already rocking – you just haven’t noticed yet.

Joseph Jaffe has this to say about marketers and risk:

“Instead of taking bold chances, we have become seduced by the promise of glory and reward that comes from sticking with the status quo. We have failed to manage risk. And in doing so, we have also failed to manage another unavoidable reality of our industry: change.”

Seth Godin adds that managing risk is not only our job as marketers, but part of the natural order of the industry. In his book Tribes, he writes that “[s]tability is an illusion…Today, the market wants change. The market demands change.”

Marketers must expect change – even plan for it. It is often the most exciting part of the job.

2. I’m Afraid.

How is this a marketing myth? Think of everything you hear around the office that translates into “I’m afraid.”

“Has the boss seen this?”

“Nobody’s done that before.”

“It’s risky.”

A lot of businesspeople hunker down during a recession, hoping they can just ride it out without creating too many problems. That’s actually more risky (and scary).

It’s OK to be afraid of new marketing tactics, but it’s not OK to allow that fear to stop you from taking risks. As General Eric Shinseki said: “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”

3. Forget [insert social media initiative] – we just need to sell our client’s stuff.

True, selling is important. It was the focus of my post last week: The Modern Agency Still Sells, Right? But social media marketing can help build trust and gain supporters.

Phil Dunn recommends five ways for you to use social media to increase sales, including prospecting, persuasion, closing, delivering value, and customer service. Keep your focus, but don’t discount the medium’s potential to increase sales, if done correctly.

4. We finished the website – now we’re done.

This is digital – you can go back and make changes. In fact, you should!

Compared to print, digital efforts are astoundingly inexpensive in alter. Armano calls it the Beta Economy (#1 on his list). As a marketer, it’s imperative that you check your web statistics, garner knowledge from them, and make changes based on this data.

Why spend so much on a website and ignore its optimization? We’re always in beta…always.

5. I’d be better off letting my competitors try [insert new marketing initiative] first. Then I can learn from their mistakes.

What you consider mistakes are actually learning opportunities. Sure, some missteps are more seriously, but consider the experience your opponent is gaining while you sit on the digital sidelines.

Expert commentary from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War explains the importance of being ahead of your opponent:

“Once war is declared, [the leader] will not waste precious time…with all great strategists, from Julius Caesar to Napoleon Bonaparte, the value of time – that is, being a little ahead of your opponent – has counted for more than either numerical superiority or the nicest calculations with regard to commissariat.”

Being first allows you to build up what Len Kendall describes as a sort of “giving storehouse.” His “Give/Take Ratio” post illustrates that subsequent market competitors will have to work much, much harder to earn trust than the early adopter.

6. Cutting our marketing and advertising budgets will help us squeak through the recession and end up stronger afterward. [If you're not thinking this, your clients might be.]

Henry Ford said, “A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time.”

Think things have changed so much since Ford’s time? John A. Quelch, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School concurs:

“This is not the time to cut advertising. It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic time.”

‘Nuff said.

7. Focus groups are expensive, but it’s the only way to get customer information.

A recession is a great time to expand your online customer research because focus groups are simply too expensive. You can often garner just as useful information by observing customers and potential customers online.

David’s post discusses this as #7: Trade focus groups for digital ethnography.

“Social networks and search engines can be rich ethnography tools…before you slash that discovery phase, think about how digital can be used to find things about the behavior of your target.”

I would add web analytics to the mix. One of the best indicators of how your audience will respond to a message is to determine how they’ve responded in the past. Test headlines, ads, designs, and copy variations to determine the most effective tactics.

8. We don’t have anything to share with our customers. Besides, they don’t want to talk to us, anyway.

This is sometimes true. Not many people want to chat up the guy who makes their ball bearings.

But there are a lot more brands people want to interact with that aren’t making an effort yet. So what do you have to offer?

First, you’ve got access. If customers are interested in your product, it’s likely they would want to take a peek behind the curtain.

Second, you’ve got an experienced workforce with highly specialized knowledge. Employees frequently have the potential to be amazing brand representatives, given the proper encouragement.

9. I’m in a highly regulated industry…so I can’t do anything remotely risky.

Pew comes out with reports all the time verifying that Americans interested in their health are online (the latest is here); and heck, my health insurance company has a Twitter account. Chase Bank and others have even developed iPhone apps.

Even the stodgiest, most regulated industries – from health care to insurance to banking – are realizing that their customers are online…and they’d better join them or risk being left in the dust.

10. ROI is the only thing that matters.

ROI or “return on investment” is the ultimate metric. I’m not saying we should trash it.

But ROI is different in a web 2.0 world – especially one in a recession. Unlike direct marketing in days of old, customers take a more round-about path to purchase.

If you’re stuck on ROI, consider this slight twist. David Alston calls it the “return on ignoring“. From the post: “Exploring investment return for social media is valid and necessary within a business framework. But equally important is carefully assessing the price for not being involved.”

Can you afford to ignore channels where your customers are already discussing your product? Not likely.

Economic slowdowns are opportunities

I started thinking about this while writing my e-book: Marketing During A Recession: Economic Slowdowns Are Opportunities. It seems to me that this is the time when marketers should be pushing the envelope; yet, it seems like most aren’t.

Do you agree with the marketing myths listed here? How has your marketing changed during the recession? Click the title of this post to add any comments, we welcome them all.

You sir, are not my friend.

I picked up my voicemail messages on Sunday evening to find a call from a nice sounding man trying to sell me some sort of holiday package. He stated that he got my information from one of my Facebook friends. This angered me. I quickly deleted said “friend”.  I have to admit that I had a quick moment of nostalgia when I received the message, but I quickly checked the irritated box once I heard why and how the silver voiced man had reached me.  Needless to say, my experience was not a positive one and I lost a “friend” in the mix.
Experiences – we all have them. Hundreds of them. They define our likes, our loves and our lives. Some experiences are good, some bad, some are even questionable, but what we care about are the valuable ones because they happen on OUR terms.  We (consumers) have come to expect the instant provision of service, information and entertainment on our terms and not on the marketer’s terms.

What’s a marketer to do?

Listen to your audience. Get to know what they really feel about your brand. No, what they REALLY feel. You may be surprised what you hear – good and bad.  There are some free social monitoring tools that can help with this process, but if you only listen for a small amount of time you will find yourself back at square one sooner than you can tweet about the experience. Build a solid foundation for the future. Take the time and invest in a tool that will help you get ahead.

Mr. Silver Voice may have irritated me no matter what, but what if he changed up his approach and spoke to me in a different channel using a different message? I just got back from a wedding in Oklahoma and tweeted about it. If he was listening and approached me in a different manner, I may not have had the same emotional reaction. Being equipped with the right messaging in the right place when the consumer chooses to engage is being ON DEMAND.

The creation of an On Demand Framework is essential

Without a framework, most marketers tend to start with the tactics, focusing on the hottest new channel, tool or gadget, without thought into how, who and why they are there. So where should you start? We here at Critical Mass have outlined seven principles for being an On Demand brand to get you started.

Be…

1. Insightful – Know your audience. What do they like? What is their online behavior?
2. Remarkable – Stand out from the crowd. Use emotion to connect with your audience. Let them know you understand them and can make their lives easier and/or more enjoyable.
3. Valuable – Getting someone to engage with your content is the first hurdle, but how do you get them to return or engage with you again? Give them something of value. Make it about them, not you.
4. Dynamic – “2.83 million pieces of new content are posted every day.” (Nielsen BuzzMetrics) Don’t be part of the clutter; create a path that is uniquely yours.
5. Portable – Engage with the consumer wherever they are, at any time. Consumers are looking for you – be there to greet them.
6. Conversational – Online media has transformed into a social and interactive experience. Brands must participate in the conversation. Consumers now expect it.
7. Everywhere* – Consumers don’t see the difference between channels. They do not care nor do they want to understand your online strategy.  They just want to find what they are looking for when they want it. Simple. Be where your consumers are. Use insights to make these decisions.

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I’m inspired by all of the industry chatter about the impact of social on search. Last week, I read Jasmine May’s post on OneUpWeb’s study about how consumer generated content is influencing search behaviors. While the news is definitely insightful, it’s important to understand each social media tool as a separate beast, each having its own unique impact on your brand’s “findability” online.

Let’s start with twitter. Although this tool was designed to create and build relationships, it does have an SEO value. I recently sat down with Allyson Hohman (CM’s super-smart Search Director) and got her perspective: “The real time feedback from Twitter is slowly, but surely changing how people conduct a search and, ultimately, what results they will find.” In addition, twitter is optimized as its own destination, as distributed content becomes increasingly important to branded messaging and community relationships.

Together, we came up with the following 15-point twitter SEO checklist:

1. Handle. Is it something people search for?
2. Brand Name. May or may not be the same as handle. Is this displayed as searchable content? (tip: no abbreviations or brand acronyms)
3. Bio. Is it relevant? Does it say why your brand is there? Does it include influencer buzz words?
4. URL. Is your brand linking to your twitter URL in company blogs and sites? (and vice versa?)
5. Tweet Copy: First Words. The start of each tweet (40-45 characters) is factored into each tweet’s title tag, including the account name, and however many characters are left go to the beginning of the actual tweet. (tip: pack the punch in the first 20 characters if possible Read the rest of this entry »

Originally published at iMedia Connection.

The doldrums of summer notwithstanding, I’ve noticed no dearth of self-reflective articles discussing the changing role of the advertising/marketing agency in a web 2.0 world.

Great minds wax poetic about the move from push to pull, from TV to web, from monologue to dialogue – and these are great discussion topics.

But you know what? Almost none of these articles talk about sales.

Are we forgetting our purpose?

Bursting A Bubble

I remember back when the internet was the shiny new object of fascination. Over time, businesses that marketed online to sell products survived (i.e. Amazon.com) and those that just focused on the fun online marketing stuff…well, didn’t (i.e. Pets.com).

Are we seeing a similar trend with social media? A lot of brands are throwing money at engagement and conversation and friending – but is this making the cash register ring?

Image Courtsey of Big Mouth Media; http://tinyurl.com/nellt9

Real Marketers Still Make – And Sell – Stuff

Phil Johnson’s Ad Age piece entitled Agencies Should Be Defined by What They Know, Not What They Make is one of the articles about the modern agency that rubbed me wrong.

As I read it, his article focuses on what we know (communication) at the expense of what we make (ads/experiences which turn into sales).

My conviction is that advertising agencies should become a community full of intellectually curious people…Clients should feel compelled to work with a given agency because they hold the keys to the mysteries of how people communicate with each other.

OK, sure, but isn’t this a tad esoteric?

Clients aren’t comforted by what you know. They’d rather see how you turn that into sales.

Agencies that use social media, then foster loyalty and trust, and then turn that into sales – those agencies will triumph. But agencies that dabble in social media without even considering ROI or sales…think Pets.com 2.0.

Marketers and advertisers who consider sales not lofty enough of a goal would do well to remember David Ogilvy’s number one obiter dictum from Confessions of an Advertising Man:

“We sell – or else.”

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“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

- John Wanamaker

I can’t stand that quotation.

Even today, it is bandied about as though it has any meaning in the current world of (online) marketing. It contained some truth when it was first said, but today it just identifies the lazy marketers in our midst.

Why the vitriol? It’s because almost everything is becoming measurable. Now, there is no reason to claim ignorance to analytics – we are swimming in data.

But that might be the problem. As the recession continue to apply pressure to all industries (and on advertising and marketing more than most I would venture) there is a redoubled focus on return on investment (ROI).

And this is wonderful. The online channel is made to justify advertiser’s investments. But the advent of social media has thrown a monkey wrench of sorts into the works. How do we define ROI in a web 2.0 world? How has the landscape changed and how can we plan for tomorrow?

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It reads like an early 70’s drug induced weekend, doesn’t it?  The Oprah Experience.  If you buy into all of her “your spirit, your soul” stuff than you have been living the Oprah Experience for some time.  And clearly, that is her goal – allow her cult, eh, fans, to engage with her anywhere. And so, on the day Oprah got on Twitter, I thought it relevant to talk about how she distributes herself.

Its official.  Oprah Tweets.  @Oprah Stedman and I are shopping for light bulbs.

Not too many celebrities have an HBR (Harvard Business Review) case study written about them (I’d link you to it but they don’t give those away for free).  It talks about her humble beginnings, her work in Chicago television and ultimately how she ended up staring down execs from massive distribution companies over the negotiation tables in an effort to maintain control over her destiny.  No mention in the case of best friend Gayle (seriously, she needs a Wikipedia page?) which I found refreshing.

Her ability to maintain control of her brand has enabled her to create a distribution strategy rivaled by few.  Magazine, radio, book clubs and potentially her own network.  But it is less about the properties in her network and more about the message she consistently communicates. That message is simple and authentic:  be strong and resilient and you can live your best life.

Over the last couple of months, Oprah has launched a Facebook page (she brought Zuckerberg onto the show for a very awkward, appearance to demonstrate how to use it) and now is on Twitter.  So how will she continue to expand her experience into digital channels, specifically social, where judgment of success is tied directly to authenticity?  It shouldn’t be all that different from how she has built her brand.

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Post 2 of 3. The Present, The Future, and How do We Get There? This part of my OMMA Social experience links trends that were talked about at the conference to my opinion and, in come cases criticism.

The Future: As a whole, there’s a whole lot of talk and not a lot of real action. What a shame. Lots of testing without calculated risk in 2008. For the record, I’m not angry at those early adopter efforts. I, for one, wish our own agency did more testing last year. As the industry eases their way into influential marketing, which is a combination of both earned and paid media; we’ll stumble over things like planning and measurement. Once we evolve those pieces, I think we’ll begin to see changes in 2 areas of our digital marketing approach:

#1. Lead with CRM, not basic marketing strategies around product awareness. We currently talk about finding evangelists and getting them to bring more people into the fold –influence their consideration set and purchases. But, in the future, (when most brands realize that they are chasing their tails) we’ll look at our current databases of consumers and crawl the web to see where they’re at. If we truly care about what they like and dislike, why don’t we put the people we truly care about at the top of our priority list, vs. sending them spam once a week? I think companies like Unbound Technologies do a great job of social mapping based on people, but miss the mark on finding contextual adjacency and relevance.

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I attended OMMA Social last week and it took me a few days to organize all of the information by sifting through all my tweets and mobile notes. For those of you that didn’t attend, I’m creating this thread in 3 posts.  The Present, The Future, and How do We Get There?

 The Present: We all agree that we’ve talked about it long enough. It’s time to get our hands dirty. There are 2 main themes that I saw coming out of the conference:

 #1. The economy doesn’t mean cut social spending. If anything gets cut, it surely shouldn’t be social. 

• Peer-reviews and WOM influence purchase now more than ever. Forrester, eMarketer and Jupiter are all singing the same social praises. Consumers are using peers to research before buying.
• Only 15% of the top Fortune 500 brands are participating in social. Get in before it gets more cluttered and fragmented.
• If nothing else, listen to the insights and measure paid media impact through social graphing and analysis. You can also use it to understand how you stack up to your competition.
• While they are pricey, there are tools that can help you track your social share of voice, traffic and ecommerce conversions. The key is to use them efficiently.  Pull information that helps shape flexible creative messaging and ongoing distribution strategies.
• Other budgets should make the sacrifice.  If 8 out of 10 holiday shoppers read web reviews, then we’ve identified triggers for conversion.  Cut spending in places where we can’t track those conversions in this economy.

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Originally published at iMedia Connection

Depending on who you believe, ad spending in 2009 will drop anywhere from 3% (GroupM) to 6.2% (Publicis).  The Internet, however, stands tall, with expectations hovering at an increase of 5% – strong growth in this market.  Google “online spending,” the returns are overwhelming.

The continued growth of online ad spending is surely driven by the channel’s ability to produce measurable ROI.  This, combined with the ongoing migration of consumers to the channel as a whole, is a winning formula for online destinations that, for a long time, have cried foul as it pertains to their share of marketing budgets.  Well my friends, the time has come.  Step up or step off.

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