Tag Archives: Marketing Blogs
As the ‘noughties’ finish, those of us in the marketing/advertising/PR (more simply termed, ‘communications’) industry recall last decade’s tectonic shifts with nervous anticipation. Brands are finally able to offer its customers advertising they can choose to watch, services they genuinely enjoy and dialogues that are, well, actual conversations.
At the same time, a large number of traditional agencies have disappeared while audiences seem to be everywhere but in front of TV sets or newspapers. And yet the French adage, ‘the more things change the more they stay the same’ still holds. Here are 10 books published last decade offering a good shape of the communications industry and what’s to come:
What’s Changing?
1. The Idea Writers by Teressa Iezzi: If you want to get caught up fast, read this. It’s a great primer with plenty of insights on what’s changed and what’s still required to get an audience’s attention, online or off. Teressa is the editor of Advertising Age’s Creativity magazine and an expert on branded campaigns. Highly recommended.
2. Baked In by Alex Bogusky and John Winsor: This book was written by what could be the alpha and the omega of advertising in the past decade. Alex Bogusky is arguably one of the leaders of “a second “Golden Creative Age” and “Creative Revolution”. John Winsor is the founder of crowdsourcing agency Victors & Spoils, perhaps the end of what we call agencies today. Together they’ve written a book that expands the marketing process into product design, anthropology and beyond.
Communications is such an intrinsic function of what we do everyday in both our work and our personal lives that we often take it for granted. Underlying the conversations and campaigns we have and work on every day is tremendous potential in impact: the impact we have on others, conflicts, our lives, and ultimately, to results. To achieve impact, however, there are a number of simple principles to bear in mind that can make all the difference when communicating to an audience – regardless of the size.
1) Assume You Will Be Misunderstood
All too often, when we think of communicating to other people, we think of communications as being exactly that: communicating to rather than with other people. Our goal of communication is to get our message out. In interpersonal interactions, we are focused on telling the other person what we want to say. On a grander scale, as in marketing, the objective is to reach as many people as possible with our message. In both cases (and everything in between), it’s easy to get caught up in what we want to say, and we easily forget to consider a crucial point: the receiver, and the real goal of mutual understanding.
Miscommunication happens when an assumption is made that the person or audience we’re talking to is coming from the same perspective and understanding as we are. Usually, it’s an unconscious assumption, but it can also cause a great deal of misunderstanding and conflict. Consider that the opposite is true. Chances are, the people you’re talking to are coming from completely different places than you. They may be from another generation, culture, background, upbringing, value-system or even just mental state. Instead, what you can assume is that misunderstanding is the norm. To bridge that gap, it’s helpful to consider those differences as you communicate.
Obviously, this is less of an issue with simple messages but it really makes a difference in more complex issues — especially those that are sensitive and potentially controversial. Consider what those areas of misunderstanding may be, and let that guide your communication. For example, if it is technical knowledge your audience doesn’t have, explain it in simpler terms. If there are cultural differences, do a little research on what the differences are or explain the context of your perspective in more detail and ask questions to validate if they understand the same thing. Whatever the case, proactively anticipating misunderstanding and either simplifying or elaborating can make a big difference.
Johnny Schroepfer | Critical Mass Chicago
Mobile and emerging technology have historically had more hype than actual adoption or implementation within marketing campaigns; but with the proliferation of mobile devices and digitization, the mobile channel is slowly becoming a necessity rather than a novelty. In this post, I wanted to address key developmental areas of mobile and their impact on customer experience and engagement.
Traditional & Mobile Integration in Marketing
From an integrative marketing standpoint, the mobile device can be seen as an extension of the brand experience; it’s what connects the end user with the brand messaging. Mobile is often an overlooked or undervalued channel of communication but in reality, it’s one of the most personal forms of communication in this digital world. When campaigns are successfully crafted and executed, the channel that connects the end user with the message has the power to change both brand perception and consumer behavior. With that said I believe we will continue to see more brands create mobile campaigns or initiatives that complement traditional marketing channels while allocating a significant amount of their advertising budget towards mobile and emerging technologies.
Advertising
The recent launch of the Apple iAd platform will only further prove my point that there will continue to be a major marketing shift and emphasis on mobile within integrated marketing campaigns. The iAd platform allows developers to create beautiful and rich advertising executions that are less disruptive and reach the consumer at the intersection of emotion and interactivity. In addition to this innovative approach, the developers will retain 60% of revenues which have already shown signs of success. Obviously, these signs of success are due more to novelty rather than active engagement and interest, but the iAd platform is definitely a step in the right direction for advertisers.
Payment
Mobile commerce is another key area of significant growth that is driving adoption and new users. With more brands integrating traditional and mobile campaigns, allowing consumers to easily pay for various products and services on-the-go will benefit both parties. Apples iTunes payment system is a great example of quick, convenient one-click purchasing. During the D8 conference, eBay CEO, John Donahoe, discussed the adoption of the mobile device as a way to pay for goods and services. Donahoe explained that the mobile delivered $600M last year and will deliver $1.5B to $2.0B in revenue to eBay this year.
Originally posted at iMedia Connection on Jan. 6, 2010
I’m proud of Critical Mass’ standard of always seeking the extraordinary. So you can imagine my self-disappointment when I sat down to write another “top 10 predictions for the new year” post…it felt decidedly un-extraordinary.
So, forget about 2010. Let’s talk big. REALLY big.
Here are 10 predictions for the next decade. That’s right, the whole darn decade.
Sure, it’s a little linkbait-y, but this is a fun way to start the new year and could ignite some great conversation. What will happen? And how will you succeed in this new decade?
1) Content Strategy Becomes the New Information Architecture: You’ve probably heard the saying, “Information architecture is to design what content strategy is to copy.” And it’s true, except that content strategy lags about 5-10 years behind IA as an agency deliverable. Expect clients to demand content strategy and hence agencies to staff up with folks who understand that the content on a site is as much a science as it is an art.
2) Marketing Sciences Get Sexy: Forget impressions, views, and hits. These dinosaurs are extinct and today’s darlings (the all-too-vague visitors and clicks to name two) will likely follow them into the ether. Web metrics will get a hell of a lot sexier than bounce rate — expect more about engagement, behavior, real customer insights. And as web metrics become more robust, the interpreters of this information — marketing scientists — will become the oracles of the office. Their challenge will be to not only wrestle this data into a story we can understand, but also to make info about past behavior predictive (or prescriptive) for future behavior. (Expect to see offerings like this proliferate.)
3) Google De-throned As Search King: As Google continues to diversify – phones, browsers, tons of acquisitions, etc. — the amount of time they can focus on perfecting search falls. All this while competitors lick their chops. In ’09, Microsoft’s Bing brought a reasonable alternative to the fore with great ads and some innovative changes, especially for video searches. And with Wolfram Alpha and possibly others in the wings, it’s likely the king of search will end this next decade looking around for all that lost market share.
As I have been reading the recently released Six Pixels Of Separation by Mitch Joel, I’ve been struck by the (still newly) awesome power of the personal brand within a corporate structure.
But what is personal branding? And why should your company care?
Wikipedia defines personal branding as the “process [note: not end result] whereby people and their careers are marked as brands…defined as the creation of an asset that pertains to a particular person or individual…leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable.”
This is just a fancy way to say that who you are and all of the stuff you do can be packaged up into a composite image of sorts – especially online.
The Simple Old Days
Personal brands have largely been troublesome for businesses in the past. Strong personalities or images could draw attention away from the business, itself. Personal missteps could drag down whole companies. And these are just the C-level dangers!
Personal brands below the C-level suite were anathema for business in the past. It was unnecessary fragmentation. It put an individual above the company.
It was, in short, unthinkable.
Back To Mitch Joel And Our Fragmented World
Now, however, we are immersed in fragmentation. We get our news and views from a variety of sources through a wide array of mediums. Despite a few head-firmly-in-sand ostriches, almost all of us know marketing, advertising, and PR are forever changed.
It is in this new world, where everyone possesses the power to publish, that personal branding has irrevocably changed. Joel states that in this new environment:
“[I]t is not about how your business connects and communicates in online channels, it’s about how you (or your employees) as an individual build, nurture, and share personal brands. A company is no longer made up of anonymous people building one brand; rather, it is made up of many personal brands that are telling your one corporate-brand story in their own, personal, ways.” (page 126)
Don’t we see this every day? Comcast has Frank Eliason. GM has Scott Monty. But more and more frequently, brands see even greater success by opening the flood gates even more. Over 450 Zappos employees are on Twitter. Can you beat that evangelism?
I asked Dan Schawbel, author of Me 2.0 and award-winning and syndicated blogger at PersonalBrandingBlog.com, what he thought about Joel’s quote.
“Personal brands can support corporate brands in many different ways, such as with online recruitment of top talent, customer support, sales, brand monitoring and free promotion through social networks. By avoiding your most powerful asset, your people, you are at a severe competitive disadvantage. The visibility of personal brands will only help you build a stronger corporate brand, especially during this tough economic climate.
Are all personal brands created equal? I would say not, which is why companies should find their best spokespeople, who have the most passion and value and enable them to share their voice, without legal constraints.”
‘Nuff said.
A Personal Personal Brand Example
I don’t intend to bore you with rah-rah-ing my own agency, but I’d like to present it as an example of one company striving to use all of its human resources.
One of our most popular blog posts last month was From Chasm to Convergence: Technology Closes the Gap Between Manufacturers and Consumers part 1 and part 2. Authors Johnathan Bonnell and Jason Theodor received 14 comments (quite healthy for an agency blog post) and incited conversations on several blogs. So, how did this happen?
The posts’ success originated from many factors, including:
- Personal brand aids in distribution. Johnathan and Jason were already active in social media, having previously gained a following through their blog (Jason), Posterous profile (Johnathan), and their respective Twitter accounts (@jted and @digitalinfant). They used their already existing personal channels to notify their audience to the agency post.
- Internal support. Critical Mass’ internal marketing team has renewed their efforts to use the company blog as a forum for employee posts. In fact, last month Critical Mass’ blog, Experience Matters, featured 13 posts from 11 contributors – the highest rate of staff involvement in 15 months. (So, props to @CeliaJones and @KTBogda for starting – and keeping – this ball rolling.) Both employees and the agency benefit from using the official company channel to broadcast their thoughts.
Through fragmented social media – owned by both the company and employees – word of these posts spread much further than they could have through any one channel.
From The Authors
I asked Johnathan and Jason about their experience and how the personal/company brand interplay affected the post.
From Johnathan:
“I think what worked well with the Experience Matters post was the combination of the work coming from Jason and I, as well as Critical Mass’ credibility.
It’s a combination of what the brand brings (top tier digital agency that has experience in producing high quality work) and what Jason and I bring (authenticity, personal experience, and a unique point of view). That to me is what worked well with the Experience Matters post.”
From my point of view, Johnathan is describing the machinations occurring just under the surface. Correspondingly, Jason highlights how their message then moved from the post outward into the broader world.
“I was thinking about how Critical Mass and employees who broadcast through social media channels create a symbiotic relationship.
Consider a Venn diagram, with Critical Mass in a circle in the centre, and all the employees who broadcast in circles surrounding it [image shown at the top of this post]. When I write something and it is broadcast by CM, it sucks in and filters all of Critical Mass’ extended audience and aims them at me.
At the same time, as an employee but also as an individual broadcaster, I pull in my OWN audience who then get exposed to Critical Mass. Who benefits the most? I’d say both…”
How This Is Different From GM, Comcast, And Others
So, why is this special? And why should your company or agency consider optimizing the personal brands of your employees?
Two reasons are paramount: Many megaphones and home-grown superstars.
Many Megaphones:
While it is great to give Frank at Comcast and Scott at GM the huge company megaphone, it remains just that – one megaphone. By dispersing content creation across the company, each employee generates buzz around their personal post and the company, by proxy.
Home-Grown Superstars:
And while bequeathing a social media position is a great step, companies and agencies should recognize the benefit of growing their own superstars. Find the employee who stands out, puts in the extra time, and has an innate sense of suitable content. Making your company blog a meritocracy allows for unknowns to rise and keeps the focus on the content and the company, as opposed to any particular individual (especially important when considering employee turn-over).
Who Is Your Human?
So, will you integrate employee personal brands into your company’s brand?
Johnathan summed up my thesis well: “The interesting and important idea is that social media and networks have made it easier for companies to develop relationships between their brand and customers by tapping into their employees as brand voices.”
And why is this important? I’m sure I am not alone in saying it is because the most interesting thing to people is…other people.
Social media strategist Jay Baer concurs that social media is about people, not logos:
“Sometimes, the humanization comes from an employee [or customer] that has a unique job or an unusual passion for the company…
[Paraphrased from the video:] We (and our consumers) are attracted to other people, not faceless corporations. 6 under $6 [the Subway advertising campaign prior to the famous Jared spots] is just features and benefits. It’s much more compelling to be human…Who’s your human?”
Who personifies your company? Do you allow employees to use company channels to spread your message?
Or, are you hesitant to tap into employee personal brands? If so, why?
We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.
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.
