Apr 5, 2013 | Branding, Communication
When you have something to communicate, do it simply, decisively, without any ambiguity or extra frills, and look the receiver of the communication in the eyes. This holds for personal communication, advertising, and now for the myriad of social communication sites that have burst onto the communication landscape.
This commercial, from back in the 60’s, by the now long gone Union Carbide advertising their insulation must be one of the greatest commercials ever. I saw it as a kid on our first TV, and have never forgotten the message. It talks about the product, demonstrates the benefit, is a simple idea easily communicated, you watch and remember all the commercial, not go to make a coffee.
The communication landscape may be radically altered from when I was a kid in the 60’s, but the skills of effective communication remain just the same, just as human. However, the production values have gone up a bit, we could now shoot a better looking commercial on our mobile phones, but it is not the look, but the message that counts.
Apr 2, 2013 | Branding, Communication, Customers, Marketing, Social Media
Are these two separate ideas, or just opposite ends of the same stick?
In a world increasingly driven by data, and as someone who has been known to rant about the necessity of measuring marketing efforts in order to build a better ROI on marketing investments, where does emotion fit in?
Data is a bit like the framework of a house, you can see where the bedrooms and bathrooms are, how big they are, are there any windows, and so on, but that is a sterile, emotionless representation of the home that framework can become. Add some colour, furnishings, a kids teddy on the floor, and the framework becomes a home. It is these additions, the accoutrements of life these added things that all have their own stories that adds the emotion to the framework of the house.
We are rushing headlong into a world run by data, but it would be a mistake to let the pendulum go too far, and overwhelm the emotion, as we live and remember with stories, and memories, data is just the means we use to make them more accessible.
As you contemplate the analytics on your web site, and the data in your CRM system, don’t forget that each data point represents a human story, experience, feeling, and some sort of emotion, and it will add great value when you are able to incorpoare that into he way the data set works.
Mar 25, 2013 | Communication, Customers, Marketing, retail, Small business, Social Media
One of the foundations of mass marketing was to be able to segment your market, geographically, demographically, behaviorally, brand preferences, and so on.
In the old days of mass media, it was really the only way to target messages at those most likely to be receptive, match the media selection to the characteristics of your target market.
But what has happened in the social world of networked consumers and crowd sourced comment and content?
An acquaintance runs a wonderful patisserie in a rejuvenated inner city location. It is pricey, but the value is there, reflected in the range, artistic presentation, great service, and above all, pastries to die for. However, some of the comments on the review sites would lead to a conclusion that the products were overpriced, too fancy, and lacked character.
Standing in the queue on a Saturday morning just before Christmas, observing others, and listening to the comments, the penny dropped. Those in the queue were older, clearly successful, were regulars, and loved the place, whereas the casual buyer, the ones far more likely to leave a comment on a review site were most probably Uni students, on their way between the train station and the campus just down the road. These buyers were more liklely to want a cheap, filling, snack rather than a tasty work of art.
The lesson: Do not believe all your read on social media review sites, any more than you believe all you read in a politicians press release.
Mar 22, 2013 | Branding, Communication, Marketing, Social Media
Digital communication is now a major consideration in any marketing budget, depending on whose numbers you believe, digital may now be even bigger than “traditional” communication channels.
So how should you develop your creative and communication briefs?
- Concentrate on traditional channels and adapt for Digital?
- Focus on digital and use traditional as the adjunct?
- Split the budget and treat them separately, or consider the cart and horse to be the one integrated delivery vehicle?
Making these choices, deciding which is the horse, the one that provides the “grunt,” you need and requiring real feeding, and which is the cart, which just needs some maintanence, is the key decision. Then you need to decide how you are going to manage the processes of feeding and maintaining, as they require very different strategies and capabilities.
Traditional media is passive, one way, the objective is to disrupt to gain attention and only then deliver a message with no effective feedback mechanism.
Digital media is wholly different. It has the native capability to be two way, a “conversation,” it cannot disrupt as the initiative is with the receiver rather than the sender, the originator can micro-target to the level of individuals, and there are immediate and hugely detailed feedback loops.
All this means that the manner in which the proposition is presented is entirely different, passive, mass creative Vs a message demanding action of an individual.
When put like that, the dilemma becomes more transparent, relatively easily addressed by a few simple questions:
- Is it a commodity, mass market product, or are you building a market customer by customer?
- Are you aiming to build awareness amongst a wide market profile or engagement of a niche?
- Can you identify and target the behavioral characteristics of your target market, or just the demographic ones?
The answers to these questions will offer insight not just to which is the horse, but how much, and what it needs to be fed to deliver the optimum result.
Mar 5, 2013 | Communication, Social Media
Ever wondered about the credibility gathered and built by the tweets, posts, and content created that then become used, and shared, and re-shared?
The opposite of the stone, the more something is shared, the more it gathers moss, the virtual credibility we all seek on the web.
Proximity to the source of information usually enhances the opportunity to assess its credibility, but the paradox is that the wider the electronic distribution of content, the more weight it seems to gather, irrespective of the intrinsic value of the content.
Mar 4, 2013 | Branding, Communication, Marketing, Social Media
Most of my networks are small businesses, and pretty much everyone I talk to who is using social media in some way consider it as a part of their sales strategy, a tool to increase sales. Many would concede it is a marketing tool first, but why do it if sales do not come, and how do you measure success other than by sales?
The marketers amongst you will shudder.
What social media is good at is raising awareness, creating engagement and advocacy, what it is not good at is being a transactional process. Social media is not transactional at all, it does not create sales, rather it creates a conversation, the environment in which sales can be made, but the sales process itself is separate.
A subtle difference perhaps, but hugely important in any consideration of the return that comes from an investment in Social Media.
