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You would think that after over 40 years from when the below was first published by DDB, that it would not be necessary anymore. Yet these below statements are the very thing social media enthusiast continue to preach. Maybe social media will give consumers the leverage to make sure companies follow the below recommendations.
I don’t know how I slipped into it, why I started thinking this way, but I lost one of the key principles of social media, speaking in a human voice. Somehow I started thinking and telling clients that the human voice thing can be left for the blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc, the rest of your website and marketing material can be marketing crap. (Ok, I didn’t use the word crap)
As part of the Destination Marketing book club I'm leading everyone in the office through the “Cluetrain Manifesto” and while reading it for the first time in years, I realized I went off track somewhere. It especially hit me in reading chapter three “Talk is Cheap” by Rick Levine. The below excerpt is what made it painfully clear.
Hart Scientific, Inc. (www.hartscientific.com) posted a convenient comparison of conversational versus traditional writing on their Web site. They have two versions of their Y2K compliance page. You can tell them apart:
Noncompliance issues could arise if Hart Scientific manufactured products are combined with other manufacturer’s products. Hart cannot test all possible system configurations in which Hart manufactured products could be incorporated. Our products currently test as being compliant and will continue to operate correctly after January 1, 2000. However, customers must test integrated systems to see if components work with Hart Scientific manufactured products. Hart makes no representation or warranty concerning non-Hart manufactured products.
And...
If you’re using our equipment with someone else’s gear, who the hell knows what’s going to happen. We sure don’t, so how can we promise you something specific, or even vague for that matter? We can’t, so we won’t. However, we love our customers and like always we’ll do whatever is reasonable to solve whatever problems come up, if there are any.
Which one would you rather read? Which one connects you to the brand, and gives you a sense of working with people, instead of a corporation?
I used to preach this and then lost it, and I think social media is to blame partly. It’s easy to put social media in a silo. For some reason in all the talk about Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, etc. I forgot that the principles that work with those social tools, work with all forms of media.
Heck I even warned against thinking social media are tools in a blog post “Social Media, Philosophy, Tools, or Both?” Maybe I should take my own advice!
Well people get off track. I was there, but now I’m back. It’s not going to be an easy battle, but that has never stopped me before.
I encourage you to join me (if you aren’t there already) and to not relegate human voices to a blog, Twitter, or Facebook. Lets push companies and ourselves in talking with a natural voice in all mediums of communication.
Who wants to read, listen, or even do business with a bunch of marketing crap anyway?
Does Jack in the Box have the right formula?
Ever since Jack in The Box “Hang in there Jack” launched, I've wondered if launching an online social network, or viral campaign via TV is efficient. (Ok, truthfully I missed the spot all together when watching the Super Bowl, but that doesn't help prove my point.)
I know several successful online “viral” campaigns have launched via TV, but it's time to move on to a different strategy. BMW was very successful with their BMW films campaign, but it's a much different time now, and I don't know if that was “viral” in the first place. (I hate how viral is used in reference to online campaigns, so I feel better when I put it in quotes. Don't ask me why.)
Why not launch the campaign online first, and use social media to promote it? This is not only cheaper, but increases the chances influencers online will adopt the campaign as their own and help promote it. Using mass media to promote something online is almost shunned by this group, and it will be hard to get their acceptance once you do.
Another benefit to launching online is that the company or agency behind the program can test the campaign and see if it works before spending millions of dollars promoting it with traditional media. You could even refine the campaign to see what works before launching it on a larger scale.
Best case scenario would be if the campaign went “viral” without mass media at all. You could reach millions of people for a fraction of the cost of a Super Bowl ad, and you would get a sense of ownership from those participating, that you don't get using mass media.
One of the reasons something goes “viral” is that it seems special to the viewer. So special or unique that those who see it want to share it with their friends.
If a campaign launches during the Super Bowl, how special is it? Do you think, “wow I bet my friends have not seen this and would enjoy it”? Probably not.
Maybe I'm wrong. By the looks of the numbers to the site, the Twitter account, Facebook group etc. Jack in the Box seems to be getting a lot of participation. I think that has more to do with the fact that they are one of the first to have a truly integrated social media campaign, not because of a brilliant execution strategy.
What do you think?
Everyone is all a buzz about the Denny's Super Bowl Grand Slam Giveaway. Adweek calls it a “Hit” in this article. But if it was such a hit, why doesn't everyone simply give away their product in promotions?
Heck, anyone could giveaway stuff for free to millions of people, the key is doing it and making money. The main question Denny's and anyone that does a giveaway needs to be asking is, “am I creating new customers by doing this”, or “does it get my current customers to increase their spend”?
Is Denny's ever going to get a positive return on the $5 million they spent (according to Adweek) on this promotion? For the sake of easy math, let's look at some easy numbers and calculate their break even point.
At best Denny's makes $5 on each Grand Slam they sell (according to Adweek). That means they need to sell an additional one million of them, to make this promotion break even. (They could sell higher margin product etc. but is it really gonna make that big of a difference? They're not a steakhouse)
Does anyone believe the people receiving these free Denny's meals were so happy with them, that they are going to come back for more? Let alone one million of them? Was the experience so gratifying or outside their expectations they had for Denny's that they said, “dang I need to go to Denny's more often”?
I don't think that many people were convinced of that, nor do I think Denny's believes it. That is why they gave away coupons to try to get these new customers to come back. So again they result to discounting their product to get rid of it.
The only way a company is going to make a giveaway like Denny's work, is to exceed the customers expectations in some way. Everyone knows what a Grad Slam taste like, why didn't Denny's introduce a new product and give that away? At least that way customers might find a new product they love, and it would give them a reason to come back.
Or better yet, why not use this giveaway to introduce a lower price for the Grand Slam meal? Use the economy angle to promote it. Obviously they feel their product is not worth the $5.99 they charge, because they are giving it away for free and couponing it. Why not start charging $3.99 everyday for a Grand Slam and say they are celebrating by giving them away for free for the first half of Feb 2nd?
It's gonna take longer to get a return, but at least some people might actually come back. And by doing this it benefits everyone, not just the few who took advantage of the free breakfast. At the very least some people might remember that Denny's has a complete breakfast for only $3.99, right now all they remember now is that Denny's gave away some free food.
My goal is to be an expert at my job, but in today's ever changing marketing world it's impossible. That's why having a strong network of marketing connections is more important than ever. How is someone supposed to be an expert in all the aspects of just the online marketing world, let alone traditional media? Staying on top of all the changes in SEO, Paid Search, Display and Social Media is impossible. Just staying on top of one area like SEO or Social Media is extremely hard and time consuming.
Then add on top of that, traditional marketing such as TV, Radio, Print, and Outdoor, and how they all work together with online advertising, and you have a lost cause. That is unless you find a way to add more hours to the day. (if you do let me know)
So what are you to do, because aren't we supposed to offer our clients or company the best marketing advice around?
The only way to do that is to surround yourself with the best people. Have a great network around you of brilliant people in each industry that you can lean on when needed.
Sometimes the best thing to know, is to know when to bring someone else in for help. That's the difference between knowing enough to be dangourous, and knowing enough to helpful.
Ever since I started relaunching Social Media Club Seattle, my friends and co-workers keep asking me, why social media? Ok, so sometimes that question comes after the what is social media question? But at any rate, not everyone gets why I would want to be involved in a group about social media.
They see social media as a way to connect to friends, but what else could it do, and why would an advertising guy be interested?
Well, I am interested, (ok a little obsessed) with social media, because I have seen the power it has. I have seen social media transform the reputation of brands, raise thousands of dollars for a good cause, and change the marketing direction of large companies in a matter of days.
Comcast, a brand with a horrible reputation among tech geeks needed to improve their customer service reputation. What did they do? They turned to social media, and it's well documented in this NY Times Article
So by monitoring online conversations, and participating in online networks such as Twitter with @comcastcares, Comcast has started to change their brands image. They have turned a community of people who were actively disparaging the brand online 2 years ago, into brand fanatics that actively promote Comcast. I follow around 300 people on Twitter, and I can barely go a week without one of them raving about @comcastcares. That kind of word of mouth outreach does a lot to help a reputation of a company. This is something traditional advertising could not accomplish, especially not this fast, or so inexpensively.
The main reason @comcastcares was a success was people view their online connections positively. We are looking to learn and share with those we are connected with online, so we are less skeptical about what they are telling us. That can not be said about what we see on TV, hear on the radio, or see in a banner ad.
Zappos CEO gets it. He buys into social media and blogs and tweets. This has led to a culture at Zappos that is focused around the customer. What other CEO of a company with over $1 billion in sales would respond to random bloggers on Twitter, or respond to others blog post? Here are two great articles about Zappos, one from Adweek, and one from ReadWriteWeb.
Do a search for Zappos and you’ll see the results. It seems almost every blogger has interviewed Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. What amazing PR, and a way to make a one to one connection with their customers. These aren’t just any customers promoting Zappos either, they are influencers that will then communicate this message to many others online and off.
You may be saying sure social media can increase brand awareness and perception, but how do we place a value on it? The best example I have of the potential is a recent plea for help from David Armano. His plea for $5,000 for a family in need was taken to heart by his followers. Within 12 hours of his original post he already had raised over double what he was hoping. A truly amazing and heart warming story of the power of a network and relationships.
There are many questions we can ask about this example, and things that must be quantified, but I have two that come to mind first as a marketer. How was David able to “influence” his online following to give? Or more importantly, what has David given his followers that they feel the need to give back?
I could go on with stories like this, both positive and negative. I could talk about the influence of a small Twitter group over a huge brand like J&J, in the Motrin Mom fiasco. Or talk about how H&R Block used social media and a fake persona to connect with consumers.
It seems everyday there is another case study or example of the power of social media. That alone is exciting, but the reason I am involved is the unknown of social media. How do we quantify why some social media marketing campaings work, and some don't? What are the best practices of social media, or the best implementation for a given brand? That is why I have connected both online and offline to others exploring these same questions.
Social media is growing and changing faster than anyone can keep up. We are at the infancy of something will change not only the way companies interact with consumers, but also the way they do business internally.
I have encouraged many of my friends to start participating in the social media space, and its great to see their excitement once the light switches on and they see the potential. It's hard to quantify what that potential is in a blog post like this, but trust me, spend a month participating in the conversation online and you'll see it too.
I went into blogging with certain goals in mind, but after 6 months I have gotten more from it then I would have ever imagined, and so can you. When I started my blog, there were three reasons behind it. 1. To improve my writing skills 2. Get my opinionated ideas on paper, in an effort to free up my co-workers time. 3. So I could have two-way conversations with people about marketing ideas (Twitter does this now)
Here is a link to the first post that explains it a little more.
What I did not plan on getting out of blogging was the ability to refine my thoughts and communicate them more clearly, not only in writing but also in conversation. I don't know why I did not expect this to happen, but it has been the biggest benefit I received from blogging, and I think you would as well.
We all have thousands of ideas storming around our heads all day (and sometimes night) long. We like to think we can recall them when needed, but we can't always do that.
If we can recall those ideas they are not always well fleshed out or thought through. Certainly nothing you could use in a meeting with a client, unless you put a lot more time into developing them. By writing your ideas down, it helps you develop them materialize them and put them in a part of cognitive memory you can actually use.
Of course this is nothing new. People have been saying to journal thoughts for thousands of years. What's great about a blog however, is that you have other people reading those thoughts, and improving upon them. You also have somewhat of an accountability network to keep you going.
So if you don't blog, give it a try for a few days. Just go to http://posterous.com or http://wordpress.com/ and set one up. Or if you already blog, do it more often. (trying to take my own advice)
You will be amazed how when in meetings, or in talking with friends, you will all of a sudden start quoting your blog post. It's like having a support group of ideas ready to help you when needed. Best of all they're your ideas!
For some reason the question of where to place of social media on a company org chart is a thing of much debate. I have read post about how it should be in PR and I have also read people blog that it should be in customer service. I haven't seen any post about it going under marketing, but then again, using social media for marketing is something that is done, but no one likes to talk about.
Let's step back and reevaluate this for a moment however, why are we trying to fit the square peg that is social media, into a round whole that is PR, marketing, and customer service? Sure social media can be used to accomplish all three, but aren't we constraining the benefits if we put aPR, marketing, or customer service in charge of it?
Or even worse, some larger companies put all three departments in charge of it. I was at a panel discussion the other week, and heard about how Microsoft does this. They have social media people in all three groups. They have enough money to start a separate social media department. Why don't they?
How do companies benefit from having one person/department monitor and interact with people in a customer service realm, and then a different person/department on the PR side? How are meaningful relationships going to be made when the people doing these interactions only have them when discussing certain topics?
Sure some companies don't have the funds to develop their own social media department with a C level exec etc., but they do need to give control to someone.
This person may report to a Marketing or PR Exec, but this social media guru must have control and knowledge of all three areas online. If not relationships will not be made, and certain areas of opportunities in social media will be missed.
Only by seeing all the opportunities in social media, and taking part in all of them, will social media then benefit companies in the way they are hoping.
Why is it that traditional media and new media just can't get along? Why is it that I go to countless presentations by TV and Radio stations and all they ever try to do is justify their existence?
It's always about reach! They say “you can't get reach like this anywhere else” (who are they kidding?). Or they try to sell their personal connection with their audience. I love when they say their website, has more dedicated followers that trust them and is more valuable than a typical website.
Seriously? When was the last time you felt a personal connection to a traditional media's website more than say a social website?
Traditional media is not dead by any stretch of the imagination, nor will it be anytime soon, but with this type of talk they are sure digging their grave rather fast. Why aren't they figuring out ways to develop deeper relationships and connections with their audience?
It's because they are scared of loosing audience to other sites and using other formats they do not control. Sure they have all added blogs, but why won't they reach out to their audience and connect in a more meaningful way? Why not have Facebook groups, Twitter profiles etc.?
No one wants to read a blog that talks about the same things they do on the air. They read a blog to find out what their DJ or news Anchorman is really like. Or at the very least to get a behind the scenes look at what is going on at the station.
I listen to the Hot AC radio station here in Seattle, (only in the morning mind you, it wakes me up) with an ideal Facebook demo, and they do not even have a Facebook Group that I can find. Their morning Jocks have Facebook profiles but they are private. (I would try to friend them, but don't want that showing up on my profile!)
TV is the same way. I have a friend who is a Weatherman, and I have been trying to convince him to join Twitter. He could be the Weatherman for Twitter, and connect with his audience on a deeper way, but as of yet he has not done it.
Why do these traditional media formats avoid these social platforms? It's all about controlling the audience. They still think they have control like they did 20 years ago, and sadly refuse to wake-up to the idea that they are now just a small part of people lives.
Only by embracing other media formats, and loosing control will they truly develop a deep relationship with their audiences. Once that relationship is established they will then have something more valuable then reach, they will have insight and a connection on a personal level.
In traditional media? Let me know what you think.
Kevin Urie
How long until a big time social media enthusiast burns out and leaves the medium all together? Or ever worse, how long until someone that is on Twitter 7 days a week 18 hrs a day, finally has enough and either goes insane, or does the unthinkable because of the over work?
Getting online everyday, blogging, checking your Tweets, replying to Facebook invites etc. can be overwhelming. I even find that simply Tweets or Facebook updates can just be a little too much for me on certain days.
You can love the space all you want, but at some point people need breaks. We need to breakup our lives in order to give us balance. Otherwise I see too many of us in the social media space becoming much like Japan's Karo-jisatsu workers.
I am sure these Karo-jisatsu loved there job as well, and were trying to simply provide for their families and help others, but we must make sure everything is in balance.
All too often I find myself with my laptop in the family room as my wife and kids are doing something else. Of course I justify it by saying I need to work harder, and stay on top of this stuff especially during these down economic times, but is it worth it? Probably not.
Finding that balance is different for everyone, but we all must try and be understating with others as they find their balance. So next time you see 3 blog post, and 30 tweets on a Saturday or Sunday from your favorite social media guru, make sure to throw up a prayer to help the guy out.
At the very least be understanding if he does not get back to your ping immediately.
Downturns in the economy bring great innovations, and is when many successful companies get their start. Whether it be during the Great Depression when HP was founded, or during 1975 recession when Microsoft started. American's are resilient and entrepreneurial, and when things get tough, we start innovating! (to read more on this see this link)
What are you doing to prosper during this economic slowdown? Are you trying to innovate and think outside the box, or are you simply copying ideas from others?
Don't get me wrong, I love to learn. I subscribe to around a hundred RSS feeds (ok I need to cut the list down. I have 1,200 feeds to read today), have too many Twitter friends than I can follow, and love a good book and a lively debate. Learning from others is not the problem that holds us back from innovating, the problem is if we let others do the thinking for us.
When you are in learning from others, do you find yourself taking what they say and finding ways to apply it to your own life, or do you think about what they have to say and how it will impact the future?
If we do not think about current application and future implications, we are missing out on one of the best parts of learning. We must apply, but we also must spend time thinking about innovation. We should always be asking ourselves, of everything I have learned today, and everything I know, what's next? What is missing? What is it that everyone else is talking about, but may have overlooked?
From this week on, I am challenging myself to spend time each day trying to innovate. During this time I will use what I have learned to think outside the box and innovate. This could simply be a new way to do some little task, or it could be developing new ideas on where marketing is headed.
Great companies do this. 3M allows time for their employees to think of new ideas, so does Google. We need to take this time as well.
We spend countless hours reading and learning from others about their innovations. Now it is our turn to innovate!
I am a fan of old Pacific Lutheran football coach Frosty Westering and a saying he uses before he speaks “empty your cup”. (Being Frosty, he actually demonstrates the illustration, water goes everywhere etc.) The essence of the saying is that if we go into anything thinking our cup of knowledge is full, we will not have any room to learn anything knew.
We must first empty our cup, and then look for ways to fill it with the knowledge of others.
This is something that I struggle with, and am trying to work on. I am an internet geek, I know a little about a lot, but true knowledge comes from relationships not the internet.
I struggle with this at my job as well. As an Ad Exec, I have a tendency to always want to come off as the marketing “expert” to my clients. I have the education, experience, support groups, etc. and my client does not, so I should understand marketing more than most of my clients who spend most of the day running their businesses.
But that is not always the case. As much as I try to understand my clients business, they still know it better than I do. Sometimes I make a mistake or overlook something, and the client can add some good insight. Other times my clients wealth of knowledge might be different than mine, and they may offer a great idea that I have never thought of.
Bottom line, no matter how much of an expert you think you are in any particular area, always listen to others as if they are an expert. It's amazing what you learn with an open mind.
So these last few months have been extremely hard on the advertising industry and on me personally. No matter where you turn it seems everyone is talking about the horrible economy, and about how to avoid a depression.
Sorry, but when people sound hopeful about avoiding a depression, that still does not help instill confidence.
Given this news, many of my clients have asked to cut their budgets in the last few weeks. Below is a list of reason they have given for cutting their budgets, and what my colleges and I have said in response. (remember we specialize in retail advertising so the answers and questions lean that way.)
1. We can cut budget and keep our share of voice, because our competitors have cut budget – Our goal has never been share of voice, but share of mind. We want XX% of people to think of your brand for XX product.
2. Let's cut for just a little bit and see what happens – The ramifications of cutting marketing spend are not instantaneous. If I cut budget one week, my sales may not drop to the next etc., plus it may take some time to gain back the level of awareness we once had.
3.Spend to Sales is out of proportion - Let's look at the numbers based on the long term not month to month, and figure out our best long terms marketing goals.
I wish I could tell you these all worked, but of course they did not. Some cut, some did not, and more will cut in the future. No matter how many blogs we read that tell us now is not the time for an aggressive advertiser to cut budget, we all know it will happen anyway.
Let's use this time not to complain or whine. Let's use this time to think more strategically, and try to get the most out of every dollar we do have. What have you wanted to do with your marketing, that now might be a good time to try?
Lastly Apple’s customer service is now having trouble keeping up with its growth. Don’t get me wrong, once you talk to someone you get great service, but getting to that point is difficult. Apple stores are always busy, and getting the time with a Genius can take days. Online their customer service is non-existent except for a few tutorials, a FAQ’s and a forum that no one from Apple seems to look at or moderate. Heck even finding there customer service phone number is next to impossible on the Apple Service website.
Why don’t they have live chat customer service? Why don’t they moderate the forums and see what the problems are? I called them the awhile ago because location services on my iPhone would not always work. I could find all sorts of post online about this very location services problem. Some on the Apple forum, others on Twitter or MacRumors Forums. To anyone who knew their way around the internet, it was obvious there was a problem.
But when I called Apple, they told me I was the first one ever to report the problem. She then talked to the CS supervisor and he still knew nothing of the problem. I told them to look at their forums. She then gave me an incident number for me to post on the forums so others could call in with the same complaint.
Shouldn’t Apple be doing this? Why are they relying on their customers to take care of other customers? Invest in your customers and they will reward you, even more than they do now. What if Apple was actively monitoring and posting in their forums? Think how useful it would be. Think of all the great ideas that would be shared, and the increase in brand loyalty they would have. (ok it is already pretty hi, but how long can it stay there?)
We are your customers Apple! We make you great! We control your future! If you do not listen to us, we will go away. We are a fickle bunch, and if you do not develop for us, take part in our conversation, or listen to us we will go way!
We’ll we may wait tell Steve leaves, but we will go away.
I'm taking a break from my Apple rant today, to talk about what everyone else is talking about today, the election.
This years election is fascinating, the internet and especially social media has allowed people to connect with their candidates like never before. It started with the amazing connection many people felt with the old man out of Texas, Ron Paul, and then transitioned to other candidates.
Social media has allowed voters to feel a personal connection to their candidates, and has allowed the candidates to customize their message to reach specific demographics.
Obama did not personally connect with people online, but instead he encouraged his supporters to connect together and form a strong online community. He allowed voters to find other people like themselves that were voting for Obama, and talk and develop an online connection. 9 out of 10 people I follow on Twitter have been telling me to vote for Obama and reasons why. I have never met most of these people, but I trust them with other advice, why would I not trust them with political advice? Especially when their reasons for voting for Obama are targeted to the online geek demographic I fit into?
Obama is capitalizing on, online word of mouth. He has even segmented his supporters into groups. Look at his website, under the people header. There anyone can find a group to associate with, whether it is a Christian group, Arab Group, Latin American group, etc. Instead of trying to be one brand for everyone, Obama has segmented his brand and tweaked it for each of these groups.
He is very generic with his mass media message and somewhat unclear, but then when targeting these small groups he has customized his message to appeal to them. This would have been impossible to do with traditional media.
Each group of supporters has made the Obama brand their own. Geeks love him for one thing and that is what he talks about to them, and Labor loves him for other reasons and he talks to them about that.
In some ways Obama has let his supporters take over the Obama Brand. They have made it their own, and have developed a strong connection with their views of who Obama is.
Could this backlash once he is President, and he has to make decisions that alienate groups of his followers? Probably, but I am sure he will once again engage the community, and talk to them online in a personal direct manner that appeals to their interest to minimizes the backlash.
It is an amazing strategy, and something political advisors will be studying for years to com
I finished yesterday's post by saying that if you have not gotten into online advertising, start now. This statement was directed at the traditional advertiser, you must keep up with the times or you will be passed by.
In an effort to follow that up, below are 5 reasons a traditional advertiser needs to get online experience.
1.Have you looked at the job boards for advertising positions lately? Almost all of them are for people with online experience. How comfortable do you feel with your job?
2.You can apply what you learn online to traditional media. You can fine tune creative online, and then apply what you have learned to traditional media.
3.You can get focus group type information online without paying for a focus group. Monitor your consumers, potential consumers and competition, with tools such as Google Alerts, Technorati, and Twitter Search.
4.Your website has become the 2nd point of contact. Think of it as your most important store. How much attention would you give a store that does over 60% of your traffic?
5.You can track it. You can show your clients or boss that it is working. How important is that during this down economy?
Of course I could go on with a longer list, but why don't you do that in the comments.
Since it has almost been two months since my last post, I thought I should give you an update on what is going on.
Well one of the main reasons I have not made time to post is because I have been busy. At Destination Marketing I work as both an Account Director(AD) and I lead up our newly formed Destination Digital online division. (Title for that is TBD, should have one in the next few weeks.)
At any rate as a AD I lead 6 accounts and we are currently going through our strategic planning stages for next year. This is the best part of my job as an AD, laying the vision and strategy is a big passion of mine.
If that has not been keeping me busy enough, I have also been swamped with online business. We started with no clients around 5 months ago and now we have 4. Everyone seems excited to try anything out during this downturn, and we are seeing great results for our clients online.
Right now we are working on 3 websites, 2 display campaigns, 5 PPC campaigns, and are deploying some new SEO strategies. Yesterday for the first time ever, I saw one of our display ads on big time websites. Digg.com and CNBC.com. Can't tell you how gratifying that was. It was like seeing or hearing the first TV or Radio commercial I was a part of 7 years ago. The only difference is that I don't need to wait to see if the ad works!
We still have lots to learn, and many new strategies to deploy, but things are going well and we are adding new employees to the department. Trust, me if you have not gotten into online advertising, start now!
Dear Traditional Marketer,
I don't blame you for thinking the way you do. You're a product of your upbringing. How were you supposed to adapt to a world that changed do quickly.
I recognize, we were once very close, I believed in the same virtues as you, but now we've grown distant, I can't relate to you anymore.
As much as I have tried to convince you to lay off the campaigns, you continue to be hooked on them. Despite the enormous toll and financial burden they encumber, you are still addicted to these 30 second flights of fancy. I have tried interventions, I have tried rational arguments, I have threatened to leave. Can't you realize that your type can't live on reach alone? Well, this time, for my own health and welfare I must leave you.
I need to find a healthier life with those in forward-thinking PR roles, in your intuitively smart executive, in your digital world, in your progressive agencies, with your research visionaries, perhaps even those who think different than you in your very own department...people without the same vices that are killing you and your credibility each day.
See, these new friends realize that your campaigns are a drug, sure they may be exciting and provide you some level of self-esteem with the CEO or your family who watch them, but for how long and for what size of a hangover are your prepared to deal with afterward? Snort a line of successful ad copy and you'll be chasing that same wheel the rest of your career.
Sure Mad Men is a very interesting show....but let's be honest, that show is set in 1963 - we're a hell of a lot more cynical and attention-starved now. Don't you understand there is a world of people out there who want to love you, if only you let them. Their names are: customers, fans, influencers, evangelists, prosumers, mavens...please if not for me, do it for your own health and let them into your life. Talk to them, get to know them, they're good people.
I've already spent too much time in this message and I must be moving on. If I knew you were listening, i'd continue to roll that ball of the hill but I fear you are too far gone.
Enjoy your media budget largesse, post-rationalization theories for poor performance, self-perpetuating myths of controlling brand equity levers and anachronistic top-down management style...I fear these will become old and tired fast. Good luck,
Agent Wildfire, Your Word of Mouth Friend
How do we make CEO's and CMO's understand a conversation is going on, and that they need to be part of it? I work with retail businesses on a daily basis and most want instant gratification. Anything that does not increase sales instantly is not considered a worthy investment.
This it not revolutionary by any means, but just an extension or the next step of what everyone is already doing. The future of radio will be online of course, but it will also include personalities you hear on today's radio stations.
This means everyone will be able to be their own program director and pick their own music, like with LastFM or Pandora, but in addition to music selection you will be able to pick your DJ or host. So you will be able to listen to your custom station and then pick your favorite DJ or host, to mix in and give you a break from the music.
DJ's don't talk about the music anymore anyway, so this will be an easy switch. The software or the listener will be able to choose how often they want someone to interrupt the music with talk, and they will also be able to be choose if they want to be interrupted with local weather, news, etc. as well.
These don't have to be typical DJ's either. They could be podcast, or just a guy from his garage. I know of a few podcast that would work perfectly in this format. Diggnation comes to mind (it's too long to take all at once anyway).
Ok you might be saying, but why? Well because these breaks help keep the music from getting boring and help you develop a connection with what you are listening to. Essentially you are becoming your own program director.
So the marketing angle? Well you will be able to insert geo-targeted audio ads, endorsements, and promotions are still an option. Plus you will be able to choose the type of listeners you would like to go after based on format and subscription data.
Will radio stations as we know it go away? Most of them will, but a few innovative ones that have good program directors will stay around programing music, but most of them will just managing talent.
Obviously this all depends on getting hi-speed wireless internet connections becoming main stream, but that is just a matter of time. Look at what is happening with the Iphone 3g.
What do you think?
Funny thing is that I put this blog together to get things off my chest, and now I have nothing to write about. Being down on the Oregon Coast in May gives me a lot of time, so I thought I would give it a shot anyway. Just start typing and see what happens, come up with a title later. Marketing as we see it now and in the past is pushed to consumers. We try to tell people what they want and what they need. We tell them they should live healthy, be happy, and everyone should love them, and our products are going to help them do that. Our soda will make you happy and cool, our cars will make people love you and happy, basically almost all of what we try to sell appeals to those three emotions.
In today's internet age people no longer are looking for companies to tell them what they should be doing. They are more into self discovery and individualism. People are do not trust anyone in this age unless they found it to be "true" for themselves. Everything must be researched, reviewed, and tested.
We no longer want to be told what will make us healthy, happy, or will bring us love, instead we want to discover this on our own.
How do we as marketers change our strategy to take advantage of this??????
TBC ....
