Data: Knowing How Your Customers Use Media

I can't say this enough, so I will say it again:  It's all about Data.

Another illustration: today the Pew Research Center released the results of a recent survey, stating that less than 10 percent of people are using social media for up-to-date news.  So what does this mean?

I think we can gleam a few points:

1) This shows that your customers are probably using Facebook and Twitter for other types of information.  Social media is a losing proposition and a waste of resources if it isn't used properly.  Know where your customers are looking before releasing any type of news.

2) Press releases and other types of media announcements should not be on social media as a primary method of dissemination.  Social media should be a part of the whole information release strategy.  As with any properly constructed strategic marketing, a variety of communication methods should be used.  Social media may be cheaper to use, but it's going to cost you real dollars through lost sales if you're not getting information out via the proper channels.

3) Social media's value is in it's ability to give marketer's a more direct, personal connection with their customers.  Press releases and product information don't build customer equity.  Personal, meaningful connections with products and brands build customer equity.  Social media gives us one of the best avenues ever to build equity with our customers.

As always, armed with the right data, our jobs as marketers becomes much easier.  Don't waste your company's time or money.  Arm yourself with the right data so you can use the tools available in the most effective manner.

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Reality Check: Marketing Defined

Every so often you have to evaluate how you are doing.  If you are a marketing professional, it's your responsibility.  So when is the last time you stepped back, and took a look at what you were doing?  Sometimes the best way to do that is to start with the basic definition of marketing.

The simplest definition of marketing I can think of is: Managing profitable customer relationships.  The goals are to attract new customers through superior value, and to keep growing customers by delivering customer satisfaction.  If you are doing these things, then you will be able to capture value from customers to create profits and customer equity.

So if we break this down, then we get some basic questions that are extremely useful for evaluating your current strategic marketing plans:

1) Are your customer relationships profitable?
If you're not making money, then it's time to start figuring out why.  Start collecting data and begin looking for trends.  It's going to take time to get things back to profitability, so it's best to get started now.

2) Are you attracting new customers?
As much as we hate to admit it, we're always going to lose a customer.  Even the most loyal customers may eventually buy another brand.  If you're not attracting new customers, eventually your sales will fall flat, and you will not be profitable.  So what are you doing to attract new customers?  What value proposition are you presenting to them?  Are you properly differentiated from your competition in your target market?  If your value proposition isn't clear, if you're not clearly different from your competitors, then confusion may be keeping customers from being convinced you are the solution to their want or need.

3) Are you creating satisfied customers?
Are product's perceived performance exceeding expectations?  Meeting expectations? Are customers buying your goods and services again?  Are you gaining new customers?  Or are you dealing with dissatisfied customers and poor sales?  Remember that customer value and satisfaction are the building blocks for developing and managing your customer relationships.

4) Do you have key measurements of your customer equity?  
Customer equity measurements can be better indicators of your performance than sales and market share numbers.  If sales are high, and market share is high, but your customer equity is low, you're going to be losing sales and profits will be tanking soon.  Get some data so you can make some real decisions.

Sit down by yourself, and with your team, and take a day to honestly answer the above questions.  You may be surprised at some of the responses.  Now may be a great time to make adjustments to your strategic marketing plans.

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Using Online Communities to Create Brand Awareness - Part 2

This is Part 2 of my thoughts on Using Online Communities to Build Brand Awareness.  Last time I discussed how online communities help you build credibility and general awareness about your products and brand.  This time I want to discuss how online communities help you create SEO-aware content, and how they can help you build customer satisfaction.

Many marketing directors don't realize that as you are building awareness through your community posts, you are also creating SEO-aware content.  All posts and comments are index-able.  Search engines such as Google are able to look through and "store" your posts from an online community.  Because these posts are on a website other than your own, Google gives this content more weight, since it considers content about you on other websites more relevant.  As a result, your brand name and product information move up in ranking within relevant search results. 

Google also looks for links back to your website.  Make sure to put the address of your website in your signature.  This insures that your website's address is always displayed with every post, and that it is indexed as many times as possible when a search engine crawls the online community's site.

As you post more searchable content, it becomes easier for existing customers to find information that may help them solve problems.  Online communities are a great way to get involved in the first steps of basic customer service issues.  You can use the posts of others as an opportunity to acknowledge issues with your product.  You can also show your willingness via the public domain to serve the customer and create a positive brand experience.  However, remember that people tend to be more vocal on the internet, because it's a more anonymous experience.  You must always write posts that are calm, clear, and emotion free.  Use positive language, but never "beat around the bush" when a clear acknowledgement of a problem is best.

Remember that today being a part of online communities is necessary when marketing digitally, because it gives you a direct opportunity to build credibility, build awareness, create SEO-aware content, and address customer service issues.

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Using Online Communities To Create Brand Awareness - Part 1

We should always endeavor to connect with our customers.  Isn't that one of the great goals and mysteries of marketing and branding?  What is the best way to connect with our customers?  How should we convince them to purchase our products?  How can we spend AS LITTLE MONEY as possible doing this and still make a profit?

It seems that many small businesses, and even large ones, still have not discovered the online community "gold mine".  Being a part of online communities is necessary, because it gives you a direct opportunity to build credibility, build awareness, create SEO-aware content, and address customer service issues.

Online communities give you a direct way to connect with consumers and build credibility.  Online communities allow you to present yourself as a subject manner expert.  By answering consumer's questions and helping them solve their problems in a friendly, non-pressured manner, you present yourself as a credible and knowledgeable, even though you are somewhat biased towards your product as a solution.  With a good attitude, and a friendly, clear writing style, you can present your product and brand as the wise solution to their needs.

As you are helping community members meet their needs, you are constantly building awareness.  Your participation helps to show others their potential need for your product.  Also, your participation helps to inform others of the existence of your product who may not have known about you.  Online communities also provide you with a great opportunity to receive feedback about your product.  If you are an advertiser in that community, you can also build awareness by posting news releases about new models and product updates.

Next time we will discuss using online communities to create more SEO-aware content and help create positive brand experiences via customer service.

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What Are You Doing To Create Awareness Today?

Did you do anything to market yourself today other than think about it?

Marketing doesn't happen by itself.  You have to do it.

People don't find out about you on their own.  They won't bring up Google and search for you unless they have a reason to do so.

So what are you doing today to create awareness?

If you need a jump start, here are some ideas that might be relevant to your customers:

1. Offer A Discount
Sometimes the easiest way to drive traffic to your website, or to retailer locations, is to offer a discount or a coupon.  However, remember that spending money can be an incredibly emotional thing.  The right price, or discount, can drive a person to spend money "easily" without any thought.  5%-10% off might not be the ticket.  Don't be afraid to explore 20%, even 30-40% off.  If you're concerned about your margins, make it a limited or exclusive offer to a select group of customers.  Once they are in the door, they tend to buy more.

2. Hold A Product Demo Event
People love to research products, and price-shop online.  But at the end of the day, a consumer that touches the product, tries it, and likes it, usually ends up buying it.  Consider putting on a demo event in a location that contains your primary customer demographic.

3. Ask For Product Testimonials Via Social Media
Social media makes it very easy to connect with your customers.  It can be a customer service haven and nightmare.  One of my favorite uses of social media is testimonials.  It's as easy as this:  Ask users of your product to submit positive experiences of your product: video is preferred, text and pictures are great as well.  Incentives are a must.  Offer discounts off of new product, or free accessories to those consumers whose testimonial you choose to post.  Post one a week for 13 weeks - the length of a typical television or radio ad buy.

4. Participate In Online Communities
This fourth option can take the most work, but it can reap some of the largest gains for building your brand's credibility.  It's as simple as joining relevant forums and blogs.  Put your name and company in your signature.  Make it clear who you are.  Offer advice and sensible solutions.  However, you cannot blatantly advertise your product in your posts.  It's best to offer sound advice that may or may not include any of your specific products.  Over time you will see a few benefits:
- Community members will see you as an expert
- Community members will begin to explore your website and your product
- All of your posts will be indexed by search engines (like Google) and it will increase the amount of searchable, relevant content about you online.

It's a good idea to put one of your best PR reps or customer service representatives in charge of online community participation.  Your Social Media Director is a great fit as well.  You can take this a step further by becoming an advertiser in that online community.  This allows you to blatantly post about your product and any specials you may be offering.

These four things are simple, yet highly effective ways to increase Brand Awareness for little cost other than labor and time.  If appropriate, and if used in a focused manner, they are a great way to connect with current and future customers, and can provide a great ROI for a little marketing budget expenditure.

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Targeting Ads Via Smart TV's Will Alienate Consumers

Let me say that I love technology.  I love gadgets.  I wish I had the money to buy more gadgets and try them out.  I love iPads, and iPods, and TV's and game consoles.  I have a special affinity for the good old fashioned television.  I'm a picture snob.  The idea of a "smart tv" with services such as Hulu and Netflix built in are interesting to me.  I've also come to accept the fact that "free" TV comes at a cost: the advertisement. 

I love the "ad".  It's a great way to reach a targeted audience.  It's an effective marketing and branding tool when used appropriately.  But allowing manufacturers to create their own ad networks and present ads via "smart tv's" is just a really fast way to alienate both the buyers of TV's and the viewers of media content.

At CES on January 9th, Samsung announced that it would enable the delivery of ads to a TV user's "home screen", even in 3-D on so-equipped models.  In November 2011, LG made a similar announcement.  This isn't a new model.  TIVO has delivered ads in it's DVR software, and many MSO's such as Cox and Time Warner display ads or poll-type questions via set top box software as well.

As it stands now, the current model is mostly passive.  A user may see an ad on a part of a screen they are on.  It is not part of the content they are about to consume, and it is not a road block that they must endure before viewing content, like the Hulu model for free users.  However, this could easily turn into a model where a television user, through the TV's operating system software, is forced to view an ad before tuning a live channel or opening an "app".  This absolutely cannot happen.  If after spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on a television, I must be forced to view an ad to do anything on my set, you will immediately alienate me as a customer, and the ad sponsor may also lose brand credibility with me.  The potential consumer backlash could be considerable.

Television is a passive form of entertainment.  It should never be active.  It should never be difficult for a consumer to get to the content they want to consume.  If there are too many road blocks (ads), then they will give up and not view the content.  This could keep eye balls off of sets, and off of normal broadcast and cable content, reducing ratings and potentially lowering the inherent value of  advertisement delivery via television.

This development does nothing but attempt to give TV's manufacturers a slice of the ad revenue pie, and in the process hurt the advertising industry as a whole.

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Saying Apple Won The Mobile Flash War Is Misleading

Remember the headlines in November?  Ones like those in this CNET article saying Apple won the mobile Flash war.  Sources at Adobe were quoted as saying that "We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations." (source CNET UK).  So Steve Jobs won.  Flash really is unnecessary on mobile devices.  Actually, it is very necessary.

Adobe made the right move, enabling a successful development platform (Actionscript) to exist in an "app" consumer model within the mobile space via Adobe AIR.  Let's remember what Flash is: a development environment for delivering rich, interactive content to users.  This has traditionally been done via the Flash plugin, allowing web browsers to decode and display this content. However desktop and laptop PC's have more CPU horsepower and screen real estate available for processing Flash content and Actionscript code.  Mobile devices, with their smaller screens, and slower processors, are not ideal vehicles for delivering Flash-based content.

Adobe, FINALLY, recognized this.

So Adobe took a step back, surveyed the situation, and realized what they have: a viable, established development platform.  This development platform not only delivers games and entertainment, but it enables advertisers to create dynamic ads and apps, allowing them to connect with consumers in new ways that traditional advertising does not allow.

That's why the mobile play is so important.  Traditional advertising methods don't work in a mobile environment.  In February of this year, Comscore reported smartphone usage was up 60% year over year (Business Insider).  If you want to get your costumer's attention, it's no longer via a television or a regular PC screen.  In order to win mind share, you have to get consumers in their pockets, so that they will open up their pocketbooks.

Flash/Actionsctipt development via Adobe AIR packaging makes sense. It allows Adobe to continue to sell software.  It allows Adobe to stay relevant with developers. It allows Adobe to be a key player in the mobile advertising realm.  It just makes sense.

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Where's The Beef?

I was born in 1980.  I remember lots of things from my childhood.  I remember GI Joe, the Transformers, Mask, the Challenger disaster, Christmas at my grandmother's, and a basic, loud phrase coming from an elderly woman on television: "Where's the beef?"

In 1984, a spot entitled "Fluffy Bun" appeared featuring actress Clara Peller, asking the question, "Where's the beef" upon receiving a massive hamburger bun containing a paltry piece of "beef."  Wendy's used this iconic phrase to poke fun and embarrass competitors such as McDonald's and Burger King, bringing to light the tiny, sliver patties being put into fast food burgers at the time.

Fast forward over twenty years.  The phrase has become part of our American culture, but the origins, and the meaning, have slowly faded away.  Over time, with Wendy's leading the charge, the major fast food restaurants have been offering more items with more natural ingredients.   Now they are upping the ante again, releasing a new line of value hamburgers that aims to one-up category leaders based on quantity and quality of the beef in the sandwich.  In order to do this, Wendy's resurrected "Where's the beef?"  It's a spot-on approach.

In order to bridge the gap between a generation of consumers from the 1980's and the 21st century, Wendy's used today's current retro fashion trends, placing "Modern Family" actor Reid Ewing in a 1980's styled "Where's the beef sandwich" walking down the sidewalks of urban settings.  Along the way, people familiar with "Where's the beef?" give him the proverbial "thumbs up".  The main character doesn't understand the recognition he receives, until he comes up to a sign at a local Wendy's.  Then it all makes sense.  Cut to juicy shot of large hamburger, product sold.

Frankly I think this is brilliant.  We could have seen Clara again.  We could have seen the big bun, small patty.  Instead, what we see is a brilliantly simple connection between two generations.  There's no hard sell, not silly gimmick, just a recognition of pop culture history, and a delicious looking hamburger.

The most powerful messages are sometimes the simplest ones.

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Is the 30 second spot relevant?

No one watches commercials anymore, right?  In the age of the DVR, we zip right past them.  Commercials are old school, they are relics of ages past.  It's all about the web, social media and gorilla marketing via YouTube, right?

Is there any point to a 30 second commercial on broadcast television?  Absolutely!  Not only are they relevant, but they are the best way to build brand equity through brand awareness.

In order to build Brand Awareness, you need to get the attention of your audience.  No other human sense gets our attention better than visual stimuli.  The phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" is still very true.  Commercial advertising used to be all about the "sell".  Get a spokesperson, list off your product's features, and tell everyone to buy it.  There was no better way to sell a car or a frozen dinner in the 1960's and 70's than to list off your features and tell a viewer to go and buy it.  It doesn't work the same today.

Today you have to get someone's attention.  You have to pique their interest.  You have to create buzz.  You have to make the emotional sell.  Saying your car is "Imported from Detroit", or "You're In Good Hands With Allstate" speaks louder than telling everyone your insurance has lower monthly premiums.  Connecting with an older audience, while featuring someone from a new generation in a simple t-shirt does wonders when you want to get everyone to ask, "Where's the Beef?".  One commercial, one visual, can spark a flood of conversation that spreads from the office water cooler to the status updates of Facebook. 

Today television presents a great ROI, not just because you can reach millions of eyes at one time, but also because you can use it to drive people to more direct brand interaction and messaging.  The venerable commercial used to be a one-way experience.  The viewer watched it, and you hoped that the message would soak in.  You hoped they would go to a store and interact with your product.  Today a viewer can have instant interaction with your brand via the internet and mobile devices.

Today a commercial that doesn't just create interest, but moves someone to interact with you is essential to a successful campaign.  Want to find out more?  Go to our website.  Want to get great deals?  Visit Facebook or GROUPON to get 20% off your first purchase.  Visit YouTube for more clues and win your very own car.  You couldn't do this 20 or even 10 years ago.  Now you can.

No other medium allows you to reach as large an audience at once as television.  However, Jerry Shereshewsky, a New York City ad agency veteran and CEO of Grandparents.com, asserts that if you want to get narrower than a general demographic, you're out of luck.  With today's audience diversification and deep pool of niche channels, this isn't the case. TV is now a target rich environment, and it allows you the opportunity to tailor your message for any specific demographic.  Even better, that demographic is a willing listener.  You don't want to watch Food Network or G4 because you have to, you watch it because you want to, because you're interested in that hobby or vocation.  Viewers of these niche channels are already willing to buy items to suit their interests, and if your product fits these interests, they are willing to listen to you.

Getting attention, creating interest, and encouraging brand interaction are all possible today through the focused use of the 30 second spot. What used to be a multi-million dollar shot in the dark is now a viable, successful option for building brand equity through brand awareness and brand engagement.  Consumers are willing to watch commercials...are you giving them a reason to watch yours?

Wendy's Brings Back "Where's the Beef" - Chicago Tribune
Which Ad Strategy Works For You? - Entrepreneur Online

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Facebook helps advertisers engage their customers

I'm taking a break from my review of basic marketing fundamentals to discuss something key from the recent Facebook F8 event.

On September 23rd, Michael Lazerow published an article on Adage commenting on Facebook's Ad product evolution.  In his post, Michael comments on three key items:

• Facebook now helps you build better connections
• Facebook can be used to let your customers tell your product's story
• Facebook can help you unlock the value of people

I want to comment more on these ideas.

First, the whole "point" for a business using Facebook is to connect with their customer.  Seems like a no-brainer, right?  Maybe ... but what many businesses assume is that once someone "Likes" their business, they are instantly connected, and their "Likes" will pay attention to whatever they post, even if they post nothing.  "Like" DOES NOT equate to "connecting".  Mr. Lazerow is correct when he says, "It's about what you offer them and it's clear that the company's (Facebook) focus has shifted from growth to engagement" (reference to Facebook added).

Facebook isn't about announcing another product.  It isn't about beating your chest.  It's about posting CONTENT that is relevant to your customer.  It's about GIVING them something that matters. If you sell cameras, post tutorials about photography techniques.  Give them tutorials focused on teaching them to use your product.  Post a 50% off coupon for Facebook members for camera accessories.  GIVE them something that is VALUABLE to them.  Remember when we were talking about Brand Equity in my last post?  Facebook is a great place to build brand awareness and brand equity.

Use your customers to build your brand equity.  Have them tell your product's story.  Have them show and tell others about how they have used your product.  Their voice (positive and negative) carries more clout and emotional credibility than yours ever will.  Continuing on the camera example, inviting users to post their photos from vacations with your camera allows them to share their emotional connection with your product.  Awarding prizes for the best photo taken with your camera helps to strengthen the customer's "bond" with your product and brand.  The "community" built, and the quality of photos submitted (hopefully) will build better brand equity than you could do yourself through traditional advertising via any medium.

Advertising doesn't always "reveal" the fact that your customers have value.  They don't just give you money.  They are a very real voice in the marketplace.  Make them a voice for you.  Facebook (and potentially Google+ in the future) allows you to connect and unlock their value in a way that we never had before social networking existed.  It's time for you to take advantage of it and truly engage with your customer to build your brand equity.

Credit: Adage

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Is Anyone Aware?

One of the items I mentioned last week was Brand Awareness.  What is Brand Awareness?  It is the measure of a consumer's knowledge of your very existence.  The "aggregate" level is the proportion of consumers that "know" your brand.  Why is this "level" even important?  It's important, because the creation of brand awareness is the PRIMARY goal of advertising, and it influences the behavior of the buyers of your product.  However, remember that all of your measurements of brand awareness are, at best, approximations.  They are not exact. The more measures used, the more complete your understanding of brand awareness will be.

Brand awareness is measured "simply" by showing a consumer the "brand and asking whether or not they knew of it beforehand.  Many textbooks have conceptualized brand awareness simply as the knowledge that the brand is a member of a particular product category, such as fast-food.  However, common practice says there is more than one recognition and recall measure, all of which test the brand name's association to a product category cue.

However, "knowledge" doesn't give us much data to do anything with.  So, we use three common metrics that can be measured:

• Brand Recall - Either the brand name or both the brand name and category name are presented to survey participants.
• Brand Recognition - The product category name is given to participants, and are then asked to recall as many brands as possible that are members of the category.
• Top of Mind Awareness - Brand Recognition, but more specifically only the first brand recalled is recorded (called "spontaneous brand recall" by some).

These measurements can be used for creating an understanding of Brand Equity.  Brand Equity is the positive effect of the brand on the difference between the prices that the consumer is willing to pay compared to the perceived value of the benefit received by your product.  The more value, the more a consumer will pay for your product.  Brand Equity is built by brand awareness activities such as advertising, PR, and promotion.  Simply put, the more Brand Equity, the more you might be able to charge for your product.  Higher prices can lead to higher profits.  You're in the business to make money right?

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Brand Architecture

Last time I presented a short definition, and some questions for consideration, regarding performing a Brand Audit.  Now, we're going to start to look at different aspects of a brand audit.  First, we're going to review Brand Architecture.

Brand Architecture defines how subordinate brands relate to the parent brand, and to one another.   Structures range on a scale from:

1. House of Brands
2. Endorsed Brands
3. Umbrella Brands
4. The Branded House

Let's look at each one in a bit more detail.

House of Brands
All brands within a House of Brands have no apparent obvious link to the parent brand.  An example of this would be the family of P & G products.  Tide, Crest, Cascade, and Bounty are all subordinate brands to P & G.  However, they are marketed on their own merits, with their own separate marketing budgets and campaigns.  A House of Brands approach is useful in situations where the parent company has no real brand equity on it's own merit, but it's products, such as Tide, do.

Endorsed Brand
In this setup, the parent brand endorses distinct, branded offerings in a variety of segments and/or categories.  A couple of examples would include Courtyard by Marriott, or Polo by Ralph Lauren.  The intention is to add credibility by leveraging the brand equity of the parent brand.

Umbrella Brand
An umbrella brand (also known as Family Branding) shares its identity with the parent brand.  Examples would be Sony Playstation, Buick LeSabre, and Gillette Sensor.  There can be economies of scope associated in this situation, because multiple products can be efficiently promoted within a single campaign. It also helps facilitate new product introductions by providing a name that is familiar with the target consumer.  However Umbrella Branding can create a greater burden on the parent brand to maintain consistent quality throughout all product lines. If there are quality issues with one product in the family, it can impact the reputation of the others.

Branded House
All product lines in a Branded House share the parent brand name, and as such, each product offering is identified in much more generic ways.  Examples of this are the Red Cross, GE Capital and GE Appliance.  All product lines are truly subservient to the parent brand, and rely solely on the parent brand's equity.

When evaluating your brand architecture, there are many things to consider.  Merriam Associates published a fairly comprehensive list in 2009 that covers this well:

• Audience Diversity
• Brand Elasticity
• Product and/or Service Offerings
• Competitive Context
• Brand Equities
• Geographic Needs
• Organizational Structures
• Ownership
• Sources of Growth
• Purchase Criteria
• Brand Performance
• Brand Role
• Channels
• Company Specific Issues

I will cover each of these items in more detail in the future.  However for the purpose of this post, keep in mind that you will need to take many of these items into account when deciding your ultimate brand architecture.

Strategic Consideration list credit: Merriam Associates

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