Our themes are:

Media Monday: Share anything interesting about what’s going on in the media, with media meaning movies, television, music, whatever!

Trivia Tuesday: Have marketing related trivia? Post it here!

Webinar Wednesday: Have you watched an interesting webinar lately? Did you learn something new and grand? We’d love to hear about it!

Thumbs Up Thursday: Have you seen an ad, a website, or some other marketing campaign that you’ve really enjoyed? Tell us all about it!

Funny Friday: Well, you can probably guess what this means. Does it have to be related to advertising or marketing? Welllllll……

Hope to see your thoughts and comments! It should be fun!

When asked about Facebook’s business strategy, Sandberg responded with “our business is advertising.” With over 100 million active users, it’s where people are spending their time. Facebook enables marketers to connect with these users and provides advertising in a way that does not interfere with the user’s experience. Rather, it makes the experience more useful.

Sandberg went on to explain that Facebook has ads that act like its site. For example, on Valentine’s Day, Honda gave a virtual gift, which was a little heart that said “Your heart is full, so your tank should be, too.” Honda paid for 750,000 of these hearts to be given, and 750,000 people gave them to 750,000 other people. This, as a result, generated talk about Honda, about its cars, excitement about some of the things Honda is launching, and most importantly 200 million impressions.

Honda is not the only company that is using this new wave of advertising. Dunkin Donuts merged its new drink, the Coolatta, with its Facebook Fan Page. Facebook fans of Dunkin Donuts, all 800,000 of them, can post a photo of themselves with any Coolatta beverage to the Fan Page wall, update their personal profile with the picture and they’re entered to win a daily giveaway. Of course Dunkin Donuts’ desired result of the campaign was to inspire the masses on Facebook and spread the message that Dunkin Donuts has introduced this new beverage.

Sandberg believes that this non-obtrusive way of communicating is where advertising should be headed. To marketers they are still advertising but to consumers, it’s more of a fun way to communicate and interact with their favorite brands.

As Facebook has grown in the past five years, so have the number of tools for businesses. Recently, Facebook launched several different solutions for businesses that more and more brands are taking advantage of every day. Some companies are using them more extensively than others. Dell, for example, uses many of the tools to their fullest potential. Below you will find five of the most commonly used tools for businesses.

Pages – These were designed to give businesses a unique presence where users can become “fans” of a company’s brand. When this happens, all their friends will see it. Businesses can send updates to their fans however they please, whether it’s to contact them with special news or offers, or simply to keep in touch.

Applications - Facebook applications allow businesses to quickly create custom experiences for users to interact with brands through videos, reviews, games and more while keeping the same appearance of the Facebook interface. Like pages, applications have a greater impact when fans interact with them, as this interaction is shared with all of your fans’ friends.

Ads - Facebook advertising allows brands to target very specific demographics. Since users post literally everything about themselves in their personal profiles, it’s very easy to find and reach a specific audience as well as track clicks.

Facebook Insights - This tool gives businesses access to valuable metrics of activity such as fan demographics, ad performance and trends. This lets you improve your custom content and control who you want to see your ad.

Polls – Companies are using Facebook Polls to get answers to important business questions. With so many users expressing themselves on Facebook, businesses can accurately target their polls by gender, age, location, interests and other useful demographic data.

Other than the fact that it recently crossed the 100 million active member mark, there are many reasons why Facebook is an important marketing tool for businesses.

Unfortunately, for many people new to Facebook, the site can seem overwhelming, time consuming and just plain confusing. But, it’s where people are going. Whether it’s the latest news or their favorite brand of shoe, Facebook is where consumers seek information. Mari Smith, often called the “Pied Piper” of the online world because of her extensive research and exploration in Social Media, provides five reasons why it’s important for businesses to be active on Facebook.

1. To find business contacts. With more than 100 million members, not only are your friends on Facebook, so are your prospects, your customers and, of course, your competitors.

2. It’s an instant gate opener. Users are on Facebook to connect with people. You can strike up a conversation with successful and even famous people who were previously out of reach.

3. To build relationships. By engaging in conversations with your customers, you can better adapt your marketing and business services to meet their needs.

4. To raise visability. By consistently logging in and posting relevant information, you can increase visability and be thought of as an expert in your line of work.

5. To target your niche. Facebook users give out information that ordinarily could cost big bucks to receive. You readily have access to a multitude of demographics at no cost.

With a wide range of users, Facebook is clearly where people are at. The fact that many of your customers and prospects are most likely using Facebook makes it a no-brainer for businesses.

What happens when we can’t blame the economy anymore for stalled growth? Perhaps there are other factors that led to this slump. There are always going to be external issues, such as competition, about which your company has no control. The key is to manage what you can control from the inside.Business Week columnist and entrepreneur Steve McKee had his own advertising agency during a time when the economy was considered “good.” His agency was set to be included in the INC 5000 List, a publication noting the fastest-growing private companies in America, but shortly after this honor was announced, his organization experienced stalled growth. After years of research, McKee found many factors that led to this unfortunate turn of events. He found that the answer lies from within and it’s the internal factors that often go unnoticed. According to McKee, there are four issues that lead to stalled growth within a corporation.

1. Lack of Consensus: It’s important for everyone in your organization to be on the same page. Without a consensus your company isn’t going to go very far.

2. Loss of Focus: Nothing positive ever comes out of a brand that has an identity crisis. Figure out exactly who your brand is and exactly who you want to market to.

3. Loss of Nerve: Beware of cutting back too much. The brands that highly invest during a recession are those who succeed.

4. Inconsistency: Stay consistent with your branding and marketing plan. The most successful marketing campaigns are those than ran the longest.

Unfortunately all of these factors can turn into a vicious cycle and, in the end, lead to negative or stalled growth.

Now the question is, where do we go from here? Fortunately, McKee gives us positive advice on moving forward.

Set your sights: McKee suggests diagnosing the problem and figuring out a solution that fits with your brand both internally and externally.

Find your target: Look at your customer base and find out exactly who they are and what they want. Your customers are the future of your company.

Sharpen your arrow: Re-focus your brand efforts and appeal to your customer base.

Let it fly: Align everything you do. Make all of your marketing efforts consistent and execute them with everyone on board, including your marketing and advertising partner.

Regardless of what’s going on externally, it’s what happens on the inside that counts. Follow these insights in this order and you should start to see a difference in your organization.

]]> http://claymanad.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/stalled-growth-maybe-its-not-just-the-economy/feed/ 0 claymanad down econ http://claymanad.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/six-steps-to-soothe-your-soul/ http://claymanad.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/six-steps-to-soothe-your-soul/#comments Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:19:37 +0000 Clayman Advertising http://claymanad.wordpress.com/?p=69 ]]>

Recently, economic news has been better. However, even with the news improving, the tough recession we are in is likely to stick around at least through the remainder of this year. With that in mind, we thought it might be a good time to tell you about an article we found called “Six Smart Tactics for Dealing with the Economic Downturn,” published by Michael Barr (principal at QDI Strategies Marketing Consultation Firm). Barr’s six steps take a unique approach that we hope you find as interesting as we did.

Don’t Cut Your Budget. Tighten Your Focus: The temptation during tough times is to cut everything. Barr doesn’t negate the importance of cutting some expenses, but his point is to determine who your most significant targets are. Cut marketing that does NOT focus on that group.

Give Your Sales Force Feel-Good Messages: Your sales representatives are being asked how your business is doing. They’re in the trenches. Barr suggests that during tough economic times, it is important to keep your sales force focused on the positive things going on in your company. This can be done through internal e-newsletters or other methods.Focus on Old Reliable: Barr argues that now may actually be the wrong time to introduce that new product. People are feeling cautious and want things they can depend on. As Barr writes, “Know your own capabilities and stay focused on what you do well.”

Water What Will Grow: When the budget is tight, make sure to promote products or services where there is room for growth. It might be difficult to think of a product introduced five years ago as one that has room for growth, but if your customers are looking for something that has been proven in the field, your best products and services should be promoted now.

A Bird in the Hand: “Retaining a customer is significantly less expensive than acquiring a new one.” Have you talked to your biggest customers about how this year has affected their bottom line? Now might be a good time to make sure your customers, especially those who have proven to be loyal, receive some tender loving care.

Increase Value. Hold Prices: If there is talk around the water cooler about lowering prices this year, try to steer away from it. From Barr’s perspective, and as has been proven in marketing time and again, once prices are lowered, it is difficult, if not impossible, to raise them back to previous levels, even when wallets get a little easier to open. Instead, offer more value now. Ramp up the customer service. Your customers will appreciate it.

In the end, Barr’s points are not a far cry from the customer nurturing that Jon Miller wrote about. If your customer base reads one publication over another, consider whether you need to cut your advertising program in both. If you are getting a lot of visits to your site but not a lot of RFQs, try to find out where the break in the process may be. Keep your loyal customers close and they will stick with you as the times continue to improve.

The longing for tangible ROI is the strongest when it comes to marketing initiatives. And as marketers, nothing is more exciting than seeing a jump in web traffic when you’ve invested highly in online ads or SEO.

There’s just one problem. Those spikes don’t really mean a thing unless there is a process for qualification and follow-through.

Let’s say for our purposes that you sponsor a publication’s e-newsletter with a banner ad. The gut reaction would be to do two things. First, find out from the publication how many clicks they are showing your ad received. Second, check your own website to see how many click-throughs actually came in to your website.

Unfortunately, this only tells part of the story. Clicks to a website are great. But what if the visitor leaves right away and checks out your competitor’s site? That visit doesn’t quite seem as powerful.

That is why it is perhaps more important to nurture leads than to measure them. Jon Miller, VP of Marketing at Marketo, defines the process as “building relationships with qualified prospects, regardless of their timing to buy, with the goal of earning their business when they are ready.”

If this sounds like it is a bit more time-consuming than getting someone to click on a link, you are right. Anyone can click on a website now. Filtering those spikes and clicks for legitimate prospects, nurturing those leads on an individual basis, and keeping in touch with those individuals over time is all part of the new set of expectations modern technology has created. If you don’t take these steps, your competition may step in on your behalf.

In times like these, it is easy to get excited by statistics that answer “how many” or “how much.” In reality, the question that is most important is “who?” After you answer that, the next question is, “How am I keeping them happy?” Return on Investment no longer refers to the investment made in marketing actions or building improvements. Return on Investment is a measurement of what you are investing in your existing and potential customers. While clicks can be like shaking hands, they are really just the beginning.

When discussing print versus online media, fixed parameters of scope are needed. For instance, the metrics of evaluation change radically if the discussion is about children growing up in a digital rather than a print world. Regardless of the conversation, print and online are almost always regarded as combative forces. This is especially true when discussing advertising and marketing.

So what do experts say about print versus online marketing and/or advertising? They say you need both to survive.

Recently, The Journal of Advertising Research, with the Wharton School, released a monumental study consisting of more than 20 articles called The Future of Advertising. The research showed that all forms of advertising — print, online, television — are effective. Especially if they are all working together in a marketing mix.

The future of marketing, according to this landmark study, is that integration is the way to go. Online advertising is facing obstacles just as print is facing a difficult time. While print is facing monetary issues, online advertising is coping with issues like whether targeted marketing can go too far, or what advertisers can or should do if consumers start opting out of targeted marketing. Indeed, there are even some crazy people who think the new frontier in marketing is nothing other than a refurbished presence in print.

Research is showing, increasingly, that despite the hype, there is not really any death match at all between print and online marketing. They are partners and can work together for you. Each has its advantages, each has its disadvantages, but when mixed together, they create pure brand magic.

The preparation for the death of print has become more vigorous in the last few months. But before you buy enough black clothes to last a respectable mourning period, consider an article that Folio Magazine author David Mammano wrote about a month ago. Mammano emulated Dave Letterman with a top ten list for why you should continue to advertise in print. Some of his key points appear below. Mammano makes a strong case for the preservation of print. Let us know what you think.

Cocktail Party: A print publication allows your customers to meet your company and your brand. If you think your customers may not reference print anymore, consider a study Foresight Research conducted about a month ago. In a survey of automotive consumers, almost half said they had turned to a print publication first to research what car they wanted.

Focus: Print demands concentration. When a person is online, they are likely distracted by email messages, RSS feeds, and a desire to check the ever-changing stock market at CNBC.com. If a person sits down to read, that is his or her primary focus, which means there is a stronger chance of your ad attracting attention.

“Reading Material”: Mammano points out that unlike computers, print material can go anywhere. You don’t see racks of computers in a restroom, do you?

Print has the info: Interestingly, Mammano quotes a Retail Advertising and Marketing Association survey that echoes what Foresight Research found. According to the survey, 47.2% of shoppers will start with a print publication to research a new product and then move to a website. Is this how you conduct research before a big purchase? How do your customers find you?

Pass it along: Print does not alter. If your ad appears on page 26, it will always be on page 26. Online, content can change before your very eyes. New “breaking news” bulletins can show up, advertisements rotate, and links are constantly changed or broken. It’s difficult to find an online article or ad a few months after it appears. Print remains comfortably permanent.

One point that Mammano doesn’t touch on is online behavior. Increasingly, internet users are using the web to socialize, not to do business. Take a look at this very interesting Ruder Finn User Intent study and see how the intent of internet users is increasingly distant from readers of print publications. http://www.ruderfinn.com/about/news/rf-s-new-study-of.html

Is print really dying? It certainly is not in good health right now, but Mammano’s list touches on just some of the reasons why it might be good to root for print — at least a little.