Skip to content

Jan 30

2 Comments

Online ad spending to surpass magazine and newspaper advertising combined

U.S. online ad spending is projected to grow well above 20% this year to reach $39.5 billion. This will mark the first year that online spending will surpass the total ad dollars spent on print magazines and newspapers, which are expected to total $33.8 billion in 2012. As you can see from the charts, eMarketer expects online ad spending to experience double-digit growth through 2014, when it will hit $52.8 billion.

While that outpaces other media, the variance comes more from the dramatic increase in online spending rather than large decreases in magazine and newspaper ad sales. Those numbers hold surprisingly steady. This may indicate a flattening trend and an understanding of the importance an integrated media mix brings to effective advertising outreach. This is especially true when you consider that television ad spending appears unaffected by online growth. With $67.8 billion in anticipated ad revenue for 2014, television is expected to take the greatest share of ad dollars for the foreseeable future.

Oct 27

Integrate your content marketing strategy across channels for maximum results

What I find interesting about HiveFire’s new B2B Marketing Trends Report isn’t just how much content marketing has grown in importance, but how a well-integrated content marketing strategy can support other marketing efforts. The new study reports that 82 percent of B2B marketers are now relying on content marketing as a strategy in their marketing programs. This is ahead of search engine marketing, which ranked at 70 percent, events at 68 percent, public relations at 64 percent and far ahead of print/TV/radio advertising at 32 percent. While it’s true that content marketing may compete in terms of budget allocation across channels, I see it less as competition than as a supporting player. When it works in tandem with other marketing efforts, businesses are able to drive and capture more qualified leads, elevate their brands and maintain more cost-effective customer relationships.

What is content marketing? It’s a company’s blog postings, newsletters, white papers, case studies, webinars, ebooks, videos and other online content that is designed to attract and engage customers. When it’s done well, content is relevant to customers and positions the brand as a thought leader. When it’s done poorly, it comes across as a sales pitch.

A content marketing strategy can including content curation, but original content is best for reflecting your true brand. So can a business rely solely on content marketing or should it be incorporated into a more comprehensive marketing approach?

I looked up several B2B keywords, including web conferencing software and email marketing. Paid search still delivers the highest rankings, and there is no shortage of results. Organically, those sites that included blogs and webinars ranked highest. While this was not a complete survey, we do know that relevant, keyword-rich content improves SEO. Once those site visitors arrive; however, it’s important to convert them into customers. Sites that offered white papers, newsletters and case studies through a simple registration process made the best use of content marketing by capturing leads and providing an opportunity to develop those relationships over less expensive channels. Blogs also encourage prospects to maintain contact, which is crucial for businesses that have a long sales cycle or simply want to maintain relationships for repeat business and referrals.

Rather than replacing paid and earned media, which certainly has its role for generating leads and raising brand awareness, content marketing should strengthen these communications. The HiveFire survey revealed that the main objective of a content marketing program for 82 percent of respondents was engaging customers and prospects. This was followed by a secondary objective of driving sales at 55 percent. Obviously, the two are complementary as are the marketing channels when used in a strategic, well-designed approach.

Jul 10

Rules of the Game: How to get your customers motivated

When I was quite a bit younger, I remember digging deep into the box of Cracker Jack for the toy prize. Now that I think about it, the sticky snack of popcorn and peanuts was actually a better treat than the cheap token ring or paper tattoo sunk deep within the box. Who doesn’t like to be rewarded, though? Just buy nine sandwiches to get the tenth one free. Sure! I’ve got a wallet full of loyalty cards from my favorite businesses. I’m earning discounts and frequent flier miles with every credit card purchase. I enjoy my perks from earning select shopper status and admit to playing a few rounds of McDonald’s Monopoly to win more than free fries. It’s all just a game, but smart businesses know these incentives work on consumers. If they can make it fun and engaging in the process, then even better.

Now that our massive social framework is in place, gaming has the potential for even greater influence. Look no further than Farmville, which at 80 million active monthly users and 30 million daily, has more active users than Twitter. That’s a lot of pig. Game designer Seth Priebatsch discusses this growing game dynamic and its value to businesses at a Boston TED conference. He says that the game dynamic is more prevalent in the world around us than we may realize. Consider happy hour, a long reliable traffic driver for bars and restaurants and one of my favorite times of day. Priebatsch calls this the “appointment dynamic” as it requires people, or players, to be at a predefined place at a certain time. Show up at the right time and place and receive a reward. Farmville uses this same gaming technique. If players don’t show up at a certain time, their crops wilt. A powerful driver considering the magnitude of people arriving at their computers each day. Other gaming principles we may also be taking for granted include:

1) The progression dynamic: This requires players to progress through various steps to reach a goal. Consider your LinkedIn profile progress bar, or loyalty cards that draw customers repeatedly back to a business to earn and unlock rewards.

2) Influence and status dynamic: Consider the bragging rights of reaching level 30 on World of Warcraft, becoming Mayor on Foursquare, or reaching for your American Express Black card. The motivators here are status and influence.

3) Communal discovery: This dynamic truly leverages the power of social networks by relying on communities to solve problems. Digg is a great example of crowdsourcing to identify the most interesting news. This dynamic is also ideal for adding legs to promotional campaigns. Businesses can encourage customers to reach out to their networks to vote for consumer-submitted videos, win game challenges and support causes.

As this gaming framework is taking shape alongside our social networks, how can we leverage it for good? It’s more than fun and games — it’s a powerful influencer.

Apr 22

Targeting marketing messages to purchasers and influencers

I appreciated a recent MediaPost article about targeting an anti-snoring product to the real person who suffers because of it — the spouse who is kept up every night by the noisy airflow. Eric Trowe, the VP and account strategy director at Brunner, summed it up well by saying, “When considering a target audience…challenge yourself to identify not just the afflicted but also the affected. Those who are impacted by a spouse or child with a condition may just be the one with the greatest motivation to find a solution.”

Trowe makes a good point that the target market for a product or service may not be the actual end user. The old saying “Mother knows best” takes on new meaning when you consider that women account for more then 85% of all consumer purchases and influence more than 95% of total goods and services.* Women also purchase at least 50% of traditional “male” categories such as automobiles, consumer electronics and PCs. Walk into any Apple Store and you’ll see the majority of sales support is still male, but their customers are as diverse in gender and age as the colors in their spinning beach ball. If you haven’t beefed up your customer service, added reviews and consumer information to your website, or capitalized on referral marketing tools, then you’re missing opportunities to market to this powerful group of female consumers.

And yet, it could be that a 12-year-old child is driving sales for your product. The point is that all audiences should be considered in your marketing, whether it’s primary purchasers, potential referrals and influencers, and even opportunities for publicity and word-of-mouth. Consider both your primary and secondary audiences when planning your messages and marketing. Do you know who is driving the sales of your product or services? Your primary audience is comprised of those that are the most affected, the most motivated and have the greatest influence. Your secondary audience may influence your primary audience and could have some recognized benefit, but they are not your main target.

Del Webb lifestyle communities serve up a great example. The marketing and advertising campaigns we developed for Del Webb in Texas were primarily focused on active adults, but we never lost sight of an important secondary market — their children. Many adult children could appreciate having their older parents at a Del Webb community, not far from where they lived and maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. While their children were not the ones making the final purchasing decisions, they certainly were able to influence. The best marketing captures a complete customer profile to target compelling products and messages not just to the end user, but to those making the actual purchasing decisions. The next step increases your scope to address the entire circle of influencers that help your customers reach those buying decisions.

* Competitive Edge Magazine

Mar 15

2 Comments

Top takeaways for entrepreneurs at RISE Austin


Austin’s leading businesses came together last week at RISE Austin to share ideas, resources and support for the entrepreneurial community. This unique conference for entrepreneurs is independently organized by entrepreneurs and connects people from wide backgrounds with leaders in non-profits, high-tech, government and more. Business owners come to the conference for many reasons, but there is an overall spirit of collaboration and cooperation rather than competition.  Here are my favorite takeaways from the conference:

Think big. Work small. A home-based business can still be big business if you’re resourceful, creative and passionate about your work. Lorie Marrero, author of The Clutter Diet, has grown her business into a very diverse and successful company. Yet, she still prefers the flexibility that a small home office gives her and doesn’t see this as a limitation. Big goals attract motivated people who can help you achieve them, so no matter what the size of your business it’s important to dream big.

Go fish. Leave the shrimp. This metaphor came from Anne Tiedt, owner of Momentum Public Relations. While it was meant in the context of media relations, I also found it useful when thinking about ways to grow a client base. The arduous process of shrimping requires casting large trawl nets and then sifting through the enormous catch to remove shrimp from seafood that isn’t of value. In comparison, fishing focuses your time and attention on producing the big catch. Rather than pitching your message indiscriminately, in much the same way as shrimping, first determine the most efficient media outlets and spend your efforts on those media for the big catch. Similarly, get choosy about the clients you want to work with and place your resources and efforts seeking them out.

On the far side of a fear is a freedom. Many of the RISE Austin presenters and those of us in the audience were interested in discussing ways to overcome fear, which was no surprise given the uncertain economy. Gay Gaddis, president & CEO of T3, reminded us that a setback is also an opportunity for innovation or change. Apart from finding opportunity even during a recession, I found roomfuls of encouragement for overcoming the very common fear of taking risks. Why not embrace it instead? Fear can keep us motivated, focused and aware of potential pitfalls. Melinda Garvey, publisher of Austin Woman Magazine, summed it up well by saying, “Your goals aren’t big enough if you don’t have fear.”

Give back to your community. Offering up your time and your talents ties in well to being passionate about what you do. Austin is a dynamic city and offers many ways to plug in to the community. Carol Thompson, president of The Thompson Group, reminded us always to ask, “How can I help you?” VolunteerMatch and Austin’s own I Live Here, I Give Here are excellent resources for finding a cause that you can feel passionate about supporting.

Jan 27

1 Comment

Twitter tools to work the language

Twitter can be both efficient and maddening with its 140-character limits. Abbreviations have become acceptable, even when they aren’t correct. New words have joined our language and symbols can at times express more than words.

Mashable introduced me to several new tools this past week to make sense of  the new language limits. My favorites? Thsrs (the shorter thesaurus), which offers less lengthy synonyms for long words so you can fit within the 140-character count. If you don’t mind the abbreviations, but have difficulty with self-editing, you can let 140it do it for you. Just close your eyes and hit “click.” While the site shaves down your tweets, you could end up sounding like a 12-year-old girl. Other tools define hashtags, analyze your personality based on tweets, and translate into foreign languages. I’m not giving up my AP Stylebook, but it’s always good to have the right tool for the job.

Jan 9

Creating conversions with your content

Driving traffic to your storefront or website is one thing, but getting those prospects to become paying customers is another. How many times have you stuffed items into your shopping cart, but then walked away before hitting the “Order” button? What converts a prospective customer into a sale? A good part of capturing that transaction comes down to trust. Have you established it with your customers?

How do you build trust? Every detail on your site and every level of contact you make should reinforce that trust with your customers. Of course, foremost you need to deliver on your brand promise.  If your product erases lines and wrinkles within 14 days, you should back that up. But there are other ways to build trust as well. Be sure to include product reviews and testimonials on your website. Word-of-mouth referrals are the primary factor behind 20% to 50% of all purchasing decisions according to a recent article by McKinsey Quarterly. When consumers are buying a product for the first time, they especially tend to seek out more opinions and do more research.

Building trust can also be as simple as including your contact information, photographs of yourself and your storefront, a short company history, as well as seals of secure purchasing technology services such as VeriSign. Ongoing communications with your customers can also help build their loyalty. I like newsletters, either printed or delivered via email, to stay in contact with customers. These have the added benefit of establishing you as an expert in your field by providing relevant content.

In all communications, it’s important to be yourself and be honest. If you’ve received a negative review, address it and show your concern for the customer’s experience. With each interaction, you have an opportunity to build a relationship and, ultimately, trust.

Oct 7

Have some fun with your “About” page.

I read an interesting approach by Seth Godin to the “About” sections of websites. This section of the site is usually a grab bag of information, with bland descriptions of the company’s mission, business philosophy and contacts. Once the page has been written, why revisit it except to update phone numbers or new staff information? That approach misses a smart opportunity to express the personality of your organization and connect with your audience. As Seth Godin explains, be human. Tell a story — one that resonates with your readers. Videos provide a compelling way to do this, whether they capture the good work you do in the community or simply offer up a more personal introduction.

TOMS Shoes has one of my favorite About sections on their site. The page is named “Our Movement” and it inspires and connects through video, photos and compelling copy. Social media links are worked throughout the page, encouraging readers to get involved in the movement. The section isn’t a dead end, but thoroughly connected to other parts of the organization and their blogs.

I’m still waiting for Trader Joe’s to arrive in Austin. This “neighborhood grocery store” has grown much the same way as Whole Foods, but they’ve kept their quirky character and sense of humor. It shows in their About Us section, which shares a brief history of their roots, useful customer updates, humorous FAQs and very easy to find contacts and feedback forms.

Testimonials can add immediate credibility (assuming they are true). I like using them throughout the site, reminding your audience why they are in good hands  when they do business with you. Other useful guidelines — invest in good photography. Stock photos can be an easy, affordable way to improve your marketing materials, but avoid them on your About page. Instead, use authentic, quality photography to introduce your team, show off your personality and put your business in its best light. And those older, embarrassing photos have a use — they can be a great way to liven up a company history or timeline.

While the About page can seem like the junk draw in your home, be careful not to use it as a catch-all for information that doesn’t quite fit elsewhere on the site. Give it some attention to keep the page fresh, interesting and full of personality.

← Older Entries