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Posts from the ‘Branding’ Category

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.

Oct 8

Working style

Media Strategy & Buying

Whether your reach is local, regional or national, we have the experience to help you engage and influence your markets. We keep your business top of mind through media strategies that integrate traditional channels with new media opportunities.

  • Media strategy and negotiation
  • Placement across TV, radio, online, print, mobile  and out-of-home media
  • Integration with social media networks for cross-marketing
  • Added value and sponsorship opportunities to maximize budgets
  • Campaign monitoring

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

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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.

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