Ordinary companies have bought into the belief that you can’t reach C-level executives through online communications. Challenger Brands know that there is simply no truth to that common misperception, but they welcome the opportunities it provides them. In a recent study by Forbes Insight in cooperation with Google entitled “The Rise of the Digital C-Suite: How Executives Locate and Filter Business Information,” it was discovered that senior-level executives considered the web to be their most valuable resource for gathering business information. The results of the study indicated that the web far outpaced other sources, including personal networks, trade publications, seminars and trade shows. Challenger Brands know that, contrary to common belief, C-level executives are far more involved online than are other members of the management team. And Challenger Brands also know that the younger generation of C-level executives who have grown up in the era of the web are bringing about monumental changes to the manner in which market and product and/or service research is conducted. Challenger Brands know of these things instinctively as well as intellectually. Are you a Challenger Brand?
| Challenger Brands recognize that regardless of what their company offers, there are dozens if not hundreds of forums or message boards that are germane to them, and participation is critical. At the bare minimum, monitoring the exchange of ideas on those outlets is essential for Challenger Brands to ensure that they are not receiving any undue criticism that goes unanswered. More importantly, Challenger Brands have information of value to those forum participants, whether they are active or passive readers. Challenger Brands recognize maintaining credibility as a knowledge source is critical and that selling is taboo. Adding value is the name of the game for Challenger Brands. They realize that when you have properly positioned your company as an authoritative source, participants will want your advice. Challenger Brands realize that participants will know the name of the company they represent, so before that advice crosses over into what would be deemed blatant selling, Challenger Brands take those conversations offline and engage in a direct email communication. And Challenger Brands are not afraid to state to the forum that that is what they are doing. It goes a long way toward maintaining credibility as a reliable source of unbiased information. Challenger Brands know that active participation pays enormous dividends when they are regarded as rightful members of the online community. Are you a Challenger Brand? |
Video can be a very powerful way to communicate with your audience. Just imagine the success you would have if you could have face-to-face conversations with every prospect interested in your company, twenty-four hours a day. Obviously, this is not possible, so video messaging can offer the next best option for effectively connecting with your audience.
Thanks to the recent evolution of video production technology, every organization can now include quality, low-cost video in their marketing communication strategy. This can include everything from websites to social media campaigns to sales presentations, and almost every other marketing strategy in betweSo what are some of the basics of effective video production?
Know your audience — Defining your audience early in the video helps you develop your story line and messaging. When your audience knows you are speaking directly to them, they will better connect with you and actively listen to your message.
Make it worth their time to watch — Just because you have something to say doesn’t mean people are going to listen. Make sure your message is relevant, entertaining and/or provides valuable information designed to keep your audience engaged.
Make your message consistent with your brand — It’s so easy to stray from your brand vision, especially in a video. Always be true to your brand’s guidelines, messaging style and vision.
Keep it short and sweet — Your objective must be to ensure that your target watches your video to the end. The only way this will happen is if you connect with them in a relevant way. Try to keep your message short, sweet and to the point, and remember that your audience only cares about one thing: “what’s in this for me?”
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth several million. Done right, adding videos to your marketing strategy can dramatically increase your messaging impact. We have been seeing the results of our video marketing campaigns increase more and more recently.
A recent study conducted by the Poynter Institute set out to take a scientific look at how most people go about reading news content, and to learn if there was a significant difference in the way they read content online versus in a printed format.
This may be the first time that a study of this type was conducted at this scale. Of all those who participated in the study, 70% said that they read their news content in either print or online format four times per week.
The study tracked their eye movements in 15-minute reading sessions. These reading sessions revealed how long readers spent with the stories they picked, as well as a host of other details regarding their reading patterns and preferences.
Here are some of the general findings:
- People are drawn to alternative story forms, such as sidebars, lists, captions, Q&A’s and timelines.
- Photos capture a lot of immediate attention.
- Real photos capture more attention than staged or studio photographs.
- 77% of the participants prefer to read their news content online.
- And nearly two-thirds of the online readers, once they selected an item to read, read all of the text.
By the way, this study was partially funded by the newspaper industry. How’s that for irony?
So how does this information affect the typical marketer? It all comes down to the quality of content. As long as you create content that is relevant, on message and valuable to your readers, they will continue to give it the time and attention it deserves.
It’s hard to believe that the “New Millennium” has been underway for 10 years. It has been a time of great change, challenge and also possibilities. So, what are the “next big things” we as marketers need to be aware of? Following are five trends and predictions that we need to think about.
1) My Internet
The Internet will continue offering users more and more options for obtaining the information, services and products they need. Websites will transform into collections of web services and web applications that are easy to export, allowing users to use all the services they need at one central location (email, online collaborative platform, Twitter, etc). For brands, the key is to give consumers the ability to find and get information, products and services when they are most relevant.
2) “Go green” and mean it
Not so long ago, implementing the green attribute into your business and communication strategies gave you a premium product or competitive advantage. Good intentions are no longer good enough. Being green will become the new price of doing business.
3) “Exclusivity” is the new gold
What is your brand doing to offer customers “exclusivity”? If you don’t know, you’d better start thinking about an answer. In 2010, it will be about offering people new ways to experience their lives, as well as sustainable, authentic products that have a story. Products that are merely expensive will be meaningless (and embarrassing) unless they are backed by substantive “specialness.”
4) Tough consumers
Consumers will be more demanding, and their expectations will only rise. Brands will have to anticipate consumer expectations and start to build from these in order to stay ahead of the competition.
Are you thinking about how your customers are living today? How are you evolving to accommodate their needs more effectively? Is your website accessible on their smart phones? Are you contactable 24/7? How will you service these customers in the way they’ve become accustomed to in other parts of their lives?
5) Consumers are talking. Get in the conversation.
The amount of discussion in the online social space will continue to increase dramatically. You will not be able to control this. But you will be expected to participate via reputation management and social-media monitoring tools. With these tools, brands will have the possibility to measure their own online activity and identify patterns between online activity and sales. “Social-media ROI” will be one of the strong online marketing terms of 2010 and beyond.
From the Gumas Family to yours, here’s wishing you a very prosperous New Year filled with great branding campaigns and increased sales!!
We are huge believers in creating integrated marketing programs, simply because they work. A very important component of almost every one of these programs is email marketing. The reason is simple: email marketing is cost effective, is extremely targeted and delivers trackable results.
Before you embark on your next email marketing program, take a look at the list below to avoid making any of these common mistakes.
Mistake #1: Cramming in too much
Your readers want information that is direct and to the point. Keep your emails short, concise and relevant to their needs. Readers will only give you a few seconds of their valuable time, so you need to get your point across fast. Remember: less is more.
Mistake #2: Irrelevant content
Readers don’t care about you. They only care about what you can do to improve their lives or help them solve a problem. Provide them with information that is relevant, timely and valuable, and always avoid the temptation to talk about yourself. Instead, talk about how your product or services provide real solutions in their lives. You want your reader to say “that was worth my time” after they read your email message.
Mistake #3: Not proofing or testing
You would be surprised at how many emails we see that have misspelled words, poor grammar, bad punctuation and non-working links. Since email marketing is so easy and fast to send, many marketers fall into the trap of not thoroughly proofing or testing. Nothing says “you don’t deserve to have my business” like sending out email messages with mistakes.
Email marketing campaigns require as much planning, effort and expertise as any other marketing initiative. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking they are easy to write and send. Make sure that you put in the extra effort to develop relevant content for your readers, and thoroughly test and proof everything. If you avoid these mistakes, your email marketing efforts should deliver greater results.
In an ever-increasing pool of social media tools, Microsoft adds another one. Yesterday Microsoft unveiled Looking Glass, their new product that allows businesses to track, measure and analyze conversations in real-time on the web including popular social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more. Some of the key features include:
- Automatic email alerts on social media activity
- Sentiment reports that track whether conversations are negative or positive
- Flow charts that report time of day and frequency
- Integration of data with internal databases and CRM tools
Unlike a handful of tools out there now, Looking Glass claims to integrate with not only current advertising campaign data but also with internal databases and CRM tools. The product is currently in beta testing among a select few companies; however, Microsoft plans to officially launch to businesses in 2010.
But until then, there are plenty of tools out there now.
Surfing the web can be pretty intense with the proliferation of information on the web these days. Accessing that information has gotten even easier with social tools like Twitter. And with this rise in information is a rise in garbage. Luckily, the web has been transforming into an online community that looks after itself. How, you might ask?
Enter Google Sidewiki, a social network on its own that gives web surfers an online community that provides commentary from Google users about specific pages.
Some example uses:
- Expert insights on political issues
- Helpful tips when browsing for a car
- Background or historical information on a research topic
- Added perspective on the latest gadgets
- Adding rich content to your Blogger blog from sites of interest
To illustrate how this works, we downloaded this Firefox-enabled application. After the proper add-on installation (takes about 10 seconds), we took the app for a spin on the Google Blog site.
When we click the Sidewiki button on the Google toolbar, we see a ton of social comments about this particular page. To hide the sidebar, just simply click the arrow keys and the sidebar is collapsed into a thin blue bar. When you visit a new site, you can uncollapse the bar and see what other Google users are saying about the site.
Additionally, you can broadcast information you find on web pages by selecting from the Sidewiki drop-down menu the “Write an entry” option. Here you can write your own comment and post to Blogger.
And here’s a video:
So now, as you are surfing the lonely ocean of the web, you have a community surfing with you that can help guide you as you brave the waves.
On the fence about having a blog? Here’s a new study that might swing your decision. A recent study from HubSpot looked at how blogs affect online marketing metrics such as visits, inbound links and indexed pages. The sample size of the study was 1,531 HubSpot customers with 795 of the businesses blogging and 736 not. These businesses were comprised mostly of small- and medium-sized businesses.
The result of the study showed:
• 55% more visitors
• 97% more inbound links
• 434% more indexed pages
In addition to being the largest depository of videos, did you know that YouTube is now the second-largest search engine in the world?
For marketers, YouTube offers a number of opportunities to promote your business to millions of users worldwide. Because of its unique video search technology, you can easily find videos on just about any topic you need—from great vacations in Greece to how to grill the perfect hamburger, and everything in between. Just like Google search, the videos that are most relevant to the search terms show up first.
When someone searches on YouTube using a keyword that is relevant to your business, wouldn’t it be great if your company’s video showed up on the first page of the search results? How do you optimize your videos to make this happen?
Here are some of the basic strategies we use to maximize our clients’ exposure:
- Make sure that your keywords are part of your video title
- Try to keep your videos less than three minutes in length
- Optimize the description of your video with the same keyword phrases
- Make sure you use the same keyword phrases as part of the tags
- Always provide a link on your website to your video on YouTube, using an “anchor text” keyword phrase
In addition, when you post a video on YouTube, you’re able to track how many people have viewed it and what kind of comments it has received (positive or negative). You can post follow-up videos to keep the conversation going, and, if you post something clever enough to create a buzz, YouTube allows viewers to post your video to their blog or website, or pass it on to their friends.
YouTube is just one of the many tactics that you should be using in your integrated marketing program to maximize your brand’s exposure. If you don’t already have them, consider creating videos about your company. Topics could include a discussion of your company’s products or services, client testimonials, how-to demonstrations, community involvement, unique interviews or special awards, to name but a few.
Until next month…
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