Marketing Manner

So the average number of Web pages Google had available to index in 1998 was about 25 million. As of summer 2008, do you know how many unique Web pages Google had available to index? A record-breaking 1 trillion unique Web pages. That’s right 1 trillion.

Also, 65,000 new videos are added to YouTube on a daily basis.

In 2005 (the most recent year available), almost 40 billion product catalogs were published. That equals 134 catalogs for every person in the United States. Who needs that many catalogs?

The American Association of Advertising Agencies says people are only able to absorb, at most, 100 ads per day out of the 2,000 to 3,000 we are exposed to.

And, people just don’t trust advertisers. In an old Gallup poll from 1998 that rated honesty and ethical standards against a range of professions, advertising pros were near the bottom of the list, between lawyers and car salespeople. Ouch. 

So who do people trust? “‘Word-of-mouth’ [is] the most powerful selling tool…78 percent of consumers say they trust the recommendation of other consumers.” – Nielsen, Trust in Advertising, 2007 Global Consumer Survey Report. This is especially true of the young generation of 14-24 year olds. This age group spends more than 16 hours online (that’s more than they spend watching TV!). They also like to send IMs – 56 percent say they spend more than an hour each day texting or instant messaging. A full 25 percent prefer social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace than actually hanging out in real life with their friends. And, finally, 96 percent use a social networking site every day.

That means their friends mean more to them and have more communication with them than your ads ever could.

What does this mean for you?

You need to get on the social networking sites and fast.

According to a Prospectiv survey conducted in early 2008, 87 percent of those polled (800 users of social networking sites) felt that targeted ads on social networking sites didn’t match their preferences. This means that you actually have to put some thought into the ads you use on social networking sites. Using blogs and reviews might actually work better in the long run than just advertising on these sites. By actually creating a relationship with people, you’ll earn their trust.

The ads that did work on social networking sites were one-off coupons and discount offers from brands and products that users already purchase. Take the time to really target your ads by using technology that lets you read more about the user. Knowing their occupation or interests is key to getting a targeted ad that will get a click-thru.

By getting on social networking sites as a user and an advertiser, you’ll create memorability and trust. By users repeatedly seeing your ads, they’ll be more likely to click on them.

Many people think of mobile advertising as a subset of Internet advertising. But it’s actually more far-reaching than Internet advertising.

Mobile advertising is a form of advertising, but is somewhat separated from Internet advertising. Mobile advertising has its own set of rules that differ from Internet advertising. With Internet advertising, you have the whole computer screen to work with, which means you’ve got cool graphics that can tell your story. Many people have cell phones and BlackBerrys that can get the Internet, but mobile advertising doesn’t only target these people. Mobile advertising also reaches those cell phone users who don’t have the Internet on their phones. SMS (short message service) is a communication protocol that cell phones users use – it’s most often referred to as text messaging. Not all text messaging services use SMS, but SMS has become synonymous with text messaging so that’s generally what people are talking about when they say SMS.

Mobile advertising is growing at rapid rates in Asia, Europe and the United States, but is also slowly growing in other countries as the technology gets cheaper. Mobile advertising is growing because of the ability to catch people when they’re not at home in front of their TVs or computers.

According to Informa Telecoms & Media, a research firm, just under $900 million was spent worldwide on mobile advertising. Doesn’t sound too shabby until you compare it with spending on Internet advertising: $24 billion. Total worldwide ad dollars spent in 2007 topped out at $450 billion. That makes Internet advertising look small as well. They’re small now, but both mobile and Internet advertising are growing.

Currently, mobile ads mainly comprise text messages, but in the near future could most likely include video clips, mobile-only Web pages, music downloads and game downloads (Economist.com).

However, with the current economy in the slumps, The Financial Times has reported that mobile advertising will be affected for two years, after which marketing agencies will expect companies to increase their ad budgets. All forms of advertising will be affected be the economy, but Jean-Paul Edwards, executive director of futures at Manning Gottlieb OMD, which is part of Omnicom, a marketing agency, said “advertisers become more conservative in downturns, and retreat into what is most proven….The current economic climate will push things back a bit. If money is tight, mobile is not proven yet.”

Revenues from mobile advertising will still grow, just not at the rate that some would like. Google, Yahoo!, Nokia and Microsoft won’t be thrilled with the downturn, but they won’t be totally disappointed: Research firm Informa forecasts that revenues from mobile ads will rise to $12 billion by 2013. So far in 2008, only $1.2 billion has been spent on mobile ads.

As with any wave, mobile will have its rises and falls, so it’s best to get in when the wave is low so you can ride high with it when the tides turn in a few years.

Social media directly influences how we make purchases, according to research conducted by Universal McCann, a global media planning company. In their report, “When did we start trusting strangers?” the company interviewed 17,000 people in 29 countries to see how social media impacts their buying decisions. The leader of the report, Tom Smith stated “This has huge impacts on the way that advertisers and brands have to think about social media – moving involvement from a ‘nice to have’ to an ‘essential to have.’”

Here are some of the stats from the report:

• The top channels for informing people about products and services were Instant Messenger and email, at 44.5 percent and 42 percent respectively.
• Over 29 percent of those polled have commented on a product or brand on a blog
• About 27 percent have posted an opinion about a product or brand on a social networking profile
• People gave their opinions about entertainment most often, with 60 percent having recommended a film and 52 percent recommending music
• Technology was also a big topic to blog about: 57 percent have recommended home technology and 54 percent have recommended some kind of portable technology or mobile phone service on a social media channel

This report shows that everyone that uses social media is an influencer to a certain degree. Of course, some more than others. Many blogs are dedicated purely to reviewing certain products. And, how many times have you recommended a book on Amazon.com or have written a bad review of a Web site that you didn’t get good service from? I know I’ve done both and I don’t consider myself a social marketing guru. That’s the point of social marketing – you don’t have to be a guru, you just have to have your own opinions. And other people will trust your opinion on social media sites.

Universal McCann is using this report to give their clients the following advice:

1. You must participate in social media. If you don’t have a social media presence, you’re toast. (I’m paraphrasing here, of course .) Basically, it’s no longer a choice because people are going to be talking about you anyway, so you might as well be proactive and join the discussions.
2. Be transparent. You must be honest and open about how your company works. If you made a mistake, own up to it and control the discussion. If you just ignore it you won’t be able to do any damage control.
3. Invest in your product. People review a product because they had a good experience with it. With the market now being driven by consumer recommendations, the good, responsive companies that have an online social media presence will stand out. 

If you don’t get involved in social media, you can’t influence anyone. Traditional advertising and marketing alone won’t do it; people don’t trust companies, but they do trust strangers.

Whether we are in a recession or not, and experts say it’s surprising we aren’t yet in a recession, times are definitely tough. With the government’s bailout signed last week, the stock market plummeted and is likely to take up to 5 years to bounce back.

With people not being able to borrow money as easily before, and we are a nation of borrowers, it’s tempting for many businesses to stop marketing and to use their marketing budgets for other business costs. But unless you really need that marketing money in other business costs, it’s best to keep marketing. The economy will eventually bounce back and people will be borrowing and buying again. Many people are still able to purchase goods now, so don’t leave those people hanging.

What needs to be done now is to change your marketing approach, but still market. When creating your marketing plan for next year, here are some factors to keep in mind that will help you market successfully during this hard time.

1. Keep researching your target market. You knew your market last year or whenever the last time you conducted research, but now times are different and your target market’s spending is probably different. You need to know how consumers are responding to the imminent recession. Consumers are negotiating more than ever and are willing to trade down, postpone purchases or just buy less. Interest in new brands disintegrates in a recession, so focus on your current customers rather than look for new ones.

2. Focus your marketing on family values. More people will stay at home with family and friends during hard times. Use marketing scenes that show cozy home scenes with family, rather than adventurous destinations that people can’t afford to travel to. Telephone use, home entertainment and home furnishings will likely hold up well in this economy as more people stay home.

3. Maintain your marketing spending. It has been documented that brands that up the marketing effort, or at least keep it level, during a recession can improve market share and ROI at a lower cost than during a good economy. This is because those that can, do. Those that can’t – your competitors – fall away from the front lines, allowing room for you. If you must cut back, try to keep the quantity of ads up, but switch to cheaper ads – switch 30-second ads to 15-second ads and use radio ads instead of TV ads. Just keep your name out there, even if you can’t do it in the same capacity as before.

4. Alter pricing tactics. Customers are looking for good deals now. They want quantity over quality now because they need to make their dollar stretch more than ever before. Offer more sales and discounts, and price smaller packages more aggressively. When people don’t have as much moolah to spend, they concentrate on price more than promotions such as mail-in offers.

5. Alter your product line. You may need to favor and market multi-use products over specialized products because people want to get the most for their money. Gimmicks won’t work during a recession; you need reliable, durable, safe products that have shown to perform well in the past. Your marketing image should stress price for performance rather than a favorable corporate image.

Despite the rough economy, digital marketing is still going strong and is actually growing. According to eMarketer data released in August 2008, advertisers will spend $25 billion online in 2008 in the United States alone. This is about 17.5 percent more than 2007. eMarketer projects that the recession will cause growth to slow a bit in 2009, with projected spending at “only” $28.5 billion.

eMarketer is expecting the economy to recover by 2011 coupled with an increase in online video advertising to push the online ad spending to more than $40 billion that year. They then expect online advertising to grow by about $10 billion each year after that to 2013. eMarketer gets its projections by benchmarking against the Interactive Advertising Bureau numbers.

Digital marketing doesn’t only include online advertising – it includes everything from online video ads to search media to in-game and mobile advertising. A report from analyst firm Parks Associates also forecasts growth in digital media advertising segments. Parks Associates gives a breakdown of everything from Internet display, rich media, search, DVR, mobile and in-game advertising. New categories, such as in-game ads and mobile ads will have the highest gains because they’re starting from lower bases than other forms of digital advertising like online ads.

Parks Associates projects digital media to compose 10 percent of overall ad spending or about $24 billion by 2010. eMarketer predicts a higher number for 2010 of about $33 billion.

Of course, these are all just predictions, and each research firm has its own numbers that tell a different story.

JupiterResearch, for instance, forecasts display ad spending to reach $7.2 billion by 2010, while Parks Associates forecasts display ad spending to reach only $2.4 billion.

JupiterResearch believes by 2010 search marketing will reach $7.5 billion in revenues. Parks Associates sees search marketing growing more than that – up to $9.7 billion. 

New categories like rich media, in-game and mobile advertising shows the most growth according to Parks Associates. Internet rich-media ads are projected to bring in an estimated $5.7 billion by 2010. In-game ads will grow at least 50 percent according to the study, bringing in about $430 million annually. Mobile advertising is expected to grow to $2 billion in the same time period.

Even though all the numbers are different, quite different, actually, they are all projecting an upward trend for digital marketing. The Parks Associates report says that media is moving from mass to niche, forcing advertisers to adapt to new content and ad formats. “We believe that advertising over the next five years will go through some changes,” said Parks Associates Research Analyst Harry Wang in a Webcast presentation of the report. “For content providers as well as media publishers, they have to provide content in a form that the audience prefers.”

I hadn’t heard of place branding until today. At first I thought it seemed odd that a place like city would need branding, but then I thought of Las Vegas. New York City. Those places definitely have brands attached to them. Now it’s starting to all make sense.

Place branding is being used by more and more locations around the world to compete for their share of foreign and domestic investment dollars and capital. One good example is Cincinnati USA’s communication of its brand – the tourism site and campaign is all over the place! Of course, living only a few hours of Cincinnati maybe I’m more inundated by the TV commercials and ads than others. But being in the Midwest and about the center of the United States, I bet Cincinnati USA has reached much farther than the crossroads of America.

Cincinnati USA’s campaign shows that Cincinnati is not a boring city – it’s got sports, recreation, “family fun” and culture. 

I’ve found 7 tips from the Branding Strategy Insider blog that work well for place branding:

1. Get marketing advisors on your team. Before you even start thinking about how to incorporate place branding, you need to get some people on your side that can help you understand the jargon used by ad agencies and place branding consultants. You might even be able to find a marketing pro on your Board of Directors that can help you recruit a few more marketing minds. These people can help you plan your strategy so that you don’t waste any money or resources and get the response you want.

2. Include thought leaders from your community in your plan. These community leaders can help influence others in your community to get on board in your branding initiative. When you brand a place, you have to have the community’s buy-in or it’s not going to work.

3. Focus your branding to a few industries. All of the companies in your place want to be part of your branding effort. Anytime you include them, it’s like free advertising for them. But at first, you should focus mainly on the big money makers in your town. A nicer way of saying this is include those who represent the majority of your gross domestic product. To balance the focus, you should include one or two emerging industries in your branding.

4. Get to know industry experts in your community. Become buddies with the execs at the companies of which you’ll be touting in your branding. Local experts can let you in on emerging trends in the area that will affect how well your place is received nationally and internationally. Use them to keep your branding info current and relevant.

5. Translate your place’s features to benefits. A marketing mantra is to sell benefits, not features. Do the same with your place. A state-of-the-art hospital is a feature; having experts near that up your chances of surviving a heart attack is a benefit.

6. Partner with nearby communities. If your place is interdependent with another close-by, there’s no reason you can’t both share the region’s assets. A capital investment made in either place can contribute to the region’s brand.

7. Make sure you have the time and money to do the branding. Branding doesn’t happen overnight. You need to make sure you have the resources to devote to building up your place brand. This is a hard challenge, but it can be done. Look at Cincinnati for inspiration when you think it can’t be done.

Magazine advertising is still a viable vehicle for print advertising, according to the Magazine Publishers of America. The MPA is even currently campaigning in print and online ads to show that “advertising in magazines encourages consumers to consider buying products — a phenomenon known as purchase intent — and stimulates them to go online to shop or to learn more about items they might want to buy.”

The campaign includes ads that show people who have bought too much stuff, being “Under the influence of magazines” (the tagline). The campaign started in early September and is included on Magfacts.org. According to a New York Times story, “The campaign offers “third-party, independent research” on the power of magazine advertising, “none of it commissioned or paid for by us” Nina Link, president and chief executive at the MPA in New York said.

Despite dropping numbers of magazine advertisements, the MPA wants to communicate to people that magazine advertising is still strong – by advertising online and in magazines. Somewhat paradoxical, yes? And no. Magazines ads are used to drive traffic to Web sites, which are precisely what these ads are designed to do – drive traffic to Magfacts.org.

The number of magazine ads fell by 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2008 when compared to the same quarter in 2007. These numbers come from the Publishers Information Bureau, an affiliate of the association. The second quarter of 2008 was even worse: numbers fell 8.2 percent compared to the second quarter in 2007.

Of course, the economy is somewhat partly to blame for the low numbers. Ad revenue for newspapers is falling fast (faster than magazines) and even online advertising growth has slowed. Several magazines such as Golf for Women, Quick & Simple, and Stuff all recently closed or announced plans to stop publishing.

Of course, how many Web sites have closed in the same time period due to low or non-existent advertising? A higher number than the magazines that have closed, I would bet. I couldn’t find any stats online, believe it or not.

So, what is the basis for the MPA’s campaign that magazines are still an advertising vehicle of choice? Here are the stats (you can get the research findings by visiting Magfacts.org).

Magazines are:
• #1 in driving search among 18- to 44-year-olds
• #1 in influencing automotive purchase intent. 2/3 more effective than TV. 1 ½ times more effective than online.
• #1 in influencing purchase intent of packaged goods. At nearly 2x the rate of TV and 3x the rate of online.
• #1 in driving word of mouth.
• #1 in driving brand favorability. 2x the impact of TV and 4x the impact of online.

Also,
• People were 2 times as likely to visit a website after seeing a magazine ad.
• Seeing a magazine ad increased web traffic by more than 40 percent.

These sound pretty good for the magazine industry, no? To underline the power of magazine ads, Anne Bologna, chief executive at Toy (the agency who created the ads), said the three brands featured in the first stage of the campaign — Adidas footwear; Häagen-Dazs, owned by Nestlé; and Mini Cooper, part of BMW — “are all winners of Kelly Awards.” (Kelly Awards are given annually by the MPA for best magazine ads.)

To reach potential customers, many marketers send out postcards. This is a great idea, especial since postcard printing is so affordable. But, when marketers say they are trying to get prospects by “prospecting” many don’t really know what that means, which means they can’t do it effectively.

Prospecting is a form of marketing that is aimed at consumers that you don’t yet have as customers. Yet. Anytime you send out a marketing message via postcard, brochure or television commercial, you are usually doing so in hopes of catching consumers’ attention so that they’ll respond to you in some way (usually either by making a purchase or inquiring about a product). All of this can be considered prospecting. So, to make it short, prospecting is a marketing technique that is used to reach potential customers, or prospects, so that you can hopefully turn them into actual customers.

This is where postcard marketing comes into the picture.

Postcards are great for prospecting because you can send them to a targeted mailing list comprised of your ideal audience – your ideal audience being people are most likely to buy your products or services.

Let’s go over what makes an effective postcard to net prospects.

Elements of a Successful Prospecting Postcard
A targeted mailing list: Without a good mailing list, you might as well send your postcard to no one. If you send your postcard out to a section of the phone book and hope for the best, you’ll waste your money. By creating a mailing list that is targeted to your ideal demographics, for example, married women in their 40s, you not only have a higher chance of getting a response from these women, but you can also tailor your message just for them. A targeted list makes it easier to speak straight to your demographic.

A strong offer: Give prospects a deal they can’t refuse. This offer needs to be good enough so that it motivates people to get out of their house (or onto the Internet, depending on your business) and into your store. Your offer needs to negate any risk associated with trying a new brand or a new product. A free item or a big discount works well. A guarantee also does the job of getting new people to try your products, as long as it’s risk-free.

A great design: People won’t read cluttered postcards or postcards that don’t have an appealing design. Make sure your colors and layout appeal to your demographic. Bold, bright neon colors won’t appeal to Baby Boomers, but will get teenagers’ attention.

A motivating headline: Your headline needs to communicate some kind of benefit for the reader. Why should they use your product? How will your product make their life easier? Don’t bury the benefits in the copy and make people wait to get to the good part. They won’t read that far without a motivating headline.

A call to action: Once you tell people why they should buy from you, you need to tell them what to do next. Should they call you or stop by your store? Tell them explicitly what you want them to do. “Call now for a free quote.” “Stop in today for 50% off.” People won’t read your postcard and then magically know what the next step is. Eliminate their guessing and tell them what to do. If you don’t, you chance a prospect doing nothing.

Once you combine all of these elements, you need to get your postcards printed on quality cardstock and mailed ASAP. To up the effectiveness of your postcards, you can also include a sense of urgency by imposing a deadline on your offer. Then you’ll have new customers at your door in no time!

As a small business owner, you have to balance cutting costs and remaining lean and efficient.  Brochures are one of those indispensable marketing and advertising tools.  So, how do you decide at what point you should try to take the do-it-yourself approach to designing and printing brochures, or to hire professionals to do the job for you?
 
First step – know the numbers
How many brochures do you actually need?  This depends on many factors, most important of which are your budget and your customers.  If you have hundreds of customers that you can reach through trade shows or simple meet and greet opportunities, you may want to cut costs and limit your brochure design expense.  In this case, go to a professional printer who can quickly and easily develop your brochures.  But if you have a small customer base, consider a more elaborate design that you may be able to print and design on your own.
 
Second step – know your customers
Your customers need to know how your products and services will make their lives better.  You already have an intimate knowledge of what your customers need, now show them through your brochures why they need you.  If your customers need to see a flashy, brilliant brochure, then consider professional printing.  It is difficult to use small office equipment to create high-end brochures.  If you can keep it simple, your home-based printing equipment may be all you need.
 
Step three – know yourself
This process of “showing” your customers why they need you often requires the special touch of a professional designer.  Do you really have the expertise and patience to develop professional brochure design?  This is a question only you can answer.  If you’re confident in your experience and equipment, save yourself a great deal of time and headache and develop your own brochures.  Otherwise, save yourself the time and headache and hire a professional.

When I think back on my formative years, I recall three ad icons that still stick with me today: Ronald McDonald, the Energizer Bunny, and Tony the Tiger. Burgers, batteries, and breakfast. Sure there are other marketing moguls that I could point out. The Marlboro Man, Betty Crocker, the Michelin Man, and Aunt Jemima are all fantastically successful icons that have survived nearly a century. But these are my favorites, and the icons most successful to me get my attention today.

Ronald McDonald reigned in my childhood household whenever there was a choice about where to eat. Happy Meals, playgrounds, and ice cream were all I could think about. But what made Ronald so successful is that he did not sell the food and experience; Ronald embodied fun. As a child I only needed a glimpse of Ronald and I had the McDonald’s fever, which could only be cured with a Happy Meal, of course.

Then there’s the Energizer Bunny: still going (and going) strong, too. Electronic toys were just beginning to grip the market, so batteries were a must. Even as a child I can recall my perception that Energizers were the best batteries. In fact, they were the only battery in my mind. To this day, all I have to see is that pink face on those dark shades and I am second guessing whether or not I have the right batteries in my mp3 player.

Finally, the grrrrrreat Tony the Tiger who had me thoroughly convinced that Frosted Flakes was the king of cereals. After all, you can’t beat anything that has frosting and is good for you too! Anytime I had the choice, Frosted Flakes was it. And it was a dark day when Mom came home with the generic equivalent.

Those are my votes based on my recollections, and these ad icons still influence me today.