Marketing Advice, Ideas and Strategy - Marc Binkley

Q&A with John Jantsch - Duct Tape Marketing

2010-10-27T10:29:00.001-07:00

The following are my notes from the question and answer period last night at John Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing presentation.

Question: What do you mean by creating a total web presence?

The internet and specifically your website is the hub of a brand. The more links that exist to direct people back to your website the better. There are hundreds of free link building profile sites out there that every business should contribute to. Here are just a few examples

Youtube - create you own channel
Linkedin - connect to a business network
Facebook - duh. create a page or join groups
Entrepreneur - connect with other business minded people

Question: Your system seems to focus the business owner on their marketing by getting them to identify and utilize their existing resources ie. web presence and improving their existing lead conversion rates. What role do traditional media platforms like magazines have for business owners?

If your ideal client uses a particular type of media, then it's a great place to advertise and connect with that ideal customer. As always, your goal should be to drive this client towards your online digital assets and interact with you there.

One of the most important parts of traditional media is that you can control when your message is broadcast.

Question: Does email marketing have a role?

Absolutely. Email marketing can be one of the most responsive mediums...if you have built trust with your ideal customer.

Question: What are your thoughts about Groupon or other Group Discount coupons?

These types of group discount coupons can be a great tool for exposure if you can do two things. #1 can you attract significant amounts of new customers? #2 Make sure that you can turn that new customer into repeat business.

Question: What are the future trends that business owners should be looking at?

Location based services and devices. These types of things ie. gowalla, urban spoon, yelp are often dismissed by small businesses because of their novelty and fringe feel. However, business owners should be try to understand the behaviour behind them. People are sharing their interests with their social networks in a very hyperlocal fashion.

Mobile. The amount of mobile smartphone use is significant and is increasing. Dozens of Augmented Reality applications exist and are changing the way consumers interact with their environment, find businesses, rate and review service and share with friends. (If you've got an iPhone, download Yelp and walk down any street with the monocle turned on to see what i mean...or check out this video)

Mobile Payments. Anyone with a smartphone can now Bump mobile payments through Paypal to another person. Businesses owners can recieve $1000s of dollars without having to open their till or pay for a monex machine. Check out this video

Other thoughts and Links

Open Forum - top 5 trends in 2011 for small business owners article by John Jantsch
CRM - we'll need to start including social activities of our customers in your database
Flowtown - submit a list of email addresses to this company and they'll return your contact list including the contact's social presence and score your contacts based on their social influence
Klout - scores your social influence and categorizes your contribution to social networks. You can search for others as well. I scored a 5.

Presentation Notes & Key Learnings from John Jantsch Author of Duct Tape Marketing

2010-10-26T23:44:00.000-07:00

Background

been in marketing for 25 years
Rebranded his business to become Duct Tape Marketing. Started a blog which is currently ranked #27 on The Adage Power 150 Best Marketing Blogs and designed a marketing "system" that small business owners that could be trained to install in their place of work.
John realized that he liked working with small businesses. He also realized that many small business owners faced the same challenges as each other, namely limited budgets and resources. Many of these owners not only wear the Marketing Hat, but also the hats of the Customer Service Department, Accounting, HR, Sales and IT.
10 years since the rebrand John has certified Duct Tape Coaches across 6 countries helping local businesses install his marketing system.
Talk to Cindee Stephen if you're interested

John's Fundamentals

Marketing Definition - getting someone who has a need to ... know, like & Trust you
Tools & technology change but the fundamentals always stay the same
Digital Interactivity should be at the centre of your brand

Duct Tape's 7 Step Marketing System

Strategy before Tactics

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. Sun Tzu
2 important parts

Narrow your Focus. You cant serve all clients. Be careful of detractors that take more time than their worth to your business. Identify the makeup of your Ideal Clients. What's their behaviour, Demographic, Psychographics, Geography and Biological make up. Your ideal customer values you. They're profitable and they refer you.
Differentiate and Dominate. Visit the website of your top competitors. Cut and paste the first paragraph of their sites along side yours on a document. Eliminate any reference of each individual business and compare what each has to say. Do any stand out? Most probably say the same kind of things. So where do you go to find out what makes you different? Your best clients. Meet with the top 10 of your clients and ask them things like...What did you do to find a company like ours? What made you choose us? What do we do well? What do we do better than others? What can we do better? Would you refer us? Your positioning statement and core message will come from these answers.

Marketing Hour Glass

the marketing funnel is broken
companies could do better if they spent less time filling the funnel and finding ways to convert more of their existing leads then ways to create remarkable customer experiences

Publish Educational Content

the consumer expectation is that they will find everything on Google (youtube is the second largest search engine). Your content must do 2 separate things. The first is to build trust between you and your ideal customers. Interact with these people on social media platforms, generate reviews and testimonials to help build that brand trust. Secondly, You need to provide educational content about your industry.

Create a Total Web Presence

of online users (nearly 90% usage of population in Calgary)

73% read a blog
57% join social networks
45% start a blog
83% use online video
39% subscribe to RSS feeds
36% think more positively about companies that have blogs

Build what Earnest Barbaric would call your digital assets
The pillars of building a web presence are

Listen first
optimize your web content
Claim Digital Real Estate
Optimize your brand assets
build reviews and ratings
social media participation

Inbound Lead Generation

Advertising, Public Relations and Referral. Advertising should focus on a narrow target and in all forms point your clients back to your website. Public relations should not be about pitching. With the Internet we are all media publishers now and you can use online press releases and leave comments on related topics. Lastly, by converting to the hourglass marketing model you become more referable.

Selling IS a System

self evaluate your lead conversion system. This is likely the first spot that you'll be able to make improvements.
develop a customer orientation kit

Live by the Calendar

Use your calendar to help you make time for marketing. It's often the easiest hat to keep on the rack. Schedule marketing appointments with your self. It could be daily, or weekly. Set monthly themes with actionable items for each step. By focusing on an end goal, you'll find that your marketing program takes some direction rather than focusing on the squeaky wheel.

Gary Vanerchuk: Technology Doesn't have Feelings

2010-10-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Gary's got a great way of delivering information so that anyone can understand.

I 100% agree that media is changing. I also agree 100% that this change takes time. Yes, some traditional media platforms like magazines, newspaper, yellow pages etc. are in fatal nosedives or have been eliminated altogether. Conversely, many social media tools have yet to reach their expected widescale adoption.

In either case, there are many reasons to use both types of new and old media. According to the CMUST study, TV and Radio still occupy about 60-70% of the average consumer's media time per week. Internet usage is growing and is the 3rd major player in a Canadian consumer's media time.

Today, social media platforms like facebook and twitter have grown enough to be recognized by mass audiences. However, the fact that millions of people use twitter does not mean that your brand can reach a mass audience just by creating a twitter account. As Gary would agree, it takes hard work, hustle and time to build and connect to a community that cares about you.

In my opinion, all brands and businesses need to start this building process.

While your building your social media community, you can access the mass audiences of relevant traditional media platforms like TV and Radio to accelerate your own social media growth.

Did Social Media Help Nenshi become Calgary's New Mayor?

2010-10-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

Many people are are attributing Nenshi's win to social media. By comparing their stats & spend (known to me), I attribute Nenshi's victory to communication hustle & smart spending on 2 of the 3 most consumed media platforms...internet & radio. These stats are as of Oct 19, 2010

Facebook Twitter Youtube Linkedin Radio

Nenshi* 11,820 likes 3,603 tweets 24,592 channel views yes strong

15 discussions 724 following 98,158 upload views

18 photo albums 4,277 followers 26 videos

voters post on wall 233 listed 119 subscribers

Higgins 198 likes 241 tweets 4,607 channel views no mild

0 discussions 72 following 67,940 upload views

0 photo albums 1667 followers 23 videos

self posts on wall 125 listed 47 subscribers

McIver has a couple pages 353 tweets 1,807 channel views no ok

4,303 likes 100 following 20,739 upload views

0 discussions 1,344 followers 5 videos

4 photo albums 142 listed 17 subscribers

self posts on wall

* also the only candidate with an iPhone/iPad App.

Why I Voted for Nenshi

2010-10-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

LET ME BE THE FIRST TO ADMIT A FEW THINGS...

I'd never heard of Naheed Nenshi until purple lawn signs started replicating everywhere about 4 weeks ago
I didn't know anything about Barb Higgins until her interview on BT
Ric McIver hit my candidate radar at a stampede party at Bookers Crabshack
I'm not very politically minded. I didn't follow any of their campaigns
I made my voting decision 1 hour before I voted

WHY NENSHI GOT MY VOTE...AND THE OTHERS DIDN'T

I viewed this election as a advertising event with lots of competition (15 candidates on the ballot). In short, the most fascinating candidate would get my vote. Sally Hogshead wrote a book & speaks on this very topic and the importance fascination has on brands in a competitive environment. I've archived her presentation notes here. Since the candidates missed reaching me through traditional marketing platforms ie. news paper, TV, radio I went to their websites to research their brand.

I made the assumption that mayoral candidates site's are a good representation of the them. I wanted to learn about who these people are, what they stand for and why they should get my vote. I figure that the way their websites interacted with me, would be representative of how the candidates communicate and inform the voters as a whole. So, I browsed each of their websites to look for their key platform issues...in my preferred form...video.

Nenshi made it easy to find his key platform issues, in video format.
The others frustrated me before I could even hear what they had to say. Don't you think? Ric vs. Barb vs. Naheed
All of the candidates key platforms issues were virtually identical. SO, my decision couldn't be based solely on the words they used. I expected this since I feel that most politicians generally say nothing real.
My decision came down to the candidate who seemed the most genuine. In other words, it wasn't what they said, but how they said it.
Nenshi's spoke passionately on his video. Ric, you should take some notes from both Naheed & Barb.
Nenshi's delivery gave me the confidence that he could do the job
Nenshi's content delivery was compelling and made me want to learn more about him. Ric, I could barely get through your video and after hearing you speak found you incredibly boring. Barb, yours content delivery was pretty good, but didn't give me confidence in how you would perform on the job.
The final piece of the puzzle was in Nenshi's bio. I'm very impressed that Naheed was an author of the Building Up: How to make Canada's Cities an engine of Growth. Though I've never read this document (i plan to), just seeing this link gave me hope that Naheed has actually thought about the challenges of implementing change and specifically how those ideas can be put to use to to make Calgary an even better city.

Congrats, Naheed. I'm looking forward to hearing more from you!

GLEE - My happy exploration into a modern integrated media brand

2010-10-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

I am totally fascinated by this show. I'll admit it's entertaining, but what I'm really amazed by is the BRAND of Glee & how it connects to it's consumers.

The show is broadcast on Fox TV - a mass media & traditional media platform. In the old days, this would have been the end of the story. Back then, you had to wait for the following week or season to see the next episode. Today, I can go to the Glee microsite on Fox to see previously aired episodes.

Once at the microsite, a consumer/fan can do so much more! (Insert Vince the SlapChop sales guy voice playing over and over in my head) Here's some other things I (or at least a person with a USA IP address) can do from the website.

watch, share & rate previous episodes (Google TV is coming)
watch, share & rate clips
look at, share and rate photos of my favorite stars/episodes
search and join in conversations about the show
take personality quizes. As a bonus, I can connect to my facebook network to decode special things
upload my own photo
download a Glee iPhone App that turns my phone into a Karoke device where I can practice, share and compete against all other players
Download wallpapers for my computer / smartphone
sign up for a newsletter
watch the original casting calls
interact with the sponsors in fun ways and connect those fun experiences to my friends via Facebook (try the slushie and insults)
connect to Glee's Facebook, Twitter & Youtube channel

THIS IS JUST ON THE FOX WEBSITE! Not enough? I'm gonna throw in the Graty & a ShamWow for free. iTunes has a few other items to help consumers/fans get their Glee on...

albums
songs
TV seasons
TV episodes
no less than 4 iPhone Apps
1 iPAD app
Podcasts
Audiobooks
Ping

Other similar products sell for $39.95 and they're really hard to clean. But if you buy right now I'll sell you the Slapchop AND the Graty for only $19.95 + S&H. I can't do this all day so you got to buy now. All you "gleeks" out there stand by for these amazing offers...

books
video games
karoke machines
Glee branded talent shows
Glee Cast Concerts
3D movie
Board games
Puzzles
Tshirts
Script Music
Lunch bags
cards
any other bit of shwag you can imagine

Brands today have an unprecedented ability to create an incredible consumer/fan experience. Yes, the TV show is the main platform to broadcast the message, Glee is a clear example of the consumer's desire to connect, communicate and share with the favourite brands...on their own terms and timeline.

What touch points are you using to connect your brand?

Here's a few sites you may find useful

Transmedia

Wikipedia

Effect on the arts
Effect on Music Sales

How to Buy Radio Advertising in Calgary (or anywhere else)

2010-10-08T22:55:00.000-07:00

The media landscape is clearly changing. Results from the CMUST study show that the average Canadian spends the majority of their time with 3 kinds of media....TV, Radio and Internet.

I believe that most companies should align their marketing budget to reflect the consumption of media. If you want to catch fish, you're best chance of success is to fish where the fish are.

MY OBJECTIVE

My main objective when working with clients is to provide sound advice on integrated marketing campaigns that grow their business so as to develop long term business relationships. If a campaign isn't working there are things we can adjust to try and correct the problem. If your campaign isn't working for you, it's not working for me either.

I happen to sell radio, but understand that radio is just one tool in their kit. In my mind, radio is a very important communication tool for any company.

UTILIZATION

In my opinion, radio is often underutilized or overlooked. In many situations, clients choose to deliver their message from more "familiar" platforms such as newspaper or yellow pages. Unfortunately, these two specific print forms of media are decreasing in usage yet still maintain a high cost of message delivery. Given radio's affordable delivery of a frequent message to virtually any demographic, I felt it appropriate to help shed some light on how to buy radio advertising for the Calgary Market.

ROI

Any media can work to grow a business. There are several considerations to get the most ROI from any marketing campaign. Here is a list of things to think about that will have an impact on the success of any campaign.

are you paying a reasonable price for the size, quality & frequency of audience that your message is being delivered to?
what are your goals? how are you measuring them?
how do clients and prospects interact with your company? Can you measure those touch points?
The success of any campaign is based on the size of impact with an audience. If you're not advertising during the Superbowl, then most campaigns will require frequent message delivery. Is your campaign spread too thin over too many media to make an impact?
Do you have the right message?
Are your chosen media platforms delivering your message to the right people?

MEDIA OVERVIEW

In traditional media platforms (ie TV, print, yellow pages, outdoor, radio, magazines, direct mail), your company pays for access to the audience/community that already exists. The type of media that you buy will dictate how your message will be packaged and delivered. TV is Sight + Sound. Print is sight. Radio is Sound. Martin Lindstrom has made a pretty convincing argument that the more senses you engage with your campaign, the bigger the impact that your campaign will have. The majority of traditional media formats only allow for one-directional communication. You can broadcast a message, but not really engage in a conversation.

With Social Media platforms (ie. twitter, facebook, youtube, digg) your company has the ability to create and build your own audience/community. With this type of media platform, your business can distribute and broadcast your own content. This ability to create and publish your own content is liberating but you are also required to build your own audience/community. It seems to me that the key to building an audience on a social network hinges on 5 main steps

explore types of social media platforms
create, publish or redistribute great content
connect with like minded groups and care about people.
share your ideas
repeat over and over again

Social Media platforms are unique in that they allow for multi-sensory two way communication.

Both traditional and social media platforms are important tools to use to connect with consumers throughout their decision making journey.

WHO LISTENS TO RADIO?

Everybody. Stations are differentiated by their programming. In larger markets like Calgary, there is a station designed to appeal to specific target demographics like Men, Women, Baby Boomers, Gen Y, News Junkies, Sports Fanatics, Young Executives, Moms, Rockers just to name a few. Many of these stations also have build databases of their target listeners which means any advertiser can reach their desired target group with on air, online and social media methods.

WHICH STATION(S) SHOULD YOU BUY?

The station that best matches your target audience. Once you've saturated that audience, expand to the second best station match. As one of my colleagues so eloquently says, 'if your selling bananas, you better be speaking to monkeys'.

WHEN SHOULD YOU ADVERTISE ON RADIO?

If your business is in big market, the answer is all the time.

The main goal of advertising is to influence consumers into "action" when they are in the market for your product or service. There are numerous "actions" to try to achieve. You could ask consumers to call a number, check out your website, share with their friends, contribute to your brand or buy a product. Each of these actions requires a unique metric for measurement.

The truth is that (in most cases) we don't know when consumers are triggered to investigate a product or make a purchasing decisions. If consumers are investigating, you should be advertising.

There are many myths about when people listen to radio. More people listen during the work week to the morning show than any other time of the week is one that I hear often. Interestingly, our radio stations www.JACKFM.ca and www.LITE96.ca here in Calgary, have at least as many listeners during the day as there are during the commute times. If you skip the midday, you'll skip a huge part of our audience.

WHAT RADIO ADS SHOULD YOU BUY?

This depends on your message. The more complicated your message, the more likely you'll need to use a 30 or 60 second commercial. If you have a short message, you can buy 5, 10 or 15 second commercials.

Whatever the length of commercial, the main objective of of your campaign is to connect to the radio audience. More specifically your real objective is to connect to your chosen consumer within the whole radio station audience. You can connect with these potential consumers with traditional commercial messages but also through a radio stations online community.

WHAT DOES IT COST?

That depends on the station you want to buy and your goals. In general, you should get the the best rates if you buy a ROS (run of schedule aka TAP or REACH) program. You'll also get lower rates the more you buy. It's worthwhile asking radio reps about any special programs that give you commercials during each of the 4 dayparts (breakfast, day, drive, evening) over a long period of time.

The cost of radio advertising will also fluctuate based on the number of commercials you buy per station. Each station has a recommended weekly minimum to be effective. Some stations are programmed to have listeners stay to listen for long periods at one time ie. country. Other stations are designed to have listeners tune in and out mulitple times during the day ie. news. Ask your rep what the appropriate number of commercials is for your chosen station.

Streetwise Tips on Radio Advertising - my rebuttal

2010-10-06T22:47:00.000-07:00

My responses to this article are in RED

http://www.businesstown.com/advertising/radio-advice.asp

Critical mass

Radio is referred to by some advertising people as the ”Cinderella medium.” It can be spectacularly successful if everything clicks—the right offer, the right message, the right copy, the right stations. Or radio spots can fall on deaf ears.

Is this any different that other forms of advertising? I don't understand your point.

Radio ads require repetition to work. A minimum run of at least fifteen ads on one station during a one-week period is recommended. Furthermore, if your entire advertising run on a particular station will be less than sixty spots during a month, try to keep the ads within a particular time slot. This way you will reach the same listening audience during each spot or often enough to create an awareness and ideally a desire to buy or inquire about your product or service. If your spots run on an erratic schedule, you might reach the full listenership of the station but you won’t be reaching any one group of individuals often enough to motivate them to take action.

I believe that all media requires repetition. The reason for this is that the marketplace of consumers is made of a dynamic and ever changing group of people. Let me use an example to illustrate my point.

Think about the last time you bought a car or a house. When you were in the market, did you notice how many ads there are for the vehicle you were looking for? Did you notice how many "For Sale" sale signs there were in the neighbourhood you are looking at? I believe that consumers are only consciously receptive to advertisements when they are in the market. At all other times we tune out the ads.

I believe that there are many different triggers and reasons that make people receptive to ads, which by the way, are impossible to predict. Talk to your local rep about the right kind of schedule for your campaign.

A great way to zero in on the same people and have added impact is to buy a sponsorship of a daily feature, such as a news or sports broadcast. A sponsorship guarantees your ad will run at a particular time and typically affords you a brief “sponsored by” message in addition to your ad spot.

Errors and rip-offs

New advertisers are often suspicious as to whether or not their ads have run correctly or even run at all. Advertising salespeople respond by saying “No need to worry, our ads are recorded in our operating log as required by the FCC. To not run an ad would violate the law.”

Don’t believe the salespeople for a minute. One of the very largest Boston radio shows was subject to a major scandal a few years back because they were skipping clients’ ads on a regular basis, logging the spots and billing the clients as if all of their spots had run as per contract.

While skipped ads are fairly uncommon, they can happen—and happen to you. What is a lot more common, however, is an unsatisfactory ad presentation. This is most likely to occur if all or part of the ad is read by on-air talent.

Most radio stations are going digital. What that means for the client is that reps are able to print off a log of the exact times that commercials ran. If you're skeptical, just ask your rep. We want you to be happy and we want your ads to work so that you keep buying more radio. Skipping your ads is counter-productive to both our pockets.

For example, in running a series of ads that included changing short live taglines on six major radio stations, I discovered that only one station read the ad correctly. Most made significant errors in the live taglines. Some actually skipped the tagline altogether. Some ran the wrong ad on the wrong day. One station even ran half of the recorded version of an ad, abruptly cutting it off midway through the spot.

You need to monitor your ads to assure that you are getting your money’s worth of exposure. And don’t hesitate to demand free spots, called make-goods, for significant goofs.

Any radio rep worth their salt will make good on spots that ran in error. In my 4.5 years of experience in radio, errors in live reads can happen, but aren't the norm.

Roadblocks

If your audience is fairly general and you have successfully tested radio ads on one station, you may want to consider running ads on many stations at the same time. The practice of airing television or radio ads on several stations simultaneously is called a roadblock. The advantages of this strategy are that you get multiple exposure, reach those people who frequently switch stations, and are more likely to benefit from word-of-mouth or viewers talking you up after the ads have run.

I once did roadblock advertising in the Boston marketplace and saw newsstand sales of a local magazine I was publishing almost double during a two-week period. I also saw the sales slide back toward their former level about a month after the ads stopped running.

As the results of my campaign show, radio ads tend to work best for advertisers who can concentrate a lot of money in one marketplace, with heavy concentration over an extended period of time.

In 4.5 years of radio, I've never heard of a roadblock before, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that the effect was real. There are numerous studies that prove that using multiple media is more effective than using any single media platform.

There are a few reasons for this positive effect on newsstand sales that I can think of. First, is that people (in Canada at least) consume TV, RADIO and INTERNET nearly equally over the course of a week. By using TV & RADIO, this campaign would have delivered this message to consumers during approximately 60% of their media consumption time. Secondly, there is good evidence to show that campaigns that engage more than one sense ie. taste, smell, touch, sight and sound are more effective than single sense campaigns.

Let’s make a deal

The real fun in radio advertising is negotiating rates. Try to wait until a slow season, then call every station that meets your demographics. Tell them either how much money you are considering spending on their station or how many spots you intend to place. Also tell them nicely, but firmly, that you are only going to run ads on the station or stations that give you the best rate deals. Get one or more of them to show you their ratings book, ideally from Arbitron, and compare how many people in your target audience they will be reaching.

Get all of the bids from each station. Then call each station back and say you still haven’t decided which station to choose, and can’t they do any better?

If you choose a slow time of year and are persistent but pleasant with people, you should be able to negotiate rates that are even lower than the those paid by large national advertisers that buy huge blocks of advertising time.

You will be amazed to see how much less than the published rate card price you can buy radio time for. You will also note that, from radio station to radio station, there is an enormous difference in the station’s willingness to negotiate.

For example, a Boston station, which normally sold morning drive ad spots at $150 per second, sold me a package deal costing only $10 per spot. What you should typically expect through negotiating, however, is half the published rate. If you can do this, you are doing great!

We negotiate rates everyday, to a point. I'd like to point out that every consumer should try to negotiate.

Some stations will sell their product for any price just to get the sale. I think radio is the same as any other business, you do get what you pay for. If a rep is willing to sell a $150 spot for $10 do you think access to their audience was really worth $150 to begin with?

In my opinion, the best stations have rate integrity. The reason this makes them great is because you can feel confident that there aren't a dozen other clients buying the same station at a fraction of the price you're paying. It also means that these stations are likely selling out...proof that they are as big as the reps say they are.

During slow times of the year JAN/FEB and JULY/AUG most media platforms sell their inventory at special rates and/or with extra bonuses. HOWEVER, in most cases, these rates and bonuses disappear when the busy months kick in. If you want a real deal, negotiate a rate and buy as much media as you can during a recession.

A Real life example of Customer follow-up, Objection Handling and how to Measure a Radio campaign

2010-10-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a real email string that I had yesterday between a client, their creative writer and myself.

The email started with a question about their campaign results and ended up being a dialogue on how to measure the impact of their radio advertising program.

I'm posting this because I think our team gave some good advice to the client about how to measure a marketing campaign.

Do you have any thoughts?

That's a great e-mail Marc! I'm really impressed. I've seen a lot of reps panic in that situation, but you handled it so well. And you're completely right

-----Original Message-----
From: Marc Binkley
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 2:39 PM
To: writer; 'client a'; 'client b'
Subject: RE: your ads!
Hi Guys,

The ads sound good to me and I’d agree with xxxx about keeping the theme. As for the response I’d say to look at measuring all of the following over time

Web Traffic - # of views, # of pages views, Bounce rate
Phone calls – no phone number on the ads & no website for people to find you would contribute to the lack of call ins
Business – # of deals, average amount/deal, quality of client
Word of Mouth – friends & family, clients, social media platforms ie. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc.

I think its important to measure all of these things over time. Compare quarter to quarter and year over year.

Hope that helps!

When you’re ready, I’d be happy to meet up again to chat about the next phase of your creative. Perhaps we could go for lunch sometime after thanksgiving?

Marc Binkley Account Manager
Office: 403.686.9715 Cell: 403.608.2465
Fax: 403.240.4126
marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com
2723 - 37th Ave NE • Calgary, AB T1Y 5R8
www.jackfm.ca • www.lite96.ca • www.mountainfm.ca

From: writer
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 1:49 PM
To: 'client a'; Marc Binkley; client b
Subject: RE: your ads!

Hi client a&b,

With a branding campaign we usually recommed leaving the same message on for a minimum of 4 weeks. Usually, the more time you give people to hear your message the better. You'll find it's like a rolling ball picking up speed along the way. At first it may seem slow, but the more people hear it, the more likely they are to give you a call. Sometimes it takes people 2 or 3 times of hearing the same message before it even clicks... but once its clicks, it clicks.

That being said, we're at the point where we can look at changing it up. I'd recommend sticking with the same theme "xxxx", but changing some of the details to keep it fresh.

Let me know if there is anything specific you have in mind and we'll go from there. Thanks!
-----Original Message-----
From: Client a
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 11:12 AM
To: Marc Binkley; writer
Cc: client b
Subject: RE: your ads!
Hi Marc and writer,

Thanks for following up J

We have had great feedback from friends and clients regarding our ads, they all think that they are original and feel they should be very effective but we did not have any calls from potential clients. So n that sense, we have had no response as of yet. I should mention that we have been struggling a bit with finishing our website as we try to make sense of new xxxx regulations etc., so you think that the unfinished site has something to do with the lack of response?

As far as new message, we can get that started anytime unless you feel that we should wait and see what happens after our website is done which should be mid October?

Let us know what you think

Best Regards,
client a&b

From: Marc Binkley [mailto:Marc.Binkley@rci.rogers.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 10:24 AM
To: client a & b
Cc: writer
Subject: your ads!

Hi Guys,

writer and I were just speaking about you and wanted to check in. I’ve heard the ads a few times and think they sound greatJ Have you had any feedback yet? …from friends, clients, web traffic etc?

I think we could start looking at developing another message for you guys to start for Nov.

Talk soon,

writer & Marc

Marc Binkley Account Manager
Office: 403.686.9715 Cell: 403.608.2465
Fax: 403.240.4126
marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com
2723 - 37th Ave NE • Calgary, AB T1Y 5R8
www.jackfm.ca • www.lite96.ca • www.mountainfm.ca

Secrets Your Radio Sales Rep Forgot To Share - A Rebuttal

2010-10-02T00:55:00.000-07:00

I found this article today by Stephen E. Feswick and would like to comment on it. I think there are some good thoughts but mostly flawed ideas in his argument on Secrets of Radio that I would like to respond to. I've posted my comments in RED

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Buy-Radio-Advertising

There are secrets you need to know if you would like to maximize your marketing budget the next time you decide to advertise with your local radio station!

OK, I'm listening

But, before I pull back the curtain and reveal some insider secrets, there are a few things you need to know about the operation and management of a radio station.

First of all, remember radio stations exist solely to extract money from the market place. Their single driving motive is PROFIT. This means the format a station plays, be it Top 40; News, Talk, Sports; Country; Alternative and so forth doesn't matter.

Radio stations, like all good businesses, are designed to differentiate from competition and profit from consumers by providing a service or product to at a fair price. The format of a radio station is carefully chosen to attract a specific group of listener demographics that are appealing to a specific group of advertisers. The format a station chooses is meant to either entertain or educate its audience. That specific format matters to the listeners and therefore the advertisers trying to communicate with that listening audience.

Stations couldn't care less. They only play what they play to own the ears and fleeting attention spans of the largest market segment in the communities they serve. Don't worry about the station format - it doesn't matter. Whatever you do, never buy radio advertising soley because you like what they play. It's all about audience. Concern yourselves exclusively with the quality of the audience.

Every advertiser should worry about the format. If a business was trying to sell a Lexus, it makes no sense to try and convince 18 year olds that a Lexus is the kind of car that young, low income earning demographic should buy. They can't afford it. Conversely, if you are a nightclub owner, why would you advertise on a adult contemporary station that is targeting their programming to appeal to 45 year old women? Your money is better spent on that station format that is designed to attract 18 year olds.

I agree you shouldn't pick a station because you like what they play. You should pick a station that can deliver your message to an audience that is likely to buy your product. The quality of audience is more important than the size of audience.

Radio sales people are very poorly trained in successful, proven and measurable marketing techniques. Don't buy radio advertising from a sales rep who can't provide a list of at least 3 books on the subject of marketing they've read in the past 12 months. How can they help you market better if they aren't educating themselves on the subject of marketing?

Most marketers have trouble measuring marketing techniques. Radio sales people are not an exception. This is as true for TV reps as it is for print, outdoor billboard and web marketers or advertisers. I agree completely that all marketers should educate themselves, but books are just one resource available to learn from. Would you not consider your blog an educational tool?

If you haven't heard from your sales rep in the past 90 days, FIRE them. Call the station sales manager (if you still want to do business with them) and request a new rep. If a rep who earns their money selling you radio commercials won't take the time to call you at least once a month to ask how you're doing, how the business is running and finally, how the current radio campaign is working or not working for you, they don't deserve your business.

You should request a new rep if you feel that you aren't getting the service you deserve. It's important to feel like your media rep is working with you rather than just taking your money.

Never, and I mean NEVER allow the stations' creative department to write your radio ads. You are the expert in your business category. Take control and act like an expert.

Imagine: A prospective customer walks into your store and approaches you to ask a question about your service or products. Who in their right mind, would step aside and allow their radio sales rep to take control of the sale and deal with the customer?

Unlike jobs with a professional designation ie. MDs, Lawyers, Engineers I've not met many marketers (reps or buyers) who have expert designation. True, the majority of local clients I work with are the experts in their field. Many of them are business owners who perform many duties of which marketing is just one of them. You are the expert of your business.

But, are you an expert in creative writing? The creative department at most radio stations are very good at developing & crafting a message that will appeal to their listeners and give them reasons to buy your product or service. Before anything goes on air, we get approval from our advertisers. We can create jingles, add sound effects and have a variety of talented voice actors to produce your message. At no additional charge. Why would you not take advantage of that service? We don't walk into your business and try to sell your products.

Remember, a sales reps job is to convince you to spend your marketing budget with them instead of the newspaper, TV or a direct marketing campaign. They do not know the relevant issues relating to your business, the special knowledge you have acquired over the years and the essential information customers must know before making a purchase.

I don't try to convince advertisers to to spend their marketing budget with radio instead of other media outlets. I think it's important to use multiple media forms that will reach customers on multiple senses. Radio is sound. Print & direct mail is visual. TV is both. If you can afford it, you should use a media mix that reaches your potential consumers through all their senses.

For those who cant afford a multi-sensory advertising campaign, I have an alternative suggestion. My advice is to concentrate your marketing budget on the right media platform that will deliver the right message, to the right people, the right number of times in the most cost efficient way possible. Compared to TV, Direct mail and Newspaper, radio will win just about every time.

http://marcbinkleymarketing.blogspot.com/2010/02/im-willing-to-bet-that-popcorn-peanuts.html

Most advertisers believe it's easier to allow their sales rep to take control of the commercial writing duties. Stop it now. You are responsible for the ad.

Ultimately you are responsible. We are here to help.

You are the one that knows your customers' wants and needs - don't you? You know what your unique selling position is; the reasons why customers should do business with you instead of your competition. You're the one with the drive and passion to run a successful business, so don't pass on that responsibility.

Identifying a unique selling proposition isn't always that simple. "The best customer service" is not it. "Reliable" doesn't work either. "Trustworthy" means nothing. "The lowest Price" is a bad business model.

Radio advertising is simply one element of your overall marketing campaign. You must take the time and effort to learn how to do it properly so as not to waste a single dollar of your hard earned marketing budget.

Canadians spend most of their time equally with 3 media platforms...TV, RADIO & INTERNET. Here's a couple of links that will help "educate" you on media usage and the pros & cons of various media types. Stephen is right, you shouldn't waste your hard earned marketing budget.

http://marcbinkleymarketing.blogspot.com/2010/08/canadian-media-usage-trends-study-iab.html

http://marcbinkleymarketing.blogspot.com/2010/08/binks-personal-views-on-marketing-and.html

3 Months, 400 tweets, 100 Twitter Followers - What I've learned so far

2010-09-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

What's Twitter Anyway? (taken from their site)

Twitter is an information network made up of 140-character messages called Tweets. It's a new and easy way to discover the latest news (“what’s happening”) related to subjects you care about.

What I've done (in social media)

3 months ago I started content marketing almost daily on multiple social media platforms (facebook, linkedin, twitter, youtube, blogspot, digg)
I've tried to link most of these platforms together
I get much of my twitter content from iPhone apps called Mashable, Ad-ology, Mprofs and tweet google articles
have built a database of about 300 clients that I email with articles that I write every 3 weeks or so

Why I'm doing it (social media that is)

SM is a new marketing platform that I need to know as a marketer
i'm hoping to use social media to develop new prospects
to be able to integrate social media strategies for my radio clients
when someone googles "calgary marketing" I want to show up 1st in the results

What I've learned so far (in no particular order)

Social media isn't a magic bullet
it takes lots of work to maintain social media sites
i don't really like using facebook for business
My blog is the best place to post my ideas
getting recommendations on linkedin is important. it's akin to an online consumer review
it's been 3 months and I've just started to meet some people
I'm having better conversations with my regular clients and feel like I'm being seen as a resource
I've learned LOTS about marketing and communication
"tweeting" hasn't replaced cold calling, I still have to do it
More and more prospects say tell me that they appreciate my articles & ideas
I've got more ideas & am building better marketing plans for clients
ping.fm, seesmic, tweetdeck are useful programs to help access & contribute social media content
twellow is a cool site to find local twitter users in your area
http://bit.ly/ is a site to shrink links for twitter

What I'm going to learn (in no particular order)

use more #hashtags
tag more people in twitter
How to better leverage my existing SM platforms
how to use twitter lists
how to connect with more people

My Elevator Sales Pitch REVISED

2010-09-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

As I was preparing for my first "elevator pitch" last night, I came across a brilliant guy named Simon Sinek on Youtube who spoke about how great companies/brands communicate.

Simon argues that most advertisers start from the outer circle and work inward. Take for example a car dealer ...
WHAT - great deals right now on all remaining 2010 models
HOW - our cars are the most reliable and have the highest customer satisfaction rating
WHY - you should by a car from us because these prices can't be beat

Simon then goes on to say that the best companies have all the exact same resources as their competition, yet they seperate themselves by reversing the order of their message. These innovative companies do this because they understand that the recipie for success is to sell to people who believe what you believe, not just buy what you have to sell.

So, with that in mind, I rewrote my 30 second elevator pitch and would love any feedback you have on this one.

Hi, my name is Marc Binkley. I believe that marketing is about communication; that marketing is fun; that marketing can be measurable and most importantly I believe that the best ideas are the ones that are shared. Typically, I like to meet with clients in person so that I can get a better understanding of their marketing goals, their business objectives and their customers. Based on that information, I build a customized multiplatform marketing plan for my clients. I happen to sell radio, but what my clients buy is a resource. My name is Marc Binkley and you can find me on google, I'd love to meet with you.

My Elevator Sales Speach

2010-09-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

This is one example of "the perfect elevator sales pitch". Seeing as I need to do my first tomorrow, I figured I give it a shot.

Hi I'm Marc. I'm an integrated media consultant for Rogers Media in Calgary, Alberta. I work with clients in all types of industries to collaboratively develop, implement and execute multi-platform marketing plans. All of these marketing programs are designed to create measurable results for your bottom line and include one on one coaching on social media platforms that can help my clients (and you) get a headstart with these new and exciting marketing tools.

If you're interested to hear more about how I can help your business grow and venture into the social media world, I'd love to chat with you more about this later.

Would you like to set up a meeting with me next week?

Trust Me. I'm an honest Sales Person.

2010-09-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

In conversations I’ve had with many clients I understand that Word of Mouth (WOM) advertising is the best kind of advertising. (irony noted)

So I asked myself, Why?

In short it’s because of trust. According to the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries, WOM advertising is important because it is the most trusted form of advertising. Interestingly, right behind WOM, sits online reviews posted by strangers. You can have a look for your own business here http://www.yelp.ca/calgary. It’s a relatively new site but I’m sure the customer participation will grow quickly.

Online review sites are everywhere www.travelocity.com, www.urbanspoon.com, www.rottentomatoes.com, www.ratemymd.ca name only a few an cover all industries. Because of these sites, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for a brand to convince a consumer that it can be trusted. For most consumers, the brand has to earn that trust. Here’s an article that highlights my point. - http://marcbinkleymarketing.blogspot.com/2010/09/10-am-4pm-service-guy.html

So I asked myself another question, why is trust important for a brand anyway?

According to one source, when consumers trust a brand they

Recommend it to other people
Use those products and services frequently
Will look to it first for things they want
Will give it’s new products and services a try first
Pay more for it’s products and services

Basically when consumers trust a brand, they buy more, try more and pay more for it.

If you’d like to chat about how I can help you build & track your brand’s trust, please let me know 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com

The 10 am - 4pm Service Guy

2010-09-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

I was listening to Matt & Eric today on JACK FM 96.9 talking about the absurdity of the 10-4 service guy. Matt & Eric asked for some service guys to call in to help explain why companies can't give their customer a narrower window of time when making service calls.   Surprisingly, a couple of service guys did call and the general consensus was that they don't know how long the prior appointments will take so they can't accurately provide a narrower time.

garbage.

There are far too many companies that claim to have "the best customer service" for that to be real reason anymore. In reality, it doesn't mean anything if they say it.   What matters most is whay I say about their customer service. The real reason that companies fail at living up to their brand promise is that they just haven't integrated their brand promise across all consumer touch points.

Let me explain.

A marketing person decides that ABC Cable should be know for customer service. They buy commercials that say ABC Cable is number 1 in customer service.    I call to set an appointment. They ask if someone will be home between 10am-4pm to set up my cable box. Then by definition they can't be #1 in customer satisfaction because I'm not satisfied with waiting at home all day for some guy to show up. And what if they don't show? It's happend to me. In fact it happend to me 3 times with one company. The result? Their radio commercial lies and I tell everyone I know about it.

With an integrated brand promise across all consumer touchpoints, this is how it should work...

The ABC Cable radio commercial says they're number 1 in customer service. I call to set an appointment. They agree to a 1 hour time window that's agreeable to both of us. Like normal people do, the ABC service tech calls my cell to confirm our appointment ahead of time. If they're running late, they let me know. They meet me at home, do the work and ask me to fill in an online review on YELP or someother public review site. The average review rating from all posts confirms or confronts their brand promise. Most reviewers say that ABC Cable provided great service. In fact, when I compare to other cable companies in my area, they are number 1.   I believe it because other people confirm it. ABC cable has a lot to be proud of and should encourage all of their staff to keep striving for excellent customer service in every interaction with a customer.   In this scenario, the entire company becomes part of the marketing plan.

Google - Creativity in Display Ads - WATCH THIS SPACE.

2010-09-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

Online Display ads are increasingly more social. Rich media ads (with video)

- lift purchase intent 4x better than standard flash ads

- raise awareness 5x better

- increase brand favorability by 15x more

Secrets of Integrated Marketing

2010-09-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

The amazing part of this video is that it has been viewed over 700,000 times.

Imagine your business. You've got computers. You've got a cell phone with a web cam. Maybe even a staff member who's got a modern computer and has put a video on facebook or youtube. You may have even published a video of a wedding, a party, a hockey game yourself. You've got a marketing budget. you know some of your traditional media works, but are questioning if your marketing mix is the best it can be.

In my opinion, you've already got a couple of holes punched on your social media VIP coffee card. what you really have are... resources.

You understand that business is about relationships.
you have the digital and human resources to build, connect to and create a social network of business connections
you have the ability to use radio and/or television as accelerators for your business & social networks

as of 2010, we know the average consumer spends their daily media time pretty evenly in an average day. 1/3 TV, 1/3 Radio, 1/3 internet. In less than 10 years, (yes the same 10 years you plan on being in business) the average 35-54 year old will probably be spend between 50-80% of their daily media time connected online.

TV and Radio are the best traditional media platforms to launch the next 10 year phase of your social marketing & consumer communication plan. use traditional media to as an accelerator to grow your social media network.

Here is why I think social media will be so great. Social media allows you to broadcast yourself on 2 way communication platforms...in writing, on video, voice, or images. Eventually, you could bypass paid traditional media platforms. it allows anyone to selfpublish on a scale as big or bigger than a Superbowl, NBC, National Rogers Radio, The New York Times or the Calgary Herald. A growing majority of consumers use social media platforms like Urbanspoon, rate mds or youtube to access content and reviews about virtually every single consumer choice on the planet.

Very soon, I will have access to the worlds collective knowledge in one hand. Google has just launched a mindreading software application called instinct to make it easier & faster for me to find the exact information that i want. any idea, thought, opinion, personality can be found on my iphone. I can connect with any community for business. Consumers like justin Beiber, the Julie & Julia girl, the shit My Dad says guy have created brands. In the reverse communication direction, the Old Spice guy connected the brand to consumers.

People like raywilliamjohnson, mysteryguitarman and charlie will be next. Wait, What, WHO? tone is really hard to pick up in righting, so read this next sentence with as much attitude as you can muster. seriously, who are they?

well, they all look like their around 25. They all look like they make videos of themselves in their bedroom. Combined they have over 630,000,000 views and 3 million subscribers. And it looks like they all did that from their house. Here's what I asked myself...Seriously? all of us have those same tools. the only real difference is that they are (what Seth Godin would call) doing marketing

Now back to me....I've got 2 tickets to that thing you wanted and NOW, they're diamonds.

I want to talk to you....if you're interested.

Web-Connected Samsung Apps - Samsung UN55C7000 3D LED HDTV

2010-08-31T19:23:00.000-07:00

Yup. this is TV. It's the 3rd type of web enabled TV that I'm aware of. Apple TV was 1st. Google TV is coming and now Samsung. And they all make smartphones too. The line between traditional media and new media is blurring...

Expectations for Q4 and marketing plans

2010-08-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Tough year eh? Officially, the recession was over in early 2010, but for many of my clients those winds of change are only reaching us now.

Given that 4th quarter planning is on us, I thought this article may be appropriate to see what our futures may hold.

If you're planning on JACK or LITE as part of your Q4 marketing plans, please contact me soon since our inventory is sold out the week of Sept 13 (we have a waiting list) and is over 90% sold out the week of Sept 20.

http://www.actionforex.com/analysis/daily-forex-fundamentals/canadian-retail-sales-post-mild-gain-in-june-20100824120785/

The report showed that five of the 11 categories of retail spending rose in June

sales of motor vehicles and parts rose by a strong 2.1% in June

Sales of electronics and appliances also increased as did sales of home furnishings, building materials and garden supplies

biggest decline was recorded in sales at gasoline service stations, which slumped 2.7% on the back of falling gas prices. Sales of clothing, general merchandise, and food and beverages were lower in June

even with all the wild swings in the monthly employment levels, 94% of the jobs lost during the recession have been recovered.

We expect that the Bank will follow up these increases with another 25-basis point hike on September 8

Our view is that Canada's economy will continue to grow (albeit more slowly than its earlier blistering pace) and uncertainty about the global outlook, in particular the U.S. economy, will diminish in the final quarter of 2010 as the U.S. labour market slowly recovers

With the global economy on a firmer growth path and Canada's domestic recovery in train, the Bank is likely to resume its policy of reducing the amount of monetary policy stimulus with rate hikes likely late this year and in 2011

Creating a Marketing Plan: advice for picking platforms

2010-08-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

I love this image as it lists just about every media platform that I can think of and visually shows the type of communication (one or two way) capable by each.

Yellow arrows - 2 way

Red arrows - mostly 1 way

Blue arrows - 1 way

As marketing plans go, the simplest & most effective that I've ever seen was written by Gary Vanerchuck. In Gary's book Crush It, Gary outlines his version of the best marketing strategy ever. The entire chapter is 1 word...CARE.

To me, CARE means a lot of things. Care about my service, my product, my staff, pricing, competition etc. etc. etc. It also means I should care about my marketing platforms and my message. If I don't care, then I'll choose types of media that allow for only 1 way communication.

These one way advertising platforms are not 'communication' platforms...they'd be better defined as monologue platforms. While monologues are important for character development in theatre, real life people/brands who never ask a question are just boring.

So here's the goods.

Care
Goals - set them
Budget - stick to monthly budget based on your goals. (2-10% of total sales)
Allocate - your budget per platform according to average daily media usage & target audience
Maximize - the impact on each paid platform before adding others
USP - Craft & Deliver your Unique Selling Proposition
Leap - Execute your plan & engage internal and external customers

Canadian Media Usage Trends Study (IAB Canada)

2010-08-26T17:38:00.001-07:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Canadian Media Usage Trends Study (IAB Canada)

View more presentations from Rafal .

Introduction to Social Networking Part 2

2010-08-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the second installment of What is Social Networking? I think the first video offers much more practical information on what Social media is where this module is better at explaining how to get started.

Introduction to Social Networking Part 1

2010-08-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

This is a really simple but effective description of what social networks and social media can do. This is part one, I will post part 2 seperately.

David Ogilvy: We Sell or Else....or else what? you're kinda crazy dude.

2010-08-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

I'm 3 minutes in. I know this guy is famous...olgivy & mayer? but man is he outdated. He's got a great marketing strategy for 1950. Ironically Davey boy isn't much different from many prospective clients in 2010.

Two Opinions on Effective Radio Campaigns

2010-08-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

I found this article Radio Advertising Works With These Tips! posted by Tyrell MacGregor in 2008 on Digg.  I've added  my own tips in italics below his.

Advertising on the radio can be an effective lead generation strategy. But like all marketing tactics, success or failure lies in its implementation. Here are 15 important tips to help make your radio advertising more profitable.

1. Make sure you match the station to your intended target market. For instance, if most of your projects are sold to an affluent middle-aged clientele, it''s best to advertise on a station who''s audience is comprised of this same demographic. To pick the right radio station, poll your best clients and ask them what station(s) they listen to. If you begin to see a consistent station pop up in your survey, there''s a good chance that you''ll find more clients amongst that station''s listeners.

I completely agree that its important to fish where the fish are. If your business is flourishing with the perfect client, then great, ask your best clients not just about the radio stations they listen to, but what media platforms they use to shop.

However, there are lots of reasons to not poll your existing best clients. What if your goal was to sell more high value products/services? What if your goal was to lower the age of your average client? The great part about radio is that you can select specific target groups to initiate conversation with.

2. Use a first sentence that grabs the listener and demands attention, preferably by leading with a benefit or asking a curiosity-provoking question. Example: Would you like to have the nicest home in your neighborhood?

Grabbing attention is important, but lets call a spade a spade. Advertising in most forms is an invasion of a consumer's 5 senses.   Who wouldn't like the nicest home in your neighborhood?

My advice? Be real. I think honesty will grab consumers attention more than any gimmicky line. Take a look at the most popular shows on TV...Amercian Idol, So you think you can Dance, Bachlorette...all reality shows. What about online? On Youtube, there are lots of 'kids' out there with over 1 million viewers per week just broadcasting from their bedrooms.  Honesty sells.

3. Make your spot easy to understand. Be straightforward (not clever or funny).

Belissimo Tyrell, Belissimo. Clever and Funny are ok in my books (old spice anyone?)

4. Use a compelling voice. Having a popular radio personality deliver your spot, if possible in a loose, conversational way, often works best. This works even better on a talk format, or call-in style program. The transition between "show" and "commercial" is often seamless, making the spot seem like "news" from the radio personality.

A popular radio personality is recognizable, but the radio personality is tied to her own radio station. What if you wanted to expand your message to other radio communities?

My advice? develop your own voice. Consumers can smell bullshit miles away. They know the differenct between 'show' and 'commercial'. Here's the real news....They're onto us. Treat them like they're intelligent.

5. Authenticity ?If you can, offer to do some small job for the radio personality as a way to demonstrate the quality of your work. This way, when the radio host endorses your company, he/she can say "they''ve worked on my home and they did an outstanding job. Showed up on time, did the job right the first time, stayed on budget and they were clean". This type of first-hand endorsement can be powerful, especially if the radio host is popular with his/her listeners.

I don't understand why Authenticity is a question.   Authenticity is the new standard. Try the oldschool approach to convince consumers what your business is...google will tell them who you really are.

The real question here should be "offer to do some small job".  Don't you mean bribe? There are so many shameless plugs from radio personalities that all they're really good for is a businesses' ego. this only works if the endorsement is genuine.

6. Test your spot on a small scale before committing to an extensive advertising schedule.

This is a tricky one. I the need to be fiscally responsible, but lets define small scale.   Test your radio campaign for 13 weeks. Why 13 weeks? because there only a few consumers using any media that need your service today. there will be many more next week and more still this month.

Lets look at the car industry as an example.

I've been told by my car dealer clients that the average person buys a car every 7 years. If you're city had 70,000 car owners than that means your estimated market per year is 10,000 consumers...roughly 833 per month or 208 car sales per week in the entire city.   Of these 208 car purchases per week how many are domestic vs. foreign? car vs. truck vs. suv? under $40k vs. over $40K? your dealership market share vs. competition?

If you run a campaign for too short a period of time, you better have an incredible 'i can't pass this up offer' otherwise it will fail.

7. Make your phone number easy to remember and repeat it often.

I really like my wife, but I can barely remember her number. I can call her by name from my cell, or text or email or facebook.

I can promise you that I will not remember your phone number. Unless you sing it to me over and over and over and over..over years.

I can also promise that when I shop for things, I have a list of brands in my head to start looking at, will look them up online and see what other brands/product/services are comparible. I will often check to see if you're brand/product/service has been reviewed before calling your business.   When I ready to purchase, i'm looking for your business to live up to my expecations in price/sevice. After I purchase, I'll occasionally leave my own online reviews if i'm able which in turn will influence others.

This is normal consumer behaviour.

8. Include specific, compelling, reasons why your company is unique and the best choice. If you have a good company story, use it.

Good call. Ross Smith from http://mindshelf.com/ says that you should tell consumers who you are, what you do, why you do it better than anyone else and why I should believe you.

9. Have a strong offer. Few advertisers using radio understand the importance of an offer. An offer answers the question in the prospects mind, "why should I call now"? This also makes your advertising measurable and provides a list for follow-up marketing. Avoid weak offers like "free estimate".

Lets not forget that I don't want to call now. I'm busy. If I don't call now does that mean that your offer isn't available to me tomorrow? The best offer is one that will resonate with clients. Find out what they want. Start a dialogue. Invite conversation. Converse with them on the media platforms that they use.

As for weak offers lik the 'free estimate', free is expected in this case. As a consumer, I'm more interested in a 'no hassle estimate'. I don't want to have to jump through hoops to find out how much your service will cost me. make it easy for me to do business with you.

10. Ask for action. Have a strong call to action ? "Call now".

see point number 7. I don't want to call you. I don't often call my friends. In fact, emails are passe. I text most of my friends. I will find you online before I call.

Can you track the number of web visitors? what's your bounce rate? Where do people visit on your site? What platforms can you converse with people on? How many conversations are you having on these platforms?

Go ahead and ask for action. Just make sure you can be found.

11. Negotiate ad rates. Oftentimes advertising rates are negotiable. Don''t be afraid to ask for a better deal.

totally makes sense. Just remember a good deal isn't the same a cheap. Compared to all other traditional media, radio is already cheap. In Calgary (and most cities), the biggest radio station will reach more people weekly than most newspapers, primetime tv shows, magazines and/or yellow pages.   At standard rates, the cost to conncect with the radio audience each week is less than all these other options.

12. Consider off-peak times. Morning and afternoon drive-times are often the most expensive time slots to advertise on. Test your spot just before or after these peak times. Example: if morning drive-time is 6:00 ? 9:00 AM try advertising at 5:30 AM and see if the reduced ad rates are worth it.

radio is a habitual medium. Each listener has a typical day with their station(s). If you only advertise to the morning listeners, you'll likely miss all the people listening at night. The best rates you'll get are when you buy the off peak and peak times together.

Advertising your message during peak & off peak times is actually a good thing for a few reasons.
1. you'll reach more listeners than cherry picking any one daypart.
2. most of the time, you can't predict when a potential consumer is triggered to start a purchase journey
3. if you're inviting business conversations, is there really a bad time?

13. Don''t try to reach too many people all at once. It is better to reach 10% of your prospects 100% of the way than to reach 100% of your prospects only 10% of the way.

Good point. I take this to mean, start with 1 station. Communicate well with that audience. When and if budget allows, try to expand your message and open communication with other station's communities.

14. Don''t select radio programs or formats for your own personal likes or dislikes, but rather for the audience you want to reach.

couldn't have said it better myself:)

15. Distinction is an effective tool for attracting people. That sound effect, theme music or "sound signature" will help your ads make an impression.

Distinction is another way of saying Unique Selling Proposition. What makes you different? A sound effect can be an important distincition, just as what you say is.   Just using radio can distinguish you from your competition. Last time I listened, I didn't hear a single lawyer on Calgary Radio. They're all in the yellow pages though.

Tyrell MacGregor is Managing Director of FootBridge Media, a Referral Marketing Company that specializes in client newsletter templates and home improvement marketing solutions for home improvement contractors. Visit them at http://www.footbridgemedia.com'

The Future of Communication

2010-08-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

Measuring ROI in Marketing

2010-08-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

This is, and always will be one of the hottest topics in marketing. For all of my clients, measuring ROI is equally important whether they're using the Yellow Pages or Yelp mobile. So how do you measure your marketing ROI and what do you measure?

That's a tough question. The short answer is that it depends. It depends on your goals, your product life cycle, your message & offer, the depth and breadth of your advertising campaign, your measurment tools, your commitment to the process and identifying the consumer touch points.

I do believe that the worst way to measure a campaign is a "how you heard about us" survey? This is a test and most people will fail because they don't know how they heard about you. By design, most advertising is an interruption, and most consumers won't remember when or on what medium your ad interrupted them.

So choosing what to measure relates to a number of different factors. This is by no means a complete list, but it's a good start.

Product Life Cycle - Do some research to identify the number of consumers who are buying your product today. Compare that to the number of people who will buy this month and this year.
Message & Offer - if you give away a Ferrari, you should have a lot of immediate response. If you're offer to purchase the Ferrari is just the same as every other competitor ie. come see us, payments as low as $6000 per month at 0% down OAC, then you're message will be lost in the advertising noise. What is it that makes you unique compared to the other Ferrari dealers? you really need to let people know about that because that's why they'll buy from you.
Breadth & depth of campaign - the more senses you appeal to in your campaign the more succesful it will be. Its also true that if your campaign is only 1 week, then your message will only appeal to those who are shopping for your product or service right now. Since these types of event campaigns only reach a small fraction of the total market, you're expecations should be in line with the number of consumers shopping right now.
Measurement tools - here's the meat and potatoes. Traditionally, the first tool people use for measurement is sales. Mainly, I think, because it's the easiest. Here's some others to consider...

website hits,
specific product requests,
conversion ratio of leads:sales,
identify the webpages most visited,
consumer feedback, complaints or reviews in store/person/online,
staff feedback in store/person/online,
social media friends,
social media platforms your on,
the average a. age of consumer b. average sale price c. quote change over time ie. now vs. 1 year from now,
your google ranking,
your market share,
number of new customers or repeat customers

Commitment - to measure ROI effectively, you need to use the tools that are inline with your overall marketing strategy, commit to monitor those tools over time and perform a proper analysis at the end of your campaign.
Touch Points - form a small brainstorm group of your staff from each department. In this meeting, brainstorm all the different ways that your business can connect with a new or existing customer. the obvious ones are your front line sales staff, but what about your accounting, service, client care...in person...online...traditional media...social media etc

In summary, my formula for measuring ROI is this....

set a goal.
create a multiplatform marketing plan to achieve that goal.
identify all the touch points at your disposal to connect with consumers.
choose 5 or 6 measurement tools that allow you to confirm whether or not you reached your goal.
Track these tools over time.
analyse the data.
make adjustments to your new plan based on previous results.
repeat.

Bink's personal views on marketing and media

2010-08-11T23:14:00.000-07:00

Here's some random thoughts. Let me know if you have ideas on how to better connect them together.

Many people hate marketing and Marketers
Advertising works
The history of advertising has been to interrupt people's entertainment
The future of advertising is about connecting and contributing to communities on multiple platforms
Not all media is priced appropriately. While I agree that that the Yellow Pages can work, the cost of advertising in it is ridiculously high for the number of people who actually use it.
Each media type offers a unique platform to communicate from.
These platforms are most effective when connected together by bridges (The USP)
The more senses (sight, taste, touch, hear, smell) you can communicate to, the more effective your message and therefore brand will become.
Marketing is the strategy and Advertising is the execution
Passion & Connection wins.
The best marketing plan that I've seen is this...CARE
The second best marketing plan that I've seen aligned all resources to a multi platform plan according to useage
Marketers are not normal. we turn up commercials.
Today, every person has the ability to my publish & broadcast themselves.
Marketing is hard to measure.
The consumer purchasing journey is normal. trigger, initial consideration set, active evaluation to add more options, purchase, post-purchase evaluation, re-trigger, loyalty loop.
Every media type has a use.

Yellow Pages - lumps your business services alongside your competition, in every category, to reach an older consumer who "needs it fixed right now". Less than 5% of daily media time is spent here and shrinking.

Newsprint - allows you to visually display a brand alongside editorial content of yesterday's news. has a aging demographic of "coupon clippers". Seriously, I wonder what the adspace to content ratio is. Accounts for about 10% of daily media time and shrinking.

Radio - The original real time communication platform. at it's best, gives you the ability to target any demographic by audio in their minds eye. At worst, it's an unmeasurable Johnny Fever pimpin' product. With online streaming added in, about 30% of peoples daily media time is spent here.

Direct Mail - visually interrupts a person at home with your product samples/logo/mesage in a postal code. 1% rate of return is optimistic. Less than 1%

TV - Bruce said it....57 Channels and nothing on. "the boss" is only partially right. On my tv, it's more like 400 channels and something's on. Mostly on my PVR. TV is arguably the most powerful medium up until now. I read somewhere that The Final Epsiode of I Love Lucy had 70% of the american audience watching it compared to 17% of the final episode of the current reigning champion...American Idol. Average daily media time spent 30%

Internet - Real time platform 2.0. If radio is the James Brown of media, then internet is the baby Huey. Canadians already spend about 20% of our daily media time with this medium, but are limited to high speed access. What happens when the internet is as pervasive as electricity? The ways that we can communicate with eachother (email, text, social media, geotargeting, game play, consumer reviews) changes almost as fast as the devices that we communicate with (commodore 64, desktop computers, sony walkman, Android, iPADs, google TV).

Outdoor - Billboards, bus wraps, building signage. To make an impact, it's either "power to the people" good or it's about size & locations...the more the better

one other amazing facts...

Did you know that some preying mantis' can catch and eat small mice?

So Advertising is Dead. Now What?

2010-08-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

Marketing Strategy - Product Life Cycle

2010-08-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

The Best Marketing Blogs

2010-08-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

My goal is to build a robust archive of video, articles, presentations and thoughtful commentary about marketing and advertising.

While I am building this archive, I realize that I cannot address or answer every question all at once. It is for this reason that I'd like to share with you a link to the top 150 marketing blogs on the web. www.adage.com/power150/

What can I do for you?

2010-07-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

During my 2nd year of university (1994), I took an elective called Introduction to Computers. At that time, the professor was using an overhead for most of his lectures and discused bizzare & forgetable things like C++ and Fortran. However, there was one day that sticks out like a polar bear on a tropical island.

From the back of the lecture hall, I distinctly remember staring at my prof's George Carlin-like, balding head and long ponytail while listening to his deep gruff voice tell us "uh, class, what we're going to talk about today is this thing called the World Wide Web" What and where is this web, I thought? Everyone I knew in school was still going to the library's card catalogues to search for the books they needed.

He proceeded, "on the internet, you can communicate and share information with people from anywhere in the world with this other thing called email. It's the next big thing" I quickly evaluated the lecture notes and decided that the only people I needed to communicate with were my roomates so that I didn't get locked out of the house again.

Then my prof magically connected his new laptop to a projector and navigated around some strange program called "hotmail" while I drifted in an out of sleep.

In 16 years, a lot has changed. Especially consumers. Attached and online at http://www.slideshare.net/MarcBinkley I've summarized the key points of the new consumer decision journey from a multinational study of over 20,000 consumers conducted by McKinsey Quarterly. The full pdf is here http://www.marketingritson.com/documents/theconsumerdecisionjourney.pdf

If this study is as accurate as I believe it is, then you too are changing the way that you shop for & evaluate your media buying. Beside my name you'll find a list of icons where I archive content that relates to marketing and advertising. I've made a promise to myself to continually update the content for my clients which you can share and comment on. If there is anything that you'd like me to research, I'm happy to do it for you. Which leads me to one last question....

What can I do for you?

Social Media Revolution

2010-07-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

How to Guide on Social Media

2010-07-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

I didn't get it. Facebook for business? What brilliant 140 character message can I Tweet? I couldn't understand how social media works for business. However, according to the Fleishman-Hillard 2010 Digital Influence Index nearly 70% of Canadians have a Facebook account and 85% have heard of Twitter. I reckon it's time I learn.

Give me a ring if you're interested in brainstorming a mixed marketing plan for your business that includes social media. We've got 100,000 loyalty members that can help you jumpstart yours. 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com

I saw Gary Vanerchuck at a conference. I've attached a link to his presentation notes here http://marcbinkleymarketing.blogspot.com/2010/06/crush-it-by-gary-vanerchuk-presentation.html. Gary made a compelling argument to all the marketers present, that wether we 'get it' or not, doesn't really matter. Social Media is the new marketing language and as such, anyone worth their salt had to learn to speak it. So I decided I should read his book, "why now is the time to CRUSH IT!".

Here are a couple of highlights from his book and below that, a few examples (local ones too) of businesses that are "CRUSHING IT"

with social media the best marketing strategy ever: CARE, authenticity rules
choose a medium that suits your DNA ie. video, word blogs, twitter, flickr
get involved in the community that your passionate about

Figure out what your passionate about
Register at godaddy.com and Start a website to display your passion
start a blog (wordpress, tumblr, google blogs)
Get a web designer if you can afford it. The better your site is designed, the 'stickier' it is
If video is your communication vehicle, get a $200 flip cam. HD is best.
Create a Facebook Fan page (normal facebook accounts only host 5000 friends)
open a twitter account with your domain name
open a tubemogul (video) or Ping.FM (blogs) account
Pump out content
Deliver your content through Tubemogul or Ping.FM
Go to Search.twitter for conversations about your passion and reply to them publicly
go to Blogsearch.google.com for blogs on your passion and leave comments with your name linked back to your homepage
Search Facebook for content of your passion with "all results", "pages" and "groups". Join as many active groups as possible, but keep track of them
Repeat Steps 8 - 13 over and over
do it again
and again

Here are some great examples of social media

The Camera Store - www.photorepublik.com (Calgary based international photography community)
Stuff My Dad Says - http://thingsmydadsaid.com/ (apparently getting a movie deal...remember Julie & Julia?)
Fishing on The Bow - http://www.bowriverblog.com/
MEC video contest - http://www.bowriverblog.com/ (social media is about collaboration and creativity)
Facebook advertising Fan Page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Advertising/112259292124160?ref=ts
Youtube Channel Subscriptions - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=222o-OJXq2A
Lainey Gossip - http://www.laineygossip.com/ (i'm pretty sure she got a job as a TV host because of this blog)
Skiing around Calgary - http://skihere.ca/

By the way, I am learning. http://twitter.com/marcbinkley and http://marcbinkleymarketing.blogspot.com/

The Most Revolutionary Consumer Product to Date?

2010-06-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

XBox Project Natal

I'm in the market for a new game console. I'd never really been a gamer, but I played my fair share of Zaxon, Techmo Bowl and Qbert and growing up. Two years ago, I bought a used Xbox from a friend a and while the sports games are entertaining, I was kind of disappointed with the resolution & image quality of the games which got me thinking about an upgrade.

A few of my friends have PS3s and have been suggesting that I get one so that we can play games online together. I'd heard of this new infrared sensor type game console about a year ago and thought I should check into when it's going to be released before buying anything.

I am absolutely blown away by this....As a marketer, think about the possiblities that exist in our future. This Project Natal and the devices that come after it (location services) will undoubtedly change how future consumers shop....for everything.

The Art of Marketing Presentation Summary

2010-06-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of attending an incredible conference monday put on by The Art of....Marketing.

I took detailed notes from all the speakers, which are too lengthy to include on this email but I've posted them by speaker (see below). Where possible, I've linked most of the references to the acutal videos, commercials, photos, websites and articles that the speakers spoke about. It's difficult to summarize an entire days worth of knowledge into one email, but I'd like to try and pass along my take home message from the conference.

We are living in the future. Brands that don't adapt to this will go extinct and to be competitive, you have to be able to fascinate your audience. I've often thought the best example of this is the Sony Walkman. When I was growing up, the Sony Walkman was the dominant portable music device. Sony owned the market and should have developed the iPOD, but they didn't. In light Sir Ken Robinsons talk, I believe it's because Sony didn't foster an environment of creativity in their organization and didnt learn to communicate with their customers.

This digital revolution isn't over, rather it's just begun. For marketers, the best time to start figuring out this new world is now. Ironically, we can do this by going back to old values. Get involved and contribute to your (online) community. Be respectful of customers...they're interested in more than just the latest sale price or financing offer. We can no longer use mass media exclusively to pound our own agenda. We have to invite conversation and communitcate on the platforms that buyers are using ie. twitter, facebook, Yelp, blogs, review sites. Our brand is no longer what we say it is, its what Google say it is....The truth always wins.

The internet gives each person and business the opportunity to become their own 'channel' with the same distribution scale as any major media outlet. As consumers, our opinions matter and our opinions can be amplified. As marketers, we will not have to make a choice between the old ie. Radio & new, but rather find a way to make the new media work in with with the old.

The bottom line is that marketing today is what it's always been about...communication. More specifically its not just how many we communicate with, but who communicate with.

We adapt to this new world with a few simple principles.

1. Do an intellectual audit of our own companies - what do people know?

2. Promote creativity - how should we interact with customers?

3. Encourage Innovation - how do we apply & reward creative solutions?

4. Get involved - sign up for twitter, facebook. See what it's all about and learn the new marketing language.

5. Learn how to make change - rider direction, motivate the element, shape the path

6. Get excited! - it make you more fascinating, and fascinating wins

Leading a Culture of Innovation by Sir Ken Robinson: presentation notes from The Art of Marketing

2010-06-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas has no reason for being there except for one thing...the power of imagination
Imagination has the power to bring into mind things that aren't there or seem possible
with imagination, you can anticipate the future and if you can anticipate the future then you can help influence it
creativity is not the same as imagination
creativity means you have to cdo something...it's applied imagination
innovation is simply putting good ideas into practice
in the 50's & 60's the world was different. If you worked hard, went to school, got a college education, then you would have a job for life. At that time formal education was a guarantee for success [not anymore]
cultures evolve. For those born around World War I, the world was very different then [as it is now]
because of imagination we are in a constant state of revolution.
this revolution is now moving at a faster rate than it has ever moved before
to make sense of this revolution, we have to think differently about ourselves. Those who are in "their element" love what they do, have a natural knack for something
being good at something isn't reason enough to do it, it's about having a feeling for it
most organizations have a narrow vision of the talent around them
we need to have different strategies to manage and inspire...imaginative possibilities
Sir Ken's work is to promote higher levels of creativity in an organization and which leads organizations to become systematically innovative
you can teach people to be more creative
creativity is the process of having original ideas with value. It's a process, not an event. It's material...people love the material ie. painters love ink, dancers love movement. It's also about critical judgement
The way that Radio, TV & the Internet transformed culture, social media is now too
Creative people are everywhere. Anything that involves intelligence can be creative. Creativity can be promoted
This revolution is not over. Its just begun
Today, computers have the brain equivalent to that of a cricket. In 10 years, they will have the brain of a 6 month old baby. At some point we'll reach singularity, whereby infomation systems will merge with our own minds

Redefining Genius

A study was done to examine our rate of learning. It did so by starting to redefining what a genius is, then test a large group of children early in life and then retest the same group as they grew older.
if we were to redefine genius from a high IQ score to that of a person with a high capacity of Divergent Thinking (the ability to see multiple options to a single problem) ie. how many uses can you think of for a paperclip? This study found that...
98% of 3-5 year olds were considered genius
by the time these kids were between 8-10 years old, 32% were
and by the time they were between 13-15 years old, only 10% were
in a similar study of 25+ year olds, only 2% of adults are considered Genius by this divergent thinking methodology

Promoting Creativity is a 3 phase process

1. Personal

people with ideas
everyone should explore their own talents and invest in them

2. Group

Manage and facilitate teams
find connections between teams and disciplines

3. Culture

foster a culture of originality
make it a habit & create the habitat for creativity
eliminate the creativity spoiler

How are you creative? What brings you alive?

in Math Phd defenses, Doctors of Math evaluate a defense based on 2 criteria. 1. creativity 2. Beauty of the solution.
just as in nature, beauty is an informal test of truth
intelligence is fantastically diverse

How are you intelligent? Have you done an audit on your company's intelligence?

By most accounts, Death Valley is dead.
seeds of possibility exist right below the surface and when conditions are right, life abounds.
However, if conditions are not right, life protects itself hidden away from view

Anais Nin -“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom”

Brand New World by Max Lenderman: presentation notes from the Art of Marketing

2010-06-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Feel the consumer pulse.
trust is at an all time low for both public and private sectors. consumers want honesty
http://www.experiencethemessage.com/
If the world were made of 100 people...57 would be asian, 21 european, 8 african, 5 north american, 12 would speak mandarin as their 1st language, 7 would speak english as their 1st language, 70 would be non-christrian, 70 don't read, 1 owns a computer
consumers are price conscious & brand atheistic
he studied how marketing was done in BRIC nations ie. Brazil, Russia, India, China

4 key themes emerged in marketing to BRIC nations

1. Experience

300 million Indians are in the middle class, soon to be 580million
most gage their ascention into the middle class with the purchase of a cell phone. [I made it when...]
there are approximately 7 million new cell phone activations per month in India
in a market as competitive as that, how do you stay ahead?
Nokia has created mobile vans to travel out into the rural communities not serviced by TV or Radio. These vans convert into a stage whereby bollywood type performances relay the message about how great cell phones are and what you can do with them. This has become the #1 way for Nokia to communicate its message
in north amercia, event marketing is huge. Creating branded experiences and events are proven to dramatically increase the purchase decision and word of mouth
ie. At a time when approval for the war in Iraq is at an all time low and the job description includes the possibility of death, how is it that the army is able to surpass their recruitment objectives? click here to see the virtual army experience . they've got these in malls, amusement parks and mobile locations all around the US
Confusious say... tell me an i will forget, show me an i may remember, involve me and I will understand
ie. Camp Jeep Jeep owners have involvement in the brand experience and can share that experience with other users

2. Authenticity

anything can be copied except for experiences ie. watches, purses, phones, cars made in china
experiences are the driver for authenticity ie. apple store, genius bar
The Apple Store is the fastest growing brand concept store since GAP 20 years ago
how can it be fake if real people use and recommend their product
pop up store is a new trend in retail. it's the brand as a living store so you know its real

3. Big Think

Rustam Tariko is a russian Oligarch [big time businessman] who started Russian Standard Vodka
when it launched, Russians were dying from drinking watered down rubbing alcohol labelled as vodka
Rustam chose to position his vodka as the highest quality
then the government decided alcoholism was a problem and banned the liquor industry from advertising
Rustam wanted to maintain his branding efforts so in response, he opened the Russian Standard Bank.
Rustam used the same logo, type set, font size and imagery as if he were still advertising vodka
Russian Standard Bank became the largest bank in Russia
Other examples of Big Think 7-11 changed to Kwik E Mart for The Simpsons Movie and sold Duff Beer, Bounty opened make a masterpiece stores, Mountain Dew sold game fuel when Halo 3 launched

4. Goodness

in some major cities ie. Sao Paulo, billboard advertising is outlawed. The government felt that the Billboards were to visual pollution that exhaust is to air pollution
Nedbank did some good with theirs. Their Power to the People billboard campaign had solar panels on top of the billboard which supplied power to the villages & communities below it
other examples are Charmin's Potty Party Bathroom experience in times square, Tide Loads of Hope Laundry service

Crush it by Gary Vanerchuk: presentation notes from The Art of Marketing

2010-06-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

Gary Started WineLibrary.com and wine library TV
grew to over $60million dollar business. He's 33.
from '95-'03 he spent over $4.5 million in marketing (annually?)
from '03 to now he spends about $25,000 (annually?)
Liquor laws prohibited mass distribution so he started trying to build his own brand
push marketing - pound the message with traditional media
Pull Marketing - Social media. it's about caring. You cant buy friends & relationships in online communities. Your content has to be relevant
Content is King. But Marketing is the Queen that steers the ship
Big Box marketing approach is rapidly changing
Those businesses that go back to "small town values" will win. In the small towns as a business owner, you've got to hustle, care and understand that people appreciate the bakers dozen price point
online relationships are just as real as in person ones
he has 850,000 twitter followers
the web is just a baby. it's only been 15 years since we even had such a thing as email. Youtube is only 5 years old
Virtual Currency: Facebook Credits , Foursquare
brands will have to care because word of mouth is now on steroids
the truth is undefeated. doing the right thing is never wrong
if you're trying to reach consumers, you need to have a facebook fan page
look at other companies that didn't adapt. Zagat is getting killed by Yelp.
you need to understand this stuff, play with it, taste it. get on twitter and facebook and experience these new platforms of communication
respect the customer
be socially engaged 24/7. get committed to it. seek out and engage conversations. give authenitc non-salesy answers. You don't need to convince people this is important...find the ones who already believe it is.

Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel: presentation notes from The Art of Marketing

2010-06-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

After months of sailing Cortez & his crew finally arrived in the new world. His crew asked "how long are we going to stay here for?". Cortez waited for everything to be unloaded from the ships...then burned them
How do we get forward moving today?
CTRL, ALT, DEL - time to reboot
-50% people who clicked on banners since 2007 (comscore)
under 8% of online users click through. There are over 2 billion online users
this is not a talk about the future. its about the present. we are living in the future ie. snaptell, red laser, google goggles, yelp
video is king
media is becoming untethered ie. iPAD
the question is not when is the web going to take over traditional media, the question should be WHEN IS THE INTERNET GOING TO BE AS PERVASIVE AS ELECTRICITY?
Apple sold 2,000,000 iPADS in 60 days
we live in the most branded generation ever
there are more grandparents on facebook than high school students (readwriteweb - July 7,2009)
88% of canadians are on facebook
Eckhart Walther from Yahoo! says "it's about doing, sharing, socializing, collaborating & most of all, creating"
Facebook is like your very own "channel" (Think in terms of CBC, NBC, CNN...it is scaleable)
81% of online holiday shoppers read online customer reviews (neilson online - Dec 2008)
Bazaarvoice proves that if you let people open up, you will win. They have 150 billion impression reviews. The average review is 4.3/5. A negative review converts to sale more effectively than a positive review
with the internet, people are having real conversations between real people
these conversations are important because they are distributable and scaleable
the internet isn't about the number of people you can get your message to, but who sees it
same with Facebook. It's not the number of 'friends' you have but WHO your friends are that matters
mass media helps but you need permission for entry. online allows communication with no barrier to entry
1/2 of youtube.com's audience is over 34 (marketingvox)
the average Canadian watches 15+ hours of youtube video per week. The average TV commercial is 30 seconds. The average youtube video is 4 minutes
Top 3 search engines? 1. Google 2. Youtube 3. Twitter
Every day on Google, 20% of the searches have never been done before.
your marketing has to change because of how we connect with one another
BUT, if your IT consultant says to cancel all your advertising and move everything online...fire him
the biggest change in this new world is amplification. Consumers have always had the ability to choose to buy or not and tell their friends if they liked a product or service or not. The word of mouth is now amplified
Your brand is no longer what you say it is. It's what Google says it is.
Bounce Rates are important metrics to measure your website 'stickyness' if the bounce rate is really fast it's "i came, I puked, I left"
identify the pages on your site that have the most traffic and evaluate how the user interface is
the best value of a brand is in its community
Digital Darwinism 'we were on facebook & twitter, but it doesn't work'. The problem is because you're not engaging. What are you doing to add value?
you need to build a community before you launch a product

how to manage in this new world?
1. accept it
2. it goes with. not instead of traditional media
3. dont write cheques with digital media you cant cash. it's about honesty
4. open up. let the community share, create
5. attitude, not age related
6. Ask Why? not what. It's not what are we doing, it's why is this better alighned with our business objectives

if you have the right message, and you tell the right people, your story will spread....check this free hugs video out, over 59 million views and counting

Fascinate by Sally Hogshead: presentation notes from the Art of Marketing

2010-06-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

When competition increases, the more essential fascination becomes. Since most often, the most fascinating option wins
100 years ago we had 20 minute attention spans. Today we have an attention span of 9 seconds...which is that of a goldfish
Sally's Website
free book download here
So how do unusual things break through the clutter?
fascinating things don't speak to everybody. The create an immediate reaction and are polarizing
there are 7 triggers to fascination 1. Power 2. Lust 3. Mystique 4. Prestige 5. Alarm 6. Vice 7. Trust
imagine these 7 triggers are chemicals in a chemistry set.
Every fascinating brand has their own unique potion
Fedex - high on Alarm & Trust
Kraft foods - high on Lust & Trust
Rachael Ray - high on Lust & Trust
Angelina Jolie - high on Lust, Mystique, Alarm, Vice
KMart - low levels for all triggers
Fascination is different from marketing. It's irrational, instintive, innate, irrestistable.
you don't control fascination, it controls you ie. Jagermeister is one of the fastest growing brands of all time and yet has a very low budget, but an extremely high fascination level
In relation to Facebook, they did a survey to find out what status updates are fascinating...and get passed on...they end up being the ones with high amounts of trigger elements
In your own marketing, messages are fascinating are like facebook status updates...they're more likely to be passed on. This is important since it's not just about trying to reach your network, but your network's network.
In otherwords, its not about how many people you reach, but who.
when you become your most fascinating, you are at your most inspiring
take Sally's test to find your {F}Score.

I got an {F}Score high in Lust & Mystique, low on Alarm. If you know me, I 'd love to hear your opinion if this is accurate

Switch Presentation Notes by Chip Heath @ The Art of Marketing

2010-06-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

- here is a link to another presentation by Chip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs9NbxJHV-w

The following are the notes I took from Chip's presentation

how do we change things when change is hard?
there is an struggle between emotional and analytical motivators that can be explained by the elephant and rider analogy http://www.anecdote.com.au/archives/2010/01/the_mahout_the.html
when it comes to change, we need to align the rider (analytical) and the elephant (emotional)
to make change There are 3 components 1. we must give direction to the rider. 2. create motivation for the elephant. 3. Shape the Path these two will travel

Rider Direction

The rider loves to analyze problems, however focusing on non-productive problems and paralyze the rider & elephant. While the analysis may be valid, it can be T.B.U...true, but useless
the key to productive analysis is to find bright spots in any situation, analyze why those bright spots exist and replicate the strategies that let to the bright spot
ie. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/41/sternin.html

Motivate the Elephant

how do you make people care about your product/issue?
ie. Dont mess with Texas campaign.
road litter in Texas was primarily caused by 18-30 year old truck drivers that the state affectionately called "Bubba"
the don't mess with Texas campaign was designed to speak to Bubba using the celebrities he recognized & respected as Texans such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Willie Nelson etc
in the 1st year aluminum can litter was down 25% and in 5 years it was down by 75%
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Mess_with_Texas
to make change you need to grow the elephant

Shape the Path

focus on people rather than the situation. In other words, if you tweak the environment the people operate in, you're more likely to effect change than by expecting people to adapt to your environment
ie. Amazon - "buy now with 1 Click" is a registered trademark.
ie. Playtex - most women wear the wrong bra size. Playtex put ads in magazines like "O" with encouragement that women can calculate their right bra size in 2 easy steps. Most people now don't have measuring tapes handy so the ad included a tear away measuring tape
100 calorie food packs - available for calorie counting consumers everywhere

7 Insights into the Consumer Mind

2010-06-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

After seeing my favorite commercial last night during the hockey game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE&feature=related I wondered why am I so affected by this series of commercials? More importantly, why have I switched my soap brand loyalty and started buying Old Spice?

Perhaps this article can shed some light on these questions and help you make a bigger impact with prospective & existing consumers.

http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/neuromarketing.htm

In traditional marketing, we are told ... "follow the proven formula of compelling headlines, benefits, satisfaction guarantee and a call to action, and your sales will skyrocket." Yet, even top marketers can attest that successful campaigns are a "hit or miss" proposition to find those that generate big sales

"Our unconscious mind -- not our conscious mind -- drives how we respond to ads, brands and products and, ultimately, drives all our buying decisions. Customers don't really know why they buy what they buy, which is why traditional market research fall short."

According to neuroscientists, there are 3 main parts to the brain, each functioning as a brain unto itself. These "three brains" - nestled inside one another -- are as follows.

The "Human" ("New," or outer-most) Brain: Most evolved part of the brain known as the cortex. Responsible for logic, learning, language, conscious thoughts and our personalities.

The "Mammalian" (Middle) Brain: Also known as the limbic system. Deals with our emotions, moods, memory and hormones.

The "Reptilian" (Old) Brain: Also known as the R Complex controls our basic survival functions, such as hunger, breathing, flight-or-fight reactions and staying out of harm's way.

The reptilian, or "old," brain drives your customers' buying decision
To strengthen your brand, loyalty and sales, you must understand your customers' "reptilian hot buttons." A "cortex" message -- such as "Buy my product because it is 20% cheaper" -- doesn't buy customer loyalty. It all comes down to who triggers the first reptilian reaction. That's why Coke, after all these years, continues to dominate the market.

The "Reptilian Brain" and Profits: 7 Critical Insights You Must Know About How and Why Your Customer Buys

1. The old brain is driven by emotions

The more senses you trigger and associate with your products/services, the more you will appeal to your customers' emotions and influence their buying behavior.

2. The old brain "decides" on the basis of the gain vs. pain tradeoff
Marketing guru, Seth Godin illustrates through his Joy/Cash Curve that high value purchases often trigger increasing amounts of buying pain. His solution: add more joy and pleasure to the buying process, such as he did in his work with Lexus. According to Godin, when you make buying pleasurable, you actually reset the customer's "value meter." How are you adding more joy to your buying process?

3. The old brain is highly influenced by beginnings and endings.

In marketing, for your message to be accepted, it is critical to leave a strong first impression -- like a compelling story, a big smile, etc. Also, if a customer has a pleasant or unpleasant experience with your product or company, that most recent experience will influence future purchases more than all other experiences combined. What impression are you leaving with your prospects in the first few seconds or words? How has your last customer contact enhanced or jeopardized repeat sales?

4. The old brain is visually oriented and responds rapidly to images

Enhance and deliver your core marketing message visually -- eg., the design of your product, images in an ad, external packaging, etc. Where can you visually strengthen your brand and emotional connection with customers?

5. The old brain perceives the "pain of buying" in relative, not absolute, terms.

From various posts by Roger Dooley (Neurosciencemarketing.com), key strategies include:
Emphasize "sales" prices (which does not activate pain in the old brain)
Utilize "package" pricing over pricing of individual components (the latter shows greater "pain activity in the old brain)
Series of small "bite-size' investments in place of one large investment (Netflix)

6. The old brain understands only what is tangible, physical and concrete.

To speak to the old brain, you must use tangible "benefits" -- ie., what a customer will see, feel, hear, taste or smell as a result. Eg., a promise of "greater happiness" is gibberish to the old brain. Instead, tell your prospect how he/she will wake up every morning with a smile. Or use metaphors (such as referring to your service as the "Cadillac" offering) to make your benefits more tangible.

7. The old brain's control over buying decisions varies from culture to culture.

Adapt your marketing communications to each culture and what part of their brain drives buying decisions. Use emotional appeal with Americans; use logic with European cultures

Segmentation Marketing

2010-05-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

Lately it seems a growing number of clients have been talking about switching to a 'segmentation' based marketing model. The simplest way that I can explain this concept is with an example.

JACK FM has an average weekly audience of 346,000 Adults listening over the age of 12. This know as our CUME or put another way, JACK's market. However, as a marketer, I'd like to break down our audience into the groups of people who are most important to my business. These groups, or segments, have similar needs and can be identified by on

1. Demographics (age, family size, life cycle, occupation),
2. Geography (states, regions, countries),
3. Behavior (product knowledge, usage, attitudes, responses) and/or
4. Psychographic (lifestyle, values, personality).

Each segment has unique set of needs from each other and each should be marketed to differently. If JACK FM was trying to sell a product or service, I would determine which segments are most profitable, choose a only a few that I want to attract as customers, then develop a marketing strategy to communicate with that particular segment.

Below is a very short list of some segments within our audience. This data is sourced from BBM-RTS Calgary Fall ‘09 Base: P12+, Tune into JACK FM. If you'd like me to get some research done on your preferred segment, please feel free to call or email me at 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com

Demographics - age, family size, occupation

Child born/ adopted: 14,933 listeners
Between 35-54: 117,640 listeners
Employed as Owners,Managers or Professionals: 114,180 listeners

Behaviour - product knowledge, usage & attitudes

Dine at casual/ family dining restaurants 1+ times/ month: 25% more likely than the average Calgarian (24,789 listeners)

Visited a national/ provincial park 7+ times/ year: 21% more likely than the average Calgarian (13,727 listeners)

likely to buy/ lease a vehicle in the next 12 months: 17% more likely than the average Calgarian (35,996 listeners)

Psychographic - lifestyle & values

Spent $3,000+ on last vacation: 28,015 listeners
Occasionally/ regularly cycle (mountain/ road biking): 84,055 listeners
Occasionally/ regularly golf: 75,547 listeners

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_segmentation

A market segment is a sub-set of a market made up of people or organizations sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar product and/or services based on qualities of those products such as price or function.

The process of segmentation is distinct from targeting (choosing which segments to address) and positioning (designing an appropriate marketing mix for each segment). The overall intent is to identify groups of similar customers and potential customers; to prioritize the groups to address; to understand their behavior; and to respond with appropriate marketing strategies that satisfy the different preferences of each chosen segment. Revenues are thus improved.

Market segmentation is the act of identifying and profiling distinct groups of buyers who might require separate products and/or marketing mixes
It is the process of splitting customers into different groups or segments, within which customers with similar characteristics have similar needs. Benefits: 1) marketers are in a better position to locate and compare marketing opportunities 2) marketers can easily and effectively formulate and implement marketing programs 3) marketers can make finer adjustments in their products and marketing communications. 4) Competitive strengths and weaknesses can be assessed effectively 5) Segmentation leads to more effective utilisation of marketing resources
Once a market segment has been identified (via segmentation), and targeted (in which the viability of servicing the market intended), the segment is then subject to positioning. Positioning involves ascertaining how a product or a company is perceived in the minds of consumers.This part of the segmentation process consists of drawing up a perceptual map, which highlights rival goods within one's industry according to perceived quality and price. After the perceptual map has been devised, a firm would consider the marketing communications mix best suited to the product in question.

http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_segmentation.htm

Segmentation is essentially the identification of subsets of buyers within a market that share similar needs and demonstrate similar buyer behavior. The world is made up of billions of buyers with their own sets of needs and behavior. Segmentation aims to match groups of purchasers with the same set of needs and buyer behavior. Such a group is known as a 'segment'. Think of your market as an orange, with a series of connected but distinctive segments, each with their own profile.

http://marketing.about.com/cs/sbmarketing/a/smbizmrktseg.htm

A business must analyze the needs and wants of different market segments before determining their own niche. To be effective in market segmentation keep the following things in mind:
1. Segments or target markets should be accessible to the business
2. Each segmented group must be large enough to provide a solid customer base.
3. Each segmented group requires a separate marketing plan.

he 5 most important keys to successful advertising

2010-04-07T09:40:00.001-07:00

Over the last while, I've been trying to wrap my head around how and why mass media how really works. Put simply, I think the key to successful advertising is communication. No matter which mass media you pick ie. Radio, TV, Internet, Print there is a very large group of individuals that your business can connect with on the other side of that dial, channel, site or page. I believe that those individuals are open to marketing messages when they enter the "consumer window" and are unknowingly conscious of the messages when they are not. This is a key point to why long term advertising is the most successful... only some people are buying now. Far more are planning to buy soon. The largest group of consumers are those who will buy, but haven't been triggered to do so.

As a client so eloquently put it yesterday, you'd never know there were any yellow cars on the road until you are about to buy one.

So in an effort to simplify marketing strategies, i found this article which make some great points.

http://db0898.com/the-five-most-important-things-you-need-to-know-about-successful-advertising/

1. establishing the exact message you are trying to put forward

Advertising needs to be planned and it needs to be simple.

Give them a reason to pick up the telephone or to drop into your business

If you can’t summarise what you want your message to say in one short sentence, go back to the drawing board until you can. Once this magic sentence has been determined, build your advertisement to portray this message clearly.

2. being clear about your target audience

Knowing exactly the type of person you want to see your advertisement is an essential component for planning your campaign

Different people watch television at different times (and of course they watch different shows). Different people read various sections of the paper, listen to particular radio stations and so on.

3. making your advertisement stand out from millions of others

The main reason advertising doesn’t work for a lot of businesses is because the advertisement or commercial fails to catch the attention of the targeted customers

It is very important to remember that consumers are bombarded with advertising from the minute they wake up until the minute they go to bed

Marc's Note: a unique selling proposition will at least help you stand out from your immediate competition

4. ensuring people see your advertising often

get as many people as possible to see your advertisement as often as possible and your advertising will bring much greater results.

The aim is to look at your whole campaign and make certain you are going to reach as many people as often as possible. Advertising in more than one area is a key to this, so it is wise to consider this strategy

5. giving your advertising time to work.

It is very rare for a potential customer to see your advertisement once, then race off to pick up the phone or jump in the car.

It will generally take a person seven visits to a website (including your own) before they will make a specific purchase

the response to an advertisement will generally increase the longer it is out there because more people will see the advertising more often

"I have monitored a lot of advertising campaigns where we have done the same amount of advertising for a specific product over a six-month period. Each month the response increased, with the last month being the most successful, illustrating the long-term benefits of advertising. Likewise it takes a while for advertising to stop working once the momentum is gained. For those campaigns we ran for six months and then stopped, new customers continued to flow for up to two months before finally slowing to a trickle or stopping."

Media Comparison in Calgary

2010-03-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

With the 1st quarter nearly over, there are a number of marketing managers I’ve spoken to recently who are planning their next few quarters. Given all of the options available out there, I thought it would be great to get some research done to ask the following questions…

How do Canadians Consume Media?
How do your different options compare in Price? In Reach? In Frequency? In production costs?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your media options?

The answers to these questions are sourced by the Radio Marketing Bureau.

Popcorn, Peanuts, Hotdogs....Get your media value here

2010-02-17T07:47:00.000-08:00

I'm willing to bet that Popcorn, Peanuts and Hotdogs are a part of the fabric of baseball, not because they're good for you, but because the fans appear to get a lot for their money (and ball parks get big mark up). In a year like this, we're reminded by nearly every marketing group that we, as consumers, should expect to get more for our money. The McDonalds Value Meals, www.Hotwire.com 's "Best Value" deal, Hyundai's incredible growth http://www.thestar.com/business/article/759602--hot-hyundai-revs-up-january-auto-sales are but a few examples that illustrate this point.

So what is value? According to thefreedictionary.com, value can be defined like this..."reasonable or equivalent return"

My next question is, SO WHAT? How then do we deliver value in Media? Wikipedia explains that "When an organization delivers high value at high price, the perceived value may be low. When it delivers high value at low price, the perceived value may be high." When it comes to media, one way to define value is to say that a high value media is one that can deliver your message to the most potential consumers, the most times for the least cost.

Each media has it's own strengths and weaknesses so it's hard to find an apples to apples comparison. However, for the purpose of this article lets look at how many consumers are using each media on any average day since it's indicitive of consumer behaivour.

According to the Canadian Newspaper Association http://www.cna-acj.ca/en/aboutnewspapers/circulation, the 2008 average daily circulation of the
Calgary Herald is 119,909
Calgary Sun is 49,633

There is limited information on how many people use Yellow Pages on an average day, but according to the Fall 2009, BBM RTS survey of Adults 12+, the number of people in Calgary who will use the Yellow Pages today is 36,016.

According to S4,2009 PPM results, our Radio stations would reach the following Average Daily Audience
JACK FM - 110,150
LITE 96 - 94,338
660NEWS - 48,148
FAN 960 - 46,837

Using my best estimates a full page, full color yellow pages ad costs about $5000/month and given you have to buy 12 months thats accounts for $60,000 of my annual budget.

With the same budget, I could buy about
16 full page ads @ $3600 each in the Calgary Sun.
12 full page ads @ $5000 each in the Calgary Herald
26 weeks @ 21 or more ads per week on either FM station PLUS 26 weeks @ 35 or more ads per week on either AM station

Which media has the most value for you?

James Brown of Media

2010-02-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

This year is different. Gone are the 'good ole days' when to be successful here in Calgary, all a business had to do was open their doors. Many of the clients that I speak with that have survived the recession have come out of it with a renewed positivity, a hunger for success and wanting more out of their advertising.

Right now, many of my clients are reviewing their marketing budgets, re-evaluating their past media choices and making some very tough decisions about how to best spend their marketing budgets going forward. Please consider the following article when making your decision. I'm always available to chat at 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com

http://www.rmb.ca/news_detail.aspx?id=22968&terms=why+radio

just like James Brown was ‘the hardest-working man in showbiz,’ radio is the hardest-working medium in advertising

Advertising is about creating awareness for a brand or service and in order to do so, consumers must be exposed to an ad. Radio increases opportunities for exposure to ads because it accompanies Canadians throughout the day, reaching them anytime, anywhere

Results from the independent Foundation Research study show that more adults report an increase in time spent with radio and the Internet year-over-year than with any other medium.

The intimate nature of radio has a halo effect for advertisers – RAEL study participants believe that companies advertising on ‘their’ station are trustworthy and interested in speaking to them personally.

busy adults often edit their time spent with TV, print and the Internet; radio listening remains unaffected because it doesn’t demand the listener’s time, and it adapts to their lifestyle. BBM reports that radio reaches 81 percent of adults daily

Typical media costs for radio are one-third that of other major media

A 2005 RAEL study examining the effect of adding radio to TV and newspaper advertising found that unaided brand awareness increased 270 percent when radio was added to newspaper and 34 percent when added to TV.

45 percent of adults said a radio ad had prompted them to search the internet, and 35 percent typed an address into their browser after hearing it on the radio.

The Best Bang For your Buck

2010-01-26T09:46:00.000-08:00

It occured to me that many marketing directors are looking for the same thing that I am as a consumer, great value. From my point of view, I imagine that great value means being able to deliver your message in multiple foms to the largest target rich environment of consumers at a reasonable cost. These consumers, both new and old, should then inquire and ultimately purchase your products and services and help you grow your business over last years results.

With that in mind, I found this article which I hope will help shed some light on how to get the best bang for your marketing buck.

I've got several resources available to me that could help you identify your target customers, define your brand DNA, perform some market research, and can pull research on our audience to find out how well they match your target customers. Feel free to contact me if you'd like more information at 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com

http://www.businessknowledgesource.com/marketing/how_to_maximize_your_marketing_budget_029594.html

You need to find the target group for your business to target their marketing to. You can do this by writing down any demographic data about your customers; you want to get as detailed as possible. Write down things like marital status, education level, career, income level, where they live, their hobbies, what movies they like to watch, etc

move onto the psycho-graphics of your ideal customer. This is where you are going to need to determine things like life style, social class, opinion, attitude, and beliefs of your ideal customer

If you are going to be mainly doing business to business selling you are not going to need to worry about creating the ideal customer, you will need to instead focus on the ideal business for your products or services

For target marketing, you are going to want to focus all of the marketing towards that type of customer, which will ensure that your marketing dollar is being spent wisely.

figure out all of the different marketing tactics that you can use to effectively reach your target group of customers. The best way to figure out what marketing tactics you should use is to do some market research

You will need to develop your marketing plan to include the marketing tactics that you think will work the best for your marketing needs, you will also need to figure out how much money you will be setting aside for your marketing budget

Once you begin putting the marketing tactics into place you will need to go back and review your marketing plan to see what is working at what is not. You need to get rid of the tactics that are not working and place that money into tactics that are proving to be successful.

Wizard of Ads, Yellow Pages and Tape Recorders

2009-12-30T08:08:00.000-08:00

I recieved this memo from the Wizard of Ads that I thought was quite interesting and reflects the sentiment of a growing number of my clients. Research shows that 80% of all Calgarians use the internet, regardless of age. Consumers are shopping online and more often, avoiding the Yellow Pages.

The chairman of the board looked at me and said, “You’ll be speaking to about 16 hundred members and delegates from the US, Canada, England and Australia. They’re looking for ways to boost attendance at their fairs.”

“Son,” he said as he stopped abruptly, “the average age of the people you’re about to address is 72 years old. Many of them are over 80. There’s no one in the house younger than 65. These just aren’t internet people.”

Then I raised my hand and said, “How many of you have used a search engine in the past 7 days to research a purchase you were considering?” Sixteen hundred hands went up simultaneously.

Pennie and I found a plastic bag at the end of our driveway last Tuesday. In it were 3 different Yellow Page books. This triggered a discussion between Pennie and me about icons of the past. We recalled the famous Yellow Pages ad of 1962, “Let Your Fingers Do The Walking.” We talked about all the different tape recorders we’d owned. I told her about the J.C. Penney Golden Pinto mini-bike I coveted in 1970. And then I dropped the bag of books into the garbage

Yes, money spent in the Yellow Pages (and their associated websites) is basically wasted.

Have you ever Googled a product or service and had the search engine direct you to the online Yellow Pages listing for a company? I’ve never once experienced it. Search engines elevate the most commonly clicked links. Think about what this implies. (Okay, I'll spell it out for you: if people were using the digital Yellow Pages, those online Yellow Page ads would rank higher on Google and the other search engines. The ads don't rank high on Google because most people never see those ads.)
During the past few years, a number of our service company clients (foundation repair specialists, plumbers, HVAC companies, etc.) have taken our advice and abandoned the yellow pages completely, moving virtually 100 percent of their ad budgets to the radio. They already have websites, of course. These businesses, without exception, are outdistancing their competitors in the area of new customer acquisition.

Learning from Canada's Top 10 Brands

2009-12-11T08:52:00.000-08:00

Many of the conversations I've had lately with clients revolve around planning their 2010 marketing strategy and how to seperate themselves from their competition. I figured a good place to look for some information & insight on this topic is with Canada's "Best" brands.

“Branding is about having a unique personality, a point of view and a positioning.”
David Haigh
CEO, Brand Finance plc

http://www.brandfinance.com/Uploads/pdfs/BrandFinanceCanadaMostValuableBrands2009.pdf

companies have experienced a dramatic shift from tangible to intangible assets as the main source of value creation. Though roughly two-thirds of global market value was intangible as of 2007

Total enterprise value for the Top 50 brands has decreased by almost -32%

Brands generally create value by shifting both the demand and supply curves. On the demand side, they influence customer behaviour - leading to greater trial, improved frequency of use, increased loyalty, and a willingness to pay a price premium. On the supply side, strong brands can attract better employees, influence terms of trade, and even reduce the cost of capital.

conditions are already having a major impact on the global and Canadian brandscape, as brands with strong value-oriented positions (e.g. Wal-Mart, McDonald’s) are seen to be making headway in this ‘thrift as chic’ market.

given the anticipated prolonged economic weakness in the months to come, brand values can be expected to decline - at least in the near to intermediate term
This said, the effects will likely not be evenly distributed. As noted, among those to thrive (all other things equal) will be brands with strong value-based positionings

we can also expect large and stable brands with significant reach and share of voice (many of which are represented in this year’s ranking) to make exceptional market share (if not value gains) in 2009, as short-sighted competitors blindly cut brand support during these challenging yet opportunistic times.

On this note, perhaps the more relevant issue for brand owners is: what should they be doing to prepare for the inevitable upturn in the economy?

Now is the time to prepare and invest - identify areas of inefficiency - marketing and otherwise - to enable investment in the brand, or at
least to hold investment relatively flat.Do this properly and, as the market turns, you should be disproportionately rewarded.

More deeply understand the drivers of your brand’s value - Quantify your brand’s value, derive insight into the key drivers therein, and connect your organization’s current investments against each driver area

Sharpen your brand’s positioning and key point(s) of difference - A meaningful, differentiated positioning preserves profit margins and provides purposeful brand investment.

Ensure organizational alignment to support consistent brand delivery - Seize the opportunity to examine how your brand is delivered against all key touch-points and stakeholders, and spearhead initiatives (across the organization) to address opportunity areas in this regard.

“Survival in a recessionary era is about far more than simply cutting prices, reducing spending and hoping you can hold out long enough for the recovery to gain traction. Smart firms recognize these times as ushering in an era of restructuring: within firms that thrive, areas of inefficiency are identified and reformulated. These actions generate new “degrees of freedom” for marketing executives who now find they can self-finance programs directed at adding value for customers, clients and consumers. The research is unequivocal: those that do, win – those that don’t, lose.”
Ken Wong
Vice President, Knowledge Development, LEVEL5 Strategic Brand Advisors
Professor of Marketing, Queen’s School of Business

2009 Top 10 Canadian Brands
1. RBC
2. Blackberry
3. TD Canada Trust
4. Manulife Financial
5. Bell
6. Scotia Bank
7. Loblaws
8. Bombarier
9. BMO
10. CIBC
11. Rogers

2009 Top 10 "Iconic" Canadian Brands

1. Canada Post
2. Canadian Tire
3. Tim Hortons
4. CBC
5. Air Canada
6. Toronto Maple Leafs
7. Montreal Canadiens
8. Petro Canada
9. Via Rail
10. CN Tower

Understanding Consumer Behaviour

2009-11-25T15:22:00.000-08:00

The laws of advertising are the same as Newton's Third Law of Motion which is ''To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction".

In order to get great measurable results from advertising, I think there needs to be a great offer in the ads. To acheive this, I think it's important to get a stronger understanding of consumer behaviour.

http://www.learnmarketing.net/consumer.htm

1. Problem/Need Recognition

It could be that your DVD player stops working and you now have to look for a new one, all those DVD films you purchased you can no longer play! So you have a problem or a new need.

2. Information search

Consumer often go on some form of information search to help them through their purchase decision. Sources of information could be family, friends, neighbours who may have the product you have in mind, alternatively you may ask the sales people, or dealers, or read specialist magazines like What DVD? to help with their purchase decision. You may even actually examine the product before you decide to purchase it.

Given that internet usage amoungst Calgarians is around 80%, my personal belief is that the majority of consumers will perform an internet search to learn more about the products they'd like to buy. There are two important metrics for measurement here.

Website traffic - number of people visiting your site, what pages they're visiting, how long are they visiting for etc.

web conversion - how many people asked for more information either by email, being added to your database or calling in

3. Evaluation of different purchase options

Consumers allocate attribute factors to certain products, almost like a point scoring system which they work out in their mind over which brand to purchase. This means that consumers know what features from the rivals will benefit them and they attach different degrees of importance to each attribute.

4. Purchase decision

Through the evaluation process discussed above consumers will reach their final purchase decision and they reach the final process of going through the purchase action

Post Purchase Behaviour

Ever have doubts about the product after you purchased it?
Manufacturers of products clearly want recent consumers to feel proud of their purchase, it is therefore just as important for manufacturers to advertise for the sake of their recent purchaser so consumers feel comfortable that they own a product from a strong and reputable organisation

Factors influencing the behaviour of buyers

Culture is one factor that influences behaviour. Simply culture is defined as our attitudes and beliefs
Reference groups are particular groups of people some people may look up towards to that have an impact on consumer behaviour
Opinion leaders are those people that you look up to because your respect their views and judgements and these views may influence consumer decisions.
The economical environment also has an impact on consumer behaviour; do consumers have a secure job and a regular income to spend on goods?
Marketing and advertising obviously influence consumers in trying to evoke them to purchase a particular product or service

4 Types of buying behaviour

Complex buying behaviour is where the individual purchases a high value brand and seeks a lot of information before the purchase is made.
Habitual buying behaviour is where the individual buys a product out of habit e.g. a daily newspaper, sugar or salt.
Variety seeking buying behaviour is where the individual likes to shop around and experiment with different products
Dissonance reducing buying behaviour is when buyer are highly involved with the purchase of the product, because the purchase is expensive or infrequent

H1N1 and why we like bacon

2009-11-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

A crazy uncle. I'd bet nearly every family has one. A couple weeks ago I had an entertaining conversation with mine about his consipracy theories on the second gunman on the grassy knoll, the origins of propoganda and how a guy named Edward Bernays convinced North Americans to put bacon & eggs on their breakfast plates. I'll touch on Edward Bernays more in future articles, but it suffice to say that my crazy uncle got me thinking about how the general public is educated. Which, brings me to H1N1.

I'm not sure if any of you are as confused as I am, so I figured I'd dig up what info I could about this Swine Flu to attempt to find out more factual information about it so that I'm able to avoid getting caught up in just the hysteria and hype.

THE BASICS

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/h1n1/fs-fr_h1n1-eng.php

· The H1N1 flu virus is a new strain of pandemic influenza which is different than the seasonal flu. People have no natural immunity to protect against this virus. The H1N1 flu virus emerged in April 2009 and surveillance of its spread shows that it is affecting more young and healthy people than the regular seasonal flu, which normally affects seniors and young children. People with underlying medical conditions and pregnant women may be at a greater risk for severe illness.
· More research is being done on how long a person can be infectious (be able to spread the virus to others), but it is believed that this period is for one day before the onset of symptoms and continues for approximately seven days after symptoms have started.
· If you get flu-like symptoms and are pregnant or have underlying health problems contact your healthcare provider.
· If you get flu-like symptoms and are otherwise healthy, you should stay home to recover.
· Canada has a National Antiviral Stockpile of 55 million doses of two antiviral drugs – Tamiflu and Relenza. Both are effective in treating H1N1 flu virus. This stockpile is enough for all Canadians who will need and want treatment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic

Only mild symptoms are experienced by the overwhelming majority of victims,[7] but there are exceptions

Annual influenza epidemics are estimated to affect 5–15% of the global population.

Although most cases are mild, these epidemics still cause severe illness in 3–5 million people and 250,000–500,000 deaths worldwide.[15]

On average 41,400 people die each year in the United States based on data collected between 1979 and 2001.[16]

WHY THIS IS DIFFERENT

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jY-KDRbr-bjx5R9Uk9LM2XGHBkRw

"Our data suggest that severe disease and mortality in the current outbreak is concentrated in relatively healthy adolescents and adults between the ages of 10 and 60 years,"

MEDICAL EVIDENCE

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/2009.1536

Observational study of 58 critically ill patients with 2009 influenza A(H1N1) at 6 hospitals between March 24 and June 1, 2009

During the study period 899 patients with confirmed, probable, or suspected 2009 influenza A(H1N1) were assessed and admitted to study hospitals

Critical illness occurred in 58 patients (6.5%) admitted to the hospital (29 confirmed, 14 probable, 15 suspected).

Study patients were a median age of 44 (range, 10-83) years (Figure 2), 53% were female, and 2 were health care workers (Table 1). Only 2 children (10 and 14 years) were admitted to study centers with critical illness

Among all patients, symptoms included fever in 58 (100%); respiratory complaints (cough, dyspnea, or wheeze) in 57 (98%); generalized weakness in 41 (71%); myalgias in 35 (60%); headache in 33 (57%); and gastrointestinal symptoms of nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea in 18 (30%).

After 60 days from the onset of critical illness, 24 of 58 patients... had died
The mortality rate of 41% for 2009 influenza A(H1N1)–associated critical illness is not dissimilar to that for acute respiratory distress syndrome resulting from other influenza

As of August 30, 2009, the World Health Organization reported 254 206 cases of 2009 influenza A(H1N1) and 2837 deaths, for a case-fatality rate of approximately 1%—yet this may well be an overestimate, because testing is no longer being reported in many jurisdictions.2

The case-fatality rate in previous influenza pandemics has varied widely, and all such reports may be inaccurate owing to difficulty in assessing the denominator (ie, the total number of cases).35

The Spanish flu of 1918 is reported as causing 50 million deaths in 500 million individuals infected (10% case-fatality rate), while the Hong Kong flu of 1968-1969 caused 33 000 deaths among 50 million infected (<0.1% name="RREF-JCE90003-36">36 The case-fatality rate of avian influenza A(H5N1) was initially reported to be as high as 60% but is more likely in the range of 14% to 33%.28

TREATMENT & PREVENTION

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic

The Mayo Clinic and Medline listed ways to help ease symptoms, including adequate liquid intake and rest, soup to ease congestion, and over-the-counter drugs to relieve pain.

Aspirin was a very effective way to treat fever in adults,[131] although in children and adolescents, aspirin is contraindicated due to the risk of Reye's syndrome.[132]

While over-the-counter drugs relieve symptoms, they do not kill the virus.[133]

Most patients were expected to recover without medical attention, although those with pre-existing or underlying medical conditions were more prone to complications.[134]

According to the CDC, antiviral drugs could be given to treat those who become severely ill, two of which were recommended for swine flu symptoms: oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza).[135] To be most useful, they were to be given within two days of showing symptoms and "may shorten the illness by a day or so," according to the Mayo Clinic.

The CDC recommended that initial vaccine doses should go to priority groups such as pregnant women, people who live with or care for babies under six months old, children six months to four years old and health-care workers.

The CDC does not recommend use of face masks or respirators in non-health care settings, such as schools, workplaces, or public places, with a few exceptions: people who are ill with the virus should consider wearing one when around other people, and people who are at risk for severe illness while caring for someone with the flu.[14]

The Mayo Clinic suggested personal measures to avoid seasonal flu infection were applicable to the 2009 pandemic: vaccination when available, thorough and frequent hand-washing, a balanced diet with fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein, sufficient sleep, regular exercise, and avoiding crowds.[90] Smoking raises the risk of contracting influenza, as well as producing more severe disease symptoms.[91][92][93][94][95]

The leading health agencies stressed that eating properly cooked pork or other food products derived from pigs would not cause flu.[96]

What is Search Engine Optimization Anyway?

2009-10-23T14:25:00.001-07:00

It seems to me that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of those buzz words that IT departments seem to use a lot and I think I should probably know more about. The site below has some great online tools to help you optimize your own websites, the main points I've included below.

http://www.bruceclay.com/web_rank.htm

What Is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the science of increasing traffic to your Web site by improving the internal and external factors influencing ranking in search results.
Eye tracking studies have shown that searchers scan a search results page from top to bottom and left to right (for left to right languages), looking for a relevant result. Placement at or near the top of the rankings therefore increases the number of searchers who will visit a site
According to Bruce Clay, there are a few key Steps in SEO

Step 1 - Brainstorm Keywords

Select keywords that you expect Web surfers to use to locate your site, submit your obvious keyword terms using our research tools to locate the top-ranked competing sites
The most important first search engine optimization tip is to select keywords wisely
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/

Step 2 - Search for your Competitor's Keywords

try the online tool...it's pretty neat
If you get one visitor per month for a search term, but one out of twelve spends a million dollars, keep that keyword! But if you get a million visitors and only one buys, and you lose money on that sale, then consider dropping that keyword phrase

Step 3 - Combine Keywords

Sort the keywords and phrases in descending order of their perceived importance. (i.e., how likely it is that they will be used by visitors as search words and hence, generate traffic).
It is also important that you add words to help clarify the use of your keywords. For instance, "capital" can have very different meanings — such as intellectual capital, state capital, capital letters, venture capital, etc. So a keyword or two that helps the index builders learn the context of your keywords will help raise your search engine rankings
Also, consider common misspellings [sic] as additions to your keyword lists

Step 4 - Add your keywords to the content

Keyword tuning for a search engine marketing campaign is an iterative loop; you keep doing it until you rank reasonably well on several search engines

Step 5 - Submit to Search Engines

For search engine submission to just the top few search engines, you may use our URL ADD page with links to the add pages of the major search engines.
Allow two days to four weeks for each search engine submission to be indexed in each major search engine. If you do not show up (as is common), then resubmit

Step 6 - Consider Community, Intent and Engagement Objects

Once you identify opportunities to add Engagement Objects (ie. video) to your site, be sure to use SEO selected keywords just as you would in any other content. It will contribute to content structure and theme, and it will certainly aid engagement. Adding Engagement Objects is a part of the SEO process and should be done.

Step 7 - Check your Ranking

Visit the search engine that you care about most and see if you are registered by searching for your URL.
Once you have your SEO ranking results, you can easily identify where you need to go back and resubmit your site and fine-tune your keywords. Hopefully you will be placed at or near the top of your search results page.

Step 8 - Link Building

we consider links vital to long-term natural search engine optimization and ranking. The objective is this: if you get a site to link to you, then you gain PageRank popularity points.
If that site has a lot of quality sites linking to it and it links to you, you get a lot more points,

Major Changes in Radio (PPM) + A New "rule of Thumb" for Advertisers by The Wizzard of Ads

2009-10-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

The PPM system signifies a major change in measuring radio (and TV). For decades, we've used a diary based system which asked panelists "what do you THINK you listen to". We believe the new electronic PPM system is a far superior measuring tool because it more accurately measures "what people REALLY listen ". It's important to note that the listening audience for each station in Calgary has not changed. What has changed is the way we measure each audience. One of my colleagues noted that this change is similar to when Canada converted from Imperial measurement to Metric. 10 degrees celcius is still as cold as 50 degrees farenheight.

The major changes are as follows

1. Reach

it (PPM) accounts for persons that are exposed for even 1 minute or more

it (PPM) will measure loyal, occasional and infrequent listeners as well as those exposed by coincidence. It will capture data from personal listeningexperience in your office, car and home, to incidental listening at a coffee shop, mall, a colleague’s office or at the dentist.
Diary respondents report listening to stations that are part of their daily routine and seldom record second hand exposure while PPM accounts for actual exposure to a radio station

2. Daytime Performance

Diary data typically reports that morning and afternoon drive had the highest reach potential; however, PPM indicates that day time tuning isjust as strong.

3. Frequency

the average frequency for any radio station campaign will be lower when occasional and incidental listeners are part of the equation

you may find yourself asking....
SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO ME?

For the answer, I'd like to refer to the Wizzard of Ads, Roy Williams...http://www.entrepreneur.com/advertising/adcolumnistroyhwilliams/article170166.html

It’s no secret that advertising isn’t working as well as it once did
In truth, only 11.7 percent of U.S. households are equipped with a DVR, but response to TV ads is off by far more than 11.7 percent. Broadcast radio has only lost about 4 percent of its audience over the past three years...But response to radio ads is off by far more than that. Newspaper readership peaked in 1984, and today’s number is only about 16 percent below that banner year. But the response to newspaper ads isn’t nearly what it was back then.
SO WHAT'S GOING ON? In a nutshell, we’ve developed mental filters to guard against hypercommunication
Bottom line: Meaningful messages are working better than ever, especially when the fundamental premise of your ad is clearly stated in the opening line.
You and I spend about a minute a day sorting the mail, right? Up until a few years ago, these six minutes each week were our only exercise in high-speed content evaluation. Now we’re spending at least six hours a week scanning search engine results, web pages and e-mail for relevant, meaningful information. These hours of practice are teaching us--and our customers--to more quickly recognize and disregard empty words.
If your ad delivers a meaningful message that rings true from the moment of contact, you’ll find that it works regardless of which media you choose to deliver it
The new rule is to say what you've got to say, and say it clean. The opening line of your ad is its most important element, so open big
Message relevance has become more important than repetition. (Keep in mind that I did not say repetition no longer matters.)
Here’s an example of an ad that closes the loopholes instead of sounding like hype:

Green Fees + Condo = $20

It’s a Myrtle Beach Miracle. No strings attached.

We want you to get to know us at Condotels, and we’re willing to lose a few bucks to make it happen.

Put yourself in our shoes. Nothing is more frustrating or more expensive than advertising that doesn’t work. So we did the math. Financially, it makes a lot more sense for us to help pay for your next golf outing than it does to pump out ads that don’t work.

So here’s the deal:4 days of golf at 3.5 and 4-star courses: Tradition Golf Club, International Club, Wachesaw Plantation East and Indigo CreekGolf from December 8 to January 25You and three friends stay three nights in a two-bedroom (four beds) two-bath condo at Golf Colony.Green fees + Condo = $20 per golfer/per dayThe total four-day/three night package price is $80 per golfer x 4 golfers: $320 total.

Want to golf between now and December 7?

This same package is only $39.50 per golfer/per day.

Here’s what we get out of it: Four people telling all their friends back home how much better it is to stay in a condo than in a hotel.

This whole thing sounds too good to be true, right?

Let us tell you what we’re up against: Four short years ago, Myrtle Beach had 73,000 rooms for rent. Today it has 92,000 rooms. Our job at Condotels is to rent out our clients’ condos when they’re not using them. And we’ve got a lot of condos to rent.

The Condotels check-in desk in open 24/7, just like a hotel, and we’re not hard to find. Just pick up your keys, and go to your condo. Do it once, and you’ll never stay in a hotel again.

Not interested in golf? Want to take the family to a luxury, oceanfront condo with a balcony overlooking the beach? Talk to us. We’re knee-deep in condos like that.

Condotels has decided to spend its ad budget serving you instead of annoying you.
Book a golf outing or beach vacation with us. Let us know it’s working.

Sincerely,
Chipper Chip Olin

Selling Through a Slump

2009-10-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

By most accounts, the recession appears to be behind us now. However, despite turning the corner, there seems to be a lingering "hangover" that is making for a somewhat lethargic business climate. As things pick up heading into the christmas season, I thought this eBook may be helpful to you as a kickstart for your sales process.

You can download this book here

Selling through a Slump contains the best of the best—Top Ten (and more) lists on how to sell in a recessionary market from well-known sales experts like Jill Konrath, Charles Green, and Dave Stein

This eBook includes selling advice for the following
Retail, Public Sector, Insurance, Law, Health, Accounting, Telecommunications, Technology, Services, Media, Manufacturing

Each of these top 10 points are expanded on in the actual eBook. For brevity, I only included the titles

As you'll notice, each industry has unique tips, many of which are revelvant and transferable to other industries

RETAIL

Managers, get on the sales floor

Don’t wait for business to get back to where it used to be.

Hold a “talk to our customers” event

Distribute a daily insider sheet to your browsers.

On busy days, place a manager outside your store

Hire sales people to sell, not customer service people

Create an invitation-only promo where your customers determine the invitation list.

Ask your front-end salespeople where your company is missing opportunities at the store level.

New and different sales training can help you weather this new and different selling environment.

Teach your employees how to reach out to their personal and family networks

LAWYERS

It costs less to delight a client than it does to frustrate him.

You’ll never be passionate about selling yourself until you start searching for clients you’ll be passionate about serving

The most effective way to get new clients is to impress old ones

When meeting a potential client, don’t sell your competence, sell your compassion.

Recognize that while it is usually easier to ask for new business from prospective clients than it is to ask for more businessfrom current ones, it is rarely more profitable.

The most compelling thing you can sell to a prospective client is more sleep.

There are (at least) 10 things your clients wish you’d do differently, and I bet you don’t know what they are

If your clients can go months without hearing from you, they can go forever without recommending you.

Never assume your current clients know all you can do for them

The single best sales strategy in the world is to find your best clients and ask them, “How do I get more clients like you?”

2009-09-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

Bob Borchers was the Marketing Director for the iPhone from its launch in 2007. Now that he's moved on from Apple, he's been able to speak about some of the strategy behind the now infamous product. There are a few key things about brands that I've learned from this short article.

Price isn't an objection if the consumer sees value in a product

when a product is new, it takes effort to create that value your product needs

Identify a need or problem in the marketplace and communicate your solution for it

Market research can describe what happend in the marketplace

Think like "The Great One", anticpate where the consumer will be, not just where they are

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/mowi/article.php/3838926

marketing guy who hosted the original, 24-minute iPhone guided tour video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKXWBb8F-w4) back in June of 2007 when the device first came out

Borchers also spearheaded the Nike+iPod partnership and Apple’s iPod integration efforts with major auto companies

When the iPhone launched with a $500 price, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said his first reaction was “that is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard.” Later he said, “it may sell very well.”

He says one his goals at Apple was to establish in people’s minds that the iPhone was more than just another product, and something a consumer would be happy to pay more than a hundred bucks to own.

“Steve (Jobs) realized no one loved their phone,” says Borchers. “The goal was to make the iPhone irresistible and make the customers give the most effective demos. We deliberately never called it a smartphone because we don’t want to be part of what that was.”

He also believes Apple’s other edge is a long held marketing strategy it shares with his previous employer Nike — complete disdain for market research in devising new products.

“As a company, and I think Apple gets this better than anyone, you want to follow what Wayne Gretsky said about hockey: skate to where the puck will be, not where it is.”

PPM - a new way to measure TV and Radio

2009-09-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS135579+31-Aug-2009+PRN20090831

the world's largest combined panel for television and radio audience measurement is now live in Canada using Arbitron Portable People Meter(TM) (PPM(TM)) technology.

The PPM technology is designed to measure exposure to all audible media and is easy-to-use, mobile, flexible and language-agnostic.

PPM technology is now used throughout Canada, replacing the legacy electronic measurement technology for television. It is also replacing BBM Canada's diary service for radio in five markets.

"In September 2004, BBM began using PPM technology to measure television viewing in the francophone market of Montreal and over the past 5 years we have grown confident that the PPM service is the audience measurement solution that can best meet our members' needs today and well into the future."

The Arbitron Portable People Meter system uses a passive audience measurement device -- about the size of a small cell phone -- to track consumer exposure to media and entertainment, including broadcast, cable and satellite television; terrestrial and online radio as well as many types of place-basedelectronic media

Carried throughout the day by randomly selected survey participants, the PPM(TM) device can track when and where they watch television, listen to radio as well as how they interact with other forms of media and entertainment.

PPM detects inaudible codes embedded in the audio portion of media and entertainment content delivered by broadcasters, content providers anddistributors. At the end of the day, the meter is placed in a docking station that extracts the codes and sends them to a central computer. The PPM isequipped with a motion sensor, a patented quality control feature unique to the system, which allows Arbitron to confirm the compliance of the PPM surveyparticipants every day.

Branding Vs Advertising Vs Promotions Vs Marketing Vs Public Relations

2009-09-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

http://ezinearticles.com/?Branding-Vs-Advertising-Vs-Promotions-Vs-Marketing-Vs-Public-Relations&id=2114051

BRANDING

A great example of branding is Apple. iMac, iPod, iTouch, iPhone, iTunes. Get the point? Apple has created a massive brand strategy using the "i" element.

Does everything you do, say, print, write, and provide consistent with your brand message? If not, you may want to consider who your true target audience is, and work at ensuring you continue to provide services that directly relate to them.

ADVERTISING

Advertising is the actual process of displaying your message. Advertising on the radio... Advertising on tv... The one act of making something happen

Tie your Advertising and your Branding together, you have the Marketing Process

PROMOTIONS

Whereas marketing is ongoing, a promotion can be a one-day, one week, one-month, or even one-hour event.

In retail, a "SALE" is typically a promotion. Car dealerships offering Zero percent interest is a limited time promotion.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

typically revolves around un-paid news sources and focuses on your business as it relates to the community

You, too, can harness the power of free press and public relations, although it can be difficult at times to get noticed

MARKETING

Marketing is the process that drives all the above elements

It directs the feel, image, and tone of the advertising, promotions and public relations.

the single most powerful tool in local advertising

2009-08-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

I found a book sitting on a dusty shelf titled "The 33 Ruthless Rules of Local Advertising" by Michael Corbett. In it, Michael gives numerous tips, well 33 actually, the most interesting of which I've summarized below. The most powerful tool according to Michael is outlined in Rule #9, a unique selling proposition (USP). My second favorite is #23 which is a great summary of the various benefits of different media.

#1 - Advertising is neither a necessary evil nor a cure-all

effective advertising can produce and maintain steady growth in any economic circumstances. That growth is relative. By "relative" we mean between 10 to 30 percent more growth than non-advertising

#9 - The Single Most Powerful Tool in Local Advertising. It's called a Unique Selling Proposition

A USP is something you develop after looking at your competitors and seeing what's not being offered that you can offer...It can even be something that produces a perception of uniqueness. Are you really better off being in the good hands of Allstate? If people think they are, who's to Argue?
Special Note: on a local level, I think Brasso Nissan has done a great job to uniquely brand themselves as the only car dealership that potential buyers can book an appointment

#10 - If Your Doors are Open, You Should be Advertising

You're not advertising to a standing army. You're advertising to a passing parade.

#11 - Budget Adequately For Advertising

As a starting point, earmark between 5 and 10 percent of gross sales for advertising...don't forget to include an amount equal to about 10 percent of the budget for producing the ads, or making them media ready.
special note: we do not charge for producing commercials at Rogers Radio

#12 - Think Long Term

At minimum, a local advertiser should have a long term, flexible budget, a unique selling proposition, and a commitment to at least a 12 month advertising plan.
using the media for infrequent, short term advertising schedules will not get you the same growth benefits you'll get when you advertise with consistency, frequency and impact.

#16 - Don't Ask Your Customers What Brought them In

A poll was conducted at the front doors of a stores grand opening....As they entered the store, each shopper was asked "what brought you in?"
Roughly 50% said radio, 30% said TV and 20% said newspaper. What interested the poll takers is that they never ran an ad on TV
we've learned some things about polling and about people
people don't know what brought them in
people don't know that they don't know what brought them in
people don't like not knowing what brought them in and they want to be helpful, so they'll make things up
never change your multiple media advertising plans based on what people say brought them in
the only foolproof way to evaluate advertising effectiveness is by setting measurable growth objectives

#22 - Understand the Objectiveness of Media Salespeople

Talk to your media salesperson about Advertising's Real Issues:
Are your gross sales satisfactory?
Is your advertising producing consistent results?
Is there Growth available in the marketplace for your business?
Is there a way to determine and justify your advertising budget?
Is there a way to set a measurable growth objective for your ad budget?
Is there a simple system of absolute accountability that allows you to determine the effectiveness of your ad expenditures?

#23 - Any Medium will Work if You Know How to Work the Medium

THE GOAL

your job is to find the mass media that are most suitable to your budget, and to your objectives of establishing an equity position in a short time, say a few weeks, and of providing the impact necessary to motivate a few new prospects on a daily basis
your budget will determine your growth objective
you'll want to reach enough people to motivate the total daily prospect count you'll need, in order to reach your growth objective.
start that process by dominating on member of one medium (ie. 1 radio station or 1 TV program), and grow out from there

Newspaper
Research (Daniel Starch Report) reveals that in a large number of retail categories, bigger is not better.
newspaper can be described as a price and item catalog for the Now Buyer. It's a place for shoppers to compare prices and information after they've already been motivated to buy
The Now Buyer will almost always find your ad, even if it's not a full or half page
The readers of most newspapers are middle aged and older...if you are looking for buyers under the age of forty, you will find fewer of them by advertising in the newspaper than other media.
most consumers don't rely on newspaper as much as they once did
For those Now Buyers who do read newspapers, the reading of the ads is usually the final step before shopping at your business. Before that, something motivates a prospect to begin the shopping process
The greatest strength of the newspapers might be their very useful role as a support for your primary vehicle for domination of the media

Television
has been without question the most powerful, most influential medium ever invented
it used to be-and may still be in some cases-that by the time you paid for the effective production, there was little left for air time. This was especially true if you changed your ads often, which is imperative
People do not watch television stations, they watch programs. If you are targeting a particular type of consumer, you may have to buy ads on more than one station in several different programs each week to reach your target audience in sufficient numbers
consistency is the key to equity position and subsequent growth.
Using TV as a primary vehicle for domination...your ads on the air a minimum of 2 weeks per month every month of the year and reach 70% of your target market with a frequency level of 3
If you're using TV as a support for other media...formulate a schedule that will begin at least 3 working days before the events start date.

Billboards
has 2 primary strengths
can be used effectively to introduce a new product or service to the marketplace with a heavy, short term showing.
can be used to provide directions to your location, especially if you're difficult to find.
the 2 most important words you can put on a billboard are NEXT EXIT
it's almost never appropriate to use billboards as a primary vehicle for domination
if you do find a use for a board make sure you only have one, large graphic and no more than six words with clear large type.

Radio
if you can't or don't buy radio for its strengths, you're just as likely to get poor results on the number one station as you are the lowest rated station
Like Television, radio is primarily a motivational medium, but can be informational as well, like newspapers
many radio stations are affordable enough to use as a primary vehicle for domination
to dominate a station, you have to buy schedules that give you a frequency of 3-5 impressions per week, each week for the first sixteen weeks, and three weeks out of four weeks thereafter.
if you're a small advertiser who can't afford a schedule...but you want some frequency and consistency, run one commercial per hour between midnight and 6am. It will be dirt cheap and you'll even reach sufficient number s of listeners to grow, although at a slower pace.
many, if not most radio stations have sufficient number of people in their audience to generate a few prospects per day for almost any business. Once you determine the audience profile and match that with your customer profile, you can determine if a particular station fits your needs

Direct Mail
the main reason for using direct mail is to promote a purchase or an inquiry
can be very powerful if you target your prospect carefully and if you mail often with some unique offer to get their attention
repetition and frequency play a vital role. In fact, your prospect will receive over 100 pieces of direct mail in the same week yours arrives
results increase after several mailings, and especially after personal contact
you're almost always better off mailing your own individual piece to your own preferred customers
like other print vehicles, such as newspaper, direct mail is more effective when you are dominating an electronic medium like television or radio

Yellow Pages
Like newspapers, the yellow pages is primarily an informational rather than motivational medium.
consumers go to the yellow pages when they need your location or your phone number
most of the display ad money you spend in the yellow pages is largely wasted, at least in most business categories
follow this rule of thumb, if the greatest percentage of your business is done by customer contact on the phone, have a display ad. If the greatest percentage of your business is conducted at your place of business, have a listing alone.
are business owners being led to actually believe that an "A" name will produce more phone calls? If that's true, every business in America whose name doesn't begin with several A's will never get the highly coveted first position in the listings, nor as many phone calls, so they might as well not be in the yellow pages at all!
don't ever tell people to look for your ad in the yellow pages. Tell them to look you up in the white pages. There are no competitors' ads in the white pages

#25 - Stop Spraying and Praying

successful local advertising is not a function of reaching large numbers of people. It is a function of convincing the relatively few prospects you can afford to reach to do business with you, and not your competitors!

#26 - Use a proven Scheduling Formula

Choose a medium to dominate. For most local advertisers this should be an electronic vehicle - radio or television
Determine if your chosen medium for domination reaches a sufficient number of your target customer
Schedule your electronic ads for impact. See Radio above #23.
Determine the relative affordability of the schedule
Make a 12 month buy, with a four-month option. If you're advertising with a dominant, consistent schedule, it doesn't matter on which days you run your ads!

#29 - Don't Forget how People Remember

repetition is key
remember, you're not advertising to a standing army - it's a passing parade. You must constantly remind the passing parade.

#32 - Let Your Employees in on Your Advertising Plans

make them aware of knowing the what's, when's and where's of your advertising
your employees can then excite the prospects that your advertising is bring in

#33 - Let go of the Branch

for the most part, people choose to remain well inside their comfort zones. You may have to let go of your own "branch" before putting what we've outlined so far into action

Ideavirus

2009-08-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/37/ideavirus.html

The first 100 years of our country's history were about who could build the biggest, most efficient farms. The second 100 years were about the race to build efficient factories. Welcome to the third century: This one's about ideas.

An idea that just sits there is worthless. But an idea that moves, grows, and infects everyone it touches ... that's an ideavirus.

The medium doesn't matter; the message does. As long as you can use your manifesto to change the way that people think, talk, and act, you create value.

In the new economy, consumers have built up antibodies that resist traditional marketing. That's why we need to stop marketing at people, and start creating an environment where consumers can market to one another.

So, is an ideavirus a form of marketing? Absolutely! But today, what else is there? You don't win with better shipping, or better manufacturing, or better accounts payable. You win with better marketing, because marketing is about spreading ideas -- and ideas are now the very basis of competition.

Recession Over!

2009-07-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090723/boc_economy_090723/20090723?hub=TopStories

The Bank of Canada is declaring the recession essentially over in Canada and projecting the economy will bounce back at least twice as strongly as in the United States.

Canada is coming out of the deepest and most painful downturn since the Second World War
The bank remains concerned that the fragile financial systems in the United States and Europe may contain more unpleasant surprises

But overall, the new outlook represents a clearly more optimistic view of the Canadian economy
growth is now projected to turn positive in the third quarter (of 2009)," the bank now says.

the central bank adds specifics and context to its new outlook, and almost all are favourable to Canada, especially in relation to the United States.

overall view that it will take until mid-2011 for Canada's economy to return to full capacity.

What is happening, say the economists in the bank's governing council, is that Canadians are responding to low interest rates and growing confidence by pulling the trigger now on such big-ticket items as houses, cars, furniture and appliances they were planning to purchase later.

The U.S. has stopped shrinking, but is still likely not growing. And Europe may still be in recession, along with Japan. Next year, the U.S. will only rebound by 1.4 per cent, less than half Canada's rate, and the European area by a mere 0.7 per cent. The strongest engine of growth globally is China

Just as Canadian exports of autos and wood products were hardest hit during the downturn, they will be boosted more than other industries once demand returns in the U.S.

2009-07-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

The Communications Room
Musical apparel – Mos Def releases album via a T-Shirt
Posted: 06 Jul 2009 08:53 PM PDT

Mos Def’s new album, The Ecstatic, is released in the US today but it’s taking a refreshing approach to distribution. Rather than offering up a CD (who buys them apart from me) people buy a T- Shirt with the album artwork on it, along with a code embedded into its tag so you can download it.

I love this kind of blurry stuff that is digital, traditional, social and a product innovation all rapped up in one (excuse the gag). It’s such a simple idea I can’t believe it has been used more often. Imagine how much The Ramones could have made with all those millions of walking adverts – it might also have ensured the cool kids actually listened to the music as well.

Not only that, it has raised the price to $39, probably reduced the production costs and generated cheap, peer 2 peer advertising. Genius.

2009-07-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Lots of you are using your advertising to drive consumers to your website to search for more information on specific product and offers. However, if the consumer doesn't know your acutal web address, they'll do a search aka query in Google using keywords or phrases about what you do. The results of a google query are generated in seconds and the sites are ranked based on the relevance to the original keywords entered for the query.

http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-rank-high-in-google
It is better to rank #1 or #2 for a specific keyword phrase such as "stock market investing tips" than to rank #100 for a more general keyword such as "stocks"

Step One: Make a list of targeted keyword phrases

After you have made your list of possible keyword phrases narrow down the list to the phrases that you really want to target. Use keyword research tools such as the keyword selector tool, Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery to find the keyword phrases that will be most worth your time to go after

Step Two: Create an optimized page for each keyword phrase on your list

It is a better strategy to just stick with optimizing for one keyword phrase per page. By focusing on one phrase you are more likely to rank high for that particular phrase and you may get lucky and rank high for other related keyword phrases at the same time.

Step Three: Obtain quality backlinks to each of your pages

The third and most important step in ranking high in the search engines is to obtain links from outside sites. The more links the better, but you should focus your efforts on sites that themselves have many links pointing to them, because the search engines place higher value on links from those sites. The amount of links that a site has pointing to it is called link popularity.

Google uses a ranking system called PageRank to measure the link popularity of each page. Do a search for "Pagerank tool" or download the google toolbar to find out the pagerank of specific pages. Don't rely to heavily on PageRank to determine a pages worth, though. It is more important to obtain links form sites that are relevant to yours than. For some ideas on how to get links please visit Andy Hagan and Aaron Wall's 101 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006 article.

The Power of Momentum

2009-07-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

This is a long one, but certainly worth it. There are 2 key things that I've picked up from this article. The first is that you can use the metric "marketing-sales-ratio" over time (in this case 20 years) to measure your marketing efficiency. The second is the importance of building momentum. As they say in this article "Momentum leaders aren't that passive. They live by this motto: First build your wave, then ride it."

This study looks at the conduct and performance of well-known corporations among the world's 1,000 largest, covering a 20-year period from 1985 to 2004. The authors looked at these firms' marketing behavior and tracked the effect that changes in this behavior had on sales revenue, net earnings, and stock price.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2033

Introduction

Momentum...Some hold on to it. Most don't. Slowly, imperceptibly, the tailwind turns around and the momentum disappears, without anyone quite realizing what has happened. The company is still growing, but not as strongly as before, not as efficiently. Everyone's maxing out, but it seems like there's molasses in the works. Sound familiar?

The insight came when we realized that if momentum was powering a firm's success, then its relative marketing spend should be decreasing. Contrary to conventional "spend money to make money" wisdom, our hunch was that firms with momentum achieved superior growth while spending a relatively smaller percentage of their revenue on marketing than those pursuing the traditional "push hard" methods.

We divided the firms into three groups according to how their marketing behavior could be described: Pushers, Plodders, and Pioneers. Because we were interested in the effect of extremes in marketing behavior, our three groups were divided in a 25:50:25 split.

The Pushers were those companies that pushed their businesses hard in the traditional way, seeking to drive sales through aggressive increases in relative marketing spend. Then there were the Plodders...Their marketing-to-sales ratio remained more or less constant for 20 years. These middling firms stayed in the safety zone of past behavior and took no drastic action one way or the other. Finally, there was the remaining quarter -- those firms that were, either boldly or foolhardily, heading in the opposite direction from the Pushers, and decreasing their relative marketing spend. Taking these firms' average marketing-to-sales ratio, we see a 4% drop over the timeframe.

Results

remaining in the safety zone of stable marketing spend is not a viable option: The Plodders underperformed the stock market by 28 percent (over a 20 year period)
Pushers managed, on average, to create shareholder value exactly in line with the evolution of the Dow Jones Index, thus demonstrating the soundness of the conventional faith in the power of active marketing spend to contribute to increasing shareholder value

Pioneers. Despite having decreased their advertising-to-sales ratio, these momentum-powered companies created shareholder value 80% above the Dow Jones Index over the 20-year period.
Over the 20-year period, using the Pushers' performance as a reference, the Pioneers' revenue growth was 93% better -- almost twice as high. They achieved this massive revenue growth despite decreasing their advertising ratio. And remember: This is in comparison not to underperforming firms but to firms that actually matched the Dow Jones Index.

If we compare the profitability growth of these two groups, we can see that the Pioneers also did much better, with average earnings growth 58% superior to that of the Pushers.

Analysis & Conclusions

our study shows that the momentum-powered Pioneers actually increased their total marketing expenditures in real terms. But while their marketing budgets were increasing, the proportion of their revenue that this expenditure represented was decreasing. In other words, because of the Pioneers' superior revenue growth, their advertising-to-sales ratio was coming down despite the fact that they were spending more.

The question is: What was improving the efficiency of their marketing investments? This is not simply a case of great marketing, although marketing excellence is a key part of the mix. These firms achieved greater efficiency with their marketing because they found a different path to growth: They exploited the momentum effect.

Momentum Powered Firms

Too often, companies invest more in marketing to compensate for something: an inferior product, a poor pipeline of new products, deterioration of growth prospects, or a general lack of creativity. Firms with such a limited vision compensate for their less-than-spectacular offers by pushing them on an unconvinced market using heavy-handed marketing resources.
The Pioneers show there is an alternative. These momentum-powered firms don't have to push so hard because they have built up a momentum that improves their efficiency. Rather than just better-than-average growth, they deliver exceptional growth. Their growth is exceptional on two counts: It is both higher and more efficient.
Momentum in Action

WALMART
Sam Walton knew about retail, but his main asset was the fact that he knew about customers. When he started out, he related deeply to a very specific kind of customer -- people like him, people from the United States' rural South.

Walton understood that these customers would value his offering, that they would appreciate being able to shop locally, rather than making long journeys to larger towns. He also realized that these shoppers were worth more than they seemed. Although their wallets weren't as full as those of people in large cities, Wal-Mart was able to command a higher share of their spending because there was no competition. The combination of cheaper premises, lower labor costs [and] no competition ... meant that Walton's customers were extremely profitable to service.
Eventually, Wal-Mart was able to glean economies of scale in purchasing to achieve its mantra of "Every Day Low Price" (EDLP) and gain further momentum.

EDLP runs counter to traditional retail promotions that lure customers into stores, hoping that they'll also end up buying more expensive products.

Wal-Mart's competitors, to their discomfort, failed to understand that, although EDLP was jargon on the surface, it expressed a strong, hidden emotional value deeply appreciated by customers: trust. This customer trust powered the company's growth for decades.

Unfortunately, momentum doesn't look after itself. There is a perception that Wal-Mart slowly began to pay less attention to many of the key drivers of its success -- respect for employees, local communities, and suppliers -- and began to lose its momentum as a result. Momentum is dynamic: Unless it is constantly nurtured, it will ebb away.

TOYOTA
Toyota's ability to create new, original, and compelling value in the first place that drives its growth. Its secret is its ability to connect totally with customers' sense of self, to create products that are more than mere goods but complete, perfect, and compelling presentations of value.
Consider the contrasting histories of the U.S. auto industry and Toyota. American car manufacturers are among the best illustrations of the limitations of the Pusher's strategy. They have given everything a try in terms of efficiency drives, but although they are now leaner, they are no fitter.

Its success is based on a number of factors, but underlying its achievement is a deep understanding of its customers. First, Toyota proved that it could consistently deliver reliable, impeccably engineered automobiles. Once this crucial plateau had been achieved, it went on to innovate its range with cars that were somehow more than mere vehicles.

Join the Momentum League

Our research has shown that increases in marketing pressure can lead to significant profitable growth.

Momentum offers an easier, more efficient, and exceptional form of growth. But it requires the ambition to break free from the traditional reflex of using more resources to fuel it. The very things that seem to push you forward are holding you back. Momentum does not happen by chance. Nor can it simply be willed into existence. Achieving momentum requires an understanding of its source, and then the relentless application of a systematic process. It requires a momentum strategy.

Marketing during a recession

2009-06-24T08:37:00.001-07:00

Statistics On Advertising During a Recession

I think Seth Godin outlined marketing's Catch 22 best in his book The Purple Cow (and I am paraphrasing here): When times are tough the tendancy is to conserve capital vs. when times are good the tendancy is to not be aggressive.
As marketers we are so often faced with the dilemma of having to cut advertising in times of economic softness. But here is some real data that you can use to illustrate why that is a bad idea.
McGraw-Hill Research study of over 600 Businesses found that:

1981-1982 – business that maintained or increased their ad spend during this time

* Averaged higher sales growth during the recession and in the following 3 years!

By 1985 – sales of the businesses that maintained or increased their ad spend during that recession

* Sales had risen 256% over those that had cut back on advertising

Likewise in 2001 – another study found that aggressive recession advertisers

* Increased market share 2 ½ times the average for all businesses in the post-recession

In 2002 – the Strategic planning institute illustrated that during economic expansion

* Although 80% of businesses increased their advertising spend there was NO improvement in market share

* Why? - because everyone has increase ad spending!

Full Disclosure: I got these stats from a paper called Innovating through a Recession by Professor Andrew J. Razeghi at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Not only did I thank him for writing this paper, blogged about it, tweeted it but I also invited him to do a podcast with me so stay tuned!

The Pasta Indicator: when is the market going to turn?

2009-06-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

Hi There,

Just this week I've had some very positive feedback from clients in both the home and auto industries about their recent campaigns. While business is still not great by most accounts, there seems to be a growing number of positive stories this month over last.

If you're interested to chat about I can help your business grow, please don't hesitate to call me at 403-686-9715 or email marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com

http://treasure.1x1y.com.cn/useracticles/20090211/20090211083014615.html
recessions don't last forever, and we'll be coming out of this one long before official statistics say so. That's just the way it works. Most economic data — like the quarterly GDP reading — are lagging indicators. What you need are leading indicators that will signal when we've made a turn.
Here are 10 indicators to help you know when times are getting better

1. Home Sales
says Jeoffrey Hall, chief U.S. economist for Thomson Financial. He's watching the National Association of Home Builders House Market Index, which measures recent sales, expected sales, and prospective buyer traffic. "The faster it rises," says Hall, "the faster I'd say we're emerging from recession."

2. Jobs
companies typically cut hours before cutting heads the slide means more layoffs are coming. the key is to just change the direction. You can find private sector average weekly hours worked on the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site.

3. Jobs (again)
monthly temporary employment. In 2002, temporary hiring went from net job losses to net job gains almost to the month that the recession ended. At this moment, the monthly change in temporary employment has been negative for 25 months running. When it swings positive you can be sure that better times will follow. This can be tracked on the BLS web site as well.

4. Car Sales
Cars are one of the first big-ticket items that consumers buy when they start to feel good again. "It's only fear that's holding consumers back," says James Smith, chief economist at Parsec Financial Management. "They have money — $56.5 trillion of net worth — and the products available are attractive and well priced." They just need to start feeling a little better about the economy and their financial future.

5. Retail Sales
For the seventh consecutive month, retail sales fell in January. When that string reverses it will be a positive sign. But more important will be any shift away from discounters like Wal-Mart and Dollar General towards specialty or higher end stores like Nordstrom or Saks. You can track retail sales at http://www.census.gov/.

6. Interest Rate Spreads
Modest signs have begun to emerge suggesting that the credit freeze is thawing. When credit spreads across the spectrum narrow it will signal that money is flowing again, a critical development. Also, and perhaps easiest to follow, look for jumbo mortgages which are now about 1.5 percentage points above conforming mortgages to close to within half a point.

7. The Pasta Indicator
When pasta sales begin to slow you'll know times are getting better. One way to track the trend is by watching financial results at American Italian Pasta Co. (ticker: AIPC), which is North America's largest pasta producer. The stock has soared from $5 to $26 in the past 12 months while just about everything else got hammered.

8. The Cardboard Indicator
Alan Greenspan was fond of tracking liner board prices. The idea is simple: liner board is a main component of cardboard, which is used as packaging to ship just about everything. When liner board prices surge it means that packaging is in demand, which can only be the case if people are buying things, which in turn signals a healthy economy. Liner board isn't easy to track. As a proxy, keep your eye on the stock price of leading cardboard producers Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. (ticker: SSCC) and International Paper (IP). Their shares began falling before the recession started and could turn higher before the recovery begins.

9. Sweet-Talking Bill Collectors
The big card companies are waiving fees, restructuring debt and even accepting payoffs of as little as pennies on the dollar. They're not doing this to be good guys; they are bracing for a continued wave of defaults and want to collect as much as they can right now — before some other bill collector gets to you first and leaves you with empty pockets. You'll know the economy is righting itself when credit card companies stop negotiating with debtors. To monitor this industry, check out creditcard.com. 10. Movie Madness

But where Hollywood storylines tend to lag the economy, movie goers as a group tend to lead the economy. So it was that the number of tickets sold dropped 4% last year, when film buffs collectively concluded that with money so tight they might as well make better use of their high-def home theater system. Watch for that trend to reverse. You can check for year-to-date movie ticket sales comparisons at http://ercboxoffice.com/

In Branding, Minority Rules

2009-06-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

Although we'd like all the business out there, it's not possible. I think this article is a great example of how important it is to identify your core business and superserve them. Our stations are a great medium to reach 25-54 year olds in general, but each station has a specific niche within that general group.

Please fee free to contact me at 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com to find out if LITE 96 or JACK FM is the right fit for your business.

http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2009/03/in-branding-minority-rules.html
Matthew Norman, food critic of The Sunday Telegraph, nodded politely to the waiting staff as he entered Shepherd's Restaurant. Aside from being co-owned by Michael Caine, Shepherd's other claim to fame was its reputation as one of London's finest restaurants. Norman was looking forward to his meal. What followed next sent shockwaves through the culinary world. Norman hated everything he experienced at Shepherd's and made this clear in his subsequent review. When the review appeared two weeks later, Richard Shepherd, the other owner of the restaurant, was furious, and threatened legal action, complaining that this "vicious rant" would have a dramatic affect on business. In one sense, Shepherd was absolutely right. His restaurant was suddenly packed everyday for lunch and dinner. While one might have expected Norman's diabolical review to have sparked a mass exodus, it actually had the opposite effect. How is this possible?

The answer lies in the unique competitive forces that operate within marketing.
Norman's review created a negative general opinion about Shepherd's in the minds of millions of consumers.

So what? It also piqued the curiosity of a few hundred consumers to go and try the restaurant. The review also enraged a few hundred loyal Shepherd's customers, who immediately called to make a reservation to show their support

Marketers should not fall into the PR-induced trap of attempting to make all the people generally happy all the time. Define who your target market is and do all in your power to inspire their love, belief and allegiance.

Social Marketing in Plain English

2009-06-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a neat video to help explain some of the social marketing concepts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE A few of our current clients have successfully used advertising to drive traffic to their blogs, videos, podcasts etc. with the use of commercials, bonus code events and email blasts to our loyalty database.

If you're interested in creating a buzz on your social marketing platforms, please feel free to contact me at marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com or 403-686-9715

BRAND sense

2009-06-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

By adding radio to your marketing mix, your brand can be more persuasive to consumers. Please feel free to call or email me if you'd like to discuss how I can help your business build a stronger brand. 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com

For his work in applying neuroscience to marketing (neuromarketing), Martin Lindstrom was the only marketer on TIME magazine’s list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People of 2009. In 2004, Martin Lindstrom commissioned Millward Brown to conduct the biggest ever study into how we use our senses to form branded relationships. 2 years, 20 brands, 13 countries and 1000s of consumers later, Martin published the results of this survey in his BRAND sense book which has become a worldwide bestseller. I've included a small summary below of the attached article.

For more information check out this link http://www.brandsenseagency.com/index.php?the-brand-sense-story

83% of marketing budgets are focussed upon our eyes

Brand impact increases by 30% when more than one sense is engaged and by a whopping 70% when three senses are integrated into the brand message.

We are unconsciously controlled by the thousands of sensory inputs we receive every day as we see, hear, smell, touch and taste brands.

it started in supermarkets in Northern Europe. As part of their strategies to generate traffic to their stores, they situated their bakeries up the back of the shops and connected them to the street using olfactory appeal. Hundreds of meters of pipeline carried the irresistible aroma of fresh bread to potential customers as they passed by the stores’ entrances. Upon detection of the marvelous smell, passersby are instantly struck with hunger and drawn inside the shop, down the aisles filled with other goods they realize they need, towards the bakery for intended purchase. Even banks in United Kingdom introduced freshlybrewedcoffee to branches with the intention of making customers feel at home when visiting the bank. The fragrance of fresh coffee induces relaxation, not an emotion you could normally associate with a bank.

BRAND sense research revealed that Nokia's ringtone is recognized by an astounding 74% of Europeans and 46% of American consumers. And they associate the tone with the brand
Kellogg’s has invested in the power of auditory stimuli, apparently testing the crunching of cereals in a Danish sound laboratory in order to upgrade their product’s ‘sound quality’ and link it with the brand signature. The crunch has created a powerful point of difference, being recognized as the Kellog’s crunch in 45% of cases in which the box has not been present.

BRAND sense showed us that, just by adding one additional sense to your brand, you increase brand memorability and brand loyalty by one-third.
Sound, too, evokes memory and emotion. Familiar birdsong floods you with impressions of home; a hit song from the days of your youth recalls the anxieties and excitement of your teen years

And of touch? One of the major reasons online clothes shopping never took off was because … well, you guessed it: people couldn’t touch the products
the only example of integrated sensory marketing I know of comes from Singapore Airlines...By appealing to all the senses (using music, fragrance, manner, personality which all combine in the Singapore Airlines’ cabin to evoke the airline’s preferred image) the airline has managed to create a branded flying experience.

The Wizzard of Ads, Word of Mouth and The Missing Google Analytics Manual

2009-06-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hi There,

I've got a few short articles that I wanted to send today. I hope you find them useful. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions about how I can help you grow your business. 403-686-9715

http://www.entrepreneur.com/advertising/adcolumnistroyhwilliams/article178044.html

Relevance is what determines whether an ad works or not. Every medium fails when it delivers a message no one cares about. Have you ever run an ad that failed? Let's see what really happened:
Ads that fail in one medium will usually fail in others.
The medium is not the message; the message is the message.

And the message is what matters most.

http://www.grokdotcom.com/2009/02/23/money-for-nothing-clicks-for-free/

There are NO magic bullets. When things come fast and easy they leave even easier more quickly.
Isn’t word of mouth (”WOM”) free? WOM isn’t exactly free, but it can be. If you want to generate WOM do something remarkable for your customers. After all, WOM is driven by things people can remark on, hence the term remarkable.

Missing Google Analytics Manual http://www.grokdotcom.com/2009/02/16/the-missing-google-analytics-manual/