Brand Central Station

I’m not sure why clients never understood this … but when it comes to getting the best out of their ad agency or PR firm for the least amount of money, clients turn from being “marketing partners” into “general contractors from hell.”

I an’t tell you how many times I’ve received RFP’s from clients that read more like a purchase order for gravel than a request for our best thinking on a tough marketing assignment.  I’ve always wanted to respond: “Thanks for the bid request – we have a sale on four-color ads this week but we’re a little short on brochure ideas, can we arrange for a two-for-one swap?”

Now comes a study commissioned by Jones & Bonevac that reports at least 30% of marketing agency staff time is ineffective or wasted due to poor communications from their clients.

See, it was just as we suspected … it’s all the clients’ fault.

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James Hobday, CEO of pr2go, said that after talking to more than 500 UK-based business people, more than three out of four of them didn’t understand what PR is.

In an article that appeared on SocialMedia Today, Hobday said: “We’re not talking your average man in the street here, we’re talking marketing managers and directors of large businesses with multiple regional sites needing localised PR.” 

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One of the great things about online marketing is the ability to breakdown results to the most “granular” level.  It sounds great – but the biggest problem with all of the great measurement technology is that most marketers are still operating with a pre-online marketing set of expectations.  As a result, the assumptions they make about the impact their online marketing program will have can be way off.

Gary Stein, writing for ClickZ, outlined the five biggest mistakes people make when it comes to their social media campaigns.  I’ll summarize them here, but strongly recommend you read the whole article.

Gary points out that success in the world of social media requires more than just showing up.  The assumptions they bring into the new media marketplace can lead to some disappointing (and sometimes non-existant) results.  Gary’s list of big mistakes:

1. Don’t assume your fans/followers will see a post.  An occassional post from you will get lost in the wash of other tweets, status updates, notes, shared content and more.
2. Be careful not to double-count people as fans or followers.  Some of the folks who follow you on Twitter may also be a connected to you via LinkedIn.  But they’re still just one person – don’t count them as two.
3. Driving traffic to your site via Twitter, Facebook, et al requires more than just dropping in links on your updates … COUNT THE CLICKS!
4. Pay attention to how your brand comes up in search on social networks.  Tools like SocialSeek are very helpful when it comes to doing this.
5. Don’t get caught up in how many followers or fans you have – focus on the folks who engage with your brand.

Gary sums it up this way:

The bottom line with social media measurement: we’re in some really early stages and there are plenty of bright lights to distract us. The biggest mistake of all, of course, is not to measure. With the effort you’re putting into social media, it’s like that famous bumper sticker: “If you’re not concerned, you’re not paying attention.”

Check out the entire article here.

ADOTAS — Unsurprisingly, females are using sites like Facebook and Linkedin to connect with colleagues and friends and check out products, but they also worry about privacy protections.

According to “The Power of Social Networking For Women Research Study” from female-oriented social networking site ShesConnected, substantial majorities use social networks to research products and services (79%) and finding deals and discounts (64%). While users understand the need for revenues, networking, self-promotion, keeping in touch and privacy remain their top priority.

Read the whole story.

Most businesses employ a direct marketing strategy of one type or another … but the success of a direct marketing program depends on more than just creative execution.  More than almost any marketing discipline, direct marketing is as scientific and statistics-driven as any.

That’s why knowing where to go for help is so important.

One of the Listservs I belong to posted this list of DM resources (special kudo’s to Andy Russell on the SmallShopNetwork Listserv (smallshopnetwork@yahoogroups.com).  Of course the list is incomplete, so any additions you can make to it is welcome.  Hopefully, you’ll find this list to be a useful resource in the future:

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by Mike Bawden
President & CEO; Brand Central Station

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has dropped out of the Twitterverse a time or two. Right now, I’m on a Facebook diet – only updating my status in the morning and checking on “friends” at lunch and before I turn out the lights in my office at the end of the day.

I’m blogging again, but only at night. I cue up the posts for the next day and if I don’t get much into the pipeline, I deal with it.

I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with social media that only my Bowflex and treadmill enjoy. I know these things can be good for me, but they take up soooooo much time.

Of course, I don’t work up a sweat with my Bloglines account like I do when I run for 40 minutes. And my wife and family seem to appreciate my time spent at the home gym more than they do on YouTube.

But I need to be here. I need to work on my business’ cyber-presence in small, digestable chunks. Not because my life depends on it, but because my livelihood does.

It’s important for PR practitioners, advertising creatives and marketing consultants to spend time in the social web – learning about what’s new and, more importantly, what can’t (or shouldn’t) be done. We have to learn how to manage the overlap between time spent in the real world and time spent in the virtual one, for one very important reason:

Someone has to explain to clients how it’s all done. And we need to be credible when we do.

I can’t tell you how many times I”ve sat through presentations where people started pitching Web 2.0 ideas to a client who didn’t have a clue. There’s nothing worse than the pit that develops in the bottom of your stomach when that client turns to you and asks for confirmation of a half-baked idea from some marketing pinhead who doesn’t know his widget from a hole in the ground.

But even if you know about all the cool technology, soon-to-be-coming applications, theories on WOM Marketing, stories about guerilla marketing, legends of buzz building … whatever. If you don’t know how to do it and keep it from overtaking your life, your advice to a client is nearly worthless.

The client will get that. They’ll re-trench back into older, 20th-century marketing tactics that won’t ever work like they used to. And worst of all, you’ll lose credbility in their eyes.

Dropping out of the social web is a bit asocial for a marketing guy. Having a client fall off the social media bandwagon can hurt you far worse than it hurts them.

So, I’ve re-emerged. Climbed back on. We’ll see how far we can go – and enjoy the ride in the process.

Although my email Inbox is apparently the exception rather than the rule, ADOTAS reports that more than 20 percent of commercial, permissioned emails go undelivered – and most marketers don’t even realize it.

Yikes.  That’s bound to impact the response rate, isn’t it?

Read the whole story here.

I received a queery from the folks at Trackle.com last week and have to say, it looks interesting.

The site purports to be a service like Google Alerts – but with lots of added features.  Here’s some of the info sent ahead to me:

A free Web app that acts as a standing search engine, Trackle searches the Internet for you, updating you on the news and events you want to know about. Unlike similar services, such as Google Alerts, Trackle doesn’t just search for keywords. It incorporates change into the keywords and provides real-time alerts on the subjects you choose – as often as you choose, and all in one place.

For example, if you see something on Amazon.com you’d like to buy, but only want to spend $50, Trackle can monitor the item and let you know when it reaches that designated price. You can also track things relevant to your location by inputting your address. Trackle will show you local activities, neighborhood crime and even home values.

Keyword searches make it easy to search any subject of interest to you, existing category searches also include: video games, social media, movie releases, politics, sports, health, travel and personal finance, among many others.

Trackle keeps all results on your personalized site, and sends you a daily email with new information, but you can also choose to receive real-time alerts via email, SMS text or RSS feed. Updates can also be shared on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Now, does it do everything it claims?  I don’t know.  I’m going to use it and report back.  In the meantime, if anyone else uses Trackle, hit me up off-blog and let me know about your experiences.

One of my favorite B2B Marketing Blogs (the Red on Marketing Blog) posted this great little article on B2B copywriting at the end of last week.  In fact, the lesson to be learned here applies to all kinds of copywriting – whether you’re writing for the Internet, for the news media or to sell something in an ad:

Don’t bury your lead.  Tell people who you are and what you do.

Clearly.

In fact, I can remember the day I first heard an advertising colleague refer to a client’s service as a “business solution” – I thought it was brilliant.  Apparently, so did every other B2B copywriter in the 1980′s.

And when everyone uses the same words to describe different things, everything starts to sound the same.  Even when they’re not.

Learn the lesson the easy way now.  Check out Robert Celashi’s post here.

Certainly there will be some companies, somewhere, who will step in and take up the available inventory … but as the New York Times reported on Friday, some of the larger brand advertisers have found the heat in Glenn Beck’s kitchen a little too hot and have pulled their advertising following the right-wing commentator’s comments about President Obama late last month.

Con Agra, Geico, Progressive and Proctor & Gamble all pulled ads – or shifted ad spending on FOX following the controversial remarks.  Con Agra went as far as to issue a statement on Beck’s statements:

“We are firmly committed to diversity, and we would like to prevent the potential perception that advertising during this program was an endorsement of the viewpoints shared.”

Other advertisers kept their buys on FOX but distanced themselves from Mr. Beck’s show in particular.  According to the article in the Times:

Other companies also said their spots had been scheduled during “Glenn Beck” by mistake. Ads for Procter & Gamble and S.C. Johnson appeared on a weekend repeat of Mr. Beck’s program by mistake, Fox acknowledged. Progressive said that its advertising order had specified “no Glenn Beck,” but Fox said it had bought a block of time with the channel that included Mr. Beck.

One of the issues raised by the article in the Times, however, centers on exactly how the attention of these advertisers – and their resulting media spending decisions – were brought to bear.  Some credit has to go to ad mogul Donny Deutsch who also serves as a talk show host on FOX’s rival, MSNBC.  Deutsch named names of brands who advertised on Beck’s show and rightly pointed out that corporate leaders often don’t know exactly where every ad dollar is going, so if angry consumer reached out to the companies who advertise on shows like Beck, those advertisers are likely to respond.

I found it more than just mildly humorous that Duetsch’s co-host couldn’t believe that the CEO’s of company’s like Chrysler and Campbell’s Soup don’t watch Beck’s show or have any idea where their ad dollars are spent.  Deutsch, plowed on – condeming neither FOX or the sponsors but urging consumers to action.

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On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Anheuser-Busch InBev NV is trying to reverse a slide in market share for Bud Light by ginning up another 15 ads for the brand. All this in response to the first drop in market share for Bud’s younger sibling in over 25 years.

The ads are set to break when the NFL football season kicks off.  The ads will continue to make people laugh, concentrating on bringing back the humor associated with the brand over the past generation.  What does this mean for the often-lame “Drinkability” campaign?  According to the article, it sounds like DDB is planning on sticking with the theme but will freshen things up a bit.

The ads will refine the company’s “Drinkability” campaign — which sought to persuade drinkers that Bud Light is neither too heavy nor too light in taste — that began last year and has struggled to gain traction.

Some creative executives at Omnicom Group‘s DDB Worldwide, an ad agency working on Bud Light, struggled with the “Drinkability” strategy while creating this year’s Super Bowl commercials, finding it difficult to fit in the “Drinkability” message without sacrificing humor, according to a person familiar with the matter.

So, don’t plan on the return of Spuds McKenzie – but for those of you who are jonesing for some classic Bud Light moments, check out this link.