What does it mean to interact through advertising?
In past blog posts I have discussed my interpretation of our brand statement – “interact, don't interrupt”, and how it is a way to build an effective advertising campaign around this type of thought leadership. By this type of thought leadership of course I mean a way to create ad campaigns that drive your marketing plan to the market, in a way that becomes interactive to get the consumer to better accept your message.
We recently met with a client to discuss ways to turn a campaign in to an interactive chess match with consumers. After all, another thing I preach constantly, the consumer is in control of media consumption. The only way to get a consumer engaged in your brand is to run a well thought out multimedia campaign.
Well thought out branding and creative will remain paramount in this entire process, however, understanding spots, dots, out of the home, digital, social media and mobile is the true genesis of a long-term media plan that can be positioned to engage a consumer. Here is a concept – produce a :30 TV commercial, run it in some local news programming and wait for the phone to ring. Welcome to 1980!
Fast forward to now, welcome to 2012 (remember the consumer is in control) – the above scenario just won't work, at least not as effective as it could with proper thought leadership interactive game planning. I would ask you to think about how you consume media. Most of us go home, put our cell phone on the couch or table next to us, open up a lap top and/or iPad….then….turn on the TV to watch our favorite shows – which by the way MIGHT be DVR'd. Here in lies the problem, which most of us in the marketing world understand and do little about, the media consumption is as segmented as it has ever been.
So why are so many companies doing nothing about it? Here is SOME of what you need:
1. Digital display advertising – time blocked and geo-targeted to match your message across all channels
2. Social Media strategy – beyond just content marketing through your posts, you need an effective display plan
3. Mobile/App development – this is to serve the next item on this list
4. Proper traditional media plan – focused on driving people to some type of app or other means of being interactive is crucial
With some of these basic strategies in place, you can get the consumer engaged in your brand. If they see your brand on their favorite news websites and social media sites, perhaps download an app, you can then trigger a response through your traditional advertising channels, or at the very least get some brand recall!
So there is a way to be interactive when it comes to advertising. You just have to have the thought leadership to execute a well thought out plan.
Do you know my business? Why that question doesn’t matter…most of the time.
If the desired result is to sell more product, tell me how knowing your product helps me achieve that, when you are asking me to sell that product via advertising or SEO. See it all boils down to the consumer. What you are missing when you want your agency to be an expert in your product or service is the unbiased knowledge of the market place.
An ad agency needs to be able to tell you with out “contamination” that there is something better our there for you. Think broadcast news here, you don't want our judgement clouded or biased because we are required to punch your clock every day. In advertising it should not be about you, it should be a consumer driven focus that will lead to increased business. So please consider this when you look to an ad agency for help.
Billboards…Are They Valuable? Is Your Message Strong?
How can you remain effective? Well I am in the midst of my cross country journey shooting the Friends, Family, Future project, and I am constantly reminded about the same lack of clarity being displayed…and yes I am seeing a TON of billboards, and this is why I started out talking about them. I saw an ad for Mc Donald's in the Chicago area, and it was about how healthy an egg McMuffin is. But it showed just a typical picture of the sandwich, and some weak tag line about calorie count.
McDonald's has a long way to go in the health food game, we all know this and so do they, and a tag line about 300 calories isn't the way to do it. There is a better way to get someone wanting to be healthy to eat something like McDonald's – but I won't say what it is until they pay us!
The moral of the story is, please please please be thoughtful in your selection of your message, it is the difference in “effective” media placement and spending!
Why does SEO matter?
I have had clients that used a SERP (basically a “ranker”) when approached by another company, and they showed our client that they weren't a top result when searched – and by the way there about a million sites that yield different SERP numbers. Yet our clients traffic has increased over 300% year over year. They were told, “you need more links”, we can do link building like no other. Our client was told, you are paying too much, we can get you the #1 spot thanks to our unique approach. Now correct me if I am wrong, it isn't about our approach, it is all about Google's approach and catering to it.
The client is still with us, but you hear these stories on a daily basis. Obviously you know that SEO matters to your marketing efforts, but how do you know who to go with? Ask for research and results from previous clients – this will give you a huge understanding of their abilities. Our focused research is what sets our bar so high and why we consistently experience triple digit growth in traffic for our clients. At the end of the day I encourage to spend $20 – buy a book on understanding SEO, so you have some basic knowledge…then start asking questions and see if you feel good about the responses you are getting. If you don't feel good about the responses…call us. It works on mobile too…
Lost & Found – Fresh Ideas
The company was a great place to have great ideas. If you had an idea, and it made financial sense or was a good enough idea to take the risk, then your idea was put in play. I was 21 when I became General Manager of the Jacksonville office. At this point in my career risk was all I had. Risk and good ideas that is. I found myself becoming a maverick among many great account people, managers, creatives, and just about any other position you might find in an advertising company. I learned a great deal from one of my RVP's, he said that you have always be “top grading” – not up grading. Building teams around great ideas and instilling focus. This led me to believe in one great driving principal that you will find at Mad Men Marketing – clarity of vision.
So where is clarity of vision in most companies today? I see a lack of creativity almost every time I see an add or a sales piece. Why do companies tend to lose that “idea edge” over time? What is it that happens? I think it is lack of clarity of vision. I can assure you that every company in the world is in need of a “vision check”. Here is the test you should be taking to see if you, as a marketing person or person in a C level suite somewhere:
1. When did your company begin to lack clarity of vision? Believe me it has most of the time.
2. When did experience matter? Remember when you started your company, or you heard about the humble beginnings of the now corporate giant you may be working for?
3. Why should it matter now? Again, at one point your experience or your company's experience did not matter, it was about being a focused scrappy up-start.
4. How can I change it? It starts with one step….you have to be willing to hear some hard discussions about your marketing efforts.
Call today, take the test, call today…the creative lost and found bin is Mad Men Marketing – take the test.