Advertising
EVENTS ON A DIME
Posted by ArtDept in Advertising, Events, Marketing, New Media, Social Networking on March 4th, 2009
With marketing budgets shrinking, many companies are electing to hold off on events. However, you can have a fun and effective event and keep it within your budget. Here are just a few suggestions:
1- Use social networking. By utilizing your Twitter, Facebook and other media to promote your event, it gives the recipients an opportunity to pass along the invite. Kind of like that old Clairol commercial, “I told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on…”
2- Grab your partner – Using your connections, invite your suppliers or dealers to help with the cost of food/drinks in exchange for a booth space to promote their product.
3- Use a Cause – This is great PR for any company! By showing that your company supports a local charity, the word will get out quickly. Offer space for the group and be sure to have any items they seek included in your event information. (Be sure to keep it economical)
4- A Theme is just a theme – NOT! People want to have fun now so why not promote your event with a theme. Look at the calendar or what local events are coming up and tie into those. People usually remember the fun ones for a long time!
5- Smile! – While people don’t really like have a candid camera in their face while scarfing down on an appetizer, be sure to get plenty of group shots and post them to your social networking sites. When people see the fun event their friends went to, they’ll be sure to try and make the next event you have!
Top 5 “Duh” marketing tips that a lot of companies don’t do!
Posted by ArtDept in Advertising, Business, Marketing on February 20th, 2009
I’m on the account service side, working at CEA Marketing Group, a full-service marketing and advertising agency in Clearwater, FL. I work with clients – all types. From big-buck, big-brand names to small mom and pop shops.
In this economy, I do feel that marketing is extremely important, and that doesn’t mean spending a ton to advertise and get your name out there. If you do choose to advertise, here are my five, somewhat random thoughts that you should consider:
1. Define a budget.
Before you decide to advertise, make sure you have a do-not-exceed budget in mind.
A lot of times, clients will call and ask for a plan or ideas before they have a budget. Chances are, you will get a proposal that far exceeds what you had anticipated spending or what you can afford. With a budget in hand, the planning and strategy process is much more concise and accurate.
2. Define a measurement of success.
If you commit $5,000 to a campaign, what would be a positive return on investment, and be realistic with your goals. The best way of setting realistic goals is to have some knowledge of the cost per “sale.” Make sure to share these goals with your marketing partners and your staff. Everyone needs to understand the company’s expectations and objectives; otherwise, you’ll never be able to measure success.
3. New business acquisition.
It will be important to understand when going after new business that the time investment and also the monetary investment will be greater. For people that don’t know you, it’s a much longer selling process. Another important point is you have to know who your target market is in order to go after new business effectively; otherwise you’ll be shooting blanks and wasting resources.
4. Leverage your database.
It’s surprising, but a lot of businesses neglect the potential for a successful database. Meaning, every customer, every meeting, every unit of traffic should be put into a database. Now, you can buy fancy software to track leads and sales, but really all you need is excel. Keep a running list of your past clients and new ones, their names, address, email, phone, what they purchased etc. And, try and keep this as clean as possible. Marketing to people that already know you, and better yet, have “used” your services or product in the past are golden! In comparison to new business, your database will have a shorter response time, and take less money to convert.
5. Always have a LIVE person answer your phone during normal business hours.
(ESPECIALLY IN TODAY’S MARKET!)
This is very important. For some reason, in a bad economy, even though everyone understands that people are losing their jobs, that companies are under-staffed and having to wear multiple hats, the expectation of better customer service is greater! Remember, that customers’ attention spans and patience levels are oftener shorter, and nothing is more annoying than an automated message. Sure, you can find the person you want to talk to you if you have their extension, but who really has that number? Whether it’s a cell phone you have strapped to you at all times, or whether all the employees chip in to answer the phone, make availability a priority. They can’t, and a lot of times won’t, buy from you, if they can’t talk to you.
Left Brain vs. Right
Posted by ArtDept in Advertising, Business, Copywriting, Marketing, New Media on February 18th, 2009
In the agency world, I’m an oddball. Many would say that I’m an oddball in general, but that’s beside the point. Ever since that first assignment in my sophomore year copywriting class at Florida Southern College, I wanted to be a copywriter. I knew I had a gift—at least people told me I did. All I dreamed about was seeing something I wrote in print or on the air. I finally got my chance when I joined the creative team at the Lipphardt Agency in Tampa.
Within a month, I had written my first national TV spot for SunJet Airlines (which shortly thereafter filed for bankruptcy—no fault of mine, I might add). Over the next four years, my fellow right brainers and I brainstormed and concepted our way to win over one hundred awards for creative excellence. We basked in our quirkiness. We celebrated our zaniness. We turned “the pit” into anything but the pits.
But then one day, all of that changed.
You see while my right brain was busy being all creative and stuff, my left brain secretly somehow had been playing its own little game. During client pitches, my left brain was paying attention to the research and the numbers and the statistics—all those things that made my right brain want to turn in to Jell-O. My left brain somehow taught itself how to connect those numbers to reason. My right lobe discovered my left lobe’s betrayal and they’ve been at war ever since.
My former creative partners insist that I have gone to the dark side.
But how can they? How can they not see the beauty in what true research tells you? Whether it’s a focus group or a mall intercept or a trend article or a fully blown-out quantitative target segment analysis or segmentation study (OMG, I’m drooling!), research tells a marketer so much. Not just about who your target is, but also about their media consumption, their interests, behavioral patterns—even the messaging that they’re most likely to respond to.
The right side of the brain, aside from tuning out all things numeric or analytic, doesn’t like that. Research brings out its defensive side, and the two sides argue.
RB: Well that takes all the creativity away.
LB: How so?
RB: I wanted to use a talking baby.
LB: The research shows that most women in our target demo expect to start a family within the next two years. Why can’t you use a baby?
RB: Well… because… because… well, it’s just not as much fun if it makes sense!
LB: Besides I think a TV spot like that would be great based on our media schedule. Our research tells us that we should be placing spots on networks like WE, Oxygen, HGTV, Food Network, Lifetime. They’ll LOVE your talking baby.
RB: Well that media plan isn’t very creative.
LB: Whattya mean?
RB: Well you didn’t really create it, did you? That ‘research’ of yours did all the work for you.
LB: I did plenty of work! I mean all those data fields didn’t cross-tabulate on their own!
RB: Ooh! Big word man!
LB: Look, why don’t we float the idea past a focus group to see if you’re on the right track?
RB: NO!
LB: Why not?
RB: Remember that last focus group when that one lady said she didn’t like the creative?
LB: Yes.
RB: I didn’t like her.
LB: Yeah, well, we ran the campaign anyway because you wouldn’t stop whining and it was a flop.
RB: When did you become… such a… such a… boobie-head?
LB: Boobie-head? Is that the best you can do, word boy?
And so on.
So anyway, when you’re trying to figure out your next campaign, take some time and do some research. It can make everything from your creative to your media planning and public relations strategies much more successful and on-target. Doing it right isn’t free—but if you take the time to work with someone who understands how to structure a research project effectively, the return on investment can be staggering.
Why Do Words Matter
Posted by ArtDept in Advertising, Copywriting on January 30th, 2009
Everyone uses words. Some, use them without thinking. Others, think about them too much. And others, throw them around carelessly without reason or regard. And I am guilty of all of the above.
Even as a professional copywriter, I have found myself mincing words, wasting them, and the worst situation of all– at a loss for them. The thing is, words are like wardrobes–they need to be carefully selected, making sure to fit the mood, the occasion, and the audience. It is not a “one-word-fits-all-world” out there.
Take the word “no.” It’s a simple word, yet very powerful. It’s only two letters. Nothing fancy. Just two simple letters forming one simple word. But think about it. Think about all the times you’ve heard it, and all the times you’ve spoken it. How did it affect you? What impact did it make on the listener’s life when you spoke it? “No,” can make a child cry, start a war, send a jobseeker to the end of his rope. But “no” can also be positive. Like when a mother is waiting to find out if her child has a terminal disease, or when a wife is waiting to hear from a private eye whether or not her husband is cheating on her. Sometimes a word is more than a word. Sometimes it dictates a future. Other times it sets precedent. And at times, it just means “no, you may not have candy before breakfast.”
If only people would stop to think about the words they speak, and type, before putting them out there. After all, our words really are the only thing in our lives we have complete control over.
Unless, you’re a copywriter. In a time when everyone thinks they’re copywriters, frustration amongst us professionals, is at an all-time high. The truth is, true copywriters live and die by words, sentences, phrases, headlines, and taglines. It is in our blood and we tend to get offended when words, or we, are taken advantage of or not used correctly.
Copywriters are a rare, and seemingly dying breed. Yes, anyone can speak. Type a letter. Even form a somewhat coherent sentence. But that does not make them copywriters. Neither does watching a TV commercial and thinking to themselves “that was stupid. i could do a better job than that!” Which coincidentally, is what got me into this business. Sitting with my sister in our college apartment, ripping apart poor commercials and ads. Oh the joy.
My favorite quote, yes, I must put a quote on here, is from Rudyard Kipling. He said, “words are the most powerful drug used by mankind.” I think about this, and repeat it often. Why? Because it is true. If more people really thought about the power of a simple word–they may develop a new respect for language.