Archive for the ‘Marketing Bytes’ Category
February 16th, 2010 | by: Catalpha Advertising & Design
Table of Contents
- For The Umpteenth Time, This Year Will Be The Year Of Mobile Marketing
- Have We Missed The Boat On The Real Secret To Successful Marketing?
- The 60 Second Close: Our “Fast Forward” Strategy
For The Umpteenth Time, 2010 Will Be The Year Of Mobile Marketing
We’ve been saying this for the past three years, but now all evidence points to 2010 being the year that mobile marketing finally takes its rightful place as one of the emerging platforms in building brand awareness and sales.
And why shouldn’t it? More and more people are using their smartphones for texting, receiving and responding to e-mail, watching TV shows, searching for local businesses and products and getting their news. Many research companies are predicting that within three years, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most popular method for accessing the Internet.
What does this mean for you? A crash course in mobile marketing! But before you recklessly jump in, know that mobile marketing – like social media – may not be right for everyone. Mobile marketing programs are great for retailers, restaurants and any industry that wants to drive people to their business or Web site. And your Web site will play an important role in this because it will have to be optimized for easy cell phone navigation and small screen viewing.
There is a lot to learn about mobile marketing. If you want a jump start on getting “mobilized,” let us know.
Have We Missed The Boat On The Real Secret To Successful Marketing?
Although it may be impressive to read that companies are re-allocating budgets to the marketing effort “du jour,” believing that a specific online or offline program has now become the golden road to riches, the truth is that nothing is going to work without one specific ingredient.
That ingredient is content. Without great content, your marketing efforts – including print ads, TV and radio commercials, direct mail, billboards, Web sites, blogs and tweets – won’t work. Your content must be interesting, powerful, useful, informative, newsworthy and targeted in order to be effective.
Although companies do ponder the ROI of their Web sites and social media efforts, content seems to be the last ingredient they consider, when it should be the first!
Before you decide to do anything, ask yourself: “What interesting and relevant information can I regularly communicate to my audience over the long term?”
The 60 Second Close: Our “Fast Forward” Strategy
Two exciting things are going to happen this year, and probably more sooner than later, that could affect your marketing:
- Apple, Inc. will drop its exclusivity with AT&T, which means the iPhone is expected to become available to all wireless carriers. When this occurs, iPhone sales will increase from 15 million to 25 million phones per year, making it more important than ever to get involved in mobile marketing.
- There will be a shakeout and a re-definition of social media as businesses finally grasp the bottom line realities of being part of this medium. Businesses will ask tough questions to determine social media’s worthiness and its contribution to the bottom line.
As an advertising, marketing and communications firm, our top responsibility is to keep our clients thinking “fast forward.” Without a “fast forward” strategy, growth slowly grinds to a halt.
If you’re ready to shift your gears to “fast forward,” call us. We can get you there…faster than ever.
January 12th, 2010 | by: Catalpha Advertising & Design
January 2010 – Table of Contents
- Email Marketing Beats Social Media
- Offline Or Online? Where The Conversations Really Take Place
- The 60 Second Close: How To Be Part Of The Water Cooler Conversation
Email Marketing Beats Social Media
Although the thousands of articles about social media often overshadow it, e-mail remains highly effective as a results-oriented platform that can increase sales and drive traffic to your Web site or Facebook page.
Importantly, e-mail is the most popular and effective medium for sharing information online.
In a recent study from ShareThis.com-
- 46 percent of consumers said they share information via email
- 33 percent said they share information via Facebook
- 14.5 percent said they use other channels to share information
- 6 percent said they share information via Twitter.
Our recommendation for this coming year: Maintain and even strengthen your e-mail marketing efforts. Your e-mail program and your Web site are the pillars of your online marketing efforts.
Offline Or Online? Where The Conversations Really Take Place
Where do conversations take place? You may be surprised to learn that 90 percent of conversations occur offline and the remaining 10 percent online. Despite the hype surrounding social media and the heavy use of Facebook and Twitter, the fact is that only a minimal amount of all conversations occur on social media sites! This research comes from the Keller Fay Group, a word of mouth marketing and research firm.
So why the huge gap in numbers? Studies reveal that although 83 percent of the online population says they use social media, less than 5 percent are frequent users and contributors of information.
Additionally, a study conducted by Sysomos found that 75 percent of all Twitter activity comes from only 5 percent of users. When you consider these numbers, the 90:10 offline-online word of mouth ratio makes sense.
Although social media channels remain an alternative venue for conversations, the vast majority of those conversations – and the ones that are highly influential in making purchasing decisions and sharing experiences – are really happening at the office water cooler or in the lunch room.
The 60 Second Close: How To Be Part Of The Water Cooler Conversation
Word of mouth is simply a conversation, a sharing of an experience, or a story about someone or something. Word of mouth is successful when people are talking about you on a consistent basis. But the secret is that you have to give them something to talk about. This may range from the ordinary – a great greeting over the phone – to the extraordinary – same day delivery or something in the service area that goes beyond normal expectations.
Want your company to be part of that influential water cooler conversation? Is word of mouth part of your company’s marketing plan? If not, then call us. We can get you there…faster than ever.
November 10th, 2009 | by: Catalpha Advertising & Design
Table of Contents
- Does Your Company Have A Social Media Policy For Your Employees?
- Get Your Free Social Media Policy Guidelines Whitepaper And Policy Template
- No Matter What Business You’re In, You’re In The Media Business
- The 60 Second Close: Get Our Whitepaper, “How To Develop Your Company’s Social Media Guidelines”
Does Your Company Have A Social Media Policy For Your Employees?
There’s a good chance your company’s employees are engaged in social media and are publicly expressing thoughts about their working environment. Some might be divulging topics that should be private and are proprietary to your business. Others might be communicating information that could quickly destroy your business.
In order to protect your company, you should have a social media policy. The policy should state that due to the openness of social media, you have the right to monitor all online communication and that current company policies now extend to all forms of online communication. Violating the policies can lead to termination of employment.
Although the policy should be restrictive, it should also encourage employees to engage in social media and be brand ambassadors for the company.
Get Your Free Social Media Policy Guidelines Whitepaper And Policy Template
Your company’s social media guidelines can be long or short, but most importantly, they must be understandable. Are you struggling with writing your company’s policy? Email us and we’ll send you our own whitepaper, “How To Develop Your Company’s Social Media Guidelines: The Eleven Most Critical Issues You Need To Address,” and our easy template for writing your own company’s social media policy.
No Matter What Business You’re In, You’re In The Media Business
Companies today must understand that regardless of what business category they fall in, they must be in the media business. Companies that understand this shift of thinking are the ones that will succeed in today’s business climate.
Companies must consider every customer touch point – online and offline – as a media business and develop a message to compete for the attention of their potential customers and convert them into followers. Your employees are your world-wide broadcasters spreading the values and benefits of your company both online and offline and participating in conversations.
Does your company have a plan in which someone directs your company’s broadcasting efforts and monitors discussion among your customers?
The 60 Second Close: Email us To Get Our Whitepaper, “How To Develop Your Company’s Social Media Guidelines”
Now is the time to harness the energy of your employees who are heavily engaged in social media and empower them with guidelines that will benefit and enhance the online presence of your company, while at the same time discourage negative postings.
Email us and we’ll send you our whitepaper, “How To Develop Your Company’s Social Media Guidelines: The Eleven Most Critical Issues You Need To Address,” plus our easy template for writing your own company’s social media policy.
October 27th, 2009 | by: Catalpha Advertising & Design
Table of Contents
- Three Critical Things We’ve Learned During This Economic Crisis
- Not Just For Kids: 80% Of Online Adults Use Social Media Once A Month
- What Does “Using Social Media” Mean? Finally, A Great Answer
- The 60 Second Close: Ready For The Rebound
Three Critical Things We’ve Learned During This Economic Crisis
We’ve all been through a lot since the beginning of the year. Nothing but bad news. Some companies have had to go through the exercises of refinancing, re-grouping, re-thinking and even re-innovating. For many, it was the first real “recession and depression” experience they’ve lived through.
Here are three “take-aways” from this experience, which have hopefully made your business better than it was before:
- Creativity as a necessity: Changes in the economy have forced businesses to be creative about how they increase their sales, and in many cases they have focused their efforts towards their current customers. For many companies, it was “back-to-basics” with an emphasis on the “mom and pop” customer service of the old days.
- Differentiation as a necessity: Businesses understood that in order to be memorable in the customers’ minds, they had to be famous or known for something. It became better to focus on a specific strength rather than try to be everything to everyone.
- Customer conversations as a necessity: As social media exploded onto the landscape, replacing the one way communication of traditional media, businesses realized that what customers were saying about them could dramatically influence their success or failure.
Not Just For Kids: 80% Of Online Adults Use Social Media Once A Month
According to Forrester Research, four out of five online adults use social media at least once a month and half of those people participate in social networks like Facebook. (www.forrester.com)
Although younger people have a foothold on social media, older Americans are getting more involved as readers and active participants.
What does this mean to your business? The 55-plus age group should not be ignored. They will exhibit powerful online voices that can affect your business. If this age group is relevant to your business, you may want to develop a blog, and let them know about it and welcome their comments.
What Does “Using Social Media” Mean? Finally, A Great Answer
We set out to discover what “using social media” really means. Just what are those four out of five online adults doing when they say they “use” social media?
Forrester Research (www.forrester.com/Groundswell/ladder.html) has a great presentation explaining the social media “behavior types.” They include:
- Creators: Active publishers, writers and “uploaders”
- Critics: Those who post comments, ratings and reviews
- Collectors: Those who subscribe to RSS feeds and collect articles
- Joiners: Those who have profiles on various social networking sites
- Spectators: Those who do nothing but read blogs and watch videos
The next time someone says they’re using social media, you’ll now know they are participating in one or more of the behaviors noted above.
The 60 Second Close: Ready For The Rebound
This month starts the symbolic 2009 home stretch. Will there be a rebound between now and the holidays? We’re going to be optimistic with a resounding “yes!” Our agency’s clients will experience a rebound because we’ve kept them in top shape throughout the summer months.
Is your business ready for the home stretch rebound? If not, then call us. We can get you there…faster than ever.
September 15th, 2009 | by: Catalpha Advertising & Design
Table of Contents
- How To Jump Into The Social Media Pool Without Drowning
- Everybody’s Talking ‘Bout You; I Don’t Hear A Word They’re Saying
- Power To The People, Make Sure You Don’t Break Any Guitars
- The 60 Second Close: How To Harness The Power Of The People
How To Jump Into The Social Media Pool Without Drowning
While you’re hearing all the success stories about those companies participating in social media and wondering how you can join in, there’s a lot to consider and prepare for before making the leap into the pool. Here are six realistic points to understand about social media that may prevent future disappointment and wasted dollars:
- Participating in social media just for the sake of participating is a waste of your time and money.
- Although the platforms are typically free, effective social media marketing takes an enormous commitment of time – and time is money.
- The original social media is word of mouth. In order to have word of mouth online, everything needs to be in top shape off-line – at the retail level, the manufacturers’ level and the distribution level. If your house isn’t in order, there’s a chance that word of mouth about your company will be negative.
- Jump in with a specific plan. You need to have content and have something interesting to say and share.
- You need to have an infrastructure in place to monitor various social media communications and respond to online comments.
- You need to be prepared for negative word of mouth and have a procedure in place for turning it into a positive.
Bottom line: The social media success stories you hear and read about are few and far between. Don’t expect an overnight miracle. Social media is just one integral part of your firm’s marketing plan.
Everybody’s Talking ‘Bout You; I Don’t Hear A Word They’re Saying
It’s easy to monitor what people are saying about your company, your service and product. Here are the top tools for “listening in on” the conversations:
Power To The People. Make Sure You Don’t Break Any Guitars
We recently witnessed of the largest and most devastatingly successful online reputation attacks on a corporation. A major airline was brought to the ground, humbled and reprimanded by a passenger for damaging his guitar during a flight.
Finally, after 12 months of the airline refusing to honor his request for compensation and exhibiting poor and non-responsive customer service, the passenger – a singer/songwriter – recorded a music video and uploaded it to YouTube. After 4.5 million views and negative publicity nationwide about their customer service procedures, an embarrassed United Airlines finally took notice. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo)
Companies of all sizes should learn lessons from this incident:
- If your customer service is substandard and problems are not remedied in a timely manner, the power is now in the hands of the consumer to use the Web to embarrass you.
- Viral marketing has the ability to strongly promote the positive side of your business, but it can rapidly tell the negative side, such as a disappointing product or a bad experience.
- To prevent negative publicity, make sure your customer service policies are reviewed and are implemented. Share this “guitar” lesson with your employees. Respond quickly to any incident, question or complaint so that customer frustration doesn’t accelerate to the point of taking the issue to the Internet.
The most important lesson: When dealing with a customer, it’s not about what it will cost your company now. It’s about the embarrassing negative publicity and lost business it may cost you later.
The 60 Second Close: How To Harness The Power Of The People
Marketing your company isn’t just about advertising with traditional media or on Web sites. Marketing your company starts with your people. They are the best ambassadors of corporate goodwill. But they can make or break your company in a flash. We can help you identify the weak links that can lead to embarrassing situations.
The power is in the hands of the people – your customers. We can show you how to harness that power to your advantage and increase your sales and profits. Ready to start? Call us. We can get you there … faster than ever.
