Pure Thinking

Is Your Message, Your Brand, Getting Through The Clutter?

Quick! What is the name of your favorite restaurant? We'll get to this in a minute.

Okay, now on with the blog. The picture above is from a seminar I have done on all aspects of marketing. The idea focuses around a dart board, where the most outer rings are traditional mass media, expensive marketing, we go through the rings and other modes of marketing, as they get less expensive, more effective, until we hit the bulls-eye: Word of Mouth Marketing.

Why the picture? "Somewhere between 254 and 5,000 is a number that represents just how many commercial messages an average consumer gets each day" - Advertising Age, April 2, 2007. That was before the explosion of social media.

To really achieve your marketing goals and help get through the clutter make sure they are SMART; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results oriented, Time Specific. You should also think about where your customers go to get information.

My favorite ad of all time is in the most outer ring of the dart board; Super Bowl Commercials! That ad is the Apple Macintosh 1984 ad. It was edited a bit and used in the Hillary Clinton campaign in the 2008 election cycle. 

Most companies can't afford a super bowl ad, let alone any TV commercials. BUT, can you leverage local TV stations for their "Best of" contests they have? Does it make sense with your goals?

As we move from the outer ring we go through national and local print advertising, radio, direct mail, trade shows. 

Closer to the bulls-eye you have websites, micro sites, banner ads, SEO, blogs, and email marketing. Regarding email marketing, one of my favorite books on marketing is Seth Godin's Permission Marketing. It is great for email marketing but a good read to be a successful marketer.

The first ring outside of the bulls-eye in my mind is social media. The rise of popularity of twitter, facebook, and LinkedIn really helps the SMART marketer leverage word of mouth. In a future blog I'll talk about how the combination of email marketing and social media can be extremely powerful.

Bulls-eye: Word of Mouth; your friends, clients, peers, and associations talking about you and recommending you and your company. PR through people writing about you in articles and blogs, customer testimonials.

Back to your favorite restaurant. Why is it your favorite? Have you told other people about it? Word of mouth is powerful isn't it.

How can you leverage aspects of marketing that make sense to help you achieve your SMART goals and help you promote your word of mouth?

By the way. Click here to learn about my favorite restaurant. Turn on your speakers.

John Meyer @johndmeyer

Alice in Chains & Animosity

El Ten Eleven had the masses dancing at Bluebird Theater last week, and Russian Circles will be a heavy Halloween party at Marquis Theater.

Modern bands such as these contribute to my music library, but sprinkled throughout the playlist are monster albums from the 90s.

There are certain tracks from that (recent) era—gems like Weezer’s “Buddy Holly,” Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” and Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android”—that inspire a kind of awe often absent from today’s tunes. How did they think to create that?

But while I embrace the whole timeline, some jaded fans proclaim nothing contends with pockets like, for example, Seattle grunge. Yet although I won’t put it atop a pedestal, 90s rock does win out in one realm: online commenting.

Well, the Internet as we know it was a baby, so just commenting. I’ll explain.

The lead singer of Alice in Chains, Layne Staley, fought a wicked battle with drug abuse. As he deteriorated, so did the band. Their manager retired in 1998, at which point a publication called The Rocket poked at Staley.

“But who’s to wipe and clean Alice in Chains now?” a particular article asked.

A few days later, The Rocket received a package containing a jar of urine and a bag of excrement. An attached note quipped, “Wipe and change this, mother…”

The editor assumed it was from Staley. Epic, right?

What isn’t epic these days is the inundation of scathing remarks littering online message/commenting boards. From music forums such as Lambgoat.com—visitors proclaiming they hope certain bands they dislike flip their touring vans on the highway—to supposedly more intellectual crowds on, say, my alma mater’s newspaper Web site, I’m astounded by the number of reply-leeches, sucking the civility out of any dialogue.

Now, Staley shipping bodily fluids via USPS isn’t civil, either, but that dude put forth effort that would likely be absent from many of today’s embittered usernames. The immediacy and anonymity of our digital age encourages the firing of enraged, of-the-moment digital bullets that likely would never leave the holster if they required an envelope, a stamp and a walk to the mailbox. Tempers might cool; rationality could return—unless you’re on heroin (see: Layne Staley).

Arguments can be invigorating in respectful, educational ways. Passion will certainly steer them off-track now and then, but an occasional virtual handshake or touché would give Web tit-for-tat much more appeal.

Unless you disagree, in which case go ahead and reply, wishing a chainsaw accident upon my hands so that I may never type again. Then I couldn’t respond, though I probably wouldn’t have anyway.

Ryan Arnold | @ryarnold

It's The Content Stupid!

In the 1992 presidential campaign the slogan "It's the economy stupid" became the thing to talk about because that is what mattered most to the voters, just as it does today.

In digital marketing the thing that matters most is content. And the content must be outstanding. Whether you are promoting the latest white paper or ebook that will help your clients be successful, or promoting a video on youtube with a handsome stud riding a horse selling aftershave that smells like your grandpa. 

Is it relevant? is it interesting? Is it up to date? Last month I downloaded a white paper on social media and it was dated 2009. Really? With as fast as digital, online, social media changes the company couldn't at least update the date? It made me wonder how relevant the content was, and I did not share it, nor have I read it.

Before you get excited about blog posts, web site design, social media, email newsletters, mobile campaigns, step back and make sure you have content that matters to your clients. Is it something they will share on Facebook or LinkedIn? forward to a friend? add a link to your site in a blog they write?

In real estate they say it's location, location, location. In digital marketing it's content, content, content.

How do you make the content you have the key to your online success? Test what you have. Ask your clients what's important to them. Start a conversation on your social media sites, email newsletters, and blogs. They'll respond and your online converation will begin again.

John Meyer @johndmeyer

SEO Crush

Lots of pople want to experience great SEO. Here's a quick cheat sheet to help your content score well with the algorithm. FWIW, shrines are less effective. =)

In many instances SEO relies on keywords and how they are used. Some basic concepts are: keyword density, keyword prominence and keyword frequency. Understanding these phrases and knowing how to use SEO can help your site to succeed.

Keyword prominence

The placement of specific keywords can affect its prominence. Knowing where to strategically place keywords for best effect is an important component of successful SEO. For example, keywords placed at the top of the page is given a higher keyword prominence than those further down the website, or those placed within the site’s content. Generally, keywords should be placed at the top of a site, positioned within a title, used to begin sentences or embedded as a metatag. These locations give your keywords a high prominence. Search engines give prominent keywords a higher emphasis, which subsequently leads to your site placed in a higher page rank on search engine results.

Keyword density

Keyword density measures the number of keywords on a specific website. A keyword is any word or phrase that is used in online searches. For example, a site selling flowers may use any of the following keywords: “flower arrangements”, “red roses”, “florist”, “flower delivery” or “gifts”. Using a variety of related keywords instead of just one keyword, for example “flowers”, will help to drive more traffic from different sources to your site. This will result in more organic content and a higher page ranking. Your site will have a high keyword density if you have a large number of different keywords in your content.

Keyword frequency

Keyword frequency refers to how many times a specific keyword appears within your website. The difference between keyword frequency and keyword density is that the latter refers to how many different kinds of keywords your site contains; the former focuses on how many times one particular keyword appears within your content. You can have a webpage that is both keyword dense (has many different related and relevant keywords) and has a high keyword frequency (a keyword occurs many times). Repeating one particular keyword on a website can lead to a higher search engine ranking; however you should restrain yourself from going overboard as an overly high keyword frequency can make your content sound unnatural. Good quality, SEO rich content is ultimately what will help to drive customers to your site, and more importantly, engage them enough to make them want to stay.

 

If you want to dive deeper you'll need this link and a candle.

I heart Matt Cutts

HTH

~Dennis

 

 

Integrating Your Website With Your Social Media

With the creation of the website came the desire to drive all marketing messages to go to the website to learn about your brand and product, and in many instances to buy. Ads in magazines, direct mail pieces, hand outs at trade shows, then email newsletters all had (or should have) "go to our web site for more information and buy now". Websites are wonderful as they are your virtual brochure and can be updated at anytime for the purpose you first designed them; to sell your brand and your product.

Smart marketers also use websites to keep existing customers happy and have them spread the word about you to others.

Some people believe that the advent of social media sites like Facebook and twitter has taken away the importance of a company's website. I totally disagree and feel the social media sites have made it even more important to keep your website the best it can be to sell and support your brand. The integration of the two can be a huge win when managed properly.

I recently started following Jeremiah Owyang's blog WEB STRATEGY. His recent article about "Corporate Websites and Social Networks Begin Integration" is a must read for anyone interested in leveraging the power of combining the best of both worlds of websites and social media. He calls it "Social Sign On". I call it the bulls-eye to get more prospects to your website to buy.

You can read his article here. Let me know what you think. How integrated are your website and social media strategies?

John Meyer  [email protected]  @johndmeyer

Colorado, Technology, and Marketing

Colorado, Technology, and Marketing. Three of my favorite topics and quite exciting that there are so many intertwined relationships with them right now. I'm a Colorado native in love with where I live. I have a great career growing alongside marketing and technology. It's fun working with the team at Pure Brand Communications on all aspects of digital marketing, centering on Pure Listening.

One of the things I like about Pure Brand Communications is how we give back to the community, personally as well as great agency work with non profits like Boys and Girls Clubs, Special Olympics, and Children's Hospital. I volunteer with CSIA, Colorado's Technology Association. On October 7th CSIA is hosting DEMOgala - an event showcasing technology companies and thought leaders in Colorado.

It's wonderful to see how many technology companies have started in Colorado that provide really fantastic marketing solutions. SimpleGeo offers solutions to enable location based services in mobile, web and desktop applications. We've got web conferencing company ReadyTalk, email marketing firm SwiftPage, social media marketing company FiltrBox that is now part of Jive Software. Associated Content's online publishing platform (now part of Yahoo). A really creative CodeBaby that helps you with web site optimization by leveraging the nature of human behavior online and scientific study. There are also applications for mobile marketing like SnapTag from SpyderLynk.

In most blogs each of these companies would have a hot link to their website to learn more about them. In this case I'm going to promote the event where the companies, many others, and their founders and executives will be. On October 7th the companies I mentioned, many more, and over 25 thought leaders will be speaking at CSIA's DEMOgala at the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center. Now there's the link that's important. There will be over 1000 people attending.

It will be a great day. I'm looking forward to learning more about all the companies, especially those that are taking marketing to a new level.

John Meyer - [email protected] - @johndmeyer

FACEBOOK keep it clean

Remember the days when Brittany, Lindsay and Paris were the only ones who had to worry about the world seeing pictures of their risqué partying? Well, thanks to Facebook you now have something in common with the stars.

Forty-five percent of employers check out job applicants online, according to a study by Careerbuilder. This means when you go into an interview, chances are, not only has your potential boss seen your crisp black and white résumé, they may have also seen some scandalous full color photos of you at last weekend’s party. Think this seems a little far-fetched? An “it’ll never happen to me type thing,” perhaps? Well, think again. According to CareerBuilder, over one in three employers have found content online that stopped them from hiring someone (See sidebar “Online Faux Pas That’ll Cost You the Job”)

So how can you protect yourself? Peter Vogt, author of “Career Wisdom for College Students” and the President of Career Planning Resources, stresses the importance of privacy settings. He says many people don’t bother with the Facebook privacy settings or don’t know about them. To adjust them, simply click “Settings” on the top right corner of your Facebook home page, on the settings menu click “Privacy” then choose whom you want to share your information with.

Even with your privacy settings, Vogt warns, potential employers still get some information, and that can be damaging enough. He explains that no matter how private your profile is, employers can still see your profile picture so it’s best to pick a conservative photo.

Some people argue that privacy settings aren’t enough. Ronda Smith is the Director of the School of Arts and Communication at University of Wisconsin—La Crosse and teaches interviewing classes to prepare students for job searches. According to Smith, employers have found ways around privacy settings. Many companies access your profile through interns or other employees who are in your network or share mutual friends with you. Some employers even ask applicants to pull up their profiles during interviews.

Karen Lyon, Vice President Human Resources with Harris Bank, says she also knows employers who accessed private profiles and suggests avoiding anything that looks unprofessional. “A lot of companies have specific core values that they look for when bringing an employee into their organization,” Lyon said. “They want their employees to reflect that corporate image.”

Also, beware of your friends’ posts. Karolyn Bald, Career Service Advisor at University of Wisconsin—La Crosse, explains that often the content friends post on your wall or photos they tag is enough to turn employers off. Vogt agrees with Bald and suggested talking to your friends. Tell them you’re looking for a job so they can’t write anything inappropriate on your wall. Also, be sure to untag compromising photos and ask your friends to remove them.
 
Despite these negative aspects, social networking sites aren’t all bad. According to CareerBuilder’s study, 18 percent of employers have found positive information online that caused them to hire a person. Examples include creativity, strong communication skills, well roundedness, good references, awards and a professional personality that fits the company.

Lyon said she’d be impressed by someone who’s involved in a lot of social clubs, holds leadership roles and has a good amount of friends. She explains it looks bad if a person has very few friends and makes an employer wonder if the applicant has trouble socializing.

Some companies worry about the legal issues of screening people online. However, Lyon, Vogt, Smith and Bald agreed those worries don’t seem to be stopping employers from online check ups. Vogt explained it would be impossible to prove the employer used your profile.

“I’m not saying any of this is right,” Vogt said. “But in this environment and with the economy in tough shape, employers aren’t willing to take a risk on anyone. If they have a stack of résumés, all they have to do is dig up one funny-looking picture and that’s enough to put that résumé in the no pile.”  

Lyon added that even if you could prove an employer screened you online, there’s not much you can do about it. “These are public sites,” Lyon said. “Once you put it out there, you are putting yourself in a public light and people are responsible for their own profiles.”

Every time you put something online just consider if it’s something you’d be proud to show a future employer. After all, you wouldn’t stumble into a job interview in scandalous clothing, hanging on some guy’s shoulder, with 40 ounces of beer duct taped to your hand, would you?

Content, Community and Commerce

When framing out a strategy for yourself or clients in the Social Media space, you can take a 3C approach - Content, Community and Commerce. FWIW the 3C approach is a helpful rule of thumb for both online and offline communication campaigns - let's take a look at online.

The first C: Content:

Online, content has a short shelf-life, utilize this knowledge to tailor messages, resources or software to maximize the experience for the  kind of viewer that's digesting your feed. In the graph below, you'll see that "CHAT" has 100% value at zero seconds with the value declining over time. How many times have you come back 30 minutes later to a hidden chat window to find out that the other person has bailed on the conversation?

 

How does this effect community?

One easy insight, is using TIME as a demographic to distinguish viewship communities. Customize content for blog readers to encompass ephemeral elements like time sensative promotions, Groupon does a great job at aggregating short attention span consumers and then utilizing their commonalities to drive the 3rd C, commerce.

The 2nd C: Community.

As if! You already get it - did you come from a Facebook link or a Tweet to this article?

Basically - you connect to people online by way of any number of ideas, these ideas unify netizens within various online communities. These communities can be "self-help" forums with longer content halflives, or frenzied chat rooms. Regardles of the community, it pays to take cues from the type of ideas that bind people together, and tailor your content to the group. No need to NEWS FLASH the Mac Help Forum with Latest iphone g4 TV commercial or publish your HTML 5 Whitepaper : MOBILE to Gizmodo.

The Big "C" - Commerce.

Now that you've focused your content, it's time to tend to the great thing that all online community members have in common...a desire to buy things associate with the brands they have a stake in.

For a detailed view into e-commerce you can peep the Department of Commerce Quarterly e-commerce sales report however, this chart says it all:

If you've done your job of creating content that creates community, then it's perfectly acceptable to sell relevant products and services to your constituents. 

What's the best way to sell things to your community? If your community is family and you want to sell a batch of cookies you made using grandma's secret recipe, check out Etsy. Maybe your a bit more sophisticated and want to sell custom game controllers mods to PS3 enthusiasts - in this case you want: e-commerc shopping cart, or savvy users will engage a combination of WordPress and shopping plug-ins.

Enterprise users will still roll their own using solutions like Microsoft  or Magento.

HTH

~Dennis

The changing face of media consumption

About a week ago, Kate made a really great post here on the Pure blog dealing with the changing face of news consumption.  At the end she goes on to briefly mention the intern (that's me) and a differing view of this growing social media connection to news.

I completely agree that if I relied solely on Twitter and Facebook as my daily source of news and issues, I would know entirely too much about video games, movies, punk rock and UFC fights (err, maybe I already do...).  That being said, I do think that the social sharing of news and current events has quite a bit of potential for increasing awareness and knowledge for many users.

Social sharing, to me, feels like a natural progression of digital news.  Using tools like the Flipboard app on the iPad or even something as simple as Google Reader, we are in some way taking back our power as editor and gatekeeper of our own news feed.  The immersive nature of technology allows me to read an article, and within minutes, link to several other articles about the issue, a wikipedia entry, or a video report documenting those same topics.

Groups like Breaking News, The New York Times, CNN and the Wall Street Journal are seeing sizable success through apps and accounts on Android, the iPhone, Facebook and Twitter.  But ultimately, it falls on users of social media to help prove my point.  That's why I'm issuing this challenge to social media users everywhere: Take an active role in the spread of knowledge, news and ideas that impact our world.  Go beyond the latest news story about Antennagate or the new Call of Duty game.

We have seen glimpses into the power that social media has to impact news and society.  Think of all the tweets, video and still images the world was privy to during upheaval in Iran or an earthquake in Haiti.  We have the ability to gain insight and perspective from millions of people all over the globe.  Now, more than ever we have the ability to educate ourselves on important issues facing our lives.

Go forth and share!

--

Geoff

@savestheclash

Email and Social Media, Competitors or Integration Partners?

I wrote about the future of email newsletter marketing earlier this year when all of the puritans wrote about their predictions for the coming year. I wrote that I thought even with the influx of social media email newsletters would still be king.

On Wednesday I'll be attending the Online Marketing Summit here in Denver. Several topics including the integration of email newsletters with social media. My next post will most likely include my thoughts from this day long conference.

In the meantime here are some highlights from an interesting article I read from emarketer.com entitled "The Future of Social/E-Mail Integration".

A Top Benefit of Integrating Social Media and email: Allow users to sign up for email newsletters directly from social media sites like Facebook. This tactic allows email marketers to grow their lists - cited as the top benefit of integrating social media and email -  by allowing consumers to use their channel of choice and sign up on their own terms.

The same article points out an increase of click through rates from 7.2% to 8.7% when including a social sharing option. And including as many as three different sharing options boosted the rate to 11.2%. That's a fantastic click through rate!

Are you integrating your email newsletters and social media?

My next blog post will have a recap of the Online Marketing Summit.

John Meyer @johndmeyer