Are you being a twit?

Are you making the most of your Twitter account?

You may be working hard to come up with clever or relevant tweets for your target market or unique offers to send to your followers, but if you haven't put the time into acquiring and cultivating the right followers then you are just wasting your time.

If you are a B2B company and think that following medium-to-large sized businesses twitter accounts is getting you any value, then you should rethink that idea. These accounts are maintained by the communications/marketing/pr department of a company, so unless you are selling advertising or other products related to these specialties then you aren't hitting the decision maker for your product. The people you need to try and get following you are the decision makers in those companies. But how do you find those people?

• Collect business cards from networking and business meetings then check to see if these contacts are on Twitter
• Go through the Followers of the company's corporate Twitter account, the people managing the account will often like to follow members of the company
• Use other social media profile information (ie. Facebook, LinkedIn) to see if contacts have listed a Twitter account

Just following these people won't guarantee they follow you back, but it is a good way to let them know you are on Twitter and introduce yourself to them. When one of these people gets an email notifying them "John Smith is now following you!" the reaction will often be to find out who this new follower is.

Now all you have to do is keep them interested in what you have to say.

Advertainment

Pretty sure i'm not the first to term the phrase "Advertainment" but if I am then let's hope I earn some serious royalties from it just like when Donald Trump tried to copyright the phrase "You're fired".

Anyways, the point of this post is to talk about how brands and companies can use Advertainment to engage users and get their message in front of copious amounts of eyes. As I was going through my blog reader today and reading Andy Sernovitz's latest post I couldn't help but laugh out loud. What a brilliant way to sell your impressively, terrible, beater of a car. The creator could have just put together a plain old Craigslist ad or posted it on Cartrader.com or any other car selling website but instead they created what can only be seen as one of the most brilliant marketing pieces i've seen in a long time. Although they clearly have an advertising background a similar ad could have been created using Microsoft office, not InDesign, Quark or other professional layout programs. He used humour and creative messaging to make his product go viral and that is a great lesson for small businesses everywhere.

You don't NEED to spend huge dollars to have an advertising agency create you an ad with Jerry Seinfeld or aliens. If you don't have marketing/advertising dollars to spend you have to use creativity and have a sense of humour to get the word out about your product/brand. In this digital age it is becoming easier for brands to make a big splash with a smaller amount of money. The masses are using advertisements as a source of entertainment and if you make one interesting enough they will do all the work for you.

Marble: The official cheese of Kliff's Notes

Are you going to go out and buy a block of marble cheese now that you know it is the "Official Cheese" of the world-famous Kliff's Notes blog???

No? Well...shit. Good thing the cheese people aren't paying me then I guess.

This blog post is based on me walking into my local Subway and noticing on the door that Subway is now the "Official Sandwich of the BC Lions". I almost turned around and left, more because I dislike the CFL and the BC Lions than the sandwich shop itself. But do sponsorship dollars, like Subway no doubt had to spend to get this lofty title, spent on these type of sponsorships really work? Will I ultimately buy Gillette deodorant because it is the "Deodorant of the NHL"? Nope, not a chance.

Now there are obviously other parts to these sponsorship deals - exclusive mention on team/league websites, programming, etc. - but the whole "Official so and so" seems like such a joke way to explain things. Sponsorship that is more directly related to the sport/league/event makes sense to me, ie. "Blackberry, the official way to act like your working when really your sitting on your ass eating cheetos" or "Depends, the official diaper of long bowling" works fine for me. But the official sandwich of a football team? Nope, I just don't care.

You know you've done your job as a marketer when..

When your campaign can make another marketer realize that they need your product then you have officially done your job as a professional marketer.

I realized this after seeing a recent Sensodyne commercial on TV. The commercial was nothing flashy, funny, or attention grabbing, what it did was tell me the benefits of the product and hit the right target market - me. Sometimes marketing can seem complicated, trying to grab peoples attention with a fancy new guerilla campaign featuring monkeys released into the city with a fancy website you designed painted on their backs. But sometimes, it's just as easy to stick to the old mantra of tell your target what you are offering them and what the benefits are to them. Make it look professional and show them you have knowledge in the area.

That's what Sensodyne did, and that's why I use their toothpaste.

This is an older commercial but still follows the same format as the commercial I saw.



Have you thought about dumbing down your marketing and just getting to the point of what you have to offer your target?

Pour a little beer on that wildfire

Last year I wrote a post on an event/product/brand catching on like a wildfire (you can read that post here) and recently I have noticed such an event in the Canadian marketplace. Now maybe i've only taken notice because I enjoy beer, but hey it's not a crime were not in the prohibition era so stop giving me the stink eye. Anyways, it's for the Bud Light Lime product that was introduced to the canadian marketplace a month or so ago. It has literally been a wildfire for Labatt since then (Labatt markets and sells the product in Canada). I'm not sure how well they have handled/fanned the wildfire though.

First off, the product got plenty of press before its entry because a Facebook group had been created to encourage the beer be brought to Canada, so they already had a passionate following. According to Labbatt's, they usually only release one new product per season and had already introduced Alexander Keith's White Ale to the masses. Then they did the right thing and took notice of what these hardcore customers wanted and brought Bud-Light Lime in at the same time which went against company SOP. Smart decision. Listen to your customers.

The launch has been a success i'd say (to say the least), but it may turn bad for them soon if they can't bump up production on the hugely poplar drink. Here is an image for the BC Liquor Stores website which shows real time inventory of the product.

If you can't see the inventory numbers it shows exactly 3 cases of the product in all of British Columbia. So there are goods and bads of this obviously. Good, the product is basically sold out which means it has been received very well by the masses. Bad, the product is sold out which means your customers who would be loyal to the product can't get it anywhere.

Now maybe this will be effective in helping build up another buzz around the product and generating more excitement for when they actually get some shipments in, but I think their customers would rather whet their whistle than twiddle their thumbs. To me it shows a lack of wildfire protection planning.

Lack of Creativity

In an earlier post I talked about the lack of creativity of car companies.

Well, turns out they aren't the only ones who aren't creative. Lately there has been a lot of "combination" commercials, where one thing is mixing with another to create this "new" idea. Unfortunately the companies and their agencies haven't put much thought into a "new" idea for the advertising.

Car commercial exhibit A



Burger commercial exhibit B



Exhibit C: Arby's Fajita flatbread commercials which feature a mexican guitarist meeting a chef and embracing. Can't find them on Youtube because no doubt they aren't that proud of them.

Could this lack of creativity be the result of creative companies not getting as much work because more and more companies are encouraging their consumers to come up with marketing ideas? Is this leading to a brain drain from the creative area of the advertising/marketing world?In Canada, Doritos consumers were asked to name a new chip for them and come up with an ad for it. I've seen numerous requests for consumers to help work on a new packaging look for products (Pepsi, Kokanee, etc.). Is this costing us good creative? Who knows, I certainly don't have any stats to back it up.

Maybe its just companies being less willing to step out on a ledge and actually stand out from the crowd. Play it safe and hope for the best. Seems like a waste of money to me.

Google makes my life easier

Maybe thats why their stock is completely overpriced?

Last week I talked about how Google sent me this great offer that made me feel like an important part of their monstrous engine. I blogged about it. This week I had the follow up call with a competent, nice, helpful optimization strategist to further discuss their offer. Here's what she told me the offer is:
- They will come up with an optimized adwords campaign for our main line of business
- 3 different text ads and the keywords that go along with each ad
- Using a qualified adwords strategy team that will work personally to help improve the value of our adwords
- Will return the proposal with the completed campaign in 5 working days

oh, and did I forget to mention that this is all.....FREE. All my company has to do is promise to use their proposed ads for a month since they will be putting their time into it.

Yeah, as in doesn't cost my company a dime, and hopefully will help return a greater ROI with the current money we are spending on adwords.

She was basically daring me to say no. How can you possibly turn that down.

I'm getting Google's search expertice, their knowledge in adwords, and a finished marketing campaign for $0. If I didn't know they had more money than God himself, I would feel sorry for them.

But it just goes to show you how well Google knows how to play the game. I can't even imagine the number of companies that use Adwords as a main source of their marketing, so when they are offered a way to use this chunk of their marketing budget more effectively they might just be a little excited. Hmm maybe that will lead to some goodwill towards Google, a blog entry, a mention to a colleague in passing. Well played Google, i'm thoroughly impressed.

When you add that to the list of other things that Google does for me for free (Analytics, maps, etc.) it makes one wonder: Why Bing! when you can Google?

Microsoft vs. Apple

One of the most interesting business battles going on is the PC vs. Mac feud. PC was dominating until Steve Jobs came back and turned Apple into the current powerhouse it is, making it the hip and trendy company with teens, young adults, hipsters and artsy style people. PC continues to dominate the workplace computer landscape with no real signs of Apple breaking in.

But PC isn't happy with the big chunk of personal use sales that Mac has grabbed from it thanks to their amazingly effective television advertising campaigns including these:





Microsoft/Windows waited a couple of years and then countered with this:



Which led apple to easily come back with this:



But now Microsoft seems to have taken a different approach, one that I think is quite brilliant and well thought out. They continue to plug away softly at the young adult market, but are now focusing on the young child market and seemingly trying to create lifelong PC enthusiasts from a young age. Also they probably casted the cutest little girl in the world.



Who knows whats coming next but this advertising battle is definately one of the most entertaining in the world. Apple was dominating, but PC has started to put more money in and is making it a closer race.

Marketing.....nothing

What happens when your company has no competitive advantage? What happens when your company is in an industry where acheiving a competitive advantage is near impossible? When differentiating yourself from your competitors is a tough thing to do.

Do you fold up shop? Do you spend oodles of money marketing your brand?

This blog idea came to me yesterday as I was watching TV and saw an add for Wal-Greens pharmacy. The entire ad didn't really say anything and seemed like an incredible waste of time (would post it if I could find it on youtube but a cursory glance returned nothing for obvious reasons). Then I started thinking, well how else are they going to get customers to get their prescriptions there, because lets be honest there is a lot of money to be made in prescription filling. But the question behind their commercial/marketing campaign should have been "Why would customers get their prescriptions filled with us?" and they should have developed it based on that question.

Maybe answering it is the tough part and will take a lot of research or getting everyone together for an entire day of brainstorming, but its probably better than burning your marketing dollars on a commercial just to say your doing something. Use your customers, find out what they would like in a pharmacy, maybe its speediness, price, comfort, customer service, knowledge, you never know until you ask.

But that is the challenge that their marketing department should accept greedily as this is their e=mc squared.

Effective Email Creative webcast

I heard about this webinar through the AMA and found it incredibly informative so I will now pass it on to the 1 or 2 people that have miraculously found my blog.

It was titled "Top 10 things you need to know about effective email creative" and was put on by Jordan Ayan, CEO of SubscriberMail.

I recommend if your business runs email marketing campaigns you have a listen as Jordan brings up some interesting issues that could help you with future emailings.

I was especially intrigued by the information around optimizing an email so when the recipients have images turned off you are still able to get your message to them. I have had the problem in the past where i've received emails back from people saying our messages are tough to read, etc., etc. and the returned emails always show the recipient as having images turned off. As Jordan also points out, the majority of business consumers (90%) have their images disabled on their email accounts. As my company is primarily in the B2B field this is a huge portion of our targets that may be having trouble viewing our emails. I think its time to optimize!

Here is the full presentation: http://blog.subscribermail.com/2009/03/30/video-webinar-top-10-things-you-need-to-know-about-developing-effective-email-creative/

You know you've got a great ad concept when.....

It's the same as anything else, copycatting is the most sincere form of flattery. And it rings true in the advertising/marketing world as well. In general once some creative tactic or ad or media buy or initiative proves to be a huge success there will be people everywhere copying it. Trying to make lightning strike twice.

One of the most successful television advertisements in recent years has been the Apple - Get a Mac ads. These ads have transcended the likes of being an annoyance in between parts of your program to something that people look forward to seeing. They may be some of the most powerful/popular advertisements ever, and they are still able to pump out new ones without it seeming like too much of the same.

Now of course people have caught onto this and the commercials are so well known that people are piggy backing on the concept.

Here is a Mac ad:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=DDuB8NLTj_I

Now check out this video regarding a provincial election in British Columbia, Canada
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9nhHsFKato

Very similar concept and pretty good execution. When someone sees this commercial they may be more friendly and open to it because they recognize the format (unless of course they are voting for the other party).

Wildfire

The economic crisis moving throughout the entire world has easily become the single item at the forefront of everybody's mind. Everyone is concerned and eagerly waiting to see how it folds out. It affects everyone and therefore is being talked about non-stop between friends, in newspapers, on radio and tv and in the blogosphere. It literally is the biggest wildfire I have seen in my entire lifetime.

As an example I was in Seattle on the weekend and went out to a nightclub one night. The bouncer looked at our IDs and literally thanked us for coming down and stated that they needed our help to boost their economy.....Pardon. A bouncer? We are talking about the stereotypical slow, beefy, pure muscle no brains type of person right. Well with this economic wildfire spreading everyone knows about it and it can pretty much make it into any conversation between 2 people.

On a lighter note, wouldn't it be great if you could make your product/business/service into a wildfire that everyone talked about. Granted you aren't going to have politicians making points about your widget during nationally televised debates broadcast on every possible television station. But how can you start a wildfire marketing campaign? As is often discussed these days, social media has made it a lot easier for you, but there are many other factors you need to line up that will ignite the forest of consumers/businesses. Here are some things to think about:

1. Why should anyone care about your brand?
You say its the greatest or the lowest priced on the market, well that's fine. Prove it to them, every consumer has heard this before. Once people experience it for themselves and have a positive experience then they are more likely to fan the flames

2. Do something new
With the internet people are exposing themselves to so many more ridiculous and crazy things each day that a mundane advertisement will not even register on them. Therefore you need to think more creatively, let your imagination run wild and truly there are no bad ideas at this stage.

What else would you do to fan the flames and start a wildfire?

Lightning strikes

It seems that Milk is trying to capitalize on the concept of energy renewal and replenishment these days. Probably a smart idea since there is a get in shape craze going on and around that comes a need for post exercise nourishment. Good tactic.

Unfortunately, it looks like their creative company has dropped the ball on this one. Take a look at this new campaign's identity




Hmmm lets see, this reminds me of something......

Oh yeah, an energy replenisher that has been around for a long long time and has marketed itself as that much....



Whoopsie....

I'm guessing that Gatorade is not going to adhere to the age old adage of not crying over spilled milk. Anyone else sense a lawsuit coming?

Other than this rather monumental mistake I do quite like milk's tactic of branching out and trying to grab a piece of the work out market. They do a great job with the website.

Viral Via Music

One of the most underrated aspects for videos is the musical selection. You find that perfect song and combine it with amazing production and creative and you have an instant hit, heck the production/creative don't even have to be that good. Take the Free Hug's Campaign for example. It's also win/win for the musician(s) because they get exposure to new audiences from their song being forwarded as the video goes viral (I mean come on, who doesn't type 3 lyrics from a song in google and hit search everyday).

I have recently seen the roll out of a 100% New Zealand ad campaign and they found the perfect music to accompany a wonderful commercial. I would never have gone to the website or thought twice about the commercial if they hadn't used this song, which I couldn't get out of my head (and i've even traveled to New Zealand and know how amazing it is). The use of the song to connect with the viewers helps carry them to the magical place that is exhibited throughout the ad.

If you are trying to create a viral video, finding a great song that is not necessarily well known yet, is a great way to go viral. Or, find something that matches the tone, feel, and rhythm of the rest of the video and works perfectly in harmony with it. And if you are a band trying to make it, I suggest you have a creative person in your group that can make a cool video to attach your music to. Then watch the sleazy record label guys come running.

Here are some other videos that employed this technique:

Apple does this better than anyone: Did you know who Yael Naim was or Feist before these ads?

Telus has caught the buzz recently, but use well established bands like White Snake

Heineken, i've never heard of Chris Knox but i'm sure he got a lot more hits after people tracked him down from this ad.

This is a commercial for Swedish Berries, I was actually trying to track down this song for a long time.....until I learned it was a jingle just for the commercial. Well lo and behold there was so much interest for it, they turned it into an entire song!