Marketing | Wendistry

Social Media Marketing for Events

2009

In the next week, Wendistry is launching Social Media for Events and is hosting its introductory workshop in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday, September 15th.

When using social media to achieve event marketing goals, consider your event’s three phases: Before, During, and After. Here are some recommendations for each aspect of your event:

• Before the event: Event marketers need to focus on expanding their universe of prospective attendees while attracting exhibitors, sponsors, and other types of show-related advertisers. Social media can help build interest with video, podcast, and blog interviews, as well as social communities. With these formats, exhibitors and sponsors can share information without being directly sales-driven.

• During the event: Social media can broaden the conference’s engagement for attendees and those who are unable to attend in-person through the use of community forums and webcasts. Provide a special area during events for bloggers, videocasters, and podcasters, and allow them to use PR facilities to interview event speakers and attendees. Create a dedicated event blog to build excitement around the event and to provide a transcript. Microblogging formats like Twitter allow attendees to comment on the proceedings as they occur. Ask attendees to post to your photo galleries, either on your site or on public forums like Flickr. Provide Wi-Fi and public computers at the event to aid this process.

• After the event: Social media enables event marketers to remain connected to attendees, extend the impact of exhibitors and advertisers, and market other products including future events. Post webcasts, videocasts, podcasts, and photos on your site to attract a broader audience for the content and to help build a house file for future events. Also, leverage other types of information, such as forums, to continue to engage attendees.
Five Other Event Marketing Considerations
As an event and meeting planner or an event marketer, you must remember that social media doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Here are five factors that can have a big impact on your performance:

Invite a wide range of content creators to participate. Everyone your event comes in contact with has the potential to contribute new material and add to the conversation and promotion of your event. This includes employees, exhibitors, sponsors, attendees, customers, speakers, and the press. Remember, they may not all share your perspective!
Integrate your marketing efforts across channels. Expand your social media reach by promoting your social media brand IDs through your offline collateral and during the event. For example, some event marketers/planners have screens showing online forums during sessions.
Exploit social media’s search friendliness. Social media can aid search results and enable you to reach a broader audience. Make sure content is optimized for the words your audience uses when they search.
Encourage participation in a variety of formats. Since events often focus on a broad audience, invite contributors to use the media of their choice to connect with your event — blogs, videos, podcasts, social networks, forums, photos, and microblogs.
Allow for activity that doesn’t occur on your Web site. Consider that content creators may use public forums, such as YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as their personal or company sites to distribute their content.

Filed Under: Digital Marketing Tagged With: event marketing, events, Marketing, promoting events, Social Media

Benefits of Social Media Marketing

2009

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The number one benefit of Social Media Marketing is gaining the all-important eyeball. A signficant 81% of all marketers indicated that their Social Media efforts have generated exposure for their businesses. Improving traffic and growing lists was the second major benefit, followed by building new partnerships.

An unexpected benefit was a rise in search engine rankings reported by more than half of participants. As the search engine rankings improve, so will business exposure, lead generation efforts and a reduction in overall marketing expenses. About one in two marketers found social media generated qualified leads. However, only slightly more than one in three said Social Media Marketing helped close business.

- 81% said: Generated exposure for my biz
- 61% said: Increased my traffic/subscribers/opt-in list
- 56% said: Resulted in new business partnerships
- 52% said: Helped us rise in the search rankings
- 48% said: Generated qualified leads
- 45% said: Reduced my overall marketing expenses
- 35% said: Helped me close business

Some questions that naturally emerge from the information above might include, “Is there a way to improve the likelihood of achieving these benefits by investing more time in Social Media?” and “Are those marketers who’ve been doing Social Media Marketing for years gaining even better results?”

Consider the following…
Helped me close business:
It takes time to develop relationships that lead to actual business. However, a large percent of marketers who take the time find great results. For example, 61.62% of marketers who have been using Social Media for years report it has helped them close business. More than half who spend 16 or more hours per week find the same results.

Generated exposure for my business:
Owners of small businesses (2 to 100 employees) were more likely than others to report greater exposure (84.8% reporting benefits). Nearly all marketers who’ve been doing social media marketing for years report it generates exposure for their business and a significant 64.86% strongly agree. Nearly all marketers spending 6+ hours a week on social media marketing found exceptionally positive results.

Resulted in new business partnerships:
Those who invest the most time in Social Media Marketing gain the most business partnerships. However, 61.83%of people who have only invested a few months in their social media marketing report that new partnerships were gained.

Generated qualified leads:
Many businesses are hoping that Social Media will be the Holy Grail for lead generation. Indeed, after only a few months and with as few as 6 hours a week, more than half of marketers have generated qualified leads with Social Media Marketing. Sole proprietors were more likely than others to see benefits.

Reduced my overall marketing expenses:
The only financial cost of social media marketing is the time it takes to gain success and the personnel to manage the project. However, a significant percent of participants strongly agreed that overall marketing costs dropped when social media marketing was implemented. sole proprietors were more likely than others to see reductions in marketing costs when using social media marketing.

Helped us rise in the search rankings:
Improved search engine rankings were most prevalent among those who’ve been using social media for years, with nearly 80% reporting a rise (and most reporting a strong improvement). Know that Flickr and YouTube have highest SEO “stickiness.”

Increased my traffic/ subscribers/ opt-in list:
At least 2 in 3 participants found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours a week invested in Social Media Marketing. And, those who have been doing this for years reported even better results. Owners of small businesses (2 to 100 employees) were more likely than others to report benefits.

Filed Under: Digital Marketing Tagged With: business exposure, lead generation, Marketing, search engine rankings, social marketing, Social Media

GM’s Marketing Decision

2009

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General Motors’ new advertising and marketing czar is Bob Lutz, who until April of of this year headed global product development. According to CEO Fritz Henderson: “Bob’s responsibilities beyond creative design will include brands, marketing, advertising and communications.” (I can just visualize Bob at his first meeting with one of GM’s agencies: “I’m not a marketing expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”)

Has respect for marketing fallen so low that the most difficult job in the profession (getting GM out of the ditch) can be given to someone with so little experience in marketing?

Hello, GM… Marketing comes first, advertising comes second. That’s why Bob Lutz seems to be on the wrong track when he immediately focuses on fixing the advertising. “I think you will very quickly see a drastic change in the tone and content of our advertising,” said Mr. Lutz. “And if you don’t, it will mean that I’ve failed.”

I think he’s wrong (and Wendistry agrees with Al). Advertising at GM is not broken. Marketing is.

Marketing’s job is to coordinate all the various disciplines inside a corporation in order to develop the right product, the right price, the right position, the right distribution strategy and the right brand name. Advertising’s job is to position that brand name in the minds of consumers.

Good marketing makes advertising decisions relatively easy. Bad marketing makes advertising, and everything else related, difficult, if not impossible.

So, what is GM’s marketing problem? One complaint of commentators in the media is that “General Motors doesn’t build cars that people want to buy.” This is true. People want to buy Toyotas, Hondas, BMWs, Mercedes, Lexus and other brands. People want to buy brand experiences, not just vehicles.

What you park in your garage is your family’s most visible status symbol. Nobody wants to buy a Walmart V-8, no matter how cheap it would be.

Hence, Bob Lutz’s approach: “We’re going to go from being very defensive and risk-adverse in communications and become much bolder in getting our story out.” Bob, I’ve got news for you… you have no story.

Bob, your problem is marketing, not advertising. I don’t care how good your cars are. I don’t care that Buick is the most dependable vehicle made in America. I don’t care that Tiger Woods endorses it, and I like Tiger. It doesn’t matter. You have no story.

For that matter, Tiger didn’t really even do much for the brand. In the eight years of the Tiger, Buick sales fell from 404,812 in 2000 to 137,197 last year, a decline of 66%. (Why, for the love of Pete, didn’t the marketing people at Buick ask the obvious question: Is the owner of a $20 million yacht likely to drive a $30,000 Buick?)

Get a real marketer in charge at GM and get a real story.

Al Ries‘ Column: excerpted from July 27, 2009 edition of Advertising Age.

Filed Under: Digital Marketing Tagged With: Buick, corporate marketing, General Motors, GM, Marketing, Tiger Woods

The Brand of Jamie Foxx

2009

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To be honest, few would have predicted the business prowess of Jamie Foxx. His breadth of talent was not obvious from his previous performances in “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “In Living Color” or Booty Call. The Texas-bred comedian shocks life into figures that many of us fail to be mindful of, and he’s shown us that genius magic that was right in front of us the whole time.

Through Ray, Foxx was identified as authentic talent. To a degree that no matter where he went from that point, nobody could ever take that away, like Pacino in The Godfather, DeNiro in Taxi Driver, and even Hoffman in The Graduate. Now, Foxx has taken it upon himself to revive R&B.

When you take a minute to think about it, Foxx is doing what even Eddie Murphy or Elvis Presley could not accomplish… move seamlessly between stage, screen and music chart. In December, Foxx released his third album, Intuition, which held the #1 spot on the Billboard Charts for six weeks and sold more than a million copies. The ironic “Blame It” has radio stations enthralled. This boy has come a long way from Terrell, Texas.

Some interesting brand tidbits about this powerhouse:

1. Jamie Foxx was a high school football star in Terrell, 30 miles east of Dallas.

2. Before the film, Ray Charles and Jamie Foxx engaged in a two hour piano duel. Afterwards, Charles proclaimed, “He’s the one… he can do it.”

3. Foxx received a scholarship to United States International University in California, where he studied classical music and composition. Hence the ease with which Foxx also performs brilliantly in The Soloist with Robert Downey, Jr.

4. Jamie Foxx was born Eric Bishop and has taken his name from “the funniest man alive on television,” according to Jamie… Redd Foxx. Eric is Jamie’s Clark Kent to his Superman.

5. “In Living Color” was the brainchild of the Wayans family and jumpstarted the careers of not only Jamie Foxx, but Jim Carrey and Kim Coles. The variety show hosted an entire rainbow of comedic talent from Chris Rock to Rodney Dangerfield. Every show opened with a hip hop dance sequence from the “Fly Girls,” whose most noted member, J-Lo, and choreographer, Rosie Perez, have become multicultural legends.

Filed Under: Branding Tagged With: Branding, Marketing, Personal Branding

The Authentic Marketer

2009

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In this public, “everyone sees everything” world we now live in, there is no room for the fake, the foolish, or the faint of heart when it comes to marketing. If your company posts a produced commercial on YouTube and tries to pass it off as user-generated content, you will be busted. If you pay others to write positive comments on your blog, the word will get out. And, believe me, the hellfire that follows from the online world when they figure out your shenanigans… well, let’s just say you’ll wish you had never even built a web site in the first place.

Authentic marketing is about more than just telling the truth. It is a corporate value system, a philosophy and a set of guidelines and actions. It defines your interactions with partners, prospects, customers and the general marketplace. To deliver on authenticity, you remain true to your company’s passion and unique value proposition. Then, in every way possible, offer proof points and verifiable data and experiences that support your assertions. Today, authenticity is the key component to your marketing and communications plan.

Companies that live their passion offer a subtle but extremely persuasive form of authenticity. Creating a passion, and living it is the first step to becoming authentic, and enabling your audience to believe in your company and products. As companies engage audiences by becoming more porous, enabling outsiders to interact, inform, and co-create with them, authenticity becomes palpable. A sense of trust is transferred to the marketplace naturally. To be effective, open and interactive processes must be embedded in the DNA of all employees. A philosophy of engaging outsiders will allow issues to be heard, and innovative responses to be found much more quickly.

Filed Under: Branding, Digital Marketing Tagged With: authenticity, corporate value system, customer relations, Marketing

Marketing Voice

2009

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In marketing, voice is meant to connect with your audience and offer relevance. To do that, voice requires several elements: image, vision, and positioning. When you get started defining your voice, ask yourself these questions:

Why does this company exist?
What image or personality has it formed or is it trying to form?
What is the company point-of-view in terms of the product, the market, and the world?
Where is the industry going?
Where is the company going?
Where is it taking its customers?

IMAGE: Image isn’t just for Hollywood celebrities and luxury automobiles. Your customers (and prospects) have a perception of your company (right or wrong), and each move the company makes helps to define that image (whether planned or unplanned). Making choices that support and illustrate the image you want the company to have is the key to managing customer perceptions. First you have to know what image you want the company to project. Is the company visionary, creative, cool, edgy, pragmatic, safe, for the price-sensitive, for the masses or for the elite?

Managing your image is a daily activity. Image is created by the choices made across the company, not by advertising agencies through the campaigns they create. If you choose not to define your image, your customers, competitors, or partners will do it for you. Who do you want in charge?

VISION: You don’t have to develop an image as a visionary to express a vision for your company, products, or industry. Vision is the ability to define business, product, industry trends, or the future in terms of customers or the marketplace, before they have taken shape. Further, it is easier for customers to follow you, if you give them some sense that you know where you and your industry are going. There is also a much stronger trust between the company and the customer, if the customer believes you are the company that can take them forward.

Many people feel that vision is reserved for high tech companies who have to show that they understand industry trends, have deep technical chops, and can take their products forward, leapfrogging the competition. Vision is about more than technology, though. Does a clothing designer have vision? (Tom Ford for Gucci) How about high-performance cooking equipment? (Viking) What about snowboarding? (Volcom) Each of these companies’ vision not only acquires new customers every day it keeps their current customers coming back for more.

POSITIONING: Your image and your vision define your company and its position in the industry in which it lives, and relative to competitors or alternatives. Positioning has an even more influential role. It allows you to define the market on YOUR terms. There are several paths you can take to definite your market. You can name the market by creating a new term (personal digital assistant), or segment the market to create a new niche (nighttime medicine). You can reposition your competitors, defining their offering more narrowly. You can pour so much focus and passion into differentiating value that it appears there are no competitors in your space, or that your competitors will be unable to catch up.

If you choose not to define the market on your terms, then you are forced to work within some other company’s framework. The market will see you as a follower. Not only will it be difficult to break out and be heard, it will be even more difficult to ever lead with an intriguing voice, vision, or image.

Filed Under: Digital Marketing Tagged With: image, Marketing, positioning, vision, voice

The Killer App for Local Businesses

2009

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With the launch of CityCrush, a joint venture between Wendistry and BlackBox Technologies, four weeks ago, naturally I’m drawn to articles and information about hyper-local media and the businesses that they highlight and promote. So, in my May 18 edition of Advertising Age, an article by Abbey Klaassen caught my eye.

“New Orleans pizza joint, Chicago yogurt chain see results from promos on microblogging service, Twitter”

Naked Pizza, a New Orleans healthful-pizza shop that’s hoping to go national (Mark Cuban is a backer) has been marketing itself via the micro-blogging service. Recently it has started tracking Twitter-spurred sales at the register. In a test run on April 23, an exclusive-to-Twitter promotion brought in 15% of the day’s business. “Sure, there’s the brand marketing and getting-to-know-you stuff… But we wanted to know: Can it make the cash register ring?” says Jeff Leach, the restaurant’s co-founder.

Mr. Leach is one of many small local businesses using Twitter as a marketing tool, and his group could turn out to be a very lucrative market for the fast-growing site if other local entrepreneurs have similar experiences. Twitter’s real-time messaging service is a boon to local establishments, who are starting to get on-board, mostly because the message pops into users’ Twitter feeds and they are close enough in proximity to act on it. For Mr. Leach, who is targeting people within a three-mile radius of his store, that’s key. He’s gone so far as to erect a billboard outside his store publicizing Naked Pizza’s Twitter ID (which got him written up in TechCrunch). After that, Twitter contacted him; he’s going to be working with the company to beta test some applications for small businesses.

Twitter has a golden trait that appeals to small business… it’s easy. Simpler than a blog, setting up a Facebook or MySpace page, it’s a lot like email which has been one of the most effective marketing tools for small companies to date. The social nature is also very appealing. Consumers are already using Twitter as a question-and-answer recommendation service and to forward (“retweet”) messages they receive from brands they like.

Michael Farah, founder and CEO of Berry Chill, a yogurt shop with three Chicago locations, has been using Twitter to send out “Sweet Tweets”… promos that require users to show they’re Twitter followers of the store. In a month, he’s logged 700 followers and, he said, “sweet tweets” haven’t diminished his daily sales totals.

“Our last big promotion we gave away 1,100 yogurts ($5,500 worth of product) but sales were the same as the day before,” he said. “The people who were existing customers standing in line attracted people who hadn’t tried it.” Add the location-based technology nearly every mobile device will have soon, and many say it will really earn its keep as a killer local app.

Meanwhile, Naked Pizza’s wish list includes analytics tools that help it understand the most effective times of the day or week to deliver promotional messages, much like an e-mail marketing services provider would. Mr. Leach, who spends up to $60,000 a year on direct mail and almost $2,500 a year on e-mail marketing, said he would gladly pay a monthly fee for services like those.

In the next 90 days, he said, he’s aiming to sign up 5,000 followers that have city of New Orleans as their location. As he puts it: “That’s 5,000 people I don’t have to mail a postcard to.”

Filed Under: Branding, Digital Marketing Tagged With: attraction, Brand, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter