According to AdWeek, "Forrester Research believes today's ad agencies are not well-structured to take on tomorrow's marketing challenges, needing to move from making messages to establishing community connections. In a new report, the research firm paints a grim view of the current state of advertising, which it believes is in "a world of hurt" because consumers are tuning out the messages the industry is predicated on producing. Instead, it believes shops need to be organized around communities, not disciplines. What it is calling "the connected agency" would not only know certain communities but also be active members of these groups. Pushing messages would give way to encouraging voluntary engagement, and ongoing conversations would replace time-based campaigns."
This arguments creates an interesting issue for clients of agencies. If they don't currently exist, how to clients select partners to work with who can deliver messages that are relevant, meaningful and lead to action? Does this mean that advertising is dead? Clearly, changes in social media as well as consumer behavior indicate that the traditional notion of advertising has changed dramatically and if agencies have not kept up to pace with those changes what options are out there for clients who need the assistance of 3rd party resources?
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Twitter For Business?
It's been said that Twitter is a cool tool/application for keeping track of your friends. I don't currently use this nor have I ever really thought about using it to keep my friends updated on my status or activities. Perhaps I am a little old school in thinking that if anyone cared about where I am they would just pick up the phone and call...or send an email. But apparently there is a lot of conversation about the uses and application of such tools for business.
Here's a great list of things to do with Twitter - courtesy of DoshDosh.
Personal Branding
Get Feedback
Direct traffic
Make New Friends
Business Management
Take Notes
Event Updates
Time Management and Analysis
Acquire Votes
Check out the blog for details on how to effectively apply these concepts to Twitter usage - and if you think it works for business let me know!
Here's a great list of things to do with Twitter - courtesy of DoshDosh.
Personal Branding
Get Feedback
Direct traffic
Make New Friends
Business Management
Take Notes
Event Updates
Time Management and Analysis
Acquire Votes
Check out the blog for details on how to effectively apply these concepts to Twitter usage - and if you think it works for business let me know!
Web 2.0
Everywhere I turn these days, I hear the term Web 2.0 and have no clue what those "in the know" are really talking about. Here's the official definition from Wiki - click the link for more detail.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia....
Web 2.0 is a living term describing changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies. The term became notable after the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.[2][3] Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users utilize the Web.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia....
Web 2.0 is a living term describing changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies. The term became notable after the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.[2][3] Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users utilize the Web.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Huh?
Multichannel Marketing
-Refers to using several methods to sell products and services. The term has become popular since the advent of the Web, because it adds a prominent new channel to storefronts and catalog sales. One consideration of multichannel marketing is that each channel reinforce the other. For example, information taken from sales on one channel be used to help the customer when making a purchase on another channel of the same vendor.
Branding
- The process of creating a unique, positive and recognizable identity for a product or service. Along with marketing and advertising, creating a visual identity through signage is an important part of the branding process.
Social Media
- The use of electronic and Internet tools for the purpose of sharing and discussing information and experiences with other human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences.
-Refers to using several methods to sell products and services. The term has become popular since the advent of the Web, because it adds a prominent new channel to storefronts and catalog sales. One consideration of multichannel marketing is that each channel reinforce the other. For example, information taken from sales on one channel be used to help the customer when making a purchase on another channel of the same vendor.
Branding
- The process of creating a unique, positive and recognizable identity for a product or service. Along with marketing and advertising, creating a visual identity through signage is an important part of the branding process.
Social Media
- The use of electronic and Internet tools for the purpose of sharing and discussing information and experiences with other human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences.
Mad Men
The new prime time television show Mad Men is a take on advertising agencies in the 60’s and clearly shows how different things were then vs. today. Historically, marketing was defined by the 4 P’s – Product, Place, Price and Promotion. Ad agencies simply decided how they wanted to promote the product, developed catchy copy to get the consumer excited and moved to action. Unfortunately, the 4 P’s fail to position the customer as the center of this mix and while it may have worked for the Mad Men it certainly isn’t going to work today.
Booz, Allen, Hamilton published a study titled HD Marketing 2010 and they argue that consumers are now media producers, publishers and distributors and with this convergence of media there are more opportunities for direct dialogue between marketers and consumers. Additionally, the balance of power has shifted and consumers are the new marketers and this shift in control makes traditional strategies, channels, relationships and metrics less useful and possibly completely irrelevant.
The study contends that marketers have to use a new set of trends to achieve their objectives including the following;
1. Marketing as Conversation (Don’t push messages at consumers rather find ways to co-create experiences with them)
2. Media as the New Creative (Message distribution is just as important as content)
3. Marketing and Math (Use insight to create foresight)
4. Mind The Gap (Focus resources on where the consumers are not where you have historically been)
5. Digital Savvy (Need to align technology with the right talent, progressive culture and functional skills)
6. Network (Partnership and collaboration with various partners will grow)
Clearly the 4P’s are becoming ancient history and marketers need to focus on how to use consumer behavioral shifts to redefine marketing communications in their own organizations. However, the big question remains – How do you effectively do that while continuing to ‘mind the store’ and deliver results?
Booz, Allen, Hamilton published a study titled HD Marketing 2010 and they argue that consumers are now media producers, publishers and distributors and with this convergence of media there are more opportunities for direct dialogue between marketers and consumers. Additionally, the balance of power has shifted and consumers are the new marketers and this shift in control makes traditional strategies, channels, relationships and metrics less useful and possibly completely irrelevant.
The study contends that marketers have to use a new set of trends to achieve their objectives including the following;
1. Marketing as Conversation (Don’t push messages at consumers rather find ways to co-create experiences with them)
2. Media as the New Creative (Message distribution is just as important as content)
3. Marketing and Math (Use insight to create foresight)
4. Mind The Gap (Focus resources on where the consumers are not where you have historically been)
5. Digital Savvy (Need to align technology with the right talent, progressive culture and functional skills)
6. Network (Partnership and collaboration with various partners will grow)
Clearly the 4P’s are becoming ancient history and marketers need to focus on how to use consumer behavioral shifts to redefine marketing communications in their own organizations. However, the big question remains – How do you effectively do that while continuing to ‘mind the store’ and deliver results?
Monday, September 15, 2008
Which Half?
Lord Leverhulme, the founder of Lever Brothers, is credited with the famous aphorism — ‘one half of advertising does not work but nobody knows which half.’ Unfortunately this is still an ongoing issue for many marketers -- particularly those focussed on brand building. How do you convince the CFO to allocate resources when you have a hard time measuring results? Direct marketers have been able to circumvent this issue somewhat by quickly being able to show ROI based on results of various campaigns. However, it's also been shown that to generate really good results, sometimes you have to give up on the "branding." How can you combine the two without losing branding opportunity or response rates? Here's a great example from Polo. Genius!
Ralph Lauren has introduced the quick response codes into print ads, mailers and store windows aimed at sending traffic to their new mobile commerce site. The codes, when scanned with a mobile phone with QR software will direct the phone’s browser to a website where you can shop for RL products.
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