THINKing

Zigging

Back in the 20th Century when I first went into marketing, my mentor told me that when everyone else is zigging, you should consider zagging. Good advice now, as it was then. I got to thinking about this today as I was having lunch with a colleague I worked with back in that other century. More on that in a minute.

Think about what’s happening in marketing and advertising right now. Every brand is rushing to social media and converting every message into a digital one. Well, if you are going to zagnow, whatwould you do?

I’m not saying to stop social media and go totally old school from a communications perspective. What I am promoting is some old school tactics that help bring the brand to life.

My lunch companion works in events and sponsorships. Now is the time to do events. Many brands - particularly those in NASCAR - have gotten out of the events and sponsorship business recently. This means that you can do events for less money now. Why would you want to, you ask?

Whether your audience is allies, employees or customers, events - done correctly - are a great way to bring the brand to life. An event allows you the unique opportunity to inform, educate or entertain your audience. I’m not talking about a trade show. I’m talking proprietary events.

Research shows that  proprietary events are:

- rated more highly in terms of meeting the particpant’s needs than a trade show

-  more than twice as likely to result in sales compared to a trade show

- more likely to draw C-level attendees

We’ll be talking more about zagging in the days ahead. What are your thoughts on the subject?

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Colorful Brands

We talked sometime back about the use of color in your branding efforts.  My Creative Team uses orange as our dominant color. Orange is considered an energetic color, connoting excitement, enthusiasm, playfulness and value. It is no secret why Home Depot and Howard Johnson selected orange. We wanted to express playfulness and good value, so orange was our choice, as well.

One of our longtime clients is Bank of Commerce, a business bank right in the heart of Bank of America country.  When this bank was starting up, it was open to the idea of color as a branding tool. Says President and CEO Wes Sturges,

Banks typically use red or blue for their color. We wanted something different to differentiate us, so we went with purple. Purple is a symbol of royalty and riches, and is said to be the color representing good judgment.We use it in everything we do from signage and business cards to our website and email newsletter.

William Arruda agrees with us that color is a powerful branding tool. In a recent article at MarketingProfs, Arruda writes,

“Some organizations are so consistent and steadfast in their use of color that they practically own that color in our minds,” he says. “Think Home Depot, National Breast Cancer Foundation, UPS, and Target.”

He offers some excellent tips on the use of color,

• Choose a color that reflects the values of your company and resonates with your audience. Don’t pick one simply because it’s your favorite, or commit to a certain hue without first testing to see how your target market reacts.
• If you have an international presence, determine what attributes a color might have in other cultures. Colors can mean different things in different countries, and you run the risk of sending a message you didn’t intend.
• Be consistent in your use of color. “Always use the same shade and hue,” advises Arruda. “Know the PMS, RGB (red, green, blue) and CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, key) formulas for the specific shade you choose. Your designer will be able to help, and Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign have built-in conversions.”

What colors are you using? Do they truly reflect what your organization is about?

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Top Content

In case you missed some of our posts, here are the top five read of all time:

Twittering Journalists

Top 10 Story Starters For Blocked Bloggers

Newspapers: Dig The Grave 

When Billboards Go Bad

It’s The Relationship, Stupid

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Reading List

What are you reading today? Here are a few items we are checking out.

Newspaper Online Traffic Heads Up

Google Fast Flip Speeds Online News Reading

iPhone App Helps You Find Guinness

Measuring The Business Effects Of Web 2.0

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Social Media: A Tactic Seeking A Strategy

Every time some new tool comes on the scene that possibly could be used in marketing or advertising, organizations jump on it with no forethought. The tactic du jour is social media.  A recent survey indicates that a majority of media buyers are adding social media to their 2010 budgets.  According to the 2010 Media Planning Intelligence Study from the Center for Media Research,

57.7% of respondents “ideally” plan, and 56.3% “realistically” plan to include social media in their media plans next year. That finding is significant, because it shows the rapid speed with which social media, including social networks like Facebook, micro-blogging services such as Twitter, and other new and emerging formats connecting people to each other online have taken a precedent with both consumers and marketing and advertising industry professionals.

Now, if you ask these buyers why they want to add social media to the advertising mix, you won’t get much in the way of solid, credible support for getting on the social media bandwagon. They want to be there because it is all the rage. Hello, people! What happened to hard-nosed number-driven media planning?

I ran across this piece from ClickZ Columnist Sean Carton, who agrees with me that this trend is worrisome.  Says Carton,

Sure, plenty of clients (and prospects) I’ve spoken to in the past year or so made vague noises about viral video or being on Facebook or tweeting, but when I’ve pressed them for why they want those things, few can give me an answer.

They have been hypnotized by the steady media drumbeat extolling the virtues of social media. They, too, are probably being pressured by clients and organizational higher ups to add social media to the plan, strategy or not.  It is up to us to help determine whether social media makes sense for our organizations.  And if it does make sense, what should our approach be? Like every other media decision since time immemorial, your target audiences will direct you to the appropriate decision.

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Hidden Gems

OK, I’ll admit it: since Labor Day is approaching I’m taking the lazy way out today and dredging up some excellent old posts that for some reason didn’t get any traction. Have a great holiday.

Fighting For The Middle Ground

Tell Me A Story

I Spy: Top 7 Links For Online PR Espionage

Customer Diss-Service

Your Personal Brand

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Face Time

Some social media proponents would have you believe that the digital world is the new Nirvana. Guess what? Humans - the users of social media - haven’t really changed their behavior in 75,000 years. Although, we do dress better now, and we’re not all cavorting naked on the plains of the Serengeti.

Humans - being human - love social interaction, particularly of the face-to-face variety. Always have, always will. In fact, a recent survey by Forbes indicates that executives favor face-to-face meetings over the virtual kind.

A majority of executives say the recession has cut back their travel and face-to-face meetings, and they don’t like that very much. A full 84% of those surveyed say they prefer real-life interaction over digital.

Although you can’t meet with everyone of your online shoppers, you can provide them some human interaction, too  They are craving this. According to an August 2009 survey conducted by Harris Interactive for human-assisted shopping site IMshopping,

77% of US Internet users who made an online purchase in the past six months would be interested in help from a real person before buying certain things on the Web. Though a majority of online shoppers reported a desire for help at least some of the time, 82% of respondents said they had not been able to get that assistance in the past. And more than one-half of that group said it had affected their purchase decision negatively—at least some of the time.

I’m not saying there isn’t a place for virtual meetings and online interaction. I’m just saying that you need to understand the genetic need humans have for the tangible. It’s harder to read people during digital interactions, and you can’t build deep, meaningful relationships solely using ones and zeroes.

The same holds true for tangible marketing material. There is a time and place for everything, and now is the time for you to stand out by being more tangible to your customers and allies.

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