Dead Brands

August 10, 2010 on 8:49 am | In Advertising, Brand, Branding | View Comments

 2857498394_f7c9c473bd.jpg

2008 was the 100th anniversary of Hydrox, a creme-filled chocolate cookie whose name sounded like bad-tasting medicine. We wrote about the cookie back then because its latest owner, Kellogg’s, was using the anniversary in an attempt to resuscitate the brand. Bring on the CPR!

At the time, we predicted that this was a brand which would not be successful. Sadly, we were right. Kellogg’s just didn’t give it the resources or attention it needed to take on the knock-off that became the number 1 creme-filled cookie, Oreo.  The brand disappeared in 2009.

Although Hydrox had a small, but fanatical following, plus a unique story and point of differentiation, Kellogg’s – I believe – thought that its distribution muscle and PR would win the day.

As a PR guy, I would love for this to have been the case. But in a fight like this, you must advertise, and that’s primarily where Kellogg’s marketing effort failed. Distribution and PR can take down a #2 brand, but when you are trying to supplant a #1, you must dominate advertising and your campaign must have high frequency.

Kellogg’s tried simple CPR when it really needed the defibrillator. Result: a dead brand.

Are there any dead brands you’d like to see brought back to life?

Advertising’s Not Dead, But Advertisers Are Trying To Kill It

July 2, 2010 on 9:26 am | In Advertising, Brand, Creative, Creativity, Customer Retention, Marketing | View Comments

 Killing advertising

Advertising is on life support but it is not dead. Although it seems that advertisers and their agencies are trying to kill it.

When done correctly, it still has its place in the marketing mix. The problem with advertising, as in so many marketing tactics, is that companies launch ads before they really think their program through.

First, let’s think about what we want our advertising to achieve. You should tie your advertising objectives to the objectives you have for your business. Ask yourself what benefits advertising can help bring to the business.

Are you looking for new customers who don’t know you? Are you trying to get a share of your competitors’ customers who know a little about you? Or, are you trying to get your own customers to buy more from you? The answers to these questions will help you establish what type message is needed because one ad cannot address all carbon-based life forms.

Ads need to be aimed at specific audiences. And media dollars, if you’re fortunate enough to have them, are precious, so let’s target the ad message as we’ll need to target that media spending.

Prospects need to have their interest aroused, while you might need a “make a change” message aimed at competitors’ customers, and your own customers may respond best to a loyalty message.

Now, you should determine how best to get your message out. The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising says that advertising is “the means of providing the most persuasive possible selling message to the right prospects at the lowest possible cost.”

This means that there are lots of ways to deliver your advertising message. You are not limited to the big three: radio, TV and newspapers.

Direct mail might be a better answer for you if you have a narrowly defined audience. Going after a mass audience may mean you need mass media.

Remember: it’s the most persuasive message to the right prospects at the lowest cost. And with corporate advertising spending, remember the old adage, “Nothing happens until the cash register rings,” and adjust your message and media decisions accordingly.

Marketers tend to overestimate the power of advertising. They want to hit the market with a big campaign and receive a flood of new business. Here’s the dirty little secret: most people ignore most advertising. It can’t make people do what they don’t want to do, nor interest them in what they are not interested in. Advertising is a crutch – a strong, efficacious one when done right, but additive to the rest of your communications programming.

Your job as a marketer is to do the heavy lifting up front to develop a compelling message, and deliver it effectively to a specific audience using the right medium. Otherwise you are wasting your time because your ad campaign will be dead on arrival.

Do These 10 Things Today

May 10, 2010 on 8:55 am | In Advertising, Charity, Marketing, Networking, New Business | View Comments

Are you looking for ways to build your business? Sometimes we become paralyzed because there seems to be so many things we could and should be doing to market our companies. Longtime readers know I’m typically a strategy first guy, but sometimes you just need to do something to get  things rolling. So, here are 10 easy marketing ideas you can start on today:

1. Plan a speech

2. Start a marketing calendar, listing all of your scheduled events in categories like advertising, direct mail, networking

3. Write five thank you notes and send them to your best customers. Repeat tomorrow.

4. Review your LinkedIn profile (you do have one, right?) to make sure it is complete.

5. Connect with me on LinkedIn

6.  Sponsor a charity event

7.  Write a press release. See my article: 33 Reasons To Do A News Release

8. Sign up for my enewsletter on marketing

9.  Line up a college intern to help you with your marketing this summer. As a UNC-Chapel Hill grad, I suggest UNC’s intern program

10. Read my series on New Business

Got any more ideas? Comment, please.

5 Best Posts – January 2010

January 27, 2010 on 4:00 pm | In Advertising, Marketing, Media, Media Relations, News, Social Media, Twitter, audience, twittering journalists | View Comments

We had some very popular posts in January – some old and some new. I thought I’d share them with you.

  1. 8 Ways To Use Twitter Lists
  2. Twittering Journalists
  3. Be Relevant
  4. When Billboards Go Bad
  5. 7 Ways To Kickstart Your 2010 Marketing 

What’s your favorite?

#1 With A Bullet

January 19, 2010 on 5:09 pm | In Advertising, Email Marketing, Marketing, Social Media | View Comments

Old radio guys like me remember the phrase “#1 With A Bullet.” This was what you said about a hit record (wow, does anyone else remember records?) that was #1 on the chart and continuing to sell well.

Well, I want to know what marketing tactic is #1 with a bullet on your 2010 list.  eMarketer seems to think that email may be at the top of many marketers’ lists, followed by social media, search and advertising.

1089711.gif

The real news out of eMarketer is this,

Combining social media and e-mail marketing is a growing trend. More than four in 10 business executives said integrating the two tactics was one of their most important e-mail marketing initiatives for 2010, just after improving performance and targeting and growing opt-in lists.

Now, integrating email and social media is not just including links in your emails to your social media profiles. It could include cross-promoting newsletter content on your blog or even polling your followers on Twitter and using the results in your blog and enewsletter.

Are you integrating your email and social media programs? What else tops your list? Tell us about it, won’t you?

Marketing’s Magic Bullet

January 6, 2010 on 6:24 pm | In Advertising, Marketing, New Business | View Comments

Do you believe there is a marketing magic bullet? A lot of people do.

Hundreds of “consultants” make millions of dollars each year teaching seminars and boot camps, and selling newsletters about marketing’s magic bullet – that one simple thing you can do to fill up your register with virtually no effort on your part.

People buy this tripe because they want “simple” and “no effort” ways to move their business forward.

All those magic bullet consultants are wrong. I have the secret and I am going to share it, but you won’t be happy about it.

My marketing magic bullet: focus, discipline and consistency. Yes, my magic bullet involves some work on your part.

Focus requires you to define your audiences, learn about their behavior, and then provide relevant and believable information, communicated in an original, impactful fashion.

Discipline necessitates developing a marketing plan and implementing it aggressively. Your plan must also include a sales element. I know businesses that market and then just expect clients to flock to them with wallets in hand. Unfortunately for these businesses, it requires some effort on their part. Sorry, no passive income.

Finally, we come to consistency. This means implementing your program even after you are tired of it. And don’t change your message and marketing tactics on a whim. The race goes to the marathon man, not the sprinter.

Some other smart people agree with me. Business Coach Brent Dees says, “You can do anything, but you can’t do everything. If you focus, you can accomplish your goals.” Friend Bill Loeffler used to tell clients, “We can’t do everything. Let’s pick three marketing tactics and do them right.”

Remember: focus, discipline and consistency. Unlike those other consultants, I won’t bill you for that magic bullet. Lock and load.

7 Ways To Kickstart Your 2010 Marketing

January 4, 2010 on 10:33 am | In Advertising, Customer Retention, Email Marketing, Marketing, Referral Marketing, Social Media, audience | View Comments

It’s 2010, now what? Have you completed your marketing planning or did you leave it to the last minute? No matter. We have 7 ideas of things you can do to kickstart your marketing.

Define Your Customers.  I had a client one time who told me that “all carbon-based lifeforms” were the targets of his advertising. Needless to say, I quickly disabused him of that notion. If you want to spend your money wisely, this is the#1 thing you can do right now for your marketing effort.

Focus On Current Customers. I know that you want to go out and take down that new business buffalo, but you’ll get a greater return by getting more business from current customers.

Get Referrals. If you have done a good job for existing customers, they will tell their friends about you. But you need a strategy to make this happen.

Activate Your Customers.  It is no secret that I believe email is still one of the best ways to generate goodwill, referrals and business.  Plan your email attack to activate customers now.

Open Your Wallet. I’ve been accused of being against paid advertising. I am not. I’m just against unplanned, poorly focused advertising. Some of your competitors are still weak from the recent economic strife. You still have an opportunity to kill the weak, if you’ll spend some money smartly to take market share.

Be Sociable.  Humans – being human – love social interaction, particularly of the face-to-face variety. Always have, always will. So, look for ways to add human interaction to your marketing. Also, reexamine your approach to social media.  

Be Tactical. First off, let me say that I’m a strategy kind of guy. But sometimes you just need to do something to get your marketing off dead center.

Of Spokesmen & Sluts

December 15, 2009 on 11:23 am | In Advertising, Brand, Branding, Marketing | View Comments

I would never recommend that a client select a celebrity to be a spokesman for its products. Period. End of story. I know the potential benefits of using the right celebrity to draw attention to your company, product or service. I just don’t think it is worth the possible problems.

Celebrities often seem to have more than their share of moral failings. So, when they fall off the straight and narrow path, the accompanying crash is louder than it would be for you or me.

Whether it’s a pro golfer running around with porn stars and sluts, an angelic faced Ivory Snow pitchwoman who turns out to be a porn star or the world’s best swimmer taking hits off a bong,  if you align your brand too closely with a celebrity, you are asking for trouble. You are ceding the brand to someone over whom you have no control.

I’d rather tie my brand to a brand promise  – the statement I make to customers that spells out what they should expect in interactions with me, my people, as well as my products and services. Here, I have some control.

Then, there’s the whole question of whether the celebrity overshadows the brand. Can you name a celebrity and correctly identify the companies for which he or she speaks? It’s like beer commercials that rely on humor to get your attention but once they are over, you can’t name the brand because the commercial didn’t tether the humor to the brand promise.

What do you think about the value of celebrity spokesmen?

Time To Plan

December 14, 2009 on 9:42 am | In Advertising, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Marketing, My Creative Team, Networking, New Business, audience | View Comments

There’s usually some downtime at work around the holidays. What are you doing with your break? I’m using mine to meet with clients and prospects and to complete my planning for 2010. Do you have a marketing plan for the year? What new items are you incorporating into your plan?

Here are a few things I’m thinking about for 2010.

How much should I budget – both in terms of my time and money – toward marketing and PR? Does it make sense to spend it in traditional marketing, in PR, in direct marketing, in social media or in some combination?

Have the media habits of my clients and prospects – marketers and HR executives in Fortune 1000 companies – changed? With which media are they spending more time and which ones have they abandoned? Where is their pain in 2010? Are they still short-staffed and looking for outside resources to round out their teams?

Based on some of the research I’m seeing, it looks like marketing budgets will be up a bit this year.  According to eMarketer,

Next year, while broadcast television, radio, newspaper and magazine spending continue to downsize, though more slowly than in 2009, online ad spending will enjoy a nice bump-up: eMarketer currently forecasts 5.5% growth. And the increase won’t all come from search—banner ads will grow 3.3%, and online video will jump by 40%.

This is shaping up perfectly for My Creative Team, since we have a great deal of expertise in the online environment and in developing flash animation and corporate video for online use.

LinkedIn now connects me to 52 million professionals. Is there a better way to utilize my nearly 600 connections on this social platform? How can I use LinkedIn’s advertising capabilities to reach my target audience, specifically the HR audience? We develop a great deal of employee communication and training materials for Nucor, and would like to expand into HR with other Fortune 1000 firms.

Does a My Creative Team presence on Facebook still make sense since we are focused on Fortune 1000 contacts?

Tell us what you are thinking about. We’d love to hear your thoughts on how you plan to market in 2010.

Be Relevant

December 7, 2009 on 9:49 am | In Advertising, Brand, Branding, Marketing, audience, psychographics | Comments Off

It comes as no surprise to me that Americans are trying harder than ever to avoid advertising. According to a new study by Synovate,

More than four in 10 US consumers said they were skipping ads on TV and the radio as well as avoiding Websites with intrusive ads more in 2009 than they were the year before.

Why, you ask? Because advertising is increasingly less relevant. We’ve discussed this before: advertising needs to be relevant, original and impactful or consumers will avoid it like the plague. And they certainly won’t share the ad with their friends.

When asked about positive ad-related activities, such as searching for advertisements online, sharing and discussing ads with friends, or following brands on Facebook and Twitter, responses were in the single digits. Most consumers reported never doing any such activities.

Relevant ads get shared. But most ads aren’t relevant because the advertiser hasn’t done the hard part: determining who his target audience is from a demographic and psychographic perspective. The more you know about the customer, the easier it is for your creatives to develop relevant, original and impactful messages, and to determine the best ways and vehicles through which to disseminate your messages.

But I’m not letting the agencies off the hook here either. Too often, the agency goes for the easy, humorous approach because they know that using humor increases likeability of the brand. Here’s the problem with that: they inject the humor but leave the brand message out of the equation. How many times have you laughed at a beer commercial only to say after it was over, “whose ad was that?”

Remember, understand your customer and ensure your agency is developing relevant, original and impactful ads for you, or save your money for something besides advertising.

Next Page »

Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds. Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^

Online Slots For Us Players Macintosh Online Casinos Online Casino Review Rtg Us Full List Of Online Casinos Register Credit Card Casino Bonus Slots With Deposit Bonus Casino Sites For Rtg Slots Mac Rtg Casino Casino For Usa Players Play Slots Online With Credit Card Top Online Casino No Download Online Craps Best Odds Best Online Slots 2010 Craps Online Flash Us Slots Online No Download Best First Time Bonus Online Casino Online Games Video Poker Vegas Slots Best Payouts New 2010 Internet Casino Bonus Codes Us Blackjack Casino Best Sign Up Bonuses Casinos Online Casinos That Accept All Us Players Online Casino For Mac Slot Tournaments With No Download Top 10 American Casinos Internet Slots Video Slot Machines Games Us Mac Online Casinos Online Casinos For Mac For Real Money 3 Reel Slots Us Casino Top 20 Casinos Play For Real Money Slot Machines Bonus Casinos Rtg 2010 All New Casinos Online New Instant Online Casino Slot Machine Games With Bonus Internet Casino Blackjack Top Casinos In The Us Online Gambling Promotions Casinos That Pay Bonus For Roulette Online Casino Us Players Casinos Amex Best Online Casino Blackjack Flash Casino For Mac Casino Slots Sign Up Bonus Online Casinos Slots No Download Play Online Slot Casinos All Rtg Casinos Coupon Codes Casinos Rtg Top Bonus Codes Usa Casino Signup Bonus Online Blackjack Real Money Best Online Casino Bonus Best Ratings Casino Games Best Online Blackjack Casinos New Member Bonus Casino Cash Sign Up Bonus Casino Online Casino Play For Real Money New Slots Flash Casino Online No Download Best Odds Us Online Casino New Casino Usa Play United States On Line Casino Best Online Usa Casinos Casinos Accepting Us Bettors A To Z Of Online Mac Casinos Usa Casinos Online Credit Card Casino With Real Money Best Usa Player Online Casino Bonus Best Legal Online Casino Welcome Bonus Casino Usa Player Casino Games List How To Play Online Slot Machines Best Match Bonus Us Casino Casino That Accept Usa Residents Casino Play Start Bonus Online Us Casinos Accepting Western Union No Download Slots Games Video Slots Best Bonus Casinos Bonus Rtg Best Payout Online Us Casinos Online Casino Slot Bonuses Online 5 Reel Slots Bonus List Of Top Ten Online Blackjack Casino Casino 2010 15 Line Slots Bonus Rounds Deposit Mastercard Online Casinos Casino Roulette Online Slots Bonus Codes Online Instant Casino Usa Friendly Gambling America Online Casino Online Casinos Sign Up Bonus Us Online Roulette Bonus The Biggest Casino In Usa Online Slots No Downloads Casino Internet Slots Gamble Online Bonus Specials Play Casino With Moneybookers Online Casinos Accept Ewallet Xpress Cards Best Online Gambling For Mac Best Slot Machine Online Play Casino Slots For Real Money Mac Casino List Usa Accepted Flash Casinos Best Paying Online Slots Top Payout Online Casinos Us Online Slots Sing On Bonus Vegas Slots Best Odds Online Craps Canada Instant Flash Casinos No Download Required Casinos Casinos That Pay Us Players Casino Internet Banking Accept American Express Casino Casino Blackjack Games Online Video Slots Bonuses Casino Promotion Codes Play Slots No Download Required Rtg Accepting Us Players Sign Up Bonus Casinos In The Usa Usa New Casino Codes 3 Reel Slots For Real Money No Download Casino Slots Mastercard Online Gambling Gamble Online Sites Casinos For Us Player Online Casino For Us Players Mac Casino Slot Promotions Us Online Casino Listing Instant Casino Cash Bonus Best Bonus Real Flash Blackjack Top Online Casinos Ewalletxpress Blackjack Credit Bonus Us Player Best Deposit Bonus Blackjack Game Download Rtg Casino Bonus American Express Casino Sites Play New Online Slots For Usa High Roller Casino Guide Online Slots That Accept Amex Mac Video Slots Play Slots Online Real Money List Of Casinos In The United States Slot Games Usa Deposit Best Casino 2010 California Gambling Online Real Slots On Mac Real Video Slots Best Online Slots Real Money Online Gambling In The Usa Casinos That Accept Us Funds Moneybookers Casinos Online Newest Online Casino Bonus Codes Search Online Casino Us Players Casino With No Limit Roulette High Roller Casino Reviews New Instant Online Slots Online Casinos Excepting Us Players New Rtg Casino Bonuses California Online Casinos With Bonus Us Casinos Accepting Mastercard No Download Real Casino Slot Tournament Casinos New Casino Promotion Codes Play Casino Use Mastercard And Visa Best Slot Machine Sign Up Bonus Online Casinos List Online Casino First Deposit Bonus Casinos That Use Moneybookers Online Casinos Accepting All Us Players Only Us Player Welcome Bonus Codes Casino Flash Game Internet Casino Payment Options Rtg Online Casinos Accepting Checks Rtg Us Players Legal Usa Online Casino Casinos Accepting American Express Play Online Video Slots Online Slots For Mac Us Flash Casinos Black Jack Real Money Online Best Casino Bonus Usa Players Casino Flash Games List Of Casinos Online Casino That Accept Amex Play Real Money Casinos Echeck Casino Best Online Slot Machine Games Top Online Sign Up Bonus Casinos Play Slot Machines For Real Money Best Online Slots Us Players Best Online Casino For Us Players Casino Video Slot Download Real Money Blackjack 12 Best Slot Machines Online No Download Casino For Cash Flash Casino Slot Tourmanents Internet Casino For Usa Play Slots Usa Online Newest Casino Gamble Online Safely Casino Games That Take Mastercard Legal Usa Casinos No Download Mac Casino Slots Slots Machine No Download Mac Casino Game Download Internet Casino Bonus Codes Best Us Online Casino Bonuses Top Casino Usa Slots Top 50 Casino Online New Casino Us Roulette Flash Download Casino Roulette Sign Up Bonus Legal Usa Casinos Online Blackjack Casino Bonus Best Sign On Bonuses Casinos Online Casino With Amex Deposit Legal Online Casinos Online Blackjack For Real Money In The Us Casino Internet Online New Usa Casino Sites Top Rated Casinos Best Online Casinos For Usa Players Gamble Online With Slots Online No Download Required Casinos Casino Mastercard Us Online Casinos Legal In Usa Online Slot Games With Bonus Usa Slots Black Jack Gamble Online Casinos That Take Ewalletxpress Slots Usa Friendly Deposit With Amex Casinos Online Casinos Listing Best Online Casino For Real Money Big Bonus Deposit Casino New Rtg Casinos 2010 Online Slots Play For Money Blackjack Gamble Real Money Brand New Online Us Casinos Best Casino On Mac Deposit With American Express For Us Online Casino Online Casinos Usa Credit Cards Slot Machine Promotions Echeck Casino Payments No Download Slot Machines To Play Best Online Slots Payouts Online Black Jack Mac Best Online Casino Bonuses Craps Online Us Players Best Online Slots Sites Casino Signon Bonus Codes Mac On Line Slots For Us Players Play Online Slots With No Download Rtg Online Casino Links Play Online Casino Video Slots New Flash Casinos Usa Casino Blackjack Internet Casino Compare Play Online Slot Tournaments Casinos For Mac Best Paying Online Us Slots Rtg Online Casinos 5 Reel Slots For Cash Best Deposit Bonus Casino Legal Usa Online Casinos Play Online Slot Tournaments No Download Casinos Accepting Us Credit Cards Online Slot Machines Real Money Casino That Play For Real Money Best Online Slots For Us Players Bonus Slot Downloads Play Slots Online In The United States Blackjack Casino Usa Real Money Best Online Casino In America Casino Internet Promotion Download New Video Slots New Online Casino Allowed For United States Sign On Bonus Real Money Slots 2010 Casino Sign Up Bonus Mac Casino Downloads All Flash Slots Casino 2010 Slot Machines Online Play Casino Games For Money In Usa Play Online Casino Usa Mac Slots Games Casino Signup Bonus Online Slot Casinos With Deposit Bonuses Best Online Slots Reviews Online Casinos Play Money Play Casino For Real Money Video Slots For Mac Casino Slots Machine Play Online Instant Play Casino Slots Best Online Slots Bonus Games Casino Credit Card Black Jack Tournaments Signup Bonus Casinos For Usa Players Casino Slot Bonuses Online Bonus Slot Casinos Casino Games For Us Players Play Blackjack Online For Real Money Casino That Accept Us Money Play Real Slots With Bonuses Online Craps Flash Casino Play Casino Games With Bonus Rounds Best Casino In America Online European Roulette Websites Casinoe Excepting Mastercard Usa Casinos Online List Play Slots Machines No Download Online Casinos That Take Amex New Casinos Allowing Us Players American Accepted Casino Bonus Legal Usa Casinos Online Slots Online Casinos Good Payout Best Roulette Casinos Us Real Casino With Real Money Online Slot Play For Money Rtg Online Casino Bonuses Usa Casino Sites The Best Casino Promotions Online Casino Flash Games Moneybookers Blackjack Online Top Ten Usa Casino Sites Casino Bonus List Play Casino Using Check Cleopatra Slot Bonus Round Casinos Deposit Bonuses On Line Casinos For American Players 2010 Casino Codes Usa Casino Promotion No Download Slots Bonus Top Online Casino Review Virtual Vegas Casino Blackjack Us Casinos That Except Echecks Us Player Slots Play Bonus Slots Online Instant Play Casinos Online New 2010 Flash Casinos For The Us Internet Casino Las Vegas Casino Cash Promotions Us Online Slot Tournaments Casino Usa Directory Play Online American Express A-z Casinos List Slots That Accept Us Players Instant Play Online Casino Brand New Online Casinos Us Players No Download Casino Sites List Of United States Casinos New Slot Machines Online Casino Slots With Bonus Rounds Video Poker Download Casinos On Line No Downloading Online Gambling Roulette Best Rating Online Casinos Casinos Who Accept Credit Cards Credit Cards For Casino Flash Casino Bonus Us Players Casino Internet Casinos Promotions I Want To Gamble Online United States List Online Casinos Rtg Casinos Accepting Echecks 2010 Rtg Bonuses Online Usa Casinos Accepting Mastercard No Download Real Slots Online Us Casinos American Express Usa Slots Tournament Casinos 3 Line Slot Tournaments Internet Casino Links Online Gambling Casino Usa Video Slots Online Casinos Casino With Slot Bonus Games Real Money Online Blackjack Best Online Slot Casinos Online Casino Amex Play Casinos With Bonus Slots Casino Online For Mac Newest Rtg Casinos Rtg Casinos Deposit Bonus