THINKing

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,

Calling All Carbon-Based Lifeforms

Many businesses want to market to all carbon-based life forms. They won’t take the time to really understand their audiences from geographic, demographic and psychographic perspectives.

Marketers waste a lot of time and money when they consider everyone a prospect. It requires research and a lot of thought, but for my money one of the most important elements to marketing success is clearly defining your audiences.

Could You At Least Help Out A Little?

I just saw something that reminded me of this old joke: a man prayed every day for weeks to win the lottery. No luck. Finally, God said to the man, “could you help me a little? Try buying a lottery ticket!”

Creative Briefs

Recently young people going into the advertising and marketing business have asked questions about creative briefs. So, I thought I’d address that topic here. I’ve written several articles and posted often on the subject of creative briefs. But today I thought I’d provide an overview of the My Creative Team creative work plan.

Big Boy Marketing – Part 3

Our final lessons from the Fortune 1000 Big Boys:

Big Boy Marketing – Part 2

Another marketing lesson from the Big Boys, that is Fortune 1000 size companies.

Ask Your Customers. Big Boys do the necessary research. Customers will provide you with invaluable data, if you let them. From defining your positioning to advice on new products, every business has customers willing to wade into the discussion.

Big Boy Marketing – Part 1

Photo By mshades (Flickr)

In working with our Fortune 1000 clients I have come to see that we all can learn a few things from these Big Boys. They may miss the boat on some things, but they get a lot right. Let’s review.

What’s The Top Social Network?

Anita Campbell at Small Business Trends posed the question to 17 web entrepreneurs who she considers to be savvy,

“If your goal is to grow a small business online, and you had time for only one social networking / social media site, which would you choose and why?”

Get Well Defined

Body builders do it, marketers should too. OK, all body builders have to do is lift and take steroids to get well defined, so their job is a little simpler. Let’s take a moment to see how marketers can better define their audiences.