Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Marketing Makeover: You Change Your Shirt; You Should Change Your Web Presentation!

After noticing a NY Times story that profiled various companies in the midst of managing a PR crisis (can you spell Toyota?), it was interesting to note that the companies in question have made dunderhead updates to their respective websites, whether via downplaying widely-publicized recall notices, or inserting gratuitous comments that failed to fully accept responsibility for whatever it was their company did to inspire the respective PR crisis and the angst of their customers.

The article didn't intend to, but it did include subliminal observations about the importance of refreshing your corporate image, as displayed via your company website. Obvious? Of course. Another hit to the operating budget? Actually, it doesn't have to cost an arm, or a leg to make changes to your company website. If it does, you're doing something wrong.

Let's face it; we're in a makeover world. Our audiences wants to be refreshed, reminded, re-stimulated. After all, we get face lifts, body tucks, new hairdo's, we paint the house a different color every once in a while (forgive me for offending those that have been evicted after failing to pay their mortgage), we buy a new tie, we buy a new handbag, etc., etc. All with the objective of projecting a fresh, updated and uplifting message. And presumably, we're incorporating the current 'trend'.


This isn't to suggest you need to re-do your corporate logo, or your corporate corporate "tag line." Some tag lines are timeless. Case in point: ten years ago, we crafted the tag line for a global financial services company ("The Professional's Gateway to the World's Markets") and that tag line is still flying on the masthead of every single piece of the company's collateral (print, radio, tv, web, correspondences, etc.)


Makeovers don't need to be extreme. For example, installing an elegant video element within your website doesn't require rocket science, but its consistent with the current trend i.e. presentations. We love video. It captures the essence of our virtual/mental touch points.

Sight and Sound Sell. Its that simple.

There's no shortage of vendors--in NYC alone there are literally dozens of shops that can produce great stuff; my choice is MediaPlace, simply because I've worked with them for years, and they know how to re-purpose a corporate message better than most. 


Yes, we make it a point to introduce changes to our firm's website on a regular basis. Sometimes we incorporate a timely 'satisfied client story'. Sometimes we tweak the front page so as to incorporate the most current phrases within our value proposition; that shows visitors we're on top of our game, and at the same time, it gives a boost to our SEO objectives.  Sometimes we modify the layout and change the fonts.


Changing your presentation is good..just as long as you're not shaving your head or growing a mullet.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Marketing: Its All About Selling..I've got a great brick for sale!!

While this blog is necessarily focused on (among other things) "marketing" and related communication techniques, the fact of the matter is, its all about selling.  However entertaining it is to read about/hear about people that position themselves as "marketers", if you can't sell, then marketing is meaningless.

Its all about connecting the tag line to the bottom line, which means its all about sales.

So, it was equally entertaining to notice a contest searching for "the world's greatest salesperson," promoted by  OgilvyOne, a division of the icon ad agency WPP.

Contestants are being solicited to upload a video to a dedicated YouTube.com channel in which they demonstrate, explain, illustrate, or otherwise present the best way to sell a brick.

No, not the kind of brick that's slated to become legal in California as a means to increase the tax revenues; just a simple run of the mill brick.  Accordng Ogilvy, the most creative brick salesperson will win a trip to present in a live shark tank, and be hired for a 3 month internship.

Not a bad way to capture video resumes, although some will likely game the system and go back to research the history of Pet Rocks.
Here's my submission on the product value proposition, the video elements can be based on the following narrative:  
"We have It. You Want It! And it won't cost more than a handful of cement!"
Its all purpose, eco-friendly, non-destructible and here's just some of the things that  it can do:
  • Open car doors if you've lost your key
  • Gain entrance to back door if you've been locked out.
  • Be used as weapon (no license required!!!)
  • Decorative device/paper weight
  • Door stop--or the Perfect Book End (for those that still buy books..)
  • The first ingredient to building your $2 million mini-mansion!
  • Anchor for your mini-yacht (anchor rope available for slight additional charge..)
  • Tire stop for your golf-cart.
  • Message carrier for industrial strength sling shots.

Ok..maybe those are silly ideas, maybe note...But, if you want to win the "best salesperson" prize from Ogilvy, they say that you should go to their channel on YouTube

Friday, March 26, 2010

Back to Business of B2B Web-Video Chat : Oovoo

Ok..so we've teased you in the recent updates by suggesting we could only locate (2) truly credible providers of low cost, high quality video broadcast/video chat applications...

We can't explain how/why we overlooked Oovoo.com, and we won't bother telling you how we tripped over this company...

The first glimpse of the application and the platform suggests that it looks good, its priced right (there's a free version and options i.e. enterprise version), but also reminds us that when it comes to B2B technology applications, the first-movers' disadvantage is the notorious obstacle that is increasingly prevalent: firewall.  

That said, we think this platform is a good one..notwithstanding the fact that for broadcasting, its powered by an executable that needs to be downloaded...and that element might introduce some hiccups..but we haven't kicked the tires hard enough or long enough to determine whether or not your computer might have a digestion problem....

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Seeing (and Hearing) is Believing; How to Rise Above the Clutter

Video, video, video..we've been playing this harp and harping on the subject of businesses needing to leverage new media apps while their competitors are languishing in the world of traditional messaging techniques.

The proposal below was prepared by an agency that's been around the block more than a few times, and in our opinion, they hit the bulls eye when crisply condensing the client's already nicely configured value proposition. Equally appealing, the agency formulated a very cost-sensitive strategy that provides the client with an approach that will have extended shelf life, and can inserted in multiple applications.


Corporate Marketing Communications Proposal From Media Place & JLC Group to WallachBeth Capital

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Social Network Advertising & LinkedIn.com Before You Buy In...Read the Warning Label

To: Steve Patrizi, VP of Advertising Sales

After establishing a PPC ad program via LinkedIn at beginning of week, it took less than two days to recognize that the campaign in question has been charged for noticeably more clicks/visitors than we have documented for the same period of time by two different site traffic applications that are installed on the destination website.

One of those meters is google analytics, the other is a tool provided by AMZN. 

After presenting this to LinkedIn advertising "online support", and requesting explanation or otherwise a credit, we were disheartened to receive a canned email reply indicating someone would eventually send another canned reply.   Surprising that you don't have a live chat staffed by people to service paying customers, but I suppose that would be a reach..In the mean time, it would be nice if someone were to actually reach out and address the issue. Would hate to instruct credit card company to dispute the charges...or to be the source of 'unhappy customer testimonial'

Thanks in advance for your reply.





To customer support:
This is the second attempt to contact support re: what definitely appears to be your double-charging us for clicks on recently-implemented PPC program.

After noticing that you have charged us for almost 2x the number of clicks than the number of actual LinkedIn referrals reported by two different traffic logs that we maintain,  we immediately reported this issue and we scaled back our program by half. Six hours later, we noticed you reported 2x the traffic than what our traffic logs reported for the remaining ads that were 'live".

Dear ,

Thank you for your quick response.

We do not provide support for third party web tracking or analytics software. Because of this, we are unable to supply information regarding possible differences.

We are confident in the information provided by reporting tools that monitor the clicks redirected to your site as well as our other reporting tools across the entire LinkedIn platform. At this time, we would encourage you to contact the third party vendor directly for questions related to their software or potential discrepancies in reporting.

Thank you for your continued use of our DirectAds product.

Regards,

Stephanie
LinkedIn Customer Support



Thank you Stephanie…

We didn’t suggest that you do support third party traffic log reporting software.

But the fact is, when two independent applications report exactly the same thing and completely contradict your reports and you respond to customers by insisting  that your charges are accurate, and that your reporting meter works better, or is more accurate than Google Analytics, or Amazon’s vendor tools, any reasonably experienced advertiser would take exception to your reply.

After noticing that you had charged us for almost 2x the number of clicks than the number of actual LinkedIn referrals reported by two different traffic logs that we maintain,  we immediately reported this issue and we scaled back our program by half. Six hours later, we noticed you reported 2x the traffic than what our traffic logs reported for the remaining ads that were 'live".

Needless to say, we will be terminating our ad program with LinkedIn immediately, disputing the charges with our credit card company, and we’ll look forward to sharing this experience within the various LinkedIn groups that we participate in, as well as the various industry blogs that we contribute to on a regular basis.

Best of luck in your career!
 

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Video Ad Messages Now Playing on Your PDA--Duh!!

If you've been following this blog for more than the last 5 updates, you'll know that I've always been a big proponent of video-centric marketing and communication applications for corporate, B2B and small businesses.

We're not newbies when it comes to digital communication, as this writer was arguably among the first wave of pioneers that advocated internal corporate instant-messaging applications when most Fortune companies were still busy trying to figure out how to leverage enterprise email.

Then came blogs, next came Twitter, and while "Marcomm Guru's" imbedded in corporate cubicles are still trying to get their arms around what works and what doesn't work, the Rich Media train keeps on rolling over those that haven't figured out which "best practices" are best vs. those that make the bean counters barf when attempting to monitor how the EVP of Sales and/or EVP of Marketing are working to connect the tag line to the bottom line.

Click on the link to the title of this posting--and then read in between the lines. If you can't understand how this story underscores how to leverage existing technology with your "social media strategy", give us a call and we'll paint a connect-the-dots picture so that even your CEO will "get it".

Post script reminder: "Cutting Edge" initiatives often result in a little bit of bleeding at first.