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Marketing (Online) Matters

13 Jan 2010

by Michelle O'Hagan

In case there’s still anyone out there who believes social media/social networking is:

  • a fad
  • for kids
  • for B2C, not B2B

instead of a pervasive shift in how all people communicate with each other, now comes yet another eMarketer report, Social Network Ad Spending: 2010 Outlook , that should put those beliefs out to pasture.

One of the most important findings concerns marketing, not advertising:

eMarketer barchart

According to eMarketer:

“… paid advertising in social networks—banners, text ads and search advertising, as well as the more targeted advertising being deployed by Facebook and MySpace—is only a fraction of the spending … The researcher estimated marketers spent $800 million in 2009 on social network, word-of-mouth and conversational marketing, up more than 23% over the previous year. Further growth of 35% is expected for 2010 to more than $1 billion.”

Long story short: Marketers are spending truckloads of money to create demand online in social networks, because that’s where their prospects (consumers and business people of all ages and walks of life ) are.

Demand creation using social media and social networks is no fad, and it is not exclusive to any particular demographic.

Things are looking up. :-)

Posted in Brand Visibility, Content Marketing, Relationship Marketing, Social Media, Strategy | No Comments »

The Magazine Business Really is Just Business

19 Oct 2009

by Michelle O'Hagan

This week, Advertising Age magazine’s cover story, The A-List, includes 10 magazines that “reach beyond the printed page to build a future as finely honed media brands.” The big winner: Women’s Health.

The article was an eye-opener for me because, although I’ve read all of the magazines on the list, I was wholly unaware of the fact that every one of them has become its own cross-selling empire. To be included on the list, a magazine must be operate as a brand, which may include the following:

smart licensing moves

becoming retailers in their own right

creating revenue-generating digital content

building smart cross-media content and ad platforms

finding a way to engage and monetize their communities

Whew! Even one of those things, (say, creating revenue-generating digital content) can be really, really difficult. And it goes to show that the magazine business is not really about magazines anymore: it’s about business.

It’s worth noting that every one of these publications has an intense editorial and creative focus on its readers. National Geographic isn’t trying to convert the FHM demo; National Geographic continues to excel at delighting a core constituency. It’s mission: exploration and conservation and bringing the wonders of the planet to people.

But, I’d guess that each of the magazines on the list has as many (or more) staffers dedicated to biz dev, technology, measurement and analysis as they do for editorial and design. It takes constant measurement and analysis to know if and when something is working, and to know when to adjust or pull the plug if something is not working.

National Geographic, according to the article, has more than 550,000 Facebook fans, 20,000 Twitter fans, and more than 190,000 YouTube subscribers. It also has ancillary publications, (”Adventure” and “Traveler”) and a cable television station. Think about what that means for measurement and analysis.

Consumers expect to be able to access to their favorite content in numerous delivery channels. They also expect content providers to reach out to them where they live (Facebook, Twitter, cable channels, iPhone apps).

And now, a question: Will it ever make sense again, in any circumstance, to start a new magazine on its own, without an integrated marketing plan that includes numerous content delivery channels? I can’t see it.

Posted in Brand Visibility, Content Marketing, Custom Magazines, Distribution Marketing, Metrics/ROI, Print | 3 Comments »

The Twitter Pitch

26 Mar 2009

by Michelle O'Hagan

One of my colleagues, Rene Ryan, called my attention to a blog post on BusinessBytes, a small business technology blog. The Death of the Elevator Pitch highlights the fact that the “elevator pitch”–the supposedly succinct description of a business offering that marketers could use to entice a prospect when time was tight–is on its last legs.  The blogger blames SMS and Twitter and mentions something about the downfall of civilization.

It’s way past time for the elevator pitch to go the way of the dodo, washboards and rotary-dial telephones. An elevator pitch is too long, and allows for too much fluffing-up. That’s right–if it takes you 60 seconds to describe the basics of what you do or sell, you have some work to do.

Too many people go into this elevator-pitch exercise with the goal of describing every wonderful thing about the company, the widgets, the service, and how they relate to every single customer segment or vertical. You’re not supposed to be doing that in an elevator (”Sorry, I pushed the wrong button, I’m getting off at 3 not 6″), at a cocktail party (”Um … I’ll be right back, I see my ex-boyfriend from high school over there”) or in professional or social networks (”un-friend,” “un-connect”).

If someone wants to know EVERYTHING about your company or service, they’ll come to your website or invite you to respond to an RFP.

First, make them want to come to your website or send you the RFP. And in a world of ever-shortening attention spans and information overload, anything more than the very basics takes too long whether you’re on Twitter or in an elevator.

The BusinessBytes blogger gave a wonderful example of what I’ll call a Twitter Pitch.

  • Start with the basics; noun, verb, object. (i.e. We sell cloth.)
  • Add a modifier to clarify what is special about you or your business. (i.e. We sell cloth made from bamboo.)
  • Add a short modifying phrase to clarify what is not only unique; but niche about your business. (i.e. We sell cloth made from bamboo that is cheap, ample and green-friendly.)
  • Edit the whole thing down by a third to one half and start with the most ear-catching words. (i.e. We’re totally green. Bamboo cloth. cheap & ample.)
  • Exchange email addresses.
  • Hook ‘em.

Marketers who can boil their company’s offering down to eight to 10 words or a single sentence have a firm grasp on what they’re selling and how to communicate effectively with their target audiences.

Hook ‘em.

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Posted in Brand Visibility, Content Marketing, Relationship Marketing, Social Media, Strategy | 10 Comments »

Download: Connecting with SMBs

24 Mar 2009

by Michelle O'Hagan

Let’s face it: there’s no telling when the economy will recover. But, money will flow again and, when it does, brands with customer-evangelists will benefit in a big way. So, it is absolutely critical to solidify relationships with small business customers at a time when they’re looking for help and advice.

Imagination Publishing’s special report, “Connecting With Small Business Owners in Tough Times: The Cash/Credit Crunch“ provides insight into how the lack of credit/cashflow hits small-business owners particularly hard, and what marketers can do to reach them, help them, and turn them into customer-evangelists.

Citations in the report include:

  • National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Feb. 2009 Small Business Economic Trends Analysis
  • Discover Financial Services Feb. 2009 Small Business Watch
  • SCORE

If you’re a marketer, now is the time to turn small business customers into “fans” who think of you as a partner, who believe in your brand and who share your brand with their colleagues.

By understanding small business owners’ informational needs and positioning your company as a trusted resource, you initiate and grow a lasting relationship that will weather tough times. And that’s what content marketing is all about: creating and reinforcing value.

Download Imagination Publishing’s special report, “Connecting With Small Business Owners in Tough Times: The Cash/Credit Crunch.“

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Posted in Brand Visibility, Content Marketing | No Comments »

The Fan Economy

27 Feb 2009

by Michelle O'Hagan

Below is a great slideshow from Bud Caddell, a strategist at Undercurrent. It makes a strong case for relationship marketing with the ideas that: there is no such thing as a captive audience, and “fans” (not awareness) are the only thing you should be focused on, especially in a recession.

In order to be fan-focused, your organization must have three things:

  1. a point of view (you cannot court everyone)
  2. a belief in infinity (b/c fandom defies time, space and material)
  3. open-source relationships (b/c fandom requires exposing yourself to the mechanisms of culture)

Bud’s slideshow provides a few examples fan-focused organizations, mostly large brands you’ve heard of.

Question: What companies do you know that are fan-focused???

The Fan Economy: Becoming Fan Focused

View more presentations from Bud Caddell. (tags: entourage hbo)

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Posted in Brand Visibility, Content Marketing, Custom Magazines, Custom Publishing, Digital, Distribution Marketing, Relationship Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, User Engagement | 1 Comment »

Facebook “Friends” Nokia

12 Feb 2009

by Michelle O'Hagan

An earlier post about Facebook’s user-base made the point that if you’re a marketer, and your target audience includes women or people over the age of 26, your audience probably has a Facebook account.

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal is further proof of the mainstreaming of social media in general, and Facebook in particular. It seems Facebook and Nokia are “discussing a partnership that would embed parts of the social network into some Nokia phones … contact information stored in Facebook would be integrated with the phone’s address book: When users looked up a contact, they could see whether their Faceboook friends were logged on, send them messages and post comments on their profile pages.”

And Nokia isn’t the only handset manufacturer that Facebook is chatting up; Palm Inc. and Motorola also are in discussions, according to the article.

So, for marketers it seems the writing is on the Facebook wall: if you haven’t done so already, start developing targeted, relevant custom content in order to engage your audience on Facebook and mobile devices.

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Posted in Brand Visibility, Content Marketing, Custom Magazines, Distribution Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, User Engagement | No Comments »

Omniscient Twitter

11 Feb 2009

by Michelle O'Hagan

A great Twitter / social media story for all you marketers out there:

Just a few minutes ago, I responded to a Tweet from @acmaurer. She asked who out there reads the *paper* version of a daily newspaper.

I responded to her with this Tweet:

“@acmaurer I read at least 2 PAPER papers every day. Sometimes 3. WSJ, Chicago SunTimes, NYT.”

Within 10 seconds (seriously, 10 seconds) of sending that Tweet, I got a new follower, @SunTimes, who responded to me:

“@mohagan And we love you for it! Still only 50 cents! :-D ”

So, I was feeling a mixture of “what the? …” and pure awe at @SunTimes Twitter abilities, when I decided to ensure that I knew exactly who sent the original Tweet looking for info about newspaper useage. Umm … @acmaurer is the Social Media Producer at the Chicago Tribune. Whoops.

(Shout out to @Amaurer: We get three papers here at work every day: The Tribune, the Sun-Times and the WSJ. I actually read some of all of them, but neglected to say that in the Tweet.)

So, these are the lessons learned for marketers, or anyone else on Twitter:

1. Quick responses get noticed.

2. Always make sure you know to whom you’re responding. :-)


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Posted in Brand Visibility, Content Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »