Marketing

Where should you spend your marketing budget in ’09?

August 30, 2008

I will write more about this in the weeks ahead, but for now, I want you to think about this blend of truths:

• It sure feels like we’re in a recession, even if we aren’t calling it that
• Retaining the customers you already have becomes a key strategy in these economic times
• Branding becomes even more critical as companies fight to retain the business they have
• Odds are, you are not the employee who delivers (or not) on that brand promise
• Word of Mouth/Buzz plays a larger role in consumer choice both as money gets tight and as consumers get weary of traditional push media

So add all of those up….and answer the question — where should you concentrate a good chunk of your marketing budget for ’09?

Stumped?  Come on over to Efrain Mendicuti’s blog The Daily Stuff and the Not So and check out my guest post on where I think you should be allocating marketing dollars next year.

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Are you expecting too much from your marketing?

August 25, 2008

Did you read the paper today?  Or watch TV?  Spend any time on Facebook or some other website?  Did you see an ad for something you wanted?  Or read an article about a service provider you’d been considering?

Did you leap up from your chair, rush to the car and go immediately to that store or business to make a purchase?

I doubt it.  That’s not the way advertising works.  It’s not instantaneous.  It is also not a one time shot.  If you’re thinking of running an ad (any ad) just once and expecting people to show up — guess again. 

If you’re not in it for the long haul, you probably shouldn’t do it at all.  Remember the analogy –you don’t plant a seed and dig it up when there’s no plant the next day.  Your marketing works the same way.

As a general rule, marketing takes time, repetition and patience.  Sure, there are exceptions, but they’re rare.

So how do you speed up the process? 

• You recognize that it’s a marathon, not a sprint
• You educate your potential consumer on how/why they need what you have to offer
• You deliver those key messages in multiple ways, ideally through more than one media
• You offer incentives to reward a quicker buying decision
• You repeat

Sean D’Souza created a very funny but illuminating example of this marketing truth over at CopyBlogger.

What’s your best technique for creating urgency?

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The back story for the most brilliant outdoor campaign ever

August 21, 2008

Many of you, in the comments section and via e-mail, have been asking about the back story of this campaign.  Quite honestly — I didn’t know it.  I had stumbled upon the creative years ago and used it as an example of "go ahead, break the rules" kind of thinking.

But, all of that has changed.

A few weeks ago, I commented that one of my favorite things about blogging is that it allows me to meet some amazing people.  More proof coming up.

I published the post about the Garcia’s outdoor campaign in the morning and by mid-afternoon, I had an e-mail from Rich Spears who was on the original account team (he was the media director) for this campaign.  As the agency’s current Chief Marketing Officer, he generously gave me the entire back story and permission to share it with you.

So, here’s the scoop.

It’s 1990 and Garcia’s and the other area restaurants are in a panic.  A big, fancy, new waterfront club was opening that summer and they were expecting it was going to mean they’d all (the existing restaurants) take a big hit.

So Garcia’s came to Crowley Webb for some counsel and a solution.  Oh yeah, and they only had $20,000 to spend — creative concepting, design, production costs, media — the whole thing.

The William/Angel campaign was conceived and launched.

The plan was for everyone to believe that there truly was a William, Angel, Candi and Frankie.  The media were sworn to secrecy.  Reporters tried to get at the truth as the campaign was unfolding but no one cracked.

Beyond the billboard campaign, the agency also:

• Had a small radio buy on one station.  Two spots per week.  Someone called in, as William, and did a live "commercial" that sounded like he was this desperate guy, trying to find his Angel.
• Ran ads in the classified personal ads in the Buffalo News
• Had a limo driver handing out "have you seen my Angel" fliers throughout downtown, near the Garcia’s location
• Hired a plane to fly over a Buffalo Bison’s game (baseball), towing a banner with a message from William

All of this culminated right after billboard #8, where Angel agrees to meet William at Garcia’s.  To the delight of the packed house — A beautiful woman in red appeared, fended off the advances of just about every guy in town, waiting for William.

Just then, a limo pulled up (remember the guy passing out fliers?) and William stepped out from the limo and walked inside, scanning the crowd for his Angel.  Their eyes met, they talked, shared some champagne and then danced to "Lady in Red" before William whisked her away in his limo.

Rich said the crowd’s reaction was priceless.  And more than one boyfriend was chided for not being as romantic as William!

The following Monday, the final board was posted, with William professing that he was in heaven over the meeting.

The net result beyond the media exposure and buzz around town?  When the new waterfront club opened, every restaurant in town took a double digit drop in revenue.  Garcia’s business went up. They maintained that competitive advantage for some time and never felt the impact of the waterfront club.

So they exceeded their goals and their revenues grew.  Not to mention all the added value the campaign delivered.

Flash forward to today, some 18 years later — that entire area and all the restaurants in it, including the waterfront club are now gone, having given way to growth and re-purposing of that area.

I’d call that a success story and a half. 

An interesting side note.  When the campaign won best of show at the National Obie awards, it was the first winner ever to receive a perfect score from every judge.

A huge hat tip to the innovative team at Crowley Webb, the courageous owners of Garcia’s and the very fortunate citizens of Buffalo who had the fun of watching this all unfold.

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The most brilliant outdoor campaign ever

August 18, 2008

The rules for outdoor advertising are very simple.

• Never use more than 7 words
• Always use an attention getting visual
• Include the company logo
• Leave the boards up for a minimum of 30 days to achieve frequency goals
• Buy several locations to increase reach

The most brilliant outdoor campaign broke every one of these rules.  Every single one.  I use this campaign as an example in many of my presentations and wanted to share it with you too.

Let me tell you the story. 

This campaign broke in 1989 in Buffalo, New York.  There was (and still is – my mistake, I found it on the web’s yellow pages and assumed it was current) an Irish Pub called Garcia’s in downtown Buffalo that needed to drive not only name awareness but traffic.  Their agency, Crowley Webb, devised this campaign, which not only won them a National Obie (Oscars for outdoor boards) but made Garcia’s a household name in Buffalo.  The campaign also showed up in the New York Times, USA Today and naturally, all of Buffalo’s local media.

No ordinary billboard series, eh?

The agency bought a single board location (this I am recalling from memory so I may be wrong) and every Monday for 9 weeks….a new board went up.  This is story-telling at it’s best.  Enjoy the campaign and be sure to catch my questions at the end.

Can’t you see all of Buffalo being completely caught up in this story?  Can you imagine how many people showed up at Garcia’s on Fridays to see if Angel made an appearance.  I don’t know if the agency took it to that level (I wouldn’t be surprised) but I would have hired actors to play William, Angel, Candi and Frankie and put on a floor show.

What do you think of this campaign?  Notice the boards didn’t push the daily soup special or promise us the same cliches that all restaurants promise.  Instead, they invited us into a story.  A story where we could play a part.

How could you use this kind of a technique?  Or, where else have you seen this sort of creativity played out?

Update:  Here’s the back story to this campaign.  Now I’m even more impressed.

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Muzzle that man!

August 16, 2008

By weird happenstance, my posts were popping up all over at the tail of this week.  Rumor has it, the blogosphere is searching high and low for a Drew muzzle.  Until they can catch me and shut me up….I thought you might enjoy these posts.

Bloggers, unlike journalists, are sort of hanging out there on their own, when they write about companies and business practices.  Are they particularly at risk for law suits?  Read about this $20 million dollar suit and see if you’re at risk too.  (at Marketing Profs Daily Fix)

Like it or not, you are a salesperson.  All too often, we ask ourselves the wrong questions when we approach a sale, whether we’re selling an idea to our boss or selling a service to a prospect.  How should you approach a potential sale?  (Small Business Branding)

Just because you can change your name, should you?  FedEx Kinkos is now becoming FedExOffice.  Good idea or bad?  How valuable is name equity and when does it make sense to make a shift?  (IowaBiz.com)

And for fun….vanity plates tell quite a bit about a person’s passions.  If you could have any vanity plate in the world, what would you choose?  Want to see mine?  (IowaMoms.com)

So, if you’re looking for a whole lot of Drew thought, here’s more than any one person could possibly absorb.  Why not join me in conversations all over the web?

P.S.  On a sort of unrelated note…if you ever have to search for a muzzle image…but sure that safe search is on.  Trust me.

Photo courtesy of the Mastiff Breed Supplies.

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Age of Conversation 2008 cover unveiled!

August 9, 2008

While Gavin and I are editing away…we thought you might like a sneak peek at this year’s Age of Conversation cover.

 

Thanks to David Armano for reprising his role as cover designer!

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Will you have a little branding with us tomorrow?

August 5, 2008

Join the gang at MMG for the Branding Breakfast or Lunch!

Here’s the drill.  You come.  We talk branding.  You leave with some new ideas to try back at the ranch.

Remember…if you come for breakfast, we feed you.  If you opt for lunch, it’s BYOL.

What: Branding Breakfast (delicious, hot breakfast provided)
When: 7:30 — 8:30 a.m., first Wednesday of February, May, August and November.   That’s tomorrow…August 6th!
Where: Workforce Center. 430 East Grand Ave, Des Moines (map)

Or…

What: Branding Lunch (BYOL)
When: noon — 1:00 p.m., first Wednesday of February, May, August and November.  Again…that’s tomorrow…August 6th!
Where: Simpson College WDM Campus. 3737 Westown Parkway (classroom #9) (map)

RSVP: Yes, I want to talk about branding!

We’d love to have you join us!  (If you live outside of Iowa…it’s probably a bit of a trek.  But you could be with us in spirit!)

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You sell or else

July 30, 2008

When I think of the legends of our business, I immediately think of David Ogilvy.   

He was responsible for much of the iconic ad copy and "characters" we all reference as the pinnacle of advertising in the 50’s and 60’s.  (I love Gene’s story about an impromptu conversation he had with Ogilvy in the company’s cafeteria.)

His book, Ogilvy on Advertising is still one of the best.  If you haven’t read it, you should.  If you have, you should read it again.

Thanks to the exhaustive archives of YouTube, here’s a little glimpse into how Ogilvy viewed advertising.  He didn’t have much respect for creativity just to be creative.  He believed that the job of advertising (and I would guess he’d extend that to all marketing efforts) was to sell something.

Hat tip to Efraín Mendicuti for sharing this on his excellent blog, The daily stuff and the not so.  Efraín makes the point that if as you listen to Ogilvy you substitute interactive marketing for direct response, you can see what Ogilvy would think about the digital world we are cutting our teeth on today.

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Recession proof your business – FREE book!

July 29, 2008

Imagine what it would be like to sit down with 38 great minds in business, sales and marketing and hear from them exactly what to do and not to do during a recession.       

Well, that’s basically what Scott Aughtmon has done for us.

He interviewed 38 top experts in business, sales & marketing and asked them 3 questions:

• What’s the common mistake most businesses make in a recession?
• What are the methods you would use to survive and prosper in a recession?
• What moneymaking opportunities do you see available for business owners during this time?

Then he created two e-manuals that reveal their answers and give us their simple methods to help our businesses survive and prosper in a recession.

And…thanks to Scott, I have 10 sets of the books to give away.  Plus, there are some bonus giveaways which make this even better!  Here’s how you can win the books, valued at $57.

• Comment on this post (one entry)
• Tweet about the book giveaway (include URL)  and send me a screen shot (one entry)
• Post about the giveaway (include URL/link) on your blog and send me the link (two entries)

I’ll put everyone’s name on a slip of paper and let my daughter draw one out of a hat.  You can’t get more impartial than that!  The drawing will be held Tuesday, August 5th Thursday, August 7th (thanks to my travel woes) so you have one week.

The experts that Scott interviewed include the likes of Jay Levinson, Michael Gerber, Laura Ries, Ron McDaniel, and Debbie Weil among others. 

I’ve read the books and they are packed with smarts and good counsel.  But if you don’t want to take my word for it…how about these endorsements?

"When times are tough, there is no ‘one’ answer. ‘Succeed and Prosper in a Recession’ provides many answers and it provides them through the insights of America’s marketing masters. If you can’t get the answers from this ebook, you haven’t figured out the question, much less the problem. This book is a winner that will help you win."

Jeffrey Gitomer

"Scott Aughtmon has compiled just the right advice for just the right people and at just the right time. Surviving and prospering during a recession will never be a piece of cake. But it will be a whole lot easier if you’ve read the wise counsel in Scott’s book. I recommend it to the skies, recession or no recession."

Jay Conrad Levinson

"What a refreshing, uplifting break from the doom and gloom that’s all around us. Reading this book is like getting an instant MBA from people who have made millions of dollars for themselves and others — regardless of the so-called economic climate."

David Garfinkel

If you just can’t wait or don’t win the free copies, you can read more about the book and order your own copy here.  And yes, there is an affiliate program and no, I am not participating. 

I don’t make a buck and you get smarter.  Doesn’t that work out well for you!

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Where can you find Drew hiding?

July 29, 2008

Every once in awhile, the planets align and I end up showing up all over the place.  I’m not so sure if that’s a good or bad thing.  Either way, I thought you might enjoy some of these posts.

IowaBiz:  Check out my post on brochure do’s and don’t.  For most companies, brochures are a marketing staple.  So let’s do them well, eh?

IowaMoms (and Dads!):  This is my inaugural post that coincides nicely with my post yesterday about being a dad.

Dell/Small Business:  Dell decided to highlight a post I wrote over at Small Business Branding on the importance of saying thanks to your employees.

And of course….keep your eyes peeled right here for more marketing and branding chat.

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