Psychology Archives - Page 2 of 5 - McLellan Marketing Group

When I say Dunkin’ you say …

October 10, 2018

Odds are, you say Donuts. After all, since 1948 the company has worked pretty hard to get us to recognize their name and their core offering. Dunkin’ Donuts. They have invested millions of dollars to connect those two words. Remember the “time to make the donuts” campaign?

All of that is what makes the announcement they made last year so intriguing. They want to test the idea of dropping the word Donuts from their name, but a final decision on the name won’t come until late 2018. They’ve coupled the shortened name with a new tagline – Dunkin’. Coffee and more.

The company cites several reasons for the change. When asked why they harken back to their roots when they were a coffee shop that sold donuts. Based on the numbers, they actually derived 58% of their revenue from coffee in 2016. Now that Starbucks has made coffee trendy and pricey, Dunkin’ has decided to lean into that category and try to ride the upswing in both volume and profits.

Their coffee also gives them more opportunity for line extensions. They sell Dunkin’ coffee beans, K cups, and other related products in their own stores and grocery stores across the country.

As coffee is growing in popularity, donuts are falling in the opposite direction. Culturally, we are making healthier choices (or at least saying that we are) and according to a company spokesperson, the shift will “reinforce that Dunkin’ Donuts is a beverage led brand and coffee leader.” Actually, the statement should be “we want to be a beverage led brand.”

I don’t believe they’ll ever make that pivot work. Their brand is too entrenched in our minds and more importantly, in our connective experiences with the stores. Maybe they actually are a coffee led brand if you crunch the numbers. But brands are rarely built on data. They’re built on experiences and emotional connections.

What the decision-makers at Dunkin’ seem to have forgotten is the most important truth of branding: brands are not controlled or owned by the company. Their consumers have that privilege.

Changing your name does not change how people categorize or describe you. It doesn’t change the way they experience you or why they will or won’t do business with you. If you truly want to reinvent your brand, you have to drive change much deeper than just dropping a word or two.

You may not remember, but Starbucks used to be called Starbucks Coffee. They made a big deal of dropping the word coffee in 2011. When you think of Starbucks, what is the first product that comes to your mind?

Seven years later, we still think of them as a coffee shop that happens to sell other things. The budget they’ve had to alter our perception is far greater than what Dunkin’ will have to spend, so it’s hard to imagine that we’re going to forget the donuts aspect anytime soon.

The learning for all of us in this?

We need to be very intentional when we create and build our brand because once we plant those seeds and nurture them, it’s very difficult to change course and take our customers with us on the journey. Once we’ve told them what to expect and have honored those expectations over time, we shouldn’t be surprised that they believe us.

On paper and by the numbers, Dunkin’s pivot may be perfectly logical. With the decline in donut sales and the spike in coffee consumption, who can argue? But brands don’t live on paper and aren’t driven by numbers. Brands are born and grown in the hearts of our customers, and it’s much harder for logic to prevail there.

Do your actions match your words?

May 2, 2018

Most organizations talk a good game but just like with people, our non-verbal cues or actions often tell the real story. We are out there, creating content, advertising, encouraging word of mouth referrals, running specials or inviting prospects to let us give them a free assessment – but do we really want their business?

What does our “body” say? Do you signal that you’re really ready to welcome new clients or does your behavior suggest something different? Let me give you a concrete example.

Our clients take me all over the country which means I am on a lot of planes. I fly in and out of the DSM airport over 100 times a year. They are always advertising that it’s better to fly out of DSM than drive to another airport. They have signage up, telling us how glad they are to serve us. They chase after the airlines to either start flying (Southwest) or add routes (all the others).

So if we just pay attention to their words – they want to provide excellent service to even more Central Iowa travelers and they want to cater to the frequent business traveler.

But their body language says something else.

It’s almost impossible to try to use their long-term parking garage without it being full or half of it being shut down for repairs. The last two times I flew, one of the towers/elevators was down which meant people had to lug their luggage to the tower at the other end of the parking ramp.
The shops and restaurants are understaffed and slow. If anything, they keep reducing menus options and shopping choices, not adding to them.
The TSA pre-check line is rarely staffed which means there’s no advantage to having pre-check. Yes, you stand in a different line, but it is serviced by the same agent that the other line is – you just take turns. Don’t get me wrong, taking turns is fine but don’t promise expedited service if you can’t deliver on it.

I’m sure there’s a rational explanation for every one of their choices – but marketing and customer service isn’t rational. When we feel someone’s indifference – even if it’s justified in their mind, the marketing words seem almost insulting, don’t they? It’s like they’re playing us for fools.

Actions speak much louder than any marketing message ever could. How you treat a customer trumps how you talk to a customer.

Does your organization’s body language match your marketing words?

How responsive are you? Do you have a response mechanism (comment box, contact us, social media links) on your website? Do you monitor it? How quickly do you respond? Who handles those responses and how equipped are they to answer the questions being posed?

When someone tweets you or leaves a review – do you even see it? Do you respond, even if the review is not favorable?

If you haven’t tested your team’s responsiveness lately – it’s probably overdue.

Do you make it easy? Remember that today our most precious and scarce resource is our time. People aren’t multitasking; they’re hyper-juggling. And when you inconvenience a customer, limit their access to those conveniences, or miss a deadline — it’s actually worse. It’s like mean teasing. People don’t miss what you never offer or don’t have, but they notice very quickly when you promise easy or on-time and then make it difficult or late.

Do an audit. Ask your team – how do we bend over backward to make working with us easy and convenient? How could we be even better and before you promise it – make sure you can sustain it.

There’s no better marketing spend than over-servicing your current customers. Start with your actions and you won’t have to say a word.

The implications are not tiny

January 31, 2018

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past couple years, you are aware of the tiny house movement that is taking the country by craze.

In case you’re one of the folks who is not familiar with this concept, tiny houses are exactly what they sound like: super small houses, usually under 300 square feet, that are designed in such a way to maximize space, while using virtually no space at all. They can be stationary on the ground but in many cases, they’re built on a trailer so they’re mobile.

The movement began way back at the beginning of the century but lately, it has exploded thanks to this new generation of consumers and the media. There are all kinds of TV shows focusing on tiny homes like Tiny House Hunters on HGTV. If you Google tiny house you’ll find a very vibrant community where owners exchange information and offer advice on living in small space.

Here’s a look at the typical tiny housebuyer:

They have an average income of $42,038 ($478 higher than the average American)
89% of tiny house owners have less credit card debt than the average American
65% of tiny house owners have no credit card debt
55% of tiny house owners have more savings than the average American
68% of tiny house owners have no mortgage (compared to 29.3% of all US homeowners)
2 out of 5 tiny house owners are over 50 years of age

While all of this is fascinating just on the surface, when we dig deeper – I think this movement is a huge wake-up call to marketers. There are some pretty significant clues in this phenomenon as to where consumers are heading and that’s going to impact us all.

Here are some of the trends I see buried in the tiny house movement:

Independence as a core theme: Imagine all the levels of freedom you’d have if your house could be moved anywhere you wanted it to be, you didn’t have a mortgage and your housing costs were power, water, Internet, and insurance.

A return to a simpler life: Tiny home buyers want to owe less, so they have more choices in terms of spending time with their family, work less and have a lot less to maintain. By default – if you live in 350 square feet, you can’t have a lot of stuff. Simpler by default.

A different definition of success: For these consumers, success isn’t a big house with a big screen TV and a beautifully manicured lawn. It’s no debt and no strings. This frees the homeowners up to spend more time traveling and being out and about.

Mobility: By default, if your house is on wheels – you don’t plan on setting down permanent roots. Even if you stay in the same community, you’re not tied down.

Eco-friendly: These homes are very eco-friendly with composting toilets, very little energy usage, solar panels and multi-use furniture. The footprint created by one of these homes is minuscule compared to a traditional home.

A new relationship with money: These consumers are not willing to owe anyone anything. They want the economic freedom to do what they want when they want. But that doesn’t mean they don’t like nice things. Many tiny homes have very high-end appliances and finishes like cherry-wood floors and stained glass windows. When you’ve got less than 500 square feet, those kinds of upgrades are very affordable.

This consumer group is growing at an amazing rate. Even if someone doesn’t opt for a tiny home, it’s safe to assume these consumer attitudes are emerging among the more traditional homeowner as well.

These attitudes and buying patterns are going to trickle into every category. I think it’s important that you begin to think about how this is going to translate to your business. Because if it hasn’t already – it’s coming.

Silence Kills

December 6, 2017

I had to call United’s 800-number the other day to change an existing ticket. At each step of modifying my ticket, the customer service rep would have to key in some data and then there would be this long silence. I couldn’t hear him typing or even a single breath. I assumed he was still there because I wasn’t served up any on hold music or messaging. But, several times in the process, I’d actually say something just to make him respond because I was convinced we’d been disconnected.

As the call dragged on, I imagined that something had gone wrong. The silence was not only deafening but it made me fill in the blanks. This is not the first time I’ve had to alter a plane ticket. I know the drill and I know it takes several steps and more time than you think it would. But in the past, if there was a long delay as the computer was thinking or the rep was verifying something – they’d say something like “oh, my computer is slow today” or “this will take a few minutes, sorry for the wait.”

My imagination worked overtime as the United rep continued in silence and I wondered what disaster must be befalling my travel plans. As I sat there fretting, it occurred to me that businesses do this to their customers all the time. I’m sure, from the United guy’s point of view, he was doing exactly what he was paid to do – change my ticket in the most efficient and effective manner possible. So he was probably concentrating on the work at hand. He was focusing on the facts of the transaction, not how I might be reacting to his methodology.

Silence breeds worry and uncertainty. Neither is a healthy ingredient for any relationship. The only place silence does even more damage than what it does in our client relationships is the impact it has on our relationships with our employees and teammates. I believe it’s all about vulnerability.

Here’s my “how much should I communicate” barometer. The more the power has shifted in my direction, the more I must communicate. So if you’re the boss or a customer is particularly beholden to you or at risk if you drop the ball – you must overcommunicate to keep them secure.

This isn’t just about being benevolent. When your employees and teammates feel completely in the loop and know what’s going on – they can help you get to the finish line faster and more profitably. They don’t accidentally derail your efforts nor do they make up things in their head that encourages them to intentionally get in your way.

We’ve all done it. We misread clues like a closed-door meeting or someone’s absence and before you know it, we’ve spun a doozy of a tale. That’s not just silly. It costs you money, productivity and in some cases, it might cost you the employee. All because they didn’t understand. It’s your job to over communicate so they do understand.

The same is true for customers. This isn’t just about giving them peace of mind because you’re a kind human being, although I’m going to assume that is part of the motivation. A client who knows what is going on, is given forewarning if there’s about to be a problem and is kept apprised of the status of your work together will stop micromanaging. They’ll stop constantly asking for updates or altering the details.

When in doubt – tell them again. Have you ever had a customer or an employee tell you that you’re going overboard in terms of keeping them in the loop? I honestly don’t think it’s possible. Whatever you’re doing – double it and it’s probably about right.

Scarcity versus abundance

July 12, 2017

When I started in the agency business 25+ years ago, there was this odd paranoia that ran through agencies big and small. There was a belief that agency personnel couldn’t be friends with people who worked at other agencies because secrets might leak out. And if you dared to be friends or even associate through a professional network – you’d better not bring the other agency’s employees into your office for fear that they’d walk by something and glean secret details about your accounts. All of this is what I call a total lack of abundance thinking.

I know it sounds crazy – but it was very pervasive through the industry back then. Today, I’m happy to report that with few noted and paranoid exceptions, agencies seem to recognize that it’s actually healthy for agency professionals to mingle together for both the shared learning and camaraderie.

That paranoia was a symptom of scarcity thinking. I don’t think the ad industry is the only one who did/does suffer from having that point of view. I think it’s easy for any of us to get stuck in that rut.

We’ve all seen scarcity marketing and sales in action. It’s the overly attentive sales clerk following you around the store, the car dealer who won’t let you take a test drive without being in the car with you, or the salesperson that knocks the competition at every opportunity.

There’s a scent of desperation in scarcity marketing and sales that puts the buyer firmly in the driver’s seat. It converts the transaction from a potential partnership to an uneasy game of tug o’ war that ultimately puts you at a disadvantage because you want the deal more than your potential buyer does.

It creates the sense that there’s some sales quota that’s not going to be met or some other looming deadline that has everyone scrambling to cut a deal. That rarely works out to the seller’s advantage.

I’m not talking about the idea of creating scarcity around your product or service. Letting someone know there are only four plane tickets left at this price or that you won’t be offering the workshop again until spring can be very effective because it actually is a position of abundance. You’re basically saying, “Hey, just to let you know, I only have five of these left. Let me know if you want one before I sell out.”

That’s the secret of an abundance mentality. It’s very laid back and it gives the impression that while you’re happy to sell your wares, you’re equally okay if the prospect isn’t interested because someone else will be. That confidence in your product or service is contagious.

What does abundance marketing and sales look like?

You share your knowledge freely: You teach and give away your expertise through white papers, ebooks, blog posts, free webinars and other tools.

You are quick to tell someone when what you sell isn’t right for them: You know that an unhappy customer costs you more than what you could possibly make off of them, so you encourage them to find a better fit.

You don’t haggle on your pricing: You know that what you offer is an incredible value at the price you’ve quoted, so there’s no reason to play the game. You set an honest, reasonable price for what you offer and then you stick to it. If the prospect doesn’t want to pay that – it’s okay because someone else will.

You don’t chase potential buyers: You know that you can’t make someone buy before they’re ready so there’s no up side to being a pest. You keep offering value and your expertise and they’ll come around when it’s time.

Review your marketing tools and procedures. Do they suggest you’re desperate to make a sale or do they convey a sense of abundance?

May I ask you a question?

July 5, 2017

One of the biggest issues marketing and sales folks face is just getting on the radar screen of their prospects. Even when you have something of incredible value and you genuinely know the prospect needs what you have to sell – it’s tough to get their attention long enough to ask a question or even be noticed.

That’s even more of a challenge for organizations that don’t have a six-figure marketing budget or exist in a crowded, competitive landscape.

That’s where some psychology can be incredibly helpful.

One thing that is almost universally true about us humans is that we are incredibly flattered when someone thinks we have something of value to offer in the way of experience, knowledge, expertise or hard-earned wisdom.

And that, I believe, is the door we need to open if we want a prospect’s time. For this technique to work, I think the following needs to be true about your business:

You/your organization have a niche/specialty in which you have a great depth of expertise
You have some outlet (website, blog, podcast, newsletter) in which you share that expertise without a sales pitch or being self-serving
You have a genuine interest in the people you serve and a passion for helping them in your unique way with whatever you do/sell
You sell something that is more of a considered purchase and less of a commodity

If that’s you, read on.

Make a list of your ideal prospects and their influencers. Who would you most like to serve and are the people/companies that you know you could delight? Or, who has information/insights that could be incredibly valuable to your target audience?

Once you have compiled the list, call/email them and ask them if you can interview them for your blog, website, newsletter, podcast, etc. I think you’ll be surprised at how many of them say yes and are flattered by the invitation.

Now the hard work begins. Do your homework. The prep for the interview is key to the success of this marketing tactic. You want to ask questions that really get them to go deep and give you some insights into the way they think, work and what they believe about the work they do.

Be smart about the interview itself. I know I don’t have to tell you this but show up on time, look and act professionally, be gracious if things go awry, and don’t sell. If your interviewee asks about your business, give them a quick overview but do not go into selling mode. You’re there to learn and connect. Focus on that.

Send a handwritten thank-you note after the interview, sharing something valuable you learned during your time together. Not an email or a computer generated thank you. Invest the time to actually write the note.

Next, create the content piece and reach back to your interviewee so they can review it. Share with them your publication plans and tell them you’ll send them a link/copy once it’s out there so they can share it with their network as well.

When you hit publish (or print the newsletter if you’re old school), re-connect with your interviewee and invite (not demand, require or nag) them to share it.

Let’s recap your prospect touches. Between the initial invitation and the publishing of the content, you’ve connected five times. That difficult to reach prospect has probably welcomed your communications five times. If you’ve been engaging and sincere, I believe they would be willing to at least learn a little more about the work you do.

Not only that but you are creating content that truly helps your entire customer and prospect base.

That’s marketing that will lead to sales time and time again.

Are your customers in transition?

April 12, 2017

When I think of Spring, I can’t help but think of it as a season of transition. Seeds evolve into plants, kids graduate from high school and college, and many single people choose this time of year to get married.

No matter what the transition is or how desirable the next phase may be – transitions are, by their very nature, very stressful periods of time. In that stress, comes the need for a deepened understanding and more support.

You may not think of it this way, but my guess is that at the very moment your customer is ready to buy, they’re in a state of transition as well. They might be evolving their business, they might be experiencing a life transition or they might just be transitioning to you from whoever was servicing them before.

At MMG, we’re big believers in not only understanding who your sweet spot customers are but even more important – understanding exactly where that sweet spot customer is at any moment in the buying cycle.

If your prospects or clients are in a state of transition, it would be helpful for you to remember some of the realities that transitions bring so that you can serve them better, be more empathetic and anticipate their needs.

When a person is in any sort of transition, everything is heightened. Typically a transition is a significant event that brings with it a host of emotions. At the base of any transition is the combination of uncertainty and anxiety. Because it’s important to whoever is going through it – they’re worried that it won’t go the way they’ve envisioned that it should. Add to that anxiety the reality that in most transitions some elements are out of their control. The bride can’t control the weather. The graduate can’t control his family dynamics. The business owner can’t control if the old vendor will block the transition or make it simple and clean.

On top of that blend of anxiety and uncertainty is loss. As the old saying goes, “you can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” No matter how exciting or amazing the new transition will be, there is the pain of saying goodbye to something comfortable and familiar. Even if your new client is furious with their old vendor – they know exactly what to expect and how to react to it. There’s comfort in that.

Another element of transition that you need to keep in your sights is the fact that when someone is making a change, they often have unrealistic expectations for what that change will bring to them. You’ve probably made quite a few promises and commitments to entice that new customer to do business with you. At the moment of the transition – they not only expect you to keep those promises, they expect you to exceed them. When we’re courting a new client – we’re putting on the full court press. They feel very desired and like they’re your first and only priority. If you deliver on that – you can quickly earn their trust. But if you stumble, it’s tough to recover.

Finally – remember that when someone is going through a significant change, they’re very conscious of the risks involved. They may know intellectually that this is something they either need or want to do, but they’re putting themselves in a very vulnerable position.

If you want to make your new customer’s transition to your company smooth and worry free, you’ll need to have a carefully orchestrated plan in place. Over communicate that plan. Build in time for them to ask the same question they’ve asked ten times before. Be absolutely accessible and transparent and earn their confidence and trust, step by step.

Do you rush things?

January 18, 2017

There’s a ride at Walt Disney World called Rock n’ Roller Coaster. At the very beginning of the ride, the car you ride in goes from a dead stop to over 60 mph in less than three seconds. What a rush! While that’s enough to get anyone’s heart racing, the folks at Disney don’t leave anything to chance. The riders’ hearts are racing long before they hear the sound effect of tires screeching or the car starts moving.

Disney is a master at the art of building anticipation. You load into the car and they bring you right to the brink of the ride’s start. The music starts to get louder and louder. The signage is warning you to keep your head firmly against the headrest. Right about the time you begin to wonder what’s taking so long, the neon sign above you and the speakers in your headrest start the countdown. The car starts to vibrate as the engines rev and then, with a loud screech of the tires, you are accelerating to 60 mph and an upside down loop as the ride begins.

My point is – they could have just loaded their guests in the car and after a second or two started the ride. The roller coaster would still be pretty thrilling but it wouldn’t be the same experience.

Whether you’re a roller coaster junkie or you’re scared senseless and peer pressure got you on the ride – the build up is incredibly effective. By the time the ride begins, you’re about to crawl out of your skin you’re so ready to just get started.

It’s not just that ride either. Disney uses this technique over and over to create an increased hunger for their rides, movies, and special events. They use it because it works. It creates demand. It’s increases perceived value. And ultimately, it increases sales.

I think we can all learn a little from Disney’s example. Many businesses rush to the sale and in that effort; spook their potential buyer because they’re either not interested or just not ready to buy.

But make someone wait or tell them you have a limited number of whatever they want – and suddenly they’re the ones asking for the sale. So how can we slow down to help the sales heat up?

Create some buzz: One of the best ways to build anticipation is to get other people to start talking about you. A concerted PR effort is a great way to get some media coverage or viral attention. When you can trigger positive word of mouth, you can count on increased interest.

Give your best prospects a sneak peek: Everyone likes to feel like an insider that has access or information that everyone else doesn’t have. Creating an opportunity for a select few to do a test drive but not have full access to the offer will generate anticipation for the actual release. Apple employs this technique better than just about anyone.

Don’t blurt out everything all at once: This is a mistake most marketers make. They’re in such a rush to pack every possible bit of information into every communication that they not only kill any possibility of anticipation but they also bury the audience with too much too soon.

Keep it a secret: The world loves a good mystery. One great way to create a mystique around your product/service is to tease the market and hold some information back. The more mysterious you are, the hungrier they’ll be to know.

At the end of the day, you don’t sell anything until someone wants it. Companies like Disney and Apple are great examples of how well using anticipation to stimulate that want is a great marketing technique that drives sales. It might be worth a try!

Context is King

December 28, 2016

Context is king. When you think about companies who take risks and are edgy when it comes to their marketing – the insurance industry would hardly be the first to pop into your mind. But that’s what happened during the 2015 Superbowl TV spotathon.

Nationwide unveiled a TV spot during the Superbowl where a small boy was talking about all the things in life that he had missed. All because he died in a preventable accident.

The spot urged viewers to visit www.MakeSafeHappen.com, a site that Nationwide was sponsoring to increase awareness about preventing the kinds of accidents that hurt or kill children each year.

The spot was well done and the message was clear and well intentioned. But the outrage and disapproval were over the top. The tweets, Facebook posts on the Nationwide page and general commentary were swift and disapproving.

What went wrong? We can all agree that trying to prevent accidents that kill children is a noble effort. Nationwide wasn’t really trying to tie any product to their message so it wasn’t overly commercial or self-serving.

The problem was that Nationwide and their agency totally disregarded context.

People are at a Superbowl PARTY. The day is practically considered a national holiday. It’s loud and celebratory and everyone is having a good time.

Which means they don’t want to think about dead children.

The audience could not and would not hear the Nationwide message at their Superbowl party.

Superbowl ads typically fall into two categories. They’re either funny or sentimental. But they are not sad. They are not heavy or laden with information. Just like the snacks at a typical Superbowl party – they’re puffy little hors d’oeuvres, meant to tantalize, not satisfy a deep hunger.

Nationwide released a statement the day after the Superbowl because of the uproar. They said that they accomplished their goal, which was to get people talking and cited the number of hits on the website after the spot aired.

Sorry Nationwide, but I have to call BS on that. Yes, people were talking, but they weren’t talking about preventable accidents, they were talking about how much they hated the spot. And they weren’t visiting the website to learn how to protect their children, they were visiting the website to see what in the world you were trying to communicate.

As you might imagine, there are lessons for all of us in the Nationwide Superbowl mistake in terms of context.

Get into their heads and hearts: You need to really understand how and when your messages are going to be in front of your audience and what they are thinking and feeling in that moment. Every word you use or visual you include is filtered through their state of mind at that moment. As Nationwide learned, even the most sincere message can fall flat if the mood doesn’t match.

Assess their ability to take action: Be mindful of how and where your audience is going to see your communication. Putting a phone number on a billboard, when people are whizzing by at 70 MPH is probably a waste of space unless the number is so easy to remember (800-CLOGGED) that the few seconds they have to see it will be enough.

Consider their setting/who they’re with: One of the reasons the Nationwide spot got so widely criticized is that Superbowl viewing is an all ages activity. Many people felt it was inappropriate to run the spot when so many children were in the viewing audience.

Even if there weren’t children around, everyone was hanging out with their friends. They love the Superbowl spots that made them all laugh together and enhanced the party feel. A spot about a dead boy hardly has that effect.

Don’t ever ignore the context of how, where and when your communication will fall into the audience’s day. Those filters may enhance their reaction or, as it did for Nationwide, might completely destroy your effort.

Are you ready to go native?

October 19, 2016

One of the things I both love and hate about the marketing industry is the constant quest for creating the hot new thing. Sometimes, there really is something that is so new and innovative, like the topic for last week’s column – retargeting – that it can legitimately make the claim “hot new thing.”

But there are other times when the hot new thing is really more of an updated or revised thing. That’s my take on this whole “native advertising” hype that is surging through marketing circles right now.

Native advertising is paid advertising that is camouflaged in some way to look like it’s just helpful content or natively belongs in the setting that it’s placed in. It’s usually clearly marked in some way, but the whole goal is for it to be less “ad like” so the audience will not ignore it.

I know the definition itself is as clear as mud, so let me give you a couple examples. The advertorial is a form of native advertising. An advertorial looks like editorial content but is actually an ad that a company bought. Many “special sections” of a newspaper or magazine are in truth, advertorials. But because they are written and designed to look like a story rather than an ad – they are hiding in plain view.

Another example of native advertising is product placement. Watch a couple hours of HGTV on Saturday morning and you will begin to spot all the different products being used. When you see a label or the host mentions a product by name, odds are very good that someone paid good money (or donated product) for that.

I’m not suggesting that native advertising isn’t a good idea. It can be a great way to expose an audience to your offerings. What I am saying is that you shouldn’t believe all the hype about it being something new.

What is “newish” bout native advertising are the digital options. For example, you can now marry online ads to relevant online content. Have you noticed that at the bottom of many online news stories you can find a “what’s trending now” area with links to other, related stories? If you click on one of those stories, what you’ll often discover is that you’ve been taken to a landing page that is selling a product that is tangentially connected to the topic of the first story.

Another way you can digitally go native is to pay someone to publish your content or write content for you and build calls to action within that content. You can drive traffic to your website, a product page, an event or whatever you’d like. Many times this sort of purchased content is appearing in online magazines and authoritative websites on specific topics. These native ad articles are usually marked with the word sponsored to indicate that they were paid for. But they look just like the rest of the “pure” content on the site. Another advantage to you, the advertiser, is the SEO value of the backlinks.

Native ads within videos is a very popular option right now as well. You can run your ads on YouTube videos that contain relevant content. You can also produce a video and like the sponsored story on a website, you can actually embed your ads right into the video itself. You can just create brand awareness or you can actually have calls to action within your message.

Native advertising begins with content. Whether the content is created by the brand, by the publisher for compensation or the ads is just aligning itself with topically relevant content – the goal is look and feel more editorial to avoid the audience’s aversion to traditionally intrusive ads.

There’s nothing new about that idea.

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