Web-Connected Samsung Apps - Samsung UN55C7000 3D LED HDTV

Yup. this is TV. It's the 3rd type of web enabled TV that I'm aware of. Apple TV was 1st. Google TV is coming and now Samsung. And they all make smartphones too. The line between traditional media and new media is blurring...

Expectations for Q4 and marketing plans

Tough year eh? Officially, the recession was over in early 2010, but for many of my clients those winds of change are only reaching us now.




Given that 4th quarter planning is on us, I thought this article may be appropriate to see what our futures may hold.



If you're planning on JACK or LITE as part of your Q4 marketing plans, please contact me soon since our inventory is sold out the week of Sept 13 (we have a waiting list) and is over 90% sold out the week of Sept 20.





http://www.actionforex.com/analysis/daily-forex-fundamentals/canadian-retail-sales-post-mild-gain-in-june-20100824120785/



The report showed that five of the 11 categories of retail spending rose in June

sales of motor vehicles and parts rose by a strong 2.1% in June

Sales of electronics and appliances also increased as did sales of home furnishings, building materials and garden supplies

biggest decline was recorded in sales at gasoline service stations, which slumped 2.7% on the back of falling gas prices. Sales of clothing, general merchandise, and food and beverages were lower in June

even with all the wild swings in the monthly employment levels, 94% of the jobs lost during the recession have been recovered.

We expect that the Bank will follow up these increases with another 25-basis point hike on September 8

Our view is that Canada's economy will continue to grow (albeit more slowly than its earlier blistering pace) and uncertainty about the global outlook, in particular the U.S. economy, will diminish in the final quarter of 2010 as the U.S. labour market slowly recovers

With the global economy on a firmer growth path and Canada's domestic recovery in train, the Bank is likely to resume its policy of reducing the amount of monetary policy stimulus with rate hikes likely late this year and in 2011

Creating a Marketing Plan: advice for picking platforms

I love this image as it lists just about every media platform that I can think of and visually shows the type of communication (one or two way) capable by each.

Yellow arrows - 2 way

Red arrows - mostly 1 way

Blue arrows - 1 way

As marketing plans go, the simplest & most effective that I've ever seen was written by Gary Vanerchuck.  In Gary's book Crush It, Gary outlines his version of the best marketing strategy ever.   The entire chapter is 1 word...CARE.  

To me, CARE means a lot of things.  Care about my service, my product, my staff, pricing, competition etc. etc. etc.   It also means I should care about my marketing platforms and my message.   If I don't care, then I'll choose types of media that allow for only 1 way communication.    

These one way advertising platforms are not 'communication' platforms...they'd be better defined as monologue platforms.   While monologues are important for character development in theatre,  real life people/brands who never ask a question are just boring.  

So here's the goods.

1. Care
2. Goals - set them
3. Budget - stick to monthly budget based on your goals.  (2-10% of total sales)
4. Allocate - your budget per platform according to average daily media usage & target audience
5. Maximize - the impact on each paid platform before adding others
6. USP - Craft & Deliver your Unique Selling Proposition
7. Leap - Execute your plan & engage internal and external customers

Canadian Media Usage Trends Study (IAB Canada)

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Canadian Media Usage Trends Study (IAB Canada)

View more presentations from Rafal .

Introduction to Social Networking Part 2

Here's the second installment of What is Social Networking? I think the first video offers much more practical information on what Social media is where this module is better at explaining how to get started.

Introduction to Social Networking Part 1

This is a really simple but effective description of what social networks and social media can do. This is part one, I will post part 2 seperately.

David Ogilvy: We Sell or Else....or else what? you're kinda crazy dude.

I'm 3 minutes in. I know this guy is famous...olgivy & mayer? but man is he outdated. He's got a great marketing strategy for 1950. Ironically Davey boy isn't much different from many prospective clients in 2010.

Two Opinions on Effective Radio Campaigns

I found this article Radio Advertising Works With These Tips! posted by Tyrell MacGregor in 2008 on Digg.  I've added  my own tips in italics below his.

Advertising on the radio can be an effective lead generation strategy. But like all marketing tactics, success or failure lies in its implementation. Here are 15 important tips to help make your radio advertising more profitable.




1. Make sure you match the station to your intended target market. For instance, if most of your projects are sold to an affluent middle-aged clientele, it''s best to advertise on a station who''s audience is comprised of this same demographic. To pick the right radio station, poll your best clients and ask them what station(s) they listen to. If you begin to see a consistent station pop up in your survey, there''s a good chance that you''ll find more clients amongst that station''s listeners.

I completely agree that its important to fish where the fish are.  If your business is flourishing with the perfect client, then great, ask your best clients not just about the radio stations they listen to, but what media platforms they use to shop.  


However, there are lots of reasons to not poll your existing best clients.  What if your goal was to sell more high value products/services?  What if your goal was to lower the age of your average client?  The great part about radio is that you can select specific target groups to initiate conversation with. 

2. Use a first sentence that grabs the listener and demands attention, preferably by leading with a benefit or asking a curiosity-provoking question. Example: Would you like to have the nicest home in your neighborhood?

Grabbing attention is important, but lets call a spade a spade.  Advertising in most forms is an invasion of a consumer's 5 senses.   Who wouldn't like the nicest home in your neighborhood? 


My advice?  Be real.  I think honesty will grab consumers attention more than any gimmicky line.  Take a look at the most popular shows on TV...Amercian Idol, So you think  you can Dance, Bachlorette...all reality shows.  What about online?  On Youtube, there are lots of 'kids' out there with over 1 million viewers per week just broadcasting from their bedrooms.  Honesty sells. 



3. Make your spot easy to understand. Be straightforward (not clever or funny).

Belissimo Tyrell, Belissimo.  Clever and Funny are ok in my books (old spice anyone?)


4. Use a compelling voice. Having a popular radio personality deliver your spot, if possible in a loose, conversational way, often works best. This works even better on a talk format, or call-in style program. The transition between "show" and "commercial" is often seamless, making the spot seem like "news" from the radio personality.

A popular radio personality is recognizable, but the radio personality is tied to her own radio station.  What if you wanted to expand your message to other radio communities? 


My advice?  develop your own voice.  Consumers can smell bullshit miles away.  They know the differenct between 'show' and 'commercial'.  Here's the real news....They're onto us.  Treat them like they're intelligent.


5. Authenticity ?If you can, offer to do some small job for the radio personality as a way to demonstrate the quality of your work. This way, when the radio host endorses your company, he/she can say "they''ve worked on my home and they did an outstanding job. Showed up on time, did the job right the first time, stayed on budget and they were clean". This type of first-hand endorsement can be powerful, especially if the radio host is popular with his/her listeners.

I don't understand why Authenticity is a question.   Authenticity is the new standard.  Try the oldschool approach to convince consumers what your business is...google will tell them who you really are.


The real question here should be "offer to do some small job".  Don't you mean bribe?  There are so many shameless plugs from radio personalities that all they're really good for is a businesses' ego.  this only works if the endorsement is genuine.  

6. Test your spot on a small scale before committing to an extensive advertising schedule.

This is a tricky one.  I the need to be fiscally responsible, but lets define small scale.   Test your radio campaign for 13 weeks.  Why 13 weeks?  because there only a  few consumers using any media that need your service today.  there will be many more next week and more still this month.  


Lets look at the car industry as an example. 


I've been told by my car dealer clients that the average person buys a car every 7 years.  If you're city had 70,000 car owners than that means your estimated market per year is 10,000 consumers...roughly 833 per month or 208 car sales per week in the entire city.   Of these 208 car purchases per week how many are domestic vs. foreign?  car vs. truck vs. suv? under $40k vs. over $40K?  your dealership market share vs. competition?


If you run a campaign for too short a period of time, you better have an incredible 'i can't pass this up offer' otherwise it will fail.


7. Make your phone number easy to remember and repeat it often.

I really like my wife, but I can barely remember her number.  I can call her by name from my cell, or text or email or facebook. 


I can promise you that I will not remember your phone number.  Unless you sing it to me over and over and over and over..over years.


I can also promise that when I shop for things, I have a list of brands in my head to start looking at, will look them up online and see what other brands/product/services are comparible.  I will often check to see if you're brand/product/service has been reviewed before calling your business.   When I ready to purchase, i'm looking for your business to live up to my expecations in price/sevice.  After I purchase, I'll occasionally leave my own online reviews if i'm able which in turn will influence others. 


This is normal consumer behaviour.

8. Include specific, compelling, reasons why your company is unique and the best choice. If you have a good company story, use it.

Good call.  Ross Smith from http://mindshelf.com/ says that you should tell consumers who you are, what you do, why you do it better than anyone else and why I should believe you.


9. Have a strong offer. Few advertisers using radio understand the importance of an offer. An offer answers the question in the prospects mind, "why should I call now"? This also makes your advertising measurable and provides a list for follow-up marketing. Avoid weak offers like "free estimate".

Lets not forget that I don't want to call now.  I'm busy.  If I don't call now does that mean that your offer isn't available to me tomorrow? The best offer is one that will resonate with clients.  Find out what they want.  Start a dialogue.  Invite conversation.  Converse with them on the media platforms that they use.


As for weak offers lik the 'free estimate', free is expected in this case.  As a consumer, I'm more interested in a 'no hassle estimate'.  I don't want to have to jump through hoops to find out how much your service will cost me.  make it easy for me to do business with you.


10. Ask for action. Have a strong call to action ? "Call now".

see point number 7.  I don't want to call you.  I don't often call my friends.  In fact, emails are passe.  I text most of my friends.  I will find you online before I call. 


Can  you track the number of web visitors?  what's your bounce rate?  Where do people visit on your site?  What platforms can you converse with people on?  How many conversations are you having on these platforms?


Go ahead and ask for action.  Just make sure you can be found.


11. Negotiate ad rates. Oftentimes advertising rates are negotiable. Don''t be afraid to ask for a better deal.

totally makes sense.  Just remember a good deal isn't the same a cheap.  Compared to all other traditional media, radio is already cheap.  In Calgary (and most cities), the biggest radio station will reach more people weekly than most newspapers, primetime tv shows, magazines and/or yellow pages.   At standard rates, the cost to conncect with the radio audience each week is less than all these other options.


12. Consider off-peak times. Morning and afternoon drive-times are often the most expensive time slots to advertise on. Test your spot just before or after these peak times. Example: if morning drive-time is 6:00 ? 9:00 AM try advertising at 5:30 AM and see if the reduced ad rates are worth it.

radio is a habitual medium.  Each listener has a typical day with their station(s).  If you only advertise to the morning listeners, you'll likely miss all the people listening at night.  The best rates you'll get are when you buy the off peak and peak times together. 


Advertising your message during peak & off peak times is actually a good thing for a few reasons.
1. you'll reach more listeners than cherry picking any one daypart.
2. most of the time, you can't predict when a potential consumer is triggered to start a purchase journey
3. if you're inviting business conversations, is there really a bad time?



13. Don''t try to reach too many people all at once. It is better to reach 10% of your prospects 100% of the way than to reach 100% of your prospects only 10% of the way.

Good point.  I take this to mean, start with 1 station.  Communicate well with that audience.  When and if budget allows, try to expand your message and open communication with other station's communities.



14. Don''t select radio programs or formats for your own personal likes or dislikes, but rather for the audience you want to reach.

couldn't have said it better myself:)



15. Distinction is an effective tool for attracting people. That sound effect, theme music or "sound signature" will help your ads make an impression.

Distinction is another way of saying Unique Selling Proposition.  What makes you different?  A sound effect can be an important distincition, just as what you say is.   Just using radio can distinguish you from your competition.  Last time I listened, I didn't hear a single lawyer on Calgary Radio.  They're all in the yellow pages though.   


Tyrell MacGregor is Managing Director of FootBridge Media, a Referral Marketing Company that specializes in client newsletter templates and home improvement marketing solutions for home improvement contractors. Visit them at http://www.footbridgemedia.com'

The Future of Communication

Measuring ROI in Marketing

This is, and always will be one of the hottest topics in marketing.   For all of my clients, measuring ROI is equally important whether they're using the Yellow Pages or Yelp mobile.  So how do you measure your marketing ROI and what do you measure?

That's a tough question.  The short answer is that it depends.  It depends on your goals, your product life cycle, your message & offer, the depth and breadth of your advertising campaign, your measurment tools,  your commitment to the process and identifying the consumer touch points.

I do believe that the worst way to measure a campaign is a "how you heard about us" survey?  This is a test and most people will fail because they don't know how they heard about you.  By design, most advertising is an interruption, and most consumers won't remember when or on what medium your ad interrupted them. 

So choosing what to measure relates to a number of different factors.  This is by no means a complete list, but it's a good start. 

1. Product Life Cycle - Do some research to identify the number of consumers who are buying your product today.  Compare that to the number of people who will buy this month and this year.
2. Message & Offer - if you give away a Ferrari, you should have a lot of immediate response.  If you're offer to purchase the Ferrari is just the same as every other competitor ie. come see us, payments as low as $6000 per month at 0% down OAC, then you're message will be lost in the advertising noise.  What is it that makes you unique compared to the other Ferrari dealers?  you really need to let people know about that because that's why they'll buy from you. 
3. Breadth & depth of campaign - the more senses you appeal to in your campaign the more succesful it will be.  Its also true that if your campaign is only 1 week, then your message will only appeal to those who are shopping for your product or service right now.   Since these types of event campaigns only reach a small fraction of the total market, you're expecations should be in line with the number of consumers shopping right now.
4. Measurement tools - here's the meat and potatoes.  Traditionally, the first tool people use for measurement is sales.  Mainly, I think, because it's the easiest.  Here's some others to consider...
1. website hits,
2. specific product requests,
3. conversion ratio of leads:sales,
4. identify the webpages most visited,
5. consumer feedback, complaints or reviews in store/person/online,
6. staff feedback in store/person/online,
7. social media friends,
8. social media platforms your on,
9. the average a. age of consumer b. average sale price c. quote change over time ie. now vs. 1 year from now,
10. your google ranking,
11. your market share,
12. number of new customers or repeat customers
5. Commitment - to measure ROI effectively, you need to use the tools that are inline with your overall marketing strategy, commit to monitor those tools over time and perform a proper analysis at the end of your campaign. 
6. Touch Points - form a small brainstorm group of your staff from each department.  In this meeting, brainstorm all the different ways that your business can connect with a new or existing customer.  the obvious ones are your front line sales staff, but what about your accounting, service, client care...in person...online...traditional media...social media etc

In summary, my formula for measuring ROI is this....

1. set a goal. 
2. create a multiplatform marketing plan to achieve that goal. 
3. identify all the touch points at your disposal to connect with consumers. 
4. choose 5 or 6 measurement tools that allow you to confirm whether or not you reached your goal. 
5. Track these tools over time. 
6. analyse the data.
7. make adjustments to your new plan based on previous results. 
8. repeat.

Bink's personal views on marketing and media

Here's some random thoughts.  Let me know if you have ideas on how to better connect them together.

1. Many people hate marketing and Marketers
2. Advertising works
3. The history of advertising has been to interrupt people's entertainment 
4. The future of advertising is about connecting and contributing to communities on multiple platforms
5. Not all media is priced appropriately.  While I agree that that the Yellow Pages can work, the cost of advertising in it is ridiculously high for the number of people who actually use it.
6. Each media type offers a unique platform to communicate from.
7. These platforms are most effective when connected together by bridges (The USP)
8. The more senses (sight, taste, touch, hear, smell) you can communicate to, the more effective your message and therefore brand will become.
9. Marketing is the strategy and Advertising is the execution
10. Passion & Connection wins.  
11. The best marketing plan that I've seen is this...CARE
12. The second best marketing plan that I've seen aligned all resources to a multi platform plan according to useage
13. Marketers are not normal.  we turn up commercials.
14. Today, every person has the ability to my publish & broadcast themselves. 
15. Marketing is hard to measure. 
16. The consumer purchasing journey is normal.  trigger, initial consideration set, active evaluation to add more options, purchase, post-purchase evaluation, re-trigger, loyalty loop.
17. Every media type has a use. 

Yellow Pages - lumps your business services alongside your competition, in every category, to reach an older consumer who "needs it fixed right now".  Less than 5% of daily media time is spent here and shrinking.

Newsprint - allows you to visually display a brand alongside editorial content of yesterday's news.  has a aging demographic of "coupon clippers".  Seriously, I wonder what the adspace to content ratio is.  Accounts for about 10% of daily media time and shrinking.

Radio - The original real time communication platform.  at it's best, gives you the ability to target any demographic by audio in their minds eye.  At worst, it's an unmeasurable Johnny Fever pimpin' product.  With online streaming added in, about 30% of peoples daily media time is spent here.

Direct Mail -  visually interrupts a person at home with your product samples/logo/mesage in a postal code.  1% rate of return is optimistic.  Less than 1%

TV - Bruce said it....57 Channels and nothing on.  "the boss" is only partially right.  On my tv, it's more like 400 channels and something's on.  Mostly on my PVR.  TV is arguably the most powerful medium up until now.  I read somewhere that The Final Epsiode of I Love Lucy had 70% of the american audience watching it compared to 17% of the final episode of the current reigning champion...American Idol.   Average daily media time spent 30%

Internet - Real time platform 2.0.  If radio is the James Brown of media, then internet is the baby Huey.  Canadians already spend about 20% of our daily media time with this medium, but are limited to high speed access.  What happens when the internet is as pervasive as electricity?  The ways that we can communicate with eachother (email, text, social media, geotargeting, game play, consumer reviews)  changes almost as fast as the devices that we communicate with (commodore 64, desktop computers, sony walkman, Android, iPADs, google TV).   

Outdoor - Billboards, bus wraps, building signage.  To make an impact, it's either "power to the people" good or it's about size & locations...the more the better

one other amazing facts...

Did you know that some preying mantis' can catch and eat small mice?

So Advertising is Dead. Now What?

Marketing Strategy - Product Life Cycle

The Best Marketing Blogs

My goal is to build a robust archive of video, articles, presentations and thoughtful commentary about marketing and advertising.

While I am building this archive, I realize that I cannot address or answer every question all at once.   It is for this reason that I'd like to share with you a link to the top 150 marketing blogs on the web.  www.adage.com/power150/