This collection of articles are highlights of the originals that I send out to my clients here in Calgary, AB. For free advice relating to marketing and advertising contact me at 403-686-9715 or Marc.Binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com
As I was preparing for my first "elevator pitch" last night, I came across a brilliant guy named Simon Sinek on Youtube who spoke about how great companies/brands communicate.
Simon argues that most advertisers start from the outer circle and work inward. Take for example a car dealer ...
WHAT - great deals right now on all remaining 2010 models
HOW - our cars are the most reliable and have the highest customer satisfaction rating
WHY - you should by a car from us because these prices can't be beat
Simon then goes on to say that the best companies have all the exact same resources as their competition, yet they seperate themselves by reversing the order of their message. These innovative companies do this because they understand that the recipie for success is to sell to people who believe what you believe, not just buy what you have to sell.
So, with that in mind, I rewrote my 30 second elevator pitch and would love any feedback you have on this one.
Hi, my name is Marc Binkley. I believe that marketing is about communication; that marketing is fun; that marketing can be measurable and most importantly I believe that the best ideas are the ones that are shared. Typically, I like to meet with clients in person so that I can get a better understanding of their marketing goals, their business objectives and their customers. Based on that information, I build a customized multiplatform marketing plan for my clients. I happen to sell radio, but what my clients buy is a resource. My name is Marc Binkley and you can find me on google, I'd love to meet with you.
This is one example of "the perfect elevator sales pitch". Seeing as I need to do my first tomorrow, I figured I give it a shot.
Hi I'm Marc. I'm an integrated media consultant for Rogers Media in Calgary, Alberta. I work with clients in all types of industries to collaboratively develop, implement and execute multi-platform marketing plans. All of these marketing programs are designed to create measurable results for your bottom line and include one on one coaching on social media platforms that can help my clients (and you) get a headstart with these new and exciting marketing tools.
If you're interested to hear more about how I can help your business grow and venture into the social media world, I'd love to chat with you more about this later.
Would you like to set up a meeting with me next week?
In conversations I’ve had with many clients I understand that Word of Mouth (WOM) advertising is the best kind of advertising. (irony noted)
So I asked myself, Why?
In short it’s because of trust. According to the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries, WOM advertising is important because it is the most trusted form of advertising. Interestingly, right behind WOM, sits online reviews posted by strangers. You can have a look for your own business here http://www.yelp.ca/calgary. It’s a relatively new site but I’m sure the customer participation will grow quickly.
So I asked myself another question, why is trust important for a brand anyway?
According to one source, when consumers trust a brand they
Recommend it to other people
Use those products and services frequently
Will look to it first for things they want
Will give it’s new products and services a try first
Pay more for it’s products and services
Basically when consumers trust a brand, they buy more, try more and pay more for it.
If you’d like to chat about how I can help you build & track your brand’s trust, please let me know 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com
I was listening to Matt & Eric today on JACK FM 96.9 talking about the absurdity of the 10-4 service guy. Matt & Eric asked for some service guys to call in to help explain why companies can't give their customer a narrower window of time when making service calls. Surprisingly, a couple of service guys did call and the general consensus was that they don't know how long the prior appointments will take so they can't accurately provide a narrower time.
garbage.
There are far too many companies that claim to have "the best customer service" for that to be real reason anymore. In reality, it doesn't mean anything if they say it. What matters most is whay I say about their customer service. The real reason that companies fail at living up to their brand promise is that they just haven't integrated their brand promise across all consumer touch points.
Let me explain.
A marketing person decides that ABC Cable should be know for customer service. They buy commercials that say ABC Cable is number 1 in customer service. I call to set an appointment. They ask if someone will be home between 10am-4pm to set up my cable box. Then by definition they can't be #1 in customer satisfaction because I'm not satisfied with waiting at home all day for some guy to show up. And what if they don't show? It's happend to me. In fact it happend to me 3 times with one company. The result? Their radio commercial lies and I tell everyone I know about it.
With an integrated brand promise across all consumer touchpoints, this is how it should work...
The ABC Cable radio commercial says they're number 1 in customer service. I call to set an appointment. They agree to a 1 hour time window that's agreeable to both of us. Like normal people do, the ABC service tech calls my cell to confirm our appointment ahead of time. If they're running late, they let me know. They meet me at home, do the work and ask me to fill in an online review on YELP or someother public review site. The average review rating from all posts confirms or confronts their brand promise. Most reviewers say that ABC Cable provided great service. In fact, when I compare to other cable companies in my area, they are number 1. I believe it because other people confirm it. ABC cable has a lot to be proud of and should encourage all of their staff to keep striving for excellent customer service in every interaction with a customer. In this scenario, the entire company becomes part of the marketing plan.
Imagine your business. You've got computers. You've got a cell phone with a web cam. Maybe even a staff member who's got a modern computer and has put a video on facebook or youtube. You may have even published a video of a wedding, a party, a hockey game yourself. You've got a marketing budget. you know some of your traditional media works, but are questioning if your marketing mix is the best it can be.
In my opinion, you've already got a couple of holes punched on your social media VIP coffee card. what you really have are... resources.
You understand that business is about relationships.
you have the digital and human resources to build, connect to and create a social network of business connections
you have the ability to use radio and/or television as accelerators for your business & social networks
as of 2010, we know the average consumer spends their daily media time pretty evenly in an average day. 1/3 TV, 1/3 Radio, 1/3 internet. In less than 10 years, (yes the same 10 years you plan on being in business) the average 35-54 year old will probably be spend between 50-80% of their daily media time connected online.
TV and Radio are the best traditional media platforms to launch the next 10 year phase of your social marketing & consumer communication plan. use traditional media to as an accelerator to grow your social media network.
Here is why I think social media will be so great. Social media allows you to broadcast yourself on 2 way communication platforms...in writing, on video, voice, or images. Eventually, you could bypass paid traditional media platforms. it allows anyone to selfpublish on a scale as big or bigger than a Superbowl, NBC, National Rogers Radio, The New York Times or the Calgary Herald. A growing majority of consumers use social media platforms like Urbanspoon, rate mds or youtube to access content and reviews about virtually every single consumer choice on the planet.
Very soon, I will have access to the worlds collective knowledge in one hand. Google has just launched a mindreading software application called instinct to make it easier & faster for me to find the exact information that i want. any idea, thought, opinion, personality can be found on my iphone. I can connect with any community for business. Consumers like justin Beiber, the Julie & Julia girl, the shit My Dad says guy have created brands. In the reverse communication direction, the Old Spice guy connected the brand to consumers.
People like raywilliamjohnson, mysteryguitarman and charlie will be next. Wait, What, WHO? tone is really hard to pick up in righting, so read this next sentence with as much attitude as you can muster. seriously, who are they?
well, they all look like their around 25. They all look like they make videos of themselves in their bedroom. Combined they have over 630,000,000 views and 3 million subscribers. And it looks like they all did that from their house. Here's what I asked myself...Seriously? all of us have those same tools. the only real difference is that they are (what Seth Godin would call) doing marketing
Now back to me....I've got 2 tickets to that thing you wanted and NOW, they're diamonds.
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...
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.
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
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.
Care
Goals - set them
Budget - stick to monthly budget based on your goals. (2-10% of total sales)
Allocate - your budget per platform according to average daily media usage & target audience
Maximize - the impact on each paid platform before adding others
USP - Craft & Deliver your Unique Selling Proposition
Leap - Execute your plan & engage internal and external customers
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.
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.
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'
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
website hits,
specific product requests,
conversion ratio of leads:sales,
identify the webpages most visited,
consumer feedback, complaints or reviews in store/person/online,
staff feedback in store/person/online,
social media friends,
social media platforms your on,
the average a. age of consumer b. average sale price c. quote change over time ie. now vs. 1 year from now,
your google ranking,
your market share,
number of new customers or repeat customers
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.
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....
set a goal.
create a multiplatform marketing plan to achieve that goal.
identify all the touch points at your disposal to connect with consumers.
choose 5 or 6 measurement tools that allow you to confirm whether or not you reached your goal.
Track these tools over time.
analyse the data.
make adjustments to your new plan based on previous results.
Here's some random thoughts. Let me know if you have ideas on how to better connect them together.
Many people hate marketing and Marketers
Advertising works
The history of advertising has been to interrupt people's entertainment
The future of advertising is about connecting and contributing to communities on multiple platforms
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.
Each media type offers a unique platform to communicate from.
These platforms are most effective when connected together by bridges (The USP)
The more senses (sight, taste, touch, hear, smell) you can communicate to, the more effective your message and therefore brand will become.
Marketing is the strategy and Advertising is the execution
Passion & Connection wins.
The best marketing plan that I've seen is this...CARE
The second best marketing plan that I've seen aligned all resources to a multi platform plan according to useage
Marketers are not normal. we turn up commercials.
Today, every person has the ability to my publish & broadcast themselves.
Marketing is hard to measure.
The consumer purchasing journey is normal. trigger, initial consideration set, active evaluation to add more options, purchase, post-purchase evaluation, re-trigger, loyalty loop.
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?
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/
