Today's consumer is more tech-savvy than ever before. But that doesn't mean they see themselves as programmers or developers. They are more like enlightened users.
Smart businesses will recognize this bright line between comfort and expertise when engaging with customers. The burden is on sales and customer service agents to quickly understand what a customer needs and offer viable solutions.
If you've been blogging for a while, you remember that thrilling moment when you realize someone is actually reading what you're writing. Maybe a few comments appear. Perhaps your blog URL gets retweeted by a kind friend. Or maybe yours just went viral all of a sudden.
For me, blogging has been a slow burn. Being syndicated has helped grow my blog traffic, but for me the moment came the first time I realized I had a "fan." That's also the exact time when I began to struggle with authenticity. I started pandering for traffic and stopped writing from the heart. I forgot my mission in the pursuit of popularity. And like all bloggers, I had to learn the ultimate lesson. Your writing has to be authentic to survive. I had lost my authentic voice.
In hindsight it was a great lesson. The more I forget about pleasing people, the more popular my blog gets. When I think about it there were several signs that I missed along the road to fakiness. Hopefully you can learn from this hindsight and avoid making the same mistakes I did.
Here is a checklist to make sure you're being authentic in your own work. More than a couple yes answers to these questions might be a red flag that your authenticity could be suffering:
Implementing effective IMC tactics requires patience. Without an integrated message, you risk going for the ask too early, losing out on establishing relationships with key constituents. ...
Statistics like these and others show that video is a revolution for small business and B2B marketing. If you don't have it, you'll get crushed. Figure out a way to incorporate video into your marketing, or at least your SEO strategy in 2016. ...
When it comes to the Internet, cute critters like Grumpy Cat and Boo the Pomeranian reign supreme. It's not just the adorable factor that gets the attention - and money - of legions of fans. Behind Grumpy and Boo are clever, well-orchestrated IMC campaigns that have propelled them beyond the fame of memes and viral videos to global stardom resulting in books, calendars, stuffed toys and most important, revenue.
Most Internet-famous pets come from humble beginnings, like an unassuming YouTube video, a #CatsOfInstagram Instagram account or a casual Facebook post. Some enjoy 15 minutes of fame and fade into the scenery. Others enjoy long-term success, but only with help from marketing and communications tactics. Here are the IMC secrets that have kept both Grumpy and Boo top of mind in this cluttered pet market.
1. Traditional public relations coupled with social media.
Grumpy Cat would not be the sensation she is without an incredibly strong social media presence, coupled with enough PR savvy to launch a media tour including office visits at outlets like Buzzfeed. Not long after she gained popularity online, she was front page news in The Wall Street Journal and New York magazine. She's also been a star on the stage of major events like SXSW, reminding us that being "on the ground" is still an important part of the mix. Boo the Pomeranian, aka "The Cutest Dog in the World," is another great example of IMC in action.
2. Product associations.
One more sign pointing to the convergence of IT and marketing is there are increasingly more communications professionals interested in project management training or even Project Manager Development Program (PMDP) certification. It’s no secret that integrated marketing involves a level of detail beyond most traditional campaigns. Multiple messaging channels, diverse audiences and the need for real-time engagement and an enhanced customer experience all contribute to a greater need for project management skills.
Running a successful integrated marketing communications (IMC) project requires sophisticated planning, and implementation mechanisms are challenging, and time-consuming, to create manually. Learning and adopting a strong online project management tool into an integrated communications practice can be the difference between a good marketing campaign and a great one.
Here are five reasons why project management tools make sense, particularly for integrated marketers.
The average price of a Super Bowl ad swelled to $4.5 million for a 30-second ad, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. This reflects a 75 percent increase in Super Bowl ad prices over the last decade. Fortunately for small business owners, you don’t need a few million dollars to produce a quality ad. An article by Direct TV suggests you can produce and air a local commercial for under $1,000 depending on your budget, air time and goals. While there isn’t an exact science to getting started in TV advertising for small businesses, there are ways to streamline the process and stay on budget.
The first reference to what we now know as "pumpkin spice" can be traced back to 1796. That's the year Amelia Simmons published American Cookery, often regarded as the nation's first cookbook. In it she includes a recipe for "pompkin pudding," a pie made with stewed pumpkin and spiced with ginger and nutmeg. It represents a sense of goodness, natural abundance and old values that people think are good. Which is why pumpkin spice lattes bring equal parts devotion and disdain.
More importantly pumpkin spice delivers a powerful marketing punch every fall. According to Nielsen sales of pumpkin-infused foods and drinks are up 79 percent since 2011. It's now a $361 million dollar business. Social media intelligence technology provider Infegy even released a report that uses social media data to explain the widespread success behind this bestselling seasonal flavor options and explains how it can be used to better understand consumers, brand loyalty, purchase intent and more.
The pumpkin spice latte now means more than coffee spiked with pumpkin and cinnamon. What started as a drink has now come to represent a certain fall-centric lifestyle thanks to IMC heavyweight Starbucks.
Online promotion and customer activity tracking have changed the face of marketing forever, that's a given. As a result of this I'm seeing some disturbing trends in digital marketing including a strong bias against elements of marketing that have always packed a powerful punch. Every day there's a new digital "expert" telling me that numbers don't lie. Or that I need to add a tactic within my marketing strategy that is counter-intuitive to the overall plan, mainly because another digital marketing campaign found success using that tactic.
I'm grateful to have the pleasure of working with true geniuses in the field of digital marketing. Here are three things really great digital marketers all understand about integrated marketing:
1. Numbers are only half the story. Anyone who's done a ton of A/B testing will tell you there are some really weird subject lines and promotions that take off like a rocket. And we don't always know why. Great digital marketers know you have to throw in a few wild cards, particularly at the beginning of the campaign, because what the numbers will tell you will work, isn't always what works. Numbers, plus experience and a bit of gut feel or intuition will always give you the best result.
2. Traditional media is still relevant. A lot of folks on the digital side look down their nose at print, network TV, direct marketing and other forms of traditional advertising and PR. Great digital marketers know that the best results (and this holds true for my IMC campaigns as well) result when there is an attempt to create synergy between digital tactics and traditional media. It may not be as glamorous as content marketing right now, but a good hit on local TV will always deliver for consumer brands. Learn how to synchronize digital tactics with these efforts, and they can provide a tremendous boost for online results.