Posts Tagged ‘digital’

Living on Borrowed Time? The Ad Agency Model is Changing

Monday, September 13th, 2010

If you have ever watched Mad Men, it is interesting to explore how agencies used to work….last week.  The cable series,  Mad Men, is suppposed to depict a time when the free-wheeling agencies on Madison Ave influenced what people bought and how they were supposed to think about products.  The interesting thing about the agencies depicted by Mad Men is they still operate much the same today as they did 50-60 years ago, what has changed though, is their decreasing ability to influence consumers.  Why are agencies stuggling to stay relevant with a model that has worked for so long?

          Business is becoming more about customer relationships rather than transactions.

Social media has changed the expectation of the consumer.  The digital landscape has created more opportunities and more challenges than at any time in the history of advertising.  Advertising agencies have been slow to react not because they are slow, they just don’t know what the new model should look like.  Attempting to bridge the gap:

  • Traditional agencies are trying to deploy technologies. 
  • Digital agencies are trying to  manage brands
  • Brands are trying to hire managers to oversee commerce, digital, social, technology, etc
  • Technology firms are trying to dis-intermediate the agency by going direct to the Brands
  • The world has been in one of the most challenging economic times since the 1930′s.

All of this together and the fact that agencies are pitching against very different competitive bidders to win new business and fighting to stay relevant when they actually do get a piece of business.  The world of advertising continues to become more complex.  There used to be a handful of consumer touchpoints from radio to 5 channels on television, now there’s millions of digital and hundreds of television touchpoints.  If this was all that had changed, the old agency models might still be working with expertise divided into practice units (brand design, direct, PR, events, promotions, multicultural and now digital).  Not only have the amount of touchpoints dramatically increased, the expectations of the client and the consumer have also dramatically changed.

  • New Client Demands: Integration & Accountability – companies are competing in a truly global economy.  Even smaller firms are able to compete across the globe thanks to digital.  In order to do this effectively, marketing cannot continue to be a siloed department.  Campaigns must integrate with CRM, commerce, logistics systems (shipping) and service to provide the level of experience and services that consumers now expect.  Marketers are also coming under more scrutiny to deliver results not just campaigns.  The have one of the largest cost centers and CEOs are demanding to see an impact on business.
  • New Consumer Demands: Engagement over the long term – Marketing is no longer a series of campaigns, it’s a commitment to the customer.  It is no longer OK for companies to run 15 campaigns across 12 brands using 7 different agencies in an un-coordinated and inconsistent manner.  Consumers love to buy, but hate being sold to.  Marketers cannot push message after message without a way to develop relationships with key customers.  Understanding that EVERY consumer touchpoint is an opportunity to over-deliver on the company experience, systems must be integrated from the ad on the web, to the message on the website, to the box that comes in the mail, to the person on the phone/chat in customer service….over the next 16 years.

Now I don’t know what the right model looks like.  Agencies like Crispin, Porter + Bogusky are helping us re-imagine the digital possibilities through experience innovation and agencies like R/GA are re-defining what the make-up of an agency should be (adding technology, SEO, social expertise along with traditional).  Even these front-runners are not integrated throughout the client nor do they look beyond the campaign overall.

For this week’s event we needed to find an innovator.  Someone who has been in the industry long enough to identify with the sacred cows and someone radical enough to help re-think them.  Hank Wasiak certainly fits the bill!  Hank has proven himself over and over again at the agency level, client level, creative and innovation.  This highly sought after industry revitalist is a must see wherever he goes.  To help us this week we decided on the following topic and subsequent questions:

Living on Borrowed Time? The Ad Agency Model is Changing

Q1: What do Brands expect from agencies today & are they delivering

Q2: How has social media altered the creative process and deployment of  marketing communications programs?

Q3: What does the agency of the future look like?

This week’s event will take place Tuesday 9/14 at noon ET as always.  To join in simply use the keyword #sm77 using your favorite Twitter client or go to out LIVE page at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com/live.

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Posted in Branding | 3 Comments »

Social Media for Non Profits

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

The not-for-profit marketing mantra:  I don’t have a lot of money for marketing, I don’t have a big staff, but I have a lot of people who would help if I had a good way to connect them. 

Sound familiar?  Not-for-profits have always been understaffed and significantly budget constrained almost by definition.  As marketing goes, social media has an opportunity to be the equalizer, the force multiplier and the inexpensive alternative for non profits.  The trend with companies is to market under a cause.  They are attempting to tie their brands to non profits, charities and other causes that have a real or perceived value to their end users.

What’s interesting is that overall, non profits have yet to capitalize on this movement.  With social media being as effective as you make it and possibly the lowest cost form of marketing and advertising that a non profit will use, they are still using it as a way to push interactive newsletters and help automate content distribution channels.  In fact, according to a survey earlier this year from CharityVillage more than 80% of non profits use social media to promote awareness as a primary function and second place use for social media was Personal (60%+)!  Excerpt of results below:

When asked what purpose they are using social media for, they told us:

  • Promote our organization – 83.3%
  • For personal use – 61.1%
  • Attract new members – 55.6%
  • Increase event registration – 44.4%
  • Receive donations – 33.3%
  • Attract youth support – 27.8%

Other uses:

Research, Networking, Prospecting, Volunteer and staff communications, Public awareness/education, Promote a cause, Provide knowledge and research to other not-for-profits, Build fundraisers vs. donors (support network +)

What’s more interesting is that the next question they asked about was how much of the non profit’s budget was going to social media.  An overwhelming 75% claimed less than 1% of their budget was going towards social media.

Companies in the private sector are moving billions of dollars to social media resulting in large percentages of their overall marketing budgets and the one’s who could benefit the most, non-profits, are not yet fully realizing the potential that social media can represent.  What is the disconnect?  I might argue that non-profits in general are poor marketers so why would this be any different.  On the flip-side, I would argue that non-profits ARE stronger operationally.  However there are many ways in which non-profits could become much stronger operationally using social media too.  With that, I may simply be a lack or education, creativity and know how.  If that’s the case, we may have the answer.  For our moderator this week, we have invited Beth Kanter to lead this discussion.  As the CEO of Zoetica, Beth is one of the foremost authorities on social media for non profits in the world.  For our discusison, we will cover the following topic and questions:

Topic:  Social Media for Non Profits

 Q1:  How can social media work for non profits? (Backstory: we know they have time and need money / sometimes volunteers. Can social help this & how?)

Q2:  What is the easiest way for an NPO to figure out how to do social?

Q3:  What are some of the best case studies of NPO’s using Social and what was the impact?

Join us Tuesday 8/17 at noon eastern for our weekly discussion.  Beth will start the first question at 12 noon and introduce the follow-up questions every 20 minutes from there.  Feel fre to participate or follow along using #sm73 from your favorite Twitter client or simply go to our live page at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com/live.

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Posted in Non Profit | 1 Comment »

Managing the Marketing Mix: Which Channel is More Effective?

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Just because you have Digital in your title does not make you Interactive

On its surface, this topic is a “status quo” topic, one that fits into the traditional advertising model that says radio, television and print are channels therefore the Internet is a channel too.  Agencies and old-school marketers feel comfortable when discussing digital as just another channel.  They figure if a portion of their budget allocated to digital and they tweak their messaging to match the medium then Whoalla! we are all new-age digital marketers.

The problem with this approach is it assumes consumers are the same and want the same messaging pushed at them to interfere with their online entertainment just like they consume television or radio entertainment.  Consumers have changed!  Consumers do not shop the same, communicate the same, consume content the same nor do they react the same to advertising.  When it comes down to it this topic cannot be about marketers adding a new channel, it has to be about those marketers who can adopt to changing consumer behaviors and those who cannot.

Consumers no longer want to be talked at, they want to be engaged with.  They want to see who prepares the food and talk with the baggage handlers, they want to feel they have a voice in determining the features of their next car model and want to help select what charities their soda maker donates to.   The majority of companies today are not set up to handle this new consumer.  Decades of closed systems and legally approved content are getting in the way of companies trying to interact with the consumer.

So what is this post about then?  Even though consumers are changing their behaviors by the second, companies can not move that quickly.  Companies need to have some transition period to move from traditional to digital and it’s not just in the way they advertise.  This is a cultural shift,  a systems shift, a shift in processes and approvals to a more distributed workforce.  This is much more than simply a messaging shift.

This post is about transitioning.  Many times, the only way to move the needle or to convince traditional executives is with proof.  That proof comes in comparing what they already know and are familiar with and in a way that they understand like reports and measurements that can compare traditional apples with digital apples (apples to apples).  If you measure traditional marketing with reach (ie. magazine has 100k circulation + 2 times pass along and costs $5k) and sales (call volume rises when our infomercial airs and conversion increases 12%) then your digital marketing reports cannot use language like followers, subscribers and linkbait, they must be consistent.  The good news is with proven success comes additional funding and a higher tolerance for experimentation.

Once you are able to measure and report consistently across traditional/digital and begin to show positive results, how do you determine how much is the optimal amount to spend on each?  Again, a fully integrated interactive marketer does not allocate a bucket of monies per channel.  Integrated messaging and consumer engagement is determined by the need at the time.  If a customer makes an online mess, it may require an online video response or it may require an actual television ad to express your point-of-view.  In order to stay flexible and meet your daily needs you cannot have a pre-allocated budget based on channels that was set 9 months ago.

In staying with the theme though, you need to be able to show value as you transition from traditional advertising to more integrated.  You have to show that any investment is worth the return before executives will release additional funds and approve more experiential marketing.  In light of that, what is the right mix?  Ford transitioned 25% of their marketing budget to social.  Seems like an arbitrary number but what is the right mix for your company as it transitions from what it was to what it needs to be?

To help us get a better handle on the right marketing mix for your company, we are bringing in a moderator this week who not only understands the measurement and monitoring side, she also understands the business side and promotes the advancement of companies into a more integrated marketing approach.  Amber Naslund, the Director of Community at Radian6, understands organizational change is just as important as technical change is and knows how to get people there.  While there is before digital (traditional) and after, more importantly there is a during or a transition that not many can talk to except Amber.  This week’s topic and supporting questions are as follows:

Topic:  Managing the Marketing Mix: Which Channel is More Effective?

Q1:  How do you know your traditional marketing efforts are effective?

Q2:  How do you know your digital marketing efforts are effective?

Q3:  What is the right budgeting mix between traditional & digital?

Be sure to join us Tuesday April 27 at noon Eastern and participate by following #sm57 from any Twitter client or simply goto our LIVE page during the event.

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Posted in Listening, Measurement | 3 Comments »

Culture Shift: Is Your Company Ready To Go Social?

Monday, April 19th, 2010

"not everyone should karaoke either"

Social media is on the minds of every marketer in corporate america today.  Whether good or bad, they are certainly at least thinking about it.  In fact, according to a new study just released by Social Media Examiner, 91% of marketers are using social media in some capacity.  After social media makes it’s way through the marketing department, then what?  What happens to the rest of the company?

From that same research marketers are reporting exposure, leads, better customer service, reduced costs and more as benefits of being engaged.  The only problem is that exposure is the only benefit that stays in marketing.  The other listed benefits affect many departments across the organization.  So what’s happening with that adoption?  While marketers were forced by their consumers into social engagement, other departments may not be feeling the pressure…yet.

How do you socially infuse your company?  It’s the same discussion that has been around for a couple of years at least, however it feels a bit more real right now.  There has to be more to it than getting your company’s name on twitter or setting up the “Facebook page” as a catch all.  There has to be more than an executive decree to become “social” and there has to be something more substantive than 3 front-line employees in a dark corner somewhere taking some social initiative.  Maybe it’s all three or a smaller combination of them.  John Bell from Ogilvy PR spoke to Lucas Watson from P&G recently and had some solid insight.  Lucas, Global Team Leader for Digital Business Strategy at P&G, had three key points when he was asked how he gets his teams to embrace social for the first time:

1. Get them out of the office. Take them somewhere provocative like to a startup’s office or to the Googleplex or somewhere where they can feel and see the excitement of doing things differently. Don’t try and convince them in a conference room at P&G behind a Powerpoint slide

2. Get a digital champion on the brand. Every team needs an enthusiast who will push and keep challenging the usual way. We constantly shift between making digital everyone’s job and embedding it via true experts. Truth is both are necessary and the balance will change over time as more people make digital a part fo their jobs.

3. Show them the ROI to inform marketing modeling. P&G is know for their marketing modeling. This simply confirms what each of us not inside the company would guess and that is that you have to have a ‘pretty good’ story of both the performance and ROI to convince hard core marketers like those at an FMCG (fast moving consumer goods).

I personally agree with these points with a minor exception on point two.  Instead of making it “everyone’s job” or leaning on the expert (which exonerates everyone else) make it a department requirement and let each department come up with their own way to handle it.  Depending on the department, they will self-organize, take turns, hire someone, etc.  Social cannot be forced on people just like not everyone should have to Karaoke at the bar just because it’s there.  Some people enjoy it and some are genuinely good at it.  It should be up to the department lead to figure out how best to manage it within their own environments.

These three points are a good start, but what else can companies to encourage social innovation within their companies?  Ask any salesperson and they will tell you that compensation dictates behavior, I just don’t think that applies to social though (and I’m a sales dude).  Socially infusing your company will take initiative from four equal directions IMHO:

  1. bottom up
  2. top down
  3. outside in
  4. inside out

To help us put some more meat on that bone, we have asked social magnate Trey Pennington to moderate this week’s chat. Trey comes with an impressive background of teaching, implementing and consulting for some great brands and focuses much of his time on using technology to make meaningful relationships with real people. For companies, it requires a new mindset—a huge cultural shift. It’s filled with huge opportunities.  These opportunities are available to everyone but not everyone is ready.  Spend some time with us on Tuesday 4/20 at noon EST to make sure you build your checklist of things you can do to get your company ready to go social.  The questions will be asked every 20 minutes starting at 12 noon then hold on to your seats as this topic will certainly be fast paced:

Title:  Culture Shift: Is your company ready to go Social?
Q1:  Employees or Management: Who drives the social culture of a company?
Q2:  What comes first, executive investment or employee initiative?
Q3: Create a checklist that companies can use to become more social.

To participate, follow along on Twitter or you favorite Twitter client (www.tweetchat.com is mine) using #sm56 or simply goto our live page at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com/live.

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Posted in corporate | 1 Comment »