Valentines Day – Bring Back the Love!
I get tired of staying on the same topic too long, so today we are going to take an intermission from the business plan series and celebrate the holiday with something I think I am going to make this a Valentines Day Tradition.
I originally wrote this post a year ago. It features one of my favorite videos, poking fun at traditional advertising. As you enjoy this extremely funny video by Geert Desager ( Trade Marketing Manager South East Asia for Microsoft.) think about how much advertising and marketing has changed in fifty years.
50 years ago, advertising was easy, figure out your target audience, and talk at them. Today, you have to talk to them. What about your marketing? Are you really focused on your customers, or are you focused on you?
New Year, New Beginning
This week I began as an account executive here at Roundpeg. As many of you know, I served as an intern here last summer, and I was lucky enough to be invited back to work full-time. It’s been awesome coming into a situation where I’m already so comfortable and feel I fit in so well. With that being said, there are some adjustments for a recent college grad that hasn’t been awake before 9 in the morning since high school (hello McDonald’s breakfast menu!)
With the new year beginning, we have all kinds of new projects. This is the time of year many companies decide it’s time to optimize their marketing efforts, which keeps us plenty busy. There are tons of new things I’ve got to learn and become accustomed to. Luckily, I have a great-and patient-crew around me to help.
The best part about my new job has been the opportunity to work directly with clients right off the bat, as well as be a major contributor to several campaigns…and this has all been in the first three days.
So far, it’s been one new adventure after another. In my first two weeks I will have already worked on designing websites, attended corporate events, contributed to the blog, and opened dialog with a handful of clients. I’m discovering and learning new things every day.
I’m really excited about all the possibilities 2010 has to offer. Here at Roundpeg we’ve done a number of things to improve our business strategy and put ourselves in a great position to achieve our 2010 goals. What changes have you made to start the year off right? How will you improve and make 2010 your best year ever?
Taking a Different Approach
Creating a flyer for long term care and disablity insurance is challenging because there are only so many images of sad or injured people. And, let’s face it, those images don’t make you want to look at the information. So, when we were asked to develop a promotional flyer for Innovative Individual Insurance , we took a different approach…
Our client sells supplemental products to compliment the primary insurance offered by employers. With the holiday season right around the corner, we thought it would be fun to draw a parallel between the side dishes served at Thanksgiving and their Insurance products. Our headline: ”Turkey without the sides…isn’t so appealing” was paired with eye catching photos of of turkey and the trimmings.
“What Ala Carte options do you need?” Health, Life, Disability, Dental and/or Long Term? Innovative Individual Insurance offers a menu of items where you can pick and choose the types of insurance you need.
At first, grasping the different approach of this flyer was challenging, but now as I look at the appetizing food pictures and the “Ala Carte” menu, I think this ad could also be used in Bon Appetit magazine!
Big Changes in Advertising
According to IBM, we are going to see big changes in Advertising in the next few years. It seems they conducted a study of 2,400 consumers and 80 advertising experts and have written a report entitled. “The end of advertising as we know it.”
They have identified four factors which will drive this change.
- Attention – Consumers are increasingly in control of how they view, interact with and filter advertising in a multichannel world.
- Creativity – Thanks to technology, the rising popularity of user-generated and peer-delivered content, and new ad revenue-sharing models (e.g., YouTube, Crackle, Current TV), amateurs and semi- professionals are now creating lower-cost advertising content.
- Measurement – Advertisers are demanding more individual-specific and involvement- based measurements, putting pressure on the traditional mass-market model.
- Advertising inventories – Will be bought and sold through efficient exchanges, bypassing traditional intermediaries.
Interesting, they are just discovering what many small business owners have seen for quite awhile, relationships, not advertisements will drive sales in the future.
Look to the Past for Inspiration
I love looking at old advertisements. While today’s technology allows us to do so much more then our predecessors, there is much to be learned from their simple and direct style. With less photography, the ads often relied on sketches and drawings to bring the ads to life. For example check out this coffee advertisement. 
While few of us still wear suits and ties for work, most of us still have that same smile as we enjoy our first cup of coffee each morning. Long before Starbucks arrived, there were neighborhood coffee shops and news stands which fueled the workers of America with cheap coffee.
Here is another one of my favorites! It is an old advertisement for Coca Cola. Look at his smile as he fills both hands with bottles of his favorite beverage. It makes you want to reach out and grab one! And the tag line is designed to get people to think of Coke as a destination rather then a beverage – a rest stop in your busy day.
The art style of this ad, common in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s is almost gone now because it is easier to create a photograph then a painting to convert to an ad, but a bit of American art has clearly been lost!
Do you have a favorite retro advertisment or two? I would love to see them!
Feel free to share your links below!
I Hate the Yellow Pages
Many, many years ago, my brother sold advertising in the Yellow Pages. As a result we have a number of lively conversations, about the value of the publication. ( Ok, so maybe they were arguments) You see, I hate the yellow pages.
I think it is crazy to spend money to drive consumers to a vehicle where they can find information on your competitors. The yellow pages, as a printed medium is a dying advertising tool. More and more, consumers are going on line, or to their smart phones to find goods and services. So in most cases, I think the same money would be much more effective talking to a more targeted audience, but there are exceptions.
If you are in a business like emergency repairs, it is less likely you will have long term relationships with clients the Yellow Pages may still fill a need for a few more years. But as you are renewing your advertising contract, remember pricing is negotiable.
They like to tell you it is hard and fast, but the truth is, if you move to a larger size, it is always a better deal then if you try to scale down. So how do you improve your chances of getting a good deal? Share you quotes, with other companies in your area. I had six clients do this last year. They all took the lowest quote back to their rep, demanding the same pricing. It was effective.
Color cost more, but isn’t always more impactful. A strong black and white design, will stand out just as well, or better, then a cluttered color design. So spend a little more on the design, and less on the ad itself.
Invest in the online version of the directory. Make sure the web site you link to will help you close the sale. Make sure it looks good on a smart phone as well!
Yellow pages are big business, but the directories are getting smaller, and less valuable as more people simply put them in the closet, and hop on line to find what they need. Make sure you are where they can find you !
I Guess the Downturn is Good for Us
Ben McConnel shared his thoughts on the a recent study by the Association of National Advertisers as reported by Media Post. A new survey of ANA of its members on how they are cutting marketing budgets in this nasty recession. As he shared the statics, it was clear, that news is neither good or bad, it just depends on where you are sitting for example: in response to the statistic that 48% of the c0mpanies surveyed are looking to reduce agency compensation, McConnel had this to say:
If agency compensation is being cut, that’s good news for start-up agencies that don’t have the overhead of existing ones, or agencies that haven’t had the impetus to reinvent themselves using a social media lens rather than a broadcast media lens
So I guess that means, good news for Roundpeg although we are not a “start up” we still act like one. My philosophy has always been to focus on smart, rather then expensive marekting strategies for my small business clients. I guess my time has come !
Advertising – Investment or Waste of Money?
Seth Godin raised an interesting question in a recent blog post entitled: Do Ads Work? This question is something small business owners ask on a regular basis. In the article he says:
So, why, precisely, do you have an ad budget? If your ads work, if you can measure them and they return more profit than they cost, why not keep buying them until they stop working? And if they don’t work, why are you running them? The time-tested response is that you’re not sure, that ads are risky, that you can’t tell.
He continues as he says the same should hold true to your digital ads. If you are spending money on Google ad words, spend well Make sure you ar getting a return. Not just web traffic but conversions. When people come to your website, what do they do? Buy, sign up request information or leave If they leave, without taking the next step, your ads aren’t working. Possibly because you haven’t given them the tools to work.
And on the other side, if your ads are working, and you are getting traffic and conversion, why do you have a cap on your spending. As Seth says if your ads work, why is there a limit? Can you spend too much?
Are You Ready for Advertising
I spend a lot of time talking about networking and on-line organic promotion. But sometimes a small business needs traditional marketing and advertising to get to the next level.
I found this article on Inc.Com and think content is a valuable read for any small business owner considering the leap to advertising. One of my favorite quotes:
Good advertising is more relevant to the audience than the advertiser! It solves a problem. It meets a need. It is eye-stopping. It’s simple. It gets across one clear idea. It motivates the reader or viewer to take action.
Too often, we make decisions about our marketing based on what we like, or what our friends and family like. Don’t fall into this trap. Unless your spouse, mum or best friend fall squarely in the middle of your target audience, their opinion does not count.
Tip the Writer!
I love following Seth Godin’s blog, unlike his books, you never know where his daily posts will take you. In today’s post he suggests you click on banner ads as a way of “tipping the writer” If you liked their content, click a banner ad on their site.
If every time you read a blog post or bit of online content you enjoyed you clicked on an ad to say thanks, the economics of the web would change immediately. You don’t have to buy anything (though it’s fine if you do). You just have to honor the writer by giving them a click.
While the concept is intriguing -( I would always click the ads on Doug Karr’s site for example cause he has great and useful content) is it fair to the advertiser? Is this a good use of their advertising dollars? They will get more exposure, but will it be the right kind?
The answer is yes, if they really think about where they put their banner ads. The challenge, if this trend takes hold is for advertisers to be selective, choosing well written, but more importantly RELEVANT sites.
