In With the New: Digital Marketing Must-Haves

by | Oct 11, 2012 | Advertising, Business Success, Events, Interactive, Social Media

Although traditional marketing and advertising campaigns are still effective, many programs and companies are now relying on digital marketing tools and approaches to implement their marketing strategies. In the vast digital realm, it can sometimes be difficult to identify which program, tool, network or approach to leverage to meet your objective. Marketers sometimes feel that they have to do it all or risk losing out on an opportunity, but marketing is about finding the right strategy and the right approach to reaching brand objectives and this concept has even more weight when it comes to digital marketing.

So in the digital space, which must-have marketing tools do organizations need for a successful digital marketing strategy?

Web Analytic Tools
Analytic tools, like Google Analytics can provide valuable insight into the success of your digital marketing campaigns. From tracking the click-through rate (CTR) of a digital ad campaign to monitoring website traffic, using web analytic tools to keep track of your numbers helps you identify what works and what doesn’t. Compared to more traditional, non-measurable types of marketing, campaigns that have tracking ability can deliver better reporting structures that help marketers hone in on where to focus their efforts. In the world of web analytics, more integrated solutions are now being offered, such as Optify, Hubspot, Acton to name a few, allowing for an integrated approach to measuring the effectiveness of your digital initiatives. A word of caution here: Tracking and analytic tools doesn’t necessarily achieve more effective results! Strategy and creative still play the most significant role in achieving objectives.

Email Marketing
Email is still one of the most efficient and effective ways to engage your customers and prospects – if you use the tool in a creative or informative way. When it comes to attracting new clients and maintaining great relationships with exiting ones, email marketing campaigns can be very effective. Companies can take advantage of email campaign managers like Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor for their easy-to-use editing features and subscriber management tools to help them stay connected with customers and deliver campaigns like newsletters and promotional blasts. More recently, inbound marketing is more utilized as a term and a tactic. Rather than just pushing information out, the more effective strategies that push information out with an intent of initiating engagement onto your website, with the ability not only to track open and click through rates, but also to evaluate where potential customers go… and to capture their information.

Digital Advertising
Now more than ever people are spending more time online and on social media networks, either on their computers or their mobile devices. Digital advertising is a way for companies to reach more consumers and get measurable results. However, with the onslaught of so many digital ads, all with the new trinkets, bells and whistles, internet browsers are getting wary. Impressions still matter when assessing digital properties. The beauty of digital advertising still remains its targeting flexibility.  With many digital spaces, as with Facebook ads, companies can target specific locations, interests(psychographics) and consumers with more precision than traditional advertising could ever offer. You can slice and dice niche markets to the minutia. Again, I have to say, the ability to achieve the performance you set is based on your strategy, creative and execution.

Social Media
This one is obvious – you can’t ignore the giant marketing prowess of social media. With a vast variety of tools and promotional possibilities, social media has emerged as arguably the most powerful marketing tool in today’s digital universe. From Facebook, to Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, the social media giants offer companies a valuable and effective way to reach consumers on a more relatable, engaging and exclusive level – with the ability to track and measure all efforts.

Many companies are just starting to explore the digital marketing possibilities available to them and shifting from traditional to digital campaigns. I would add a word of caution here, to approach marketing as it always has been approached, integrating parts of all channels to make a better whole.  It goes without saying that Digital Marketing is one area that cannot be ignored – digital is where the customers are and where the future of marketing is evolving and as marketers it’s important to own that space.

What digital marketing tools and efforts does your company apply? And where do you see the future of digital marketing going? 

In Any Industry: Content is King

by | Oct 3, 2012 | Interactive, Social Media

There was a time, in the world of advertising and marketing that when it came to B2B marketing, the strategies were  quite different from B2C marketing techniques.  However there’s a shift that is occurring in the marketing world and it is all because of the emergence of the digital platform and yes, social media.

Today, content marketing is a strategy that can be applied effectively to both types of marketing concepts.

Now more than ever, companies are focusing on content marketing as a way to carve out their position in the marketplace, support their SEO initiatives and build valued relationships. Content marketing is a straightforward concept but only successful if it is properly executed.

What is content marketing?
Content marketing is a strategy that leverages the creation and sharing of valuable industry-related information. Its objective is to help your company position itself as a thought leader and to ultimately generate sales. Much a like a Professor publishes reputable papers in her field that add to her credentials, content marketing can help make your company a go-to resource; an expert in its field. It’s a way of educating clients and potential clients about the field.

What is the objective of content marketing?
Taking on content marketing as a strategy is a way for your company to attract and convert potential clients into clients, and clients into repeat buyers of your products or services.

What are the types of content?
Here are a few examples content marketing material examples that your company can develop and implement.

  • Newsletters: Create and send out a monthly newsletter to customers and potential customers. But don’t focus only on “what’s new” in your company; try to keep your customers posted about new industry trends and changes. This will show your customers that you are up-to-date and knowledgeable and have the latest techniques that bring real value to them and their business success.
  • White Papers: Traditionally used in B2B marketing, white papers are a great way to help customers understand a concept or to promote a specific product or service that your company offers. They are designed to educate, persuade and to identify a problem or opportunity. Preparing a white paper and positioning its content (your service or product) as a solution is a great way to subtly pitch to customers and potential customers.
  • Courses and Webcasts: Again, helping to position your company as an industry expert, developing a course or a webcast can be a great way to generate leads and keep current customers informed. A company can either offer these for free or for a charge. Be sure to focus on topics closely related to your industry, or the industry that your clients belong to as a great way to add to your thought leadership strategy.
  • Publish a Blog Book: If your company publishes a blog, which itself is a content marketing technique, you can consider putting together a book that contains some of your most informative blog posts. It can be sent to potential clients or current customers and used as a reference piece for important industry information and insight.
  • Publish e-books: With mobile technologies and tablets now being the norm for many readers, publishing an e-book can be great way to tap into a tech-savvy market. Target your audience with relevant topics and maybe even create a series to keep them coming back for more. Asking readers to fill out a bit of information before downloading is also a great way to generate leads. Here at 3H we publish a series of e-books that showcase what we call “biz-isms” – concise doctrines and philosophies that can be applied to marketing.

Regardless of what form your content marketing materials take, the real success or failure of a content marketing strategy relies on the content itself. If the content is not written well, properly executed and compelling then the efforts simply won’t pay off. Create strong content and you will begin to see results. If the content is strong enough, customers may not even look at it as a marketing sell technique.

Do you leverage content marketing as a strategy? What materials do you produce?

The 2012 Olympics: It’s a Social Game

by | Jul 26, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Events, Social Media

It’s nothing new. Throughout the history of the Olympics, the Olympic brand has been heavily guarded and its use tightly controlled. As have been the Olympic sponsors. But in the age of social media, has it become more difficult for the Olympic brand and the Olympic sponsors to protect their rights and control their message? This year the Olympics are being called the “first social media Olympics” and in an effort to protect the Olympic brand and the sponsors and to add an element of control, officials have set in place stringent restrictions that affect everyone from the Olympic ticket holders to the athletes.

The Olympic brand and its logo, the Olympic rings, are one of the most widely recognized and important brands in the word. According to the Olympic organization media guide, the Olympic brand values are as follows: Excellence, Friendship and Respect. They were established more than a century ago in The Olympic Charter. It is because of these values, its history, unique brand persona and its power of influence that other brands look to align themselves with the Olympic brand.

Being an Olympic sponsor is one of the most prestigious titles that a brand can attain. This year, global brand leaders such as P&G, Visa, McDonald’s, Samsung and Coca Cola lead the way as the top brands with Olympic prowess. As sponsors, they receive exclusive marketing rights and a much-coveted association with the Olympic brand. What does this mean? Well, you probably won’t see a non-sponsor ad running during broadcasts, you won’t hear anyone speak about it and you certainly won’t see an athlete Tweet about it.

* Source: wallblog.co.uk

When it comes to social media, in an effort to protect themselves and the Olympic sponsors, the Olympic committee has put together a very detailed policy that applies to athletes. No one is allowed to speak about a brand that isn’t a sponsor. Period.  Even ticket holders are held against regulations – there is a legal ban on spectators uploading their personal photos of the games on social media sites.

Some social media sites such as Twitter are actually working with Olympic sponsors and the Olympic brand in an attempt to ensure exclusivity and brand protection. In an effort to the control the message, Twitter is also said to be working with Olympic officials to stop anyone other than the sponsors from buying and promoting tweets with hashtags such as #London2012. However, that’s not to say that they are banning Olympic-related campaigns by non-sponsors altogether. In fact Nike, who is not an official sponsor, is planning to run a Promoted Tweet campaign during the Olympics in order to capitalize on the Olympic conversation.

It’s safe to say that regulating Twitter use and controlling the message is going to, no doubt, be a challenge for the Olympic brand officials and the sponsors – the beauty of social media is that anyone is free to speak their mind. This discussion begs the question around control and effectiveness. Do you think the Olympic efforts to try and have as much control as possible over social media will be effective? How are their activities different from what other, unrelated, brands are doing?

During this year’s Olympics we’ll be doing a series of blogs that speak to the event, brands and sports. Stay tuned and join the conversation!

 

 

*Feature image source: paypromedia.com

Tweet Loudly: 5 Ways to Make Your Tweet Count

by | Jul 19, 2012 | Business Success, Interactive, Social Media

How to Better Leverage Twitter for Business:

Some brands select one social media outlet for their campaigns and do it well. For the most part that outlet is Facebook . Yes, it is a very effective tool for reaching consumers and running campaigns, but let’s not forget about Twitter. To help brands cut through the noise, Twitter has several features that brands can leverage for promotional and engagement campaigns. Here are 5 ways a brand can better leverage Twitter to get loud and reach and engage users. 

Better Leverage Twitter for business

  • Amplify your message  with Promoted Tweets
    With promoted tweets brands can buy promotional packages to amplify their messages. Promoted tweets can be targeted to search results or to users’ timelines. Promoting tweets in a search allows brands to reach users when they are searching for specific topic, hashtag or term on Twitter. Much like Google search, they appear at the top of the results page. Promoted tweets to timeline reach a brand’s follower base or users who are like their followers. Why is this important? Like I’ve said before, the life of a tweet is generally only a few seconds. Using promoted tweets, a brand can make sure their message is seen. For example, if a brand is running a contest, one quick tweet might not result in many entries, but promoting that tweet will drive higher levels of engagement.
  • Get Found by  utilizing Promoted Accounts
    It’s important for a brand to build a strong Twitter follower base that will then share and amplify the brand message. Also paid, promoted accounts appear in search results and within the Who To Follow section – Twitter’s account recommendation engine that suggests accounts to users. Generating awareness, this can be a useful tool for brands that are new to Twitter and want to introduce themselves and brands looking to get more followers. Brands can also promote their accounts if they are running a campaign or if they are celebrating a milestone.
  • Build Behavioural Habits with Twitter Customs
    Knowing the Twitter customs and syntax can help a brand integrate itself in the Twitter community. Participating in “Follow Friday” for example can be a part of a brand’s Twitter mandate. Each Friday, Twitter users promote accounts they think their followers should follow. Brands can take part by tweeting #FF of their followers, related accounts, or accounts they find interesting.  Before long, and given a brand pushes out interesting content, users will begin including them in Twitter customs. Brands can also create their own customs to engage their followers.
  • Make the Right First Impression with Enhanced Profiles
    An enhanced profile page allows brands to visually feature important and interesting content. Similar to Facebook Pages’ Cover Photo, brands can add a 835×90 header to their Twitter profile that could be a logo, image, tagline or any other visual branding. They can also feature their content more prominently by highlighting a tweet at the top of their profile, again similar to Facebook Pages’ Pin functionality. Unfortunately, enhanced profiles are currently only available to a select group of brands.
  • Make yourself known with Promoted trends
    Promoted trends     are strategically positioned to amplify the conversation. By promoting a term, a campaign or a hashtag, brands can give Twitter users the opportunity to discover their message quickly and get involved. This can be a great tool for brands that are running contests on Twitter that require users to tweet a specific hashtag to enter.

Has your brand leveraged Twitter and its features  to reach and engage users? Were your efforts a success?