by Miriam Hara | Jun 7, 2013 | Business Success, Latest, Social Media
I often have discussions with business colleagues, associates and clients about the merits of having a LinkedIn presence and the value of having a presence on LinkedIn. Quite frankly, adding LinkedIn to your social media marketing and yes, sales arsenal is good business. Many generalize LinkedIn and compare it to Facebook based on numbers. True, compared to Facebook with their 1.11 billion users, LinkedIn seems like a lightweight with a mere 200 million members. Yes, I am being funny. 200 million users is impressive.
The big difference between LinkedIn and Facebook users is that LinkedIn users are business professionals, a totally different and distinctive demographic than the friends and families found on Facebook.Comparing these 2 Social Media properties is like, forgive the feminine analogy, comparing a business suit to a cocktail dress.
By now , I believe that the majority of us have a LinkedIn profile (please say yes!). We talk about our professional-selves and connect with others in our industry. Many people use it to find jobs and employers use it to advertise jobs…and research perspective employees.
According to Forbes, the American business magazine, “LinkedIn is, far and away, the most advantageous social networking tool available to job seekers and business professionals today.” I tend to concur. It is now “a natural” to go on line and research a company via their website, and also search it out on LinkedIn. I don’t need to tell you about the influential and far reaching weight of Facebook. Despite the many differences of Facebook and LinkedIn there are common elements. Just like Facebook, LinkedIn provides yet another opportunity for your business to have a company page. Your company page is an opportunity to talk more about your company and the people who work there. Like Facebook, LinkedIn enables you to add photos and videos as well as case studies of your work…. and best of all engage with the people who follow you. LinkedIn allows you to personify your company, by linking your employees and management profiles to the company page. This assist in building a business reputation and showcasing a culture through personnel that is key in any business evaluation, perspective employees or potential clients. It builds your business community… uniquely yours. If that’s not powerful marketing, I don’t know what is. With an average income of over $100,000 your LinkedIn followers are an excellent resource to drive word of mouth sales.
LinkedIn has a great set of features you will want to take advantage of. You can post status updates, company announcements, product releases or whatever content you wish and link these updates to your Twitter account. You can create a group where you reach out and build your own community, in order to build business reputation. Businesses can also showcase your products and services. And the one feature I think is the most influential is the recommendations you can receive from LinkedIn members. Not only do the recommendations create a positive image the recommendation links to the person’s profile that makes the recommendation and provides instant credibility that can assist any sales process from employment to business to business sales.
Like any good social media tool LinkedIn offers you analytic information. You can view the total company followers, group followers, impressions, new followers in the last 7 days as well as page views, unique visitors, and page clicks over the last 7 days. It shows page views by tab, page visitor demographics, and more. Don’t worry this information can only be viewed by your company page 
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With all this audience and information, it’s a wonder why more businesses don’t have a company page and if they do, why they don’t “work” it to its fullest potential. LinkedIn is a powerful marketing and sales tool that just makes business sense.
You can follow us on our company page or you can follow our LinkedIn Group, Branding, Marketing, Social Media and Advertising Hoopla. We’d love to hear from you!
by Miriam Hara | Jun 4, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Creative, Latest
What makes for bad advertising? The answer is simple.. and often it’s not in the brief, because there wasn’t one! Ultimately what consumers see as the result is often the cumulation of poor direction, bad decisions and no creative brief outlining the brand’s basic position, the reason to believe and competitive landscape.
Way too often I find print ads selling their features and not educating and concentrating on benefits; or billboards featuring paragraphs rather than clever succinct statements and visuals inspiring curiosity…. and my all time favourite, TV ads way too concerned on providing entertainment value at the expense of the brand and benefit. When ever I see any of these, I always wonder what the brief looked like to begin with.
Before going any further, let me acknowledge that I can hear it from here…. the outcry… “but it’s what the client wants!” Well, that may be true, but as Creative Professionals, I believe it is our role to accommodate our clients’ wishes but also to advise them in making the best marketing decisions possible to avoid some of the symptoms of bad advertising. If a brief isn’t provided, then provide one…before you start on creative. Only then can you direct any creative discussion rationally.
Let’s face it, bad advertising only results in unsuccessful marketing and very poor ROI. It has been my experience, when presenting to clients, that once you explain the reasons why you shouldn’t do something and yes, even invest in showing them what is being compromised, clients really do get it.
Throughout my career I have often been asked by marketing professionals what I think of an ad (no matter what channel) that they or their organization just created. My answer is always the same,“what was the brief?”. Creative must come from the brief. The brief must be accurate, clear and pertinent… If a brief was not written, the ad assessment will be dependent on a number of criteria, many of them subjective…and a moving target. When I see ads that actually get to the marketplace without a clear single focused message…. I really wonder who did it…and what happened….and why.
Advertising isn’t about pretty pictures and for it to work there are certain protocols that need to be followed. At times it can be challenging, I get that…. but isn’t that very challenge the reason we as Creative Professionals are in this particular industry… Am I right?
As Creative Professionals we are often faced and given mountains of information to decipher and create a single succinct statement that speaks to the end benefit, the reason to believe, the unique selling proposition. As designers, we are given too many visual elements AND the logo (if there is only one!), along with too much information…all to be incorporated in a layout that has to have a visual flow directing the consumer’s eyes to make sure that the main message is delivered. The challenge remains the same in each one of these instances…a single focused message.
Great creative needs a very clear message. Bad ads don’t have one… they have a few… all shouting for attention. Great ads are those that increase brand and service awareness, increase the knowledge of the brand or service benefits and inspire confidence as well. They inspire confidence because they are presented professionally and well. When a client wants to throw in the kitchen sink into the ad…. as creative professionals you do have 2 options. 1) Give in without a fight and create mediocre advertising, or 2) go the extra mile, show them the ad with the kitchen sink… and show them the single focused ad . More often than not, they will side with the value…the single
I invite you to talk to me…. Share with me your stories… the brilliant, the bad, the ugly and the win! I’d love to hear about them.
by Miriam Hara | May 30, 2013 | Business Success, Latest, Social Media
It’s clear that like all things in marketing you need to determine your objectives. Only then can you evaluate and assess if your Social Media efforts are performing well. Once you have determined your objectives, the most critical aspect of developing a community is creating a social media calendar that will provide you with clear and concise directions and strategy on writing of posts.
What is an social media calendar?
A social media calendar allows you to plan out your topics and initiatives by week, and by month. This provides you with the foundation to develop Facebook Posts, Blogs and Tweets by evaluating and considering the social media landscape as it pertains to your business or brand. It allows you to integrate all your efforts into one visual document to make sure that you have a holistic approach to your social media.
Here’s how you start establishing a Social Media Calendar.
1) Understanding your target audience…intimately. For starters, Facebook allows you to really niche your audience. So reaching the 1% of the 15% is totally attainable. And Twitter allows you to evaluate and assess trending topics….So put these 2 great abilities together and you can now get a dimensional view of your target. Understanding your consumer’s psychographics has never been more important. What do they like? Who do they like? What other brands are they following?
2) Visually map up your brand’s interests. That’s right. What subjects are important to your brand or business? It goes to follow that those are the same interest for your audience. Let’s say your brand is a Health Supplement, then fitness, health issues and nutrition are all top interests. This is a good starting to point to direct you in creating posts and engaging your brands with other relevant Pages.
3) Fill in your brand’s social calendar. It’s important to know when events that are key to your brand’s make up happen…and partake and engage in them. Taking my previous example of a Health Supplement, there’s a Nutrition month or Heart Health Month, or Diabetes Month. If your brand or business is within the Food Industry or Beverage Industry, then Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentines, Weekends and BBQs are all events that are pertinent which can fill your social media calendar.
4) Build excitement. Launch a contest, provide samples, offer coupons…get in the know with your community. While the excitement is on…or the contest, take advantage of their interest to provide relevant and thought provoking posts for them to engage in.
5) Be in sync. It’s important for brands to have all their marketing integrated. If there’s a product launch, make sure you plan for it, tweet it and promote it.The timing of posts and tweets is key to the success of your marketing activities.
A social media calendar is a plan…but its the sum of all its parts that provides a solid foundation for a Brand’s Social Media Initiatives. Having a social media calendar doesn’t mean it’s rigid. Quite the contrary, like all things social, it must be allowed to be fluid, to respond and react to twitter trendings, a newsworthy topic, or he latest and greatest happening that pertains to your brand or business.
by Miriam Hara | May 29, 2013 | Branding, Latest, Social Media
It’s nice to see so many brands that were once fearful of plunging into social media finally dive in, at least on Facebook. Many brands and businesses have a Facebook page understanding that it is no longer an option to not have one. It is a “media” channel… and a way to build awareness, educate consumers and engage consumers through their buying journey.
Now that brands and business have a Facebook Page, how do they leverage it… and more importantly, how do they build a community… a strong one that will enable them to reap the benefits of this exciting social media marketing channel.
So how do you write relevant posts to build your brand community? Here are 4 rules you must adhere to.
1) Develop your brand’s voice. In the past the brand image was visual and often static. With the exception of those brands that could afford TV and radio, brand persona and character largely dealt with the visual. With Social Media, and especially with Facebook, brands have to have a dimensional brand voice so it is key to determine it before you start. Is your brand voice serious? Will it take on the one of a mentor or educator? Will your brand be personable, fun and/or dynamic? Whatever your brand’s voice style is, it’s very important to keep the tone of your voice consistent.
2) It’s not about selling. Every post doesn’t have to be about your business or brand…. actually, this may come as a surprise, but every post can’t be about your brand or business! It’s about the community your brand belongs to or rather, if created properly, owns. Understanding how your community feels, what they want to hear about is important. Let’s face it, brands and businesses have a Facebook Page because they need to be there… be seen and be part of their audience’s world. Make sure you take advantage of it in the right way!
3) Be engaging. That means that it’s not good enough to push out posts onto your Facebook Page. It’s about going to other Brand Pages or relevant pages and engaging with them. It’s about being responsive to your community and adding to their engagement. So if you have a wine store, or a winery, it would be good to like pages of boards such as chicken or beef…or other recipe sites. Maybe even “like” magazine Facebook Pages that in the past you have advertised in or plan to advertise in.
4) Be exciting. Launch a Facebook contest or better yet, if feasible, provide a determined number of free samples of your products or promote a sale that’s going on in your store. Yes, understandably, everyone loves free stuff and a contest…and more so on Facebook. However, think of it as a trial run that has 2 great benefits: 1) you can develop a very strong and current database that you then use to target on further specialty programs and promotions, and 2) This is a great way to get people to like your page! Through the duration of the contest or until they get their free sample, they get to see what your brand posts are all about. , By doing that you are showing them why they should continue to stay in your community. The only reason for them to do that is that they really really like your brand!
Once you develop a sound solid community then you can advertise on Facebook, to further build your brand’s community and build traction and excitement for your contests and your community. It would be wonderful to hear about some of your Facebook Page successes. Please share them here!
by Miriam Hara | May 27, 2013 | Advertising, Business Success, Latest
Twenty five years ago when I started 3H Communications , the specialty question always came up. This was one main hurdle to constantly overcome. We are lucky to say, 25 years later, we specialize in a multitude of industries because we positioned ourselves as a marketing specialty agency. With that in mind, marketing is our specialty; the industry is only the playground.
It is our business to bring relevant and forward thinking to any project we undertake, whether it be branding, packaging, web design, advertising campaigns or corporate communications. And for all industries. Variety is key to a growing company, and getting caught in a silo of expertise can sometimes kill business, and new business, quicker than a negative tweet.
When I mention specialty agency, I don’t mean specialized as in digital agencies. This, in my opinion is not a specialty agency…it’s a channel. As I have said before modern agencies have to have classic techniques and a well-integrated digital front. Gone is the traditional media versus new media. The new media is now traditional. It’s part of every plan. It is important for your team to be creative, flexible and have a solid research base. The only limit is the one your set for your business. More than ever having a holistic approach is fundamental to success for business.
The specialty I refer to specifically in this post, is industry-specific – such as pharmaceuticals, food, retail, financial or apparel. My belief is that the more exposure an agency has to a variety of industries and mandates, the better equipped they are in exceeding objectives via creative thought and design articulation.
Before any specialized agency became specialized, they had to learn and understand the industry. At that point, they probably challenged the “norm”, By being too specialized, too niche, specialty agencies have a wealth of knowledge in one industry… and they risk becoming to complacent. They understand the issues that the industry is faced with, and its limitations…. and they stopped challenging because they did that already, and it didn’t work, or it wasn’t accepted. Not a good thing… especially in the marketing industry! .Agencies that are too steeped in one industry will begin to get a single/narrow focus, and creativity could be slighted.
If your agency constantly exercises in different terrains, you are flexing different muscles, working different cells…constantly learning The result? A strong marketing agency willing to be different, willing NOT to accept the norm…not just challenging it, but working within the limitations to exceed beyond the expected.
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