by Madi Secareanu | Mar 20, 2012 | Advertising, Business Success, Miriamisms
You may not always be aware that you’re practicing them, but they become ingrained in the way you do things day to day. “Isms” for some, are an overarching, common sense way of doing things – approaches to keep in mind. These “isms” can apply to your everyday life or your career. In business and at 3H Communications, we like to use the term “biz-ism” as it is defined by our very own Canadian marketing veteran Miriam Hara.
So, what is a biz-ism and how does it apply to marketing? We’ve laid it all out for you in our first eBook “Marketing Understood 33 Biz-isms You Need for Success”. The first in a series of powerful eBooks, Marketing Understood will benefit anyone in business and marketing management today by giving you a collection of key marketing practices and philosophies to power marketing efforts. Whether you’re marketing a service, a product, a brand or whether you’re an entrepreneur, this eBook will give you a wealth of practical information presented in a very concise, no-nonsense way. It’s an easy, quick reference point on how to market and power marketing. Who doesn’t like the sound of that?
Among the 33 excellent biz-isms included in the eBook, the “Don’t be Surprised: Use Research” biz-ism caught my attention. I thought, well that seems like a no brainer, right? Although research is essential when making a good marketing decision, sometimes this crucial step in the marketing process doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Strong research helps identify, among other things, a target market and competitive approaches to make your campaign stand out above the rest. While researching, you might also find that you can take different routes and choose from several different options to effectively marketing your service or product.
The “Don’t be Surprised: Use Research” biz-ism, along with the 32 other great biz-isms in the Marketing Understood eBook, is a simple but important thing to keep in mind and add to your marketing mix.
You can download our “Marketing Understood: 33 Biz-isms You Need for Success” here to get more expert, seasoned insight on how to market powerfully and effectively.
Do you use any marketing biz-isms to effectively market your business? Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear what they are!
by Miriam Hara | Mar 14, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Creative
In today’s social market landscape never has the consumer adage of “What’s it in for me?” been more key in all communications. Today, Brand must be upfront, in the consumer’s line of vision, without selling. Brand must engage with intent, with less frills, less sell and more substance. Social Brand has enabled this. Today ‘advertising’ through the social channels must be informative, educational and add value. The concept of Social Brand has emerged, trumping all other frivolous communications. I am not saying that traditional media is out, quite the contrary, it has a very strong future. It will finally evolve to the place that it should have always been… revenue generating. The emergence of social media with its marketing intimacy and emergence of inbound marketing has proven to be the catalyst for Traditional media. Entertainment value is no longer enough… mind you, the creative of advertising should never have been the focal point of advertising… and now it can’t be, because it is no longer relevant. From a brand’s point of view, it should never have been about creative, because creative doesn’t translate into revenue. Mark Stevens who wrote the book Your Marketing Sucks stated it very clearly: “Marketing that doesn’t suck should be about the revenue, not about how beautiful the advertisement is”.
From the advertising agency’s point of view, the Traditional ad (broadcast, print or out of home) needs to be tied more succinctly to Brand Persona and what the brand is communicating within its other platforms, such as social media channels. It has to be more functional. Being a Chief Creative Officer with a strong heritage of marketing and business, ad evaluation has always been about brand context. My team constantly mimics me “Are we asking the consumer to do too many calisthenics to get to the point?“. It always irks me when I see an advertisement (print, radio, TV, out of home) where the creative won over the brand… when the creative premise/idea/visual was so beautiful that it won out over the primary objective of what the ad was actually supposed to achieve. Answer these few questions when you see an ad that has captivated your attention:
- What is the Brand? (Does it have presence, seen or stated? Does it inspire you to remember it?)
- What is the single message the ad has communicated? (What is the message? Does it speak to the Brand’s Basic Premise and its reason to believe?)
- Does the message hold any relevance for you? (Are they speaking to you, the intended Target Market, in the way you wish to be addressed? Are you the Target Market?)
If you can’t answer all these questions succinctly, then the advertising has failed. Over the years, I have seen ads that are clever and witty, utilizing the latest and greatest animation techniques to create a thing of real beauty… it almost becomes a piece of art – so much so that they win awards, as they are award-winning creative. But do they win sales for the client, for the Brand? That really should be the metrics to measure the success of an advertising campaign. My creative philosophy has always stemmed from my marketing background. As such, when we are brainstorming sessions at 3H, the objective is written out, clearly on the big LCD screen. All creative ideas are scrutinized against the objective and more often than not, the objective is to increase sales.
Don’t get me wrong, there are ads that are beautifully conceptualized, executed and very brand relevant. But, more often than not, advertising loses the perspective that it’s there to promote Brand and deliver on sales, not creative. Achieving the delicate balance of creative and brand… adding in a strong understanding of target psychographics is never easy… but believe me it’s totally doable! Clear concise messaging, with strong benefits, executed with a seamless strategy relevant to the target market is what brand advertising should be all about.
by Lindsay Sleightholm | Mar 8, 2012 | Business Success, Creative, Design
Okay, so as designers, we all loved “You know you’re a graphic designer when…”. For those of you who weren’t around or don’t remember, this was a viral list of some of the many oddities and unique characteristics that describe graphic designers. It was a little tongue-in-cheek, and for the most part, it really rang true.
When it first hit the web a number of years ago, it was extremely well received. I remember being huddled around a single computer in the studio with the rest of the designers. We all shrieked in delight about how much we related to it and about how much we really had in common with each other. Many similar lists spawned from the same idea. You can Google pretty much anything on the end of “You know you’re a” and come up with a list.
But, why did we like it so much? Perhaps because we felt someone took the time to get to know us. Well, they may not have really known us, but they touched upon aspects of ourselves that we could relate to. Someone articulated things about who we were that we may not have even realized. And, they not only made sense, they made us laugh and think about ourselves in a different way. That connection is what we gravitated to and why we shared it with everyone.
It is that same connection we as creative professionals still strive to achieve with our design and communications. We want our audience to know that we took the time to get to know them. We want them to think about something differently. We want to appeal to who they are as individuals and provide them with a message they can relate to.
In a world that’s getting a lot smaller, where we’re constantly inundated with messages – a lot of which are just noise – we want to have a clear voice that can speak to our audience and achieve that desired connection. So, how do we do that? We ask questions, we listen, we share and we learn. We then take what we know and apply it to our work. Hopefully, at the end of the day, that attention to detail has made a difference – not only in what we say, but how we say it.
On that note, how about reviving the list for today’s designer, just for fun? And this time, let’s make it a quiz… are you a graphic designer?
- When selecting a greeting card, do you opt for the better design over the perfect sentiment?
- Do you ever wonder how it’s legal to have the names of street signs horizontally scaled to fit the allotted space?
- Have you ever tried to command/control ‘S’ while reading a web page that you weren’t finished with?
- Do you feel that if someone touches your monitor it’s an intrusion upon your personal space?
- When you discover the list of web safe fonts has been added to, do you feel the need to high-five someone?
So, how did you do? Or, better yet, what questions would you rather ask?
by Christine Marr | Mar 2, 2012 | Business Success, Social Media
I love the ‘social’ in social media. The Creative Director at 3H says: Social Media is the new way of networking… and she is absolutely right. Just think, every time you post a comment to a group discussion on Linkedin, or stumble upon a peer’s blog, when you have something to say… it starts the social networking process. We aren’t going to an event nor do we have a glass of wine in our hands (or maybe we do!), but the premise is the same. Meeting people (peers, or contacts) connecting in a way that adds value. As we evolve in our own social media worlds, it’s nice to see that online social behavior is pretty much the same as it is in real life settings. People help people, share secrets, share stories, complain, compliment…
Recently, we started a discussion within a peer group on Linkedin which lead to one of my colleagues, Miriam Hara, to participate and comment on a post, outside of our blog… outside of any of our usual social media circles. Unknown to us, Miriam’s image did not appear beside her post. We were pleasantly surprised to be notified by Andrew, the voice behind SteinVox, the blog where we had participated in a discussion. He notified Miriam that her image was not beside her post and took the time to write Miriam an email, advising her of the issue and providing her the information to fix the issue. We had already set up and created an account with Gravatar but I guess something was amiss… so we simply updated the image and it appeared. What left a smile on our face was the gesture from Andrew, that he took the time to explain this to us, someone we had only online interaction with. Just before the holidays I wrote a post about random acts of kindness that spoke to human interaction…This is in the same league.
So what is Gravatar? Gravatar is associated with WordPress and it is brilliant. Your “Gravatar” is an image of you that appears beside your name when you do things like comment or post on a blog. This image helps identify your posts on blogs and web forums. It is very simple to do, and it’s free!
Simple features such as a Gravatar add to our overall virtual experience and make social media seem more real. Furthermore, social media is continuously finding ways to help bridge the gap between online and offline communication by discovering ways to make social networking more “social.” No matter where we are or what we do, we are able to stay connected with friends and family through the virtual world and this is something that was not available prior to the introduction of social networking. We now have the ability to have multiple conversations on-the-go. We can form new relationships and strengthen existing ones regardless of location and even time zones.
Humans have an innate drive for interpersonal communication and the need to form relationships. We are social creatures and new technology such as social media helps to fulfill our social need and ultimately brings us closer together. On a professional level, it is simply awesome. It has never been easier to interact with people that have like-minded interests within the business community…worldwide…instantly.
by Miriam Hara | Feb 24, 2012 | Advertising, Business Success
Advertising agencies are marketing industry specialists. Being a marketing specialist, they can easily learn and understand the industry which they have to “communicate” and in today’s environment, engage in. Advertising is about marketing. Marketing is about; 1) asking the same questions, regardless of industry… 2) listening to the answers those questions garner, 3) respect them… and 4) develop, create and design accordingly. Whenever I read an RFP (Request for Proposal) that states that only agencies with “industry-specific” experience need apply… I have to ask myself why…? Isn’t partnering with an advertising agency suppose to round out the “marketing team”, providing expertise that is not in-house?
An agency’s role is steeped in marketing and as such, marketing is the specialty, regardless of industry. Agency traits such as creative, marketing, campaign development, media strategies is what an ad agency should be measured by… industry knowledge can be acquired and taught. The client is truly the industry expert providing industry knowledge outlining the key parameters and the industry challenges. That doesn’t give leave to the advertising agency not to do their due diligence and gain knowledge. Don’t get me wrong… a marketing ad agency can and often do become industry specialist… however, they can only keep their nimbleness, their creative edge, their ability to push the envelope if they continue to work in many industries, across the various medium, and cross platforms. It’s just the nature of the advertising industry and its basic positioning and premise… staying fresh, current and more importantly, providing creative competitive edge.
I do get it… Industry specific agencies don’t have the learning curve of industry knowledge. However, ad agencies that are non-industry specific are used to learning quickly and becoming subject-matter experts in a very short timeline. It’s the nature of the ad business. Industry specific agencies don’t see the “industry” in a new light, and therefore do not push the envelope… Non-industry specific agencies think that what hasn’t been done is possible… and if they do their homework, they understand how they can make it work within the guidelines of the industry regulations.
Isn’t an ad agency’s whole “reason of being” (raison d’être) about providing their clients with a marketing competitive edge?… in positioning their product/service/business, or generating more visits to the website, increasing brand awareness, generating greater ROI, increasing sales traffic…? How are all these initiatives industry-specific rather than marketing specific?
I believe hiring industry specific agencies is flawed. Even if they know the industry, they are often confined to their non-disclosure agreements and even if they’re not, their integrity shouldn’t allow them to share the knowledge.
Selecting a marketing specialized advertising agency, provides greater agility in the creative approach which will add a new perspective in brand, branding, advertising campaigns, media strategies, conceptual development. A marketing specialized ad agency will provide added depth of knowledge and strategies. They aren’t complacent…. they’re never bored… or become defeated because they work in different industries, different media, different campaigns. Their depth of strategies are cross-industry and some of those initiatives can often be tweaked and adapted to another industry….which provides that industry with an innovative approach!
If you’re looking for a doctor… you’ll definitely want a field specialist!… When looking for an advertising agency that is relied upon to provide businesses and products with the creative edge, seek out ad agency that specializes… well…. in advertising!
by Lindsay Sleightholm | Feb 21, 2012 | Business Success, Design, Interactive
As I was drinking my morning coffee on a lovely Sunday, I came across an article online that really got my attention. It’s called ‘Graphic designers are ruining the web’. So much for enjoying my coffee.
In the article written by John Naughton and published on theguardian.co.uk, the author expresses his distaste for graphic design on the Internet. Basically, his view is that graphic designers are taking away from the integrity of the information by using extraneous graphics to load down web pages – in doing so, crippling the user experience. Obviously, Mr. Naughton doesn’t truly understand what graphic designers do.
As most of us know, web and graphic design is not that simplistic and it certainly has no devious intentions. It’s not about pretty pictures or design for design’s sake. Graphic design is about visual communication, clarity of message and ultimately the audience, market or end user as the case may be – for the given media. It focuses on the flow of information and contributes to the ease of which it can be absorbed by the reader.
The web is evolving much faster than any other form or media and with that comes a learning curve. Designers today are very much aware of this and are creating for the web in order to enhance successful user experience. Graphic Designers are using their skills to provide not only an aesthetic environment but also aid the streamlined flow of content.
When in their infancy, web design and development both had a lot to learn. There was a time when all we did as users was wait for pages to load – even when every pixel was used to it’s fullest efficiency.
The site referenced by Mr. Naughton, norvig.com is indeed quick to load. And visually, if compared to an Excel spreadsheet, it also makes perfect sense. However, there is no real indication of how to navigate the site – it’s just made up of links, and many don’t provide enough, if any, information as to the content they contain. I guess for the user who has all the time in the world, this doesn’t matter. Clarity of information was not something this site deemed important and shows a lack of understanding of the user.
Yes, there are still a great many sites that continue to ‘weigh us down’ so to speak. Although, how many of those are a result of the businesses themselves not improving their sites because they don’t understand how to or believe that it’s a priority? As a result, the majority of users know not to visit these sites. And no traffic, well we all know what that means.
The World Wide Web needs not only be efficient but well designed. It’s end user experience and quality therein will continue to grow as it has been and sites will continue to thrive as a result. And graphic design will continue to play a large part in that success. So what have I learned out of all this? We, as graphic designers, still have a way to go before the public truly understands the value of what we do. Oh, and I also learned to stop surfing the web while I’m drinking my Sunday morning coffee.
