3H’s 3D: The Marketing Process

by | Jul 9, 2013 | Advertising, Business Success, Creative, Design, Latest, Social Media

As I mentioned in my last blog, I want to be an entrepreneur.   I have come to realize that the key to success is letting people know about your business since you need customers to earn money.  Marketing is crucial for any business, and is important for me to understand if I want to run a successful business. To market effectively, I need a good marketing process.

At 3H, a lot of hard work goes into marketing. There are countless hours spent on the creative process, content and design, and linking all of the elements together effectively. For that reason, I believe one could call 3H’s marketing process 3D.

The “Three Dimensions” of the Marketing Process

The first dimension is the creative process. In only a couple of days, I’ve learned that a lot of time, inside and outside of the office, is spent on conceptualizing ideas. In this process, their team conjures the foundations for websites, advertisements, and strategic targeting of demographics and what appeals to them. This creative edge is what makes 3H stand above other marketing and branding agencies, since creativity is an essential part of connecting with an audience and capturing their attention.

The second dimension is where creativity meets reality. In the content and design phase, the company’s talented artists, writers, and web developers capture their creative ideas in a tangible, unique way.  While I find the creative dimension enjoyable, it is this second dimension that makes me feel most satisfied as ideas come to life in ads, promotions or websites.

The third dimension is turning well-conceived efforts into effective efforts. This third phase links the content and ideas to the desired audience through blogs, social media, and introductory promotions. It is in this phase that 3H reaches out to the clients’ targeted demographics to build familiarity and trust with their potential buyers through online and offline tactics.

On social media platforms, like Facebook and twitter, 3H effectively uses content to engage their readers and spark their interests. The third dimension is the difference between reading well-written content on a website and feeling a personal connection with the company as they build trust, good will and confidence.

During my internship, I hope to learn more about the processes 3H utilizes in order to create the effective content they produce. I’m excited to have an opportunity to work with several new programs, including Google tools, Photoshop, and possibly Dreamweaver!

Even if I don’t become a marketer, understanding the need for effective marketing and the process behind creating good content is critical.  I know that if I can learn these three dimensions, any future business I have will be more successful.  Understanding how intricate the marketing process is makes me realize that it can be done most effectively by specialists in marketing.  As most successful entrepreneurs know, it is best to stick with your core competencies and have other experts handle the accounting, marketing, shipping or other tasks, so you can do what you do best – and get the customers you need.

Advertising Wannabe: Is That You?

by | Jul 5, 2013 | Advertising, Creative, Latest

What does a career in advertising really mean?

Advertising has always held some mystic for many creative and marketing types wannabes. Many people on the outside looking in  think  of  the world of advertising as being the ultimate career in creativity. I’ll let you in on secret… in many cases, depending on what your creative type happens to be, it’s true!  Advertising is the most creative  aspect in marketing communications… even more so than public relations (PR) and brand marketing. Add to that, the very popular TV series of Mad Men to this caché… well, then you may very well have a rose coloured view of this career choice.

Those of us in the the field have a different and more realistic definition of advertising and what it means to be “working in” this crazy, hectic, exciting field. Through my 25 years of running a marketing creative agency, I have been fortunate to meet many interesting people and I have come to the realization that we all have certain traits and characteristics in common.

See if you too belong to the wonderful industry of advertising… can you can identify with any one of these character traits?

1) You love being around creative and the creative process: You don’t have to draw or write…You can easily be an advertising account executive.Just as long as you are part of “creating” something.

2) Passion rules the day: You love your job. In fact you can’t wait to get out of bed and to greet the day! You love the challenge of newness that every marketing mandate brings…and working out the issues. You love that what you do can potentially reach millions of people.

3) You’re an adrenaline junkie: Not death defying tricks here… only true and  pure rush. Rush to meet impossible deadlines  put out by most if not all advertisers…. and to ultimately excel in your creativity and performance while meeting those said impossible deadlines.

4) You think  ‘What if”…constantly! Never mind about inside or outside the box. You’re a natural problem solver that always looks at the marketing brief  differently. Innovation is your mind’s middle name whether it’s comes to coining a phrase or conceptualizing a storyboard or ad…  you simply strive on creating breakthrough creative.

5) Work…. what’s that?: Not exactly like Character Trait #3, more like an extension. You actually have fun at what you do? In fact it’s like a calling. You think about projects, ideas and products all the time. Grocery shopping isn’t just about filling up the pantry. Rather it becomes a store-check  to see what’s new and innovative in products or POP or contest promotions.  If you do a lot of TV advertising, you can’t see a movie without acknowledging the camera angles,the lighting, the propping.  It’s about you driving your car,  noticing billboards and trying to ascertain what the brief was and if if the creative was well executed.

If you see yourself in any one of the above character traits, then advertising is in your future! I’d love to hear from any and all of you who share in the passion of creativity and advertising.

Live creatively and prosper!

Creativity: Which ‘creative type’ defines you?

by | Jul 2, 2013 | Creative, Design, Latest

What is creativity? There’s a misconception on what or rather who can call himself or herself a “creative”.  There are many types of creativity out there. You don’t necessarily need to draw and paint in order to be a creative being…. so if you don’t, don’t sell yourself short. I run a brand creative agency and I have found that being creative and owning the label of a  ’Creative’ is much more than drawing or painting. Through the many years of running a creative agency with graphic designers, web developers, photographers and writers, there are many different creative personalities, but they often fall into a creative type. Here’s my informal list of creative types identifiers.

Which one (or two, or three) best defines your creative style?

The ‘Artiste’: True and tried, these creative types are what everyone naturally thinks of as “creative”. They can be artists, sculptures, glass blowers, graphic designers, animators, art directors, illustrators and painters. They use any medium from a paintbrush and easel to computers and software such as Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, to name a few.

The Physical Artist: Born to perform, these artists are actors, comedians and yes, even musicians. They are at the forefront of their creative expression…. seen on TV or in the movies and can be found in local bars and theatres.

The ‘Conceptual’: Give these people a brick of information, add to it restrictions and rules of what can be done and what can’t be done… and leave them alone. They’ll come up with ideas that speak volumes and words that rock your world. Their thinking is organized, concise and rational. They’ll be creative directors, writers and art directors.

The Stylists: These creative types are visual.  They use material (from fabric to brick) and colour… and understand lines and space. They’ll be your Fashion designers, architects, interior designers and interior decorators.

The Imaginative: Creative thinkers they always ask the one important question: “what if”. This creative group loves problem solving and is often inventors and innovators… and they can be anything from urban planners to scientists and anything in-between.

The Linear: With the advent of technology, I would be amiss if I didn’t include this creative type. From understanding website navigation and user interaction to making sites look good and maintain functionality, this group of creative IT designers are as integral as conceptual thinkers and artists in the marketing field.

So what’s your creative type? Do you have one that I haven’t listed? I’d appreciate you defining your creative type here.

Look forward to hearing from you!

By the Numbers: Two Killer Tips for PowerPoint Presentations

by | Jun 26, 2013 | Advertising, Business Success, Creative, Latest

Some guy in a suit is yawning, another guy in the back is asleep, a woman in the front is reading notes, another looks at her nails and everyone else is checking their phone.

And then there’s you, standing at the front of the room, nervous and starting to sweat, trying to hang on to their attention.

You’re feeling frustrated and don’t know whether you should speed up your presentation or slow it down. Maybe you need to add a little humour? You could tell a few jokes, but maybe the topic of your presentation can’t be made light of.

Is it you? Is it your subject matter? Or is it your PowerPoint? You rack your brain thinking about what could you have done differently to be more effective?

All this to say, if it’s your delivery, well that’s an issue for another blog. If it’s your subject matter, there’s not much you can do about that. But if it’s your PowerPoint presentation, I can help.

In fact, I can provide you with two killer tips for powerful PowerPoint presentations.

All you have to do is follow these two simple rules when you create and design your material and your PowerPoint presentations will not only look better, your audience will be more interested and more engaged.

ONE, ONE, TWO
It’s an easy rule of thumb: One idea, one slide, two minutes.  It’s the most basic formula. 1+1=2. Simple to remember, easier to use. The reason for this is also simple. When you create content heavy slides with more than one idea per slide, your audience is unable to determine what message you want to deliver. Your slide is high in noise and low in message.

Your audience is thinking to themselves, “And the point is…?”.  The result: Yawning and nail inspection.

Ideally, you need to design your presentation so that you spend approximately two to three minutes per slide. Yes, that means you must know your subject matter well. Any more than three minutes and your audience will get bored and end up losing interest in your presentation.

THIRTY-SIX OR TWENTY-FIVE
I can’t count the number of times I have seen PowerPoint slides with far too many words. Oh yes, I can count. More than 36 words per slide is too many.

The slides are there to support your comments, to act as reinforcement and to keep you on track with your presentation; they are not there to chronicle your entire speech. No, they don’t replace the index cards of the past.

I know we all hate presenting, but If you’re reading this it means your career is dependent on giving presentations at some level – so you’re going to have to get over it. I digress, back to the presentation and the number of words…

There are various rules for the number of words per slide but one of the easiest to remember is 6 x 6. That means six bullets each with six words for a total of 36 words. Some will even say 5 x 5. You can decide which makes the most sense to you. So, another simple formula: 6×6=36 or 5×5=25.

If you must have a slide with more than 36 words, take a few well chosen words from that slide and consider putting additional information in the Appendix that you leave behind. The audience can read about it more in depth at their own convenience and without yawning in your face.

THOSE WHO CAN COUNT
These two rules are very simple, but rarely will you find anyone who follows them. But as I always say, there are three types of people in this world, those who can count and those who can’t.

Suffering From Brand Intimacy? Wear Someone Else’s Hat.

by | Jun 21, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Creative, Latest

Attention all Marketing and Brand Managers: We know our marketing and we know our brand. More importantly, we know who our target buyer, audience and groups are. That’s important and is what makes for great creative. But there’s a catch – we suffer from brand intimacy. By knowing so much through living our brand, day in and day out, we forget that our target doesn’t know our brand intimately and probably couldn’t care less. We need to make them care. The only way I know how to do that is through good advertising and communications for them… not for me. Too often in a boardroom environment decisions are made about what works and what doesn’t without market research (but that’s a post for another time!). More to the point, many day-to-day decisions or the way to go ahead on smaller projects are based on what I refer to as “internalized judgment”. Whether you’re developing a full-scale advertising campaign, billboard creative or just doing a one-off brochure, the question you need to ask when assessing your advertisement is: “Does it makes sense to someone other than myself?”

Here’s a quick checklist to make sure that your ads and communications are not a victim of brand intimacy!

Have ad sense: In other words, is it clear? Clarity is very important in any communications piece. By being brand intimate, sometimes we feel that we don’t need to “spell it out” to our audience… or we just skip the details, leaving the message too vague for our target to decipher.

Don’t talk to yourself: Take a step back and remember the first time you walked in the door to your new job and had to get to know and understand your brand. Remember how you thought about it… before intimately knowing it. This applies to judging creative ads, headline copy and even segmentation. Often companies refer to their business segments in categories driven by manufacturing or by organization divisions. Consumers don’t see these segments how business sees them. Be very cautious of this because it can make or break your brand’s success.

Fatigue syndrome: Admit it. Whenever you see your brand initiatives, whether it’s a TV ad, a billboard or a social media campaign, you pay attention. Of course you do! As you should! But understand that your niche market or mass target groups don’t. It takes time for them to even acknowledge your ad, even though they’ve seen it once or twice already. Remember, the ad fatigue syndrome effects Brand Managers, Marketing Directors, Marketing Managers and Vice Presidents of Marketing and Sales… and everyone else in the organization. But, it doesn’t affect your consumers.

So the next time your brand agency asks for your opinion on communications… don’t leave your hat on… put on your target market’s hat instead!