by Miriam Hara | Oct 23, 2012 | Business Success, Social Media
The social media channel:
It’s the new channel, the new trend and everyone and every brand that doesn’t want to be left behind is jumping right on. Needless to say the hype is gaining momentum and believe it or not, has still not peaked. Like everything that is new, exciting and quickly evolving, there are many misconceptions and myths about the Social Media channel. Here are just 5 myths that I would like to dispel. Forgive my tone (I tend to get passionate!).
Social Media Experts: What does it take to be Social Media savvy? Is it a matter of having a Twitter account and tweeting or just pushing out content? I interviewed many candidates that say that they are experts only to find out they know how to post on Facebook and Twitter but have no knowledge of insights and measurement tools. Knowing Facebook and Twitter, oh and let’s not forget LinkedIn, doesn’t make you an expert. Social media is so much more than those three platforms (!). It’s relating to trends, it’s content creation (blogging) and it’s understanding SEO! It’s integrating landing pages, it’s about engagement and mobile and hey… it’s also understanding website analytics (can you say Google Analytics?)! but mostly it’s about how to maximize return on you’re content.
Social Media is Inexpensive: You can achieve success in less than 15 minutes a day? Really? I’m a firm believer on you “get back” what you put in. So if you only spend 15 minutes a day on your Social Media initiatives, you’ll only get that back in return… or less. Social Media takes time and effort. It’s about social engagement. That means you have to be in tuned to your market’s interests and take advantage of opportunities that daily trends provide. You need to make sure that you contribute value to your audience and your community. To be part of your audience’s inner circle, you must invest the time. So ask yourself: “How much is your time really worth?”
Anyone Can Do It: This is really part B to the first myth listed above about Social Media Experts. It irks me that people really believe anyone can do it. If you are going to embrace the Social Media Channel, one thing you should assess is how to maximize return on you’re initiative (content). Just like speaking English doesn’t make you a writer and knowing design and Photoshop software doesn’t make you a graphic designer; knowing how to tweet or post to Facebook, doesn’t make you a marketing professional.
Social Media is a Fad: News flash: Social Media is here to stay. It’s a good vehicle to engage your audience and be present during the customer decision making journey. As a business and as a brand, you really need to get your head around that or get left behind. It’s a strong awareness building tool, and if you want to be considered when customers are ready to buy… then you need to be present. Social Media is part of the marketing channels and is here to stay! As such, there needs to be an intended result, a building of strategy and a consistent, constant approach.
Social Media is All You Need: Right now, Social Media is top of mind, constantly on topic, on trend. Does anyone remember when web sites first made their debut into the business world, and hence, the marketing world. How about online digital advertising? None of these were fads and none of these have disappeared. They have their place in any solid marketing and advertising campaign. I believe that Social Media too, will take it’s rightful place in the Marketing Channel Mix – keyword being mix, melody, part of a recipe, etc…
Social Media does not take the place of Marketing. The way I see it, Marketing has always been evolving. It has always had to develop and grow. I know this is a leap, but Marketing had to evolve when television first arrived. Social Media is the new Marketing Evolution.
What are some myths that you have encountered in your initiation to Social Media? I’d love to hear about them.
by Miriam Hara | Oct 5, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Design
Packaging design is not merely an essential part of branding in the world of retail products – it is the most important part of branding. Not only is it the first impression and provides the sales proposition but it must also close the deal… ultimately making the sale at the store level. Much like brand logos – in this fast paced world – it’s easy to change for the sake of change. With technology and design software making everything accessible, it has become effortless to “try this”, “change this” or “modify this”. Designs are not given the time they need to “cure” and become part of consumers’ landscape. Technology is great and it’s a fantastic tool. It has provided designers with the creative freedom to deliver on design flexibility and offer the marketing and creative industry astounding possibilities… in record time. But like everything else in life, there’s an upside and then there’s a downside to it. In this case, technology and software has given us speed and flexibility at the expense of timely conscious strategic thinking.
How does one know when the time has come to change a brand’s packaging design?
Are there particular signs to watch for? Or better yet, are there specific questions that need to be asked and answered? Here’s my list:
How long has it been since the last packaging redesign? If it has been 15 years or more, chances are the packaging should be redesigned. Consumers change within decades, and with this change come new trends and new styles. All packaging designs have a style, and eventually even the most contemporary packaging design starts to be viewed as stale or passé – more importantly, it no longer resonates with consumers. When all is said and done, the packaging needs to speak to the consumers in the way they want to be spoken to. A good way to assess packaging design fatigue is to commission packaging research.
Is the current packaging poorly designed? Does it reflect the product promise? Does it communicate what it is effectively? Or does it ask consumers to read and decipher what it’s all about? Was the current design professionally done by packaging designers? Does it stand up to the brand’s image? At the risk of sounding repetitive, the best way to determine this is through packaging research.
What’s the product sales turns? Is the product purchased weekly? Monthly? Once every 8 months? Annually? This is key for determining how many times products should engage in redesigning their packaging. For products that are purchased semi-annually or annually, redesigning packaging every year or even 2 years may lead to consumer confusion and frustration when they can’t easily find it on the shelf.
How competitive is the category? Are competitive brands constantly updating themselves with new ways of presenting their claims or providing appetite appeal? Are new brands showing up on shelf with nothing more to offer but a sexy or new package? This is often found in the soup category, where consumption patterns are high. A good source of information and insight of many retail categories and their competitive information is Nielsen.
Does the consumer base need to change? In this context, I am referring to the demographics and psychographics of the product’s consumers. Is a wider net required to captivate new consumers? Is the existing consumer franchise leaving the market … negatively impacting sales, and thus profitability.
Has the product been innovated? Is there something new to say? Has a new and improved version of the existing product been developed that will set it apart from the competition? Can it deliver “better” or “more”? If so, it is imperative to communicate that on the package, visually and boldly.
It has often been my experience that marketers, brand managers, product managers, marketing directors, marketing managers, to name a few, often tire of their package … way before the consumer does! So before you call on your advertising agency to come up with the next best design since the invention of sliced bread, take a deep breath and… well breathe… and think strategically.
by Madi Secareanu | 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?
by cassandr | Sep 26, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Social Media
Social media usage is no longer limited to people just being social online; it is now a major tool for marketing business and brands. As social media becomes more important for businesses, most incorporate it within their brand marketing, and in turn want to make a good ROI.
With the “newness” of social media come many unanswered questions, naturally on the results garnered by engaging in social media… on ROI, on value and on measurement.
A deciding contributing factor on results and value is a social media tactic that continues to divide opinion – namely whether or not business should venture into automated engagement. Automating social media activities is arguably a very controversial topic.
Many believe that you should never automate your social media activities because, after all, it’s supposed to be social. There is also a fair share of businesses that believe automating to be effective and less time consuming.
In today’s day and age it can be very tempting for businesses to automate their social networking workloads. After all, one less thing to constantly worry about!
Recently there has been an increasing range of softwares hitting the market that allows you to schedule and manage your tweets, Facebook posts, and LinkedIn profiles, etc. In theory this means that you can simply set up these programs to manage your posts and then sit back and relax. It sounds perfect in theory but there are a number of potential drawbacks like irrelevancy or insensitivity.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. That’s what 3H’s Chief Creative Officer, Miriam Hara always says!
I tend to agree with this stance as I think social media shouldn’t be automated. What’s the point of using social media if you’re not being personally social? It’s like owning a Ferrari but getting a chauffeur to drive it…does that really make sense? Social Media is a thrilling channel for business to be part of. It’s fresh, it’s exciting, its very now.
It’s all about being current and staying relevant
If you’re not writing your tweets in real time, you are not taking into account what’s currently going on in the world. More importantly you can’t engage in real time. The very aspect of automation takes you out of the engagement that most brands want to harness!
It only takes seconds to turn something bad into something good… or vice versa. If there’s something relevant in your industry… or a controversy that breaks out that touches your business and brands… you want to be tweeting about that.This could have a serious impact on your company’s reputation and social standing, and sometimes there’s no coming back on top. You must take this fact into consideration that your posts are sensitive and relevant to current affairs.
Is it human? Or not?
As if this isn’t already an issue, you don’t’ want your posts or tweets being mistaken for spam! Think this through. If you have taken the time to set up a blog, develop content for that blog, established a Twitter account, then why take the shortcut on the last step and peeve off the people have taken the time to follow you and make them feel that they aren’t worthy of timely conversation.
Spread the social around!
The bottom line is that you need to look at your social media strategy and determine the approach that’s right for your business, not someone else’s. If you are a small business, with not too many employees and a lot of workload, automating your social media can be very attractive… However, I would caution against it. Social Media should be part of your business’ culture… it’s part of your business’ voice. So spread the social around! It doesn’t have to be one person who is solely responsible. If you’re a business owner, it’s a great way to develop rapport with your employees as well as with your customer’s communities.
After all, that’s what social media is all about!
I’d love to hear what you think.
Do you automate or schedule any of your social media activities? Why or why not? Do you think this approach helps or hurts a business?
by Miriam Hara | Sep 24, 2012 | Advertising, Business Success, Creative, Design
Just how expensive is do it yourself marketing? In an age where technology has everything accessible to pretty much everyone the question begs to be asked… is this smart or not… and how costly is it? Today business owners can create their own logos, tagline statements, ads and websites all on their own. But like everything else in life, you have ask yourself… just because you can… should you? Just like speaking English doesn’t necessarily make you a writer, knowing software such as Photoshop or InDesign doesn’t make you a designer and understanding your market doesn’t make you a “creative thinker”.
Many businesses, B2B, B2C, retail or service proudly give out their business cards or show off their website with “I did it myself” attitude. This always surprises me. Businesses who hire carpenters, electricians or decorators to do up their offices, or even pay extra in rent to be at the right location, will skimp on designing a proper logo, establish a proper tagline and develop a proper site. What is it about the creative part of the Marketing field that makes business people think that it’s just an optional expense when establishing a business? What’s the point of having a website if it isn’t user friendly or it isn’t optimized for user experience so when people actually get to your site they get to access the information that they require effortlessly? How about the copy – if your site isn’t written properly for your target, and more importantly, if the copy written doesn’t take into account keywords for ranking optimization what’s the point of having the site up anyway? Isn’t the whole purpose of having a website to inform and get found on Google in order to call or come to your store?
I once went to a spa that charged me $175 for a 1 hour massage and then gave me a brochure with all their services. The brochure was a mess! Not only was it poorly designed, but it was riddled with typos… words were cut off and even the folding of the brochure was uneven. I felt that charging that much for a massage, the least that the spa should have done is offer their customers a brochure that has the same “upscale” feeling as their pricing! It left me with the feeling that they didn’t want to go that extra mile to sell me… to convince me that they were worth those extra dollars. In this case, good enough just wasn’t.
Most people wouldn’t even consider doing major repairs or transformations to their homes. I too can swing a hammer… most times I even hit the nail. And sawing a 2×4 piece of wood shouldn’t be too complicated, at least I don’t think so… just don’t ask me to saw a right angle! I’ll get it just about right, but not quite. Ask yourself this – if every time you walk into the kitchen and see the work that you did yourself, that isn’t just so… can you live with it?
Contrary to home improvements, the creative part of Business Marketing isn’t something that you can or should ‘live with’. First of all, it isn’t just you living with it… it’s your potential clients and customers that will be subject to it. Designers, writers, and professional marketers don’t just know how to use the tools… they know how to think marketing… they know strategy and market assessment. They do their homework for your business, looking at the competition, evaluating the market, understanding your business. Each of these professional designations (writer, marketer or designer) think in a process to determine the best way to market your business or brand, visually and cohesively… dare I say strategically?
I do understand that designing a logo, developing a tagline and creating a website can get expensive and ultimately it is an expense. But ask yourself how expensive is it to get it all wrong? To ruin your business’ first impression? Or not have the desired result from your website? Before you throw your hands up in the air and tell designers and writers how expensive they are, think of how expensive it would be not to have your business seen in the best light possible, or be found? Sometimes $1 spent poorly is a lot more costly then $1000 spent wisely.
