positive disruption by: Tom Martin | New Orleans based Social Media Consultant

Are you building concepts or conversations?

When I first got into the ad biz and during my college studies the big thing that was repeatedly hammered into my young, impressionable mind was the need for every ad and ad campaign to have a "concept."

A concept was that big idea, that creative aha that would simultaneously capture the consumer's attention and drive home a key benefit of the brand being advertised. And in the world of interruption based marketing, that makes sense. And to a lesser degree, today, it still does.

But here is the rub. Here is the big thing that I think many of my fellow advertising folk haven't quite figured out. In the world of social media and web based marketing, you don't need a concept. Why? Because social and by and large digital isn't an interruption based communication platform. It's invitation based. In fact, you could say that with DVR's, Satellite Radio, etc., that all advertising is quickly becoming invitation based.

So in an invitation based communication environment, a concept is no longer necessary. If I'm on a brand website, I'm there because I want to be there. I've either clicked on an ad, a link on a search result or maybe I typed in the URL myself. If I'm clicking on your content (pics, videos, audio files) I'm doing so because I think there is something there that is going to inform or entertain me. Likewise, if I choose to watch your ad on TV vs fast-forwarding my DVR, I think I'm going to get 30 seconds of value -- again, info or entertainment. Not 30 seconds of "concept" where the ad is basically focused on trying to get me to understand your clever "concept" in hopes that it will forever drill the key benefit into my not so impressionable mind and win you some award. And if I Fan you on Facebook or Follow You on Twitter, I'm not looking for a concept, I'm truly inviting a conversation.

This may not sound like a big deal but actually it is a herculean change for ad folks, especially those in the creative realm. It fundamentally changes how they do what they do. It requires a complete rewiring of the circuits to achieve. So if you read this blog and you're in that space, do yourself a favor and stop focusing on what the concept is and start focusing on what you're going to do to create conversation both offline and online. It won't happen overnight but it needs to happen I think in order to stay up with the changes going on all around us.

Instead of a concept, focus on the consumer. Not all consumers, just those that might be in the market for what you've got to sell. Because in an invitation world, I'm not spending time with anyone that I don't really need to, I'm too busy.

So get a really good idea of your consumer and then think about the role that each medium you're creating for will have in the purchase process. If you're doing TV, well that is likely going to be a big awareness driver. Research has shown you have about 3 seconds to get a consumer into your TV spot. So forget some big set up concept, instead, make sure that first impression gives me a reason to stop the DVR fast-forward and pay attention to the next 27 seconds. Then tell me something I didn't already know and/or entertain me or in some other way reward me for my 30 seconds. But make the spot about the product/brand, not about figuring out your "concept."

If you're doing print - think like a writer. Give me a reason to read your ad. They say folks won't read long copy ads. That's kind of bullshit if you ask me. For heavens sake, their reading a magazine or newspaper so by default they've shown a willingness to read long form. What we should be saying is that folks won't read bad long-form ads. But then, folks won't read bad long-form stories either... they just skim that story and move on to the next. So take advantage of your platform. If you've got a full-page, consider using it. If you can drive home the point in a meaningful, impactful and memorable manner without lots of words, do so. But again, don't leave the consumer trying to figure out your clever concept. They have neither the time nor inclination.

In short, where offline advertising is concerned, seems to me everything we do should either create conversation or commerce -- that is stimulate a purchase off the ad or spot being seen. If that is not or cannot be done (high involvement purchases for instance) then advertising's role is to begin the conversation. And each piece of the campaign (tv spot, print ad, radio spot) shouldn't just be the concept executed in that medium. No, they each should be designed to maximize their conversation creation ability given the limitations and power of the specific medium. Each piece should invite, provoke or entice the consumer to enter into a conversation about or with the brand at the office, with their friends or better yet, on the web or via social networks. And once we get folks onto that website or into our social community, we have to talk to them and to quickly find out why they are there, what they hope to accomplish and then give it to them as quickly as possible. So don't concept a website, architect it. Don't just push offers to your fans and followers ask them questions. Learn from them and truly figure out if your product/brand can make their lives better. If so, then hopefully you'll move from conversation to commerce in short order.

Disagree? I hope you do. After all, debate is the father of all knowledge. So shout it out for all of us to see. I know not everyone will agree with this post so let's get it on in the comments section! Bring it baby... feeling feisty today ;-)

Image credit: NordicHeart-OFF

Can eMail Marketing Save Us?

Did you know that President Obama has 13 million permission based email addresses? Of course you do. It was one of the smart moves he made that helped him win the election.

Did you know he still emails that list – quite often? In fact, he’s been quoted as saying the email list will be part of the “permanent campaign” and thus we can all expect to keep receiving missives from him, Mrs. Obama and our good buddy David Plouffe.

And that is all great. But here is my suggestion or request to President Obama and David Plouffe. The idea is yours, free of charge and I think you might even be able to wrap an interesting PR angle around it. Personally, I think you could almost guarantee inclusion in at least one news cycle if not more.

Help us... help you... help us. 

13 Million people reading an email is worth a lot of money to corporate America. So take a page out of Peter Shankman’s (HelpAreporter.com) and sell simple, text based ads on your emails. Nothing too snarky and no Viagra ads please. Better yet, let someone creative like Peter write them for you. So they’ll be interesting, smart and something a consumer might actually read or act on. Then charge advertisers for the right to place those ads. Heck, you could even set up a PayPal account and let them pay by credit card – help out those banks you now own. And you can even include ads for certain car brands you now direct. That’s one way to cut their ad budget.

But seriously, let us help you. Sell ads in your emails and not just ones that ask me to donate to your cause, but ones that let corporate America donate to mine – a balanced budget. I like a balanced budget. It makes us economically stronger. And instead of paying other countries interest, maybe you can invest in our schools, infrastructure and job training programs... just saying.

Think about it.

Anyone else care to chime in. Better uses for the savings or other ideas for how we can market our way out of this recession? I'm all ears... talk to me.

Marketing Strategy for California Tea & Coffee Brewery

 
For those playing along with the Free Idea Day home game, here is a brief backgrounder that I used to formulate my thoughts. The information comes from @CA_Tea.

Yes, we are different.  In the following ways:

1. We have patent pending technology for brewing any loose leaf tea or herbal/tisane in one minute which gives as good or better a result than traditional steeping. (We were just written up including photo of machine in May 2009 Fresh Cup industry magazine/editorial & page 20 onward)
2. This allows us to put loose leaf tea into almost any venue, including drive-throughs, feasibly.
3. We are a tea AND coffee brewery, about 50/50 in sales, which puts our tea sales way above the % Starbucks or Coffee Bean, etc., do in tea.  Why?  Because of #1 above!
4. We brew everything by the cup..we never batch coffee or tea (no airpots, no 'iced tea' sitting getting nasty and bitter in the refrig until you order).  That also gives us 0, yes 0 waste of either.  It's to you in 1 minute.
5. If you Google coffee and tea Temecula, or tea and coffee Temecula, you will find that we dominate the category pages and you can find reviews, etc. there.  We are putting up an etsy website this week, because we don't want a permanent site up until our branding is where we want the world to see it. 
   

 
I am also a contributor for T Ching (7th ranked tea blog on the Web/had a story on it yesterday www.tching.com <http://www.tching.com>  on Teapod) and our Twitter is CA_tea.  You can find my profile under Contributor's section.
 
The word(s) for our brand (like Branson's 'fun' for Virgin) is 'positive energy'.  There is no box as far as we're concerned.
 
We have already received a licensing/partnership proposal from a large tea/coffee wholesaler on our patent pending process but our attorney/LLC partner believes we need to keep it proprietary to us until we build the brand and retail concept. 

Why tea vs coffee?  I think there are multiple answers to that one but probably the biggest is the healthy image of tea with all the studies coming out in the last 5 or so years on its' health benefits.  However, I also see young kids who love tea, iced, chai latte, etc.  Then the 20-somethings who are striking out (hopefully) on their own and looking at options that are new and fresh (after all, tea is only thousands of years old as a beverage)..they've done coffee to 'death' and are interested in tea but also yerba mate, Rooibos, matcha (pulverized tea leaves, so you consume the entire leaf).

The one minute thing is huge (people will watch it and ask 'what is it'..sorry, patent pending/secret..) as they are always in a hurry, and the taste just knocks them out from brewing with this process.  However, we also have a beautiful store where people 'feel' peaceful, happy.  We have the sound of water, a coffeehouse familiar feeling but lighter/happier, nice side patio space with flowers, vine, pots, etc.

Ok, background over. And now… drum roll please, here is our first Free Idea Day winner.

Diane,

So here is where I’d start.

First, the differentiation point of 1-minute brewing. I agree with your lawyer (did I just say that out loud??) that you need to hold on tightly to that differentiator. It gives you a basis for a brand and it’s not something easily replicable.

Second, I’d consider different brand words. 'Positive Energy' is very SoCal, surfer, hippie and while it may play well today you need it to play well tomorrow when you’re selling in places like West Texas where they aren’t so accepting of that kind of thought. It has also been done to death I think and doesn’t really give me, the consumer, a simple benefit that I want or need even if I haven’t voiced it.

Instead – I think your brand words need to focus around thoughts like respite, break, center or centered. I’ll get to why in a minute.

Third, use your product to solve a problem I have. I’m too damn busy. I’m sitting at 30,000 feet writing a blog post when I should be reading or maybe chatting up the nice man to my right. But I’m blogging because I’m behind. It feels like I’m always behind. I live in a behind world. And guess what, I’m not alone.

So, fourth, combine your brand with your benefit – one-minute brewing.

One minute isn’t a lot of time. It’s really not enough time to tweet, or read an email, or send a text – even though folks try. But it is the perfect amount of time to do nothing and not feel guilty for doing nothing. Heck, I just sat back for one minute, stirred a little cream into my coffee (sorry but it is a very early flight) and allowed myself to gaze out of the window. And guess what? It felt nice. I gave myself a minute. In fact, I think it felt so good (given the crazy morning I had) that I think I’m going to do it again as soon as I finish this post – a little reward to myself.

So what I’m saying here is that I think your brand is about giving people a minute. Specifically the one-minute it takes to brew your tea.

Everything you do in retail, in advertising, in social media, in experience and ambiance should be about maximizing the power of that one minute. Make it the best damn minute of my day. A reward to myself. Think about what I’m looking at, listening to, smelling, even where I’m standing or sitting. Is there anything there that would catch my attention or invite me to read it or pick it up? If so, get rid of it. Make that one minute about me. About introspection. About NOT having to actively process anything. Give me permission or just ‘force’ me to stand still for one minute.  Have a no cell phone rule at the counter. Have a sign that asks customers to either turn the phone off or place it on vibrate so that others can enjoy their one minute – hell create a tradition of turning off your cell when you enter the store. How cool would that be… you create a transitory moment for me where I actively unplug for a minute from the rest of the world. That would be cool to see. To watch every customer that enters your store actually turn their phone off or to vibrate as they walk through the door… very tribal.

Then, as you expand out of retail, make your product about giving me a chance to have a second, or third or hell, as many one minute moments as I want. Because there is something special about watching a tea bag steep in a hot cup of water. There is a subliminal change as I watch the water turn to tea… heck the last guy that could do something that incredible got a pretty large following…of course he did change water to wine which has a larger following maybe than tea but I digress.

Become the one-minute brand. The brand that reminds all of us to sit back and take just a minute to reinvest in ourselves. Even if that reinvestment doesn’t include your tea, even if it is just a minute spent breathing and starring into space or listening to a tune or just paying complete and total attention to my child or another person who is special in my life.

That minute can be magical and we all ought to want that minute. Let your brand carry that message and make me want that moment. Do it right and hopefully your customers will thank you with their patronage and for giving them a one-minute experience worthy of trying to replicate.

Ok folks, so that is the best I can do on limited information, an early morning flight and a single cup of coffee. So now it is your turn. You’re smarter than me anyways so let’s have it. What have I missed? What did I get wrong? What did I get right and how would you carry that beyond my meager thoughts?

Oh yes, and tell a friend about this and invite them to come spend one minute with this marketing challenge and to give us their two cents. It’s that Tweet It link just down below.

Photo credit: Manu Pombrol

Launching Free Idea Days Bring me your marketing problems

Free Idea Days from Tom Martin on Vimeo.

Why Starbucks' Ad Campaign Will Fail

Have you seen Starbucks new campaign? The one designed to remind you of the "Starbucks story?"

From the announcement video to the ads themselves, Starbucks is making the first mistake of modern advertising - they're telling you when they should be showing you. Just as you never trust someone who says, "trust me" consumers, I think, will dismiss this effort as inauthentic and simply an attempt to generate additional sales.

To be fair, they have included an execution or two that are tactical and do provide a consumer with really good information that many, this blogger included, probably don't know. The ad to the right is a perfect example. I never knew it was a Starbucks policy to remake an order if you didn't like it. Now that is a GREAT message for an ad. Why? Because to truly gain the power of that message you need to spread the word far and wide, and in Starbucks case, fast. And full-page prints ads are still about the best way to accomplish that trick.

But what I find most interesting is the brand that was built on a cup not an ad, is doing a 180. Why now, almost 40 years after their start would Starbucks seek to reverse their model to save themselves?

I find it humorous that in the end of the video Howard looks into the camera and tells how excited he is that Starbucks can "now tell the true story of what Starbucks is..." as if they haven't had that chance over the last gabillion PR opps they've had.

The true story is that Starbucks has lost its way and that didn't just start yesterday. From over extending their brand to selling everything and anything even tangentially tied to the coffee drinking experience, they've changed. They allowed smaller, local and regional coffee houses to supplant them and redefine the coffee house experience. And now with a tight economy, consumers are cutting back on their expensive Starbucks Habit, which is hurting the company's bottom line. So what do they do? They run an ad campaign. Arggggg.. what a shitty solution to a fixable problem.

So what can you learn from this?

If you're a company that sells a high margin product which relies on a combination of perceived quality and unique experience to justify that margin (think hotel, restaurant, coffee house, spa, etc) then you have to double-down if you expect to maintain and expand in this tough economy. Just as advertising research has shown that advertisers who maintain or increase ad spend during economic downturns emerge stronger than their competitor who cut ad spend, you too can emerge on the other side bigger, stronger and more durable.

Invest. Invest in what makes you great. Your product and your experience. Run a day spa that is booking 20% fewer massages? No worries. Change your booking times to create gaps in between sessions. Then instead of finishing the massage and telling your customers "you'll be right back in 5 min to escort them out" tell them it is their lucky day. You don't have another appointment booked for 20 minutes so if they'd like to just lay there and relax for 15 minutes, they're welcome to do so. How cool would that be? What is 15 minutes of completely undisturbed rest, especially after a killer massage, worth to the consumer? Would they rather have that or 15% off? Would they be more likely to tell their friends about that or the fact you gave them 15% off?

If you're a restaurant do little things that don't cost you much but give the consumer a high perceived value. Become known as the home of the "First Drink is on Me" were you, the restaurant owner, personally welcome your guests to their table and buy the first round of drinks. How cool is that to a consumer? Not only are they personally greeted by the owner or chef, which in an of itself is unique, but you're saving them $10-$15 by buying their first drink. On a $100-$150 dining tab (easy in a white tablecloth restaurant) you just gave them a 10-15% discount -- no coupon required. You discounted but you didn't because a) there is no coupon or ad screaming % off in the local newspaper and b) what did a couple of shots of whiskey or glasses of wine really cost you in real dollars?

The bottom line is that in today's hyper-connected, the economy sucks world, consumers are talking about great experiences or brands that are offering them something of value, even if that value is more expensive than the competition. But please, don't run an expensive ad campaign to tell them. Just show them how you're different or better and then let them do the talking for you. If you're really worried they might not, then give them access to a tool to talk on your behalf. But through it all remember, consumer are loyal to that which gives them the greatest value in their own mind. The trick for you today is to really examine your customer base and get inside their heads. Find out what makes them tick. Why do they patronize your and then amp it up. Go beyond their expectation. Surprise and delight them. Do that and I think you'll not only survive but thrive.

Anyone else have a thought or two? Share it here for the rest of the group to read. Let's all get smarter together shall we?

 

T-Mobile: Sharing Life or Staged Experiences?

On Friday, Valeria over at Conversation Age posted Can Your Brand Design This Kind of Conversation? which contained this video.

At the end, you'll notice it's part of a T-Mobile campaign called Life's For Sharing.

Now, I like the video and I do think it is viral and will and has been shared. And yes, I agree with Valeria that it will cause conversation. My beef with it is that regardless of the medium, it's still an ad.

I would have much rather seen T-Mobile do something like this:

This makes T-Mobile and their technology a part of the story, a character if you will. Is it more of a conversation, less of an ad? That's up for debate. But at least this humanizes the brand while simultaneously demonstrating the technology and the power of "sharing life" using T-Mobile and it's products...which should be the point of the campaign I think.

Now, there is a LifesForSharing YouTube channel. I looked at the first 12 pages of videos and every one was professionally produced and none were really about sharing your life. So where T-Mobile really had a chance to have or to use Valeria's term, "design" a conversation, I'd argue they missed it.

What I wanted to see, what I expected to see was videos like this:

Or like this:

These are life moments shared via camera phone or Flip Video footage. By staying true to the brand/campaign promise, I think T-Mobile would have been better served and driven home their brand message so much more strongly than with a very expensive, albeit very cool ad.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Let me know via the comments.

Getting to Go

I find the biggest mistake folks make with a new marketing effort is the failure to plan. To do the necessary strategy grunge work before they start the flashy, cool ideation/creative work. But you have to do the grunge if you want to have a basis for truly insightful, powerful marketing campaigns. The goal is to make sure you do the right thing, not just some thing. While basic, what follows is little more than a checklist really, I've had folks over the years tell me it is a very helpful checklist and I find it helps me stay focused. So, today I'm sharing it with you.

First, define the objective:  Many times a folks want to start a project with an executional goal. They want to build an ad campaign, or an ad or maybe a Facebook Fan Page. Don't let yourself fall into that trap. Instead, push beyond to define the business goal you are trying to achieve.

Second, define the audience:  Start by asking yourself whom you think you should talk to in order to accomplish the objective defined above. But we don’t stop there. Use research, even "down and dirty" research to further develop the target audience into more highly refined sub-segments. You want to truly know who they are as people. What's going on in their life. How buying what your selling will improve their existence. Sometimes you'll find that the folks you think you should be talking to aren't the right folks at all. That's when you'll understand why it is necessary to do the strategy stuff first!

Third, define the marketing context:  You need to fully understand what is going on in the world, the category, the target audiences’ world, etc. So often this step is overlooked in the mad rush to get a new campaign or marcomm effort to market tomorrow. You use this information to better understand what, if anything contextually can and will effect your campaign and its performance in the marketplace.

Fourth, define the budget:  Everyone works with a finite budget and infinite goals. Therefore, proper budget management is not just a nicety but a necessity if you are to maximize this precious and always limited resource. To do this, go back to the business goal. Truthfully think about how much sales lift you think you can achieve over a specific time period. Then determine how much you can afford to gamble on trying to achieve that sales lift. That's your budget.

Fifth, define the timeline:  We live in a FedEx world. But not everything absolutely, positively has to be done tomorrow. Big ideas take time. Give yourself permission to have that time. Also, you need to think through how quickly you need to achieve that objective. If you need to increase sales 20% in the next month vs over the next year, that will generate two entirely different marketing solutions.

Sixth, define the approval process: Often times, how you sell an idea is more important than the merit of the idea itself. That’s why you need to fully understand the approval process and personalities involved. Think about what stakes they have in the outcome of the campaign, what level of involvement they want or should have in the process, whether they have any preconceived notions about the assignment and finally, how they process information. By understanding your internal approval/selling process and constituents, you can improve the odds you'll gain everyones buy-in faster and with less hassles.

Seventh, define the box: This is an optional step. If you're doing the campaign yourself, you know what you will and won't be willing to do. But if you're engaging someone like me to help you, the box is what  you can envision you or your company MIGHT be willing to approve. You need to define the edges -- your agency or freelance team will take it from there.

Once you have all of this down on paper, get started on developing those big, creative ideas.

Are there other steps I should be adding? Areas I should beef up? How do you do it? How do you get to go? Let me know. Comment. Talk back.

Was Twitter Just Punk'ing Us?

Last night Twitter was all a flutter over Twitter's change to how @replies would be handled. No longer would you be able to see @replies from folks you follow unless you also follow the person the were @'ing.

A lot of us got up in arms about it because while Twitter maintained seeing only half the conversation was a disruption, I and it seems a good number of my Twitter friends agree, we feel that not only is it not a disruption but it is a fabulous way to discover new, smart folks to follow.

So was Twitter just punk'ing its user base or was this really Twitter's version of a focus group?

Think about it. In the traditional product upgrading process, companies make versions of the product/service and then test it using expensive focus groups or IDI's (Individual Interviews). They wait a few weeks for the official research report, have a few meetings and then many weeks and many dollars later, make a decision based on non-statistically projectionable data sets.

Or you do what Twitter and Facebook do. You just make a change and wait. If no one say boo, then you made a good change. If an uproar ensues, maybe you should undo your change and post a blog post explaining what you're doing.  Sure you risk pissing off your users but hey, you're kind of the only game in town and you're free. So the chances they'll totally abandon you are slim and you save a bunch of time and money. You save time. You save money. And best of all, you're making decisions using statistically projectionable, qualitative data sets. Hmmmm... a worthy risk?

What do y'all think? Planned research or just a bonehead move that hopefully gets corrected?

Blogger Relations for Beginners

This topic has been covered by others but recently, two comments that were left on one of my posts made me think it was time for a little primer. So if you're new to blogger relations, take a minute and read below.

1. Bloggers are people not reporters. We don't make money doing this (at least most of us). Instead, we do it because if fulfills a biological need to create, share and in some cases teach.
2. Because of the point above, we don't have any calendar to follow or editorial board to please. We post what we want, when we want and that is just fine with us and our readers.
3. Following this "I'm not being paid for this" theme, bloggers have real jobs at real companies and most if not all, are doing this in their free time. Thus, if you do want to reach out, be smart, simple and quick about it. Don't send a media kit or a War and Peace style email come on... chances are it goes into the "when I have time" file versus the "posts to write" folder.
4. Get to know a blogger. Read their blog, subscribe via RSS and comment from time to time on their posts. Challenge their thoughts, engage them -- don't just write "nice post" and move one. If you want to get noticed, even by small bloggers with small followings, a well written, well informed challenge comment is gold. 
5. Which brings me to the reason for this post. Those two comments which I never allowed to post. A person and company that will go unnamed but sells heavy equipment (dump trucks, bucket trucks, etc.) has twice now left some comment about safe dump trucks or need for safe use of heavy equipment on that post. For those that need a laugh, here is that post. Other than the picture of bucket trucks, not sure why the person thought their comments relevant. I'm truly at a loss on this one.
6. When you do comment, and it is posted, track the comment trail to see if others comment on your post or if the author replies. Very often bloggers will reply to you via the comments section to create/continue a conversation. If that happens, and a reply is warranted, engage. This is gold. This means you have that blogger's attention and likely have begun at least the beginning of a relationship.
7. Once you have that ember of a relationship, fan it. Find the blogger on Twitter (most of us are there - for instance I'm @TomMartin). Use this as another channel to begin to build that relationship. Grow it and expand it. Do the same on LinkedIn and Facebook if you can. Check to see if the blogger is on Vimeo, Slideshare or has a YouTube channel. These are all outposts for that blogger. Places where he/she is creating content. So not only should you be aware of it, you should participate in it. These sites all allow for comments, so leave some. Again, it's all about building that dialogue.

I'm sure I've forgotten more than I've pointed out. But that is where you the reader come in... help me finish this out. Let's create the difinitive handbook on the current thinking around blogger relations so that we can share that with companies big and small and help everyone win.

photo by minifig

The First Rule of Brand Tweeting

I won't say what brand this is, but I had to laugh out loud when I visited their Twitter page this morning and found this:

Dear brands:

Twitter is the ultimate cocktail party cum networking event. Treat it as such.

Brands like this are just trolling the party listening with one ear for mentions of their name. Then they swoop in and pay attention just long enough to toss the speaker a business card with a "call me, we'll do business" kind of remark. Then they hear another mention of their name and poof, they're off to drop another business card.

A shame really. This particular brand is a destination. Just imagine how many tweets they missed while folks were touring the destination, tweeting away. Imagine the rich conversations that could have been had. Imagine what folks would say/do if the brand followed up with them after their trip to see how it was or better, asked if they might take a quick survey to let the brand know what it could be doing better.

Conversation is soooo much more powerful than marketing. So brands that decide to hop on the Twitter bandwagon, here is lesson #1. Unless they're a porn site, MLM spammer or someone whose stream is just downright offensive, follow everyone that follows you. Then engage them and not just before they use your product/service.

You'll get more followers and a much better ROI from Twitter.