COMMENTS FROM THE MARKETING FRONTLINE - news, views, soapbox observations and general riffs on all things public relations, marketing and communications, PR 2.0, social media, word-of-mouth and brand engagement.
Less about mass media TARPS (‘Target Audience Rating Points’) and more to do with building trust with consumers and cultivating advocates for your brand.
Case in point?
The inbound marketing software company HubSpot is a beauty.
Hubspot ticks all the boxes of 'smart marketing - it is inclusive and community-minded, it provides resources and creates content that's 'meaty' and relevant for its customers.
Importantly, the brand works hard to build a respectful presence on the social web (as well as offline - in June 2010, HubSpot was awarded "Best Places to Work in Greater Boston").
In short, this is a brand that understands better than most what it takes to market effectively in today's hyper-connected age.
Sir John Hegarty is one of the world's most lauded advertising creatives. His new book Hegarty On Advertising was eagerly awaited by his legions of fans inside the world of advertising and outside of it.
I love it when a brand (company, organisation or individual) really pushes the boundaries in its marketing.
In the video below, Chuck Lewis - aka The SEO Rapper combines his love of hip hop with a business message around his other speciality - search engine optimisation. And guess what, people in their thousands are watching this (and other) SEO Rapper videos, commenting on them and passing them along.
Clever stuff!
The success of The SEO Rapper's videos, especially Page Rank (below) has brought a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) MC competitor out in the open. Now, an enterprising third party has set up a site to promote The Ultimate SEO PPC Rap Battle!
The upshot is, do something interesting and people will willingly talk about your brand.
So many brands - especially of the large variety - are still talking about producing 'viral videos'. Many will cost a bomb, most will fail. Meanwhile, people like the SEO Rapper will be out there doing what they love, taking a chance, doing it on the cheap and resonating with the marketplace because of their enthusiasm and authenticity.
A quick heads-up about a sideline project I've been beetling away at over the past few months and which is getting oh-so-close (famous last words!) to fruition.
It's called BlogHUB Australia (web address is www.bloghub.com.au - not live as yet).
I've (somewhat grandiosely) pitched BlogHUB as the heart of Australia’s blogging community.
It will be the online destination not only for Australia’s rapidly growing cadre of passionate bloggers but also for those interested in experiencing what blogs have to offer as well as learning more about the people behind them.
In short it's all about celebrating and promoting blogging in Australia.
Expect a launch announcement in about two weeks' time :)
In the meantime, would love for you to follow BlogHUB on Twitter (@bloghuboz) and/or 'like' us on Facebook.
Activate your fans, don't just collect them like baseball cards.
Says it all really. We live in an advertising-saturated environment in which far too many brands insist on pushing out their message into the marketplace.
Okay, that's fine - and advertising has its place in the marketing mix. But do it too often, as many lazy brands do, and you run the risk of driving potential customers away, or worse, they could be dissing your brand to hundreds (thousands?) of their 'closest' friends should you succeed in annoying them sufficiently!
The key, of course, is to pull people towards your brand by being interesting, relevant, personal and humble.
Once you've respectfully earned people's attention, the challenge then is to engage them over longer periods of time. Obviously this is not something a quick-hit promotional stunt or whizz-bang marketing campaign can achieve.
If you manage to engage your customers and begin to grow your community of fans, that's fantastic. But then what?
Is your brand merely 'collecting' fans, as Jay says in the above quote, or are you actively trying to deepen the intensity of connection with them?
Best-selling author Seth Godin says organizations grow when they persuade a tiny cadre to be passionate, not when they touch millions with a mediocre message.
I like that. The focus is on a smaller number of highly active fans and advocates of your brand. Give them the tools and stories and conversation-starters then get out of the way and let them spread the love for you!
"If you talk or text during a movie, we kick you out".
The texter cracked it and left an angry retort on the cinema's voicemail, which the theater promptly used as the basis of its 'Don't text in the cinema' public service announcement currently screening before R-rated features).
By the way, at time of writing the YouTube video (below) had notched up some 350,000 views (no doubt helped along by a tweet from famed movie critic, Roger Ebert, who alone has 460,000+ Twitter followers!
N.B. if you have sensitive ears, you might like to check out the censored version (which has only 9000 views).
BUILD A COMMUNITY OF FANS - the Alamo Drafthouse has a solid following on both Twitter and Facebook, so when the boss blogged about this story (and posted the clip on YouTube) they had a ready made audience.
GIVE PEOPLE SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT - this feeds into the point above ... by creating and posting the video the theater gave its fans a reason to propel the story throughout their own personal networks.
HAVE SOME FUN - some brands might cringe at the thought of taking the piss out of a disgruntled customer, but for the Alamo Drafthouse irreverence is all part of the package, and what you see is what you get.
They keep themselves to themselves, rarely collaborating in any way with like-minded organisations, individuals or brands. They do their own thing. All very focused, controlling and inward-looking.
That school thinking probably worked in the '70s and '80s but looks a little old-fashioned in today's hyper-social age, a bit like Frankie himself (although he still remains a very cool dude after all these years despite not being with us in a physical sense!).
Smart marketers today, however, are a little more Jay-Z.
"I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man" - Jay-Z Jay-Z is loved and lauded the world over. The biggest acts on the planet want to work with him (U2, Radiohead, Linkin Park et al). Majorbrands want to get into bed with him (although not all of them it seems).
And his ever-growing fan base can't get enough of him. Aside from being a brilliant wordsmith, rapper and showman, Jay-Z has also forged a solid rep as a savvy marketer-cum-businessman. How has he done it? How has a rapper from Brooklyn in New York City become one of the biggest names on the planet?
While there's not one simple answer - the man is after all a multi-dimensional talented freak - one constant that stands out from a marketing perspective is Jay-Z's willingness to collaborate with others.
In fact,I'd go so far to say that without collaboration, Jay-Z would not have become the global phenomenon he is.
His collaboration with Linkin Park ('Collision Course') exposed Jay-Z to hard rock fans.
His collaborations with the likes of Beyonce, Rihanna and Alicia Keys edged him further into the pop mainstream.
His ongoing collaborations with Kanye West continue to reinforce his status as hip-hop royalty.
His collaboration with Radiohead (Jaydiohead) demonstrated his musical chops to the alternative crowd.
Brand collaboration - as epitomised by Jay-Z - can be powerful for a number of reasons:
greater reach and awareness - gain exposure in other markets;
leveraging off another brand's image and equity - associated positive spin-off;
implied third party endorsement - additional credibility.
Of course, collaboration needs to be thought about strategically. There must be something positive to be gained by all parties in the relationship. And while the project can be left-field, it still needs to be congruent with your brand otherwise you'll end up confusing your customers.
Collaboration also requires a hefty dose of the right attitude - to embrace it effectively you need to check your ego at the door and be willing to bend a little. What about your brand? Who could you collaborate with to increase exposure and cache for your brand?
"I'm the new Sinatra..." {Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind}
"I'm all for collaborations whether it be with business or art ... it can't be about money ... there has to be something in there that's true to both sides" - Jay-Z
*** THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARED ON MY SWEAT EQUITY BLOG ***
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