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Monthly Archives: April 2012
You’ve Sponsored a Cause… Now What?
Selecting a non-profit to sponsor is only the first step to implementing a successful cause marketing campaign. Now that you have a mission to support, it is essential to develop a strategic marketing plan on how to help increase awareness for the cause while also connecting with your internal and external target audiences.
Below are a number of strategies you can consider to help achieve your cause marketing objectives. Be sure you have approval from the non-profit prior to moving forward with any strategies as most have guidelines based on your in-kind and/or dollar contribution.
1. Product Packaging: Add the non-profit’s logo to your product packaging. Consider a location on the packaging where customers and prospects will actually notice the logo.
2. Website: Develop a page on your website or a microsite highlighting your company’s commitment to the cause. Consider ways to expand the message beyond your sponsorship commitment and include why and how your company got involved. Also, if it is appropriate, include educational information from the non-profit on the webpage or microsite to educate your customers and prospects.
For example, if you are a consumer packaged goods company focused on marketing to women and you sponsor the American Cancer Society, include educational information on cancers that directly effect women, warning signs, etc. Be sure the non-profit approves this and that information is credited to relevant/medical sources.
3. Publicity & Media Relations: Use publicity and media relations as a way to create awareness about your involvement in the non-profit. Beyond announcing your initial commitment, consider ways to continue to promote the cause marketing campaign. For example, if you are sponsoring Habitat for Humanity, announce new home groundbreakings, milestones and your employee involvement.
4. Employee Involvement: Whether it is supporting a local 5K, getting involved directly with volunteering or raising money, consider ways to engage your employees in the cause. Be sure to capture photography and/or video to share with both your internal and external audiences.
5. Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, etc. are great channels to share your cause marketing messaging. One note of caution is to avoid patting yourself on the back about how the company is sponsoring the non-profit. Focus more on how you are supporting the mission, share photos of employee events and announce key non-profit events/messages (e.g. February is heart month… what are you doing to care for your heart?)
6. Events: Talk with the non-profit and determine what events you can create on your own or pre-established events you can get involved in. Consider ways to support the mission while achieving your objectives. For example, can employees volunteer at an event and distribute samples to attendees. See what else you can do beyond hanging a corporate banner.
7. Advertising: While you might not want to run an ad campaign based solely on your cause marketing campaign, consider adding the non-profit’s logo or a tag about your involvement.
8. Email/Direct Marketing: Similar to advertising, you might not want to implement an email or direct marketing campaign based solely on your cause marketing campaign, but consider ways to incorporate your cause marketing messaging into these marketing pieces (photos, videos, logos, etc.).
9. Engage Customers: Consider ways to engage customers and prospects with the non-profit. For example, if you conduct customer/prospect surveys for market research/customer service purposes, offer to donate a specific dollar amount for every survey completed (with a cap of course). Have customers or prospects engage with you on social media in a way that benefits the non-profit (share a mission story, increase your overall donations with more followers or engagement).
There are many cause marketing strategies you can implement to maximize your non-profit sponsorship. Do not hesitate to contact the non-profit to brainstorm strategies and learn best practices from other corporate sponsors. After all, the non-profit wants you to have a good experience and continue to support their mission.
CISPA Q&A: Protecting Privacy or Marketing the President?
Knowing what I know about how Facebook came into existence and what its plans are for world domination, my conclusion is simple: If this guy is for CISPA, then I am against it.
Well, that plus the desire to limit the government’s intrusion into our private lives.
I get the whole need for security and our responsibility to support the government in doing what it has to do to keep our part of the world safe. Just visit an airport for proof.
But I am vehemently opposed to giving any federal agency or group any authority or power that is not clearly and precisely outlined with every “t” crossed and every “i” dotted and every thought footnoted.
Talk about giving someone an inch and them taking a mile. Network World explains that CISPA would let Internet companies monitor and collect any user information they think poses a threat to their networks or systems. The bill would also let these companies share the collected information with the NSA and other federal agencies. Companies that share such information would enjoy a high degree of legal immunity for their actions.
Can you say “Yikes”?
Still, I cannot help but wonder if the current administration is truly interested in protecting its citizens or garnering their votes (did you know that when you scramble the word “vote” it also spells “veto”).
A statement released by the White House today stated: “Without clear legal protections and independent oversight, information sharing legislation will undermine the public’s trust in the Government as well as in the Internet by undermining fundamental privacy, confidentiality, civil liberties, and consumer protections.”
Ron Paul says CISPA is “Big Brother writ large.” I believe he simply wants to keep the government in check and protect privacy. Facebook supports CISPA because the company stands to benefit financially and legally if the bill passes. And Obama? Hopefully he is keeping a watchful eye on all Americans, not just the voters. As for Mitt Romney, to the best of my knowledge he has not voiced an opinion.
4 Ways to Extend the Reach of Your New Ad Campaign
Whether a print, TV, web or radio ad campaign, you dedicated your blood, sweat and tears to develop a creative and compelling campaign. But beyond the ad buy, there are ways to extend the reach of your ad campaign and deliver your message to more people in a more engaging way.
1. Social Media. Consider using social media platforms to engage your audience in a contest related to the ad campaign. This is a great way to draw those who viewed the ad to your social media sites as well as encourage social media fans and followers to seek out your advertisements where they appear.
2. Website & Email Marketing. When developing an ad campaign (no matter the medium) a website landing page is a great way to continue to keep the audiences engaged and provide additional information that you didn’t have room to include in the ad. If you have a quality email database, create an email marketing campaign that coincides with the advertising campaign (and drives visitors to the landing page).
3. Publicity. Is there a timely or edgy aspect to your new ad campaign? Develop a pitch or media invite positioning your campaign as part of a larger, compelling story. If you can secure media coverage for your new campaign, you have extended its reach beyond the actual ad buy.
4. Events. Does your campaign celebrate a company landmark? Is it in support of a new product launch? If there is a reason to celebrate and a bigger story to tell, consider hosting a live or web-based event. Invite customers, prospects, vendors and media to share in the celebration. And if the event itself is unique or unexpected, this may serve as another opportunity for some publicity.
Anything Goes in Political Marketing
As we continue to move into the heat of the 2012 presidential election, marketing strategies and tactics continuing to unfold on both sides that fascinate me.
For example, my husband received the “Stand Up for America Survey” in the mail. It’s a survey for the Republican Party and the results will eventually provide ammunition for the Republican campaign.
We have received these surveys before and I know how skewed they are. So when my husband said he was going to complete it, I was interested to see his response. After reading the first two questions, he refused to move on.
“President Obama and the Democrats have continually called for raising taxes to pay for even more new big government spending during the worse economic recessions in nearly 100 years. Republicans want to keep taxes low and reduce taxes on businesses to help create jobs. Which approach to tax policy do you support.” – Obama/Democrat, Republican or No Opinion?
“Republicans have fought to shrink the size of government to stop the rapid accumulation of federal debt cased by President Obama’s policies. Obama and the Democrats in Congress have called for more federal spending as the answer to every problem that confronts our nation and society. Which approach to federal spending do you agree with?” – Obama/Democrat, Republican or No Opinion?
The survey was so skewed it wasn’t even funny. The bottom line is when it comes to political marketing anything goes.
I’ll continue to post about political marketing strategies throughout the campaign. Feel free to share any you find interesting or just plain ugly in the comments section.
Marketing with Instagram
Instagram has rocked the social media world the past few weeks – first for the much anticipated release of a version for the Android™ mobile technology platform, and secondly, Facebook’s billion dollar purchase of Instagram.
A free photo sharing application for use on DROID or iPhone smart phones, marketers are wondering how they can use this tool efficiently and effectively. The latest integration with Facebook, who emphasizes photo and video content, could mean more possibilities for using Instagram in both B2C and B2B marketing.
Have you thought about Instagram as a marketing tool? While Instagram may not be a fit for all businesses, here are some things to consider:
Company Instagram Channel: Companies create their own Instagram channel to add character to instant uploads. For instance, a cupcake shop may snap a photo of a fresh batch of cupcakes, and upload it to their Instagram channel, share it on Facebook, Twitter or even Pinterest. This can help generate interest in your product…and leave some mouths watering. While you can certainly upload photos to all social media sites without Instagram, adding an Instagram filter can help add character to your post.
Check out Bergdorfs’ Instagram channel that was integrated into the Bergdorfs blog.
Contests: Social media contests are a great way to engage consumers, and can span a massive audience. This can occur across any social media, but if you plan to integrate an Instagram contest on Facebook, take the necessary steps to ensure your contest falls inside the Facebook promotion guidelines.
GE’s contest, “Be the Next Instagrapher”, was a hit with Instagram users.
Event Marketing: People love taking photos at events. Assign a hashtag specific to your events and have attendees apply it to their Instagram photo. This will also give you a way to have real-time photos of your event that you can repurpose for other social media channels. You could even share the photo feed at your event on “the big screen.”
While there are many ways to use Instagram for marketing, it is important to evaluate if Instagram is a fit for your business before diving right in. Just because it is there, does not mean you have to use it. Putting together a social media marketing strategy is essential.
Have other ideas for how to use Instagram? We’d love to hear them.
If 60% of the Human Body is Water, the Other 40% is Dick Clark.
As a young boy growing up in Cleveland’s inner city (to be fair, there was very little outer city back in the ’60s), my days and nights were filled with music. Just as it has been for thousands of years.
But Dick Clark did something no one had done before. He brought that music into the home – into the living room – and it was all about kids entertaining kids. For the first time in forever, this entertainment, this rock and roll music was not for the adults, not for the parents, not for the grandparents. It was for the kids.
It was for kids like me who carried a Jade transistor radio in his pocket everywhere he went. Kids like me who managed to get his hands on a low-end reel-to-reel tape recorder and used it to tape every new song he heard on the radio so he could play it back – over and over and over again – until the tape finally wore out.
Dick Clark gave us more than music, he gave us a voice. He gave us a place in the home. A place in society. He emboldened and empowered us.
Although most kids today are more likely to recognize Ryan Seacrest than Dick Clark, they owe their gratitude to the latter. He opened the door and stood there holding it open for a long, long time.
Like, Cool Daddy-O.
So You Want To Be An Industry Thought Leader….
This is a lofty goal and one many organizations aspire to achieve. The identity of some brands as prolific or high tech product innovators may serve to naturally position them as industry thought leaders simply due to the nature of their corporate structure. However, there are still opportunities to raise awareness and establish a leadership role for a company that is not widely known as the glitzy industry golden child.
1. Identify a specific topic or group of topics to home in on. Even Apple is not an expert in everything. The key is to recognize a core area of expertise in which the company excels and truly is an industry leader. If a competitor has already staked a claim, look for ways to gain traction with expertise on niche but important topics. Choose a knowledgeable spokesperson and then build an outreach strategy to focus on telling your unique story.
2. Get visible. Many companies attend and even exhibit at industry trade shows. But there are myriad opportunities to apply for a speaking position at industry events. Shows, conferences, industry panels, meetings, round tables, workshops and even milestone celebrations are all excellent venues for establishing your brand as an expert on your focused area of expertise. Also, think beyond simply presenting at peer-to-peer shows. Vertical market events offer an opportunity to connect with potential customers.
TIP: Secure more speaking opportunities and deliver more engaging presentations by avoiding commercial messaging. Deliver meaningful, educational content that event attendees can use and will associate with your brand.
3. Dust off the old typewriter. With the current state of the publishing industry, many trade publications (and increasingly consumer publications) are constantly seeking good content from a fresh perspective. Using your established focus as a pitch topic, reach out to leading industry and vertical trade publications to pitch a bylined feature article. Like event presentations, think about how your article can educate a magazine’s readership about a certain topic affecting the industry. If you can offer a new perspective to readers, editors will be excited to help tell your story.
4. One is never enough. Do not settle for one speaking engagement or feature article placement. Within your focused area of expertise, consider all angles and side to the story, as well as how certain industry trends and events affect constituents and vertical markets differently. Refocus your main topic to address multiple angles and you can still deliver exclusive content to each show or publication you work with.
5. Consider developing a corporate sponsored blog. If you want to be a thought leader, continuous and current content is key. A blog provides a simple channel for communicating opinions and predications as changes occur. Moreover, consider how you can use social media to further expand your blog reach.
6. Compete for professional awards. Whether for new product launches, professional leadership or even something as simple as safety, competing in award competitions can raise a company’s profile as a thought leader. Many competitions are actually sponsored or hosted by industry publications – resulting in built in media coverage for winners. And for those that aren’t, publicity and media relations can be implemented to effectively raise awareness for awards.
By All Means, If a Company Is Successful, Let’s Sue Them.
Steve Jobs has been gone now for just over six months. That seems like plenty of time to turn on Apple and destroy what is arguably the most successful and respected American company today.
Steve Jobs once said that he liked living at the intersection of the humanities and technology. He loved to read… Shakespeare, Plato, Dylan Thomas. He loved music… The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Joan Baez. And his love for technology is well-documented.
And Steve Jobs was not above stealing. He loved a good idea and coveted a great one. And he publicly acknowledged his unashamed and unapologetic willingness to steal them. And Steve Jobs was not above introducing ridiculously high-priced technologies that consumers willingly purchased… because they were worth the price.
But stealing money from consumers by fixing prices on books? That does not sound like an idea Steve Jobs or anyone else at Apple would endorse.
Plus there is this: In a world so full of injustice, this is the battle the Department of Justice has decided to take on? Really? I guess in a way I am glad that Steve Jobs isn’t here to see this… unfortunately the rest of us are.
Facebook Brand Pages: Doomsday wasn’t so bad after all.
If you were scrambling to update your brand or business’ Facebook Page on March 30, you were not alone. The mandatory switch to Facebook’s Timeline format undoubtedly left many pages looking choppy and unorganized. For social media marketers, there are many things to consider about how to leverage the new Facebook Timeline, but here are a few basic features to help take your Facebook page out of limbo.
Cover Photo: Upload this image ASAP. This is the new “Face” of your Facebook page. Use this photo to showcase a current campaign, new product or service, or imagery that showcases the essence of your brand. For best photo quality and use of space, upload an image that is 851 pixels wide, 315 pixels tall and less than 100 kilobytes.
Profile Picture: Consider removing your current profile picture and just adding a small company logo that looks aesthetically pleasing in contrast to your cover photo. This will help maintain the cleanliness of your page.
Views and Apps: These have moved from a left hand side bar to the same grid as the Page’s profile picture. This means you may have to juggle some around so that the most important are shown on the front of your Page, and the less important apps can be viewed through the drop down menu.
To move these apps around, click the drop down menu on the far right of the apps bar to reveal all of your apps. Then, hover over the upper right hand corner of the individual app you would like to move, click on the pencil icon. This will give you the option to “Swap position with:” and select the appropriate app. Keep in mind landing Pages are no longer necessary with Timeline, so you may want to remove that app.
Pinned Posts: A pinned post allows the user to anchor the most important story, for instance a giveaway announcement, at the top of the Page for up to seven days. It can be unpinned at anytime. To pin, post the story on the Timeline, then click the pencil icon in the right hand corner of the post and select “edit or remove”. There it will give you the option to “Pin to Top.” Easy as that!
Again, this is just a very basic overview to help get your page out of Facebook limbo. There are many more built-in features to leverage for your specific business. We’ll continue to explore the use of the new Timeline features on ExeQnAtion, so stay tuned! For more specific details, visit Facebook’s Help Center to read more about the basics.
No Sugar Tonight in my Coffee.
I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to the individuals and/or group of individuals behind the “We Hate Sugar” movement that seems to be sweeping across the nation.
Over the last week alone, I have seen in-depth news reports on TV, heard experts interviewed on the radio, read numerous online stories and have even been counseled by a couple of consumers.
Apparently sugar is bad for you… like toxic bad. My youngest is a food scientist and he may well dispute much of what I am about to share, but it appears that sugar is the new devil. It’s making us fat and giving us diabetes and destroying our hearts and raising our blood pressure and even causing cancer.
Or maybe this is just like all those other stories about alcohol and tobacco and caffeine and pharmaceuticals and guns. Maybe these things aren’t the problem, maybe we are. Certainly we can blame the products. Or we can blame our parents and society. My personal preference is to blame corporate America for making all this processed (aka junk) food and forcing us to consume it through all their clever marketing.
Conspiracy theorists love to point to the tobacco industry and how they used science and marketing to get us addicted to smoking. They now claim the food and beverage industry is doing the same thing.
I have no clue about most of this; I assume there is some truth and some untruth in every story. But here’s what I do know: A little self-control can go a long way, and that’s something we could all benefit from. Eat a little less processed food and a little more fresh food. Drink a little less canned soda and a little more water. Smoke a few less cigarettes and take a walk in the park.
A little common sense can make a big difference, and it doesn’t require parental or spousal or government intervention.
Sweet.
