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Success Through Strategy!
Strategy Matters delivers news, tips and strategies for effective communications through traditional and social media.
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KMart Ad: Relevant or Full of Ship?
But before we get to Kmart...the Evian babies are back! In a new spot,which has received more than 41 million views on YouTube, adults find themselves face-to-face with their younger selves in a large mirrored window--and the dancing ensues.
It's adorable--but does it sell water? Where's the relevance?
Contrast this spot to another creative--and far more out-of-the-box--spot created by KMart for YouTube and achieving more than 15 million views before even hitting the airwaves. Kmart's "Ship My Pants" ad, uses a play on words which involves shoppers talking about "shipping" their pants, drawers, nightie and bed. It's funny stuff to many--although offensive to some (One Million Moms says the ad is attracting the wrong kind of attention).
Here's the deal: the process of creating consumer engagement, and ultimately sales, starts with awareness. Each of these spots certainly generates awareness and, through the power of the Internet, viral sharing that serves to increase that awareness exponentially.
Beyond awareness, though, marketing communication must also generate knowledge, perception and preference before actual sales will ensue.
The KMart ad gets to knowledge: after viewing it we know that KMart is offering shipping on a variety of products. That may lead to a positive perception and, perhaps, even preference if other retailers aren't offering the same option.
Evian's ad entertains, and certainly generates awareness, but whether or not that awareness is related to the product itself is questionable. It certainly doesn't convey any product knowledge.
The outstanding question for both advertisers is whether massive awareness translates, eventually, into sales. Time will tell.
Recommended Reading:
Ogilvy on Advertising (a classic and one of my still-favorite books on effective advertising)
Related Blog Posts:
Iconic Brands Revisited With a Boost From Technology
You Can Learn From the Super Bowl Advertisers |
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What Makes Great Marketers Great?
The skills of great marketers are many, but are primarily rooted in an understanding of consumer or human behavior and all of its complexities.
Marketing is a challenging field of endeavor because, while there are certain principles and tenets of practice that are widely accepted, there are also many exceptions that challenge the rules. In my opinion, those who will be most effective in marketing-related positions are those who:
- Welcome ambiguity. Things change. Often. Rules changes. Methods change. Needs change. Successful marketers, rather than becoming frustrated with a changing environment that can quickly make the successes of today irrelevant or outdated, embrace the challenges that such uncertainty involves.
- Are consciously and constantly aware of the environment in which they operate, taking more of an external than internal, view. You, of course, know what you have to sell-intimately. But, that's not enough. This knowledge is worthless without an equal or greater understanding of the competitive, social, economic and cultural environments that are changing around you every day. Successful marketers are well-read and well-informed. They watch the news. They read magazines and journals from a variety of fields and areas of interest. They interact with others -inside their organization and out; inside the industry in which they work and out; inside their age and demographic boundaries and out.
- Are analytical. Successful marketers are comfortable - even enamored - with data. They peruse sales data, market share data, census data and draw conclusions from these various pieces of information that are pertinent to the organization's marketing efforts. They don't accept the "easy answers" or take statements at face value. They constantly question and challenge and search for "truth."
- Ask "why?" Why are we introducing this new service? Why does our billing cycle work this way? Why do we think clients will value these attributes of our firm's services? Why do our prospective clients value what our competitors have to offer more than what we have to offer? And on and on. Marketers are curious.
Are marketers creative? Certainly. But creativity isn't coming up with clever sales slogans, or developing eye-catching graphic design.
Creativity involves drawing conclusions from a broad array of information sources and implementing strategies and tactics based on those conclusions that generate results. Marketing is about far more than simply "being creative."
Look around you? Are you surrounded by great marketers?
Recommended Reading:
The New Rules of Marketing &PR - David Meerman Scott
Related Blog Posts:
Are the 4 P's Still Relevant?
Should You Outsource Your Marketing Function?
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Creating Online Communities
We assist some of our clients with their social media activities, including the managing of online groups--some are more successful than others. As we've managed and monitored their groups, dabbled with our own, and evaluated other groups we've noted a number of factors that seem to impact their success.
One of the big "mis-steps" we've seen people making is assuming that their audience is 1) online and 2) engaged in the venues they choose to communicate their messages.
That is not always the case.
Recently, for instance, we conducted research for a client hoping to connect with CEOs in the healthcare industry via LinkedIn.
But, guess what? These CEOs they were hoping to connect with were not on LinkedIn. That's a problem. It would be a bigger problem if we hadn't taken the time to do the research because not only would we have misspent the time and effort to attempt to connect with this audience, but we would also have missed opportunities to connect in more meaningful ways.
Identifying whether your audience is "out there" is the first step in terms of creating a community. The next step is determining what value you can provide (based on what they value, not simply on what you wish to communicate). What will cause them to choose to engage with you in a meaningful way? Again, doing this, really depends on being ultra-specific about your target audience and learning as much as you possibly can about them.
Two of our clients' groups are particularly popular with both multiple new posts and multiple new requests to join every week. With both of these we've noticed some important commonalities you can read about here.
Recommended Reading:
LinkedIn for Dummies -- John Elad
The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success - Wayne Breitbarth
Related Blog Posts:
If You're Trying to Connect With CEOs on Social Media, You May be Wasting Your Time
What the %&*$ is a #Hashtag and What Is It Good For?
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Volume: 5 - Issue: 5
May, 2013 |
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Research Matters
Some recent news and research you may be interested in--we were! |
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