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Social Graces

 

Are you challenged to post interesting content on a daily basis to your Social Media sites? 

 

Do you find it difficult to post to your sites consistently due to lack of time? 

 

Do you use Social Media as a broadcast channel and not as a way to connect and interact with your customers? 

 

Do you find it hard to come up with the right strategies to perfectly align your brand in the marketplace and grow your community? 


 

If so, Marketing Keys can help! As a Social Media partner of ours, you will have our designated, certified Social Media expert, Maria, managing and strategizing daily on your sites. Maria will also coordinate all communication so there are no surprises and all of your initiatives are scheduled accordingly. 


 

Other companies have discovered our solution is more effective and more cost efficient than hiring a part time person or adding this responsibility to one of your current employees.

 

For more information, please contact Marketing Keys at (312) 291-4630 or you can email us at roger@marketingkeys.com.

 

 

SEEN ON THE STREETS:

You may have seen this digital outdoor campaign placed by Marketing Keys driving around Chicagoland. The campaign ran the week of the NFL Draft, which was held in Chicago before 200,000 fans from Thursday, April 30th - Saturday, May 2nd.

Yearning for some Learning?

The Newberry Library will be hosting Adult Education Seminars this summer starting June 6th. Topics include:
  • Chicago Culture
  • Arts, Music and Language
  • Genealogy
  • History and Social Sciences
  • Literature and Theater
  • Philosophy and Religion
  • Writing Workshops
Visit newberry.org for more info!

Summer at Latin


Take a class at Latin! Tech camps, credit & non-credit classes, sports camps- and more!

For more information, visit 

http://www.latinschool.org/Page/About/Summer-at-Latin/Summer-Programs-Grades-1-12 


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Do you know a Business Owner or Marketing Director that would be open to new strategies and ideas to reach your customers through an everchanging media landscape? If so, please forward our newsletter to them. Many of our clients have come to us through your kind introductions to your friends and business associates. In return, please let us know how we can help in terms of referring business back to you! roger@marketingkeys.com.


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Welcome to the May issue of Key Notes - Marketing Keys' monthly newsletter. We hope that everyone is having a wonderful Spring season, as we all look forward to the fast approaching Summer! For all your Moms out there, Happy Mother's Day! Our goal is for you to be informed and entertained with the latest media and marketing happenings quickly and efficiently. 


Can we be "Upfront?"

 

 

This coming week TV Networks will be schmoozing Media Buyers/Planners from Ad Agencies all over the country with their Fall Upfront presentation. The "Upfront" is an opportunity for networks to unveil their Fall 2015 TV Lineups and to incent media buyers to lock in their media buys early. However, the actual negotiations between buyers and sellers usually don't begin until at least the end of May. The presentations originate from the New York market but many major markets will also have a local presentation. Marketing Keys will be present at selected presentations in the Chicagoland market. 

 

 Monday, May 11:

 NBC - Morning

 FOX - Afternoon

 

 Tuesday, May 12:

 ESPN - Morning

 ABC - Afternoon

 

Wednesday, May 13:

 Turner - Morning

 CBS-TV - Afternoon

 

Thursday, May 14:

The CW -  Morning

 

 

        Apple Watch: 

A "wristy" proposition!

 

Did you place your order yet for your new Apple watch? With a new gadget comes a new business opportunity; at least, in the Apple world. With a new platform to operate within, media companies are developing versions of their apps for the new Apple watch. With about a million Apple watches already sold, newspapers, TV news networks, magazine publishers and radio stations are competing for a place on consumers' wrists.

 

Tribune Publishing, for example, has developed a Watch app for eight of its newspapers. The app will be available to all of Tribune Publishing's markets and Apple Watch owners will be able to receive updates and alerts pertaining to their hometown right on their wrist. Joining Tribune Publishing with this latest opportunity are the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, along with other media companies like CNN, NPR and Bloomberg.

 

Contrary to iPad apps, which publishers use to sell subscriptions and advertising, one challenge that media companies may face is finding the best way to generate revenue through their Watch apps. While business models are expected to soon incorporate the Apple Watch as an avenue to generate revenue, it seems media companies are currently focusing on the consumers themselves, rather than advertising opportunities, and embracing the opportunity to be available to people through a different outlet. 
    

 

 

 

The tweet Twitter wants to keep quiet     

 

Last week, Twitter shares fell by 27% after the company reported a lower-than-expected growth rate for advertising sales in their first quarter results. With ad sales accounting for much of the company's revenue, the growth was less than what was reported in the past five quarters, and significantly less than the company forecasted. Although revenue increased from the same quarter last year, Twitter believes that advertisers were hesitant to invest in direct response, or call-to-action, ads. Having typically focused on general brand image ads, Twitter has had trouble getting advertisers' buy-in with investing in direst response ads due to its lack of targeting and tracking capabilities, compared to its seasoned competitor, Facebook.

 

The primary reason Twitter ads are attractive is that the platform itself facilitates real-time conversations around the world, especially surrounding major events. For example, Macy's, who increased their investment in Twitter more than any other social platform, ran a campaign during the NCAA college basketball tournament using polls to create dialogue about which teams Twitter users were rooting for.  Companies' goal behind utilizing Twitter is not to increase sales revenue, but to generate brand awareness by submerging the company into relevant conversation.

 

While Twitter does need to work on its ability to measure the effectiveness of their ads, the company's ad platform is new to the market, and disappointing reports can be attributed to growing pains paired with an impractical forecast in revenue.

  

 

Why consumers buy

   

 

One of the key goals behind market research is determining how consumers make purchase decisions and their reasoning behind them. Do they purchase something because they see everyone else doing it? Or they simply see it in a store and think it looks neat? Marketers try to figure out why consumers consume they way they do, and in the process they get so wrapped up in finding the answer to "why" that they overlook the fact that it is very difficult to pinpoint why we do what we do.

 

Although we come up with some very specific reasons, people are impacted by stimuli that are not consciously processed. Our limbic system allows us to react to things subconsciously without having to think about them, but over time, our brains have evolved to be able to draw connections that explain these actions logically, even if it is only because we have also grown more socially aware in the process. This is where the line between human behavior and decision-making gets fuzzy, and researchers collect inaccurate data, which then misleads marketers in positioning their brands. Here are some strategies to help you get the best consumer insights:

 

  1. Ask your team to develop a plan to tackle the issue of subconscious perceptions
  2. Consider how consumers behave in other parts of their lives and draw a connection with how it pertains to your brand
  3. Study consumer behavior in the actual marketplace rather than artificial settings like online surveys for more accurate insight or feedback. 
 

 

China to crack down on Advertising

For the first time since 1994, Chinese legislators have recently made some significant changes to China's advertising law to go into effect this upcoming September. From banning the depicting of the Chinese flag to limiting online pop-up ads, the goal behind the updated laws is to strengthen consumer protection. Although these laws have not been heavily enforced in the past, regulators have recently fined Crest, a popular brand of dental hygiene products, almost a million dollars for false advertising because a celebrity endorser's teeth were actually whitened using a computer software. Violating these new regulations won't only take a financial toll, but also hurt a brand's reputation. When a company deviates from legislation, they will be listed on a website, showing that the Chinese government does not condone their ad. Here are some key updates to China's advertising law:

  1. Celebrity endorsers can be held responsible for false advertising, and children ages 10 and younger are not allowed to endorse products. Although celebrity endorsements provide an easy way to connect with the target market, consumers have evolved to be skeptical. This new regulation will force advertisers to re-think about how they are using celebrities and to utilize different methods in connecting with the consumer.
  2. Baby formula drinks and food are not allowed to "claim to replace a mother's milk, fully or partially." With a small percentage of women breastfeeding their infants for six months, the government wants restrict the booming baby formula business and encourage breastfeeding.
  3. With China being home to almost a third of the world's smoker population, the new legislation will ban tobacco ads targeted to the underage market and the appearance of ads in mass media or public places. Tobacco use has caused about a million deaths in China every year, and ads are often targeted towards the younger demographic. This update intends to protect younger generations from tobacco ads.
 

 

 

 

Tweet of the Month

 

@MarketingKeys: Hungry for #DaBears Chicago fans don't hold back at the NFL Draft viewing party last night! #Grub 

 


 


 

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Until next month, may all of your marketing dreams and goals come true! And - if they don't - we are here to help.

 

Sincerely,

 


ROGER KEYS
MARKETING KEYS