PSAMA Blog

Auto makers kick off Super Bowl ads early. If you were spending this much, wouldn’t you want to take as much advantage as you could.

2012-01-31T11:20:00.000-08:00

We all know that the Super Bowl has become the one day of the year when many people watch the game to see the ads as much as the game. And at $3.5+ million per spot, they had better be good (Just ask the CareerBuilder agency that lost the account when they didn’t make the top 10 on USA Today’s AdMeter in 2011).
But with 5 days to go before the game, several car makers have already kicked off.

Volkswagen jumped in very early with the release of a teaser video called “The Bark Side”, featuring a dog chorus barking a Star Wars theme. This is a follow-up to their successful 2011 Super Bowl commercial featuring a pint-sized Darth Vader who uses “The Force” to start a car, or so he thinks. Many viewers rated it as the “best spot of 2011”.
The Bark Side video has almost 10.3 million views at this writing, and sets the stage for the actual VW ad to be released tomorrow, Feb. 1. This year’s ad is for the new Beetle, and will feature a dog named Bolt that goes on a Jedi-like quest to be worthy to chase the new Beetle.

Close on the heels of VW is Honda, who surprised late last week with a teaser featuring Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller taking a day off to enjoy life and the Honda CRV. The nostalgia of that character apparently hit a responsive chord, and Monday’s release of a 2:25 extended version was a feature on every major news program on Monday.
Honda has a chance to catch up with Volkswagen for pre-game hits as early view totals are over 7 million, but the VW release of the actual in-game commercial tomorrow will make that a difficult goal to reach.

Another pre-game release by Audi has reached almost 2 million views, and is actually my favorite of the bunch. "Vampire Party" has a leisurely build-up as the protagonist drives to the party in an Audi S7 bringing his favorite party beverage – O Positive. As he arrives at the party scene, the product benefit (new LED headlights that simulate daylight) wipe out all of the vampire partygoers, including a nice epilogue where the driver himself is inadvertently caught in the headlights.
The combination of a fun, interesting storyline that actually dramatizes the benefit of the product feature is a winner for me, and my bet as one of the winners in Sunday’s AdMeter poll.

All three advertisers have potential winners, so it will be interesting to see who will win the AdMeter battle. Or maybe the battle is won by those advertisers who are smart enough and creative enough to find ways to extend the impact before, during and after the Super Bowl.
That will be the real battle to watch.

For more thoughts on the AdMeter and its impact on Super Bowl ads, take a look at the latest edition of Ad Age MediaWorks. Michael Learmouth offers a not-so-positive take on the current state of Super Bowl ads – How USA Today’s Ad Meter Broke Super Bowl Advertising.
His argument is that advertisers are so focused on beating the USA Today AdMeter that they sacrifice the message. Sadly, I agree that too many advertisers waste the opportunity (and their money.

What do you think? Does an advertiser waste his money by going for entertainment only, without a product benefit message?

Want to know how your evaluations compare with others? Come to Chalk Talk Super Bowl Ad Replay on Wed. Feb. 8 at The Hawk's Nest Bar & Grill. For details and to register, visit www.psama.org.

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

Hot Topics, Great Speakers Make MarketMix 2012 A Must Attend

2012-01-24T09:55:00.001-08:00

Details for MarketMix 2012, the annual all-day marketing conference hosted by PSAMA, have just been announced, and this year’s program looks like a winner.

Built on the theme “Thriving in the Conversation Economy”, MarketMix 2012 is scheduled for March 20 and will offer keynote sessions with national speakers as well as breakout sessions on important marketing issues that we are all facing today. These breakout sessions will challenge marketers in all business segments, and give you the knowledge to make an impact on your own marketing programs the next morning.

Two keynote speakers have been announced, with a third to follow soon. Announced keynote speakers are Ted Rubin, nationally known social media strategist, Chief Social Marketing Officer at Collective Bias and Social Media Strategist for MARS Advertising and Ben Huh, CEO of Cheezburg.

Conference coordinators have asked this year’s speakers to focus on “how to” accomplish things in the conversation economy, with the aim of giving you the steps, and inspiration, to try it out yourself.

I’m also excited about this year’s breakout sessions, where smaller audiences offer the opportunity to engage with the speakers. The agenda now lists the following sessions but new topics are still being added.

Gamification
Content Development
Mobile Marketing
Community Management
Data Consolidation
2012 Marketing Trends to Watch For
Changing Customer Brand Perceptions
A New Way to Look at TV
Bringing Your Brand to Your Employees
Word of Mouth Marketing
And More . . .

Conference coordinators stress that while the event will cover important marketing issues like inbound marketing, trust marketing, content marketing, earned media and of course the role of social media, this is not a conference about social media. It is a conference about the conversations that enable a company, a brand or a person to make a connection with its target audience.

Early Bird registration is now open, and you can save if you register before Feb. 17. Group discount pricing for more than 4 members of the same company is also available, so now is the best time to sign up for this important conference. Go to www.marketmix2012.com for details and to register.

I hope to see you there.

More thoughts on Google+ for business.

2012-01-18T16:05:00.000-08:00

At last week’s PSAMA luncheon, Amit Fulay, Product Manager for Google+ Hangouts, gave a sold-out audience a quick overview on how businesses and people are using Hangouts to grow their brand.

Some of the key insights he shared on the advantages of Google+ include:

Makes your brand personal, accessible and engaging.
Can segregate your customers with more relevant information and interchange.
Offers a social interaction in real time.
Allows brands to broadcast, multicast and unicast.
Puts a face (literally) to your brand.

Amit’s closing charge to the audience was that now is the time to join Google+ -- to understand the platform, learn how to use + pages and + Hangouts, and take advantage of first mover status among your customer base. Google will continue to add to the usability and value for business, and now is the time to lead, not follow.

The more I read about Google+, the more I agree with Amit. The growth of Google+ has been more impressive than most people realize. On Dec. 27, Business Insider reported that Google+ is adding more than 600,000 new users a day and projected that it would have nearly 300 million users by the end of 2012 if growth stays the same.

With growth currently accelerating, some forecasters are predicting that Google+ could reach more than 400 million users by year's end.

While these numbers don’t approach the 1 billion users that Facebook appears to headed towards, it would be a mistake to look at Google+ in terms of just numbers. With nearly 65 million subscribers today, can you really afford to ignore it?

Last week, Google tweaked its search engine by introducing something called Search plus Your World. Google now pulls information from users' Google accounts (like Google+, Picasa and potentially others in the future), giving users the ability to toggle between search results that are much more personal and searching the Web as Google has always done. This service is more applicable to social users at this time, but I don’t see why your business can’t use this as a tool as well.

Take a look at this video, currently playing on YouTube.

At this point, it's important to stay informed about Google+, and I recommend that all companies begin to explore this new tool. Google+ will continue to add new features, and smarter businesses can use this time to gain a real jump on their competition.

This means you will need to add more workload to your social media staff, but if you want to take advantage of this as it evolves, now is the time to act. You can bet that if Google has its way, it could change how the Web works for the majority of users.

If you want to read more, I suggest you read this recent blog post Is Google+ About To Make Facebook Frown?, published by Mitch Joel. Mitch is president of Twist Image and the author of the blog and bestselling business book Six Pixels of Separation. http://www.twistimage.com/blog/

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

Google+ fires another shot over the Facebook Video bow

2012-01-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

The January 11 PSAMA luncheon will feature Amit Fulay, Product Manager for Google+ Hangouts, so I've been reading everything I can over the past few weeks about the pros and cons of Hangouts, especially as it relates to Facebook Video. Hangouts are group video chats that members can use to start conversations with other G+ members — and even non G+ members — on the web or via mobile. For marketers, they’re a viable replacement to the conference call or simply a fun way to spontaneously video chat with colleagues, friends and family members.

Most of the articles I have read clearly favor Google+ Hangouts, and one in particular struck me as a great summary of those advantages. The Social Beat article by Jennifer Van Grove, En Garde! Google strikes at Facebook with new hangouts features, can be accessed by clicking on the this link, but here is a quick summary of the advantages as this author sees them:

1. Hangouts are more flexible than FB Video. Users can start impromptu live video chats right from Google+ conversation threads on the web, with members or non-members.
2. Hangouts are more accessible. Members can easily receive notifications for hangouts currently in progress.
3. Hangouts are global and easy to add non-members to your chat. You can call any phone number, not just ones in the U.S. and Canada, to add non-members to their chats.
4. Hangouts are recordable. A feature (still in beta) allows users automatically record to automatically record and then upload the live video stream to YouTube following the broadcast.

Google+ articles focus on the emotional appeal of group video chat, that is consistent with the promotional efforts for Apple's FaceTime, and this is a major advantage of Google+ over Facebook. Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra, when describing the new hangouts features, put it best: “By bringing people together, face-to-face-to-face, we’re hoping to make the world a bit cozier, and lift people’s spirits a bit higher.”

Google hasn't released any metrics on hangout usage, but in October, Google did share that more than 40 million people were using G+, and that 3.4 billion photos had been shared through the social network. That sounds like a good start. The challenge for Google+ will be expected responses from Facebook and the inevitable fall-off from early adopters who decide not to keep up their initial trials.

That brings up the biggest question for me. With the widespread acceptance (albeit reluctant for many) and usage of Facebook, will Google+ be able to survive long term? Will users be willing to actively maintain both services? Another excellent comparison article that addresses this issue is Google Plus vs. Facebook: not a zero-sum game.

And if you want to hear it "straight from the horse's mouth" (as my granddad used to say), come to the January 11 PSAMA luncheon at The Harbor Club-Seattle. We're expecting a big crowd, so register before noon on January 10 or you may have to pay an extra walk-up fee and settle for whatever meal The Harbor Club can come up with.

So what do you think? I'm always up for a good discussion.

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

What do Black Eyed Peas, The Muppets and the Dalai Lama Have In Common?

2012-01-03T10:14:00.001-08:00

They have all used Google+ Hangouts to build awareness and customer engagement.

Many of us have been experimenting with Google+ to build new circles, but have you tried Hangouts yet? If not, you need to come to this month’s PSAMA luncheon on January 11 to learn how other brands are using this new tool.

The blogosphere is jumping with advice and counsel on how to use Hangouts, and several posts are focused specifically on ways to use Hangouts for your business. One of the better posts I have read this week is titled 7 Ways to Use Hangouts for Your Small Business.

The author identifies these seven ways to consider using this new tool:

1. Meetings. Avoid wasted travel time and expense to stay in touch with employees.
2. Customer Service. Let customers reach out to you for help and support face-to-face.
3. Market Research. Gather info from current and potential customers that will help you attract new customers and keep the current ones coming back for more.
4. Customer Feedback. Gain feedback on your product or service offering.
5. Announcements. Announce new products, events, promotions, etc.
6. Brainstorm. Chat with customers and/or employees about ways to improve business operations.
7. Customer Engagement. Just hang out with customers to build a personality for your brand.

I'm sure that creative marketers will find even more ways to use this new tool. You’re invited to learn more tips and tactics at the January 11 Monthly Luncheon. Amit Fulay, Product Manager for Google+ will share his insights on how other companies are using video hangouts to grow their brands.

Take a look at how Black Eyed Peas used Hangouts during a recent concert event.

You can register for this month's luncheon by clicking here. See you next week!

PSAMA – 2011 IN REVIEW

2011-12-19T11:11:00.001-08:00

2011 was another busy and great year for the Puget Sound American Marketing Association.

We had a record-setting, day-long marketing event in March, broadened our networking programs to include mini-workshops, began regular South Sound events (thanks to the hard work and dedication of several South Sound volunteers), began meeting at a new location (The Harbor Club) and expanded our luncheon meetings to include an Eastside venue. We expanded our Tuesday Update newsletter format and sponsored informative luncheon presentations and events throughout the year that will make us all better marketers.

Here are a few highlights from 2011:
January
We began the new year with a great presentation from Sean Driscoll, CEO of Ants Eye View, on “Measuring Social Media Impact”. A packed house learned how to create a map for social media effectiveness, from gaining executive buy-in to getting the entire organization involved. Most importantly, he shared how to transition from “activity” metrics (fans and followers) to “impact measures” such as satisfaction and loyalty to assess the business value of social media.

February
Once again, PSAMA partnered with Ad Club Seattle to present Chalk Talk: Super Bowl Ad Replay. The 2011 event was held at Fox Sports, and host Brock Huard led an all-star review panel through the good, the bad, and the ugly Super Bowl commercials.

Later that month, the Love Loaf Tour from Tillamook gave us an inside look at building and growing a successful consumer event.

March
MarketMix 2011 – Marketing Madness was a great day-long marketing conference, featuring keynote speakers and 12 breakout sessions organized around three areas – social media, brand marketing, and analytics. We also introduced 1-on-1 Networking, a structured approach to create a better networking experience for attendees that was well received and will be continued in years to come.

April
Using consumer research to understand your customer and grow your business was the theme of our April luncheon, which featured Mary Kaye O’Brien, a Vice President with Ipsos, and a case study from Theron Andrews, Vice President of Marketing at Bartell Drugs.

May
Our May luncheon was one of the biggest of the year, as Brooke Angles, Manager of Social Media Strategy and Execution at Expedia gave the audience at inside look at a successful Facebook promotion that generated over 1 million Likes. In her presentation to a packed house at the Washington Athletic Club, Brooke covered insights on why this program was so successful and offered great advice on how to utilize Facebook ads as a marketing tool.

June
June saw another powerhouse presentation on a timely subject – The Convergence of Social Media & Search, with Scott Fasser, Director of Customer Experience from Optify. Scott gave a great overview of the changing nature of Search Marketing as Social Media continues to increase its impact and power. The Q&A session with Scott was one of the best of the year, as he described way to treat Facebook as an extension of your brand, and the tremendous impact that Twitter can have on search results.

September
Following our traditional summer hiatus, the PSAMA moved to a new location, The Harbor Club – Seattle, and opened the new season with a powerful presentation on mobile apps from Urban Airship of Portland. Scott Townsend, Marketing Manager, sounded a battle alarm for a packed house “In today’s digital world of “everywhere computing” (mobile explosion, multiple screens, two-way, real-time communication), attention has become the new currency. Thus, engagement is the gold standard marketers must strive for to be successful.” Mobile apps must do more than provide information, they must “engage” the audience from day one to be successful.

October
During October, PSAMA introduced the 1st Annual Pulse Awards, an awards program designed to honor outstanding marketing effectiveness. The inaugural event was held at Bell Harbor Conference Center, and featured a unique selection process whereby attendees voted for the winning marketing program from a group of pre-selected finalists. We also honored Tom Vogl of REI and David Kinard of Community Health Plan of Washington for their outstanding service and achievements in marketing.

October also saw our first Eastside meeting at The Harbor Club – Bellevue, and it was a great one. Garth O’Brien, SEO Director at Catalyst Online and Frank Gosch, Senior Program Manager for Bing, gave a packed house an in-depth look at SEO and why it’s not for the faint-hearted. Both speakers took a very detailed, technical topic and broke it down into understandable concepts and tactics for the layman, and in the process showed the depth of knowledge you must have to take advantage of its potential. As Garth concluded in his slide presentation, “there is no magic bullet or pixie dust. Not everyone can do SEO right”.

Also during October (a busy month), the PSAMA Healthcare SIG sponsored a sold-out luncheon on building online community, featuring case studies from Regence and Seattle Children’s.

November
In November, we were treated to a case study from one of the winning Pulse Award campaigns for Lifewise Heath Plan. The presentation featured an inside look at the creative development for their successful “Boringly Good” branding story from Rod Fowler, Senior Manager – Marketing and Brand Management, Premera Blue Cross and Mike Hayward, Associate Creative Director, Copacino + Fujikado.

Looking ahead to 2012
We’re looking forward to another great year in 2012, and have already planned some exciting events.

Our January programs include a monthly luncheon featuring the program manager from Google+ and an evening workshop titled “Beyond Apps: Develop a Smart Mobile Media Strategy”.

In February, we will once again host Chalk Talk: Super Bowl Ad Review on Feb. 8 (location TBD) and have planned a great luncheon on customer service from Brian and Mark Canlis.

On March 20, we will once again host a day-long MarketMix conference. This year’s theme and title is “Thriving in the Conversation Economy”.

Everyone at PSAMA wishes you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Advanced Social Media – Random Day One Notes

2011-12-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

I’ve just finished Day One of a two-day AMA Face-to-Face Training seminar on Advanced Social Media, and I want to give kudos to AMA and to our instructor Dana VanDen Heuvel (@danavan, www.marketingsavant.com) for a great day. Social media is a big subject, with a lot to cover in just two days. Today the discussion was focused on strategy and planning, and tomorrow we will cover implementation / tools and tactics.

I’ll be sharing some of what we are covering in this seminar over the next few weeks, but if you have any specific questions, or if my posts raise new questions for you, then let’s get a conversation going.

There were many great ideas in today's session, but here are three points that stood out to me:

Don’t commit random acts of social media.
It may seem obvious, but too many companies jump into social media without a clear set of objectives or an understanding of how social media can impact their marketing programs. As Dana points out in one of his first charts, most businesses are quick to test tactics, but aren’t taking a larger strategic view. As a result, most are doomed to underperform. CNET estimates that 50% of social media campaigns launched by Fortune 100 companies this year will fail because they are built without an understanding of how to integrate social media into their total marketing program.

Think of social media as a multiplier, not a separate channel.
The companies that are experiencing the greatest social media success have stopped treating social media like a separate channel and integrate social media throughout every element of their marketing program.

Good social marketers think beyond their obvious user base interests to consider the broader “sphere of interest” of those customers.
Dana’s example shows the obvious interests of a biking enthusiast that a bike shop should take into consideration, but goes beyond that to think about broader, related areas of interest that can be incorporated into your social media strategy.

I will be sharing more on content strategy, social media policy, and social media tactics in future posts, but I wanted you to get a sense of some of the thoughts that stood out to me on Day One of the training seminar. If you’ve got questions, I’ll try to address them, so let me know what you are thinking.

Oh, and thanks Dana for a great first day. I can’t wait till tomorrow!

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

12 Must-Know Consumer Trends for Marketers to Watch in 2012

2011-12-04T22:05:00.000-08:00

Trendwatching.com has long been one of my favorite RSS feeds. As they describe themselves, they are an independent and opinionated trend firm, scanning the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights and related hands-on business ideas.

Their free monthly Trend Briefings are always fun and thought-provoking, and, from my experience, are usually on the leading edge of consumer behavior trends.

Their most recent briefing report was a compilation of trends they have been observing over the past year. Here is a quick summary of what they feel are 12 trends that marketers should be watching closely. If you want more detail on any of these, click on this link and enjoy.

1. Rolling out the red carpet for China.
Chinese residents made over 30 million overseas trips in the first half of 2011 alone, up 20% since 2010. For comparison, US citizens made only 37 million outbound air travel trips during the whole of 2010

And that’s just the beginning: The World Tourism Organization has estimated that the total number of outbound tourists from China will reach 100 million by 2020. In 2012, department stores, airlines, hotels, theme parks, and museums will roll out the red carpet showering Chinese visitors and customers with tailored services and perks

2. Personal health goes DIY.
During the coming year, we can expect to see consumers take advantage of new technologies and apps to discreetly and continuously track, manage and be alerted to, any changes in their personal health. New apps are being introduced almost daily designed to help you avoid a trip to the doctor, which may or may not be all that good. But it’s happening.

3. The thrill of the deal will continue to drive sales.
In 2012, not only will consumers continue to hunt for deals and discounts, but they will do so with relish if not pride. Deals are now about more than just saving money: it’s the thrill, the pursuit, the control, and the perceived smartness, and thus a potential source of status.

4. Recycling transforms into a marketing tool.
In times of recession, economic interests have generally tended to overshadow eco-causes, but the quest for a more sustainable lifestyle will remain a pressing issue for years to come. One ‘green’ trend to watch in 2012 is the phenomenon of brands helping consumers recycle by taking back all old items from customers, and then actually doing something constructive with them.

A great example is Nike’s trailblazing Reuse-A-Shoe program. Nike has collected and recycled over 25 million pairs of worn-out Nike shoes to-date. Old shoes are sliced, separated and ground up into a material called Nike Grind, which is then used in creating athletic and playground surfaces, as well as a variety of Nike products. Look for other brands to join this trend in 2012.

5. A cash-less society gets closer to reality.
Coins and bills will not completely disappear, but a cashless future is definitely upon us, as major players such as MasterCard and Google work to build a whole new eco-system of payments, rewards and offers around new mobile technologies. For consumers, the initial lure will be convenience, but eventually mobile payments will create an entirely new data-driven eco-system of rewards, purchase history, deals, etc.

6. Lower-income urbanites become a new marketing target.
The majority of consumers live in cities, yet in much of the world city life is chaotic, cramped and often none too pleasant. However at the same time, the creativity and vibrancy of these aspiring consumers, means that the global opportunities for brands which cater to the hundreds of millions of lower-income consumers are unprecedented.

In 2012, expect more BOTTOM OF THE URBAN PYRAMID (BOUP) consumers than ever to demand innovation tailored to their unique circumstances, from health issues to lack of space to the need for durability. And remember, BOUP consumers have materialistic and aesthetic desires too.

7. Crowdsourcing grows up as a marketing tool.
In 2012, count on the crowdsourcing trend to continue to shake up business processes and spawn endless innovations. After all, being given a chance to contribute, or to be a part of something bigger than themselves, will be forever popular with people.

However the reality is that most consumers- while they might want to contribute- find that it’s too difficult or too much hassle. Which is why you can expect to see more initiatives in 2012 that make it downright simple (if not effortless) to contribute to anything, from pinpointing roads in need of repairs to finding signs of extraterrestrial life.

8. Brands that behave more humanly, including exposing their flaws, will be consumer favorites.
While 2011 saw new levels of consumer disdain at too many business' self-serving actions, stories of businesses doing good (think Patagonia and Ben & Jerry's) remind consumers that personality and profit can be compatible. In fact, in 2012 consumers won't expect brands to be flawless; they will even embrace brands that are are honest about their flaws (think Dominos), and support brands that show some empathy, generosity, humility, flexibility, maturity, humor and dare we say it, some character and humanity.

9. Touchscreen technology becomes “high touch”.
Thanks to the continued explosion of touchscreen smartphones, tablets, and the cloud, 2012 will see new touchscreen technology that is not only more pervasive, but more personal, more immersive and more interactive than ever. In 2012, we see touchscreens as an interface to everything and anything that lies beyond the screen. In fact, the future for most devices will be a world where consumers will care less about them and just about the screen, or rather what’s being accessed through it.

10. For smart consumers, 'trading in' is the new buying in 2012.
It’s never been easier for savvy consumers to resell or trade in past purchases, and unlock the value in their current possessions. In 2012, ‘trading in’ will continue to become the new buying. Consumers have always resold large, durable goods like cars and houses; but in 2012, almost anything is ripe for resale, from electronics to clothes, and even experiences. Novel brand buy-backs, exchange schemes, online platforms and mobile marketplaces offer smart and convenient options for consumers keen to ‘trade in to trade up’, alleviate financial strains, and/or quell environmental and ethical concerns.

11. Risque becomes less risky and more accepted around the globe.
While cultural differences will continue to shape consumer desires, middle-class and/or younger consumers in almost every market will embrace brands that push the boundaries. Expect frank, risqué or non-corporate products, services and campaigns from emerging markets to be on the rise in 2012. Consumers in mature consumer societies have generally been more willing to handle much more honest conversations, more daring innovations, more quirky flavors, more risqué experiences, but in 2012, consumers in emerging markets will increasingly appreciate brands that push the boundaries.”

12. Consumers will demand, and get, instant visual information gratification.
The need and expectation for instant information and instant access to everything one wants to know is already deeply ingrained in the today’s consumer. 2012 will see a mix of apps and QR codes bringing information about objects that consumers encounter in the real world instantly. And like some other trends, it’s the rise of the (always-in-my-pocket) smartphone that will fuel this full-blown access to everything.

As the authors of the December briefing point out, "We’re not saying there are only 12 consumer trends to track in 2012; there are dozens of important consumer trends worth knowing about and applying at any given time of the year. We merely bring you a selection to get going."

I hope this recap gets your juices "going" for 2012 and beyond.

What do you think are the big trends for 2012? Any that this article missed that you want to point out. Let's get some discussion going.

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

Four Marketing Lessons from Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T12:59:00.000-08:00

By now, I’m sure you’ve read all of the positive sales results from this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

So what can marketers learn from the success of this Thanksgiving sales events that can be taken into account for future plans?

Here are four big things that come to mind that have implications for all marketers, not just retailers:

Shoppers are making a list and checking it online.
Every pre-holiday survey concluded that shoppers planned to use online and mobile tools to research and buy more than ever before. A Deloitte survey found more than seven of 10 (71%) said they would engage in multi-channel shopping, including viewing online and purchasing in-store and vice versa.

All marketers should take heed: if you don’t have a mobile strategy in place, you should get one now.

Thursday is the new Black Friday, so be prepared in advance.
According to Experian Hitwise, visits to the top 500 retail websites increased 9% on Thanksgiving vs. last year and received more than 176 million US hits. Traffic increased each day leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday and the total visits jumped 57% on Thanksgiving Day from the previous day, Nov. 23, 2011.

All marketers need to re-evaluate their website as a research and sales tool on a regular basis.

Social media adds to the awareness and excitement of a big event.
This year saw many major retailers releasing their Black Friday deals well in advance of the big shopping day. There was even a special Black Friday website that featured many of the deals, along with links to the appropriate website.

According to Sysomos, during the month of November leading up to Black Friday, there were 434, 497 blog posts, 37,961 online news articles, 108,209 forum posts and 701,564 tweets talking about Black Friday.

This same sense of excitement needs to be generated throughout the year through a solid social media strategy.

Urgency sells.
This year saw a record number of special doorbuster sales , along with a creative use of store openings to entice bargain shoppers. And despite the protestations from many fronts on its impact on retail staff and family, the strategy appears to have paid off handsomely. Shoppers were camping out on Thursday morning in many cities for unheard of deals at Best Buy, Sears, WalMart, Toys R Us, and others.

According to The NPD Group’s Anatomy of Black Friday Study https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/pressreleases/pr_111128. , half of all consumer electronics buyers shopped the midnight doorbusters between 12am and 3am, a huge increase from the 13 percent who bought last year during that time period. More than 28 percent of the shopping trips by consumer electronics buyers occurred between Thanksgiving night and 3AM on Friday, a significant increase over the 5 percent in 2010.

Building a sense of exclusivity and urgency for your brand can lead to sales success, even in challenging economic times.

Of course, this is not all we can learn from the past few days, but these are some of the big ideas that all marketers need to be aware of as they plan for 2012.

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

As Online Shopping Grows, Retailers Plan Extended Cyber Monday Promotions

2011-11-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

Nine in 10 Online Retailers Will Offer Special Deals Thanksgiving Weekend

As online shopping continues to reach unprecedented levels, retailers plan to emphasize value and savings to their shoppers all holiday season long. According to Shop.org’s eHoliday Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, half (51.0%) of online retailers surveyed will offer promotions specifically on Thanksgiving Day and eight in 10 (78.4%) will have special promotions on Cyber Monday. Additionally, 92.2 percent of online merchants will offer special promotions at some point during the Thanksgiving weekend.

“As a direct result of increased demand, online retailers will offer hard-to-pass-up deals to shoppers all season long – before, on and after Cyber Monday,” said Shop.org Executive Director Vicki Cantrell. “In addition to many free shipping promotions, there will be plenty of extra ways to save on Cyber Monday, including percentages off entire sites and online-only sales.”

As one of the biggest online shopping days of the year, retailers’ promotions on Cyber Monday will run the gamut. Most are planning to offer coupons/percent off deals (45.0%) and more than one-third (37.5%) will have limited-time promotions. Additionally, three in 10 (30.0%) will offer free standard shipping with conditions and 15.0 percent will feature a free gift with their purchase.

“Consumers have come to expect the absolute best online holiday deals on Cyber Monday,” said BIGresearch Consumer Insights Director Pam Goodfellow. “Holiday shoppers love the idea of preparing for special online sales events as many begin scanning catalogs and retailers’ websites days in advance, marking gift items for their family, friends, and even themselves.”

Cyber Monday, a term coined by Shop.org in 2005, began after retailers noticed a trend of people shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Today, Cyber Monday is viewed as the online equivalent to Black Friday: the ceremonial kickoff to the online holiday shopping season when shoppers flood websites expecting robust promotions and many retailers highlight some of their most compelling online holiday offers.

Over Half of People with Internet at Work Will Shop at the Office

Holiday shoppers who find time is not on their side often shop online over their lunch hours at work or at the end of the business day. According to the survey, 58.4 percent of workers with Internet access, or 75.9 million people, will shop for holiday gifts from the office this year.

CyberMonday.com to Feature Deal of the Hour on Black Friday

Saving the best deals exclusively for Cyber Monday, online retailers will utilize CyberMonday.com starting at midnight on November 28 to promote special Deals of the Hour, which highlight a different retail promotion every 60 minutes. Offers will include free shipping specials, dollars off, percentages off, and free gifts with purchase. More than 800 companies have come together again this year to feature their Cyber Monday deals in one place.

Eager online shoppers will have the opportunity to get the best of both worlds this year as CyberMonday.com will also feature a Deal of the Hour from popular retailers on Black Friday as well. Retailers participating in the Black Friday Deal of the Hour have already been announced. Cyber Monday Deals of the Hour will be released on Sunday, Nov. 28, when Shop.org releases information about the number of consumers who say they plan to shop online on Cyber Monday.

CyberMonday.com, powered by Cartera Commerce, was created by retailers as a one-stop shop for consumers looking for the best Cyber Monday promotions.

About the Surveys

The NRF 2011 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. The survey polled 8,502 consumers and was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from November 1-8, 2011. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.

The eHoliday Study, now in its tenth year, provides an authoritative snapshot of the holiday activities of both large and small online retailers, many of which have been in business for at least ten years, and also includes the sentiments of online holiday shoppers. The Study, conducted by BIGresearch for Shop.org, surveyed 1,685 online holiday shoppers from September 19 – October 7, 2011 and 51 online retailers from September 22 – October 14, 2011.

BIGresearch® consumer intelligence provides analysis of behavior in areas of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive and media. The Consumer Intentions and Actions® Survey (CIA®) of 8,000+ respondents is conducted monthly and the Simultaneous Media Usage® Survey (SIMM®) of 15,000+ respondents is conducted semi-annually.

Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation, is the world's leading membership community for digital retail. Founded in 1996, Shop.org's 600 members include the 10 largest retailers in the U.S. and more than 60 percent of the Internet Retailer Top 100 E-Retailers. It's where the best retail minds come together to gain the insight, knowledge and intelligence to make smarter, more informed decisions in the evolving world of the Internet and multichannel retailing. Shop.org programs and activities include benchmarking research, events and networking communities.

REPRINTED FROM NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION

Lifewise Case Study Luncheon Anything But Boring

2011-11-14T11:57:00.000-08:00

The November PSAMA luncheon featuring the PULSE Award-winning case study for Lifewise Health Plans gave the audience an inside look at how good, fundamental marketing combined with creative insights and outstanding execution can spell success for marketers.

Rod Fowler, Senior Manager – Marketing and Brand Management, Premera Blue Cross and Mike Hayward, Associate Creative Director, Copacino + Fujikado shared an overview of the process of developing and refining this award-winning campaign, complete with triumphs and hiccups.

Rod and Mike identified these three things as the driving impetus for the campaign:

1. Textbook magic: Campaign development began by using the fundamental tenets of marketing – lots of research, executive interviews and a thorough competitive review.
2. Went in with open ears: The team listened and gave customers what they wanted – peace of mind reassurance.
3. Authenticity and honesty work inside and out: The “boringly good” mantra has energized sales and the company as well.

Importantly, the client and agency marketing team gained a better understanding of their brand values, which led them to the conclusion that boring can be an attribute if the real need is to reduce drama in people’s lives. Thus, “Boringly Good” is an unexpected way to say “peace of mind”.

A significant note is that despite initial success in building awareness, post-flight research indicated that while the audience responded to the “boringly good” hook, they wanted to quickly move to substance to become advocates. As Rod put it “if they take the bait, don’t dangle more bait”.

Year II of the campaign moved from celebrating boringness to discussing specifics like their nationwide network of providers, discounted gym memberships, on-line health assessment tools and other wellness programs, Year III continues to focus on specifics with this latest TV spot:

The Lifewise campaign has enjoyed great success, with growth from very low single-digit awareness to its current level of 72%. They have also seen a 40% growth in members.

But it hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows.

Last week, a 3-dimensional outdoor ad in downtown Seattle got unexpected coverage from KIRO-TV when the painter mannequin was mistakenly thought to be a real person and police and fire department rescue teams were called to the scene. See “Lifeless man dangling from Seattle building turns out to be dummy”. http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/lifeless-man-dangling-seattle-building-turns-out-b/nFSKh/

A quick-thinking response to the online post (less than 3 hours later) allowed Lifewise to salvage what could have been an embarrassment and turn it into an opportunity:

Posted by Lifewise at 2:51 p.m. November 1, 2011 Lifewise designed the ad to get attention, but it seems to have captured a bit more than we anticipated since the figure in the ad was supposed to be shown painting the lower corner of the billboard rather than slumped over. We’re working to have that corrected now. The purpose of the ad, which is part of Lifewise’s award-winning BoringlyGood ad campaign, is to let people know that no matter what risks people may take in life, they can have peace of mind knowing that they have a dependable health plan that’s there when they need it. -Amy Carter Lifewise Health Plan, BoringlyGood.com

In closing, Ron and Mike offered three challenges and opportunities they were working on:

Social Media
Bringing it to life in the real world
Making it part of the company culture

Congratulations are in order for the entire marketing and advertising team for their ability to understand the “pulse” of their audience, and for taking a simple idea -LifeWise health plans work like they should, with dependable coverage and great service - and creating a company-wide mantra through clever casting, creative ingenuity and a “boringly good” campaign.

It’s a great example for other marketers to follow.

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

You Better Watch Out, the Holidays are here whether we like it or not.

2011-11-07T15:58:00.000-08:00

Like it or not, and many bricks and mortar retailers don’t, the holiday shopping season is here. Black Friday can no longer be billed as the “official” start of the holiday shopping season, although you can still expect to see significant discounts and artificial opening times and early bird specials on the day after Thanksgiving.

Retailers have been pushing the start of the season earlier every year, but the real impetus for holiday shopping this year is the tremendous growth in online shopping. The 2011 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey recently released by the National Retail Federation reports:

52.9% of retailers plan to start their marketing and promotions by Halloween, up from 40% a year ago; another 37.2% will begin marketing by mid-November.
51% of retailers say they have significantly invested in mobile-optimized web sites; 19.6% have invested in tablet apps; 35.3% have invested in QR codes placed in offline advertising, such as magazines and billboards.
Among retailers who regularly use social media platforms, 72.5% say they have invested in Facebook and 41.2% in Twitter for the holidays.

Mobile phones will be important holiday shopping tools this season. Nearly 40% of the consumers surveyed by the NRF say they own a smartphone, and 52.6%, say they will use their phones to help them shop this holiday season.

When it comes to all holiday-related shopping activities—including checking prices, researching products and making purchases—online shoppers expect to complete 50.5% of those tasks online this year, according to the NRF holiday survey. All consumers, including those that don't plan to shop online, expect to use the web for 36% of those activities, up from 32.7% in last year's NRF survey.

Online shopping will allow customers to shop at their leisure, without fighting the holiday crowds. Web and mobile retailers will have a better chance than ever to capture holiday shopping dollars. Online shoppers report that they will start their holiday shopping sooner than the average consumer. 21.1% of online shoppers say they started their holiday shopping by the end of September, whereas 18.6% of all respondents did.

Smartphones and tablet computers will lead the way as shopping aids this season.
Nearly 40% of the consumers surveyed by the NRF say they own a smartphone, and more than half, or 52.6%, say they will use it to help them shop this season. Some other key findings on smartphones and tablets include:

31% say they’ll use them to research or compare prices.
14.1% will complete a purchase on their phones.
17.3% will use mobile phones to redeem coupons.
15.6% will use smartphone apps to research or complete a purchase.

Even if you’re not shopping online, consumers still plan to use their smartphones and tablets to research and compare features and prices. 70.5% of those consumers say they plan to research products with it and 34.8% say they’ll make a purchase on a tablet.

But the news isn't all cheerful for the web.
Projections of 13.5% online growth this holiday shopping season are three percentage points lower than the 16.5% increase registered in 2010, thanks in part to declining consumer confidence.

That uneasiness among many consumers will have an even bigger impact on brick and mortar store sales, as some surveys predict only a 2.8% growth in total retail sales for the 2011 holiday shopping season—just half the 5.6% actual growth in all retail sales reported for last year's holiday season.

Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, is trying to keep retailers spirits up. In a recent interview, he said that “retailers are optimistic that a combination of strong promotions and lean inventory levels will help them address consumer caution this holiday season”. How the season eventually turns out remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

Building A Successful Online Community By Focus On Engagement, Not Numbers

2011-11-01T05:52:00.000-07:00

At last week's PSAMA Healthcare SIG luncheon, Jennifer Seymour of Seattle Children's and Cary Badger of Regence Healthcare shared their approach to building an online community. And even though their tactics differed, their strategy was the same - focus on engagement and interaction with their clients, not just building numbers.

At myregence.com, their online community strategy is built on these principles: ADVISE members of their healthcare decisions, help them NAVIGATE the health care system, and REWARD them for healthy behavior.

According the Cary, the success of this approach has been driven by a conscious (and courageous) effort to allow interaction and input from the community. Cary described the effort as courageous because so many companies shy away from total transparency due to legal concerns over user-generated input. But Regence management agreed at the outset of their campaign that partnering with their community and allowing them to share their experiences and knowledge was worth the risk.

The myregence.com community has these four objectives:

Provide personalized, trustworthy health and wellness information.
Commit to transparency regarding cost and quality.
Offer programs,tools and resources for healthier living.
Reward members for achieving wellness goals.

To date, this approach has generated over 800,000 registrations, over 220,000 newsletter subscribers, and over 55,000 are currently enrolled in an active wellness program. The average user visits 5.5 times per year with an average of over 13 minutes per visit, numbers that far exceed industry norms.

More significantly, however, this program has evolved into the My Blue Community nationwide franchise and currently reaches more than 20 million Blue Plan members. The community features expert advice from a chef, nutritionist, health coach, HSA expert, fitness, parenting and nutrition blogs, and patients reviews of providers.

The online strategy for Seattle Children's is geared to a different audience - prospective patient families, but is built on the same principles of interaction and engagement. Their approach has been to use Facebook, and to share " compelling content so that current and former patients and their families will feel a deeper connection to the hospital and its staff".

It is important to note that this approach has generated 150% increase in fans and followers since the end of 2010, 4th largest among their national peers.

Their program has included:

Live chats with doctors to engage and educate parents.
Regular posts with useful information, such as safety tips around the home.
An open forum that allows patients and families to share their personal stories online.
Significant events at the hospital (including a visit by TV star Patrick Dempsey, which generated a major spike in online visits).

In addition to their Facebook strategy, their Seattle Mama Doc Blog helps to "deconstruct the divide between patients and providers" with pediatric health care news and tips to engage, educate and empower parents. This blog has over 20,000 views per month, and 50% are repeat visits. A big contributor to the success of this program is its down-to-earth, straightforward style which helps patients and their families feel a closer connection to the hospital at a time in their lives when they are searching for answers and support.

Jennifer says that building a successful online community starts with a great brand, but lists several important elements of their program for its continued growth and success, including:

Encouraging patients and their families to share their stories.
Maintain a warm, caring, inviting, fun tone.
Answering questions, honestly and on a timely basis.
Thanking others for mentions.
Always providing authentic, understandable content.

An essential requisite has been the need for her department to become a content curator, and their program was greatly accelerated when they made it someone’s job.

A copy of both slide presentations are available to PSAMA members on the PSAMA website in the Members Only section.

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

Crawlers, Spiders and Bots, Oh My. Two Experts Look at SEO.

2011-10-24T16:52:00.001-07:00

At last week’s PSAMA monthly luncheon, Garth O’Brien, SEO Director at Catalyst Online and Frank Gosch, Senior Program Manager for Bing, gave a packed house an in-depth look at SEO and why it’s not for the faint-hearted.

Both speakers took a very detailed, technical topic and broke it down into understandable concepts and tactics for the layman, and in the process showed the depth of knowledge you must have to take advantage of its potential. As Garth concluded in his slide presentation, “there is no magic bullet or pixie dust. Not everyone can do SEO right”.

Starting from a broad explanation of how search engine spiders work, Garth offered dozens of things to consider when building your site for optimum “crawlability”. His presentation was filled with practical tips and tactics to avoid an “SEO disaster”.

Here are just a few of his key points that stood out to me.

Your URL structure can have a major positive, or negative, effect on crawlabilty.
• Always use lower case letters in your url. http://www.flooring.com, is better than http://www.Flooring.com.
• Use information-rich keywords to describe your page, but separate keywords with a hyphen – don’t use a space or underscore. http://www.flooring.com/laminate-natural-tones/.
• But don’t get too spammy with multiple uses of the same word or run-on urls. An example of what not to do was this post on the death of Corey Haim: http://www.tmz.com/2010/03/10/corey-haim-dead-died-death-lapd-overdose-corey-feldman-lost-boys-two-coreys/
• Avoid using internal database numbers to define a page. He shared an example from a movie review site that used a number, not the name of the movie, to define a page http://www.filmjabber.com/movie/details/3535/review/ . By simply changing the url to replace the number with the movie title and year of release -http://www.filmjabber.com/movie-reviews/a-serious-man-2009.html - the site increased search referral traffic by 229%.

Title tags, meta tags and content should be carefully researched and structured to optimize the ability of search spiders to properly crawl your site.
• Title tags should be limited to 65 characters, and the target keyword should appear at the front of the tag.
• The meta description of your page is critical to gaining click-through, but should be limited to 155 characters.
• Use image alt text to describe images on your page. Spiders can’t read graphic images, but they can read your description of that image.
• Seo.moz has written an excellent blog on “how to build the perfectly optimized page”, and can be found at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/perfecting-keyword-targeting-on-page-optimization.

Some of the more common SEO problems identified by Garth were:
• Site not registered with three major search engines – Google, Bing and Yahoo.
• Site not indexed properly.
• Robots.txt file not properly set up.
• Meta tags not optimized with keywords.
• Site built in rich media (Flash or Silverlight) which cannot be “understood” by search spiders.

When asked to identify reasons your site is not on the first page of search results, Garth offered several possible reasons:
• Technical site issues
• On-Page optimization
• External linking
• Competitive landscape
• Keyword Research & Targeting
• Failure to create content for the web

Following Garth’s presentation, Frank Gosch talked about the hierarchy of things to consider when optimizing your site, and drew this pyramid to illustrate how to build your thinking and approach to SEO:

Garth and Frank had many more valuable suggestions that time and space (in addition to my own lack of SEO expertise) don’t allow me to include in this recap.

One thing I did learn from this presentation is that while the average marketer can make some progress, SEO is more complicated than I imagined. I also learned a lot of good questions to ask, even if I don’t have all the answers on how to optimize a site.

My advice, if you really want to get it right, is to talk to your experienced in-house SEO contact, or contact an experienced SEO agency or independent contractor for help.

SEO is too important not to put your best foot forward!

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PSAMA MEMBERS. Access to Garth’s complete slide presentation is a benefit available to Members Only at www.psama.org. Additional SEO insights from Garth can also be found at www.garthobrien.com.

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

Peeling back the onion on Social Media Intelligence services

2011-10-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

GUEST BLOG - Jonathan Alford

The idea of Social Media Intelligence (SMI), aka Social Media Monitoring (SMM) has been around for a while, but in the last 18-24 months, perhaps 150 or more generalist SMIs have emerged to scour the social web for content on explicitly-defined topics like retail brands, consumer products, travel companies, fashion designers, or anything lifestyle-related in a “Listen, Engage, Analyze” model enhanced by “Sentiment” and “Influencer” analysis.

How do they apply to retail and merchandising?
Most social marketing buzz revolves around Facebook and Twitter, but SMIs can capture content from millions of other sites to enable merchandisers to monitor web presences, develop tactics to engage customers, identify operating issues, listen to how people perceive their competitors, and potentially capture revenue.

Consider Best Buy. Its FY11 revenue increased, but comp sales dropped, especially in bread-and-butter entertainment hardware and software categories as it tries to adapt and compete in the cutthroat digital media space.

So to inform strategy and keep from turning slowly toward the fates of Blockbuster and Circuit City, it can now listen to how consumers and “influencers” talk online about itself, Netflix, and other competitive forces in ways it never could before.

Another lifestyle brand, Electronic Arts, co-branded The Masters with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12. It’s not a stretch to imagine that The Masters, one of the most stringently managed brands, carefully gauged consumer sentiment on Tiger before doing the deal.

Other examples? Southwest can track sentiment and volume on its Bags Fly Free campaign while doing the same on competitors – and potentially engage to convert travelers fed-up with competitors’ fees. Virgin America engaged “influencers” to help launch a new flight route, and traditionally-conservative Marriott can capture sentiment about its hip new Edition Hotels.

The bottom line? Whether you’re Best Buy, Target, Marriott, Disney, EA, Nordstrom, or a smaller regional retailer, you can learn much about how consumers engage with your brands.

Peeling back the onion.
As with any nascent technology space, the hype (“Listen to 9 BILLION conversations about YOUR brand!”) can easily obscure the realities. In one telling case we tested, the top influencer identified by a prominent brand in the space, for its own brand name, was an Amazon video product page for “Breaking Bad: Season One”.

So while the technology is compelling and will improve, there are holes, it can be overwhelming to evaluate the services, pricing varies considerably across business models, and you could incur significant indirect costs to develop effective marketing and brand intelligence.

Since different companies have different needs, we set out to help “peel back the onion” in the key areas of “Listen, Engage, Analyze” competency to separate the bells, whistles and hype from truly practical and strategic capabilities, and we also believe 7 key trends we identified originally still hold true:

1. Low initial barriers to entry enable a hot, but highly competitive market space.
2. Listening capabilities are commoditized – what matters is quality of content and what you can do with it, not the quantity of “sources”.
3. Continued consolidation, roll-up, and failure among vendors in the space.
4. Vertical-specific players (like Revinate for hotels) will continue to emerge.
5. Pricing varies considerably, and a key challenge is understanding and managing direct and indirect costs.
6. Convergence of the SMI space and broader web marketing and analytics services.
7. Integration of social media Listening content into search results.

Consider #6. The ability of SMIs to “Analyze” topic-specific trend and sentiment analytics is impressive, but we feel their capabilities fall short of what’s needed to develop effective market insight or brand strategy and cannot deliver tangible conversion and revenue analytics (yet).

We did believe the gaps could begin to close if Omniture entered the space and audience marketing powers like Nielsen continued to invest, and now we have seen Adobe acquire Omniture and launch a new SocialAnalytics product, Nielsen’s relaunch of BuzzMetrics as NM Incite in a new JV with McKinsey, and Salesforce acquire Radian6 to integrate SMI “Engage” capabilities into CRM / lead gen systems.

So, along with shakeout in the SMI space, we should continue to see various forms of convergence into more comprehensive social media engagement, CRM, intelligence and revenue analytics models to form more integrated value propositions for customers.

But that whooshing sound you may have heard was the collective balloon deflating for perhaps dozens of startups trying to claw their way into corporate markets.

The bottom line?
The SMI space is still hot, and the need for technology and analytics to improve will only intensify as social media use continues to expand – especially as a younger generation sharing everything online grows.

Jonathan Alford is a consultant with Lenati, an award-winning boutique firm that designs, implements, and optimizes marketing and sales solutions for companies to build stronger customer connections. Lenati can be found at www.Lenati.com, and Jonathan's blog on Travel Technology and Consumer Experience can be found at www.MakeTravelBetter.com.

Take Winter By Storm Wins Best in Show at Inagural Pulse Awards

2011-10-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

The 2011 PSAMA Pulse Awards were held at Bell Harbor Conference Center on October 5.

Congratulations to Rich Marketing and Take Winter By Storm for being recognized as Best In Show. Take Winter By Storm is a public education program providing winter weather preparedness tips and information, and demonstrated to voters the power of a non-traditional integrated campaign using web marketing, social media and media partnerships to gain broad awareness.

The only awards competition of its kind in Washington, the PSAMA Pulse Awards highlight the region’s superior marketing strategy, creative and results, and recognize marketers who best understood the pulse of their audience, the marketplace and its objectives. Category finalists were chosen by a professional panel prior to the gala, and category winners were chosen by the attendees.

Congratulations are also in order for all of our winners:

Demand Creation
Copacino+Fujikado
“Boringly Good"
Client: Premera Lifewise

Integrated Marketing
JayRay Ads & PR
(Non-profit/Public sector) “Be the Spark”
Client: The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation

Market Engagement
Green Rubino (tie)
(Business) “Blue Couch”
Client: Columbia Bank

Copacino+Fujikado (tie)
“Larry Bernandez”
Client: Seattle Mariners

Market Engagement
Green Rubino
(Non-profit/Public sector) “Voice of Reason”
Client: Sound Transit

Market Launch
Fluke Corporation
“Clamp Meter”

“What an honor it was to gather the heart of the Puget Sound marketing community,” said Kathy Cox, the new PSAMA president. ”We are thrilled to see such a successful turnout at the inaugural PSAMA Pulse Awards, and anticipate that this new celebration will continue to flourish for years to come.”

Be sure to check the PSAMA Facebook page and YouTube Channel for pictures and videos from the event.

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

In Memoriam

2011-10-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs
1955 - 2011

"We've never worried about numbers. In the market place, Apple is trying to focus the spotlight on products, because products really make a difference. [...] Ad campaigns are necessary for competition; IBM's ads are everywhere. But good PR educates people; that's all it is. You can't con people in this business. The products speak for themselves."
-- Playboy interview, 1985

His impact on marketing speaks for itself!

Rod Brooks Shares The Importance of Conversation Worthy Buzz with South Sound Marketers

2011-10-03T16:04:00.001-07:00

Speaking to a group of South Sound marketers at their bi-monthly meeting last week, Rod Brooks, Vice President and CMO of PEMCO, shared the importance of word-of-mouth advertising and “social engagement” in brand development.

Rod prefers the term “social engagement” over social media because social engagement is focused on the voice of the customer, not the company. Social media is too often top-down, company-generated messages, while social engagement requires listening to, learning from and responding to bottom-up, consumer-generated messages.

Importantly, a major study of social media by Altimeter Group and Wetpaint concluded that companies that are both deeply and widely engaged in social media surpass their peers in terms of both revenue and profit performance by a significant difference.

Here are some key excerpts from his discussion regarding the importance of developing a “socially engaged word-of-mouth marketing program”:

22% of US consumers have at least one brand-related conversation online every day and 93% of US consumers a brand-related conversation face-to-face every day.
76% of consumers believe that companies are sometimes untruthful in their advertising, while 78% of consumers say they trust recommendations from other consumers.
54% of US adults identified old-fashioned word-of-mouth as most important influencer of purchase decisions.

Rod stressed to the audience that “listening is marketing and your company’s greatest opportunity”. He cited numerous examples from PEMCO and other marketers where listening and prompt response generated positive word-of-mouth from consumers. He offered these five tips to developing an effective social engagement program:

1. Use all available search functions to continuously monitor conversations about your company and your competitors. This includes Google, Bing and Yahoo, as well as search on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.
2. Respond promptly to both positive and negative comments with appreciation, empathy, sincerity and authenticity.
3. Use customer reviews and stories to impact your operations. As an example, PEMCO starts every internal meeting with a customer story.
4. Create a place to welcome feedback on your website and listen to that feedback.
5. Don’t be afraid to say “thank you” and “we’re sorry”. He cited an example of a PEMCO Northwest Customer profile that had unintentionally offended someone and how the story was quickly picked up and passed along by others. Importantly, a fast response and public as well as personal apology (along with deleting that profile from their website and all future advertising) turned a negative sentiment into spontaneous positives from those same naysayers.

Rod concluded his remarks with advice on the importance of developing advocates for your brand along with these three word-of-mouth basics to remember -- know your talkers; give them something to talk about; make it easy to share.

A complete copy of Rod’s slide presentation can be found on Slideshare.

-- Don Morgan

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

Does Brand Love = Brand Loyalty?

2011-09-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

Do you love your Mac and wouldn't be caught dead with a PC? Drive a Harley and won't even sit on a Honda or Kawasaki? Do you have a favorite brand of shoes? Make-up? Golf equipment? Cashmere sweater?

If you have brands that you "love", you are not alone. “Brand love” does exist, and is stronger than had been thought. New research findings from a study at USC Marshall School of Business support the hypothesis that brand love does indeed generate brand loyalty. Does anyone remember New Coke?

"Brand Attachment and Brand Attitude Strength: Conceptual and Empirical Differentiation of Two Critical Brand Equity Drivers," a study published in the November issue of the Journal of Marketing, indicates that brand attachment has much stronger impact on consumers than previously believed. In fact, the study suggests, brand attachment can even be strong enough to create a form of separation anxiety when favorite brands are replaced.

The study advances existing brand research in consumer psychology and goes beyond the existing paradigm, indicating that traditional measurements such as brand attitude strength do not adequately explain consumers' intense loyalties to the brands they love -- that they fail to explain how brands capture "consumers' hearts and minds."

Brand attachment, the authors claim, does exist, and is predicated on a brand/self-relationship and can better explain what drives consumer behavior and their loyalty and commitment to the brands. It is brand attachment that explains consumers' devotion to the iPod, fans' intense reaction at celebrity deaths and the torment of teenagers who are denied their favorite brand of jeans. Through brand attachment, the USC Marshall study suggests, consumers see the brands as an extension of themselves.

The study's key findings include:

The more strongly a consumer's attachment to a brand, the more willing they are to forsake personal resources to maintain an ongoing relationship with the brand. They are willing to engage in difficult behaviors - "those that require investments of time, money and energy, so as to maintain or deepen a brand relationship."
Highly attached consumers are more motivated to devote their own resources in the process of self-expansion, including paying more, defending the brand, derogating alternatives, and devoting more time to the brand through brand communities and brand promotion through social media.
Attachment represented by both brand-self-connection and prominence is a significantly better predictor than brand attitude strength of actual behaviors.

David Aaker, well-known branding advocate and best-selling author, concludes in a recent post "Does Brand Love Really Exist?" that this study is an impressive validation and elaboration of what had been basically a common sense analogy, with implications about the creation, maintenance and measurement of loyalty."

So what does this mean for your company and the marketing programs you develop?
Well, it is certainly a validation of the need to understand and communicate the emotional benefits, not just the attributes of your brand.

But more than that, I think it says that brands should be treated as a living, breathing extension of their users if they want to be "loved".

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

The Battle for Screen Time Is On

2011-09-19T09:51:00.000-07:00

At the PSAMA September Executive Luncheon, Scott Townsend, Marketing Manager at Urban Airship in Portland, sounded a battle alarm for a packed house:
In today’s digital world of “everywhere computing” (mobile explosion, multiple screens, 2-way, real-time communication), attention has become the new currency. Thus, engagement is the gold standard marketers must strive for to be successful.

The exponential growth of mobile apps has created a new media landscape, where mobile apps now dominate a user’s time and attention – 60% of mobile time is spent in apps. However, the increased competition and resulting fragmentation of audience attention presents several problems for marketers due to:

The sheer volume of apps – over 400,000 apps with over 10 billion downloads.
The number of apps per user – 40+ downloads per user but only 15 used per month.
The shortened life of the average app – lifespan only one month for most apps.

Your app must tell a powerful and interesting story to the user about the user to get noticed.

One of the more important observations made by Scott in this presentation was the need to present something of value to the user, not the brand. He termed it “helpful marketing, not in-your-face marketing”. Citing several examples of apps that addressed this point, he offered six keys to successful app marketing:

1. Personalize everything. Understand that there are different user motivations, ranging for entertainment to solving specific problems to increasing productivity. Your app must recognize and capitalize on how your brand can best meet your user’s need.
2. Use location to your advantage. Whenever possible, take advantage of making the user aware of their location in the context of your offering and its relevance to them at that time. He showed how this could be a great asset to restaurants and retail stores.
3. Tell people when to pay attention. Use notifiers and push to alert your audience to facts that can impact their day in a positive way, e.g. weather notifications for dress code decisions.
4. Experiment with mobile commerce. M-commerce continues to grow at an astounding rate as mobile users become more comfortable with buying online via their mobile device.
5. Be social. Give your users a friendly nudge to open your app when that app can be of value to them at that point in time.
6. Measure and improve. Marketers must think beyond the download and be prepared to make changes to accommodate user preferences and changing needs.

It’s all about engaging the user. That’s why some apps succeed and too many fail. As Scott said in his conclusion “you must delight your user from day one!”

PSAMA members can download Scott’s presentation at www.psama.org.

Scott can be reached at stownsend@urbanairship.com.

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

Mobile Web Access on Pace to Top Wireline Usage by 2015, IDC Research Shows

2011-09-12T15:45:00.001-07:00

According to projections contained within a new report from research firm IDC, the rate of mobile web use is set to balloon exponentially.

The predicted compound annual growth rate between 2010 and 2015 is 16.6%.

The newest release of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide New Media Market Model forecasts that the impact of smartphone and, especially, media tablet adoption will be so great that the number of users accessing the Internet through PCs will first stagnate and then slowly decline. Western Europe and Japan will not be far behind the U.S. in following this trend.

The New Media Market Model also finds:

Worldwide, the total number of Internet users will grow from 2 billion in 2010 to 2.7 billion in 2015, when 40% of the world’s population will have access to its vast resources.
Global B2C e-commerce spending will grow from $708 billion in 2010 to $1,285 billion in 2015 at a rate of 12.7%.
Worldwide online advertising will increase from $70 billion in 2010 to $138 billion in 2015, with its share of total advertising across all media growing from 11.9% to 17.8%.

“Forget what we have taken for granted on how consumers use the Internet,” said Karsten Weide, research vice president of Media and Entertainment. “Soon, more users will access the Web using mobile devices than using PCs, and it’s going to make the Internet a very different place.”

This Guest Post by Michael Essany is reprinted with permission. The original was published by Michael at www.mobilemarketingwatch.com.

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MOBILE MARKETING AND HOW TO EFFECTIVELY USE APPS?
Attend our September 14 luncheon at The Harbor Club Seattle to hear Scott Townsend of Urban Airship-Portand to learn best practices in mobile marketing. LEARN MORE & REGISTER.

Mobile Web Access on Pace to Top Wireline Usage by 2015, IDC Research Shows

2011-09-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

According to projections contained within a new report from research firm IDC, the rate of mobile web use is set to balloon exponentially.

The predicted compound annual growth rate between 2010 and 2015 is 16.6%.

The newest release of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide New Media Market Model forecasts that the impact of smartphone and, especially, media tablet adoption will be so great that the number of users accessing the Internet thought PCs will first stagnate and then slowly decline. Western Europe and Japan will not be bar behind the U.S. in following this trend.

The New Media Market Model also finds:

Worldwide, the total number of Internet user will grow from 2 billion in 2010 to 2.7 billion in 2015, when 40% of the world’s population will have access to its vast resources.
Global B2C ecommerce spending will grow from $708 billion in 2010 to $1,285 billion in 2015 at a CAGR of 12.7%.
Worldwide online advertising will increase from $70 billion in 2010 to $138 billion in 2015, with its share of total advertising across all media growing from 11.9% to 17.8%.

Why be a member of PSAMA?

2011-09-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

Today we launch our 2011 Fall Membership Drive.

Why be a member of Puget Sound Marketing Association?

Did you know that:

The PSAMA is the largest and oldest professional marketing association in Washington State and the only local association with national affiliation.
Membership provides you with invaluable sources of information and insight, best practices, and innovation in the active world of marketing plus local networking opportunities.
Benefits include:
- Continuing education at monthly luncheons, workshops, the annual Market Day conference and national AMA programs.
- Monthly networking opportunities.
- Members Only discounts on subscription to the Puget Sound Business Journal and discounted initiation fee and monthly dues at the Harbor Clubs of Seattle and Bellevue.
- Subscription to the bi-monthly Marketing News, discounts on national AMA conferences, free AMA webinars and podcasts, and a resource library through AMA's library and information center.
- And more. Visit the PSAMA website for more details

Want to know more? Hear what some of your peers have to say about the benefits of membership:

Become a new member during the Membership Drive and receive:

Complimentary registration fee - a $30 value
A $20 Amazon Gift Card OR $200 coupon redeemable at any AMA national conference

And be sure to check out our new Group Membership Rates for details on how you can save up to 31% on your annual dues.

Know someone who needs to know about PSAMA membership? Please pass this along to them.

Engaging your customer is key to success in mobile marketing

2011-08-29T15:58:00.001-07:00

By 2015, mobile web access is expected to surpass the level of conventional desktop and laptop computers, so there should be no question that your marketing future will be heavily influenced by your ability to compete in a mobile environment.

Recently, Carla Paschke, Director of Mobile Innovation at Engauge, wrote an excellent post on Mashable.com on what she called the 4 Rules of Engagement for Mobile Marketing.

Carla is right on target in her belief that too many marketers are failing to take advantage of this new tool because in their rush to get into the market, they “mistakenly focus on the technology instead of the people using it.”

In order to truly capitalize on the tremendous potential of mobile, brand marketers have to do more than simply develop and release a snazzy new mobile app. They must realize and adjust to the dynamic nature of the medium and how people are using mobile technology by “designing campaigns as dynamic and flexible as the mobile market, which now includes search, social, video, music, gaming, payments, retail transactions, location-based services and augmented reality”.

Mobile marketing is about engaging with your customers, not just talking to them. Apps are certainly one way to build engagement with customers, especially those apps that provide timely information on a topic of interest (think REI’s Snow and Ski Report), on-the-go information on local restaurants, travel assistance or weather updates, and location-based incentives.

Push notifications have also become an effective way to increase mobile engagement with consumers, but marketers must be smart about how they adopt and use push. Very few users want to be interrupted with unsolicited disruption and pleas from and unknown app to “open me please”. They want compelling, relevant reasons to engage with a brand.

Daily deal brands like Groupon and LivingSocial are examples where consumers opt-in for push notifications on the “deal” of the day, so their users expect to have regular engagement. What they don’t expect is for other brands and sites they may have visited, like retail shopping sites or game manufacturers, to also send unsolicited communications on that same frequency.

Companies that violate the expectations of their users are setting themselves up to fail.

Your customers are overwhelmed now by emails, Facebook status updates and tweets. Your message has to rise above that “noise” to be heard.

According to Gartner, the mobile advertising market is expected to double to $3.3 billion in 2011 and swell to $20.6 billion by 2015.

Many of these mobile ads will never be seen because they don’t engage the customer, either in an appreciation of the real and/or timely value of the message, or in some form of two-way communication with the brand.

Marketers who understand this essential need for engagement and find a way to capitalize on the unique dynamics of the mobile experience will win.

Others will get left behind.

NOTE: You can learn more about mobile marketing and marketing apps at our upcoming PSAMA Sept. 14 luncheon – Why Your Marketing App Will Fail presented by Scott Townsend of Urban Airship in Portland. Click here to register for this luncheon.

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

Poke the Box – A Manifesto for Initiative

2011-08-22T10:56:00.001-07:00

What is the single most important trait that separates a successful company or marketer from the rest of the pack? Is it their creativity? The ability to recognize trends? Their dedication to hard work? Their personality? Their hair? (I had a boss tell me once that I would never succeed because I didn’t have executive hair).

According to best-selling author and marketing guru, Seth Godin, the “simple thing that separates individuals from those who languish is the very thing that separates exciting and growing organizations from those that stagnate and die. The winners have turned initiative into a passion and a practice”.

Seth goes on to say that “the challenge isn’t in knowing when to start and when to stand by. The challenge is getting into the habit of starting”

Poke the Box, Godin’s latest, has been sitting on my shelf for a few months, but I just haven’t had time to read it. I’m sorry I waited so long. This is one of those books that you read and realize the author is speaking directly to you. And in this case, you can see Seth in your mind, shaking his finger at you, telling you to get off your duff and get started with something.

Anything.

Poke the Box implores us, no it demands that if we want to succeed we need to let go of the parts of our brain that make us afraid to try something new and different. He argues that producing products at low cost with high quality simply makes you a commodity, as does simply doing your job without adding something to the mix. You need to constantly initiate change to win in the market and find the next opportunity. Too many people end up avoiding failure … but never gaining the satisfaction of realizing a dream.

Today’s world and economy thrives on innovation and change. If you act, you may fail from time to time, but you can still win over the long term. Seth offers a list of people who have made a career of starting something (and thus often failing): Oprah Winfrey, Mark Cuban, Mehmet Oz, George Orwell, Michael Bloomberg, Nan Talese, Gloria Steinem, and his list goes on and on.

This is an important message that CMOs and all marketers should heed – making something happen, starts with starting.

Seth uses many examples to illustrate his point that trying and failing is better than not trying at all. One that Puget Sound marketers will surely appreciate is in a section titled The Joy of Wrong. In the Pike Place Market in Seattle, you can still find the first Starbucks. But it didn’t start out as the Starbucks we know today. The original Starbucks didn’t sell coffee.

They sold coffee beans and tea leaves and herbs. But except for a sip or a taste of coffee brewed from a particular bean you were considering to buy (drip, no espresso), there was no cup of coffee to be had.

Jerry Baldwin, one of the founders, thought the beans were the point, not the coffee. Left to Jerry’s vision of the future, Starbucks would almost certainly have failed. Or at least not succeeded in the way that it has. It took Howard Schultz, a trip to Italy, and an obsession with espresso to turn Starbucks into Starbucks. And Howard gets a lot of credit for making that happen.

But, as Seth points out, what if Jerry Baldwin and his partners had said, “we’re not sure if this bean thing is going to work, so let’s do nothing”. Without the original idea for a bean store, there would be no Frappuccino, or (heaven forbid) an off-site meeting room for entrepreneurs around the globe.

Seth Godin is a testament to the notion of initiative. He began his career as a product manager at Spinnaker Software, and became an entrepreneur in 1986 when he launched a book packaging business out of his apartment. As an entrepreneur, he has founded dozens of companies, most of which failed. Yoyodyne, his first internet company, was acquired by Yahoo! in 1998 for $30 million. It pioneered the use of ethical direct mail online, something Seth calls Permission Marketing.

His latest company, Squidoo.com, is ranked among the top 125 sites in the US (by traffic) by Quantcast. He has authored 13 books that have been translated into more than 30 languages. Seth Godin’s Blog is a favorite among many readers for its no-nonsense look at the world and its focus on teaching and inspiring.

Seth is a proven change agent, but he insists that everyone can do what he does; they just have to take initiative. As he explains, our ability to initiate, take risks and lead gets tamped down as we grow. “When you are 5 years old, everyone is capable of drawing a picture. Everyone is capable of singing a song, telling a joke and telling the truth. Everyone. Then we get brainwashed for 10 or 15 years. For some people, that brainwashing is stickier than for other people,” he says. “Everybody has the ability to go to work and make a difference if they can overcome their fear.”

“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth. Not going all the way, and not starting.” Siddhartha Gautama.

As Godin writes in Poke the Box, “stop waiting for a road map and start drawing one instead. We reward those who draw the maps, not those who follow them.”

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

What business are you really in?

2011-08-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

The answer in today's over- crowded marketplace may be more than meets the eye.

The Summer 2011 issue of Marketing Management, Strategic Insights For Senior Marketers has an interesting and thought-provoking article on the importance of knowing what business a company is really in. The main point of the article is that what your customers are buying may be significantly different from what you think you are selling.

Looking at your business from that perspective can offer new and creative approaches to key marketing considerations like your competitive environment, your target audience, and your key benefits. And in the competitive realities of today's global, digital marketplace, marketers need to find every way they can to distinguish themselves and build a loyal consumer base.

The author began the article with these statements: McDonald's is not in the hamburger business, Mercedes-Benz is not in the car business, Clinique is not in the cosmetics business and Hush Puppies is not in the shoe business.

His answer is that all of these companies are in the solutions business, based on the Theodore Levitt quote from his 1983 book The Marketing Imagination (still one of the most influential marketing books I have read) :

People don't buy things, they buy solutions to problems.

Levitt's answer at the time was that McDonald's should consider themselves in a broader context, i.e. the fast-food business, Clinique in the beauty business, etc. But that answer falls short in the reality of today's overcrowded business environment.

This means that McDonald's has to go beyond the broad stroke description of fast-food to realize they are in the business of convenience, entertainment for kids, family-friendly dining, quickness, efficiency, etc. Similarly, while Clinique may sell cosmetics, they are really in the beauty, self-image, self-esteem, age transformation, sex appeal business.

This isn't totally new thinking, but in today's "long tail" marketing world, where product specialization has become essential, companies need to revisit this line of thinking on a regular basis. Knowing what business you are really in opens up new thinking about marketing strategy, competitive environment, and new product development.

More importantly, it can open up a new way to reach out to customers and prospects with value-based thinking that builds customer purchase and loyalty.

And that should be the business every marketer is in!

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.

Marketing Management is published four times a year by American Marketing Association Publishing Group. For more information on how to subscribe, and for access to other important marketing articles and insights, go to MarketingPower.com.

AMA Seminar on Customer Insights Using Marketing Dashboards Coming To Seattle

2011-08-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

With the avalanche of data and continual pressure to report meaningful information to management, marketing dashboards have become an important tool for monitoring and reporting the progress or status of projects, events, campaigns, and other processes affecting ROI and profitability. But simply reporting progress doesn’t always satisfy management’s need to understand what is, or is not, working, and what adjustments need to be made in order better allocate marketing resources.

One solution to this dilemma lies in better understanding customer segments and their impact on short and long term profitability. As the marketplace continues to demand a more timely response to consumer behavioral and attitudinal shifts, the problem, and challenge, is often how to assimilate internal and external data from disparate sources into simple but effective dashboards.

That’s the objective of a new AMA seminar coming to Seattle on September 8-9 – Customer Behavior Insights through Marketing Dashboards.

This two-day interactive, hands-on course will use a case study approach to show attendees how to find the hidden value from your available data, including the ability to combine key datasets, effectively analyze data using simple tables and graphs, and develop simple yet compelling dashboards that address tactical business needs and communicate ongoing results.

Key takeaways from this seminar include:

Techniques to consolidate disparate data sources using common office productivity tools.
An easy-to-understand model using customer data to create lifetime value estimates.
Sophisticated approaches to identifying customers by segment and assigning lifetime value estimates.
Graph and dashboard design principles to accelerate understanding of program outcomes.
Understanding of how simple visual analytics and dashboards can empower your teams to make smarter tactical and strategic decisions.

Almost all marketing services offer dashboards. The problem is that different vendors measure and report data in different ways. Learning more about the basics of good dashboard design in order to customize a dashboard that focuses on key issues for your company will free up more time for strategic tasks.

And we can all use more time to actually think about how to grow our business.

To listen to a brief podcast on the goals of this seminar, click here .

For details, schedule, costs, and to register, go here.

Early bird registration ends Thursday, August 11. Save $100 if you register by Thursday!

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

What’s So Great About the PSAMA Pulse Awards, and Why Should I Care?

2011-08-01T11:04:00.001-07:00

I’ve got to admit that when I first heard about the new PSAMA Pulse Awards, my first reaction was “who needs another awards show”? Don’t we have enough award shows for our industry already?

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that we do need an awards competition that recognizes strategic excellence, creativity and results. Other award shows honor creative excellence. That’s still important. But I think that the dramatic changes we’ve seen in marketing over the past few years has placed a premium on the quality of the strategic planning and how effective the program is in achieving its goals.

The Pulse Awards will celebrate real work that achieved its objectives through smart strategy and effective execution.
We’ve all seen advertising awards for special TV spots or ads that were developed solely for the purpose of winning an award. PSAMA Pulse Awards will only be given for successful programs that demonstrate excellence in planning, understanding and matching the “pulse” of the marketplace, innovative and effective strategy and execution, and results. Aren’t results what we are really after?

The Pulse Awards will celebrate four major categories.

The Integrated Marketing Pulse Award will recognize the campaign that makes best use of a blend of media using a comprehensive set of activities built around a single theme.
The Demand Creation Pulse Award will honor the campaign that best utilized blended activities for nurturing, lead development, and/or visitor traffic online or on-site (into store).
The Marketing Engagement Pulse Award will focus on campaigns that demonstrated success in creating or increasing awareness within their business or consumer audience(s). It is expected this award will recognize creative use of some combination of social, mobile or in-person as a complement or in lieu of traditional channels.
The Product Launch Pulse Award will be given for the best product or brand launch of a new product or version of a product targeting business or consumer audiences.

The Pulse Awards will honor work from large companies, small business or start-ups, and non-profits.
We don’t all have $25+ million marketing budgets, but small budget campaigns that demonstrate excellence should not be penalized because they couldn’t afford Ridley Scott to direct their video. Pulse Awards judges will look for quality of thinking, not quantity of spending.

Professional judges will narrow entries to the top 3, but you pick the winners at the Awards Show.
I love the idea that the top 3 finalists will be on display at the October 5 Awards Presentation, and attendees will vote to select the Pulse Award winner. It’s another way that real work will be recognized for the quality of its thinking, not the cuteness or cost of its execution.

Do we really need another awards show? Yes, I think we do. Because the PSAMA Pulse Awards will celebrate something the other shows don’t – real work that works.

Do you understand the “pulse” of your audience and the marketplace?

Get your entries together now. Submissions are due by August 19. Go to www.pulseawards.org for more details and to download nomination forms and entry guidelines, as well as some Tips to Consider when entering.

And save the date for the Pulse Awards Show on Wednesday, October 5 at Bell Harbor Conference Center. See you there!

Good luck, and may the best work (most effective work) win!

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

GeoChirp – Find out who's tweeting about your favorite subject in your neighborhood.

2011-07-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

I just discovered an interesting new website that will let you find out who’s tweeting about a specific subject in any location of your choice. GeoChirp is a Twitter and Google Maps mashup product, which allows you to easily find out who is tweeting on a specific subject within a 50 miles radius of any location in the world.

Do you want to know if anyone in Seattle is tweeting about the Mariners so you can join in the conversation? Just go to GeoChirp, type in Seattle and Mariners and you’re there. Going fishing next week at Banks Lake but don’t know anyone there to ask if bass or walleye are biting? Change your location and your keyword and you can start or join in a conversation with others who are also interested in that subject.

You can search on specific phrases and see who is talking about the keyword(s) in their tweets, within any location of interest to you.

Here are some of the key features of GeoChirp:

Free Usage: GeoChirp is free to use. You do not even need to login to start GeoChirping. Even if you don’t have a Twitter account, you can use GeoChirp.

Defined Radius up to 50 miles: You can define the geographical radius using the ‘Search Radius’ widget provided. Zoom in to 1 mile or increase the radius range to 50 miles and find other people tweeting about your subject of interest.

Search Any Location: You can target GeoChirp to any location on Earth and start GeoChirping. By default it takes you to your current location. You can easily change the location by using the ‘Search box’ on the bottom left side of the map.

Real Time Data at All Times: While you are GeoChirping, you will be prompted when there are fresh tweets about your search. You can then hit ‘Refresh’ to see the latest results. This ensures that you get real time data at all times.

RSS for Searches: A recently added feature allows you to subscribe to your specific searches using RSS. Anytime there are new updates in your search, you will be notified via RSS.

I like the concept of this new tool. It allows me to broaden my network while focusing the conversation on the subject I’m most interested in discussing. I also see great potential for advertising. I can target my message not only to the geography I’m interested in, but also to people who are discussing a topic related to my product or service.

It will be interesting to see how GeoChirp is perceived and used as it grows.

What do you think? Is GeoChirping a good idea for marketers, or just another fun toy that people will easily tire of?

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

Branding Lessons From a Boy Wizard

2011-07-17T21:29:00.001-07:00

Okay, I admit it. I’m a fan of Harry Potter. For thirteen years, through seven books and eight movies, I’ve been fascinated by the storyline, and totally envious of the imagination and storytelling genius of the author.

And whether you are a fan or not, you know by now that the latest film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, has broken all sorts of box office records, as has the franchise. The domestic box office after seven films was more than $2 billion. Who knows how high it can go with the latest film?

But there’s more to this story than movie magic and the storytelling wizardry that has sold over 400 million books worldwide. There are great branding lessons we can take away from the Harry Potter phenomenon. Here are a few.

1. Great branding starts with a great product. Each book took its readers, young and old, into a fantastic world, with exciting and unexpected additions to the story in each new book. We were drawn into the “brand” by our fascination with the concept of wizards and muggles, the interplay of good and evil, and the supporting cast of characters. We developed an emotional bond with the three principal characters as well as the supporting cast that serves as a great lesson for marketers – it starts with the product. In a recent magazine interview, Chris Columbus, who directed the first two movies and cast the kids, summed it up this way “It comes down to one simple thing: seven brilliantly written books”.

2. Stay true to your brand. How many times have you seen a movie after reading the book and been disappointed that they changed the storyline? Throughout this film series, each movie was taken directly from the book. There were no unexpected surprises to interfere with the development of the story. And I have to admit that before each movie was released, I re-read the book to be up-to-date with the storyline. In that same interview, Chris Columbus said “Jo wrote something that never needed to be fixed to be made into a movie, just interpreted”.

3. Have a long term plan for success. The author, J.K. Rowling, has said in numerous interviews over the years that while she never dreamed of the wild success the books have garnered, she knew that the story would progress and grow to its ultimate climax with Harry defeating Voldemort, and good triumphing over evil. During a prolonged gap between books five and six, she stated that she wanted to be sure she got the story right. There’s a great branding lesson in making sure that subsequent marketing efforts build on the brand premise and stay true to the brand’s personality. There’s also a lesson here about positioning your brand for long term success. Too many marketing managers have an 89-day focus based on the need to bolster quarterly earnings, and sacrifice the long term.

4. Look for ways to extend the brand by continuing to surprise and delight the target audience. Harry Potter has become as entrenched in our pop culture psyche as Luke Skywalker, Batman and Superman, and there is certainly no shortage of toys and games. But I think I am most impressed with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Universal-Orlando theme park. The park brings the story (and the brand) to life and allows readers and fans to experience the books. You can shop for a wand at Ollivander’s, enjoy a butter beer in Hogsmeade, ride with Harry on a dragon and tour Hogwart’s. Creating an opportunity to experience the brand first hand is great way for any brand to build loyalty.

5. Look for ways to infuse new excitement into your brand. Now that the book series is over, don’t expect Harry Potter to disapparate. Ms. Rowling is about to unveil pottermore.com, an interactive experience that she promises will be “an online reading experience unlike any other”. The site will offer new insights and stories, exclusive ebooks and even the ability for the user to be sorted into one of the four houses of Hogwarts. Pottermore will not launch until October, but a sneak peak will be available to one million lucky winners of an online scavenger hunt that begins on July 31 – Harry’s birthday.

At every step, we’ve seen one smart marketing move after another. And I suspect we’ll see a few more before it’s over. I, for one, can’t wait to experience pottermore.com.

And along the way we’ve witnessed a great example of how to build and manage a brand. There’s nothing magical about that. Or is there?

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

Google+ is not for business . . . yet.

2011-07-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

By now, I'm sure you've read about the onslaught of demand for the beta version of Google+. The small "field test" has exploded as invites to join the original test group have gone out faster and farther than Google execs anticipated.

Why all the excitement? Well, at first glance (despite some obvious growing pains that will be ironed out), some of its main features offer more options than Facebook:

Circles enables you to put your friends in one circle, coworkers in another and family members in another. This gives you the ability to target the information you share to just these groups, instead of sharing en masse with all of your friends. (Finally, you've got the solution to the dilemma of whether or not to friend your boss or your mother.)
Sparks finds videos, articles, photos and other content it thinks you will find interesting based on your search usage patterns. It stores this content and allows you to review and share at your own pace.
Hangouts is a group video chat feature where users can start a “hangout” and messages go out to their social circles letting them know their friend is ‘hanging out’. Up to ten members of the group can "hang out" with you to video chat.
Photos give you the search capabilities of a search engine for all of the photos you have shared or are tagged in. Photos also has an image editor and allows you to specify sharing & privacy options for each photo.

But what does Google+ mean for businesses.
The answer is nothing yet, and we don't really know when we will get an answer. Christian Oestlien, Product Manager at Google, had this to say about their approach to business usage in a recent post:

“How users communicate with each other is different from how they communicate with brands, and we want to create an optimal experience for both. We have a great team of engineers actively building an amazing Google+ experience for businesses, and we will have something to show the world later this year….The business experience we are creating should far exceed the consumer profile in terms of its usefulness to businesses. We just ask for your patience while we build it.”

He also posted a short video on how they are building a limited test for businesses which you can view here.

I agree with several other bloggers who noted that since brands like to go where their customers are, it’s not surprising that Google wants to build a uniquely optimized Google+ experience for businesses. What is surprising, though, is that they weren’t more prepared for the response they received from companies wanting to join.

We can all hope that Google+ for businesses will be worth the wait.

Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

Can Google+ circle the wagons to fight off Facebook?

2011-06-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

Is Google+ finally the solution they've been looking for to out-connect Facebook in the social arena?

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt announced the introduction of Google+, their newest (and hopefully better than Buzz or Orkut) foray into the social world of sharing among friends. Or in this case, “circles” of user groups.

According to Mr. Schmidt, this latest introduction is not an attempt to compete directly with Facebook. "Our social strategy is to take our current products, get users to give us social information and make our current products better," said executive chairman Eric Schmidt, talking to a small group of journalists following his address to the ad festival here.

But we know from previous unsuccessful attempts, that Google wants to find a way to collect and analyze the data about human connections generated by the social web and apply that to search and even display advertising.

Grouping connections into "circles".
Google+ is different from Facebook in that you organize your friends into groups, such as family, work, friends, etc. This can be an advantage over Facebook if you want to share work-related information that your friends or family would not have an interest in seeing. Or if you want to share photos of a more personal nature that you don’t want your business colleagues to see.

Another difference with Google+ is that there are no friend requests. People do not need to agree to be friends with one another and can view updates without sharing their own.

Google + breaks down the Facebook data walls.
Even though search engines now crawl Facebook for content and links, the data about users and friends inside Facebook is not accessible to outside companies. Google+ could be a huge deal for Google if people are willing to participate in their network. Google+ will give Google a place for users to create their own content but will be searchable and information rich for Google. And you can bet they will monetize that data.

No one is saying how Google+ will impact their future advertising strategy. Yet.
Google executives declined to say how Google+ will affect their advertising offerings, but as people spend more time inside controlled environments such as Facebook and mobile apps, Google loses its power to search and monetize that walled-off content. Google did confirm that +1, an icon launched recently as a counterpoint to Facebook Likes is integrated into Google+. Since +1 will be used as a tool to improve ad targeting, it seems safe to assume that Google+ will be used as a major part of their future advertising strategy, if it succeeds.

Google execs say more information will improve usability of all Google products.
Google executives said that getting social information on their users will improve Google products across the board -- by allowing personalization. Most of Google's most popular products such as search, maps and YouTube do not require a login, which limits what Google knows about its users.

Will Google+ have more impact on mobile than social networks?
At least one exec thinks so. "It would take a seismic shift for people to take their social stuff to Google," said Deep Focus CEO and founder Ian Schafer, who said that the real earth-shattering use for Google+ is in mobile, not social networking. "The biggest implication for Google+ is mobile," Mr. Schafer said. "For example, for people to be creating content wherever people are and using that to deliver messages to them and close the loop on sales. The promise of Google+ is closing the loop on social CRM."

For advertisers and brands, the potential impact of Google+ is huge. "A connection made with a brand in Google+ can eventually be tracked to a purchase," Mr. Schafer said. "If we can create relevant brand engagements with people and give them an ability to purchase the product at a later date -- whether that's three, six or 18 months later -- this brings us back to social ROI."

I like the idea of being able to control youir content, especially as it relates to directing any business-related content to people who might actually be interested in reading it. But I’m not sure I want to stop using Facebook, even though I'm not an active, everyday user. So, to me, the real challenge for Google+ will be whether people will want to devote more time to sharing given the current time-compressed world we live in. It will be interesting to watch.

For first impressions from an early user, visit this link: http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/29/google-plus-is-actually-pretty-good/

More thoughts on the convergence of search and social media.
As a follow-up to recent posts on the importance of understanding the role social media now plays in the search equation, I failed to acknowledge a MarketingProfs article by Jonathan Lawoyin, director of search engine marketing and social media at eWayDirect on this subject - The Convergence of Search and Social Media - for its contributions to the discussion. It's an excellent article on the growing interdependence of these two marketing channels, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about this important topic.

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

Read This If You're Thinking About Hiring A Social Media Agency,

2011-06-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

When I saw the SmartBrief headline "7 signs that your social media expert doesn't know what they are talking about", I was intrigued. When I read the opening paragraph of the blog post, I was hooked.

News Flash: Not everyone who says they understand or have used social media actually knows what they are talking about. I know, that’s not much of a news flash for many of us. We’ve been watching as this tremendous growth of social media has created a mass-market of companies selling huge lines of BS to brands who honestly don’t know the right questions to ask. They are like really smooth men with pick up lines that are so brilliant you don’t even see them coming. They know if a company is looking for help with social media, it is likely because they don’t understand it themselves. Therefore, if they talk in buzz words and “fake it ‘till they make it” the company will never realize they are clueless.

The author, Nichole Kelly, is a social media measurement speaker, consultant and coach from Baltimore. She is a frequent contributor to several popular social media blogs, and is the publisher of FullFrontalROI.com,

As I read her blog post, I was impressed with her wit and style, but mostly with the practical information she delivered. She offers a list of “red flags” that should make any company considering hiring outside help for their social media strategy think twice.

Here are the "red flag" statements to be wary of that she points out in her post:

1. Social media is a great strategy for every company. . If you don’t have a social media strategy you will be left behind.
2. You must have a presence on Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and…
3. We will manage your entire social media presence for you…it’s effortless for you.
4. We developed a strategy for Company X that led to over a bazillion fans.
5. We have an experienced social media team.
6. Social media is special. Your current marketing strategies won’t work, that’s why you need us.
7. Social media is the only marketing strategy you need.

You can read her complete post Hiring A Social Media Agency? Read This First! here.

I agree with Nichole that social media is not a silver bullet nor the end-all, be-all solution to every marketing program. And I believe that many so-called "experts" may not be all they claim to be.

But we know that social media can be an important contributor to an integrated marketing communications plan. And if you need help, you're not alone. I've heard more than one social media practitioner say, "Social media is still the Wild West. It is continuing to evolve and no one has all of the answers." So my point in referencing this article is to be sure you pick the right partner. A partner that understands your company, its objectives, and your target consumer as well as the opportunities and limitations of these new marketing tools.

Anyone out there want to share your company experiences? Any "red flags" you've heard? What are the steps your company has taken when selecting your social media provider? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Are You Ready for .phone, .coke, or .anyname?

2011-06-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Internet just got a lot more complicated and confusing for brands and consumers. The current use of top-level domains, such as .com, .net, .org, as well as country-specific TLDs is about to change drastically.

During a special meeting in Singapore, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the international authority over top-level domain names, has approved the expansion of generic TLDs which will allow companies and organizations to create domains for their brands (such as .coke) or simply create generic names (such as .car or .green).

New global TLDs will change the way people find information on the Internet and how businesses plan and structure their online presence. Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word in any language, offering organizations around the world the opportunity to market their brand, products, community or cause in new and innovative ways.

ICANN execs claim this new policy will usher in a new generation of creativity and inspiration. Rod Beckstorm, President and CEO of ICANN said “ICANN has opened the Internet's naming system to unleash the global human imagination. Today's decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind."

Critics, however, see ICANN itself as the main beneficiary. The organization will collect huge fees for anyone applying to own a new top-level domain, as well as those disputing them, and trademark attorneys, which will be kept on alert as new domains open up thousands of new potentially-infringing registrations.

The initial cost to set up a new top-level domain is $185,000, but then you’ve got to consider a $25,000 annual maintenance fee. ICANN defends the steep prices as a way to dissuade cyber squatters. There will be a "sunrise" period for companies that own established trademarks where the approval process will be more efficient.

ICANN also subjects new applicants to an exhaustive process, including a comment period for anyone disputing the registration to object. ICANN will subject all applicants to a screening for criminal history or past "cybersquatting".

ICANN won't be taking applications till Jan. 12 of next year, which presumably gives companies enough time to examine the feasibility of registering new domains, but that may still prove difficult. New domains should appear within a year according to the ICANN press release.

What do you think about this? Good news? Bad news? An improvement or a potential disaster?

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

Adding Social Media to the SEO Equation

2011-06-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

If you missed last week's PSAMA luncheon on "The Convergence of Social Media and Search", you missed one of the best meetings of the year. Scott Fasser, Director of Customer Experience for Optify gave a great overview of the changing nature of Search Marketing as Social Media continues to increase its impact and power.

Traditional SEO has typically emphasized that there are three legs to the SEO Stool - keyword focus, page/site optimization, and external links. Scott showed us how Facebook and Twitter must be added into that equation if you want to have a successful search strategy.

As evidence of how much impact social now has on your search ranking, he cited an A/B Test conducted by SEOmoz that compared traditional SEO thinking (36 linking root domains and 620 external links) vs. the same message distributed via Tweets (1 linking root domain, 1 external link, 521 tweets). The test is illustrated below:

At this writing, Page B ranks number 2 on Google and number 7 on Bing. Page A cannot be found on the first five pages (I gave up looking after that).

The important thing to take away from this test is that Facebook and Twitter are simply too powerful to ignore in your Search strategy.

As Scott said "Ok, I believe. Now what do I do". Here are a few of the ideas on how to improve your Search ranking through Social:

Treat Facebook as an extension of your brand.

Build a company page with strong branding – logo, tagline, personality.
Fill out as much profile information as possible including links to your website.
Promote Facebook on your website.
Share content, news, events, white papers, promotions, contests and more via Wall Post.
Use RSS feed from Blog or add a task to blog post process to automatically add to Facebook.
When your community manager interacts w/ users, they should point to resources on site.
Build your network – actively ask employees, partners, customers and associates to LIKE your page.

Use Twitter as an on-going conversation between your brand and your customers.

Build a company page with strong branding – logo, tagline, personality.
Promote Twitter on your website.
Share content, news, event, white papers, promotions, contests and more via Tweets.
Create searches for your brand, focus keywords, associations and competitors.
Build your network – follow others, include follow-us on site.
Re-tweet interesting information to build your credibility as a resource.
Use Twitter before, during and after events like conferences and webinars.

Scott had a lot more to say about the convergence of social and search, including the importance of real time tracking. If you are a PSAMA member, you can view his slide presentation at the PSAMA website. Unfortunately, it doesn't contain the Q&A session, which was the best we have had this year. If you have further questions, you can find out more at www.optify.net.

Our June meeting was the last until September. But we will continue to offer our members and friends new and interesting marketing news and trends via our weekly blog and through regular updates on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. We invite you all to Like Us on Facebook, Follow Us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn group.

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

Does the Convergence of Search + Social Mean More Business For You?

2011-06-05T22:19:00.001-07:00

You may already know that Facebook has overtaken Google as the most popular site in the United States. And at 400+ million users and 25% of all traffic, it’s not just teenagers anymore.

But did you know that Facebook serves 150 million search queries a day? That level of search doesn’t match Google (est. at 250 to 400 million queries per day) but it’s nothing to sneeze at.

Twitter search is now handling an average of 1.6 billion queries per day, and they recently upgraded with an improved search infrastructure with the aim of making the results as personally relevant as possible. “Our ranking function accesses the social graph and uses knowledge about the relationship between the searcher and the author of a Tweet during ranking,” the company explained. This means that Twitter’s search index will now incorporate dynamic information such as information about the searcher and how users’ interact with tweets.

Search engines have been forced to respond to the tremendous growth of social media. As the demand for real-time search results increased, it became clear that users would no longer be constrained by the limitations of search engines, which have to index sites on the Web before displaying them on their results pages. In December 2009, Google introduced real-time search, which incorporates news results and Twitter updates into search results.

Google's universal search (which displays content from YouTube and other networks) is another way social media content has been brought into search results.

Apart from the incorporation of social media content into search results, social networking sites affect search engine rankings in other ways. On his blog, search marketing guru Danny Sullivan recently posted some interesting answers from Google and Bing on how they are addressing this subject:

Both search engines count referencing of a given piece of content via Twitter as an indicator of authority (apart from the links coming from those references).
Both search engines attempt to compute the authority and quality of an author and give that author's tweets preferential treatment.
Both track links shared within Facebook.

The emergence of social media as it relates to search results means that an article that a couple years ago generated 50 links might today generate 10 links and 300 mentions on Twitter and Facebook.

Now that Facebook has opened up their pages to be crawled and indexed, you should be looking for new ways to use social media to influence search results on Facebook and Twitter.

Search Meets Social Media
Ten years ago, SEO professionals preached that organic rankings were all about optimizing page-level elements, such as title tags and on-page copy. Five years ago, SEO strategists were stressing the importance of inbound links pointing to your website.

Those things are still important today, but getting real SEO results these days requires not only a technically optimized website and relevant inbound links but also a strong, vibrant Web presence that supports your overall brand.

That’s where social media comes in. If your SEO strategist is not encouraging you to use more social media, you have good reason to worry. Any good search strategy is focused on relevance, and social media is becoming one of the major indicators of relevance.

So how do you take advantage of the convergence of social media and search for your business?
Here are four things you can do right now:
1. Make sure you are marketing your articles and blog posts using the major social media outlets. The major search engines now factor "shares" (Facebook) and tweets (Twitter) into the degree of importance they attribute to a piece of content. Did you write a new how-to article for your customers? Post that content to Facebook and Twitter. Post pictures to Flickr. Ensure that you are getting your content out via the major social networking sites.
2. Make a dedicated effort to develop a solid presence on the major social networks and any niche sites that focus on your particular industry. Marketing your content is directly dependent on how much of a presence you have on the social Web. If you don't have many engaged followers on these social media sites, there won't be anyone to help promote your content via shares and re-tweets. One simple way to begin improving your social media presence is to have links to your Facebook and Twitter pages on your website. Let your customers know they can engage with your brand via social media.
3. Start testing Facebook’s PPC as an alternative and/or complement to Google. The Self-Serve Facebook Ad Tool allows you a lot of opportunity to test alternative visuals, headline and body copy. Use analytics and attribution to determine the effect of the impact on organic search traffic and continue to test until you find the best combination of ad message and targeting.
4. Keep a close eye on the progress of Promoted Tweets as Twitter continues to make strategic acquisitions to boost its advertising technology. The recent addition of AdGrok (similar in concept to Google's AdWords) and the purchase last year of Smallthought Systems, maker of a cloud-hosted Web analytics application, could finally give Twitter a legitimate revenue tool to create a self-sustaining business. Analytics software is critical to evaluate the efficacy of online advertising campaigns and make adjustments accordingly.

Both search and social media are here to stay, and the ever-increasing interdependence between these channels should be seen as an opportunity in any business category. The strategic use of both channels can result in increased marketing effectiveness.

Want to know more about social media and search? Come to the June 8 PSAMA luncheon to hear Scott Fasser of Optify discuss best practices for creating a balanced plan of online marketing activities and how to find the right mix for success. Click here for more information and to register for this event.

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

Are You Ready For Persuasion Profiling?

2011-05-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

When I log on to Amazon, they do a pretty good job at offering me book recommendations based on other books I've purchased or browsed. Similarly, Netflix tailors my movie menu based on past titles, and Google News customizes my news based on keywords. But their algorithms are fairly static; they don’t really vary the way in which those offers are made.

What they don’t take into consideration is that my purchase decisions are not always based on last week’s purchase or that my purchase decisions vary based on the category. Just because I browsed children’s books last week doesn’t mean I’m looking for a children’s book this week. And if I chose a comedy movie last week, doesn’t mean that I’m not in the mood for an action drama today.

The limitation of these algorithms is that they don’t take into account that people react to offers in different ways. Sometimes people are driven by data -- the cheapest cost; sometimes they are influenced by their friends -- the most popular choice; and some decisions are based on what the experts say -- the editor's choice.

Two doctoral students in communications at Stanford have just published their latest research on persuasion profiling, and their conclusions offer a new way of analyzing purchase and decision-making that can have a major influence on how marketers develop their online advertising approach.

The May issue of Wired gives an inside look at “persuasion profiling” in an article titled “Welcome to the Brave New World of Persuasion Profiling”.

From the Wired story:

Kaptein and Eckles set up an experimental online bookstore and encouraged customers to browse the titles and mark a few for purchase. By alternating the types of pitches—Appeal to Authority (“Malcolm Gladwell says you’ll like this”), Social Proof (“All your friends on Facebook are buying this book”), and the like—Kaptein and Eckles could track which mode of argument was most persuasive for each person.
Some book buyers felt comforted by the fact that an expert reviewer vouched for their intended product. Others preferred to go with the most popular title or a money-saving deal. Some people succumbed to what Eckles calls “high need for cognition” arguments—smart, subtle points that require some thinking to get (“The Hunger Games is the Inferno of children’s literature”). Still others responded best to being hit over the head with a simple message (“The Hunger Games is a fun, fast read!”). And certain pitches backfire: While some people rush for a deal, others think discounts mean the merchandise is subpar. By eliminating persuasion styles that didn’t work on a particular individual, Kaptein and Eckles were able to increase the effectiveness of a recommendation by 30 to 40 percent.

Their research shows a future where retailers learn which types of persuasion are most effective for their individual customers. So in the future, Amazon may determine that I tend to buy music that is popular, movies that critics recommend, and electronics that are deeply discounted. That's my persuasion profile, and by carefully targeting me using that profile, they will garner more sales.

The implication for marketers is if you figure out a more accurate methodology to sell someone books, you can use the same technique to sell them clothes. And if that finding holds, your persuasion profile will have a pretty substantial financial value.

Once a company like Amazon has determined your profile by suggesting products in a variety of ways over time and seeing how you respond, there’s no reason it couldn’t then sell that information to other companies. In other words, if you respond a few times to a “50 percent off in the next 10 minutes!” deal, you could find yourself surfing a web filled with flashing red headlines and countdown clocks.

It’s pretty interesting (and in some ways scary) stuff.

As a start, I recommend that you go read the Wired article now to determine if this has a potential impact for your business. Be sure to read the comments for a broader look at this subject.

If you want to read the academic papers on persuasion profiling (if you are so inclined and have a lot of time) you will get a complete look at research to date and the authors’ interpretation of its implications.

The concept of persuasion profiling isn’t new. In the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University, Dr. BJ Fogg has long emphasized how powerful and worrying personalization based on a person’s “persuasion profile” can be. But it’s closer than ever to reality for marketers, good or bad.

And we need to know all we can about how it might impact us as marketers … and as consumers.

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

New Google Study Confirms Growing Importance of Smartphones to Marketing

2011-05-23T16:12:00.001-07:00

A new study from Google, in partnership with IPSOS OTX Media CT, adds a lot of important data and insights on the growing importance of smartphones to our daily lives . . . and to marketers.

The Mobile Movement – Understanding Smartphone Consumers is a must read for any marketer, with interesting and informative data on how smartphones are being used to help with our daily lives and our shopping purchase process. Importantly, this study provides a great resource for CMO’s that need to convince their management on the power of mobile marketing and the need to look for ways to utilize this growing tool.

We all know there’s a mobile movement, and that smartphones are being used daily by millions of consumers. According to this study among 5,000+ adult (18-64) smartphone users, in the past seven days, 81% browsed the web, 77% used a search engine, 48% watched a video, and 63% stayed connected to our friends by visiting a social network.

What you may not know is the growing importance of the smartphone to our shopping behavior.
• 79% of users rely on smartphones to regularly help with shopping.
• 54% use smartphone to locate a retailer through directions, maps, or GPS.
• 49% compare prices to decide where to buy.
• 44% read product information and reviews.
• 40% look for promotions and coupons daily.

You will also learn that smartphones are becoming an integral part of a multi-channel purchase process.
• 67% of users research product or service information on their smartphone and then buy in store.
• 23% research on smartphone, visit store to check out product, and then purchase online.
• 16% research on smartphone, visit store to check out product and then purchase on smartphone.
• 9% visit a store and then purchase on smartphone.

The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Consumers has a lot more valuable information. For a free copy of the full report, go here.

Or check out this video for a quick overview.

According to Google, 79% of top advertisers don’t have a mobile optimized site. If your company doesn’t offer a mobile version of your site, you need to read this report.

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

A Facebook Marketing Success Story: Expedia FRIENDTRIPS

2011-05-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

If you missed Brooke Angles at the May PSAMA luncheon, you missed an interesting and insightful story of how Expedia used a Facebook online promotion to generate over 1 million Likes.

That’s right – one million. At this writing, the Expedia Facebook page lists 1,045,536 Likes.

In her presentation to a packed house at the Washington Athletic Club, Brooke covered a lot of insights on why this program was so successful and offered great advice on how to utilize Facebook as a marketing tool.

Here are some features of the game that made it so successful:

First, they started with an exciting program that was a “natural fit for their company” and that would create a “passion point” for their audience.
The Expedia FRIENDTRIPS Game offered high-value prizes, which Brooke called “trips of a lifetime,” that ranged from a $160,000 luxury tour of South America to a $100,000 trip to Las Vegas or a European cruise. An important element of the game was the incentive to share sweepstakes entry with five friends. This created a built-in viral component that paid great dividends in growing awareness and participation.

The FRIENDTRIPS Game was more engaging than just a straight forward, enter for a chance to win, sweepstakes.
Fans of Expedia were invited to pilot a virtual plane and point the plane toward one of the 13 destinations offered as prizes. Pilots could then invite their friends to join them on the plane, each of which held five passengers. Being a passenger or a pilot on the plane made you eligible to win.

They incentivized sharing by increasing your chances of winning based on how many friends you shared the FRIENDTRIPS Game with.
During the six weeks of the contest, if you recruited 25 friends to play the game (and Like Expedia) your chances of winning were doubled, and 50 friends tripled your chances. With this innovative add-on, Expedia was able to overcome any natural tendencies to want to limit entries (to increase your own chances of winning) by overlaying a rational incentive to share with others.

They provided smaller prizes to keep people interested and excited about the game.
Daily winners received a $250 Expedia travel credit to game participants who completed a plane when all 5 friends accepted their invitation, contributed pictures, and shared stories on why they wanted to visit a featured destination. This provided an additional incentive to stay engaged with the game which kept people interested and generated fresh content for regular Wall updates.

Insights from Brooke on what they learned about effective ways to market using Facebook:

It’s all about fans. While no one knows the details of the Facebook news feed algorithm, it is strongly influenced by number of fans, how interconnected they are to each other, and how many people share your content.
Work the wall. Expedia posted daily or twice daily posts to keep their fans updated and excited. They also changed the creative regularly to keep fans interested.
Bring the cuteness. Images work better than copy, so don’t be afraid to use celebrities, babies and puppies.
Learn from others. Expedia studied other promotions and was influenced by the local focus and caring for people aspects of the Chase Community Giving program.
Test, test, test. Expedia continually changed ad graphic elements and copy to keep the program fresh, but also to learn what worked best. Their conclusion is that using the self-serve advertising tool is the most efficient way to use Facebook ads.
Hire Facebook experts if you can. Brooke discussed some of the challenges of working with Facebook and gave props to Context Optional, a FB Preferred Developer Consultant, for guiding Expedia through the promotion. For a full list of Facebook Preferred Developers, click here.

Join PSAMA on Wednesday, June 8 for more exciting and informative insights on marketing, when the experts at Optify discuss “The Convergence of Social Media & Search”. Go here to register for this event.

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

Is it time to reconsider men in your target audience?

2011-05-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

A new "Marketing To Men" study from Jacobs Media, a Southfield, Mich.-based research and consulting firm, concludes that men may be a hidden opportunity for marketers that recognize the importance of men in purchasing decisions. This just-released study refutes many of the historic stereotypes about male shopping habits.

The web-based survey was conducted among 13,000 American adults radio listeners. It’s findings conclude that companies marketing and advertising products to a broad-based market should re-think their long-held assumptions about the value of men in purchasing decisions heretofore thought to be almost exclusively female. The survey was conducted in response to what Jacobs execs saw as a trend of media buying demographics shifting away from men and almost exclusively toward women.

According to Jacobs Media Vice President/General Manager Paul Jacobs, many advertisers share the misplaced belief that women are responsible for the lion's share of household purchasing decisions, according to the research firm.
"We work with our radio clients every day to help them position their male audiences to advertisers and over the past few years, we've become frustrated," Jacobs says. "There has been a shortage of solid data to help educate marketers about the changing role of men in the purchasing process."

Marketing products and services in this competitive environment is more challenging than ever, Jacobs says. "The last thing agencies should do is limit their sales opportunity due to stereotypes that aren't relevant today," he adds. "In the 21st century, men are emerging as an incredibly valuable component in the marketing mix. They make purchases on their own, and have significant input in the decision-making process in the majority of households. And single men are a bonus. Advertisers ignore men at their own peril, opening up opportunities for competitive products and brands."

The study shows that three of 10 men are single, and more than 80% of them make the sole or key big-ticket decisions in their households. This segment of the male population is a hidden opportunity for marketers --- they profile equal to or better than women in their decision-making power and are a significant opportunity for growth.

The study also indicates that women agree that men should have major input in decisions about buying big-ticket items. In fact, six in 10 women say a recommendation from a spouse or partner is a deciding factor when making major purchases.

Six in 10 men play a key role in the big-ticket item buying process. They either are the sole decision makers or play a key role in the purchase of items like homes, cars and major appliances.

Men use coupons and loyalty cards more than many marketers realize. Almost 70% of men in the surveyed said they occasionally or frequently used coupons. And 60% of the men used at least one loyalty card on a regular basis.

We all know that shopping habits are changing with the continued growth and ease of online shopping. What about your brand or service? Do you market and advertise to a broad audience? Are you missing an opportunity? For an Executive Summary of the survey, go to www.jacobsmedia.com.

Don Morgan is Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a Seattle marketing and social media consultant.

How to Leverage Social Media for Personal Branding.

2011-04-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

What do you think of when you hear the term personal branding? Does the image of a blog with a carefully worded bio and a professional headshot come to mind? If so, it’s time to redefine what personal branding is and give some consideration to what it’ll mean in the not-too-distant future.

Like it or not, we’re all developing a personal brand and sooner or later just about everyone will have some type of online footprint. The statistics speak loud and clear:

- 90% of people in the United States visit at least one social networking site per month ( Comscore).
- 30% are heavily using social media for personal branding (Kelly Global Workforce Index).
- Over 100 million working professionals are using LinkedIn (LinkedIn Press Center)

What does this mean for you and me? Job interviews, potential customers, business relationships, personal relationships, and many first and long term impressions will all greatly hinge on personal branding. A mismanaged digital footprint or careless regard of our online presence could equate to an equivalent of career suicide.

Our lives online have the potential to stick with us forever. The content that we create and the things that are said about us online make up what others perceive to be true (no matter if it’s or isn’t) when we’re searched for on the web. There’s an incredible potential at stake to dramatically shape first impressions and future opportunities.

A 2009 study by CareerBuilder.com stated that 45% of employers are using social networks to screen employees (a percentage that has likely increased over the past two years). Public Facebook photos, unfavorable Tweets, and a MySpace page from years ago can come back to haunt the life of an eager job seeker.

The good news for most of us is that it’s still relatively easy to mold a personal brand. A simple “Google test” can speak volumes. What do you see when you search for yourself? What would you like to see?

Is it time for some changes? Here’s a starting checklist:

Delete stale social networking profiles.
Put a profile to rest if it’s no longer in use. A blog that discusses your musical tastes from 7 years ago has little or no value to a personal brand. If it doesn’t help and it’s not active, get rid of it and move on.

Censor yourself when necessary.
If it’s not appropriate for a job interview or a family reunion then consider it inappropriate for the web. Foul language, less than flattering photos, and negative commentary can hurt a lot more than they help. We’re all human and have a personality, but self-discipline should be considered a virtue. Someday you may have to defend your digital history and actions.

Update Facebook privacy settings.
Facebook offers several privacy settings. Find which settings work best for your needs. Profile information and photos can be open to everyone, friends of friends, just friends, or only to certain friends.

Use LinkedIn to its fullest.
A LinkedIn profile has become the near equivalent of a digital resume. Take advantage by keeping your profile current at all times. Aim for a comprehensive overview of your work history as opposed to having a lot of unnecessary clutter. Highlight relevant experience and don’t hesitate to showcase past achievements. Think of LinkedIn as an opportunity to sell yourself. Make it count, it just might be the first (and only) impression you get.

Buy a personal domain name.
If you’ve yet to do so, buy (yourfirstandlastname).com. Having a personal domain name proves that you’re serious about yourself as a brand. Point it to a blog, an online profile (such as about.me or flavors.me), or a set up a personal website.

Consider starting a blog.
A blog demonstrates both professionalism and commitment. Blogging on a regular basis about your industry on a consistent topic proves that you know how to demonstrate expertise. The ability to conceptualize thoughts into the written word is a valuable asset and the more you contribute, the stronger your personal brand will become over time. A WordPress, Blogger, Posterous, or Tumblr blog are all relatively easy to set up and get started with.

Give content away.
Are you ready to make your personal brand really stand out? Create a video, a podcast, an e-book, an email newsletter or a SlideShare presentation and give it away for free. If the content is of high enough quality, your network will begin to rely on and trust you as a valued resource.

A brand isn’t built overnight, but we need to acknowledge that every move we make online has the potential to create a negative or a positive impact. A healthy personal brand starts with a sense of self awareness and grows over time with the addition of value added contributions.

What have you done to enhance your personal brand?
What does the future of personal branding look like to you?

GUEST BLOGGER: Jason mKey is the Senior Manager of Social Media Marketing at Sparkplug Digital, a Seattle online marketing company.

The Science of Timing – Part Two: Email and Blogging

2011-04-25T16:06:00.001-07:00

Last week, I shared the best times to post on Twitter and Facebook based on a 3-year analysis of 9.5 billion data sets by Dan Zarrella, a Social Marketing Scientist at HubSpot.

This week, we’ll review key findings from that study on best practices for emails and blog posts. As noted last week, his analysis and conclusions are guidelines and may vary based on your category and target audience. Even with that caveat, they offer some interesting thoughts to consider on timing your social media activity.

Key Email Findings and Conclusions

It’s no surprise that emails are more heavily read in the early AM, but over 50% of email opens are at night.
Opens by day are higher on weekends, and there is little difference in B2B and B2C.
Abuse reports are higher on weekends and in early AM (not unexpected since more email opens occur in the early morning).
Click-throughs (CTR) are significantly higher on weekends.
New subscribers are more attentive to emails with higher click-throughs. The best time to hit them with a strong offer is when they first sign up.
Unsubscribe rate is highest with 1st or 2nd email, but that’s okay because they wouldn’t be interested in reading your emails later.
Key takeaway – experiment with emails at night and on weekends.

Key Blogging Findings and Conclusions

Even though 10 - 11 AM is the time period for the most views, 40% read blogs at night when they have more time.
Men read blogs at night more than women.
Blog on weekends if your goal is to generate comments. Comments go up significantly on weekends.
7 AM – 8 AM time frame generates the most comments throughout the week.
Page views tend to dip on weekends, so keep your content concise and relevant for greater readabilty.
Links are highest early morning on Monday and Thursday.
Key takeaway – blog more. In this analysis, bloggers that posted 2x per day got significantly more views, comments and links.

For a complete copy of the webinar slides, go here.

My hat’s off to Dan for an excellent presentation and new learning based on a broader sample than most studies. You can follow Dan on Twitter @danzarrella.

What’s your experience with emails and blog posts? Best times? Worst times? Any secrets or learning you care to share?

Don Morgan - Raindance Consulting

The Science of Timing – Part One: Twitter and Facebook

2011-04-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

I’m always on the lookout for ways to lead my clients and help them take better advantage of digital marketing opportunities. That’s why I attended a very interesting webinar recently on “The Science of Timing”.

The webinar presenter, Dan Zarrella, is a self-described Social Marketing Scientist at HubSpot and author of two books: “The Social Media Marketing Book” and “The Facebook Marketing Book”. Dan calls himself a scientist because he takes a quantitative analytical approach to questions on Best Practices for Social Media.

His analysis and conclusions are based on three years of research and 9.5 billion data sets, but he cautions (as do I) that these are guidelines and may vary based on your category and target audience. Even with that caveat, his findings offer some interesting thoughts to consider on timing your social media activity.

Key Twitter Findings and Conclusions

Retweet activity is heaviest between 2 – 5 PM (EST). Tweet later in the day and later in the week for best results if retweets are your goal.
Saturdays and Sundays are the highest days for Twitter click-through rate (CTR).
CTR is relatively stable throughout the day with a slight spike at 11 AM and 5 PM.
Interestingly, CTR does not fall off dramatically at night, so don’t be afraid to experiment with tweets outside traditional hours.
Higher tweet frequency correlates to higher followers. The optimum seems to be 22 tweets per day.
Based on that analysis, most people should tweet more, especially if you have a lot of followers. Conventional wisdom cautions against dominating the user stream, but that rarely happens if you have a lot of active followers. More tweets mean more chances to see and read your content.

Key Facebook Findings and Conclusions

Weekends are the best for Facebook sharing.
Pages that posted every other day on Facebook had the greatest number of followers.
Your friends’ news feeds are a lot easier to flood than they are on Twitter, so space your posts out for higher interest and click-throughs.
Early in the morning works best for Facebook sharing, as more people begin to read posts around 11 AM.
Don’t be afraid to post at weird hours of the night. The next best times to post for click-throughs and sharing are around 2 AM, 5 AM, and 7 PM.
For marketing purposes, there is very little difference between a B2B consumer and a B2C consumer when it comes to timing of social media communications.

For a complete copy of the slides and recording of the webinar, go here.

Or tune in next week and I’ll give you a recap of timing considerations for email and blogging.

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

Another Cautionary Tale on How NOT To Respond In Social Media

2011-04-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

Last week, we discussed the way Nestle overreacted and responded to negative criticism on their Facebook page - Nestle finds out the hard way that brands don’t set the rules in social media, users do.

The Nestle story illustrated the need for brands using social media to understand the rules and recognize that the user wields greater control than marketers might like. But that is one of the challenges brands must accept when they use social media.

This week has a similar story to demonstrate the power of the online community and the need to show restraint and caution in “official” responses to online criticism.

In this case, we have an example of an author, Jacqueline Howett, whose negative online reaction to a book review and subsequent use of profanity may have damaged her “brand” permanently. Ms. Howett took exception to a somewhat mixed review from a popular online reviewer who felt that a relatively good story line he described as “compelling and interesting” was diminished by too many grammar and spelling errors.

Ms. Howett responded to the review with a comment that the reviewer had “obviously not read the second clean copy she had requested that he download” and referenced the 5-Star and 4 Star reviews her book had received on Amazon. She immediately followed that comment with three more comments, each containing excerpts from the aforementioned reviews on Amazon.

When the reviewer replied to her comments that he did, indeed, download the second clean copy, Ms. Howett fired back with a response that accused the reviewer of lying, questioned his legitimacy as a reviewer, and demanded that he take the review off his page. This response unleashed a number of comments from other readers of the blog, chastising Ms. Howett for her unprofessionalism.

After trading defensive responses with these other commenters and a repeated demand for the reviewer to remove his review, the comment thread went viral and grew to 309 comments before being shut off by the blogger. Ms. Howett ended her final response with a two-word profanity.

A quick glance at Ms. Howett's book page on Amazon now shows 96 reviews, 77 of which are 1-Star reviews that cite grammar and spelling as reasons to reject buying and reading her book.

The lessons for marketers ought to be obvious, but let me spell out a few just in case:

If you receive online criticism of your brand or product online, you should first consider whether it is worthwhile or even appropriate to respond. If the critic has incorrect information, an unemotional correction may be acceptable, but never engage in personal attacks on the critic. Even if you are correct in your rebuttal, you will quickly lose the audience’s approval if you appear mean-spirited or try to bully the critic.
Consider whether a private response is better than a public one. The author in this example thought that the reviewer had based his review on the wrong copy of her book. That could have been cleared up through an email, rather than in public.
Politely correct the mis-statement of facts, or offer to set things right if your brand is in error, and let the rest go. Don’t get sucked into a public “he-said/she-said” debate, by either the original critic or his readers.
If all else fails, simply thank the critic for their opinion, and let it go. The broader audience watching is far more likely to remember your attitude than the actual problem.

In the long run, your best approach is to have a crisis response plan in place if you face attacks. It’s important you do this before it happens, rather than wait for the incident to occur.

Don’t jump into the water without knowing how to swim.
Develop a written plan with a clear set of policies, defined roles, and experienced social media staff. Social media is an ongoing relationship that requires the right set of resources, monies, and programs for a long term effort.

Don’t relegate your social media to a junior person just because they are Gen Y and “get it”.
The examples from the past two weeks point out the consequences of an inexperienced response to online criticism. Make sure you have an experienced community manager that knows your company and is mature enought to handle a crisis without breaking a sweat.

Plan for the worse but expect the best.
Every company has critics, but now they can coordinate an attack that reaches millions and becomes a permanent online record. Start by developing internal fire drills to anticipate what would happen in various scenarios. Role-playing and practice are the best way to ensure a reasoned, measured response in a heated situation. Don’t live your social efforts in fear, but instead, be prepared.

What have you learned in dealing with critics and complaints online from these two posts? Any other pointers for such communication you would like to add?

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

Nestle finds out the hard way that brands don’t set the rules in social media, users do.

2011-03-25T22:42:00.001-07:00

In case you missed the Nestle social media firestorm last week, here’s a quick review.

Nestle opened their fan page to comments and were victims of a coordinated attack from Greenpeace supporters for their continuing use of palm oil in many of their products. The production of palm oil has been documented as a source of deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and endangered species loss.

The activist group encouraged their supporters to change their Facebook profile photos to anti-Nestle slogans that often incorporated one or more of the company's food logos and started posting to the Nestle fan page en masse.

But Nestle’s problems really started when the Nestle Facebook moderator took a hostile approach to critics with a mild threat - "To repeat: we welcome your comments, but please don't post using an altered version of any of our logos as your profile pic--they will be deleted."

A commenter on the site wrote, “I understand that you’re on your back-foot due to various issues not excluding palm oil but social media is about embracing your market, engaging and having a conversation rather than preaching!” To which Nestle replied saying, “Thanks for the lesson in manners. Consider yourself embraced. But it’s our page, we set the rules, it was ever thus.”

Finally, under fire, the Nestle rep apologized for snapping back at fans. "This (deleting logos) was one in a series of mistakes for which I would like to apologize. And for being rude. We've stopped deleting posts, and I have stopped being rude."

Here are some actual reactions from their Facebook page:

This is the best example of how a big corporation can screw up, and has no one to blame but themselves.
Basically guys, this page has done your brand more harm than you can imagine, and I find that hilarious. You have let us use this page to tell people the truth about you guys, and it is so much more legitimate than any we could create.
Nestle, please be a great company and stop sinking to new lows. Like others I have only joined this group in order to comment on this thread, Thanks to your epic social media failure I am now aware of lots of other reasons why I should boycott your products and so are lots of other people.
The problem here isn’t the way Nestle is trying to police its Facebook page. The problem, obviously, is Nestle’s response to people who didn’t like the initial statement. It’s PR 101: Don’t insult your customers. And in PR 2010, mind your manners in public forums — especially those expressly created for fans of your company! It may be true that there’s no such thing as bad press, but there’s definitely bad social networking — and this is a prime example.

If you search the phrase “Nestle Facebook fiasco” on Google you get 164,000 hits. And as far as I can tell, none are positive.

As one blogger put it, “to be fair, Nestle has the right to protect their intellectual property. Putting aside all judgment on who's right and who's wrong in this situation, we are seeing the dark side of the Facebook fan page: when what was intended to be an open way for fans to show their support was turned into a billboard of outrage on behalf of critics, and with a company representative in obvious panic over how to tame the mob. It's rare that public opposition will reach a truly uncontrollable level, but when it does, it's ugly.”

Facebook is one of the hottest digital marketing tools out there, and brands that hear about the Nestle debacle are seeing the downside of operating a public forum for consumer comments without being prepared for negatives. Whether they could have prepared for the type of response they got is moot when you consider how they mismanaged the situation.

When a company chooses to use social media, they are also choosing to talk to the consumer as an equal. Censoring comments is the surest way of upsetting people visiting your page because it indicates that you are not really open to providing a platform for open discussion.

The real lesson here is “know the rules of social media before you start a campaign”.

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

Let’s Make A Deal – Are Local Deals The Next Big Thing?

2011-03-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

If this year’s SXSW conference holds true to its reputation as a predictor of what's new and what's next, Groupon, Living Social and the local-deals market are the next big thing in marketing. Based on the success of Groupon and other national companies, hundreds of local publishers (including The Seattle Times dealDIGGER) have launched similar "Daily Deal" products in the last six months, and this is just the beginning.

According to reports from the conference, several big names and mobile marketers are going after a share of this newly-formed billion dollar market with new and innovative products, including Google, Bing, Facebook and a host of location-based apps.

Google was forced to confirm the existence of Google Offers in late January when Mashable broke the news, citing confidential sources. Marissa Mayer, Google VP-consumer products, officially confirmed the new product offering with a keynote speech at SXSW detailing the search giant’s plans to offer a prepaid deals program that would compete with local deals giant Groupon, which the search engine failed to acquire late last year.

In November, Facebook launched Facebook Deals, which lets businesses offer discounts to Facebook users. Now, the world’s largest social network will work with local businesses on a Groupon-like offering, which presumably means daily deals and discounts. This marks another social networking area that Facebook wants to conquer.

In the coming weeks, Facebook will allow users in Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, San Francisco and San Diego to buy deals through Facebook and share them with friends. Facebook sales' team will bring deals to local merchants and will also source deals through third-party networks like Tippr, Gilt City and Pop Sugar City.

In early March, Microsoft announced the launch of a new Bing Deals section on its desktop and mobile website. Rather than offer any money-saving offers itself, Bing Deals will give users the convenience of single site sourcing by aggregating 200,000 offers in over 14,000 cities and towns across the US. The deal search feature on Bing’s mobile website is location aware via GPS, allowing users to find the best offers within a few blocks of their current location. On the desktop version of Bing, deals are linked to venues. Any location you search for that’s currently offering money off will display a green Deal icon, linking through to details. With so many daily deal services out there now, being able to search for them through a unified, user-friendly interface like Bing will offer a major benefit to time-strapped consumers. Yahoo launched a similar service in November last year.

According to daily blogs from SXSW, even the little guys are moving aggressively in the local deals area. Loopt introduced its new Push Deals, a service for local retailers to sell limited inventory over the course of hours. While Groupon offers deals within 24-hour periods for use over longer periods, merchants can send out Loopt Reward Alerts to get customers to take immediate advantage and drive them to their retail location. This means that if you’re walking by a restaurant and it’s a slow night, they can hit a button to send out a notification to give you a deal to come in. This works on a network like Loopt (as opposed to Foursquare) because the app uses background location to keep track of you.

Another location-based app, SCVNGR, is also jumping into the market with a new service called LevelUp. These deals have different tiers -- everyone gets the same deal the first time around, but you can unlock a sweeter deal on the second visit and one that's sweeter still on the third. "The goal is to turn newcomers into regulars," said SCVNGR founder Seth Priebatsch during his keynote. SCVNGR touts the real beauty of LevelUp for its merchants as retention. Their execs point out that Groupon has built a great tool for acquisition to get new bodies through the door. But that model has proven easy to copy. As they described their goal, the daily deals crown will likely belong to whichever startup can figure out how to get those bodies coming back as repeat customers at regular prices.

Retaining its own customers is already a huge focus for Groupon. They plan to keep merchants and customers coming back through old-fashioned service and CRM tools. Google Deals is also tweaking the model in an attempt to turn users into repeat customers. The first visit doesn't automatically turn on a discount or offer -- customers have to check in multiple times to gain "Regular," "VIP" or "Guru" status before they can claim the discount. The experiment is only during SXSW for now, but Ms. Mayer said Google plans to expand nationally.

Foursquare has offered merchants deals through its app for some time now, but new features also demonstrate their focus on retaining customers. During the conference, Foursquare has partnered with American Express to tie transactional data to check-ins and customer behavior. Conference goers can link their AmEx cards to their Foursquare accounts so that when they check-in to a participating Austin business, the credit card automatically loads with bonus cash to go toward a purchase. The deal also means merchants can see transactional data through their analytics tools. For example, they can see that the top 20% of customers tend to check-in most frequently, or like one type of deal over another.

How big is the potential for the daily deals market? Well, if Groupon’s rejection of a reported $6 billion offer from Google wasn’t enough for them, they may know something we don’t.

What do you think? Are daily deals a part of your marketing planning?

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

MarketMix: 2011 - President’s Quick Take

2011-03-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

We had a great turnout at MarketMix 2011 and I was excited to see so many new faces. By far my favorite part of PSAMA is getting to interact with our Marketing Community. Seeing so many diverse companies and industries sharing marketing best practices is what we’re all about.

Speaking of best practices, here are my quick takeaways from the three Keynote Sessions from PEMCO, Seattle sports teams and Virgin America.

I’ll never look at a quarter the same way again. Using a simple 25-cent piece, Rod Brooks told us a great story about how you need to think beyond the obvious and apply it to your business. His analogy was that the heads and tails of the quarter are obvious, but the edge of the quarter is there as well, yet not as obvious. His point - sometimes looking beyond the obvious produces better results. Using that principal I found an additional takeaway. Don’t just tell your customers about your company, show them who you are and what you can do for them.
Do we need a Knitting SIG? Gregg Greene of the Seattle Mariners told us about the power of finding sub-groups of your customers and creating special promotions for that group. So, they created Stitch ‘N Pitch nights where knitters or other needle art enthusiasts could enjoy a baseball game together and attracted over 2,500 knitters to the ballpark.
Date your potential partners before you begin a relationship. It may seem like a no-brainer once you read it, but Virgin America sets up “chemistry meetings” with potential partners. Meet with partners even just over coffee to talk about your ideas and categories of interest. If you didn’t enjoy the meeting or found little synergy then you should rethink the partnership.

In addition, I wanted to take a moment to showcase some of the great takeaways attendees were tweeting at MarketMix.

DebraWilliamson
Integrating social media: @Clarisonic asked fans on FB and Twitter to create jingle, then made videos fans could vote on. #marketmix

SandraSullivan
Don't overlook the blog! Blog should be the hub of your SM assets; it's your long form /thought leader platform - @bcahill #marketmix

EDGLENN
Russell Sparkman, Content is NOT king. Treat it like gold ~ a valuable asset; there's always a cost involved. #MarketMix

Buzzbeecompany
Good lesson: What you think is your specialty might not be what your customers like about you: #marketmix

Jessieulrich
User generated advertising - we've moved from a downloading culture to an uploading one. #MarketMix

KMRetherford
Exhausted after a long day at #MarketMix yesterday, but got some awesome #networking in!

Thanks again to our attendees and sponsors at MarketMix 2011. It may be MarketingMadness out there but I believe we inspired at least one good marketing idea for every attendee.

All the best,

Rebecca Adler
President - Puget Sound Chapter
American Marketing Association

P.S. We’re working on getting all the presentations from the sessions to distribute to our members. So please stay tuned!

Don't Miss MarketMix 2011 on Wednesday

2011-03-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

Join PSAMA and SDMA for MarketMix 2011—the biggest, most innovative marketing conference in the Northwest. Here you’ll learn how to combine the right talent with the best online and offline marketing tools to orchestrate a trophy-winning strategy.

Last year's event was a great success, and this year promises to be even greater with attendees from over 120 companies, keynote speakers from PEMCO, Virgin America, Seattle sports teams, twenty-one (21) breakout sessions on product marketing, mobile marketing and social marketing, and all-day exhibits.

Plus, we have a totally new way to network - sign up now for Structured 1-on-1 Networking when you register at www.marketmix2011.com.

Don't miss it. Sign up now.

Click here to see a short video of last year's event.

Creating raving fans through loaf love.

2011-02-28T07:31:00.000-08:00

If you missed last week's PSAMA Luncheon presentation by Tillamook Cheese and Henry V Events marketing execs, you missed hearing a great story about a small brand making a big splash through experiential marketing. Here is a Guest Blog from Michelle Evans, Program and Audience Manager at Microsoft with her take on their program.

The Loaf Love Tour Experience
Bringing tasty cheese to the people

Here’s a challenge – how do you take a 102-year old brand, in a crowded commodity category and gain market share with an almost non-existent media budget?
For those of you not familiar with Tillamook, it’s a tiny farmer-owned cooperative. Until recently, they were only in the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho but they’ve got lofty goals to move into some new markets – and are taking on the big guys with a clever and effective integrated Loaf Love Experience tour (see video and home page here).

OK, so this is a very small underdog brand. Why should big brands pay attention? Answer – because they are kicking some major butt and gaining attention with smart, scrappy marketing that works.

Lesson #1: Know thy customer.
Tillamook wants moms. They know that moms are the primary driver of grocery purchase decisions, but they also know that moms are heavily influenced by ‘everyone else’ in the house. The marketing strategy was to engage moms in a fun, family-friendly manner that gets mom and ‘everyone else’ to try the cheese and have a fun brand experience.

The strategy this team came up with was to create the 1966 restored VW ‘Loaf Love Buses’ that are the same color as a baby loaf of medium cheddar cheese. What a hit! Kids and adults alike love these buses and flock to take photos with them and take a turn behind the wheel.

Lesson #2: Give ‘em a voice.
So you’ve created a great brand experience and you have newly-minted brand fans. What next? Find out where they are online and give ‘em a platform to continue the love fest. Tillamook created a Facebook page that saw a surge in 100,000 new engaged fans in the past 12 months. They also have a strong presence on Twitter, Flickr and YouTube – over 60% of the content shared online is from fans.

Lesson #3: Leverage retail and get ‘em to buy.
Hype and fans are great, but what does that mean to the bottom line? Tillamook wouldn’t share any specific numbers, but hinted that the results were very, very (wink, wink) good. So good, in fact, they are extending the Tour this year into additional markets and expect to significantly increase the number of tour stops due to the success of last year’s test.

Results?

Last year, they had over 500,000 samples given out during their tour.
Grocery stores sold out of Tillamook cheese during event stops.
Coupon redemption rate of 15 – 25% (against an industry standard of 5 – 6%).
Growth of over 100,000 fans on Facebook.
Influential press contacts through Twitter whisper campaigns resulting in very positive press stories (no specific metrics given).
Record participation in Tillamook sponsored cooking events.
Grocery stores actively pursuing Tillamook and offering ad spend, in-store displays and increasing their orders of cheese.

Strong results for a tiny brand boot-strapping it around the US. The piece I found most intriguing, though, was how authentic and fun they’ve made these events. They’ve successfully touched their customers on an emotional level that is resonating and driving sales in a category many would find dull, crowded and uninspiring.

- Michelle Evans, Microsoft Corporation

Meet Rod Brooks, MarketMix MVP Speaker

2011-02-25T13:37:00.000-08:00

In advance of our MarketMix 2011 all-day marketing conference on March 9, Hakan Soderbom has been interviewing some of our key note speakers. He just posted Part 2 of his interview with Rod Brooks, VP and Chief Marketing Officer of PEMCO. Take a few moments to read this interesting interview and hear Rod's reflections on how to succeed in business and in life.

Morning coffee with Rod Brooks, part 2
Posted on February 25, 2011 by Hakan Soderbom
This is the second article in a multi-part interview with Rod Brooks, VP and CMO of PEMCO Insurance.

Looking back at Rod’s career I wondered if there was any one key career enabler that he could identify. He nodded, and in his characteristic style he started telling a story from his early career as a marketing professional. READ MORE

Mobile Tagging grows up. More marketers finding creative ways to turn smart phones into sales tools.

2011-02-21T10:14:00.000-08:00

When Best Buy added QR codes to the product fact tags in all their U.S. retail stores last September, it made them the first national retailer in the US to acknowledge the future potential of mobile tagging. Since then, we’ve begun to see a virtual explosion of new and creative ways to use the two-dimensional bar codes to enhance the marketing efforts of retailers and other businesses.

Some grocery stores are now using QR codes in the meat department to provide a wine recommendation for the tenderloin on sale, or to add a QR code with a recipe on an end aisle display. In both cases, using QR codes offers the potential to not only increase sales, but also to engage their customer in a way that builds brand loyalty without the façade of inflated price penalties for not using a shoppers card for that store.

The real estate industry is beginning to discover the selling advantages of replacing flyers on a lawn sign with a mobile tag that is never out of stock, and providing an on-site video tour wherever the QR code is placed. Tech savvy commercial real estate brokers are using QR codes to provide a 24/7 virtual salesperson to vacant retail storefronts. By scanning the 2D bar code, the reader is taken to a site with all occupancy, costs and local code details on the space

Now on newsstands, the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition contains QR codes throughout the issue that provide access to extras such as videos, outtakes from photo shoots, interviews and personal profile data on models as well as additional information on the swimsuits that are featured in the issue. Readers are able to share what they find through social networks. Readers can also download the Swimsuit Mobile application by scanning codes found in the magazine. The codes are also featured online through the various websites associated with the magazine. Time officials see QR codes as an opportunity to revive the print medium by offering a way to provide more versatility for advertisers than the iPad and other tablets, which many are hailing as the future of the print medium.

When the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools posted an abstract black-and-white square as its Facebook status update last week with no accompanying explanation, responses ranged from Huh? to Hurrah! depending on the users knowledge and use of their smart phone. In this case, the QR code led the smart-phone-savvy reader to an online schools survey.

QR codes to become an integral part of marketing in US.
Many tech experts and bloggers believe QR codes are on their way to becoming marketing and sales tools as ubiquitous as Facebook or texting and as familiar to US consumers as they already are to people who live in Japan and Europe.

MediaPost recently reported that 57 percent of Facebook and Twitter users said they have scanned a mobile bar code at least once in the past year, while as many as 40 percent had done so five or more times in the past year. A survey by Scanbuy found that mobile bar code usage jumped 700 percent in 2010 compared with 2009, with a big uptick during the Christmas shopping season when big-box retailers like Best Buy started adding the codes to their product packaging.

QR codes add another way for marketers to engage customers, but compatibility issues may hinder acceptance.
AT&T launched its own proprietary technology in August that requires the download of a free AT&T reader to scan. Microsoft has developed its own tags and compatible tag readers. A host of freebie websites have multiplied online that allow novice users to create their own unique alphanumeric embedded square bar codes by entering the data they want bar code swipers to be directed to.

With the resulting mix of codes and code-readers, and the variety of smart-phone systems — iPhone and Android, for example, are sold embedded with a different reader — one challenge of more widespread use is overcoming compatibility issues.

Robert Russell, AT&T's Atlanta-based mobility product management marketing director, said that global discussions are already under way to make the use of bar codes more standard. AT&T's scanner, he said, is able to read the three most widespread types of 2D codes.

"A lot of what's being discussed is how to make this ecosystem more standard," said Russell, speaking from Barcelona, Spain, where the Mobile World Congress was convening recently with standardization of mobile reading technologies part of the discussion.

Bar code information offers new potential for targeted marketing.
One advantage for marketers is the ability to gather even more data that will enable companies to keep tabs on who's using the bar codes. "Every time a code gets scanned, it brings 20 to 30 different metrics associated with the consumer, from the type of operating system being used (in the phone) to other things a consumer has voluntarily decided to enter into the scanner's settings," such as gender, age or other demographic information to create a user profile, Russell said.

Where QR codes go from here is limited only by the imagination of the marketer. Want more info and ideas? Dan Smigrod, CEO and Chief IDEAologist at GREAT!, a promotions agency in Atlanta, has several good posts on how to use QR codes. Follow this link to see his thoughts on ways to use this innovative technology to grow your business.

What’s happening with your business? Anyone want to share a cool new way to use QR codes?

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

Groupon Super Bowl spots. Bad taste or hidden agenda?

2011-02-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, Groupon Chief Executive Andrew Mason pulled the plug on three controversial ads from Crispin, Porter & Bogusky, the most notable featuring actor Timothy Hutton who makes light of Tibet’s human rights issues by touting a discount offer on Groupon:

“Mountainous Tibet - one of the most beautiful places in the world. This is Timothy Hutton. The people of Tibet are in trouble, their very culture in jeopardy. But they still whip up an amazing fish curry. And since 200 of us bought on Groupon.com we’re getting $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15 at a Himalayan restaurant in Chicago.”

As Scott Austin noted in a Wall Street Journal article, “It’s not clear yet whether Groupon sought controversy for its Super Bowl commercial to gain publicity, but either way the venture capital-backed daily deal site sure got it.”

If you were tweeting at the time the ad ran, the response was almost instantaneous . . . and almost universally negative. Twitter comments about the ad at #chalktalk and other hashtags included these not so positive descriptors – stupid, offensive, insensitive, poor taste, insulting, atrocious, embarrassing, hateful, most offensive thing I’ve seen all day, and several others that weren’t as nice or accepting.

According to BuzzStudy.com, Groupon had been running 90% positive comments in January, but immediately after the ad ran, the buzz was 60% negative.

To make matters worse, the Groupon CEO posted a blog a day later calling the ads a “spoof” to explain the ads and try to spin the conversation back to positive.

Our ads highlight the often trivial nature of stuff on Groupon when juxtaposed against bigger world issues, making fun of Groupon. Why make fun of ourselves? Because it’s different – ads are traditionally about shameless self promotion, and we’ve always strived to have a more honest and respectful conversation with our customers. We would never have run these ads if we thought they trivialized the causes – even if we didn’t take them as seriously as we do, what type of company would go out of their way to be so antagonistic?

At last count, his explanation had received 856 Facebook shares, 870 retweets, and 254 comments, most of them a continuation of negative feelings about the ad, and about the company trying to convince the public that we just didn’t get the humor of the satire.

If you attended the PSAMA Chalk Talk on Thursday night at Fox Sports Bar & Grill, you heard a continuation of the universal negative reaction from the Seattle ad community.

So, on Friday, Groupon pulled the plug.

Now, here’s the question I want to ask our readers. Is any publicity good publicity?

Groupon execs made the decision to advertise in the Super Bowl because they felt that while word-of-mouth and online search had generated strong growth in brand recognition, “a ton of people still hadn’t heard of Groupon, so we decided to . . . invade the rest of the world with a proper Super Bowl commercial.”

According to one source, Groupon added over 50,000 new users immediately following their ads. For a week, Groupon was one of the top trending topics on Twitter, and a Google search on “Groupon Super Bowl ad” turns up over 10 million results.

Several bloggers are now calling the ad a “smart move”. They cite the size of the response and a feeling that the public’s initial negative reaction is often followed by a short memory. Plus, as one pundit said “they want good deals”. One blogger felt that “Friday’s mea culpa by the Groupon CEO might give many detractors the excuse they need to forgive and forget.”

Groupon got a massive boost in name recognition. Was it an honest mistake? Or was it all a ploy to create controversy in order to become water cooler conversation?

What do you think?

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

3 Disappointments That Interrupted a Great Game

2011-02-07T09:51:00.001-08:00

By now, all the major (and minor) media outlets and pundits have weighed in with their take on Super Bowl ads, and, as usual, there is no shortage of scorecards. So I’m going to avoid the traditional Best/Worst approach in this post.

If you want to hear what some of our local Seattle marketing pros thought, I invite you to join the PSAMA Chalk Talk: Super Bowl Ad Replay on Thursday night at the Fox Sports Bar & Grill.

Here are three things that I found the most disappointing this year:

1. What's happened to Pepsi?
Over the years, Pepsi Super Bowl ads have been some of my favorites. Their not-so-subtle jabs at Coca Cola were always enjoyable. And they were always built around a product benefit of “better taste”, which made them even more powerful, in my opinion.

All three Pepsi Max spots in this year’s game were bombs. The first spot “Love Hurts” focused on a girlfriend’s heavy-handed and mean-spirited attempts to get her boyfriend to diet. They almost had me at the park bench when the product finally becomes the hero of the spot. But when the she beans the innocent jogger, I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

The totally unlikeable couple on a “First Date” also missed the mark for cleverness and humor. And, most importantly, for giving me any reason to want to try a Pepsi Max. I think it is one of those spots that looked good on a storyboard, but just didn’t translate well on film.

And I’m over the humor of a nerd getting revenge on an obnoxious preppy with a can in the crotch from a “Torpedo Cooler”. Didn’t Bud Light do that spot already?

2. I miss the Clydesdales.
Last year, InBev announced they were dropping the Clydesdales from the Super Bowl and then relented after a Facebook campaign convinced them the viewers still wanted to see them. Were the Clydesdales even in that totally overdone “Wild West” spot this year? Some of the best Super Bowl commercials over the past few years have been built around the beauty and majesty of the horses.

I have loved the horses playing football from past years. The cleverness of those spots was doubly fun, and memorable, with the unexpected humor of a zebra looking at a replay monitor or a streaker goat running on to the field.

The great use of the theme music from “Rocky” with a Clydesdale working out to win a spot on the team still sticks out in my mind. It is also ranked as one of the best of all time in the annual CBS poll.

And who can forget the cuteness (and schmaltz) of the Dalmatian puppy that gets left behind by the firemen, only to have the last laugh when he sticks out his tongue at his sibling while riding on the Budweiser wagon.

Budweiser paid a lot of money for a spot that I certainly won’t remember.

3. What happened to the idea of actually selling product benefits?
It’s not that unusual to have advertisers go overboard with production values or to go for a laugh instead of featuring a product benefit in Super Bowl ads. But overall, this year’s crop seemed to have less of a sales message than ever.

The Kia Optima “Epic Ride” and Coca-Cola “Animated Dragon” spots were much ado about nothing. But I’m sure they both cost a pretty penny.

I guess Bridgestone figured that everyone already knew everything about their tires, so they could spend 27 of their 30 seconds of multi-million dollar air time on a tired joke of accidentally hitting “Reply All” on an email.

The Doritos “House Sitter” spot brought the goldfish and grandpa back to life, but is that their product message?

Bud Light’s parody of HGTV with their “Kitchen Make-Over” spot was not nearly as clever as the dogs playing poker scene in their “Dog Sitting” spot, but neither had anything to do with a product message.

Thank goodness for VW. Their “Darth Vader” spot was a winner. It had cuteness and likability, and still managed to integrate a product feature of remote starting into the spot. And, I guess I should mention the Doritos “Finger Licking” spot as one that was built around the taste of the product, even though I question the “taste” of the spot.

Every year, I want the Super Bowl ads to be great. And every year, there are winners and losers. It seems to me that more lost than won this year. Even the attempts to capitalize on last year's winners fell flat. I'm talking to you E-Trade, CareerBuilder and Snickers.

This year, the real winner was the game (if you’re a Packers fan).

Oh well, maybe next year.

Anybody out there have an opinion they want to share?

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

Is It Time to 'Mobilize' Your Site?

2011-01-30T23:26:00.000-08:00

Last week, I wrote about some of the reasons that many people feel 2011 will finally see mobile marketing become a mainstream marketing tool in the U.S. With more people accessing websites through mobile web browsers, it might be time to redesign your site or create a new one with mobile users in mind.

Millions of consumers and business professionals are ditching their basic cell phones in favor of more advanced cell phones and smartphones that combine the functions of a PDA, cell phone and web browser. As reported last week, mobile phones and devices have increasingly become an integral part of our everyday lives, and mobile has become the “first screen” in many of our lives. When mobile first came on the scene, it was the third screen - behind TV and the Internet. Now with the advances in technology, and the ubiquitous use of text messages and apps, mobile has become the first screen.

Mobile web access is something your customers, no matter who they are, trust and use throughout the day.

Interestingly, that same message was presented by Brian Forth, President of SITECRAFTING at a South Sound PSAMA meeting last week. His presentation and Q&A made a strong case for adapting your native site for mobile and featured real world case study examples of why “mobilizing” your website now is a good business move.

Is your website ready for customers that want to access it from a mobile device?
If it's not ready, now's the time to learn all you can about who your audience is and how they access your site. Work with your technology professional to analyze your traffic logs and see what types of browsers are accessing your site. Do you see mobile traffic? Take the time to poll some of your customers about the likelihood of them accessing your website and others on their smartphones. Once you've decided a mobile site is right for you, it's time to create one.

Native vs. mobile web apps.
Brian made a strong case for developing a mobile version of your current native site vs. developing a mobile web app. He reviewed the time and cost to develop and maintain multiple app platforms for iOS, Android OS, Symbian, Windows OS, and RIM/Blackberry OS to be able to speak to all smartphones and tablets. Despite the well-publicized Apple App Store and its 330,000 apps, the iPhone only accounts for 32% of users. By contrast, adapting a native app requires one change that many can accommodate within their current content management system (CMS) and their content is available to all users.

Creating a Mobile-Optimized Site
If you have a very large website with thousands of pages, it might not be necessary to configure your entire site for mobile access. A professional web developer can code your site so that when users access your main website, different content is served to web browsers depending on whether they're mobile. If you visit Google on your PC or Mac and a mobile web browser, you'll find two different screens. On your computer's web browser you'll find the full Google site. On your smartphone's web browser you'll find minimal content--a simple search box and not much more.

Brian showed an example of how Harrison Medical Center used analytics from their current site to determine the reason users were most often visiting their site. The data showed that wait times for various Harrison clinics were a primary reason for many mobile users to access their site. They simplified their mobile page to just present this important data but continued to offer the option to download the full site, if desired. It was a great example of how to quickly provide mobile users with the information they most wanted to access.

What's Next? It’s time to look for creative ways to appeal to the mobile user.
Think about your business, your website and your customers. Consider whether you have--or should have--content that mobile customers would want to access. For example, Brian talked about the Starbucks Card mobile app and how it provides mobile users the ability to pay and replenish their card balance on their mobile device. Alaska Air is now offering a mobile boarding pass app where the user passes their mobile device across a scanner and avoids the need for paper ticketing and boarding passes.

QR codes offer convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging) and will provide many new opportunities for creative ways marketers can build customer loyalty. Google's mobile Android OS and Nokia’s Symbian OS support the use of QR codes by natively including a barcode scanner. In the Apple iOS, a QR code reader is not natively included, but over 50 free Apps are available with reader and metadata browser URI redirection capability.

It’s time for marketers to recognize that mobile matters. It’s time to determine if you need to “mobilize” your content.

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

Want to learn more about how to improve your marketing? Visit MarketMix 2011 on March 9. Visit www.marketmix2011.com for more details on speakers, topics and how to register.

Marketing in 2011 – Mobile Finally Grows Up

2011-01-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

The cover story in the January 30 issue of Marketing News predicts which marketing trends and issues will be big this year, and presents a solid argument that this actually could be the year that mobile marketing finally becomes mainstream in the United States.

For years, marketing prognosticators have been saying that mobile marketing would reach a critical mass, so when I saw the headline This Time It’s Different, I was curious as to why their editors felt that 2011 would be different.

Some of the key facts and findings that support their conclusion are as follows.

82% of U.S. consumers now own a cell phone, according to Forester Research. Tablets such as the iPad will reach 54.8 million units in 2011, according to Gartner Inc. and annual global tablet devices will reach 81 million by 2015 according to Juniper Research.
But it’s not just the boxcar numbers that support their contention that 2011 will be different. Mobile phones and devices have increasingly become an integral part of our everyday lives, and Alex Campbell, CEO of Vision Media calls mobile the “first screen” in our lives. When mobile first came on the scene, it was the third screen - behind TV and the Internet. Now with the advances in technology, and the ubiquitous use of text messages and apps, mobile has become the first screen. It’s something your customers, no matter who they are, trust and use throughout the day.

The explosion of 3G and 4G devices, growth in data plans, and the resulting acceptance of smartphones are three key drivers for mobile growth.
According to recent comScore data, among mobile subscribers 13 and older, nearly half (48.9%) have 3G or 4G devices, up 23% from 2009. Their data also show that 33.4% of subscribers have some sort of data plan, and among those consumers, 83.9% have unlimited data plans. They now estimate that more than a quarter of U.S. consumers have smartphones, a 68% increase from 2009.

Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android are improving customers experiences on mobile phones, which will boost industry growth.
When you hear the phrase “there’s an app for that”, it’s true. There are now almost 300,000 third-party applications officially available on the Apple App Store, and last week Apple announced they had reached over 9.9 billion downloads. It’s becoming second nature to shop, do research on products and services, and communicate with your friends throughout the day because the new phones are so easy to use.

Spending on mobile advertising is expected to grow more than six fold over the next four years.
Spending is expected to reach nearly $2.55 billion, according to eMarketer, a New York-based digital marketing research firm. Along with consumer’s increasing mobile usage, growing ad spending on mobile will help to fuel its growth. Julie Ask, a vice president and principal analyst in mobile and telecom at Forrester, feels that “the larger screens have resulted in an increase in media consumption, and that generally leads to more advertising.” A recent survey by the Mobile Marketing Association of 200 executives found that 24% of respondents said they would more than double or even triple their investment in mobile advertising in 2011 compared with 2010.

Other factors cited include the growth in “tools you can use” to aid your marketing efforts.
Mobile payment technology, mobile gift lists and mobile gift cards will open more opportunities for savvy marketers to take advantage of mobile as an important part of their marketing plans. Many marketers are now experimenting with text messaging to alert shoppers to deals, and mobile apps have moved beyond games and GPS to include everything from recipes to tips for parents to teach their kids smart eating habits. Another growing trend is location-based marketing, and companies like Foursquare allow users to find special deals while in-store where they can make an immediate purchase.

Analytics will provide the final piece of the puzzle to marketers.
Michael Becker, managing director for the Mobile Marketing Association calls analytics “the connective tissue of mobile to traditional media”. The ability to track direct sales or indirectly influenced sales through mobile is expected to grow significantly and allow marketers to monitor sales activity in real time. With increased recognition of the valuable potential of having an interactive mobile device in the hands of consumers at a time when they are requesting support from you will entice more marketers to find ways to leverage that capability.

MMA’s Becker concluded the article with the statement that “mobile is where the customers are. It’s as simple as that. Old world marketing was about attitudes, awareness and usage. New world marketing is putting the focus on making sure that you, as a marketer, are there at a time of a consumer’s expressed need.”

With mobile marketing, you can respond to your customers when they need you. No matter where they are at the time.

What about you and your company? If 2011 is, indeed, when mobile finally grows up, will you be there when the time is right?

NOTE: AMA members can read the complete mobile marketing story, as well as predictions and trends on behavioral targeting and online privacy, in the 1/30 issue of Marketing News. And you can find more on mobile marketing through articles, podcasts and webcasts at MarketingPower.com.

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

Measuring Social Engagement is a Journey

2011-01-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

At the January PSAMA luncheon, Sean O’Driscoll, CEO of Ants Eye View, gave the audience an in-depth look at the various stages a company must go through to truly embrace and ultimately measure social media and its impact on their business. He described the process of implementing and measuring social media as a “journey” whose destination is to become a fully-engaged enterprise that creates a measurable impact on brand health and business through customer engagement.

The journey begins with an understanding and acceptance that to compete in today’s marketplace, a company must invest in long-term relationships with their consumers.

There are several key factors that support this conclusion.

Technology has lowered the barrier to competitive entry, and competition is more intense than ever.
Consumer trust has shifted dramatically away from corporate America, and has been replaced by a heavy reliance on peers, friends and even strangers online.
The adoption of digital tools and social technologies has changed expectations in consumers’ minds – they now expect engagement and service in real-time.
Consistently engaging your customers requires marketers to be in the places where they are, not necessarily where you want them to be.

The journey for an enterprise to become fully engaged in social media typically has five stages.

Stage 1 can be described as Traditional, where a company is focused on traditional marketing tactics and is ambivalent to online conversations about their brand. Surprisingly, there are still many companies at this stage; where social media is not even on the executive’s radar.

Stage 2 is described by Sean as Dabbling in Silos, where socially active mavericks within an organization begin to monitor conversations but there are no formal teams in place. At this stage, the customer data they gather is not connected with business goals.

At Stage 3, the company begins to Operationalize their social media effort through an empowered team run by a proven leader. Listening to their customers begins to generate implications and provide a baseline for metrics, and the company begins to explore tools to consolidate the data.

Real Results begin to surface in Stage 4 when channels start to yield impactful results and systems and tools are optimized. At this stage, employees in all departments are actively engaged and competent, and company executives are invested in analytics.

Stage 5 is where a company is a Fully Engaged Enterprise in social media and the effect on business outcomes and the organization are substantial and measurable. Business outcomes include the ability to bring products and services to market with built-in demand, manage risk better, and result in more efficient research, development, marketing and support operations.

At this stage, the organization sees increased revenue and loyalty, and customer engagement is a part of the company DNA. Importantly, the entire employee base has a 360 view of the customer and can anticipate their needs. Sean cited Starbucks as an example of a company that has reached Stage 5 through their use of social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and how they listen and respond to customers through their My Starbucks Idea site.

The measurement journey also moves through stages and is the hardest part of the social media equation.

The four stages of measurement move from merely gathering data to using that data to evaluate brand health and business impact. The goal is to show the connection between online customer engagement and business value, but measurement requires programs that are scaled, predictable and resourced.

Sean identified four approaches for measuring social engagement – measuring behavior, monitoring claimed behavior, testing alternatives, and data mining.

Two examples of Behavioral tactics he discussed were using coupon codes specific to social media channels (Dell Outlet) and developing social media URLs to build online communities combined with embedded up-sell/cross-sell ads (Intuit). These kinds of tactics work because they record actual product adoption, but don’t work when social media is “part” of the purchase process but not the last step. Sean used Amazon reviews as an example of people using social media for peer reviews, but then completing their actual purchase on alternate sites.

Monitoring Claimed behavior via customer panel research is a long-used method that provides some measure of the social media impact on brand health and business impact, but is always subject to skepticism because it is based on what people say they do without knowing if they have actually done what they say. Despite this obvious drawback, monitoring Claimed behavior can still be useful when other data is not available, and when measured over time to discern trends and consistency of response.

Testing tactics cited by Sean were A/B testing of specific websites with different engagement functionality or testing alternative Twitter messages for reach, click-thru and conversion. Testing alternatives provides a concrete comparison, but doesn’t work when sample sizes and data sets are too small to be reliable, or when you don’t have the time and resources to actively monitor and measure the results.

Data Mining on criteria such as matching community profile data to customer sales data and comparing to non-community customer sales, or cross-tabbing verbatim comments with customer satisfaction measures are proven tactics for measuring their impact on your business. However, the accuracy of the data and large data sets are prerequisites, and specialized expertise is required. Based on that, Sean felt Data mining was the most difficult tactic for most companies.

In response to audience questions, Sean felt that Claimed measurement was probably the most practical and beneficial for smaller companies with limited resources.

All in all, this session was a good overview of the social media landscape and was appreciated by all who attended. PSAMA members can get a complete copy of the presentation slides by visiting http://www.psama.org/ and accessing Archived Event Materials in the Members Only section of the site, or by visiting the Ants Eye View blog at www.antseyeview.com/blog.

Where are you on the social media journey?

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

2010 PR Lessons We All Can Learn From

2011-01-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

We all learned the importance of an effective PR crisis plan almost 30 years ago with the famous J&J tampering incident. But the harsh memories of the financial and housing crises, coupled with resentment toward government and a growing public mistrust of all business, make the importance of a PR crisis plan today more important than ever.

In today’s online world, the 24/7 instant news cycle and the swift response potential of a skeptical and increasing militant blogosphere, require that your crisis plan should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis so that it can be implemented on a moment’s notice. That’s why I thought it would be helpful to review three key PR mistakes that made headlines in 2010 and gave us these important lessons:

Make sure you have a spokesperson for the company that will be seen as honest, transparent and sympathetic by the public both on and off camera.
Don’t try to minimize the problem or ignore public perception, because perception is reality to the perceiver.
Be ready to move quickly and decisively to repair public trust in your brand, and find a way to give the public “permission to believe” you have resolved the issue at hand.

Tony Hayward wanted his life back . . . but what about the millions of Gulf Coast residents’ lives and livelihood his company’s negligence disrupted?

BP’s image suffered a major setback with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, yet BP responded fairly quickly with ads showing their efforts to clean up the mess and “do the right thing”. One early commercial featured then-CEO Tony Hayward with a pledge that taxpayers would not be footing the bill for clean-up. Despite public skepticism kept fresh by daily media updates on the massive spill and memories of the Exxon Valdez travesty, public opinion remained somewhat positive toward the BP brand.

When Mr. Hayward traveled to Louisiana to survey the damage first hand, his prepared statement began with an apology. “The first thing to say is I’m sorry,” he told reporters. Unfortunately, his unscripted comments in response to reporter’s questions destroyed whatever goodwill remained for BP. When asked what he would like to tell locals whose livelihoods had been affected, his response that “We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused their lives. There’s no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back.”

His answer angered locals and became a lead-in for news stories around the world. It wasn’t the first time that the British executive had caused anger with his comments. He had previously described the spill as “tiny” compared to the size of the ocean. He also asserted that the environmental impact of America’s biggest oil spill, and of the 950,000 gallons of toxic dispersant that have been used to treat it, would be “very, very modest.”

While the CEO is a natural, and normally good, choice as a primary spokesman during a major crisis, if he can’t be consistent as a reassurance to the public, he may not be the right fit. The key lessons learned in the BP story are to find a public face that can be empathetic and sympathetic to public concerns and who will be consistent and stay on script.

Steve Jobs tried to minimize the problem with the iPhone 4, and forgot an important CRM rule – the customer may not always be right, but ignoring their concerns is never a good idea.

Apple has had an unbelievable string of successes with the iPod, iPhone and iPad. But that streak ended when Consumer Reports said it would not recommend buying the iPhone 4 because its tests showed a hardware defect that caused the phone to lose reception when held a certain way.

Steve Jobs is thought to be one of the most savvy executives in U.S. business, but his refusal to accept that evaluation and his initial response that the problem was in the software and could be easily fixed was not his finest hour.

In a press briefing, Steve stated that “the iPhone 4 is using a very advanced new antenna system – a more advanced antenna than ever has shipped on a smartphone before." And, later in that same briefing, he said "looking at the data, we don't think we have a problem."

When negative comments continued to make news, Apple’s primary defense sought to transfer the problem to all phones. Official statements from Apple began by saying that “every phone's reception sucks when you hold it. Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone."

Eventually, Apple admitted the flaw and offered a free case to iPhone 4 users that alleviated the problem But this PR gaffe may have opened the door for Android phones to impact future sales. It certainly damaged the previously unassailable reputation and magic of the Apple brand.
The lesson here is obvious – always listen to your customers and if they are telling you something is a problem, don’t ignore their concerns.

Toyota initially drug their feet when faced with a quality issue, but when they finally responded, they focused on how they were changing their processes and introduced a new customer assurance program.

Toyota shook up the automotive world with a quality message that Detroit either ignored or could not match, and for 30+ years they enjoyed the benefits of that brand position. But in 2010, the car maker had to pay a $16.4 million fine for its failure to quickly disclose potential safety defects, and more recently was hit with $32.4 million in civil penalties for failing to properly disclose what it knew about safety defects. PR consultants say that Toyota was slow to respond and didn’t clearly explain the cause of the problem.

Experts now say that although Toyota has lost some market share, they are repairing their image with the help of ads that talk about their Star Safety Systems and showing that they are changing some processes that assign more engineers to monitor quality problems and extending time devoted to testing new models. Toyota execs now say that they are seeing the number of competitor trade-ins “returning to historic levels” and that customer loyalty shows “encouraging signs”.

The lesson here is to be prepared to respond on a moment’s notice, and don’t just say that you are fixing a problem, show your customers how you are doing it.

The overall lesson is that an unexpected corporate crisis is not a reason to panic . . . if you are prepared.

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting

PSAMA – 2010 in review

2010-12-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

2010 was another busy and great year for the Puget Sound American Marketing Association. We set long range plans for the Association, introduced a new brand identity, mission statement, and member communications strategy, had a record-setting, day-long marketing event in March, enjoyed free networking and special events throughout the year, began special South Sound meetings and events to broaden our impact across the region and saw informative luncheon presentations that will make us all better marketers.

Here are a few highlights of 2010:
January:
We kicked off the year with an informative luncheon presentation from Brooks Sports. Dave Larson, VP of Marketing, shared ways that “little guy” Brooks Sports beats the big guys by breaking through the clutter with targeted campaigns against “influencers” (i.e. dedicated runners). His presentation included an inside look at Brooks’ viral marketing campaigns, sponsorships and trade show presence.

February:
February 2010 started with our annual Super Bowl Ad Replay where members and guests swapped ideas and evaluations of Super Bowl commercials with a panel of local ad experts.

Later that month, at the February Executive Luncheon, Rod Brooks, CMO for PEMCO Insurance, gave a sold-out crowd an inside look at their “We’re a lot like you. A little different” campaign that turned into a great lesson in Marketing 101. Rod recounted the basic steps his marketing team took to identify and articulate their company culture, values and challenges that led to their positioning strategy to “own local”. Rod stressed to the audience that if you are going to say you are local, you’ve got to be local. PEMCO pays off that element of their strategy by sponsoring over 50 local community events throughout the state.

March:
In March, PSAMA and Seattle Direct Marketing Association (SDMA) joined forces for MarketMix 2010, a day-long powerhouse event that featured keynote addresses from marketing execs at Alaska Airlines, REI, and celebrity chef Tom Douglas, plus twelve breakout sessions with over 25 speakers and panelists sharing their insights on key marketing topics. The record crowd raved about the quality of the topics, speakers and overall event and has everyone looking forward to another great MarketMix in 2011.

Also in March, the PSAMA Healthcare SIG sponsored a luncheon featuring David Perry, Vice President of Marketing at Seattle Children’s Hospital. David gave the audience an inside look at the recent evolution of the Seattle Children’s brand and how his experience outside of health care helped make a difference in positioning marketing as a strategic priority with non-marketing executives -- health care administrators, clinicians, and researchers.

April:
At our April luncheon, we focused on the growing importance of mobile marketing with a panel discussion featuring Microsoft and T-Mobile execs. The discussion offered insights and ideas on how to begin adding mobile elements to your campaigns, plus how to bring mobile and social networks together for big audience impact.

In April we also introduced a new and improved PSAMA brand with these important improvements:

We unified our brand identity with a consistent look and messaging strategy across all touch points.
We clarified our purpose & positioning with this statement: The PSAMA exists to advance the careers of all marketing professionals in the Puget Sound. Where other organizations focus on specific segments of the marketing community, we provide participants with a broad perspective and connections to the region's largest, most diverse network of marketing professionals.
We simplified our communications & expanded our social networking options with our Tuesday Update, new PSAMA blog, an expanded presence on Facebook and Twitter, and a special LinkedIn group for PSAMA members to share thoughts and marketing tips with each other. Next up is an expanded website that will be easier to use and provide access to all PSAMA brand assets.

May:
Our May Executive Luncheon featured Phyllis Campbell of JPMorgan Chase on the challenges of converting the WAMU brand over to Chase during a financial crisis and in the face of the broad scale public disappointment of a failed brand that had been seen as a local marketing hero. Her insights on the importance of understanding the people and culture of the WAMU brand and the value of what she termed “doing the right thing” through community partnerships and philanthropy gave us all a greater appreciation for the size and complexity of the marketing task. Her presentation was an important reminder to all attendees of the importance of having a plan that looked to the future without ignoring the past.

June:
If you were fortunate enough to hear Anna Liota, CEO of Resultance at our June PSAMA luncheon meeting, you took a big step forward in learning the importance and how-to's of multi-generational communication. Anna gave the PSAMA audience an overview of the values, attitudes, beliefs, and motivational drivers of each of the four generations that are now present in the workforce - Traditionalists (1925 - 1945), Baby Boomers (1946 - 1964), Gen X (1965 - 1977) and Millennials ( 1978 - 1999). But more importantly, she gave the audience insight into how those belief systems developed and why it is important to understand them as managers, employees, peers and potential customers. Being able to communicate in a way that says "I know who you are" and "I know what you value", can be the difference between a successful relationship and a lost opportunity.

September:
PSAMA returned from our traditional summer hiatus with a luncheon presentation from Jerry Hayek, Group Marketing Manager at Microsoft and Brian Donaldson, Group Account Director at Wunderman. They gave a packed house an overview of the Office 2010 launch campaign with an overview of the challenges of introducing a new version of a product that is already in use by 80% of the world’s businesses. They then shared a clever use of viral marketing to “influence the influencers”, i.e. developers, technical decision makers, and other IT professionals by creating a fictional company – The Allure Bays Corp. (ABC), complete with web site, YouTube channel, Facebook page and Twitter account. The company name originates from an inside IT joke that few outside of the technical sphere would understand and appreciate. But that’s okay, since most of us were not their target. Who knew that Microsoft had a sense of humor?

October:
If you missed the October Executive Luncheon, you missed an opportunity to get an inside look at how some marketers are leveraging customer insight and marketing technology to grow their business. The presentation by Joel Book, Principal of the Marketing Research and Education Group at Exact Target, shared facts and figures on the growing power of email, social media and mobile marketing to attract customers and drive sales. His presentation featured real world case studies to demonstrate how email is being integrated with social media and mobile marketing to dramatically improve response rates.

November:
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos .com, gave a record PSAMA luncheon audience of over 300 attendees an inside look at his own company’s approach to customer service, and shared how his corporate philosophy of “Delivering Happiness” is, indeed, a route to building a long term sustainable business. Tony shared insights on how Zappos.com has built a corporate culture that promotes empowerment and dedication to the company that many companies can learn from.

Of course that's not all we did in 2010. We now have an active South Sound group meeting regularly, and continued to actively pursue collegiate chapters to attract tomorrow's professionals. And, our programming committee has been hard at work securing great speakers for 2011. Go to http://www.psama.org/ to learn more about upcoming events and to register for our January luncheon. And remember that as PSAMA members you have exclusive access to many of the presentations summarized in this post.

We're looking forward to a great year in 2011. We hope you are too!

- Don Morgan, Raindance Consulting