In 2009, probably not a day has gone by without some mention of the environment, climate change, green initiatives or emissions trading policy.
At the 2007 Federal election, when Labor came to power, the climate change attitudes of the main parties were all important. Most people had a point of view on the topic.
As marketers, what we have to be careful about is that this has turned out to be a moveable feast. If you decided company policy or tactics on climate change at the time of the election, maybe you need to think again. Things have moved on.
Recently, I put the following into Google:
“Saving the planet, one . . . at a time”.
There were 45,200,000 responses.
The top response was: “Saving the planet, one bag at a time.” The next was “saving the planet, one computer at a time.”
High up on page one of Google were also one “burger”, one “flush” one “water bottle”.
The obvious thing coming out of this little experiment is that the environment is an issue for business. And not just for the few who happen to be manufacturing plastic bags or plastic bottles. It’s an issue for every business.
Almost certainly, in your business, you have already addressed environmental issues in one way or another. My point is that things are moving. What you may have decided on and agreed last year, needs to be revisited.
And you need to study the “green consumer”. Green consumers are not all the same. If you think they’re all “young lefties”, think again. A survey by the American Association of Retired Persons found that 62% of people 55 and over buy green products.
Green consumers include people who are passionate, people who are sometimes green and people who are only now moving in that direction:
Passionate: An increasing number of people are seriously passionate about the environment. They are willing to pay more for the products they see as green. These people have negative attitudes towards products that pollute the environment and incorporate green practices on a regular basis.
Sometimes green: These people are thinking green more and more, but they don’t necessarily act green all the time.
Coming soon: These are consumers who don't behave or think along environmentally-conscious lines right now, but remain on the fence about key green issues. The strong trend for the last couple of years has been for members of this group to migrate to one of the above groups.
Of course, there are also people who are not thinking green at all, and you need to know how many of these are among your customers and prospects.
At the global and national level, it seems that people are tired of talk on climate change. They want action, and many are getting irritated by political groups who are not delivering.
In your business, you need to deliver. On the green issues relevant to your business, it’s important to be in tune with where people are at right now.
25 August 2009
So what do you expect?
In all marketing, and especially in any online initiative, it is important to manage expectations.
One sure way to lose people is to tell them one thing, and then do something else.
“Managing expectations” tends to be one of those terms that people pay lip service to. Everyone is in favour, but what is actually being done to make it happen?
If you have a newsletter, you need to let subscribers know exactly what they can expect from you BEFORE they opt in to your program:
> tell subscribers exactly what will happen;
> explain the timing;
> give step by step instructions on what they need to do to get what they want; and
> tell them exactly what you will do with their data.
Immediate contact: It can be a confirmation email, a thank you or a welcome, but whatever it is and whatever you call it, it’s essential. It should be triggered automatically as soon as someone opts in.
Briefly, in positive, clear terms, it has to give subscribers all the details they need, including:
· what is expected of them; and
· what you will do.
More and more in the online space, users expect to be treated as individuals. So if it is possible, offer multiple communication channels and different message frequencies as well as different email formats.
Warning: Don’t ask for information you know you’ll never use. If you ask for it, people will expect you to use it. If you ask for my favourite holiday destination, I expect to receive something about it.
Not new, but important: When managing expectations, it’s also a good idea to under-promise and over-deliver.
Of course, you’ve heard this before. It falls into the category of “attention to detail”. What is the promise you are making? Check it now. Then make sure you deliver that, and more.
One sure way to lose people is to tell them one thing, and then do something else.
“Managing expectations” tends to be one of those terms that people pay lip service to. Everyone is in favour, but what is actually being done to make it happen?
If you have a newsletter, you need to let subscribers know exactly what they can expect from you BEFORE they opt in to your program:
> tell subscribers exactly what will happen;
> explain the timing;
> give step by step instructions on what they need to do to get what they want; and
> tell them exactly what you will do with their data.
Immediate contact: It can be a confirmation email, a thank you or a welcome, but whatever it is and whatever you call it, it’s essential. It should be triggered automatically as soon as someone opts in.
Briefly, in positive, clear terms, it has to give subscribers all the details they need, including:
· what is expected of them; and
· what you will do.
More and more in the online space, users expect to be treated as individuals. So if it is possible, offer multiple communication channels and different message frequencies as well as different email formats.
Warning: Don’t ask for information you know you’ll never use. If you ask for it, people will expect you to use it. If you ask for my favourite holiday destination, I expect to receive something about it.
Not new, but important: When managing expectations, it’s also a good idea to under-promise and over-deliver.
Of course, you’ve heard this before. It falls into the category of “attention to detail”. What is the promise you are making? Check it now. Then make sure you deliver that, and more.
Looking at value into the future
In cities all around Tuscany over the past month, retailers everywhere have been closed for at least two weeks. In most cases three weeks. It’s the summer holidays and everyone heads to the beach.
The exception is the tourist section of Florence. With seven million visitors a year, that part of Florence is different. But for the rest of the retail sector, July was ‘sale’ time and August was (mostly) closed.
During the sales, figures like “50% off” have been commonplace. And 70%. And 80%. You can’t help wondering how far they will go. Yet, despite the discounts, sales have been poor.
As unhappy economic conditions persist throughout Italy, retail is suffering here. But, for some of us, it is difficult to feel sorry for retailers. Customer service is rock bottom. There are exceptions, of course, but the general standard is much worse than in Australia.
It seems so crazy to have a sign on the window screaming “70% off” and then ignore people when they walk in. Or just keep talking to a girlfriend on the phone. But that’s how it works around Tuscany.
In view of that, it is no surprise that turning to the internet to find the best deal is becoming ever more popular.
Research within the last few months by the global research consultancy, Penn, Schoen & Berland, identifies what the researchers call “recession shoppers” or “online value hunters”.
In the study, these types of consumers claimed that as economic situations worsened, they increasingly looked to the internet to find the best deals. Now, as the Italian economy seems to be in an ongoing downward spiral, online shoppers are focusing on value — in quality, price, convenience and time — making “value” the new core theme among online consumers.
The research uncovered these five interesting statistics:
> 72% of value hunters look for the best value regardless of brand;
> 51% of value hunters look for incentives when making online purchases;
> 63% of value hunters have purchased something online they wouldn’t have normally because of a special offer;
> 68% of online shoppers search for value in the form of coupons and special promotions; and
> 45% of value hunters purchase something online once a week or more.
What all this says for your business and your marketing is for you and your colleagues to work out.
No doubt you have already been building value into your offering. But one thing we can say for sure: the focus on value is not going away.
As well as giving attention to the short term, you may as well start thinking now about what you can do in the longer term to build more value into your product and/or service.
What you consider as “good value” today will almost certainly not excite buyers in the future. If you don’t start to think outside the square on this one, your competitors surely will.
The exception is the tourist section of Florence. With seven million visitors a year, that part of Florence is different. But for the rest of the retail sector, July was ‘sale’ time and August was (mostly) closed.
During the sales, figures like “50% off” have been commonplace. And 70%. And 80%. You can’t help wondering how far they will go. Yet, despite the discounts, sales have been poor.
As unhappy economic conditions persist throughout Italy, retail is suffering here. But, for some of us, it is difficult to feel sorry for retailers. Customer service is rock bottom. There are exceptions, of course, but the general standard is much worse than in Australia.
It seems so crazy to have a sign on the window screaming “70% off” and then ignore people when they walk in. Or just keep talking to a girlfriend on the phone. But that’s how it works around Tuscany.
In view of that, it is no surprise that turning to the internet to find the best deal is becoming ever more popular.
Research within the last few months by the global research consultancy, Penn, Schoen & Berland, identifies what the researchers call “recession shoppers” or “online value hunters”.
In the study, these types of consumers claimed that as economic situations worsened, they increasingly looked to the internet to find the best deals. Now, as the Italian economy seems to be in an ongoing downward spiral, online shoppers are focusing on value — in quality, price, convenience and time — making “value” the new core theme among online consumers.
The research uncovered these five interesting statistics:
> 72% of value hunters look for the best value regardless of brand;
> 51% of value hunters look for incentives when making online purchases;
> 63% of value hunters have purchased something online they wouldn’t have normally because of a special offer;
> 68% of online shoppers search for value in the form of coupons and special promotions; and
> 45% of value hunters purchase something online once a week or more.
What all this says for your business and your marketing is for you and your colleagues to work out.
No doubt you have already been building value into your offering. But one thing we can say for sure: the focus on value is not going away.
As well as giving attention to the short term, you may as well start thinking now about what you can do in the longer term to build more value into your product and/or service.
What you consider as “good value” today will almost certainly not excite buyers in the future. If you don’t start to think outside the square on this one, your competitors surely will.
Are the marketers in your team good writers?
All marketers do lots of writing.
And the better you are as a writer, the more impact your work will have. Plus, becoming a better writer is vital to career prospects.
Your image as a clear thinker and a good communicator — and the image of your organisation as professional and accurate — is profoundly affected by the way you write.
Most people can fairly quickly make a significant improvement in their standard of writing by addressing the following:
> Wordiness – every word you use should be necessary.
> Sentence structure – keep sentences as simple as possible.
> Sentence length – get rid of extra long sentences.
> Jargon – avoid jargon that might confuse people.
If you head up a team of marketers, look at how they write. If your team is made up of people who mostly don’t write that well, your team will be held back.
The Action Words one-day course “Writing skills to make your team more professional” is designed to help your people dramatically improve their writing. For a four-page outline, email now: vikki@actionwords.com.au
And the better you are as a writer, the more impact your work will have. Plus, becoming a better writer is vital to career prospects.
Your image as a clear thinker and a good communicator — and the image of your organisation as professional and accurate — is profoundly affected by the way you write.
Most people can fairly quickly make a significant improvement in their standard of writing by addressing the following:
> Wordiness – every word you use should be necessary.
> Sentence structure – keep sentences as simple as possible.
> Sentence length – get rid of extra long sentences.
> Jargon – avoid jargon that might confuse people.
If you head up a team of marketers, look at how they write. If your team is made up of people who mostly don’t write that well, your team will be held back.
The Action Words one-day course “Writing skills to make your team more professional” is designed to help your people dramatically improve their writing. For a four-page outline, email now: vikki@actionwords.com.au
31 July 2009
Four keys to optimsation
Getting conflicting advice from consultants about SEO can be very off-putting.
Of course, it’s a new science (is it a science?) and so it’s probably not too surprising that people are still learning.
‘Gut instinct’ is not likely to be quite good enough in an activity that has so much new detail to learn. But when the specialists you consult don’t agree, the whole thing certainly becomes challenging.
Some consultants are very specific with requirements about text. “Use your keywords in a subhead between the third and fourth paragraph,” they say. “Be sure to use your keywords at the end of the last sentence on the page.”
Well, such instructions do not sound right to me. They are far too restrictive. If you follow them, the chances are your copy will become distorted. As a writer, my feeling is that you should always write for readers, not search engines.
Based on our own considerable experience at Action Words, here’s our four-step guide to writing for the web:
1 Identify keywords
The first step relates to research. You have to find out what your keywords are. What are the words or phrases that most prospects use when they are looking for your type of business? And you might get a surprise. If you are in the tourism sector, you may consider you offer ‘discount accommodation’, but people actually search for ‘cheap hotels’.
2 Produce impactful text
When you write, it is best to put the keywords to one side. Write in your normal way. Produce the best possible text with your audience in mind. You are communicating personally with an individual site visitor.
3 Insert keywords as appropriate
With your draft text completed, go back to your keywords and see where you can fit them in comfortably. But you need to be careful here. It’s not a matter of forcing them in, no matter what. Just slip them in where they fit nicely. Don’t spoil the natural flow of what you have written.
4 Your page tags should feature your keywords
For your page descriptions and page titles, keywords are essential. Your site visitors see the title tags at the top of their browser windows when they visit your site. The description tag is what the user sees on the search engine results page, so obviously it needs to include a clear statement about what you offer. In all tags you need to use your keywords.
There’s way more than this involved in search marketing, of course, but if you follow these four steps when you are writing your online copy you will be setting yourself up for success.
Of course, it’s a new science (is it a science?) and so it’s probably not too surprising that people are still learning.
‘Gut instinct’ is not likely to be quite good enough in an activity that has so much new detail to learn. But when the specialists you consult don’t agree, the whole thing certainly becomes challenging.
Some consultants are very specific with requirements about text. “Use your keywords in a subhead between the third and fourth paragraph,” they say. “Be sure to use your keywords at the end of the last sentence on the page.”
Well, such instructions do not sound right to me. They are far too restrictive. If you follow them, the chances are your copy will become distorted. As a writer, my feeling is that you should always write for readers, not search engines.
Based on our own considerable experience at Action Words, here’s our four-step guide to writing for the web:
1 Identify keywords
The first step relates to research. You have to find out what your keywords are. What are the words or phrases that most prospects use when they are looking for your type of business? And you might get a surprise. If you are in the tourism sector, you may consider you offer ‘discount accommodation’, but people actually search for ‘cheap hotels’.
2 Produce impactful text
When you write, it is best to put the keywords to one side. Write in your normal way. Produce the best possible text with your audience in mind. You are communicating personally with an individual site visitor.
3 Insert keywords as appropriate
With your draft text completed, go back to your keywords and see where you can fit them in comfortably. But you need to be careful here. It’s not a matter of forcing them in, no matter what. Just slip them in where they fit nicely. Don’t spoil the natural flow of what you have written.
4 Your page tags should feature your keywords
For your page descriptions and page titles, keywords are essential. Your site visitors see the title tags at the top of their browser windows when they visit your site. The description tag is what the user sees on the search engine results page, so obviously it needs to include a clear statement about what you offer. In all tags you need to use your keywords.
There’s way more than this involved in search marketing, of course, but if you follow these four steps when you are writing your online copy you will be setting yourself up for success.
Interruption advertising on the outer: Cannes
At long last, it’s official.
Interruption advertising is over.
Television is not the future.
That’s the conclusion many marketers are taking from the 56th International Advertising Festival at Cannes in the south of France, where some 6000 advertising specialists gathered for the week of 21–27 June 2009.
Commenting on the trends seen at Cannes, the chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO North America and president of the film and press juries, David Lubars said, "the way the world is heading is towards voluntary engagement". In other words, we are moving away from interruption.
The long list of award winners at Cannes was dominated by innovative attempts to engage consumers and deeply involve them in brands. Not blast them.
The most coveted prize at the festival went to an ad that wasn't made for TV.
Plus, as if to ram home the point, a PR campaign broke the record for winning the most awards at any one festival.
The expert jury at Cannes bestowed the festival’s Grand Prix Award to the Philips interactive film "Carousel", created in Amsterdam by the global agency, Tribal DDB. With a three day shoot and five weeks of post production, the film promotes the latest entrant into the television market from Philips, the CINEMA 21:9.
In PR, it was a simple campaign for Tourism Queensland – which became a worldwide story – that grabbed the festival's first PR Grand Prix Award, as well as the top prizes in the direct marketing and cyber categories.
Probably every reader of The Scoop became aware of the “Best job in the world” campaign that was created by the Brisbane agency, Cummins Nitro. This PR effort began with world-wide classified advertising seeking applicants for an "island caretaker".
The Cummins Nitro campaign attracted tens of thousands of candidates who uploaded video applications saying why they should get the job.
Tourism Queensland claims that the campaign generated the equivalent of more than $80m worth of media advertising. (BTW the job went to "ostrich-riding, bungee-jumping" charity worker Ben Southall, from Hampshire in the UK.)
"The idea had so much scalability to be a global idea that all the judges had seen and heard of it, no matter where they came from," said one of the judges, MaryLee Sachs. Sachs is US chairman and worldwide director of marketing communications at Hill & Knowlton.
Interruption advertising is over.
Television is not the future.
That’s the conclusion many marketers are taking from the 56th International Advertising Festival at Cannes in the south of France, where some 6000 advertising specialists gathered for the week of 21–27 June 2009.
Commenting on the trends seen at Cannes, the chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO North America and president of the film and press juries, David Lubars said, "the way the world is heading is towards voluntary engagement". In other words, we are moving away from interruption.
The long list of award winners at Cannes was dominated by innovative attempts to engage consumers and deeply involve them in brands. Not blast them.
The most coveted prize at the festival went to an ad that wasn't made for TV.
Plus, as if to ram home the point, a PR campaign broke the record for winning the most awards at any one festival.
The expert jury at Cannes bestowed the festival’s Grand Prix Award to the Philips interactive film "Carousel", created in Amsterdam by the global agency, Tribal DDB. With a three day shoot and five weeks of post production, the film promotes the latest entrant into the television market from Philips, the CINEMA 21:9.
In PR, it was a simple campaign for Tourism Queensland – which became a worldwide story – that grabbed the festival's first PR Grand Prix Award, as well as the top prizes in the direct marketing and cyber categories.
Probably every reader of The Scoop became aware of the “Best job in the world” campaign that was created by the Brisbane agency, Cummins Nitro. This PR effort began with world-wide classified advertising seeking applicants for an "island caretaker".
The Cummins Nitro campaign attracted tens of thousands of candidates who uploaded video applications saying why they should get the job.
Tourism Queensland claims that the campaign generated the equivalent of more than $80m worth of media advertising. (BTW the job went to "ostrich-riding, bungee-jumping" charity worker Ben Southall, from Hampshire in the UK.)
"The idea had so much scalability to be a global idea that all the judges had seen and heard of it, no matter where they came from," said one of the judges, MaryLee Sachs. Sachs is US chairman and worldwide director of marketing communications at Hill & Knowlton.
Target precisely. But with care.
Regular readers of The Scoop will know that precise targeting is a theme of mine.
You need to do whatever you can to get to know your audience and to customise offers that connect with the people you want to win over.
Smart marketers want to know as much as possible about prospects in order to tailor their brand image. The more you know about the people you are trying to reach, the greater your chance of executing exactly the right message to the right audience at the right time.
However, you need to do all this with care.
Let’s say I acquire information that tells me that certain households have two dogs. I could go to these households saying “because you have two dogs, xyx dog food will suit you”. However, such an approach is likely to generate a negative reaction. “How do they know we have two dogs? Where did they get my name?”
Use the information by all means, but don’t push it into people’s faces.
Today, marketers and their data collection practices are under the spotlight like never before. For companies with brands to protect, the scrutiny can be uncomfortable.
There is a real balancing act going on. On the one hand, you don’t want to be the next negative headline in the popular press. But equally, you don’t want to be so reluctant to embrace new marketing intelligence that your competitors gain an advantage.
As you are trying to get the balance right, one of the questions to look at is, would they be shocked? If there was full disclosure of all the facts, would your prospects be upset?
Calculate how shocked your average consumer would be to learn what information is being collected about his/her behavior and how you plan to use it in a campaign.
To help yourself here, use only a reputable data provider. And be sure that you understand what the provider does to create a profile or segment to which you advertise.
Pay special attention to highly sensitive areas of information, including medical, financial and details about children.
Follow this issue in the news, and watch for practices that are widely criticised. These are the ones that will raise your shock rating if you are using them.
If your promotion is online, providing an easy opt out is also an obvious way to give people an added level of confidence.
You need to do whatever you can to get to know your audience and to customise offers that connect with the people you want to win over.
Smart marketers want to know as much as possible about prospects in order to tailor their brand image. The more you know about the people you are trying to reach, the greater your chance of executing exactly the right message to the right audience at the right time.
However, you need to do all this with care.
Let’s say I acquire information that tells me that certain households have two dogs. I could go to these households saying “because you have two dogs, xyx dog food will suit you”. However, such an approach is likely to generate a negative reaction. “How do they know we have two dogs? Where did they get my name?”
Use the information by all means, but don’t push it into people’s faces.
Today, marketers and their data collection practices are under the spotlight like never before. For companies with brands to protect, the scrutiny can be uncomfortable.
There is a real balancing act going on. On the one hand, you don’t want to be the next negative headline in the popular press. But equally, you don’t want to be so reluctant to embrace new marketing intelligence that your competitors gain an advantage.
As you are trying to get the balance right, one of the questions to look at is, would they be shocked? If there was full disclosure of all the facts, would your prospects be upset?
Calculate how shocked your average consumer would be to learn what information is being collected about his/her behavior and how you plan to use it in a campaign.
To help yourself here, use only a reputable data provider. And be sure that you understand what the provider does to create a profile or segment to which you advertise.
Pay special attention to highly sensitive areas of information, including medical, financial and details about children.
Follow this issue in the news, and watch for practices that are widely criticised. These are the ones that will raise your shock rating if you are using them.
If your promotion is online, providing an easy opt out is also an obvious way to give people an added level of confidence.
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