We talk so much about how marketing and advertising has become authentic and real.  In reality (excuse the play on words), marketers have just gotten more in tune with the hot buttons that fuel our human desires.  With the uprising of social media, it’s not an us and them – it’s a “we”.  As marketers and branding agents, we have had to come down from our “take our word for it” pedestal and become part of the conversation.  And the conversation is about taking a stand for something.

In a world of uncertainties;  with our recession peeking back in, jobless rates, a war that rolls on, natural disasters and man made oil spills, our American nature is to stand for something.   Hold on to something that we can call our own.  Harmlessly, this has taken the form of new brand loyalty.  We LOVE this brand, We HATE that sports team and we are JEALOUS of what we are not.

The “we” approach is prevalent in social media.  I can’t think of one medium that isn’t “social” now.  Television commercials are becoming more entertaining and campaign for our loyalty.  Print campaigns (those that are left) are usually geared towards connecting online.  Most brands are not trying to appeal to everyone, especially now.  They understand the value of discernment.  The rise of social media and citizen journalism put a microscope on trying to be everything to everyone and blew the whistle on brands that speak out of both sides of their mouth.  Some people will love them. (Harley Davidson is still the #2 tattoo right after “Mother”)   Some people will hate them and choose what they consider to be a polar opposite brand, those who are not in the target brand demographic.  And some will be jealous, that could be people who may not be able to afford the brand (as in fashion), but align their loyalty and plan on obtaining as much as they can of the brands products.  Jealousy is a marketers savings account. It will realize itself in time if the public does not become fickle and the brand stays true.

“Jealousy is the fun you think they had”, Erica Jong

So, how are marketers using the Holy Trinity of human nature?  We are asking you to “join”, “like”, pass on to connections and friends you haven’t seen in 20 years.  And, it works.  Social Media has, in some ways, reinvented the “high school clique” on a mass basis.  And as the old saying goes, you have to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.  We take that to heart.  We join, and then we buy.

Bold marketing is closer to the reality than “authentic” marketing.  Eliciting a response is what it’s about.  TV commercials are viral entertainment and they have to be to remember when we are saddled with more than 10,000 advertising impressions daily.  They have taken on a whole new level of production quality as well.  Check out Kia’s CGI TV spot, though it’s short, it speaks to a youth audience and captures the attention of those who may buy with song and imagry.  The response solicited is love.  Cute, furry animals, an old school song favorite and CGI.  Recipe for viral video and love.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfJnqbudMzs

Being an Aquarian, my personal marketing style is to encourage consumers to fall in love.  But, remember that love in marketing isn’t gooey, emotional or fake.  Loving a brand is about being entertained.  With the need for levity, the most effective way to become “we” and have consumers is to relieve their stress.  Make them laugh, show them that life doesn’t have to be so “heavy”. 

Being a girl, also means we are pretty darn good at “jealousy” marketing, as well.  It’s the “don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me” syndrome.  Jealousy marketing can quickly turn against you if you don’t have enough brand equity to back it up.  You are essentially saying in your advertising messages that your brand is the cool kids, and you are not.  But, you want them to join.  Fine line.  And as I have said in a hundred conference speeches, it is the old rules of dating that apply here.  Tease them with messages, leave them wanting more.

Hate is not negative campaigning.  It’s one brand vs. another.  Apple and PC are the best examples of this type of marketing.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcDpFLSTZWU  Negative campaigning hasn’t ever really caught on with our social culture.  But, tongue-and-cheek, “we are cooler” has.

One thing to remember when you are putting together a human emotion trigger campaign, is that we experience all of these things in a cyclical cycle.  Love, Hate, Jealousy.  We cannot only hold one of these in our brains for long.  Be ready to move your consumers through that cycle, or they will get bored.  Break up your messages to your medium and see what’s most effective there, chances are you will be hitting all three in a one year marketing plan.  The script has flipped, and it’s no surprise.  We are slaves to the citizen journalism of today’s online society.  All media should affect your message, what’s going on in the news, what daily challenges are your consumers facing?  Do they need a pick me up?  Do they feel out of control and need to take a stand?  They move through the cycle and so should you.

When it comes to your brand, nothing is more crucial than knowing what people are saying online. Online avenues are the word of mouth of the 21st century, and you need to be aware of the chatter in cyberspace so you can respond accordingly.

With that in mind, there are plenty of free online tools you can utilize to monitor your brand message across the world wide web. Here are some of our favorites:

Google Alerts – The best tool ever. Google alerts will show you the vast majority of what’s being said in blogs, news networks, videos, etc. A simply invaluable tool – we suggest the daily alerts for most brands.

Social Mention Alerts – A great free tool that scours a whole host of social networks for your keyword. Make sure you select “all” under type, so the alert will search their entire database of sites. We also suggest daily delivery here as well.

Facebook search – While this may seem obvious, many people don’t know how to search the entire Facebook site for status updates – as opposed to only your friends. Here’s how: Type your search term into the box at the top of the page and make sure you click the magnifying glass – so you don’t end up on a fan page. Then, on the left hand side, click on “posts by everyone”. This will give you results from across the entire site – very handy.

Twitter search – There are lots of ways to use Twitter search – whether it’s through the actual web page or via a tool like Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck allows you to set up alerts so you can watch your keyword all day while you have the application running. But for the simple Twitter search, just type in your keyword and voila -

So there you have it – some of the simplest free tools out there to let you get a handle on your brand’s reputation. Use the information wisely.

For the fifth straight day, European travelers are suffering in airports all over the world. Not because of what anyone would have deemed a crisis situation in a well thought out plan, but because of a sudden volcanic eruption in Iceland that no one could have predicted.

Crisis plans are put together for times when the unexpected suddenly happens. When visitors for some reason or another, cannot get to your destination or the attributes of your destination are in no shape for visitors. Much of these crisis plans have been written for Hurricanes given that some warning time is given. But what about natural disasters that cannot be predicted by meteorologists. Tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes…all these have played a MAJOR part in travel over the last two years. Cities have been demolished, travel has been halted and media has covered every second of these devistated areas forever painting a picture of devistation connected to a once alluring place.

Hurricane season prep should not be the only crisis planning time. Hold contingency budget for several reasons, natural disasters being the most applicable but economy should come in a close second. Be prepared with scenario messaging to go out depending upon how that crisis truly affected your destination aside from how it was depicted in the media. July 1 fiscal years are approaching…do you have your crisis management plan ready?

I had someone ask me last week if it was still important to build links to their web site or was that a tired, old method. I could see where this would come from because it’s not as popular a topic this year as it was five years ago but it’s still just as important.

To a search engine’s algorithm ranking method, the number of links to your site is a way they measure relativity and popularity. Both of those overlying points within the system are extremely important. If other sites don’t feel it’s important to link to your site as a resource, then the engines feel it’s not important for their engine users either.

For those of you who don’t have the resources to commit to building links for your web site, don’t worry. I’m going to list some tips that will help you and you will also find that some of what you are already doing could help you build links back to your web site, if taken just a little further.

1. Utilize Digg for your business, destination or brand name. You can submit a link to Digg based on content and category. Great way to build link popularity and a little extra traffic.

2. Web users love “Top” lists…create a few based on fun topics that are hosted on your web site and easy to find.

3. If you have a limited media budget, buy a small amount of pay per click. Make sure you set up your account and choose keywords that are very relevant.

4. Post all of your press releases online.

5. Trade articles with other experts or email them directly if you find you have content that would benefit their readers.

6. Social bookmark. Set up an account on Del.icio.us. and tag sites you find useful and important. If users out there like what you have tagged, they are likely to follow you and tag your site as well.

7. Make sure you are locally heard. Chamber of Commerce, government sites, local colleges and universities. If any local entity would benefit by linking to your site, let them know.

8. Yahoo! Answers…help answer questions if you can. Include a link for relevancy.

9. Wikipedia.

10. Don’t be afraid to be heard. If you leave a review and you feel you are very qualified to review that product, add a link to your site and that will explain a lot to the users reading the review.

Love the song “Grace Kelly” by Mika. “I can brown, I can be blue, I can be violet sky.  I can be hurtful, I can be purple,  I can be anything you like.”  And it made me think of how we behave in our campaigns online.  I see so much of, “I can be what you want!!!”  It begs the question, how are we using research to identify our brands?

Now, don’t get me wrong – solid research is the foundation of finding our buyers and their hot buttons.  But, I wonder if we go too far simply trying to service the “numbers” and changing our campaigns and brand identity online to only realize the “surface” indicators.

Now, we’ve seen some historically bad campaigns.  And, we know that the agencies behind them were trying to target people based on what they thought the research told them would “make them buy!”  I found this hilarious blog about “Six Idiotic Ad Campaigns” posted by Mom Logic.  Clicker beware, these really stupid ads are targeted for women with our, ummm … women issues.

What were they thinking??  Well, you have to know that it probably came from someone who misread the indicators and thought these were clever and nifty.  Let’s stick to who we are in order to relate to our customers.

You wouldn’t change who you are in order to date someone who wasn’t like you.  Why would we do this in our campaigns?  Here are a few key questions to look beyond the research and create the reality of who your brand really is.  And, to inspire action from those people behind the research.

When you are devising a campaign, ask yourself:

1.    Am I offending my target audience? (See Idiotic Campaigns)

2.    Am I too generic with my ad?  Are people gonna go, “Eh … whatever”.  Take some risks, just be smart about inspiring ACTION.

3.    What do my buyers/customers really NEED?  This is a point often lost in “slickness”.  You must listen to needs.  Past research, what are your buyers faced with?  Recession issues?  Overworked?  More convenience?  SOLVE their problems and you will get solid response.

4.    Is this campaign an INSPIRATION or PROMOTION?  Very different strategies here.  Inspire action for B2B marketing.  Avoid the direct campaigns with “I know you are busy, but….”  Business consumers always stop at the “But”, because we know whatever comes after it is the real motive, and it seems sneaky and unrealistic.  It’s like a guy saying “I love you … but, your ass is fat.”  Promotions are reserved for B2C Consumer Marketing.  We wanna play, click, be personalized … have you tell us who we are as people.  Promotions need to be multifaceted.  I wonder how the Idiotic Campaigns integrated with the web?  Stop sending banners to a landing page without something for consumers to DO besides buy.  We KNOW you want us to buy … but warm us up, buy us dinner.  Promotions need play.

5.    Have I covered all bases? This is definitely about integration from our last point.  Do you know (from your research) where your customers are?  The answer “Internet” is as broad, and uninformative as saying “they read”.  What do they read?  Where do they read it?  Where do they shop for that book/mag/newspaper?  We have much more knowledge about our traditional buyers than our Interactive buyers – generally speaking, that is.

Of course, there are agencies and marketing companies who “get it”.  But they don’t need to follow these tips.

When you’re marketing online – what sites do your users visit?  How long are they there?  Do they read email or RSS?  Are they on a smart phone 10 hours a day?  Go deep with campaign integration online.  PPC and banners don’t cut it, unless you understand the tips above:  Give them NEED, INSPIRATION, TEASE THEM, and make them BRAND HAPPY!

Past the campaign, though – please look at your overall brand.  Can I go to your site, cover up your logo and know who YOU are?  Know what it is about your product/destination/service that is uniquely you?  I once heard a tag line: “Like nowhere else”.  Well, Hell is like nowhere else either, but I don’t want to visit.  Seek uniqueness past the numbers.

May the brand power be with you,

Jenn

In the roundup of Superbowl Ads, there were several that caught my eye, and several that fell flat (no pun intended – I loved Betty White’s tackle!).

One of the standouts (for good or bad) was the Dodge Charger campaign. Since Superbowl Sunday, I’ve seen this ad at least a dozen additional times. And every time, it both offends and intrigues me.

This is another one of those risky ad campaigns, designed to reach a specific target market – and exclude all others. There’s no ifs ands or buts about it, this campaign is for men only. Hence the extremely obvious tagline… “Man’s Last Stand.”

If nothing else, I’d have to say it’s overly simplistic, describing all the clichéd actions men have to take to make their ladies happy. For instance: “I will separate the recyclables.” Really? So tough guys don’t believe in recycling now?

Of course, Dodge isn’t the first company to try this tactic – lots of brands launch man-centric campaigns if that’s their target market (I can name several liquor brands that do just that).

Dodge apparently tried to win over both sides of the aisle by launching an alternative ad starring a female with the tagline, “We make getaway cars”. In this ad, a female in a plaid work shirt tears away in her Charger as a jilted boyfriend is throwing her stuff out their apartment window. This might be their attempt to reach the female audience, but yet again, it’s probably more likely to appeal to men.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Dodge Chargers, and as a female who happens to drive a Dodge Ram, I find the male stereotypes a tad on the insulting side. I mean, I’m as likely to drive a Charger as any guy is. But would this ad have influenced me one way or the other? Hard to say. One of the reasons I like Dodge as a brand is that they’re BOLD, in both design and concept, and this ad certainly lives up to that standard.

Check out MediaPost’s roundup of the two ads here. You can also watch the ad there, in case you happened to miss it.

Whatever side of the aisle you fall on, this ad definitely sticks with you.

So what do you think? Is this ad campaign offensive, brilliant, or both?

Today is Elvis’ 75th birthday. Or would be, if the ill-fated legend hadn’t died tragically at the age of 42, so many years ago. Elvis presents a truly fascinating case study, as some might argue he’s even more popular in death than he was in life. Few other figures throughout history have so captivated the imagination of the American people, as well as the rest of the world.

According to Forbes magazine, Elvis’ estate earned $55 million between October 2008 and October 2009 – more than current pop stars Bon Jovi or Britney Spears earned during the same period. Wow.

So what makes a brand or individual such as Elvis so incredibly compelling? What makes one person or company stand out so much in the eyes of the public? What makes a legend? I would argue that there are four particular characteristics that help to determine how these people or organizations come to be.

1.    Ingenuity and risk taking – doing something no one’s ever done before
2.    Personal presence/charisma – if a business, this applies to the business leaders
3.    Connection with the audience – knowing your fans, playing to their needs/wants/hopes/fears
4.    Timeliness – coming along when the world is ready for change

The most famous people and businesses throughout history are the ones that truly changed the landscape of their industry. Think of the new Sirius/XM commercial, where they recognize Elvis for changing music, Michael Jordan for changing sports, Richard Pryor for changing comedy, and Howard Stern for changing radio. Like them or not, these are people who forever altered the nature of their own field. This is one of the key ingredients for legendary status. And it’s not just individual people – Mac forever changed personal electronics, Facebook forever changed the internet,  Southwest forever changed air travel.

The others are a given – charisma is an important part of historical significance. As is connecting with your audience, knowing what they want, and providing it. Additionally, timeliness is crucial. The world has to be ready for what you deliver.

In the end, these are the ingredients for legendary status. They cannot be faked, bought or manufactured – they’re simply the byproducts of incredible people and incredible teams. But for those of us looking to make a mark in the world, we could do well to remember what it truly takes to rise above the rest and join the ranks of the legendary.

These are concepts we can incorporate into our everyday work – remembering that risk taking, engaging with our audience and timeliness are eternal qualities, notions that translate into all industries and efforts. We can all create little bit of legend ourselves, if we embrace our inner leader.   So cheers to that.

Once upon a time, there was a web site that never changed. The creation of this web site was easy; build it in a way that takes the hassle of updates and keeping up with outdated content away. So, the content was written in a way that would never become out of date, the message was crafted in a way that would speak to everyone as a general audience and the home page was opened up to show everything at once so no new links would have to be added later on.

As you can imagine, the ending to this story is not a happy one. It’s a common frustration…having too much to keep up with so you have to be general because time just doesn’t lend itself to you updating the web site a few times a week. To the end user on your site, that doesn’t matter. They want to see how you can appeal to THEM. Engagement, visuals and timely content is all important.

Let us offer some tips.

• Change Imagery Seasonally. It’s a small change and once every two to three months is doable. Don’t show that image of kids playing on the beach in 80 degree weather when it’s 40 degrees and the beaches are empty, all year long. Make your visuals relative to the time of year. This will increase your seasonal repeat user rate.
• Pick the main events of the year and pinpoint when and for how long you want to promote them. You may be talking four or five total. This is better than promoting an event that happens every weekend or just a general calendar that can be perused. And you won’t have to watch to update very often.
• Change the copy on your home page every three months. When you update your images is a great time. Consult with your marketing team to be sure what you are placing new copy that includes all the important keywords you need to thoroughly market that content.
• Add seasonal icons. Play around with the Holidays. Fourth of July, Halloween, Christmas. Those are all great times to add a little seasonal spice to your creative and you can leave them up for around 30 days for the major holidays. Check out these examples of creative seasonal flare!
  • http://www.visitbatonrouge.com/
  • http://www.visitpanamacitybeach.com/
  • http://www.visitpanamacitybeach.com/halloween

In January, we are releasing an article all about creating and maintaining a seasonally savvy web site that will keep users engaged and wanting to come back!

Have Fun!

If you’ve been putting this off because it just doesn’t seem we should already be planning for 2010, then your time is up. 2010 is around the corner and it’s really time to finalize that plan. Ideally a marketing or media plan should be developed, discussed and finalized with your group BEFORE 2010 actually starts. No drafts sitting on your desk when you return to the office after the Holiday break. Or better yet, still sitting on the printer because you happened to take an extra few minutes to hit that Print button right before you walked out the door to ring in the New Year.

If you are behind on your plan and need to get your priority goals and tactics together and fast, here is a list of marketing efforts and goals we feel should be your top priority, no matter the size of your plan:

1. Do you feel that you know your audience or who your audience could be in 2010? If not, plan to develop focus group studies, brand building exercises and market penetration campaigns.
2. Will you need a new web site in 2010? Does your current web site support web 2.0 technologies, feeds, social network updates and plug and play widgets?
3. Do you have an optimization plan in place? Is your web site optimized for engines? Do you have a list of priority keywords you are using or plan to use to market all your web assets?
4. Are you playing in the social sandbox? Does your organization have a Facebook Page, Twitter Profile, Blog, etc.? If you don’t, make that part of your 2010 plan.
5. Do you know your top events, openings and attractions for 2010? Create a plan around how you will market them to your target audience.
6. Do you, your staff or your agency understand and know how to implement rich media tactics? If not, make it a priority to get to know this area of interactive marketing. 2010 will be the year of engagement with your audience.
7. Do you have tracking in place to monitor your efforts beginning January 1st? There is no turning back the clock to get benchmark data. Make this a priority before the year turns over.
8. Set goals against each effort. Interactive marketing and media, print, social presence, web site traffic, etc. Understand what you have now and keep in mind that social media takes time to build.

Everyone has a niche. Whatever your talent, story or special skills, there’s a group of people out there who want to hear what you have to say.

Proof positive – some of YouTube’s most eternally popular videos involve makeup application tips by amateur girls. Surprised? One girl in particular, Michelle Phan, is incredibly popular. Some of her videos boast millions of views. She’s even launched her own skincare line thanks to her immense popularity. Hello new career!

Who knew that many people wanted to know how to look like Lady Gaga?

When it comes to viral videos, these girls have it down. They found their niche and ran with it.

Whether you’re an organization or an individual, the key is finding your special story or talent, and figuring out how best to share it. Whether it’s blogging, YouTube videos, podcasting or whatever your means of communication, let that light shine! Guaranteed you’ll find your niche.