Author Archives: Sam

Get on Board with the Power Of Apps

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Have you noticed? Branding and brands have changed along with the social media landscape. Some would even venture to say that if your brand is not an app … you’re nowhere. So, do you want to be invisible to your consumer, or do you want to be on the front lines of this technology? Consumers are demanding that your brand communicates with them on their level, in a way that makes them feel you value them. So what are your plans for building your brand through apps? If you’re not sure, read the condensed version of a recent article I read from  brandingstrategyinsider, and you may decide that apps might be another way you can strengthen and solidify your customer relationships and branding strategy:

Branding and Your Brand
A brand and branding are not the same. Branding is the strategy marketers use to build a brand.  Branding sets expectations about the value proposition that is a brand.

Branding’s New “Social” Approach
With the rise of social technologies, brands have lost priority with consumers. What people want are social relationships not brand relationships – people-to-people interactions not brands-to-consumers engagement. This is where apps come into play.

Where’s My App?
An app is a software tool that does something useful. Apps have been around as long as computing, but with the advent of touch-screen smartphones, icon-triggered apps have exploded on the scene as enhanced, innovative ways for conveniently and quickly performing a myriad of tasks. For brand marketers, an app is a tool that doubles as a communications vehicle.

It’s About Connecting
For consumers, the best thing about new technologies is not the ability to connect with brands, but the ability to connect with other people, thus leaving less time and interest than ever, if any at all, for branding.

In a mature marketplace of advertising clutter and savvy consumers, marketers must do more than just say something interesting; they must deliver a message that does something useful. To put it bluntly, be an app or be gone.

Branded App Examples
Brand marketers have begun using apps to position a brand’s value proposition to consumers. For example, Montblanc and Cartier have apps to communicate new product updates along with other news and graphics, thus offering a more timely, multifunctional handheld digital catalog that might one day provide customized notifications to fit individual preferences or to mirror past buying patterns.

Managing Apps
Managing branding as an app means that marketers must deliver value twice, both with the brand and with the branding. Traditionally, branding is the promise of brand value, not a source of value. But with consumers demanding something useful from branding in exchange for their time and attention, branding itself must be valuable above and beyond its brand message. Branding must have its own value, separate from the brand it is promoting.

Is a Brand’s Value Determined by Currency?
Marketers worry a lot these days about all that they give away for free, but such worries presume that the only currency that matters is money. What marketers make available at no financial cost to consumers is actually bought and sold in a different currency. If a brand can’t persuade consumers to spend social currency sharing it or talking about it, or if a brand can’t get consumers to spend time with it as, say, an app, then money is less likely to change hands.

The superbrands of the future may not necessarily be the ones that perform the best or offer the best solution to a problem. They just might be the ones who use apps to market themselves rather than brands that don’t.

7 Tips to Develop the Best Mobile Website for Your Company

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Waterstone's in-store ad for their mobile website
Photo by ianfogg42

Now that having a mobile presence for your company website is almost a necessity, how are you developing your mobile strategy? If you haven’t started your mobile planning,  it’s time to give some thought to executing the strategy. Should your mobile site be a miniature version of your main site?  How should you present content?  How can you deliver the best user experience?

Here are some tips I thought were worth sharing from the Content Marketing Institute:

1. Keep it simple
Your mobile website home page should only display the most relevant information. Do not try to cram all the information you provide on your website into your mobile site. Instead, include a link to the desktop version from the mobile site. Include information like phone numbers, addresses and maps which would be useful to people on the move.

2. Don’t make ‘em wait
To retain your mobile visitors’ attention, your mobile website has to load in less than 5 seconds. It’s been found that 58 percent of mobile phone users expect websites to load as quickly, or faster, on their mobile devices as they load on their desktop computers.

3. Avoid “heavy” graphics
Avoid using large, Flash-based video files on your mobile site, as most smartphone browsers do not support Flash. Instead, use simple images to improve the look and feel of your mobile website — but make sure all images used on the desktop are set to resize automatically to fit a mobile device’s smaller screen sizes.

4. “Touch” is the new “click”
When designing your mobile site, use drop down menus, check boxes, and pre-populated fields whenever possible, so that your mobile visitors can navigate and input information easily rather than having to fill in long forms.

5. Every device is important
Your mobile website should work flawlessly on devices with various screen sizes and on various mobile platforms and operating systems, including iPhones, iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, and even feature phones that use Opera browsers.

6. Redirect your mobile visitors automatically
Do not forget to redirect your mobile visitors automatically to your mobile website. Your webmaster can do this by creating a subdomain of your main website which will serve as your mobile website.

7. Track your mobile visitors
For all you know, your mobile website traffic might have surpassed your desktop website’s traffic. If you have an analytics system in place, such as Google Analytics, create a separate profile for your mobile website. This will help you track your mobile traffic and desktop traffic independently.

Recent studies back up many of the points above, especially when it comes to loading times. According to a study by Compuware,  60 percent of mobile users said they expect a mobile site to load in 3 seconds or less! When it doesn’t, 57 percent won’t return. It’s pretty clear, you can’t afford not to pay attention to these statistics.

Agile Marketing: The new approach for brand marketing

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Marketers are being asked to do more with less. They have tighter budgets and greater ROI expectations. Almost every facet of the marketing function has a sophisticated software component generating more and more data.

In this ever-changing environment, how are marketers going to deal with this?

Think Agile Marketing
Agile marketing is both a set of principles and a process. It takes inspiration from Agile software development methodology. The goals of Agile Marketing are to increase the speed, predictability, transparency, effectiveness and adaptability to change of the marketing function.

Here’s a little background in case you’ve never heard of it:

In 2001, a group of software developers came together at the Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah to create the Agile Manifesto. Frustrated with the slow time to market and documentation driven, heavyweight software development processes, they agreed on four core values:

  • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
  • Working software over comprehensive documentation
  • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
  • Responding to change over following a plan

Marketers working in technology companies using Agile began to see the results of this process in the software products being developed. Taking a page from their developer brethren, a group of marketers recently met at an event called SprintZero to develop the Agile Marketing Manifesto.

I recently spoke with John Cass, a passionate evangelist for Agile Marketing who was one  of the organizers of SprintZero.  He shared these points about Agile Marketing with me:

  • Sprints - Do 2-4 week sprints and leave a week in between for review and planning. Otherwise it will fee like you are on a treadmill.
  • Scrums - – Do scrum meetings daily. Meetings last 10-20 minutes and center on  what you are working on, what you’ve accomplished and what barriers exist to accomplish your tasks.
  • Agile is not about speed, it’s about focus. You do things faster because you are more focused.
  • Start slowly. Don’t turn every single project into Agile. Confine your efforts to a project and grow from there.
  • Start small. Do 2-4 week Sprints, think about what you have learned, and then regroup. Build and add elements as needed.
  • Agile Marketing is a work in progress. Take what you want from the variety of methods and toss the rest.   Integrate more as needed.

Agile is a different way of operating and will require a shift in the way you think.  The main takeaway  here is Agile Marketing can help mHealth companies become more effective by incorporating Agile principles into their marketing DNA. Isn’t that worth contemplating?

4 Simple Social Habits for Busy Businesses

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Social Media Landscape

How has your client engagement changed in the last five years? I don’t know about you, but even as the owner of a communications and marketing firm, my world has changed tremendously … right along with the social media landscape.  I don’t think my firm even offered social media training for clients five years ago but it’s a huge part of my business now. And I don’t see it slowing down.

What companies often have trouble with is coming to terms with “how” they will engage in social media … not “if” they will do it. Part of the concern is how much time employees should dedicate to the company’s social media platforms. I admit I am biased in my belief that most companies could use a little help and training in this area … at least to get started.

 But if you don’t have the ability to hire outside help, here’s some good advice from Samantha Stone on how you or your employees can manage the social media beast at your company:

Schedule it! (Two 15-minute increments per day)
The nature of social is fluid, and so we fool ourselves into thinking to be effective we must be engaged all the time. Physically block two 15-minute sessions on your calendar to do nothing but monitor priority social channels at least three days a week. Pick times that work for your schedule, even if it varies from one day to another. Just make a routine and stick to it.

Collide social and “non-social” work
You can and should re-use content. In fact, the busiest marketing professionals I know do exactly that. Each week I take a look at my to-do list. I carefully evaluate what needs to get done, and I toss to the bottom of the list items that are only to be used once. I physically write down what can be connected. Lesson learned: Forget the notion of “separate” disciplines of marketing. There is no social vs. traditional, there is only marketing. Plan to maximize integration.

Lower your expectations
When we expect instantaneous results, we disappoint ourselves and take focus off the outreach. Instead, set realistic goals and celebrate success. If I only looked at blog comments as a measure of my effort, I’d be sorely disappointed. My blog in general doesn’t get a lot of comments. However, I do get a fair amount of engagement on my blog posts via Facebook, Twitter, and often through email and in-person engagements. Not everything we do is going to go “viral,” and that’s OK. Small victories really do count.

Have fun with social
There is a reason these communication channels are called social networks. People engage through networking because they enjoy spending time connecting with other individuals who share common interests. If you think of it only as “another to-do on my daily list,” you’re missing a tremendous opportunity to expand your world in new and exciting ways. Let yourself enjoy it by celebrating company wins, giving sneak peaks into your unique corporate culture, rallying around client causes, and showing your sense of humor.

One word of caution about the last tip: humor is good, but make sure you use it with your audience and your corporate “voice” in mind.

4 Tips to Help Your Business Achieve Marketing Euphoria

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demanding euphoria
Photo by happy_serendipity

It seems that every day I read about a new business start up. Personally,  I’ve started and run many new businesses myself, so I understand the entrepreneurial mind-set very well. Since switching from launching my own companies to helping other entrepreneurial companies brand and market their products, I know one thing is certain:  Standing out in a crowded marketplace is no small task. Over the past 13 years, my firm has been the communications partner for many businesses in many different industries, and I’ve developed the following four tips to help companies achieve “Marketing Euphoria” … a state of complete marketing bliss.

1-Know yourself - This seems like a simple enough concept, but often times marketers get sidetracked with sales speak and with drinking their own Kool-Aid. Knowing yourself means recognizing what your value proposition is; understanding what it is that separates you from your competition.

2-Know your customer - What makes them tick? What are they really looking for? I can assure you it’s not your product. It’s what your product will do for them.  Use this information to create an emotional bond between your product and your customer.

3-Know who owns the brand - Don’t kid yourself. In today’s world, your brand is owned by your customers and manifested in the attitudes they hold and the stories they tell. They are in control, not you.  Engage with them, embrace brand enthusiasts, listen to what they are saying and you’ll have a chance to shape the conversation surrounding your brand.

4-Know how to communicate - All too many brands think their marketing goals can be achieved by gaining followers or “likers;” as though a combination of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ is the panacea for marketing bliss. Social Media is not a strategy. Social media is by definition, media. It’s a communication vehicle (albeit two-way) just like web banner ads, print and broadcast media.  It’s one of many channels you will need to use and understand if you are to be successful in making your brand stand out.

I have fine-tuned these tips for achieving “Marketing Euphoria” for all businesses – not just start-ups and entrepreneurs— over many years. While it’s true that standing out in your field can seem daunting, it is possible to carve out your own niche. If you find my post helpful, I hope you’ll share my blog or add your comments below.

Social Media: If Not Now, When?

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Infographic of Nonprofit Usage of Social Media
Infographic from CraigConnects

I recently had the pleasure of presenting as part of a panel on social media at the Council on Foundations’ Family Foundation Conference in Miami. The session, “Tools of Engagement: Family Dynamics and Social Networking,” covered social networking as a critical piece of a foundation’s communications strategy.  

Joining me on the panel were speaker and consultant Rosetta Thurman and Mark Carpenter, public relations manager of COF. Of the various facts and figures that were presented during the session, what struck me most was this: Only 39 percent of foundations use Facebook and only 31 percent use Twitter. Conversely, 89 percent of nonprofits use Facebook and 57 percent use Twitter.

Put another way, very few grant makers are participating in the conversations their nonprofit counterparts are talking about. Worse yet, they’re not even listening.

The participation level of the session underscored the fact that this topic is on the minds of many. The atmosphere was palpable as the attending family foundations wrestled with the reality that they aren’t yet in the game. When asked about the barriers to their social media participation, those in attendance answered with concerns familiar to many of us:

There’s no time. 

What’s my ROI? 

How do we control the message?

As the strategic communications partner of The Patterson Foundation, I’ve dealt with these questions before. We’ve done our best to tackle and solve many of these issues.

The Patterson Foundation believes that foundations must invest resources beyond the check, including investing in communications. The Patterson Foundation backs this up with action. TPF’s investment in communications dramatically increases the capacity of many of its nonprofit partners.

We’re in an exciting yet disruptive time in the communications space. The emergence of technology has drastically altered the way people communicate. Social media allows us to listen and engage. Emerging philanthropic leaders understand what those who are fearful of the unknown have yet to discover: The power of communications has been transferred to the individual.

If we want to engage a younger generation of philanthropists, the question to embrace social media becomes when, not if. I believe the answer is NOW.

Brand Building and Social Media: looking back to see the future

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This blog was written in 2009. As Facebook approaches a global audience of 800 million and Twitter usage approaches 250 million tweets per day, I thought it would be interesting to republish this to illustrate “no matter how things change, they remain the same.”  In the two years since this was written, things have changed for the GAP, but the message of the blog remains the same. 

For the past few months, I’ve been wondering and a little perplexed about how marketers view the social media phenomenon. Never before has a media segment grown so quickly. The statistics are staggering. Consider this: it took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users, TV 13 years, the Internet four years and iPod three years. Facebook added 100 million users in less than nine months and iPhone applications hit an astounding 1 billion in nine months.

With this phenomenal growth comes the false sense that social media is the panacea for successful brand building. I agree social media is an important component of building your brand. It’s tactical by nature and it’s a tool to achieve the end game … brand engagement.

One does not have to look far to find dynamic examples of how smart marketers are using the enormous power of social media. Today, I saw this headline:

“The Gap Steps Up to Social Media in New Denim Campaign.” The article explains that the Gap, admired as much for its TV commercials as for its clothes, was abandoning TV in favor of social media.  What message does this send to an over-stimulated, instant-gratification-seeking group of young marketers? Reading the article makes it easy to assume that the formula is: Any Brand + Social Media = SUCCESS.

The article fails to mention the time, research and strategy that are crucial to brand development … all the thinking that must take place before any tactical considerations, including social media executions, can be developed.

Let’s not lose sight of this basic fact: social media is by definition … media. Just as TV, radio, print and banner ads are all forms of media.  Social media carries the message. It is not the message. This is where many marketers are missing the mark.

Successful brand building starts with a basic understanding of core brand values, i.e., what the brand stands for and the emotional connection it creates with its customers/fans. Understanding these brand fundamentals is critical before a social media (or any media) strategy can be effectively implemented.

 Branding and social media

What Would Steve (Jobs) Do ?

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Steve Jobs

I’m currently immersed in planning sessions with our firm’s clients for 2012.  When planning and strategizing, we  consider past performances, current trends, research, and new opportunities. At the same time, I’m focusing on our firm’s future. I’m spending time networking with colleagues, other business leaders and taking counsel from my inner circle.  I’m focused on what our business — and to a greater degree our industry — will look like in one year and in five years.  

How will I position our company to thrive in the future?  I don’t think my thoughts and concerns are any different than other entrepreneur. 

The insight to answer these questions can be found by studying how innovative companies solved similar challenges. I thought of Apple and asked myself, ”What would Steve do?”

When Steve Jobs announced his retirement as CEO of Apple on August 24, it was greeted with sadness and a bit of melancholy. There was, however, no panic or wild stock sell off. To me, it seemed an unlikely scenario.  How could a leader so charismatic, the person credited with bringing the company back from the brink of disaster, the face of the company, exit as CEO without it having a negative effect?

While pondering this question, I came across a blog by Margaret Heffernan on BNET.com. Heffernan concluded that Jobs’ greatest asset was his ability to look into the future and position the company for what was to come.  For example, in the early 2000s, under Jobs’ leadership, Apple developed Safari, iTunes, WebObjects and Quicktime.  And when broadband took off, so did Apple.  

It’s not business as usual – it’s business as unusual.  Markets evolve. the wants and needs of customers evolve, and the rapid evolution of technology has had a profound effect on every type of business.  

 Looking into the future to position your business successfully is the conundrum facing many entrepreneurs and business owners. Seek and embrace change and you will give yourself a chance in this environment. Isn’t that what Steve would do?