BrandACT™ 09 set for November 7th and 12th

Note your calendar for another installment of BrandACT™ 09, November 7th, in Los Angeles, California and November 12th in Wilsonville, Oregon.

Well, we have a bit of advice to offer in these tough economic times. Focus your marketing, don’t cut it out. Marketing is not fat, it’s muscle. And when you tone that muscle and concentrate your efforts where your customers and potential customers are most likely to see it, you’ll be more effective without spending more money.

Because we know so many businesses continue to struggle with getting their message out, we’re putting on BrandACT, a workshop on marketing and branding. This intensive one-day workshop, led by Jennifer Larsen Morrow, the president of Creative Company, will stimulate your brain with new insights and deliver valuable tools and tactics you can put to use right away.

We’re currently enrolling for another session in Los Angeles at the Crowne Plaza LAX, on November 7, 2009 (Register now)  and in Wilsonville, Oregon at the Holiday Inn, on November 12, 2009 (Register now). The workshop runs from 9am to 5pm. Jennifer will explain the principles of branding and how they can be used to make your marketing, recruiting and fundraising efforts far more efficient and effective than ever before.

Online Tactics for Branding and Sales

Wondering how to spend your marketing dollars online these days? According to a Forbes study as reported by eMarketer, if the goal is to generate sales businesses of all budget sizes should start with SEO.

“Fourty-eight percent of marketers said that search engine optimization (SEO) was the best method for generating conversions online.”

Supplement SEO with email marketing and pay-per-click search advertising. SEO and paid search will both get you in front of people who are already going out of their way online to find information about your industry or products. And email marketing builds a communication stream with folks who’ve said they’re interested in you.

If the goal is branding – building, maintaining, or changing perception – site or page sponsorships were considered the most powerful, presumably because of the high visibility and brand-value communication that this kind of adversiting provides. Next in line for branding? SEO again… everybody’s doing it. Are you?

Video in Inbound Marketing

Today I attended a webinar by HubSpot describing how to use video in your inbound marketing efforts.

What IS inbound marketing, you say? Inbound marketing is any marketing effort focused on helping people find you. Rather than pushing your message out to “leads” using tools like trade shows and cold calling, inbound marketing makes your content available to people already shopping in your industry. They’ll find you through tools like blogging, SEO and social media, and hopefully make the effort to reach out for the initial contact.

Video can be a great way to draw these folks in and get them to engage with your brand. By creating educational or entertaining videos and publishing them on sharing sites (Blip.tv, YouTube, etc.) and on your blog, or by sharing the link in your email marketing you can educate them on what your brand is about and how they can use your products.

A few tips from today’s webinar:

• Shorter is better. People’s attention spans drop very quickly after the first ten seconds; give them something exciting to grab their attention in the first few seconds of your video and then keep it moving.
• Live video makes your message feel more personal and requires no editing, which means it’s fast, easy and cheap!
• If you’re camera shy, use screen recording to show web navigation with your voice over. This is great for instructional and how-to videos. A couple of software options: Camtasia and CamStudio.
• Upload your video in Flash, which is compatible for the most people, but also consider an M4V version for use with iTunes, iPods and iPhones.
• If you don’t have hosting capabilities, upload your videos to a sharing site like YouTube and then cut and paste the html code they’ll create for you to embed the videos on your own site.
• Don’t embed the videos in your emails, they’ll take up too much space. Instead take a screenshot of the video and hyperlink it to a place where your visitors can watch.
• To make sure your video gets picked up by search engines, add descriptions, notes or transcriptions below your video. Also make sure you select tags that are going to get you appropriate placement within the sharing site.
• Be sure you put your URL in the beginning of your video description so it doesn’t get hidden in the condensed description format, which is the default for YouTube.
• To encourage sharing add things like a “Tweet This” button to your video – you can create this through HubSpot at twitter.grader.com/tweetit.
• Don’t forget the call to action – at the end of your video tell viewers exactly what you want them to do next.

And finally, how do you know if your video was a success? For B2B videos, HubSpot considers 10,000 YouTube views a win. But you can also use analytics tools provided by your video hosting company such as YouTube Insights.

Using Video in Email Marketing

I posted last week about the benefits of combining your email marketing and social media efforts. Today, MarketingProfs sent out an email dedicated to a post at the Digital Marketing blog citing research supporting the use of video in email marketing.

According to Nielsen Online, total video streams in April 2009 were up 24% year over year, streams-per-viewer were up 27% and time-per-viewer was up 58%. And, according to Forrester, a video link in an email can increase click-through rates by two to three times.

So, get to it!

• Create videos that provide value and entertainment for your audience.
• Post them in places where they will be easy to find and easy to share, including your own website and social media outlets such as YouTube and Facebook.
• And finally, send the link to your email base. Remember not to embed the video directly in your email because most ISPs limit the amount of information that can be sent and received; instead hyperlink a screenshot of your video and place that in a prominent position in your email.

Unusual Helmet Designs

Here’s a collection of interesting motorcycle helmets and unusual helmet designs I discovered this morning. The mellon head gets my vote. Let’s talk about functionality. Can you see out of these things?

Be safe!

Do we need another iPhone ??—Rumors abound about Apple at the WWDC on Monday

World Wide Developers Conference

As usual, the company is tight-lipped – which, as always, just adds to the frenzy. That, of course, is the way they like it and the way we always play it. At least we all have our roles down pat!

Unsurprisingly, this year’s rumours centre on the iPhone, which has sold around 21 million handsets in its roughly two-and-a-half short years.

One analyst, Gartner, reports that the iPhone was the fastest-growing smartphone of 2008; another, PiperJaffray, believes that Apple can grow its sales to 45 million units by the end of 2009.

Let’s not forget that it still ranks third behind Nokia and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry. And let’s throw in the unknown factor of the Palm Pre, which launches in the States this weekend and which some industry watchers have touted as a serious challenger to Apple.

Rumoured iPhone features include better battery life, a video camera, memory upgrades, a speedier processor and a digital compass. There has also been talk of a cheaper handset, selling at around $99-$149.

The previously-announced improvements to the operating system via a software upgrade should be rolled out, adding in-app commerce, live streaming and the ability to cut and paste. There will also be some new numbers on the app store – which, earlier in the year, passed the one billion download mark. But does all this really set the heather on fire?

Well, it would if “you know who” were doing the honours from centre stage. Apple’s founder and CEO Steve Jobs has been on sick leave since the beginning of the year and is due back at his desk at the end of the month.

Naturally, the “will he / won’t he” question of Mr Jobs making an appearance at the WWDC comes down to a fact that nobody really knows, except for the chosen few and his nibs.

The BBC will be there to report on whether or not the rumour mill got it right this time and whether Apple pulls out its famous “one last thing” to wow the crowd.

Thanks to Maggie Shiels of the BBC.

Take Advantage of Some Downtime

A lot of companies are in a difficult financial position this year and when choosing where to make money-saving cuts, one of the first things to go is marketing and advertising. I’ve always told clients to think about this in a different way – rather than cutting your marketing budget during a downturn, take advantage of the limited competition and make a splash with customers. While they may not be spending right now, seeing advertising from you will reinforce their belief that you are a strong, vital organization. Plus, people will remember your name when their wallets start to fill up again.

Today, eMarketer.com posted an article supporting this argument with some research:

• Fifty-six percent of Internet users who noticed a decline in ads from a retailer saw it as a sign that the store was struggling—15% thought the store would go bust, and soon.
• On the other hand, frequent retail ads led respondents to feel the stores were committed to doing business, being competitive and—in some cases—healthy. (Ad Overkill May Not Be a Bad Thing During Tough Times by eMarketer, June 2009)

EDIT June 5, 2009 – Just received an Ad-ology report confirming the data above and adding some interesting points about consumer spending habits now versus one year ago:

Email Meets Social Networking

Today I attended a webinar by ExactTarget and Forrester that discussed how to use email marketing and social networking together and I wanted to share some of the key points with you.

Three-quarters of US online adults use social technologies, which now includes any forum for sharing information and content online – Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and email are all social. Even with all these other ways to talk to our friends, email is still the most popular way to share online content both in the adult crowd (18+) and with teens (12-17). More than 80% of online adults share content via email.

• 77% trust content received via email from people they know.
• 60% trust consumer ratings and reviews.
• Compare that with only 38% who trust television ads.

So what does this mean to marketers? Use email as the link between your social media efforts and make it easy for users to share your email and other online content. Remember that your emails don’t always have to focus on marketing messages; build user trust and loyalty by sending out fun, interesting and relevant content without the sales pitch. And make sure you don’t wear your marketing hat when working with social media.

• Use Twitter for short, immediate communications.
• Use Facebook to keep in touch with fans.
• Use email for deeper engagement with brand advocates.

The commitment to become an engaged subscriber to your email list is much larger than the commitment to follow you on Twitter. Get to know your customers and their behaviors before reaching out to them in any of these arenas. Reward your brand advocates with in-depth email content and promotions that make them feel special. And again, make your content easy to share so you can build your base of engaged subscribers.

10 Essential CMS Considerations

Choosing a CMS can be tricky.

What should you look for in a Content Management System (CMS)? Well, here’s a great list providing some very helpful insight into plotting out your CMS requirements. Complements of Paul Boag, contributor, Smashing Magazine. Areas to consider include:

1. Core functionality
2. The editor
3. Managing assets
4. Search
5. Customization
6. User interaction
7. Roles and permission
8. Versioning
9. Multiple website support
10. Multilingual support

Hey, what’s your story?

A clear identity can create an emotional connection to a product, service or company. This is not strange as basically everything stems from identity, the individual as well as the artifacts have an identity both from a social and psychological point of view the identity is the core, the material physical objects really don’t exist.

Some have said:

“I like it when clothes and objects have an aura, or a secret story”.

We believe a product won’t be durable before it tells a credible story.

People like storytelling, it’s a part of human history. As soon as something has a story, it becomes important. It gets a soul. And if it’s important it will soon be durable.

So, what’s your story?

Brands we love

The concept of branding is still pretty mushy for a lot of people … is it a great logo? Is it using consistent colors? Is it making sure the central message is clear? Is it making sure there’s a great tag line? So perhaps if we take a look at really successful brands, insight will be found.

Currently I’m in love with the iPhone from Apple. Not only has Apple consistently built their brand with ALL of the components that make a brand (great product design that is distinctive and user-friendly, outstanding advertising, an “attitude” that permeates their stores, packaging and much more) … they have created the kind of brand people bond with, are loyal to, and talk about …  a lot. Just today we were laughing about the latest series of ads from Apple that pan Vista (the Mac guy and PC guy) and how laser clear and quick they are. They’re the kind of ads we WANT to watch and not skip over. How many of those are you seeing on the boob tube?

But the true test of a brand is in the experience … the interaction with the product and its representatives. In the case of Apple that’s the store, the packaging for the products, the simple, clear and concise way in which instructions are provided for my new iPhone, the ease of downloading apps, the pure joy of exploring the quality of the screen and the organization of information. Deep down beauty. And deep down thinking and consideration of the user, the audience at every point of contact, for every experience. Now that is great branding.

What other brands are you drawn to? When you dig in to what it is about them that you appreciate, you’ll discover it’s the essence, the idea, the attitude and persona that really ties everything together into a total experience, whether you’re sitting in Starbucks or interacting with your iPhone or seeing an ad for Nike. It’s that thinking and clarity of purpose that helps to draw a brand together and create something that peopel talk about and want to share.

Obama’s “Yes We Can” Brand

 

My friends, whether you voted for Barack Obama for the next president of the United States or you didn’t, one thing is for sure, the Obama brand identity speaks “victory” in so many ways.

We couldn’t help but notice the Obama media machine’s clever messaging, the consistent, yet flexible identity system and the decision to incorporate the Web and social media as a significant component to the brand strategy which no doubt helped bring about a ground swell of funding and votes.

The website, barackobama.com featured constant campaign updates, photos, ringtones, videos, widgets, and events to give supporters a reason to to keep coming back. While the campaign’s social network, my.barackobama.com, allowed supporters to create their own blogs around platform issues, set up their own mini fund-raising site, send policy recommendations directly to the campaign, organize an event, even use a phone-bank widget to get call lists and scripts to tele-canvass from home. Ain’t that great, a veritable plethora of viral communities and tools right at your finger tips!

Just look at the difference between both leading candidate site identitys. Obama’s site is smart, bright and relatively flawless in execution with finessed typography, detailed gradients and subtle background illustrations compared to McCain’s dark, flat and traditionally non-distinct political sameness. Even the merchandising is worlds apart.

It was a good week! (election week, that is)

Well, it was quite the week, and you can now thank your own God that it’s finally over.

Lucinda Williams has a new CD out, which for once doesn’t make you want to commit suicide, and Shooter Jennings also has a new one, covering some of his dad’s (Waylon) songs, and it sounds real good.

We also have a new Prez-elect and a new American “Brand”–-Obama.
It’s been an experience watching them all–-Obama, Biden, Mac and Palin–attempt to persuade us to “buy in” to any one of them.

If you think of Obama and McCain as two distinct brands, which one do you think maintained consistency with the core values and identity that he represented?

My friends, Mac has always been branded the “straight talk express,” but over the months he really deviated from that persona and went off the rails. In branding terms he went “off brand,” which caused confusion and lost him votes.

Transform your business in 2009

Are you wondering what you can do in these tough economic times to make your marketing work harder to generate the results you need? Are you feeling overwhelmed by all of the talk about new media and social networking and branding? If you spend any time at all reading business publications or even just watching the news, there is a lot to sift through and evaluate. Is this a time of opportunity or a time to cut to the bone and hunker down?

Well, we have a bit of advice to offer. Focus your marketing, don’t cut it out. Marketing is not fat, it’s muscle. And when you tone that muscle and concentrate your efforts where your customers and potential customers are most likely to see it, you’ll be more effective without spending more money.

Because we know so many businesses are in a similar dilemma, we’re putting on BrandACT™, a workshop on marketing and branding. This intensive one-day workshop, led by Jennifer Larsen Morrow, the president of Creative Company, will stimulate your brain with new insights and deliver valuable tools and tactics you can put to use right away.

We’re currently enrolling for a session at the Crowne Plaza LAX in Los Angeles on March 7, 2009, and for another session at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville, Oregon, on March 10, 2009 (Register now). The workshop runs from 9am to 5pm. Jennifer will explain the principles of branding and how they can be used to make your marketing, recruiting and fundraising efforts far more efficient and effective than ever before.

Jennifer has more than 30 years of experience creating effective, award-winning brands and marketing programs for a range of clients in industries as diverse as food products, professional services, financial, manufacturing, telecommunications, waste management and higher education. She is an engaging speaker with an arsenal of examples to show and success stories to tell.

In the sessions planned for 2009 Jennifer will share a new perspective on branding that begins with the essential “points of choice” in the sales, recruiting or fundraising process. This proprietary approach has been tested and proven with many clients in many industries. By focusing first on the audiences, then identifying where they make their choice to ask for more information or to make a purchase decision, each marketing program built from the point of choice is more effective. By fine-tuning all communications, messages and visual systems at the points of choice (which are different for each organization and each audience) and then seeking out other existing opportunities to apply the tactics of branding, Jennifer and the Creative Company team have created exceptional results for our clients, generating greater attention in their markets, increasing the number of inquiries and driving sales volume.

The workshop is formatted for plenty of interaction, with no more than 20 attendees. Often attendees use the group as an informal focus group, to test ideas and discuss strategies. With worksheets and discussion throughout the day, you’ll get a chance to voice your opinion and ask plenty of questions.

Jennifer has spoken to conferences such as the National Marketing Conference for NTCA (National Telecommunications Cooperative Association), the annual conferences of PNACAC (Pacific Northwest Association of College Admission Counselors), and the annual conference of NACAC (National Association of College Admission Counselors). She receives rave reviews from those who have attended BrandACT in the past or have heard her speak at conferences and business groups.

It’s just one day. And it’s one day that could transform the course of your business. It’s also a great day for you to step back from the marketing you’ve been doing, take a fresh look, gain some insight from a branding expert and your peers, and establish a new direction based on how you can differentiate your organization in your marketplace, where the essential “points of choice” are for your target audiences, and what the best communication tools are for your market, your business and your audiences. Ready to transform? Check out our Website at www.creativeco.com.

Hurst’s Berry Farm Website is berry-licious

Hurst’s Berry Farm in Sheridan, Oregon, has a new Website that is simply mouth watering and schweet. Hurst’s Berry Farm is the leading shipper of fresh berries in the Northwest, growing and distributing a variety of fresh berries to grocery stores across the U.S.

Creative Company takes merit for Umpqua and Linfield

 

We’re happy to announce that Creative Company was nominated for two merit awards at the 6th Annual Service Industry Awards (SIAA). This accolade demonstrates recognition for work performed by Creative Company for Umpqua Bank JELD-WEN Tradition Invite and the Linfield College Travel Piece.

SIAA is the only advertising awards to specifically recognize the achievements of the service industry. Many other advertising awards are dominated by consumer goods, packaged goods and other tangible products. The service industry is adding a significant contribution to marketing and advertising. SIAA recognizes the creativity and communication accomplishments of the service industry.

Woohoo! Thanks all!

Salem YWCA captures our attention

On Tuesday, February 24, in Salem, Oregon more than 700 women gathered for the “Women Helping Women” luncheon, to support and give to the Salem YWCA. This organization is remarkable.  Under the leadership of Carol Green, this local chapter has made remarkable progress in the community. Not only do they demonstrate collaboration and community in the way they do business, they have been key in transforming a portion of Salem that was previously one of the “worst” areas in town. They have built a new building (and were successful in generating the support needed to make this happen), they have provided needed services to women who have faced some of life’s toughest challenges–from teen pregnancy to living with breast cancer–and they continue to provide services that help women and their families achieve a life they never thought was possible. Through showcasing four remarkable stories we were all moved to tears and opened our checkbooks.

This luncheon is a demonstration of branding at its best. The total experience of a tight, focused one-hour lunch, the stories that were shared and the frank ask for money were all designed to have all of us realize the need for the YWCA in our community. It was also an example of social media in its “old school” way … rubbing shoulders with professional women, community leaders and homemakers in the Salem area, all for the sake of one, unifying cause.

It’s an event I look forward to every year. And it’s an event that is truly inspirational for me as a woman, for the community I’m part of, and as a marketer whose desire is to connect with and move people for a purpose. Thank you to the excellent team at the Y who puts on this event, and to Carol Green, the executive director who is retiring this year.

Marketing Mistake #10: Student recruitment isn’t marketing

Fact: an effective and integrated student recruitment program is based on the foundational principles of good marketing … understanding your audiences; communicating benefits and distinguishing features; integrating all communications for a consistent look and feel; and creating a clear and compelling reason that will generate response by the right individuals. Basically, good branding.

In the world of college and university recruitment, there is a great deal of effort and money expended in searching for potential students, communicating with them through online media and printed materials, personal communication at college fairs and through high school counselors, and through events and open houses. Over the course of time a high school student (sometimes as early as 8th grade) will be bombarded with information from many different institutions of higher learning, all trying to say “look at me! pick me! we’re the one you want!”

In some ways this is marketing at its most intense. After all,  it’s a huge investment of time and dollars for a student to attend college. It’s a major life decision. As such, colleges invest heavily in pushing those decisions towards their institution. Marketing. It’s really marketing. And the most successful programs incorporate the tenets of branding.

We’re amazed when we see “cookie cutter” solutions (think three in a tree) for colleges and universities that are trying to distinguish themselves from the crowd. When the strategy is to do what the other guys do and to look like a college, it’s tough to persuade potential students to dig further to find out if that specific institution is a good fit. Unless, of course, you’re Harvard or Yale and you already have thousands of students clamoring for just a few hundred seats.

But that’s not the case with smaller, interesting, innovative and distinctive institutions. They MUST brand in order to stand out. They MUST have a compelling story,  supported by factoids, proof points, quotes or more to bring their story to life. The photos chosen MUST support that concept and story and reflect the character and persona of the campus.

So it’s time to get off the “we don’t use the term branding” or “it’s not marketing, it’s recruitment.” It is marketing. And to be successful, the principles of marketing and branding must be part of the ongoing conversation, the development of recruitment materials, design and content and management of the Website … and every other contact with potential students or their referral sources.  Integration. Clear communication. Consistent look and feel. Let’s do it!

Additional session scheduled for April 2

One day marketing workshop returns April 2

We’re pleased to let everyone know that our one-day marketing workshop has filled in Oregon, on the March 10 date. So we have decided to schedule a second session on April 2. Same location, same price, same great content! To enroll, please go to EventBrite. And of course give us a call if you have any questions! 1.866.363.4433 or 503.883.4433.

Marketing Mistake #1: Our product and service is outstanding, that’s enough

We’ve been working on this series and have heard some good response as they’re being Emailed out to promote BrandACT, my one day marketing workshop. So after some discussion … it seemed like it might be a good idea to start posting these! Enjoy. Of course, if you have any suggestions for “marketing mistakes” … leave us a comment!

The mistake: believing that doing a good job is enough to get more customers in the door.

Fact: Even if your product or service is extraordinary, you have to let people know about it. You have to market. And now it’s more important than ever to be targeted, focused and effective when you communicate about your business, products or services to potential customers or clients.

To be effective in your marketing, you must have a clear picture of your target audiences … and every business has multiple audiences, from current customers to prospective customers, a referral base or others in your sales channel. Once you know your audiences, you will have a better understanding of how they buy, what they expect and how you can appeal to them in their own terms.

When you understand who your audiences are, you will also be able to identify the contact points … those opportunities to connect with all audiences or specific audiences. You may have planned opportunities such as a Website, or you may have existing contact points you may not be making full use of, such as signing or vehicles.

Now you can learn dozens of tactics and ideas to help you market more effectively. Discover how to choose the most efficient communication channel and media for your unique business and your targeted audiences. Invest just one day in my marketing workshop, BrandACT™, and you will return to your organization with a fresh outlook, new marketing ideas and a clear direction for marketing your business more effectively, even in these tough economic times.

We’ve already filled one session in Oregon … and have now scheduled another for April 2 in Wilsonville. Would you like to know more? Please go to EventBrite or give us a call at 503.883.4433.

Hope you can join me, Jennifer Larsen Morrow, for another energetic and interactive day … plenty of interaction, and time away to help you focus on marketing your organization more effectively.

And watch for the next marketing mistake!

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery…

Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.

What are you doing today to ensure your business succeeds in these tough times?

Many business owners or managers responsible for their company’s marketing are struggling with the proliferation of media choices, the challenges of communicating clearly and the continual shifting of the economy, audience perspectives and marketing opportunities. They’re looking for solutions that will generate bigger response from every marketing investment, and insight that will help them choose the right methods, tactics and media. It’s a changing landscape, yet the foundation of good marketing–understanding your audiences, speaking in their language and connecting at all of the touch points–will help every organization in any industry succeed.

The organizations that are successful today and in the future are focusing their marketing strategies, tuning up their Websites, clarifying their message and distinguishing their products and services from the competition. The most innovative companies are reinventing their brand now, when times are tough, in order to set the stage for the future.

Today is a gift. It’s an opportunity to reinvent how you do business, to capture a leadership role in your industry and to re-energize your staff around who you are in business. Is it time to step out of what you’ve always done and take a fresh look at what’s possible? Instead of retreating from the challenging marketplace and hunkering down, what about reaching out and kicking in a whole new level for your brand and your marketing? It’s actually a great time to do it. Now. Really. Right now. Let’s do it!