The Lonely Marketer

One aspect of social media that I truly enjoy is watching companies, who historically engage in traditional marketing mediums, adapt and change as their audience changes. More and more articles are popping up talking about companies who have jumped into social media in an attempt to meet up with an audience their trying to attract. A recent example I saw on AdvertisingAge focused on Febreze, a P&G brand, and their attempt to attract coeds with a new Facebook campaign.

The relatively young (Febreze’s family of products has been around less than a decade) but burgeoning $600 million brand has just kicked off “What Stinks,” the online and viral campaign for its fabric-refresher spray aimed at college students.

“There are 18 million college kids out there and we’ve never really targeted them,” said Martin Hettich, North American marketing director for Febreze. He said there have been pockets of students that over the years embraced the odor-fighting spray, typically priced between $3 and $7, despite the fact that there has been little in the way of dedicated advertising toward the group.

Citing the fact that “washing is not a convenient part of the lifestyle at college”, the Febreze execs probably took a sizable step outside of their marketing comfort zones and tried something new. With ROI being in such focus for marketers, that’s not an easy step to take, but I love the risk they’re taking and I think it will pay off. Let’s take a quick look at a couple elements of Febreze’s What Stinks campaign. Naturally, the first thing I did was see if they bought the domain. Yes, they did and here is the landing page:

You definitely get the feel for the graphical elements of the Febreze What Stinks campaign. The other aspect of this page that I like is there being one link on the page. So, there is only one way to go from the page and that is to the Facebook group. The page is obviously here for people like me that hear a campaign name and instantly type into my address bar of my browser.

Next, we visit the Facebook page dedicated to Febreze’s campaign:

I like the fact it carried over the graphical elements from the website. That consistency typically indicates a well thought out campaign. CO-ED Magazine picked up the Febreze story and also includes the main graphics so Febreze did a good job of branding the campaign.

Now, let’s check out what they did with the “I Tell Febreze What Stinks” Facebook page, which at last check had over 750 members:

Along with a comedy tour schedule, the page contains cartoons, some user generated photos, an intro video, and a potentially viral video game called The Dank Game. Other standard Facebook features such as a discussion board, member photos, and The Wall are also included on the page.

One last element I thought was creative was the Wheel-O-Stink:

This is Febreze’s subtle attempt to educate the college crowd about their various products and how they might be used. Very creative! Out of curiosity visitors will try this out and will get some exposure to the Febreze product line.

A potentially dangerous aspect of this campaign is the fact they’ve opened themselves up to potentially damaging Wall postings on animal testing and crude stories about smells that could diminish the brand. I noticed a few of those while on the page. The college crowd could easily jump on the wrong bandwagon with some of that.

One other quick note is search engine exposure for the campaign. I went to the major engines and Febreze does not rank in the top 3 or 4 results for the phrase “What Stinks” and they also are not running any paid search ads. People curious about this campaign might head to a search engine and search for details, but may not look far enough down to see the actual Febreze website. A PPC ad could help guide them to the campaign page.
Overall, I think Febreze did a great job with this campaign. They’re obviously taking major steps to make their brand recognizable by the college crowd and they’ve done that by going to where that crowd is hanging out. Am I curious about the results? Yes! Brand appeal will be tough to measure, but if their goal is the college crowd I think they’ve done it right.

What are your thoughts?

I’ve been pretty heavy on writing about search engine marketing recently so I thought I’d switch it up a bit and do a small feature on a print advertising method used by Marriott Hotels that I found to be unique. The ad is actually highlighting Residence Inn’s Chicago hotel which is part of the Marriott Hotel chain.

If it’s possible to transform the trend of Local Advertising from search engine marketing into a print advertising format, Marriott has come pretty close. I see alot of their advertising in many of the business and finance magazines I read, but this one stuck out.

As you can see below, the typical advertisement is on the left followed by a very useful insert that can easily be removed. It’s a perforated piece that has a map of the Magnificent Mile area in Chicago with icons pointing towards destinations they’re highlighting - including the Residence Inn Marriott Chicago Hotel.

The back of the insert has the destinations’ descriptions as well as address, phone number, and relevant date information. It’s a well rounded list of Arts, Entertainment, Sightseeing, Food & Wine, and Sports attractions that would appeal to any visitor to that Chicago area.

I thought Marriott did a nice job with this. I’m sure since I’m in the Midwest my insert focused on Chicago. Other areas of the country probably saw destination information for major cities in their geographical area - or at least I hope that is the way Marriott did it.

Given the fact dates are included for events in the near future says that they’re going after leisure and business travelers planning a trip to Chicago in the next few months. They’ve also highlighted the LaSalle Bank Marathon which draws close to a million spectators. Not a bad target market if you have a hotel in that area!

Too bad they aren’t running paid search ads on the keyword “LaSalle Bank Marathon”!! They’d have no competition as no one is running ads on that term right now. It probably would get the same conversion rates at a much lower costs that the print ad spot.

But, I’m a huge fan of Marriott Hotels and don’t want to take away from what I think is a decent print ad campaign. The insert stuck out, forced readers to look at it, and provided very useful information for people heading to Chicago in the near future.

Were my expectations too high? Did a great new phone release print ad and great landing page create a buzz that fizzled? Was I tainted by the iPhone craze? I think so.I’ll admit, I was intrigued enough by a print ad in a newspaper today to follow-up and see more information online. I’m a Verizon Wireless customer and I signed on with them a few years back because of their good network. But, over the last two years, I’ve started to watch other carriers who are carrying more cutting edge technology in their cell phones.

Could a print ad change my perception of Verizon’s cell phone offering?

It was a half page ad on the back of one of the sections. The ad was all in black with the headline “Next Phones Now” followed by the date “10.3.2007″. Next were a set of 4 cell phones hidden in shadows so you can make out the outlines and a few characteristics, but not much else. Below the phone was their logo and the url - “www.verizonwireless.com/next“.

Being a bit of a technology toy geek, I had to check this out. I guess the fact that my Verizon contract is up in a few months also plays into my intrigue.

The landing page is very well done and definitely creates the aura of an unveiling. Here is how it looks:

A clock counting down, soothing music with relevant lyrics, and a spotlight you can move around that lets you uncover some of the mystery are all excellent elements for this landing page. Lower on the screen were buttons to share with friends and add to del.icio.us. Verizon definitely has the pieces in place on this web page to create buzz and potentially some viral social activity.

…yet, I think their follow-through may lack some punch.

Since I typically write about small business marketing I’m always intrigued to watch the big players like Apple throw big money at great campaigns. So, I was excited to look around the web and see all the buzz about Verizon’s new phones.

…looking…still looking….getting bored…nothing….done looking.

• A search on “New Verizon Wireless Cell Phones” on Google yields only standard Verizon Wireless results. I was sure there would be news stories on the first page about their release or maybe a YouTube video relating to the new phone mystery. After all, this is the era of Universal Search!
• Their standard Adwords ads were up leading to their homepage. No ads touting their new phones or their “Next Phones Now” campaign.
• Nothing on their homepage! I thought for sure there would be something obvious there pointing to the campaign and the new phone unveiling. But, nothing!

What if I was in the market tonight for a new phone and provider? If I didn’t see that print ad, I might not know that in two days Verizon could have some great phones available.

In the era of Universal search, I would have suggested this to Verizon:

• Put some Press Releases out over the last month discussing the new phones. That gives them time to find their way into search results while this campaign is running.
• Get some influential technology writers some specs - or maybe even a phone - to look at and review (think iPhone). Create some buzz!
• Do something fun with a video or maybe even a game that let’s users try to uncover the mystery of what they’re about to release.
• Run Adwords ads on their name and terms like “new cell phone”. Have the campaign name in the ad and promote the mystery unveiling. Cell phone decision making starts and sometimes ends on search engines!

You know what’s interesting? None of my suggestions are “big dollar” marketing ideas. That’s why I think the online marketing - namely search engine marketing - has given small business marketing the chance to compete with the big budgets.

Well, Verizon, I’ll be watching to see what new phones you have, but I’m afraid your viewing audience might not be as big as it could have been. If you’re looking for someone to review the new phones, I’m always available!

I logged into my Google Adwords account yesterday and noticed something for the first time. On my campaign summary page there was a tab setup for my online campaigns and a new tab setup lower on the page for Other Campaign Types which strongly suggested I look into Print or Pay-Per-Action campaigns. This could have been there for awhile, but it’s really the first time I took notice.

So, I can go to Google for paid search, pay-per-action campaigns, site-targeted display ads, and print advertisements. As with anything Google does, they get bigger and better. What will these services look like in 5 years?

So, what does this all mean for the small business marketing media planner? Can we hand over time-consuming media planning to Google? Will bigger company media planners be out of jobs?

Absolutely NOT! While Google is doing a nice job of expanding their portfolio of opportunities for advertisers, they are by no means replacing the traditional media planner - or even today’s Search Marketer. iMedia Connection made the case that traditional media planners and search marketers will need to do more collaboration in the near future, but their roles are still very important. From the article:

“Nowadays, search marketers are being asked to take on projects that have traditionally fallen to online media planners: buying advertising on targeted sites. Search marketers understand and know the Google system well, but perhaps its time for traditional online media planners and paid search marketers to work more closely together. The opportunities to do so are only just beginning to surface.”

Media planning is a big job that shouldn’t be underestimated. From selecting mediums, defining budget, negotiating contracts and placements, planning messaging and creative, delivering a schedule of placements, and monitoring results, the media planner’s role is by no means in jeopardy. In fact, the case could be made that the role is getting bigger as the options and mediums increase.

The fact of the matter is that Google’s reach on publisher’s websites is not far enough that full industry campaigns can be turned over to their mediums. There are a handful of sites on which I may put display ads through Google, but it won’t certainly include some of the highly targeted industry sites on which I currently advertise. And, since I’m not a newspaper advertiser, that medium is not even on my radar. How many years until Google covers every trade mag in every industry niche? Not sure - but it may be sooner than you think.

Breathe easy media planners! Google has opportunities for you but is no where near replacing your role.

I wanted to pass along a quick story that I think highlights a point I and others write about often when discussing advertising and customer engagement.

While at SES San Jose conference and exhibits, I had the chance to be the attendee and not the exhibitor in the exhibition hall – meaning I got to walk around and evaluate different products and services that I may be able to use in my job. When I walked in the hall for the first time, I was greeted by a representative from an exhibiting company wanting me to carry around a bag with their logo on it to carry all the little trinkety, cheap giveaway handouts – or better known as “schwag” – that is handed out by exhibitors. Having decided I wasn’t going to pick up any “schwag”, I declined.

Later, after one of the conference sessions, I went back to the exhibition to continue visiting the booths. I was once again approached by the same company offering the bag and again said no. But, as I walked around I couldn’t resist the temptation to grab a few little unique giveaways that I thought the kids might like. Soon, my hands were full and I was thinking how nice it would be to have that bag.

To my pleasant surprise, the same company was there offering that bag and this time, I happily said yes. I then wandered around filling the bag with junk that never would make the trip home with me. But, I was carrying that big, flashy red bag with that company’s logo on it everywhere I went.

My point to this story is to show an example of why multiple brand impressions are important in any advertising/media plan. Engaging the customer at each point in their buying process dramatically improves your chances of a conversion.

Take the BtoB marketplace, for example. When is the last time you heard a buyer of a product or service in the BtoB world say, “I just had to have that! It was an impulse by, but I’m sure I’ll get use out of it”?

I bet never.

Justifying purchases and covering bases is paramount in corporate buying – of anything. So, don’t be naïve and expect that one impression with your product or service is going to turn into a conversion. You need to be there – both online and offline - as the buyer does their research, compares vendors, get proposals, and makes the decision.

Mack at the Viral Garden recently wrote about companies being more responsive to commentary and news they read on blogs. I had the opportunity today to come across a company that not only was listening but was concerned and very responsive to what they heard. Yesterday, I wrote about a Genalytics releasing news that was of interest to me, but being unable to find more information on their web site. Well, they were listening.

I was contacted by their PR department right way this morning and was given all the information I needed. I was very impressed. They were courteous, honest and diligent about making sure I was informed. Hats off to them.

Now, I can get down to why I wrote my post yesterday in the first place - I wanted to highlight a company who has created on demand targeting tools for businesses wanting to target audiences and discover new markets. Their news yesterday was about a new offering for BtoB direct marketers. Here’s an overview from their press release:

Andover, Mass., June 19, 2007 – Genalytics (www.genalytics.com), a leading provider of data solutions that assist companies in targeting customers, announced that it is now offering On-Demand Targeting for business-to-business campaigns. On-Demand Targeting for business allows marketers to leverage automated predictive modeling techniques to identify prospective business customers.

With Genalytics On-Demand Targeting, organizations are able to leverage advanced predictive modeling, profiling and list scoring without the overhead of traditional analytic approaches, to identify customers and businesses that are most likely to respond to a marketing campaign. Because On-Demand Targeting is automated, agencies, data compilers, list brokers and marketing service providers can offer advanced business targeting for every campaign.

I’m a big fan of any solution that helps me zero in on my target market. Genalytics does just that by using their predictive modeling to help business marketing campaigns identify prospective business customers. This tool could be a huge aid to small businesses who want to ensure that valuable budget dollars being used on a campaign are being used wisely.

Great new product from a very responsive company. Check out more on their site. Thanks to the folks at Genalytics for getting me all the info I needed and pointing me in the right direction. If they provide that kind of service to customers, I can imagine they’d be a great vendor!

A few weeks ago I wrote about Iowa and their excellent marketing plan to draw professionals to their state. They cited their values and way of life as perks on top of challenging careers. Interestingly, the post was one of my highest generators of traffic in the recent months. Who knew Iowa marketing would be such an interesting topic?! Mike and Claire enthusiastically commented, Drew, Adam, and Spa Clientéle posted about it and Chris had a different take on my perception of this as unique.

As someone who has direct experience with this topic, Chris nailed it - this is not unique - other cities have been doing this for awhile. Yesterday, in my Minneapolis Star and Tribune newspaper the headline, “Coming Together” stuck out in the business page. Minneapolis and St. Paul have spent years trying to convince the general public that they are two separate places with their own set of unique values. But moving forward they will be marketed as one big community to outsiders and visitors.

“”This is the culmination of three years of academic research, market research and hundreds of meetings with business and community leaders to find out the perceptions of the Twin Cities from people who have lived here their whole lives, as well as transplants and people who don’t live here,” said Rebecca Monro, associate director for the Institute for Research and Marketing at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. “People come here to visit for reasons different than we thought.”

It really doesn’t seem to me that it would take three years of research (and probably tax dollars) to figure this out. But, there is probably more to this than I realize. There is a two hour program coming up to discuss the study, but they’re charging $45 to attend. Yikes…you can be sure I won’t pay that to get a better look at this.

That doesn’t mean I’m not curious and interested to hear more - I’d even like to be involved. I do wonder how they’ll market this and what mediums they’ll use to spread their message. Hopefully, they’ll take a look at Iowa’s efforts. But, my feeling is they’re promoting a destination rather than a place to work. Maybe they can convince outsiders we have more than a giant mall!

Oddly enough, one of my more popular posts was about…a wine bottle. Earlier in the year I posted about a “peel-off” label that caught my attention. Rosenblum Cellars implemented the label into their bottle design. For a better description, check out my original post. My wife and I thought this was a great idea as we’re always wishing we’d saved something to remind us of good wines we’ve tried.

I was reading Brand Week recently and came across an interesting article about wine bottles and how they are evolving. The article focuses on the Amazing Food Wine Co. of New York and their efforts to take the guesswork out of pairing food with wine.

“The idea: In February, The Amazing Food Wine Co., New York, will launch “Wine That Loves.” The brand takes the guesswork out of pairing wine with food. Thus, Wine That Loves Pizza, Wine That Loves Pasta, Wine That Loves Roasted Chicken, and so on. A guide on the back of each bottle rates tannin, flavor, acidity, etc.”

I could not find a decent picture of the final design so I took a picture of the magazine article picture (shown left). It didn’t come out too well, but you get the idea. Wine with Chicken and Wine with Pizza are the titles - creating a whole new wine buying experience.

One reason I like this continuing story is because it reflects the small business marketers efforts to connect with a moving target - their audience and customers. The audience for wine makers has changed and evolved. It’s not only the wealthy consuming fine wines. There is a broader base of customers for wine makers and many more age groups to which they need to target.

Marketers in all industries face this challenge. What fun would marketing be if the same message and same methods for delivering that message were always the same? Our target markets change and evolve and it’s our job to find ways to figure out how to get back in touch with them. The wine market is learning - how are you doing?

I’m working on an interview with the Director of Marketing from Rosenblum Cellars. I’m hoping he’ll be able to shed some light on the topic of today’s wine bottle marketing.

I had to blink once or twice to believe what I was reading. Could one of our U.S. states be trying to convince people to move there with a print advertisement in a magazine? Yes, that was the case and I must say that I was proud of the effort. See, as a Minnesotan we enjoy a friendly rivalry with bordering states such as Wisconsin and Iowa, but it is just that - friendly. So, I have to say I really thought it was great to see Iowa reaching out and telling the country that they have a great place to live and work.

The caption that caught my eye read - Information Technology Companies Like What They See in Iowa. The ad, that ran in Fast Company, goes on to talk about the work/life balance in Iowa:

“…home to the fastest-growing economy in the Midwest. Iowa’s vibrant I.T. sector employs more than 46,000 people at 3,000 companies….Iowa’s I.T. workforce is one of the most productive anywhere - a byproduct of the life/work balance and the off-hours amenities that have helped create the nation’s 3rd most-livable state.”

On top of that, they’ve put together a nice website that is referenced in the ad (see screenshot below). The site does a great job of touting the benefits of living and working in Iowa. They’ve filled the pages with quality, useful information that should provide someone considering Iowa with a ton of resources.

My scanner is down or else I would have posted the print advertisement as well. If anyone is familiar with the campaign and has a screen shot of one of their print ads, please send it to me and I’ll post it.

UPDATE: Since posting this story, Drew McLellan - a resident of Iowa and fellow marketer - picked up the story and wrote a post of his own including more screen shots of the advertisements.

Granted, I don’t have much of experience marketing a state, but it looks to me like Iowa did a great job with this. Their messaging is consistent between print and online and they’ve created a sort of life-brand (if that’s even a marketing word) from the campaign. It’s clear alot of thought went into this campaign - nice work Iowa!

I came across a well-written article called The Trust Factor. The article focuses on building trust with customers being a key to sales success. I also believe that building trust is a major factor for marketing professionals and this article could just as easily been applied to marketing.

The article had five main areas on which to focus for building the trust factor:

1. Truth
2. Reliability
3. Understanding through uncommon efforts
4. Service
5. Take your time

As marketers, messaging is at the root of most everything we do. Whether it’s print ads, online banners, search marketing, email marketing, etc. we are delivering some kind of message to one of our target markets. That message gets delivered one way or another over time. If we over-promise and under-deliver, we’ll lose the trust of our audience and we may not get them back. Talking about your company’s core values such as high quality, low price or 100% guarantee sets an expectation that needs to be met further along in the marketing or sales cycle.

Remember, you’re setting the table for what comes next. Make sure you have the pieces in place to back up your messaging and build that customer trust.