Marketing | Personalized URLs, Custom Landing Pages with Social Media Integration & Realtime Analytics.

Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

Prince Doesn’t Get Viral Marketing…Or Does He?

Prince’s new album 20TEN comes out Saturday, but the only place you’ll be able to get it is as a free CD included in newspapers in Europe, including London’s Daily Mirror. US fans are apparently out of luck, at least for the time being. It’s not being sold in stores at present, nor will it be available as a download. Confusingly, the Daily Mirror says that Prince “has shunned selling his eagerly anticipated CD 20TEN in the shops or releasing it online because he wants as many people as possible to hear his music.”

Umm, wouldn’t more people be able to hear it if it were released online? The real issue seems to be Prince’s disdain for all things digital. In an interview with a reporter from the Mirror, he issued a proclamation that’s been burning up interwebs ever since:

“The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it. The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

Prince, I’d like to introduce you to Erik Qualman. Here is a nifty video Mr. Qualman created, called Social Media Revolution. I know, I know, it’s full of those awful numbers, but bear with me here:

Doesn’t look like the Internet’s going anywhere to me. But I guess if you don’t take those darn numbers into account, I could see how you might think so. As Fast Company points out, Prince’s refusal to allow his videos on YouTube contrasts sharply with the approach of Lady Gaga, who has become quite successful by using YouTube and Facebook to market herself. And of course, there’s Justin Bieber’s Twitter army of breathless teenybopper followers. And Trent Reznor, who has distributed both Nine Inch Nails albums and the first EP from his new band, How to Destroy Angels, as free downloads.

So, as much of a musical genius as Prince is, it seems like he just doesn’t get the potential of the Internet and viral marketing the way many of his colleagues seem to. Or does he? After all, we ARE talking about him, aren’t we? Although Fast Company notes that “you are more likely to find a rainbow-farting unicorn in your cutlery drawer than a Prince music video on YouTube,” he did become a trending topic on Twitter yesterday.

Still, I don’t see how making it harder for your fans to get to your music (unless you’re in Europe and can buy one of the newspapers that has it) is going to help his career. And I don’t see how the temporary buzz his crazy-talk has created can possibly compare with the direct, long-term and in many cases permanent connections that Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber have built with their fans via social networking.

And how many people actually carry around portable CD players any more? So, if you get the CD and you want to take it with you to listen to on the go, you have to go through the extra step of converting it to MP3s? I’m glad I’m not really a huge Prince fan, although he was an important part of my childhood. I would be more than a little irked if a musician I actually cared about were trying to make it harder for me to play their music even after I paid for it.

So, what do you think of Prince’s marketing and distribution strategy? Genius or fail? Let us know in the comments!

No Comments »

Dukky in the news….

Dukky was recently featured by Target Marketing Tipline in an article, “Direct Mail Tune Up Gives Saturn of Greenville Better Lead Mileage” on their website. After a press release noting Dukky’s success in the automotive industry, Tipline wanted to feature the success on their site detailing the campaign further.

It’s always exciting to share our client’s success stories and hear first hand how impacting their campaigns are to their business. Our goal is always 2 things: Conversion and Redemption, and we refuse to stray from making sure our clients get both!

To view the article follow the link:

http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/direct-mail-tuneup-gives-saturn-greenville-better-lead-mileage/1

Thanks again to Target Marketing Magazine for featuring this campaign’s success on their site.

No Comments »

“My customers don’t use social media”

Today’s post was written by John McCrory and originally appeared on his blog. It has been reprinted here with permission.

Really? How do you know? I’ve heard this line many times and it’s one of the most common reasons people in small business give for why social media isn’t a good fit for them.

What about advertising? Direct mail? How many of your customers are you reaching through those channels? A lot of the small business owners I’ve met aren’t sure they are getting any value out of ads and mailings. “Truth is,” they say, “I get most of my customers through word of mouth.”

Guess what? If word of mouth is your top marketing channel, you had better rethink your attitude about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the rest. Social media makes word of mouth visible. Because of that, I happen to think that social media are more relevant marketing tools for small and medium sized businesses than they are for big national brands.

If you integrate online and social media into your advertising and direct mail with something as simple as promo codes, you can even make the formerly invisible effects of your traditional marketing visible. But don’t take my word for it. Measure it.

Consider the case study of a retailer cited by Olivier Blanchard in his talk on measuring word of mouth the other day at the Word of Mouth Supergenius in Chicago: Though 90% of their marketing spend was on newspaper ads, E-mail, Facebook, and the retailer’s blog all brought in significantly more customers than print.

* 4% came from print ad codes
* 69% came from email
* 17% came from facebook
* 10% came from the blog

Not to trash print ads, but too often they are the default for many small businesses, nonprofits and educational institutions. In my experience, most small businesses never measure the ROI of different marketing tactics and channels, and proceed with advertising largely on faith. (Businesses based on direct-mail sales being a prominent exception.)

Alas, according to a recent survey, small business owners still have a long way to go in online and social media marketing. But the real problem is not knowing what works, and the solution is to measure and find out. I’ll choose evidence-based marketing over faith-based marketing any day. So before you say “My customers don’t use social media” again, ask whether that’s just your impression, or if you have real data to back that up.

Want more? If you still aren’t convinced, say, because “my customers don’t use Twitter,” Laura Fitton provides 5 great reasons why businesses should be on Twitter even if they think their customers aren’t.

No Comments »

Harnessing the Power of Social Media to Build Awareness

Building consumer awareness of your brand or product is one of the key goals of marketing. However, as Augie Ray of Forrester noted on the Forrester Interactive blog, it is becoming more and more difficult to reach consumers via traditional media. Just think of how adept we have become at filtering out advertising that distracts us, whether it comes through email, direct mail or via TV and radio. It’s all become so ubiquitous that we simply tune it out.

Of course, overabundant advertising has been annoying consumers for quite some time. What’s new is that technologies like TIVO and ad-blocking browser extensions have given us a way to escape completely from interruptions that we would otherwise be unable to ignore.

In his post, for example, Ray cites a study by Forrester in which 21% of people surveyed said they made a point of fast-forwarding through commercials on TV. Ray even goes so far as to declare that “2010 will be the year marketing–as we know it–dies. “ Given this environment, how can you get your message out to consumers?

In this article on AdAge, Judy Shapiro says that she believes 2010 will be the year that social media really begins to shine as a way to build awareness for your brand.

Technology may have made it easier for audiences to escape unwanted advertising, but it has also created a new venue that marketers can use to connect with customers. In her article, she identifies 6 strategies that can be used to harness the power of social media to build awareness, including:

Using social media for customer service.

Promoting your company with multi-channel content campaigns

Building mobile apps like the Gap Style Mixer, which allows customers to get discounts while they are in the store and to share them with friends.

Going for large numbers of impressions using behaviorally appropriate ad networks as a base for social media-centered campaigns.

Not overlooking real-world social networks. Instead, create programs that encourage consumers to share your products with their friends and relatives. Shapiro singles out a company called HouseParty, which connects consumers with brands for brand-sponsored product-sampling parties, as a good example of this.

Taking advantage of the new tools that are becoming available to help you measure the success of your social media campaigns.

These are all excellent strategies, and both Shapiro and Ray are correct about how important integrating social media into your marketing campaigns will become in the next year. Read more

1 Comment »

How Social Media Influences

Editor’s Note: Today’s post was written by David Finch and originally published on the Social Media Explorer blog. It is reprinted here with permission.

OK, I admit, social media has influenced me. I can’t recall the last time I purchased something because of an advertisement I’ve seen or heard. Every decision seems to be influenced by conversations I’ve had or overheard from social media channels.

Think about how social media has influenced you. What was your last purchase? How about the last new restaurant you ate at? What was the last thing you read? What was the last electronic gadget you bought? Have you purchased a car recently? If you think about it long enough you agree that most things you do and buy have been influenced by conversations you’ve had both offline and online.

While on vacation last week, I began to take note of the things I was using that I have been influenced by because of social media. I thought I would share my list with you, as well as who brought it on my radar.

iPhone Apps:
BrightKite – Brightkite is a location-based social network. In real time you can see where your friends are and what they’re up to. (@chrisbrogan)
Loopt – Loopt shows you who’s around, where to go and what to do. (@geoffliving)
Gypsii - Gypsii allows you to create places, locate people, explore the world around you. (@jasonfalls)
iTalk – iTalk allows you to turn your iPhone into a high quality-recording device. (@cc_chapman)

Tools:
Feedly – Feedly takes the content from your Google Reader and weaves it into a magazine style start page. (@hallicious)
Seesmic Desktop – Seesmic Desktop is an application that allows you to follow and converse with your Twitter and Facebook friends all in one place. (@loic)
Friendfeed – FriendFeed enables you to discover and discuss the interesting content your friends find on the web. (@scobleizer)

Gadgets:
iPhone 3G S – Do I really need a description?? It’s the ultimate phone on the market.
Kindle 2 – Amazon’s wireless reading device that allows me to read books, blogs, magazines and newspapers all from one portable device.

Books:
The Power of Less by Leo Babauta – The Power of Less is a blueprint for taking our lives back from the clutter, noise, and unnecessary work that fills a modern day. (@jasonfalls)
Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod – Ignore Everybody takes you through the process of how new ideas emerge in a cynical, risk-averse world? Where does inspiration come from? What does it take to make a living as a creative person?
Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss - Amazon describes this book as, “It’s one man’s story of a dangerous world-and how to stay alive in it.” (@justinlevy) Read more

No Comments »

Social Media…for Small Businesses too!

Editor’s Note: This post was written by Cyma Saeed, a certified Internet Marketing professional and search marketing specialist for Harp Interactive and Harp Social. It originally appeared on the Harp Social blog, and is reprinted here with permission.

You may be familiar with Dell, Starbucks and Jet Blue…a few well-known brands that have been trumpeted for their brilliant use of social media. But what about lesser known and smaller businesses? Does social media marketing “work” for them too?

A general misconception out there today is that social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, is for large consumer brands. While a lot of these well-known brand giants have embraced social media and are seeing its numerous viral benefits, small businesses should not shy away from social media. In reality, a small business (either consumer or B2B) with smart strategy, branded implementation and a touch of social savvy, can improve their customer loyalty and increase awareness with today’s word of mouth marketing platforms…just like the big guys.

Social media is not only a useful tool for consumer businesses, but for professional services too. Any type of business, through social media, can build their brand or business, forge new relationships, increase referrals, provide customer care, increase customer loyalty, drive traffic to their business and/or website and most importantly, provide a personable touch to their customers or potential ones.

So what exactly, should small businesses be doing? Almost every small business out there can benefit from a strategic combination of a WordPress blog with the right plug in applications, a Facebook Professional Fan page and my personal favorite, a branded Twitter account. Cross connect these powerful tools, and point them to your website for added traffic and increased inbound links which will benefit your results on search pages.

There are also many management tools, widgets and aggregators available today to make these platforms more efficient and useful.

No Comments »

DUKKY

var addthis_offset_left = -110; var addthis_brand = "DUKKY"; var addthis_header_color = "#ffffff"; var addthis_header_background = "#f7941d";