Mobilize the Penny Pinchers

Talk of a recession is not going unnoticed by the average American. We already seem to be staying home, driving less and cutting back on things like entertainment, food and travel. The government’s effort to curb this prediction is to offer the individual economic stimulus package, giving about $1,200 per couple. While exciting on the receiving end, I am interested to see if this one time “gift” is really going to get us out there buying any of the great new products marketers are ready to launch.

When consumers are pinching their pennies, what is the best way to introduce a product they don’t really need? The answer maybe found in a simple marketing strategy that has fallen by the way side in the last 10 years.

Coupons. Coupons, Coupons, Coupons.

A recent study from ICOM Information and Communications says that of the more than 1,500 survey respondents, 67 percent said they were much more likely or somewhat more likely to use coupons during a recession.

Picture this, Suzie Homemaker is frustrated with her broom and dustpan. She has seen several commercials for the brand new Swifter Vac, II. She wants to try it but an additional $25 or $30 to her grocery bill will put her over her tight budget. Next, factor in a $5 off coupon sent to Suzie because she opted in to receive weekly emails from P&G. You now have a much better chance of getting Suzie to invest in your new product. Also, you can track every step the coupon makes, evaluating along the way if the strategy is working.

Bottom line, let’s mobilize the penny pinchers. Let’s give them a reason to buy our new product or service. There is no need for manufacturers to send out more coupons. They do however, need to focus on sending them to the right individuals and maybe consider extending expiration dates.

SEO PR Efforts DO Get Results!

The use of Internet search engines has become so pervasive, so matter-of-fact, that top public relations and communications professionals are blending Search Engine Optimization strategies and tactics with PR efforts.

Successfully deployed, these SEO PR tactics help create greater relevance for a product, service and/or company within the proprietary algorithms used by search engines (Google and Yahoo! being the most prominent) and produce a higher “organic” ranking for the particular words, terms and/topics. (In this context, organic ranking refers to a non-paid ranking or listing that occurs naturally.)

Hence, the savvy PR pro will sprinkle critical SEO terms and words within news releases and other PR materials. And just to be clear about this, this concept is just one SEO PR tactic that will help increase one’s results/rankings on the Internet.

Does it work? You bet.

How do I know?

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Borrowed Thoughts from Small Agency Diary

In catching up on other industry-related blogs, I’ve neglected to update The Betty Factor. My sincerest apologies; a real update is coming soon!

So! In the meantime, I want to highlight a blog post I recently read written by Jennifer Patterson over at Small Agency Diary that really taps into small agency culture through a story about — of all things — a squishy carpet.  It’s a testament to the career path many  us have chosen and I just wanted to share! I’ll check back in soon.

There was a time at the agency when the floor squished as you walked from reception into the kitchen. The squish eventually migrated from reception to one of the offices and soon became a sort of character in the office. People would come in and ask “What’s the squish-factor today?”

When the squish was vacuumed out, we lost more than a water-logged floor. We lost a part of our culture.

This sounds absurd, but anyone who works at a small agency will know this to be true. At a small agency, we’re used to communing with the elements. Those little inconveniences are part of day-to-day work life. At a large agency, these inconveniences are efficiently handled — there are plans, there is a person whose job it is to deal with the squish. At a small agency, you just keep squishing along.

We never really mentioned the squish to outsiders. After all, no client wants to hire a (literally or figuratively) sinking agency.

But I am here to say the squish is worth something.

Small-agency culture is all about creativity and spontaneity. On a given day you deal with the highest altitude issues of client’s brand and business and the lowest altitude issues like what kind of coffee to buy. But getting your hands dirty with the in’s and out’s of your own business is a great reminder that your client’s business is also about the elements.

Family of Ten Makes the Most of Product Placement

There are ordinary products that, when touched by the right spokesperson, are plucked out of obscurity and land center stage in the average consumer’s mind. Fueled by this hope, many marketers use product placement in reality TV or even “fake” reality TV shows to launch new or existing products into the limelight.

Examples that come to mind for me include the red Coke glasses on the judges table during American Idol, The Office character, Michael Scott’s love for Chili’s or even references to Fragments.com on BRAVO blog post by Alex, one of the new Real Housewives of New York City.

A recent Ad Age article suggests that product placements are “spectacularly average”, often becoming additional clutter the average viewer has learned to tune out. One quoted ad executive said,

“The best opportunities [for product placement] in reality shows are where real people in true-to-life situations are interacting favorably with the product. If the person is an expert and has credibility in the field, the integration is even stronger.”

After attending two baby showers and a book club this week where the majority of the conversations revolved around the budding TLC show Jon and Katie+8, I would say companies jumping on board opportunities with that show are set to make some extraordinary impressions.

Whether the Jon and Kate are headed to Hershey Chocolate World, the American Girl Factory in NY or just putting the DuraBibs on the multiples before each meal, this show is a perfect opportunity for viewers to see an already entertaining family interact favorably with products. Not to mention that any woman who can keep track of that many toddles becomes an “expert” in the field of parenting to me.

Regardless, I am interested to see how many woman are taking notice of the nanny services Kate is using or the restaurant the family chooses for Jon’s surprise birthday party; I know I am!

Perserverance, Laser-sharp Focus and a Good Idea = A Winning Combination for Jason Alba, Creator of JibberJobber.com

I love a good story, and to me a good story can become great when it

*  Involves a real person,

*  Who overcomes adversity and/or long odds, and

*  Achieves success.

Jason Alba fits into the great story category.

Without going into all the details, Jason’s a tech guy with an MBA under his belt who found himself out of work in January 2006. After several months of unsuccessfully looking for ajob to meet his skill-sets and needs, he decided to branch out onto his own by launching JibberJobber.com — a Web-based solution to help others out of work manage their job-seeking efforts.

Picking up on repeated questions he heard about the benefits (if any) of LinkedIn, the social networking site, Jason wrote a book entitled simply enough, I’m on LinkedIn. Now What? Recently he published a second book: I’m On Facebook. Now What?

By themselves, these are positive steps in what sounds like a decent personal turnaround story. But Jason’s taken his entrepreneurial efforts beyond the basic “woe is me” story to the “I’m doing pretty okay now” with his fairly tireless self-promotional efforts.

His most recent hit? A very nice 3-25-08 write-up in U.S. News & World Report entitled: “Boosting Your Sales with Social Networking.”

As proven by the USNWR story (as well as by inclusion in stories from The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and others), Jason has now transformed himself into a sought-after expert — in essence, a brand unto himself.

Congrats, Jason. That’s good news for you, and for those seeking your advice/assistance as well.

ZDNet’s Krigsman is Correct: I.T. DOES Lose Credibility by Speaking in Technical Jargon

Michael Krigsman, driving force behind ZDNet’s IT Project Failures blog, nailed it yesterday when he wrote, “Is IT becoming extinct?”

In one of seven points he makes as to why he believes that the average Information Technology department is headed for death’s door, he writes,

“IT loses credibility by speaking in technical jargon . . .”

Michael Krigsman, “Is IT becoming extinct?” ZDNet, 3-23-08

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Blogging Can Work for Any Company, Not Just Small Firms

In Monday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal (3-17-08), Shelly Banjo wrote a powerful piece on the benefits of blogging for small businesses entitled “Attention, Bloggers.”

It’s a good read, one that I recommend to anyone connected (even remotely) to any aspect of marketing. I particularly liked this paragraph from her story:

“Businesses of all types and sizes are focusing on the power of bloggers as opinion shapers. But harnessing that power is particularly important for small-business owners who don’t have the money to create name recognition with big marketing campaigns. By connecting with the right blogs, small businesses can generate buzz around their products and services and increase sales dramatically.”

“Attention, Bloggers,” Shelly Banjo, WSJ, March 17, 2008

My one point of contention with Banjo’s article, if any, is that readers might leave her piece and incorrectly believe that blogs are only designed for small businesses.

This is NOT the case, and for the record, I don’t believe this is what she was communicating in the first place.

Rather, I believe it’s becoming quite clear that the ongoing explosive growth of the Internet and the tools/services tied to the World Wide Web have empowered consumers, corporations and organizations in ways never before imagined. One of the most crucial ways that this rising tide of advancing technology has changed our lives forever is the ability it gives individuals to connect directly with corporations and organizations in one-to-one digital dialogues.If such dialogues are conducted in the transparent light of the blogosphere, they can (and in fact, often do) invite expansion into Web-based conversations that can experience exponential viral growth, either the benefit or detriment of the original participants.

Considering Online Video? Keep It Short Stupid

A recent survey by eMarketer found that online video viewers prefer shorter video clips. What does that mean for marketers? Well, for starters consumers either have shorter attention spans or less time –  or both.

This is a concept journalists have gotten for a long time –  and we here at Politis pride ourselves in — KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). This is the same idea and is becoming more and it is becoming more critical for marketers to either grab and keep the audience’s attention or get the message across faster. In this info-saturated world where everyone is vying for attention, we must be smarter and more in touch with our audiences.

Want Better Media Coverage? Do Something Different!

As marketers we’re always looking for ways to create a buzz to get someone’s (or many someones) attention. I’ve recently come across two examples of where doing something different can definitely result in more media coverage (and in many cases can result in increased sales).

The first example is doing something different with an existing product, this is a form of repositioning. While at the Winter Outdoor Retailer we came across Atlas Glove. Now, you probably know Atlas Glove, the knit gloves dipped in light blue rubber coating to give you traction when you work in the garden or move stuff around the garage, what in the heck were they doing at the OR Winter show? Answer: They were promoting Atlas Glove as an outdoor sport accessory.

Honestly, I was intrigued because I have used these little yellow and blue gloves for construction projects and such and now to have them for hang gliding, parachuting or skiing threw me for a loop. To me this is innovative and I immediately began using them. What’s more, their an inexpensive alternative to high-end, professional equipment — trust me, no one’s gonna cry if they rip these gloves.

The second company is Starbucks. Last month Starbucks, famous for expensive coffee, sold $1 cups of coffee in some of their locations. The result: tons of news coverage. It remains to be seen if this move helped or hindered the company with the recent 3.5 hour closure, but the point still stands. Do something out of the ordinary, like offering $.99 gallons of gas as a grand opening special (who wouldn’t go for $1 gallon of gas these days?)

Successful marketing today requires a number of ingredients: originality, authenticity and creativity. Be creative, don’t do it like the other guys, we usually talk about what’s different, not what’s the same!

Comms Graduates: What’s Your Challenge?

Corporate communications has changed a lot over the past 20+ years since I graduated from college and entered the field. And then again, it hasn’t changed all that much. The essence of any marketing communications is reaching a targeted audience and influencing them toward action. And although when I started my career I couldn’t even imagine the Internet – no less blogs, podcasts, social media, wikis, and the rest of the new media world – success in marketing communications is the same today as it was two decades ago.

I see the greatest challenge facing the current generation of communications graduates as determining how new media will help the companies and clients they represent reach that age-old objective of improving the bottom line. Sure, blogging and podcasts and wikis and social media are hot, and everyone knows they have to be involved. But what’s the payoff? And how do you break through the noise of an open media field to influence your audience? I used to think there was overwhelming noise because of the volume of technology trade publications in print. That’s a whisper in the wind compared to chatter of new media.

The challenge is similar to what we faced when the Internet originally blossomed into the mainstream. Companies knew they needed a Web site. But why? What did it add to the bottom line? And once your site was up, what made it a competitive advantage? The answers weren’t easy – and they won’t be easy for new media either. But what a great opportunity to be in the mix of creating the right answers and leading the connection between new media and the bottom line.

It’s always hard to define “the one greatest challenge,” but that’s how I see it. I’m interested to hear what others think is the biggest challenge facing new professionals today. After all, a lot is changing in our business – and then again, a lot is staying the same.