Mouse or Mouse?

Is this a mouse?

Is this a mouse?

 

……………………….. Which of these pictures is a mouse? Both of course, but in the new consumer mind it’s the latter rather than former that you and I might consider “a mouse.”

The new generation is growing up in a world where the internet has always existed, there have always been 600 television stations, they have always had a cell phone and instant connectivity to anyone around them by text.  That’s not how we grew up, but it’s clearly a reality for consumers who are young and will become the key demographic in a few short years. Forward thinking businesses are already marketing to them. That old mouse would have to be wearing a Hollister hoodie for them to notice it!

My kids don’t know what the Yellow Pages is, but they know how to pull up just about anything they need on their phones via Google.

So, why do we still have the oneway conversation in advertising? You know the type: some car dealer screaming that it’s the end of days unless you buy a new Ford today!  Does anyone still buy this crap? We are still selling it, though if we are truly media consultants, we should know better.

Does your marketing refelect your understanding of how much life has changed? It should.

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The Buying Funnel

  I never know what to name a post before I write it.  There’s so many things to talk about, often I just let my fingers hit the keys to see what I think right now.  I was watching a former colleage on a You Tube video and his key point is that advertising is not about those creative spots. It’s more about strategy and takes a business to where they are headed faster than without advertising. If it’s a great business, it goes great places. If it’s not so great, it goes down the tubes faster. Tim Miles with the Wizard of Ads is my former colleage and he has one of the greatest creative minds I’ve ever worked with (and I’ve worked with my share of impressive people.)

I preach the same thing, but in a different way.  I stole the Buying Funnel from some trainer (I think it was Norton Warner) sometime early in my career, but I’ve been talking to clients about it ever since.

All consumers move through the buying funnel each and every time they buy something. Sometimes the journey is fast. “I need gasoline, turn in here, get it.” Sometimes it takes a long time to go through all the stages of the buying funnel. For instance: The average consumer takes 20 months to go through the buying funnel before buying new carpet. A new car is probably somewhere in the middle.  Advertising expedites the journey through the buying funnel making us want something and showing us how easy it is to get. Advertising is not the cure all, as Tim explained, but it will get you where you are going faster!

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Businesses Built to the Hilt

When you started your business–think back, did you put up a tent and a hand-painted sign and wait for the customers to flock to you? Probably not. Every business plan should have a marketing strategy, but many do not. Owners think through location, build-out, signage, phone systems, compensation, and a host of other things that make a business successful. If you are a business owner, you know how much work it is to get everything working, and yet asking customers to come to you and telling them why often takes a backseat to all these other concerns.

Marketing is often the first expense to be cut. Please note that I said “expense” instead of “investment.” If your marketing is simply an expense–Cut it! If it is a clear plan working consistently on several levels that brings you business and builds your brand (Business reputation) then it is a true investment. It doesn’t matter is your business is brand new or has been around for generations. All businesses need marketing. All businesses need a marketing plan, especially one that reaches today’s participatory consumers.

The newspaper mentality has always been, you must be in the paper. Really? Not so! Today’s consumers have changed their media habits and advertising must change in order to reach your customers. Are there some that still read the paper, yes, but only some.

The same thing was true of Yellow Pages listings…You must be in the Yellow Pages! It’s a huge monthly investment, but consumers used to go there to look at your business, often overshadowed by your competitor’s ads stacked right together. Some people use the directories still, but the percentage is waning. Today’s directory is more likely to be Google or Bing–and it’s free to list there! True!

The point is, make your marketing count! It’s your money. It’s your business. It’s your reputation. You aren’t in business just to see if it might work for a few weeks. Invest some time with a marketer who understands what your vision for the business is. Invest a percentage of your gross toward advertising because it can become the life-blood of your business.  (Another topic for another day.) Don’t overlook the impact your business can have from simple online platforms or shy away because you don’t understand it. A good full-service marketer will teach you the basics and do the rest for you. Know that your negotiation power has never been greater that it is in marketing right now. Online platforms can be purchased by geographic slices (Williamson County businesses can target Williamson County residents.) Working with online can be incredibly inexpensive and trackable.  Tradional media is aware of online, but to date have not been able to tap online to deliver results. Traditional media is simply what we’ve always known: radio, television, billboard, newspaper. The new media is everything else that people interact with each and every day. At To the Hilt Marketing we call it “participatory media,” and there are hundreds of ways to market to both the traditional market and the participatory market. Managing your online presense and your mass media presense together will show your customers that you are a strong business with a vision for the future.

To schedule a consultation that will help you examine both just send us an email to:  info@TotheHiltOnline.com

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Stop the Screaming in Advertising!

Today’s consumers do not want to be yelled at or tricked with one-way advertising. You know what I am talking about—advertising that screams at you some unbelievable offer and expects you to get right up off the couch and chase the deal. Yeah, right.

Car dealers are often the perfect example of this on local television: Come in now for such-and-such car for only $79 per month! Or all our cars “gotta go” so we are giving them away at less than invoice price! Really? Do we believe that?  I think that once upon a time we did. Now we know that the $79/month vehicle is a lease or simply a loss-leader and if you walk in to buy it the dealership will show you everything including the kitchen sink before you see the low, low advertised car. Or better yet, they will tell you that all of those cars sold already.

Infomercials have this same sort of trickery that most of us see through. They will give you two sets of knives for the price of one and all you have to do is pay separate shipping and handling. Why? Can’t they put them all in the same box? Of course they can, but the shipping and handling is where they make their money—charging us $14.95 each when we could have shipped it for $3 or $4 ourselves. Yet, thousands and thousands of people buy these products everyday.

The art of marketing has changed. These two examples are from traditional broadcast media. We understand that web advertising is different, but is it? Traditional marketers are beginning to see that the buying process is a two-way conversation, but listen or watch or even read ads in the newspaper and you are sure to find perfect examples of one-way advertising designed to grab your attention. Clever maybe, but not designed to educate the consumer on the company’s products, selection or any information that can help buying decisions. Approximately 80% of consumers do internet research when shopping for a car and walk into a car dealership with more information than ever before. Today’s consumer is smarter and gets a better deal most of the time.  77% of all consumers use the internet as their main business information source (Pew Reasearch 2009).

Yet even websites—especially car websites have the “scream at me” mentality. Go to a website and pretend you are buying the new version of your current car. Do you see all the offers, improvements and amenities spelled out, easy to see? Did you go to a local dealership site or the manufacturer’s site? Did they throw a commercial at you to watch? How difficult was it to get to the actual information? Was it there or did you click through to a third party site like Edmunds.com or Autotrader.com to actually get information, reviews opinions from owners? How many times did you have to fill in your personal information to get into these sites? Did you do it, or just click out? It’s easy to see that the multi-million dollar, big fancy websites can be as useless as a poorly envisioned small business site. Everyday consumers click out of confusing or useless websites. These are engaged potential consumers and we let them scatter uncontrollably, even though they were right there in front of us on our website!

One of the cool things about advertising and public relations online is that the playing field is leveled. If you get your name and website in front of people, you have the same opportunity to influence the customer’s buying decision as the huge local site. Make sure that your website strategically gives the consumer what they are looking for and not some cool stuff that the web builder talked you into. Be strategic. Be open. Ask the consumer to let you help them find what they want. Seems simple, but you’d be surprised how many websites do little of this.

None of this is to say that you shouldn’t use traditional media (radio, television, directory and newspaper.) Maybe you should. The key is how you use it so that it works in tandem with the potential customer you grab with media and bring into your business through your website. It’s all important and a balance of traditional media and online media will serve your business well if orchestrated to reach your targeted market. What’s more, don’t ignore it now because your customers aren’t! As a matter of fact, they can look at your website while sitting in your parking lot with smart-phones and the world is going to get more mobile with information, not less!

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Do You Know Online?

With everything changing constantly on the web who really does know online? There is so much out there and new things popping up everyday, that I’m not sure anyone truly “knows online.”  I know people who are a lot smarter than me who understand parts of the web and applications that my head will never be able to wrap around. However, I also believe that there is a big difference between technical knowledge and application and practical knowledge and application. My area of expertise is marketing and in a lot of ways good marketing is simply good common sense. That is true in traditional marketing and it is definitely true in online marketing. 

Let me give you an example: I get asked all the time about Twitter. It’s the one application that it seems intelligent people go to, sign up, look around and then say “What?”  So, they come to one of my seminars and ask “What’s the deal with Twitter?”  Everybody uses it, right? I mean it’s now part of every news broadcast, Oprah tweets, Ellen tweets, and the King of Twitter is Ashton Kutcher. What’s up with that? I tweet. It took me a while to figure out how to make it work for me and for a long while it seemed like a complete waste of my time. I stuck with it determined to figure it out for the average Joe.

Here’s how I use Twitter: There are certain people/authors/experts in my field of work who I respect and value their opinion and knowledge. I choose to follow those experts and everyday they “retweet” interesting and pertinent information in my  field of work. This allows me to have an expert screen all of the data out there on any given day and highlight only the pertinent stuff.

Here’s another example of how Twitter can be used: Suppose John has a child with Autism and he’s pretty active and informed, but he also works 40-50 hours, helps run a family with a special needs child and tries to play golf a couple of times a month. John could set up a Twitter account and select to follow what is happening in government for Autism patients, a website that sends updates on helpful support suggestions for autistic parents, and finally even a couple of his favorite golf courses with their current greens fees and specials.

A teenage girl might use Twitter to send updates to her friends while arranging social plans. She and her friends post their tweets and can arrange times for pickup to go to the movies or which boy said what to who this afternoon on the bus.

How and if you use Twitter is up to you.  I occasionally “retweet” interesting information that I think my followers might be interested in. I do it, but it’s not my life’s calling and I don’t have a staff to do it for me (like many celebrities.) What you have to decide is if and how you can make it work for you.

That’s really the case with all forms of online exposure. Do you need a Blog? Is your website geared at being cool or moving your business forward? Do you maintain an email list for opt-in marketing? Are you driving traffic to your website through social media? (My blog gets more hits from people on Linked In than from any other source, including search.) So, sit down with some common sense and figure out if you have a viable online strategy. Be careful of the tech-types, not because they are bad people, but because they look at things from a technical standpoint and sometimes that view is too broad or too narrow. It’s about marketing… driving traffic to your business using online tools. Remember that. You can learn everything you need to know online. Really you can.  Or you can call an online marketing specialist to meet and show you the basics: 314.604-6804 for Wendy at To the Hilt Online Solutions.

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Fresh View of Social Media Participation

   Much of the social media discussion here comes from other sources including “Nielsen Global Faces Report March 2009”  and numerous blog posts, articles and comments from Social Media Experts. This blog is not written for the expert, but instead for those of us who are new to the party and interested in figuring out how Social Media applies to us and our business. First a little information.

  Participation and interaction on the internet sites continues to evolve. A few years back, most people spent the majority of their time checking email. We then began to surf and shop more. Now estimates say that 10% of all media time is spent in social media and blogging sites interacting with user generated content. That is very significant. The growth of social media sites and where that growth is coming from is very significant too. It may surprise you.

   The experts agree that consumers have changed and the way advertisers reach consumers needs to change as well.  Word like: false, promotion, uncredible, loud, and out of touch surround advertising attitudes–false was the most frequently used term.  For years, advertisers have reached consumers with a one way message cleverly designed to gather the audience attention, often neglecting to communicate a real benefit or reasonable action to engage the consumer. Today the playing field has changed. It’s no longer just advertisers who have multi-million dollar ad budgets that are the only ones who can participate. Everyone can participate. Participating correctly with today’s consumers is what makes it work. Successful advertising must add value, be authentic and a two-way conversation. There are many options to do this using online advertising tools.

   It makes sense, right?

   Advertise where the consumers are engaged and interested, right?

   Fish where the fish are, right?

   Social Media has emerged as an important part of the advertising conversation. Social Media sites serve a dual role as consumers and publishers of content. Most are set up to highlight the user, not the advertisers. Speculation is that the clean content  hosting is one of the reasons that sites appeal to users. (Ever see one of those sites with advertising flashing, popping and talking to you?) Companies are beginning to learn how to engage and attract social media users using member communities where the consumer opts-in by becoming a member, builds a network, and invests their time.

   Facebook is hands down, the largest social media site in the U.S.  The surprising thing is that nearly 40% of its world wide user base is between the ages of 35-49.  That’s parents and career people and home owners…not college students. The fastest growing Facebook population is 50+.  The adolescent stigma of social media has finally been broken. Anyone who believes that it’s just a bunch of kids is seriously behind the times. Now, not only are the numbers of mature consumers growing but the time they spend online has grown and much of that time is spent with Facebook or another members community site: Bebo, My Space, Linked In, Twitter, Blogs… and more emerging every day in this fast growing lucrative segment of the internet. Overlooking this category for advertising to reach geographically and often behaviorally targeted users is a mistake.

   How you set up your business’ participation in social media does make a difference. Also, often participants will create fan sites and you definitely want to be involved, engaged and aware of what the dialogue says.

Fan Page for St. Louis Cardinals on Facebook

This is NOT the official St. Louis Cardinals fan page designed and placed by MLB Cardinals, yet it has ten times the fans and comments as the official site. People visit here to comment on the most recent issues, post pictures of their kids with hot dogs at the ballpark. It’s a great page and a perfect example of a Fan Page on Facebook, and if the Cardinals are smart, they are aware of this site, monitoring it and attempting to control their online presense.

Business posted Fan Page for restaurant on Facebook

    Here’s an official page posted. Granted it is not for a baseball team with the emotional fan base of the St. Louis Cardinals, but with a significant viral campaign this page could really take off and be a significant marketing tool for the restaurant. Just seeing this logo a few times on your profile might remind you that this business exists the next time you are in the area and looking for a great sushi place in the Westport area. 

   The point is, there’s a lot of ways to influence, advertise and participate with consumers. Look above in these examples. There’s ads available there too that can be geotargeted to reach people in your immediate market. These type of ads are available on most social media networks.

Here’s some sites you might want to visit to continue the conversation about Social Media. We want you to keep your mind open and we will discuss marketing tactics and give you a plan to reach these very participatory consumers.

http://www.smartmarketers.com/2009/01/generating_leads_with_social_m_1.html

http://www.webinknow.com/2008/06/facebook-and-yo.html

http://www.buzzmaven.com/2009/04/hard-social-media-lessons.html

http://www.twitip.com/10-easy-steps-for-twitter-beginners/?goback=%2Ehom

  All of these authors are very credible. Take a look at these articles and if you want more information: more articles and reference material contact us and we will be happy to share more. We keep a library. If you’d like to sit down and have a discussion about how your business can begin reaching online participatory consumers, we will be happy to schedule an appointment to meet. We strive to be “Your Simple Online Solution.”

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What to do?

  Looking at a blank canvas can be daunting. I’ve done it.  Knowing what I wanted to paint, but lacked confidence to start, mar the canvas by the chance I could make a wrong stroke. The first stroke of color is always the hardest. After the virginity of the prepared canvas has been broken the strokes, right or wrong are much easier. It’s the layering of the paint that makes the image art. I know that. Learned that a long time ago. Yet, every time I prepare my paints and brushes, take a seat in a well-lit room and stare at that stark white canvas. I cannot think of many times that I’ve looked at the end result and been disappointed. I can think of many times I looked away and got busy with other things rather than make that first stroke.

   What does this have to do with anything? Everything. I think that we often look the other way rather than taking that first little step into something new thinking that it’s too hard or we will do it wrong. That first step, or stroke, is a leap of faith. Once we start it’s no longer painful, we get used to fixing as we go and letting the results guide us toward the result.

   Many of you reading this are business people. How hard is it to step out of your comfort zone and try something new?  What’s more, when has it worked and made a difference in your business? When has it failed? That business is your baby, your livelihood, sometimes even your life. What I do know is that you took a risk and had faith enough to begin that business, so you are probably my type of people.

   I have always enjoyed talking to people with an entreprenuerial spirit. I’m not one to sit back and collect a paycheck. I tease that I’ve never had a real job in my life…I’ve always been a salesperson. I have always viewed that as a noble profession. Sales with ethics is helping people get what they want. I reap what I sow and sometimes I’ve been really good at sowing some great ideas with brave businesses who see the reason to leap to the next level with me. Often it was difficult to start, but the end result was worth the trouble. I look at that canvas sitting on the easel and it’s hard to remember when it was white.

   I use this example on purpose. It was hard for me to step out of the corporate world and take the leap into my own business. I’m not sure why. I’ve often been the innovator in my company. I have always passed my ideas up the ladder and often they have made money for my company. At some point I started to look from right to left and believed that I knew something that few others do. My experience is broad and I am a student of my industry and the businesses that comprise media. There wasn’t going to be the perfect job for me unless I created it. My partner Richard felt the same way. So, we made that first step like you did when you went into business. We had to.

   Now, we have a noble cause in mind: Helping you get what you want. If you have a website, or not, we should have a conversation about today’s participatory media and how to reach consumers. You made the first stroke when you started your business. This new layer might be a little difficult to start, but  it’s worth it.  At To the Hilt Online Solutions it’s our job to help you get what you want. That’s what we do.

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So Is Traditional Media Still Traditional Media?

   Do you read a newspaper everyday? Did you know that in the 50’s and 60’s someone in most households spent on average 70 minutes of time with the local paper? I see newspaper as litter now. How dare they put litter on my lawn when I didn’t ask for it, just so they can count me in their circulation numbers. Directly to the recycle bin, I say. What I want to read, I read online. I “opt in” to the information online.

  What about the radio? How much time do you spend listening now?  Many of us grew up with our favorite stations going with us everywhere we went, listening to Casey Kasem, making cassette tapes of our favorite music. I remember listening to the radio all the time. All baseball games were not televised, niether were football–we listened because our team might not be the one or two featured games of the week. We had less money and as a result we had less music of our own.

   Television used to be four stations: ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS. We sat through the commercials. We knew when our favorite shows were on. Heck, we even believed the advertising! “Wide World of Sports” was the first reality tv show and gameshows included “Truth or Consequences” and “The Joker’s Wild.” The Disney movie on Sunday night was special enough that we came in from playing to watch it including the intro that featured the Disney fireworks.

  So, do we consume any of these forms of entertainment and information the same? I think not.

   Other advertising mediums have changed too. Do you use the Yellow Pages anymore or simply type in Google? Can you tell me what the billboards on your way to work feature? Or have they been the same so long that they are simply part of the landscape, like a tree? Do you open your mail everyday? How much of it do you throw away without even opening–again, the recycle bin. 

   Okay. I’m in the 40+ demographic. Where are you? I ask because, the 40+ demographic is the fastest growing consumers of online information and entertainment. Keep in mind that people younger than we are won’t even share the memories of media mentioned above. They’ve never lived without a VCR, cell phone, internet, Major League Baseball Network, HBO or Google.  They use media differently than we do. They think differently than we do. When you say mouse, they think of a computer device…not a rodent.

   Strange to think of the changes in our lifetime. Even thinking back 10 years ago (1999), I was teaching my counterparts (media executives) how to write PowerPoint presentations and set up email accounts. As a sales person, I remember getting emails back when I wouldn’t get a phone call back, just because people were just starting to embrace the technology. I had dial-up back then and only one computer to share in the household….Just 10 years ago.  And, for a long time main-stream media kept us worried that most websites were run by porn companies and pediphiles. Not true.

   Now, 73% of people use internet as their primary source of business information (source: Pew Internet and American Life Project 2008.) 

   Amazon.com was the only major national consumer business that saw a substantial year to year increase in December 2008.

   The consumer has changed. Has your marketing? Using online advertising gives businesses the opportunity to interact with consumers in ways they never could before. In the past, advertising has always been a one-way conversation:  Company Message—-to—Consumer. Tradional media interupts your life and forces you to listen to the message, often with force, comedy, yelling, shock. As a result, the consumer no longer trusts advertising the same way they did in the past. Do you?

  Today’s “participatory media”–media that consumers opt-into online gives your business the opportunity to interact with your customers, find niche buyers, create targeted messages, build loyalty and much more. Is it easy? No, it can be very time consuming. Any business owner could, with enough research and skill create online advertising for minimal costs. Having a controlled presence on the web is very important also. How’s your website performing? Do you know? Is it driving traffic to your business? Do you know? Could it be improved?

   At To the Hilt Online Solutions, we are not a creative advertising house foremost. What I mean is, we aren’t interested in selling you a website. We are marketing professionals. We have technical people on staff, but we are more likely to look at your website (for free) and tell you what you or your webmaster should do to improve its performance. I don’t write a lick of code and neither does my partner Richard. What we do is help businesses grow using the very best “participatory media” tools. And we keep it simple and affordable for you.

   And, by the way, we still have major contacts with all the traditional media too if you need radio, television or newspaper. We out-source that from a veteran media person who has as much experience as either of us. We are creative, but chose to have the creative done by our Creative Services Director who is a professional designer. We stay focused on growing your business. I’m likely to scribble a flow chart or a graphic idea in front of you–hopefully I do, because that’s how great ideas and partnerships begin.

Contact us if you like this info. We’ll be happy to meet and talk about online marketing–from concept to actual campaigns.  It’s an easy email: info@tothehiltonline.com

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