Advertising 101- Don't Waste The Space

A full page ad promoting a Dow Jones service in today's WSJ reinforces my table pounding that someone needs to proofread advertising copy before spending mid-six figures on placing ads into the real world.

The entire text reads : "Make customers stick like glue." The first 'message' that my eyeballs transmitted to my brain was "Make customers sick..like glue." This was after my first cup of coffee, so perhaps my brain wasn't processing at the right setting. Then I looked at the ad again...same thing...I kept associating the ad with 'make customers sick'.... To the extent that it captured my attention, the strategy worked. But the ad failed, simply because it delivered a negative context and completely turned me off to what the actual service being promoted was.

OK, lots of ads out there, and many are carelessly thought out. At the top of the careless advertising list was a recent highway billboard campaign executed by Bloomberg LP's radio division. Placed smack dab on the busiest roadway in the heart of hedge fund country (Fairfield County, Connecticut), the billboard ad displayed an innocuous message "Check Your Pounds"...and a Bloomberg LP logo below. No radio station call signal displayed, no display of the company's cable television channel #--absolutely nothing in the ad that would drive the viewer to tune his/her car radio to the Bloomberg station. Bizarre.

When I called up the head of advertising buying at Bloomberg in connection with another topic, and pointed out what I thought was a surprisingly poor marketing strategy, he thanked me profusely for making the observation, and he said that it wasn't his decision in the first place t0 run or administer the billboard campaign. That billboard ad stayed in place for another 8 weeks and then it was replaced with an ad that displayed the radio call signal.

Communicating via LinkedIn

Eric Leebow, a finalist in IdeaBlob's latest contest for 'next great idea' recently initiated a strategy targeting LinkedIn members to go to IdeaBlob's site and cast a vote for his "FreezeCrowd" idea.

Eric had pinged me soliciting ideas about the best phrase he might use in his subject field--and while I was pondering, lo and behold my email alert registered an inbound from SiteProNews, which coincidently re-enforced the entire value proposition of Linked-In's business networking value for those seeking to crack open doors in the course of selling/marketing/communicating C-Level propositions. Click on the link...it makes for good reading!

Technocrati Rocks

Pretty simple strategy for those publishing blogs and hoping that others will actually read your musings! Technorati Profile

Online market for buying and selling ideas..that's marketing!!

Now this is going to be an interesting platform--an online exchange where product innovators seeking to get to the next level can meet and transact with intellectual property buyers.. While not exactly an innovative idea; Idea Connection is another one, and this has been tried via an assortment of initiatives over the years), its being backed by a formidable group of manufacturers, retailers and major corporations.

The obvious biggest obstacle is privacy--i.e. appeasing those concerned about promoting ideas that aren't protected (patented), and naysayers will suggest that this could become a flea market that can be raided by knock-off artists. Wonder what Donny Deutche thinks?

Selling Chat on Fox, and a Sex-Enhancing Potion on the Side

If you don't subscribe to the NY Times (who could blame you?), you probably won't be able to get much out of the link imbedded in the title, but here's a story you gotta love---another 'new product and marketing tactics' profile..

Who woulda thunk that a former professional wrestler would morph into a Wall Street investment banker and then turn that gig into becoming a financial market news talking head...? Only in America, folks!

Just when I thought that my condo association President (a former top gun at CIT Financial) had it right when he suggested the idea of a lotion format for a Viagra-esque product--along comes pseudo star John Layfield with "Mamajuana Energy" ....an energy drink/beverage potion from the jungles of somewhere south of Bora Bora---and a product that purportedly emulates something similar to what happens when you take a Viagra tab.


From the NYT:
Mr. Layfield, a 6-foot-6 Texan, actively cultivates an outlandish persona. His wrestling character is based on the television character J. R. Ewing, the ruthless oilman on “Dallas.” For a photo to accompany this article, his publicist, Pamela Johnston, suggested the following: “Layfield in a beach chair, wearing a suit and tie on the top and swim trunks on the bottom. N.Y.C. skyscape in background. Cabana girl serving him Mamajuana Energy on a silver tray.”

Hats off John--you got Vitamin Shoppe to take a gamble and stock your product--and you're no doubt being labeled a scoundrel and elixir salesman...but we love your tenacity and your passion---lets hope your beverage evokes the same response from those on the opposite side of the table!...

Email Software Delves Into Employees' Contacts

If you have a subscription to WSJ online--you can access the full article..but the story ( in excerpted fashion), brings to light the most integral element with respect to Sales. Its all about leveraging (some say 'exploiting') internal relationships.....at www.JLCgroup.net--resident guru Jay Berkman opines that "every single one of your employees is a salesperson--even if their job title is miles apart from traditional sales roles--and that secondarily...your most valued clients are the best third party sales executives..."

The article does point out that privacy concerns remain an impediment to full scale exploitation---but gee whiz golly gosh...contact information acquired by employees in the course of doing their job belongs to the company---NOT to the individual--and it merely requires a pragmatic, rational and mature business executive to determine the most appropriate way to leverage this data---taking into account relationships that exist between employees and their counterparts/relationships at other enterprises...

Bytes from WSJ article:

Companies are rolling out software that allows them to mine their employees' emails and electronic address books for contact information, in a bid to make it easier to establish relationships with potential clients and others.

The products work by examining the contact lists on employees' email programs, as well as other information such as lawyers' billing records or contacts stored on special programs for managing customer relationships. Then it checks how often individuals email the contacts and whether they have appointments for face-to-face meetings or phone calls on their calendars. The software uses that information to determine how strong a relationship a person has with the contact. For example, individual emails that get replies rank higher than a blast email sent to many people.

"We're able to infer where people have relationships, based on their electronic vapor trail of activities," said Geoffrey Hyatt, founder of Contact Networks in Boston. The company, whose product is called ContactNet, said the program is used at about 40 law firms, including Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, both in New York.

If an attorney at a firm using ContactNet wants to pitch his expertise to a particular company, he can type in the name of the company or perhaps the general counsel. The system responds by saying how many of his fellow employees have relationships with the general counsel or other people at the company. The lawyer can then ask his fellow employee to introduce him to the contact. At other firms, the program reveals which employee has the contact, but details like phone numbers aren't shown. The employee may offer to share just an email address, or they may advise against pursuing business with that contact altogether.

Google_ Mystifying billing practices to be uncovered?

We're hearing from lots of Google advertisers that they are incurring charges for clicks that are not documented within Google's own analytic reports.
Here's an example of a complaint we just rec'd a copy of:

i have repeatedly brought this to your attention, and i have not been provided any type of adequate explanation
1. Site targeted campaign name :(blocked)
2. Campaign manager displays (1) Click for period mar 20-mar 23 I had selected approximately 500 different sites.
Your ad manager indicates i received 1 click from 1 site (www.legacy.com)
3. Despite above #2, when scrolling down the admin page, it indicates that (9) different ads resulted in 16 clicks, and I have been charged for those clicks, despite the fact that you are reporting to me only 1 click was made during this period.

I would like a credit for the 15 clicks that I was fraudulently charged for.
Thanks


Actually, we asked three different clients to take a close look at their monthly billing from Google adwords campaigns--each of which run both CPC and site-targeted campaigns (also CPC). In each case, clients reported an inexplicable discrepency between what GOOG reported as the number of clicks and the number of clicks that clients were charged for.

No surprise that in each case, clients are apparently being charged for more than the actual number of clicks---the dollar amounts are relatively inane (approximately 8-10% of total monthly spend)...wait a minute, that's not inane--that's INSANE.
We're guessing this is something that Wall Street analysts are going to take a closer look at.

Name That Firm: What Should You Call Your Business?

We're in the midst of trying to come up with a name for a boutique product licensing/distribution firm that started out specializing in licensing and manufacturing rights to innovative/disruptive technology products, and has since grown to the point where we have multiple products under our umbrella; extending across environmentally- friendly consumer goods, health care products, eco-friendly cleaning products for commercial application, food, and some technology widgets.

At the moment, the firm has a next generation, alcohol-free hand sanitizer product line, a lubricant made from mineral oil that is Green Seal certified and best described as the eco-friendly alternative to WD 40 (making it a great product for both the consumer and commerical marketplace), and some food products that are Fair Trade certified. We also continue to look at software and hardware products.

My partners and I have been trying to come up with a moniker (which is currently Mata Global Solutions) to a name that will resonate i.e.--encompass the unique nature of products that we are licensing/distributing, can perhaps be universally applied to the products we are licensing (a tough one considering the breadth of products), and can be easily incorporated into a URL for optimal search engine strategies.

Today's WSJ profile "Name That Firm" is a solid primer do's and don't(s) when it comes to putting up a marquee for a business.

Here are good excerpts from the WSJ article:

FIND THE UNIQUE

The first step is usually pinpointing the company's unique value or service. Companies should ask themselves, "What are you doing to bring value to potential customers and what's your vision?" says Scott Kuehl, president of BrandResolve LLC, a St. Cloud, Minn., brand-consulting firm.

BUT DON'T BE OBSCURE

AVOID THE MUNDANE

Indeed, companies trying to create a unique brand sometimes err by choosing a name that describes too closely what they do. "When a company tries to describe its services, it usually makes the company sound generic," says Mr. Montoya. The names of many successful companies don't describe what they do, he says.

Josh Robbins of Geckotech.

Names that describe a company also require a greater investment to promote the name in the marketplace, says Steven Winokur, CEO and founder of Turning Point Strategies, an Atlanta-based branding consultancy. "The only way I know how to do that is through repetition," he says. "You have to get people to see it many times."

GET REACTIONS

The best way to gauge the effectiveness of a small-business name is to find out how it resonates with people outside the company. It's an "ask people" question, says BrandResolve's Mr. Kuehl.

If people respond using phrases that echo the company's mission, that's good, he says. A catering company whose goal is to create irresistible, sinfully delicious food, for example, would know a name was right if people said it made them think of food that is "wicked good" or "devilishly tasty," he says.

Mr. Montoya says that people also should find a name memorable and easy to look up, either in phone listings or on the Web. The easier a name is to remember, the more it will benefit from referrals, he says. Similarly, a name that's hard to spell makes a company hard to find.

David Placek, president and founder of Lexicon Branding Inc. in Sausalito, Calif., notes: "You want to make people think a little bit -- not a lot. But if we don't make them think at all, they will walk past."

DOMAIN DO'S AND DON'TS

Check on the availability of a domain name, as Pacific Biosciences did, before making a final decision. An Internet domain name should be closely related to the company's name and make sense to users, says Mr. Winokur

Mr. Placek, however, cautions against sacrificing an effective name if the domain isn't available. He notes that many people surfing the Web don't look for corporate Web sites by remembering a domain name. Instead, he says, they type the company's name into Google, and then click on a link that is listed.

"Companies shouldn't sacrifice memorability and creativity [in a name] just to have a URL," he says.

Spitzer: A Marketing/Communications Classic

Eliot Spitzer. Former NY Attorney General turned politician (actually one and the same) . Qualities: Self righteous, sanctimonious, zealot, narcissist...and now a self-confessed criminal.

This is a guy that proclaimed to stand at the top of mountain in terms of ethics and morality, spending the last decade prosecuting, extorting and bullying anyone he felt like like, regardless of whether he had evidence of a crime, in order to advance his career--financed in part by his wealthy family.

Resigning in disgrace is great, what should happen is that he be prosecuted (pick a crime: abuse of office, fraud, using taxpayer money to commit a crime (hey, he's on the govt payroll, and no doubt that its a crime in the State of New York to procure sex for money--and if he paid, then we can assume that it was government money that hey paid with).

And of course, he should be sentenced to whatever the maximum jail is for the crimes he'll hopefully be charged and convicted of. US Attorneys investigating the case are no doubt going to be politically influenced by those that will dangle carrots in front of their face. Prosecuting Spitzer for violation of the Mann Act would be poetic justice.

And yes, its heart breaking to his wife and daughters. But Eliot wannabee Ness broke more hearts and families under the guise of ill-conceived prosecutions--without any concern or care for what the impact might be on innocent family members.

First came SpotRunner-Now Comes TalkMarket

Last summer we told you about SpotRunner--a "create your own TV commercial' platform targeting small businesses that have limited budgets. It was and remains a brilliant idea--and it includes a module for advertisers to use SpotRunner templates for creating a 30-second spot, and to place those spots on local and cable TV. Instead of spending tens of thousands to create the commercial, and thousands more for placement time, SpotRunner is a turnkey solution that can cost an advertiser as little as $3000 to reach wide audiences.

Now comes The Talk Market--billed as the "QVC for the Masses". Instead of provid9ing templates for videomercials as SpotRunner does, advertisers can jump on the YouTube style approach by creating their own spot, then uploading it the Talk Market platform. TalkMarket's business model is based on 5% commission on sales (mapped to clicking on a link imbedded in the commercial).

Brilliant--we wish you lots of success!