When you look at the buffet of content available to us these days – from every conceivable source, on every established and emerging platform – you might think that content remains the manna of digital marketing that it once was.
It’d be an understatement to say that brands have embraced content creation as a marketing strategy. Branded content has become a staple of cross-platform, integrated marketing campaigns everywhere, as a nearly fail-proof way to engage consumers, and turn them into customers. As industry analyst Rebecca Lieb said recently, every single one of the major brands she speaks with is increasing its production of original content.
But am I alone in thinking that maybe it’s enough already? Sooner or later, some savvy startup or sprawling conglomerate has to realize that the long tail is losing its appeal. More isn’t always better, as Sheena Iyengar said in her awesome TED Talk. What we need isn’t customization, but relevance.
So how can we, as marketers, deliver the relevance customers want and need? How can we ensure that our content – whether it’s an article, an ad, or an image – reaches the right consumers in the most relevant and meaningful way?
Behavioral targeting gets part of the... Read more
Tags: advertising, brand, content, context, contextual, digital, Facebook, foursquare, History Channel, Jonathan Gardner, marketing, online, pinterest, Rebecca Lieb, relevance, Sheena Iyengar, solomo, Starwood Hotels, ted, Vibrant Media
Posted in Opinions | 1 Comment »
Posted by
Kent Lewis on October 24th, 2011 at 11:37 am
When researching an article on Groupon, I came across a now infamous story about a Portland-area coffee shop that astounded me. In the blog post recap, a customer told the owner that they knew a Groupon had gone out that day and suggested that they cut a deal: the customer wouldn’t buy the Groupon so the owner could keep more money, and in return, the owner would offer the customer a cup of coffee at half price.
Tags: brand, branding, erosion, groupon, livingsocial, social
Posted in Creative Best Practices, Media Planning & Buying, Opinions, Social Media, Targeting | 2 Comments »
Posted by
David Sonn on October 10th, 2011 at 6:25 am
Faceless tweets from a logo, links, links and more links, and what you did last weekend are all poor form. It's time to implement a real Twitter strategy for building your company and staff brands all while providing meaningful content with context. Here are my "How to" steps. Read on...
Tags: brand, branding, marketing, social marketing, Social Media, Strategy, twitter
Posted in Social Media | 2 Comments »
Buy them a drink first…
Here’s a stat…. According to B2B Magazine, more than 23% of B2B buyers are discussing products and services with their peers via social media. In fact, online recommendations are increasingly one of the most effective methods for getting new customers and leads. And, you are more likely to look at a product or service that someone has recommended to you.
I recently had the pleasure of moderating an online roundtable discussion entitled Social Media and Social Marketing Across the Funnel. I gathered together a few of the industry’s best— Carlos Hidalgo from The Annuitas Group, Kathleen Schaub of TrellisOne, and Mathieu Hannouz of Neolane— to talk about social media and the overall importance of integrating it into B2B marketing efforts.
We looked at:
What is the difference between social media and social marketing?
Why is social media and social marketing so critical for B2B organizations?
What are the key considerations for using social media and social marketing at various stages within the funnel?
What’s working today for B2B organizations using social media?
In this lively session, we uncovered that many companies’ social marketing efforts continue to be disjointed and lack integration into broader sales and branding campaigns.
One of the key discussion points centered... Read more
Tags: b2b marketing, brand, campaign management, campaign marketing, conversation, conversational marketing, cross-channel, cross-channel marketing, Digital Marketing, integrated marketing, lead generation, online marketing, social, social marketing, Social Media, twitter, viral
Posted in Social Media, Word of Mouth | No Comments »
Fabuloso. Spanish for Fabulous. English for why are my eyes burning?
Also a household cleaner, bargain hunters know Fabuloso as an affordable and deodorizing alternative to big name brands. In reality, Fabuloso is undoubtedly unsuitable for use by any living creature—but then again, most of the popular household cleaning brands sitting under your kitchen sink fit the same bill. How’s that…? Our perception of clean is in large part a byproduct of generations-old branding.
Case in point, on a recent visit to my mother-in-law’s house, she began to “clean” the kitchen table. This being the very same table where my organically fed, farmer’s market obsessed, botanically cleaned children were eating meals, drawing pictures and playing board games.
I watched in stunned silence as she vigorously sprayed copious amounts of Fabuloso on the table and well beyond: into our eyes, mouths, throats, and even purposely on my husband’s feet. Wiping, spraying, wiping, spraying, until her glass table took on a cloudy finish and seemed to wilt into submission.
As we waited (and waited) for the radioactive fog to clear, I had time to reflect on the “brand of clean” and how the notion of housekeeping with chemicals has been a part of our collective consciousness... Read more
Tags: brand, butoxyethanol, clorox, ethanol, Fabuloso, formaldehyde, Lysol, Method, neurotoxins, organochlorines, parabens, Pine-Sol, Purex, Seventh Generation, sulfates, VOCs
Posted in Opinions | No Comments »
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