"Baby wearing is a fad. . . Supposedly it's a real bonding experience." These are some of the lines from Motrin's new ad about moms who carry their babies in slings. Yikes! What was Motrin thinking? How many times do we have to chide marketers for their abysmal efforts at marketing to women? (We decry it frequently on this blog.) How many times do we have to remind them that women are responsible for 80% of all consumer purchases? It's generally not a good idea to piss us off.
This commercial has been widely denounced all over the blogosphere and on Twitter. Women are ticked off at Motrin. Women who use baby carriers generally don't consider it a fad.
If Motrin was trying to make the point that carrying your baby can cause aches and pains, they certainly could have done so without the mocking.
I'd read the articles and heard about the angry blog posts, but hadn't seen the ad until yesterday. (Sorry, I was busy having a baby of my own!) Yesterday, Terri and I checked it out to see what all the fuss was about, thinking it had probably been overblown. Having watched it now, I can say the fuss is warranted, Motrin was stupid, it was a bad marketing move, and I'm happy to report they've pulled the ad.
Move over Google! A new web browser developed by the super smarties over at the Human Genome Project aims to discover the whopping 99% of the web Google and other search engines cannot get to.
Gosh, about 18 years ago, I put together a presentation (pre-PowerPoint days; I painstakingly typed it in WordPerfect) on marketing to women. I was baffled then that more businesses weren't taking advantage of this lucrative market. Most of the stats I cited back then (women control 80% of consumer spending, buy 60% of all new cars and influence the purchase of most of the rest, represent nearly half or more of all investment decisions, etc.) are still true today and yet, marketers remain blissfully ignorant on how to target us. The situation has improved, of course, but I am still waiting for a car manufacturer to truly speak to me. I get so sick and tired of car commercials that focus on performance, speed, horsepower, and torque (what is torque anyhow?). The only time I've really seen a car commercial attempt to talk to women it was for a van and highlighted the remote control sliding doors. Well, it's a start I suppose.
And for the record, targeting women does not mean making your product pink.
Best Buy is trying to get in on the action. Since women represent 45% of all electronics purchases, they're looking at ways to appeal to us, starting with the design of their stores. They have one test store now. I hope it works and that more marketers consider their actual SHOPPERS (women!) in their store planning, merchandising, product choices, etc.
One of my favorite blogger humorists, the Cake Wrecks lady, is at it again with Halloween wrecks. Here's what she has to say about this craptastic cake.
Yep, Stephanie S. reports that this was actually labeled "Mummy Cake". As opposed to "Ticked-Off Cross-Breed of a Storm-Trooper and a Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtle Cake".
New Forrester research indicates widespread acceptance and adoption of social media, with up to 75% of respondents reporting some usage of social media in 2nd quarter of this year. What's included in social media? Well, a lot of the usage is among folks reading blogs. No mention in this brief article on whether or not Facebook and similar social networking sites are catching on with the over 35 crowd, but anecdotally, I can tell you that I'm getting lots more friend requests from old high school and college friends. I've even had a few ex-boyfriends track me down!
From a marketing standpoint, we always tell our clients that more and more of their customers are all over the web and there are some great ways to reach them. We almost always recommend search engine marketing first -- that's a must -- but depending on your customer set, we often look at blog outreach programs, social media press releases (basically, interactive press releases), and social networking. Studies like this simply affirm that more and more of your prospects are hanging out in the social media pool. It's time to start thinking about how to reach them there.
The concept behind social news sites such as Digg, Reddit and Newsvine is pretty simple: search and read the latest in news and happenings and share this content with your circle of friends, colleagues and (perhaps) admirers. But as information becomes increasingly customizable, democratized and instantaneous, these general sites may not feed your insatiable grown-up appetite for real news. Here's a list of great niche social news sites that will undoubtedly fill you up:
Great social news site specifically for small-to-medium sized business companies
Social news site for marketers, entrepreneurs and business professionals
#1 Social news site for internet marketers, with a focus on search
Social news site focusing on current health news
A news site that focuses on technology, start-ups, business and entrepreneurship
Financial Social news service
Internet marketing Social news site that focuses on making money
Is it just me or does this new Pepsi logo look like the Obama logo turned sideways? Besides that, why are they changing their logo? They claim it's to infuse some excitement into the brand during a recession. Look, we do logo redesigns all the time -- usually for companies who never had a professionally designed logo in the first place. And changing logos can give you an excuse to reach out and touch your customers, or just fire up the troops internally. So I can't make a blanket statement and say this is a bad idea. What I can say, is how much did this cost? How much will it cost to re-brand the trucks, bottles, all the packaging, etc.? How else could they have spent the money? Maybe with some kick-ass contests (people love those any time, but especially in a recession). Or some big, attention-getting marketing stunts at cities throughout the country. Or college campuses.
It's time to start planning for holiday greeting cards and gifts (if this is something your company likes to do). Tired of the fruit baskets, gourmet food baskets, or tubs of popcorn? Here are a few food ideas we love.
Looks like a greeting card. Tastes like a big 'ol cookie with buttercream frosting. (Thanks to my friend Lisa W. for the tip on this years ago.) These make great birthday cards for clients, too. (They have tons of designs for every occasion.)
With names like "Papa Don't Peach," and "Shofar So Good Apple Honey", this is not your average bread. This local Atlanta bakery has the yummiest sweet bread treats.
Another local Atlanta business, Pop!, makes frozen popcorn balls with fruit bits and drenched in chocolate. Terri -- a serious popcorn lover -- is salivating over these.
Gigantic fortune cookie with your own custom "fortune" message inside. These are the size of a football. Send it with a message to your customers wishing them "good fortune" in the coming year.
Food treats make great gifts any time of year; not just the holidays. In fact, many of these companies have Halloween-themed treats available now, and all are great to send for client birthdays. In the coming weeks, we'll post ideas for non-food related gifts. If you have any other suggestions, please post them in the comments section.
Most of us would like to be known for outstanding customer service, but we don't spend much time thinking about the steps we can take to actually improve our level of customer care. And when we do, it's often geared towards upgrading technology or other expensive systems. Sometimes, all you need is a warm, personal human touch. (And given the state of the economy, shoring up relationships with your customers is critical.)
To wit: recently, I discovered Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade goods. I've bought a number of items from different sellers and have experienced great customer service. (Much like ebay, customers rate the sellers.) But the service I received on my last purchase went even beyond good. This seller included a beautiful card with a personal note to me. She put two gourmet tea bags in the card (which had nothing whatsoever to do with the purchase; it was just a treat). She wrapped everything carefully. You could tell she did not just toss this in a FedEx box. Rather, she tied each item with a lovely string and a home made tag. The tag gave instructions for washing and care, and ended with this delightful note: "enjoy."
So why am I telling you about an independent seller on Etsy? A shop with only 33 items? Because, if she can do it, so can you. When was the last time you hand wrote a thank you note to your clients? When was the last time you included a "surprise" treat or gift? Have you thought about how you package or present your goods or services?
Recession Proof Marketing Tip #1 -- Shore Up Relationships with Existing Customers
Early this year, we drafted a marketing plan for ourselves -- a top-level outline of what we need to do to be successful this year. One of the organizing principles we used is how to grow a business in a recession. At the time, nobody was sure if we were in a recession, but plenty of people thought we were headed for one. And now, with the financial market meltdown, it seems more and more likely. As business owners, what can we do to make sure our businesses survive, or better yet, thrive?
We'll start posting tips for you to consider. If you have additional ideas, please post them in the Comments section.
Tip # 1 -- Shore Up Relationships with Existing Customers What are you currently doing to service your existing accounts? Do your customers LOVE you? I mean, really, really think you're amazing? What can you do to consistently amaze and delight them? Make a commitment, today, to surprisingly good -- outstanding -- customer service. Pull your team together and brainstorm what that might look like. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Ask your clients what you can do to help them sell more (or do more of whatever it is they want to do).
Surprise them with a gift, discount, extra service. No reason. Not a holiday surprise, but "just because." Expect nothing in return. (Simple gift ideas: a subscription to a relevant business magazine, Starbucks gift card, gourmet food items)
Call them. Don't e-mail. Call and say "hi."
Take them to lunch, dinner, a movie, a play.
Keep your eyes out for relevant articles, research, etc. Send it to them with a personal note.
Ideally, you should do a combination of things. We encourage you to get your team together today and talk about "creating customer evangelists." There is, in fact, an entire customer evangelism movement over at the Church of the Customer blog.
So your company has started a blog, but lately, your have found your posts are rather lackluster, and have become discouraged by the lack of traffic to your blog. Don’t fret.Here are some ideas to beef up your blog:
Remember, Content is Still King
It can be very difficult to come up with a new blog post every day that is relevant and engaging. A good way to get around writer’s block and post great content is to consume content! What is everyone talking about right now? Watch the news, read other blogs, check out the most popular stories on social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Newsvine, or Del.ici.ous, listen to the radio and read magazines and newspapers. Compare your findings with Google Trends, which gives you a search “snapshot” of what’s on the public’s mind. Write about these topics, and give it a little perspective on it.
Keep interesting postings, notes, pictures, punchy copy --whatever strikes your fancy-- in what I call a “Resource File”; which is a folder that you can turn to whenever the creative well runs dry.
Keep track of your blog posts that were popular. Re-purpose this content and update this topic regularly.
Use pictures and video whenever possible! Allow for others to share this collateral.
Encourage a conversation.Remember that your blog should establish you/your company as a valuable resource that offers useful information. Try not to become just another squawk box or advertorial. Ask for feedback or additional insight from your readers.
Promote Your Blog- the Smart Way.
Link love is the best kind of love for a blog and a surefire way to build traffic. Check out Zemanta, a cool new plug-in that instantly shows other relevant blog posts from around the world and immediately builds tagged links between your posts and others.
Make sure your RSS are functional and visible.
Connect your social networks and your blog. This will elevate your profile and alert people about your blog.
Remember, your blog should be an experience for your audience. Always keep them in mind when developing content and the rest shall follow.
Natalie Black is joining me here on the NTM blog, posting her unique insights into marketing and new media. Natalie has been working with us for about six months, and is a PR and social media expert with experience working with major national brands.
I'm glad to have her help keeping the blog up-to-date (especially as my due date nears!). Natalie has a sharp mind and oodles of energy (oh how I envy that!) and will be a great addition to the blog. Enjoy!
Looking for gas in Atlanta? Here are some online sources to help out. (By the way, it's fascinating how the web connects people on subjects like this, and how everyday folks are using web 2.0 tools to help one another out.)
So you may have heard that we are experiencing a gas shortage here in Atlanta. Yesterday, my husband and I went to about twelve stations in the area and none of them had gas. There is a QT (Quik Trip) nearby that had gas the other day, and a long line, but it was very orderly. They had an employee directing traffic and everyone waited their turn.
That got me thinking. That QT is across the street from another station, and a block away from several others. When the gas crisis is over, people will fall back into old habits and pull in to which ever station has the cheapest gas and is on the right side of the road. But does it have to be? That QT has an opportunity to capture me as a customer right now. They have a captive audience waiting in line for 15-30 minutes at a time. Why not take advantage of that? What if they had an employee bringing bottled water out to the cars (complimentary, or heck, go ahead and offer it for sale). Or samples of the food they would like to sell inside? What about passing out coupons to get us to come back when the shortage is over?
Can you imagine the buzz this would create if, in addition to being the orderly station with gas in the neighborhood, they were also the station that was handing out free food, drinks, and coupons? That would engender enormous good will and word-of-mouth, and create new customers for that station.
What do you think? What else could the station do?
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