Mad 4 Blog

There might be companies out there with sensational products and excellent marketing strategies, they might even promise the gift of youth, but if they are unable to communicate that correctly to their consumers, why should we believe them?

As in the book Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss, I take a zero-tolerance approach to punctuation in any kind of communication, especially strategic marketing communication. That includes emails, blogs, post-it-notes, text messages, even notes to my husband on the fridge!

My golden rule is that if I receive an email with a typo or grammatical error in the subject heading, I do not, under any circumstances, trust or even read what’s inside.  And I certainly don’t respect any form of advertising or promotion if the creators have not given it proper thought or gone to the trouble of proofreading it. Some might call that snobbery, I call it saving the English language from death and destruction.

I do not reject the idea that language can evolve – of course it should and it does, we create the need for new words and syntax everyday, but when it evolves for the worse, and when we lose vital meaning in our words and communication, this is a matter we have to address.

Take the poor apostrophe for example. There are specific rules involved with this commonly abused punctuation mark. Generally the rule is that if you’re signifying possession, an apostrophe should be used except when the possession is already inherent within the word, such as yours or its. The apostrophe in it’s is there to signify the abbreviation of it is.

Apostrophes are commonly misused in plural nouns, for example, many grocery stores will have a sign somewhere in their store saying avocado’s or banana’s. Aaaaaaaargh… this drives me insane to the point where I want to get out a sharpie and deface their signage!

Unfortunately, in the case below, nobody was on hand to make any corrections so  recruitment was definitely NOT at its best.

In my opinion, the apostrophe is an endangered species. If, like me, you care about the possibility of apostrophe extinction from advertising or any type of communication, check out the Apostrophe Protection Society, of which I am an avid member! http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/

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Too few companies know how to use the concept of up selling in their marketing and advertising to their benefit. What is up selling?

It is the process of getting more business from your existing customers. More often than not, they can be your best customers. Take banks for instance. In the past 2 months, many local banks have boosted their CD rates to attract new depositors. These new depositors are great new customers. Customers who need car loans, home equity loans, college loans, credit cards, checking accounts, money market accounts, you get the idea. Yet if you survey most banks, few if any communicate with their new CD customers.  They are missing a huge opportunity to get more business from their existing customers, and more importantly, move them from a “transactional” customer to a “relationship” customer.

Don’t make the same mistake with your business. Look for new ways to up sell your existing customers by offering them new products, new services, or new offers that can build your relationship with them while garnering more share of wallet. Develop a formidable plan to make sure your customers know what services you provide and keep your core and other related messages in front of your customers as often as possible.
But don’t be impatient. It may take up to 10 forms of contact for a customer to identify with your brand or make a new purchase. Yet in a down economy, it’s one of the surest ways to boost your profit margins because up selling has a far better ROI than acquiring new customers.

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It seems the fashion industry dictates the decade we live in by its latest retro-inspired designs. We see the look of the season in clothing, furnishings, accessories as well as in marketing and advertising. We’ve seen the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, but which era is trendy now?

Cole Haan is celebrating 80 Years of Reimagining with the reintroduction of the penny loafer in its latest campaign. The loafers first appeared in the 1930s and were seen again on college campuses in the 1960s. Just like the loafers, modern day pinball became an overnight hit in the depression-era ’30s reappearing in the ’60s. Today, an online Mini Cooper advertisement depicts a pinball machine with human bumpers where the ball eventually ends up rolling into the vehicle’s trunk. The circa 1960 AMC hit show Mad Men is set in the advertising world. The men’s suits have small lapels and they wear slender ties and pants, which are also the trend in today’s men’s fashion. But then we get to the ladies, where the recent return in women’s clothing of the 1920s flapper is being followed by art deco influences, yet is extending to the silver screen starlets of the 1940s. Meanwhile, Amtrak’s Art Deco Acela ads can be seen in New York’s Penn Station. Wait a moment where are we?! Women’s fashion is influenced by the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, but men’s fashion and a hit tv show are influenced by the 30’s and 60’s.  I could go on finding examples of various mediums using a variety of eras for their inspiration. But what does this mean in the world of marketing and advertising? The era used is now dependent on the audience you are trying to reach. It is defined by marketing research, advertising strategy, media planning, budgeting, creativity, writing, sourcing, branding, buying, relationships and trust. In this multi-medium world of advertising with all of its outlets, it’s hard to decipher through the clutter. Today, all eras are important. It depends on whom you are trying to reach. Long gone are the days where you can reach everyone with a single marketing message. The markets, like the mediums, have become too diverse — that is where a marketing and advertising agency comes into play. They can do the research, strategy, planning, budgeting, creativity, writing, sourcing, branding, and buying for you – all while making sure that your marketing strategy invokes the messaging appropriate for your audience.

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Welcome to the NEW Mad 4 Marketing Blog where our brain trust of marketing and creative professionals will keep you in the loop with the latest industry trends.

Why have we decided to start a blog?
Blogging is currently the most popular corporate social marketing trend, for many good reasons. Major corporations across the product and service spectrum such as Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Hewlett Packard, and many others have set up corporate blogs in order to communicate in a less formal fashion and connect on a personal level with their customers. Blogs can be structured in an infinite number of ways and the content of each blog is completely unique and customizable. The qualities most blogs share (especially when set up the right way) are as follows:

• Blogs benefit a search engine optimization strategy by adding regularly updated content under the company domain
• Blogs incorporate RSS feeds which enable readers to easily read recent posts without actually visiting the blog. Many social networking sites such as Facebook enable you to sync your blog via the RSS feed with your page on their site in order to extend the information to people within your network.

Blogging can turn your website into a valuable knowledge resource that customers turn to for regular updates on the company, products, and/or services.  If you are currently reading this blog about blogging, you can see exactly how effective this marketing medium can be. We invite you to come back and visit our blog regularly for weekly updates on the latest marketing and advertising trends or add our feed to your RSS feed syndicator.

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