Mad 4 Blog

Typically, when companies are putting together a campaign to pull in new business, they want their brand to be at the forefront of their efforts. They not only strive to promote their iconography and key messaging, but also want to provide plenty of “about us” details so that potential clients or customers can make an informed buying decision. This is especially true for new or rebranded companies trying to step into the public spotlight.

However, in many cases there is a cost for this kind of dedicated brand promotion. And it is often the expense of conversion. Although you may accomplish the brand awareness that you set out to achieve, it doesn’t mean that you’ll convince each informed viewer to buy your product or services. This vital element of marketing is too often overlooked when companies are busy emphasizing their own self-promotion. When doing so, it’s important to ensure that all copy and materials relate information to incentives.

A key strategy for smart marketing is noting that your audience never wants to be told what to think. Instead of stating who you are and why you’re the greatest at what you do, you’ll want to help potential buyers come to such conclusions on their own—simply by explaining how your products and services can help them. Smart marketing actually ties these two concepts together; for example, pointing out what sets you apart from your competition while simultaneously explaining why the customer wants or needs it. Tell them what you can do to solve a problem or make their lives a little easier in terms of cost, quality, special services, etc.

You must ensure that each selling point addresses the consumer perspective, targeting any perceived concerns or interests from this point of view. Once you drive home how the customer will benefit, a strong call to action should seal the deal. And then you can tell them how to access more information. By then, if you’ve done your job right, they will be more than willing to find out more about your company by calling or visiting your website. All you need to do is point them in the right direction.

With a comprehensive marketing campaign that points out your company’s strengths while highlighting features that are relevant to the desires and needs of your audience, you will successfully achieve both brand awareness and customer acquisition.

Your website may serve as a full-service e-commerce interface through which you sell products and services. Or it may simply be a place where people can learn more about your business. Either way, viral marketing can help you increase website traffic––and therefore brand awareness and sales––at a very low cost, with minimal effort.

What is Viral Marketing?
The phrase ‘viral marketing’ refers to almost any means of using word-of-mouth campaigning to pass along your message. Typically, marketers target individuals or groups who are likely to pass along or share a given campaign message. For example, a funny YouTube video is likely to be shared with friends and it is easily forwarded to colleagues; therefore, putting your business message in this format and getting it out to people who are likely to share it with others can create a big buzz for your brand with little effort. In many cases, key message sharers may even be given incentive for their efforts. Many contests which are hosted online offer extra entries or added prizes for fellow bloggers or website owners who use their own forum to promote the contest.

How Can Viral Marketing Promote My Website?
By making your website the centerpiece of your viral marketing campaign, all of your advertising efforts will have one single call to action: visit us online. Although it can be coupled with other media to really strengthen your campaign, online viral marketing is key for websites because viewers of your message will be able to click straight through to your web address once they’ve interacted with your ad. Once your audience is at your website, they can further engage with your brand or even complete transactions.

The best part is that even non-conversion visits can help you strengthen your website’s presence, because increased traffic to your page and more interaction with it will make it rank higher organically in a search engine, such as Google. When your rank rises, your website will be even easier to search and locate for people who are specifically interested in what you have to offer. This begins a cycle of increased traffic begetting increased traffic, which will ultimately impact your website’s success. Because such little cost is needed in the first place to initiate a viral marketing campaign (compared to other online marketing tactics such as a pay-per-click campaign) it’s easy to achieve high ROI.

What Comes Next?
Viral marketing campaigns may occur organically. Sometimes a website becomes an overnight sensation with very little work on the part of its owners. But that’s not something you can rely on when planning to put your business online. One of the best things about viral marketing is the fact that it’s completely accessible to everyone, and you don’t even need a ton of insider information to kick off your campaign. All you need to do is create an easy-to-use website, and then utilize social media tools that you probably already know, such as business-relevant discussion forums and Facebook.

However, to ensure that your efforts have a huge effect, you may want to consider a professional viral marketing team. These experts can help you come up with the unique creative needed for this kind of campaign to launch. Viral marketers are also familiar with a myriad of potential vantage points from which to target and approach your audience, to keep your message moving. This team of professionals can not only determine where your efforts will have the biggest impact, but they can also help you collect and analyze the results of your campaign. By tracking responsiveness and user data, you can sharpen and hone your viral marketing strategies. This will enable you to build even stronger platforms in the future.

Curious to learn more about viral marketing? Ask Mad 4 Marketing how we can help you create a buzz about your business without breaking the bank.

Television advertising is far from dead. Although viral marketing via website banners and streaming video is the new bandwagon in media placement, a well-executed TV commercial is still a guaranteed way to increase your company’s sales while expanding brand awareness. But only if you do it right. Here are five tips for successful television advertising:

1) Entertainment is essential. Let’s face it, no matter how smart and practical your products or services are, when people are facing the television screen, they’re expecting some form of entertainment. This doesn’t mean comedy; serious spots work just as well. But from start to finish, it’s important to keep a viewer engaged so that they’ll remember your message and absorb all of the information your commercial is seeking to convey.

2) Be brief. Televised ads traditionally average 30 seconds in length. Identify a key message or a few main points and make sure that your advertisement explicitly features these elements. Because television ads aren’t something that prospective customers can reference at their leisure, your message must be clear-cut and easy to understand on the first viewing. Clouding your message with too many other details or off-topic iconography can strongly undercut your ROI. However, even the most concise commercials may take several impressions per viewer to create a lasting, measurable impact, so be patient rather than worry that your message didn’t take hold.

3) Visuals are vital. While print advertising allows you to outline facts about your business, and radio focuses on speaking directly to the potential buyer, television is about conveying a message primarily through pictures. Your goal is to create visual impact that enforces your key messaging and leaves a strong impression with the viewer. Advertising agencies that specialize in storyboarding and graphic messaging will help elevate your commercial content; you’ll also want a knowledgeable director on your set when filming.

4) Call to action is critical. Give your captive audience a valid reason to call or visit your website to make further contact and begin developing a relationship. Provide viewers with a strong impression of your brand and let them know what sets you apart from the competition—this will serve as a reminder when they’re ready to commit or seek more information. Remember, if a television viewer goes to bed humming your theme song but doesn’t know what you do or how to reach you in the future, then even the biggest blockbuster commercial won’t actually improve your bottom line over time.

5) Seek out specialists. Consult with an experienced media buyer to help you ascertain the correct locales, stations and times for airing your ad within your budget. Media buyers have access to comparative data about viewer demographics and reactivity, and they can offer valuable insight to the logistics and statistics of when and where your ad would make the greatest impact. Then, of course, they can help you purchase those time slates. Working with a comprehensive advertising agency that has plenty of experience with purchasing, designing, creating and tracking commercials is the best way to ensure that you’re on the most surefire path to successfully advertising on television.

The late and great WC Fields once said, ‘Never work with children or animals’, and while some may believe that to be good advice, you might want to think seriously about employing them in your advertising.

Emotion is a very powerful tool and using it to create a connection with the consumer is, in the long term, even more important than behavior triggering marketing tactics such as free trials and price-cut incentives. When your customer relates to the brand, rather than just to an offer, that is the basis for developing brand equity, which manifests as customer loyalty. Coca-Cola loyalists do not choose Coke over Pepsi by price. In fact, one way to look at brand equity is the degree to which customers will pay a premium for a particular brand, over the brand’s competitors.

For the creative team here at Mad 4 Marketing, evoking consumer emotion has always been a top priority, both in B2C and B2B markets. Experience shows that connecting emotionally has a quantifiable dollar value.

Think about the many forwarded emails featuring babies or animals that land in your inbox every week. People like the stuff. Truthfully, they go a bit nuts. There are even websites like Cuteoverload.com devoted to cute imagery where thousands of people go every day to get their daily dose.

While not the right note for every company, you just can’t deny that adorable images arouse our emotions. In doing so, they also help to build brands. Ameritrade cashed in on ‘cute’ with its series of talking baby commercials - one of the most popular spots of this year’s Superbowl. Geico also knows about the competitive advantage gained by cute things – not to mention that fact that cute things are memorable. Who could forget that cheeky little green gecko?  The brand equity associated with Geico’s gecko is $4.5 Billion. They’ve tried to repeat that success by personifying a stack of money in their new campaign.  By making a stack of money cute, it’s instantly recognizable. Brand awareness is a step on the path towards brand preference.

But whether or not puppies or babies are featured in your advertising, an emotional connection is key. A powerful, emotional bond with customers can take your relationship to another level. If you’re lucky, it could turn into one that makes consumers your own brand champions – advocates so passionate about your message (or the delivery of that message) that they actively broadcast or webcast it themselves by posting a link to a commercial on YouTube or on their Facebook page.

So, ask yourself, do your marketing messages communicate with your consumer on an emotional level?

Every year, businesses put aside a heft of their marketing budget for “in-season” advertising. In Florida, the peak tourist season spans from approximately December to March, when snowbirds head south for winter. Consumerism increases, and companies reach out to the influx of eyes and ears (and wallets) with targeted seasonal advertising.

And that’s a great idea. Ads are able to reach a wider and more diverse audience than they can throughout the rest of the year. Companies can use the same local exposure to reach new clients and expand brand awareness. However, there are also several reasons why businesses should limit in-season marketing, and recalculate their advertising budget for year-round investments.

The main reason is that seasonal advertising leads to seasonal business. If most of your advertising is aimed at those who only live in-state for one third of the year, it means you won’t be seeing business for two thirds of the year. Although you want to capitalize on seasonal crowds, make sure it’s never at the expense of the non-seasonal market.
Here are some tips for balancing your own seasonal advertising strategies to cultivate new business and keep it going throughout the year:

Maintain a Year-Round Presence
For continued brand awareness, it’s important to not only make a significant first impression in someone’s mind, but to repeatedly announce your brand, products and services until your prospective clients become familiar with who you are and what you can do for them. That means you should reinforce big in-season advertising campaigns with year-long reminders. This is not only good for encouraging new business, but will also remind past clients of your excellent services, and inspire them to use you again.

Never Automate Your Advertising
Even though you want your target audience to repeatedly encounter your brand throughout the year, what you don’t want to do is desensitize your audience to your message. Therefore, be sure that you’re constantly announcing yourself from new angles via mixed media platforms. Did you launch a comprehensive print ad campaign last season? Maybe this season calls for a radio spot or viral marketing strategy. Staying fresh as you frequently present your brand will keep your company top-of-mind. Another strategy is to run your ads erratically; instead of placing an ad in the paper every week, create a varied schedule so that it catches readers’ attention each time it’s viewed.

Catch the Less-Targeted Off-Season Audience
Think it’s brilliant to advertise at the height of the season? So does everyone else. Although in-season advertising has its merits, it also means heavy competition. On the other hand, advertising during the slow season means that your message may be more prominent, and have a greater opportunity to sink in. Everyone wants to stand out in the crowd, but doing so may come
at a high cost during the winter months. Meanwhile, when the season is slow or in transition, making an impact is not only more affordable, but poises you to reap high rewards—without all the hassle, pressure, cost and competition.

Although Florida’s busy season may tempt you to chase new and varied business, remember to never undervalue the merits of consistent business. Balanced, year-round advertising is the way to create a strong and lasting presence with loyal, return clientele.

In 2008, Mad 4 Marketing began a mobile marketing campaign for Satori, an eco-friendly apartment rental community developed by Altman Management Company. Audiences were asked to opt in to the Satori mobile service by texting “Satori” to 34343; this initiative was advertised traditionally through regional newspaper ads, street-side signage and flyers handed out at Fort Lauderdale events. Once participants were linked to the Satori mobile system, they were able to get directions to the leasing center, learn about early leasing initiatives and receive texts about special promotions and updates. They were also automatically entered to win six months’ free rent. Through mobile marketing, Mad 4 Marketing enabled Altman Management Company to stay connected with prospective tenants.

This is just one example of how mobile marketing can be integrated into a larger marketing schematic. As most agencies will agree, mobile marketing is the future of marketing because clients are able to reach out to their audience anywhere and anytime, invoking direct responsiveness for their efforts. Enticing viewers to reply immediately is the major draw for mobile marketing—this is especially fundamental in an economy that wants to see immediate, profitable results. Mobile marketing not only allows the audience to engage and immediately respond to solicitations (while they’re already connected, with phone in hand), it also allows clients to track participation and measure interest from various publics. Rather than a billboard or banner ad reaching as many eyes as possible, the point of mobile marketing is to utilize one private screen to capture one pair of eyes, to see what they look at and how they respond—individually and traceably.

Unlike web marketing, mobile marketing isn’t about brand awareness, it’s about accessibility. Many web ads are simply meant to familiarize viewers with brands, services and logos—which is why CPM (measurable impressions) are key. Contrarily, mobile campaigns are considered wasteful if they don’t prompt an immediate click, call or text response; mobile marketing is all about an effective call to action. This means that an impression isn’t just an impression—it’s one step toward a relationship with a future customer. Even once his or her attention turns elsewhere, that one-time exchange of information is a green light for further interactions and conversations down the line. It’s not just one-way marketing; it’s networking.

In the future, more people are expected to own fully interactive phones with enhanced features and heightened capacities—so the potential for mobile marketing is only expected to climb. Don’t miss this lucrative bandwagon; Mad 4 Marketing’s experienced mobile marketing team will help you learn how that ubiquitous little handheld can connect you with consumers and bring your business big-time results.

The best asset in a bad economy is an existing customer database, which can be maintained and built through email marketing. Mad 4 Marketing has obtained some of the best practices for effectively using email marketing.

Email is great for conversion and retention marketing, but not that good for acquisition. It should be used as a marketing medium for people already in the prospect cycle.

Because people get so many emails everyday, the content of your email should be valuable.  You do not want your message to get lost in the shuffle. The quality of the message and relevance is very important. People will unsubscribe after 1-2 irrelevant messages. Also, emailing too often can cause the user to consider your emails irrelevant. Good eMarketers get more information from their list to determine what the user is interested in and then provide appropriate information to segmented portions of their list.

Once you successfully get the user’s contact information, do not wait too long to contact them. Because people’s attention spans are so short, you should send them an immediate thank you email. You do not want to fall out of top of their mind.

Another good practice is to engage the user with interesting tidbits and then take the user to your website. Also, personalize the email, so they are less likely to unsubscribe.

There are many advantages to using email marketing.  Below is a list of the top advantages:

• Contact Database: Most e-blasts contain a form to capture the user’s contact information. This information is sent to a database providing an active contact list in which advertisers can continue or begin sending more communication to the user.

• Low Cost: Email marketing is less expensive than other traditional media such as print, TV and radio.

• Tracking: You can directly track exactly how many people have read or taken an action by clicking through on your email, which gives you a precise return on investment.

• Green: Since email marketing does not require paper, it is safer for the environment than printed direct mail.

Please contact Mad 4 Marketing to discuss new and innovative ways we are using email marketing to increase sales and brand awareness for our many clients.