Mad 4 Blog

Yesterday, car manufacturer and longtime advertiser General Motors hit reverse and pulled out of its advertising contract with Facebook. The company announced that this decision was due to poor performance and low ROI. This decision also followed closely on the heels of an MSNBC report showing that Facebook users don’t really trust the paid promotion of products and services through their go-to social networking site.

Thanks to Facebook’s free business pages, companies are able to create their own space on the website and promote it without cost. They’re able to monitor and analyze people’s interaction with this page and communicate directly with those who view it, “like” it or comment on its Wall. So why pay extra for small, non-interactive banner? Well, one reason is simply for the promotion of brand awareness – getting your logo out there and keeping it top-of-mind on a site where people spend an average of 16 hours of viewing time each month in the U.S.

If you’re currently advertising directly through Facebook, you may want to analyze the results and cost efficiency for doing this rather than activating and maintaining a business page. If you’re active enough with your contacts, you can still get your brand out there in the social media sphere, but in a much more impactful way. If you already have a business page as well, there may be ways to invest marginal fees and more page management time to get greater – and more measurable – results. Then you, too, may find it best to stop paying for advertising. On the other hand, your company may be better suited to the Facebook audience than automobile brands.

Chrysler and Ford continue to buy advertisements with the popular social media network, which stands to launch its public stock offerings this Friday, May 18.

It’s a long-held joke that when a realtor is telling you that a house you’re about to view is “quaint and charming” it really means you’re about to see a space way smaller than the one you’re dreaming about. When they talk about how it’s “affordable” you might be wondering if it’s even within your price range. This kind of consumer wariness may come to mind when you’re meeting with marketing agencies. Although we have our own cache of catchphrases that are apt to get tossed around, you don’t have to be suspicious; but you can come in prepared to speak our lingo. So what are some of the common catchphrases to keep an ear out for? And what do they really mean?

Marketing-Interactive.com published an interview with the marketing director of an information technology agency wherein he states that some verbiage businesses need to be aware of is “integrated marketing” and “return on investment.” This doesn’t mean that these buzzwords should be immediate red flags to business owners or reps meeting with advertising agencies; however, these professionals should go into any meeting with a handle on what the words actually mean to them.

For example, the interviewee stated that “integrated” options often fall short of their optimal capacity, because this word can be applied to many media plans with minimal integration methodology. Similarly, multi-level or tiered marketing can mean touching on just two strata (like mediums of print and radio, or demographics of females 18-25 and males 35-50) when a dozen options are available to further diversify and target your goal.

And ROI language can connote loftier ambitions and quicker returns than is actually reasonable. Often, significant profit takes quite a good dealing of spending to achieve, and the results may not be immediately measurable. However, marketers that can help you understand and anticipate realistic goals for ROI can be a major boon for your investment strategy. When you’re able to directly track and analyze how your campaigns are paying out over time – not just monetarily but also in terms of brand awareness and business model growth – then you can successfully achieve return on investment.

At Mad 4 Marketing, one of our favorites is “relationship marketing” simply because it seems like a redundant phrase; how can you work with a company and promote it to potential customers without building relationships on either side? What next, “food eating”? Seems like a no-brainer to us, don’t you agree?

Never hesitate to ask us about our phraseology for your upcoming campaigns; we’re happy to explain our favorite phrases and educate existing and potential clients so that everyone can communicate openly and be on the same page about how you’ll achieve all of your marketing goals.

We talk a lot about the importance of visually appealing logos for your business – but what about another classic element to branding, the catchy jingle?

A short, brief, original spurt of music that complements your commercial is known as a jingle. Their popularity is often associated with ads on the airwaves in the ‘50s and ‘60s, though the idea of using lyrical harmony to hold hearers’ attention is much, much older than radio itself. Before the first half of the 20^th century, this concept can be noted in reference to such concepts as barkers in marketplaces who sang slogans and sales in order to grab buyers’ attention from their competitors.

We apologize in advance if you’re about to get one of these caught in your head all day, but a few famous jingles you may immediately recognize are:

1. “I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.” (1971)

2. “You deserve a break today, so get up and get away to McDonald’s.” (1971)

3. “I am stuck on Band-Aids brand cause germs don’t stick on me!” (1988)

4. “Gimme a break, gimme a break, break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar!” (1991)

5. “The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup.” (1999)

Interestingly enough, the most popular jingles that people recall are also associated with visual commercials from the 70s-90s rather than radio advertising – even though the likability factor has nothing to do with what was happening onscreen in these ads.

Mad 4 Marketing is a huge advocate of using 360-degree campaigns to reach audiences from multiple points of impact. In that same sense, we’re strong supporters of advertising that elicits a response from all five of the senses, truly ingraining your brand into a person’s memory. We haven’t quite mastered the art of smell advertising – although with the mouthwatering aroma of hot dogs on the grill, it’s definitely something to look into for our newest client, National Deli!

But one thing that we can’t emphasize enough is the importance of strong sound in your advertisements, from addictive music to crystal-clear sound bytes. Come back next week to learn more about The Importance of Catchy Jingles!

Just because you want to take your business to the top of the charts as soon as possible doesn’t mean you need to spend a small fortune to do so. But as is the case in most situations, saving money may require some forethought and preparation. Here are a few tips for keeping your marketing efforts affordable while still getting a big ROI:

1. Know your needs. Marketers are traditionally creative-minded, so the sky’s the limit with the ideas that might be pitched your way if you have no idea what you want before you seek an advertising team. Naturally, any strong marketing team (ahem, ahem) is happy to help you figure out what those needs are before any kind of proposal is drafted. But having an idea of what you’re looking for before you begin shopping around can help you conserve time and energy – as well as costs – in the consultation phase of a campaign. Do you want to advertise on the radio or TV, and what are the reasons for that? Or are you looking to target online crowds to drive your message home? Maybe your needs are a little more specific to a time frame or locale. Consider what will make you happy in order to help marketers deliver it to you – trust us, we want to!

2. Assign a budget. This one might go without saying, but having even a loose idea of what you’re willing to spend on marketing can be helpful during preliminary meetings. Any trustworthy marketing firm will be extremely transparent about the costs involved in any strategies that are pitched. Ultimately, it’s up to you to know how much you want to invest. No matter the amount, we can help you figure out how to put that money to best use.

3. Identify your expectations. Sometimes you need to spend money to make money; but then again, sometimes you can throw good money after bad. From the outset, you should have an idea about the kind of return on investment that you’re expecting. Obviously, a great (and sometimes higher priced) marketing campaign can pay for itself, so you may want to consider that dollar conservation for the sake of it can hurt your business in the long run. Ideally you should create a timeline and expense sheet to figure out where you want to draw lines with profit margins before you kick off any new marketing endeavor. Don’t hesitate to ask your marketing agents about the best ways to track and measure viewership, perception and overall outcomes.

Ask Mad 4 Marketing how we can help you spread the word about your business without breaking the bank; as a small business ourselves, we take pride in working with companies of all sizes with every level of marketing need.