Mad 4 Blog

Welcome to the third part of our series dedicated to breaking down barriers between your company and your client/customer base. For the past two weeks, we provided a few examples of how personalizing your services can help you address your audience’s needs and expectations. This week, we’re looking at Transparency.

It’s a new age of marketing. In this modern world, information is extremely accessible – and people like it that way. They want to feel like they know your company on an intimate level and can trust in the data that you put out. And they don’t want to feel like they’re being pressured or deceived into buying what you’re offering. They want to come around to it on their own. And they want to feel like you trust them to make their own decision given enough genuine information that’s useful to their decision-making process. This is also your opportunity to show that you understand their needs.

In order to form relationships with your current and potential clients, your brand needs to be out there 24/7. That’s extremely easy to do these days thanks to the Internet. So there’s no reason not to have all of your information available and consolidated. This isn’t just a courtesy on your part, or an act of self-interest, it’s a necessity. Because your audience is already expecting it, and your competitors are already doing it. Here are some thoughts:

1. Keep all of your information on your website. As we mentioned in Part 1 of the Personalization blogs, it helps to have an About Us page with specifics about your staff. This tell-it-all tone should also carry over to the FAQ and any press pages. Keep everything updated and available to be the No. 1 resource available about your own company – and never attempt to hide anything about your operations, such as who’s pulling the strings or what people are saying about your service. Being up-front and open about your policies and personnel makes your audience feel like they know you and can trust you. It’s much worse if your potential buyers or investors learn facts another way and it looks like you’re trying to hide pertinent info. On the flip side, of course, it’s important to maintain an image that you aren’t ashamed to be transparent about.

2. Keep people in the loop. Spread the word about your company’s goals, your game plan and what’s being accomplished. Update readers regularly through your website’s blog and social media. Stay connected with your fans through newsletters and active comment threads. As discussed in Part 2 on Personalization, it helps to personally address these individuals to help them feel connected to you.

3. Let your consumers speak for you. You can leave a review or comments section on your website or social media page allowing those who have worked with you in the past to tell those considering it what their experience was like with you. People are more likely to trust word-of-mouth, testimonial marketing, which is extremely transparent because its an unbiased insider’s experiential opinion.

This Valentine’s Day, we’re going to talk about…what else? Love. But not just any love–the very special kind of love that can only be properly conveyed through social media.

Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are often used to launch campaigns based on popularity, encouraging page visitors to tweet with a certain hashtag, “like” a page or post a status to show support and solidarity. The success of such campaign is used to measure the strength of demand for a certain agenda–much like door-to-door petitions of the past.

For example, now when there’s a crisis–such as the tragedies in Haiti or protests in Egypt–large numbers rally to either show the government or their peers that they support efforts to stand behind legislative or financial aid. By showing some love for their favorite causes, individuals become a part of a loud, collective voice that has more ability to affect those with money and power than any of the individuals could have shown by posting or tweeting on their own.

In 2008, Facebook users who were writers, editors, journalists and word enthusiasts joined forces to get the AP Style Guide, bible to grammarians, to modify its policy on using “website” as opposed to the outdated “Web site.” Over 700 of these AP-using professionals amassed to give their cause one focused, online backing. As of April 2010, it worked, affecting millions across the globe in the writing and publishing sphere.

Meanwhile, less serious campaigns are increasingly initiated, often involving celebrity. Comedian Chris Gethard asked fans of his live talk show to tweet to Sean “Diddy” Combs to get the famous rapper on his show. Thirteen months and countless #diddygethard posts later, Gethard’s abstract—but massively popular—pitch became a reality. Why did Diddy comply and show up on a small-scale late-night talk show in a basement-level NYC theater? To appease the fans, and thank them for their year of digital, vocal love.

Currently, a 20-something Bostonian gal who claims to be Conan O’Brien’s biggest fan is aiming to get at least 5,000 supporters on her Facebook page in an effort to snag a guest spot on his show. This number hasn’t been confirmed by O’Brien or TNT, but is her own personal aim–and she can only hope to get the network or the man himself to get on board and play into the love she and her 5,000 supporters are proving.

So should the masses have that much sway over major corporations, brands and celebrity entities? How much power should be granted to earnest, persistent individuals with time on their hands and access to social media accounts? Didn’t that honor used to only go to the obsessed and stalkers? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear what you think.

The height of marketing power right now may come in the smallest of forms; in fact, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Although marketers have been employing cell phones for years—via call surveys and even text message campaigns, for example—the newest and smartest way to engage on-the-go customers is now by creating mobile applications that smartphone users can download immediately and use indefinitely.

Can’t They See My Website Online?

Yes, but mobile apps load faster and provide a much more user-friendly experience for someone who’s viewing your data on a small screen, with the range of buttons available to them (as opposed to a full keyboard and mouse). With a mobile app, your menu can be tailored to services that people are most likely to be seeking while out-of-home. For example, your main page can reflect your directory and a map to your location. Or you can offer one-click sales without all the flash and graphics or the dense text information that’s available on your website. Plus, you’ll be listed among their favorite and most-used programs on their phone. It’s an automatic bookmark and frame of reference so they’ll never forget your name—or that cute little logo or icon that reflects your brand.

What Perks Does a Mobile App Offer?

The greatest single advantage to offering a mobile app is that you can interject your business at any time, anywhere and give your customers—or prospects—an immediate, direct connection to your products and services the moment they think of needing them. Besides that, constantly seeing your application and thinking of your brand keeps you top-of-mind. At the very least, because mobile apps are so prevalent, if you don’t have one, it’s probable that your competition will make one first.

How Can I Stand Out in the Crowd?

There are numerous jokes being made about the number of apps out there in the world; but the answer to making a big statement with yours is actually quite simple: Target your key audience. It’s not like your account is going to be the new Facebook and show up on the face of every cell phone; not every single person will want a direct route to your business information. But there is a group of niche individuals who will. The greatest task with mobile applications, as with most forms of marketing, is identifying and getting in contact with those who will benefit the most by communicating with you. Once the app is downloaded, it’s all downhill from there.

By tying in your mobile app with a comprehensive marketing campaign, you can direct interested parties to your mobile app and keep them connected. Once someone has you listed among their collection of valued apps, you can offer incentives that are only available through your mobile app and then consistently reward prospective customers for having it on their phones and checking in on a regular basis.

On the heels of this article, which explains how Hulu.com uses surveys to gauge an audience’s opinion on ads, comes a recent story out of Australia. The down under nation’s Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) is dealing with less-than-positive feedback on its published content. But not only is this feedback negative, it’s also out of left field. Naturally, when you ask for your audience’s opinion, you have to take what you get. And as every suggestion-box-key-holder knows, every informed and constructive comment comes with a dreary downside: the throngs of merciless, inapplicable complaints.

Surveying is one of the most useful tools for marketers, and having eyes and ears in the field is invaluable. How else to accurately and objectively measure how well your work is doing? But when you solicit for comments, it means taking the good with the bad (and having the wisdom to know the difference). Someone has to read them, and someone has to sort them, but is there any easy way to whittle down the winners from the whiners?

As outlined by the Sydney Morning Herald, examples of useless reports included:

- A dancing child as being too perverse.
- A child eating an ice cream cone as being sexualized.
- A rude redhead as being vilified for her coloring.
- An errant wool ball as promoting violence against Victorians.

Tactfully, the ASB states that the real problem comes down to allocation of resources, stating that time and money can’t be spent addressing irresolvable issues. Marketing survey site Mumbrella, which analyzed a sample of received complaints earlier this year, was far less restrained, calling the task a matter of dealing with “idiots” and “single-issue zealots.” Many of the criticisms led the agency to believe that complainers might even be reporting out of spite for a particular brand or product, rather than actually taking issue with the commercial itself. However, due to quality control regulations currently in place, even one raised issue warrants an investigation by the ASB. And the number of incoming complaints has more than doubled in the past half-decade alone.

Even if a significant percentage of feedback is coming from “the nutty fringes of society,” according to the ASB, how can the bureau separate the wheat from the chaff? A system of standards is being implemented that takes into account a new set of clauses dictating what is and isn’t nationally pre-approved. For example, dogs on a leash are not examples of animal abuse. While it may seem painstaking to parse out the more minute depictions of questionable behaviors, these guidelines are expected to make it that much easier to quickly sort and reduce complaints so that only the most practical are left to consider.

Chief Executive Fiona Jolly of the Advertising Standards Bureau informs that an estimated 10-30% of incoming complaints would be filtered out by this system. The percentage of previously discarded pre-filter complaints is unknown, but at least will be markedly reduced—making it that much easier to focus on the comments that can actually be used to approve quality advertising content that appeals to most audiences.