Browsing Tag

business

Can Social Media Create Value for Businesses?

 

Interesting research report from Olgilvy on Social Media creating value for businesses. From the executive summary:

Ogilvy and ChatThreads enlisted approximately 400 US restaurant consumers who tracked and reported 5,295 touch points with five restaurant brands across all major types of media….

What did we find?

1. Social media exposure is directly linked with increases in sales. Integrated social media (social content + one or more other channels) exposure is linked with significant increases in spend and consumption—for example, social media + PR exposure was associated with a 17% spend increase compared to the prior week without these.

2. Integration matters. Exposure to social content was most consistently effective when it was combined with exposure to other types of media channels.

3. Social media is a top driver of impact. Out of the 20 channels analyzed, social media was No. 1 or No. 2 in magnitude of impact on spend and consumption.

4. Social media exposure is directly linked with changes in brand perception. Social media by itself is particularly effective at rapidly impacting brand perception— exposure to social media generated the largest impact on brand perception over a short (one week) period of time.

5. Brand exposure in social media is low. Weekly social media exposure to brand mentions was relatively low (24% of panel) vs. television branded exposure (69% of panel), even in this selected high social media consumption group of consumers

 

 

Ogilvy ChatThreads Social Media Sales Impact Study 2011

How does your business use social media?

In an effort to gain more insight into the usage of social media by marketers, product marketers and product managers, we have a quick survey for you to participate in. The survey should only take like 2 minutes, so your input is appreciated!

Here’s the Survey: https://survey.vovici.com/se.ashx?s=3877A95112A62085

Survey ends Friday 10.28

October 26, 2011 by
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Brand Insights: Best Global Brands – Tech, Retail and Luxury Goods

I get asked about Brand a good deal when I’m training product marketers and there are a good deal of opinions of how to manage brands, but effective brand management is a process. This list of the best global brands from Interbrand provides some key insights into core brand attributes for folks to think about.

The 10 Principles of Strong Brands

  1. Commitment
  2. Protection
  3. Clarity
  4. Responsiveness
  5. Authenticity
  6. Relevance
  7. Presence
  8. Understanding
  9. Consistency
  10. Differentiation
Interbrand – Best Global Brands Report 2010

While I like the 10 principles from Interbrand, there are two additional things to consider:

As you may have seen in the report, technology companies, business consultants and internet services are increasingly focusing on brand, so what’s your brand plan for 2011 and 2012?

April 21, 2011 by
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Marketing is in the Middle: Jennifer Doctor

So the next person to participate in this series of interviews is Jennifer Doctor, she is a product marketer who tirelessly gives time to volunteer for the community of marketers with participation in Product Camp ATL and Product Camp Minnesota.

Jennifer is also an active blogger and I’m thankful she took time out of her hectic schedule to participate.  On to the answers….

What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?

Over the last nearly 20 years, I’ve worked in marketing, product marketing and product management. This includes everything from marketing communications and pr/media work, web development and marketing, and classic product marketing and product management. I’ve been in a variety of industries and technologies, including nonprofit agencies, hardware, b2b software for enterprise and small business – ASP (forerunner to SaaS,) ERP and desktop, and also services.

When you look at your career in marketing, what activities have you found most interesting/challenging?

I haven’t found the activities involved in marketing “hard;” rather, I believe what is hard is understanding and adapting to the different cultures I have entered and left. Each environment brings its own set of expectations and rules, mostly unwritten and tribal driven.   This can make it challenging to drive to what is right and make a difference.


Based on your experience what activities do you think get the most return?

I believe that investing in any activity that brings about a greater understanding of the market is the where you are most likely to get the result. Tactics are driven better when you have that understanding of how your buyers, the potential market, will respond. Without this, no amount of marketing effort will succeed.

What do you feel is the most important component of a successful marketing gig?

The most important element of a successful marketing gig is to understand the buyer.  I believe that you have to understand what the buyer is seeking, so they will invest in the sale. This understanding is important for any size product or sale. Without this knowledge, no amount of marketing of your solution will matter – regardless of how creative, flashy, interactive, or informative.

If you could design the perfect corporate environment for a marketer to be successful what would that be?

Wow. Not easy to answer. A perfect corporate environment is where the silos of the organization do not exist. Teams are formed which are more agile (not capital A agile as in development process,) and combine skills and talents from different focus areas to come together to solve the problem for the market – at that time. These teams need to have a single challenge to tackle, and be in alignment with the overall strategic vision. They also need to be empowered with the right resources – from talents to money to time – to make it happen. It all comes down to creating a collaborative atmosphere, which exists without the barriers.

How far is this from reality?

I have no idea how far my ideal is from reality. I know that when it is achieved – and I have seen it work in  organizations – it can produce amazing results. Unfortunately, I believe that it takes leadership, leadership which embraces collaboration and empowerment.

So what’s next?

Next?  I have seen great strides in recent years from marketing (including product marketing and management) coming closer together in alignment to execute.  I also would like to see more organizational leaders break down the walls that still exist. It’s time more people start worrying about who is right, and focus on what is right. It’s business. It’s not personal. More environments need to embrace this.

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Blog: Outside-In View

Twitter: @jidoctor

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February 4, 2011 by
(12)

Marketing is in the Middle: Jay Baer

This is the second one and I have really been impressed with the different approaches to the questions from the participants so far.  I’m also encouraged by many of the answers I’m seeing in the responses on how businesses developing more strategic marketing organizations in many sectors.

Jay Baer was kind enough to participate in the Marketing is in the Middle series.  I’m super thankful that since I’ve been reading Jay’s blog for several years now (Convince and Convert). It was one of those random word of mouth things…   Dave Daniels tuned me in to Jay who then was in Phoenix and who now is in Indiana doing consulting work all over the place.  I think Jay just might live in airports.

If you haven’t read/ran into Jay yet, he is real pragmatic in his approach –  actionable strategies, tools and real-world use cases on how you can increase your operational effectiveness with social processes. Jay just co-authored a book which spoke to 7 critical shifts businesses just need to make when thinking socially.

So here’s Jay’s take on the questions:
What marketing roles have you had and in what markets?

I started as a PR intern in Phoenix. I was then a political campaign manager in Arizona for a few years, before moving to the client side as a marketer for Waste Management, Inc. in AZ and Southern California. I then was briefly the spokesman for a state agency before getting involved in online marketing in 1994. I was VP/Marketing at Internet Direct (the world’s first hosting company); co-founder at azfamily.com; Senior Director at visitalk.com; and founder of digital agency Mighty Interactive – all of those in Phoenix.   Most recently in 2008 I started my Convince & Convert social strategy consultancy.   I now live in Bloomington, Indiana but have clients everywhere.

When you look at your career in marketing, what activities have you found most interesting/challenging?

Adoption curves repeat themselves. The questions we’re asking and answering about social media today are very similar to those we dealt with regarding email a few years ago, and websites a few years before that. We’ve seen this movie before.

Based on your experience what activities do you think get the most return?
Anything that combines direct communication, opt-in, and relevancy. Email and search are the most noteworthy examples, and I hope social will continue to progress so that we can have the same potential successes.

What do you feel is the most important component of a successful marketing gig?
Cultural support for change, and a belief that the customer experience is paramount.

How have you seen organizations change in the last 3-5 years to better support the needs of product marketers, product managers and communications teams?
Much smarter about getting marketing involved earlier in the process, combined with a recognition that marketing is about more than a launch.


If you could design the perfect corporate environment for a marketer to be successful what would that be?

Allowing marketing to be as close as possible to product and customer support makes for the best environment. I also prefer it when companies embrace a spirit of testing and trial. Three years ago, suggesting that social would be a meaningful part of the marketing plan was crazy talk for most companies. And look at it now. Marketing must be fluid, because customer dynamics and expectations are fluid.

How far is this from reality?

Fortunately, it’s reality today in some companies, although they tend to be mid-market. Enough resources to try stuff, but unburdened by corporate process.

So what’s next?

I really, really hope we stop (at least for this year) talking about the hot new thing, and instead turn our attention to doing the current things better. Social media optimization and integration would be a good start.  Social is an ingredient, not an entree.

—-

I’ve been using the ingredient quote for a while now.  Social media for B2B marketing isn’t a pure play effort for most businesses, it requires an integrated and managed approach across the business – support, marketing,  pr…  Social processes should make your business more efficient and improve your customer’s experience.

Again, I am most appreciative of Jay taking the time to participate.

Blog: Convince and Convert

Twitter:@ jaybaer

Book: The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter & More Social

January 26, 2011 by
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