TV builds brands better than the Web

ONE place where traditional media beat new media big time is in launching and building brands. Just compare a 30-second TV commercial with a banner ad. The former is far more emotionally engaging and thus better suited for building a brand image.

Media, Feb.‘09, Yaakov Kimelfeld

.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 http://www.haynesmarketing.com/

“New media” let us do the unbelievable

NEW media are those media that arose from the information and communication technologies that began emerging in the 1980s – the cell phone, the internet, the video game.
Most of these technologies are digital, meaning they interpret binary digital data as information. As opposed to analog data, digital data are easier to manipulate, carry more information, and move faster.
Many new media are involved in media convergence, which occurs when multiple products come together to form a single product with the advantages of all of them. For instance, the cell phone now handles e-mail, text messaging, music, internet browsing, GPS, and photography.
Most important, many new media are interactive, allowing for active participation by the audience, whether that audience is one, or millions.
Some new media, like the Internet, are all three – digital, converged, and interactive – replacing the “one-to-many” model of mass communication with the possibility of a “many-to-many” web of communication. And, as a result, new media offer marketing tools we would have not thought possible 25 years ago.

.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 http://www.haynesmarketing.com/

Consumers often don't know why they do what they do

WHEN consumers are asked why they bought a particular brand, they seldom credit the brand’s ad plan.
It doesn’t mean the advertising was ineffective. More than likely, it means that, by the time of the sale, the advertising the customer had been exposed to might be very far behind him or her emotionally, and he/she has moved past the advertising impact and into his/her own rationale to buy.
This is why many customer surveys are flawed. At the time of purchase, consumers have forgotten about the advertising messages they’ve been exposed to over time.
On top of that, Americans don’t want to admit that ads affect them. But, if this were true, nothing we buy would have a brand name on it. We buy brands because we trust them. We feel comfortable buying because we were exposed to advertising that helped us form an opinion of the brand.

TVWeek, 6/12/06, A.Armbruster

.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 http://www.haynesmarketing.com/

Internet Marketing Myths

MYTH #1: The Internet changed everything about marketing.

Not everything. The Internet does give us a marketing channel that interacts with the world 24/7 – a powerful tool for bringing consumers together with the products and services they want.
But the old channels for bringing seller and buyer together – the phone call, the business letter, the face-to-face pitch, the tv commercial – are still working just fine as part of a well-planned, ­integrated marketing program that probably includes the web.

Myth #2: Internet marketing starts with a great website.

Internet marketing starts where all effective marketing starts – with a well- defined prospect. If you don’t have a clear picture of who you are selling to and what you’re selling, the prettiest website in the world won’t get you business.
Before you even think about a website, know who your target prospect is, how to describe your specialty to that prospect, and what specific benefits your business provides.
Yes, your site should radiate competence, but a brilliant design and dazzling graphics won’t pay off anywhere near as well as a clear explanation of why a customer should choose you as an ­answer to a want or need.

Myth #3: More traffic means
more profits.

More traffic to your website only guarantees increased bandwidth use by your web host, and nothing else. Before spending money on banner ads, web directories, or pay-per-click listings to drive more visitors to your site, be sure that they’ll want to do business with you once they get there.
Ask some colleagues and custom-ers to critique your site. Do they understand what you’re offering? Can they see that you’re presenting real benefits to your target audience? Revise your site based on their feedback.
Then invite some prospects to visit your revised site and touch base afterward. Do those prospects seem more inclined to do business with you after visiting your site? If so, you’re on the right track.

Myth #4: Do whatever it takes
to build your email list.

A substantial opt-in emailing list is a
valuable marketing asset, but the quality of names on your list is much more important than the quantity. Acquiring names through giveaways of other people’s material, trading lists with joint venture partners, or purchasing lists from vendors rarely provides you qualified buyers truly interested in your products or services.
So, how do you build your list? Invite those who visit your site to leave their email for future contact. Ask people you meet or call for their email. Offer them something of value in return. A well-written ezine, a helpful report, or an informative audio are all effective premiums, as long as they directly relate to what service you sell and increase your credibility.

Myth #5: Just follow the winning
Internet formula and you’ll get rich.

There is no new “winning Internet formula.” The process of winning customers is what it always has been – build relationships and get people to know, like, and trust you.
If your website, ezine, and other Internet-based activities contribute to building long-term, trusting relationships with prospective clients and referral sources, you’ll get business on the web.
Credit: About.com

.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 http://www.haynesmarketing.com/

Crisis Communications, the best PR plan you never want to use

At 3:00 a.m. you get the call. Your factory is up in flames, with millions in inventory at risk.

As you rush to the plant you think of the years it took to build your business, win loyal customers, and gain a reputation of integrity.

Casualty insurance will cover your monetary loss, but how will you recover the reputation you worked so hard to build?

At the plant, the press is waiting with questions: “Police report two fatalities inside your plant, what can you tell us about that? What is the extent of the damage? What about your customers who are waiting for shipments? Will employees still have jobs?

Be ready for such a moment with a Crisis Communications Plan. A well-structured plan includes procedures for answering such questions, and specific, hourly instructions to address the press, employees, employee families, and worried customers.

With your plan at your side, you (and key managers) are able to control information flow, and provide facts to the press as they are needed, until the crisis ends.

Reporters meet their deadlines, and you breathe easier, knowing their stories will shore up the confidence of employees and customers, and will protect the assets of the company you spent years to build.

Because of its potential impact on your firm’s future, the plan should be prepared by someone skilled in crisis communications’ planning, though you and your staff will participate.

Once the plan is ready, keep it nearby. Review it each quarter, and rehearse it as if the future of your company depends on it. It could.

Credit: Steve Cohen, Steve Cohen Public Relations

.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 http://www.haynesmarketing.com/

Nielsen ratings obscure DVR effect

Until lately, a Nielsen rating told what percentage of a population watched a program “live.”

Now, Nielsen ratings merge that “live” number with the percentage of people who recorded the program on their DVRs and watched it within three days (seven, in some markets).

These new ratings reveal that DVRs boost program viewing up to 24% in some demos. But, this rise in program viewing doesn’t translate into a proportionate rise in ad viewing. Those who view “live” TV programs see up to 80% of the ads, while those who watch “time-shifted” TV view 10% - 25% of the ads.

Yet, Nielsen merges the “live” program rating with the “time-shifted” rating, to give buyers a dubious number that embodies the extremes of ad viewing.

“Live” ratings worked.

When Nielsen provided only “live” program numbers, media planners never knew how many of those who watched a program also watched the ads during that program. But, program viewers at least had a chance to view the commercials. And, most of them did, most of the time.

But now, viewers of a recorded program zap at least 75% of the ads. In fact, some are recording for the sole purpose of missing ads, since 20% of playback starts within five minutes of the live broadcast.

Needed: commercial ratings.

"Live+3" ratings are “program ratings," not the "commercial ratings" generated by Nielsen’s national surveys. Commercial ratings show how many see the ads, not just the programs.

Program ratings are based on average quarter hour viewing, while commercial ratings are average minute viewing. Nielsen must switch to "average minute" in local markets like Macon, Augusta, and Savannah, to offer them commercial ratings.

For now, media buyers are stuck with program ratings that merge “live” and “time-shifted” viewing into one ambiguous number.

Credits to David Goetzl, Media Daily News, 3/26/09; Jim Cooper, Adweek Media, 1/19/09, Kevin Gallagher, TV Week, 12/15/08; Wayne Friedman, TV Week, 11/14/05, Steve Sternberg, Media Week, 9/18/06.

.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 http://www.haynesmarketing.com/

DVRs undermine TV ads

IN a recent study, sales of a certain packaged-goods brand ran 12% lower in homes that had used DVRs for 18 months than in homes without DVRs.

In the same study, another brand lost 5% of its sales in DVR households. A third lost only 1%.

In fact, in every DVR household, sales of all products were down, and sales of new products were down the most.

Loss of ads means loss of sales.

The reason for this is that viewers in DVR homes are not seeing commercials. While viewers of “live” TV see about 80% of the ads, those who watch “time-shifted” TV see as few as 10%. They are zapping the ads.

Why the losses were different.

The brand that lost 12% of sales is in a price-sensitive category, and its severe drop might be due to the fact that, without its TV ads, it could not overcome the price sensitivity of consumers who did not see those ads.

The brand with almost no sales loss may not have had effective ads to begin with, so loss of ad exposure did not hurt. Or, it ran heavily on weather, sports, or news programming, which even DVR users usually watch live.

New products suffered most probably because they get most of their awareness from TV ads.

What to do about this?

1. Prepare ads for high-speed viewing. Keep ‘em simple. Use clean graphics. Keep the primary offer on the screen for several seconds. Keep the logo prominent the entire ad. Even if viewers zap the ad, they might see the final second or two with the logo.

2. Pick live audiences for your ads. Up to 40% of prime and soap audiences in DVR homes watch on a delayed basis, but usually watch sports, news, weather, and syndicated shows live.

Credit: Jack Neff, TV Week 3/5/07, & Ad Age; TVWeek; (TVWeek Jan. 26, 2009, by Jon Lafayette; TVWeek Jan. 15, 2007, Mitch Burg; (TVWeek Feb. 26, 2007, Adam Armbruster)

.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 http://www.haynesmarketing.com/

Growing sales in 2009

People are still spending money; restaurants are still
busy. Here’s how to get those who still have money to
spend some of it with you.

Get back to basics with your message – back to why
the customer is buying from you in the first place. Has
your advertising gotten vague or self-indulgent over the
last few years? Consider a new, simple and frank message.
An “under-produced” ad may work better than anything
else you’ve done lately.

Close the deal. In your ads, ask consumers to act now,
and tell them what to do – maybe visit your Web site, or
one of your stores. Why captivate a consumer without
motivating an action? Ask for the order.

Promote a value. Consumers are more careful with
their money, but many will buy when you show them a
value to buying now. McDonald’s ‘08 sales went up 3%
with its dollar menu.

Promote a bonus. A gift with purchase will bring your
current customer back sooner and also lure new customers.
Even some car dealers are out with buy-one-get-one
car sales.

Ask for referrals and give rewards. Referrals are many
times more likely to buy than other potential customers,
and they buy at a higher profit margin than average.

Delight the customer. Walmart welcomes customers with
a free coffee station. A local car dealer offers free car
washes any day of the week. This keeps customers coming
back and the salespeople can say hello to their customers
without any pretense.

Adam Armbruster, TVWeek, 01/19/09
.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 www.haynesmarketing.com

A marketing plan tells where you're going, and how you will get there

In these times, a marketing plan is more important than ever.
Usually, a plan has four parts.

1) The situation analysis examines the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats – SWOT – which your business faces.
Strengths and weaknesses are the competitive advantages and
disadvantages of your company versus others in the same or
related fields. Opportunities identify circumstances, current and
future, from which your business expects to benefit. Threats are
those obstacles which will prevent your taking advantage of
opportunities.

2) Goals are the results you want your company to achieve, while
objectives are the specific steps toward each goal. If the goal is to
increase sales of sports cars at a dealership by 10 percent, one
objective might be to increase sales of a specific model by 15
percent.

3) Strategies and tactics are the courses of action to reach
these goals and objectives. In our car example, one advertising
strategy could be to promote the car model in mass media that
targets 35-45 year-old males with high disposable incomes.
One tactic might be to place ads on radio stations which reach
that group effectively.

4) Budgeting requires that each tactic be assigned a realistic
cost.

The marketing plan’s priorities are: a) protect current market
share; b) expand primary market; c) develop secondary markets.

Create a plan for a year and update it quarterly, or when
market conditions change dramatically.

By being among the few who have an up-to-date marketing
plan, you gain a significant advantage against competitors,
most of whom do not have one.

.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 www.haynesmarketing.com

Marketing is all you do to create a customer

And to make that customer a zealous convert to the way
you do business.

Advertising, selling, and product development are all marketing.
How your people dress is marketing. The location and
appearance of your stores is marketing. Your quality and service
levels are marketing.

All of these count, because marketing starts with a
problem, not a product. What customers really buy is a
belief that you will deliver on your implied promise to
solve their problem. Your marketing builds that belief.

.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 www.haynesmarketing.com

Recession: a great time to steal market share

Your rivals are slashing their ad spending.Consider the
opportunity.

In effect, they are leaving the field of battle – the mind
of the consumer – to whoever is willing to take it.

If you have the money (and maybe the bravado), now
is your chance to capture, on the cheap, what you’ll pay
dearly for at a later date – market share. Here’s why.

More consumers are viewing more media

Consumers are cutting back on shopping, travel,
entertainment. They are spending more time indoors in
activities that don’t incur high costs. That means more
time viewing the television screen (broadcast, cable,
video-on-demand, DVDs, the Web) and the printed page
(magazines, newspapers, novels).

More viewers, but fewer ads

While consumers are spending more time viewing media,
marketers are cutting back on the number of ads they give
them to view. Fewer ads are placed, so there are fewer ads
to clutter the environments in which those ads appear. Ads
that are placed have a better chance of being noticed and
understood.

Less cost to reach these viewers

When a lot of advertisers reduce their buying, it creates a
lot of unsold inventory at media outlets. To meet revenue
goals, media are reducing their rates — up to 30% in some
Georgia markets.

Grab a bigger share of mind and market

Sales is the most critical roI metric. And, though marketers
who continue advertising in a recession will capture a
greater share of fewer sales, roI will suffer.

However, an increase in mind share results in an increase in
market share. And, a larger mind share gained in a depressed
market turns into a larger market share when the market expands.

An advertising message is like a walk through an unspoiled field
of grass. Walked through only once or twice, the path soon will
be lost. But, walking the path over and over makes it the
preferred route.

Marketers who keep delivering their message establish their paths
for the coming rebound.

Credits to Mark Dominiak and TelevisionWeek, Jan. 9, 2009
.......................................................................................................................................
Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 http://www.haynesmarketing.com/