Social Media Vision

What's Your Marketing Risk IQ?

Marketing is a risk intensive endeavor, there is a wide ranging risk vs. reward matrix which can bring even the most innovative experts to their knees. So why am I telling you this? It’s because I want to describe the OAG marketing mechanisms and illustrate how they each minimize risk while simultaneously maximizing the reward. Below is a basic walk-through of each service:

1. BlogSpur

The BlogSpur service is a multi-faceted social media marketing service produces long term results with minimal risk. The OAG Social Media and Search Engine Specialists dramatically increase a brand’s online web presence through blog postings and social media syndication. The fees are minimal compared to hiring a blogger and the service produces industry leading results.

2. AdSpur

AdSpur is a performance based marketing service. This means there is little to no risk for you as an advertiser. You only pay when you receive an order, lead or visitor.

3. Tricor Public Relations

If you are looking for your company to receive online or offline press exposure, a strong PR push is required. This does have a higher risk compared to the BlogSpur and AdSpur services since the fees are higher and there are no guaranteed results. However the rewards are potentially exponential. Several companies such as Facebook and YouTube built their businesses purely on a solid public relations and press outreach strategy.

In the current economic condition of the nation, it is key to make every penny of your marketing dollar count, so choose wisely and let us help you create a marketing solution that fits your situation.

I walked with my wife and in-laws this weekend at the Susan G. Komen “Walk for the Cure”. After the walk we were ushered into a parking lot lined up with the walk’s sponsors. Fortune 500 companies such as AT&T and Starbucks along with regional companies. I wanted to talk in this post about the difference between embracing a movement compared to simply throwing money to a cause.

The powerhouse regional gym called BodyWorks had created Breast Cancer giveaways along with providing activities for kids and families. Needless to say, their booth was crowded to overflowing. Compare that with Best Buy who had a very large booth with had nothing that was relevant to the event. It doesn’t take a marketing degree to know that BodyWorks made a strong brand impression on a large percentage of the thousands of attendees. And not only did Best Buy not make a positive impression, they most likely damaged their brand’s perception since anyone walking by their booth would see them as a large impersonal company that is simply attempting to “buy” their way into a non-profit event.

This example has illustrated clearly to me the importance of having a clear regional strategy if you are in the retail industry. Best Buy has been getting extremely negative press lately (coverage), and if this weekend was an accurate depiction of their market plan, it’s clear they need to make some changes.

As everyone discusses the state of old world media such as TV, Radio and Print advertising being in the midst of a transitional period, I would like to talk about how old world online advertising is also on the way out.

As I talk with companies that are looking to run marketing campaigns to spotlight their brands, products or services, I’m hearing some very interesting perspectives from our clients, and I live by the #1 Business rule that the customer is always right.  So what am I hearing from clients?  CEO’s and CMO’s are no longer satisfied with simply running banner campaigns that drive brand recognition, they are now pushing for us to help them attain a ubiquitous Internet presence.  And because of this evolved mindset, comes my favorite part: companies are not looking for agencies to simply create ad campaigns anymore, they are looking for us to be their business development partner.

A good example of this is what we are doing for a health and wellness client we have.  As opposed to simply developing a marketing strategy for them, we formed several strategic partnerships with gyms around the country to market this particular companies services.  And because the relationship was mutually beneficial for both parties, we were able to get the client a far wider and more targeted reach then they would have gotten by a ad buy, and it was able to be accomplished for pennies on the dollar.  The result was that the client got the highest return on their marketing investment that they had ever gotten, and we’re working on something pretty cool for them right now.

Each quarter it seems as though fewer and fewer clients are wanting to buy the traditional forms of online marketing, however I don’t believe that it is due to the economy since the majority of our clients have been increasing their overall marketing budgets that we manage.  Instead, these clients are asking how they can take advantage of the social media mechanisms that are currently in place.  They hear all about outlets such as Twitter and Youtube, and they want to be at the forefront of these online activites.  And they know that simply buying banner ads on an ad network is the closest thing you can do to burning money.

A great example of what I’m talking about is illustrated perfectly by some of the most innovative shows in the online world, Diggnation.  Diggnation was founded by the the CEO and Founder of Digg.com, the popular online new aggregator, Kevin Rose.  The show is extremely popular in the online community with tens of millions of views.  And as opposed to trying to run pre rolls to monetize the show, Diggnation actually sells product placements in the show.  This past Friday they actually talked about their beer sponsor for about 3 and a half minutes (all positive things to say of course).  This type of marketing is the closest an advertiser can get to true word-of-mouth marketing.  I understand that these types of ads are not scalable, however they give the online advertiser the best return on investment since they are talking with a highly engaged viewer.

So when you’re listening to people talking about how the old mediums of media are dying, just know the online world, in it’s current state, is not the future either.

I was reading Advertising Age this morning as usual and saw that Chipotle, the healthy fast-food mexican chain, has put their marketing account up for review.  Companies switch between agencies on a regular basis for a myriad of reasons, however Chipotle made an interesting remark when they announced the event. Chipotle’s CEO Steve Ells said

“We are looking for an agency that wants to develop a long-term relationship with Chipotle and our current marketing partners.”

Notice his subtle phraseology, they are looking for someone that wants to develop a “long-term” partnership, reading between the lines of the release Ells is saying that their current agency is not interested in a long term partnership. One of the most frustrating components of being in the advertising agency ecosystem is when I see other agencies going after the quick dollar as opposed to focusing on developing a solid business relationship. With every client that I work with directly, my first priority is helping to create marketing vision for the next 3-5 years.

The majority of agencies do not have deep social media experience, and lack the fundamental knowledge of how to execute digital advertising campaigns. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered a client who showed me the pricing their former agency was charging for certain campaigns, where I’ve discovered they were paying 2 to 10 times too much! This means that if the firm had performed a full due diligence process they could have gotten 2 to 10 times the exposure for their client. I can’t say the exact reasons why Chipotle left their old agency, but I can tell you that the top goal for any business relationship needs to be developing a long-term, mutually beneficial partnership. Working hard and lean in the beginning will pay both parties great results for years to come.