Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Marketing in Any Economy

Marketing today more than any other time in history is in constant motion. This is due in part to technological advances and to an economy that’s not just national but global. And just in case you have been in hibernation – both the Global and American economies are having a long winter and spring is not insight! (View Sojo Perspectives http://www.sojoinc.com/insight/perspectives.htm)

The economy changes like seasons of the year. Changing politics, the rise and fall of formerly main stay companies and financial institutions, Wall Street’s uncertainty, cultural diversity, apprehension of war, terrorist attacks and full blown out war all affect – your company’s survival. The take away is that your marketing cannot stop! History has proven time and time again that those companies who stay the course with marketing – SURVIVE!

Ignore marketing and prepare to be buried and it may not be by your competition as in the good old days. Today it could be your own employees, shareholders or customers. With that said marketing then is not just about advertising. It begins with your strategy. Do you have one? What is it? How did it come about? What type of research went into it? If you don’t have one then what marketing initiatives if any are you doing? How has the economy affected you and your customers today? What is your messaging to your customers, employees, shareholders and to the media? How do you manage your departments? By following basic marketing laws you can make your company profitable given any economy.

Communicate a position of confidence, stability and strength, and get the message out to your clients and customers. Many studies show that companies which slow marketing spending lose out now, as well as after a recovery. Let your customers know that they have picked a winner.

Some basic laws of marketing include: Market research; Create a message that represents what you stand for; Know your competition; Know your customer; Know how best to reach your customer – online – offline; Know what your customer expects from you.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Social Media and Social Consciousness

Integrated Marketing today involves more than advertising and direct mail. It’s about messages that can reach people around the world in an instant. It means being socially conscious and politically aware and it also means being able to communicate on a global scale. It means understanding your target audience – who they are – what they like - no matter were in the world they happen to live.

When I talk about integrated marketing with our clients – I make sure to include the Interactive/Digital components of their marketing, social media including how they will incorporate social networks – MySpace, Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, etc. and I always make sure their messages and actions around social responsibility are included.

For all of us involved in marketing today, you would have to be living under a rock to not know that as a marketer you now have to combine marketing innovation with social and environmental concerns. Better known as Sustainability Development and Marketing.
Sustainable development and marketing are concerned with how today’s business contributes to some of the most significant challenges the world faces in this century – from climate change and the environment, to health and safety for workers globally.

Companies create a competitive advantage by understanding the global communities in which they do business. In recent years, hundreds of companies have developed ethical reports and policies on environmental performance. These initiatives seem to appear more where consumers make decisions to switch brands that they feel do not respect social responsibility issues.

Integrating sustainability values into a brand can contribute to market growth, after all a company’s corporate responsibility can become that company’s differentiator in a market place where price and performance are the same.

Although a company’s brand is about value and self image, consumers want to know more about the company behind the brand. To understand just how relevant sustainability marketing maybe to your company or business – ask yourself and your team these simple questions:

Are social and environmental issues on the radar of our customers?
Do social and environmental issues have any impact on our product offerings or our company’s reputation?
Is our company’s survival threatened by changes in the global economy and environment?

History has proven that consumers naturally follow brands that lead. So as a marketer you must encourage brands that create sustainable principles. (Visit Sojo's Greener World - http://www.sojoinc.com/green/)

Friday, May 15, 2009

Twitter Has No Time Zones

Image courtesy of ABC

Everyone is still talking about Twitter. One thing I think everyone is realizing is that Twitter, more than any other social network, is the best at spoiling the ending of a much anticipated television show.

For example, last night many Americans geared up to watch the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. I know this for certain as Twitter informed me - it was one of the top trending topics being tweeted last night. It's no secret (unless you just don't watch the show), one of the main characters has had a brain tumor in the last few episodes. Plus, in the "real" world, there has been a lot of speculation that this person who plays the brain tumor patient was leaving the show to pursue movies full time. So the debate was on: Does she live or die?

But of course there was more. There is always more (well, if they writers are good). And as the plot thicken, I clicked on the hashtag marked #grey's. There were a lot of "OMGs", ohhs and ahhhs, and just generally people showing their disbelief over the season finale's storyline.

And then I saw that the people on the West Coast were just settling in to watch their season finale of Grey's Anatomy. I say their because if they were not careful on Twitter and were tempted to clicked on the little hashtag marked #grey's, they would be eliminating all element of surprise for themselves. How sad, I thought.

My point is, Twitter can be used as a real time discussion of all things - except for subjects that have surprise endings. Twitter does not know the meaning of time zones. So, for the people in other time zones that wanted to get on Twitter last night and discuss Grey's Anatomy as the show happened, well, it just wasn't possible because within that same stream were people who had already seen the show.

So, with new technology, comes new habits we have to adapt. If we do not want our endings spoiled, we have to learn to stay off of Twitter (well, Internet period).

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

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