Ahhh, the age-old question, and when the answer is being provided by an ad agency, you might feel a bit suspect. Wary or not, however, there are guidelines to advertising expenditures; the numbers are tangible and the concepts behind them more black and white than you might realize.
While there are, of course, many variables—including industry, business size, growth rate desired, etc.—both the Counselors to America’s Small Business (SCORE) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) define an adequate small-business advertising and marketing budget to be between 2% and 10% of sales.
Sound like a lot? It is. And frankly, most companies under-spend, believing that not to spend is to save. Unfortunately, this strategy can backfire. You’ve heard the old adage “you have to spend money to make money” right? Well, when it comes to your advertising and marketing efforts, the money you spend does directly affect your revenue. It’s a tough concept to swallow, but during lean periods like the recent economic downtown is not the time to cut back.
Too often businesses estimate their annual sales, subtract overhead and inventory, etc.
and then allocate anything left over to pay for advertising. When you consider that you must advertise to generate those sales to begin with, you can begin to see why this strategy may not be such a good plan after all. A better strategy is to consider your advertising or marketing a fixed budget item on the front end of your accounting, not a number that waxes and wanes depending on how business is going.
The key is to spend your money wisely and carefully tailor your campaign to fit your market and fulfill your goals, and that’s where your ad agency comes in. We can’t determine your budget. But we can, based on your budget, your market and your goals, determine the best way to allocate your marketing dollars to keep those sales high to pay for all that great advertising!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Preparing for the first meeting with your ad agency
If you’ve never enlisted the help of an advertising agency, you might not know the kind of information needed to properly convey your business message to your market. Here are some general guidelines for what you should be prepared to talk about during your first meeting.
Give us the lowdown
First, you’ll want to give a synopsis of what your business does and who your markets are, as well as what your goals are for growing your company. Usually, we’re pretty good at asking the right questions in order to fit your company into an advertising and marketing context, but don’t be shy. The more we know about your business and where you want to go with it, the better campaign we can develop.
Identify the players
Who’s your competition and how do they brand and market themselves? Have samples of their advertising on hand for reference if you can. Be prepared to discuss what you like or don’t like about their campaign.
Determine why you rock and they don’t
What makes your company different from the competition? What are your strengths and weaknesses compared to theirs? Differentiation is one of the most powerful tools in marketing, and determining yours allows us to highlight what you do better and work on what you need to improve upon. Think about how brands like Harley Davidson or Apple stand out from their competition. Now think about your company. Is there a clear differentiation from your competitors?
Let’s see whatcha got
What advertising have you done already? Did it work? If you had to do it over again, would you know how to attract those customers you already have? Again, having samples of your advertising on hand for reference is helpful in giving us a look at the whole picture.
Who do you wanna be when you grow up?
Are there companies you would like to emulate? Do you have samples of their ads and branding strategies? While differentiating yourself from the rest is a critical strategy, having a good perspective on what has made others successful can often provide an idea of the right path to follow.
Don’t let us go hungry
Lastly, remain in regular contact after that initial meeting. While we’re experts in getting your business message across to your market, we rely on you to provide the message itself. Quality advertising campaigns don’t just make a big splash and cease. They’re maintained and renewed on a regular basis. Feed your agency often with all the news coming out of your company, from the seemingly trivial things like new hours of operation to the major info like new products and services. If the agency doesn't call you, call them. If they don’t call you back, call us!
Give us the lowdown
First, you’ll want to give a synopsis of what your business does and who your markets are, as well as what your goals are for growing your company. Usually, we’re pretty good at asking the right questions in order to fit your company into an advertising and marketing context, but don’t be shy. The more we know about your business and where you want to go with it, the better campaign we can develop.
Identify the players
Who’s your competition and how do they brand and market themselves? Have samples of their advertising on hand for reference if you can. Be prepared to discuss what you like or don’t like about their campaign.
Determine why you rock and they don’t
What makes your company different from the competition? What are your strengths and weaknesses compared to theirs? Differentiation is one of the most powerful tools in marketing, and determining yours allows us to highlight what you do better and work on what you need to improve upon. Think about how brands like Harley Davidson or Apple stand out from their competition. Now think about your company. Is there a clear differentiation from your competitors?
Let’s see whatcha got
What advertising have you done already? Did it work? If you had to do it over again, would you know how to attract those customers you already have? Again, having samples of your advertising on hand for reference is helpful in giving us a look at the whole picture.
Who do you wanna be when you grow up?
Are there companies you would like to emulate? Do you have samples of their ads and branding strategies? While differentiating yourself from the rest is a critical strategy, having a good perspective on what has made others successful can often provide an idea of the right path to follow.
Don’t let us go hungry
Lastly, remain in regular contact after that initial meeting. While we’re experts in getting your business message across to your market, we rely on you to provide the message itself. Quality advertising campaigns don’t just make a big splash and cease. They’re maintained and renewed on a regular basis. Feed your agency often with all the news coming out of your company, from the seemingly trivial things like new hours of operation to the major info like new products and services. If the agency doesn't call you, call them. If they don’t call you back, call us!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Got a smartphone? Google knows how you use it.
No, this isn’t another editorial about smartphone tracking. This is a little on the lighter side … or is it? Google recently commissioned a survey to determine what smartphone owners primarily use their phones for and how they use them in terms of consumer searches, online shopping and response to mobile advertising.
Here’s the gist of what the market research firm, Ipsos OTX, found and what the Google spies uncovered:
1) Smartphone users are talented multi-taskers. Here’s the gruesome truth about what else they’re doing while using their phones.
a.72% of smartphone users use their phones while consuming other media.
b.70% use their smartphones while in a store.
c.33% of smartphone users use their phones while watching TV.
d.39% of users admit to having used their smarpthone while going to the bathroom.
2) Smartphone users are looking for you on their mobile devices.
a.95% of smartphone users have looked for local information.
b.88% of users who seek local info take action within a day.
c.77% use their phones primarily to search (57% of whom search primarily for news; 51% for dining; 49% entertainiment; 47% shopping; 32% technology; 31% travel-related info; 26% finance; and 17% automotive).
d.61% of those seeking local info were searching for a phone number to call a business.
e.59% of those seeking local info were searching for an address to visit a business.
f.45% use their phones to help plan activities.
g.44% of those seeking local info were searching to actually make a purchase.
3) Smartphone users use their phones to purchase the things they want.
a.90% of those who use their phones to search have take action as a result of a mobile search, with 53% leading to a purchase.
b.24% of users have recommended a brand or product to others as a result of a smartphone search.
c.79% of the survey respondents use their smartphones to help with shopping.
d.74% of smartphone shoppers wind up making a purchase.
e.35% purchase via their phones.
f.27% of smartphone purchases were made through a mobile website.
g.22% of smartphone purchases were made through apps.
4) Smartphone users will become customers in-person and online.
a.76% purchase conventionally in the store.
b.59% purchase online via a computer.
5) Smartphone users respond to traditional and mobile advertising.
a.71% of users search on their smartphones because of an ad they saw, whether from traditional media, online ads or mobile ads.
b.82% of users notice mobile ads.
c.42% of those who notice mobile ads click on the ad.
d.27% of those who notice mobile ads contact the business.
e.35% of those who notice mobile ads visit the website.
f.49% of those who notice mobile ads make a purchase.
6) Smartphone users LOVE their phones.
a.20% report that they’d give up their cable TV in order to keep using their smartphones.
So what does this all mean for your business? Well, these are only the results of a survey, but the trend is clear and certainly impressive. Coupled with what we reported in an earlier blog—that smartphone ownership has tripled in the last two years and that by the end of 2011, it’s expected that nearly a third of all U.S. cell phones will be smart ones—the argument for mobile-friendly websites is nearly inarguable, or will be soon.
Smart marketers are looking at how to reach their customers on smartphones. Just sayin’.
Here’s the gist of what the market research firm, Ipsos OTX, found and what the Google spies uncovered:
1) Smartphone users are talented multi-taskers. Here’s the gruesome truth about what else they’re doing while using their phones.
a.72% of smartphone users use their phones while consuming other media.
b.70% use their smartphones while in a store.
c.33% of smartphone users use their phones while watching TV.
d.39% of users admit to having used their smarpthone while going to the bathroom.
2) Smartphone users are looking for you on their mobile devices.
a.95% of smartphone users have looked for local information.
b.88% of users who seek local info take action within a day.
c.77% use their phones primarily to search (57% of whom search primarily for news; 51% for dining; 49% entertainiment; 47% shopping; 32% technology; 31% travel-related info; 26% finance; and 17% automotive).
d.61% of those seeking local info were searching for a phone number to call a business.
e.59% of those seeking local info were searching for an address to visit a business.
f.45% use their phones to help plan activities.
g.44% of those seeking local info were searching to actually make a purchase.
3) Smartphone users use their phones to purchase the things they want.
a.90% of those who use their phones to search have take action as a result of a mobile search, with 53% leading to a purchase.
b.24% of users have recommended a brand or product to others as a result of a smartphone search.
c.79% of the survey respondents use their smartphones to help with shopping.
d.74% of smartphone shoppers wind up making a purchase.
e.35% purchase via their phones.
f.27% of smartphone purchases were made through a mobile website.
g.22% of smartphone purchases were made through apps.
4) Smartphone users will become customers in-person and online.
a.76% purchase conventionally in the store.
b.59% purchase online via a computer.
5) Smartphone users respond to traditional and mobile advertising.
a.71% of users search on their smartphones because of an ad they saw, whether from traditional media, online ads or mobile ads.
b.82% of users notice mobile ads.
c.42% of those who notice mobile ads click on the ad.
d.27% of those who notice mobile ads contact the business.
e.35% of those who notice mobile ads visit the website.
f.49% of those who notice mobile ads make a purchase.
6) Smartphone users LOVE their phones.
a.20% report that they’d give up their cable TV in order to keep using their smartphones.
So what does this all mean for your business? Well, these are only the results of a survey, but the trend is clear and certainly impressive. Coupled with what we reported in an earlier blog—that smartphone ownership has tripled in the last two years and that by the end of 2011, it’s expected that nearly a third of all U.S. cell phones will be smart ones—the argument for mobile-friendly websites is nearly inarguable, or will be soon.
Smart marketers are looking at how to reach their customers on smartphones. Just sayin’.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Online marketing that targets children: What do you think?
Marketing to children—particularly food items—is nothing new. Athlete and celebrity tie-ins, product placement in movies, commercials during cartoons, kid-friendly packaging, toys with purchase, placing product on the lower shelves in grocery stores, etc. are effective strategies that have been in place for decades. Now, however, there’s an advertising medium that captures its audience—children—for as long or longer than one of those time-share sales pitches that you have to sit through in exchange for a free trip to the Bahamas: online games.
General Mills, for example, has a game in which “BuzzBee,” the Honey Nut Cheerios mascot, can be dragged and dropped into cartoon panels to create custom kid comic strips, which then can be emailed to friends. There’s also a BuzzBee spelling bee game. The games are designed to reach children and advertise products, according to the companies that design them, in a fresh and new interactive platform. Those opposed to using the web in such a way, however, say the technique is just a click or two away from subliminal advertising.
The concept of mixing church and state—i.e. blurring the lines between editorial and advertising—is also nothing new. We’re bombarded with print advertising designed to look like editorial and editorial that’s becoming so stylish that it resembles advertising. There are television pundits with their own agendas who are projected into our homes under the guise of objective news shows. There’s Google pay-per-click versus websites that are found organically. Even blogs may offer objective and useful info, but many times are connected to websites selling products or services.
The difference, however, is that, as adults, most of us have judgment enough to recognize when we’re being marketed to versus when we’re being handed objective information. We take in the two forms of information with separate filters. Kids, for the most part, don’t because the frontal lobe of the brain—that part that controls judgment—doesn’t fully develop until the mid- to late twenties. This is why there are many laws and restrictions regarding advertising to children.
As a whole, the staffers at the Ryan William’s Agency don’t believe the BuzzBee games and those like them are evil. They’re creative, centered around learning and represent a new avenue in which to advertise. In fact, similar forms of online advertising are currently being used in the adult arena. Zynga, the Cali-based social gaming company that has developed campaigns for the likes of American Express, Nestle and McDonalds, currently awards players of Facebook’s “Farmville” who build their farms to a certain size a Farmer’s Insurance blimp. In its game “Café World,” you can win free Coca Colas. Prefer “Mafia Wars?” Loot from the movie Green Hornet is up for grabs in that popular game.
It’s an interesting time for advertising. Businesses now have far more options about where to spend their ad dollars, and it doesn’t look like the race for creating new ones is going to slow down anytime soon. As an advertising agency, we’re excited at the prospect of the creation of new venues for communicating business messages. However, we’re also well aware of the legal and social concerns attached to each.
We’d love to hear what you think about companies using online games to advertise to children. We invite you to post your comments as a parent, as an advertiser or just as yourself.
General Mills, for example, has a game in which “BuzzBee,” the Honey Nut Cheerios mascot, can be dragged and dropped into cartoon panels to create custom kid comic strips, which then can be emailed to friends. There’s also a BuzzBee spelling bee game. The games are designed to reach children and advertise products, according to the companies that design them, in a fresh and new interactive platform. Those opposed to using the web in such a way, however, say the technique is just a click or two away from subliminal advertising.
The concept of mixing church and state—i.e. blurring the lines between editorial and advertising—is also nothing new. We’re bombarded with print advertising designed to look like editorial and editorial that’s becoming so stylish that it resembles advertising. There are television pundits with their own agendas who are projected into our homes under the guise of objective news shows. There’s Google pay-per-click versus websites that are found organically. Even blogs may offer objective and useful info, but many times are connected to websites selling products or services.
The difference, however, is that, as adults, most of us have judgment enough to recognize when we’re being marketed to versus when we’re being handed objective information. We take in the two forms of information with separate filters. Kids, for the most part, don’t because the frontal lobe of the brain—that part that controls judgment—doesn’t fully develop until the mid- to late twenties. This is why there are many laws and restrictions regarding advertising to children.
As a whole, the staffers at the Ryan William’s Agency don’t believe the BuzzBee games and those like them are evil. They’re creative, centered around learning and represent a new avenue in which to advertise. In fact, similar forms of online advertising are currently being used in the adult arena. Zynga, the Cali-based social gaming company that has developed campaigns for the likes of American Express, Nestle and McDonalds, currently awards players of Facebook’s “Farmville” who build their farms to a certain size a Farmer’s Insurance blimp. In its game “Café World,” you can win free Coca Colas. Prefer “Mafia Wars?” Loot from the movie Green Hornet is up for grabs in that popular game.
It’s an interesting time for advertising. Businesses now have far more options about where to spend their ad dollars, and it doesn’t look like the race for creating new ones is going to slow down anytime soon. As an advertising agency, we’re excited at the prospect of the creation of new venues for communicating business messages. However, we’re also well aware of the legal and social concerns attached to each.
We’d love to hear what you think about companies using online games to advertise to children. We invite you to post your comments as a parent, as an advertiser or just as yourself.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
We’re a little slow to respond to the advent of QR codes, but they’re coming.
QR codes—those funky looking matrix bar codes you see in magazines and on business cards, signs and direct mail, etc.—have been around for a while and are quite popular in some areas abroad. But stateside we’re still catching up with the phenomenon. QR, which stands for “quick response,” technology was developed in 1994 by Toyota to ID new cars, and the technology quickly spread to practically every industry under the sun, from publishing to dry cleaning.
Why? Because, when scanned by a smart phone with a QR code reader installed, this tiny block can link your Internet browser to all kinds of information, whether text, URLs, images, you name it. So, if you’re a magazine publisher, for example, and have a 5,000-word feature story about Barbados and only room enough in your publication for 1,200 words, you’re in luck. You put the additional 3,800 words on your website, along with the 500 photo outtakes, a “Win a Trip to Barbados” contest, lists of the island’s top hotels and restaurants, banner ads and links to the websites of your top travel-related advertisers, and voila, your modest magazine story is now a Library of Congress-sized wealth of information.
Maybe you run a boutique and in your display window you have a few pieces of sculpture by a popular local artisan. The three pieces you do have in stock are nice, but not quite what the window shopper had in mind. A quick scan of the aptly placed QR code instantly reveals not only the artist’s bio and images of his extensive line of sculptures, but also that you can have any one or more of the pieces drop shipped to the customer in one day. Hmmmm, suddenly this odd little block, peppered with dots and squiggles and doodads, is becoming increasingly clear.
Too space-age progressive to even contemplate now for your business? Think again. According to a recent study by Arbitron, smartphone ownership has tripled in the last two years, and by the end of 2011, it’s expected that 31 percent of all U.S. cell phone users will own a smartphone. There was a time when businesses “did just fine” without email and the Internet too. Ready or not, here it comes.
Why? Because, when scanned by a smart phone with a QR code reader installed, this tiny block can link your Internet browser to all kinds of information, whether text, URLs, images, you name it. So, if you’re a magazine publisher, for example, and have a 5,000-word feature story about Barbados and only room enough in your publication for 1,200 words, you’re in luck. You put the additional 3,800 words on your website, along with the 500 photo outtakes, a “Win a Trip to Barbados” contest, lists of the island’s top hotels and restaurants, banner ads and links to the websites of your top travel-related advertisers, and voila, your modest magazine story is now a Library of Congress-sized wealth of information.
Maybe you run a boutique and in your display window you have a few pieces of sculpture by a popular local artisan. The three pieces you do have in stock are nice, but not quite what the window shopper had in mind. A quick scan of the aptly placed QR code instantly reveals not only the artist’s bio and images of his extensive line of sculptures, but also that you can have any one or more of the pieces drop shipped to the customer in one day. Hmmmm, suddenly this odd little block, peppered with dots and squiggles and doodads, is becoming increasingly clear.
Too space-age progressive to even contemplate now for your business? Think again. According to a recent study by Arbitron, smartphone ownership has tripled in the last two years, and by the end of 2011, it’s expected that 31 percent of all U.S. cell phone users will own a smartphone. There was a time when businesses “did just fine” without email and the Internet too. Ready or not, here it comes.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Getting creative with your brainstorming. Hey, what a Great Idea!
Last week an RWA staffer was chatting with a colleague who was commiserating about a shipping problem at her company. ‘How big of an issue can a bit of mail be?’ vaguely crossed our staffer’s mind. Well, apparently this was a doozy, involving three separate departments that were now at odds within her company. The issue wasn’t black and white and so the staffer, thinking creatively, suggested she hold a brainstorming session with each of the departments concerned.
“This involves shipping perishables cross country,” she said, “not generating creative advertising concepts.” Our staffer went back to sipping mojitos and let the matter drop, pondering the question of why this particular friend was… well… so darn pigheaded.
While brainstorming isn’t new, a lot of managers think the concept is reserved solely for creatively inclined businesses. It’s not. Brainstorming can yield creative solutions, certainly, but the type of issue about which the ideas are generated is practically irrelevant. The key is in the process. Successful brainstorming needs to have some structure, however, or your participants might get lost in a downpour of new ideas and lose focus of what the original brainstorming was about.
Here are a few tips on successful brainstorming:
1. Put someone in charge. Brainstorming involves a facilitator to conduct the meeting and keep the group on task—although an effective facilitator knows when to let the group run in order to encourage the free exchange of ideas and maintain a relaxed, freeform atmosphere.
2. Remember the golden rule: there are no bad ideas. Humor, off-the-wall concepts, impossibilities, even wishful thinking—to a point, of course—are all in bounds during a successful brainstorming session. Because while one member of the team suggests adding eight more hours to the 24-hour day, another is taking that impossible cue and molding it into a more realistic idea that might never have come about if not for the clowning of the original team member.
3. Make sure the brainstorming group is varied. Ten board directors brainstorming about a shipping issue wouldn’t be nearly as effective as a mix of employees from shipping clerk to company president because each will have a unique set of concerns that the other might not have even considered. The size of the group also may vary, but generally more is better than less—again, up to a point.
4. Time your meeting for maximum creative brainflow. Brainstorming at 9:00 a.m. on a Monday when folks are still shaking the cotton candy out of their heads or at 4:00 p.m. on a Friday when they’re chomping at the bit to get to happy hour is not recommended. Also, letting the participants know what the session will be about a day or two prior to the meeting is a good tactic. The phrase “sleep on it” is a very real concept as the subconscious is constantly working even when we’re not deliberately thinking about something.
5. State what the issue is at the outset of the meeting. Explanation should be as detailed as possible, but not lead to any particular solution that may already be under consideration. The group may have questions to further clarify the issue, answers to which may not be known and so become part of the process.
Lastly, if you Google “Brainstorming,” there are lots of guides and rules for the most effective way to run a session, and some of them might be quite useful in your particular situation. At RWA, we tend to fly by the seat of our pants. But, hey, we’re creative people and we do rein it back in if the subject turns to space aliens or if staffers’ attention shifts from the meeting to their smart phones. That’s when we bring out the rubber chickens. We’ll blog about that later.
Happy brainstorming!
“This involves shipping perishables cross country,” she said, “not generating creative advertising concepts.” Our staffer went back to sipping mojitos and let the matter drop, pondering the question of why this particular friend was… well… so darn pigheaded.
While brainstorming isn’t new, a lot of managers think the concept is reserved solely for creatively inclined businesses. It’s not. Brainstorming can yield creative solutions, certainly, but the type of issue about which the ideas are generated is practically irrelevant. The key is in the process. Successful brainstorming needs to have some structure, however, or your participants might get lost in a downpour of new ideas and lose focus of what the original brainstorming was about.
Here are a few tips on successful brainstorming:
1. Put someone in charge. Brainstorming involves a facilitator to conduct the meeting and keep the group on task—although an effective facilitator knows when to let the group run in order to encourage the free exchange of ideas and maintain a relaxed, freeform atmosphere.
2. Remember the golden rule: there are no bad ideas. Humor, off-the-wall concepts, impossibilities, even wishful thinking—to a point, of course—are all in bounds during a successful brainstorming session. Because while one member of the team suggests adding eight more hours to the 24-hour day, another is taking that impossible cue and molding it into a more realistic idea that might never have come about if not for the clowning of the original team member.
3. Make sure the brainstorming group is varied. Ten board directors brainstorming about a shipping issue wouldn’t be nearly as effective as a mix of employees from shipping clerk to company president because each will have a unique set of concerns that the other might not have even considered. The size of the group also may vary, but generally more is better than less—again, up to a point.
4. Time your meeting for maximum creative brainflow. Brainstorming at 9:00 a.m. on a Monday when folks are still shaking the cotton candy out of their heads or at 4:00 p.m. on a Friday when they’re chomping at the bit to get to happy hour is not recommended. Also, letting the participants know what the session will be about a day or two prior to the meeting is a good tactic. The phrase “sleep on it” is a very real concept as the subconscious is constantly working even when we’re not deliberately thinking about something.
5. State what the issue is at the outset of the meeting. Explanation should be as detailed as possible, but not lead to any particular solution that may already be under consideration. The group may have questions to further clarify the issue, answers to which may not be known and so become part of the process.
Lastly, if you Google “Brainstorming,” there are lots of guides and rules for the most effective way to run a session, and some of them might be quite useful in your particular situation. At RWA, we tend to fly by the seat of our pants. But, hey, we’re creative people and we do rein it back in if the subject turns to space aliens or if staffers’ attention shifts from the meeting to their smart phones. That’s when we bring out the rubber chickens. We’ll blog about that later.
Happy brainstorming!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Advertising jargon: Is what your agency saying Brilliant or just B.S.?
Last week the RWA team attended two seminars on marketing with Social Media both conducted by advertising professionals. Although the topics were the same – how to get better results with social media – the presentations couldn’t have been more different, leaving us to wonder were these two companies talking about the same thing?
Herein lies the conundrum with social media. Everyone’s talking the talk, but half the time you can’t figure out what they’re saying. It sure sounds impressive, but is it Brilliant or just a bunch of B.S.?
Our first seminar was a phone seminar with two hosts: one an advertising professional, the second a client who had used this professional to build his business through social media. They spoke very conversationally about their social media strategy, execution and results, then gave some great tips for boosting social media results. At the end of the presentation, they fielded questions from callers – many of them not advertising professionals – and answered them directly, patiently explaining concepts that those new to social media might not fully understand. They took the time to reiterate key items such as integrating keywords into everything you put out there and creating as many backlinks as you can. We “walked away” thinking it was an hour well-spent.
That evening, our RWA team also attended a cocktail party where another group of advertising professionals spoke on the same topic. We were the only advertising people in the room; the rest of the crowd was made up of business owners and managers. Shortly after the presentation began, I watched the eyes of these business professionals slowly start to glaze over. Yes, the two men at the front of the room were talking about social media, but with the amount of industry jargon being thrown their way, the audience could not decipher what they were saying. Even our RWA team that works in the social media sphere on a daily basis had a hard time following the trail of buzzword breadcrumbs. At the end of the presentation, the presenters asked for questions, but the audience was simply too intimidated to ask any. This may have been the strategy all along, though. Their presentation was peppered with “If you need help, call us” comments. Subliminal advertising at its best.
Like all industries, advertising has its jargon, those fancy-dancy words that we like to sneak into conversations just to make ourselves sound impressive. After all, we are in a creative industry; you have to expect a little razzle-dazzle. But, when your advertising agency starts speaking in tongues and things get lost in translation, you might want to look elsewhere. After all, it’s not brain science. It’s just advertising.
Herein lies the conundrum with social media. Everyone’s talking the talk, but half the time you can’t figure out what they’re saying. It sure sounds impressive, but is it Brilliant or just a bunch of B.S.?
Our first seminar was a phone seminar with two hosts: one an advertising professional, the second a client who had used this professional to build his business through social media. They spoke very conversationally about their social media strategy, execution and results, then gave some great tips for boosting social media results. At the end of the presentation, they fielded questions from callers – many of them not advertising professionals – and answered them directly, patiently explaining concepts that those new to social media might not fully understand. They took the time to reiterate key items such as integrating keywords into everything you put out there and creating as many backlinks as you can. We “walked away” thinking it was an hour well-spent.
That evening, our RWA team also attended a cocktail party where another group of advertising professionals spoke on the same topic. We were the only advertising people in the room; the rest of the crowd was made up of business owners and managers. Shortly after the presentation began, I watched the eyes of these business professionals slowly start to glaze over. Yes, the two men at the front of the room were talking about social media, but with the amount of industry jargon being thrown their way, the audience could not decipher what they were saying. Even our RWA team that works in the social media sphere on a daily basis had a hard time following the trail of buzzword breadcrumbs. At the end of the presentation, the presenters asked for questions, but the audience was simply too intimidated to ask any. This may have been the strategy all along, though. Their presentation was peppered with “If you need help, call us” comments. Subliminal advertising at its best.
Like all industries, advertising has its jargon, those fancy-dancy words that we like to sneak into conversations just to make ourselves sound impressive. After all, we are in a creative industry; you have to expect a little razzle-dazzle. But, when your advertising agency starts speaking in tongues and things get lost in translation, you might want to look elsewhere. After all, it’s not brain science. It’s just advertising.
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