Marketing is no simple task. Especially with little to no budget. Check out this blog to see what other individuals are doing in there marketing and branding efforts.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Living In a Post Advertising World
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Top 10 Brands for 2009
1. M&Ms Plain Chocolate Candy
2. Hershey’s Kisses Chocolate Candy
3. Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
4. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup
5. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Candy Bars
6. Kleenex Facial Tissue
7. Campbell’s Soup
8. Google
9. M&M’s Peanut Chocolate Candy
10. Crayola Crayons
Notable 2009 category winners among brands measured include:
Winner
Category
DreamWorks - Movie Production Companies
Marriott - Hotels
Subway - Fast Food
KitchenAid -Appliances
Grey Goose - Beer, Wine, Liquor
Coca-Cola - Beverages
Microsoft - Software
Sony - Consumer Electronics
Visa - Financial Services
M&M's - Foods
Kleenex - Household Products
Google - Online Organizations
Craftsman - Tools
Discovery Channel - Media Television
Hanes - Apparel
Johnson & Johnson - Health and Beauty
Neosporin - Pharma: Over-the-Counter
Speedway - Gasoline
Target - Retail Merchandisers
Valvoline - Motor Oil Oil
Southwest Airlines - Airlines
Honda - Automotive Manufacturers
Michelin - Automotive Tires
Enterprise Rent-A-Car Car - Rentals
Harley-Davidson - Motorcycles
Consistent with previous years, tobacco brands continue to fall to the bottom. Not surprisingly given the economic situation of the past year, financial service brands, particularly AIG, joined the ranks of these weaker brands on the bottom of the list.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Allstate TV Ad: Back to Basics.
The Leo Burnett Advertising Agency has really out done themselves with the Allstate campaign. There is a lot that can be learned from this campaign. The consistency of the copy, the delivery of the message, and the fact that they weaved in what they wanted to stay while not straying away from their key messages. Job well done Leo Burnett!!!!!
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Interview with Mari Smith - Expert on Facebook for Business
This is an excellent interview about using Face Book for growing your business.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Great Twitter Application for Marketers
Check out this great website…..www.tinker.com
Tinker.com is a site that refilters post from Twitter in a way that will allow you to follow a certain topic or brand. This will allow one to see not only what people in their current network are saying, but also people that are outside of the particular network. This could be an excellent tool for the small business owner.
Tinker has created an excellent niche for themselves!!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Thirty Day Challenge
Monday, March 16, 2009
How To Use Twitter For Business
As I look to become more informed about social media, I came across this excellent case study on Richard Inc. Take a few moments to view this video if you are looking at ways to incorporate social media into your marketing plan.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Are you a Facebook User????
At no cost, you can send messages out to your current and previous customers. You can create a group or a fan page that will also allow you to develop a better relationship with your customers/clients.
For example, a hair stylist can create a group that discusses new styles, colors, products, etc. This is information that the customer base of a stylist may not mind receiving on an occasional basis. As a stylist, you may want to run specials for your current customers, create a referral program, or have a customer appreciation event. These are items that can all be promoted through Facebook for free. This methodology can be used for all types of businesses.
Here are the facts:
- 1 in 5 web users have a Facebook account
- Facebook lured 222 million unique visitors in December (twice as many as MySpace)
- Facebook has grown at a rate of more than 10% each month since September
- Facebook had an estimated 300 million dollars in ad revenue for 2008 (and this was not their focus)
Hope to see you on Facebook! Let me know how you plan to incorporate Facebook into your marketing mix...
Friday, January 30, 2009
Starbucks asks Are you in? Featuring MC Yogi.
Starbucks has created an excellent grass roots marketing campagin following Obama's lead for service. What do you think? Are they using 'the moment' to grow their sales or is this a technique that will be looked at as a classic?
Friday, January 16, 2009
GoDaddy Will Strike Again During the Super Bowl
For those of you that are not familiar with GoDaddy.......
GoDaddy is a registrar of online domain names. The company's founder, Bob Parsons, says that they may buy two slots during the Super Bowl this year. The ads will feature Danica Patrick and they will be done in true GoDaddy form....just touching borderline inappropriate. But if anyone can pull off 'inappropriate' in a good way, it is GoDaddy.
To view the commercials and vote in their contest, go to GoDaddy.com .
Other ad buys for the Super Bowl include:
1. Anheuser-Busch
2. Audi
3. Bridgestone
4. CareerBuilder
5. Cars.com
6. Coca-Cola
7. Denny's
8. DreamWorks Animation /PepsiCo SoBe
9. E-Trade Financial
10. PepsiCo's Frito-Lay
11. General Electric
12. H & R Block
13. Hyundai
14. Monster
15. NFL
16. Pedigree
17. PepsiCo Beverage
18. Teleflora
19. NBC Universal's Universal Pictures
Let me know who you think had the best ad....
Monday, January 05, 2009
This Is A Personal Matter
When is the last time that you received a hand written note, invitation, or request from someone that you do business with on a regular basis. In this world of email and web based communications, the personal touch has been lost. Several studies have been done in recent years that have more than proven then benefit of a handwritten note.
Robert Cialdini wrote about his findings in a book titled Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. The book describes the perks to a handwritten note using a survey mailed out in three different formats. The formats included the following:
1) A printed letter.
2) A printed letter with a handwritten message.
3) A printed letter with a handwritten message on a Post-It note.
According to the article written on the MarketingProfs blog, the response rate was a mere 36% for the plain printed cover letter. Adding the handwritten note improved the response rate by one third to 48%. The Post-It more than doubled the response to 75%. A second test to examine the possibility that some magic in the Post-It note itself was responsible for the higher response rate included cover letters with a blank sticky note attached. That approach generated only a slightly higher response rate of 42%.
The author of the blog Neuroscience Marketing goes on to say, "It seems that what is causing the boost is a “reciprocity” effect. The recipient recognizes that the sender apparently put some personal effort into the mailing, and is more likely to reciprocate with some effort of his own. Indeed, the recipients who received the handwritten Post-It note were not only more likely to respond, but they also responded more promptly and answered the questions more thoroughly. And, as suggested by the 1989 Maheux study, adding a “Thank you!” and initials to the note further lifted the response rate in yet another Post-It test."
So, as you look at your marketing plans for 2009 make sure you are making an effort to get personal!
Reference:
Neuroscience Marketing