Its About the PRODUCT Stupid

I just read a very interesting article on AdAge.com – How To Build Better Car Marketing.  In it Jordan Zimmerman makes some interesting points about how agencies are up for review because marketing automobiles is a unique proposition and in his words “agencies lack a fundamental understanding of how the industry operates.”

I couldn’t agree more but I think that Jordan left out a few key points:

1. In too many instances, the agencies handling the accounts not only lack an understanding of how the industry works, they lack an understanding of the PRODUCT.  Automobiles are different than sneakers, diamonds or food – all of which the average agency grunt can relate to.  Cars and trucks are complex machines that evoke passion in enthusiasts and owners alike.  Driving and interacting with the machine involves every sense and sensation – whether the owner is aware of it or not.  Yet we trust the communication of core brand attributes to people at agencies in cities like New York who often don’t even have drivers licenses!  In order to represent an automotive brand, everyone on the team should have a passion for the product and have the ability to experience the product on a daily basis.
2. Agencies need to stop working for awards and keep the goals of their clients in mind.  In the case of the auto industry, it is a monthly cycle that is focused on moving the metal.  Award-winning ads are great, brand awareness is important but every agency should be tasked with helping sell the product and rewarded or penalized based on their ability to do so.
3. To follow up on the point above, the way agencies are organized it is difficult to measure how effective a national campaign is in terms of sales.  There is a lot of inefficiency in the system with different agencies handling the Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 advertising.   What about a different model that coordinates the three under one agency and true metrics put in place to measure the efficacy of a campaign?

The role of the advertising agency is changing rapidly and the automotive industry is a primary catalyst to this change.  Even after the economy stabilizes, automotive clients will be running lean and demanding more accountability from their agencies.  Per Mr. Zimmerman, a better understanding of how the industry works is important but I’d argue a understanding of and passion for the product is paramount for success in the future.

Filed under: Advertising, Automotive, Marketing , Advertising, Automotive, Brand Engagement, Cars, Consumers, Design, Retail

Building Your Version of Facebook (or LinkedIn, for that matter)

Engaging your customers in a dialogue is what social media is all about. ENGAGEMENTdb ranks the world’s top brands and their measures their ability to leverage social media to interact with customers. As consumers gain more influence through user-generated media and has expanded their own individual reach in their personal networks, the need to connect through this medium effectively will soon be a requirement for effective marketing.

There are two ways to approach social media marketing though. First, is by being a participant. You can leverage the tools offered, or made available by third-party developers, to connect with your consumers. The fan pages of Facebook and the array of tools, from HootSuite to SocialOomph, for Twitter enables you to measure, track and penetrate the current base of the two most famous social networking sites.

The second way, however, is to build your own social network. For example, Ning let’s you create social networks while allowing you to join the many social networks available, while SocialGo does the same while also offering a concierge service where they will design, configure and customized the network for you.

The benefit here is you’re not only able to engage into conversations but actually controls the platform where the conversation happens. By doing so you allow your company to capitalize on the viral spread that can occur in a social networking site and serve as a starting point for dialogue on matters relating to your niche or core competency.

Filed under: Information, Social Media , Brand Engagement, Branding, customer dialogue, customer engagement, Facebook, HootSuite, LinkedIn, Marketing, Ning, Social Media, social media engagement, social network development, social network marketing, SocialGo, SocialOomph, viral marketing

Tracking your Twitter marketing efforts

Tweeting all day as a marketing activity continues to require the development of great metrics. Although measuring social media marketing activities does not yet have ’solid’ rules compared to traditional marketing strategies, Jennifer points out a couple of ways you should measure the impact and reach of your Twitter activities.

Full article

Filed under: Market Research, Marketing, Social Media , Brand Engagement, Marketing Metrics, ROI measurement, Social Media, Twitter

Crowdsourcing your way to generate insightful customer feedback

Like tweeting, blogging and social networking, crowdsourcing is another offshoot of all the user-generated phenomenon evolving on the web. It is combining the power of crowds to accomplish a specific objective. A good example of this is Digg, a website where the crowd (users) vote as to which content they want to be featured.

Applying this concept to market research, IdeaScale provides businesses and enterprising organizations a platform to turn their customers into advocates. The site allows companies to build communities which are based on crowdsourcing models. Ideas are posted onto the IdeaScale portal, where fellow user can vote and make comments. This creates an environment where ideas are both expanded and measured by the community.

The service allows effective brand engagement, immediate feedback and a very client focused approach to understanding your market.

Check out their website

Filed under: Crowdsourcing, Customer Service, Market Research , Brand Engagement, Customer Feedback, Online Focus Groups