Gareth Lloyd
Stories and lies about emarketing
20/10/11 16:37
I’ve just attended a seminar entitled ‘Email, social marketing and the art of storytelling’. The central tenet was that ever since we lived in caves we have communicated through storytelling – so this should be how we communicate brand messages through email and social media.
Meh.
OK, so I buy into the argument that getting customers to share their own stories about your brand can help you build a social media community and a sort of ‘fan base’. But to also suggest that story-telling is the panacea for emarketing is, to my mind, absurd.
As a writer, I love to use storytelling to communicate messages. But I’ll only do it when I believe this approach is the best way to achieve an objective. For example, this email (the fourth one down!) uses storytelling smartly to explain the value of the product being promoted. The one below it doesn’t. It simply rewards immediate response – and it was just as effective in meeting the client’s goals.
What worries me is that we are reading too much into the psychology of the social media revolution when it comes to commerce. Emarketing is advertising. It’s not sharing pictures, funny stories and reminiscences with friends. It just doesn’t have that emotional pull. It needs to make its point fast so the reader can get back to Facebook and Twitter and what they really use these platforms for. Arguing otherwise isn’t just spinning a story. It’s telling a lie.
The Tone of Voice premium
26/09/11 17:41
Here’s a thought…agencies actually sell a form of insurance to their clients
This insurance is tone of voice.
We develop (or replicate) a specific tone of voice for each client, then apply it across all the work we create for them. By doing this we create a consistency of language that continually echoes the brand personality. This is reassuring for customers and prevents any confusion about what the brand stands for.
To my mind the tone of voice embodies the brand far more than the visual style – which is why the latter can change with no great consequence, while the tone of voice simply can’t. Imagine, for example, an Audi ad where that classic cold and deadpan delivery was replaced with the decidedly more upbeat and bubbly tone of voice of a Citroen ad. See what I mean?
This is why tone of voice is so critical and demands so much care and attention. As soon as it slips, the whole brand promise can be compromised. Everything achieved to build the brand persona can be undermined.
So if you want an insurance quote for your brand, please give us a call.
If you want to kill your husband...
17/08/10 19:58
I’m currently reading a book about creativity in advertising. It’s good because it’s not pretentious and because it’s highly persuasive about the need for imagination in a world saturated with boring, ‘me-too’ advertising.
One example the author gives is of a market stall holder selling kitchen knives. He has to attract attention to his stall amid all the shouts and screams of the other market stallholders. So he shouts out, ‘Here, luv, if you want to finish your husband off tonight, I’ve got just the knife for it.’
It’s a simple example of how a more creative message stands out from the crowd. (Note too how the marketstall holder has correctly focussed on a benefit of the knife, not a feature!). It’s also called ‘disruption’ advertising because it’s not what people expect. But then when is great advertising what people expect. What makes it great is that it is different and memorable.
At Daisy we sell creativity. What we produce might be a press ad, a mail pack, a viral film or an e-mail, but what we are really selling are creative ideas. And these ideas make all the difference between your message being noticed and being just more wallpaper to the public.
One example this author can give is of a mail pack we produced for a financial services company to test against their standard (and very ‘me-too’) practice of sending an A4 letter and fact sheet to IFAs to introduce their new products. Our approach (the pearl mailing) generated eleven times as much response. And just because we found a creative way to tell the same story so that our prospects would actually be interested enough to read it.
So if you have a nagging suspicion that the way you are selling your product or service isn’t really getting you noticed, give us a call. It won’t kill you.
Lose the battle, win the war.
13/07/10 13:39
I’ll confess something. I’ve done some work in my time that has really bombed. Packs that have flopped fantastically, emails that have had virtually no response. It happens. And, more importantly, it should happen. Because if you’re not trying new things, testing new customer propositions and alternative communications channels, you’re not learning.
You really do have to fail sometimes to succeed.
This is why when we present work we always try to show some ‘out there’ ideas along with our more sensible, practical ones. We want to make our clients think even harder about what they are doing, what they could be doing and what they could test doing.
Of course not all these ideas will work, but some will, and often spectacularly so. And it is worth the investment in such successes, because they can fundamentally shift the way a client takes it marketing forward. By means of example, we once helped a client with a terribly apathetic audience succeed in getting 60% of this audience to respond to an email. And not because we were offering any kind of incentive, but because the way we told their story was so much more appropriate.
So if you want a creative agency fighting on your side, please give Daisy a call.
Sorry, you can’t bore me into buying
30/06/10 13:40
When was the last time you received a genuinely interesting online newsletter or magazine? And when was the last time you even bothered to read one?
The truth is that online communications are generally dull. But there’s no excuse for this. The online medium is dynamic, allowing extensive video and audio content. Shouldn’t these capabilities be used to create truly engaging communications?
Look at this example of a good online magazine. It looks and reads like a real magazine and features embedded video content that really captures my attention. Have a quick look through then imagine how this approach could transform the way you communicate to your customers.
It means you could now send them regular updates on what you do that you know they need to hear about, and in a format that will make them actually want to read what you are saying.
Do it right and you will be able to engage your audience like never before, simply because you have gone to the effort of bringing what you offer to life, in words and moving images.
It seems common sense. And forward thinking companies are catching on. Are you?
“The project I am working on will be more successful than twitter within a year.”
17/06/10 12:38
I’ve been a bit too busy of late with work to write any more personal insights into modern day marketing. So instead of trying to write an informative blog for you, instead I’m going to share with you one of the funniest blogging sites I have ever come across - and my personal favourite entry.
Warning! It’s very rude. But it is also brilliantly funny. Especially as I’m sure you too will have come across a ‘Simon’ or two in your career. Enjoy!
http://www.27bslash6.com/p2p2.html
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Something i-deal for consumers
09/06/10 11:11
This is a blog about an iphone application (or ‘app’ as we i-lluminati like to say). And the only reason I’m descending to such geekery is that I believe such digital technology is going to fundamentally change consumer purchasing behaviour.
The app in question is called ‘Red Laser’ and it turns your iphone into a combined barcode scanner and price comparison site. Not only will it read almost any barcode through your iphone, it will also immediately search the internet for prices for that product. You can then select the cheapest supplier and go straight to the relevant page of their website to order it.
It’s brilliant...for us as consumers. For retailers, the picture is rather different. By providing potential customers with real time prices from alternative suppliers, applications like Red Laser can only erode margins. ‘Oh I do love this streamline LCD 1080 HDTV, Mr Comet sales assistant, but look, it’s £120 cheaper on Amazon. Can you match that?’
With more and more of people buying a wider range of products online, such technology is another nail in the coffin of the traditional retail model. Especially now it’s easier than ever to find the product you want in a store, then buy it cheaper online.
Now the sales bit...Daisy have teamed up a specialist ecommerce company to ensure we can offer our clients not just high quality web design and copy but the best in online transactional functionality too. So whether you are a business looking to improve your online performance or a charity looking to maximise internet donations, scan the barcode below.
red laser: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/redlaser/id312720263?mt=8
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Why charities must embrace social media
26/05/10 15:51
When I started my career in marketing, direct mail was THE medium for charity fundraising, with DRTV the ‘new kid on the block’. Fast forward some 18 years (has it really been that long?) and direct mail is still here, but social media is today’s parvenu. And while many charities have embraced it, many others haven’t, or seem to be struggling to use it properly.
You’re never too old
The default excuse for a charity not investing in social media seems to be ‘our donor profile is too old’. This is nonsense. One of the most telling facts of the whole ‘socialnomics’ argument is that the fastest growing group segment on Facebook is 55-65 year old females - the core demographic of most UK charities.
While I can’t personally confirm this, I do know that ‘oldies’ are using the internet for far more than booking cheap flights. My own mother has posted her French home for sale online, while some of her 70 year old friends use internet dating agencies to find gentlemen who like nice walks and eating out. These people give considerable amounts of money to charity and they now talk to each other though email as much as they do through phone calls.
This is why I strongly believe every charity needs a proper social media presence.
Social media helps a charity’s supporters spread the word
Sites like Facebook and MySpace offer an ideal way to create and connect groups of like-minded people who will talk to each other about a charity’s work – and spread the message to more people like them. They will also talk to the charity, giving hugely important feedback. This feedback is free and authentic market research, that can help guide subsequent communications to prospective supporters in many other media channels.
What’s more, all this interaction takes place in a digital landscape, so each individual is never more than a few clicks away from making a donation, signing a petition, volunteering, sponsoring someone or lending their support in another away.
Make the effort and you will reap the reward
So what should charities be doing to truly benefit from the digital age and the increasing importance of social media in influencing people’s thoughts and behaviours? Here are my 5 tips:
1. Get focussed.
Decide which social network sites offer your charity the best platform to convey your messages, engage people and generate a large supporter base. Facebook, for example, has a Causes application where charities can build support groups and seek donations and other methods of support.
2. Get committed.
Once you’ve opened your Facebook, twitter, MySpace, YouTube or whatever account, be sure you commit enough time to it. You need to update it regularly, to respond to feedback and to thank people for their support. If you don’t have a lot of resource, then stick to just one or two sites. It’s better to be on one site well than be on many sites badly.
3. Be interesting.
People use social network sights to express their personality and their interests. If you are just worthy in what you say, you won’t stay interesting for long. Lance Armstrong’s twitter page is a combination of compassion, humour, support for other causes and trivia. It has over 2,500,000 followers.
4. Be smart.
Ask people on your email list to follow you online, and ask people who follow you online to add themselves to your email list. Then you can communicate to them in different ways and draw them closer to your work. If they really do support you, most will agree.
5. Do it now.
You know you need to be doing this, so do it now. The longer you wait, the further back you’ll fall. And remember, if you need some support we are here. We can help you understand how to use social media and how to present your cause in a way that will get people reading what you post - and telling their friends and colleagues to do so too.
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Emarketing and the rebirth of client creative
20/05/10 14:04
As Bill Bernach (founder of DDB and one of the true greats of advertising) once said, “It is one thing to have a selling proposition and quite another to sell it.”
I wonder then what Mr Bernbach would have made of today’s emarketing solutions providers that have given clients the tools to do their own online campaigns? For while the software these companies provide is good, they seem to be missing the point that they are facilitating ‘client creative’. And this simply won’t sell as well as ‘creative creative’.
Effective communication requires far more than adapting an email template to your corporate guidleines, pasting in some copy and uploading the result to a server for digital dissemination. If you need to convey a marketing message in a way that will engage your recipient, you need to have the skills to tell your story well. Key thoughts have to be communicated clearly, key needs identified and answered. Visuals have to be chosen well and used in the right way.
These are the skills clients choose agencies to provide. Which is why you don’t see many clients picking up a digital camera to make their own TV ads. Or a microphone to make their own radio ads. Clients know their product and their markets, but it is creative people who bring the two together. So while Emarketing software is a great new tool for companies, you don’t have to be a Bill Bernach-like genius to understand that client creative will undermine its effectiveness.
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Risk vs reward
17/05/10 13:37
A friend of mine who ‘works in the City’ recently recommended I buy shares in a small oil exploration company. It was, he admitted, a high risk investment because if the company didn’t find oil where they were drilling, the shares would fall considerably. I steered clear. A few weeks later they struck oil. The share price rose immediately from under 40p to over 90p. Within a few days it was worth over £2. As I write this blog, it’s £2.20.
So why am I telling you this story? Because what annoys me the most is not the lost profit – it’s that I didn’t practice what I preach. We are forever trying to convince cautious clients to trust us, a small agency, with their marketing budget. And many still prefer the ‘safe’ option of sticking with bigger agencies, despite their higher costs and longer lead times. This has to be wrong. The reality is that small agencies simply have to ‘strike oil’ because if they don’t, they fail. So they put enormous effort into every project, giving clients a lot more for a lot less outlay. So I believe the risks are altogether lower, while the potential rewards even greater. And if you can see the value in this argument, please get in touch with Daisy.
Michael Scott replies My comment: Interesting article. I'd choose a smaller, keener agency like yours personally. But many marketing people feel safer using the big players - especially when it's not their own money they're spending! I think this is changing though because the figures no longer ad up in my experience.
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Deadlines missed?
26/04/10 16:41
Following my last blog about the ‘dm’s’ of direct marketing, digital marketing and direct mail, one waggish client of ours emailed me to suggest the ‘dm’ in our agency name might stand for ‘deadlines missed’. Once I had been discharged from hospital with my sides suitably restitched, I decided to throw open the challenge to my blog readers to come up with something that more accurately reflects the fine work we produce and the timely manner in which we deliver it. The winner (if anyone bothers to enter) will receive a bottle of red wine, as I do like to drink merlot. Just as David doodles majestically, Nicci is dog mad and we are all dedicated marketers. Over to you...
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