Five words your communications team should never utter

"Now what do we do?"

If you're a marketer and you have heard of the "Domino's Video", you likely have given some thought to what would you do in Domino's situation. So, what did you come up with?

Word of mouth tips and flames spread globally within minutes. You have to react. Doing nothing is clearly the wrong action to take. So what would you do?

If you think because you're not currently using social media marketing tactics to promote your brand or product, that your brand is not at risk - you are ignoring today's marketing realities.

Whether you are actively engaged online or not - you are sending a message to your consumer. Those who think that social media is trivial or a fad or something to be avoided, are totally missing the bigger opportunity! Yes, marketers are faced with risks that present challenges for them online. But the rewards online are far greater. Today's online culture is a modern marketer's dream!

The Opportunity:

A good social media/online media strategy will outline initiatives to create real value for all the major stake holders: goodwill for the brand, value for the customer, buzz for PR, outlets for marketing, revenue for sales, and support for customer service. Additionally, campaigns and the media itself should offer ways for the end user to engage with a brand in meaningful ways and reward that engagement and promote all of the above!

The web is social now. That's what "Web 2.0" has been all about - we're all on the bleeding edge of Web 3.0, as cloud computing becomes standard and mobile cross pollinates with the internet more and more - you had better catch up!

If you don't yet have an answer to the Domino's question - consider taking this step: Gather the team, talk with your trusted agency partner and work together to develop your crisis communication plan.

If you think social media is separate from online media - again - come talk with us. The web is social media, your consumers are online and today, they expect that brands are online and engaged, too. We have the tools to show you what people are saying about your brand, your team, your products and to help you to first, listen and then to join their conversation where it makes the most sense for you to do so.

Something Fresh

Here lately I think most marketers feel like their battles are all uphill. The economy is down, the cost of living up, and demand for products is disappearing (unless you're Budweiser of course). So what's an ad agency to do?

Work harder? Sure, that's a given. Work smarter? Hopefully, but some of us are more capable than others. Even with this approach though, it really comes down to how much of your efforts really shine through to a client when times are tough.

Across the spectrum agencies and marketing budgets are getting dropped like flies, but as a direct response agency, I've always felt we've got the distinct advantage of being able to show the empirical truth for every dollar our clients spend. That said, sometimes it's a little more evident than others. With this in mind, I'd like to share a little mini case study on one of the biggest suggestions we're making to our accounts... keep your marketing fresh!

Instead of putting what money you have into media spend and cutting production costs, I would recommend almost the exact opposite. Of course don't cut your media entirely, but find the right mix so your buy is optimized. Then follow it up with strong messaging on a regular basis.

Last month, we A/B tested new creative for a client against an old "standby" ad they've been running. Their approach was simple. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Ours was the opposite. We can do better. Here's what we found out...

• A 39% lift in clickthroughs for the new creative
• 53% more leads generated through new messaging
• A 28% decrease in their overall cost per lead
• A 200% increase in sales
• And finally, a 63% reduction in their overall cost per sale

Anyone up for some new creative?

Marketing/Media Plan for 2013

I think everyone is in agreement that 2008 ended horribly, and 2009 is starting off with longer lines at the unemployment office than at Disney these days (FYI unemployment office workers – Disney started a “fast pass” program a number of years ago that is awesome – you may want to consider it for 09). Every morning my inbox is filled with 10% layoff notices at this agency and that agency, and everyone on the OldTimers List and my Twitter is networking and appealing to the masses. So how are companies going to survive 2009? Well – if you haven’t figured that out already, chances are you’re not going to – so let’s move on.

I sat in on a great strategy and recap session yesterday between our account services team and the client themselves. The client was asking how they could catch up to their number one competitor who had dominated their industry. We just started with them in September and we’ve already hit a lot of their goals and expectations, but we’re playing catch-up to their competitor, and so the point was brought up by our media team for the client to start thinking ahead. We’ll worry about planning and executing for 2009 and make it a success – but what is going to differentiate them in the future. How are we going to get ahead and have their competition trying to figure out what hit them?

The most common theme brought up was mobile and new applications such as iPhones that make desktops a thing of the past. According to a new study by Parks Associates published on Media Post there will be more than 140 million US consumers paying for mobile broadband services in 2013. I personally have used my laptop for maybe 5 things since getting my iPhone in November. So if your website isn’t currently mobile enabled at the very least – now’s the time to be doing it. Then starting to look at technologies such as the iPhone where it registers as a web browser rather than a mobile device, and it doesn’t yet accept flash… So you need to take that into account – but understand that in the future flash will be there – so don’t spend millions now to only have to change it later. Road map your audience by age category and target usage, and build your mobile site appropriately.

The key to your success is still going to be knowing who your audience is and what marketing principles have worked in the past. Saving yourself from the grey hairs (and unemployment lines) is going to come with aligning yourself with the right partner who understands all of the changing technologies and can guide you through the process.

{Insert Agency Value Here} (again)

With the interactive marketing news release this week that MySpace has started their own “do-it-yourself-interactive-media” platform, and Google’s subsequent Beta of the Display Ad Builder Tool, it’s right about now that agencies are doing one of two things: Saying it won’t change them, or reassuring their clients of their value and that these tools are not needed.

Chances are though – most of them aren’t getting into the applications and trying to figure out if it’s an actual tool they can use and master in order to save their clients some time and money. If you’re one of those people who IS interested – take a look at the product tutorial below.

But why is it that agencies are constantly shunning the new tools that make it easier for advertisers? Have you not learned anything by Google Ad Words (apparently not as most of them don’t even use it themselves). If we’ve learned anything at all, it’s to embrace Google and it’s technology, and then apply marketing principles to it to make it better and meet client objectives. Yes there are 100’s of tools that help you to optimize your campaigns and manage your bids, but in the long run, the success of the campaign still comes down the agency’s ability to apply sound marketing principles and execute strategic plan objectives flawlessly – regardless of whether you use a new tool by Google or your charge your client 10 times that amount by doing it the old-fashioned way. In this economy, don’t you at least owe it to your client to know all of the tools available to you?

Google Ad Planner

There has been a lot of hype around the launch of the Google Ad Planner. Many questions have surfaced; Will it replace ComScore and/or QuantCast? Is Google trying to steal agency business, etc., etc., etc.....

Well, I've gained access to the Beta for Ad Planner and I am here to voice my opinion. First of all, I don't see it replacing anything or anyone - I'm sure most online strategists will agree - the more the merrier. Each tool - @plan, AdRelevance, Hitwise, ComScore, QuantCast, Alexa, QuantCast and Google Ad Planner all have their role to play in a media strategy. A good media strategy takes information from all of these sources into account and looks for the most effective way for the advertiser to achieve their online marketing goals and objectives.

Once the strategy is in place, the media plan itself should be based on data (and a pinch of planner intuition). First there is the publisher data -placements, pricing, creative formats. Next, publisher data needs to be paired with forecast data; either from historical client results, Media Two historical results or planner experience. Once the plan is compiled using the numbers, it is usually clear which pubs have a shot at being successful in meeting the goals.

Most importantly, no online direct response campaign should be left alone, the real work is "after-the-buy ". This is where the best interactive agencies distinguish themselves and where Media Two prides itself. Third party ad serving provides the data, but it takes human experts in interactive to continually optimize the campaign.

So, my opinion, Google Ad Planner is just another tool, use it to compile your research. It will never replace the human factor that is necessary to run a smart online marketing campaigns.

Keeping it Real, Online

Well my first ten minutes on this post have totally been productive. The end result? The first sentence you just read. You are so in for a treat. Much of that time was spent trying to come up with a witty analogy that compares our media planners/strategists to something in the realm of pop culture. I landed on DJ (disc jockey). Ok, connecting the dots yet? I'll be the first to admit, not one of my best attempts at being clever. I'm suffering from an upper respiratory infection and the lack of oxygen has obviously slowed the nerves impulses to my brain. I had really hoped my pop culture blurb would provide the roots of this blog post with the moisture it needed to sprout into something magical and ground-breaking...ugh, square peg, round hole. I guess I can talk about the ever evolving media buy.

It seems with each month that passes the media buys around here become increasingly complex in an effort to gain the almighty conversion. Our media planners/strategists extend themselves to the very ends of the Internet to a find a media mix that delivers on the back end. With that said, it becomes increasingly important for the planner/strategist to develop a good rapport with the publishers, and the client for that matter. Crossing your fingers and hoping for conversions just doesn't cut it. This relationship is especially important when starting a new program, for instance, a CPT or Mobile buy. Furthermore, this communication has to extent to the client when the program utilizes a resource such as a call center.

The aforementioned buys (CPT and Mobile) are particularly concerning because all tracking occurs on the publisher's end. While the data can usually be accessed or requested with ease, our media strategists take a proactive approach to ensure the campaigns deliver results. Our media strategist will test the respective program from the onset and trouble-shoot, with the publisher, if a problem should arise. As for the client, they are constantly kept in the loop when new initiatives are implemented so that their resources (again, i.e. call center) are equipped to deliver conversions. These relationships are indicative of executing media "after the buy." It's a complex notion, but an essential one. What else can I say? We keep it real.

Agen"see"

I read an interesting commentary today from a colleague of mine explaining why most agencies still don’t succeed at interactive advertising. The gist of the argument was that poor media buying led to ineffective campaigns. Very true, but I also think this points us to look at the evolution of the “big agency” take on interactive and why this is only half the equation. Truth be told, at first the failure of big branding agencies to succeed online was because none understood the level of trackability and functionality. It was thought that you just needed to get online because your competitors were there… or weren’t there yet.

A few years later and a few campaigns wiser, most are realizing the errors of their initial efforts. But to that point, are they really “getting” interactive now? In my humble opinion, the answer is no. So what if they’re producing multi-level Flash campaigns with interactive rollover banners and integrated video? That’s aesthetically pleasing and gives the business suits the warm and fuzzies, but does it really product results?

We constantly preach good design here at Media Two, but for most agencies I think that there’s a disconnect between what’s good design and what’s functional. Good design placed in the right places still doesn’t necessarily product results, and the converse is certainly true. But when good and functional design is coupled with innovative strategy, the result is a living and breathing media plan that grows and evolves.

So where I’m going with this is that success is two-fold in nature. It begins with the design team understanding the strategy side. Whether it’s copy, images, or functionality you’re talking about, the design team must understand the context in which their work will be viewed. For example, slap the Mona Lisa on the side of a building in East Harlem and it goes unnoticed, but speak to the locals through a blended mural and suddenly an artistic genius emerges.

The second part of this equation is ensuring that the strategy team fully understands the end result the designers are striving to achieve and then using that knowledge to find innovative ways to display it. After all, pictures always look better with a nice frame, right?

In the long run, I think the ultimate demise of most interactive campaigns comes from the inability of both groups in the equation to fully understand each other. It’s the old left brain/right brain conflict at its best. Those agencies that are capable of collective thinking with both brains will be the ones that excel in this industry by driving all parties involved towards a common goal.