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BRANDING: How Word of Mouth Has Become Digital Buzz.
Sunday, July 24th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
In case you haven’t been paying attention, it’s a digital world that’s evolving almost daily with new media and new opportunities for your brand to capitalize on. And yet, there remains this constant: word of mouth.
However it’s said in our online and mobile and social and digital and ubiquitously-connected world, word of mouth remains among the most influential contributors to a consumer’s decision-making process. Just consider how “digital buzz” — the term we at NOISE have dubbed for old-school “word of mouth” — is explosively influencing consumer purchasing habits as reported in the outstanding e-book, Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, from Google:
• More than 37% of all shoppers find online social sources to be a significant, influential driver when when making a decision to buy (or not). That’s nearly double the 19% reported just one year earlier.
• Online referrals from trusted sources like friends or business associates, or positive mentions of the brand in social networks like Facebook, dramatically up the chances for said brand to be purchased.
• Editorial relative to the product — specifically, both external (public) and internal (your proprietary) blogs — can influence a purchase.
• Additionally, the muscle of Facebook brand pages also flexes the consumer’s inclination to buy, especially (and obviously) when he or she becomes a follower or friend of the brand.
Google’s Zero Moment of Truth is a manifesto on why today’s and tomorrow’s most successful brands aren’t shying away from consumer word of mouth — positive or negative — but are running toward “digital buzz” with arms outstretched. How about you and your brand? Are you embracing this brave new world? Or ostriching it?
SOURCE: Google, NOISE
CAUSE MARKETING: Celebrating 25 Years With $25,000 — Just ‘Cause.
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Cause marketing has emerged over the past year as one of the most effective new strategies to build positive brand awareness, grow and engage social communities and consumers, influence sales and — at the same time, at the bottom line — impact humanity on the plus side. Now, it’s our turn. And we have 25,000 ways we’re saying thanks.
You see, 2011 marks 25 years since John Sprecher incorporated what is today NOISE. And as dramatically as the brand communications industry has evolved since 1986 — from the caveman days of typewriters, markers, White Out and an amazing new thing called a facsimile machine — what hasn’t changed is our company’s four-part mission statement, which includes this closing phrase: change the world for the better.
As a result, NOISE will celebrate and say thanks for 25 years of success — by giving back $25,000 in value of brand development services to great causes, great ideas and great people all throughout 2011 in an effort we’re calling “JustCause.” This will comprise 10 $2,500-value services grants throughout the year — based on nominations of great non-profits, game-changing start-ups or passionate people that you make here at our JustCause site, then decided upon by the number of votes you (and your cause) generate among your followers and friends.
To stay in touch, be sure to follow us on Facebook here. Twenty-five years and $25,000. That’s how NOISE says thanks — and you’re welcome.
CREATIVE: Happy to Have It, Even When I Don’t Need It.
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
I was shuffling through what passes as my wallet today when I came upon my vehicle insurance card — and I smiled. I wasn’t in an accident. I wasn’t in a fix. It wasn’t anywhere near an occasion when, as the saying goes, I would’ve been happy to have had insurance because I needed it.
Rather, I smiled because I saw my State Farm insurance card — and as an advertising professional, I (like many others in our industry) prefer to reward great advertising by my actions or transactions. Doing so, we as consumers applaud, encourage and otherwise compliment the marketer that’s committed to invest in messaging that reflects the quality of their brand (versus hacks that would rather pound you senseless with cheap concepts, cheap production and the overall, odorous attitude that quality means nothing to anyone, anymore).
As a matter of full disclosure, I’ve been a State Farm customer for many years. But it’s my opinion that in a very cluttered, extremely level and obviously commodity-driven industry like insurance, State Farm’s “Magic Jingle” broadcast campaign, in which the protagonist-invoked “like a good neighbor” melody magically materializes everything from hot tubs to hot dates — is remarkably funny and even more remarkably, a hip and energetic evolution of a stale, dated, stodgy old jingle that nobody wanted to hear.
To its credit, State Farm didn’t pinch a penny in creative, casting (including actor Gary Cole and some dude named Lebron James) or production. It’s all top quality, which suggests that State Farm is that kind of top quality company, too.
But in the end, that’s part of the message. That’s part of the desired takeaway. And that’s one reason why you should have State Farm in your pocket, too.
SOURCE: NOISE, John Sprecher
MULTI-MEDIA: The Perfect Storm (Or, The Perfect Killing).
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
About a year ago, the innovative minds at NOISE began conception, execution, branding and delivery work on an entertainment concept that combines broadcast, online and social media — via cable, internet and mobile platforms — to reach today’s prime consumer demographics in a unique, never-before package.
While the concept was different, the execution and delivery of one of 2011’s most highly acclaimed broadcast productions — “The Killing” on AMC — followed a decidedly similar, breakthrough, engaging, motivating and effective new formula.
More than being satisfied airing a powerful and much-buzzed-about weekly broadcast drama, “The Killing” went much, much further and rolled out a true multi-media, immersion experience for its 2.5 million or so fans: combining in “perfect storm” form broadcast, internet, mobile and social media real-time and throughout the course of the week— including the ability for consumers to view a previous episode online the next day, participate in who-dun-it discussion groups and engage passionately among almost 100,000 fellow Facebook followers.
If there’s a lesson in here for marketers (and there surely is), it’s simply: how can you use the power of multi-media engagement to (pardon the pun) make your The Killing?
SOURCE: NOISE
SOCIAL MEDIA: Out With the New, In With the Older.
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
While social media may have been launched and nurtured by young adults, today’s social media audiences are decidedly older — and more female — than ever before. So social media marketers, take note of these important trends as reported by Pew Research in a study of engagement habits over the past two years:
1. Twice As Nice. Today, almost one of two persons in the United States (47%) interacts daily with a social media site — nearly double the number in late 2008, when the last study was undertaken. And for whatever it’s worth, folks who participate in social media sites are more politically engaged than other adults, and more likely to trust others.
2. Aging Gracefully. At the same time, the most significant growth in social media is occurring among older adults — with the average age of the social media user climbing to 38 years old (five years older than just two years ago).
3. Girl Talk. Additionally, the U.S. social media audience continues to grow more feminine, with 56% of today’s users women (versus 53% two years ago).
Need to reach intelligent, trusting, motivated females who are likely involved in families with children, with a higher than average disposable income? Now you know a little more about where to find ‘em.
SOURCE: NOISE, MarketingProfs, Pew Research
BRANDING: Dare to Think Gib.
Monday, March 28th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Do you know the land of Gib? The land of Gib is neither an easy nor a comfortable place to journey to. It’s a destination sought by only the most courageous brands and agencies who dare to think big plus (bonus) think counter-conventionally — thus, the name Gib.
Arriving there is like navigating your classic, precarious Scooby Doo rickety rope bridge across a plummeting-deep gorge — only unlike ol’ Scoob and Shag, should the risk-taking brand or agency slip, we can’t motor-burn our feet to congo-drum sound effects and race safely to the promised land. We fail. We fall.
Example in point is NOISE client Florida Repertory Theatre, and case in point is the Rep’s annual fundraising 
gala held this past March. Now, you might expect that a performing arts group hailed as “one of the best repertory companies in the United States” by the Wall Street Journal — serving an audience that skews decidedly older adult than most in the country — would default to the expected, formal, black-tie event. But not so, these daring marketers. Rather, Florida Repertory Theatre held steadfastly true to its brand — which by definition is the delivery of creativity, passion and excellence in performing arts — and challenged its status quo with the “Downtown Hoedown,” a celebration of all things red-necked, white-trashed, tatted-up, dressed-down and otherwise diametrically opposed to high artistry.
We applaud Florida Repertory Theatre leadership and management for daring to think Gib and act Gib. It’s a sparsely populated place. But it’s where great, memorable branding is found. Bravo!
SOURCE: NOISE
SOCIAL MEDIA: Ready, Tweet, Aim and Fired.
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Social Media has been praised as the second coming of the new brand experience — and rightly so, for many engaging and consumer-interactive reasons. At the same time, Social Media remains relatively new and occasionally rocky ground that — unless you’re careful (and smart) — can bring companies or even individuals to their proverbial knees.
Witness New Media Strategies and Gilbert Gottfried. By way of background, New Media Strategies is a social media agency of national scope with clients including Domino’s, USA Network and (pay attention here) Chrysler — while Mr. Gottfried is a comic and actor whose latest claim to fame is (pay attention here) voicing the Aflac duck. And if you aren’t making the connection between these two entities, well, you haven’t been paying attention to social media lately.
For the unenlightened, New Media Strategies posted a now-infamous tweet on behalf of client Chrysler Corporation, in which the f-bomb was used as an adjective to describe the poor driving habits of persons living in Detroit. Gilbert Gottfried went not one, but about ten better, by posting approximately ten tweet-jokes regarding the earthquake disaster in Japan. For the record, Chrysler is headquartered in Detroit and Aflac generates about 75% of its sales from Japan. Of course, both NMS and Gottfried were fired by their respective employers virtually overnight.
If you’re engaged in social media, you might want to consider crafting a social media policy manual as to who can post, tweet, share or communicate to your public in any way — and make sure all social media strategists, evangelists and handlers fall in line. But as Chrysler and Aflac learned, not even a social media policy manual can protect you from somebody who’s just dumb enough to tweet before they think.
SOURCE: New York Times, NOISE
MANAGEMENT: A Tale of Two Cities.
Thursday, February 10th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Five months ago, I had the occasion to opine about the potential fatal accidents that too often occur when desperate companies do desperate things — compromising their principles, usurping their leadership, selling their very souls — to rationalize pandering to star performers and justify winning. I just happened to use the preseason shenanigans of the Minnesota Vikings and Brett Favre as examples (see August 2010 below).
Well, just a few days removed from Super Bowl XLV and the Green Bay Packers victory, a post mortem seems in order. So, if you’re a football or business fan and you were paying attention, what did you learn?
1. Inmates Can Never Run the Asylum. Brett Favre was (and will always be) a superior football player. But he was (and always will be) only one of 53 players on a team. Elevating one person on your team above all the others — in effect, allowing that person to write his or her own rules, because you fear he or she can make or break you — is foolhardy at best, and suicidal at worst.
2. Leaders Without Power Can’t Lead. Minnesota Vikings ex-coach Brad Childress can certainly attest to this. When leaders are stripped of their power to manage, discipline or simply act without scrutiny — because above inmate or business rainmaker is clenching your keys — the rest of the inmates will most assuredly riot. As they did in Minnesota. And if you’re a manager like Coach Brad Childress, as well as his minions, you’ll all be out of a job in no time.
3. Right Makes Might. The final lesson? Be you a major corporation, a mid-sized company or a small business, stay true to your mission, values and principles — no matter the heat. Ask Green Bay Packer General Manager Ted Thompson how hot it was when he rid his company of Brett Favre. Ask him how hotter it got when, within one year of his decision, his organization had plummeted from the heights of success to a losing record. And ask him how he feels today, his values and principles justified by a Super Bowl win — and a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player in Aaron Rodgers, who credits his teammates and management, rather than himself, for his success.
Sport and business aren’t analogies anymore. Sport and business are one in the same. My organization can learn from the tale of these two cities, Minneapolis and Green Bay. How about yours?
SOURCE: NOISE
BUDGETING: Slicing Up the 2011 Pie (With a Cup o’ Joe).
Thursday, February 10th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
As we roll our way into 2011, how are America’s leading marketers slicing up their budgetary pie? And how do their servings compare to yours?
MarketingSherpa polled more than 1,000 marketers and asked the simple questions: Where are you putting more of your money this year? Where are you putting less?
So grab a stool here at our friendly counter. Sit back and relax. Enjoy a steamin’ cup o’ joe. And size up how major U.S. marketers are analyzing opportunities, and piling onto (or off of) their marketing plates:
• Website: 64% Increasing Budget
• Search Marketing (SEO & PPC): 62% Increasing Budget
• Social Media: 53% Increasing Budget
• E-Marketing: 42% Increasing Budget
• Online Digital Marketing: 41% Increasing Budget
• Telemarketing: 30% Increasing Budget
• Public Relations: 30% Increasing Budget
• Direct Mail: 22% Increasing Budget
• Broadcast: 15% Increasing Budget
• Print: 11% Increasing Budget
Hungry for more details and direction for your 2011 pie? Contact us at NOISE. We’d be happy to serve you.
SOURCE: MarketingSherpa, NOISE
MARKETING: Are You a Pluser or a Minuser?
Thursday, February 10th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Here’s something you already know: given the state of the economy the past few years, discounting has become the norm. But here’s something, as NOISE sees it, you may not know: subtraction may not be the best form of addition anymore.
Instead, think addition if you want addition.
By addition, we mean value added. Gift wrapping your service or product with the pretty bow of perceived high value (meaning both desirable and tangible) enhancement, rather than a discount. Amplifying your consumer’s positive experience with your brand by rewarding their experience — therefore exceeding your customer’s expectations, which fuels not only satisfaction but loyalty, which stimulates word-of-mouth and social network referrals. All of which will multiply your addition, so to speak.
And bonus: value-added promotions often cost less in real dollars than simply subtracting real dollars from your price tag.
Now, NOISE is not suggesting you abandon competitive pricing structures. Unless you’re a brand (x-luxury) that commands its own price regardless of market conditions, price point will always be important. But by combining competitive pricing (not discounting) with desirable value-added, we believe your pluses will far outweigh your minuses. It’s a strategy we’re implementing in 2011 with our clients, and the results are (pardon the pun) adding up.
Interested in learning more how NOISE can rock your world? Contact us before February 28, 2011 and tell us you want to get “plused.” And yes, of course: there’s a $5,000 value-added offer waiting for you (legal department mandatory: certain restrictions apply).
SOURCE: NOISE
SOCIAL MEDIA: Four Facebook Dos and Don’ts: Are You Doing Any of Them?
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Experienced social media marketers already know this (we think) — but here are words from the wise, if you’re a brand that’s new to Facebook (or have been led to the promised land by less than seasoned hands):
1. Don’t Establish Multiple Pages For Your Brand. It amazes the experts at Hubspot who authored this report, as well as all of us at NOISE>Social, to see the number of brands that seem unable to control the number of Facebook pages that bear their name. The very first and best way to mark your territory is to correctly launch your brand’s page — then claim its vanity URL (www.Facebook.com/YourBrand) — once you reach 25 followers.
2. Create the Correct Facebook Page. This seems one of those pieces of advice that should come with “duh” attached to it — but again, NOISE>Social and Hubspot see waaaaayyyyyy too many brands creating profiles, rather than pages. Profiles are for people, pages are for business. Profiles (like people) acquire friends, pages acquire likes. The ways of communicating with your community, and measuring your success, are vastly superior when you do it the right way (pages) versus the “duh” way (profiles).
3. Don’t Turn Off Wall Posts. It amazes Hubspot, and NOISE, when brands jump into social media to connect with their consumers in two-way dialogue (the definition of the medium) — yet slit the consumer’s throat by not allowing commentary on their Facebook pages, viewable to the public. If your brand is so afraid of your consumer’s opinion that you won’t give it voice, you’re in poop too deep for social media to dig you out.
4. Start a Conversation and Keep It Going. About as equally stupid as not giving your consumers a voice, is not giving voice to your consumers. If your business is going to participate in social media, participate! Or fail.
Odds are, if your a Trendy Trendspotter, you’re not making any of these gross mistakes. But feel free to pass them along to others less fortunate you know.
SOURCE: SmartBrief, Hubspot, NOISE
CAUSE MARKETING: $50,000 Ways NOISE is Saying Thanks.
Friday, November 12th, 2010 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Cause marketing has emerged over the past year as one of the most effective new strategies to build positive brand awareness, grow and engage social communities and consumers, influence sales and — at the same time, at the bottom line — impact humanity on the plus side. Now, it’s our turn. And we have 50,000 ways we’re saying thanks.
You see, 2011 marks 25 years since John Sprecher incorporated what is today NOISE. And as dramatically as the brand communications industry has evolved since 1986 — from the caveman days of typewriters, markers, White Out and an amazing new thing called a facsimile machine — what hasn’t changed is our company’s four-part mission statement, which includes this closing phrase: change the world for the better.
As a result, NOISE will celebrate and say thanks for 25 years of success — by giving back $50,000 in value of brand development services to great causes, great ideas and great people all throughout 2011. This celebration will comprise ten $2,500-value services grants, along with one $25,000-value services grant to a grand-winning recipient. A formal nominating process will be announced December 22, 2010.
To stay in touch, be sure to follow us on Facebook. Twenty-five years and $50,000. That’s how NOISE says thanks — and you’re welcome.
SOURCE: NOISE
SOCIAL MEDIA: What’s Not to Like? Or Unlike?
Thursday, November 11th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
What are the most effective ways to motivate social media consumers to like your brand? Engage with your brand? Share and actually purchase your brand? Equally important, what are the mistakes to avoid if you want to keep ‘em in like with you? We know the secrets, and we’re telling.
According to a newly issued Cone Inc. survey, as reported by Mark Dolliver of Adweek, the average social media consumer engages with brands for the following reasons (in order of influence):
• 77% Offered Incentives (Promotions, Discounts, Free Trials, etc.)
• 46% Solved a Problem (Customer Service, etc.)
• 39% Solicited Feedback (Surveys, Research, etc.)
• 28% Entertain the Consumer
• 21% Market to the Consumer (PPC)
The payoffs are big. With a positive brand experience, 60% of social media consumers feel better served by the brand they engage with, and 59% are more likely to buy that brand.
On the flip side, consumers will quickly and eagerly thumbs-down and unlike a brand. Here are the three biggest mistakes to avoid:
• Don’t Act Irresponsibly Toward Consumers
• Don’t Over-Communicate (Begins to Feel Like Spam)
• Don’t Become Irrelevant
With studies suggesting the average marketing value of every Facebook “like” at $130-plus, there’s a lot to gain here. And a lot to lose. Choose wisely.
SOURCE: Cone Inc., Adweek, NOISE
E-MARKETING: In Defense of the Lowly Ol’ E-Mail.
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
The KISS principle. At NOISE, we believe there’s still a lot to be gained — even in today’s complex, multi-channeled communications world — by keeping it simple, stupid. And we can prove it.
Take e-marketing. Over the course of any given year, NOISE creates, produces, delivers and measures (in-house) more than one million e-blasts for our clients. And the outstanding performance of these highly branded campaigns — which annually deliver clickthroughs exceeding 400% of industry average — demonstrates why we’re passionate advocates of creative, engaging, visually- and verbally-motivating html-based messaging.
So imagine our antler dance when testing of simple, text-only campaigns rocked those numbers — generating clickthroughs almost 800% greater than industry average, as well as numerous social community mentions and referrals seldom seen by traditional campaigns.
Now, there’s a strategy to text-only campaigns that (as a service to our clients) we won’t reveal here. But suffice it to say there’s strong evidence that as sophisticated and studied as e-marketing has become, there’s still a time and a place — even today — for selectively pulling out the KISS principle.
Ask your marketing partner. Or even better, ask us.
SOURCE: NOISE
MANAGEMENT: Good, Fast, Smart — Pick Three.
Saturday, November 6th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
As a business leader, it’s incumbent on each of us to grow our knowledge base every day. Failing to do so — in today’s exponentially-evolving world that seems to morph every minute — we lose. But as we all know, there simply aren’t enough free minutes in our 14-hour days to stay attuned to every development in management, branding, marketing, sales, user experience, customer satisfaction, advertising, social media, public relations or the countless other contributors to our professional and personal success.
That’s why, if you don’t already, you should know about SmartBrief.
In my opinion and experience, SmartBrief is one of the efficient, relevant, useful and beneficial information resources I consume each day. SmartBrief culls and compiles content from across the internet — then provides it, free of charge, to my in-box in an attractive, easy-to-scan newsletter format that allows me to very quickly identify items of interest. Most importantly, SmartBrief allows its members (again, free of charge) to opt in to to daily newsletters devoted to more than 100 industries and 10 management-marketing best practices.
Good. Fast. Smart. And yup, even cheap.
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