The Illusion of Communication

I recently traveled to Hartford, CT. If you know anything about Hartford, you’ll know that there are a lot of insurance companies there. As I was walking through the Bradley International Airport terminal, there was the row of usual ads on the walls. I can’t tell you what they were, I was too busy thinking about what I had to do next to get through the airport, find my luggage, meet some people, etc.

But then I noticed several “pictures” of umbrellas on the wall. They were unnaturally bright, which caught my attention, but then I noticed something else: they were projected onto the wall. I noticed this because my shadow would obscure part of the picture. Then I noticed something really interesting: the picture would respond to my shadow! The umbrella was actually made up of many smaller umbrellas and these would scatter whenever my shadow covered them.

This was, of course, an ad for Traveler’s Insurance. And kids played with it. Adults looked at it. And everyone read all the copy associate with it. Brilliantly done, and shows a creative way to get a message noticed among so many different distractions.

Posted by Matthew under Guerrilla Marketing & Marketing Strategy | No Comments »

There’s an old saying about planting trees:

The best time to plant a tree is 25 years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today.”

The point is, of course, the best time to do virtually anything has already past. But you can’t do anything about that. So start now. As mentioned in the last post, testing and experimenting are essential elements to successful marketing. The sooner you start your experiments and get results back from the tests, the sooner you’ll be able to expand your efforts to include more and more of the relevant universe.

In the video below, watch for Sarah Russ, who advises that organizations should be true to themselves and understand where they are in their business cycle; some organizations are too young or immature to benefit from a large public relations effort. And Tim Hayden, Sam Decker, and Jay Hallberg all agree: if you want to succeed with your marketing, start now, market what you have and grow it from there. Just like a tree.

Posted by Matthew under Guerrilla Marketing & Video & Marketing Strategy & Business Strategy | No Comments »

Recently, I moderated a panel discussion on guerrilla marketing. One reason I felt this was a really important, topical discussion is because guerrilla marketing is usually understood as a way of getting more with less. In an economic environment such as the one we are in now (i.e., a market downturn, recession, or however one wants to describe it), it is more important than ever to get the most from your investments. Yet, in general, marketing is not perceived as an investment—it is more likely to be seen as a cost.

Many organizations end up in a curious cycle: they spend on marketing when sales are up, then pull back on their efforts when sales are down. The cynical explanation for this is that sales is driving marketing (obviously the opposite of what’s intended). The more plausible explanation is that the marketing campaign was ill-conceived to begin with and the results of the campaign are difficult—maybe impossible—to track.

So, how do you create a meaningful, result-oriented marketing campaign that is measurable and works on a limited budget? Here are some of the more important aspects to consider:

• Start small and test, test, test. It is always difficult to guess if a certain campaign will work or not. Start small and grow the campaign as you find success. If your $500 test fails, it will hurt far less than if your $5,000 test fails. And if it works? It should be relatively easy to invest $5,500, especially if you are able to prove that its bringing in $3 for every $1 or marketing spend.
• Start with a media that provides easy tracking and quick turnaround to measure results. In my experience, I find that Google AdWords is one of the best places to build a campaign. One really important reason is that YOU control the budget; there are very few advertising arenas that allow you to choose how much you want to spend. Also, unless you have some experience doing this, I highly recommend hiring professional Google AdWords campaign management. There are many to choose from and they are probably more affordable than you think. But if you don’t know what you are doing, it could cost you a lot in both time and money.
• Think through the next 12 months or so and create a marketing campaign that would work throughout that time frame. Too often companies will put together a campaign for a specific moment, such as a trade show, and then that’s it. Sustain that momentum, reuse that content, video tape the event, upload it to YouTube, etc. Look for ways to harness the energy from previous efforts to work for you.
• Work with the end in mind. Know what is important (e.g., visitors who land on a specific page of your web site, number of leads, cost per visitor, etc.) and use that as an objective for your campaign. Then, build the strategy and tactics for the campaign around that objective.

For more ideas, watch the video clip below. It’s from the Austin Technology Council’s sales and marketing strategy session from last week on guerrilla marketing.

Posted by Matthew under Guerrilla Marketing & Video & Marketing Strategy & Business Strategy | No Comments »