Entries Tagged 'marketing' ↓

If you’re a marketer, you should probably be joining some professional development organizations.  This helps get you networked, stay in touch with industry practices, and up to date on new trends.  Here’s the list of organizations I know about.  Did I miss any?

• Social Media Club |   http://www.socialmediaclub.org/ – My local branch in DC is pretty active: Shout to http://smcdc.wordpress.com.  They do many events around the DC area where digital marketing professionals can meet up to discuss best practices.  It feels a little less stuffy than the more developed associations but it depends on what you’re into.  I paid the membership fee immediately, because I could pay from PayPal!  You also get good discounts to events.  I’m not sure if I’m attending the online marketing summit, but it is one example of how joining the SMC could be a good thing.  http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/2010-washington-dc/
• American Marketing Association | http://www.marketingpower.com – I joined the AMA in 2006 and have been off and on with my membership.  They produce a quarterly journal that can be helpful.  They also have a great job board that is open to site visitors.
• Society of Digital Agencies | http://www.societyofdigitalagencies.org – I joined SoDA the earlier part of this year.  There was no membership fee, though I would have paid something for all the value I got.  They manage the site through a Ning network and did a awesome digital marketing outlook document.  Some people want to know that SoDA began as an Adobe venture but I don’t have a position on that.  It’s a great org that gives you access to great resources and allows you to contribute meaningfully. I cross post marketing blog posts on their site and check out the other contributors.

Sales.  See the title before you know the person, and they’re already insincere.  That’s why we cringe at the idea of visiting a car dealership or dreaded auto repair.  I don’t want to be sold to.  It makes me feel exploited and naive.

So- I get why organizations, particularly consumer tech companies, embrace religious terminology.  I have my concerns with the blending of consumer culture and religion but evangelist just doesn’t sound like sales man to me.  The word evangelist evokes images of genuine passion and zeal.  Avinash Kaushik, is an Analytics Evangelist for Google.  When I tell you he is on FIRE for web analytics, it is an understatement.

I walked into the Apple store recently and spoke at length with a “genius” (that’s what they call their sales associates) and the show began.  She raved about the Mac Book Pro.  She was a film student who used Premiere and said it worked like a dream.  She called over someone else that had this newer model, and experience with the software I would use and she went on and on about it.

The truth is that if I had $3,000 in discretionary funds that day, I’d own a Mac.

Stop selling and start converting.

When you ask a company about their digital strategy, and the response you get is “We’re going to start blogging and twittering and a FB fan page…” – it’s still surprising to me. If you fast forward to the leadership meeting, you’ll hear some undertones of charts and numbers (with nothing to really compare it to) but the real energy in reporting out is that we did it. We started the blog. We started the conversation. Now we’re dealing with how to engage important audiences and answer questions — but we didn’t really have an idea of how to do this before-hand because well this new digital media stuff is craaaazy.

The excuse that digital media is new doesn’t work anymore. There are books, case studies, agency experts, and other things that help people understand what it is, and how to interact with it. The lack of planning is lazy and it reminds me of a quote from a book I’m reading now called Start with Why. “They never have time or money to do it right, but they always have the time and money to do it again.” and it’s true. When a large part of the rework required on these types of projects could have been avoided with planning – well there’s some missing accountability there. Why didn’t you anticipate this?

Just because you can make mistakes at a cheaper financial cost doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t get the very best first product as close to right as you can. There are real risks to your brand perception and those risks should make you want to get as close to right the first time as you can.

Managing your personal brand is important for a lot of professionals.  For those of us interested in advancing in the corporate world, it makes sense to think about what your online life says about you.

Employers sometimes view job candidates’ social network pages as part of their research.  In a survey done by CareerBuilder, 45% of respondents said they did.  It goes without saying that if you enjoy posting risky or potentially offensive content, you should probably maintain your privacy filters very closely.  Maybe you should just maintain those on a site that doesn’t have your name on it…

Protect your privacy, but what about the flip side?  Could potential employers like some of what they see on your profile, and could that profile be helpful in landing you the job or at least making you stand out?  Here are some quick points:

• Don’t fake it. If you find your potential boss is into whitewater rafting, it’s probably not the best idea to say that’s one of your hobbies.  Even if you get the gig – you’d have to live with that lie for waaaay too long.
• Search yourself. I look up my search results all the time.  You’ll probably see things about your past jobs, and all of your web life. You may see things all over the spectrum from schools you attended, boards you served on, etc…  Here I scan to make sure my privacy settings are working.  If you have a very common name, then you could be safe – but social networks can search for people in different areas…
• See through their eyes. Think about the position(s) you’re applying for and what type of person they’re looking for.  Look for ways to align yourself with values you share with the company.  Look for ways to show your involvement in discussions about your industry or functional expertise.  Don’t be cheesy and obvious, but you can change your FB profile summary pretty easily.  Why not say something interesting about your work?

There are real ways to add content to your social media profile that help distinguish you from the crowd and make you a real person, not just a resume currently atop the pile.

To borrow from another brand… Walmart, you’ve come a long way baby.

Remember when everyone hated Walmart? It started out as a family run business and then as it grew, it became the evil empire.  There was even talk of a curse when the Waltons tragically lost two family members in one year.  A documentary that detailed the sins of Walmart was very popular and this is when I think the brand people realized there was a real problem here.

So what happened? My theory is that some corporate soul searching went on. Now whether or not soul searching can happen in for-profit corporations may be debatable, but it appears as though the company has made some significant changes to compete and work to improve the quality and perception of the Walmart brand.  Aside from branding, the corporation also faced real business hurdles because of how their brand was perceived.  I found an article from Emory’s Gozuieta School of Business that does a good job of summarizing:

According to several accounts, Wal-Mart is struggling to establish stores in the West and Northeast and in urban areas like Chicago because these areas are more unionized and particularly concerned about the company’s social policies. Wal-Mart has flourished in the Republican red states, but the company is virtually blocked out of expanding into Democratic blue states.

In 2009 the low cost retailer was ranked in the top two Fortune 500 companies and number 5 for profitability. With numbers like that most companies would have strong corporate giving programs. Philanthropy is a duty to most but always a plus in my book. Most recently, Walmart has contributed over 1 million dollars of aid to Haiti.  Big companies have great potential for good -or- maybe to whom much is given, much is expected…

Walmart is now the largest retailer of organic products.  It’s a volume game and they’ve got great distribution and expertise in supply chain management.  The move to organics is consumer-driven but the brand also benefits.  In addition to their big move into organics, the store is working with suppliers to help them adopt more sustainable business practices and more organic products.  In July of 2009, Walmart announced that they would create a worldwide sustainable product index which would provide consumers with a rating about the sustainability of products the store carries.

I vaguely remember issues about Walmart not paying a living wage, union busting, and discriminating against female employees.  But all of that seems to be like a distant bad dream.  Now, shoppers walk in with their reusable Walmart bags and load up on organic fruit and sustainable products.

Brand strategy or just good business? It’s great when you can do both with the same strategies.