Since Hawke’s inception, we’ve been both blessed and burdened with extraordinary growth. What started as a five-person team in 2014 has evolved into an increasingly successful business with a team of over 130 expert marketers who have helped more than 1,500 businesses scale and profit.

While the growth has been great, it’s also come with growing pains. Recently settled into our new, 27,000-square-foot headquarters, we’re finally in a space that will enable and encourage further growth. Getting here hasn’t been easy and the Hawke leadership team, and I learned some valuable lessons in the process. Here are the biggest lessons we learned from building and moving into our brand-new headquarters that we hope will help make your own move seamless.

[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

1. FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

We wanted an office that was custom built for us and being able to design a space that perfectly accommodates the way our company runs has allowed us to perform better. We were able to match the layout of our new office with the way our business works, rather than trying to retrofit an existing space to work the way we want. Creating that new layout gave us the opportunity to figure out what spaces and office functions were missing that our company and employees needed to succeed. Conversely, we were able to see which functions were unnecessary.

In an ideal world, you’ll find a space that can be designed to fit your company’s unique needs. If you’re not able to custom build an office as we were, at least look for buildings with existing layouts that will be conducive to the way you do business.

2. PAY ATTENTION TO HOW DIFFERENT EMPLOYEES SELF-ORGANIZE, BUT PROVIDE GUIDANCE

It was incredibly insightful and interesting to watch the way my employees self-organize: how they use conference rooms and common spaces; how they organize their desks and their days; and how they work most efficiently.

While our new office was still being built, to accommodate for the expansion of our company we had to rent a separate office two blocks away from our original headquarters. We put one of our teams in that new space and let them figure out how they wanted to organize the space, who sat where, and who got what. We thought that the added freedom would increase performance, but we instead realized that our employees needed structure. As a leader, you should take into consideration how people are best organized to accomplish what they need to, but you should also provide guidance and direction.

In our new space, we assigned which teams went into certain spaces, what areas were common spaces across the teams, what spaces were common areas specific to one team, and so forth. Creatives and accountants have different needs in order to be their most productive selves, so we ensured that each team was in a space tailored to their work styles.

It may sound like a small thing, but by simply providing guidance in the designation of space, we’ve already seen an immense ease in our moving and settling-in process.

Moving into a brand-new office space, especially one you’ve built from scratch, can be terrifying and stressful. But it’s also a huge accomplishment and should feel as such

3. LET YOUR EMPLOYEES FEEL HEARD

When figuring out our needs for the new space, we used it as an opportunity to give our employees a chance to voice their frustrations at what they thought could be better within the office. Of course, everyone wants free food and beer on tap. But beyond voicing the obvious desires, we wanted employees to figure out what they were missing in order to be most productive. And then we listened.

Listening to and evaluating their requests was important. Not everything will be feasible, but much of it probably is. We now have kombucha and cold brew on tap. We have a myriad of common spaces, some more public than others, to allow individuals to get away from their desks but still work. We have a recreation room to act as a reprieve from computer screens.

An office move is a great opportunity to find out what is truly lacking in your employees’ work lives. Find out what you can offer to help them be happier and more productive. Everyone will be better for it in the long run.

4. PARTNER UP

Especially in the entrepreneurial community, companies are actually incredibly willing to help each other out so long as there is fair trade-off. We’re lucky enough to have some very kind friends and partners who have helped make our new office even more incredible.

For example, each of our employees has a Varidesk, allowing them to stand and stretch their legs while they work at any time they choose. In return, Varidesk will be using our office as a showroom to clients and visiting us periodically. It’s a win for us both.

Additionally, we went with Openpath to handle all of our building’s open-access control. Our company already had a relationship with them, and we knew we wanted them to handle security matters. Now, not only do we not need to bother giving each employee a key (opening and securing doors is all done via the Openpath app), but the setup process was incredibly easy.

Don’t be afraid to look to friends of your business to help with various aspects of your new office space. Often this can lead to very fruitful partnerships for all parties involved.

5. GET THE NECESSITIES FIRST

Make sure you have your necessities stocked up and ready to go before anything else. Things like toilet paper, paper towels, trash cans, and garbage pickup are all extremely vital to the smooth running of an office. We had to learn the hard way on day one in the new office that we didn’t know what was happening with our trash pickup. It was a mess.

DON'T FORGET TO CELEBRATE

Moving into a brand-new office space, especially one you’ve built from scratch, can be terrifying and stressful. But it’s also a huge accomplishment and should feel as such. Don’t forget to congratulate each other on a job well done.

[For more on Hawke Media’s approach to Digital Agency click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(19) "All the Right Moves" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(59) "Five lessons we learned the hard way about office expansion" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(33) "erik-huberman-all-the-right-moves" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 11:41:26" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 18:41:26" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=30276" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [1]=> object(WP_Post)#5231 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(13481) ["post_author"]=> string(2) "15" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2012-01-26 13:26:27" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2012-01-26 21:26:27" ["post_content"]=> string(4870) "When I first joined my father in our advertising and media organization, I was tasked with targeting new prospects. Using our memory typewriter with a whopping twelve pages of memory, I mailed thousands of letters, espousing the virtues of our company – yet I did not receive a single response. I learned at an early age that sales was one of the most difficult and oftentimes frustrating professions. Most new business does not come to you. To build a successful organization, sales must be one of the top focuses, and everyone from the receptionist to the CEO must sell. But you can’t sell like the other guy. You have to be unique and innovative in your approach. Babe Ruth said that "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run." He couldn’t be more on point in respect to the mentality of a salesperson. Peppered with regular rejection, a salesperson cannot lose focus and allow rejection of the sale to define his existence. He has to keep to his game plan and not be afraid to strike out. Like Babe Ruth, who knew that it only took one swing to quickly change the momentum of a game, business momentum can change with one innovative idea that leads to a successful sale. Common Denominators in Sales No matter what you are selling, the first step is really knowing and thoroughly understanding these key aspects: 

• Your product
• Your competition
• Your customers
• What makes your product unique

Most salespeople have a good understanding of their own product. However, it is just as important to know everything about your competition. How does your competitor position its product; what are the product’s strengths, weaknesses, distinctions, appeal, etc. Another important factor is discerning everything about the person to whom you are selling. With the Internet, it is much easier to find out information through LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, Fast Pitch, Focus, other business social networks, industry news sites and company websites, as well as just generally through search engines. The key is absorbing as much as you can about the company’s executive who is making the decisions, thus giving you the proper insight and information that will help you make the sale to his or her organization. Innovation in Selling: I get hundreds of unsolicited items in the mail each year, most of which have been given very little thought and are very generic in nature – and, like most executives, I pay little attention to them. To start the sales relationship stage, you must be creative and clever in your approach. Many companies have great products and/or services, but the ones that break through the clutter provide something unique. So consider mailing or delivering a creative item that embodies your product’s benefit. Or perhaps create a video that is totally customized to the executive you are pitching with a message that conveys your product or service’s unique selling proposition. Your goal should always be to get a meeting secured for the near future. Be different. Be distinctive. Be memorable! It’s how you package what your selling that at least gets you in the door. Rather than trying to sell to a wide array of different companies, do your research and narrow down the set to a manageable number of companies – the ones that really merit you putting in the effort to solicit them in a manner that will get their attention. The Innovative Selling Process: Once you have found your new business target, the first step is building a relationship. Especially in a service business, most companies will not make an immediate change, so you need to position your company to be there when the opportunity presents itself. By building a relationship initially, this is the first step in positioning you and your company to stand out. Second, what is your initial objective? In the service business industry, there are usually a series of steps in the vendor relationship process, ranging from an RFI (“Request for Information”) to an RFP (“Request for Proposal”). Depending upon the circumstances, your initial goal could be getting into the vetting process or tackling a single smaller component of the business so you can initially get in the door. Ultimately, your goal is to bring new value to your new business prospects, so you will be able to add them as a client for many years. Finally, like all disciplines, the key is to stick with a well-thought out game plan. This concept is best stated by E. M. Gray from The Common Denominator of Success: “The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do… They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.”" ["post_title"]=> string(94) "As New Methods Emerge for Generating Business, Maintaining Customer Relationships Is Still Key" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(296) "When I first joined my father in our advertising and media organization, I was tasked with targeting new prospects. Using our memory typewriter with a whopping twelve pages of memory, I mailed thousands of letters, espousing the virtues of our company – yet I did not receive a single response." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(91) "robert-yallen-new-methods-emerge-generating-business-maintaining-customer-relationships-key" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-02-02 15:57:10" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-02-02 23:57:10" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=13481" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [2]=> object(WP_Post)#5230 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(21646) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-06-29 12:03:49" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-06-29 19:03:49" ["post_content"]=> string(7902) "

This country has a strange relationship with foreign-ness. Our presidential candidates talk about building a wall along our border with Mexico, while at the same time our consumers are paying premium prices for Italian leather, German cars and Swiss chocolates.

For all our talk of buying local and our love of “Made in America,” American consumers are very happy to buy blatantly, proudly foreign goods.

But only when those goods are presented in the right context with the right backstory. Only when those goods come backed by the right brand.

Why Bother?

The U.S. represents an enormous market for European brands. Consumer confidence and spending in the U.S. are on an upswing. Plus, U.S. consumers spend more, sometimes significantly more, per household than anywhere in Europe. And there are over 300 million of us.

But the U.S. is also a competitive, sometimes challenging market. And not everyone succeeds.

Swedish fashion brand H&M opened their first U.S.-based store in 2000, and their five-hundredth U.S.-based store this year. For them, expansion into this market has been an overwhelming success.

[To read more of Michael Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

Tesco’s bid for the U.S. market didn’t go so well. After opening 150 Fresh & Easy stores, the British grocer’s U.S.-expansion ended in cut-rate liquidation and retreat in 2013.

"Americans may not know much about Formula One or MotoGP, but every American knows that Italy is the land of Ferrari, Gucci, Prada and Pirelli. Italy, in the mind of the American consumer, is a place that produces high fashion, stunning vehicles and a lifestyle worth envying."

So is the risk worth the reward?

Maybe. Entering a new market is a complex thing. But successful, intelligent marketing and branding can easily mean the difference between success and failure. Here are four tips that will get you on the right track.

1. Leverage Your Country’s Stereotype

If you’re a European brand, there’s a good chance that American consumers already have a perception of the country you come from. You’re selling a mechanical product that originates in Germany? Consumers will already assume it’s well-engineered and well-made. But sometimes, the connection isn’t that obvious.

Several years ago, Dainese/AGV, an Italian manufacturer of motorsports protective gear and helmets, came to our agency looking for help increasing their sales in the U.S. The company was extremely successful in Europe, based largely on their long-time associations with Formula One and sponsorship of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi.

That’s a marketing strategy that didn’t translate well for U.S. audiences. Mention Valentino Rossi to the average American consumer, and they’re more likely to think of a rare cocktail than Italy’s racing legend.

To U.S.-based consumers, Dainese/AGV’s Italian roots were its biggest asset. Americans may not know much about Formula One or MotoGP, but every American knows that Italy is the land of Ferrari, Gucci, Prada and Pirelli. Italy, in the mind of the American consumer, is a place that produces high fashion, stunning vehicles and a lifestyle worth envying.

So we made that stereotype the basis of Dainese/AGV’s marketing.

We developed and executed a strategy that focused on the fine hand-stitching in Dainese motorcycle leathers, the stunning design and function of AGV’s helmets, and the fact that consumers could get custom-fitted by an honest-to-god Italian tailor for their next set of protective gear.

We helped make Dainese and AGV not just European brands that no one in the U.S. had heard of, but Italian luxury brands that offered style and sophistication. Brands that U.S. consumers aspire to be associated with.

We didn’t invent any new perceptions about Italy, we just connected Dainese and AGV to the perceptions that U.S. consumers already had.

2. Launch & Localize Social Media

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat know no geographic bounds. They give European brands a chance to lay the groundwork for success long before a single CEO, salesperson or marketer sets foot in the U.S.

But it’s not simply enough to tweet to your local audience and hope that consumers in the U.S. will pick up on it. Even though they (often) speak the same language and share many cultural connections, European and American consumers are different. Especially when your brand is new to the country.

When the Netherlands-based watersports manufacturer Jobe launched a push to introduce their stand-up paddleboards to a U.S. audience, they already had a strong social media team in-place in Europe. Still, they brought our agency’s social media team on-board to handle their U.S.-based outreach and promotions for those same accounts. Our local knowledge and cultural understanding allowed us to make their social media outreach far more effective to consumers in this country.

3. Let Consumers Interact with Your Product

The Internet’s great, but for many products, especially products coming to the U.S. for the first time, the Internet isn’t enough. Consumers need to experience your products and your brand in-person.

For H&M, this means spending billions opening retail locations. But that’s not the only way.

Jobe knew that its American consumers would need to experience the company’s paddleboards first-hand to fall in love with them. Retail outlets would be a good start, but most retail outlets aren’t located on a lake or river that would let consumers paddle the goods. So Jobe planned a demo tour, and asked us to help.

[For more on EchoFactory's approach to Marketing click here]

We helped to build their demo tour into a multifaceted U.S. Jobe SUP launch that brought together a strong social media aspect, co-sponsored events, PR and much more. For a fraction of the cost of deploying a single retail outlet, Jobe will activate a significant amount of local dealers, get their paddleboards under the feet of hundreds of U.S. consumers and their message on thousands of U.S.-based screens.

4. Find a Local Expert

No-one knows his country, and its consumers, like a local.

I’m proud of my agency, but if you asked us to deploy a marketing campaign in Belgium, we wouldn’t be as effective as a firm working out of Brussels. Similarly, the most capable European agency will be at a disadvantage here.

If you’re bringing a European brand into the U.S., find a U.S.-based marketing partner who you trust. Let them fill in the local knowledge you might lack, and help your European brand reach American consumers effectively.

Take the Plunge

There may be no better time in history to bring a European brand to the U.S. American consumers have money to spend and the willingness to spend it. Logistics are easier than ever, and you have more options to reach U.S. consumers than ever before.

Do it right, and your European brand might become a piece of the next chapter in the American dream.

" ["post_title"]=> string(75) "Bringing Brands Across the Pond How European brands can succeed in the U.S." ["post_excerpt"]=> string(43) "How European brands can succeed in the U.S." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(32) "michael-schaffer-european-brands" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-10-30 21:21:56" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-10-31 04:21:56" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=21646" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [3]=> object(WP_Post)#5229 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(28552) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-08-07 17:55:06" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-08-08 00:55:06" ["post_content"]=> string(10218) "I’m all about connecting with peers, but in a world where digital reigns supreme, opportunities to meet face-to-face with like-minded individuals can be few and far between. That’s why happy hours, summits, conferences and networking opportunities are vital to individuals working within the ecommerce space. And there’s no shortage of these events to attend! Any day of the week I can find a top-notch e-commerce event with panels led by high-level executives from well-known companies, a massive turnout, and a day full of brushing shoulders and handing out business cards. It’s a great way to scope out vendors and potential clients for Hawke. These events are also great for individuals looking to break into the industry.

[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

But I struggled to find anything geared toward those of us already secure in our positions. Where are the events that cater to the established executive looking to build out his or her community and collaborate with like-minded individuals? National and global conferences are great, but localized events often have two key themes that these larger events lack: community and collaboration.

The 2 Cs

I’ve been in this industry for long enough and, over the years, I’ve noticed there aren’t too many events where top executives can get together and learn from each other. I struggled to find a space where we could all come and be honest, open, and ready to collaborate.

Why Community Is Important

A lot of time the rat race of starting a business can cause people to view their peers as direct competition. In reality, it’s incredibly important to surround yourself with a community of like-minded individuals that you view as friends and confidants–not threats to your success. These people understand your trials and tribulations because they most likely went through it themselves or are currently in a similar situation. They can tell you what worked for them and what didn’t, inspire you to try something new, and be the emotional support you need when things don’t go exactly according to plan.

Community Leads to Collaboration

It may sound counterintuitive to help out your competition, but it doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Becoming part of an entrepreneurial community has helped me stay up-to-date on trends, given me a built-in support system, and has even led to new partnership opportunities. In an industry that’s constantly changing, staying current can be difficult. Exchanging ideas and thoughts about industry changes with the members in your community can help you anticipate change and proactively adjust.

The Key: Localized Events

What I Saw

E-commerce events that focus on fostering that sense of community, rather than just getting the biggest names from Google or Amazon, are incredibly valuable when it comes helping entrepreneurs build and expand their network.   There are tons of industry events that are almost tradeshow-like in nature–with tons of vendors, attendees can walk the floor to connect with featured businesses and then funnel into large conference halls to listen to speakers. But I found myself having more fun at mastermind events and CEO summits. I wanted to create an event that embodied that spirit, where people came to make lasting business partnerships, find or become advisors and mentors, and, most importantly, learn together. By prioritizing the value of community and collaboration, e-commerce conferences could become a breeding ground for revolutionary ideas, partnerships, and success stories.

What I Did

My team at Hawke created our own conference for this purpose. I noticed a gap in the industry–a lack of local e-commerce events designed to appeal to established executives looking to collaborate–and decided to do something about it. And so, Hawkefest was born. My team and I created this annual e-commerce summit to provide ample opportunities for attendees to work and learn together in a hands-on environment filled with fun, peer-generated content. We created a space for executives to come together and learn from each other.

How You Can Do It Too

1. Carefully curate your audience.

At Hawkefest, we require all attendees to fill out an application, which then goes through a meticulous vetting process. While that might sound a bit pretentious and time-consuming, it ensures that the people who actually attend aren’t just job-seekers and vendors, but legitimate movers and shakers in the e-commerce industry. Our Hawkefest attendees don’t have to worry about getting hounded by sales pitches or buried under a stack of business cards. In order to attract high-level minds and get them to drop their guard, your event should have an intimate feel. And that comes from a curated guest list. By doing some of the grunt work up-front, you’re able to know exactly who is in attendance. This allows for your event to be a place filled with valuable conversations and meaningful interactions. Establish base requirements for attendees so that you can keep a pulse on the type of individuals who are planning to attend, making sure that list aligns with your overall goals.

2. Emphasize peer-to-peer collaboration.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. And same goes for people at networking events. Just because they are all in the same place, does not mean that they’ll automatically be inclined to talk, mingle, and exchange ideas. At Hawkefest, we encourage peer-to-peer conversations in a variety of ways. Hawkefest isn’t just a bunch of speakers one after the other with a “networking mixer” slapped in the middle. There are breakout sessions, roundtable discussions, fireside chats, team-building workshops, panels, and more. By creating opportunities where communication, teamwork, and participation are encouraged, Hawkefest’s event structure helps foster collaboration. You can take your time when configuring your event schedule and make sure that the types of interactions are conducive to what you’re trying to accomplish.

3. Focus on your community.

With Hawkefest, we target companies and professionals in our Southern California community. By doing so, we’re able to bring together executives that are operating in similar conditions–be it a new tax law, consumer attitudes, or even the weather. Attendees are also much more likely to be able to follow-up with their newly made connections due to their close proximity. In fact, even a handful of even the speakers participating at Hawkefest have their businesses just down the road from the event space. Additionally, becoming the centerpoint of the community you’re looking to create has long-lasting brand benefits. So, while it may be tempting to expand invitations to your event to a national or even global audience, consider focusing your reach to your immediate community.

Come Together

It may seem daunting to try to execute your own e-commerce or digital marketing event since that space seems so saturated. But if you adjust your scope to focus on the community around you, you may find that there is a need for localized networking event. I know it worked for us at Hawke Media, so it can also work for you. If you’re in the SoCal area and want to check out what Hawkefest is all about, we’d love to have you! Apply to attend here.

[For more insight from Hawke Media click here]

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CFOs are not known for encouraging you to spend more. Not, at least, without good reason.

The key to making your CFO happy with expanding your digital marketing budget is to give them a very good reason. Honestly, you should give yourself a very good reason to expand your marketing budget.

Now, the obvious reason is growth. Marketing drives growth; that’s not a new idea. But not all marketing drives growth – only good marketing.

So how can you 1) know that your digital marketing is paying off and 2) prove that it’s paying off to your CFO, your investors or your board?

I’m so glad you asked.

First: Calculate the Value You Can Create

How much net profit does every lead or sale generate for your company? It sounds like an easy question, but it can be surprisingly hard to answer.

If your company’s structure allows your marketing to drive sales directly, this can be pretty easy. Maybe you sell widgets online for $20: Your cost to produce and deliver a widget is $5, and the profit you can drive from a sale is $15.

Your formula is: 

(Sale Price) - (Cost of Goods) = (Sale Value)

Things are a little less easy when you start to consider the long-term value of a customer, or a sales cycle that can stretch into days, weeks, months or years from that initial lead.

Still, it’s important that you understand what that profit is, and the role your marketing can play.

Your formula for finding your value in a more complex sales environment could look something like this:

{(Average Sale) - (Cost of Goods or Services)} x (Conversion Rate) = (Lead Value)

Depending on how your business runs and the potential for repeat business, you might want to replace (Average Sale) with (Average Long-Term Customer Value), or possibly (Average First-Year Customer Value).

It can be tempting to gloss over this part of the process, to guesstimate or to base your advertising on hunches and intuition about the value you’re driving.

Don’t.

Someday your CFO, a board member or an investor will ask you to justify the costs of your marketing efforts. In all those situations, you need to have a good answer. Better yet, don’t wait until they ask; be proactive about presenting them.

[To read more of Mike Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

Second: Attribute Sales

Now that you know the value of a lead or sale, it’s important to know where every sale you drive comes from.

How much net profit does every lead or sale generate for your company? It sounds like an easy question, but it can be surprisingly hard to answer.

“Attribution” is digital advertising speak for “What brought the customer here?” If a customer clicked on a Google pay-per-click ad that brought them to your site, and then bought something, that sale would probably be attributed to your Google pay-per-click ads.

I say “probably” because it can get more complicated. What happens if a customer clicked a  Facebook ad two days ago, browsed your site and left without making a purchase, but then clicked on a Google ad today and made a $100 purchase? How much of that sale do you attribute to Google? How much to Facebook?

The answer will depend on what’s called your “attribution model.” There are literally hundreds to choose from, but it’s basically how much “credit” you give to each piece of advertising that a customer encounters on their way toward a sale.

Tools like Google Analytics can let you choose from a list of standard attribution models. Once you reach a decent scale, it’s probably worth implementing more complex software that’s tied directly to your ad platforms and that does this on your behalf.

Third: Calculate Your ROAS

Now you’ve figured out:

1. How much a sale or lead is worth.
2. Your spend on each platform.
3. The sales or leads that each platform generates.

That lets you put it all together and get a really clear picture of the value you’re delivering with your ROAS. ROAS stands for “return on advertising spend.” It might sound complex, but it’s not really. Plus, CFOs go nuts for acronyms.

Your goal is to tie the sales or leads driven by every type of advertising you do with the amount of money you spent on that type of advertising.

Your formula here is:

(Per-Platform Revenue) / (Per-Platform Cost) = (Per-Platform ROAS)

So, if you spent $50,000 on Facebook advertising, and drove $50,000 in profits, you have a ROAS of 100% for Facebook. 

If you spent $50,000 on Google and drove $100,000 in profits, you have a ROAS of 200% for Google. Obviously, above 100% and you’re making money; below 100% and you’re losing it.

It’s important to note whether you’re calculating your ROAS on profit or revenue. Calculating ROAS on revenue is much more common, but then you’ve got an additional step of adding in your profit margins later on. I tend to prefer calculating ROAS on profit from the get-go; this enables you to have that data available and front-of-mind for every decision you make related to your digital ad spend.

Either way, understanding your per-platform ROAS lets you optimize for the most effective platform, or combination of platforms.

Once you’ve got that figured out, you can use essentially the same formula to calculate your overall digital advertising ROAS.

(Digital Ad Revenue) / (Digital Ad Cost) = (Overall ROAS)

Now, you’re ready to impress your CFO.

Fourth: Make Your CFO Love You

With these numbers in hand, you can pretty easily understand whether your advertising’s working. If you have an ROAS of under 100%, you’re losing money. Over, and you’re driving profit for your company.

While ROAS is a common term in advertising, return on investment (ROI) might be even simpler for your CFO to understand. How many dollars in profit are you generating for every dollar spent on digital marketing? An ROAS of 100% is the same as a 1:1 profit:spend ratio. An ROAS of 400% is the same as a 4:1 profit:spend ratio.

Then, you can go to your CFO and say things like, “For every $1 you give me in ad spend, I can create $4 in profit.”

You may sound a bit like Bernie Madoff, but the difference is that you can actually deliver on your promises.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there, crunch some numbers, and get ready to make your CFO your digital marketing budget’s best ally.

[For more on Echo Factory's approach to Digital Agency click here]

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“It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.” – Andrew Carnegie

At the close of the nineteenth century, as the world’s wealthiest man, Andrew Carnegie rededicated himself to philanthropy and community involvement. Only scratching the surface, he established more than 3,000 public libraries, endorsed working family education, and provided pension security for university faculty. Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest philanthropist the world has ever known, boasting his name across museum facades, esteemed institutions of higher education, and the world’s most famous music hall. If figures as bold as Carnegie can leave a roadmap, a lasting legacy, for social responsibility, surely corporate institutions can follow.

The history of political America is rich with stories, legends, and opinions. In recent years, a vibrant conversation regarding corporate personality has taken on new depths and intricacies. No matter the political stance on whether corporations are people, surely we can agree corporations consist of people; people from diverse backgrounds who span the political, socioeconomic, and idealistic spectrums and have stories to tell, dreams to pursue, and families to love. The essence of being human lies in these beautifully complicated distinctions. Unfortunately, abuse of these distinctions for profit by corporations has stained the work many major corporate strategists are pursuing.

A corporation’s role in society is a pressure point moving from the fringes to the forefront of C-level considerations, positioning philanthropic giving and partnership as a growing portion of marketing stratagem. In such a connected world, when earned media across social channels is valued greater than ever, consumer relation toward a product can enhance a brand’s social footprint. Having a humanized extended purpose, dedicated to connecting your brand to social progress, thus building trust between customers and marketing strategy, is a crucial component to elevating a brand to the next level.

[To read more of Jeffrey Stewart's thought leadership click here]

Millennial CSR Strategies

The younger generations are a growing, soon-to-be-dominant portion of the consumer population. Moreover, younger generations are increasingly skeptical of marketing and advertising. In response, brands have adopted and improved their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies to relate to new customers.

“People are getting more sophisticated about the connection between corporate responsibility and business strategy, and rightly so,” says Stanley S. Litow, vice president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs for International Business Machines Corp. and president of the IBM International Foundation. “If you are strategic and analytic, being a good corporate citizen can also produce real sustainable value for your company.” Success in any field requires an ability to adapt and evolve. Identifying those pressure points that appeal to your targeted customer base and shifting corporate investment toward authentic impact on those points can drive sales in new ways.

No matter the political stance on whether corporations are people, surely we can agree corporations consist of people; people from diverse backgrounds who span the political, socioeconomic, and idealistic spectrums and have stories to tell, dreams to pursue, and families to love.

Eyeglass disruptor Warby Parker embraces this philosophy of using CSR strategies as a vehicle for driving sales with their “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” program. When each pair of glasses is purchased, a portion of the cost is donated to any one of their philanthropic partners. These partners train men and women in the developing world to give basic eye exams and sell glasses at locally affordable prices. Thus far, the program is responsible for distributing over three million pairs of glasses throughout the developing world.

Authentic CSR at Work

The key is confidence. Are customers confident their purchase will be beneficial? Are shareholders confident their investment is safe and lucrative? Are managers and executives confident their decision-making matrix is well-founded and leading toward long-term growth? Developing this shift toward corporate social responsibility can encounter its share of speedbumps but leading with a resolute, top-down, voice for social and environmental good minimizes these speed bumps to mere hiccups.

“It can’t just be the pet project of the CEO,” says Jim Smith, president and chief executive of Thomson Reuters Corp. “Your corporate responsibility initiatives need to be tied to your business mission. When you do that, there’s an authenticity that resonates with the external world, and a galvanizing effect inside the firm because you’re going after issues your people care about.”

When brands embrace crucial CSR strategies, even in hard times, the long-term, resolute voice rings loud. Starbucks saw short lines in stores and declines in sales. Despite temptation to drop its commitment to local coffee farmers and ethical growing practices in coffee-producing countries, Starbucks leaned on its CSR commitments and saw themselves out of the red. Corporations and their brands thrive on the backs of the people who support them. They exist in a world that supports us all.

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“It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.” – Andrew Carnegie

At the close of the nineteenth century, as the world’s wealthiest man, Andrew Carnegie rededicated himself to philanthropy and community involvement. Only scratching the surface, he established more than 3,000 public libraries, endorsed working family education, and provided pension security for university faculty. Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest philanthropist the world has ever known, boasting his name across museum facades, esteemed institutions of higher education, and the world’s most famous music hall. If figures as bold as Carnegie can leave a roadmap, a lasting legacy, for social responsibility, surely corporate institutions can follow.

The history of political America is rich with stories, legends, and opinions. In recent years, a vibrant conversation regarding corporate personality has taken on new depths and intricacies. No matter the political stance on whether corporations are people, surely we can agree corporations consist of people; people from diverse backgrounds who span the political, socioeconomic, and idealistic spectrums and have stories to tell, dreams to pursue, and families to love. The essence of being human lies in these beautifully complicated distinctions. Unfortunately, abuse of these distinctions for profit by corporations has stained the work many major corporate strategists are pursuing.

A corporation’s role in society is a pressure point moving from the fringes to the forefront of C-level considerations, positioning philanthropic giving and partnership as a growing portion of marketing stratagem. In such a connected world, when earned media across social channels is valued greater than ever, consumer relation toward a product can enhance a brand’s social footprint. Having a humanized extended purpose, dedicated to connecting your brand to social progress, thus building trust between customers and marketing strategy, is a crucial component to elevating a brand to the next level.

[To read more of Michael Abraham's thought leadership click here]

Millennial CSR Strategies

The younger generations are a growing, soon-to-be-dominant portion of the consumer population. Moreover, younger generations are increasingly skeptical of marketing and advertising. In response, brands have adopted and improved their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies to relate to new customers.

“People are getting more sophisticated about the connection between corporate responsibility and business strategy, and rightly so,” says Stanley S. Litow, vice president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs for International Business Machines Corp. and president of the IBM International Foundation. “If you are strategic and analytic, being a good corporate citizen can also produce real sustainable value for your company.” Success in any field requires an ability to adapt and evolve. Identifying those pressure points that appeal to your targeted customer base and shifting corporate investment toward authentic impact on those points can drive sales in new ways.

No matter the political stance on whether corporations are people, surely we can agree corporations consist of people; people from diverse backgrounds who span the political, socioeconomic, and idealistic spectrums and have stories to tell, dreams to pursue, and families to love.

Eyeglass disruptor Warby Parker embraces this philosophy of using CSR strategies as a vehicle for driving sales with their “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” program. When each pair of glasses is purchased, a portion of the cost is donated to any one of their philanthropic partners. These partners train men and women in the developing world to give basic eye exams and sell glasses at locally affordable prices. Thus far, the program is responsible for distributing over three million pairs of glasses throughout the developing world.

Authentic CSR at Work

The key is confidence. Are customers confident their purchase will be beneficial? Are shareholders confident their investment is safe and lucrative? Are managers and executives confident their decision-making matrix is well-founded and leading toward long-term growth? Developing this shift toward corporate social responsibility can encounter its share of speedbumps but leading with a resolute, top-down, voice for social and environmental good minimizes these speed bumps to mere hiccups.

“It can’t just be the pet project of the CEO,” says Jim Smith, president and chief executive of Thomson Reuters Corp. “Your corporate responsibility initiatives need to be tied to your business mission. When you do that, there’s an authenticity that resonates with the external world, and a galvanizing effect inside the firm because you’re going after issues your people care about.”

When brands embrace crucial CSR strategies, even in hard times, the long-term, resolute voice rings loud. Starbucks saw short lines in stores and declines in sales. Despite temptation to drop its commitment to local coffee farmers and ethical growing practices in coffee-producing countries, Starbucks leaned on its CSR commitments and saw themselves out of the red. Corporations and their brands thrive on the backs of the people who support them. They exist in a world that supports us all.

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On December 7, 1963, a 29-year-old television director premiered a new invention during the Army vs. Navy football game that he called the instant replay. Whether he anticipated its impact on the entire sports experience for everyone from players to audiences to owners, or simply thought he was lessening the referees’ workload, is unclear. Today, instant replay technology has evolved to be a standard practice of sports entertainment, and with it, the emphasis on “how” you play the game has gone from motivational cliche invoked by coaches in the locker room to mission-critical detail that decides championships.

The embrace of technology by the sports and entertainment industries, though dramatically significant, is hardly unique. As business owners in 2017, we’ve witnessed digital technology’s inevitable infiltration of industries across the spectrum, even those once thought relatively immune. The opportunity to influence consumers, widening of the playing field for nimble, technology-loving upstart competition, and unprecedented power of branding and personalized consumer experience are just a few examples of phenomenons presented by the new digital landscape that have taken digital strategy from a line item to an ongoing, daily topic of discussion.

[To read more of Michael Abraham’s thought leadership click here]

Media and entertainment have been among the leaders in transforming operations and products to satisfy a digital appetite. UK-based technology market research firm Vanson Bourne, in partnership with Dell Technologies, conducted an evaluation of 4,000 business leaders from 16 countries across 12 distinct industries. Designed to uncover the effects and timelines of digital disruption, the results show 73% of respondents agree that a “centralized technology strategy needs to be a priority for their business.” Successful organizations focus on adopting diverse platforms to attract larger audiences, utilizing technology and branding across assets to drive results, and implementing solutions backed by data collection and analysis.

New Platforms, New Audiences

According to the same Dell survey, “72% of respondents [are] expanding their software development capabilities.” Even the heaviest of hitters in digital media are reaching to new areas. In 2016, Facebook launched Facebook Sports Stadium, an interactive hub for fans to interact with games, teams, and players more intimately. In 2017, Amazon outbid Facebook, YouTube, and former rights holder Twitter, for the streaming rights to Thursday Night Football, a one-year deal worth a reported $50M.¹ With introduction through the football, Amazon gathers a myriad of data points on customers and understands the potential for drawing a sports audience that will further explore Amazon’s expanding Prime Video service. Media and entertainment businesses are making monumental pushes to diversify their digital capabilities and push their brands further into the mainstream.

More than collecting valuable data on fan behavior, such as peak times for food ordering and parking habits, Levi’s Stadium and the 49ers accrued an additional $2M in revenues by digitizing the fan experience when inside the stadium doors.

The Power of Branding

A business plan with a significant digital strategy has proven to have greater opportunities for worldwide recognition. “Digital media companies are by definition global and there is an opportunity to do deals with them in 200 countries around the world where basketball is followed,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver.⁴ Social media’s reach of a worldwide audience has allowed more authentic access into a player’s personality. Just as personal, relatable branding campaigns consistently see greater returns, utilizing personable, relatable athletes as branding opportunities has proven a lucrative approach for brand strategy.

[For more on CCG LA's approach to Marketing click here]

“Three years ago, we were in 100 million pay-TV homes…[w]e now have 200 million smartphones that did not exist five years ago,” said Silver. “We need to work through this transition with our television partners. But my view is that this will be net strongly positive when everyone is carrying a TV in their pocket . . . We will truly make it up in volume.”

Dynamic Pricing Models

More than enhancing the experience for fans and players, a sold-out stadium means maximum ticket sales, heightened concession and merchandise sales, and a more desirable product for television audiences. Although, the structure of ticket sales has laid dormant for decades. Today, employing digital databases and analytics, franchises can use a dynamic approach to adjust ticket prices and fill empty seats leading up to game time. In Major League Baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals have a system capable of pinpointing optimal prices for sales by comparing data based on ticket demand, team performance, pitching matchups, and weather. According to professors at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, this ebb and flow of ticket prices can result in a 14.3% increase in revenue.¹

Digitizing the Experience

A side effect of today’s digital revolution includes changes in service industries. Before a game, fans can order food delivery through apps like Postmates or DoorDash, buy e-tickets through Stubhub or SeatGeek, and secure transportation to the stadium through Lyft or Uber. The only remaining experience yet to be digitized? The in-game experience. When Levi’s Stadium opened its doors to 49ers fans in San Francisco, attendees could use the official stadium app as their game ticket and parking pass, get GPS aid finding their seats, check instant replay, and order food delivery directly to their seats. More than collecting valuable data on fan behavior, such as peak times for food ordering and parking habits, Levi’s Stadium and the 49ers accrued an additional $2M in revenues by digitizing the fan experience when inside the stadium doors.³

Instant replay is now a classic example of filling a void we didn’t realize existed but, once filled, its use becomes ubiquitous and its absence would never again be tolerated. Newly discoverable “voids” and their subsequent technological solutions constantly emerge in a busy digital landscape. A coach is still wise to urge his players to focus on the game over winning or losing. But now in business, thanks to technology, we can identify exactly how to play the game to return a win every time.

¹ knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu 2 Wall Street Journal 3 venturenext.com 4 Financial Times

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On December 7, 1963, a 29-year-old television director premiered a new invention during the Army vs. Navy football game that he called the instant replay. Whether he anticipated its impact on the entire sports experience for everyone from players to audiences to owners, or simply thought he was lessening the referees’ workload, is unclear. Today, instant replay technology has evolved to be a standard practice of sports entertainment, and with it, the emphasis on “how” you play the game has gone from motivational cliche invoked by coaches in the locker room to mission-critical detail that decides championships.

The embrace of technology by the sports and entertainment industries, though dramatically significant, is hardly unique. As business owners in 2017, we’ve witnessed digital technology’s inevitable infiltration of industries across the spectrum, even those once thought relatively immune. The opportunity to influence consumers, widening of the playing field for nimble, technology-loving upstart competition, and unprecedented power of branding and personalized consumer experience are just a few examples of phenomenons presented by the new digital landscape that have taken digital strategy from a line item to an ongoing, daily topic of discussion.

[To read more of Jeffrey Stewart’s thought leadership click here]

Media and entertainment have been among the leaders in transforming operations and products to satisfy a digital appetite. UK-based technology market research firm Vanson Bourne, in partnership with Dell Technologies, conducted an evaluation of 4,000 business leaders from 16 countries across 12 distinct industries. Designed to uncover the effects and timelines of digital disruption, the results show 73% of respondents agree that a “centralized technology strategy needs to be a priority for their business.” Successful organizations focus on adopting diverse platforms to attract larger audiences, utilizing technology and branding across assets to drive results, and implementing solutions backed by data collection and analysis.

New Platforms, New Audiences

According to the same Dell survey, “72% of respondents [are] expanding their software development capabilities.” Even the heaviest of hitters in digital media are reaching to new areas. In 2016, Facebook launched Facebook Sports Stadium, an interactive hub for fans to interact with games, teams, and players more intimately. In 2017, Amazon outbid Facebook, YouTube, and former rights holder Twitter, for the streaming rights to Thursday Night Football, a one-year deal worth a reported $50M.¹ With introduction through the football, Amazon gathers a myriad of data points on customers and understands the potential for drawing a sports audience that will further explore Amazon’s expanding Prime Video service. Media and entertainment businesses are making monumental pushes to diversify their digital capabilities and push their brands further into the mainstream.

More than collecting valuable data on fan behavior, such as peak times for food ordering and parking habits, Levi’s Stadium and the 49ers accrued an additional $2M in revenues by digitizing the fan experience when inside the stadium doors.

The Power of Branding

A business plan with a significant digital strategy has proven to have greater opportunities for worldwide recognition. “Digital media companies are by definition global and there is an opportunity to do deals with them in 200 countries around the world where basketball is followed,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver.⁴ Social media’s reach of a worldwide audience has allowed more authentic access into a player’s personality. Just as personal, relatable branding campaigns consistently see greater returns, utilizing personable, relatable athletes as branding opportunities has proven a lucrative approach for brand strategy.

[For more on CCG LA’s approach to Marketing click here]

“Three years ago, we were in 100 million pay-TV homes…[w]e now have 200 million smartphones that did not exist five years ago,” said Silver. “We need to work through this transition with our television partners. But my view is that this will be net strongly positive when everyone is carrying a TV in their pocket . . . We will truly make it up in volume.”

Dynamic Pricing Models

More than enhancing the experience for fans and players, a sold-out stadium means maximum ticket sales, heightened concession and merchandise sales, and a more desirable product for television audiences. Although, the structure of ticket sales has laid dormant for decades. Today, employing digital databases and analytics, franchises can use a dynamic approach to adjust ticket prices and fill empty seats leading up to game time. In Major League Baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals have a system capable of pinpointing optimal prices for sales by comparing data based on ticket demand, team performance, pitching matchups, and weather. According to professors at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, this ebb and flow of ticket prices can result in a 14.3% increase in revenue.¹

Digitizing the Experience

A side effect of today’s digital revolution includes changes in service industries. Before a game, fans can order food delivery through apps like Postmates or DoorDash, buy e-tickets through Stubhub or SeatGeek, and secure transportation to the stadium through Lyft or Uber. The only remaining experience yet to be digitized? The in-game experience. When Levi’s Stadium opened its doors to 49ers fans in San Francisco, attendees could use the official stadium app as their game ticket and parking pass, get GPS aid finding their seats, check instant replay, and order food delivery directly to their seats. More than collecting valuable data on fan behavior, such as peak times for food ordering and parking habits, Levi’s Stadium and the 49ers accrued an additional $2M in revenues by digitizing the fan experience when inside the stadium doors.³

Instant replay is now a classic example of filling a void we didn’t realize existed but, once filled, its use becomes ubiquitous and its absence would never again be tolerated. Newly discoverable “voids” and their subsequent technological solutions constantly emerge in a busy digital landscape. A coach is still wise to urge his players to focus on the game over winning or losing. But now in business, thanks to technology, we can identify exactly how to play the game to return a win every time.

¹ knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu 2 Wall Street Journal 3 venturenext.com 4 Financial Times

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The world in which we live is constantly evolving at such a rapid pace. Seismic technological, social, political, and economic shifts occur so frequently that brands in nearly every sector must remain agile and apply critical strategies to adapt. Particularly challenged are art and cultural institutions whose rich history and purpose must be communicated with the utmost integrity, while also appealing to a broader demographic in order to drive engagement and grow their audience.

Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History’s Executive Director Nina Simon recently published The Art of Relevance, in which she “explores how mission-driven organizations can matter more to more people.” Throughout Simon’s book and in her TEDx talk, she methodically examines the concept that museums and other cultural institutions can become connectors within their communities when they measure and deepen their relevance.

From a business perspective, further cultivating this relevance with the public requires an effective brand and digital strategy that accommodates the demands of our current culture and puts the user and their connection to community at the forefront. At Zehner, we’ve served as both the creative and technology partner to leading art and cultural organizations. Be it the museum space, film and live entertainment venues, or one of the most comprehensive public transit systems in our country, our team comprises experts that understand how to engage the community through the intersection of savvy design and user experience that delivers real results.

Recent, notable examples include our rebrand and site redesign for the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA). As San Antonio continues to gain recognition for its buzzing tech, art, and cultural scene, SAMA has emerged as one of the country’s leading museums. SAMA approached Zehner to deliver a new brand and design experience that would drive deeper engagement within the community and educate the public on the transformational experiences the museum provides.

[To read more of Matthew Zehner's thought leadership click here]

Additionally, we’ve supported the rebirth of public transportation in Los Angeles with our ongoing work with LA Metro. Our user-experience support has helped drive community ridership and improve the quality of life for its now 39 million monthly riders.

Here are leading-edge methods for these vital organizations to attract new audiences, drive demand, and increase engagement.

Elevated Branding

Illuminating art, culture, and history through an elevated experience is key to fulfilling a multifaceted vision that can be sustained over time. Modernizing the embodiment of an organization’s brand is an important first step. However, establishing a new brand identity and strategy for an institution that serves the public often requires a delicate balance of heritage and innovation. Attracting new audiences is crucial, while also remaining mindful that the contemporary iteration of the brand maintains a connection with current constituencies.

Teamwork and A Collaborative Approach

Turning an idea into something that you can see, feel, and be proud of is no simple task. When a large institution can remain nimble and committed to cross-functional teamwork, this can help uncover valuable insights and elevate the spirit of partnership with their agency arm or among their internal personnel. If opting to work with an agency, it’s important to select a partner that can remain empathetic to an organization’s challenges and work collaboratively to deliver optimum results.

Keen focus should be concentrated on building a vibrant digital space that not only highlights the organization’s significant work, but also immerses userS in a community center where they learn about additional opportunities to connect in meaningful ways.

Creating A Comprehensive Styleguide

When reimagining a new identity for an organization, creating a comprehensive style guide ensures the integrity of the brand is preserved at the highest level and consistently carried across all touch points, both digital and physical. Visual relevance and the correct usage of the logomark and logotype all play a pivotal role in delivering consistent branding on an everyday basis that will advance and retain awareness and loyalty.

Crafting A Strategy That Realizes and Executes on Long-Term Goals

In order to grow an organization’s audience, the new brand, design, and communications strategy should actively speak to its city’s residents and tourism industry and the institution’s loyal advocates. This requires that an agency partner or in-house team take a holistic approach to their work and remain focused on sustainable growth. By leveraging all customer data and audience segments, the team can develop an initiative that emotionally connects with their constituencies and drives impressive ROI.

User Experience

Focus on the heart of the art and cultural organization—its people. In today’s digital landscape, it’s a user’s market. Creating a best-in-class user experience is paramount to the success of a digital property. Whether an organization’s reach is local, national, or international, their audience of visitors, artists, scholars, and members should all be carefully considered throughout the architecture of the user journey.

Establish First-Rate Information Architecture

Putting everything in its right place when designing a website or digital platform can often present a challenging task. But establishing solid IA is imperative to crafting the best possible user experience and paths for each visitor type and goal. Have a team that’s willing to get their hands dirty in this process and utilize all tools wisely, from the card sort through to the site map and wireframe.

Responsive Design

Aesthetics are very important, and the visual design of an interactive experience should be carefully examined. Everything from colors, images, typography, icons, and buttons must be strategically implemented in order to engage users. A beautiful website alone is no longer sufficient however. In a mobile-first world, users have different needs depending upon platform and interaction type. Responsive design has reached a critical juncture, and an organization’s site must be able to adapt to any device. Prototyping and user testing are also essential to optimizing the experience, and effective teams understand that these are fundamental components of a comprehensive UX design process.

Engage and Educate Your Community Through Experience Design

Keen focus should be concentrated on building a vibrant digital space that not only highlights the organization’s significant work, but also immerses users in a community center where they learn about additional opportunities to connect in meaningful ways. UX should help narrow the gap between the institution and its audience by clearly celebrating the array of offerings provided to the public. When an initiative is properly featured on the site, it no longer flies under the radar and instead experiences a significant uptick in attendance. Carefully consider all that the organization contributes to the community at large, whether it be in the form of educational programs, film series, shopping experiences, food and beverage options, lecture series, and much more. Then go about ensuring these are taken into consideration early in the creative process and observed in a dynamic manner on the site.

LEVERAGING DATA AND DRIVING MEMBERSHIP

At Zehner, we support the overall vision for a variety of community-based organizations. Our team comprises  experts that excel in developing member acquisition, sustaining lifetime membership value, and increasing ticket sales by leveraging analytics.

A compelling digital product that fully reimagines the user journey can deliver significant ROI for purpose-driven organizations. In tandem with a modern and sustainable brand, art and cultural institutions can connect with multiple demographics and redefine their relevance as a must-see destination for the community at large.

[For more on Zehner’s approach to Digital Marketing click here]

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When Amazon exploded onto the retail scene in 1995, it shook the very foundation of how customers went about tracking down and purchasing everything from books to baseball bats. It ushered in the era of e-commerce, granting buyers instant access to products previously limited to whatever their local brick-and-mortar stores happened to have in stock. Now, twenty years later, the reverse is happening and rising star brands that start out online must reach out to big box stores in order to fully reach their audiences.

With 17 years of experience in helping to connect brands and buyers, our company, bDirect Companies, has seen just how vital marketing and brand management is to the success of any product. With more and more products getting their start on the web, we’ve identified several trends in the brand-to-buyer marketing process of which all brand oriented business owners should be aware.

Bridging the Divide

The first thing to be aware of is the amount of consolidation happening in the retail landscape. Thousands of brands all must compete for the attention of fewer and fewer retailers. This rift can make or break a new brand, so sales and marketing agencies like ours, which work to pair brands with retailers, are a vital step in the process. For this to succeed, however, marketing agencies must already have deep, established relationships with the biggest retailer players so that the retailer trusts that the brand being recommended is worth the investment. As this trend is likely to continue, working with partners that have good track records is paramount.

"Customers can go directly to a brand’s e-commerce enabled website directly. We’ve already seen successful models of this for brands like Warby Parker and Dollar Shave Club. This model won’t replace Amazon or big box stores because brands still need a physical retail presence in order to reach the majority of consumers."

Trending Is Trending

No matter how good a marketing agency is, though, at the end of the day only the buyer for big retailers like Walmart or Target can decide what to stock. The best way to get a product onto their shelves is to have it be part of something that is currently trending – basically what’s already selling and working in the marketplace. Knowledge of the wider industry is key, particularly which companies are established trendsetters, like Apple for personal tech, or Amazon for customer interaction: things like free and next day shipping.

[To read more of Noah Bremen’s thought leadership click here]

Beyond that, though, which trends to follow depends on which trends you follow. Authenticity is key as the core consumer becomes more Millennial. If you’re not authentic, you’re done. It helps to have a personal connection to your brands. For example, if you played baseball in college and sports nutrition was something that personally interested you, that passion could translate into representing diet brands and energy drinks – it’s easy to champion something you’re already passionate about.

Social Media Monster

The business fundamentals haven’t changed much in the last twenty years, as far as how to bring in data and interpret it. What has changed is the fact that success is now increasingly directly related to how well you can interpret social media analytics: for example, extrapolating what happens within Facebook marketing to determine the size of the prize once you expand that into larger distribution big box retail. If an item is hot, it’ll translate to the masses, but before you do that, often times it is wise to first position a brand within a bellwether retailer or class of trade to test the waters. As the saying goes, ‘fail cheaply; win big.’

Looking to the Future

Dovetailing off this, the final trend to be aware of is the increasing speed at which a brand’s reputation – both positive and negative – spreads. Social media’s influence doesn’t stop with metrics. Social media users and Millennials in particular are closely keyed into hot social and cultural issues, and they share their reactions regularly and instantly. Today’s consumers like to understand where their products come from, how they are made, and whether their purchase represents something they support from a social or political perspective.

[For more on bDirect’s approach to Marketing click here]

But they also expect that the brand will ship in two days or less. Interactive agencies like Conversion Systems - a turnkey platform with digital marketing to help brands sell direct to consumer via the Internet -  can now assist in providing service and technology suites to brands to make that possible. In addition to pure play or retailer sales, customers can go directly to a brand’s e-commerce enabled website directly. We’ve already seen successful models of this for brands like Warby Parker and Dollar Shave Club. This model won’t replace Amazon or big box stores because brands still need a physical retail presence in order to reach the majority of consumers. But as far as looking to the future, it’s all going to be a part of the new norm, and the shift is happening right now.

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In an ideal world, we would all give to philanthropic causes purely because we want to make the world a better place. We do not live in that world. Everything from pledge-drive “thank you gifts” to buildings named after major donors reminds us of this fact.

We give for many reasons. For causes we believe in, needs we want to see fulfilled, and for personal experiences and connections. But we also give for the sake of recognition. For tax deductions, for the admiration of our peers, and maybe even for the sake of marketing.

And that’s okay.

A dollar given to a worthy cause for selfish reasons is worth exactly the same amount as one given in pure altruism. When the motivation for our philanthropic giving is marketing, the process is typically called “cause marketing.” American Express gets credit for inventing the term in 1983. Jerry Welsh, head of the company’s travel services division, was looking for a cause with which to partner. He pitched a number of ideas to company Chairman Louis Gerstner Jr.

[To read more of Mike Schaffer's thought leadership click here]

Pitches built on partnerships with higher education, historic preservation, and arts organizations were all shot down as too bland or disconnected from the brand. Then, Welsh pitched a restoration campaign for a historic landmark just a few miles from the company’s headquarters in New York: the Statue of Liberty.

Gerstner was sold on the idea and, in the fall, the company launched (and heavily promoted) a campaign that donated $0.01 of every transaction placed on an AmEx card to the restoration of the famous landmark.

It was an unequivocal success. During the campaign, AmEx transactions were up 30%, and the program raised $1.7M for the preservation of Lady Liberty. That’s a donation worth over $4.1M in today’s dollars. The company recognized the brilliance of its formula, coined the term “cause marketing,” and spent more than $30M on cause campaigns over the next five years.

While AmEx invented the term, they certainly didn’t invent the methodology. A hundred years earlier, Joseph Pulitzer was using the same statue’s cause to sell newspapers.

During the campaign, AmEx transactions were up 30%, and the program raised $1.7M for the preservation of Lady Liberty. That’s a donation worth over $4.1M in today’s dollars. The company recognized the brilliance of its formula, coined the term “cause marketing,” and spent more than $30M on cause campaigns over the next five years.

In 1885, the Statue of Liberty was in New York in pieces, awaiting assembly and a platform to stand on. The government of France had donated the statue, but neither the city of New York nor Congress could figure out how to appropriate the money needed for the plinth.

Enter Joseph Pulitzer, the man who once said, “Publicity, publicity, publicity is the greatest moral factor and force in our public life.” He launched a fundraising campaign for the statue’s base, covering it extensively in his newspaper, The World, and promising to print the names of donors in the paper.

The campaign was an immense success, raising the needed money and boosting sales of Pulitzer’s newspaper. So much so that cause-related fundraising campaigns became a mainstay of The World for years to come.

Today, cause marketing is often a key part of a successful marketing strategy. The best campaigns tie together the company with a cause that’s near and dear to its customers’ hearts.

Buy a pair of Brooks trail runners at REI, and you’ll be supporting the National Park Foundation. Eat at Cracker Barrel, and you’ll be helping to put the chain’s iconic rocking chairs on the front porches of veterans through Operation Homefront. Buy a Moana Blu-ray, and you’re helping Disney’s efforts to empower young women through coding camps and STEM education initiatives.

Want to emulate that success with a campaign of your own? Here are a few principles that’ll set you on the right path.

First, start by picking the right cause. That can mean either a cause that’s tied directly to your products, as with REI and the National Park Foundation, or something with a looser connection to your products but a strong connection to your employees and customers.

Adopting pets doesn’t have much to do with ordering shoes online, but that hasn’t hampered the success of Zappos’ “Friends on Us Fridays” campaign. It covers adoption fees at select shelters around the country one day a week. The company likely performed in-depth demographic studies before launching the campaign, but it could have reached the same place with a conversation along the lines of: “What does everybody love?” “Puppies.” “Ok, let’s do that.”

Keep in mind that authenticity should always be the goal. If your company’s employees, leadership or products have an authentic connection to a cause, that’s your answer.

Second, develop a partnership with the nonprofit you’re planning to support. For nearly every cause marketing success story, there’s a corresponding failure. Developing your nonprofit partnerships and coordinating your campaign early on will help avoid pitfalls and ensure your campaign is maximizing its potential positive impact.

Finally, don’t be afraid to promote your campaign, but make sure the cause stays at the center of that promotion. The promotion isn’t about you; it’s about what you have the opportunity to do for your worthy cause.

Do it right, and you’ll be giving genuine support to a worthy cause, while giving a strong boost to the effectiveness of your marketing and outreach programs. It might not be a purely altruistic proposition, but it’s certainly something that can be good for your brand—and good for the causes you support.

[For more on Echo Factory's approach to Public Relations click here] 

" ["post_title"]=> string(18) "Giving To Yourself" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(129) "Michael Schaffer of Echo Factory explains how philanthropy and charity can be one of your smartest business marketing investments" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(62) "michael-schaffer-marketing-public-relations-giving-to-yourself" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 11:47:02" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 18:47:02" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=25655" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [12]=> object(WP_Post)#5220 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(29041) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-09-18 13:49:36" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-09-18 20:49:36" ["post_content"]=> string(11127) "It’s a tale as old as time. A company is born. It outsources its marketing to an experienced agency that helps the company increase revenue and scale business. The company continues to see results from the marketing efforts of that agency and grows bigger. Everyone is happy. And then the company reaches a point where it feels obligated to bring its marketing internal. “That’s what you’re supposed to do right?” says the company. The company brings its marketing in-house and tries to replicate what that fully-staffed, expertly trained agency was able to do with a few new, in-house team members. It doesn’t work out great. Growth stalls. The company loses revenue and has to cut back on its marketing budget. In my years in the marketing industry, I’ve seen this exact situation unfold numerous times. It’s normal for companies to grow, mature, and want to bring all their efforts internal. But I’m not sure when it became accepted as a best practice for companies to reach a certain level of success and deem it necessary to bring all their marketing in-house. I’ve personally seen dozens of companies make that mistake and then lose access to all of the market insight an agency brings to the table.

[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

On average, at my company, Hawke Media, our clients’ revenue increases by 274% within the first six months when we step in and take over marketing efforts. You know why? Because it’s literally what we are paid to do. And the low-hanging fruit that enable us to produce such incredible results so quickly aren’t seen by the internal team because they lack that outsider perspective. Again, I’m not saying that companies aren’t capable or shouldn’t market themselves. But this misplaced obligation companies feel when it comes to bringing marketing in-house as some sort of right-of-passage can create some serious pitfalls in the long-run. Here’s why.

Companies don't have the resources to train and develop a team.

Most, if not all, CEOs know at least some basic marketing. But to truly get the best results, you want your marketing strategy to be handled by experts. With an agency, you’re able to have a team of professionals who are experts, not just in marketing in general, but within specific facets of marketing like email, media buying, or social. Companies attempting to bring all of their marketing in-house seriously struggle with finding talent and 71% of in-house creative leaders say they don’t even have enough time to develop team members. This means that most in-house teams aren’t going to be anywhere near as trained, knowledgeable, efficient, and experienced as an external agency. Hiring an outside team allows companies the ability to fill that team with individuals who are experts specifically in the areas in which the marketing is focused. In-house marketers often have to be Jacks-of-all-trades, whereas marketing agencies devote resources into continually educating their employees to keep them on the cutting edge of their specific marketing niche. At Hawke, we pay for our employees to attend General Assembly classes to freshen up or expand their skills, industry conferences so that they know all the latest research in the field, and any other ways they find to continue to develop professionally. Unfortunately, most companies don’t have that kind of budget to spend on their marketing, which puts the in-house marketing team at a serious disadvantage. In fact, 75% of marketers believe that their lack of skills is impacting revenue. Agencies satisfy this issue by providing a diverse team with the education and experience to get the job done.

Their budgets become rigid and flexible.

A static budget is not an adaptable budget. This is the real world. Things aren’t always going to go to plan. Flexible budgets are able to adjust when that change inevitably happens. The Motley Fool said it best: “A flexible budget can handle that reality and better position a company for the challenges of the marketplace.” At Hawke, we understand the tumultuous nature of the ecommerce industry and we don’t want our clients to feel like they’re trapped into these long, expensive contracts. That’s why we offer all our services a la carte and on a month-to-month basis. Clients are able to adjust budget and add or take away services without any contractual obligations. If they need to cut back on marketing efforts during their slower months, they can. If sales have been incredible and they’re ready to scale up, they can do that too. Companies need to be ready and able to adapt at a moment’s notice. Having an outsourced marketing team allows for immediate mobilization because you have instant access to a team of specialized, experienced marketers. It also allows brands the opportunity to be bolder and more creative since there’s no long-term commitment.

They struggle to see the forest from the trees.

Agencies have an outside perspective and are going to be much less biased than an in-house team. In order to successfully market to current and prospective audiences, you’re going to need to be able to put yourself in their shoes in order to assess what exactly they need. An agency is going to provide a much more objective perspective. Additionally, marketers at marketing agencies are in the trenches day in and day out. They work with numerous clients and have a large network of vendors and channels. These people know what they’re talking about and have the experience to prove it. In fact, even companies that have in-house marketing teams will work with outside agencies. According to the 2018 In-House Creative Industry Report, at least 77% of in-house teams partner with external agencies, which tells you that even solid internal creative teams need outsider advice to keep that needle moving.

And they lose valuable time and resources in the process.

Time is money. Literally. An outsourced team is going to provide a faster speed to market than an in-house team since marketing agencies have larger staffs, a plethora of resources and the expertise to churn out quality deliverables quickly. Agencies have to be efficient, as they are results-driven, and employees are used to juggling and prioritizing the needs of different clients. The processes already established at these agencies allow them to produce high-quality work on deadline and within budget. Additionally, hiring an outside team is exponentially cheaper than recruiting, hiring, onboarding, training, and paying an in-house team. Bringing on a firm makes it easier for companies to scale up if things are going well, as well as cut back or go a different route if the company isn’t happy with the agency’s results.

The proof is in the pudding

Outsourced marketing teams are built specifically to deliver exceptional results in an efficient manner At Hawke, we’ve seen client revenue per day grow by as much as 3,500%. Even with an established brand like Tamara Mellon, we were able to make an impact - increasing the brand’s revenue per day by 280% and overall revenues by 50%. The allure to owning and bringing all your efforts in-house may be tempting, but it just doesn’t make sense. Of course, the decision to outsource or not must be addressed on a case-by-case basis and influenced by your company’s specific needs, but we’ve all heard the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If you’re seeing great results with your outsourced marketing agency, there’s no rule that states you must transition to in-house just because you’re finally seeing some success. Stick to what you’re great at and let the experts handle the rest.

[For more insight from Hawke Media click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(17) "Help Me, Help You" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(84) "Why Bringing Your Marketing In-House May Be the Worst Business Decision You Can Make" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(30) "erik-huberman-help-me-help-you" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 15:11:36" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 22:11:36" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=29041" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [13]=> object(WP_Post)#5219 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(27792) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-05-24 16:39:31" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-05-24 23:39:31" ["post_content"]=> string(7631) "It’s no secret that happy, motivated and productive employees are good for business. Having a company full of people who are inspired and ready to do their job to the best of their ability each day is crucial to company success, regardless of size. Compensation and benefits are some of the most important drivers of employee satisfaction. It’s no surprise then that businesses will often incorporate bonuses based on performance - anything from typical pay bonuses to company-wide incentives like profit-share or ownership. Though compensation for hard work is important, it’s imperative that the reward is appropriate. According to a study done by the Harvard Business Review, “performance-related pay [is] positively associated with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and trust in management”; but profit-related pay is not. Here at Hawke, we thought long and hard about what type of employee behavior we wanted to reward and how we wanted to reward it. With our business model, client trust and satisfaction are everything, so we naturally sought to reward employee behavior that contributed to maintaining positive and fruitful client relations. That led to our lightbulb moment: since we’re a month-to-month service, client longevity isn’t a given. It’s something we have to constantly work to maintain. We offer our services on an a la carte basis, so clients only pay for what they need. Often, our experts see that a client could benefit from an additional service, but fear the client might be miffed by an upsell. So how do we reward employees for great work that fosters client trust and long-lasting client relationships?

We reward employees based on retaining clients, not increasing their budgets. 

Why?

When employees are rewarded for increasing clients’ budgets, they’re more likely to push companies to take bigger risks. These employees develop a short-term strategy that often pushes companies into uncomfortable situations where these risks end up being detrimental. Not surprisingly, this tends to hurt the client relationship. By rewarding based on client retention, you adopt a long-term approach where employees are likely to be more conservative with their recommendations and allow the company to take risks on their own terms. Retention-based pay helps not only client relations, but also keeps your employees accountable and engaged.

How It Works

1. Links Client Success to Employee Success

At Hawke, we have a different business model than most marketing agencies. We offer our services a la carte and operate on a monthly basis, meaning we don’t lock clients into long-term contracts. Because clients can pick and choose only the services they need, when they need them, we’re able to create uniquely tailored marketing solutions that fit into budgets of any size. However, this creates extra pressure on our ops teams to inspire and impress clients daily so they continue their relationship with us for as long as possible. Rewarding employees based on client retention gives extra incentive to keep the client’s needs in mind. This leads to genuine, long-lasting relationships between our employees and clients, since the client’s success and happiness is directly linked to the Hawke employee’s success. This system has led to mutually beneficial relationships - not only do we perform for the client, but that performance often leads to new business through client referrals. Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful tools when it comes to maintaining and expanding your client roster.

2. Establishes and Maintains Client Trust

The other day, a client expressed concern that our team was trying to upsell him with new services he wasn’t entirely convinced he needed. He was worried that our team was trying to boost their commissions by throwing unnecessary services at him. When I told him that our team was rewarded solely for client retention, his whole attitude changed. He instantly became much more receptive toward our team’s suggestions and expressed a heighted trust in his team at Hawke. As is almost always the case, the client felt assured that his business - and not just his money - was valued. When clients know that their team is rewarded based on keeping them around, they stop worrying about getting swindled when the team gives recommendations. They also don’t need to worry about their team losing interest when a new client comes along. Their business and their money is even more valuable now than it was when they first signed.

3. Drives Employee Performance

Goals are great for driving employee performance, and key performance indicators make great objective measurements to assess whether employees have met those goals. By introducing incentive pay based on client retention, you link your KPIs to client satisfaction. This makes life easier for your executive staff, as it eliminates the need to set new goals for each team member every quarter. Of course, managers should still speak with their team members to figure out individual and personal goals, especially when it comes to professional growth and development. But by rewarding based on client retention, you mitigate the risk of individual employees losing sight of the bigger picture and the role they play in getting there. Managing employee performance starts with setting clear expectations. With this incentive system in place, client feedback can serve as that clarification and keep everyone aligned.

Engaged Employees, Happy Clients

I’ve found our reward system keeps the team members at Hawke engaged and focused, which leads to stellar client work and increased client satisfaction. In fact, it’s proven that companies with highly engaged employees consistently outperform companies with disengaged employees. Incentive pay based on client retention encourages our employees to consistently improve their effectiveness while simultaneously doing the same for the company as a whole. By looking into the needs of our business and structuring our incentive pay program around that, we’ve aligned employees goals to company and client goals. Clients trust that their team at Hawke has their best interests at heart, Hawke team members communicate openly and have a clear understanding of what needs to be done to meet their goals and Hawke as a company benefits by fostering both genuine client-company relationships, as well as a culture of happy, engaged employees. " ["post_title"]=> string(46) "How Retention Based Pay Helps Client Relations" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(120) "An in-depth look into rewarding an employee with retention based pay to maintain their drive and a client's happiness " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(60) "erik-huberman-how-retention-based-pay-helps-client-relations" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 15:19:52" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 22:19:52" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=27792" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [14]=> object(WP_Post)#5218 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(30094) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "254" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-04-08 14:42:46" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-04-08 21:42:46" ["post_content"]=> string(7394) "As brick-and-mortar stores across the United States face the challenges of online retail, the online shopping world has stepped up its game. Simultaneously, social media has jumped on the bandwagon and assisted in driving e-commerce sales. As the market continues to shift and transform, retailers are acclimating to the market evolution—this means altering the customer experience to fit the needs of retail shopping on a handheld device. It’s no surprise that social media and e-commerce go hand in hand. Online retail has grown 300 percent from 2000 to 2018, while social media has soared. In fact, social channels have become the main forum of marketing these e-commerce shops, and these social platforms have become a main outlet for purchasing goods. With recent technological advances, online shopping has become widely accepted by retailers. In turn, retailers have made their online shopping experience as user-friendly as possible. With the convenience of purchasing goods at your fingertips, intertwined with the customer service of a mom-and-pop shop, it makes sense that 3,800 brick-and-mortar stores were expected to close their doors in 2018. Seventy-nine percent of customers placed online orders via mobile devices in 2018. Clearly, online shoppers prefer transactions on smartphones versus desktops. With more than 230 million Americans owning a smartphone, the e-commerce shift has inevitably taken precedence on mobile devices.

[To read more of Jennifer Hurless’ thought leadership click here]

With the rise of e-commerce, companies have honed in on their social channels to optimize sales. The first trend that successful companies have adopted is the use of a dynamic website: a user-friendly layout, a familiar and consistent brand voice, ease of purchasing items, and 24-hour customer support. Recently, companies have taken their website dynamic to the next level—offering shopping experiences and options not available in stores. Virtual reality and augmented reality have added vibrant layers to the traditional retail model. This has ultimately altered the way social platforms are utilized—especially for advertisers.

Virtual reality and augmented reality have added vibrant layers to the traditional retail model. This has ultimately altered the way social platforms are utilized—especially for advertisers.

The way to a successful e-commerce brand is fully understanding your target audience. Brands have adopted a sense of social consciousness by connecting their “internal culture with their exterior identity.” That means adapting to the demands of you market. Think about how the majority of water bottle companies have implemented thin plastic bottles (compared to the thicker, sturdier plastic bottles) as a means to show concern for the growing sustainability movement. The same goes for social purposes: If your customers do most of their finger scrolling on Instagram, you must assimilate to that platform and make your feed as intriguing and shopping friendly as possible. Speaking of giving users what they want, let’s discuss the vital visual aspect of social media and e-commerce, with videos on social media on the rise. Companies are taking full advantage of new social media technology as a means to bring in the big bucks. From live streaming events, video takeovers, the ability to import high-quality videos on Instagram and Facebook stories, and the recent addition of Instagram’s IGTV, it’s obvious that videos are #trending. Not to mention, if you’re a verified account, Instagram gives you video priority—with an IGTV upload limit extending 60 minutes (the average Instagram user is only granted a 10-minute-long upload). So yes, you do get the upper hand when your social media is kickass. Some predict that 2019 will see a massive amount of money devoted to paid campaigns and influencer marketing, Resulting in social media influencers and micro-influencers having a major impact on shopping trends. Meanwhile, online advertising has overtaken print, with social media channels presenting new layers of ads throughout users’ newsfeeds. One-click-purchase options bring ease to Facebook users. Furthermore, human-like chatbots allow consumers to place orders directly in Facebook messenger. These innovative advertisement features have boosted the e-commerce and social media realm. However, if the same ad continues to pop up (almost like it is following you), customers have the option to block the ad from running in their feed. Similarly, users can forever unsubscribe from chatbots. On the other hand, chatbots have the potential to successfully retarget 56 percent of shoppers when these human-like bots recommend products. It is a fine line to walk between helpful suggestions and aggressive spam.

In the world of social media marketing, adjusting to technology and the demands of the consumer is vital for your e-commerce bottom line.

Capturing email addresses for customer retention is another contributing factor to the e-commerce sphere. Email-marketing software programs allow customers to adjust preferences on the types of emails they would like to receive and message frequency. These laser-detail preferences are equally as beneficial to the company for their insights on what users want. A spam-less inbox for the win! The online retail market grew every month in 2018 and part of this success can be attributed to better internet security. Users are more agreeable and trusting of e-commerce brands, as they willingly give their credentials in exchange for products. With information security standards for e-commerce sites required by law, people aren’t typically wary of completing their purchases—but this doesn’t mean you should be lax with internet security. Rather, do whatever you can to be sure you can ensure your customers a fraud-less checkout process. How can you leverage social media to enhance your e-commerce site? Have you adjusted to consumers’ ever-changing marketing values? Do you plan on implementing these new trends in 2019 on your social platforms? In the world of social media marketing, adjusting to technology and the demands of the consumer is vital for your e-commerce bottom line.

[For more on Go Be Social Media’s approach to Social & Digital Media click here]

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By definition, “culture” is the attitude, customs, and beliefs of a particular society or group of people. Culture may include language, music, arts, and social habits. It may also include shared patterns of behaviors and interactions. Since the inception of the internet and the consequent growth of social media networks and platforms, the way we communicate, behave, and interact has changed and is continuing to change dramatically.

1. Bold Expression

When has there ever been a time in history where you actually knew all of your friends’ political opinions? There is a really good chance you do now and you may not always like it. With social media platforms like Facebook, people feel the need to express their opinions on current events or political issues, show their approval or disapproval of groups or policies, and generally interact in a whole new way. While public debate on topics is usually a sign of a progressive society, public debate on social media platforms can often turn negative or divisive if not moderated appropriately, either by the individual or by the specific platform. We have all noticed that being behind a computer or mobile device allows a person to interact and communicate in ways they would not in a face-to-face setting. The rules for appropriate behavior on social media platforms are constantly changing and evolving. This brings the question, is this weakening our interpersonal relationships?

[To read more of Jennifer Hurless’ thought leadership click here]

2. In Person vs. Social Media Etiquette

The days of handwriting long letters and memos are over. Social media platforms such as Twitter have a 140 character limit and, even on platforms allowing longer posts, brevity is seen as a positive. Communication is often accomplished with a short text or even an emoji. Interpreting someone’s tone and the true intent behind their message in such a short format is one of the hardest things about these new communication avenues. For example, while being fast and short in a message or email is helpful to get a point across quickly, it can sometimes be received as curt. A good rule of thumb when communicating with social media or even email is to start with a greeting like “hello” or “hi” and end with a positive comment. Responding to a text or direct message with “k” can be interpreted as rude, while responding with “okay, thank you” is considered polite. It’s almost like social media has its own language.

Communication is often accomplished with a short text or even an emoji. Interpreting someone’s tone and the true intent behind their message in such a short format is one of the hardest things about these new communication avenues.

3. Culture of Likes

We have become driven by the number of friends, followers, likes, and shares we are able to amass on social media. If you look at the big social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube, they all have something in common. They have their own version of the “like” button. With so many young adolescents being glued to their smart devices, these “likes” are seen as approval of their appearance, opinion, friends, choices, values, and who they are as a person. This upcoming generation will be more influenced by the opinions of others than any other generation in history. However social media does put you in touch with like-minded people around the world. That can be good, when LGBTQ youth discover communities of support. It can also be bad, when neo-Nazis discover there are others like them. If you have an opinion or belief, you can find someone on the Internet who will share and validate it.

4. The Power of Information Access

One of the best things about the way social media is influencing our culture is that we are now able to have conversations with people who can affect change. We have the power to reach anyone through a Facebook post, blog post, or even a tweet. Your opinion can be heard and shared. We have access to experts, politicians, and even celebrities. We get real time information from platforms like Twitter. We can post a question on Quora and get hundreds of answers. If you need inspiration or creative ideas, there is Pinterest. You can find basically anything you need on Etsy, Ebay, or Amazon. Each of these platforms, while perhaps not technically social media, all have a social component to them starting with reviews. Reviews are another way a person is able to express his/her opinion and potentially affect change. For example, if you are unhappy or happy with a restaurant experience, instead of calling over a manager, you can write a review on Yelp or you can post on any of your social media platforms about your experience. Social media also allows us to feel knowledgeable about areas we are do not know much about. This can lead to ingrained opinions which may not be accurate. Reading an article about vaccines does not make you qualified to have an opinion on them. Which then leads to what we call today “fake news.”

[For more on Go be Social Media’s approach to Social & Digital Media click here]

5. Constant Communication

Have you noticed that you feel the need to check in constantly? With social media, there is no such thing as down time. Studies are even showing that it can be addictive. Hearing the ding of a notification causes a dopamine reaction in your brain causing you to get excited to see what new message, like, or comment you have received. We are in a culture of constant communication where we are never really not connected anymore. This new way of communication is transforming the way we live our lives through real time sharing and visual experience. The constant advancements in technology and social media are causing our culture to continually evolve and change. end

" ["post_title"]=> string(43) "How Social Media is Influencing Our Culture" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(98) "A look at five detrimental habits practiced too often across various social platforms and channels" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(55) "jennifer-hurless-marketing-social-digital-media-culture" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 11:43:29" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 18:43:29" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=25617" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [16]=> object(WP_Post)#5216 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(27696) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-05-10 10:59:10" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-05-10 17:59:10" ["post_content"]=> string(5635) "Marketing is a dynamic, ever-evolving industry. Trends come and go, but with the right strategies, you can stay ahead of the game. Of course, sometimes there are seismic shifts that drastically change the way brands go about marketing themselves. For instance, Facebook’s recent headline-dominating data scandal has not only caused marketers to reevaluate their ad strategies due to concerns over brand safety, but it has also encouraged many of the major social platforms to bulk up their privacy policies, lest they join Facebook at the whipping post for violating consumer trust. When drastic changes like this take place in such a short timeframe, it can render marketing strategies obsolete and leave brands feeling lost or disconnected from their target customers. Here are four easy ways you can position yourself to stay on the bleeding edge of marketing trends and be prepared for those sudden watershed moments.

1. Stay focused on what’s happening today without losing sight of the big picture.

It’s easy to get lost in the immediate response to a paradigm shift without thinking about how the changes will affect strategies down the line. Changes to third-party data policies in the wake of the Facebook scandal have made it significantly harder for marketers to target consumers with ads. Many are scrambling to make immediate changes to keep their campaigns on the rails, but are they thinking about how these adjustments will play out in the long run? With platforms guarding data more closely, it follows that advertising will become increasingly expensive. In order to justify ad spend, marketers should be placing greater focus on conversion rates and customer lifetime value than ever before. If marketers are primed to stay calm in the heat of the moment and think about more than just putting out the fire, they’ll be in a better position for long-term success.

[To read more of Erik Huberman's thought leadership click here]

2. Build a network of marketers and communicate with them regularly.

In this day and age, by the time something hits the news, it’s already stale. This is especially true in marketing. Having a network of savvy, like-minded individuals who share and distribute information as they get it is crucial to staying up-to-date. Join Facebook and LinkedIn groups where people share news, industry studies, and other valuable content. According to a 2016 MarketingProfs content marketing study, 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn and 87% use Facebook. Take advantage of what these online communities have to offer - and remember to not only observe, but also engage! Being an active member of these groups will help you stay on top of industry trends and may often lead to business partnerships.

According to a 2016 MarketingProfs content marketing study, 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn and 87% use Facebook.

3. Read (the right) leading industry publications and blogs.

In a time where information is everywhere, it’s important to always be in the know. In addition to regularly attending conferences and industry events, having a solid list of publications you skim on the daily is crucial to staying informed. Top marketing publications (my personal favorites are Adweek and Ad Age) provide fantastic insight into the marketing ecosystem and are incredible resources for breaking news, data and analysis, industry forecasting and event listings. Build out your reading list and follow a variety of outlets including periodicals, newsletters, bloggers, and any other source of interesting content you come across that gives you inspiration or knowledge. But remember - there’s a lot of noise out there, so make sure you don’t go too far down the rabbit hole.

4. Communicate with your team and share knowledge internally.

Nothing beats face-to-face interaction, and your team members may (and probably should) offer different perspectives from your own. Real, insightful dialogue with your peers and subordinates is the best way to explore new concepts and plan for the future. At Hawke, our channel directors are experts in their fields. These guys and gals spend all day in the trenches, living and breathing their particular vertical. If I need insight into a specific trend or topic, they’re usually the first ones I turn to. Make sure communication stays open within your company, not just within teams, but across channels. You or someone you work for hired these people for a reason - take advantage of them!

[For more insight from Hawke Media click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(49) "How to Stay Relevant in an Ever-Evolving Industry" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(49) "Tips and tricks for marketers to stay in the know" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(56) "erik-huberman-stay-relevant-in-an-ever-evolving-industry" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 15:26:55" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 22:26:55" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=27696" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [17]=> object(WP_Post)#5215 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(13355) ["post_author"]=> string(2) "15" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2011-03-25 14:30:54" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2011-03-25 21:30:54" ["post_content"]=> string(5356) "In order to survive and thrive in business today, a company must have innovators. That innovative leadership can come from the C-Suite or from other employees, but the management must recognize and act on it. An organism dies if it doesn’t grow, and growth is a function of innovation.

What is Innovation?

Innovation in business can come on two different forefronts. Then there are those who have succeeded by conceptualizing and implementing something totally new and different, and there are others who become successful by re-tooling an old-school approach, building on something that already exists. For example, Mark Zuckerberg - the 26-year-old self-made billionaire co-founder of Facebook didn’t invent social networking.  In fact, sites like MySpace and LinkedIn were around for a long time before Facebook.  Originally what Zuckerberg did was focus his energy on a college student target market - - intuitively knowing how they wanted to communicate. Unlike MySpace, which is basically a personal Web page linked to other users, Facebook created an easy-to-build profile that enabled almost instant interaction, focusing on relationships – as opposed to simply cosmetics.

The innovation Process

Study a market within an industry - look for weaknesses and opportunities First, start with an industry in which you are an expert.  It is far easier to create something meaningful from your knowledge-base, as opposed to trying to create solutions before you understand what the actual needs are. Find a market within an industry and identify weaknesses and opportunities. Profile all of the competitors Know everything there is to know about the current solutions. Review the competitors. What is the size of their market?  What is their margin?  What is their marketing strategy? What type of product or service can you create that is clearly different and superior? First, find a niche in a market that excites you – find something that charges you and from which you derive pleasure. But don’t get caught up on inventing. Keep in mind that your innovation doesn’t have to cure a major disease. Innovation could be something totally new, but there are a lot more opportunities to improve an existing product or service. Furthermore, tweaking an existing product or service costs far less then starting anew and takes less time to go to market.

"Innovation could be something totally new, but there are a lot more opportunities to improve an existing product or service."

Quick marketing check Once you conceive an idea, make sure that whatever name you adopt can be obtained in a URL.  Don’t settle for a name because some other marketer has the name you want and you have to add a lot of additional words to be able to register it. Change your name so you can own the URL exclusively. Intellectual Property Protection Make sure that you consult an attorney that specializes in intellectual property matters, which includes copyright, trademark, and patent. Thus, you are protected against encroachment and won’t encounter unhappy surprises later.

My Innovation Journey

My company is a media, marketing, and communications organization.  Fifteen years ago, while negotiating the terms of a new agreement with a major client, the executive in charge of stewarding the deal told me that my company was simply a “commodity.” And while we had done a very good job, there were other companies that could do a similarly good job  and at a lower cost.  My interpretation of what this marketing person was telling me was that while my company was effective – we didn’t have anything that was totally unique – and that, in essence, our services could be bought off a shelf. We then shifted our organization to refocus our strategy on creating a service organization that was perceived as a brand, as opposed to a commodity – something generally not easy to do in a service industry. But we did it because we were committed to it. We created our own products. We did this by developing our own unique and proprietary media assets and technology solutions.  We created various new subsidiaries, including our unwired national cable network platform - the American Target Network™. American Target Network™ is a perfect example of innovation, leadership, and branding.  With media rates increasingly outpacing the value based upon the cost of delivering viewers, we determined that there was a need for a more efficient way to buy media. We then aggregated the majority of the local cable systems into our own proprietary network platform. We created a model where we were able to deliver the same national cable networks to our advertisers at a fraction of the cost of traditional network delivery. By developing a new way to deliver the same content, we separated ourselves from our competitors and were able to start assembling the building blocks to creating a brand. Don’t let stagnation kill your enterprise.  Don’t be the one that merely does what you or others have done for decades - or even for centuries. Innovate with vigor and vision and you will see success." ["post_title"]=> string(47) "Innovation is the Keystone for Business Success" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(79) "No matter your industry, working with an innovative eye is paramount to success" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(50) "robert-yallen-innovation-keystone-business-success" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-02-02 15:54:15" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-02-02 23:54:15" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=13355" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [18]=> object(WP_Post)#5214 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(18232) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2015-10-01 18:02:55" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2015-10-02 01:02:55" ["post_content"]=> string(5988) "

Art and culture go hand in hand. Culture and marketing are symbiotic. But art and advertising? That’s a combination still under hot debate—even within the advertising industry. Ask agency employees if advertising is art, and you’ll probably get a variety of opinions.

The sales and executive teams will likely say, “Hell, no. An ad is a sales tool. It’s culturally significant as it provides insight into the ways we communicate in particular point in time, but it’s not art. An ad’s highest priority is to win the audience on behalf of a person, product or service.”

[To read more of Michael Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

Ask the production department, and you may get a different answer. After all, what draws an individual to a job where artistic ability, inventiveness, cultural awareness and dedication are valued, rewarded, and well compensated? What spurs an individual to work tirelessly within a set of strict parameters and guidelines in order to attempt over and over again to produce work that fulfills all of its business obligations while also being of the best possible quality for its circumstances?

What, if not the compulsion to create. As an ad agency owner/executive with a background in both sales and creative, I can attest to the artistic skill of the designers, photographers, videographers, and writers with whom I’ve worked, and I can also attest to their dedication, and that constant, internal push to produce evocative, expressive, beautiful advertising within the parameters of the medium and the job.

Sounds a lot like art to me.

“Yes, yes, yes,” you might say, “but at the end of the day, they are selling stuff! That’s not art!”

And you would have a point. Art for art’s sake is arguably the purest form of expression. But artists for hire are as old as civilization itself. Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Shakespeare are probably some of the best known, but they represent a much wider and deeper pool. Some of the greatest works of art were created through patronages, on behalf of the wealthy, to preserve their immortal memory, display their wealth, power, and influence the masses. From the ancient Egyptian Bust of Nefertiti to the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome to the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, not to mention the countless flattering portraits of the royal, rich, and powerful, art has always been about persuasion and has always been the ultimate marketing tool. And while it’s true, the old masters might not have been selling potato chips and gluten-free makeup, they were selling something. They were paid to use their artistic skill to persuade the masses to make a serious purchase.

To say that a fully executed creative work is not art because its goal is to sell something—be it an idea, a religion, or a product—discounts the majority of what sits in the world’s most beloved museums. When we look back through the lens of history at these modern times, will we make that distinction? Or will the cream rise to the top regardless of who paid for it and why?

I was in a bookstore recently, nosing around the art section, and tucked in beside a biography of Michelangelo was a book on the work of Robert McGinnis. McGinnis is an artist and illustrator famous for his book cover illustrations and movie posters—most notably his work on the James Bond series in the 1960s and ’70s. His work is highly regarded and avidly collected. And while much of it was commissioned and created for the purpose of selling a product (in this case movies and paperbacks), if you want to find a book about him don’t go looking for it in the marketing aisle.

Artists want to create art for art’s sake, but they also need to eat, and that is a simple—but hugely important—fact. The days of wealthy patronage are largely over, and fine art grants are few and far between. Where are young artists to go if they want to practice art and also be able to afford shelter? These days, corporations and businesses are among those opening up their pocketbooks, hiring the agencies that in turn hire the throngs of art school graduates. And yes, these businesses have an agenda, but any competent artist knows how to work within the parameters of his media, and advertising creatives are no different.

[For more on Michael Schaffer’s approach to Advertising click here]

Dedicated advertising creatives understand their purpose and embrace the challenge of using their artistic abilities to create effective sales tools. It is my contention that a good advertising agency will recognize the artist within the designer, photographer or writer, and encourage the development of creative expression within the parameters of the job. True advertising and marketing creatives know that they are not creating art for art’s sake and they know that final approval has far less to do with artistic merit than persuasive quality. But the good ones, I have found, approach every job with the goal of making it the best it can possibly be—creatively and persuasively.

Modern advertising as art? In the end, history will be the judge. In the meantime, here at Echo Factory, we’re sticking to the opinion that at the very least, fostering artistic expression in our creatives makes for effective, quality ads. It’s what we’ve always done and it’s worked well for us so far.

" ["post_title"]=> string(26) "Is Modern Advertising Art?" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(35) "michael-schaffer-modern-advertising" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-10-30 21:22:39" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-10-31 04:22:39" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=18232" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [19]=> object(WP_Post)#5213 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(29239) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "268" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-12-09 09:00:22" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-12-09 17:00:22" ["post_content"]=> string(5642) "As you comb through the various rooms in your home, you are likely to find a piece of technology that stands out. Usually black in color and without any natural appeal, this equipment steals the focus of the room and in turn the balance of the interior design. Just as life imitates art, manufacturers have taken notice of the shift in décor trends and are producing cutting-edge technology that serves, not only function, but also showcases innovative design characteristics to meet the needs of more sophisticated consumers. A great example of high-end audio overcome by art design is KEF’s Blade speakers, known as “the world’s first Single Apparent Source loudspeaker.” Presenting itself as a smooth-flowing art sculpture, the BLADE architecture’s advanced driver technology reveals a lush and realistic sound that goes beyond conventional speakers.

[To read more of Aramis Hernandez’s thought leadership click here]

Similarly, DEVIALET’s new Phantom series speakers are one of the best brands in the market for producing a high-level precision sound with multilevel functionality and are designed with simple elegance, looking more like a sculpture of modern art than an audio component. On the other end of the audio video world, televisions and displays have more aptly adopted to progressive and modern designs. Offering tremendous innovations and advanced qualities, smart televisions by SEURA, which are framed as mirrors but with the touch of a screen, come alive as Smart Tablets. With WiFi capability, you can instantly check your email, update your calendar, post to social media, or read digital news right from your mirror. With hands-free voice activation and intuitive touch control options, you can synchronize your innovative Smart Mirror to access your home security system, control lighting and audio, and to serve as a Smart Technology hub for the entire home. And because they are fully-customizable, the Smart Mirror can be modified to accommodate your home’s design needs for size, color and motif. Ideally the consumer will experience a purposeful balance of functionality and design elements of the mirror with added capabilities that you never had before. Televisions no longer have to be a separate element that don’t blend with the rest of the home. Now, the home design takes on precedence but with new, innovative capabilities built into it.

Our goal is always to match the needs and wants of the client to the specified design. In doing so, we pledge our allegiance to our clients’ needs rather than to promoting a certain brand.

Online interactive art is a complimentary component that creates new function for televisions and displays. Delivered as a streaming service, this technology provides rotating art that is displayed on various screens. By incorporating many of the existing elements from other popular streaming services, the homeowner has the flexibility to create a “playlist” of their favorite style, artist or specific pieces and can manage how frequently they are rotated. Unlike previous iterations of this technology which required sophisticated and dedicated equipment, the true value of this technology is the ease of installation to existing displays and televisions. In contrast to hiding technology in various rooms, a new trend has emerged that requires larger and dedicated floor space in easily accessible and visible areas. Filled with lights, multi-colored wires, and black metallic finishes, technology equipment is easy on the eyes. Traditionally, audio video equipment would be locked away in closets and other hidden spaces. However, when properly designed, technology equipment and the housing racks provide a modern and fairly majestic look, as such, they also serve as a showpiece. The transition from their primary purpose of unifying all the wiring and electronics needed for the home’s audio, video, security and other functions, the rack is coming into its own in making a contribution to the home’s overall design. As the manufacturers transition their new products to achieve a more artistic look and design, the homeowner is in a good position to dictate what they want. With so many vendors competing for the consumer’s business, there’s a wide range of options to choose from in the color, design, or specification of your choice. High-end products typically offer full customization that fits any home and style.

[For more on INC Tech’s approach to IT click here]

If you are looking to upgrade your technology, now is the best time to do so. As the technology experts in creating seamless environments for the home, we typically work with the architects and designers on the front end to collect the necessary specifications, then deliver numerous solutions to fit their designs. Once a decision has been made on the technology to use, we can then install and deliver integration of those products to the home. Our goal is always to match the needs and wants of the client to the specified design. In doing so, we pledge our allegiance to our clients’ needs rather than to promoting a certain brand. With the new design-oriented technology, interior designers and homeowners can create a seamless look that flows throughout a home, with components that have a built-in appreciation for state-of-the-art design." ["post_title"]=> string(30) "Masquerading Technology as Art" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(98) "Invoke streamlined design and artistic elements to beautifully integrate technology into your home" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(78) "aramis-hernandez-consulting-brand-communication-masquerading-technology-as-art" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-06 11:21:04" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-06 18:21:04" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=29239" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [20]=> object(WP_Post)#5212 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(21657) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "146" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-06-29 12:04:54" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-06-29 19:04:54" ["post_content"]=> string(6764) "

This past June there was palpable excitement around the NBA championship between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. But in the marketing world, the big excitement and discussion was around the NBA’s board of governors approving a three-year pilot program for the 2017-18 season, which will allow teams to sell corporate logos. That means corporate brands will be able to place a small branded patch on the left shoulder of NBA uniforms. This new program is estimated to bring in between $100-$150 million dollars annually to a league that is already projected to make approximately $7 billion dollars in overall revenue for the 2017-2018 season. Consequently, next year we all can potentially look forward to seeing our shampoo, chip or beer brand of choice emblazoned on the jerseys of teams across the NBA. Is it good? Is it bad? That’s up for debate, but it shows the impact and influence marketing has on even the most historically untouchable avenues.

"Would you rather pay to play, or lose market share and have less dollars to spend as you spiral toward extinction?"

Every year individuals all over the country long for fun in the sun that only the summertime brings, but what some may not notice is the influx of marketing on various platforms featuring the coolest products, services, sports and entertainment, all fighting for the attention of the same audiences.

[To read more of Laurel Mintz’s thought leadership click here]

In 2015 the marketing industry spent approximately $600 billion worldwide. The United States alone spent approximately $180 billion. As we are not even halfway through the year yet, it’s reported that the advertising spend for 2016 is projected to reach the $200 billion dollar mark by year’s end. At this point the marketing industry is a living breathing entity that has exponentially exploded from the simple newspaper and billboard ads of our parents’ day, evolving into a ubiquitous daily experience. Consumers are marketed to on their mobile devices, online, television, video, radio, and print. Furthermore, with the sophisticated data mining that is now available, our online footprint is capable of being aggregated based on individual behavior so marketers now have the opportunity to potentially reach their target audience(s) when, where, and exactly how they like to be reached. And while that’s admittedly a little creepy, it works. Based on a comScore study, retargeted ads led to a 1046% increase in branded search and a 726% lift in site visitation after four weeks of retargeted ad exposure. Done correctly, retargeting ads, which follow users around the web, through apps and other channels, are highly effective, and have higher click-through and conversion rates. With so many avenues to reach your consumers and so much money being spent worldwide, it raises the question, are you missing the opportunity to be where your consumers are? Companies as a result are doing their brands a disservice by not allocating at least 10%-20% of their gross revenue to marketing. Yes, we know that you’re doing the math right now and that the numbers might make you a little sick to your stomach, but would you rather pay to play, or lose market share and have less dollars to spend as you spiral toward extinction?

I always say marketing is not rocket science, but make no mistake; there is a science to it. No one likes to be beat over the head, even when they do intend to purchase (think of the old adage of a car salesman) so one of the most effective facets of marketing is executing a seamless and timely strategy, that is so buttoned up and organically integrated into the daily lives of consumers that they don’t even feel like they are being targeted. Implementing a strategic marketing approach that aims at consumers with a mix of online and offline strategies to draw them to the brand through a variety of platforms (i.e., company website with strong conversion tactics, online advertisements with bold calls to action, newsletters, blogs, social media, and print) will cultivate the foundation of any brand. It’s important not to fall victim to the piecemeal style of marketing that only focuses on one of these areas and is quite frankly one of the simplest failure points for most brands. Depending on the competiveness of your market, providing multiple touch points for your consumers to act when they are ready will create brand awareness and capture their attention.

[For more on Elevate My Brand’s approach to Advertising click here]

Here are some slam-dunk tips to elevate your brand to reach your audience:

Define Your Target Market. An inexpensive solution to this is using online surveys to send to current, past, and potential consumers/clients asking what your company can do better. The results may surprise you.

Implement Engaging A/B Testing. Have you ever heard the phrase, “you don’t know, what you don’t know?” If you have really great ideas in reaching your market, performing tests is a great way to find out what works best and adjusting your strategy as needed.

Stay Up to Date . New technologies are emerging daily and are here to stay and only going to get more complex so embrace the new marketing age we are in. If your target prefers emails as opposed to phone calls, then start typing; furthermore if your target is on social media- you need to be as well.

Don’t Be a Copycat . Just because it worked for your best friend’s business doesn’t mean it will work for yours – make sure your messaging is streamlined for your industry and audience.

Have Fun With Your Marketing and Be Honest With Yourself!  You don’t need a focus group to know what your gut is telling you to fix. Sometimes the best way to find out what works is falling flat on your face.

The time is now. Don’t let this exciting and experiential time in the industry pass you by because your loss is another company’s bottom line gain.

Sources: ESPN, SB Nation, AdAge, Shopify

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The landscape of how business development is done is evolving. There is a culture shift happening globally for B2B, B2C, and even nonprofit organizations. The days of stuffy business suits, mahogany boardrooms, and strict employee rulebooks are becoming a thing of the past as more professionals are embracing non-traditional forms of growing their businesses, networking, and even onboarding talent. The meetings of today look more like a discussion at a local art festival, a museum meet-up, a working hike, or a chat over sushi. Over time, the line between play and business is becoming blurred and its positive impact is affecting internal teams and our bottom lines.

The saying goes, “people do business with people they know, like, and trust.” As a business owner, I have built many non-traditional relationships in unique ways. Whether sitting on a plane or in a fitness class, modern business owners are open to meeting people, building relationships, and doing business differently. One of the most creative, artistic, and distinctive ways that I have experienced this shift in business culture is through a curated art experience I attended at Hive.org’s Global Leaders Program.

"The days of stuffy business suits, mahogany boardrooms, and strict employee rulebooks are becoming a thing of the past as more professionals are embracing non-traditional forms of growing their businesses, networking, and even onboarding talent."

This program is aimed at providing leadership  and entrepreneurship training for extraordinary purpose-driven leaders, by showing us that there’s a better way to do business. The networking portion of this leadership program was produced by LATE NITE ART (LNA), a company that blends art, team building and schmoozing into one space in a blur of paint brushes, bright colors, butcher paper, and an assembly of beautifully connected strangers. The LNA team travels all over the country and organizes events that inspire individuals, groups, and teams to break through the creative and social walls that we build taller and stronger as we get older. The vast majority of the individuals I met at this event mixing play and business were in the C-Suite, and leaders in their respective communities – people who were decision makers in charge of cultivating their work environments, the deal makers, movers and shakers, and culture changers.

[To read more of Laurel Mintz’s thought leadership click here]

The beauty is that these type of artistic environments foster a vulnerability and honesty in building relationships that is much more challenging to find in a typical corporate setting. I would argue that it provides a more authentic insight into the type of business professional who might end up being your biggest client or partner. Sometimes doing business isn’t about the paycheck, but rather, it’s about the chemistry and long-term professional relationship and satisfaction that it yields. Although it may seem too woo woo guru for some, these opportunities to connect with professionals in lowpressure, creative environments can be powerful marketing tools. They are a chance not only to attract potential big money partnerships and clients, but also, to solicit the best pool of internal talent. The best employees of today look to join companies that have a unique balance of play, innovation, community activism, personal fulfillment, and business ferocity. For instance, Salesforce allows employees as many as 56 total paid hours for volunteering annually. The employees who take advantage of all 56 hours subsequently receive a $1,000 grant to be donated to a nonprofit of their choice. Companies like Salesforce know that offering philanthropic opportunities that excite the interests and passions of their employees is how smart companies build their most effective teams. Similarly, young companies like HubSpot, NetFlix, Quicken Loans, Google and Zappos are regulars on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies and Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work lists for actively and consistently acknowledging and integrating play with business activities. Even older companies like Aetna have embraced new age ideologies that speak to the hearts of their employees by introducing yoga and mindfulness training, raising wages, and improving health benefits. All of these examples lead to higher retention rates, morale, and ultimately lower turnover. It’s good for the people and the company’s bottom line, a part of the new win-win mentality.

"With nationwide unemployment below 6% and a constantly evolving workforce, employee satisfaction is a critical factor that a company must explore to be competitive in a market where incentives are expected, talent is limited, and poaching is common."

As Elevate My Brand has grown over the years with a variety of employees and personalities, it has become increasingly important for me as a CEO to implement a play and business model for managing my team, which includes yoga, working hikes, group lunches, massages, summer outings, and team-building games. We have even implemented a policy we took from the CEO of Vow to Be Chic and implemented a required coffee date for all new employees with all existing teams to foster relationships and connection within the company. With nationwide unemployment below 6% and a constantly evolving workforce, employee satisfaction is a critical factor that a company must explore to be competitive in a market where incentives are expected, talent is limited, and poaching is common. The same can be said for growing business relationships with non-traditional creative tactics, such as bonding over volunteer experiences or meeting at the opening of a museum exhibition to encourage a deeper and more fulfilling business and personal relationship.

It’s imperative as decision makers and industry leaders that we constantly anticipate changing business tides and become flexible to new ideas and opportunities for business growth, while supporting industry developments striving to create a new normal.

[For more on Elevate My Brand's approach to Advertising click here]

Sources: Forbes, Fortune, Recruiter Box Disclosure: LATE NITE ART (lateniteart.com)is a current client of  Elevate My Brand

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[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

Marketing with Purpose Leads to Cult-Like Success

Purpose is taking the stage as the heart of marketing, and with good reason! Finding and implementing brand purpose into your marketing has been shown to lead to incredible growth. Purpose is often conflated to mean a brand’s commitment to social responsibility, but it’s actually much simpler than that. A brand’s purpose is simply the consumer needs it fills and the qualities that drive consumers to choose that brand over its competitors. In the simplest of terms, it’s leading your marketing with purpose works because it makes people care. Consumers are inundated with options and choices. Businesses and employees need to be aware of their overall purpose in order to reach the highest levels of success. Purpose gets at the emotional side of someone versus objectively offering up the facts of a product. In a recent survey, 80 percent of companies stated that a collective purpose is linked to customer loyalty and 89 percent said that it helps employee satisfaction. Companies need to do a compelling job of convincing consumers, and if you can convince those consumers on an emotional level, you win.

Figure Out Why You Exist

Purpose reflects the merit, trustworthiness, and authenticity of a brand. All of those traits, in turn, speak to the brand’s potential for success. Trust and authenticity are two incredibly important traits to today’s consumer, with consumers becoming increasingly distrustful of ads and the brands behind them. Unifying a brand’s purpose with its message will inevitably help the brand create meaningful content and form an authentic connection with consumers.

The key to determining your brand’s purpose is figuring out your reason for existence.

The key to determining your brand’s purpose is figuring out your reason for existence. What is going to make a consumer pick you over your competitors? Is your company made up of individuals who support and embody that same purpose? Do your consumers know or care about your purpose and share that passion? One event that highlights the brands that have built an empire around their purpose is The Gathering. There, the focus is on “cult” companies, those that have an “above average brand attachment,” recognizing and rewarding brands that build amazing cultures. Many of the brands awarded during The Gathering have been around and relevant for at least a decade because of their ability to uniquely engage their audiences. If you want your brand to reach the same success, you must refine your craft and figure out what about your brand makes you special. What do you offer consumers that no other business does?

[For more on Hawke Media’s approach to Digital Agency click here]

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In recent years, ESG has become a popular topic of conversation in the corporate and investment worlds, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to deny the benefits of incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria into their business practices. Although previous beliefs posited that ESG considerations related only to societal and ethical issues, forward-thinking companies have discovered that ESG values also impact a company’s finances, reputation, and long-term growth. Furthermore, using ESG criteria is not only morally beneficial, it is also now a factor in institutional and high-net worth investors’ allocation decisions.

Universal ESG standards exist to evaluate companies’ operations. The first letter in the acronym, E, considers how a company interacts with the physical environment. The second stands for social, examining how a company manages relations with its employees, suppliers, customers, and their communities. Governance, the third letter, contemplates and reviews a company’s leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls, and shareholder rights.

[To read more of Charlie Ittner’s thought leadership click here]

Broadly speaking, investors have been putting more emphasis on identifying opportunities with firms that engage in sustainable practices and demonstrate conscientious ­behavior, both within their own walls and in the communities in which their investments have real, tangible impacts. Although there have been some mixed attitudes regarding the long-term impact of ESG standards in business practices, it is increasingly obvious that monitoring and policies around sustainability and corporate responsibility are no longer viewed as optional for businesses but should instead be regarded as a necessity.

Shifting Positions Around ESG

Data from the 2018 survey conducted by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing reveals that sustainable investing is gaining an increasing amount of value and recognition among businesses, investors, and institutional asset owners. The study shows that globally, more than $22.8 trillion is now sustainably invested, a sum that represents 25% of dollars under professional management.¹

The 2018 Morgan Stanley survey polled 118 public and corporate pensions, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth entities, insurance companies, and other large asset owners worldwide, gathering insights about trends, motivations, challenges, and implementation approaches in sustainable investing.

Data showed that approximately 84% of companies are now pursuing ESG integration in their business activities, while 60% have been doing so for the past four years. Numbers like these highlight the increasing popularity of corporate responsibility and conscientiousness, with increasingly more companies acknowledging the benefits of implementing ESG practices into everyday processes.

Although the survey responses do reveal a gap between interest and implementation, these results show vast improvement in the value businesses now place on ESG practices. Sustainable investing was previously perceived as a niche investment idea but now receives credit for having positive effects on factors such as risk avoidance and company growth.

Recent trends show that corporations are also becoming more transparent about their ESG practices. Practices such as annual ESG or corporate social responsibility reporting create an advantage for asset managers who are able to capitalize on current opportunities, such as using above-market ESG performance among portfolio holdings as a selling point to potential investors.

Since 2011, dedicated ESG disclosures in the corporate world have grown at an exponential rate. From 2011-2015, ESG reporting among S&P 500 companies increased by values of 20%, 53%, 72%, 75%, and 81%, respectively.² These figures testify to the fact that corporations face mounting pressures from ­institutional shareholders and the general public on ESG issues, such as corruption and environmental ­sustainability.

Data showed that approximately 84% of companies are now pursuing ESG integration in their business activities, while 60% have been doing so for the past four years.

The Newest, Most Valuable Player for Companies

Although ESG criteria is often considered to hold ethical or social responsibility values, it is becoming clear that companies with stronger employee relations and environmental sustainability practices often also demonstrate better financial performance in the long run.

A recent meta-analysis by the University of Oxford analyzed approximately 200 studies to assess how sustainable corporate practices have affected investment returns. The results showed that operational and stock price performance is positively influenced by good sustainability and ESG practices 80% of the time.³ Additionally, the Morgan Stanley report 3 revealed that consumer purchase trends favor products from businesses with socially conscious or sustainability inclinations. Approximately nine in 10 (87%) of U.S. consumers admit to purchasing a product because of a company’s stance on an issue they care about.

Despite this correlation between sustainable investing and financial performance, there is still progress to be made in changing perceptions regarding the value of implementing ESG into business practices. The 2018 study showed that 57% of investors surveyed still believe investing sustainably requires a financial trade-off of some sort, thus making this framework seem less desirable.⁴ Such beliefs are beginning to fade, however, as more and more business owners and investors recognize the unique insights ESG provides into long-term risks and opportunities.

A Top Pick for Investors

Progressive companies have realized that ESG can be made an asset if practices are made transparent. By integrating ESG standards, companies are able to establish a competitive advantage when seeking investment. Companies that incorporate ESG factors into their long-term strategic planning can communicate this to shareholders and give a more thorough picture of their company value.

By investing in companies with strong ESG principles, investors avoid the risk of suffering related losses. Examples of this are BP’s 2010 oil spill and Volkswagen’s 2015 emissions scandal, both of which negatively impacted the firms’ stock prices and resulted in billions of dollars in market capitalization declines. Instances such as these strongly suggest incorporating sustainable business practices not only helps improve long-term performance but also mitigates risk and positively shapes brand and reputation.

Sustainability in Action

As more companies begin to implement ESG frameworks into their practices, the overall investment process among global asset owners is becoming increasingly sophisticated. More than 80% of institutions integrating sustainability criteria now rely on request for proposal (RFP) processes and Investment Policy Statements to measure and ensure a company’s commitment to sustainability objectives.

When Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria are measured alongside financial analysis, the two methods of analysis can produce a clear picture of risk and return. This can prove to be beneficial to businesses, as ESG integration is often focused on identifying long-term risks and capturing opportunities arising from sustainability trends.

Another approach to ESG investing is thematic investment strategies. Used by 81% of survey respondents, these strategies involve investors choosing to allocate capital based on themes and sectors dedicated to specific ESG issues. For instance, the top thematic investment in the Morgan Stanley survey was climate change, with 44% respondents seeking to address these issues or to invest in companies already addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation.⁵

Moving Forward With ESG

The growing interest in ESG business practices reflects the view among companies and shareholders alike that integrating this set of criteria into investment processes can have positive benefits that extend beyond ethics and social responsibility. ESG integration seeks to not only effect positive change within communities and the environment but also serve as a strong foundation for the long-term financial success of an organization or company. Responsibility and profitability are no longer seen as incompatible concepts but in fact as wholly complementary, and we can no longer deny the benefits of adopting ESG-centered business practices.

[For more on Darien Group’s approach to Branding & Communication click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(39) "Putting Responsible Practices into Play" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(87) "Evaluating ESG—­environmental, social, governance—is necessary for business today " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(67) "charlie-ittner-darien-group-putting-responsible-practices-into-play" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-01-07 11:18:54" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-07 19:18:54" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=28417" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [24]=> object(WP_Post)#5208 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(26638) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-01-02 10:03:00" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-01-02 18:03:00" ["post_content"]=> string(5777) "

Hi. My name is Michael Schaffer, and I’m an ad-techoholic.

Every week, I come across about 10 new advertising technologies that are going to “transform the face of marketing.” New platforms that peer into consumers’ minds and behaviors and phones and computers, and promise to use the power of AI or the cloud or “proprietary algorithms” or a troupe of well-trained chimpanzees to turn that data into sales for your brand.

Amazing!

And I want to believe the claims made by every single one. Ad tech is exciting. It’s cool. It’s shiny and new! At its best, it introduces your brand to new customers at the very moment they’re ready to make a decision about buying your product.

At its worst? It can be a colossal waste of money.

Lucky for me, I employ a team of very smart people whose job it is to use these platforms. And when I get excited about some new piece of advertising tech, I can email them about it. They’ll send me back responses like, “It’ll never work because XYZ …” or, “We already use ABC platform that does the same thing, better.” Or even (very occasionally), “Huh, that does look pretty cool. We should check it out.”

So, assuming you don’t employ a team of ad tech experts, how can you separate the brilliant from the bull**** when it comes to new ad tech?

The simple answer is ROI.

Understand your ROI on any platform, and you can effectively evaluate it against any other platform, or any other place you could be spending your advertising dollars.

[To read more of Mike Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

This is, of course, a big departure from traditional advertising. Back in the dark days of radio advertising, the success of many campaigns was evaluated on the condition of: “Did the client hear their own ad during their commute?” Television, print, and outdoor can come with the same problem. Even big, smart national brands have to deal with this today.

A while back, I was reading a case study on Old Spice’s brilliant “The man your man could smell like” commercials that launched in 2011. They were an unequivocal hit with consumers, and the big winner at that year’s advertising awards. But when a campaign manager got asked how much they bumped the needle in terms of actually selling body wash, his response was more or less, “We have no idea.” Sales rose around the campaign, but there was no way to confidently attribute that rise to the campaign, or to one of the several other traditional campaigns the company was running at the same time.

Digital ads should solve this problem. With digital, you should be able to track the source of every sale or lead. You should know the last action that a consumer took before they converted, and any digital advertising they encountered along the path to the sale.

Once you understand how much you’re spending to acquire customers on every platform, it’s easy to test any new ad tech that comes along. Just put the shiny new technology against your existing channels.

I say “should” because that’s certainly not always the case. In the past year, our agency has taken over several accounts that had the ability to calculate their ROI on digital, but either weren’t, or weren’t paying any attention to the numbers. In one case, we came in and found that a service provider was paying more than $1,000 per customer acquisition on Facebook – in an industry where each customer was spending less than $50 on their first visit.

In another case, we were asked to jump in on a campaign that had spent more than $100,000 in the last six months, and delivered less than 10 total conversions. Those 10 conversions were worth about $1,000 in total. In both cases, the companies knew something wasn’t working right, but until we calculated their ROI, they weren’t sure what was wrong.

So, the key thing that’ll help you separate the brilliant from the bull**** in ad tech is ROI. How much do you pay to acquire a customer from Google search ads? Display ads? Facebook ads? Instagram? What about sponsored content? And what about the fancy new ad platform you just heard about?

[For more on Echo Factory’s approach to Public Relations click here]

Once you understand how much you’re spending to acquire customers on every platform, it’s easy to test any new ad tech that comes along. Just put the shiny new technology against your existing channels. If the new ad technology demonstrates that you can spend less and sell more, it’s worth investing in. If not, you can thank your knowledge of your ROI for saving you time, frustration, and money.

Once you’re familiar with your ideal ROI, you can let the new ad technologies keep rolling in – all you have to do is pick the winner.

" ["post_title"]=> string(53) "Separating the Brilliant From the Bull**** in Ad Tech" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(86) "How I learned to value ROI when making purchasing decisions, even in the ad tech space" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(59) "mike-schaffer-marketing-digital-agency-echo-factory-ad-tech" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 10:48:59" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 17:48:59" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=26638" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [25]=> object(WP_Post)#5207 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(26691) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "254" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-01-02 10:02:54" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-01-02 18:02:54" ["post_content"]=> string(4089) "

If you haven’t experienced the technology of Augmented Reality (AR) yet, it’s only a matter of time. In the past few years, the conversations regarding both AR and Virtual Reality (VR) have become almost mainstream in the technology space. They are similar, yet very different.

With AR, virtual and real-life objects are seamlessly blended together in your existing environment with the use of a headset or other technology, like a smartphone. Used with a headset, VR places you in an environment created by the developer. In AR, you can see a dolphin swimming in a glass on the desk in front of you. In VR, you can be on a boat in the middle of the ocean watching dolphins swim around you.

Google’s controversial Glass project was the genesis of public awareness of AR, but it never took off for the mainstream. A pair of apps—Snapchat and Niantic’s Pokemon Go—truly brought AR to the forefront. Snapchat introduced filters allowing fun objects to be superimposed on a user’s face or in the user’s environment, while Pokemon Go took small characters like Pikachu and Charizard from the Gameboy into your backyard, and encouraged people to virtually capture them.

These were the first apps to truly use AR to reach a broad audience, but they will not be the last. These apps proved AR could be accepted by the masses and find space in our daily lives.

AR and Social Media

The relationship between AR and social media is evolving at a rapid pace. Since the inception of social media with apps like Instagram and Twitter, it has flipped the world of marketing upside down and grown exponentially. Nearly all companies, regardless of size, use social media today to promote their products and services to large audiences.

These were the first apps to truly use AR to reach a broad audience, but they will not be the last. These apps proved AR could be accepted by the masses and find space in our daily lives.

These social media apps have grown so large that they are able to develop and incorporate new technologies such as AR to keep their users engaged. As AR technology gets better, it will become so mainstream it will ultimately alter the way social media is utilized, especially for advertisers. Companies will be forced to use AR to market their products to stay competitive in their given industry, because it substantially differentiates them from companies using standard advertising.

The ability to make moving 3D models of products appear in the world of your targeted audience is significantly more impactful than the traditional 2D ad. Amazon is currently doing this by allowing users to virtually project products they may want to buy directly into their homes and offices to assist the purchasing decision. This new technology, which presents limitless potential to “wow” audiences, will only become stronger with time. With an already incredibly large user base, social media apps will compete to be the first to fully incorporate AR and AR advertising for their customers.

AR was a huge talking point at last month’s Facebook conference, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “We are going to make the camera the first augmented reality platform.” Facebook’s AR strategy will include its Camera Effects Platform, its AR Studio, and Frame Studio. Facebook has even recently announced an intention to integrate AR functionality into its popular Messenger app. Also, Snapchat has launched a desktop program, called Lens Studio, to let users design their very own AR filters.

The competition to define and dominate the AR space is heating up, as AR on social media begins to find itself. There is little doubt that AR will change our relationship with our social media apps and significantly alter the way we use our devices. 

" ["post_title"]=> string(31) "Social Media's Augmented Future" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(83) "Jennifer Hurless explores key takeaways from Facebook's November 2017 conference " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(54) "jennifer-hurless-social-digital-media-augmented-future" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 10:52:52" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 17:52:52" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=26691" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [26]=> object(WP_Post)#5206 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(28402) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-08-13 15:39:25" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-08-13 22:39:25" ["post_content"]=> string(6275) "

Let me tell you a secret from the marketing industry: “building awareness” is the absolute easiest assignment you could give an agency. That’s because when you ask an agency to build awareness of your brand or product, what you’re really saying is: “I just want you to get my message to people, and you’re not accountable for making those people do anything.”

Telling people something is easy. Getting people to do something is much harder.

For decades, the vast majority of sports marketing has revolved around awareness.

No one expects you to immediately go and buy printer paper because you went to a concert at Staples Center, or to buy a pack of razors because you watched the Patriots play at Gillette Stadium. Kia doesn’t expect you to rush out and buy a Sportage when you learn that they’re the official automotive partner of the NBA.

[To read more of Mike Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

There’s even some pretty strong evidence that this type of marketing doesn’t help a company’s bottom line. A paper from 2016 analyzed the financial performance of companies that sponsored top European soccer teams, and found that this type of sports “sponsorship is more charity than commercial investment.”

Despite this evidence, awareness marketing still has a big place in sports. But it’s not what’s driving growth in that industry. That growth is coming from sports sponsorships that can be tied to trackable results that have a direct, measurable impact on the advertiser’s bottom line.

In Moneyball, Jonah Hill’s character says, “Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players. Your goal should be to buy wins.” Replace “players” with “awareness,” and you’ve gotten to the crux of what’s driving the growth in sports marketing today.

Take, for example, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Instead of just paying for exposure, the beverage giant executed a carefully structured, incentive-laden contract that rewards the Timberwolves for delivering sales and fan interaction to AB InBev. Thanks to one clause, when the team made the postseason, that triggered a bonus that increased the value of the contract. Postseason games give InBev the opportunity to sell more beer to thirsty fans, and more direct exposure for their brand at the sold-out games.

The Timberwolves also had the opportunity to earn incentives for social media activities that promoted InBev, and for successfully expanding their market share in the region along with viewership numbers.

The hottest bidding wars of the year haven’t been for TV rights; they’ve been for streaming rights that give outlets the chance to accurately track viewership and interact with fans in new ways. 

At the end of the promotion, InBev will be able to take a close look at the campaign’s data and see a clear, data-driven ROI. That ability is something that’s all too frequently missing in sports sponsorships.

InBev isn’t alone. Visa uses events like the Olympics to introduce new payment technologies. Chase and Amex use sponsorships to provide their cardholders with exclusive access to premium experiences and early ticket-buying opportunities. The hottest bidding wars of the year haven’t been for TV rights; they’ve been for streaming rights that give outlets the chance to accurately track viewership and interact with fans in new ways.

Which is all to say that sports marketers are finally waking up to the gospel of results-­driven marketing, and data that can back up those ­results.

Whether you’re bidding for exclusive rights to be the official tube sock of the NFL, or pursuing a more modest advertising effort, here are three questions you should ask before you spend a single dollar on advertising.

1. How Will This Help My Bottom Line?

Any time you’re considering a new advertising effort, this is where you should start. Draw a clear line between the money you’ll be spending and how that will come back to you in improved revenue.

If that line takes too many detours, depends on too many “ifs” or just can’t make a clear connection, consider spending your money somewhere else.

2. What Data Will I Use to Track Results?

There are so many reasons why data is important to good campaigns. Not only does it let you know if, for example, your campaign actually works, but it also gives you the chance to make adjustments midstream that can sometimes help turn a campaign from a failure into a success.

3. How Will I Judge Success?

Before you start a campaign, know what the line is between success and failure, and the data it’s tied to. I’ve seen companies that are both thrilled when they should be disappointed and underwhelmed when they should be thrilled with a campaign’s results—all because they didn’t have a clear metric for success from the outset.

The truth is that building awareness is easy and often ineffective. To succeed, you need to stop spending your ad budget to buy awareness and start spending it to buy wins.

[For more on Echo Factory's approach to Digital Agency click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(72) "Sports Advertisers Are Demanding More Than Awareness, and You Should Too" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(55) "Definitive action trumps the noise of mere visibility " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(85) "sports-advertisers-are-demanding-more-than-awareness-and-you-should-too-mike-schaffer" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-12-20 11:34:30" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-12-20 19:34:30" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=28402" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [27]=> object(WP_Post)#5205 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(13945) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "101" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2014-09-26 11:03:46" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2014-09-26 18:03:46" ["post_content"]=> string(4020) "The days of direct mail to solicit donations are a thing of the past. Generation X and Generation Y, also known as the digital generation, are informed frequently through digital media.^1. This generation asks a lot more questions, wants to know where the money is going and most importantly, how it’s being used. Therefore, the way we talk to them, engage with them and ultimately, request donations from them is ever evolving and in order to stay in the fundraising game, we need to change our strategy as a whole. As opposed to previous generations, nearly 60% of Gen Y and half of Gen X agree that the ability to directly see the impact of their donation would have a significant bearing on their decision to give.¹ This stat tells us that online communication about their donation is absolutely imperative to retain them as donors. By telling stories through the use of photos and videos, the donor can feel the impact and will be more inclined to donate again or even better, become an advocate for the cause to their peers. Interestingly, donors cite the constant requests for donations and lack follow-up on where their funds went as the major reason why they stop supporting a cause.² In turn, the following three channels lead the pact for best communicating methods:

Email

Stay in touch with your donors, share messaging around the use of funds, share heartwarming stories about the positive impact their funds is having, and provide charity and company updates. The secondary message is to share the cause with their friends and family to solicit direct donations.

Social

Get your donors to become advocates for your cause. Social should be measured for engagement rather than direct link to dollars collected.¹ It is a human platform for building trust and transparency by creating social proof. The vast majority of donors say they do not mind being approached by friends (or friends’ kids) to support a charity.¹ There are various methods to have your support base become fundraisers and tap into their networks – creating personal fundraising pages, sharing informative videos, etc.

Website

A majority of respondents place a high value on the website dedicated to collecting donations. This hub should be transparent, informative, direct and easy to operate. Aside from collecting donations, it should also convey an emotion through photos and videos. One third of people say visiting the organization’s website is extremely or very important. Furthermore, donors typically use an organizations’ websites for transactions and not for staying connected.1 The crowdsourcing movement has taught us a lot about the digital generation and the way we respond to fundraising. Specifically, 17% of Gen Y donors say they have given to a crowdfunding campaign in the past, and 47% say they would consider doing so in the future.2 The success of these campaigns comes from the convenience to donate, access to information about the cause or product, and lastly donors turned advocates for the campaign. By feeling directly invested and participating in the future of the cause, fundraising is becoming interactive and almost tangible for the donor. The future of fundraising is really in the hands of the digital generation. The more we understand their behavior, the better chance we have to obtain and retain donors. Be transparent in the way you communicate and communicate often through online channels. By sharing stories through the photos and videos and make donating convenient, your chances to get repeat donations will increase. Lastly and most importantly, turn your donors into advocates and help them shape and share your message. This generation is hungry for information and even hungrier to share it with their peers. ¹American Giving ²The Chronicle of Philanthropy" ["post_title"]=> string(56) "Successful Online Fundraising for the Digital Generation" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(517) "The days of direct mail to solicit donations are a thing of the past. Generation X and Generation Y, also known as the digital generation, are informed frequently through digital media.1. This generation asks a lot more questions, wants to know where the money is going and most importantly, how it’s being used. Therefore, the way we talk to them, engage with them and ultimately, request donations from them is ever evolving and in order to stay in the fundraising game, we need to change our strategy as a whole." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(63) "matthew-zehner-successful-online-fundraising-digital-generation" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 14:58:52" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 21:58:52" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=13945" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [28]=> object(WP_Post)#5204 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(10359) ["post_author"]=> string(2) "72" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2014-01-03 09:00:51" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2014-01-03 17:00:51" ["post_content"]=> string(5186) "If you haven’t noticed, technology has not slowed down any since it started changing life as our ancestors knew it about 100 years ago with the invention of the car and telephone (now completely taken for granted as part of our lives and which have evolved a great deal on their own).  In my career, I’ve noticed small evolutions and giant revolutions – and I believe we’re in one of the latter right now. The first major cultural revolution since the 1960s on a global scale was the Web (not the Internet of DARPA days, but the 1991 creation of the Worldwide Web that gave people something to do other than email). The Web made possible e-commerce, which is now nearly 10 percent of global trade – and growing. It also made possible several of the most important companies in the world today: Amazon, eBay (which also owns PayPal), Netflix and, perhaps most of all, Google, which have remarkably disrupted the worlds of shopping, banking, television and advertising/media. I had that “omigod, this will change the world” moment when I first saw the Mosaic browser in 1993 (when you still had to download it from the university where it was developed by then-student Mark Andreessen and team), typed in www.louvre.fr, and were suddenly able to view those great artworks in interactive real time (well, 1993-style). The second major tech-driven cultural revolution of our lives was social media, and I had that same omigod moment in the fall of 2002 when I received an invitation from a friend I’d lost touch with during the dotcom crash to join a “social network” called Ryze (this preceded even Friendster – and like Friendster, it’s still around, albeit greatly changed).  Social media – and the nearly concurrent P2P software movement that shook the music industry with Napster and Kazaa – has now grown up and spawned several multi-billion companies in less than a decade, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. When social media met geolocation, the “interest graph” and mobile, a second wave of companies came of age, including Foursquare, Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram. In the past year (just in time for the technological earthquake that seems to happen every ten years), social media has merged with commerce and created a new wave of crowdfunding and peer-to-peer finance companies, as well as a completely revolutionary technology called cryptocurrency that has spawned the multi-billion-dollar phenomena called Bitcoin that is a stateless, user-generated (via algorithms), peer-to-peer form of money (I in fact became so interested in the field when I attended the first mainstream Bitcoin conference in San Jose earlier this year that I helped create the world’s first distributed angel network for investing in early-stage cryptocurrency companies, BitAngels (bitangels.co). Since then, we’ve grown to 300 members and funded more than a dozen early-stage companies. Factor this in with companies like LA-based real estate crowdfunding company Realty Mogul, which has allowed small investors to buy into shopping malls, office buildings, and even storage facilities, and Lending Club, which is letting individuals lend to other individuals all over the world based on their credit scores and use of funds, and we are looking at a major revolution that may do as much to change the way banks and stock markets work in ten years as Amazon did to brick and mortar retailers. The key element of technology, once it’s adapted, is that it layers one protocol upon another until the world-shaking becomes normal, and then it enables the next world-changing technology to develop on a solid base. Mainframe computers led to minicomputers, which led to the personal computer (which had many naysayers in the 1980s – why would the average person ever want a computer in his home?). The ubiquity of PCs and laptops led to the ubiquity of local area networks, which then provided a fertile laboratory for the rapid adoption of the Web. The Web’s searing popularity led to the demand for smarter, Web-connected phones, which eventually incorporated broadband speeds and geo-location. All of the above led to an even faster growth curve for social media (Facebook alone grew from less than 1 million to more than 100 million registered users in less than four years – and then to 1 billion in another four years). The market capitalization for Bitcoin as a currency/commodity has grown from $10,000 to more than $12 billion in less than four years, and yet it’s still a mysterious entity in the financial world, whose adoption thus far is at a level that’s less than 2004’s Facebook or 1994’s Web. I believe that 2014 will be the year that Bitcoin, crowdfunding (including crowdfunding with Bitcoin), crowd lending, crowd sourcing of everything from design to procurement, and many related parts of the democratization of money, wealth and power take hold in the global economy. And it will be social media, from the blogs that write about it and analyze it to the incredibly robust communities on Reddit that provides much of the reliable engine of this next wave of remarkable innovation." ["post_title"]=> string(30) "Technology Changes Everything" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(413) "If you haven’t noticed, technology has not slowed down any since it started changing life as our ancestors knew it about 100 years ago with the invention of the car and telephone (now completely taken for granted as part of our lives and which have evolved a great deal on their own). In my career, I’ve noticed small evolutions and giant revolutions – and I believe we’re in one of the latter right now." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(44) "michael-terpin-technology-changes-everything" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 15:05:35" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 22:05:35" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=10359" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [29]=> object(WP_Post)#5203 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(14964) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2015-01-01 01:00:19" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2015-01-01 09:00:19" ["post_content"]=> string(6445) "It has been announced that branding is dead, and perhaps has been for some time. Wired claimed it in 2004¹. Fast Company agreed to it in 2008². A bearded creative director confirmed it just this year³. Consultants preach it⁴. Commentators bemoan its loss⁵. One book even goes so far as to suggest that branding is not only dead, but also an art only fit for cows⁶. The apparent causes of its demise are many. Some attribute branding’s passing to a prolonged bout with transparency, often brought on by unprotected contact with social media. Others point to the more vague “digital age” as branding’s ultimate undoing, or SEO⁷, or packaging⁸ (as though packaging were somehow totally separate from branding), or even the supposed education of the consumer class. It’s that last one that I find particularly hard to stomach. You only need to spend two minutes reading YouTube comments to realize we consumers haven’t come too far.  But every consumer, even those commenting on YouTube, can recognize that branding is alive and well. When you look behind the “branding is dead” headlines, you usually find that what the author actually means is that the definition of branding has, or should be, expanded. But you and I both know we’re more likely to read an article titled “Branding Is Dead” than one titled “The Definition of Branding Has or Should Be Expanded Slightly.” We’re all suckers for a punchy headline.

Branding Is Bigger Than Ever

Branding has grown not just in definition, but in value. Interbrand, a branding agency that manages to maintain 33 offices in 27 countries despite the supposed death of its core offering, recently published its 2014 Best Global Brands report⁹. This report lists the “contribution of the brand to business results.” It’s the closest we can come to quantifying the value in dollars of a brand, and those values are staggering. Perennial branding favorite Apple’s brand is valued at $118B. Another textbook branding case study, Nike, comes in at a $19.9B brand valuation. If you mention the word “branding” in a classroom at ad school, Apple and Nike are the first two words likely to be shouted back at you, so nobody’s surprised that their brands are thought valuable. But there are also plenty of less recognized branding powers that made Interbrand’s list. Ever thought about the power of a brand to absorb bodily fluids? Pampers gets swaddled with a $14.1B brand value, while Kleenex comes in at $4.6B. Brands are also plenty capable of planting stuff in the ground and moving dirt around, as evidenced by John Deere’s $5.1B and Caterpillar’s $6.8B brand valuations. All told, Interbrand’s top 100 global brands this year account for more than $1.4 trillion, which is a lot of money. So much that it starts to lose its meaning. So let’s look at it another way. As the most valuable company in history, Apple currently has a $483B market cap. Interbrand estimates that its brand alone accounts for $118B. In essence, Apple’s brand accounts for about a quarter of the company’s value.

Sound Investment Advice

No one has ever accused me of being a financial wizard, but here’s some investment advice I’m confident standing behind: You’re probably not investing enough in your brand. Unless your name’s Tim Cook, you’re not at the helm of Apple, but your brand is probably worth more than you think. Or at least it could be. Branding is much more than just a logo and a tagline. Branding is anything that influences a customer’s perception of your company. And that’s a lot of things. When a customer emails your company, how long does it take to get a response? Is that response helpful? What does the response look like? What tone does it take? When a customer visits your website, how easy is it to find the information they’re looking for? Is your site pleasant to use? Does it look as good on their computer screen? Does it look good on their smartphone? When a customer reaches out to you on social media, do you respond? Do you have an active presence? Do you have something interesting to say on social media, or is it obvious you just have a profile because someone told you that you should? Branding isn’t magic. It’s just making sure that when your customers come in contact with your company, they like what they find. And chances are, you’re probably not investing enough in branding. If you do make that investment, I’ll bet that you’ll not only make your customers happier but also increase your company’s value. Not bad results from something that’s been the subject of more obituaries than I can count. 1 archive.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/brands.html 2 fastcompany.com/34263/branding-dead-long-live-sustainable-identity 3 thedieline.com/blog/2014/10/7/opinion-branding-is-dead-packaging-is-the-new-black 4 switchmodeconsulting.com/branding-is-dead-long-live-the-brand/ 5 forbes.com/sites/jmaureenhenderson/2014/11/11/personal-branding-is-dead-heres-why/ 6 amazon.com/Branding-Only-Works-Cattle-competitors/dp/B002U0KP9O 7 searchenginewatch.com/sew/news/2054223/branding-dead-long-live-seo 8 thedieline.com/blog/2014/10/7/opinion-branding-is-dead-packaging-is-the-new-black 9 bestglobalbrands.com/2014/ranking/" ["post_title"]=> string(33) "The Faux Resurrection of Branding" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(358) "It has been announced that branding is dead, and perhaps has been for some time. Wired claimed it in 2004. Fast Company agreed to it in 2008. A bearded creative director confirmed it just this year. Consultants preach it. Commentators bemoan its loss. One book even goes so far as to suggest that branding is not only dead, but also an art only fit for cows." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(43) "michael-schaffer-faux-resurrection-branding" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 13:07:48" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 20:07:48" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=14964" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [30]=> object(WP_Post)#5202 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(29087) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "254" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-10-24 16:46:34" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-10-24 23:46:34" ["post_content"]=> string(6131) "Social media is an incredible tool utilized to reach large audiences. In the past few years, it has become an integral component in digital marketing strategies for businesses. Social media can provide a succession of advantageous results in sales, leads, and branding. Additionally, it imparts a resourceful way to bring awareness to a cause and reach a relatively large number of people at a low cost. Most recently, many foundations and non-profit organizations have been using social media for these various reasons. By merging the massive influence that social media has on public communication with the humanitarian and globally poignant objectives of various foundations and nonprofits, the result is a powerful alliance of both reach and impact. For many organizations, getting their message out to as many people as possible is how they succeed in making a widespread difference. By inspiring awareness and receiving donations, they thrive on the essence of philanthropic giving.

[To read more of Jennifer Hurless’ thought leadership click here]

Intrinsically, social media and humankind are interrelated by the basis of the word “philanthropy.” The word itself translates to “the love of humanity,” otherwise the gratuitous devotion to advocating for the well-being of others. The worldwide community of people is the “social” component of the “social media,” whereas the “media” is the platforms that connect all people to share a collective responsibility in improving conditions for humanity. After a natural catastrophe occurs, a considerable number of people worldwide will learn about a non-profit organization due to the sweeping impact the event has globally. The recent hurricanes brought about a tremendous humanitarian effort and awareness for organizations such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and SPCA. As a result, people want to help and donate after hearing about the organizations from television or social media outlets. While this is an incredibly huge help to the organizations and the immediate cause, the objective should be to stay connected to these donors even when there isn’t a natural catastrophe. This can be achieved through social media. In traditional philanthropy, forming and cultivating donor relationships, gift giving, and gala events have been used to raise money for an organization. However, non-traditional philanthropy is steadily becoming a credible way of creating a unified community with passionate followers. This is possible because unlike traditional media such as newspaper or television, social media offers two way communication. Currently, there are more than 50 million small businesses using Facebook pages to connect with their customers. Four million of those businesses pay for social media advertising on Facebook. Platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and even Pinterest have all established beneficial results for targeting and reaching a like-minded community of people. As the use of social media multiplies, so does the influence that it has on philanthropic matters through various means including crowdfunding, marketing, and public relations for nonprofit organizations. Who remembers the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge”? This is a perfect example of how social media was used in philanthropy. It was a huge PR success raising awareness for ALS, as it covered a worldwide demographic while implementing crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is a donation-based funding whereby a large amount of donors contribute online instead of in person. Examples of crowdfunding platforms include GoFundMe, Kickstarter, IndieGogo, and more. This is still relatively new to the non-profit sector; however it’s expanding and changing every day. It’s important to note that just having a profile on social media itself will not inspire engagement or increase awareness. Having a methodical strategy that consists of effective two-way communication is essential. Furthermore, understanding the importance of delivering messages on social platforms in the right way while actively participating on them is how successful social media works. Social media bestows an opportunity for each person to make an impact in the world regarding what he or she cares about. The Internet is the foremost source widely used to connect people of all ages and backgrounds across the world. As recent history has demonstrated, daily Internet activity and usage has become a conventional practice due to more people gaining technological access. Consequently, people utilize this outlet to show support in the nonprofit sector. It has become not only an option but a necessity for all businesses and philanthropies, especially foundations, nonprofits, and campaigns, to be prevalent on social media. When it comes right down to it, it's all about getting the conversation started within a like-minded community. It is through the increased effort to create brand awareness and a stronger social media presence that allows non-profits to connect with both the current and next generation of givers—with just the click of a mouse.

[For more on Go Be Social Media’s approach to Social & Digital Media click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(30) "The Future of Giving Is Online" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(173) "Social media and Internet crowdfunding have become integral sources in raising funds for charitable causes in a new giving landscape. Donations are instant–and impressive." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(58) "marketing-digital-social-media-the-future-is-giving-online" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-12-19 16:41:13" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-12-20 00:41:13" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=29087" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [31]=> object(WP_Post)#5201 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(12615) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "101" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2014-06-18 11:24:15" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2014-06-18 18:24:15" ["post_content"]=> string(4595) "When we think about the evolution of advertising, we often remember the famous McDonald’s TV commercials, the Calvin Klein billboard in Times Square, Groupon newsletters, and most recently Facebook stories, to name a few. Believe it or not, advertising dates back to before 4000 B.C. in the form of Indian rock paintings and Papyrus advertising. Fast forward to the 20th Century or, as we now know it, the Mad Men era of advertising. Most modern forms of advertising took flight during this century including radio, print, outdoor, and even online. Marketing and advertising execs knew their channels and produced the best possible advertisements to support them. While everyone was worrying about Y2K, another shift occurred and it was time to re-think ad strategy as a whole. Over the past 10 years, online advertising has exploded with newsletters, search engine marketing, social media, and the need to be “mobile” and on-demand. Reportedly, social media advertising sales went up 76% YOY in 2013! What does this prove? Content is not only king, but the backbone and future of digital advertising. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter paved the way for content to be shared via newsfeeds. Then came Instagram and Vine, which simplified content into photos and video and became the first mobile only apps of their kind. This underscores the fact that, as a whole, we are moving in a mobile direction for the consumption of native content. However, advertisers are faced with a harsh reality when it comes to mobile: real estate is limited and content is proving to be a smart investment. Creating value for everyone Consumers have been trained to ignore traditional banner ads and, in turn, brands are becoming media companies in their own right. The integration of brands and publishers create more value for both parties. Publishers get contributed content, and, if the brands are aligned properly with the user base, it creates additional credibility for the publisher with brand integration.

1. Native/Sponsored Content: Users generally engage more with native/sponsored content. Brands, on the other hand, are bolstering their reputations with sponsored posts that are integrated with editorial content in hopes they will engage users and create value for them. That being said, it’s important to be clear and not trick the user. As sponsored content is a newer format, it is often difficult to measure the immediate impact. Like most marketing strategies, the brand/advertiser should define a clear set of goals they are looking to achieve, including social sharing, time on page, or traffic to their website amongst others.
2. Mobile: Users are shifting their patterns, and 30-50% of all traffic is now coming from mobile. According to Forbes, tablets and smartphones will account for 87% of connected device sales by 2017. As time spent on mobile content is usually quick and limited, advertisers need to shift their focus from mini banner ads toward quick experiences integrated with the content users are consuming. Responsive design trends allow for the creation of optimized experiences that adapt to the device the user is on.
3. Video: Video is becoming more accessible across mobile devices and users are often drawn to consuming video related advertisements that are engaging. This is evident by the large number of views for commercials online. Since video CPM rates are more valuable to advertisers than they are to publishers, it’s estimated that digital advertising will soon overtake TV advertising. Average video CPMs are going for $24.60. eMarketer predicts U.S. digital video ad spend, which totaled $4.18 billion in 2013, will grow to a staggering $12.27 billion in 2018.

Amplification The above methods are clearly more time intensive than designing a banner ad—but also have more value and bang for the buck when done right. It’s important to maximize the value versus time invested by leveraging other paid marketing vehicles to further promote and drive traffic. These include:

1. SEM: Paid promotion can be done through search engine marketing on Google and Bing and is a vital acquisition tool.
2. Email: Once users have been captured it’s important to integrate them into future efforts, whether opting into email or as a follower.
3. Social Media: The major benefit of buying ads on Facebook and Twitter is the targeting, testing, and reporting you’re able to achieve—at a nominal cost.

" ["post_title"]=> string(32) "The Future of Online Advertising" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(347) "When we think about the evolution of advertising, we often remember the famous McDonald’s TV commercials, the Calvin Klein billboard in Times Square, Groupon newsletters, and most recently Facebook stories, to name a few. Believe it or not, advertising dates back to before 4000 B.C. in the form of Indian rock paintings and Papyrus advertising." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(40) "matthew-zehner-future-online-advertising" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 15:01:12" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 22:01:12" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=12615" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [32]=> object(WP_Post)#5200 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(30519) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "328" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-05-08 14:48:20" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-08 21:48:20" ["post_content"]=> string(5894) "Smartphones are by far everybody’s most treasured personal item, however these devices cost us money. We pay to use them, we purchase them outright or through an instalment plan and we pay the monthly phone bill.  Hardly anyone ever considers that a smartphone can serve as a tool for making money. And that is where the growing industry of User-Generated Video (UGV) comes in. User-Generated Video are videos filmed and uploaded by consumers, and the impact they are having on news-gathering, entertainment programming and the production of reality series and documentaries is completely disruptive.  In fact, the burgeoning appeal of UGV among the news and entertainment communities has altered the role of consumers from passive audience to active content providers.  And at the heart of this massive global eyewitness video movement, is Newsflare, a company on a mission to bring trusted and compelling UGV to publishers, producers and broadcasters throughout the world.

[To read more of Jon's thought leadership click here]

Based in London and Los Angeles, Newsflare has played a key role in helping pioneer the development of the user-generated video industry. Launched in 2011, the company has perfected a robust interactive platform allowing videographers the opportunity to easily upload their videos, while providing content buyers around the world the opportunity to select from a diverse catalogue of over 150,000 videos.  Newsflare also distributes and licenses its vast content library directly to the company’s impressive roster of media partners that encompasses major websites, social media, advertising agencies, production companies, television news and entertainment broadcasters located throughout the world.  At the same time, Newsflare’s US office is responsible for establishing licensing deals with North American media outlets, as well as the creation of co-development projects with US and Canadian producers.    California plays a vital role to Newsflare because the state is home to major content production players such as Amazon and Netflix, along with the entertainment divisions of all the major national television networks. Highly advanced technology drives Newsflare’s online video marketplace, where custom verification and trust algorithms provide content buyers with absolute assurance as to the integrity and copyright of the videos they license from across  multiple categories.  The company’s state-of-the-art digital technology also powers the uploader experience, as aspiring Newsflare contributors simply download the company’s iPhone or Android app and begin recording and submitting videos.  Newsflare’s apps act like an agent, tracking sales and managing payments to their freelance video contributors.  Uploaders are paid half of the revenues generated by the licensing of their videos to Newsflare’s media clients, and in several cases this has translated into tens of thousands of dollars. Newsflare is at the forefront of the rapid change in the way that news, entertainment, reality and documentary programming is produced.  What may have taken several production crews to capture in the past can now be captured and uploaded by any of over 60,000 Newsflare videographers situated in more than 110 countries throughout the world.  Video content from natural disasters and sports events to political unrest is now being sourced by news organizations from Newsflare’s online marketplace, just as entertainment producers and social publishers turn to the company for its unparalleled array of humorous - and oftentimes outrageous – human interest, ‘viral’ videos. 

[To read more of Preeya's thought leadership click here]

The universal appeal of User Generated Video serves as another reason for the burgeoning rise in this relatively new content category as people everywhere can appreciate the dog who babysits a cat without having to consider the challenge of language barriers.  For both news and entertainment media clients, User-Generated Video also brings an unmatched familiarity and authenticity.  Moreover, publishers and broadcasters no longer have the bandwidth, budget or manpower to source or clear video features that have long served as a content staple.  The Newsflare platform automates this formerly labor-intensive task.  Newsflare has helped propel User Generated Video into a worldwide industry, building a global network that connects amateur videographers with top media licensees – and revolutionizing the way entertainment and news media source original content.  So when you’re ready to transform your smartphone into a revenue-generating video production tool, visit Newsflare at www.newsflare.com. Based in London, Jon Cornwell is CEO of Newsflare.  Preeya Naul, located in Newsflare’s Los Angeles office, serves as General Manager, US.

[For more on Newsflare's approach to Digital Agency click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(39) "The Global Rise of User-Generated Video" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(162) "Jon Cornwell & Preeya Naul explain how their company, Newsflare, is impacting the digital media & entertainment industry through their online video marketplace. " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(64) "jon-cornwell-preeya-naul-the-global-rise-of-user-generated-video" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-24 14:25:45" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-24 21:25:45" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=30519" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [33]=> object(WP_Post)#5199 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(31789) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "343" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-12-02 12:45:24" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-12-02 20:45:24" ["post_content"]=> string(10110) "Remember how the only available paid functionality on Facebook was a boosted post? Since 2007 paid ads have been part of Facebook, however, Fan Pages weren’t introduced by the social network until 2008. And then, in 2009, we were able to see the first form of advanced targeting by demographics and location. This was a huge breakthrough in terms of advertising on Facebook.  Understanding how Facebook Ads has progressed is important because it’s the only way to see how far they managed to revolutionize the hub. Since 2015 things started changing fast. Even if you were a marketer it was hard to catch up on all of the changes. One thing was for sure, things were changing for the better. Facebook introduced functionalities such as pixel, custom audiences, dynamic product list ads, and lead generation ads. And, they are continuing to expand and innovate on advertising, Facebook is launching new interactive mobile ads in the future. The biggest social network on the planet has also had the greatest influence on other social media companies too, such as Twitter and Pinterest, as they have been trying to play catch up to keep up. Both have introduced similar functionality to help many businesses to reach their target audience efficiently and effectively. Even Snapchat is now getting into the ads game. Even though it seems like we’ve finally caught up with the changes, there are some small things that not all marketers use frequently for better performance or are even aware of.

Here are a few things we can all use to improve our marketing efforts on Facebook.

  1. Creative Hub Many of us store all of our creatives on a local folder on our computer. We all do this because is the most efficient way to store and access things. However, files can get messy if we save everything in a local folder. Facebook Creative Hub is the perfect place to create and store all of your creatives and ads. On the Hub you can:

• Get inspiration from other brands
• Edit and manage mockups
• Check the quality of your ads and increase the chance of approval
• Learn about new ad formats
• Learn about new Instagram functionalities
• Get hold of mobile advertising
• Share all of your ideas with your teammates
• Preview and edit all of the ads in their natural environment
• Export everything, simple and with a single click of a button

The Creative Hub offers the most optimal working environment to prepare you’re A/B test campaigns and manage multiple clients as you will be able to see in real-time how everything will look like. The best part is the fact that you can get inspiration from other brands. Just find the get inspired button and analyze multiple successful ads activated by brands across the globe. Find the ones that are in the same industry or have a similar target audience as you and prepare your ad copy following their examples. 2. Audience Insights  Facebook Audience Insights will help you get the most out of data available for your target audience. Many companies use this functionality to learn more about the online behavior of their target audience. In some cases, you can use the available data to complete your persona questionnaire and ultimately redefine your marketing strategy. Just by entering a few parameters, you will be able to see:

1. The age span
2. Relationship status
3. Interests
4. Liked fan pages

You can use this information to:

• Optimize A/B tests
• Improve your overall cost per click and performance of Facebook ads

3. Lookalike audiences  Lookalike audiences can be created from Custom Audiences with data from your existing Facebook Pixel, your mobile app data, or from your Facebook Page. You can also do this from existing customer lists. Doing this, allows you to expand on your best-performing audience groups on Facebook.  Along with the above, you can also choose the size of the Lookalike Audience that can be smaller (to match your source audience more closely) or larger audiences (to increase your reach). Facebook recommends audiences between 1,000 to 50,000 people and the quality of the source matters.  You can create a lookalike audience from your remarketing target audience or the traffic on your website. By doing so, your targeting will be on point and you will be able to reach a completely new set of people that have the same characteristics as your website visitors. Using Lookalike Audiences, you can broaden the reach of your existing customers through an iterative process. For example, for many of our E-Commerce clients, we are constantly uploading or updating these audiences with full customer lists or creating customer lists that are top converters to match the ideal customer we are targeting.  4. Carousel Ads  Video has become the best way to promote your business and the most widely used format in advertising as of late. People engage more with visual content and Facebook encourages the usage of video everywhere.  However, don’t forget about using Carousel Ads. This interactive ad format gives you the opportunity to promote ten pictures or videos next to each other and all at once. Why this format is so good? Carousel Ads are amazing because they give you the freedom to be creative and tell a story about your brand, product, or experience throughout the carousel and lets you express your brand’s voice. This format also looks great in the news feed and people automatically engage more. You can create a really engaging ad with Carousel Ads in a very creative way that will attract your customers attention and get noticed. Facebook is creating an all-inclusive hub for marketing people to better manage, create, store, share and analyze ads. Making yourself aware and becoming more familiar with everything available to you will give you the best opportunity to create  ads on Facebook that convert at a higher rate. Overall, it’s important to stay on top of everything available to you and the trends that are upcoming so you can continue to engage audiences and convert customers. Facebook is attempting to keep you within the platform and never have a need to leave, thus making you a much more organized and efficient marketing team. " ["post_title"]=> string(63) "The History and Power of Facebook Ads All Marketers Should Know" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(82) "Here are a few things we can all use to improve our marketing efforts on Facebook." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(69) "tony-adam-history-and-power-of-facebook-ads-all-marketers-should-know" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-12-02 12:47:07" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-12-02 20:47:07" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=31789" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [34]=> object(WP_Post)#5198 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(26698) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "252" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-01-02 10:04:14" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-01-02 18:04:14" ["post_content"]=> string(6415) "

More than the technological leap required to achieve full integration in our day-to-day lives, the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) have captured our imagination for the future.

We have discussed our excitement for greater efficiency, faster turnarounds, more detailed, data-driven strategies, and bolder consumer relations systems. But, we must remember the coin has two sides. We have also discussed our fears for debilitating job losses, unqualified talent pools, countless looming uncertainties, and the disappearance of industries on which workers, families, and local economies are reliant.

Nonetheless, individual decisions will not stop technological progress and exploitation of its potential. Executives across industries recognize the great potential of artificial intelligence and are drawing the framework for the inevitable automated system integration.

The history of automation is riddled with sweet victories and sour defeats. No doubt, Amazon’s fully artificially intelligent convenience store, Amazon Go, has taken a long stride forward for AI’s integration into the consumer ecosystem. Amazon’s efforts to streamline the consumer experience, resembling that of online shopping, are blurring the lines between brick-and-mortar shopping and the digital marketplace, marking the first established attempt at offline automation. Yet for every Amazon Go situation, there is a counter situation, which can stray from functional to greatly dysfunctional in less than 24 hours. The point? Despite our constant failure, we keep trying.

While Amazon’s automated Go store technology is nearing its public opening, we must wonder how rapidly we will see an automated transition. In which industries are the effects of automation most likely to be felt? And what will our world look like should an automated system become the norm for consumer interaction?

We live in a digitally determined ecosystem. Our data represents our routines, and artificial intelligence is an aid to those routines, not the interference of them.

REPLACEMENT OF ROUTINE ACTION

What did you do when you woke up this morning? Check your email, the news, or the weather? What about yesterday? Or the day before? In the face of adding variety as the spice of life, we are creatures of habit—comfortable with routine and inherently resistant to change. The human tendency for status quo is constantly being challenged by the ambition of innovators.

When technology challenges the status quo, the bold embrace it while the wary resist. In the history of automated operations, sweet victories are undertaken by bold early adopters who are both conscious of potential failure and hungry for breakthrough success. In a survey by The Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review, executives across industries revealed their stance on AI integration currently in place and for the future.

Executives looking to use AI to extend the length and breadth of their firm’s operations regard efficiency and returns as the biggest questions when deciding if it’s a prudent investment. If artificial intelligence is capable of reducing human error in routine operations and producing output at higher speeds, why would that opportunity not be utilized?

According to the survey, a significant portion of respondents identified artificial intelligence as a strategic opportunity. The report’s data reveals: “Most respondents believe that AI will benefit their organization, such as through new business or reduced costs; 84% believe Al will allow their organization to obtain or sustain a competitive advantage. Three in four managers think AI will allow them to move into new businesses.”

Unfortunately, the same potential for expansion and diversification of business operations that excites managers and executives is offset by uncertainty at the employee level.

We take for granted where we exist on the human timeline. Education has largely remained static, only using new technologies for learning classic concepts. In this environment, how do we, as a society, move forward? The adoption of automated systems has expanded the corporate understanding of consumer behavior and progressed the training of new hires. The potential for expansion and diversification is a representation of our world moving forward. Nevertheless, analysts do not anticipate artificial intelligence taking a firm grasp on the consumer ecosystem for some time.

AI's Depth and path of adoption

Scholarly work on organizational theory and practice widely shows that corporate culture comes from the top down. In the BCG/MITS survey, clear paths to AI integration require distinct business cases in need of automated solutions and leaders in support of integrating artificially intelligent initiatives.

Corporate cultures that prioritize growing the potential for new hires talented in data collection, dissection, and recommendation are most likely to adopt AI capabilities to their operations. In the future, as the next wave of technological capabilities emerges, it will be these early adopters that grab hold of the opportunity, thus creating our future sweet victories. The advantage? Artificial intelligence is still in its infancy. We have not yet explored its vast potential across industries. Industry leaders in data collection and automation are rolling out their first attempts at automated integration. The barriers to adopting automated systems are shorter than they may appear.

We live in a digitally determined ecosystem. Our data represents our routines, and artificial intelligence is an aid to those routines, not the interference of them. Time will tell how the automation revolution will take shape, but being part of that movement makes today’s industry leaders the next great shapers of our society. If the true sign of intelligence is imagination, surely our capacity to harness our own technological inventions to progress our lives and match our vision for the world can happen.

" ["post_title"]=> string(55) "The Humanity of an Artificially Intelligent Marketplace" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(165) "Michael Abraham talks using Amazon Go – the AI-driven convenience store of the future – as the barometer for AI’s role in the marketplace and our daily lives " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(64) "michael-abraham-marketing-digital-agency-definity-ai-marketplace" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-22 16:53:34" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-22 23:53:34" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=26698" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [35]=> object(WP_Post)#5197 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(26705) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "253" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-01-03 12:50:21" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-01-03 20:50:21" ["post_content"]=> string(6411) "

More than the technological leap required to achieve full integration in our day-to-day lives, the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) have captured our imagination for the future.

We have discussed our excitement for greater efficiency, faster turnarounds, more detailed, data-driven strategies, and bolder consumer relations systems. But, we must remember the coin has two sides. We have also discussed our fears for debilitating job losses, unqualified talent pools, countless looming uncertainties, and the disappearance of industries on which workers, families, and local economies are reliant.

Nonetheless, individual decisions will not stop technological progress and exploitation of its potential. Executives across industries recognize the great potential of artificial intelligence and are drawing the framework for the inevitable automated system integration.

The history of automation is riddled with sweet victories and sour defeats. No doubt, Amazon’s fully artificially intelligent convenience store, Amazon Go, has taken a long stride forward for AI’s integration into the consumer ecosystem. Amazon’s efforts to streamline the consumer experience, resembling that of online shopping, are blurring the lines between brick-and-mortar shopping and the digital marketplace, marking the first established attempt at offline automation. Yet for every Amazon Go situation, there is a counter situation, which can stray from functional to greatly dysfunctional in less than 24 hours. The point? Despite our constant failure, we keep trying.

While Amazon’s automated Go store technology is nearing its public opening, we must wonder how rapidly we will see an automated transition. In which industries are the effects of automation most likely to be felt? And what will our world look like should an automated system become the norm for consumer interaction?

We live in a digitally determined ecosystem. Our data represents our routines, and artificial intelligence is an aid to those routines, not the interference of them.

Replacement of Routine Action

What did you do when you woke up this morning? Check your email, the news, or the weather? What about yesterday? Or the day before? In the face of adding variety as the spice of life, we are creatures of habit—comfortable with routine and inherently resistant to change. The human tendency for status quo is constantly being challenged by the ambition of innovators.

When technology challenges the status quo, the bold embrace it while the wary resist. In the history of automated operations, sweet victories are undertaken by bold early adopters who are both conscious of potential failure and hungry for breakthrough success. In a survey by The Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review, executives across industries revealed their stance on AI integration currently in place and for the future.

Executives looking to use AI to extend the length and breadth of their firm’s operations regard efficiency and returns as the biggest questions when deciding if it’s a prudent investment. If artificial intelligence is capable of reducing human error in routine operations and producing output at higher speeds, why would that opportunity not be utilized?

According to the survey, a significant portion of respondents identified artificial intelligence as a strategic opportunity. The report’s data reveals: “Most respondents believe that AI will benefit their organization, such as through new business or reduced costs; 84% believe Al will allow their organization to obtain or sustain a competitive advantage. Three in four managers think AI will allow them to move into new businesses.”

Unfortunately, the same potential for expansion and diversification of business operations that excites managers and executives is offset by uncertainty at the employee level.

We take for granted where we exist on the human timeline. Education has largely remained static, only using new technologies for learning classic concepts. In this environment, how do we, as a society, move forward? The adoption of automated systems has expanded the corporate understanding of consumer behavior and progressed the training of new hires. The potential for expansion and diversification is a representation of our world moving forward. Nevertheless, analysts do not anticipate artificial intelligence taking a firm grasp on the consumer ecosystem for some time.

AI’s Depth and Path of Adoption

Scholarly work on organizational theory and practice widely shows that corporate culture comes from the top down. In the BCG/MITS survey, clear paths to AI integration require distinct business cases in need of automated solutions and leaders in support of integrating artificially intelligent initiatives.

Corporate cultures that prioritize growing the potential for new hires talented in data collection, dissection, and recommendation are most likely to adopt AI capabilities to their operations. In the future, as the next wave of technological capabilities emerges, it will be these early adopters that grab hold of the opportunity, thus creating our future sweet victories. The advantage? Artificial intelligence is still in its infancy. We have not yet explored its vast potential across industries. Industry leaders in data collection and automation are rolling out their first attempts at automated integration. The barriers to adopting automated systems are shorter than they may appear.

We live in a digitally determined ecosystem. Our data represents our routines, and artificial intelligence is an aid to those routines, not the interference of them. Time will tell how the automation revolution will take shape, but being part of that movement makes today’s industry leaders the next great shapers of our society. If the true sign of intelligence is imagination, surely our capacity to harness our own technological inventions to progress our lives and match our vision for the world can happen.

" ["post_title"]=> string(55) "The Humanity of an Artificially Intelligent Marketplace" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(169) "Jeffrey Stewart discusses using Amazon Go – the AI-driven convenience store of the future – as the barometer for AI’s role in the marketplace and our daily lives " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(64) "jeffrey-stewart-marketing-digital-agency-definity-ai-marketplace" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 10:47:03" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 17:47:03" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=26705" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [36]=> object(WP_Post)#5196 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(13450) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "115" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2011-06-26 12:25:29" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2011-06-26 19:25:29" ["post_content"]=> string(3867) "In the last few years we have watched the global economy in crisis, however, we have all witnessed the industry of social media explode into a multi-billion dollar empire! Why is social media so profitable and gaining steam more and more every day? The reason is simply that a Facebook page is not just for a college student anymore. Social media is a world within, a world with a faster growing population than Earth itself. To understand how vital it is to have the edge on any and all of your competition in the Social media space consider the following: The number of years it has taken to reach 50 million people on the radio (38), TV (13),  Internet (4), versus Facebook where your company can touch 100 million people in just 9 months and 200 million in 12. Is it just a fad or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? Some go further in saying it’s the largest fundamental shift in the way we communicate in history!

"Social media is a world within, a world with a faster growing population than Earth itself."

Now, Facebook alone has passed the 700-million-user mark, The Facebook Marketplace competes with Craigslist now and most users don’t even know about it. (facebook.com/marketplace) The crazy thing is that this is just the beginning. Adaptability in all forms of business is the number one trait all should practice. Is it any wonder that every, let me say that again, every major corporation in the world has a Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter account now? The reason is they know its power and know it works. More importantly, they know how to use it. Humans have embraced technology as it has evolved for the last 100 years. So why stop now? Did we stop writing letters decades ago and switch to the phone? Did we stop mailing documents when fax machines rolled out? Did we build websites when the Internet and email were launched? Did we go mobile when we didn’t need a hard-line? Of course we did; we had to adapt. Yet none of these can compete with the growth and global size of Social media. We no longer search for the news, the news finds us. Next time you’re on YouTube (which I’m sure will be in a few minutes), search a video titled “Still think Social media is a fad?” Okay, still on board? Well, here is the problem – so many business professionals think they are doing it correctly but not seeing the rewards. They have done what they were told, started a profile, have a few hundred friends or followers, and think it’s working by itself. Maybe they even went to a class, learned how to tag, and set their privacy settings, but that’s not social media. Remember, social media is the new way we communicate, the new way we network. Once I train people to understand this, their jaws drop. The idea that “If you build it, they will come” does not work in social media. You need to be a reason to add, follow, subscribe, etc. You need to think more like, “If you build it, you better go use it.”

"Remember, social media is the new way we communicate, the new way we network."

About 80% of my current business in real estate (whether local or international) has come to me by Social Media. I will give you an example. Let’s take Twitter, and let’s use my industry for this. But think any profession for what I’m about to say. I can search on Twitter “Thinking of buying a home in West LA,” and it will pull up any and all recent ‘tweets’ where people posted that. Need I say more? Let me guess, you’re already thinking about what you want to search for, aren’t you? Once business professionals take it seriously and learn the correct strategies to execute it in their business, they will, without question, see the rewards." ["post_title"]=> string(37) "The Overlooked Aspect of Social Media" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(78) "As Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin grow, so does their affect on your business" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(27) "tony-giordano-social-aspect" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 15:10:11" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 22:10:11" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=13450" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [37]=> object(WP_Post)#5195 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(30025) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "312" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-03-07 12:18:41" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-03-07 20:18:41" ["post_content"]=> string(5577) "

How Not Taking Time Off Can Cost Your Startup Millions

As the founder and CEO of PK4 Media, you can bet my plate stays pretty full. To support my talented team and sustain meaningful partnerships with our clients, I generally like to keep myself as available as possible amid the day-to-day requirements of running a successful company. But I also know the value of carving out time to disconnect, self-reflect, and recharge.   How many times a week—or even a month—do you power down your phone or tablet and walk away for a while from your inbox? And I don't mean so you can get in the zone to knock out an important work project or step into a meeting. Our culture lauds being plugged in and reachable at all times, no matter the cost. We celebrate the entrepreneur who answers emails or sends Slack messages at all hours of the night. But are we paying enough attention the importance of disconnecting, even briefly, from our work?

[To read more of Tom Alexander's thought leadership click here]

Many of my fellow entrepreneurs would argue that this type of behavior—to step away from the helm and be out of pocket for more than a few hours—is too costly for their businesses. In some high-stakes scenarios, there's concern that being unreachable for even a single day could potentially cost a company millions of dollars. I vehemently disagree. To me, failing to structure time to engage in this type of reflection has an even greater risk of costing the company money for myriad of reasons.  

By being intentional about taking time to disconnect, reflect, and recharge, I've been able to foster my creativity and come up with ideas that have helped me grow my company ten-fold. I've witnessed the same magic for many other bright minds in my community as well.

Failing to take necessary time to recharge can impact revenue in the form of lost opportunity, depleted energy, and diminished creativity. Those who don’t take time for themselves end up getting burned out. We talk about burnout as something that happens at the employee level, but the truth is it can occur just as often in founders and CEOs. Burnout does not discriminate. By being intentional about taking time to disconnect, reflect, and recharge, I've been able to foster my creativity and come up with ideas that have helped me grow my company ten-fold. I've witnessed the same magic for many other bright minds in my community as well. One of my favorite quotes is from Abraham Lincoln: "If I had just five minutes to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first two and a half sharpening my axe." This is a perfect aphorism to highlight the intrinsic value of building time into my schedule to disconnect. Honoring myself in this way evolved from values that were instilled in me when I was young. My father hailed from a poor village in India and worked his way up to the cover of Fortune magazine. As a result, both of my hardworking immigrant parents were sometimes tough on me to ensure I didn’t lose sight of the opportunities available here in the United States. For instance, they used to wake me up in the middle of the night to do math problems. I didn't always appreciate it at the time, but they were preparing me to give my all to my passions and interests as an entrepreneur. Here’s the thing: part of working hard, giving your all, and tuning in to the big picture means creating space in your mind for reflection. We're often resistant to pause for even a moment, to sit with ourselves, when this can be the very best thing to move us forward. This "Freedom Tour"—a brief respite from daily stressors—is a way to sharpen the axe, so to speak. This might look like a ten-minute guided meditation, a half-hour walk through the city, a long morning run, or a 24-hour period over the weekend when you habitually unplug.   For me, this is cherished time to dig deep, explore my thoughts fully and completely, and work all the way through ideas, experiences, and reflections that may be layered or complex. To be sure, this isn't always a breezy exercise. However, no matter where we might find ourselves on our life's journey, we owe it to ourselves to engage in this type of meaningful introspection toward self-betterment. It's important to step away from the hustle and turn our gaze inward, even for a few minutes each day, so we don't let a connection with ourselves slip away. After all, the cost of not doing this might be more than you can afford.

[For more on PK4 Media's approach to Advertising click here]

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In today’s world of online, fast-paced information sharing, the reputation of a company can be completely determined online. How often do you do something because you read about it online? How many times have you read restaurant reviews on Yelp or movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes? Have you ever looked up a doctor online before your appointment? People search all kinds of review sites before buying cars and appliances, going to restaurants, and seeking a medical professional.

Besides review sites, many people will ask their friends on Facebook or Twitter for advice or recommendations and will go to a restaurant because of an amazing Instagram food photo of the food. The opposite is also true. Bad reviews, bad photos, and bad social media posts can be permanently damaging to a company.

[To read more of Jennifer Hurless’ thought leadership click here] Understanding the depth and reach of social media as well as the impact it has on society is the first step to managing it effectively. It cannot be ignored because people are talking whether you like it or not. Large companies have dedicated teams who manage their social media 24/7 to diffuse potential negative situations before they can become viral. They also respond to positive reviews and comments.

In the past, companies and celebrities had publicists. That role has become so much more. Your publicist, spokesperson, advertising agency, and marketing department all need to be in sync with what to do in a negative situation. Before social media, the saying was “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Today, with social media, there’s still no such thing as bad publicity - until the bad publicity takes on a life of its own on social media. A good example is the most recent United Airlines fiasco. If there wasn’t social media, that situation may have been a story on the evening news. But because of social media, United Airlines was a trending topic for over a week, giving everyone an opportunity to vent their frustration with the airline and talk about their bad experience.

Previously, when people felt the need to vent, it would be to a family member or co-worker.  Now it’s to their “follower base” which could be hundreds or even thousands of people. In the United Airlines situation, everyone just needed to add the #UnitedAirlines hashtag to offer their opinion or comments on the situation and everyone could see it. It is too soon to see the negative impact it will have on the airline, but if you’re given the choice to fly that airline or another, which one would you choose? This is where reputation management comes into play. The actions and how they are rolled out online from the marketing, publicity, and executives at United Airlines will determine where this situation will go.

"Today, with social media, there’s still no such thing as bad publicity - until the bad publicity takes on a life of its own on social media."

Social media does not only impact large companies like United Airlines. Ask a small restaurant owner their opinion on Yelp or one of the other review sites. If not managed properly, it can destroy a small business. Of people who have a bad customer service experience, 80% want to tell people about it, and 75% of those people will talk about it online starting with review sites. On the other hand, only 20% of people who have a good experience will actually post about it online.

How should reputation management be handled? The objective of anyone working on reputation management, whether it’s an in-house team or outsourced company, should be to respond to and reduce the frequency of negative reviews and comments while promoting and publicizing the positive ones. If someone can respond to a negative review within two hours or less, it can usually contain the situation and sometimes even turn a complainer into a regular consumer. Having a response by someone other than the owner or manager is always best because they come from an outside perspective and don’t take criticism personally. Also, there may be some validity to the complaint. It’s always important to acknowledge that someone took the time to write it, listen, and potentially validate what they said.

Nike, Southwest, and Taco Bell are just a few of the larger brands that are doing reputation management right. They quickly respond to both positive and negative comments and even answer questions from customers when they can. Some large hotel chains have even created a specific customer service Twitter account separate from their main account to handle customer service issues. Social media is all about engagement and being social; therefore, responses to comments, praises, and concerns are vital to the reputation of the businesses.

[For more on Go Be Social Media's approach to Social & Digital Media click here]

The bottom line is that people want to be heard, give their opinions, and talk about experiences. When they do, a business should be ready to respond. People will be more forgiving, come back, and spend more money when they get stellar customer service.

" ["post_title"]=> string(63) "The Relationship Between Reputation Management and Social Media" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(106) "Learning from the United Airlines fiasco to ensure the same doesn't happen to your brand and your business" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(63) "jennifer-hurless-marketing-social-media-reputation-social-media" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 12:23:09" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 19:23:09" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=24861" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [39]=> object(WP_Post)#5193 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(15689) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2015-03-26 10:16:39" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2015-03-26 17:16:39" ["post_content"]=> string(4884) "Bringing in a CFO to “clean up the books” before acquisition is a common process. Even if the books aren’t particularly dirty to begin with, a good CFO has the ability to help cast the company in the best possible financial light to potential investors. The fact that CFOs can make or break an acquisition isn’t news¹, and any CEO worth their salt would recognize their importance in the process. What many worthwhile CEOs might miss is the fact that good branding can be equally important in an acquisition. In marketing, “customer perceived value”² is a common term. It refers to the benefit the customer expects from the product. This perception can be strongly influenced by branding. On this level, acquisitions are really no different than any other purchase. The company being acquired is the product, and the company doing the acquiring is the customer. Even the best product can use the benefit of good branding to increase its perceived value.

[To read more of Michael Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

The Branding Gap

I’ve worked with many companies that had a significant gap between their actual value and the value their branding suggests. I’ve seen $20 million companies that look like $1 million companies because of outdated, amateur or non-existent branding. I’ve seen $1 million companies come off convincingly like $10 million companies because they invested intelligently in their branding.

What It Looks Like

I’ve been through the process of helping companies clean up their branding before acquisitions several times. Every company is unique, but the broad outlines tend to look the same. The process starts with a company that’s successful, but for any number of good reasons has branding which doesn’t reflect or amplify that success. Maybe branding was ignored because growth was happening without it. Maybe other areas of the business had more pressing needs for investment, or (more often than you’d expect) branding was neglected simply because no one ever really got around to focusing on it. Sometimes, the company has a target goal for acquisition. They want to get bought within a year, two years, four years. Other times they’re not sure what that timeline will look like or even if acquisition is the path they want to pursue, but they want to make sure they still look good to potential acquirers. Regardless, the process is the same. We start by developing a strategy. Something that addresses their biggest branding deficiencies, and will make the biggest impact to their potential customers, who are the companies that might acquire them. The specifics often depend on the industry. In B2B, we frequently focus on improved product support materials, a bigger presence at industry events and an overall brand refresh. In B2C it’s more likely to be direct consumer outreach, merchandising and carefully targeted media campaigns. Once we’ve settled on the most effective strategy, we work with the company to implement that plan over the course of their target acquisition timeline.

The Results

Branding is no different than any other investment. In the end, it all comes down to ROI. The challenge is that with branding, ROI can be difficult to compute. In an acquisition, how much precisely is the purchase price affected by branding? It’s hard to say. What I can confidently say is that branding can contribute enormously. We worked with one company that spent less than $400,000 on branding and marketing over the course of 4 years. At the beginning of that company’s branding campaign, they were valued at close to $5 million. When they were acquired 4 years later, it was for close to $25 million. Of course we can’t attribute a company’s entire increase in valuation to branding. In this particular example, the company’s CEO estimated that branding accounted for somewhere between $5 million and $15 million of that increase. That’s somewhere between a 12x and 37x return on investment, simply from helping to increase the perceived value of the company.

[For more on Echo Factory approach to Marketing click here]

Hire More Than a CFO

If you’re thinking about an acquisition, by all means bring in a CFO to clean up the books and make sure that potential investors will be impressed with your financials. But don’t stop there. If your books look great but your branding doesn’t, you’re going to leave a lot of value on the table. ¹ http://fusefinancialpartners.com/cfo-role-mergers-and-acquisitions/ ² http://smallbusiness.chron.com/customer-perceived-value-23692.html" ["post_title"]=> string(48) "Thinking About Acquisition? Think About Branding" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(516) "Bringing in a CFO to “clean up the books” before acquisition is a common process. Even if the books aren’t particularly dirty to begin with, a good CFO has the ability to help cast the company in the best possible financial light to potential investors. The fact that CFOs can make or break an acquisition isn’t news1, and any CEO worth their salt would recognize their importance in the process. What many worthwhile CEOs might miss is the fact that good branding can be equally important in an acquisition." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(37) "michael-schaffer-acquisition-branding" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-10-30 21:22:33" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-10-31 04:22:33" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=15689" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [40]=> object(WP_Post)#5192 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(24152) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2017-04-04 10:02:22" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-04-04 17:02:22" ["post_content"]=> string(6862) "

Stay ahead of the message. Ever hear that one before? How about this one: Time is money.

Watch just about any political drama, and you’re likely to hear that first line delivered at least once by some fast-walking, cell phone-wielding spin doctor. Watch any corporate business drama, and you’ll probably hear the second spouted off at least 50 times by some unnaturally tan executive on the ninth hole as he dresses down the latest in a string of incompetent yes men.

These statements are so well known that they long ago crossed over from the kingdom of sound business advice to the camp of overused, worn-out truisms. And yet, at least once a quarter, we see some enormous, multi-national, multi-million dollar corporation caught up in a PR nightmare, which they likely knew was coming but for which they failed to prepare. This lack of preparation makes for hastily written public statements based on rushed crisis management decisions, which very often end up taking the problem from bad to worse. Because of this, even more time (and money) need to be invested in cleaning up the cleanup.

Mangling the Message

Just in recent memory, we’ve seen botched PR take problems from really terrible to total disaster for companies, including Wells Fargo (fake bank accounts), Chipotle (E. coli), and Volkswagen (emissions). And that’s just business. Head on over to the public sector (ahem, White House, ahem), and one sloppy mop job after another is causing epic-level PR fails – no matter what side of the aisle you’re on. That’s a true fact. The bottom line is that it pays to be prepared, and public opinion is important – especially as your brand grows. A bad rap can tank sales, get you fired, bankrupt your business, and/or make you look really, really less than smart.

I’m not saying that these companies didn’t deserve the truckload of criticism poured all over them—there was some allegedly very shady stuff going on. But let’s be real here: Who puts in that kind of sustained Machiavellian effort and never plans for the possibility of having to do some explaining when the whistleblower comes a callin’? Sorry, but a real super villain would be better prepared.

[To read more of Michael Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

But lack of solid preparation in the PR and marketing departments isn’t just an issue for companies dealing with worst-case scenarios or scandals. In fact, many businesses getting an A+ in the ethics department get a rock-solid F when it comes to promoting a new listing, bragging about a new star hire or celebrating a mega sale. This is because every time something (predictably) great happens, the marketing and PR departments treat the event like a one-off. This leads to a cycle of chasing the message and wasting untold amounts of time and money reinventing the wheel (over and over again).

Knowing the Triggers

We’ve seen it, we’ve studied it and we think it’s high time we do something about it. How, you ask? With the implementation of a little something I like to call Trigger Systems. Trigger Systems are plans that prepare your company for both best- and worst-case scenarios, as well as the regular occurrences that could and likely will happen either once or on a regular basis.

"The bottom line is that it pays to be prepared, and public opinion is important – especially as your brand grows. A bad rap can tank sales, get you fired, bankrupt your business, and/or make you look really, really less than smart."

When something important happens in your business, a Trigger System supports that thing with a group of marketing activities. These systems take on two forms—proactive and reactive. Trigger Systems are pre-strategized plans and timelines that the marketing department can reference for guidance over and over again (or just once, and hopefully never, in the event of a crisis). These Trigger Systems are written out and saved to a general folder where any new marketing hire can access them and use them to take the necessary steps of promoting a message—an instruction manual, if you will, for how to deal with common and potential PR events.

For example, you are a major real estate property management company who has just taken on the “greening” of your major assets. You have seven properties undergoing sustainability improvements, including high-efficiency lighting retrofits in all offices, electric vehicle charging stations in the parking garages, and low-flow water features in the bathrooms. It’s going to save your company money, and it’s going to make you look really good in the press. If everything goes to plan, each month for the next seven months will mark a completion date for one of your seven buildings. That’s seven months of killer PR—if you don’t blow it by being unprepared and missing your window.

A Trigger System is the plan of action for making sure each new sustainable building gets its day in the sun and for ensuring that each piece of marketing supports and builds upon all other marketing. The system would include timelines for the publication of press releases, blog posts, social media promotions, e-blasts, website updates and featured project one sheets. A Trigger System puts your monthly announcements on a repeatable schedule that you plan once and then implement time and again. But the Trigger System does not stop there. Let’s say your corporation has a lengthy press release approval process—and so does the business partner you mentioned in said release. A Trigger System accounts for expected delays and countless rounds of revisions to ensure all the necessary marketing materials are created and approved before the announcement date.

[For more on Echo Factory’s approach to Advertising click here]

Sounds really basic, you say? It is. But take a look at your own business and at the businesses around you. How many actually have a solid PR plan, and how many are winging it? We’d venture to guess winging it beats out planning all day long. Which means that developing some solid Trigger Systems could give you the major competitive advantage of staying ahead of the message and controlling the narrative. And you heard it here first: Doing it right the first time typically saves time, and, if we all know one thing for certain by now, time is money.

" ["post_title"]=> string(15) "Trigger Systems" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(87) "Taking steps to ensure the words "Public Relations" and "Nightmare" never come together" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(54) "michael-schaffer-marketing-advertising-trigger-systems" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 13:46:34" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 20:46:34" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=24152" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [41]=> object(WP_Post)#5191 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(30165) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "312" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-04-18 13:43:14" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-04-18 20:43:14" ["post_content"]=> string(4260) "A birthday sets the annual mark for time passing, and it’s the best and most personal time to evaluate where we are. All too often we become caught up in the festivities planned by friends, family, and co-workers, and forget about the most important person of the day: me! I recently posted an article about disconnecting, something my friends and I have termed the “Freedom Tour.” Of all the ways to disconnect throughout the year, my annual “walkabout” is my favorite. I treat my walk about like a New Year’s resolution, except I take this journey once a year on my birthday. I have traditionally set my birthday travel schedule to cover a full 24 hours where no one knows which city I am in. I disappear, taking only my notebook, turn my phone to do not disturb, and wander around whichever city I happen to be in. It’s important to take a full day to reflect on where I am in life, what goals I set for myself the previous year, and what new goals I should be striving for in the next 12 months.

[To read more of Tom Alexander’s thought leadership click here]

I break my future goals down into categories that are important to me: -Personal: Is this the year I finally learn fencing, piano, or that new language? -Professional: Should I start a new company? Develop a new strategy for my primary business? How do I coordinate a better strategy for the businesses I’m involved with? -Financial: How much should I save for a down payment or how much to donate to a charity? -Health: Get in for that dental checkup; get my blood pressure checked; donate blood; donate plasma. -Travel: Where would I like to travel in the next year and how can I plan for that? -Research: What macro-level topics am I interested in, such as politics or a specific industry’s model? During my first walkabout, I was 27, living in Los Angeles, and was about to finish the third acquisition of my career. I had no idea what my future was going to look like. Where would I go once the acquisition was completed? Would I continue on with the parent company? Would I move back to Silicon Valley, take time off work, or maybe self-fund my own business finally? It was during this day of reflection that I decided to start PK4 Media. I looked at how I would approach the market, how I would build my team, and then determined whether I had enough funds to bootstrap a company myself. That was 10 years ago, and each year my planning process grows. My written journal has transformed into a handy Excel spreadsheet to catalog my goals and thoughts. I’ve updated this to include a specific Trello board that I have integrated into my daily life. More than just having this structure to organize my thoughts for what I want for the upcoming year, on my walkabout I grant myself freedom that I usually am too rigid to allow. I allow myself to think profoundly and give my thoughts permission to run to completion. I let myself think about anything that comes up, and it typically forces me to think about the tough situations we all endure. Time is a limited commodity. Think about it, how often do you get distracted in a day and pulled away from what you were initially thinking or doing? Allowing your mind to run through a complete thought and evaluation can be scary, but it helps you understand those places where you are lacking and need to really devote time to become better. This type of strategic planning is not just for my business, but my life as a whole. My annual walkabout has helped me understand who I am, who I want to be, and how I fit into all of this. I evaluate how well I’m doing as a son, uncle, nephew, friend, sibling, business partner, advisor, CEO, board member, etc. This is another part of the ongoing freedom tour in my life: stepping away from the daily stress and understanding the bigger picture of where I want my life to go. It helped me realize I wanted to be an entrepreneur.

[For more on PK4 Media’s approach to Advertising click here]

 " ["post_title"]=> string(10) "Walk About" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(167) "Tom Alexander, Founder & CEO of PK4 Media, continues his Freedom Tour series with his new "Walk About" article, sharing what he did to become a successful entrepeneur." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(46) "marketing-tom-alexander-walk-about-freeom-tour" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 13:46:40" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 20:46:40" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=30165" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [42]=> object(WP_Post)#5190 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(17801) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2015-08-04 09:57:58" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2015-08-04 16:57:58" ["post_content"]=> string(5591) "When Lumber Liquidators stock (NYSE:LL) plunged 60 percent in late February of this year, it wasn’t because of a Bloomberg or Wall Street Journal investigation. It was because 25-year-old UCLA dropout-turned-investor Xuhua Zhou had a suspicion that the company’s CARB compliant products weren’t actually CARB compliant. He paid for an independent lab to confirm that suspicion, and published his findings on a blog, Seeking Alpha. Zhou’s research and blog post eventually spurned lawsuits and mainstream media coverage that led to Lumber Liquidator’s losing over $1B in market cap over about two weeks in late February and early March. This may seem like a lucky (or unlucky, depending on your position on NYSE: LL) strike by one person, but it’s much more than that. It’s a structured, repeatable method of media outreach that many company’s PR and IR departments could learn from. The state of the news is, from some perspectives, dire. The Washington Post’s newsroom staff is down about 40 percent from its heyday, the Los Angeles Times is down about 60 percent, and USA Today (perhaps buoyed by its presence in hotel-room doorways everywhere) is down by more than 30 percent.1 Across the country since 2000, newsroom employees are down about 35 percent.

[To read more of Michael Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

Of course, many would argue that this is simply the death of the traditional media behemoth at the hands of “new media.” Where each old-media journalist falls, ten bloggers and “citizen journalists” rise in their place. Today, combined the Huffington Post and Buzzfeed newsrooms employ more staff than either the Los Angeles Times or Washington Post. But we’re not here to bemoan the loss of traditional media or praise the rise of new media. While Edward R. Murrow rolls over in his grave, we’re here to talk about how you can use what’s happening in the media to your advantage. Today, the common thread between newsrooms at traditional papers and swanky “collaborative spaces” at venture-capital funded media startups is that they’re all expected to do more with less. Perhaps ten years ago, writing a press release and sending it out on the wire was a valid public relations strategy. Perhaps. But it certainly isn’t now. In 2013, just three of the country’s top PR distribution services sent out about 642,000 press releases. That’s more than 1,700 every day. No journalist or blogger has the time to sift through 1,700 press releases. Even if they do somehow manage to find a nugget or two that they’d like to cover amidst the deluge of irrelevance, they don’t have the resources to do research, conduct interviews, create graphics, and produce materials. So what are they doing? They’re skipping the wire and finding stories in new places. They’re relying on other people to do the hard work of research and content creation for them, then packaging that content in new ways. They’re finding things like Zhou’s Lumber Liquidators lab tests and building stories around them. So how can your corporate newsroom or investor relations department benefit from this? By becoming creators of content that goes far beyond the typical press release, and is distributed in the media that bloggers and journalists use every day. A press release is a good start at driving the media’s conversation on your company, but it’s only the beginning. To take control, you need to supplement that press release with content that makes it easy and appealing to cover your story. Take the financial data from your latest press release and repackage it as an infographic. Nobody likes reading financial press releases, but everyone likes infographics. Put together quotes from officials at your company, repackage pieces of the infographic as standalone images and graphs. Bring in a photographer to take good, relevant photos and make them available for editorial use. Maybe even run a survey, do some testing, and write up the results.

[For more on Echo Factory’s approach to Public Relations click here]

Then, distribute it. Sure, start with the wire but don’t stop there. Identify individual journalists and bloggers that have either covered your company or industry before. Contact them personally (and I mean actually personally, not with a mass email where you insert their first name) with a pitch that makes it clear you’ve done your homework, and are ready to make their job easier. Use your company’s social media accounts, and the social media accounts of your officers to distribute bite-sized pieces of content (those quotes, photos, graphs and illustrations you made earlier) through Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. Do it right, and journalists and bloggers will thank you. You’ve provided content that makes it easy for them to cover your company. And while you can’t always control the conversation, you can start it and push it in a direction that portrays your company in as positive a light as possible. 1 capitalnewyork.com 2  journalism.org 3 prdaily.com" ["post_title"]=> string(60) "Want to Control the Conversation? Make It Easy for the Media" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(58) "michael-schaffer-want-control-conversation-make-easy-media" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-10-30 21:22:25" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-10-31 04:22:25" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(45) "http://baconparty.net/csq.wp.staging/?p=17801" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [43]=> object(WP_Post)#5189 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(31423) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "343" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-10-23 16:57:08" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-10-23 23:57:08" ["post_content"]=> string(10040) "For the first time in Google history, Google announced a broad core algorithm update. They released the update at the beginning of June and concurrently, Google also released what they dubbed the diversity update. The diversity update was separate from the broad core algorithm update, which was designed to limit multiple results from the same domain unless it made the most sense for the query. Due to the update, sites across multiple niches noticed major dips in organic search visibility. If you’re relying on organic traffic to keep your business running, it’s important to take steps to future proof your SEO strategy to withstand changes to the algorithm, like the broad core algorithm update and others you might see in the future.

Google Has a Stronghold on Search

Not only does Google control the search marketshare, but, they are also using search results as final destinations for many users as well. As a user, you can now find local businesses in Local Pack results, find flight information in search results, get answers to many questions, and much more.  Along with that, Google is overriding meta data provided by websites because they feel they can provide the best titles and descriptions that match the user intent.  The Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are being changed constantly with the intent of keeping users on Google to answer all their lives burning questions, book travel, and find local businesses. This is very powerful. 

In order to really "Future Proof" your SEO, you have to think about it holistically, think about it as a long-term strategy, and continue to iterate on it all the time, so you’re not chasing algorithm updates regularly.

Obviously, this is all being done for user experience and allowing users to get to the things they need in the fastest, most reliable, and easiest way possible. As a user, I love finding all the information I mentioned above quickly and easily. It's massively helpful. But many publishers and websites are seeing the impact of this by the loss of traffic. Who is Next? Or, is the real question, how do take advance of these SEO algorithm updates? Or, how do marketers figure out ways to drive more awareness and visibility to their brand, from search...or even other channels.  But also, how do you make sure you're being a smart SEO by building it into your product and making sure algorithm updates don't strike fear in your heart, when they are announced.

Minimizing the Impact of Future Algorithm Updates

Google will never stop updating the algorithm and making changes in the name of improving the user experience. In fact, I'm all for that. The good news for you is that you can take steps to make your site more resistant to future updates and at the same time, less dependent on traffic that comes to you from Google. Long-Term Results Instead of Short-Term Wins First and foremost, do you have a real strategy for how to win at SEO? Instead of blaming Google or going on a tangent about algorithm updates by Google, maybe a better approach would be taking all that time to think about how your site wouldn't need to worry about this.  If you don't have too much content, it might be time to add more. If your crawling and indexing hasn't been well thought through and you have hundreds (or thousands...or even tens of thousands) of pages. There is a need to invest in this. How is internal linking done across the domain? Could you be writing more, or any, blog content on a regular basis that provides value to the people coming to your website? And, how are you thinking about all this, and other channels, more holistically so you are really delivering on creating a marketing strategy that stands on its own for the long haul? Answer the above questions right and I guarantee you will never be stressing about algorithm updates.  Quality Content Always Survives Remember how I mentioned content above, well, it's really important. And, it has been extremely important for as long as I can remember. "Content is King" has been a phrase around for a couple decades now online and will be around for the foreseeable future.  I've always said that it's important to create content people will find value in. And, if that value matches the intent of searches queries, then it's a win-win. The fluctuations and algorithm changes won't impact this too much. While you might see a dip here or there, it will be just that. And, if certain content loses its luster after a while, you should already be creating so much content, you won't be thinking about it.  Remember, focusing on the long-term is the name of the game.  If you’ve got a solid, long-term approach to organic search, aimed at creating value, that’s the only way you’ll benefit from any and all algorithm updates. SEO Does Not Sit on a Silo When I worked In-house, I never thought of SEO as its own department. It touches content, PR, product, and technology. The truth is, it doesn't work unless you think about it holistically and how to partner with those teams or tie it to those efforts.  Because it can touch so much, you can also make a bigger impact than when it's being worked on in a silo. When you think holistically and you think about the long-term strategy, you can ensure that content, user experience, and the technical details that all apply, are done with SEO in mind. And, they truly are a "future proofed" way of thinking about SEO.  Many times, people think about hacks, quick wins, or quick ways to generate traffic from SEO. While I have done that too, it’s always paid off much more when I have thought about SEO in a more holistic sense.  And, if it all plays nicely together and you've built a solid traffic mix, if SEO traffic is reduced by a small number, you will feel much less of an impact.  Doing this in a thoughtful and holistic way, you will build a stronger, healthier, foundation while reducing dependence on organic traffic. Build Relationships and Your Brand New traffic from organic search is always a great thing, and as someone who has done it for 15+ years, I will always believe in the power of SEO.  But, again, thinking about this more holistically, it’s important to nurture relationships with returning visitors, too. Having a thoughtful approach to engaging an audience via various channels can help drive more conversions and revenue.  Thinking about things from a reliance point-of-view, the more you engage your audience through multiple channels, the less reliant you are on one channel, when, and if, it does falter. This isn't exclusive to organic search and SEO too, think about all the publishers and sites that were crushed by Facebook's algorithm a few years back, the same applies here.  You are playing a losing battle if you think it's okay to not setup email marketing, re-engagement, a community or some form of engagement to nurture your audience and build a real brand.  Be Holistic, Think Long-Term. I've been a believer in thinking about SEO and Content holistically, but also in what your full marketing funnel and mix is. What is the customer journey with and without SEO, because that could be the deciding factor on how well your business really does from a growth perspective.  There are no shortcuts to building great business and the same applies to growing your traffic, your audience, your visibility and revenue. Any "hack" that you might find, might work for a temporary period, but you'll always be worried about Google's algorithm updates like the Broad Core update announced this year.  In order to really "Future Proof" your SEO, you have to think about it holistically, think about it as a long-term strategy, and continue to iterate on it all the time, so you’re not chasing algorithm updates regulary." ["post_title"]=> string(38) "Ways to Future Proof Your SEO Strategy" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(97) "The more holistic your SEO Strategy is, the less you will be chasing algorithm updates by Google." 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In 2015, consulting giant McKinsey & Co. purchased a controlling stake in product and service design firm LUNAR. Over the past two years, Deloitte and Accenture have acquired over a dozen creative agencies between them, with the former now operating Deloitte Digital, an internal division generating over $1.5B of revenue per year.

McKinsey, Deloitte, and Accenture now use their creative arms to sell new services, but they’ve also integrated design capabilities into long-standing core practices. Their collective attention toward ‘soft sciences’ like design and communications would have been unthinkable ten years ago.

In what John Edson, President of LUNAR, calls “a very natural kind of partnership,”¹ these acquisitions seem forward-thinking rather than out of place, as the significance of user experience becomes prevalent in ever more industries and business models. Case in point, Deloitte’s purchase of London-based design consultancy Market Gravity proposes to help clients create and launch “innovative products and services” across an array of sectors including financial services, retail, energy, telecommunications, and automotive.²

In the past, consumer-directed marketing was considered the key venue for design and branding talent, where packaging and commercial jingles might sway purchasers and increase market share. Business-to-business purchase decisions have long been assumed to be made through either existing personal relationships or sober, practical analysis. In either of these determinants, the ‘brand’ as such has no bearing on ultimate business results. Or does it?

[To read more of Charlie Ittner's thought leadership click here]

The Prevalence of Emotional Decision-Making

Humans frequently make decisions based on emotions influenced by indicators present in a given scenario. Psychology scientists contend that these emotions are actually the dominant driver of most meaningful decisions in life, and that our decisions serve as conduits through which we attempt to avoid negative emotions and outcomes and increase positive ones.³ A ­related term is heuristics, which are approaches by which our brains employ practical methods (often imperfect ones) to reach efficient decisions in the absence of full information.

By bringing a higher level of visual design, messaging strategy, and copywriting to our clients’ investor-facing materials, we hope to shorten the length of capital raise periods, allowing key team members to get back to making transactions and creating value in portfolio investments.

These concepts are directly applicable in considering how brand might affect not just what cereal or detergent to buy, but also larger decisions, such as which bank to select to manage a large account. Research shows that within contemporary market conditions, a strong and widely-recognized brand correlates strongly with long-term financial success.⁴ What deci­sionmakers know about a brand and how they feel toward that brand are relevant and do factor into their ultimate choices.

A distinguishable brand can lead customers toward lower price sensitivity, greater candor, and more leniency, all valuable considerations that factor into acquisition and profitability of current and prospective clients.⁵ Furthermore, within sectors where there exist many substitutable and credible competitors, a well-developed and -articulated brand can serve as a key differentiator. As industries mature and individual companies’ performance metrics trend convergently, such as in the investment management field, a firm’s story, culture, and philosophy become ever more critical for key constituents choosing with whom to engage.

Good Communication Matters

At Darien Group, we provide branding and communications services to private equity and real estate investment firms, entrants in industries that shunned press and branding almost altogether as recently as ten to fifteen years ago.

With increased competition for investor dollars and target assets, we’re seeing a remarkable sea change in the willingness of investment managers to consider their communications as a means of separation from the herd in the eyes of their audiences. Investor presentations and private placement memorandum, once only functional and legal requisites for going to market, are increasingly seized as opportunities to advance brand narrative. Digital presences have gone from nonexistent to robust and attractive, with space reserved for content on portfolio value creation, sometimes including video.

By bringing a higher level of visual design, messaging strategy, and copywriting to our clients’ investor-facing materials, we hope to shorten the length of capital raise periods, allowing  team members to get back to creating value in portfolio investments. On certain occasions, we reduce the need for our clients to employ costly placement agents to raise capital. These integrations of brand and communications resources can advance strategic imperatives and effect real and significant business outcomes.

Discovering Your Brand's Value

More recently, we’ve found interesting peripheral applications for our capabilities. Among our current assignments: a rebrand and materials development for a boutique accounting firm; investor pitch materials for a film development and production fund; and a website and white paper for a cannabis-focused Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

In each of these cases, we’ve taken our traditional processes and applied them to industries or business models that are, in part or in whole, new to us. The three central phases to any thoughtful branding work are:

1. Discovery, to understand as much as possible about a business, its history, model, personality, and goals

2. Development, using the groundwork of the Discovery process to tease out messaging themes and visual brand worlds that strengthen and grow in collaboration with the client

3. Production, in which the Development roadmap is realized into concrete deliverables by creative and technical experts with requisite acumen and training.

These three steps are applicable to practically any business. And whether or not you have resources available to contribute to your brand, you can still work through your own Discovery and Development processes just by considering strengths and weaknesses and your key constituents’ experience with your company.

Twenty years ago, most people would be skeptical as to why an accounting firm should care about its clients’ user and brand experience. Today, we assume user experience to be important in the majority of our purchase decisions. Why exclude business-to-business and professional services applications? Psychology and behavior have proven that the quality of a company’s brand and communications platform is critical within every industry and to each client relationship.

[For more on Darien Group's approach to Branding & Communication click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(52) "What Brand and Design Can Do for Investment Managers" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(130) "Charlie Ittner of the Darien Group examines the rise and recreation of brand and design at Accenture, Deloitte, and McKinsey & Co." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(69) "charlie-ittner-darien-group-what-brand-design-can-investment-managers" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-01-07 11:04:18" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-07 19:04:18" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=27344" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [45]=> object(WP_Post)#5187 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(24713) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2017-07-07 09:02:42" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-07-07 16:02:42" ["post_content"]=> string(4771) "

Less than 40 years into existence (ESPN went on the air September 7, 1979), the “Worldwide Leader” as it is known, is at a crossroads that will test both its ability to adapt to a new age and the patience of its parent company – Disney.

In April, 2017, ESPN laid off more than 100 employees – the majority of which were highly skilled, qualified journalists and TV talent that sports fans from Boston to San Francisco knew well. This round of very public layoffs came just 18 months after ESPN let approximately 300 employees (off-camera, behind-the-scenes workers) go in October of 2015.

In some ways, the cuts are difficult to understand. ESPN’s flagship program, SportsCenter, is a household name. And sporting events, the network’s bread and butter, are more popular than ever. In 2015, Americans spent a collective 31 billion hours watching sports on TV—up 40% from 10 years ago. The NFL, NBA, and MLB all recently signed record-setting contracts for broadcast rights, buoyed by the popularity of their products. ESPN alone is estimated to pay over $5.5B annually to sporting leagues for broadcast rights.

But, at the same time, ESPN’s subscriber base is down. ESPN’s business model is primarily based on the “carriage fees”   that cable and satellite TV providers pay the network to carry its programming—around $8 per customer per month by the end of this year. And, of course, the beauty (from ESPN’s standpoint) is that, when you sign up for cable or satellite, your carrier doesn’t traditionally ask you, “Do you want to pay an extra $8 per month for ESPN?”   You just get ESPN, whether you want it or not, and that $8 is hidden somewhere in your cable bill.

The problem is, just in the past year, ESPN has lost about 400,000 subscribers per month. So how can sports be more popular than ever while the sports network is hemorrhaging customers? By clinging to an outdated business model and refusing to innovate.

[To read more of Mike Schaffer's thought leadership click here]

Twenty years ago, ESPN was the place for sports fans. SportsCenter was where you got highlights, and the network’s game broadcasts were often the only place to watch many sports.

Today, the world has changed, and ESPN has been slow to catch up. Hockey fans don’t need ESPN to watch their sport; they can just buy a NHL streaming subscription and catch every game in HD. Fans don’t need to sit through a half hour of SportsCenter, hoping they see their team’s highlights. They can just look them up immediately on their team’s website. Or on a blog about their team. Or on Twitter. Or on Snapchat.

Innovation is hard. Venturing into the unknown is scary. But, as an executive, it’s important you realize that the danger of not innovating is a far, far scarier thing.

You get my point.

Ten years ago, ESPN was perfectly poised to take advantage of this shift. They had the relationships with sporting leagues, the on-air talent and the technological know-how to become the online destination for sports.

And, instead of innovating, they dug in their heels.

While one sports league after another launched standalone streaming subscriptions, ESPN staunchly clung to its cable TV roots. The forward-thinking executives at Major League Baseball launched their standalone streaming service in 2002. ESPN’s CEO said they were planning to launch a standalone streaming service back in 2015, and they still haven’t.

[For social media advice and insight from Echo Factory click here]

When you’re making something like $7B in annual revenue from a soon-to-be outdated business model, dragging your heels is an appealing option. But it’s not the smart option.

Innovation is hard. Venturing into the unknown is scary. But, as an executive, it’s important you realize that the danger of not innovating is a far, far scarier thing.

Major League Baseball’s forward-thinking streaming division has doubled its revenue in the past four years. Heel-dragging ESPN is on track to lose about $3M worth of subscribers every single month of this year.

Innovation is hard, but layoffs are much harder.

" ["post_title"]=> string(67) "What Happened to ESPN and How to Make Sure it Doesn't Happen to You" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(95) "Exploring the very public tumult and downfall of ESPN, a strong and identifiable American brand" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(53) "mike-schaffer-marketing-public-relations-espn-layoffs" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 12:25:15" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 19:25:15" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=24713" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [46]=> object(WP_Post)#5186 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(29948) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-12-09 12:57:48" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-12-09 20:57:48" ["post_content"]=> string(6946) "The journey of an entrepreneur is anything but a linear, upward trajectory. It’s a series of highs and lows, successes and setbacks, wins and losses. After more than four years of running my own business and helping others run theirs before that — trust me — I understand the frustration that comes from entrepreneurship. The most important lesson I’ve learned through my own experience is that it’s imperative, for both your sanity and your efficiency, to remember that you are not a victim.

[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

Things happen to everyone. You have a difficult client; your employee is constantly late to very important meetings; partners are constantly shoveling their responsibilities onto your plate; you got a parking ticket just two minutes after your meter expired. Out of all these external factors affecting you and your abilities to get work done, it’s important to understand which of the things you can change and which you can’t.

Don't be a martyr (but give yourself some space to feel)

Entrepreneurship isn’t martyrdom. Your industry was not crafted to best suit your abilities. It’s up to you to adapt to your industry and all its changes. At my company, I could complain about crazy clients or difficult employees or economic shifts, etc. But at the end of the day, that just causes stress and there's nothing to be done about it. Instead, I choose to focus on what I CAN control. I don't have to work with that client, I can let go of that employee, and, while I definitely can't control the economy, I could tighten up the ship a bit. I focus on my energy on the things I can handle within the constraints I have. However, I’m not a robot — and I’d bargain you aren’t either. We have a right to feel frustration, disappointment … even anger or sadness. Give yourself the space to feel those natural human emotions. Just don’t allow yourself to dwell in that space for too long.

Find What You Can Control

Okay. You’ve allowed yourself to let off some steam about an unpleasant situation. Now it’s time to get down to business. For example, say you have an employee who has just missed an important deadline and the client is pissed. The first step in handling this issue is to figure out what, within that situation, you can control. And remember, as a CEO, you have quite a bit of control. In my opinion, there are four options you have to deal with this issue:

1. Immediately fix the problem. (Fire that deadline-missing employee.)
2. Sit around and complain about the problem. (Bitch over beers to your business partner about the missed deadline.)
3. Help your employee succeed (Talk to your deadline-missing employee about their organization methods and suggest ways to prevent missing important dates.)
4. Do it yourself. (Handle any and all deadlines moving forward.)

While these options are obviously not created equal, they are all within your power to implement. What isn’t in your power is the actions of the employee, when the deadlines are, how the client is going to feel about the missed deadline, etc. I know it’s tempting to dwell on these things, but at the end of the day, it’s only going to drain you of your focus and patience. So hone in and find the things you can control.

Then Fix It

Things can and will go wrong, but if you remember you’re a manager, not a martyr — these issues will be a fertilizer, rather than an impediment, for growth.

Now that you’ve thought about the issue with a calm head, it’s time to go about fixing what is broken. Not all problems are going to have immediate solutions that bring about immediate results. But if you’re working in a positive manner toward a bigger goal, that’s a win in my book. Referring back to the scenario above, options 1 or 3 seem like the best way to go. You can obviously still go vent to your partner about the missed deadlines and other work frustrations, but just be sure you’re also doing something proactively to address the situation at hand. If this is the fourth or fifth time that employee has totally dropped the ball, then maybe option 1 is your best bet. But, more likely, this is the employee’s first offense. Let’s face it, sometimes these kinds of things happen. We’re all human; we’re all bound to make mistakes. What matters most is how you grow from them. Take this missed deadline as an opportunity to have a one-on-one meeting with that employee to figure out how you, as a CEO and leader, can help them be better at their job. Maybe there are some issues outside of work that are occupying the employee’s headspace, making them appear to a little spacey. Perhaps they could benefit from a day off or a long weekend. Maybe the employee just needs some tricks and tools to be better organized. Let them know what you do to stay on track and see if they’d be interested in attending a seminar on project management.

Be Proactive

Basically, as a leader, it is your responsibility to deal with the blows and blessings that come from running a business. It is your job to provide your employees the tools to succeed and your clients the results tey’re expecting. Things can and will go wrong, but if you remember you’re a manager, not a martyr — these issues will be a fertilizer, rather than an impediment, for growth.

[For more on Hawke Media’s approach to Digital Agency click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(61) "When You’re a CEO, You Don’t Have Time to Play the Victim" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(77) "Instead of dwelling on what’s out of your control, focus on what you can do" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(68) "erik-huberman-when-youre-a-ceo-you-dont-have-time-to-play-the-victim" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 15:05:48" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 22:05:48" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=29948" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [47]=> object(WP_Post)#5185 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(29114) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-11-02 15:20:41" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-11-02 22:20:41" ["post_content"]=> string(7556) "There’s been a lot of focus and scrutiny on the unclear, murky nature of today’s media buying practices – and for good reason. The most recent independent study by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) revealed some startling, non-disclosed agency practices. Allegedly, “various media companies offer rebates to media-buying firms in exchange for greater amount of ad dollars,” which could mean that “the potential allocation of billions of dollars in advertising may be influenced by a desire for a sort of kickback, rather than being done in the interests of big-spending clients,” as reported by Variety. What this means is clients are being either overcharged or underserved when it comes to media buying in order for the big agencies to make money off the top. As agencies are buying the advertising inventory, they are either marking up the prices or receiving either rebates from the media owners for spending a certain amount of money. This has to stop. As marketers, it is our responsibility to maintain transparency and honesty when it comes to our clients.

The Importance of Transparency

There are now blurred lines between agencies that are only making money from clients and those that get markups from group deals. If practicing media buying correctly, however, you should have no qualms with making sure transparency about your practices is woven directly into the fabric of your business. Especially with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in play, all aspects of media buying should be held up to this standard. With advertisers demanding better contracts with agencies, tightening up their programs, and establishing better relationships with ad tech vendors, transparency in marketing is no longer a question. It’s the norm. As media specialists, it’s our responsibility to place our clients in the best position to succeed and be flexible when our industry shifts. Clients have every right to know where exactly their money is going and it’s our duty to provide them with accurate predictions, information, and expectations.

[To read more of Erik Huberman's thought leadership click here]

Maintaining Transparency

Our media buying experts over at Hawke Media pride themselves on maintaining open and honest communication with clients. Their clients have full optics into everything they do, from weekly verbal and written reporting to total access to ad accounts, which clients can view down to the keyword, campaign, etc. level to see where their money is being spent. Here are some specific ways our media buyers maintain transparency with clients that you can immediately incorporate into your media buying practices:

1. Provide clients with a real-time reporting dashboard so clients have 24/7 optics to objectives and regularly share any additional data with clients.

Providing clients with a 24/7 dashboard that reports in real time is vital to maintaining consistent transparency through the entirety of the client-agency relationship. Having this dashboard allows clients to visualize how much is being spent, where it’s being spent, what’s performing, and where budget can be reallocated in order to achieve desired outcomes or get the most return on each dollar spent. Dashboards can be set up in such a way that reporting dynamically populates and updates from linked accounts. Clients can dive in as they please and see performance in real time. This ensures both client and agency are on the same page, with the same insight into budgets, metrics, performance, and results.

2. Give clients full account ownership.

Hawke never hides or keeps client ad accounts. Clients maintain ownership and have unrestricted access to accounts if they wish to personally view account performance, from an overview of campaigns down to the keyword level. If clients disengage with Hawke, they have full ownership of their accounts and don’t need to worry about not having full access to their campaigns, insights, and reports. These accounts are paid for by the client and part of their brand identity. The accounts are rightfully theirs. Giving clients full account ownership is a no-brainer and should be one of the first things done to demonstrate a marketer’s honesty and transparency.

3. Create a partnership.

When a client signs with us, their designated Hawke team communicates strategy, ad copy, audiences, and keywords with the client prior to launching and during the optimization phase. These talks are collaborative and client feedback is not only heard, but implemented. It’s a true partnership. This is done to ensure both the marketing team and the client are on the same page and that expectations are clear. It creates mutual trust and understanding to make sure that there aren’t too many revisions, making the process more efficient. There is a consistent dialogue around what is being executed and communicated to prospective customers.

4. Be an extension of your client.

In the most simple terms, be an extension of your client. Think how the client would think. Act how the client would act. Marketers need to act in their clients’ best interests and understand client objectives, brand, and business model. That way, both parties are all aligned on overall goals, what needs to be done and why, and how it should be executed.

A Marketer's Code

With so many huge advertising companies coming under increased scrutiny for their less-than-honest media-buying practices, it’s crucial that marketers maintain their morals. At this point, it is up to us as individuals and as agencies to ensure complete transparency when it comes to handling clients.

[For more on Hawke Media’s approach to Digital Agency click here]

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[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

And yet, a lot of brands feel this self-inflicted pressure to bring their marketing in house - which often leads to companies having a rude awakening when it comes to the depth of knowledge one must have in order to market effectively. Especially for growth stage ecommerce companies, getting an outsourced CMO is the smarter business decision. Let the marketing experts focus on the marketing so that you and your team can focus on your product and all the intricacies that go into running a successful business.  

If It Ain't Broke

An odd trend exists. Companies see impressive results from their outsourced marketing agency and decide that the next logical step is to end their relationship with said agency and bring everything in-house. Let me tell you right now - this could be one of the most detrimental decisions a company could make. My company, Hawke Media, had a client that went this route. After seeing such a boom in business thanks to our marketing experts, the client decided they wanted to take their marketing in-house. What happened next? Did they continue to see their sales increase month-over-month? Did they continue to produce effective and efficient Facebook ads? Did they continue to expand their client base and increase the reach of their email newsletter? Nope. Instead, they were banned on Facebook just two weeks before one of the biggest days in ecommerce - Black Friday. It’s true, this company was unable to advertise on Facebook before Black Friday. Even more unfortunate for them was that, because they had an inexperienced marketing team, they lacked any connections at Facebook to help them fix it - something a marketing agency is definitely going to have. This client is not the only poor, unfortunate soul who went this route and suffered for it. We had one client who had been with Hawke Media for a year and half. During this time we took the company from a three million dollar value to a 60 million dollar value. When the company raised that round, they decided to try and take everything in-house. Fast forward three years and, in the time since then, the company has had to raise more money at the same valuation and even had to recently go through a complete internal restructuring. With an expert marketing agency, they were on a complete upward trajectory. On their own...not so much.

You Don't Have to Do it All Anymore

The idea that a company should bring all its processes in-house once they’ve reached a certain pinnacle of success is an archaic way of thinking. The scope and speed of today’s marketing makes outsourcing one of the smartest business decisions you can make. Companies shouldn’t feel obligated to take on all the responsibility of owning, operation, producing, marketing and selling a product. It’s just too much these days and there are experts just waiting to help ease the burden. The digital revolution changed the game and marketing initiatives now cover an incredibly wide breadth, requiring a wide variety of specialization in order to be successful. Because of the nature of today’s modern market, in order to stay competitive, you have to stay efficient. In order to stay efficient, you have to outsource.

[For more on Hawke Media’s approach to Digital Agency click here]

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Since Hawke’s inception, we’ve been both blessed and burdened with extraordinary growth. What started as a five-person team in 2014 has evolved into an increasingly successful business with a team of over 130 expert marketers who have helped more than 1,500 businesses scale and profit.

While the growth has been great, it’s also come with growing pains. Recently settled into our new, 27,000-square-foot headquarters, we’re finally in a space that will enable and encourage further growth. Getting here hasn’t been easy and the Hawke leadership team, and I learned some valuable lessons in the process. Here are the biggest lessons we learned from building and moving into our brand-new headquarters that we hope will help make your own move seamless.

[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

1. FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

We wanted an office that was custom built for us and being able to design a space that perfectly accommodates the way our company runs has allowed us to perform better. We were able to match the layout of our new office with the way our business works, rather than trying to retrofit an existing space to work the way we want. Creating that new layout gave us the opportunity to figure out what spaces and office functions were missing that our company and employees needed to succeed. Conversely, we were able to see which functions were unnecessary.

In an ideal world, you’ll find a space that can be designed to fit your company’s unique needs. If you’re not able to custom build an office as we were, at least look for buildings with existing layouts that will be conducive to the way you do business.

2. PAY ATTENTION TO HOW DIFFERENT EMPLOYEES SELF-ORGANIZE, BUT PROVIDE GUIDANCE

It was incredibly insightful and interesting to watch the way my employees self-organize: how they use conference rooms and common spaces; how they organize their desks and their days; and how they work most efficiently.

While our new office was still being built, to accommodate for the expansion of our company we had to rent a separate office two blocks away from our original headquarters. We put one of our teams in that new space and let them figure out how they wanted to organize the space, who sat where, and who got what. We thought that the added freedom would increase performance, but we instead realized that our employees needed structure. As a leader, you should take into consideration how people are best organized to accomplish what they need to, but you should also provide guidance and direction.

In our new space, we assigned which teams went into certain spaces, what areas were common spaces across the teams, what spaces were common areas specific to one team, and so forth. Creatives and accountants have different needs in order to be their most productive selves, so we ensured that each team was in a space tailored to their work styles.

It may sound like a small thing, but by simply providing guidance in the designation of space, we’ve already seen an immense ease in our moving and settling-in process.

Moving into a brand-new office space, especially one you’ve built from scratch, can be terrifying and stressful. But it’s also a huge accomplishment and should feel as such

3. LET YOUR EMPLOYEES FEEL HEARD

When figuring out our needs for the new space, we used it as an opportunity to give our employees a chance to voice their frustrations at what they thought could be better within the office. Of course, everyone wants free food and beer on tap. But beyond voicing the obvious desires, we wanted employees to figure out what they were missing in order to be most productive. And then we listened.

Listening to and evaluating their requests was important. Not everything will be feasible, but much of it probably is. We now have kombucha and cold brew on tap. We have a myriad of common spaces, some more public than others, to allow individuals to get away from their desks but still work. We have a recreation room to act as a reprieve from computer screens.

An office move is a great opportunity to find out what is truly lacking in your employees’ work lives. Find out what you can offer to help them be happier and more productive. Everyone will be better for it in the long run.

4. PARTNER UP

Especially in the entrepreneurial community, companies are actually incredibly willing to help each other out so long as there is fair trade-off. We’re lucky enough to have some very kind friends and partners who have helped make our new office even more incredible.

For example, each of our employees has a Varidesk, allowing them to stand and stretch their legs while they work at any time they choose. In return, Varidesk will be using our office as a showroom to clients and visiting us periodically. It’s a win for us both.

Additionally, we went with Openpath to handle all of our building’s open-access control. Our company already had a relationship with them, and we knew we wanted them to handle security matters. Now, not only do we not need to bother giving each employee a key (opening and securing doors is all done via the Openpath app), but the setup process was incredibly easy.

Don’t be afraid to look to friends of your business to help with various aspects of your new office space. Often this can lead to very fruitful partnerships for all parties involved.

5. GET THE NECESSITIES FIRST

Make sure you have your necessities stocked up and ready to go before anything else. Things like toilet paper, paper towels, trash cans, and garbage pickup are all extremely vital to the smooth running of an office. We had to learn the hard way on day one in the new office that we didn’t know what was happening with our trash pickup. It was a mess.

DON'T FORGET TO CELEBRATE

Moving into a brand-new office space, especially one you’ve built from scratch, can be terrifying and stressful. But it’s also a huge accomplishment and should feel as such. Don’t forget to congratulate each other on a job well done.

[For more on Hawke Media’s approach to Digital Agency click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(19) "All the Right Moves" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(59) "Five lessons we learned the hard way about office expansion" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(33) "erik-huberman-all-the-right-moves" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 11:41:26" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 18:41:26" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=30276" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [1]=> object(WP_Post)#5231 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(13481) ["post_author"]=> string(2) "15" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2012-01-26 13:26:27" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2012-01-26 21:26:27" ["post_content"]=> string(4870) "When I first joined my father in our advertising and media organization, I was tasked with targeting new prospects. Using our memory typewriter with a whopping twelve pages of memory, I mailed thousands of letters, espousing the virtues of our company – yet I did not receive a single response. I learned at an early age that sales was one of the most difficult and oftentimes frustrating professions. Most new business does not come to you. To build a successful organization, sales must be one of the top focuses, and everyone from the receptionist to the CEO must sell. But you can’t sell like the other guy. You have to be unique and innovative in your approach. Babe Ruth said that "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run." He couldn’t be more on point in respect to the mentality of a salesperson. Peppered with regular rejection, a salesperson cannot lose focus and allow rejection of the sale to define his existence. He has to keep to his game plan and not be afraid to strike out. Like Babe Ruth, who knew that it only took one swing to quickly change the momentum of a game, business momentum can change with one innovative idea that leads to a successful sale. Common Denominators in Sales No matter what you are selling, the first step is really knowing and thoroughly understanding these key aspects: 

• Your product
• Your competition
• Your customers
• What makes your product unique

Most salespeople have a good understanding of their own product. However, it is just as important to know everything about your competition. How does your competitor position its product; what are the product’s strengths, weaknesses, distinctions, appeal, etc. Another important factor is discerning everything about the person to whom you are selling. With the Internet, it is much easier to find out information through LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, Fast Pitch, Focus, other business social networks, industry news sites and company websites, as well as just generally through search engines. The key is absorbing as much as you can about the company’s executive who is making the decisions, thus giving you the proper insight and information that will help you make the sale to his or her organization. Innovation in Selling: I get hundreds of unsolicited items in the mail each year, most of which have been given very little thought and are very generic in nature – and, like most executives, I pay little attention to them. To start the sales relationship stage, you must be creative and clever in your approach. Many companies have great products and/or services, but the ones that break through the clutter provide something unique. So consider mailing or delivering a creative item that embodies your product’s benefit. Or perhaps create a video that is totally customized to the executive you are pitching with a message that conveys your product or service’s unique selling proposition. Your goal should always be to get a meeting secured for the near future. Be different. Be distinctive. Be memorable! It’s how you package what your selling that at least gets you in the door. Rather than trying to sell to a wide array of different companies, do your research and narrow down the set to a manageable number of companies – the ones that really merit you putting in the effort to solicit them in a manner that will get their attention. The Innovative Selling Process: Once you have found your new business target, the first step is building a relationship. Especially in a service business, most companies will not make an immediate change, so you need to position your company to be there when the opportunity presents itself. By building a relationship initially, this is the first step in positioning you and your company to stand out. Second, what is your initial objective? In the service business industry, there are usually a series of steps in the vendor relationship process, ranging from an RFI (“Request for Information”) to an RFP (“Request for Proposal”). Depending upon the circumstances, your initial goal could be getting into the vetting process or tackling a single smaller component of the business so you can initially get in the door. Ultimately, your goal is to bring new value to your new business prospects, so you will be able to add them as a client for many years. Finally, like all disciplines, the key is to stick with a well-thought out game plan. This concept is best stated by E. M. Gray from The Common Denominator of Success: “The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do… They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.”" ["post_title"]=> string(94) "As New Methods Emerge for Generating Business, Maintaining Customer Relationships Is Still Key" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(296) "When I first joined my father in our advertising and media organization, I was tasked with targeting new prospects. Using our memory typewriter with a whopping twelve pages of memory, I mailed thousands of letters, espousing the virtues of our company – yet I did not receive a single response." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(91) "robert-yallen-new-methods-emerge-generating-business-maintaining-customer-relationships-key" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-02-02 15:57:10" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-02-02 23:57:10" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=13481" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [2]=> object(WP_Post)#5230 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(21646) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-06-29 12:03:49" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-06-29 19:03:49" ["post_content"]=> string(7902) "

This country has a strange relationship with foreign-ness. Our presidential candidates talk about building a wall along our border with Mexico, while at the same time our consumers are paying premium prices for Italian leather, German cars and Swiss chocolates.

For all our talk of buying local and our love of “Made in America,” American consumers are very happy to buy blatantly, proudly foreign goods.

But only when those goods are presented in the right context with the right backstory. Only when those goods come backed by the right brand.

Why Bother?

The U.S. represents an enormous market for European brands. Consumer confidence and spending in the U.S. are on an upswing. Plus, U.S. consumers spend more, sometimes significantly more, per household than anywhere in Europe. And there are over 300 million of us.

But the U.S. is also a competitive, sometimes challenging market. And not everyone succeeds.

Swedish fashion brand H&M opened their first U.S.-based store in 2000, and their five-hundredth U.S.-based store this year. For them, expansion into this market has been an overwhelming success.

[To read more of Michael Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

Tesco’s bid for the U.S. market didn’t go so well. After opening 150 Fresh & Easy stores, the British grocer’s U.S.-expansion ended in cut-rate liquidation and retreat in 2013.

"Americans may not know much about Formula One or MotoGP, but every American knows that Italy is the land of Ferrari, Gucci, Prada and Pirelli. Italy, in the mind of the American consumer, is a place that produces high fashion, stunning vehicles and a lifestyle worth envying."

So is the risk worth the reward?

Maybe. Entering a new market is a complex thing. But successful, intelligent marketing and branding can easily mean the difference between success and failure. Here are four tips that will get you on the right track.

1. Leverage Your Country’s Stereotype

If you’re a European brand, there’s a good chance that American consumers already have a perception of the country you come from. You’re selling a mechanical product that originates in Germany? Consumers will already assume it’s well-engineered and well-made. But sometimes, the connection isn’t that obvious.

Several years ago, Dainese/AGV, an Italian manufacturer of motorsports protective gear and helmets, came to our agency looking for help increasing their sales in the U.S. The company was extremely successful in Europe, based largely on their long-time associations with Formula One and sponsorship of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi.

That’s a marketing strategy that didn’t translate well for U.S. audiences. Mention Valentino Rossi to the average American consumer, and they’re more likely to think of a rare cocktail than Italy’s racing legend.

To U.S.-based consumers, Dainese/AGV’s Italian roots were its biggest asset. Americans may not know much about Formula One or MotoGP, but every American knows that Italy is the land of Ferrari, Gucci, Prada and Pirelli. Italy, in the mind of the American consumer, is a place that produces high fashion, stunning vehicles and a lifestyle worth envying.

So we made that stereotype the basis of Dainese/AGV’s marketing.

We developed and executed a strategy that focused on the fine hand-stitching in Dainese motorcycle leathers, the stunning design and function of AGV’s helmets, and the fact that consumers could get custom-fitted by an honest-to-god Italian tailor for their next set of protective gear.

We helped make Dainese and AGV not just European brands that no one in the U.S. had heard of, but Italian luxury brands that offered style and sophistication. Brands that U.S. consumers aspire to be associated with.

We didn’t invent any new perceptions about Italy, we just connected Dainese and AGV to the perceptions that U.S. consumers already had.

2. Launch & Localize Social Media

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat know no geographic bounds. They give European brands a chance to lay the groundwork for success long before a single CEO, salesperson or marketer sets foot in the U.S.

But it’s not simply enough to tweet to your local audience and hope that consumers in the U.S. will pick up on it. Even though they (often) speak the same language and share many cultural connections, European and American consumers are different. Especially when your brand is new to the country.

When the Netherlands-based watersports manufacturer Jobe launched a push to introduce their stand-up paddleboards to a U.S. audience, they already had a strong social media team in-place in Europe. Still, they brought our agency’s social media team on-board to handle their U.S.-based outreach and promotions for those same accounts. Our local knowledge and cultural understanding allowed us to make their social media outreach far more effective to consumers in this country.

3. Let Consumers Interact with Your Product

The Internet’s great, but for many products, especially products coming to the U.S. for the first time, the Internet isn’t enough. Consumers need to experience your products and your brand in-person.

For H&M, this means spending billions opening retail locations. But that’s not the only way.

Jobe knew that its American consumers would need to experience the company’s paddleboards first-hand to fall in love with them. Retail outlets would be a good start, but most retail outlets aren’t located on a lake or river that would let consumers paddle the goods. So Jobe planned a demo tour, and asked us to help.

[For more on EchoFactory's approach to Marketing click here]

We helped to build their demo tour into a multifaceted U.S. Jobe SUP launch that brought together a strong social media aspect, co-sponsored events, PR and much more. For a fraction of the cost of deploying a single retail outlet, Jobe will activate a significant amount of local dealers, get their paddleboards under the feet of hundreds of U.S. consumers and their message on thousands of U.S.-based screens.

4. Find a Local Expert

No-one knows his country, and its consumers, like a local.

I’m proud of my agency, but if you asked us to deploy a marketing campaign in Belgium, we wouldn’t be as effective as a firm working out of Brussels. Similarly, the most capable European agency will be at a disadvantage here.

If you’re bringing a European brand into the U.S., find a U.S.-based marketing partner who you trust. Let them fill in the local knowledge you might lack, and help your European brand reach American consumers effectively.

Take the Plunge

There may be no better time in history to bring a European brand to the U.S. American consumers have money to spend and the willingness to spend it. Logistics are easier than ever, and you have more options to reach U.S. consumers than ever before.

Do it right, and your European brand might become a piece of the next chapter in the American dream.

" ["post_title"]=> string(75) "Bringing Brands Across the Pond How European brands can succeed in the U.S." ["post_excerpt"]=> string(43) "How European brands can succeed in the U.S." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(32) "michael-schaffer-european-brands" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-10-30 21:21:56" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-10-31 04:21:56" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=21646" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [3]=> object(WP_Post)#5229 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(28552) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-08-07 17:55:06" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-08-08 00:55:06" ["post_content"]=> string(10218) "I’m all about connecting with peers, but in a world where digital reigns supreme, opportunities to meet face-to-face with like-minded individuals can be few and far between. That’s why happy hours, summits, conferences and networking opportunities are vital to individuals working within the ecommerce space. And there’s no shortage of these events to attend! Any day of the week I can find a top-notch e-commerce event with panels led by high-level executives from well-known companies, a massive turnout, and a day full of brushing shoulders and handing out business cards. It’s a great way to scope out vendors and potential clients for Hawke. These events are also great for individuals looking to break into the industry.

[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

But I struggled to find anything geared toward those of us already secure in our positions. Where are the events that cater to the established executive looking to build out his or her community and collaborate with like-minded individuals? National and global conferences are great, but localized events often have two key themes that these larger events lack: community and collaboration.

The 2 Cs

I’ve been in this industry for long enough and, over the years, I’ve noticed there aren’t too many events where top executives can get together and learn from each other. I struggled to find a space where we could all come and be honest, open, and ready to collaborate.

Why Community Is Important

A lot of time the rat race of starting a business can cause people to view their peers as direct competition. In reality, it’s incredibly important to surround yourself with a community of like-minded individuals that you view as friends and confidants–not threats to your success. These people understand your trials and tribulations because they most likely went through it themselves or are currently in a similar situation. They can tell you what worked for them and what didn’t, inspire you to try something new, and be the emotional support you need when things don’t go exactly according to plan.

Community Leads to Collaboration

It may sound counterintuitive to help out your competition, but it doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Becoming part of an entrepreneurial community has helped me stay up-to-date on trends, given me a built-in support system, and has even led to new partnership opportunities. In an industry that’s constantly changing, staying current can be difficult. Exchanging ideas and thoughts about industry changes with the members in your community can help you anticipate change and proactively adjust.

The Key: Localized Events

What I Saw

E-commerce events that focus on fostering that sense of community, rather than just getting the biggest names from Google or Amazon, are incredibly valuable when it comes helping entrepreneurs build and expand their network.   There are tons of industry events that are almost tradeshow-like in nature–with tons of vendors, attendees can walk the floor to connect with featured businesses and then funnel into large conference halls to listen to speakers. But I found myself having more fun at mastermind events and CEO summits. I wanted to create an event that embodied that spirit, where people came to make lasting business partnerships, find or become advisors and mentors, and, most importantly, learn together. By prioritizing the value of community and collaboration, e-commerce conferences could become a breeding ground for revolutionary ideas, partnerships, and success stories.

What I Did

My team at Hawke created our own conference for this purpose. I noticed a gap in the industry–a lack of local e-commerce events designed to appeal to established executives looking to collaborate–and decided to do something about it. And so, Hawkefest was born. My team and I created this annual e-commerce summit to provide ample opportunities for attendees to work and learn together in a hands-on environment filled with fun, peer-generated content. We created a space for executives to come together and learn from each other.

How You Can Do It Too

1. Carefully curate your audience.

At Hawkefest, we require all attendees to fill out an application, which then goes through a meticulous vetting process. While that might sound a bit pretentious and time-consuming, it ensures that the people who actually attend aren’t just job-seekers and vendors, but legitimate movers and shakers in the e-commerce industry. Our Hawkefest attendees don’t have to worry about getting hounded by sales pitches or buried under a stack of business cards. In order to attract high-level minds and get them to drop their guard, your event should have an intimate feel. And that comes from a curated guest list. By doing some of the grunt work up-front, you’re able to know exactly who is in attendance. This allows for your event to be a place filled with valuable conversations and meaningful interactions. Establish base requirements for attendees so that you can keep a pulse on the type of individuals who are planning to attend, making sure that list aligns with your overall goals.

2. Emphasize peer-to-peer collaboration.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. And same goes for people at networking events. Just because they are all in the same place, does not mean that they’ll automatically be inclined to talk, mingle, and exchange ideas. At Hawkefest, we encourage peer-to-peer conversations in a variety of ways. Hawkefest isn’t just a bunch of speakers one after the other with a “networking mixer” slapped in the middle. There are breakout sessions, roundtable discussions, fireside chats, team-building workshops, panels, and more. By creating opportunities where communication, teamwork, and participation are encouraged, Hawkefest’s event structure helps foster collaboration. You can take your time when configuring your event schedule and make sure that the types of interactions are conducive to what you’re trying to accomplish.

3. Focus on your community.

With Hawkefest, we target companies and professionals in our Southern California community. By doing so, we’re able to bring together executives that are operating in similar conditions–be it a new tax law, consumer attitudes, or even the weather. Attendees are also much more likely to be able to follow-up with their newly made connections due to their close proximity. In fact, even a handful of even the speakers participating at Hawkefest have their businesses just down the road from the event space. Additionally, becoming the centerpoint of the community you’re looking to create has long-lasting brand benefits. So, while it may be tempting to expand invitations to your event to a national or even global audience, consider focusing your reach to your immediate community.

Come Together

It may seem daunting to try to execute your own e-commerce or digital marketing event since that space seems so saturated. But if you adjust your scope to focus on the community around you, you may find that there is a need for localized networking event. I know it worked for us at Hawke Media, so it can also work for you. If you’re in the SoCal area and want to check out what Hawkefest is all about, we’d love to have you! Apply to attend here.

[For more insight from Hawke Media click here]

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CFOs are not known for encouraging you to spend more. Not, at least, without good reason.

The key to making your CFO happy with expanding your digital marketing budget is to give them a very good reason. Honestly, you should give yourself a very good reason to expand your marketing budget.

Now, the obvious reason is growth. Marketing drives growth; that’s not a new idea. But not all marketing drives growth – only good marketing.

So how can you 1) know that your digital marketing is paying off and 2) prove that it’s paying off to your CFO, your investors or your board?

I’m so glad you asked.

First: Calculate the Value You Can Create

How much net profit does every lead or sale generate for your company? It sounds like an easy question, but it can be surprisingly hard to answer.

If your company’s structure allows your marketing to drive sales directly, this can be pretty easy. Maybe you sell widgets online for $20: Your cost to produce and deliver a widget is $5, and the profit you can drive from a sale is $15.

Your formula is: 

(Sale Price) - (Cost of Goods) = (Sale Value)

Things are a little less easy when you start to consider the long-term value of a customer, or a sales cycle that can stretch into days, weeks, months or years from that initial lead.

Still, it’s important that you understand what that profit is, and the role your marketing can play.

Your formula for finding your value in a more complex sales environment could look something like this:

{(Average Sale) - (Cost of Goods or Services)} x (Conversion Rate) = (Lead Value)

Depending on how your business runs and the potential for repeat business, you might want to replace (Average Sale) with (Average Long-Term Customer Value), or possibly (Average First-Year Customer Value).

It can be tempting to gloss over this part of the process, to guesstimate or to base your advertising on hunches and intuition about the value you’re driving.

Don’t.

Someday your CFO, a board member or an investor will ask you to justify the costs of your marketing efforts. In all those situations, you need to have a good answer. Better yet, don’t wait until they ask; be proactive about presenting them.

[To read more of Mike Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

Second: Attribute Sales

Now that you know the value of a lead or sale, it’s important to know where every sale you drive comes from.

How much net profit does every lead or sale generate for your company? It sounds like an easy question, but it can be surprisingly hard to answer.

“Attribution” is digital advertising speak for “What brought the customer here?” If a customer clicked on a Google pay-per-click ad that brought them to your site, and then bought something, that sale would probably be attributed to your Google pay-per-click ads.

I say “probably” because it can get more complicated. What happens if a customer clicked a  Facebook ad two days ago, browsed your site and left without making a purchase, but then clicked on a Google ad today and made a $100 purchase? How much of that sale do you attribute to Google? How much to Facebook?

The answer will depend on what’s called your “attribution model.” There are literally hundreds to choose from, but it’s basically how much “credit” you give to each piece of advertising that a customer encounters on their way toward a sale.

Tools like Google Analytics can let you choose from a list of standard attribution models. Once you reach a decent scale, it’s probably worth implementing more complex software that’s tied directly to your ad platforms and that does this on your behalf.

Third: Calculate Your ROAS

Now you’ve figured out:

1. How much a sale or lead is worth.
2. Your spend on each platform.
3. The sales or leads that each platform generates.

That lets you put it all together and get a really clear picture of the value you’re delivering with your ROAS. ROAS stands for “return on advertising spend.” It might sound complex, but it’s not really. Plus, CFOs go nuts for acronyms.

Your goal is to tie the sales or leads driven by every type of advertising you do with the amount of money you spent on that type of advertising.

Your formula here is:

(Per-Platform Revenue) / (Per-Platform Cost) = (Per-Platform ROAS)

So, if you spent $50,000 on Facebook advertising, and drove $50,000 in profits, you have a ROAS of 100% for Facebook. 

If you spent $50,000 on Google and drove $100,000 in profits, you have a ROAS of 200% for Google. Obviously, above 100% and you’re making money; below 100% and you’re losing it.

It’s important to note whether you’re calculating your ROAS on profit or revenue. Calculating ROAS on revenue is much more common, but then you’ve got an additional step of adding in your profit margins later on. I tend to prefer calculating ROAS on profit from the get-go; this enables you to have that data available and front-of-mind for every decision you make related to your digital ad spend.

Either way, understanding your per-platform ROAS lets you optimize for the most effective platform, or combination of platforms.

Once you’ve got that figured out, you can use essentially the same formula to calculate your overall digital advertising ROAS.

(Digital Ad Revenue) / (Digital Ad Cost) = (Overall ROAS)

Now, you’re ready to impress your CFO.

Fourth: Make Your CFO Love You

With these numbers in hand, you can pretty easily understand whether your advertising’s working. If you have an ROAS of under 100%, you’re losing money. Over, and you’re driving profit for your company.

While ROAS is a common term in advertising, return on investment (ROI) might be even simpler for your CFO to understand. How many dollars in profit are you generating for every dollar spent on digital marketing? An ROAS of 100% is the same as a 1:1 profit:spend ratio. An ROAS of 400% is the same as a 4:1 profit:spend ratio.

Then, you can go to your CFO and say things like, “For every $1 you give me in ad spend, I can create $4 in profit.”

You may sound a bit like Bernie Madoff, but the difference is that you can actually deliver on your promises.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there, crunch some numbers, and get ready to make your CFO your digital marketing budget’s best ally.

[For more on Echo Factory's approach to Digital Agency click here]

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“It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.” – Andrew Carnegie

At the close of the nineteenth century, as the world’s wealthiest man, Andrew Carnegie rededicated himself to philanthropy and community involvement. Only scratching the surface, he established more than 3,000 public libraries, endorsed working family education, and provided pension security for university faculty. Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest philanthropist the world has ever known, boasting his name across museum facades, esteemed institutions of higher education, and the world’s most famous music hall. If figures as bold as Carnegie can leave a roadmap, a lasting legacy, for social responsibility, surely corporate institutions can follow.

The history of political America is rich with stories, legends, and opinions. In recent years, a vibrant conversation regarding corporate personality has taken on new depths and intricacies. No matter the political stance on whether corporations are people, surely we can agree corporations consist of people; people from diverse backgrounds who span the political, socioeconomic, and idealistic spectrums and have stories to tell, dreams to pursue, and families to love. The essence of being human lies in these beautifully complicated distinctions. Unfortunately, abuse of these distinctions for profit by corporations has stained the work many major corporate strategists are pursuing.

A corporation’s role in society is a pressure point moving from the fringes to the forefront of C-level considerations, positioning philanthropic giving and partnership as a growing portion of marketing stratagem. In such a connected world, when earned media across social channels is valued greater than ever, consumer relation toward a product can enhance a brand’s social footprint. Having a humanized extended purpose, dedicated to connecting your brand to social progress, thus building trust between customers and marketing strategy, is a crucial component to elevating a brand to the next level.

[To read more of Jeffrey Stewart's thought leadership click here]

Millennial CSR Strategies

The younger generations are a growing, soon-to-be-dominant portion of the consumer population. Moreover, younger generations are increasingly skeptical of marketing and advertising. In response, brands have adopted and improved their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies to relate to new customers.

“People are getting more sophisticated about the connection between corporate responsibility and business strategy, and rightly so,” says Stanley S. Litow, vice president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs for International Business Machines Corp. and president of the IBM International Foundation. “If you are strategic and analytic, being a good corporate citizen can also produce real sustainable value for your company.” Success in any field requires an ability to adapt and evolve. Identifying those pressure points that appeal to your targeted customer base and shifting corporate investment toward authentic impact on those points can drive sales in new ways.

No matter the political stance on whether corporations are people, surely we can agree corporations consist of people; people from diverse backgrounds who span the political, socioeconomic, and idealistic spectrums and have stories to tell, dreams to pursue, and families to love.

Eyeglass disruptor Warby Parker embraces this philosophy of using CSR strategies as a vehicle for driving sales with their “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” program. When each pair of glasses is purchased, a portion of the cost is donated to any one of their philanthropic partners. These partners train men and women in the developing world to give basic eye exams and sell glasses at locally affordable prices. Thus far, the program is responsible for distributing over three million pairs of glasses throughout the developing world.

Authentic CSR at Work

The key is confidence. Are customers confident their purchase will be beneficial? Are shareholders confident their investment is safe and lucrative? Are managers and executives confident their decision-making matrix is well-founded and leading toward long-term growth? Developing this shift toward corporate social responsibility can encounter its share of speedbumps but leading with a resolute, top-down, voice for social and environmental good minimizes these speed bumps to mere hiccups.

“It can’t just be the pet project of the CEO,” says Jim Smith, president and chief executive of Thomson Reuters Corp. “Your corporate responsibility initiatives need to be tied to your business mission. When you do that, there’s an authenticity that resonates with the external world, and a galvanizing effect inside the firm because you’re going after issues your people care about.”

When brands embrace crucial CSR strategies, even in hard times, the long-term, resolute voice rings loud. Starbucks saw short lines in stores and declines in sales. Despite temptation to drop its commitment to local coffee farmers and ethical growing practices in coffee-producing countries, Starbucks leaned on its CSR commitments and saw themselves out of the red. Corporations and their brands thrive on the backs of the people who support them. They exist in a world that supports us all.

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“It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.” – Andrew Carnegie

At the close of the nineteenth century, as the world’s wealthiest man, Andrew Carnegie rededicated himself to philanthropy and community involvement. Only scratching the surface, he established more than 3,000 public libraries, endorsed working family education, and provided pension security for university faculty. Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest philanthropist the world has ever known, boasting his name across museum facades, esteemed institutions of higher education, and the world’s most famous music hall. If figures as bold as Carnegie can leave a roadmap, a lasting legacy, for social responsibility, surely corporate institutions can follow.

The history of political America is rich with stories, legends, and opinions. In recent years, a vibrant conversation regarding corporate personality has taken on new depths and intricacies. No matter the political stance on whether corporations are people, surely we can agree corporations consist of people; people from diverse backgrounds who span the political, socioeconomic, and idealistic spectrums and have stories to tell, dreams to pursue, and families to love. The essence of being human lies in these beautifully complicated distinctions. Unfortunately, abuse of these distinctions for profit by corporations has stained the work many major corporate strategists are pursuing.

A corporation’s role in society is a pressure point moving from the fringes to the forefront of C-level considerations, positioning philanthropic giving and partnership as a growing portion of marketing stratagem. In such a connected world, when earned media across social channels is valued greater than ever, consumer relation toward a product can enhance a brand’s social footprint. Having a humanized extended purpose, dedicated to connecting your brand to social progress, thus building trust between customers and marketing strategy, is a crucial component to elevating a brand to the next level.

[To read more of Michael Abraham's thought leadership click here]

Millennial CSR Strategies

The younger generations are a growing, soon-to-be-dominant portion of the consumer population. Moreover, younger generations are increasingly skeptical of marketing and advertising. In response, brands have adopted and improved their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies to relate to new customers.

“People are getting more sophisticated about the connection between corporate responsibility and business strategy, and rightly so,” says Stanley S. Litow, vice president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs for International Business Machines Corp. and president of the IBM International Foundation. “If you are strategic and analytic, being a good corporate citizen can also produce real sustainable value for your company.” Success in any field requires an ability to adapt and evolve. Identifying those pressure points that appeal to your targeted customer base and shifting corporate investment toward authentic impact on those points can drive sales in new ways.

No matter the political stance on whether corporations are people, surely we can agree corporations consist of people; people from diverse backgrounds who span the political, socioeconomic, and idealistic spectrums and have stories to tell, dreams to pursue, and families to love.

Eyeglass disruptor Warby Parker embraces this philosophy of using CSR strategies as a vehicle for driving sales with their “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” program. When each pair of glasses is purchased, a portion of the cost is donated to any one of their philanthropic partners. These partners train men and women in the developing world to give basic eye exams and sell glasses at locally affordable prices. Thus far, the program is responsible for distributing over three million pairs of glasses throughout the developing world.

Authentic CSR at Work

The key is confidence. Are customers confident their purchase will be beneficial? Are shareholders confident their investment is safe and lucrative? Are managers and executives confident their decision-making matrix is well-founded and leading toward long-term growth? Developing this shift toward corporate social responsibility can encounter its share of speedbumps but leading with a resolute, top-down, voice for social and environmental good minimizes these speed bumps to mere hiccups.

“It can’t just be the pet project of the CEO,” says Jim Smith, president and chief executive of Thomson Reuters Corp. “Your corporate responsibility initiatives need to be tied to your business mission. When you do that, there’s an authenticity that resonates with the external world, and a galvanizing effect inside the firm because you’re going after issues your people care about.”

When brands embrace crucial CSR strategies, even in hard times, the long-term, resolute voice rings loud. Starbucks saw short lines in stores and declines in sales. Despite temptation to drop its commitment to local coffee farmers and ethical growing practices in coffee-producing countries, Starbucks leaned on its CSR commitments and saw themselves out of the red. Corporations and their brands thrive on the backs of the people who support them. They exist in a world that supports us all.

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On December 7, 1963, a 29-year-old television director premiered a new invention during the Army vs. Navy football game that he called the instant replay. Whether he anticipated its impact on the entire sports experience for everyone from players to audiences to owners, or simply thought he was lessening the referees’ workload, is unclear. Today, instant replay technology has evolved to be a standard practice of sports entertainment, and with it, the emphasis on “how” you play the game has gone from motivational cliche invoked by coaches in the locker room to mission-critical detail that decides championships.

The embrace of technology by the sports and entertainment industries, though dramatically significant, is hardly unique. As business owners in 2017, we’ve witnessed digital technology’s inevitable infiltration of industries across the spectrum, even those once thought relatively immune. The opportunity to influence consumers, widening of the playing field for nimble, technology-loving upstart competition, and unprecedented power of branding and personalized consumer experience are just a few examples of phenomenons presented by the new digital landscape that have taken digital strategy from a line item to an ongoing, daily topic of discussion.

[To read more of Michael Abraham’s thought leadership click here]

Media and entertainment have been among the leaders in transforming operations and products to satisfy a digital appetite. UK-based technology market research firm Vanson Bourne, in partnership with Dell Technologies, conducted an evaluation of 4,000 business leaders from 16 countries across 12 distinct industries. Designed to uncover the effects and timelines of digital disruption, the results show 73% of respondents agree that a “centralized technology strategy needs to be a priority for their business.” Successful organizations focus on adopting diverse platforms to attract larger audiences, utilizing technology and branding across assets to drive results, and implementing solutions backed by data collection and analysis.

New Platforms, New Audiences

According to the same Dell survey, “72% of respondents [are] expanding their software development capabilities.” Even the heaviest of hitters in digital media are reaching to new areas. In 2016, Facebook launched Facebook Sports Stadium, an interactive hub for fans to interact with games, teams, and players more intimately. In 2017, Amazon outbid Facebook, YouTube, and former rights holder Twitter, for the streaming rights to Thursday Night Football, a one-year deal worth a reported $50M.¹ With introduction through the football, Amazon gathers a myriad of data points on customers and understands the potential for drawing a sports audience that will further explore Amazon’s expanding Prime Video service. Media and entertainment businesses are making monumental pushes to diversify their digital capabilities and push their brands further into the mainstream.

More than collecting valuable data on fan behavior, such as peak times for food ordering and parking habits, Levi’s Stadium and the 49ers accrued an additional $2M in revenues by digitizing the fan experience when inside the stadium doors.

The Power of Branding

A business plan with a significant digital strategy has proven to have greater opportunities for worldwide recognition. “Digital media companies are by definition global and there is an opportunity to do deals with them in 200 countries around the world where basketball is followed,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver.⁴ Social media’s reach of a worldwide audience has allowed more authentic access into a player’s personality. Just as personal, relatable branding campaigns consistently see greater returns, utilizing personable, relatable athletes as branding opportunities has proven a lucrative approach for brand strategy.

[For more on CCG LA's approach to Marketing click here]

“Three years ago, we were in 100 million pay-TV homes…[w]e now have 200 million smartphones that did not exist five years ago,” said Silver. “We need to work through this transition with our television partners. But my view is that this will be net strongly positive when everyone is carrying a TV in their pocket . . . We will truly make it up in volume.”

Dynamic Pricing Models

More than enhancing the experience for fans and players, a sold-out stadium means maximum ticket sales, heightened concession and merchandise sales, and a more desirable product for television audiences. Although, the structure of ticket sales has laid dormant for decades. Today, employing digital databases and analytics, franchises can use a dynamic approach to adjust ticket prices and fill empty seats leading up to game time. In Major League Baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals have a system capable of pinpointing optimal prices for sales by comparing data based on ticket demand, team performance, pitching matchups, and weather. According to professors at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, this ebb and flow of ticket prices can result in a 14.3% increase in revenue.¹

Digitizing the Experience

A side effect of today’s digital revolution includes changes in service industries. Before a game, fans can order food delivery through apps like Postmates or DoorDash, buy e-tickets through Stubhub or SeatGeek, and secure transportation to the stadium through Lyft or Uber. The only remaining experience yet to be digitized? The in-game experience. When Levi’s Stadium opened its doors to 49ers fans in San Francisco, attendees could use the official stadium app as their game ticket and parking pass, get GPS aid finding their seats, check instant replay, and order food delivery directly to their seats. More than collecting valuable data on fan behavior, such as peak times for food ordering and parking habits, Levi’s Stadium and the 49ers accrued an additional $2M in revenues by digitizing the fan experience when inside the stadium doors.³

Instant replay is now a classic example of filling a void we didn’t realize existed but, once filled, its use becomes ubiquitous and its absence would never again be tolerated. Newly discoverable “voids” and their subsequent technological solutions constantly emerge in a busy digital landscape. A coach is still wise to urge his players to focus on the game over winning or losing. But now in business, thanks to technology, we can identify exactly how to play the game to return a win every time.

¹ knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu 2 Wall Street Journal 3 venturenext.com 4 Financial Times

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On December 7, 1963, a 29-year-old television director premiered a new invention during the Army vs. Navy football game that he called the instant replay. Whether he anticipated its impact on the entire sports experience for everyone from players to audiences to owners, or simply thought he was lessening the referees’ workload, is unclear. Today, instant replay technology has evolved to be a standard practice of sports entertainment, and with it, the emphasis on “how” you play the game has gone from motivational cliche invoked by coaches in the locker room to mission-critical detail that decides championships.

The embrace of technology by the sports and entertainment industries, though dramatically significant, is hardly unique. As business owners in 2017, we’ve witnessed digital technology’s inevitable infiltration of industries across the spectrum, even those once thought relatively immune. The opportunity to influence consumers, widening of the playing field for nimble, technology-loving upstart competition, and unprecedented power of branding and personalized consumer experience are just a few examples of phenomenons presented by the new digital landscape that have taken digital strategy from a line item to an ongoing, daily topic of discussion.

[To read more of Jeffrey Stewart’s thought leadership click here]

Media and entertainment have been among the leaders in transforming operations and products to satisfy a digital appetite. UK-based technology market research firm Vanson Bourne, in partnership with Dell Technologies, conducted an evaluation of 4,000 business leaders from 16 countries across 12 distinct industries. Designed to uncover the effects and timelines of digital disruption, the results show 73% of respondents agree that a “centralized technology strategy needs to be a priority for their business.” Successful organizations focus on adopting diverse platforms to attract larger audiences, utilizing technology and branding across assets to drive results, and implementing solutions backed by data collection and analysis.

New Platforms, New Audiences

According to the same Dell survey, “72% of respondents [are] expanding their software development capabilities.” Even the heaviest of hitters in digital media are reaching to new areas. In 2016, Facebook launched Facebook Sports Stadium, an interactive hub for fans to interact with games, teams, and players more intimately. In 2017, Amazon outbid Facebook, YouTube, and former rights holder Twitter, for the streaming rights to Thursday Night Football, a one-year deal worth a reported $50M.¹ With introduction through the football, Amazon gathers a myriad of data points on customers and understands the potential for drawing a sports audience that will further explore Amazon’s expanding Prime Video service. Media and entertainment businesses are making monumental pushes to diversify their digital capabilities and push their brands further into the mainstream.

More than collecting valuable data on fan behavior, such as peak times for food ordering and parking habits, Levi’s Stadium and the 49ers accrued an additional $2M in revenues by digitizing the fan experience when inside the stadium doors.

The Power of Branding

A business plan with a significant digital strategy has proven to have greater opportunities for worldwide recognition. “Digital media companies are by definition global and there is an opportunity to do deals with them in 200 countries around the world where basketball is followed,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver.⁴ Social media’s reach of a worldwide audience has allowed more authentic access into a player’s personality. Just as personal, relatable branding campaigns consistently see greater returns, utilizing personable, relatable athletes as branding opportunities has proven a lucrative approach for brand strategy.

[For more on CCG LA’s approach to Marketing click here]

“Three years ago, we were in 100 million pay-TV homes…[w]e now have 200 million smartphones that did not exist five years ago,” said Silver. “We need to work through this transition with our television partners. But my view is that this will be net strongly positive when everyone is carrying a TV in their pocket . . . We will truly make it up in volume.”

Dynamic Pricing Models

More than enhancing the experience for fans and players, a sold-out stadium means maximum ticket sales, heightened concession and merchandise sales, and a more desirable product for television audiences. Although, the structure of ticket sales has laid dormant for decades. Today, employing digital databases and analytics, franchises can use a dynamic approach to adjust ticket prices and fill empty seats leading up to game time. In Major League Baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals have a system capable of pinpointing optimal prices for sales by comparing data based on ticket demand, team performance, pitching matchups, and weather. According to professors at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, this ebb and flow of ticket prices can result in a 14.3% increase in revenue.¹

Digitizing the Experience

A side effect of today’s digital revolution includes changes in service industries. Before a game, fans can order food delivery through apps like Postmates or DoorDash, buy e-tickets through Stubhub or SeatGeek, and secure transportation to the stadium through Lyft or Uber. The only remaining experience yet to be digitized? The in-game experience. When Levi’s Stadium opened its doors to 49ers fans in San Francisco, attendees could use the official stadium app as their game ticket and parking pass, get GPS aid finding their seats, check instant replay, and order food delivery directly to their seats. More than collecting valuable data on fan behavior, such as peak times for food ordering and parking habits, Levi’s Stadium and the 49ers accrued an additional $2M in revenues by digitizing the fan experience when inside the stadium doors.³

Instant replay is now a classic example of filling a void we didn’t realize existed but, once filled, its use becomes ubiquitous and its absence would never again be tolerated. Newly discoverable “voids” and their subsequent technological solutions constantly emerge in a busy digital landscape. A coach is still wise to urge his players to focus on the game over winning or losing. But now in business, thanks to technology, we can identify exactly how to play the game to return a win every time.

¹ knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu 2 Wall Street Journal 3 venturenext.com 4 Financial Times

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The world in which we live is constantly evolving at such a rapid pace. Seismic technological, social, political, and economic shifts occur so frequently that brands in nearly every sector must remain agile and apply critical strategies to adapt. Particularly challenged are art and cultural institutions whose rich history and purpose must be communicated with the utmost integrity, while also appealing to a broader demographic in order to drive engagement and grow their audience.

Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History’s Executive Director Nina Simon recently published The Art of Relevance, in which she “explores how mission-driven organizations can matter more to more people.” Throughout Simon’s book and in her TEDx talk, she methodically examines the concept that museums and other cultural institutions can become connectors within their communities when they measure and deepen their relevance.

From a business perspective, further cultivating this relevance with the public requires an effective brand and digital strategy that accommodates the demands of our current culture and puts the user and their connection to community at the forefront. At Zehner, we’ve served as both the creative and technology partner to leading art and cultural organizations. Be it the museum space, film and live entertainment venues, or one of the most comprehensive public transit systems in our country, our team comprises experts that understand how to engage the community through the intersection of savvy design and user experience that delivers real results.

Recent, notable examples include our rebrand and site redesign for the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA). As San Antonio continues to gain recognition for its buzzing tech, art, and cultural scene, SAMA has emerged as one of the country’s leading museums. SAMA approached Zehner to deliver a new brand and design experience that would drive deeper engagement within the community and educate the public on the transformational experiences the museum provides.

[To read more of Matthew Zehner's thought leadership click here]

Additionally, we’ve supported the rebirth of public transportation in Los Angeles with our ongoing work with LA Metro. Our user-experience support has helped drive community ridership and improve the quality of life for its now 39 million monthly riders.

Here are leading-edge methods for these vital organizations to attract new audiences, drive demand, and increase engagement.

Elevated Branding

Illuminating art, culture, and history through an elevated experience is key to fulfilling a multifaceted vision that can be sustained over time. Modernizing the embodiment of an organization’s brand is an important first step. However, establishing a new brand identity and strategy for an institution that serves the public often requires a delicate balance of heritage and innovation. Attracting new audiences is crucial, while also remaining mindful that the contemporary iteration of the brand maintains a connection with current constituencies.

Teamwork and A Collaborative Approach

Turning an idea into something that you can see, feel, and be proud of is no simple task. When a large institution can remain nimble and committed to cross-functional teamwork, this can help uncover valuable insights and elevate the spirit of partnership with their agency arm or among their internal personnel. If opting to work with an agency, it’s important to select a partner that can remain empathetic to an organization’s challenges and work collaboratively to deliver optimum results.

Keen focus should be concentrated on building a vibrant digital space that not only highlights the organization’s significant work, but also immerses userS in a community center where they learn about additional opportunities to connect in meaningful ways.

Creating A Comprehensive Styleguide

When reimagining a new identity for an organization, creating a comprehensive style guide ensures the integrity of the brand is preserved at the highest level and consistently carried across all touch points, both digital and physical. Visual relevance and the correct usage of the logomark and logotype all play a pivotal role in delivering consistent branding on an everyday basis that will advance and retain awareness and loyalty.

Crafting A Strategy That Realizes and Executes on Long-Term Goals

In order to grow an organization’s audience, the new brand, design, and communications strategy should actively speak to its city’s residents and tourism industry and the institution’s loyal advocates. This requires that an agency partner or in-house team take a holistic approach to their work and remain focused on sustainable growth. By leveraging all customer data and audience segments, the team can develop an initiative that emotionally connects with their constituencies and drives impressive ROI.

User Experience

Focus on the heart of the art and cultural organization—its people. In today’s digital landscape, it’s a user’s market. Creating a best-in-class user experience is paramount to the success of a digital property. Whether an organization’s reach is local, national, or international, their audience of visitors, artists, scholars, and members should all be carefully considered throughout the architecture of the user journey.

Establish First-Rate Information Architecture

Putting everything in its right place when designing a website or digital platform can often present a challenging task. But establishing solid IA is imperative to crafting the best possible user experience and paths for each visitor type and goal. Have a team that’s willing to get their hands dirty in this process and utilize all tools wisely, from the card sort through to the site map and wireframe.

Responsive Design

Aesthetics are very important, and the visual design of an interactive experience should be carefully examined. Everything from colors, images, typography, icons, and buttons must be strategically implemented in order to engage users. A beautiful website alone is no longer sufficient however. In a mobile-first world, users have different needs depending upon platform and interaction type. Responsive design has reached a critical juncture, and an organization’s site must be able to adapt to any device. Prototyping and user testing are also essential to optimizing the experience, and effective teams understand that these are fundamental components of a comprehensive UX design process.

Engage and Educate Your Community Through Experience Design

Keen focus should be concentrated on building a vibrant digital space that not only highlights the organization’s significant work, but also immerses users in a community center where they learn about additional opportunities to connect in meaningful ways. UX should help narrow the gap between the institution and its audience by clearly celebrating the array of offerings provided to the public. When an initiative is properly featured on the site, it no longer flies under the radar and instead experiences a significant uptick in attendance. Carefully consider all that the organization contributes to the community at large, whether it be in the form of educational programs, film series, shopping experiences, food and beverage options, lecture series, and much more. Then go about ensuring these are taken into consideration early in the creative process and observed in a dynamic manner on the site.

LEVERAGING DATA AND DRIVING MEMBERSHIP

At Zehner, we support the overall vision for a variety of community-based organizations. Our team comprises  experts that excel in developing member acquisition, sustaining lifetime membership value, and increasing ticket sales by leveraging analytics.

A compelling digital product that fully reimagines the user journey can deliver significant ROI for purpose-driven organizations. In tandem with a modern and sustainable brand, art and cultural institutions can connect with multiple demographics and redefine their relevance as a must-see destination for the community at large.

[For more on Zehner’s approach to Digital Marketing click here]

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When Amazon exploded onto the retail scene in 1995, it shook the very foundation of how customers went about tracking down and purchasing everything from books to baseball bats. It ushered in the era of e-commerce, granting buyers instant access to products previously limited to whatever their local brick-and-mortar stores happened to have in stock. Now, twenty years later, the reverse is happening and rising star brands that start out online must reach out to big box stores in order to fully reach their audiences.

With 17 years of experience in helping to connect brands and buyers, our company, bDirect Companies, has seen just how vital marketing and brand management is to the success of any product. With more and more products getting their start on the web, we’ve identified several trends in the brand-to-buyer marketing process of which all brand oriented business owners should be aware.

Bridging the Divide

The first thing to be aware of is the amount of consolidation happening in the retail landscape. Thousands of brands all must compete for the attention of fewer and fewer retailers. This rift can make or break a new brand, so sales and marketing agencies like ours, which work to pair brands with retailers, are a vital step in the process. For this to succeed, however, marketing agencies must already have deep, established relationships with the biggest retailer players so that the retailer trusts that the brand being recommended is worth the investment. As this trend is likely to continue, working with partners that have good track records is paramount.

"Customers can go directly to a brand’s e-commerce enabled website directly. We’ve already seen successful models of this for brands like Warby Parker and Dollar Shave Club. This model won’t replace Amazon or big box stores because brands still need a physical retail presence in order to reach the majority of consumers."

Trending Is Trending

No matter how good a marketing agency is, though, at the end of the day only the buyer for big retailers like Walmart or Target can decide what to stock. The best way to get a product onto their shelves is to have it be part of something that is currently trending – basically what’s already selling and working in the marketplace. Knowledge of the wider industry is key, particularly which companies are established trendsetters, like Apple for personal tech, or Amazon for customer interaction: things like free and next day shipping.

[To read more of Noah Bremen’s thought leadership click here]

Beyond that, though, which trends to follow depends on which trends you follow. Authenticity is key as the core consumer becomes more Millennial. If you’re not authentic, you’re done. It helps to have a personal connection to your brands. For example, if you played baseball in college and sports nutrition was something that personally interested you, that passion could translate into representing diet brands and energy drinks – it’s easy to champion something you’re already passionate about.

Social Media Monster

The business fundamentals haven’t changed much in the last twenty years, as far as how to bring in data and interpret it. What has changed is the fact that success is now increasingly directly related to how well you can interpret social media analytics: for example, extrapolating what happens within Facebook marketing to determine the size of the prize once you expand that into larger distribution big box retail. If an item is hot, it’ll translate to the masses, but before you do that, often times it is wise to first position a brand within a bellwether retailer or class of trade to test the waters. As the saying goes, ‘fail cheaply; win big.’

Looking to the Future

Dovetailing off this, the final trend to be aware of is the increasing speed at which a brand’s reputation – both positive and negative – spreads. Social media’s influence doesn’t stop with metrics. Social media users and Millennials in particular are closely keyed into hot social and cultural issues, and they share their reactions regularly and instantly. Today’s consumers like to understand where their products come from, how they are made, and whether their purchase represents something they support from a social or political perspective.

[For more on bDirect’s approach to Marketing click here]

But they also expect that the brand will ship in two days or less. Interactive agencies like Conversion Systems - a turnkey platform with digital marketing to help brands sell direct to consumer via the Internet -  can now assist in providing service and technology suites to brands to make that possible. In addition to pure play or retailer sales, customers can go directly to a brand’s e-commerce enabled website directly. We’ve already seen successful models of this for brands like Warby Parker and Dollar Shave Club. This model won’t replace Amazon or big box stores because brands still need a physical retail presence in order to reach the majority of consumers. But as far as looking to the future, it’s all going to be a part of the new norm, and the shift is happening right now.

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In an ideal world, we would all give to philanthropic causes purely because we want to make the world a better place. We do not live in that world. Everything from pledge-drive “thank you gifts” to buildings named after major donors reminds us of this fact.

We give for many reasons. For causes we believe in, needs we want to see fulfilled, and for personal experiences and connections. But we also give for the sake of recognition. For tax deductions, for the admiration of our peers, and maybe even for the sake of marketing.

And that’s okay.

A dollar given to a worthy cause for selfish reasons is worth exactly the same amount as one given in pure altruism. When the motivation for our philanthropic giving is marketing, the process is typically called “cause marketing.” American Express gets credit for inventing the term in 1983. Jerry Welsh, head of the company’s travel services division, was looking for a cause with which to partner. He pitched a number of ideas to company Chairman Louis Gerstner Jr.

[To read more of Mike Schaffer's thought leadership click here]

Pitches built on partnerships with higher education, historic preservation, and arts organizations were all shot down as too bland or disconnected from the brand. Then, Welsh pitched a restoration campaign for a historic landmark just a few miles from the company’s headquarters in New York: the Statue of Liberty.

Gerstner was sold on the idea and, in the fall, the company launched (and heavily promoted) a campaign that donated $0.01 of every transaction placed on an AmEx card to the restoration of the famous landmark.

It was an unequivocal success. During the campaign, AmEx transactions were up 30%, and the program raised $1.7M for the preservation of Lady Liberty. That’s a donation worth over $4.1M in today’s dollars. The company recognized the brilliance of its formula, coined the term “cause marketing,” and spent more than $30M on cause campaigns over the next five years.

While AmEx invented the term, they certainly didn’t invent the methodology. A hundred years earlier, Joseph Pulitzer was using the same statue’s cause to sell newspapers.

During the campaign, AmEx transactions were up 30%, and the program raised $1.7M for the preservation of Lady Liberty. That’s a donation worth over $4.1M in today’s dollars. The company recognized the brilliance of its formula, coined the term “cause marketing,” and spent more than $30M on cause campaigns over the next five years.

In 1885, the Statue of Liberty was in New York in pieces, awaiting assembly and a platform to stand on. The government of France had donated the statue, but neither the city of New York nor Congress could figure out how to appropriate the money needed for the plinth.

Enter Joseph Pulitzer, the man who once said, “Publicity, publicity, publicity is the greatest moral factor and force in our public life.” He launched a fundraising campaign for the statue’s base, covering it extensively in his newspaper, The World, and promising to print the names of donors in the paper.

The campaign was an immense success, raising the needed money and boosting sales of Pulitzer’s newspaper. So much so that cause-related fundraising campaigns became a mainstay of The World for years to come.

Today, cause marketing is often a key part of a successful marketing strategy. The best campaigns tie together the company with a cause that’s near and dear to its customers’ hearts.

Buy a pair of Brooks trail runners at REI, and you’ll be supporting the National Park Foundation. Eat at Cracker Barrel, and you’ll be helping to put the chain’s iconic rocking chairs on the front porches of veterans through Operation Homefront. Buy a Moana Blu-ray, and you’re helping Disney’s efforts to empower young women through coding camps and STEM education initiatives.

Want to emulate that success with a campaign of your own? Here are a few principles that’ll set you on the right path.

First, start by picking the right cause. That can mean either a cause that’s tied directly to your products, as with REI and the National Park Foundation, or something with a looser connection to your products but a strong connection to your employees and customers.

Adopting pets doesn’t have much to do with ordering shoes online, but that hasn’t hampered the success of Zappos’ “Friends on Us Fridays” campaign. It covers adoption fees at select shelters around the country one day a week. The company likely performed in-depth demographic studies before launching the campaign, but it could have reached the same place with a conversation along the lines of: “What does everybody love?” “Puppies.” “Ok, let’s do that.”

Keep in mind that authenticity should always be the goal. If your company’s employees, leadership or products have an authentic connection to a cause, that’s your answer.

Second, develop a partnership with the nonprofit you’re planning to support. For nearly every cause marketing success story, there’s a corresponding failure. Developing your nonprofit partnerships and coordinating your campaign early on will help avoid pitfalls and ensure your campaign is maximizing its potential positive impact.

Finally, don’t be afraid to promote your campaign, but make sure the cause stays at the center of that promotion. The promotion isn’t about you; it’s about what you have the opportunity to do for your worthy cause.

Do it right, and you’ll be giving genuine support to a worthy cause, while giving a strong boost to the effectiveness of your marketing and outreach programs. It might not be a purely altruistic proposition, but it’s certainly something that can be good for your brand—and good for the causes you support.

[For more on Echo Factory's approach to Public Relations click here] 

" ["post_title"]=> string(18) "Giving To Yourself" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(129) "Michael Schaffer of Echo Factory explains how philanthropy and charity can be one of your smartest business marketing investments" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(62) "michael-schaffer-marketing-public-relations-giving-to-yourself" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 11:47:02" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 18:47:02" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=25655" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [12]=> object(WP_Post)#5220 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(29041) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-09-18 13:49:36" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-09-18 20:49:36" ["post_content"]=> string(11127) "It’s a tale as old as time. A company is born. It outsources its marketing to an experienced agency that helps the company increase revenue and scale business. The company continues to see results from the marketing efforts of that agency and grows bigger. Everyone is happy. And then the company reaches a point where it feels obligated to bring its marketing internal. “That’s what you’re supposed to do right?” says the company. The company brings its marketing in-house and tries to replicate what that fully-staffed, expertly trained agency was able to do with a few new, in-house team members. It doesn’t work out great. Growth stalls. The company loses revenue and has to cut back on its marketing budget. In my years in the marketing industry, I’ve seen this exact situation unfold numerous times. It’s normal for companies to grow, mature, and want to bring all their efforts internal. But I’m not sure when it became accepted as a best practice for companies to reach a certain level of success and deem it necessary to bring all their marketing in-house. I’ve personally seen dozens of companies make that mistake and then lose access to all of the market insight an agency brings to the table.

[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

On average, at my company, Hawke Media, our clients’ revenue increases by 274% within the first six months when we step in and take over marketing efforts. You know why? Because it’s literally what we are paid to do. And the low-hanging fruit that enable us to produce such incredible results so quickly aren’t seen by the internal team because they lack that outsider perspective. Again, I’m not saying that companies aren’t capable or shouldn’t market themselves. But this misplaced obligation companies feel when it comes to bringing marketing in-house as some sort of right-of-passage can create some serious pitfalls in the long-run. Here’s why.

Companies don't have the resources to train and develop a team.

Most, if not all, CEOs know at least some basic marketing. But to truly get the best results, you want your marketing strategy to be handled by experts. With an agency, you’re able to have a team of professionals who are experts, not just in marketing in general, but within specific facets of marketing like email, media buying, or social. Companies attempting to bring all of their marketing in-house seriously struggle with finding talent and 71% of in-house creative leaders say they don’t even have enough time to develop team members. This means that most in-house teams aren’t going to be anywhere near as trained, knowledgeable, efficient, and experienced as an external agency. Hiring an outside team allows companies the ability to fill that team with individuals who are experts specifically in the areas in which the marketing is focused. In-house marketers often have to be Jacks-of-all-trades, whereas marketing agencies devote resources into continually educating their employees to keep them on the cutting edge of their specific marketing niche. At Hawke, we pay for our employees to attend General Assembly classes to freshen up or expand their skills, industry conferences so that they know all the latest research in the field, and any other ways they find to continue to develop professionally. Unfortunately, most companies don’t have that kind of budget to spend on their marketing, which puts the in-house marketing team at a serious disadvantage. In fact, 75% of marketers believe that their lack of skills is impacting revenue. Agencies satisfy this issue by providing a diverse team with the education and experience to get the job done.

Their budgets become rigid and flexible.

A static budget is not an adaptable budget. This is the real world. Things aren’t always going to go to plan. Flexible budgets are able to adjust when that change inevitably happens. The Motley Fool said it best: “A flexible budget can handle that reality and better position a company for the challenges of the marketplace.” At Hawke, we understand the tumultuous nature of the ecommerce industry and we don’t want our clients to feel like they’re trapped into these long, expensive contracts. That’s why we offer all our services a la carte and on a month-to-month basis. Clients are able to adjust budget and add or take away services without any contractual obligations. If they need to cut back on marketing efforts during their slower months, they can. If sales have been incredible and they’re ready to scale up, they can do that too. Companies need to be ready and able to adapt at a moment’s notice. Having an outsourced marketing team allows for immediate mobilization because you have instant access to a team of specialized, experienced marketers. It also allows brands the opportunity to be bolder and more creative since there’s no long-term commitment.

They struggle to see the forest from the trees.

Agencies have an outside perspective and are going to be much less biased than an in-house team. In order to successfully market to current and prospective audiences, you’re going to need to be able to put yourself in their shoes in order to assess what exactly they need. An agency is going to provide a much more objective perspective. Additionally, marketers at marketing agencies are in the trenches day in and day out. They work with numerous clients and have a large network of vendors and channels. These people know what they’re talking about and have the experience to prove it. In fact, even companies that have in-house marketing teams will work with outside agencies. According to the 2018 In-House Creative Industry Report, at least 77% of in-house teams partner with external agencies, which tells you that even solid internal creative teams need outsider advice to keep that needle moving.

And they lose valuable time and resources in the process.

Time is money. Literally. An outsourced team is going to provide a faster speed to market than an in-house team since marketing agencies have larger staffs, a plethora of resources and the expertise to churn out quality deliverables quickly. Agencies have to be efficient, as they are results-driven, and employees are used to juggling and prioritizing the needs of different clients. The processes already established at these agencies allow them to produce high-quality work on deadline and within budget. Additionally, hiring an outside team is exponentially cheaper than recruiting, hiring, onboarding, training, and paying an in-house team. Bringing on a firm makes it easier for companies to scale up if things are going well, as well as cut back or go a different route if the company isn’t happy with the agency’s results.

The proof is in the pudding

Outsourced marketing teams are built specifically to deliver exceptional results in an efficient manner At Hawke, we’ve seen client revenue per day grow by as much as 3,500%. Even with an established brand like Tamara Mellon, we were able to make an impact - increasing the brand’s revenue per day by 280% and overall revenues by 50%. The allure to owning and bringing all your efforts in-house may be tempting, but it just doesn’t make sense. Of course, the decision to outsource or not must be addressed on a case-by-case basis and influenced by your company’s specific needs, but we’ve all heard the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If you’re seeing great results with your outsourced marketing agency, there’s no rule that states you must transition to in-house just because you’re finally seeing some success. Stick to what you’re great at and let the experts handle the rest.

[For more insight from Hawke Media click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(17) "Help Me, Help You" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(84) "Why Bringing Your Marketing In-House May Be the Worst Business Decision You Can Make" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(30) "erik-huberman-help-me-help-you" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 15:11:36" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 22:11:36" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=29041" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [13]=> object(WP_Post)#5219 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(27792) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-05-24 16:39:31" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-05-24 23:39:31" ["post_content"]=> string(7631) "It’s no secret that happy, motivated and productive employees are good for business. Having a company full of people who are inspired and ready to do their job to the best of their ability each day is crucial to company success, regardless of size. Compensation and benefits are some of the most important drivers of employee satisfaction. It’s no surprise then that businesses will often incorporate bonuses based on performance - anything from typical pay bonuses to company-wide incentives like profit-share or ownership. Though compensation for hard work is important, it’s imperative that the reward is appropriate. According to a study done by the Harvard Business Review, “performance-related pay [is] positively associated with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and trust in management”; but profit-related pay is not. Here at Hawke, we thought long and hard about what type of employee behavior we wanted to reward and how we wanted to reward it. With our business model, client trust and satisfaction are everything, so we naturally sought to reward employee behavior that contributed to maintaining positive and fruitful client relations. That led to our lightbulb moment: since we’re a month-to-month service, client longevity isn’t a given. It’s something we have to constantly work to maintain. We offer our services on an a la carte basis, so clients only pay for what they need. Often, our experts see that a client could benefit from an additional service, but fear the client might be miffed by an upsell. So how do we reward employees for great work that fosters client trust and long-lasting client relationships?

We reward employees based on retaining clients, not increasing their budgets. 

Why?

When employees are rewarded for increasing clients’ budgets, they’re more likely to push companies to take bigger risks. These employees develop a short-term strategy that often pushes companies into uncomfortable situations where these risks end up being detrimental. Not surprisingly, this tends to hurt the client relationship. By rewarding based on client retention, you adopt a long-term approach where employees are likely to be more conservative with their recommendations and allow the company to take risks on their own terms. Retention-based pay helps not only client relations, but also keeps your employees accountable and engaged.

How It Works

1. Links Client Success to Employee Success

At Hawke, we have a different business model than most marketing agencies. We offer our services a la carte and operate on a monthly basis, meaning we don’t lock clients into long-term contracts. Because clients can pick and choose only the services they need, when they need them, we’re able to create uniquely tailored marketing solutions that fit into budgets of any size. However, this creates extra pressure on our ops teams to inspire and impress clients daily so they continue their relationship with us for as long as possible. Rewarding employees based on client retention gives extra incentive to keep the client’s needs in mind. This leads to genuine, long-lasting relationships between our employees and clients, since the client’s success and happiness is directly linked to the Hawke employee’s success. This system has led to mutually beneficial relationships - not only do we perform for the client, but that performance often leads to new business through client referrals. Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful tools when it comes to maintaining and expanding your client roster.

2. Establishes and Maintains Client Trust

The other day, a client expressed concern that our team was trying to upsell him with new services he wasn’t entirely convinced he needed. He was worried that our team was trying to boost their commissions by throwing unnecessary services at him. When I told him that our team was rewarded solely for client retention, his whole attitude changed. He instantly became much more receptive toward our team’s suggestions and expressed a heighted trust in his team at Hawke. As is almost always the case, the client felt assured that his business - and not just his money - was valued. When clients know that their team is rewarded based on keeping them around, they stop worrying about getting swindled when the team gives recommendations. They also don’t need to worry about their team losing interest when a new client comes along. Their business and their money is even more valuable now than it was when they first signed.

3. Drives Employee Performance

Goals are great for driving employee performance, and key performance indicators make great objective measurements to assess whether employees have met those goals. By introducing incentive pay based on client retention, you link your KPIs to client satisfaction. This makes life easier for your executive staff, as it eliminates the need to set new goals for each team member every quarter. Of course, managers should still speak with their team members to figure out individual and personal goals, especially when it comes to professional growth and development. But by rewarding based on client retention, you mitigate the risk of individual employees losing sight of the bigger picture and the role they play in getting there. Managing employee performance starts with setting clear expectations. With this incentive system in place, client feedback can serve as that clarification and keep everyone aligned.

Engaged Employees, Happy Clients

I’ve found our reward system keeps the team members at Hawke engaged and focused, which leads to stellar client work and increased client satisfaction. In fact, it’s proven that companies with highly engaged employees consistently outperform companies with disengaged employees. Incentive pay based on client retention encourages our employees to consistently improve their effectiveness while simultaneously doing the same for the company as a whole. By looking into the needs of our business and structuring our incentive pay program around that, we’ve aligned employees goals to company and client goals. Clients trust that their team at Hawke has their best interests at heart, Hawke team members communicate openly and have a clear understanding of what needs to be done to meet their goals and Hawke as a company benefits by fostering both genuine client-company relationships, as well as a culture of happy, engaged employees. " ["post_title"]=> string(46) "How Retention Based Pay Helps Client Relations" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(120) "An in-depth look into rewarding an employee with retention based pay to maintain their drive and a client's happiness " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(60) "erik-huberman-how-retention-based-pay-helps-client-relations" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 15:19:52" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 22:19:52" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=27792" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [14]=> object(WP_Post)#5218 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(30094) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "254" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-04-08 14:42:46" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-04-08 21:42:46" ["post_content"]=> string(7394) "As brick-and-mortar stores across the United States face the challenges of online retail, the online shopping world has stepped up its game. Simultaneously, social media has jumped on the bandwagon and assisted in driving e-commerce sales. As the market continues to shift and transform, retailers are acclimating to the market evolution—this means altering the customer experience to fit the needs of retail shopping on a handheld device. It’s no surprise that social media and e-commerce go hand in hand. Online retail has grown 300 percent from 2000 to 2018, while social media has soared. In fact, social channels have become the main forum of marketing these e-commerce shops, and these social platforms have become a main outlet for purchasing goods. With recent technological advances, online shopping has become widely accepted by retailers. In turn, retailers have made their online shopping experience as user-friendly as possible. With the convenience of purchasing goods at your fingertips, intertwined with the customer service of a mom-and-pop shop, it makes sense that 3,800 brick-and-mortar stores were expected to close their doors in 2018. Seventy-nine percent of customers placed online orders via mobile devices in 2018. Clearly, online shoppers prefer transactions on smartphones versus desktops. With more than 230 million Americans owning a smartphone, the e-commerce shift has inevitably taken precedence on mobile devices.

[To read more of Jennifer Hurless’ thought leadership click here]

With the rise of e-commerce, companies have honed in on their social channels to optimize sales. The first trend that successful companies have adopted is the use of a dynamic website: a user-friendly layout, a familiar and consistent brand voice, ease of purchasing items, and 24-hour customer support. Recently, companies have taken their website dynamic to the next level—offering shopping experiences and options not available in stores. Virtual reality and augmented reality have added vibrant layers to the traditional retail model. This has ultimately altered the way social platforms are utilized—especially for advertisers.

Virtual reality and augmented reality have added vibrant layers to the traditional retail model. This has ultimately altered the way social platforms are utilized—especially for advertisers.

The way to a successful e-commerce brand is fully understanding your target audience. Brands have adopted a sense of social consciousness by connecting their “internal culture with their exterior identity.” That means adapting to the demands of you market. Think about how the majority of water bottle companies have implemented thin plastic bottles (compared to the thicker, sturdier plastic bottles) as a means to show concern for the growing sustainability movement. The same goes for social purposes: If your customers do most of their finger scrolling on Instagram, you must assimilate to that platform and make your feed as intriguing and shopping friendly as possible. Speaking of giving users what they want, let’s discuss the vital visual aspect of social media and e-commerce, with videos on social media on the rise. Companies are taking full advantage of new social media technology as a means to bring in the big bucks. From live streaming events, video takeovers, the ability to import high-quality videos on Instagram and Facebook stories, and the recent addition of Instagram’s IGTV, it’s obvious that videos are #trending. Not to mention, if you’re a verified account, Instagram gives you video priority—with an IGTV upload limit extending 60 minutes (the average Instagram user is only granted a 10-minute-long upload). So yes, you do get the upper hand when your social media is kickass. Some predict that 2019 will see a massive amount of money devoted to paid campaigns and influencer marketing, Resulting in social media influencers and micro-influencers having a major impact on shopping trends. Meanwhile, online advertising has overtaken print, with social media channels presenting new layers of ads throughout users’ newsfeeds. One-click-purchase options bring ease to Facebook users. Furthermore, human-like chatbots allow consumers to place orders directly in Facebook messenger. These innovative advertisement features have boosted the e-commerce and social media realm. However, if the same ad continues to pop up (almost like it is following you), customers have the option to block the ad from running in their feed. Similarly, users can forever unsubscribe from chatbots. On the other hand, chatbots have the potential to successfully retarget 56 percent of shoppers when these human-like bots recommend products. It is a fine line to walk between helpful suggestions and aggressive spam.

In the world of social media marketing, adjusting to technology and the demands of the consumer is vital for your e-commerce bottom line.

Capturing email addresses for customer retention is another contributing factor to the e-commerce sphere. Email-marketing software programs allow customers to adjust preferences on the types of emails they would like to receive and message frequency. These laser-detail preferences are equally as beneficial to the company for their insights on what users want. A spam-less inbox for the win! The online retail market grew every month in 2018 and part of this success can be attributed to better internet security. Users are more agreeable and trusting of e-commerce brands, as they willingly give their credentials in exchange for products. With information security standards for e-commerce sites required by law, people aren’t typically wary of completing their purchases—but this doesn’t mean you should be lax with internet security. Rather, do whatever you can to be sure you can ensure your customers a fraud-less checkout process. How can you leverage social media to enhance your e-commerce site? Have you adjusted to consumers’ ever-changing marketing values? Do you plan on implementing these new trends in 2019 on your social platforms? In the world of social media marketing, adjusting to technology and the demands of the consumer is vital for your e-commerce bottom line.

[For more on Go Be Social Media’s approach to Social & Digital Media click here]

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By definition, “culture” is the attitude, customs, and beliefs of a particular society or group of people. Culture may include language, music, arts, and social habits. It may also include shared patterns of behaviors and interactions. Since the inception of the internet and the consequent growth of social media networks and platforms, the way we communicate, behave, and interact has changed and is continuing to change dramatically.

1. Bold Expression

When has there ever been a time in history where you actually knew all of your friends’ political opinions? There is a really good chance you do now and you may not always like it. With social media platforms like Facebook, people feel the need to express their opinions on current events or political issues, show their approval or disapproval of groups or policies, and generally interact in a whole new way. While public debate on topics is usually a sign of a progressive society, public debate on social media platforms can often turn negative or divisive if not moderated appropriately, either by the individual or by the specific platform. We have all noticed that being behind a computer or mobile device allows a person to interact and communicate in ways they would not in a face-to-face setting. The rules for appropriate behavior on social media platforms are constantly changing and evolving. This brings the question, is this weakening our interpersonal relationships?

[To read more of Jennifer Hurless’ thought leadership click here]

2. In Person vs. Social Media Etiquette

The days of handwriting long letters and memos are over. Social media platforms such as Twitter have a 140 character limit and, even on platforms allowing longer posts, brevity is seen as a positive. Communication is often accomplished with a short text or even an emoji. Interpreting someone’s tone and the true intent behind their message in such a short format is one of the hardest things about these new communication avenues. For example, while being fast and short in a message or email is helpful to get a point across quickly, it can sometimes be received as curt. A good rule of thumb when communicating with social media or even email is to start with a greeting like “hello” or “hi” and end with a positive comment. Responding to a text or direct message with “k” can be interpreted as rude, while responding with “okay, thank you” is considered polite. It’s almost like social media has its own language.

Communication is often accomplished with a short text or even an emoji. Interpreting someone’s tone and the true intent behind their message in such a short format is one of the hardest things about these new communication avenues.

3. Culture of Likes

We have become driven by the number of friends, followers, likes, and shares we are able to amass on social media. If you look at the big social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube, they all have something in common. They have their own version of the “like” button. With so many young adolescents being glued to their smart devices, these “likes” are seen as approval of their appearance, opinion, friends, choices, values, and who they are as a person. This upcoming generation will be more influenced by the opinions of others than any other generation in history. However social media does put you in touch with like-minded people around the world. That can be good, when LGBTQ youth discover communities of support. It can also be bad, when neo-Nazis discover there are others like them. If you have an opinion or belief, you can find someone on the Internet who will share and validate it.

4. The Power of Information Access

One of the best things about the way social media is influencing our culture is that we are now able to have conversations with people who can affect change. We have the power to reach anyone through a Facebook post, blog post, or even a tweet. Your opinion can be heard and shared. We have access to experts, politicians, and even celebrities. We get real time information from platforms like Twitter. We can post a question on Quora and get hundreds of answers. If you need inspiration or creative ideas, there is Pinterest. You can find basically anything you need on Etsy, Ebay, or Amazon. Each of these platforms, while perhaps not technically social media, all have a social component to them starting with reviews. Reviews are another way a person is able to express his/her opinion and potentially affect change. For example, if you are unhappy or happy with a restaurant experience, instead of calling over a manager, you can write a review on Yelp or you can post on any of your social media platforms about your experience. Social media also allows us to feel knowledgeable about areas we are do not know much about. This can lead to ingrained opinions which may not be accurate. Reading an article about vaccines does not make you qualified to have an opinion on them. Which then leads to what we call today “fake news.”

[For more on Go be Social Media’s approach to Social & Digital Media click here]

5. Constant Communication

Have you noticed that you feel the need to check in constantly? With social media, there is no such thing as down time. Studies are even showing that it can be addictive. Hearing the ding of a notification causes a dopamine reaction in your brain causing you to get excited to see what new message, like, or comment you have received. We are in a culture of constant communication where we are never really not connected anymore. This new way of communication is transforming the way we live our lives through real time sharing and visual experience. The constant advancements in technology and social media are causing our culture to continually evolve and change. end

" ["post_title"]=> string(43) "How Social Media is Influencing Our Culture" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(98) "A look at five detrimental habits practiced too often across various social platforms and channels" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(55) "jennifer-hurless-marketing-social-digital-media-culture" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 11:43:29" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 18:43:29" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=25617" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [16]=> object(WP_Post)#5216 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(27696) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-05-10 10:59:10" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-05-10 17:59:10" ["post_content"]=> string(5635) "Marketing is a dynamic, ever-evolving industry. Trends come and go, but with the right strategies, you can stay ahead of the game. Of course, sometimes there are seismic shifts that drastically change the way brands go about marketing themselves. For instance, Facebook’s recent headline-dominating data scandal has not only caused marketers to reevaluate their ad strategies due to concerns over brand safety, but it has also encouraged many of the major social platforms to bulk up their privacy policies, lest they join Facebook at the whipping post for violating consumer trust. When drastic changes like this take place in such a short timeframe, it can render marketing strategies obsolete and leave brands feeling lost or disconnected from their target customers. Here are four easy ways you can position yourself to stay on the bleeding edge of marketing trends and be prepared for those sudden watershed moments.

1. Stay focused on what’s happening today without losing sight of the big picture.

It’s easy to get lost in the immediate response to a paradigm shift without thinking about how the changes will affect strategies down the line. Changes to third-party data policies in the wake of the Facebook scandal have made it significantly harder for marketers to target consumers with ads. Many are scrambling to make immediate changes to keep their campaigns on the rails, but are they thinking about how these adjustments will play out in the long run? With platforms guarding data more closely, it follows that advertising will become increasingly expensive. In order to justify ad spend, marketers should be placing greater focus on conversion rates and customer lifetime value than ever before. If marketers are primed to stay calm in the heat of the moment and think about more than just putting out the fire, they’ll be in a better position for long-term success.

[To read more of Erik Huberman's thought leadership click here]

2. Build a network of marketers and communicate with them regularly.

In this day and age, by the time something hits the news, it’s already stale. This is especially true in marketing. Having a network of savvy, like-minded individuals who share and distribute information as they get it is crucial to staying up-to-date. Join Facebook and LinkedIn groups where people share news, industry studies, and other valuable content. According to a 2016 MarketingProfs content marketing study, 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn and 87% use Facebook. Take advantage of what these online communities have to offer - and remember to not only observe, but also engage! Being an active member of these groups will help you stay on top of industry trends and may often lead to business partnerships.

According to a 2016 MarketingProfs content marketing study, 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn and 87% use Facebook.

3. Read (the right) leading industry publications and blogs.

In a time where information is everywhere, it’s important to always be in the know. In addition to regularly attending conferences and industry events, having a solid list of publications you skim on the daily is crucial to staying informed. Top marketing publications (my personal favorites are Adweek and Ad Age) provide fantastic insight into the marketing ecosystem and are incredible resources for breaking news, data and analysis, industry forecasting and event listings. Build out your reading list and follow a variety of outlets including periodicals, newsletters, bloggers, and any other source of interesting content you come across that gives you inspiration or knowledge. But remember - there’s a lot of noise out there, so make sure you don’t go too far down the rabbit hole.

4. Communicate with your team and share knowledge internally.

Nothing beats face-to-face interaction, and your team members may (and probably should) offer different perspectives from your own. Real, insightful dialogue with your peers and subordinates is the best way to explore new concepts and plan for the future. At Hawke, our channel directors are experts in their fields. These guys and gals spend all day in the trenches, living and breathing their particular vertical. If I need insight into a specific trend or topic, they’re usually the first ones I turn to. Make sure communication stays open within your company, not just within teams, but across channels. You or someone you work for hired these people for a reason - take advantage of them!

[For more insight from Hawke Media click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(49) "How to Stay Relevant in an Ever-Evolving Industry" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(49) "Tips and tricks for marketers to stay in the know" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(56) "erik-huberman-stay-relevant-in-an-ever-evolving-industry" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 15:26:55" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-01 22:26:55" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=27696" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [17]=> object(WP_Post)#5215 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(13355) ["post_author"]=> string(2) "15" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2011-03-25 14:30:54" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2011-03-25 21:30:54" ["post_content"]=> string(5356) "In order to survive and thrive in business today, a company must have innovators. That innovative leadership can come from the C-Suite or from other employees, but the management must recognize and act on it. An organism dies if it doesn’t grow, and growth is a function of innovation.

What is Innovation?

Innovation in business can come on two different forefronts. Then there are those who have succeeded by conceptualizing and implementing something totally new and different, and there are others who become successful by re-tooling an old-school approach, building on something that already exists. For example, Mark Zuckerberg - the 26-year-old self-made billionaire co-founder of Facebook didn’t invent social networking.  In fact, sites like MySpace and LinkedIn were around for a long time before Facebook.  Originally what Zuckerberg did was focus his energy on a college student target market - - intuitively knowing how they wanted to communicate. Unlike MySpace, which is basically a personal Web page linked to other users, Facebook created an easy-to-build profile that enabled almost instant interaction, focusing on relationships – as opposed to simply cosmetics.

The innovation Process

Study a market within an industry - look for weaknesses and opportunities First, start with an industry in which you are an expert.  It is far easier to create something meaningful from your knowledge-base, as opposed to trying to create solutions before you understand what the actual needs are. Find a market within an industry and identify weaknesses and opportunities. Profile all of the competitors Know everything there is to know about the current solutions. Review the competitors. What is the size of their market?  What is their margin?  What is their marketing strategy? What type of product or service can you create that is clearly different and superior? First, find a niche in a market that excites you – find something that charges you and from which you derive pleasure. But don’t get caught up on inventing. Keep in mind that your innovation doesn’t have to cure a major disease. Innovation could be something totally new, but there are a lot more opportunities to improve an existing product or service. Furthermore, tweaking an existing product or service costs far less then starting anew and takes less time to go to market.

"Innovation could be something totally new, but there are a lot more opportunities to improve an existing product or service."

Quick marketing check Once you conceive an idea, make sure that whatever name you adopt can be obtained in a URL.  Don’t settle for a name because some other marketer has the name you want and you have to add a lot of additional words to be able to register it. Change your name so you can own the URL exclusively. Intellectual Property Protection Make sure that you consult an attorney that specializes in intellectual property matters, which includes copyright, trademark, and patent. Thus, you are protected against encroachment and won’t encounter unhappy surprises later.

My Innovation Journey

My company is a media, marketing, and communications organization.  Fifteen years ago, while negotiating the terms of a new agreement with a major client, the executive in charge of stewarding the deal told me that my company was simply a “commodity.” And while we had done a very good job, there were other companies that could do a similarly good job  and at a lower cost.  My interpretation of what this marketing person was telling me was that while my company was effective – we didn’t have anything that was totally unique – and that, in essence, our services could be bought off a shelf. We then shifted our organization to refocus our strategy on creating a service organization that was perceived as a brand, as opposed to a commodity – something generally not easy to do in a service industry. But we did it because we were committed to it. We created our own products. We did this by developing our own unique and proprietary media assets and technology solutions.  We created various new subsidiaries, including our unwired national cable network platform - the American Target Network™. American Target Network™ is a perfect example of innovation, leadership, and branding.  With media rates increasingly outpacing the value based upon the cost of delivering viewers, we determined that there was a need for a more efficient way to buy media. We then aggregated the majority of the local cable systems into our own proprietary network platform. We created a model where we were able to deliver the same national cable networks to our advertisers at a fraction of the cost of traditional network delivery. By developing a new way to deliver the same content, we separated ourselves from our competitors and were able to start assembling the building blocks to creating a brand. Don’t let stagnation kill your enterprise.  Don’t be the one that merely does what you or others have done for decades - or even for centuries. Innovate with vigor and vision and you will see success." ["post_title"]=> string(47) "Innovation is the Keystone for Business Success" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(79) "No matter your industry, working with an innovative eye is paramount to success" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(50) "robert-yallen-innovation-keystone-business-success" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-02-02 15:54:15" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-02-02 23:54:15" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=13355" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [18]=> object(WP_Post)#5214 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(18232) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2015-10-01 18:02:55" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2015-10-02 01:02:55" ["post_content"]=> string(5988) "

Art and culture go hand in hand. Culture and marketing are symbiotic. But art and advertising? That’s a combination still under hot debate—even within the advertising industry. Ask agency employees if advertising is art, and you’ll probably get a variety of opinions.

The sales and executive teams will likely say, “Hell, no. An ad is a sales tool. It’s culturally significant as it provides insight into the ways we communicate in particular point in time, but it’s not art. An ad’s highest priority is to win the audience on behalf of a person, product or service.”

[To read more of Michael Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

Ask the production department, and you may get a different answer. After all, what draws an individual to a job where artistic ability, inventiveness, cultural awareness and dedication are valued, rewarded, and well compensated? What spurs an individual to work tirelessly within a set of strict parameters and guidelines in order to attempt over and over again to produce work that fulfills all of its business obligations while also being of the best possible quality for its circumstances?

What, if not the compulsion to create. As an ad agency owner/executive with a background in both sales and creative, I can attest to the artistic skill of the designers, photographers, videographers, and writers with whom I’ve worked, and I can also attest to their dedication, and that constant, internal push to produce evocative, expressive, beautiful advertising within the parameters of the medium and the job.

Sounds a lot like art to me.

“Yes, yes, yes,” you might say, “but at the end of the day, they are selling stuff! That’s not art!”

And you would have a point. Art for art’s sake is arguably the purest form of expression. But artists for hire are as old as civilization itself. Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Shakespeare are probably some of the best known, but they represent a much wider and deeper pool. Some of the greatest works of art were created through patronages, on behalf of the wealthy, to preserve their immortal memory, display their wealth, power, and influence the masses. From the ancient Egyptian Bust of Nefertiti to the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome to the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, not to mention the countless flattering portraits of the royal, rich, and powerful, art has always been about persuasion and has always been the ultimate marketing tool. And while it’s true, the old masters might not have been selling potato chips and gluten-free makeup, they were selling something. They were paid to use their artistic skill to persuade the masses to make a serious purchase.

To say that a fully executed creative work is not art because its goal is to sell something—be it an idea, a religion, or a product—discounts the majority of what sits in the world’s most beloved museums. When we look back through the lens of history at these modern times, will we make that distinction? Or will the cream rise to the top regardless of who paid for it and why?

I was in a bookstore recently, nosing around the art section, and tucked in beside a biography of Michelangelo was a book on the work of Robert McGinnis. McGinnis is an artist and illustrator famous for his book cover illustrations and movie posters—most notably his work on the James Bond series in the 1960s and ’70s. His work is highly regarded and avidly collected. And while much of it was commissioned and created for the purpose of selling a product (in this case movies and paperbacks), if you want to find a book about him don’t go looking for it in the marketing aisle.

Artists want to create art for art’s sake, but they also need to eat, and that is a simple—but hugely important—fact. The days of wealthy patronage are largely over, and fine art grants are few and far between. Where are young artists to go if they want to practice art and also be able to afford shelter? These days, corporations and businesses are among those opening up their pocketbooks, hiring the agencies that in turn hire the throngs of art school graduates. And yes, these businesses have an agenda, but any competent artist knows how to work within the parameters of his media, and advertising creatives are no different.

[For more on Michael Schaffer’s approach to Advertising click here]

Dedicated advertising creatives understand their purpose and embrace the challenge of using their artistic abilities to create effective sales tools. It is my contention that a good advertising agency will recognize the artist within the designer, photographer or writer, and encourage the development of creative expression within the parameters of the job. True advertising and marketing creatives know that they are not creating art for art’s sake and they know that final approval has far less to do with artistic merit than persuasive quality. But the good ones, I have found, approach every job with the goal of making it the best it can possibly be—creatively and persuasively.

Modern advertising as art? In the end, history will be the judge. In the meantime, here at Echo Factory, we’re sticking to the opinion that at the very least, fostering artistic expression in our creatives makes for effective, quality ads. It’s what we’ve always done and it’s worked well for us so far.

" ["post_title"]=> string(26) "Is Modern Advertising Art?" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(35) "michael-schaffer-modern-advertising" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-10-30 21:22:39" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-10-31 04:22:39" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=18232" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [19]=> object(WP_Post)#5213 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(29239) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "268" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-12-09 09:00:22" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-12-09 17:00:22" ["post_content"]=> string(5642) "As you comb through the various rooms in your home, you are likely to find a piece of technology that stands out. Usually black in color and without any natural appeal, this equipment steals the focus of the room and in turn the balance of the interior design. Just as life imitates art, manufacturers have taken notice of the shift in décor trends and are producing cutting-edge technology that serves, not only function, but also showcases innovative design characteristics to meet the needs of more sophisticated consumers. A great example of high-end audio overcome by art design is KEF’s Blade speakers, known as “the world’s first Single Apparent Source loudspeaker.” Presenting itself as a smooth-flowing art sculpture, the BLADE architecture’s advanced driver technology reveals a lush and realistic sound that goes beyond conventional speakers.

[To read more of Aramis Hernandez’s thought leadership click here]

Similarly, DEVIALET’s new Phantom series speakers are one of the best brands in the market for producing a high-level precision sound with multilevel functionality and are designed with simple elegance, looking more like a sculpture of modern art than an audio component. On the other end of the audio video world, televisions and displays have more aptly adopted to progressive and modern designs. Offering tremendous innovations and advanced qualities, smart televisions by SEURA, which are framed as mirrors but with the touch of a screen, come alive as Smart Tablets. With WiFi capability, you can instantly check your email, update your calendar, post to social media, or read digital news right from your mirror. With hands-free voice activation and intuitive touch control options, you can synchronize your innovative Smart Mirror to access your home security system, control lighting and audio, and to serve as a Smart Technology hub for the entire home. And because they are fully-customizable, the Smart Mirror can be modified to accommodate your home’s design needs for size, color and motif. Ideally the consumer will experience a purposeful balance of functionality and design elements of the mirror with added capabilities that you never had before. Televisions no longer have to be a separate element that don’t blend with the rest of the home. Now, the home design takes on precedence but with new, innovative capabilities built into it.

Our goal is always to match the needs and wants of the client to the specified design. In doing so, we pledge our allegiance to our clients’ needs rather than to promoting a certain brand.

Online interactive art is a complimentary component that creates new function for televisions and displays. Delivered as a streaming service, this technology provides rotating art that is displayed on various screens. By incorporating many of the existing elements from other popular streaming services, the homeowner has the flexibility to create a “playlist” of their favorite style, artist or specific pieces and can manage how frequently they are rotated. Unlike previous iterations of this technology which required sophisticated and dedicated equipment, the true value of this technology is the ease of installation to existing displays and televisions. In contrast to hiding technology in various rooms, a new trend has emerged that requires larger and dedicated floor space in easily accessible and visible areas. Filled with lights, multi-colored wires, and black metallic finishes, technology equipment is easy on the eyes. Traditionally, audio video equipment would be locked away in closets and other hidden spaces. However, when properly designed, technology equipment and the housing racks provide a modern and fairly majestic look, as such, they also serve as a showpiece. The transition from their primary purpose of unifying all the wiring and electronics needed for the home’s audio, video, security and other functions, the rack is coming into its own in making a contribution to the home’s overall design. As the manufacturers transition their new products to achieve a more artistic look and design, the homeowner is in a good position to dictate what they want. With so many vendors competing for the consumer’s business, there’s a wide range of options to choose from in the color, design, or specification of your choice. High-end products typically offer full customization that fits any home and style.

[For more on INC Tech’s approach to IT click here]

If you are looking to upgrade your technology, now is the best time to do so. As the technology experts in creating seamless environments for the home, we typically work with the architects and designers on the front end to collect the necessary specifications, then deliver numerous solutions to fit their designs. Once a decision has been made on the technology to use, we can then install and deliver integration of those products to the home. Our goal is always to match the needs and wants of the client to the specified design. In doing so, we pledge our allegiance to our clients’ needs rather than to promoting a certain brand. With the new design-oriented technology, interior designers and homeowners can create a seamless look that flows throughout a home, with components that have a built-in appreciation for state-of-the-art design." ["post_title"]=> string(30) "Masquerading Technology as Art" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(98) "Invoke streamlined design and artistic elements to beautifully integrate technology into your home" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(78) "aramis-hernandez-consulting-brand-communication-masquerading-technology-as-art" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-06 11:21:04" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-06 18:21:04" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=29239" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [20]=> object(WP_Post)#5212 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(21657) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "146" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2016-06-29 12:04:54" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2016-06-29 19:04:54" ["post_content"]=> string(6764) "

This past June there was palpable excitement around the NBA championship between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. But in the marketing world, the big excitement and discussion was around the NBA’s board of governors approving a three-year pilot program for the 2017-18 season, which will allow teams to sell corporate logos. That means corporate brands will be able to place a small branded patch on the left shoulder of NBA uniforms. This new program is estimated to bring in between $100-$150 million dollars annually to a league that is already projected to make approximately $7 billion dollars in overall revenue for the 2017-2018 season. Consequently, next year we all can potentially look forward to seeing our shampoo, chip or beer brand of choice emblazoned on the jerseys of teams across the NBA. Is it good? Is it bad? That’s up for debate, but it shows the impact and influence marketing has on even the most historically untouchable avenues.

"Would you rather pay to play, or lose market share and have less dollars to spend as you spiral toward extinction?"

Every year individuals all over the country long for fun in the sun that only the summertime brings, but what some may not notice is the influx of marketing on various platforms featuring the coolest products, services, sports and entertainment, all fighting for the attention of the same audiences.

[To read more of Laurel Mintz’s thought leadership click here]

In 2015 the marketing industry spent approximately $600 billion worldwide. The United States alone spent approximately $180 billion. As we are not even halfway through the year yet, it’s reported that the advertising spend for 2016 is projected to reach the $200 billion dollar mark by year’s end. At this point the marketing industry is a living breathing entity that has exponentially exploded from the simple newspaper and billboard ads of our parents’ day, evolving into a ubiquitous daily experience. Consumers are marketed to on their mobile devices, online, television, video, radio, and print. Furthermore, with the sophisticated data mining that is now available, our online footprint is capable of being aggregated based on individual behavior so marketers now have the opportunity to potentially reach their target audience(s) when, where, and exactly how they like to be reached. And while that’s admittedly a little creepy, it works. Based on a comScore study, retargeted ads led to a 1046% increase in branded search and a 726% lift in site visitation after four weeks of retargeted ad exposure. Done correctly, retargeting ads, which follow users around the web, through apps and other channels, are highly effective, and have higher click-through and conversion rates. With so many avenues to reach your consumers and so much money being spent worldwide, it raises the question, are you missing the opportunity to be where your consumers are? Companies as a result are doing their brands a disservice by not allocating at least 10%-20% of their gross revenue to marketing. Yes, we know that you’re doing the math right now and that the numbers might make you a little sick to your stomach, but would you rather pay to play, or lose market share and have less dollars to spend as you spiral toward extinction?

I always say marketing is not rocket science, but make no mistake; there is a science to it. No one likes to be beat over the head, even when they do intend to purchase (think of the old adage of a car salesman) so one of the most effective facets of marketing is executing a seamless and timely strategy, that is so buttoned up and organically integrated into the daily lives of consumers that they don’t even feel like they are being targeted. Implementing a strategic marketing approach that aims at consumers with a mix of online and offline strategies to draw them to the brand through a variety of platforms (i.e., company website with strong conversion tactics, online advertisements with bold calls to action, newsletters, blogs, social media, and print) will cultivate the foundation of any brand. It’s important not to fall victim to the piecemeal style of marketing that only focuses on one of these areas and is quite frankly one of the simplest failure points for most brands. Depending on the competiveness of your market, providing multiple touch points for your consumers to act when they are ready will create brand awareness and capture their attention.

[For more on Elevate My Brand’s approach to Advertising click here]

Here are some slam-dunk tips to elevate your brand to reach your audience:

Define Your Target Market. An inexpensive solution to this is using online surveys to send to current, past, and potential consumers/clients asking what your company can do better. The results may surprise you.

Implement Engaging A/B Testing. Have you ever heard the phrase, “you don’t know, what you don’t know?” If you have really great ideas in reaching your market, performing tests is a great way to find out what works best and adjusting your strategy as needed.

Stay Up to Date . New technologies are emerging daily and are here to stay and only going to get more complex so embrace the new marketing age we are in. If your target prefers emails as opposed to phone calls, then start typing; furthermore if your target is on social media- you need to be as well.

Don’t Be a Copycat . Just because it worked for your best friend’s business doesn’t mean it will work for yours – make sure your messaging is streamlined for your industry and audience.

Have Fun With Your Marketing and Be Honest With Yourself!  You don’t need a focus group to know what your gut is telling you to fix. Sometimes the best way to find out what works is falling flat on your face.

The time is now. Don’t let this exciting and experiential time in the industry pass you by because your loss is another company’s bottom line gain.

Sources: ESPN, SB Nation, AdAge, Shopify

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The landscape of how business development is done is evolving. There is a culture shift happening globally for B2B, B2C, and even nonprofit organizations. The days of stuffy business suits, mahogany boardrooms, and strict employee rulebooks are becoming a thing of the past as more professionals are embracing non-traditional forms of growing their businesses, networking, and even onboarding talent. The meetings of today look more like a discussion at a local art festival, a museum meet-up, a working hike, or a chat over sushi. Over time, the line between play and business is becoming blurred and its positive impact is affecting internal teams and our bottom lines.

The saying goes, “people do business with people they know, like, and trust.” As a business owner, I have built many non-traditional relationships in unique ways. Whether sitting on a plane or in a fitness class, modern business owners are open to meeting people, building relationships, and doing business differently. One of the most creative, artistic, and distinctive ways that I have experienced this shift in business culture is through a curated art experience I attended at Hive.org’s Global Leaders Program.

"The days of stuffy business suits, mahogany boardrooms, and strict employee rulebooks are becoming a thing of the past as more professionals are embracing non-traditional forms of growing their businesses, networking, and even onboarding talent."

This program is aimed at providing leadership  and entrepreneurship training for extraordinary purpose-driven leaders, by showing us that there’s a better way to do business. The networking portion of this leadership program was produced by LATE NITE ART (LNA), a company that blends art, team building and schmoozing into one space in a blur of paint brushes, bright colors, butcher paper, and an assembly of beautifully connected strangers. The LNA team travels all over the country and organizes events that inspire individuals, groups, and teams to break through the creative and social walls that we build taller and stronger as we get older. The vast majority of the individuals I met at this event mixing play and business were in the C-Suite, and leaders in their respective communities – people who were decision makers in charge of cultivating their work environments, the deal makers, movers and shakers, and culture changers.

[To read more of Laurel Mintz’s thought leadership click here]

The beauty is that these type of artistic environments foster a vulnerability and honesty in building relationships that is much more challenging to find in a typical corporate setting. I would argue that it provides a more authentic insight into the type of business professional who might end up being your biggest client or partner. Sometimes doing business isn’t about the paycheck, but rather, it’s about the chemistry and long-term professional relationship and satisfaction that it yields. Although it may seem too woo woo guru for some, these opportunities to connect with professionals in lowpressure, creative environments can be powerful marketing tools. They are a chance not only to attract potential big money partnerships and clients, but also, to solicit the best pool of internal talent. The best employees of today look to join companies that have a unique balance of play, innovation, community activism, personal fulfillment, and business ferocity. For instance, Salesforce allows employees as many as 56 total paid hours for volunteering annually. The employees who take advantage of all 56 hours subsequently receive a $1,000 grant to be donated to a nonprofit of their choice. Companies like Salesforce know that offering philanthropic opportunities that excite the interests and passions of their employees is how smart companies build their most effective teams. Similarly, young companies like HubSpot, NetFlix, Quicken Loans, Google and Zappos are regulars on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies and Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work lists for actively and consistently acknowledging and integrating play with business activities. Even older companies like Aetna have embraced new age ideologies that speak to the hearts of their employees by introducing yoga and mindfulness training, raising wages, and improving health benefits. All of these examples lead to higher retention rates, morale, and ultimately lower turnover. It’s good for the people and the company’s bottom line, a part of the new win-win mentality.

"With nationwide unemployment below 6% and a constantly evolving workforce, employee satisfaction is a critical factor that a company must explore to be competitive in a market where incentives are expected, talent is limited, and poaching is common."

As Elevate My Brand has grown over the years with a variety of employees and personalities, it has become increasingly important for me as a CEO to implement a play and business model for managing my team, which includes yoga, working hikes, group lunches, massages, summer outings, and team-building games. We have even implemented a policy we took from the CEO of Vow to Be Chic and implemented a required coffee date for all new employees with all existing teams to foster relationships and connection within the company. With nationwide unemployment below 6% and a constantly evolving workforce, employee satisfaction is a critical factor that a company must explore to be competitive in a market where incentives are expected, talent is limited, and poaching is common. The same can be said for growing business relationships with non-traditional creative tactics, such as bonding over volunteer experiences or meeting at the opening of a museum exhibition to encourage a deeper and more fulfilling business and personal relationship.

It’s imperative as decision makers and industry leaders that we constantly anticipate changing business tides and become flexible to new ideas and opportunities for business growth, while supporting industry developments striving to create a new normal.

[For more on Elevate My Brand's approach to Advertising click here]

Sources: Forbes, Fortune, Recruiter Box Disclosure: LATE NITE ART (lateniteart.com)is a current client of  Elevate My Brand

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[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

Marketing with Purpose Leads to Cult-Like Success

Purpose is taking the stage as the heart of marketing, and with good reason! Finding and implementing brand purpose into your marketing has been shown to lead to incredible growth. Purpose is often conflated to mean a brand’s commitment to social responsibility, but it’s actually much simpler than that. A brand’s purpose is simply the consumer needs it fills and the qualities that drive consumers to choose that brand over its competitors. In the simplest of terms, it’s leading your marketing with purpose works because it makes people care. Consumers are inundated with options and choices. Businesses and employees need to be aware of their overall purpose in order to reach the highest levels of success. Purpose gets at the emotional side of someone versus objectively offering up the facts of a product. In a recent survey, 80 percent of companies stated that a collective purpose is linked to customer loyalty and 89 percent said that it helps employee satisfaction. Companies need to do a compelling job of convincing consumers, and if you can convince those consumers on an emotional level, you win.

Figure Out Why You Exist

Purpose reflects the merit, trustworthiness, and authenticity of a brand. All of those traits, in turn, speak to the brand’s potential for success. Trust and authenticity are two incredibly important traits to today’s consumer, with consumers becoming increasingly distrustful of ads and the brands behind them. Unifying a brand’s purpose with its message will inevitably help the brand create meaningful content and form an authentic connection with consumers.

The key to determining your brand’s purpose is figuring out your reason for existence.

The key to determining your brand’s purpose is figuring out your reason for existence. What is going to make a consumer pick you over your competitors? Is your company made up of individuals who support and embody that same purpose? Do your consumers know or care about your purpose and share that passion? One event that highlights the brands that have built an empire around their purpose is The Gathering. There, the focus is on “cult” companies, those that have an “above average brand attachment,” recognizing and rewarding brands that build amazing cultures. Many of the brands awarded during The Gathering have been around and relevant for at least a decade because of their ability to uniquely engage their audiences. If you want your brand to reach the same success, you must refine your craft and figure out what about your brand makes you special. What do you offer consumers that no other business does?

[For more on Hawke Media’s approach to Digital Agency click here]

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In recent years, ESG has become a popular topic of conversation in the corporate and investment worlds, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to deny the benefits of incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria into their business practices. Although previous beliefs posited that ESG considerations related only to societal and ethical issues, forward-thinking companies have discovered that ESG values also impact a company’s finances, reputation, and long-term growth. Furthermore, using ESG criteria is not only morally beneficial, it is also now a factor in institutional and high-net worth investors’ allocation decisions.

Universal ESG standards exist to evaluate companies’ operations. The first letter in the acronym, E, considers how a company interacts with the physical environment. The second stands for social, examining how a company manages relations with its employees, suppliers, customers, and their communities. Governance, the third letter, contemplates and reviews a company’s leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls, and shareholder rights.

[To read more of Charlie Ittner’s thought leadership click here]

Broadly speaking, investors have been putting more emphasis on identifying opportunities with firms that engage in sustainable practices and demonstrate conscientious ­behavior, both within their own walls and in the communities in which their investments have real, tangible impacts. Although there have been some mixed attitudes regarding the long-term impact of ESG standards in business practices, it is increasingly obvious that monitoring and policies around sustainability and corporate responsibility are no longer viewed as optional for businesses but should instead be regarded as a necessity.

Shifting Positions Around ESG

Data from the 2018 survey conducted by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing reveals that sustainable investing is gaining an increasing amount of value and recognition among businesses, investors, and institutional asset owners. The study shows that globally, more than $22.8 trillion is now sustainably invested, a sum that represents 25% of dollars under professional management.¹

The 2018 Morgan Stanley survey polled 118 public and corporate pensions, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth entities, insurance companies, and other large asset owners worldwide, gathering insights about trends, motivations, challenges, and implementation approaches in sustainable investing.

Data showed that approximately 84% of companies are now pursuing ESG integration in their business activities, while 60% have been doing so for the past four years. Numbers like these highlight the increasing popularity of corporate responsibility and conscientiousness, with increasingly more companies acknowledging the benefits of implementing ESG practices into everyday processes.

Although the survey responses do reveal a gap between interest and implementation, these results show vast improvement in the value businesses now place on ESG practices. Sustainable investing was previously perceived as a niche investment idea but now receives credit for having positive effects on factors such as risk avoidance and company growth.

Recent trends show that corporations are also becoming more transparent about their ESG practices. Practices such as annual ESG or corporate social responsibility reporting create an advantage for asset managers who are able to capitalize on current opportunities, such as using above-market ESG performance among portfolio holdings as a selling point to potential investors.

Since 2011, dedicated ESG disclosures in the corporate world have grown at an exponential rate. From 2011-2015, ESG reporting among S&P 500 companies increased by values of 20%, 53%, 72%, 75%, and 81%, respectively.² These figures testify to the fact that corporations face mounting pressures from ­institutional shareholders and the general public on ESG issues, such as corruption and environmental ­sustainability.

Data showed that approximately 84% of companies are now pursuing ESG integration in their business activities, while 60% have been doing so for the past four years.

The Newest, Most Valuable Player for Companies

Although ESG criteria is often considered to hold ethical or social responsibility values, it is becoming clear that companies with stronger employee relations and environmental sustainability practices often also demonstrate better financial performance in the long run.

A recent meta-analysis by the University of Oxford analyzed approximately 200 studies to assess how sustainable corporate practices have affected investment returns. The results showed that operational and stock price performance is positively influenced by good sustainability and ESG practices 80% of the time.³ Additionally, the Morgan Stanley report 3 revealed that consumer purchase trends favor products from businesses with socially conscious or sustainability inclinations. Approximately nine in 10 (87%) of U.S. consumers admit to purchasing a product because of a company’s stance on an issue they care about.

Despite this correlation between sustainable investing and financial performance, there is still progress to be made in changing perceptions regarding the value of implementing ESG into business practices. The 2018 study showed that 57% of investors surveyed still believe investing sustainably requires a financial trade-off of some sort, thus making this framework seem less desirable.⁴ Such beliefs are beginning to fade, however, as more and more business owners and investors recognize the unique insights ESG provides into long-term risks and opportunities.

A Top Pick for Investors

Progressive companies have realized that ESG can be made an asset if practices are made transparent. By integrating ESG standards, companies are able to establish a competitive advantage when seeking investment. Companies that incorporate ESG factors into their long-term strategic planning can communicate this to shareholders and give a more thorough picture of their company value.

By investing in companies with strong ESG principles, investors avoid the risk of suffering related losses. Examples of this are BP’s 2010 oil spill and Volkswagen’s 2015 emissions scandal, both of which negatively impacted the firms’ stock prices and resulted in billions of dollars in market capitalization declines. Instances such as these strongly suggest incorporating sustainable business practices not only helps improve long-term performance but also mitigates risk and positively shapes brand and reputation.

Sustainability in Action

As more companies begin to implement ESG frameworks into their practices, the overall investment process among global asset owners is becoming increasingly sophisticated. More than 80% of institutions integrating sustainability criteria now rely on request for proposal (RFP) processes and Investment Policy Statements to measure and ensure a company’s commitment to sustainability objectives.

When Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria are measured alongside financial analysis, the two methods of analysis can produce a clear picture of risk and return. This can prove to be beneficial to businesses, as ESG integration is often focused on identifying long-term risks and capturing opportunities arising from sustainability trends.

Another approach to ESG investing is thematic investment strategies. Used by 81% of survey respondents, these strategies involve investors choosing to allocate capital based on themes and sectors dedicated to specific ESG issues. For instance, the top thematic investment in the Morgan Stanley survey was climate change, with 44% respondents seeking to address these issues or to invest in companies already addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation.⁵

Moving Forward With ESG

The growing interest in ESG business practices reflects the view among companies and shareholders alike that integrating this set of criteria into investment processes can have positive benefits that extend beyond ethics and social responsibility. ESG integration seeks to not only effect positive change within communities and the environment but also serve as a strong foundation for the long-term financial success of an organization or company. Responsibility and profitability are no longer seen as incompatible concepts but in fact as wholly complementary, and we can no longer deny the benefits of adopting ESG-centered business practices.

[For more on Darien Group’s approach to Branding & Communication click here]

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Hi. My name is Michael Schaffer, and I’m an ad-techoholic.

Every week, I come across about 10 new advertising technologies that are going to “transform the face of marketing.” New platforms that peer into consumers’ minds and behaviors and phones and computers, and promise to use the power of AI or the cloud or “proprietary algorithms” or a troupe of well-trained chimpanzees to turn that data into sales for your brand.

Amazing!

And I want to believe the claims made by every single one. Ad tech is exciting. It’s cool. It’s shiny and new! At its best, it introduces your brand to new customers at the very moment they’re ready to make a decision about buying your product.

At its worst? It can be a colossal waste of money.

Lucky for me, I employ a team of very smart people whose job it is to use these platforms. And when I get excited about some new piece of advertising tech, I can email them about it. They’ll send me back responses like, “It’ll never work because XYZ …” or, “We already use ABC platform that does the same thing, better.” Or even (very occasionally), “Huh, that does look pretty cool. We should check it out.”

So, assuming you don’t employ a team of ad tech experts, how can you separate the brilliant from the bull**** when it comes to new ad tech?

The simple answer is ROI.

Understand your ROI on any platform, and you can effectively evaluate it against any other platform, or any other place you could be spending your advertising dollars.

[To read more of Mike Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

This is, of course, a big departure from traditional advertising. Back in the dark days of radio advertising, the success of many campaigns was evaluated on the condition of: “Did the client hear their own ad during their commute?” Television, print, and outdoor can come with the same problem. Even big, smart national brands have to deal with this today.

A while back, I was reading a case study on Old Spice’s brilliant “The man your man could smell like” commercials that launched in 2011. They were an unequivocal hit with consumers, and the big winner at that year’s advertising awards. But when a campaign manager got asked how much they bumped the needle in terms of actually selling body wash, his response was more or less, “We have no idea.” Sales rose around the campaign, but there was no way to confidently attribute that rise to the campaign, or to one of the several other traditional campaigns the company was running at the same time.

Digital ads should solve this problem. With digital, you should be able to track the source of every sale or lead. You should know the last action that a consumer took before they converted, and any digital advertising they encountered along the path to the sale.

Once you understand how much you’re spending to acquire customers on every platform, it’s easy to test any new ad tech that comes along. Just put the shiny new technology against your existing channels.

I say “should” because that’s certainly not always the case. In the past year, our agency has taken over several accounts that had the ability to calculate their ROI on digital, but either weren’t, or weren’t paying any attention to the numbers. In one case, we came in and found that a service provider was paying more than $1,000 per customer acquisition on Facebook – in an industry where each customer was spending less than $50 on their first visit.

In another case, we were asked to jump in on a campaign that had spent more than $100,000 in the last six months, and delivered less than 10 total conversions. Those 10 conversions were worth about $1,000 in total. In both cases, the companies knew something wasn’t working right, but until we calculated their ROI, they weren’t sure what was wrong.

So, the key thing that’ll help you separate the brilliant from the bull**** in ad tech is ROI. How much do you pay to acquire a customer from Google search ads? Display ads? Facebook ads? Instagram? What about sponsored content? And what about the fancy new ad platform you just heard about?

[For more on Echo Factory’s approach to Public Relations click here]

Once you understand how much you’re spending to acquire customers on every platform, it’s easy to test any new ad tech that comes along. Just put the shiny new technology against your existing channels. If the new ad technology demonstrates that you can spend less and sell more, it’s worth investing in. If not, you can thank your knowledge of your ROI for saving you time, frustration, and money.

Once you’re familiar with your ideal ROI, you can let the new ad technologies keep rolling in – all you have to do is pick the winner.

" ["post_title"]=> string(53) "Separating the Brilliant From the Bull**** in Ad Tech" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(86) "How I learned to value ROI when making purchasing decisions, even in the ad tech space" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(59) "mike-schaffer-marketing-digital-agency-echo-factory-ad-tech" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 10:48:59" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 17:48:59" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=26638" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [25]=> object(WP_Post)#5207 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(26691) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "254" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-01-02 10:02:54" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-01-02 18:02:54" ["post_content"]=> string(4089) "

If you haven’t experienced the technology of Augmented Reality (AR) yet, it’s only a matter of time. In the past few years, the conversations regarding both AR and Virtual Reality (VR) have become almost mainstream in the technology space. They are similar, yet very different.

With AR, virtual and real-life objects are seamlessly blended together in your existing environment with the use of a headset or other technology, like a smartphone. Used with a headset, VR places you in an environment created by the developer. In AR, you can see a dolphin swimming in a glass on the desk in front of you. In VR, you can be on a boat in the middle of the ocean watching dolphins swim around you.

Google’s controversial Glass project was the genesis of public awareness of AR, but it never took off for the mainstream. A pair of apps—Snapchat and Niantic’s Pokemon Go—truly brought AR to the forefront. Snapchat introduced filters allowing fun objects to be superimposed on a user’s face or in the user’s environment, while Pokemon Go took small characters like Pikachu and Charizard from the Gameboy into your backyard, and encouraged people to virtually capture them.

These were the first apps to truly use AR to reach a broad audience, but they will not be the last. These apps proved AR could be accepted by the masses and find space in our daily lives.

AR and Social Media

The relationship between AR and social media is evolving at a rapid pace. Since the inception of social media with apps like Instagram and Twitter, it has flipped the world of marketing upside down and grown exponentially. Nearly all companies, regardless of size, use social media today to promote their products and services to large audiences.

These were the first apps to truly use AR to reach a broad audience, but they will not be the last. These apps proved AR could be accepted by the masses and find space in our daily lives.

These social media apps have grown so large that they are able to develop and incorporate new technologies such as AR to keep their users engaged. As AR technology gets better, it will become so mainstream it will ultimately alter the way social media is utilized, especially for advertisers. Companies will be forced to use AR to market their products to stay competitive in their given industry, because it substantially differentiates them from companies using standard advertising.

The ability to make moving 3D models of products appear in the world of your targeted audience is significantly more impactful than the traditional 2D ad. Amazon is currently doing this by allowing users to virtually project products they may want to buy directly into their homes and offices to assist the purchasing decision. This new technology, which presents limitless potential to “wow” audiences, will only become stronger with time. With an already incredibly large user base, social media apps will compete to be the first to fully incorporate AR and AR advertising for their customers.

AR was a huge talking point at last month’s Facebook conference, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “We are going to make the camera the first augmented reality platform.” Facebook’s AR strategy will include its Camera Effects Platform, its AR Studio, and Frame Studio. Facebook has even recently announced an intention to integrate AR functionality into its popular Messenger app. Also, Snapchat has launched a desktop program, called Lens Studio, to let users design their very own AR filters.

The competition to define and dominate the AR space is heating up, as AR on social media begins to find itself. There is little doubt that AR will change our relationship with our social media apps and significantly alter the way we use our devices. 

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Let me tell you a secret from the marketing industry: “building awareness” is the absolute easiest assignment you could give an agency. That’s because when you ask an agency to build awareness of your brand or product, what you’re really saying is: “I just want you to get my message to people, and you’re not accountable for making those people do anything.”

Telling people something is easy. Getting people to do something is much harder.

For decades, the vast majority of sports marketing has revolved around awareness.

No one expects you to immediately go and buy printer paper because you went to a concert at Staples Center, or to buy a pack of razors because you watched the Patriots play at Gillette Stadium. Kia doesn’t expect you to rush out and buy a Sportage when you learn that they’re the official automotive partner of the NBA.

[To read more of Mike Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

There’s even some pretty strong evidence that this type of marketing doesn’t help a company’s bottom line. A paper from 2016 analyzed the financial performance of companies that sponsored top European soccer teams, and found that this type of sports “sponsorship is more charity than commercial investment.”

Despite this evidence, awareness marketing still has a big place in sports. But it’s not what’s driving growth in that industry. That growth is coming from sports sponsorships that can be tied to trackable results that have a direct, measurable impact on the advertiser’s bottom line.

In Moneyball, Jonah Hill’s character says, “Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players. Your goal should be to buy wins.” Replace “players” with “awareness,” and you’ve gotten to the crux of what’s driving the growth in sports marketing today.

Take, for example, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Instead of just paying for exposure, the beverage giant executed a carefully structured, incentive-laden contract that rewards the Timberwolves for delivering sales and fan interaction to AB InBev. Thanks to one clause, when the team made the postseason, that triggered a bonus that increased the value of the contract. Postseason games give InBev the opportunity to sell more beer to thirsty fans, and more direct exposure for their brand at the sold-out games.

The Timberwolves also had the opportunity to earn incentives for social media activities that promoted InBev, and for successfully expanding their market share in the region along with viewership numbers.

The hottest bidding wars of the year haven’t been for TV rights; they’ve been for streaming rights that give outlets the chance to accurately track viewership and interact with fans in new ways. 

At the end of the promotion, InBev will be able to take a close look at the campaign’s data and see a clear, data-driven ROI. That ability is something that’s all too frequently missing in sports sponsorships.

InBev isn’t alone. Visa uses events like the Olympics to introduce new payment technologies. Chase and Amex use sponsorships to provide their cardholders with exclusive access to premium experiences and early ticket-buying opportunities. The hottest bidding wars of the year haven’t been for TV rights; they’ve been for streaming rights that give outlets the chance to accurately track viewership and interact with fans in new ways.

Which is all to say that sports marketers are finally waking up to the gospel of results-­driven marketing, and data that can back up those ­results.

Whether you’re bidding for exclusive rights to be the official tube sock of the NFL, or pursuing a more modest advertising effort, here are three questions you should ask before you spend a single dollar on advertising.

1. How Will This Help My Bottom Line?

Any time you’re considering a new advertising effort, this is where you should start. Draw a clear line between the money you’ll be spending and how that will come back to you in improved revenue.

If that line takes too many detours, depends on too many “ifs” or just can’t make a clear connection, consider spending your money somewhere else.

2. What Data Will I Use to Track Results?

There are so many reasons why data is important to good campaigns. Not only does it let you know if, for example, your campaign actually works, but it also gives you the chance to make adjustments midstream that can sometimes help turn a campaign from a failure into a success.

3. How Will I Judge Success?

Before you start a campaign, know what the line is between success and failure, and the data it’s tied to. I’ve seen companies that are both thrilled when they should be disappointed and underwhelmed when they should be thrilled with a campaign’s results—all because they didn’t have a clear metric for success from the outset.

The truth is that building awareness is easy and often ineffective. To succeed, you need to stop spending your ad budget to buy awareness and start spending it to buy wins.

[For more on Echo Factory's approach to Digital Agency click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(72) "Sports Advertisers Are Demanding More Than Awareness, and You Should Too" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(55) "Definitive action trumps the noise of mere visibility " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(85) "sports-advertisers-are-demanding-more-than-awareness-and-you-should-too-mike-schaffer" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-12-20 11:34:30" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-12-20 19:34:30" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=28402" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [27]=> object(WP_Post)#5205 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(13945) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "101" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2014-09-26 11:03:46" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2014-09-26 18:03:46" ["post_content"]=> string(4020) "The days of direct mail to solicit donations are a thing of the past. Generation X and Generation Y, also known as the digital generation, are informed frequently through digital media.^1. This generation asks a lot more questions, wants to know where the money is going and most importantly, how it’s being used. Therefore, the way we talk to them, engage with them and ultimately, request donations from them is ever evolving and in order to stay in the fundraising game, we need to change our strategy as a whole. As opposed to previous generations, nearly 60% of Gen Y and half of Gen X agree that the ability to directly see the impact of their donation would have a significant bearing on their decision to give.¹ This stat tells us that online communication about their donation is absolutely imperative to retain them as donors. By telling stories through the use of photos and videos, the donor can feel the impact and will be more inclined to donate again or even better, become an advocate for the cause to their peers. Interestingly, donors cite the constant requests for donations and lack follow-up on where their funds went as the major reason why they stop supporting a cause.² In turn, the following three channels lead the pact for best communicating methods:

Email

Stay in touch with your donors, share messaging around the use of funds, share heartwarming stories about the positive impact their funds is having, and provide charity and company updates. The secondary message is to share the cause with their friends and family to solicit direct donations.

Social

Get your donors to become advocates for your cause. Social should be measured for engagement rather than direct link to dollars collected.¹ It is a human platform for building trust and transparency by creating social proof. The vast majority of donors say they do not mind being approached by friends (or friends’ kids) to support a charity.¹ There are various methods to have your support base become fundraisers and tap into their networks – creating personal fundraising pages, sharing informative videos, etc.

Website

A majority of respondents place a high value on the website dedicated to collecting donations. This hub should be transparent, informative, direct and easy to operate. Aside from collecting donations, it should also convey an emotion through photos and videos. One third of people say visiting the organization’s website is extremely or very important. Furthermore, donors typically use an organizations’ websites for transactions and not for staying connected.1 The crowdsourcing movement has taught us a lot about the digital generation and the way we respond to fundraising. Specifically, 17% of Gen Y donors say they have given to a crowdfunding campaign in the past, and 47% say they would consider doing so in the future.2 The success of these campaigns comes from the convenience to donate, access to information about the cause or product, and lastly donors turned advocates for the campaign. By feeling directly invested and participating in the future of the cause, fundraising is becoming interactive and almost tangible for the donor. The future of fundraising is really in the hands of the digital generation. The more we understand their behavior, the better chance we have to obtain and retain donors. Be transparent in the way you communicate and communicate often through online channels. By sharing stories through the photos and videos and make donating convenient, your chances to get repeat donations will increase. Lastly and most importantly, turn your donors into advocates and help them shape and share your message. This generation is hungry for information and even hungrier to share it with their peers. ¹American Giving ²The Chronicle of Philanthropy" ["post_title"]=> string(56) "Successful Online Fundraising for the Digital Generation" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(517) "The days of direct mail to solicit donations are a thing of the past. Generation X and Generation Y, also known as the digital generation, are informed frequently through digital media.1. This generation asks a lot more questions, wants to know where the money is going and most importantly, how it’s being used. Therefore, the way we talk to them, engage with them and ultimately, request donations from them is ever evolving and in order to stay in the fundraising game, we need to change our strategy as a whole." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(63) "matthew-zehner-successful-online-fundraising-digital-generation" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 14:58:52" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 21:58:52" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=13945" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [28]=> object(WP_Post)#5204 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(10359) ["post_author"]=> string(2) "72" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2014-01-03 09:00:51" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2014-01-03 17:00:51" ["post_content"]=> string(5186) "If you haven’t noticed, technology has not slowed down any since it started changing life as our ancestors knew it about 100 years ago with the invention of the car and telephone (now completely taken for granted as part of our lives and which have evolved a great deal on their own).  In my career, I’ve noticed small evolutions and giant revolutions – and I believe we’re in one of the latter right now. The first major cultural revolution since the 1960s on a global scale was the Web (not the Internet of DARPA days, but the 1991 creation of the Worldwide Web that gave people something to do other than email). The Web made possible e-commerce, which is now nearly 10 percent of global trade – and growing. It also made possible several of the most important companies in the world today: Amazon, eBay (which also owns PayPal), Netflix and, perhaps most of all, Google, which have remarkably disrupted the worlds of shopping, banking, television and advertising/media. I had that “omigod, this will change the world” moment when I first saw the Mosaic browser in 1993 (when you still had to download it from the university where it was developed by then-student Mark Andreessen and team), typed in www.louvre.fr, and were suddenly able to view those great artworks in interactive real time (well, 1993-style). The second major tech-driven cultural revolution of our lives was social media, and I had that same omigod moment in the fall of 2002 when I received an invitation from a friend I’d lost touch with during the dotcom crash to join a “social network” called Ryze (this preceded even Friendster – and like Friendster, it’s still around, albeit greatly changed).  Social media – and the nearly concurrent P2P software movement that shook the music industry with Napster and Kazaa – has now grown up and spawned several multi-billion companies in less than a decade, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. When social media met geolocation, the “interest graph” and mobile, a second wave of companies came of age, including Foursquare, Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram. In the past year (just in time for the technological earthquake that seems to happen every ten years), social media has merged with commerce and created a new wave of crowdfunding and peer-to-peer finance companies, as well as a completely revolutionary technology called cryptocurrency that has spawned the multi-billion-dollar phenomena called Bitcoin that is a stateless, user-generated (via algorithms), peer-to-peer form of money (I in fact became so interested in the field when I attended the first mainstream Bitcoin conference in San Jose earlier this year that I helped create the world’s first distributed angel network for investing in early-stage cryptocurrency companies, BitAngels (bitangels.co). Since then, we’ve grown to 300 members and funded more than a dozen early-stage companies. Factor this in with companies like LA-based real estate crowdfunding company Realty Mogul, which has allowed small investors to buy into shopping malls, office buildings, and even storage facilities, and Lending Club, which is letting individuals lend to other individuals all over the world based on their credit scores and use of funds, and we are looking at a major revolution that may do as much to change the way banks and stock markets work in ten years as Amazon did to brick and mortar retailers. The key element of technology, once it’s adapted, is that it layers one protocol upon another until the world-shaking becomes normal, and then it enables the next world-changing technology to develop on a solid base. Mainframe computers led to minicomputers, which led to the personal computer (which had many naysayers in the 1980s – why would the average person ever want a computer in his home?). The ubiquity of PCs and laptops led to the ubiquity of local area networks, which then provided a fertile laboratory for the rapid adoption of the Web. The Web’s searing popularity led to the demand for smarter, Web-connected phones, which eventually incorporated broadband speeds and geo-location. All of the above led to an even faster growth curve for social media (Facebook alone grew from less than 1 million to more than 100 million registered users in less than four years – and then to 1 billion in another four years). The market capitalization for Bitcoin as a currency/commodity has grown from $10,000 to more than $12 billion in less than four years, and yet it’s still a mysterious entity in the financial world, whose adoption thus far is at a level that’s less than 2004’s Facebook or 1994’s Web. I believe that 2014 will be the year that Bitcoin, crowdfunding (including crowdfunding with Bitcoin), crowd lending, crowd sourcing of everything from design to procurement, and many related parts of the democratization of money, wealth and power take hold in the global economy. And it will be social media, from the blogs that write about it and analyze it to the incredibly robust communities on Reddit that provides much of the reliable engine of this next wave of remarkable innovation." ["post_title"]=> string(30) "Technology Changes Everything" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(413) "If you haven’t noticed, technology has not slowed down any since it started changing life as our ancestors knew it about 100 years ago with the invention of the car and telephone (now completely taken for granted as part of our lives and which have evolved a great deal on their own). In my career, I’ve noticed small evolutions and giant revolutions – and I believe we’re in one of the latter right now." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(44) "michael-terpin-technology-changes-everything" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 15:05:35" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 22:05:35" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=10359" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [29]=> object(WP_Post)#5203 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(14964) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2015-01-01 01:00:19" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2015-01-01 09:00:19" ["post_content"]=> string(6445) "It has been announced that branding is dead, and perhaps has been for some time. Wired claimed it in 2004¹. Fast Company agreed to it in 2008². A bearded creative director confirmed it just this year³. Consultants preach it⁴. Commentators bemoan its loss⁵. One book even goes so far as to suggest that branding is not only dead, but also an art only fit for cows⁶. The apparent causes of its demise are many. Some attribute branding’s passing to a prolonged bout with transparency, often brought on by unprotected contact with social media. Others point to the more vague “digital age” as branding’s ultimate undoing, or SEO⁷, or packaging⁸ (as though packaging were somehow totally separate from branding), or even the supposed education of the consumer class. It’s that last one that I find particularly hard to stomach. You only need to spend two minutes reading YouTube comments to realize we consumers haven’t come too far.  But every consumer, even those commenting on YouTube, can recognize that branding is alive and well. When you look behind the “branding is dead” headlines, you usually find that what the author actually means is that the definition of branding has, or should be, expanded. But you and I both know we’re more likely to read an article titled “Branding Is Dead” than one titled “The Definition of Branding Has or Should Be Expanded Slightly.” We’re all suckers for a punchy headline.

Branding Is Bigger Than Ever

Branding has grown not just in definition, but in value. Interbrand, a branding agency that manages to maintain 33 offices in 27 countries despite the supposed death of its core offering, recently published its 2014 Best Global Brands report⁹. This report lists the “contribution of the brand to business results.” It’s the closest we can come to quantifying the value in dollars of a brand, and those values are staggering. Perennial branding favorite Apple’s brand is valued at $118B. Another textbook branding case study, Nike, comes in at a $19.9B brand valuation. If you mention the word “branding” in a classroom at ad school, Apple and Nike are the first two words likely to be shouted back at you, so nobody’s surprised that their brands are thought valuable. But there are also plenty of less recognized branding powers that made Interbrand’s list. Ever thought about the power of a brand to absorb bodily fluids? Pampers gets swaddled with a $14.1B brand value, while Kleenex comes in at $4.6B. Brands are also plenty capable of planting stuff in the ground and moving dirt around, as evidenced by John Deere’s $5.1B and Caterpillar’s $6.8B brand valuations. All told, Interbrand’s top 100 global brands this year account for more than $1.4 trillion, which is a lot of money. So much that it starts to lose its meaning. So let’s look at it another way. As the most valuable company in history, Apple currently has a $483B market cap. Interbrand estimates that its brand alone accounts for $118B. In essence, Apple’s brand accounts for about a quarter of the company’s value.

Sound Investment Advice

No one has ever accused me of being a financial wizard, but here’s some investment advice I’m confident standing behind: You’re probably not investing enough in your brand. Unless your name’s Tim Cook, you’re not at the helm of Apple, but your brand is probably worth more than you think. Or at least it could be. Branding is much more than just a logo and a tagline. Branding is anything that influences a customer’s perception of your company. And that’s a lot of things. When a customer emails your company, how long does it take to get a response? Is that response helpful? What does the response look like? What tone does it take? When a customer visits your website, how easy is it to find the information they’re looking for? Is your site pleasant to use? Does it look as good on their computer screen? Does it look good on their smartphone? When a customer reaches out to you on social media, do you respond? Do you have an active presence? Do you have something interesting to say on social media, or is it obvious you just have a profile because someone told you that you should? Branding isn’t magic. It’s just making sure that when your customers come in contact with your company, they like what they find. And chances are, you’re probably not investing enough in branding. If you do make that investment, I’ll bet that you’ll not only make your customers happier but also increase your company’s value. Not bad results from something that’s been the subject of more obituaries than I can count. 1 archive.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/brands.html 2 fastcompany.com/34263/branding-dead-long-live-sustainable-identity 3 thedieline.com/blog/2014/10/7/opinion-branding-is-dead-packaging-is-the-new-black 4 switchmodeconsulting.com/branding-is-dead-long-live-the-brand/ 5 forbes.com/sites/jmaureenhenderson/2014/11/11/personal-branding-is-dead-heres-why/ 6 amazon.com/Branding-Only-Works-Cattle-competitors/dp/B002U0KP9O 7 searchenginewatch.com/sew/news/2054223/branding-dead-long-live-seo 8 thedieline.com/blog/2014/10/7/opinion-branding-is-dead-packaging-is-the-new-black 9 bestglobalbrands.com/2014/ranking/" ["post_title"]=> string(33) "The Faux Resurrection of Branding" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(358) "It has been announced that branding is dead, and perhaps has been for some time. Wired claimed it in 2004. Fast Company agreed to it in 2008. A bearded creative director confirmed it just this year. Consultants preach it. Commentators bemoan its loss. One book even goes so far as to suggest that branding is not only dead, but also an art only fit for cows." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(43) "michael-schaffer-faux-resurrection-branding" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 13:07:48" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 20:07:48" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=14964" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [30]=> object(WP_Post)#5202 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(29087) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "254" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-10-24 16:46:34" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-10-24 23:46:34" ["post_content"]=> string(6131) "Social media is an incredible tool utilized to reach large audiences. In the past few years, it has become an integral component in digital marketing strategies for businesses. Social media can provide a succession of advantageous results in sales, leads, and branding. Additionally, it imparts a resourceful way to bring awareness to a cause and reach a relatively large number of people at a low cost. Most recently, many foundations and non-profit organizations have been using social media for these various reasons. By merging the massive influence that social media has on public communication with the humanitarian and globally poignant objectives of various foundations and nonprofits, the result is a powerful alliance of both reach and impact. For many organizations, getting their message out to as many people as possible is how they succeed in making a widespread difference. By inspiring awareness and receiving donations, they thrive on the essence of philanthropic giving.

[To read more of Jennifer Hurless’ thought leadership click here]

Intrinsically, social media and humankind are interrelated by the basis of the word “philanthropy.” The word itself translates to “the love of humanity,” otherwise the gratuitous devotion to advocating for the well-being of others. The worldwide community of people is the “social” component of the “social media,” whereas the “media” is the platforms that connect all people to share a collective responsibility in improving conditions for humanity. After a natural catastrophe occurs, a considerable number of people worldwide will learn about a non-profit organization due to the sweeping impact the event has globally. The recent hurricanes brought about a tremendous humanitarian effort and awareness for organizations such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and SPCA. As a result, people want to help and donate after hearing about the organizations from television or social media outlets. While this is an incredibly huge help to the organizations and the immediate cause, the objective should be to stay connected to these donors even when there isn’t a natural catastrophe. This can be achieved through social media. In traditional philanthropy, forming and cultivating donor relationships, gift giving, and gala events have been used to raise money for an organization. However, non-traditional philanthropy is steadily becoming a credible way of creating a unified community with passionate followers. This is possible because unlike traditional media such as newspaper or television, social media offers two way communication. Currently, there are more than 50 million small businesses using Facebook pages to connect with their customers. Four million of those businesses pay for social media advertising on Facebook. Platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and even Pinterest have all established beneficial results for targeting and reaching a like-minded community of people. As the use of social media multiplies, so does the influence that it has on philanthropic matters through various means including crowdfunding, marketing, and public relations for nonprofit organizations. Who remembers the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge”? This is a perfect example of how social media was used in philanthropy. It was a huge PR success raising awareness for ALS, as it covered a worldwide demographic while implementing crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is a donation-based funding whereby a large amount of donors contribute online instead of in person. Examples of crowdfunding platforms include GoFundMe, Kickstarter, IndieGogo, and more. This is still relatively new to the non-profit sector; however it’s expanding and changing every day. It’s important to note that just having a profile on social media itself will not inspire engagement or increase awareness. Having a methodical strategy that consists of effective two-way communication is essential. Furthermore, understanding the importance of delivering messages on social platforms in the right way while actively participating on them is how successful social media works. Social media bestows an opportunity for each person to make an impact in the world regarding what he or she cares about. The Internet is the foremost source widely used to connect people of all ages and backgrounds across the world. As recent history has demonstrated, daily Internet activity and usage has become a conventional practice due to more people gaining technological access. Consequently, people utilize this outlet to show support in the nonprofit sector. It has become not only an option but a necessity for all businesses and philanthropies, especially foundations, nonprofits, and campaigns, to be prevalent on social media. When it comes right down to it, it's all about getting the conversation started within a like-minded community. It is through the increased effort to create brand awareness and a stronger social media presence that allows non-profits to connect with both the current and next generation of givers—with just the click of a mouse.

[For more on Go Be Social Media’s approach to Social & Digital Media click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(30) "The Future of Giving Is Online" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(173) "Social media and Internet crowdfunding have become integral sources in raising funds for charitable causes in a new giving landscape. Donations are instant–and impressive." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(58) "marketing-digital-social-media-the-future-is-giving-online" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-12-19 16:41:13" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-12-20 00:41:13" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=29087" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [31]=> object(WP_Post)#5201 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(12615) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "101" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2014-06-18 11:24:15" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2014-06-18 18:24:15" ["post_content"]=> string(4595) "When we think about the evolution of advertising, we often remember the famous McDonald’s TV commercials, the Calvin Klein billboard in Times Square, Groupon newsletters, and most recently Facebook stories, to name a few. Believe it or not, advertising dates back to before 4000 B.C. in the form of Indian rock paintings and Papyrus advertising. Fast forward to the 20th Century or, as we now know it, the Mad Men era of advertising. Most modern forms of advertising took flight during this century including radio, print, outdoor, and even online. Marketing and advertising execs knew their channels and produced the best possible advertisements to support them. While everyone was worrying about Y2K, another shift occurred and it was time to re-think ad strategy as a whole. Over the past 10 years, online advertising has exploded with newsletters, search engine marketing, social media, and the need to be “mobile” and on-demand. Reportedly, social media advertising sales went up 76% YOY in 2013! What does this prove? Content is not only king, but the backbone and future of digital advertising. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter paved the way for content to be shared via newsfeeds. Then came Instagram and Vine, which simplified content into photos and video and became the first mobile only apps of their kind. This underscores the fact that, as a whole, we are moving in a mobile direction for the consumption of native content. However, advertisers are faced with a harsh reality when it comes to mobile: real estate is limited and content is proving to be a smart investment. Creating value for everyone Consumers have been trained to ignore traditional banner ads and, in turn, brands are becoming media companies in their own right. The integration of brands and publishers create more value for both parties. Publishers get contributed content, and, if the brands are aligned properly with the user base, it creates additional credibility for the publisher with brand integration.

1. Native/Sponsored Content: Users generally engage more with native/sponsored content. Brands, on the other hand, are bolstering their reputations with sponsored posts that are integrated with editorial content in hopes they will engage users and create value for them. That being said, it’s important to be clear and not trick the user. As sponsored content is a newer format, it is often difficult to measure the immediate impact. Like most marketing strategies, the brand/advertiser should define a clear set of goals they are looking to achieve, including social sharing, time on page, or traffic to their website amongst others.
2. Mobile: Users are shifting their patterns, and 30-50% of all traffic is now coming from mobile. According to Forbes, tablets and smartphones will account for 87% of connected device sales by 2017. As time spent on mobile content is usually quick and limited, advertisers need to shift their focus from mini banner ads toward quick experiences integrated with the content users are consuming. Responsive design trends allow for the creation of optimized experiences that adapt to the device the user is on.
3. Video: Video is becoming more accessible across mobile devices and users are often drawn to consuming video related advertisements that are engaging. This is evident by the large number of views for commercials online. Since video CPM rates are more valuable to advertisers than they are to publishers, it’s estimated that digital advertising will soon overtake TV advertising. Average video CPMs are going for $24.60. eMarketer predicts U.S. digital video ad spend, which totaled $4.18 billion in 2013, will grow to a staggering $12.27 billion in 2018.

Amplification The above methods are clearly more time intensive than designing a banner ad—but also have more value and bang for the buck when done right. It’s important to maximize the value versus time invested by leveraging other paid marketing vehicles to further promote and drive traffic. These include:

1. SEM: Paid promotion can be done through search engine marketing on Google and Bing and is a vital acquisition tool.
2. Email: Once users have been captured it’s important to integrate them into future efforts, whether opting into email or as a follower.
3. Social Media: The major benefit of buying ads on Facebook and Twitter is the targeting, testing, and reporting you’re able to achieve—at a nominal cost.

" ["post_title"]=> string(32) "The Future of Online Advertising" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(347) "When we think about the evolution of advertising, we often remember the famous McDonald’s TV commercials, the Calvin Klein billboard in Times Square, Groupon newsletters, and most recently Facebook stories, to name a few. Believe it or not, advertising dates back to before 4000 B.C. in the form of Indian rock paintings and Papyrus advertising." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(40) "matthew-zehner-future-online-advertising" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 15:01:12" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 22:01:12" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=12615" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [32]=> object(WP_Post)#5200 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(30519) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "328" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-05-08 14:48:20" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-08 21:48:20" ["post_content"]=> string(5894) "Smartphones are by far everybody’s most treasured personal item, however these devices cost us money. We pay to use them, we purchase them outright or through an instalment plan and we pay the monthly phone bill.  Hardly anyone ever considers that a smartphone can serve as a tool for making money. And that is where the growing industry of User-Generated Video (UGV) comes in. User-Generated Video are videos filmed and uploaded by consumers, and the impact they are having on news-gathering, entertainment programming and the production of reality series and documentaries is completely disruptive.  In fact, the burgeoning appeal of UGV among the news and entertainment communities has altered the role of consumers from passive audience to active content providers.  And at the heart of this massive global eyewitness video movement, is Newsflare, a company on a mission to bring trusted and compelling UGV to publishers, producers and broadcasters throughout the world.

[To read more of Jon's thought leadership click here]

Based in London and Los Angeles, Newsflare has played a key role in helping pioneer the development of the user-generated video industry. Launched in 2011, the company has perfected a robust interactive platform allowing videographers the opportunity to easily upload their videos, while providing content buyers around the world the opportunity to select from a diverse catalogue of over 150,000 videos.  Newsflare also distributes and licenses its vast content library directly to the company’s impressive roster of media partners that encompasses major websites, social media, advertising agencies, production companies, television news and entertainment broadcasters located throughout the world.  At the same time, Newsflare’s US office is responsible for establishing licensing deals with North American media outlets, as well as the creation of co-development projects with US and Canadian producers.    California plays a vital role to Newsflare because the state is home to major content production players such as Amazon and Netflix, along with the entertainment divisions of all the major national television networks. Highly advanced technology drives Newsflare’s online video marketplace, where custom verification and trust algorithms provide content buyers with absolute assurance as to the integrity and copyright of the videos they license from across  multiple categories.  The company’s state-of-the-art digital technology also powers the uploader experience, as aspiring Newsflare contributors simply download the company’s iPhone or Android app and begin recording and submitting videos.  Newsflare’s apps act like an agent, tracking sales and managing payments to their freelance video contributors.  Uploaders are paid half of the revenues generated by the licensing of their videos to Newsflare’s media clients, and in several cases this has translated into tens of thousands of dollars. Newsflare is at the forefront of the rapid change in the way that news, entertainment, reality and documentary programming is produced.  What may have taken several production crews to capture in the past can now be captured and uploaded by any of over 60,000 Newsflare videographers situated in more than 110 countries throughout the world.  Video content from natural disasters and sports events to political unrest is now being sourced by news organizations from Newsflare’s online marketplace, just as entertainment producers and social publishers turn to the company for its unparalleled array of humorous - and oftentimes outrageous – human interest, ‘viral’ videos. 

[To read more of Preeya's thought leadership click here]

The universal appeal of User Generated Video serves as another reason for the burgeoning rise in this relatively new content category as people everywhere can appreciate the dog who babysits a cat without having to consider the challenge of language barriers.  For both news and entertainment media clients, User-Generated Video also brings an unmatched familiarity and authenticity.  Moreover, publishers and broadcasters no longer have the bandwidth, budget or manpower to source or clear video features that have long served as a content staple.  The Newsflare platform automates this formerly labor-intensive task.  Newsflare has helped propel User Generated Video into a worldwide industry, building a global network that connects amateur videographers with top media licensees – and revolutionizing the way entertainment and news media source original content.  So when you’re ready to transform your smartphone into a revenue-generating video production tool, visit Newsflare at www.newsflare.com. Based in London, Jon Cornwell is CEO of Newsflare.  Preeya Naul, located in Newsflare’s Los Angeles office, serves as General Manager, US.

[For more on Newsflare's approach to Digital Agency click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(39) "The Global Rise of User-Generated Video" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(162) "Jon Cornwell & Preeya Naul explain how their company, Newsflare, is impacting the digital media & entertainment industry through their online video marketplace. " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(64) "jon-cornwell-preeya-naul-the-global-rise-of-user-generated-video" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-24 14:25:45" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-24 21:25:45" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=30519" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [33]=> object(WP_Post)#5199 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(31789) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "343" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-12-02 12:45:24" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-12-02 20:45:24" ["post_content"]=> string(10110) "Remember how the only available paid functionality on Facebook was a boosted post? Since 2007 paid ads have been part of Facebook, however, Fan Pages weren’t introduced by the social network until 2008. And then, in 2009, we were able to see the first form of advanced targeting by demographics and location. This was a huge breakthrough in terms of advertising on Facebook.  Understanding how Facebook Ads has progressed is important because it’s the only way to see how far they managed to revolutionize the hub. Since 2015 things started changing fast. Even if you were a marketer it was hard to catch up on all of the changes. One thing was for sure, things were changing for the better. Facebook introduced functionalities such as pixel, custom audiences, dynamic product list ads, and lead generation ads. And, they are continuing to expand and innovate on advertising, Facebook is launching new interactive mobile ads in the future. The biggest social network on the planet has also had the greatest influence on other social media companies too, such as Twitter and Pinterest, as they have been trying to play catch up to keep up. Both have introduced similar functionality to help many businesses to reach their target audience efficiently and effectively. Even Snapchat is now getting into the ads game. Even though it seems like we’ve finally caught up with the changes, there are some small things that not all marketers use frequently for better performance or are even aware of.

Here are a few things we can all use to improve our marketing efforts on Facebook.

  1. Creative Hub Many of us store all of our creatives on a local folder on our computer. We all do this because is the most efficient way to store and access things. However, files can get messy if we save everything in a local folder. Facebook Creative Hub is the perfect place to create and store all of your creatives and ads. On the Hub you can:

• Get inspiration from other brands
• Edit and manage mockups
• Check the quality of your ads and increase the chance of approval
• Learn about new ad formats
• Learn about new Instagram functionalities
• Get hold of mobile advertising
• Share all of your ideas with your teammates
• Preview and edit all of the ads in their natural environment
• Export everything, simple and with a single click of a button

The Creative Hub offers the most optimal working environment to prepare you’re A/B test campaigns and manage multiple clients as you will be able to see in real-time how everything will look like. The best part is the fact that you can get inspiration from other brands. Just find the get inspired button and analyze multiple successful ads activated by brands across the globe. Find the ones that are in the same industry or have a similar target audience as you and prepare your ad copy following their examples. 2. Audience Insights  Facebook Audience Insights will help you get the most out of data available for your target audience. Many companies use this functionality to learn more about the online behavior of their target audience. In some cases, you can use the available data to complete your persona questionnaire and ultimately redefine your marketing strategy. Just by entering a few parameters, you will be able to see:

1. The age span
2. Relationship status
3. Interests
4. Liked fan pages

You can use this information to:

• Optimize A/B tests
• Improve your overall cost per click and performance of Facebook ads

3. Lookalike audiences  Lookalike audiences can be created from Custom Audiences with data from your existing Facebook Pixel, your mobile app data, or from your Facebook Page. You can also do this from existing customer lists. Doing this, allows you to expand on your best-performing audience groups on Facebook.  Along with the above, you can also choose the size of the Lookalike Audience that can be smaller (to match your source audience more closely) or larger audiences (to increase your reach). Facebook recommends audiences between 1,000 to 50,000 people and the quality of the source matters.  You can create a lookalike audience from your remarketing target audience or the traffic on your website. By doing so, your targeting will be on point and you will be able to reach a completely new set of people that have the same characteristics as your website visitors. Using Lookalike Audiences, you can broaden the reach of your existing customers through an iterative process. For example, for many of our E-Commerce clients, we are constantly uploading or updating these audiences with full customer lists or creating customer lists that are top converters to match the ideal customer we are targeting.  4. Carousel Ads  Video has become the best way to promote your business and the most widely used format in advertising as of late. People engage more with visual content and Facebook encourages the usage of video everywhere.  However, don’t forget about using Carousel Ads. This interactive ad format gives you the opportunity to promote ten pictures or videos next to each other and all at once. Why this format is so good? Carousel Ads are amazing because they give you the freedom to be creative and tell a story about your brand, product, or experience throughout the carousel and lets you express your brand’s voice. This format also looks great in the news feed and people automatically engage more. You can create a really engaging ad with Carousel Ads in a very creative way that will attract your customers attention and get noticed. Facebook is creating an all-inclusive hub for marketing people to better manage, create, store, share and analyze ads. Making yourself aware and becoming more familiar with everything available to you will give you the best opportunity to create  ads on Facebook that convert at a higher rate. Overall, it’s important to stay on top of everything available to you and the trends that are upcoming so you can continue to engage audiences and convert customers. Facebook is attempting to keep you within the platform and never have a need to leave, thus making you a much more organized and efficient marketing team. " ["post_title"]=> string(63) "The History and Power of Facebook Ads All Marketers Should Know" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(82) "Here are a few things we can all use to improve our marketing efforts on Facebook." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(69) "tony-adam-history-and-power-of-facebook-ads-all-marketers-should-know" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-12-02 12:47:07" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-12-02 20:47:07" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=31789" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [34]=> object(WP_Post)#5198 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(26698) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "252" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-01-02 10:04:14" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-01-02 18:04:14" ["post_content"]=> string(6415) "

More than the technological leap required to achieve full integration in our day-to-day lives, the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) have captured our imagination for the future.

We have discussed our excitement for greater efficiency, faster turnarounds, more detailed, data-driven strategies, and bolder consumer relations systems. But, we must remember the coin has two sides. We have also discussed our fears for debilitating job losses, unqualified talent pools, countless looming uncertainties, and the disappearance of industries on which workers, families, and local economies are reliant.

Nonetheless, individual decisions will not stop technological progress and exploitation of its potential. Executives across industries recognize the great potential of artificial intelligence and are drawing the framework for the inevitable automated system integration.

The history of automation is riddled with sweet victories and sour defeats. No doubt, Amazon’s fully artificially intelligent convenience store, Amazon Go, has taken a long stride forward for AI’s integration into the consumer ecosystem. Amazon’s efforts to streamline the consumer experience, resembling that of online shopping, are blurring the lines between brick-and-mortar shopping and the digital marketplace, marking the first established attempt at offline automation. Yet for every Amazon Go situation, there is a counter situation, which can stray from functional to greatly dysfunctional in less than 24 hours. The point? Despite our constant failure, we keep trying.

While Amazon’s automated Go store technology is nearing its public opening, we must wonder how rapidly we will see an automated transition. In which industries are the effects of automation most likely to be felt? And what will our world look like should an automated system become the norm for consumer interaction?

We live in a digitally determined ecosystem. Our data represents our routines, and artificial intelligence is an aid to those routines, not the interference of them.

REPLACEMENT OF ROUTINE ACTION

What did you do when you woke up this morning? Check your email, the news, or the weather? What about yesterday? Or the day before? In the face of adding variety as the spice of life, we are creatures of habit—comfortable with routine and inherently resistant to change. The human tendency for status quo is constantly being challenged by the ambition of innovators.

When technology challenges the status quo, the bold embrace it while the wary resist. In the history of automated operations, sweet victories are undertaken by bold early adopters who are both conscious of potential failure and hungry for breakthrough success. In a survey by The Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review, executives across industries revealed their stance on AI integration currently in place and for the future.

Executives looking to use AI to extend the length and breadth of their firm’s operations regard efficiency and returns as the biggest questions when deciding if it’s a prudent investment. If artificial intelligence is capable of reducing human error in routine operations and producing output at higher speeds, why would that opportunity not be utilized?

According to the survey, a significant portion of respondents identified artificial intelligence as a strategic opportunity. The report’s data reveals: “Most respondents believe that AI will benefit their organization, such as through new business or reduced costs; 84% believe Al will allow their organization to obtain or sustain a competitive advantage. Three in four managers think AI will allow them to move into new businesses.”

Unfortunately, the same potential for expansion and diversification of business operations that excites managers and executives is offset by uncertainty at the employee level.

We take for granted where we exist on the human timeline. Education has largely remained static, only using new technologies for learning classic concepts. In this environment, how do we, as a society, move forward? The adoption of automated systems has expanded the corporate understanding of consumer behavior and progressed the training of new hires. The potential for expansion and diversification is a representation of our world moving forward. Nevertheless, analysts do not anticipate artificial intelligence taking a firm grasp on the consumer ecosystem for some time.

AI's Depth and path of adoption

Scholarly work on organizational theory and practice widely shows that corporate culture comes from the top down. In the BCG/MITS survey, clear paths to AI integration require distinct business cases in need of automated solutions and leaders in support of integrating artificially intelligent initiatives.

Corporate cultures that prioritize growing the potential for new hires talented in data collection, dissection, and recommendation are most likely to adopt AI capabilities to their operations. In the future, as the next wave of technological capabilities emerges, it will be these early adopters that grab hold of the opportunity, thus creating our future sweet victories. The advantage? Artificial intelligence is still in its infancy. We have not yet explored its vast potential across industries. Industry leaders in data collection and automation are rolling out their first attempts at automated integration. The barriers to adopting automated systems are shorter than they may appear.

We live in a digitally determined ecosystem. Our data represents our routines, and artificial intelligence is an aid to those routines, not the interference of them. Time will tell how the automation revolution will take shape, but being part of that movement makes today’s industry leaders the next great shapers of our society. If the true sign of intelligence is imagination, surely our capacity to harness our own technological inventions to progress our lives and match our vision for the world can happen.

" ["post_title"]=> string(55) "The Humanity of an Artificially Intelligent Marketplace" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(165) "Michael Abraham talks using Amazon Go – the AI-driven convenience store of the future – as the barometer for AI’s role in the marketplace and our daily lives " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(64) "michael-abraham-marketing-digital-agency-definity-ai-marketplace" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-22 16:53:34" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-22 23:53:34" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=26698" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [35]=> object(WP_Post)#5197 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(26705) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "253" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-01-03 12:50:21" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-01-03 20:50:21" ["post_content"]=> string(6411) "

More than the technological leap required to achieve full integration in our day-to-day lives, the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) have captured our imagination for the future.

We have discussed our excitement for greater efficiency, faster turnarounds, more detailed, data-driven strategies, and bolder consumer relations systems. But, we must remember the coin has two sides. We have also discussed our fears for debilitating job losses, unqualified talent pools, countless looming uncertainties, and the disappearance of industries on which workers, families, and local economies are reliant.

Nonetheless, individual decisions will not stop technological progress and exploitation of its potential. Executives across industries recognize the great potential of artificial intelligence and are drawing the framework for the inevitable automated system integration.

The history of automation is riddled with sweet victories and sour defeats. No doubt, Amazon’s fully artificially intelligent convenience store, Amazon Go, has taken a long stride forward for AI’s integration into the consumer ecosystem. Amazon’s efforts to streamline the consumer experience, resembling that of online shopping, are blurring the lines between brick-and-mortar shopping and the digital marketplace, marking the first established attempt at offline automation. Yet for every Amazon Go situation, there is a counter situation, which can stray from functional to greatly dysfunctional in less than 24 hours. The point? Despite our constant failure, we keep trying.

While Amazon’s automated Go store technology is nearing its public opening, we must wonder how rapidly we will see an automated transition. In which industries are the effects of automation most likely to be felt? And what will our world look like should an automated system become the norm for consumer interaction?

We live in a digitally determined ecosystem. Our data represents our routines, and artificial intelligence is an aid to those routines, not the interference of them.

Replacement of Routine Action

What did you do when you woke up this morning? Check your email, the news, or the weather? What about yesterday? Or the day before? In the face of adding variety as the spice of life, we are creatures of habit—comfortable with routine and inherently resistant to change. The human tendency for status quo is constantly being challenged by the ambition of innovators.

When technology challenges the status quo, the bold embrace it while the wary resist. In the history of automated operations, sweet victories are undertaken by bold early adopters who are both conscious of potential failure and hungry for breakthrough success. In a survey by The Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review, executives across industries revealed their stance on AI integration currently in place and for the future.

Executives looking to use AI to extend the length and breadth of their firm’s operations regard efficiency and returns as the biggest questions when deciding if it’s a prudent investment. If artificial intelligence is capable of reducing human error in routine operations and producing output at higher speeds, why would that opportunity not be utilized?

According to the survey, a significant portion of respondents identified artificial intelligence as a strategic opportunity. The report’s data reveals: “Most respondents believe that AI will benefit their organization, such as through new business or reduced costs; 84% believe Al will allow their organization to obtain or sustain a competitive advantage. Three in four managers think AI will allow them to move into new businesses.”

Unfortunately, the same potential for expansion and diversification of business operations that excites managers and executives is offset by uncertainty at the employee level.

We take for granted where we exist on the human timeline. Education has largely remained static, only using new technologies for learning classic concepts. In this environment, how do we, as a society, move forward? The adoption of automated systems has expanded the corporate understanding of consumer behavior and progressed the training of new hires. The potential for expansion and diversification is a representation of our world moving forward. Nevertheless, analysts do not anticipate artificial intelligence taking a firm grasp on the consumer ecosystem for some time.

AI’s Depth and Path of Adoption

Scholarly work on organizational theory and practice widely shows that corporate culture comes from the top down. In the BCG/MITS survey, clear paths to AI integration require distinct business cases in need of automated solutions and leaders in support of integrating artificially intelligent initiatives.

Corporate cultures that prioritize growing the potential for new hires talented in data collection, dissection, and recommendation are most likely to adopt AI capabilities to their operations. In the future, as the next wave of technological capabilities emerges, it will be these early adopters that grab hold of the opportunity, thus creating our future sweet victories. The advantage? Artificial intelligence is still in its infancy. We have not yet explored its vast potential across industries. Industry leaders in data collection and automation are rolling out their first attempts at automated integration. The barriers to adopting automated systems are shorter than they may appear.

We live in a digitally determined ecosystem. Our data represents our routines, and artificial intelligence is an aid to those routines, not the interference of them. Time will tell how the automation revolution will take shape, but being part of that movement makes today’s industry leaders the next great shapers of our society. If the true sign of intelligence is imagination, surely our capacity to harness our own technological inventions to progress our lives and match our vision for the world can happen.

" ["post_title"]=> string(55) "The Humanity of an Artificially Intelligent Marketplace" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(169) "Jeffrey Stewart discusses using Amazon Go – the AI-driven convenience store of the future – as the barometer for AI’s role in the marketplace and our daily lives " ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(64) "jeffrey-stewart-marketing-digital-agency-definity-ai-marketplace" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 10:47:03" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 17:47:03" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=26705" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [36]=> object(WP_Post)#5196 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(13450) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "115" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2011-06-26 12:25:29" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2011-06-26 19:25:29" ["post_content"]=> string(3867) "In the last few years we have watched the global economy in crisis, however, we have all witnessed the industry of social media explode into a multi-billion dollar empire! Why is social media so profitable and gaining steam more and more every day? The reason is simply that a Facebook page is not just for a college student anymore. Social media is a world within, a world with a faster growing population than Earth itself. To understand how vital it is to have the edge on any and all of your competition in the Social media space consider the following: The number of years it has taken to reach 50 million people on the radio (38), TV (13),  Internet (4), versus Facebook where your company can touch 100 million people in just 9 months and 200 million in 12. Is it just a fad or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? Some go further in saying it’s the largest fundamental shift in the way we communicate in history!

"Social media is a world within, a world with a faster growing population than Earth itself."

Now, Facebook alone has passed the 700-million-user mark, The Facebook Marketplace competes with Craigslist now and most users don’t even know about it. (facebook.com/marketplace) The crazy thing is that this is just the beginning. Adaptability in all forms of business is the number one trait all should practice. Is it any wonder that every, let me say that again, every major corporation in the world has a Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter account now? The reason is they know its power and know it works. More importantly, they know how to use it. Humans have embraced technology as it has evolved for the last 100 years. So why stop now? Did we stop writing letters decades ago and switch to the phone? Did we stop mailing documents when fax machines rolled out? Did we build websites when the Internet and email were launched? Did we go mobile when we didn’t need a hard-line? Of course we did; we had to adapt. Yet none of these can compete with the growth and global size of Social media. We no longer search for the news, the news finds us. Next time you’re on YouTube (which I’m sure will be in a few minutes), search a video titled “Still think Social media is a fad?” Okay, still on board? Well, here is the problem – so many business professionals think they are doing it correctly but not seeing the rewards. They have done what they were told, started a profile, have a few hundred friends or followers, and think it’s working by itself. Maybe they even went to a class, learned how to tag, and set their privacy settings, but that’s not social media. Remember, social media is the new way we communicate, the new way we network. Once I train people to understand this, their jaws drop. The idea that “If you build it, they will come” does not work in social media. You need to be a reason to add, follow, subscribe, etc. You need to think more like, “If you build it, you better go use it.”

"Remember, social media is the new way we communicate, the new way we network."

About 80% of my current business in real estate (whether local or international) has come to me by Social Media. I will give you an example. Let’s take Twitter, and let’s use my industry for this. But think any profession for what I’m about to say. I can search on Twitter “Thinking of buying a home in West LA,” and it will pull up any and all recent ‘tweets’ where people posted that. Need I say more? Let me guess, you’re already thinking about what you want to search for, aren’t you? Once business professionals take it seriously and learn the correct strategies to execute it in their business, they will, without question, see the rewards." ["post_title"]=> string(37) "The Overlooked Aspect of Social Media" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(78) "As Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin grow, so does their affect on your business" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(27) "tony-giordano-social-aspect" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 15:10:11" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-08-25 22:10:11" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=13450" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [37]=> object(WP_Post)#5195 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(30025) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "312" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-03-07 12:18:41" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-03-07 20:18:41" ["post_content"]=> string(5577) "

How Not Taking Time Off Can Cost Your Startup Millions

As the founder and CEO of PK4 Media, you can bet my plate stays pretty full. To support my talented team and sustain meaningful partnerships with our clients, I generally like to keep myself as available as possible amid the day-to-day requirements of running a successful company. But I also know the value of carving out time to disconnect, self-reflect, and recharge.   How many times a week—or even a month—do you power down your phone or tablet and walk away for a while from your inbox? And I don't mean so you can get in the zone to knock out an important work project or step into a meeting. Our culture lauds being plugged in and reachable at all times, no matter the cost. We celebrate the entrepreneur who answers emails or sends Slack messages at all hours of the night. But are we paying enough attention the importance of disconnecting, even briefly, from our work?

[To read more of Tom Alexander's thought leadership click here]

Many of my fellow entrepreneurs would argue that this type of behavior—to step away from the helm and be out of pocket for more than a few hours—is too costly for their businesses. In some high-stakes scenarios, there's concern that being unreachable for even a single day could potentially cost a company millions of dollars. I vehemently disagree. To me, failing to structure time to engage in this type of reflection has an even greater risk of costing the company money for myriad of reasons.  

By being intentional about taking time to disconnect, reflect, and recharge, I've been able to foster my creativity and come up with ideas that have helped me grow my company ten-fold. I've witnessed the same magic for many other bright minds in my community as well.

Failing to take necessary time to recharge can impact revenue in the form of lost opportunity, depleted energy, and diminished creativity. Those who don’t take time for themselves end up getting burned out. We talk about burnout as something that happens at the employee level, but the truth is it can occur just as often in founders and CEOs. Burnout does not discriminate. By being intentional about taking time to disconnect, reflect, and recharge, I've been able to foster my creativity and come up with ideas that have helped me grow my company ten-fold. I've witnessed the same magic for many other bright minds in my community as well. One of my favorite quotes is from Abraham Lincoln: "If I had just five minutes to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first two and a half sharpening my axe." This is a perfect aphorism to highlight the intrinsic value of building time into my schedule to disconnect. Honoring myself in this way evolved from values that were instilled in me when I was young. My father hailed from a poor village in India and worked his way up to the cover of Fortune magazine. As a result, both of my hardworking immigrant parents were sometimes tough on me to ensure I didn’t lose sight of the opportunities available here in the United States. For instance, they used to wake me up in the middle of the night to do math problems. I didn't always appreciate it at the time, but they were preparing me to give my all to my passions and interests as an entrepreneur. Here’s the thing: part of working hard, giving your all, and tuning in to the big picture means creating space in your mind for reflection. We're often resistant to pause for even a moment, to sit with ourselves, when this can be the very best thing to move us forward. This "Freedom Tour"—a brief respite from daily stressors—is a way to sharpen the axe, so to speak. This might look like a ten-minute guided meditation, a half-hour walk through the city, a long morning run, or a 24-hour period over the weekend when you habitually unplug.   For me, this is cherished time to dig deep, explore my thoughts fully and completely, and work all the way through ideas, experiences, and reflections that may be layered or complex. To be sure, this isn't always a breezy exercise. However, no matter where we might find ourselves on our life's journey, we owe it to ourselves to engage in this type of meaningful introspection toward self-betterment. It's important to step away from the hustle and turn our gaze inward, even for a few minutes each day, so we don't let a connection with ourselves slip away. After all, the cost of not doing this might be more than you can afford.

[For more on PK4 Media's approach to Advertising click here]

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In today’s world of online, fast-paced information sharing, the reputation of a company can be completely determined online. How often do you do something because you read about it online? How many times have you read restaurant reviews on Yelp or movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes? Have you ever looked up a doctor online before your appointment? People search all kinds of review sites before buying cars and appliances, going to restaurants, and seeking a medical professional.

Besides review sites, many people will ask their friends on Facebook or Twitter for advice or recommendations and will go to a restaurant because of an amazing Instagram food photo of the food. The opposite is also true. Bad reviews, bad photos, and bad social media posts can be permanently damaging to a company.

[To read more of Jennifer Hurless’ thought leadership click here] Understanding the depth and reach of social media as well as the impact it has on society is the first step to managing it effectively. It cannot be ignored because people are talking whether you like it or not. Large companies have dedicated teams who manage their social media 24/7 to diffuse potential negative situations before they can become viral. They also respond to positive reviews and comments.

In the past, companies and celebrities had publicists. That role has become so much more. Your publicist, spokesperson, advertising agency, and marketing department all need to be in sync with what to do in a negative situation. Before social media, the saying was “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Today, with social media, there’s still no such thing as bad publicity - until the bad publicity takes on a life of its own on social media. A good example is the most recent United Airlines fiasco. If there wasn’t social media, that situation may have been a story on the evening news. But because of social media, United Airlines was a trending topic for over a week, giving everyone an opportunity to vent their frustration with the airline and talk about their bad experience.

Previously, when people felt the need to vent, it would be to a family member or co-worker.  Now it’s to their “follower base” which could be hundreds or even thousands of people. In the United Airlines situation, everyone just needed to add the #UnitedAirlines hashtag to offer their opinion or comments on the situation and everyone could see it. It is too soon to see the negative impact it will have on the airline, but if you’re given the choice to fly that airline or another, which one would you choose? This is where reputation management comes into play. The actions and how they are rolled out online from the marketing, publicity, and executives at United Airlines will determine where this situation will go.

"Today, with social media, there’s still no such thing as bad publicity - until the bad publicity takes on a life of its own on social media."

Social media does not only impact large companies like United Airlines. Ask a small restaurant owner their opinion on Yelp or one of the other review sites. If not managed properly, it can destroy a small business. Of people who have a bad customer service experience, 80% want to tell people about it, and 75% of those people will talk about it online starting with review sites. On the other hand, only 20% of people who have a good experience will actually post about it online.

How should reputation management be handled? The objective of anyone working on reputation management, whether it’s an in-house team or outsourced company, should be to respond to and reduce the frequency of negative reviews and comments while promoting and publicizing the positive ones. If someone can respond to a negative review within two hours or less, it can usually contain the situation and sometimes even turn a complainer into a regular consumer. Having a response by someone other than the owner or manager is always best because they come from an outside perspective and don’t take criticism personally. Also, there may be some validity to the complaint. It’s always important to acknowledge that someone took the time to write it, listen, and potentially validate what they said.

Nike, Southwest, and Taco Bell are just a few of the larger brands that are doing reputation management right. They quickly respond to both positive and negative comments and even answer questions from customers when they can. Some large hotel chains have even created a specific customer service Twitter account separate from their main account to handle customer service issues. Social media is all about engagement and being social; therefore, responses to comments, praises, and concerns are vital to the reputation of the businesses.

[For more on Go Be Social Media's approach to Social & Digital Media click here]

The bottom line is that people want to be heard, give their opinions, and talk about experiences. When they do, a business should be ready to respond. People will be more forgiving, come back, and spend more money when they get stellar customer service.

" ["post_title"]=> string(63) "The Relationship Between Reputation Management and Social Media" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(106) "Learning from the United Airlines fiasco to ensure the same doesn't happen to your brand and your business" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(63) "jennifer-hurless-marketing-social-media-reputation-social-media" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 12:23:09" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 19:23:09" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=24861" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [39]=> object(WP_Post)#5193 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(15689) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2015-03-26 10:16:39" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2015-03-26 17:16:39" ["post_content"]=> string(4884) "Bringing in a CFO to “clean up the books” before acquisition is a common process. Even if the books aren’t particularly dirty to begin with, a good CFO has the ability to help cast the company in the best possible financial light to potential investors. The fact that CFOs can make or break an acquisition isn’t news¹, and any CEO worth their salt would recognize their importance in the process. What many worthwhile CEOs might miss is the fact that good branding can be equally important in an acquisition. In marketing, “customer perceived value”² is a common term. It refers to the benefit the customer expects from the product. This perception can be strongly influenced by branding. On this level, acquisitions are really no different than any other purchase. The company being acquired is the product, and the company doing the acquiring is the customer. Even the best product can use the benefit of good branding to increase its perceived value.

[To read more of Michael Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

The Branding Gap

I’ve worked with many companies that had a significant gap between their actual value and the value their branding suggests. I’ve seen $20 million companies that look like $1 million companies because of outdated, amateur or non-existent branding. I’ve seen $1 million companies come off convincingly like $10 million companies because they invested intelligently in their branding.

What It Looks Like

I’ve been through the process of helping companies clean up their branding before acquisitions several times. Every company is unique, but the broad outlines tend to look the same. The process starts with a company that’s successful, but for any number of good reasons has branding which doesn’t reflect or amplify that success. Maybe branding was ignored because growth was happening without it. Maybe other areas of the business had more pressing needs for investment, or (more often than you’d expect) branding was neglected simply because no one ever really got around to focusing on it. Sometimes, the company has a target goal for acquisition. They want to get bought within a year, two years, four years. Other times they’re not sure what that timeline will look like or even if acquisition is the path they want to pursue, but they want to make sure they still look good to potential acquirers. Regardless, the process is the same. We start by developing a strategy. Something that addresses their biggest branding deficiencies, and will make the biggest impact to their potential customers, who are the companies that might acquire them. The specifics often depend on the industry. In B2B, we frequently focus on improved product support materials, a bigger presence at industry events and an overall brand refresh. In B2C it’s more likely to be direct consumer outreach, merchandising and carefully targeted media campaigns. Once we’ve settled on the most effective strategy, we work with the company to implement that plan over the course of their target acquisition timeline.

The Results

Branding is no different than any other investment. In the end, it all comes down to ROI. The challenge is that with branding, ROI can be difficult to compute. In an acquisition, how much precisely is the purchase price affected by branding? It’s hard to say. What I can confidently say is that branding can contribute enormously. We worked with one company that spent less than $400,000 on branding and marketing over the course of 4 years. At the beginning of that company’s branding campaign, they were valued at close to $5 million. When they were acquired 4 years later, it was for close to $25 million. Of course we can’t attribute a company’s entire increase in valuation to branding. In this particular example, the company’s CEO estimated that branding accounted for somewhere between $5 million and $15 million of that increase. That’s somewhere between a 12x and 37x return on investment, simply from helping to increase the perceived value of the company.

[For more on Echo Factory approach to Marketing click here]

Hire More Than a CFO

If you’re thinking about an acquisition, by all means bring in a CFO to clean up the books and make sure that potential investors will be impressed with your financials. But don’t stop there. If your books look great but your branding doesn’t, you’re going to leave a lot of value on the table. ¹ http://fusefinancialpartners.com/cfo-role-mergers-and-acquisitions/ ² http://smallbusiness.chron.com/customer-perceived-value-23692.html" ["post_title"]=> string(48) "Thinking About Acquisition? Think About Branding" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(516) "Bringing in a CFO to “clean up the books” before acquisition is a common process. Even if the books aren’t particularly dirty to begin with, a good CFO has the ability to help cast the company in the best possible financial light to potential investors. The fact that CFOs can make or break an acquisition isn’t news1, and any CEO worth their salt would recognize their importance in the process. What many worthwhile CEOs might miss is the fact that good branding can be equally important in an acquisition." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(37) "michael-schaffer-acquisition-branding" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-10-30 21:22:33" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-10-31 04:22:33" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=15689" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [40]=> object(WP_Post)#5192 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(24152) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2017-04-04 10:02:22" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-04-04 17:02:22" ["post_content"]=> string(6862) "

Stay ahead of the message. Ever hear that one before? How about this one: Time is money.

Watch just about any political drama, and you’re likely to hear that first line delivered at least once by some fast-walking, cell phone-wielding spin doctor. Watch any corporate business drama, and you’ll probably hear the second spouted off at least 50 times by some unnaturally tan executive on the ninth hole as he dresses down the latest in a string of incompetent yes men.

These statements are so well known that they long ago crossed over from the kingdom of sound business advice to the camp of overused, worn-out truisms. And yet, at least once a quarter, we see some enormous, multi-national, multi-million dollar corporation caught up in a PR nightmare, which they likely knew was coming but for which they failed to prepare. This lack of preparation makes for hastily written public statements based on rushed crisis management decisions, which very often end up taking the problem from bad to worse. Because of this, even more time (and money) need to be invested in cleaning up the cleanup.

Mangling the Message

Just in recent memory, we’ve seen botched PR take problems from really terrible to total disaster for companies, including Wells Fargo (fake bank accounts), Chipotle (E. coli), and Volkswagen (emissions). And that’s just business. Head on over to the public sector (ahem, White House, ahem), and one sloppy mop job after another is causing epic-level PR fails – no matter what side of the aisle you’re on. That’s a true fact. The bottom line is that it pays to be prepared, and public opinion is important – especially as your brand grows. A bad rap can tank sales, get you fired, bankrupt your business, and/or make you look really, really less than smart.

I’m not saying that these companies didn’t deserve the truckload of criticism poured all over them—there was some allegedly very shady stuff going on. But let’s be real here: Who puts in that kind of sustained Machiavellian effort and never plans for the possibility of having to do some explaining when the whistleblower comes a callin’? Sorry, but a real super villain would be better prepared.

[To read more of Michael Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

But lack of solid preparation in the PR and marketing departments isn’t just an issue for companies dealing with worst-case scenarios or scandals. In fact, many businesses getting an A+ in the ethics department get a rock-solid F when it comes to promoting a new listing, bragging about a new star hire or celebrating a mega sale. This is because every time something (predictably) great happens, the marketing and PR departments treat the event like a one-off. This leads to a cycle of chasing the message and wasting untold amounts of time and money reinventing the wheel (over and over again).

Knowing the Triggers

We’ve seen it, we’ve studied it and we think it’s high time we do something about it. How, you ask? With the implementation of a little something I like to call Trigger Systems. Trigger Systems are plans that prepare your company for both best- and worst-case scenarios, as well as the regular occurrences that could and likely will happen either once or on a regular basis.

"The bottom line is that it pays to be prepared, and public opinion is important – especially as your brand grows. A bad rap can tank sales, get you fired, bankrupt your business, and/or make you look really, really less than smart."

When something important happens in your business, a Trigger System supports that thing with a group of marketing activities. These systems take on two forms—proactive and reactive. Trigger Systems are pre-strategized plans and timelines that the marketing department can reference for guidance over and over again (or just once, and hopefully never, in the event of a crisis). These Trigger Systems are written out and saved to a general folder where any new marketing hire can access them and use them to take the necessary steps of promoting a message—an instruction manual, if you will, for how to deal with common and potential PR events.

For example, you are a major real estate property management company who has just taken on the “greening” of your major assets. You have seven properties undergoing sustainability improvements, including high-efficiency lighting retrofits in all offices, electric vehicle charging stations in the parking garages, and low-flow water features in the bathrooms. It’s going to save your company money, and it’s going to make you look really good in the press. If everything goes to plan, each month for the next seven months will mark a completion date for one of your seven buildings. That’s seven months of killer PR—if you don’t blow it by being unprepared and missing your window.

A Trigger System is the plan of action for making sure each new sustainable building gets its day in the sun and for ensuring that each piece of marketing supports and builds upon all other marketing. The system would include timelines for the publication of press releases, blog posts, social media promotions, e-blasts, website updates and featured project one sheets. A Trigger System puts your monthly announcements on a repeatable schedule that you plan once and then implement time and again. But the Trigger System does not stop there. Let’s say your corporation has a lengthy press release approval process—and so does the business partner you mentioned in said release. A Trigger System accounts for expected delays and countless rounds of revisions to ensure all the necessary marketing materials are created and approved before the announcement date.

[For more on Echo Factory’s approach to Advertising click here]

Sounds really basic, you say? It is. But take a look at your own business and at the businesses around you. How many actually have a solid PR plan, and how many are winging it? We’d venture to guess winging it beats out planning all day long. Which means that developing some solid Trigger Systems could give you the major competitive advantage of staying ahead of the message and controlling the narrative. And you heard it here first: Doing it right the first time typically saves time, and, if we all know one thing for certain by now, time is money.

" ["post_title"]=> string(15) "Trigger Systems" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(87) "Taking steps to ensure the words "Public Relations" and "Nightmare" never come together" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(54) "michael-schaffer-marketing-advertising-trigger-systems" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 13:46:34" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 20:46:34" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(30) "http://138.68.244.158/?p=24152" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [41]=> object(WP_Post)#5191 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(30165) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "312" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-04-18 13:43:14" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-04-18 20:43:14" ["post_content"]=> string(4260) "A birthday sets the annual mark for time passing, and it’s the best and most personal time to evaluate where we are. All too often we become caught up in the festivities planned by friends, family, and co-workers, and forget about the most important person of the day: me! I recently posted an article about disconnecting, something my friends and I have termed the “Freedom Tour.” Of all the ways to disconnect throughout the year, my annual “walkabout” is my favorite. I treat my walk about like a New Year’s resolution, except I take this journey once a year on my birthday. I have traditionally set my birthday travel schedule to cover a full 24 hours where no one knows which city I am in. I disappear, taking only my notebook, turn my phone to do not disturb, and wander around whichever city I happen to be in. It’s important to take a full day to reflect on where I am in life, what goals I set for myself the previous year, and what new goals I should be striving for in the next 12 months.

[To read more of Tom Alexander’s thought leadership click here]

I break my future goals down into categories that are important to me: -Personal: Is this the year I finally learn fencing, piano, or that new language? -Professional: Should I start a new company? Develop a new strategy for my primary business? How do I coordinate a better strategy for the businesses I’m involved with? -Financial: How much should I save for a down payment or how much to donate to a charity? -Health: Get in for that dental checkup; get my blood pressure checked; donate blood; donate plasma. -Travel: Where would I like to travel in the next year and how can I plan for that? -Research: What macro-level topics am I interested in, such as politics or a specific industry’s model? During my first walkabout, I was 27, living in Los Angeles, and was about to finish the third acquisition of my career. I had no idea what my future was going to look like. Where would I go once the acquisition was completed? Would I continue on with the parent company? Would I move back to Silicon Valley, take time off work, or maybe self-fund my own business finally? It was during this day of reflection that I decided to start PK4 Media. I looked at how I would approach the market, how I would build my team, and then determined whether I had enough funds to bootstrap a company myself. That was 10 years ago, and each year my planning process grows. My written journal has transformed into a handy Excel spreadsheet to catalog my goals and thoughts. I’ve updated this to include a specific Trello board that I have integrated into my daily life. More than just having this structure to organize my thoughts for what I want for the upcoming year, on my walkabout I grant myself freedom that I usually am too rigid to allow. I allow myself to think profoundly and give my thoughts permission to run to completion. I let myself think about anything that comes up, and it typically forces me to think about the tough situations we all endure. Time is a limited commodity. Think about it, how often do you get distracted in a day and pulled away from what you were initially thinking or doing? Allowing your mind to run through a complete thought and evaluation can be scary, but it helps you understand those places where you are lacking and need to really devote time to become better. This type of strategic planning is not just for my business, but my life as a whole. My annual walkabout has helped me understand who I am, who I want to be, and how I fit into all of this. I evaluate how well I’m doing as a son, uncle, nephew, friend, sibling, business partner, advisor, CEO, board member, etc. This is another part of the ongoing freedom tour in my life: stepping away from the daily stress and understanding the bigger picture of where I want my life to go. It helped me realize I wanted to be an entrepreneur.

[For more on PK4 Media’s approach to Advertising click here]

 " ["post_title"]=> string(10) "Walk About" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(167) "Tom Alexander, Founder & CEO of PK4 Media, continues his Freedom Tour series with his new "Walk About" article, sharing what he did to become a successful entrepeneur." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(46) "marketing-tom-alexander-walk-about-freeom-tour" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 13:46:40" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 20:46:40" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(24) "https://csq.com/?p=30165" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [42]=> object(WP_Post)#5190 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(17801) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2015-08-04 09:57:58" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2015-08-04 16:57:58" ["post_content"]=> string(5591) "When Lumber Liquidators stock (NYSE:LL) plunged 60 percent in late February of this year, it wasn’t because of a Bloomberg or Wall Street Journal investigation. It was because 25-year-old UCLA dropout-turned-investor Xuhua Zhou had a suspicion that the company’s CARB compliant products weren’t actually CARB compliant. He paid for an independent lab to confirm that suspicion, and published his findings on a blog, Seeking Alpha. Zhou’s research and blog post eventually spurned lawsuits and mainstream media coverage that led to Lumber Liquidator’s losing over $1B in market cap over about two weeks in late February and early March. This may seem like a lucky (or unlucky, depending on your position on NYSE: LL) strike by one person, but it’s much more than that. It’s a structured, repeatable method of media outreach that many company’s PR and IR departments could learn from. The state of the news is, from some perspectives, dire. The Washington Post’s newsroom staff is down about 40 percent from its heyday, the Los Angeles Times is down about 60 percent, and USA Today (perhaps buoyed by its presence in hotel-room doorways everywhere) is down by more than 30 percent.1 Across the country since 2000, newsroom employees are down about 35 percent.

[To read more of Michael Schaffer’s thought leadership click here]

Of course, many would argue that this is simply the death of the traditional media behemoth at the hands of “new media.” Where each old-media journalist falls, ten bloggers and “citizen journalists” rise in their place. Today, combined the Huffington Post and Buzzfeed newsrooms employ more staff than either the Los Angeles Times or Washington Post. But we’re not here to bemoan the loss of traditional media or praise the rise of new media. While Edward R. Murrow rolls over in his grave, we’re here to talk about how you can use what’s happening in the media to your advantage. Today, the common thread between newsrooms at traditional papers and swanky “collaborative spaces” at venture-capital funded media startups is that they’re all expected to do more with less. Perhaps ten years ago, writing a press release and sending it out on the wire was a valid public relations strategy. Perhaps. But it certainly isn’t now. In 2013, just three of the country’s top PR distribution services sent out about 642,000 press releases. That’s more than 1,700 every day. No journalist or blogger has the time to sift through 1,700 press releases. Even if they do somehow manage to find a nugget or two that they’d like to cover amidst the deluge of irrelevance, they don’t have the resources to do research, conduct interviews, create graphics, and produce materials. So what are they doing? They’re skipping the wire and finding stories in new places. They’re relying on other people to do the hard work of research and content creation for them, then packaging that content in new ways. They’re finding things like Zhou’s Lumber Liquidators lab tests and building stories around them. So how can your corporate newsroom or investor relations department benefit from this? By becoming creators of content that goes far beyond the typical press release, and is distributed in the media that bloggers and journalists use every day. A press release is a good start at driving the media’s conversation on your company, but it’s only the beginning. To take control, you need to supplement that press release with content that makes it easy and appealing to cover your story. Take the financial data from your latest press release and repackage it as an infographic. Nobody likes reading financial press releases, but everyone likes infographics. Put together quotes from officials at your company, repackage pieces of the infographic as standalone images and graphs. Bring in a photographer to take good, relevant photos and make them available for editorial use. Maybe even run a survey, do some testing, and write up the results.

[For more on Echo Factory’s approach to Public Relations click here]

Then, distribute it. Sure, start with the wire but don’t stop there. Identify individual journalists and bloggers that have either covered your company or industry before. Contact them personally (and I mean actually personally, not with a mass email where you insert their first name) with a pitch that makes it clear you’ve done your homework, and are ready to make their job easier. Use your company’s social media accounts, and the social media accounts of your officers to distribute bite-sized pieces of content (those quotes, photos, graphs and illustrations you made earlier) through Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. Do it right, and journalists and bloggers will thank you. You’ve provided content that makes it easy for them to cover your company. And while you can’t always control the conversation, you can start it and push it in a direction that portrays your company in as positive a light as possible. 1 capitalnewyork.com 2  journalism.org 3 prdaily.com" ["post_title"]=> string(60) "Want to Control the Conversation? Make It Easy for the Media" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(58) "michael-schaffer-want-control-conversation-make-easy-media" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2018-10-30 21:22:25" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-10-31 04:22:25" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(45) "http://baconparty.net/csq.wp.staging/?p=17801" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [43]=> object(WP_Post)#5189 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(31423) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "343" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-10-23 16:57:08" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-10-23 23:57:08" ["post_content"]=> string(10040) "For the first time in Google history, Google announced a broad core algorithm update. They released the update at the beginning of June and concurrently, Google also released what they dubbed the diversity update. The diversity update was separate from the broad core algorithm update, which was designed to limit multiple results from the same domain unless it made the most sense for the query. Due to the update, sites across multiple niches noticed major dips in organic search visibility. If you’re relying on organic traffic to keep your business running, it’s important to take steps to future proof your SEO strategy to withstand changes to the algorithm, like the broad core algorithm update and others you might see in the future.

Google Has a Stronghold on Search

Not only does Google control the search marketshare, but, they are also using search results as final destinations for many users as well. As a user, you can now find local businesses in Local Pack results, find flight information in search results, get answers to many questions, and much more.  Along with that, Google is overriding meta data provided by websites because they feel they can provide the best titles and descriptions that match the user intent.  The Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are being changed constantly with the intent of keeping users on Google to answer all their lives burning questions, book travel, and find local businesses. This is very powerful. 

In order to really "Future Proof" your SEO, you have to think about it holistically, think about it as a long-term strategy, and continue to iterate on it all the time, so you’re not chasing algorithm updates regularly.

Obviously, this is all being done for user experience and allowing users to get to the things they need in the fastest, most reliable, and easiest way possible. As a user, I love finding all the information I mentioned above quickly and easily. It's massively helpful. But many publishers and websites are seeing the impact of this by the loss of traffic. Who is Next? Or, is the real question, how do take advance of these SEO algorithm updates? Or, how do marketers figure out ways to drive more awareness and visibility to their brand, from search...or even other channels.  But also, how do you make sure you're being a smart SEO by building it into your product and making sure algorithm updates don't strike fear in your heart, when they are announced.

Minimizing the Impact of Future Algorithm Updates

Google will never stop updating the algorithm and making changes in the name of improving the user experience. In fact, I'm all for that. The good news for you is that you can take steps to make your site more resistant to future updates and at the same time, less dependent on traffic that comes to you from Google. Long-Term Results Instead of Short-Term Wins First and foremost, do you have a real strategy for how to win at SEO? Instead of blaming Google or going on a tangent about algorithm updates by Google, maybe a better approach would be taking all that time to think about how your site wouldn't need to worry about this.  If you don't have too much content, it might be time to add more. If your crawling and indexing hasn't been well thought through and you have hundreds (or thousands...or even tens of thousands) of pages. There is a need to invest in this. How is internal linking done across the domain? Could you be writing more, or any, blog content on a regular basis that provides value to the people coming to your website? And, how are you thinking about all this, and other channels, more holistically so you are really delivering on creating a marketing strategy that stands on its own for the long haul? Answer the above questions right and I guarantee you will never be stressing about algorithm updates.  Quality Content Always Survives Remember how I mentioned content above, well, it's really important. And, it has been extremely important for as long as I can remember. "Content is King" has been a phrase around for a couple decades now online and will be around for the foreseeable future.  I've always said that it's important to create content people will find value in. And, if that value matches the intent of searches queries, then it's a win-win. The fluctuations and algorithm changes won't impact this too much. While you might see a dip here or there, it will be just that. And, if certain content loses its luster after a while, you should already be creating so much content, you won't be thinking about it.  Remember, focusing on the long-term is the name of the game.  If you’ve got a solid, long-term approach to organic search, aimed at creating value, that’s the only way you’ll benefit from any and all algorithm updates. SEO Does Not Sit on a Silo When I worked In-house, I never thought of SEO as its own department. It touches content, PR, product, and technology. The truth is, it doesn't work unless you think about it holistically and how to partner with those teams or tie it to those efforts.  Because it can touch so much, you can also make a bigger impact than when it's being worked on in a silo. When you think holistically and you think about the long-term strategy, you can ensure that content, user experience, and the technical details that all apply, are done with SEO in mind. And, they truly are a "future proofed" way of thinking about SEO.  Many times, people think about hacks, quick wins, or quick ways to generate traffic from SEO. While I have done that too, it’s always paid off much more when I have thought about SEO in a more holistic sense.  And, if it all plays nicely together and you've built a solid traffic mix, if SEO traffic is reduced by a small number, you will feel much less of an impact.  Doing this in a thoughtful and holistic way, you will build a stronger, healthier, foundation while reducing dependence on organic traffic. Build Relationships and Your Brand New traffic from organic search is always a great thing, and as someone who has done it for 15+ years, I will always believe in the power of SEO.  But, again, thinking about this more holistically, it’s important to nurture relationships with returning visitors, too. Having a thoughtful approach to engaging an audience via various channels can help drive more conversions and revenue.  Thinking about things from a reliance point-of-view, the more you engage your audience through multiple channels, the less reliant you are on one channel, when, and if, it does falter. This isn't exclusive to organic search and SEO too, think about all the publishers and sites that were crushed by Facebook's algorithm a few years back, the same applies here.  You are playing a losing battle if you think it's okay to not setup email marketing, re-engagement, a community or some form of engagement to nurture your audience and build a real brand.  Be Holistic, Think Long-Term. I've been a believer in thinking about SEO and Content holistically, but also in what your full marketing funnel and mix is. What is the customer journey with and without SEO, because that could be the deciding factor on how well your business really does from a growth perspective.  There are no shortcuts to building great business and the same applies to growing your traffic, your audience, your visibility and revenue. Any "hack" that you might find, might work for a temporary period, but you'll always be worried about Google's algorithm updates like the Broad Core update announced this year.  In order to really "Future Proof" your SEO, you have to think about it holistically, think about it as a long-term strategy, and continue to iterate on it all the time, so you’re not chasing algorithm updates regulary." ["post_title"]=> string(38) "Ways to Future Proof Your SEO Strategy" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(97) "The more holistic your SEO Strategy is, the less you will be chasing algorithm updates by Google." 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In 2015, consulting giant McKinsey & Co. purchased a controlling stake in product and service design firm LUNAR. Over the past two years, Deloitte and Accenture have acquired over a dozen creative agencies between them, with the former now operating Deloitte Digital, an internal division generating over $1.5B of revenue per year.

McKinsey, Deloitte, and Accenture now use their creative arms to sell new services, but they’ve also integrated design capabilities into long-standing core practices. Their collective attention toward ‘soft sciences’ like design and communications would have been unthinkable ten years ago.

In what John Edson, President of LUNAR, calls “a very natural kind of partnership,”¹ these acquisitions seem forward-thinking rather than out of place, as the significance of user experience becomes prevalent in ever more industries and business models. Case in point, Deloitte’s purchase of London-based design consultancy Market Gravity proposes to help clients create and launch “innovative products and services” across an array of sectors including financial services, retail, energy, telecommunications, and automotive.²

In the past, consumer-directed marketing was considered the key venue for design and branding talent, where packaging and commercial jingles might sway purchasers and increase market share. Business-to-business purchase decisions have long been assumed to be made through either existing personal relationships or sober, practical analysis. In either of these determinants, the ‘brand’ as such has no bearing on ultimate business results. Or does it?

[To read more of Charlie Ittner's thought leadership click here]

The Prevalence of Emotional Decision-Making

Humans frequently make decisions based on emotions influenced by indicators present in a given scenario. Psychology scientists contend that these emotions are actually the dominant driver of most meaningful decisions in life, and that our decisions serve as conduits through which we attempt to avoid negative emotions and outcomes and increase positive ones.³ A ­related term is heuristics, which are approaches by which our brains employ practical methods (often imperfect ones) to reach efficient decisions in the absence of full information.

By bringing a higher level of visual design, messaging strategy, and copywriting to our clients’ investor-facing materials, we hope to shorten the length of capital raise periods, allowing key team members to get back to making transactions and creating value in portfolio investments.

These concepts are directly applicable in considering how brand might affect not just what cereal or detergent to buy, but also larger decisions, such as which bank to select to manage a large account. Research shows that within contemporary market conditions, a strong and widely-recognized brand correlates strongly with long-term financial success.⁴ What deci­sionmakers know about a brand and how they feel toward that brand are relevant and do factor into their ultimate choices.

A distinguishable brand can lead customers toward lower price sensitivity, greater candor, and more leniency, all valuable considerations that factor into acquisition and profitability of current and prospective clients.⁵ Furthermore, within sectors where there exist many substitutable and credible competitors, a well-developed and -articulated brand can serve as a key differentiator. As industries mature and individual companies’ performance metrics trend convergently, such as in the investment management field, a firm’s story, culture, and philosophy become ever more critical for key constituents choosing with whom to engage.

Good Communication Matters

At Darien Group, we provide branding and communications services to private equity and real estate investment firms, entrants in industries that shunned press and branding almost altogether as recently as ten to fifteen years ago.

With increased competition for investor dollars and target assets, we’re seeing a remarkable sea change in the willingness of investment managers to consider their communications as a means of separation from the herd in the eyes of their audiences. Investor presentations and private placement memorandum, once only functional and legal requisites for going to market, are increasingly seized as opportunities to advance brand narrative. Digital presences have gone from nonexistent to robust and attractive, with space reserved for content on portfolio value creation, sometimes including video.

By bringing a higher level of visual design, messaging strategy, and copywriting to our clients’ investor-facing materials, we hope to shorten the length of capital raise periods, allowing  team members to get back to creating value in portfolio investments. On certain occasions, we reduce the need for our clients to employ costly placement agents to raise capital. These integrations of brand and communications resources can advance strategic imperatives and effect real and significant business outcomes.

Discovering Your Brand's Value

More recently, we’ve found interesting peripheral applications for our capabilities. Among our current assignments: a rebrand and materials development for a boutique accounting firm; investor pitch materials for a film development and production fund; and a website and white paper for a cannabis-focused Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

In each of these cases, we’ve taken our traditional processes and applied them to industries or business models that are, in part or in whole, new to us. The three central phases to any thoughtful branding work are:

1. Discovery, to understand as much as possible about a business, its history, model, personality, and goals

2. Development, using the groundwork of the Discovery process to tease out messaging themes and visual brand worlds that strengthen and grow in collaboration with the client

3. Production, in which the Development roadmap is realized into concrete deliverables by creative and technical experts with requisite acumen and training.

These three steps are applicable to practically any business. And whether or not you have resources available to contribute to your brand, you can still work through your own Discovery and Development processes just by considering strengths and weaknesses and your key constituents’ experience with your company.

Twenty years ago, most people would be skeptical as to why an accounting firm should care about its clients’ user and brand experience. Today, we assume user experience to be important in the majority of our purchase decisions. Why exclude business-to-business and professional services applications? Psychology and behavior have proven that the quality of a company’s brand and communications platform is critical within every industry and to each client relationship.

[For more on Darien Group's approach to Branding & Communication click here]

" ["post_title"]=> string(52) "What Brand and Design Can Do for Investment Managers" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(130) "Charlie Ittner of the Darien Group examines the rise and recreation of brand and design at Accenture, Deloitte, and McKinsey & Co." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(69) "charlie-ittner-darien-group-what-brand-design-can-investment-managers" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-01-07 11:04:18" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-01-07 19:04:18" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=27344" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [45]=> object(WP_Post)#5187 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(24713) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "285" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2017-07-07 09:02:42" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2017-07-07 16:02:42" ["post_content"]=> string(4771) "

Less than 40 years into existence (ESPN went on the air September 7, 1979), the “Worldwide Leader” as it is known, is at a crossroads that will test both its ability to adapt to a new age and the patience of its parent company – Disney.

In April, 2017, ESPN laid off more than 100 employees – the majority of which were highly skilled, qualified journalists and TV talent that sports fans from Boston to San Francisco knew well. This round of very public layoffs came just 18 months after ESPN let approximately 300 employees (off-camera, behind-the-scenes workers) go in October of 2015.

In some ways, the cuts are difficult to understand. ESPN’s flagship program, SportsCenter, is a household name. And sporting events, the network’s bread and butter, are more popular than ever. In 2015, Americans spent a collective 31 billion hours watching sports on TV—up 40% from 10 years ago. The NFL, NBA, and MLB all recently signed record-setting contracts for broadcast rights, buoyed by the popularity of their products. ESPN alone is estimated to pay over $5.5B annually to sporting leagues for broadcast rights.

But, at the same time, ESPN’s subscriber base is down. ESPN’s business model is primarily based on the “carriage fees”   that cable and satellite TV providers pay the network to carry its programming—around $8 per customer per month by the end of this year. And, of course, the beauty (from ESPN’s standpoint) is that, when you sign up for cable or satellite, your carrier doesn’t traditionally ask you, “Do you want to pay an extra $8 per month for ESPN?”   You just get ESPN, whether you want it or not, and that $8 is hidden somewhere in your cable bill.

The problem is, just in the past year, ESPN has lost about 400,000 subscribers per month. So how can sports be more popular than ever while the sports network is hemorrhaging customers? By clinging to an outdated business model and refusing to innovate.

[To read more of Mike Schaffer's thought leadership click here]

Twenty years ago, ESPN was the place for sports fans. SportsCenter was where you got highlights, and the network’s game broadcasts were often the only place to watch many sports.

Today, the world has changed, and ESPN has been slow to catch up. Hockey fans don’t need ESPN to watch their sport; they can just buy a NHL streaming subscription and catch every game in HD. Fans don’t need to sit through a half hour of SportsCenter, hoping they see their team’s highlights. They can just look them up immediately on their team’s website. Or on a blog about their team. Or on Twitter. Or on Snapchat.

Innovation is hard. Venturing into the unknown is scary. But, as an executive, it’s important you realize that the danger of not innovating is a far, far scarier thing.

You get my point.

Ten years ago, ESPN was perfectly poised to take advantage of this shift. They had the relationships with sporting leagues, the on-air talent and the technological know-how to become the online destination for sports.

And, instead of innovating, they dug in their heels.

While one sports league after another launched standalone streaming subscriptions, ESPN staunchly clung to its cable TV roots. The forward-thinking executives at Major League Baseball launched their standalone streaming service in 2002. ESPN’s CEO said they were planning to launch a standalone streaming service back in 2015, and they still haven’t.

[For social media advice and insight from Echo Factory click here]

When you’re making something like $7B in annual revenue from a soon-to-be outdated business model, dragging your heels is an appealing option. But it’s not the smart option.

Innovation is hard. Venturing into the unknown is scary. But, as an executive, it’s important you realize that the danger of not innovating is a far, far scarier thing.

Major League Baseball’s forward-thinking streaming division has doubled its revenue in the past four years. Heel-dragging ESPN is on track to lose about $3M worth of subscribers every single month of this year.

Innovation is hard, but layoffs are much harder.

" ["post_title"]=> string(67) "What Happened to ESPN and How to Make Sure it Doesn't Happen to You" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(95) "Exploring the very public tumult and downfall of ESPN, a strong and identifiable American brand" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["ping_status"]=> string(6) "closed" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(53) "mike-schaffer-marketing-public-relations-espn-layoffs" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 12:25:15" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-05-03 19:25:15" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(23) "http://csq.com/?p=24713" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [46]=> object(WP_Post)#5186 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(29948) ["post_author"]=> string(3) "277" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2018-12-09 12:57:48" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2018-12-09 20:57:48" ["post_content"]=> string(6946) "The journey of an entrepreneur is anything but a linear, upward trajectory. It’s a series of highs and lows, successes and setbacks, wins and losses. After more than four years of running my own business and helping others run theirs before that — trust me — I understand the frustration that comes from entrepreneurship. The most important lesson I’ve learned through my own experience is that it’s imperative, for both your sanity and your efficiency, to remember that you are not a victim.

[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

Things happen to everyone. You have a difficult client; your employee is constantly late to very important meetings; partners are constantly shoveling their responsibilities onto your plate; you got a parking ticket just two minutes after your meter expired. Out of all these external factors affecting you and your abilities to get work done, it’s important to understand which of the things you can change and which you can’t.

Don't be a martyr (but give yourself some space to feel)

Entrepreneurship isn’t martyrdom. Your industry was not crafted to best suit your abilities. It’s up to you to adapt to your industry and all its changes. At my company, I could complain about crazy clients or difficult employees or economic shifts, etc. But at the end of the day, that just causes stress and there's nothing to be done about it. Instead, I choose to focus on what I CAN control. I don't have to work with that client, I can let go of that employee, and, while I definitely can't control the economy, I could tighten up the ship a bit. I focus on my energy on the things I can handle within the constraints I have. However, I’m not a robot — and I’d bargain you aren’t either. We have a right to feel frustration, disappointment … even anger or sadness. Give yourself the space to feel those natural human emotions. Just don’t allow yourself to dwell in that space for too long.

Find What You Can Control

Okay. You’ve allowed yourself to let off some steam about an unpleasant situation. Now it’s time to get down to business. For example, say you have an employee who has just missed an important deadline and the client is pissed. The first step in handling this issue is to figure out what, within that situation, you can control. And remember, as a CEO, you have quite a bit of control. In my opinion, there are four options you have to deal with this issue:

1. Immediately fix the problem. (Fire that deadline-missing employee.)
2. Sit around and complain about the problem. (Bitch over beers to your business partner about the missed deadline.)
3. Help your employee succeed (Talk to your deadline-missing employee about their organization methods and suggest ways to prevent missing important dates.)
4. Do it yourself. (Handle any and all deadlines moving forward.)

While these options are obviously not created equal, they are all within your power to implement. What isn’t in your power is the actions of the employee, when the deadlines are, how the client is going to feel about the missed deadline, etc. I know it’s tempting to dwell on these things, but at the end of the day, it’s only going to drain you of your focus and patience. So hone in and find the things you can control.

Then Fix It

Things can and will go wrong, but if you remember you’re a manager, not a martyr — these issues will be a fertilizer, rather than an impediment, for growth.

Now that you’ve thought about the issue with a calm head, it’s time to go about fixing what is broken. Not all problems are going to have immediate solutions that bring about immediate results. But if you’re working in a positive manner toward a bigger goal, that’s a win in my book. Referring back to the scenario above, options 1 or 3 seem like the best way to go. You can obviously still go vent to your partner about the missed deadlines and other work frustrations, but just be sure you’re also doing something proactively to address the situation at hand. If this is the fourth or fifth time that employee has totally dropped the ball, then maybe option 1 is your best bet. But, more likely, this is the employee’s first offense. Let’s face it, sometimes these kinds of things happen. We’re all human; we’re all bound to make mistakes. What matters most is how you grow from them. Take this missed deadline as an opportunity to have a one-on-one meeting with that employee to figure out how you, as a CEO and leader, can help them be better at their job. Maybe there are some issues outside of work that are occupying the employee’s headspace, making them appear to a little spacey. Perhaps they could benefit from a day off or a long weekend. Maybe the employee just needs some tricks and tools to be better organized. Let them know what you do to stay on track and see if they’d be interested in attending a seminar on project management.

Be Proactive

Basically, as a leader, it is your responsibility to deal with the blows and blessings that come from running a business. It is your job to provide your employees the tools to succeed and your clients the results tey’re expecting. Things can and will go wrong, but if you remember you’re a manager, not a martyr — these issues will be a fertilizer, rather than an impediment, for growth.

[For more on Hawke Media’s approach to Digital Agency click here]

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The Importance of Transparency

There are now blurred lines between agencies that are only making money from clients and those that get markups from group deals. If practicing media buying correctly, however, you should have no qualms with making sure transparency about your practices is woven directly into the fabric of your business. Especially with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in play, all aspects of media buying should be held up to this standard. With advertisers demanding better contracts with agencies, tightening up their programs, and establishing better relationships with ad tech vendors, transparency in marketing is no longer a question. It’s the norm. As media specialists, it’s our responsibility to place our clients in the best position to succeed and be flexible when our industry shifts. Clients have every right to know where exactly their money is going and it’s our duty to provide them with accurate predictions, information, and expectations.

[To read more of Erik Huberman's thought leadership click here]

Maintaining Transparency

Our media buying experts over at Hawke Media pride themselves on maintaining open and honest communication with clients. Their clients have full optics into everything they do, from weekly verbal and written reporting to total access to ad accounts, which clients can view down to the keyword, campaign, etc. level to see where their money is being spent. Here are some specific ways our media buyers maintain transparency with clients that you can immediately incorporate into your media buying practices:

1. Provide clients with a real-time reporting dashboard so clients have 24/7 optics to objectives and regularly share any additional data with clients.

Providing clients with a 24/7 dashboard that reports in real time is vital to maintaining consistent transparency through the entirety of the client-agency relationship. Having this dashboard allows clients to visualize how much is being spent, where it’s being spent, what’s performing, and where budget can be reallocated in order to achieve desired outcomes or get the most return on each dollar spent. Dashboards can be set up in such a way that reporting dynamically populates and updates from linked accounts. Clients can dive in as they please and see performance in real time. This ensures both client and agency are on the same page, with the same insight into budgets, metrics, performance, and results.

2. Give clients full account ownership.

Hawke never hides or keeps client ad accounts. Clients maintain ownership and have unrestricted access to accounts if they wish to personally view account performance, from an overview of campaigns down to the keyword level. If clients disengage with Hawke, they have full ownership of their accounts and don’t need to worry about not having full access to their campaigns, insights, and reports. These accounts are paid for by the client and part of their brand identity. The accounts are rightfully theirs. Giving clients full account ownership is a no-brainer and should be one of the first things done to demonstrate a marketer’s honesty and transparency.

3. Create a partnership.

When a client signs with us, their designated Hawke team communicates strategy, ad copy, audiences, and keywords with the client prior to launching and during the optimization phase. These talks are collaborative and client feedback is not only heard, but implemented. It’s a true partnership. This is done to ensure both the marketing team and the client are on the same page and that expectations are clear. It creates mutual trust and understanding to make sure that there aren’t too many revisions, making the process more efficient. There is a consistent dialogue around what is being executed and communicated to prospective customers.

4. Be an extension of your client.

In the most simple terms, be an extension of your client. Think how the client would think. Act how the client would act. Marketers need to act in their clients’ best interests and understand client objectives, brand, and business model. That way, both parties are all aligned on overall goals, what needs to be done and why, and how it should be executed.

A Marketer's Code

With so many huge advertising companies coming under increased scrutiny for their less-than-honest media-buying practices, it’s crucial that marketers maintain their morals. At this point, it is up to us as individuals and as agencies to ensure complete transparency when it comes to handling clients.

[For more on Hawke Media’s approach to Digital Agency click here]

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[To read more of Erik Huberman’s thought leadership click here]

And yet, a lot of brands feel this self-inflicted pressure to bring their marketing in house - which often leads to companies having a rude awakening when it comes to the depth of knowledge one must have in order to market effectively. Especially for growth stage ecommerce companies, getting an outsourced CMO is the smarter business decision. Let the marketing experts focus on the marketing so that you and your team can focus on your product and all the intricacies that go into running a successful business.  

If It Ain't Broke

An odd trend exists. Companies see impressive results from their outsourced marketing agency and decide that the next logical step is to end their relationship with said agency and bring everything in-house. Let me tell you right now - this could be one of the most detrimental decisions a company could make. My company, Hawke Media, had a client that went this route. After seeing such a boom in business thanks to our marketing experts, the client decided they wanted to take their marketing in-house. What happened next? Did they continue to see their sales increase month-over-month? Did they continue to produce effective and efficient Facebook ads? Did they continue to expand their client base and increase the reach of their email newsletter? Nope. Instead, they were banned on Facebook just two weeks before one of the biggest days in ecommerce - Black Friday. It’s true, this company was unable to advertise on Facebook before Black Friday. Even more unfortunate for them was that, because they had an inexperienced marketing team, they lacked any connections at Facebook to help them fix it - something a marketing agency is definitely going to have. This client is not the only poor, unfortunate soul who went this route and suffered for it. We had one client who had been with Hawke Media for a year and half. During this time we took the company from a three million dollar value to a 60 million dollar value. When the company raised that round, they decided to try and take everything in-house. Fast forward three years and, in the time since then, the company has had to raise more money at the same valuation and even had to recently go through a complete internal restructuring. With an expert marketing agency, they were on a complete upward trajectory. On their own...not so much.

You Don't Have to Do it All Anymore

The idea that a company should bring all its processes in-house once they’ve reached a certain pinnacle of success is an archaic way of thinking. The scope and speed of today’s marketing makes outsourcing one of the smartest business decisions you can make. Companies shouldn’t feel obligated to take on all the responsibility of owning, operation, producing, marketing and selling a product. It’s just too much these days and there are experts just waiting to help ease the burden. The digital revolution changed the game and marketing initiatives now cover an incredibly wide breadth, requiring a wide variety of specialization in order to be successful. Because of the nature of today’s modern market, in order to stay competitive, you have to stay efficient. In order to stay efficient, you have to outsource.

[For more on Hawke Media’s approach to Digital Agency click here]

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