INTERNET: It Takes a Community to Raise a Brand.

Is your company and/or brand prime and ripe for the benefits a web community can bring?

For those who aren't aware, a web community is a carefully selected group of consumers who agree to participate in ongoing online dialogue with a corporation. All interaction takes place on a custom-designed website. During the life of the community — which can last from six months to a year — members respond to questions posed by the company on a regular basis. These "discussions" (which can take place as qualitative dialogues or even quantitative surveys) are augmented by the ability of the members to talk about any other subject of interest to them. The benefits of web communities to its sponsors are:

1. They engage customers in a space where they're comfortable, allowing them interaction with the company on a deeper level.

2. They uncover "exciters" and "eureka moments," resulting in customer-derived innovations.

3. They establish brand advocates who are emotionally invested in the company.

4. They offer real-time results, enabling customers to explore ideas that normal time constraints would prohibit.

5. They create a forum where natural dialogue allows customers to initiate topics important to them.

Web communities can provide an outstanding alternative to traditional market research that can consumer time and money an organization may not have to devote to a product, service or area. Additionally, web communities can represent a constant "stream of consciousness" from the consumer, illuminating ways the company can make improvements, enhance offerings or even introduce new products or services.

For a complete read of this fascinating article and how it might apply to your organization, contact us here at NOISE or go to Quirk's Marketing Research Review.

Source: Quirk's Marketing Research Review, NOISE

ADVERTISING: What Today's Ad Should Be — and Shouldn't Be.

Ad people talking about advertising can be so much, well, hype. But research people talking about advertising and doing so in a way that makes sense? Well, that's when we should all listen.

According to a recent article by J. Walker Smith, president of the Yankelovich Partners research, what today's advertising should be ain't what it used to be — and we all better be aware of it. Smith notes the following very important points:

1. Great advertising is great, simple storytelling. It's a story that we want to share with others, and it's a story that advertisers must tell more than one way (literally and figuratively). New media should be actively involved in the telling of the story; and when you connect with your audience on these multiple levels, that's where great advertising accelerates, as consumers retell your brand's story to others.

2. Great advertising must get into the conversation. It's not good enough to deliver a message. It's not good enough to simply purchase time or space. We must reward the consumer's investment of time and attention. When we do so, they'll talk it up.

3. Great advertising narrowcasts to its audience. Here's another not: it's not about being everywhere anymore. Rather, Smith argues, it's about being discussed by everyone in your target audience, which means that relevance is the better measure of a media buy's efficiency, not exposure.

4. Great advertising is about the experience of it. This may be one of the hardest concepts for advertisers to accept, but Smith passionately argues that the true measure of great advertising is in its enjoyment, not its specific recall. That means advertising that somehow rewards its viewer — with a chuckle, a nice feeling, an aha! moment — will be most effective, and should be the goal of your messaging.

As Smith concludes (and as we at Trendspottings agree): "The meaning of a brand is in the dialogue about it, not in the text of an ad. Persuasiveness comes as much from the manner in which a story is told, versus the logic of it. Entertainment in advertising has always been important, but today it's paramount because — with new media, and so many media options — our attention is no longer a lock. We'll hang around to participate only if the experience is worth it."

SOURCE: Marketing Management, NOISE

INTERNET MARKETING: Home Is Where the High Speed Is, Too.

There's a perception among some marketers that home-based online experiences remain dominated by slow-speed dial-up subscribers.

Let's just call that for what it is: a misconception and potential major marketing mistake.

According to Neilsen/Net Ratings, more than 75% of Americans who access the web at home now do so via broadband connectivity. In addition, these speedsters visit twice as many pages as slower-connected users do.

Quick takeaway? Don't shortchange your website's design or technological approach (i.e., flash and other image-building elements) because you assume the majority of your audience can't load your pages quickly enough. They can. And they will.

SOURCE: Marketing Management, NOISE

MARKETING: Customer Reviews — a Blessing or a Curse?

Communicating to key consumers and gaining their trust and loyalty can be a tough game. Traditionally, messages in this venue have been a one-way street with the brand pitching why their product is wonderful. In our “always on” and “information demand” world of today, a one-way street may not be enough. As a recent Adweek article notes, consumers want more details before they make a purchase and are open to look to their peers for insight.

However, this process can be made even trickier if the brand opens this communication to a two-way street by offering customers a chance to post product reviews online. The flipside in this equation, though, is that open consumer interaction can increase sales, satisfaction and loyalty.

Allowing consumers to express their concerns or praise for a product, consumers feel more engaged and connected. Also, prospective customers want to know what their peers think. For the second year in a row, a 2007 survey, noted that over half of the people in the U.S. said they trust peers – or a person like me – f or information more than experts or doctors. A separate 2007 survey showed that 40% of shoppers who purchase from a site with reviews made that purchase because of the reviews. It has also been shown that reviews enable consumers to purchase a higher end product because of concerns with a lower-level product.

As with any form of marketing and advertising, taking advantage of a good thing can be tricky. If brands over manage reviews and only allow positive or glowing posts, consumers will not fully trust the reviews and will search out dirt elsewhere. So, it is beneficial to let consumers see the bad with the good. Also, these review are a good way for brands to address product issues – a wise brand will contact the consumer and offer resolution and help. Brands should also funnel negative reviews to product managers so they may address issues in design or manufacturing.

Harnessing consumer reviews can be incredibly beneficial and offer increased sales and loyalty and improved products. This element can be considered an evolution in Word of Mouth or peer-to-peer marketing, which is incredibly powerful. But, with all things in business, it takes care and trust to allow it to work just right.

Source: Adweek, NOISE
By: Al Krueger, Director of PR, NOISE Branding

BUDGETING: Rules of Thumb for Industries.

Wondering how to budget against percentage of sales? It's a question almost everybody asks. Now from Schonfeld & Associates comes the annual Advertising Ratios & Budgets, which details more than 5,000 companies and 300 industries. In it you'll find historical 2006 ad budgets, 2007 ad-to-sales and ad-to-gross-margin ratios, plus '07 and '08 forecasts and growth rates. It's a great tool to track competition and justify budgeting. For more information, visit www.saibooks.com (for a sample look at industries, just click on the image above).

SOURCE: NOISE

MARKETING: Biz-to-Biz Budgets Are Booming Again.

After a relatively flat couple of years, advertising and promotional budgets among business-to-business marketers are on the rise again. According to a recent study by eMarketer, business-to-business media spending in the US has increased an average of 6% per year since 2005, and is projected to continue at that pace through 2010. Specifically fueling this growth is online ad spending, which has increased approximately 25% annually over the same period, giving more traditional media a real run for the money. Projections are that online media spending will also increase roughly 20% each year through 2010.

Source: Marketing Management, eMarketer, NOISE

MARKETING: Almost the Oldest Trick in the Book — Word-of-Mouth Advertising.

With all the talk about online media and other technology-based advertising techniques and theories, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that one of the most powerful (and cheapest) ways to promote your product or service is through customers saying nice things about you to others.

According to a study by Lucid Marketing (“U.S. Adults: Word of Mouth Communications”), women are more likely than men to share a positive experience with a business or recommend a great product; full-time employees made substantially more daily contacts than those not in the workplace; and people with incomes over $100,000 were more likely to make recommendations than those earning less.

Put those findings together and the audience you most want to reach as a potential conveyors of good impressions is: Female, employed, with household earnings of $100,000 or more. Of course, the salient point here is that when you provide a great service or make a great product, your customers have great things to say about you. And that kind of advertising is priceless — in more ways than one.

Source: Entrepreneur.com, NOISE, Inc.

CLIENT-AGENCY RELATIONS: Caring is the Key

In a recent PRWeek OP-ED column, Tony Signore opined on the important trend and role “caring” plays in cultivating deeper, more meaningful client-agency relationships.

To his point, we enjoy working with clients who take this type of relationship seriously and look for a truly collaborative partnership. It’s important for current and potential clients to get the opportunity see beyond our frontline agency services (although we strive to provide brilliant work in this area) and into the personality, rhythm, culture and soul of our agency. In this way, openness creates – partnership and partnership creates – amplified success.

Signore’s article offers some validation for the core values that we hold in our DNA – but we work everyday to prove our worth to each client through service, attentiveness, listening, counsel, passion, delivering great work and results by truly caring. We think of our clients’ business and care for it as our own business and it shows in our work and ultimately earns trust.

The use of Lincoln’s quote “People won’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care” is so very, very appropriate.

Source: PRWeek, NOISE, Inc.