Archive for the 'business to consumer' Category

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05
Jan
11

Branding Content: How creating a persona for your brand creates ROI

By Heather Horsey Leave a Comment
Categories: Ad Agency, Ads, Advertising, Apps, Business growth, Business Strategies, business to business, business to consumer, commercials, Communications, Digital Media, Email, Facebook, Flikr, Foursquare, GOOP, personas, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, webisodes and YouTube
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Branded content is essentially a fusion of entertainment and advertising that has been around for decades, just think of soap manufactures and the soap opera. With social media and the increasing prevalence of mobile apps in our daily lives, branded content seeks to have an increasingly large role in marketing and advertising of brands in the future.

Branded content can be anything from a short film, music, game, blog, mobile app, newsletter, blogzine, microsite or real-life event. The content merely exists to entertain and educate the consumer, while conveying subtle brand messages in the mean time. But more than this, branded content creates a persona for your brand and helps engage target audiences in a reciprocal relationship.

The idea for a brand is to listen to online conversations and establish what interests your target audiences. Is there a need or desire for certain information? Can you provide that information in an engaging way?

The most successful branded content programs are able to blend messaging in a seamless and transparent fashion, while still getting the information across to the consumer. Branded content creation serves several purposes: customer entertainment, stealth advertising and social engagement.

An industry that has embraced branded content is the fashion industry (see Louis Vuitton’s NOWNESS), but other brands that get it right are:

The iFood application allows users to:

  • Email or print coupons for Kraft products or even add them right to your store savings card.
  • Find recipes and post the ones you love to Facebook
  • Scan and enter a barcode to add to a shopping list or find recipes
  • Print shopping lists, coupons, and recipes
  • Get detailed recipe directions and even video tutorials
  • Set alerts about planned recipes, recopies of the day or special offers
  • Find a retailer to buy your products

Now, tell me that wont build more consumer loyalty?

Branded content is about creating an experiential story; It’s about crafting stories though every communication tool – signage, display advertising, print, radio and television ads, that are then translated to the web, social networks and now mobile apps. In the end it really comes down to knowing your customer extraordinarily well. By consistently engaging your audience via editorial content that is expertly mixed into the e-commerce landscape, you can tie sales. The best social media and branded content executions out there are driven by narrative, not commerce.

Branded content is quickly becoming a cost effective, long-term online marketing strategy that industries will continue to utilize as brands and retailers look for new, innovative ways to connect with customers online.

What impact do you think branded content can have on consumer behavior and where do you think this technique is headed in the future? We’d love to hear, so post a comment on The Side Note Blog, send us a tweet @Weise_Ideas, or find us on Facebook: Weise Communications.

10
Sep
10

You Want to Put Your Mouth On My What? Communication Principles in Practice at Your Hospital.

By Tracy Weise 1 Comment
Categories: Bad PR, Business Strategies, business to consumer, Communications, Crisis Communications, Health care marketing, healthcare, healthcare marketing, Hospital and Public Relations
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At the Side Note Blog we can’t really let a nipple sucking doctor get by without comment, now can we?

The story is rather offensive. A 20-year-old woman went to the doctor for a breast exam because of fluid seeping from her breast. The male doctor decided to “diagnose” the fluid seepage by obtaining permission to suck  her breast. Yes, he sucked on her breast. Unfortunately the Finnish court let the doctor off of sexual solicitation charges brought by the patient because the doctor  asked and obtained permission from the patient to suck on her breast.

Are you kidding me?

What was the patient supposed to say?

I am sure her “permission” sounded something like “uh… uh huh?”

I never went to medical school, but even I can come up with numerous ways of extracting a bodily fluid for testing that does not include anything unhygienic or overtly sexual.

I think it’s time to send med students and physicians back to school for additional communication courses. We are taught from a very young age to trust physicians. To do what they tell us to do. When they prescribe a medicine, we take it. When they order a test, we get it. A 20-year-old women worried about her health, seeking the advice of a physician, probably didn’t know HOW to respond to the physician’s offensive request.

I have had the pleasure to work with many wonderful physicians over the years. They all know that they leverage power over their patients. The good ones don’t abuse that power. The good physicians embrace this power and use it to inspire hope, increase confidence and decrease fear.

What are your physicians saying to their patients? How does their power of persuasion impact the healthcare provided by your institution? And what communication training do you use to ensure there is no offensive behavior at your organization? Tell us your stories here.

09
Sep
10

Google Instant: More than Interactive Search

By Mark Plumb Leave a Comment
Categories: Advertising, B2B, B2C, Business Strategies, business to business, business to consumer, Google, internet marketing, Marketing, PPC and SEO
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On Sept. 8, Google announced the improved search feature, Google Instant.  Users on Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer 8 will begin to see results displayed as soon as they type in queries.

At first glance, this simply seems like a time-saver, Google estimates 2 – 5 seconds saved per search. Really only enough time to sip your coffee. However, there is real value to the consumer, and marketers will need to step up vigilance on search term optimization especially for pay per click (PPC) campaigns.

For the consumer, Google Instant is better than the Google suggestions at the bottom of the first page of results. By seeing results as you type, you are better able to refine your search on the fly.  Google Instant makes interactive suggestions based on where others have been before.

For example, I typed in ‘ex’ and as you can see Google Instant delivers Expedia as my first option.

BEWARE! Marketers need to be concerned with the rest of the Google changes.  In preparation for the launch of Google Instant, Google quietly updated their keyword tool. This generated numerous reports of huge drops in search traffic numbers.

According to Gary Adam Shannon of searchenginewatch.com, the (exact) phrase [golf clubs] used to report an estimate of 165,000 monthly searches two weeks ago:

As of right now, the (exact) phrase [golf clubs] reports 33,100 monthly searches.

If you are currently running a PPC campaign, you must re-evaluate your search terms based on the changes Google has implemented.  This will impact website planning, SEO efforts and embedding keywords in websites.

Additionally, a faster, more streamlined search means less opportunity for long tail searches. This will drive up the PPC cost for popular search terms. Online marketers are going to have to go back to the basics as it relates to managing the search engine.

Let us know what you think of Google Instant and if you have seen a drop in your search traffic.  Follow Weise Communications on Twitter for more updates.

08
Sep
10

We’re Weise…and we approve this message

By Mark Plumb Leave a Comment
Categories: Ads, Advertising, B2B, B2C, Business Strategies, business to business, business to consumer, commercials, election, Marketing and Political
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Election Day is November 2nd and in the next two months, traditional advertising vehicles will be bombarded with political advertising. Expect to see more TV, radio, outdoor and print advertising advocating a specific candidate, issue or initiative.  Even though this is a mid-term election, there are so many congressional (both senate and house) and governor elections, traditional advertising channels will be inundated with political advertising.

There are two major impacts for marketing professionals:

  • Inventory of available advertising space is extremely low
  • People will become numb to advertising due to the political ad messages

Studies have shown that negative advertising moves the polls for and against candidates more than ‘what I stand for’ advertising. The fact that people tend to retain negative information longer than positive information is another reason why negative political advertising is so effective. Since it is effective is shaping opinions, we know we will see negative ads.  We always do.

Prior to Election Day, advertisers should consider alternate advertising vehicles.  For example, focusing on a vertical market segment.  If you are trying to reach men, focus on sports related media like Sports Illustrated or ESPN.com.

However, all is not doom and gloom as advertisers take for granted that the public’s dislike for political ads will spillover to product ads.  It is our opinion that there is a contrast effect for product/service advertisers. Exposure to negative political ads impacts the consumer feelings about politics – product/service ads are unaffected by these feelings. In comparison with political ads, product ads appear even more attractive and credible.

Advertisers create entertaining, emotional and humorous ads positioning products/services in the most attractive light. Positivity is the face of product/service advertising. In contrast, political advertisers typically anger, disgust and repulse their audience.

Advertisers should prepare for November 3rd (the day after Election Day) with renewed effort.  The inventory will be available and the public will be more receptive to your message.

Let us know if you agree with us and follow Weise Communications on Twitter where we approve our tweets.

02
Sep
10

How can social media help your patients, not just your hospital?

By Tracy Weise 2 Comments
Categories: business to consumer, Communications, Facebook, Health care marketing, healthcare, healthcare marketing, Hospital, Social Media, Social Networking and Uncategorized
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A lot of space has been filled on The Side Note with information about how hospitals can use social media to help the help grow business, improve community relations, prepare for a crisis and provide general health information. In fact, many hospitals are embracing the use of social media to fill these particular communication needs. But, what about the patients?

Because we have a general policy of not writing about agency work on this blog, full disclosure is required for this posting. Weise Communications was involved in promoting the story I am referencing.  While we worked with the media to get the story placed, we were not involved in the social media outreach I am referring to.

The 7 News, Denver’s local ABC affiliate recently ran the story, “Doctor, Facebook Give Hope to Sick Ethiopian Teen.” It is a heart-warming story about a physician, Dr. Paul Sakiewicz, at The Medical Center of Aurora who stepped up to provide charity care for an Ethiopian teenager sure to die without kidney therapy and ultimately a kidney transplant. It is a beautiful story that crosses countries, languages and boundaries.

But here is the kicker. A potential kidney donor was found through the use of Facebook. According to 7News:

“Sakiewicz said Haile’s kidneys are now functioning at just 6 percent, which means she’ll need a transplant. And like most teenagers, she uses the social media site Facebook, where she made a plea for help. Her post reads: ‘Hey everyone, as many of you already know, I’m in search of someone whose blood type matches mine who’s willing to give me a kidney.’

And surprisingly, a single mother from San Diego responded [a friend of a Facebook friend], indicating that she had the same blood type … and would be willing to donate a kidney if she was a match.”

This comment struck me. Many of us, those of us that maintain a skeptical and cautious view of the world and those around us, would see a posting like this on Facebook and immediately recall the dozens of scam emails we received over the years about someone in desperate need of money or medical assistance. But from a positive perspective, this time a life may TRULY be saved.

Can hospitals harness the power of social media to make a difference in the lives of their patients? Requesting organ donations is probably way out of the scope of anything many hospitals would be willing to consider (although organization such as the Donor Alliance or Bonfils might want to look into this option if they are not already), but there must appropriate tactics that fall within hospitals’ scope of services to help patients.

It is time to consider looking past Twittering the locations of the mobile mammogram vans or the dates of the blood drives and health fairs or your ER wait times.What can your hospital do to truly make a difference in the lives of your patients? Is your hospital, healthcare organization or association doing something that is truly unique? Tell all of us about it here.

13
Aug
10

Social Media Tips and Tricks: Facebook

By Heather Horsey Leave a Comment
Categories: B2B, B2C, BtoB, Business growth, Business Strategies, business to business, business to consumer, Facebook, Public Relations and Social Media
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To continue our series on social media, we’ll talk about some ideas to increase your brand awareness on Facebook.

Fans bring value to your brand. In addition to the digital word-of-mouth marketing, studies show that Facebook fans are more likely to buy a brand’s products than non-fans. So Facebook can be a great way to find your brand’s consumers and market to them directly. Today, more than 45 percent of Facebook’s audience is over the age of 26, so it’s not just for brands trying to market to tweens.

Here are four tips beyond the standard tactics of creating a profile and updating it with content:

  1. Paid advertisements on Facebook can help increase the reach and impact of exclusive offers and campaigns.
  2. See past the number of fans you have and look at your brand’s level of engagement. A fan’s activity on your page will spread throughout their personal network and news feed. And engagement is much more important than simple fan numbers.
  3. Facebook users like short polls and surveys. There are excellent tools that both B-2-B and B-2-C companies can use to encourage participation on the company’s fan page – and you many actually learn something about your fans too.

Let us know if you have any other great ideas to make Facebook work for you and your company, and check out Weise Communications on Facebook.

15
Jun
10

Maybe you need better advertising. Maybe you need a better tampon box.

By Tracy Weise Leave a Comment
Categories: Ad Agency, Ads, Advertising, business to consumer, commercials, Uncategorized and YouTube
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Yes, this is a blog about tampons. And it is especially relevant for art directors who constantly wear black and get all broody when clients ask to see “something a little bit different, please.”

For years, I have had issues with what I refer to “tampon box creative.” If you are not familiar with my personal reference to tampon box creative, all you need to know is that tampon box creative is not compelling. It is not noteworthy and it is not interesting. And it is most likely not worthy of my blog writing time.

So my day started out on a bang when Jay, our creative director, forwarded me a link to the American Advertising Federation 2010 National ADDY Award Winners, specifically the Best of Show Winner. It’s a mini-movie about Tampax. Even better, the story is about a boy learning to appreciate Tampax.

If you ask me, figuring out how to advertise tampons from a boy’s perspective is pure genius. I applaud the Leo Burnett agency for a superior concept and final execution. It is truly stellar and deserves the accolades it receives.

It is worth mentioning, however, that it is not just the P&G tampon movie that talks about tampons from a new and different perspective. A slew of recent tampon ads for U by Kotex prove a point that tampon commercials have traditionally been inside the world of “tampon box creative” – nothing notable or memorable. Let’s face it, in the list of “Best Ads Ever” you don’t find any tampon commercials. But these are better than their predecessors.

I love the fact that Kotex and Tampax are stepping out and truly letting their creative agencies come up with different, unique and interesting ideas to generate brand awareness and drive sales in a traditionally stale market.

The lesson we can learn from this is that regardless of what the product is and no matter how traditional the advertising HAS been, when you hire people who literally think “outside the tampon box,” you can develop compelling creative that gets noticed.

What do you think about the P&G movie? Do you have examples of tampon box creative you want to share?

Are you looking for compelling, out of the tampon box creative? Call me. I can assure you that nothing we do here looks like a tampon box.

04
Jun
10

Hanes and Michael Jordan – Another Integrated Marketing Campaign Done Well

By Tracy Weise Leave a Comment
Categories: Ad Agency, Ads, Advertising, Branding, business to consumer, Marketing and Uncategorized
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I would like to start this blog with a few personal comments. While my husband may not think I know who Michael Jordan is, I do. I may not be an over zealous basketball fan, but who doesn’t want to be like Mike? And to top it off, I love his Hanes Commercials. And don’t judge me, men love Victoria Secret commercials for the same reason women enjoy seeing Jordan in his Hanes.

So when I read the New York Times article about the new Hanes commercials (sans Charlie Sheen) it took me about 15 seconds to blurt out, “I love those commercials!” And now there is even more to love. Hanes has fully integrated the TV and radio campaign to include Rick’s blog (its rather lame, but so is Rick). The website promoting the story of Rick and Michael (stuck on a flight to Sydney together) is terrific. I especially like the comfort demos.

You can also follow Hanes Comfort on Twitter and on Facebook. I feel like the Facebook page could be a bit more Jordan-esque, but what is cool is that you can sign-up for Hanes weekly giveaway for a chance to win two round-trip JetBlue Airways certificates.

All of the commercials can be seen either on the website or on YouTube. I especially love the “bacon neck” ad.

The beauty of integrated campaigns, such as the Hanes campaign, is their ability to make use of multiple media channels – TV, radio, and social media to name a few. Messages reach larger audiences and can more specifically target service and product audiences.

What do you think? Will Jordan convince you to purchase some Hanes? Will you get involved in following Hanes in their social media campaign? What do you think about the campaign?

Is your business ready to utilize the power of an integrated campaign? Visit Weise Communications for help in making your campaign a success.

21
May
10

Top Six Secrets to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Revealed

By Mark Plumb Leave a Comment
Categories: B2B, Blogs, BtoB, Business Strategies, business to business, business to consumer, Businesses, Communications, Digital Media, Facebook, Google, how-to, internet marketing, lead generation, LinkedIn, Marketing, Optimize, SEO, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, Uncategorized and Web sites
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I participated in a webinar conducted by HubSpot, the Cambridge-based Internet marketing company, focused on tips and tricks to organically optimize a company search engine rankings.

The biggest takeaway was the creating of a ranking algorithm as a combination of context, authority and social graph.  HubSpot identified six SEO tips for companies.
1.    Optimize Your Content – The content you create must be a combination of what ‘searchers’ are looking to find and the keywords that search engines require.
2.    Attract Links to Your Content – Links are on-line recommendations from trusted websites. The most often shared items are new data and insightful blog posts. On the other hand, discount offers and product information are the least shared items.
3.    Publish Relevant Content Frequently – Internal HubSpot research showed that 61 percent of blogs are updated once a week or less.  Also, if you commit to a daily blog, you’ll be in the Top 10 percent of businesses.
4.    Be Active in Social Media – With the explosion of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, del.icio.us and Digg, interesting content is shared by trusted sources. Sharing content you find interesting will also help others consider sharing your content.
5.    Build Large Social Media Networks – Lisa Barone of SocialNetDaily gives 8 Ways To Find Relevant Followers On Twitter – see how easy it is to share relevant content.
6.    Use Call to Action on Landing Pages to Convert Leads – Once you have increased traffic to your website, you need to capitalize on the increased interest in what your company is saying. In the same HubSpot research, 41 percent of businesses acquired a customer through Twitter and LinkedIn, 46 percent through their company blog.
Tell us if you have any success implementing these tips, if your search engine ranking increases and if you are able to convert a lead generated by your social media efforts.
Follow Weise on Twitter and check out Weise Communications on Facebook and “Like” it for future updates.

13
May
10

The American Cancer Society wants you to “Choose You”

By Heather Horsey 2 Comments
Categories: American Cancer Society, Business Strategies, business to consumer, Coca-Cola, commercials, healthcare, healthcare marketing and Walgreens
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The American Cancer Society launched the “Choose You” initiative this week to encourage women to take care of themselves and get proper cancer screenings. The national campaign involves a microsite, televisions actress spokesperson, two national sponsors (with advertising and marketing of their own), a national advertising campaign, and campaign–centered day.  We’ll take a look at the integrated health care campaign and review the tactics it uses.

The sobering facts, according to the American Cancer Society, is that one in three women will get cancer in her lifetime, and about half of all cancer deaths could be prevented if people maintained a healthy weight through diet and regular exercise; avoided tobacco products; and got recommended cancer screening tests. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to incorporate these healthy behaviors into a busy lifestyle.

Using actress Ellen Pompeo, from Grey’s Anatomy, as their spokesperson, the American Cancer Society held a large kickoff event in Times Square. They are encouraging women to sign a Choose You Commitment, an online pledge to reach a specific, individual health goal. Participants give a minimum five dollar pledge once they sign a Choose You Commitment to incentivize them to stay on track. They can also ask friends and family to support them.

Choose You participants and visitors to ChooseYou.com, the campaign’s microsite, have access to online support and tools such as a calorie calculator, virtual dietitian, nutrition and activity quiz, smoking cost calculator, prevention and early detection videos, and a desktop helper with daily health tips.

National sponsor Sprite Zero will launch new advertising to raise awareness of the Choose You initiative. The new digital and billboard ads will appear across the country starting in May and will feature the tagline, “The Choice Is Clear,” with information on the brand’s zero sugar and no caffeine benefits. Sprite Zero is also supporting the Choose You launch through product sampling and couponing.

National sponsor Walgreens, through its stores nationwide, will be offering discounts on products to help women live well and put their health first. Additionally, throughout the month of May, Walgreens customers will have the opportunity to support Choose You with a “scannable” donation at checkout.

On May 12, large employers around the country participated in Choose You Day, and encouraged their employees to pledge a five dollar donation to the lifesaving work of the American Cancer Society. The employees were also encouraged to take 30 minutes during the workday to focus on their own personal health. Employees could choose to take a walk, attend a yoga class or participate in a program provided by employers.

This campaign has lofty goals, and a great deal of marketing, public relations and advertising to back it up. The integration of advertising and marketing here is brilliant. Using advertisers to support your cause and spread your message is both cost-effective and a smart tactical move. However, the messaging for Sprite Zero will be interesting to review as they try to spread a healthy message yet not ‘dis’ their staple brand, Coke; a difficult, but accomplishable goal.

Overall the campaign’s use of a microsite, pledge and multi-faceted approach to educate women is smart and will hopefully be effective in making American women take action in regards to their own health.

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