Marketing

We’re not all marketers now

It's not marketing that needs to be more pervasive in organizations. It's people who care about customers.

by Andrew Swenson

image credit LongitudeLatitude on Flickr

Perhaps I’m just piddling in semantics, but it really bothers me when the “marketing” term is applied to any and every customer-facing activity. Lately it seems that anyone with a Twitter account is considered “doing marketing.”

The McKinsey Quarterly, published by the international management consultancy McKinsey & Company, is the latest to elevate the claim that “we’re all marketers now” with an article of the same name. In fact, authors Tom French, Laura LaBerge, and Paul Magill make some relatively lofty proclamations (emphasis original):

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keywords: customer engagement, Marketing, McKinsey Quarterly, Purple Cow, rhetoric, semantics, snarky retort
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Marketing

When marketing (and Santa) isn’t enough

by Andrew Swenson

yes, I'm really sitting on his lap. yes, it was a little awkward.

While I was traveling home last weekend from Dallas, a few artificially bubbly college kids in festive hats asked if I wanted to take a survey. In exchange for my trouble, I’d get my photo taken with Santa and $20 off my next flight.

You know how that ended.

I quickly found out that Southwest Airlines and Microsoft had teamed up to offer “Holiday Photos on the Fly,” a promotion mainly for Windows 7. The sales pitch came in when I watched one of Santa’s elves take my photo “to the Cloud” for editing with Windows Live.

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keywords: Marketing, Microsoft, product, ROI, Santa, Southwest
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Marketing

What Is A Facebook Impression Worth?

by Andrew Swenson

Consider this from Nes Desmond recently posted on Business Insider:

What is the value of a Facebook impression? Consider pricing today for products like e-mail and online advertising. […]

We think the Facebook impressions and interactions are worth more than e-mail cpms and less than clicks in a sponsored link. That’s a big spread, and there is plenty of room to build a great business there.

The article itself attempts to determine the value of sponsored Facebook posts on a Facebook fan page like GoFishn, certainly valuable if you’re selling ads on your Facebook wall, but a venture that’s completely worthless for the rest of us.

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keywords: Facebook Impressions, Measurement, ROI
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Marketing

Are You a One-Trick Social Media Pony?

by Andrew Swenson

image credit: Helga Birna Jónasdóttir

I’m talking to you, young, hip, fancy social media blogger/guru/maven. You get engagement, community management, and customer interaction.

At least that’s what the young pro blogs I’m reading suggest.

But what about the unsexy stuff?

Do you know your cost of new customer acquisition?

Could you spout off five easy ways to increase average order size?

Can you read a P&L statement?

Can you quickly and easily demonstrate social media’s value to the bottom line?

How are you at using market research data to predict consumer behavior?

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Marketing

On Twitter’s Flat-lined Growth

by Andrew Swenson

Image Credit: Jim Linwood

Twitter’s recent flatline has some Twitter-crazed marketers scrambling. After all, you spent all that time drafting and creating a Twitter strategy, and now we’re already looking for “next year’s Twitter” (which, incidentally, Pete Cashmore says is Foursquare).

This news neither alarms nor frightens me. We all knew this day was coming. Science tells us that exponential growth is unsustainable in cases of population and resource use, so should Twitter really be an exception?

I know it’s unthinkable, but some day we’ll most likely be having the same conversation about a Facebook flat-line.

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keywords: panic, sustainable growth, Twitter
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Marketing

Evil, Ancient Greece, and other Marketing Stuff

by Andrew Swenson

image credit: Raymond Yee

Is marketing evil?

When Seth Godin pondered the question earlier this year, he came to this conclusion:

Just because you can market something doesn’t mean you should. You’ve got the power, so you’re responsible, regardless of what your boss tells you to do.

Last night in a Twitter exchange with Jessica Gottlieb (@JessicaGottlieb) about how people market and sell, I suggested that the question isn’t anything new. In fact, I think it dates back a few millennia…

[Disclaimer: this post is purposefully philosophy light.
Email theword[at]wordpost[dot]org if you’re craving discourse on metaphysics]

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keywords: Aristotle, ethics, evil, Marketing, Plato, rhetoric
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Marketing

What we can learn from Boone Oakley

by Andrew Swenson

image credit: Bruce Berrien

Marketing has always been and always will be about telling stories. Godin’s All Marketers are Liars Tell Stories:

If you think that (more expensive) wine is better, then it is. If you think your new boss is going to be more effective, then she will be. If you love the way a car handles, then you’re going to enjoy driving it.

This is basic stuff we all (should) know.

The epic year of 2009, it’s dumpy economy and all of it’s social media glory hasn’t changed that.

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keywords: analysis, Boone Oakley, learn, YouTube
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Marketing

Free advertising on wordpost.org in 2010

by Andrew Swenson

Image Credit: Jennifer Donley

In the spirit of giving this grueling year and decade from hell a nice kiss off, I’ve decided to give away ad space on wordpost.org for the entire year in 2010.

So what’s the catch?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the purpose and direction of this blog in recent weeks. In surveying a number of blogs and their ads, most fall into one of five categories:

So many it’s distracting (e.g. Daily SEO Blog)
A few discrete ads and affiliate links (e.g. chrisbrogan.com)
Progressive ad partnerships (e.g. All Business Answers)

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keywords: free ads
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Marketing

Advertisers: Tell us how you’ll add value to our lives

by Andrew Swenson

compare A couple iPhone snaps from Methodist Hospital in Omaha

We talk a lot about using relevant stories to earn trust in as we move into a new “human business” ethic. If companies are going to build trust by acting like humans online, I think they should act like humans in their ads and in their traditional marketing stories too.

A quick example

In honor of the Great American Smokeout on November 19, Methodist Hospital in Omaha put up a number of “I Quit” posters to inspire smokers to quit, if only for just one day.

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keywords: ad, Customer Relationships, marcom, traditional media
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Marketing

But what about the unsexy stuff?

So what’s the catch?

A quick example

Beyond the Surface Level