All Stages Marketing

Guerrilla Marketing - Why it IS sometimes also about Monkeys!

2010-01-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

Getting noticed with marketing efforts is the goal of any marketer, business owner, or entrepreneur, and turning to monkeys for help can sometimes give that message an old-fashioned laugh or extra ounce of humor!

According to the Wikipedia entry for Guerrilla Marketing, the definition is: "an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing tactics are unexpected and unconventional; consumers are targeted in unexpected places or ideas, which can make the idea that's being marketed memorable, generate buzz, and even spread virally."

To me the true definition today needs to focus on the web generation of marketing tactics (social media is a fun and effective promotional channel). Real Guerrilla Marketing involves interesting and out of the box approaches either online or offline (or both), depending on your target audience (are you local/regional/or national?) and what your "call-to-action" may be for your customers.

Giving away ice-cream at a batting cage, or an innovative street giveaway, zany stunts designed to generate great results from minimal investments is a great locally based business objective. If you are trying to promote a website or online store, turning to tactics focused online is a good place to get creative and find something that can build your brand and get spread virally since it's much easier to get your potential customers to click than it is to drive to a store.

Here are a few of the creative approaches to guerrilla marketing that have been successfully employed that I share with students in strategic marketing lectures.

"Fake Arm Sticking Out of a NYC Cab for 'Soprano's' TV Show" stunt, where literally, there was a fake arm sticking out of a cabbie trunck, where pedestrians and fellow drivers took a second shocked glance and then noticed the clever markting tactic advertising the upcoming season of the Soprano's.

"Monk-e-mail" One of my favorite web generation guerrilla marketing moves also turned viral marketing was from CareerBuilder.com, by Oddcast, called Monk-e-mail, where visitors were encouraged to develop a message to send to someone while choosing between which monkey character, voice, accessories, and background they should create as the message sender. If you haven't ever sent a Monk-e-mail, I would suggest indulging, as a "marketing lesson" or for just plain fun.

(now they have woven in the use of social media marketing with a twitter profile, as a dedicated place to broadcast the messages for fun! www.twitter.com/monkemail)

"Trunk Monkey" Another great monkey marketing creative campaign concept that was produced for Suburban Auto Group in 2003, which featured a string of regional television advertisements for car dealerships in Oregon, starring a new auto feature the "Trunk Monkey" which was incredibly humorous and went viral on YouTube with about a million views from all the video clips that went online (they even have a page on Wikipedia). Watch the ad campaign compilation on YouTube and see if you think having a monkey in their ads was a good move. (Post campaign, a viral Trunk Monkey following truly began online!) The series of commercials has since been licensed from the advertising agency to at least 45 car dealerships around the United States as well as New Zealand.

The bottom line is simply this: create a compelling message that hits your target audience in a place where they will hear, see or listen to it and then hopefully be so intrigued by it they share it for you (this is eWOM is cyber world, e-word-of-mouth marketing which is the best kind of endorsement you can hope for)!

Maybe your message even includes the use of funny-faced monkeys. Get creative, be funny, share value and watch as your success rolls in!

Yours Socially,
Amber
@AllStagesMktg

Amber Sims Hinterplattner
All Stages Marketing
www.AllStagesMarketing.com
www.twitter.com/AllStagesMktg

Amber of All Stages Marketing responds to a blog post about Forum One Network's Online Community & Social Media Marketing Compensation survey for 2009

2009-11-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

Recently there was a blog post by Maggie McGary that talked about the results of a survey that took a look at social media marketing salaries, and where women and men are situated in the new information for 2009. As you read the info and my response to her blog post below, keep in mind that women are usually on top when it comes to communications and public relations online (women have huge influence with blogging), especially when it comes to talking on social networking sites.

Maggie participated in the Forum One Network's Online Community & Social Media Compensation survey for 2009, which allowed her to share some results without us as the general public needing to purchase the entire results report to get an idea of how things are fairing (thanks Maggie). Here's some info she shared:

The gap between the average male and female salaries widened, with male respondents averaging $86,644 (up from $85,423 in ’08) and females averaging $75,624 (down from $77,319 in ’08).

The majority of respondents reported a salary increase in 2009, but the percentage compared to last year was down, as was a significant increase in the number of respondents who took a salary decrease in 2009 compared to 2008.

Average overall job satisfaction was down by a fraction, from 4.2 (out of 5) in 2008 to 4.1 (out of 5) in 2009.

Several respondents mentioned feeling like they were being inadequately compensated because of lack of data available regarding community and social media salaries, as well as lack of understanding of community and social media ROI relative to their organization’s activities.

Wow, this is truly interesting and slightly disturbing (all things considered), although I really have to agree about the usual difference in negotiating skills between men and women and how this could be one reason that the salaries varied.

One comment posted in repsonse to her blog mentioned doubt for social media as being a viable marketing channel for businesses.

Social media doubters need to watch "Social Media Revolution" on YouTube before they question the power of social media as a marketing powerhouse for businesses any longer - let alone a clear communication and connection channel for the masses worldwide.

I have been using SMM as a brand building, public relations and direct promotional marketing strategy for brands for more than 5 years and going strong in my dozen plus years in marketing, sales, customer relations and project management.

What's interesting is what I see happening in the last 8 months with "Internet marketing" people (usually guys sorry!) around me in the online industry - they are claiming that they are now experts with social media as marketers simply because they understand SEO or online advertising and are now recognizing the SMM potential. Be aware of the differences in skill sets between the tech understanding of SEO and Google ranking and the true marketing communications experts that embrace online PR and can effectively engage consumers without being "salespitchy."

Valuing a digital marketing partner for a business needs to come from more areas that just online advertising, search engine optimization, or some personal or short term social media usage.

It's a combination of many skill sets. And don't let PR Firms fool you either, they generally over-charge for services and under deliver for SMM (go ahead, ask around about usual monthly retainer costs for PR firms)! Believe me, I love PR people, but I don't love all PR firms - I have had to work with some that charge more than a monthly executive salary draw and give back almost untraceable effects - all the while still needing to be managed.

Social media marketing may be "newer" as a well known and "accepted" marketing strategy, but it still requires strong traditional marketing management skills and the development of an overall marketing strategy for a brand that reaches targeted audiences online as well as offline.

Don't be fooled by the hype of someone who talks the talk. Look for marketers and PR people that were early adopters of social media technology and set the trend in motion for brand building with social networks pre 2007 that know how to create a worthy "call to action" for a brand's followers.

Lastly, look for marketing professionals that aren't afraid to work in teams openly - no one person these days can know it all. At the rate social media aps are being added and the pace at which trends are changing, bringing on a small team i.e. virtual agency of marketers for a brand is a smart way to go.

Yours Socially,
Amber
Find me on twitter for ASM @allstagesmktg

p.s. Love this debate, thanks so much to Maggie McGary for sharing this information! Setting rates in uncharted territory is always tricky and requires extensive research and comparison to other paid forms of marketing like traditional print, TV, and radio advertising. I used to write ads for a big luxury brand advertising in the LA Times at $16,000 a pop for 1/4 page! Holy resources drained and hard to track ROI!

Social Media Marketing and Sprinkles Cupcakes make a sweet recipe for Success with Facebook and Twitter!

2009-10-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

Social Media Marketing: Here's one sweet success story that entrepreneurs and businesses can't ignore!

Yesterday, there was an article written in the LA Times by Dan Fost called, "Companies find a friend in Facebook" which featured the southern California based cupcakery Sprinkles Cupcakes.

The article examined the use of social media, including Facebook and twitter, and just how powerful integrating these communication channels between businesses and their customers can be - no matter how big or small the business.

Sprinkles Cupcakes President Charles Nelson was quoted as saying, "On Facebook, we can ask our customers what's the next location they want. What do they think of our next flavor ? It's an amazing way to communicate with our fans."

Nelson is absolutely right. It is an amazing way to connect with fans, followers, friends and connections on Facebook, twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn and so many more. No flashy advertisements in magazines are capable of making direct communication and feedback possible with your customers.

Not only has Sprinkles Cupcakes created a huge pull marketing campaign through the use of social media integration as their main marketing tactic in addition to their outstanding products and customer service, they have done so successfully without the use of "traditional" marketing and advertising strategies.

That's right. According to the LA Times article by Fost, Sprinkles Cupcakes does not spend any money or resources on using "regular" or "traditional" forms of marketing. So far, their success story is one for the marketing books, and I reference their simple creativity and brand authenticity in my guest lecture appearances about marketing often.

Nelson shared this: "You're looking for customers but you're really looking for advocates. We've never paid for advertsing in five years of being open."

The article also sites that Facebook currently has 1.4 million business "pages" with "an average of 100 fans per "page."

Even the Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg shared in New York last month that 10 million people become fans of "pages" EVERYDAY.

Wow. Let me repeat that. Each day, 10 million people on Facebook become fans, essentially endorsing either businesses, brands, non-profit organizations, causes, people, ideas, services and products (like the 70,000 fans of Sprinkles Cupcakes) on their own free will through social media's permission based marketing approach. Does the word "powerful" come to mind yet?

Word to the Business Wise, cultivate your Social Media Marketing now before you get left behind by your competitors who are embracing being publicly available brands that engage, actively listen, share, respond, promote and build trust with the use of Social Media and their customers.

Facebook pages drive real people to businesses. The approach of communication is always up to you. My vote goes towards creating value for your customers with every tweet, post, link, discussion and message sent. Not only does social media communications for a business make sense in terms of value for each marketing dollar or effort spent, but it adds value to your end user or customer by building something money can't buy: trust. Because you listened and shared openly and authentically.

Yours Socially,
Amber

Amber Sims Hinterplattner
Follow me on twitter @AllStagesMktg
All Stages Marketing

My Take on the Question about Entrepreneurs, "Are they made or just born with entrepreneurial talents?"

2009-09-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

Well, there are some great responses out there to the seasoned debate about whether entrepreneurs are made or born with their abilities. I decided to tackle this question as my first blog entry in many months. Now I'm getting serious, so look out!

Here's my take on this age-old question:"Are Entrepreneurs made or are they just born with entrepreneurial talents?"

I like to think that the people, experiences and challenges that we face growing up can shape our abilities to handle visionary brainstorming, risk management and most of all the way we communicate. In today's new world of entrepreneurs, communication is truly key both online and offline. Being able to market yourself and your ideas is an important aspect of success or failure.

Most importantly, the ability to face obstacles, failures, changes and surprises with flexibility are traits that should be adopted. Through facing challenges comes strength and willingness! These skills somehow come from life experiences rather than our genetic makeup. Also, timing can sometimes be everything, as "Outliers" describes, which is a great book for entrepreneurs by Malcolm Gladwell that I enjoyed and gave me a nice perspective on this debate.

Having just begun to launch my own business as an entrepreneur, All Stages Marketing, I have come to learn that honing in on individual skills and talents is key! It's easy to take team building for granted when you are an employee for some other company and that duty is not your responsibility. So why try to be an expert in every area if you can build your own company team with those that compliment your strengths?

Not identifying your weaknesses early on can also lead to struggles down the road. Thanks to social media tools like LinkedIn www.LinkedIn.com, it makes team building much easier!

I think social media marketing and communications is one of the fastest and most targeted communication channels any entrepreneur can use - whether you sell snowboards, ice cream or information as an expert!

I would love to hear other ideas about this long running debate, so comment to let us know!

Yours Socially,

Amber Sims Hinterplattner
All Stages Marketing

Twitter Passes New York Times with new website traffic, but is that all that matters?

2009-05-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

ARTICLE: Compete: Twitter Passes New York Times

By David Weir | April 7th, 2009

"Before dismissing this comparison as one of those apples-and-oranges deals, take a moment to think about it. Literally out of nowhere, the little micro-blogging platform that constrains your messaging to 140 characters or less, is, according to Compete.com, this very month passing the august NYTimes.com, as measured by numbers of unique visitors.

Yes, Twitter grew by 76.8 percent in March, attracting 14,031,985 people, to break into the Top 100 sites, as calculated by the metrics service. Debuting at #72 on the list, the Twittersphere is expanding so rapidly now that it is a sure bet to rise much higher by the end of April, and every month hereafter for quite a while.

In comparison, the old grey lady maintains her position by most measurements as the leading newspaper website with 16,674,238 visitors, holding down spot #58 on the Top 100 List. The Times showed a 3.7 growth rate for the month, and a reasonable 22.1 percent annual growth rate, though that pales next to Twitter’s current AGR of 1,202.2 percent.

The Times is getting plenty of advice from all comers these days, so I’ll refrain from drawing any of the lessons it might learn from Twitter, but I will mention in passing that the CEO of Reuters spoke out last night, raising the question of why does the Times still need 6-700 journalists? Tom Glocer, chief executive of Thomson Reuters, is quoted by Gillian Reagan of the New York Observer, as arguing that newspapers like The Times should trim costs and focus their coverage. “That view that ‘I am The New York Times and I do everything’—I think that’s not the best way to run a newspaper,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tweet by Tweet, asuming Compete has its data trends right, that little bird is fluttering right past The Times on the web’s list of top sites, and you might say, leaving the old business modelers wondering, “What exactly was that thing that just blew by us, anyway? A bird, a plane, or…' "

RESPONSE by ASM:

Wow, interesting article!

However the two websites serve different purposes and are not direct in comparison in my opinion. Twitter brings many news outlets in one place for people to easily track all headlines of interest to them. It forces the news tweeters to tweet only the best headlines as well.

I bet more people who never go on the NYT site do encounter NYT Tweets as they are very regularly passed around by tons of tweeple, as the NYT content is consistently the level of news that is sought out on twitter. NYT Has at least 6 different twitter accounts, with about 10,000 regular followers and growing quickly.

What would be interesting to compare would be the usage of twitter and other social media platforms by the newspaper industry, and the number of audience members that never read a newspaper but read the news via social media outlets. Looking at the younger generations, and how they value the news and where they get it online should be a big priority for news corporations.

Thanks for sharing your opinions on this article and my response as well, and I look forward to having more comparisons made to social media as its strength grows!

Yours Socially,

Amber Sims Hinterplattner
www.AllStagesMarketing.com

Social Media and the Relationship with Women! We're hooked!

2009-05-23T01:29:00.000-07:00

MUAT READ!
"What Do Women Want? More Social Media."
by David Weir, May 21st, 2009.

"Not so long ago and not very far away, mainstream journalists could bash bloggers as a lower life form. The public hadn’t really showed up or weighed in yet. Today, however, that era seems as distant as the days when there were still mainstream journalism jobs and other luxury items listed on Craigslist. Ah, back in the day."

"These days, bloggers are developing ever-larger and more loyal audiences. Significant groups of people interact in multiple ways with bloggers and their posts — Tweeting them, ReTweeting them, emailing and sharing them on social networking sites, commenting in the comment fields, recommending them, or letting bloggers know privately via email or IM what they think about their latest posts."

"This, of course, is mostly anecdotal, but there’s also some emerging research backing it up."

"One recent large-scale study of women’s social media habits documents that blogs are becoming a trusted source for women across all age ranges. The study, which was sponsored by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners, found that an estimated 42 million women are actively engaged with social media every week — 75 percent use a SNS, such as Facebook or MySpace, 55 percent blog, and 20 percent use Twitter."

"In a finding that will warm the hearts of the vertical ad networks, 45 percent of the women surveyed in the study said they had decided to make a purchase after reading about it on a blog. And, significantly, the research indicated that women are reducing the time they spend with traditional media (newspapers, magazines, radio and TV); and with traditional social networking methods (talking on the telephone or meeting in person) in favor of increased online activity."

"The report states that online social media have broadly become the “primary sources of community interaction, entertainment and information” for females of all age groups."

The 2009 Women and Social Media Study included interviews with 2,821 women conducted in March.

This is some powerful data! Hope everyone out there is being a good listener!

"42 million women are actively engaged with social media every week — 75 percent use a SNS, such as Facebook or MySpace, 55 percent blog, and 20 percent use Twitter."

Wow! That is truly incredible that almost 3000 women were surveyed and more than half of them used blogs? I bet the newspapers would do anything to have that kind of readership! At least the newspapers are starting to tap into the power of tweeting!

It is true according to so many studies, that online targeted messaging is more positively accepted than misc. advertising cyber-junk!

Write away dear brand enthusiasts, write away! We're reading and responding, and then heading for the mall for those "tried-&-true-&-tested" products rated by other women out there.

Yours Socially,
Amber

www.AllStagesMarketing.com

Advertsing, timing and audience are EVERYTHING for TV- this example scorched itself into my "BAD EXAMPLES" list!

2009-05-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

During the Jesusita fire, you would not believe the advertising that was airing later at night mixed in to the 100% local news of the out-of-control fire!

El Pollo Loco advertisements that literally opened with a scene of flames while their chicken grilled, and faded out with flames as well at the end of their spot! "Grilled to perfection over an open flame" or some tagline like that. Uhhh, so wrong during those desparate and frantic hours of ash falling on our entire city!

Talk about BAD TIMING FOR THIS AD! This community hosts two restaurants from this chain - both of which were in an evacuation warning or mandatory zone at the time their ads ran! I did not want to watch any more flames and certainly was shocked that that was the ONLY OTHER ad that aired along with Enzyte, a male enhancement product! WOW! Two crowd pleasers - NOT.

I was so annoyed, and was appalled after I had seen the EPL and Enzyte ads at least 20 times in less than two hours!

I had just evacuated from my home, and all I wanted to watch was the news to make sure my home was not burning! The last thing we wanted to see was more burning material.

As the news shots of the fire scape faded into commercial spots, it faded right into more large flames with the EPL ads!

This has not stopped me from eating El Pollo Loco chicken since then (what, the tacos are good, and they're a cheap lunch!), but it did inspire me to use this as a BAD example of brand management in my most recent guest lecture series of Social Media and Marketing Tactics to an entrepreneurial program in town!

It just goes to show you that even at one in the morning, communications and brand management can make or brake what someone thinks about your business if the message is wrong!

Note to EPL, when a fire outbreak is mentioned on national news for a city - air some different ads during those sensitive times, or offer evacuees and firefighters some free tacos for some "Cause related marketing" to build your brand, instead of a "Classic Example of Somone Asleep at the Ad Wheel" risking brand equity losses!

Amber Sims Hinterplattner is the owner and lead consultant with All Stages Marketing, a consultantcy that focuses on brand management, campaign design, social media integration, and web entity growth tactics.

2009-05-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

Avoiding mistakes, looking ahead at all things brand! Marketing and Branding are today's key ideas for any business, mature or emerging!

Seth Godin is a master marketer for entrepreneurs and established businesses alike! He's experienced as a successful entrepreneur, as well as an innovative and creative marketer. He's a well known speaker, best-selling author of many business books, has a popular blog, and is the founder of Squidoo.

Here's a small post featured on WorkHappy.net in 2006 by Godin (and still very relevent!):

"The top five mistakes entrepreneurs make when they market"

Expecting gratitude in exchange for having done something that was hard. Yes, you built a company, you might even have bootstrapped it. Yes, you've got the machinery and the packaging and the retail space. Yes, you've navigated hiring people and yes, you finally shipped. I couldn't care less. I'm not going to buy your brownie/consulting/services just because you worked hard on it.
Spending money as a substitute for doing something great. Spending on marketing an average product isn't working anymore. You're far better off spending money on making your product better. A lot better.
Not realizing that it's your company, and your marketing better be as good as everything else. It doesn't matter if you don't like marketing or don't think you're good at it. Figure it out or go home. Sooner or later, you succeed because you were able to spread your ideas. So go to school and figure out how it works.
Listening to other people. If they're so smart, why aren't they running your company? Don't take a poll. Don't ask your mother-in-law, that's for sure. Cover your downsides, double your desire to take a risk and then just do it.
Failure to measure. All this is worthless if you don't test and measure relentlessly. Do what works. Kill what doesn't. Repeat.

ASM: This is a great little short peice summing up some essential points. With so many options today, you have to really send the right messages with your marketing communications to get through to your customer.

If messages truly don't match your brand's products or services, chances are that you'll lose out on repeat business and loyal customers who talk about you positively or negatively if something goes wrong (for example eWOM, which are online "e" word of mouth opinions are spread about brands especially if the brand has created a remarkable or newsworthy memory, or awful experience - it spreads quickly among friends).

Every touch point with your customers or your audience has to be consistent! Consistency breeds trust, so the lack of consistency in your marketing messages cuts product/service trust down in the minds of your potential customers!!

This would all fall under the category of Brand Management. Companies are spending millions if not billions of dollars on carefully building, monitoring and protecting their brand image.

Take for instance Nike. Nike has huge amounts of "Brand Equity" which they have built up over years of advertising, athlete sponsorships, event sponsorships, product consistency, website attractiveness/funtion and more.

Their brand equity is worth HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY, and you better believe it's apart of their assests column and so it is highly regarded as part of thier company's worth.

Brand management is a regular and important part of any company's objectives, whether you operate a yogurt stand, clothing store, service business, online store or a huge company with shareholders, who all depend on the worth of a brand and it's products/services for a return on their investment.

Take a look at this video that walks us through what marketing and branding is all about, yesterday and today.

"Dramatic Shift in Marketing Reality"

What do you think are the most essentials traits of your favorite brands or your business brand? Comment to share! I'm all ears!

Good luck finding your business' branding message!

Amber

ASM Marketing Team
Lead Consultant
AllStagesMarketing.com
Follow Amber's tweets for Catalyst for Thought, helping entrepreneurs daily!

Tweaking an old model into something new & using what you have as resources for marketing

2009-05-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

What a needed article post by Walker in such a time of worry-warts!

Carlos Watson Launches The Stimulist for "The Change Generation" by HUNTER WALKER for WebNewser.

Read this article (copy & paste so you can read this blog): http://www.mediabistro.com/webnewser/

Entrepreneurs alike already face huge amounts of effort, strength and agility in order to succeed in a regular market, so all the negativity floating in the air makes it worse for us in addition to our mounting challenges to be seen and heard!

Recently, my marketing consulting business has seen a spike because more businesses are turning to brand management to sustain loyal customers in this market! It's much cheaper to keep existing customers than find new ones! Those customers that you communicate with can also help you and your business.

Try collecting quotes about services and products from your loyal customers right now and offer them an incentive! Spice up that website with those testimonials and you've earned your business a great reputation that's easy to share with others that will help carry your image through these interesting and changing times where honesty and referrals truly count in this sea of offers.

Also, try that social media marketing and integration to keep you current and on the "edge" of trends - just tweet responsibly, as a bad social media profile is worse than not having one at all! Seriously! (if you don't believe me read this from BNET "Worst Twitter Post Ever: Ketchum Exec Insults Fedex Client on Mini-Blog")

Learn from experts like Watson on shaking up an existing business idea/model. It's not always about cutting costs, but offering something different and unique with the same resources you've got!

So, thanks again Mr. Walker on the great article that reaches to my demographic right on the mark! Us entrepreneurs have got to stick together no matter what the economic horizon looks like - clear or cloudy we're an important part of this economy!

Amber Sims Hinterplattner
www.AllStagesMarketing.com
Owner, Lead Consultant
Follow Amber's tweets for Catalyst for Thought, a non-profit bringing together young entrepreneurs through an attractive speaking series for the local business community in southern California. www.twitter.com/CatalystSB