Snow Day Marketing-Taking Advantage of the Situation

Most Massachusetts towns have had 3 to 5 snow days so far in the 2010-2011 Winter season; two of which occurred last week, and one of which is today. This translates to parents, like myself, and many employees stranded at home at the mercy of the plows. In our super-connected world this also translates to a situational marketing opportunity.

What is better than a large portion of New England, snowed-in and captive in front of their laptops working from home or taking a day off? Just like gas stations...putting shovels, windshield washer fluid, ice melt and scrapers out front with the forecast of impending snow; put the ideas out there in front of consumers. This is easy to do with social media venues like Facebook and Twitter, and products like Google Adwords. Continuing with the snow day example, it is important to let consumers know if stores are open, give them ideas about products to buy today, or suggestions for future purchases.

Ski resorts have been ahead of the game offering live web cam updates of surface conditions and trail and lift openings. That is exactly what businesses need to offer- real time updates, offers and deals, to take advantage of a captive audience. Tweak ads to make them relevant to the snow storm or big game or fireworks in town. The 99 restaurant has a radio ad for a snow day special; kids eat free with an adult entree purchase when local schools close for snow. In terms of real-time marketing, a local restaurant can tweet, "...snow ending by 3 pm...come in for hearty dinner specials!" Offer an online service? Encourage house-bound customers to get their taxes done online, schedule an appointment for snow tires, or book a warm get-away.

If everyone is stuck in the snow, plant ideas for future purchases. Alert customers to get prepared before the next snow day...visit to purchase a new stash of coloring books or games to keep children amused indoors and snowball makers, sleds, and boots for outdoor play.

Take advantage of the situation. Send an email blast, update Facebook posts, Tweet!

Are Your Strategies Customer-Driven?

The article, "Whose Logo is it Anyway?" by MP Mueller posted in the section entitled "You're the Boss, The Art of Running a Small Business," on the New York Times website does an excellent explanation of cautioning companies on making drastic changes without consulting customers and employees.

An excerpt of the article that I particularly wanted to share states the reality of customer impact on corporate or small business strategy and decisions:

"We may have started our own businesses to be the masters of our ships, charters of our own courses, but the new reality is that with technology, any misstep or misunderstanding can be broadcast because every one of our customers now has a channel with broad reach. We can no longer make moves simply because we think it’s a good idea. Today’s customer wants to be consulted, or at the very least kept in the know."

Prior to social media and email, a corporate decision might cause a stir with its customers and raise potential consumers' eyebrows, but a backlash took much longer to gain momentum. Today, within seconds of an announcement, customers (and employees) can act, react, share, and trample months-worth of company efforts. The article, "Whose Logo is it Anyway?" identifies the intense negativity Gap recently experienced when updating their logo. End result, Gap caved to customers and changed the logo back.

It is exciting to be innovative, to "charter" a new course ahead. So, who wants to hear that a ground-breaking idea is not desirable, needs more work? Perhaps company resources have been focused on overcoming regulatory and legal hurdles in order to make an announcement, product introduction or upgrade. Or, intense effort has been invested redesigning logos, marketing materials, corporate literature, webpages and video footage. It is hard to know whether customers will cling to the old or applaud change.

Companies are not guaranteed a winning strategy just by consulting customers. But it can be detrimental without. An ongoing dialogue with customers will help eliminate a surprise.

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/whose-logo-is-it-anyway/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Everyone Has a Website, Right?

For the last four months I have worked collecting data for a local online directory. Visiting 5 Metrowest Boston towns and 249 businesses, what was most surprising was that not every business had a website or even any sort of web presence (decent Google Place page, Facebook, or YouTube account). In some cases, internet searches resulted in a company name and phone number at best.

The businesses I visited ranged from hair salons, cafes, and auto repair shops to print houses, law firms and car dealerships. As one would expect, it was the smaller "Mom & Pop" shops that didn't have webpages, many of them chuckling that they didn't have one or need one. Some of the chain businesses, the Dunkin' Donuts, Jiffy Lubes, and Sovereign Banks, were only represented by corporate sites, in which hours and store details were often incomplete or inaccurate.

Still in disbelief that not all businesses see the need for a website or are aware of their online search profile, it was time to tabulate the data. Findings: 32% of the businesses visited did not have websites. Web-less businesses as a percent isn't all that striking. Looking at the hard numbers, that 32% equals 80 businesses out of 249 that do not have websites. 80 businesses! Envision the downtown or retail district of a New England town or small city, then picture that every third business has little to no company information or business data online.

Marketers and web designers, this spells opportunity. Businesses, this translates to lost business.

Google Rankings-Understanding How it Works

The www.technologyreview.com article, "How Google Ranks Tweets," authored by Amit Singhal has me thinking about how companies starting up their social media campaigns or allocating more resources to their social media presence may have a new action item...regularly tracking Google's search ranking process.

Explained in the article is how well-followed users electing to follow a company add to the credibility of that company's social media page and can boost its ranking in Google's search results. Not only are "followers" desired, but well connected ones.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/24353/page1/?a=f

Budgeting Social Media for 2011

"Marketers Spending More on Social Media for the Wrong Reasons," posted by Debra Aho Williamson at the end of 2010 on eMarketer.com is a worthwhile article about the right approach for adding social media into a company's overall marketing plan. Williamson provides sound advice on how to "integrate" versus "add" social media into a company's menu of marketing tools. I also agree with Williamson that an early establishment of analytic tools is beneficial to calculate actual ROI ....where I disagree, is the identified "wrong reasons" for adding social media to the marketing budget.

Williamson documents an increase in social media marketing spending and applauds that "skeptical marketing executives" now understand its importance. But, she criticizes marketers for "relying on gut instinct... [that social media] is something important," and their budgeting social media spending because they "are afraid of losing ground" to competitors that have successfully incorporated social media. Really, though, those are perfect reasons to increase a social marketing budget.

Agreed, a plan is needed to maximize use of social media dollars, but if competition is hot on social media, then competitors need to get in the game, and get in fast. And, maybe to marketers that are old school (to whom social media is a concept not fully understood) is it a "gut instinct" to add social media but, really, for the ultra-connected e-marketers that are evaluating spending for 2011, it is a reality that social media has to be part of the mix. So, not really relevant if some marketers are going by "gut instinct." Because their "instinct" is on the mark. Social media is "something important."

Yes, social media needs to be managed so that conflicting messages are not being sent out from marketing, executive staff, sales, customer service, etc. Nonetheless, just because money has been added to the social media budget doesn't mean there is not a plan for spending that is consistent with the company's mission and marketing collateral.

http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/marketers-spending-social-media-wrong-reasons/

Capturing Consumers 2011-Style

The question of 2011 is how do marketers best capture the attention of potential customers? What is the best way to encourage repeat business? The answer: a website that answers consumers' questions so that a potential or repeat customer will understand how to purchase products and services and even be able to do so easily online. The other component needed to capture customers and create repeat customers is a consistent social media presence.

Have a fabulous website? In-house marketing guru already set up a company Facebook page? It seems that with the super-connected consumers that the best bet is reaching them via email, texts, and social media (tweets and posts) versus newspapers, radio and direct mail. A business now needs to have a social media presence incorporating not just Facebook, but Twitter, YouTube, email blasts, and specific industry-related online forums. What is important to remember is to be persistent and vigilant in the digital marketing arena or consumer interest will be lost.

Consumers are being bombarded by 100's of emails and posts daily. Translation: A frequent, multi-avenue marketing approach. Be in the game tweeting, emailing and updating Facebook pages, at minimum, on a weekly basis, if not daily. An employee dedicated to monitoring and managing these marketing tools on a regular basis is essential. It can be part of an employee's job but not a part that gets re-prioritized to the bottom of the to-do list because consistency of contact with potential and existing customers is important.

To add to the consistency, make it easy for consumers to view your social media presence on your website. Conversely, make sure your Twitter, Facebook, and all other social media avenues are linked to the website. Facilitate consumers forwarding and sharing content from the website and social media sites to friends and family. Message: Reach customers where time is spent...on an iPad, on a smart phone, on wifi at the coffee shop...