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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 5-19-13

May 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Branding and Digital Marketing

Branding and Digital Marketing

 

This week’s ‘Sunday Musings’ are ready to go, bringing you the top five stories in branding and digital marketing.

#1 – “Everything announced at the Google I/O 2013 keynote in one handy list” – TheNextWeb.com

Premise: Google’s I/O conference was held this week and The Next Web created a laundry list of announcements the tech giant made during its keynote speech.  Beyond the Android numbers and updates/upgrades for developers, there were also a number of updates to many of Google’s products this week.

Thoughts: Rather than run down the plethora of announcements, this article was a nice, quick summary of everything announced at the keynote.  These conferences are always exciting because I know a number of great updates are forthcoming for my devices.  Particular items that caught my attention:

  • Google Play Music announcing a monthly subscription fee for unlimited music
  • A number of updates to Google+, which does have a Pinterest feel to it after logging in after the update was pushed to the site
  • Hangouts, the new messaging service, replaces Talk and was pushed out to my devices on Friday
  • 15GB’s of free storage for pictures, etc. on Google
  • All attendees received a Chromebook Pixel which retails for ~$1,500!

#2 – “This Is The Most Epic Brand Meltdown On Facebook Ever” – Buzzfeed.com  

Premise: A company called “Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro” was recently on the TV show Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey.  Well, apparently they were hit with several comments on their social media pages and took to their Facebook page to defend themselves.  The rest … well, you can probably tell from the title of the article.

Thoughts: This is absolutely fantastic and dreadful all at the same time.  The reactions and comments that they are firing off on their Facebook wall is both hysterical and nauseating.  I think you get the point.  As the night wore on, the owner’s comments* get more and more disturbing.  This is certainly not how you should take to social media to engage with people.  The owner’s overtake the Applebee’s fiasco as the number one fail in SM so far in 2013.  Well done!

(* The owners are saying their page was hacked and that it wasn’t them making these comments.  “I’m not here to talk about the past, I’m only here to talk about the future” – Mark McGwire.  This statement comes to mind when hearing this now common excuse/explanation of “my page was hacked”.) 

#3 – “Old Spice Takes Over YouTube in Viral Marketing Push” – ICUCModeration.com

Premise: Old Spice has brought back Terry Crews for two 30 second ads that have been launched on YouTube to sell their latest extension, shave gels.  The digital campaign will also include an interactive ad on YouTube’s masthead, which is said to include user-generated content.

Thoughts: Old Spice is at it again.  In our very first edition of Sunday Musings, there was an article regarding how much digital ad spend could be conducted for the price of one Super Bowl ad.  Old Spice seems to get it and have been very successful in the past with their digital campaigns.  The two new ads are pretty good, but may not show/explain the new product line as much as they might want or need to.

While we are here, don’t forget to vote on the new poll on the site.  The site with the most votes will be the premise for a future blog entry.  Of the two ads, “Baby” is the one I like a little more – this one has a bit more humor to it, but doesn’t do as well in branding the product line as the “Shave” ad.  Here is the “Baby” ad, what do you think?

#4 – “QR Codes: Are They Dead Yet?” – By Ilya Pozin on LinkedIn.com  

Premise: The author poses a great question about where the world is with QR codes – usage, engagement, etc.  QR codes have been around for ~20 years and adaptation to them continue to struggle, despite the tremendous growth in smartphones.  There are two points for consideration presented in the write-up for this: business aren’t using them correctly and/or smartphone users fail to see the value in scanning a QR code.

Thoughts: I happen to agree with both points and that it is a combination of the two as to why QR codes are nearly worthless in my opinion.  About three months ago, I scanned / tried to scan two QR codes the same day.  I noticed that the same agency had made the sale to two local establishments and it piqued my interest.  One QR code did not scan at all.  The second worked appropriately and I received an email the next day for a coupon/discount off of my next trip to the restaurant.  However, I haven’t heard from said restaurant ever again.  What was the point of becoming a “VIP member by scanning our QR code”?  I have no idea.  (Please stop wasting money and getting sold by others on needing QR codes in your marketing strategy.)

#5 – “4 Brands That Did Mother’s Day Campaigns Right” – Likeable.com

Premise: Likeable put together a list of the top branding efforts from last weekend’s Mother’s Day holiday.  There were four brands/companies selected here and the strategies for each are succinctly summarized by the author.

Thoughts: Out of the four selected, I thought Almay had the best campaign here.  The company did a nice job of tying in their brand with celebrity sponsorship (Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson), a prize for the winner (trip to NYC), and overall engagement by asking you to tell your mother-daughter moment.  This was a trifecta of winning elements and how to build a little buzz for your brand.

Did any of these stories in branding and digital marketing catch your attention this week?

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding 5-12-13

May 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Branding and Digital Marketing

Another Sunday in May and another holiday to go celebrate.  Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms that are readying this!  Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing.  For those interested, you can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “Maker’s Mark’s Plain Dumb Move Proved To Be Pure Marketing Genius” – Forbes.com

Premise: Back in February, Maker’s Mark announced that due to rising production costs they would be watering down their product.  This caused a social media circus, with droves of consumers taking to various platforms to complain about the decision.  However, this also drove consumers to the store apparently, as sales skyrocketed for the brand.  Ultimately, Maker’s Mark has reversed its decision to water down its product due to the backlash.

Thoughts: Here is another example of the power of social media.  Fans of Maker’s Mark came out and rebelled against a decision the company made and it helped change its position in only a short matter of time.  There is a bit of a conspiracy theory presented in the article that Maker’s Mark decided to create this news in an effort to boost sales, but I have a hard time believing that; in fact, the author doesn’t seem to either, but brought it up anyway.

#2 – “LinkedIn Tips: 10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Network” – Entrepreneur.com  

Premise: With LinkedIn turning ten years old this past week, the author provides ten tips to build your LinkedIn presence and drive engagement with readers/others.  Beyond the ten tips presented, each one has a follow-up write-up and link to a story of greater detail.

Thoughts: There may not be a better article available for LinkedIn tips than this one.  Not only does the author provide ten thought starters, the links that follow each provides you more robust information and detail for each.  

#3 – “Using Pinterest to Grow Brand Awareness” – ICUCModeration.com

Premise: The article provides several key statistics to warm you up to using Pinterest and then provides ten recommendations for how to optimize your Pinterest page.  No surprise, Starbucks is mentioned as a brand/company that is using Pinterest in an engaging way.

Thoughts: This caught my attention given the numbers presented in the article and the comparisons made to Facebook.  In fact, it drove a search on Pinterest to find an infographic that compared the two sites further than this and was a post earlier this week on our Facebook page.  Pinterest is driving engagement and helps spur purchase decisions at a much greater rate and is a site that must be considered as part of your brand/company’s social media platform.

#4 – “Coca-Cola Announces Global Commitment To Help Fight Obesity” – SustainableBrands.com  

Premise: Earlier this week, Coca-Cola announced that it would offer low/no-calorie beverages in each of the 200 countries it currently has business in.  The company also announced that it will help support programs and/or organizations that run physical activity programs and will no longer market towards children 12 and under.  The company has launched a website (Coming Together) to help promote these efforts.

Thoughts: A little bit of an interesting branding story from this past week from one of the largest companies in the world.  The separate online platform caught my eye as well, given that it isn’t branded in the web site / domain itself, but brings you to the company site right away with a single click off of the hyperlink above.

#5 – “Microsoft Mulling Nook Media LLC Purchase For $1 Billion” – TechCrunch.com

Premise: Microsoft is looking to buy into Nook’s business for a hefty price tag, while other tidbits in this article are equally intriguing.  By the end of its fiscal in 2014, Nook will stop making Android-based tablets and will shift its focus to third-party platforms; i.e. drive its business through Nook apps.  Nook e-readers will not follow suit, but they are planned to be phased out given the declining trends in the e-reader market.  Microsoft’s partnership with Nook continues to evolve and may lead to greater synthesis between the two companies with future Microsoft products coming in the near future.

Thoughts: While the tablet and e-reader market continues to quickly evolve, it is hard to see or understand what the short and long term goals are for both Barnes and Noble / Nook and Microsoft.  Every quarter, one or the other seems to announce a decision that is counter-intuitive to their prior plans for development and growth.  Microsoft continues to baffle me with what their plans are as they look to compete with Apple and Google in many of the same areas.

What caught your attention this week in branding and digital marketing news?

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 5-5-13

May 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Branding and Digital Marketing

Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing.  You can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “Facebook Earnings Results Show Progress On Mobile” – ReadWrite.com

Premise: Facebook reported their financials from Q1’13 earlier this week and results were largely viewed as positive among investors.  Mobile advertising numbers grew significantly (23%) from Q4’12 o Q1’13.  Facebook also made several strong statements during the earning’s call regarding the advertising benefits of the site, driving traffic to app markets for downloads.  They also showed the overall growth of their mobile platform, a significant focus for the company now and moving forward.

Thoughts: The continued shift in focus towards mobile looks to be righting the ship that is Facebook and its stock performance.  It was also interesting to see the upward trend in the mobile numbers (usage, spend, etc.) from the call.  While brand new for the site, the article hints at weakness on several of the recent launches – Facebook Home and Graph Search – areas that will be of interest in future earnings’ reports through the remainder of 2013.

(In case you didn’t see it, here are our tips and recommendations for using Facebook for your brand or business, released earlier this week.)

#2 – “15 Stats Retailers Should Know About Pinterest” – DigiDay.com  

Premise: This article from DigiDay is a concise summary of why businesses need to strongly consider Pinterest as part of their digital marketing plan.  The articles provides facts and figures from various sources across the web, including the overall size of the site now (~25 million users) and the amount of money Pinterest shoppers are spending online at checkout relative to Facebook and Twitter shoppers.

Thoughts: There are a lot of eye opening numbers available here.  The spend levels mentioned above relative to the most popular social media sites certainly warrants a retailer’s attention.  Two other numbers that really caught my attention were the connection that Pinterest has with moms (a highly influential group) and the level of trust the site has built with its users.  

#3 – “Lowe’s Embraces Six-Second Vine Videos for Spring Campaign” – AdAge.com

Premise: Lowe’s home improvement stores have found a way to leverage Vine to provide customers with six second “how to” tip videos.  The store and its agency have put together twelve clips for various tips on home improvements including how to work with a stripped screw and using shower rings and a hangar to organize scarves.

Thoughts: This is another great example of a company using Vine to market to its consumers.  While marketers tinker with the platform, these companies that get ahead of the curve and in front of (potential) consumers before their competitors, are simply providing a strong point of difference for themselves in the online / digital marketing space.  To see more of Lowe’s videos, you can scroll through their Twitter feed (if Vine itself isn’t available to you).

#4 – “Dos Equis Resolves A “Cinco De Lemma” With Integrated Dos De Mayo Campaign” – ConvinceandConvert.com  

Premise: With today’s Cinco de Mayo holiday falling on a Sunday, Dos Equis decided to extend the holiday this past week with a holistic marketing program based on starting the celebrations on Dos de Mayo and having it run through the weekend.  Dos Equis used their SM sites, created a unique landing page for the marketing push, and included it in TV spots.

Thoughts: Dos Equis did a nice job of pulling several contact points together and focused their message on one area and on a major holiday, most specifically for the brand.  You will likely see the infographic created by Dos Equis again later this month, as I really like how they have branded this campaign and put a lot of effort around it.  For those interested, the microsite has a bar locator on where you can find a bar/pub in your area that sells Dos Equis.

#5 – “Zynga.org and New Schools Venture Fund take on ed-tech with launch of their learning games accelerator” – TheNextWeb.com

Premise: Zynga’s non-profit organization has provided funding for the formation of a learning games accelerator to help create social games that will have a positive impact on learning and learning experiences for users.  There are several groups that are already lined up to help produce the first round of games.

Thoughts: When playing several Zynga games in the past, I have seen a number of little campaigns for good causes or relief efforts.  You will also see this on the Zynga.com home page.  It is good to see a company that has this type/size of voice have a non-profit ‘on the side’ that promotes this type of positive message.  I wish we saw more of this.

Several other tech companies reported this week such as Yelp.  Were any of those of particular interest for you?  Was there anything else in branding or digital marketing that caught your eye this week?

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Ten Tips When Leveraging Facebook for Your Brand

May 2, 2013 By 1 Comment

facebook

Over the next few months, we’ll be focusing on several of the most commonly used social media sites out there and providing recommendations on how to better leverage them to promote your brand and/or business.

Given the results from the first poll on our site, Facebook will be the first platform that we focus on.  This may not be too much of a surprise given the sheer size of Facebook – reporting over 1 billion monthly active users in Q1’13 earlier this week.  Without further ado, here are ten recommendations to consider when using Facebook Pages:

#1 – Engage with fans 

This is a pretty loaded first recommendation but is absolutely critical for your brand and business.  Beyond creating meaningful content, here are several ways in which you can easily engage with fans of your brand or business on Facebook:

  • When posting on your wall, ask questions for fans to respond to.  You don’t have to do this on every post, but open up the conversation for responses.
  • Aside from questions, use a fill-in-the-blank statement to probe for comments and thoughts.
  • Use the Polls feature/capability to garner feedback.
  • Create unique content for Facebook Fans only.

#2 – Like, comment, and share information from others  

Don’t use Facebook just to promote your brand or business, link to a specific post on your web page, and then walk away from the platform.  Click around and like other pages of interest (similar to your own or different), provide input and commentary on other’s wall posts, and share information from others that might be of interest to your own audience.  There is a certain level of trust that can be created by moving beyond self-promotion.  

#3 – Respond in a timely manner

Ensure that you, or the person responsible for your Facebook page, is responding in a timely manner.  Answer questions/messages within a 24 hour period at the bare minimum.  Respond to posts on your wall with some/any type of feedback – a follow-up comment, a simple ‘like’ of their post, etc.

Most importantly, respond to both positive and negative feedback/posts in a consistent manner.  Do not try to erase comments or thoughts on your page because it is negative.  Handle those comments in public, so that others see you are working through it.  You might be able to take the matter offline or to a private exchange, but do not try to hide negative feedback.  Those efforts will likely trickle down and become much worse in the long run.  Learn from Applebee’s mistake.

#4 – When pasting links, delete the HTML

 This is one of our biggest pet peeves.  When sharing an article or link on Facebook, after you paste in the HTML, let the story/link come up below.  As soon as it does, please go back and delete the HTML address in the status bar.  It looks infinitely cleaner and more “professional” when you clean out the HTML and just have the appropriate commentary around the story in the status itself.

#5 – Leverage Facebook’s Insights

In order to better understand your Facebook audience, it is important to utilize the insights that the site provides for you at no charge.  At the very least, on a weekly basis, take a look through your ‘Likes’, ‘Reach’, and ‘Talking About This’ information provided by Facebook.  Better understanding your audience will help you tailor your message and who you may consider putting more efforts towards on other online platforms and/or offline.

Using the Insights information may also help you realize when it is the best time to post content to your page.  I don’t necessarily believe that there is an optimal time to post on the web; if your content and message are strong, it will stick.  However, the Insights information might suggest when not to post; when are your fans more apt to be online, when are they able to click through to links you are posting, when are they more/less engaged with your message?  All of this can be analyzed by trial by fire and keeping an eye on the Insights tabs.

#6 – Try to post on a consistent frequency

As best you can, try to be consistent with getting your message out there.  Try not to post in peaks and valleys (15 posts one day, 4 days of silence, 10 posts late in the week, etc.).  Again, using the Insights information at your disposal should help you better understand when to / not to post, but being consistent will help you and your audience connect.

If you have a weekly or monthly post, try to ensure that it is going up at or around the same time each week or month.  You do not want to cause unnecessary confusion with your fans or readers and drive them away.

#7 – Use Events

Creating calendar events on your Facebook page let’s fans know where you will be, what you will be doing, and allows them to come see you or your brand in person.  This is a simple way of building stronger engagement and connections with your fans.  Let them know that they can come (watch, celebrate, play, etc.) and see you in action.

A second strength of Facebook Events is the ability send out invitations to your fans.  This will help you understand how large of an audience your Facebook page is or may be helping drive.  It may also help you prepare better for said event.

#8 – Use photos/images

You didn’t think there would be a top ten list of recommendations for using Facebook without including the use of photos and images, did you?  If you have looked at or for this type of information in the past on better leveraging Facebook, I’m confident that you’ve seen this recommendation before.  The only add I will provide here is that from first-hand experience, I can tell you that this works.

People are absolutely more engaged in status updates from brands and companies that also include some type of visual effect.  I’ve seen this impact for several fan pages I’ve been an admin on/for.  Your page’s “Talking about this” and “Virality” numbers are almost always stronger when a photo or image is attached to a status update.

#9 – Promote your page

When your brand/business is ready, consider promoting your page through Facebook’s advertising platform.  If you know your audience and target market, you can easily filter down to that exact space on Facebook.  It is also very easy to set your spending limits so that you don’t break the bank.  After setting up your first ad/promotion, the set-up for future ads/promotions should only take you about 10 minutes; figure the first time you go to set one up, it should take you about 30 minutes or so as you fine-tune your message and specifications.

#10 – Facebook is continuously evolving – pay attention!

Facebook is constantly tweaking its platform so you must pay attention to what these changes are, how they may affect your page, and what you may have to do moving forward to optimize your content on the site.  Seconds ago, a simple search for “Facebook changes” pulled up 943 million hits, so you know there is a lot of detail and information in this arena.

Among other tweaks over the past few months, the platform has recreated its mobile platform (again) and changed specifications and capabilities for your cover photos.  At the same time, Facebook announced that it will soon leverage/track hashtags (#PotentialGameChanger).

Hope you enjoyed and consider our recommendations for better using Facebook in your branding and digital marketing efforts.  Let us know if any of these have helped you in the comments below.  If you have other thoughts/recommendations that would help readers optimize their own page, please also feel free to drop them in the comments section as well.

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 4-28-13

April 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Branding and Digital Marketing

Branding and Digital Marketing

Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing.  You can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “Starbucks Hopes to Grow Loyalty Program with Expansion to the Grocery Aisle” – AaramShopPro.com

Premise: Starbucks has some of the most loyal fans and brand ambassadors in the world.  The company is looking to increase their loyalty and engagement with the brand by allowing purchases in the grocery / retail store count towards their Starbucks Rewards program.  There will be a sticker on each product in the store that the shopper will need to peel off and add to their account themselves in order to receive credit for the purchase.

Thoughts: It looks like Starbucks has found another means of building/driving loyalty and engaging with those that are most connected with the brand.  Building stronger connections through retail and driving people to their rewards account online can/should help build an even stronger relationship between the brand and its customers.

#2 – “Facebook Challenges Yelp with Mobile Pages Redesign Featuring Actions, Local Biz Details and Ratings” – TechCrunch.com  

Premise: Facebook has redesigned its mobile Pages to more prominently show reviews of each page or business and what is local to the individual user.  The redesign was launched earlier this week on the iOS version and is coming to Android’s platform in May.  The article here provides several visuals comparing the old and new look to Facebook Pages.

Thoughts: In its continued shift toward mobile, Facebook’s latest updates certainly make Pages more actionable and more detailed at first glance.  I agree with the author of this article; the look of the redesign provides more easily accessible content and a better use of space.  The redesign does look a lot like a Yelp business page.  It will be interesting to see if Facebook can better compete in the local search space, given the strength of Yelp and others (Foursquare, Google Places, etc.).  

#3 – “Branding Like Apple: 20 Ways to Make Your Biz Stand Out” – BigGirlBranding.com

Premise: The article provides twenty different ways to help your brand or business stand out with others.  These recommendations or steps are presented in a straightforward manner with a few blurbs following each to provide a little more detail.

Thoughts: We’ve mentioned this a few times here; branding isn’t rocket science, but it is very easy to miss a step, focus in the wrong areas, and/or trip up along the way.  These steps/recommendations are good to keep by your side / in your back pocket as a reminder for your business on what to do and how to do it better than your competition.

To point to just one of the recommendations here, I particularly liked #18 – “Culture a tradition”.  I really like the thought behind this; make your customers comfortable right from the beginning.  They should know exactly what to expect from you or your company right away.

#4 – “Google+ for Brands: 4 Reasons Your Brand Should Be On It” – Blog.Hootsuite.com  

Premise: While many are quick to dismiss the platform, Google+ has grown to 500 million users, of which almost 350 million are considered active users.  This write-up provides more rationale as to why you or your brand/business need to be using the network.  With a lot more detail in the article itself, there are four steps or reasons for your brand to be on G+: 1. Better Discovery, 2. Deeper Engagement, 3. Marketing Performance, and 4. Measurable Impact.

Thoughts: Past Sunday Musings have focused on G+ and a need to leverage the site, particularly around #1 and #2 from this article – which includes our personal recommendations to engage in G+’s Communities.  The connections across Google’s platforms presented in #3 and #4 here are just as important to your brand/business.  Working with and fully understanding the capabilities of Google’s AdWords, Ripples, and Analytics will help your brand better understand your audience and to make the necessary tweaks to your online presence and to optimize your message/efforts.

#5 – “Celebrity Endorsement – 5 Key Questions You Should Ask” – Alison Cressey on BrandingMagazine.com

Premise: One would typically believe that celebrities help sell your brand or product.  Before spending money on hiring a celebrity to promote your business, this write-up provides a few questions you should ask yourself to ensure you are getting the most out of your investment.

Thoughts: Interesting take on how or when you should consider celebrity endorsement here, with an appropriate caveat to why you might consider passing on this marketing technique.  I particularly “enjoyed” reading about Oprah’s promotional efforts of the Surface tablet … while using an iPad.  I would not be happy if I was Steve Ballmer and I would be pretty embarrassed if that was my campaign … and/or infuriated with Oprah.

The questions and thoughts here make a lot of sense.  You need to make sure the celebrity endorsing your products connects with and is relevant to your target market / audience.  You can quickly waste a lot of cash by not fully understanding these components.

What caught your eye this week in branding and digital marketing?

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 4-21-13

April 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Sunday Musings 2

Branding and Digital Marketing

We’re back after a week’s hiatus with our ‘Sunday Musings’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing from the past week.  As always, you can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

#1 – “9 Ways to Become a Better Facebook Community Manager” – SocialMediaExaminer.com

Premise: If you are looking to open a Facebook Community page or want to strengthen an existing one, SME provides nine easy to employ steps towards optimization.  Your community is a deep extension of your brand, so you’ll want to ensure you follow these steps to engage with your audience.

Thoughts: There are several items in here that may seem like commonsense to some but continue to trip up many.  Particularly of interest and importance was #4 – Know the industry; if you are running someone else’s Facebook Community, you must be engaged in said business or industry.

I am also a firm believer in each of the following; #2 – Have access to visuals, #6 – Answer questions quickly, and #8 – Respond calmly to negative posts.  While not always easy to do, particularly #6 and #8, you must take a step back and remember that your community is an extension of your brand and any trip-ups can have a large, negative influence on you or your brand.

#2 – “Google is testing One Today, an Android app for giving $1 micro-donations to good causes” – TheNextWeb.com  

Premise: Google has launched a new app, One Today, on its Android platform that allows users donate as little as $1 to charities and organizations of their own choice or preference as they are made available on the app.  The app is an extension of Google for Nonprofits.  While access is currently by invitation only, you can download the app in Google Play now and await the email invitation.

Thoughts: I love efforts like this from Google (and others).  As TNW states, while $1 may not seem like much, the ability to share your donation with others helps build word-of-mouth for each respective cause.  While I await the official invitation to join, in looking at screenshots, it seems as if you can donate more than $1 to any particular cause that may be of interest to you. 

#3 – “5 Reasons Why Building Your Online Brand is Vital” – 36Creative.com

Premise: In today’s world, building your brand online isn’t a choice or option, it is a necessity.  This article provides five solid reasons as to why you must build and leverage an online presence.

Thoughts: This felt like a nice summation of why you need to be online in order to build your brand in the 21st century.  It is a concise story that should help convince you and/or others to leverage the internet for your brand/business.  The fifth reason in the article – ‘Learn more about your customers’ – is an item that isn’t taken advantage of enough.  If you aren’t using analytics to better understand your audience, you are setting yourself up for failure.

#4 – “5 Easy Steps To Becoming A Google+ Wizard” – RivalIQ.com  

Premise: While people and brands continue to ignore Google+, the author creates a compelling case as to why this is a mistake.  There are clear benefits to being on Google+ right now – an engaged audience and advantages in SEO.  After this, there are five steps provided on setting up your G+ profile correctly and how to leverage the site appropriately.

Thoughts: When starting Shore Branding a few months ago, it was clear that beyond the web site itself, I was going to set up a Twitter page and a Google+ page; Facebook and Pinterest were added later on after thinking more about each.  Google+ is a tremendous tool to take advantage of for your business.  I completely agree with the two core benefits laid out in this article on why you should leverage G+.  As I have mentioned before, the Communities feature on G+ (the #3 step in this article) is a huge advantage for the platform that should be taken more advantage of by brands/companies.  Overall, this was a strong, in-depth summary of why you need to consider Google+.

#5 – “How Brands Shouldn’t Handle a Tragedy on Social Media” – Frank Eliason on LinkedIn.com

Premise: As you are likely all well aware, this past week presented more tragedy in the world, specifically in Boston and Texas.  While brands will always focus on their business, there always seems to be an outlier that takes things too far on social media.  Where is the line drawn?  This write-up provides a few thoughts, as well as secondary links, to help us remember what the appropriate balance is or should be.

Thoughts: The example provided at the top of this write-up from Epicurious and their tweets from the Boston Marathon makes my blood boil.  Brands and businesses need to draw the line and society really needs to get a grip of themselves sometimes.  Watching this week unfold, particularly on Friday through the news stations on TV and on Twitter, it was amazing to get a glimpse as to how things have changed so dramatically in just the past few years.

Twitter, and links from others on Twitter, provided “better” news than watching MSNBC, CNN, and/or Fox.  (Avoiding all political backlash by checking all three stations Friday; they were equally bad.)  Those stations were literally reading online comments, Twitter feeds, etc.  When they weren’t, they were making a mockery of news reporting.  The means of getting our news has certainly changed with the likes of Twitter and other online sources.  How far will this go and drastic will these changes get remains to be seen.

What caught your eye this week in branding and digital marketing?

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by this week’s events.

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Sunday Musings w/ Shore Branding – 4-7-13

April 6, 2013 By 1 Comment

Sunday Musings 1

Here are this week’s ‘Sunday Musings’ – the top five stories in branding and digital marketing from the past seven six days.  As always, you can find the archives of this weekly write-up under the Blog-Sunday Musings tab at the top of the page.

Please note that there will not be a Musings next Sunday, 4/14.  We’ll be returning to our regularly scheduled write-up the following weekend, 4/21.

#1 – “Facebook Home – Facebook take control over Android Phones” – HotInSocialMedia.com

Premise: On Thursday, Facebook announced its latest plans for mobile – Facebook Home.  This is not being billed as Facebook’s own mobile phone or operating system, but the means in which to create a more social device.  The first device that will have the Home feature will be from HTC on AT&T.

Thoughts: This seems like a good idea for Android and its open platform, bringing in the Facebook diehards onto their OS.  It seems a little counterintuitive to the direction Facebook has been heading with their partnerships with Microsoft and Bing.  Perhaps that is the intent however, to re-balance their positioning across the tech behemoths.  To be perfectly honest, I have no interest in a Facebook Home driven phone, but I can see the value in it for both companies.

#2 – “The Marketing Value of YouTube” – SEOMOZ.org 

Premise: Should you or your business have a YouTube page?  The article provides a lot of information on whether or not setting up a YouTube page is right for you and the rationale behind the decision.  Beyond building awareness for your brand, there are advantages to be found by using YouTube for your business, including its integration with other social networks.  The write-up then goes into the various types of content that can be put on your site, recommendations on whether or not you should have a page, how to measure success of the page itself, and FAQ’s.

Thoughts: There is a tremendous amount of information available in this write-up for consideration.  If your business is weighing whether or not you should start a YouTube page, I would consider this a very good starting point for that discussion.  The analytics piece towards the end will also help you better understand what is working and what might not be … while not relying on “view counts”.     

#3 – “April Fools’ Day: Brands Show Off Their Funny Side on Social Media” – BrandChannel.com

Premise: The week started off on April Fools’ Day and brands were quick to pounce on social media with a number of great gags for their brands and products.  BrandChannel.com has taken a stab at collecting some of the best from the web here in this write-up.

Thoughts: My favorite April Fools’ Day product came from Scope and its Bacon-flavored mouthwash.  I even fell for this for a second until I was reminded what day it was.  Their ad was well put together and the overall idea/concept isn’t too far from reality.  Also, how many different pranks does Google need to create?

#4 – “What digital marketing will look like in 5 years” – iMediaConnection.com 

Premise: In an exclusive interview, Intel’s Brian David Johnson answers questions on the future of digital marketing, technology, and role of TV’s, magazines, etc. through a Google+ Hangout.  You’ll see five separate videos here, each related to a particular topic and lasting between 1-2 minutes.

Thoughts: Good thoughts and answers here from Intel’s Futurist.  My favorite answer out of the five videos posted is under the “Will TV and magazines die?” headline.  Many are quick to say that X and Y are dead/done, and that isn’t necessarily the case, they are just evolving into something a little different.

#5 – “Why You Might Want to Be More Negative in Your Marketing” – blog.hubspot.com

Premise: The author provides 8 different areas in which one might choose to leverage a negative thought, expression, etc. in their marketing efforts.  The article goes through these various options and how/why consumers are engaged by this type of marketing.  Note that towards the end of the article, they are clear that a shift or push into negative marketing can backfire.

Thoughts: I wouldn’t have even classified several of these negative marketing efforts, but they all could create buzz or have you fall flat.  You’ve certainly seen negative titles and headlines, it is what drives you to click around on the Internet so often.  I’m not a fan of #6 on this list – ‘Stir up some controversy’.  This irks me the wrong way, particularly when it seems so unbelievable and that someone or some company is just putting it out there to drive reaction from others.  My favorite on the list: #8 – ‘Make fun of yourself’.  Self-deprecating humor is humor at its best.

Have you tried to go negative in any of your marketing?  If so, did it work?  Should I preface this article with “Do not click on this link, you will never be the same” when sharing on social networks?

What else may have caught your eye in branding and digital marketing news this week?

Again, just a reminder, there will not be a ‘Sunday Musings’ next week, 4/14.  We will return the following week with more thoughts and stories in branding and digital marketing on 4/21.

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Most Influential Reading – Book Review Part 2

March 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Photo credit: ScriptsandScribes.com

Photo credit: ScriptsandScribes.com

Building off of last week’s article on some of my favorite books that cover branding and digital marketing-related topics/issues, here are my top three all-time favorites to conclude the book review.

Similar to the earlier reviews, below I have included a link to the online reviews on Amazon within the title of the book itself.  I’ve also provided a link to a respective page for each author (Twitter feed, own home page) for those that may be interested.

#3 – “Six Pixels of Separation” – by Mitch Joel

Brief Summary:

Joel, who is the President of Twist Image, provides a detailed look at optimizing your social media plan with both recommendations and specific tools that are at everyone’s fingertips.  He provides a number of sites to leverage and how to best leverage them.  Joel also provides real life success stories in building a brand or company through online connections.

Why I enjoyed the book:

Entrenched with digital marketing and social media recommendations, I felt like Joel did a tremendous job of tying the real life stories together with his own recommendations on how to succeed online.  Around the time of reading this I started my limited blogging efforts, which made this book that much more interesting and changing my frame of mind to treating the blog as my own “brand”.

#2 – “Focus” – by Al Ries

Brief Summary:

While somewhat dated (first published in 1996 and reissued in 2005), the premise of Ries’ extended title remains the same in today’s world, “Focus – The Future of Your Company Depends on It”.  Ries effectively argues that a company must work to get their brand, product, service, etc. right.  Without focus you are doomed to fail – maybe not right away, but you cannot sustain success without focus.

Companies and brands must fight the urge to extend/divide themselves too wide in order to meet growing demand of internal (profitability, the board room) and external (consumers) forces.  It isn’t necessarily a terrible thing to try to extend your brand’s equity into new space, as long as you keep your foot on the throttle of what is already working for you and consumers – assuming there is something going right.

Why I enjoyed the book:

The overall message of “focus” and doing something right simply resonated deeply with me.  Trying to spread your business too thin and trying to run before walking is a message that is always in my mind when talking to clients.  Figure out where you can win and what is attainable and go do it.  However, if and when success comes, don’t immediately turn the page and start looking in another direction, keep going and keep winning!

#1 – “UnMarketing” – by Scott Stratten

Brief Summary:

Scott Stratten simply kills it with this book that was originally published in 2010 (since revised/updated).  Stratten turns your marketing hats upside down to clean out the cobwebs of so many “tried and true” marketing formulas.  The central theme of the novel revolves around building and driving engagement with your (potential) customers.  He then provides a number of examples of how this has and has not worked for others.  Stratten firmly pushes down on how and where to best leverage online platforms to strengthen your relationships with consumers and/or building new ones.

Why I enjoyed the book:

Not to overdramatize this too much, but when I read this book back in 2010, I couldn’t stop saying “Yes!” and “This!!”  Truth be told, this book really started getting the wheels in motion for me and trying to help others in this ever adapting world and how (not) to run your business and communication online.  Small business owners that have any interest in online marketing should consider this the Holy Grail – an easy to read, informative piece of writing that includes at least one nugget of information to take with you at its conclusion.

It didn’t hurt that Stratten spends so much time discussing Twitter and how to activate your consumer base through the site.  I am a huge believer in the power of Twitter and what it can do for you in the long run.  If you stick to your message(s) and have strong content or a worthy offering, people will find you on the site.  Stick to it and have fun with it!  (… and don’t screw up!)

So there you have it, my favorite books over the years in the brand building and digital marketing arenas.  If you have any recommendations for old or new novels that might be of keen interest, please let me know!  I would appreciate any recommendations for future reading.  Also, if you happened to particularly like/dislike any of these books, let me know in the comments below.

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Most Influential Reading – Book Review Part 1

March 6, 2013 By 1 Comment
What's on your bookshelf?

What’s on your bookshelf?

Since the early 2000’s I have really enjoyed reading business-related books and novels on brand building, digital marketing, and the occasional book that gets your mind thinking in many different directions (e.g. Freaknomics and most of Malcolm Gladwell’s work).  With a focus on the former two subjects, here are my current favorites in rank-order.  I had a hard time narrowing this down to a smaller number, so we’re going to break this up into two entries.  The first will focus on numbers 4-6.  Next Wednesday, I’ll finish the book review with the top three.

Below I have included a link to the online reviews on Amazon within the title of the book itself.  I’ve also provided a link to a respective page for each author (Twitter feed, own home page) for those that may be interested.

#6 – “Engage!” – by Brian Solis

Brief Summary:

Engage covers a wealth of information, as you might quickly see from the extended title, “Engage! The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web”.  Wow, that’s quite a loaded title and Solis delivers on all aspects.

There is a wealth of information here on how to conduct your digital strategy correctly and where to do so.  Solis provides a tremendous amount of information on pages related to web analytics, how to win across social media sites, and breaks this all down in an easy to read format.

Why I enjoyed the book:

My favorite part of the entire picture is one of my biggest focus points when talking to clients; engaging in the conversation with your (potential) consumers.  You don’t have to be on every single social media web site.  Please, don’t open up an account on every new site just to be there.  Pick your spots and do them well.  Foster an environment that opens up the conversation, don’t post your article/link/etc. and walk away from the site until you are ready to share your next one.

I also learnt a lot about web analytics from this book; where to go and how to think deeper about them.  This wasn’t a book that left me feeling inferior because I couldn’t understand the jargon used to describe each step in the process.

#5 – “Good to Great – Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t” – by Jim Collins

Brief Summary:

Good to Great provides an inside perspective to eleven companies that were able to successfully build long term, sustainable results.  What made these companies great – was it luck, one leader that knew how to push all the right buttons, and/or technological advantages?  The short answer is “No”.

Collins and his research team combed through endless amounts of data and company profiles.  Across industries, the final eleven “great” companies have fascinating stories and all are a little different.  This includes Kroger, Kimberly Clark, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo.  However, it is worth noting that several “great” companies have changed course or fallen off over the past handful of years and since the recession.

Why I enjoyed the book:

The findings in this book are made via combing through tons of data points and overlaying information from a lot of different sources.  This type of information and analysis is right up my alley, as I really enjoy rolling up the sleeves and spreading the information out across a desk to get to work.

The example companies provided by Collins and his team are also household names, which makes it pretty easy to understand the process he takes you through and how each company has executed its move to “greatness”.  There are also a few concepts that Collins leverages (The Hedgehog Concept, The Flywheel, and the Doom Loop) that are easy to understand and apply to business models.

#4 – “Analysis Without Paralysis” – by Babette E. Bensoussan and Craig S. Fleisher

Brief Summary:

Bensoussan and Fleisher take the reader through what they need to know when running or working with a business.  The book provides a summary of an analytical process and then walks you through various types of analysis that should be conducted to better market your company/brand to consumers, understand your competition and positioning, and many more.

Why I enjoyed the book:

This book won me over as soon as I saw/read the title.  Too many times, brands and companies fall all over themselves and can’t get out of their own way when thinking about their go-to-market strategy.  Any book that can help a brand or company evaluate their positioning in market without overcomplicating the process every step of the way should be considered a must-read for business owners, those in leadership positions, etc.

What are some of your favorite books in the branding and digital marketing arenas?  Have you read any of the three mentioned here?  If so, what did you think?

Again, we’ll finish this list next Wednesday night with my top three books built around consumer behavior, branding and digital marketing.

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Poll Question: Which social media sites do you leverage the most?

February 23, 2013 By 1 Comment
Which social media sites do you prefer?

Which social media sites do you prefer?

You have probably noticed the poll on the right sidebar of each page – Which social media sites do you leverage the most?  This poll will be leveraged to kick-off a series of write-ups that Shore Branding will be blogging about over the next few months.  The social media site with the most votes at the end of March ’13 will be the focal point of the first blog entry in the series.  The write-up on said site will consist of recommendations and thoughts on how to best leverage the site for businesses, a “do and don’t” list for your consideration, as well as infographics for the site that have been put together for each.

Over the course of time, each of the social media sites in this poll will become separate blog entries that include similar thoughts and recommendations for users and businesses of each.  Let us know which site you use most frequently and in the comments below and/or let us know what you like most about your selection and what benefits you may have already gained from leveraging the site.  We are interested in hearing what may have worked for you.

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