25 November 2008

Before I get into it, should probably talk quickly about the Digital Marketing & Media Summit. It was okay.

Julian Cole was kind enough to hook me up with a free ticket, and I certainly would have been annoyed had I paid $990. Even then I only hung around for half a day, the student in me decided to wait until after lunch before leaving.

The best thing I got from the day was a couple of ideas for blog posts.

For the audience there, they may have found some sessions useful but honestly most presentations were fairly dry. The exception of course was Julian’s (it’s possible that was only the case because I helped him out on stage).

A question asked to Julian was what were some examples of social media marketing being done well in Australia. He talked about Bigpond on Twitter, which is a great case study, but even then they started out as a disaster.

Clearly Australia is lagging. But before I get too pessimistic, I wouldn’t mind building a list of Australian examples and case studies. So throwing it out to you guys, what Australian brands have used social media well?

Posted by Zac Martin

23 November 2008

“Social media is more than just advertising”, said Julian Cole at the Digital Marketing & Media Summit on Friday. So quotable that I wrote it down to blog about.

I realised that without even intending to, I accidentally drew the line as to what is and isn’t advertising when it comes to social media marketing, based on my two social media strategies.

The first is Broadcast, which is in a sense advertising and marketing focused. The second, Response, however is simply customer service.

Not everyone needs to market and advertise their product. But everyone should be engaging in and developing good customer service.

Posted by Zac Martin

19 November 2008

I don’t know if it happens to be a characteristic successful bloggers need or just a coincidence, but the Australian marketing blogging scene is… well… cool.

I’ve only met a few of them from the blogosphere, but Skyped with others and exchanged emails with even more of them. For some unknown reason, these people all seem to have a few things in common.

For the most part, very young, especially given their success in their field. They are passionate, keen and very driven. Not only have they been willing to help, but offered to as well. And above all, beer loving, easy going, cool, cool people.

I can’t help but think blogging wouldn’t be nearly as fun without the awesome guys and girls who make up the Australian marketing blogosphere. Hopefully I’ll get to meet a few more of them at the Digital Marketing & Media Summit on Friday.

Posted by Zac Martin

16 November 2008

My new favourite kid on the block is Daniel Oyster (sorry Adam!). Not only is he a ridiculously cool dude but he’s had a couple of killer first posts.

In his latest post, he asks bloggers to write their own eulogy. So here goes…

In the true style of Pigs Don’t Fly, I will keep this short and to the point.

Pigs Don’t Fly was the start of Zac Martin’s career. Through it, he built up his networks and knowledge which eventually lead him to where he is today. Right up until Pigs Don’t Fly’s death, Zac continued to blog for many, many years, long after he landed his first job.

Over the first few years it slowly built up to become one of the most meaningful, not necessarily popular, marketing blogs in Australia. Zac’s writings, thoughts and contributions to marketing were well respected around the globe and provided some thought provoking content that was discussed by many.

Zac aimed to blog every day like it was his last, often heard quoting, “If I died tomorrow, I would want my final post to be remarkable”.

If Zac had one thing that he wanted remembered from his now passed blog, it would be that pigs don’t fly.

RIP.

Posted by Zac Martin

14 November 2008

I guess this post is somewhat of a disclaimer.

The way I write, I think many readers often assume one of both of the following points. Firstly, that I believe everyone should have a blog and secondly, that social media marketing is the answer to everything. This is not the case.

I believe the potential a blogger has is incredible, but it would not be appropriate for every single person to write one. Just like some brands would have no benefit in writing one either.

And social media marketing isn’t the answer to everything. I hate traditional and interruption media and in five years your average marketing mix will have their roles very much minimised. But I’m the first to admit there are some amazing television spots, print ads and radio commercials out there and hey, once a year, I get a spam email that is actually useful. Traditional media can only get away with interrupting me if it’s remarkable, and very rarely is this the case.

So dearest readers, these two points are the grain of salt that my blog should be taken with.

Posted by Zac Martin

12 November 2008

Last week, Love Digital interviewed Seth Godin. This week they interviewed me. Cue the greatest anti climax of all time.

The interview was a follow up on a previous post about marketing education.

I’ve decided part of my degree should teach people how to handle interviews without sounding like too much of a knob.

Posted by Zac Martin

11 November 2008

I really hate that radio bloke.

The campaign consists of a series of radio commercials informing listeners on the benefits of advertising websites through the radio. That statistic used in this campaigns is something along the lines of…

“Over 80% of people who hear a relevant radio commercial referring to a website have visited a website as a result.”
So of every radio ad people are subject to, 80% of them have visited a website. That’s got to be at least fifty ads a day for most people… and only one of them will get a visit… and even then there’s only an 80% chance of that happening. And that’s not even including the irrelevant commercials. Sounds to me like a waste of money with less ROI than a banner ad.

Why not spend that money on paying someone to monitor and engage with your brand’s online conversation?

On a side note, I’ve actually been meaning to blog about this for a while. But I never remembered to because I always heard the ad in the car It wasn’t until the Gen Y Marketing Podcast mentioned it while I was with my notebook that I remembered. Guess that just supports my argument.

Posted by Zac Martin

09 November 2008

As a current student I think I can provide an interesting perspective on the marketing industry, at least from the view of how it’s being taught to soon to be graduates.

Check out this article by Alana Taylor and pretty much replace the word “journalism” with “marketing”. That’s how I feel. Even as a student of one of, if not, the best marketing degrees in Victoria (modest, I know) the course is lacking. I can’t help but feel that a student who graduates in two years (like myself) is going to be so far behind the industry it’s not funny. Unless of course they’re researching this stuff independently or learning and blogging about it on the side.

I know as a blogger I’m far too bias towards the idea of blogging. But all evidence, according to my own personal experience, tells me that being active in this area is better than nothing. I imagine when I graduate I’ll be fine, but what about everyone else?

Posted by Zac Martin

06 November 2008

If you’re trying to market a product to me, particularly through social media, try becoming my mate.

A good start is to buy me a beer. Give me something of value for free, otherwise I can find another friend who will. But don’t keep buying me beers all night, because after a while I’ll start to think you have other motives. Eventually I’ll get the next round to make it worth your while.

Now you’ve got my thirst quenched (and yours), the next step is to earn the friendship. Hang around for a few hours and have a chat. Tell a story or two. If you’re more of the quiet type, just sit back and enjoy the conversation.

No yelling though. And you’re not allowed to get us kicked out either. Though you can be inappropriate because that’s what my mates do. But if you’re out with my Mum then you should act like a gentleman.

When I’m out drinking, I’m not looking to buy what ever it is you’re selling me. But when I wake up tomorrow with a hang over I’ll remember who you are. If you’ve been out with me and my friends on a few different nights, I’ll know where to find you when I need to.

Beer… the answer to all of life’s problems.

Posted by Zac Martin

04 November 2008

Juju Cole wrote a pretty neat article a few weeks about about how awesome the Australian social media marketing bloggers are. The article talks about the ridiculous amount of free content and resources available to brands wanting to establish themselves in this space.

The only problem, of course, is that brands need someone to tell them they should be adding these bloggers to their RSS Feed in the first place. Just like someone needs to tell them they should have a Google Alerts account set up.

Both are free, but to know about them you already need to be inside the social media circle. Getting there isn’t hard, but the majority of brands need someone to push them in.

So perhaps social media marketers, agencies and consultants should be looking to pull clients inside that circle?

Posted by Zac Martin