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

02 November 2008

I guess this is one of those posts that if I were to die tomorrow I would be annoyed this came up first on my blog.

But. I have a question which probably falls best under the Almost Pointless Blog Design category. Should the “Older Posts” button at the bottom of every blog be on the left hand side or the right hand side?

If you read chronologically from left to right then I imagine it should be on the left. But if you want your blog to open like a book I suppose it should appear on the right.

Thoughts?

Posted by Zac Martin

30 October 2008

Something that has always bugged me is how people suggest good bloggers should be consistent with their content.

I don’t understand why this medium of new media needs to comply with traditional media practises.

My Dad reads his newspaper every morning. Therefore his news paper must land on his doorstep at 6am each day. But I don’t read the newspaper, I have an my RSS Feed. I want things to come in as they are published, not once a day at the same time.

I try to post every second day. But sometimes it’s longer and sometimes it’s shorter. People subscribe to my blog and pull my feed into their reader when a post is published. So why does my content need to be consistent?

Posted by Zac Martin

28 October 2008

I was on another episode of the Gen Y Marketing Podcast and Nat, who incidentally has a great little blog, suggested there should bee some sort of framework on the levels of engagement when it came to social media. I couldn’t find anything so here are my thoughts.

Unless you’re specifically targeting a certain group of evangelists, every campaign should have three levels; Low, Medium and High…

Low
These are usually the consumers you simply broadcast to. Little interaction with the brand takes place and at this level consumers are not all that passionate or loyal toward your brand.

On the episode we discussed the recent Dunlop Volley campaign. At this level of engagement, it is the consumer who just see the ads. Another example is the television series Lost, and again on this level the consumer would just be watching the show.

Medium
Here things step up a bit and the consumer seeks further interaction with your brand. They become more engaged and to do so they might head to the Dunlop Volley website and look around or purchase a season of Lost on DVD and watch the Special Features. Some evangelism starts to develop on this level.

High
These are your most loyal and most passionate brand evangelists and they want more interaction with the brand than anyone else. These consumers want to create their own UGC for Dunlop Volleys. These were the ones leading the pack on Lost’s massive ARG. As a marketer, these consumers are worth the most do you.

With that said, sometimes it might be appropriate to target your campaigns at only one or two levels of engagement. McDonald’s went for a mass approach with their Name It Burger campaign. This was done on the Low level where you simply had to enter a name and you were done. Pepsi asked consumers to design their own can. You were restricted to a basic design application on the website but this allowed for a lower barrier of entry and would be considered on the Medium level. Doritos ran the High level You Make It, We’ll Play It campaign where consumers were encouraged to film, edit and submit a video online.

The question becomes do you run a campaign that allows for all three levels or specifically focuses on one? But as with most marketing questions, it depends on your brand, product, campaign and objective.

Posted by Zac Martin

23 October 2008

Check out this article by Paul Boutin which appeared in Wired Magazine a few days ago. Or even just read the opening line…
“Thinking about launching your own blog? Here’s some friendly advice: Don’t. And if you’ve already got one, pull the plug.”
Just recently my blog celebrated its first birthday. I look at how much I have achieved given the fact I’m a nineteen year old student with no actual experience in the marketing industry and have not choice but to conclude that this dude is a tool.

Obviously I’m bias and my readership will be too (dur), but what do you think?

Thanks for the article, Wags.

Posted by Zac Martin

21 October 2008

… remarkably bad, that is.

I can’t say enough about the importance of being remarkable. Seth Godin’s Purple Cow is what they should be teaching in university marketing degrees. Matt Granfield loves it almost as much as I do.

But it’s easy to be remarkable when you’re product or service isn’t good. But that’s not the kind of remarkable you want to be.

Posted by Zac Martin