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The goal of marketing is to win the hearts, minds and trust of people. If you win them over, you might win their business too. It has taken a lifetime of experiences to learn these timeless laws of marketing. Being the youngest of 11 kids, losing my Dad at 6, being raised primarily by women and becoming a bridge builder shaped my worldview towards human-centered marketing. I hope you find them beneficial. 1. The Law of Humanity Great brands always remember that prospects, customers, users, ambassadors and loyalists are real people, with real needs, wants, motivations and ambitions. They never forget that they are in the business of making the lives of their customers easier and helping them realize their ambitions. Be empathetic. Treat customers like human beings. Humanize your brand. 2.The Law of Findability If they can’t find you, they can’t buy you. If a prospect can’t find you on Google page 1, your product or service won’t be … Continue reading
Posted in: Elliance culture, Marketing, Marketing Strategy
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Marketing, like ecology, is a complex ecosystem of reciprocal relationships thriving in a network of mutuality. Parts grow, interdependence begins and symbiotic relationships form. It adapts to each new season. Mutual Reinforcement in a Marketing Ecosystem On the organizational or micro-level, marketing is a highly interconnected, mutually reinforcing and complex ecosystem of paid, owned and earned media tactics – part digital and part traditional. Examples include: Brand strategy and strategic plans build strength upon strength. Magazine stories lift program/service offerings; in turn, program/service offerings imbue the stories with context and relevance. Tightly aligned page content and SEO meta-coding persuades humans and influences the Google bot alike. Content marketing creates a rising tide of website visitors, and paid advertising lifts the site visitor volume disproportionally. The presence of the brand in both Google organic and Google paid results creates a four-fold increase in click-throughs. Billboards and the website tango to enhance brand reputation. Lean print pieces and advertising complement smart websites. … Continue reading
Great marketers are a rare breed. They are shapeshifters who play ten crucial roles and gracefully switch between them: S T R A T E G I S T As strategic thinkers, they imagine new possibilities, combinations and offerings that don’t yet exist. They don’t confuse strategy with planning or tactics. They play to win. D I R E C T O R The daily work of a marketing leader is to orchestrate in-house and out-sourced talent in service of larger goals. They recognize, motivate and unleash talent…wherever they can find it. I N T E G R A T I V E T H I N K E R They understand that marketing is a highly interconnected, mutually reinforcing and complex ecosystem of paid, owned and earned media tactics – part digital and part traditional. They have the capacity and the desire to work through its complexities. E V A N G E L I S T They help … Continue reading
Posted in: Marketing, Marketing Strategy
Much like an ill-fitting or dated suit, companies and institutions with out-dated or poorly executed identities need to be aware of the perception their identity has in the markets they serve. Does your identity still fit your organization and what it does? Does it represent who you are? Is it time for a change, and if so, how can you be sure? The best identities help to synthesize and crystallize a brand to their consumers. From cave paintings dated 40,000 years ago to digital marvels created today, it is clear that humanity has, throughout history, continued to visually create symbols to trigger an emotion, a memory, a response. The definition of identity is listed as a condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is; the qualities, beliefs, that distinguish or identify a person or thing. The importance and power of an identity cannot be understated. While brands speak to the minds and hearts of followers, an identity and its visual … Continue reading
Posted in: Brand Voice, Branding, Identity, Marketing Strategy
Most people draw a clear line between conventional marketing of products and services, and social marketing, which broadly defined applies marketing principles to change human behavior in order to improve health or benefit society. But what happens when you bring a social issue forward that almost nobody knows even exists — one that goes to the very heart of an American ideal as old as the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. True in countless respects, but not when it comes to gauging a child’s future academic success. Some children simply are born “gifted” or “talented” — and that wealth of talent spreads equally across all segments of the American population, regardless of race, religion, geography or family income. Researchers count about 3.4 million academically gifted American school children in grades K-12 who happen also to be poor. Here is where the story gets interesting. Year after year, grade after … Continue reading
Inbound marketing is essential: Provide information customers want, via blogs, videos, podcasts, articles, newsletters, social media updates and SEO and they’ll naturally turn to your website to learn more. Using multiple tactics makes inbound marketing a proactive approach that’s extremely effective. Paid advertising is critical: Wouldn’t it be great if you could tailor ads to speak directly to your target audience? With pay-per-click ads, that’s exactly what happens. The keywords potential customers type into a search bar lead them directly to your ads. Boots on the ground make connections: It’s hard to achieve success online without an effective ground game taking place offline. Military strategists know it. Political campaigns live it. This means making time to go on road shows. Plan seminars for prospects. Meet face-to-face. Follow-up is everything: Getting new leads is just the beginning. These leads must be nurtured with follow-up email/call campaigns, invitations to special events, and other escalation tactics to move hot prospect towards a close. … Continue reading
Posted in: Marketing Strategy, newsletter
I love ROI. You can probably tell from my Twitter handle: @LuvROI. Yet, we marketers don’t often push our metrics far enough to effectively measure ROI. I’m not talking about impressions, frequency, clicks and other traditional campaign measurements. Not at all. Rather, we should view marketing outcomes through the same revenue-focused lens used by senior management in any organization. Digital, social and mobile media (with related analytics) offer increasing opportunities to measure what’s really important to Boards, CEOs, CFOs and other senior executives. Sample Revenue Metrics Number/percentage of new prospects generated online? How engaged are prospects (using blogs, galleries, video, mobile apps, social sites and other measurements)? Percent increase/decrease? Number/percent increase/decrease in gifts made via web? Mobile? Social? Number/percent increase/decrease in average size of gift made via web? Mobile? Social? All this, and more, is possible… When I was a client of Elliance, one of the simplest (but most meaningful) things I ever did was share the “Hottest Prospects” reports … Continue reading
Posted in: Marketing Strategy, philanthropy marketing
The closer my son gets to college age (t-minus three years) the more I ask myself: “Does the work I do listening for and giving voice to higher education brands actually help prospects and parents make sound choices?” In an essay published last week in the Chronicle of Higher Education, James M. Lang, associate professor of English and director of the college honors program at Assumption College, an Elliance client, brings the question home. Lang recounts how seven or eight campus tours left both he and his daughter wanting more. In particular, Lang craved “dialogue — from tour guides, admissions representatives, or promotional literature — about what most people see as the main functions of college: teaching and learning.” Lang offers a “modest proposal” — work with student guides to translate moments of classroom engagement and transformation (value) into succinct stories worth telling on a campus tour. As someone charged with soliciting such “aha” teaching and learning moments from faculty … Continue reading
If done right, SEO will literally outlive your website. On the internet, we don’t often think of our media as having any intrinsic permanent value. News headlines are expired within minutes; tweets are gone in a flash. Blogs squabble and compete for our momentary attention before disappearing again into obscurity. Even websites rarely stand the test of time: In a survey of over 160 companies, more than one third said they had redesigned their website within the last three months. In recent years, marketers have played along. They’ve taken to social media and “#hashtag” campaigns, with performance measured in durations of days or hours. They’ve pushed press releases onto the digital wires, to watch traffic spike for a day or two at best. An occasional campaign may outlast expectations — a viral video might last a few weeks before falling out of fashion — but then it’s back to the drawing board for another short-lived campaign push. Search engine optimization … Continue reading
Posted in: Marketing Strategy, ROI, Search Marketing
During these times when consumers tend to ignore billboard ads, block telemarketing calls, and fast forward through television commercials, inbound marketing is a hot topic. Tactics typically categorized as inbound marketing are ones that encourage interested prospective customers to come to you, as opposed to simply purchasing their attention through advertising and other methods of pushing out marketing and sales communication. Inbound marketing tactics include activities like blogging, search marketing, social media, and content marketing (producing videos, creating infographics, writing articles, etc.). While both inbound and outbound marketing certainly have their merits, the benefits of incorporating inbound marketing strategies into your long-term plan are unmistakable. According to a 2012 Hubspot report, “inbound marketing-dominated organizations experience a 61% lower cost per lead than outbound marketing-dominated organizations.” While a lower-cost outcome might not be surprising for organizations that don’t spend as much on traditional, costly tactics like advertising and direct mail, what is interesting is how strong the leads turn out to … Continue reading
Posted in: Marketing Strategy, Search Marketing, Social Media