Making the Connection with Mom

The Mom Connection

Moms buy everything from diapers to desks, lipstick to laptops and moisturizers to mini-vans.  With an annual spending of over $2 trillion, just about every brand has recognized the buying power they possess.  To effectively reach this lucrative demographic it is essential that marketers address the four key emotional drivers that motivate moms to make consumer decisions.

Marketers who speak to moms with a message that is relevant, valuable and in a language they understand will capture this advantageous buying power.  Perhaps most important are timing and placement – what good is the right message in the wrong place?

Connect By Hertz is #1 at the Buck I Slam Basketball Tournament!

The Connect by Hertz campaign at The Ohio State University is in full swing, or should we say slam dunk!  Check out the latest photos, from the Buck I Slam basketball tournament, on AMG’s facebook page.

It's Time to Hit the Reset

Why It’s Time to Hit the Reset Button on Trust

In an age of digital and social media trust is a hard word to define.  Wikipedia defines a trusted party as one who is “presumed to seek to fulfill policies, ethical codes, laws and their previous promises.” 

Cluetrain Manifesto’s co author, Doc Searls, warns of a coming “advertising bubble” and a push-media “attention economy” crash.  If this is true, then marketers in particular need to recount and rehash the rules of trust.

Trust has three main components:  credibility (delivering on promises), care (demonstrating an understanding of the other party’s needs) and congruency (the extent to which a brand’s and a consumer’s values are aligned).  To foster trust, marketers must think of it as an overarching principle, one that transcends sales.

Consumers trust the brands that demonstrate they really mean it.

Tweeter

Twitter Unveils Plans to Draw Money From Ads

Twitter unveiled a plan Tuesday to use advertising to turn its massive popularity into cash.  “Promoted Tweets” will allow businesses and organizations to highlight their 140 character or less messages to a wider group of users.  Under a system reminiscent of Google’s advertising formats, businesses will be able to buy ads that appear in Twitter’s search results.  Brands including Starbucks, Best Buy, Red Bull, Sony Pictures and Virgin America will be the first customers to experiment with ”Promoted Tweets”.

Now that the ad platform has been revealed and Twitter is focused on making money, the question is this:  will users engage with or reject Twitter ads?

Email Counting T-Shirt

T-Shirt Let’s You Know When “You’ve Got Mail”

You probably don’t have enough reminders that you’re always a little behind, right?  Well Chris and his wife Madeline decided to make one more for themselves:  A t-shirt that lights up when you have new emails.  It even tells you the number in your inbox!

Personally, I hope they don’t start requiring this at work!

US Internet Users More Likely to Buy

Social Fans More Likely to Purchase

If a business doesn’t have a presence on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook they risk being seen as “out of touch” while missing out on valuable word of mouth and even sales.  Ina recent study by market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate not only are Facebook fans and Twitter followers apt to recommend brands they follow to others, they are also more likely to make a purchase from those brands.

While 60% of Facebook users and 79% of Twitter users are more likely to recommend a brand after becoming a friend or fan, over half of Facebook users and 67% of Twitterers are more likely to purchase from brands they latch on to.

“Companies not actively engaging are missing a huge opportunity and are saying something to consumers – intentionally or unintentionally – about how willing they are to engage on consumers’ terms,” according to Josh Mendelsohn, VP at Chadwick Martin Bailey.  Today’s consumers expect that a business will have a digital presence and the perception is that those that don’t are out of touch or are not interested in the demographic that frequents Facebook and Twitter.

Andre Nader and Jared Golden at SxSW

Chill 3.0 atop Fogo de Chao at SxSW

On Saturday at the Entrepreneur’s Lounge, aka Chill 3.0, Nader with Build a Sign and Golden, AMG’s CEO. The two contemplate if beers could send data from bottle to bottle when tapped together, like the BUMP iPhone app.  Next year at SxSW you two?

Frank Cooper, Chief Consumer Engagement Officer, PepsiCo

Pepsi Pushes Social Graphs to Help Consumers Build Identity and Brand Loyalty 

Frank Cooper, Senior Vice President and Chief Consumer Engagement Officer at PepsiCo Americas Beverages, believes the approach markers have been taken for the last 75 years is no longer relevant.  Today brands need to add value to our lives.  “We remain in the middle of a brand marketing crisis,” Cooper says.

Marketers need to create what Cooper calls ‘identity value’.  The current brand marketing model is broken but Cooper and other forward-thinking marketers think it can be fixed and even become more relevant than ever.  The trick is for marketers to go the extra mile to be sure their brands are servicing consumers in a relevant manner.  Marketers should focus on how digital technology allows consumers to relate to brands in ways historically not possible.  The goal is to discover opportunities to add value to the lives of consumers’.  “As marketers, we need to create meaningful experiences for consumers, not just sponsor content,” Cooper states.

Rise of the Data Economy

Death of the Impression, Rise of the Data Economy

The promise of digital display advertising has always been that it would allow marketers to put the right message in front of the right customer at the right moment.  So what makes the ad valuable?  As ads generate more data, their values increase; every bit of data has value.

“It is about data… data in ways we have never before fathomed.  The future of advertising is not about social, not about viral videos, not about mobile, not about any new medium or any new ad unit– but about data.  Those who know what to do with this will be the new king makers, the new rulers of Madison Avenue — or the new creators of a new Avenue of media.” Michael D. Andrew, Director of Search and Analytics at Mediasmith

In the future, data will assist advertisers in devising more effective, efficient marketing campaigns.  Marketers that understand technology will utilize it to reach their target consumers.  In turn, advertisements will become more focused.  Marketers will feel empowered to make more informed decisions on the most beneficial platform to use to engage their consumers.

Percent of Professionals Who Measure ROI

Measuring Return on Social Investment

Managers rely on ROI to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and initiatives.  When calculating ROI, marketers must not forget about their beloved social media campaigns.

Wikipedia defines social media as media designed to be disseminated through social interaction and created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.  Though social media marketing is scalable, according to a survey by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, fewer than one in five marketers measured social media ROI in 2009.  “Marketers believe that measuring true ROI for social media is difficult” said Geoff Ramsey, eMarketer CEO.  “There are so many metrics available that it is difficult to choose which ones are the most important.  In addition, marketers do not start with clear objectives for using social media.”

Marketers should define their marketing goals and connect them to social media objectives.  Three steps can aid in the process; 1) identify marketing objectives; 2) choose measurement categories that match those objectives; and 3) track those metrics in the technologies they are using.

As more marketers measure social media campaigns, ROI, the true value of platforms that can effectively build brand loyalty will come to be known.