Spyro Kourtis

on February 18, 2009

category: integrated marketing

President and CEO

Sandwich Board Agency of the Year

I wrote a guest column published in Adweek’s online edition yesterday that’s gotten some interesting reaction.

I suggest that awarding a "Digital Agency of the Year" is an anachronism, because we’re now at the point where every marketer needs digital tools and the digital world needs all marketing tools.

Some people agree, some don’t. A few miss the point (and must not have read the part about how, as a direct marketer, I love digital). 

One commenter says that online is an ecosystem unto itself. I couldn’t disagree more. People are online and offline. What happens in one "ecosystem" influences the other. And I have the numbers to prove it.

Another commenter made some very good points:

The old models help, but don’t have all the answers anymore. The problem with traditional marketers is that they keep coming up with command and control campaigns. Even the idea of media is different today.

Although I may not have articulated it the same way, I think we actually agree. I believe all agencies may, in fact, start looking more like digital agencies than traditional agencies in the next few months or years -- and that’s exactly why a Digital Agency of the Year award could look like a put-down, rather than a compliment.

One person who didn’t add her comment on the site emailed me with this:

THANK YOU! Having a "Digital Agency of the Year" now is like having a "Cable Agency of the Year" in 1980-something! Totally ridiculous and shortsighted. Your closing paragraphs say it all. Great article.

She’s clearly one of the best minds in marketing.

The conversation continues on Brian Morrissey’s blog. Take a look and see what you think.

 

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Carolyn Hansen

on February 11, 2009

category: miscellaneous

Vice President/Marketing

Three kinds of lies.

Few things (marketing-related) raise my blood pressure like the waste of money and energy involved in getting a third party involved in taking a so-called survey on behalf of your pet cause that purports to prove . . . something.

Disraeli said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

I think of that quote every time I look at a PR puff piece that tells me how some survey just came up with surprising data supporting the organization that paid for the survey.

Here it is in Brandweek in "Event Marketing’s Importance Increasing." That’s a provocative title. Promoting events is getting harder and harder to do when budgets are being cut. Many of the shows I’m aware of are struggling to fill seats. I’d love to hear that events are somehow more important than before.

Then I saw the big clue. One of the survey’s sponsors is the Event Marketing Institute.

Hey, all you "Institutes" out there! Please don’t waste my time with this stuff. I know you can get statistics to say whatever you want. For example:

More than a quarter (26 percent) of those surveyed said event marketing is the discipline that drives the greatest return-on-investment.

That leaves about three-quarters of those surveyed disagreeing with that statement. I’m guessing 100% of those surveyed would have been hard-pressed to call event marketing a "discipline" without that word being put in their mouths.

But that’s my bias. I hate fake surveys. They give real surveys a bad name.

 

Comments:

2/19/2009 at 2:14 p.m.
Three Other Kinds of Lies
Lies can be statements of false facts (e.g., Obama lost the 2008 presidential election); lies can be incomplete statements of true facts (e.g., over a quarter of respondents said event marketing drives the greatest ROI); and lies can take the form of an omission of some relevant truth (e.g., not mentioning to a brand audience that event marketing is most effective for local businesses like retail boutiques and restaurants rather than say a Coca-Cola soda pop festival or conference for soda pop drinkers). Robert A. Heinlein came up with this taxonomy of lies. Or his character Lazarus Long did - maybe Heinlein just wrote it down...
>>Steve, San Francisco, CA 2/13/2009 at 5:50 p.m.
List bias
Yes! It's not just asking leading questions, it's asking the wrong people that makes a survey biased. Designing proper surveys is a difficult discipline. I have great respect for those who do it well.
>>Carolyn,  2/13/2009 at 5:30 p.m.

Here, here! I completely agree, Carolyn. It drives me nuts when web-hosting firms (I've been searching for one) trumpet that on the site you can build with their help, you can have SURVEYS! I don't see the point in having a survey that asks how many of my patients have indigestion . . . they should be telling me that in the consulting room, not on a public site! Unless I begin seeing thousands of patients a day (not likely in my current office), I won't be using the results to trumpet "Forty percent of my patients have indigestion at some point every day!" Thanks for your blog!
>>Laraine Crampton, Santa Monica CA

Jon Bell

on February 10, 2009

category: creative

Senior Copywriter

The world revolves around me.

You are reading this because it’s about me and my achievements. Nothing could be more fascinating. I’ll be giving you the details about all the awards I’ve won and my new work that just launched.

And when you’ve read all of this, I know you’ll be delighted to learn that you can bask in my reflected glory when you hire my agency.

This was the gist of an email I received this morning. I exaggerate -- but only a little.

I admire the self-confidence of this copywriter. I do. What must it be like to go through life with that golden glow?

But I would never hire him or his agency.

Copy Rule #1: The safe assumption is they don’t know about you or your product and they don’t care.

If you really want to fascinate people, either ask questions so they can talk about themselves or talk about what’s important to them. It’s just like getting a prospect to buy your product or service.  Sell what you’ll do for them -- the lawn they’ll get, not the seed you’re selling.

 

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Jürgen Stephan

on February 9, 2009

category: miscellaneous

Executive Director, New Business Development

Specialization vs. broadening out.

For those of us who like our decisions to be cut and dried, marketing can sometimes be messy. When looking for success models, you can always find counter-examples to your examples.

Should you specialize and "stick to your knitting," like Radio Shack? Or should you broaden your appeal and pursue a more all-things-to-all-people approach, like Amazon.com? Which is feasible? Or credible? Which direction promises sustainable success?

Either approach can work. That’s why consulting with an agency can often be very helpful to an organization. An outside observer with experience in multiple businesses and industry verticals can help you sharpen your focus and broaden your scope.

As an agency, we have to be careful to keep our eyes open, as well. It can be easy to fall into a trap of believing that what worked before -- especially, what worked for another client -- will work again. Each client is different. Each client has its own history, distinct customer base and unique appeal.

That’s the challenge of working with new clients. That’s also what makes it fun.

 

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Jill Kaufman

on February 5, 2009

category: direct marketing

Vice President/Account Services

Happy Customer Appreciation Day!

We may not be in a real depression (yet), but a lot of marketers could use some Zoloft about now. Customer attrition is throwing a wrench in our plans for the quarter, if not the year.

My usual take on things is to see the glass as half full -- but it seems pretty empty. New leads and new customers are certainly harder to come by and churn is depleting the base. It’s become even more important to focus on current customers and stem the losses.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Segment your list and get closer to your most valuable customers. Take a look at what they’ve been up to and make them a sweet offer.

2. Survey customers and find out what you should stop doing. What irritates them about your customer service? What inconveniences them that you can fix?

3. Take a holistic view of your customer marketing program. What should trigger a communication from you? And what’s the call to action?

4. Start a dialog. Do you need a company blog or a presence on Twitter? It couldn’t hurt.

5. Stop marketing to the customers who cost more than they’re worth. You don’t need to "defriend" them.  Just ignore them. This money-saving idea will allow you to move budget to the customers who deserve your attention.

Customers, as we like to say, are the reason you’re in business. If you think you’re depressed, remember they could use a little TLC, too.

 

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