How To Fight The Cost Of “Free” Media

February 7th, 2012 → 8:17 am @ The Brand Chef // 2 Comments

There’ IS a price to “FREE” media production; while it may not show on the books, it will show on your brand.

Buying radio or television media production is every creative’s worst nightmare. The schedules are hard to plan – especially in the “Political” and “Sporting” blitz months. Any positive calendar can be preempted at the drop of a very well financed hat. Budgeting is often a guessing game and costly without the right media partner or a person at the station “going to bat” for you. And God forbid if the spots are produced at the station… (think all “As Seen On TV” Ads).

Let’s put it this way. Why does virtually every marketing resume START with television and radio and newspaper production as the first job out of college and not END with a long tenure and a mass of accolades? Do you want your company’s public brand perception in the hands of 20-year-old-Timmy-Something right out of the local community college and chomping at the bit to try the newest puke-inducing filter he discovered in Final Cut Express last night?

Cue lens flair and glow effect… *gag*

While CreateWOW manages a lot of social media marketing as well as traditional advertising and production, a majority of our clients leave final scheduling, video and audio production up to the stations. We have warned against this practice, but often times, with small businesses come smaller budgets. With that, most stations will produce a spot “at no cost” just to sell the air time, so WHY NOT, right? While the creative may be strong and the client loves the direction, once they’re produced by “KXYZ’s” latest video phenom, they tend to lose their appeal.

We call that “A lesson learned in ‘You Get what You Pay for…’”

Here are five simple tips to fight the cost of “Free” media:

Show them the brand map. Provide EXPLICIT guidelines for use of your client’s brand including what to do and specifically what NOT to do.
Hand them a FINISHED creative plan. Make sure your video script (or audio or print ad) contains all visual cues and language that would best represent your client’s brand BEFORE sending it to production and do not allow for post editing or deviation. If you leave ANY room for interpretation, you have failed!
Proof… Proof… Proof… NEVER let something go to final production without a signed approval from you AND the client.
Be fearless in the face of bad production. When it comes to protecting your client’s public brand perception, you fight until the last drip of ink flows from your little red pen. NEVER let a mistake get through. NEVER let quality lapse – not for a second.
When in doubt, refuse their crap and do it yourself. While not an ideal solution, if you have the technology and the time, eat the cost and produce a spot (or spots) that will benefit the client.

How We Fought For The Client’s Brand And Won

The following spots are a result of CreateWOW opting for #5 above. Again, while this is not the ideal solution, what we were being presented by local production departments for both radio and television were … well… offensive.

By doing the spots ourselves, CreateWOW was able to maintain brand consistency throughout the spots and platforms by:

Properly presenting the client’s logo mark and contact information
Using the client’s jingle in lieu of the station’s choices of music (each station gave us a uniquely horrendous ditty… while they had, in-house, the approved jingle for the client!)
Created a consistent campaign tie-in with the visuals of the Valentines Day APP promotion we have been running on the clients blog
Created a visual spots that could easily be translated to radio at no additional cost in time or cash…

While the stations each provided their “interpretations” of our creative, it was finally CreateWOW’s responsibility to tell the client’s story. (By the way, the stations all proposed ONE spot… we did FIVE!)

Valentines Day Spot 5

Valentines Day Spot 4

Valentines Day Spot 3

Valentines Day Spot 2

Valentines Day Spot 1

With that, we thank you and our clients for letting us go to battle for good branding, good marketing, good communications and good production.

This is what we love.

How do YOU fight the cost of “FREE” media? We’d love to hear your story.

Until next time…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Blog &Brand Marketing &CreateWOW News

Social Reputation Management – SHOULD You?

December 28th, 2011 → 1:05 pm @ The Brand Chef // No Comments

When it comes to SOCIAL media, I’m often asked by customers and peers alike “What can I do to really manage my brand’s reputation through social media?”

(Yes, somewhat a redundant question, but I’ll get to that in another post…)

Well, a lot of that answer depends on the circumstances in which your “reputation” finds itself. In the case below, I had a conversation about a peer’s client wanting “Edit” reviews on FourSquare… Hmmmmm

As always, I try to keep my advice “Above The Line” and beneficial to all parties, but the implications of what the client wanted to do seemed pretty drastic…

This is how it all went down:

Original Email:

Andrew:
Have to ask you a question. I just had a client tell me that if you “claim” your location on Foursquare, you can remove unsavory reviews from a user…has something changed that you know of with Foursquare that enables that function? I “claim” the location and can manage all the check-in specials, but certainly can’t access that edit function at all.

What the hell?

My “PC” Response:

No, you’re not crazy… at least when it comes to the whole FourSquare thing…

From what I can tell, you can add / edit campaigns and specials and even add comments and “to Do” items on Foursquare, but to edit or delete negative comments on your account would be … well … unsavory in itself… I don’t know of any geo location marketing service (DexKnows, YellowBook, etc.) that will allow the editing or deletion of submitted content by users.

I advise clients to respond to any possible negative comments with a positive clarification of details or an offer to make amends. Once that has been done, ask the critic to append or add a new review stating “All is good in the world.” If the request goes un answered, at least future viewers will see that the client made an effort to serve the customer (if it is a customer) in a positive way.

Such is the life of SOCIAL media marketing.

…Mind if I use this email as a post / case study in my blog?

Of course, she approved…

Ethical business practices aside, if you COULD go in and censor posts about your company, would you in favor of better reviews? Certainly the desire is there, but what happens when “Disgruntled customer X” sees his comment was deleted? Would you be in line for a hailstorm of negativity then? Where would it stop?

Where I work (shameless plug), we use an array of Social Media Monitoring tools to assure our clients that they are being kept “On Top Of” any brand mentions, discussions, tweets, articles, etc… but when it comes to managing those remarks, where is the line drawn?

So, what do you do to help clients manage their brands and reputations in social media?

Food for thought…

Keep Cooking,
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

(originally posted 12/28/11 on http://thebrandchef.tumblr.com)

Blog &Education and Training &Social Media Marketing

Which Wall Displays YOUR Holiday Cheer?

December 19th, 2011 → 10:30 am @ The Brand Chef // No Comments

SO, the Holiday season is in full swing. The joy and laughter around the office tends to get a little bigger. The warmth of the coffee tends to feel a little cozier and the casual feeling of family creeps into the sometime stodgy business environment.

I think I start to notice it when the first Holiday card arrives in the mail. Generally oversized envelopes with holiday stamps and hand written addresses start filtering their way through the mail slot right after Thanksgiving (some earlier for you holiday addicts). Once a year, the only time mail is taped, pinned, stuck to the wall or posted on the front desk for all to see.

This year is a special one for me. This is the first year that CreateWOW actually has a “Front Desk” to speak of. Sure, holiday cards arrived in the past, but pulling them out of a P.O. box to take to my home office just didn’t feel the same. This year, I watch. I listen for the mail slot to clank open like I’m waiting for the winning lottery numbers to be called. And there they are. Cards from customers, vendors, friends and neighbors alike flooding through the door like a gush of Christmas cheer.

This year, though, I’ve seen a dip in traditional “Snail Mail” deliveries for digital deliveries of cheer. Email or Facebook Posts from friends saying “Merry Christmas, hope to see you soon,” or Tweets (yes, Tweets) saying “Have a great Xmas!” — short enough to add a custom shortened URL link to a landing page with a stock holiday greeting on it… WHAT?

What happened to the art of handwriting a holiday greeting? Has time become such a commodity these days that pulling out a pen and simply signing your name has become too tiresome? When I get holiday greetings over social media channels, I feel like they just noticed I was online so they just remembered to mention it to me like:

“Hey, nice tie!”

Maybe I’m a little old fashioned. Maybe I’m just old. Who knows? But when it comes to sending a greeting for the holidays I’d like to have something to hold on to. A card is perfect. Of course, they will be lost and / or forgotten after a few weeks, but for the season, the cards that I put on my wall don’t disappear with every following post or Tweet.

How about you? Which wall do you want to display YOUR holiday cheer on?

Happy Holidays! From The Brand Chef and everyone at CreateWOWmarketing.

Now you can print this off and tape it to your wall… Or maybe we actually sent you a card?

Keep Cooking
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Blog &CreateWOW News

Social Media: Efficiency Tool or Necessary Evil?

December 9th, 2011 → 12:27 pm @ SharonLC // No Comments

Social Media.

It’s everywhere – our computers, our phones, our video game consoles. We hear the phrase in television shows and commercials. You see the logos in shop windows encouraging you to “Like us on Facebook!” or “Follow us on Twitter!” Most of us DO, too. Just trying to keep a finger on the pulse of the world around us, afraid of missing out on something.

How do YOU use your social media outlets? Is it for business and marketing? Do you strictly use Facebook and Twitter to connect with potential clients/customers? Is it a platform for your political/religious views or just for keeping in touch with old schoolmates and family on the other side of the country?

No matter what your preferred use of the medium is, here are two sides to the Social Media coin:

On the one side, it is an amazing tool to save time and cover great distances to bond with people. We are always on the move – to work, taking kids to activities, running errands. Trying to coordinate a time to sit and catch up on the phone with Uncle Harry for half an hour can be a logistical nightmare. But, through the magical world of technology, you have many options to find out what’s going on in his world. For immediate questions such as “Will you be in town this weekend?” you can shoot him a quick text. To fill Uncle Harry in on what the kids are up to and to ask a string of “How are you?” questions while they’re on the top of your head, an email message may work best. Or, through Twitter and/or Facebook, you can just follow his daily check-ins and status updates and random tweets to know just what’s going on in his head. You can coordinate a dinner or get-together with several family members at once, without the hassle of calling Joe to set a time that works for him, then calling Betsy to then be told that day doesn’t work for her so you have to call Joe again, and so on. One series of group emails puts it all out there at once with no time-consuming back and forth. Easy, efficient, connected. It applies similarly to business dealings. Several people from different offices working on a project together can be hard to manage. Online chat or a group email or an event page where notes and ideas can be shared can be an efficient means to an end.
On the flip side, is THIS sentiment, overheard in conversation – “This social media sh** is ruining families and I’m done with it!” Social media takes a lot of the face-to-face interaction out of communication. How many of us text our kids, check our Facebook or Twitter accounts during dinner, forego the weekly phone call with an out-of-town sister/brother/father/mother/cousin in lieu of status updates? We send emails to our friends and business associates, declaring that we HAVE to get together soon for lunch/drinks/dinner without actually solidifying plans and penciling them in for that elusive “someday”. We feel we know what’s going on with our siblings and friends because we see what they post online when, in reality, we KNOW they aren’t really posting their REAL struggles and feelings. Social Media puts up a barrier to actual human contact, turning our family into acquaintances who we don’t share our real lives with. We lose that honest connection with a client by keeping a distance. You know the name and maybe the face, but there’s no real relationship and, hence, no real reason for loyalty.

Personally, I can see both views. I agree – to an extent – with all of it. I am guilty of using my Social Media venues to stay on the sidelines of my sisters’ lives, being involved without actually being INVOLVED. I also admit to loving the “party-line” convenience – in fact, Facebook was ESSENTIAL to the coordination of my 20-year High School Reunion!

I’m not saying one side or the other is right. I’m certainly not condemning Social Media venues nor am I extolling their virtues. But I AM curious about YOUR feelings on the matter. So what is it: An amazing, time-saving tool to keep in touch with everyone at once? Or a necessary evil that has pervaded every aspect of our lives, eroding the need for human contact?

Blog &CreateWOW News &Interactive Media &Social Media Marketing

5 Tips On Writing Blog Posts To Increase Traffic

November 28th, 2011 → 8:11 am @ The Brand Chef // No Comments

I’m often asked by clients and peers, “How do I (we) increase my site traffic? How do I (we) get more people to read the blog?” Well, it’s a matter of targeted marketing, brand consistency and good writing. All of which even the BEST writers, marketers and bloggers struggle with on EVERY post. But once a successful post formula is found, it’s like crack. You want, no, NEED to do it over and over again until your eyeballs rollback in your head and you fall to the ground in crippling ecstasy…

Okay, maybe not that far, but it’s close.

So, how do you write blog posts that increase traffic?

Fill The Tank Before You Travel: Or in clearer terms, read before you write. You are the master of your blog, but once you’re topic and professional and personal point of view has been documented, what do you do? Just like a car, you need to fuel it to keep moving. Reading about your industry, target audience and related segments will help keep that tank full and diversify the content you develop, making it easier to write on demand and create a broader interest in your content.
Write Regularly – Post Often: We all know the phrase “Practice Makes Perfect.” Well, it pertains to blog writing as well. When I suggest to write regularly and post often, that means practice your writing – not post-by-post, but day-by-day. If you write every day about your subject and to your audience, only posting the best of the bunch on a regular schedule (weekly, daily, etc), your writing skills WILL improve and the enjoyment of reading your posts will increase.
Write With SEO Strategy: This is a tricky topic. SEO. Writing for SEO and creating content that is keyword rich is often difficult. Writing for SEO is not peppering “keyword this and keyword that” into the posts. 1) you still want the post to be readable and, 2) search engines look for keywords and phrases relevant to your site in MANY places other than your post. It’s best to be coached or have an SEO strategy in place before you start writing. If you write focused on SEO, it does become easier, but the strategy is better left to the professionals.
Write To ALL Of Your Readers: When you’re writing, assume that those that will be reading your posts have NO IDEA what you’re talking about. Sure, you know your business and industry inside and out, but if you want to be able to really engage with those that will buy your service / product, you need to write at a level THEY will understand and be comfortable reading. Try it this way: Pick your most industry savvy client and write a paragraph about your service directly to them. THEN, read it aloud to your children. If they tilt their heads like a dog hearing a whistle, then you may need to rewrite. If they say, “I get it.” You’re gold.
Toot Your Blog Horn: Social media has destroyed the modest mastermind and created monsters of meme, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t let people know that you’re trying to speak to them. On the contrary, if your content is meaningful, if your content is engaging, if your content is valuable, SHARE IT! The opportunities to submit your feed or link to any number of industry-specific outposts is endless. Whether you post it to your Facebook Page, or Tweet it, or even syndicate it to Newswire services; make sure you tell anyone and everyone how to find you.

Before all of my “Social Media Guru” friends get all up-in-arms about promising higher traffic and better ROI on a blog, I have to offer one caveat. The tips I’m offering above are general at best. If your website, and therefore its content is brand-driven, with a strategically developed content schedule and focus, then these tips will simply augment the work you’ve put in. this is how I as The Brand Chef and CreateWOWmarketing have seen measurable increases in traffic. When applied strategically, they WILL show results. But testing and editing your strategy is the best advice!

Food for thought…

Keep Cooking, (and cooking… and cooking…)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Blog &Education and Training &Interactive Media &Social Media Marketing

The 8 D’s Of Successful Marketing

November 22nd, 2011 → 8:28 am @ The Brand Chef // No Comments

If I include my college internship, this September {was} my 21st year working in, on and around marketing. I’ve seen some successful campaigns. I’ve seen some pitiful campaigns. Fortunately, I’ve learned something from them all, but the most important thing I’ve learned is how to tell them apart. (Trust me, some can’t…)

So what IS the difference between a successful and a pitiful marketing campaign? STRATEGY.

All Marketing Strategy Is Not The Same

If you walk through any marketing department or advertising agency, without a doubt, you’ll see computers, printers, scanners, cameras and all of the nifty tools that go along with the production of marketing. But without a strategic process, those tools are worthless, as are the people using them.

Some marketing departments and agencies swear by their specific system, their standard to which all campaigns must abide. Others are a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of shop that take a “more organic” approach. But all successful marketers and agencies alike understand strategy is imperative to their success. Strategies vary, and one agency doesn’t have the corner on the market (no pun intended), but marketing without a strategy is just plain ignorant.

So for your ease and my pleasure, I’ve put together The 8 D’s Of Successful Marketing:

Dream
Contrary to some companies, marketing still requires a little creative forethought. At the onset of a campaign you and the client need to dream, and dream big. Set goals for the campaign and create the passion you hope to have the consumer “buy into.”
Demographics
So many campaigns fail to take full advantage of this step. If you don’t know your target audience, then how do you know where to shoot? Do some research on your product or service to find out how it fits, where it fits and, yes, if it fits within the marketplace.
Develop
Start bringing those dreams along to a logical and executable campaign that can be performed by the marketing team. Narrowing focus and slicing the fat from the creative until all you have left is a laser-focused campaign targeted to the demographics you found in the previous step.
Design
This stage encompasses more than the “look” of the campaign. Design the vehicles and all parts that go into it. From the mailing lists to the website to the logo and packaging, design applies the dream to the product or service.
Disseminate
Get the dream out there. You’ve picked the right idea. You’ve targeted the right audience. Now deliver the dream to them.
Discover
Measure results and response. If that’s analytics or responses to a direct mail or sales; you need to track and discover the strength and weaknesses of the campaign.
Doctor
Based on the discovery stage, make the changes that are necessary to focus the campaign even more. A great idea is to split the campaign into A and B versions for further refinement and testing.
Do-it-again
And again… and again!

Put that in the squishy pink blob between your ears. You’ll thank me later.

Everyone approaches marketing differently. My approach is different than another marketer’s approach. If 20 years has taught me anything its the truth about successful marketing campaigns. Simply put, ALL SUCCESSFUL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS START WITH STRATEGY!

Where does your marketing start? Is my 8 D’s of Successful Marketing similar to your strategy or strategies? What would you change / add / subtract from the eight?

Help me (and others) continue to learn and help create successful marketing.

Keep Cooking! (TRUE strategic marketing decisions)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

This post was originally published on TheBrandChef.com in June of 2010.

Blog &Brand Marketing &Education and Training

Can Peer Pressure Harm Your TRUE Brand?

November 14th, 2011 → 9:51 am @ SharonLC // No Comments

We all want to be liked. We all want to be the coolest and we all care what others think of us. This is true in the corporate world, as well as in our personal lives. But how do you know when to take peers’ “advice” and when to ignore it?

In a previous business life, I worked in retail. Fast-paced, exciting, challenging – and Brand centered. One day, a “Secret Shopper” came into our store, quietly sizing us up, checking our customer service skills and the overall shopping experience. His “findings” were then written into a not-so-nice blog post that sent our whole store into a veritable freak-out.

A copy of the blog was circulated around our store, being passed from hand to hand, discussed and dissected in the break room. It wasn’t a national blog, it wasn’t anyone any of our employees had ever heard of before, our store hadn’t “hired” him to give us tips on our customer service skills or lack thereof. And yet every point he made was like a dagger through the heart of each employee who took pride in our store.

Of course, there were definite customer service failings that needed to be addressed. But a lot of what he felt were our failings were things that he, specifically, didn’t like and things that we, specifically, felt strongly about and that were part of our Brand. And yet we questioned everything we stood for because of what he said.

Was he right?

Not everyone is going to like you. Not everyone is going to agree with your vision or your way of doing things. Does that mean you’re wrong? Heavens, NO. Branding is not about being popular. It’s about being TRUE:

Truthful. Represent yourself truthfully, show who you are and what you do with honesty.
Relevant. Keep up with your demographic. Can you be useful to the people you’re trying to reach? Are you current with your technology and offerings?
Unique. “Keeping up with the Joneses” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Why should your clients come to you instead of the Joneses? Just because “everyone else is doing it” doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do and doesn’t necessarily represent YOU.
Engaging. Always be open for a give-and-take conversation between you and your clients/customers. Listen to their input – to an extent. You can’t please everyone all the time. But if the feedback you’re getting shows that you’re not representing yourself the way you want to be perceived you need to be able to have that conversation.

Negative feedback hurts our feelings – whether it’s personal or professional. The important thing is to filter out what’s constructive and what’s just negative. Sure, negative PR is still PR, but it does affect morale. Keep your perspective on your Brand and don’t let someone else’s perception affect your TRUE goals.

Have you experienced this in your company? How did YOU handle it?

Blog &Brand Marketing &Education and Training &Social Media Marketing

A “TRUE” Joe Paterno Would Disappointed

November 10th, 2011 → 8:18 am @ The Brand Chef // No Comments

This Joe Paterno issue is going to have the #Leadership bloggers at fever pitch. That’s expected.

Because I rarely post on “leadership,” specifically, I wanted to include my commentary for the record. As a business owner, I want those that follow or may follow me in the future to know where my heart is.

1. I don’t care about Football (or any sport) when it comes to protecting humans – especially children.

2. My thoughts on being a TRUE leader.

“Lead with your heart and the rest will follow, always, unending and unwavering. Allow your fears and doubts to keep you nimble and driven for the good of your followers – never to retract passion, judgement or reason for humanity. Tolerate error, but have faith that your tolerance will be tested, by God and by others not as worthy. If your leadership is proven, you can rest in peace.”

I’m sorry Joe Paterno and others have lost their jobs from this scandal. But in all honestly, a TRUE leader, as Jo-Pa was supposed to be, would have never let the issue get to this point.

Keep Cooking (and feed the masses)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Blog

Leadership – 4 Ways to Battle “That’s Not My Job”

October 17th, 2011 → 1:46 pm @ SharonLC // No Comments

Whatever happened to the “One for all, and all for one!” mentality of yester-year? Is this a by-product of downsizing? Corporate America has lost its sense of loyalty to its employees, forcing a loss of loyalty and pride of job from its employees. Workers are carried along on the wave of “each man for himself”, afraid to extend a hand for fear of having it bitten.

createWOW post about Teamwork In catching up with a previous coworker about her new supervisory position, she was filling me in on the ups and downs of coming into a position with a lot of workers who were set in their ways and were very resistant to changing the status quo. My optimistic friend came in with great ideas to streamline procedures and raise productivity by having workers help in all areas, which was met with passive-aggressive resistance.

For example, one day a call came out over the radio asking for help checking out customers as my friend was standing with a group of her employees, who were stocking the shelves. NO ONE RESPONDED. The call came out a second time, with the requester sounding a bit frazzled. Still no one answered. When my friend asked why no one was helping she was told flat out, “That’s not my job.”

To put it mildly, she was flabbergasted. What has happened to the modern workforce to get them into this mindset? We tend to put on blinders and stay focused solely on the task at hand, ignoring all others, whether we are able to help or not. Stocking shelves, sweeping the floor, doing paperwork…we all become so single-minded as to almost forget there are other people around us.

Hogwash, I say.

I understand that good deeds are sometimes punished. Many times karma doesn’t work in our favor. But what is the harm in working to help better the company that YOU work for?

Make yourself valuable. Be a sponge and learn all you can so you can be versatile.
Spread the word about your company, driving in sales to help create a little job security.
Think outside the box and SHARE your ideas. They won’t do anyone any good inside your head.
Take pride in your job, your company, your coworkers. When you care about what you’re doing, it shows. Clients and customers will see the value of the service or product you provide when you show them it’s valuable to YOU.

In every business, there are tasks that need to be accomplished and there is never enough time in each day to check everything off the to-do list. Our workforce has become so me-driven we forget to work together. I could make a bazillion analogies about what if your brain didn’t assist your lungs with breathing or your carburetor refused to work with the pistons (I never said they were GOOD analogies…) to make my point: Each company is one organism with many different parts that rely on each other. When immediate tasks involving YOUR clients or YOUR customers need additional help, EVERYTHING becomes your job.

As a leader, how do YOU encourage teamwork?

Blog &Education and Training

VIDEO: Focus Your Social Media Marketing

October 6th, 2011 → 10:11 am @ The Brand Chef // No Comments

Trying to control social media is like trying to drink the ocean one cup at a time. For successful marketing and communications, companies need to TARGET their social media efforts to their local level to better engage with their audience.

Using Twitter Hashtags, Facebook Groups and Events as well as some common sense, the following video explains how to create a more focused social media marketing approach.

Focus Your Social Media Marketing

Hat tip to our friends at The Des Moines Social Media Club, including Tom Brazelton (@TomBrazelton on twitter_ and the whole @SMCDSM crew as well as a BIG bearded shout out to Mr. Dallas J. Moore of Social Republick (@DallasJMoore on twitter) for his spectacular work with The Des Moines Zombie Walk.

For more information and additional advice on social media and social media marketing strategies, please feel free to give us a call.

Until we talk again…