Thursday, July 28, 2005

Is this advertising guaranteed?

If you're in advertising, have you ever had a client ask you to guarantee that a particular ad or campaign will work? If you've hired an advertising agency, have you ever asked your agency to guarantee that their advertising will achieve the desired result?

Let me first say that I believe measurement is important and can be done in many different forms. Did the advertising campaign increase awareness of a product or service? Did sales leads increase? Did it drive more traffic to the web site? There are lots of ways to measure the effectiveness of advertising and it's important to define the desired result up front and measure against that.

But a guarantee from an advertising agency is a little trickier because there are many factors involved that are outside the control of the agency, some of which are in the control of the client. I was thinking about this recently while trying to get something fixed. To find the appropriate technician, I turned to my local Yellow Pages. My eyes were immediately drawn to the only advertisement in the category, which was from a business that specialized in what I needed. I ignored the listings and placed a call.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.

There was no answer and no answering machine. I called again to make sure I dialed the correct number and got the same outcome. Then, I looked at the listings and called the first one on the list. They picked up after the first ring and said if I dropped it off during my lunch break they'd have it done for me first thing in the morning.

There are two points from this little story.

  1. In this case the advertising did its job but the desired result was not achieved. I was drawn to the ad in the Yellow Pages and made the call. I was ready to purchase their product, but when no one answered I moved on to their competition and they lost a sale.
  2. Every contact point with your customers presents an opportunity to win or lose them. This is something we preach endlessly. The first company didn't answer their phone and didn't have an answering machine. The second company picked up right away and told me they could help me immediately. Is it any wonder I went with the second?

Finally, for the final word on guarantees, just listen to Tommy Boy. I guarantee you'll like it.

South Dakota Cage Fighting

Michael Wilson of the New York Times filed Alive and Thriving in the Midwest: Brawling in Cages today. The article is about cage fighting in Sioux Falls and the comeback the sport is making in the Midwest.

Fresh Glue recently featured some attention on a national stage for South Dakota and it's certified beef program. Governor Mike Rounds is fond of mentioning that news coverage (as he did at the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce breakfast yesterday) but I doubt he'll talk about the clip from the New York Times as often.

Thanks to Bernie at South Dakota Magazine for pointing out this article. The online presence of South Dakota Magazine, long a favorite read of mine, is actually a blog with accompanying RSS feeds. Contrary to the New York Times article, this publication IS good for image of the state.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Building the Starbucks brand one sale at a time

Starbucks_1 There's just something about Starbucks that keeps me coming back for more..and I'm not the only one. Seth Godin talks about the customer experience at Starbucks thusly:

Inside the Starbucks, the first thing I noticed, tucked deep in the corner, not for customer inspection, apparently, was a bulletin board. The bulletin board was jammed with pictures of the staff. The staff on a picnic. The staff at an amusement park. The staff kidding around.

That very same staff was working behind the counter. If it's possible to make an herbal tea with enthusiasm, they were doing it. If it's possible to make a $4 transaction feel joyful, they accomplished it.

Okay, the obvious thing here is that this is the Starbucks marketing effort, almost in its entirety. They don't advertise, they don't launch new products every day, but they are selling the way it makes you feel to purchase something there. And I have to tell you, it made me feel great.

When I explain "living your brand" I almost always reference Starbucks for the same reasons that Seth lists above. My store is Sioux Falls-41st & Louise and the picture on the cash register is of Jenna taking a nap on one of the tables. They always know what I want: a triple-shot venti latte. I feel as home there as I do in my office. In fact, posting this just inspired me to go so I emailed a friend and I'm off. If you ever want to go, just email me.

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Thursday, July 7, 2005

P.J. on PR

The Journalist Q&A from the June 27 issue of PR Week is with P.J. O'Rourke, who is one of the most talented and humorous writers I've ever read. It's almost impossible to pick a favorite from among his books, but if pushed I'd have to say Holidays in Hell.

Anyway, back to the interview with PR Week. O'Rourke's take on PR is, as usual, hilarious AND insightful. Here's the exchange:

PRWeek: Have you, over the course of your career, formed an impression of the PR industry?
O'Rourke:
Yes, and a glowing one. My wife was a PR executive. So I have nothing but the highest esteem for them.

PRWeek: Is that the main reason you have high esteem for them?
O'Rourke:
No, they're also instrumental in promoting my books. I got a product to sell here, you know. The thing is, being in PR is like being a lawyer, except you don't have any of the tricks and legal stratagems or force of the law. It's like having all the duties and responsibilities of a lawyer without any of the power, without being an officer of the court.

Well said. If you've ever tried to acquit someone in the court of public opinion, you know that of which he speaks. The rest of the online interview (which is longer than the dead-tree edition) is well-worth reading.

Wednesday, July 6, 2005

This blog is del.icio.us!

I spent a good portion of the Fourth of July weekend familiarizing myself with the many aspects of consumer generated media and Participatory Journalism. Sure, I've been blogging for a long time (before this blog, even), but as Walt Mossberg said today, text blogs are yesterday's news.

Newdel First, I went to the social bookmark manager del.icio.us and set up my own personal collection of links. I set up categories that relate to my job: PR and advertising. I set up categories that reflect my interests: venture capital and economic development (both primarily in my home-state of South Dakota). In the spirit of the medium, I also set up categories for blogging, podcasting and RSS. I've even started setting up tags for articles about clients. The service even establishes an RSS feed which I added to my list of feeds. (One question: if I post something on my blog, tag it with del.icio.us and then put the list on my blog, how will readers know where to stop?)

Itunes Next, all the recent news about podcasting influenced me to download the latest version of iTunes and subscribe to some podcasts. I started with the first installment of the Micro Persuasion Podcast. Steve had some very interesting things to say about the impact of RSS on marketing and defended himself against some recent criticism from the blogosphere. I then went to the excellent For Immediate Release, listened to a little bit of their latest podcast and subscribed. I'm looking forward to getting into the podcast game myself sometime in the near future.

After that I downloaded Skype (note to self: buy headset for PC) and today I even found time to blog about the entire weekend. The point of all this is that as marketers we need to be aware of all the different ways to communicate with our constituencies. There are conversations taking place online in so many different mediums and its incumbent upon us spend the time to keep up. Somtimes it even takes a three-day weekend.

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