Marketers like to talk about social media as a marketing platform. How can we get the message out? How can we control the message? How can we leverage this? Well, here’s the thing. The thing about social media is that it is in fact a media venue. (I heard about the health care reform on social media channels before I caught it on traditional news channels.)

Recently, I learned an equation from Michael Levine’s book, A Branded World: Adventures in Public Relations and the Creation of Superbrands. Branding = marketing + advertising + public relations.

Branding is the all encompassing effort of building a brand. It starts with marketing. Marketing defines the strategy. Marketing defines the 4Ps. Marketing defines the positioning.

Marketing’s plan gets translated into words and visuals through advertising.

Public relations builds on the advertising campaign and turns marketing’s plan into actions. Such actions include gathering media attention.

In that case, social media really falls into the realm of public relations. You build a relationship with bloggers the same way you build a relationship with traditional journalists. You “control” the message the same way – truthfully, honestly, and organically. It’s the same idea as controlling the press. Today, in addition to asking the question “What would the press say?”, we need to also ask “What would the world say?”

The world may be changing, but the basics still hold.

Photo credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

As a young marketer, I have learned so much from so many on the internet. Recently, I participated in a discussion about the difference between a brand and a commodity. In this discussion, I came across an experienced marketer that gave me so much to think about. It also inspired my contribution this week on CPG Branding and Marketing Forum. Check it out here!

In so many ways, the internet has been a wonderful tool. Yet, as a marketer, the internet has brought many headaches.

As the digital world grows more and more robust, brand managers are struggling to keep up. There are many whispers about control. Have marketers lost control? Have the newly empowered masses took control? How would marketers regain control? Should marketers try to go backward or just go forward? Are marketers even equipped to do our jobs in this changing world? Or does this new world of marketing require a different set of skills? A different way of thinking?

There are many questions, yet there are few answers.

We may not have the answers. We may not be ready. But the world is changing. I know that as a marketer. I also know this as a consumer. Last week, I was trying to attend a virtual event. I had problems logging in. My first thought was to twitter for help. My second action was to comment on the facebook wall of the organizer. I did not do so for the sake of whining and complaining. I did so expecting help. In fact, I expected immediate help!

The old rules of marketing are becoming null and void. Yet, new rules have not been thoroughly defined. The internet has the power to influence everything. But how? We thought that the internet killed the TV. Yet, the recent Olympic Games show that there is a water cooler effect of sort that’s happening online, thus boosting TV viewership! So, the internet is killing and reviving TV at the same time. It’s a very confusing time, where the rules of game are constantly revolving.

And it’s not even just about the internet. So much is changing so fast. But, each of that deserves their own posts. Watch out for them!

It’s a challenging time to be a marketer, but an exciting time.

More reading:
Water-Cooler Effect: Internet Can Be TV’s Friend
WSJ.com – Establish Brand Image in Online Media

Photo Credit: takuhitosotome

This week I learned that the more money you have, the less time you have to spend on any particular tasks. You could hire someone to do it for you.

However, if you don’t have the money, you’d have to spend more time.

This is the equation that any marketer must understand. You don’t need to have a lot of money to have a successful campaign. However, the smaller your budget, the harder each dollar must work, the more creative you’d have to be, the more work you’d have to do yourself. The larger the budget, the more crazy stuffs you could try, the more you could have someone else do the work for you.

However, a small budget shouldn’t limit the success of your marketing campaign.

What’s sad is that this formula, that’s so obvious with small businesses, is sometimes forgotten by big companies.

This is the new economy. This is the new reality. This is a new year. This is the new budget. Everyone of us needs to learn to do more with less.

Photo Credit: funny money, originally uploaded by Material Boy.

Related articles online

• Marketing outside the box (thestar.com)

This weekend is Comic Con. While I did not venture inside convention grounds, I was in downtown San Diego amidst all the chaos.

It is interesting to see the crowd that appears for Comic Con. It is a diverse group of fans of arts of all kinds. I have met some interesting people who were more “pure” artist, and while they still sell their products, they feel that some comic artists have sold out by pushing their products at Comic Con. I have met some people who were just loyal fans of long lasting comics. I have met people who are in the industry and wanted to take this opportunity to network with others in the industry. I have met people who are fans of recent Hollywood films.

This made me think the value of these events. At what point is it a specialized event, and at what point is it simply a big crowd? How do you build buzz amongst all the noise?

Hollywood is a marketing powerhouse, and they seem to know the answer. They have celebrities hosting special events outside Comic Con at various downtown San Diego venues after the convention wraps every night. I wonder if this is the trick.

Comic Con at this point has so much noise that it’s becoming hard to differentiate yourself among the masses. People going around are simply overwhelmed by all that is offered. To make a real connection with your fans, you have to make them feel special. You have to take them out of the noisy convention and give them some real one-on-one time. Or, if it’s not one-on-one, at least something a little bit more intimate.

This applies not only to something as big as Comic Con, but to any events of this sort. Host a happy hour, an after party, or at least a hospitality room could really maximize your exposure at these events. If such initiatives are budget prohibiting to smaller operations, at least try to connect with those you have met at these events electronically. Invite your loyal fans to the event. Host a chat with them after the event. Tweet to your fans about where they may find you during / after the event (and have an impromptu unofficial unhosted party). Take that extra effort to make a connection, and you would get that much more out of your attendance to these events!

Photo Credit: Top – San Diego Comic Con 2009, originally uploaded by ToFuGuns. Bottom – 2009 san diego comic-con, originally uploaded by koadmunkee.

That’s usually easier said than done…

I had the opportunity to see a very well executed example of such this weekend – the Red Bull Air Race.

Red Bull Gives You Wings

What’s a better event to bring this to life than an air race?

However, finding the right event is only one small step toward success. The devil, as always, is in the details.

Red Bull had free sampling, of course. But true to its “cool” equity, it’s handed out by uniformed Red Bull Girls. In it’s free sample tent introducing it’s new product, it was set up as a cool lounge with DJ to complete.

Branding and promotion carried onto merchandising at the event’s gift shop.

Of course, at the end of the day, Red Bull is as much a daytime drink as it is a nighttime drink. Therefore, to round out the event, it sponsored an after-party at the nightclub in town.

But, in this day and age, these were not enough. Red Bull also had an iPhone app to make sure it continuously engage its core demographics.

So, what have you done lately to bring your slogan to life?

Tonight’s episode was filled with various charity events, and I thought it was brilliant that these non-profits are getting some free publicity. But one example I wanted to point out specifically: Children of the World.

One of the characters previously (off the show) bid on a couture dress for the charity. The show showed the fitting of this couture dress. Off the show, the character wore the dress to an opera opening and was photographed doing so. That photograph had since been used in the tabloids for stories associated with that particular character.

Now, I am not sure that the non-profit did so on purpose. After all, they may not had any direct control over what the character would bid on. However, it shows that sometimes making such a connection could be so helpful to a brand. If you could identify a potential brand advocate, you should do what you could to persuade him/her to actually become one. One thing may lead to another, and that could very well take your brand to a new level.

The interesting thing is that potential brand advocates are everywhere, and yet marketers ignore them everyday. How well do you know your end consumer? Who are they? Any of them an influencer, such as an on-screen personality? Do you even know? Have you thought about how to growth this influence base and how to leverage this influence base? This could be the best marketing spend ever!

Photo Credit: Gawker.com

Social Media ain’t about one-night stands, it’s about relationships

This is something that my organization has problems with as well. Every campaign, every effort needs to be part of a whole branding initiative. However, too often, we come across an awesome idea. Implement it. Move onto the next awesome idea. The end result: Not realizing the potential of any one campaign. Which is a shame…

This post on The Viral Garden gave a few example of companies who engaged the consumers via social media, but did not follow through. And the lesson was it’s better to ignore the consumers than to flirt with them THEN ignore them… Of course, the ideal is to not ignore them at all

Twilight opened big last weekend. The extensive online marketing was credit for such results. However, if you break it down, it’s really no surprise why online marketing worked for Twilight.

In case you live under a rock, Twilight is a Romeo & Juliet type love story between a teen girl and a vampire. The movie wants a wide audience, but primary target is the books’ teen girl fan base. What do they do with their free time? They play online! So, of course online marketing is one of the best ways to reach them. It is that simple.

Twilight trailer premiered on dedicated MySpace page

The economy is in trouble, no doubt about it. And everyone is trying to figure out how to get a share of consumers’ shrinking wallets.

I subscribe to several Smartbrief newsletters (if you don’t, you should.) And one of the top headline is “Kraft Tests Recipe for Selling in a Recession”. (Full article is available with subscription to Advertising Age. Once again, if you’re not currently subscribing, you should.)

The same day, I was emailed an article from New York Times ”Goodbye Seduction, Hello Coupons”.

And of course, last but not least, I’m working on a value proposition campaign at work myself. I’m sure many of you are, one way or another.

So, how do we sell ourselves out of this mess?

Stay true to your brand! If you got it, flaunt it!

If you’re an economy brand – flaunt it! You’re cheap, and there is no better time to be cheap.

If you’re a lux brand – flaunt it! The rich won’t cheapen themselves…

If you’re somewhere in between… well, flaunt what you got.

Consumers bought you for a reason. Take Target for example. Everyone is now worried about them, including Target themselves. However, it’s not like consumers used to shop there BECAUSE it was more expensive than Wal-Mart. They shopped at Target because they enjoyed the shopping experience better, because they enjoyed the selection better. And now is the most important time to remind them. Now is NOT the time for Target to become Wal-Mart. Otherwise, people would just go to Wal-Mart

So, remind consumers why should choose you. Flaunt what you got.

Look at it another way. If you consider yourself to be a fashionista and you can’t afford to shop at the designer stores at the moment, you get creative! You shop vintage. You won’t all of a sudden ditch your “brand” and start shopping at the Gap. So, be creative, but stay true to yourself!

Today, I’d like to talk about the “infomercial” that Obama aired last week. Was it an effective ad? Definitely. It was humanized. It was emotional. It was credible. It was understandable. It was even sticky because it was unconventional, and therefore got a lot of press. If you missed the original airing, you can view it on You Tube.

However, was it an effective spend? Well, let’s break it down. Obama reportedly spent $4 million. However, it was viewed by 33.6 million people on its original airing last Wednesday night. Let’s assume that 60% of that 33.6 million ended up voting for Obama. Then, let’s further assume that 20% of that 60% were NEW Obama voters (i.e. they were not going to vote for Obama before viewing this infomercial). This mean that Obama would gain approximately 4 million new Obama voters… that’s about $1 per new voter… That’s a pretty good customer acquisition cost! But of course, the estimates are very generous. However, even with stricter estimate, it still appear to have a fairly good ROI.

In the end, everything rest on November 4th. So, do your part and go vote!