Moving from a “Push” model to more of a “Pull” model.

The New England Printer & Publisher Magazine just published an article “The new marketing and sales business model” by John R. Graham, who is president of Graham Communications. This is one of the first articles that I have seen in a Print-focused magazine which discusses the concept of “social media marketing” and how it is impacting conventional marketing wisdom. It is important that printing companies that want to become “marketing solutions providers” pay attention to this trend. I think that he is DEAD ON in his assessment!

There’s an interesting dynamic going on now in the global marketplace. The individual is taking control of their communications (now being more appropriately called “conversations”) with corporations. Now, an individual that is not satisfied with a product or service can communicate that worldwide in nanoseconds through the power of the internet. The traditional editing process that publishers provided during the dissimilation of information has been reduced, if not completely removed in most instances. With YouTube, blogs, discussion groups, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc….The individual (or community would be a better description) has taken control of the message from the corporations. Corporations must “interact” with their customers if they expect to thrive in the future.

The concept of “Open” bi-directional communication between an individual and a corporation should be the rule, not the exception. By using this strategy, while engaging in a conversation, you will reap surprised by the results. But putting this into place requires commitment of resources and time. You have to develop a culture that wants to share and be committed to create an “individual” conversation between your customer/market/prospect. Strategies will vary, but the result will remain the same…Have conversation with individuals, Enhance relationship with market, Expand revenue opportunities. It’s as simple as that.

“See” Ya Later,

Rick Littrell

Magicomm, LLC

If you think you own your brand then your are sadly mistaken. Companies have never owned their brand though they create it, market it and sell it.

Before the internet really took off, your brand existed through word of mouth and influence through traditional advertising mediums.

Now we are in an age where 1 person can reach millions with their brand experience and the bad news is there is nothing you can do to stop it. In a recent Twebinar someone through out a statistic that read something like; 80% of the population will research something on the internet before pursuing it. Now the question becomes, are you monitoring your brand?

The conversations are happening whether you like it or not. Some things you can do to take back your brand and contribute to its existence are:

• Monitor and understand your brand
• Recognize where the conversation is taking place/create the conversation
• Address any issues/complaints
• Reward and commend positive feedback

The internet and social media has changed the face of marketing. It hasn’t taken away control of your brand, because you never had control. It’s really only done two things:

• Gives a louder voice to the end user
• Gives companies the tools to communicate

What is your company doing to participate in it’s brands existence?

So, here’s the details for the event, as we know them today.

1st Strategic Marketing Beach Bash
The date is Final: Friday, July 11, 2008
Begins at High Noon and lasts until…there is no reason to stay anymore.
Salisbury Beach in Salisbury, MA (at the beach below the intersection of Ocean and Railroad Streets…Beach Path #2)

Bring all that you need to enjoy a day at the beach. You should include beach chair, blankets, food, drink, and SUN SCREEN, at the very least.

Don’t forget your “Burning” Question” or “Great” story to share with the group.

Whatever is a ‘Strategic Marketing Beach Bash” you may ask. Magicomm came up with this idea and is organizing this event for three reasons: (1) The second quarter was extremely busy for us and we got the opportunity to work in some new areas and learn new things. It was fun, but many questions were raised as we drove ahead with developing interactive components and strategies of a direct marketing campaign using viral techniques, variable data print, dynamic emails, personalized url’s and variable video’s. We would like to meet others that are working or interested in these areas and technologies that work out of the Boston/Southern New Hampshire. (2) Meeting on a beach, feeling the sand in your toes, and enjoying the warmth of the sun on your body, would not present an enormous burden on any of us, and (3) We all deserve a break from the normal, day to day chaos of work and life. Besides, it’s summer time and most of us work inside all day and only get to look at the sun through of windows, if we have windows at all (We are lucky at Magicomm because we are in an old Mill building, with HUGE windows that look over the Pow Wow River. It’s not so shabby!)

Therefore, we decided to organize such an event for the good of mankind (or should I say “person”kind?). This is a “BYOE” event (Bring Your Own Everything). We are going to set up our beach chairs, blankets, food, drinks, and umbrellas on the beach in Salisbury, MA. We will be set up near the boardwalk, just outside the reservation beach. Go into town and park near the beach, would provide you the closest parking. If you go into the beach reservation to park, you may have to walk a little way on the beach towards the town center to meet up with us.

Salisbury is on the Atlantic coast between Newburyport, MA and Seabrook, NH. We will be on the beach by noon time. Once we all set up our “best spot”, we can begin our discussions  with you on YOUR (or Ours) burning question. Oops, I forgot to tell you that you had to bring a “burning” question or a great story to share with the group. All topics relating to marketing and media are on the table for discussion. I expect a lot of discussion on personalized communications, integrated marketing, viral marketing, and social media. Of course, leveraging the internet while not completely abandoning the traditional mass media and print will be looked at from all angles.

But, you may ask yourself “What day is it going to be?”. Legitimate question, but that is the tricky part. We are planning to have it sometime the week of July 7th. But, we will not finalize the date until we are SURE that the weather will be good for a superior beach experience. Therefore, we will continue to watch the weather and will make the call when the weather picture becomes clearer. At this time, it appears that the end of the week is going to best the best weather. So keep an eye on our calendar page for the final determination. We will update daily, at least, as we watch The Weather Channel. Right now, Friday, July 11th looks like the best day. Definitely not promising for the first of the week.

Looking forward to it and I hope to see you there.

I’ve talked with many people recently that are down in the dumps because the economy is struggling and their business is in a down swing. They ask me what I think and I tell them…”GET OVER IT! You can’t control the economy, BUT you can control how you respond to it. So, get up off your butt and do something.”

Now is the time to crank up your marketing efforts. The ONLY way to work (which is the key word here) our way out of a down cycle is to increase marketing efforts for your business This will help threefold: (1) You will get more leads into your sales pipeline, (2) You will enhance your relationship with your existing clients, and (3) You will refocus on defining your “REAL” value-add and develop ways to maximize their value in the minds of your audience. Therefore, you will have the opportunity to expand your business into new accounts/.markets or you get more business (share of wallet) from you existing clients. I know that this is all easier said than done, but we all have to try if we want to grow now.

Magicomm is doing it by enhancing our web site landing page (if this is the first time you visited, you won’t know this) and we are “beefing” up our demo platforms, interactivity, and high value content such as samples and case studies. We have some pretty good stories that we are going to share. You will see many changes over of the next couple months. It’s a rolling effort, because we have more ideas then resources and we still have to continue to service our existing clients to “keep the lights on.” Additionally, we are evaluating new markets, products, and services that we can “quickly” expand our business with. Opportunities are everywhere, just sometimes they are not out in the open.

It’s easy to cut marketing budgets to save costs. The proof of that thought process is everywhere around us. But maybe we should look at the competitive and economic environment around us to find where growth exists. It does exist, you know. Learn how marketing techniques and tools have changed. The “traditional” ways of marketing are being challenged. The shift is towards leveraging the internet (web site, email, and personalized url’s), integrating the web with print and communicating more relevantly. Databases, personalized communications, social media strategies, and the ability to have measurable results are becoming increasingly important. Real time feedback to our prospects and them having “instant” access to information has high value. Time IS money. Cross media marketing strategies, including use of viral techniques, are coming to the forefront in our marketing thought process. Mass marketing is becoming less important. Finding the right person and communicating with them in the way they want is the game we are in now. The consumer of the information is increasingly able to control the conversation with corporations. It’s becoming more of a “pull” communication process than a push the message out to them process. Deal with this new reality. Don’t delay.

The sands are shifting and we cannot deny it! Why would we (The truth is a defense)? It’s summer time and it’s fun to play in the sand and the sun (equating sun with new business opportunities…I wanted to make sure that you got that connection. LOL). It’s more fun trying to grow business than it is trying to cut costs to profitability (or oblivion?). Don’t be a stay at home couch potato when all the fun is outside. Come on in and join the fun. What’s the worse that can happen? Getting a sunburn? That doesn’t seem so bad, now does it?

After arriving in Dusseldorf without my checked bags, I knew that this trip was maybe not going to be the easiest. We got the cross media demo running with the Canon booth at Drupa, but it wasn’t a cake walk. Challenges have to be expected in a show environment and the team pulled together to make it happen. Canon Europe, Pageflex, and DirectSmile personnel worked together to install and test a complex cross media communications system (including customized email, personalized web, dynamic graphics in print and web, on-demand varible data print, and interactive video messaging) within a changing environment which is typical during set up of a major industry trade show (Drupa is CLEARLY that!).

The biggest issue that we ran into during installation was the compaibility with the audio chip (which we needed for the interactive video message) on the mother board and Windows Server 2003 (which is a requirement for installation of a Pageflex Server). After much discussion, research, and “googling” we determined the audio chip and the Windows Server software was not going to play nice with each other. So be it…brought in a Windows XP machine, set up as client to server (which we should have thought of sooner), and viola…Sound was happening on our interaction video messaging component.

Link for this cross media demo will be posted soon, once we complete installing and testing the server (and application) here at Magicomm. I think that you will enjoy the video component.

Final thoughts….Drupa was good, ink jet was everwhere, On demand apps were “cost of doing business”, worked with many dedicated people, and learned lots about servers and networks. Got a chance to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. Had several members of the “Wurst” family of meats during my meals. How could I be so lucky? Inquiring minds would like to know…or maybe not.

The trip over to Dusseldorf was uneventful….EXCEPT for my luggage being lost for a day and a half and the seat on the airplane being too small for me. That was a pain, but the luggage showed up and the colleagues that I was working with in the Canon booth were very pleased that I could change into some clean clothes.

Spent most the first two days setting the cross media demo up and practicing with the team assigned to the area. There were a few bumps and bruises along the way and it is finally running like a top this morning. The biggest pain was getting the audio running on the server (which we never did). Had something to do with Windows Server 2003 and the audio chip. Eventually, we brought in a XP machine and used it as the client to run the demo and NOW we can hear the sound of the interactive video message that was included in the demo. That got everyone’s attention. And the VDP posters that we printed from the demo looked great. They all love the demo!

Coming to shows like this is always a pleasure because I get to see many of my old friends and make some new ones. The Agfa booth is across the aisle and got to reconnect with many of my international friends.

The show was slow yesterday (first day of Drupa) and in the ride back to the hotel, the taxi driver was telling me that it appeared the attendance was down, based on his lack of business and the hotels having vacancies, which is very unusual for this show. I guess it indicates the economic times and how the printing industry is coming under pressure from other media. Everyone here is trying to be optimistic, but they all realize the times are changing. Print is getting pressured by other media options and no one expects this to change long term. Print has its place, but it is smaller than it use to be. That’s the reality of the world today.

Got to go and finish morning set up, so….

So you’ve made the leap from web 1.0 to web 2.0 with your new blog. You’ve picked a layout that your readers will go wild over and content that rivals “The New Yorker”. So now I address the question in the back of a lot of your minds of which my boss so eloquently asked after my last post Blogging For Business, “But the key question becomes…How can a business make money by spending precious resources on a blog…Inquiring minds want to know”.

Well first I’d like to note that if you’re in the business of blogging to make money then your probably in the wrong business. I only say this because I believe blogging is more about helping other people than helping yourself. If your blogging strictly for money, the quality of your content will go down over time and you will begin a counterproductive spiral ultimately resulting in your blog being labeled as spam. So rather than think about the money, think about all the lost souls you will save with your life changing content”.

Okay, so now on to the part where you make money.

Turning readers into leads

The first and most natural way you’re company will benefit from maintaining a blog is through legitimate business sales. Through your blog, the masses will begin to recognize the sincerity and worth of you business thus becoming more likely to do business with you.  Before purchasing a product or using a service, people tend to research by asking friends and family, looking on search engines and reading blogs. By maintaining a blog you can help control your company’s message and possibly stimulate positive conversation around your company’s brand”.

Advertisements and Affiliate Links

Google’s adwords is probably the most popular advertising medium on the web because of it’s ease of use and, well to be honest, Google seems pretty trustworthy. There are also plenty of other niche specific and cross-media advertising solutions if you look in the right places. A few to get you started could be; Text Link Ads, BlogAds, DoubleClick,  Adbrite , Clicksor , TextAds , Fastclick .

It is recommended that if you plan to advertise on your blog that you do it from day one. The thought process is people are more likely to become used to seeing the ads. If you wait until you grow a following and then start to advertise, it is more likely users will become irritated.

Affiliates links are another easy way to make some money off of your blog and you can choose what links you think suit your site the best. Amazon and Clickbank are two of the more popular sites however there are plenty other services to choose from.

Paid Reviews and Paid Blogging

If you company is blogging about a specific industry there is always the possibility of being approached to blog about a specific product or service. Likewise, another company might hire you to guest post on their blog if they feel they might benefit from your input. There are sites like Bloggers for Hire among others that can help facilitate the paid blogging job search.

When all is said and done, remember not to make it about the money, CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT, and everything else will fall into place around it.

UPDATE: Go here for 101 other ideas

There was an interesting article in the March issue of  ”Marketing News”. It discussed a report from Advertising Age about the growth of jobs in the marketing services sector (approximately 22,000) in the US in 2007. There was decline in media jobs, primarily in newspapers (-16,900) and TV (-4,800). Digital strategies are growing and the mix of media is increasing the choices that we have to communicate. What does this mean, Mr. Wizard?

My cut on this GREAT bit of information confirms that we are in a galactic shift where growth is in the new media and away from the traditional mass media. We all have to think differently when developing a strategy to help a company grow. No big surprise there, when you consider that we have been told for several years now, that the messaging which marketing services companies and ad agencies are developing for their clients’ needs to be more relevant and targeted. Using databases driving the messaging has become the new craft in our industry. Communicating to fewer, while providing more value is key!

More changes in thinking are required to succeed. Considering the impact of social media (such as blogs and social networks) is growing, corporations need to accept the loss of control of medium used for delivering the message. Not just focusing on selling their wares and making the message one directional. If what they are presenting to me is of no interest, I not only throw it away, but I discard it quicker the next time I see their name on something that is sent to me (whether it is email or print…won’t matter). They don’t know me and don’t care to understand what my interests are. They are more interested in pushing their products on me, as opposed to understanding how they can add value to my life. This creates a situation that forces marketing services companies to build bi-direction communications strategies. Pushing information to their target markets is not good enough anymore, the information must be relevant and an avenue for direct response becomes more important in developing trust and a relationship with the consumer.

Traditional print is not the only way and surely (Don’t call me Shirley!) using mass communication techniques (newspaper, radio, and tv) must not be the only strategy going forward. Using an integrated direct communications cross media strategy (now that is a mouth full) to establish a conversation (more touches equals higher response) will provide better results AND provide for increased customer satisfaction. It only makes sense to think this way, doesn’t it?

This is why marketing jobs are growing, because there are more options and companies are looking for answers. The “new” kids (whether it is veterans looking for new adventures (like me) or new college graduates) entering the marketplace “get it” and those that have this line of thinking are finding opportunities. Those whose only answer to a company’s marketing strategy is “run more ads” are going to be the losers and they will find out of the market quickly. It’s much more that developing “pretty pictures” and getting more eyeballs…SOOOOO MUCH MORE!