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Please, No Fake Words in My Sweet Sauce

Every industry has its proprietary terms. Those words that when spoken, make non-insiders feel especially like outsiders. Some industries have complete languages of their own. I have friends who speak legalese, medical, philosophy and more. Sometimes those inside the industry bubble don’t realize that they are speaking a language that others don’t understand. This can make for terrible bedside manner — when a doctor thinks she is explaining, but the patient has no idea what is being said. It can make a consultation with an attorney confusing beyond belief. And, I have witnessed graduate students in university classes turn pale and feel ill listening to a professor who seems to be speaking English, yet is unintelligible to the students.

The Marketing field is no different. It has more than its share of in-speak words. In fact, depending on the area in marketing, there are actually sub-categories and the digital sphere is a major culprit. I have had clients who confessed that they had paid others for digital marketing services without actually knowing what the alphabet soup meant, even though they were paying for SEO, CTR, CPA, CPM. Because there is an element of the theatrical and artistic in marketing, there are sometimes marketing pitches full of dramatic and artistic license. “These upmarketing efforts to your subgregated target” (subgregrated?!?) or “smart digital optimizationalism”—yes, I’ve heard that said as if it were something real. These were made up words! Actual fake words used to intimidate the client and make them think they were witnessing some miraculous inaccessible marketing magic.

There is a history of large marketing companies with inflated overhead and huge operations budgets trying to quote clients and give pitches that impress and hide what is actually happening. The idea of saying, “we will be billing you hundreds of thousands of dollars because our conference room is very swanky and we like to play air hockey while we think” isn’t appealing. Here’s the thing…well, one of the things…There are some valid difficulties to billing and quoting in marketing. Clients don’t always understand paying for creative or intellectual equity. There is value in a great creative idea or an aha! genius moment. Those don’t just get born immediately. They often take some ruminating, research, collaboration, brainstorming. That is in large measure what a marketing client is paying for. That incubation of ideas. If a quote or bill could be totally honest, it might state that the client will pay for “as many hours as it takes for us to come up with an incredible idea and to creatively plan to execute said idea” as well as the number of actual hours for design, writing, media placement, etc. But quotes and bills aren’t written that way.

We are big advocates of transparent quoting and billing. That is in part because we aren’t ashamed to say that our minds are the thing. That creative development, the understanding of the importance of communication and relationships with the receivers of the marketing –those are the sweet sauce. We’ve got plenty of it at K2M Creative Media and we’re ready to pour it on in 2019!

Salmonella Social: Half Baked Social Media Isn’t Worth Serving

You wouldn’t serve a half baked dish to your guests. It might taste bad, or even make them sick. But many small businesses regularly serve half-baked social media to their clients or audience. It’s not on purpose. Nobody is setting out to serve up salmonella-esque social. People just don’t know.

Here are 9 (or 10) Indications that a Company’s Social Media Strategy Is Not Fully Cooked:

1. Social media accounts that lay dormant, with no posts since they were initially set up.
2. Accounts that re-post or share and never post original content.
3. Accounts with no images and copy-only posts.
4. Accounts with no copy and image only posts.
5. Social media that ignores customer engagement.
6. Generic posts that have no connection to the location or target audience.
7. Ill-timed posts;
– either posts at times of the day that don’t fit the audience
– posts that don’t take current events account (such as posts about frivolity during a crisis news event)
– posts that don’t take the environment into account (such as posts promoting local beach fun during a snow storm)
8. Social media accounts that never say anything personal about the business
9. Accounts that direct prospects to websites without capturing emails for further outreach

Perhaps one of the most common problems isn’t in the list above because it’s just so big it deserves its own paragraph. Strategy. There actually has to be a strategy. It’s hard to believe, like bang my head on a wall hard to believe, but many companies don’t actually have a social media strategy at all. (Maybe I’ll blog soon about how many companies don’t have a marketing strategy at all…hmmm…). Social media won’t manage itself or just blossom on its own. Sadly, neither do the plants in my house. A lame or limping social media channel may be better off non-existent. It looks bad when a social media account is dormant and it is criminal to let customers go unacknowledged when they reach out via social channels.

Business owners get busy doing their “real jobs.” I hear it all the time. That’s why the strategy matters. Plan before you invite the guests to dinner. Will you have enough time to put the roast in the oven and get it cooked before everyone is seated? That kind of thing matters. Thankfully, while being poisoned at someone’s dinner table is hard to forget, social media mishaps may be easily repaired. Social media strategies can be developed and employed at any time. There is hope and a solution.

Slip and Catch

So often clients connect with me when they are in a skyrocket mode…shooting up and fast, everything is clicking/working and they need the tools to be ready for when the emails start coming in and the phone starts to ring. It’s such an exciting time for them.

There are many times though when a client comes to me, either after that skyrocket moment and they feel the lull of regular business, which feels slow compared to the exciting and fast rocket time. I also meet with clients who begin their first conversation with apologies. They know they don’t need to apologize to me, but they are really apologizing to themselves.

“I have let my blog slip.” – Guilty here.

“I have not emailed my client list enough.” – So guilty here.

“I haven’t redesigned anything on my social media in forever.” – Guilty.

“I don’t use all of the social media channels I could.” – Guilty too.

A favorite was when a new client said, “I haven’t cleaned my house in months.” Not part of the business discussion…but she needed to unload. And by the way — Guilty too.

Yes, there is a level of therapy that can be part of the client relationship. So much about business and marketing is about relationships and interactions after all. So, whey the guilt about her home? People hold themselves up to unrealistic standards about running a business and a home. They get intertwined in our self-assessments – I find this especially true for women vis-à-vis their homes.

It is not only women. A male client told me that since he started his business his personal life had suffered, and he was hoping that as I took over some of the marketing responsibility, it would help him and his family carve out more time together. That was a priority for him because he felt like he was missing out.

However – NO guilt necessary. No self-blaming. We are a Love Yourself business. First of all, nobody succeeds and sells as well when they are depressed, self-loathing or negative. Secondly, when someone slips in their own business goals and knows it, they have likely caught themselves before too much damage has been done. So, a business that starts out with a healthy and regular blog schedule that slips and falls off the routine for a bit, but notices it and reaches out for my help before it’s gone on too long, can usually get back on the blog wagon and fix it.

Did they lose possible business during the down time? Probably. Does it mean the business is not savable? Unlikely.

When the guilt is about not taking all available opportunities, such as not using all available social media channels, or not using all possible sales channels, again – no guilt needed. Not doing enough, but doing some or a lot is still doing. It is a great platform from which to build. There are times when a client will tell me in a hushed voice about what they have not tried. That’s ok. In fact, it’s great. It means we have a starting point to assess and perhaps work from.

The bottom line is that we focus on the achievements of our clients and on their inroads towards success as much as possible. People catch themselves and we create support to help catch them.

Life is full of Slips and Catches. We all slip and then catch ourselves. Expecting perfection and no errors is unrealistic and doesn’t lead to much more than stress and disappointment. I think a goal of near perfection and no errors is great, as long as we understand that as people we are inherently engineered to slip sometimes. It’s more than ok. It’s just great. It’s real life. It is what gives us opportunity to reinvent ourselves, to try again, to work harder next time, to train more, to build, to learn.

People are perfect, but not because they are not flawed or because they err. It’s our mistakes and nicks and dents that make us interesting and experienced and wise. You’ve slipped? Bring it on – we’ve got you!

Doing Your Anthropology Homework: Observing Teens during the Summer

teenagers Adolescents are a bit more visible in the summer. School’s out; college is out except for those who stay on campus. And they’re just around. Not all; some are traveling or working summer jobs. But, if you look around in the coffee shops, restaurants, on the roads and highways and hangouts, summer time is teen visibility time.

What does this have to do with you?

Do you have teens with whom you come into contact? If so, now is the time to surreptitiously observe their behaviors in their natural habitat or even engage in discussions with them. You will discover how this soon to be powerful spending group (if not already) makes buying decisions about clothing and services. They may not need a lawyer or a realtor right now, but they do go to doctors, they do purchase clothing, music and streaming services and they buy a lot of food.

Here are some topics you might want to ask the teens you run into:

What social media channels are they using and how often?
Do they plan to buy a car any time soon? (You’ll find these numbers very low, depending on where they live and their use of Uber)
How are they listening to music these days? (Itunes, Spotify, Tidal?)
How often are they using apps that you rarely use like Uber and Venmo? Have them explain how they interact with these apps.
How do they choose where to go for healthcare when away from home?
How do they pick where to eat or drink with their friends?
Have they been in downtown Detroit recently and what have they done there?
Are there any retail establishments that are still worth going into in person or do they do all of their shopping online?
How did they buy their books for school this year?
When was the last time they were in a mall? Which one?
What was the last movie they saw at a theater?
What was the last thing you watched on a screen and what streaming service did you use (if applicable?)
Can you name any broadcast TV show and what night it is on?
What was the last live sports event you attended?

Having these conversations gives you a snapshot of how this large sector of the population spends money and responds to marketing. It may not be relevant for your small business right now, but it could be indicative of trends you need to adjust to in the future.

Now go out there and study!

What are you Doing this Weekend? A Macro Look at Marketing in our Lives

Photo by tradland

As Friday winds down and our glances and our attention wander to the view of the outside world, we begin to answer this question, “What are you doing this weekend?”

Have you ever thought about how we decide to spend our weekend time?

Let’s just discuss the actual “free hours”, not the hours we’ve set aside for chores or errands or even the family or social obligations, the graduation parties, the kid’s soccer game, the office after-work client entertainment. Let’s talk about what we truly choose to do, like:

Watch a movie or videos at home.
Play on a screen.
Read a book, magazine or newspaper in print or on a screen.
Attend a religious service or event.
Attend a sporting event or watch one on a screen.
Eat a meal or snack out.
Attend a cultural event.
Take part in an outdoor or indoor leisure activity.
Exercise.
Get together with friends or family.
Travel.

Have you ever truly thought about how you finally landed on choosing which of your precious hours you spent doing what activity? An honest evaluation would reveal that you are often influenced subtly by marketing even when choosing leisure time pursuits.

Ask yourself these:

How did we decide on this restaurant?

What made me go to this website? How much time did I linger on the site?

How did I choose this movie?

What keeps me coming to this club/church/political organization’s activities and why do I avoid others?

When I choose something to read, how much does marketing, the opinions of others or even the choices of a book club influence me?

Marketing is ubiquitous, although it can be subtle. When you consider how you make personal choices in your life, you can also step back to consider how others make business decisions, choose professionals to help them as attorneys, physicians, psychologists, realtors and caterers.

Use your weekend to recharge. But maybe spend a few minutes thinking about how you make choices and how you are influenced. It may give you insight as to how others make decisions to choose to do business with you.

Lemonade Stand Lessons

lemonade-stand-656401_640 (2) Did you see them? They’re back!

The lemonade stand is set up in your neighborhood somewhere. What leads to these oldest of pop-up ventures?

Kids decide they want some money. They need more I-tunes, to convince their parents to pay for Spotify or Tidal, they’re saving up for a trip to Sephora or the Apple store or whatever….
The only thing these entrepreneurs have to sell for free is their time and their pilfered lemonade making supplies.
The production of the lemonade is cheap and easy.
People drink more lemonade when the temperature goes up.
More customers are nearby as the weather is better.
Their visibility is their marketing.

Dang, those kids know basic level marketing. So, what can we do to emulate our neighborhood marketing geniuses?

Go where your customers are. If you are in a store or even an office that has nearby driving or walking traffic, come outside for a bit. Hand out samples (or lemonade!!!) or a coupon. Potential customers live or work near the businesses to which they are loyal.
Determine what you can afford to give away for the sake of marketing. A bit of your time? Some product? Printed collateral about your business?
Think about people’s changing needs in summer. If you sell boutique clothing, pretty soon kids will be in tow. Advertise charging stations or your Wii for the kids while the parents shop. (Hey, charging stations for the parents while the kids shop is good, too.)
Get outside in general. Conduct a door hanger campaign that requires you or someone who works for you to hang advertisements on the doors in a specific neighborhood. This is meta zip code specific marketing.
Join forces with the lemonade gang. Sponsor their lemonade stand for a day (I bet an even $25 would make them swoon) if they also give out your materials.

When the College Students Return Home…

The college kids are back. They’ve moved out of their dorms (except the California and Chicago kids, they’ll be home soon). They are in between spring semester and summer work or fun or learning. They are becoming quite the consumers. They’ve been spending money (theirs or their parents), making buying decisions and developing spending habits.

What are college kid spending and money behaviors?

They do have brand loyalty. It just doesn’t look like it always did. They may have gone hyper-local, loving the special food truck near their dorm and developing a loyalty to that vendor. Or they have a brand loyalty to a social media platform or an app (Spotify?)
They are beginning to weigh the trade-offs with different consumer products. They know Spirit Airlines is cheap, but they also know other airlines don’t charge for carry-on bags. As they are forging their ways to adulthood, they are trying to determine what their consumer values are.
They are walking the line between fitting in and being countercultural, iconoclastic or individualistic (but while still fitting in). It’s exhausting.
They love home, but they also find it provincial.
They are developing their political sensitivities (especially in an election year). They may have already volunteered for a candidate or given money to one or two. You may be receiving their political mail at the home address.
They are beginning to think big picture as consumers, trying to plan how to pay off student debt, developing good credit and handling more complex budgeting.
They are discovering the world of events: live performances, sporting events and the social scene and determining what is “worth it”.
Depending on where they are going to school, they are becoming consumers of household goods including new and used furniture, cars and auto insurance.
They are somewhat aware of health insurance, but happy to not have to pay for it or choose it yet.
Except for the most sheltered, they tend to know how much their living costs are and what their tuition is. They know the relative wealth of all their friends. They can tell you how the richest kids behave (and what aspects of that behavior they envy.)
They know the best places to shop for cosmetics, hip clothes, cheap food (especially pizza), and bus tickets.

Getting to know a college student helps you to see your own business through their eyes. Consider what would entice them to come to you.If you know a particularly articulate college student, it may be worthwhile to pick their brains. What would be the harm?

So You Want to Go Into Marketing?

marketing topics We often encounter college and high school students who are considering the world of marketing. Typically, they ask us, “What do you do all day?”

As marketing professionals, every day is different. That’s what great about our jobs. One day can be filled with a giant event for a client. The next day can be planning social media posts for a month. But, if you come to shadow a marketing professional or be a summer intern, you should learn to hone certain skills, including:

Be self-directed. Marketing requires constant movement. Clients need to feel you understand their day-to-day operations. There are constant fires to put out, and lists and lists of projects. You have to be organized, focused and thinking one or two steps ahead.
Be the best writer and editor you can be. You can hire lots of writers and editors, but if you are not an excellent writer, you will not be able to supervise those around you and demand their best product. Every email, every contract, every social media post, every blog needs to be error-free and on message, in addition to being catchy and the right tone. Developing proofreading skills and finding errors in your writing and those of others is paramount.
Develop an eye for graphic design. You may not have the skill set or the temperament to be a graphic designer, but learn their lingo about images, about fonts, about image placement. Determine what style matches various products and various clients. Study logos, their development and their usage.
Become a student of marketing. Spend time pondering how you interact with marketing messages, how you choose the products that you utilize, and even how you consume media.
Become adept at major software used in the marketing world. WordPress is the most used template for creating websites. Practice utilizing it, so you feel comfortable creating pages and posts and adding images.
Experiment with different software programs including those that deliver email messages and manage social media posts.
Play with different social media platforms and go out of your comfort zone. Create anonymous social media accounts that allow you to practice posting on various platforms.
Spend time with an event planner to understand the many aspects of business and social event planning. Often marketing professionals will need to have these talents.
Learn the nuances of crafting press releases and creating media materials.
Get a good look at a marketing client contract to understand the business aspect of the marketing world.
Sit in on a marketing meeting between a client and professional. Observe how the marketing professional manages to listen to the client and to determine their most important marketing priorities and dovetail that with what may actually be most needed for success.
Figure out what the metrics are for each client to determine a return on investment in terms of marketing dollars.
See what other skills you might need to call on and develop them or find people who have them. Marketers get called on to write speeches, make Power Point presentations, run brainstorming meetings, and develop business plans.

We encourage students of marketing to get some hands-on learning and are happy to talk to them about the ever-changing world of marketing.

How the Matzo Turned into a Tortilla: Holiday Marketing

tortillas In the final days of Passover, I needed some more matzo and headed off to a usually well stocked market. I got there to discover the Passover display seemed to have disappeared, although the holiday was still going on. I went to customer service and asked what happened to the Passover items and the gentleman said, “Oh, we turned the Passover display into the Cinco de Mayo display.”

Yes it happened, the matzo turned into tortillas. Some things were the same, really. The kosher for Passover for Coca-Cola has no corn syrup and neither does the Coca-Cola made in Mexico.

It got me thinking about marketing for holidays that are yours and not yours. When do we honor our clients and customers by recognizing the significant holidays in their live and when is it cultural appropriation?

Holidays present some ideal times to sell certain products or even have themes or decorations. They may or may not be appropriate to recognize on social media (would the post be inclusive or exclusive) and sometimes, there isn’t a great way to tie in to the holidays.

Recognizing the needs of your customers during holidays is a way to show you understand what’s important to them. So, mentioning that your party store has “lots of items for your seder table” shows an understanding of the phrase “seder table”. Offering longer hours during Ramadan indicates that you know that those who observe Ramadan aren’t going to want to be out and about during the day when they are fasting, but their nights are longer.

Not every holiday is a reason for a sale. At this point, it seems that Labor Day and President’s Day are sale days. We still find Memorial Day sales disrespectful (really, a day we honor our war dead?) and we even have mixed feelings about cashing in on Cinco de Mayo, but that’s because nobody understands what we are celebrating. Read our previous blog about Cinco de Mayo here. Likewise, we are not comfortable with MLK Day sales events.

Are any holidays universal? We often wonder. You can’t go wrong with a post about Thanksgiving, we know that, but it’s a fine line with lots of other times. Since posts reach everybody, you have to decide what the purpose of social media posts which mention holidays are. Is it to advertise your faith and cultural traditions, to acknowledge the diversity of your clients and/or both? Is there any downside? Consider these as you move forward.

And now, pass me the Margarita, Cinco de Mayo is almost here.

When is Vanilla Not the Best Flavor?

vanilla ice cream Your internet presence should be your best “you”, as attractive and friendly as possible, as knowledgeable and professional as you and your co-workers are on your best days with fair prices and high values.

And you should try not to offend people.

But you can take this too far. If you overly analyze every social media post or obsess on the minutiae of every sponsorship, you can become not only non-controversial, you can become boring.

Here are some things to consider as you post (or pay someone to post) on Facebook or Twitter or write blogs (or pay someone to write blogs) to create content for your websites:

Sex, politics, religion: not good conversation fodder at parties and are a sticky wicket on your website. If you’re overtly politically involved and everybody knows it, by all means, don’t be shy. But if your clientele is diverse, tread lightly. And election season is a bad time to pick sides.
Commenting on the news is often ok, depending on the tone and the story. If your client is a Volkswagen dealer, you might not want to talk about the emissions tests.
Determine what the third rail topics are for your business, those issues that foment strong opinions and which do you no good to bring up. Is it fluoride in the water? Anti-vaccination people? Trial reform? Corporate inversions? The mortgage banking industry?
If you are an expert in something that has become an issue or a story, consider writing a longer blog explaining the details of that story. As Apple and the FBI duked it out, some lawyers who were experts in digital privacy discussed the issues calmly on their law firms’ websites.
Be aware of local rivalries and only rile up the crowd is you can take the heat, whether it’s rooting for or against the Wolverines, the Spartans or even….the Buckeyes.
Be supportive of the city of Detroit right now. People are tired of the pile-ups of complaints and are ready to celebrate improvements, even incremental ones. Local boosterism is rarely controversial.

On the whole, write and post about things that interest you, that showcase your unique hobbies or causes, that show your genuine connection to people, places and ideas, even if they stray from vanilla sometimes.