What Do Marketers Think? You Tell Us...

Last year, our inbound marketing partner Hubspot teamed up with our client King Fish Media and content marketing company Junta 42 for the first in a series of three studies on media and measurement. This year the three are teaming up again for the second study in this series: Social Media Usage, Attitudes and Measurability: What do Marketers Think?

Whereas the 2009 survey asked marketers about their use of custom content, the future allocation of marketing dollars, and whether they planned to ditch traditional marketing methods for shiny and new social ones, this year's survey launches from a very distinct vantage point: marketers are most definitely investing in social media. But while we may know that many companies have jumped on board, there's still a lot to learn about the usage habits, attitudes and future plans of marketers and other corporate executives.

That being the case, the questions this time around revolve around how marketers are measuring social media's effectiveness-qualitatively, quantitatively, or otherwise-as well as the design and management of their social media programs, and the different social media services/networks they're engaging with.

Needless to say, there's still a lot to learn, and we hope that with your collective feedback, they'll end up with a lot of useful information to share with you. In return for your time, Hubspot, King Fish Media and Junta42 are offering participants exclusive access to the survey for one week prior to making it available to the general public and media. The results will be compiled into an e-book format and will be supplemented by an in-depth analysis.

So, without further ado, we introduce you to Social Media Usage, Attitudes and Measurability: What do Marketers Think? Please take a few minutes to offer your insight and feedback: www.kingfishmedia.com/socialmediasurvey.

10 Marketing Resolutions Every Company Should Make in 2010

 

Well, here it is, practically the middle of January, and your New Year's resolutions may have already taken a beating. (Chocolate cake, anyone?) If you're searching for a way--any way--to make good on at least one set of resolutions, try making some that you have a powerful incentive to keep-resolutions for your business.

1. Make 2010 the year you and your company master the art of social media and mobile marketing. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and iPhone apps can be powerful ways to reach your audience--as long as you have good indications that your audience exists on each. If you're not yet active in social media, don't dive in headfirst. Figure out why you want to be on each site, and what distinct strategies and goals you have for each.* Another element to consider: whether you'll have the time and resources to devote to these, long-term. Not every company and brand needs an iPhone app. Where will you get the most bang for your social-media buck?
* May we recommend: "Going Social: 12 Key Things You Must Consider When Developing a Social Media Program for Your Business, Brands, or Clients"?

2. A corollary of #1: If you're using multi-channel marketing, make sure the content is varied and compelling on each channel. Die-hard fans will follow you to the ends of the earth (or at least to both Twitter and Facebook), but no one wants to read Twitter updates that end in "#fb." Determine who your target audiences are for each site and offer them solutions that fit their needs. United Airlines, for example, interacts with customers regularly on Twitter via special offers and air-travel advice--but United doesn't seem to have figured out what it's doing on Facebook: despite having over 13,000 fans, the company has not posted anything since setting up the fan page.

3. Social media listening. So you're on Facebook and Twitter, updating, retweeting, interacting, and generally being a rock star. Congratulations. Guess what? If you plan to treat your online activity as more than an echo chamber, you're also going to need to listen to how people respond to what you're putting out there. Monitoring what people are saying (tweeting, blogging) about your company, and tracking your company's reputation online, can be critical in positioning your business and its brands. You can do this via real-time search results from Twitter (now featured alongside Google search results), or--if you need more complex feedback--via a web-based application like Scout Labs. (Previously on CVMonologues: "Have You Searched Your Brand Recently?")

4. Online video. Take a good look at whether online video could offer a significant return on your marketing investment. One advantage? It's cheap. A Flip cam and basic editing software aren't going to break your budget. (Bloggers, take note.) Hip publishing house HarperStudio issues each of its authors a Flipcam and sends them off into the frozen tundra of the writing life with the expectation that the authors will send back video epistles chronicling their progress on that 80,000-word novel. For HarperStudio, this decision was a marketing bonanza. Whether you're an author, yacht manufacturer, or power-broker CEO, giving your customers a behind-the-scenes look at the creative processes at the heart of your business can be a serious (not to mention fun) way of connecting. Sites like Viddler and Vimeo offer a good idea of what you can accomplish.

5. Switching from website front-end matters to back-end ones: vow to take a hard look at your web analytics. Dig into yours to see what works. What content encourages visitors to visit--and linger--on your site? Which sites drive the most traffic to yours? (What's that? You don't have any web analytics, you say? Get thee to Google.)

6. Make sure your website encourages interaction with visitors--and that you're set up to support that interaction. Is your site the 2010 online equivalent of your great-aunt's living room, complete with plastic-covered lampshades? Does it say, "Look, but don't touch"? (If you're interested in changing your site from a brochure-style presentation to one that generates visits, have we got a blog post for you.)

7. Trim down. (Not you, your company.) When building a brand strategy, companies often throw everything at the wall to see what sticks. While this may work if you have endless funds and infinite hours in a day, you're probably better off honing the strongest and most cost-effective aspects of your strategy.

8. Put yourself in your customer's shoes. Since nearly every company has a presence online, the only way to distinguish your brand is through its quality (and let's assume yours is top-notch) and--perhaps more importantly--the way you treat people interested in it. Put in writing your commitment to customer service, and live it. There's a reason why the first five pages of hundreds of Google results for Zappos are full of adoring prose.

9. But that's not enough--you've got to be authentic in every interaction with customers. Could the last five people who interacted with your product or service identify what your company stands for? If not, it's time to close the gap between what you say you are, and how customers perceive you.

10. Become a trusted source of recommendations. Customers expect you to recommend your own product, of course, but demonstrating your awareness of the market can also be advantageous. Maybe the question to ask is not "How can I help my customer buy my product/service?," but "How can I help my customer?"

There you have it: 10 ways your company can kick off 2010 in smart-marketing style. Put one of these on the calendar for the next 10 business days and at the end of two weeks, you'll have formulated a clear set of online strategies that will help your business strengthen its relationships with customers and clients. Let us know what worked best for you...and, hey, are you going to eat the rest of that slice of cake?

New Study Confirms That a Shift to Social Media and Content Simply Means a Shift in Focus.

 

Need fuel to get the green light on a social media or content marketing project you've been pitching? Or maybe you're looking for backup in your plea to increase your customer retention budget. A new marketing survey conducted by King Fish Media, in partnership with HubSpot, Junta42 and Upshot Institute, might be exactly what you're looking for. (You can skip the overview and download the complete study here.)

The 2009 Survey on Marketing, Media and Measurement offers hard data that confirms our collective hunch that companies are focusing on communicating directly with existing and prospective consumers with methods made ubiquitous by the social media and content craze. At the same time, it shows that traditional advertising is alive and well...but that its usefulness is limited to certain initiatives. And if you're wondering how to gauge "usefulness" in the first place, well, the study's got an entire section on metrics and how they're being used by marketers to make important budgeting decisions.

As recently as a year ago, companies were diving into social media and content not always because they wanted to or believed it was effective, but because they thought they were supposed to. According to this study, however, nearly two-thirds of marketers-in-house and agency-believe that content from a brand or company is perceived as having the same or more value than content from a media brand. Also, they're moving dollars toward direct-touch platforms such as company Web sites and social media.

But traditional advertising does still have a part in the overall marketing mix; the difference now is that it, just like any other marketing platform, has been assigned a specific purpose(s). For instance, advertising is seen primarily as a tool for reaching prospects, but is used far less to talk to customers. Custom content and media are used by over 70% of marketers to communicate with current customers, and 70% use custom media to attract prospects. Social media is used heavily for both.

 Among the key findings of the 2009 Survey on Marketing, Media and Measurement:

• 44% of respondents' are increasing their customer retention budget over the next 12 months.
• 50% of people can't get funding for a marketing project if it doesn't have metrics built into it.
• 86% of respondents' companies are currently creating or plan to create original content for their customers and prospects in the coming year.
• 81% believe that brands and companies can create content that is as engaging and informative as content created by media companies.
• 74% feel that original content and media are most effective for generating marketing ROI.
• 70% are spending more today to reach customers and prospects directly with branded content than they did three years ago.

About the survey: The survey was created by King Fish Media and hosted online from June 15, 2009 to August 25, 2009. King Fish Media and its three co-sponsors-Hubspot, Junta42 and the Upshot Institute-attracted participants through a number of different media, including newsletter blasts, multiple blog posts, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and personal email invitations. The survey was completed by 230 respondents primarily split between corporate management and marketing/sales management.

To download the complete study, please visit: www.kingfishmedia.com/2009research/index.php