7 Marketing Myths, Stereotypes, and Stats Debunked

One of my favorite memes is the "What People Think I Do / What I Really Do" meme depicting a range of stereotypes and preconceptions associated with a particular occupation or field. Being in digital marketing, the memes about social media managers, marketers, and graphic designers are particularly humorous.

Looking at these, though, provides insight into some of the major stereotypes and myths surrounding marketers, digital marketing, and social media. I thought I would debunk a few for everyone today:

1. Mad Men drama.
I want to get one of the biggest stereotypes out of the way and kill a few birds with one stone. Since the explosive popularity of AMC's Mad Men, many people now have a glorified view of marketing and advertising. While it makes for great television, marketers' lives are not elegant soap operas full of excessive drinking, affairs, parties, and drama. The exorbitant lifestyle and drama depicted in Mad Men is just for show. Marketers do accomplish work and have a little more self-control.

2. If you build it, they will come.
Great movie, but it simply doesn't work in real life. Just look at the first dot-com bubble and Pets.com. You can have a "million-dollar idea" or the perfect domain name, but it is worthless if you cannot get it in front of the right consumers and market it well. ExactTarget Vice President of Marketing Insights Jeff Rohrs says, "There is an assumption by an awful lot of brands and startups that the audience is just there." Distribution strategy and proprietary audience development should be a priority for every marketer.

3. Numbers are useless.
I like to call this the Don Draper-style of marketing, where the focus is solely only on the creative. If you watch Mad Men, you notice that the only thing that matters is the creative and clever tagline in a campaign. Measurement, personalization, and building relationships with customers are nowhere to be seen. Many agencies and marketing departments still operate under that mentality. We have come out of the stone age now, though, and data is critical in a successful marketing program to provide measurement and a 1:1 experience for customers. This is the era of big data, but you should be more concerned with actionable data than big data.

4. Marketers are workaholics.
People in marketing, advertising, and sales often have the stereotype as being workaholics without a work/life balance. While we may be passionate about our work, we still have lives beyond our jobs and find creative ways to forget we're digital marketers. I recently heard from someone that it's not about finding a work/life balance, it's about setting the right priorities. Marissa Mayer recently spoke about the importance of setting priorities in her fireside chat with Marc Benioff at Dreamforce 2013. 

5. Email marketing is just a euphemism for "spam."
Many people will argue that marketers are simply professional spammers - especially if you're in the digital marketing business like myself. In reality, marketing should be the exact opposite. As Jay Baer, author of Youtility, puts it, "Smart marketing is about help, not hype." Brands should be focused around providing value, knowledge, and help to customers instead of pushing promotional messages down their throats. 

6. Email is dying.
People have argued since MySpace messages were released that email is dying. The truth, though, is that over 50% of consumers say email is their preferred channel of communication with a brand. The same study also found that 0% of respondents said social was their preferred channel (DM News). Whether you like it or not, email is a vital part of our productivity and lives.

7. My social media followers are devoted, truly loyal fans of my brand. 
Capturing a like or follow is only half the battle. The more important battle is engaging with your followers and starting conversations. The sad truth is that 71% of tweets go ignored (Search Engine Journal). Too often brands focus on the "untapped" markets without realizing that some of these audiences they believe to already be "captured" are the lowest-hanging fruits of prospective customers. Providing value and building relationships should be your ultimate goals with social media.

What Instagram Sponsored Stories and Snapchat "Experiments" Mean for Marketers

In the last couple of weeks, both Instagram and Snapchat made significant strides toward the profitability and monetization of their businesses. Instagram came out publicly and announced a beta version of sponsored ads in the Instagram feed in this short blog post, but Snapchat only admits that their new "Stories" and cross-promoted ads with L.A. bands are a "little experiment." This is a major trend as more and more social networks and applications are introducing advertising. It was only May 2012 when Tumblr also launched their first "sponsored products."

This has been the trend for almost all social networks. They start out with a basic platform and once they cross a threshold of users, investors and stakeholders push the company to monetize the business and start to return a profit. What was significant from these recent announcements and trends, though, for social media marketing and social advertising?

1. Diversity in Social Platforms
If you didn’t believe it before, Instagram and Snapchat are sticking around. The shift toward monetization proves that. The number of channels brands have to connect with their customers is constantly growing and evolving. Brands have already started using corporate Instagram feeds, but now they will be able to deliver relevant, targeted posts to untapped users as well. As more and more social networks launch platforms for “sponsored” posts and partners, more and more avenues to reach your customers exist. More than ever, brands need to reach their customers where they are. The growth in the social space allows for brands to focus their efforts where they will be most effective.  This ultimately leads to better segmentation, targeting, and positioning that is relevant to each individual customer.

2. Diversity in Social Ads
It is significant to note that it was only a little over three months ago when Instagram first launched videos. It is likely that since the Facebook acquisition, Instagram has been pressured to show a return on Facebook and its stockholder's $1B investment. Releasing sponsored posts after launching Instagram videos, though, will now bring ad revenue from both sponsored images and videos. The ability to advertise with video on Instagram will hopefully allow for much more creative and relevant sponsored posts in the Instagram feed. In the past couple of years, the diversity in social advertisements has grown significantly. Brands are being given more and more options to reach new markets and customers in new and creative ways.

In contrast to all of this, though, on the same day as Instagram’s announcement, Twitter noted in its SEC Form S-1 filings that they do not currently plan to place ads on Vine. Vine has 40 million users compared to Instagram's 150 million and Twitter is still a private company for the time being. It will be interesting how Vine’s resistance to ads will affect its popularity and growing adoption.

3.  Acquisition Through Social Media
This continues to prove that you can sell through social media. Jason Falls presented a whole breakout session at Connections 2013 on How to Acquire New Audiences Through Social Media. Social media allows you to provide content that makes consumers smarter and gives them something of value first, before trying to sell them. Social ads have become just one more acquisition avenue through social media, but they also help to validate the importance social media has in an organization’s marketing efforts.

4. The Social Ad Market is Still Growing Tremendously
Social advertising only represents 1-10% of most advertisers’ budgets. As more and more channels open their platforms to sponsored posts and advertising, social advertising will only continue to grow and evolve.

As social networks grow up, it is inevitable that they move toward becoming a profitable business. Most freemium business models use advertisements and sponsors as that means of monetization, but a few have started to try and reinvent that business model. App.net has been one of the most popular to introduce a tiered pricing model based on the number of people you follow. What are your reactions to the recent introduction of Instagram sponsored posts and other social networks’ monetization efforts? Will this hinder the user experience on these platforms? Do you have any other ideas for monetization in these business models beyond advertisements?

K.I.S.S.

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

"Less is more."

"It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

For years, there's always been different sayings that convey that simple, succinct, and to-the-point  are the easiest and best ways to convey information. It can never be emphasized enough. We always want to write more, do more, or add more than is necessary, which clutters, distracts, and takes away from the initial purpose.

Even this post is already rambling and reiterating points that don't need any clarification. We always try to clarify and add to our writing or speech, but why? Is it our fear of being misunderstood? Or is it a desire to make sure we sound like an expert on the topic?

The most eloquent speakers and businessmen I've met all have a certain few characteristics in common. One is that they always get straight to the point when speaking and get that point across in as few of words as necessary. They are also confident in those words. That might be because they are usually in a hurry so they have learned to be efficient and productive with their time, but they know how to keep it simple.

Keep it simple stupid.

The Future of #Advertising

Faith in ‪advertising‬ is dying while faith in peers is gaining. It has been for a long time. We as consumers are not as stupid as advertising makes it out that we are. We understand their tricks and sneaky ways. Just think, when was the last time you actually clicked on a pop-up not by accident?

The future of advertising is not in psychological tricks, gimmicks, and stretched "facts." Mass media advertising is shifting towards pure entertainment to the viewer, but the future of advertising is in facilitating word-of-mouth marketing and building brand ambassadors. The future of advertising is in trust and word of mouth, not bigger spreads.

Don't Be Afraid When People Talk About Your Brand

I was reading a blog post by Seth Godin today during my lunch. He noted:

"You can't build a brand by trying to sue anyone who chooses to talk about you."

Instead, you have to create a compelling-enough product where the negatives and critique concerning your brand are far outweighed by the positive things people are saying about your brand.

It's a good thing when people are talking about your brand; as long as you're providing something noteworthy to talk about.

Create a product that compels engagement and online chatter related to your brand. Don't be afraid of what people have to say, but encourage that conversation (online or by literal word-of-mouth). If you give consumers something good to say about your brand, you have nothing to worry about. Any negative will be drowned out.

The Best Marketing

"The best type of marketing is the kind that does not feel like marketing at all."

The best kind of company is the one that partners with its customers in their success. Their marketing turns from a sales pitch to a call to further one's own business or self.

Four Reasons Why #AUMeme’s Worked

First off, if you don't know what a meme is, feel free to indulge and acquaint yourself here. A late Friday afternoon before Spring Break a friend and I created a Facebook fan page for humorous Anderson University-related memes called the Anderson University Meme Page.

Within a matter of 72 hours this page exploded. We originally created it as an inside joke for a few friends. I invited solely about 20 people to the page thinking they would find the content humorous, but the effect was dramatic. The page had over 500 likes, over 150 postings on its wall, and thousands of individual likes on different postings all within a matter of 3 days. Now the page is over 700 likes. This may not seem necessarily “dramatic,” but with a student body of a little over 2000, we were looking at almost 35% of the AU student body “liking” and being involved on this page (assuming all likes were from AU students and all students have profiles on Facebook). We had essentially created the newest trend on Anderson University’s campus.

Why, though, did this explode so quickly? How did we reach 35% of our entire “target market” in a matter of 72 hours? And the question everyone is dying to know: will this trend stay popular or die out?

Here are four reasons why Anderson University Meme’s worked:

1. User-Generated Content.

Anderson University Memes is almost entirely composed of user-generated content. Students create the content and upload it to the Facebook page. They pour their own blood, sweat, and tears into their creations, so of course they’re going to come back, share, and invest time in the page itself. User-generated content gets people engaged on your site. It gives “customers” or fans a personal connection to your brand. With user-generated content, we now have over 700 different minds thinking of new content and jokes to make on our site.

2. Funny sells.

In the past decade or so, many companies and firms have been using sex to sell products. I believe recently, though, this has become less prevalent. The general public does not care so much anymore for sparsely dressed women anymore. What really does “sell,” though, is funny. People love to laugh. “What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.” Laughter is a necessity in life. It always puts people in a better mood. Why do people like the Super Bowl Commercials? They are hilarious.

3. Competition.

Everybody likes some good old-fashioned competition. In order for your meme to stay on the page it had to receive a certain amount of likes in a given time period, allowing the public to decide what was funny and what was not. Competition draws customers in. It allows them to connect with the brand and take ownership. The competition also keeps them coming back. It also gives them bragging rights on their own personal meme.

4. Common Experiences

The page quickly created a community around it. We all shared the same experiences with Anderson University and understand the inside jokes. The common experience creates a community—something marketers and branding people try their whole career to create. It keeps people engaged and entices people. That’s why they find it funny. That’s why they come back. That’s why they enjoy the page and that’s why it worked. The initial explosion has quieted down and not many people are using it still, but good, new memes still average high like percentages. It will be interesting to see if it was just a short-lived fad or if it will continue on.

Social Media Usage in the FSB

I was a part of a team that collected, edited, and ran the statistics for data collected on Fall's School of Business undergraduate students' social media usage habits. Recently Anderson Media Group, an Anderson, Ind. media firm, published that data into an infographic. Check it out below!

Where Do You Get Your News?

I was asked the other day in an interview what my primary source of news was today. The answer: social media.

It's crazy how the Internet has transformed our society. I and many others' main source of news is now our Twitter feed, the blogs we read, and our Facebook news feed. Even news stations are now coming to the realization that many of the stories they are featuring are old news. News stories and even history is being made on Twitter.

It is amazing how far we've come. Twitter began as a podcast catalog and now it is driving pop culture and even our news sources. I and millions of others have completely shifted our use of information and media, creating a crisis for traditional news sources. It also, though, opens an entire new avenue and creative thinking in trying to solve that crisis. Many magazines and news stations have moved to online print and video, but I think there is a better solution out there still. It will be interesting to see where this new age takes us. Pretty soon all our news will come from our social sites.

A Quote is Only as Good as the Person who Said It

Today I saw a post by a fellow writer at Anderson Media Group, a student-run media firm, on the difference between Facebook's focus on transparency with followers and the rising community on the anonymous bulletin board 4chan. The founder of 4chan was quoted in saying, "The cost of failure is really high when you're contributing as yourself."

When you are contributing as yourself, though, your reputation, integrity, and expertise and knowledge all come alongside your contribution. Whether they compliment or take away from your contribution is another story. The fact of the matter is, a quote is only as good or as famous as the person who said it and an injection of your knowledge onto the digital or social media canvas is only as good as its qualifications you bring with it. Yes, the cost of failure is extremely high, but it causes people to think twice before posting online and it causes people to only make remarks that actually contribute to the discussion and society as a whole.

Take a chance, let your qualifications, knowledge, and integrity speak for you when you post online.

Super Bowl Commercial Letdown

As a football fanatic and advertising nerd, I of course watched Super Bowl XLVI. Not only was I ecstatic to watch the game and hopefully see Tom Brady get beat by a Manning (which did happen), but I was also excited because it was in my home town of Indy. I, though, like many other Americans also banked on seeing the best advertisements out there on that Sunday. I was not impressed with this year's Super Bowl commercials, though. You can see all the 2012 ads spliced together in 2 minutes in this video by AdWeek.
 

The ads this year didn't seem to pop out to me. None of them left me with awe. Very few of them even left me with the remembrance of who the company advertising was and an extremely few number of them had me talking about them the next day.

What struck me as even more intriguing is the fact that my favorite (and the favorite of a great deal of others I talked to) was the Doritos commercial(s) made by consumers.  The concept was not created by the creative department or a copyrighter at Y&R or TBWA. The concept wasn't created by Doritos or its owner (Frito-Lay) or even Frito-Lay's owner Pepsi Co. The concept was created a few years back when Doritos got the idea to ask the consumer to create their own advertisement and had people vote and the winner's ad was placed in the super bowl as part of their "Crash The Super Bowl" campaign. Not only was this an amazing marketing and PR campaign, but it gives them many free commercials to use on YouTube and even the Super Bowl. It amazed me, though, how Doritos seems to have noticed that the consumers know what works in advertisements (they have had some of the best Super Bowl commercials in the past years using this campaign), but other companies aren't following suit.

I think if companies are going to keep up in today's market, they have to keep up and stay ahead of the game. If your consumers are making the best commercials, why are you paying the ad firm? It's a call to action in my opinion for us who want to be in marketing to step up our game and do not limit ourselves anymore. Think outside the box. Get creative. Think like your consumers. Doritos is doing it right.