Pitstop Blog

Don’t get left behind, get online.

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:08:00 GMT

I was in the car the other week and a snippet of conversation on the radio really caught my attention. The announcer said, "Look it up on the Internet. The answer to everything is on the Internet - it might not be the right answer, but it's there." This made me think about how our actions and thought processes have changed over the last five years in terms of discovering information, and how, this is such a powerful tool in the marketing belt of anyone selling a product, service, fundraising, education, anything.

The bloke on the radio was right. We (the collective noun) do ask the Internet everything - often before trying to think of the answer ourselves. In water cooler speak ... who ‘voiced’ the donkey in ‘Shrek’? or who sings the theme tune for MasterChef? Do you ponder over it for hours and have a light bulb moment in the middle of the night? Or do you Google it?

Unless you stoically stick to your guns, these days it is becoming more and more ‘natural’ to search the internet for answers – be it for water cooler questions, or for research on which hotel to stay in on holiday or for your plumber or accountant’s phone number (let’s face it, it’s usually faster than flicking through an address book).

This reminds me how important it is for our clients to have an online presence that reflects their products (or offering) and personality.

The arguments of “I don’t need new clients” or “All my business is word of mouth referrals”, just aren’t valid anymore as reasons to not invest online.

Customers are online all the time. They’re checking out who they currently use, and who they might use - Your competitors. Your competition are putting themselves at the forefront and reminding your customers why THEY are ones to choose.

So what does this mean? Here are six starter steps.

Make sure you are online.

Think strategically about your website and how you represent yourself - that template website for $99 may not be the answer to showing your point of difference.

Perception is 99% reality. If you’re a company who promotes themselves as tech savvy – your website should reflect this. If you’re an interior designer – your site better look good. That initial reaction when a visitor comes to your site is incredibly important – remember, you want them to stay on your site and keep reading.

Make sure that you can be found. Search engine optimisation, online advertising, email promotions with landing pages - the methods are out there.

Consider other online channels and match these up with your target markets behaviour – would you set up your sausage sizzle outside a vegan convention? I wouldn’t be spending all my time on Pinterest if my target market were predominantly men.

Monitor, review, refine. Now more than ever the digital world is changing, and people’s online actions are adapting with this. You need to be aware of these changes, or ensure your marketing agency is aware of them for you.

Don’t get left behind, get online.

Oh – and it’s Eddie Murphy, and Katy Perry (if you haven’t Googled already).

Five tips to make your social media journey less daunting

Tue, 22 May 2012 05:29:00 GMT

Georgi Roberts | Monday 30th April, 2012

Do you break out in a sweat imagining your business competing with Lady Gaga's prolific Twitter account or Levi’s fantastic Facebook page?

Your social media journey doesn’t have to be daunting – it can be incredibly rewarding for your business. There are a few key lessons to simplify the process, especially if you are about to dip your toe into the online engagement pond.

1. Don’t put social media up on a podium.

It should sit alongside the rest of your marketing and communication activity and be integrated into your overall strategy to achieve your business objectives.

2. There is no such thing as one size fits all.

Each social media channel has its own audience and delivers messages in its own way. Know what is on offer and which channel/s are best for your business.

3. Listen and learn.

Look at your competitors, your clients and your industry – are they active online? What and who are they talking about and who is listening to them? Are there any in particular that have a loud online voice? And importantly, whether you are using social media already or not – what is being said about your business online?

4. Always work efficiently.

Unlike Starbucks, we’re not all able to employ social media teams. Plan your activity and follow your strategy (remember – you don’t have to do everything at once). Make use of one of the many third party tools available to help you with monitoring, scheduling and reporting.

5. Use your personality and be prepared to engage!

Reward your followers with interesting content written with personality. Start self-publicising and you’ll lose your engagement. Start educating, informing and even entertaining and watch your audience grow.

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Do you have more questions, or need assistance with your social media strategy? Feel free to email me or give us a call at Pitstop Marketing - we'd love to have a chat and see how we can help. You may also like to attend one of our Social Media seminars find out more.

Think before you link

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:32:00 GMT

Georgi Roberts | Thursday 1st March, 2012

On February 27^th LinkedIn launched a “follow company” button to place on company websites. Before you jump in and put it next to your Google+, your cute Twitter follow bird, your Facebook ‘like’ count and all the rest, stop and think.

Are you sending them to a page where you’ve optimised your profile, carefully described your services and offer a point of connection? Or are you sending them to another page, to another social media channel where you feel like you MUST have as many followers or likes as possible.

LinkedIn themselves answer the question of "Why would I follow a Company on LinkedIn?":
“Whether you are looking to stay up-to-date on company news, career opportunities or industry trends, following companies on LinkedIn is a great and easy way to gain insights and stay connected.”

Before you jump on the next sharing button band wagon, ask yourself the following questions…

Are you adding value by pointing your clients and customers here?
Is the page aligned to your brand?
Will you update the page regularly (or at least intermittently?)

If you can answer yes to these questions, here are your details to use that 'Follow Company button: http://blog.linkedin.com/2012/02/27/linkedin-follow-button-for-companies/

If you’re unsure, have a think about optimising your profile first. Spend the time ensuring that your business is represented as it should be, just as you would spend the time on your own personal profile.

Think before you link.

Top 5 marketing mistakes I see again and again

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:25:00 GMT

Penelope Bettison | Tuesday January 31st 2012

1. Businesses don’t understand and leverage the true value of their brand

All too often I am surprised to discover hidden gems of amazing brand stories within organisations. Stories that the businesses overlook, take for granted and lose sight of due to being too close to their business which impedes their ability to be objective. They miss an opportunity to be inspired by the true authenticity of their brand.

Often the brand has never been defined, resulting in inconsistent activity and ineffective messaging.

SOLUTION: Align the team and create a culturally supported brand vision.

This can and should result in a significant forward progression throughout a business, not just in marketing but all departments from finance to operations to HR.

2. Measurement…let me say it again….MEASUREMENT

Measuring activities purely on the sales figures provides little insight on why and how it worked (or didn’t) and what can be improved. When planning for the year ahead, you need to know your marketing facts and figures.

Let me ask you a few questions about your marketing performance in 2011:
• What was your conversion rate?
• How many unique visitors did you get to your website and what was their average length of stay?
• What was your cost per lead?
• What were the top three sources of leads?
• How many of your clients/customers referred you business and what was this rate of conversion?

SOLUTION: To plan for the year ahead, take some time to reflect on the year that has been. What worked, what didn’t and why. What are the new opportunities? These insights are available to you and will help you plan a more productive approach. Ensure that you are set up to measure all of the above.

3. Forgetting internal marketing

External marketing may get the client/consumer to your door, but your team will make the sale, upsell and motivate the consumer to stick around. At all levels of the organisation, the team has insights that you can draw upon for innovation, but often this valued resource is ignored.

SOLUTION: Harness your team’s knowledge and spirit - motivate, empower and inspire your team to live the brand and be innovative in delivering your product/service. This will ensure that your marketing will be powered by the company, not just the marketing team.

4. Confusing marketing with advertising

I held a workshop only a couple of weeks ago where the participants/business team were confused about how we could help them, because traditional advertising had never worked for them in the past. They didn’t understand that marketing is about communicating your messages to your target market.

SOLUTION: Discover marketing as a tool for widening the reach of your business, not just advertising. People often forget:
• Internal engagement
• Client relationship management
• Referral programs
• Sponsorships
• Social media
• Networking
• Client events

This is just a few of many. The point is, marketing is not advertising. Creative, powerful marketing often doesn’t feel like marketing at all.

5. Inadequate implementation of great ideas

How often I hear the story of the direct mail campaigns that didn’t work. Perhaps this channel was inappropriate, but more often than not, the implementation was simply ineffective. More often than not, the idea of the subject matter was great, but it was coupled with no segmentation, call to action or inadequate sales team briefing.

The best example of inadequate implementation at the moment is with social media. To be honest, the problem is usually lack of strategy, but even when one has been set, the lack of strategic implementation results in poor engagement. It’s not always the channel, often it’s the implementation.

SOLUTION: Don’t give up on a channel because it hasn’t worked for you, consider the implementation, not simply the great idea itself.

An inspired piece of YouTube advertising

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:26:00 GMT

Penelope Bettison | November 3rd 2011

This week I stumbled across a campaign developed by Dermablend cosmetics, a brand I had not heard of until now. Their YouTube video was released on 11 October 2011. An inspired campaign, not dissimilar to the Dove campaign a few years ago.

As of today, 3 November 2011 it has had 3,750,350 views. Dove has had close to 14 million over 5 years, so given Dermablend has had close to 4 million in one month, I'd say it's tracking pretty successfully.

No doubt the video has been integrated with a suite of other tactics and channels for this campaign (with an impressive budget no doubt), which I look forward to hearing more about.

What drives people to purchase?

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:02:00 GMT

We’ve all had that moment when we have purchased something we have later regretted or wondered what sort of headspace we were in to even consider such a purchase.

How and what we buy all depends on how we make decisions at a particular point in time.

If you’re working on campaigns to drive customers to purchase, it’s useful to look at the ways people purchase and what process drives them to buy a particular item or service. For communications and marketing to be effective, it is important for it to appeal to each kind of decision maker to ensure all types of prospective customers are being reached.

It all comes down to what type of decision maker we are. There are four types of decision modes that affect how we buy:

Methodical – it’s not about making a quick decision, but rather taking time to digest all relevant information to make a well informed decision.
Competitive – these consumers want to know why they should give you their hard earned dollars. Providing testimonials can help to provide third party endorsement, while providing a competitive edge.
Humanistic – it’s all about the emotional and personal connection. These people would watch videos of people talking about their experience with the product or service, while also engaging with many visual elements.
Spontaneous – decisions are made quickly. These people need a quick summary of all of the information to help them make their decision in the fastest way possible.

This doesn’t mean that one person is defined as one particular type of decision maker. It is not unusual for people to go through each type of decision mode all in one day as decision modes can depend on our mood, how we feel about work, what our plans are for the week, if the kids slept through the night etc. We all know that having something to look forward to or if we have just had a not-so-good day at work can affect how we feel and ultimately our decisions.
These four decision modes can be defined by whether we purchase things in either a slow or fast manner and a logical or emotional mode.

Slow decision makers like to take their time, think over all of the information presented to them and will then make a fully informed decision. These people will ignore calls to action such as “Buy now”.

Fast decision makers scan for key pieces of information, establish an opinion quickly and make a decision in a hurry. These people like short, sharp and succinct pieces of information and a process that enables them to make a decision in the shortest time possible.

Logical decision makers are practical and assess all of the factual information without using any emotive means to drive their final decision.

Emotive decision makers follow their heart. They like brands that help them feel good about who they are.

Making marketing and communications appropriate and relevant to all decision types is possible, for example if we consider a direct mail flyer, to suit each type of decision maker it could include:

Attractive, visual elements in the design, personalised comments from the owner of the business for humanistic decision makers.
Short, succinct pieces of information outlining the benefits and prominent calls to action for spontaneous decision makers
Detailed information and examples for methodical decision makers
Providing proof such as testimonials or case studies and highlight the key differentiators for competitive decision makers.

The next time you’re working on a website, a direct mail piece or a promotional campaign, it might be worth thinking about if it targets each type of decision maker to make sure you get the results you want.

Is your brand safe?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:38:00 GMT

What would you do if someone came along and opened a business with the same name or something very similar? Unless you have protected your business name there’s not much you can do about it.

Imagine that, all your hard work, long hours and dedication may be jeopardised.

Perhaps you have registered your business name and you think you’re protected? Think again….
Understanding how to protect your brand can safeguard your future.

Your business name, logo and tagline are all forms of intellectual property (IP). In 2010 the value of IP in Australia was $170 billion.

Types of IP include:

A Copyright which protects artistic, literary and musical works
A Patent which protects inventions and innovations
Registered designs that protect the appearance of manufactured products
Trademarks protect brands, logos and slogans etc

Registration of a business name or company does not, in itself, give you proprietary rights. You don’t own the name and won’t be able to prevent others from using it.

A business name is your trading name only. It should be registered in each state you are operating in.
A trademark identifies your product or service and distinguishes it from similar products or services of other trades. It gives you the legal right to exclusively use or control the use of the trademark for particular goods or service.

Learning how the legal land works when it comes to IP is worth the investment of your time, after all, without your brand, what do you have?

A couple of examples:

A NSW clothing company Tsubi, registered their trademark in Australia to protect their rights. They then began using and promoting their label internationally. A legal battle began with a shoe company Tsubo, who owned the registered trademark in the USA, with a resulting decision that Tsubi had infringed their trademark rights of Tsubo by using a name that was “deceptively similar”. At huge expense, Tsubi was required to re-brand for the international marketplace.

Online companies need to be careful too. A small Sydney swimwear company “Absolut Beach” was sent into liquidation when they had to close their internet business after Vin & Spirit, the makers of Absolut Vodka, sued them for domain name and trade mark infringement.

There is a lot to learn, but getting your head around what you need to do to protect your brand could be the best investment you’ve ever made.

If you would like more information, check out www.ipaustralia.gov.au