Tip #20 ∞ How Much Should You Spend on Marketing?

Clients always ask me this. The answer of course is that it all depends on who you ask…

I did some internet research on this topic. The answers were varied. I've documented some of my findings below along with the link to that original research ( Warning: links could be expired if the source takes it down!)

Deciding how much to spend on marketing, is kind of like deciding how much to spend on food. You can eat hot dogs and canned beans and not spend too much and still feel full. Or you can order caviar and lobster and feel full: costs a lot! Buy at Aldi's: bag it yourself (in fact bring your own bags) and it's pretty cheap. Buy your groceries at Dean and DeLuca: elegant and pricey (in my opinion!)> But that depends also on your own perspective. Kind of like how you might judge artwork: one person's masterpiece is another's yawn. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Here are some interesting tidbits that I found from "experts" on how much to spend on marketing.

Keep Reading: Comments from the professor who wrote the text book on this are at the end!

• the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion during 2004.

-PhD candidate Marc‐André Gagnon, along with Joel Lexchin, a long‐time researcher of pharmaceutical promotion, Toronto physician, and Associate Chair of York University’s School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080105140107.htm

• 20% of your resources

-Laura Lake, About.com
http://marketing.about.com/od/marketingmethods/qt/marketingbudget.htm

• I think 4 to 8% of desired gross revenue is a good range to consider.

-Kevin Stirz, consultant frequently quoted in Business Week, Smart Money, Boston Globe, etc, http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing‐advertising/strategic‐marketing/3875113‐1.html

• 3‐5% of projected revenues for start up, and 2‐3% for maintenance

-Michele Golden, a marketing executive with her own blog like me http://goldenmarketing.typepad.com/weblog/2007/09/plan‐your‐marke.html

• 3% of annual sales and look at it as an investment not a cost. So when something “works” and generates additional revenue then you should reinvest that new revenue in your marketing fund.

-Bob & Susan Negen,
Marketing Your Retail Store in the Internet Age,
©2007 John Wiley & Sons

• You can market effectively with any size budget‐in 1987, the average US business invested 3% of its total sales in marketing.

-Jay Conrad Levinson,
Guerrilla Marketing Attack, New Strategies,
tactics & weapons for winning big profits from your small business,
©1989 Houghton Mifflin Company

•It all depends on what a company wants to accomplish ‐ what marketing goals and objectives it seeks to achieve. If a company is launching a program or ready to impact in a new market, marketing costs should be significantly higher. If the company is maintaining a marketplace presence, expenses should be lower. A marketing budget is a reflection of what is to be accomplished.

-John Graham, Marketing Consulting since 1976 through Graham Communications
http://www.allbusiness.com/accounting/budget/508610‐1.html

• A good rule of thumb is at minimum of 4‐7% of your gross sales. Some marketers recommend as much as 10%

Drew McLellan, Small Business Branding,
http://www.smallbusinessbranding.com/935/how‐much‐should‐you‐budget‐formarketing/

• In 2006 Coca Cola spent $1.893 billion worldwide up almost 8% from 2005. Spending in the US alone for 2006 was at $487 million. It was in the no. 12 spot and spends about 13% of net operating revenues on marketing.

-Advertising Age Magazine’s annual report on the top 100 Global Marketers,

• Procter & Gamble is the number 1 Global Marketer. In 2006 with $8.5 Billion in expenditures on $68 Billion in sales: P&G spent 8% on marketing. P&Gs net sales in 2008 was $83 Billion and they increased their marketing budget. They averaged 10% on marketing over the past 10 years. “We invest more in innovation and marketing support than any other consumer products company”

-2008 P&G Annual Report

The Last Word:

Dr. James R. (Doc) Ogden, Professor of Marketing, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown, PA, who actually wrote the book on the subject of integrated marketing communications said, "Typically a consumer goods firm spends around 3-5 percent (%) of total SALES on marketing. Oftentimes, however, there is additional investments in advertising and other aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications. My personal recommendation is to use an "objective-and-task" budgeting method. With this type of system you invest in your marketing based upon what the costs of the "TASKS" will be. By using a percentage of profit or percentage of sales, you're spending money you may not have to and often you're spending in the wrong areas."

Summary:

So, to decide how much to spend on marketing and/or advertising, you first need to look at what you want to accomplish, and then figure out how to get there and what it will cost. It may take some money just to accomplish that, unless you do it yourself. Even so, how much is your time worth? Maybe your time would be better spent on other tasks and assign the task of figuring out how to accomplish your goals to a marketing firm that has experience and expertise in certain aspects of marketing.

Even so, there are many paths to the top of the mountain: you can walk, bike, or drive. Some paths are scenic and some are clearcut 5-lane highways. If you want to get there in a hurry, charter a helicopter, but it's going to cost you!

Tip ∞ #19: Why Picking/Choosing Agency Services is Not A Good Idea in the Long Run

You can pick and choose agency services (if your agency lets you), but in the long-run, this is not the best strategy to improve your overall marketing communications, or reach your marketing goals, unless your company is extremely sophisticated about communications.

As an example, let's discuss printing. Most ad agencies are not printers. Most printers are not advertising agencies. To prepare a print piece (or publish an ad in a print magazine) you need to have BOTH at your service.

Here's a blog post about why working with a printer is a challenge.

In the olden days, ad agencies supplemented their income by printing for their clients, and usually marked up the printing. These days, clients are more likely to want to "Print it themselves" and save the money.

GWiz doesn't practice "print mark up" but we do like to pick and choose our own printers and work with them. We usually pass the costs on to the client without a mark up, but we charge for our time to manage a print project.

Our practice is that if a client wants to pick and choose their own printer, and refuses to pay for our time to manage a print project, then they are on their own: Good luck with that. But usually we would politely refuse to work with a printer unless we have experience with them and can control the vendor by managing the hiring, relationship and billing.

Here's what I've witnessed in the last year alone regarding this practice of having the client "manage their own printing" with our art files or other companies' art files.

• artwork goes missing on the final: logo trademark disappears and no one at the client noticed on the proof of several large signs and they were printed that way.

• color is off: yellow turns green, green turns yellow, but client OKs proof from printer, and doesn't bother to attend press check anyway.

• transparency needed adjustment: a transparent image intended for background was printed at 100%: client didn't notice on proof and approved it for printing.

• on a complex piece of artwork, some part of the artwork was changed during the printer's production process: client didn't notice, and it printed incorrectly.

• Printer changed paper half way through a printing job, during the printing. The printer swapped out the paper with a different kind of paper: The result is that the catalog has half one kind of paper and half another kind. It is noticeable on the final, but the client wasn't at the press check and didn't demand a reprint, or maybe didn't review the fine print on his printing contract. Or maybe doesn't realize the difference between the various kinds of paper.

The common thread with all these printing mistakes is that the creator of the artwork (your agency), usually knows the artwork best and would notice if something happened such as a trademark gone missing, pieces of artwork missing or changed, or color problems.

How these production problems happen is for another post, but the example is used to illustrate that when you select an ad agency, it's a good idea to let the agency manage the entire project from start to finish so at the end of the day, you have "one throat to choke," as my good client and friend, Matt Dell, likes to say.

Generally, in my experience, it's a good idea to let your agency manage their own vendors in order for you to get the best possible results.

Remember when you tried to be the general on your house addition? The plumber blamed the electrician, the electrician blamed the framer, the framer blamed the architect, the architect blamed the engineer, and you were left scratching your head, not knowing who to believe? Wouldn't it have been better to blame the builder/general contractor who is in charge of all these disciplines?

Working with an ad agency is kind of the same thing. Being penny-wise and pound-foolish is not a good idea when the reputation and brand of your company is at stake.

Tip #18 ∞ Measureability ∞

Advertising, like artwork, is very subjective. Some people react to one thing, other people react to other things. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So, how do you know if your advertising is "Working."

Well, that depends on what you mean by "working" which is why you should define your goals and build in measurability into your ad campaigns BEFORE they run if you want to know if your goals have been met.

What constitutes measurability? If your goal is something esoteric such as "building brand awareness" then you need to take a survey BEFORE you run the campaign of your target audience to ask them what they know/think/feel about your brand. Then you run another survey AFTER the campaign to explore the difference.

This takes a considerable amount of energy and expertise to do it right. But that's how you measure whether or not your campaign has succeeded in building brand awareness.

Let's say you want to "Unload extra product" and you want to run an ad to accomplish this. How do you measure the success of the ad? Look in your warehouse: If the product is still sitting there, was your ad unsuccessful? Have you also consider the OTHER 3Ps of marketing: Product (no one wants it), Price (It's too expensive), Distribution (You're asking people to bring in a Mack Truck to pick it up). Negatives in each of these areas can lead to a company assuming the "ad" didn't work, when in fact the problem was that your audience didn't have access to a Mack Truck and THAT's why they didn't buy your overstocked product.

Building in measureability takes creativity and energy. It takes additional budgetary considerations. It takes planning. College MAJORS are awarded based on advertising research and such. It takes YEARS to master the concept of measurability which is why your advertising provider is asking you to fork over the big bucks to pay for it.

Tip #17 ∞ Yelling is Extremely Counter Productive to Your Goals ∞ Tip #17

As the client, when you feel like yelling at your agency, you really need to take a step back and think long and hard, because yelling will be extremely counter-productive to your goals which is to get your agency to be a valuable partner in your business.

Let's analyze the reasons why you want to yell at your agency:

1. You think you're being overcharged: Maybe you need to have a more clear direction on the project, it's goals, the measurability of the outcome of the project, and the cost defined. If scope creep has happened, and you are not aware of it, then you need to have a discussion with your agency about communications.

2. You think your agency is not being creative enough: Have you reviewed your agency's portfolio? Are you working with the principals that built that portfolio? Or are the people you are now working with not the same people behind the work you like? Is budget a problem? Is it possible that you are asking for helicopter shots of Wrigley Field but not putting enough budget behind the project? Why not? Do you not trust the agency to spend your money wisely?

3. You're having a bad day: It happens - but keep in mind that taking it out on your agency is going to cause long-term problems. It might even lead to a parting of the ways for a valuable marketing partner. It will definitely compromise further communications because no one likes to be yelled at, for whatever the reason. At any rate, if your agency account executive has been yelled at, they may have serious issues with approaching you with bad news any time soon.

Calm discourse, open communications, clearly defined goals are a much better strategy than yelling at people. If you feel the need to yell at your agency, then you probably should

1. strive to be more educated about the agency business and creative process (read this blog!)
2. seek some professional anger management counseling
3. think about if you have some trust issues with your agency - if so, ask yourself why this is the case?
4. put in writing your goals, budgets and process, share it with your agency and stick to it.

Tip #16 ∞ Be Honest With Your Agency ∞

As long as we're talking about trust, it is critical that you are honest with your ad agency about every aspect of your business.

Dishonesty, or hiding known flaws in your marketing paradigm, will only make your agency's marketing solutions fail.

As you know, the 4 Ps of marketing are price, distribution (Place), promotion, and product.

If your price is too high, and there is no justifiable reason why, then no amount of marketing is going to help. If your product doesn't work, then no amount of marketing is going to help. If your distribution fails and you can't deliver your product, then marketing is a waste of time and money. If you don't promote your product, then no one will know about it, and you might as well not make the darn product in the first place.

You must share everything you know about the 4Ps with your agency. Hopefully they will help you overcome any obstacles to the 4 Ps that your company is dealing with in order to develop a successful marketing/communications program.

Tip #15 ∞ Trust - the Big Thing ∞

If you the client don't trust your ad agency, then you should find another ad agency that you do trust.

If you do trust your ad agency, then you the client should allow that agency the creative freedom to develop justifiable marketing solutions to your marketing problems. You should tell your agency how much you're willing to invest in the solution and allow them to research the best way to solve the problem given the budget you've allocated.

You must trust that your agency is not going to rip you off. You must also realize that the agency has to fund themselves, as well as their vendors, to deliver your creative solution. So, you're paying for their creative time, research time, and the vendors necessary to get the project done (ie vendors being printers, direct mail houses, billboard companies, web programmers, or whatever media needs to be purchased to get the message out to your audience).

If you are worried that your agency is going to not give you the best bang for your buck, then you should come right out and tell the agency or find someone you do trust.

Also, you could set aside a certain amount of money for the agency and a certain amount of money for expenses. Define your creative brief and let your agency get to problem solving.

Tip #14 ∞ Scope Creep: Expect Your Fees to Creep Too ∞

Scope creep is one of the scariest things about running an ad agency. On the one hand, an agency wants your projects to be fluid, creative, and free to evolve. On the other hand, your agency wants to be paid when scope changes, usually because more of the agency's personnel time is involved.

Scope creep can sour relationships, if it is not completely out on the table, and the relationship between agency AE and client is not very comfortable.

What is scope creep? As an example, let's say you asked your ad agency to develop an ad for a magazine. You've written a creative brief and given the agency a budget and they get to work. Then you decide that you want the agency to evaluate other possible magazines in which to run the ad. This can be done, but of course requires time and personnel to research the magazines, evaluate the costs, write a report, the media people must educate the AE and then time must be set aside for the AE to present and discuss it with you, the client. That's scope creep: It's not a problem, as long as you're willing to pay for it.

Personally, I hate discussing money issues with clients. I much more enjoy discussing the possibilities of an amazing marketing project or communications idea. It's much more fun to dream about the phenomenal response a project will win, rather than dread confronting the client with a bill larger than they expected, even if it is due to the change and scope creep that the client has requested.

In the case of the above example, the AE should advise the client right from the get-go that it will take time and resources for the agency to conduct the requested research into other possible magazines in which to run the ad. Then, the client can decide if they want the scope to creep along with the budget.

My solution is put problem of scope creep right out on the table from the get-go. If the creative brief for each project is clearly defined and the budget is firmly approved, then scope creep shouldn't be a problem. If a project goes over budget due to scope creep and the agency is controlling the budget, then another project can be sacrificed to allow for scope creep and the amount of money being spent by the client should be the same.

Tip #13 ∞ Writing the Creative Brief ∞

This week, Ad Age Magazine magazine reported that a survey of ad agency executives said that confusing client-written RFPs and Creative Briefs can be the source of one of the biggest mis-communications and time wasters for agency personnel. Read it here .

The comments posted by agency people on this article were also very enlightening. In fact, one blogger, Steven Stark of Stark Raving Blog used the space to promote HIS clever illustration of this very problem: Creative Brief of the Sistine Chapel, from the Pope to Michealangelo.

I thought it was pretty funny. And, in the fun, there is more than a kernel of truth.

Anyway, the point is that if you want to get the most from your ad agency you need to give them very clear sets of goals and directions because advertising is an art, as much as a science. There are many, many, many different ways to interpret and use advertising for the benefit of the client and to achieve client goals: When it comes to creativity, there are no WRONG answers.

The most successful and acclaimed advertising creative work will break every known rule.

Think of the1956 Lemon ad for Volkswagon. Or the 1984 ad for Apple computer: It only ran one time, during the 1984 Super Bowl and didn't even picture a computer at all, yet is one of the most widely acclaimed ads of all time, from the world's recently ranked top brand (Apple). Here's an article about the ad by Ted Friedman who studied the ad as part of his dissertation on the cultural history of the personal computer, if you want to read more about it.

I believe that the Creative Brief, or RFP, should obviously be clear: a kind of road-map for the agency, but I also believe that if the client is already working with an ad agency, then it's OK to let the AE write the brief, after they have done their initial project kick-off meeting (See paragraph #7 in Tip #10 article: The agency process) with the client, as long as the Approval Process is being followed for that Creative Brief document, as discussed in Tip #7.

Once the Creative Brief is written and decided upon, it should become a road-map. If the ultimate destination changes, then the road map should change too: Scope Creep - maybe we'll discuss tomorrow in Tip #14.

Tip #12 ∞ Define and Enforce Your Logo Standards ∞

I once had a large commercial bank marketing manager ask me and tell me, "Can you reproduce my logo on a sign? You wouldn't believe how many people mess up our logo."

I went on to demonstrate, with my team, that we could effectively reproduce her logo perfectly, for the next four years, until the bank was gobbled up by a competitor. During the four years we worked together, my team put the logo on invitations, signs, banners, websites, videos, brochures, folders, stationary, and a bunch of other things.

For this client, we started with one logo and moved into another one, after the bank was merged with its parent company and adopted a new logo standard.

The bank hired a graphic designer to help design the logo and write the logo standard. The logo standard document was very helpful as it explained exactly what to do and what not to do with the logo in order to maintain its trademark/registration status.

Now many of our smaller clients, don't think twice about their logo - they'll use it in a variety of colors, with 3D embossing, on colored backgrounds, sometimes with a tagline, sometimes not. Add a line of type here and there, what's the big deal?

The big deal is that if you don't enforce your own logo standard, the U.S. court system says that there is no logo standard and anyone can use your logo: Something like that. Now I'm not a lawyer and here at GWiz, we design logos and write logo standards for clients, but we don't register them with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: We hire a lawyer to do that.

Once you do decide on your logo standards, then it is important to assign one person to be the logo enforcer. This can take some time, within any company, because it's another approval layer, but it's worth it to avoid publishing your logo incorrectly, as this can get you into trouble down the road since you have violated your own trademark.

Your logo enforcer/chief/meister (Whatever you want to call that role), should analyze the logo usage and provide a seal of approval on any documents that are published using your logo, to make sure the usage corresponds to your trademark application and/or registration and your approved logo standard document.

If you want to make your ad agency AE your logomeister, that is fine, but then don't have some secretary at your company printing business cards without getting the logomeister's seal of approval: Business cards count too!

For an example of what a logo standard should look like, please send me an email and I can send you some samples. Note: No two logo standard documents are the same, but they all do one thing: Explicitly point out what you can't and can do with your company's logo.

And of course the logo standard documents were all approved using the aforementioned approval process. (See Tip #7).

Tip #11 ∞ What is a Media Mix? -

To help you get better results from your ad agency, it would be helpful to you to learn about a Media Mix. What is media?

In the advertising world, media could also be called the distributors of a communications message. Media could be network or cable television, newspapers, magazines, websites, billboards, direct mail, catalogs, brochures, or your blog, or any other type of material that contains your message.

Could a pro-golfer wearing your brand be a type of media? I say Yes!

Generally, a successful ad campaign will employ a variety of media to reach the audience. This is your media mix.

Tip #10 ∞ How To Work With An Ad Agency (Like GWiz) ∞

To get the most from your ad agency, it is important to understand how an agency works, so that you will know the limitations and the unlimited potential of an ad agency. This article outlines the creative process so that you will better understand how the agency brings a creative solution to your marketing challenges.

But first, let's review the previous nine tips for "Getting more from your agency." If you have been reading the blog, you already know that, as the client:

1. You need to define your target audience both, per project and overall.
2. You need to give your agency a firm budget and timeframe for any project and the overall account.
3. You need respect your agency's expertise and taste in order for the partnership to work well.
4. When you create advertising/marketing material, it shouldn't be about you, it should be about what's in it for your customer if you want it to be successful at bringing in new customers.
5. Your ads should Show Don't Tell in order to quickly communicate to your audience.
6. You should Give Your Agency One Point-of-Contact, unless you want your agency fees to balloon.
7. You must have an iron-clad Approval Process and try not to be too nit picky, or your budget will soar.
8. Get to know the Lingo Your Advertising Agency Uses, so everyone, client and creative talent included, speak the same language and avoid confusion.
9. You should learn about the various Roles of the People Working at the Agency so you will understand that creative work doesn't happen in a vacuum or in an instant.

So now that you know all of the above, let's discuss the Creative Process and how an ad agency transforms your particular marketing challenge/situation into a solution.

The first step in arriving at a marketing solution is to communicate your objectives and goals to your Account Executive and/or agency principals. If you have been working with your AE for some time, then he/she should be pretty familiar with your business and/or industry. However, you have to realize that the AE's first business is communications and marketing, not making widgets/selling services in the fill-in-the-blank industry.

No matter how long you have been working with your AE, you need to realize he/she doesn't actually work in your industry, so you and your employees will always know more about your industry than your agency representative can ever hope to know. Just like your AE will always know more about what goes on in the communications business than you can ever hope to know.

In your meeting with your AE, any background information you provide will help the agency better craft a successful solution. These data could include past brochures and marketing materials, competitive information, industry information etc. Allow your AE to have full access to your staff in order to conduct interviews and gather information. Like a reporter searching for facts, your AE should be working to uncover the hidden gems that could be your next marketing success, assuming the budget allows.

The more you enable your AE, the more information you give him/her the less time it will take, and the less money it will cost you.

Step Two is when the AE takes the information about your marketing challenge back to the creative team and briefs the team.

You may think, "Why can't the creative team just come to meet with me in person? It would save time."

But, generally speaking, agencies are not going to want their creative team to be sitting next to the AE while the research and planning is being conducted at the client side.

There are many reasons for this such as, meetings and research can be very time consuming and some threads just lead to dead ends, which would be a waste of the creative team's time. Clients can go on and on in meetings, which is not the best use of the creative team's time, but it is a great use for the AE's time. The creative team is probably working on multiple business at the agency (sorry to tell you, but you're probably not the only one!), and the more an agency can minimize their client contact, the better they function.

A good AE will gather the information and present the relevant data to the creative team in an internal agency brief to jump-start the creative process. You need to have complete faith in the AE to get the job done.

Usually, the creative team will get started with a brainstorming session. The AE or Creative Director (CD) will lead the session and allow the copywriter and art director/designer team to participate. Ideas will be placed on the table, discussed, analyzed, and put in place. Some will be discarded, or set aside for later use. Others will be fleshed out.

Once an idea/solution takes hold, the creative team, needs to prepare a presentation for the client to evaluate. The creative team, including the AE, will work hard on this presentation: This is the "pitch" and it will be heading to you, the client. Money will be spent getting your presentation ready, as will agency time.

When you finally see it, the presentation probably represents hours and hours, if not weeks, worth of work, expertise and creativity, and should address your marketing challenge and present various solutions, given your budget.

Who at the agency will be involved in developing this presentation? Everyone! Creative solutions will be developed, media buys will be estimated, art and production costs will be evaluated.

Here's where the budget comes in. The money you are willing to spend on your creative solution will dictate what your agency can suggest to you.

Would a hovering helicopter shot of a marching band spelling out your logo in the middle of Wrigley Field solve your marketing challenge? If you don't have a budget, then that solution is not going to be on the table.

Once your agency has developed the presentation for you, then your AE and possibly the agency principals will present to you and your team, depending on the situation. Let's say you like the solutions your agency presents and the budget is approved.

Now you are basically 1/3rd of the way to the end.

Taking the marching band at Wrigley Field example, let's say your agency gets the greenlight from you. What's next?

Well, the ad must be roughed out: copy must be written, art decisions must be made, media must be booked and purchased. Measurable systems should be put in place, as well, to gage the program's success.

It's possible the agency will need to hire a photographer or illustrator, and in this case, a marching band and rent a helicopter ride. Maybe a director needs to be hired.

All of this hiring and managing takes time and money. That's why an average network commercial can run into the six figures for a fifteen second spot.

Hopefully, your agency will help you realize economies of scale during any production. As long as the marching band and Wrigley Field are booked, and one photographer is in the air in the helicopter, why not hire a second photographer to shoot on the ground in case other types of materials can be developed from the event? In the long run, this could save a lot of money.

All during this process, your AE should be keeping you informed, in the loop, and sourcing approvals of agency action on your behalf. Don't get impatient with your AE, and keep in mind that seeing the same idea over and over, albeit in various stages of production, is the nitty, gritty, work of putting together a communications solutions to meet your goals.

You may get tired of looking at this same thing, what seems like over and over, but to NOT do it, is to risk the entire project and budget overruns.

Once the production is completed, you the client will need to review any final materials prior to publication/printing/airing or whatever the media being used calls for.

The AE should present the solutions and get your buy in. It's your responsiblity at this point to direct the AE and provide approvals. Don't make your agency go from you, to the president, to the operations manager, to the head salesman, for input and approval. That's your job. If you want the AE to do your job, be prepared to pay for it. (See point number #6 above).

Finally, you have given your approval on the project: You're two-thirds of the way done!

Now the work goes to the next level: to the distributors of communications projects. These entities could be printers, television broadcasters, direct mail houses, web programmers, CD duplicators, or billboard/signage companies, or (who knows?) other.

The project still requires management, communications, approvals, oversight. You're not done with your project until the audience absorbs the information into their brains.

Once that happens, then the evaluation process begins. How will you measure the success of the project? Hopefully you set up goals based on realistic expectations. Your AE should also be guiding you in what to expect. There are industry baseline standards for response rates that your agency should know from various media, for example a direct mail program is considered successful if the response rate is 3-6%.

And YOU, the client, should have the goods to deliver once your audience begins asking for it!

I can't tell you how many times it happens: An ad has been produced, the space booked, the creative material developed, the media placed, the ad runs, customers read it, call the company and – merchandise not available: Held up in customs, burned up on a truck, it's overpriced, or whatever.

All the 4 Ps must be in place for a marketing project to work. Your ad agency is only responsible for ONE of the 4 Ps. You the marketer, are responsible for the other three.

Hey, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!

Tip #9 ∞ Agency Roles ∞ Tip #9

To help you get more for your advertising dollar, it might be worthwhile to understand how advertising agencies are typically organized. In my experience, you would have the following people working on your account:

Account Executive
Media Director/Media Buyer
Creative Director
Art Director
Copywriter
Graphic Designer
Production Designer
Traffic Manager

What does everyone in the list actually do?

Account Executive - Liason to client; between agency and client. Main job: Insulate creatives to allow them to be creative, "sell" the work, but also represent the best interests of the client to the agency. Would also work closely with traffic managers and in general serve as project manager for any type of project.

Media Director/Media Buyer - Research, plans, and buys any/all media on behalf of a client.

Creative Director - manages creative team including Art Director/Graphic Designer/Copywriter - sometimes comes up with the "big picture" creative strategy for client.

Art Director - "Directs" the creative development of a project; manages selection of artwork for any particular project.

Copywriter - writes ad copy for the ad - works closely with Art Director and/or Graphic Designer to "get the messaging" right - sometimes dreams up imagery to accompany the copy. But usually this is done as part of a brainstorming session of the team.

Graphic Designer - does the layout and graphic design - might create imagery or place selected imagery as directed (and purchsed) by art director in an appropriate way. Sets all type - chooses fonts, colors, look, feel of any project. Manages the development of comps for the client to view and make decisions from.

Production Designer - makes sure that what the Graphic Designer has created can actually be produced in whatever medium is being used. Sometimes the Production Designer must re-do the design in "real" terms. Works closely with printers, media, etc., for best reproduction/broadcast of any project.

Traffic Manager - keeps track of what stage the project is in and helps AE stay on task. Also keeps track of media placements and various other management of moving pieces within an agency where multiple people touch any one project.

While this is an abbreviated list of the people who work on projects, and some agencies have other skill sets or "disciplines" and some agencies may have one person that fills multiple roles (Like GWiz does), I think this is a pretty close proximity for how most agencies work.

Tip #8 ∞ Components of an Ad ∞

In order to better communicate with your ad agency, it's helpful if you "talk the talk" so that everyone is on the same page in terms of advertising lingo.

To demonstrate, take a look at this ad:

GWiz Marketing created this ad for our client, Hi-Line Utility Supply Co. for a trade magazine called Powerlineman Magazine.

By looking at this ad, one can clearly see the various elements that make up an ad.




These elements include:

Hero Shot or main image

Headline

Subhead

Body copy

Footer which includes
additional components.

If everyone is using the same language when talking about an ad, there is less likely to be confusion or misunderstanding during the creative process.

When we talk of a "violator" in the advertising world, for instance, we are not talking about someone who has skipped parole. Rather, it is a graphical element that "violates" the ad space to get attention. We like to use the violator as a great way to call attention to our "call for action" in this case.

When we talk about "copy" we don't mean those pieces of paper that just came from the copier. In our case, the "copy" comes from the "copywriter" who has just written it for the ad. The long version is of course, "Body copy" and refers to the main text contained in the ad. Incidentally, "Greek Copy" doesn't actually use alpha and beta, but rather it is just text set into a spot in a layout in the event that the actual "copy" isn't quite written or approved yet. Greek copy is good in an ad layout, because it can tell the copywriter how many words need to be written for the space provided (Another way to save money!).

These graphical elements that make up an ad can be applied to brochures, white papers, billboards, etc. even websites, although there is additional terminology that applies to websites which I will go into later.

Also, just because there is a graphical element, it doesn't mean your ad MUST use every graphical element. For instance, in this example, another graphical element would be a header - we're not really using a header in this case, because the hero shot and headline really make up the header here.

But advertising should be about breaking rules, not following them. To get attention, you must be different and creative: so be daring.

Your ad doesn't necessarily NEED ANY of these elements - it could have one word in the middle of the page and plenty of white space for instance, which is another graphical element, that is missing in this example.

I love white space because it gets a lot of attention. White space is a calming break in the assault on our senses. Clients hate white space because they are paying for every spec of this real estate and they want to fill it up! But sometimes, less is more.

It's all in how you put it together.

Tip #7 ∞ The Approval Process and Who's Responsible ∞

This post is #7 in a series of 21 posts (one per working day in August, 2009), to help you get the most from your advertising or marketing agency. This post follows on the article posted yesterday, about giving your agency one point of contact within your company.

That client point-of-contact should provide one written approval, called a "proof" in agency lingo, from some responsible individual at the client, for every project completed with the marketing/advertising agency.

The person who secures the approval (or proof) from you should be the agency account executive.

Approval of a project is a scary thing if you're the one signing off: Once your name is on that approval form or email, that's IT: It's now YOUR responsibility and you can no longer hold your agency liable for

-typos
-mistakes
-color problems
-errors in judgement
-miscalculations of message or delivery
-or any other problem with that project.

A smart agency, will document in writing the approval of every single project and file it away for future reference.

Some companies insist on having clients fill out cumbersome forms to document approval, but I think a simple reply to an email is sufficient. I simply open all the emails up involved in the approval process so they're visible on my screen, take a screen grab picture of the approvals and the final, and file the picture and all the accompanying emails away in the project folder as an approval.

If you find a mistake or a problem or just want to change something with a project after you've given your approval, you must understand that your agency will need to open the project up, rev it up, generate another round – no matter how tiny the change is – and secure another written approval.

So if you really, really want to change that dash to a colon, after you've already given your approval, think long and hard about it. You're looking at lots of additional time and expense after the approval process is complete. Pick your battles before the war is over.

Now once the approval is given, it is like a guide for the agency in the production phase. Let's say you've approved a file for printing that has a bright green border. That color is all important.

Now when the agency takes the files to the printer, sign-maker, or whoever is going to manufacture your project, they will use your approved proof as a guide to get the color right.

This is where you can hold your agency accountable. If your green border turns out yellow, then you can yell at your agency: Obviously SOMEONE wasn't paying attention.

On the other hand, a smart agency AE will get your approval on the printed material too, so there are no surprises. Usually you will go through multiple approval processes for every stage of the production of your project to make sure there are no mistakes.

You may get tired of seeing the same old thing over and over: first the content approval, then the design approval, then the production approval, then the printing approval, and finally the final! But that is the way it goes> Advertising and marketing is an exciting field, but like any job, there are tedious moments.

Now if you decide to complete your own production with the agency's art files, then you need to use your own proof as your guide. If you don't know much about production, or aren't a good detail person, then you probably should let your agency handle the production phase of the project, too, or you've really got no one to blame but yourself if it doesn't turn out like you'd expected.

Check in tomorrow for Tip #8 to learn about "The anatomy of an ad" - the lingo used in communications agencies - at least in my experience!

Tip #6 ∞ To Save Money, Give Your Agency One Point of Contact within Your Company ∞

Your agency should have one point of contact within your company, unless you want to pay for the extra hours it will take your agency account managers to secure approvals from the various personnel within your company.

You see, this is what happens when Bob in sales tells your AE he likes it but he wants the AE to also show it to the President. The President wants to change one little something, and then asks the AE to show it to Mary in operations. Now Mary has a change and the AE has to start all over again with Bob.

It gets to be a merry-go-round that your agency AE shouldn't be on in the first place.

To get the most from your ad agency, the client should have one point of contact for the agency and then that person should seek approvals, input and comments from all the sources within the client. That point-of-contact person should have the authority to make a decision when five people give him seven different opinions of the agency's work.

If you need training in how to source approvals from within your company, that can be arranged. It will take about an hour and will save you thousands and thousands of dollars over the course of working with your ad agency.

Tip #5 ∞ Show Don't Tell ∞

A picture is worth 1000 words.

These words are never more true than today. When you're creating an ad or a mar/com piece, if you don't grab the person in the first split second, you've lost them.

So how do you do that? A compelling picture, an arresting image, a fascinating idea.

If you can paint a picture in your customer's mind of the problem in their life that your company will solve, then you've fought half the battle.

But in order to do that, you need to SHOW them.

"Show don't tell" is a classic phrase that is taught in creative writing classes.

As an example of "Show don't tell," we are taught rather than writing:

The narrator of this story is Ishmael,

a better, more compelling way to state it is:

Call me Ishmael.

See the difference? This classic opening line of Melville's Moby Dick immediately draws the reader in. Melville has shown us that Ismael is the narrator without telling us. As a reader, it instantly draws you in. The reader becomes Ismael in fact. Now the story is about ME.

This gets back to the previous post (Tip #4: It's not about you).

But for an advertiser, how do you show instead of tell?

That's what your ad agency, with all their creative personnel, should be getting big bucks to figure out for you.

Tip #4 ∞ It's Not About You ∞

This is the fourth tip in a 21-tip series of "how to get more from your ad agency." This tip is about messaging. Here's the tip: It's not about you!

That may seem counter-intuitive when you're the one footing the bill, paying for the agency personnel, ad space or printing or time to deliver your message. You may think this is my space, therefore I'm going to

a - show my employees
b - show my building
c - show my products
d - all of the above.

But guess what? No one really cares about you.

People just care about themselves. They're thinking "What's in it for me?"

They're thinking, "How will this product make my life easier, make me better, smarter, more profitable?"

How Successful Companies Do It

As an example, look at the big, national (think most successful!) advertisers in the world.

When The Coca-cola Company prepares an ad to run during the Superbowl, they are not showing the bottling company, or the truck drivers who work day and night delivering the product to 7-11s nationwide, or the packaging firm where the packages are painstakingly designed and produced, or the corporate headquarters in Atlanta.

Coca-cola ads show how a nice cold Coke refreshes ME. They're showing that with a Coke, I'll have more friends and more fun. It's not about Coke, it's about Coke's customers: It's about ME.

The Old Way

So many B2B marketers are still using the old "Show the building, show the employees," mantra with the thought that if someone sees my building, they'll know I'm really in business and buy more from me. If they see I have employees, they'll understand we have good people working here, so they'll buy from me.

Folks, that's not the way to build a brand. You might create more awareness, but so what. Every company has employees and buildings.

A Sad Case Set To Fail

I've seen billboards recently for a tire company. This company has been around a long time but I don't recall seeing ads from them before. The company's ads are featuring their employees and talking about their many locations in the Chicago area. I live not far from a location and I have driven past it a thousand times, but for some reason, I've never once thought about going there for a tire.

Now that I've seen their ads, I've realized that the company wants me to know about them, and I do. But I still am not motivated to buy a tire from them. Even though this company has spent thousands of dollars advertising, I'll probably go to my regular mechanic when I need a tire: He knows my car and gets me tires really quick, then he puts them on, checks the oil, and gives me a sense of confidence that I'm going to be able to get from point A to point B safely.

This is really sad for this tire company because they are going to think that advertising doesn't work. They are going to blame their ad agency. The truth is I AM more aware of this tire company's existence because of their advertising, but just because they have buildings and employees, I'm not motivated enough to go there for a tire: Their messaging is off. Their ads are all about THEM and not enough about ME.

Your Messaging Should Be About THEM

Your mar/com projects should address the problems your customers face and demonstrate in a split second how your products or services solve their problems. Your ads should be about THEM.

Sounds simple enough, right?

If you understand this basic tenet of advertising philosophy, then you may better appreciate the strategies that your ad agency is trying to implement for you, even if they haven't given you a layout featuring a photo of your building.

If your advertising goal is to create awareness of your existence, then go ahead and show your building. It's probably a very nice building! But don't expect a windfall of new customers to come pouring in just because you have a building.

Tip #3 ∞ Respect Your Agency's Expertise & Taste

To get the most from your ad agency, you should respect your agency's expertise and tastes and provide clear directions and goals for each project.

But keep in mind that with marketing/communications and advertising work, there are no "rights" and "wrongs." Communications is about reaching into the audience's psyche and getting them to act: the "good" in it is in the eyes of the beholder and the reaction of the audience.

How do you know if you'll like what the agency gives you? Evaluate their portfolio. If you don't like what the agency shows in its portfolio, or on its website, chances are you're not going to like the work you get from the agency. So don't hire them in the first place.

On the flip side, if you do like what the agency shows in their portfolio, and you think their past creative work is good, then let them do their job and give you their creative talent: That's what you're paying them for. But a word of caution: agency creative work is only as good as the creative people behind the work: Ask your account executive who wrote the copy in the brochures, who created the graphic design, who was the art director.

In short, who were the people behind the good creative that you like and will they be working on your account?

I've had clients says things like, "Now, I don't have much of a marketing background, but here's how I'd do it..." and then throw out an idea that in my opinion would have completely undermined the brand or key messaging that their company had spent thousands of dollars building.

I've also had clients who admit they don't know how to write well, and then go ahead and provide all the brochure copy anyway (and frankly, it wasn't good copy!). But, if you insist that your ad agency use your ad copy, and you reject the creative work they prepared and presented to you, then they probably will do as you ask: because they want to make you happy and keep you as a client.

However, you may have just cut off your own nose to spite your face: You're paying this agency to do the work, and then you just went and rejected what they developed for you. Why?

Your agency should have years of experience and a track record of proven success stories. They should know what would trigger your audience to act, so why not let them employ industry best practices? For advertising to stand out and get results, it needs to be fresh and different.

If your agency principals have a track record, went to college, studied under advertising greats, worked with people who were successful in the field, why wouldn't you take their advice?

If you don't like what your agency gives you, then you need to tell them why you don't like it, show them an example of something you like better. If they can't deliver what you want, then hire a new agency.

But don't expect the new agency to be much better if you're not giving them clear direction in what you expect and what you like either.

Tip #2 ∞ Give Your Agency a Firm Budget & Timeframe ∞

An ad agency needs a frame of reference within which to work. Building an ad - or any marcom project (website, brochure, video, event, etc.) - can be compared to building a house. You can have a $1 million house or you can have a $50,000 house. It all depends on what you want in your house, where it is located, how big it is, etc.

Your ad/marketing agency should be able to complete what you want within your budget or at least tell you what the limitations for your project are, given your budget expectations..

You have to keep in mind, that your budget must include labor and overhead for the ad agency, as well as production costs. If you don't allow your ad agency to budget for overhead, they are not going to be around long, and then, since your agency archives your creative work for future usage, your creative investment is going to be wasted or lost, when your agency closes its doors for good.

Working with an agency is kind of like getting married: it must be a trusting partnership for it to work well.

Creative can be developed within your budget, no matter how small your budget is. Instead of original photography, your agency can use stock photography to save money. Instead of purchasing stock images, your agency graphic designer can layout type in a creative manner to make an ad. But you still need a budget to develop the copy: pay the copywriter, pay the graphic designer.

If you give your agency a healthy budget to work with, then they can dream up ever more sophisticated concepts that require a budget to execute. The concept might involve illustration, animation, clever creative work. But if you don't give your agency a budget, then they are going to have to limit their thinking.

Compare working with an ad agency to working with an architect and telling her that you don't know how much money you have to build a house, but you'd like him to design one anyway. Wouldn't it be better to tell your architect how much you have to spend on the house, and then have the architect design to your budget? Why waste the architect's time drawing a $1million house if you only have $50,000 to spend on construction?

Your ad agency could develop and execute your entire marketing plan, as long as they know what your budget is and what your timeframe is. Your budget should allow your agency the freedom to consider various media buys, creative strategies and tactics, and printing costs if necessary.

You should have enough trust in your agency to let your agency spend your money wisely. A healthy client/agency relationship is like a healthy marriage: present should be trust, mutual respect, honest communications.

If you can't trust your ad agency with a budget, then you definitely should get a new ad agency: one you feel you can trust.

Tip #1 ∞ Define Your Audience (or Target Market) Per Project & Overall

Before you start a project with your ad agency, it is crucial to define the audience(s) of the project. Often there are many obvious audience(s) and usually there are some not-so-obvious audience(s).

Your audience could be your existing customers. It could be prospects. It could be both. But where are your prospects and how will you reach them? Do you already have an existing mailing list? Or do you need to create one? Do you own a store that draws from a 5-mile radius? Check your existing customer zip codes to discover how far your reach is.

I once planned a yellow pages ad campaign for a thriving doctors office with seven physicians on staff. They had been spending close to $100,000 for the past couple of years on yellow page ads that reached areas up to twenty miles away from their office location. They had purchased these far flung areas from their yellow page ad rep believing that people from that far away would travel to their location. My gut instinct told me they were over-reaching, and a quick analysis of their customer zip codes proved me right: Not one customer came from farther than a 10-mile radius, with the vast majority being within 3 miles. We were able to whittle their yellow page spend by more than half, improve their existing yellow page ads and listings, and boost their response rates.

So, we were able to define for that business their obvious audience was within a 3-mile radius. I had another account that sold nationwide from 35 locations. They wanted to conduct a national ad campaign. But we quickly found out that it would be much more cost effective to use direct mail to target existing customers (it's easier to sell more to existing customers than find new ones, after all!) and purchase a mailing list of potential customers, then use direct mail and email to reach these prospects. But they had one more problem: their CEO needed to be educated about the project and sign off on the budget. The CEO also needed to convince his board it was worth it. That was an audience - kind of hidden - we also needed to convince before we could embark on the project.

What are your hidden (un-obvious) audience(s)? Often, the CEO and his board will be an audience that needs to be considered. Possibly your employees should be targeted too. It's possible that a simple email to the staff and management about your planned campaign will be enough to reach them. Sometimes, you will need to present to internal groups through a more elaborate manner: a power point at a planned meeting for instance. No matter which tactic you employ to reach them, these groups should be considered an audience or a segment of your target market for your program and you should plan the best way to reach these groups as part of your project.

Let your agency know the ramifications and the best way to "talk" to the hidden audiences so that your project can proceed as quickly as possible and garner the best possible outcomes.

Tip #1 for how to work best with your ad agency: Define the audience(s)!

Get Better Results From Your Ad Agency: One Tip Per Day Month of August 2009

Each working day in August, I am going to write and publish a tip that should help you get better results from your advertising/marketing agency.

My hope is that these tips will make you a better client. As a result, you should get more from your ad agency: better creative results and a better mar/com investment.

If your agency isn't following these tips, then maybe you should think about looking for a new agency.

Check back August 3rd: The first Monday in August.

10 Quick Tips for Any Trade Show Novice by Mel White

For more from Mel White (Mr. Tradeshow) click here

Trade shows can intimidate anyone new to exhibit marketing. Often the best course is to dive into the pool. The following tips — from the shallow end of the pool — will get you started. When it’s time to swim laps, go to All About Trade Show Exhibits for 31 articles targeted to turn you into Michael Phelps (or Mark Spitz for those of us with grey hair).

10 Tips for any Trade Show Novice:

A trade show is neither a vacation nor a death sentence. Although it may feel like a death sentence during teardown.

Be nice to the labor. They can solve most problems or create headaches. The Golden Rule applies until they piss you off. When they do, contact your I&D labor provider or show management. Also, the laborer(s) in your booth didn’t write the hall rules. If you disagree with the rules, contact your I&D labor provider or show management.

Breath mints are more valuable than gold or platinum at a trade show.

Comfortable shoes are more valuable than breath mints, unless you are wearing comfortable shoes and chatting with someone who clearly needs a 3 lb. breath mint.

Rule of Three — This is a sad but true fact regarding labor at most trade shows. If three people are assigned to your booth, one person will be a star, one person will be average, one person will be a dufus. Hire nine people and you’re guaranteed to have three stars and three dufasses. Sometimes you get lucky, and the ratio works in your favor. Sometimes not (I could name show halls where this is guaranteed to happen, but I’d have to check under my hood every time I start my car).

No two shows are the same. Think of each show as a first date. Look your best and do your homework about the show, the attendees, and your competitors.

Every exhibitor has a “Joe.” He drinks too much, gambles too much, and wanders too much. He’s like the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, constantly circumnavigating the show hall. About a half a dozen times a day, you’ll wonder what happened to Joe. Five minutes ago he was sucking down his third espresso, leaning on the counter, and ogling anything with two X chromosomes. Suddenly he’s gone . . . again.

Be ruthless about evaluating your show graphics. Everything else is secondary. Replace them BEFORE they need to be replaced.

I Bet You 50 Bucks You’ll Forget One of the Following: wire management for the exhibit, cleaning supplies, business cards, belt (happens to me at least twice year . . . two belts in Las Vegas = one mortgage payment), lip balm (again, crazy, ridiculously expensive in Vegas), phone charger, your moral compass.

FINALLY, work with professionals, whether it’s a graphic designer, an exhibit consultant, or a certified trade show manager. Trade show exhibit marketing is a craft learned the hard way through trial and error. It’s easy to burn through a lot of money before you finally figure out what works and what doesn’t work. Don’t stumble through a year or two of mistakes when you can rely on experts who can save you time, money, and embarrassment.

Bonus Tips: For goodness sake, get some fresh air and a little sunshine once in awhile! Your mood will improve by a 1000 percent. And just once, put on the workout gear you bring to every show, put in the dresser drawer, and repack (unused) in your suitcase. Exercise is good.

Pondering the Meaning of SoMe

Is SoME (aka Social Media) the ultimate culmination of the Me Generation?

Or is SO-me just another great communications tool that allows one person to reach out to many?

I resisted So Me for a long time, mostly because I was too busy to figure it all out.

Now it seems that No One is Busy and EVERYONE is into So Me to some extent.

SOME people are just communicators by nature I guess. Others are not.

Either way, SO-ME is here to stay.

Customer Service Mistakes That Companies Make

As a consumer, customer, or whatever you want to call the person paying someone for someTHING (service, product, groceries, and the like), there are a few things that really bug me.

Maybe getting these things out in the open will help companies that employ these practices do a better job.

biggest pet peeves:

1. At the bank: waiting in the line to talk to the bank teller. It makes you feel weird. Plus, you can hear what they are saying to the person they are supposedly helping in front of you and you know the person behind you will hear what they are saying to you when it's finally your turn.

2. to add insult to injury, when I finally get to the front of the line and the teller LEAVES. Doesn't say anything like, "I'll be right with you in a moment," but just LEAVES, leaving me standing there wondering when/if they will ever come back. They do, but I'm usually left wondering - and anxious - because it's a BANK for heaven's sake.

3. Standing in line to pay for something. Not only is the store going to take my money (more than the thing I am paying for is worth, I know), but also I have to WAIT in the line for them to do it. It makes you feel this (thumb to forefinger) big.

4. Filling up my car at my local gas station and being forced to listen to some inane video blaring from the gas pump. Plus it's ALWAYS the same video: They NEVER change it!

5. Staying with the gas station theme, WHY do gas stations whine about the fact that they ONLY make money on their c-store operation, but then make it so easy for customers to NOT go inside? Why don't they offer a convenient way to buy something RIGHT AT THE PUMP? Gum, water, coffee, soft drinks or snacks? Make it EASY for me to buy something : I don't WANT to go inside and wait in line to pay. Plus I'd like to tack on whatever c-store product I would like to buy with my gas purchase right at the pump, thereby having one charge, not two.

6. When a company advertises internet access at their location, but then makes you PAY for it. Marriott Hotels, Starbucks come to mind. Better alternative: Panera: Internet is free, easy, and convenient. Thank you Panera!

7. When a company emails you that your bill is coming due: in six weeks. Email me when it's due the NEXT DAY please. Send me a paper bill when it's due in two or more weeks. (AT&T).

These are things that come immediately to mind... I may be adding to this post later!

From my client Mark T.

My client Mark T. wants to fix the economy this way:

how to fix the financial crisis - like, fast !

Dear Mr. President:

Please find below my suggestion for fixing the economy.

Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander
the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following
plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the
following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered - Auto
Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing
Crisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!

If more money is needed, have all members of Congress and their
constituents pay their taxes...

What do you think? Comments??

Brand Tags and the B2B Biz

B2B businesses can now use a version of Brandtags.net to get a sense of what their customers (and anyone else) think about their brand in a less public way than what currently exists on brandtags.net.

Currently, the world can visit Brandtags' site and spew forth all sorts of words to describe what each logo that pops up means to them. Then, the site generates a page for the brand that shows the world what people think of that brand.

That can be good and bad: When people think of Nike, for instance, the words include "athletes" and "Tiger Woods" (good!); but also people associate "sweat shops" (bad!) with Nike: a hangover from bad PR that occured a decade or more ago. Sounds like Nike has some PR work to do!

For smaller, B2B companies, Brandtags in the public way would not be worthwhile, since most people in the world wouldn't know the company.

But - what if you could drive YOUR 10,000- or 100,000- customer email list to a special site just for you where they could pop in words that give you a sense of what your brand means to them?

Now you can. Brandtags will set up a special site for a fraction of what traditional focus group or market research would cost that will give B2B companies a sense of what words THEIR customers associate with their brand.

This information would be invaluable for a company. Responses from customers are anonymous so customers could input any words they like without any fear whatsoever of any fall out.

Do customers think you're smart, innovative, responsive (like you SAY you are?). Or do customers REALLY think you're disloyal, cheap, and manipulative? The truth could hurt, but at least you would know what it is and do something about it!

And, if the response is positive, then THAT's something to talk about with customers. I can help you set this up if you're interested! Just shoot me an email: info@gwizmarketing.com

Hey follow me on Twitter too! go to Twitter and follow @GWizBuzz.

Branding and Do I Need One?

Every person and every company has a brand, whether they realize it or not. If you don't believe me, go to www.brandtags.net and start typing what YOU believe about brands you know.

Brand Tags is a new internet site that allows people to type a word or phrase they associate with a brand. The information shows what the featured brand's collective impression is from the people who have "tagged" it on this site. Conversely, the site allows you to put in a search word to find out what brand "owns" that word in people's minds.

For example, safety means...... you guessed it. Volvo. Refreshing is, surprisingly, Sprite, because I thought it would be Coke, but then, I'm a Coke drinker, occasionally.

It just goes to show that there IS something in your head about pretty much every brand (Unless you have never heard of the brand, which happened to me a few times on Brand Tags).

But, bottom line is that if someone is familiar with you, or your company, then they have an impression of you (or your company). Do you know what it is?

Print Management -or- "How did that blotch get on my print job?"

Working with a printer is a lot like working with a carpenter who is trimming out the new addition in your house. A lot can go wrong if you're not paying attention.

Printing is a funny business, kind of like carpentry. You need tools and machines for both. You need craftsman and an eye for detail for both. You need to understand color, substrate types (wood types for the carpenter, paper types for printers), and deadlines for both. You need to be a good manager to make your customers happy for both.

And, for both, you can find and hire one yourself and manage the outcome yourself, or you can hire a contractor to do the job. But do you know what you're doing?

When you hire a carpenter, you have to inspect the work before, during, and after: is the carpenter using the right type of wood? Are the corners tightly mitred? Is that cabinet flush to the wall and will it support the weight of what you intend to fill it with? Are you going to be around during that time the carpenter is whipping through his work? Come back too late and a whole room of baseboard has to be ripped out and re-done because the carpenter installed the wrong stain color!

Another thing is that there are lots of different types of carpenters: Some build stairs, some frame buildings, some just do trim work, some assemble and install fine cabinetry. These carpenters all have different expertise and use different tools (some quite expensive!) to get the job done quickly and efficiently. You wouldn't want to hire a stair builder to frame out a house! That would cost you a lot of wasted money.

Fortunately, stair carpenters will probably turn down the framing job and tell you to call their cousin, Vinny, the house framer. Maybe they'll take a little cut from Vinny if he gets the job.

Printers aren't like that. Most printers will take your job, and send it off to their cousin Vinny, and you wouldn't even know the difference. However, you might have saved a lot of money if you had known about Vinny and hired him yourself in the first place, skipping the middle man.

And even if your printer sends your project out to his cousin Vinny, you are still tasked with the job of checking up on the project in its various stages of production to make sure it's done correctly.

When Vinny does it, it's going to take longer because Vinny is going to have to ship the material back to your printer where you're going to have to check on things. In effect, your printer has become the contractor without you knowing it, AND he's not going to be watching out for your project to make sure it's right: You're still going to have to do that yourself.

GWiz Marketing Communications is like a contractor for printers. During the years GWiz has been in business, we have worked with dozens of printers: locally, out-of-state, and abroad. We are familiar with the equipment printers use and the work style of the printers we work with. We have a vast experience printing everything from mini-brochures and point-of-purchase displays to 1000-page catalogs.

When you task GWiz with print management, we take the time to make sure your project is correct: First, we select the right printer for your job and make sure you get the best price. We inspect proofs carefully, travel to the print shop during printing to make sure the correct paper is being used (no bait and switching!), watch to make sure your print job comes off the presses correctly the first time (no re-do's), and take responsibility for the outcome of your print project.

At the end of your project, you have "one throat to choke" as our client Matt Dell likes to say.

While many think of printing as a commodity, (How cheap can I get it?), we also view it as an art. You can get it cheap, and you can ALSO get it good, as long as your contractor is taking good care of your project.

GWiz could be that contractor. Contact us about your print project and we will GUARANTEE an outcome you can be proud of and will save you money.

Twitterize

Companies can use Twitter as an inexpensive and easy way to reach out to groups of people both inside and outside the company.

Company leaders could use Twitter, for example, to send out mass notices to their sales force, their boards of directors, or other groups within the company, from a cell phone. These "Tweets" (as they're called) could be private so that only the intended recipients could receive the messages/tweets. Recipients could also receive these tweets from CEOs (or other company leaders) on their cell phones. Twitter works while on the run!

So CEO texts once, and everyone s/he wishes to receive the message can receive it on their cell phone.

Twitter could also be used as a marketing tool to reach the world: both existing customers, and to encourage new customers to find out more about a company's products or services. To use Twitter to reach customers, the Tweets should be clever, engaging, and understandable. They should also link back to the company's website and the website should likewise, encourage visitors to "follow" the company's Twitter feeds.

A word of caution: Blatent "selling" is going to turn off readers faster than yesterday's news: Keep your tweets informative, entertaining, and leaving the reader yearning for more.

This is a simple and easy way to use Twitter for marketing purposes for beginners. There's a lot more you can do with Twitter, but that is for another post.

Thank you for reading.