Social Media Archives

Trevor Wade<\/a>, global marketing director for brand design and consulting firm <a href=https://www.ama.org/"http:////landor.com///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Initial results have been positive. On launch day, Skimm Ahead was the top news app in the Apple App Store and the ninth-most popular app overall. The app is proving to be an extension of theSkimm\u2019s initial success, which Trevor Wade, global marketing director for brand design and consulting firm Landor Associates, attributes to a deep understanding of its audience. \u201cThey know how busy [readers] are. They know their routines. They know whether they have a TV, and they know their pain points,\u201d Wade says. (opens in a new tab)\">Landor Associates<\/a>, attributes to a deep understanding of its audience. \u201cThey know how busy [readers] are. They know their routines. They know whether they have a TV, and they know their pain points,\u201d Wade says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\nUsing this knowledge, Wade says theSkimm sets itself apart from competitors by adroit execution of three basic marketing tactics: a unique brand voice, word of mouth and building a user community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cAll brands have a voice, whether they\u2019re aware of it or not, and the strongest brands create and use an intentional voice. TheSkimm has done exactly that,\u201d she says. \u201cWe know [word of mouth] is one of the best ways to market a brand \u2026 because you have the trusted opinion and recommendation of somebody, and you\u2019re much more likely to give something a try or come to it predisposed to like it when you hear it from a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn fact, Wade believes theSkimm has accrued so much relevance that it\u2019s morphing into a lifestyle brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re curating news and offering it up in a certain way, and they\u2019re not out there trying to get the story first or the original coverage. They\u2019re not playing that game,\u201d Wade says. \u201cIf you skipped reading theSkimm, you would think that something was missing with your routine. You lack something.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"How e-newsletter theSkimm Acquired 3.5 Million Subscribers","post_excerpt":"Cultivating a unique mind meld with its readership has allowed e-newsletter theSkimm to outpace its competitors","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"how-e-newsletter-theskimm-acquired-3-5-million-subscribers","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-22 14:54:53","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-22 20:54:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/?post_type=ama_marketing_news&p=2991","menu_order":0,"post_type":"ama_marketing_news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":1569,"post_author":"88","post_date":"2016-04-06 21:44:59","post_date_gmt":"2016-04-06 21:44:59","post_content":"\n<h2>A new app-based social network from LEGO appears to be doing the extraordinary: providing a safe space for children online while winning plaudits from parents<\/h2>\n\n\n\nChildren under 13 have long been personae non grata on social networks. They\u2019re prohibited from joining the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat by terms of service. Sure, some youths can easily lie about their ages, but what they see on those platforms isn\u2019t intended for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEnter <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.lego.com//en-us///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LEGO<\/a>. The Danish toy and entertainment behemoth spent two years developing a social app that would appeal directly to pre-teens while passing muster with concerned parents and international regulators. The final result was <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.lego.com//en-us//life/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LEGO Life<\/a>, a social network open to everyone but designed primarily as a space for users under 13 to share their LEGO creations. No audio, full video (the site allows stop-motion), text-based communication or identifying usernames or images are allowed, and parents must consent early and often to whatever their child sees and does. <\/p>\n\n\n\nFor its efforts, LEGO has won approval from parents and consumer groups since going live on January 31. But to better understand how the site operates, Marketing News spoke directly to <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.linkedin.com//in//james-lema-816721b///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">James Lema<\/a>, LEGO Life\u2019s creative director.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: For close to two decades now, LEGO has been much more than a toy. What steps did the company take to become the <\/strong>omni-channel<\/strong> media company it is today? Why go in that direction?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.ama.org//PublishingImages//life-pullquote.jpg/" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> Like every successful brand, we recognize the world is changing around us and understand how to adapt while keeping true to our core principles. We have always had fun and construction at the core of our play experiences. Whether it\u2019s playing with physical bricks, video games, apps, watching movies and videos or reading magazines, we have evolved to be where the kids are. As time, media and technology change, we have found ways to successfully deliver on our play promise of creating fun, playful experiences that inject humor into the narrative. <\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: How about setting up the social network, LEGO Life? What were the goals of the app from a marketing perspective, especially when you already have games and content on Lego.com? <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> We know that children have long reveled in the pride of sharing their LEGO creations with their peers and family. Until now, the primary means kids had for sharing were either in-person with friends and family or through the LEGO Club Magazine. The centerfold of our Club Magazine was the main spot for group sharing of kids\u2019 creations and these community pages were the highest-rated pages for 10 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns has-2-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.ama.org//EmailMktgImages//marketing//PCM2017_600x600b.jpg/" alt=\"FCC Complaints Show Not All Super Bowl Ads Went Over Well With Audience\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.ama.org//events-training//Certification//Pages//digital-marketing-certification.aspx/">Become a Certified Digital Marketer Today! <\/strong><\/a> Increase your marketability, grow professionally and feel accomplished with your new AMA Digital Marketing Certification! Take the free practice exam and prove your expertise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\nBy introducing a digital platform to facilitate and further this tradition, we can exponentially increase the amount of kids who can share their creations and the amount of times each child can share. Also, kids can give and get feedback and inspire each other to keep building. <\/p>\n\n\n\nOur biggest challenge before we launched was whether or not kids would contribute to the platform. We wanted to make sure the content was LEGO-focused and knew there could be challenges around what kids might share. To our delight, kids have been contributing thousands of inspirational builds and content to our platform at an extreme rate. We\u2019re happy the experience has been received so well.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: You already have<a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.lego.com//en-us//lifesubscription/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> a magazine called LEGO Life<\/a>, which is aimed at children aged 5 to 9. You recommend older children download the LEGO Life app. Why the differentiation? <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> The LEGO Club magazine goes out to all 6 million members of LEGO Club across 18 markets worldwide\u2014all of whom are enthusiastic LEGO builders and many of whom submit photos of their creations hoping to be chosen for one of a limited number of spots in the magazine dedicated to showcasing their LEGO creations. This same audience can now join LEGO Life which will allow all club members the opportunity to share as many of their builds as they like as often as they like. Q: You have an entire section on Lego.com devoted to digital safety. How can parents teach young children about potential dangers in the fun LEGO Life online space? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> The LEGO safety pledge adheres to UNICEF standards and is a method for parents to talk to their kids about digital safety while establishing a shared commitment to ground rules for online social behavior. In addition to the safeguards around sharing personal information and content moderation, we added a specific digital safety section for parents that conveys our approach to digital safety and illustrates the ways in which LEGO Life focuses on the safety of their children. <\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: What do parents need to be assured of before giving their children permission to use the app, and how did you alleviate those concerns?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> We understand that the No. 1 concern among parents when it comes to social networks and other digital environments is safety, so naturally we kept this at the heart of the development of LEGO Life. We implemented as many safeguards as possible to prevent children from sharing personal information, images of themselves and anything that could allow other users to identify and locate one another. For example, the LEGO Life name generator uses a random three-word mix to create a display name so children can choose from silly names like DukeCharmingShrimp or CaptainNoisyBadger. Additionally, the LEGO Emoji Keyboard was created to keep communication simple, universal, safe and fun. Children can only comment on each other\u2019s posts through a keyboard of recognizable LEGO emojis and elements,minifigure faces and stickers. You can express a world of opinions with a simple smile or heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.ama.org//PublishingImages//build-character-lego-life.jpg/" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\nQ: What kind of feedback have you been getting from parents since LEGO Life launched?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> Recently at the LEGO World event in Copenhagen, we asked parents and kids what their opinions were of the app. Parents approve of the app because they know and trust the LEGO commitment to safety and fun. Kids told us the app inspires them to build. This is exactly what we were hoping for. <\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: How does the \u201cvisualized hashtag system\u201d work <\/strong>in <\/strong>the app? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> The LEGO groups are the LEGO Life version of hashtags. Groups are arranged around areas of interest (animals, vehicles, heroes, etc.), LEGO themes (NINJAGO, Star Wars, etc.) and seasonal\/regional topics (New Year, Valentine\u2019s, etc ). Once kids follow a group, they will see updates from their favorite characters and themes within their LEGO Life feed, including interesting builds, imagesand challenges. Groups will expand as LEGO Life membership grows and trends and interests take shape. <\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: Can you link to anything outside of the network from within the app?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> The only items we currently link to outside of the app are other LEGO apps. Before a user can visit these apps, we put a parental pop-up\/check to ensure that users know they are about to leave the app. <\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: Aside from creating a safe digital space, what notes did the app have to hit to remain consistent with the LEGO brand?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nA: <\/strong>The main goal in developing LEGO Life was to give kids a safe space where they could inspire and get inspired to build more with LEGO bricks. Every aspect of LEGO Life embodies the sense of play, creativity, and humor inherent in the LEGO brand. Q: Can you say how many users are active on <\/strong>LEGO Life, and what percentage are 13 or <\/strong>under<\/strong>? Is membership meeting or exceeding company estimates?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nA: <\/strong>We\u2019ve had an overwhelmingly positive response so far and just crossed the threshold of 1 million downloads by our fans. In our first week, we became the No. 1 children\u2019s app in each launch market, and we have been very pleased with the enthusiastic response we are receiving from parents and kids alike\u2014both in the comments they are sharing and in the volume of LEGO creations they are uploading to LEGO Life. <\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: A lot of the social content on LEGO Life is created directly by LEGO. What does your content team look like and what are its goals? Are they a bunch of social media and design experts playing with LEGOs all day?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> LEGO Life is a healthy mix of user-generated content and content created by our editorial teams. These editors are highly dedicated to their craft. They spend each day reviewing activity within the app and adjust their editorial strategies to maximize user engagement. They coordinate campaigns across all our product groups and themes and suggest the best ways to reach our audience from a mix of challenges, articles and videos. They also build and play with a lot of LEGO bricks! Ultimately, the goal is to strike the right balance in engagement and inspiration to ensure a steady stream of user-generated content and community. <\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: Wha<\/strong>t about the content monitoring team? How big is it, and what is it looking for?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> Every post to LEGO Life is monitored and viewed by a human. We use image detection software for an initial review and then, based on the content, it will receive varying levels of review from our team. The main requirement for posting is that the content must somehow be LEGO-relevant\u2014and brand-appropriate, of course. <\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: Why put this all in an app and not make it a separate website accessible from a browser?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nA: The goal is to provide an experience that kids can enjoy wherever they are. We know that more kids today have their own tablets or mobile phones and they expect to have this kind of experience available to them. They also are much more app-centric and less motivated by branded websites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.ama.org//PublishingImages//lego-social-posts.jpg/" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\nScreen shots from the LEGO Life interface.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: Have you thought about incorporating advertising or sponsored content at all? <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nA: <\/strong>LEGO Life does not have any third-party advertisement, nor are there plans to include any. <\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: What about co-branding? LEGO Life includes Batman, Star <\/strong>Wars<\/strong> and Minecraft Lego sets. I think I saw the legal portion of the app mentioning Angry Birds characters. How do you determine what other brands can enter the app space? Are there any limitations on who can enter the space and what they can look like? <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> The LEGO Batman, LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Minecraft content we produce within the app is based on licensed themes that are part of the LEGO universe. If we currently produce a LEGO set for a certain license, there is a good chance at some point you\u2019ll see a group or content based on that theme within LEGO Life. <\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: It\u2019s been reported that you\u2019re looking into the possibility of adding in-app chat functions as well as allowing users to upload narrated <\/strong>video<\/strong>. Do you have any updates on if and when those features might be added? How about any other features not currently part of the LEGO Life experience? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nA: <\/strong>In terms of in-app chat and user video, those are ambitions we have for the future, but we need to make sure we take the appropriate time to develop them in a safe, responsible and fun way. LEGO Life is an agile project in every sense. Our development roadmap can change based on the way our users are engaging in the app. We may have plans to bring in a new feature, but if we see kids are using the app in surprising ways, we will prioritize development of features that benefit our users\u2019 habits. Every day, we see new ways kids are using the app, and it\u2019s been a pleasure to see the builders of tomorrow inspiring each other. <\/p>\n","post_title":"LEGO's Kid-friendly Social Platform Earns High Marks for Safety and Engagement","post_excerpt":"A new app-based social network from LEGO appears to be doing the extraordinary: providing a safe space for children online while winning plaudits from parents","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"legos-kid-friendly-social-platform-earns-high-marks-for-safety-and-engagement","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-22 14:54:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-22 20:54:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/?post_type=ama_marketing_news&p=1569","menu_order":0,"post_type":"ama_marketing_news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2610,"post_author":"33","post_date":"2016-04-01 15:56:35","post_date_gmt":"2016-04-01 15:56:35","post_content":"\n<h2>Digital marketing has four distinct marketing objectives. Failing to recognize these differences will lead to ineffective and sub-optimal digital effort. <\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe four digital program types vary in terms of how connected they are to the offering\u2014from augmenting the offering, to supporting the offering, to amplifying marketing programs for the offering to being unconnected to the offering. They also will vary in terms of what aspects of digital are being employed. I\u2019ll explore each objective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>1. Augmenting or enabling the offering by extending its value proposition. <\/h4>\n\n\n\nStarbucks has an app that allows a speedy purchase, the ability to tip, earn stars to redeem rewards, find stores, find personalized offers and more. Competitors without such an augmentation will be at a disadvantage. When the augmentation is significant, a new subcategory can be created that renders competitors who lack that augmentation irrelevant. <\/p>\n\n\n\nOffering augmentation can create unique \u201cmust haves\u201d that define new subcategories. The result can be strategic, proving a sustainable advantage in the future that will need to be nurtured through ongoing innovation and an aggressive branding strategy with supporting brand-building programs. Augmentation can also be defensive, responding to the innovation of competitors to keep the offering relevant. In either case the staff involved in creating and improving the offering\u2014from R&D, design, manufacturing and marketing\u2014will need to partner with the digital team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4>2. Supporting the offering and its use. <\/h4>\n\n\n\nThis is accomplished by providing information about its benefits, how it provides value, the applications and how to obtain it. For some offerings or segments the digital route will be a primary go-to source of learning about the offering and a place to engage in interactive dialogue about the offering, its value and its use. <\/p>\n\n\n\nFor others, digital can enable a brand to provide customer validation to the offering. Walt Disney World\u2019s Moms Panel, for example, answers questions about the Disney vacation that does not come with any commercial bias. Real moms provide information based on real experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\nFor still others, digital can engage the customer in product development and evaluation. There is a win-win opportunity to get customers to both provide and evaluate ideas. MyStarbucksIdea, started in 2008, has provided Starbucks with the ideas for the splash sticks that protect customers from hot drink spills, mobile payments, new flavors including skinny beverages and cake pop treats. <\/p>\n\n\n\nCreating effective digital programs that will support the offering and its use will involve understanding the relationships of the target segment to the offering and proactively generating digitally driven solutions to issues and problems. Is the offering limited because of issues with visibility, perceptions, credibility or loyalty? Are there weaknesses or problems with the important customer touchpoints? Where there is a brand performance gap or weakness, how can digital play a role? In developing programs, the digital team needs to work with business and marketing units to generate ideas. Digital cannot simply \u201cbe there\u201d in reactive mode. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>3. Amplifying other brand-building platforms by providing more depth, exposure and involvement. <\/h4>\n\n\n\nA program such as a World Cup sponsorship can only get so far with conventional media and attendance. Digital can create a website plus apps that will add value to the event with schedules, news and insights providing an interactive experience. A successful advertisement or video can have an extended life through social networks and outlets like YouTube. Brand building home runs rarely happen without digital amplification. <\/p>\n\n\n\nDigital amplification will be maximized when two things happen: first, when digital works with each of the marketing programs during the plan and design phase, not after; second, priorities should be established across marketing programs so that digital programs that show the most promise are fast-tracked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>4. Creating customer \u201csweet spot\u201d brand-building platforms, centered on a customer\u2019s \u201csweet spot\u201d (interests and activities about which customers are intensely involved), in which the brand is an active partner. <\/h4>\n\n\n\nThese sweet-spot programs are designed to create relationships and equity rather than support the offering. Although digital does not have to be involved in such programs, many are viable only because digital technology enables or drives them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\nSweet-spot programs are based on the observation that customers are rarely interested in your offering, your brand or your firm. They are interested in what they are passionate about. It makes sense to attempt to reach them where they are instead of where you are. Digital can help a brand become a partner or companion in that interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\nConsider Sephora\u2019s \u201cBeautyTalk,\u201d for example, which offers \u201creal-time answers, expert advice, access to a community and your fix to all things beauty,\u201d is made possible because of website technology and other digital technologies around mobile and social media. Nature Valley\u2019s Trail Views provide \u201cstreet-views\u201d of trails in national parks that, for some, are close to actually experiencing the hikes. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe feasibility and success of digitally driven, sweet-spot program should be tested with three questions. First, is there a need for a new sweet-spot programs? Is there a real demand with a worthwhile audience in terms of size and quality? And is there an opening for a new program or have others already gained a dominant presence? Second, can the firm deliver? Can it deliver a program with real substance that is in some way unique? This is more likely if the program is built on existing firm capabilities and assets. Third, can the program get traction and be linked to the brand? Will the proposed sweet-spot program get enough visibility, relevance and credibility to be considered by target group members? Does it fit the brand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\nThe strategic role of digital is too often neglected, and usually related to a tactical role. But the first and last roles, in particular, can create a long-term asset that can meaningfully affect the brand vision, the brand-customer relationship and competitive advantage. It can even create a \u201cmust have\u201d that defines a new subcategory that some will insist on. Recognizing that a digital program is strategic affects its organizational position, its resourcing and its management over time. In particular, there should be a broadly experienced senior person involved in creating digital programs, a person with breadth of capability and a link to the business strategy so that the strategic role of digital will be on the table. A stand-alone tactical team, no matter how good, will not be adequate.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Four Faces of Digital Marketing","post_excerpt":"Digital marketing has four distinct marketing objectives. Failing to recognize these differences will lead to ineffective and sub-optimal digital effort. ","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"the-four-faces-of-digital-marketing","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-22 14:55:23","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-22 20:55:23","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/?post_type=ama_marketing_news&p=2610","menu_order":0,"post_type":"ama_marketing_news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":1795,"post_author":"14","post_date":"2016-03-01 21:08:46","post_date_gmt":"2016-03-01 21:08:46","post_content":"\n<h2>Everyone is touting career advice these days, from bloggers to authors to social media pundits. <\/h2>\n\n\n\nBut for those of us who\u2019ve worked hard to find success, true nuggets of career wisdom are more than just inspirational platitudes\u2014they\u2019re career-defining mantras.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMarketing News<\/em> tapped 12 in\u200bdustry leaders, from advertisers to academics, to share the advice that\u2019s guided them throughout their careers. Read on for the indispensable wisdoms and hard-won lessons that have formed the foundation of their success. They might just propel you to make the next big career leap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDiana Smith, Director of Marketing, Segment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//dianahsmith/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Diana Smith<\/a> used to comb through customer support call records looking for insights in user frustrations and questions. As a marketer, she knew that customer feedback would be the currency with which she could buy into the user experience conversation. \u201cIn marketing you\u2019re always trying to get a certain message to a certain audience, but a lot of people think too much about themselves. [\u2026] It\u2019s really important to have empathy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nSmith became adept at understanding the interests of her audience when she worked in public relations. Earning media for clients wasn\u2019t a matter of asking for placement in a newspaper, it was about demonstrating value for journalists. The same follows for marketing, she says. \u201cWe talk a lot at <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////segment.com///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Segment <\/a>about how we can write utilitarian content for people.\u201d Smith applied that philosophy when she overhauled the company\u2019s blog. When she found it, the blog was a mixed bag of content, trying to do too many different things at once. She reined it in by figuring out what brought readers to the site, what they wanted to read, and producing more of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\"Empathy will always come back to interpersonal connections\" - Diana Smith<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.ama.org//wp-content//uploads//2018//12//cathy-davis-leo-burnett.jpg/" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1798\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Cathy Davis, Executive Vice President, Leo Burnett<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSix years ago, <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//catherinedavis1/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cathy Davis<\/a> saw the rise of social media and decided she wanted to learn it, experience it and master it. She didn\u2019t know anyone who was any good at it, so she bought Twitter for Dummies. Today, she has 20,000 followers and has been named on the Forbes Must-follow Marketing Minds list. Although sending her first tweet was scary\u2014\u201cI was horrified. I thought, What if I say something people don\u2019t like? What if I sound stupid?\u201d\u2014Davis followed her own advice and learned by pushing herself to try the things she wasn\u2019t comfortable doing. With the disruption that nearly every industry is facing as the world becomes more mobile, Davis says that stretching your limits will make you better, smarter and more equipped to deal with change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cChange used to be incremental. It\u2019s exponential now, and you need to get out in front of it.\u201d - Cathy Davis<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\nChris Wollen, CMO, Droga5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//chriswollen/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chris Wollen<\/a>, a self-professed ski bum who hadn\u2019t yet started climbing the corporate ladder, was working in a Colorado hotel when a guest asked him to fax some advertising storyboards to New York. Wollen followed the revisions and iterations of the story throughout the guest\u2019s stay, and by the end, his interest was piqued. Before the guest checked out, Wollen made him an offer: a beer for some candid conversation about the advertising industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAfter his chat with the guest, Wollen headed east with a plan to make a profession out of answering the questions that mattered to him: What moves people? What makes them get up in the morning? \u201cI found so interesting the fact that [the answers to those questions] could have a business result,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAt BBH New York, Wollen got the chance to answer those questions in a big way when he took over what was, at the time, a flagship account for the agency. His predecessor, who briefed him on the client, gave him perhaps the simplest but truest advice he\u2019d use in this industry: \u201cIn a cheeky way, he said, \u2018The only thing that matters is that you do great work,\u2019 \u201d Wollen recalls. At the time, the guidance seemed nebulous, but Wollen came to appreciate how accurate it was and how it has only become truer as the industry has evolved. \u201cWe live in a world now where consumers can fast-forward,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have to create a brand that people want to pay attention to. If you think about a lot of the ads we see right now, they might be informative \u2026 but do they really speak to you? Do you really care? Or is it just a lot of noise? A lot of what we make doesn\u2019t get attention. If you confront that, you\u2019ll hold your work to a much higher standard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cThe only thing that matters is that you do great work.\u201d - Chris Wollen<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\nRohit Bhargava, Founder, Influential Marketing Group<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn Australia, where <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//rohitbhargava/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rohit Bhargava<\/a> spent two years working for Leo Burnett, it\u2019s common practice to sit in the front seat of a cab\u2014a symbolic way of saying that you and the driver are equals. For Bhargava, this small gesture is just one example of the many daily interactions that can help you build and enforce your ideals, both professional and personal. \u201cReputation is something you spend a long time building for yourself, and every interaction has the ability to increase it or decrease it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBhargava has earned his reputation as a marketing expert by providing high-level strategy consulting and publishing forward-looking content for business decision making. His 15 Trends book series inspired a workshop, increasing his recognition as a thought leader. After more than 10 years developing the insights and gaining the experience he needed to be a valued advisor, he decided to go into business for himself in 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\nRisk-taking is often a practice of the young, but Bhargava says that the older he gets, the more comfortable he\u2019s become with taking smart risks. <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.rohitbhargava.com//about/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Influential Marketing Group<\/a>\u2019s success would have been a lot more precarious had Bhargava not founded it knowing exactly where his first five clients would come from, and that certainty is the direct result of his commitment to a humble reputation. \u201cI heard someone say, \u2018If you meet someone who is nice to you but mean to the waiter, they\u2019re not a nice person,\u2019 \u201d says Bhargava. \u201cI think the way you treat people\u2014no matter how big you get or how many stages you spend time on\u2014is a big part of the reputation you build for yourself.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cReputation is something you spend a long time building for yourself, and every interaction has the ability to increase it or decrease it.\u201d -Rohit Bhargava<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u200b <\/p>\n\n\n\nVala Afshar, Chief Digital Evangelist, Salesforce<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//ValaAfshar/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vala <\/a>Afshar\u2019s life changed at a Salesforce conference in 2010. Before he was ever tasked with digital evangelism for the CRM powerhouse, Afshar was one of its clients. He had won awards for sales and customer service, but the day he heard CEO Marc Benioff tout the game-changing advantages of social networking for business made him question how effective he really was at converting operational excellence into customer satisfaction. \u201cI realized as much as I was an accessible manager\u2014I would walk around the office and use traditional communication methods\u2014I didn\u2019t have continuous and long-lasting relationships with customers and partners using technologies or social networks,\u201d Afshar says. To best serve the customer, Benioff had said, Afshar needed a deeper understanding of his internal customers. He needed to be knowledgeable and share that knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIn less than five years, Afshar went from having no digital footprint to recognition as the most influential CMO on Twitter by Venture Beat, one of InformationWeek\u2019s top 10 social business leaders, and the No. 2 most retweeted digital marketer by TopRank Online Marketing. It may seem like a giant leap, but Afshar says the process was incremental. \u201cI consider myself an introvert, and I needed those baby steps before feeling I could add value to folks outside [my business],\u201d Afshar says. \u201cThe only way you can score is if you\u2019re in the game, so you have to have the courage to suit up. If you\u2019re in business, you have to go where the conversation is. In this digital era, your customers are connected [online].\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nIn this connected-customer revolution, as Afshar calls it, the challenge for marketers is how to be where the customers are and how to intelligently add value to the conversation. According to Pew Research Center, <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.pewresearch.org//fact-tank//2021//03//26//about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-say-they-are-almost-constantly-online///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nearly 75% of adults are online daily, almost a quarter of them report being constantly connected<\/a>. For Afshar, that makes the Web the battleground for customer experience, and the only way to gain ground there is to take the first step and seize it. \u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cThe only way you can score is if you\u2019re in the game, so you have to have the courage to suit up.\u201d - Vala Afshar<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\nJohn Young, Senior Vice President of Analytic Consulting,\u200b Epsilon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.linkedin.com//in//john-young-649b89/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Young<\/a> first interviewed at Epsilon, he was rejected. Coming from an economics background, he foresaw the demand for analytics professionals and knew he could be a valuable part of that. He just had to convince the global marketing company of the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat he lacked in a marketing background, he made up for with a clear objective. He made incremental moves to set himself up for his next opportunity with Epsilon, which came in 1994 after he\u2019d spent some time applying quantitative techniques to direct mail campaigns with Digitas (then Bronner Slosberg Humphrey). This time Young got the job, but he found that communicating value would continue to be imperative in his career. \u201cI learned you can\u2019t give up believing in yourself and being your own biggest advocate because no one else will do it for you,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYoung says the ability to tell stories and evangelize your work is a critical enabler that will mean a big difference in marketers\u2019 success, particularly those working in analytics. \u201cThose who thrive in this business can put what they produce in terms customers can understand and get excited about,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough to be a quant jock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cYou can\u2019t give up believing in yourself and being your own biggest advocate because no one else will do it for you.\u201d - John Young<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\nJohn Osborn, CEO, BBDO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nGrowing up, <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//Ozzypallooza/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Osborn<\/a>\u2014the CEO of BBDO New York\u2014learned responsibility as the man of his three-person household. \u201c[That experience] imprinted on me \u2026 what it means to live in an era of responsibility, what your word truly means and living up to it,\u201d Osborn says.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen defining his personal brand as an adult, it\u2019s important that he lives up to his own product description, so to speak. That means tempering his appetite for purpose-driven work in the interest of following through on a few projects rather than scratching the surface of many. \u201cOne of my own learnings has been to be honest with myself and make sure I\u2019m keeping my focus on those things I can influence in the most significant way,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve learned there are things you can really affect, and things you can\u2019t. As an individual, I can\u2019t be a salve for the world economy, but I can focus my limited energy and time on those things I can influence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nAt BBDO, Osborn has focused his energy on learning from every experience, whether that lesson is how to bounce back from adversity (<a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////adage.com//article//agency-news//bbdo-picks-toys-r//299498/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BBDO lost three Proctor & Gamble brands and Bud Light last year but recovered with Toys \u2018R\u2019 Us, Subway and Priceline, among others<\/a>) or that success has no finish line. After nearly 30 years in advertising, Osborn admits he still doesn\u2019t know it all. \u201cJust when you think you\u2019ve wrapped your head around something, the world moves forward,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cMake sure to be a part of [your] journey in the moment\u2014rather than focusing on the destination\u2014because the journey is everything.\u201d - John Osborn<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\nGabrielle Martinez, Managing Partner, AgencyEA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//eagabrielle/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gabrielle Martinez<\/a> always wanted to find a way to connect with others. She came from a family of entrepreneurs, and whether she was at her grandfather\u2019s cobbler shop or the family restaurant, she learned first-hand to take initiative and write her own success story.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlthough her company, <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////agencyea.com///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AgencyEA<\/a>, now serves such clients as the Obamas, Target and GE, Martinez\u2019s goals were once less defined and her determination a bit misdirected. She left law school after her first year\u2014an important step that forced her to reaffirm her passions. \u201cThose passions and my natural strengths are the \u2026 pillars I have built my business on,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\nMartinez returned to her roots, in a sense. She applied her background in event planning to work as an experiential and event marketer. AgencyEA differentiates itself by pushing the boundaries of creativity, and Martinez reflects that relentless pursuit in her best piece of advice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cWith hard work, grit and a positive mindset, anything can be achieved.\u201d - Gabrielle Martinez<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\nLauren McCadney, Director of Digital Engagement and Social Media, CDW<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSomeone said to <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//LMcCadney/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lauren McCadney<\/a> recently, \u201cYou really love social media.\u201d A harmless enough comment for CDW\u2019s director of digital engagement and social media, but to McCadney that evaluation was short-sighted. \u201cI don\u2019t love social media,\u201d she thought. \u201cI love marketing and the whole idea of persuasion, and I\u2019m going to go wherever the customer in the market takes me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cOne of the things I haven\u2019t done is define my career by just one aspect of what it means to market or persuade,\u201d she says. \u201cStay curious, and don\u2019t settle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nOne of McCadney\u2019s mottos is \u201cinspect what you expect,\u201d meaning that every assumption deserves to be proven, and proven again if the proof is dated. When she came to CDW, McCadney led marketing for small businesses and was working with lots of one-person IT teams. What she found when she conducted focus groups with them was that they did not want to talk to the moderator, but rather, they talked to one another. \u201cThe lightbulb went on for me,\u201d McCadney says. \u201cIt was very clear among small businesses that there was a desire to talk to their peers, share stories, gather learnings and offer their perspective to help someone else along.\u201d McCadney predicted that conversation would eventually live online and that CDW would need to think differently about where and how it engaged with customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMcCadney continues to inspect not just CDW\u2019s customers and how their needs are changing, but the needs of her profession and how she can adjust to meet them. \u201cThe industry has changed so incredibly much since I started, and I\u2019ve tried to change along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cStay curious, and don\u2019t settle.\u201d - Lauren McCadney<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDeborah Small, Professor of Marketing and Psychology, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//deborahasmall/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Deborah Small<\/a> earned her Ph.D. in behavioral decision sciences after studying the science of decision making as an undergrad, at a time when the field was small and relatively unknown. (Her friends and relatives assumed she was trying to be the next Sigmund Freud.) She was intrigued by the application of decision-making insights. \u201cI never intended to end up in marketing, but as I learned more about the field it became increasingly apparent that it was a logical direction to go in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nParticularly in business, there is a desire for applying action-oriented insights, but those applications are only as sound as the methodology they are based on, Small says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cThere are a lot of marketing gurus and self-help books purporting to tell you how to be a good marketer. Their ideas might be good, but we don\u2019t know unless we test them.\u201d - Deborah Small<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAndy Crestodina, Co-founder and Strategic Director, Orbit Media Studios<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAt 43, one of <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//crestodina/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Andy <\/a>Crestodina\u2019s biggest regrets is that he didn\u2019t start Facebook. He was in college when the Internet was born. Had he started earlier, he could have 100,000 Twitter followers by now. \u201cI love what I do, but in hindsight, we all could have begun sooner and grown a larger audience more quickly had we been paying attention,\u201d he says. Generation X has some of the biggest regrets because they were all there when social media was born, and any of them could have started it. At the same time, they\u2019re all self-taught, says Crestodina, so they have the confidence to learn new skills. Crestodina has made a practice of identifying the skills he\u2019ll need tomorrow and learning them today. Or in his own words, \u201cI have 2,400 hours this year. Where will I be after 2,400 hours? Last year doesn\u2019t matter. All that matters are the opportunities in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.orbitmedia.com///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Orbit Media<\/a> used to be the name of Crestodina\u2019s shuttered comic book business. Today it\u2019s an award-winning Web design and development firm. Initially, Orbit was delivering Web design for clients, but Crestodina realized quickly that he needed to improve SEO and track analytics to truly create value. Half a decade later, he saw his clients\u2019 need for more touchpoints with communication, so he incorporated blogging and newsletters into the business. All these tactics came together as content marketing. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a real plan. I was an early practitioner who \u2026 built audiences and evolved as a teacher,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\nA critical element of this evolution has been Crestodina\u2019s willingness to constantly revisit common knowledge, and he recommends that all marketers do the same. \u201cI watch people make decisions based on preference every day without understanding the risk of that,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHe may not have launched the first great social media platform\u2014admittedly, he showed up late to the social media party even as a user\u2014but Crestodina has built a reputation as a marketing expert and influencer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cAll that matters are opportunities in front of you.\u201d -Andy Crestodina<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\nKimi Abdullah, Director of Marketing and Operations, Creative Niche<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhenever <a target=\"_blank\" href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//kimiabdullah/" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kimi Abdullah<\/a> has stared down a professional risk, she\u2019s always asked herself one question: What\u2019s the worst that could happen? Abdullah began her career with <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////creativeniche.com///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Creative Niche\u200b<\/a> working behind the front desk, and through a series of opportunities she took the chances that landed her in the marketing department.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe company had no marketing function when Abdullah joined, which meant everything from e-newsletters to sales enablement was an experiment. \u201cWe\u2019re a small company, so a lot of our growth relies on our team\u2019s ability to be resourceful and their willingness to jump in and try new things,\u201d she says. Being something of a perfectionist, Abdullah initially approached her work with an apprehension for tasks she wasn\u2019t sure she\u2019d excel at. \u201cI think fear of not knowing something or not doing it right really holds us back,\u201d she says. \u201cI really had to train myself out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn just under 10 years, Abdullah has carved out her place at Creative Niche. Along the way, she may have watched her peers in other businesses and industries chase the same goals down different paths or at different speeds, but she\u2019s also shed her anxiety about her progress along the way. \u201cWe have a tendency to compare ourselves to other people, but the truth is that everyone\u2019s on their own journey,\u201d she says. \u201cThe most important thing is to serve your brand and company by putting in your best effort, finding solutions and making change happen, and all the rest will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\u201cWe have a tendency to compare ourselves to other people, but the truth is that everyone\u2019s on their own journey.\u201d - Kimi Abdullah<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","post_title":"Career Advice from 12 Top Minds in Marketing","post_excerpt":"Everyone is touting career advice these days, from bloggers to authors to social media pundits.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"career-advice-from-12-top-minds-in-marketing","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-22 14:55:28","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-22 20:55:28","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/?post_type=ama_marketing_news&p=1795","menu_order":0,"post_type":"ama_marketing_news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2625,"post_author":"88","post_date":"2016-03-01 17:05:19","post_date_gmt":"2016-03-01 17:05:19","post_content":"\n<h2>Of all the new must-have digital marketing strategies brought about by the explosion in online shopping, ad retargeting is one of the most prevalent. <\/h2>\n\n\n\nUnlike the physical world, where brick-and-mortar businesses welcome window-shoppers who ultimately leave empty handed with vague promises to \u201cthink about it,\u201d retargeting lets businesses follow up with those shoppers later on, keeping them interested and, ultimately, converting more of them to buyers. <\/p>\n\n\n\nRetargeting, experts say, is a fancy term for a simple concept: Advertise to internet users who have viewed products or services online but left before buying by purchasing ad space on other websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s one of the best ways to sell. It\u2019s proven that people need to come to your website five to eight times before actually converting,\u201d says Rocco Baldassarre, search engine marketing consultant and founder and CEO of digital marketing agency Zebra Advertisement. \u201cThe way it works is pretty straightforward. Basically you need to imagine online marketing where somebody is selling advertising space and somebody is buying it. It can only display ads on sites that are selling ad space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>You Get What You Pay For <\/h4>\n\n\n\nOnline advertising space is divided into three big universes: Google, Bing and social media. Purchasing online ad space is not a fixed monetary transaction. Rather, it\u2019s a bid process. Since each webpage only has so much space set aside for display ads, brands must bid against competitors to score prime webpage real estate. \u201cIf you go to Bose and [Beats by] Dre to look for headphones and then go to Huffington Post, depending on whether Bose or Dre puts in a higher bid will determine which company\u2019s ad you see,\u201d says David Allison, marketing coordinator for online advertising co-op Hivewyre. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHowever, price alone doesn\u2019t determine the frequency with which your ad is displayed. Each platform uses a proprietary formula created to assess the stature of an advertisement. Google uses a quality score, which evaluates the caliber of the advertiser\u2019s website, while Facebook has a relevance score, which is determined based on the likelihood users will interact with a particular ad, Baldassarre says.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s important to have a retargeting strategy in place before engaging in open bidding. \u201cThe auction is automated and occurring in real time. You can bid extremely high to win all the possible impressions, but that\u2019s not necessarily a good strategy. The best strategy is to set targeted parameters, and this requires a combination of great vendors using the best technology,\u201d says Marlo Schneider, director of client services and strategy at Sellpoints, Inc., a provider of e-commerce channel sales solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe bidding process can make budgeting for a retargeting campaign difficult. Sellpoints\u2019 pricing starts at $500 a month. Allison says he\u2019s seen monthly budgets range from a couple thousand dollars to five figures. Baldassarre says that Facebook generally charges between 10 cents and a dollar per click, depending on the competitiveness of your target niche, which means campaigns can be conducted for as little as $5 to $10 per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTime is another big variable to the overall cost of a campaign. Each platform comes with its own limits. Google and Bing have the longest retargeting times, around 580 days, while Facebook is much shorter, at about 180 days. Longer campaigns are best designed for expensive products like cars or condos, or for B-to-B services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe length of your retargeting campaign completely depends on your business. Most advertisers should use retargeting as an on-going part of their marketing strategy. In-market times are business-specific, so making sure your campaigns are set up to align with your business, and testing different levers over time, is important,\u201d Schneider says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe lower the price point is, the smaller the decision-making process will be and the shorter your retargeting list times should be,\u201d adds Baldassarre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>The Possibilities of Personalization <\/h4>\n\n\n\nRather than reach out to everyone who stumbled upon a website, a retargeting campaign can be customized to target users whose captured site-visit data indicates a higher likelihood to buy. For instance, a campaign can be set up to target only people who remain on the original website for two minutes or longer, visited upwards of six different pages within the website, or both. <\/p>\n\n\n\nRetargeting ads can be customized to offer special discounts to entice users to buy. They can also be used to upsell, offering accessories to already purchased items, or can be a platform for presenting entirely new products or packages. Retargeting ads can also be adjusted to offer more facts about a service over a long campaign, so prospects will continue to receive new information about a company instead of just looking at the same ad month after month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe deeper you go in the purchase funnel, or in the decision-making process if you\u2019re [offering] a service, the more information you need to give the user that comes back to the site to feed his interest. Many people don\u2019t do that, but if you really want a good strategy, that should be the concept that you work on,\u201d says Baldassarre.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOne area of retargeting that offers bedrock certainty is quantitative measurement of a campaign\u2019s impact. By entering a few codes provided by the advertiser platforms, marketers can track site visits, nurture touches\u2014reaching out to existing contacts with your retargeting display ads, with mid-stage or late-stage offers or content\u2014and both the number and cost of conversions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe most important metrics to track your retargeting\u2019s effectiveness is cost-per-acquisition. Make sure that when you\u2019re setting up your campaigns, you have conversion pixels placed on all of the relevant success events that you want to track,\u201d Schneider says. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAt VentureBeat\u2019s Marketing.FWD conference, Brad Smallwood, vice president of measurement and insights at Facebook, said retargeting is most helpful at the bottom of the funnel. Baldassarre and Allison both agree with that assessment, but Schneider disagrees, saying, \u201cRetargeting can also be used as a channel to reach your existing audiences with new offers [or] products or announcements in the same way that more traditional channels do. Nontraditional approaches to creative messaging and audience identification are increasingly prevalent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>The Creepiness Factor <\/h4>\n\n\n\nOut of all possible digital strategies, retargeting is one of the most criticized for being \u201ccreepy.\u201d The technology is trying to evolve past that perception by implementing best practices and developing smart components. Recommendations include creating relevant ads for specifically viewed products, using well-designed, eye-pleasing ads, reducing ad frequency, avoiding retargeting customers with items they\u2019ve already purchased and pursuing as much individualization as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is one thing that is very vendor-specific, so transparent technology partners are important. We\u2019ve dedicated resources to improve and expand our audience modeling capabilities and our optimization algorithms. Both of these strategies allow us to weed out the \u2018annoyed\u2019 consumers by controlling their exposure over time based on their behaviors. Programmatic display retargeting platforms are extremely complex, and it\u2019s valuable to have someone who can help you navigate,\u201d Schneider says.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Understanding the What and Why of Ad Retargeting","post_excerpt":"Of all the new must-have digital marketing strategies brought about by the explosion in online shopping, ad retargeting is one of the most prevalent. ","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"understanding-the-what-and-why-of-ad-retargeting","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-22 14:55:56","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-22 20:55:56","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/?post_type=ama_marketing_news&p=2625","menu_order":0,"post_type":"ama_marketing_news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2291,"post_author":"210","post_date":"2016-02-01 18:29:00","post_date_gmt":"2016-02-01 18:29:00","post_content":"\nBy now, Big Data is a term uttered with frequency by tech execs and marketing creatives alike. And while data has long been a fixture in the marketing tool belt\u2014rife with consumer insights and details into the purchasing journey\u2014precision now trumps information overload when it comes to gathering consumer data, says Heather Read, director of social as a service at New York-based data technology platform Sprinklr.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSprinklr has emerged as a fast-growing partner to brands like Samsung, Microsoft and Virgin America looking to wrangle social data from many platforms to a single command center. Read says that marketers are taking a more intentional approach to data-gathering this year, refining the way they track traditional metrics to determine the success of their brands and the satisfaction of their customers. Here, Read shares her outlook for the new and constantly evolving ways that marketers will use data and analytics in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: Social media and other platforms that allow customers to interact with a brand provide great opportunity for listening and responding. What changes in social data-gathering and analysis do you see for 2016, and how will they impact the way brands are tailoring customer experiences?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> We\u2019re seeing more advanced versions of the data-gathering that companies have done for the last couple of years, as well as some new reporting strategies. Companies are upping their game as they measure segmentation of brands. Some, like retailers, are very interested in understanding location-based or franchise-based performance. They\u2019re paying attention not just to how many \u2018likes\u2019 they got on Facebook, but they\u2019re taking a meaningful look at organizing data and tracking back to the elements of the brand that drive customer behavior. A lot of Sprinklr\u2019s customers are targeting segments through paid social channels and publishing. On Facebook, for example, you can choose audience criteria, which allows you to measure how a segment is reacting to your brand and analyze behavioral differences so you know the right moment to provide content to customers. One objective of social strategy is directing customers to your website where they will buy a product, look at content, or [engage in] some other desired behavior. Companies want to measure that journey from social to sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBrands are also working with digital marketing agencies to measure favorability, brand affinity and amplification, and they\u2019re using unique KPI measures to do so. This customized scoring is specific to social data or in between social and digital data, grouping the metrics from owned social platforms and listening metrics to illustrate ROI. Some brands care more about certain social channels or functions on social channels. Where some focus on sharing capabilities for amplification of content, others are tracking actions such as \u201clikes.\u201d The requirement they\u2019re putting on their vendor is to support these KPI measures in a way that\u2019s unique for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQ: Even though data and analytics are not new concepts, managing them can still be an unwieldy task. How can marketers analyzing a wealth of social data weed out the noise and respond to the relevant interactions with their customers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nA:<\/strong> There are some companies that want to extract and archive everything. My recommendation is to store only the data that will be useful for your reporting. Your first step has to be to determine the business objective, which will be unique to your brand. Whether your objective is to focus on customer service or the performance of a campaign, whenever you approach analytics, a clear business objective will define what you can measure. There are many social metrics that may or may not align to the objective\u2014we have roughly 6,000 metrics on our platforms between paid, listening and owned data\u2014so you can eliminate much of the irrelevant data by ensuring that what you\u2019re collecting is tied to the objective. Finding the right grouping methodology for those metrics is key. Are you measuring at a brand level, franchise level, location level or campaign level? Five years ago, it was fine to report the number of retweets on Twitter, but that\u2019s very rudimentary. To use best practice in social management now, you have to think about the way to organize your social data to meet business objectives. <\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Measure Consumer Behavior in 2016","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"how-to-measure-consumer-behavior-in-2016","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-22 14:56:06","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-22 20:56:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/?post_type=ama_marketing_news&p=2291","menu_order":0,"post_type":"ama_marketing_news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":2287,"post_author":"14","post_date":"2016-01-12 18:22:06","post_date_gmt":"2016-01-12 18:22:06","post_content":"\n<h3>Casper is putting to bed the notion that mattresses are boring social fodder, and the upstart is gaining comic notoriety and a sizeable following on Twitter<\/h3>\n\n\n\nGoal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAs a new player in the mattress market, high-end manufacturer and supplier <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////casper.com///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Casper <\/a>has\n relied heavily on word of mouth to make up for its low-budget \nadvertising strategy. Since its founding, person-to-person marketing has\n been the biggest driver of its sales. Social media allowed the brand to\n engage with customers while also giving its loyal patrons a very public\n way to do its evangelizing. <\/p>\n\n\n\nCasper\u2019s <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//Casper?ref_src=twsrc%5egoogle%7ctwcamp%5eserp%7ctwgr%5eauthor\%22 target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">main objective on Twitter<\/a>\n is to raise awareness of the brand. Not everyone is in the market to \nbuy a bed\u2014most people buy a mattress every seven to 10 years\u2014but when \nthey do embark on that buyer\u2019s journey, it\u2019s important to grab their \nattention, says Lindsay Kaplan, Casper\u2019s vice president of \ncommunications.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAction <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nHow bizarre is the idea of a talking \nmattress? That\u2019s the question Kaplan asked herself when she launched the\n social media function for Casper in April of 2014. The idea was \nadmittedly absurd, but says Kaplan, so was the idea of a mattress \ncompany using Twitter. \u201cWe found something really funny about a mattress\n on Twitter,\u201d says Kaplan. \u201cThere are a lot of brands who use social \nmedia and take it very seriously and don\u2019t find humor in the fact that \nthey\u2019re using Twitter to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe first step was to determine the \npersonality of the brand\u2019s spokes-mattress. \u201cWe immediately knew a \nmattress would be up all night,\u201d says Kaplan, \u201cso that became the first \nelement of Casper\u2019s Twitter presence.\u201d The voice of Casper is geared \ntoward a demographic that\u2019s familiar with GIFs and the kind of syntax \noften found in memes. The account frequently responds to @Casper tweets \nwith short clips of pop culture on loop. \u201cIt\u2019s always about \nentertaining, elating and conversing,\u201d says Kaplan, a strategy that \ndifferentiates the brand from many business handles that use Twitter to make a sales pitch rather than holding a conversation with consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>\n\t\n\t\tTo get coffee or to get to work on time? That is the question.\u2014 Casper (@Casper) <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//Casper//status//717721202802950144/">April 6, 2016<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWith musings like, \u201cTo get coffee or to get \nto work on time? That is the question,\u201d and \u201cStill don\u2019t think it\u2019s a \ncoincidence that \u2018morning\u2019 and \u2018mourning\u2019 sound the same,\u201d Casper, the \ntweeting mattress, supplies followers with a steady stream of witty \none-liners usually about sleep (or a lack thereof) and coffee. <\/p>\n\n\n\nWhile that may not resonate with every prospective customer, Jim Tobin, president of <a href=https://www.ama.org/"http:////www.ignitesocialmedia.com///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ignite Social Media<\/a>,\n says a bold approach trumps vanilla tweets any day. \u201cThe worst thing \nthat can happen to a brand in social is to be fundamentally ignored,\u201d he\n says. \u201cIf you know who you stand for and who you appeal to, just own \nthat, and you\u2019ll end up with a much bigger portion of your segment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\nSEE ALSO: Clearing the Path to Effective Content Marketing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\nThe mattress brand is also challenging its \ncompetition with its #linksomnia tweets, a series of articles, videos \nand other content curated for those who resort to scrolling social feeds\n when they can\u2019t sleep. \u201cWhen they\u2019re writing about insomnia, they\u2019re \nvery quietly making the case that maybe they could help you sleep \nbetter,\u201d Tobin says. \u201cIt\u2019s a strategy that Serta or Tempurpedic can\u2019t \ncopy. It\u2019s a nice way to say, \u2018Hey, there\u2019s a very different mattress \nhere,\u2019 without talking about a mattress at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nSome content comes from <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////vanwinkles.com///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Van Winkle\u2019s<\/a>,\n an editorial website covering the topic of sleep and published by \nCasper. With categories like science, health, travel and culture, Van \nWinkle\u2019s makes sleep a ubiquitous conversation. Casper, Tobin says, \nexcels at inserting itself into larger, relevant conversations as \nopposed to product descriptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\nResults<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat Casper\u2019s realized that a lot of brands \nhaven\u2019t is that Twitter\u2019s not about their product,\u201d says Tobin. \u201cIt\u2019s \nabout the experience the product facilitates and the reason the product exists. Sleep\u2019s important to all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>\n\t\n\t\tWHY CAN'T IT BE NAP TIME ALL THE TIME?\u2014 Casper (@Casper) <a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////twitter.com//Casper//status//720703529246134278/">April 14, 2016<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOne reason Casper\u2019s content is so effective \nis that it\u2019s relatable. Everyone can empathize with the after-lunch \nenergy crash at work or hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock. \nThe motto of Casper\u2019s social media department is, \u201cLook at the struggle \nand the joy,\u201d says Kaplan. The struggle is the pain of getting out of \nbed in the morning and the joy is kicking your shoes off, getting into \nbed and pulling up the covers. <\/p>\n\n\n\nOne follower claimed Casper\u2019s tweets \nconvinced her to buy a mattress, and while that may be true, Tobin says \nit\u2019s more likely the tweets served as an engaging introduction to the \nbrand. \u201cWhat they\u2019re saying is, \u2018I heard about this brand because of this Twitter account. I started to like the brand because of this account. I checked it out, bought it and came back to say you got me started on this path.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\nSEE ALSO:<\/strong><a href=https://www.ama.org/"https:////www.ama.org//publications//MarketingNews//Pages//seo-rules-2016.aspx/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">6 SEO Rules for 2016<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\nCasper\u2019s Twitter presence has earned it a <a href=https://www.ama.org/"http:////shortyawards.com//8th//casper-sleep-2/" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shorty Award<\/a> for excellence in social media. It\u2019s also up for <a href=https://www.ama.org/"http:////webbyawards.com//winners//2016//social//features//best-writing//casper///" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Webby Awards<\/a>\n for social customer service and comedy writing, the latter it\u2019s vying \nfor alongside The Onion, Conan O\u2019Brien and John Oliver. In 2015, the \nbrand grew its Twitter following from 5,000 to 50,000 and its overall social media following increased by 1,311%.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe social media team behind Casper\u2019s Twitter account has grown as well. Kaplan says that growth was more methodical as the decision to hire in-house talent took patience. \u201cWhen you work with an agency that is juggling a few brands and isn\u2019t living and breathing your company day to day, you\u2019re sacrificing the heart and soul of the brand,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIt was one of the slowest hiring processes I\u2019ve ever taken to hire our first social media team members, but it has paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Most Popular Mattress on Twitter","post_excerpt":"Casper is putting to bed the notion that mattresses are boring social fodder, and the upstart is gaining comic notoriety and a sizeable following on Twitter","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"the-most-popular-mattress-on-twitter","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-22 14:56:10","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-22 20:56:10","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/?post_type=ama_marketing_news&p=2287","menu_order":0,"post_type":"ama_marketing_news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":1764,"post_author":"63","post_date":"2016-01-01 16:54:19","post_date_gmt":"2016-01-01 16:54:19","post_content":"\nGo ahead and search for \u201cfake photos on the Internet\u201d or \u201cfake facts,\u201d and you\u2019ll find dozens of examples showing the proliferation of altered images, blatant lies and other misrepresentations of reality. As much as I love the notion of Teddy Roosevelt riding a moose, that widely circulated photo is just not accurate (although it is an interesting historical artifact demonstrating that images have routinely been manipulated long before the dawn of the digital age).<\/p>\n\n\n\nWe are all attempting to determine the nature of truth, rumor, lie and error in our information-rich, always-on culture. What once seemed easy\u2014\u201cI know it\u2019s true because I saw it in the newspaper\u201d\u2014is now endlessly called into question. Political candidates spin tales based on their own interpretation of facts, and those tales get spun again by the media and again by your friends (or in-laws) on Facebook. Celebrities of all types use their social media channels to promote their favorite causes, and our kids interpret their endorsement as a substitute for actual fact-checking. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAll of this creates a high degree of ambiguity in the world around us, and makes me ever more skeptical of everything I see and read. Having been trained as a social scientist, I\u2019d like to think I\u2019ve developed a pretty good sense of the difference between hype and fact, or at least between science and speculation. However, I am not sure I can say the same for the generations raised on a steady diet of the Internet. <\/p>\n\n\n\nYet the marketer in me understands the potential opportunity here. If the line between fact and fiction has gotten so blurry, how can marketing deliver messages that matter to our target audiences? We talk a lot about credibility, authenticity and user-generated content as the way in which to market our products and break through to millennials and other online audiences, but I fear this is simply another way to leverage the new information economy to our advantage, bringing us no closer to any real truth. <\/p>\n\n\n\nMarketing often relies on (legally) bending the truth just enough to create something memorable, something that will cause a brand or product to be recalled in the future when a purchase is made. But marketing should also clearly identify itself as such, not allowing itself to fall into the murky abyss of content that might subsequently get reposted as fact. Should there be a standard digital \u201csignature of inauthenticity\u201d embedded in all marketing to prevent future confusion?<\/p>\n\n\n\nConsider the recent kerfuffle over the ads that Amazon placed in New York for its new drama, \u201cThe Man in the High Castle.\u201d The story, an alternate history in which Japan and Germany won World War II and divided up America between them, is heavily laced with questions about truth and propaganda and what people believe. It is also full of signs and symbols from that era that many people find disturbing and offensive. Amazon (and its agency behind the promotions) may have made a tactical error here, but the bigger question to me is how those ads\u2014turned into tweets and Instragrams\u2014may reappear in some future Facebook post about the Nazi takeover of New York. It is not too difficult to imagine the marketing of fiction today becoming the \u201csecret facts\u201d being kept from us tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen we market, we must think about our intended audience as well as our unintended audience. Everything gets thrown into the information machine and comes back out in often unexpected ways. I can already imagine my future grandchildren asking me why the man bun was the preferred hairstyle of world leaders from Washington to Obama. <\/p>\n","post_title":"Seeking Truth in the Information Economy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"seeking-truth-in-the-information-economy","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-22 14:56:37","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-22 20:56:37","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/?post_type=ama_marketing_news&p=1764","menu_order":0,"post_type":"ama_marketing_news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":1762,"post_author":"17","post_date":"2016-01-01 16:39:02","post_date_gmt":"2016-01-01 16:39:02","post_content":"\n<h4>Goal<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\nGetting your first car was once an important, liberating milestone for teens, but now, just 54% bother to get their driver\u2019s licenses by age 18, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Today, members of the millennial and Gen Z generations express themselves through social media feeds and smartphones, not by the make and model of their rides. As a result, they\u2019re less inclined to buy, let alone work on, cars. Motor oil brand Pennzoil, headquartered in Elk Grove Village, Ill., and owned by Shell Oil Co., recognized a need to boost relevance among a demographic that\u2019s more into iTunes than tune-ups. \u201cWe\u2019re an oil brand, and it\u2019s a fairly low involvement category from a broad consumer perspective,\u201d says Doug Kooyman, global brand director at Pennzoil. \u201cWe\u2019re striving to change brand perception and drive brand preference in a very unique category.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Action<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\nPennzoil, along with its New York-based agency of record MediaCom, partnered with Los Angeles-based music media and events company Live Nation Inc. to create a campaign called Backseat Pass, with the tagline \u201cMotor oil reimagined.\u201d The campaign, which included video, Web and experiential marketing elements, tapped recording artists like OK Go, Teagan and Sarah, Godsmack and Delta Spirit to create unique versions of their own hit songs and were filmed performing and recording in the back of a Pennzoil-branded Durango that drove around Los Angeles over the past year. The performances were filmed and lived on a Pennzoil-branded microsite, PennzoilBackseatPass.com, which also promoted a campaign sweepstakes in which one fan won a flight and VIP tickets to a Live Nation festival of their choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cPennzoil is like most brands: looking at younger consumers, wanting to expand their audience and find new drivers,\u201d says Jeremy Levine, senior vice president of digital sales at Live Nation. \u201c[The campaign] is less about the old school gear head and more about Joe Smith, who drives to work every day and wants to be as efficient as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nLevine says they also wanted to make sure they hit the broadest base of \u201cyounger\u201d consumers as possible, so the team was very thoughtful about the types of musicians featured. \u201cWe wanted to have a wide enough appeal that you could be 17 or 40 and think it was interesting content.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe campaign ran from October 2014 through October 2015, and coincided with the release of Pennzoil\u2019s Platinum with PurePlus Technology motor oil. The campaign\u2019s microsite featured videos of the performances, a photo gallery, and product information on the Platinum motor oil. Backseat Pass was created through Live Nation\u2019s content marketing arm, and was promoted through a mostly digital ad placement strategy, including social media mentions and ad buys, banner ads on Live Nation\u2019s website, and e-mail promotions. <\/p>\n\n\n\nPennzoil has been building a music-based marketing strategy for years, featuring country music star Tim McGraw as a brand ambassador. Kooyman says that while Pennzoil does do marketing in the motorsports space, as most of its competitors do, he sees music-based marketing as an opportunity to reach young, new consumers. \u201cWe wanted to play in a space that was an open territory. Data shows that our consumers are listening to a lot of music and going to concerts, so why not capitalize on that in a relevant way for the brand?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>R<\/strong>esults<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\nBetween July and September 2015, the campaign garnered more than 90 million total impressions across all social media, more than 180,000 microsite impressions, more than a million views of the videos to date, and nearly 80,000 sweepstakes entries. The videos averaged a 27% action rate, meaning viewers clicked through to the campaign microsite or to a Live Nation site after viewing, which exceeded his team\u2019s 20% benchmark goal, according to Kooyman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cFrom a brand perception standpoint, aligning Pennzoil in this way and seeing how it resonated from a consumer and a retailer perspective, this was something that was building awareness for the Pennzoil brand name in the motor oil space,\u201d Levine says. \u201cWe\u2019re working with Pennzoil to see where we can take music marketing from here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe campaign is a success thanks to the obvious connection between cars and music, says Dominic Sandifer, president of ad agency and content production firm GreenLight Media & Marketing, where he\u2019s worked on experiential and video projects for clients including Under Armour and Verizon. \u201cI would look at Pennzoil in the automotive category, in general, rather than just motor oil because people who are car enthusiasts exist in every genre, and that goes for entertainers like musicians,\u201d Sandifer says. \u201cPennzoil is pivoting off of the relationship they have with Tim McGraw and trying to get a different audience to think about their brand and products. It\u2019s an easy jump. It\u2019s smart that Pennzoil is sticking with the music-focused marketing and has identified the fact that there\u2019s an audience that loves music and is interested in cars. They\u2019ve found a unique way to use music as a vehicle to help reach that audience with their message.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nFor more on music in marketing, check out \u201cMusic: The Unsung Hero of Advertising\u201d from the October 2015 issue of Marketing News at <\/em>AMA.org\/MarketingNews\u200b<\/em>. <\/em> <\/p>\n","post_title":"Experiential Music Campaign Attracts Millennials","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"experiential-music-campaign-attracts-millennials","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-22 14:56:38","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-22 20:56:38","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.ama.org\/?post_type=ama_marketing_news&p=1762","menu_order":0,"post_type":"ama_marketing_news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}]" />

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Social Media

Social Media

Social media involves the use of social networks as marketing communications media. These websites often have users actively participate to determine what is popular. Social marketing is a tactic that taps into the growth of social networks, encouraging users to adopt and pass along widgets or other content modules created by a brand, or to add a brand to the user’s social circle of friends.

Social marketing has traditionally referred to the branch of marketing that is concerned with the use of marketing knowledge, concepts, and techniques to enhance social ends, as well as the social consequences of marketing strategies, decisions, and actions. This type of marketing is designed to influence the behavior of a target audience in which the benefits of the behavior are intended by the marketer to accrue primarily to the audience or to the society in general and not to the marketer. Social marketing can be carried on by for-profit, public, and private nonprofit organizations or by individuals.

Examples would be attempts to influence individuals to stop smoking (by the private nonprofit American Cancer Society) or report crimes (by the public U.S. Department of Justice). An attempt of one friend to influence another to go on a diet is also social marketing. Here you will find a collection of marketing news articles and research insights regarding social media.

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Marketing News

How e-newsletter theSkimm Acquired 3.5 Million Subscribers

Marketing News

LEGO’s Kid-friendly Social Platform Earns High Marks for Safety and Engagement

Marketing News

The Four Faces of Digital Marketing

Marketing News

Career Advice from 12 Top Minds in Marketing

Marketing News

Understanding the What and Why of Ad Retargeting

Marketing News

How to Measure Consumer Behavior in 2016

Marketing News

The Most Popular Mattress on Twitter

Marketing News

Seeking Truth in the Information Economy

Marketing News

Experiential Music Campaign Attracts Millennials

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