This post is part of a larger series on the important role Influencer Outreach plays in Modern Branding. For the introduction to the series, please go here.

Are you finally getting the hang of this whole Influencer Outreach thing? You’ve identified potential Influencers on the web scene? You’ve checked their Klout Score™? You’re confident they’re spreading messages of significance? You’ve cross-referenced them with other, similar brands?

What is that last element, then, that will make them perfect for you? The last step in assuring they’re the voice you want spreading your word? The answer is finding Influencers empathetic enough to your brand that they feel emotionally compelled to promote it––or what is commonly called Tribe Building in modern ad speak.

1. Figure Out What Makes You “You”

Every brand should strive for a Unique Value Proposition, or more directly, provide something intrinsically different than anything that currently exists. And coincidentally, it’s that which sets you apart that draws others in. Being able to clearly define and articulate what makes you one-of-a-kind will drastically improve your internal and external communication, and allow you to easily disseminate your ideas to others, Influencers included.

Remember: The easier your brand is to emotionally digest, the stronger your tribe’s responsiveness will be.

Moreover, recognizing how and where your brand can align with people’s lives on a deeper level (than say, sellers and buyers) will help you discover Influencers inspired to tell your brand story. They’ll back what you do because you’ll have tapped into something beyond pithy wordplay or compulsion driven imagery. Finding a truly great Influencer means you may be able to organically stimulate their personal investment and passion.

2. Align Yourself with Strong Leaders

Defining what sets you apart may be easy, but it’s also important to know whom you should align yourself with. When searching for your ideal Influencer, listen closely to the language they use. Are they regurgitating someone else’s spiel on their blog, Twitter, and Facebook profile, or are they passionately sending their own message? Thinking their own thoughts? Sharing their own ideas? A great Influencer is both a free thinker and a brand advocate.

Finding a person who shares your message in a way that is authentic to them and their audience will give you and your brand immediate credibility, and it will empower your Influencer in a very intrinsic way. Having liberty over the message will embolden them! It will move them! It’s those –– the Influencers who are inspired by your values, who promote your growth –– who become the essential members of your tribe. And like any other tribe, this collective unit’s goal is to ultimately help the group prosper as a whole. It’s cyber-symbiotic: You win, they win. They win, you win.

These members will do their part in finding more people to bring into the fold. Like a chain reaction, those invested members will go out of their way to initiate more people into the tribe, until you have a thriving, talking, sharing community actively engaged in your little (but quickly growing) brand.

3. Add that Person(al) Touch

More than anything, Tribe Building is common sense. The more emotionally devoted a person is to your brand, the more likely they are to evangelize it on your behalf. Think of all the times a friend has championed a restaurant, movie, or band they loved; and their unsolicited recommendations probably held more sway over you than any advertising that could have been manufactured! Having a group of Influencers that resonates with that same fervor and affinity for your brand will help create interest in what you’re doing and motivate others to check you out as well. They will spread your story like wildfire because they will feel enthused by your vision.

Photo Courtesy of Stonyfield Yogurt®.

The deliciously clever yogurt company Stonyfield implored this tactic in their 2010 Barnstorming Tour promotion. The campaign targeted specific food and health Influencers to spread the word of Stonyfield’s organic yogurts by inviting them to visit the actual farms where their ingredients are grown. On top of the “mud on your boots” experience, the yogurt company gave $5k to the charity of choice for the finalists.

This simple call-to-action encouraged sharing the message, and tapped into the allure of meeting folks who actually grow what people eat––it was a logical carrot to entice their audience. The campaign built a strong community in which people could personally interact with one another, which strengthened their attachment to the brand. As word spread, potential participants poured in. Check out this blogger’s genuine gusto for the opportunity.

By going the extra mile and finding bloggers who were truly enthusiastic about organic farming, Stonyfield created a small army of Influencers tied to the success of the brand. Ostensibly, the yogurt company had built a tribe.

All right. Let’s recap! When Tribe Building, it’s crucial to:

• Find Influencers who you think would share an emotional bond to your brand. Having them form the base of your tribe will guarantee you’ll be supported by members who will work to see your ideas flourish.
• Identify your brand’s Unique Value Proposition and convey that definitively to would-be Influencers. They’ll appreciate that you’re trying to do something different, and are much more likely to board your train if they know you have a game plan that sets you and your brand apart from the crowd.
• Empower your tribe to spread your message as they see fit. If you’ve done your homework and found great Influencers, then their natural tone will lend credibility to what you’re doing. No micromanaging! The more their voice becomes infused with your messaging, the stronger connection other people will have to your brand as it gets passed along.

Ultimately, Tribe Building works because it involves community. It’s people talking to other people. One of the most important aspects of any marketing tool is to remember you’re always dealing with other humans––the same sentiments and appeals you respond to will ring true to them. Sure, the mediums have changed, but the message has not. Despite everything existing online or in the digital clouds, be cordial, be polite, and treat others with respect, and they’ll reciprocate that to your brand.

Finding and empowering the right Influencers will build you a tribe that will be digitally social, human, and unstoppable. Big-budget ad spends can’t buy that kind of cache, but some well placed investment in professional tribe building can. So spend less, do more, and start building your tribe.

Content Specialist

This post is part of a larger series on the important role Influencer Outreach plays in Modern Branding. For the introduction to the series, please go here.

The quality of what people are saying (and what their disciples say) matters when it comes to finding the right Influencer for your brand­­. And being loud is not the same as being an Influencer! Remember that person in school who talked constantly, yet said nothing of value? In the world of digital doers vs. digital sayers, you want people who walk the walk––avoid those who have their message received as gossip and target those whose message is taken as gospel.

Where Do Large Brands “Shop”?
A good tactic to ensure you’re unearthing Influencers who spread worthwhile information is to find proven brands, and check out whom they align themselves with. Your aspirational brands are most likely shooting for the same qualities in an Influencer as you, and they may have recognized a pattern or trend you’re simply not up to speed on. Drafting pacesetters means you get there quicker. And sometimes in life, being willing to stand on the shoulders of a giant is the only way to see as far as you need to.

In short… having one awesome, diamond-in-the-rough Influencer is worth more to your brand than twenty chatterboxes.

Do They Speak Your Language?
Every brand should have a distinct tone and feel to its voice; its own vernacular that makes its value promise more relatable, believable, and attractive to its target audience. Maybe your brand is confident and professorial? Perhaps it’s silly and good-natured? Whatever your brand’s attitude, your Influencer should be a direct extension of that––they are a brand partner in many ways. Do a little legwork here. Be thorough! The time you spend researching the ins and outs of your Influencer will payoff tenfold when they accurately articulate your brand’s mission with just the right expressiveness and tone.

How about a real world example?

Long before Ford was set to bring back its reinvented sub-compact, it launched the 2009 “Fiesta Movement”. This campaign gave 100 vehicles to web-savvy “millennials”: young adults born after 1979. Ford understood that some 70 million millennials would be driving when they launched the Fiesta –– and 77% of them use social media –– so Ford picked 100 driving Influencers and gave them a Fiesta for six months. The caveat was these “agents” had to share (online) their experiences as they took part in monthly missions.

Influencer Paul Stamatiou takes a photo of his unintentional crash test. Photo courtesy of http://paulstamatiou.com.

In a matter of months, the program generated 4.8 millions views of YouTube videos and 3.4 million Twitter impressions. Ford knew who they were selling to and used them to generate buzz around their product. Check out this Influencer’s take on the ride. Pretty honest.

Go Big or Go Home
Don’t be afraid to dream a little big as well! Too often, brands (especially smaller ones) will make the mistake of not pursuing those whom they consider to be the perfect catch––their reputed Big Fish of Influence. You’re in the same ocean as everyone else, and the only way to make a palpable connection may be to go for it. Good things come to those who ask. And if you want a little statistical courage, think of all the other brands out there not getting in your message’s way because they won’t be trying.

3 Keys to Assuring Your Influencers Are Saying the Right Things:

• Take the time to learn whom other brands are listening to. Who inspires your heroes? Who is doing a great job getting their message out? Taking a cue from those that have been there before isn’t just smart, it’s responsible.

• Establish that your targets are saying thoughtful, poignant things when they speak. And make sure those that are following them have some level of insight as well. Spreading your message to the masses doesn’t help if those masses won’t care.

• It’s okay to think large. Gigantic, exponentially large, if necessary! Go after those who you know can get your brand’s message out, no matter how out of reach they may initially seem.

When you think you’ve found the right person –– whose communication is worthwhile and aligned with your brand voice –– make sure you approach them with the tact and courtesy you would reserve for any other professional relationship. These are allies in your success. Cohorts in your brand’s ubiquity! As this series continues, we’ll dig into how to fine-tune your messaging to the strengths of your advocates, and how to assure they’re emotionally invested in your brand’s success.

Content Specialist

This post is part of a larger series on the important role Influencer Outreach plays in Modern Branding. For the introduction to the series, please go here.

The first step to reaching Influencers (who can provide a tangible lift for your brand) is learning how to single them out amidst the Internet buzz. This may seem like finding needles in haystacks initially, but a true trendsetter has the ability to make an announcement and generate a spike of activity in the digital world, similar to the wake created when a large ship passes by. These spikes can be measured in the form of how many people are in that person’s sphere of influence. Once you recognize the spikes, you can spot the Influencer creating them.

Locating these ripples in the digital abyss doesn’t require a web-psychic or a ton of intern legwork either. There are great tools that already exist that rate and categorize Influencers on the Internet. Here’s a free plug for one of the best: Klout®.

Klout® is a website in which people are given a number score based on their audience, the channels they frequent, and the true amplification of their messaging. For a fee, Klout® will even cultivate a list of Influencers within your self-designed niche. (There are other effective software programs and web processes out there that measure a person’s social influence, but currently, Klout® has the most… well… clout.)

How Heavy Hitters Are Leveraging Klout®
Using Klout® saves you time in identifying who matters and who doesn’t. And some pretty big names have already jumped on the brand wagon. This year, Audi ran a special San Francisco event where targeted Social Media users were given the opportunity to test drive the 2011 A8. The invited few were identified by Klout® as Influencers in the fields the automobile manufacturer has a stake in: cars, technology, consumer buying habits, etc. One special blogger even won a weekend trip chock full of driving––a sort of romantic getaway for the user and the car. By using Klout® to find the participants, Audi hedged their bets on the premise that these Influencers would write honest and persuasive thoughts about the event, about the Audi brand, and specifically the 2011 A8.

Their logic is simple: Genuine, positive insights from Influencers drive (pun intended) sales.

And Audi isn’t the only one to tap into these Klout Perks® programs. Influencers of the movie-going public were given the opportunity to see a private screening of NBC Universal Picture’s The Adjustment Bureau before it hit theaters. Prominent computer/technology bloggers were sent a HP Pavilion dm1-3020us Entertainment Notebook loaded with movies premiering at the Cinefest 2011 film festival. In both cases, the brands were banking on these select individuals to get the word out on the products they just used.

Kutcher's high score comes not only from his celebrity, but also from his advocacy for tech. startups. (Photo courtesy of Klout.com)

Klout® even released a list of celebrity chefs with their social scores, explaining that when these cuisine authorities tweet about a specific restaurant or post a recipe, their foodie followers move the needles.

Knowing Where Cool Kids Hang
Determining who is popular has always been a necessary and difficult task when branding, the only thing that’s changed is mediums! We know what you’re thinking.

And yes, it is kind of like high school. Except instead of counting the number of friends a person is surrounded by at the lunch table, you’ll identify how many friends, fans, or subscribers they have on Facebook®. How often are others commenting on their blog? Do they have a lot of Twitter® followers? All of these are great indicators of a person’s reach (or how many people they can digitally touch).

3 Keys to Identifying True Influencers Online:

• Make sure you look for a person who generates a tangible buzz after they disseminate something online. A genuine response within their sphere of influence means they are true Influences.
• Use the awesome and cheap analytical tools out there to measure a person’s true influential worth whenever possible. If several databases say the person have a high score, then they’re definitely worth your time.
• Always target a potential person who is fluent across various mediums (Facebook®, Twitter®, etc.) and who has a great following. True Influencers may prefer one to another, but they understand that the best way to be heard is to speak through as many channels as possible.

Once you find these Influencers, it is important to have a plan and the resources in place to build and nurture their relationship with your brand. They are after all, the potential spokesperson for your message. Our future posts will provide insights on how to maximize your outreach efforts, and what to say when you do make contact.

Content Specialist

If you’re one of the seven people who haven’t been on the Internet for a decade (and if you are, Welcome Back!), you’re probably a little overwhelmed by what it has become. Stunned by all the websites and the traffic being driven to things that weren’t relevant a year ago, let alone ten? You may have noticed almost every major brand, person, and pet now has their own Facebook® profile. Many have their own Twitter® handle, and possibly a blogging site where they write their thoughts, share photos, or pass on information they find useful. To state the obvious: It’s freaking crowded out there.

Social Media may have flooded the world with a torrent of information, but reading our proverbial tealeaves will weed out the winners from the whiners.

Despite everyone jockeying for the attention of everyone else, it’s actually become easier for small or mid-sized brands to have their messages heard. PR stunts, favorable reviews, and traditional marketing plans just don’t have the same impact on the everyday consumer they used to, and the days of giant agencies monopolizing the People’s Vote are over. Buyers now dictate what story they want to tell and how they want to tell it. This shift means little guys have the opportunity to find their voice amongst the throngs. Big ideas from small places can, for the first time, approach an audience on the same playing field as well-funded competitors.

There are also fresh, outside-the-box techniques that tap into this growing stratosphere––they use the online social world to sing praises for brands who get it right, and jeer those who don’t get it at all. Think of it as the modern word-of-mouth phenomenon! Understanding these marketing tactics means your brand can get its message out without resorting to an online shouting match, or spending tons of money advertising to people you hope will take what you say as meaningful.

One of the most effective, new tools of the trade is Influencer Outreach. Influencer Outreach is simply finding the right people –– who have the right voice, following, and emotional inspiration –– to help spread your brand across their online community. This practice should be an integral aspect of any contemporary agency, as it places the brand directly into the hands of those who can help launch it.

Like anything new, though, Influencer Outreach doesn’t come without its challenges. Understanding the best practices that shape the act, and how to avoid its hidden pitfalls are crucial to success. Luckily, modern branding is what we do best.

We have identified a few best practices to guide brands efforts in Influencer Outreach, including:

• Not Everyone Online Is a True Influencer – Every market has key individuals able to sway opinion and drive action, and the effort to identify the people who are fluent across mediums and can generate a response is critical.

• It’s Important Influencers Say the Right Thing(s) – The quality of what people are saying online matters––being loud is not the same as being an Influencer.

• Build a Tribe of Enthusiasts – Find Influencers empathetic enough to your brand that they feel emotionally compelled to promote it––or what is commonly called Tribe Building in modern brand speak.

In a series of upcoming blogs, we’ll outline some of the beginning steps to help guide you on this path, and teach you how to figure out whose ears are worth whispering into. 

By Peter Getman

If you haven’t yet, then “We’re starting TODAY” is the only right answer.

When was the last time you were compelled to modernize your brand’s marketing? When the World Wide Web was born? Remember your first website? Was it a KILLER website? Probably not … for most brands it took five generations of websites to meet expectations if they are even considered met today.

I remember when we built the first five websites for dozens of brands.

Each time, we got to do so because we identified new delivery mechanisms, mediums and digital practices that our client’s competitors had not yet discovered. If we hadn’t been ahead of the curve, their competitor’s agency would have been.

We’ve always been early. MicroArts Creative Agency purchased New Hampshire’s first Mac workstation for $14,000 in 1989. MicroArts.com must be one of the older URLs in New Hampshire having gone live in March of 1995. Our curiosity fuels our ability to consistently help our clients capitalize on the next big trend in brand marketing (hint).

So when did companies start getting websites right? It certainly wasn’t early. In the old days it was simply one-way communication from your brand to its target consumer cultures. The only way these consumers could find your site was if you specifically begged them visit as part of your advertising. Google wasn’t born yet and SEO was far from being an acronym anyone understood. It shouldn’t have been so hard to get it right. Right?

Heck, most eventually figured out how to work within the confines of enabling technologies. After a number of years we somehow pried the web site keys from the chief technology officer and chief information officer and turned them over to the chief marketing officer. This took place after an odd period when software programmers were forced to take on the role of website designers. And finally – following the stress of WAY too many go-live dates missed – the actual content on the website was properly funded and resources (plural) were allocated. Remember when the marketing director started writing the copy for a site, the week before the launch date? It was probably the most writing they had done since they completed English 101 as a college freshman.

You get the point. For most, it was a sh*t show that went on for WAY too long.

This wasn’t the time for technology, websites or marketing to evolve to meet business needs. It was the time when businesses needed to evolve to accommodate the new world of digital marketing. Websites had become the front door of their business. Open 24/7/365, it’s where the first stories were told and where customer purchasing decision were initiated.

CEOs hear me, WE’VE MOVED THE FRONT DOOR!

In fact … there are millions of them.
And many of these doors come with “opinions” built in them.

Your front door(s) is still where the first stories are told, but it now takes place on the social mediums where your consumers observe, learn, share, socialize, inspire, react, like, love and buy. It is your consumers who will be initiating most of the stories and leading the conversation. The consumers are influencing one another at an unprecedented rate and writing a new chapter in marketing history.

With all this change in our business, comes opportunity. So may the best brand win and I believe they will.

I think it’s awesome.

Modernizing can truly be at the core of your brand’s next differentiation strategy.

So start here:

1. Reallocate your 2011 budget significantly for 2012.
2. Start the agency review process next week.
3. Hire an agency that has the experience to guide the transformation of your business from the bottom-up to sync with escalating consumer expectations of your brand’s communications.

Which agency?

• If not the MicroArts team, hire the right agency. **
• Hire an agency out in front that has the experience to guide YOUR BUSINESS TO BE READY.
• Hire an agency with a reputation for teaching you. ***
• Hire an agency with a proven creative process disciplined by best practice principles for every modern marketing discipline they offer.
• Hire an agency to lead the integration of all marketing with a hub laced with social media amplification.
• Hire an agency with a team that wants to kick the living snot out of your competition.

Almost lastly, to my fortune 5000 friends and brand managers – you need to update your brand book right now. Your brand’s voice in social media (SoMe) is the new first three chapters of your brand book. Your brand will soon be “handled” by a 100 times more people than ever before and therefore the guide to do so must mature into a dynamic, living, breathing section of your brand book.

It’s the next generation brand book that guides your brand’s voice in social media with the protocol and methodology to scale with confidence to the demands of your modernized consumer.

Three years ago, I challenged myself with this vision and encourage you not to wait five generations to get it right.

PS: Hiring the college intern to do social media is a really stupid idea. It’s the voice of your brand and it’s VITAL that they are trained to communicate and amplify it.

** Our clients are growing fast, so we’ve grown to support them. At the moment, we only have room for one new client that is ready to modernize and thus position itself for fast growth.
*** If you only have your thumb on it, you need more thumbs. It won’t be long before your competitors have dozens of employees, trained and ready to seed, join and inspire conversations where your customers are making decisions today.

Be sure to check out Part II of this post here:
24 Reasons Social Trends Are Driving Leading Brands to Modernize

As discussed previously, Facebook and Google are doing battle with each other over search. Facebook is now on par with Google for monthly visits (as shown in our friendly little graphic here) and has made plenty of headlines as it often now beats Google in terms of driving traffic to sites. Just a few days ago Facebook threw a punch at Google by unveiling a new search functionality that begins to deliver on the promise of social search as we outlined last year:

Today someone might use Google to search for a solution your company provides and see your website content well positioned within the results. They’ll click on the link and land on a landing page to learn more about how your company addresses their particular problem. But next year they might just search Facebook instead, and they’ll see that a friend of a friend had a similar need for that solution and went with Company X. This will be more valuable because they can connect directly with this friend via their friend’s connection and discover more about their personal experience with the company. They might also see a post on Company X’s Facebook page within the results discussing this particular solution, further solidifying Company X as a solutions provider candidate.

Facebook’s new search functionality begins to deliver on this scenario by leveraging their like button that they launched in April (like the one on the bottom of this post). The advent of the like button was seen as a sign that Facebook was about to open the floodgates in their war with Google. This new search functionality is the floodgates opening. Here’s how this functionality works, as described by Facebook (via Allfacebook):

“We launched the ability to see articles shared by your direct friends in the search typeahead. For instance, if your friend is on a news site and clicks ‘Like’ under one of the articles (which will then go into News Feed), when you go to search for that article on Facebook, it will [appear] in the dropdown.” Most significant is that the content displayed “is only available for articles shared by your direct friends (not globally to all users on Facebook).” Additionally, “[results are] not [shown] to you based solely on number of ‘Likes’ for the article.”

Google, not to be outdone, held a press event today about their latest effort in the search game, Google Instant. While this new functionality is important (and is actually similar to Facebook’s new search since it also instantly returns results as you type), it’s just an interface update. This announcement today certainly wasn’t an effective block of Facebook’s social search punch [nor was it necessarily meant to be]. While Google has moved forward in integrating social into search, today’s event amounts to them taking Facebook’s punch.

Google still faces a serious challenge in staving off Facebook’s social salvo: Facebook is a closed ecosystem, impenetrable to Google (except as Facebook allows), they are effectively their own “web” (also see The Great Wall of Facebook). The closed ecosystem of Facebook, combined with their massive success, is one of the reasons why Wired recently (and controversially) declared “The Web is Dead.” Clearly Facebook has changed the way the world uses the Internet and now they are rolling out a new way for us to search.

As Facebook rolls out this new search solution they will drive even more traffic to sites. Brand’s can ride this wave by embracing social search, participating in the open graph and enabling themselves to be visible in Facebook’s new social search engine. Need help doing that? Give us a call- we’d love to review your social efforts to date and a discuss how you can ride this emerging social-search wave.

While digging deep into PPC campaigns, search marketing professionals understand that it’s imperative to look at quality scores. A quality score is how Google rewards relevant and well-performing keywords in an ad group, specifically using factors such as click-through rate, landing page relevancy and other criteria. Keywords that have a quality score above 7 receive more impressions, higher positions and CPC discounts. Yes, discounts! Up to 30%!

But what about those keywords that score 6 or lower? Because they are not as relevant, these keywords are penalized with fewer impressions and lower positions. But the harsh and eye-opening news is about the CPC penalties: you could be paying up to 600% more for each click.

There is even more bad news. Low quality scores do not stop at the keyword level. These low quality scores bleed into the campaign, affecting the entire account.

PPC is not a set-it-and-forget-it marketing effort. It involves serious management. Without it, you will lose money – resources that could be used to make your Internet marketing work harder for you. Even if a keyword has a passable quality score of 7, why settle for a 12.5% discount? Use those savings to test more options, which could lead to doubling or even close to tripling your discounts. Given that approach, the long-term impact of optimizing one single keyword across a campaign can be quite worthwhile.

Not bad for one little word.

A month in and I’m still here. That’s a good sign, right? Because if these guys couldn’t cope with my feisty bossiness passion for search, I think I’d be out on the street.

My job here is to bring clients’ search marketing efforts to a whole new level. Not a small feat since the MicroArts team has been doing it for years. But we’re ready to put it into overdrive.

How? Well a number of ways…

1) First and foremost, we take clients’ business goals into account. If our efforts are not meeting your business goals, we need to start over.

2) Our ability to work directly with clients is paramount.

3) We deliver on ROI. We need to justify and surpass monthly investments.

4) We can demonstrate main facets of search marketing: SEO (on-site and off-site factors), link building and PPC.

5) Understanding that SEO and social media are no longer mutually exclusive: tweets, comments, status updates, photos, videos are all content that strongly impact search results.

6) SEO needs to be a partner in site redesigns and site migrations. A single new page of content is an optimization opportunity.

7) As a result of numbers 5 and 6, SEO and content development go hand-in-hand. Your content strategy is the foundation of your site: there is no doubt that an excellent content strategy will deliver search and social results. As Kristina Halverson mentioned on her blog BrainTraffic, “Numbers don’t lie.”

Here’s a look at Google search results for “social media” over the past few years:

2005: 9,150,000
2006: 41,600,000
2007: 165,000,000
2008: 359,000,000
2009: 1,230,000,000

Here’s a look at Google search results for “content strategy”:

2006: 5,930,000
2007: 8,340,000
2008: 137,000,000
2009: 337,000,000

Content strategy is pretty much on the same path as social media was three years ago. And what do search engines look at? Your content.

Search marketing is ongoing and not a one-time engagement. We can set it up and implement, but the real work starts once the program is up and running. Reviewing and analyzing results, modifying search campaigns on performance and crushing the competitive landscape is not a one shot deal. It takes time. But it’s awesome when it comes together.

9) We love what we do, and it shows. We have been blogging, speaking and sharing our expertise for years. Personally, I firmly believe the more you share, the more you get back. Luckily, Peter feels the same way. So our clients are not just getting our expertise; they’re tapping into our network, too.

If you have a question about Internet marketing, fire away. Challenge us. It’s how we get better.

Is it true, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Although the Pet Industry is going “healthy”, the Pet Industry as a whole is asleep when it comes to Internet Marketing and Social Media Strategy. As I walked the floor of this weekend’s pet show in Chicago I visited with 25 people from 25 companies who appeared to be in the ‘know’ surrounding their brand marketing communications. I asked the same initial question and then proceeded my inquires from there:
“Do you have a documented or formal Internet Marketing Strategy for 2010?”

Here is what I learned:

• Two out of 25 companies have a documented Internet Marketing Strategy for 2010. In both companies, they did not have a “documented” Internet Marketing Strategy in 2009, beyond pay-per-click (PPC) search engine marketing. Both companies ballparked that in 2010, >25% of their total marketing budget was allocated to Internet marketing and social media. Although neither company would divulge the size of their marketing budget, based on my understanding of marketing budgets for brands of this size, I would confidently estimate their Internet Marketing and social media marketing budgets are >$1 million for 2010. Both companies have an agency like MicroArts to lead them in their Internet Marketing Strategy. Both brands engage their customers (the actual pet owner) in online conversation, on a daily basis. A primary objective for both companies is to double their customer contact (pet owners) databases from >100K to >200K. Because I appreciate their candid conversations with me and understand their strategy is a major competitive differentiator for them, I will keep their identities to myself. I will say, however, that one was a long time brand leader in the Pet Industry and the other is a young, fast growing company.
• Fifteen of the 23 companies that did not have a documented Internet Marketing Strategy for 2010 did not even understand the question. I went on to define the benefits of Internet Marketing but it most cases, it didn’t help.
• In fact, on five occasions, the response was, “the pet owner is not our customer, we sell through distributors.” I’m sure the look on my face was priceless. In all five cases, these companies owned multiple brands. And the only customer contact (pet owners) database in all cases was a rewards program that seemed to give them all a headache to talk about. Four out of five of these companies have brands selling in Target®. Honestly, I left these booths perplexed. Normally, in these situations, I’d leave the booth thinking, “hey, this could be a great client for the MicroArts Internet Marketing Team! But, these five companies clearly attributed “little value” to Internet Marketing and also felt it was the responsibility of their distribution partners.
• Three of the 23 companies became interested with Internet Marketing and didn’t want our conversation to end. One company had ear marked 20% of its marketing budget towards Internet Marketing because they knew it was important, but hadn’t taken any initial steps.
• Five of these 23 companies believed, in fact, that they did have an Internet Marketing plan because they had a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

In sum, the Pet Industry is a sleeping dog and appears to be settled into a long nap. Which I’m happy about, selfishly, I say, “let sleeping dogs lie.” Kudos to brands that will profit from Internet Marketing and Social Media Marketing efforts, your brand deserves every penny of it.

If you found this blog because you did a search on “Internet Marketing in the Pet Industry” or “Social Media Marketing in the Pet Industry” … Good Morning!

To engage MicroArts in a discussion about your brand strategy, brand design, Internet marketing and social media marketing in the Pet Industry, ping me, Peter Getman.

Search Advertising is one of the most efficient and surefire ways to get your brand appearing favorably within major search engines. Using search advertising, advertisers, marketers and organizations can target the key search terms and phrases their most-valued prospects, customers and stakeholders look for every day.

Sounds pretty simple, right? The basic principle of search advertising or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is a simple one—drive brand awareness and traffic to your site and ultimately improve your marketing ROI through new business. Sometimes, however, the process seems so simple, many of the most important things that impact overall performance and ROI are overlooked. Those who use search advertising must remember that effective search advertising involves two primary focuses:

2. Getting your ad to appear, be noticed and get clicked for the keywords you desire. With a website set as the default location, you should be able to direct visitors to your homepage or subpage. But DON’T STOP THERE.
3. Once searchers click your ad, they need to enter an engaging, relevant and actionable environment that directly pays off what the keyword or concept they searched. Getting the visitor to take the desired next step/action or “conversion” doesn’t happen automatically. You need to build optimized and targeted landing pages for each ad and each unique set of keywords. This is critical to ensure a positive return for every dollar you invest in search advertising.

So, with that in mind, here are five simple rules for building effective landing pages.

1. Create the ultimate call to action (CTA). On your page(s), clearly provide one simple way visitor can take a next step. This is different for every company and every brand; it may be a free download or something more complicated, such as sharing demographic information in exchange for a coupon. By having one call to action, you won’t overwhelm every visitor with additional ways for them to interact with you. Also, make sure you amplify the button for your CTA and make the signup process as simple as possible with as little fields as possible.
2. Write an integrated, compelling and relevant page headline. To make your headline integrated, simply include a keyword (or two) directly from the ad headline appearing in your ad. To make you add compelling, make sure to include an actionable benefit or reward, such as “learn,” “save” or “download.” To make your headline relevant, keep in mind who your audience is and speak directly to them.
3. Visually engage the user. Tell a story with the ad copy, page headline and the supporting visual.
4. Convey reputation, trust and security. Back up your work with examples where possible. Make your landing page look professional and secure. Remember that people need to trust you before clicking an advertisement.
5. Less is more. The least amount of information, design and development it takes you to produce a compelling and trusted environment the better. Try not to overwhelm visitors with any over-the-top Flash displays or fancy navigation formats. Keep it simple.

With properly crafted landing pages, you will increase the potential value of every new visitor who was intrigued by your search advertising efforts. It’s a big opportunity so take the time to create the appropriate environment for each ad group.

MicroArts specializes in landing page design and the implementation and management of search advertising campaigns. Need help? Give us a call!