Too much advertising these days seems to be about the product or service and about the people who bring you these products or services. We used to believe that marketing to consumers was about creating their experience,and what the brand offers them. And this approach worked very well. What happened is ad agencies and marketing firms got lazy. They no longer spent time getting to know the consumer. And they no longer spent time coming up with insightful experiences. In fact, it works better than ever still today. Whizbang creates consumer experiences and benefits. We always have. We always will. Just check out our work at Whizbang Ideas.

It is becoming rare these days that a company will send you to their website. More and more we are being asked to visit them on Facebook. This is a good tactic if properly thought out. The reason you should send someone to Facebook rather than your website is so you can engage, share and interact with them, and they can engage, share and interact with you as well as with other customers.

The issue I have is that most companies ask me to go to their Facebook page and once I get there, the door is closed, the lights are out, and all I can do is maybe peek in the windows.

And no wonder. There is a lot of information about how to set up a Facebook business page, but not a lot of information on what makes one useful. What follows is the bare minimum of what a business should do if they are setting up a Facebook page:

1.  Create your Facebook page strategy. If you don’t have a strategy, get one. “To have a social media presence” is not a strategy. Understand what Facebook can potentially do for you before jumping in.
   
2.  Add content that the world will actually benefit from and can engage in, be it useful information, inspirational, humorous, thoughtful, or whatever tactic helps fulfill your strategy.
   
3.  Monitor your page. Don’t have time to monitor? Get off of Facebook.
   
4.  Be there when customers come to visit.
   
5. Engage visitors and customers regularly. Don’t worry about converting to sales yet, or funneling into your sales pipeline. Don’t try to sell. Just be there to say hello and start building a relationship with the customers that are coming “to your store” because you asked them to come visit you.

Anything less will practically guarantee you’ll take a big face-plant on Facebook. Nobody needs that.

For more useful detailed info, visit www.fbforbusinessmarketing.com

Branding isn’t just for companies anymore.

As we become hyperconnected to the other two billion people online, it is becoming harder and harder to grab and keep an audience. And isn’t that what we all want? Someone to listen to us and interact with?

Here’s a suggestion to gain more attention- brand yourself. To help find out what your personal brand is, you’ll need to fill out your own strategic plan. Ask questions of yourself and have answers to these questions: what do I wish to achieve, who am I talking to, what do I want them to do, how do I want to interact with them, what do I want them to say about me to others?

Once you have your answers, then you can form a plan on how to share your brand with others. You may even want to create your own tagline. Our previous PR/social media director, Cary Conrady, had a brand and tagline, “Look Good, Smell Good.” Pretty much everything she does embraces this edict.

Think of others around your office or around town who stand out in your mind. They probably stand out due to a certain affectation-their personal brand. In San Luis Obispo, I think of Pierre Rademaker and his Hawaiian shirts, Missy Reitner-Cameron and her colorful hair, Lynn Diehl and her wine glass.  If I had to give these three taglines, they would be as follows:

Pierre Rademaker – Yellow. The new brown.

Missy Reitner-Cameron – I used to be sane. I got better.

Lynn Diehl- Wine a bit. You’ll feel better.

What’s your tagline?

by Frank Scotti, Chief Idea Officer

It may be a futile statement, but I’d like to be the first one to officially declare the “i” movement retired. I’m talking about products and services that use a lower case “i” in front of their name to loosely associate with Apple’s innovative “i” products. Search for a domain name beginning with “i” and ending with any other word. You’d be lucky to find one still available. My favorite is iCopy, a landing page for copy machines. Copy they did. You know we have gone too far when there is even an app called the iFart.

Like green washing, where environmentally friendly marketing messaging is deceptively used to promote a product, I have coined the word iWashing. iWashing is the abuse of products and services using “i,” thus suggesting they are anywhere close to the innovation and technical aptitude of Apple’s “i” products.

Does anyone even remember what the original “i” was all about? Here’s a bit of “i” history. Steve Jobs and Apple Computer introduced the very first “i” product, the iMac in 1998. It was the first computer that seamlessly integrated internet access with a computer. The “i” stood for internet, individual, instruct, inform and inspire.

So what’s my hang up with “i?” First off, to brand a product an “i” product if you’re not Apple, is a marketing rip off lacking any creativity, which is sort of the opposite of “i” in the first place. It’s just plain lazy. Most of these products don’t even have anything to do with the internet. Most are not individualized. Most do not inform or instruct. Very few inspire. From a sales perspective, adding an “i” has helped many companies move product. But that is a short term effect. Who are any of the companies behind any of these “i” products? Name one besides Apple Computer?

So what will replace the “i?”

I’m going to rally for “o,” and say it stands for open, like open source, openness, open to ideas, open for change, open to expression, keep the door open, etc.

What do you think?

Here’s my list of the top 10 worst apps ever.

10. Sim Stapler – virtual stapler

9. Hold the Button – the longer you hold a button, the higher your score

8. Zips – open and close a virtual zipper

7. Urine Test – no comment

6. That’s What She Said – no comment

5. Baby Shaker – shake the baby until he stops crying

(quickly removed from release)

4. Will You Marry Me? – A 99¢ marriage proposal app for cheap nerds

3. eShave – virtual shaver

2. iFart – no comment

1. iTan – glows a blue light like a tanning bed

Have you seen that ad with a big face of the trial attorney on it? I thought to myself, wow, that guy has really nice skin. But I don’t select an attorney based on his complexion.

In the past month, I have seen the following categories use the owner of the company, CEO or employees in their advertising: auto dealerships, jewelry stores, restaurants, florists, mortgage companies, banks, hospitals, eye doctors, construction companies and more.

This morning I see billboard for a winery with the family portrait on it. To all of these I say, what’s the point? In the case of the winery, was it just to tell me this is a family vineyard? Am I supposed to guess that a family vineyard makes better wine? Is the family part of the experience or the brand? And if so, how? Let me answer all my own questions; don’t know; don’t know; don’t know; don’t know; don’t know, which makes for pretty poor advertising.

Here’s what I do know. Buying products or services is about me, my lifestyle, my status, my experience, my choice, my wants and needs. Marketing products or services is about giving me an emotional reason to believe by connecting the product or service with my lifestyle. Example: Steve Jobs is Apple Computer, but we never see his face on any of the marketing or advertising. What we do see is an ad that demonstrates how cool this technology is and how amazingly awesome my life will be with this Apple product.

Since the 1990’s and the emergence of account planning, the general understanding was that advertising should be all about the consumer, their experience, and what the brand offers them. Today, with the saturation of social media, this is more important than ever before.

Fox News recently reported that the recession has taught our young people that they have to do things for themselves. According to the Kaufmann Foundation, entrepreneurship is at a 15 year high for college grads. With the unemployment rate for college grads doubling in the last few years, many more are opting to start their own business.

This is somewhat inspiring and romantic. No doubt being an entrepreneur can be very rewarding. But it is not for most people, unfortunately. Business statistics show that 96% of small businesses that enter the marketplace do not survive beyond the first year. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that nearly six in ten micro entrepreneurs (1-4 employees) shut down within the first year of operation. While this statistic is much less grim, it is still daunting nonetheless.

Being the closet romantic that I am, I’d like to see a much higher success rate among entrepreneurism in our area. To that end, here’s some tips for new or would be entrepreneurs.

1. Create a business plan
2. Know your market very well
3. Make sure you have enough capital to last beyond profitability
4. Understand your competitive advantages
5. Invest in your identity
6. Find mentors
7. Price competitively
8. Focus on sales and marketing manically
9. Test and measure what works and what does not
10. Add value

If you need any help with any of the above, give us a call at Whizbang.

At Whizbang, we believe that to be a true leader in our industry, we also need to embrace the social good and support a cause. One of the ways we have done this in the past for Recipe, our food & beverage division, was through a Facebook effort; for every person who “Liked” us on Facebook, we donated $1 to SLO Food Bank. This is called cause-related marketing.

American Express first used the phrase “cause-related marketing” in 1983 to describe its campaign to raise money for the Statue of Liberty’s restoration. American Express donated one cent to the restoration each time its card was used. As a result, the number of new cardholders grew by 45 percent, and card usage increased by 28 percent.

One of the first “cause marketing” campaigns occurred in 1976 through a partnership between the Marriott Corporation and the March of Dimes. Marriott’s objective was to generate highly cost-effective public relations and media coverage for the opening of their 200-acre family entertainment center, Marriott’s Great America in Santa Clara, CA. March of Dimes’ objective was to greatly increase fundraising. The promotion was conducted simultaneously in 67 cities. It became the most successful promotion in the history of the March of Dimes, while providing thousands of dollars in free publicity and stimulating the record-breaking opening of the Marriott entertainment complex.

According to a report published by onPhilanthropy¹, cause marketing sponsorship by American businesses is rising at a dramatic rate, with $1.44 billion spent in 2007, and it continues to increase almost $200 million year after year. Cause-related marketing is a powerful marketing tool that business and nonprofit organizations are increasingly leveraging.

According to the Cone Millennial Cause Study in 2006², 89% of Americans (ages 18 to 30) would switch from one brand to another brand of a comparable product (and price) if the latter brand was associated with a “good cause.”

We know the effect of the community at large having an opinion and a channel to share that opinion. If your business has not already adopted a cause-related marketing plan, you’re dangerously behind the curve. Call Whizbang and we can help you strategize a plan that benefits both you and your community.

1. onPhilanthropy: Articles: SPECIAL REPORT: Consumer Philanthropy
2. Civic-Minded Millennials Prepared to Reward or Punish Companies Based on Commitment to Social Causes

Going through the naming process of a new venture? May I suggest before you decide on a winner, you to take a look at what acronyms (or initialisms) the words you choose might create? Consider this: Even if you have a single word for a company name, the letters making up the word may still be used to create an acronym, probably not by you, but by someone on Facebook who has nothing better to do but make up a silly or embarrassing acronym for you. Before you know it, you end up on a list like this one.

Here are some acronyms I found particularly amusing:

South Harmon Institute of Technology: SHIT

Wisconsin Tourism Federation: WTF

Broadband Assurance Diagnostics: BAD

Philharmonic Orchestra Of Florida: POOF

Manned Portable Air Defense Systems: MANPADS

Special Assistance for the Disabled: SAD

Lighting Solutions and Design: LSD

South Lake Union Trolly: SLUT

Illinios Department On Aging: I DOA

Here are a few company names whose letters have become acronyms:

FORD: Fix Or Repair Daily

FIAT:  Fix It Again, Tony

BMW: Big Money Waste

SUBARU: Still Usable, But All Rusty Underneath

And my all-time favorite:

An acronym for ACRONYM: A Coded Rendition Of Names Yielding Meaning

Now that everyone has a LinkedIn profile and Facebook page, or at least has visited or heard of them, we are once again looking to the future. What’s next for social media?

Here are some innovations we’ll likely see by 2020. See if you can spot which ones are real and which ones I made up, but may still become reality.

1. We will be sent messaging from nearby stores as we walk by, offering specials and discounts to entice us to enter. The farther we walk past the store, the more enticing the offer to return will be.[1]

2. We will see the rollout of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags in our trashcans that will scan the empty packaging as it is deposited into our trashcans, then sends the data to marketers.[2]

3. Old Navy clothing will have RFID tags that will not only track inventory, but track where their product travels once it leaves the store. [3]

4. Your phone will be equipped with Optical Pattern Recognition, allowing you to scan a person you do not know, and access all of their online information.[4]

5. The desire to contribute, be in-the-know and not miss anything changes the way we sleep. Sleep becomes broken into chunks throughout the day so that we have social web interaction throughout the night and on a 24/7 basis.[5]

6. Naturally occurring conversation will be utilized in product innovation and design. In other words, if enough of us imagine a mobile device that can send a shock to another mobile user, that’s what companies will develop.[6]

7. Paper mail, letters, circulars, coupons, etc. delivered to mailboxes will cease to exist. The postal carrier will download information to a mailbox hard drive. At the same time, information will be uploaded, telling companies what info we opened and read.[7]

8. Everyone will be content-providers. Witnesses of stories will be the reporters themselves. Expert, trained journalists, on the other hand, will become trusted, ethical, accurate news writers.[8]

9. We will be charged for Internet privacy. The more privacy we desire, the more we pay.[9]

10. The social media phenomenon will crash. There will come a point where everyone (companies, brands, individuals) is publishing so much content that it won’t be comprehensible. It will still be like trying to drink from a fire hose.[10]

[2] mashable.com – 7 Technologies Shaping the Future of Social Media

[3] Frank Scotti, CIO, Whizbang

[4] mashable.com – 7 Technologies Shaping the Future of Social Media

[5] Frank Scotti, CIO, Whizbang

[6] mashable.com – 09/13/10, The Future of Social Media in Journalism

[7] Frank Scotti, CIO, Whizbang

[8] socialmediaexplorer.com, Predicting The Future of Social Media, Jason Falls

[9] Frank Scotti, CIO, Whizbang

[10] Six Pixels of Separation – The Blog