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?

Then, in 1994, I went to work at the ad agency that created all of the ads for IBM. There was talk of switching the creative department, all 1,500 of us, to IBM PCs. There was also more than talk of a total creative department revolt. By this time, the Apple had made its indelible mark on creatives worldwide, and we would not, could not give them up for anything.

Throughout the years, Apple continued to deliver tools that enabled us to create more, faster. Our artwork looked better. Research got easier. Ideas seemed to come to us faster. Gadgets became hipper, and so did we. We all bought and sold Apple shares for $8, $16 and $24 a share, and made money with every buy and sell order. Life was good with more of the same until October 5, 2011. Our visionary leader, Steve Jobs, leaves us for a better place. He was one of us. But bigger. Much bigger.

One way we are coping with our loss is to memorialize Steve Jobs with tribute ads, created on our Macs of course. Below are a few of the ads we created paying tribute to the man behind the products that have added so many cool experiences to our lives. We hope they help you feel better, too.

Frank Scotti

Creative Director

Whizbang Ideas with Impact

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.

I don’t know if Frank knows this, but I tend to ease drop on a lot of his conversations. Sometimes you can’t avoid hearing what he has to say (he yells here and there), other times you have to strain your ears to piece together what he’s muttering to himself. I haven’t known Frank long, but the guy is crazy.

Ironically he reminds me of a guy at Smart and Final while taking my two full trash bags of cans to the recycle center on a windy Friday afternoon. He has a brushy, wooly, coarse beard. His hands tanned and leathered, green eyes half sunken in. His voice is stark, a little raspy. His name is Christopher. He looks kind of crazy.

It was nearing closing time and people continued to arrive with recycling. He had to start turning them away, and he felt guilty having to do so. “I’m sorry we’re closed, I didn’t get out of here until dark yesterday. I’m sorry sir, thank you for your patronage, thank you.” He really appreciated everyone taking the time to properly recycle. “Jose brings about a thousand pounds of glass to me every weekend. He already brought me about a thousand pounds this morning”.

I was the last, lucky group of seven: A leathered man and his pack loaded- sun tried bicycles, a latin mother, father, and their son chasing escaped cans taunted by the wind. The bald 40-something year old Harley Davidson rider who points out every good looking girl who walks by. Jose, the recycle center regular who guards his mountain of cans and plastic; all interacting within this incentive based recycle program, patiently waiting for their ticket for the extra cash.

How does Christopher remind me of Frank? Well for one, they both have that Star Wars Jedi-depth look in their eyes when they blankly stare at you. They both smell a little like dog (just kidding Frank, labs are naturally really oily), and they’re both crazy. Comparing and contrasting Frank and Christopher prompted me look closer at how I develop my own perceptions of people, places, emotions…etc, and further reflect on how these perceptions shape my experiences. Acknowledge why they seem crazy to you. Confront yourself why you’re uncomfortable. I argue flirting with the fine line between street crazy and professional crazy holds value to creative thinking. Crazy is hostile. Crazy is volatile. Crazy makes you look. Crazy makes you listen. You just have to pick the good crazy from the bad, which is subject to an infinite set of variables largely associated with time, culture, and context.

Generally most businesses react to weird, wild, and crazy as threats. Whizbang sees them as comets entering the atmosphere, comprised extra-terrestial compounds that offer potential to new discoveries, links, and ideas. Whizbang encourages outlandish ideas and honest feedback; reinforced by the creative staff and methodology of assessment, idea generation, development, and deployment.

Humor never fully circulates out of the office, and Frank’s pranks and stories theme my days at the office. The creative soil at Whizbang has made me more passionate about my projects, more prone to ask questions, and more adept in how to approach and solve problems. If I were to imagine an appropriate portrait for Whizbang, it’d be a cartoon collage of Frank, Ellen, Duke, and Rosco: Star Wars movie poster style, all gazing in opposing directions under a full moon with a piercing rocket on fire entering the atmosphere. The caption would say, “Let’s Get Weird”.

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