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Jun 01

Why Winning At Social Media Marketing Is Like Winning The French Open

By Social Media Marketing One Comment

In Canada, we’re all excited about tennis phenom Milos Raonic. This bleet (somewhere between a blog post and a tweet) draws a line between how he’s handling the same type of pressure to win that you do as an aspiring internet marketing pro.

Milos Raonic and lessons for social media marketing

Imagine that: you’re just 21, you’re now ranked #19 in the world, you’re at the French Open (having flown in from your new place in Monte Carlo) and the press is speculating you’ll face Nadal Monday if you continue to do well. That’s a far cry from little ol’ Thornhill down the road from our Brand Mechanics garage.

So how do you handle the incredible ramp up in pressure; not just pressure to win but all the offers that come from your new elite status?

“I have lot of people who say no for me, so that makes it easier,” he said. “But also, you have to understand you won’t be able to do a lot of things later unless you’re winning, and winning is the most important thing. So you just don’t get caught up in other things. Anything that could make the slightest difference in your results, unless it’s mandatory or something you want to do, it should be ‘no’ most of the time.“

Why This Is Like Internet & Social Media Marketing

In the world of internet marketing, social media is the young phenom. And within Social Media Marketing, there’s all sorts of bright flashy buzzy offers like QR codes, Pinterest or Foursquare (weren’t they where you had to be last year?). Or even Read More

Apr 03

7 Internet Marketing Loyalty Programs That Aren’t Coupons

By Rewards, Social Media Marketing 2 Comments

Met a great prospective client last week who handles the marketing for a store chain who said ‘our company isn’t into couponing’. Boy, I can relate to that. As someone who has been in the same job trying to stimulate traffic but hold onto profit margin, I understood why someone wise said that coupons are like alcohol.

 “Coupons are like alcohol; originally a stimulant, than a depressant.”

Homer drunk

The biggest problem with coupons of course that nine times out of ten erode margin you end up subsidizing those who are already loyal without a demonstrable change in activity outside of them coming to expect the discount every time they show up. You’re effectively saying,

“Here. Go ahead. Reach into my pocket and take some profit margin.”

So what’s a poor internet marketing guru to do? Well, you’re better off identifying an activity that can grow your profits: such as rewarding your brand’s advocates for recommending you to their social network. Use Social Media Monitoring to identify those fans with the biggest networks and give them something to talk about. So here are 7 ways to provide non-monetary rewards to your biggest fans including specific examples from real-life marketers.

1. Invites Them To A Special Event

I love my local businesses that shut their doors after hours and have a party for their best customers. My local hockey shop does it annually for the men’s hockey league. It’s a great way for them to network and thank key decision-makers. It works for special company product launches as well.

2. Give Them Direct Access To Senior Staff

 

Executive Hotline Loyalty Program

While research into ‘why people follow brands online’ shows that the number one reason is couponing it also indicates how interested people were in potentially being able to Read More

Nov 29

15 Statistics on Consumer Ratings & Reviews

By Social Media Marketing One Comment

 

I don’t trust you.

Not if you’re a corporation that is. And I’m not alone as over the past 30+ years we’ve grown to trust corporations less and less and each other more and more. Word-of-mouth as a marketing concept dates back to when consumers first climbed out of the primordial ooze but what is new is that it’s on turbo-charge and been made into a powerful internet marketing tool thanks to social networking and the explosion of reviewing and rating tools.

Don’t trust me on this?

Don’t blame you. So here are 15 statistics that underline the internet marketing power that comes from activating your most valuable resource: your fans.

  1. Traffic on review sites grew 158% last year (Compete.com)
  2. 70% now consult reviews or ratings before purchasing (BusinessWeek)
  3. Even before making an offline purchase in shops, 51% of consumers use the Internet (Verdict Research, May 2009)
  4. 92% have more confidence in info found online than they do in anything from a Read More

Nov 16

How To Cost Your Next Video Production

By Video Production No Comments

Here’s an easy way to budget for your next video production.

When it comes to Film, TV or Internet marketing,  video production costs are always affected by the following four areas.

1.    Length of the video

2.    Production values desired

3.    How many hours are planned to complete the project

4.    Complexity of the elements (# of talent, days on location, special effects, animation, etc.)

Whether it is a simple internet marketing video or a large, complex production, anyone making a video has to consider these four elements when determining video production costs and how they will impact on what the final outcome.

Bottom-line: You have to decide on what you want the outcome to be.  

Here are examples of three types of productions (lower, medium and higher priced videos) that will these four elements impact your video production costs.  Read More

Nov 08

Online Branding: The Power of the Google Doodle

By Branding, Digital Storytelling, Website Design No Comments

Working at a Toronto branding company, I’ve always loved the online branding power Google built through its Google Doodles. You know the…

 Google online branding

 

Some people say that Google built its brand without traditional advertising.

Poppycock!

Putting aside its current use of traditional advertising to market itself…(ahem)

…Google also was smart as hell to create awareness of which search engine you were using by occassionally tweaking the presentation of its name. Along with other little proofpoints of differentiation like the speed and quantity of its results…

…this creative way of building good ol’ fashioned brand awareness and corporate identity is one of the secrets of its success. Something Yahoo, AOL, Netscape and others missed. And something that continues to be missed by even big online brands today like Facebook.

(It’s also a great example to point people to who believe “no, our logo and corporate identity is carved in stone” point. It shows when and why you can play with corporate identity can be played with.)

Now comes some facts Read More

Oct 13

17 Statistics on QR Code Marketing

By Internet Marketing Tools, Mobile Marketing 5 Comments

Should you be adding QR codes to your marketing toolkit or is it all just hype? I wanted to know but most statistics I see are – ahem – slightly promotional (QR scans increased 2,340%!). Being a brand mechanic with a fondness for tools that work, I’ve been on the hunt for some real data and so I collected 17 stats on QR codes to share with you.

QR Code - digital marketing agency

What is a QR Code?

Quick primer: QR stands for ‘quick response’ and it’s basically a new type of consumer-friendly bar code that offers faster decoding and higher storage of data. Think of it as a secret decoder ring you give your customers.

Usage of QR Codes:

  • 58% of people say they aren’t familiar with QR codes. (Lab42 survey of 500 respondents, Aug., 2011)
  • 64% don’t know what they’re for. (Simpson Carpenter survey of 794 online respondents, 2011)
  • 28% of smartphone owners have used a mobile bar code scanning application like a QR code. (Mobile Commerce Daily, Jan., 2011)
  • Overall, 11% have ever used QR codes (Simpson Carpenter survey of 794 online respondents, Sept. 2011)
  • 6.2% of total mobile audience scanned a QR code in June (Comscore)
  • 47% of people who did scan found them very useful, 20% said they don’t offer any real advantage and don’t plan on using them in the future. (Simpson Carpenter survey of 794 online respondents, Sept. 2011)
  • The data on which gender uses them is mixed but usage clearly skews younger and high-income.

Barriers to QR Code Usage:

Read More

Oct 07

Adding Video To Your Website: What Have You Been Waiting For?

By Video Production One Comment

Videos on your website are worth their weight in gold. And with the price of gold today, more and more marketers are looking to ways to maximize their brand’s emotional benefits while in front of the consumer.

Too often marketers rely on text to tell their corporate story.

Video Production Storytelling

Marketers also add photos to help with the messaging, but there is no better way to build a persuasive story than to marry emotion, with motion, sound with Read More

Sep 13

A New Marketing Co-Working Space

By Marketing Ideas 5 Comments

I’ve learned that it’s tough to convince someone whose job depends on not being convinced.

That’s why Brand Mechanics in partnership with Larter Advertising is creating a whole new marketing services model this month with the launch of a co-working space for York Region marketers.

Coworking Space York Region

Housed in the ‘Larter Building’ in historic Aurora, the introduction of this co-working space will create a brand new marketing model for a new era and we’re looking for partners to join us.

While the advertising agency model built in the last century is still financially and culturally dependent on recommending ‘big’ traditional media, this new model will offer clients a team of top specialists that work independently but share the same core values and beliefs in building businesses and brands.

This way, instead of having to recommend certain tactics to clients in order to keep the advertising holding company happy, clients get only what they need to solve their marketing problem.

Marketers who join this unique co-working space get the creative synergy of working alongside other top marketers and the business synergy that comes from networking and sharing leads and ideas.

CoWorking Office Spaces

Modeled after successful co-working idea incubators such as the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo and the MaRS centre in Toronto, co-working spaces such as this have the following benefits:

  • Enjoyment of the camaraderie and social benefits of working
  • Avoiding the distractions of working from home (60% report they’re more Read More

May 12

Online Branding Case Study: The Toronto Ski Club

By Branding No Comments

We were absolutely thrilled to see some of our recent branding work was profiled as Logo of the Week by Australian-based Logo Chief. Since the snow has now melted and there’s a couple of facts to set straight we should provide our own profile of this successful case study.

The Marketing Challenge

The Toronto Ski Club is one of the oldest ski clubs in Ontario. And, along with the Collingwood Ski Club, owns about half of the ski hill at the popular Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood, Ontario. It’s private clubhouse sits at the base of Blue and was built in the 50’s after the founding members had strapped on their skies and discovered the superior skiing north of Toronto.

But the clubhouse needed a little work. About $3 million worth. And, in order to fund that, the club needed to put on a push for new members.

 

Example of Publicity for New Clubhouse courtesy of Escarpment Magazine

The Branding Strategy

The club had a lot of assets.

  • A great membership base famous for its warmth.
  • A rich and colourful history in pioneering skiing in Canada.
  • Access to the best ski resort in Ontario and, through it, potential exposure to tens of thousands of skiers and potential members.

But the club, despite its proud history, had been under-marketed and the research we conducted found that 40% Read More

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