by IMC | Sep 16, 2012 | Blog, Marketing Mix
There are many reasons why we pay so much attention to political campaigns. One, of course, is that our future is at stake. But for those of us in business, what politicians do and don’t do presents in-the-trenches marketing lessons for us. Campaign after campaign, here are the best practices of the winners:
They are in it all the way. There’s no faking it. Voters can smell that a mile away. In THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, Edith Zimmerman reports that a observer of Joe Kennedy III’s campaign for Congress says that the candidate doesn’t seem to be having fun. If that’s true, that his heart isn’t in it, even the Kennedy msytique won’t pull in the votes.
In our own businesses, whether it’s baking gourmet cupcakes or teaching teenagers to drive, the law of consumer attraction demands passion. Anything less intense pushes consumers away.
They listen. Usually they start up the conversation with a question. In Manhattan, the former mayor Ed Koch used to ask, “How am I doing?”
We are always seeking feedback. That’s what social media, special events, and giving interviews to the HARTFORD COURANT are all about. More than promoting ourselves, we are inviting people in.
They are ready to move onto a Plan B, all the way to Z. Planning is just that: Planning. When we get out on the field and play the game there are plenty of surprises. All they know is what they’re doing isn’t working. So they experiment to find what might work. It could be Plan B, Plan C, or Plan D.
A client hired us to showcase the new model car in a Boston Hotel. The car didn’t fit into the elevator. It was Plan E which finally worked.
Until election day, we should all be taking advantage of the lessons the next winners and losers are teaching us.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations for Marketing, Partnerships, Public Relations, Special Events, and Social Media, kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
by IMC | Sep 13, 2012 | Blog, Marketing Mix
Opportunities come through people. So, who hasn’t been networking since the economy caved in 2008?
However, more and more of those networking have been telling us at Image Marketing Consultants that their efforts haven’t been converting to outcomes such as more sales, media mentions, offers to partner, and attendance at special events. A major reason for that is that the dynamics of networking have been changing.
To begin with, there’s a glut. The influx of businesspeople eager to network has weighed down social media systems, trade association memberships, and even the lists of volunteers at prestigious organizations. That means that you now have to do your homework before you invest in outreach. Figure out how much the group could be helpful to you and what you have to do to be noticed by them as equally useful. Since you have to put more in, you will likely be approaching fewer in number.
Secondly, more professionals are hungry. That could be for more business, more media coverage, and/or more good ideas. The burden is on you to demonstrate to them what you have to trade to help them get what they need. Don’t enter until you have something to trade. There is now only one way in. That’s from a position of strength.
Third, just about everyone is connection-weary. Social media networks foist people on us who will drain us if we allow that. Therefore, caution is the new response to overtures of networking. High emotional intelligence (EI) dictates what we think before we reach out and when we do we are brief, that is too the point, and offer something the other party needs in return for their attention. The something has to be the right something. Therefore, research what could be useful
In short, networking has become all business.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations for Marketing, Partnering, Special Events, Public Relations, and Social Media kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
by IMC | Sep 6, 2012 | Blog, Marketing Mix, Media Relations, Short Form, Tactics
Your special event might be as simple as a meatloaf dinner to raise funds for your church or your nonprofit which provides tutoring to at-risk children. The odds are that you can enhance the outcomes of that event by tweeting the activity. Those tweets would chronicle what goes on from the time folks are parking their cars to when volunteers are cleaning up in the kitchen. Regarding the latter, there are few bonding experiences more central to sharing and healing than being in the kitchen together. Call that “sink therapy.”
At the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama’s speech was judged as a homerun, partly on the basis of how many tweets-per-minute. Because there were way more tweets for her address than for Ann Romney’s the media and political watchers gave her the higher grade.
The beauty of tweeting is that it can be done right from a smartphone. Simultaneously, of course, you can also live-blog the event. Because blogging is long form versus the short form of tweets, you probably want to do that from a laptop or tablet.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations for Social Media, Marketing including Advertising, Partnerships, Public Relations, and Special Events kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
by IMC | Aug 19, 2012 | Blog, Marketing Mix, Partnership
Every 4 years, we Americans get to decide what direction we want our country to embrace. That means there is a lot of attention focused on values. We participate in this debate at rallies for candidates, sending our comments to media articles, stating our point of view on our blogs, Facebook pages, and tweets, and chewing the fat with friends and family. But it might not occur to us to leverage this momentum for our own businesses. Please don’t waste that opportunity.
Here are 4 tips from Image Marketing Consultants:
* This period of flux provides just the right timing to ask customers and prospects what they want, what’s on their minds, and how your business can fit better with all that. Contests are popular. You might offer dining for 4 at your restaurant as the prize for the person who makes the most useful suggestion on how you can make the restaurant their favorite place.
* Bundle messages on values into all your promotional materials. For example, on your Facebook fan page, you can post daily inspirational profiles of American leaders who built a political movement, nonprofit organization, or enterprise on certain values.
* Be creative in naming or renaming certain products or services according to election themes. For example, the promotional special at your gym could be “Getting America in Shape 4 the next 4 years.”
* Enhance your network by volunteering in the campaigns for local and state candidates. In addition to getting to know the movers and shakers, you will learn fresh skills in marketing, public relations, and partnerships.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations for Marketing, Advertising, Partnerships, Public Relations, Special Events, and Social Media kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
by IMC | Aug 16, 2012 | Blog, Marketing Mix
Now what do we do? That’s what both small businesses and larger organizations are asking Image Marketing Consultants. They have concluded, along with FORTUNE, that the social media bubble has burst.
It’s not like they are going to shut down their Facebook page, stop blogging, and forget tweeting. After all, social media is embedded in best promotional practices. However, in order to nurture their enterprises they have “got it” that they must look beyond social media.
Image Marketing Consultants agrees: Social media is not enough. Our recent track record proves that out. It was through old-fashioned hustling our stories to mainstream media that we got the publicity this summer Save a Suit needs to keep attracting sponsors and donors. It also helped that we were able to attract celebrity star power. In addition, the activities of donating and receiving the suits happened in person in real time as special events. People, being the social animals they are, were thrilled to be back with other people.
No question, business as well as nonprofits are returning to the very traditional notion of a marketing mix. Along with social media there has to be:
* Pitching innovative angles to media so that they become interested enough to focus on what your business is about.
* Sponsoring special events which are compelling enough to get warm bodies in and media to also swing by.
* Developing partnerships. More businesses recognize that they need to extend their reach beyond the web – and, more importantly, beyond their own sphere of influence. The partnership may be with retail to feature their new product or a highway to be adopted by a law firm.
* Rebranding. Everything changes. Your brand might have gotten stale. Nations like Nigeria are rebranding. It’s been suggested that the trucking industry rebrand itself to attract Millennials and women. Maybe it’s time you rebrand.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations for Marketiing, Partnerships, Advertising, Public Relations, Special Events, and, yes, Social Media kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
Page 8 of 8« First«...678
There are many reasons why we pay so much attention to political campaigns. One, of course, is that our future is at stake. But for those of us in business, what politicians do and don’t do presents in-the-trenches marketing lessons for us. Campaign after campaign, here are the best practices of the winners:
