A great deal has been written about the overwhelming success of the Old Spice Man television and social media campaign. It has re-energized a flagging brand, pushed Old Spice ahead of Axe at the finish line and resulted in a staggering 107% increase in sales last month. But in terms of traditional markers of marketing success, it’s tough to argue with 1 billion impressions.

But the campaign still suffers from skepticism: it’s as if the sting of being digital and/or social negates the performance. Everyday I hear marketers’ suspicions of digital metrics, and I have to wonder: why traditional media metrics (which, by the way, are nearly impossible to unearth without expensive awareness research) are so blindly accepted. In today’s column on MediaPost, Catherine Taylor does an excellent job of calling marketers out on this point as well. She asserts: “Some part of the message usually seeps in, particularly after repeated exposure. Speaking of which, the Old Spice social media effort lent itself to multiple views. You got a problem with that? Then you’ve never seen a big-budget TV campaign, where frequency is part of the plan.”

I especially agree that digital suffers too greatly from the sting of frequency whereas broadcast and print do not. Is a print impression that cannot be captured all that more compelling than a digital one that is? Given the increased portion of digital day-part (that is, the time we spend consuming online media—it has been growing exponentially), doesn’t it also stand to reason that digital recall is increasing as well? The way we consume information and process visual stimuli is shrinking—we process faster as a result of being exposed to more digital stimuli (even us dinosaur Gen Xers, nevermind the Millenials).

The task at hand is to overcome the tsunami of digital and social skepticism, but the sheer volume of metrics simply isn’t enough (in fact, Google Analytics is avoided by most marketers for being too dense)—it also requires a shift in mindset. Marketers need to be open to digital metrics, willing to track and read the data and, at the very least, pilot campaigns in new channels.

A marketing communications plan is akin to a constellation: Dozens of tactics in a synchronized orbit around your brand. Elements of this constellation include all tactics in your marketing plan: Your website (a major planet in your constellation), journal ads, white papers, etc. Your clients interact with each of the tactics, and one of the keys to success is to orchestrate and extend that interaction utilizing elements within the constellation.

How to create an integrated online/offline campaign
The marketing constellation has recently seen a digital explosion—it’s changed every part of how we communicate: How often we reach out (more frequently), what we communicate (message length is getting shorter, and the penned letter is very nearly extinct), when we communicate (we’re more mobile and not constrained by being in a physical office to conduct business), and with whom we communicate (our reach is far broader and more diverse than in the past). This digital supernova has resulted in a number of new elements that are now equally weighted parts of your brand constellation: Blogs, relevant online social networks, web widgets, search queries, wikis and the like. But it’s not just technology for technology’s sake: These new elements are an integral part of your new marcom constellation and help you to amplify and tune your brand message to the right audience. New digital tools allow you to tune your message to the right frequency for your clients and make your existing investments (in content and marketing efforts) work harder for you. Online tactics are also highly measurable: You can instantly assess the effectiveness of a campaign, the pull-through of a tactic and the importance of the content—no more black holes.

This fundamental shift in the nature of communications has been felt most by consumers (as evidenced 
by our juggling several email addresses, reading newspaper headlines on our Blackberries, finding long-lost classmates via Facebook, etc.) but the professional space has also shifted. We know that buyers of professional services (these are your clients and prospects) go online in droves (71–90 percent) to research firms, and 53 percent of them will put a firm on their short-list based on the website.

Developing digital relationships
The other fundamental shift that digital tactics enable is the shift from marketing as a monologue to a dialogue. Gone are the days of the passive consumer or client. Now prospective clients can actively seek and vet your firm in a few clicks—and if they cannot interact with you as easily via the channels they are already in, then you will lose them. It is no longer enough to simply put up a website—a website alone is not a web presence—and your clients expect you to be present and to engage with you. For example, a site does not encourage interaction with any of the information within it. A blog, however, can hold the same information and encourage feedback, interaction and further communication. Both have a place within your constellation of marcom tactics, and both should be integrated with all of the other elements in that constellation.

This new paradigm in marketing enables you to create a surround-sound effect for your prospective and current clients. Communications no longer need to be one-way or dead-ends. They can invite people into a conversation and then extend that relationship over time. Digital tactics such as blogs, relevant online social networks, wikis and the like offer you channels to extend the reach of your other marketing efforts—all without the need to create new content. Such tactics are also extremely cost effective and can be targeted to your key constituencies. For example, digital channels such as email, LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs (both your own and by writing as a guest blogger) can be orchestrated to augment and extend the marketing support for a major industry event or conference both leading up to and after the event. Furthermore, digital tactics have a “long tail” effect after events because they add and update content to your site (thus boosting your visibility to search engines) and naturally extend the conversation with relevant audiences over time.

The goal is to turn these digital dots into relationships with prospects and existing and former clients. Doing so requires a strategy and coordination that integrates marketing efforts across channels to offer a cohesive and comprehensive face of your brand. When coordinated, your investment works harder for you across more channels.

Download your copy of Digital Marketing 2010, our latest research on Finding and Choosing Professionals on the Web.

Last Monday, I was asked by The Washington Times to comment on the change of the YMCA to The Y, a logo that had remained unchanged since 1967. The reporter took good notes so I didn’t have to:

Burkey Belser, president of Greenfield/Belser Ltd., a well-known brand design firm in Washington, agrees with the updated branding of The Y, with which he was not involved, calling these types of moves a “natural progression.”

For his company, “our goal is to try not to redesign but to realign with contemporary goals,” he said. “I would say that a name generally suggests some effort on the part of the owner to refresh the brand in the mind of its audience.”

Mr. Belser also noted that because the group’s activities are so wide-ranging and ecumenical and lacking in a specifically Christian focus, The Y more accurately describes it than a religiously specific term does.

Research studies also prove that the average person only remembers two- or three-word symbols, he said, and the new one-letter name puts a larger emphasis on youth.

“I think its the idea that they wanted to be more associated with youth, and it’s possible that their demographic was growing older and they wanted to recapture their youth market,” he said.

Source: washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/12/ymca-changes-its-logo-to-just-the-y/

I did mention that the Village People’s rousing song would be forced to be shortened dramatically but the reporter didn’t pick up on my humor. But, we can do it, right? All together now, “Y…! …Y…!” There’s no need to feel down, but it just isn’t the same. On the other hand, I never made the “C” in the right direction anyway.

We’ve all seen them before: Poorly lit, sterile blue background, noticeably uncomfortable black suit, awkward expression. What I’m referring to here is the dreaded FAILED CORPORATE HEADSHOT.

These nasty little buggers have been haunting the marketing materials of some of the smartest companies in the world for nearly a century now. More recently, they’ve managed to find their way onto some of the leading websites around the world, readily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection and, hopefully, a good sense of humor.

So what do we do about this irksome pandemic? Here are few suggestions to get you started:

Whenever possible, think beyond headshots
Company-wide portrait sessions shouldn’t be afterthoughts. Just like the design of a website, they should be considered part of the overall branding strategy of a company. And while the actual headshots may be here to stay, a lot of companies are now adding a second employee portrait to their marketing mix. Environmental portraits (i.e. those shot in an actual environment, as seen above, rather than in front of a background) are a great way to add personality to the subject and a sense of space around your employees. If you have nice offices, this is a great way to show them off. Even if you don’t, a good photographer can make it seem like you do. For a unique take on attorney portraits, check out Archer Norris’ recently launched website: archernorris.com/attorneys.

Don’t hire the same guy that did your high school portrait
Go ahead, dust off that old yearbook and take a look. This guy has about a 1 in 10 success rate, mainly because he never took the time to develop a rapport with the subject. It was one and done: Same lighting, same pose. Don’t let that guy anywhere near your employees.

Consider wardrobe direction and make-up
It may sound like overkill, but you’d be amazed how much these two add-ons can make or break a photo shoot. Don’t want everyone wearing a black suit and a red power tie? Now’s your chance to make sure that doesn’t happen. Don’t want Sue to wear that aggressively patterned floral dress? Put it in the memo.

Last but not least, try to get employees to buy into the idea beforehand
Whether you like it or not, your employees have witnessed these failed headshots before. And I can guarantee you they are scared. Unless primed to think otherwise, your employees will begrudgingly arrive on photo day with the preconception that they, too, will fall victim to this corporate headshot curse. So, what’s a marketing team to do? Well, the main thing to do is get rid of that high-school-portrait mentality. Go ahead, show off the website of that great photographer you just hired; give a little sneak-peek into your amazing new website design; tell everyone that there will be a stylist on-site. Anything to make the whole experience seem less mundane. If you add a little excitement to the mix, I guarantee it will pay off.

There are several steps you will need to take when preparing, planning and executing your site that will make—or break—the success of your rankings in Google and other search engine results.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should not be an afterthought when redesigning your website. It’s not something that you can just hook on like a trailer and expect to tow along behind you. For effective SEO, begin at the beginning.

How does it all work?
In order to optimize your site successfully, you need to understand how search engines work and how individuals use search engines. A search engine analyzes accessible content on the Internet in order to display the most relevant results to the user. The goal is to be high up on that results list.

Guidelines to SEO success for your website
As you design and build your site, SEO should stay top of mind.

Your site needs a clear, well-organized and consistent hierarchical structure. Every page of your site should be interlinked. Cross-linking pages aids your SEO rankings and also the user experience. Providing relevant, related information delivers a richer experience for the user and prevents dead-end pages.

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