Does your brand need a Facebook page?

The short answer is yes.

While some may argue that another platform will come down the line to replace Facebook, the reality of the question is more about a Brand's necessity to dive into the world of social media.

The value of social media can be broken down into the "Four A's":

Audience:

There are more than 100 million active Facebook users.

There are more than 75 million active Twitter users.

There are more than 50 million blogs worldwide.

These are simply numbers that a brand manager cannot, in good conscious, pass up on. The ability to tap into the various demographics and use them to target a very specific group of shoppers and consumers allows for extremely effective and personalized marketing efforts that can not be achieved through traditional marketing efforts.

Affordable:

The cost to create, maintain, develop and effectively use social media as a marketing tool is far less than the budget busting dollars spent on traditional marketing plans.

Take a look at your design costs, consulting fees, add in those printing fees, don't forget media buying, shipping, more shipping and hours and hours of manpower. They add up to one large invoice after another for traditional marketing.

Take the dollars that you are spending on just two of these projects and you have a large enough budget to run a social media marketing program for an entire year. Social media is dependent on your consumers being your primary advocates. The community built around your brand does the bulk of the advertising work... not your dollars.

Action:

Social media is actionable from moment one. Regardless of whether you are diving into the deep end or tip-toeing into the shallows, social media creates an immediate impact on your brand.

This is an instant way to connect with consumers and shoppers on their home turf. Launching a brand? Get to to the viral market long before it hits the store shelves. Retailer specific promotion coming soon? Announce it, plug the retailer, ensure its success. Just want to know what your consumers think? Go ahead and ask.

Awareness:

Brand Awareness spreads through word of mouth. Social media allows for users to be your spokesperson. They can suggest your page to friends, share your posts, retweet your contests and comment on your latest event photos. Viral brand awareness grows faster than any form of traditional method (outside of Oprah). This is an opportunity for you to get your brand message across, spread and known!

Want to know more? Just ask: Justin@wag.com

Justin Noland

CPG Marketing Idealist

(510) 594-1300

Chip Tasting!

We love chips here at WAG, and one of the perks of working in this industry is TASTE TASTING. There are BBQ Chips, spicy chips, cheesy chips, and brands galore...so we had a chip taste-off; 1 part market research, 1 part good time! The categories for judging were determined, the boxes and boxes of the crunchy snacks arrives, and the contest began. Here are the results:

Best Regular: Lay’s Classic Potato Chip

Best BBQ:Mike-sell’s Zesty Barbecue

Best Salt & Vinegar: Tim’s Sea Salt and Vinegar

Best Dill Pickle: Lay’s Dill Pickle Flavored Chips

Best Spicy: 3 way tie- Tim’s Jalapeno, Tim’s Wasabi, and Kettle Chips Spicy Thai

Best Sour Cream & Onion: Kettle Chips Sour Cream, Onion & Chive

Best Cheese: Mike-sell’s Cheese Curls

Best Citrus: Lay’s Limon Tangy Lime Flavored Potato Chips

And of course, as a design agency, we had to judge the packaging:

Best Package: Mike-sell’s Good & Hot

Worst Package: Kettle Chips New York Cheddar with Herbs

Not a bad day's work!

For more photos, check out the WAG Flickr Page!

AIGA! Plan, Pitch, Prize.

I was impressed already and I hadn’t even walked in the door. I hadn’t realize that the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is located in the famous Hallidie Building, a building I studied in my American Architecture classes in college. This famous building, on the National Register of Historic Places, is credited as being the first American building to feature glass curtain walls. I was headed here on a Thursday evening in May for the AIGA event “D.Talks 2010: Plan, Pitch, Prize”.

The event was part of a series of AIGA sponsored discussions on the business of design called ‘D.Talks.” The D.Talk events were created to open up engagement within a discussion so communication would be an integral interaction between industry leaders and the audience. This particular event focused on finding, pitching and landing new projects.

Josh Levine, who asked questions and motivated dialogue between the audience and three industry professionals, moderated the event:

Peter Allen- a 20year veteran of business development, brand strategy, and client services for Landor, TurnerDuckworth, Siegel&Gale.

Cathy Barnet- Senior Manager Multi-Brand Marketing at Levi Strauss & Co.

Twelve years of interactive agency experience with brands such as Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company and Cadbury Schweppes. Now on client-side at Levi’s responsible for their wholesale ecommerce model while managing all online and print collateral for independent retailers.

Ted Leonhardt- Management Consultant who co-founded The Leonhardt Group (TLG), a brand design agency, now Fitch: Seattle. When they sold in 1999 the company had 50 employees and $10 million in annual fee sales.

QUESTION: How do you make contacts? How do you identify new business opportunities?

PA:

• Many different approaches, no right way
• Look for a fit: Brands you love & celebrate / Things you love yourself
• Big companies are hard to get
• Smaller = quicker turn around
• Do your homework and approach the right person

TL:

• Design is on a path to commodization
• Categories are defined, brand interactive
• Clients believe agencies are interchangeable
• Need to identify their needs with your services

CB:

• When she pitched as her own agency, she found a ‘hook’ to get her in the door: She worked with a logistics & measuring expert and they used measurement as their ‘in’ for agencies, asking ‘will, or did, your design pay out?”
• Use Linked In & Tell potential clients: “I will take your scraps”

QUESTION: What can I do for you that your current agency isn’t?

PA:

• Got to COLD call / Do your homework
• Don’t take “no” for an answer- won new business after striking out 12-14 times
• Send something of value
• It’s LUCK + TIMING
• Customer Relationship Marketing
• Sales Force , HiRise (light-weight version), Batchbook

QUESTION: How should I approach you in cold calling?

CB:

• Can’t stand cold calls-too much going on at my desk
• Email- back up your phone call with an email
• Don’t be a pain in the butt and announce your offer quickly
• E-mail: First 5 lines: tell me what you’re about. Do your research and tell me how you can help me.

QUESTION: Business Development- where should I start?

TL:

• Make yourself relevant to your clients world & understand their needs
• We had huge client breakfasts where we discussed project issues with current clients and potential clients. The potential could see how we handle the problems.
• Attend, participate, monitor SF Agency created seminars
• Watch agency acquisitions- they are buying metrics, analytics
• Add specialties to your creative services to make you valuable to your client
• Business journal- send them articles

CB:

• Write articles for other types of business
• She wrote ‘Top 10 Things To Ask Your Agency” and distributed to trade magazines for publishing.
• SF American Marketing Association
• Get involved in events where you present yourself as the expert

PA:

• Direct Marketing- Indirect marketing is all good, but nothing is better than a targeted list, cold calling, and following up
• Start dialogue, give info

QUESTION: Lets talk about positioning. What can you do to position yourself?

TL:

• Best position: Have a product or service that they need!
• Not a cold call, but an informative conversation
• Ask: How can I help you move your business forward??

PA:

• Questions to ask to see if you are a good fit for the client
• Is there an opportunity? Ask them because you don’t want to waste time.
• Ask them what are you looking for in an agency?
• The last agency you hired, how did that develop?
• Do you hire a designer or contract?
• You have a problem, and I can help you with that.
• Prepare the Questions! You know if they’re junior or senior by the questions you ask.

QUESTION: Request for Proposal-How much time should you spend on securing possible business using an RFP?

TL:

• To get new business, and independent developed a program saying, "I can cut your packaging budget by 'X' amount and you'll pay me 'Y' amount if I do." He believed in what he could do, and said so.
• Without inside track, RFP's are hopeless.
• Ask for money for RFP to set the tone: I am serious, I am worth something.
• Position yourself as being more valuable by valuing yourself and your services.

PA:

• RFP’s suck! Some are well written, but most have many unanswered questions.
• Always digest it
• Create list of questions, anything big or small, then walk through with the person monitoring
• RFP –OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE!! Ask the right questions!
• How much do you have to spend? If they say “price it as you normally would” say NO and ask for budget. They will always have one.
• Ask who the competition is.
• When they call ask- why did you call us?

CB:

• Client’s responsibility to give you clean direction
• Immediately upon receipt of RFP, call and ask questions, present your best qualities, ask the right question
• Stay away from government RFP
• Be relevant to the business and know more than the client

A few professional recommendations:

Blair Ems- Win Without Pitching (http://www.winwithoutpitching.com). Recommended as the best system approach to selling within our business.

Cold Calling Techniques: That Really Work by Stephan Schiffman

Following this fabulous evening, I took action!! I’ve written this blog article, purchased Stephan Schiffman’s book and perused Blair Ems website downloading some articles. What I need to do now is complete my list of companies I want to target, research the right contacts at these companies, evaluate their needs, then cold call them with a unique value proposition!! Yep, you read right, Cold Call!!!

(Looks like I need to get busy!!! Come back in a few days/weeks/months/years and check in on the progress!!) Byenow!

Francine Pinoni

WAG Partner

Social Media Event: Steve Knox CEO of Tremor speaking to the Network of Executive Women

Network of Executive Women-Northern California, what an awesome group! I am so happy to have found a group of women who actively pursue their craft in the CPG and Retail Industries. How exhilarating it is to know so many of us love what we do and are committed to furthering ourselves by participating in NEW events so we can be better employers, employees and people!

I recently attended the Nor Cal NEW Event ‘Building your Individual Social Media Strategy’ on Friday, May 14^th. The event was in the very beautiful Bankhead Theatre in downtown Livermore (and boy has Livermore changed, I suggest a visit!). There was plenty of parking and lots of space to roam and mingle.

The NEW Event opened with signing in, getting your name badge and then moving right into the theatre lobby for meet and greet- coffee, mini-quiche, some decadent pastries, (bagels with lox-yum!) and fresh fruit kabobs-thank God! Attendees walked around, attempted to mingle while eating and posed for group shots for the event photographer. On each table, there were some ‘conversation starter’ questions on Social Marketing, which were used to help open up dialogue with other NEW! Members.

Promptly at 9:00am, the group was slowly filtered into the theater for the Opening Remarks and Keynote Speaker, Steve Knox, Chief Executive Officer of Tremor, Procter & Gamble’s word of mouth marketing think-tank. He opened up his presentation by guaranteeing the audience that they would not be bored and would learn something! Could Steve deliver? I’m sure everyone in the room wondered if Steve was going to offer up his promise!

Steve started talking about the ‘Pie Model’. Steve didn’t know where this model came from and encouraged us to find out (we’re working on it- more on this later!!). One thing I learned from Steve for sure… If you want to be noticed, you need PIE!!!

PIE -‘Performance, Image and Exposure’!!

How is PIE measured? The PIE Chart!

10% Performance, 40% Image and 50% EXPOSURE!

If any of the PIE is Zero, you’re Zero!

PERFORMANCE- it’s a given. Performance is what people expect from you but it must grow. Performance that is static amounts to nothing. If you do nothing but perform, your growth will be stalled.

IMAGE- the message you send before you speak. Whether its intentional or not, you send an image to the world through your attire, your confidence and your demeanor. How are you representing yourself to your market? Are you using Social Media? Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs?

EXPOSURE- the KING daddy! This is most important in the PIE example, as exposure is the only place you can seek and find rewards. To have exposure, you must get your name in the marketplace and build a large network of contacts. These contacts must speak about your attributes to others-your contacts must advocate you and your services.

How do you do this? “Keep your eye on the PIE!” by 1) Advocating, 2) Disrupting ‘Schema’s and 3) Defining your ‘Foundational Truth’.

1. Advocacy. Who are you? What are you advocating everyday? How are you presenting yourself? If people trust you and trust what you do for them, they will naturally advocate you. Trust is number one but image is important too. If a guy shows up in a running suit for a big meeting, would you take him seriously?

2. Disrupt Schemas. The brain is designed to remain in a static state and operate on hundreds of thousands of preconceived notions, or schemas. We all use schemas everyday to quickly process information so we don’t have to think. If something or someone disrupts our schemas, we see this as an exception to what we know, thereby labeling the schema as unique. An example: If we see a person at the door of our local Starbucks who is sitting on the ground wearing dirty, tattered clothing, our schemas will tell us that this person is homeless. If we see a person dressed in dirty, tattered clothes sitting down in Starbucks with three men in suits, it would disrupt your schema snd force you to change it. People develop schemas everyday but they are hard to disrupt, as they have to have believability.

If your business (or personal) schema fits how people view you, you will not disrupt their schemas. Example: Las Vegas Tourist Bureau. They tried to position Las Vegas as a ‘family friendly’ tourist destination. The general schema for Vegas travelers is that Vegas is an adult playground that is no place for children. The schema of ‘adult playground’ was grounded in past and present experiences. When the Las Vegas Tourist Bureau asked tourists to disrupt their schema- and believe that Vegas is family friendly- the campaign became unbelievable, and ultimately failed. Later, when they launched their ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ campaign, Vegas travelers confirmed their ‘adult playground’ schemas, as they know this information to be true, and not contradictory, thus the campaign was a success.

Performance that just meets expectation (schemas) is not the core of advocacy. You must disrupt schemas to be advocated and you must be advocated to gain exposure!!

3. Define your Foundational Truth-the core of who you are! What do you believe in? What will you never stray from? If you want others to advocate you, they must be clear on your foundational truth. What schemas are at play relative to your foundational truth?

To gain exposure:

Utilize Social Media- Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs. Each of these online tools offer lots of exposure and information. Use Google Alerts, Google Profile, Google Dashboard, and Micro-blogs to keep track of what’s being said about you online. If you have negative comments, try to get them removed or supplement these with positive comments from yourself or others.

Steve got me thinking! Yep, we need to utilize Social Media Marketing more if we want to be exposed (so thanks for reading this article!!) and we need to secure clients to make it happen, but before any of that, we need to define, understand and live our ‘foundational truth’.

Want to know what that is? Come back next week! I’ll post it! But if you have any questions before then, you can always email me (francine@wag.com), Facebook me, join my LinkedIn network, tweet me or comment on this blog! Until then…byenow!

Francine Pinoni

WAG Partner

The Future, Not as Scary as You Thought

Where is marketing going in the next ten years?

I am going to pass on the usual introductory blog that spends ten minutes talking about who I am and why I think you should pay extra attention to what I am saying. I am just going to jump right into the topic at hand and see where it goes.

Marketing is about reaching people. It is about getting a product or service out there in front of people who might become a consumer. It is about creating a demand and, eventually, encouraging someone to spend money. So the question really is, how will reaching people change in the next ten years? How will marketing and advertising agency's need to change in order to reach the maximum number of people?

The obvious answer is Social Media. Social Media is a change in the way people get their information. It is more than Facebook, more than Twitter, it is the various forms of user generated content and the collection of websites and applications that enables people to interact and share information online. It is a content through interaction. Think blogs, think review sites, think comment sections on a news page. This is a major shift in the way marketing works. In previous years, marketing was a one way street. You put up your billboard and boast about your product. The masses see your glaring message and react in one way or another while you hope it drives more sales. Here's the new difference; social media gives the consumer the ability to climb up to your billboard and, with a big can of spray paint, comment on your brand message. Social media allows the consumer to ask questions, give praise, and, yes, ridicule.

Marketers and advertisers have gotten very good at preaching the virtues of their products and creating new ways of saying the same old message, but how will traditional media marketers react to the consumer demands in social media. How will they answer the call when Peggy Sue of Middle America questions their product online and the voices of social media echo her sentiments?

Looking for answers? Check back soon as I get into detail on this subject and many more including:

Will every brand have a Facebook page? Who will be the voice?

How much of your marketing budget should you spend on social media?

What is guerilla marketing? Is it useful?

Justin Noland

CPG Marketing Idealist

justin@wag.com