dean | Dean Elazab's blog

Thoughts on advertising at MLG

November 8, 2010 By dean 1 Comment

MLG, a competitive gaming organization, held their grand finals in Dallas this year. A few of my friends were playing in the competition so I decided to go. But while i was there it wasn't the gaming, but the marketing that interested me the most. The major advertisers were Doritos, Hot Pockets, and Dr Pepper. These companies had huge booth displaying their brand name and were adorned with free items including snacks, headbands, and bags. While each booth had walk away items, they also had better prizes which had some requirements to get. Usually this is done by having a person fill out a survey to get some market research, but this year it was different. Almost every booth that gave away a nice item required the person to "like" the brand on Facebook. I found this interesting because now the company could continually send them promotional messages on facebook, which are seen a lot more than email marketing messages to people in the demographic at these events. Hotpockets had a few booth babes set up to take pictures with gamers, and made it easy to make the pictures facebook tagged. This was my favorite marketing ploy because it encouraged the people to make the picture their default on Facebook, which means it would be seen by all their friends. These pictures had the hot pockets logo in the background, and were actually well done.

After examining all the advertisers at the event, it became clear that they understood their demographic. Hot pockets wasn't trying to brand itself as an amazingly dersired product, instead it boosted itself on being quick, easy, and not messy. These are the qualities of something a gamer would want to eat while playing and they do not have the time to make a meal. Dr. Pepper tried to show the qualities of it being a drink that fueled you, which is essential to gamers. These people want to stay wired while playing, and Dr Pepper showed itself as a drink that could do that. These companies knew what properties made products look ideal to this demographic, and they marketed them hard.

Two announcers with the hot pocket

Overall, I saw that these companies made a strong effort to understand their audience, and connect with them. The facebook integration shows a strong belief in the melding of traditional and social media. I am curious to see how this concept gets adopted by other companies.

Filed Under: Advertising, Social Media Tagged With: Dallas, Major League Gaming, Marketing

How to use social media as your customer service

November 4, 2010 By dean 1 Comment

People have been writing online about their lives and experiences, and chances are they are talking about your brand or product. In this post I will help you learn how to monitor and respond to people's feedback on your brand. In order to understand your customers you have to listen to what they are talking about, and find out what the public thinks of your brand. Luckily, social media has made this easier than ever. People are publicly posting their opinions and are basically doing the market research for you. Small business can find out what people think without having to use a focus group or a opt-in survey.

Twitter

Search the twitter stream

Twitter is known for its public nature, and can really help you get a feel for what people think of your products. People are used to writing short posts about life experiences, and this can include your brand. Someone bought your product and thought it was unique, they probably wrote about it to their followers. Twitter has a built in search that allows you to find content in tweets and this can be helpful in seeking out information. Another Twitter feature that can help you find information is hash tags (#). Hash tags are used to categorize what you are tweeting about, and groups your tweet with others that use the same hash tag. If you quickly want to catch up on a topic look to see if a hash tag has been created for it and read those post.

Tweetdeck- Tweetdeck is a third party application that is meant for people who want more features than the default twitter site. Tweetdeck allows you to make dynamic columns, these columns can show your @replies, your direct messages or saved lists. This is where the power of Tweetdeck really comes in. You can search twitter for your brand name, and then save that search to a column. Now you can just refresh whenever you want to see if more tweets have been posted about your brand, instead of manually searching every time.

Monitter- If you do not want to download an application, monitter is web based. This will allow you to try out these search features without having to set up a desktop application.

Blogs

Ever since the launch of livejournal and blogger, people have been blogging. Blogs are used as a more formal and thought out form of media than Twitter. Over 300 million people read blogs and around 180 million own their own blogs. This is an incredible amount of people posting public data and you can use this to your advantage.

Technorati- Technorati is a massive blog database. If you wish to search for your brand on the blogosphere, this is a good place to start.

Now that you are listening to your customers, its time to engage. Here are a few of the things you should be doing with your time.

1) Stop fires: Find negative reactions to your brand and try to fix them. Negative feedback will hurt your image and if you can, you should resolve the quarrels the customer has. A simple message to them asking for more information on why they were dissatisfied could really go a long way for your brand image. Show yourself as a brand that cares about their customers after the sale is done, and be proactive. If you go to them they will feel better than if they came to you.

2) Build relationships: If people are just talking about your brand, make sure to comment. Showing that you are not just a seller of a product, but people you can trust, then your customers will stay loyal to you. Especially when your company is small try to respond to every mention of your company if it is appropriate, but do not spam users.

Social media helps you communicate with your customers, and there is no reason to deny this. Whether its helping disgruntled customers, or engaging with fans, social media will help you spread your brand and influence. If you have experience with using social media as customer service I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Filed Under: Small business, Social Media Tagged With: Social Media, Twitter

How your brand can facilitate ambassadors

November 1, 2010 By dean Leave a Comment

Why spend time advertising when your customers will do it for you?

In this post I will be talking about why your brand or business would benefit from brand ambassadors, and how to convert customers into them. This category of consumers have been around since the dawn of business. These are the people who will tell their friends to go to your restaurant or buy your soap over other ones, they are the ones who wear your branded clothing as a sign of loyalty and not just fashion. While these people have been called many names like evangelist or ambassadors over the years, they have always been there to support the brands they love.

Why do you need ambassadors?

1)These people can help you tremendously because others trust them. They are not paid for so people will take the opinions of ambassadors more to heart than they would an advertisement. This is why they are so important to you, they can spread your message to people who are skeptics to your advertising.

2)They can also show your brand in a more personal way. Having ambassadors shows that your company is trustworthy and treats their customers right.

3)These people will defend your name online and make sure that people know the good qualities of your brand.

And now, in the days of social media, its easier than ever to help them help you.

Why social media is so crucial for ambassadors

The freedom of content creation online has lead to a spark in the ambassador field. No longer are the ambassadors just talking to their friends through word of mouth, but instead to the world over the internet.The blogging revolution has lead to the ability to freely create and share content, and this is where your ambassadors can really shine. These people will write about your products, the experiences they have had with them, and maybe even create new uses for them. These bloggers will help spread your name through means other than advertisements.People have also created forums for like minded individuals to talk. These places can gain users and show that your company can develop a core following. Another great thing is reviews. If you are a restaurant then reviews can make or break your establishment. If your customers willingly go to sites like Yelp and Google and give you positive reviews, then you will no doubt see an increase in customers.

How you can garner ambassadors

Now that you have read the benefits of having these brand ambassadors, and realized how easy it is for them to help you gain influence in your market, I'm sure you are wondering how you can start gaining them. The best way to gain ambassadors is having amazing customer service. No one will support you unless you care about them first. Make customer relations a priority in everything you do, and make sure that everyone is satisfied. Try your hardest to be transparent with your customers and make them feel like you have a relationship, and that you are not just using them for their money.

A great way to do this outside of your store is to search Twitter for your brand name. See what people are saying, and if they are disappointed, solve the issue. If someone said that they went to your store and they were not satisified with what they bought, contact them and ask why. Maybe this has been happening to more than just this customer and now you are aware of the situation. This is just one example of how social media can be used as advanced customer service and support, I will be posting more about this topic later.

So how do you feel an ambassador can help your company grow? Or have you had any experience with brand ambassadors? I would love to hear about it in the comments as well as any questions you have.

Filed Under: Small business, Social Media Tagged With: Ambassador, Customer service, Social Media

New series: How David Ogilvy can help you gain a better online presence

November 1, 2010 By dean Leave a Comment

While David Ogilvy wrote about advertising in the 60's and 70's, many of his core concepts still work today. After reading his articles, I realized how much insight he gave into the human consumer, which hasn't changed much over the years. People want to buy products, and you have to compete with others for what they buy. I will be going through his articles and bringing the points into the modern era. Later this week will be his most famous article "How to create advertising that sells". While the headline sounds so blunt and almost arrogant, it is warranted. If everyone followed the guidelines in this article, most of today's advertising would not be as bad.

Filed Under: Advertising

Google Boost moves ads onto the map

October 26, 2010 By dean Leave a Comment

Google has started testing its newest advertising feature which they are calling "Boost". This will allow businesses to have a more distinct icon on the google map when people search for local businesses. The service is only in Houston, San Fransisco, and Chicago for now, but will be spreading soon. Along with the map icon, the new ad will show a star rating, and number of reviews. This change will make the advertisements look more social and less like just another sponsored link. Spending the money on getting your ad into Boost will defiantly get your business some more attention with searcher.

If you use google to advertise your local business then I highly suggest looking into Boost when it is available in your area. The new information shown will help you gain credibility. If you are a restaurant and your ad is the only one with a star rating or many positive reviews, chances are people will want to go there. Consumers are afraid of trying something new because they are afraid it won't be up to their standards, and this system will help to reassure them because they can see others opinions.

Overall this is another step for Google into the geo-location scene. They are really making this a focus and using the technology they have been developing to help people find things in their immediate area, and not just the web. I mean, when is the last time you used the yellow pages or another service to find a local business anymore?

Filed Under: Advertising, Small business

Corona bringing social media to Time Square

October 25, 2010 By dean Leave a Comment

Grupo Modelo, the parent company of Corona, has starting an advertising campaign that is bridging traditional and social media. The "Put me in Times Square" campaign has people "like" Corona on Facebook and they get a chance to have their face shown on the billboard in time square. While this ad will have the initial effect of being seen by everyone in New York, it also has a lot of lasting appeal.

People who like the Corona Facebook page will now be enrolled in the news and marketing messages that Corona sends out. This, along with the obvious spread over social networks, will surely gain Modelo some customers. Companies are starting to see the benefit in fusing traditional and social media together, and not just coming up with two separate strategies. This can help the campaign gain traction in markets that may not be exposed to it if they are only advertise in one medium.

Corona is also making the choice to market to the young adult crowd, which they haven't really had the best acceptance rate with. This campaign could really show this market that they are still evolving with the times and could gain them a lot of market share.

Filed Under: Advertising

Why your small business should be on Groupon

October 25, 2010 By dean 5 Comments

: Image via Wikipedia

Groupon, the daily deal giant website, is starting to test a new feature that makes the site even more appealing to small business. Groupon has been known for it’s huge traffic generating daily deals, but lately the demand from users has grown past this system. They are now implementing “Groupon Stores”, a service that lets businesses set up their own pages and display deals whenever they want. If you want your small business to gain attention quickly this would be a great tool for many reasons. I'm going to be using a restaurant as my case example but the benefits would work for other types of consumer commerce as well.

People are already on the site looking for deals

If you wanted to promote a deal or sale you would usually have to put an ad in a newspaper or hand out flyers. Now with this feautre you do not have to go out looking for people who want deals; the people are already here. Groupon has a respected reputation among online deal finders, and this can really help you advertise without going to traditional media.

Users open to new experiences

The Groupon user base also is known for experimenting. These people will try out a new restaurant if they feel like the deal is good enough. These restaurant goers are looking for something new and will appreciate creativity. This is your chance to get your foot in the door with the type of people who will talk about their food expierences.

Wow them with the trial

Whether you are opening a new restaurant or trying to grow an existing one, its hard to attract the people who have never come in. This is the barrier advertisers see as trial users. These people need a lot of convincing in order to break their usual habits and try something new. This is where you can really gain some new customers. When people come in to your restaurant you have a real chance to show them why they need to keep coming back, and not just come here due to price.

Keep them informed

With the huge boom of social media, the biggest change has been the customer relationships with brands and businesses. Customers are no longer just reading advertisements. They are interacting with businesses. Groupon will allow you to keep customers informed of deals using the follow feature on the page. This can help you get sustained business and promote for free, which is crucial when you are just starting up.

So these are just some of the perks Groupons new feature will bring to your company if you choose to use it. I can see huge benefits from this shift in focus and now is your time to harness this opportunity. If you have tips for people looking to help gain footing with their small business I would love to hear them in the comments.

Filed Under: Small business, Social Media Tagged With: Deals, Groupon, How to, Small business

Gamestop’s newest advergame is rather innovative

October 21, 2010 By dean 2 Comments

: Image via Wikipedia

Gamestop released a game for iPhone called "Buck and the Coin of destiny" while this title really brings up memories of one of my favorite movies, ( Tenacious D and the pick of destiny) the game is actually really innovative. Gamestop takes its latest advertising campaign which depicts buck in various platformers, and actually makes it interactive. In the game you play as buck as he tries to get to the fabled coin of destiny. Its a basic game that fits so well on the iPhone, and actually brings entertainment to the customer, and not just an ad. It is filled with inside jokes about gaming and is even connected to the iPhones latest feature, Game Center.

You can tell that Gamestop really wanted to bring their marketing into the interactive realm with this game, and it works. This game reinforces the television and internet campaign, and reaches people on the mobile space. Because of the nature of the iPhone's app store, the game can be promoted without paying advertising dollars. The game has reached number 27 in the top paid applications, which is a feat in and of itself. I think that this form of advertising will really connect the consumer and the advertising campaign. People will feel more inclined to watch the commercials to see what happens to Buck now that they have played as him through a game.

Hopefully more companies will start using the iPhone app's as an advertising platform that brings entertainment like Gamesstop has, and not just advertise in banners for free apps. I would love to hear what the readers think about the games and the merging of advertising and entertainment in the comments.

Filed Under: Advertising Tagged With: Advertising, Gamestop, IPhone, Video game

Apple declared Marketer of the Decade

October 19, 2010 By dean Leave a Comment

Who didn't see this coming?

Between the launch of the iPod, to the revitalization of the Mac computer, to the iPhone and iPad launches, I say that Apple has enjoyed a rather successful decade. Apple took the opportunity to break into the main stream with the iPod and has not looked back since. Apple has dominated the mp3 player and smartphone markets, created the tablet market, and has even stolen some market share of Microsoft over the last decade, and marketing is the reason. Apple has furiously marketed its products and has developed a customer experience like no other. They turned the alternative counter culture computer into a statement for creativity. The success can be attributed to its use of creativity and innovation in its ads. Between the critically acclaimed "1984" spot, the iconic dancing iPod ads, the "I'm a Mac" ads, and the newest "there's an app for that", Apple has created a life force and spirit to its products that no one else has even come close to.

Apple's advertising partner TWBA has been with them since the start and has been the leading force for this marketing beast. TWBA speaks of Apple as branding visionaries. Apple is seen as one of the companies that truly wants to envelop its customers, and that can be seen through the Apple stores. These retail locations reinforce the branding and positioning of Apple.Overall, Apple has really taken control of every market they enter or even create, and make sure everyone knows they are in it to win it.

For more information check out the ad age article here.

Filed Under: Advertising

New series: How David Ogilvy can help you gain a better online presence

Google Boost moves ads onto the map

Corona bringing social media to Time Square

Gamestop’s newest advergame is rather innovative

Apple declared Marketer of the Decade

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