Before, in the good ol’ days (about 6-7 years ago), SEO was purely a digital strategy. It was all about link-backs, key words, mark up, snippets, etc. The holy grail was to get onto, and stay, on the first page of search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Lately, I have seen SEO companies start to change their tune. Many of them now see SEO, not as an online strategy only, but as part of an integrated marketing approach. They now include such things as branding, design, PR and traditional advertising. SEO companies are starting to redefine themselves and retool in order to stay relevant in search. They are trying to acquire the skill sets of these “traditional” marketing tactics. Why is that? Here is a link that was provided to me by a colleague who is very knowledgable and works in the SEO world: Why we can’t just be SEOs anymore

The overview:

• SEO is bigger than SEO – True SEO is bigger than what many normally think of when they talk about SEO. Now search engines are looking for “brand signals”, social graph signals, user/usage data and even offline data potential.

• SEO is about “all things marketing” – Integrated marketing is what gives brands the edge in SEO. Now SEO must address defining the brand, culture, mission, community, email, social, product, etc.

• SEO  must be redefined – It used to be considered spam, manipulation, unethical and rule breaking. There are companies who are dropping the SEO in their names to become a more holistic marketing company who happens to have expertise in the digital arena.

• True SEO touches all marketing activities – SEO must be baked into design, advertising, branding, PR, email, development/engineering, social.

As I have always believed, integrated marketing is more effective, in the long run, than any single tactic used independently. Many of these “former” SEO companies are now calling themselves In Bound Marketing or Digital Marketing firms. Great branding is about everything you do from the warehouse employee to the CEO and from every piece of communication from the newsletter to major advertising campaigns to your online social graph.

So, if you are branding, advertising, emailing, building your social graph and have a robust PR program, along with your “traditional SEO”, you are now a digital marketer. If not, then you’re just a plain old SEO guy or gal, stuck in the “old ways.”

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Over the last 3-5 years, many marketers, large and small, have focused their advertising and brand in communicating more of a higher purpose than just selling stuff. Messaging has become more messianic. On the surface, this makes sense, especially with the millennials. Many do care that a company is giving back, taking care of the planet and just trying to be good corporate citizens.

The real question, is it paying off on the balance sheet? Though it’s too early to tell, initial indicators is a “qualifying” no. I’ll get to why I say, “qualifying” shortly. P&G helped lead the charge several years with Bob McDonald’s (P&G CEO) public mantra of “Marketing is serving.” Burger King embraced, “empowering consumers to achieve social connectivity.” And Pepsi’s strategy to divert marketing resources to award grants for all kinds of worthwhile purposes.

Results thus far:

P&G – They have lost market share in core businesses that account for more than 50% of their revenue. Bob McDonald is on the hot seat with investors calling for his firing. In response, Mr. McDonald has gone back to focus more on marketing products, though he says the higher purpose is still important.

Burger King – Still floundered and gained no focus until it was sold, brought more under discipline and began to market food at an attractive price point.

Pepsi – They saw their flagship brand drop to #3 behind Coke and Diet Coke. This sent an alarm throughout Pepsi Co. Now they are focusing their marketing might to push their brands.

Purpose-driven marketing does have an effect, but THE key element must be alignment. The purpose must be in harmony with the brand. The most successful companies do this. People know when a brand is “faking” it. A purpose must be a natural association to your brand.

A myth of purpose-driven marketing is it separates you from your competitors. If everyone starts adopting this idea, and it already is reaching a mass adoption point, then there will be “Nobility Parity”. Consumers will be left confused deciding which purpose is more noble than the other, so they will go back to the basics on judging products and services by benefits and costs. This ends up leading back to where we were before. Purpose-driven marketing is a powerful tool for brands, but it must be relevant to the brand and it’s mission, not just tacked on because it’s the thing to do or it sounds good.

As Alfredo Gangotena, the chief marketing officer of MasterCard World Wide has said, “You see many brands doing good with cause-related marketing, but honestly, if the cause they are involved in is not fundamental to their brand, what good does it do? Brands are like humans. You can see quickly if they’re faking it.”

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There is much talk these days about the battle between Apple and Samsung in the high-end smart phone market. Court battles as well as marketplace battles rage on. What used to be unthinkable about 3 or 4 years ago is now being discussed openly in the business and investment circles: Has Apple lost it’s “Cool” position to Samsung?

There are a few indicators supporting this thought. Apple’s stock is getting hammered as of this writing (down by almost 35% from their high of late 2012).  Samsung has sold more smart phones in 2012 than Apple. Just in the 4th quarter of 2012 alone, Samsung had sold 64 million while Apple had sold 48 million. Finally, there is more buzz and chatter with the Galaxy S series among consumers than for the iPhone 5. It used to be people only talked about was iPhone, nothing else.

What has contributed to this extra “coolness” to Samsung? There are three factors (according to Wall Street Journal), engineering prowess, manufacturing power and deep commitment to marketing. I’ll focus on the marketing portion since that is my area of expertise. As you see, all components of a company must be in alignment to deliver a consistent brand experience and brand message.

Samsung poured over $200 million in the U.S. alone in marketing muscle to promote their Galaxy S line. So much for being the best kept secrete. They didn’t just depend on word of mouth or hope it catches on in the social media world so they could save a few dollars. Samsung believed in their product offering and aggressively told their story. Of course, social media was part of their mix, but that wasn’t the focus of the campaign. Most smart marketers know that in order to win the battle for consumers emotion and mind, they must invest in telling their own story and not just depend on others (social media) to do it for them.

Another point is you know when a company really likes their product. They tend to do less competition bashing and more excitement building for their own stuff. This is what Samsung has done with the launch of the Galaxy S III. In fact, they even took a page out of the Apple play book by centering their advertising around the idea of “What If” with the same confident, reassuring tone of Apple advertising. (It goes to show, everyone steals, the difference is the best knows what to steal.) They also successfully painted the iPhone as passé which takes away from it’s coolness. Their success was achieved through a significant commitment to marketing and integration of their media (traditional, social, online, transit, outdoor). As Tom Peters (business management guru) says, “How can you expect splashy results when you only dip your toe in the water?

Here are some reactions that any marketer would love to have to show the effectiveness of the brand push thus far:

Dora Daniels, 26, of Oakland, Calif., said she learned about Samsung’s latest Galaxy S III because of giant ads plastered around a downtown San Francisco transit station. ”It’s silly because I don’t want to be a slave to marketing but it really got into my head,” said Ms. Daniels, who recently switched to the Samsung phone from an older iPhone.

“If you see this stuff on TV enough, it gets you thinking,” said Mr. Hernandez, a 34-year-old resident of Somerville, Mass.

The battle royal is on.

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Since many marketers use or associate with Facebook, I thought providing a brief summary of Facebook policies for brands would be useful. This comes courtesy of Winston & Strawn, LLP, a law firm in Chicago. A partner of the firm, Brian Heidelberger, took the time to read the full terms and policies and provided an overview summary that is concise and helpful.

Terms governing your brand page – 
• Brands may:
– Post or link to a poliy about what content it will remove
– What user actions may cause Brand to band the user
• Brands may NOT:
– threaten legal action
– Claim rights to user content posted on their page

Cover photo on your brand page – 
• Brands can NOT include:
– Price or purchase information
– Contact information
– References to Facebook features or actions
– Call to action

Conducting Promotions (contests, sweepstakes) – 
• Must be “administered” in a Facebook platform application (collecting enries, conducting drawings, judging, notifying winners)
• App can not include features found on the main page, such as a “Like” button
• Game rules must include:
– A release of Facebook
– Disclaimer of affiliation
– Notice that entrant is providing personal information to the Brand and not to Facebook
• Must notify winners via their email
• Must  have your own private policy

Do’s and Don’ts of conducting promotions – 
• Brand may NOT use any native Facebook functionality as a method of entry:
– Prohibited: “Like our page to enter”
– Allowed: “Like our page and then enter”
– Prohibited: “Post a photo on our page to enter”
– Allowed: “Post a photo on our app to enter”
–Prohibited: “We’ll randomly select a Facebook fan of the day to win a prize.”
– Allowed: “We’ll randomly select a Facebook fan of the day (no prize)”

Collecting personal information (PI) – 
• Brands must
– Give notice that entrant is providing PI to the Brand and NOT to Facebook
– Have their own privacy policy with URL on its canvas or web site in the Developer App privacy field
• Must gain consent of user before collecting
• Must only collect PI on app, not on their Facebook main page
• Brand may NOT:
– Use concepts that undermine Facebook (encouraging users to remove friends, take over profiles, tag anything other than real people)
– Automatically post user PI upon submission. Brands must obtain consent using check box explaining content will be shared

Making offers
• Brands MUST:
– Comply with laws and disclose restrictions
– Communicate with any participating merchant over offer made by the Brand relating to such merchant
– Not use Facebook’s offer creator to offer the equivalent of a gift card, gift certificate or stored value card

Referral based rewards
• Brands may NOT:
– Directly tie incentives to the use of its social channels (rewarding for posting a stream story or sending a request)
• Brands MAY indirectly tie to the potential in-app reward

Permitted indirect tie incentive
• Incentive based on the number of friends that accept invite
– No rewards for sending, only potential to earn rewards if the user has friends who accept the invite

Place and “Like” incentives
• Places – Check in
– Brands MAY incentivize users to check-in places
– Brands may NOT use check-in to register users for a promotion
• Like button – Rewarding fans
– Brands MAY give incentives for “liking” provided the incentive is open to all new and existing users who Like your page
• Permitted incentives
– Coupons/rebates, exclusive content, eligibility to enter a promotion, donating to a charity based on number of page likes

Sponsored stories
• User “likes” a company, checks-in at one of its stores or performs certain other actions member’s picture/name appears as ad
• Facebook allows minors to opt out completely

Referencing Facebook in advertising
• Brands MAY:
– Make truthful references about presence on Facebook
• Say “Like our page” or “Become a fan by clicking Like on our page” (do not use “friend”)
• Brands may NOT:
– Imply endorsement by Facebook
– Link to pages other than the Facebook.com login page or your Brand page
– Do not use Facebook as a verb (Facebooking)

Use of Facebook logos and marks in advertising
• Brands may NOT:
– Use logos in broadcast advertising without permission
– Combine Facebook logos with other IP
– Use the full Facebook logo
– Use the Facebook “Like” button in online advertising
– Modify the “f” in the square logo
• Brands MAY:
– Use the the “Like” button in offline advertising

Use of screenshots in advertising
• Brands may NOT:
• Use screenshots without written permission from Facebook and the user
• Modify screenshots
• Use screenshots of user without consent

That’s about it. I hope you found some useful information you didn’t already know. Remember to “Like” us and win… our appreciation and thanks.

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There’s a trend that is becoming even more prevalent in the last 4-5 years, especially with online companies. It is “marketing as a last resort” strategy. The scenario goes something like this:

• Company launches without advertising and marketing, depending solely on social media and word-of-mouth
• In early years, company growth explodes and gains critical mass
• They “brag” to other companies in seminars and events that you don’t need advertising. It’s a waste of money.
• Once they gain a mass following, growth slows down as competitors flood the arena.
• Users and revenue (if they had any) begin to quickly erode because of a lack of building a true brand to withstand the onslaught of new competitors.
• THEN, they turn to branding and advertising to rescue them.
• Often, it doesn’t work because it’s too little, too late and they either go out of business or are rendered irrelevant.
• The experience confirms, to them, that they were right, advertising doesn’t work.

The flaw in the story is branding and advertising is not a quick fix or create instant turn arounds. When competitors catch up, all you have left is brand as a differentiator. The window of most “competitive advantages” are about 3-6 months.

Think of it this way, branding is like reputations. It takes time and consistency to build. Consistency in message, frequency and marketing. Sure, you can get “spikes” in your sales charts, but that quickly fades after the promotion. This is why it’s called building a brand.

For example, Groupon has been sliding downhill ever since their IPO. Granted, operations and business model has a lot to do with their deterioration. Because of their initial success, competitors, both powerful and start ups, have joined in the game. The interesting fact is they are currently in talks with advertising agencies about a branding campaign. They claim it’s time to tell their story, but in the opinion of some stock analysts, they could be on the way out. About a year ago, their stock was $26.11. Now (as of the time of this entry) the stock is $5.29. Just now they are telling their story using branding and advertising as a last resort. What they’ve should have done was create a more emotional connection from day one to their users and business partners. Now, everyone is getting into the daily special game and they are considered an aging commodity that doesn’t work for their business partners.

Zynga and Angie’s List are both in trouble as well. Angie’s list launched their first massive national advertising campaign in 2011 hoping to turn their fortunes around. As of this writing, they are still hemorrhaging money ($23.4 million in Q2, 2012 alone.) Zynga is considering advertising for the first time while they are watching their Facebook business erode along with their stock price.

Branding and brand-driven advertising is just as essential at the beginning of a company as it is when a company gets any scale. When you don’t build a strong brand, you leave an opening for competitors to come in and commoditize you because your  products and services can, and will, be duplicated. Then it comes down to a couple of scenarios, who brands the best and/or who has the lower price. You lose your “first mover” advantage and are fighting a price war.

So, don’t look at branding and advertising as something to do when you’re in trouble or when multiple competitors get into your arena. It could be too late by then. It’s not that you’ll go out of business, though that is a strong possibility (think Groupon), but you’ll become irrelevant in the market place and be reduced to just a price point. At this point, you’ll need to spend much more in advertising to gain back any ground.

It’s much more effective in the long run to build your business and build your brand at the same time.

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Marketing, branding and advertising are typically lumped into the same general category, marketing, especially by small to medium sized businesses. They also look at most branding and advertising agencies the same way, interchangeable. In my point of view, they are very different, though they have similarities. It’s like saying a BMW 135is and Ford F150 are vehicles and can get you from point A to point B, but they have very different functions and purpose. The larger, Fortune 500 do know the difference and work with the appropriate agency to get the best in each category. Here is the main differences and how to leverage each.

Advertising agencies – Many people know what they do. They make ads. That common understanding is correct. The more subtle difference is they do make ads, but it’s in conjunction with an isolated objective or campaign. Typically, a brand is already established and well marketed, it just needs a boost during key times or critical situations. Creative advertising campaigns are at their core and the larger agencies have dedicated media planners to help strategize the appropriate media channels. What they are not efficient at is the creation and marketing of the brand and the brand experience.

Branding marketing firms – Many people think of these companies as design firms. True, they do design, but so do advertising agencies. Design is a common element in any creative enterprise (even technology companies). Branding agencies are not about design, branding is about marketing an experience – Brand Marketing. A true branding agency is media agnostic, they don’t favor one marketing tactic over another or one media channel over another. Instead, they analyze the product or service and use this information to design a marketing approach that extends the brand experience most effectively. Traditional, new media, digital, mobile, it doesn’t matter. They start with either defining a brand if it is non-exisent or redefining a brand that is either weak or unfocused.

By understanding your needs and goals, you can chose which type of “marketing” is best for you. Of course there are many sub-categories of firms that even specialize in a smaller niche of service (design only companies, media planning and buying agencies, PR firms, web site firms and digital media firms just to name a few.) The challenge with the sub-category firms is they do a piece of the brand marketing or advertising well, but most don’t integrate the whole picture of a comprehensive marketing plan.

Knowing not to use your BMW to haul dirt will save you a lot of frustration, time and money.

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Technology and advertising are both, at odds with each other and dependent on each other. Companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter each has shunned advertising in their beginnings calling it a form of “hucksterism”. They believed that “advertising” was a dirty word and their work was pure and holy. Now, that they’ve gotten millions of users by being free, with the exception of Google, almost all of social media has struggled to turn a profit. (In fact it took another company to develop the PPC model that Google “borrowed” and eventually had to settle out of court. So, even the mighty Google needed help to get into “advertising”.) The industry most tech companies have criticized and blamed for the downfall of mankind is now having to woo back because without the advertisers, they won’t be able to live on “free” too much longer.

One sign that the social media industry and online community is maturing is the pressure to make money, to be more than just a free service. Everyone knows in their head that the number of users are massive because the service is free. My guess is that many would lose 30-40% of their users if they had to pay with another 10-20% leaving on an annual basis forcing these companies to continually sell because of attrition. Many social media and tech companies are having a hard time justifying their valuation against real financial numbers (funny how data works that way.)

As more of these companies go public, they are now forced to play by a set of rules that most businesses have to, earn more money than you spend. Free is nice and great for the users, but horrible for business. The main problem is these companies were built without any intention of how to make money. I believe in the back of their heads they though advertising will save the day, but had no clue on how to incorporate it into their service without using a jackhammer and forcing it in. Now users feel like the ads on these sites are forced and unnatural. You know what? They are. One good thing is they put users first. The downside is they forgot all about the people who will eventually pay their bills, the advertisers.

The challenge most of these new media companies will have is how to make money and make it a priority. Many have never thought that way and their founders were not interested in making money. They often relegated non-engineer types to second class citizens while bestowing sainthood on their engineers. Just as Facebook is dealing with now, there will need to be an emphasis on advertisers. They will need to show as much caring and concern to the “dark side” as they do to their users because, without the advertisers, Facebook, and the other social media companies, will become a shell of who they are now.

It will be difficult for some to go from a socialistic society to a capitalistic enterprise, but if they are to survive in the next 5 years, they must make advertisers happy or just hope their initial investors don’t care about getting their money back.

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Ad spending has increased significantly among some of the largest internet players in the last few years. Companies such as Google, Amazon, EBay and Expedia have upped their spend on advertising and promotion.

This may be a surprise to some. Why on earth would Google spend over $1 billion and move to #34 in the ranking of the leading national advertisers? Why did Amazon increase their ad spend 57% in 2011 to $1.4 billion? Doesn’t everyone know and love these companies? Isn’t this just wasted money?

You would think if anyone doesn’t need advertising, it would be Google and Amazon. Look closer and you’ll see that even internet giants need to market on both the online and traditional platforms. It’s odd that Google does place TV commercials or that Amazon turns to direct mail from time to time. These companies wouldn’t be spending ad dollars if they didn’t need to. Though many of the tech giants are accused of having so much money that they sometimes spend it on frivolous initiatives or programs, spending billions on marketing isn’t one of those knee-jerk decisions. Here are a few reasons why great internet brands are being “forced” to spending ad dollars:

• Great competition – Granted, most of Google’s ad dollars are spent on B2B. (I get a ton of direct mail from them.), but they are also increasing their B2C marketing as well. Facebook and Apple are putting extreme pressure on Google’s core business and new business and these are not just ordinary competitors. They are great brands themselves. This forces Google into a position they have not been in since the beginning of their company, they must advertise and compete for our hearts and wallets. Just because you have a great brand now, doesn’t mean you can just coast. By thinking you own a market, opens the door for competitors who are just as smart and know how to leverage the same tools you do.

• Selling instead of giving away – Before, many of these internet companies only had to worry about the digital world. Often, they could give away their products/services for free. So, of course, they win the lions share of the marketplace because it’s hard to beat free. Now that several of the internet giants have moved into the “real” world of stuff and having to actually charge for their services/products, they are finding out just because you have a great brand name doesn’t guarantee success. You have to actually advertise and compete in the marketplace. Free is no longer a competitive advantage. To sell “stuff”, you actually have to go back to the basics of marketing and selling and that takes money.

• Act like a business – With Facebook going public, many of these internet giants now must act like a real business and actually earn money, compete and be concerned with earnings. Google and Amazon have been doing that extremely well over the past decade, but with more aggressive players and reaching into new markets where there is already heavy competition, these companies are having to spend marketing dollars to earn money, just as most businesses do. The time of being able to operate with multi-million dollar losses is over. Now they have to earn a profit.

This is the way of business. Like most internet companies, they can win market share by giving away their services/products and thus have no need to spend marketing dollars. They can also operate at huge losses for many years. (I must admit, that is still kind of odd to me.) But eventually, if they want to compete and stay around for a longer time, they must begin to make money somehow and become profitable. Free can only take you so far.

This is where it comes full circle, back to the basics of marketing and advertising, even for digital companies.

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In the recent past, we’ve had many clients discuss their online goals in the context of getting massive views or visitors. They felt, as did most of the business world, that was the main metric that drove success because this is what many of those selling new media told them that was the most important metric. At the beginning, I believe that was true. That was then, this is now.

The Now is not about views, but engagement. The metrics are not about the sheer number of views and visitors, but did you attract the right visitor and how long did they stay engaged on your site? These are the metrics that drive online success and all marketing success regardless of media or platform. I would rather have 500 monthly visitors if 350 are the perfect client fit for my services than 10,000 visitors and only 150 could become clients. This is leading the online world to reevaluate what metrics are most important.

YouTube, for example, is taking a different look at this very metric. Their views have been steadily climbing up until January of 2012. This is what they were basing everything on from what videos were rewarded and served up to what to charge on ads. Between January and April of 2012, views have gone down almost 28%, but time spent is up. These numbers are by design. At YouTube, “views” are out, “engagement” is in. A Google executive confirmed that they want people to click less and view more. Google is also rewarding videos with longer engagement times than those who are viewed more. The policy was Google tracked your view for 30 seconds in order to count it as a “view”. Now, they track your view for 2-3 minutes in order to count as engagement.

What is partially driving this is network companies and consumer demand of being able to watch “TV” online. People are getting away from masses of 1 minute clips to longer shows with more value. The underlying business reason is a longer format allows Google to show you more ads (kind of like TV). What is causing YouTube concern is they show an average of 17 video ads per viewer, per month, while Hulu shows an average of 50. In Google world, that’s billions of dollars they are missing out on. (Commentary: the ironic twist in all of this is at the beginning, Brin & Page – Google founders, were so against advertising they called it “hucksterism”. Now they depend on advertising to mint their fortune.)

It seems like the new media world is coming back to a core principle of marketing that has been true for many decades, engaging your customers is the real key to great marketing. A crapy, stupid ad, no matter how many times it’s seen, is still a crapy, stupid ad. All it does is irritate the viewer and they end up hating your brand. A creative, engaging ad draws the viewer in and rewards them with a laugh, smile, heart felt emotion along with relevant information, no matter how little it is seen. (Apple 1984, anyone?) Jump on the “old” bandwagon as it comes around again. Engagement is more valuable that number of views, for both the viewer and you.

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There is a difference between awareness and brand building. Often, many marketers use these terms interchangeably. That would be a mistake and leads to disappointments, leaving them to believe that brand building or awareness doesn’t work. It’s not that the tools don’t work, they were just used improperly.

Awareness – It’s as simple as it sounds. The main goal is to get your potential customers to realize you exist and you are there to help solve a particular problem or fill a particular need. Nothing more. It’s not about making them buy from you on the spot. Very few people will, even if they do know of you. An awareness campaign is most effective when you center your message around the specific problem or need your prospects have and that there is something that exists to help them make their lives better/easier and that something is your product/service. Where most marketers feel disappointed is they believe just being aware will ring the cash register. This is not the purpose of Awareness, and if it does happen, it’s just a bonus, not a primary expectation. Simply, if prospects are unaware of you, there is no way you can start to develop a relationship with them in order for them to buy from you.

Awareness is best at launching a new company, new flavor or a new model. It’s also great at introducing a current brand into a new market or product category.

Brand Building – This deepens the Awareness. This is where gold is made. The main purpose of Brand Building is to get prospects and current customers to have a strong emotional attachment to your brand. It gets them to feel instead of just buying. If you don’t build a strong emotional connection with your brand, then you are reduced to commodity and your customers will leave you as soon as your competitors are one penny cheaper. They have no loyalties, and as a result, you will always be “shopped” and price compared regardless of the additional value you may deliver. On the other hand, if prospects and customers develop an emotional dedication to your brand, they will keep you in their lives because of the emotional connection that can’t be easily duplicated by competitors who can do the same things as you. When it comes to buying, humans are vastly more illogical than logical. We buy by emotion and justify by logic whether if it’s laundry detergent or fighter jet engines.

Brand Building is most effective at keeping current customers “in love” with your brand and to deepen your value in their hearts that goes beyond the commodity and price wars. It is also great at providing a short cut to understanding who you are for those who have never bought from you. Most of us have never bought a Bentley, but we have an emotional meaning already built in our hearts and minds. When we can afford to buy such a car, at least we’ll put Bentley on the list to be considered.

By understanding the difference, you will be able to use each tool to it’s fullest and not be disappointed because you used the tools in the wrong way. Set your objective and purpose and that should tell you if your marketing needs are centered around Awareness or Brand Building.

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