Branding 2.0

How to Build a Newspaper Brand

Even before the recession, and social media took off, newspapers were feeling the heat.

Because the Web was gobbling up their most lucrative sections (e.g., classifieds) many newspaper publishers thought they could survive with some consolidations, cost cutting and tweaks.

Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work.  They kept cutting costs as ad revenues fell, but instead of smelling the sweet fragrance of printers ink, they were still smelling the stench of red ink.

Most everyone in the industry was starting to seriously worry.  Would their newspaper survive?

After getting beat up for years, the San Francisco Chronicle finally took a bold step and raised their subscription price 63%.  The impact was immediate.  The Chronicle’s circulation dropped 26%. But, they were back in the black.

In hindsight this was a brilliant move, not of pricing (that was the tactic) but of the strategy of repositioning the newspaper — from a common mass-product to a small luxury experience.

As it turns out, avid readers, who are generally better educated and with higher average incomes, are happy to pay a fair price for the privilege and experience of having something tangible to enjoy with their morning coffee.

Newspapers are not for everyone.  They shouldn’t try to be.

Today, newspapers are a small luxury, not an entitlement, but the publishers are entitled to a fair profit.

The key now for publishers is: how to build a luxury brand around this new positioning?

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B2B Advertising Shift

B2B trade advertising doesn’t get much press these days because it’s not sexy.  But it does account for 10%, or $25 billion, of the total U.S. advertising expenditure.

For small to mid-size B2B’s there is now a new alternative for spending that $25 billion: the fast growing Internet-based marketing-video category.

Because the cost of decent equipment, for producing your own video ads, has dropped below $200, it is now within the reach of every business’ budget.

Companies are getting more comfortable with the ease and process of producing and starring in their own commercials  They likewise are getting more comfortable with not forking over the big bucks for a full page, 4-color ad in a leading trade publication.

Many marketers now believe the new communications model, in the B2B category, is a small space print ad that drives traffic to a Web site where users can view a 2-3 minute video clip.  It makes eminent amount of sense because it’s so much more efficient than the old media model.

As this shift continues, some media experts forecast that many industry-specific trade publications will lose up to 75% of their ad revenue over the next 5 years — pushing many into bankruptcy.

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Opt-In Advertising

Facebook realizes the consumer data they collect on their 300 million users is extremely valuable — and plan to use it to monetize their site.

While Facebook promises not to sell your data to others, they are planning to use it to sell targeted ads to advertisers.

There’s the rub.  They probably do own your data legally, but people do not like receiving ads in general, and according to the recent Annenberg-Berkeley Report, 70% of Internet users really don’t like the scheme of using their personal data against them.

Because brands are now controlled by consumers, Facebook, and other social networks, better listen carefully.  They should also try to visualize the facial expressions of their users.  Their faces say it all — no, no, no.

The days of marketers freely advertising, when and where they want to, are over.  Consumers someday will probably create a list of advertisers they will welcome into their space.  It’s the concept of opt-in ads.  It’s not here yet, but it’s on its way.  Social networks should initiate these new rules, in conjunction with their users now, or they may have a rebellion on their hands.

P.S. Facebook should know this first hand.  A while back they tried to change their privacy policy on the sly, they got caught, and had to retreat.  Hopefully they won’t make the same mistake twice.

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How Social Media Affects the Purchase Decision

Many people still wonder, and rightly so, how social media gets the cash register to ring.

As reported in the October 6, 2009 Adweek article written by Brian Morrissey, WPP’s research group has evidence that engagement with a brand’s social media helps lead towards a purchase decision.

This new study has part of the answer and it is very positive for using social media to build brands.

According to the results of the study, people who bumped into brands through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., are 2.8 times more likely to search for a brand with click rates increasing by 50%.

This is great news for managers and provides cover for them when they shift money out of old media into social media.

However, it does raise the question, why do people have to search for a brand’s Web site address?  It seems silly that someone has to search for it.  On the other hand, maybe companies are being savvy by not appearing to want to give a sales pitch.  People may perceive a www cue similar to an 800# — inferring, give me a call, I want to sell you something.

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Green Branding Not Turning into Green

According to a report by Grail Research, “green campaigns” may not be paying for themselves.  While consumers are very interested in the ”green movement,” it doesn’t always pay off at the cash register.

While 85% of shoppers have bought a green product, only 8% said it made up a majority of their purchasing mix.

Also, green purchases vary widely by category.  For example:

The research also shows that while a lot of companies have aggressive “green programs” the awareness of such is not always well attached to the brand.  For example, few people were aware that Esté Lauder, HP, Unilever, Intel, Cisco and Rubbermaid all had active green programs.

It may appear that many companies are not doing a good job of communicating their commitment to the environment.  But there also may be other things at work that are affecting these perceptions, like price.  In the green field people often say one thing and do another, particularly when they don’t want to pay a higher price.  Or maybe, green is okay when cleaning your kitchen floor, but not when buying a black dress that fits and makes you look thin.

On the other hand, I believe that “green” is now considered so normal that it has become a parity attribute in the purchase decision matrix.  And if so, it’s no longer the great brand differentiator it once was.

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Brand Perception

People who buy luxury goods generally know they are paying a big premium for the brand name.

Recent research by Gucci of Paris indicates that Europeans and Americans are now becoming less enthusiastic about brands who conspicuously emphasize their logos and brand names.

To survive in this new environment, as customers’ tastes change, brands must also change.  It doesn’t mean that luxury brands won’t be able to still charge a premium, but it probably won’t be as much.

Whether it’s the economy, or people are tiring of showing off, or the rip-offs are showing up on too many people of questionable incomes, the stage is being set for more recognized tangible vs. perceived value.  High-end brands that don’t actually deliver relevant, tangible value will cease to exist as luxury goods and will be forced to compete on price.

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Branding Disconnects

Disconnect #1

After writing a blog and using Facebook and Twitter for awhile, I am starting to see why some people are confused with social media.

Twitter, for example, has a split personality.  Some people, about 45%, use it for telling what they’re doing; while another 40% are trying to engage in conversation.  Then there’s the 5% news, 5% spam and 5% other.  Basically, Twitter is half babble, half branding.

It’s disorienting when you open up a Twitter home page and are confronted with a big “What are you doing?”  You might think it’s none of your damn business, and second, how are you going to help me brand my business?

I believe it is this split personality that makes it hard to get a handle on Twitter, and to connect the dots, so you can appreciate it’s branding potential.

Disconnect #2

Most of you have probably also heard the social media mantra, “to succeed you need to provide content that has real value.”  It sounds like a cop-out.

But, the mantra is true.  The problem is that there is often a disconnect between what a brand manager thinks is real value and what the reader thinks it is.

For example, a brand manager might post a link on Twitter or Facebook for a press release about their hot new product.  They might think this level of marketing is OK.  On the other hand, the reader may be thinking “this is a pitch,” — too much like selling or spam.

The bottom line is brand and marketing managers need to walk in their customer’s shoes if they are going to successfully use social media to talk about their brand.

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Brand Promotion’s Golden Age

Social media’s big advantage vs. old media is its efficiency.

Brand promotion use to be an afterthought, and, as big-agency types would distain, a below-the-line marketing tool.

It wasn’t that you didn’t do promotions, it was just that they weren’t viewed as sexy or a top priority.  How could a lowly promotion compete with the glitz and sizzle of a T.V. campaign?

Sales promotions (sampling, coupons, sweepstakes, etc.) have always been part of the marketing mix, but they were often viewed as an add-on, and only somewhat effective.

Promotions take a lot of work to produce and are time consuming to implement. A national campaign could often take 3-6 months to plan and implement, and could cost upwards of $5 million, not counting the offer.

With the advent of real-time social media, and mobile marketing, all that has changed.

Today, online and mobile promotions are becoming the rock stars of the branding world.  If you want to move the needle fast, now it’s a Facebook/Twitter/YouTube campaign — not old media.

Social media promotions are basically free (not counting the offer), and are easy and quick to put together.  Promotions are no longer considered a second-class marketing tool, but are now sought out for their quick, viral results.  Because of the maturation of social media, we are now entering the Golden Age of Promotion.

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Branding’s Recession Boost

Every cloud has a silver lining, or so they say.  Even in the worst of times this axiom seems to hold true.

Over the first six months of 2009, millions of marketing dollars have been saved (silver lining) by companies shedding their knee-jerk habit of using T.V. advertising as the foundation for their marketing programs.

If it were not for the deepest recession in 75 years, most, if not all, would have continued to buy expensive T.V., because that’s what they have always done.

The bold decision by these companies to drop T.V. has boosted the support of the ever-improving, integrated social media campaigns — those integrating media-rich Web sites with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iPhone apps, etc.

The recession experience has quickly reset, and broadened the options of, what goes into a successful media mix. 

T.V., as a branding tool, is not dead, but shrinking.  T.V. is not king of marketing anymore because more and more, people are discovering that mass media is not efficient, and it’s time has passed.

Daniel Boorstin’s quote that, “Nothing is real unless it happens on television,” is no longer true.

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How Radio Can Help Non-Profits

With the 2007-2009 recession, many non-profits have seen their donations drastically drop off, putting their business models in peril.

An advertising axiom states the best time to spend on advertising is during a recession, because it’s the best time to get cheap prices and gain share-of-voice.

It’s easy for well-funded corporations to take advantage of the recession opportunities,  but for small companies and non-profits, it’s a horse of a different color.

Now, however, many regional radio broadcasting associations have developed special programs just for non-profits.

For example, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Northern California Broadcasters Association (415-292-5700) has an aggressive program that offers a 70% discount off normal retail radio rates.  With radio reaching up to 95% of the population, it’s an ideal media choice.

At these price levels, it’s affordable for most non-profits, and it’s an excellent time to jump start your fundraising, now that we are coming out of the recession.

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