Are You Recycling Your Marketing Ideas?

With Earth Day upon us this week, you’ll be reminded once again of all the ways you can better serve our environment through reducing your consumption, reusing various items and, of course, recycling. But take a moment to consider recycling in another light—one that could be damaging your reputation among key target audiences.

Sometimes clients will tell us “that’s what we’ve always done” when referring to their marketing strategies. Sometimes this is a good thing. Often times, it’s not. Marketing is about innovation and keeping in touch with your audience’s needs and desires, so ask yourself how you can keep it fresh before you fall into the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” way of complacent thinking.

Here are some ways CMA can help keep your marketing messages and graphics fresh and enticing:

Just ask. When was the last time you conducted research on your target market? Have you ever sent a survey to them? Sometimes a simple e-mail survey can work wonders to help you pinpoint the right words and graphics that will resonate with key decision-makers.

Update your brand and/or campaign. One of the most successful advertising campaigns in history is Geico’s series of “caveman” spots. Sensing that their target audience had been oversaturated with these characters (remember when there was a sit-com based on them?), Geico changed the way the cavemen were portrayed in their commercials, often showing very little of their faces and limiting their dialogue. CMA’s veteran designers are in touch with cutting edge imagery as well as what still traditionally communicates to key audiences—maintain your identity, but be sure to review it periodically.

Keep an eye on your competitors. Through CMA’s Marketecture™ strategic process, we are able to help clients set aside time to analyze the competitive landscape, ultimately helping you think like your customer. Be sure to monitor what types of messages, images, and concepts are they being hit with by your competitors. When you know it’s time for a change, make sure you’re not duplicating an idea that’s been done well by your competitors—you don’t want to be pinned as a company that recycles others’ marketing ideas, but you need to be aware of what they are doing.

Avoid non industry-specific clichés. Flip through the pages of any magazine in virtually any industry and I guarantee you’ll spot an advertisement with a goldfish in a bowl. Unless you are a pet store, chances are your audience will miss the point because it doesn’t speak to what you do. Don’t get me wrong—even images that seem overused might be perfect for your industry. Just make sure you consult with professionals who can help you make the right match and communicate effectively.

Keep in mind—Earth Day is supposed to be a time to step back and look at the bigger environmental picture. Give us a call if you think the time is right to refresh your brand for a profitable, sustainable future.

Erin Higgins
Director of Marketing Services
ehiggins@cmasolutions.com

What does green really mean?

With Earth day almost upon us, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the ever-popular topic of green marketing. While many of us in the marketing industry have been branding and positioning products that are biodegradable, energy-efficient and/or all-natural, for example, for many years, the environmental bandwagon now applies to nearly every industry imaginable. By following these simple tips, your company can effectively position these types of products and services all year round.

Choose the Right Words
Try actually refraining from using the word “green” to describe your company’s products and services if you feel your audience will be more receptive to specific language describing environmental benefits. Perhaps “biodegradable” or “all-natural” might resonate better. Many of your customers continue to be bombarded with these claims everyday, so using the word “green” may drive them away and position you as an unreliable source.

Know Your Audience
It is important to know your audience in order to help you better position your products and services in the marketplace. Take the time to research what phrases or keywords speak to your audience and drive them to take action.

Provide additional benefits to customers beyond going green
Knowing the product your customers are buying contains green qualities often makes people feel good about their purchases. But the ideal situation is to go the extra mile to provide an additional benefit—a health incentive, reduced maintenance or something that helps the customer save money in addition to a product’s low environmental impact.

Consider Appropriate Design Elements
When creating design elements associated with your company’s products or services, be sure to incorporate images that support your marketing messages, but also steer clear of clichéd images. Consider exploring earth tones instead of going right for the green, or use images that represent other aspects of the earth instead of the proverbial leaf image I can be viewed as overused.

In following these tips, you will find that the most interesting part of the green marketing phenomenon is its versatility. Give us a call and let us help you develop a green marketing plan that showcases your company’s environmental benefits and encompasses a strategy that is executed with sensitivity and integrity.

Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com

Linking In to Your Professional Network

Ask any business professional and they’ll agree—one of the most useful social networking sites for maintaining business connections is LinkedIn. Yes, there are countless success stories showing that Facebook has created new business opportunities. But LinkedIn can be used for different purposes than Facebook, and can expose you to new, qualified contacts endorsed by those you trust, among other valuable benefits.

LinkedIn has more than 50 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. LinkedIn users can simply maintain a profile or actively join and participate in “Groups” according to their line of business or interests. For example, Creative Marketing Alliance’s Group page is designed to keep our clients, past clients and other qualified prospects up to date on our activities and services.

The benefits of using LinkedIn are twofold. Not only can you do some reconnaissance work on prospective clients, current customers or those you’ve worked with in the past, you can also connect with them through introductions or referrals through your own network of professional contacts. LinkedIn also provides a way for you to track down contacts that have changed jobs, creating consistency when email addresses often change.

Discovering the relationships between your peers through LinkedIn might also allow you to tailor your sales pitch to that prospective client better. Through the involvement with various Groups, a LinkedIn user has the opportunity to position themselves as an expert on a given topic, whether it’s through your own Group or through your comments on another Group’s page.

The beauty of LinkedIn is that it’s a good place to get your feet wet if you’re unsure about how to use social media, as it does not require constant updating like Twitter or other social networking sites. Let our team help you determine a systematic approach to your social media initiatives to guarantee manageability and success.

Jeffrey Barnhart
President & CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com