Engaging employees with passion

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Local Factory works don’t have a lot of passion about the mission of their organization. At least according to a recent report from Gallop. This makes some sense. When in an organization in which you end up being a very small cog in a very very large machine its easy to lose sight of the overall mission. To compound that problem millennials care more about purpose then about their paycheck. Factory work might not be classified as fulfilling by some people due to the nature of products or the parts that they make.

I think we can extrapolate this out to even employees in most businesses. Maybe not to the same degree but the low level employees of small businesses probably don’t care a lot about that plate of food they are making or the widget they are selling beyond making sure they receive a paycheck. I would guess there is more concern then what might exist in a large factory situation but I think some of the same problems would still exist.

That article did show that a local mission, like a charity, can help engage employees. I think we can take this principle and start applying to local businesses as well. What if every local business took one or two charities on to be the charity they support. Run contests among the staff to raise funds, give employees time to volunteer at that charity, and have fundraisers with customers as well. These could be be a great thing to help employee engagement.

I have seen this effect in my life. When I worked in nonprofits, I would see the pride in the eyes of factory employees when I would come to a factory to pick up a check or large donation. How can you implement this in your business?

 

A Reckoning is Coming: Good Uses for Traditional Media

The post is a part of a series of blogs about traditional media’s data quality versus digital data.
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You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. 

local marketing

In this last part of this series I want to talk about the benefits of local media. Depending on the size of your market, local media will be around for a while or forever. (If you come from a really small market you might lose your newspaper like my hometown just did.) But print media will be in decline in the coming years but TV seems to be on the upswing. Jackson recently launched another local network. But how can you leverage these local mediums to your advantage?

Local Media Works great if:

1. You only sell locally. If your product or service is used nationwide, local marketing might not be a great idea. If your product is national there will be lots of and lots of markets to focus on and unless you are large enough to hire a national ad firm this will be an exhausting process. Local products and services go well with local media because of the local audience. While online ads might be great for targeting people locally who are currently looking for your product and local media can increase brand awareness.

2. Offer a specific deal. As covered in the first post, we should look skeptically at the data that local media outlets give us. They have no good way of measuring the eyes and ears that take in their content. But think of ways you can measure the effect of an ad. Can you make a specific offer for each campaign. Maybe you can create a second URL for people to go to for the promotion? Maybe you can activate a second phone line for a particular ad campaign? There are different ways to try and measure the ads that you are sending out.

3. Position as an expert. Local newspaper and radio can be great ways to position yourself as an expert in the community. This is a soft sell tactic. Use their medium to broadcast free knowledge to the public to help them realize that you know what you are talking about. While not measurable it is a great marketing technique and I would bet more effective than regular ads(without a specific offer).

4. Have lots of money: If you have money to spend local advertisers can use as much of it as you want. One of the keys with local ads is repetition. Repetition takes time and money. If you are going to run a traditional campaign plan spend enough to make effective.

 

If you want to talk about your marketing plan. Send me an email: kevin@kadelseberger.com

A Reckoning is Coming: Digital Data is better than Traditional Media

The post is a part of a series of blogs about traditional media’s data quality versus digital data. 
Subscribe to my email list to make sure you see the other parts of this series.
You can read part 1 here and part 3 here. 

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I believe a reckoning is coming about the quality of data that traditional media is able to give us. As I mentioned in my last post, the metrics that traditional media (newspapers, tv, radio) gives us is not of good quality.

Digital media offers a quality of data that traditional media cannot touch. This is something I have become more aware of as I have become part owner of a digital media journalism group called: “Our Jackson Home“. While preparing to sell advertising on the website and podcast I realized that I had something that other companies could not offer: I can bring amazing data to the table. This data also reminds me that privacy is dead in the internet age. In fact there is beginning to be a market of companies that sell privacy through apps or devices (see Mark Cuban’s CyberDust). With free tools like Google Analytics I can tell exactly how many people visited my website, how long they were on there, where they are from (down to the city), approximate demographics, what operating system their device was running and how they navigated through my site. Also and most importantly for Our Jackson Home, I can tell an advertiser how many people saw their ads and how many clicked on their ads. 

Podcasts offer a similar set of data. We can tell exactly how many people started listening to the podcast and what device they listened to it on. Unlike radio which I propose works from a assumption of its listeners not paying full attention, podcasts are intentionally downloaded and listened to. Generally ads on a podcast are designed to be more engaging and are written for the target demographic of the listening audience of the podcast instead of a ad targeted to a demographic of the listening audience of the radio station. This sounds like a slight semantic difference but it is a huge real difference.

Email Marketing is a great way to communicate with customers. It is one of my favorite ways to reach out to customers for my clients. With good email clients like Mailchimp, you can get pretty in depth data on each of your email subscribers. You can see who has and has not read your campaigns and then using filters communicate with your best and worst customers. With the proper integrations of software you can track someone from email to website to online purchase. Its an amazing world we live in.

Ad targeting and cost: One of the best things about digital advertising for business is that on some platforms like Facebook and Google Ads you can spend as little or as much as you want. You can literally spend $5 or $5000 on Facebook or Google Ad Campaigns. In addition to this you target your ads to the groups of people you want to and know that they are really getting your message. You can also engage people who are already looking for your product with Google Ads.

I think one of the reasons that the NFL just announced its first completely online game. (Other reasons being: 1. Its being played in England 2. Bills and Jags have smaller fan bases and 3. People are moving off of cable.)  Why is there a correlation? I think the large national advertisers are already feeling the need to start getting better data. Once a tv show or sporting event has moved online they can collect the same quality of data that I can on my website here in Jackson. They will be attractive to powerful marketing firms and companies.

I still feel there is a place for local traditional marketing in your planning but I willl write about that in my next post.

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A Reckoning is Coming: The Traditional Media’s Data Problem

The post is a part of a series of blogs about traditional media’s data quality and its use. 
Subscribe to my email list to make sure you see the other parts of this series.
Read post 2 here and post 3 here. 

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I believe a Reckoning is coming.

I think someday soon (3-5 years) most business people across the country will begin to revolt because of the lack of data that offered by traditional media outlets. Our culture is growing more and more data aware and savvy everyday. This is not to say that traditional media will no longer be a good place to advertise. I believe that traditional media can be useful and I will talk about that more in the 3rd post in this series. Lets look at three of the main types of traditional media and their data:

Newspapers and Magazines: Newspapers and magazines strongest data to show someone is their distribution. In the Old World of data this was sufficient. I believe there is a little something in our heart that assumes that what ever the distribution number it is the same as the number of people who would see our content or ads. But in our brain we know that there is no possible way that everyone of those newspapers was read and of the ones that were picked up very few of them were read all the way through. But there is no way to know what the number of people who read the newspaper is or how many of them interacted with your ad. Newspapers and magazines also have a short shelf life but longer than Radio and TV.

Radio: Similar to a print distribution number but more accurate I think are radio ratings. But radio ratings are still based on what I would consider an extremely fallible system which is built similarly to TV.(more on that in the next paragraph Radio deals with a few specific challenges like: are people paying attention when listening, is it on in the background of a work place, or are people talking in the car while its playing. In my opinion most radio stations do not start from a place that assumes engaged listenership.

TV and Radio operations usually refer to Neilson ratings (or a similar type service like Arbiton, which was  acquired by Nielsen). Nielsen has had some problems recently: Here is a New York Times Article on how Nielsen had bad data for several months.   But that Old World Data is still going to be inaccurate even if reported correctly. Nielsen collects ratings two ways: journal and meters. Journal (or diary) markets have people who record what they watch on TV or listen to on radio each day. Journal reporting relies on peoples ability to remember and their willingness be honest in their reporting. Nielsen and organizations like it select people based on demographics to report in these journals. West Tennessee is journaled market. Similarly in a metered market a demographically diverse group of people are selected and their TV or Radio use is recorded and transmitted to the collecting organization. These numbers are flawed in a New World of Data because its only a sample group. As our culture becomes more and more segmented the representation of demographics will become less and less accurate. People are less and less likely to watch what everyone else is watching or  if they do it might not be on the same screen.

Additionally most of the traditional mediums are based on repetition to get the message across. This requires money over time. This may work if you are a large business but if you are small business or a startup you probably will not have enough cash to start an effective campaign.

The new world of data demands much more than what traditional media can offer. In post 2 I will talk about the New World of Data in marketing and in part 3 talk about some ways to maximize use of local traditional media.

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Update Yahoo Local – A How-To

I had a client recently who found that their map listing on Yahoo Local was incorrect. They had tried and had been unable to find how to update Yahoo Local. I then took up the quest to change their Yahoo listing and also found it to be difficult. I wanted to show how to make that change and talk about why it is so hard to change:

1. Using Yahoo search: Look up your business.

2. Look for the local listing, which should look like a map listing.

3. Click the text that says: Is this your business? Verify your listing

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So far so good. But here is where it goes downhill:

You will now be taken to a page that instantly aggregates almost all major (and some minor) directories online to match up the contact information for your business. This showed about 36 directories in all and all the info shown about your business. It also highlights the problems with each listing.

This tool is powered by Yext. Yext is a tool that I was told about by a fellow CO Member Austin (@NotReallyAustin) a few weeks ago. Yext allows you to update all of your online listings at the same time. This could be a very useful tool for marketers and businesses in two ways: 1. It shows you were your listings are incorrect (for free!) and 2.) if you have more money than time (established business or if you do not have an intern), you can pay Yext to update all your listings at once. Yext would be a great tool for creating brand consistency over all the different channels people might be looking for you. Yext could be a good tool, but this article is about Yahoo.  Screen Shot 2015-03-11 at 11.04.02 AM

Yahoo really really really wants you to use Yahoo Localworks.  Localworks is Yahoo branded version of Yext. Yext has a small icon at the bottom of the page indicating that the Localworks is powered by Yext. Most of us are not going to want to pay to update a Yahoo Listing though!

Now its time to pick up with step 4.

4. From here, click on the Local Marketing tab on the main navigation menu.

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5. On this page scroll down to “Try Local Basic Listing for free” this is two thirds the way down the page.

Clicking “Sign Up” will bring you to a prompt to fill in your business info. This will once again bring you to a screen with the Yahoo LocalWorks listing. They will once again ask you to buy something!

 

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6. Read this screen carefully and find the No Thanks! button.

It is next to the large brightly colored sign up now button on the top of the page. Now you will be able to go through some more routine steps to update your information.

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There are a few steps still like verifying your identity and things but from here its pretty typical. One last thing is they have to approve your changes which takes between 2-5 days. The last listing I changed has been pending for about 2 weeks now.

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Customer Spot Light: Turner Pet Cremation

When someone told me that Turner Pet Cremation was looking for help, I thought that was a some sort of joke. Not being a pet person, I had not ever looked into a service like this before. I came to find that Turner Pet Cremation is the best in the area at providing a dignified cremation process for someone’s pet.

During this process I got to know the Mitchell family who now run Turner Pet Cremation. They are real salt-of-the-earth people who were a pleasure to work with. Clayton, whose grandfather started the business, took me for a tour of their facility and showed me some of their most popular urns. One of the things I love about working with small businesses is all the things I get to learn from my customers about their businesses!

For Turner we created a new logo and a new website. (Check out the website here.)

Here is the logo:

 

Turner Pet Cremation Logo

 

 

I am currently accepting new clients, if you know of any businesses who need help with their marketing, please share this site with them.

Great Super Bowl Ad: BMW i3

For those of you watching the Super Bowl this year you might have seen the new BMW commercial. I really like this ad for a couple of reasons:

1. Its based in reality. The first half of the commercial actually happened. For some of us this seems not possible but that was on live tv back in the day. The internet changed everything and electric cars are going to change our world, but to a lesser extent. But bravo to BMW to trying frame the change that this new car will make in the same realm as the introduction of email.

2. Its funny. Looking back at what would be come such a funny moment in history and making a modern version is very clever. The bit about twerking is such a surprise that you can help but laugh.

What I don’t like:

1. Super forced. They pushed a little to hard on a few parts of the recreation to feel real. Like starting to talk to a random bicyclist? Allison still works for them? Maybe to show how far they have come they should have called Siri instead.

2. It is weird that they do not to appear to have aged. They do not appear to have aged that much in twenty years. That concerns me as a human being.

But over all a great ad. Let me hear your thoughts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1jwWwJ-Mxc

Go Daddy wins the Superbowl

Go Daddy Puppies

Go Daddy Puppies

I have been avoiding Go Daddy ads for years now. They are usually so raunchy that I just change the channel or look away. This behavior continued when I saw “Go Daddy ad causes a stir” on my Facebook timeline this morning. Then my wife told me she thought it was funny. So I checked it out. Once again Go Daddy creates an ad that generates as much or more coverage from controversy as from actually ad placement. This time it doesn’t feel like they were aiming for controversy but some companies are just better at finding it then others. The ad is well made and funny even if the message irritates some people. Here is the video:

Also in this debacle we get a lesson from the school of “always being on your toes”. HostGator decided that it could maximize this situation for its benefit. This is the ad that came up when I googled ‘Go Daddy Puppy Commercial’:

Hostgator loves puppies

 

Well done HostGator.  This might be as on the same level if not on the same scale as the now famous Oreo ad during the super bowl power outage. Maybe we all need to watch our competitors ads just to pounce with a witty retort when they make a mistake!

 

 

A Resource for Free Stock Photos

This week I wanted to tell you about one of my favorite tools on the internet: Unsplash. Unsplash is an amazing resource of curated and free to use stock photos. One of the key components that makes Unsplash great is the curation. You can find free to use photos in different corners of the internet but often the quality is only so-so. Unsplash brings your breath taking photography each week. The cool part about it, it is completely free to use! I mean you do have to pay for… oh wait, no it is completely FREE TO USE!

Now if you have used Unpslash before and found finding the perfect picture difficult you might want to check back with them. Recently Unsplash answered the prayers of many of it’s users but adding a tag search of their entire database. That is a game changer. Instead of scrolling through hundreds of beautiful images you can bring the search time and effort down significantly if you know a good keyword or two.

In fact the featured image on this post is from Unsplash! Hopefully with my new camera I will be able to get some photos onto Unsplash!

Visit Unsplash.com for a amazing collection of photos!

TV is changing

 

TV is going to change dramatically in the next few years and this week it took a big step that way.
Streaming services are growing!

The chart above from Marketing Charts shows a stat that we probably already knew: On Demand video services are growing significantly. 76% of all households in America use some sort of media on demand. This statistic could be artificially high because it contains DVR’s which is become more standard with modern telecommunications. I think it would be safe to say 50% of households in America have a streaming service.

The number of cord cutters (aka people who do not have cable in the home) is growing. initially some thought it might be a victim of the recession but as the economy returns to full strength the number of families without cable has not wavered much. Premium tv is becoming aware of this increasingly large group of people. ESPN decided to do something about it and in doing so might have placed the first nail in the coffin of cable/satellite tv.

ESPN has announced that it is joining a completely cable free streaming program with a few other channels offered through DISH Network for $20 per month. ESPN is one of the reasons most people stay on a cable subscriptions! Why would ESPN do this? Ad revenue. As cord cutters continue to grow the value of ads on channels exclusively on cable and Atlanta networks will begin to drop.

Imagine a future where you will be able to buy small packages of the channels you actually want to watch. This is great for consumers and for local advertisers. Local advertisers frequently get mixed in with all the channels a media company has access to. Advertisers will be able to better target their ads to specific packages of channels that their customers will be watching.

This maybe the first nail in the coffin of cable/satellite tv but do not clear your schedules for their funerals anytime soon. This transformation will be years in the making and will be restricted by fast broadband access. Not everywhere is as lucky Jackson with our 1 GIG fiber network. Thanks JEA!