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Archive for the ‘marketing’ Category

5 Reasons Why Weight Watchers Marketing Rocks

Friday, January 6, 2012 —

For the past year, I’ve committed to a healthier lifestyle and have been following Weight Watchers. I haven’t shared much about this because I’m still working on getting to my goal “weight.” So far I’m way impressed by this program and it really works – I’ve lost over 70 lbs.

Weight Watchers recently rolled out many improvements to the plan for 2012 including a new iPhone app called Weight Watchers Barcode Scanner. This app allows you to scan barcodes and calculates the PointsPlus values of food. I recently downloaded this app and so far I really like it.

Weight loss programs and services are a hot topic this time of year because there is a large portion of the population that can use these services. According to the Worldwide Health Organization, over 1.8 billion people are overweight worldwide and it is estimated that and people spend more than $60 billion on weight loss programs and services. Wow. That’s a whole lot of market potential. No wonder you see so many products and services popping up to capture a bit of this market share.

So with all the weight loss program choices out there, how does Weight Watchers stand out with their marketing? Here are the top five reasons why I think Weight Watchers marketing rocks:

1. Consistent branding, messaging and communications with members who are engaged.

2. Well-respected celebrity endorsers and partners– Jennifer Hudson, Charles Barkley, Hungry Girl, and Dr. Oz. Plus, they also feature real users of the program and their success stories.

3. An easy-to-use online and offline community to help you keep your weight loss on track with success stories, tips, blogs, challenges, etc.

4. Mobile apps for tech-savvy consumers.

5. Print publications (cookbooks and a magazine) plus products to make following the program easier.

The marketing of Weight Watchers definitely reflects their great understanding of their audiences and a focused effort to engage their “ideal” consumer. This provides Weight Watchers with the best opportunity to stand out from the crowd. For example, Charles Barkley is clearly a great spokesperson to engage more men, the apps engage techy consumers and Dr. Oz targets middle age women. Is your marketing this focused?

Susan Schoultz is Design Director at Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create, and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve2.

Tags: 5 reasons why Weight Watchers marketing rocks, marketing

Get 100 Ways to Build Your Business

Monday, December 19, 2011 —

Have you ever tried to think up new ways to market, manage, or build your business and found yourself at a complete loss for ideas? I think it happens to everyone. I have to admit, it even happens to us, despite the fact that we’re a marketing company. I’m not sure if it’s because we spend so much time being creative on behalf of others that we just run out of gas for ourselves, or if it’s because we spend so much time dreaming up new ideas that it’s hard to come up with something that feels truly revolutionary for ourselves.

Well, we’ve solved that problem! Last year, we came up with the crazy idea of trying to get 20 of our favorite thought leaders to share five ideas that would help businesses innovate, grow, or manage themselves better. We contacted a few people, who loved the idea, and our big project for 2011, 100 Ways to Build Your Business in 2012 was born.

After several months of hard work, we’re pleased to share these great ideas with you. The book includes thoughts on marketing/PR, web/social media, management, and video/photo, so you are sure to find something that is applicable to your business! Best of all, you can also sign up to receive a monthly tips from the ebook for the next year. (Because seriously, who can remember or implement 100 ideas all at once?)

You can download the free e-book and sign up for the monthly emails at the 100 Ways to Build Your Business website.

Our best wishes for a busy and productive 2012!

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve

Tags: branding, Buzz marketing, Clear Verve, Communication, content marketing, E-book, Graphic Design, Great ideas, marketing, Public Relations, service marketing, Social Media

When you give, you get!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 —

Clear Verve Marketing was recently featured in a Profile in Philanthropy from BizTimes Milwaukee. These profiles, which appeared in the BizTimes Giving Guide, highlight the services of individuals in the Milwaukee area who have made significant contributions to the nonprofit community. Clear Verve, along with Catral Doyle creative and Welke Group, were highlighted for our Tri-Adathon work. You can view our profile, along with profiles of other generous individuals and some deserving nonprofits, online.

If you’re not familiar with Tri-Adathon, it’s a once a year opportunity for Milwaukee-area nonprofits to receive some really great pro-bono marketing work. Each year, we take applications from local organizations, select a number of projects to work on, and then shut down and complete these projects in a 24-hour work marathon. It’s exhausting and fun. It’s also given us the opportunity to meet some really great people and learn a lot about the many organizations that make our community a better place. The 2012 Tri-Adathon will be held in spring. Be sure to watch for our call for entries coming in March or April.

We don’t do Tri-Adathon specifically to get publicity, but it’s nice when that happens. Many thanks to our friend and client, Gary Ross from Community Health Charities of Wisconsin for nominating us. We’re looking forward to another successful creativity marathon this spring.

Here’s a video of our Tri-Adathon experience last year:

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve

Tags: Clear Verve, marketing, media relations, nonprofit, Public Relations, Tri-Adathon

Why crowdsourcing can work for Harley Davidson

Thursday, November 17, 2011 —

A recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article described Harley Davidson’s new strategy to generate ideas for upcoming ads – crowdsourcing. The theory behind crowdsourcing is that a large group of people will make better decisions than a small group of experts. It’s been shown to work for many businesses, including Ben & Jerry’s and Pepsi. In fact, many of us often use one of the best known results of crowdsourcing – Wikipedia. However, in the article, one expert lamented that this strategy would likely result in a dilution of the revered Harley Davidson brand.

I disagree. I think Harley Davidson has all the key ingredients needed to succeed at crowdsourcing.

They have a very large group of fans
Their fans are truly devoted to the brand, to the point of tattooing the logo on their bodies
They care about what Harley Davidson stands for and don’t want the company to water down their brand
They understand their own experiences. Although many of the people who work at Harley Davidson are riders, and they obviously understand their audience, they can’t possibly know everything about what their riders experience.
They already have many brand evangelists who will gladly tell you why a Harley is the best bike in the world

Of course, when sifting through the ideas generated by the crowd, I’m sure the people in the marketing department at Harley will come across more than a few ideas that are real dogs. If there is anything I’ve learned from my years of experience in marketing, it’s that everyone thinks they can come up with great marketing ideas, but not everyone can. Good marketing is about a lot more than just pure creativity. It’s creativity mixed with a bit of psychology, tempered by facts about the consumer, and mixed with an ability to understand how the message will be received – not just what they company wants said. That said; I’m more than willing to bet that there will be some brilliant ideas that the Harley Davidson marketing folks can develop into campaigns that will really resonate with current and future riders. And that’s what marketing is all about.

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve

Tags: Communication, crowdsourcing, customer experience, marketing, Social Media

Stop Using the Marketing Fast Pass

Friday, November 4, 2011 —

Every day in Walt Disney World, magic happens. I experienced this first-hand on a recent family vacation. I have long been a fan of Walt Disney, the marketing genius behind Disney and of all that Walt Disney World employees do to exceed customer expectations.

We can all learn from the genius of the Disney brand with their Disney Institute (training I had experienced through a past job which is AWESOME!) and appreciate the many brilliant marketing ideas they have in place. One of the many genius service ideas Walt Disney World has in place at all of their parks is the FASTPASS.

With a FASTPASS at Walt Disney World, you can cut your wait time down for most rides or shows using your park pass. You swipe your park pass on kiosks near the ride or show and receive a ticket with a set time to return at your reserved time to enter the ride or show.

This FASTPASS idea got me thinking about our roles in marketing. With so many tools available for marketing an organization, it is easy succumb to using a marketing “fast pass” and jump right into using tactics without making sure they tie back to a marketing strategy or objective. The end of the year is near and strategic planning is on the horizon for many organizations. Is your marketing plan in place? If not, don’t delay getting your planning underway before the year ends. If you are not sure where to start, we can help you navigate through the lines so you don’t have to use the marketing “fast pass.” Because while a FASTPASS may be great when you are trying to get on an amusement park ride as quickly as possible, if you are trying to build your business as quickly as possible, a marketing “fast pass” leads to disjointed efforts which really only slow you down.

Susan Schoultz is Design Director at Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create, and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve2.

Tags: Marketing Fast Pass, Marketing Planning, Walt Disney World

Phishing and traditional marketing tactics

Monday, October 31, 2011 —

Last week, everyone in our office received an email from Stubhub telling us that our credit cards were about to be charged $2500 for a transaction we hadn’t authorized. The first person to get the email became extremely worried, went to Stubhub’s website – which was down at that moment, and then called her credit card company, who told her they’d received many other calls on the same subject and that everything was probably ok, but to watch her next bill just in case. Soon we saw that everyone else in the office got the email and we were no longer worried because we figured it was a phishing scheme.

This got me thinking – what worried us so much about this email? After all, we receive lots of spam messages every day and usually don’t worry about it. I know my bank won’t ask for personal information via email, and neither will the IRS. I know not to send all my money to Nigeria to become a millionaire (if only it was that easy).

I think it was a combination of factors. First, it was a lot of money, but not so much that it seemed ridiculous. Second, we know Stubhub is a legitimate company and that it conducts business online, so it seemed possible that this email could be true. Because I have never interacted with Stubhub in an offline way, this scam seemed more believable.

I think this is an interesting shift in what we think makes a company “real.” There are many times when people worry that a business may not be real because they cannot find any evidence of it online. This is often a problem for small businesses that need to establish credibility. On the flip side, some businesses need to engage in traditional marketing activities to seem real. Stubhub does extensive advertising to promote its services. We assumed any company with a big enough budget to advertise on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show must be real. Sometimes, direct mail can make a company seem more real. After all, snail mail costs a lot more money than email.

I think it is worth considering what makes any business seem “real.” For every business, the answer will be different. Each business needs to consider how it interacts with customers, their expectations for that business’ behavior, and the many ways they can build trust. I think it most cases, it means relying on more than one method of communication. More communication = more effort and hopefully, more effort = real. (Except when you’re phishing.)

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve

Tags: Communication, customer experience, marketing

Are you afraid of public speaking?

Thursday, October 27, 2011 —

As a marketing company that specializes in working with service providers, we are always advocating that our clients take advantage of or make their own opportunities to speak in front of potential clients or referral sources. Of course, many of them resist. We understand. Lots of people are afraid of public speaking. Here are some things you can do to try to make it easier:

Use your slides as notes, not as a script. You wouldn’t get up on stage and read a book, would you? People who read their slides to the audience often think they are bad speakers. They may not actually be bad speakers, but because the audience can read faster than they can speak, they may be BORING. Don’t read your slides!
Practice. This sounds obvious, but many people don’t. Practice gives you confidence. Even professional athletes practice.
Remember, you are the only one who knows what you were planning to say. If you say it differently, who knows except you? NOBODY!

Public speaking is an excellent way to build your client base and establish your expertise. It is a long-term strategy that may not yield immediate results, but the prospects you get from speaking are often easier to turn into clients because you have already established your expertise. Take advantage of opportunities to speak whenever you can.

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve

Tags: marketing, Public Relations, service marketing

Business is built one step at a time

Monday, October 24, 2011 —

This week, we kicked off a branding project with a new client that came to us as a referral from someone I met five years ago. Next week, I am meeting with a prospect that came to us as a referral from someone I met three years ago. We are talking with another prospect who heard me speak at a seminar two years ago, and I was just asked to speak at an upcoming event because of a body of work we’ve been building up for the past four years.

Why am I sharing this? Because many businesses are often so worried about the short-term impact of their marketing initiatives that it is easy to forget about or not want to “waste time with” things that don’t pay off immediately. But that’s not how building a business works. Everything you do adds up over time. The most successful and stable businesses are usually not overnight successes (although it may seem like it to an outsider). Remember as you build your marketing plan that it is important to include both short term and long term strategies. Mix different avenues of communication and be consistent. Suddenly, it will feel like you are an “overnight success” too.

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve

Tags: business development, marketing, networking, persistence in business, Public Relations

What Maroon 5 reminded me about marketing

Thursday, September 29, 2011 —

Recently, I was watching videos on VH1 with my 13 year old. (Yes, VH1 does still actually show music videos sometimes.) While we were watching, the video for the Maroon 5 song, Moves Like Jagger came on. After watching it for a few moments, my daughter said, “This is a really stupid video.” Meanwhile, I was watching it thinking it was a really clever video.

In the video, there are shots of Adam Levine dancing like Mick Jagger interspersed with other people dancing like Mick and actual footage of Mick Jagger performing on stage. At the end, when Christina Aguilera sings, she’s dressed to look like Jerry Hall, Mick’s long-time girlfriend.

After I explained the video to her and pointed out the real footage of Mick Jagger, she suddenly got it and decided that the video wasn’t so stupid after all.

The experience reminded me about the importance of perspective when crafting your messages. One of the biggest challenges every business faces when building their marketing messages and campaigns is remembering what the target audience knows, understands, and cares about. Just because something is important to you as a business owner or as an employee, doesn’t mean your customer gives a hoot about it. This is why defining a target audience is so important. The more closely you can define your target, the easier it will be for you to choose words and images that will resonate with that group of people.That way, you might not be trying to appeal to a teenager using images that only make sense to her forty-something year old mom.

Check out the video here:

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve

Tags: Communication, customer experience, marketing

Promise Marketing Blog

Archive for the ‘marketing’ Category

5 Reasons Why Weight Watchers Marketing Rocks

When you give, you get!

Stop Using the Marketing Fast Pass

Phishing and traditional marketing tactics

Are you afraid of public speaking?

Business is built one step at a time

What Maroon 5 reminded me about marketing

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