I used to really like TV. In fact, for the majority of my life, I was a television addict. It began in the late 70s and early 80s when I was a “latchkey” kid, and spans way back to memories of “Bonanza” and “Good Times,” and throughout the 80s and 90s to the iconic “Cosby Show.” In my college years I used to relish the times when all of the girls in my dorm would get together to watch “A Different World” and “The Wonder Years.” We would cross our fingers and try to will Kevin to finally confess his feelings to Winnie through the TV screen. When I think back on those times now, I remember how that communal part of watching TV together with my family when I was a kid, or with friends as a single adult, really added an element of fun to the television experience.

I didn’t think that addiction would amount to anything, until I fixed my sights on writing for television as a career. I was able to turn my fascination with dissecting the characters, voices and storylines of shows like “Third Rock from the Sun” into hearing those voices in my head and letting them guide my own thought process while writing spec scripts, which I used as samples to ultimately land jobs on real life television shows including “Sister, Sister” staring Tia and Tamera Mowry. I couldn’t believe my luck– I was actually able to write television shows and get paid for it! Surely, I would be a devotee of television forever, I thought back then.

But in this age of new media, my television obsession has definitely demurred, and if I do watch TV, I only watch the throwbacks on Nick at Nite, or marathons of “Law and Order.” Perhaps finding quality television has become too much work for me intellectually. I no longer watch it for sheer entertainment value – now I only seem to focus on weak storylines, how I would have written the story differently, and mostly, how the actors mostly suck. I am more emblematic of a new kind of consumer of information whose definition of true entertainment has been turned on its ear by the introduction of my new faves–the Smartphone and social media. I am truly obsessed with checking out the status updates of my friends on Facebook; getting glimpses into their lives by looking at their photos and random rants about whether or not the Hydrox cookie can compare to the Oreo (of course not), and how their son or daughter got all A’s on their report card. In fact, I find my friends’ comments about the shows they have been watching more interesting than the shows themselves, because from their editorials I tend to discern whether or not the shows are even worth my taking a sneak peak. This process, called electronic word-of-mouth marketing, is the reason why social media is so popular itself.

But last year brought new news and new hope for me with the introduction of Social TV, defined by Mashable.com as “a general term for technology that supports communication and social interaction in either the context of watching television, or related to TV content. It also includes the study of television-related social behavior, devices and networks.” The term is still pretty new to the entertainment industry and networks are still trying to figure out how to create it, although it has already been happening organically. Social users are often quick to tweet about popular programs like “True Blood” or during political debates during real-time. A planned example of this took place last year via a chat integrated live broadcast on CSPAN’s Facebook page broadcasting their coverage of the transition of power of the House of Representatives from the Democrats to Republicans this time last year. According to Mashable, “Social TV provides a space for audience members to discuss a show, while transmedia encourages content producers to create stories that move across platforms. Therefore, intermedia means that audience members and content producers engage each other between media channels, often with content from one platform affecting content from the other.” In this way Social TV brings the “water cooler moments” we used to experience when we couldn’t wait to get to work and talk to our colleagues about what happened on “The West Wing” around the proverbial water cooler.

As Social TV continues to evolve, I will check in with myself to see whether or not I am compelled to re-engage with television because of this virtual water cooler social media has created and become excited about the new schedule of shows coming down the pike.

Who knows? It could happen if social media is more and more integrated with television in a truly creative sense.

But one thing is for sure. I will always seek to be involved in the conversation.

In a virtual ceremony on September 22, 2011, The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) awarded Merrick Towle Communications the 2011 Pillars Award for “Best Brochure for a Rental Apartment Community” for a new brochure created exclusively for The Alaire, a new modern mid-rise apartment residence in Rockville, Maryland by The JBG Companies.

Over the past decade, MTC has won an unprecedented 15 Pillars Awards in several categories including “Best Overall Sales and Leasing Campaign”, “Best Brochure for a For Sale Community”, “Best Brochure for a Rental Community”, and “Best Rental and Corporate Website”.

Congratulations to all the winners! For more information about Merrick Towle Communications and our success with the Pillar Awards, visit our Awards Page. To learn more about the 2011 Pillar awards visit their website on www.nahb.org.

Merrick Towle Communications can provide solutions to help improve your campaigns. Our certified team stays abreast of the latest trends and opportunities in Pay-Per-Click advertising.

Whether it’s your ad content or your search platforms, there are ways to “Freshen up” your PPC campaigns:

• Improve your quality score with new keyword combinations and perk up your calls-to-action for better response rates. What better way to get new traffic than higher rankings and better engagement?

• Check your numbers. When is the last time you reviewed your budget? Are you allotting dollars to the appropriate campaigns, not spending enough to get first-page traffic? Sometimes just a few changes in your budgets or CPC could result in some spectacular new traffic.

• Try new opportunities on the Google Display Network; whether text or image ads, the Display Network puts your ads next to relevant info from potential clients who might not be actively searching for your services.

• Test platforms you haven’t used! Bing/Yahoo’s AdCenter and Facebook offer new locations to place your ads and expand the reach to your target audience – As of July 2011, 28% of searches are done on the Bing/Yahoo network!

Through optimal campaign management, we at MTC do what it takes to make sure your campaign is getting fresh – and relevant – results. Want to know what we can do for your PPC? Ask today!

Empathy is the capacity to understand, be aware of, be sensitive to and vicariously experience the feelings, thoughts and experiences of another without [actually experiencing it yourself] (Merriam-Webster). In executing an ad campaign there are two main types of empathy that need to be exercised: first is empathy to the attitudes, interests and opinions of the target market; and the second is empathy to how customers actually use your product. Dos Equis was exceptionally aware of the attitudes and interests of their target market: young men. According to evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar: “…men’s conversations seem to be geared as much to advertising as anything else. They talk about themselves or they talk about things they claim to know a lot about. It’s a kind of vocal form of the peacock’s tail.” Through brilliant copywriting and superb use of hyperbole (and great casting), the creative team at Euro RSCG was able to elevate annoying male braggadocio into an art. They used a style that the target market had experienced (a la Chuck Norris quotes) to develop an aspirational campaign for beer that was actually funny. They hit the target market right in the heart and are being rewarded for it…as evidence, see all of the user-generated stories on the Facebook fan page.

The second form of empathy in advertising, how people actually use our products, can be hard to acknowledge; especially in the alcoholic beverage industry. I know… I spent two years on the front lines as a sales person and promotion manager for a beer distributor. Anything that wasn’t one of OUR products was seen as the enemy, especially wine and spirits. The last thing that we wanted was for people to “abandon” beer for wine or spirits. So deep was the fear that the manufacturer distributed manuals on how to try to convince wine and spirit drinkers to switch back to beer. What Dos Equis did was acknowledge that fear and move past it. They realized that today’s drinker isn’t wedded to one brand the way their father’s generation was. The same person may drink Bud Light at happy hour, Tanqueray and tonics at the club and Coronas at the beach. Dos Equis understood this behavior and signed off every ad with “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.” In the same fashion that a great ending can elevate a good movie, this tagline elevated an already great campaign to transcendent.

By being the most empathetic brand in the category, Dos Equis has become one of the most successful brands of the last 10 years. Their success has served to shed the light on empathy and the correct use of the tool in advertising. It is only through the clear understanding of the attitudes, interests and beliefs of the target market, as well as how customers actually use your product, that break-through advertising can be created. So whether you’re advertising real estate and energy or shoes and cars, the goal is clear: to become the most empathetic brand in the world. Dos Equis has set the bar. Good luck.

According to a recent study conducted by EcoAlign, 87% of Americans indicated they would like utilities to suggest ways for consumers to reduce their energy bills. Rising energy costs, concerns of climate change and government reduction goals are a few factors that have left consumers and utilities searching for new ways to reduce energy consumption.

Just in the past few years, we have seen several technological advancements that are providing real solutions to meet modern energy challenges. For example, “Smart meters” are providing real-time data that can be used to monitor consumption. Such advancements have given utilities the opportunity to communicate with consumers about energy use on a personal level. With smart grid initiatives in the early stages of adoption, it will be important for marketers to pair this innovative technology with equally inventive marketing strategies.

Smart grid technology has been in the conversation for over five years. However, according to an EcoAlign study entitled Separating Smart Grid from Smart Meters, only about 1/3 of Americans are aware of smart grid. As marketers we will need to find a communication strategy that educates in a simple and targeted way. They key at this stage is consumer education and trust. While awareness is low, early advocates have had a positive response when asked about smart grid. When interviewed by EcoAlign early adopters identified smart grid as “intelligent”, “efficient”, “green”, and “technologically-advanced”. A good sign but we still have a long way to go to achieve mass-scale awareness and adoption.

The path to conversion isn’t always cut and dry. There are several studies that indicate individuals often desire to reduce consumption, but engage in behavior that is counter to their stated preference.  There can be several underlying motivators that trigger an individual’s decision to reduce consumption.  Not only are your costumers thinking on a rational level, but also on a subconscious emotional level.  Our job is to segment your customers using targeted motivators or “push” points that will impact their decision.

Hunt Alcott observed emotional and social decision making in a group of energy costumers in a study entitled Social Norms and Energy Conservation observed.  Alcott informed a group of high users that their consumption had consistently exceeded that of their peers. This proved to be very influential, and many began adopting reduction measures to meet levels of their peers.  People aren’t just concerned about their financial well-being, but also social standing. This can be a very powerful tool – don’t be afraid to experiment.

It sounds obvious, but not all of your costumers are the same. Individuals have different wants, needs, concerns and, perhaps most importantly, convictions regarding energy use. A message that may connect on an emotional level with an environmental advocate may not resonate with someone who has more conservative views in regards to energy consumption.  Some still view energy as a commodity that is and will be readily available to them at the flip of a switch. In fact, a recent poll conducted by Accenture found that the average customer thinks about their utility bill only six minutes per year.

Consumer segmentation will be the key to success in influencing wide-spread adoption of smart grid technologies. There are several consumer segmentation polls available. I’ll use Opinion Dynamics as an example. Opinion Dynamics identified five consumer segments classified by their opinions about energy consumption.  Two particularly noteworthy groups were leading achievers and striving believers. Leading achievers (what we would like to call the low-hanging fruit), were identified as being passionate about energy efficiency, and showed high levels of interest in saving energy. Striving believers showed high personal interest in saving energy but failed to move to the next level (i.e. adopting an energy efficiency program). Both segments have very unique motivators, and can be converted with a targeted communication strategy.

With consumption data now readily available to providers, there are countless opportunities to engage user segments. Use this data to speak to your costumers on a personal level. Some examples include personal energy calculators, setting usage reduction plans and even real-time cost projections. It’s possible that we can provide consumers a way to actually see how small (turning off lights, washing on cold) or even larger-scale actions (buying an energy efficient appliance, adopting an efficiency program) can reduce their consumption in real-time.

With such transformation in the energy industry there’s never been a better time engage consumers. Smart grid can be a win-win for utilities and consumers.  We can provide the communication tools to engage your costumers on a personal level. They may thank you for it by becoming passionate advocates for your program.

By: Adam Brooks

MTC Partner, Glenn Towle, writes about his recent trip to Cleveland Ohio where he attended IABC meeting and how his experiences there led him to a new understanding of what truly motivates people on a deeper level.

 
I’m recently back from Cleveland, Ohio, where I had the privilege of speaking to a breakfast meeting of the local International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) chapter. It was my first time in Cleveland, which turns out to be quite a nice city with a slew of outstanding restaurants, many within walking distance of my downtown hotel.

Cleveland’s city center consists largely of ornate early 1900′s buildings we now refer to as mid-rises, but, at 15 stories, were the impressive height reasonably reached by elevator and construction technology of the time. The Terminal Tower, built in 1930, was the tallest building in the world outside of New York City for almost three decades. Coupled with a warehouse district being rejuvenated into trendy condos, dining, and retail, and Cleveland truly is a city with character and style.

Which is why I found it remarkable that every local, to a person, upon learning I was from out of town asked if I’d been to “The Rock” – not the first-rate art museum which rivals those in much larger cities, not the botanical gardens which includes a conservatory featuring a Costa Rican rain forest and a Madagascar desert for year-round enjoyment, not the monument to President Garfield in beautiful Lake View Cemetery – just “The Rock”.
“The Rock” is, of course, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a modern glass pyramid perched on the shore which brings visitors to the Lake Erie waterfront. (If you haven’t seen a lake the size of an inland sea covered in thick ice as late as March, that alone is worth a trip to the water’s edge.)

I didn’t. Go to “The Rock”, that is. With my visit being brief, I weighed the $22 admission cost to see a few decades worth of rock and roll memorabilia against the free admission to the Cleveland Museum of Art where I could see thousands of years of human artistic expression. It wasn’t a long or difficult debate.

My point in sharing this is the observation of how we tend to identify as individuals, as well as entire communities, with a very limited subset of the possibilities open to us. The people in and around Cleveland have collectively chosen their newest, glitzy extravaganza as the common point of self-identification. How does each of us do something similar in our lives – personal and professional?

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t an argument against change – I’m no advocate of hanging on to what’s conservative or traditional for its own sake. Rather, it’s a call to self-examination: introspection in the face of our programmed auto-responder; review of the depth and breadth of our interests, likes and dislikes, how we express them, how we choose to feed them; and critical analysis of whatever the current mania is we may find ourselves caught up in. New isn’t necessarily better or worse. But this recent travel opened my eyes to keeping my eyes open to the whole of experience, not just the shiny.

It’s the fast-changing nature of social media that makes it both intimidating and enlightening. On one hand, its fast pace is revolutionizing the way companies communicate with their customers, on the other, that speed is leaving some companies in the dust. From constantly blasting sales messages to preventing your fans from commenting, your social media efforts could be backfiring! The whole point of social media is to engage in conversation; to build a community. So, how do you make sure it doesn’t go horribly wrong?

1. Keep it Social.  Maybe your posts just aren’t very interesting (or even worse, maybe they’re too interesting, but we’ll get to that in a minute). The trick is to post engaging content that promotes interaction. Give consumers information they find useful, relevant or just fun. Why? Because popular Facebook posts stay on the news feed longer. The more users update and engage with your posts, the more likely that content will appear on their news feeds.
2. Don’t Be a  Show Off.  Videos and photos and contests and apps… the possibilities of innovative content are endless. But maybe you’re putting your customers in media overload? You don’t have to be a show off – even simple status updates requesting input, stories, or ideas work great. They might even bring a better response rate than that big promotional video you just posted.
3. Sometimes a Little Flash Can Help.  Feel your posting is getting a little boring or need new ways to engage your followers? Big brand companies create cool games and search features – Why can’t you do the same? Those cool tools created for your website can also be developed for your Facebook page: Search Features, Customer Support, Specials, Community Forums, and more. More web development not in the budget? Just try linking from your Facebook page to your website, and see the response you get!
4. Get Out There!  Build it and they will come might have worked for Kevin Costner in “Field of Dreams” but for your Facebook page…not so much. You need to promote your social media accounts. By including share and “Like” buttons on your website and in your traditional media, you could increase your exposure 100 times! With the average Facebook user having 130 friends, every time your status is shared or blog post is “liked” – you’re being shared with that person’s 130 friends!

Social media doesn’t have to be intimidating. Develop a plan or calendar for posting, mine customer feedback from your social communities to better understand their needs and inform your content, use Google’s Analytics, Facebook Insights, and HootSuite’s analytics to gauge what is working and what is not. Try and try again.

And if that doesn’t work? Contact MTC at 301-974-6030. We’d love to work with you to develop an effective, integrated solution that addresses your company’s specific challenges.

Phil writes about his experience tackling a tough marketing challenge for a large utilities company when he worked on the Ramey Agency’s creative team.

One of America’s largest energy companies, a utilities company with 15,000 employees that mainly services southern states, recognized they needed to address the burgeoning negative sensitivities of their customers.  This is not a unique problem. Most utilities companies are not beloved by their customers. After all, energy is an unavoidable mandatory need, they have to pay an energy bill every month and energy costs keep going up. So as far as customers are concerned this is just one more opportunity for a huge corporation to regularly rip them off.

 So how did we help our large energy client persuade their customers they weren’t the “bad guys” when the trust factor was low – and how did we do it for them with a limited budget? Our proposed solution was to create a social media campaign which would require very little media spend. 

Our client recognized that having a non-functioning facebook page that would be there just for the sake of existing would not achieve their goal. They understood they needed to actively engage their customers if they wanted to change their hearts and minds.

The solution we proposed was to have a facebook charity contest since the company was actively involved in charity work through its entire territory but very few of their customers knew this.

The campaign we created promoted charities in each of the states in which the company operated by awarding grants based on votes from customers on the company facebook page.

The results were outstanding. Not only did this top utilities provider create a new facebook fan base but the number of fans grew astronomically. Plus, based on customer comments and postings, this campaign worked to make everyone feel much more positive about the company. 

In conclusion, utilities and other energy companies would be smart to be active social media marketers. Used creatively and strategically this type of online rapport-buidling can help turn around even the most hardened negative perceptions.

We all want to be at the top of our Google searches but being visible online goes far beyond that.

You already have a hot website with all the bells and whistles, e.g. WordPress integration and enticing Flash animations. All those features will not do you any good if you don’t have relevant traffic coming to your site. Using Search Engine Optimization, your website can deliver the right customer traffic. Starting with keyword and trend analyses and applying that research to Meta data, content and images, your site will soar to the top of search results.

Ongoing SEO efforts can further optimize your site through web analytics, consumer path analysis and keyword visibility reports. The Apartments of Wheaton Center, a downtown Wheaton, IL apartment community, saw a 42% rise in organic search results in just 3 months – imagine what that could do for your occupancy rate!

2.       Social Media: Develop Your Community

Everyone wants buzz these days, but in such a fast paced society it’s hard to keep up. The best way to control the buzz? Develop your own. From Facebook to Twitter, social media provides the best route to not only promote your corporate agenda, but to shed a little light on what is going on inside the walls of your business.

Posting relevant business information, industry and neighborhood news, while having a little fun, will have people interacting with your brand in no time. The Alaire, a luxury apartment complex in Rockville, MD saw a huge success in the initial lease up of the building with an active Facebook community and still (after a year later) gets over 2,000 views a month, pretty great for only having 270 fans!

3.       PPC: Targeted Results Fast

Organic search results take time, developing a community takes people; PPC however, can bring traffic to your brand fast. The difference with PPC, whether it’s on Google, Facebook or through any other site, is that you can pick your target market, pin point what they are searching for and name your price to get their attention. These paid advertisements go as far to geo-locate your market and specify search queries. Budgets can be set at any point and time, and changes can be made in a matter of seconds to match your marketing goals.

Tied in with tracking, you can see how much you are spending for any interaction on your website – from downloading PDFs, signing up for email blasts or even making a purchase! Muse Apartments of North Hollywood, CA saw PPC conversion rates of over 12% in peak leasing months.

Being visible on the internet is a no-brainer these days with 90.2% of the American population being connected. When it comes to real estate, over 75% of people begin their home search online. Without the proper routes to get your digital message out there and to the right people, your business will be left in the dark! END

Marketers focused on promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency, demand response and other sustainability initiatives learned something new when the New Accenture Survey Results came out recently. Not only did the study find that sustainability initiatives are becoming an integrated part of the majority of business operations today, it indicated that old perceptions of what motivates business decision-makers to operate more sustainably may not apply.

Marketers have assumed for years that business audiences are motivated almost solely by logical, feature-based considerations. It is no different when it comes to marketing sustainable solutions, services, or products. Looking at most trade magazines or online ads on business websites today, it is obvious that marketers appear to believe that business decision-makers tasked with purchasing or researching this type of product are motivated almost exclusively by mandated regulations and/or budgetary concerns.

The majority of advertisements that promote sustainable solutions, whether they pertain to energy efficiency retrofitting for buildings, energy efficiency products, renewable energy services or some other sustainability-producing product or service, rely on “safe” messaging and images. Most of these types of ads have headlines that say something like, “Save X percent on your building’s energy bills!” and use the same tired imagery over and over again. There are literally hundreds of ads online and off that utilize the same stock photography or images such as pictures of solar panels, wind turbines or buildings with tree symbols on them. Because most of the ads look, read or sound the same, there isn’t much to engage business decision-makers enough to make them want to pick up the phone or go to the website for more information.

There is a real opportunity that is being missed by most marketers to steal market share by stealing business peoples’ hearts. Case in point; although Accenture’s survey results showed that reducing energy and material costs was a certainly a top driver for business decision-makers, the number one motivation for this audience was their genuine concern for the environment and society. These decision-makers worry about the future of their children. They want to live in a healthier environment. They want to be heroes at their companies and in their own eyes. In other words, they are human beings who care about more than dollars and cents alone.

What this means is that if B-to-B marketers want to differentiate their brands’ sustainability-producing offerings over their competitors’, they cannot afford to ignore the deeper motivations their potential customers have. Decision-makers may use facts to justify their desire to buy a particular solution or to sell it through to other stake holders in their companies, but it is the emotional connection between them and the brand that will make them feel compelled to purchase one brand’s solution over another. The bottom line is one should not assume that engineers or CFOs only care about the bottom line. They have hearts to go with those minds. Business to business advertising particularly when it is trying to persuade a person to make a significant purchase needs to create a strong connection between that person and the brand, even if the person is sitting behind a desk. END