Jim Gilbert Interview on the importance of targeting your market correctly in marketing and other topics…

Here is an interview with our President Jim Gilbert from a local internet TV station BRITV

In the interview Jim stresses the importance of doing your research before endeavoring on any new marketing campaign.  He talks about the 40/40/20 direct and digital marketing rule and how to create persona’s from your customers that allow you to find new customer “clones” that will purchase just like your present customers do.

Interviewing Jim is Jonathan “JDOGG” Lederman.

Note: Not the best interview Jim has ever done, but not the worst either.  Enjoy for some good marketing, direct marketing and digital marketing takeaways.  Also mentioned is Jim’s affiliation (he is current president) with the Florida Direct Marketing Association

T-Mobile tries to take down Verizon with Dumb hashtag campaign. Fails badly! I win though with Adweek Mag mention

Got a nice mention from @adweek Magazine for my tweet about T-Mobile’s hashtag fail.

Never try to take down a bigger, better competitor with an out of context totally silo’d hashtag campaign like ‪#‎neversettleforverizon‬

Article from @adweek here

Website Goal? 6 Tips for ALL Ecommerce Companies to Capture EVERY Visitor to Your Website…

One of the universal truths I see is a lack of understanding by many marketers, from newbie to experienced, of what their website is really for. I know, I know, marketers always say the right thing: It’s about conversion. When I look at their website and ask them what their site conversion rate is, I hear them proudly state, “I convert 2 percent, look how good I’m doing!” (And of course some marketers don’t even know what their site conversion rate is.)

Here’s a better goal: Click here to see the full article on Retail Online Integration Magazine’s site.

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Advertising on your head? (I was quoted in this article on Huffington Post

 

No matter what you think of this method of advertising, it certainly is unique.  I was interviewed for this article about one of my former clients, DeliverLean using Mohawk Gaz to advertise their business on his head.  So what do you think of this?  Effective?  Read the article for my opinion: Click here

Why Direct Marketers Hate Beer Commercials and Branding

I’m going to take some heat for this next statement: I’m not a big football fan. OK, I said it!

I grew up playing and watching hockey, and never really “got” football.

But usually I love the Super Bowl. Actually, I should say that I usually love the Super Bowl’s commercials. They’re usually clever, funny and make my annual trip to my friend’s Super Bowl party much better.

But I’m not really sure what happened this year. Ninety percent of the commercials were just plain stupid, other than Brett Favre’s spot for Hyundai, Volkswagen’s punch buggy ad and the Letterman/Oprah/Leno commercial for CBS’ “Late Show.” And I loved the sheer perfection of Google’s spot. It told a story and made you feel it.

Seeing Betty White and Abe Vigoda playing football was funny, but I have no idea the following morning what was being sold in the ad. All in all, this year’s trend seemed to be men in underwear and condescending beer spots.

If You Build it (Brand it), Will They Come?

I’ve also never been a big branding guy. I’ve always believed that branding is something you do while you’re stimulating orders and leads via direct marketing. To me, making someone laugh while watching a commercial doesn’t exactly cause new customer acquisition. You do that with great offers, calls to action, superior guarantees and, of course, products that measure up to and exceed expectations.

Direct marketing is immediate, purposeful, in your face and compels you to take action. It’s not about creating a funny TV spot and the eventual purchase of a product based on message recall. Direct marketing is about measurability.

And while I admit that general branding agencies are getting better at using direct marketing principles, it’s not enough. Just slapping a URL on a TV commercial doesn’t make it direct marketing.

Take Names and Kick Butt … A Prescription for Commercial AdAgencies

Here are four ways that I would’ve rewritten the scripts of all the commercials I saw (and a select few actually did this):

1. Drive people online for more info (or to a Chevy Chase video to continue the brand interaction.  Remember time interacting with a brand means more brand loyalty).

2. Get prospects to raise their hands and take action — i.e., identify themselves as wanting to continue interacting with your brand.

3. Build a database of these prospects, and do something creative or make them an offer, etc.

4. Start a contest to drive prospects to your Facebook page or your blog.

In short, don’t just create ads for a later response (you hope) and/or message retention and brand recall. If you build it, they won’t necessarily come … or even remember. Create commercials that build brand engagement and stimulate action.