Against the Grain: Marketing

If advertising was a true science, it would be easy to evaluate the effectiveness of a media campaign by measuring points and metrics like impressions, click-throughs, reach and frequency. However, advertising is part art as well, and “soft” factors—like added value promotions—must be taken into consideration when evaluating a campaign’s overall success.

Trilix’s media team works hard to build lasting relationships with advertising sales representatives, and this can help them negotiate added value opportunities into each media buy. Trilix’s media buyers involve their sales reps in the planning process to maximize their clients’ advertising dollars, and in exchange, the media buyers are able to provide programming and promotional suggestions to increase deliverables and “soft” factors in their clients’ campaigns.

Some of the “soft” factors include:

• Live remotes and/or event sponsorships that can highlight clients’ products or services, and can be incorporated into promotional contests and giveaways.           
• News and weather sponsorships, and other on-air mentions, that can add reach and frequency but is not factored into the metrics.
• Social media promotions that are a cost-effective way to engage target audiences.
• Bonus spots, logo IDs, and banner ads that are just some of the added value opportunities that Trilix’s media buyers can negotiate on their clients’ behalf.

Trilix’s media team understands their clients’ key messages, target audiences and overall objectives, and creates custom advertising schedules based on their budgets. Trilix’s media buyers can help negotiate value added promotions and great rates to maximize your advertising dollars and the impact of your company’s next campaign. To learn more, email info@trilixgroup.com.

For the past few years, advancements in social media have taken the marketing world by storm. Who’s reading my blog? Who’s reading my Facebook posts? Should I even be on Twitter? Why check into places? What’s Google+?

To answer your questions, we pulled together social media statistics with the help of Arik Hanson, APR’s blog.

Why are there so many blogs? Are people reading them?

• According to Tom Webster, The Social Habit, 57 million people read and follow blogs.
• More than 12 million adults maintain a blog.

You can reach out to influential bloggers who write about topics that would interest your audience. They can help promote your services and products in their posts. However, it is important to treat bloggers like journalists — respect their time and really understand their blog’s purpose and community.

Tell me a little bit about Facebook. How can my company benefit? (Source: Tom Webster, The Social Habit)

• Facebook is used by more than half of Americans (older than 52 years old).
• One in four social media users follow brands, products or services. Eighty percent of those people said Facebook is the platform they use to follow companies.
• Twenty-five percent of social media users said Facebook is the platform that influences their buying decisions the most.

Use Facebook to help tell your company’s story. Facebook is a great place to share photos, videos or links that are relevant to your audience. Build a fan base, interact with your audience and listen to what your customers are saying.

How can 140 characters even make an impact?

• We understand. Let’s talk Twitter. According to Twitter’s blog, 200 million tweets are sent per day.
• There were 460,000 new accounts created per day in the beginning of 2011.
• Currently, the TPS (tweet per second) rate is 7,196. This record occurred during the United States vs. Japan Women’s World Cup championship game on July 17, 2011.

Twitter is basically a micro-blogging platform. Use it to share links (use a link shortener, such as bit.ly, so you can conserve characters and track your analytics), updates or even photos. It’s a great tool to spark conversation and engagement between customers or other businesses.

What platform are people using to check into my business? (Source: Dan Zarella, Hubspot)

• Fifty-five percent of mass consumers said they would check-in using Facebook places.
• Six percent of mass consumers said they would check-in using Foursquare.
• Ninety percent of “early adopters” said they would check-in using Facebook places.
• Twenty-two percent of “early adopters” said they would check-in using Foursquare.

Set up a venue on Foursquare, Facebook pages or any location-based social media platform for your business. Offer “specials” for the Mayor and other loyal customers. Allowing people to check into your business can help you understand who your audience is and why they are visiting you.

What is Google+? (Source: Stan Schroeder – Mashable.com)

• Google+ is a new social media platform that was launched just on June 28, 2011.
• It is the fastest-growing social network of all time with more than 10 million members already.
• A few key features include: Circles (friends), Spark’s (recommendations based on your interests), Hangouts (video chat), Photos and a Profile (very similar to all other profile pages).

Google+ is rapidly growing users and they are adding new features, like verified profiles for brands every day.

My company has just one social media platform. Should we be using more? (Source: Tom Webster, The Social Habit)

• Yes. Social media reaches the majority of Americans (older than 12 years old).
• Fifty-two percent of those Americans have more than one social media platform.

Using multiple social media platforms allows you to reach different audiences. Formulate a social media plan for your brand to make sure that your messaging and visual branding are consistent across every platform.

We hope this helps you understand how you can use social media to promote your brand, business or company. If you have questions, feel free to contact us, and we’ll help guide your social media efforts.

In our day-to-day life at Trilix, we all do some form of writing or designing. Today, Trilix sat down with production manager (also known as proofreading extraordinaire), Leng Vong, to gather some of her editing knowledge.

Trilix: What is your process for proofing something?
Leng: First, I prioritize the projects. Then, I look at the piece as one big picture. I ask myself, “What is the purpose of this piece?” “Who is the audience?” “What is the message trying to convey?” Once I figure out the big picture, I read over the whole piece once to look for obvious errors. Then, I make sure to look at it once more to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

Trilix: Why is proofing something so important in our business?
Leng: In our business, we are helping our clients tell their message to their audience. We need to make sure that nothing goes out of our doors with errors, typos or inconsistency.

Trilix: What advice would you give a PR professional, designer or copywriter?
Leng: I would tell them to look over their own work and double check everything. Sometimes it helps to take a step back from the project and come back to it later. Also, people need to make sure to research the client, projects and previous examples. It’s also important to know the messaging, language and tones to provide consistency.

Trilix: What are your biggest pet-peeves in proofing?
Leng: Misused hyphens, the wrong use of dashes and extra spaces!

Trilix: What error do you see the most?
Leng: I see the wrong use of dashes, extra spaces, the wrong forms of words and run on sentences the most when I proof something.

Leng’s other tips –

• Try reading the sentence backwards. It helps misspelled words stand out.
• Read one word at a time, instead of the whole sentence. This trick also helps misspelled words stand out.

Thanks, Leng! I think we can all say we learned a lot today.

Companies frequently come to Trilix seeking an updated website and better content management system. A professional website should have a consistent look, be organized for easy navigation, contain professionally written content, and key functions should be accessible within two to three clicks.

If your company is considering refreshing your online presence or building a new website, Trilix’s interactive team can walk you through the process to identify which content and functionalities your site needs to meet your marketing goals.

Here are some things to consider:

• Do you want your website to generate sales, educate visitors about your products, capture contact information for sales leads, increase visitor traffic and/or increase the average time spent on your site?
• Do you want administrative functions? What content would you like to control?
• Do you want multimedia elements, like a video player, embedded in your site?
• Do you want to host your company’s blog?
• Do you want web analytics to monitor site traffic, the average time spent on each page and keyword searches? 

Trilix’s interactive team uses the goals and objectives outlined by the client to develop a site map that highlights frequently visited pages, creates logical navigational headings and organizes the flow of information for improved usability. Web traffic can be generated by referral sites, like Facebook, Google, or Twitter, so you shouldn’t assume visitors are landing on your homepage. It’s important that your link structure clearly defines where content is located and how users can access it from any page on the site.

Associate Interactive Director Paul Burger says consistency is king. It’s important that each page of your website has a consistent design, clear and concise primary navigation, secondary and footer navigations, breadcrumbs and a keyword search to make it easy to use. The look of your website should be based upon your brand guidelines to ensure the images and messages are consistent with your company’s identity.

Your website should be compatible with multiple browsers, including Mozilla-based browsers and Internet Explorer. Your site should also be accessible from mobile devices. Optimize homepage content so the site loads quickly, and avoid using splash pages or navigational features built with Flash. Make sure your website helps you reach your marketing goals, appeals to your target audience and accurately represents your brand.

Trilix’s interactive team can provide customized, proprietary solutions to meet your company’s digital needs. You can view samples of their award-winning work at www.trilixgroup.com/interactive.

While most manufacturers focus exclusively on building share-of-market, smart manufacturers understand the value of building share-of-heart — connecting with customers in a more personal and meaningful manner. One of the best ways to do that is to develop a random acts of kindness strategy.

Your customers want to know you care about them and their world. A random acts of kindness strategy does just that.

Use social media or traditional research to gain a better understanding of what's happening in your customers' lives. Get involved in those organizations or initiate your own program to positively impact their lives. Then, use public relations and social media to let customers participate in your random acts of kindness. As a result, they'll have a greater affinity for you and your products.

Trilix is a full-service advertising agency headquartered in the Midwest with expertise in helping businesses market effectively and drive sales success. Learn more at www.trilixgroup.com or email Todd Senne at tsenne@trilixgroup.com.