Social media marketing (SMM) can and should play a significant role in any product launch. Say you’ve created a Facebook page for your product but all you hear are crickets instead of cash registers. Well, SMM isn’t about selling, it’s about engaging your audience, getting them talking about you and your product and hoping sales will follow.

An excellent example of a company that successfully used SMM to boost sales is BlendTec, makers of commercial food blenders. They had a great product but few had heard of them. In 2006, they launched the “Will it blend?” viral video campaign, starring CEO Tom Dickson. Dressed in a white lab coat and safety glasses, Mr. Dickson asks the question, “Will it Blend?” and tosses various non-food items such as cell phones, toilet plungers and tiki torches in BlendTec blenders. (My favorite is the iPhone video.) The videos were intended to increase the company’s brand awareness by showcasing their product’s toughness. The content was so compelling it got consumers watching. Within five days of posting their videos on YouTube and on their own Web site, the videos had generated six million YouTube views. They even got their audience involved by asking them to submit their own “blending” ideas for future videos. Ultimately, BlendTec saw their sales jump by 700 percent.

BlendTec did everything right. Their campaign aligned their brand personality and key messages into an entertaining and engaging series of videos.

Now I’m thinking I need one of these blenders for my own entertainment purposes: summer slushy drinks!

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Those of us who work in the design industry often hear this phrase when we propose new marketing ideas to clients: “Yeah, that would be great — if we had the budget.” For some reason, marketing efforts are the first to go when budgets are tight (which is ironic, since marketing should generate sales). At Go East, our clients understand the importance of relevant marketing initiatives; but they face shrinking budgets, especially as 2009 comes to an end. They must choose between spending money on things that drive profits or are specifically requested by an account, and activities that are a bit riskier and generate less of a return on investment.

As 2009 comes to an end, here are a few tips to help stretch your marketing budgets: (more…)

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It’s not quite the end of the year, but there is not a better time to review this year’s marketing budget. First of all, the last few weeks of the year are very hectic and will fly by — so reviewing this year’s budget now allows you the opportunity to spend more time on it. But the better reason to do it now is so you’ll have time to adjust spending and saving: If you see how much money you have left now, you’ll have time to spend it thoughtfully on efforts that will pay off. (more…)

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Fourth quarter is here. Are you ready for it? Are you ready to be proactive in your 2010 sales and marketing plans, to pick up from where 2009 might have left you: in the lurch or in a downward spiral? Maybe you were one of the lucky few whose companies will end the year in successful up-ticks in sales. Even you need to look forward with care. We all want next year to be profitable, and to make that happen we need to start now.

Do you know where your brand will be and where it needs to be to justify your marketing budget forecasts for next year? How will you get the greatest bang for your buck in 2010? (more…)

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If that’s the question, then it seems the response in this economy should be, “I’d do almost anything. … Tell me more!”

I’d be happy to. (more…)

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Yesterday someone told me that we have officially hit the countdown period to Christmas. It’s four months and counting (in case you’re wondering). Of course, my immediate reaction was to shake my head in disgust … the kids aren’t even back in school yet and there are two major holidays between now and Christmas. But then it occurred to me that some people DO need to think about it now (and some should have been thinking about it even earlier).

Then I remembered, at Go East, we’ve already completed 50+ projects for this holiday season ranging from online campaigns to in-store merchandising.

It’s true. If you are a marketer and you haven’t begun planning your holiday efforts, you are behind. This, according to the emailINSIDER, is a proven fact: 8 percent of major online retailers have already mentioned the holidays in their e-mail campaigns.

Read blogger Chad White’s post about the 18 phases of Christmas and then tell me, are you ready?

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Springwise posted about a company in Australia, StickyTwits.com,  that will print stickers with one’s Twitter URL on them. This is my new favorite guerrilla marketing technique. I want some so I can just stick them on all my friends’ iPhones. Or on all invoices. Or any other paper products. StickyTwits are strangely annoying yet enticing, just like Twitter. 

Image courtesy of StickyTwits.com

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Does your brand marketing firm help you meet your marketing objectives in an earth-friendly manner? Accomplishing your goals is not difficult and there are lots of different ways to contribute to a healthy environment.

At Go East, we often joke that we are in the business of making paper, given all the printed materials we create. But in all seriousness, we have tried to mitigate that aspect of brand marketing by finding new, more earth-friendly ways to approach projects and, when it makes sense, we try to help our clients do the same.

Here are our top five recommendations for greening your marcomms up. If you work with Go East, you’ve probably heard some of these recommendations before; if not, then take stock. These are just a few simple ways to help make Mother Earth happy:

1. Consider using different materials for product packaging. Just because you’ve always used cellophane, for example, does not mean that this is still the best way. And consider using less packaging or incorporating recyclable materials.
2. Take the time to obtain printing costs for recycled paper using soy inks. The costs may not be as prohibitive as you think.
3. When thinking about the paper and inks you’ll need to print your brochures, remember that glossy materials (coatings and paper) can’t always be recycled.
4. Consider abandoning  ”sales binders” and moving to a digital strategy. (All the trees you’ll save will provide shade for you if it ever warms up! And your sales folks might thank you for cutting down on the amount of paper they have to haul around.)
5. Realize that going green doesn’t have to be all or nothing: not every marketing tactic has to have a “green” angle. Mother Nature — and your customers — will be happy knowing that at the very least you are considering green options when it makes sense.

Overall, talk about your corporation’s eco-policy whenever appropriate — whether that means including a small statement or signature on the back of a literature piece  or outlining your company’s “green” philosophy in greater detail. Today’s consumers really do notice. 

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