Old Marketing is not dead. RE: The New Mad Men

Today, I read a blog written by Jordan Fried from Higherclick, a professional SEO management company that was shared via twitter by Matt Hunckler. To summarize his blog, Jordan says that internet marketers, SEO experts and inbound marketing consultants are the new Mad Men – stating that the ways of Don Draper are no longer relevant. I posted a comment differing with his point. I must first share that I agree with much of what he intends to share, but had to comment on where I thought he may be missing the mark. I’ll share my comment below exactly as I wrote it (typos included):

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I enjoyed your blog, and I understand the point you are making, but I think you are generally wrong about your delivery.

In today’s age people fight for the first place on a Google search term, the first video on a Youtube search, or the brand/consumer relationship status to be shared to ones personal Facebook network.

In Don’s age, they fought for placement on the best show (same idea as a search term), the best billboard, getting the best celebrity endorsement… It was essentially the same. If you had enough money, you could get it, and today is no different.

The problem with your case is that people don’t buy because of the internet, or because of a TV show. They buy because your story is relevant to them (and sure, because you were able to tell it to them). Story telling connects with people’s senses because they can imagine the smell of the coffee brewing in the story, or the emotion they felt when their child had their first steps, or the anger they would feel if their inferior product failed. Stories are where it is at (and this is also why Nickleback is so successful too by the way).

To explain why nothing has really changed, let’s go back as far as Jesus’ time for example. He often told Parables to sell his message, that is, he told stories. He presented his ideas in a way that make sense to his listeners and allow them to mentally imagine being part of the story, or recall a similar experience you’ve had. When you hear a story, you start replacing the characters with people you know. You begin to put yourself in the story if it is something you can relate to. When you are in the story, you can really imagine what it would be like if you were there and why your life would be better if you had that product. If that story rings true with your experience, you will likely tell that story to others, and they will believe as well.

Good marketing comes in all shapes and sizes, and there are many technical ways to implement it (Search, Social, TV, Print, Other Stuff) but at the end of the day, people still love a good tag line and picture the plants that story in their mind. People buy because something makes them happy.

“Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is OK. You are OK. ” -Don Draper

Our CEO Daniel Herndon Featured on Firebelly

Not long ago, Duncan Alney from Firebelly (a Boutique Social Agency) wrote this lovely article  about our CEO, Daniel Herndon in his series of articles profiling “cool people” in Indianapolis. Duncan skillfully crafted what is not only a great article, but a fairly accurate profile of our Company’s leader.

Some highlights from the article:

“Daniel Herndon is a bad ass. There I’ve said it.”

When talking about Daniel’s beginnings, Duncan shared,

“Rock-n-roll kick started his career in marketing when he started seeking creative ways to market his own band nationally. He rolled what he learned from creative marketing adventure to form redwall MUSIC…”

Duncan is the leader of the passionate Firebelly Social team. Our services include community management and social promotions. I love working with people with vision who expect the best of themselves and the people they work with. I believe that happiness is a critical part of my personal and professional life equation.

Read the full article here.

Why you should create stories, not marketing

It’s very common for business owners, marketing directors, etc. to talk to their ad agency and say “we need to do a social media campaign” or “we need to design a new marketing [insert specific collateral item here]“. The reason is always to build their brand, and increase business. I should also mention that this is preceded by a challenge that needs to be overcome, or goal that has been set out. While you may be right that you need an online video advertising campaign (or whatever), it’s not actually the right answer to your challenge. What you really need is to develop your story – as the first part of your brand.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal says that successful branding still happens offline. I agree with this by the way. The premise of their argument is that branding doesn’t happen because of a Facebook campaign or because of advertising a brand well. It happens because there is something worth talking about.  A quote from the article stood out to me.

It is important to fight the urge to start your marketing strategy with a particular tool or approach. Instead, start a story that consumers will want to talk about. What are the messages about your brand and category that make you talkworthy?

Advertising campaigns and social media campaigns are simply formal ways of sharing a story that already exists. If that story is not interesting or something that people are passionate about, that is the end of the story. If it is “talkworthy” then the story continues organically, with no respect of marketing channels.

This is why we call ourselves an Idea based ad firm. Tomorrow there will be a new tool. Actually, today there is a new tool. We start with the idea (which is always the centerpiece of the story). We like to help our clients craft their story, build great ideas from them and determine the best way (or ways) to share it. This is a timeless method.

Want to know more? Find Out More

What Mad Men has taught us about our Ad Firm

We’ve taken a liking to the popular show Mad Men on AMC. I’ve also really learned a lot as I have gone through the seasons in a short order of time (thanks Netflix). Here are a few things that have resonated with me.

They start with the hook. Good content is the key to all successful marketing campaigns no matter the environment. Instead of starting with the channels through which the brand is marketed, start with the key message that speaks to your audience, then unfold the details from there.

We like the term ad firm more than we used to. Remember when we were kids and we thought traditional advertising was the devil’s work? The fact is, evolving advertising is still essential for businesses. The terrain is changing and your customer’s voice is powerful. Make conversations, but it’s ok to admit that your are reaching out with a message to attract that customer.

“If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.” -Don Draper

Everyone is in sales in a consulting firm. Some advertising companies have business development people (and we tried that) but in our business the person introducing you to the company has to understand how they can help you, and then be able to deliver on it. This has been where we saw the most success. Us serving you, before and after the sale.

Advertising has always been about invoking emotion more than about impressions and this never changes. Thats what can make email marketing and social media really pay off. Some feel like impressions is the key (lots of fans/followers) when in fact Social Media and everything else is successful when you can create loyalty because of the meaningful association with the brand.

“Advertising is based on one thing: Happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car…  It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of the road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is okay. You are okay.” -Don Draper

Suits are cool if they are cool suits. I once made a pocket square out of an envelope for a blazer. When someone caught me, I tossed it. I guess I need to get some fashion tips from my friend Marcus Hall at ExactTarget.

It’s important to enjoy your work. Don draper once said:

“You came here because we do this better than you and part of that is letting our creatives be unproductive until they are.” -Don Draper

We like to keep the environment comfortable here at redwall LIVE to encourage creativity and innovation. We work really hard but we do it when we are best at it (at night if that is the case). We also play foosball and pranks around the office (see example).

Want to see us in action? Find out more

Carrier Creative, Advertising Kit

We recently completed a full ad kit for the Koch Air, the midwest distribution channel for Carrier Heating and Air. It involved TV, Radio, as well as Mail and Print ad templates. Our concept was to feature a family that will bring a smirk to your face, and bring a warm human element to heating and air. This ad kit will be used for advertising and marketing by all Carrier dealers around Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri.

USA Today features redwall LIVE – Forkout Charity Stakeout

Picture By Blake Dieringer: imagesbyblake.net

Daniel Herndon (redwall LIVE / Forkout.org) Lived in a van for 5 days with Darren Heil (CFI) to tackle just a percentage of their 2010 budget. The Non Profit student mentoring program is moving forward with an expansion into two more schools in January thanks in big part to the traction generated through this campaign with forkout.org – The Giving Engine of redwall LIVE. Without a kick start by having Deep Ripples : Organic Search Marketing and Pet Supplies Plus Indianapolis the event never would have taken place, we didn’t have anything unless it was donated, including food” -Daniel Herndon. People viewed the live event as it happened throughout the 5 days and gave generously. Forkout used a Webcam broadcast and Twitter to broadcast the event in real time, sparking a remarkable groundswell of internet traffic and blog posts.

Donations, Viewers and Supporters watched and communicated with the Forkout team from across the country and even the world including viewers from Scotland, Ireland and the UK.

Twitter saw more than 100 tweets a day from hundreds of users posting updates including the ‘hashtag’ #forkout in the tweet. More than 170 individual donations were made and dozens of blogs and web conversations were posted about the inspiring story.

USA Today Said:

Why Distribution Supersedes Branding

You’ve invested a lot in building a brand that is well recognized and communicates the spirit of your business. You’ve taken the time to design a great website, great print marketing, compelling video stories, superior advertising. If you don’t have distribution strategies, your product may fall flat. Great marketing depends on a strategic approach.

I’d like to cover two areas of distribution – product distribution and marketing channels.

• Product distribution: No matter how good your iPhone is, your sales will always go up if you are on the shelves of Wal Mart, the largest retailer in the world. Most of the items in the dollar store have no marketing, but they sure do sell a ton. There are indeed down sides to having a piss poor brand, but the fact is, when your product is easy to buy, more people buy it.
• Marketing Channels: Even if you create one of the most bland social networks in the world, if you create marketing channels like making it exclusive to college campuses, you will grow faster than if you announce it to the whole world. Similarly, AddressTwo the Small Business CRM knew that they were better off investing in the right marketing channels to build their customer base. While it’s a great product, it is not the best there is. It’s success is from being marketed to the right people, through third party channels. By creating reseller channels with marketing firms, they had their product being sold for them as a value add.

When to use Comic Sans

NEVER.

The Key to a Successful Business

If there was one thing that was the key to a successful business – it is talent. Having the right people on your team is the most important choice a business owner can make in my opinion. Choosing the right partners when hiring outsourced services like a CPA, a Technology Consultant or simply contract labor is no different.

Recently we’ve brought in members that have more experience, and we’ve added new elements, and ultimately increased the size of our team. This makes us a stronger marketing agency. Over the last three years, we’ve had a short list of talented people that have worked with redwall LIVE in a few different roles. We have contractors that we work with every day, that we would not think about leaving. We’ve had tons of interns, several contractors as well as a few full time individuals, all of which have added some value to the company. Some have moved on, and I’m glad to say MOSTLY under positive circumstances. My point is, quality talented people is one thing I would not trade.

Today, I could not be more proud of the people we have on our team. This is a team that I love to brag about. Every one of us has chosen to be a part of this team, in spite of other options. Every one at redwall is passionate about our mission to create, innovate and market amazing businesses. Our hobbies and our jobs have blurred lines. We love creating. We love telling stories. We love building them as well. Thanks for letting us be a part of your story. Here’s to some great people.

Blaise Vincz, Ben Murray, Daniel Herndon, Heather Chapman, Adam Bocik

The 3 Most Important Rules of Marketing

Across the globe people are spending millions of dollars and man hours to grow increase sales, elect people into office, influence change or raise money. Some are successful and some not so much. What is all the more intriguing is that some marketing campaigns are wildly successful and some,  awesome failures (picture the Hindenburg disaster and someone saying “oh the humanity”). At times the clear reason why the marketing campaign has flopped is just not that obvious. We as marketers have to be psychologists, and understand how people respond to things around them. If I may sum up human behavior, sometimes people are just unpredictable. That said, there are factors that always have an impact on the effectiveness of your marketing, and I’ve described them here. These are what I believe to be the most important things to consider and invest in when creating anything to market your business.

A marketing campaign failure

1. Good headlines. Copy writers are in demand these days. With the prevalence of  search engine marketing, social media and the importance of creating web content for blogs and more, fresh content is at a premium. The irony of the matter is  that all that content is only as good at the headline that will sell it. The subject line of an email, the tag line on a billboard, it needs to be simple and clear. It must be interesting, spark curiosity and  lead to a clear call to action.

2. Good design. People have been trained to appreciate good design. Even the left brained individual that can’t consciously discern the difference between good and bad, still subconsciously responds to good design even if they don’t know it. My late friend Steve Jobs took this into consideration with all of Apple’s products. They use a minimalist design, with simple use of color and shape. Think of their logo. It stands out, but yet it is extremely simple (todays version is just a white silhouette of an apple with a bite out of it). They have sold a tremendous amount of products by being meticulous about design.

3. Good distribution. In terms of advertising, the earthshaking tag line or catch phrase on an amazingly beautiful ad doesn’t get any response if it is not where the right people see it. Here are some thoughts when it comes to distribution: A terrible product on Walmart‘s shelves (the worlds largest retailer) will sell more than an awesome one in your yard sale. A “perfect” ad in a mens car magazine, selling a product targeted at middle aged women will not likely sell anything. 1000 postcards to strangers will sell fewer products than 100 marketing emails to past customers. My point is, your advertising needs to be put in the right place, your cool interactive campaign needs to be targeted at the right people in the right way. You must practice relationship marketing if your brand is going to be successful.

Consider this ad we designed for an industry magazine. We took all three of the above into consideration when preparing this ad campaign. Allow me to point out a couple points to illustrate.

Simple and clear is powerful. Don’t worry about earthshaking copy, when you just need an earthshaking headline. There is very little question of what the message is here. Think of a a good headline like the tip of a sword – if you are trying to pierce something, you use the tip of the blade first. Giving your audience all the information at once prevents any of it from being received so start with the point.

Contrast can been seen for miles. Consider contrast in two areas: design and message. Contrast in message is using the art of pattern interrupt by deviating from what is expected (we said think small instead of think big for example). Controversy is also a way contrast can get attention. Contrast in design includes choosing colors for backgrounds that make your subject standout. Contrasting design catches the eye (and is pleasing to the eye when done tastefully).