Ant Hill Marketing

One of the questions that always comes up when talking to companies about Social Media is “how can you judge ROI?” To answer this question you really have to step back, and think about what you are using social media for, what it’s purpose is to the organization, and most importantly to your brand. If you are basing the success of your social media strategy on percent of  increased revenue, you may be setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.

The other night I attended the Social Media Club PDX event and this exact question came up. Chris Heuer, the speaker for the evening gave this response, “What is the ROI for having a janitor in your organization.” It presented an interesting point. Do you hire a janitor to produce ROI? No, you hire a janitor to keep your building clean, and your staff happy. This cleanliness and happiness will translate into a more productive staff and hopefully more sales for your company. But you don’t go to the janitor and expect him or her to produce sales.

Many people think that social media should drive revenue, just like a direct marketing campaign. But the thing to remember is that it is not direct marketing campaign. Social media may be used for product innovation, customer service, community building, or just a way to listen to your customers. You truly have to re-think the nature of the medium and approach it as if you were trying to reach out to a friend.

What we have found, is that customers already expect brands to be active through social media. So if your company is not participating, you’re already letting your customers down.

People don’t like to feel like they are being “sold.” Customers are savvy and won’t put up with it. They want to feel like your brand is providing a service to them. The future of marketing will be all about matching up the right product with the right person and finding those opportunities is where social media can help.

Now, with all of that said, there are ways to track the success of your social media strategy. However, start to think of it more in terms of growth, chatter and understanding rather than click-throughs or conversions. Ultimately the goal is to drive sales — and happy, engaged, customers drive sales.

Those are just my quick thoughts on this topic… and I know there are lots of opinions out there. What do you think?

-Erin

New versus old packaging.

How about a little brand to go with that morning juice? Tropicana felt the squeeze (well their parent PepsiCo did) after launching a new brand look to juice packaging only to call “do-over” after customers and other industry experts cried foul.  Forget that the design was generic and that it was hard to really “see” on the store shelf (I admit I walked right by them), what about being true to the brand?  Tropicana has positioned itself around ”fresh” –  the iconic image of an orange, of picking the orange off the tree and getting that taste right into the consumer’s mouth.  The orange with a straw tells it all.  Was PepsiCo jumping on the “bargain” bandwagon by strategically trying to genericize the packaging? Probably not.  But it does seem like the bigger picture of the brand position was lost.  While the execs at PepsiCo may have spent millions to develop the new and now pulled package design, at least they shouldn’t cry over spilled juice.  The Tropicana brand has stood the test of time and it’s still fresh.

Before + After

When we set out to update the Virgina Garcia Memorial Health Center logo, we knew we had to represent the undying passion, hope and inspiration the story of Virginia Garcia holds.

Starting with a mood board and brand position established through an Ant Hill-guided discovery session, we set off exploring. We had no shortage of starting points: a rich history, multi-cultural and diversity themes, medicine and compassion. In the thumbnail sketches, you start to see the seeds of these ideas.

Thumbnail Sketches

After several thumbnails and refinements, we arrived at 3 potential options to review with the team.

Initial Concept Review

During our presentation to the Virginia Garcia team, the themes of freedom, passion, joy, inspiration and Virginia Garcia herself were all discussed and weighed against our initial concepts. We all agreed the third concept – derived from and abstracted VG and a butterfly – was not only inline with the Brand position, but everyone’s expectations, as well.

After further refinement and an extensive color study, we arrived at a final mark that truly represents the Virginia Garcia Health Care Center’s passion and inspirational work. I feel we have not only created a mark to help them stand out among other NGO’s, but one that serves as a beacon of hope and health for the folks who need their services.

Final Logo

After the logo was approved, we unveiled it at an organization-wide meeting. We alluded to a big change in an all staff invitation, then made the unveiling central to the overarching message of change at the meeting. Attendees were given t-shirts with the new logo made of all the words associated with Virginia Garcia’s mission, as well as small buttons employees could wear until a wide-spread external launch.

Internal Launch Buttons + T-Shirts

The Portland chapter of the Social Media Club is re-launching tonight. The Social Media Club is a world-wide organization that focuses on four main areas:

1. Expand Media Literacy
2. Share Lessons Learned Among Practitioners
3. Encourage Adoption of Industry Standards
4. Promote Ethical Practices through Discussion and Actions

This group is all about bringing people together to share ideas and learning from each other.  If you want to find out more information about this event and learn how to get involved, visit the Social Media Club PDX blog.

Business leaders listen up. Tough times call for tough love and your organization needs that tough love now more than ever. If you have tightened your belt, frozen spending or even (gasp) cut marketing entirely, that may not be the best strategy to get you through.  Focusing on your organization’s brand promise and delivering on that promise in every internal and external interaction people have with your company should be at the top of your list.

One book that helps link the benefits of aligning business and brand strategies is Building the Brand Driven Business by Davis and Dunn.  The authors detail the importance of brand and offer key steps to build a brand to drive long-term growth.  Companies must live their brand and the CEO leads the charge. Internally, every operational area must commit to the brand and align business and department strategies with the brand.  Employees must embrace the brand so they understand how their day-to-day role fits in to the bigger picture, helping them become brand ambassadors.  And, externally the brand must be delivered consistently through all customer experiences.  Brand consistency – a brand that truly delivers – builds brand evangelists.

This book is a practical overview that will help business leaders and marketing professionals communicate on common ground for brand development that fosters business growth.

Building the Brand Driving Business: Operationalize Your Brand to Drive Profitable Growth by Davis and Dunn.