Tag: advertising

Get your Marketing Score Report and Assessment

Tim Leon
President/Brand Strategist

Get your Marketing Score Report and Assessment

Advertising

It’s time to assess how your marketing department performed in 2015, and how you are going to achieve your marketing goals for 2016.

I was at the Fuel Lines conference in Nashville last week and heard a fantastic presentation from Paul Roetzer, president of PR 20/20. His agency published the Marketing Score Report which provides some valuable insights on how companies rate their marketing performance.

The report evaluates marketing areas including:

  • Audiences
  • Social media marketing
  • Content marketing
  • Marketing technology utilization
  • Marketing team strength

and so much more.

As you develop your 2016 plans, this could be a useful resource in helping justify investments in technology, creating realistic and defendable budgets, and aligning measurable objectives with strategies that will produce the desired results.

One of the key findings that Geile/Leon has observed with many clients is that the majority of organizations have aggressive growth goals and conservative budgets, creating a potential misalignment of expectations. 

Another key finding is that despite lead generation and lead-to-sale conversions being the two highest priority goals, organizations are failing to tap into the power of social media to achieve those goals. Many companies don’t have a cohesive content marketing plan which supports their lead generation and branding efforts.

How does your organization’s marketing efforts stack up?

PR 20/20 has developed an online assessment tool to help marketers rate their marketing programs and identify weaknesses. Check out this valuable tool by clicking here: What’s Your Marketing ScoreTM?

Marketing Score

This report and assessment tool gives you plenty to think about as you evaluate 2015 and plan for next year, such as:

  • Does your organization have the right marketing talent and technology in place to achieve desired performance goals?
  • Are your expectations for growth aligned with your potential?
  • What can large enterprises do to stay on top when nimble organizations develop more modern marketing teams and quickly adapt to marketing technology advancements?
  • Do you have the right agency partners to fill internal marketing team gaps, and provide the skills/expertise needed for critical growth areas?

Fill out the assessment or just review the report. I have found them extremely beneficial for our agency and clients.

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Trending from G/L: Parallel Parking made easy and the flying car of tomorrow

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: Parallel Parking made easy and the flying car of tomorrow

Advertising

When we envision the future, there are certain things that seem to always come to mind. Teleportation. Time travel. Virtual-reality video games (maybe that’s just me so I can finally be good at playing soccer).

A big part of that futuristic vision is in the realm of transportation. Planes are different. Mass transit is different. Oh, and cars can fly. Have to have that one.

One thing many people will hope to see in the near future is parallel parking becoming easy. Not everyone can be raised in Chicago and be accustomed to street parking as well as yours truly, so this is something that causes problems for plenty of people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGDFWl81nYE

So SmartCar in Portugal found an awesome way to tap into that frustration while showcasing their product and earning some much-deserved buzz. The company created normal-sized cars that contract in order to show the flexibility of driving one of their main vehicles. It’s a fantastic concept and we can see the facial expressions of those who see the exhibit as it’s happening. The campaign is probably more effective in Europe, where road space is so limited compared to the United States, but it would be interesting to see if something similar could work stateside.

But when we think of the future, that idea of the flying car is one that’s instilled into most kids’ imagination at a very young age. It’s something that we’ve imagined for so long. Unfortunately, it’s appeared to be nothing more of a fantasy in the short-term.

Terrafugia is trying to change that.

TF-X™ is Terrafugia’s vision for the future of personal transportation. A four-seat, plug-in hybrid electric flying car with fly-by-wire vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities, TF-X™ is designed to bring personal aviation to the world. The design will make use of the high power density and reliability of modern electric motors in combination with parallel power and control system architectures to achieve a higher level of safety than modern automobiles. TF-X™ will provide true door-to-door transportation combined with the freedom of vertical takeoff and landing — creating a new dimension of personal mobility.

Translation: O.M.G. FLYING CAR AHHHHH!!!

Flying Car

Before I get too carried away, there are certainly some obstacles to overcome. First, will it actually work as advertised? It’s going to take the better part of a decade before it will be ready for mass production. That’s a whole lot of time for something to go wrong that could potentially cause a massive delay.

The other major factor is aviation regulations. With the current debate on drone technology, there are already major questions about safety and security. It goes without saying this concept is much larger than a drone and the Federal Aviation Administration will likely have some questions before the product is rolled out for good.

Still, we can start dreaming right now, right?

Have any thoughts? Let us know and we’ll keep you posted as we move closer to the day when this technology is hopefully a reality.

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Trending from G/L: Why DraftKings and FanDuel are EVERYWHERE

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: Why DraftKings and FanDuel are EVERYWHERE

Advertising

If you are living person in America who follows even the slightest bit of media, you’ve probably seen an advertisement for Draft Kings or Fan Duel. Well, “seen” is probably putting it lightly – more likely, you’ve probably been BOMBARDED with the chance to WIN LOTS OF MONEY RIGHT NOW AHHHHH LOUD NOISES!!!

FanDuel

Seriously though, oversaturation might be an understatement. Whether you’re watching ESPN, browsing through Twitter, checking your Instagram feed, DraftKings and FanDuel will be there, encouraging you to part ways with your money for the chance to win even more money. In fact, DraftKings spent a whopping $23.6 million on TV ads alone during the first week of September.

With football season here, don’t expect the ads to stop any time soon. Especially with the two companies bringing a combined $60 million in entry fees during the first week of the NFL season. And with a combined $800 million in investment funding, you’ll be seeing video testimonials of Average Joe’s striking it rich for the rest of the year, at the very least.


The problem is, the Average Joe’s aren’t actually the ones winning.

Saahil Sud is a fake-sports apex predator. He enters hundreds of daily contests in baseball and football under the name “maxdalury,” and he almost always trounces the field. He claims to risk an average of $140,000 per day with a return of about 8 percent. Sud studied math and economics at Amherst College and took a job in data science at a digital marketing firm before shifting to full-time fantasy. He’s now the top-ranked daily fantasy sports player, according to Rotogrinders, a stats site for daily fantasy players. He says he’s made more than $2 million so far this year. 

So many times a day does your every day *gambler* win? 13 times. Talk about unlucky.

The reason we put gambler in disclaimers is because fantasy sports isn’t technically gambling. While sports gambling is technically illegal in the United States (with the exception of certain areas), fantasy sports live in a grey area that will almost certainly be legally challenged at some point. None of this means anything to the NCAA, who is now saying that college athletes who use the sites would be committing a standards violation.

We’ve discussed the topic of ad viewability before when discussing the ad nauseum loop of Game of War ads last spring:

Really, we (marketers, advertisers, publishers) should be using targeting and tracking (since, let’s be honest, so much of our data usage is tracked anyways) and tailor to the right audience to provide more applicable ads. This seems obvious – don’t we all know this? Aren’t most people already doing this? Yes, yet we still see “Game of War” ads, well…EVERYWHERE!

The future for one-day fantasy is still up in the air, but the question is whether the actual product can continue to deliver revenue at the rate it’s currently going. Plus, any changes in the gambling industry could be a massive boon or blow to their market.

What do you think? Have you tried one-day fantasy yet? Or are you just waiting for ads to disappear already?

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Trending from G/L: New Color Insights…by listening?

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: New Color Insights…by listening?

Advertising

Take a moment to imagine living in a world with no color.

Or rather, imagine never even knowing color.

For Neil Harbisson, our world in black and white was all he ever knew. He was born with achromatopsia—a condition that makes him completely colorblind. That was his life until he convinced his doctors to turn him into a cyborg…

Yes, a cyborg—the world’s first cyborg. Neil has an antenna and color sensor chip implanted into his head. This antenna picks up light frequencies of colors; the light frequencies are then transposed into a sound frequency.

This allows Neil to HEAR COLOR. Each color has a unique sound, which has color insights he has memorized.

This technology now allows him to experience the world in a new way. While he still doesn’t see color like most people, his new sense at least allows him to know color.

This guy really got the Geile/Leon team talking. Some couldn’t get over the weird factor, yet others were amazed at the technology.

I find Neil’s situation very interesting. Technology is changing people’s lives and becoming apart of them—literally in his case.

Other than the technology aspect of Neil’s story, I think one of the main things I started thinking about is how we take advantage of color. Color is just there. The sky is blue, bananas are yellow—this is how the world looks. We don’t dive any deeper into the color insights that are all around us.

As a creative, I’m envious of Neil’s new sense. He gets to experience color insights on a whole new level. In the video he talks about how almost nothing is gray—everything has some kind of hue. He talks about how people are actually all orange—just different shades. He is “seeing” his environment on a level that people with no colorblindness will ever achieve.

Pretty awesome.

Be sure to check out the video and share your thoughts about Neil and his ability to hear color with us.

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One Size Fits All Doesn’t Work For Millennials – Or Any Segment

Mary Sawyer
Vice President of Public Relations

One Size Fits All Doesn’t Work For Millennials – Or Any Segment

Advertising

Lest anyone wonder why millennials are the focus of countless news articles: This is the year that Millennials — defined as people ages 18-34 — will outnumber the Baby Boomers in this country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And, Millennials, who make up a quarter of the U.S. population, have surpassed Gen Xers (those with birth dates ranging from the early 1960s to the early 1980s) to become the largest share of the American workforce.

No wonder why every industry wants to market to Millennials.

Not a day goes by when someone is not issuing an opinion about a presumptive trend related to Millennial connectivity and digital experiences, and what approach to take to get the attention of Millennials.

But, some experts are issuing cautions about making assumptions about Millennial influencers and practices.

According to a story last week in AdAge, what you’ve been told about Millennials is (mostly) wrong. The article about a myth-busting Carat survey called “The Millennial Disconnect” found Millennials are not all hyper-connected optimistic digital extroverts.

The survey warns that brands shouldn’t just accept that that high digital numbers mean that Millennials are all “users” in the same way. Higher users can skew the data, and result in misunderstanding the population. Marketers must be dig deep into understanding insights of the demographic for a better marketing strategy.

The Millennial generation is the most diverse generation in history. There are more African Americans, Latinos, Asians and racially mixed Millennials than in GenX and the Baby Boomer groups combined. They are accustomed to rapidly changing technologies and life choices. They are going to have different perspectives and reactions to marketing approaches. What appeals to one Millennial may be completely out of touch with another’s interests.

This certainly isn’t different from what is required of successfully working with other demographic groups. No age group should be treated in absolutes. You have to understand the “why” and “how” of the audience. Don’t make assumptions.

The key is to know your facts but to tailor your approach – no matter the age group – to accurately reflect opinions and behaviors to make your marketing relevant and meaningful.

If you are looking for a way to give your target audience a personality to get better marketing results, check out our Persona White Paper. Click on this link to download it. Or just fill out this form and we will send it to you.

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7 Examples of Horrible Marketing Advice

Luke Smith
Senior Account Executive

7 Examples of Horrible Marketing Advice

Advertising

As marketers, we all want to be innovators and bring the next big idea to our clients to move the needle for their brand(s). But sometimes not all ideas are good ideas. Some marketing ideas do not align with a brand’s creative and messaging strategy, other ideas might not resonate with an audience.

We’ve compiled a list of some less-than-sound (i.e. horrible marketing advice) ideas out there to provide examples of what not to do when it comes to planning your marketing efforts.

1) If you’re trying to build awareness, advertise everywhere you can.

If you’re trying to build buzz or awareness for your new brand/product, it’s important to plan, strategize and understand your audience first. Focus on who will care about your brand and where you can reach them, not how quickly you can reach anyone and everyone. A key step to marketing success is making sure that your messages are targeted and efficient.

2) You need to be on this social media platform.

The marketing landscape has changed significantly over the past 10 years, but just because there is a new, trendy social media platform, does not mean that you need to be there. Granted, you don’t always need to be on the same social channels as your customers (consider where you might find new customers and opportunities), but if you are marketing a product that appeals to a 70+ crowd, chances are you don’t need to be on Instagram or Snapchat. Focus on participating on social channels that will be an extension of your brand and help your business flourish.

3) If you buy an email list you’ll have better email performance.

Buying an email list will definitely grow your distribution channel for direct digital marketing, but it doesn’t mean that the recipients will find your content relevant. If you choose to purchase an email lists, it should be one that is appropriate for your business. Even better, activate and focus on direct outreach through current customers or interested parties that sign up for your mailings on their own. Organic growth is ideal- this means that they want to hear from you.

4) Long lead forms are always worse than short forms.

Long online lead forms can be tedious and time-consuming. That’s a good thing. If your goal is to generate new customers, would you rather have a solid lead or a lead that might not truly be interested in your offerings? You shouldn’t necessarily make the lead jump through too many hoops to get more information, but weeding out the unqualified leads with some detailed questions will produce concrete leads that are truly engaged in what you have to offer.

5) Asking for likes, retweets or shares makes your brand look desperate.

Trying to get the word out? Asking for people to share and repost your content does not have to translate as desperation. In fact, some of the greatest online campaigns are successful due to concise and clear calls-to-action. If that CTA is having others share your content- then so be it! Tying a prize or some sort of incentive to sharing will produce more results and success. You will get more shares if you just ask.

6) You don’t need a responsive website design.

Mobile and tablet internet use have now surpassed internet use on a standard laptop or home computer. If you have a CBD company for example, and you’re not prepared to integrate a responsive design with the help of a CBD Website Design Company, it can lead to frustrated visitors and a bad user experience. This will also reflect poorly on your brand. You wouldn’t want to purchase products from a brand that has a terrible website design, would you? When you are building or redesigning your website, responsive design should be a priority. If you do not have enough resources or manpower to accomplish this task, you can think of outsourcing this work to a reputed digital marketing firm like Hooked Marketing. They can help in delivering a high-quality professional website design for your business.

7) More personalization will garner a better response.

Sometimes too much personalization can come off as a bit intrusive. It’s important to know the customers, recipients and targets for your outreach efforts, but focusing on finding the right balance of friendliness and personalization (within reason) and not coming off too stalker-ish will be key. Make sure not to include everything you know about your customer.

If you would like some GOOD marketing advice instead of horrible marketing advice, please reach out to us. We’re here to help your brand reach it’s potential and provide advice on utilizing the right marketing tools to guide you to success.

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Find Your Why: Make It Mean Something

Tim Leon
President/Brand Strategist

Find Your Why: Make It Mean Something

Advertising

Those four words are really the credo of Geile/Leon. They didn’t exist until about four years ago. Our management and new business team had been discussing the Simon Sinek book Start With Why. We wanted to incorporate the G/L why into our culture and our brand offering. We wanted to discover the Why for ourselves, and develop a process for helping clients discover their “why”.

Make It Mean Something

As we discovered firsthand, finding your “why” requires some real introspection and looking hard at yourself in the mirror. The objective of our meetings were to fill out the golden circle that Sinek refers to in his book. And as we found out, it didn’t take us long to nail down the first two questions posed.

  • What do you do?
  • How do you do it differently?

But the most enlightening and satisfying part of the process was also the most challenging and it took some real brainpower. It was when we discovered and articulated the G/L Why. It took much discussion and we asked ourselves two questions.

  • Why do we exist?
  • Why do we come to work everyday?

Pretty thought-provoking questions, but they helped us dig deep to get to that important answer to why G/L does what it does. I guess I should share it with you.

The G/L Why: MAKE IT MEAN SOMETHING

G/L believes that every organization has a deeper purpose and it’s the agency’s role to help those clients discover it. By identifying, defining, and exposing that deeper sense of purpose, organizations can attract buyers that believe what they believe.

Once the organization’s purpose has been identified, G/L can create work that changes behaviors and builds relationships. Building relationships between brand and consumer that truly mean something, and cause buyers to make decisions that will benefit them, and ultimately, our clients.

Whatever we do, whatever we say, whatever media vehicle we choose, we make it mean something. The words, pictures, music, motion, emotion and opportunities we use to reach people need to mean something to them…something that will in some way benefit them…and enable them to do something, know something, be something, have something better than what they have now.

These six sentences drive everything we do here at Geile/Leon. They impact who we hire, clients we target, processes we put in place, our culture, our work, our decision –making, and our role in the community. It’s been inspiring and empowering in how we position ourselves. When I walk into a new business meeting or someone asks me about Geile Leon, I do what Simon Sinek’s book says and I start with why. You should try it and G/L can help you get started. When you come to our office, you’ll know exactly why you did.

Make It Mean Something

If you are looking for a more emotional way to communicate with your target audience and employees, contact us using the form below.

 

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Find Your Why: No One Rallies Around Mission Statements, So Discover Your Purpose

Randy Micheletti
VP, Director of Brand Strategy

Find Your Why: No One Rallies Around Mission Statements, So Discover Your Purpose

B2B

Think about your liquor cabinet. Now think about that tired, dusty bottle of “Old Crow” that’s sitting on the bottom shelf. Something you glance over every once in a while but never dream of opening it or bringing it out of the shadows and into the light of day.

Pretty similar to your company’s mission statement? You felt like you had to put one together but haven’t looked at it for years. You probably can’t even quote the first sentence of it.

Well, you’re not alone. Many companies feel the need to deliver a mission statement and most do. The problem is they lose focus, make the statement way too long for any of their employees to remember, and once it’s done, house it on their web site or in a company document without ever referring to it.

If it’s not part of your daily routine and clear to your employees, then what good is it? That’s why we believe in Simon Sinek’s model – we believe that people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Your why should be concise, simple and straight to the point. It has to answer several questions, most importantly, why do you get out of bed every morning and do what you do and why does your company exist? With all the competition in many categories you have to make your brand stand out. Your why can help do just that.

So, find your why, communicate it both internally and externally and see how your culture and your business changes.

I know our why – “We believe every company has a deeper purpose, and it’s our job to find out what that is.” If you’d like us to help you figure out your why, just reach out. It’s what we do – and we’re good at it.

WIN A FREE WHY BOOK

Plus, if you fill out the form below, you’ll be entered to win a copy of Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.

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Find Your Why: Why Do You Do What You Do?

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Find Your Why: Why Do You Do What You Do?

Advertising

What makes a company successful?

That is a question that start-ups and longstanding businesses alike find themselves asking when times get tough.

This complex question has a very simple answer. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

In 2009, Simon Sinek released “Start With Why,” a book outlining exactly what makes companies who are concrete in their purpose so prosperous.

“Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. When I say WHY, I don’t mean to make money—that’s a result. By WHY I mean what is your purpose, cause or belief? WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?”

These questions are not something that many companies have truly thought about. There are so many different brands fighting for the top spot in the same industry; to stand out seems nearly impossible. It takes an organization that has a clear vision for what they are trying to achieve, and that vision needs to be valued from the company president all the way to the office intern.

Once an organization has established their core belief – one that defines everything that they are doing everyday – it is time to share the message. Consumers are going to choose the brand that they can believe in. When they can relate to and understand a company’s “why,” there is a certain level of trust established – in quality and service. The customer is going to remember that brand and become loyal to it.

When you find your why, success is simple: believe in your business and others will do the same.

Are you looking to inspire people to believe in what you are doing, but can’t quite define your “why”? We’re always here to help out.

WIN A FREE WHY BOOK

Plus, if you fill out the form below, you’ll be entered to win a copy of Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.

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Trending from G/L: What Makes Mobile Marketing Matter?

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: What Makes Mobile Marketing Matter?

Advertising

The mobile platform is advertising’s newest puzzle and it’s making creatives question their storytelling tactics. With high traffic and low engagement, mobile marketing is established enough to have brands knocking at its door, but most are questioning if anyone’s even home. Mountain Dew, BBDO NY, OMD Worldwide, and Google’s Art, Copy & Code team joined forces to figure out how video advertising needs to evolve in order to be effective in a mobile setting—Unskippable Labs was born.

The collaborators took an existing television advertisement (Mountain Dew Kickstart’s “Come Alive”) and created three versions, each varying in length and content. Using YouTube TrueView (it gives viewers the option to skip ads), they monitored the viewership of each cut in an effort to understand what catches the attention of mobile viewers.

The three cuts included:

“The Original”—a traditional 30-second TV spot with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

“The Big Punch”—a 31-second mobile ad that presents the brand before the viewer has a chance to skip.

“Pure Fun”—a 93-second cut that drops viewers into the middle of the action. Here, there’s no real story arc and the brand is subtly featured throughout.

Viewers had no clear preference when viewing the three ads from desktop computers—view-through rates were nearly equal; however, on mobile, “Pure Fun” boasted a 26% higher view-through rate than the other two cuts.

Viewers watched “Pure Fun” more frequently and for longer periods of time—an average of 1 minute 9 seconds. Despite elevated viewership, brand recall (Mountain Dew) was more or less equal to the other cuts and specific product recall (Kickstart) even plummeted.

Were viewers perplexed by the randomness? Intrigued by the uncertainty of direction? Who knows? What we can conclude is that brevity isn’t a necessary component for mobile marketing as we once thought.

Previous mobile efforts prioritized engaging viewers directly with outcries of, “Hey! You there!” within the 5-second grace period before viewers have the ability to skip. Perhaps this study will spawn a new wave of mobile marketing, ultimately ditching ad norms and turning to riffs on absurdity and unpredictability.

This goes back to the idea of making consumers care and making it mean something to them. If you have concerns about getting your target audience to take notice of your brand, contact us anytime.

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