The Why and How of Advertising

With the advent of social networking, tweeting, web sites, interstitials, ad words, search engine marketing, etc., many small and medium sized companies have chosen not to advertise in the more traditional sense, i.e., print, newspapers, magazines, trade shows, TV, radio, signs, direct mail etc. or chose only one media channel rather than several complementary media channels. This decisions  are usually based on what kind of market or audience you are trying to reach and the budget. Unfortunately the budget usually decides what  and where you will spend your money rather then your audience.   

The basic strategy behind advertising regardless of audience or media channels remain consistent. It is just that there are more media channels today and less time to really understand their impact on our business. The purpose of advertising is to inform, persuade or remind potential customers that you offer the highest value product or service. It follows that before you design any advertisement  uniquely for your target audience you should know how you want to be positioned in the minds of the potential and existing customers. This includes knowing what type of media they use most often, the demographic and psychographic profile of your audience and ensuring you have strong creative that appeals to your audience. Show and tell rarely produces results and you need to appeal to your customers at the emotional level.

Now having said all that what are the basic steps in creating your advertising strategy?

 Develop Objectives

Once the decision to advertise has been made, the objectives of the advertising must be set. Typically advertising objectives are grouped into one of three functions; inform, persuade, and remind.

 Information advertising is used when a new product or service is launched. Done properly and ethically this type of advertising gives consumers the knowledge (features and benefits) necessary to make informed purchase decisions.

Persuasion advertising is the most common form of advertising. It is used to generate demand for a particular service in a particular market where competition for market share exists. The goal is to differentiate a product or service from others in the same market. Having a product differentiated in the minds of consumers can be beneficial since it usually allows for more pricing flexibility.

Reminder advertising is important once a service is established. This form of advertising can be especially important for firms that operate in a seasonal environment. You may want to “remind” consumers you are available to provide a variety of services throughout the year. The correct objectives for your advertising strategy can be easily determined from an analysis of the current marketing environment.

Select Media Channels

The media channels you select to get your message to the target audience depends on three elements: reach, frequency and impact. 

Reach is the number of unique consumers exposed to a particular ad at least once during a specified time period (usually a month or quarter).

Frequency is the number of times within the period that a consumer is exposed to the ad. A common rule is that most consumers need a minimum of three exposures before the ad registers with them.

Impact is a qualitative value of the advertising media. For example, will your ad have a greater impact in the local business paper or the local entertainment magazine?

To calculate total number of exposures multiply reach times frequency. This is known as Gross Rating Points or Impressions. A higher number of impressions implies more frequency, but tells us nothing about the potential impact of the ad on customer decisions. To measure the overall potential of an ad, including impact, combine all three elements, (R x F x I). This is known as the Weighted Number of Exposures (WE). A higher WE implies greater overall exposure.

Set Advertising Budget

You can set your budget any number of ways. Small businesses often set the budget based on what they think they can afford. This can be costly if the budget is too low or too high. Under-advertising may not produce any results at all. Over-advertising will result in some ads that do not generate sales. A better way to set the budget is to define objectives for the advertising and identify the tasks necessary to realize the objectives. Most advertising is priced in term of dollar cost per thousand exposures or CPM (the M is the Roman numeral for 1000). Higher impact ads usually, but not always, have a higher CPM associated with them. The media or media channels with the greatest combined reach, frequency and impact and a CPM within your advertising budget is the one to use.

Evaluate Results

Surprisingly, no definitive measures exist to evaluate the results of an advertisement on sales. The best way to evaluate advertising for small businesses is to:

1. Keep track of the number of new contacts
2. Ask every new contact how they heard of you

Now this last pint is very important since this can easily be tracked through web traffic analysis for smaller companies who do not have the staff or resources to follow up  on this. This will provide you with the information to judge your ad’s effectiveness in convincing consumers to contact you. As contacts become customers track their contribution to revenue. One new customer may be sufficient to justify a series of advertisements.

Conclusion

Advertising can be used effectively to increase sales. However, before creating an advertisement, know whom you want for customers and what type of media they use. Craft your message to communicate the features and benefits of your service that they will find most valuable. Focus on reach, frequency and impact and set a realistic budget. Be prepared for a lag time of one or two periods from ad placement to response. Finally, evaluate the results of your advertising to decide on the most cost effective level of future advertising.

In my next article I will tackle "Picking the Right Advertising Channels" of media for your company .

Visionary or Caretaker: The Importance of “Finishing”

The ability to “Finish” or “close” a project is beginning to create more separation between those organizations that understand how to execute and those that struggle to bring the resources to the table that are required to effectively deliver a well-designed and implemented project.

Let’s face it, companies and organizations are challenged with doing more with less as the fiscal realities of the financial crises affect the way we do business. As organizations have become leaner so too has their ability to implement programs and initiatives in a well thought out process. As a result, small to medium sized businesses and organizations that seek out and utilize partnerships rather than internal resources can benefit and compete but only if their partner organizations are integrated as a trusted partner in the process.

 One of the most common gaps in my opinion in this new culture of partnership is the ability to promote and communicate one’s ideas to a broad spectrum of stakeholders and audience verticals. Once thought to be the strength of modern business, it has become an idea that has gradually faded.  I believe that we are exposed to so many mediums today in so many forms and places; we assume somehow that our ideas and initiatives will take on a life of their own, like social media where a simple idea can become a world-wide phenomenon.

 Modern day organizations often overlook what was once the most important aspect of a project, promoting an idea to the internal and external audience through a well thought out strategy with clear objectives, defined audiences through marketing, promotions, advertising and public relations tools. Partnerships are an important way of extending an organization’s resources and taking advantage unique skill sets to bridge the “Finish” gap.

 It is surprising that very sophisticated leaders and administrators simply fail to take advantage of these opportunities and partnerships.  Often, decisions makers don’t understand the ramifications or they undervalue existing partnerships, or are too busy to invest in new partnerships to fill this gap. They certainly give the idea merit by conducting a thorough planning process but somehow the “Finish” is missing when it comes to implementation.  

 I should add that a good “Finish” can take a long time – perhaps several years depending on the complexity of the initiative and the objectives of the project. While some things have gotten easier some have gotten harder and it’s the “Finish” that now demands a sustained plan in the face of competing media channels, new social interaction and growing entertainment opportunities…while we were worrying about the economy, the playing field  has gotten much more crowded.   

 This is at the heart of many a wayward implementation process. Whether it’s a company seeking to institute a new culture,  a business selling a new product or an organization promoting protocols within an industry the “Finish” has just become your most important mission  It will determine for most leaders their legacy of success and it will help define them as visionaries or simply as caretakers.    

 

 

 

Public Sector E-Learning?

 

As an organization dedicated to  E-Learning and in particular Health Care E-Learning, we have a  considerable amount of experience  to offer our partners, dating back to the 80's when we were involved in a variety of innovative interactive learning projects. We worked with innovators such as Microsoft and IBM in creating interactive touch screen kiosks using laser disc technology. We then gradated to DVDs, web applications, online learning and now E-Learning.

 

 The interactive lessons and instructional design parameters haven't changed much in the over 30 years we have been working in the medium. We still have to make E-Learning interesting, engaging, personal,  story driven, intuitive, easy to use, flexible, accessible...well you get the point the list goes on and on!

 

I offer this background as proof of our experience and knowledge to add some weight to my thoughts in this blog because I am dismayed by the many organizations I have occasion to dialogue with about their approach to learning and the associated costs and responsibilities of learning and in particular, E-Learning.  In the face of ever increasing costs and the cries of budget cuts, traditional learning with all its additional costs, ranging from demands on time and effort, travel and inability to the validation of learning and comprehension or the lack of consistency of content, it seems to remain the medium of choice for middle management and senior administrators.

 

While many private sector organizations are beginning to understand the value of E-Learning , public sector organizations continue to support  a culture "old school" learning". Public sector organizations are either unwilling, unable or so unimaginative that they choose to remain moribund in a highly inefficient learning process. They continue to support the time honored process of workshops and seminars, that include travel time, paid absences from work, sandwich trays, high priced speakers, lack of accessibility by a diverse workforce, beverages and mingling with colleagues.

 

The truth is that one, all day work shop ( self-paced or blended learning) can be distilled into 2 hours of E-Learning and is available in perpetuity. The true savings really come in to effect when an organizations need not pay all the annual traditional training costs year after year. Unfortunately, there has been little oversight of public sector organizations and the drive to reduce costs through such tools as E-Learning. One can look at government public policy for almost any public sector organization and see  mission statement's that demand  the use of new technologies and E-Learning to help better train and reduce costs, but the lack of broader strategies in E-Learning has undermined these directives. 

 

Organizations have little internal expertise in this area and are bewildered at the decision making process and often choose to focus on technical solutions rather than implementation and content issues. The example I like to use is the phone, most people don't know how a phone works and don't care - they simply want to use it effectively. The same is true for E-Learning - too much attention is paid to the technology and the IT department and not enough to the administration and implementation issues that demand leadership and vision. E-Learning technology is relatively mature and you can select any number of solutions and be successful today, but success is not defined by the technology you implement but by the level of comprehension of the content and the change in behavior.

 

From 1997 to 1998 and 2006 to 2007, the federal government of Canada transferred $115.7 billion to the provinces for health care - 36 billion more than was needed to keep up with population growth and inflation during the same period. If the public sector is proclaiming there is no more money for health care then the only logical solution is that the public sector organizations and agencies partner with experienced private sector companies to help deliver more effective learning solutions.

 

Unfortunately many ( and I stress not all) senior administrators and middle managers spend their budgets in traditional fashion without doing serious cost analysis of current training strategies and the wide ranging effects training can have on an organization and its effectiveness.  We believe the time for  saying" Its not my job to train" is over, learning is pervasive in every part of an organization and it remains management's responsibility at all levels to ensure that policies, guidelines, protocols, requirements, procedures and the general pursuit of knowledge should be foremost in an organization, if its staff is to be effective and meet client expectations! 

 

 

 

 

New Media Project Management

Sound project management is a much undervalued skill. While it will help bring your project in on-time and on-budget – perhaps more importantly it will allow your project to incorporate innovation that helps differentiate you from your competitors. Since most projects demand one to one relationships to ensure the confidence of information and direction -  these “Janus” (The Roman God of Gatekeeping) or gatekeepers are crucial to a project’s success. 
 

There are some project management certifications and programs but few are attainable within the media industry especially given the fact that technology, developer skill sets and software toolsets change frequently. So how do we teach or learn sound project management skills in an ever-changing environment. I believe one of the most important ingredients is selecting the right kind of person. If we have very few classically trained project management experts in new media then we have to assume they are being created “on the fly” through the school of hard knocks.

 The type of personality required has to have some special traits in my estimation. He or she has to show a real willingness to understand the barriers, influencing factors and the strengths and weaknesses of those involved in the project (a willingness to walk a mile in their shoes).  The person must also have a broad affinity for learning technology but not a love of technology since you have to be very broad-minded and objective to mesh or mold the various pieces of a project into one coherent product delivery.  

 A new media project is a complex process that can involve a number of stakeholders that can range from third party vendors, technology suppliers, steering committees, non-profit organizations, partnerships, senior management and a variety of internal departments. Each may have different roles and stakes in the project and all must be satisfied to some degree with the outcome of the process. The following includes a few tips on effectively a  maintaining leadership role in the project while building consensus during the process. 

1. Gather information- learn as much as possible about the project and the stakeholders at the outset. 

• Request client information: annual reports, newspaper articles, photos, books, newsletters, video, Broadcast news stories, magazine interview, industry reviews , special internal communications, written questionnaire, telephone interviews and employee interviews

2. Develop a clear understanding of execution of the project

• Understand timelines & potential consequences of missing the timelines
• Review skills of key stakeholders and or project team
• ensure a detailed proposal is provided and approved
• Ensure financing is in place
• Document each step and all communications
• Understand your barriers & obstacles: solutions
• Understand all the deliverable requirements, who needs them and why
• Define what mandate or authority you have to manage the project

3. Communication at all levels

• Written documentation at each phase of the project
• Restating client’s agreed terms of business
• 1dentifying changes in process: approval, requirements, personnel, time and materials
• When not to communicate: maintain project focus - politics, personality

 4. Provide a client with what they want - not what they ask for 

• Understand  what is needed and rely on your experience
• Identify problems early and act to provide a solution
• Draw a conclusion: evaluate your work and those on your team

5. Deliver quality  & innovation 

• No one will reward poor work delivered on-time and on-budget
• Learn from your mistakes
• Improve the methodology
• Fear not when doing right
• Challenge yourself 

6. Evaluate your project after completion and leave a legacy 

• During the project create a process for tracking the effectiveness of the project
• Archive the project assets for future changes
• Ensure that one key stakeholder remains responsible for the project future success

Consensus: A Warped Perspective

Consensus … it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. In a world where we seek to gain input, feedback and consensus on many business initiatives, using mediums like focus groups and opinion polls, decisions by committee still leave a lot of room for error! While the concept of a collaborative approach on determining the most effective means of delivering a product or service can be a real advantage, testing just about anything using the opinions of your peers can create a kind of regimented or stilted response no matter how broad the sample of key stakeholders is. Often the environment or the unseen benefits of a particular product or service are not considered. They are measured against the norm and for those of us seeking to “think outside the box” or create something that is distinctive and unique the norm is not what we are trying to achieve.

Uniqueness or innovative thinking by their very nature are often unrecognizable to those whose opinions we seek. Moribund by their comfort zone, dedicated to the predictable and locked into their hermitically sealed views, opinionated influencers and focus groups can hardly offer real insight into the potential success of a product, or, the preferences of any group of people. The timelines that frame such opinion gathering mediums typically reflect the now, the immediate window of opportunity. This, in my opinion, is often short sited and a general approach that has produced a societal focus on the immediate dividends of any initiative and not the long term value.

Take for example the introduction of a new design in office chairs introduced in 1976 by Herman Miller Inc. in the US. The first ever ergonomically designed chair was developed for the North American marketplace. These were heady times in the design world, what with free speech, flower power and new creative energy of the 60’s and 70’s. It was during this unique time, when modern design was King or Queen, if I am to be politically correct, that Herman Miller introduced the Ergon chair. Working with Herman Miller Inc., designer Bill Stumpf conducted 10 years of research into how people really sit when they work. Stumpf's research focused on consultations with orthopedic surgeons and cardiovascular specialists to understand the effects of chairs and the seated posture on the body's circulatory system, muscles, and bones, examining the human behaviour of sitting -- the motions, activities, and posture patterns of people performing various tasks and explored how work chairs can be designed to effectively support a wide range of body heights, weights, and shapes.

The chair was unlike any chair ever seen up to that point. This new sleek, black chair, with controls for adjusting tilt and height were unheard of. The chair was subjected to a focus group review before being introduced into the marketplace and in each instance the group reviewing the chairs showed a marked dislike for the design. A number of follow-up focus group tests were conducted and in each case the results came back the same. The product was ugly and would not be successful in the marketplace. Fortunately for us, Herman Miller, ignored that feedback and proceeded with the launch of the chairs in 1976 … and in fact you are probably sitting in a chair modeled after this design, as you read this article!

The Ergon chair revolutionized office seating because it was designed for both comfort and user health. For the first time, businesses could provide their workers with seating designed for the way they really sit -- not for the way someone thought they should sit. With the Ergon chair, Herman Miller established the reference point for comfortable, healthful, and visually appealing ergonomic seating.

The moral of this cautionary tale is, that while, consensus building is an important part of understanding the user’s needs for any given product or service – sometimes their distinctive nature and their usability are far more convincing over the long term. Do your homework – but remember evaluating the success or failure of any product or service is more than achieving short-term objectives; it is often understanding the long term outlook and championing this in a workplace.

Building Good Marketing Habits

Make Them an Important Part of Your Business Process

Ever hear of the saying – “Deep water covers many stumps?” The essence is that when times are good, real problems can appear not to exist. It’s only when the water recedes that problems are revealed. When you are busy earning your income from existing business, it can be easy to forget that marketing is critical to your success. You can delude yourself that into thinking everything is fine since you appear to be achieving  your goals.But you want to ensure that  this  mental slip does not overtake your good sense? Gravy trains eventually end. If you are not prepared, you can find yourself at the end of the line. Marketing planning should be an ongoing process that is considered year round.

Habitual Marketing Practices

To develop healthy marketing habits even when you are busy delivering other products or services,  allocate a certain amount of time per month. Theoretically, you have 2,080 working hours a year. Setting aside 10% (208 hours a year!) may seem like a lot - especially if you are hourly billing or already doing more with less. Invest wisely, however. Divide your marketing time into two categories -- strategy and execution. Use your knowledge of your business cycle and allocate how much time per month is required. Budget it. Calendar it.

Strategy: Develop Annually

Before you gear up for the particularly busy  periods, put aside  a portion of your allocated marketing time and  determine which tactics are going to best serve your objectives in the coming year. Use the time to update your marketing plan.

• Review your existing strategy - are you reaching the right target audience?
• Has a new development internally or externally caused a shift? Check out existing tactics.
• Marketing  materials - do they fit the bill or are they old?
• Are the colors, images or information in need of an update? 
• Advertising – did it reach the amount of people expected and generate leads?
• Website - hs it been checked lately and are recent changes reflected?
• Look at alternatives marketing/advertising strategies - change it up
• Business Cards – can they be designed to be more effective?
• Print advertising -  are you advertising in the right one for your clients?
• Participation - are you involved in activities which impact or influence your clients?
• If you have a fixed budget, determine which tactics of this year’s marketing campaign worked
• Look even closer at strategies that did not work
• Use that knowledge to adjust for next year.

Execute: Deliver Perennially

While you must be flexible, don’t allow distractions to decrease the amount of time required to make the strategy a reality. Remember, marketing is a habit. Create an action plan and decide how and when you will take on the marketing projects.

• How many networking events will you participate in?
• How many business cards will you hand out?
• How many times will you refer people to your website for information?

Make marketing goals and take the time you allocated monthly to get out there and spread the word about the superior work you do.

• Does that make you uncomfortable?
• How will prospective clients know about you unless you tell them or do excellent work for others and get referrals?
• You are performing a valuable service.
• Go tell others what value your company can provide. 

Conclusion

An annual planning habit and monthly execution habits are ways to insure that marketing stays in the viewfinder. While it’s simpler to stay with your day-to-day process, it’s shortsighted to think business will jump your way without you jumping towards it. Make time for setting your strategy and marketing your organization or business. Whether you are an institution, a company or an organization your members, employees, the public and suppliers are all potential customers. 

The Three Dimensions of E-Learning

The promise of E-Learning has been around for a while, unfortunately the peace – love generation of the sixties, now firmly in control of administration in the hallowed halls of learning in public and private enterprises have been very slow to adapt.  For some unknown reason organizations continue to favour  more costly solutions such as conferences, seminars, workshops;  and all supported by low-tech legacy solutions such as DVD’s,  print, web pages built largely on  static content  buttressed by the commitment of travelling to a single location from every corner of the country.

 Apparently, the social aspect of meeting in person far outweighs the financial consideration of engaging in E-learning.  Now if you ask the participants and administrators, you would get various rationales for this luddite approach; ranging from networking or lateral learning opportunities to, “this is the way we always do it.”  While these explanations may have a kernel of truth, the vast majority of learning can be mirrored or encompassed within the E-Learning scenario; and if organizations take a collaborative approach, E-Learning can provide solutions to complex long term learning problems, very cost efficiently. Perhaps one of the most telling indicators of the potential for E-Learning is the fact that senior decisions makers are already significant users of mobile communications devices to interact and share information.  

Today, as has historically happened , many companies new to the learning process  simply transfer their development skill sets,  from one medium to another  and in this case from web sites to E-learning  in the mistaken belief that this is simply the next evolution in online interactivity. E-Learning at its most effective is more of a three-dimensional   solution utilizing a variety of media such as video, animation, simulations, live interaction, audio and print in an instructional context that mimics the exploratory nature of learning through interaction and feedback.  E-Learning can be very much like a live event where participants can learn from structured content, explore ideas and hear the thoughts of visionary leaders.

This is a lot more than just the next evolution in online information of knowledge – it is a three –dimensional mirror of the learning process. E-Learning, as a technology solution seeks to mimic the process of learning by using the best practices of a classroom and removing the social aspect of learning that often bogs down the learning process. As young adults social interaction in learning scenarios is important in that we are learning a set of skills above and beyond the content.  As we age and the content is more specific and we are more focused on absorbing the outcomes, social interaction becomes less important in absorbing the content and becomes more on the exchange of ideas, interaction among peers, and access to up to date knowledge.

E-learning is becoming increasingly important in a world where the validity of any web content can be called into question and the market for E-Learning is increasing exponentially each year. Organizations have a unique opportunity to become the brand in their knowledge category by developing and maintaining an evergreen approach to their knowledge base through three-dimensional E-Learning.  The three dimensions of E-Learning are: 1) interactive content, 2) knowledge sharing and 3) comprehension. Currently, companies new to the E-learning scenario do not have the skill set to develop the interactive learning content in a way that allows for full three-dimensional E- learning.

Three-dimensional E-learning requires a unique skill set that includes the ability to conceptualize and produce a narrative story. This experience e is often gained through production in traditional mediums such as videos, documentaries, theatre etc. It also includes an understanding of the web medium, the tool sets used for E-learning development and how best to use them to emulate an interactive learning experience. The final tool set understands the administration/communications required to implement it effectively.

The current tool set is relatively mature and will allow for the development of three-dimensional E-Learning but do you have the creative skill sets, instructional design and technical expertise to work with an organization to implement  three-dimensional E-Learning effectively?