Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ May 28, 2009
Just like a virus spreads by copying itself and jumping from host to host, so viral marketing relies on the receiver of the marketing message to pass on the information to other consumers.
Some great examples of viral marketing include Google, which had almost no marketing budget initially and relied on its users to spread the word. Twitter is another example, and shows how word of mouth support can take a product from the early adopter phase and into the mainstream (even Oprah tweets nowadays!)
You also get examples where the marketing campaign itself (as opposed to the actual product or service) becomes viral, either on purpose such as Nando’s adverts, or accidently, such as Ogilvy’s History Channel ads.
This is a marketer’s holy grail, as the customers do their work for them, and also give the marketing message added credibility. Think about it, do you trust a smirking salesman more than your next-door neighbour or colleague who has no financial interest in telling you about the product or service?
Viral marketing is really just a form of word of mouth endorsement – which is as old as when the first hunter-gatherer told his buddy that the antelope hang out on the other side of the hill and he better head that way if he wants to eat today.
However, thanks to the Internet and specifically the rise of social media and platforms such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and so on, word of mouth had just been given super powers, and viral campaigns have the ability to spread to millions of people around the world. Likewise, when things go wrong, they will go spectacularly and publicly wrong.
In my opinion some of the best viral campaigns happen spontaneously, thanks to a combination of humour, timeliness, ease of passing on and intrinsic value. Seeding, or deliberately setting up, a viral campaign needs to be handled carefully by marketers, and usually involves “infecting” super nodes of opinion and influence in the hope that the message spreads.
Essential reading: Seth Godin’s blog
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ May 27, 2009
A notable feature of my recent social events seems to be the common theme of geeks and wine. Could this be 2009′s cheese and wine?
Last night was no exception when Delheim wine was served up at the bi-monthly GeekDinner. A delicious Merlot 2006 (and I am not typically a Merlot fan) as well as Sauvignon Blanc/Chenin blend. I am a bit of a glutton for red wine at the moment, so I stupidly forgot to taste the wine – will have to remedy that soon.
The list of geek-friendly South African wine seems to be growing: Stormhoek, of course: Perdeberg (not sure why they don’t sponsor GeekDinners any more but hooray for Delheim), Moreson has turned up now and again, and now Delheim.
Nice.
In my opinion Geek dinners are the black horse of the current Cape Town social media circuit. Always incredibly fun – and funny, you have to witness the slideshow karaoke at least once – and with the widest variety of topics at a dinner/networking event I have come across.
Last night was no exception, with Mandy Watson taking impromptu to a new level and testing out her new presentation pointer, slide mover thing in front of a live audience. It’s called an Apacer Wireless Presenter. You can see why she is queen of the tech reviews with her astute observations and questions about the technology’s capabilities.
Next up was Wessel Venter talking about Aspergers syndrome. Discussing it later, Kerry-Anne and I agreed that we live in amazing times where increasingly there is no normal.
Wessel was followed by poster child for “Saffers taking the world by storm with a pocket full of VC money”, Vinnie Lingham. Vinnie, head of Synthasite … I mean Yola, held a lively question and answer session about his move to Silicon Valley and observations on what’s up in SA. I am not sure he is totally convinced that Silicon Valley beats Silicon Cape Town hands down though.
And of course the ever-present Springleap team provided the geek schwag for the evening.
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ May 24, 2009
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @
THE ABSA CENTRE
I kicked off the PR work I am undertaking for Rennie Property, South Africa’s leading specialist commercial property management company, with a publicity project focussing on the launch of the first phase of the refurbishments of the ABSA Centre. Rennie Property is the manager of the ABSA Centre, and is overseeing the refurbishment.
Here is a selection of the coverage achieved:
Saturday Argus: Ongoing revamp for ABSA Centre, 28 February 2009 [Download PDF]
The Property Magazine: Socials pages, April 2009 [Download PDF]
The Property Magazine: Absa-lutely fabulous, March 2009 [Download PDF]
The Cape Towner: 5 March 2009 [Download PDF]
iAfrica: New look for CT icon, 23 March 2009
Property 24: CT Absa centre to be revamped, 23 February 2009
You can read the press release here.
RONDEBOSCH VILLAGE
The opening of the first phase of new parking at Rondebosch Village, under Rennie Property management, was announced via an advertorial I wrote for the Tatler. [Download PDF]
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ May 20, 2009
Definition:
Social media refers to the newish ability for anyone with an Internet connection to create content, interact, discover content and share content. A good example is the idea of “citizen journalism” where anyone online can communicate with hundreds, if not thousands and hundreds of thousands of people instantly, and unmediated by any editorial process.
Look at popular blogs where people are interacting, commenting and conversing with each other. You’ll see many traditional publications now allow for comments at the bottom of articles, taking the letter to the editor concept to a whole new level. News is often breaking on social media platforms first, and then followed up with more details and analysis from “traditional” media.
Related concepts: Web 2.0
What this means for marketers:
Communication is no longer one-way, from company to consumer. Consumers are having their own conversations about your brands, without your involvement. Companies need to change their approach and start conversing, rather than telling. This also has an impact on media relations, with traditional media looking to redefine themselves in this new media landscape.
This is the first in a series of posts that I have planned. The idea came about when I was sitting at a conference in Cape Town in May 2009 and overheard someone whisper to their colleague: “What’s viral marketing mean?” This reminded me that things are moving so fast at the moment that it can sometimes be difficult for marketers to keep up, and to know what is important and what can be disregarded. It also reminded me to get out of my echo chamber, and share some of the knowledge that I am been fortunate enough to pick up along the way.
Drop me a line with any requests and I’ll do my best to provide a user-friendly explanation.
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @ May 17, 2009
Marketing a small or medium business has its own set of challenges and opportunities. The last thing you want to do is waste time, money and the chance to stand out by merely cutting and pasting a big company strategy onto a small company requirement.
Here are five issues to consider when you set out to create a marketing strategy and plan for your small or medium-sized business. These apply equally well to start-ups.
1. SKILL SET
Be clever about getting the right skill set on board. As a business owner, you need to focus on what you do best and not be distracted by writing brochures or press releases. You need to bring in the right specialist skills and the correct level of experience, at the right price.
Be careful about appointing a junior general marketer who will need a lot of hand-holding from you, and won’t have the breadth and depth of experience to cope with your company’s specific requirements.
You need a range of strategic and implementation skills, to work with someone who can manage themselves, and also look to the future to lay the foundations for growth. They also can’t be loath to get their hands dirty, down in the trenches.
If you take the agency route, which is a good option for getting a range of skills with a single price-tag, watch out for agencies used to working with the resources and expectations of a large company.
Ideally appoint an agency or a consultant used to dealing with smaller companies and their requirements. Hiring a freelancer who works for more than one company is a great way to get the experience and skill set you require, at a price that suits your pocket. An added bonus is the potential synergies with the contractor’s other clients.
2. FOCUS
You will be presented with a range of typical and not-so-typical activities and channels to reach your customers. Choose two or three of the activities and channels that make most sense, and then focus your marketing efforts on owning these.
Also keep your customer front of mind. Twitter might be the hottest topic in social media and marketing at the moment, but if your customers are mostly reading text email using a dial-up connection – you’ll be better off sending them a simple email newsletter, letting them know about special offers.
Keep sales and marketing tightly connected and focussed on the same thing. You can’t waste valuable budget on teams not being aligned and chasing the same goal.
3. MESSAGING ON THE FLY
You will end up creating branding and messaging on the fly. It’s not ideal, but it’s inevitable. As a start-up or a smaller company you need to get out there, talking to the market, and can’t afford to spend three months sitting around a board-room table, fine-tuning the most exquisitely crafted message and brand strategy.
However, don’t let your need for speed mean you don’t ever take time out focus on your branding and messaging to make sure it’s coherent, accurate and on track. Spend time once a month to reflect on how your messaging and brand is developing, and if you need to tweak, change track or emphasise any aspects.
4. KEEP IT UP
Understand that building and marketing a brand is not an overnight activity, nor can it be turned on and off like a tap. You need a sustained, coherent programme of activities that builds momentum.
So don’t be tempted to opt for quick wins. It will be more cost-effective in the long run to run a steady strategic PR campaign that builds momentum over three to six months, than to dedicate all your resources to a high profile advert that has a shelf life of less than a month, if it gets seen at all.
5. DUCK, DIVE AND HAVE FUN
Embrace the benefits of being small, nimble and able to react quickly by experimenting and trying something out of the ordinary. If it doesn’t work out, you can quickly correct the situation with minimum exposure, and if it’s a great success, you can do more of the same. Don’t act like a lumbering, slow to change direction oil tanker, when in fact you are a nippy speedboat.
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @
SaleSearcher was an online specials and promotions listings site that allowed retailers to drive more customers to their stores by highlighting current sales.
Twokats Communications helped launch the site to retailers with a media outreach project targetted at retail and marketing publications. This is a great example of how a B2B media outreach campaign can quickly and effectively be implemented, on a tight budget. In both press releases, it was key to use third party endorsements in order to enhance the credibility of a new entity.
You can read the press releases here:
Coverage achieved:
Marketing Mix: Retailers use a little sale searching, February 2009
Mypressportal: Retailers get found thanks to SaleSearcher, 6 February 2009
Biz-community: TV, video and advertising ‘on demand’ creeps closer, 25 November 2008
Marketing Web: Fish for savvy customers online, 25 November 2008
Biz-community: New search site brings sales to customers online, 24 November 2008
Marketing Machine: SaleSearcher brings savvy customers straight to you, 21 November 2008
Mypressportal: SaleSearcher brings savvy customers straight to you, 17 November 2008
Note: Salesearcher has subsequently been put on hold by the owner, who is pursuing other activities.
Posted by: Vanessa Clark @
- Wide-ranging communications experience: I started off as a technology journalist, switched over to the dark side to become the PR and then marketing manager for a UK technology start-up, was the marketing manager for the leading mobile messaging provider when it moved from Cape Town to Silicon Valley, and finally am running my own communications consultancy working with a range of companies.
- I’ve been employee number 50 twice: so fully understand the challenges of a rapidly growing company.
- I survived the previous dotcom bomb: and lived to fight another day, with a heap of crisis communications experience under my belt.
- I put my money where my mouth is: I am one of the founders of a mobile startup in Cape Town – watch this space.
- I am media agnostic: the channel is there to convey the message in the most effective way, and is not there for its own sake, and certainly is NOT the story.
- I’m passionate about brands and brand strategy, and love telling the story of authentic brands that add value.
- I’m a connector: interesting and successful strategic alliances are a critical success factor for any business.
- I’m a firestarter: nothing engages me more than starting or building something new, and putting in place creative strategies for success.
- I know it’s unlikely I will ever know your business as well as you do. But I do know my craft inside out and can apply it to your business for maximum impact.
- I’ve worked abroad for seven years and been exposed to US and European business cultures. But I’m proudly South African and want to build value at home, as well as raise our profile on the world stage.
Credit: thanks to Bev Merriman for inspiration for the format of this list.
