Blog

Television Advertising is Alive and Well

June 30, 2016 by primm

Marketers love to declare things dead. We see “SEO IS DEAD” proclaimed weekly. Even Forbes recently got on the bandwagon declaring traditional live TV dead. While we here at Primm are big fans of web and digital marketing in all its forms, we believe in investing in the right platform for the client. And often times, good, old-fashioned TV is the right platform.

A recent study by Ipsos, a well-respected global market research company, found that TV is alive and well globally. Worldwide, 86% of TV watchers usually watch programming live.

As for the US alone, a study by Broadstream Solutions found that 84% of US adults watch TV programming live. The study further found that live television viewing is only down 1% over the last 10 years.

What does this mean for advertisers?

Businesses need to be savvy about their target market(s) and invest their advertising budgets wisely. Staying engaged in traditional television advertising is vital to maintaining brand visibility and reaching the widest possible audience. Depending on the demographics of their market and their budget, a brand may want to invest in digital platforms like YouTube advertising as well. We frequently execute marketing strategies that blend old and new media using, consistent branding and messaging across all platforms.

If you’re interested in television advertising for your business, or if you are interested in how to effectively blend the use of traditional advertising and digital marketing for your company, give us a call!

Adwords 101: What are the different types of Google Adwords?

February 26, 2015 by primm

When Adwords launched in 2000, there were only text ads above and to the side of Google’s search results. While those text ads are still available, there are now many different types of ads available for businesses of all types and sizes. Here’s a brief introduction to the various options Google has to offer.

Search

Search ads are the most familiar to people. They are the ads that appear at the top or along the sides of the Google search results page based on your search query. These text ads can also appear in Google Shopping, or Google Maps when someone searches on your keywords.

Search ads can also appear on other search sites that are part of the Search Network. Other search sites have partnered with Google to show AdWords ads, such as AOL. So your ads might appear alongside or above search results on other relevant search pages.

There are many ways to target these ads based on keywords (what people are looking for), such as time of day, location, device, and so on. There are also a variety of ad extensions that can include locations, sitelinks, phone calls, reviews, and more.

Product Listing Ads (PLAs) are an ad format that includes an image, title, price, your business name, etc. There needs to be a data feed in place to a Google Merchant Center account, which is then connected to Adwords. PLAs are usually used for e-commerce sites, but there are options for “available near me” which combines a local store’s inventory and the location of the person looking for that product.

Display

Everyone is familiar with banner ads on news sites, forums, and blogs, but did you know that many of the banner ads you see are part of Google Adwords? And not just banner ads, but text ads and rich media ads too. Ads on the Google Display Network reach people across all types of content on over 2 million sites—from small niche blogs to sites with millions of daily views.

Text Ads on the Google Display Network give you access to the largest pool of text inventory available. These are the ads you see in gmail, on blogs, and many other sites.
Image Ads are the large graphic ads across the top, side, or bottom of a webpage. These are ever present on news sites, forums, and all around the web. Many people refer to them as “banner ads.”
Rich Media Ads allow people to interact with an image or video. Interactions in these ads can range from hovering the mouse pointer over an ad to expand the unit, to playing a video, or tapping for content.

One amazing feature the Display Network offers is remarketing. Remarketing shows ads to people who have visited your website before. When people leave your website without buying anything, remarketing helps you reconnect with them by showing relevant ads as they browse the web, as they use mobile apps, or as they search on Google. Remarketing campaigns can be extraordinarily successful at driving sales activity, increasing registrations, or promoting brand awareness.

YouTube

YouTube advertising is technically considered part of the display network, but there are many types of advertising within YouTube, so we’re giving it its own section. As with all AdWords advertising, these ads can be targeted to specific geographic areas. They can also be targeted to certain video topics.

Display ads appear to the right of the feature video and above the video suggestions list. For larger players, this ad may appear below the player. These ads only show on desktop computers or laptops.
Overlay ads (previously called in-video ads) are semi-transparent overlay ads that appear on the lower 20% portion of your video. These ads only show on desktop computers or laptops as well.
Skippable video ads (previously called TrueView in-stream ads, or sometimes called pre-roll) allow viewers to skip ads after 5 seconds, if they choose. They are inserted before, during, or after the main video. These ads show on mobile, desktop, SmartTVs, and game consoles.
Non-skippable video ads and long, non-skippable video ads (formerly called non-skippable in-stream ads) must be watched before your video can be viewed. Long non-skippable video ads may be up to 30 seconds long. These ads can appear before, during, or after the main video and appear on mobile and desktop.

While each type of ad has ideal applications, our favorite format is the “skippable video ad” because they display on all platforms.

The Primm Company is a Google Partner Agency

Not sure which Adwords options are right for your business? We can help. As a Google Partner Agency we’re experts in using Adwords to drive customers to our client’s businesses. Call or email us anytime. We’d love to help!

*Please note that the terminology used is current as of February 2015.

Summer in Norfolk: First Fridays on Granby Street!

July 3, 2013 by primm

Happy Independence Day! If you’ve yet to make plans for Friday night, look no further. This Friday, July 5, marks the first First Fridays Granby Street Party.

FirstFriday_Color

The first Friday of every month, from July to October, people of all ages are invited to get down on Granby Street to enjoy live music, great food, refreshing beverages (we’ve heard rumors of a beer garden) and a roaring good time.

This Friday the featured musical performer is none other than Norfolk Legends of Music Walk-of-Famer Gary U.S. Bonds. He’ll be doing a book signing as well as performing old and new tunes, including his 1961 hit, “Quarter to Three.”

First Fridays are held rain or shine. You can bring your own chairs, get comfortable and enjoy all the fun Downtown Norfolk has to offer. Join us!

Five E-Commerce Tips For Small Businesses

June 14, 2013 by primm

ID-10093988

Every day your business relies on sales transactions to keep the “open” sign on the door and the company mission afloat. When you sell your products from a brick and mortar location, these transactions are person-to-person. You control the logistics of the sale in terms of pricing, discounts and product delivery, and make sure the customer walks away happy. But what if some or all of your sales happen online?

A great e-commerce site can be your company’s best friend. With nearly unlimited space for inventory, instantaneous access to worldwide markets, fewer sales costs and easy order tracking, an internet storefront helps small businesses compete with much bigger companies.

E-commerce transactions, despite their great advantages, also present unique challenges to business owners. What is second nature in-store falls to the mercy of a computer online. So when complex circumstances like stackable discounts and international shipping arise, you need to make sure you don’t overlook important logistics, lest you lose money or your customers’ trust.

Here are five tips on doing e-commerce well:

Make It Easy. Just like in-store shoppers, online shoppers respond favorably (buy) when they can “get in and get out” with little hassle. Your chosen e-commerce platform should provide a seamless and direct buying experience. A good measure of the ease of an interface is the number of clicks it takes to get to the desired action (the fulfillment of the order). Click to add to cart, Click to go to cart, Click to choose desired options (if applicable), Click to enter billing and shipping info, Click to complete the order. That’s 5 clicks, and you shouldn’t need more than that, with some exceptions.
Provide Options. If it’s in your power, be sure to offer as wide a range of product variations and options on your online store as possible. One of the reasons many people shop online is to locate those hard-to-find items that weren’t in the brick and mortar store. If they find them in your online store, customers will be more likely to return when they face a similar situation in the future.
Get Social. Another great way to ‘make it easy’ for your online customers is to integrate e-commerce capability into your social advertising. For one of our e-commerce clients, Primm built a secure online store placed as a tab on their Facebook page so that customers don’t even have to leave Facebook to complete an order.
Consider The Complexities. We mentioned before the issue of stackable discounts. These refer to how a business chooses to handle the application of multiple discounts to a single order. For instance, say you choose to run a “buy one get one” promotion for a certain product while simultaneously offering a promo code for “one free [insert name of same product]. Without taking the time to program your e-commerce platform to reject the ‘stacking’ of these discounts, you could lose untold money and inventory. That’s just one of the logistical complexities you need to take into consideration in order to get the most out of your e-commerce site.
Place An Emphasis On Customer Service. Though you may never meet your online customers face to face, it doesn’t mean that you can’t give them the stellar customer service you would afford to in-store shoppers. Along with fast, complete and trackable shipping, make sure you have a clear and convenient process for returns.

As you can see, there is a lot to think about when running an e-commerce site. If you’d like, the web team at Primm can save you time, energy and money by handling your e-commerce operation. Call or contact us today.

image courtesy of: freedigitalphotos.net

Branding Disasters: What We Can Learn From JCPenney

May 10, 2013 by primm

“I believe in trusting men, not only once but twice…in giving failure another chance.”

– James Cash Penney

Based on his quote above, it’s safe to say that the founder and namesake of the ailing department store JCPenney would support newly reinstated CEO Mike Ullman’s second chance at leading the store back to a semblance of its former glory.

JCPenney’s massive financial slump follows a failed rebranding attempt by Ron Johnson who took Ullman’s place in 2011. Johnson was largely responsible for Target’s successful “cheap chic” rebranding as the vice president of merchandising and worked hand-in-hand with Steve Jobs at Apple to create its famously consistent brand experience (“geek chic,” as it were). Why didn’t JCPenney enjoy the same kind of rebranding success under Johnson’s direction?

Let’s look at what went wrong and what you can learn from it.

Johnson wanted to shake things up at JCPenney by doing away with coupons and sales, discontinuing some of the older and stodgier merchandise mainstays and simplifying the physical layout of the stores. His goal was to revitalize the chain by making “hip” changes. For most of JCPenney’s clientele, the new look, feel and pricing system fell flat. While some customers responded positively, for most, the change was “too much too soon.” Revenues dropped from an already low level and after 17 months, Johnson out. Ullman in.

The Lesson:

No matter how cool or innovative a new brand concept seems, do your market research and act accordingly. Because of JCPenney’s sad and stagnant state when it fell into Johnson’s hands, he acted too quickly in an attempt to salvage it and failed to align his tactics with the likes and dislikes of JCPenney’s loyal existing customer base. Fun and flashy ads are great, but not if the customers actually buying respond to sensible and conservative ad messages.

Now, that’s not to say that change involved in a rebranding has to be totally at the mercy of your customers’ extant preferences. In fact, when you roll out big changes gradually and refrain from removing brand mainstays (in JCPenney’s case, coupons and discounts), you can acclimate your customer base to a new direction without shocking them out of your camp.

Another key let-down of the rebranding: the new logo. Slightly reminiscent of Myspace’s logo-change missteps, research showed that while 84% of consumers recognized JCPenney’s original logo and 76% recognized 2009’s slight change, only 56% could identify JCPenney with the logo introduced in 2011.

Image courtesy of: www.businessinsider.com

Ouch.

The Lesson:

Think twice before completely overhauling your logo. Ask yourself, “Is it worth it?” JCPenney, with all of its financial woes, boasted high brand recognition before the rebrand. The modern appeal of the March 2012 logo was likely not worth the customer confusion.

I never trust an executive who tends to pass the buck. Nor would I want to deal with him as a customer or a supplier.

-James Cash Penney

In April of this year, Ron Johnson was asked to step down and JCPenney faced the overwhelming task of regaining its share of the department store market. The company launched a huge social media campaign that communicated one message: “Come back to us. We’re listening.” This apologetic ad circulated on Facebook, garnering an incredible response from former JCPenney patrons who aired their discontents in the comments (most comments received a direct acknowledgement from JCPenney). It also displayed a more familiar logo instead of the poorly received one.

It seems that JCPenney’s leaders garnered some wisdom from their company’s founder and chose not to “pass the buck,” but rather to admit their failure. Whether or not this tactic will bring their numbers up remains to be seen, but JCPenney offers businesses a great example of how to recover from a failed rebranding.

The Lesson:

Admit to your mistakes and sincerely look for customer feedback. There is no value in pretending that missteps never happened. In the past few months we’ve talked about the importance of saying “sorry” and eating your humble pie when necessary. Honesty really is the best policy, so while we can’t guarantee that this strategy will fix all that’s broken…it certainly is a start.

Do you want to rebrand? Did a recent rebranding attempt not go as smoothly as you planned? Either way, call Primm. Our creative PR experts can help you make sure your customer base stays in love with you no matter how you change your logo.

Sources:

www.businessinsider.com

Radio and Millenials Are a Great Match. Here’s why.

May 3, 2013 by primm

Generation Y, Generation Me, Millenials…whatever you choose to call them, the 18-34 demographic is probably a part, if not the focus, of your target market. But despite their purchasing power, they can be difficult to reach meaningfully. Why?

One of the reasons is that Millenials are more suspicious of advertising than their baby boomer parents and traditionalist grandparents. They are skeptical of flashy ads with big claims and desire some kind of personal connection to the brands they support. It’s your job as a business to facilitate that connection.

So, what tactics and channels can you use to crack the millennial code? If the first things that come to your mind are those traditionally associated with “youth,” namely Facebook, Twitter and perhaps strategic email marketing, you’re right. Web marketing does meet millennials where they are (in front of screens.) But what about radio?

Yep, you heard me. Good old fashioned radio advertising, albeit with a millenial twist, can be a fantastic way to get the attention and affection of young people. Even in the midst of the myriad media options available to them, 92% of 18-34 year olds still tune into radio for over 12 hours every week, and when they do, they really listen. Why?

Over time, young people form connections with radio personalities who often accompany them on their way to school or work in the morning and on the way home in the afternoon. They grow to trust these radio hosts and look forward to each day’s topic of discussion. What is more, radio stations generally do a great job of cross promotion online and through social media. One local top 40 station has over 60,000 Facebook followers who regularly interact with their page, not including the followers of its radio personalities’ personal Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Simply put, radio fosters community. It also provides businesses with the ability to directly target the age and interest demographics they want to reach with more specificity than most other marketing channels. The key is to add radio into your media mix smartly by following the lead of market research and, ideally, working with marketing experts that know how to practically interpret that research.

If you are trying to get your brand in front of millenials, here are some tips for making the most out of radio:

Make radio personalities your brand advocates

Since radio hosts already share that personal connection with your young audience, capitalize on their vote of confidence for your brand or product. Whether the hosts directly endorse it in the context of regular programming or simply serve as the voice to your ad copy during commercials, a familiar voice will perk up the ears of young listeners and encourage them to give you a chance.

Collaborate off the air

Radio stations hold numerous contests and events throughout the year. Get in on the action and sponsor one of them or go a step further and work with the station to build an event around your brand. A nice and easy way to collaborate is to provide the station with branded promotional products for them to hand out to contest finalists and such.

Be distinctive and consistent

When you’re looking to catch the attention of young people (who incidentally have pretty short attention spans), your radio spots must be concise, creative and memorable. They also have to run repetitively but not so often that the audience tires of you or tunes you out.

Easier said than done, right? This is where working with an experienced broadcast media advertising agency like Primm really comes in handy. Our creative team doesn’t just write clever individual spots and call it a day. We develop a number of ads all based on a carefully honed concept derived from your brand message. Primm has a long history of collaboration with local and national AM/FM radio stations and the knowledge you need to place your ads on the right station, in the right time slot; all in a way that fits your budget and gets results.

Would you like to add radio to your media mix? Interested in broadcast advertising in general? Call or contact Primm today. (757) 623-6234.

source: marketingprofs.com