Crumbs from the Scone
You’ve no doubt noticed it: Products from the past are making a comeback. Coke and Pepsi have recently introduced throwback versions of their soft drinks. Mrs. Butterworth, Strawberry Shortcake, Atari (the list goes on) have all returned. And advertisers like Bumble Bee Tuna are reviving their old jingles.
Marketers of products such as these are pushing nostalgia in the hope that “in times of anxiety (such as economic recessions), reviving feelings about the past will soothe consumers’ nerves,” say the authors of a new research report.
How might a retro product soothe a frazzled buyer? The researchers set out to find the answer. Particularly, they focused on a human emotion relevant to the age of social media: the need to belong.
In a series of five experiments, they explored whether subjects feeling socially “excluded” demonstrated a preference for nostalgic products. They divided shoppers up to experience an “exclusion condition” (where they were ignored during a group activity), an “inclusion condition” and a “neutral condition.” Following the group activity, participants were offered choices of contemporary or retro products.
Across all five experiments, the authors found that “activating the goal to belong in a variety of ways consistently increases one’s interest in consuming nostalgic products, such as television shows, food, automobiles—even shower gel.”
Based on their findings, the authors offer these suggestions for marketers:
- Sell retro products through channels in which consumers socialize, such as stores within restaurants, bars or coffee shops.
- Create online brand communities in which consumers can interact and bond over the brand they have in common.
- Link those communities to an online retro-product store.
Nostalgia has a social side. Consider marketing retro-themed products through social hot spots and online communities: Your customers might enjoy the connection.
Source: “Still Preoccupied with 1995: The Need to Belong and Preference for Nostalgic Products” by Katherine E. Loveland, Dirk Smeesters and Naomi Mandel.
Crumbs from the Scone
“Many business owners have dutifully written their vision and mission statements, working hard to craft statements with impact and importance,” writes Marla Tabaka at Inc. “But what happens to those statements?”
All too often, they’re shuffled out of sight—and out of mind. In Tabaka’s experience, many clients can’t articulate a mission statement; often, they’ve simply forgotten what they wrote in the first place.
So how can you regain—and maintain—a laser-sharp focus on your company’s raison d’être? Tabaka recommends this three-step process:
Define your true and full vision. Almost everyone starts a business with the purpose of turning a profit, but you might have additional humanitarian or environmental goals. “Certainly this isn’t true for everyone,” she notes, “but don’t negate the importance of your higher purpose if you have one.”
Use imagery to communicate the big picture. Sometimes a written statement isn’t enough. Tabaka suggests the creation of a poster board that keeps your mission front-and-center with drawings, photos or collages. “Too often the rewards connected to our goals get lost in the passion and dream of carrying out our mission,” she notes. “Give yourself permission to include meaningful symbols of the rewards you seek; money, travel, fame, respect, or whatever is important to you.”
Make your vision a daily reality. Take a few minutes each morning to ponder your visual mission statement. “Still your mind and gaze at your images, allowing your body and mind to feel and live your success,” she advises.
Focus. To achieve your goals—especially in tumultuous economic times—stay true to your purpose by keeping it at the front of your mind.
Source: Inc.
Crumbs from the Scone
When you’re ready to position yourself as a media resource, says blogger Nettie Hartsock, you can hire publicists who pitch your expertise to journalists—or you can start making news at your blog. “The media is constantly sourcing blogs and the experts who write them to feature in both online and offline news stories,” she writes. “Almost every single cable news show incorporates experts who are identified only by their blog or website.” Further, she notes, the AP has announced it will now credit bloggers in news stories.
According to Hartsock, media outlets and bloggers enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship. “Offline and online publications will assume that if you’re quoted in a story, you will also link to that story on your blog, Twitter, Facebook etc. and that will help drive more readers to the media publication itself,” she notes. “It’s a win-win.”
So how do you become a newsmaker? Hartsock has this advice:
- “Be ahead of the stories of the day and offer your expert opinion via your blog before you’re asked to,” she suggests. Make an interesting argument, offer an unusual angle and demonstrate your expertise. Don’t forget to write clean, quotable copy that’s snark-free.
- Give your posts titles with a newsy hook. “Look at the headlines on major media sites,” she says, “and use the same form for some of your blog posts.” A title should communicate the post’s basic premise and whet a reader’s appetite for what she will find once she clicks on the link.
You’ve been pitching the media all this time—now let the media come to you.
Source: Nettie Hartsock’s blog.
Crumbs from the Scone
The hit TV sitcom The Office has extended its brand reach and consumer appeal through clever uses of social media. “Although there are only around 23 episodes [per year] … the show has become far more than just 30 minutes of weekly airtime,” Case Ernsting writes in a recent post at the SEO & Marketing blog. “In fact, these half-hour installments have proven to be the axis for a very extensive and enthusiastic leap into new media.”
Among the show’s social-media efforts that have reaped a huge fan following are these:
- Character blogs at the show’s website, and character Flickr accounts and Twitter handles.
- Interactivity—such as a recent Fanisode that allowed fans to upload their own remakes of scenes from a previous episode.
- Multichannel integration: The show’s new-media devices act as magnets that draw fans to the website again and again.
Such uses of new media is an example that businesses of all types can follow, Ernsting says. He offers tips based on the show’s success. Among the ideas he presents:
Model your social-media campaigns around your people. Make your customers fans by “providing insight into the things that make your company tick,” Ernsting suggests. Let your staff’s individual personalities shine through.
Build brand loyalty based on emotional connections. What about your brand resonates with customers? Think of ways to translate that appeal to social interactivity.
Match the medium to your message. Consider, up front, which social-media outlets best match your outreach, Ernsting advises. A call-to-action message? Consider Twitter. An image-based campaign? Use Facebook.
Find your audience appeal. Consider using social media in clever ways to illuminate the uniqueness of your product, service—or staff. You could have a hit on your hands!
Source: SEO & Marketing.
Crumbs from the Scone
“Your email database might show big numbers,” writes Loren McDonald at Silverpop, “but 25 percent to 40 percent of your subscribers, or more, could be inactive without showing any obvious symptoms.”
Described by Dela Quist as “unemotionally subscribed,” such recipients have active email accounts, but don’t open your messages, click through, unsubscribe or report your messages as spam. They do… nothing.
And while it’s nice to keep subscriber numbers up, the presence of inactive accounts can have a negative impact on your:
- Deliverability rates. “ISPs are beginning to factor activity into the algorithms they use to determine whether to deliver or block email messages,” notes McDonald.
- Performance measurements. “Including nonresponders in your metrics analysis depresses your email engagement and response rates and leads to muddied assessments of your email program’s performance.”
- Resource allocation. Email campaigns have a relatively low cost, but there’s no sense in spending any money on subscribers who will never open a message. “These resources will deliver a better ROI when focused on the actively engaged,” he explains.
To help resolve the situation, McDonald recommends a four-step action plan:
- Segment your inactive subscribers into customers who have made a purchase and prospects who have done nothing more than open a message.
- Create reactivation campaigns that give recipients clear opportunities to re-engage or unsubscribe.
- Manage nonresponders, for instance by sending less frequent, more aggressive offers. If you become confident they’re unlikely to re-engage, remove them from your active database.
- Monitor and optimize your reactivation campaigns based on the results you see.
Give ’em a nudge. The worst thing you can do with inactive subscribers is nothing. So spark their interest—or drop them.
Source: Silverpop
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You’ve no doubt noticed it: Products from the past are making a comeback. Coke and Pepsi have recently introduced throwback versions of their soft drinks. Mrs. Butterworth, Strawberry Shortcake, Atari (the list goes on) have all returned. And advertisers like Bumble Bee Tuna are reviving their old jingles.
