Archive for the ‘Marketing Strategy’ Category
Better Marketing Through Personas
It’s no surprise that advertising has gotten more complex in recent years. With the emergence of unique digital opportunities, mobile, and a more competitive, complex marketplace, brands need to do a lot to avoid getting lost in the crowd. One of the simplest, most effective ways to make products and communications efforts stand out is by understanding the target audience. One way we examine and define the target audience at the Adcom Group is via persona development.
Outlaw Email Best Practices
In the past few minutes I have received three promotional emails in my inbox. Companies are deploying more emails than ever, which creates heavy competition in the media world today. I constantly find myself over-thinking methods to counteract that competition. Continue reading Outlaw Email Best Practices
The ‘Wow’! It isn’t about the homepage.
Three seconds if you’re lucky. It’s all you’ve got.
You only have a few seconds to gain the interest of your visitor. It’s important to make those few seconds count when making a first impression. However, those few and precious seconds don’t always happen where you believe they are going to happen. Continue reading The ‘Wow’! It isn’t about the homepage.
Content Marketing White Paper – In case you missed it the first time.
Not too long ago, we posted a discussion around content strategy and the growth and changes taking place in the content marketing world.
Our recent white paper written by Clyde Miles, Partner of The Adcom Group of Companies, The Contented Marketer: Insights into Content Strategy from a Marketer’s Perspective discusses the importance of creating real connections for your brand and creating relevant content that connects your audiences across all paid, earned, shared and owned media platforms and channels. While helping to educate and encourage customer interactions through consistently delivered, valuable content, you will build brand loyalty and equity, which will translate into sales. Continue reading Content Marketing White Paper – In case you missed it the first time.
Vertically Integrated Marketing Stream Of Consciousness
Kendall Allen calls it “Ad Hoc Digital”. Tom Schick calls it the “Duct Tape Approach.” What ever you call it, the non-strategic, non-integrated and non-connected -together injection of tactically employed digital “media” into an overall marketing strategy continues to stunt the growth of many marketers.
Personally, I like the concept of vertical integration as a metaphor for building effective marketing integration: In classic vertical integration in manufacturing, there is upstream vertical integration (like Ford owning steel and rubber companies). There is downstream vertical integration (like American Apparel owning its own retail outlets), and balanced (both upstream and downstream) vertical integration where the company owns or controls the whole process, from raw material to final distribution.
For my metaphor, think about your owned content as your upstream vertical integration, and your owned or borrowed channels as your downstream vertical integration.
Unlike classic vertical integration, which can be visualized as a linear path with a beginning and an end (the one way stream), great integrated marketing now should be seen as a never-ending circular whirlpool-like stream with analytics and ROI measurement built in along the stream to allow for flexibility, speed, scalability and precise addition and subtraction of tactics throughout the continual process.
Like classic vertical integration, this approach is a strategic initiative with a lot of moving parts that requires a strong partner and organizational commitment and resources.
If you are currently doing the “Ad Hoc” or “Duct Tape” toe in the water approach, it’s time to jump into the stream.

