Today, it’s all about the pictures

We are a more visual culture than ever before. Each of us spends serious quality time in front of one screen or another every single day. Over the years, advertising has become more visual and less wordy. Online video is still growing exponentially. And millions of people restrict their thoughts to bursts of 140 characters or less.

So is copy dead? Here are three reasons why I think copy is more important than ever before:

1: Every word has to count

The optimum length for an email is around 150–200 words (that’s about the length of this post up to this point). Of course today, readers scan first and read later (or not at all). This means that elements such as subject lines, headlines and subheads must work really hard. More than this, slight variations in the wording of calls to action can have a massive effect on your results. So it pays to get it right.

2: Online engagement is still mainly text-based

From white papers and ebooks through to blog posts, tweets and video scripts – words are the foundation that underpins everything else. Having a professional understanding both of advanced tech products and the ability to use language to persuade people to buy is key to success.

3: People buy people

Ultimately in B2B people buy into other people. Forget the myth of the rational sale. In the real world that’s all it is, a myth. Typically in today’s B2B sales, there are reasonable, and potentially eye-watering, amounts of money involved. Customers want the reassurance of knowing they are buying from people who care, who understand them, who they can trust. In the absence of a real, live actual person, this will need to be done through copy. So the ability to make the dry, rational stuff into human, engaging stuff is pretty valuable too.

So far from copy being dead, it is alive and kicking and coming out of an agency near you.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you the copywriter.

Image courtesy of http://www.adpulp.com/gamification_se/

There is a growing opinion in the digital marketing community that the construction of the social layer of the web is now complete, especially with the dominance of Facebook. The next phase will move from establishing social connections to the development of game dynamics that encourage long-term brand engagement and loyalty.

It’s certainly easy to see how game theory has already been applied in consumer marketing e.g. building-up points on FourSquare to get a free coffee at Starbucks. But, the big question is how will it work for B2B?

Well, it’s already happening on sites like LinkedIn, where users feel a sense of achievement if they have more connections than their peers, are recommended more and have a more complete profile. Users are driven by their need for status and influence and the fact that progressing to a new level is relatively straightforward e.g. adding specialities gives you and additional 5% on your profile completeness. The same applies to Twitter updates and followers.

I believe that we’ll see a number of game-based experiences on websites and mobile applications developed specifically to engage the business audience. Whilst they will initially be focused on training and education, over time they will motivate prospects and customers to provide levels of customer insight that would be impossible to obtain through traditional methods – it’s easier to get information from people if they get an immediate reward for doing it.

But, by creating game-based connections with our customers, we need to ensure we align their motivations with delivering real business value to your organisation. In this way, we’ll identify individuals and groups who are genuinely interested in our products and services and who will be long-term advocates.

Image courtesy of The PowerPoint Alchemist

Here’s a good example from Microsoft Office Labs. Ribbon Hero 2 teaches people to use the features of Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint and Word) by playing a series of themed games. They can then compete against friends and colleagues while becoming proficient with the software and emerging as loyal users. Try it out here.

Image courtesy of IBM

And finally, IBM CityOne innov8 is a long-term play to promote Big Blue’s sustainability and consulting credentials around smart city planning. The core message is that IBM wants users to discover how business process management, collaborative technologies, and service oriented architecture enable companies and industries to adapt to new demands and build a sustainable advantage. Nancy Pearson, IBM vice president of SOA, BPM and WebSphere says “Serious games allow professionals to inherently comprehend system interactions, and accurately model the potential business outcomes that can result, in a way that no other medium can do.” You can find out more here.

So watch out for the gamification of your next B2B marketing campaign. If done right, your prospects may not even notice how their behaviour is being influenced. They’ll be too busy building their online status and scoring points.

You can see why. Where at one time our target might be described as:

• IT director in an enterprise-sized business
• Located in EMEA with multiple offices
• Currently using traditional telephony across all sites
• Their current contract is due to expire in the next 12 months
• Etc

Now we have:

Andreas heads up IT for a major manufacturer based just outside of Berlin. He is responsible for all aspects of IT (hardware, software, services and communications). It’s his job to ensure the business has the technology it needs to compete effectively in an ever more globalised world.

Unsurprisingly, Andreas is perpetually busy. His day consists of a series of meetings, fire fights and calls. In fact, it’s only after hours that he ever gets time to think more long-term about the company’s needs.

A current headache is the business’s phone system. It’s a traditional system that is now coming to the end of its life. Andreas understands that it is the perfect opportunity to move to something better equipped for the future. At the very least this will mean a IP-based system but he’s now considering how else to move things forward.

Etc.

All good. While we are caricaturing both approaches, you can see that the persona offers greater depth and insight into the kind of person we are talking to. It offers copywriters in particular a clear picture of the person they are writing for. We can feel Andreas’s pain.

So what’s the problem with personas?

Don’t get us wrong, when done well, personas are valuable. But that’s the problem. All too often, they aren’t done well. So what are the issues?

Personas as wish fulfilment. There is a tendency for personas to be created to depict a customer as the client or agency would like them to be. They exhibit issues and desires that perfectly marry the client’s products. Sadly these people don’t really exist so aiming a message at them is, at best, self-defeating.

The complexity of B2B sales. Yes, Andreas may be key to making the sale but the chances are that he’s just one part of the picture. In our example of an IP telephony system above, a whole range of people will be involved and need convincing. Focusing too closely on one persona means neglecting others who may be just as important.

One size does not fit all. A persona is just as much of a catchall as traditional demographics (often it’s just written better). It faces the dual problem of needing to be generic enough to represent the audience as a whole and specific enough to give us something to work with. As such, it will always be a compromise.

So what’s the alternative?

While personas (good ones) can provide a certain degree of context that offers a sound foundation to start from, they are not the whole picture.

We are in the business of affecting customer behaviours. Typically, we want them to stop doing X and begin doing Y. And we want to be able to do this as efficiently as possible.

Fortunately with the technology now available (such as that from our partners at Eloqua) we can focus far more closely on behaviours themselves and adapt what we do on a more granular level. And we can do it at a speed that was previously unheard of.

In this way we can move from a demographic persona to a more behavioural one. We can cluster together these behaviours and test which are the best triggers to use. The result? Over time, we can build a more accurate, more useful picture of our target audiences. And on that note, watch this space for Chris Corney’s next blog post on 5 tips for improving your marketing automation.

And there’s no praise if you falter in your tracks, fail to deliver and find your new client heading back to his previous agency or to the close run number two… who said life was ever meant to be easy?

Winning is important but keeping a client happy over a sustained period of time is much more demanding and, unlike pitching, conducted in the real world of blood, sweat and tears.

So how can a long term relationship be developed and nurtured? And how can this be done without pain?

In my last blog I discussed the importance of establishing service level agreements with key suppliers and how they can form the foundation of value-based relationships. Relationships that bring tangible benefits to both parties, publisher and client. Integral to the success of these agreements will be long term client retention and, no surprises, the SLA is a key component of that achievement.

SLAs have a lot going for them. They aren’t generally legally binding so there’s no expensive long drawn out battles with the legal teams – just common sense and an understanding of what both sides are looking to achieve from working together. The SLA will be written around the specific needs of each client and clearly address their individual needs and expectations. It means their values and service levels become imbued in the day to day lives of everyone involved.

The result is a bible for anyone working on an account. Quarterly performance reviews provide the opportunity to assess progress and nip in the bud any real or perceived issues that may endanger the long term relationship. And it is my personal experience that where SLAs are put in place and actively followed they rarely need rolling up and used against the exposed body parts of team members.

But, SLAs are not set in concrete. They need continual review and assessment and will always develop and mature as the relationship grows, forming the cornerstone of a long term partnership.

And remember, SLAs are two-way agreements so both parties, client and agency, need to be bold and expect nothing less of each other.

The result, however, is a better working relationship for everyone involved.

The reality is that mobile is fast becoming the primary screen and communications tool for business people*. But many marketers are under the false impression that their prospects won’t be receptive to business messages when they’re in a mobile frame of mind. They think they’re more interested in catching up with the news, consuming entertainment and updating their status on multiple social networks. This means there’s no opportunity for commercial messages and that nobody wants a relationship with a company through their most personal of devices. Or, do they?

Well the answer is a resounding “YES”. Mobile is all-pervasive and the de facto way people communicate, do tasks, socialise and conduct business. So it is the obvious channel to reach the people that matter. But before you run headlong into developing a shiny new mobile app, here are are few pointers to ensure you don’t fall at the first hurdle:

1. Don’t treat mobile like traditional online communications. Driving your prospects to downloading a whitepaper just isn’t going to work. So, consider the screen real estate that you have to work with and the way people consume content. Attention spans aren’t what they used to be, so a series of 5 minute podcasts will probably work better than a 50 page Forrester report.
2. If you thought privacy was important on the desktop, with mobile you ain’t seen nothing yet. It’s as personal as the computer is ever going to get. So pushing out uninvited marketing messages and SMS just won’t work. Ensure you use a phased approach to engage with the prospects at an intrinsic level – appeal to their intellectual side, their need for relationship and provide entertainment. Only once you’ve established this can you mix in a layer of commercial promotion.
3. Think about how you’re going to get them engaging via their mobiles. So consider how you’ll convert from email to mobile, off the printed page with QR codes and through social networks. After all, you can build a clever app but it doesn’t mean that people will use it (most apps are only used once).
4. If you can’t make doing business with your company over mobile devices better, faster and easier, don’t even bother. Don’t try to squeeze your company website onto a mobile device. Instead think what people need from you when they’re on the move and prioritise that content and functionality. So, stuff that’s location specific, support oriented and socially shareable should come to the fore.

The above are just a few pointers. If you’d like to discuss how mobile can be used to enhance your media strategies or extend your marketing communications, drop me a line at michael@b1.com

And finally, if you want to find out more about mobile marketing and how you should be using it today, we’ll be hosting the Banner Mobile Webinar on 1st June at 3pm GMT. If you haven’t already, you can register for this free event here. I’ll be joined by Christina Carstensen, Director of Mobile Strategy at IDG Global Solutions, for this quick-fire session as we explore:

• Key mobile stats and trends
• Future technologies you need to plan for
• How mobile strategy can be incorporated alongside your marketing strategy
• How to maximise social elements
• Practical examples from real-world case studies
• And, the all important measurement and ROI

To join us for what’s sure to be an informative and stimulating discussion, simply click here to register.

* Mobile as “first screen” for all web usage by 2013 – Gartner, 2010

Mention the term SLA (Service Level Agreement) in the world of advertising and people’s eyes will glaze over and their minds turn to lunch (or the after work trip to the pub).

Years of experience have taught me what keeps clients loyal and publishers delivering that extra bit that turns a good plan into an excellent plan: a belief that successful relationships are built on foundations of transparency, honesty and a mutual effort to succeed.

In my first blog post, I’ll address the very real need for the media professional to build and maintain SLAs with their key suppliers.

Publishers, more on this later.

Strong and open

An SLA between media buyer and media owner can — and does — create a stronger, more transparent relationship in which both parties commit to deliver agreed levels of service and information, and a two-way involvement in the media planning and buying process. When implemented properly, an SLA will provide clear benefits to all involved; the agency, the media owner and the client.

From the agency’s perspective, the agreement ensures that it is properly briefed by the publisher on the full scope of media opportunities from the publisher’s armoury (print, online, event OOH, etc) and that they are fully supported by available and relevant research. The price of the media will be important but it is the quality of delivery that rules and it is this quality that will feed the relationship and help develop the business partnership.

For the publisher, an SLA will encourage a two-way dialogue ensuring a timely and open opportunity to pitch their wares to relevant planners. Both parties will have a real commitment to delivering successful and accountable solutions to the client, building long-term profitable relationships. Importantly the agency will be obliged to explain why business was not won and how the publisher can better promote their offerings[ID1].

All of this is wrapped up neatly within an agreed set of deliverables with regular reviews and scoring. This means both parties are working together to improve on established benchmarks.

Procurement, pressure and slippery slopes

From speaker platform to trade press we are hearing that the business model for the media buying industry is broken.

The growing power of procurement, the increasing pressure to offer more for less, and a blind hunger for billings has had a devastating effect on margins. The result across Europe, in my opinion, has been to drive incomes from “earned” to bonus– and end–of-year rewards-based. This is a slippery slope that could lead back to the pre Loi Sapin days when the moguls of the French media industry carved out crazy annual deals on the back of their packets of Gauloises.

IMHO

We need to get back to good old-fashioned value-based relationships, founded on honesty, integrity, transparency and quality of delivery. This is not the cheaper option, but in my opinion the only one that offers a future we can be proud of.

Salesforce.com build their social media strategy around three pillars of online community. Seems like a pretty straight forward model:

• First ensure that your corporate site and other owned web properties are working hard for you. Focus on building engagement through knowledge sharing, user groups, blogs and ideas sharing.

• Secondly, create your own branded channels on existing social platforms. Use listening tools like Radian6 to understand what people are saying and where they’re saying it. Engage with people where they spend their time and distribute your content across YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and Slideshare.

• Finally, create conversations across the web on sites where you don’t have branded channels e.g. Twitter, third party blogs, forums and partners sites. And, make sure your social media guidelines are up to date and disseminate the policies to your content creators.

A good suggestion that came out of this last pillar was how to calculate a rough ROI for your social activities. For example, first calculate how much a video costs to create and to upload to YouTube. Then, ascertain the £/$ value of a video view (that’s the tricky bit, but any media buyer should be able to give you a figure). Multiply this value by the number of views and divide by the cost. Easy!

There was also a debate about whether people should have multiple accounts on Twitter e.g. their “work” profile and their “personal” profile. The audience seemed split on this topic. I personally prefer a single account @Wrigsy where I Tweet about a broad range of topics (from climbing mountains to our latest new business wins). But, I suppose I’m lucky that I can also Tweet through our Banner account @BannerCorp when the topic is purely focused on work.

If you’re a salesforce.com user, start using Chatter. It’s their most successful product launch to date and gives users the sort of communication and collaboration they expect from platforms like Facebook.

If you’re interested, take a look at the presentation here.

To see how social media has moved on, this year we’re hosting a new huddle at the Banner offices. In this information-packed afternoon, marketers will hear from senior technology marketers and vendors about how they’re using social media to drive provable success for their brands in 2010 and beyond.

At the Huddle you’ll discover:

• How to get the most from the available media options

• How to build a social media strategy that ties directly to your business objectives

• And how to go about measuring and proving ROI

You’ll hear the first hand experiences of marketers just like you. What worked. What didn’t. And what they’d do differently next time.

The date for your diary is Tuesday 2nd November. The huddle starts at 2pm at the Banner offices in London and finishes with drinks at 6pm.

Places are free but allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. To ensure you don’t miss out, register now.

And, to give you a taste of what our Huddles are like, here are some photos from last year’s event:

It would be good to see you there.

I also used to enjoy getting stuck into long articles and curling up with an 800 page novel. Truth is, these days I find it challenging to read a lengthy online article without following the multiple links embedded within the page, the lure of checking Twitter, my netvibes news feeds and my multiple email accounts. Apparently, I’m not alone – there is a perception out there that the internet is changing our brains (and not always positively), how we consume information and retain knowledge. In effect, Google is becoming a replacement for our long-term memory and almost as quick at retrieving information (take a look at the new Google Instant).

Pancake People

Back in 2005, the playwright Richard Foreman wrote a piece about ‘Pancake People’, and it’s even more pertinent today than when he wrote it:

“I see within us all (myself included) the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self – evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the ‘instantly available’. A new self that needs to contain less and less of an inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance – as we all become “pancake people” – spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.“

Earlier this year, a client told me that people don’t read web pages anymore and that much of the beautifully crafted copy that we had produced was a waste of time. Instinctively, I fought back against this statement and zealously defended our work. After all, producing content and publishing web pages is one of the reasons we’re in business. However, there have been a number of articles lately that have re-ignited the discussions and changed my mind as to how the internet is altering the way our brains work and, therefore, the way we consume information.

Have we reached a point predicted back in 1985 by Max Headroom where blipverts will be the most effective way of getting our marketing messages across to our target audience; where high-speed, concentrated, high-intensity commercials lasting about three seconds are used to subliminally brainwash the masses?

We may not have reached that point yet, but changing trends in media consumption must have some real implications for marketers. Is the long copy ad dead? Will technology decision-makers no longer have the time or inclination to value whitepapers? Do we need to fundamentally address the taxonomy and content hierarchy of our websites? And, do we need to establish new measures of audience engagement? After all, a page view doesn’t mean a page has actually been read…

Bite-sized payloads of marketing gold

If the answer to any of the above is “Yes”, then we need to ensure that we’re producing concise marketing messages that are laser-targeted at our audiences. Let’s not create reams of written content that languish on our corporate websites. Instead, let’s embrace the notion of creating more engaging formats of content and distributing it in bite-sized payloads to the platforms where our audiences are spending their time. So that means featuring content on services like Scribd and Slideshare and finding new ways to feature content on publisher websites. It also means making your blog one of the primary destinations for your marketing messages. After all, the content changes regularly and is generally mercifully short.

Thank you for reading to the end of this post. It must have been difficult not to follow any of the embedded links or checking the status on your social universe… I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

Why are search engines doing this? The adverts CTR is an important signal of “quality” for search engines. The logic is that if the advert matches the users query, they will click it. Therefore the higher the CTR, the more relevant the advert is assumed to be. And of course, since the search engines charge advertisers per click, their revenue increases.

The following chart outlines the main factors that determine the quality score for a keyword on Google Adwords. This quality score is then used in an algorithm that determines click-cost and position.

Due to this, it’s very possible that an advert appearing in top position is paying less per click than the one below. The search engines are of course maximising their revenues by the higher number of aggregate clicks that the top CTR advert is producing.

To make things more complex for advertisers, consider the following scenario: an advert with lower CTR is converting very strongly on the website, as it effectively pre-qualifies the traffic. In comparison a high CTR advert for the same campaign converts poorer, as it doesn’t seek to filter out unwanted traffic at the ad level, but instead on the landing page. Which should you run?

At this stage you would need to calculate the actual cost-per-action and volumes that can be achieved, depending on objective.

In practise, it’s difficult to make this type of direct comparison on a live campaign, due to the ever-changing nature of competition, quality score, positions and costs. However, from experience, typically for b2c the benefit of a higher quality score from optimising ad copies towards CTR (with resulting lowered CPC and higher position) outweighs the alternative, whereas for B2B it might not be the case.