Content Marketing Now!

Recently there are few trends and topics in marketing which we hear everyday and everywhere.

One is for sure Content Marketing!

The consumers are now very interested in what you produce and lead them to consume! The world is changing, so as the consumer behavior. They want to know what is inside the package rather than the package itself.

Here is a brief description of Content Marketing from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_marketing

And for a broader perspective on what is going on in the content marketing side of our business Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs are listed by Content Marketing Institute. Here you go with the link, enjoy reading!

http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/top-content-marketing-blogs/

If there is no water, there is no life.

A nature conservation foundation in Turkey, TEMA, has an advertising to underline the importance of the water on World Water Day by saying ‘If there is no water, there is no life.’ And the copy is highly supported by the creative.

22 March is ‘World Water Day’ since 1993. The day is declared by UN. And according to UNESCO;

·         85% of the world population lives in the driest half of the planet.

·         783 million people do not have access to clean water and almost 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation. 

·         6 to 8 million people die annually from the consequences of disasters and water-related diseases.

TEMA’s advertising is summarising UNESCO’s data.

No need to say ''attention please''!

A container is becoming a huge shoe box. And that shoe box is being showcased with the products in it at various events, like a music festival. Adidas made this activation at Lollapalooza Music Festival 2011. This box is a great idea to take the attentions to your brand in a festival area!

What Do Women Want? At Work, That Is… [INFOGRAPHIC]*

What do you want at work? What does success mean to you? What is your biggest challenge at work? We asked these very questions (and more) to thousands of professional women around the world to better understand the challenges women face in their careers, what success means to them now and how that’s changed over the past 5-10 years.
While some stark differences emerged by country, we uncovered some key global trends. Today, almost two thirds of working women say that success is about achieving the right work-life balance. This is a major shift from 5 to 10 years ago when ‘salary’ topped that list along with an ‘interesting job’ and ‘responsibility’. Interestingly, work-life balance wasn’t really on the radar then.
These findings emerged from our ‘What Women Want @ Work’ study, released today in celebration and support of International Women’s Day on March 8th.

So what’s changed? The upheaval of the global economy has meant fewer staff and resources so we all have to do more with less. The other major factor has been the growth and reliance on technology. We increasingly operate in an ‘always on’ work environment where many of us can’t resist starting and ending our days on our smartphones. The line between work and home life has blurred as technology has become systematically ingrained in our lives. All of this seems to have contributed to women taking stock and reassessing what’s really important to them.
Not surprisingly, our study tells us that working women the world over are looking for one thing above others – greater flexibility. As a working mum of two little boys, I know only too well what a juggling act it can sometimes be. Two out of three of working mums we surveyed agree and ‘would like more flexible work conditions’. Furthermore, there is a strong belief that for the next generation of professional women greater flexibility will be crucial for their success – a whopping 4 out 5 agree with that sentiment.
Other big issues that the study surfaced included concerns over lack of investment in professional development and lack of a clear career path. Encouragingly and despite all this, there is a great deal of confidence and optimism about careers and future opportunities – with 3 out of 4 women believing they can ‘have it all’. Perhaps that’s what women really want.
So where can professional women turn for support? As the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn is a great place to start.

1. Get career inspiration. Choose someone you admire at your company, check out their LinkedIn profiles and take a look at the steps they took in their careers to be successful.
2. Seek out women mentors. Join LinkedIn Groups for professional women in your industry or region. Make new connections and learn from others.
3. Ask, and you shall receive. If flexibility is an issue where you work, connect with other women on LinkedIn via your own network and utilise LinkedIn Groups to gain advice on how to ask for flexible work conditions. Then, set a plan to present to your manager. You can also research positions similar to your own on LinkedIn to understand the skills required so you can have regular informed conversations about your position.

* Ngaire Moyes, February 28, 2013

Women's Day Ads

8th of March, Women’s Day has again became the right day to draw attention to violence against women.

Protests, marches, actions, print ads, TVC’s all around but this year there has been a strict discussion about the images that have been used for this act. Show the violence in the images or hide it as it is already known?

The tendancy to show the violence as / is to draw attention had been very popular in the recent few years followed by using celebirities and also replacing men instead of women.

However this year it has been very much not approved by some columnists and opinion leaders since it has started to be “disturbing”.

You will find the exact two works that is flowing in the digital media in the recent week. The second one represents an example of both celebrity usage and violence images as clear as can be. The messaging was “ I could be HER”. On the other hand the other one strikes the message with just the opposite “invisibility”.

Both ways are impressive on my sight but I would rather see works of “solution to stop violence against” and “women insight” in the next campaigns for a change.

30 Things You Should Not Share on Social Media*

1. What chicken you are plucking or cow you’re milking on Farmville on Facebook
2. How many you have killed on Mafia wars or where they are buried.. again on Facebook
3. Party photos showing you inebriated or a hand placed where it shouldn’t be
4. That you are having a party.. you might get more guests than you counted on
5. Photos revealing you flirting with the bosses wife at the annual work Christmas party
6. That you are having an affair
7. That you are thinking of having an affair
8. Complaints about your boss
9. That you hate your job and want to leave.. you might get your wish.. involuntarily
10. Don’t share photos or an event that reveals that you were not sick that day at work
11. That are you are planning to take a sickie
12. Drama with your friends
13. Issues with your parents
14. Passwords.. unless you have more money than brains
15. Hints about passwords like dogs names
16. Images and videos of your children
17. Updates on Facebook after you have escaped from Jail and on the run (don’t laugh it has happened)
18. Revealing your thoughts about a court case… when on jury duty
19. Don’t link personal sites to professional business sites like LinkedIn.. don’t mix business with pleasure
20. Financial information such as how much money you do or don’t have in your bank account
21. Personal Information
22. How to get more friends or followers.. it already sounds like a scam
23. You are leaving on a holiday
24. The dates you are away on your holiday
25. Your daily schedule.. burglars have been known to use these little hints to their advantage
26. Showing you doing something stupid .. not good for personal branding
27. Your bodily functions
28. Revealing extreme views on Race, Religion or politics
29. What you had for breakfast
30. Finally, If you are not comfortable about it … don’t share it

*by Jeff Bullas

27 Tips To Make Your Brand A Social Media Powerhouse

Facebook

• Link to your Facebook page in your email newsletter
• Post your news releases to Facebook as an update
• Link to your blog and website on Facebook
• Run competitions on Facebook
• Ask customers to vote on two new products to see which one will sell (Supre do this on their Facebook page
• Advertise on Facebook

YouTube

• Video 2 minute reviews of your products and upload them to YouTube
• Interview your company’s experts who are passionate about what they do and literally embed them virtually into your website and blogs.
• Interview customers by video
• Interview your companies key strategic partners on video and upload those to YouTube
• Record your seminars and post it to YouTube

Blogging

Evolve your blog into a social portal by including these social features

• Retweet buttons as a standard feature of your blog
• Facebook Social plugin (this will then update everyone who “likes” your company Facebook page when a new update hits the Facebook stream)
• Facebook share feature
• Embed and feature YouTube videos on the blog in the side panel and in posts
• Place a LinkedIn share button at the top of each post

LinkedIn

• Put your companies Twitterfeed on its LinkedIn profile
• Link to Facebook on the profile (you have 3 website URL’s available to use)
• Link To your Companies blog from LinkedIn
• Activate the LinkedIn blog feature panel

Twitter

• Retweet buttons on your blog
• Tweet buttons on your email
• Tweet specials to your brands followers
• Monitor Twitter noise for customer feedback
• Create multiple twitter accounts that communicate to each of your vertical markets

Social Mobile

• Develop a mobile app that includes features makes it easy for people to share with their friends on Facebook or Twitter
• Register with Facebook places and start offering specials to people who checkin nearby on their mobile phone

by Jeff Bullas

What ate PCs for lunch?*

Windows and Intel went up a hill selling a whole lot of computers. Windows fell down and broke its OS crown, and Intel’s profits came tumbling after...

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It was only a few years back when Wintel — a portmanteau of Windows and Intel — was synonymous with computing. Apple was struggling to survive while tablets belonged to the realm of science fiction. Mary Meeker, a partner in the US based venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers points out in her December 2012 State of the Web report that until about 2005, Wintel commanded 96 per cent of the global market for operating systems on personal computing platforms. Now that market has shrunk to 35 per cent.

Now it is a combination of iOS and Android that rules the roost with a 45 per cent share. Users are increasingly bypassing the PC, and picking up tablets and smartphones instead. Apple, in the first quarter of 2013, reported a drop in Mac sales to 4.1 million, down from 5.2 million for the same period last year. However, Apple foresaw the problem and switched lanes well in time — now its bread and butter comes from iPads and iPhones. Apple had a bumper year and posted a quarterly revenue of $54.5 billion (about Dh200.18 billion) and a quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion.

It also extended its empire with the iPad mini. As Mary Meeker’s report points out, “iPods changed the media industry, iPhones ramped even faster... iPad growth (3x iPhone) leaves its siblings in the dust.” She adds that the most sought-after item for American kids these days is an iPad.

Research firm Gartner estimates that compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, PC sales fell 4.9 per cent in the same period of 2012. International Data Corporation paints a bleaker picture — 89.8 million PCs were shipped worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2012, down 6.4 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. PC shipments in Europe, Middle East and Africa totalled 28.1 million units, a 9.6 per cent decrease from the fourth quarter of 2011. Advanced Micro Devices’ revenues tanked one-third, leading to a net loss of $473 million. Meanwhile, Intel’s fourth quarter revenues were down 3 per cent to $13.5 billion, compared to the same period last year, while profits were down 27 per cent. Stacy Smith, Intel’s CFO, attributes this partly to tablets.

Globally, Dell was hit hardest, with a dip of 20.9 per cent. No wonder its founder, Michael Dell, plans to make Dell private in a $22 billion buyout, and rejig its core business from manufacturing PCs to IT services.

The key question is — did the PC camp not see this tablet tsunami headed its way? Many analysts expected it would cause a few dents, not pull the rug from under, says Gartner’s analyst, Mikako Kitagawa. “Whereas once we imagined a world in which individual users would have both a PC and a tablet, we increasingly suspect that most will shift to a personal tablet. Most buyers will not replace secondary PCs in the household, instead allowing them to age out.

“There will be some individuals who retain both, but we believe they will be the exception and not the norm,” he adds.

A decade ago, it was hardware that was playing catch up with software. But the chase is over, and even the traditional PC bastion of gaming is seeing a challenge. At the recent CES, Razer showcased a Windows 8 gaming tablet with a graphic card and buttons, while Archos came with the GamePad, an Android tablet with dedicated keys.

Barclays Capital’s hardware analyst Ben Reitzes says, “We believe a new generation of consumers and IT workers are figuring out how to compute differently than those that started using PCs in the 90s — relying more on mobile devices and the cloud — as PCs see significant task infringement by the day. Most PC industry players still don’t seem to realise what is happening — and don’t have contingency plans.”

Adding to the woes of the PC industry, the launch of Windows 8 did not result in buyers lining up to buy PCs sporting the touch-friendly OS.

David Daoud, research director at IDC, says, “Consumers expected all sorts of cool PCs with tablet and touch capabilities. Instead, they mostly saw traditional PCs that feature a new OS optimised for touch and tablet with applications and hardware that are not yet able to fully utilise these capabilities.”

However, PCs will not vanish. Forrester Research predicts two billion PCs and 760 million tablets worldwide by 2016. Its analyst Frank Gillett says, “Eventually tablets will slow laptop sales but increase sales of desktop PCs. That’s because many people, especially information workers, will still need conventional PCs for any intensely creative work at a desk that requires a large display or significant processing power.”

*     By Deepak Karambelkar 

Post Office

A municipality in Turkey made an activation named ''Love Post Office'', to make people happy by supporting them to send postcards during the weekend before Valentine’s Day. With right timing and with the right placement, the activation obviously raised the number of the postcards sent. It was visible that people were highly interested in writing and sending postcards & letters! No email, no sms. Just letters & postcards, like we used to do in the old times. 

You could write on the postcards that municipality provides you in the booth and you only need to know the address of the receiver. The rest is arranged by the municipality.

A nice gift from the municipality for V’s Day.

How to upsell your clients

Have you ever just finished a project and wondered: How can I do more for this client? or perhaps you were thinking: Oh darn, now I have to look for new clients.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

The most valuable clients are the ones that stay with you, not the ones that provide one-off projects. So how do you get valuable clients that want to stick with you for the long haul?

In this article, I’m going to give you the benefit of my experience, and hopefully by the end of it you’ll know how to upsell clients, so they’ll never want to go anywhere else.

Would you like fries with that?

At its most basic level, this is a fundamental part of up-selling. If all employees are trained at a fast food restaurant to ask customers, “Would you like fries with that?” and 20% agree, that would increase the company’s bottom line tremendously.  So how do you translate this to the web industry? 

First you need to identify a problem that your client’s having. Ask questions like…

What are the biggest problems you face in your business? This will help you in figuring out which services you can offer to solve their problems.

On the other hand, you can extract information about the clients’ problems through simple conversation.

After you’ve identified a problem, look in your skills toolbox and make an offer by asking…

Is your brand being perceived the way you want it to be? Try to get them to explain their brand to you. Afterwards you can make suggestions on what you can do to make their brand better (eg. Oh I understand that you want to attract gamers, however your logo looks like a law firm or a bank’s. I can fix your logo so that you can better relate to gamers).

Would you like to be at the top of Google? I don’t know one person or business that would say no to that. If you are an SEO expert, then upsell that like it’s going out of style.

Do you want to prevent viruses and hackers from disrupting your website? If a client says no to this, make sure they are aware of the importance of security.

Can I maintain the site for you? Your client is going to need someone to maintain the site, make periodic updates and just make sure everything is running smoothly. Offer a maintenance package or quote your hourly rate and say you’ll maintain it every week or month.

After you’ve confirmed that there’s a problem that needs to be solved and that you have the skills to do the job, close the sale as soon as possible.

Are you trustworthy?
Products are only a tool
Consider this scenario:

Client: Thanks, but we’re going to wait on that. I’ll keep you in mind though.
You: Ok thanks.
Now consider this alternate scenario:
Client: Well, I don’t think our color scheme speaks our tone.
You: Tell me more about that.
Client: I want our colors to look professional and for some reason they just don’t seem to be working.
You: Are you aware that your current color scheme represents fun and warmth?
Client: Now that you mention it, I could see that. Could you help us feel and look more professional?
You: Yes sir. I’m an expert in brand development and understand its principles. Your brand is the face of your company and I can make sure that it’s represented memorably with a timeless logo, appropriate color scheme, company voice and I’ll provide you with a brand identity guide. By doing this, your problems with speaking to your target customers will be solved because the brand will be developed with that niche in mind.
Client: That sounds great! When can you get started?
Destructively persistent
My clients’ shoes are uncomfortable
Conclusion

Clients want to know that the person they’re dealing with is trustworthy, so you need to build that relationship.

Find common ground with your clients so that you can have conversations outside of business. If you can figure out what makes your clients excited, what makes them laugh and what they value, then you’ll have no problems upselling them.

It’s always easier to upsell a client who trusts you and you’ve built a relationship with. Don’t be afraid to chat with your clients.

I know you’re looking to get on to the next job and make that money, but that’s not going to build valuable relationships. These relationships are where the bulk of your business and referrals are going to come from, so handle them with care.

World famous sales expert Zig Ziglar recommends that you only treat products as a tool when up-selling. Instead your main focus should be on the client’s concerns and having a genuine interest in uncovering their problems. This goes back to what I said earlier in that you need to identify a problem you can solve.

Keep your up-selling process nice and simple. The only things you need to learn are how to ask good questions and listen carefully. If you can master these skills, then your clients will start upselling themselves.

You: Before you go Mr. Jones, I can offer you high quality branding materials.

Well that was easy and painless. You weren’t imposing on the client and they’re even going to keep you in mind for further projects, right? Not likely. So what went wrong here? You focused on the products before identifying a problem and didn’t even try to close the sale.

You: Before you go Mr. Jones, I wanted to ask… what frustrates you most and keeps you up at night when thinking about your brand?

At a very basic level, this is a great example of how you can extract a problem from your clients specific to your skills without sounding like you’re trying to sell them something they don’t want. Usually clients don’t even know what they want because they aren’t in touch with their own problems. It’s your job as an upseller to find those problems for your clients by asking the right questions.

Remember not to focus on yourself and what you have to offer until you’ve found a problem to solve and genuinely get your client to talk about the problem, until then, your client couldn’t care less about what you have to offer.

Be persistent, but be persistent about your clients’ problems and not your products. If you’re constantly pushing your products and not caring about your client’s problems, eventually clients will begin to resent you.

All clients care about is what you can do for them. How can you solve their problems and make their life easier? And the more you can identify with that, the more you will build valuable relationships.

Let’s take Web designer Depot for example. There’s a problem, whether you’re aware of it or not, that they’re solving. The problem they’re solving is the lack of information on specific subjects. So instead of saying, “Click on our ads and here’s how you can do it” WDD solves your problem of needing information in order to learn something, find recommendations from experts on various products or websites and more, then they have ads displayed that relate to the information. Which approach do you prefer? Would you like blogs more if they shoved their ads down your throat? I bet your answer is no, and clients are the same.

So again, be persistent but don’t shove your products down your clients’ throats, that’ll get you nowhere.

It doesn’t matter if your clients’ shoes are uncomfortable, you need to wear them anyway.

Try to find your prospect’s point of view and use that as leverage to fit in line with your products or services.

After you’ve asked a client some questions to get them to identify their own problems, find it in yourself to see through their eyes. If you have to, act as if you’re trying to get a girl or guy to go out with you on a date. To do that, you won’t be focusing on yourself because that’ll just turn them off.

Instead you’ll be trying to find common ground and how you can relate to them. Go through this same process with your clients and they’ll see you as more than just a contractor but you’ll be a friend that they can come to about their business problems. They know you’ll listen and genuinely try to make their life easier since you can relate and understand where they’re coming from.

In time, this will all seem obvious and easy to you. You’ll be able to upsell clients and get clients to upsell themselves without even knowing you’re doing it.

What I hope that you’ve taken away from this article is that relationships are your key to upselling. Hopefully you see that by asking questions and trying to identify specific problems, then offering a way to genuinely solve them is the best way to build those relationships.

Just remember that upselling successfully is not about you, it’s about your client.

Credit - Justin Hubbard

Sticking in minds with BTTF

I was a little kid when I watched ''Back to the Future'' for the first time on TV. Since that day, BTTF triology is one of my favourites. But of course, I was too ''young'' to recognize the product placements in the triology. Years after, I started to notice them. And I need watch once again to count the exact number of the brands in 3 films. Nike, DeLorean -of course- and Pepsi are the most outstanding ones. But Calvin Klein, Toyota, Pizza Hut are quite remarkable as well. And there are other brands.

First scene of the first movie starts with Nike! 

Nike is quite visible during the second movie too. 

This gray model is still popular for BTFF fans. 

 And DeLorean of course!

Marty McFly: "Are you telling me you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?!"

Doc Brown: "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?"

And Pepsi!

Calvin Klein's placement is definetly sticking in minds. After the scene below, Lorraine calls Marty as ''Calvin'' till the end of the first movie.

Back to the Future 1 is 28 years old. And, it was a long-term, really long term, and a succesful investment for the brands that had product placements in the BTTF films. 

What is your master plan for V's Day?

Valentine’s day is on the way…

We are talking about a market with  16 Billion USD worth business volume!

What is your master plan to turn this Valentine’s Day into a big success for your brand ?

Here is a great article with a bunch of “valuable”ideas to turn this day into a big financial success.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-people-behind-valentines-day-2011-2?op=1

Sensational Stop-Motion Music Video

Big-budget music videos involve countless people, crazy costumes, and elaborate sets. But Japanese singer-songwriter Shugo Tokumaru’s song Katachi was brought to the screen in a completely different manner (although it could be argued the process was no less intricate).

The talented Polish animation team of Katarzyna Kijek and Przemyslaw Adamski utilized approximately 2,000 silhouettes extracted from PVCC plates using a computer-controlled cutter. From there, the beautifully detailed, colorful cutouts were filmed frame by frame to create an amazing stop-motion video set to Tokumaru’s happy track. The feats the paper shapes undertake include everything from parade-like marching to choreography that rivals Olympic-standard synchronized swimming.

Appropriately, Shugo Tokumaru’s song title “Katachi” means “shape”, and given the stunning visuals the genius animators produced, I’ll take these cutout shapes over extravagant entertainers any day.

Credit – Stacey Kole

V for Valentine

February arrived, countdown for Valentine's Day started. Look around, you'll see many campaigns and  funny ads!

Here are some old succesful ads prepared for Valentine's Day.

Localization, Globalization or Glocalization?

The Armenian bakerman standing in front of his store with pride in the beginning of 1900's.

He is presenting his bakery in all the different languages spoken at the time within the borders of the country. Armenian, Ottoman, English, Russian, Greek, Georgian...

A perfect example of being global and localized at the same time.

Glocal Bakery in the beginning of 20th Century!

Brand New Insurance!

Life insurance? No. Car or home insurance? No. In Turkey, an insurance company created the first digital insurance in the country; Facebook account insurance!

Gunes Sigorta, the insurance company, has created an application on Facebook. With this application, your memories will be stored safely! The company can't protect your account but it can store your posts, comments, photos, likes, videos, etc. They are storing your ''Facebook memories'' for free in a digital book for one year. You only need to ''like'' the application to start your insurance. 

Company is underlining that Turkey is the 7th largest number of Facebook users in the world, with 32 million users. And they aim to provide fun and safety with this application to the users.

Please click to see the application.

Love Mark

Becoming a love mark.. No boundaries.. No language.. Even no currencies!

Mondays Can be Great! by Starbucks

A very well designed, simple yet catchy and very insightful Monday film by Starbucks!

Activation Ideas

A clear understanding between ATL and BTL and some very good activation ideas.

Please click for the awesome campaigns!

One Billion Rising

ONE IN THREE WOMEN ON THE PLANET WILL BE RAPED OR BEATEN IN HER LIFETIME.

ONE BILLION WOMEN VIOLATED IS AN ATROCITY

ONE BILLION WOMEN DANCING IS A REVOLUTION

On this Valentine's Day, 2013, One Billion Women are raising up to shout out their voice against silence.

You can visit the website http://www.onebillionrising.org and follow the links to their social media accounts to find out where the women are raising in your country / city.

If there is nothing going on in your neighbourhood, you can organize one!

Everywhere will be full of events, PR works and activities. Why not be a part of this one?

One billion women dancing against violence on women is a revolution, let's be a part of it!