Posted by John McTigue on Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 06:54 AM
So we're constantly badmouthing outbound marketing and pushing inbound marketing. You know what I'm talking about - the relentless TV ads, direct mail and spam that gets delivered to your door 24/7. It's not all bad though. Some of it makes us laugh, and the rest, well...
The Good
OK, so it's not the e-Trade baby in the picture. You want me to get sued? You know the ad(s) - unbelievably funny. Kid talks smack with fellow golfer after a serious "Skins Beat-Down". "Dude, grab the reins. Get some analytics..." I howl every time I see that ad. I'm a total sucker for the talking baby gimmic. No, I don't use e-Trade, not since 9-11, but what the heck, this is advertising money well spent. Bring the ads, e-Trade.
The Bad
People who finish each other's sentences in TV ads drive me nuts. IBM does this all the time, as does Microsoft. C'mon man! Do something original. And Apple, OK we get that PC's suck. Why not show us some good stuff from your new Mac's or at least do something different. These ads hurt my head and make me wish I had a TIVO.
The Ugly
Every since the founding days of Nigeria I've been getting these e-mails asking me to open a bank account for some guy who supposedly lives there and can't do it himself. OK fine, I did that once, so why am I still getting these e-mails? I'm beginning to think it might be a scam.
Marketing Take-Away
If you're going to do outbound marketing, at least make it clever!
What are your favorite outbound marketing good, and ugly nominees? Maybe we should have a poll, or like me are you sick and tired of polls too?
Posted by Chris Knipper on Mon, Nov 09, 2009 @ 12:15 PM
Local Flavor Rules!
When in Rome... If you're a Cleveland business, why not hire your local ad agency? A sharp Cleveland ad agency will understand not only the local market but what types of pieces resonate best with the public. Demographics such as age, ethnicity, income and family structure all play an important role in how your message will be received. Understanding these variables from the beginning can help you avoid embarrassing missteps or the wasting of time and other valuable resources.
Understanding the Market
Whether your company is based in Cleveland or appealing to potential Cleveland clientele, there are ways to make your brochure or ad design reflect your understanding of Northeast Ohio.
First, consider where you are targeting your message. Cleveland has a few distinct downtown districts, but it also very populous and thriving suburban areas to the east and west of the city where many families reside. Southern suburbs also share many of Cleveland’s demographics but also merge with the Akron-Canton market as you move farther south. Your design as well as content should reflect these variations, however subtle.
Local Designs for Ads, Brochure Designs and Websites
In designs targeted at metropolitan-area Clevelanders, imagery often includes sites familiar to urban and suburban Clevelanders such as Lake Erie, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland sports arenas, the skyline and the waterfront. Appealing to local issues, flavors, teams and pastimes can go a long way towards attracting customers. Knowing the local events and history can make your marketing campaigns more timely and cost-effective.
These are common, recurring and often effective themes, but utilizing a local Cleveland ad agency can help your brand become more targeted and specific, as needed.
Speak to a Local Cleveland Ad Agency
The advantage of working with a Cleveland ad agency is that it is best suited to know the most recent and most specific hot topics and interests of the Northeastern Ohio market. A sharp ad agency is also familiar with the advertising landscape and knows what types of ads have traditionally or more recently populated the public space, and which of these are most effective. Most importantly, your Cleveland ad agency can distinguish you from these ads, carving out a unique space for your brand. They can serve as a valuable resource as you create identity pieces that your audience will keep and remember.
One Big Advantage - They're Local
You can meet with them for lunch or stop by for an in-house meeting. You can get to know them personally and get personal attention.
We're a Cleveland Ad Agency - Why Not Get to Know Us?
Posted by John McTigue on Sun, Sep 20, 2009 @ 08:30 AM
OK, it's simple. You want to rank on certain keywords, put them in your blog or page title. In our case, we want to improve our Google ranking on the phrase "advertising agency cleveland". As of this writing, we are ranked #87, which isn't great. We have lots of competition, but how can we do better?
How to improve our ranking on Advertising Agency Cleveland
Yes, it's cheesy to put the keywords in the title without some kind of context. Yes, Google will actually penalize you if you don't follow-up with an article related to those keywords. So write a clever article about the subject and include your keywords in headings (see above) and image "alt" tags (see image).- Be realistic - do your keywords actually describe what you do? Yes, we are an advertising agency based in the Cleveland, OH area. Check.
- Be realistic - do you have any hope of ranking on your keywords? OK, we're starting at 87, so there is hope. If we tried to rank on "advertising agency" alone, forget about it. The cool thing is, as we start to improve our ranking on the long-tail keywords "advertising agency cleveland", we also improve our chances with "advertising agency". Maybe someday...
- Lather, rinse, repeat. One blog isn't going to drive thousands of visitors to your keyword rich page. Do it repeatedly, but keep it subtle. Don't try the same (some might say stupid) tactic that we used for this blog every time. Move your keywords around in the title and blog, try different word order and monitor results. As you track your keywords and page views you can see what combinations work best.
Let's see how we do. I will monitor our progress in ranking on these keywords and add them to the comments periodically, so stay tuned.
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Posted by John McTigue on Wed, Sep 16, 2009 @ 01:45 PM
Avon, Ohio – September 16, 2009 – Kuno Creative, a strategic marketing company based in Avon, Ohio, is now a Certified HubSpot Partner. After undergoing a rigorous training course and passing the HubSpot certification exam, Kuno Creative is now one of only thirteen agencies that are certified. HubSpot software is a unique suite of web based tools enabling content marketing, social media marketing, lead capture and tracking and results monitoring that are the core disciplines of Inbound Marketing. Inbound Marketing is a new Internet marketing strategy designed to increase brand awareness and sales through relationships fostered in online communities by publishing content that is relevant to a target audience. Kuno’s Inbound Marketing Services include marketing strategy, setting up the HubSpot platform, integrating it with a client website or designing a new website, blog writing and other content creation, social media promotion and engagement, and measurement and analysis.
"We are pleased to become an official HubSpot partner," said Chris, Knipper, Kuno Creative's President and CEO. "We have been using the software for several months ourselves with great success. We are seeing a large increase in our own website traffic and capturing many more leads than ever before. We see Inbound Marketing as an important new asset that we can offer our clients to improve their sales and marketing results. What makes us unique is that we are a full-service marketing agency that also understands technology, and we’re not afraid to lead the way."
"John and Chris at Kuno Creative have aggressively ramped up on their HubSpot and inbound marketing knowledge", said Peter Caputa, HubSpot's Partnership Manager. "I'm extremely impressed with how they've leveraged their traditional design and copy creation skills to become successful inbound marketers. All of the new inbound marketing methods such as blogging, SEO and creative online lead generation require top notch design and content creation skills. Unlike most traditional marketers, they also possess the analytical and technical skills required to be successful online marketers. Their years of experience as marketers working with small and mid sized businesses gives them a large advantage over other internet marketers that started their marketing careers on the web. I don't hesitate recommending Kuno for design work, as well as ongoing strategic inbound marketing services."
About Kuno Creative
Kuno Creative provides inbound marketing, brand marketing and website development services that help our clients gain maximum ROI from their marketing investments. We are Certified HubSpot Partners, providing best-in-class inbound marketing strategy, design and integration with HubSpot software, training and support, content creation and promotion, web analytics and lead tracking. Based in Avon, OH, we serve small to medium sized business throughout the United States. We offer a free website analysis and comparison with your competitors. Please visit our website at www.kunocreative.com and read our blogs at www.kunocreative.com/blog.
About HubSpot
HubSpot, Inc. provides Internet marketing software that helps businesses get found online, generate more inbound leads and convert a higher percentage of those leads into paying customers. HubSpot's software platform includes tools that allow professional marketers and small business owners to manage search engine optimization, blogging and social media, as well as landing pages, lead intelligence and marketing analytics. Based in Cambridge, MA, HubSpot can be found at http://www.hubspot.com. HubSpot offers free marketing tools at http://www.grader.com and hosts a free marketing community at http://inboundmarketing.com.
Posted by John McTigue on Wed, Sep 09, 2009 @ 09:04 AM
Inbound marketing is rapidly gaining popularity as a relatively inexpensive means to improve lead conversion rates and increase sales. Faced with marketing budget decisions for next year, many business owners wonder whether or not to completely replace traditional brand marketing methods with blogs, social media and search engine optimization. In many cases it makes sense to blend inbound and outbound marketing, when the strengths of one support the weaknesses of the other. Here are some examples.
Example 1 – Entering a New Market
Let’s say you’ve recently committed to an inbound marketing campaign with the business goal of improving web traffic by 200% and sales by 20%. You’re focusing your campaign on several counties, some of which are suburban, while others are more rural. The question is how will local residents find your blog and social media presence in the first place? Currently, if people search for local businesses in your market, your site isn’t listed. That’s one of the objectives of the inbound marketing campaign. How do you get them to follow you on Twitter and Facebook if they can’t find your site? Try some good old-fashioned brand marketing. Place some attractive billboards around the counties at key intersections announcing a promotional offer and direct people to a well-designed landing page to capture leads and announce your blogs and social networking venues. Try a short radio spot with the same pitch. E-mail your announcement to your current contact list and let them know about your new site, blog and community spirit.
Example 2 – Rolling Out a New Product or Service
Advertising is still one of the best ways to get peoples’ attention. Over time consumers grow weary of the same old intrusive ads blanketing the media, but for a quick impact to draw attention to a new product or service, there’s nothing like it. Get the buzz started with some clever “coming soon” ads to whet viewers’ appetites. If possible, target a special date that doesn’t conflict with some other popular event. Give people sneak previews via your web site, blog and social media – but don’t forget to capture your leads via landing pages! When the roll-out date arrives, throw a party of some kind, online or at a public place. Offer special promotions and prizes. Get them enrolled in your community sites and signed up for your RSS feeds. Reel in as many leads as possible and make sure they become loyal followers through your follow-up inbound marketing campaign.
Example 3 – Giving Back to the Community
Start by getting involved with local or national community outreach programs or charities. Offer your marketing (or other) expertise as a way of helping them reach their goals. Become a thought leader. Give free talks and webinars where you cite your own company’s efforts to get found online and capture leads. The main benefit will be helping struggling businesses and charities in your area, but you will also meet business leaders and potential clients. Word of mouth is still (and will always be) the most successful form of marketing. As you meet people and get the word out, don’t forget to invite them to join your online conversations via blogs and social media. You will start to build a strong following that trusts your judgment and is far more likely to do business with you.
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Posted by John McTigue on Fri, Aug 28, 2009 @ 08:25 AM
It sure seems that way. A year ago a survey of CMO's revealed that 2/3 were planning to reduce their advertising budgets and move resources into digital/interactive. If anything, the economy in 2009 has made life even tougher for traditional ad agencies. What's going on here?
- We're evolving: Consumers are driving the marketplace, not advertising and marketing executives. We demand quality and consistency from brands, and our trust must be earned. Brands must re-tool themselves as reliable, effective, safe and economical. We don't go for fluff much anymore.
- Advertising has become a dirty word: It has become, literally, a necessary evil to support content on the various media. Consumers still respond to advertising when it's clever or heart-warming, but it doesn't drive them to buy like it used to. Some forms of advertising, like pop-up ads on the Web, are universally hated and drive people away from brands.
- The company/agency relationship has soured: As businesses of all sizes become more familiar with inbound marketing and other strategies with measurable results, they are less willing to pay monthly retainers for undefined services and poorly established goals. This trend is seen across all types of consulting. Executives want to know what you're going to do, when, and how much it's going to cost. And they want measurable ROI on top of that.
- We're going social, and it's not just a trend: Everybody knows how fast social networking is growing, but many (if not most) marketing executives still think this trend will fizzle eventually, and we'll be back to business as usual. Don't count on it. What's driving Web 2.0 and social networking is (again) cultural evolution. We don't want direct mail and TV ads and e-mail spam. We want discussion and tips and recommendations from real people we meet in real life and online. We will not be satisfied with going back to the old ways, even if the technologies change. Twitter and Facebook may go away someday, but something even more social will replace them.
What's your experience with ad/marketing agencies these days?
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