Selling with Content

Is social media the small business equalizer?

One finding from the study I did for Social Media Today, "The Coming Change in Social Media Business Applications," documented that small business is using social media far more than big business. 

Comparing usage between companies with 100 or less employees against ones with over 1,000, the small companies are  twice as likely to use social media in lead generation, and a third more likely to use  it in branding and public relations.

Larger companies typically have bigger ad budgets, bigger booths at trade shows, more retail outlets, and a bigger PR budget. According to the study:

"Where larger organizations have more resources to touch their customers, such as corporate advertising, social media may not be as big a priority. However, with less money for outreach programs, smaller companies can make big inroads by focusing more on social media."

If you work for a smaller business...get social!

Download the study for free

Survey content that sells: do more black men go to jail than college?

Surveys can create powerful content that sells. They sell not by overtly asking for an order, but by creating the “persuasive facts” that decisions are based on.

Call me skeptical, but having crafted hundreds of surveys that sell, when I hear a "persuasive fact" I want to know who created it, what bias it has, and what its creators are trying to sell me.
Here is one such "fact" I've heard for years, most recently during the 2008 Presidential elections:

"There are more black men in prison than in college."

Do you believe it?

This "fact" was used by several candidates during the 2008 presidential campaign (including the guy who won) and is accepted as as true in many social discussions. But the "fact" is misleading and should not be used. It first was introduced in 2002 as part of a study created by the "Justice Policy Institute", whose stated mission is “to promote effective solutions to social problems and to be dedicated to ending society’s reliance on incarceration.” A high minded organization, but not one without a bias on the topic.

The report compared two government statistics: In 2000, there were 791,600 black men behind bars while only 603,032 were in college. The numbers dramatized the shameful condition of American black men at the time.

But using this "fact" is not appropriate for two reasons:
First off, it is no longer true:
The same government statistics released in 2005 showed 864,000 black men in college and only 802,000 in prison. Still terrible numbers, but progress had been made, and as of 2005, a small majority now go to college.

But the bigger point is that this fact misleads because it is an apples to oranges comparison. Attending college and going to jail are different life experiences that happen in different time frames. A majority of people, black or white, go to college only between ages 18 to 24, whereas the "opportunity” to go to prison can happen throughout adulthood.

The black male population of 2000 had a very high frequency of incarceration. If you compare their frequency of attending college, which would only happen in a four year window, to their frequency of attending prison, which could happen anytime during a lifetime, the comparison will skew toward prison. Just because the statistics of "going to college" and "going to prison" were gathered in the same year does not mean all comparisons between them are valid.

Take this 2007 quote from then presidential candidate, John Edwards:

“We cannot build enough prisons to solve this problem. And the idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating — pretty soon we’re not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They’re all going to be in prison or dead. One of the two.”

Even as the basic statement about more young black men going to prison was accurate back in 2000, Edwards is stretching the comparison to mean things it does not.

Working with the 2005 statistics, the fact checkers at the Washington Post did an “apples to apples” comparison of just college age black men, in college and prison, finding that the number of black men in college is actually, "...five times the number of young black men in federal and state prisons and two and a half times the total number incarcerated.”

If you make the "fact" about black men an apples to apples comparison by limiting the sample to just black males of college age, the remaining fact just doesn’t sell:
"There are two and a half times more college age black males attending college, than there are in prison.”

Yawn.

Think about this: this "fact," about more black men going to jail than college was first presented almost 10 years ago by an advocacy group. The "fact" is still influencing decisions today even though it is not true anymore, and was originally based on a bias most people were not aware of.

Again, I state that surveys are the most powerful sales agents on the planet. If you are not using them to advocate your organization’s ideas and products, well, call me skeptical again.

Read the Washington Post fact check report

Read a review of the original report that shared "the fact" from the Justice Policy Institute

Read a 2007 NYT article: A black film maker tries to debunk the myth of more young black men in prison than college

Inception and selling with ideas

As a persuasive element in marketing, ideas are powerful, tangible, misunderstood, and underused. I loved the first few lines from Christopher Nolan's hit movie "Inception" because they dramatize just how influential ideas can be:  

What is the most resilient parasite?

 An idea.

 A single idea from the human mind can build cities.

 An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules.

See the movie trailer:

 How do ideas actually sell? Here are the first few lines from the chapter on selling with ideas from my book "Presentations That Change Minds": 

  On March 19, 1999, Steve Forbes entered the crowded field as a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. There were nine candidates running and Forbes’ entry would made it a field of ten. The son of publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes, Steve was little known in national politics and most observers bet his only chance of winning on massive spending from his personal fortune.

But the unique advantage of personally bankrolling a campaign vanished when rival candidate Morry Taylor, a millionaire wheel magnate from Quincy, IL, spent about $1.5 million of his personal fortune on TV ads in the early days of the campaign.

Despite the odds, Forbes shot past eight of his rivals in the first few primaries to become the solid second place contender behind Bob Dole, the long-standing US Senator from Kansas.

Most credit the success of Forbes’ campaign to his ability to present new, compelling ideas that challenged his audiences. One idea, the flat tax, eventually took center stage and became almost synonymous with the Forbes campaign. USA Today reported, “Dole pokes fun at Forbes for being a one-note candidate: "You ask him about your headache, he gives you his flat tax message."
   
The story of how Steve Forbes, a virtual political unknown nationally, could enter a crowded field and have a solid shot at winning the Republican presidential nomination is the story of just how powerful an idea, skillfully delivered, can be.

The essence of using an idea to persuade is to sell an audience on a unique idea which, if accepted, gains acceptance for your candidate, product, or proposal. In short, buy my idea, buy what I am selling.

If you bought the idea of the flat tax back in 1999 you likely voted for Forbes. In the same year, if you bought the idea that the best value in computers was in buying direct from a manufacturer, you likely bought from Dell Computer. Before you start, ask, “If they buy my idea will they buy what I am selling?”
Consider these four ways an idea most often results in a sale:

1. Idea ownership. Steve Forbes “owned” the idea of the flat tax. If you wanted it as part of your future, he was the guy who could deliver and you had to vote for him.

2. Sell an idea as feature. In 2003 Seachange Technology introduced a new idea to structure video storage by using a ring pattern instead of the commonly used linear structure. If IT audiences bought the idea of the ring structure, they had to buy from Seachange, the only supplier who had it.   

3. Implementation. An ad agency recently proposed a new idea for a marketing campaign targeting senior citizens. Because the agency had extensive and unique knowledge and experience implementing programs like the one proposed, they felt confident they would get the contract if the client liked the idea.  The client might say, “OK we love the idea.  Who can make this happen?”  

4. Change that requires specific expertise. A technology company proposed using new digital technology to change the workflow at a radio stations. While many suppliers offered the equipment necessary, implementing the changes in workflow required specific expertise that only this company could provide.  

Ask yourself:

What idea can we advocate which, if accepted, generates preference for our product or service?

Have ideas been used to manipulate? 

Many times. In the 1960's Shell Oil sold the idea that an ingredient in their gasoline, platformate, gained cars extra mileage. Was it true? Yes. In the dramatic 60 second TV spot that follows Shell sells this idea. Shell correctly assumed that most Americans have little understanding of petroleum products. In the ad Shell did not mention that all brands of gasoline had platformate.

 But if you bought the idea that an ingredient in Shell gasoline extended gas mileage would you buy your gas from Shell? Many did so for many years. That's a pretty resilient parasite.    

Print magazines still sell

At the recent Folio show the CEO of Red7 Media which publishes Folio magazine, Kerry Smith, offered a surprising view of what the future of print publishing might be. Challenged, like all publishing companies, with the decline of print ad revenue, Smith has diversified his organization's offerings to include marketing services such as research, and consulting.

But even as less of his company's revenue is tied to print he is more committed to it. Why? Because he has found that his magazines are most often the the first point of contact leading to the sale of all the other services he is now selling.

Despite the migration of ad dollars away from print magazines, the dollars flowing into sponsored magazines are going strong as documented early this year by The Financial Times:

"According to the UK research body Mintel, this type of “customer publishing” is booming. It estimates that the industry in the UK alone is likely to be worth £1bn by 2013. Between 2008 and 2009 it grew 16 per cent, and by 2013 it is projected to increase by a further 22 per cent – no mean feat when the rest of the glossy magazine world is in the doldrums."

What attracts companies is the direct impact on consumers. “Our research has shown that these magazines create an eight per cent uptick in sales,” says Julia Hutchison, chief operating officer of the Association of Publishing Agencies, the representative for the customer publishing industry in the UK. “On average, every customer spends 25 minutes reading these titles. That’s 25 minutes spent with the brand. Lots of companies are redirecting their ad and marketing spends to this avenue.”

In the past, some sponsored publications were little more than product promos. But now, savvy marketers are investing in quality writers, photographers, and more objective journalism to attract larger audiences. The FT article continues:

"Whereas in-house magazines used to be glorified advertorials, today the branding is much more subtle and there’s a genuine effort to tap top editorial talents and introduce original material; Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, photographic stalwarts of the fashion publications Vogue and Visionaire, shot the latest YSL manifesto.

The investment makes sense: it gives depth to a brand in an environment they can control. It pushes product without the obvious “sell”, and in many instances may be cheaper than advertising.Asos’ title, for instance, which is known for its mix of celebrity, shopping and entertainment, is now the second largest women’s fashion title in the UK with an annual circulation of 471,522.

Terri Westlake, head of media at Asos.com, says, “Customers are savvy; they understand that it’s a brand title (and not independent), but they still appreciate a very good free magazine.”

Print magazines still provide marketers with a "media marquee" that gives them consistent visibility hard to duplicate in the crowed online world. What Kerry Smith, and a growing number of publishers are taking advantage of is the same benefit we marketers have been using for years. The fall off in print magazine advertising has more to do with new online media emerging that are splintering the print ad budget. It has little to do with the effectiveness of the ability of print to sell.

Read the Whole article in FT

But what was the content marketing plan?

I love this cartoon by Brady Bonus I found on the Eloqua cartoon collaborative. I don't have to ad much about the importance of having a content strategy driving social media because this cartoon says it beautifully:  

Blogs and websites: like peanut butter and jelly

I frequently suggest to clients they combine their blog and website. But often the mentality is that websites are websites and blogs are blogs.

  Most often, the core content of a website changes less frequently the content of a blog, making it much less interesting for search engines and readers looking for something new.

But when blogs are linked to social media distribution and then combined into a website they become stronger together: the blog becomes a traffic and search engine magnet pulling in attention that gets shared with the less dynamic website content. I’ve never seen an actual case that documented this working…until now:

TMG Brand Communications is a boutique public relations and marketing communications agency in New York City. TMG had an excellent web site which presented its capabilities and samples of its work. But the site was lightly trafficked. A post on Dan McCarthy's ViralHousingFix describes the strategy:

“In the last quarter of 2009, TMG developed a blog centered, integrated social media marketing strategy to elevate its brand presence. TMG established a blog on a sub-domain of the tmg-media URL. This blog, “Tami McCarthy’s BuzzCloud”, was set up “using WordPress and the Cordobo Green Park theme. The agency also created a TMG Brand Communications fan page on Facebook, pointing the page to the primary TMG domain. The Networked Blogs application distributed blog posts to the Facebook page, and a plug-in was used to distribute posts to Twitter.”

The impact was immediate. In the six months following the launch of the blog: TMG increased web traffic to its TMGpr.com agency site and to its new blog, Buzzcloud, by 198%. In addition: 

• Visits to TMGpr.com, the agency site, increased 32% in the six-month period following the blog launch;
• Search engines drove 61% more traffic to the agency site in the six-month period;
• The number of keywords that drove traffic to TMG’s agency site gained from 425 to 1,178 in the six-month period. 

This success story was all about leveraging content. At the center of this strategy was Tami McCarthy’s blog, which constantly pushed content into a social media system that included a Facebook page, and Twitter account.

By combining the blog with the existing TMG website, overall site traffic jumped 198% in six months!

Are you maintaining your website and blog separately? If you are, it’s like eating peanut butter and jelly in separate sandwiches.   

 

Link to Tami’s blog: http://buzzcloud.tmgpr.com/

Read more detail of this case study on Dan McCarthy's ViralHousingFix: http://www.viralhousingfix.com/tag/google-inc