Enjoy this best-selling updated 8^th edition – packed with new material, keeping abreast with AI, AR, VR, MR, MA and other innovative approaches to marketing communications. All integrated with the world’s most popular SOSTAC® Planning methodology that delivers a reassuring sense of order in a chaotic digital world and also that delivers success from better, MarComms’ ‘information-based’ decisions.

In Part 2 – all ten marcomms tactical tools (incl ads, PR, sponsorship, Owned, Earned and Paid Media etc.)  has a sample SOSTAC® Plan at the end of chapter.

Ze Zook and I are so pleased with it.  So much new material including AI integrating with MarComms.  We’ve tried to keep the edutainment angle so readers actually enjoy discovering some cutting-edge examples, tips and tools throughout the book. Thanks to the team at @Kogan Page including: Alison, Donna, Bruna and  Jack, Jeylan, Susie and of course, Helen Kogan.

What New Marketing and What Classic Marketing is in the 8th ed.?

What’s new and what’s old in Marketing Communications 8th ed.?

20% author’s discount can be used legitimately by following these instructions.

1. Go to koganpage.com/MC8
2. Click ‘Add to Cart’
3. Click ‘Checkout’ on the top right corner of the screen.
4. Complete your Billing & Delivery Information
5. Click ‘Continue to Review & Pay’
6. Scroll down to ‘Review Items’
7. In this section, click the ‘Add an offer code’ button – bottom right
8. Enter your code AMK20 in the box provided
9. Scroll down to input your payment information
10. Click the ‘Buy Now’ button at the bottom of the screen.

Enjoy Your Book

The post Marketing Communications 8th ed Released! appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

They say that ‘Tech is neutral’. So, like marketing, you can use it for good or for evil. You have good actors and bad actors.  Here are some potential advantages and disadvantages of deepfake.

Advantages of Deep Fake

1. Enables global advertisements to be tailored and ‘dubbed perfectly’ to local languages and local brand names (see Just Eat and Snoop Dog).
2. Improve internal comms by enabling CEOs to speak to their staff around the world in perfect local language.
3. Act in a movie after you are deceased
4. Direct a movie using a younger version of you or a younger version of another actor.

Disadvantages & Dangers of Deep Fake

1. Catastrophic damage to public trust and to markets could come from deep fake attacks.
2. Cynical audiences will neither trust nor believe in any news or evidence on camera or video.
3. Non-cynical, ignorant audiences will gladly believe deep fake videos that reinforce their opinions and values.
4. International opponents will use synthetic media to sow the seeds of distrust plus reinforce anti-democratic values.
5. Terrorized women have had their faces faked and inserted into pornographic images and films.
6. Deep fake attacks – on markets and trust in markets
7. If everything can be deep-faked. Then everything can be denied. Worse still, untrue accusations can have ‘proof’ (deep-fake proof).
8. Hijack your bio-metrics
9. Boost fraud – intimidate/blackmail celebrities with fake porn or any obscene imagery
10. Destabilise trust

Do the Disadvantages Outweigh the Advantages?

What do you think? Can deep fake be used for good only? Have a look at  another chilling application of data, untruths and destruction of society in The Dark Arts of Marketing.

‘Just Eat’ Deep Faked their Australian Ad

Just Eat (Snoop Dog) ad was changed to its Australian subsidiary brand name – Menulog. They seamlessly switched out the word ‘Just Eat’ for ‘Menulog’ so that Snoop Dog appears to say ‘Menulog’.

Are Governments Ready For Deep Fake Attacks?

No they are not. US Military, Law Enforcement and intelligence agencies have been monitoring Deep Fakes for years. During a 2019 hearing Senator Ben Sasse asked ‘if the USA is ready for the onslaught of disinformation, fakery and fraud?’  He continued: ‘Are we organised in a way that we could possibly respond fast enough?’ The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in the USA, Dan Coates acknowledges that it poses a major threat to the United States and ‘it is something the intelligence community needs to be restructured to address.’

How do they create deep fakes?

They filmed a Tom Cruise impersonator who also looked very like him. They only deep-faked Cruise’s face. They digitally stitched Tom Cruise’s face onto the face of the impersonator on video. They start with a library of images of Tom Cruise – every possible angle and include all the expressions and all the emotions of Tom Cruise. They then train the machine with this data set.

Training means it’s going to analyse all the images of Tom Cruise. All his expressions. They then compare these to the impersonator. The computer then teaches itself – so that when the impersonator is smiling, they recreate Tom Cruise smiling.  They use AI & Deep Learning to create fake content or ‘deep fakes’.

GANs General Adversorial Networks
It is like setting up a game with two AIs competing to produce the best fake synthetic content – as these two new combat each other – one tries to generate the best image – the other tries to identify or detect where it could be improved  – continually improving until you cannot tell the difference!

What have these got in common

(apart from being all white)?

Answer – they are not human. They do not exist. A computer created them. They all come from ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com . Creating characters, avatars, bots and robots is already happening. Some bots are created others are partly regenerated (or reincarnated) from the deceased as demonstrated in Project December as well as Microsoft’s patent for digitally reincarnating dead people as chat bots (if the families give permission) as highlighted in the  Chinese Girlbot with 465m boyfriends.

Deep fake acceleration

Cadence, tenor and syncopation are now being incorporated into fakes. You just type the words into a computer and the words appear to come out of someone else’s mouth! Estimates suggest that within 5-7 years, the average youtuber and tik-tok-er – will be able to do what elite top hollwood studios and advanced AI companies can do now.

Synthesia Avatars a UK company appears to be able to do this as they replace cameras with code.  And there are many others…coming.

What must you do…..?

1. Watch this excellent,  albeit frightening, Bill Whitaker report from the 60 Minutes series (the video is only  13 minutes).
2. Understand what a deep fake is and what is synthetic media?
3. Discuss, how do we inoculate ourselves & understand that this content is coming and exists – without being cynical – without losing trust in authentic media?
4. Explore/discuss how do we authenticate stories, photos, videos, media, journalists, bloggers, tweeters ….?
5. Read: Nina Schick Deep Fakes – the coming infocalypse.
6. Understand how AI can create dialogues and even relationships between humans and avatars – read Chinese Girlbot with 465m boyfriends.

Bill Whitaker reports. “60 Minutes” is the most successful television broadcast in history. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast began in 1968 and is still a hit, over 50 seasons later, regularly making Nielsen’s Top 10.

Subscribe to the “60 Minutes” YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/1S7CLRu

Please do post a comment and I will reply to you.

If you liked this, you might also enjoy:

AI and Data – Crisis Coming?

Facebook Data: How it was used by Cambridge Analytica

The Dark Arts of Marketing

Chinese Girlbot with 465m boyfriends

Will ChatGPT + ChatBots + Avatars Make Us Immortal?

If you would like me to send you any of my future posts by email – please enter your email address in the ‘Subcribe and Get Cutting-Edge Alerts’ section (top right corner).

Join my free 30 minute Friday chat about AI, Innovation and Ethics in Marketing and Business.
1pm (Dublin/London time)  on my Linkedin Profile (scroll down to Activity and then select ‘Events’) .

I also issue a 60 Second Summary of all previous chats here.

The post Deep Fakes / Synthetic Media in Marketing – Advans & Disadvans appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

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External Exhibition Transforms 500 Unused Poster Sites

The #Covid Crisis has created empty poster sites all around the streets  of Dublin. This creates a baron, empty, dirty, negative, pessimistic feeling in the community. Lowering everyone’s mood during this time of  Covid 19 crisis in cities, towns and villages around the world.

Question: How to convert this negative feeling into a positive feeling? Think outside the box. Many disruptive business models are enjoying large scale success. e.g. Alibaba, the world’s most valuable retailer, owns no inventory. Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content (though it does take ownership!). Amazon are looking at ship and shop’ (anticipate your needs – ship/deliver goods and then ask you to confirm the order) rather than the tradigital ‘shop and ship’ model. So how can a photo gallery think outside the box?

Answer: The Positive Space Project, a city-wide crowd-funded exhibition that turns 500 unused poster sites across Dublin into a gallery for Irish photographers to be enjoyed by Dubliners. Rather than bring people to the gallery, bring the gallery to the people.

Thinking Outside The Box

So if people cannot go to galleries, bring the galleries to the people.  Corina Gaffey started the GoFundMe campaign called The Positive Space. Basically they have raised money €7,500 (target €10,000) www.gofundme.com/f/the-positive-space  . This money pays for the production and installation of the posters.

A Visual Feast For the Eyes

Is how Naoimi Gaffey, photographer, describes it. So sit back and enjoy from a distance, the great work by the photographers, the Gaffeys, the poster postermen.  Art helps a city to thrive.

Shutters Also Improve Aesthetics and Promote #Brands

Metal shutters can be put to use: making the environment more pleasant, promoting the business  and securing the business at night.

Wall & Keogh, Richmond Street South, Dublin. My own mother, Úna Ni Glasáin, had a chemist shop,  at 13 College Green, Dublin 2. It was called Gleeson’s Chemist. It’s now a lovely little coffee shop called Keoghs  (see red canopy below).  I remember my Mum was deeply saddened when she had to put metal shutters up in the 1980s.

Keoghs, 13 College Green, Dublin (formerly Gleesons Chemist)

No one seemed to be thinking outside the boxes and generating beautiful eye-catching, city-enhancing, metal shutters back in the 1980s.  But today there is much more art on the street – helping local people, helping artists, helping  tourists, helping brands and helping businesses. And when we layer on #digital and #interactive signage, we will hopefully see even more interesting interactive aesthetically pleasing, yet secure, shop-fronts that help customers to preview, preselect or even order goods/services from a shop front.  Have you seen anything interesting – perhaps Scots Road in #Singapore  or anywhere else? Please send me in your photo and we’ll add it to this post.

We will look at Great Covid Idea: Silver Shutters as a separate post later.

Walls Also Improve Aesthetics and Promote #Brands

Dublin Print Company, 19-20 Redmonds Hill, Dublin 2

It is just great to see ‘owned media’  being used aesthetically. This is a small print company called Dublin Print Company. This is supported by the Grey Area Project in Dublin .

Today, however, retailers have options to be more creative. Let’s hopefully see a few more of these.  In fact #DublinWalls DublinWalls.com  promotes murals on walls.

DublinWalls.com is a photo collection of Dublin Walls created by talented artists. These murals embellish the capital city of Ireland. The next post,  will explore how walls (owned media) are used by some marketers).

We will look at lots of interesting walls in Dublin plus a few from Belfast (The Guinness mural is so good I had to include it!). Please send me in your photos of anything that brightens up a street, an alley-way , a wall, a window or even a  just a door.   As marketers, we  can brighten up our streets and support our brands and /or help spread important messages  simultaneously.  I will publish another blog post with lots of creative ideas from Dublin, Belfast, Dundalk, London and elsewhere.

See a lot more stunning images (and stories) in Great Covid Idea 2: Walls Of Gold .  If you enter your email address  in the ‘Subscribe to Marketing Insights’ form, I will send you an alert re any new posts.

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Leveraging your owned media (walls, windows, doors) is a tactic (free advertising but you must check the details of your lease first and any local council restrictions). This tactical tool is part of the details of  Strategy which is part of my  SOSTAC^® Planning framework. Those wanting to become SOSTAC^® Certified Planners can visit  SOSTAC.org 

 

PR Smith’s SOSTAC^® Planning framework circular diagram showing each of the 6 sections.

The Projects

Luciana Marin

Luli took a lot of photographs of street art in Dublin.  Luli stumbled across a Banksy mural one morning, in the middle of temple bar, close to the Mezz . Luli kindly gave us permission to use her instagram photos  @lulimarin86   Follow #streetartaroundtheworldbylulimarin  & #dublinwallscollection    www.lucianamarin.com contains an intriguing collection of street art entitle #StreetArtChaser

Congrats and thanks to Corina Gaffey for setting up #ThePositiveSpace Exhibition and for inspiring this post.

The post Disruptive Dublin Gallery Model – Think Outside Box appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

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Here is a 4-minute insight into the psychology behind the Facebook data-breach.  Click the ‘play’ button below to watch this excellent 4-minute video from the BBC about Cambridge Analytica.  Various reports suggest Facebook  fines were anywhere between £500,000 and £4b . Do any of you know?

Up to 87m users’ data was improperly shared – watch this 4 minute video

Facebook has said it believes that up to 87 million users’ data was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica

Cambridge Analytica claims its data and research helped Donald Trump win the US presidency. But how did it turn a Facebook user’s data into a personality type, and what did it do with that information? Source: Psychology behind FB data breach (BBC 9 Apr 2018). Facebook collects data from your Posts & comments; Events you attend; Calls and Messages; Location; Interests; Web & App Activity; Instagram & WhatsApp activity; Likes and reactions; Photos; friends and friend groups.

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg being grilled by Democratic lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez back in Oct 2019 (5 min video).

Can I target predominantly black zip codes and advertise to them the incorrect election date?

Cortez: “Facebook now allows politicians to pay fb to spread disinformation in 2020 elections and in the future, so… how far can I can push this in the next year? Under your policy, using census data as well, could I pay to target predominantly black zip codes and advertise to them the incorrect election date?  Zuckerberg: “No.”

Cortez: Could I run ads on FB  targeting Republicans in primaries saying that they voted for the green new deal?”  Zuckerberg: “I don’t know the answer to that off the top of my head.” Cortez: “You don’t know!”

So you won’t take down lies, or you will take down lies?….. Zuckerberg “it depends…”  The Facebook CEO also declined to disclose when he found out the company was harvesting and selling user data to influence elections.

Advertising used to be regulated and in the UK it had to adhere to four basic principles: Legeal, Decent, Honest and Truthful plus a swathe of specific regulations for specific industry sectors and media types. The US 2020 Presidential Election Ad Campaigns and Social Media Manipulation (incl trolling) needs to be regulated. But perhaps not sufficiently in time for this election?

Fast Forward to Great Britain 2021 

Here is the MP (Member of Parliament)  Dawn Butler asking the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, about still using companies associated with the discredited Cambridge Analytica.

“Are you aware that Palantir and Faculty have links to the discredited Cambridge Analytica?”

Secretary of State, Hancock, answers “Eh No.”

Ms Butler continues with: “Palantir reportedly taught Cambridge Analytica how to scrape data – that means you are putting at risk everyone’s data in the country and giving it to organisations such as Palantir?”

All Posts

Is Palantir owned by Peter Thiel (facebook board director and influential supporter of Trump)?

Did Faculty do the data modelling for BREXIT campaign (owned by Dominic Cummings friend, Marc Warner)?

So the ongoing battle for data, data privacy, data security and data exploitation continues many years later.

Facebook Files: 5 things leaked documents reveal – BBC News  24 Sep 2021

Celebrities were treated differently by Facebook

—end—..

If you enjoyed  this you might like these:

How Obama Won Two U.S. Presidential Elections Obama’s Head of Digital reveals the secrets of his success to me

Marketing Gone Wrong: Is the Dark Web Worse Than Subliminal Seduction? Shocking video about Facebook’s role in the BREXIT referendum

The Dark Arts Of Marketing – Breaking Down Society to Create a New Culture – Using Data & IRD If you think the former post was shocking try this!

How Trump Won (a SOSTAC® Analysis)   an  observation using my planning framework

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) – Opportunity to Boost CX or a Threat of Closure?

The post Facebook Data: How it was used by Cambridge Analytica & Might Be Used in 2020 Election & Still Is Used in 2021? appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

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How can AR turn a competitor’s ads into your own ads? Answer: Use an AR specific lense in an app to recognise competitors billboard ads, magazine ads & discount coupons and then set them on fire (virtually, or at least on screen in augmented reality).

Burger King App using AR to show poster on fire

Here’s how: ‘Burger King (in Brazil) used advanced AR to enable customers to ‘burn down’ competitors ads – using a lens that recognised competitors ads (e.g. McDonalds) ads and caused them to burst into flames.

Plus they build in the Shared Experience: If a customer shared this experience, they get a free Whopper. This app also leverages BK’s USP: ‘fire’ or flame grilled burgers USP in a very different way. Although some criticise BK for using cutting edge technology negatively, I think many people will see it as a bit of fun, and certainly something different to show off. This unusual marketing hack also promotes BK Express, which allows customers to pre-order their meals to avoid the ‘real-world’ queues. Using technology to help customers – is the best way to consider using emerging technologies.

BK expects to give away over 500,000 burgers through this genius and super fun campaign.

‘Afterall, flame grilled is always best!’  (is what the app final onscreen message says after burning a competitors ad).

Perhaps this is all a spoof designed to generate increased awareness and usage of its app? Is it April 1st?  BK have not issued any news releases that I can find on their site – as yet.

What do you think,  is this:

(a) negative use of AR (‘burning your competitors’ ads)

(b) positive use of AR (new form of entertainment and engagement & adding value to the CX (skip queues)

(c) a clever spoof / publicity stunt – that we have all bought!

If you liked this, you might also enjoy:

Here Come The Clever Bots – bursting with artificial intelligence?

Here Come The Really Clever Bots – where AI meets customer needs 

Artificial Influencers – Meet Shudu & Miquela

Thanks to @AlixFrancis for the alert.

The post How Can AR Turn a Competitor’s Ads Into Your Own Ads? appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

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Staff Advocate Eats Dinner Off Subway Station Floor

Now that is commitment. That is motivation. When a member of staff believes that the floor cleaner they sell is so good that he cleans a subway floor, then pours his dinner on it, opens his serviette, tucks it into his collar and proceeds to eat his dinner off the floor, so that he can make a video that demonstrates the power of his company’s product.  Do not try this at home!

This employee is sufficiently motivated that he made his own ‘Shockvertising’ video for his company.  Will this shockvertising staff-made ad start a surge of employee product demonstration ads?

Staff need to be integrated

What does this mean? Well, every customer-facing member of staff is a brand ambassador. They have to feel part of it. They have to integrate with the brand values (sometimes they are selected in accordance with the brand values). This requires internal marketing (investing in internal communications, motivation and training). If you get this right, staff can become your most potent comms tool.

Now, have a look at this member of staff who made his own youtube product demonstration video – eating his dinner off the subway floor (after he cleaned it with his hard floor cleaner that both vacuums and steams).

Staff advocacy. This is staff advocacy. How many companies’ staff use their own company’s products and services? How many are passionate about their products and services & become real advocates?

Integrate staff and promotion/comms

Integrating inbound and outbound with online and offline communications delivers higher impact and more cost-effective ‘joined-up marketing’. Any staff wanting to produce promotional materials (like a video) obviously need to check with the Marketing Communications team to ensure it fits (integrates) with all other comms.

Integrate the marketing mix

As promotions (like this ad) become part of the brand experience, they become part of the product. Similarly, Location-based advertising is ‘promotion’, but it is also ‘place’ (as it extends the distribution/places where you can buy) and so it becomes part of the brand experience. You can see how the marketing mix is morphing into a brand experience. You can see how people, physical evidence, process and price have to be integrated carefully to ensure a consistent CX (customer experience).

Integrate customer data

Since customers are touched by many contact points or ‘touch points’ such as social media, Point Of Sale, ads, email etc. Customers need a consistent (integrated) message. Equally, companies are collecting information from many different customer touch points (web site registration, web site body language, customer service, social media and much more). It’s a gold mine if they collect this safely and store it safely in a data warehouse and then use it all to build better profiles of customers. Customer data needs to be integrated. This a major challenge for many organisations.

Unintegrated databases cause many problems and complications, as there is no single picture of the customer and therefore customers have many different types of experiences and messages form the brand. This confuses customers and dilutes the brand’s presence in the marketplace.

Staff Advocates Are Powerful

It is a nice endorsement – staff that use the company’s products and services. After all they are at the coal face, the place where customers meet the real live breathing brand. One sloppy comment, facial reaction, posture or even dirty nail can kill a sale (or stop repeat sales). On the other hand, staff that are proud of their products is often the ultimate endorsement. Are your staff passionate about your products and services?

How can you get them onside? Internal marketing – training, motivation and communication.

Reproduced from Chapter 1, Marketing Communications 6th ed. (2016) by PR Smith & Ze Zook, published by Kogan Page.

Get the Free Download Chapter 1: Marketing Communications -offline and online integration, engagement and analytics

Or get the book and spend £8 on yourself ie get 20% Discount off off the £39.99 price tag. Go to: http://www.koganpage.com/marketingcommunications and then insert the password:  FRIENDSOFPAUL&ZE                   (and Yes the ampersand is part of the password). Treat yourself to something nice as you save £8.

#Marcomms #Integration

The post Staff Brand Ambassador Eats Dinner Off Floor appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

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How To Leverage A Graphic Image To Get Maximum Impact

– The Sky Pool 

Embassy Gardens

This stunning computer-generated image from the Ballymore Group was leveraged/used across multiple channels:

• News Release distributed to luxury, trade (construction, property, architecture, design), international, London and national press online & offline
• Social media
• Web site
• Conference slide shows
• Award entries
• Marketing suites
• All marketing collateral

Results: Coverage  

The news release generated 1billion ‘opportunities to see’, 105 apartment enquiries, £27 million apartment sales and an award-winning chef opening his new restaurant in the same development. In fact, it generated just under a 1billion OTS’s (972,126,464) Opportunities To See (OTS)  calculated using readership figures for the various outlets where the image appeared in the usual media outlets (ie online & offline media). Note this did not include social media coverage/shares/likes/comments etc.

Results: Sales Leads

Within 24 hours of the image first appearing, it generated 105 new sales leads (from people wanting to buy an apartment). Apartment prices in the second phase went from £602,000 up to almost £2million, so if, say, the average apartment price was £1.3m and if, say, just 20% of leads normally convert to sales, then the 105 leads generated will convert to an estimated 21 apartments sold at an average price of £1.3m, which, equals £27m revenue generated by this image (& the idea behind it).  The image also prompted renowned award-winning,  Irish chef, Robin Gill to move in and set up his new Darby’s Restaurant in the Embassy Gardens.

Results: Profile Raising/Awareness Building

This image has also increased awareness of (and perhaps preference for) the Ballymore Group.

Where did the idea come from?

The Sky Pool was an idea formed by Sean Mulryan, founder and CEO of Ballymore Group, whose vision stemmed from a desire to push the boundaries in the capability of construction and engineering – to push the boundaries on all aspects of design. Sky Pool’s transparent structure is the result of significant advancements in technologies over the last decade. As such, Mulryan brought in not only architects and engineers but also aquarium designers to ensure the pool is at the forefront of design excellence. The pool will actually be made of acrylic rather than glass – and the experience of the pool will be truly unique, it will feel like floating through the air in central London.

Brief Excerpt From The Brief:

‘Do something that had never been done before’

PR Low Cost, High Credibility but No Control

Note: PR has very low costs, very high Credibility of message (higher than say, an advertisement in the UK) but no Control (as an editor or journalist can challenge or even rebuke a news release). So PR, like advertising and sponsorship is great at generating awareness (not as efficient at generating sales). Advertising has very high control of message, very high cost and lower credibility of message (compared to PR). Sponsorship sits in the middle.

See the savagely uncontrollable nature of PR and the consequences for Shell

Low Cost, High Credibility But Uncontrollable – PR Horror Story

If you like this, you might also like:

The Tactical Matrix – Choosing Which Tool – Owned, Earned or Paid Media

To receive alerts re new posts by email, just enter your email address into the ‘Subscribe’ panel – see top right corner.

The post How To Integrate & Leverage Great Graphics For Max Impact appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

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Robert Cialdini’s, Influence – the psychology of persuasion is one of the all time classic books on marketing psychology. Although originally written in the 1980s, digital marketing gurus refer to it today as a digital marketing mantra. It really is an amazing book. One that can change your  perspective on the world around us, as well as boost your marketing skills enormously. Amongst other things, Cialdini reveals how brain washing American Soldiers occurs and most interestingly, Cialdini makes a plea at the end of the book to boycott TV programmes with false laughter (as we are being manipulated!). Anyways, here’s Cialdini’s 6 rules of persuasion distilled onto one page. Essential stuff in our quest to answer customer question number 2 (‘Why do they buy/not buy or visit /not visit) from the big 3 customer questions which form a large part of the Situation Analysis in any plan. 

The art of persuasion has many dimensions

Cialdini, R (1984, 2007) Influence – the psychology of persuasion, Collins

The ‘Why?’ question is arguably the most difficult of the 3 key customer questions, which you must be able to answer as a world-class marketer. Why do people buy or not buy? Why do they visit your site once but not return? Why did they visit a competitor’s site? Why did they visit a second time but not complete their purchase? Why did Trump win? Why did BREXIT happen (see The Dark Web & Subliminal Seduction)?

Carole Cadwalladr TED Talk explores how data, images and ads in the dark-web influenced voters to vote for BREXIT without them really knowing why!

‘Why do our customers do what they do?’ is a really perplexing, yet critical, question all marketers need to answer, with crystal clear clarity.

The other two big customer questions you need to master are ‘Who? and ‘How?’. Each of these has 10 sub-questions all answered in SOSTAC® Guide To Your Perfect Digital Marketing Plan, (PR Smith 2019). Answering these questions will help you to boost results with better marketing.  To see how to write an integrated digital marketing plan (including strategy) and/or the perfect structure for a marketing plan or even a business plan, watch this 4 minute (video www.prsmith.org/sostac).

See also Research Driven Shock Motivation Ad Uses Magic Formula & Goes Viral .

Finally, you might also enjoy Ian Clery’s 5 min video Influence and the Sales Funnel using Cialdini’s 6 rules as it helps to answer this most difficult question ‘Why?’.

The post Persuasion & Motivation: Cialdini’s 6 Rules Of Persuasion appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

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Assuming you are clear about what objectives you are you are trying to achieve, I’m going to show you my Tactical Matrix which is designed to trigger some discussion about which tactical tool/s is/are best for you. Firstly we look at how good each tactic is at moving your prospects/customers through various stages of the Lifetime Buying Process:

• Awareness
• Consideration
• Purchase
• Post Purchase Relationship Building
• Post Purchase Repeat Sales

The need for segmenting your customers or prospects by stage of the buying process emerges again.  Now, depending on what stage of the buying cycle you are trying to move your prospects/customers through, you can consider how good each tactic is across these 9 criteria:

1. Reach (how big an audience can reach?)
2. Speed (how quickly can it reach that audience?)
3. Time (how long to create &deliver this tactic?)
4. Message Volume (space to fit message in?)
5. Targeting (how granular or precise can the targeting be?)
6. Personalisation (can the tool personalise messages?)
7. Cost – is it expensive on a Cost Per Thous&(CPT/CPM) basis?
8. Control – can you control the message with this tactic?
9. Credibility – some tactics have more credibility

The last 3 criteria (cost, control & credibility) are sometimes used initially when choosing which tactical tool. We know that some tools give you more control over your message (advertising as opposed to PR or even social media),  while some tools cost a lot more (direct mail v advertising) in cost per thousand (CPT/CPM) reached. NB they compare a bit better when looking at cost per eventual conversion & some tools have more credibility e.g. PR, or editorial, has arguably three times more credibility than a message in an advertisement in the UK while reviews on social media platforms have, for many, the most credibility.

The Tactical Matrix

So this Tactical Matrix tries to encapsulate all of this – the 10 comms tools, the 5 stages  of the buying process & the 9 criteria to help you to choose which tactical tool is best for your plan. It was developed with the assistance of Mohamad Sameh, marketing  manager of IT Vision in Cairo.   I apologise that this is probably difficult to read here in this ebook but you can download it here from my PRSmith Marketing Blog.  It is something of work in progress so I welcome any comments.

Thanks to Mohamed Sameh from ITV Agency, Cairo, for his help in developing this matrix.

Message Volume means size of message or how much space is available.

This Tactics Matrix is designed to stimulate discussion about which tactical tool  (or suite of tools) is best in helping you to achieve your objectives.

This is an excerpt taken from my new SOSTAC® Guide to your Perfect Digital Marketing Plan available on Amazon eBooks or bulk tailored orders directly from me.

              The new SOSTAC® Guide for Digital Marketers

SOSTAC® takes 4 minutes to learn. It’s simplicity and logical structure is why it was voted in the Top 3 Marketing Models of all time by the Chartered Institute Of Marketing’s Centenary Poll.  See the 4 minute video, the instagram and what people say about SOSTAC Planning®.

The post The Tactical Matrix – Choosing Which Tool – Owned, Earned or Paid Media appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

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The Magic Marketing Formula

Here is my Magic Marketing Formula: IRD. It always works.

• Identify Needs
• Reflect These Needs (through ads, sales presentations, key phrases etc.)
• Deliver (a reasonable product or service – that meets the promise made)

If you identify key phrases people use when searching for your type of product or service and then if people see these phrases appear alongside your web site in the search results (in the SERP – the search engine results page), they enjoy a Eureka moment. You know the feeling? That buzz when you see EXACTLY what you are searching for appearing in the SERP.  That’s the Magic Marketing Formula in action.

Think of ads. If Coca Cola identify people need to be loved they reflect this by showing ads of people drinking Coke and/or having a good time (whether polo bears or people). If a B2B IT supplier identifies a segment’s main need is, say, security, then it reflects ‘security’ in its ads, exhibitions, social media and optimises for these key phrases. Here is a shock example of the magic marketing formula in action in a very serious ad campaign – one that can save lives. Warning: This imagery in this ad might upset you.

Magic Marketing Formula Begins With Research 

Here’s a shocking example of the Magic Marketing Formula in action. Road deaths from speeding drivers is an issue in Northern Ireland. In-depth research by the Department of the Environment, revealed that ‘speeders feel it is their right to drive at whatever speed they want. They won’t change this for anything. ‘What about if you killed someone?’ No this would not stop them. ‘What about if you killed a child?’ A resounding silence. The idea was born. These shocking ads reflected this.

The ad went viral. Speeders are slowing down.

Going Viral

Ad showed Tues night on TV in Northern Ireland during ‘Dentist’ – no reaction; Played again at half time during half time in England v Uruguay game (19 June) .

7,000 youtube views (19 June).

Rang ad agency next morning (20 June) – by the end of the phone call 23,000 views;

53,000 end of the day (20 June)

4 days later 2.2m views (24 June)

2 months later 3.9m views (23 Aug)

How Do You Measure Return On Investment?

With the economic cost of a death estimated at £1.68m (source: Oxford Economics) and the campaign cots of  £400,000 you can see that this ad can be justified on a purely economic basis. On an emotional basis you might find this disturbing, but it does increase awareness and, most importantly, change behaviour.  In fact, the economic payback is £42 per £1 invested in advertising (4,200% ROI) when the full cost saving is calculated (this includes ‘human cost’ of a death).

Global Impact

In fact, AdWeek praised the one-minute ad for “driving the anti-speeding message into the public conversation far beyond Ireland. Many tweets say this ad goes too far. The debate continues on a reddit thread dedicated to the ad (apologies in advance for any fowl language used). What do you think (please leave a comment at the end). Regardless, I personally think if it saves one life, it is an excellent piece of work by Lyle Bailie International and driven by research commissioned by the Department of The Environment. Thanks to Bridin Beckett (DOE) and Paul James (Lyle Bailie) for this fascinating case study.

All comments are most welcome (please do scroll down and ‘leave a comment’).

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