Green Marketing, Easy to Understand, Harder to Implement, But Worth it.

1: Get Your Market Interested

Many companies are trying to jump on the bandwagon by claiming green status, and some with little or no proof. A great example of green washing that occurs without too many people being aware of it is certain companies in China that make re-usable shopping bags. Some of these companies manufacture bags so that they can immediately process them inside their factory into recycled material, ready for use as a more expensive re-cycled fabric.

For many consumers it’s a leap of faith to trust green brands, due in part to examples of the nature mentioned above. For others its simply too confusing due to poor marketing communication.

There are many competitive benefits to becoming a green brand. You must build trust and reduce confusion with consumers. Try seeking independent verification and 3rd party environmental endorsement as part of the strategy. This will help build a better product or service and increase end user engagement. There are plenty of government organisations out there who will assist your business in becoming an endorsed green brand.

2: If none of your competitors are trying it, then be the first.

Some industries prove very difficult to implement sustainable practice. Most give up as they do not have the time to put into the effort required. The rewards that exist for businesses aside from knowing you are helping the future of the planet, are most definitely the improved bottom line & end profits for those who are prepared to persevere.

Developing goods, services, and implementing sustainability into the business model is great, but consumers want more. Key points like high performance, ease of use, availability, value for money, and the environment all have to be balanced.

Don't sell on green benefits alone, it will not be enough for the consumer. Try instead to focus on being a profitable solutions based business with sustainability as part of the mix. Ensure the product is right and you communicate the whole story.

3. Improved communication

It’s important you communicate your message to the right target group. Getting the target demographic right, and communicating key trigger points are crucial to the success.

Communicate the environmental message as part of your message not the only message. The message and positioning should be right for the target group, its not the same for everyone.

4. Take them with you

Sustainability is an ongoing learning process, a process of improvement over time that will engage and inspire many market segments. Take your customers with you and remember, 'It’s the journey, not the destination'.

Don't do green half-hearted. It has the potential to backfire, but make the effort and you will be rewarded. 

There are competitive advantages for brands who develop sustainable goods and services, while implementing a sustainability model in the day-to-day running of a business. 

Want to give your business the green advantage? Give Shared Marketing a call. 

Tooheys Extra Dry New Portal Advertisement out this weekend.

Aussie Businesses Slow to Take Up Social Media

Only 18% of Australian small and medium sized businesses are using social media to promote

their business and just 35% have an online presence, according to a new survey from

MYOB Business Monitor.

The most likely users of social media are business owners in South Australia, with 27%

using the likes of YouTube, Facebook, MySpace or Twitter, while 24% of business owners

aged between 18 to 39 also use the channel.

Business owners in New South Wales are the most likely to belong to business networks online

(22%), compared to Queensland, 11%.

West Australian businesses are more likely to have a website (40%) and are more likely to

use their website for marketing and sales (25%), compared to Queensland with 32% of

businesses owning a website and 17% using their website for sales and marketing.

Female business owners are more online savvy, with 39% having a website compared to

32% of male business owners. Females are more likely to use social media to promote their

businesses (20%) compared to males (17%).

Regional businesses are more likely (41%) to have a website than city based businesses

(35%), according to the survey. It also found that 24% of businesses admit they monitor

competitor activity via the web.

Furthermore, 20% of businesses advertise on websites other than their own and only

20% of businesses use search engine marketing.

Tim Reed, CEO of MYOB said:

“Rather than being well established, the results indicate that online marketing is only just emerging in Australia.

“Despite the current low adoption rates of social media and websites, it’s inevitable that

the use of online platforms will increase rapidly in Australia as business owners see global

competitors using these forums to lure local sales offshore.”

The MYOB Business Monitor is a nationwide survey of 1,000 small and medium businesses.

Most trusted and least trusted brands - Marketing Magazine

Most trusted and least trusted brands - Marketing Magazine

Six Beers of Separation Wins Best Campaign

Here at Shared Marketing we love that a beer campaign was recognised as being the best campaign to come out of Australia.
You can read all about it below by clicking through below.

2010 IAB Australia Awards 'Best of Show' - Marketing Magazine

NSFW: A Hunter Shoots a Bear. Best Youtube Advertising seen in awhile.

Save as Draft

Small Business are Profiting with Socia Media.

According to recent research compiled by Melbourne IT, small businesses using social media to leverage online business, are likely to achieve greater revenue.

eBiz Review polled 3,404 Australian small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) with an online presence, from a broad cross section of over 26 industry sectors.

The data showed that SMBs generating 20 per cent or more of their revenues from their website were more likely to use social media.

With Comscore estimating that 90% of Australian Internet users visited social media sites in February 2010. It is no surprise that social media has become a hot area of marketing investment from large enterprises as they try to access such a large pool of potential customers. But what about small businesses?

A third of eSMBs have dived in and established a social media presence, with the social media tools of choice being used by the 34% of social media believers being Facebook (75%), Twitter (47%) and LinkedIn (42%).

Among social media users, 85% cite benefits to their business, with 57% saying they are attracting new customers via social media. Just under half (49%) said it helped them explain their products and services in new ways and just over half (51%) said it helped put a ‘human face’ to their business.

The success of social media using SMBs in attracting new customers must be an eye opener for those companies which are not; these results also demonstrate that the “softer” perception building elements of social media tools are not lost on savvy eSMBs.

SMBs need to think about how social media fits into their online strategy and seek advice where necessary to integrate social media tools with their existing online investments to ensure success.

With Facebook in Australia now the third largest online brand behind Google and Ninemsn, the results are not that surprising. Businesses that ignore the growing trend of social media should do so at their own peril. But ask yourself... “Are my competitors also ignoring social media?” Not likely.

Engagement with consumers has to give a business a return on investment at some point.

Thirty four per cent of SMBs online use social media, and a further 15 per cent said in the survey they planned to include it in their online strategy in future.

Advertising 101: Everyone Needs to Know the Basics.

To succeed, entrepreneurs must develop a base of satisfied customers. Advertising programs are the key to attracting customers and this article explains some advertising basics that will get you started.

Wondering how to start advertising a business? Before you start advertising, be sure you understand the fundamentals of advertising.

Interestingly, some small business owners never tap into the power of advertising to grow their business.

At the same time, other business owners assume that advertising will solve all of their customer acquisition challenges.

Here, explained in simple terms, we discuss what advertising can and cannot do for your business.

What Advertising Can Do For Your Business:

•   Remind customers and prospects about the benefits of your product or service
•   Establish and maintain your distinct identity
•   Enhance your reputation
•   Encourage existing customers to buy more of what you sell
•   Attract new customers and replace lost ones
•   Slowly build sales to boost your bottom line
•   Promote your business to customers, investors and others

What Advertising Cannot Do For Your Business:

•   Create an instant customer base
•   Cause an immediate sharp increase in sales
•   Solve cash flow or profit problems
•   Substitute for poor or indifferent customer service
•   Sell useless or unwanted products or services

Now that you understand how advertising can affect your business, it's time to take the next step and develop an advertising plan.

Remember to experiment when you advertise. If an advertisement works, do more of it. If it doesn't, tweak the advertising plan and try again.

What is Shared Marketing?

Ok, what is Shared Marketing? We can summarise this to the simple mission statement that defines why we are here. 

Our mission is to provide organisations of every size with their own professional “marketing team” by allowing businesses to share marketing resources for mutual benefit.

Its a simple concept really, we understand through speaking to many small to medium enterprises that affording your own marketing team is just not possible. Certainly in this climate, but also even when the financial climate is good.

You might have a marketing person, but then they don't have graphics ability, so you have to outsource to a graphic designer at an extra cost.

The other thing is, does your marketing person have the depth of experience that we offer as a group?

This is what you get when you join Shared marketing. For a monthly membership, we bring proven experts in graphic design, senior business management, marketing, advertising and branding.

It works... we know it does. Come and check us out at www.sharedmarketing.com.au.

Marketing Against the Major Chains

So how do you compete with a major pizza juggernaut like Pizza Hut or Domino’s?

Hit them right between their eyes...
That's what Anthony's Pizza and Pasta did in Denver, Colorada recently for a transit and outdoor campaign.

Like Lowe’s and Home Depot squeezing out the local hardware stores, Domino’s and Pizza Hut have been moving in on the local pizza establishments for years.

Unless you have a few stores in your chain, good luck trying to compete without cutting prices.

 The message you promote is the key.

Marketing Campaign Using Humour

One major retail chain, released a video recently of a man who gives his wife a vacuum for an anniversary gift. Not pleased, she promptly escorts him to a doghouse where . . . well you do have to go watch it, very funny but the message from the company is there but subtle

But this video, which was forwarded and Twittered across the nation, is so entertaining that when you learn that it was produced by JCPenney, only the most hard-hearted consumer could care that they have basically been watching a commercial

Twitter Users Most Influential

Your Grandma might be a brand influencer. Scary...

Consumers who are active on Twitter are three times more likely to influence a brand’s online reputation, according to a study by email marketing firm, ExactTarget. 

Consumer's Twitter activities influencing brands involves 'syndicated tweets' (retweets) about the brand and posting blog articles and product reviews online. 

From the 1,500 consumers surveyed, the top reason emerging for consumers following a brand online is to get updates on future products (38%). 32% followed a brand to stay informed about company activities, while 31% wanted to receive information on discounts and promotions.

When investigating daily Twitter user’s activities against general internet users, Twitter users were nearly three times more likely to comment on photos or videos daily, twice more likely to upload photos, post on forms and blog daily than general internet users.

Morgan Stewart, principal of ExactTarget's research and education group said, "What happens on Twitter doesn't stay on Twitter... the number of active Twitter users is less than Facebook or email... but the concentration of highly engaged and influential content creators is unrivalled – it's the gathering place for content creators whose influence spills over into every corner of the internet.”

Six Lessons from the Best Job in the World Campaign

Respected blogger and author Rohit Bhargava has written a great piece summing up the success of the Best Job in the World campaign run by Queensland Tourism.

The campaign cleaned up at Cannes Advertising Festival, taking home an unprecedented 3 categories. Rohit says, “a big part of the reason for the amazing success of this campaign was not what they were marketing, but how they used social media to do it.”

Here are the six lessons Rohit identified from the Best Job in the World Campaign:

1. Make it believable. 

Many marketing groups would never make a claim if they can’t provide substantial evidence. How might Tourism Queensland prove that their job is the best in the world? They can’t. But it is believable because it is a beautiful place and fits what many people’s definition of a dream job might be. 

2. It’s not about how much you spend.

One of the major benefits of smart public relations and social media is that it scales in a way that advertising typically doesn’t. In other words, you don’t have to pay more to get more. The real trick is to have something worthwhile to say that people can’t help talking about. You need a good story. 

3. Focus on content, not traffic. 

The typical marketing campaign focuses on traffic to some kind of site. For Tourism Queensland, the biggest payoff of this campaign was having over 34,000 videos on YouTube from people around the world talking about how much they love Queensland. Aggregate the views of all those videos, and multiply them over the long term and you’ll start to understand the true impact of their campaign. 

4. Create an inherent reason for people to share. 

Another element of this campaign that worked extremely well was the fact that there was voting enabled on the videos. What this meant was that after someone submitted their video, they had an incentive to share it with everyone in their social network online to try and get more votes. 

5. Don’t underestimate the power of content creators.

Most recent statistics point to some number between 1% and 10% of the user base of any social network are the active content creators. Though these percentages may seem small, the potential impact of some of these individuals are vast online. It could easily become the secret weapon for your next marketing campaign. 

6. Give your promotion a shelf life. 

The best thing about this campaign may just be the content yet to come. Ben, the winner, just started blogging and sharing videos and photos, but the content was already engaging, high quality and inspires you to dream of making it to Queensland yourself. Over the next six months, his itinerary took him across the state of Queensland and unlocked many other unique opportunities. Best of all, this content will live on far beyond the time span of the campaign.

How the IPAD is Impacting Entertainment

According to eMarketer studies are starting to emerge around how the iPad is becoming a part of everyday life.

eMarketer detailed a UK-based study from Cooper Murphy Webb, a copywriting firm, which found that more than two in five respondents said that they use the iPad at least 10 hours per week.

The laptop/computer is still considered by most (33%) as their primary entertainment device, with the iPad coming in at second with 24%. This was followed by 22% indicating that their mobile phone was their primary entertainment device and 19% indicating that they still held TV in high regard.

Further results showed that the iPad is considered as the top delivery method for reading newspapers and magazines – with 31% respondents preferring it, compared to 26% using laptop/computers, 24% using print, 12% using mobile phones and 7% using ereaders.

Portability was singled out as a problem with the iPad, with 60% of the respondents stating that they rarely or never took their iPad with when they left the house.

Guerrilla Advertising at its Best.

Durex Ribbed Condoms Guerrilla Ads.

Vacuum Cleaner Billboard. Not really Guerrilla marketing but clever.

Mr Kleen Guerrilla Advertising. 

Seafood Restaurant Guerrilla Marketing.

Super Glue Guerrilla Marketing.

Beer Guerrilla Advertising on a Public Bus.

3 Key Issues When Altering Your Brand

"Coke" back to "Coca Cola"

There are many issues to consider when altering your brand to the future or back to the past. Here are 3 examples to be aware of.

1. No Research.

There’s a lot of lip service about customers, but in brand strategy sessions they’re often forgotten.

Current and prospective customers should be front and centre when creating solutions.

After all, the customer will be your ultimate test.

2. Basing a brand change on advertising.

An ad campaign and a slogan do not equal brand positioning. Brand strategy should lead

advertising – not the other way around. Sometimes the most effective brand changes don’t include

traditional advertising.

3. Tunnel Vision.

Focusing solely on your own industry can be limiting. When changing your brand, cross-pollinate your

thinking with what leaders in other industries are doing in regard to customer experience, retail

experience and customer care. Don't be scared to use experiences from different industries and encourage your agency to do this also.

Keys to Optimising a Website

Optimizing a website is something that marketers learn after going through the motions time and time again. It is not about sticking keywords throughout your website with the hope that the search engines will simply just reward your paltry efforts with a top 100 ranking. Put all that nonsense aside bring some marketing to the table and watch your efforts work.
User Experience.
Put yourself in the users shoes. If you stick keywords all over each page where the flow of reading is disrupted, then how is your audience going to respond to that?
In order for them to pick up the phone and call you, they need to be able to read your copy with no interruptions. If every three words of your copy is a keyword they will most likely just leave your website entirely. There is a thin line between too many keywords and not enough so make sure you walk that line safely.
Targeted.
Make sure you are picking keywords that fit the content of that specific page.
For example, if you sell tennis racquets on a specific page, target tennis related keywords for that page. Don’t target golf related keywords as well because you want to rank for that keyword.
Always keep things relevant when it comes to optimization because the search engines will respond much better to it.
Conversions
Optimizing a website is not just about search rankings and keywords. It is also about how people interact with your website. Content is most definitely key, but what good is all that content if your traffic does not understand what they should be doing once they arrive at your website.
You need to have a plan for guiding the user around your site to convert into an action on their behalf.
So remember that you should approach optimising your website with a marketing hat on and your decisions will be more focussed on building your brand and converting your traffic rather than gaining high page rankings.

AdNews: Rebel Sports hires Quantium to evaluate media spend.

AdNews: Rebel Sports hires Quantium to evaluate media spend.

Haka Beer: Case Study

The beer that never was a legend in its own lifetime - Haka Bitter
GOA Billboards, Brisbane, wanted to prove a point; the power of Outdoor. So they invented a fictitious product for the highly competitive beer market- there were around 25 brands of beer brewed and sold in Brisbane at the time. The rest is now history.
The media/marketing exercise that follows became the subject of school and university assignments and even made media news in Germany.
THE BRIEF
As the product category was already part and parcel of the Australian way of life, the decision was taken that the creative approach should be 'bold and humorous'. Many concepts were developed but it was eventually a copyline that gave birth to the fictitious product's name and its equally fictitious New Zealand origin - Haka.
OUTDOOR MEDIA PLAN
Market: Brisbane
Site format/Size: 24 Sheet Posters
Quantity of Sites: 50 - 25 illuminated, 25 non-illuminated
Campaign Weight: Medium
Period: 8 weeks, June - August 1993
Cost: $50,000 (Media)
Coverage: Broadcast (i.e. evenly spread around Brisbane locations) 45% of the Brisbane population was exposed to this campaign each day.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Two waves of research were conducted at four-week intervals by Yann Campbell Hoare Wheeler. Each wave consisted of 300 face-to-face interviews, 50% male/50% female, 18+ year olds.
KEY RESULTS
When shown a photograph of the Haka billboard with the name concealed:
In wave 1, (after 4 weeks) 45% of the respondents recalled seeing the billboard, and of those 76% correctly identified the brand name that was missing as Haka. In wave 2, (after 8 weeks) 49% recalled seeing the billboard and of these 67% correctly identified the brand.

THE HAKA CAMPAIGN ACHIEVED:

1. an overall awareness that grew from nothing to 45% in one month.
2. 76% (representing 34% of Brisbane population) correctly identified Haka as the brand when shown the statement "Naturally booed in Australia".
3. Higher recall achieved for Under 40's and professionals.
4. When asked: "Where did you see the copy?" 86% (representing 29% of the Brisbane population) correctly named one or more actual site locations.

For spontaneous recall, Haka achieved 7% after one month on Outdoor with only a $25,000 investment. Some weeks prior another beer brand, Powers Extra, was launched in Brisbane using TV only. Powers Extra only achieved a 3% spontaneous recall after one month despite a TV spend of $183,000.

(Reference: www.oma.org.au)

AdNews: Carlton Draught satirises pub life in TV push

AdNews: Carlton Draught satirises pub life in TV push

Email Marketing for Small Business

Understand one thing, with email marketing, every second counts. You only have a short time to Capturing your customer’s attention and keeping it is vital to email marketing success.

It takes someone a third of a second to decide whether they are going to open an email, three seconds to see if there is something of interest, and 30 seconds to respond to your ‘call to action’ message. The difference between losing and keeping a customer can come down to an understanding and appreciation of who your customers are and what they want.
The important thing to remember with email marketing is that you are creating a relationship with your customer through targeted and relevant information. It’s not about selling, it’s about educating the consumer about your product or service.

In today’s digital world, relevant communication is vital. Customers are bombarded with thousands of email messages every day, so you need to ensure that your message is the one that’s heard and that your customers trust you.

Place yourself in your customers shoes... You are an avid golfer, very into the PGA tour and have just subscribed to Golfing Monthly. You want to be caught up on the latest news from the PGA, but instead you are fed newsletter after newsletter about professional bowls (it happens) . You get fed up and either unsubscribe or report it as SPAM. Then ask yourself why you took this action? Short answer is because the content wasn’t relevant. It didnt take too long to make that decision did it?

So before you send out that next newsletter, Ask yourself: is it relevant? Is it educational? Informative? Engaging? Will my customer want to read this? It all comes back to the ‘what’s in it for me?’ value proposition. If you are not giving your customer what they want, they will leave you; it’s as simple as that.

The biggest mistake small businesses make when it comes to email marketing, is not sending targeted messages.

In order to avoid this, businesses need to do three things: segment the database, analyse the statistics and take the time to build an attractive message. Don't rush to get your message out, there will be more harm then good come out of it.

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Improving your Facebook Marketing

In social networking, Facebook is presently where it's at. The site is twice as popular as any other social networking site out there at the moment. Facebook continues to take over Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn by large margins.

How do you stand out from everyone else out there with all this growth?

Here are a couple of quick and easy tips to help your Facebook marketing:

1. Do a daily post but its essential to Post Content on the Weekend

According to DanZarrella.com, content posted on the weekend is shared more often than content posted during the week. By saving a portion of your content for Saturday and Sunday, you’ll increase the number of likes, comments, and views. People have more time to read on facebook and participate on the weekend.

2. Develop Facebook-specific Offers

In a recent Performics survey, Facebook users polled said they are most interested in receiving printable coupons (32%) and sale or deal notifications (28%) from companies. Instead of posting recipes or games, try an exclusive coupon or discount. Your fans will love you for it.

3. Think Mobile

Mobile usage continues to soar, and according to Facebook, people who access the site via their mobile device are almost 50% more active than non-mobile users. So keep mobile users in mind when updating your page and mobile-optimize content when you can. They’ll appreciate the good user experience. You’ll improve your response rate. It’s a win-win.

Red Bull Guerilla Marketing in Virgin Mega Store

Never ask a question in marketing messages that can be answered by no..

Never ask a question in marketing messages that can be answered by “no.” To be safe, stop asking questions and listen. http://ow.ly/2oqSC

New Shared Marketing Blog

Coming Soon.