Strategic Insights – We’ve Got Ideas

Forget podcasts, banner ads, RSS feeds and blogs–just give me snow up to my nostrils and a big ol’ stick.

That’s what some clever, industrious folks have been saying in upstate New York recently. Faced with nine feet of snow and drifts of almost twice that, those lucky enough to be able to plow or blow their way out are making their services available to others.

How are they getting the word out? Direct mail? Radio spots? Are they digging down to people’s windshields and leaving flyers under the wipers?

Nope. Snow writing. Just a simple headline like “Snow Removal” and a phone number. True, it won’t win any awards (is there even a category for that?) but it’s sure making their phones ring.

Now that’s some “old media.”

Bill Cokas
Creative Director
Strategic Insights

Last week, my students and I had a fascinating conversation about new media and interactive advertising. Our “virtual guest,” who was beamed into our classroom via digital technology, was Dr. Cassandra Jeyaram, the Social Marketing Manager of IHG which is headquartered in Atlanta. IHG is InterContinental Hotels Group, and they own some of the premier hotel brands in the world

Dr. Jeyaram took the students through the range of new media options available to marketers and advertisers. Clearly, there is an intriguing array of new options for reaching target audiences via new technology. Dr. Jeyaram provided some valuable lessons learned about using these tools in generating increased business, more frequent hotel visits, and elevating brand engagement.

But I thought Dr. Jeyaram made a larger point that was even more valuable than the descriptions and explanations of the specific channels or tools of our new media world.

She told the students how it was her job, working along with the various brand managers of the different hotel brands, to develop specific strategies and establish firm objectives for using the new media options. For example, brand managers will come to her in an excited fashion, proclaiming that they “want a blog” for their specific hotel brand. Or perhaps they want to include a podcast on their hotel web site, or they want to create a Facebook page for their brand. Part of Dr. Jeyaram’s role is to persuade these brand managers to think about exactly what they are trying to accomplish with a blog or a podcast or some other new media tool. She makes them craft a clear objective statement prior to execution. Often, these brand managers may find that their well-written objective may point to a different new media tool altogether.

In other words, new media tools are a means to an end.

Dr. Jeyaram also insists upon clearly written and agreed upon benchmarks for success. These objectives must contain hard numbers for measuring the success of the new media tool. Is the proposed blog designed to increase visits by 10% over a year or is it about increasing brand affinity by 20% over three years? Just what is the brand team after?

These very specific goals are the only way to measure the usefulness and success of the new media tools now available to marketers and advertisers. In the new media world, accountability is a primary driver.

These new media tools can be great fun for marketers to implement, but they are not toys. Ultimately, they are meant to drive business and grow brands.