If you want great marketing that creates exciting bottom-line growth, then it means doing something about it.  I mean really doing something about it.  It means standing out from your competition.

Many companies say they want to stand out, but when it comes time to step up and do great marketing they wimp out and settle for middle of the road marketing.  Why do they cop out, and will you go the distance?

First, let’s review the basics.  You must give your target consumers reasons to prefer your product or service over that of your competitors.  By its very definition, that means you need to differentiate yourself in meaningful ways.  Create differentiation and preference or die.

The companies that are seen as the best marketers intuitively understand this.  At their core, they embrace being unique and standing out.  It is from that stance that the best marketing flows.

Over the years, I’ve found that the companies that are not afraid to stand out are the brands that everyone wants to emulate.  When potential new clients walk into our office, a common refrain is that they want to be like Apple or Zappos or Southwest.

So what gets in the way of companies standing out?  They hold themselves back by not facing these three truths head on:

1. Being different is scary.  It means taking some risks and many business people are afraid of risks.  They don’t want to stick their necks out too far.  Therefore, any great creative concept is often followed by the question, “Can you show me who else did this or a case study where this worked well?”

That’s the death of great marketing.  Zappos didn’t decide to offer a 365 day return policy on all orders and free shipping both ways, or to use its own staffers to create playful videos demonstrating their shoes by asking, “Who else is doing this and were they successful at it?”  They did it exactly for the opposite reason.  Because others weren’t doing it and it would enable them to stand out loudly.

2.  If it were easy, everyone would do it.  Truly standing out requires a commitment of time, money and energy.  Most importantly, it requires ongoing discipline to ensure you stay true to it.   A company has to decide that they are fundamentally going to do things differently, not just put lipstick on the pig.

This often sounds daunting and off-putting to companies, when in reality, maintaining the status quo is usually more risky and damaging to the bottom line.  Not having a clear and differentiated position generally results in having to compete on price as
a commodity brand as opposed to being able to charge a price premium.  It also results in higher marketing spends to “push” your message as it is not carried or accepted organically by your target audience.  And, it leads to low employee morale and higher employee turnover.

The only airline that has been profitable every year over the last 30 years, when most of them have gone in and out of bankruptcy, is Southwest.  They are very clear about who they are and how they are going to stand out.  For example, when every other airline was charging extra for bag fees, Southwest announced very loudly, “Bags Fly Free Here.”

The end result – their CEO announced hundreds of millions in additional revenues as a result of this business decision.  It was a great strategic decision that enabled some fantastic marketing.  Not the other way around.

3.  Too much process and internal politics kill brands.  Today, so many companies have gotten stuck in group think and never-ending processes.  These processes and hierarchies have been put in place to protect the company.  However, most of the time what we see is that they interfere with timely and clear decision making.  All too often, the end result is overly processed and dumbed down concepts or inaction and stagnation.

Great marketing requires clear-headed and visionary decision making.  It requires leadership and decisive action.

Imagine if Apple put every new product concept, innovation or big idea through group think and long-winded internal processes.   It would suck the life out of the brand and no one would be waiting in line with anticipation for Apple’s next product release.

You’ve often heard that “fortune favors the bold.”  In the world of marketing, fortune favors those who are willing to stand out.

As the New Year approaches, let’s clear out the biggest marketing myth, so we can make way for great marketing in 2012. 

The Myth:  Having great external advertising and marketing programs is the number one way to build your business.

WRONG!  This is, and always should be your second priority. The first priority is to have a clearly articulated brand that spells out for all your employees how you are different from your competitors. 

Your employees are the most important marketing vehicle you have today, and they are also the most overlooked and ignored marketing asset.  Focus on them first and make sure they are well prepared to serve as your brand ambassadors. 

Great brand companies like Zappos, Southwest and Starbucks understand this.  They invest first in ensuring that all of their employees understand what their company stands for and then empower them to live their brand.  They understand that having their employees interact in a consistent and brand-centric way that is different from their competitors is far more important than any slogan or advertising campaign they could ever create.  They understand that internal marketing should always lead to great external marketing, not vice versa.

So where should you focus your energies in 2012? 

First, ensure that you have a clearly articulated and understood Brand DNA — the emotional connection you want to make with your target audience — and that everyone in your organization understands it and lives it.  Your Brand DNA should have clearly stated Brand Values (usually around five to seven) that help your employees understand how you expect them to behave in every situation, and how they can play an active and important role in creating the type of company you all want. 

It is crucial that your Brand DNA and your Brand Values be as highly unique as possible in your industry.  Equally important is that they be emotionally relevant to your target audience.  Great brands want to stand out and be recognized as being distinct from their competitors in some meaningful way, and they want to connect emotionally with their target audience.   

It is important to note here that a well created Brand DNA does not ask an organization to fundamentally change who or what it is.  Rather it looks to distill and clarify the very best of what already resides in and has historically been a part of that organization’s DNA.  We often refer to it as going into the mine and finding the beautiful rough diamond that has always been in there.  Now it just needs to be laser cut and polished to a high shine so that it can be shared with everyone.

Once you have clarified and finalized your Brand DNA and Brand Values with your senior management, then it is vital that this information be shared with all of your team members in a useful way.  We often refer to this as a Brand Roll-Out.  A successful brand roll-out creates tremendous excitement for employees because it gives them the clarity and direction they often are craving.  It is then up to the organization to put systems in place to ensure that “living the brand” is reinforced and rewarded every day.

Understanding how to create a highly unique and relevant positioning for an organization and ensuring that the Brand Roll-Out is a big success often requires the help of outside expertise and counsel.  It also often requires doing some research to understand how you compare to your competition and how you are currently perceived by your key stakeholders. 

Start the new year off right. Get clarity of your brand DNA and empower your most important marketing asset — your internal team.  You will build a more powerful brand, become a preferred place to work and make more money.  That sounds like a good year!

Three months ago, the idea of working in an agency was completely new to me. I didn’t know much about agency life, beyond what I had researched or heard from my peers, but I knew it was a place where I wanted to get my feet wet in marketing. Looking back on the few months I’ve been here as an intern at Warschawski, I now know there’s no way I could have understood what it was like to work at an agency. As the saying goes, some things only come with experience. So with this blog post, I hope to give all those aspiring marketing and PR folks out there a little insight as to what this highly creative and fast-paced world is all about.

The 411

Everything I had expected and heard about agency life was, for the most part, pretty dead on. But it’s one thing to hear about it and a completely other thing to experience it. Simply seeing the inner workings of an agency first-hand is valuable in and of itself. Not only do you learn about different strategies used in the industry, from writing to research to media relations to brainstorming, but you get to watch how it all happens. Sitting in on meetings, client and conference calls, attending events, and participating in new business outreach gives you a front row seat to all the action. Looking back, however, there were a couple key skills I learned working in an agency that I know will help me wherever I go.

Communicate Well:  This industry, like most others, requires solid communication skills. However, few other industries absolutely depend on the ability to communicate well in order to survive. Whether it was a phone call with a media contact or an email sent out to colleagues, there are countless situations that arise in an agency that rely on the accuracy and effectiveness of your communication skills. In most cases, you’re only given one chance to get it right. That can be a lot of pressure, but situations in which you have added responsibility on your shoulders gives you the opportunity to shine.

Be Proactive:  There isn’t one company or firm or organization in the world that doesn’t love to see people take initiative. Agencies are no different. They thrive on passionate, energetic people. As an intern, I was excited to be a part of this environment and learn how things were done. However, interns are notoriously known to be given only a sprinkling of responsibility. But at Warschawski, interning isn’t a spectator sport. Interns are encouraged to seek real hands-on experience and work on a number of different account teams. Proactively getting involved in projects can sometimes open doors to opportunities that once seemed to be closed. Something as simple as sitting in on a client call could lead to being given the responsibility of helping the team do market research and writing up a report on the findings. Or following up with media in creative ways could end in securing a media placement for a client. Now that doesn’t sound so interny, right? So throw out the notion that interns can only do what interns are ‘supposed’ to do – ask questions, take initiative, and you never know what might happen!

A Word (Or Five) to the Wise

While landing your dream internship doesn’t always mean you have to go to the best school or have a whole host of previous internships, there are some things than can help you get there.

• Communicate and Put Yourself Out There – whether you’re sharing ideas in a brainstorming session, speaking with media, or sending an internal email, effective and efficient communication skills are a must in this industry. Find ways to showcase your adeptness in social situations and ability to communicate with a variety of audiences. Unless you’ve spent most of your life hiding under a rock you’re sure to have had at least a few experiences that show you enjoy being around other people and people enjoy being around you. It could be attracting more members to your club, working well with your teammates to win a game, or volunteering at a local YMCA – just show that you’ve sought out social opportunities (appropriate ones, of course) and maneuvered through them skillfully.
• Writing – chances are, in this industry, if you’re not talking to someone, you’re most likely spending your time writing. It’s crucial to communicate your message well in anything you type, from writing office emails to drafting press releases. People reading your writing depend on you to not only convey a message, but to convey it in an accurate and organized way. So whatever you write, make sure it’s crafted carefully and professionally
• Stay Informed – the only thing you can be sure of in this field is that there will be constant evolution. Because of this, it’s helpful, and important, to keep up on currents news, whether it’s the latest development in social media or successful marketing campaign. Mashable, PR Week and AdAge are good places to start
• Research Skills – while almost anyone can enter a search term into Google these days, it’s a skill to be able to identify the most relevant search findings. There’s a reason why some results are listed at the top of the page – they’re the most popular hits. Conclusive research takes some creativity to find the best result
• Enthusiasm – this might go without saying, but be enthusiastic! About what? About whatever interests you! If you like music, blog about music. If you like sports, join a team. If you want to save the planet, get involved in environmental initiatives around your area. You don’t have to be an expert. You just have to have the desire. So whatever it is you love to do, go after it!

Eleana Collins completed her term as an Assistant Associate in the Warschawski internship program during the summer of 2011. She was so successful that she earned herself a full-time position with the agency. If you know of another bright, talented college grad looking for a great opportunity to break into the business, send them to us! Info on our program is available here.

Facebook recently paid $8.5 Million for the fb.com URL. This transaction, along with the fact that the most powerful brands of the day have made up names like YouTube and Google tell you something important has changed in the strategic art of naming and branding your organization, product or service offering.

You may never have thought about the value of a name, but a truly unique, ownable and easy to use name has tremendous value. Even more importantly, it has tremendous potential for expansion and future value creation.

However, the flip position is incredibly dangerous. A poorly vetted or chosen name can mean lawsuits, trademark issues, inability to stand out in online searches, and intrinsic limits on the potential for expansion into new service offerings or geographic regions.

So What are the Basics?
Naming is a mixture of art and science. This includes having a robust creative process that is balanced by smart due diligence and the legal vetting of name options.

The process we usually undertake when creating a new brand name for a client follows a specific order. First we hold a number of brainstorms to come up with as many possible names that can express a key element of the company’s brand essence or what makes it stand out from its competitors. We explore names in different categories: Literal (e.g. Bank of America), Emotive (e.g. Huggies), Made-up (e.g. Zappos) and Representative (e.g. Under Armour).

Then we vet all of the selected possible names by running them through the following criteria:

Perceptual Ownership
Selecting a name with weak ownership ability is like building a beautiful house in a horrible neighborhood. It’s a very poor idea and an even worse investment.

Some sample questions you should ask yourself to ensure a strong perceived ownership of the name are: Are there any reasonably easy and intuitive URL addresses that I can own around the name I want? How common is the name overall and how common are similar sounding names in that usage category? Will people confuse my name with others’ and might their negative reputation hurt me?

Usability
Your new name must be easy to use and memorable. Put yourself in your potential customers’ shoes. If they are confused by your name or can’t easily remember it, you are doomed to spend extra money building your brand, and you will lose customers.

You also must ensure there are no negative associations with the name and that your audiences feel comfortable saying and using the name. This means both your current vertical and geographic customers, as well as your expected future customers.

A common mistake here is to begin by using a name such as Mike’s Pizza. If you ever plan to expand outside of selling pizzas, say to full-service restaurants, then you will more than likely have to change your name, as your originally literal name has now limited your growth potential. By contrast, a name like Twitter or Zappos allows the brands to fairly easily expand their offerings without having to change their names.

Legal Ownership
Once we’ve narrowed down our list of possible names, we work with the client to pick our final three name choices in order of priority. We then conduct a legal trademark search to determine whether or not any other entity has the rights to use the name for the specific category usage desired, say apparel. If the name comes back as having no conflicts, then we file for a trademark registration in the specific usage categories we’d like.

Sadly, this fairly simple step is often completely ignored and we find many companies that are in conflict both perceptually and/or legally with other pre-existing companies, products or services. This scenario is often a ticking time-bomb.

In today’s hyper competitive market to stand out, the value of a name can’t be underestimated. Get it wrong and you can be sitting on a land mine. Get it right and you can be sitting on a gold mine.

Has social media fundamentally changed the marketing communications world?

A little.  But not really.  Let me explain — It's like when Charlton Heston played Moses.  I'll get back to that later.

You’ve probably heard some of the startling statistics like:

• As of 2010 Generation Y outnumbered Baby Boomers… and 96% of them have joined a social network
• Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
• If Facebook were a country, its population would be the third largest in the world – ahead of the U.S. and behind only China and India

This compelling data seems to be clear evidence of a revolutionary change.  But as marketers, we have an obligation to maintain a proper perspective and look at the big picture.   A healthy dose of social media pragmatism reveals the following:

• Traditional media, including TV, radio and newspapers are still the first news source for 73% of Americans.  In fact, 74% of Americans still read a print or online edition of a newspaper
• 95% of news stories with fresh information come from "traditional media," and the vast majority of that from newspapers — suggesting that overwhelmingly traditional media breaks news and has credibility, while new media spreads and amplifies these stories
• As social media becomes more prevalent, consumers are less likely to trust their peers as sources of information.  According to Edelman's latest Trust Barometer, the number of people who view their friends and peers as credible sources of information about a company dropped by almost half, from 45% to 25%, since 2008.

There seems to be conflicting data that negates some of the social media hype.  So who's got it right?  Has social media fundamentally altered the marcom profession and how we do business today or not?  I recommend that we return to some fundamental truths to ensure we get the right answer.

First, let's remember the basic tenets of marketing communications.  We engage in marcom efforts to achieve four basic goals:

• Build Relationships
• Influence
• Persuade
• Move to Action

These principles have not changed.  What has changed are the channels through which we as professional marketers can communicate. 

When Charlton Heston played Moses on film it didn't change the underlying story and that story's appeal to so many people.  The medium for reaching the target audience was all that changed.  For many it changed how they could interact with the story and made it more accessible. 

Just like when TV or email was introduced, we had another vehicle for reaching our target audience and empowering others to do so on our behalf.  However, the underlying philosophy of what we were trying to accomplish and what made for a good story didn't fundamentally change.

The evolution, not revolution, we’re witnessing today is all about how to best reach and connect with a specific target audience.  Thanks in part to the emergence of social media, we have more ways of reaching that target audience than ever before.  But we shouldn’t abandon our core beliefs just because we are given the gift of another communications channel.  

To Warschawski, that means having clarity of business goals and never losing sight of brand — the heart and soul of every successful marketing effort.  Brand is the fundamental emotional experience you want your target audience to have every time they come into contact with your company, product or service.  Clarity of brand, coupled with defined business goals and identified priority target audiences is the best way to determine which communications methods are going to be most effective.   

When it comes to developing award-winning strategies for our clients, we consider ourselves “tactic agnostic.”  That is, we aren’t married to any one communications vehicle or method.    We will espouse the medium or mediums that can best convey brand to the core target audience and move them to take a desired action.  Often, and ideally, this involves a number of different tactics working in concert, including social media, to get the optimum result. 

So what would Moses say about social media?  I'll channel my best Charlton Heston voice to share what we think Moses would have said.

Lest you become a disciple of a more narrow-minded school of thought that overly focuses on social media, I offer the following 15 Commandments of Social Media as a (tongue-in-cheek) guide for staying on the righteous path.

The 15 Commandments of Social Media Marketing

1. Thou shall confirm a clearly articulated & agreed upon brand, including clarity of target audiences in order of priority.
2. Thou shall have agreed upon business goals before creating social media campaigns – so is the law.
3. Thou shall first empower your internal audience to live thy brand & be thy brand ambassadors.
4. Thou shall create brand centric social media campaigns that emotionally connect to your core target audience, or thou shall perish in the wilderness.
5. Thou shall always be authentic, credible and transparent.
6. Thou shalt not confuse a communications vehicle or tactic with a marketing strategy upon risk of stoning.
7. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s strategy – a good strategy or tactic for thy neighbor does not mean thou should do it as well.
8. Thou shalt not confuse media buzz, numbers of friends & likes with building thy brand and achieving thy business goals.
9. Thou shalt not indulge in random acts of social media – ensure thou do it consistently & well by following a strategic, goal-oriented plan.
10. Thou shall not try to create the next viral video – the odds of favor being bestowed upon thee are exceedingly poor. 
11. Thou shall create “hub and spoke” integrated campaigns – a big strategic idea that employs multiple marcom disciplines will make you strong & mighty among the nations.
12. Thou shall appoint a dedicated and highly competent hi-tech priest or priestess to oversee, run, monitor, measure & always improve it.
13. Thou shall empower thy target audience to do the work for thee – grant them the tools to take things into social media for thee, for this shall imbue credibility upon thee. 
14. Thou shall strive for engagement and interactivity – merely posting or pushing out information is an abomination.
15. Thou shall make peace with letting go of ultimate control of your brand.  For if you cannot, then do not tarry in this land.
     

Go Ravens!

I’m delighted to share with you six highlights of what has been a very exciting and successful first half of 2011 for Warschawski.

1. For the 5th straight year, Warschawski was named a finalist for the National Small Agency Of The Year award. We have won this top honor for 7 of the past 10 years. Warschawski was recognized for the creativity of its integrated marketing campaigns, its strong level of client growth and retention and the company’s exceptional workplace culture. We are honored to be among five other outstanding finalists whose agencies range in location from Chicago to LA to Denver. The winner will be announced on September 14, 2011 in New York City at the Grand Hyatt. Wish us luck! (read more)

2. For the 10th straight year, Warschawski was ranked among the top 30 “Best Agencies to Work For” in the country and among the top 10 “Best Small Agencies to Work For.” Warschawski was the only Maryland-based firm to be named to the top 30 best firms to work for list. More than 6,000 employees throughout the United States were asked to answer questions regarding all aspects of their agency’s culture, including topics such as quality of management, compensation, commitment to client service, ethics and values. (read more)

3. We have reinvigorated and centralized all of our social media platforms under The W Agency moniker. I invite you to “like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. We’ve also launched a new W blog to centralize all of our team’s commentary pieces. I welcome your participation through any of these channels.

4. We have enjoyed many new client wins ranging from Pixelligent, a cutting edge nano-technology company, to CustomInk, one of the leading online custom design and printing t-shirt companies, to the Baltimore Collegetown Network, a consortium of 14 colleges, which includes 120,000 students, $17.2 billion in economic activity and more than 60,000 employees.

5. We have seen great growth in our digital and interactive team and in our capabilities to provide our clients with top-notch social media, web design and back-end programming. Most recently, we’ve added a Director of Integrated Marcom, who launched and ran two successful businesses before joining our team, and a Senior Associate overseeing Social Media, who has a fantastic background as a magazine editor and a highly experienced social media pro.

Their additions round out a very talented senior creative team with a great depth of experience in everything ranging from web, mobile, and custom CMS site design to highly complex back-end driven database websites and sophisticated application specific programming.

6. Our expertise over the last couple of months has continued to be in demand, and we’ve been fortunate to have many different venues for sharing it with folks. I and other Warschawski team members have had the pleasure of speaking at major conferences such as the National Sports Forum (read more + see pictures), the American Marketing Association (read more + see pictures) and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) on topics ranging from Social Media and New Media to Integrated Marketing and Brand Building.

I want to personally thank each of you for your continued friendship and support. The growth and success that we have experienced, especially during a difficult economic period, would not have been possible without it. As always, it is a pleasure to hear from you — so please continue to stay in touch.

Warm regards,
David

I once saw a t-shirt in New Orleans that read: “It’s Not the Heat. It’s the Stupidity.” Granted, decision-making becomes a challenge for many people on Bourbon Street regardless of barometer readings. But there’s just something about being HOT (in a “code red” air quality way, not a Jennifer Aniston way) that makes people a little nutty.

So it’s no surprise that triple-digit temperatures and rolling blackouts for three straight weeks here in Charm City had people on edge. Of particular note: the consumer backlash over Baltimore Gas & Electric’s voluntary PeakRewards Program. For the first time in four years, BGE started “cycling” off people’s A/C in an effort to conserve energy during peak usage times—and had trouble restoring thermostats quickly. Let’s just say, it was a hot mess.

By the time I experienced my second power outage in a week, I was one surly social media maven. This made me wonder: “What are customers writing on BGE’s Facebook wall right now?” I expected it to be U-G-L-Y.  And it was…

There was talk of babies crying in sweltering homes, consumers who felt they’d been tricked into PeakRewards, and rants about how BGE’s hold time had skyrocketed to more than 20 minutes. A few customers even started razzing each other about whose situation was worse (“Your house is only 92 degrees? What a wuss!”) and blaming “grid hogs” for using too much electricity.

But I need to give BGE kudos for its social media reaction.

1. They responded to every comment personally
2. They attempted to resolve issues right on Facebook (for example, removing individuals from PeakRewards on the spot)
3. They used multiple communication channels, including this “Thank You to PeakRewards Customers” blog post where they promised to reconsider how the program works
4. Most importantly, they kept a positive, solution-focused tone the whole time. Translation: even though consumers lost sight of their original motives (like saving dough and reducing their carbon footprint) BGE’s social media manager resisted the urge to say things like “You signed up for this program, people!” or “What did you think it was gonna feel like when we turned off your A/C in July?”

FANDAMONIUM

Unfortunately, not many people witnessed this mega-hot social media action. BGE’s Facebook page has only 1,205 fans—possibly because it’s hard to find. The page name “MyBGE” (one word) doesn’t come up in Facebook searches for BGE or Baltimore Gas and Electric. (I found it by going to the BGE website, then clicking the Facebook icon.)

Also, BGE’s pre-crisis Facebook content was less than compelling. Occasional links to articles on energy conservation or sunscreen don’t make for an exciting Facebook experience. If BGE had spent more time cultivating favor with fans beforehand, they might have preempted some of the negativity or even rallied a few cheerleaders.

The big lesson here: Consider social media an ongoing dialogue that deepens your relationship with current customers—and helps you woo new ones. Don’t just wait for the proverbial “stuff” to hit the fan.

HOT TIPS

Try these 7 strategies for conducting killer customer service via social media.

Be a Commitment-Phobe. No social is better than bad social. Social media creates both opportunities and risks, so it’s essential to have the right human being at the helm. Ideally, that’s a dedicated professional who is fully trained on your products, policies and procedures—and someone who is mature enough to manage conversations without much supervision. Social media is not the intern’s job. If you’re not ready to devote the appropriate time and resources, don’t go there.

The Fast & The Furious. Ever text your sweetie only to get annoyed by the lack of a timely response? Social media is like dating: your customers want instant gratification—and to feel loved. AT&T is renowned for responding to customer comments in under 15 minutes. Xbox averages 3 or 4 minutes. Granted, your company may not have the resources for a 15-person Tweet Fleet, but you can certainly check your social media sites several times a day, including weekends.

There is No Magic Curtain. When you reply to consumer comments, do so with authority. You are the all-powerful Wizard of Oz. You know everything. Do not tell folks you’re “passing along” their comments—even if that’s true. It’s important for customers to feel they’re developing a direct and impactful relationship with your brand. Be sure your social media manager has both the understanding and “muscle” to help resolve issues online and respond definitively to fans’ questions and suggestions.

Make Nice. Your fans like you. Do you like them back? Responding to positive comments is equally as important as responding to negative ones. Use people’s names. Say thank you. Ask fun questions. “Like” or re-tweet comments. Aim to be as personable and specific as possible, so it doesn’t feel like an autobot is doing the heavy lifting. For example, if a customer says he just bought a pair of your shoes for a big interview, be sure to wish him good luck—and ask him to comment back when he gets the gig. (Two words: return customer.)

Let’s Take It Outside. Deleting negative feedback is generally a no-no unless someone uses offensive language, posts obsessively or makes inappropriate comments about another fan. Barring those examples, use unflattering comments as a tangible opportunity to turn around one person’s bad experience—and create a public track record of your company’s professional, caring attitude.

Listen Up. Social media isn’t just an opportunity to make customers feel better. It’s a way to gauge how well your company is performing. If the “higher ups” don’t check comments regularly, consider asking your marketing guru to prepare a monthly trend report on what your customers are saying online, then use that information to improve your products and services over time.

Follow the Big Dogs. Sniffing around for social media role models? Be sure to follow Zappos, Boingo, TOMS, and other top brands that play nicely with others. Surprisingly uninspiring: Southwest Airlines (whom I adore for other reasons) doesn’t regularly reply to Facebook comments—and, when they do, it’s often to say they’ll be sending a private email to the user. A word to the wise: customer service has become a spectator sport. Let people watch.

Many brand marketers spend a good deal of time and money in the pursuit of Facebook fans.  A company’s number of fans has become shorthand for brand power and prestige in the fast-shifting realm of social media. However – just as in the “real world,” the number of friends you have counts less than the quality of your relationships. Accumulating fans should never be the end goal.

The true metrics of success are the actions your fans take in support of your larger organizational objectives. Brands that invest in building strong relationships with Facebook fans – and inspiring them to take action not just once, but over time, will come out ahead in an increasingly social marketplace.

Here’s a look at three strategies for going beyond “likes”:

Make Selling Social

Gift cards are big business for many retailers – but typically, the transaction stays between the company, the giver, and the receiver. Starbucks has taken its gift cards social, with the ability to gift friends on their Facebook walls. Now all of your friends can see that Frappucchino ® you just gave to your sister, or that free coffee that stands out among the string of “happy birthdays!” on a college buddy’s wall.

French Connection has made selling social in a way that resonates with its fashionista followers, by routinely posting “real world” and celebrity shots of its clothing – with links to buy directly from its Facebook page. Followers can – and do – weigh in on the images, and immediately act on buying impulses. The brand is one of the first to tie commerce directly to Facebook- but expect to see more companies going in that direction.

Think Beyond Money

For some brands, using Facebook to sell isn’t the best or only option. This applies to both for-profit brands, as well as nonprofit organizations – where asking for money online is ubiquitous. Consider ONE, an anti-poverty nonprofit that leads its Facebook presence with the message, “We’re not asking for your money, we’re asking for your voice.”

Refreshing. And effective. ONE routinely activates its fan base to sign petitions and to spread information about global poverty and the people affected. They embrace the social medium to post short videos, pics, relevant stories, and more.

For-profit companies can think beyond the sell, too. Even if there are opportunities for sales, a brand’s “fans” can provide candid feedback on new products, pass coupons to friends, contribute ideas, and more.

Friendship is a Two-Way Street:

Oreo is consistently named one of Facebook’s top brands. Oreo keeps its page fresh with coupons, promotions, and interactive games.  One of the most effective elements may be the “world’s fan of the week” photo.  In addition to showcasing happy fans enjoying Oreo products, imagine the incentive this gives featured fans to share the site with their friends. They’re not only giving coupons – they are giving fans a unique experience and a moment of Facebook fame. 

This brings me to my final point: if a brand wants to reap the benefits of Facebook friends, it needs to be a good friend to its followers. The basics: respond to comments – even ones that may be less-than-positive. Keep the site clear of inappropriate content so that fans have a positive experience. Demonstrate that you’re interested in more than making a sale. After all, you’re asking for more than money – you’re asking for friendship.

What brands do you see succeeding or failing on Facebook?

When it comes to communicating your brand online, if you aren't giving technology a seat at the table at the start of the creative process you may be undermining the entire endeavor.  Who you want to reach and where and when you want to reach them is increasingly a matter of focusing on the types of technology your target audiences are likely to be using, then designing your campaigns accordingly.  It may seem the inverse of the traditional process, in which “creatives” came up with initiatives and handed them over to the "geeks" to execute; but failing to reorient your approach could mean that your message doesn't just fall on deaf ears, but rather that it never gets heard at all.

Eye Candy vs. iPad

In 1996 Macromedia introduced Flash, a program that gave web designers unprecedented ability to create highly interactive websites incorporating animation, stunning graphics and a completely designer dictated environment.  The days of being forced to use a “web safe” font — one of a small number known to be installed on virtually every computer and therefore guaranteed to look the same way to all users — were over; or so many designers thought.

Flash allowed luxury brands like Prada, Moet & Chandon and Cartier to extend their traditional print aesthetics to the web, creating visually rich sites that would enforce their brand online.  Unfortunately, the three now have something in common besides affluent customers; websites that don't work on Apple iPhones and iPads. Apple has chosen not to support Flash for its phones and tablets claiming that it uses too much processing power — and thus battery life — to be practical.  Conversely, statistics show 99% of all computer web browsers are Flash-enabled.  If you're on a computer — even a Mac — you probably can access any of the three sites mentioned without a problem.   For luxury brands, which put a premium on image and appearance, it might seem worth the tradeoff: a "prettier" site that’s more in keeping with their traditional look and feel versus some people on portable devices not having access.  But with 25 million iPads and 100 million iPhones sold worldwide, the number of people who aren't being exposed to these brands on their mobile devices is significant.  More importantly, a survey by Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty that found that 94% of iPad users are affluent consumers with solid wealth and strong incomes.  In other words, these three companies aren't just missing an opportunity to reach 25 million iPad  users; they're missing an opportunity to reach 25 million people who are more likely than average to be receptive to their brand messaging and to drive business

Transforming Your Approach

For an example of the right way to do things, look at this week's release of one of the summer's more highly anticipated “popcorn” flicks, Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon.  Skewed heavily towards young males who are likely to be video game players and technophiles, the studio is promoting the movie with a slick Flash website (www.transformersmovie.com) that seeks to mimic the visual atmosphere of the film.  But while the sites for prior entries in the trilogy focused more heavily on creating interaction with users, this one sticks to video clips and a few image downloads.  This time, the big marketing push is an app for iPhones and iPads that allows users to interact with a special movie poster and play an augmented reality game with score sharing via Facebook.  The app can't reach as large a potential audience as an online game on the movie site might have, but it is far more likely to reach the right audience.  Using Facebook to help spread awareness of the app and the movie via score sharing converts those people who have the strongest connection to the franchise —  they’ve opted in to the marketing by downloading the app — into authentic brand ambassadors; they don’t feel they are overtly promoting a product, they're simply playing a cool game and bragging about their scores to their friends.

The team behind Transformers focused their energies and resources where they were likely to have the greatest impact by first looking at what sorts of technology the most ardent fans of the film series are likely to be using, then crafting a campaign that leveraged those technologies.

A Game Changer

Consider the long time holy grail of brand platforms, the Super Bowl half time spot. Consistently delivering the single largest TV audience of the year, the traditional approach has held that creating a memorable ad — something funny, poignant, unexpected — would create instant brand awareness and, in recent years, hopefully then drive people to a website to find out more. The GoDaddy Girls campaigns are just one successful example, creating massive spikes in the number of website visitors for the domain name registrar each time they aired.

But technology has evolved and so have viewing habits.  A recent Yahoo! survey found that 86% of TV viewers use their mobile devices while they watch.  And companies like Shazam (www.shazam.com) are providing new ways to integrate what those viewers are seeing on the TV screen with what's on the "second" screen in their hand. Major brands from Starbucks to Honda will now be incorporating "Shazamable moments" into their ad campaigns.  Never heard of Shazam? Chances are your tech team has and that's why you need them involved in the creative process from the get-go.

Evolve or Become Extinct

The shift from treating technology as part of the execution phase of your marketing and branding efforts to part of the creative phase is a subtle one to be sure, but it is an extremely significant one.  The technological "how do we actually do this" part of your team needs to not simply execute something that others have decided, but be a key part in creating that strategy in the first place.  Otherwise, you may be missing the opportunity to deliver your brand messages most effectively to the target audience who is likely to respond.   

I am Miracle Whip.  I prefer the tangy, zippy taste of the so-called “salad dressing” to boring old mayo.  Why do I know this?  I am consciously aware of my Miracle Whip-edness because the smart marketing folks at Kraft recently decided to actively confront me with the choice.  Do I love the brand, or do I hate it? 

Why would any brand acknowledge that it has haters, let alone provide a forum for those haters to publicly proclaim their distaste?  Doesn’t that defy the rules of good marketing?  Quite simply – no.   In fact, a well conceived and executed campaign that invites people to “diss” your brand, can succeed in galvanizing your target audiences and attracting new enthusiasts.   From what I see, Miracle Whip is doing it right – and I suspect they will see the business result to prove it.

Miracle Whip began shaking things up in its 2009 marketing effort, which proclaimed “We are Miracle Whip and we will not tone it down.”  The clever, primarily advertising-driven, campaign drew attention from the likes of Stephen Colbert, who poked fun at the effort to make Miracle Whip “hip.”  Not to be bullied, the marketing team at Miracle Whip “zinged” Colbert back with an open letter that’s an outstanding example of a brand-centric response to a public relations opportunity.

Building on this earlier success, the current Kraft “Are you Miracle Whip?” campaign is inviting lovers and haters alike to take sides.  A simple breakdown of what Kraft is doing right with this campaign creates good rules for a “diss my brand” marketing approach:

Clarity of Brand
The most important component of a successful marketing campaign, brand is the emotional connection you seek to make with your target audiences.  How do you make a condiment emotional?  By equating the qualities of the product itself – which has an unusual, bold, “zippy” taste – with the type of people who prefer it, Kraft’s communications create an emotional appeal to declaring brand loyalty.  Like your sandwiches traditional and boring?  You’re “so mayo.”  But if you want to “stand up to bland,” you must be a Miracle Whip-per.  Copy introducing the YouTube poll likens your first taste of Miracle Whip to the first time you went sky-diving – because if you’re Miracle Whip, one can assume you’ve been skydiving more than once!

Clarity of Target Audience
When Warschawski speaks on brand, and facilitates corporate branding exercises, we often like to poll the room.  We’ll choose a hugely successful brand and survey our audience, asking by show of hands who loves the brand, who hates the brand and who is indifferent to the brand.  Inevitably, the strongest brands elicit a mixed bag of responses.  How is that possible?  Southwest Airlines is the only airline to be consistently profitable for decades, and yet there are people who actively avoid flying Southwest.  Starbucks was the ultimate coffee purveyor for years, but some people refuse to step foot in one. 

The reason is simple:  a truly great brand has to take an emotional stand, and that position is not going to resonate with everyone.   If you’re doing it right, a brand will elicit a gut-level reaction – even a negative one.   What’s important is not losing focus on the people to whom your emotional appeal is powerful and resonant.   And, if you play the brand game really well, you’ll work to win over those who are indifferent and put them firmly in the brand loyalist camp.  The haters?  Let them hate.  Their ire impassions your true target audience to defend you, and solidifies their commitment to your brand.

The Miracle Whip campaign openly states “we’re not for everyone,” and subtly implies that if you’re a rebel who hasn’t given much thought to your sandwich spread, you should probably get on the Miracle Whip bandwagon. 

Execution / Call to Action
The “Are you Miracle Whip?” campaign takes an integrated approach to communications.  While it incorporates traditional advertising, the campaign has grassroots and social media elements that allow consumers to participate and engage in a dialogue with the brand. 

Who hasn’t seen a poll of some kind on his or her Facebook page in the last week?  The Miracle Whip effort capitalizes on the poll trend and the natural desire for people to share their opinions with others.  Through Facebook and You Tube, Miracle Whip invites people to share their pro- or anti- product testimonials.  Even traditional television advertising features testimonials from some high profile Americans, like James Carville and Pauly D of Jersey Shore, fame boldly declaring their love or disgust.   By demanding that Americans assert a position on the issue of Miracle Whip vs. mayo, Kraft effectively puts a rather mundane product top-of-mind.  More importantly, it generates curiosity among those who live in the indifferent middle. 

For those people, Kraft offers free samples.  In addition to offering samples via all of its internet portals, Kraft has deployed street teams to conduct “like it or hate it?” taste tests designed to showcase the product in new ways (Miracle Whip on a hot dog?) and to attract new audiences to the brand.  If the Miracle Whip brand position is powerful enough, the results of those taste tests will be more about which of those people think of themselves as bold, rebellious and saucy than about the actual taste of the product.  

The campaign is clearly designed with a business result in mind – to increase sales of Miracle Whip by reinforcing its appeal among its core target audiences, and to attract new consumers to the Miracle Whip inner circle.

Honesty and Transparency
Finally, the “diss my brand” campaign wins on the level of transparency.  As consumers meet traditional advertising with greater and greater skepticism, a company that is perceived to go “out on a limb” to be honest earns much-desired credibility. 

Acknowledging the perceived flaws of its product worked for Domino’s Pizza, who publicly admitted to inferior quality in its daring “Oh Yes We Did” campaign to revamp its product. Disappointed consumers were willing to try the “new Domino’s” and company’s stock recently hit a 52-week high.    In what may have served as the inspiration for the Miracle Whip campaign, the British spread Marmite and parent company Unilever launched a love it or hate it campaign in 2007.  The effort resulted in steady growth for the previously stagnant brand – sales increased 5% each year for five years from the launch of the campaign. 

The latest Miracle Whip campaign is attracting a lot of attention from marketing trade, business and mainstream press – a telltale side-effect of a well-crafted marketing effort.  Much of the coverage raises the specter of the “risk” Kraft is taking with the campaign.  While it’s a kneejerk reaction to assume a “diss my brand” approach is a risky strategy, closer examination reveals the risk is minimal.  Haters were never part of Miracle Whip’s target audience – they’re not going to help grow the brand.   The potential upside, however, is tremendous.   If executed well and with clarity of brand, business goals and target audience, a “diss my brand” campaign will remind brand loyalists why they’re fans and increase mindshare for the product.  Perhaps most importantly, the effort will make those who haven’t given the product a lot of thought sit up, take notice and choose a camp.  That’s not risky – that’s bold.  In fact, it’s downright Miracle Whip-pish.