Pittsburgh Social Media Marketing Buzz #9

Welcome to Pittsburgh's Social Media Marketing Buzz, keeping tabs on the social media activities going on in and around the 'burgh. Issue 9 takes a look at cat celebrities and a survey with direct implications on social media.

MEOW Updates An Old TV Trick

With video exploding on the web, Del Monte has taken their campaign to TV, using a method that has successful roots in the past. Meow Mix brand cat food is sponsoring a branded TV game show on Animal Planet in the fall.

Branded entertainment was very popular on TV in its infancy with Your Product Here Hours. The networks used this to gain more content and offset development costs, while the brand got maximum exposure in this new medium.

Meow Mix branded entertainment seeks to find and showcase the talents of cats and likely their owners from around the nation.

Though it is starting in a traditional manner, a logical extension to the web is plausible. Stay tuned.

Are You in This Boat?

You may be feeling uneasy about adapting new media as part of your marketing programs. Sure, the stats show us that traditional marketing is declining and new media is growing. However, we know that there is still uneasiness over a customer base that is empowered and a communications explosion.

A recent study of CMOs shows that you are not alone.

The following information was reported by Ted Mininni in his blog.

Marketing Daily recently conducted an interview with The CMO Council’s Donovan Neale-May, who divulged some starting information. It appears that in a survey conducted by The CMO Council and the Boston Consulting Group of 1000 senior marketing execs, only 6% of respondents felt that their “go to market” capabilities were “very good.”

The opening paragraph shocked Mininni - “Marketers are not taking advantage of all-or even many-of the tools available to them to create effective sales and marketing platforms. What’s more, they know it-and they’re not doing much about it.”

The study and article disclosed that “despite their acknowledged deficiencies, the majority of executives are unwilling to stray outside of their comfort zone.”

* 66% of respondents reported that they remain focused on traditional marketing, branding and promotional communications.
* Only 26% reported making inroads in better understanding their consumer targets was a priority.
* Only 14% cited retail and service execution was a priority.

Neale-May observed that the “same old” proven marketing strategies might be effective, it’s also important to embrace “innovative new approaches.”

Many of the marketers surveyed recognized a need for the following:
* 52% are modifying sales and marketing strategies for better results.
* 32% need to hire new talent.
* Yet these two areas are not a fiscal priority-58% cited these two initiatives would have to be financed from current budgets.

The survey found that a healthy 48% of executives surveyed stated they had “insufficient resources as a barrier to implementing successful programs”.

48% said they had “talent issues” and 35% cited “a gap between current and desired capabilities.”

As to the future focus for the marketers surveyed?

* 56% are focused on ‘talent management and performance’-85% reported that they are rating the success of their marketing programs via revenue growth. And 53% reported that customer acquisition and retention were employed as marketing measures.
* 52% are focusing on ‘business strategy’
* Only 14% are focusing on investing in new metrics
* Only 12% are focusing on technology and IT
* Only 20% are focusing on productivity
* Only 10% are focusing on channel development

That is a lot of numbers to digest. The key take away that I see is you are not alone, but that does not mean you should not try. Don’t embrace social media just for social media sake. Take a look at your customers. How have their patterns changed over the last few years.
Do more use text to communicate now? Do they turn to blogs for information? Do they utilize social communities for dating, friendship, or other services? Would they prefer to see your materials in video rather than on paper? Do they turn off prime time television to play video games?

Get a good picture of your customers and begin to think about the best ways to communicate with them. How much budget should be devoted to these new activities? Where are your current programs failing. Can money be diverted from these programs to new programs?
Management may be hesitant towards new media, but one thing remains common from old to new and that is ROI. Devote the time to understand how to measure your programs. Social Media is measurable in many ways. When you can show bottom line improvement, management listens and you as a marketer are rewarded.

Lastly, you are not alone in facing these issues either. There is help out there, including UniversalWit to guide you, educate you, and help you along the way no matter what the budget turns out to be.

Don't forget UniversalWit's Seeker Game is going on now at UniversalWit.com. Weekly drawings for $50 gas cards began on July 4th.

In the next issue:

Working Out The Web

Catch a Viral

The Pittsburgh Social Media Marketing Buzz is a publication of UniversalWit. More information on UniversalWit is available at http://www.universalwit.com/. Submit your new media news to blog@universalwit.com