Marketing

In case you haven’t heard, Mike Jeffries is a jerk. A big one. Robin Lewis was recently quoted claiming Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, “doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people. He doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they’re one of the ‘cool kids’.” So, Jeffries basically wants to hang a sign in front of every Abercrombie & Fitch store that reads: “No Fat Chicks”. Twitter is still aflutter with girls and guys claiming they’ll never, ever, ever shop there. Here’s the thing though: Jeffries is a jerk, but it doesn’t matter. Like, at all. In fact, here are some things that matter more than the fact that Jeffries is a jerk: 1. What you ate for breakfast this morning. 2. How long it will be before Lindsay Lohan gets locked up again. 3. Your high score on Fruit Ninja. If anything, the fact that Jeffries is a jerk is going to do wonders for the brand. Do I think what Jeffries has said in the past about plus size women is offensive? Yes. Do I think he’s overcompensating for some deep-seated high school insecurities? Definitely. Do I think he’s a fantastic marketer? Hell yes. How to Make Sales & Alienate People Here’s a universal truth: As a marketer, you need to know your audience. And Jeffries definitely knows his audience. He wants good looking, skinny, popular people wearing his clothes (in case you missed that the first time). “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive, all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong, and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” ~Mike Jeffries Tell me something I don’t know, Internet. Here are some equally shocking revelations: 1. Chanel is a fashion brand for rich people. 2. Addition Elle is for plus size women. 3. Axe markets primarily to men. The only difference is Chanel, Addition Elle, and Axe don’t come right out and say it. Or, at least not in the polarizing way Jeffries has. What matters is that Jeffries has an opinion. It’s not an opinion everyone agrees with, but it’s one those popular, attractive, skinny teenagers agree with. And that’s his audience. Wake up! He doesn’t care that people who have never shopped at Abercrombie & Fitch are vowing to never, ever, ever shop there. He cares that he’s empowering those popular, attractive, skinny teenagers. He’s focused on the people who belong (and the people who want to belong). Everything else is just free press. Not Everyone Is Going to Like You. Get Over It. This is what all marketers need to be doing. We need to have real opinions (and we can’t apologize for them like Groupon). We need to make statements that will resonate with our audiences… even if they will alienate others (ahem, Chick-Fil-A). Don’t be afraid of the controversy that will arise from having an opinion – it’s worth it. It’s hard to make a brand relatable. Big executives invest millions in marketing teams that can help make their brands relatable to as many audiences as possible. Jeffries is pulling us in a different direction, a better direction. We need to be more like Mike Jeffries (Yeah, I said it). Stop trying to be relatable to everyone. Focus! Work on being relatable to one audience. Skinny people, overweight people, men, women, rich people, poor people, smart people, dumb people, black people, white people – whatever. “Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either.” ~Mike Jeffries If you do it right, you’ll create some controversy. You’ll alienate people. You’ll even piss some people off. You might be slammed by Kirstie Alley. And that’s ok. In fact, it’s a good thing. Because

I don’t do a lot of book reviews here at WUL. For one thing, most business books are dreary reads (yes, I said it), and dreary reads are, for me, slow ones. Which means that the time I spend reading a book to (potentially) give it a review is time I could have spent doing something else… either working on my business, or doing something fun. Opinions do not a critique make The other reason is that I don’t think of myself as a book critic. That may seem a weird thing to say, at a time when most people seem to pride themselves on being some kind of critic (or so you’d think, judging by their Facebook posts), and we’re all being encouraged to post our own reviews of this site, and that site, and this book, and that book… why look, what a democratized world we live in! Our opinions matter! But opinions are one thing, informed critiques are another. At least, in my world they are. This is probably why I don’t get asked to do a lot of book reviews. It’s not that I don’t share my opinion of books, occasionally I do. And today I’m going to do just that. Aren’t you lucky?! Civility in the Digital Age The book in question is Civility in the Digital Age, by Andrea Weckerle. Now, I’ve known Andrea for some years, and consider her a colleague. I’ve been impressed with her commitment to CiviliNation, the nonprofit organization she founded, and a few years ago, she helped out one of my students by offering CiviliNation as a mock “client” for the purpose of my class at Hopkins. All of which is to give you some background into how I know and regard Andrea. So when she and Kami Watson Huyse (on CiviliNation’s Board of Directors) asked me if I would like to read her book, to possibly write a review, I agreed. Therefore, please note that I received a free (digital) copy of the book, but the writing of this post is entirely of my own choosing. When I started reading Civility in the Digital Age, I knew it would take me a while. Not because it was a dreary read – it’s actually not – but because it is very thought-provoking. I still haven’t finished it, but if I don’t get this post out the door soon, I never will. Yea or nay? If you’ve stayed with me this far, you’ve figured out that I’m probably going to tell you that, in my opinion, you should read the book. And you’re right. Now, since I haven’t quite finished reading the book (though I almost have!), I can’t tell you whether all the stories it cites are the best ones at hand, or whether it’s a better piece of work than  other comparable works. I can tell you that it’s an important subject, and you and I have talked about it fairly recently here at WUL. So when someone takes the trouble of writing a book about it, especially someone who is a part of our community, I think the least we can do is read it. Andrea shares the stories of some people I know, as well as those of many I don’t. Some stories are familiar, many others are not. And in my unformed opinion, her training and background in conflict resolution and mediation comes across strongly, as there are several exercises to go through, such as determining your conflict style (and don’t tell me you don’t have one, everyone has one). As I’ve been reading, I’ve noticed that Andrea veers quite a bit into privacy and online reputation management because, of course, if online conflicts are not properly managed, they can affect both of those as well. So while I wouldn’t call this a reputation management handbook, there are some very practical tips to do so. The chapter on legal aspects of online disputes and conflicts is very interesting… and aren’t such legalities on everyone’s mind these days? And while the final chapter of the book will probably take more than 30 days to implement (it’s titled a “30-day Plan

Yahoo’s had a busy week. First, they took over Tumblr and then they redesigned their old photo storage service Flickr. (Or was it the other way around?) Flickr’s an interesting beast. Like many aging websites, there was a time when everyone knew it and used it. But in the last few years, people have slowly migrated their photos over to Facebook or Google+ and Flickr’s been on a downhill slide. In order to renew interest, Yahoo invested in a lovely new design that even made me, the girl with only 35 pictures in her account, come back. The new layout features a grid of big, high-resolution photos under a photo header. They also added a new slideshow option with enhancing software that finds the focal point of your photo and makes it better. The photos look great here because you can upload your pics at full resolution. You also don’t have to worry about running out of space because they’re giving everyone a terabyte of space for free. How much is a terabyte? “Well, you could take a photo every hour for forty years without filling one.” Flickr also added the ability to upload videos up to 3 minutes long and they redesigned their Android app to go along with the new webpage design. Wonderful, right? Of course not. There’s trouble in photo paradise as evidenced by this post from the management on the help forum. Hello again everyone. We’ve made some big, giant changes to the site, and it will take some getting used to. We are listening, and value what you all have to say. We are also committed to making sure the new pages are working properly, and will continue to make improvements as we hear more from you. Please do your part to make sure that people coming to the Forum for help or to report bugs and site issues get a chance to be heard. For those of you who have reported bugs or other usability concerns already, we’ll be working over the following days to take stock of ongoing issues and respond when possible. Finally, it should also go without saying that personal attacks against Staff or other users will not be tolerated, and may prevent your ability to take part in discussion here in the Help Forum. Bugs are to be expected with a big change like this but they have to tell people to stop attacking the staff? Wow. Part of the problem stems from the new pricing structure and, as always, ads. Previously, if you wanted to store a lot of photos, you could get a Pro plan for $24.95 a year. Now, all users can get for free what Pro users paid for only with ads. If you want to get rid of the ads, you have to pay $49.99 a year. The only other option is to upgrade to the Doublr account with 2 Terabytes of space and all it will cost you is $499.99 a year. No, I didn’t slip an extra 9 in there. That’s the price. The feedback on the site contains the word ‘hate’ more times than I can count. There are currently over 15,000 responses and I haven’t seen one positive note in the pack. You expect a certain amount of descent whenever you make a major change to a website but this is insane. If you’re looking for a place to archive your massive digital photo collection – the new free Flickr account is a bargain. Just don’t get too attached to the current look. I have a feeling it will change again very soon. There’s a song from the Lil’ Abner movie that comes to mind, it’s called “Put ‘em Back the Way They Was.”

Laila Takeh is Head of Digital Engagement at UNICEF UK, the children’s charity. She kindly agreed to tell us a little bit about her role. If you’re on the hunt for a new challenge then be sure to check out the hundreds of digital roles on the Econsultancy jobs board. Please describe your job! What does a Head of Digital Engagement do? My role has three main areas; leading the organisation's transformation to be digital first, leading day to day digital strategy and managing the digital team. The team works across disciplines - marketing, social, content and technology - so I can be involved in a wide variety of things across the entire organisation. Whereabouts do you sit within the organisation? Who do you report to? We work in a hub and spoke model, maintaining a depth of digital expertise in the digital hub, but leading and consulting with the whole organisation so they can deliver digital as an integrated part of their work. So we're cross-organisational. In practical terms I report to the Deputy Director of Fundraising. What kind of skills do you need to be effective in your role?  I've always likened the skills set you need to that which a product designer would traditionally have. A broad understanding of technicalities, a focus on the product experience, and a good understanding of what will work in the market - then the ability to design and build to an extent. In a cross-organisational team you also need great communication skills to be able to talk to people at all levels of the organisation who have lots of different types of digital literacy and expectations.  A passion for digital is also helpful! In an area that is changing rapidly, it means keeping up with things isn't a labour… it's a love.  Tell us about a typical working day… Following an initial check of emails we start each day with a 10-minute digital team stand up meeting. We share each of our priorities for the day are and flag things in the pipeline or help needed. From then on, a day can be very different dependent on what we're working on and if there's an emergency. Right now Syria is a real priority as the situation is the highest level of emergency. So at least once a week I'm part of a cross-organisational senior team who review the situation, how our activity is doing and we agree next steps to take back to teams. I can then typically have one or more project meetings with team members and suppliers. Recently we've been working on mobile compatibility across the site so there have been a few meetings with Chameleon, Netcel, Clearleft and others at different stages.  When I'm not in meetings I am usually sat at my desk in the centre of the team, asking the team and others questions, responding to requests for guidance or coming up with strategies for our digital first transformation. In amongst all this I also check regularly on twitter (I'm @spirals) for the latest digital news and trends too! What do you love about your job? What sucks? On a personal level I genuinely love being even just a small part of the amazing impact UNICEF has for children all over the world. Even a 'bad day' isn't that bad when you put it into that context. However, it is hard knowing we're still far from every single child having what they need to survive and reach their full potential. On a purely professional level I love the challenges and variety my role throws at me. Sometimes when you first meet someone they can say 'how nice' it is that you work for charity: that sucks as it feels like they don't really understand that people who work in charity are still professionals, probably with less resources and more complexity! What kind of goals do you have? What are the most useful metrics and KPIs for measuring success?  The ultimate goal is change for children, more children living and reaching their full potential. On a day-to-day level in UNICEF UK's work we measure this in fundraising and advocacy terms. How many people are we engaging in t

_kmq.push(["trackClickOnOutboundLink","link_519caf81f21fb","Article link clicked",{"Title":"","Page":"How the “Disrupted Generation” Responds to Marketing"}]); _kmq.push(["trackClickOnOutboundLink","link_519caf81f232a","Article link clicked",{"Title":"","Page":"How the “Disrupted Generation” Responds to Marketing"}]);In the summer of 2012, as I sat around with my colleagues in our conference room one afternoon, we were jolted by an “aha” moment.  We realized that the coming of age of the newest generation, the iGen (or generation Z) is right now and that there would be another disruption similar, but different, from the one of the past decade. It was time to hustle and really scrutinize this generation, which turned 18 in 2012. So we examined deeper… iGen is a generation born with consumer-driven capitalism at its core and altruism at its heart. Never before has there been a generation so globally plugged in and so informed. We learned that their patterns and behaviors are opposed to anything that has come before them and that they basically ignore messages from brands, unless those brands have earned admittance to their infinite touch points. It is simply in their DNA to listen to their trusted network, rather than controlled messages from brands. We recognized that iGen-ers only care about information if it is relevant to them and, since the power of brand-engagement is in the hands of the consumer, they will serve as their own gatekeepers, awarding relevant information by sharing it with their trusted network of peers and burying irrelevant information so it will be invisible to their peers. This trend is already evident in early studies: 60% of iGen expects relevant advertisements and 46% prefer funny advertisements. We noted that an acceptable bypass into iGen’s circle of trust is to leverage influencers that already have access to iGen’s touch points. These influencers can be anyone from individuals active on social media to just people with a lot of friends or it can also include the professionals in the communication industry. If a brand can ethically earn favor from influencers, then Brian Solis’ one-to-one-to-many process of communication is leveraged. iGen may not listen to brands, but iGen will listen to influencers they trust when they talk about brands. But that trust easily disappears if a voice is perceived as not genuine. iGen-ers do not like to be duped and, if they sniff it out, a brand could find themselves in a full-on public relations crisis. The result of that “aha” moment is my newly launched book, titled Disrupted, From Gen Y to iGen: Communicating with the Next Generation_kmq.push(["trackClickOnOutboundLink","link_519caf81f2548","Article link clicked",{"Title":"Disrupted, From Gen Y to iGen: Communicating with the Next Generation","Page":"How the “Disrupted Generation” Responds to Marketing"}]);. It illuminates strategies and tactics on how brands can navigate this new consumer demographic and avoid pitfalls in doing so. It is a time to brace ourselves — and become very, very smart. About the Stefan Pollack: Follow @stefanpollack Stefan Pollack is president of The Pollack PR Marketing Group, an integrated public relations and marketing firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York. Since 2001, he has taught as an adjunct professor at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Stefan Pollack’s book, “Disrupted, From Gen Y to iGen: Communicating with the Next Generation”. To learn more about “Disrupted” visit, www.disruptedbook.comHow the “Disrupted Generation” Responds to Marketing is a post from: Convince and Convert: Social Media Strategy and Content Marketing Strategy

We get better at our jobs when we have a good sense of how we're doing -- and finding out takes less time than you think

Take a page from Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" when embarking on the B2B company buying journey.

Evergreen content can drive plenty of the right kind of traffic to your website over the long term. It is one of the best returns on your investment into content, as it is a gift that keeps on giving, and should be a key part of your content strategy. In this article I’m going to try to outline the strategic value of evergreen content, to help you understand exactly what makes something long-lasting, and I shall provide a few pointers on what works (and what doesn’t). First, let's answer the question. What is evergreen content? Simply put, it is the kind of content that does not grow old quickly. Think about how to guides, and other reference material. Evergreen content is often useful, and it doesn't need to be updated too often.  Let's start by looking at an example...AN EXAMPLE Here's an article featuring 14 examples of scrolling websites, which I put together more than a year ago. By my reckoning, this makes it 'evergreen'. No leaves have fallen off, and it continues to deliver the goods, as you can see from the stats: I find it slightly staggering that a post on the relatively niche topic of scrolling websites delivers more than 15,000 page impressions a month, but there it is. Perhaps this is the reason why: This is a classic compendium post, which also has an educational element to it ('that tell a story'). A sweet spot, as far as evergreen content goes, given that it ticks two boxes. I don't remember precisely, but that probably took me no more than two hours to research and assemble. That one post generates four figures worth of monthly ad revenue alone for us, which represents a rather good return on investment. So, what is the key to producing strong, evergreen content? Here are 15 tips... and no doubt there are others that you might want to suggest / check out in the comments area below. PLANNING 1. Find your sweet spot Remember that content is all about your brand. Given that your evergreen content is likely to rank well, if you do the right things, the key question to ask yourself is 'what do you want to be known for?’. Align your brand to your content, and vice versa, in order to attract the right kind of audience.  2. Mine the gaps A little research can pay serious dividends. Spot trends as early as possible and try to catch the wave before it breaks. Google Trends is a useful tool in this respect... note the rapid growth in these two hyped-up buzzphrases:     3. Create fresh, timeless content Evergreen content should feel fresh, regardless of when it was written. The active voice helps, and be sure to set the quality bar nice and high. Think ahead, and avoid anything that will sound old hat in a few years. You may need to update your content. Let's take a dictionary as an example, given that a dictionary is probably the best example of evergreen content that I can think of. Words evolve - some may say 'devolve' - over time, and meanings change. Dictionaries are updated for this reason.  4. Go niche ‘Evergreen’ isn’t a synonym for ‘popular’. Be prepared to target very specific search queries. You may want to start by analysing your most valuable customer segment, to see how they found your website, and to figure out what makes them tick. It would make sense to try to produce more evergreen content for people like this.   5. Identify your top posts for recurring traffic What is it about these articles? Why do they keep delivering visitors? They may live at the top of Google, but why? Normally it is because they are well-written, and have earned plenty of links and social shares. Content like this is there on merit, and if the clickthrough rate is good then Google will have no reason to demote it. You can learn a lot from understanding why these posts continue to do well. Replicate these formats in other topic areas. TIPS 6. Beware dates! Adding a date can immediately render your content ‘old’. Timestamps in headers cannot be avoided, so let’s not worry about those, but it is worth swer

Did you miss Social Media Marketing World in April? Or perhaps you were there but weren’t able to attend all the sessions you would have liked to. In this article I’ve assembled for you 15 actionable social media marketing takeaways from some experts who presented at the event. Here’s what they had to say. #1: [...]

Much was written about the predicted boom in mobile payments last year, but it still seems to be some way from becoming an every day payment method. NFC and mobile wallets were all set to become commonplace following a successful trial at the Olympics, but despite the increasing use of contactless bank cards I’m yet to see anyone pay for anything using their mobile phone. However new research into consumer attitudes suggests that people are slowly edging towards accepting the technology. A survey of 2,006 consumers by eDigitalResearch found that 39% of respondents had seen a contactless payment point, up from just 15% in May 2012.?Furthermore, ownership of NFC-enabled handsets has also doubled since May 2012. Around 7% of those surveyed claim that they own an NFC-enabled handset, though this is likely to be inaccurate as the survey also found that 26% of people are still unaware of contactless mobile payments. Before this survey were you aware of what contactless mobile payments were? Among those who have used contactless mobile payments, supermarkets and fast food outlets were the most common locations to have tried the technology. Benefits vs. limitations The survey also asked respondents what they perceived to be the pros and cons of using contactless payments. Ease, speed and convenience are seen as the main consumer benefits, and as with the previous study just over a quarter (26%) see it as simply keeping up with the times.  But as before, almost one third (31%) don’t see any benefits whatsoever. And when it comes to the perceived limitations, security and fraud again crop up as the biggest barriers, followed by concerns over technical issues. ???A third of people (33%) also don’t see any point in changing from their current payment methods, and a further 30% feel there simply aren’t enough pay points around.