Marketing Strategy

A Look into the Existence of an #AgencyLife Project Manager

June 25, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group 1 Comment

I love the #AgencyLife hashtag on Twitter. For those who are unfamiliar, it’s mostly comprised of snarky witticisms and love (okay, and the occasional picture showing a coffee obsession bordering on unhealthy). What could be better, right? Thanks to my time here at DMG, I’ve been fully initiated into all that #AgencyLife has to offer. With that said, I thought I’d shed some light on what it’s like to a project manager in the digital marketing space.

What is my typical #AgencyLife day like?

I recently saw a submission on Medium.com that was broken down by minutes of the day–brilliant! Now that’s how I keep track of my hours:

7:55am – Check email
8:03am – Comm for Project X
8:18am – Task meeting with Team Member Y
8:38am – Check email
9:02am – Have a meeting that turns into another meeting that only ends when someone has to pee

And so on, for at least 8 hours. The thing is, there isn’t really anything typical about it. As the project manager, I’m the main line of communication for our clients. If a client calls, I stop what I’m doing and take the call. “Clients come first” is my motto, and I stick by it.

I like to say that my days are “atypically typical.” Normally, there is nothing normal about them.

What are some [things] I can’t live without?

Definition: [things] – (n.) physical objects, apps, odd objects that live on my desk.

We all have them–[things] we really, really like having at our desks. I basically can’t survive without the following (some of which are pictured above):

A blender bottle
A regular coffee cup to accompany my Tervis Tumbler (seriously, they keep coffee hot for so long!)
A Moleskine notebook
A physical calendar to back up my Google calendar
A plethora of snacks
My trusty, dusty Galaxy S4
And some motivational words from two of my favorite companies: Quest and GNC

How do I keep an #AgencyLife/#RealLife balance?

The short answer is, I don’t.

Now, for the slightly longer answer. I tend to believe what is pointed out in this LinkedIn article about Work-Life Balance–namely that it doesn’t exist. You’re responsible for the choices you make, and you’ve got to deal with the consequences. Sometimes I’m working at 10pm to figure out an issue, and other times I take off an entire Tuesday and don’t even check my email (queue gasping).

This kind of voluntary devotion to #AgencyLife requires fully-integrated communication. I communicate with my team whenever possible. Most often, it’s as simple as “Hey guys, I have a doctor’s appointment later this week. I’ll set an email autoresponder, but text me if it’s critical.” I trust them to determine what’s critical vs. non-critical, and it works beautifully (one of the perks of having a great team to rely on!).

My #AgencyLife is a lot of things, including typically atypical days, several cups of coffee, and a tightrope of convincing myself not to check my email every 14 minutes on a Saturday. My favorite parts, though, are getting to work with an amazing group of people and creating some awesome work. Bossing my friends around is pretty fun, too.

Is #AgencyLife the life for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

How to Fail at Video Marketing

June 11, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

So, You Want to Start Making Videos

As a marketing medium, video is great. Really great. Think about it—in less than 90 seconds, it’s possible to captivate your audience, bring them to the brink of tears, or even turn them into your next customers. As a marketer, browsing your favorite brands on YouTube can quickly make you feel like your own marketing mix is missing something.

Whether you’re working toward brand differentiation:

Highlighting your latest product or service:

Or better yet, showing your commitment to helping others:

How can your team possibly manage to produce video content like this? Today, that dream becomes a reality. We’re not going to show you what you should be doing, but precisely the pitfalls to avoid. Let’s get started.

1. You Don’t Have a Plan

It’s really easy to rush into video thinking that all the pieces will simply fall into their proper places. Production timelines? Animation requirements? Let’s table those, we’ve got editing software suites and fancy cameras to buy!

Trust us when we say, video is like any other marketing tactic. It requires proper planning, tactful execution, and measurement components to be truly successful. Because video can incorporate so much of your company (your brand identity, your value proposition, your website or other linked assets, etc.), there’s no reason a strategy shouldn’t be priority numero uno.

To begin, start with some goals and objectives that you hope to achieve using video, whether you’re looking for greater brand awareness from a younger demographic or increased social media engagement and sharing. Then, take those goals and decide the best ways to measure them accurately and consistently. Will you define “brand awareness” by the number of viewers that watch your video all the way through, or the users that respond to your call to action asking them to subscribe for more info?

These, my friend, are the elements and processes to include in your video marketing measurement plan and strategy.

2. You’re Stuck Thinking Inside the Box

Conceptually, video is a perfect way to highlight key areas of your brand, but also venture into uncharted waters. What many businesses find, though, is that they limit themselves in the creative process. Take note of this very important idea—it’s better to create one video that tries something new than create three that bore your viewers for the sake of playing it safe. In the digital space, it always pays to test, experiment, learn, and improve upon your tactics.

And so long as you’ve got clear measurements of success, you’ll be able to gauge which elements work, which were less effective, and where additional opportunities lie for the next go around. Here’s a quick example:

Let’s say you’ve spearheaded a production that gives your viewers an “inside look” at how your product is built, from the factory to the end user. Once complete, you notice that some measurements are off the charts, like viewer retention and social media shares, but others are lower than you’d like—such as referral traffic and user comments. Your next video can improve upon the last one by asking users to share their story or offering some incentive for leaving their comment.

The point is, there’s no reason you shouldn’t change up your process based on available data.

3. You Film Too Much (or Not Enough)

Now, to the content itself. Here you have to make a very important choice, and that’s precisely the type of footage or style(s) of video that consistently represents your brand and its message. Per-production project briefs are a great idea here, as they allow you to decide exactly what to shoot and what is unnecessary based upon the video’s overall goal. Some other important items to cover in a video project brief include:

The audience segment(s) you hope to target
The key takeaway(s) or value to a viewer
Other required assets (music, text, images, etc.)
Transitions and/or fades
Start/end screen text (i.e. your call to action)

With this information in hand, you can ensure your entire team can remain on the same page regarding the general vision for each production. As you start shooting, the brief will guide the process, meaning you don’t waste precious time on location or shooting sequences that might not make it into the finalized piece (even if it seemed like a good idea at the time).

On the flip side, there’s the problem of shooting a single piece of footage for an entire production and calling it quits. Unless the video falls into the category of a “recorded webinar” or “presentation,” aim to include at least 3-5 other assets throughout. As an example, if the focus of the video is an interview with a highly-acclaimed chef opening a new restaurant, additional BRoll can include clips of dishes being prepared or photos of the restaurant’s construction. BRoll refers to any secondary content that lends additional meaning to a primary sequence.

4. Your Reach Exceeds Your Grasp

I know, I know. We just talked about not succumbing to creative limitations, but this holds true as well. Jumping into video marketing without assessing what is and isn’t possible is the start of a slippery slope. One that leads to your team spending precious time and effort trying to meet your overzealous expectations. If you’ve got a crew of two in charge of all video production, from planning, to editing, to promotion, you may find that quarterly videos are more feasible than monthly.

One way to combat a lack of resources but keep the creative juices flowing is to explore “microcontent” video platforms, such as Vine or Instagram. Of course, keeping this process adaptable, focused, and brand-consistent is still vital. As an example, your local law firm probably shouldn’t be posting #TBT pics or selfies. Remember that even though these productions are often smaller and more spontaneous, it’s still an entire brand you’re representing. Save the LOL pics for when you’re off the clock.

Are you ready to take the plunge into video? Grab your water-wings and share your experience in the comments!

Social Media—Risky Business or Filled With Opportunities?

April 30, 2014 by Daniel Laws Leave a Comment

Oh, No. Managing Risk and Compliance

One of the first things I hear when talking to insurance and trust companies about social media is “managing risk and compliance.” Oddly enough, nearly half of these prospects don’t have social media guidelines or internal procedures to handle a social media meltdown, should one occur. What should you do when a client or prospect starts badmouthing you or your company? What’s been successful in the industry, and what should you be doing? To me, not being able to answer these questions sounds like the ultimate risk.

So, what’s the solution for managing social media for insurance agents or financial advisors? “I’ve got it,” shouts one of your over-zealous team members. “Let’s hire a college grad (with a hint of sarcasm)! They know this stuff and interact on social media all the time.”

Well that’s a heck of a plan (again, sarcasm) because, in most cases, your new social media “guru” doesn’t have knowledge of your brand, industry regulations, business-level social media platforms, or any real marketing experience to act on your behalf. Doesn’t this sound like a risky compliance nightmare, too?

So, Where Do You Start?

Start with a Social Media Strategy. What do you actually hope to accomplish with social media? Do you plan to be proactive with acquiring new clients or just limit the compliance risks?
Set your own internal “insurance policy” by getting social media guidelines in place. In most cases, this should’ve happened yesterday.
Protect your brand from negative claims and reviews with social media procedures (and don’t forget to claim all your assets).

Social Media: The Land of Opportunity

Whether you’re an individual agent/advisor or part of a company, you need to get involved with your prospects and customers. Insurance and trust companies often have internal sources or agencies working to develop the brand, but agents typically miss the boat on social media. In my opinion, insurance agents and financial advisors should be building their personal brand at the local level as everything else comes together. Don’t forget—even if you move on to greener pastures, you can always take your personal brand (and your existing relationships) with you.

Engage with your prospects and clients to build relationships as well as your visibility among their connections. Social media is a great way to listen for new opportunities, new trends, and your competitors. For example: One of your clients announces on social that they’re having a baby. Isn’t that a green light for life insurance, college savings plan (529), or an update to their beneficiaries?

Put simply, not engaging in social media is risky business. The fact of the matter is that your prospects, clients, and competitors are already there, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t be.

Got questions? Tweet our team @dabrianmarket or me (@daniellawsjr). Let’s keep the conversation going!

Safe not Sorry: A Guide to Project Problem Planning

April 23, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Come to Me with Solutions, Not Problems

I know, I know, I’ve mentioned proactively planning before. So why bother project problem planning when you can just tag an “I’ll deal with that if it happens,” or a “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” onto your risk assessments? While the answer might seem obvious, upper management will appreciate it when you present them with how you solved the problem instead of the problem itself. Check out some of the following examples and solutions of problems that may arise for your team:

Jane Doe Doesn’t Work Here Anymore

It’s never a fun situation, but it happens: Jane Doe missed one too many deadlines, decided to move to Wisconsin, or married her lifelong Antarctic-dwelling scientist boyfriend and now her desk is empty—now what? Step one-make sure everyone on your team (including part-timers and interns) knows. There’s nothing quite as frustrating as not finding out a co-worker has moved on until two weeks after the rest of the office. Step two-tell your clients. Neither your team nor your clients need specific details—just let them know that Jane Doe is no longer with Company X and that all communication can be directed to John Smith until otherwise instructed. When the time is right, the third and final step is introducing Jane’s replacement to the client. Don’t do this until her replacement is ready for the influx of communication that will surely fill their inbox.

Client X Still Hasn’t Gotten Back to Me

It’s quite possible that one of the reasons your client hired your agency is because they don’t have the time/resources to do the work internally, so is it much of a surprise when they don’t have the time to respond to you every waking moment? Nope. Don’t be discouraged—chances are high they have an email open 24/7 that they’re consistently responding to you in and that perhaps someday they’ll send. In the interim, create a process (as exemplified in the flowchart below) for following up:

If your main form of client communication (your PM system in this example) doesn’t receive a response, follow up with a weekly email (either via the PM system or standard email) and a bi-weekly phone call until you get a response (it’ll happen eventually, I promise!). If you get a response, carry on!

This Project is Already Over-Budget

It’s Friday afternoon and everyone is caught up logging their hours to the appropriate project when, dun dun dun—you see the budget turn from green to red. What’s next? Unfortunately, there are really only two options (both of which require you to pull up the statement of work): let the client know you’re over budget and will begin billing for all incremental work, or let the client know you’re over budget and eat the cost for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Planning is Important

The long and short of it–expecting the best but planning for the worst is a great way to maintain your team’s sanity (and upper management’s happiness) and uphold the tenets of Project Management: on-task, on time, and on budget.

Do you plan for problems? Have you experienced a problem you hadn’t planned for? Tell us your story in the comments!

Hospitality Marketing That’s Actually “Hospitable”

April 16, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Digital channels sometimes get a bad rap when it comes to the hospitality industry (i.e. local restaurants, hotels, travel, and the like). It doesn’t take too much effort to search for an article criticizing companies that participate in what is deemed “empty” social media engagement or “stale” brand messaging.

It’s high-time to rise up from the sea of bandwagoners and gun-jumpers and use digital to both differentiate and stand out in the eyes of your customers. It’s not as hard as you might think, and this week, we’re gonna show you how.

Construct a Policy for Managing Online Reviews

First off, let’s revisit those brands that completely miss the boat when it comes to their more (ahem) vocal customers on the web. Whether you’re at the helm of a locally-lauded restaurant or a national hotel chain, you should never ignore your clientele (online or off). Review websites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Google Reviews have eliminated the gap between a single user’s opinion and every brand serving him.

The great part about setting up review profiles is that it’s relatively easy. The downside is that few businesses take the time to reply and/or respond when the digital flood gates are opened. With dedicated resources and a feedback management/issue resolution policy, you can assure one isolated incident doesn’t spin out of control. Here are a few high-level tips to get you started:

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst: You never know how your customers will react to the equivalent of an open forum
The ol’ strategic stand-by’s: test, measure, optimize: Make plans to re-evaluate your process and define your success in plain, measurable terms
Use the feedback you’ll inevitably receive: Address your customers’ major concerns in your next budget meeting or planning session and develop action items

Tap into the Digital Community

Don’t you worry. With your customers’ newfound agency, they’ll definitely be in touch. But these conversations shouldn’t be reduced to one-way streets. One of the best ways hospitality marketers can make the most of digital channels is to play an active role in the community they’ve just entered. The best part? Gauging your customers’ opinions online can yield far better results than a printed survey on their receipt.

On a local level, a restaurant may post its daily specials to an official Twitter account. With a single hashtag, a hotel chain can collect honest, concise reviews from its visitors. A theme park debuting a new ride can have fans and followers vote on its name, logo, or color scheme. In short, a business can participate in existing digital communities while, at the same time, work to create one of its own.

By embracing the digital environment, you’ve empowered your customers to reach out when they have a positive (or not-so-positive) experience. In short, you’ve given them a voice. Just make sure you’re always listening.

Is there a business that absolutely sets the bar high online? Share it with us in the comments!

A Prognosis for Healthcare Digital Advertising

April 10, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Some Background

More often than not, our team members‘ inboxes are flooded with newsletters and other subscriptions as a way to remain in the proverbial industry loop. This information gives us the ability to spot trends and generally provide more informed recommendations for the businesses with which we work. Some of the DMG crew subscribes to information about the pharmaceutical and life science industry (which is convenient, considering we have custom solutions specifically for those folks). Chief among these resources is PM360, which recently featured these articles in its publication:

This week, we’re going to offer our input among these articles, one by one. Feel free to click the links above, read each article, and come back for our thoughts.

Ready? Let’s get started!

Getting and Analyzing Big Data: How Pharma and Med Device Marketers Benefit

If you’re fully subscribed to the hot topic of big data, that means you’re talking about information from online advertising, traditional marketing, patients, electronic medical records (EMR), caregivers, medical devices, vendors, and healthcare professionals (HCP). Certainly there’s no question that pharma marketers can benefit from big data or any “real” data. But let’s be realistic. In most cases, “big data” is subject to interpretation. Everyone seems to be talking about “crunching” this information to make it usable, but no one’s talking about how it’s acquired or, more importantly, how to analyze it and derive action from it. Getting valid data and analyzing it within a specific context (such as among certain target audience segments) is a missed opportunity and a neglected part of the larger analytical picture.

Can We Define Digital That Delivers?

We talk about design and creation, placement and targeting, and measuring for success, but so rarely do we discuss this success in the context of a high-level business goal. It seems we’re more concerned with “delivering success,” but we miss opportunities to test, optimize, and determine why a digital tactic delivered a desired result. I think all of the comments in this piece are valid, but to continue delivering in this manner, we need to examine not only the “why,” but what individual tactics or channels contributed to the goal behavior (via a measurement tactic like attribution modeling, for example).

Social Media Gone Bad: How Lack of Engagement Can Ruin Your Business

The purpose of social media is to share, communicate, and engage with people. And that includes patients, caregivers, and HCPs. In our experience, people with medical conditions have a strong sense of community among themselves and want to protect each other. They’re going to talk and share their experiences, but the question is: “Are you listening and engaging in the conversation?” Pharmaceutical companies have ad agencies, compliance, the FDA, and other regulatory issues to contend with. You would think companies would have guidelines and internal procedures to address issues when they arise (notice we didn’t say “if” there). If you’re not engaging, you’re not communicating with the same people for which you spent millions to develop your products and services. Without that communication, you’re at a disadvantage to make you products and services better to the people that matter most.

And Now, To Sum Everything Up

A dissatisfied patient can certainly ruin your business, but only if you let their concerns go unanswered by not listening or communicating with them. Gaining valid data and analyzing it will help to a degree, but the data needs to be tied to action to have the greatest impact. And finally, you can only give your brand(s) a true prognosis when you listen to your patients, analyze the available information, optimize digital tactics to yield favorable behaviors, and understand why it all worked to inform future initiatives.