Author Archives: Allan Woodstrom

Billboard Marketing and Advertising Philosophies

July 30, 2009 – 7:23 am

Depending the industry, chances are you have been approached on some level about putting up a billboard. You may want to consider it, however before signing off you should make sure expectations are clearly set.Remember that your audience has between two and eight seconds to understand and react to your message and that it takes approximately nine impressions before a message sticks. For the average passerby who isn’t paying any attention, it can be difficult. To combat this, make sure your billboard is simple, has an easy follow up and that it is not the only way you going to market a product or service.Below is a simple list of dos and dont’s, when planning and considering placing a billboard:Do:

  • Place a billboard if you are looking for brand awareness.
  • Keep your message simple.
  • Add a web address and phone number for people looking for more information.

Don’t:

  • Place a billboard with too many key messages.
  • Expect to be able to clearly measure ROI, unless you use a vanity phone number or url, which starts to defeat the purpose of branding.
  • Expect just because you put a phone number on a billboard it will prompt people to call you.
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A Few Social Media Marketing Trends I Noticed During My Hiatus

June 19, 2009 – 9:08 am

Time for blogging, social networking and contributing to online conversations has been hard to manage recently with major events going on in my life. I wanted to give a quick check-in of a few trends I am watching.

  • The Twitter Explosion. Three years ago, new media marketers predicted mobile marketing would be the future and here we have it. The growth chart has hit the proverbial exponential upswing and if your not on Twitter it’s time to figure it out. Basically, people can broadcast what they are doing from their mobile phone. And for businesses, they can do it too. It’s nice.
  • MySpace is officially past it’s prime. Just this week, comScore came out with numbers that indicated that Facebook was bigger than MySpace.  I’m afraid, not even Borat can save this one.
  • Social media marketing is becoming more and more integrated with customer service departments. Check out what Zappos.com is doing on Twitter.
  • For my healthcare followers, the all important mom of the household decided to check out Facebook and abruptly decided it was more for their kids.
  • Done with SEO, most companies have moved to more advanced marketing tactics like developing useful applications for mobile phones.
  • Crowd sourcing using web technologies has and will continue to drive business decisions at innovative companies.

Please feel free to let me know if you think I missed some important social media marketing trends.

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Is your organization ready for social media?

April 9, 2009 – 9:29 pm

If you work in marketing or communications, you probably have little doubt that your organization should start utilizing social media, but are you ready?From my experience, C-level executives often worry about what could go wrong. They worry people will say bad things and even worse that no one will do anything about it. The reality is that if you have company, people are already out there talking you. And if you don’t know about what they are saying, chances are you are already doing nothing about it.I put together a series of questions that might help you decide whether your department or organization is ready to join the conversation on social media.

  • Do you have a marketing or communications department?
  • Does your marketing or communications department produce news articles, press releases, videos, photos and/or events?
  • Do you know who your target audience?
  • Is your target audience on social media platforms?
  • Do you have key messages?
  • Can your social media administrator answer common questions posed on social media?
  • Do you have the ability to call on experts within your business to help with complex questions and situations?
  • Does someone in your department have experience utilizing social media platforms?
  • Have you contacted a lawyer or your legal department to see if there are any subject areas or statements you might want to avoid?

If you answered yes to all these questions, chances are you organization is ready. If not, your problems may be bigger than deciding if your organization is ready for social media.

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