Optimize Magazine - Summer 2014 by Hopkins Printing

SUMMER 2014

IDEAS FOR MARKETING AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS

GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITH GREAT CONTENT!

S G tep ro s ov to Se y D e Di eli pa re v ge ct er 9 M ing ai l

How to attract and retain customers using print, digital and social media

Tell your brand story

on Pinterest and Instagram

Create and launch a custom magazine

Leverage the power of tablets and mobile

Win a copy of “Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead”, and begin your journey to delivering brand love with this extraordinary book. hopkinsprinting.com/groovy-giveaway

Cool Insights and takeaways from the book include: Show The Love –

Go Direct –

Loosen Your Brand –

Make sure your clients are happy. They help sell your business. The Grateful Dead controlled their tickets and put their loyal fans up front at every show.

The Grateful Dead did this by sending out mailings and other information including concert tickets, themselves.

Fans were encouraged to record the band’s music at shows and share it with their friends. Their “content” was their music.

Make believers of your brand and guide them to the next level of “brand consciousness”.

What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History”, by well-known, marketing thought leaders, David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan.

Capture the QR code with your smart device and

WELCOME

Summer 2014

EXPERT OPINION

Welcome to the Summer issue of Optimize In this issue we focus on how companies can use modern technology to extend the reach of their printed materials, and how they can use content to shorten the sales cycle and create more customer engagement.

Summer 2014

Read insights from the following contributors in this issue:

n keeping with our promise to But while social, digital and online media bring you insight from the brightest are undoubtedly a key component of the minds from the world of marketing, modern day marketing campaign, there’s we sat down with best-selling author of no getting away from the fact that print Cashing In With Content and The New Rules of remains a highly popular and effective Marketing and PR David Meerman Scott. In communication tool. After all, nothing an exclusive interview, David explains why shows a customer that you value their we are living in a revolutionary time where business more than creating a bespoke companies can create their own content publication containing targeted content and deliver it to their audience through their that addresses their interest and needs. If own media channels without having to buy you’ve often thought about creating your advertising space or hire PR agencies. own magazine but are unsure where to One great example of a company start, we have some useful pointers in our doing exactly what David recommends feature article. We talk to the creative minds is SAMBAZON – a California-based firm behind some of the most successful custom that produces healthy food products made publications currently on the market, from ingredients sourced from the Brazilian including Red Bull’s Red Bulletin and Costco’s rainforest. SAMBAZON has increased its Costco Connection, about how to use a social media following by some 50 percent magazine to drive engagement and sales. during the past year, largely Enjoy the issue, and don’t by leveraging two visualforget to register for our Summer based platforms – Pinterest giveaway of “Marketing Lessons and Instagram. In a special From the Grateful Dead”, another case study, we reveal the key internationally acclaimed book tactics and strategies the by David Meerman Scott. company has used to initiate We promise you will be both and nurture conversations entertained and educated when with its most loyal customers Roy Waterhouse President, Hopkins Printing you finish reading it! and brand enthusiasts.

facebook.com/HopkinsSolutions

@hopksolutions

Giles Goodwin President of Flite, Giles introduces you to the ever-changing world of integrated experiences and native advertising.

E.J. McNulty A Creative Director at Wunderman, E.J. reveals how his agency created a campaign to help Best Buy beat the Black Friday crowds.

Loni Stark A Director of Marketing at Adobe, Loni explains how to combine the power of TV and digital media to “surround” an audience.

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Optimize is printed on 100# U Velvet Cover/100# U Velvet Text paper

01 Welcome

Letter from the President, plus a selection of the key contributors writing in this issue.

02 Insights

News and views from the world of marketing.

06 David Meerman Scott Interview

The best-selling author explains how companies of all sizes should market themselves online.

10 Marketing Case Study

How organic juice maker Sambazon tells its brand story using Pinterest and Instagram.

12 Launch A Custom Publication

How to create a print magazine that drives sales.

16 My Working Day

Go! Design’s Jeremy Estroff explains the challenges faced by the modern Creative Director.

Executive Editor Cindy Woods Editor Nick Wright Contributing Writers Tim Sweeney,

Printed and distributed by Hopkins Printing www.hopkinsprinting.com

SUMMER 2014

INSIGHTS

NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |

TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED »

Near Field Communication How this new wireless technology works and how it can extend the reach of your printed materials.

he future is in your mobile device, but you probably haven’t unleashed it yet. Near Field Communication (NFC) is a shortrange low-power wireless link that can transfer small amounts of data between devices held close to each other. It can be used to buy groceries, pay for travel, gain entry to your office, bring ads to life and collect store loyalty card points. It is present in almost all Android tablets and smartphones made by companies like Blackberry, HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung. And it is also gaining popularity throughout Asia and Europe. At this point, you probably have two questions. One, how does NFC differ from Bluetooth and QR codes? And why has it yet to become a go-to technology in the US? Well, unlike Bluetooth, NFC does not need a pairing code. And unlike QR codes, NFC also works when the handset is switched off. The answer to your second question depends on whom you listen to. Some experts believe Apple has slowed adoption rates by not including NFC technology in its smartphones. Some put it down to concerns over data security and teething problems with connectivity. The good news is manufacturers are confident that these problems have been fixed. The better news is that the Federal Reserve

believes NFC transactions will be covered by the Truth in Lending Act, which protects you from having to pay bills of more than $50 that result from a stolen or otherwise unauthorized card. The most important news is that industry analysts believe adoption rates are about to explode. According to the market research company Markets & Markets, 46 percent of all mobile phones will be NFC-enabled by 2016. According to ABI Research, 1.95 billion NFC-enabled devices will be produced in 2017. And according to Britishbased mobile telecoms analysts, Juniper Research, NFC will be used to carry out some $110 billion of transactions in 2017. In other words, prepare to throw away your credit cards, store cards, swipe cards and boarding passes, because NFC is ready and waiting to change your life. n

3 GREAT WAYS TO USE NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION

Extending the reach of advertising posters

To publicize its new Halo 4 Xbox game in Australia, Microsoft used NFC to create a game on the streets of Melbourne and Sydney. It placed posters across the cities and used social media to alert fans. The first to “capture the poster” by linking to their phone won the artwork. “It was the gamification of advertising at its best,” says Eric Charles, Senior Marketing Manager for Xbox.

Linking print and electronic media

Lexus proved NFC is a great way to link print and electronic media when it used the technology in an ad it had placed in Wired magazine. The design of the ad encouraged readers to place their smartphone on the page. When they did, the mobile campaign came to life, giving users the opportunity to watch an introductory video and then try the system by touching their screen.

Creating extra content

The Museum of London in England recently partnered with Nokia to introduce NFC technology into some of its exhibits. By tapping their phones against tags that are situated around the museum, visitors can access additional information about certain paintings, objects and artifacts. They can also use the technology to check in at the museum via Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare.

INSIGHTS

Summer 2014

OPINION »

WHAT’S ON MY MIND

SOCIAL MEDIA »

4 SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

We asked three direct marketing experts to reveal their favorite or most successful campaign.

A business mailer with a special twist

Brands can connect with huge numbers of consumers if they get social media right. Here’s who has done it best so far this year.

ESURANCE #ESURANCESAVE30

Insurance broker Esurance booked an ad immediately after the Super Bowl and used it to announce that it was running a lottery to give away the $1.5 million it had saved by not advertising during the game. To enter, viewers had to tweet using the hashtag #EsuranceSave30. It was tweeted 1.4 million times in the next hour and more than 3 million times in the next 24 hours. In this time, the company also gained 140,000 Twitter followers.

Research began promoting a code people could use to donate £3 ($5) before posting their photos. The campaign raised over $14 million in six days and saw Cancer Research attract 15,000 new Twitter followers.

BUDWEISER #BESTBUDS

Budweiser’s “Puppy Love” commercial lost the initial marketing battle to Esurance, but it appears it might win the long-term war. The uplifting ad, which revolved around a friendship between a puppy and a horse, has received over 50 million YouTube views since it was aired. Its #BestBuds hashtag has been used over 500,000 times on Instagram and @BudweiserPuppy has 10,500 Twitter followers.

THEO FANNING Creative Director, Traction

Surrounding our target audience! “One of my recent favorites was the Adobe Marketing Cloud campaign. During the premiere of Mad Men, we teamed our ‘Click, Baby, Click!’ TV ad with relevant site content and direct Twitter conversations with viewers and companies tweeting about the show. The campaign showed the power of combining mass marketing (TV ads) with a direct digital marketing strategy. We measured and optimized the impact and extended it with broad coverage across every touch point. We had our target audience surrounded. It was innovative, creative and, best of all, we were able to use our own marketing cloud to help execute it.”

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S #GETCOVERED INSURANCE CAMPAIGN

CANCER RESEARCH #NOMAKEUPSELFIE

The #Nomakeupselfie craze, where female Facebook users raised awareness of cancer by uploading pictures of themselves without makeup and then nominating friends to do the same, swept across the UK earlier this year. A few days in, the charity Cancer

This smart campaign decided to promote the healthcare.gov website to young Americans by placing the President in non traditional arenas, such as Zach Galifianakis’ Between Two Ferns show. The videos got 21 million views, 311,000 Facebook likes and spawned thousands of column inches in the printed press.

LONI STARK Director, Product & Industry Marketing, Adobe Digital Marketing Solutions

Beating the crowds on Black Friday

4 2

“Direct marketing only has significant impact when it is focused, unique, relevant, and disrupts the expectations of the audience. To achieve this, we created a new business mailer with a twist. ‘The world has changed’ appeared to be a business book, but when opened, it revealed a video iPod and a card that said, ‘Press play.’ The video introduced Traction’s philosophy and showcased relevant work. Obviously, it had a significant cost, but every executive who received it either contacted us or accepted our call.”

EJ MCNULTY, Creative Director, Wunderman Minneapolis

“With billions of dollars on the line, it was crucial we got Best Buy’s ‘A Better Way To Black Friday’ campaign right. Knowing that consumers would be barraged with messaging, we developed an integrated campaign that laid out how Best Buy would make shopping enjoyable with private events, early access to deals and advanced notifications to beat the crowds. The sharpest end of this integrated campaign was the combination of Best Buy’s email channel and the data that powered it. The results were impressive, with online sales up 24 percent annually.”

SUMMER 2014

INSIGHTS

NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |

MULTIMEDIA MARKETING »

Tablet vs Mobile Why you need a separate strategy for each device.

ll too often, brands mistakenly believe that marketing to tablet and smartphone users only requires one strategy. Once upon a time this might have been true, but according to recent research, the handheld devices now appeal to different age groups who use them in increasingly different ways. This means you need to develop separate strategies for each device. Here are a few pointers to help you do that.

SMARTPHONE FANS ARE YOUNGER The latest technology usage paper from Pew Research has revealed that smartphones remain the most popular device among 18- to 34-year-olds, but tablets are gaining popularity among 35- to 44-year-olds. The research found that 49 percent of Americans in this age group owned tablets.

Because of this, the global research firm’s Principal Analyst Thomas Husson says, “Marketers should use search marketing to drive better conversion rates and tablet commerce. They should also maximize TV ads by creating tablet extensions for multitaskers and new marketing experiences in the digital home.”

TABLETS ARE INCREASINGLY REPLACING PERSONAL COMPUTERS Research commissioned by Forrester Research has discovered that most people use their tablet within their home rather than as a primarily mobile device.

SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS What Pew’s latest research study reveals about Americans’ use of the most popular social networking sites.

TABLET USERS PREFER THE WEB A survey by the Online Publishers Association discovered that 41 percent of tablet users preferred reading news sites on the web and just 30 percent preferred launching a stand alone app.

Over the space of six weeks last autumn, the Pew Research Center questioned more than 1,800 American adults about their use of and interaction with Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. The following key findings will help you market your products more effectively through the social channels.

SMARTPHONE USERS ARE ALL ABOUT THE APPS According to Nielsen’s February 2014 report, 89 percent of the time smartphone users spend on media is via mobile apps, with users clocking nearly 30 hours on apps per month. Contrast this with the 3 hours 45 minutes smartphone users spend surfing the web per month and it’s clear that apps are the best way to market to smartphone users.

PEOPLE BUY ON TABLETS A recent report from Business Insider Intelligence revealed that tablets now account

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

Facebook remains the dominant social networking platform, with 71 percent of American adults describing themselves as Facebook users. Of these users, 63 percent visit Facebook at least once a day, 40 percent make multiple visits every day and only 14 percent visit less than once a week. The percentage of Americans over the age of 65 who use Facebook has risen from 35 to 45 percent in the last year.

Instagram has experienced a surge in popularity among 18- to 29-year-olds. Thirtyseven percent used the site in December 2013, in comparison with 28 percent in December 2012. The percentage of adults using the site has grown from 13 to 17 percent. Some 57 percent visit once a day, 35 percent visit multiple times per day and 22 percent visit less than once a week.

LinkedIn is used by 22 percent of American adults. Of these, 52 percent visit the site less than once a week and just 13 percent visit daily. LinkedIn is the only social networking platform used by more 50- to 64-year-olds than 18- to 29-year-olds. It also attracts high achievers, with 38 percent holding a college degree and 38 percent boasting a household income of over $75,000.

INSIGHTS

for 50 percent of the total value of U.S. retail sales on mobile devices. This shows that tablets are becoming the preferred device for making purchases. “Tablets’ large pinch-to-zoom screens are perfect for browsing, detailed product views and searching,” says Business Insider’s Emily Adler.

MOBILE USERS ARE ON THE GO Tim Hayden from public relations agency Edelman says, “Mobile is primarily a circumstance.” In other words, people use their mobile because of their environment (for example, sitting on a bus or standing in line at a store.) Good marketers should embrace this and think about how they can make the user’s life better in 30 seconds.

TABLETS COME OUT AT NIGHT According to research from Comscore, most early morning page traffic comes from mobiles, most daytime traffic comes from desktop PCs and most evening traffic comes from tablets. The prime time for tablet web use at home occurs between 8pm and 9pm.

5-MINUTE EXPERT »

Native Advertising Giles Goodwin, President of Flite, provides a brief introduction to the world of integrated experiences and native exchanges.

Q: What is native advertising?

Giles Goodwin: Native advertising covers a wide array of digital ad formats that integrate the user experience of an ad with that of the hosting site or application. This is done by matching the look and feel of the ad with its surroundings or by adding complementary features such as related story navigation.

Q: Is it wrong to think of native advertising as web-based advertorials?

BRAND EMAILS ARE READ ON SMARTPHONES Research compiled by email marketing provider Movable Ink reveals that 46 percent of brand emails are opened on a smartphone, in comparison with some 39 percent being opened on a desktop and 15 percent on a tablet. As a result, it makes sense to design your marketing emails primarily with smartphones in mind. n

TWITTER

Only 18 percent of American adults use Twitter, but those who do are active, with 46 percent checking their feeds daily and 29 percent logging in several times per day. This behavior perhaps reflects the age of users. Thirty-one percent of Twitter users are aged 18-29, while just nine percent are aged 50-64.

Pinterest is the fastest growing social networking platform, with 21 percent of American adults using the site in December 2013, as opposed to 15 percent the previous year. It holds particular appeal to women – as well as high achievers – with some 25 percent of users possessing a college degree.

Summer 2014

GG: Newly emerging native ad formats present articles, videos or other content that appeals to users but don’t overtly pitch the advertiser’s product or service. In these cases, the content provides some utility or entertainment value that will prompt appreciative feelings toward the sponsoring advertiser.

or entertaining functionality from the native ads with which they choose to interact.

emerging to help reduce friction and increase liquidity between advertisers and inventory providers.

Q: What are the key challenges?

Q: Which companies do

GG: Buying at scale remains

native advertising well?

a challenge. I strongly believe in the future of programmatic native advertising. For scale to be achieved, though, we are going to need to see some standards emerge on how ads can be defined between buyer and seller.

GG: Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest all have great engagement due to good user experience and great targeting. At the same time, search ads, like Google AdWords, have captured an enormous portion of the direct response ad market.

Q: What are the benefits of native advertising?

Q: How do native

GG: Companies can use

campaigns work?

native ads to tell a story, which works best as a medium for brand advertising, or to promote an action. A click or app install works well for direct response marketing. And consumers get a better end experience because they can enjoy informative and/

GG: Brands can either work directly with a publisher or with an emerging native ad network. Both are starting to provide scale but it’s limited compared with traditional media buys. Native demandside platforms (DSPs) and native exchanges are

Q: Finally, what are the keys to good native advertising?

GG: First, understand what the users you are targeting want to read, view and watch. Second, find a way to deliver this content via a great interactive experience. n

Summer 2014

COVER STORY

INTERVIEW

DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT Thought leader and author on real-time and content marketing

avid Meerman Scott is an internationally acclaimed marketing strategist who specializes in the idea of using real-time content to increase engagement between companies and their customers. Three of his nine books â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The New Rules of Marketing and PR; Real-Time Marketing & PR; and Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead â&#x20AC;&#x201C; are international bestsellers. He took time out from his busy schedule as a pubic speaker, board member and corporate adviser to explain why content marketing is vital to engaging and building relationships with your customers.

Summer 2014

Q: You were ahead of the curve in content marketing. Was there a lightbulb moment when you saw its potential?

David Meerman Scott: My first job

was on a bond trading desk in New York City so I knew the only way to trade bonds was by using real-time content, things like news from writers at Dow Jones or from the pricing index. In the next ten years I worked for news companies that were focused on delivering real-time content to clients that included corporations, government agencies, banks and securities firms. It was all about global content for a global market. From there, in the middle part of my career, I had a marketing job for several media companies. After the web came around in 1995 (I marked the beginning of the web when Netscape went public) marketing on the web started to take off in the late ’90s. Companies were talking about different ideas of direct mail and PR and applying them to the web. I began thinking that the web is about how anyone can be a publisher.

Q: As VP of Marketing for NewsEdge, you took some risks with content

the web, there is no way I could have made the leap to talk about real-time publishing as a form of marketing for organizations. That experience really gave me a sense of the power of real-time content. And for me it’s not just about content, it’s also about real-time content.

“You might advertise with Google Ad Words one month so everyone can find you, but if you don’t advertise the next month no one

Q: It seems like the area of PR has been

sees you. Content lives forever.”

the area slowest to adapt to using content in marketing. Would you agree?

DMS: I think there’s some truth to that. What’s happening now is revolutionary. You can create content, push it out there for free and not spend money on PR agencies and advertising by doing it yourself. People who have risen up the ranks in PR or marketing have done so using the old rules and old focus. A lot of people are still focused on the old stuff. It will take time for this stuff to catch on. In reality, it has happened remarkably fast. Imagine talking about content marketing in 2005. That kind of thinking was out of control. People thought I was insane. Many were downright incredulous that I would be talking about this stuff. In many ways, the people who don’t necessarily agree with it are at least starting to see that there is another viewpoint.

You may also have some marketers in their 50s, who may not understand it all and hope to finish out their careers without having to learn this new way of thinking.

Q: What would you say to companies who don’t see the value in creating content that may only be viewed by a small audience because they are so focused on their ROI?

DMS: What’s interesting is that content lives on forever. With a marketing campaign mentality, people might try creating a piece of content and then look at it and think that it hasn’t created sales. Instead, they need to understand that every single piece of

marketing. How did the publishing world influence this approach?

DMS: While working for NewsEdge in the late 1990s, well before social media, I built a marketing program based on creating interesting content and putting it on the web. We did press releases designed not for the press, but for search engine optimization. In 2002, NewsEdge was acquired by Thomson Reuters and I lost my job, but I realized what I was doing there was pretty cool. In 2005, I wrote my first book called Cashing In With Content, which was the first book about content marketing. My second book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, has sold 350,000 copies and is in 25 languages. That got me on the map as someone who understands content marketing. But if I hadn’t worked in that area of real-time publishing well before

STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE Content marketing has experienced an unprecedented evolution. David Meerman Scott highlights four tactics to help you remain at the cutting edge of the trend.

1. Be mobile-minded The number of people using mobile devices is growing at an outrageous pace. It will be crucial to think not just about web content, but how your content will be optimized for mobile devices.

2. Break down the language barriers It’s a global market and, more than ever before, people work at global

companies. Going forward, marketers will need to think about creating content in languages other than their own.

3. Offer multiple types of content Today, we still think of content as a mostly text-based format. Going forward, however, non text-based content, such as video, imagery and

infographics will play an even greater role.

4. Let content drive sales and service The developments I’ve mentioned are not just limited to marketing and PR. The way companies

sell is beginning to undergo the same kind of transformation that marketing and PR have experienced recently. Think about it: How effective is cold calling when you’ve got people reaching out to you?

COVER STORY

Summer 2014

content is a pathway to their organization. One thousand pieces of content are 1,000 ways to your company or 1,000 ways to find you in a search engine so that they can learn about your business. Organizations need to think of content, not as an advertising or marketing expense, but as an investment. You could advertise with Google Ad Words one month so everyone can find you, but if you don’t advertise the next month no one will see you. Content lives forever, though. Too many people create content and say, “Oh my God, I haven’t made any sales this week. My content must be bad.” Give it some time.

Q: You’ve said that the way we communicate in marketing is changing in an historic manner. Is the traditional marketing campaign dying?

Q: In your book Marketing Lessons

DMS: Just think about the overwhelming evolution we’ve seen in recent years. When I wrote my first book in 2005, it was difficult to get people to think about this topic. Now there are conferences about it. I don’t see marketing as an either/or situation. I certainly don’t think a long-term plan for marketing is going away. That said, most organizations spend way too much time on long-term planning at the expense of creating relevant real-time content.

from The Grateful Dead you used the band’s willingness to let fans record their concerts as an example of how giving away content can be so effective. Is this new approach hard for marketers to understand because they don’t see their own behavior as consumers?

DMS: Absolutely. It’s interesting because

people will say to me: “I don’t use social media.” I say, “OK, let’s say you’re trying to book a hotel or buy new golf clubs. Do you

look at advertising in golf magazines? Do you go to Google and search for that hotel? Of course you do.” I try to get people to realize that their buying behavior includes going to Google, so don’t they want people to find their company when they go there? The other one that always makes me laugh is when I go into a company’s mail room and I see the head salesperson get to his or her mailbox and throw their junk mail into the recycle bin. Then they march down the hall and say, “Why don’t we have any direct mail campaigns?”

MY FAVORITE EXAMPLES OF GREAT CONTENT MARKETING Raytheon’s brand journalism

A doctor making healthcare personal

A “newsjacking” trial lawyer

Inbound marketing got me to Antarctica

Raytheon does what I’ve been urging companies to do for a decade. Rather than using marketers and copywriters, they’ve turned their website into a news operation with real-time news, images and a top stories section. Their content serves as marketing and public relations. Raytheon hired its Social Media Manager from NASA and its Managing Editor of Digital

Natasha Burgert, M.D., a full-time primary care pediatrician at Pediatric Associates in Kansas City, noticed that the parents of her patients were not retaining the information given to them on visits. So she uses her @doctornatasha Twitter feed, her Facebook page, and her blog to share information with parents, the teenagers she serves, and the community at large.

Mitch Jackson is a senior partner at law firm Jackson & Wilson. Mitch writes a blog where he comments on the legal aspects of stories in the news. His popularity has resulted in more than 18,000 followers on Twitter. His post titled: “Michael Sam is Gay and the NFL Team That Drafts Him Will Face Major Litigation Exposure” resulted in his being invited to appear on Fox Sports.

My wife and I recently went on a 10-day expedition to Antarctica. We began our research a year prior by Googling related phrases, which led us to expedition outfitters, blogs, reviews and related articles. After months of research, I placed a call to Quark Expeditions and spoke with Paul. I knew exactly what I wanted so Paul didn’t need to “sell” me. But the online content

Content from the Associated Press. The content educates and entertains existing and potential clients, and serves the media who regularly use Raytheon’s content to create their own stories.

Summer 2014

Q: You talk about the importance for companies to not only engage with customers, but to do so instantly in real-time. Any tips on how to do this?

DMS: There are a lot of elements to

engaging instantly, but it all starts with the idea that people can go to your website and instantly find the content they’re looking for, then engage with you when they reach out to you. There is also the element of what I call “newsjacking” – the art and science of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story. So if something is happening in your industry, you need to create something on your blog that pertains to that topic, or you may simply comment on it on Twitter, which allows people to see how you are involved. Your words can instantly inject you into the conversation. Essentially, we’re talking about how you can reach people when they want to be reached as opposed to only reaching people when you want to reach them.

company. Ask yourself what’s important to you and determine where people are talking about your business. Perhaps it’s on blogs or maybe there are important media members talking about your organization. Almost every type of business has these forums, so the challenge becomes, “How can I become a part of that conversation?” The second thing is that people need to create the content. Don’t think like an advertiser or a PR person, but instead think like a publisher. It makes a huge difference in how you create information. You want to have a real-time and constant conversation. Don’t wait and try to have a conversation when you want to engage with them. Take advantage of the opportunity and do it when the time is right for them.

Q: What do you say to companies that maybe don’t see themselves as the type of place that needs to be involved in content marketing or don’t think they

Q: Can you reveal a few of the tactics

have any valuable content to share?

that you share with companies and

DMS: A lot of companies make the mistake of talking about products and service. Instead, ask yourself, “What are the problems of the people I’m trying to reach?” Based on that, what content makes sense for me to create? Rather than starting with your product and

audiences to help them open new channels and grow their brand?

DMS: The first and most important step is

you have to participate in it. Then you have to decide how people are engaging with your

didn’t stop after we booked. Paul sent me content on what I needed to make our trip more enjoyable at exactly the right moment in the buying process (after we booked the trip but well before departure). Smart companies build a buying process around the realities of independent research. Instead of selling, they educate through online content and deliver information at precisely the moment customers need it.

A self-marketing author Several years ago in Australia, a woman named Summer Land approached me for advice on publishing her book. I urged her to publish her writing in a blog or ebook that she could give away (which she did) in an effort to build an audience (which she also did). From there, I advised her to take her success to publishers. Having built an

audience, those publishers would be eager to work with her and to cut a book deal. Summer did all that hard work to market her idea and it paid off. Her memoir, Summerlandish: Do As I Say, Not As I Did, was on bookshelves in stores a year after she approached publishers.

“A lot of companies make the mistake of talking about products and service. Instead, ask yourself, ‘What are the problems of the people I’m trying to reach?’” trying to pimp what it does, it starts with the issues your potential customers have and dealing with how to talk to them. Let’s take a sport like golf, where your consumer perhaps is over 50 years old and struggling to hit the ball as far as they did 10 years ago. You might have a club that can help them solve that problem. You also might have a number of exercises they can do to stay in better shape. Then you’re becoming a trusted source for the consumer you want to reach and helping them solve the issues they are facing.

Q: We’ve talked a lot about online and social media marketing. What role does print play in engaging consumers today?

DMS: It’s still an incredible medium for high-value content. I think valuable content will still be purchased. If you think about the content you need to consume from both a professional or personal perspective, you really do get what you pay for. You can find amazing stuff online for free, but if you value your time and your desire to learn or be entertained, you are most likely willing to spend $15 for a book or a magazine subscription. As far as I can foresee, free content and paid content will exist together. n

See inside front cover for how to enter for a chance to win a copy of David Meerman Scott’s book Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead.

Summer 2014

MARKETING CASE STUDY

Ripe For

Visual Content

How Sambazon – maker of organic juices, smoothies and sorbets – tells its brand story online. By Tim Sweeney

any companies have a brand story that can be challenging to articulate via social media. However, California-based Sambazon lives by a brand credo that could have been created with content marketing in mind. The company sells juices, smoothies and sorbet made from organic Amazon superfoods, fruits and botanicals. In addition to wanting to attract customers through the quality of its products, Sambazon also wants its customers to believe in what the company stands for and how it does business. As part of its commitment to local communities, Sambazon supports 10,000 family farms and nurtures two million acres of Amazon rainforest, where its ingredients are sourced.

The Challenge Tell the right stories at the right time, in the right voice, using the right platform Because of its strong brand identity and the nature of the industry in which it operates, Sambazon has a wealth of content possibilities to share with its growing legion of social media followers, which are affectionately known within the firm as its “tribe.” However, simply creating and pushing out masses of material doesn’t instantly result in an engaged audience. Sambazon’s primary social media goal is to nurture conversations with its customers. “As part of these conversations, we want to tell and share the personal stories behind the origin

of our products,” says Brand Manager Jason Moraff. “Our challenge is determining what stories to tell, how to best tell them, and which platforms and tactics will work best in helping our community create and share their experiences and ideas with us.” Moraff believes that authenticity is a key to developing deeper engagement with consumers. As a result, one of the challenges for the company in entering the social space was to remain “human.” “If it’s not authentic, consumers see through you very quickly and it can be difficult to lure them back,” says Moraff. “But as a relatively small business, this is an advantage you have over larger corporations that are more challenged in forging personal relationships.”

In view of the above, developing a consistent tone of voice, personality and point of view are the keys to building connections.

The solution Create content buckets that hit your audience’s needs Sambazon’s brand story is “ripe” for visual storytelling via channels like Instagram and Pinterest. “Our goods are from a vibrant country, Brazil, and are sourced in the Amazon Rainforest,” Moraff says. “So our ability to share not just the where, but also the how and the personal story behind their origin is best expressed through imagery. We could tell you about an amazing place, our role in conserving the environment, or the family

Summer 2014

LEVERAGING VISUAL SOCIAL MEDIA With a year-on-year increase in followers of between 25 and 50 percent across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+, here is how Sambazon uses the two most popular visual-based platforms to increase engagement.

How Sambazon uses Instagram Sambazon has more than 10,000 followers on Instagram. In addition to posting product photos that promote contests and giveaways, the company also posts photos of its products in fun places; bowls of tasty-looking recipes; people engaged in active, healthy pursuits like yoga or surfing; and even its staff dressed in costume for Halloween. The company’s “tribe” interaction is proof of the content’s effectiveness. Many of the photos achieve upwards of 700 likes, while the dialogue and interaction with the brand is both casual and personal.

KEY TIP: BE ORIGINAL With visual content, people can spot stock imagery a mile away. But even if you don’t have endless photographic resources, that shouldn’t stop you. There are “scrappy” ways to curate your own content.

How Sambazon uses Pinterest

farmers we work with, but it’s more effective and interesting if we actually show you.” To nurture the company’s relationship with its “tribe” and to ensure all communications are delivered using consistent tone, personality, style and imagery, Sambazon recruited a community manager. Having a dedicated resource to manage, test and measure the company’s content development enabled Sambazon to identify the key content areas or news “buckets” that resonated most powerfully with its audience, while still supporting the overall brand message. Understanding that relevancy requires speed, the company also gave the social media team the authority to act and respond in real time without having to obtain approval from above

on all communications. Over the last year, Sambazon has continually refined its online presence. The company homepage provides direct links to its blog and video archives. In addition to posting recipes for smoothies, bowls, cocktails and desserts, there is also a section where customers can share their own ideas. “We’ve found bloggers, chefs, nutritionists and enthusiasts that we’ve partnered with for recipes, takeovers, and contests on Instagram and Pinterest,” Moraff explains. “It’s fun collaborating with the folks who are using your products and not just pushing information. We’re doing our job if we’re growing our audience without seeing a fall off in engagement.” n

With 3,000 followers on Pinterest, Sambazon’s approach is slightly different with this platform. One look at the company’s Pinterest page reveals that the brand has aligned itself with the types of things and people that are closely related to its own values, including healthy living, exercise and eating. “So much of Pinterest is about curating content that inspires or that is relevant – whether it’s about healthy living and eating or highlighting tools of the trade for the modern kitchen,” Moraff says. “The strategy is one part knowing what the broader community is vibing on and one part knowing what your role is in the conversations that are taking place.”

KEY TIP: FIND LIKEMINDED PARTNERS Odds are there are people, brands, and community members that you feel “get it” and agree with your stance and perspective. Find ways to work with them to grow your content and presence – together.

Summer 2014

PRINT MARKETING

How to launch

a custom magazine Why your company needs to create a magazine and how you can use it build long-term customer loyalty and increase sales. By Stuart Hood

he journey towards a great custom publication begins with a Venn diagram. Don’t laugh; we’re serious. Grab a pen and a blank piece of paper and draw two circles that overlap in the middle. In one circle write down your company’s business objectives and goals. In the other sphere, write down your current and potential customers’ interests and needs. Done that? Great. The central overlap is where you’ll find the perfect content for your custom magazine. “This is the process my agency goes through whenever we begin working on a custom publication with a new client,” explains Nick Wright, Managing Partner of

Summer 2014

Fourth Element Creative, which has created magazines for companies such as John Deere, Rolex and golf equipment manufacturer Callaway. “We discuss what the client wants to achieve by launching the magazine, and look at the type of things prospective readers are interested in. Then we create content that delivers on both sides of this diagram. For example, we discovered that Callaway wanted to be seen as the number one science company in golf and its readers wanted advice on buying golf clubs and equipment. We knew that Callaway wanted to get more value out of the Tour Professionals they sponsored, while readers wanted tips and lessons. We serviced both goals by creating stories that turned the company’s designers and engineers into superheroes and gave the readers some really cool insights into how the clubs they were buying were being made.” At this point you probably have a

question. Why go to all the expense and effort of producing and mailing out a custom magazine when you can create and upload content to your website or YouTube channel and link to the content from your Facebook page or Twitter feed? It’s a pertinent query, but it’s one that’s quickly rebuffed by Wright. “Not only do magazines remain the most tactile and impressive print medium, they also show your customers that you value them and are serious about the content you are creating for them,” he says. “If you send somebody a glossy 150-page magazine it says that you’re willing to incur writing costs, design costs, photography costs, printing costs and mailing costs to provide them something of value. To me, that makes a much better statement than putting a few pictures on Facebook and tweeting about them. Not to mention that well-crafted long-form content is still the best way to tell a story and engage a reader.” Custom publications also offer companies a greater freedom and ability to personalize a message. With social media, you are constrained by character counts and design templates. When you launch your own magazine, you can design something that

reads and looks exactly how you want it to. “Our editorial proposition is led by the principles that govern the rest of the club,” reveals Justin Quirk, Editorial Director of House, the quarterly cultural magazine produced worldwide by Soho House Group for its members. “Because the club is about creatives, the content of House is driven by creatives working behind A-list stars rather than the stars themselves. And because the

“If you send somebody a glossy

150-page magazine, it says that you’re willing to incur significant production costs to provide them with something of value.”

Summer 2014

PRINT MARKETING

design of the clubs is very comfortable-butmodern, House is designed to reflect this. The idea is for our members to receive this magazine and view it as a product that fits within the whole design aesthetic of the club.” But while statements and design aesthetics are all well and good, your company’s accountants will want answers – cold, hard, quantifiable facts that explain why it’s worth investing time, money and effort into producing a custom publication. “We often use the magazine to build relationships with creatives who we would be interested in working with in the future,” continues Quirk. “But we also get a return on our investment by running paid-for adverts

3 TECHNOLOGIES TO HELP YOUR PRINT MAGAZINE WORK HARDER While great editorial has always inspired people to take an action, these new technologies can instantly connect readers to a comprehensive multimedia content experience.

from appropriate companies and using the magazine as part of what the club can offer brands commercially.” Of course, what constitutes a return on investment depends on your company’s objectives. Perhaps you want the magazine to provide additional revenue by carrying paid-for advertising. Maybe you want the magazine to grow brand awareness. Or perhaps you see it as a tool to drive business. The good news is, whatever the end purpose, there are ways and means to monitor your publication’s success. “We conduct in-depth surveys to gauge what readers are reading in the magazine and what actions they are taking as a

Digital watermarking

A key objective of many custom publications is to drive readers to an online destination. Instead of designing a QR code or Microsoft tag into a layout, a digital watermark embeds imperceptible digital information in photos or behind copy to create an invisible hyperlink. Readers simply need to point their smartphones at the page to connect to additional online content.

consequence,” reveals Tim Talevich, Editorial Director of Costco Connection, the magazine distributed to Costco members. “We have found that 60 percent of our readers will buy something they saw in an ad or read about in a story in the Connection.” To put this into some kind of context, each issue of Costco Connection is distributed to more than 8.6 million Americans. This means over 5.1 million people will purchase something at Costco as a direct result of reading about it in its custom magazine. This represents a significant return on investment. “For us, the key is finding a connection with Costco within all of our content,” continues Talevich. “This means that every story must somehow relate to our company. Initially, this might sound constraining but it really isn’t. The link can take shape in many forms, from member and supplier profiles to features on celebrities whose books or movies are available at Costco.” In other words, the secret behind Costco Connection’s success isn’t cramming its pages with money-off vouchers or packing them with praise of its products. It’s about coming up with strong, focused editorial content that engages the reader. “The idea that custom magazines just try and sell you something is a little bit out of date,” reveals Nick Wright. “Consumers aren’t stupid. They know that if they are reading a custom mgazine, they are being sold to. But our experience is that people don’t mind being sold to if they are being entertained, educated and engaged.” The idea that custom magazines are the poor relation of the publishing industry is also

Quick Response codes

Although you’ve seen them in many different places, QR codes are especially effective in magazines, according to statistics released by Pitney Bowes. More versatile than a regular barcode, a QR code can be used to direct readers to online portals where they can find out more about the topics or products featured within an editorial feature. They can also view extra content or register to receive mobile coupons.

Augmented Reality (AR)

A technology that enables mobile devices to recognize live objects and then activate videos or graphics, AR has been dubbed as “interactive print.” For example, readers of the women’s magazine Elle can focus a tablet over a movie review and watch as the promotional trailer begins to play on the device. In a recent issue of Cosmopolitan, an interactive ad allowed readers to “try on” a makeup product via an AR app.

Summer 2014

dated. “A decade ago there was a stigma around contract publishing,” believes Justin Quirk. “It was seen as something you ended up in when your career had run its course in editorial because it was believed to be less creative than the consumer magazine industry, and much more straightjacketed by commercial concerns. Now things are completely different. Consumer publications have become very “safe” because they are terrified to lose advertisers or suffer a potentially cataclysmic dip in sales, whereas contract magazines do not have these worries, so are able to be a bit more adventurous. This has prompted a lot of talent to migrate and this “Consumer publications have become has upped the quality of contract very safe because they are terrified publications tremendously.” Quirk and Wright are two to lose advertisers or sales. Custom talents who have migrated magazines do not have those worries.” from consumer to contract publishing and both cite Red Bull’s Red Bulletin as an example of a magazine that’s currently doing custom communicates with its audience and is publishing well. “I think you have to give packed with great content, why does it need enormous credit to Red Bull,” says Quirk. “It traditional media anymore?” has given the team of creatives who work on The answer is it doesn’t. While your Red Bulletin a huge degree of freedom to go company might not be as large as Red and create incredible content that doesn’t Bull, this revelation brings us to another always have an obvious link back to the interesting bonus of custom publishing. If product.” your company gets it right, then say goodbye “Red Bulletin is very, very good,” agrees to spending money advertising in national or Wright. “It delivers great content in a way that increases brand awareness without preaching the Red Bull story on every page. It’s also a magazine that raises an interesting question. If Red Bull has its own print publication that

local newspapers, goodbye to spending time pitching products or stories to consumer magazines and hello to targeting the people you want to target on your terms. “Just make sure you don’t make the mistake of viewing your publication as just a magazine,” advises Wright. “In the last few years, custom publishing has made huge technological advances, and today’s top publications often include QR codes, which readers can scan with their smartphones. Sometimes this process might lead them to a value-adding video and sometimes it might take them to extra photos of a product that can be purchased from the company’s website. It means custom magazines can now prompt readers to make buying decisions without leaving the house. And this means they offer potentially huge gains for brands who get it right.” Well, what are you waiting for? Grab a pen and paper and start sketching that Venn diagram, because the sooner you work out the content needs of your custom magazine, the sooner you can employ a team of creatives to put your magazine together. And the sooner you do this, the sooner you can begin to enjoy the returns on investment that stem from a good custom publication. n

Summer 2014

MY WORKING DAY

My Working Day

The multifacted role of the Creative Director Jeremy Estroff, Creative Director, Go! Experience Design, Atlanta

ike most people in the creative and media industries, I don’t have what you would call a ‘regular’ working day. I have regular elements to all my days. For example, I will always check lots of emails and have lots of phone conversations, but how I spend the rest of my time depends on the projects on which I am working. I can be involved in pitching ideas to clients, helping to respond to RFPs or working on-site with clients.

“To give you some background into our company, we are a subsidiary of Omnicom and employs more than 50 full-time staff in four offices around the country. We are a little more experiential than your normal

Kia project involves us publicizing and generating awareness of the redesign the company’s cars have undergone since it hired design legend Peter Schreyer from Audi. The K900 is Kia’s new luxury

To supplement these events, we are also building a digital platform through the activation of an iPad app that offers a unique user experience with the vehicle. The Coca-Cola brief involves us working with the brand’s global design team and Chief Innovation Officer on a live activation at this summer’s soccer World Cup in Rio. Our job is to design a space that brings the story of Coca-Cola’s innovation to life for the company’s

and presenting ideas to existing clients and answering new business RFPs (requests for proposals) from potential clients. One of the RFPs currently on the table is from Google, which is very exciting because Google certainly plays differently to other companies. Getting a creative team together and coming up with ideas that fit the Google brief is really fun. Yes, I did say “fun.” At some agencies, concept meetings can

“There is no such thing as a bad idea. After all, a bad idea can help generate a good one.” communications agency, however. Our client book includes Astra Zeneca, Bank of America, Reebok and a lot of car manufacturers. At present, I’m working on several live activations for Kia and Coca-Cola, overseeing a video project in Dubai, and concepting for a live activation for Google. Life is pretty nonstop right now. The

vehicle and our latest brief at the agency is to communicate the launch of the car. To achieve this, we are getting the car in front of consumers through a variety of auto shows, press receptions and high-end sponsorship and licensing opportunities, including the Belmont Stakes horse race and the Concours d’Elegance car show.

guests at the tournament in Brazil. Thanks to good planning and communication, I’m pleased to say that we’re all on the same page in terms of design and direction. Obviously, talking to our clients and Go!’s in-house designers and producers about these two projects takes up a lot of my time at present. But I’m also involved in developing

feel very pressurized, but at Go! no-one points fingers, tells people what to do or ridicules a bad idea. This is partly because the company has a very libertarian management style, and partly because we strongly believe that there is no such thing as a bad idea. After all, a bad idea can help someone else generate a good one.” n

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO PUT ON A GREAT LIVE ACTIVATION 1. Collaboration and communication

2. Time and forward planning

These two are crucial. If you want to put on a good live activation everyone has to step up to the plate. Ensure this happens by constantly working with and talking to your clients and within your own team.

Creativity is compromised when clients come to an agency and say, “What’s the idea? Give it to me now.” Good creative needs time to incubate, so build in time to make sure you can bring your best work to the table.

3. Inspiration

4. Good producers

It’s impossible to just sit down and come up with the best idea for the set-up of a $500,000 stage. The best ideas come when people are relaxed and inspired. That’s why we regularly schedule pressure-free creative concept sessions.

There is no point in having a great idea if the client cannot afford to pull it off. That’s why we place a big emphasis on involving our producers in the creative process. They are our “grounders.” They keep us on task and make sure we can afford to play.

5. Passion and enthusiasm You have to “live” the business. Last week I was the Creative Director for an event in New York. Once it started, my job technically was over, but did I relax? No. The team was in full production mode and I wanted to help.

CALENDAR SHOWCASE S

Each quarter, Hopkins Printing produces and distributes a quarterly calendar and notepad that have been designed for Hopkins Printing by one of our talented design clients. We are pleased to showcase the design by Epsilon Ryan Partnership, for our 2014 Q3 calendar project.

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2014

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