Marketing Magic

The Golden Compass of Comms…

For homework at Uni this week we’ve been asked to study some socio/psycholinguistic theory.

I won’t lie I’ve always been fascinated by this area of study, anthropology, semantics and structuralism. Its partly why I went into Marketing, the passion I have for studying people meant I was always going to enter a field that meant I put the wants/needs and behaviour of others at the forefront of my mind.

Psycholinguistics = the study of the relationship between  language  and the cognitive or behavioral characteristics of those who use it.

I imagine you’re wondering what this has to do with my little marketing blog…well, actually, everything.

You see, a lot of marketers forget that every word they use impacts each consumer as an individual as well as socially. This is why segmenting your market is so important for all comms based endeavours. If you are unaware of the local dialect/nuances then you will not be able to effectively reach out to that entire market. Same goes for generation differences and socio demographics.

Every individual consumer will interpret your message in their own way (according to Schramm’s model of communication) incorporating their own experiences, knowledge and a host of other PESTLE factors, though, interestingly, consumers are proven to change behaviour within social groups, changing into a different ‘self’ with different category needs that will fit in with the group.

I must admit that the easiest way I can think of to describe psycho linguistics within marketing comms is to compare it to the alethiometer from Philip Pullmans - His Dark Materials trilogy.

The main character Lyra Belacqua is given the “truth teller” at the beginning of the book and shows a remarkable talent in reading the different meanings.

Lyra must first turn the smaller three hands on to the pictures she feels indicate a question she needs an answer to. The larger hand will then dance around to the pictures that reveal an answer. As with anything involving interpretation each of the symbols has more than one meaning depending on the situation and relation to the other symbols it has been paired with. 

In short, the alethiometer supplies the semantic content of a message, and the mind of the inquirer supplies the grammatical connections between the individual elements. Only when the two work together does the full meaning become apparent.

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In Psycholinguistics, Chomsky’s theory is that as humans we are born with an innate knowledge of language and as such are hardwired to not only learn language but syntax as well. This stems from what has been identified as a poverty of stimulus that would make it hard for a child to havebeen taught things such as grammar and dialect without some natural understanding.

This is intersting for marketers as we can begin to see where good marketing and branding has affected how people use language (for example when requesting a cola flavoured beverage we ask for a “coke”, or when writing about Apple’s iPod we forget the rules of capitalisation at the beginning of a sentance.)

In conclusion, be aware of what you’re saying and the implications to the wider audience.

Till next time,

Kee

Ad Sense

The first thing you need to do when creating an advert is ask yourself “Who are we and what the hell are we selling…and who on earth to???”.

I’m serious, REALLY look at the product - take barclays for example - Barclays bank is one of the oldest bank groups in the UK. They have always been known as the “serious” bank and the one for business. Without changing their positioning they have managed to create advertising that draws in fresh faces AND created a much more friendly feel to banking with them all by understanding their products and services and the value attached to them.

I don’t just mean the fiscal value I mean the value of your consumers learned behaviour towards your brand - the risk factor of trying to change it. - The value of your brands associations (Good example of this is when P&G decided to start an ad campaign that showed all their brands instead of an ad for each)

Its imperative for messages to be clear and concise - by all means make them exciting but don’t deter from the overall message or clutter them with so much noise that no one is quite sure what they’re meant to be taking from it.

/rant.

FYI best new advert has got to be the new Weetabix one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLUkpyTUi5M

Enjoy.

Terrific Tweets Thursday! :-)

Welcome to the first of many! 

We’re all about shouting about FAB marketers so I thought I’d go through a couple of our favourite Tweeps and explain why we have a soft spot for them…

@JustEat_UK  - Awesome bunch over at Just Eat towers, they use twitter in a way that can only be described as masterful. http://www.just-eat.co.uk/ check out their website for the history of this Takeaway Simplification Tool! Follow them for all the promotions and banter you could ask for!

@ohcomelymag - Watch out for this one, with the loveliest approach to marketing and writing I’ve seen in a long time it is easy to see why this magazine is being snapped up by stockists globally. Follow them for all things lovely!

@O2 - I love O2 They’re my favourite people for social media. They use it to converse with consumers and offer advice. They always hold their hands up to mistakes and help when needed. 

I hope you enjoy these follows for their marketing prowess as much as I do!

:-)

Have a wonderful bank holiday!

Twits and Bookers.

Good day fellow Marketing Magicles!

I’m going to use a bit of a buzz word today: Social Media.

As a massive fan (and overuser) of social media you would think that I would be a complete ambassador in its use within Marketing. I am not.

Don’t get me wrong, like all new networking and social technology, it has its place BUT I have a little fear and it goes something like this…

A small business called Little Red Riding Hood begins her voyage to becoming global! She packs up her basket of goodies and sets off on her way.

Halfway up the hill she encounters a wolf who gives her a magic chain and tells her that using this chain she’ll be able to bind all of the random people she meets to her and this will help her get along in business. She continues on and sure enough everytime she meets someone they become linked to her by this chain. At first this is great.

“Look how popular I am, so many great people that I can turn to whenever I need”

After another hour or two she stumbles upon a book, curious she picks it up and peeks inside, there she sees all her friends and favourite things.

“What a helpful little book.”

So she pops it in her basket and off she trails, still collecting people on her chain. After a while she notices the book is getting bigger and bigger until it bursts open and starts shouting at her, the sound sends all her chained friends into a frenzy and so they all start talking about different things at once. With so much noise from all her friends and favourite things LRRH found it hard to be heard at all.

Sad, and quiet she continues to tackle this huge mountain but stops when she hears a friendly chirping noise. Glancing up she catches a glimpse of a cute little bluebird. After a moment the bird comes back over and starts to chirp in her ear and then stares at her as though waiting for a reply. Put at ease by the birds loveliness she does indeed start to tweet back to the bird happily as she sets back off with a new spring in her step. The bird starts to chirp about celebrities and songs, making her day go faster and happier. Soon she begins to stop replying to the bird but still it tweets and the tweets become more and more inane.

In the mid summer air she sits, defeated and tired, when a fairy godmother steps in and explains to LRRH where she went wrong.

So, under the Fairy Godmother’s advice LRRH begins to make lists of all those linked to her chain that are relevant and useful connections. Anyone not on the list was released. She did the same with her friends and likes in the book and tore irrelevant or unwanted pages out.  As far as the bird went, the Fairy Godmother explained to LRRH that she should train the bird to only chirp when important and to, in turn, chirp back.

Small businesses and indeed large ones too must remember that noise can overpower any messages.

In order to be sure your consumers are receiving and interpreting your messages correctly you will have to declutter.

Some of the best usage of social media I’ve seen recently has been from Skittles, O2 and Pizza Hut.

They engage with consumers, they understand who they’re talking to and they aren’t afraid to talk to people to resolve any issues or negative feedback.

Remember Social is the key word, not business, not sales platform, Social.

Personally I like to see brands who are excited to be them. If social media is the platform to do that then fantastic. There’s nothing better than logging on to facebook and looking at the new O2 game or having a chat with your favourite brands, as long as they chat back.

Have fun with it.

Keeley x

Muffin Much To Do With Marketing

As budding marketers we’re told to look at the marketing mix as we would a cake mix.

You put the right amount of all the right ingredients in, mix well, pop in the oven and out comes a lovely marketing plan. Grand.

Except, now we’re left with a slab of sponge. Now some people are ok with sponge, like my Grandad for example, he’s always said:

“There’s nuffin’ wrong wiv a slab of sponge wiv a good cuppa.”

- Grandad Row.

He’s right too. It’s pretty simple, tasty and heaven knows it’s traditional to boot, but, where’s the fun? When do you ever look at a piece of sponge and feel inspired. Hell, when do you look at a piece of sponge and want to throw away your diet (and money) for it?

When I buy a cake it has to make my mouth water. It has to make me giggle when I bite in and feel naughty but happy all at once.  It’s the same with marketing, when I see a campaign that is exciting, new and clever I feel the passion. I feel happy inside and it makes my brain fizz with ideas. I get inspired.  It’s so easy nowadays to be lazy as a marketer whether it’s years of people not knowing what our point was or just that we care less about enthusing the masses, I don’t know.

Now imagine that sponge topped with buttercream frosting in all the colours you could think of. Pop a layer of chocolate in the middle of it. Cut it up into an Elephant or a Goose or a Pterodactyl! Why? Because you can. Because with imagination and passion the world is yours and the consumers are too.

My point is, marketing isn’t just about going through a process and coming out with a bog standard plan. Marketing is about getting that plan and then working out how it can be amazing. It’s about getting as much information about your consumer, UNDERSTANDING that information and then, trusting it to be your recipe. Of course then all you have to do is trust yourself enough to do the finishing touches and make your cake the one that people say “wow” to.

Welcome!

Hello!

Lovely to see you here.

Hopefully you’re reading this blog because you’re interested in/wanting to learn about marketing and all its wonderfulness, or you just stumbled across it looking for a wizard! Either way - do join us.

The purpose of this blog is basically to soundboard my ideas about marketing/advertising/typography/branding - the whole lot really - and hopefully help to influence how marketing is seen by outsiders and more importantly insiders.

I guess I got fed up of people not understanding what I do. I am not a sales person. I do not make leaflets and brochures. I am so much more than a copywriter and I do NOT believe in social media “experts” (Go away)

Over the lifespan of this blog I would like to provide you with food for thought and hopefully get you to be as enthused and excited by the world of marketing as I am - or at least close (walk before run eh!?)

I want to use this as a way to record my progress and development as well as a guide for others who are willing to join up for the ride :-)

I hope you enjoy,

Keeley x