News

As the New Year rolls around, everyone inevitably compiles the usual list of resolutions: lose weight, eat better, Tweet more often, watch TV less, etc. Here at Koroberi, we’ve compiled a short list of resolutions that we feel will bring more value to our clients in 2010. Below are my media and marketing resolutions for the New Year.

1. Don’t let clients engage in social media without them knowing why.

Too often, B2B companies see social media as simply creating a Facebook page, adding a Twitter account or uploading videos to YouTube. It’s our job to help them see the big picture. Identifying key objectives, understanding customer behavior and devising a detailed strategy are paramount to any successful marketing initiative, so why shouldn’t that apply to a social media campaign?

2. Create measurable metrics for all social media activities.

Once upon a time, social media was seen as the “immeasurable medium” that offered no identifiable metrics, therefore making it impossible to calculate ROI. Those days are history. With tightened budgets and uneasy executives making marketing decisions, creating quantifiable metrics and demonstrating ROI can make the difference between a successful social media campaign and one that never gets off the ground.

3. Move beyond email marketing.

I won’t go as far as saying that email is dead, but there is an oversaturation of email marketing in the B2B space. What was once an affordable, fairly simple form of advertising has deteriorated into a spam-ridden vehicle utilized by many and read by few. So what’s next? SMS advertising? Social search marketing? Online video sponsorship? How about a return to direct mail now that the receipt of a letter has become a rarity?

Back when surfing was just beginning to catch fire in southern California and elsewhere, there was an intrepid band of film producers from this region (themselves legendary surfers, like Greg Noll) who were contributing to the sport’s popularity by making a series of films that documented the first big wave riders and their assault on Oahu’s fabled North Shore.

Complimenting this furious output of homegrown moviemaking was a series of film posters that more than anything else serve as a time capsule to the early days of  surfing and the artistic sensibilities that surrounded our culture at that time.

The posters in many instances have a common type usage and format similar to the popular film posters of graphic designer Saul Bass but begin to play off in wildly imaginitive tangents, each one a small document to the heady days of the burgeoning surf scene.

The films themselves had their world premieres in locales such as the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and Van Nuys High School. The venues may not seem that impressive in comparison to their Hollywood counterparts, but these locations, these movies and these incredible posters all played a seminal role in influencing generations of young surfers and skaters – such as the legendary Z Boys of Dogtown – creating a youth culture phenomenon that continues to this day.

How many times has a client balked at a project price or the deliverables associated with a project and wanted to negotiate? You presented good solid pricing that represented the scope of the job well, and they just didn’t accept it. Do you stand firm or lower the price to get the work? It is always a challenge when dealing with clients who always haggle. Sometimes you just shake your head and wonder if they act that way in real life situations.

Last week Koroberi discovered we had won second place in the best small agency category of the 2009 BtoB Top Agencies Report. These are the real-deal awards for the business-to-business marketing community-sponsored by BtoB Magazine and Crain Communications, publishers of Advertising Age and a bunch of other great books.

Koroberi has placed in the top 125 agencies for each of the past two annual awards, which was pretty cool at the time. But this is different. This is the big time. Not that great things don’t come from Chapel Hill, NC (think about the NCAA basketball team for a second), but generally the top marketing spots (just like top law firms, top accounting firms, top restaurants, etc) go to shops in New York, San Francisco or Chicago. Not a bad thing, just the way it is.

But second place is a funny place to be. What’s particularly great about this win is that two years ago at an agency planning retreat, we set ourselves the goal of being in the top twenty BtoB agencies in America within five years. An aggressive goal at the time, but one we thought we could reach. Now, only two years later and thanks to some great clients and great work, we find ourselves in the top part of the top 10. It’s a little funny, actually. Not that we didn’t do some great work. We knew that when we produced it. We knew that when the client approved it. And we surely knew that when awards began coming in throughout the year. In fact, it took a lot of first places to win this second place.

So here we are in 2009, with a wonderful award in hand. All the more reason to appreciate it and the work it represents. In the meantime, we know that we are going to keep doing great work, keep winning great clients, and we will see if we can get a first place next year. Until then, we try harder.

To read more about the BtoB Magazine Awards and Koroberi’s stellar 2008 year, visit http://tiny.cc/Koroberi.

To see case studies detailing our submissions, please visit http://www.koroberi.com/case-studies.

The news that the 200-foot wide asteroid dubbed DD45 2009 narrowly avoided a collision with the earth earlier this week got me thinking.

Sure, the economy sucks, the advertising and marketing job force is contracting at an alarming rate, my 401k is shrinking faster than a pair of silk undies laundered on hot, and my follicle-challenged pate now has way more salt than pepper in it. But, on the other hand, I didn’t have my molecules rearranged on Monday by a concussive force equivalent to a thousand atomic bombs. You can whine all you want about the current state of world affairs (and I’ll continue to contribute to the cacophony myself, to be sure) but you have to admit, we still have a lot to be thankful for. Sometimes it just takes a bolt out of the blue to remind us.

Advertising and PR firms are often the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to economic indicators. Because we work on the cutting edge of production and consumption, we often see, and are affected by, economic downturns and upturns earlier than more general service industries. So for all the folks who thought we were crazy talking about a downturn back in late 2007, oh well….

But now that we are all here, let’s talk about survival.

Surviving in a downturn means taking the same medicine as our clients - controlling costs, being fiscally responsible, and providing value for money.

The first responsibility is to stay solvent. If this means cutting agency travel, perks and even staff, then you just have to bite the bullet. Observing the impact of some recent agency bankruptcies provides well-managed companies a chance to capitalize on Koroberi’s history of fiscal responsibility, good credit and strong cash position - credentials and references that are of equal importance to good work. Nobody wants their trusted business partner to go under, and even less so to go under owing money already paid by the client in good faith.

But in addition to sound financial management, you’ve got to proactively provide clients with more for less. Don’t wait for the budget cuts, they are going to come. Instead, look at ways you can help your client succeed in spite of the budget pressures they face.

If you are able, offer to assist with client cash flow management through delayed or accrued billing.

Keep negotiating with publishers and other vendors for better deals and discounts, and pass these on to the client. Of course, you need to have great credit and a good paying history to get these discounts, which reinforces the need for sound fiscal management mentioned earlier.

Develop program and package bundles that allow you to pass on savings in return for longer term client commitments. We are all in the same boat, so be open about what you are doing and why. Publishers, media companies and printers intent on survival would all rather have some business at some price than no business at too high a price.

And finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. There is nothing like sharing the bad times to build relationships.

With a little help from our friends, we can all survive to thrive another day.

Really breakthrough stuff in bringing the look and feel of Flash to the iPhone, although we all know iPhones don’t (and in the near future, won’t) support Flash. Read on…

The recent news that industry giant, Dow Chemical, is planning to lay off employees and shutter many of its plants triggered memories of my experience with the company in headier times.

While working at one of Dow’s advertising agencies in the late 80s – early 90s, I made the 5-hour roundtrip drive between Grand Rapids and Dow’s sprawling Midland campus more times than I can count. I still clearly recall the numerous bleary-eyed, coffee-fueled, deer-dodging commutes necessitated by day-long series of meetings that frequently kicked off as early as 8:00 a.m.

As an early riser by nature, I wasn’t troubled by the on-the-road-before-daybreak routine. And, having grown up in Michigan, I had fully developed the fortuitous ability to detect the glowing retinas of distant roadside deer as they stared into my approaching headlights. The worst part of the commute, by far, was straining to maintain bladder control after 12 ounces of coffee had worked its way through my system.

Fully two-thirds of the route between Grand Rapids and Midland consisted of state and county roads winding through rural areas that lacked even the crudest facilities for the bladder-challenged traveler. On more than one occasion, passing motorists witnessed the spectacle of a guy in a three-piece suit and sheepish grin desperately irrigating the graveled shoulder of US 10 from behind the cover of an open passenger-side door.

My flirtation with potential arrest for public indecency notwithstanding, what is truly most memorable about my salad days as copywriter, and later, copy/contact account manager, for Dow’s now-defunct Packaging and Industrial Foams division, are the lessons I learned about client/agency relationships.

Back then, our agency was regarded as an integral part of the product management team. We were welcomed into the inner circle of product stakeholders, meeting regularly with product managers, product marketing managers, product development specialists, research scientists, field sales personnel, and even high-level corporate executives. We were admired for our inquisitive natures and our ability to talk about features and benefits in the often arcane vernacular of their customers and prospects. Our clients appreciated the wisdom of our counsel, entrusted us with even the most proprietary information, and placed a high value on effective, well-funded marketing efforts (even during the 1990-1991 recession).

By virtue of our being fully embedded in the product sales and marketing process, and with the enthusiastic support of our marketing partners at Dow, we found it relatively easy to develop comprehensive, integrated branding and marketing programs that delivered measurable, bottom line-enhancing results.

Unless its philosophy has changed dramatically in the intervening years, I would fully expect that of the numerous companies currently feeling the pinch of a tightening economy, The Dow Chemical Company isn’t going to be one that compounds the problem by pulling the rug out from under its marketing efforts. As much as it hurts to institute layoffs and curtail underperforming operations, smart companies recognize the intrinsic value of consistent marketing and aren’t afraid to fund it adequately in good times and in bad — especially when they are confident in the agencies with whom they partner.

If more companies followed Dow’s example, they would surely emerge with an enhanced competitive position once the economy finally starts turning around.

I’ve been thinking about some of the downturns I’ve worked through in the ‘80s, ‘90s and earlier this decade. I’ve re-read articles published during those periods and found a common theme—this time of uncertainty is an Opportunity.

Advertising is an investment just like a machine that cuts production costs. Consider the lead time of sales in the B2B space. Few industrial products are purchased on impulse. Especially when every dollar spent is being scrutinized. Current advertising affects your future. At worst, advertising now facilitates a holding pattern. Advertising keeps your product in front of your customers; without advertising, a vacuum of information starts to develop.

Stopping your advertising has eroding effects. When advertising is cut out, the result is always diminished company and product awareness, fewer in-bound calls, fewer sales appointments for your reps to go to, fewer sales, decreasing share of market, less revenue, less profit and so on. Maintaining your share of sales and market now is much less costly than trying to rebuild them later. Once your momentum stops, you start over from scratch later.

Also remember, there’s always turnover at your customers and prospects. New specifiers might be starting today, next week or next month. Do they know anything about you yet? Advertising to these new influences is critical especially when they’re trying to maximize their impact and make their mark.

One of the most compelling considerations about advertising in a recession is the opportunity to steal sales and market share from a competitor who’s thrown the brakes on their own advertising. Think about the double whammy you can score: less competition in the marketplace of ideas from them means more impressions and more potential sales for you.

Jeff Asher is the Regional Sales Manager of New Equipment Digest, published by Penton Media, Inc.