Nostalgia Marketing: Did We Just Kill Advertising?

If you thought the nostalgia marketing bubble was due to burst any time now, keep thinking. Reputable ad firms are producing more “remember this” campaigns than ever, leading some to wonder whether this is now a permanent part of advertising.

Recently, AutoTrader.com launched a series of ads featuring the original Dukes of Hazard stars--not the actors who played those characters in the big budget reboot from a few years back. AutoTrader’s campaign is fun and memorable, and plays off themes Dukes fans will love, but you have to wonder: Have we broken the industry?

Hollywood Syndrome

When was the last time a major film studio backed an exciting new franchise? Godzilla, Star Trek, Josie and her Pussycats…you’ve seen it all before. And it’s not just the pulp! Studio execs haven’t met a Shakespeare or Jane Austen rewrite or spin-off they couldn't throw a huge budget and a pile of A-listers at.

Be honest: Every time you see a new trailer for an upcoming I dream of Jeannie or Voltron reboot, you worry nothing new will ever be funded. Hollywood has dusted off and propped up all the good ol’ days favorites, and we all know it’s just plain laziness.

If we all agree this strategy is sub-par, why are we marketers relying on lazy appeals to the characters and products we outgrew decades ago?  

Nostalgia Sells

The short answer is nostalgia has worked pretty well for many brands. Sure, there are some disaster stories, like Nintendo’s downward spiral, propelled by appeals to people who love characters created 20 years ago.

For the most part, though, we love seeing our old favorites re-imagined and sporting the latest brands. Blame it on whatever suits you:

• Wistful longing for better days
• Regret over the loss of our 9/11 or pre American Idol innocence
• Acceptance of  the fact Hannah-Barbera is relevant in any context

As long as our audience keeps rewarding our efforts to associate everything new with anything old, there seems to be no reason for the marketing industry to move on from lazy, cloying sentiment. We've become reliable machines, chugging along and doing the same things we've done for 20 years. 

Remember Creativity?

It’s a sign of the times that even consumers are nostalgic for the marketers of old. Remember when an ad manager would have responded to your pitch with: 

“Dukes of Hazard? That’s been done twice already, show me something fresh!” Then he would have lit up a Marlboro, backhanded you in front of your peers and tossed back a fifth of gin.

Is it time to give creativity a second chance? If you’re afraid you’ve forgotten how to think outside the Nick at Night box, here are some exercises to jumpstart your marketing General Lee:

• Read a book

Shaking up your mental imagery can kick-start your brainstorming. Some of the most original imagery and ideas are being published in literary fiction and graphic novels. Take a break from your favorite marketing blogs and HBO movies for a few nights and earn some paper cuts.

• Resurrect the classics

Read up on marketing strategies people used prior to the television age to rediscover what used to get attention and influence people, and how to apply that to your audience. If you’re stuck in a reinvention rut, you can at least reinvent the classics.

• Remember why you outgrew all that stuff you outgrew

Change the way you think about the things consumers are supposed to feel sentimental toward. You stopped watching Two and a Half Men and ThunderCats for very good reasons, and so did your audience. Just because it used to be popular doesn't mean you need to subject the next generation to it.

What we do isn't rocket science, it’s persuasion. Shouldn't we have more in our toolbox than The Jetsons and Apollo 13?

Scalp Med Reputation Management

I've been working with a client for some time to improve their online reputation.  Some people don't feel that reputation matters, but it does.  One area that most companies ignore is what content is already available online for further promotion and optimization.  For example, the following URLs are on page 2 of Google results as of this post.  However, they should be moving to page one shortly due to their authority and focus:

www.prweb.com/releases/2013/6/prweb10835047.htm
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scalpmed/427265147327786
www.linkedin.com/company/scalpmed
https://twitter.com/ScalpMed1

In order to fully promote these URLs, we are adding new content, link building, and continuing to optimize based on the metrics we see through our search crawler tools.  The key is patience.  When you're dealing with a company like Scalp Med, or any online retailers, it's important to remember that slow and steady wins the race.

If results happen too quickly, then it's possible that Google will penalize the websites and page one rankings will never happen.  However, when you have sites with a positive page rank and a variety of other factors that indicate authority, it's just a matter of time until rankings improve and the assets you want on page one not only "arrive", but stay there over the long term.

I'll be updating everyone on our progress.  Over the next two months we will again be building quality links into the above mentioned sites to continue building authority. 

Interview with Kevin Madison

Yesterday I had the honor and privilege of interviewing Kevin Madison, founder of the KGM group, on business, marketing, and entrepreneurship.  Kevin's company helps businesses get to the next level by taking new approaches to common problems and thinking differently about their business.

During the interview, Kevin shares not only his business approach but mindset for success as well.  I've learned that having the right mindset and beliefs can radically transform anyone's business.  During this interview, Kevin shares his personal struggles, triumphs, and what they have taught him.

If you'd like to improve your outlook, business, or achieve a specific goal, Kevin's advice will have you thinking differently.  Not only was this interview fun and informational, but transformational.  Don't waste another minute thinking about how you're going to achieve success, live it.  Listen to this exclusive interview with Kevin and you'll see why he has been a positive force for so many so often.

Click here for more information about Kevin's interview.

Special thanks to Kevin and other Internet marketing related experts who have offered their time for interviews and sharing their expertise!   

Social Networks: How Many Is Too Many?

Blogging takes a lot - creating awesome content , designing , moderating comments , commenting on other blogs, guest posting , … And social media is just a part of it. There are over 200 social sites (at least according to Wikipedia ), but does this...

3 Powerful Tips for Effective Blog Writing

Blog writing has become increasingly popular these days. However, many people don't know the basic rules on how to write blog posts and leave readers in a good mood after they read it. You should make a good impression on your readers, because they will...

Getting Your Boss to Invest in Content Marketing

A man by the name of Dr. August Oetker developed his Backin baking powder in the late 1800s. In order to set his product apart from others, he would print recipes on the back. Eventually, Oetker sold cookbooks that included various recipes, all of which involved the use of his baking powder in some way.

What Oetker was doing was an early form of content marketing. This is when someone creates a form of media or published content in order to attract the attention of customers. What differentiates content marketing from other forms of marketing is that you aren’t directly approaching consumers from the point of view of “I intend to sell you something”. 

With content marketing, you are connecting to your customers in other ways. Your boss may be skeptical about an approach that moves away from more obvious marketing campaigns (and costs money that could be spent in other ways), but there are good reasons to consider content marketing a sound investment.

Making Your Brand Useful and Relevant in Different Contexts

Oetker understood that his baking powder was essential to the cooking process. Rather than simply convince his customers of how useful his product was, he demonstrated it with recipes. If you can, consider all the ways your product may be connected to the lives of your customers.

Say for instance you are a provider of construction software that is used for making estimations, project managing, accounting and other related needs. Content marketing could include options such as infographics about the construction industry or sensible project management tips. The content you produce is relevant to the needs of your customers and so you are helping them. You are also linking your company with information that they need.

When you engage in content marketing, you don’t simply stop at discussing your product. You play to all the strengths of your product and how it fits into the lives and businesses of customers.

Content Marketing Can Move You Outside the Box

While content marketing can involve images and ebooks that relate to your customer’s needs, you can also release media that isn’t directly tied to your company’s area of business. For instance, you could create a Smartphone app that allows customers to keep track of their day or even a game. The purpose of the app isn’t directly related to your company...but your company’s logo is prominently displayed.

Some companies attempting to engage younger consumers will opt for games or they may even release music.

In actuality there is no rule for how you engage in content marketing, except that you are engaging customers. You aren’t actively trying to sell at them with the content provided, but you are putting your name in the back of their mind.

Why Content Marketing Can Be the Way to Go

Today many customers have a negative reaction to being bombarded with advertising, especially on the web. Directly engaging customers in an “I’m trying to sell you something” way, particularly through forced ads, has resulted in a negative backlash. Many people even make use of ad-blocking software.

Imagine paying so much money for ads that consumers you want to reach won’t even see? With content marketing, you are able to engage consumers in a way where you’re being useful, helpful and providing them with useful information, services or even a fun game. And as the content is generally free, they’ll already associate you with a bargain.

Content marketing lets you reach out to customers and build a rapport through indirect references to your brand. When positive feelings are established in a way, it can really help customers decide that they want to see what your brand is about and bring their business to you. As this is the ultimate goal, and it has proven successful for a number of businesses, it’s definitely an approach more businesses would be wise to consider.

Special thanks to Ali Lawrence for today's post. Ali Lawrence is a content specialist for a web design company and blogs in her free time at MarCom Land. Her articles have been published by Hot in Social Media, Yahoo! Small Business, and Business2Community.

Online Reputation - Protecting Your Children

The majority of the work I do is helping companies manage and market their online reputation.  But today, I'd like to take a slightly different look at the audience we serve.  Having seen just about everything in this industry (online reputation), I know the most emotionally charged issues are those having to do with us personally or our children.

When it comes to protecting the reputations of those you love, it's hard not to worry about their safety and well being.  I'm sure many of you have had the same conversations that we've had with our children, "Don't post anything online that you wouldn't show us" or "The internet is permanent, think twice before you post pictures" or "Don't have online relationships - you never know who's at the other end", so on and so forth.  And this is all good advice.  However, there's much more you can do to ensure the safety and security of your children online that giving them some general advice.

Here are just a few thing I touch on in my latest ebook which you can download for free, 15 Ways to Protect Your Online Reputation.  The advice that follows is specifically for children who need even more protection:

1.  Register a website name (URL) on their behalf.  Imagine your child being in his teens and making a bad decision.  Maybe he went to a party and had something to drink or his pants fell down and someone took a picture (yes, these things do happy). The next day, some of his friends think it would be funny to share the photo.  But instead of spreading the word via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, they decide to buy the url with contains his name. Okay, now you're in trouble.  They own the domain and are free to post anything they want... pictures, comments , etc.  Before long, all the kids at school know about it and are visiting the website in large numbers.  You think the world is over.  Well, it gets worse.  The more a website is visited, the more popular it becomes, and the more weight Google gives it in search results.  Now you're really screwed.  I won't get into freedom of speech and the legality of getting the site removed, but it will take time and the damage has already be done.  Do yourself a favor, buy a domain name that includes your son's or daughter's full name or nickname if the one you want is not available.

2.  Help your child build an optimized set of social media accounts.  When kids log on to social media, they are more concerned with the tweeting or posting than setting up a well rounded profile.  And that profile stays with them for a very long time.  For example, even though MySpace hasn't been used in forever, many individual's profiles are posted and have remained unchanged despite the fact they are working and others are searching for them online.  If you take the right approach when your kids begin using social media, they'll be following best practices for years to come.  Work with your teen or child to set up popular social media accounts like Google+, Facebook, and Twitter that position them in a positive light.

3.  Deliberately post pictures of your student when appropriate.  Do you have a Facebook account?  Then you probably know quite a bit about tagging people in pictures.  Tagging can be applied in various ways so it's important to make sure that you are publishing images that meet your criteria for "appropriate".  Google image search will pick up images that are properly tagged and you can protect unwanted photos from showing by building a positive repository of images that are okay to be seen.

4. Monitor search results.  Every so often, go to the web and Google your child's name.  This may seem a bit creepy, but monitoring is one of the best ways to nip issues in the bud.  When searching for your child's name, don't bother with quotation marks or any other delimiters.  Instead, take note of what appears.  Are you finding negative information or inappropriate content... or no content at all?  Monitor results, it's your responsibility.

Protecting your child's online reputation is essential. Don't wait for someone else mention tell you when a child's image has been compromised because of what someone said or did online.  It's much more important to be proactive and protect your child.  Reacting once the damage is done can be expensive and time consuming.  Start today.