October 17, 2011
It’s not too long ago we were hearing of brands racing to a million followers, and seeing their efforts focused on growing an enormous Facebook following on their corporate Page. We must question if this the right approach for brands with a presence across hundreds of markets. It seems foolish to think that a post made in Halifax can be relevant to someone in Victoria, and in social media, where relevant content is king, this simply isn’t the case.
Brands on the leading edge of social media have already started to shift towards a local social engagement strategy, look no further than Walmart for proof of that. Engaging with fans on a local level helps brands create a more personal and relevant connection with their customers.
Think of it this way, Sally-Jane from Penticton, BC doesn’t go all the way to Toronto to buy a new patio set from Canadian Tire. Instead, she goes down the road to her local store on Railway Street and makes her purchase there. Sally-Jane is more likely to have an appetite for information specific to that location than to the brand as a whole.
Practicing a local engagement strategy offers brands the ability to share relevant promotions, deals and events with their customers, and inevitably leads to a deeper level of engagement. In most cases, brands going local can see up to 10% higher engagement. It isn’t that simple though, brands still need sound strategies to govern and align these local pages to overall communication strategies to get this level of engagement.
This type of strategy requires local managers or employees to be empowered to speak on behalf of your brand on a local level. I know this might seem like a prescription for disaster, but once the proper guidelines and training are in place, success is at your fingertips. Maintaining an official social media policy and establishing rules of engagement are tools that will help set ground rules for your employees’ and will help build the social media sandbox they’re allowed to play in.
Using the right tool for the job will also help quell your uneasiness about letting your brand’s voice rest in the hands of local employees, and at Suitcase we use Expion to ease those uncertainties. It’s formed around a hub and spoke model where governance plays a big role. The hub is formed around a social media centre of excellence that as Jerimiah Owyang describes, facilitates resource sharing and cross-functional communications via the spokes to the eventual end consumer. Corporate can share their best content with local managers and local managers can share their best practices.
This tool also helps us set parameters and implement different layers of approvals to ensure that any message being pushed out in your social networks is appropriate and on-brand.
Letting go of your brand voice in the social space can be a chilling thought, but as more brands move onto Facebook, the ones providing relevant content to their followers are more likely to find success. So when you’re thinking of how you want your brand to interact in the social space, keep Sally-Jane in mind, and think if she’s willing come all the way down to your head office to buy the latest and greatest product you’re offering.
Category: Engagement Marketing, Facebook Marketing, Local Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Uncategorized
April 29, 2011
As we say goodbye to a cold, bitter winter and welcome the fresh, new spring weather we’ve noticed that two things haven’t really changed around our offices. First, clients are still knocking on our doors because they realize they need to learn to better engage with their customers, and second, talented people are flocking over to join our team to help forge a new frontier.
With great new clients comes great new talent, and the new guy in town is Mark James Lucas, our Art Director extraordinaire. Not only does he have three first names, he also brings with him over a decade of experience in the digital space and a specialty in mobile UI design.
Mark’s extensive experience with some of North American’s biggest brands, including Dell, AT&T, Best Buy, Harley Davidson and USAA, will certainly be a great benefit to our clients. He will help by adding a keen sense of user-centric design and insights into information hierarchy and architecture.
“After spending six years at a large digital agency, I needed a change,” explains Mark, “I had heard nothing but great things about Suitcase, and after meeting with the executive team and learning of the new direction Suitcase is going, with a paramount goal to be leaders in social media and mobile technology space, I was hook, line and sinker.”
Mark’s insights and knowledge can already be felt around our offices, and we’re excited to fill his plate with new projects for SportChek, Atmosphere and Mark’s Work Wearhouse, along with dipping his toe in all the work here at Suitcase.
Want to personally congratulate him? Email him at mark@suitcaseinteractive.com because I’m sure he’d love to hear from you.
Category: Appointment Notices, Suitcase News, Uncategorized
March 31, 2011
We expected that our move towards becoming an engagement agency was going to attract the attention of a number of innovative companies looking to better connect with their customers.
And, for the past few months that’s been happening with the addition of several new clients here at Suitcase.
We also expected that our new direction, and new client acquisitions would attract new, talented people who have signed up for the ride.
The latest arrival is Gordon Ellis who is Suitcase’s shiny, new, account director. Joining from Taxi, where he handled top brands such as Tourism Jasper, the University of Calgary, Southcentre Mall and a little airline known as WestJet. Gordon’s relationship focus, strategic acumen and keen eye for creative opportunities will be huge assets for Suitcase.
“To me, Suitcase is one of those agencies that gets it,” Gordon explains, “Advertising and communications is now about engagement. It’s about having a conversation with the consumer. It’s about finding out what they want and how they want to receive that information. Once you know that, your ROI is going to increase.”
Not surprisingly, starting conversations and increasing ROI are at the top of his list as he takes the reigns of our Jayman, and Mark’s accounts. He will also be collaborating with the rest of our team on digital marketing and engagement strategies for every client here at Suitcase.
If you want to pass along your congrats, or to confab with him about your company’s digital and engagement strategies, you can email Gordon at gordon@suitcaseinteractive.com
Category: Appointment Notices, Suitcase News, Uncategorized
March 22, 2011
In 1981, the Buggles’ 1979 single Video Killed the Radio Star, became the first song played on the fledgling cable network MTV. Almost masochistically, radio stations started playing the song in high rotation, in a move that many saw as the broadcasters’ take on rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
Yet, here we are 30 years later, and radio is still here, albeit minus a few stars, but still going strong. Which begs the question: what are the Buggles up to these days?
As is often the case, with premature pronouncements of any media’s demise, its finality is often exaggerated.
The main reason is an audience’s desire for relevant, high-value information. In social media it’s been said that content is King, but quality is Queen and seasoned media outlets have been producing that for years.
Case in point is National Public Radio (NPR) out of the United States. Instead of collapsing in the face of the rise of social media, or seeing it as a threat, NPR embraced the chance to offer another point of contact for their incredibly loyal audience. Continue reading
Category: Uncategorized
Even with the long winters, the vast expanse of our frontier, or our collective, ahem, socialist tendencies, it’s still amazing that once again Canadians have taken the honour as the world’s top internet users.
The study, released by digital measurement firm comScore, found that for the fourth quarter of 2010 Canadians spent an average of 44 hours online each month.
Canadians lead the world in great beers and time spent online.
Category: Uncategorized
January 25, 2011
Being digital marketers at the core, we obviously believe strongly in the power of the web as a communication tool. Interestingly, as we work with more retail brands we’re discovering that the web is a marketing platform that actually allows your message to grow and spread when it’s merged with social-media tools.
In other words, this multi-faceted platform can engage the voice of a brand directly to its consumers, and also be a tool that empowers those consumers to spread the word to other consumers. In my opinion, this brand extension is quickly becoming a retail marketer’s greatest asset.
I’m not proposing that traditional advertising is dead, or outdated. If planned properly more traditional methods, which are always effective at directing people online, don’t have to be replaced, but can be leveraged. Imagine rolling all your traditional advertising into a snowball and then pushing it down a hill. You’d be able to watch as its influence grows exponentially as your consumers interact and share information about your product, service or company. The image below illustrates how this can work.
For example, a flyer can still remain a flyer, but a social campaign call-out can be added to the cover. A TV spot can remain a TV spot, but with a social media call-to-action where consumers are invited to interact with your brand and other consumers. The goal is to have your media mix working together to ultimately drive foot traffic to stores.
It does however take some time, experimentation, TLC and patience. Don’t think that it’s a switch you can just turn on. Starbucks, Oreo, Skittles and Coke definitely didn’t acquire their millions of fans overnight. It’s taken years of tweaking and investing but what a powerful asset they’ve built. Each of the above brands list have in excess of 15 million people listening to and conversing with them on Facebook. This connection is something they use at the drop of a hat to run quick promotions, events, sales, campaigns, and more.
That’s the kind of nimbleness and opportunity almost any company would aspire for – what about yours?
If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you, please comment here on the blog, or you can reach me at trent@suitcaseinteractive.com
Category: Location Based Marketing, Location-Based Experiences, Mobile Marketing, Uncategorized
January 13, 2011
Predictions, prognostications, big hairy prophesies –whichever term you use, the start of a new year just lends itself to forecasting what next 365 will offer.
If we learned one thing about social, mobile and location-based marketing technologies and applications in 2010, it’s that no matter how audacious our thoughts may be, our prediction is that several new, never-before imagined ideas will rise to the top of our industry and surprise us all.
But, for now here are our best guesses for social, mobile and location-based marketing in 2011.
Social Shopping Could Be the Next Big Thing
Social shopping as a concept has been around for a while with sites like Kaboodle, ShopStyle, Wists, Wishlistr and Zozolo, but most of the current communities haven’t gained mass appeal. Despite some shortcomings, Apple’s Ping social network is a great example of social shopping in action. Continue reading
Category: Uncategorized
December 6, 2010
*As cherry picked from Robert Solomon’s “The Art of Client Service”
Last week we took a look at our client-relationship philosophy through a series of 11 Commandments stemming from Robert Solomon’s book “The Art of Client Service”. We hold these combined 11 points to be the measuring stick when evaluating our interactions with customers. Please join us as we conclude the list that we started in Part One. Continue reading
Category: Uncategorized
November 27, 2010
Coca-Cola is doing brands that are currently testing the waters of the location-based marketing pool a big favour by leaping in cannonball style.
With today being Black Friday – and the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States – Coca-Cola has embarked on nation-wide, location-based scavenger hunt campaign that will be fed directly into the hands of users running the SCVNGR app.
Category: Branding, Location Based Marketing, Location-Based Experiences, Uncategorized
November 24, 2010
*As cherry picked from Robert Solomon’s “The Art of Client Service”
In his book “The Art of Client Service”, Robert Solomon evaluates the importance of the client-agency relationship through a series of 58 points pulled from his own experience. He goes so far as to suggest that the strength of creative output, production and longevity all rest on the strength of the client relationship.
We at Suitcase Interactive agree whole-heartedly with Mr. Solomon and strive to nurture our client relationships. In an increasingly digital world, it is easy to lose sight of the human connections that make up our end-goals. Beyond the websites and digital interactions that we developed are the human interactions and relationships that comprise the real finished product. Keeping that in mind we focus on meaningful client relations and work to promote mutually beneficial partnerships.
Category: Uncategorized
