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#FindNewRoads and #CruzeToLA

November 19, 2015intro-multimedia, UncategorizedBlog site, chevrolet, cruze, cruze to LA, Digital, events, facebook, Grad Student, IMC, Integrated Marketing, outdoor, radio disney music awards, Social Media, sweepstakes, University of Floridastacielscott Leave a comment

Company Analysis: Chevrolet

When someone says describe Chevrolet, one mark seems to always come to mind with consumers and that is the Chevrolet bow-tie emblem. This slanted plus sign has been the logo identity for the company since 1913 and is featured on the front of most if not all Chevrolet models. Wiki defines Chevrolet as the following, “Chevrolet colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM)”. In North America, where we will focus on the Domestic marketing efforts of this project, Chevrolet produces a variety of automobiles from compact cars to trucks to sportsters. Chevrolet has been around for over 100 years selling cars under the GM brand. Chevy became a volume leader in 1919 selling mainstream vehicles to compete with Henry Ford’s Model T. By 1929, Chevy became known as the best selling car in the United States overtaking Ford. Since the company’s inception, the goal of the company has been to be a leader in the automotive world. Despite fierce competition, Chevy has done a great job at remaining mainstream. That’s not to say that in years past, Ford and Dodge haven’t edged Chevy out for best vehicle awards and overall brand popularity, but Chevy is making it’s way back to number one. In 2015, Chevy had three vehicles rank number one for the J.D. Power Initial Quality Award. The Silverado LD won in large light duty pickup category, Malibu took the midsize car category, and Equinox for the compact SUV category. For 2016, Chevy won Motor Trend Car and Truck of the year for their updated design and innovative features in the Camaro and Silverado! With momentum like this, it is imperative for Chevy to continue marketing their vehicles to consumers with an integrated marketing approach. It isn’t 1913 anymore where newspapers were the primary form of advertising for cars. Now more than ever, it is time to think about television everywhere and how every screen and platform is an advertising opportunity.

The goals and objectives for Chevrolet’s overarching brand are as follows:

Goals/Objectives

Reach moms and families and build awareness of Chevrolet brand.
Increase purchase intent for Chevrolet vehicles especially the Cruze and Equinox.
Build awareness of the cool factor and connectivity of Chevrolet vehicles.

The primary target audience for a campaign featuring the Chevy Cruze and Equinox is moms and families. The vehicle features for these models entice both moms and their families when purchasing such a big-ticket item. Everything from gas mileage to innovative technology features to comfort is analyzed before signing the purchase or lease agreement of a brand new vehicle. Moms want to know if the vehicle will entertain their children, is it safe to drive from point A to point B, and is it cost effective. Kids influence the model purchase by the cool factor.

Notably, the automotive industry as a whole is very competitive in design and available features. The biggest rivalry in American Motor history is between Chevrolet and Ford, closely followed by Dodge. The American automotive industry has the most competition between US brands, but lest not forget about the various other automotive companies out there vying for a piece of the auto pie like Toyota, Honda, BMW, Volvo, and Volkswagen just to name a few.

With such a competitive environment comes much opportunity!

Opportunities –

Ability to create innovative features and products offered first or only available in Chevy models.
Become more innovative and try edgy attention grabbing marketing promotions that resonate with the current market.

Strengths –

For 2016, Chevrolet won two categories… Motor Trend Truck and Car of the year. These awards help boost sales and visibility of the brand.
Integrated Technology – Keeps moms and families connected to everything and everyone by introducing Wi-Fi feature within the vehicles. (Up to 7 devices)
As of May this year, Forbes noted Chevrolet as the sixty-second most valuable brand in the United States.

Why Leverage an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Plan Traditional marketing has always been about brand awareness and having the media platforms push advertising campaigns out into the world for people to consume. Traditional advertising campaigns are time-consuming on the front end due to the production lead-time required and the extensive planning of media buys.

With a growing number of social media options, which are far less costly than traditional media, the question arises about why spend so much money on those pricey TV, radio and print ads. However the answer is simple, using both traditional and new media together, as opposed to one versus the other, you can move your message further and reach a larger audience.

“IMC is not a new concept, but it’s more important than ever, as there are now more marketing channels than ever before. Back in the 50’s, marketing campaigns relied heavily on print, radio, and television. It didn’t take much to keep these aligned. But, now with digital media, we have everything from newsletters to social media campaigns. Our marketing tool sheds are filled with new and effective tactics that range from broad messaging (your website’s homepage) to targeting more niche groups (via Instagram),” states Kyle Eliason from Pi Portent.

Quite simply put, your social footprint is just as important as having a website for consumers to find information about your company as is the television spot for additional brand awareness. The platforms all work together to reinforce your marketing message to your targeted consumers.

Additional Integrated Marketing Communications: Ideation

Additional IMC marketing efforts that I would love to see executed in this cross-platform #CruzeToLA campaign are Print, Outdoor, Email and Social.

Flyers

At On The Road To events, custom co-branded flyers would be passed during the festival and to those that visited the Chevrolet booth on site. These flyers would provide all the details for the #CruzeToLA sweepstakes from what you could win to how to enter and earn more entries. The backside of the flyer would call out all the new features of the Chevrolet models they want to tout during this promotion. Additionally, due to the partnership with Nokia Theater, flyers can be handed to those leaving other events held at Nokia Live during the week of March 14 – 20 prior to the sweepstakes closing. Again, these flyers would be co-branded and tout features of the Cruze, but also the #CruzeToLA promotion. Granted these folks are probably from LA, but they can still be entered to win tickets to the RDMAs and a chance a keys to a new Cruze!

Email

Send sweepstakes promotion to the current Chevrolet email-marketing database to provide their super fans the opportunity to enter and just general awareness of the promotion.

Outdoor

Produce co-branded flag banners featuring the Chevrolet Cruze and RDMAs along the surrounding blocks of Downtown LA. This brands the outdoor space of the festival at Ardy’s Pre-show Party and adds to the overall brand awareness of Chevy’s presence and sponsorship of the RDMAs.

Pin-Party

Chevy and Disney to host a week long Pin Party encouraging moms to re-pin the custom promotional pin (found on Chevrolet’s Pinterest page) to their own boards for a chance to win $1,000 and a trip to the RDMAs. Should any of the Pinners also write a blog post about the promotion, and Tweet about it on their social handle hash tagging #CruzeToLA, they will receive 5 additional entries to the sweepstakes. This will be promoted on Chevy’s Facebook page and one of the main hero images on their website.

Pre-roll on YouTube

:10 second Chevrolet branded ad as pre-roll placement prior to main performance at the RDMAs.

For example, their branded spot could lead in to custom video content such as this:

View Here

Proximity Marketing

Those that opt in and accept to receive the offer from Chevy at the On The Road To tour and Ardy’s Pre-show Party will receive a free oil change at any Chevrolet dealership. This gets moms on Chevy lots to look around at the new models they saw at the RDMAs. There would be on-site signage at the pre-show festival about the opt-in offer.

Analysis: #CruzeToLA Sweepstakes Promotion

Analytics would be measured by sweepstakes entries, page views from the digital site and social engagement and impressions pulled from Sprinklr.

Thank you for your time and consideration of the pitch #CruzeToLA Sweepstakes presented by Chevrolet. This IMC promotion will meet your objectives and provide brand awareness to the cool new features of the Cruze!

Reputation Management in a Digital World

November 9, 2015intro-multimediaGrad Student, hilton, hotel reviews, hyatt, reputation, reputation management, Social Media, social media managers, trip advisor, UF, University of Floridastacielscott Leave a comment

This week in my Multimedia Communications course, we studied the value of reputation management and the important role Social Media Managers play in maintaining their company’s stature.

Social Media Managers have a very important role in digital marketing communications as they maintain the brand for company’s social channels. Social Media Managers not only create posts for the social channels they manage, but they also have public conversations on behalf of the brand.

These day’s people have a public place to express how they are feeling at any given moment in time through online forums and social media channels. The feedback that is expressed on these platforms could be either positive or negative.

For our assignment this week we are taking a closer look at how to diffuse negative situations and respond in a positive constructive manner in order to practice good reputation management techniques. Below are two comments left on Trip Advisor for hotel stays at a Hilton and Hyatt. In this assignment, below will be example posts for how Social Media Managers could respond to the comments in order to maintain each the hotels reputations.

Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina Example:

“Maybe we’ll try you again in 10 years.”

Social Media Manager Response:

Dear Luv2TravelWithHubby,

Please accept our sincerest apologize for the lack of hospitality and cleanliness you feel you experienced at our hotel. We truly strive to make your stay a pleasant one since we know you have many hotels to choose from when booking your travel accommodations.

Due to the hotel being fully booked for the reunion, our staff was a little behind in fulfilling requests. We are sorry for any inconvenience. Please note, I will personally follow up with our maintenance staff to check on the plumbing to ensure the hot water heater is working properly and the pool is tended to daily. Our property is known for its relaxing heated outdoor pool and poolside deck, therefore, your experience of inky water and trash in the pool is unacceptable.

We recently renovated our guest rooms outfitting them in floor-to-ceiling windows enhancing the design and providing a breathtaking view of Fort Lauderdale’s famous Intracoastal Waterway. The new design is airy and you shouldn’t be stubbing any toes with the new furniture!

We loved hearing your feedback so that we may continually improve our guest experience, and make sure you have a great experience on a future stay at one of our hotels. Again, we at Hilton are truly sorry that your high school reunion weekend did not meet your expectations, but we hope that you will give us another chance and visit us again.

For your next reservation, please contact Stacie Scott in reservation guest services (800-867-5309), and she will be able to assist you with your future reservation at the Hilton.

Hyatt Regency Orlando Example:

“Really nice hotel, with great service”

Social Media Manager Response:

Dear TravelWith3Kiddos,

Thank you for the review on Trip Advisor! We love hearing guest feedback and experiences.

We apologize you did not receive the high floor room with a view of the pool. Our hotel does everything we can to accommodate all guests requests upon check in if there is availability.

The Fiorenzo restaurant is a great choice to dine for dinner! We’re sorry to hear you had to wait despite your reservation. Because the restaurant is very popular, we’ve found that even with reservations there can be a wait. For any reservation you make through our hotel, our staff is happy to call in advance to ensure your table is ready before you arrive. Just let concierge know and they will call on your behalf.

Orlando is known as a family destination due to it’s many theme parks. So glad you were able to venture to the parks for some fun-filled family time! We are exploring different costs and options for parking on hotel property as well as all surrounding attractions. If you visit our travel page, all travel options to attractions that are currently available are listed.

Thank you again for providing your guest experience while staying at the Hyatt in Orlando! We hope to have you visit us again soon! For your next reservation, please contact Stacie Scott in reservation guest services (800-867-5309), and she will be able to assist you with your future reservation at the Hyatt in Orlando.

Integrated Marketing Recap | Live Design Trade Show

October 26, 2015intro-multimediaGrad Student, IMC, Integrated Marketing, LDI, Live Design Trade Show, Social Media, University of Floridastacielscott Leave a comment

I’m a UF grad student and this blog post is for educational purposes only.

As part of a weekly assignment for the University of Florida’s MMC5006 Introduction to Multimedia Communication class, we are taking a deeper look at how Live Design International (LDI) does Integrated Marketing for their October trade show event in Las Vegas LDI Tradeshow.

The LDI Trade Show has been the leading global tradeshow and conference for live design professionals for 28 years. The tradeshow hosted over 10,000 attendees and more than 350 companies/exhibitors. I found it interesting that the University of Florida College of Fine Arts has a partnership with LDI and offers students credits towards their degree for masterclasses they attend through LDI. Their main website houses all sorts of information including link outs to LDI partners, details regarding offered masterclasses, and even the itinerary for the trade show.

LDIshow.com

LDI has a great start to IMC as they house all their information on their website and use it as their main information destination. On the right hand side of the home page there is a call out for attendees to download the LDI Mobile App and connect with LDI on all of their social channels. Those social channels include, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The 728×90 header is advertising space, and one sponsor used it to tout their booth number.

Email

Live Design sent out an email communication to their distribution list letting everyone know that LDI Tradeshow had begun, and they featured In the Eye of Rock ‘n Roll Hurricane providing ribbon ceremony cutting times and regular exhibit times.

Email communication continued throughout the week. I received an email about every other day. The last email I received linked out to an article announcing all the LDI award winners.

Facebook

Facebook has 5,122 people wanting to know the latest information via Facebook channels. LDI posted once or twice before the tradeshow began, but during the week is when they really stepped up their social engagement and sent multiple updates. The posts they distributed on Facebook were reminders to visit certain exhibits, they called out booth numbers for people to go check out, a couple of sponsor posts with one having a sweepstakes layer, and then tons of behind the scenes photos!

Twitter

LDI’s following on Twitter is 3,754. This is the social channel that LDI focused on pushing out information during the week of the tradeshow. Leading up to the tradeshow, LDI was posting once a day or every other day. On October 19, kicking off the LDI Tradeshow, they posted 13 times. Throughout the week, LDI pushed out post after post. Everything from panel info, where that night’s after party was being held to master class offerings and other Vegas specials. If you were looking for information about the happenings of LDI, you could find it on their Twitter page. #LDI2015 was the most widely used hashtag during the promotional window of the tradeshow as well as #LDIAfterDark which promoted the nighttime events. LDI @tagged many exhibitors new products and promoted it’s mobile app via Twitter as well.

At the end of the show, exhibitors and attendees alike were tweeting ‘that’s a wrap’ and ‘thank you for a great show’. The hashtag #LDI2015 saw much love at the end of the show. LDI didn’t do much two-way conversation during their social promotion, but at the very end they did re-tweet a few posts.

In future promotional strategies, it would be great to see some conversations regarding the events at the tradeshow or vendors products just to have some social back and forth banter.

YouTube

Their YouTube channel hasn’t been updated in 10 months. The top video is the highlight reel from the 2014 LDI tradeshow. With all the technology and cool visuals coming from this tradeshow, I would think that YouTube would be a great social channel to leverage. Definitely an opportunity missed by LDI.

Mobile App

LinkedIn

LDI has a LinkedIn page and the social chicklet on their website, however, it seems as though they do not have much activity through this social channel. This could be an area of improvement whereas LinkedIn could be leveraged to connect to all the tradeshow vendors and attendees.

Additional LDI Promotion from Vendors

Stacie Scott is A-W-E-S-O-M-E and She Likes Being Part of a Team

October 20, 2015intro-multimediaBlog, brand yourself, Grad Student, job application, University of Florida, warner brothersstacielscott Leave a comment

Dear Hiring Manager,

Thank you for taking the time to read a little bit about me, my experience, and why I would be a great fit on the Warner Bros. Pictures Worldwide Marketing team.

My name is Stacie Scott, and I’m a creative marketer with 13+ years of advertising experience. I have an expertise in art direction, brand development, strategic problem solving and construction of integrated marketing promotions. I am an extraordinary, brand and legal rule-following, imaginative marketing executive who is identified as one of the most awesome people in the industry. My enthusiasm to create knockout promotions, uncanny ability to organize, and knack for fostering great relationships has provided me with a portfolio of success stories.

I am really excited and ready to join the epic quest your team encounters with every theatrical release the department supports. With the Lego Movie being a huge success, and the Batman Lego Movie currently in production, I wanted to showcase my creativity by incorporating my resume in to a version of The Lego Movie DVD.

Some of the strengths and attributes that would make me a valuable asset to your team include:

“The Special” – Relationships

I have the aptness for fostering great relationships and a successful track record creating client promotions. In fact, I take great pride in my ability to lead from concept to completion and keep my clients happy.

“Social is AWESOME” – Digital and Social Wherewithal

With my expertise in digital and social media, my current leadership team has identified me as the social media guru for my department. Social amplification is top of mind with all our clients, and I’ve recently been tasked with training our entire sales and marketing department.

“Master Builder” – Creative Ideation and Promotion Development

For every campaign I manage and bring to market, I oversee the development of the promotion starting with the idea, the creative execution, spearhead metric laced conversations, host post-mortem meetings, and define best practices for future marketing strategies. Also, I love building decks, client sponsorship mocks, and sell sheets.

In summary, I believe I have the ability and experience you desire.

The opportunity to join the marketing team is a-w-e-s-o-m-e and it would be c-o-o-l to be part of the team!!!

Below, I’ve highlighted a few marketing elements from various integrated promotions I’ve managed so you can have a first-hand look at the type of content I produce and manage.

Disney Channel Sponsorship Spot – Television
Best Western Aurasma Experience – In-Hotel
Nintendo Splatoon Launch Event with Disney Talent Integration – Event

Also, you can find me on Pinterest to learn more about me!

Thank you for again for your time and consideration. I’m looking forward to hearing next steps.

Sincerely,

Stacie Scott

Nike, McDonalds and Coca-Cola are Socially Savvy — They Just Do It and are Lovin’ it by Opening Happiness!

October 12, 2015Uncategorizedall day breakfast, coca-cola, coke, facebook, Grad Student, instagram, Integrated Marketing, just do it, mcdonald's, nike, open happiness, twitter, University of Floridastacielscott Leave a comment

Nike, McDonalds and Coca-Cola are Socially Savvy — They Just Do It, Are Lovin’ it and are Opening Happiness!

Below, check out how these brands use integrated marketing methods to promote themselves.

Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Google+ • Pinterest • YouTube

Nike does take an integrated marketing approach to advertising, however, they do it without inundating the marketplace with their messaging. On most of their social platforms, it seems that the overall Nike brand retweets it’s sub-brands like Nike Football, Nike Women or Nike.com.

On Facebook, Nike posts once to twice a month. They limit their use of hashtags on the Facebook platform only leveraging their main campaign hashtags such as #JustDoIt or #NikeZoom.

For Twitter, Nike posted 4 times in the month of August (and they were all re-tweets), posted only twice in September , and has yet to post anything in October. When Nike posts, they do integrate a hashtag, but they keep it very simple and again stick to the main or trending hashtags.

You would think that hashtagging on Instagram would be a no brainer, but about half of the posts Nike disseminates via Instagram do not incorporate any hashtags at all. They do @tag their sub-brands in their messaging.

The content on Google + is posted more infrequently than any of the social platforms. This seems to be the same with Pinterest.

You can connect to the social channels below from Nike.com.

Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Google+ • Pinterest • YouTube • Tumblr • Vine • Flickr

Has anyone ever craved breakfast for lunch, dinner or even a late night snack? Well, McDonalds released a new menu that serves breakfast all day long. This new promotion is being touted across all media platforms, and let’s just say Mickey D’s is rocking integrated marketing communications! Their television commercials even showcase people sharing their requests AND their joy for all day breakfast. I must say the commercials that touted the tweets for all day breakfast were hilarious. Well done McDonald’s… hat’s off to your creative agency for this promotion!

YOU CAN GET BREAKFAST ALL DAY

#AllDayBreakfast

McDonald’s instagram is highly stylized, very simple and is saturated with the primary colors in the color wheel. Insta gets around 4 to 5 posts a week.

Tweeting is a regular mainstay for the McDonald’s brand. The photo posts on Twitter are not like the photos of perfection you see on their instagram channel.

@McDonalds YAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS #alldaybreakfast SOOOOOOOO good

McDonald’s uses Google+ and YouTube to house all their videos so that they can be found in one easy location.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yCTopiYQoYw“>

McDonald’s also uses Tumblr to collect tweets, instagram posts, gifs, memes and collect them in one easy local for sharing and re-sharing purposes.

Talk about synergy between two major brands. Check out this Vine that McDonalds posted…

Raise your hand if you love a coke with a big mac! Yes please, my hand is up!!

You can also find more information from this blog on McDonald’s social presence.

Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Google+ • Pinterest • YouTube • Tumblr • Vine • Flickr (and I’m sure Many Many More)

Coca-Cola shares happiness across all media types and has a prolific social media footprint. Coca-Cola does integrated marketing well, and you can find brand consistency across all the media and social platforms they are on. They are very consistent in their messaging and posts.

When it comes to hashtags, Coke is very clever. They hashtag their campaign titles as well as hashtag current events with custom graphics like the blood moon post below.

Coke consistently updates each of their social platforms with new content every day or two.

I really love the pin boards Coca-Cola has on Pinterest. They are all related to events or a lifestyle thematic.

On Coca-Cola.com (United States version), the website has a module that drives to Social that features the latest posts, allows you to connect via the website and link outs to the following social platforms; Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

Doggone Best Products USA is ‘Paw’rrific

October 5, 2015intro-multimediaamazon, Blog site, dog doggone doggone best products, email, facebook, Grad Student, IMC, Integrated Marketing, pinterest, Social Media, University of Floridastacielscott Leave a comment

Whether or not you are marketing yourself or a brand, you must define your objectives and strategizes to achieve your marketing goals. The objectives and strategies you outline act as a guideline for creating all the integrated marketing communications for a particular campaign.

For this week’s assignment, I choose to help out a friend of mine and create marketing elements and further the social footprint for their dog supplement company.

DOGGONE BEST PRODUCTS USA (DoggoneBestUSA.com is coming soon!)

Doggone Best Products is a pet supplement company dedicated to the health and happiness of your four legged friends. Let’s take a closer look at the company and their marketing strategy.

Objectives:

Further awareness of Doggone Best Products
Create and further Doggone’s social footprint keeping the brand message, look and feel of the content consistent yet customized for each platform
Create and distribute email communication for their newest product, a 5 million count Probiotic

Strategies:

Update product information on Amazon
Create Pinterest account to target women
- Pin health tips for senior dogs, the right amount of exercise your dog should be getting, and tips for weight management
- Pin boards that further promote the Doggone brand and doggie parent interests
Target customers that have previously purchased the Joint Supplement with product information regarding the new Probiotic supplement

Let’s take a look at the IMC elements created to promote and market Doggone Best this week!

Amazon Product Info:

Doggone Best had two different formulas for their joint supplement. After many focus group testing’s with beloved pets, the original formula which was chicken liver flavor won out over the beef flavored formula. To market that the original formula will be in stock as of October 6, I crafted position statement about it being back by ‘Paw’pular demand and the discontinued use of the beef flavored supplement.

BACK BY ‘PAW’PULAR DEMAND: Your furbabies have spoken and we listened. We are exclusively offering our original joint supplement formula that your dog loves so much!

Pinterest: Created the entire Pinterest footprint for Doggone this week

The visual bookmarking tool that helps you discover and save creative ideas.

I created 8 boards for Doggone this week, and many more will be added in the future – but it’s a great start in creating a pet loving community for Doggone Best. The first set of pin boards are creative ideas for fall images with your pups, Pet Care with a focus on joint health for senior dogs and weight management, inspirational quotes about dogs, and of course a board about puppies is cuteness overload!

Email Marketing:

In the previous week’s lesson for integrated marketing platforms, we studied email marketing. Email marketing is not dead and is a great way for companies to boost sales and distribute the latest product information and sales to their consumers.

Email is the most dominant way of sharing information. Back in the day, one of the best parts of logging onto AOL was the knowledge that after minutes of agonizing squeals, you’d be treated to that wonderful phrase, “You’ve Got Mail!”

If you stop to think about it, email has become a mainstay for most businesses and how the majority of business communication is conducted. Email has replaced faxing documents as well as replaced many face to face and telephone communications. Email makes it easy to document communication, and reference it at a later point in time if necessary.

More than one in five people worldwide use email. That’s about 1.9 billion people. It’s predicted to increase to 2.5 billion email users in the next 2 years. Yup, email’s popular. The Radicati Group, who came up with that info, also reckon that the world sends about 294 billion emails daily. 192 billion emails sent daily, that is an incredible amount of electronic communication!

Here is a screenshot of the email I designed that went out to Doggone’s distribution list. The two main points of the email is to promote the Probiotic and drive customers to connect to Doggone’s social sites. The email also reminds the audience of the free shipping and returns feature when ordering.

Facebook:

The strategy for this social channel is to continue to update the main content of the page including updating the brands imagery. For example, the use of the image with the golden retrieving the stick is the same image that was prominent in the email communication. I’ve also set the social post strategy for the next coming weeks that will drive to Doggone’s Pinterest board, promote the buy 2 promo offer, as well as posts that promote the overall health and care of your pet!

I encourage everyone to follow Doggone Best on Facebook and Pinterest as their social footprint grows in the world of happy, healthy furbabies!

And, don’t forget to check out these great pet videos!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/AJFRvkNF6Wg“>http://

https://www.youtube.com/embed/XZ8M6o46KO4“>http://

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nupfxo2ihQc“>http://

https://www.youtube.com/embed/fipadBqIiQ4“>http://

Thanks for tuning in this week!

Push, Pull, and Integrated Marketing

September 21, 2015intro-multimediaBest Western, Digital, Grad Student, IMC, Integrated Marketing, pull marketing, push marketing, push pull, Social Media, UF, University of Florida, websitesstacielscott One comment

A push marketing strategy is when a brand advertises its product to garner awareness from their target demographic, while the pull strategy released content in the market to reach audiences, which have an existing interest in the brand or product. Below is a closer look at the integrated marketing efforts that Best Western International currently has in the market and I will be identifying which of these marketing platforms are push and which exhibit pull marketing.

“The newer pull strategy has been viewed as a shift in power from advertisers to consumers, and so requires a more adaptive approach by marketers. With the increase of social networking platforms and users, social networking has become a major and focal part to music marketing adopting the pull marketing strategy. Pull marketing shifts the emphasis and attention onto the customer, trying to market in the correct places by knowing who the target audience is. Consumers are increasingly customizing to better suit their individual needs.” (Wikipedia) The main idea here is that Best Western is hyper focused on the needs of their customers and are pushing content across all of their digital and social channels which then draws or pulls their audience to their brand. Most businesses will use a combination of push and pull strategies in order to successfully market a product as Boundless points out. In my opinion, Best Western falls in this successful combination of marketing for their hotels. Most of the items below are examples of pull marketing, but Best Western does have quarterly promotions that they push out such as their partnership with Disney Media every summer (which is showcased in my previous blog post).

BestWestern.com:

Best Western’s website includes links to all their social sites. The website also includes a booking widget and hotel locator to assist in planning your next vacation. In addition to their hotel directory, the navigation bar includes travel tips, member rewards and travel deals to assist in planning your travel. The latest offer available is located in the hero slider touting the stay 2 nights and earn a $25 gift card. In reviewing Best Western’s sites, you’ll find that this offer is being promoted on multiple media platforms. This offer is a smaller promo compared to bigger tent pole marketing efforts executed by Best Western. Best Western continues to execute integrated marketing efforts no matter the size of the promotion.

In addition to Best Western’s website being the hub for all the social link outs, it has so much information located within the site. Not only does the site allow you to research and book your next vacation, but you also have access to the history of the hotel-chain but also their senior leadership.

The social media marketing Best Western has in market is a combination of push and pull marketing, however, leans more heavily on the strategy to focus on the pull. In the social media platforms below, you will see that Best Western is providing a ton of information (specific to the social platform and audience) without a hard sell on booking travel accommodations. Yes it is about the bookings, but it goes further with the Best Western brand with the focus on the traveler and their experience.

Facebook:

The cover photo touts the current promotion. Multiple posts daily keep content up to date. Best Western does a great job of sticking to current events. In today’s post, they remind their audience it is Talk Like a Pirate Day and share a short pirate inspired video to go along with their post.

Twitter:

Best Western just recently hosted a Twitter chat with two travel experts asking their audience travel questions, and had the two travel experts answer the chat questions. Best Western is an industry leader in the hospitality vector because they truly are targeting their audience and communicating with them on each of their advertising platforms.

Pinterest:

Pinterest boards can be seen as a great example of pull marketing. Best Western created a travel dream board showcasing their hotels and available destinations. Their pins are incredible and when planning a vacation, you could find a ton of information on locals, not specifically Best Western hotels. This shows how Best Western is providing information about these destinations and popular things to see and do while visiting.

Blog-site: You Must Be Trippin’

Best Western is digitally versed and you can find a presence on social platforms that include Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ as well their own blog-site named You Must Be Trippin’. Best Western’s You Must Be Trippin’ blog-site has fresh content that is relevant to current events and trending travel topics. Way to go Best Western with the catchy blog-site title!

YouTube:

Best Western leverages YouTube as a hub for all their video assets. Everything from travel tips with Tessa to linking to their You Must Be Trippin’ blog articles with video.

The Mobile Experience:

I was expecting Best Western’s mobile site to be responsive and look like the home page of their website, Facebook and Twitter branding, however, BestWestern.com on mobile takes you straight to the booking feature. I believe that the mobile experience could be enhanced to allow for Best Western branding and easier navigation of the mobile experience.

Email marketing:

E-blasts are examples of push marketing. Best Western sends out weekly email blasts with their top deals and promotions that are being offered. The email includes links to all of their social sites to help easily connect their consumers to their content.

About Best Western International, Inc

Best Western International, Inc is a privately held hotel brand with a global network of 4,000-plus* hotels in more than 100* countries and territories worldwide. Best Western offers five types of hotels to suit the needs of our guests for any travel occasion: BEST WESTERN®, BEST WESTERN PLUS®, BEST WESTERN PREMIER®, BEST WESTERN PLUS EXECUTIVE RESIDENCYSM and BW Premier CollectionSM.

Integrated Marketing Summer Promotion

I love Best Western International, Inc because not only do they want the best experience for their customers when they are traveling, but they also want the very best for the individual hotel owners. I also love the Best Western brand because they are a travel and hospitality leader in digital and social executions. I believe BWI has found much success in leveraging multi-platform marketing efforts to promote travel during summer months.

Their most recent summer promotion with Disney Media was anchored in the property Teen Beach 2. Looking to target moms and get their families excited about summer vacation, BWI offered a promotion for 1 lucky winner to have the opportunity to meet Ross Lynch and Maia Mitchell at their very own dance party on the beach. BWI knows the keys to success when it comes to integrated marketing and spread the word about this promotion across linear, digital, radio, social and in the lobbies of their hotels across the United States and Canada!

Let’s take a look at some of the marketing they did this summer!

Linear Platform

Custom television spots promoting the sweepstakes and chance to meet Ross Lynch and Maia Mitchell.

Branded sponsorship on Disney Channel (click below)

Digital Platform

Sweepstakes Destination, Co-branded Media, and Custom Video Content

Click below to see Extreme Poolside Sports

Radio Platform

National sweepstakes spot and promotion on Radio Disney App

Social Media Platform

Twitter Party with talent, Promotional Posts across Facebook and Twitter, and Talent Engagement

Organic Fandom re-sharing of sponsored content and Teen Beach 2 content

In-hotel/Retail Platform

In the lobbies of all Best Western’s in the US and Canada, you could find branded standees and tent cards. These in-hotel marketing pieces triggered an augmented reality experience allowing you to take a selfie with Ross Lynch and/or Maia Mitchell. The app also had custom content and a quiz featuring who would your travel BFF be from Teen Beach 2!

Additional Social and Digital extensions

Comparison: Social Media vs. Traditional Media

September 7, 2015intro-multimediaGators, Grad Student, Masters, Social Media, Stacie Scott, Traditional Media, UF, University of Floridastacielscott Leave a comment

Below are two aspects of marketing that will be looked at a little more closely for both Traditional Marketing and Social Media Marketing.

Classic Marketing v. Social Media Marketing

The social media world is opening doors for companies to generate revenue from a platform that was not even a consideration a few short years ago. Social media is really a paradigm shift or change in worldview rather than simply a new set of tactics². Marketing via social media is new to most companies, and many advertisers are in the process of figuring out how social media fits in to their overall media mix.

Not only are the audiences different for every platform so is the execution lead-time, reach, and creative restrictions. I am a true believer in multi-platform marketing and how both classic and social media marketing truly can compliment each other if executed properly. During campaign analysis, I usually find that the metrics are greater when you use multiple media platforms to work together versus choosing one over the other to advertise. That’s not to say that the media landscape always should have a true integrated marketing approach because with most things it depends on the objectives of the campaign in question. For example, if you have a marquee campaign that includes a sweepstakes, television is a great driver for sweepstakes entries over social media drivers. Time and time again, television wins when a brand or company is measuring entries to the sweepstakes layer of their marketing plan. The audience still isn’t there on social to move the needle like we see in TV.

Type of Marketing

Traditional marketing has always been about brand awareness and having the media platforms push advertising campaigns out into the world for people to consume. Due to the lead time necessary for traditional advertising, brand messages aren’t very flexible — they don’t change often, media buys are committed far in advance, and brands can’t easily adjust to take advantage of new opportunities². Especially with television or print platforms, the production schedule is usually more than 8 weeks to produce. A traditional media plan is time-consuming mostly on the front end (planning, creating and buying) and back end (quantifying and analyzing) of the campaign. Once a traditional media plan is put into place, it is a mostly hands-off affair³. The guidelines and stakeholders that have to review television ads are far more extensive than social media posts and campaigns.

With a growing plethora of social media options, which are far less costly than traditional media, some of you might be questioning spending money on those pricey TV, radio and print ads to encourage business. However, using both media together, as opposed to one versus the other can move your message further and reach a larger audience³. These days every company has a social media footprint, and exploring how to utilize the platform. Because social media is new to the media mix, companies are testing reach and engagement from Twitter chats and brand awareness campaigns. Companies and advertisers are experimenting with the types of posts that resonate with their audience to generate more likes, comments and shares. The good news is that because social media is an emerging platform, the cost to execute a social campaign is considerably less than that to produce a television spot.

Unlike traditional media campaigns, a social media campaign needs to be worked every day. Monitoring what your customers are saying and doing and then responding accordingly takes time. Most experts’ recommend spending one hour every day with each social media outlet you utilize³.

Language

Traditional marketing goes through many rounds of review with various stakeholders that could include the creative director, legal, standards and practices, brand franchise, or sweepstakes administrator. It is a very formal process and strict to keep the marketing language adhering to the guidelines set forth by the networks and advertising sites. Additionally, the marketing message is more reflective of full thought out clever tag lines or messages. When you look at social media the marketing lingo changes slightly. Everything is abbreviated, shortened, or just a small piece of the overall marketing campaign is shared. Social media also asks the audience their opinion and phrases the marketing language in such a way that it promotes responses to the posts which is true to the platform in having an open two way communication. Social campaigns are still planned in the initial stages of posts people post in response to the marketing posts.

What Should You Do?

With any strategic marketing campaign, you must first know what the goals are and what the advertiser will deem a measurement of success. Once you know their objectives you can start building a marketing campaign to fit their needs and hope to deliver results to meet their expectations. Is the advertiser looking to grow followers? Are they looking for brand awareness? Do they want to create an experience with their brand. These are all very important questions to ask at the launch of any campaign execution.

Thanks for reading!

Links:

http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-vs-traditional-media-marketing/466873

https://www.hausmanmarketingletter.com/social-media-versus-traditional-media/

http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/traditional-vs.-social-media-making-the-right-choices

UF Grad Studies | Masters in Social Media

August 10, 2015UncategorizedGators, Grad Student, Masters, UF, University of Floridastacielscott Leave a comment

Introduction to Multimedia Communication

My first blog post ever is happening right now!

I’ve returned to school in order to further my education as strongly believe in continuous learning and development. I have a huge passion for social media and the Florida Gators, therefore, combining my love for both culminated in perfect pursuit of this Masters degree at the University of Florida.

I am really looking forward to collaborating with my fellow classmates and exploring emerging media together. I currently work in a multi-platform ecosystem, and can’t wait to learn new things together! #GoGators

Find out more about me here!

stacie scott

creative marketeer

University of Florida

Stacie Scott is A-W-E-S-O-M-E and She Likes Being Part of a Team

Nike, McDonalds and Coca-Cola are Socially Savvy — They Just Do It and are Lovin’ it by Opening Happiness!

UF Grad Studies | Masters in Social Media