IDMA BBQ with Kingsley Aikins Thursday July 19th

IDMA are hosting another great networking BBQ next Thursday July 19th. The theme for the evening is “Networking our way out of the recession”. Kingsley Aikins will be giving an insightful talk on how Ireland can grow out of the recession by networking the diaspora. This will be followed by gourmet BBQ.

For more info please check out the link below:

http://19julynetworking.eventbrite.co.uk/

Thanks and we hope to see you there!!

Praise for Kingsley:

“Kingsley is simply one of the highest power speakers (and bear in mind his style comes across as low key) that I have heard in 4 decades of listening to speakers. What’s more , his topic was networking and after his talk he spent at least 5 minutes with every single person in the audience (approcx25 of us). Very impressive!”

– Bill Moss, The Bill Moss Partnership.

“After 1 hour talking to Kingsley you walk away with a conviction that just about anything is possible when you draw on the collective strength of the networks around you who share your belief and optimism about a brighter future for Ireland.”

– Lucy Masterson, Hireland.

“Kingsley does ‘naked presentations’ better than anyone else I know! In other words, no powerpoint nor props not pointless imagery, rather he weaves a fascinating story for his audiences based on experience, facts, ancedotes and compelling conjecture about the future for Ireland and for all of us”.

– Gerard O’Neill, Chairman of Amárach Research.


Dialogue working on Social Media campaign with Odlums

The Dialogue Network is delighted to announce its appointment as the Social Media Agency for Odlums, part of Valeo Foods. The winning strategy presented by The Dialogue Network has tapped into the cultural shift towards home baking and will enable Odlums to engage their audience in a campaign which will be rolled out in the Autumn.


Websites are just not enough. How to advertise in the mobile era.

There have been huge shifts in how people are accessing the internet. Its incredible to think that the mobile has grown into an advanced data system and it’s arguably more versatile than the computer. Today, people use it for shopping, searching, socializing, getting directions, to name just a few. Smartphone sales have risen significantly with smartphone devices accounting for 90% of mobile sales and over 700,000 Android mobile devices being activated everyday. These trends highlight the growing importance and influence smartphone devices have on consumer decision making.

This has created consumer behaviour referred to as the “Zero Moment of Truth”. This refers to the significant role mobile phones have in purchasing decisions. When someone is purchasing an item they use their mobile phone to search for reviews, referrals and prices to compare and then they make their decision. This has a huge impact on what products a consumer buys, where they buy it and what they will pay for it.

Mobile technology has also changed the concept and structure of mobile marketing. At present online search advertising works by analyzing your contextual keywords when you search. Now, with 93% of smartphone searches used for local searches, geographical location is becoming increasingly important in online advertising. When a person searches for a product from their mobile phone the nearest location to buy this product can be factored into the results. Mobile optimized websites have grown in significant importance and will increase in the next few years. As a result brands have realized the importance of enabling their website to be viewed on smartphones.

How can brands adapt to this trend? First, ensure that your website is mobile optimized. Most web hosting offer an easy conversion on websites. Secondly, start thinking in the context of geography when you are advertising. Remember context and location counts in the mobile search market. Finally, and most importantly, brands need to start thinking differently about mobile. It is the bridge between the online and offline worlds. When you are looking at your marketing mix you need to make sure that creative mobile advertising features heavily. Because if you don’t your competitors will.


Dialogue Makes the Russian News

This week the newspaper “Russian Ireland” published a recent interview from our MD Michael Killeen. In this article he discusses the huge increase in Irish exports to Russia, which now includes CRM from Irish marketing agencies.

Michael talks about the strategy we developed for the Renault marketing campaign in Russia, as well as the appeal of Irish marketing companies in the international market. He goes on to praise the work ethic of the Russians we partnered throughout the campaign

Click here to read the full interview. But make sure you have Google Translate ready as it’s in Russian!


Dialogue Win at Marketing Awards

Last night was a great night for the Dialogue Network, as we picked up a total of seven awards at An Post’s Integrated Direct Marketing Awards, which was held in the Mansion House in Dublin. Spirits were high as the team went up to accept the awards for our work with Friends First, Setanta Sports, Salthill Hotel and An Post.

“We are delighted with the awards we won”, said Gary McLoughlin, Dialogue’s Deputy MD. “It was also great to see the creative we had developed for the awards event itself, brought to life so well on the night. We’re a very proud and happy bunch this morning… if a little tired!”


How to win business in 2012

The IDMA is hosting a networking event ‘How to win business in 2012’ after work on Thursday 19th April. Brian Sparks, Managing Partner of Agency Assessments, will give his top tips for pitching for business in the current environment. Walk away with actionable, business winning strategies.

Click here to book your place now!


Facebook is not simply a mass marketing tool

An article entry in The Week in Influence dated 08 March 2012 captured my attention. It was titled “Are Facebook ‘Fans’ Really Engaging with Brands?” In the article Karen Nelson Field said in response to data showing just over 1% of fans engaging with brands “Facebook doesn’t really differ from mass media”. Maybe this presumption is the cause of corporate woes.

I would disagree that Facebook can be effective simply through mass marketing principles. Such a train of thought is an example of the Ludic fallacy, when people try to simplify complex and abstract models into systems or methods. Social media is a relatively new concept, early in its development, but what was once a novelty for people to share photos and connect with others has now become a cultural behemoth most of the western world is connected with. The issue isn’t whether brands should want to use this powerful tool as a means of promotion, the problem is how they are strategizing and monitoring it.

Viral campaigns have proved that obscure movements or products can be brought to a global audience with a significantly less budget than a global brand. Would anyone know who Joseph Kony is without YouTube and Facebook? Or look at Hireland, A very effective viral campaign which was established and managed on a shoe string budget.

So how do you go about creating a successful marketing campaign? The best approach to have when approaching Facebook in marketing terms is acknowledging how abstract and new it is and not to be afraid to be creative. Call it what you will: blue sky, undiscovered country, new market it still remains a powerful medium to promote a brand and attract customers.

In terms of branding there is one distinct theme surrounding all the successful Facebook campaigns: Engagement and incentive. A campaign should focus not on promoting the product via sharing but enticing the fans to engage with an incentive. A great example of this is Jack in the Box, an American fast food chain, who added an imaginary nickel to a jar for every Facebook fan. A fan was then selected at random and awarded the money, which amounted to over ten thousand dollars.

In conclusion, brands can’t be afraid to take risks and experiment with Facebook or any social media platform. Serendipity and openness are powerful tools to discovering how to make your Facebook fans engage with your brand. Metric data, although resourceful, shouldn’t be dogmatically use when assessing engagement rate. As Nassim Taleb said “The more data we have, the more likely we are to drown in it”


Twitter is open for (small) business

Since it was announced in April 2010, Twitter’s efforts to, in that phrase of modern parlance, “monetise the site” have grown apace.
However, next month will see the roll out of the self-service ad platform which they have been testing using 10,000 small and midsize businesses which should considerably broaden their revenue streams. Industry research firm E-marketer are estimating Twitter’s revenues will grow by 86% to $260 million by the end of 2012.

The question remains though, how do Twitter’s users react to promoted tweets appearing in their feeds?

While Twitter has been quiet about its advertising performance, gaming company EA have seen engagement rates as high as 11% for their promoted tweets.

Market research firm Lab42 surveyed Twitter users asking about their brand engagement and while an understandably small 46% said that following brands was a reason they use the site, only 10.6% said they don’t follow any brands. And while 21% found the promoted tweets annoying, 42% have gotten a discount and 41% found out about new brands through a promoted tweet.

The ad platform will use a bidding model similar to Google’s Adwords, placing it in competition with Google and Facebook’s self-service advertising platforms.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo’s explained it as follows:
“As is the case for any of Twitter’s 3,000 advertisers, small businesses can set bids for promoted accounts on a cost-per-follower basis and for promoted tweets on a cost-per-engagement basis/ In the latter case they pay only when users actively engage with the tweet (by retweeting, for instance.) While national brands might be bidding on keywords or hashtags associated with major events like the Oscars, which makes bidding competitive and expensive, small businesses would be more likely to bid on highly specific terms and to localize their bid.”

Twitter are already accepting sign ups even though the system isn’t live yet.

Further reading:
How Social Media Users Engage with Marketers on Twitter

UK Promoted Trends See Engagement Rates As High As 11%

Twitter 2012: Bigger and More Ads

Twitter To Try Out SMB Self Serve Ads


P&G’s New Marketing Strategy

So let me get this straight. P&G are cutting the marketing dept (see link below) that was responsible for one of the best ads EVER that advertises probably the worst product on the globe (unless you’re an old bloke caught in a 1970s time warp). Who do they think is responsible for the campaign? Does this not highlight that people outside the involvement of ads don’t understand the creative process?

P&G are claiming that ‘it’s free to advertise on Facebook’, but far as I remember, ads on Facebook aren’t free (but that’s a media issue not a creative one). I’d love to know how their $22 billion breaks down as far as media spend vs creative is concerned. True, digital is a very important media, but no different from press, TV, outdoor or direct mail, in as much as if the message you are saying has no interest to the public, you are wasting your money.

At the end of the day, products need to be different from each other (even though they are the same). What makes one shampoo different from the other – it’s public image that’s what.

I’m on a horse.

Now, that’s better!

Read more: P&G To Lay Off 1,600 After Discovering It’s Free To Advertise On Facebook