Marketing 2012 - Predictions

From Social Media to protests, declining newspapers to increasing video watching, where is a marketer to direct budget dollars to enhance a brand and help achieve corporate goals? The tips below address predicted impacts on your 2012 plan.

If you find our tips useful, let us know or pass them along to a friend! The link to subscribe is http://www.lemmontree.com/register/online_register.html.

Nicki

Nicolette Lemmon, President

P.S. My recent blog post, "A Marketer's Nightmare & Dream," relates to the ability to make it through the next 5-10 years, so let me know how you think the direction will be. MyMarketingInsights.com.

MARKETING STRATEGY TIP

Prediction - Inboxes are too full, only trusted brands get through

Is your brand a trusted one by its customers/members? How do you know?

"Would you recommend us to a friend?" So many marketing decisions are made to influence consumers to use the brand. These decisions should also consider how to encourage consumers to tell others about the brand.

Here are three things to consider for 2012:

• Customers/Members get touched with marketing messaging at least 7 times per year.
• Customer/Member service is high quality and consistent to ensure delightful experiences with your brand.
• Employees understand their role in the brand experience and the goals of the organization.

For the right strategies to get the most out of your brand, turn to LemmonTree! Email us or call toll-free at 1.888.536.6243.

ONLINE CONNECTION TIP

Prediction - Inboxes are too full, only trusted brands get through

Today's consumer lives life moving from online to offline media all day long. Whether leaving the television on while checking Facebook online, or reviewing email while on the sidelines of the kid's soccer game, the attention span is short and darting. Plus, there are more emails and online distractions than ever before.

So, when using e-marketing, there are some key things to make sure to get your messages through as a trusted source:

• Once a year, send a request to have your customer/member to confirm their subscriber status to your email list.
• Make sure that promotions carry across all media to eliminate disconnects. If a customer/member is jumping from direct mail to checking email to jumping online, then the same promotional theme must be carried throughout.
• Keep your brand in the forefront of all email or online contact points to ensure that the customer/member knows to look for it when skimming through emails.
• Use your name in the subject line of every email communication to further ensure the receiver knows it is the trusted brand they know.

Need a good outsource partner for getting more creative with your online resources for each generation? We can do that! Email us or call toll-free at 1.888.536.6243.

PERSONAL BRANDING TIP

Prediction - Your social media posts will make or break that next career move

Recently, an article popped up in one of my email subscriptions entitled, "5 Ways You Can Lose a Job on Facebook," and it made me realize how important it is to reconsider just how open you are on social networks.

My suggestion, often to my 14-year old daughter, is to be very careful about any posts, photos or videos she uploads. A new law recently passed, according to the article, allows third-party compiling of social media reports for companies to use in order to screen potential hires.

Why is that a concern? Because they can archive it for up to 7 years! And, how much do you remember about things you did that long ago?

Realize a survey in 2009 by CareerBuilder found that:

• 45% of companies use social sites to screen candidates
• 35% of employers taking the survey had not hired a candidate base on social site content
• 29% check Facebook most often and 26% check LinkedIn

So, what story does your social content tell about you? Keep your professional filters on when writing or uploading anything online because you never know what great career opportunity may hang in the balance of your social media content.

The new e-book version of Almost Famous Marketing Yourself 2.0 is being finished and if you want to be alerted when the e-book is ready, cick here!