When you go to an ad agency’s web site, you’re going there because you want to learn about that agency’s work, their capabilities and who they are, right? Well, we provide answers to all those questions throughout the site and when you read the team bios, you’ll learn about the professional achievements of the team. But, who we are at work is strongly influenced by who we are at play. And, the things that distinguish hmc2 from other agencies are tied to who the directors are as people, as well as to the work we do. Plus, the simple fact of the matter is when you pay to work with someone, you should enjoy that relationship. This insight into who we are helps establish that relationship even before you make the first contact.

So, what does how we play say about the team here? It says that we are confident, strong, and capable. It says that we aren’t afraid of taking calculated risks because we’ve developed a strong set of skills that mitigate those risks. It says we’re passionate about life and we like to have fun at what we do. It says we care about life-work balance. It says we’re competitive and like to win. Isn’t that the kind of team you want working for you?

We talk a lot here at hmc2 about being focused on results. And we are. Sometimes even more than our clients. Because we want to know how all our programs perform. But sometimes, return on investment (how much revenue you generated divided by how much you spent) just isn’t the right measure of how well your marketing works.

The thing is this, brand advertising, social networking, customer relations or CRM don’t always translate into an immediate return on investment. That doesn’t mean you can’t quantify their value, you just can’t do it with a simple ROI calculation described above. If you ignore marketing opportunities because they aren’t going to generate immediate income, even your best performing ROI generators will loose their impact over time because you always have to be thinking about your brand’s future. If you only invest in the things that make you money today, you’ll be sacrificing long term brand health.

So, when you’re trying to decide how to allocate your budget (marketing and capital) to get the best return, remember some portion of it should be an investment in your future. With your marketing, remember that brand awareness is what puts you top-of-mind so when your prospect is ready to make a decision, you’re well positioned. It’s what keeps the funnel full so as your prospects move closer to purchase, there’s someone else already getting ready to move down the sales path. With your capital, think about the types of services or products you can add to your brand portfolio that will support not only who you and your customers are today, but who you want to be in the future and who you want to serve.

If you have questions about how to balance your marketing portfolio, give us a call. We’ll walk you through it.

I had an appointment to drop off my car for regular service and to finally switch my snow tires to summer tires. I requested a loaner car for the day, which I was told when I bought the car, would be available to me and that the Saturn Service Experience would be fantastic. Well, they had no car for me and because I work about 20 miles from the dealership the shuttle could not give me a ride. So I would be stuck waiting at the dealership for several hours. Now, I understand how they could end up in this situation, I’m a pretty rational guy. But instead of coming up with a solution they said, “there’s nothing I can do to help you”. As she said this, a rock sat in front of her computer, with the words “Saturn – Expect the Unexpected” etched into it. Her unwillingness (or inability) to help solve this problem infuriated me! So now, my experience was different than they promised it would be AND there was nothing they could do to help me! No solution. I left.

My point is, other than the fact that we are heading into Memorial Day Weekend and I still have snow tires on my car, one negative experience can ruin years of positive brand development. My brand advocacy was not strong enough to overcome one bad experience. The most important part of brand development is consistency at every point of contact.

Anyone want to by a Saturn?

How does social networking impact your brand? Social networking sites (SNSs) can actually make aligning your brand communications with your audience’s perceptions of you easier because SNSs give you the opportunity to listen. In the past, you’d have to do expensive research to find out as much about your target audience as you can now using blogs, searches and twitter.

And consider this; your brand is about your relationship with your consumers. Social networking is all about managing relationships. Ergo, you can manage your brand relationships through social networking. Just remember some things your mom tried to teach you when you were growing up:

• You’ve got two ears, and one mouth. Listen more, talk less. (Of course, online, you’ve got two eyes and 10 fingers, so you could argue this one, but you get the point.)
• Only speak when spoken to. Don’t jump into a conversation without some kind of an invitation, even if it is just hearing your name.
• Do onto others. If you think you’d be offended by the behavior your contemplating, don’t do it.
• Tell the truth. If you don’t, you’ll be found out.
• Speak from the heart. Even if you don’t get it right, at least you’ll feel good about what you did.

Oh – and say Thanks to your Mom for the social networking lessons!

One of the oft talked about but rarely realized promises of the web is the ability to deliver “products” that can be tailored to suit a market of one. One site—slacker.com—that I have recently begun to use for online radio is an excellent example of Web-enabled customization done right.

First launched in beta July 2007, Slacker delivers a high personalized online listening experience by combining several “radio“ features into one:

1. 75+ genre stations
2. 10,000+ “artist” stations
3. The ability to skip songs you don’t like
4. The ability to “favorite” songs you do like
5. The ability to build custom stations that only feature artists of your choice

The result is a Web-based radio station that you can take full ownership of. Why bother to download songs at all when you can listen to a mashup of your favorite artists on demand? Whether you want a mix of the Rolling Stones and Thievery Corporation or continuous Willie Nelson, Slacker.com can deliver your exact listening experiences in ways that traditional radio never will.

From a Wired review of the service:

All in all, this adds up to some long overdue innovation in a market that has been dominated by a single player that has had the luxury of rolling out features slowly. Users of Apple’s upcoming iPhone will have to load new music manually over USB, as they do with current iPods. Slacker users, on the other hand, will be able to sit back and enjoy the music, which is, after all, the point of these devices.