The Advertiser's Dilemma - What To Do When Prices Rise?

By Cynti Oshin
Director Client Services/Business Development

Today, advertisers face innumerable challenges when crafting a message that will resonate with their audience. How do we rise above the ‘noise’ of all the other advertisers in the marketplace? How do we build a buzz? How do we activate the consumer to choose us? And stay with us after trial?

And how do we get them to buy us even after we’ve been forced to raise our prices on the backside of the Great Recession? (Insert screeching brakes sound here.)

Last Friday, the Seattle Times ran an article regarding the anticipated rise in costs of clothing and shoes, as a result of escalating prices of cotton, rubber, varied other commodities, and even production costs over seas. Across the board, from low priced manufacturers to more upscale clothiers like Tommy Bahama, costs will rise this coming fall.

Our client, Triple T Trading, parent company of the newly unveiled brand Northside Shoes, held its wholesale pricing steady while absorbing the rising costs over the past few years. Their (and many other manufacturers’) reality is that in order to remain sustainable, they will need to recoup the additional costs and raise their prices - however marginally. A bitter pill for everyone to swallow, indeed. In the case of Northside, their line of shoes continue to help families get out of doors for more time together at an affordable price. More memories, more fun, more great experiences. And it is this message that they are taking to the marketplace.

Not such an easy sell when you’re a gas company – that’s a message that takes some serious crafting. $3.75 a gallon, here we come.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2014261281_inflation18.html
http://northsideusa.com/

Do you 'like' me? Really 'like' me?

by: Cynti Oshin
Director Client Services/Business Development

Today, Mashable published the findings of the "Social Break Up" report that surveyed more than 1,500 consumers, exploring changing online behaviors and top motivations for “unliking,” unfollowing and unsubscribing from brand communications via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.

Bottom line? If you're boring, irrelevant, annoying, or worse yet just plain pushy - you're not making any friends, building any loyalty or converting any new customers. Yep, you're sitting at the back table in the lunch room and won't be invited to sleepovers anytime soon.

Note to ourselves, keep the info relevant. Keep it smart. And don't post just to post.

"Social Break Up" key findings are:

91% of consumers have unsubscribed from opt-in marketing e-mails.
77% of consumers report being more cautious about providing their e-mail address to companies versus last year.
81% of consumers have either “unliked” or removed a company’s posts from their Facebook News Feed.
71% of consumers report being more selective about “liking” a company on Facebook than they were last year.
51% of consumers expect that a “like” will result in marketing communications from brands, while 40% do not believe it should result in marketing communications.
41% of consumers have “unfollowed” a company on Twitter.

http://mashable.com/2011/02/08/why-consumers-unsubscribe/#9481How-Subscribers-React-To-Uninteresting-Email-Messaging

Enough about me talking about me….what do you think about me?

Jon Njos- Media Director/Stanton & Everybody

Saw this video at a presentation at Entercom radio yesterday. This is a great example pointing out how advertising agencies and clients dismiss the desires of the consumer. The presentation was a look into social media and how it is evolving. So now it’s the big race for advertisers to figure out how to use it to promote their brand and to involve themselves in the conversations going on out there. It started to make my head hurt because it all seems to be expanding like the universe, wondering how we can get our arms around it. It still has to be strategic and utilized correctly, not just because its there to use. I’ll share more when I learn more.

I think this video really gets to he core of it….keep it simple and start listening to your consumer base and give them what they want.