Advertising Question of the Week: How Has Digital Changed the Way Manufacturers Market?

Unless you’re in the manufacturing industry, you may not give much thought to manufacturing and manufacturers. Most of us outside the industry aren’t pondering hydraulic cylinders or contemplating press pit foundations.

But manufacturing is a business. And like all businesses, manufacturers need clients and customers to survive. So says Captain Obvious. 

In the past, manufacturers stuck to marketing within the confines of their industry - trade magazines, conferences, things of that nature. And these are still effective. But the digital world - and mobile technology in particular - has really changed the way manufacturers market. 

The Manufacturing Sector Was Once Largely Invisible

And as far as television and magazine ads are concerned, it still is. 

Nobody wants to see Matthew Mcconaughey staring off into the distant lamenting programmable logic controllers in order to promote new technology. (Or course it could be argued that nobody wants to see him ever.) 

By the same token, Aveeno knows that promoting Jennifer Aniston’s glowing skin in a full-page glossy rag ad is going to be far more effective toward selling their lotion than highlighting the benefits of their extruder as it systematically squirts lotion into jars. That’s more centerfold material for Extrusion Magazine. And Aveeno wouldn’t have much success advertising their lotion there anyhow. 

Which brings us back to our point. The majority of what people have known about manufacturing companies is the products they produce. John Deere is a mower. General Motors is a car. Trane is HVAC. In other words, the manufacturing process has always fallen secondary to the retail side of the industry. But that’s changing.

Digital Technology Has Impacted Both Manufacturing and Marketing

Current trends in the digital world are changing the way that manufacturers interact with customers. And labor laws, location and politics have increasingly made the manufacturing process part of a company’s marketing focus.

Here are some of the ways digital has changed manufacturer marketing:

Quick Response Codes (QRC)

Think of the QRC as the next generation of bar code. 

Manufacturers have long been using bar codes to organize

products and streamline operations. But the QRC brings the customer smack dab into the supply chain by giving them the option to receive a large amount of information that can be easily read on their smartphone. They’re also capable of opening websites and interfacing with the database management software of your contact system. 

Another big plus? You can get clever with a QRC. (And it won’t smack you.) The code doesn’t have to be square so it can be designed into logos, images, art or even innovative message generators. Maybe a tattoo?

Manufacturers As Educational Leaders

Websites as a form of marketing have been of tremendous value to manufacturers - even if they’d rather be operating a heavy press than a keyboard. Their website allows them to set themselves as leaders in their specific industry. 

More and more manufacturers are incorporating blogs into their websites to provide information and set themselves as an authority in their industry. When an uninformed potential customer sets out to learn about a specific manufacturing sector, having access to informational articles, guides, and links to technical journals is a valuable resource. They’re more likely to trust a manufacturer who takes this extra time to educate their customers.  

Plus, it’s helpful for SEO and pretty easy on the marketing budget.

Apps, Apps and More Apps

The simplicity of developing apps, along with their unbridled popularity, has made them a hugely effective way for manufacturers to interact with consumers. 

They’re digitally renewable, so they’re always up-to-date. In manufacturing, this is a big deal. Being able to supply a customer with reliable, accurate and current product information is critical. And since updating is done electronically, it’s cost effective. Try updating a print ad every month. 

Manufacturers Are Just More Connected 

The internet of things (IoT) has undeniably brought more people together - even if simultaneously tearing people apart at the dinner table. 

Websites and apps are connecting manufacturing businesses with customers in ways never before imagined. A customer can even use company templates on their smartphone or computer to customize a product that will then be 3-D printed. And from anywhere in the world. 

Yeah. Digital has definitely changed the way manufacturers are marketing. And it looks like that evolution will continue.

Advertising Question of the Week: What Are the Best Times or Days to Send My Email Newsletter?

Had this post been written ten years ago, we might have advised you to send them out at the end of the day. Because that’s what logic seemed to dictate at that time and, well, frankly, everyone was doing it.

That logical dictation has since been blown out of the water.

Yet - very much in the spirit of old dogs being unreceptive to new tricks - it’s still what many companies are doing.  

But Mailing At the End of the Day Is Actually the Worst Time

Assuming you’re an email newsletter subscriber yourself, you’ve probably noticed the deluge of these newsletters that come at the end of the work day - coming at you when you’re at your most haggard and world-weary. Not your most “receptive” time.  

Or even worse, they come so late in the day that they accumulate in your inbox where they eagerly await. For you to erase them. 

Because honestly, even if that newsletter has the most mind-blowing content in the world, you’re probably like most people who’d rather just "clean house" first thing in the morning. In other words, you find far more satisfaction in deleting that barrage of emails clogging your inbox than in receiving data-driven marketing tips at 7:08AM. 

That being said, avoid sending your own email newsletter between 6PM-7PM.  Consider it the witching hour. It’ll be up against way too much competition. 

And forget about sending it after 9pm or before 7am. It’ll likely get rolled into the gruesome horror show that is the next day’s inbox clearing.

So Then What Are the Best Times to Send My Email Newsletter?

We were recently intrigued by a highly unscientific study

whereby a man subscribed to 100 different newsletters to see what time they landed in his inbox.  

He found that nobody sent an email newsletter in the 11AM-noon, 1PM-2PM, and 2PM-3PM hours. 

For Minimum Competition, the 2PM-3PM Spot Is Ideal

Even though the other two time slots showed no competition,

they bookend the lunch hour. As such, email newsletters are far more likely to fall victim to the “hangry”, or to those in food coma during those hours. But between 2pm and 3pm, work life can get pretty dull and a newsletter might be a needed distraction.

For Minor Competition, Shoot for the 10AM-11AM Slot

The brave leader of this unscholarly study then found that only one email newsletter came in between 10am and 11am. And there’s something to be said for a little competition. Especially if your newsletter sparkles in comparison.  

Are There Also Better Days for Sending Email Newsletters?

Yes. But you probably already guessed that.

Wednesday Is the Best Day

Strangely enough, the study found that Wednesday is the day with the least competition. In fact, it is on Wednesday that some newsletters get double the open rate of Monday and Tuesday. So for now, at least, Hump Day a darn good day to send your email newsletters.

Saturday Is a Close Second Runner-up

Yeah, it’s not an official business day. But in terms of sending your email newsletters, Saturday deserves your attention. Especially if your newsletters speak to certain interests or are more on the entertaining side. Saturday will provide more time to give it the attention it so clearly deserves. 

Forget All about Sundays and Thursdays

Sundays are an exceedingly low competition day. However, it’s something of a wildcard day, being a bit more buttoned-up than its older sibling, Saturday. And for many, it’s a day of rest. Or going to Home Depot. So who wants to compete with that?

Thursdays, on the other hand, are a high competition day. So marketing experts would advise against it since it’s too easy to get lost in the shuffle. 

Sending Your Email Newsletter At the Optimal Time Makes A Difference 

Of course, there will always be the exceptions. Farmers might seek the latest data on corn vs. soybeans at 6am. Or bakers may be pouring over a newsletter at 4am to learn about the next greatest thing since… sliced bread. 

But unless you’re driving it home to an early morning demographic, you’ll want to avoid those heavily competitive times.  

After all, it’s always nice to get a letter when you weren’t expecting one. Even if it’s a newsletter.

Question of the Week: How Will the Lack of Net Neutrality Impact Influencer Marketing?

That’s a good question. And if we had a crystal ball (or believed in them) we could answer it (or pretend to). 

As professional marketers, we can only guess what the impact will be on influencer marketing at this point. What we can say for certain is that there WILL be an impact.

And it might happen sooner than later.

What Was the Benefit of Net Neutrality?

Those who favored the now halcyon days of net neutrality are concerned that Internet providers will start giving preferential treatment to sites that pay them or that they own. And if history has anything to say about it, that sounds about right. 

Furthermore, without net neutrality, those same providers are able to legally discriminate against sites that they don’t like. And they can choose to not like them for any reason at all. 

It doesn’t even have to be a good reason. They may simply not like the cut of the site’s jib. As such, they will make it much harder and SLOWER for people to access those sites.

Now, since influencer marketers rely on their websites,

content, and audience engagement to grow, they’re obviously concerned that without those fair access principles in place, their presence will be weakened. (Like going from a triple shot espresso to a cup of diner coffee.) 

Especially if the ISP Grand Poobahs - like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast - start placing commercial interests  first. 

So what does this all mean?

The Loss of Net Neutrality Will Change Influencer Marketing

And while several ISPs have publicly vowed to maintain neutrality, not all of them have. Over time, this is bound to have some repercussions.

1. Say Good-Bye to Unlimited Data

The repeal of net neutrality will likely be felt on the mobile level first. Broadband companies - if they so choose - could put the kibosh on streaming services and choose pay-by-play data packages instead. 

Influencers who rely on Instagram and Snapchat will probably see a reduction in the streaming content these platforms produce. Again, to keep data usage costs down.

2. Influencers Will Have to Charge More to Brands and Agencies

With net neutrality, audiences became accustomed to getting their content quickly. But as this starts to change, influencers and influencer networks will have to start paying out to the ISPs to get speed. (Sounds vaguely like a drug deal.) This cost will then be passed down to the agencies and brands who hire influencers.

Which leads us to point #3.

3. All Hail the Micro-Influencer

It could potentially become more and more expensive for brands to work with high-tier influencers. So rather than use a well-known influencer (think Beyoncé), they may have to leverage several micro-influencers (think The Backstreet Boys) across a campaign to get the word out. 

For the money they’re paying, these agencies will need to squeeze as much out of those micro-influencers as possible. And those Backstreet Boys are just not the chipper upstarts they once were. 

4. “You Can’t Put a Price on Knowledge”

Unless you’re an ISP.  

The thing is, most Americans get their news and info from search platforms and web-based encyclopedias. The sheer volume of content and the archival nature of the data on these sites makes them more expensive to host. As ISPs are now free to charge these “heavy-hitter” sites, the sites are then forced to charge users a subscription fee to offset those costs. 

And don’t believe for a minute that you can just get all your information from the “Uncle Larry’s Cavalcade of Interesting Facts” website. If the ISP feels that Uncle Larry wronged them, they’ll make it really difficult to see Uncle Larry. Or make him “disappear.” 

While this last point on paying for knowledge has a less direct impact on influencer marketing, it is a scary thought overall.

The Loss of Net Neutrality May Not Be That Bad

Again, we just don’t know.

It would be nice to believe that these ISP empires will recognize they don’t need to make any more money. It would also be nice to believe that nobody ever suffers. Especially puppies.

The bottom line of the loss of net neutrality could very well mean higher prices for the end user. At first, it may not seem like much. But who knows what it says for the long run?  

We sure don’t. But we can guess.

3 Ways for Marketers to Incorporate a Customer-Centered Mindset

In any business, a customer-centric mindset is essential. Because, with all due respect to mama, the refrigerator magnet should actually say, “If the customer ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” 

That’s the reality.

But another reality is how easy it is to forget the customer-centered mindset when the work really starts flowing. Especially for marketers who tend to have less client-facing time than the folks in sales and support. 

The irony is that it’s the many clients that create the work flow that keeps you so busy that causes you lose to focus on those very clients that live in the house that Jack built. 

It’s certainly something of a quagmire. 

So How Do You Maintain That One-Pointed Focus on the Customer?

Keep your eye on the prize. Not that we’re in the business of objectifying your customers, but they’re the “prize” in this case. 

To help campaigns resonate with prospects and customers, it’s absolutely necessary to employ a customer-centric mindset. This, in turn, will lead to increased sales and happier, more engaged clients. Put all of this together, and it’s going to differentiate you from your competitors. And by differentiate, we mean in a good way. A shiny way. A winning way. And what are you going to win?

More customers, i.e. the “prize.” So let’s begin.

#1. Take A Strategic Approach to Technology

How personalized is your correspondence with your clients? 

Get personal. And we don’t mean addressing emails with

“Hey there friend o’mine” rather than “To whom it may concern.” They’re both inauthentic. Especially the former, which borders on insultingly so.

But keeping it real with a high level of personalization takes time and effort. We get it.  

This is where technology steps in. You can scale using marketing automation. All sorts of marketing software can help you to automate those time-sucking tasks like prospecting emails, creating invitations to events or formulating on-boarding communications. 

This will free up more time for you to focus on delivering a personalized experience to customers while mastering Level 3,461 on Candy Crush. Ah, technology.

But wait! Here’s the caveat. You must be clear about your goals to develop a strategy with technology. Because with all of that smooth automation, your internal goals could quickly become your main focus - and at the cost of the customer experience. So don’t scale a task if there’s the risk it’s going to frustrate your customer. It’s not worth it.   

Which brings us to step #2. 

# 2. Communicate on a Human Level

With the convenience of texting and emails, nobody ever has to talk on the phone again. But that doesn’t mean nobody WANTS to. There are plenty of people who still want to do precisely that.

As we’ve moved into deeper into the digital age, we’ve had to start making sense of when and how certain types of conversations need to  happen. So with each interaction, ask

yourself, “Does this response warrant a personal touch, or can it be automated?”

When you get down to bare bones, business is still about human engagement. No existing technology can offer up the intuition and experience of a human. It doesn’t understand the competitive landscape. And it sure can’t forge emotional connections. 

When it makes sense, take the extra time for in-person meetings and phone calls to maintain those pathways of human connection.

#3. Remember That Your Customers Change

We all do.

But if you have long-standing clients for whom you’ve done the exact same service year after year because it’s what’s worked in the past, you can’t just write them off. They might not be as satisfied as you think.

It’s like that aunt who continues to buy you an airplane-themed gift every year for your birthday because you loved airplanes when you were, like, seven. You’ve even mentioned that airplanes don’t really do it for you anymore, but she just won’t listen. And frankly, you’re feeling pretty unvalidated.

Do you really want to weight down your clients with metaphorical airplanes?

Not only have you stopped listening to their needs, but you’re operating in the dark. You’ve also missed an important opportunity to validate who they are. You’ve essentially forgotten them. 

This is another reason you want to keep interacting with you customers. It’ll help you avoid turning them into categories. 

Consider customer focus groups. They can help you understand what clients need and which messages are hitting home.

Taking the Customer First Approach Is Not Limited to Marketers

And it shouldn’t be. We all gotta get along.

Project managers and creatives need to work together. Sales and marketing execs need to work together. CFOs and CEOs need to work together. There’s this whole working together theme here. 

But ultimately, success is achieved when EVERYONE works together to put the real people who matter first. 

And that would be, ahem, the customers. You know, the prize.  

So listen to them. Do the necessary work to solicit their input. Then bring that input to life. 

That’s the ultimate job of the marketer. 

Question of the Week: Is Advertising An Art?

Hit the internet and you’ll find folks saying, “absolutely not.” Yet you’ll just as easily find folks saying, “without a doubt.” Then there’s a third and larger camp of folks that don’t take a definitive stand.

We reside in that third camp. We see this as one of those annoying questions that has no right answer. Like, “Is Kenneth a good name for a tree frog?” 

In other words, it's subjective.

But since the question was posed, we figured it was worth exploring a little. So let’s start by asking this:

How Does One Define Art?

Merriam Webster defines art as this:

The conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects.

Wikipedia - posing as a dictionary here - defines it as:

The product or process of deliberately arranging items (often with symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect.

So given both of these definitions, it’s possible that advertising could be perceived as art. Then again, what we perceive isn’t absolute truth. Like when you’re in a non-moving car and the vehicle next to you is slowly inching forward so that you PERCEIVE that you’re moving backward. But you’re not.

Anyhow, without getting drawn into a philosophical argument on perception, we should look at the other important question here:

How Does One Define Advertising?

Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say now:

Advertising is how a company encourages people to buy their products, services or ideas. Advertisers influence our emotions by using techniques that include stereotyping and targeting the audience according to who we are. 

And as for Merriam Webster?

The action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements.

Okay. So there seems to be some clear delineation between the two. 

Advertising Has A Definitive End Result

To encourage the viewer to buy. But that does that necessarily preclude it from being art? 

Have you ever been stirred by an emotional and inspiring

commercial that tells a story? Okay, so it’s a very short story and not a full-length art film. But does size really matter? The expertise and creativity required to produce it could have easily come from the same place.

The advertising as art question is difficult because it deals with the complexity of being human. So let’s simplify the human into three parts:

• Senses/Emotions
• Intellect
• Will

When we focus on senses and emotions, we’re entertaining. When we focus on intellect, we’re educating. When we focus on will, we’re creating propaganda.

These three things rarely exist in their purest form though. As you trip through life, most of what you encounter will be some combination of these three things. Art and advertising included.  

But where art seems to deviate is that there isn’t as definitive an end result as there is in advertising.

Art Pursues A Higher Truth

In other words, that commercial that moved you in some way might just qualify as art if it conveyed a little bit of truth about the human experience and what it all means.

Then again, maybe not.

Yeah, most advertising focuses on entertaining the senses and emotions and then appealing to the viewer’s will to buy the product. There might even be a little education thrown in for good measure. And frankly, that’s considered really solid advertising. The kind that gets awards. 

But there is advertising that manages to touch on some existential truth and resonates through as art.  And, of

course, there have been countless times when advertising has inspired art. 

It did wonders for Mr. Warhol. 

So while it seems impossible to answer this week’s question, it’s always a hoot to keep the conversation going. 

Especially as the face of advertising continues to change. 

Question of the Week: What is Native Advertising?

In a nut shell?

Native advertising refers to ads that have a similar look or feel to the content or design that surrounds it. This can include its color, shape, formatting, tone, location and/or contextual relevance.

Native Advertising Fits in with the Existing User Experience

And it’s available for advertisers to purchase at scale. The

only thing that makes it stand out is that it’s marked as “promoted” or “sponsored.” (Which you often don’t notice until that split second after you’ve clicked on it.)

As to what can be defined as native advertising and what isn’t, there is some debate. But when humans are involved, when isn’t there debate? Seriously. 

At any rate, the following sit under the wide spanning umbrella of what’s considered, to many, to be native advertising:

1. Sponsored Articles

If you’ve ever been on the hunt for content, you’ve likely been fooled by one of these. A sponsored article is one where an informational article is sponsored by a brand, but it doesn’t promote that specific brand.

For example, this article from the Onion entitled “Pile Of Dirty Clothes On Bedroom Floor Starting To Mix With Pile Of Clean Clothes On Bedroom Floor” could have been sponsored by the Institute to Promote Laundry and Eradicate Procrastination.

If it had been, the Institute would not be mentioned by name in the article. But you would have seen their logo next to the words “Sponsored Post” so that you’d immediately make the connection.

Your reaction might sound something like this: “I really need to do a load of laundry. Like, yesterday.” 

And then maybe you’d do it tomorrow before heading to the Institute.  

2. In-Feed Programmatic Native

These ads are unobtrusive in that they appear in-feed or in-stream as you scroll through organic content. Kind of like sitting by a babbling fresh water stream in Alaska and watching a piranha casually swim past.

And that’s the main criticism. The publishers of these ads will tinker some with the look and feel of these ads, but not so much that they completely fit in with the surrounding content. So yeah, they stand out a little. 

These ads are bought/sold through programmatic channels like Facebook, the Audience Network and other native ad OpenRTB exchanges. 

3. Integrated Native

The integrated native ad is more akin to the salmon in that Alaskan stream. It matches the look of the surrounding content (i.e. other salmon). Furthermore, it provides value through contextual relevance. 

These ads are employed by user-first brands like Facebook,Yelp and others with or without hugely recognizable names. And these native platforms are usually built in-house rather than using a network.

4. Content Recommendation Widgets

Those involved in the heated native advertising debate might want to turn a blind eye to content recommendation widgets as native advertising. 

These are the “Around the Web” rectangular ads on news and media sites that are visually and topically similar to the article you just read. But many consider them spammy. 

Plus, there are other issues with appropriateness. For instance, it’s pretty horrible to have a well-researched article on eating disorders be accompanied by a promotion for “10 Foods to Make You Skinny” at the bottom of the page.

As such, publications like The New Yorker has removed them from its website altogether.

5. Advertorials

Those involved in the even more super heated native advertising debate would ban the advertorial from donning the native advertising moniker altogether. And let’s face it - it’s a shifty poseur with a bad rap.  

You’ve seen one. It looks and reads like an objective editorial, but all the while, it’s really promoting a specific

product. So just when you are drawn into that editorial about dysfunction and feel at one with the world in knowing that you’re not alone, you’re being bamboozled into buying a product to fix it. 

Shameless. And that’s why a lot of publications have pulled these too.

So What’s the Value of Native Advertising?  

In cases where it looks authentic and is not involved in back-handed, dark alley trickery, people tend to trust it. Some people even like being drawn to a product or service hand-picked just for them.

It also increases the brand value of the advertiser, since it’s put on platforms which people are likely to trust.

Is it something you should use? Maybe. As long as you have advertising professionals to guide you and keep your trustworthiness in tact.  

Otherwise, you could be doing egregious things with piranhas. And nobody wants that.