Our Newest Addition – Ginny Shepherd
We are pleased to announce the addition of a new member of the Howard, Merrell & Partners family – Ginny Shepherd.
Ginny recently joined the agency as an account coordinator in the Account Management department. In this role, she will assist in the development and management of client campaigns for Georgia-Pacific Professional.
She comes to the agency with a solid education and hands-on experience in online advertising and analytics. A graduate of the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Ginny interned Blu Zeus Interactive Marketing while in college. During that internship, she helped with the execution and analysis of interactive campaigns that included web design, social media and banner display advertising.
Read more in a release about Ginny.
Viral Video Madness
Viral video is a great social media tool. For evidence of that just look at the success 20th Century Fox had creating awareness for the movie “Rise of the Planet of the Apes“. Even the WSJ recognized the effectiveness of viral video marketing. By the way, the “AK-47” video has gotten 13 million – 13 million! – views.
This is only one video that was made for “Rise of Planet of the Apes” which showed apes doing crazy things.
What are your thoughts on viral video marketing? Is it as effective as the number of views say it is?
Mouse Hovering and Heat Mapping
I came across this killing the click article two weeks ago. The gist of the article is that heat-mapping metrics seek to eliminate engagement rates measured in clicks. Attribution by source is difficult enough (last click attribution etc). There is nothing wrong with banners; at least Google provides exposure to conversions reports that allow you to how impressions and clicks contributed to a conversion. Moat now claims that people looking at ads is a viable metric without providing any measurable action.
Engagement is not a conversion; throughout the article conversions are never mentioned. For all online marketing campaign there needs to be some sort of measurable action. Heat-mapping is simply a metric with a Cost-Per-Engagement (CPE) pricing model.
Heat-mapping doesn’t distinguish between interest and disinterest, and likely counts a lot of false positives. While hovering is a way to detect links, this strategy does not work with banner ads, as everyone knows ads have links. The heat mapping metric is only a valid metric when you are looking to discern call to action effectiveness, for example click here or learn more. The article does not provide any insights on how mouse hovering will work on Smartphones or Tablets.
Why introduce a new metric that doesn’t scale to the fastest growing devices?
Heat-mapping is not a new technology, we’ve been using various tools to track heat maps for several years. Just because you add color to a map doesn’t make new technology.
See…
Original Picture
Heat-Mapping Picture
Be Prepared
An earthquake, a hurricane, a tornado, thunderstorms, a hailstorm – Mother Nature provided us with a challenging couple of weeks.
In most cases, we were warned about what was to come and we were able to prepare. We boarded up windows, purchased non-perishable goods, protected outdoor items from the harsh weather to come, ensured flashlights had batteries, etc…
We also talked to our clients to ensure they were prepared. What if they had to shut down a facility? What if roads were closed and important deliveries could not happen on time. What if there was power loss or water damage in their offices? What if their employees were affected?
Just like we prepare for situations to protect our families and personal belongings, organizations should prepare as well.
A natural disaster is just one of many situations that could cause a “crisis”. A crisis is any situation that threatens the integrity or reputation of an organization. These situations can be a legal dispute, theft, accident, fire, flood or manmade disaster that could be attributed to an organization. It can also be a situation where, in the eyes of the media or general public, an organization did not react to one of the above situations in the appropriate manner. But, handled correctly, the damage can be minimized.
Ideally an organization is prepared well before a crisis occurs – because they have a crisis plan. Elements of a plan include:
- Designating a crisis team
- Choosing a spokesperson(s) and ensuring he/she is prepared to speak publicly
- Creating the organization’s positioning in certain scenarios
- Developing media policies and procedures (i.e. who is allowed to speak to the media)
- Preparing statements for certain (standard) scenarios
- Defining audiences and best ways to communicate with them
- Keeping track of actions taken, next steps per audience
When there is a chance of rain, I bring an umbrella. The majority of the time, I don’t need it…but it makes me feel good to have it (just in case).
A crisis plan is no different. Be prepared.
