Marketing & Advertising Blog

TV and Social Media

The best thing that has happened to TV is the second screen… ipads, mobiles and laptops. TV is now interactive and will continue to develop in this area.

Social media gives Television a new lease on life, viewers can now participate in the program they are watching via voting and online discussions. Television stations are now incorporating social media into their programming, allowing live relays of fans tweets and online posts to appear live on screen during a broadcast.

Social TV is massive for the next generation. Currently, 40% of all tweets are about prime time TV shows. This is because TV viewers are multi-tasking and socialising while watching TV shows.

Some of the most popular second screen activities for TV viewers is to use social forums while watching TV to discuss the shows they are watching.

Social media has also become vital in promoting TV shows. The majority of all Prime Time TV shows now have their own social media page and online streaming available. Allowing viewers to never miss an episode, and keeping viewers interested in the show by revealing teasers, learning about the cast members, competitions and more.

Nielsen are now measuring Twitter TV ratings to see what TV shows are being talked about the most online. In 2013 the American Series Breaking Bad averaged 521,000 tweets per episode.

We can only expect TV & Social Media to get bigger and better!

Media Spotlight: Outdoor Advertising

This week’s media spotlight is on Outdoor Advertising. Our media spotlight is designed to give you a little more information on each media. Let’s face it, in today’s market there are so many options it is often hard to understand them all let alone choose the right media mix.

What is Outdoor Advertising

Roadside Billboards
Street Furniture
Retail Point of Sale
Airport Signage
Digital Outdoor Signage
Sport Stadiums Signage
Transit including buses, taxis, trains, bus shelters advertising, scooters and mobile billboards
Experimental – such as giant air inflated balloons, logos, mascots etc

How does Outdoor Advertising work

Boring outdoor advertising doesn’t work. But engaging and creative outdoor advertising definitely does!

Outdoor advertising can’t be switched off and often can’t be ignored. Over 6 million people in Australia drive to work each day and are faced will roadside billboards and moving billboards on the side of buses, trains and trams.

74% of people in Australia see outdoor billboards every day, several times a week. About 50% of them see them on their way to a shopping centre.

How is Outdoor Advertising evolving

Like most other mediums, it is becoming digital. Most of us have by now seen a digital billboard which has the ability to either rotate various ads within a matter of seconds, or play actual moving vision. Although digital is only present in mainly metro markets, it will continue to increase and work its way into more regional markets.

Highly creative and interactive outdoor advertising is becoming much more popular, not only because of the success it is having but also because of the extra publicity it often receives, these days a popular outdoor campaign can end up going viral right across the world.

Check out the Pepsi Max bus shelter stunt that has gone viral just this week, a very creative idea involving a clear digital screen on the side of a bus shelter that had the ability of creating a false scene over the top of real life vision.

Outdoor Advertising is a strong medium

Outdoor media revenue continues to increase rather than deflate like some of its counterparts such as magazines and newspapers, proving the strength of this medium.

At the moment, there are 4 major outdoor media suppliers across Australia, servicing metro and regional areas, along with a handful of smaller suppliers representing billboard sites in regional and remote areas.

There will always be a need for outdoor advertising. People are spending more and more time outdoors and out of their homes. Outdoor advertising is there to capture people’s attention while they are out and about, shopping and travelling. Not only can the audience be huge, it can also be very diverse and cover a large range of demographics.

Here are some popular outdoor campaigns that have attracted a lot of attention for their creativity:

Does anyone pay attention to Online Advertising?

We all know there is advertising online because we have all seen it. But when it comes to placing online advertising, clients always ask with hesitation ‘Does anyone pay attention to Online Advertising?’

Roy Morgan research reveals that consumers do notice online advertising but the level of engagement is linked to their age.

Source: Roy Morgan, July 2012 – June 2013 (n = 9,743).

Generational definitions: Pre-Boomers: born pre-1946; Baby Boomers: 1946-1960; Generation X: 1961-1975; Generation Y: 1976-1990; Generation Z: 1991-2005

As to be expected, the younger the audience the more engagement they have online. The younger generations of today have grown up in the digital revolution and as more of them are online, own smart phones and watch online video, they are much more likely to see and also notice online advertising. The 65+ market are the least likely to get engaged with online advertising, both because there are less of this age group online, and because they are less likely to trust online advertising.

How to best target your audience online?

According to Roy Morgan Research consumers aged 39 and under spend close to 17 hours online a week, and 40% of them are willing to click through on an online ad. This is an age group you could effectively target online through banner ads, display ads and digital videos.

If you want to target the 50+ market online, who spend an average 5 – 13 hours online a week you will reach a higher audience with an email newsletter rather than that of a banner ad. 65% of the 50+ market are willing to read an email newsletter, as opposed to only 35% of the 39 and under market. The older audience are more trusting to a personalised email and more likely to engage.

The next thing to get right of course is your creative! (And that’s another topic in itself!) You won’t get any success from online advertising if your ad is annoying, intrusive or simply not informative.

Contact Sunny Media and we help plan your online campaign. Check out our website for more information www.sunnymedia.com.au

Are events a good idea for your business?

Many businesses we speak to like the idea of holding an event, after all what’s not to like about sipping champagne, savouring tasty canapés and dishing out air kisses like there is no tomorrow.

The answer we always give is why? Events are incredibly labour intensive to undertake and if not planned properly they can be stressful and will affect the brand. If there isn’t a clear business reason to hold an event then we suggest client’s look to spend their advertising funds elsewhere.

However there are a number of good reasons why a business would undertake an event, including:

Promote a new product, service or business
Celebrate a milestone within the business
Network with current and existing clients and stakeholders
Reward and recognise staff achievements

More recently our QA PR team helped with the Sunshine Coast launch event for The Great Australian Beverage Company at Coolum Beach. The event was attended by over 80 people including staff, suppliers, shareholders as well as local politicians and a host of media.

A by-product of the launch was the significant media exposure the event generated with a television news crew, online news cameraman, local press and magazines, reporters and photographers all attending the event. Pre-recorded interviews were also undertaken with several radio stations while the local newspaper posted the story on their website to give it broader exposure. These media reports helped to reinforce key messages from the launch event and spread the word about the new business to the broader public.

This type of publicity adds up to many thousands of dollars in ‘free’ exposure which cannot be generated through advertising. That doesn’t mean advertising isn’t valuable – far from it in fact. The next phase of our campaign will see a rollout of a major television, radio and press advertising campaign to continue to build the company’s brand as it seeks to gain market share in the competitive carbonated beverage market.

Check out our website Sunny Media to find out how the QA PR team can help grow your business and your brand.

Peppi Bueti (right) Director of QAPR at the launch event for the Great Aussie Beverage Company, an exciting new soft drink brand boasting 10 new soft drink flavours.

Why should customers buy from you and not your competitor?

You should be able to answer this question, if you can’t you could be missing out on sales.

Every business needs a unique selling point. The term USP was developed as a strategic way of thinking, to set your business or your product apart from your competitors and offer customers a benefit or value.

In an often crowded market place, where many businesses are selling similar products and services your unique selling point is going to set you apart, and attract customers away from your competitors.

Here are some examples of what a customer might see as a unique selling point in a small business:

1. A locally produced product or locally staffed business

2. A dedicated team with experienced staff

3. A hands on approach and personal dealing

4. Lowest cost or price comparison

5. Highest quality product or service

6. Variety, choice and more options

You need to find a benefit that your business offers over your competitors. (What would customers want most from you?) This benefit doesn’t always have to come in the product, sometimes you’re simply selling a product exactly the same as someone else but you can differentiate your business by offering a value to your customer such as a faster turn around on your service, or some sort of added bonus… the opportunities are endless. This USP should then be used as the theme of your advertising and marketing.

Make sure your customers are aware of the benefits your offer above your competitors, through your website, advertising and even your tagline.

If you think your business doesn’t have a unique selling point or you’re not sure what it is, talk to the team at QA. We can help market your unique selling point so that customers will buy from your and not your competitor.

5 advantages of using an Advertising Agency

There are many positive benefits of using an Advertising Agency such as Sunny Media. Firstly, no matter how big or small your business is, we can help plan and book your advertising, you don’t have to be a national company or large brand such as Coles to warrant the advantages an agency can deliver.

Here are QA’s top 5 advantages of using an Advertising Agency:

EXPERTS ON ADVERTISING

We are experts in the field! Our team has a wealth of knowledge and experience in all areas of Advertising and Marketing. We have access to research and statistics relating to media consumption, viewing numbers and consumers habits. We will place your advertising where your consumers are going to see it!

ONE STOP SHOP

A term we don’t normally like to use but is oh so true! Rather than wasting your time dealing with several different companies why not deal with just one. At QA we can help look after your campaign from start to finish, including graphic design, printing, direct mail, radio and TV production, media bookings and much more. Our combined services will save you both time and money.

DISCOUNTED MEDIA RATES FROM MASS BUYING

At QA, we have strong relationships with the media and are afforded higher discount levels due to the overall amount of media we book. We have a buying relationship with Nunn Media, one of Australia’s largest media agencies and this relationship allows us access to discounted media rates rewarded to their mass media buying across the nation. This allows us to both save your business money, and make advertising more affordable to small businesses.

UNBIASED OPNION

We don’t work for any one media and we don’t have any loyalties. We work for our clients and all of our recommendations are based on the best option for our client. If you were to deal with each media separately, they would all say they are the best option, which won’t always be the case.

GETTING YOUR MEDIA MIX RIGHT

There is a lot of research and planning involved in getting your media mix right. With so many options such as TV, Radio, Press, Digital, Outdoor and even more it is vital that you utlise the correct media. An Advertising Agency can recommend the right media mix and strategically plan your advertising to work together and achieve better results.

Visit our website Sunny Media for more information.

Digital Marketing 101 – What YOU Need to Know for 2014

Matt Travers is a Campaign Manager at Reload Media, Sunny Media’s digital marketing partner. Reload and QA work together to ensure that clients have an integrated marketing strategy across traditional and digital mediums. If you find this article useful, please share on your preferred social channel.

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” – Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.

What do you need to know about digital marketing in 2014? Well, there definitely is a world marketplace for more than 5 computers; in fact by the end of 2014 the number of personal computers in use is expected to topple 2 billion.

Take in to account the number of internet connected smart phones, tablets, watches and toasters (I wouldn’t be surprised) and you get yourself a great deal of consumer touch points if you’re a marketer.

In order to establish what you need to know about digital marketing in 2014, we need to take a step down Google lane and see how the industry has evolved so far.

Major milestones include the extreme growth of Google AdWords, display advertising and the uprising of mobile internet use.

So what can we expect this year?

Content marketing has already taken shape as one of the most important activities that your site/brand should be undertaking.

2014 will see content marketing not as an add-on to your digital marketing activity, but a necessity. If the Google search results were a mountain and your website a car, you better hope your filling the fuel tank with the premium unleaded 98 version of content; that provides value and helps your target market. Once your fuel tank is full, it’s all about how you drive it to ensure you reach the top of the mountain.

Mobile continues to grow rapidly, with search advertising on mobile devices expected to grow by 76% in 2014 and mobile banner advertising expected to grow by 100%. Mobile is a piece of the digital marketing pie (it’s a big pie) that you can’t ignore!

Social media is another hot topic when it comes to digital marketing. From a recent survey, 100% of business decision makers use social media for work purposes, 79% of marketers have integrated social media into their traditional marketing activities, and 33% of consumers cite social networks as a way they discover new brands, products or services. Social media is proving to be a great introduction piece to your marketing. Is your business utilising social to it’s full potential?

Driving a well-planned content, mobile and social strategy is all well and good…from a micro perspective. Making sure you look at the bigger picture and try and gain as much leverage off each channel is really what 2014 is going to be all about. Marketers will be looking to gain as much leverage as possible from offline channels to the online world, which, as proven by Google, is where the majority of consumer research is undertaken when looking for a product or service.

So don’t be surprised if more and more TV/radio ads plug specific URLs instead of a phone number or if a newspaper offer is redeemable purely online rather than in store.

So in short, what you need to know is leverage, leverage, and leverage. Visualise your marketing plan on a cork board and connect the dots if you have to, because chances are that there are consumer touch points you are missing out on due to placing your marketing activity in silos.

Remember, if you found this article useful, feel free to tip the author by sharing this article on your preferred social channel.

Matt Travers, Campaign Manager, Reload Media

Database Marketing – Easy and cost effective!

What is a Database?

An organised system to store and manage information. Not only do you want to keep your customers name, address and contact details (including email and mobile number is a must!) you should also be keeping a record of their behaviour such as purchases and particular interests.

What is Database Marketing?

Database Marketing is a form of direct marketing in a personalised manor to generate communication between your business and a customer, with the goal to promote your product and services and to generate sales. If your database contains behavioural information you can use this info to specifically target certain customers with your communications. For example, if you are a Jewellery Store and you have a database of previous clients which also details who has previously bought a “Swatch” Watch, you already know this client likes the “Swatch” brand so you could specifically target them with an offer on “Swatch” watches, or email them when a new range of “Swatch” watches are released. This targeted style of Database Marketing makes your communication less hit and miss and more effective.

What Database Marketing isn’t!

There is no point in keeping a database with minimal information that has no real value in being able to target your customers. Database Marketing isn’t just a simple list of contact names and addresses, you need to keep vital information that relates to your customers buying behaviour.

Database Marketing isn’t the art of sending out spam or annoying email newsletters all about yourself and your business “me me me”. If you want to send effective communication you need to be sending the right message to the right customers, at the right time.

Sending untargeted information to your customers will make them unsubscribe or

Why is Database Marketing Important?

It’s simple… you can cost effectively keep existing customers. There is the potential of more sales and referral business from your existing customer, It often costs more money to acquire a new client than it does to keep an existing one so why let go of one you already have!

Database marketing allows you to segment customers and identify offers and products that they would like to receive. You will create customer loyalty, generate sales, and customers will remember your brand.

If you don’t have an existing database, start collecting that gold mine of information today! If you do have an existing database, talk to us at QA and we can help you effectively target your customers.

The multi-screen household and what it means for Advertisers

Australian’s of all ages continue to spend the majority of their screen time in front of their TV sets. However, the introduction of new screen technologies allows multi use between different devices, separately or at the same time.

I am sure many of you have seen this in your household… Dad is sitting on the couch watching his favourite TV show, while browsing online with his laptop checking out the new car he has been wanting to purchase. Mum is in the kitchen and using the iPad to look online for some recipe ideas for tonight’s dinner, one teenager is in their room on the computer surfing the net and another is watching TV and using her mobile device to simultaneously check social media and shop online. Sound familiar?

A recent report has shown that currently 27% of Australian homes have each of the four screen types: TV, PC, tablet and mobile phone which is up from only 16% a year ago. Also, a considerable 31% of homes now have a tablet compared to only 15% in 2012, this number is likely to continue growing.

Although the notion of multitasking isn’t a new trend, in previous years where someone may have been reading a magazine while watching TV they now have one of these devices either in their hand or nearby that is connected to the internet.

So what does this mean for Advertisers? Consumers are more likely to visit your website or look at your product online if they have just seen your ad on TV and liked it. More screens also mean more opportunities for you to get your brand or product in front of consumers eyes, which proves how important a digital strategy is these days.

But… don’t be confused, it certainly isn’t time to reduce TV advertising! The multi-screen household hasn’t taken away from the popularity of TV viewing, it remains strong and is more than likely to continue this way. The introduction of multiple devices is working to complement each other.

The best way for you to adapt your advertising and marketing plans to the multi-screen household is to incorporate a digital strategy. If you haven’t already or you think your current online activities could be lacking contact QA to find out how we can improve your reach.

Thanks for reading our blog and check out our website www.sunnymedia.com.au

Engage a PR plan before a crisis escalates

A crisis can affect all brands, products and even personalities regardless of their size or location and saying ‘no comment’ simply doesn’t cut it anymore. Having a crisis management plan in place is vital and that’s where a PR professional can help you. Let’s see what Peppi Bueti our PR Guru has to say about Crisis Management…

My good mate, former Channel Nine reporter and leading media trainer Warren Clarke says when it comes to making the headlines, newsrooms still follow the ‘if it bleeds then it leads’ philosophy.

Bad news helps to sell newspapers and unfortunately most organisations are on the back foot when the proverbial hits the fan.

Just recently a tiger attacked his handler at Australia Zoo creating headlines across the globe and as I type this I note that Gold Coast Suns player Campbell Brown has been sent home from the USA after allegedly breaking his team mates jaw in a late night incident.

Issues and crisis are faced everyday across large corporate businesses as well as small business, schools, Universities, churches and sporting teams.

How they handle these incidents can be very critical as they can all affect an organisations brand which ultimately impact on its perception in the market and (if applicable) sales.

This is where a solid issues management plan comes to the fore and this requires thinking about all possible worse case scenarios and how they will be managed before an issue escalates. A PR person is usually engaged to think strategically about this issue and to minimise the impact of what has occurred and ensure it is resolved as quickly as possible so it doesn’t turn out to be a full blown crisis.

One of the world’s most wealthy individuals Warren Buffet once said “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” When you look at it like that it’s not hard to understand why it’s important to plan for a crisis well before it has a dire impact on your business.

Peppi Bueti, Director of Public Relations

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