Retro marketing

It is generally of  two types;

1. A genuine re-issue or replica of an original product from the past (Mountain Dew, Classic Coke)

2. Using a modern product that adopts retro styling to make it look and feel different from similar products (Facebook)

Company history and brand heritage is important in any retro campaign. Many companies are keen to stress their history and expertise over a long period. This is usually gn that communicates ’we’ve been doing this a long time, so you can trust us’.   The appeal can either be real or imagined past that conjures up images of a lost age.

Retro marketing can also be in developing campaigns or changing the product itself, to make it look old fashioned.

The retro marketing model leans heavily on a psychology and science of human behaviour that proposes that as we grow older we yearn for ” remarkable positive memories we experienced from the past”. These yearnings of an idealised past provides an opportunity for marketers to provide nostalgic cues (images, songs and messages) that make us more receptive to messages that urges us to take a ‘dose’ from the past.

As these method continues to gain acceptance and elicit reactions, more brands will be joining up in the retromarketing campaign

OMO, Star Larger beer, JIK… which one else can you identify?

1. Know the system in which you operate and identify the gap

He had worked long enough in the journalism industry to realise that the businesss to know that the future of journalism is digital. Sometimes the business idea you need to be successful is all around, tou need to be fufiling a need in the market or else youa re on a stroll.

2. Understand Timing

Timing can just be the only business between a great idea nd a frustrating one. the net.ng started when most people had not considered going online as a veritable option. The execellent timing and the element of luck was responsible for our success.

3. Start small

Cashflow projI had spent 3 years searching for people and organisations who could fund my business idea for NGN10billion. I met the unwilling, relectant and deceptive type of investors whi wasted my time.

It was not until I got someone who told me all I needed was a portal to start the website and gave NGN 250,000 to the project. and so I started, without staff, office i began the journey called thenetng today

4. Don’t borrow, grow organically

Borrowing to an entrepreneur might have its negative effects; it can stiffle creative and also ensure you shift your attention form your attention from growing the business to looking for money.

5. Create a USP, and sell it from the word go

I had decided that our selling proposition was going to be the credible source of information about entertinment news in Nigeria and we stuck to the ethics and principles of journalism. Newspapers that thought online news reporting does not work are copying our work and quoting us on their news report. People call us to confirm news reports because for us, credibility has always been

6. Know the rules and break them

Sometimes rules put a limit on our creativity and those who suceed in impacting the world and find a way to push the limits. There are traditional unwritten rules that people follow traditionally; how to plan front pages, treat important staff members, methods and systems of running a business. While most of them have been based in historical events, the rapidly changing nature of human behaviour and technology makes some rules irrelevant.

We cannot say we have reached our peak but we are well positioned within the industry to move unto greater heights

People might take information from corporate blogs with a pinch of salt but they know it is still authoritative. While some organisations have established social media communication platforms, it is still not enough.  Most people may miss tweets and status updates especially if they are not watching Facebook every second and don’t check the history of their friends’ pages. However, you can certainly take advantage of content management systems like WordPress, Joomla and Tumblr plug-ins to ensure even people on your social networks are able to get your corporate information across to their peeps. But the world of business communication has changed and the blog is the best tool available (when done right) to address the challenges of life in the 140-character news cycle.

It is however not an oppportunity to chun out traditional press releases, blogging should be in conversational english and not the likes of  ” in the light of the foregoing” . Blogging offers a place for conversation and must be seen to be friendly, enhance connectivity and encurage responses. Some of the great advantages include;

Prompt response

Especially in the event of a crisis, a corporate blog becomes a potent tool of timely response. While rumors and false information may travel very fast in this age of social media, people will readily believe an authoritative blog when it releases information. Especially when it has been established for a long time, people will readily turn to official portals when they are looking for authentic information.

Consider during the #occupynigeria protests, information was been passed around that GTBank and Dangote, two of Nigeria’s leading brands were violating the labour union boycott office order, a press release by the organisation would have been 24 hours late. While some organisations were praying that mob action will not reach their ourganisations before the uprising mobilises to attack its offices, some took to Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry outposts to dispel the rumors, a corporate blog would have been a potent tool of response in correcting the misinformation in a matter of minutes instead of the hours it takes to publish a press release.

 Bypass the press

Most times the press won’t get your information out exactly the way you want it. Especiallywhen there are competing interests and for organisations when the corporate communications department whose frustrations are glaring after toasting and courting editors in getting your information into the news, you need to have your own digital press online. Especially when you need to respond to a damaging article in the press, it is annoying your response appears on a tiny segment lost in the middle of the newspaper as against the damaging article which made a page masthead.

One of the first persons to attempt this was the former MD of Cadbury Bunmi Oni who created a .blogspot address (here) in response to the boardroom boots given to him by Cadbury International.

Reach the press

The newspaper press have finally conceeded to trying to catch up with trending news on the internet and social media platforms in general. More and more newspapers are quoting blogs and bloggers as their source of information and even currently rely on social media sites for images and events. More and more reporters are spending their time combing Twitter and blogs for news and use them in reporting.  If reporters covering your industry know you have a blog and it is frequently updated, they are likely come be regular readers. bye-bye to bootlicking editors for media space (*wink)

Search Engine Optimization

With a blog linked to your corporate website, Google will fall in love with your site. It is no news that Google has a way of knowing frequently updated content and tend to rank them well. Done well, your corporate blog will rate you higher on search engines, driving more traffic to your site.

There’s a huge source of business prospects, clients and targets that come from search engine results queries. A large chunk of prospect comes from people who are entering exact phrases they are searching for (keywords) online and are hoping to get results that tally with their queries. Search engines love blogs and blogs will ensure you get the targeted customers.

Before you leverage on this trend, ther eare ponits to note;

1.      Blogging because your competitor is blogging is the first step to suicide for your brand image.  It should be aligned with your core business objectives.

2.     Decide to post regularly. Frequent posts will ensure people will always come for news before they are assured of new content. Linda Ikeji, a celebrity blogger is one of the bloggers who leverage on frequency and timeliness to build her blogging platform

3.    Don’t be busy using every opportunity to sell your products and services; its a likely put off

4.Be very strategic and tactical when it comes to responding to comments and accusations from your respondents

5.Don’t forget again, your blog is not another avenue for news release distribution except your are only reaching out to journalists

6.Know your audience. If the blog is focused on customers, address customer issues or problems. If your company or its product(s) has fans, skew your blog to those fans.

7.Accept comments, you want to communicate with your followers, init? Address comments that need addressing, either within the comments section or with follow-up blog posts.

8.Use a genuine voice. Use simple and straightforward english.  Avoid corporatese.

I will continue on impressive examples of great corporate blogs tomorrow.

Sim Shagaya is a serial technology and media entrepreneur who
has worked for Google, RealNetworks, Microstrategy. He holds degrees

from George Washington U, Dartmouth and Harvard. He is the founder of DealDey,
a Groupon kind-of group-buying site that offers its members in
Lagos discounted deals on several kinds of products and services.

He was one of the speakers at the second session of Creative Enterprise Sessions. Steve Babeko (CReative Director, 141 Worldwide) and Akin Adeoya (of M2 and MarketingMix) was there with Steve taking a session on Creatitiy through innovation and Mr Adeoya being his normal self brought a lively balance between these two
business technocrats (lol)

Simdul admits his success is a combination of good timing and good people and it was good to see him publicly ackowledge his staff. He shared that in the past 5 years he’s tried 6 businesses out of which 2 has suceeded. But after working on a startup to sreaming Nollywood movies online,he’s made a success out of e-motion advertising and Dealdey. He shares his thoughts;

why you need one

After getting your killer idea, it is the next important thing. There are times when you need someone else to support you emotionally, spiritually and financially. You will need someone who can balance you with the right energy and synergy of talents and strengths.

Very few one-man businesses become very great. I am presently reading a book on the transformative entrepreneur and a chapter shared the story on Walmart. He had tried 3 businesses and until he involved his brother on Walmart. MOreso, investors are weary of one-man businesses

I found a great partner in Demola.. Even though I have the idea, pursue the idea, even make sales, but Damola brought the balance of following

up on leads, crunching the numbers e.t.c.

How to find one

Research shows successful companies have an average on 2.1 max 3; additional ones are a recipee for crises. But then finding a co-founder is almost like dating a lady. You need to analyse dispassionately and once you do this do anything to get them on board. One test I use is this; can I infect this person with the same passion I have in 10 mins? Can they come up with your ideas refined or expanded?

You can also give assignmnts, not like class ones but a discussion. E.g asking them to come up with the financials. Immediately the person begins to give excuses about time – pls run. One thing you can’t take away is the instintive ‘flow’ with one another.

How to compensate the person

Though there are no rules regarding this. I generally alow the people to work as consultants for a period of time and dont be too in a hurry to discuss money. No great company starts with money in mind, and fewer of those great businesses are being run by one person.You’ve got to take your time and be patient in getting this done.

You can use outright grant of shares/equity, or introduce share options (e.g. giving 40% of the business but phased over a period of time while retaining the right to terminate the deal)

It’a delicate process and you are definately going to meet dissapointments along the way, but it’s worth. Treat them with absolute kindness – even in Nigeria, people respond to this. Though there are lots of tales of woe, Nigerians are good people and you need to find them.

If Mr Wale can drag Steve Babaeko (@steve_eko) and Akin Adeoya back, I think they need to come and share their practical approaches to helping entrepreneurs bootstrap marketing communication

‘A Negative brand equity is a death sentence’; the Goodluck Jonathan Government should have been listening to Mark Ritson. More rightly put, it can lead to suicide. The #OccupyNigeria train hit Nigeria like a thunderstorm bringing to bear what Nigeria’s foremost humanright’s lawyer, Femi Falana calls Nigeria’s most powerfully organised protest. The #OccupyNigeria protests, which is the simultaneous response of the Nigerian people against arbitrary increase in fuel pump price and #Governmentwaste, is a similitude of the Egyptian and Tunisian protests but named after ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests. It has been a “deregulated protest” spanning Nigeria’s major Cities, Embassies and High Commissions around the world.
What trend is the #occupynigeria depicting for brands?

1. The other edge of Social Media Marketing has been officially activated

With so much talk about social media marketing and its impact to reaching out to social customers, little attention has been given to social media advocacy.If your business/boss has not been taking social media serious, the impact of social media advocacy will jolt you into action. There is no doubt that the ongoing social media revolution will have an enormous impact not only on the way consumers and brands communicate with each other but also the impact of consumer-consumer communication. For this reason, social media engagement and relationship management strategies are no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a ‘must have’ for marketers.
But marketing via social media channels is not as simple as it is through other channels because of its two-edged effects:
a. Consumers can publicise negative experiences and ideas very widely in a matter of minutes;
b. They can also publicise positive experiences and ideas very widely in a matter of minutes.

The impact of social media as a rallying platform for #occupynigeria cannot be over emphasised. The announcement of the venue of the Lagos rally which cascadingly gathered close to 2 million people in its third day was announced though social media platforms (Blackberry, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and other instant messaging platforms).
The ‘unlike President Jonathan day’ (featured on CNN) and ‘the most cursed president’ (ranked on Google) campaign was widely impressive with CNN and Google helping to hype its veracity. With the tools to quickly rally people around a cause readily available, its time to watch it!
The days of poor customer service and treating clients/customers like thrash are counting.

2. Never Violate Trust – It’s the Currency of Brands not Prices

Brand Equity (the strength of a brand) is derived from the goodwill and recognition a brand has garnered over time as a result of fufilling its brand promise. This translates into higher sales volume and profit margins against competing brands. This is the reason why some brands command high patronage even if they charge premium for their products – it is the intangible asset of all promotional efforts.
In an unprecedented manner, the docile and unconcerned Nigerian populace have been jolted alive – thanks to access to information. The total breakdown of trust between the Nigerian people who ‘massively’ voted for the Jonathan Government can be attributed to the widely spread information available on Government’s spending habits, budgetary allocation and money politicking among its high ranking officials.
It is an important lesson to learn that you cannot gain equity by increasing product cost before improving its funtional attributes.

3. Be Ready to Cope with Impersonation

Especially if your business has no officially identified presence in the digital and social media space, or your boss is one who thinks Blackberry is a popular fruit; you now need to prepare for uncertainties, impersonations, rumors and ‘company leaks’.
Some organisations had spent considerable time and enegy refuting claims that they ”ordered people to resume or face sack” during the Nationwide strike declared during the #OccupyNigeria protests. Brands with extensive and original Twitter and Facebook pages quickly responded while traditional businesses looked for avenues to calm misconceptions. The official Twitter handle and Facebook page of the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala came alive in response to claims that she had threatened to resign from office if Nigerians eventually win the battle of the reversal.
Brands now have to think of ways to guide employees’s social relationships, have a policy and chief responsibility officer in preparation for crisis, and consistently stamp their voice online to crowd out impersonating pages and conflicting handles.

4. Social Media can no longer be left to that junior staff

Brands now know they need more than the ability to read and write to assign social media engagement to anyone. Whether to outsource to a social media agency or assign an employee to handle the platforms. The Social Media Manager is not necessarily for the Senior Manager; the appointment into this position requires a new way of thought. It is important to appoint someone with a natural flair for meandering and communicating through different platforms; someone with tact, intelligent, temprate and intelligent enough to engage a wide and varied number of issues and tempraments.
Improper handling of these platforms can backfire and the ripple effects cannot be directly measured until it impacts on the bottomline. The story of how a Fan Page moderator became intolerant when people began to complain on its Facebook about the use of non-renewable palm oil in their production is already a global case study on how not to speak on Facebook.

5. Listening to these Social Media ‘rants’ is now critical

Citizen’s blog posts , comments, social media and Blacberry discussion trends . . it is no more enough to hear about them, it’s time to listen. The emotional and connectedness between brands and their teeming customers can quickly translate into hate and social media mass action if you are not listening early enough and reponding appropriately.
Sustaining Brand equity is a valuable asset which companies invest huge amounts of money to develop; social media listening is now an avenue to maintain and sustain that social reputation.
The web is awash with various tools to help brands listen and respnd appropriately. Brand equity refers to the intangible value that accrues to a company as a result of its successful efforts to establish a strong brand

6. Despite its uncertainties; there lies the power to raise a tribe

SApart for an avenue to execute a highly targetted online marketing campaign; social media is established as a veritable tool for building brand loyalty.
The best way is to think of it as a party. The same wisdom that applies to any social situation also works with social media: Just be yourself and talk to people. Anyone following your brand is also following his or her family members, friends and colleagues. If your brand fits in with a customer’s personal social network, there is great potential for that person to build an emotional attachment and loyalty for your brand the same way they would for a friend. And when a customer thinks of you as a friend, you have a loyal customer.

There is no doubt that the ongoing and fast-developing social media revolution is having an enormous impact not only on the way consumers can communicate with other consumers, but also on the ways in which consumers and brands communicate with each other. For this reason, social media engagement and relationship management strategies are no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a ‘must have’ for marketers.

However, if you’re looking at taking a huge chunk of the youth market and emerging young professionals, then you need to take a shot at using social media strategy to jump start your business.

Startups are not that easy, they are lean, they are hungry for success and they need to catch up with clients and keep a close eye on their industry. Many more internet startups are dying faster than traditional businesses and it is important to get to know what had been consistent thnigs that the few successful one did.

This infographic by some great guys at Udemy helps to summarise how social media can be used by startups to get off the ground.

by Column Five Media via

need to understand the synamics of promoting brands.

Here is a brautiful infograph to inform your brand promotion  strategies

based on researh by aytm (Ask Your Target Market). Enjoy

Source: AYTM Market Research

1. The Public is Back!

Yes, the public relations is no more about what you can do improve
communication with your target audience and stakeholders alone, you need to pay
attention to how the publics can now influence your organisation and its
interests. Stakeholders are now more empowered to respond to organisations’ decisions,
policies and people in a record time and in a massive way.

The multiplicity of communication platforms has also thrown lots of
challenges in the way of the reputation manager. Having a customer’s article
about poor service showing up in Google search results before your
organisations’ website is guaranteed to make you lose customers. Online
Reputation Management, Social Media Engagement, Search Engine Optimisation and
Marketing skills are the new competence levels and it is the business of a
public relations manager to be abreast of consumer touch-points and the various
ways in which consumers can provide feedback on organisations products and
services.

 2. The Rise of New Influencers

Trust agents used to be opinion leaders, community heads, monarchs and brand                                                                                                     ambassadors – but not anymore. Across industries and sectors, new influencers are rising and
it has little to do with their educational or professional certifications.
People in your industry with huge social media followers have become powerful
influencers and those with the knowledge of marketing and promotions are fast
turning themselves into marketing and advertising professionals.  A
quick example is the rise of Nollywood Love, an online YouTube channel that
streams Nigerian films online. The organization and its founder have become big
players and influencers within the industry and he didn’t start by showing up
for auditions. With the democratization of information, everyone has become a
potential publisher and the owner of big media houses are paying attention.                                                                                                                                The major lesson is this; today everyone has the power to influence the perception                                                                                                                   of your brand.

3.  Time is no longer money

If you still quote ‘time is money’, it has become an old fashioned
assumption. Really time now costs you more – it is influence, authority,
authenticity, originality and all the leverage that huge amount of money may
never buy back. Letting news about your organisation or client travel faster
that you can respond will cost you more than you think. In our 24/7
customer-centric world, social media has increased the potential for negative
outcry to gain visibility faster than your brands’ media efforts. The challenge
of the PR professional is to be well-informed, methodical, think fast and be
proactive about every public relations issue that affects your organisation’s
reputation.

4. Researchers are Smiling

The speed of information sharing is faster than ever before and PR professionals
have access to a wealth of content that can be shared with consumers seeking
solutions to a problem. Creating a simple keyword based search on Twitter and
Facebook can connect companies with people at exactly the right time to serve as a helpful
resource. By engaging proactively, PR teams can create new opportunities to
create a favorable brand impression that can lead to the beginning of a potential
business relationship.

Social media has also positively influenced the long standing dynamics of the PR-Journalist                                                                                         practice. Journalists seek information from online sources and PR professionals have also                                                                                             benefited from the added access to available channels. Account planners and researchers can                                                                                               also use digital polls management platforms to conduct their research and analyse results.

5. Digital Reputation Management

Since people are going online to find out about brands and product, it is
only natural that brand managers will be concerned about their online
reputation. They will demand that their Public Relation Consultants expand
their level of competence online and to ensure that traditional communication
channels are extended into online communities.

Rankings of negative comments, opinions and perceptions of your brand (or
product) in search engines now become important to your business.

The business of the reputation manager is now more complex, dynamic and
evolving – the time to rest on the oars can’t be now.

6. Conversation is the new Communication

The word ‘mutual understanding’ a consistent  feature of the definition of Public
Relations? Social
media  has added more tools and re-structured the strategy
and execution of successful two-way communication.

Two-way conversation. PR pros can no be information peddlers that puch information into the
media and sit back and expect to succeed. you can be assured that your PR press release will                                                                                              be answered quickly and in a personal manner, faster that all the time you took in developing it.

Timely, two-way communication is the “new normal.” Listening, engagement and thought
leadership are now three areas that PR pros manage.

7. Analytics, Methods and Tools

PR pros need to understand and use emerging social media tools.
Analytic tools can help track return on investment, including direct costs of staff time spent                                                                                                using the tools, social media marketing efforts and measurement of the traffic it drives to a                                                                                            company’s website.

Social media tools is already becoming the main interphase between
journalist s, PR professionals and the publics. There are many tools onlinen to
help achieve this.

It is the business of PR professional not to get lost in
this season of digital disruptions.

It’s time to step up to the game!

Apple has lost its creative and visionary leader Steve Jobs. Even if you never knew him he has influenced humanity. His brilliance approached in develop Apple brand of products remain the keystone of Apple’s success story. It is still hard to imagine Apple without him.