After 60 plus years of mass marketing and thousands upon thousands of claims of “uniqueness”, the public has understandably become somewhat skeptical. It’s becoming harder and harder to get anyone’s attention for longer than a half a nano-second, let alone make a sale or develop any sense of brand loyalty.

As the lines between marketing and entertainment continue to blur, many businesses are using a more engaging approach. They are using stories built around their brand’s experience that show those products and services in context, making people’s lives better, or at the very least more interesting. Advertising used to strive to “Make the Product a Hero,” today the idea is to “Make the Product a Star.”

Marketing Narratives are literally taken from the pages of real life. They aim to “share” rather “sell”  the benefits of any particular brand experience. They especially resonate with consumers in this age of social media where branding experiences are reviewed, evaluated, shared and discussed.

This “narrative” isn’t fabricated by a team of over-caffeinated copywriters, but is based on the true life experiences of customers, employees, sales people— anyone who comes into contact with your company. It provides consumers with a “real-world” sense of what your company is all about.

We have a client who is an electrical contractor. Rather than create a campaign about the nuts and bolts of updating circuit boards or the dangers of knob and tube wiring, we looked at their business from their client’s point of view.

Typically every job would start with a call about a specific problem that might go something like this: “My outlets are smoldering”, or “The microwave trips the circuit breakers”, or “We had another electrician work on our house and when we turn on the lights in the bathroom the garage door opens”.

These people weren’t interested in discussing their home’s electrical infrastructure, they were interested in solving a specific issue that impacted their quality of life.

We developed a website/campaign entitled “What is Your House Telling You?”  The home page features a slide show of a series of houses each with a word balloon that contains a different “complaint” taken from an actual customer call. (See illustrations below.)

We’ve made the houses the “stars” of the narrative, having them express real-life situations everyone can relate to. In addition, we are educating potential customers on how to “listen to their homes” and spot these issues before they become serious problems while also positioning our client as a contractor who see things from the home owner’s point of view.

Realism is the key to Narrative Marketing, it entertains and conveys information in a way that engages your prospects, making them more likely to take the desired action. Tell your story, the closer you speak to their experiences, the more effective your marketing efforts will be.

Ironically, Facebook has done a great job of branding itself, and, unless you already have a recognizable identity, breaking through the “Facebook Brand” and establishing one of your own hasn’t been easy.

The recently implemented “Timeline” format takes several giant steps toward resolving those issues. As with all Facebook changes, this one has been greeted with the usual chorus of moans and groans, but the new format does provide users with opportunities for creating their own branding identity and experiences.

Start at the top

Timeline makes identity creation easier by providing a template with areas that users can customize in any number of ways:

The Cover — We start with a dramatic 849 x 312 pixel image area that spans the top of your profile. It provides a limitless number of creative possibilities since it can accommodate any image you can create. It’s perfect for a branding image, product shots or for featuring a specific promotion.

Profile Pix — The Profile Picture has been upgraded and relocated. Larger, 125 x 125 pixels, partially overlapping the Cover at the lower left hand side, it provides a creative counter point to the Cover as well as acting as your page’s “avatar” on other pages.

Improved Info section — A panel that runs just beneath the Cover. It features basic info as well as Tabs for Facebook Apps such as Photos, “Likes” and custom third party apps. Tabs are now larger, 112 x 74 pixels, and the name and image of each tab can be customized. Pages linked to tabs are also larger, spanning 800 pixels, so custom pages have an added impact.

Between the custom graphics and the ability to feature custom apps, the top area is now a very effective branding tool. (See sample pages at the end of this post)

The Timeline

Beneath  the branding area is the Timeline area proper. This content area gives each post a large window or container, as opposed to the smaller box in the previous version. Photos, graphics and videos are bigger. You can also elect to highlight or “pin” any of the entries so that it’s window spans the full width of the page.

In addition to status updates you can also post Poll Questions and Company Milestones. The result is a running commentary, arranged chronologically that allows you to build the story of your brand.

Content and Conversation

With all these improvements, fan pages can now serve as a “brand blog” providing fans with frequent and engaging updates in a neatly packaged format.

With the focus shifting from building conversation to sharing content, the purpose of a Facebook page is more about creating an ongoing  “Branding Narrative.” Businesses can express what makes them unique and build an emotional connection with fans through behind-the-scenes news and photos, advance notice of events, real-time mobile uploads, video press releases, and exclusive news and information.

Where applicable, a brand can utilize the Timeline to recount its past and appeal to any feelings of nostalgia fans might associate with it.

This focus on telling a brand story also lowers the barriers to entry, especially for small businesses and non-profits that don’t always have the budget, content or resources to sustain an ongoing community.

Prior to Timeline, businesses were often not sure how Facebook fit into their overall strategy, many relying on a gimmicky apps or promotions in order get fans to “Like” their pages. With Timeline, business can better build their brands on Facebook, the way they do everywhere else, by telling their story and engaging to their customers.

Sample Pages

Simply having a consistent branding message is not enough. In order to stand out from the crowd, or more importantly, from your competition, you need to take full advantage of this new media landscape, and make yourself  “famous”—specifically you need to make yourself a Micro Celebrity.

A Micro Celebrity is a person, business or organization that is a recognized leader in their field by a small but loyal, tightly defined, online community. They are the “go to people” for their specific areas of expertise…and unlike real celebrities, they WANT their fans to find them.

You Might be a Micro Celeb if…

Micro Celebs have three main characteristics:

• They have a recognizable identity, image, message, personality—something that would make you an identifiable “YOU!”—that is consistently applied across a variety of media and platforms (websites, blogs. mobile apps, social media and anything else that might appear in the next 15 minutes.)

• They consistently deliver a quality the product or service (the best kind of viral marketing is happy customer)

• They are “Socially Active” and post, pin, tweet, blog to a specific niche market that hang on their every word because they a reputation for creating compelling content that is useful, entertaining, even controversial, and it’s something fans want to share with their friends. (…that’s the second best kind of viral marketing)

As a Micro Celebrity people will seek you out as resource of information in your field of expertise with friends referring you to friends, tweeters to their tweeters and so on as “the community of you” grows organically and exponentially. In return, you will be seen you as a “star” in your chosen profession. Your fans will provide you with a steady stream of business and referrals, taking you way beyond the predicted 15 minutes.

Are you ready for your close-up?

Well, after wrangling an invite, spending some time on the site and reading the reviews,
I would cautiously say “Yes.”

As you may or may not know by now, what makes Google + different is that it allows you to customize the way you manage your “friends” through the use of  “circles of interest”.  You can create as many circles as you want/need and invite pretty much anyone to join. Unlike Facebook, all of the people in your circle do not have to mutually friend each other in order to share info.

For Arts and Entertainment companies, it provides a targeted way to interact with your audience. You can create circles, (instead of Facebook pages) for particular productions, events, celebrities and so on. These circles can also accommodate all sorts of media, text, photos, video, making it easy for people in the same circle share content.

As a mechanism for keeping track of and keeping in touch with specific audiences for specific productions, this much more organized and easier to use than the three headed Facebook/Twitter/YouTube platform we now have.

It has the potential to be to the all in one Social Media platform allowing arts organizations to engage with their online communities on an ongoing basis, send out specific updates and alerts about performances/performers and archive video and photos …all in one place.

We still don’t know what’s in store, but so far this looks very promising.

In order to demonstrate how easy it really is, I’ve enlisted the aid of Decker, my black toy poodle. I decided to start with Twitter because its 140 character limit makes it easier to handle. (I also thought it best to do all of the typing myself since he was having trouble hitting the right keys with his little paws and was threatening to express his frustration as only a dog with a full bladder can.)

1) Select a memorable handle — “Barkster” “FluffyNinja” or  “Doggustin”,  for example. We chose “7lbsofAttitude” (seven pounds of attitude)

2) Include a friendly, yet not overly inviting, photo —Beware of stalkers. Everyone loves a happy doggie, make sure to include plenty of teeth and tongue. PhotoShop out any excessive drool.

3) Write an interesting profile—Something that will attract “dogs” with similar interests: “A middle aged Toy Poodle with a zest for life. Likes barking at strangers, sleeping in the kitchen, finding food under the couch, hanging with my peeps and the NY Yankees.”

4) Tweet from your personal experiences:
“There’s a squirrel outside eating the cable wire. Why don’t they listen to me?”
or
“Another “accident”, if only I could reach the  door knob”
or
“Oh boy, Pork!”

5) Retweet from and reach out to other like minded tweeters— Tweeters who share your interests. Send them direct messages and see if any of them want to follow you or, in this case, join your pack.

Decker sent direct tweets to: SnoopDog, DogBountyHunter, ItsMeortheDog, Rufus_Hound, JosiePoodle, SickPuppies, and GreyHoundBus. He is awaiting their “Follow.”

All in all a good start!

Next up— Creating a Poodle Circle on Google+

Yet, the websites of many A&E companies and organizations are often as exciting as those for CPA’s, Wholesale Office Supplies or UV piping. They are using the same generic template systems and SEO strategies that most business use and are squandering an enormous opportunity to engage their audience on a deeper level.

The Arts are not like other businesses. People are drawn to arts and entertainment sites because the subject matter is, well…entertaining. This is one area where “fun” makes good business sense. Even if you start out with a template based content management system, it’s worth the  added expense to customize the site so that it reflects the personality of your company and your productions.

Recreate the Art Experience — The online world is all about the “user experience.” Your audiences’ first contact with your company and/or productions, will probably happen on the Internet. Whether it is a website, a social media page or an email newsletter, it needs to reflect the art experience in some way and give visitors a taste of what they will see/feel/hear when they attend your event or visit you “in real life.”

If the site is promoting a play the site’s interface can mirror elements of the set or if the  production has a distinctive ad campaign, that campaign can be worked into the site’s design. Content elements such as performances videos, audience reactions, photos, reviews, painting, sculptures, articles can also be sources of compelling content.

Speak Their Language — Many visitors to your site are passionate about your art, they are predisposed to like what they see. The tone of the content should be more personable and less formal than one would find on a purely business site. No marketing jargon! Write in a concise, conversational tone using words and phrases that will resonate with the target audience.

Keeping Content Fresh — Since you’re continually producing new material, keep the cool stuff coming. It will give members of your online audience a reason to return to the site on a regular basis and will give your search engine rankings a continual boost.

One Site Does Not Fit All –  Create “Micro-Sites” or special sections for individual events, ditto for your Development efforts. The Micro-Sites allow you to create specific content for specific niche audiences. In addition, they will create a separate set of SEO rankings for the specific event and make tracking interest, and sales, easier.

No longer a novelty, online fundraising has been around long enough for us to identify what works and what doesn’t. A few basic modifications can improve the performance of any online campaign.

Identify Potential Donors

Your first step is to identify your potential donors. You may already have several sources to draw from: people who have bought a ticket to one of your events; signed up for email newsletters and/or alerts; participated in a contest or a survey; purchased merchandise online or on site; past an current donors. You can also set up a program that rewards current donors for inviting a friend to participate, and of course, you should be collecting email addresses at every opportunity.

Reaching Potential Donors

The key elements in an online fund raising campaign are your website, your email marketing and social media campaigns. A well designed website is particularly useful for attracting new donors, getting the news  out about your organization and efficiently supporting small-scale impulse giving. Email marketing is useful for making initial contact with new donors or following up with potential donors after an event. When combined with social media, it is also effective in long term donor relations.

What Kind of Information are Donors Interested In?

Whether you are creating web content or writing an email newsletter, potential donors are interested in three areas of information:

1) What are your organization’s mission, goals and/or objectives?
2) What are the donations used for?
3) What results have you gotten in the past? 
What are your success stories?

In other words, what are you trying to achieve, how will you spend the money, what have you achieved with past donations?

Although organizations typically provide this information somewhere within their sites, users often have had problems finding it. According to web usability guru Jakob Nielsen, only 43% of the sites studied clearly stated their mission and made it easy to find, only 4% indicated how they were using the donations. Make this crucial information easy to find. Highlight the work of your organization by creating a section that specifically demonstrates what the money is going toward, include photos, testimonials, first hand stories of success, videos of events…anything that will make the point in a compelling way.

Keep the Donation Process Simple

Remove any stumbling blocks that might deter any potential donors. 47% of these problems were found to be related to usability and site design, including difficulty finding desired information, cluttered pages, and confusing information flow. On 17% of the sites tested, users couldn’t find where or how to make donations, often the site design caused people to overlook donation buttons.
Make the donation process as easy as possible. Think of it as essentially as an e-commerce checkout, but with fewer complications. Put the DONATE NOW button on every page of your site so that, when the time comes, potential donors won’t have to search for it.

Accepting Online Payments

Make sure you have a way to accept credit card donations. You can either have one developed either directly or through a service such as PayPal. Many small non-profits work with a third party site that take and manage donations, (NetworkforGood is one but there are many more), that provide a turn-key solution to accepting credit card payments.  Alternatively, donations can now be made via text messaging, or through social media sites such as Facebook Causes and Crowdrise.

To sum up — speak clearly, anticipate donors’ questions, make the process as easy as possible and the donations should flow your way.

The topic of conversions hasn’t been this hot since the Spanish Inquisition. Conversions as in “converting” visitors to your site into “customers” who actually want to buy something or at least contact you about doing business.

We all know the importance of rankings and traffic. But if you’re getting great rankings and lots of traffic, and not seeing a significant increase in sales, (aka conversions), conventional wisdom would say that the answer is spending more to get even better rankings and increased traffic.

On the other hand, maybe the trouble is elsewhere. What do visitors find when they go to your site? Are you doing something that turns off potential customers?

We’ve identified five “Conversion Killers”, five mistakes that are guaranteed to send visitors reaching for the mouse and taking themselves to some other site faster than you can say “click-thru”.
Imagine you’ve accepted an invitation to an elegant dinner party but when you get there you discover:

The address is completely wrong and you don’t know where you are.

The address is incomplete and you have to hunt around to find the party.

You find yourself in the middle of a frat party.

They don’t speak your language

There’s a $25 cover charge and a two hour wait to get in

What would you do the next time you get an invitation from the same people?

That’s what I thought.

With that in mind, here are five mistakes you need to avoid:

• The link in the search results is wrong — If the link goes to the wrong page, or worst yet, to nowhere,  you’ve lost any chance of making a sale, and probably some credibility. Always triple check your own links.
• The link only goes to the site’s homepage—If the desired information is buried inside the site, visitors may not take the time to go looking for it. Always link to the page that is most relevant to the search term. Consider creating a dedicated landing page.
• Your site is not meeting expectations — Make sure your description in  the search results is accurate and appropriate. If visitors do not find what they expect they won’t be visiting for long.
• The site’s content is inappropriate, confusing or just wrong — Every market segment has its own language. Show your visitors that you are one of them by using their jargon and appropriate imagery.
• The sales process is cumbersome — Nothing is more frustrating than a website that makes you jump through hoops when you’re trying to give them money. Make the checkout process as easy as possible.

It’s important to look at the process from the user’s point of view. It’s too easy for confused, frustrated or even angry potential customers to go elsewhere.

Never forget, you are always a click away from oblivion.

Pick Your Site -You don’t have to be everywhere. Take the time to learn what type of audience uses a given social media site. Facebook is all purpose, LinkedIn is for business professionals looking to network, there are also specialized social media sites for individual professions

Study the Content – Pay close attention to what type of content appears in which environment. This will tell you that you have targeted the right site for the audience you’re trying to reach, and also tell what kind of content to contribute within a particular environment.

Learn the Sites’ Language and Value System – Each social media site has their own unique dialect. If you don’t understand the basic dialect, you will stick out like a sore thumb to the regular users of the site.

Make Friends – In particular, try to make friends with the influencers on the site. On a site like Digg, these are the top 100 users. Comment on their posts, reference their posts from your site, or in comments elsewhere. Suggest related material that you have found on other sites.

Add Your Unique Value to the Community - Become a member. Social media is, oddly enough, social. People who take, and don’t give, are not popular in any community. Note that adding value does not always mean contributing your own stuff. Find other people’s great stuff and contribute that.

Don’t Self Promote - There are no social media environments that are keen on aggressive self promotion. Even if the site terms of service say that self promotion is OK, the community itself tends to frown on it (this is true on Digg and Reddit, for example).

Provide Accurate Information – Don’t be lazy about fact checking. Make sure your contributions will stand the examination of the hundreds or thousands of people who will be looking at it. You don’t want to be outed for providing bad or inaccurate info.

Be Transparent - This is another biggie. If you are saying something about a company that you have some association with, be open about it. You definitely do not want to be outed for that either, it will destroy your credibility

Be Patient - The big wins may well take some time to achieve. You are going to need to make up front investments to become a part of the community and figure out how to fit in. The right way to get the content you are trying to promote on the community site varies by social media site, but following these guidelines will cause the people who come to know you to start following you.

Let it Go – Once some of your content is taken into the community, the community will begin to redefine it. This is one of the trickiest parts of social media. However, if you have created something of value, this metamorphosis is extremely powerful. Those who participate in these actions will begin to take ownership for what they have created – and they will drive the success of your content/brand for you.

Don’t spam -  If you haven’t realized it by now,  social media communities tend to be very fast in acting on spam. Just don’t go there.

All of these sites are self policing to a certain extent, there is little tolerance for bad behavior. For example, bulk friending the friends of friends on Facebook has gotten people into trouble. Everything you do or contribute is open for review, any inaccuracy, or problem with what you are doing will be discovered immediately. You may also have people challenge you who themselves are completely off base.

Keep in mind that the people you encounter online are the same as the people you encounter everyday in real life, common courtesy and common sense go a long way in both worlds.