THE WHITLATCH WEEKLY

By now, I hope you have figured out who has gradually taken over the throne in Social Media Marketing the last few years.  You guessed it, the CUSTOMER.  By the end of 2016, 89% of Companies expect to compete mainly on the basis of CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE compared to only 36% only four years ago.  Just as Marketing and Advertising on Social Media began to get a little ridiculous, the CUSTOMER stepped in right in time.   Don't get me wrong, Marketing and Advertising are at an all-time high via Social Media and I don't see that changing anytime soon.  However, WHO - WHAT - WHEN - WHERE - WHY and HOW this Marketing and Advertising ends up in the CUSTOMER'S hands is no accident. WHO Defining and Identifying your CUSTOMER (Target Audience) is priority number one.  If you don't know what pond to fish in, how do you expect to catch any fish?  Knowing WHO your CUSTOMER is will help you know where to hang out - Facebook , Twitter Chat, Blog...

Once upon a time, in a place far from here, lived a beautiful Email.  This Email (or E-Mail) was beautiful, friendly, and essentially harmless.  Sending messages all around the World, the Email began to grow greedy, selfish, and a bit shady.  Soon, the Email began to hang around the wrong crowd - THE MARKETING CROWD !   Those clever, creative minds convinced the Email that it could be more.  More than just a message. More than the exchange of a document.  A tool for Marketing and Advertising professionals far and wide.  A Marketing Email is still just an Email.  And so...the Fallacy of the Email is born. A " fallacy " is  a deceptive, misleading, or false notion, belief or misleading or unsound argument .  The day that Marketing and Advertising met the beautiful Email was a monumental day for business.  Not so much for the Email.  Think about how many times a day you have to delete an Email that was A...

For every MARKETING or ADVERTISING strategy lies a TARGET AUDIENCE . At some point in time, that TARGET AUDIENCE will have a decision to make. Your PITCH, IDEA or OFFER was a SUCCESS or it was not a SUCCESS. Simple as that. For the majority of MARKETING or ADVERTISING professionals, I'm sure you can remember a time where it seemed as if your AUDIENCE was seconds away from buying-in to your IDEA, PITCH or OFFER then all of a sudden, they didn't.  They balked. Your AUDIENCE (for whatever reason) decided not to buy-in to your BRAND, PRODUCT or SERVICE. But why?

DO YOU EVER FEEL AS IF YOU'RE BEING TOLD WHAT TO DO A LITTLE BIT MORE OFTEN THESE DAYS? YOU MUST JOIN THIS GROUP. YOU MUST POST THAT PICTURE. YOU MUST DO THIS. YOU MUST DO THAT. AND THAT'S JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG. FACEBOOK , TWITTER , YOUTUBE, ANDROID OR I-PHONE, GOOGLE OR YAHOO. IT'S LIKE WE ARE BEING ASKED TO ENLIST IN A SOCIAL MEDIA BRANCH OF THE MILITARY. AM I RIGHT? WHAT STARTED AS A FRIENDLY BLUE BIRD AND A CATCHY THUMBS UP TO EXPRESS OUR FEELINGS OR EMOTIONS, SEEMS TO BE GETTING A LITTLE BIT PUSHY. MARKETING IS ALL AROUND US AT ALL TIMES. PICTURES, SLOGANS, ADVERTISEMENTS, ALL MADE TO PERSUADE OR ATTRACT A CERTAIN AUDIENCE TO A CERTAIN BRAND OR PRODUCT. THIS MARKETING IS COMING AT YOU FROM SEVERAL DIFFERENT ANGLES - TELEVISION, RADIO, PRINT, AND ONE OF OUR NEWEST MEMBERS - SOCIAL MEDIA. IF YOU HANDLE YOUR COMPANY'S SOCIAL MEDIA EFFORTS, EACH DAY FEELS LIKE YOU MIGHT O-D ON TWEETS AND LIKES. IT'S OVERWHELMING. BEING ABLE TO IDENTIFY WHICH PLATFORM...

THE TOP 5 REASONS WHY BEACONS ARE A MARKETER'S NEW BEST FRIEND Picture this... You're walking through the Mall and suddenly, an advertisement, contest, or even a coupon pops up on your phone. Conveniently enough, that notification is from the same store you're currently browsing this very minute. Creepy right? Well, to marketers and advertisers across the globe, it's not creepy one bit. In fact, beacon marketing (or proximity marketing) is going to explode in 2016. I bet you think your smartphone is pretty smart right now. You haven't seen anything yet. Let's revisit that little scenario I mentioned previously. The lead-off batter in today's Top 5 list: 1.) Proximity Marketing   Whether the grocery store, your favorite restaurant, or even the mall, your location says so much about yourself.  Especially if there is a trend or pattern to that location. Proximity Marketing not only enhances the experience and convenience for the consu...

This will be the year marketing changes.  I mean really changes.  The year where the modern consumer jumps on the bandwagon.  The Millennial bandwagon that is.  Millennials are considered to be anyone born around 1980-2000, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have the “Millennial Mindset.”  Brands no longer target a certain age group, but rather those who have adopted the modernized way of marketing and being reached via marketing.  So sit back, relax, and let me tell you why Millennials will shape the new era of marketing... you just might like it. Making up a quarter of the United States, Millennials remind me of that friend we all have.  You know the one.  If you meet them once, you probably won’t really like them to be honest.  But after a few more hang-outs and convos, they begin to grow on you.  No more do you just see the headphones, the cell phone, text this, tweet that.  You finally see something more.  Somethin...

          It seems every decade or so, a new "gold" emerges. Oil. Solar energy. Wind. Even silver. All promised to be of similar importance and worth to the little shiny coins and nuggets themselves.  Data is not only becoming this new gold, but unlike oil for instance, data is not a one-hit-wonder type of product.  The value of data, if managed correctly, is constantly growing and improving at the same time. Data is nearly limitless.  This renewable force of information can be used in any industry, at any time, in any place.  Maybe we should be hoping data is at the end of the rainbow these days, and not those shiny little coins...           A major challenge nearly all business owners have and have always had, is specifc insights into their business, and the ability to use that insight to their benefit.  Sales history, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), industry predictions, even competitor insigh...

One of the big advantages of Social Media is being able to see exactly what your customer or audience is saying about your brand or company at all times.  The only question is, are we really listening?     Something a lot of companies are having trouble doing since the rise of the importance of Social Media, is simply listening to what is being said about their brand or company.  Not only listening to the good things and positive things being said, but even more so, the negatives.  Hearing the positives being said is what each company should be going for, but something that will be even more beneficial to your company is hearing the negatives and doing something about it.  Not only does this give you a head-start in fixing the problem and figuring out what went wrong, but it allows you to see an outside opinion with no bias perspective getting in the way.      People have always had a love for knowledge and even more so, sharin...