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digMarketing was created to shed light on the science of internet marketing and to give online businesses control over their own destinies.

digology is a results-driven approach to internet marketing that turns marketing budgets into an investment instead of an expense. It's a complete e-commerce and lead generation program with a predictable monthly budget that puts you in control of your results. We give you a lens into what's happening with your marketing dollars and insight into what to do about it.

That's digology in a nutshell: one contact, one budget, one goal, customized for each unique online business. Simple, right? If you would like to learn more about digology, you can email Deb Jones at deb@digmktg.com. Or go to digMktg.com.

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Speed TV: a lesson in target marketing

If you think cable TV has gone a long way toward sorting and segmenting America into respective target markets, take a deeper look into just one channel that has shown how specific you need to get when talking to your markets: Speed TV. Yes, sometimes they have NASCAR, but there is a whole lot more to this network and their viewers. 

See, here's the trick about talking to car guys: this is a brand loyal group and very clique-ish. Big time. You can't talk to domestic car guys about imports. You can't talk to Ford guys about Chevys. You can't talk to Mopar guys about Fords. Show car guys wouldn't dream of strapping slicks on their trailer queen and throwing rubber all over the quarter panels in a big, smokey burnout. Drag racers don't want to sit in the stands and watch the roundy-round races: they want to do it themselves. Then there are the motorcycle guys...which is a whole other article! The point is, in the car-guy world, you can't generalize. The only way to break through the noise is to make them feel like you are specifically talking to them. Like you understand them. Look in the newstands: you'll find sport-specific and brand-specific magazines out the wahzoo. 

Now, on the other hand, car-guys are a pretty good target market. They will eat beans for a week to afford a new carburetor when a car show or a race is at stake. In other words, they will actually forego a "necessity" to purchase what most would consider a "luxury" item. While this is not to imply that the car hobby is recession-proof (the wives do step in at some point) there are plenty of enthusiasts who are able to keep the category going even when times are tough. So, smart marketers know that this is a group worth pursuing.

What makes Speed unique among cable networks is how it appeals to so many different specific areas of interest within the motorsports category. You can find shows that address many different subject areas:

  • Modification: Pimp My Ride, Chop Cut Rebuild, Unique Whips
  • Gear-heads: Gears, Two Guys Garage,
  • Trucks: Truck U, Livin' the Low Life
  • Drag Racing: Pinks, Pinks All Out, Pass Time, Drag Race High and IHRA Drag Races
  • Collecting - Barrett-Jackson Auto Auctions
  • Auto Racing: NASCAR, Formula 1, road-course races, World of Outlaws and many commentary shows
  • General interest: Wrecked - a show about towing (I cannot make this stuff up); Jacked - stories about stolen cars

And that's just some of the more popular shows. Pull up www.Speedtv.com/programs and you'll see what I mean. 

Another brilliant move: aside from the national sporting events, many of their shows are reality-based, which means that regular guys get on the shows and get all their friends to watch them on t.v., which naturally leads to more guys getting hooked, and so on, and so on... So when a show like Pinks All Out holds tryouts, 500 racers show up to race at around $50 a pop and as many as 35,000 spectators come just be part of the action at $25 per ticket. That's a cool million in revenue for a single episode of a weekly t.v. show before it even airs and we haven't gotten to t-shirt sales and concession stands yet! And out of the people who attended, how many do you think told their friends to watch, Tivoed the event, even held viewing parties? That's just one show, folks, yet most of the people reading this have never even heard of Pinks or Pinks All Out. Because it's targeted to a very specific audience. Just because it's not mainstream doesn't mean it can't be wildly successful.

My point? That is one smart network, my friends, and if you are a marketer, you can learn a whole lot from Speed TV about target marketing.

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Filed under  //  marketing   speed tv   target market   target marketing   television  
Posted 7 months ago

Social media isn't a fad. It's just media and customer karma.

It's funny to read all the speculation about the destiny of MySpace, Twitter, Digg, etc. It makes you picture boardrooms across America, nay, the globe, discussing whether their companies should start a Twitter account. Almost as plentiful are the articles giving advice about how companies should be dealing with social media, what it takes to be a "social media expert" (as if such a thing existed), or whether social media is replacing search.

The bottom line is this: there is one simple truth. The rules for social media are just like the rules for every other kind of media.

1. You decide what media your company should be in based on what media your target markets are in.

2. Your target markets and resulting media strategy will reflect the personality of your brand.

3. If you're testing your CPA (cost per action or cost per acquisition) across all media, you'll know when it's time to invest more in a particular media, no matter what it is. Whether the expense is a media buy or a staff to engage with your customers via social channels, you can still calculate an ROI. If you want to control the ROI, make sure your staff time-boxes their activities in that channel. 

It really is as simple as that. The questions are no different now and they won't be any different when the next big thing comes along. I don't mean to come off like a crazed MBA and make it sound like numbers are the only thing that matters. There is something else. It's called customer karma, and that's where the exception comes in. The exception is in customer service and managing your brand image. The first part of which you are compelled to do in social channels regardless of that channel's marketing ROI.

And the second part of which is simply not possible. "Your brand is whatever your customers say it is."(1) So whatever else you do, you'd better get out there and listen, not just to what your customers are saying about you, but to what they are saying about your competitors, too.

(1) Marketing in the Groundswell by Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff

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Filed under  //  CPA   customer service   marketing   media   ROI   target market  
Posted 7 months ago