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The year of forced engagement.Guest post by Elizabeth, Busy Mom (BlogHer Marketing Lessons, part 4)

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Elizabeth,  today’s guest blogger, is probably better to known to you as Busy Mom.  She has been writing about her life and family at the Busy Mom Blog since 2003.  Her full-time job in healthcare also makes an occasional appearance on her blog. She likes to engage with brands that have something relevant to her life and interesting for her readers, and reviews products on Busy Mom Reviews. However, she hates bad pitches, as regular readers of Marketing Roadmaps may already know from her comments on my bad pitch posts.  She lives in Nashville with her husband and three children.

Elizabeth responded to my call on Twitter for brand experiences at BlogHer,  good and bad. Her e-mail had such good, specific advice for brands, I asked if I could run it as a guest post.

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While I don’t think we’ll ever resolve when/where brands choose to have parties (I think it’s going to happen no matter what, and people need to just conduct themselves properly), I noticed a theme among the events and expo booths I visited.

This was the year of  “forced engagement.”

I get it. I wouldn’t want to be in the brands’ position, with freebie grabbers and all.  I think companies should get something out of our visits. I also understand my attendance was voluntary at the events and places I visited, but I just I felt like I was performing everywhere I went.

Don’t misunderstand. I have met some great people and was honored to be invited to the events I attended. They took the time to find me (for the most part) and I tried to stop by as many as I reasonably could.

The events I attended were quite lovely, but it’s as if some didn’t know if they were throwing a blogger summit, usually held over 1-2 days where I would expect to perform, or a party.

It may just be my personality, but the videos, going from station to station and the creating/making this, that and the other thing are getting a little old at something that’s supposed to be a party. What ever happened to just drinks, hors d’oeuvres, music/entertainment, conversation, a display or two and a gift bag at the end?

It’s one thing to be contracted to host or perform in some way at an event, and another to politely stop in expecting a traditional cocktail party and find yourself doing crafts and smiling for the camera at every turn.

If there’s a problem with swag-grabbers, then maybe they need to take more time with the guest list. I’m continually amazed at some of the folks I see at every event. Clearly there is little research into online reputation by some of these companies.

One party that I thought did a good job, and full disclosure, I was paid to be a host, but was NOT involved in the planning, was the Schick Intuition Kiss and Tell party. The brand was represented through the decor, there was a brief product speech and the rest was a memorable time with fabulous entertainment, an open bar and product (the razor, not the bar) samples at the end. Follow-up engagement is a contest and a coupon on Facebook.

Hallmark and the CheeseburgHer party did a good job, too. Both were good times, but there was no doubt about the sponsors. Hallmark had a pertinent holiday theme, and you knew right away what the new McDonald’s product was, but we didn’t have to perform for them.

I’m not sure what the answer is as far as engagement in the booths goes, but clearly it’s not accosting attendees at the door and coercing them into attending a show.  Note:  I’ve not been to other tech conferences, this may be a “thing” I’m not aware of, but it doesn’t happen at medical conferences.

And, contrary to popular stances, I don’t think swag is the problem.  Getting doo-dads and such can be fun (blasphemy! I know!) and there’s nothing wrong with it.

At a booth, I am expecting to hear what’s new with the company, try the product out if it’s brief, chat with the rep, and maybe throw a card into a fishbowl for a drawing/follow-up later, and get whatever doo dad if they have it (and I’m interested.) I’m not wild about being asked to sign up for their service on the spot (but having the option is good, I suppose) or to fill out some complicated form. I’ll spin a wheel if I must, but enough with the other games. Again, maybe just my personality.

I get that both the blogger and the brand should get something out of the interaction, and I know my presence is voluntary, but I’m just weary of performing all the time. And the feeling that they want to get as much out of us as they can is getting a little creepy.

Parties should be parties. Do something memorable, have a brand presence and follow up later.

Booths should be booths, have a small something “fun” if you must, but give me the information, let me enter your drawing or whatever by giving you my card, and personally hand me the promotional material or swag stuff.

Connect with me.

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In my final BlogHer Marketing Lessons post, I’ll share my thoughts about some brands that I think did get it right. It’s not an all-inclusive list — there was no way any one person could experience everything going on over those four days,  so please chime in with your experiences. Try to be specific in both your criticism and your kudos. This helps my readers use your opinions to improve their marketing programs — SG

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Is the right person staffing your booth? Guest post by Meagan Francis (BlogHer Marketing Lessons, Part 3)

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Today’s guest post — the first ever — is from blogger Meagan Francis.  I will still have a post about the Responsibility Project trip to Ellis Island for you, but I need to check a few facts. Just because I work over the weekend, I do not expect Liberty Mutual‘s PR agency to do so. Instead, I’m changing up the order and running Meagan’s post today.

Meagan Francis is a magazine writer, parenting author, and mom blogger. She blogs about life, motherhood, and the pursuit of happiness at The Happiest Mom, and her book The Happiest Mom: Ten Secrets To Enjoying Parenthood will be published in 2011. Some of her best friends are marketing professionals.

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This was my fourth BlogHer conference, and overall, I had a wonderful time. This year I thought the sponsors were handled in a tasteful way and I commend BlogHer for taking feedback to heart and toning down the “over-sponsored” feel that some experienced in 2009. I think BlogHer, as an organization, did a great job this year and I don’t have any complaints with how they handled the Expo areas.

Buuut…while most of the companies I encountered seemed to have an appropriate and effective presence on the Expo floor, there were a few experiences that left me shaking my head (and running for the door). Here’s what happened:

When I approached a booth belonging to a natural baby products company, I was already in a bit of a daze. I’d just left another stall in which a young man with all the finesse of a drunken 20-year-old hoping to score on Spring Break had slap-chop-surprised me into spinning a wheel, answering questions about a product I know little about and have never used; accepting some Post-It notes as a prize, and then having my photo taken with said company’s logo–all within a minute’s time. As I collected my photo and staggered away, still not exactly sure what had just happened, he boasted to the young woman sharing his booth: “See? It’s all in the presentation.”

Uh-huh.

At this point, I had one goal: to get the hell off the BlogHer Expo floor. Free samples, coupons, and chats with company reps can be fantastic and fun, but my experience with this guy had sent me running for the door…if I could just find it. On my way out, though, I decided to make one more stop at this booth. I use natural and organic products whenever possible, and with five kids I figured it was a company I’d like to know a little more about.

I approached the booth, which was staffed by a man and a woman—the “pitch” man and a female pediatrician acting as a spokesperson. There were already two women standing in front of the man, who was giving a presentation of the company’s uncommonly strong baby wipes.

“See?” he said, pulling hard on both sides. “It doesn’t come apart when you wipe.” He forcefully shoved a finger through the wipe, and it tore slightly. “I worked out today, or else I’d never have been able to rip it.”

The women responded with enthusiastic murmurs. “Oh, my husband would love this,” one exclaimed. “He always hates changing poopy diapers because the wipes fall apart.”

“Me, too!” agreed the pitch man. “That doesn’t happen with these, though. There’s no seepage, either.” They continued to chat, extolling the virtues of the nearly indestructible butt-wipers, for a few more minutes. Finally, he handed the women a package of wipes and they walked away.

I stood there for a few more minutes, examining a product label, but still very much at the booth…maybe two feet away from the man.

“Did you really work out this morning?” asked the female rep.

“No,” snorted the man. “I don’t even have kids. I’ve never changed a diaper in my life, and I never will.”

He began to yammer on about his father and how his father had never changed a diaper, and his girlfriend hopes to have kids one day and he plans on carrying on the family tradition of men never changing diapers but he isn’t sure his girlfriend will go for it, and the whole time I’m thinking, “Um, hey, dude. I’m STILL RIGHT HERE.”

After I walked away from the booth—and made a beeline for the exit—I thought a lot more about the experience. I wasn’t angry, or offended, exactly. Hey, the rep had probably been trained in exactly what to do and say, and it wouldn’t be the first time I’d been underestimated by some smarmy young fella.

But I was amazed that companies had really put these people in charge of representing their brand—in some cases, maybe as a first impression—to thousands of potential consumers…and that they’d chosen such a corny way to do it, too. Instead of setting up a situation in which I could have a real conversation about the product with somebody educated enough to give me the scoop, I played a silly game at one booth, and got a tutorial on baby wipes with somebody who’s never used one at another.

In the case of the spin-the-wheel game: I’ve been doing that at the county fair for decades, and it wasn’t any more impressive then than it is now. A coupon for a product I don’t know or care anything about? Some Post-Its? Is there any proof that this kind of marketing actually works? I know that a coupon for a product I’ve never used—with no other context or education about the product–is not likely to make me try it. And when you’re being showered with coupons from every company at the expo, it’s certainly not enough to convince me to blog about it, either.

And at the natural baby products booth…the guy they hired to run the booth doesn’t even have kids? Has no real-life experience with the product? And is kind of a jackass, to boot?

I’m certainly not going to boycott either of these products. I don’t think any less of them then I did before. But I’m also not any more likely to buy them, which you would think would kind of be the point of renting the space and hiring the help in the first place. Last I knew there were 2,400 attendees at BlogHer. Most of them blog, some on small platforms, some with audiences of hundreds of thousands. Beyond that, there’s Twitter, Facebook, PTA, and the bleachers at the local soccer game. Women talk about the products we use and love, and not just on the Internet, either.

Can you say “wasted opportunity”?

It seems to me that they’d have been better off hiring a parent (maybe even a parent blogger?), or an existing, enthusiastic customer to run the booth. Instead of games and trickery, why not just have a conversation? Let me taste or smell or touch the product, or try the service. I don’t need more samples to take home, and for God’s sake, I don’t need a 50-cents-off coupon. Just teach me a little. Tell me why I should try it when I get home.

Many of the companies on the BlogHer expo floor did a great job of this. But there were a few major, obnoxious flops. And the unfortunate thing for all those companies that got it right? The bad eggs sent me—and I’m sure not just me—running for the door.

And I didn’t return.

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A refreshing change from Super Bowl ads – the Pepsi Refresh Project

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cross posted to Snapshot Chronicles

The Super Bowl is pretty much the only athletic contest in the world where the television advertisements during the event get nearly as much media coverage as the event itself. Likewise the run-up and hype of the commercials. Will the network will sell all the space? Who will run ads, how much will they pay and what will they promote?

Before the ads even run, the pundits are postulating and after, they dissect them.

It’s a bit obscene really — and full disclosure, I’ve played the game on my blog in past years.

This year, though, the real news is who is NOT advertising during the Super Bowl. Instead of spending a hefty chunk of change on a few spots during the football game, Pepsi launched the Pepsi Refresh Project. For the next year,  the company is giving away $1.3 million dollars per month to community development projects submitted and selected online by the public.

Anyone can submit a grant. Pepsi will accept 1000 every month, and the public can vote for up to 10 projects every day.

Of course, the company is getting a lot of media, and social media, coverage for the campaign, and I imagine they are also spending a pretty penny on the infrastructure to support the project with their ad, PR and interactive agencies. I’m sure they have high expectations for positive revenue as well as brand awareness results from the project.

What makes this campaign so exciting is the scale of the grants. Other companies have done similar projects to fund charities through community submission and vote. For example American Express. But I can’t think of anything from corporate America that matches the scale of Pepsi Refresh.

It is truly refreshing to see a company do so much potential good. I’ve got no problem if they “do good” as a result.

In fact, I’d love to see more copycats.

Who’s next?

Facebook ads, getting too spammy?

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This post started out with the intent to be about online privacy and advertising.  I was going to talk about the issues raised at last month’s FTC roundtable on online privacy including behaviorally targeted advertising. Maybe even float around in cloud computing, the topic of next week’s session at the FTC. Talk a little about Facebook’s privacy woes in the aftermath of changing its privacy settings.

But I have bronchitis and a terrible sinus headache, so that post is on hold.

Instead, I am going to have a very  little rant about the demographically targeted ads on Facebook.

Ads like these that pull age related data from my Facebook profile and “fill in the blank” in an otherwise generic ad.

This isn’t targeted advertising.

It’s spam. And it’s lazy.

<Rant off>

Latest Lands’ End Contest on Facebook DOES comply with new rules

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In my post earlier this week, I mentioned  Lands’ End’s after-Christmas contest, which let Facebook users enter simply by becoming a fan. I know, because I did it.

Unfortunately, it’s a violation of Facebook’s new promotion guidelines to use “become a fan” as a way for people to  enter a contest. You can require that someone be a fan to enter, but they have to explicitly enter.

I was pleased to see that Lands’ End’s newest contest complies.