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Welcome To My Den
This is the new, improved and reincarnated Dunn's Den. This blog is about marketing, advertising, social media and the goings on in my local community; from MY VIEW!
I look forward to connecting with you!
I came across an article the other day in the New York Times (it was sent to me by a fellow Town Planner Publisher) which asked a simple question: “Does it pay to advertise during a recessionary period?” My first thought was why would someone (especially the New York Times) write about advertising in a recession when we are not in one. A recession is defined as two straight quarters of contraction (I knew my Economics degree was going to come in handy some day). As of this writing, there has not been one quarter of contraction, much less two. I guess when you work for the media you actually start believing your own hype! Never the less, I did find the content of the article very, very, very interesting. It is nothing new, revolutionary or something that has not been said for hundreds of years. YES, you MUST ABSOLUTELY ADVERTISE in a recession.
I know, I know…I sell advertising, so what else would I say? No?? While it is true that I sell “Kick Ass Advertising”, another company actually came up with the findings. No, that company does NOT sell advertising. The name of the company is McGraw Hill Research. They actually use this thing called math to figure it out.
In a nutshell what they found is this: After analyzing 600 companies from 1980 through 1985, those who advertised the same or increased their advertising averaged significantly higher sales both during the recession and after it. My first question was this: What does significant mean? According to McGraw Hill, significant means 260% over those who stopped advertising. If you don’t believe me, see the graph below.
Lastly, the article went on to explain that a company by the name of Meldrum & Fewsmith found that advertising during a recession not only increases sales but increases profits as well. How can this be you ask? Simple…it is called Top of Mind Awareness. When I say car, what do you think of? How about TV or computer? That is called Top of Mind Awareness. If you stop advertising for one second, you risk the chance of losing Top of Mind Awareness.
Still don’t believe me? I guarantee you that every single one of your answers was influenced by advertising. How many of you came up with TATA Motors? (Go on and google it.) Unless you have lived in India, you are not familiar with them. TATA Motors does not advertise in the USA, so how could you be?
As always, please post your thoughts and comments. If you would like to see something covered in a blog, shoot me an email or give me a call.
Second Life, for those of you who do not know, is an on-line virtual world launched by Linden Labs. You must download a program which gives you access into the on-line virtual world. Residents are able to interact with one another through the creation of Avatars. You pick your own screen name and create an Avatar based on the many choices the program gives you. After creating an Avatar, the resident is teleported to the virtual world where he or she is able to meet other residents, explore, socialize, join groups and trade virtual property with other residents.
In a nutshell, it is a lot like day-to-day life, only in a virtual world on a global basis. Because virtual property, goods and services can be purchased or traded, companies are using Second Life as a way to promote their products. One of the biggest splashes made in Second Life last year was Coke. Coke went out to the world and let anyone and everyone come up with a design for a virtual Coke machine. They then picked a winner and implemented the virtual Coke machine in Second Life. Depending on who you believe in terms of the number of members of Second Life, potentially Coke has a target market in excess of 12 million people globally.
What I like about Second Life in general is this: EXPOSURE and THE VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE!!!! Albeit the target market may be a bit broad for your local business, it still allows you and your business exposure to 12 million people. You never know how your next customer will find you or where they will come from. Being part of anything with 12 million people can only help create brand awareness.
The other thing that I like about Second Life is the ability to create everything from the ground up. Land is purchased, buildings are built and products are created on-line. Once created, people experience your grid for things such as conference calls, educational seminars, product roll outs, etc. It is simply another way for your customers and prospects to experience you and your business virtually. (Yes, Dr. Michelle…Second Life would be a GREAT place for you to put on seminars to a global crowd. May I hang a Town Planner Calender in your Second Life office?)
A basic account with Second Life is free. To be able to purchase land (or islands), you must purchase the Premium membership for $9.95 per month. As is the case when creating most things, the difficult and time consuming part is the building process. Once created there is virtually no maintenance involved. Now for the kicker. Even though you are in the virtual world, there is a very real economy. Your Avatar is able to buy and sell many of the products and services consumed in real life. Instead of using dollars (or whatever your local currency is) your Avatar uses Linden Dollars. There is even a virtual exchange which allows you to cash your Linden Dollars into real currency.
Check the Second Life website at: www.secondlife.com and see what you think. Feel free to post your comments for all of us to view.
On a side note, if anyone would like help in setting up a community in Second Life please give me a call!!! See you in Second Life.
