SCD Group

Association Billboard & TV Advertising: Really?

A while back, I noticed some discussions/questions on the ASAE "list serve" about whether associations should be advertising .... Including ads in airports.

My first reaction was "is this serious?

What association has enough money to effectively run ads that can "break through the clutter?"

The same day, USA Today (The Joke's on Insurers, 7/26) ran a piece questioning whether the big insurance companies were wise in spending billions on tv ads.

Example: Nationwide bumped ad buy 35% to $200+ million in 2011.  Yet, share of auto insurance market shrunk to 4.1%.

So, if your association wants to create awareness (and action) for the industry/profession, start with your desired outcomes … then, your target audience(s) … then, your 1-3 key messages … finally, the tools (media) to deliver the message to the target audience(s).  Determine what you can afford.  If (as most associations) you cannot afford “major media buys,” don’t go down that path.

Instead, consider other media tools to deliver your message(s) to your target audience(s).

Here are some examples:

·       American Academy on Communications in Healthcare (AACH) wanted to reach chief medical officers at major medical centers.  We did a quick search on LinkedIn and found nearly 4,000 people with that title.  So, the organization explored a LinkedIn marketing strategy.

·       The Christmas tree industry targeted Gen Y who don't watch much tv but are big "gamers" (video games) ... With limited budget, they created the Attack of the Mutant Artificial Christmas Tree game that showed awesome results. Here's more information on advergames.

Gaming is Growing:

MoreBusinesses Getting Their Game On

In the high-stakes, $5 billion-plus potato chip market, up-and-comer Popchips can't begin to compete with a giant such as Frito-Lay when it comes to money for advertising and marketing its "never fried, never baked" potato chips.  So San Francisco-based Popchips hit on a smart way for it to grab a larger helping of the potato chip business: video games.  The fledgling four-year-old snack maker teamed up with another San Francisco-based start-up, smartphone app company Kiip, which inserts real-world prizes — virtual coupons redeemable for free bags of Popchips, in this case — into hundreds of mobile games.

Business spending on what has become known as "gamification" will increase from an estimated $242 million this year to $2.8 billion in 2016, predicts M2 Research, an Encinitas, Calif.-based technology research firm. And many small businesses, as well as 70% of the top 2,000 global organizations, will use "gamified" applications for marketing, employee performance and training, and health care by 2014, projects technology research firm Gartner.

Here’s a video interview with Kiip, the tech company that built the tools for Popchips.  

An Online Game for Civic Education

To teach kids about the work of county governments, the National Association of Counties reaches them at their level with an online game.

By the way, be sure to explore content marketing as a key element of your integrated marketing campaigns.  See Becky Rasmussen’s blog Creating Content that Works for Your Association.

For more information about content marketing for associations, I invite you to attend the CONTENT MARKETING/MANAGEMENT FOR ASSOCIATIONS AND NONPROFITS WORKSHOP at the 2012 Content Marketing World Conference. September 4-6, 2012. Columbus, Ohio. This is an awesome conference. You’ll come away with a ton of valuable tips and ideas. Save $100 on your registration: enter discount code SCDGROUP.