So what’s on the horizon for digital media in 2012 and what does it mean to marketers?

Three marketing experts shared their forecasts last week at a program sponsored by the American Advertising Federation – Cleveland, Ohio. Adele Pellicane, Senior Director, Agency Services, Traffiq Inc., New York, Larry Weissman, Managing Director, Top Line Revenue, Inc., Atlanta, and Scott Chapin, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy, Marcus Thomas LLC, Cleveland, were panelists. Michael DeAloia, Partner at Emerging Chefs Cleveland, moderated for AAF-Cleveland.

Here’s what these digital media pros see in their crystal balls and some insights for using digital media in your smart marketing strategy.

What Digital Media is – and Why it Matters

Chapin defines digital media as “anything that’s driving traffic to digital content: Paid media, social media, or other media that drives traffic to a digital source.” 

Marketers need to embrace digital media, says Weissman, because “it’s quickly becoming mainstream” and it’s reshaping the traditional sales funnel. “The sales funnel is now dramatically different and much more complex because of digital media,” he notes.

The Next Big Trend: Mobile + Social + Local

Last year’s big trend was mobile marketing, says Chapin. Advertisers spent over $1 billion in mobile marketing ads in 2011.

“What’s coming is the convergence of social, mobile, and local – that’s the hot trend right now,” he states. “Facebook and Google are both going in this direction. Every marketer’s goal is to figure out how to communicate their brand to customers when they’re on the go.”

Pellicane agrees. “The convergence of mobile, social, and local is the next big trend in digital media. It’s about the where and when. This will continue to grow, especially in the retail space,” she predicts. “It’s crucial for branding and driving sales.”

Weissman says local social media marketing platforms like foursquare are important to retail marketers, but “the local marketing space is extremely crowded and there’s a consolidation coming. Amazon and eBay are getting ready to launch these types of products. Foursquare will need to stay innovative to thrive in this environment.”

7 More Digital Media Trends to Watch

1. Real-time engagement: Chapin sees marketers continuing to move people from traditional to digital media in real time via such tactics as QR codes. “Everybody’s trying to figure out ways to make this transition easy for people,” he says. Another example is the plan by Shazam, developers of the innovative iPhone and Android sound recognition apps, to link audio via tags from this year’s Super Bowl ads to advertisers’ websites, as recently reported in Adweek.
2. QR codes: Though advertisers are rapidly adopting QR codes in marketing campaigns, panelists agreed that widespread use of QR codes by consumers won’t take hold until smart phones have built-in QR reader apps. “Using QR codes will grow exponentially when apps are pre-installed on smart phones,” Pellicane predicts.
3. The power of video: “Mobile marketing plus video is a huge trend in general, but especially for tweens,” notes Weissman. “It’s how they consume media – and it’s not on the TV in the living room.”
4. The growth of Google+: “Social is a huge part of Google’s strategy,” says Chapin. “It’s being integrated into nearly every Google product. Google+ will slowly gain in relevance and eventually we’ll be discussing it in the same vein as Facebook and Twitter.”
5. Easier ways to influence others: “‘Share this’ buttons are creating digital versions of kitchen-table conversations between a few people and many people,” Weissman notes.
6. Co-watching: Viewing a mobile device or tablet computer while watching television is a growing trend. “Marketers are trying to figure out how to integrate this and drive cross-device connectivity,” Chapin observes.
7. Measurability: Weissman says new tools are on the horizon to measure audience access via the web, which may create a way to buy digital media based on gross rating points. “Marketers want the ability to measure and analyze a consumer’s path from traditional to digital, to track the user’s experience from end to end, such as from an app to a website,” Chapin explains.

Tips for Planning a Digital Media Strategy

How should you use digital media in a smart marketing strategy? Chapin recommends that marketers ask these questions to determine a digital media marketing plan:

• Is your audience mobile? In most cases, the answer is an easy yes. Half of phone users now have smart phones, so penetration of smart phones in your market is probably a given.
• What content do you have?  You need something to pay off a mobile marketing campaign, like a mobile website or app. “If you don’t have this, spend your money here first,” Chapin advises. “Mobile users have even shorter attention spans than web users, one second instead of five. You must answer the user’s question instantly.”
• When and where is your audience? A mobile user can be literally anywhere in the world. Figure out the mobile usage patterns of your audience and connect to them then and there. “For example, during the week, Google Maps users are on desktop computers. On the weekend, they’re on phones,” Chapin notes.
• Can you do geo-targeting to a specific local market and near a retail outlet?

Pellicane advises marketing agencies and consultants to focus digital media marketing strategies on goals and metrics. “Don’t get hung up on the ‘shiny new object’ syndrome just to show your clients you can do it,” she explains. “Ask yourself, ‘what’s the goal of the marketing campaign and what metrics will be used to measure success?’ Do you want to build community? Drive sales? That will drive the decisions about devices and tactics in digital media.”

Think about this list for a moment: These are TV spots people chose to watch online, by the millions. That’s an advertiser’s dream.

But what makes these ads so popular? Why did the Darth Vader Volkswagen spot get over 45 million YouTube views? Why did 25 million people view the Royal Wedding dance ad for T-Mobile?

It’s not crazy gimmicks or over-the-top production techniques, though some of the ads on the YouTube Top 10 list have spectacular visual effects.

I think it’s about storytelling. The most watched ads of 2011 engage viewers in a compelling story.

Here’s why storytelling is such an effective advertising technique and how to tell stories in your smart marketing strategy.

Why Stories Work in Marketing

Storytelling is fundamental to every culture. Stories work in marketing because everyone understands what a story is about. When the story is highly relevant to the needs and interests of the audience, it’s a powerful and persuasive way to convey information.

Stories have a plot, characters, and a narrative point of view. The mostly highly viewed YouTube ads – the Volkswagen and T-Mobile spots, Jennifer Aniston creating a video for Smartwater, or Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” campaign – combine these elements brilliantly.

7 Characteristics of Effective Advertising Storytelling

As a marketing strategist, I believe there are seven characteristics of a great advertising story:

1. It’s engaging: The viewer is immediately drawn into the scenario. Something interesting is happening and you want to know what it is.
2. It’s emotional: The best advertising stories make you feel something: Empathy, humor, joy, tension, excitement.
3. It’s memorable: You get it and can’t forget it.
4. It’s easy to retell: You can describe the basic scenario in one sentence.
5. It has a plot: There’s a beginning, middle, and end.
6. There’s an element of suspense: You have to stick with the ad to see how the story will turn out.
7. Most important, the product plays a pivotal role: The product is woven into the story so well that the story couldn’t be told with it.

Lessons for Your Smart Marketing Strategy

Storytelling can be a smart marketing tactic for almost any marketer and great stories don’t have to be told just on TV.

One example is the excellent Avis marketing campaign on the front page of the Marketplace section of The Wall Street Journal. Avis uses real letters from grateful customers to tell stories about the company’s commitment to customer service.

To create dynamic marketing stories like these, I advise clients of my marketing consulting firm to think about the following:

• How are your products or services used? What stories might your customers tell? Plot out the scenarios and explore how to make these scenarios interesting to prospects.
• Who are your customers? What type of character is your customer? Use real-life case studies to showcase customers as themselves or create similar characters prospects can relate to.
• What emotions do people feel when they use your products or services? Do your customers feel confident, safe, happy, relieved, excited, satisfied, proud? Capture these emotions in the stories you tell.
• What is your product’s role? How does your product enable your customers to achieve success? Build your stories around the benefits of what you sell.

A final tip: Don’t make the mistake of telling such a great story that the product gets lost in the narrative. See my prior post about the Kevin Bacon ad for Logitech.

What stories do you think made the most compelling advertising campaigns?

That’s why so many smart marketers, especially companies that sell business-to-business (B2B) professional services, use client testimonials in their advertising, sales presentations, brochures, and websites.

So how do you get customers to give you great testimonials for your marketing campaigns? Follow these 10 tips:

1. Select the right customers. Choose clients who best represent the kinds of companies you serve and the prospects you want to attract — and who can speak credibly about your work.

2. Focus the message. Decide what you want to ask clients to say about you. Think about your core value proposition and the most important factors that set you apart from competitors.

3. Keep it simple. Unless you’re developing a case study, you don’t need a lot of content from a client—just a paragraph or two about the value you deliver. Clients should not feel burdened by your request.

4. Make it easy to say yes. Offer to write the testimonial for the client or suggest points you’d like them to make in what they write. Interview the client by phone, then send a draft of their comments for approval.

5. Get specific. Ask clients to go beyond general praise for your capabilities and refer to a specific aspect of what you do or how you’ve served them. The more specific the testimonial is, the more believable it will be.

6. Tell clients how you’ll use their comments. Clients will be more likely to agree to your request if you spell out how you plan to use their comments – in marketing campaigns, sales presentations, on the web, etc.

7. Ask advocates for more. The most enthusiastic clients, those true advocates who are delighted to tell the world how great you are, may be willing to give you more than a written quote. Ask to use their logo and personal photo with the testimonial. See if they’d be willing to give you a testimonial on video. You may surprised how many people say yes.

8. Reach for the stars. If you’re lucky enough to serve well-known companies your prospects will recognize, ask for their support. One of the best testimonials I ever received as a marketing consultant came from my biggest client at the time, IBM.

9. Thank clients who help you. Once a testimonial appears in your marketing campaigns, share it with the client and thank them for their endorsement. This is an ideal opportunity to send a small gift or make a donation to a charity on the client’s behalf as a gesture of your appreciation.

10. Most important: Don’t be afraid to ask. You deliver a valuable product or service to your clients and it’s perfectly acceptable to ask people who value what you do to go on the record about it. LinkedIn has helped many people become accustomed to providing recommendations for colleagues.

Why You Want Your Clients to Help Tell Your Story

Getting clients to publicly endorse your company is a smart marketing strategy because it gives you tremendous credibility. Testimonials can be especially powerful for differentiating your brand if you’re a B2B services provider.

A final tip: Sometimes clients would like to say nice things about you but their legal department or boss won’t let them go on the record. Ask if you can refer to them by title and type of company instead of individual or company name. Such testimonials aren’t as strong as ones with attribution, but they’re better than no testimonials at all, especially if the client has good things to say about you and your business.

The Next Great American Consumer by Brian Braiker provides a fascinating look at this development. Braiker says branding at birth is “a trend—fueled in part by the growth of digital devices—toward aggressively targeting a demographic that didn’t exist, in marketers’ eyes, until recently: infants to 3-year-olds. By getting their logos and iconic characters in front of babies—even those with still-blurry eyesight—they hope to establish brand-name preference before she or he has uttered a word.”

Is this a smart marketing strategy? Or is this the scariest thing you’ve seen all week? The answer to both questions is yes. Here’s why.

The Brilliance of Early Marketing

Establishing brand awareness and brand preference is the goal of every smart marketer, and as a marketing consultant, I have to acknowledge the brilliance of this strategy. The article cites plenty of research to prove the impact of early marketing on infants and toddlers, including studies which show that an American child can recognize an average of 100 brand logos by age 3. If you’re marketing products to kids and parents, you certainly want your logo on that list.

The real power of this marketing strategy may be its influence on parents. I bought Disney-themed baby toys for my kids and if Kate Spade had made designer baby bags when my daughter was born, I’d have been first in line to buy one.

I probably also would have let my young children play with my iPhone or iPad if I’d had one back then, as many parents do today. That’s why so many marketers like Fisher-Price and Nick Jr. are creating branded apps and online games for the very youngest technology users and why Dora the Explorer has a Facebook page (supposedly for parents) with over 770,000 followers.

But How Young is Too Young?

Of course, licensed characters on clothing, toys, and other products for babies and toddlers are nothing new.

But I wonder if marketers are beginning to take this too far. The level of marketing to infants and toddlers is clearly on the rise, as Braiker’s article illustrates, and the idea of marketing to someone too young and vulnerable to perceive the difference between reality and fantasy makes me queasy. In my experience as a marketing advisor, when it feels like you may be crossing the line of what’s appropriate, you probably are – and the negative fallout usually outweighs the marketing benefit when you do.

Is This Really a Branding Strategy?

From a marketing strategy standpoint, I also wonder whether this approach really can be called “branding.”

Branding is making a promise to a customer about the value you deliver and the experience the customer will have when they choose to do business with you. Is that what these marketers are achieving by targeting consumers far too young to understand product value and differentiate between products? Or are they just cementing an image of an icon in a young child’s mind without attaching any meaning to it?

If that’s the case, I think it’s an open question whether this will pay off as a branding strategy in the long run. Brand recognition doesn’t automatically translate into sales; sales are driven by value.  Even if a young child can recognize and name a brand logo or character, that’s not the same as achieving true brand loyalty among children and parents because of the quality of your products. And marketers who go too far by targeting infants could find themselves facing a backlash from society and parents.

What do you think? Where should marketers draw the line when it comes to targeting images and messages to babies and toddlers? When does a smart marketing strategy become a societal concern?

Telling a brand story through well-crafted marketing copy can capture the essence of a brand. And building those brand messages into the physical product itself can reinforce the brand’s value proposition every time the product is used.

Here are three consumer product marketers who are doing this brilliantly, and some branding advice for your smart marketing strategy.

How Three Marketers Make the Product a Brand Ambassador

1. Old Spice Classic Men’s Deodorant: Yes, it’s been around forever and it hasn’t changed much. But Old Spice has rejuvenated its brand with attention-getting TV ads and a branding strategy driven by its heritage.

Here’s the clever copy that appears on the product label of Classic Men’s Deodorant, where you see it every time you prepare to apply it: “If your grandfather hadn’t used this, you wouldn’t be here.”

While most of us don’t want to think about exactly how we got here, the underlying message – attractive men have always turned to Old Spice, and with great results – is the essence of Old Spice’s brand. And because it’s part of the physical product, it’s a can’t-miss marketing message.

2. Tilley Endurables: Made in Canada, Tilley Hats are designed for people who enjoy outdoor life. The company positions its products as long-term investments in comfort and self-protection. So Tilley sews a fabric label inside every hat with a stitched message that reminds you why you spent so much money on a head covering.

“This is the Tilley Hat,” says the label in the classic men’s version. “It is the best outdoor hat in the world. It floats, repels rain and mildew, won’t shrink, and will be replaced free if it wears out. (Yes, put it in your will.)” Boy, were you smart to buy a Tilley. And your kids will thank you, too.

The company’s Canadian roots also are crucial to its brand identity as a team of perfectionists up north who fuss over every detail of their products. The label also assures the user that the hat was “sewn with Canadian persnicketiness.”

3. Altoids: Candy maker Callard & Bowser has built a phenomenal brand identity for Altoids, the “curiously strong mints” that are so potent they require a metal box. Inside each Altoids package is a paper liner that protects the product.

Clever Callard & Bowser realized that paper = messaging opportunity, but instead of boring copy, they print brand-centric messages on the liner that emphasize the powerful taste of Altoids and the courage of those brave souls who dare to enjoy them. “Not for the Faint of Tongue” and “Enter at Your Own Risk” are two examples.

Since a typical package of Altoids contains about 75 pieces, that’s up to 75 repetitions of the marketing message per pack. Not bad for adding a one-color message to a product liner that had to be there anyway.

Branding Advice for Your Smart Marketing Strategy

As a marketing consultant who helps companies plan branding and marketing strategies, I advise clients to see every space inside and outside the package as a potential opportunity to say something meaningful to the customer and restate the brand promise. 

I also believe that product packaging is most effective as a branding and marketing strategy when the message is delivered via the actual product itself – not just the wrapper it comes in. Building the brand message into the physical product can make the product itself a brand ambassador.

But what’s the difference between a good brand and a truly great one? How do you create a brand identity that’s so powerful, it becomes one of your most valuable assets — and the centerpiece of a smart marketing strategy?

Here are six factors that separate the best brands from the rest, and examples of marketers who are using these factors to set the bar for branding success.

6 Factors Shared by Great Brands

1. A Clear Identity: The marketer’s brand stands for something unique to the customer, something clearly different from any other competitor in the company’s marketplace. What Apple and Mercedes-Benz represent, for example, is so distinctly different that no competitor can match them.
2. Trust: The customer trusts that what the marketer says is true, because the customer knows from experience they can believe what the marketer tells them. When you ship with FedEx, your package will arrive on time. When you buy from L.L. Bean, the product is guaranteed for your entire life.
3. Value: The brand delivers something the customer wants, needs, and appreciates, and the customer believes they get a fair deal for their money. Target sells consumer products of very high quality at modest prices. Tiffany customers pay top dollar for jewelry, but the value of a Tiffany’s piece, from the quality of the product to the beauty of the distinctive blue package, is perceived to be worth the investment.
4. Consistency: The customer’s experience is consistent every time they encounter the brand, whether it’s in advertising, a retail store, face-to-face with an employee, or using the product. Disney is the master of brand consistency in entertainment, Nordstrom in retailing. You know exactly what to expect from these marketers because you almost always receive it.
5. A Distinctive Voice: The brand has a point of view, attitude, or persona that comes through to the customer in everything the marketer does. This point of view is so well-defined that the customer can recognize it even when the brand logo isn’t present. You don’t need to see the logo to know you’re watching a Victoria’s Secret ad, reading their direct mail catalog, shopping in their store, or wearing their clothes.
6. Intimacy with the Customer: The customer feels they have a relationship with the marketer; the marketer knows them and knows what they like. Amazon.com customizes messaging and product selection at every step of online shopping to make you feel they actually know you. Starbucks customers and baristas share a private language where words like skinny, tall, and a double shot have a special meaning; baristas often remember customers’ favorite drinks.

Can Your Brand Do This?

You don’t have to be a FORTUNE® 500 company or a giant consumer marketer to do branding well.  Any company can use these same six factors to create a unique, memorable, and meaningful identity that establishes an effective presence in the marketplace.

For more tips on branding, see 10 Steps to Building a Great Brand.

When the audience’s reaction to an ad is “Huh?” instead of “Wow!,” it’s a painful waste of marketing resources.

Here are three examples of advertising and marketing campaigns that fail the “Huh?” test – and three tips to avoid making mistakes like this in your smart marketing strategy.

Value – Huh?

This Allstate Insurance billboard appears on highways around Cleveland, Ohio, where my marketing agency is located. I also spotted it last weekend in downtown Columbus.

What was Allstate thinking when they came up with this headline? No one can read, pronounce, or understand the meaning of the word “Value’Lujah” at a quick glance, not even after seeing this message many times.

Imagine how much more effective the message would have been if instead of “Value’ Lujah – New Lower Rates,” the copy had read, “Hallelujah! New Lower Rates.” Everyone knows what hallelujah means, but “value’lujah?” I doubt it.

Good Banking is What?

Charter One, a regional bank that markets in the greater Cleveland area, has a new marketing tagline that’s a real head-scratcher: “Good banking is good citizenship.”

What? As a consumer, I have many beliefs about what good banking is, but “good citizenship” isn’t one of them. This message may be linked to a creative concept they’re using in TV ads where the founding fathers discuss modern banking, but even if you had just seen the founding fathers spot, would this tagline make sense to you? And what does it have to do with the audience? It’s a message (I think) about the bank, not about the customer.

Monsters Behind the Wheel?

Just last night, I saw this new ad campaign for the Honda Civic HF. The creative concept has something to do with a female college student (she’s in a college classroom and has pink nail polish, so I’m making this assumption) who’s a monster and drives a Honda Civic HF with her girlfriends.

I had to replay this spot multiple times on YouTube to get the basic storyline and even then, my reaction was, “Huh?” What does this have to do with a car? And how does this convey any meaningful, takeaway message that differentiates the product in the marketplace? What you remember after seeing this ad is a goofy-looking girl monster driving some type of white car. I doubt that’s what Honda was aiming for.

3 Lessons for Your Smart Marketing Strategy

Here are three tips to be sure your marketing campaign passes the “Huh?” test:

1. Keep it simple. When I was learning how to write advertising copy, my boss, who is one of the best copywriters I’ve ever met, edited and re-edited my copy to strip the message down to its essence. She often reminded me to use words a fourth-grade audience can understand. She was right. Your odds of delivering an effective marketing message increase exponentially if you keep the message and the concept simple.
2. Clever can backfire. As a marketing consultant, I’m always advising my clients to be original and creative in their marketing campaigns. But there’s a clear line between an attention-getting creative concept and one that’s so incredibly clever it totally loses the audience. If your marketing agency presents a new creative campaign, ask yourself and others how quickly you grasped the message they were trying to deliver. If most people don’t immediately understand the concept and message — in seconds, the very first time they see it — insist on a new approach.
3. Don’t expect repetition to clarify the message. Some marketers believe a complex or elaborate campaign concept engages the audience. Their theory is that the audience will pay attention to such ads in an attempt to puzzle them out, and that repeated viewings will result in high awareness and understanding. I don’t buy it. Audiences don’t have the time or interest to figure out what you’re trying to tell them. No one wants to work at “getting it” – they just want to get it. And making sure they get it, with an engaging, but easy-to-understand marketing campaign, is essential to a smart marketing strategy.

Major marketers can choose agencies anywhere in the world, yet more and more are selecting marketing teams in Northeast Ohio.

Top executives from three regional agencies and a large Midwestern bank explained why global brands and other market leaders are “Choosing Cleveland” at a NOCA (Northeast Ohio Communications Advocates) Forum at the Cleveland Plain Dealer on April 27.

Here’s how these local firms are landing prestigious accounts and helping national and local clients create smart marketing strategies.

Start with Ideas, Build Relationships

Lisa Zone, Senior Vice President, Dix & Eaton and President, AAF Cleveland, led the discussion. Tim Brokaw, Managing Partner, Brokaw Inc., Joanne Kim, Partner/Chief Idea Officer, Marcus Thomas LLC, and Julie Clemo Tutkovics, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, FirstMerit Corporation, were panelists.

Everyone agreed that the quality of an agency’s ideas trumps its location. “No one cares where you are,” said Kim. “The question is, ‘who has the best thinking, the best ideas,’ not ‘where are you?’

“Large agencies in bigger cities tend to be focused on brand, with some digital,” she continued. “Marcus Thomas has both brand DNA and digital DNA in-house, with more holistic thinking. Our clients like this.”

Brokaw said that new client Vitaminwater “appreciated our Midwestern values. We offered the same quality of ideas as big city agencies without the egos.”

Clients also value in-depth expertise more than location, said Zone. “Large clients often pick Dix & Eaton for a specialty practice area, like crisis communications or investor relations. We grow the relationship from there.”

Tutkovics said FirstMerit Bank wanted an agency in its Midwest footprint, but didn’t care where. The bank sent RFPs to 12 agencies in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, and Akron and chose Cleveland-based Brokaw. “It’s not about location, it’s about relationships,” she noted.

Kim agreed: “Great work wins the business, but chemistry keeps the business.”

The Power of Midwestern Values

All panelists cited “Midwestern values” as a big advantage for Northeast Ohio marketing firms. “Having Midwestern values means you’re scrappy, humble, hardworking, with a roll-up-your-sleeves attitude,” Brokaw explained.

Kim stated that Cleveland-area firms were more approachable and collaborative. “Other agencies sometimes can have an attitude: ‘We know more than anyone else in the room, including the client.’ We like to tout our Midwestern sensibility.”

Tutkovics called Clevelanders “honest, candid, and direct. The issue is ego,” she said. “It’s just easier here; there’s no attitude, just great collaboration and partnerships.”

Silencing the “Little Clevelander” in All of Us

“We thought big, out-of-town clients cared that we were from Cleveland and we had to quiet the ‘little Clevelander’ in all of us that has an inferiority complex,” Brokaw recalled. “When we won Vitaminwater, it affirmed our self-belief: ‘We can do this.’

“We started embracing our location and our position as the underdog, especially when pitching against agencies three and four times our size.”

Tutkovics, who worked for several years in Boston, observed that “there’s a pride in being from Cleveland, like a best-kept secret. We tend to have a chip on our shoulder, but when you leave the area, you see how great it is to live here. Also, it’s fun to win with local people.”

Agency executives said that despite the great quality of life in Northeast Ohio, it can be hard to attract seasoned talent from other cities. “But young kids are hungry,” Brokaw noted, “and they want to do great work. Most of them don’t care where.”

Telling the Northeast Ohio Marketing Agency Story

Though there’s a great story to be told about the success and creativity of Northeast Ohio marketing agencies, Brokaw noted that one of the challenges is convincing major marketers in the Cleveland area to select local firms. “It’s like the ‘no one ever got fired for picking IBM’ syndrome,” he explained. “It’s the same with Madison Avenue or Michigan Avenue agencies. It appears to be more risky to pick a local firm. We have to prove that we’re worthy, that we can handle the large accounts.”

Kim said getting the word out was essential. Marcus Thomas uses public relations to generate press coverage in industry media and stay on prospects’ radar screens. Brokaw landed another large, national client that read about the agency’s work in Adweek. Dix & Eaton has eight bloggers who constantly publish content related to the firm’s expertise.

“We have the passion and we’re more nimble,” Brokaw concluded. “We need to celebrate the success and let local and national companies know the level of talent here. We need to build the buzz.”

“Some clients in New York or L.A. will never look at a Cleveland marketing agency,” Kim acknowledges, “but others will look for the best ideas. If you end up in the pitch with the best ideas, you will win.”

But as a marketing agency president, I’ve learned the hard way that not all prospects should become clients.

Even if you’re a marketing agency looking to grow, sometimes it’s smarter to walk away from prospective new business than enter into a bad relationship.

How do you know when to stay or go?

Here are 7 warning signs that a new prospect could become a bad client for your marketing agency:

1. Extremely short timeframe: Successful marketing campaigns are rarely done overnight. Avoid prospects with a timeframe that makes it nearly impossible to complete a marketing project effectively.
2. Limited understanding of the value of marketing: If a prospect seems skeptical about marketing or wants you to convince them why marketing is a good idea, you can expect the client to challenge or doubt everything you recommend.
3. Internal dissent: If a company’s executives disagree about the role of marketing or the need for marketing, that dissent is sure to continue throughout your assignment. Be especially leery if sales and marketing disagree, which can be a recipe for disaster.
4. Unrealistic expectations about results: When a prospect expects a marketing campaign to produce an unrealistic number of leads or sales, ask if they’ve gotten results like this in the past. If not, help them understand what they can expect and that marketing is an investment with a long-term payoff. Otherwise, any campaign you create is sure to fall short in their eyes.
5. Can’t describe an ideal customer: A client should be able to tell a marketing agency exactly whom they are targeting with their marketing campaigns. If the client can’t describe an ideal customer, they probably don’t have a good understanding of their current customers. That makes it very hard for a marketing agency to recommend the right media or develop creative marketing messages that resonate with prospects.
6. Committee approval of creative concepts: Be cautious about clients that have a complex creative review process. If a big committee has to approve creative concepts, creative is likely to go through many rounds of revisions and ideas may get watered down to the point of ineffectiveness.
7. Negotiating price in the first meeting: Money is the trickiest part of any discussion between a prospective client and a marketing agency. Clients usually have a budget in mind and smart clients ask for a ballpark idea of the cost to develop a marketing plan or campaign. But if they start trying to negotiate price before you’ve written the first word of your proposal, you can expect disagreements about rates, fees, and invoices throughout the project.

When It’s Worth Staying in the Game

Creating a smart marketing strategy requires a real partnership between a marketing agency and a client.

While most companies have good intentions when they seek guidance from an external marketing expert, some have such a limited or misinformed understanding of marketing or the role of an outside marketing resource that they are unable to gain real value from engaging a marketing consultant.

Yet in my experience, such prospects have the potential to become good and even great clients if they:

• Show a sincere willingness to understand how to use marketing effectively;
• Are open to new ideas and excited about trying new marketing approaches;
• Have a cohesive team, a great product or service, and excellent customer relationships;
• Are willing to invest the resources needed for skilled external marketing expertise;
• View their marketing agency as a valuable partner.

The answer is an emphatic yes, according to executives representing the region’s health and medical community, film industry, convention and visitors bureau, and professional and amateur sports.

These leaders shared insights on how to tell Cleveland’s story at a presentation on “Marketing Cleveland” on March 15 at Executive Caterers of Landerhaven. Here are highlights from their comments and my views as a Cleveland-based marketing consultant.

A Wealth of Good News about Cleveland

The panel included David Gilbert, President and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and Positively Cleveland, the area’s convention and visitors’ bureau; Baiju Shah, President and CEO of BioEnterprise, a business formation, recruitment, and acceleration initiative that grows health care companies; and Ivan Schwarz, Executive Director of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission. Chris Tye of WKYC-TV3 moderated the discussion.

Panelists cited multiple examples of great things happening in Cleveland that are driving business development and boosting the Northeast Ohio economy:

• Cleveland is experiencing a renaissance of major commercial development, including the Cleveland Medical Mart, a new convention center, and a new downtown casino, that will draw millions of visitors, create jobs, and bolster the economy,
• Cleveland has a global reputation in health care. In addition to premier medical institutions, more than 600 medical companies are headquartered in the area. Companies that formed Cleveland’s legacy industrial base are now becoming suppliers to these innovative medical firms; patients around the world are coming to Cleveland for superior medical care; four hotels have been built near major hospitals in Cleveland and two others are on the way.
• The Avengers is the latest major movie filming in Cleveland. The Cleveland Film Commission is aggressively promoting Cleveland to producers in Hollywood and even has plans to reach out to Bollywood producers in India. Cleveland and Ohio are “the back lot of America,” offering virtually every type of setting for location shooting, and the Ohio film tax credit is a big bonus. “For a filmmaker, everything is possible here,” Schwarz said. “Who wouldn’t want to shoot here?”
• The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament comes to Cleveland on Friday, bringing with it thousands of visitors and $10-12 million for the local economy. The tournament is just one of ten major national sports events, including NCAA and Olympic competitions, taking place in Cleveland in the coming year.

The First Challenge: Marketing to Ourselves

Yet despite this good news, Clevelanders can be their own worst enemies by focusing on the challenges Northeast Ohio is facing rather than the exciting changes reshaping the area. “Tremendous things are happening here,” Gilbert noted. “A ‘can’t do’ attitude becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. As a community, we need to believe in ourselves. We have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Schwarz, who moved to Cleveland from Los Angeles, was surprised Cleveland residents asked what he called “the question with the wrong ‘w’:  ‘Why did you move here?’ not ‘What drew you here?’, or even ‘welcome to Cleveland.’”

The Secret to Cleveland’s Success

According to these leaders, Cleveland’s success will come from embracing the region’s great assets and building business plans around them. “We now have more tools to do that,” Shah noted. “The Medical Mart is a watershed moment for this industry. It shows the health care industry is coming of age for the nation and Cleveland will be at the heart of it.

“There’s exceptional medical advancement happening,” he continued. “What we have here and how it affects medicine is vastly different from other cities, and it’s a great environment for launching and growing medical companies.”

A “New Era” for Cleveland

With all the big projects on tap, Gilbert said that Cleveland is on the cusp of a new era. “Projects are being built to bring people to town, and these are real projects with shovels in the ground, not just on the drawing board,” he noted. “

To market Cleveland, “we need to keep succeeding,” Gilbert explained. “We need to continue to do things well, and over time, people will see what we have to offer.”

Panelists also agreed that marketing Cleveland must include attracting young adults. “We should show them there’s opportunity here to start something exciting and realize their dreams,” Gilbert said. Shah noted that the state of Ohio jobs website has 36,000 job openings right now in Northeast Ohio.

Making Every Clevelander an Ambassador

The organizations these executives lead are already reaching out to entrepreneurs, meeting planners, film producers, sports organizations, and tourists, to showcase what’s available only in Cleveland.

But marketing Cleveland must extend far beyond the professional groups whose job is to promote the region. Panelists urged Northeast Ohio business professionals to be ambassadors for the area. “Be positive,” Gilbert stressed. “Are there problems? Yes, but great things are happening here and there’s a high level of entrepreneurial energy.”

Their bottom line: “Cleveland rocks” should be an attitude – and everyone doing business in Cleveland should share it.

4 Suggestions from a Cleveland Marketing Consultant

With a great story to tell and exceptional value to offer, Cleveland is poised for marketing success. Here are four suggestions I’d offer as a marketing consultant for a smart marketing strategy for Cleveland:

1. Tell real stories about the successes happening here to dispel the misperceptions people have about Cleveland. The new advertising campaign by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance featuring local entrepreneurs who are growing their businesses with a downtown Cleveland address is a terrific start.
2. Focus on the factors that differentiate Cleveland in the marketplace, such as its lakefront location, affordability, cultural riches, vibrant business community, and especially its high quality of life.
3. Use every marketing communications avenue available to share with Clevelanders the good news about what’s changing in the region.
4. Make a compelling offer that gets out-of-town prospects to experience Cleveland first-hand. Schwarz noted, for example, that “every single person [from Hollywood] that we’ve brought out here in the past two years has ended up filming here.”

As a Cleveland-area resident and entrepreneur, I can say from personal experience that Cleveland really does rock. Come see for yourself.