What if I asked 100 different college marketing students to define the word “marketing?” I’m pretty sure we’d get 100 different answers, or we might get the top Google answer a bunch of times.

The following definition was approved by the American Marketing Association Board of Directors: Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large. (Approved October 2007)

The all-inclusive American Marketing Association definition seems like a lot to remember.

I like to think of myself as a simplifier and came up with my own definition: Marketing is communicating brand messages.

You may or may not agree with my definition. That’s not really the point. The point is that marketing a product or service is done in a whole bunch of different ways. In the past century, most of the attention was placed on mass marketing. Today, social marketing ideas are growing faster than people can keep track of.

There are so many different tactics to deliver brand messages to our customers and prospects. And yet, when was the last time you communicated your brand message(s) to your internal target group – the employees of the company you work for? Employees are easy to forget about. It’s also easy to assume that they all know the brand message(s) already.

Once I was in a marketing committee meeting for a bank and presented a great idea designed to bring people into the bank itself. Everyone on the committee agreed that it was a great idea, and I thought it was sold. Suddenly, a bank employee said “what are we going to do with all of those people if they come into the bank?” Needless to say, the president of the bank (who was also in the meeting) did not approve the campaign. In fact, he stopped all external marketing and moved the money to training. The bank president was part right: his staff definitely needed extra training. On the other hand, I would suggest that instead of training at the expense of external marketing, that both internal and external audiences should be consistently addressed in every company’s annual marketing plan.

Here is an exercise I encourage you to try with your company. Send out a survey and ask every employee to answer one question: Why does this company exist (beyond making money)? To add to the challenge, explain that they can only use 25 words or less. My guess is that you will have as many different answers as you have employees.

I encourage you to stop thinking of marketing as something that only happens outside your business. The next strategic marketing plan you develop needs to include an internal marketing plan as well. Then, when your outside plan is successful – and prospects start coming to your business – your employees know exactly what brand message you are trying to communicate.

I’ve refused to show my ID each time a cashier has asked for it. Why, you ask? Because according to my credit card agreement (yes, I’ve actually read it), all I need to do in order to make a purchase is to present my signed card. A retailer can ask you for ID but they cannot refuse to charge your card solely on the fact that you do not show them additional ID.

An argument could be made that it’s not that big of a deal to show a retailer your ID. And besides, you don’t want to look bad to those people in line behind you by getting into an argument with the cashier, right? Not in my opinion. Let’s say I’m the cashier at an electronics store. If you give me your credit card, then all I have for information on you is your credit card number. If you give me your ID, such as a driver’s license, not only do I have your credit card number, but also your driver’s license number, your address and your birth date. Why would you help me get more of your information than I need to process your sale?

You could say that I don’t have your social security number and that’s what hinges on true identity theft. True, however, now that I know where you live, I could just rummage around in your mailbox to find more identifying information. And since I work at an electronics store, and you just bought the coolest car stereo and a few CDs, I could just come over to your house in a day or two and steal them out of your car. This is a stretch, in our area especially, but you get my point.

In case you haven’t noticed, a lot of retailers are now going to the swipe-it-yourself machines. They obviously don’t check your ID. Do you know why? Because they’re not suppose to check your ID. Furthermore, if someone steals your actual credit card, U.S. federal law limits your liability to $50 if you report it within 60 days of getting your statement. (Note: most credit card companies will waive this $50 in the name of customer service). If it’s just your credit card number that is stolen (rather than the actual card), you have $0 liability. So, if someone stole your credit card, just call up your credit card company and contest the charge. Yes, it can get time consuming rejecting a fraudulent charge but wouldn’t you rather do that than have your entire identity stolen?

For those who don’t feel like just a signature on the back of your credit card is enough to prevent a thief from stealing it, the fact is, it isn’t up to retailers to prevent fraud on your behalf. It’s up to you. The privilege of using a credit card is not the relationship between you and a retailer, it’s between you and your credit card company. If you don’t sign the card, you’re indicating that you haven’t accepted the agreement with your credit card company. Why would a retailer accept your unsigned credit card, which indicates you don’t want to abide by your credit card company’s rules? And, if you do sign the card, then there’s no reason to show your ID.

Visa’s web site on See ID is here: http://usa.visa.com/merchants/risk_management/card_present.html

Mastercard’s rule 5.8.4 on additional cardholder identification is here:

http://www.mastercard.com/us/merchant/pdf/BM-Entire_Manual_public.pdf

The Wall Street Journal will start delivering coupons inside its Weekend Edition this Saturday ( August 14) furthering its push to become a full-service newspaper — and taking business away from The New York Times in the process.

The coupon insert being added, SmartSource Magazine, had run in the Sunday Times for years until it stopped last month — after SmartSource’s owner, News America Marketing, decided to switch to The Journal. News America Marketing and The Journal are both owned by News Corp.

The appearance of coupons won’t drive away readers, some of whom will welcome them, but it might undermine the Journal’s premium positioning in front of advertisers, according to Ken Doctor, author of “Newsonomics” and a news industry analyst at Outsell. “I think of them as being more Prada than Pillsbury,” Mr. Doctor said. “It does seem to create some dissonance with the brand promise.”

News America Marketing said the decision to switch SmartSource to the Journal was not primarily about their corporate relationship. “The Journal is a very dynamic newspaper right now and we felt it was important to offer our clients access to its readers,” said West Naze, exec VP and national sales manager at News America Marketing.

I know the newspaper industry has been dying a slow death, but trying to turn The Wall Street Journal into a full-service newspaper is not the way to go. The essence of the WSJ is that they are a business and finance publication that reaches a highly educated, affluent audience. This is the paper where brands like Tiffany and Mercedes Benz can place their message and know they are reaching people who are more likely to buy their products. This may not be the case with every reader, but it’s all about perception. People, meaning advertisers and consumers, think the WSJ is more upscale, so therefore it is.

I don’t think the readers will stop their subscriptions because their Saturday paper now has coupons. They can just toss them out if they don’t want them. But will the advertisers start to leave? I think a newspaper like the WSJ needs to maintain its integrity and not turn into a full-service paper. Maybe they could offer the coupons online only in order to keep the paper free of the cheap looking coupons.

The WSJ and other media outlets need to remember who they are and why they are successful. They need to keep both their advertisers and consumers in mind and come up with new ways to do things that cater to both groups. The WSJ coupon insert seems to be a marriage of convenience for News Corp. They are risking cheapening their high-end brand to bring high-end consumers to a low-end product. They are taking a risk and I hope it works for them.

Source: Ives, Nat. “Coupons Come to The Wall Street Journal”. AdAge.com. August 12, 2010.

Want to know the secret of Facebook? The secret is that there are really two Facebooks. The first Facebook capitalizes on social interaction, and it’s the one most people think about first. This is the Facebook that is made up of friends and posts and photos and online games. Your company can put this Facebook to good use by building its own Facebook page and using it to communicate to customers. Start a conversation with them. Learn about them. Learn FROM them.

Just be careful when you try to sell them something. If your selling messages are too overt or too aggressive (or too common), you’ll quickly burn up any goodwill that you’ve created with your Facebook page. After all, nobody wants their virtual mailbox stuffed with your junk mail – at least not constantly.

The second Facebook is the one that sells ads. You know, those messages that appear on the right side of the page when you are looking at posts and photos. The ads themselves aren’t really much of an innovation. The pay-per-click (PPC) business model isn’t either – you can get that from Google or Bing or anybody else. What really makes this facet of Facebook worth your time is the outstanding targeting that it allows. Facebook’s PPC ads allow you to narrow your target demographics down – a lot. You can show your ad only to women in their thirties who live in Toledo who love playing Texas Hold ‘em. That’s pretty specific, and it gives your ads a much higher chance at success. Plus, since you only pay per click (unless you choose differently) you get all of those impressions – the times when the ad is on your customer’s screen but they don’t click on it – for free. That can quickly add up to millions of impressions.

Before you rush onto Facebook to start buying ads, consider this: the secret is out. More and more businesses are piling onto Facebook every day, and it’s starting to get crowded. When we first started using Facebook, it was easy to make our messages stand out. Today, that job is much more of a challenge. Don’t come to the table with weak sauce, or you will be ignored, and Facebook can actually start to get sort of expensive (it’s complicated). Let a professional help you to customize a message that gets results.

Then put the secret power of Facebook to work for you.

Typeface:
Adobe defines it like this: The letters, numbers and symbols that make up a design of type. A typeface is often part of a type family of coordinated designs. The individual typefaces are named after the family and are also specified with a designation, such as italic, bold or condensed.

Font
Adobe says that a font is “one weight, width and style of a typeface.” However, the meaning of “font” has evolved considerably in the world of modern typesetting. What people usually mean when they say “font” is really “font family”….

Font / Type Families
According to Adobe: The collection of faces that were designed together and intended to be used together. For example, the Garamond font family consists of roman and italic styles, as well as regular, semi-bold and bold weights.

Since sticking to the strict definitions would be pretty confusing, I’ll pretty much use the word “font” as it is commonly used today. That is, to mean a group of typefaces meant to be used together, like “Times” or “Impact.”

Serif Fonts
Serif fonts are recognizable by the small lines at the ends of the various strokes of a character. As these lines make a typeface easier to read by guiding the eye from letter to letter and word to word, serif fonts are often used for large blocks of text, such as in a book. Times New Roman is an example of a common serif font.

Sans Serif Fonts
Typefaces without serifs. Sans serif fonts are often used when a large typeface is necessary, such as in a magazine headline. Helvetica is a popular sans serif typeface.

Point
The point is used to measure the size of a font. One point is equal to 1/72 of an inch. When a character is referred to as 12pt, the full height of the text block (such as a block of movable type in the old ways of printing), and not just the character itself, is being described. Because of this, two typefaces at the same point size may appear as different sizes, based on the position of the character in the block and how much of the block the character fills.

OK, now that we have the terms out of the way let’s get down to the aha! material.

Twelve point type isn’t always twelve point type.
Clients often request for me to use a font size of 11 point as if that is a strict standard in which the font looks nice and everyone can easily read it. Depending on what font I choose, this can really pose a problem. If Times New Roman is my font of choice for the particular job, all may be well, but if I choose something like Avant Garde it may look awkward on the page. Not only is the font Avant Garde physically much larger than Times New Roman (refer to the term “Point” above), it also looks much larger due to it’s wide open letter shapes.

While on the other end of the spectrum if I choose the font Minion for a job with elderly people as my main audience, 11 point type might not be big enough. Minion is a “smaller” font and often needs to be larger, especially for visually challenged audiences.

Speak Softly and Carry A Strong Font.
My next little mountain to tackle is the issue of choosing the right font. I’m sure you’re aware of the sea of fonts available. Even Microsoft Word gives us a plethora of options. But a wise person once told me, “just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”

That being said, fonts such as Skia and Papyrus may look “cute”, but unless you’re scrapbooking or creating a greeting card, they really should be ignored. The most important job that typography has is to communicate information. If your resumé uses a “cute” or unprofessional font, that is exactly how you are presenting yourself. Save those “cute” fonts for your to do lists at home.

When typing up a letter or document with a lot of copy, it’s best to stick with a serif (refer to “Serif” in the glossary above). Times New Roman is a steadfast choice. It’s easy to read even in large doses and doesn’t evoke a style or specific time period. It looks professional and trust-worthy without being pretentious. If you’re making a sign or need a bold headline, a clean san serif is a great choice. Something like Helvetica. It’s easy to read from far away and always looks clean and confident, ready to communicate pretty much any message you throw its way.

I know, I know it kind of feels like going to the grocery store and only coming home with potatoes and bread, but there’s a reason that those “classic” fonts are on every computer you’ve ever used. Trust me, your readers will thank you and your message will be communicated in a clean and professional way. If you really feel the need to bust out the Lucida Handwriting, please do it on weekends.

Putting it all together.
When starting a new document there are some basic things to keep in mind to ensure a successful typographic experience.

• Your audience. It’s true, the older the audience, the larger the copy should be.

• Your document dimensions. If your document needs to be set up at a size in which your text lines need to be short, it’s a good idea to choose an appropriate point size.

• The message. If you’re creating your resumé or an informational document, the font you choose should be very quiet. It shouldn’t be stylish or starving for attention. Let your words do the talking.

Typography has much more power than most people give it credit for. Its actions sometimes speak louder than its words. Make sure those actions are what you want them to be.

Here at Anchor our designers take design and typography very seriously (or light-hearted, depending on the audience and message).

As one of the main proofers at Anchor, my eye has been trained to automatically hone in on them. I almost can’t help it. I won’t even be at work, and my typo radar is on high alert. Checking out the grocery ad, “there’s a typo.” Reading the newspaper, “look at that typo.” Scanning the weather alerts across the bottom of the TV, “typo!” Every time I see one, I think a little less of whoever is tied to it.

Not all typos are glaring. In fact, many never get noticed. However, no matter the size, a typo’s impact is never in a positive direction, and if you want to make a good impression, I’d suggest you do everything in your power to avoid them. I do.

I think it’s worth clarifying that the word typo is usually defined as a misspelled word, but it’s much, much more. Those that think spell check is a proper safety net when it comes to typos will be sadly mistaken. A typo can be an inconsistency, like abbreviating a company’s name one time and not the next. Doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it hinders brand awareness and confuses (and frustrates) readers.

A typo can be a misused word. Have you ever felt the affects of a typo? No, you haven’t, because affect is a verb and effects is the plural noun you want to use. A typo can be a formatting error. Ever see those paragraphs in which the last line only has only one word on it? It’s called an orphan (or a hanger), and yes, it’s definitely a typo.

As you can see a typo is much more than a matter of correct spelling, and it can make you look incredibly silly. Even if it’s one that people find humorous, don’t think for a second that in the back of their minds they’re not questioning your attention to detail. That’s why proofing is so important. At Anchor, we check, double check and triple check everything so that our clients look far from silly. In fact, we send all of our work to professional proofers to quadruple check. It’s not paranoia (well maybe a little), it’s smart business.

Some good news is that, to many people’s surprise, it doesn’t take long to proofread. It’s much quicker to catch a typo up front then it is to go back and fix one in the end. So the lesson here is: Save yourself the time, money, hassle and embarrassment of a typo and check your work. Then have someone else check your work. Finally, double check your work again. Or, simply have Anchor do it for you. We’d be happy to help.

For a quick read, check out this short article on common proofing mistakes.

Who’s still using it and why?

1. So if I’m telling you that IE6 is so bad, why are people still using it?  Mostly it’s because these users don’t have a choice.  Why don’t these users have a choice?  It’s the IT departments.  There are a lot of large companies in the world with a lot of employees that use the internet or the company’s intranet everyday to get their work done.A company’s intranet may have been built on IE6 and consequently, the IT department is afraid of it breaking. Sometimes these IT professionals even cite security concerns as a reason to stay with IE6.  However, it’s come to light recently that IE6 is significantly more vulnerable to attack than newer versions of Explorer (specifically, IE8). In fact, Microsoft – a company that supports old programs for a long, long time – recently asked users to stop using IE6 due to security concerns that would not be repaired.
2. A big reason for old browser support is operating systems.  If you have a PC that is running Windows 2000 or Windows 98, then you can’t upgrade your browser even if you want to. in the world of the internet, these operating systems have been left far behind, unfortunately.
3. Another reason is that some people don’t know that there’s a newer version or alternate choices available. If they are aware of the choices but still have IE6 they probably do not know how to upgrade to the newer version. They might also think IE6 is just dandy and since it does what they ask it to most of the time, why change? There are people who are still intimidated by the  internet and aren’t aware of innovations like keyboard shortcuts or tabbed browsing.  They just want to get on, get in and get out, and that’s as far as their computer experience, needs and desires take them.

In general most people at home no longer use IE6 unless they have a very old computer. Most of the IE6 stragglers are in a work environment.

So why drop support?

Upgrading has become a way of life on the internet. Whether it’s your browser or your a web app, they’re constantly improving to make life better and more secure for the user.  If you happen to have one of those nifty smart phones then you’re probably no stranger to getting almost weekly updates to some of your favorite apps.

I want to have the best experience I can get when surfing the web and you should too!  I’m not the only one that wants you to have a great experience online, all those companies delivering media along with social and organizational apps do to.

Google officially dropped support for IE6 in March of 2010. The sites and web apps that Google runs will still retain their main functionality but new features added after that date may or may not work. It’s not just Google that’s dropping support. Facebook – everyone’s favorite social app – supports IE6 but it does so by providing users a decidedly poor user experience. Not only that, Facebook straight out tells you why you’re getting such a crotchety experience and even provides you with links to more modern browsers.

Most of us web developers like to support web standards. I won’t get into too much detail on the subject, but if a browser does a good job of supporting web standards, then life is much easier for everyone involved.  You will have a site that loads and runs efficiently, is easy to maintain, is accessibility and is widely compatible.

To get a site to lay out correctly in IE6 usually requires a decent amount of effort.

• You need to apply a special filter for every PNG used.
• CSS issues are one of the main culprits here. From not supporting certain pseudo-classes or mis-interpreting how an attribute is supposed to be applied, the CSS flaws in IE6 require a mix of CSS/JavaScript to patch.
• Plus a minor batch of other rendering or layout- related issues that also require hacks to get the desired results.

As of June 2010, fewer than 10% of internet users were using IE6. Is it worth making all of these expensive accommodations for this small group of people hanging on to an outdated technology? Probably not.

It’s time to move on – and leave Internet Explorer 6 behind.

I have an advanced degree. In fact, I went to school longer than most lawyers and accountants. I have almost 20 years of real world experience. Yet misguided companies everywhere ask their receptionists to do my job. It’s a little bizarre, and sometimes it makes it difficult to talk about what I do. On the other hand, this discrepancy in qualifications has one huge benefit: It’s not hard to stand out when a large part of the “marketing world” is made up of folks that aren’t very experienced.

Instead of relying on cliches (“For all your ______ needs.”) or rip offs (“Got ____?”), marketing professionals like the folks at Anchor rely on experience, knowledge, creativity and skill. We consider the target audience, we do research and then we look closely at results. We proof and re-proof, so that errors don’t make clients look silly. We negotiate prices, we specialize in follow-through and we monitor budgets. Most of the time the receptionist just doesn’t have the skill or time to do all that, and it shows.

Remember the original pets.com? Their mascot was a sock puppet that was introduced in a series of TV commercials during the heyday of the internet boom. The company was poorly run and it only lasted a few years before going out of business. When it came time to liquidate pets.com the single most valuable asset didn’t turn out to be inventory or accounts receivable or the legal team… it was the sock puppet. Thanks to a clever brand-building campaign, the single most valuable part of pets.com was its mascot.

What’s valuable to you?

And while (in my own opinion) you know that the Facebook hype has gotten out of control when you turn on CNN to hear that Lady Gaga has broken the record of 10 million fans, I do believe it can be a powerful marketing tool. The best part about a company page on Facebook is that when people “like” your page, there’s nothing in it for them – they are genuinely saying that they are interested in your company or your product. Editors note: until recently, Facebook called this “Becoming A Fan.”

While most personal profiles can only be seen if you are “friends” with the person, company pages are public. They can be seen by anyone, whether you “like” the page or not. “Liking” a page is a way for users to say they want to get updates from the company directly in their news feed. A user’s “friends” will also see when a user “likes” a page. So, while you may wonder if a person is requesting to be your Facebook “friend” so that they can look through your hidden profile, “liking” a page is as straightforward as its meaning states. Which – as simple as it is – is as a pretty big compliment to you and your business.

For Father’s Day, I got a Nook from Barnes and Noble. I don’t have convenient access to a large bookstore anymore, and the books I enjoy can be tough to find. (Obscure fantasy authors? Check. Specific autobiographies? Check. Very specific sports books? Check.) Now I can simply download them and read them right on my Nook e-reader. It looks a lot like paper (not like a backlit computer screen) and I like it a lot so far (though in the interest of full disclosure, I must add that I’m already on my second one – the first crashed beyond help). I can also subscribe to and read newspapers and other periodicals on it. Between the Kindle and the Nook and now the iPad, a lot of people are getting their word fix without the bother of paper. Add in the fact that millions of people now get their news online rather than in print (me included), and the world of printing has become unsure at best.

That has been especially bad news for newspapers and magazines. As their circulation numbers have fallen, so have their advertising dollars. The combination of those two factors can put any publication into a coma. Check out the local newsstand sometime, and it’s pretty shocking to see how sparse the selection is getting. Several of my favorite magazines have closed up shop in the past year, while local newspapers across the country are being shuttered every day.

If you are a fan of books, magazines and newspapers like I am, this is all sad news. The question is, then, what can we do about it? Perhaps the first question needs to be, SHOULD we do anything about it? After all, isn’t it better for the environment to go “paperless”? I’m not sure. Somebody still has to make that electricity that we use on our computers, and that still generates smoke and gas and waste. I think a better way to look at it is “when does paper make sense?”

First of all, I think books are going to be around for a while because they are very portable – especially novels. Textbooks, on the other hand, are history. If I was in the textbook industry right now, I would be working really, really hard to find a workable online business model.

Newspapers? They are still around because of local news. However, you can increasingly get this same news online just like national news – and the more that Google and other search engines speed up the process of indexing information, the easier it will be to find. Right now nobody under 30 reads newspapers (this sounds like hyperbole, but it’s not) and they’re not going to start – ever. So for hitting a certain, educated target audience, they are perfect. For hitting new consumers, they are not. I worry if there is a place in the future for newspaper.

Magazines? I think it depends on the target audience – at least for a while. Readers 40+ still like to have that paper magazine around. People like them on airplanes and at the beach. But when everyone has an iPad, I’m pretty sure nobody will need a printed magazine anymore. It’s tough to wait a month or a week for information that you could have seen almost instantaneously online – especially if it’s the same price or cheaper.

So what does this have to do with marketing? Mostly it means we buy a lot less advertising in magazines and newspapers than we used to here at Anchor. Newspapers are still a great vehicle for reaching affluent baby boomers. They work well in rural markets. Trade magazines are still an affordable option for specific target demographics. Brochures are still an inexpensive and convenient way of having information handy away from a computer, and direct mail will always be an interesting way to reach customers (increasingly so as fewer and fewer pieces of mail end up in mailboxes).

But we also use a lot of new media vehicles, like web sites and pay-per-click and Facebook and email blasts. New ones evolve every day. Are you ready for Google ads on your TV? They’re coming. Could you advertise on high profile TV shows by getting in on the new Hulu Plus service? Are you putting your message on mobile phones? They’re not so much phones anymore as mini-computers, and every person you see looking at their Blackberry or iPhone is a potential customer.

As always, the only constant is change. That means that as the old ways of communicating fade away, new ones come forth. Marketing isn’t going away. Just the opposite. You now have even more ways to sell your product or service. You just need a helping hand to sort them all out and put them to good use. That’s what we’re here for at Anchor. Give us a call.