15 Statistics on Consumer Ratings & Reviews

I don’t trust you.

Not if you’re a corporation that is. And I’m not alone as over the past 30+ years we’ve grown to trust corporations less and less and each other more and more. Word-of-mouth as a marketing concept dates back to when consumers first climbed out of the primordial ooze but what is new is that it’s on turbo-charge and been made into a powerful internet marketing tool thanks to social networking and the explosion of reviewing and rating tools.

Don’t trust me on this?

Don’t blame you. So here are 15 statistics that underline the internet marketing power that comes from activating your most valuable resource: your fans.

1. Traffic on review sites grew 158% last year (Compete.com)
2. 70% now consult reviews or ratings before purchasing (BusinessWeek)
3. Even before making an offline purchase in shops, 51% of consumers use the Internet (Verdict Research, May 2009)
4. 92% have more confidence in info found online than they do in anything from a (more…)

How To Cost Your Next Video Production

Here’s an easy way to budget for your next video production.

When it comes to Film, TV or Internet marketing,  video production costs are always affected by the following four areas.

1.    Length of the video

2.    Production values desired

3.    How many hours are planned to complete the project

4.    Complexity of the elements (# of talent, days on location, special effects, animation, etc.)

Whether it is a simple internet marketing video or a large, complex production, anyone making a video has to consider these four elements when determining video production costs and how they will impact on what the final outcome.

Bottom-line: You have to decide on what you want the outcome to be.  

Here are examples of three types of productions (lower, medium and higher priced videos) that will these four elements impact your video production costs.  (more…)

Online Branding: The Power of the Google Doodle

I’ve always loved the online branding power Google built through its Google Doodles. You know the…

Some people say that Google built its brand without traditional advertising.

Poppycock!

Putting aside its current use of traditional advertising to market itself…(ahem)

…Google also was smart as hell to create awareness of which search engine you were using by occassionally tweaking the presentation of its name. Along with other little proofpoints of differentiation like the speed and quantity of its results…

…this creative way of building good ol’ fashioned brand awareness and corporate identity is one of the secrets of its success. Something Yahoo, AOL, Netscape and others missed. And something that continues to be missed by even big online brands today like Facebook.

(It’s also a great example to point people to who believe “no, our logo and corporate identity is carved in stone” point. It shows when and why you can play with corporate identity can be played with.)

Now comes some facts (more…)

17 Statistics on QR Code Marketing

Should you be adding QR codes to your marketing toolkit or is it all just hype? I wanted to know but most statistics I see are – ahem – slightly promotional (QR scans increased 2,340%!). Being a brand mechanic with a fondness for tools that work, I’ve been on the hunt for some real data and so I collected 17 stats on QR codes to share with you.

What is a QR Code?

Quick primer: QR stands for ‘quick response’ and it’s basically a new type of consumer-friendly bar code that offers faster decoding and higher storage of data. Think of it as a secret decoder ring you give your customers.

Usage of QR Codes:

• 58% of people say they aren’t familiar with QR codes. (Lab42 survey of 500 respondents, Aug., 2011)
• 64% don’t know what they’re for. (Simpson Carpenter survey of 794 online respondents, 2011)
• 28% of smartphone owners have used a mobile bar code scanning application like a QR code. (Mobile Commerce Daily, Jan., 2011)
• Overall, 11% have ever used QR codes (Simpson Carpenter survey of 794 online respondents, Sept. 2011)
• 6.2% of total mobile audience scanned a QR code in June (Comscore)
• 47% of people who did scan found them very useful, 20% said they don’t offer any real advantage and don’t plan on using them in the future. (Simpson Carpenter survey of 794 online respondents, Sept. 2011)
• The data on which gender uses them is mixed but usage clearly skews younger and high-income.

Barriers to QR Code Usage:

(more…)

Adding Video To Your Website: What Have You Been Waiting For?

Videos on your website are worth their weight in gold. And with the price of gold today, more and more marketers are looking to ways to maximize their brand’s emotional benefits while in front of the consumer.

Too often marketers rely on text to tell their corporate story.

Marketers also add photos to help with the messaging, but there is no better way to build a persuasive story than to marry emotion, with motion, sound with (more…)

A New Marketing Co-Working Space

I’ve learned that it’s tough to convince someone whose job depends on not being convinced.

That’s why Brand Mechanics in partnership with Larter Advertising is creating a whole new marketing services model this month with the launch of a co-working space for York Region marketers.

Housed in the ‘Larter Building’ in historic Aurora, the introduction of this co-working space will create a brand new marketing model for a new era and we’re looking for partners to join us.

While the advertising agency model built in the last century is still financially and culturally dependent on recommending ‘big’ traditional media, this new model will offer clients a team of top specialists that work independently but share the same core values and beliefs in building businesses and brands.

This way, instead of having to recommend certain tactics to clients in order to keep the advertising holding company happy, clients get only what they need to solve their marketing problem.

Marketers who join this unique co-working space get the creative synergy of working alongside other top marketers and the business synergy that comes from networking and sharing leads and ideas.

CoWorking Office Spaces

Modeled after successful co-working idea incubators such as the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo and the MaRS centre in Toronto, co-working spaces such as this have the following benefits:

• Enjoyment of the camaraderie and social benefits of working
• Avoiding the distractions of working from home (60% report they’re more (more…)

Bad Ad of the Month: Toyota

I don’t usually like to bad mouth other people’s work (lord knows the road to branding greatness is littered with ad wrecks) but when an ad is this “huh?” I have to award it my Bad Ad of the Month.

I mean what is (more…)

Online Branding Case Study: The Toronto Ski Club

We were absolutely thrilled to see some of our recent branding work was profiled as Logo of the Week by Australian-based Logo Chief. Since the snow has now melted and there’s a couple of facts to set straight we should provide our own profile of this successful case study.

The Marketing Challenge

The Toronto Ski Club is one of the oldest ski clubs in Ontario. And, along with the Collingwood Ski Club, owns about half of the ski hill at the popular Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood, Ontario. It’s private clubhouse sits at the base of Blue and was built in the 50’s after the founding members had strapped on their skies and discovered the superior skiing north of Toronto.

But the clubhouse needed a little work. About $3 million worth. And, in order to fund that, the club needed to put on a push for new members.

Example of Publicity for New Clubhouse courtesy of Escarpment Magazine

The Branding Strategy

The club had a lot of assets.

• A great membership base famous for its warmth.
• A rich and colourful history in pioneering skiing in Canada.
• Access to the best ski resort in Ontario and, through it, potential exposure to tens of thousands of skiers and potential members.

But the club, despite its proud history, had been under-marketed and the research we conducted found that 40% (more…)