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Guerrilla Marketing Goes High-Tech
There are so many medias competing for today's consumer. It used to be that the print media worried about television — how old school is that? The World Wide Web has opened the door to so many different marketing opportunities and messages, it can be a confusing world for both the advertiser and the target consumer.

So how do you navigate this new world? When should you take advantage of more complex marketing vehicles, and when should you rely on simple face-to-face public relations? We asked some marketing experts to give us their take on today's marketing methods.

Blogs & Podcasts
Just when you think you have it all figured out in terms of marketing your business, along come some new technologies that revolutionize your company's ability to promote itself to prospective and existing customers. And while most people have heard of these technologies by now — namely blogs and podcasts — few are taking full advantage of what these marketing mediums can offer their businesses.

According to Peter Koeppel, founder and president of Koeppel Direct, a leader in direct response television (DRTV), online, print and radio media buying, blogs and podcasts were viewed as nothing more than places for opinionated people to rant and rave or assert their viewpoint just a few years ago. But today, the tide has turned, and both blogs and podcasts are the most explosive marketing vehicles to emerge since the Internet itself. Consider the facts: BusinessWeek reports that over 40,000 new blogs are popping up every day. And in 2006, the number of podcast feeds exceeded the number of radio stations worldwide, says the CIA World Factbook.

What does all this mean for your business? Koeppel believes retailers have a wealth of marketing opportunities that require little to no out-of-pocket expense. He suggests using the following suggestions to make the most of your blogging and podcasting efforts.

Blogs
Blogs are short for "Web logs." They are easy to use and simple to set up, and they are a great format for promoting businesses. Think of a blog as a mini-Web site on which you post comments on a regular basis. Blogs are a powerful medium for delivering information, because when they're done correctly, the information on a blog comes across as informational and less biased. Consider the following key points:

• Blogs enable you to get consumer feedback in an unfiltered environment. Sure, that can create some challenges, but if you get negative feedback on your blog, at least now you can address the issue and be aware of it. So, in a sense, a blog is often like an instant focus group. Being receptive to customer feedback on your blog positions your company as being accessible and interested in customer concerns. That's a great selling point in today's environment.

• Because blogs are updated regularly, search engines like blogs and display them at the top of the search results. Construct your blog properly by using keywords the search engines will pick up within your blog entries. That way, when someone keys in a particular term about your business into a search engine, your blog will come up naturally in the results. This not only helps promote your business, but it also helps position your company as an industry leader.

• Blogs are almost like an online community. Therefore, it's a great way to talk about your company, its culture and any industry trends. Blogs provide an easy forum for delivering information to customers about new products or offers, and for building relationships with customers. Likewise, if there were some sort of crisis occurring in the company, it's a way to get the facts out there so you can deal with the situation quickly.

• To make your blog more relevant and unbiased, reach out to people who will contribute to your blog. In other words, you can have people from within your company post entries, as well as outside experts or customers. Be careful, though, as a blog makes it easy for a disgruntled employee to post information that should not be public knowledge, such as proprietary information or trade secrets. Therefore, if you allow employees to post entries, establish some controls over the content.

• Whatever you do, don't create fake blog entries, where you pose as a customer or outsider and say wonderful things about the company. That approach usually backfires because people see through that. Be honest in all your entries.

• You can find a number of inexpensive blogging services online that can help you set up and maintain your blog.

Podcasts
A podcast is essentially your own radio show on the Web. It's an extension of a blog, whereby you make your entry more personal because you're actually speaking the words, not just typing them. Before you dismiss podcasts as something just for kids, take note: According to a comScore study, people between the ages of 35-54 make up about half of the podcast listeners, and they are more likely than average to download podcasts. As such, podcasts are a great choice for small businesses because they can help boost the company's credibility and sales without much financial investment. Consider the following key points:

• The first step to developing a podcast is to think of a unique concept or angle for your show. Since this is essentially a radio show dedicated to your business, you'll want to provide information that relates to your industry or company that your prospects and listeners would find informative and entertaining. So if you're a financial planner, for example, you could do a podcast about wealth or investment strategies. If you own a catering business, you could do segments about easy entertaining secrets. Address the challenges your customers or prospects have and they'll tune into your podcast.

• Podcasts also allow you to appeal to niche audiences, because you can cover certain topics in more depth. You can make your podcast any length (30 minutes to an hour is common), and you can address specific or even obscure topics that you know your customers will find interesting.

• To actually create the podcast, all you need are recording/mixing software and a microphone. Both of these items are installed on your computer, so there's no need to go to a recording studio. With the software, you can edit your podcast and include introductory music. You can even put commercials into your podcast to sell your own products, or sell air space to others and include their commercials.

• The beauty of podcasts is that people can listen to your show over and over, whenever they want. All listeners need to tune in is an mp3 player. And according to recent surveys, over 65 million people worldwide have mp3 players.

• By creating podcasts that are informative, you can quickly become a leader in your industry. Prospective and existing customers who listen to your podcast will likely think of you when they are in need of what you offer or your area of expertise.

• Make it easy for people to find your podcast. You can do that by submitting your podcast to different feed directories, such as FeedBurner or PodcastValley.

Blog and Podcast Your Way to Profits
When it comes to blogs and podcasts, the key to success is to be informational. You need to give people lots of relevant information in order to keep them reading or listening. Yes, maintaining a blog or doing a regular podcast takes time and discipline. But when you consider the amount of credibility and exposure to new customers these technologies give you, no company can afford not to use these tools as a vital part of their online marketing mix.

Manufacturers' Messages
Corporate America has jumped onto the podcast and blog bandwagons in droves the past year. From major American firms calling on amateur commercials to be posted and voted for online to small start-ups reaching out with no budget to create their own consumerism, the Web has proven to be a priceless resource for this new age marketing.

Hemp foods are one of the hottest trends in the organic marketplace in North America. Recent sales data collected by the market research firm SPINS indicate that sales of hemp foods grew by over 39 percent from August 2006 to August 2007. And it's this type of formerly "fringe" product that's found the Internet an incredibly viable form of communication among consumers. Many of these companies are taking footage previously recorded about their products or business and posting them on youtube.com. For example, Manitoba Harvest posted a six-minute CBC TV profile on the company called 'Made in Canada' on the site (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A1Y574YL_4) and French Meadow Bakery posted a clip from a trade show explaining their product (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJDUUW0g5rk).

"It's all about health and wellness," Managing Director Chris Steinmetz explained of the French Meadow Bakery video. "It's about food made with hemp targeting an 18-24-year-old audience. Once you get that age group, they become customers for life. So, we felt the Internet was a great vehicle to reach these consumers. Plus, the fact that it costs virtually nothing, we felt it was the right way to go with the market."

Steinmetz said they've had a great response and also plan to experiment further with the medium.

"YouTube can be very effective. The response has been positive. You might get a casual viewer but we also push it as a communications means at trade shows and e-mail blasts," he said. "When you look at the cost to implement and execute, it's well worth taking the risk. We look at it as guerrilla marketing; no one has written a book on it but you see the other Fortune 500 companies experimenting with it as well. It's intriguing and definitely interesting."


Public Relations Messages
We asked two well-known industry public relations specialists to provide tips for retailers seeking to liven up their customer and community relations. Julia Stambules, founder and principal of New York-based JS Public Relations, gave us the following quick tips:

1. Invite local media to your store for a "private preview" of new items that relate to a specific theme — i.e., holiday entertaining, spring BBQ season, back to school, etc. (Include light refreshments, press materials and sample gifts for attendees, and perhaps a chance to win a shopping spree prize.)
2. Invite key representatives/executives from top vendors to the store for a "meet the press" breakfast or lunch event — representatives can discuss history of the product/brand, offer expert demonstration, product sampling (if it's a food item), review key benefits/points of differences, etc., and provide press information for further review. (A series of these events could be scheduled quarterly with a handful of top vendors.)
3. Schedule mailings to key editors on a consistent basis to establish rapport and become known as a reputable "source" for product information (at least four mailings a year, though six or more are ideal). Include delivery of a key product sample whenever budget allows to VIP press.
4. Reach out to "influentials" who the media consider to be "authorities" so that your store/product assortment is on their radar, as well. They are often tapped by the press for tips/quotes/story ideas, etc.
5. Leverage upcoming anniversaries, special holidays and designations (i.e., national ice cream month/day), to provide newsworthy 'hooks' to store events, press mailings, etc.

Rachel Litner is president of Rachel Litner Associates (RLA), a public relations firm that specializes in the culinary industry. She explains that specialty food retailers can be a great resource for the press — as long as the PR approach combines proactive planning with a focus on cultivating media relationships.

Here are some basic pointers from Litner to help retailers position themselves as expert media sources and, most important, keep the relationship going long after they score ink:

• Always remember that your overall goal is to make the editor's job as easy as possible. Media pitches should be short, simple and answer that all-important question, "Why should I care?"

• Stay on top of specialty food trends to keep your PR pitches fresh and relevant. Select a few key Web sites or blogs to check regularly — for instance, www.epicurious.com; or www.chowhound.com.

• Before pitching an editor, make sure you have all your ducks in a row. If it's a product, be prepared to answer questions about availability, pricing and national distribution. Have artwork and actual products ready to ship for editors who are on tight deadlines. There is nothing worse than creating excitement for a product or service, and then not being able to deliver "the goods." Credibility and trust are key components in any press relationship.

• Know your audience. For instance, don't pitch a holiday gift idea to Good Housekeeping in October when the editorial deadline for December is July. Also make sure you're pitching the right contacts by working with a media research company like Cision, in addition to conducting your own grass-roots research by searching online for story topics and writers who cover these topics. Editorial calendars should be obtained as well, so you can pair story ideas that relate to your company with upcoming issues slated in the media.

• Selecting the right media contacts today encompasses a broader approach than it did in the past because of the increasingly fragmented press community. For instance, you may reach out to five different people from the same publication because that publication is affiliated with a TV show, Web site, blog and online newsletter.

• We live in a visual, sensory world — especially when it comes to food. Editors often need to see and experience a new product or service to fully understand the benefits. When possible, use online videos or virtual tours of your retail store to convey the story — in addition to a press release. A straight news release doesn't always paint the complete picture.

Resources:
WebSitesForRetailers.com provides a five-step approach for developing an online store and explains options for opening a shop on eBay, Yahoo! and Amazon.com. Retailers will also find tips for online marketing and links to retail support sites. WebSitesForRetailers.com is owned by Sweet Survival, a New Jersey-based business and marketing consulting firm. Shirley George Frazier, company president, is author of Marketing Solutions for the Home-Based Business, How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business, and The Gift Basket Design Book. She consults with small and large retailers, speaks at trade show conferences, and operates numerous small business Web sites and blogs. For more information, contact Frazier at 973-279-2799, or by e-mail at survival@sweetsurvival.com.

Peter Koeppel is founder and president of Koeppel Direct, a leader in direct response television (DRTV), online, print and radio media buying. A Wharton MBA with over 25 years of marketing and advertising experience, Koeppel has helped Fortune 1000 businesses, small businesses, and entrepreneurs develop direct marketing campaigns to increase profits. For more information on his company, please visit www.koeppeldirect.com or call 972-732-6110.


Julia Stambules is founder and principal of JS Public Relations, a full-service PR/marketing communications agency located near New York City. A seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in consumer marketing PR with a focus on housewares, tabletop and food, Stambules established and led the first-ever corporate communications department for Waterford Wedgwood USA prior to starting her own agency. She is a long-standing and active member of The James Beard Foundation, the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the Public Relations Society of America. For more information, call 914-961-0282, or e-mail her at jspublicrelations@mac.com.


Rachel Litner is president of Rachel Litner Associates (RLA), a public relations firm that specializes in the culinary industry. RLA's clients include a diversified mix of national companies, including Cuisinart, Waring, Polder, and the Food Emporium. Litner is on the board of the Consumer Trends Forum International (CTFI) and the Public Relations Society of America-New Jersey (PRSA-NJ), and is a member of the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners (NJAWBO) and the Association for Women in Communications (AWC). For more information, visit www.rlitner.com, or contact her at 973-994-5167 or rachel@rlitner.com.

Fusion Brands created a viral marketing campaign called "the wrong use" for thefoodloop. This film, "Supper," ended up on YouTube. Put a link on your own site and have some fun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP0YJc7BOaQ


Check out interesting blogs at http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/categories/10.