PAY THE PIPER

But Not Too Much

There is this creepy story, a fable, about a Pied Piper. To what the morel of the story is; well sources are conflicted. Thus, I will derive my own meaning from it.

A Grudge Purchase

Such is it with a grudge purchase that you want to get it over and out of the way. Insurance companies sell you “peace of mind”. They know that the odds of anything happening to you are slim. But they also know that you know that when tragedy strikes it can derail your live and that of your family’s for decades.

Pay the Piper

The reality is that you have to pay the piper. But the good news is: You don’t have to pay too much these days. This is the age of AI and Big Data. When budgeting for your marketing, you can already during the R & D phase start experimenting with keywords and leverage tools like Google Trends. While keeping an eye on trends, you can tailor your message while in production to hit those keywords.

A Surgical Instrument

Advertising is no longer a blunt tool. It is a surgical instrument. If your media people are still swinging a hammer around in the dark, you can be sure that someone will get hurt. Chances are that it is your bank balance that will get a blow with two by four. Just saying.

Practical Tip

In many cases the SEO or SM person is also the person responsible for making all the graphics. There is nothing wrong with that. In many ways it is ideal. Make sure there is a synergy between all such departments.
As early as making a decision about a campaign, budged at least as much money for advertising during rollout as you will for making all the media. Said in another way: don’t blow all your cash on pretty things that no one will see.
Have a monthly budget for keeping the advertisements up and keep tweaking it until you hit a sweet spot. The tools for this are better than ever. USE IT!

September 7, 2019September 7, 2019

“Trends”

I’m so over the glitch effect.

It is even still a thing? Sutterstock seems to think so. Is it a nostalgia to, IDK, like 2005 when tech wasn’t as good as it is today? May this “trend”…which I guess if it is older that 3 years you can’t really call it that anymore, may it die and go away forever.

Thoughts?

September 5, 2019March 30, 2024

Death by a Single Pinprick

Unless you are a balloon, one single pinprick should not worry you. In ancient China, death by a thousand pinpricks was both a method of torture and a means of execution reserved for the most heinous of crimes. The author of this blog has personally been pricked over a thousand times and is still alive and well. Ah, the pricks has to happen in a short amount of time to be effective, you’d say. And you’d be right. Much has been said lately about the nudge theory based on the book and thesis by the same name. The study of which, gained the father of Nudge, the Nobel prize in economics in 2017.

Nudge-Improving-Decisions-Health-Happiness — Nudge-Improving Decisions Health Happiness

Does It Work and How?

In my experience; as with allot of things, it can be “willed” to work. Through grit and tenacity anything can be used to one’s advantage. The truth is: a 1% nudge is only going to get you 1% down the road. Half the time that 1% on its own will revert back in a short span. As in our Chinese torture example, right off the bat you need to make hundreds of little nudges simultaneously for it to be effective. Sounds like allot of work. Correct. Is it worth though, doing hundreds even thousands of little things? Why not just make one huge move?

The Secret of Nudge

In a certain high level of competition; be it athletics or industry, the huge move of one competitor is normal offset by the same or similar effort of other competitors. There is only that many big moves that one can make. Therefore, in order to gain a competitive advantage over the competition, economist and sport trainers alike, started looking at ways of leveraging many consistent small improvements.

Easier Said Than Done

Nudge and systems thinking should be synonymous. Simply because this large amount of small but constant interactions should be tracked, monitored and tweaked in real time to be effective. Being a video guy in the R of SA, I’ve been jaded allot. Clients get a website. They think it is the be-all and end-all. But almost nothing happens. They get SEO. Almost nothing happened. They hear video and SMM is all the rage, they get that, too slowly things start to happen. A single pinprick will destroy a balloon, but it will hardly harm a man.

Here is a nice info graphic: