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Dream Theory 

The other day I was having a Clarity call with an entrepreneur about generating initial traction for his startup idea. The entrepreneur wanted me to share some of the strategies that we had implemented (with success) at WooThemes over the years. But he had a proviso: “I know quite a bit about many inbound and outbound marketing strategies and activities, but most of them only work when you already have visitors on ...

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Have a great week ahead…

Growing Pains - Lessons From People Who Grew Linkedin, KISSMetrics & Livingsocial

As a startup founder it's always a struggle to decide if a certain conference is worth your time. The growth hacker conference caught my attention with their speaker line up which was super impressive and included the likes of Chamath Palihapitiya (formerly of Facebook), Elliot Shmukler of Linkedin  and Aaron Batalion, CTO of Livingsocial. To top it all, the event was organized by our fellow cohort Gagan of Udemy and hence I decided to give it a shot. 

The speakers shared some key actionable insights that an entrepreneur can apply to his daily business. Without much further ado, here are some of the lessons that I took away from this conference

1. Know your customers

Sean Ellis, CEO of Qaularoo and formerly an Interim Marketing head of Dropbox, Xobni, Eventbrite, had an excellent presentation on how important it is for businesses to understand their customers. Often startups spend a lot of time trying to interpret customer actions via analytics and other technical solutions forgetting that they can accomplish this by asking the customer a direct question. Targeted one question surveys can yield more information and understanding of a customer than any other tool. This a reminder to entrepreneurs like us that often simple solutions are the most elegant and insightful. 

2. Beware of vanity metrics, choose your benchmarks & build your own tools

A panel consisting of Hiten Shah, Founder of KISSMetrics, Nabeel Hyatt, Founder of Conduit labs, and Joe Zadeh, product lead at Airbnb shared some great insights. Hiten was very clear in  advising that companies not get caught up in metrics without actually having an understanding of those metrics and their impact to growth. It's important that companies spend time defining the metrics that matter and track them. For companies that are constantly growing it's important to benchmark growth against their own and not just chase the competition. One last piece of advice from this great panel was, no analytics tool or solution will ever offer everything a business needs to track. It's important for businesses to build their own tools and reports that measure growth.

3. A/B testing is not the miracle drug for growth

Mike Greenfield of Circle of moms had some important aspects on A/B testing. For starters he cleared some myths about A/B testing and provided clarity. The key points are:

A/B testing matters when traffic on your site / product is not a statistical blimp but an actual graph

A/B testing is an investment for high growth companies to test features instead of actual product releases

You cannot A/B test your product to growth without actual product vision

4. Know thy API

The most spirited and energetic talk of the day was by Aaron Batalion, CTO of Livingsocial. Aaron rocked the room with some superb technical advice. It was interesting to know that before Livingsocial was a reality or a business, Aaron and his team made their livelihood building social apps for the Facebook platform. Aaron and his team built more than 60 apps before they launched the idea of Livingsocial. It was wonderful to listen to Aaron's story on how understanding a platform's power and leveraging API led to one of the most viral or a virus of an app (Animoto), which incidentally was also the most popular app before Zynga games. Aaron talked about how they were able to build some key aspects of virality for growth just by paying attention to API of the social platform. 

5. Double down on your strengths

Elliot Shmukler of Linkedin growth really shared the math behind growth strategies. He shared a story of how they chased a big number by going after a low conversion channel and raising the number. It took them about an year to get there, while they realized they achieved a growth number similar to their original goal with the high conversion channel within a short period of time. The lesson for me was double down on the strengths of your product, you will be able to grow faster. This growth will improve your weak channels too. Leveraging engaged users to evangelize your product is also a good idea.

"Startups to businesses: We are not an extension of your creative agency" Problem

Image Source: Hongkiat.com

I recently read a great post of how startups face a problem dealing with brands/businesses using their time in ad creative process. Startups complain that they are not an extension of their creative agency and cannot afford to spend the time to create/realize great communication formats.There lays the problem, businesses (read advertisers) know the messages they want to broadcast on a platform. However advertisers often don't fully understand the native interaction in these digital platforms, while startups are busy building their products and adding more interaction features. 

Who then carries this burden of bridging this creative gap and bringing the knowledge of the platform? Why is this important? Let me elaborate...

Each digital content, messaging, or sharing platform has it's own distinct behavior and community dynamics. Let me start with some examples Facebook is a place for social updates between friends and family. There is a sense of community and social norms of the world that is replicated here. Businesses, as they've come to realize in recent times cannot propagate a commercial marketing message in such an environment. Facebook has lately figured out that too and asked advertisers not to pay attention to vanity metrics such as number of like's , or just comments. Twitter on the other hand is more focused and has become an interest based curation platform (some even call it a media platform). Twitter seems to be taking on the lead on advertising via their promoted messages - which is very much the native interaction format of Twitter. Platforms like Tumblr however has slowly opened up it's platform for advertising, however it has gated the advertising rush by placing a high price on its ad units, this is for the same reason of preserving the native experience of the platform. 

The nuances, subtleties and the depth of interaction is different for each of these platforms. A business has to figure out the key message that it wants to propagate. The form and interaction factor of that message can be very different based on the context of platform. The "Nativity factor" of an interaction seems to be the prime aspect of successful messaging. However there still lays the problem of understanding the digital context, end target and finally marry this to the marketing message. Businesses usually outsource this to a creative agency or try and engage with the platform players and it is during this process there is friction. The other route these businesses take is to do the in-house creative or try to wing it. In house creative and winging it are both costly methods. 

This is the problem premise on which we base our business on. AdNuance bridges this gap of the context of the platform, nativity factor and message. How do we do this? First we are in tune with the digital platforms, second our creative writers understand the context of the various platforms and nature of interactions, third we are acutely aware of the kind of demographics that is available to target, local aspects of that target market, urban language/lingo and the trends. A correlation of these factors with the key messaging in mind and in context of the medium of delivery is a key to the context of successful advertising - which is what we do.

While a lot of information and research can be accomplished via a simple google search, curating and creating a contextual copy brief that can provide a writer key insights is not easily done. A lot of this gap can be bridged by creating a engine that mines with this motif and presents information in the prism of advertising. Imagine this kind of specially mined information when provided to a human being who specializes in creating a business message crafted just for you. That is what we offer you and our customers at AdNuance. An unprecedented and never before catered to service of intelligent, contextual, beautiful and magical world of advertising for all.

It's important that all businesses have the same access to the services, which big brands have, to compete fairly. This is a small thing we are doing to level the playing field. On the same note we should not forget that with changing form factor of communication, devices and mass media distribution businesses cannot have "1 size fits all" messaging approach. Finding a way to communicate natively to customers in the digital context they are, seems to be the only key to success.

Offensive Foul: Do Some Ads Go Too Far?

Image courtesy of Ed Yourdon, http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/

Let’s face it: advertising ain’t easy.  I take that back; good advertising isn’t easy.  You’re asked to come up with something that resonates with a certain demographic, or, for the unfortunate few, something that carries supposedly universal appeal- which doesn’t exist.  An easy (and some say cheap) method ad people use to get attention is shock.  Done well, the outrageous can garner the kind of attention, doesn’t matter whether good or bad, that makes people talk, feign disgust, or pretend to like for the sake of trying to seem desensitized and awesome.  So which ads have done it right, wrong, or some train wreck of an in-between?  Let’s take a ganders at a precious few.

Offensive, Or Just Annoying?

Some of the most complained about commercials have actually been tagged as whatever the highest rating is on the annoyance factor, which makes sense.  Taking offense to something is one thing, but being annoyed enough to actually call in (because people who submit complaints still use their phones to do it) takes some really deep rousing. 

This KCF commercial was one of the most complained about commercials ever in the UK.  Offensive?  Not so much.  Annoying?  Very.  And there’s a big difference.  So we’ll move on. 

Misguided Rage

Some of you may remember the Mad Men season five preview posters that were plastered all over the side of buildings a while back.  These ads were magnificently simple, and featured a suited character falling in free space not unlike the opening credits to the actual show.  This image led some misguided idiots to pointing out the similarities between it and 9/11.  Never mind the fact that the falling man image is an homage to the movie Vertigo, which came out over 40 years before 9/11 occurred. 

I can’t help but feel for the families of those affected by the events that day, but to draw comparisons between these two very different things is really reaching.  I was once involved in a pretty horrific car accident.  But I don’t get offended every time I see a Fast & the Furious car chase scene between Johnny Tran (Rick Yune is a good actor) & that bald dude.    

Sometimes a flower is just a flower (all you Georgia O’Keefe fans know what I’m talking about). 

Let’s Face it. We’re All Too Easily Offended

I’m sure many of you have seen the Comedy Central roasts, where nothing is off topic.  Age, race, gender- these are just the opening quips of most of those extremely unattractive comedians.  Once a year a few garden gnomes get together and collectively defecate on each other and one lucky roastee about all the supposedly off-limits topics of the day.  And this is commonly accepted. 

Is it because these people aren’t trying to sell us something?  Or do we feel exempt because we’re the ones being talked to?  

The most offensive ad is the one that doesn’t work, because then it becomes just a tasteless joke.  It is no fun to sit and watch something that is flailing around desperately.  Remember the Groupon Super Bowl commercial?  The most offensive part of that ad was the fact that it was poorly executed.  An attempt at humor quickly turned into a cringe fest.  Everyone seemed to survive that ad, except Groupon, which gambled and lost.  Then again, that ad was one of the most talked about commercials that Super Bowl…   

Image Transcends The Realms Of The Physical Image. It’s born in the crevices of imagination, raised by the stares, the compliments, the drive-bys; and if cultivated just right, it grows up to have other-worldly appeal. It’s why people wear their shades indoors (and arguably, wear shades at all). It’s why I wouldn’t dare touch my hair, that naturally falls in soft waves, with permanent chemicals for fear it might lose its look. Image is the answer and the validation to our striving- products become the props that help get us there or make people see where we are.

Image ignites the flames of style and the glowing embers of charisma. It’s on the outside, yet its staying power comes from the inside. It exudes magnetism, it’s about the intangibles, blurring the lines of physical and inner qualities. I’d argue that what brands and good advertising really sell is an image. You’re buying an outlook on life, a system of beliefs, a personality, a trait. Sell the right image and consumers will flock to your product like screaming teenage girls to Justin Bieber.

Outshine With The Gleam Of Image Image isn’t only the perceived breadth of our surroundings, it’s within a brand and ourselves.  Rooted in our minds, it’s tied to self-worth and brand value. Image is the gleam that defines a product or service and makes it stand out. Brand image is vital to success. Take celebrity endorsements. The image of the celeb shines a glaring light on the image of the product.

Personal image puts on its cleats and comes into play also. The image we like is a potent mix of our fantasies, desires, and realities; and we often choose to buy based on that. I can tell you that you can snowboard just as well with a cheaper, Salomon board as all the cats with the fancy, super-expensive Burton boards; be among the fastest in track whether Nike or K-Swiss, and that skill in tennis isn’t determined by the racket. It’s really not as much about the equipment as it is about the person using it, yet it’s image that takes hold of your heart. Pro rackets help you feel like one; fancy equipment says you’re serious and possibly very good.

These Brands Aced Their Test Drive With An Image 

Find Everything In Nothing

Montana: There’s Nothing Here campaign: The classic image of Montana being a state...of nothing. Instead of sulking, The Montana Office of Tourism and its agency partners milked it for all it’s worth. They targeted the traveler who appreciates the nothingness of Montana and nature. To increase awareness and travel, they used Montana’s beautiful landscape and a headline of “There’s Nothing Here.” The result? Consumers went from thinking “There’s nothing here” (sigh) to “There’s nothing here!” (happy exclamation). Montana’s awareness as a destination for travel increased 36%,  intent to travel there almost doubled. To top it all off, Montana had the nation’s highest hotel occupancy rate that year. Now that’s something.

Take A Stand Against Uncertainty

Allstate’s “Our Stand” Campaign: In a gloomy world where all insurance was seen as the same and a commodity, price was the only thing to differentiate competitors. Enter Allstate swooping down, armed with a different approach- to instead change the image and perception of insurance. Image became their ammunition as Allstate took a stand that having protection against life’s uncertainties is more important than price. Their weapon of honest conversations, everyday vulnerabilities, and active protection worked. Understanding the value of being in good hands, consumers reconsidered. Allstate got new business and success. Looks like their image is in good hands too.

The Future Never Tasted So Good.

Voted #1 Vodka Of 2033 Campaign: This Swedish vodka burst onto the scene like it was all one big futuristic party, unique image in hand. With the smirk of a provocative spokesbot, it showed that it’s here to contend. Against Absolut, against everyone. It successfully fought in a crowded category, pushing away all its competition. Its muscle power was brand image. SVEDKA  created a unique vision to own the future, complete with futuristic bot and tagline “Voted #1 vodka Of 2033.” Its success proved it to be the life of the party. As of 2011, it was the #3 imported vodka into the US with fast growth, shattering all internal goals and established category records. Now that’s tasty.

Ads Don't Lie, That's the Truth

  I’m sure by now most of us have grown out of the Mickey Mouse underwear and realized that the world is a bastard, full of false promises, half-truths, and flat out lies slung like bullshit right at our once innocent faces.  More often than not, it’s the world of advertising that basks in this negative spotlight, where prevailing attitudes recognize this industry as a bunch of people getting paid to make you want to take out your money and heave it in big piles at the things you probably don’t need. 

But advertising isn’t about lying, it’s just trying to get you to see the good in things. 

Look, I’m semi confident that most of us are aware that we’re being duped on a daily basis by McDonald’s ads that appear healthy (who buys only a four-piece of McNuggets & Ice Tea?), fragrances that are superior because they smell like Kim Kardashian (deleted NSFW comment), and iPads that make us look like tools when we try to take pictures with them.  Are we forced to buy these things?  No.  Do some people enjoy using these things?  Sure.  If you combined the above three things I just mentioned, would it make for a helluva night in?  Yep. 

But do we really believe that when we buy these things we will receive the ecstasy and contentment in life that’s portrayed in each of the respective ads?  No, because these things are products; they’re not feelings or emotions, they’re things.  Ads may make us feel or emote certain things, but that’s why they’re good at what they do, selling.  That thing you’re feeling when you watch an ad is some other extrasensory sensation triggered by any number of past recollections or current emotional status, but it’s not for the product you’re being sold.  A song played in the ad may sound good, but that song doesn’t come with whatever it’s being used to sell, it just sounds nice. 

Why do ads seem like they’re deceiving us?  Money.  More importantly, how do they get away with it? 

There are any number of ways ads skirt around the truth to make their product appear better than it really is, but unless you’re selling me some medical device that will eventually save my life, or water after a week in the desert, you’re just selling want.  Need is an easy one, want is a little more convoluted.  And you can sell want. 

Want also contains many facets, or levels. 

Do you really have to sell cigarettes to smokers?  Cigarette consumers knowingly ingest properties that will shorten and complicate their lives; I think their decision has already been made.  Tobacco companies really have no need to get creative, though they still play the game for fun.

But what about a product that promises to be better than the rest?  I’ve noticed that brands in direct competition with one another don’t lie so much as deviate from the truth.  It’s easy to talk about how awesome Gatorade is compared to Powerade, and truth be told, I always go Gatorade.  But it Powerade suddenly went on sale at $1.99 for an eight pack, I wouldn’t think twice about snatching that terrible urine-flavored juice. 

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that it’s the consumer’s choice as to what ads and brands they want to identify with.  Advertisers, while they do tend to avoid the negative (for obvious reasons), ultimately just want to make a connection.  So the next time you’re stuck watching commercials or being bombarded by flying billboards, ask yourself one question: could I be friends with this product? 

80% of You Will Read This Headline

Image Courtesy: AdAge.com

Researchers concluded that about 80% of people read the headlines (of various sources i.e. online, print, newspapers, etc.) and only 20% read the rest. As an advertiser, it’s not an easy task to make someone click on your advertisement. There are so many factors that go into your ad becoming successful, having a great ROI, and a high click-through rate; it takes creativity, correct placement of the ad, and luck. Each passing impression by a user is a potential customer. Making people interested in your service or product is the first step; making them care is the next.

As a human being, why should you care about a certain product? Do you care about the latest car by Lexus? Would you click on a banner for the newest sunglasses by Chanel? What makes you, as a consumer and potential customer, click on a banner to see what company X has to offer? Is it the colorful banner? Or is it the fact that the ad is actually relevant to you?

Well, advertisers have done their research and here’s a fact: you are currently being micro-targeted by hundreds of companies based on who you are, where you’ve been, and what you’ve bought and almost bought. Ever seen an advertisement from a company whose website you just visited? It’s not a coincidence. It’s called retargeting and these advertisers are micro-targeting individuals rather than groups of people.

Advertisers have begun to utilize the data in front of them rather than blindly pushing out their ads to whoever passes their banner. Although television ads reach millions, the birth of TiVo and the ability to fast forward has created a buffer between viewers and commercials. So, companies moved to the Internet and got smart. Instead of posting an advertisement on a site and hoping somebody would click it, they’ve planned with efficiency. They figured out that instead of sending out a message to a million people; why not advertise specifically to those who are most likely to click on it.

Your age, your gender, your location, your past website visits, your searches on Google and Bing, your Likes on Facebook and, more importantly, your whole interaction within Facebook, has provided data to companies in an attempt to show the most relevant ads to you, the user and consumer.  Most websites drop cookies in your browser history and track your behavior. Privacy? Pssh, that doesn’t exist. I mean, you could easily block these occurrences by downloading an ad-blocker or clearing out your history and cookies more often, but think about the last time you did so.

Do you feel violated?

Well, you shouldn’t and it’s quite simple why. You’re still in control of what you click on. You still have a choice. Television learned this lesson the hard way - social networks have shifted the power back to the common man. You can decide whether you want to see the latest shoes by Nike or not. You make the ultimate decision to click, view, and purchase an item or service.

As a matter of fact, you should feel kind of glad only relevant advertisements are shown to you on certain sites. I’ve clicked on my fair share of ads about the latest musical concerts for the weekend. The frequency of retargeted ads will continue to rise as companies move to economical, targeted advertising. Perhaps you will find relevant the latest AdNuance offers to make your company awesome on the interwebz.

(Re)Imagine!!

Image Courtesy: Hyundai Ad Campaign

Like we’ve said before, at AdNuance, we like trying new things. But we had so much fun coming up with new tag-lines for a few companies last week, we thought we’d give it another shot. So here are 4 new companies we wanted to play around with. Take a look, think about what you liked and what you’d do differently.

  Foursquare:

Keep exploring

Let’s try something new

Find the best of everywhere

Where you are, expanded

Take advantage of your location

  For all you daring people, trying something new just got a lot simpler. Get recommendations from friends, share what you love, and turn over every stone there is. Foursquare keeps you going, so you can keep exploring.

  What we saw in foursquare was its potential to let users truly discover what was around them, and give them the opportunity to explore for themselves. We wanted to capture that sense of adventure that foursquare offers its users, and make the taglines less about the product was, and more about the user. Foursquare offers something very simple –the allure of new.

  Turntable:

Music expanded

Really experience music

Learn what music really is

You’ve always wanted to be a DJ, admit it.

More than just pressing play

  Music is more than songs. It’s sharing, it’s discovering, it’s listening. Music is an experience, and it’s meant to be enjoyed. Turntable lets you do all of that, quick and simple. Did we mention you also get to be a DJ?

  If you haven’t tried Turntable yet, I’m sorry to hear that. You really get to choose your own level of involvement with this product. Whether you’re just looking for some background music (à la the extremely popular “Coding Soundtrack”) or you want to pretend like you’re playing your first DJ set, Turntable offers something unique to all its users. Music categorizes itself into rooms, but it’s the individual DJs, quite possibly you, that decide what to play. You really should just check it out. Listen in, or take control of the show. Do whatever you feel like, and experience music like you always wished you could.

  Zynga:

All fun & games

Keeping fun simple

Keep it casual

Play to have fun

Games you want, friends you have

  We want you to have fun, plain and simple. If you’re a casual gamer, great, and if you’re not, we’ll make you one. Zynga lets you play with all your friends, through Facebook or your mobile device. Pick the where and when, and it’s all fun from there.

  We’ve all had “a friend” who got totally addicted to FarmVille. Which isn’t surprising, because over 11 million Facebook users tended their own virtual farms. That’s Zynga’s specialty: coming up with social games that are easy to learn, easy to play, and next to impossible to put down. These players aren’t the stereotypical gamers who drink Red Bull by the gallons, and sleep only 3 hours a day. Zynga gamers span all demographics: men, women, young, old. Addicted, maybe, but serious, never. We wanted to capture this lighthearted approach by always referring to fun, the whole point of Zynga.

  Etsy:

To you, from handmade

Handmade from around the world

Always unique, always inspired

Find what you like, learn what you love

Share the world you’ve shaped

  Full of handmade crafted items, Etsy is a market for those special things you can’t just find in other stores: the unique products, the individual merchants. We show you the heart. Etsy isn’t about buying and selling; it’s about working together to shape art, and shape the world.

  Have you ever been to one of those fairs where there are booths of people selling their handmade crafts? Everything is always so unique you get too distracted looking at everything to really consider making a purchase. Now imagine those booths multiplied by the internet and you have Etsy. Nobody ever looks for anything in a hurry in Etsy; users always enjoy their nice, leisurely browsing as they scroll through hundreds of products made purposefully by another human. It’s pretty unusual to almost be put into an emotional calm while perusing a website, and since we feel that Etsy has this, we wanted to capture it as best we could. 

(Re)Imagine!

Image Courtesy: Leashaver.net

A company’s image is the face it shows the world, and plays an important role in attracting new business. Call it a tagline, motto, or slogan –we all know what those are, but sometimes we overlook how well a good one can communicate our brand. Now I’m not saying a company’s tagline is the most important thing to a company. But I am a copywriter, so I am going to say it’s at least in the top 5.

  At AdNuance, we like to try new things. When someone says “don’t try this at home”, we take that as a personal challenge. That’s why we took a stab at re-imagining the taglines of several internet based companies, and see if we couldn’t bring across some new points. The goal was to capture the essence of the business, and improve everything else. We started with a couple new taglines, then continue to a revamped “about me” section.

  Twitter:

#Connect #Share #Tweet.

Be in the loop.

Listen, wherever.

Connecting you to what’s important

Up to date with the world around you

  Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows its users unparalleled levels of interaction with the people and groups they care about. Did we mention its fast? All “tweets” are 140 characters or less, so messages come quickly. Tweets come from all around the world –it’s up to you to decide what you want to hear.

  We all know what Twitter’s about, and no matter your opinion on its business potential, it’s hard to deny how friggin pervasive it is. Twitter sets itself apart in two ways: one being how easy it is to directly connect with celebrities and other famous figures. The second is in actually being able to watch news develop in real time. We can monitor these trends and listen around the world, faster and on a more personal level than through news channels. Twitter lets you listen to the your own world, and lets you dictate how large that world is. 

  Soundcloud:

Sounds, simplified.

Share the audio of your life.

Capture and preserve your sounds.

The cloud’s audio

Listen in on life

  You’re here to listen, and it’s not to us. We get it. That’s why we keep it simple. With Soundcloud, find it and start listening. 

  Soundcloud got to where it was on its dedication to minimizing itself throughout the user’s experience; as such, its interface is extremely minimal and user-oriented. A self-description maintaining that same philosophy speaks more about Soundcloud than any biographic summary could.

  Duckduckgo:

Simpler search, better results.

Search for what’s right

Privacy meets better search

Straight to the results

Because we’re not Google

  You’re a no-nonsense kind of guy. Or maybe you’re a girl. But you want your answers straightforward and honest. So here’s us. We don’t keep track of you. We don’t pander to you. We give you the same search results as everyone else. We give you real privacy. And we do everything better.

  Duckduckgo’s appeal comes from its standardized search results, and emphasis on privacy. Your search history is not stored, which means all users get the same results, effectively freeing them from the “filter bubble”. Users for whom this is a big concern tend to be the no-nonsense crowd, so we wanted to get our message out as straightforward as possible.