3. FRONTLINE FOCUS:
INTERVIEW WITH PAUL CARTER
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF
GET CARTER PRODUCTIONS
PAGE 10
FRONTLINE THINKING / ISSUE FOUR
OVERVIEW / 3
FRONTLINE FOCUS:
INTERVIEW WITH
PAUL CARTER
DEALER FOCUS:
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR
DEALERSHIPS
INNOVATIONS IN
FRONTLINE MARKETING:
HYPERLOCAL
ADVERTISING
5. FRONTLINE THINKING / ISSUE FOUR
WHAT IS FRONTLINE MARKETING? / 5
WHAT
IS FRONTLINE
MARKETING?
With most big brands there’s still a real
disconnect between national and local
marketing. The former looks for ways to
establish brand equity, whereas the latter
is far more concerned with hitting targets
– and getting the bonuses.
We use ‘Frontline’ to describe your
franchise network or sales outlets
– inevitably parts of your business with
their own unique set of challenges.
They’re also areas that, more often than
not, are focused on ways to increase sales
and customer retention.
6. EXPERT ADVICE:
Words of wisdom
This issue’s expert is Emma Varney, who
heads up Acuity’s local marketing team.
In the growing age of the mobile, it
appears that marketers everywhere are
embracing the local opportunities that
digital presents.
Just last summer, Google conducted a
study and found four in five consumers
want search ads to be customised to their
city or immediate surroundings. Clearly,
by engaging consumers with location-
based ads, advertisers can provide them
with the information they need to take
action – making the buying process
simple, fluid and PERSONAL.
Staggeringly, 97% of all consumers now
use digital media (whether it is online
or on smart phones) when researching
products or services in their local area
according to a recent study by BIA/
Kelsey. That means that where once local
E-COMMERCE JUST
GOT LOCAL
7. “80% of consumers
want their search
adds to be local”
marketing meant putting a great press
ad in the local paper or booking a slot on
the local radio station, consumers are
now looking elsewhere for local product
information and they are going online.
So, unsurprisingly, all eyes are on the
growing opportunities to advertise on
social media platforms, and the continual
rising of mcommerce, allowing digital
marketers to tailor national messages to
a local audience.
With more people using their mobile
devices to visit Facebook and Twitter
via apps instead of browsing the
web, there’s never been a better
time to advertise on social media
— and leverage the location-based
functionality of these ever-present
phones to your advantage. I’m thinking,
geotargeted social ads, click to call
buttons on localised landing pages,
social check ins, comparison shopping
and ecommerce that will be facilitated
by the likes of the Google wallet.
We already know how embedded mobiles
are in our lives so it makes sense
that this is encouraging consumers
to engage and shop on their mobile
devices. Before everywhere becomes
a cashless market, local retailers must
jump on the mobile payment bandwagon
to remain competitive as the trend picks
up and consumers’ demands rise.
Along with the ease of payment, mobile
payments bring other interesting
advantages back to local businesses.
Specifically the potential to bring
in a lot more data. Accessible data
that can help marketers and local
businesses compete with big business
in understanding their customers.
FRONTLINE THINKING / ISSUE FOUR
EXPERT ADVICE / 7
8. FRANCHISE FOCUS:
TRENDS FOR 2015
2015 is an exciting year to be part
of the franchise culture with an
explosion of digital and mobile
marketing on the frontline, creating
innovative localised solutions.
Here are some exciting franchise
sector trends.
Mobile Optimisation
More consumers are searching for
products and services using phones and
tablets than ever before. So be ready
for these savvy customers who expect
optimised fully responsive platforms on
their mobile phones. When planning for
mobile creative and user experience,
set your marketing objectives, and make
sure your planning doesn’t require
you to budget thousands of pounds in
support tools for many years; the world
will have already changed.
Digital Integration
In an ever-changing media and lead
generation landscape, franchise brands
must build integrated marketing plans
to compete. Google Adwords, Google
Analytics and other digital tools can
access data allowing business to refine
consumer segments and audience
demographics, giving franchises the
ability to target their advertising to a
granular level. One of the most basic
settings for any PPC campaign is the
geotargeting where you set a localised
geographical area to show your digital ad.
Google Adwords features 10 x different
levels of geotargeting. By using the most
specific location possible in the ad copy
you ensure users know you’re more
relevant to them than the competition.
In short, this means you get highly
qualified, geo-targeted leads from this
easily accessible media channel.
Digital Ad Placement
Focus more on digital ad placement
and content versus keyword search
alone. As Google continues to monetise
its search engine, it is now changing
its organic search listings, making it
harder to drive traffic off SEO alone.
Instead, placing strategic digital ads
and adding new content to websites
is predicted to be a better focus in
2015. If you’re paying someone to “do
keyword search” stop right now! To help
drive traffic to your website, you can
allocate that money on ‘property content
creation’ (fancy talk for adding pages
to your website) and on becoming a
‘technical webmaster’ by adding striking
imagery and videos to your website.
TRENDS FOR 2015
10. What are some of the unique challenges
big brands face in localising their
marketing strategy and how do you
help them overcome them?
I think that the majority of big brands
can thank the web for making their
products as accessible and local as the
nearest smartphone, tablet or desktop
– and make their purchase possible
24/7 anywhere. For instance, can you
remember the time before we could book
airline tickets online? For me the biggest
challenge still exists for those brands
whose products need to be touched,
tested and personalised prior to purchase.
We have to connect the consumer with
their local retailer/visitor attraction/venue
– and offer them a reasonable incentive to
make the connection. The better the
big brand’s values, the smaller the
inducement required!
At Get Carter Productions we use local,
regional and national commercial radio
advertising to reach those consumers. We
strive to give the big brands ‘standout’ in a
very competitive local marketplace.
What is it that national brands typically
ask you for? What are they expecting?
How do you manage that?
We’re usually called on to promote a
specific product or offer – one whose sales
success can be measured as a result of a
planned radio ad campaign – and do it in
a compelling way that manages to deliver
the potential customer, AND maintain the
brand values that helped attract them in
the first place. Our job is NOT to sell the
product, it’s to deliver the customer enquiry
– and once retailers understand this, it’s
easier to gear up the way the response is
handled and hopefully converted.
We start by agreeing a brief; WHO are we
talking to? WHAT do we want them to do?
And WHY should they do it? If we can create
a radio ad campaign that answers those
three simple answers effectively, AND stay
‘on brand’ - we’re on to a winner!
What do you feel are the biggest struggles
for new local outlets who are trying to
build their client base whilst still trying to
maintain their brand identity?
Trying to attract new customers by selling
at less than they would expect to pay, but
not cheapening the brand. The saying that
‘There’s no skill in giving stuff away’ is
true – but there IS a skill in attracting
customer interest and continued loyalty by
making your product or service attractive
AND affordable.
FRONTLINE FOCUS:
INTERVIEW - GET CARTER PRODUCTIONS
Paul is the founder and Managing Director of Get Carter Productions. He’s
worked for radio groups across the UK, rising through the ranks to the level
of Radio Group Creative Director, before launching his own company in 2001.
He’s won many awards, including the highly coveted New York Radio Festivals
and London Internationals. Paul creates campaigns for clients including Jet 2,
Bristol Street Motors and Safestyle UK.
WITH PAUL CARTER, MANAGING DIRECTOR
GET CARTER PRODUCTIONS
11. FRONTLINE THINKING / ISSUE FOUR
FRONTLINE FOCUS / 11
How can local outlets of big businesses use
social media platforms to enhance their
local search visibility (directly or indirectly)?
I can only speak as a consumer – and
tell you that radio advertising’s success
is based on it being like a ‘word of mouth’
recommendation. If someone ‘likes’ your
product or service online, and shares
that information with their close and
trusted friends – it’s more powerful
than any brochure.
In the Marketing & Advertising world,
there’s always a lot of talk about KPIs.
Are there any KPIs that are uniquely
local that encourage growth of
national brands?
I think it’s as simple as foot traffic, phone
calls, clicks or whatever measure you choose
– directly and exclusively attributable to your
local marketing activity. Again, a KPI is only a
KPI if everyone is aware of it, and measures
it. You’d be amazed at the number of clients
(often spending massive amounts on media)
who don’t figure this out until it’s too late!
What local brand campaign has
inspired you?
Given that the brand is truly global, I’ve
liked Land Rover’s ‘Hibernot’ campaign
aimed squarely at us poor ‘local’ Brits in
the middle of our winter misery. It’s smart,
classy, low on copy but high on quality.
How have you worked with Acuity to
address the disconnect between local
and national marketing?
Our work on Acuity’s Citroën Ireland
radio advertising has touched on it. We’ve
produced strong single-message radio
commercials for National transmission –
very deal-driven, and aimed at conquest
customers – then mirrored this with
individual Citroën dealer commercials,
designed to drive local listeners to named
dealers in their areas.
Looking a couple of years down the
road, what developments do you
think are most likely to influence
the way people find information about
local outlets/franchises?
In Radio Advertising the significant
changes will come about with advertisers’
ability to target listeners in individual
streets, with tailored offers based on prior
purchases – even down to available car
parking spaces at the retailer’s outlet. In
broadcasting terms, we are a lot closer
to what we see in films like ‘Minority
Report’ than most people realise! The
future is eliminating ‘wastage’ by spending
more on personalised delivery to the
right customers.
Is there a local marketing tool you feel
that national brands are overlooking?
Or is there anything that they do or
use that makes you want to say, “STOP!
Don’t do that anymore.”
I have a fondness for local newspapers…
they take me back to times when things
were more naïve and innocent – but why
national brands keep ploughing so much
cash into such an impersonal and low
quality medium (with a circulation that is
literally dying) simply baffles me. They
won’t even let you wrap chips in
them any more!
For more information about your local
marketing strategy, email Michael on
michael@weareacuity.com or
call 01923 244 241.
12. DEALER FOCUS:
HOW CAN SOCIAL MEDIA HELP YOUR DEALERSHIP?
AUTOMOTIVE
OPTIMISING THE
ONLINE MARKET
Social media should be an essential
part of any auto dealership’s marketing
plan. Even though many consumers
want to physically see a car before
they purchase it, a strong social
media strategy can sell them on your
dealership before they even walk
through the door. It’s important to
define a strong social strategy and
develop a continual digital presence.
Here are a few ideas that could
potentially help build your digital
presence and convert prospects
into customers.
1. Become a thought leader
Social media is a great place to promote
original content from your blog. Having
a strong social presence can help
you become a thought leader in your
industry, especially if you take on
controversial topics or offer sound advice
on how your consumers can get the most
out of their auto buying experience.
2. Create a calendar
It is important to come up with a
schedule for your posts and adhere to
it as much as possible. If every Monday
you showcase a new car, then adhere
to that, and let it become something
that your users look forward to weekly.
Social testing is important, and although
it may take time to find posts that your
audience responds to, it’s essential that
you remain consistent in posting across
your platforms.
3. Less Sales, more Social.
It’s important that your social media
audience feels like you are actually being
social with them, and not just trying to
sell them something all the time. Social
experts suggest the 80/20 rule, which
recommends that 80% of the time you
speak to your audience on a social level,
and only use 20% of your posts for sales
promotion. Sales people tremble in
their suits when they hear that only 20%
of their branding efforts will be sales-
based, but in the long run it will build
a loyal social audience that will enjoy
interacting with your dealership. When
they are ready to buy a new vehicle, they
will already have a relationship with you
and your company.
4. Drive conversation
It’s important to have someone at your
dealership that manages your social
media accounts and can act as the voice
of your social outlets. If customers are
having an active conversation on your
social media profiles, interact with them
and engage them; it’s the reason it’s
called “social” media. This will pay off
when customers are looking to buy a
new car, as they will feel comfortable
having an engaging dialogue with you.
14. INNOVATIONS IN FRONTLINE MARKETING:
APPLE WATCH HYPERLOCAL ADVERTISING
Relevant location-based ads are
considered the holy grail of mobile
advertising, and more companies like
Facebook and Google are trying to tie
people’s purchases in physical stores to
digital ads. Cue the Apple Watch.
One of the most exciting prospects
of Apple Watch is in the virtual “screen
real estate” it will bring to consumers.
The introduction of a new digital
screen in people’s lives, that unlike a
smartphone doesn’t predominantly
live in people’s pockets, presents
a tremendous new opportunity for
marketers in hyperlocal advertising.
Hyperlocal advertising uses the watch’s
built-in GPS functionality to deliver
screen advertisements about businesses
in close proximity via a mobile ad
exchange platform such as TapSense.
For example, a consumer walking
down the street could be alerted to a
nearby coffee shop’s promotion for a
free drink, or they could be alerted to an
available discount or voucher code while
browsing a store in order to encourage
a conversion – all delivered seamlessly
to a consumer via an unobtrusive
wristwatch alert.
TapSense believes its programmatic ad
platform, which works by automatically
deploying ads based on events and
sets of rules to ensure ads are highly
targeted and “hyper-local,” is a “natural
fit” for a wrist interface like Apple
Watch. A great example of frontline
marketing at its best. It provides great
opportunities for brands and developers
to deliver engaging experiences to
consumers. Since the watch will
support Apple Pay, Apple’s new mobile
payments service, marketers could
measure their campaigns based on
people’s purchases in stores. Get ready
now. Call Michael now to find out more
on 01923 244 241 or email
michael@weareacuity.com
RETAIL MOBILE
MARKETING
A SHOPPER’S PARADISE?
