WHAT DO PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE SAY ABOUT ENERGY|MC ?

Alayne Reesberg
Chief Executive Officer • World Design Capital Cape Town 2014
"It has been a pleasure working with you – a true professional."

Alayne is referring to my interactions with her and her team during the World Design Capital 2014 project last year, when I covered the main events for the magazines I consult to; namely -
To Build Magazine - www.tobuild.co.za
SA Building Review - www.sabuildingreview.co.za
You can read some of the articles online at the following links, or read the e-books:
• http://www.tobuild.co.za/viewonline/articles/284/company-news/world-design-capital-cape-town-2014-s-lasting-legacy
•   http://www.sabuildingreview.co.za/viewonline/articles/119/advertorials/water-essential-for-the-future
Note these were commissioned articles and photography, not sponsored editorials.

Cecil Homan
Founder •  Eco-Insulation • Ultimate Climate Comfort
"Eco is flying high with the jet stream. Thanks for article sent and posted."
"World class editorial - world class service"

Cecil is referring to the full agency, editorial and technical writing support service that his company enjoyed since it's inception in 2007.

Marilyn Luchtenstein
Sales Manager • Brits Textiles
"Thanks and well done"

Alexis Sacks
Partner • MD Accountants and Auditors Inc.
"Thank you for the tremendous corporate profile brochure. It really is outstanding and we are proud of the final product..... It has been a pleasure working with you".

Professor John Smallwood  
Head: Department of Construction Management •  NMMU
"Given the number of errant advertisements and my intimate involvement with construction H&S through contracting, consulting, research, publishing and community services, the (mentioned) advertisement is significant in that it probably contributes one of the few, if not only material advertisements that makes proper reference to the subject. It was certainly eye catching ...."

An advertisement written and designed for leading insulation provider, Brits Textiles received accolades in the construction sector.

Billy Perrin
Publisher • Trademax Publications - SA Roofing, SA Affordable Housing, Timber IQ
"Always a pleasure working with you - a true professional".

Wayne Miller
General Manager • BlueScope Steel Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd
"You've done great work for us".

Carl Nortje
Managing Director • Rawson Developers
"Thank you for the great article".

KEEP COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR MARKET

Clever companies stay in the game of promoting their business to clients even through tough economic times. They continue to use the media and do not abandon the hard earned brand identity they have vested in their markets.

They do not cancel marketing communications. But they do look at using their limited resources smarter.

Advertising and other promotions such as PR important in building your brand and increasing your presence in the market. Brands are not built overnight, but rather along the lines of a consistent long term campaign. Of course, this needs to be supported by your service and performance as supplier, consultant or professional.

Read about I had to say on the subject in the September 2015 edition of SA Roofing magazine, a magazine that aims at architects and other building professionals.

View pages 1 and 2 of this article here  and here.

How to destroy a brand in four easy steps

It's disheartening to notice that many brands stray from the high road brand image reinforcement route into short termism. If you really want to destroy your brand, you should do the following:


1. Appoint a low budget design company with a big mouth as your brand champion. There is no better way to set about destroying the value you have built into your brand over many years.
2. Start insisting that advertising must convert into immediate sales and cease advertising and other programmes that build long term brand equity.
3. Start over-writing clean uncluttered imagery with in-your-face, cheap-looking brand image elements and text headlines.
4. Stop talking to your market as sensible professionals and start talking price only.


If you practice any or all of the above, you are actively participating in the demise of your brand and also destroying the market. Of the first, your competitors will be pleased. Of the second, they will be annoyed but for only as long as you exist in the market.

THERE'S STILL A GREAT ROLE FOR PRINT MEDIA ADS !

I've always maintained that print media acts as a driver to online content. Why? While newsprint is experiencing difficulties and some broadsheet news media are even scaling down to tabloid, informative magazines are in a class of their own. Well, anything you touch and move around has greater affinity with your senses and there's nothing better than the feel of smooth glossy / coffee table type magazines.

They are also focus the attention of the reader/viewer better than e-editions that compete on tablets with a range of different apps. In the South African B2B media, this is especially true, which is why I always advise my clients to advertise in professional magazines.

Therefore I find the article written by Steve Smith in MinOnline at  http://www.minonline.com/news/20519.html to be very relevant.

"Google and Ipsos find that 48% of smartphone readers are performing mobile queries off of ads they see in magazines. In this regard, print holds up well with other media, since only 35% of smartphone users search off of poster and billboards, while 57% do so from in-store promotions and 58% from TV. Magazines in particular are key drivers of the mobile ecosystem."

Take a look and see if you agree!

Gareth

GOOD REASON TO USE ENERGY MC

For your B2B communications with clients in commerce and industry, Energy MC specialises in B2B magazines. Here is a free ad obtained for a client last year - at the bottom of the page. Just because we get on well with the magazine publishers - meaning we get added value for our esteemed advertising clients.

PS The product, Eco-Insulation is a great one and really, really works - if saving money on electricity and keeping comfortable living and working temperatures indoors is important to you (well, is the Pope a Catholic?). http://www.eco-insulation.blogspot.com/

RECESSION BUSTING MOVES

With the economic outlook not great for 2012 one line cost item that often is cut by management is advertising and marketplace communications. Big mistake.

Here’s why:

More than 50% of commercial and industrial clients still use print media publications as their informative source of reference. Of these readers, a large majority are in senior decision making positions - not having the time to learn and adapt to the messages of the social media on the web. Readers such these are looking for well written, informative content, supported by logical arguments. The web is not ideal for this.

So you want to keep your media presence, yet reduce expense. Here are my suggestions for you:

1. Use the editorial channel on an organized, sustained basis. You pay only for the time spent on researching and preparing the content.

2. Use a professional, dedicated service provider to prepare this content.

3. Take a serious look at your current advertising with a view to: 

• Eliminating crossover between your targeted groups.
• Audit - size and content of message

 4. Employ specialist communications service providers, such as freelancers. The days of the large corporate advertising dodo companies are over.

5. Use social media - YES - but use it wisely. Intergrate it into a plan!

Save money. Get it right first time.

When you want to do these things, talk to Energy MC. The time is always right.

ECONOMIC DOOM AND GLOOM - WHERE TO?

It is amazing how many companies view advertising and image-promotion as ad-on, cut-out activities at time of economic distress.

This is a pennywise trend which does little to add value to one of the most neglected assets on a companies' register - Brand Equity.

I think the company that continues its marketplace or stakeholder communications stands a far better chance of coming out of an economic downslide than those that simply bring the communication shutters down - battening the hatches down might work at sea, but not when you are dealing with Reputation and Brand Equity.

A thought - leverage the goodwill you have generated with the media. Sure, reschedule some advertising BUT do not give up on PR !!

Integrated Communications - more compelling truths

We surely live in challenging times, with the power of computer technology propelling cyberspace communications options to greater heights on an exponential path. What sense do we make however of the numerous prophecies of doom and gloom for the future of the conventional media, and of advertising?

I have read many well thought out pieces on the looming death of paper-based and other communications, so where does this leave the future of marketing communications as we know it?

I think the internet, website, email and cellphone marketing communications present a fleeting opportunity for communication with the target market and that this can conflict with the processing time of the human brain. A kind of information overload - hence the possibility of diminishing long term brand building - in the case of many (some, but not all) brands. I guess it's the old argument of frequency vs. impact.

The conventional media, radio, print, etc present more solid opportunities for argumentative and rational communications and brand building campaigns. This is important for the B2B communication market.

Know this, however, that there is a convergence of these various media, and that they are not as seemingly in conflict as some younger, fresh-faced cousins in the creative world make out. My view is that they are completely complementary and that not one can survive without the other in this age.

Just like the co-existence of the written word (copy) with graphic devices and images. I watch with interest, but feel vindicated in my view that integrated marketing communications is the way to go.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IS KEY TO BUILDING BUSINESS

You’ve done the hard work in investing, setting up your corporate infrastructure and in getting your products and services into the market but you feel that your turnover could be bigger? Sounds familiar because many companies fall into the trap of not effectively informing the market what they are offering and why they are different.

In the view of marketing and communications strategist, Gareth Griffiths, CEO of marketing communications company Energy MC, many companies also make the mistake of investing substantial resources in buying advertising space, be it on radio, newspapers, magazines or websites and then fail to put together an effective message. They fail to use the simple “ABC” of effective marketing communication.

A – for Articulation – stands for the preparation of an effective message and for deciding the most effective way of putting it across. Many businesses fail to use the full mix of opportunities available to them. “I’ve seen it time and time again”, says Griffiths. “The client usually is sold on a visually creative and often expensive advertising design. However, because the designer – often a person with a background in design or in arts – knows little about media and the additional opportunities available through the editorial channels, the client only gets half the potential of the money invested in the ad”.

It is also vitally important to use the right language, says Griffiths. “Clients write the worst do-it-yourself scripts because they are too close to their own businesses. A disconnected, but informed and clear view is the best”, he says.

B- for Budget – this means that the client should budget adequate resources towards doing the promotion. In particular, shortcuts or “homegrown jobs” should be avoided. It is highly advised to call a professional service provider to help with the creative content and also negotiate the best deal with the magazine, website provider or radio station.

C – for Commitment over the long term. It takes a long time to build a brand image that attracts customers. Many fine advertising and promotional campaigns are ditched at too early a stage due to either ineffective budgeting or the client’s impatience.
Advertising and other forms of marketing communications are really a form of “Show and Tell. The showing comes from the effective use of photographs and images which graphically illustrate your products or services at work and the telling comes from using the type of words and sentences most appropriate and interesting to your audience! It’s that simple” says Gareth Griffiths.

Energy MC - Advertising, media and communications: Services, marketing communications, media, advertising, copywriting, photography and public relations in Cape Town, South Africa

Energy MC - Advertising, media and communications: Services, marketing communications, media, advertising, copywriting, photography and public relations in Cape Town, South Africa
www.mbendi.co.za/orgs/cdsd.htm

Contact Energy MC today on:

Tel: +27 21 701 3913
EMail: energ-comm at iafrica.com

Services, marketing communications, media, advertising, copywriting, photography and public relations in Cape Town, South Africa

Energy MC founder, Gareth Griffiths (pictured right) manages brands for clients, from strategy to concept and implementation. His brand management campaigns have received special mention in the various sectors of the market. Energy MC provides strategy-based consulting services and also advertising and PR programmes for various clients. More information : www.mbendi.co.za/orgs/cdsd.htm

Energy MC (or Energy Marketing Communications) is in the business of growing your business and building relationships with your clients.