Download - Top Secret - Army Marketing Secrets
US Army Marketing Secrets
Twitter: @DavidALee
TOP SECRET
The Secret…What’s my brand???
The Secret…What’s my brand???
Agenda
General Overview of Army Marketing
Challenges
Organization
Social Media – Recruiting
Social Media – The “Big Army”
Dave’s 2 cents on social media
So what??
Questions
Director of Marketing
Advertising Digital Outreach
Responsibilities included:
-managing a budget that for FY07-FY09 was as much as $450 million per year,
-developing a more integrated campaign in order to produce cost efficiencies,
-managing three divisions and an operations section (details follow),
-working with an advertising agency with offices in New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Oakland and Los Angeles,
-overseas communications plan to make sure public relations are integrated into new advertising and digital campaigns as well as outreach events,
-although not an assigned responsibility we identified that education has become a strategic issue in our country and leveraged our cost efficiencies to shift money into building an alliance with national education organizations.
Working Relationships
McCann World Group
New York, NY
Office of the Chief of Public Affairs
Army Reserve Marketing Section
Basic Training (Research)
Army Recruiting Local Marketing
ROTC Cadet Recruiting
Local Marketing
Accessions Command Marketing Section
Asst Sec of the Army (Manpower & Reserve
Affairs)
Secretary of the Army Chief of Staff, Army
Marketing Advisors
Army Brand Group
Regular Army Army Reserve ROTC
The Army brand will have a single message, look, personality and tone Linked brand positioning (messages) Unified logo / visual identity
Each product has its own identity, but fits with the overall Army brand Linked positioning statements for Regular Army, Army Reserve and ROTC
The products contribute to the image of the Army brand, and they will benefit from the positive associations consumers develop toward the umbrella brand
The Army brand must be thought of as an umbrella over the Army’s “products”
Strategy Short term -
Launch and establish Army Brand Increase Leads and traffic to stations to meet recruiting mission Position Brand for Long Term success - one look and one voice
Midterm - Build Army Brand and improve awareness and propensity Employ market segmentation research to target messages more
effectively Employ Public Relations to extend message to both the internal and
external audiences Develop ethnic specific messages to increase enlistments in under-
represented ethnic markets Long term -
Reinforce Army Brand with compelling and relevant ads and messages Integrate learning from Ad Tracking and research to improve campaign
effectiveness Synchronize Army-wide outreach programs and assets to support
recruiting
The Army’s Positioning For Recruiting Soldier’s Purpose
A Soldier serves in the US Army and is committed to protecting the U.S. Constitution and all that it stands for.
Soldiers Definition A Soldier is strong (Mentally, physically and emotionally), adaptive, confident, and values driven.
Value Statement Becoming a Soldier prepares you to succeed at whatever you select as your goals.
Positioning Statement Being a Soldier strengthens you today and for the future because the Army develops your potential through relevant and challenging training, shared values and personal experience. Soldiers consistently take pride in making a difference for themselves, their families and the Nation.
Support Enlisted: Army skills; leadership and teamwork training; educational opportunities Officer: Leadership and management development of each cadet/officer Emotional assurance for both: pride in making a difference
This is a sample of the main value proposition. We have more than one.
The Advertising Division oversees production of TV commercials, all print products (every product in recruiting stations, direct mail, advertisements, etc), and personal give away items (pens, pencils, coffee mugs, backpacks, etc.).
During FY09 we produced 15 television commercials, 300+ support and web videos, 13 print ads, over 14 million pieces of direct mail, 8 radio ads, over 21 million pieces of collateral (brochures, posters, etc), more than 70 digital banners, and over 175 personal presentation items.
The final advertising campaign I was responsible for was for recruiting officers, an area the Army had not previously invested in outside of West Point and ROTC and never done together.
Through a separate agency we managed a licensing program, the only service to do so, which resulted in over $2 million being raised to benefit Soldiers.
Advertising
• Active
• Reserve
• ROTC
• Army Medical Department
• Chaplain Corps
• Judge Advocate General Corps
• Army Bands
• Reenlistment
• Reserve Prior Service
• OCS/WOFT
• Special Forces
• 09L Translator Aide
• Warrant Officer
Pre-Prospects Prospects Influencers Hispanic African-American
Specific Communications Programs
Other value propositions require for special missions.
The Digital Division oversees all digital advertising, recruiting specific social media and the GOARMY.COM website, with quarterly updates on website costing over $10 million.
In FY2009 we begin to shift our emphasis to digital marketing and for the first time began a campaign to target prospects that were less propensed to join the military, along with their parents, by leveraging an Army astronaut who spent two months on the International Space Station and became the first person to use Twitter from the International Space Station.
Digital
The Outreach Division oversees all recruiting related events.
Highlights include NASCAR, NHRA, All American Bowl, Spring Break and numerous multicultural events. Over 200 events annually.
Ever a challenge to produce a program with good ROI we were able to leverage our partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing to benefit wounded warriors as part of the Prelude to the Dream race. As part of the program we provided our sponsors with a first hand experience with Soldiers so they could talk about their experiences with authenticity and not from talking points provided by our PR team. This included Tony Stewart and Tony Schumacher at Fort Knox and Ryan Newman at Fort Bragg.
Advertising
National Event Marketing
All-American Bowl Regional Mobile Exhibits Virtual Army Experience NHRA/Yes Program NASCAR/ED Program Spring Break
Public Relations & Event Partnerships National Council of LaRaza Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC) League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Black Engineer of the Year Award Essence Music Festival National Urban League Future Farmers of America Skills USA Planning for Life Program
Reaches Hispanic & African-American pre-prospects and prospects Black History and Hispanic Heritage Months Patriot Season (Army Birthday)
Decision & Communications Continuum
TV, Channel 1
Direct Marketing
Website
Regional Radio, OOH, Print Online Media
Local Events
Become Become Seek Become Contract Affirm Aware Intrigued Info a Lead Decision
Public Relations
Nationally Driven Events
Local Traffic Driving Ads
Recruiter Station Merchandising
Recruiter Sales Materials
Future Soldier Activities
Local Events
Dave’s 2 cents on social media
Viral Marketing The process of creating the potential for exponential growth in a message's exposure and influence, usually refers to the pass-along of some element or content that is usually online
Buzz Generally considered an outcome resulting from large numbers of individuals talking about a product, service or brand
Word-of-Mouth Marketing Activities that companies undertake to generate personal, often
in-person, recommendations as well as referrals for brand names, products and services
Social networking is the creation of connections between individuals and advertisers who share a common interest in order to create new conversations that add measurable value to a brand, product or service.
Working Definition
Is Social Networking new….NOPE…just the tools!
There were four main purposes of the Declaration: ü Getting reluctant colonists on board ü Explaining the colonists' position on the purpose of government ü Listing the colonists' grievances against King George III to show the legitimacy of their actions to others ü To encourage foreign nations to help them
Why Social Networking is Important
• 78% of consumers trust recommendations from other consumers (1)
• 71% of 13-24 year olds consume user-generated content (2)
• 35% of executives have read a blog in the last month (3)
• 40% of today’s consumers are creating their own entertainment (4)
• 51% of consumers are watching and reading content created by other consumers (5)
Sources: 1. Word-of-Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool: Nielsen Global Survey, The Nielsen Company, October 2007 2. Harrison Group/Deloitte Touche Survey, March 2007 3. Business Elite: USA 2007 Survey, Ipsos Media, October 2007 4. State of the Media Democracy: Deloitte & Touche痴 Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice, August 2007 5. State of the Media Democracy: Deloitte & Touche痴 Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice, August 2007
Website Blog Gaming Sites Or Apps
Emerging Role of Social Media Networks
1
2
3
4
Appeal of Broadest Segment
Experience
Customer Relationship Management
Sales
Social Media Networks
• Hub, modular & widgetize content for people to put on their own sites, blogs, etc.
• Facilitate to Interact/ connect with our prospects and influencers.
• Help people to learn about the brand.
• Use as appropriate for younger customers
• Demonstrate the reality of being in the Army to include use of NASCAR and NHRA teams.
• Demonstrate elements of the marketing campaign.
• Help customers connect with clients or customer service
• Allow to ask deeper questions
• Real time response
• Provide content to learn about life and experience in the Army
• Drive to website
• Give a flavor of life and experience of certain clients products
• Drive to website
Role
Stage
1
2
3
4
: which stage each social media network plays a role at
Drive people to website
Drive people to website
Drive people to website
Drive people to appropriate location based on their questions
website should provide links to other social media networks
Drive people to website or engage with them on the site using discussion board
Social media should play a vital role in building awareness, enabling customers to experience our clients products/services, as well as helping to collect critical information
Encourage Target Audience Participation Ensuring that activity is driven exclusively by our target audiences will help build a high level of trust in programs
Modern web users’ trust is earned, not given, so it’s imperative that we leave as little a “footprint” as possible As little reactive moderation as possible (e.g., don’t let community see you
remove content after the fact) Let others respond to negative comments. Establish ground rules on what will get a comment deleted. (e.g., obscene
language, inappropriate comments, spam, etc) Customers prefer interactions with each other to receiving
“marketing speak” about why they should consider or buy new products / services December 2008 Web 2.0 Research confirms this
Connectivity & Conversation = You
Mass Marketing
1980s
Precision Marketing
1990s
Social Marketing
2000s
Characteristics
Vehicles
Differentiation
• Tell & Sell • Brand Positioning • Reach & Frequency
• Demonstrated Interest
• Benefit-Based • Targeting and Segmentation
• Publishing • Potential to go Viral • Shared interest • Voice of the individual • Lateral connectivity
• Broadcast Networks • General Interest Magazines
• Radio & Outdoor
• Creativity
• Direct Mail • Search Engine Optimization
• Direct Response TV
• Format independence
• Blogging • Social Applications • Threading tools
• Analytics • Dialogue
Primary Supplier • Advertising Agencies
• Interactive Agencies • The Company
24
Exposure Metrics
• Page Views • Visits • Unique
Visitors • Time on Site • Referrers • Reach
Actions
• Search Engine Entries
• Clicks • Downloads • Ongoing
Usage • Ratings • Pass Along
Conversations
• Mentions • Comments • Advocacy • Influencers • Attitude Shift • Brand
Favorability/Sentiment
Strategic Plan sets ROI expectations
ROI Traditional Media-driven Metrics
Progressive, Participatory Metrics
Social marketers must shift ROI focus from traditional, media-driven metrics to more progressive, participatory metrics
We now return you…
Social Media - Recruiting Army Strong Stories
Blog YouTube Channel
Straight from Iraq
US Army Astronauts
Social Media – Army Strong Stories
Social Media – Army Strong Stories
Social Media – Straight from Iraq
Social Media – Straight from Iraq
Social Media – US Army Astronauts
Social Media – US Army Astronauts
Social Media – Is this social…hmmm
Social Media – The “Big Army” Social Media Rules and Regulations
Public Affairs vs. Recruiting
“The Army Experience Center”
Social Media – The Army Experience Center
This is why you need rules, policies and a trained community manager
SO WHAT?? Learn your customers and trust your instincts
Does the agency know your business better than you?
Awards mean nothing…focus on ROI! Challenge your agency to speak to their other clients
Read…Read…Read
Watch those in other businesses…otherwise you’re a follower
Understand the rules of social media…it’s a conversation Establish ground rules Let your allies defend you
Have a communication plan and apply the tools that fit
Is Social Media a PR tool or a Marketing tool??
Questions?
www.DavidALee.com