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Why We Need to Reverse-Pimp Our Products Like McDonalds

by Jennifer Beever on May 10, 2013

McDonalds Online AdMcDonald’s Canada released an online video ad that showed the truth about how they market their products. B2B marketers should sit up and take note of why it was successful, and what it means for business-to-business marketing.

Many years ago when I lived in San Francisco, one of my friends was a food photographer. I learned that a lot goes into photographing food – so much so that you would definitely NOT want to eat the food in the photography shoot. McDonald’s Canada capitalized on food industry behind-the-scenes secrets by creating a video of how they “pimp” burgers in photo shoots. They created an ad about it – a reality advertisement, if you will.

The ad has been written about by ad industry pundits because it was primarily created for online use – a new tactic that many marketers are taking advantage of. (Read the blog post by AllThingdigital.com’s Peter Kafka, Here’s the McDonald’s Ad All the Web Guys Think Is Genius.) To date this McDonald’s video, Behind the scenes at a McDonald’s photo shoot, has had 8.5 million views.

Here’s why the McDonald’s ad is significant for B2B marketers.

People want the real story. They want to know what you do behind the scenes. They want transparency – no more smoke and mirrors, especially if there is some controversy about your industry.

I think McDonald’s behind-the-scenes “reality” ad (yes, I know it was all staged, just like the “reality shows”) was brilliant! (View the ad below.) In an industry that gets a bad rap for having processed food full of fat and salt, the ad invites consumers to take a peek behind the curtain to see what really goes on. The ad tells “the truth” – the burger you see in an ad does not look the same as the one you buy in the store. We all knew this was true, but now the restaurant is publicizing this truth, in an industry in which outsider exposés have hurt restaurant reputations.

B2B marketers, what’s your story? Can you turn it into an online reality ad? Is it about how your company’s founders left their industry to do things differently? Is it because your leadership believes in its people? In innovation? Whatever your story is, find a creative way to tell it online. Maybe you’ll get millions of views like McDonald’s Canada.

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Technology Marketing Has Always Had a Zero Moment of Truth

by Jennifer Beever on May 8, 2013

Google's Zero Moment of TruthGoogle came out with a new concept about how consumers buy things: the Zero Moment of Truth. While this may be relatively new for business-to-consumer buying, it’s always been present for buyers of technology.

What is ZMOT?

Recommendations from others is essentially what the ZMOT is. Before the Internet, consumers would see an ad (the stimulus), go to the store and buy the product (first moment of truth) and use the product (second moment of truth). Now, after seeing an ad, people will consult on average 10.4 different sources (online and offline) before buying something. This is the Zero Moment of Truth.

Why ZMOT is Not That New for Technology Companies

In 1991 Regis McKenna wrote Crossing the Chasm, in which he detailed the behavior of technology buyers. One of the key factors of the technology buyer’s purchase decision is a peer referral or review. The number one influence on people buying technology are recommendations from their colleagues. To me, this is ZMOT, just 20 + years ago, before the Internet.

Technology Buyers Have Had ZMOT All Along

Technology buyers have always had their zero moment of truth. Granted, it might not have been on the Internet, but they were consulting respected sources before they bought software or computers and other technology. It’s nice the Internet has caught up other types of buyers in making more informed decisions before they buy.

What Does ZMOT Mean for You?

Whether you’re selling business-to-business technology, smartphones or even shoes, the ZMOT matters. You need great content and testimonials online shared by you and your customers that buyers can access when they’re making their decision.

Other articles about ZMOT you might find interesting:

Google’s “Zero Moment Of Truth”: Why They’re Right And Why They’re Wrong

Why Your B2B Marketing Needs a Hub and Spoke System

Do you want to establish a better online presence? Contact New Incite today for information on how we can help you create a strategy, a tactical plan, and implement the plan.

 

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B2B Tradeshow Marketing: No Booth, No Problem

If you decided late in the game that you must attend a sold-out trade show, there’s still hope. You can create a presence without exhibiting in a booth. For years I have been saying that there are many ways to market at trade shows without buying an exhibit space. An article in B2B Magazine, No [...]

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4 Reasons Product Launch Marketing Campaigns Fail

In today’s world of fast-paced and competitive product launches, a marketer’s ability to get attention and attract potential buyers is critical. But many product launches fail to capture the attention of target audiences. Here’s why. 1. Not enough runway to launch Product launches fail because they don’t have enough runway to get off the ground [...]

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A Practical Checklist for LinkedIn Implementation

Do you want a practical approach to using LinkedIn? LinkedIn has a lot of features, and it’s not easy to understand how to use them and what to do to get results. Here is a checklist for making sure your LinkedIn implementation is successful. 1. Make sure your profile is 100% complete. LinkedIn will prompt [...]

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CMOs Need to Up Their CRM Database Game

The days of marketing handing off leads to sales and retreating to their creative, lead gen  marketing silo are over. Now more than ever, marketing needs to work with sales to maintain an accurate customer relationship management (CRM) system that will serve both departments as they nurture prospective customers through the buying cycle. Buying cycle, [...]

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B2B Marketers – Why You Need to SAVE Your Marketing

According to the Harvard Business Review, the four P’s of marketing are over. The new model is SAVE, Solution – Access – Value – Education. Here’s what it means for B2B marketing. Market Solutions Instead of marketing products, we need to focus on solutions. Solution selling is not new – for years marketers have been [...]

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How to Deal with a Marketing Micromanager

Have you ever tried to get projects done when working with a micromanager? Sometimes managers of marketing projects need to handle the micro-details, but if it’s constant and unproductive, it’s time to do something differently. Micromanagement may have its pluses when you’re running a business and on multiple deadlines, but it can make the marketing [...]

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So Your Ad Agency Got an Award. Now What?

Effective marketing is not about winning design awards. Effective marketing is about getting results. Over the years as a marketing consultant (I founded New Incite in April of 1997), I have observed that a lot of people get bogged down in the details and don’t pay enough attention to results. This is evidenced in the [...]

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B2B Marketing Survey Says Email and Twitter Work

A recent survey of traffic to the websites of small to medium-sized business (SMB) provides some interesting insight into what works and what doesn’t for online marketing. As usual, I have to provide information about the source of the survey, which few bloggers ever do. Optify, the source of the survey, sells inbound marketing software [...]

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