Manulife Financial Communications Plan Wins Magellan Award


Jane LeeJan 4, 2011

We’re proud to announce that the Manulife Financial China/Canada 40th Anniversary Communications Plan has won Bronze in the 2010 Magellan Awards for Communications Campaigns and was ranked as one of the Top 50 Publicity Campaigns from the LACP (League of American Communications Professionals). Campaigns were judged on First Impression, Communications Goal(s) Clarity, Target Audience Definition, Key Messaging, Campaign Execution and Campaign Results.

Congratulations to the Manulife, Humanis and LiQuid teams for their hard work on this project.

The League of American Communications Professionals LLC (LACP) was established in 2001 in order to create a forum within the public relations industry that facilitates discussion of best-in-class practices within the profession while also recognizing those who demonstrate truly exemplary communications capabilities.

Online Advertising Campaign Checklist


Jane LeeNov 15, 2010

Start producing top shelf online ads

Recently we had a client approach us to provide them with online advertising best practices to help guide and improve their creative process. As a result, we held a session to present and discuss online creative best practices. The feedback we received was that the session was valuable, informative and validated a lot of their thoughts.

At the end of the session we provided an online advertising checklist, best practices tip sheet and an online creative brief for their reference.  The online advertising checklist is presented below. Note that the checklist is particularly relevant to online display ads, but many of the points can be used as a general guideline for all online campaigns.

1. Conducted strategy and planning for online campaign.

Determined campaign goals, target audience and desired level of engagement.

Chose media channels to best meet the goals and reach the target audience.

Evaluated different types of online ads for the campaign and selected type of online ads with consideration to level of engagement desired.

2. Ensured online creative was adapted optimally for the channel when integrating creative across all media channels.

Integrated and enhanced the campaign message for the online channel, instead of simply duplicating ad from other channels.
Kept in mind that audiences digest advertising differently online than they do for print, TV, billboard.

Ensured best practices were considered when adapting ads for online.

3. Kicked off all campaigns with a solid online creative brief.

Reviewed the brief at the start of project with agency and internal stakeholders to ensure everyone started on the same page.

4. Highlighted the brand prominently throughout the ad.

Every frame of the ad contained the brand logo to help viewers ‘get the ad’ and promote the brand regardless of the frame they see.

5. Communicated primary ad message to audience within 1-2 seconds.

Ensured the ad supported the message at all times and throughout all frames, be it brand awareness or a call to action.

6. Kept it simple.

Used no more than 1-2 messages per ad.

7. Provided value to audiences.

Included something of value. Value is anything that is worthwhile to your audience – i.e. tools, entertainment, education, etc.
Did not annoy users with the ad and placement of it. Did not disrupt their online experience. Provided user interaction without being intrusive.

8. Tracked and analyzed success metrics for campaign.

Reviewed past metrics and results of online campaigns. Leveraged lessons from past ad campaigns and tests to optimize this campaign.

Implemented tracking metrics for this campaign.
Optimized ads/media where appropriate and feasible while campaign was still in execution.

If you think a session on online creative best practices would help your marketing team, we’d love to hear from you!

Ceridian.ca wins 2010 WebAward


LiQuid TeamSep 16, 2010


We’re proud to announce that the Ceridian Canada website has won the Web Marketing Association 2010 WebAward for Outstanding Achievement in Web Development in the category of Professional Services!

Congratulations to the Ceridian and LiQuid team that worked on building the award-winning site!

CIBC 2008 Annual Report produced by LiQuid Wins Two International Awards


Jane LeeSep 1, 2009

Congratulations to the LiQuid and CIBC teams on the two International ARC Awards for the CIBC 2008 Annual Accountability Report. The Report is also a contender for the ARC 2009 Grand Award. The two awards included an Honors award for the Chairman’s Letter (Banks International Public) and a Gold for Financial Data (Banks International Public).

The ARC Awards is an international Annual Reports Competition which honours excellence in annual reports and is considered the “Academy Awards” for the industry.

How to Establish a Social Media Strategy


Jane LeeJul 8, 2009

Has your company embraced social media with Twitter, Facebook or YouTube profiles yet? Even if your marketing department hasn’t engaged audiences in social media channels, chances are your company’s name and brand are already out there in some form of user generated content by employees, customers, critics and/or fans. By now most marketers should understand that companies cannot exert full control over their brands, but what you can do is create a social media strategy to maximize opportunities and minimize risk to your brand.

Establish a Social Media Strategy

With all of the attention being paid to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, it is tempting to open profiles on all of the popular social networks, however it is important to think through a social media strategy first. It is also critical to keep in mind that you do not control the message. This is not a one-way form of communication and if an organization is not comfortable or equipped to deal with the possibility that people will manipulate and challenge their information and media, you need to think twice before jumping to social media channels.

1.  Research and think through your audience, objectives, tactics, tools and metrics. Who do you want to reach and why? How do you plan to engage them? How will you measure success?

2.  Investigate how your target audience is currently using social media channels. Are they being used for entertainment value, communicating with friends and families, researching employment opportunities, etc.? Is this the right channel to engage them? What are the best social networks to reach them on?

3.  Once you’ve determined your objectives for engaging in social media, figure out whether or not the branded messaging your company wants to communicate has any value to participants. Understand that with social media, organizations need to give value to participants before expecting anything in return.

4.  Create a social media map. Inventory the current social media groups/pages that your company is affiliated with and determine where the gaps are and who would be best to maintain responsibility for these groups. It is important to keep in mind that there is an organic, unrestricted nature to these groups, and mandating participation to reluctant parties will result in poor experiences.

5.  Allocate sufficient resources to manage and maintain a presence in these social media channels. There is no use in asking participants to follow you on Twitter or join a Facebook group if you cannot offer fresh content, respond to questions and engage in a dialogue with participants. Commit resources and time to be successful or you may end up harming the brand and risk alienating participants who have signed up to engage in a relationship with you.

6.  Track and measure the results of using social media. If you do not have the capabilities internally, look to an agency partner that can offer their expertise. Ensure the metrics roll up to objectives that are relevant to the social media channel.

7.  Create a social media policy for your company. It is prudent to outline a social media plan and policy to ensure that employees understands what is acceptable conduct and content to share when they are representing an affiliation with your brand.

Point of View: Bing


LiQuid TeamJun 19, 2009

Overview

Microsoft recently relaunched their search platform under a new banner, Bing. The previous incarnation, Microsoft AdCenter, launched a few years ago and has never really challenged Google’s market share leadership. There are three key hurdles Microsoft faces in trying to gain a stronger foothold in the search market:

1. Microsoft has to compete with the familiarity of Google and overcome the habits people have established with it. With people often being creatures of habit, this isn’t easily accomplished.
2. They need to create a product that not only catches up to, but also surpasses the existing market leader with new bells and whistles that users wouldn’t otherwise have access to.
3. Microsoft’s brand is not as strong as Google’s and Google continues to carefully cultivated evangelism toward their brand.

Today’s Opinion

So far most influencers online are panning Bing, but they know that raising the search bar will only elevate everyone else’s game. Microsoft has positioned Bing as a decision making tool, alluding to the fact that this might be the long awaited foray into Web 3.0, also known as the Semantic Web. However, in its current state, Bing is not a product that is revolutionizing search. Microsoft is employing similar strategies they’ve used in the past to incentivize people to use their search platform, such as Club Bing.

There are still some black box features to Bing, but one known feature is the reverse IP look-up executed during a search query. What that enables Bing to do is identify the person’s geographic location and serve localized content and mix it within the results.

They have layered the interface with some nice roll over previewing functionality, added some dynamic global navigation against the search results and other minor bells and whistles; but again it’s basic functionality and results delivery aren’t yet gigantic leaps forward.

Microsoft is spending a lot of money to promote their newest search solution. The ad campaign looks good, but any buzz to date has been manufactured; so the real questions will be answered once the ad dollars cease beyond the launch phase and we’ll see if they maintain growth or even sustain the market share they acquire during the promotional launch period.

What Bing Means to Marketers

So far, Microsoft’s Bing still lags behind Google and Yahoo in market share. There’s no doubt they will gain more ground, which will likely come from setting Bing as the default page in their next Explorer release and embedding it’s search capabilities into Hotmail and other existing Microsoft platforms. For most marketers major changes to SEO and SEM strategies aren’t recommended at this point as it’s worth waiting for to see what adoption rates will look like.

Media Defined


LiQuid TeamJan 16, 2009

Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase, “The Medium is the Message” in 1964. His theory postulated that how the media is deployed is equally important to the actual content, as it influences how the message is received. In his theory, there is no distinction between paid and non paid media and while this is an older definition, it is still held true today.

At a November 15, 2008 U.S. forum on digital media, P&G marketing executive Ted McConnell, stated that “I think when we call it ‘consumer-generated media,’ we’re being predatory. Who said this is media? Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory.” Mr. McConnell really defined Media as “paid” placement, whereas social media and user generated content on places like Facebook had no merit as being termed Media.

The two definitions of media are different. Our belief is somewhere in between the two definitions. We believe that media can be paid or non-paid and it’s the context that matters. Simply throwing up a banner type placement within a social media environment does not effectively communicate any marketer’s message. However, determining tools to engage and encourage communication within these forums can effectively use the medium. 

Simply put, Media can be the message as long as it is put into the context of understanding the environment and the users’ mindset, needs and motivations.

Email Marketing Best Practices


Jane LeeJan 13, 2009

Offer relevant and value-based emails

Email marketing works but as consumers are inundated with messages and opting in for less emails, your email must be relevant and offer something of value – otherwise it is perceived as spam.

Landing pages are critical

Marketers often focus on the email, but don’t pay enough attention to the landing pages they link to. Don’t create another barrier to get the audience to where you want them – direct them to the desired page with relevant content.

Create mobile friendly emails

Focus on ‘Preview Pane’ optimization and mobile friendly emails.

Employ loyalty and advocacy email marketing programs

Leverage CRM methodologies and dynamic content to build on email communications with your opt-in audience to encourage brand loyalty and advocacy.

Set goals, metrics, test and measure again

Standardize metrics for comparisons, test different tactics and measure again to best leverage your email database.

Search Engine Marketing – SEM 101


Jane LeeJan 13, 2009

What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Paid Search Advertising or Cost per Click (CPC), consists of placing ads for products or services on search engines and content sites across the internet. These ads are a small text link or image ad that link to the advertiser’s web content. The advertiser pays for click throughs from the ad.  Leading search engines include: Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

SEM is a measurable form of marketing and can be optimized based on testing and analysis of results.  SEM campaigns allow for a great deal of control and can be targeted for budgets, geographical and time restrictions.

How does Search Engine Marketing work?

When a searcher visits a search engine and enters a query – i.e. “plasma TVs” – the search engine will seek out search queries related to the selected keywords and display the results, which in this case may be links to web pages containing information about plasma TVs.

The search engine results page also displays paid ads that contain relevant keywords from the query. Paid search advertising results usually appear on the top or right side of the search engine results page.

SEM Quick Tips:

Set goals for your SEM campaign and choose success metrics to track accordingly.

Coordinate offline campaign efforts to better leverage the online SEM campaign.

Know your target audience and choose keywords based on how they will search for your product/services(s).

Expand into keyword phrases, two or three word phrases generally work best.

Group keywords into categories or AdGroups based on similar attributes to best identify results.

Write ads according to a single theme.

Have more than one text ad per ad group and search engine.

Include your campaign keyword terms.

Track and analyze results. Optimize throughout the campaign.

Test and refine; this applies to AdGroups, keywords and text ads.

Marketing in a Recession – What should Marketers be doing?


Jane LeeDec 11, 2008

Maintain and grow share of mind

Studies have shown that maintaining “share of mind” during an economic downturn directly relates to current and future sales, and costs less than rebuilding it after a period of marketing inactivity. Companies that invested more in marketing in a down market realize increases in their ROI versus companies that maintained or cut marketing spend.

Stop and Listen to your customers

Your customers are feeling the effects of the recession and as such their needs may have changed.  Stop and listen to your customers to determine what your brand, product(s) or service(s) can do to support customers living through the economic slowdown.

Know your customers

Knowing your customers is more important than ever.  Invest in gaining a better understanding of your customers’ desires, behaviours, etc. Devise, test, execute and track micro-targeting strategies. Once your understand your customers, develop personas to embed your customers as people within your organization.

Focus on building existing customer relationships

Shift the focus away from new acquisitions to targeting your highest value customers and advocacy groups.  Build stronger relationships with your most valuable customers to increase brand affinity, loyalty and word of mouth recommendations.

Offer increased value

Increase your brand affinity and visibility by offering value added marketing to consumers.  Use free content, widgets, tools, exclusive access, etc. to offer more value to consumers in their marketing interactions with the brand.

Leverage and integrate content across multiple channels and multiple audiences

For greater efficiency and synergy, it is critical to ensure that all marketing departments and channels are leveraging one another’s efforts and content.  For example, a promotion to high value customers may also be adapted as an employee incentive program.

Quality over Quantity

Panic leads to looking for lowest cost alternatives and suppliers, but don’t sacrifice quality for quantity – you get what you pay for.

Keep communicating with your consumers

Consumers who have opted in to receive communications with you have established a valuable relationship with the brand. Despite budgeting constraints, continue to communicate with them on a regular basis, or they may move on.

Employ a low cost and trusted form of advertising – your customers

An often overlooked low cost and trusted form of advertising is word of mouth from your customers.  Expand your marketing team to include customer advocates / influencers and support their role with the right knowledge, tools and incentives.

Stay authentic to your brand

During times of uncertainty, a stable and authentic brand can be more appealing to customers.  Customers will have higher expectations on those brands and products that are consistent, especially in times of change.

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