Guest post by Selena Narayanasamy

Writing a catchy jingle can be fun, but it’s not easy. Knowing how to make that one 30 second song that engages an audience to commit it to memory is more science than art form.

The most popular jingles have tricks that make their song one that gets hummed around the office. Let’s examine 6 iconic jingles, and the secrets of their success.

1. Fanta “Wanta Fanta?”

Lesson: Repetition

Those lovely Fantana ladies have the right idea. A good jingle makes sure the audience knows the name of the product. The Fanta commercial mentions the product name constantly. If the audience doesn’t know the name, something is wrong.

2. McDonalds “Big Mac Song”

Lesson: Knowing Your Product

Never has a commercial been so straightforward and effective. The Big Mac Song simply lists the ingredients. A good jingle can just be about the benefits of a product. Of course McDonalds won’t mention the high cholesterol, or high risk for obesity with the commercial. Special sauce sells burgers, not heart attacks.

3. Wrigley’s Doublemint Gum “Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun”

Lesson: Stick to the Slogan

Sometimes the best place to get a jingle from is the slogan itself. If it’s good enough to plaster on billboards and print ads all over the world, it’s good enough to set to music. The Doublemint commercial took what already worked and expanded on it. It didn’t hurt to have a set of attractive twins to use as pitch women. That’s always a secret to success.

4. Kars4Kids “1-8-77-Kars-4-Kids”

Lesson: Use your Phone Number

We’ve seen other companies successfully do this as well. Using your phone number in your jingle is probably the catchiest and easiest way to instill a call to action into your viewers. Empire did the same thing (800-588-2300-EMPIRE)… or at least, I think that’s the jingle off hand.

They also allowed users to enter their own Kars4Kids jingle in a recent contest as a fun exercise in engagement.

5. Chili’s “Baby Back Ribs”

Lesson: Be Melodic

While this little ditty explores a number of lessons, what it excels at is being melodic. People all over the country tried (and failed miserably) to recreate this melodic tune with their co-workers, friends, family, or slightly drunk softball teams at the local bar. While they failed, everyone knew where to go for baby back ribs.

They also had a jingle contest. – thought I’m not sure if any of these will ever replace the original!

6. McDonalds “I’m loving it.”

Lesson: Keep It Brief

No one can tell you how long the original ad was that contained McDonalds now famous “I’m lovin’ it” slogan. All they remember is they walked away humming a little hip-hop melody and dreaming of quarter pounders. A good jingle should be to the point. If the point is the slogan, then make the slogan memorable by keeping it brief enough to commit to memory.

7. Coke “I’d Like to Buy The World A Coke”

Lesson: Be Memorable

There is no commercial more iconic than Coke’s “I’d Like To Buy The World a Coke.” Maybe it’s the commercial, set in the sun, filled with a bunch lovey dovey hippies in a field, conjuring up thoughts like “why are they singing in a field?” Or maybe the song was that good.

At the end of the day you don’t need catchy gimmicks or tricks, if the song is brilliant. Many couldn’t recite the whole song, but it was so memorable that the New Seekers re-recorded the song into a full length version.

Be great. That’s all a jingle really needs to work.

About the author

Selena Narayanasamy loves everything having to do with technology, social media, internet marketing and blogging. You can find her quirky ramblings on Twitter, or her personal site Esvienne.

A five-part series on online branding for businesses by Ryan Chaffin

1. What’s in a Name? Everything
2. SEO: Marketing in the New Millennium
3. PPC as a Model of Smart Advertising
4. Social Media: Highly Accessible Advertising
5. Freshening Up: Maintaining Your Brand Image

Social media is taking over. Blatant and bold as that statement may sound, it is the truth. You can either hop on the bandwagon or stay behind and figure out how you are going to catch up once the dust settles. Don’t believe me? Simply type the word “blog” into any search engine and tell me how many hits pop up. Facebook currently has over 400 million (!) active users. Twitter, a relatively new player in the social media field, has over 75 million users. Simply looking at those numbers and denying the prevalence of social media is willful ignorance.

You, on the other hand, recognize the significance of social media, and understand how they can benefit your company. A snappy logo or updated blog can help your business like no other form of advertising can. Think about it: if you are searching for information about Boston restaurants and you come across a blog written by a chef in Boston who adds entries regularly, discussing the newest foodie trends in the city, chances are you will search out your restaurant and give them your hard-earned cash in exchange for food that you trust (based on what you read on their blog) will be good. As a business owner what could be simpler or more satisfying? You get to talk about your passion and advertise your services at the same time! As a customer, you get in-depth knowledge of a product or service before you try it out for yourself. If there ever was a textbook example of a win-win situation this is surely it.

Social media is also an advantageous route to take because one properly placed video, slogan, or commercial can spread like wildfire, turning into a much talked about meme overnight. If you can plant the seeds of your services or products on a social media website and then let the users of the website spread that idea then you have effectively marketed your product while at the same time saving yourself thousands of dollars in advertising money. This is every advertiser’s dream: a self-replicating ad campaign that is spread mainly through the mouth of the customer.

Advertising your business using social media is a no-brainer. Once you have learned about the techniques and seen the results you will become a believer because there really is nothing like sitting back and watching your idea spread throughout the Internet on a wave of positive inertia.

About the author

Ryan Chaffin is currently a college student majoring in Business Marketing. He loves anything technology, internet, and social media related along with sports and health & wellness. Ryan currently specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, and social media and believes in achieving your fullest potential on and off the web. You can also find Ryan on Twitter (@ryanchaffin).

A five-part series on online branding for businesses by Ryan Chaffin

1. What’s in a Name? Everything
2. SEO: Marketing in the New Millennium
3. PPC as a Model of Smart Advertising
4. Social Media: Highly Accessible Advertising
5. Freshening Up: Maintaining Your Brand Image

New methods of advertising, particularly web-based ones, may be confusing to someone not acquainted with the different mechanisms of the web or well-versed in how they work. Take, for example, the classic Yellow Pages advertisement. Every year you buy your ad space for a fixed amount of money. In these ads, the more space you buy, the higher the price. Things, however, have changed. The advent of the Internet has led to many exciting new ways of advertising that are more affordable and sensible than the old, antiquated methods that essentially equated size with relevance.

One of the most exciting and cost-effective means of advertising on the web is PPC. PPC stands for “pay per click.” This type of advertising does exactly what you would anticipate it would do. As a business owner you pay for your ad space only when it is clicked through on the host’s website. Say, for example, your business specializes in a very specific service, such as vacuum pump repair. A savvy business owner would place an ad for vacuum pump repair on a website that sells vacuums. This kind of ad placement ensures you will get clicks from interested parties, bringing truly curious customers to your website and managing your advertising money smartly all at once.

In the world of PPC there are two models that are often followed: bid-based and flat-rate PPC. In a bid-based PPC campaign, you will be placed in direct competition with other similar service providers for advertising space. You will tell the host how much money you are willing to pay for the PPC campaign and the highest bidder is awarded the ad space. A flat-rate PPC campaign eschews the bidding format for a flat rate that is simply agreed upon between the host and the advertiser. Both formats are viable, it is simply a matter of determining your company’s specific needs and then tailoring the PPC campaign to those needs.

PPC is marketing in the new millennium. It is smart, effective, and it saves money. When coupled with an SEO campaign, it can truly transform your business. If you have been considering jumping into the online marketing domain, there really is no better way to get your feet wet. If you administer the advice given above, you will no doubt notice the positive uptick in traffic to your website in no time. And where there are more customers, there is increased revenue. And where there is increased revenue, there is a happy business owner!

About the author

Ryan Chaffin is currently a college student majoring in Business Marketing. He loves anything technology, internet, and social media related along with sports and health & wellness. Ryan currently specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, and social media and believes in achieving your fullest potential on and off the web. You can also find Ryan on Twitter (@ryanchaffin).

Yes, lots of Coca-Cola going on in movies and series, as well as drinks, fashion brands and anything you’d ever think of. I am sure you all remember the Bridget Jones cheering on a huge screen. Or the Apple computers in Zoolander. But does product placement still work for popular movies and TV series?

I have to say I’ve started to overlook a lot of it. From clothes, to what they’re drinking or some of the gadgets they’re using. Then again, it also depends on how much the brand is shown off! If someone types behind a laptop for over 3 minutes, I might notice the brand. Or if you keep showing the computer game box each time you show the kid’s room, I might see it’s Heroes V Especially if I was a fan of Heroes III and IV

But other than that, do you buy something just because it’s shown on a TV screen but not during advertisement breaks? Is it a more effective advertising method? I mean, really, would you switch to the Head & Shoulders shampoo just because it was used to kill aliens in a rather silly movie?

I for one think it happens as it happens to all advertising: we learn to ignore it and it’s just wasted money. Are there any successful campaigns? Do you know of any and have you ever bought something just because you saw it in a movie?

I have never been against people attempting to make money online. On their blog, on their Twitter account, it really does not bother me. If I like their content and their way of thinking, I trust them to make interesting recommendations and to post ads that won’t make me run away.

The trouble begins when people are so wrapped up with making some money that they forget all about their brand in the process. All bloggers, business or not, work hard to promote their blog, to position it and build a brand for it. And then when they have enough traffic they want to have some income in exchange for their hard work. But why kill your blog’s brand for a few bucks when you could get said money without loosing trust and readers?

If you want to advertise, advertise something related to your blog or that might interest your readers. If you talk about web hosting, you can advertise designers, web copywriting services and other such services. But if you start promoting a teeth whitening formula, you’d lose. Why is it a bad decision? It makes you look easy to buy and a bit desperate. People who read about web hosting don’t care about teeth whitening in their web hosting dedicated time. They might want to read about it on the beauty/health/make your self pretty blog they read every day.

The purpose behind monetizing your blog or twitter stream is to actually make money! You need to find the products and services that would make your readers click. They have to think you had a great idea recommending something like that to them. They would have to trust you with that recommendation. Your expertise is part of what convinces them to give that ad/review or any other form of advertorial a second thought. That’s what brings you more money at the end of the day.

Yes, branding is tough. But the advertisements you choose actually help shape your brand. They position you in your niche to some extent. Choose to say your brand helps people and makes expert recommendations. Not that your brand couldn’t care less and would promote anything for the right price.

I haven’t seen great ads in a while. You know, the smart, funny and compelling type of ads that make you smile and secretly crave for the product they promote. And then a friend pointed me to a BMW poster ad. It had that very same effect on me! So I am sharing it with you It might work on me because I am sort of in their target, but still, great one!

Click on image for the original.

The Businessmagnet.co.uk solution

In troubled economic times when companies assassinate their marketing and advertising budgets, you’d expect companies in this industry to talk about how there’s no business and loss is lurking along their way. Yet in this very time and day, Businssmagnet.co.uk, online business directory from the UK, reported steady growth, a solid influx of new customers and a great, strengthened relationship with companies already working with them. I wanted to know more about their approach to business, as it is driving them up, right through the rough economic clutter. Lee Cheesman (see photo), Businessmagnet.co.uk Director was kind enough to answer a few questions.

While advertising budgets are being grossly cut down, Businessmagnet keeps growing. What’s your secret recipe?

Whilst we have seen a different trend throughout the advertising industry, we have been surprised by the number of businesses that have taken a proactive approach with the current economic situation, many businesses actually increasing their advertising spend, especially within the online sector. We too have taken a proactive approach to ensuring that our Directory is as streamlined and effective as ever. We have increased our web prominence and introduced a better system to keep our contact frequent with our customers.

Why is a directory listing a better option than other forms of online advertising?

A directory is quite a broad term that encapsulates many types of online advertising, there are so many things to look out for when advertising on the internet, some directories ticking all the plus points some completely missing the point. If a directory starts out by thinking they are going to be the next big search engine or is naïve enough to believe they will be used over some of the big names, Google, Yahoo etc… then they are starting out with the wrong attitude. The core focus has to be around the current aforementioned big names. How can we harness that traffic, those customers…those searchers. When a directory starts to realise the potential for tapping into this resource, it is then the directory becomes a viable advertising platform.

What should a company expect after starting to work with Businessmagnet in terms of results?

Results vary depending on spend, but on the whole, valid, qualified leads are a cert. We record all activity on our directory and are one of only a few who are registered with ABCE, a website statistics auditing body. We supply the tools to collaborate enquiries via Businessmagnet and are always able to reconcile our statistics with customer log files. A result doesn’t always necessarily mean money, sometimes we talk about results in the search engines we achieve for customers. We only utilize the organic or natural results in the search engines as they are proven to be more widely used than the CPC (cost per click) advertisements….Google actually said this themselves.

Is Businessmagnet a better fit for certain types of companies? Or do your services work regardless of industry segment?

The highly qualified leads we generate can be tailored to specific industries, however, manufacturing and industrial related companies seem to reap the benefits to the extreme, gaining those all important orders which can lead to hundreds of thousands in revenues. We have many different types of business advertising on our Business Directory, all are happy with our service which proves we can deliver the goods to any type of business.

What’s next for Businessmagnet? Any new features or expansions coming soon?

We are always implementing new features on the Directory, its almost a daily occurrence. We are always expanding and have been since 2004, taking on new staff, increasing the directories content. We feel we have the infrastructure just right now, but watch out for a new site freshen up late summer.

Disclosure: While Businessmagnet.co.uk is not one of my clients, they do advertise on WoBM. When researching who they were before starting our collaboration, I ran accross their press release announcing steady growth and wanted to find out how exactly they managed to achieve it. Hence the interview, hope you’ve enjoyed it

Sometimes work is purely fun and I feel bad getting paid for it. Like being there when this fun ad was created for one of the Mirror Communications clients, CoSoSys, vendor of leading endpoint security and data loss prevention solutions.

The ad is meant to emphasize how a company can simply not worry about thieves coming in and trying to steal their sensitive data. More on data loss and theft, how to prevent it and how serious it can be here.

Hope you enjoy the ad! Oh, and I challenge you to find me in the ad

What I think you shouldn’t have missed last week…

New week, new reading list ready for you! Hope everyone’s having a happy Monday and enjoys my recommendations for today.

Is your social media campaign already in place? Are you going to start one in the near future? You should, and fast, as a new survey quoted by Alan Weinkrantz PR Weblog shows consumers want to interact with companies on social media.

You have your brand name and logo ready, now you need a battle cry! Your PR Guy gives a few tips to come up with an exciting slogan.

Are economic downturns a good moment to start cutting PR and Marketing budgets? Todd Defren of PR Squared is showing you why you should think twice.

The best part in working closely with a research company, such as Forrester, Radicati or Gartner is the analyst briefings such a collaboration entails. Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst at Forrester, shared a few tips for a successful briefing.

Stories sell. So the best way to increase your sales is to learn to write such stories. To help you out, Brian Clark of Coppyblogger put up a great how-to.

Laura Spencer of Business and Blogging posed an interesting question: should your business blog be designed by a professional? She argued both possible answers, go on and share your personal opinion.

Ads are not the only way to make money with your blog. Tibi Puiu explained why ad-free blogs rock and which are the alternatives.

If you’re thinking to start a group blog project, this insightful post from Chris Brogan is exactly what you need. Go ahead and add your own thoughts to the list.

That’s it for this week, see you all next Monday! And of course, if you think I’ve forgotten anything, please add your suggestions in the comment box!

Guest post by Iuliana Butuc-Cerchez

Let’s say you are the founder and the general manager of an Internet company. One of the best in your country. Let’s say that a worldwide financial crisis makes you afraid of the future.

Let’s say that you have a dating portal in your management, besides other websites (a job portal and so on). Let’s say that, in the country where the biggest chunk of your market is, one TV show proposes you, the general manager, to participate and to make fun of yourself right there on the screen, in the front of several million TV viewers. The “prize”, if you happen to be the winner of the TV contest, is to get married to a so-called TV star. Not a nice or hot looking one, believe me!

Would you accept the proposal? Would you choose to be the subject of mockery in blog posts and press articles and, also, to “risk” getting married to a woman of doubtful reputation just to advertise your dating portal? Really, how low can you go with your personal brand to get some awareness on the TV for one of your company’s products?

Iuliana Butuc-Cerchez has been the Corporate Affairs Manager of the Gecad Group for over 4 years. She’s an exceptional PR professional and a true mentor for me. Before starting her PR career, she used to be this hard-core IT journalist at one of the best business and financial newspapers in Romania. She’s also a blogger, but as her blog is in Romanian, only part of my readers will be able to enjoy her articles.