The Rolling Stones are known for their music. But it wasn’t hits alone that shot them to the top of the charts. How to market your brand, and more, in today’s Lunchtime Links.

Under their thumb: The year was 1969 and few musical acts in the world were bigger than the Rolling Stones, except maybe the Beatles. But while the Fab Four would be broken up by 1970, Mick and Keith and company would play on, embracing the devil-may-care attitude that defined their honky-tonk style for decades to come. It came so naturally to the Stones. But as writer Erik Sherman reminds us in a recent article on Inc.com, the band’s image was carefully crafted into being by its original manager, Andrew Loog Oldham. Sherman suggests several marketing strategies business leaders and their organizations can learn from the Stones. The path to stardom starts with positioning, he says. The Beatles were a show-business brand, so Oldham took the Stones another direction. They were gritty and unrefined. Rather than emulate their competition, as so many others sought unsuccessfully to do, the Stones defied it. Sherman also credits the band for picking an image and embracing it, drawing attention to their songs with clever names and choosing the right adversary to play against. The Stones knew better than to compete with John, Paul, Ringo and George, he says. They went after different audiences, taking on rock’s original bad boy Elvis Presley, whose own star was fading. How does your organization position itself for success?

Get satisfaction: Associations are always on the lookout for ways to give their members and constituents more of what they want—those elusive, exclusive benefits that they can’t get anywhere else. But how do you know when your organization is meeting the needs of its members? What kinds of metrics can you use to measure customer satisfaction? A recent CMSWire article by Marisa Peacock breaks down key metrics for measuring customer satisfaction in the form of an easy-to-read infographic. The information, compiled by CMSWire and Simpler Media Group, Inc., explores the difference between customer satisfaction and customer service and the many ways to measure content reach. Did you know, for instance, that 65 percent of companies measure “reach” by focusing on web traffic? Or that 65 percent of customers want to have their issues resolved the first time around? How about that unhappy members or customers tell 10 people about their bad experiences, while happy customers tell only three? All of these issues and more could affect how your organization approaches customer service and member outreach.

Let’s spend on mobile together: Is your association invested in mobile advertising? If it hasn’t started yet, new research from ZenithOptimedia suggests the time could come—and soon. Los Angeles Times reporter Meg James details the report, which finds that advertising spending in the United States and Canada is projected to grow by 4 percent next year. In North America, researchers attribute nearly half of that growth to a splurge on mobile ads for cell phones, tablets, and other portable devices. James reports that the mobile advertising market is estimated at more than $6 billion, which seems like a lot, even if it only accounts for 4 percent of total advertising spending. Elsewhere in the world of advertising, internet ads continue “to outpace growth in traditional ad platforms of television and print media,” according to James, who points out that “[t]elevision remains marketers’ favorite medium, collecting nearly 40 percent of the total ad spend.”

How does your organization get its message out? Tell us in the comments.

(photo by Andrea Sartorati/Flickr)