Oxford Comma? Copywriting 101
In the copywriting world and elsewhere, the question remains: to use the Oxford comma or to eliminate it? Otherwise known as the serial comma, the Oxford comma remains a subject of considerable debate in multiple public and private circles. This notorious punctuation mark is succinctly defined by the Oxford University-affiliated Lexico as “an optional comma before the word ‘and’ at the end of a list.” Although it neglects to mention that the Oxford comma can also appear before the conjunction “or,” this definition matches the influential general writing style guidelines of the Associated Press (AP), which recommend employing an Oxford comma only when needed to prevent obvious cases of probable reader misinterpretation. Oxford comma basics Traditionally used by the editors and printers of the Oxford University Press, the Oxford comma is intended to prevent ambiguity and promote ready grammatical understanding by clearly demarcating all items in a series. Consider the following example presented by Lexico: “These items are available in black and white, red and yellow, and blue and green.” The Oxford comma before the penultimate “and” makes the color combinations above perfectly clear. But look what happens when the Oxford comma is omitted: “These items are available in black and white, red and yellow and blue and green.” Colors blur into one another, making a real mess! The Oxford comma in copywriting and other industries / sectors Although widely used in academia, the Oxford comma has long been a matter of debate in sectors that range from journalism to law. The legal implications of the Oxford comma recently became apparent through a $10-million class-action lawsuit involving a dairy company in Maine. As detailed by the leading editing and proofreading service provider Scribendi, this lawsuit centered on the following sentence: “The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: (1) Agricultural produce; (2) Meat and fish products; and (3) Perishable foods.” With no Oxford comma after “packing for shipment,” the exact exceptions for the shipment and/or distribution of the listed food products remain unclear. In the world of marketing, the average copywriting agency is likely to let the client have the final word when it comes to including or omitting the Oxford comma. At BIGEYE, however, we tend to encourage the use of the Oxford comma to avoid problems such as those detailed both above and below. Why the Oxford comma is important In addition to the confusion inherent in the instances listed above, the Oxford comma is essential to avoid the misunderstandings that can arise when readers mistake appositives (which rename nouns) for items in a series or vise versa. You may have seen one or more widely circulated examples that drive this problem home using humor. Take, for example, the sentence… “This book is dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand, and God.” With the Oxford comma, it is perfectly clear that the book has three dedicatees. Now, look at the same sentence without the Oxford comma: “This book is dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God.” If read as an appositive, the phrase “Ayn Rand and God,” leaves the book dedicated to two people only…and a highly unlikely couple to have a child together! For this reason among others, standard-bearers of scholarly writing such as the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, and the Chicago Manual of Style recommend the consistent use of the Oxford comma. The argument against the Oxford comma In addition to the AP, many official style guides attempt to avoid the clutter of unnecessary punctuation by recommending that writers use the Oxford comma only when reader confusion is likely to occur. In many ways, this makes perfect sense. After all, the phrase “less is more” applies to all aspects of writing and should be actively employed to prevent wordiness and produce text that is easy on the eyes. But who is qualified to differentiate cases that may lead to misunderstandings from cases that will not? In short, writers who fail to consistently use the Oxford comma may easily miss language that will seem confusing and/or conflicted to a large number of readers. Other Oxford comma detractors cite purely grammatical reasons for its omission. For example, consider the sentence “This book is dedicated to my mother, Ayn Rand, and God.” If mistaken for an appositive, “Ayn Rand” can, once again, be mistaken for the mother of the book’s author. If it is universally recognized as a tool for setting off items in a series, however, the use of the Oxford comma before “and” cannot be misinterpreted. Getting professional copywriting help When it comes to writing effective copy, the ultimate answer to the Oxford comma debate is best answered with the assistance of a skilled and knowledgeable marketing agency like Bigeye. A one-stop shop for all of your marketing needs, we offer a range of premium copywriting services.
Is Influencer Marketing Finally Out of Its Infancy?
Influencer marketing continues to grow at an extraordinary rate. Yet the field is on the verge of an even greater transformation. Here’s why. Influencer marketing as a general concept stretches back to early 20th century consumer advertising, when athletes, actors and astronauts were turned into pitchmen extraordinaire. Yet influencer marketing in the modern sense has been around for little more than a decade. Despite its relative youth, influencer marketing has proven remarkably popular — and successful. Total spend on Influencer marketing grew to $6.5 billion in 2019, a significant hike over the $1.6 billion spent in 2016. The industry is expected to crest $10 billion within the next two years, as roughly 70% of marketers expect to increase their spending in this category in 2020. To earn a competitive advantage, however, you can’t just throw money at influencers — you need to ensure resources are deployed wisely. This means divesting yourself of older influencer techniques that have lost their ability to engage and convert, and deploying new strategies that earn instant attention and cultivate meaningful brand loyalty. Understanding the evolution of the influencer market To help you develop a winning influencer marketing strategy, let’s take a look at a few techniques that have lost their relevance: Not giving your influencer the latitude to be creative. At one time, giving an influencer a fairly restrictive project brief made sense: Influencer marketing was new, and brands were taking a gamble by allowing non-traditional advocates to speak for their enterprises. Influencers, most of whom are used to engaging with audiences in an intimate and interactive setting, weren’t always shining examples of brand safety or caution, so it made sense to stick to a tight creative script. Today, however, most leading influencers are old pros and more than capable of adding value by stretching the creative bounds of a campaign. Focusing too much on size. In the early days, the size of an influencer’s following was the most important metric. Today, however, we understand that engagement is just as critical (if no more so). Audience engagement also tends to drop as size grows, so it makes sense for brands to try to hit the sweet spot that pairs wide reach with active engagement. Brands are also increasingly targeting the micro-influencer space. Even an account with a few thousand followers can deliver an exceptional ROI if those are the right few thousand people. Only using influencers within your niche. Again, this may have been entirely logical at one time, but you’re going to activate the Law of Diminishing Returns very quickly. To maximize the power of your influencer marketing strategy, reach beyond your niche or your industry and you can vastly widen the talent pool at your disposal. Great brand ambassadors can be found in the most unlikely places. I’ve retired my obsolete techniques…tell me what’s next? If you’re ready to refresh and recalibrate your influencer marketing approach, we think the following ideas are worth pursuing. Drop the one-off engagements and build long-term relationships. Finding great talent is the eternal battle for any business. You should view influencers through the same prism. People with engaged followings who can sell your brand in a compelling way that’s consistent with its values…those people are not easy to replace. If you want your influencer marketing efforts to be a sustainable driver of marketing ROI, it’s important to cultivate long-lasting links. Don’t get hung up on celebrities. Influencers sometimes get a bad name for being vapid or transactional. Brands that can avoid this and create influencer campaigns that deliver real value will have a great differentiator. Avoid shallow, celebrity-driven engagements and create something with more organic appeal and real value. Insist that your influencers use every tool at their disposal. The best influencers stay ahead of the curve on the formats they use (whether video or AR) and the creative approaches they take. Your influencers should be as eager to push the envelope as you are — it’s the only way to remain relevant in a saturated market. Finding the right influencer marketing agency At Bigeye, we’ve been harnessing the power of creatively inspired influencer marketing since the earliest days of the form. If you’re looking for an influencer marketing agency that can help you create the kind of campaigns that engage and convert, reach out to Bigeye today.
Find Your Brand’s Voice With Brand Identity
Before you can present a cohesive brand image that allows your company to communicate with a singular brand voice, you must determine and develop your company’s unique brand identity. Even seasoned business leaders and marketing professionals can get a bit lost when it comes to the complexities of branding methodology and contingent content marketing processes. However, The Balance Small Business, an independent source of business news and information, breaks down the difference between brand identity and brand image quite succinctly. In short, brand identity encompasses all components of a company that define it intrinsically. It is the intent behind the company brand image, which it will attempt to project in the minds of consumers. To make the identity/image distinction clearer, it may be helpful to think of your company as a living person. In a person, identity relates to a personal understanding of the self, while image refers to the cultivated face that each individual shows to others. The Ancient Greek aphorism “know thyself” wisely places identity before image in order to stress that man must live according to his nature. The branding of companies must follow the same general principle, allowing brand identity to determine brand image and dictate brand voice. In order to arrive at a brand identity that is right for you, you must consider not only what your company stands for but also whom your company is trying to reach. Know your audience Before you can develop the brand identity that will allow you to speak to your audience in a unified and compelling voice, you must determine who your audience is with absolute precision and considerable detail. Because your brand identity will determine the public image of your company in all respects, you must be sure that it is compatible with your target customer base. For example, any brand name, logo, and/or slogan that is geared toward millennials should be drastically different from those of a brand that is geared toward baby boomers. Remember the golden rule of brand strategy when it comes to audience targeting: companies that try to reach everybody will ultimately reach nobody. Know your company With your target audience firmly in mind, you can more adequately address consumer wants and needs while offering unique approaches and value-added embellishments that make you stand out from your closest competitors. A go-to informational resource for all things content marketing related, the independent online media outlet the Content Marketing Institute suggests trying to describe your unique brand identity in three words. Whether they be “innovative,” “passionate,” and “hardworking” or “quirky,” “imaginative,” and “authentic,” choose words that identify the essence of your company and its particular goods and/or services. These overarching characteristics can prove extremely helpful when you apply them to your subsequent approaches to marketing strategy and consumer communications. The specific elements of brand identity As previously discussed, brand identity should drive all aspects of company outreach to existing and potential customers. This means that brand identity should be immediately evident in your verbal communications (from company name to ad copy), your visual communications (from company logo to product packaging), and your customer service communications (from staff interactions to courtesy emails). Think about the ways in which brand identity can expand to all aspects of consumer psychological and emotional response. For example, the emblematic in-store scent of Abercrombie & Fitch and the dulcet vocal tones of Apple’s Siri each play an integral role in defining the unique brand identity of the companies that developed them. The specific media channels through which a company chooses to propagate its branded messages must also reinforce its essential brand identity. Within the world of social media alone, a tremendous amount of diversity exists when it comes to the underlying philosophies and attitudes of individual sites and the types of users that they tend to attract. Just think about the vast intrinsic and perceived differences that exist between industry leaders such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Tumblr. For more information To learn more about the importance of brand identity development when it comes to projecting a cohesive and effective brand image and speaking in a cohesive and effective brand voice, contact a representative of Bigeye today. We’re a brand identity agency that offers both a solid history in proven marketing techniques and a progressive vision that embraces state-of-the-art innovation.
Five Tools to Use for Perception Research
Effectively measure how customers perceive your brand by leveraging the power of these five essential perception research methods. Like beauty, brand perception is most decidedly in the eye of the beholder. As Forbes Magazine succinctly puts it, “Brands are not just what they say they are. Brands are what consumers say they are. A brand’s true identity lies in its perception.” No matter how carefully you have crafted your brand image, you cannot be sure how your target audience in actually perceiving that brand image. In reality, a great gulf may exist between your best intentions and the interpretations of those intentions by your existing and prospective customers. Although the inner thoughts and emotional/logical responses of others will always remain something of a mystery, you can employ a variety of techniques to peer into the hearts and minds of your marketing audience. Of course, few business leaders have the time and expertise to engage in ongoing, high-quality, in-depth customer perception research, but any professional marketing agency worth its salt will certainly offer these indispensible services with a focus on the unique wants and needs of the companies that it serves. Here are five tools that experienced and innovative marketers use to identify and measure brand perception. By leveraging the power of these tools, you can make sure that your company narratives and advertising messages successfully reinforce the brand image of your company that exists in the collective mind of your customer base. 1. Leverage the Data from Google Alerts Imagine if you could hire someone to monitor worldwide Internet use 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, scanning for each and every mention of your company and its specific products/services. You could gain incredible insight into public thoughts and feelings regarding your brand by weighing positive mentions against negative mentions and examining the specific contexts that merit each of these mentions. Well, imagine no longer, because Google Alerts allows you to do just this for all activity on the search engine that is used by well over 90 percent of the global population. Simply enter your company name and other essentials in the Google Alert system, and you will receive an email alert whenever any of those keywords appear online. 2. Conduct Brand Perception Surveys A great way to find out what your customers think about your brand is to simply ask them. And there is no better way to collect the thoughts of a broad swath of your customer base than to conduct a survey. From mass emails to your official website, there are many ways to distribute surveys to existing and prospective customers online. In light of the busy lives that your customers probably live, keep surveys short and consider offering some sort of incentive for completing them. 3. Organize Brand Focus Groups / Online Forums Compared with surveys, both of these options offer opportunities to get more in-depth information from a far smaller sample of your customer/audience base. Good questions to ask in brand focus groups or online forums will be similar to those asked in effective surveys, but you can probably ask far more and follow up with secondary questions for further clarification. Consider questions such as “Why do you choose this brand over others?” and “What comes to mind when you hear this brand name?” 4. Monitor Social Media It goes without saying that the best way to interact with customers today is through social media. According to the independent social media public relations news source Regan, 33 percent of consumers prefer to connect with a business through social media. Regan goes on to identify social media as a great place to get unbiased and unfiltered feedback on perceived brand image, citing research that has counted an average of 2.1 million negative mentions of brands among US social media users on a daily basis. 5. Monitor Online Reviews Customer review sites such as Yelp and Angie’s List are also great sources of unbiased and unfiltered brand perception feedback. By tracking reviews of your company and its products/services on an ongoing basis, you can get a more complete picture of the ways your target audience interprets your transmitted brand image. Getting professional help If you have questions about the supreme importance of consumer brand perception or are looking to secure expert perception research services, don’t hesitate to contact a marketing professional at Bigeye. We have the experience and forward-thinking vision necessary to make perception research work for you and your company.
Starter Children, Fur Babies, and a DTC Success Story
If your fur baby could help lead you to a $250 million DTC subscription service, wouldn’t you want to be set for success? Millennials are delaying child-rearing. Millennials love dogs. Millennials are receptive to DTC subscription services and advertising. What do these three things have in common? They’re a recipe for a $250 million business. Barking up the money tree It’s hardly surprising that younger people are delaying home-purchasing, parenting and other traditional milestones. Student loan debt is at historic levels and wage growth has been flat. While you can’t eliminate the paternal/maternal impulse, you can reroute it. Priced out of parenthood, millennials are turning their thwarted parental impulses toward pets. Call them starter children, fur babies, or absurdly over-indulged animals, the numbers don’t lie: 44% of millennials see their pets as proxy children. Brands in the flourishing pet care space have been quick to capitalize on this sentiment. Yet none are quite so well-positioned as DTC brands, who are firmly in the millennial sweet spot. They offer boutique, cleverly marketed products to a narrow yet hardcore audience; they deliver to your door and they are price competitive. That’s more or less the millennial trifecta, and one of the brands that have been most successful at deploying this strategy is BarkBox. BarkBox is a DTC subscription service that delivers a box of dog treats to your door. Not revolutionary, sure. Yet the idea plays beautifully on several consumer preferences. You don’t have to leave the house and visit a pet store full of poorly-differentiated toys and treats You don’t have to spend time choosing what to buy Your dog treats arrive in a box, curated for your pet’s enjoyment The contents of each box are a mystery, making the process a bit like opening a gift BarkBoxes are sold direct-to-consumer, with the parent company (Bark) largely relying on Facebook for marketing during its early growth phase That’s a winning formula, and not just for pets. Another popular DTC subscription service, Universal Yums, curates boxes of candy and snacks from across the globe and sends a new box from a different country to subscribers each month. BarkBox, which handles its creative in-house, recently tested its first direct response TV ad, then measured the number of new subscriptions gained in the immediate wake of the ad. It’s a strategy that many DTC businesses are following, as they try to do more with less outside the confines of the traditional large agency model. Direct to consumer marketing strategies have a variety of powerful benefits for brands such as Bark: They allow more control over brand messaging, they reduce costs, and they enhance flexibility. Partnering with the right DTC marketing agency can help small businesses unlock these benefits and drive real, tangible results. The takeaway Small DTC businesses often lack the resources to partner with the largest agencies – yet that doesn’t mean they can’t have access to world-class campaigns. At Bigeye, we understand the DTC subscription service and advertising market on a deep level, and we’re nimble enough to help you create compelling direct to consumer marketing campaigns on demand.
Business Naming Really Is a Science – Or Is It?
Although the business naming process is far from exact, you can develop a formula to find a name that can rocket your company to success and sustain ongoing growth. Would a rose, by any other name, truly smell as sweet? Romeo may think so in regard to his fair Juliet, but in the business world, a name can truly make or break you. First and foremost, let’s address the obvious: a good name cannot save a bad company. A clever or interesting name may attract some consumers to a particular company, but those consumers will not stick around when they encounter significant flaws in that company’s products and/or services. Furthermore, that once “clever/interesting” name will take on a whole new meaning in the marketplace as public opinion of the company begins to decline. So why is a company’s name so critical to success? The answer lies in the fact that a name is so easy to instantly love or hate. First impressions are incredibly important, and so are the ways in which a company’s name initially hits the ear and/or the eye. Everybody automatically judges a name and, furthermore, feels qualified to do so. For this reason alone, investing in an effective name makes great business sense. So what differentiates a good business name from a bad one? Investigating this question, The Atlantic contacted marketing executive and legendary brand naming expert Hayes Roth, who could offer no universal rules for landing on the ideal name, but presented the act of business naming as a protracted process that begins in strategy and ends in practical application. As an example, Roth, the mastermind behind the brand name BlackBerry, stresses the importance of speaking with “a familiar voice.” He adhered to this principle by choosing all one-syllable words for BlackBerry’s line of smartphones (Bold, Curve Storm, etc.). From the iPad to the iPod, Apple’s mobile products also epitomize this concept by universally beginning with a lower-case “i.” Forbes adds to this key tactic with several other general but imperative tips for effective company naming. Consider the following four tips carefully before embarking on the business naming process. 1. Keep it simple and catchy. Avoid overly long and hard-to-spell names. You want your name to be eminently “googleable.” Obviously, you want to avoid any boring names, but you can easily confuse and/or repel potential customers if you choose a name that is too strange or outlandish. As Forbes puts it, ”You want your employees to be able to say where they work without hesitation, and you want your name to resonate with your target audience.” Pay close attention to the way your name sounds when it is spoken and looks when it is read! 2. Use a name that conveys strategic meaning. Although meaningless names such as “Google” can certainly catch on, in general, the name of your company should clearly convey something that is meaningful, positive, and associated with the type of business that you conduct. By developing a name that has recognizable meaning with direct ties to your company, you can also cut down significantly on branding costs. 3 Don’t pick a name that could be limiting as your business grows. Today, few people are aware that the electronics chain Best Buy formerly did business as Sound of Music. That name worked perfectly well during the early years of the company when it primarily sold home stereo equipment. But as the company gradually expanded to offer the diverse array of products that it offers today, the originally chosen name of this multinational retail giant just made less and less sense. The moral of this story? Prevent the tremendous expense and dangerous pitfalls of a complete rebrand by avoiding company names that are narrow enough to cause future problems. 4. Conduct thorough Internet and trademark searches. When you begin to favor a particular name, it’s time to check to see if it is already in use. Although businesses with the same or similar names can conduct business simultaneously in some cases, this arrangement will almost always create significant issues. After conducting a general Internet search, check USPTO.gov to see if you can get the name trademarked or service marked. Getting Professional Help In light of the incredible importance of an effective company name, wise companies will often seek the help of a quality marketing agency that provides professional business naming services. If you have questions about effective naming strategies, contact a skilled and knowledgeable marketing expert at Bigeye today.
Software is Eating the World, and Healthcare is Next on the Menu
Healthcare and technology companies are quickly converging. Here’s what brands need to know about health and wellness marketing to take advantage. A few years ago, tech visionary Marc Andreessen published a famous essay that asserted “software is eating the world.” Everywhere we look, companies are shaking off legacy or analog approaches in favor of software-driven innovations — and the healthcare industry is no exception. Tech and medicine are converging at a rapid rate, something that should be a dominant topic in any discussion of health and wellness marketing. Why healthcare companies are tech companies Not too long ago, healthcare was a reactive endeavor. People sought treatment when an acute medical issue arose and submitted to a perfunctory yearly physical examination. Preventative medicine helped change that, as people began to seek more regular interactions with the healthcare system. Now, thanks to technology, consumers have become even more tightly integrated into the healthcare system. Consider the case of Apple. Tim Cook, Apple CEO, recently said that he expects the company’s greatest contributions won’t come in the realm of communications or pure computing, but in healthcare. The company’s Apple Watch is an example of a smart wearable device that can be used to gather real-time health data. That data can be analyzed by the watch owner or exported to the cloud and analyzed by a healthcare professional. Either way, it provides important bio-feedback that can be used to make much more informed healthcare treatment decisions. The healthcare sector is an attractive opportunity for large tech firms such as Apple, as it represents about 18% of the total U.S. economy. Scrappy startups, too, are entering the space in force: Venture capitalists spent more than $20 billion backing healthcare plays in 2019. How tech and medicine are converging If you want to see some examples of tech and healthcare converging, 2019 provided no shortage. Here are a few of the most compelling trends that drew media attention in the last year: Bringing ancillary healthcare to your doorstep: Digital-first companies are providing a range of complementary healthcare services. Warby Parker offers prescription eyeglasses, Curology offers personalized acne and skin care treatments, Smile Direct Club provides dental care and teeth whitening. All of these services are available without a visit to a doctor’s office. Telemedicine: The Internet and mobile devices have freed us from the tyranny of proximity (although they’ve greatly increased the number of tedious conference calls we have to endure). This remote model has helped establish the field of telemedicine, where healthcare professionals can offer long-distance evaluations and consultations for both mental and physical health. For people in remote or rural areas without access to healthcare, this is often a huge benefit. Biotech breakthroughs: Technology is helping to unlock extraordinary new advances in medicine. Surgeons are operating with robots, human genes are being edited to help fight disease, targeted and personalized medicine promises to help us create customized drugs to work on a single person with maximum efficacy, face transplants have been performed, and what was once a figment of our imagination is now possible and happening thanks to technology. It is now even possible to create human organs via 3D printing. Is your health and wellness marketing agency up to the task? Technology and medicine are converging at a dizzying rate, leading to advances that would have seemed more like science fiction just a decade ago. Yet few pharma marketing agencies or medical device marketing agencies are keeping pace. At BIGEYE, we understand health and wellness marketing on a fundamental level. If other healthcare advertising agencies aren’t serving your needs, we urge you to contact us today.
Know Your Audience with Persona Development
You may think that you already know your target marketing audience, but without persona development, you may be shooting in the dark. It’s marketing 101: The first step to effective branding and advertising is knowing your audience. And there is no better way to fully understand your audience than a well-crafted buyer persona. Forbes Magazine Councils Member and contributing writer Jon Simpson defines buyer personas as “semi-fictional characters that personify your ideal customer” and called them “imperative to having accurate audience insights.” Many business leaders deem the development of buyer personas superfluous, overconfident in their natural ability to connect with existing and prospective customers. But without comprehensive and effective persona development, critical misjudgments can easily occur. And these misjudgments can make the ultimate difference between success and failure. The benefits of persona development It is essential for brand strategy experts and content marketers to draft and refine effective buyer personas. No matter how busy they happen to be and how anxious they are to get on to the content creation stages of marketing campaign development process, they absolutely must make time for this key preparatory measure. Persona development gives direction and focus to all of your marketing efforts by providing a single audience template that everyone in your organization can use when developing overall marketing strategy and spearheading specific advertising efforts. As the independent content marketing resource Content Marketing Institute puts it, “Documenting your personas, even if done quickly, is key to keeping everybody focused on the same audience.” Persona development is particularly useful for companies with multiple stakeholders and/or team members who hold decidedly different opinions when it comes to marketing and branding strategies. By determining buyer personas that epitomize target audiences as a whole, companies can not only structure a unified marketing vision, but make all narratives involving company brand and products/services far more compelling, memorable, and ultimately effective. From your official website and social media pages to your traditional and digital advertising efforts, all elements of your marketing outreach can (and probably will be) refined and optimized to meet the specific wants and needs of your audience as you identify them. However, by creating clearly defined buyer personas ahead of time, you can avoid the tremendous amount of time and monetary expense that go hand in hand with major redesign and redevelopment. How to develop an effective buyer persona Although even a rudimentary buyer persona is better than no buyer persona at all, it goes without saying that putting more forethought and care into the persona development process will inevitably yield better results. For this reason, organizations that are serious about marketing and branding success typically employ the help of a specialized persona development agency when engaging in this process. The Content Marketing Institute breaks the development of an effective buyer persona into five practical steps. Keep in mind that each of these steps is an involved process in and of itself, requiring significant data gathering and analysis using modalities that range from general market research to customer/prospective customer interviews and surveys. Step 1: Visualize the ideal customer. Through extensive research, analysis, and projection, develop a single fictional customer who represents your target audience as a whole. For optimum results, go far beyond basic demographics such as gender and income level to examine the details of this customer’s professional and personal life. Step 2: Consider the customer’s applicable wants and needs. What are the common objectives and responsibilities of your ideal customer? What obstacles might stand in his or her way? Step 3: Characterize that customer’s role in relation to the purchase of products and/or services. What form does your ideal customer’s buying process take? What questions is that customer likely to ask before making a purchase? Step 4: Consider the customer’s communication preferences. What media channels does your ideal customer use on a regular basis? Where does he or she go to get information? Step 5: Marry your buyer persona insights to your strategic company goals. A great way to do this is to craft one or more engagement scenarios that take buyer personas through various prospective consumer interactions with your company. For more information If you want to learn more about the benefits of persona development and/or get professional assistance with the persona development process, contact a skilled and knowledgeable representative of Bigeye today. If you are looking for a persona development agency with a vision, we’d love to show you what we have to offer.
How to Take Your Brand Strategy to the Next Level in 2020
At the beginning of the new decade, we are poised on the precipice of big changes when it comes to driving brand strategy for your company. Looking to expand your company’s brand outreach over 2020 and into the new decade? Here are just a few tips to stay ahead of the pack in a rapidly evolving marketing environment. 1. Diversify your outreach Diversification has been a sector buzzword for quite some time, but as we progress into 2020, the advantages of spreading your brand outreach through a range of marketing channels have never been more pronounced. The bottom line is this: if you want to grow your brand and attract more customers, you must reach targeted and general customers where they are. Although social media remains a vital piece of the modern branding puzzle, if growth is your goal, you simply can’t place too much emphasis on social media alone. The leading United Kingdom business magazine Business Matters recommends a varied branding outreach strategy, bolstered by elements that include “a well-designed website, great social media across multiple platforms, digital PR, in-person networking and email marketing.” Plus, for most companies seeking to grow its brand, traditional media outlets such as print, broadcasting, and cable channels, still play a major role. 2. Integrate consumer-facing IoT The Internet of Things (IoT) — the vast and diverse network of interrelated digital devices and smart machines that not only interact with but learn from one another — is ready to “revolutionize branding.” Or so says no less an authority than Forbes Magazine, which points to the data and control of IoT technology as a key tool for companies that have “blurred the lines between digital and brand strategy, effectively making them function as one, in many cases.” In short, the IoT not only gives companies ample opportunity to grow and expand their branding operations, but it can be instrumental in boosting the brand unity and overall cohesion that is so key to success in the modern consumer sector. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the tech-driven retail giant Amazon is positioned at the cutting edge of IoT-driven branding with network and product unifying devices such as the Amazon Echo. This year, Amazon announced three new wearable technology products (Echo Frames, Echo Loop, and Echo Buds) that promise to draw the average consumer even deeper into the IoT world. 3. Learn to use the full potential of Google to drive traffic to your virtual doorstep Your online branding strategy may have be ambling forward with an official website and a few relatively well-managed social media pages. You may even have launched a basic search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. But if you really want connect with existing and prospective customers online, you must remain up to date with the ongoing developments of Google. Facilitating over 90 percent of all online searches, Google is, essentially, the only search engine that truly matters. In order to make the most of Google’s tremendous potential, companies should engage a brand strategy agency with the expertise to use the search engine’s rapidly evolving policies and particular idiosyncrasies in order to optimize online content and drive SEO. 4. Leverage the power of branded apps Branded digital applications are also a great way to expand and solidify brand loyalty. Industry giants such as McDonald’s and Starbucks have already learned the tremendous value of these apps, which can provide tremendous insights into the buying habits of customers. On the consumer side, Forbes identifies “incentivization and gamification” as “two tried-and-true carrots” that can make branded apps irresistible. Starbucks’ branded app, for example, offers discounts for devoted customers, provides an easy payment method for in-store purchases, and allows for the storage of gift card credit. In short, the Starbucks app has largely replaced Starbucks loyalty cards and similar physical branding outreach products. No matter what form your branded app takes, it can serve as a powerful centerpiece for much of your brand strategy. After all, what can identify a loyal customer faster than an app on his or her smartphone? To learn more For more information about managing and growing your brand over 2020 and for years to come, you should consider contacting a brand strategy agency that can address the specific needs and unique attributes of your company and the business sector in which it operates. A forward-thinking marketing firm, Bigeye can help you chart a brand strategy that can take you through the new decade.
How to Create Environmental Branding for a Bank
If you’re not embracing environmental branding for your financial institution, you’re missing out on a key piece of the overall marketing puzzle. Companies in the retail sector have long leveraged the power of the branded environment (incorporating an organization’s brand and the distinctive characteristics of that brand into the interior and/or exterior design of its brick-and-mortar stores). Whether it means liberally integrating the retailer’s name into physical location signage or imbuing in-store displays with the unique charm and appeal of the retailer’s brand identity, environmental branding can work wonders when it comes to driving customer loyalty and on-site sales. The banking industry, however, has traditionally lagged far behind top retailers when it comes to leveraging the power of branded environments. This makes perfect sense considering the history of banks in the United States and elsewhere. In most communities, there was only one bank in operation. Effective branding and marketing operations in general were completely unnecessary. Customers banked with a specific organization because it was their only option, not because they preferred it over any available alternatives. Now increasingly savvy about branding practices, the financial institutions of today are finally beginning to reverse this trend, realizing that effective branding is absolutely essential if they want to get a leg up on the competition in the modern marketplace. The creation and maintenance of branded environments should be an absolutely essential component of any banking organization’s greater marketing efforts. If you are looking for ways to develop effective branded environments for your bank location(s), you will want to employ a marketing agency with the established expertise to address the specific wants and needs of your particular institution. The following four guidelines can get you headed in the right direction. 1. Concentrate on relationship building in the lobby area When it comes to building a new bank branch or remodeling an existing bank location, the design masterminds at HTG Architects suggest rethinking the fundamental purpose of your lobby area. As HTG puts it, “Co-branding can change your space from “transaction-based” to “relationship-based.” And in today’s banking world, this shift can make all the difference.” In addition to incorporating ample on-brand elements into your lobby, HTG suggests reducing the size of banking transaction areas if it can make lobby space feel more comfortable and inviting. 2. Reflect evolving technology Different banking organizations will inevitably target different consumer demographics, but the vast majority of todays’ customer base will respond favorably to technological innovation. This is particularly true of consumers in the modern banking sector, who tend to expect the companies with which they partner to be on the cutting edge in terms of state-of-the-art financial operations and security measures. In order to reinforce strong technological ties, the physical design of brick-and-mortar bank branches must reflect high-tech engagement in a variety of ways. This might mean the inclusion of advanced ATM machines and smart kiosks or it might mean simply crafting on-site sign imagery and typography that is compatible with technological themes. 3. Emphasize convenience and public responsibility Smart financial institutions will also design their buildings to not only deliver optimum customer convenience, but reinforce their commitment to public service through effective on-site messaging. Two great examples of this emphasis on respect and responsibility are ADA compliance and environmental sustainability. All bank locations should go far beyond the mandated regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to ensure that all customers have equal access to banking processes regardless of physical or mental disability. Furthermore, bank locations should offer the latest in recycling amenities, responsible resourcing, paperless technology, and other green modalities. Remember, your physical location speaks volumes about your company’s priorities and values. 4. Consider environmental co-branding If you really want to boost consumer convenience while engendering considerable lobby cross-traffic, you may want to look into partnering with a well-known brand from another business sector and welcoming that partner into the physical space of your bank branch(es). While traditional environmental co-branding partnerships in the banking sector have included insurance agencies, accountants, and title companies, more and more banks are incorporating comfort-inducing retail organizations such as coffee shops into their lobby areas. For more information To guide them through the considerable intricacies of the environmental branding process, wise companies seek out the assistance of highly trained and specialized marketing professionals. An environmental branding agency that is both forward-thinking and rooted in current best practices, Bigeye can answer any questions that you might have about your bank’s practical environmental branding options.