A Marketing Guide for Your CBD Product
Business in the CBD space is booming — and well-capitalized competitors are entering the field. Here’s why the right CBD marketing agency can help brands win today and tomorrow. The cannabidiol (CBD) brand category is growing faster than a weed planted in Miracle Gro — and for good reason. Public demand for CBD products has been nearly insatiable, providing enormous opportunity for early moving brands within the space. Now, however, competition is becoming much tougher, as more established companies seek to carve off their own slice of the CBD market pie. In order to win, brands need the services of a top CBD marketing agency with true domain expertise. Let’s take a closer look at growth in the CBD market and how today’s brands can strengthen their competitive position through smart CBD product marketing. Why CBD products have captured the public’s imagination Within the space of a few years, CBD products have gone from a niche concern to a mainstream phenomenon. This remarkable transformation is tied to two developments. First, the 2018 Farm Bill made the production and sale of CBD products legal in all federal jurisdictions. While this opened the floodgates from a legal and regulatory perspective, there was still another piece necessary to turn CBD into such a high-growth category: Extraordinary consumer demand. This demand has been stoked by a perfect storm of market conditions and public need. The global wellness industry has been booming in recent years, with consumers seeking to optimize how they eat, live and care for themselves. CBD products fit squarely within this category. They are non-intoxicating; they’ve been medically proven to help treat a variety of widespread health issues, and they are an all-natural alternative to pharmaceuticals or other interventions. Combine these qualities with easy accessibility, it’s no wonder that CBD is fast-approaching “gluten-free” as the next great, market-driving consumer health and wellness craze. As the CBD space is maturing, however, competition is fast increasing. Large enterprises capable of leveraging massive economies of scale are entering the market. In order to remain as competitive as possible, it’s imperative for today’s brands to have access to high-quality CBD advertising and marketing. A guide for effective CBD product marketing Now is a critical time for CBD brands, as market share and customer loyalty are up for grabs in an industry that is both very young and rapidly evolving. Companies that can excel at audience acquisition and brand building during this phase will create sustainable long-term competitive advantages. Put the right CBD advertising strategy in place today, and you’ll reap substantial benefits as the market matures. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at a few of the more important things to consider in the context of CBD oil marketing. Brand story and positioning The CBD market is growing crowded — and many of the brands in the category offer little in the way of smart differentiation. Some borrow the same tired and cliched “4/20”-style branding from the cannabis industry; others are choosing to brand their product squarely within a health and wellness context. Your company’s brand story and positioning will play a critical role in helping you connect with the right audience. Done at a high level, your brand story tells consumers who you are. It communicates your company values. It creates an identity for consumers to connect with. Tell the right story, and consumers will want to purchase your products because your brand aligns with their own sense of self. You can choose to create a refined brand that targets the upper end of the market. You can choose to create a trendy brand targeted at millennials and Gen Z. Yet no matter the approach you choose, branding needs something else to be effective: A deep knowledge of your potential audience. Audience segmentation and market research Audience targeting is a virtual pre-requisite for success in any competitive brand category. Let’s take the example of CBD cosmetics. If you’ve created an expensive CBD oil-infused beauty treatment that’s designed to eliminate wrinkles, what does your consumer market look like? With a few exceptions, it’s not men, so we can remove roughly 50% of consumers right away. Your product is pricey, so it probably won’t appeal to anyone earning under $40k annually, removing another sizable group of people. It’s an anti-aging product, so younger millennials and Gen Z won’t be too interested. Suddenly your market looks much smaller — though it’s still easily large enough to target, assuming you have the right CBD advertising. The problem is this: Many advertising and marketing channels take a scattershot approach. Legacy TV ads, for example, have only the most general demographic data to guide them. In order to get your messages to the ideal audience with laser-like precision, you need two things: Audience segmentation and tailored ad and marketing distribution. CBD brands can acquire the first through the creation of detailed brand personas and sophisticated market research. Brand personas are demographic profiles of idealized customers: Who they are, educational status, income, family situation, their likely behavior, preferences etc. Market data can be culled from a variety of sources: customer feedback, formal surveys, data gathered from devices etc. These approaches can then be combined with programmatic advertising that allows CBD brands to tailor their ads to certain audiences. Today, programmatic ads have grown much more powerful and refined, incorporating behavioral data, location data and other factors. For example, a CBD brand could choose to serve a Google ad to someone on a mobile device who is within a one-mile radius of that brand’s brick-and-mortar store. Or, a CBD brand could serve ads to consumers based on recent search interest or other factors. Focusing on the health and wellness market CBD brands have an innate advantage over many other products within the health and wellness category: Their products are backed up by hard evidence that substantiates their efficacy. Numerous studies have shown that CBD can have a positive impact on anxiety, pain, insomnia, and other critical health issues. Given
Why Digital Marketing Drives Revenue in the Multi-Family Industry
Don’t let your multi-family digital marketing strategy become stagnant, now is your chance to extend them beyond the walls of your complex. The multi-family industry has long used traditional advertising and marketing approaches to drive revenue through local TV, brochures, etc. Yet as the industry changes to adapt to larger societal changes, these legacy approaches need to play a more complementary role. Today, multi-family digital marketing supported by data-driven insights is the best way to reach audiences and create sustainable revenue. How multi-family digital marketing helps cultivate leads and meet occupancy goals What’s driving the multi-family space’s foray into data-powered digital marketing? According to some industry observers, digital marketing is essential in order to help resolve several entrenched business problems. These include diagnosing underperforming properties, identifying gaps in lead management and merchandising specific product types (such as floor plans and unit sizes) on demand. By integrating data analytics into their approach, multifamily operators are able to gain the insight they need to convert leads more effectively and identify inefficiencies and opportunities within specific properties. Decisions supported by real-time data can help managers increase yield and minimize lost opportunities. So how are multi-family operators incorporating these strategies? By mastering the fundamentals: High-quality lead generation, a robust online presence (great UX, compelling content, and tools such as online chatbots) lead forms, and contact centers. Other key developments Multi-family digital marketing tactics need to extend beyond lead management and well-designed websites. Marketers in this space should also give due consideration to the following: Consumer search preferences are evolving. Multifamily operators must stay current on SEO best practices in order to ensure visibility when prospective customers search for properties within their area. This is especially true given the impact of Google Places on organic search placement. Internet Lead Management (ILM) analytics can help property managers gain deeper insight into the lifecycle of a lead and how various channels are performing. ILM analytics can also provide a window into performance on the agent level, as communication can be analyzed to determine what prospects are responding to and what they aren’t. Analytics can also shine a light on whether there is a problem within the lead management process, or the sales process. Data-driven insights can also help optimize revenue management. Property managers can identify upcoming occupancy problems and make adjustments to ensure that rates remain stable. Those adjustments may include ramping up an existing marketing campaign to get additional prospects in the sales pipeline, or hitting pause on a campaign if long-term occupancy projections are higher than previously thought. Property managers can also use digital tools to introduce dynamic pricing, optimizing revenue based on shorter-term demand fluctuations. The takeaway The multi-family property space is quickly modernizing its marketing approach, shifting from traditional TV ads and brochures to sophisticated, data-driven digital marketing. This approach is paying significant dividends in terms of creating more leads, optimizing lead management, and improving revenue management practices. At BIGEYE, we’re experts in multifamily digital marketing — and we’d design a campaign that increases your leads and boosts your bottom line. Contact us today to learn what a top multifamily digital marketing agency can do for you.
Next-Gen TV Trends and How They Can Impact Your Brand.
Next gen TV, also known as ATSC 3.0, is redefining traditional broadcast TV by breathing new life into the aging medium. So now we answer the first question, what is ATSC 3.0? It’s the update that broadcast TV has been severely lacking. This new system will leverage current technologies to enhance picture, sound, framerate, and overall range of the medium without losing a moment of your favorite shows. ATSC 3.0 technology enhances everything about broadcast to bring it into the digital age. This will reinvigorate traditional TV, and dramatically increase its value as an advertising medium. What will Change The short answer? Everything. But let’s start with picture. The current—let’s call it classic, broadcast system caps out at 1080p. Next gen TV will span all the way to 4K! Making the new ATSC standard an HDTV over the air experience. Raising the quality of the experience without adding cost, the ATSC 3.0 system will drive conversion like never before. Furthermore, next gen TV is designed to be an ever-evolving technology. Building on the concept of technological adaption, ATSC 3.0 is designed for easy integration as new technologies develop. This way, broadcast television will not fall behind as time passes. Allowing room for future growth is an incredible capability for any technology in this day and age. This system will entice users who want to get the best service over time without paying to switch hardware or service providers as technologies evolve. This broadcast method will also have a stronger, wider range. Meaning that every user will receive more channels in higher quality without the need for a large antenna. The system will even allow mobile devices to access broadcast shows. By building in capabilities across devices, broadcast TV is broadening its scope and making itself a far more advantageous advertising tool. The Impact Next gen TV enables stronger geo-targeting capabilities than cable or satellite TV. As over-the-air TV is intrinsically contained in a specific geographic area, it is a medium that lends itself to area-specific messaging. This makes next gen TV the perfect platform for local businesses such as community banks, mom-and-pop shops, and more to reach their target market without breaking the bank. How it Works This system is able to achieve its unique capabilities by connecting on more than one front. The classic broadcast system is accessed simply by an antenna while the next gen TV system uses both an antenna and a wi-fi connection to strengthen the quality and broaden the service range; This is also what allows it to be accessed across devices. Not only is ATSC 3.0 perfect for geo-targeting, but by enabling tracking as well as use across devices it presents as both a traditional and digital media. With next gen TV, experienced advertisers can reach their audience on a whole new level. The Takeaway Broadcast TV is getting a much-needed facelift that will skyrocket its importance both as a service and as an advertising medium. Paying attention to this change now will open up avenues for effective, low-cost campaign strategies that will reach the right people, at the right time, for the right price. When you’re ready to enhance your advertising strategy reach out to our innovative channel experts today!
4 Unconventional, Creative Ways to Perform Market Research
Customer insights are solid gold. They unlock the door to commercial innovation, help you understand the latent needs of your target audience, and spark ideas for future products. It would be hard for any marketer to dispute the value of market research. What we are going to dispute is the misconception that market research has to be expensive. If you have the budget for it, there is nothing wrong with investing in big data, qualitative customer insights interviews, market reports, and high-powered consultants. All of these tools are very effective at gathering and aggregating customer insights. When an advertising agency harnesses these insights to a creative campaign, they can have a huge impact. But those aren’t the only ways to perform market research. Entrepreneurs, small- and medium-sized business owners, scrappy startups, and even frugal corporate heavyweights have plenty of options to collect remarkably accurate market research using lean methodology that does more with less. These four unconventional and creative ways to perform market research are as inexpensive as they are efficient. The best part is, they also yield near immediate results so you can go to market faster. Social Media for Market Research Social media isn’t usually considered a market research tool, but don’t let that fool you. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, are mini focus groups that allow you to read (and respond to) customer comments, giving you a real-time view into the cause-and-effects that actually influence customer behavior. You can also introduce questions about possible new features or products into your forum, share surveys and polls, and even reach out to customers for one-on-one feedback about their experience. All for free. Because many websites also use social media to enable single sign on customer login, social platforms have a wealth of data about where else your customers are shopping and socializing. While you may not be able to see the full picture or harness the full depth of that information without partnering (or paying) those platforms directly, you can conduct your own qualitative research by looking at what your top users and social advocates are doing online. We know it may sound a little old fashioned or labor intensive, so partnering with a digital marketing agency can make your life easier … but go ahead and do a little Facebook stalking, see what you can learn, and don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to learn more from time to time. Research Livestreaming If you want to enjoy similar benefits but take some of the legwork out of trolling social media sites for nuggets of information, research firm Harris Interactive’s new platform built for the modern digital marketing agency, Research Livestreaming, may be just the tool you were looking for. This tool offers a unique view into both your customers’ social media activity and more direct customer feedback. Customers opt in by linking their social media sites to the Research Livestreaming platform and then participating in surveys, polls, and discussions regarding various experiences and products. Customers are rewarded for their insights with monetary gift certificates or merchandise. The tool provides a much more holistic picture into the market’s behavior and how social actions correspond to real actions. Because users also choose to participate in the Research Livestreaming platform, you don’t need to worry about being perceived as pushy or soliciting unwelcome information. The downside is that you can’t completely control the users you get to interact with. Although these individuals are all willing to share information, you aren’t receiving information from customers who had a bad experience or those who may be less inclined to share. In reality, you aren’t receiving customer information at all. There’s no guarantee that participating in Research Livestreaming is representative of your customer segment. That said, because users choose how and where to participate on the platform, it’s safe to assume that respondents are self-selecting into experiences they would engage with in the wild and your digital marketing agency can help interpret results into actionable strategy. In this way, Research Livestreaming provides exceptional directional insight into customer behavior and broad market temperature. User Testing If you crave more granular information, consider using simple user testing software such as usertesting.com. This is one of our favorite customer research tools to gain insight into task completion and user experience functionality. Your content marketing agency can help you prepare product prototypes, show customers your actual homepage, or ask them to imagine themselves in a situation and complete a task such as purchasing a product or searching for information. Each testing session is recorded, so you’ll be able to watch (and listen to users comment on) their experience every step of the way. User testing provides a very narrow, but accurate view into market behavior. This can be invaluable when preparing for a product launch or revamping your online presence. Like Research Lifestreaming, you are somewhat limited by who signs up to participate on usertesting.com. It’s important to remember that while lean market research doesn’t give you an infallible look at customer behavior, it’s often faster and easier to collect. Responses from user testing are usually available within hours, rather than months (as is the case with traditional market research). With these tools, you can supercharge your testing and iteration process to meet your customers’ needs faster. Site Surveys And don’t forget about adding a customer survey to your homepage. You can ask simple questions like why they came to your site, or more broad questions like what they like or dislike your brand. Give them the option to respond with simple yes/no or radio button answers, or add their own verbatims. Survey creation software such as Qualaroo is easy to implement with a few clicks of a button, so everyone from a seasoned digital marketing agency to the most non-tech savvy companies can take advantage of this tool. No matter how you choose to collect market research, the most important element is that you are connecting and engaging with your customers. How
What Drones Can Teach Marketers About Knowing Their Audience
Horse races are in the past and drone races are taking over the tech and the advertising world – you’re gonna need an audience segmentation consultant. Any great audience segmentation consultant will tell you it’s essential to know your market. Yet the real challenge often comes next: How do you make your brand stand out to your audience in a cluttered advertising landscape? Given how fractured the industry has become with the emergence of social media and other digital mediums, combining those two objectives is a core challenge — one that often marks the difference between success and failure. If you want to see a current example of brands negotiating this challenge in a lightning-fast, obstacle-filled environment, look no further than professional drone racing. Connecting to audiences via unmanned aerial exhibitions The Drone Racing League (DRL) is a professional league for people who race their drones on real tracks at speeds in excess of 80 miles-per-hour. The league also offers one intriguing example of brands using highly-targeted marketing in a new and unusual setting to reach their desired audience. Why is a relatively niche organization such as the DRL notable in this context? For brands, it’s all about positioning and connection. Telecom giant Cox Communications recently partnered with the DRL to create a Cox marketing campaign that was entirely conceived and executed by the league’s internal media and marketing teams. The goal was simple: Position Cox not as a stodgy legacy cable company, but rather an innovation-focused firm dedicated to building the infrastructure of the future for its audience. Partnering with a cutting-edge sport rooted in innovative technology positioned Cox in a way that a similar partnership with a Madison Avenue ad agency could not. As part of the campaign, Cox sponsored one of the DRL’s top pilots — Nick “Wild Willy” Willard — and created a clever ad focusing on the drone racing star. In the ad, Willard pilots his Cox WiFi-powered drone through his mother’s house, without breaking anything valuable. This ad was used in a multi-channel campaign designed to boost awareness for Cox and the DRL. Advertising at high speed for a skeptical audience As you might imagine, advertising on a drone track comes with some specific challenges. Fans of drone racing tend to skew younger and are highly tech savvy. Unlike NASCAR fans (who don’t mind being barraged with ads), drone racing fans largely recoil at overt marketing. Which is why an audience segmentation consultant is necessary. DRL CEO Nicholas Horbaczewski told Adweek that if he installs a conventional billboard at a drone race, fans would “throw up all over it.” He added that drone racing fans find such advertising displays “offensive” and don’t wish to communicate with brands in this format. To address this preference, the DRL integrates advertising within the course in the form of physical obstacles named for advertisers. Drone pilots must navigate course obstacles such as the “Swatch Gate.” in order to successfully complete the race. An even more ambitious brand integration will occur later in 2019, when the DRL will partner with Lockheed Martin to stage races pitting human drone pilots against drones flown by AI. More than 250 research universities have applied to enter the contest, which will offer more than $2 million in prizes. Looking for a marketing and advertising co-pilot? Once you understand who your audience is — likes, dislikes, interests, habits etc. — then you can devise new and creative ways to reach them. Our team is dedicated to the proposition that it’s not just where you are, it’s who you’re reaching. If you’d like to hear more about what a high-level audience segmentation consultant can do for your brand, don’t wait to contact us today.
What Cheap Coffee, Stolen Grease, and Great Explainer Videos Have in Common
Take a sip of the $5 subscription coffee from Burger King and realize the possibilities that could be opened if you used a motion graphics design company. Generating compelling marketing concepts is any creative agency’s meat and potatoes. However, even after you’ve had a creative epiphany, you still need to figure out the best way to spread your message. For many brands, that means a well-executed explainer video created by a top motion graphics design company. For inspiration, look no further than Burger King. A whopper of an idea Burger King’s been all over the news in recent weeks. First, a Virginia man was caught using a siphon and a 1,600 gallon tank to steal massive amounts of used Whopper grease from his local Burger King franchises. This viral crime occurred just days after Burger King debuted its Impossible Whopper, a plant-based burger that has drawn national acclaim for its uncanny similarity to beef. Yet for those in the marketing world, a third recent story proved even more interesting: Burger King’s first foray into subscription coffee. As any venture capitalist would tell you, subscription plays are sizzling at the moment. Name a product category, and there are multiple brands ready to deliver their take on it for a monthly fee. Burger King capitalized on this trend by announcing a new promotion that allows anyone to purchase a month-long subscription to Burger King coffee for the price of one Starbucks latte ($5). There were, of course, some exclusions: Only one coffee per day, and no iced coffee, specialty coffee or other fancy java concoctions. Strictly black coffee with cream and sugar. Despite these limitations, the campaign garnered plenty of notice, including national media coverage and lots of social media buzz. That’s hardly surprising, given the burger purveyor’s reputation for being a savvy social media operator — and a skilled creator of slightly salty explainer videos made by their motion graphics design company. Double espresso shots fired Burger King’s clever take on the subscription model was supported by an explainer video distributed across the company’s social media accounts. The video gave viewers step by step instructions for signing up for $5 coffee, delivered over a blurting synth line punctuated with retro handclaps. The video did an excellent job illustrating the ease by which consumers can earn discounted coffee — download an app, sign up, click a button to redeem and head to your local Burger King. The explainer video sealed the deal by taking a couple of pointed shots at Starbucks (“you don’t have to speak Italian to order BK coffee” and “we won’t misspell your name”).” By creating this explainer video, Burger King accomplished a few important things: It explained the campaign’s value proposition (a month of coffee for less than a latte), it drove more signups for the BK app (driving digital engagement) and it entertained its target audience while calling out a rival. BK coffee might not be bold — but their marketing strategy & motion graphics design company certainly is. Looking for a great motion graphic design company? Then “have it your way” At BIGEYE, we believe that stellar motion graphic design can play a critical role in supporting your marketing campaign’s goals. If you’re looking to jumpstart your brand strategy efforts, we’d love to take you out for coffee and a conversation. Give us a holler when your ready!
Want Effective Property Management Marketing? Mind your P’s & C’s
Didn’t grandma ever tell you to mind your own business? Now it’s time to shift focus to the P’s & C’s of property management social media marketing. Social media moves fast — so it’s critical to stay up to date with the most innovative new ideas. The recent Multifamily Social Media Summit gave property management professionals the perfect opportunity to exchange such ideas and ruminate on the state of property management social media marketing. If you weren’t able to travel to Napa Valley to attend the conference, don’t worry — we’ll take a seep dive to highlight all the most intriguing ideas. Avoiding the “deadly four Ps” Have you ever noticed that brands within some industries handle their social media with much more skill than brands in others? Part of this has to do with the nature of the business — it’s hard to make industrial supplies compelling, for example. Property management falls somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. Yet this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For property management firms that get social media right, it’s a chance to become highly differentiated within their market. One of the easiest ways to get it right is to prioritize storytelling. Let’s face it: Most people don’t care about the “deadly four P’s,” as marketer Steve Crescenzo refers to them: Policies, programs, products and procedures. What do they care about? According to Crescenzo, the “four Cs” — compelling, creative, concise and conversational content. Partner with a property management social media marketing firm to present your content in the form of a narrative, rather than a dry report where you’re simply pushing out information, and you’ll keep your audience from tuning out. Higher impact on a lower budget Every marketer has heard it repeated ad nauseam: Video is critical to your success. More video content is now being uploaded every 30 days than all the content the broadcast TV networks have ever created. Additionally, audiences report deeper engagement with video content. Unfortunately, video does present challenges. Many brands don’t have the time or the budget to create high-level video content on a consistent basis. However, there is a simple solution — the use of short animated videos. These videos are high impact and relatively inexpensive to produce. By partnering with the right property management social media-marketing agency, multifamily businesses can reap the benefits of video marketing within their social efforts without deploying excessive resources. An influential marketing approach Influencer marketing isn’t new or novel, but it’s just now gaining traction within the multifamily space. By joining forces with an influencer, brands gain access to highly engaged users and receive an endorsement that carries more weight than traditional online marketing messages. The best influencers combine the weight and value of a word of mouth recommendation with the reach of digital. Some multifamily properties are taking this strategy to the next level by offering free or discounted living space to partnered influencers. These influencers agree to share their living experiences within the community on social media in exchange for this consideration. While partnering with influencers does require some due diligence and careful guidelines in terms of how content is presented, it’s a strategy that makes sense for multifamilies seeking to improve engagement and grow their social media audience. The takeaway If you’re seeking help with property management social media marketing, don’t wait to call our property team today. We’ve got the multifamily expertise, creative talent, and digital skills to help you creative a marketing campaign that creates interest, generates revenue, and increases occupancy.
The Consumer Experience: Brands Overpromise and Under-Deliver
A brand strategy agency is imperative to building a brand that has its own identity and doesn’t fall into the stream of overpromising and under-delivering. You don’t have to run a brand strategy agency to understand the importance of the customer experience. Creating a personal connection with audiences through meaningful experiences is the gold standard of modern marketing and its value is repeated ad nauseam. Yet simply because we all pay lip service to this notion doesn’t mean we’re actually getting it accomplished. Many brands are still falling woefully short in terms of delivering a compelling cross-channel consumer experience. So what’s the key to unlocking these sought after, but rarely realized, customer experiences? Building a more human brand. Taking your brand’s pulse According to the most recent Forrester U.S. Customer Experience Index, there has been a minimal improvement in the overall quality of consumer experiences. Think about this: Though brands and their CMOs line up to testify to the necessity of great customer experiences, the actual customers are deeply unimpressed. Clearly, something is fundamentally amiss. Put simply, brands are focusing far too much on product experience and much too little on the human experience. If you want to connect at a deeper level, you need to move beyond the way people interact with products in a narrow use case sense, and instead consider the full range of feelings, desires, hopes, aspirations, etc. that are connected with any product or service. We certainly have the right tools at our disposal. Today’s digital technologies facilitate the kind of close engagement with audiences that would have been unthinkable just a decade or two ago. A date with implementation So how can these tools be deployed in service of more human-centric experiences? Consider the following: We like to think we are rational creatures. The truth, however, is that emotion guides us more often than not. A few years ago, leading neuroscientist Antonio Damaso made a pioneering discovery. Damaso studied subjects who had experienced serious damage to the part of the brain where emotions are generated. Everyone he studied had an unusual commonality — they struggled mightily with even the simplest decision-making. Brands need to understand the profound role emotion plays in how consumers respond to marketing messages and optimize accordingly. The best ideas and intentions are often utterly lost in execution. It’s one thing to conceptualize human experiences; it’s another thing entirely to deliver them effectively. Forward-thinking brand strategy agencies grasp the importance of digital tools in this process. According to Gartner, 63% of CMOs are expecting an increase in their innovation budget. If you want to deliver personalized experiences, you need to build the architecture to do so. The consumer/brand relationship is being utterly transformed. But not every brand is at the same place on the acceleration curve. The days of deploying one size fit all marketing, selling a product and periodically keeping in touch with consumers are long gone. Today, the most successful brands build communities; they encourage constant digital interaction and engagement; they facilitate a continuous relationship that integrates directly into a consumer’s lifestyle. These brands aren’t merely companies — they are, in many ways, an extension of the consumer themselves. The takeaway Digital technologies have created tectonic shifts in the ways brands sell and market their products and services. The best brand strategy agencies understand these changes and help position brands for maximum competitive advantage. If your existing marketing approach needs to be upgraded with a more human-focused, digitally powered approach, please contact our brand specialists today.
Shoppable Search and Instagram Checkout: What Brands Need to Know
Checking out the e-commerce way has never been easier and your media buying agency is the best way to keep up with the shoppable assets within media. Retailers and consumers take note: Google and Instagram are determined to radically simplify the buyer’s journey. Elegant simplicity is one of the highest aims of user experience, and both Google and Instagram are making moves to simplify and streamline purchases made within their ecosystems. Brands are in a position to reap significant rewards from these efforts — and the right media planning agency can help them take advantage. The birth of “Checkout on Instagram” Instagram is a natural space for e-commerce — it’s a highly visual medium that lends itself perfectly to product showcasing and placement. With the recent introduction of “Checkout on Instagram,” the platform is on the way to realizing its e-commerce potential. The new feature works like this: Instead of seeing a “view on website” button when using Instagram’s shopping tags feature; platform users will see a “check out on Instagram” button. By pressing this button, users can immediately purchase the item they are viewing without being referred to a third-party site. Instagram will make these in-platform checkouts fairly seamless by storing payment data from users’ first purchase, which eliminates the need for payment details to be entered repeatedly. Users can also track delivery and shipment information directly within Instagram. Currently, this feature is a closed beta with only 23 pre-selected businesses participating. Instagram will charge each business a fee for each completed transaction. However, given the platform’s reach (one billion active users) that seems like a price most businesses and media planning agencies will be willing to pay. Google extends shoppable ads to image search results Customers (and brands) are always searching for ways to reduce the number of touch points on the path to a sale. Google is particularly well positioned to provide greater simplicity thanks to its massive search index and image library. Now, the company is capitalizing on that positioning by introducing shoppable ads to Google Images search results. Taking a cue from Pinterest (which recently announced its shopping results would be positioned at the top of search pages) and Instagram, brands can now tag multiple products on an ad. Users then see the product type and price when hovering. During a keynote talk at Shoptalk (a retail industry conference), Google President of Retail Shopping and Payments Daniel Alegre said Shoppable Ads would help better connect brands and consumers by reducing touch points. By making these images shoppable, Google allows retailers to theoretically increase conversions by interacting with consumers when they are primed and ready to buy. The greater the number of touch points, the higher the potential for a consumer to become sidetracked or successfully converted by a competitor. Given the combined activities of Instagram, Google, and Pinterest, it’s clear that major platforms are seeking to make search results and ads more shoppable. These efforts dovetail nicely with the desire of audiences for simpler, faster, and better e-commerce options. The takeaway At BIGEYE, we help brands identify the ideal mediums for their marketing messages. Contact our team today and we’ll show you the kind of impact the right media planning agency can have when paired with the right display advertising services.
Precision and Reach: Why Streaming TV is a Powerful Weapon for DTC Brands
TV streaming is more intricate than you or your watching habits probably realize, which is why you need a video production services company. When it comes to advertising and marketing, Direct to Consumer (DTC) brands are best known for sponsored social media posts and banner ads. This makes perfect sense, given their low overhead and brand-focused business model. Yet many of these brands are migrating to a new channel — streaming TV — and partnering with top video production services to create compelling content designed to connect with a younger, mobile-first audience. Why DTC brands are choosing connected TV as a channel New research from Hulu and Telaria (a video adtech firm) underlines the potential impact streaming TV can have for DTC brands. Roughly 70% of DTC consumers indicated they spend more time watching streaming TV each week than they spend on social media. These consumers reported spending approximately 13 hours watching streaming TV each week — a figure 20% higher than their reported consumption of traditional broadcasting. As a recent piece in Adweek maintains, this shift in media watching patterns is now being reflected in the retail sector. Brands are cognizant of this reordering of viewing habits and seeking to benefit from it. A recent report from the Video Advertising Bureau showed that the top DTC brands spent roughly $2 billion on streaming ads in 2018, a figure that likely represents just the tip of the iceberg in terms of ad spend in coming years. In just the last two years, DTC brands doubled their total streaming ad spend. Why DTC brands are choosing streaming TV Traditional broadcast TV isn’t an ideal fit for many DTC brands for two reasons: It’s expensive, and it targets a general audience. Streaming services, however, offer DTC brands the ability to target audiences with much greater precision. As Adweek notes, this gives DTC brands the benefits of TV (spectacle, sight, sound, motion through excellent video production services) and marries it with the precision of digital advertising. How much of an impact does this added precision have? According to the Hulu/Telaria study, shoppers are twice as likely to purchase a product after seeing it in a streaming ad as opposed to a traditional ad. Study respondents also indicated they found streaming TV ads to be more relevant than traditional TV ads — hardly a surprise given the scattershot nature of conventional television advertising. By focusing on streaming ads, DTC brands also gain much more insight into the purchase cycle. Gaining insight into ad placement and audience targeting allows these brands to better define conversion rates and customer acquisition costs. Ultimately, streaming TV ads formerly came with a major trade-off for brands — audiences were much, much smaller than those watching traditional, linear TV. However, that state of affairs is rapidly changing. As streaming audiences grow, the value of advertising through this channel grows in parallel. The takeaway At BIGEYE, we understand the value of a highly targeted, creatively inspired, and well-executed streaming ad campaign for DTC businesses. Please reach out to us today to learn more about how our video production services can enhance your DTC successes.