What Struggling Brands Have in Common With Week-Old Croissants
Crack open a nice can of crisp, bubbly, and refreshing value that comes with giving your longstanding brand a makeover or facelift. Human relationships are fairly predictable. First, we fall in love. We can’t wait to tell everyone, both online and off. After a few years, the magic fades and we start exploring our options. Of course, we’re not talking about relationships between people here, but rather how people treat their relationships with their favorite brands. Consumers fall in and out of love quickly — and companies often need a good brand positioning agency to keep that relationship viable. Why are brand relationships with consumers often so fleeting? It’s simple: Even the world’s most compelling branding can turn staler than last week’s croissant if it isn’t updated and refreshed regularly. Why a famous refreshments brand opted for its own refresh While it might seem foolish to tinker with an icon, even the most beloved brands benefit from an occasional facelift. In fact, longstanding brands often benefit the most from an update. One example is Pepsi, which recently re-positioned its brand around a new tagline: “For the Love of It.” Pepsi has rolled out its new tagline in more than 100 markets worldwide. Roberto Rios, Pepsi’s SVP for Global Marketing, said the new jingle is a call to arms or sorts, serving as a “rally cry” for people to “go all in for the things they love.” The new tagline is also accompanied by a new product jingle performed by singers and dancers from 14 different nations. Pepsi also chose to add new can designs to its brand refresh, with new typography and slogans, including “Max Taste No Regrets” and “With Mischief and Love.” These changes represented the first significant refresh in seven years for the beverage giant, whose last major brand update was built around the “Live for Now” tagline — the same tagline that featured prominently in Kylie Jenner’s much-discussed (and much-critiqued) 2017 Pepsi ad. The benefits of a brand makeover Unlike a rebrand, which is a top to bottom re-imagination, a brand refresh functions more along the lines of a makeover. Even the most popular brands become stale over time. That’s not due to any inherent flaws, but rather, public taste and sentiment is ever changing, and brands need to ensure that their identity remains aligned with these shifts. Because a brand refresh is less comprehensive, many of the changes come closer to the margins. In the case of Pepsi, these changes meant a new tagline, new can designs, a song, and some other supporting marketing materials. Other typical changes may include new color schemes, new slogans, new product names, and new designs. By introducing new elements, a brand positioning agency can assist companies in offering audiences a gentle reminder that they are still around and relevant. For legacy brands such as Pepsi, this is a critical strategic objective. The product, is omnipresent and fairly unexciting. For as long as any of us can remember, it’s been in existence. At restaurants, retail stores, stadiums, concert venues etc., cola is part of the landscape. That’s not exactly a recipe for fierce brand loyalty. This means that it’s incumbent upon Pepsi’s branding to build and sustain consumer relationships. Consumers grow old and change with age. Pepsi doesn’t, so a refresh is necessary every five-to-ten years to help each generation identify (and ideally fall in love) with the brand. The takeaway At BIGEYE, we believe that the right brand positioning agency can make a critical difference in the ultimate success or failure of any small to mid-sized business. If you’re part of an established brand that isn’t gaining enough market traction, it could be time to consider a well-executed refresh. Contact us today to learn how we combine market research, advanced technology, and creative talent to design brand refreshes that truly move the needle.
How Brand Strategy Firms Respond to People Un-Friending Facebook
Whether you’re a top brand strategy firm — or merely a casual social media user — you’ve probably noticed that young people are un-friending Facebook in droves in favor of Instagram and other platforms. The statistics are enough to keep Mark Zuckerberg up at night: According to Pew Research, 71% of Americans aged 13 to 17 reported using Facebook in 2015. By 2018, that number had dropped to just 51%. Meanwhile, Instagram’s numbers have reversed among teens, rising to 72% today from 52% in 2015. Snapchat and Youtube have also seen sizable increases. So what do these platforms possess that Facebook lacks? And how should brands, like yours, respond? Let’s take a closer look. Why Facebook has become “platform non grata” among younger users One of the reasons why Facebook has fallen out of favor with younger users is “context collapse”. This concept describes how the various identities that people possess (the way they choose to present themselves to others) overlap and sometimes conflict across networks. In the case of Facebook, it works like this: Someone creates an account, and friends a few hundred people. Some are close friends offline, but most are merely acquaintances or friends of friends — people we rarely interact with in person. Over time, Facebook users may grow uncomfortable with the idea of sharing personal stories or information with people they rarely see or don’t know that well. Yet they may still wish to share with people in their network who are closer to them. Another example: A Facebook user who has friended work colleagues may feel uncomfortable with sharing photos and video of a recent night out celebrating. The context — and the intended audiences — are in conflict. Facebook has made attempts to remedy this issue (allowing users to designate audiences for posts and create smaller groups that friends can be sorted into). Yet these are hardly the kind of simple, frictionless solutions that appeal to younger users. This desire to avoid sharing with people on the periphery of one’s social circle is even more pronounced among younger social media users. Platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat are better suited to this tendency by their very design, which focuses on more narrowly tailored sharing and smaller groups. Additionally, Facebook’s newsfeed — once an incredible innovation in its own right — has become a source of frustration for many users, stuffed with old or irrelevant content. The innovative features recently developed by Facebook’s rivals (like stories, stickers, lenses etc.) are much more in tune with how younger people wish to consume content. How brands should respond The numbers don’t lie: There is a mass movement away from Facebook by young people, and brand strategy firms need to respond accordingly. If a campaign is needed to target a younger demographic, Instagram, not Facebook, should be the primary platform under consideration. All content (and all business accounts) should, therefore, be optimized for Instagram. Instagram stories, when used properly, is a powerful tool for reaching younger audiences. The feature has been enormously popular since its 2017 rollout (enough to make Facebook commission its own version) and has deepened engagement, especially among young users. Research shows that Instagram users under 25 are now spending 32 minutes per day on the platform. By adding polls, links and other features to Instagram stories – and brand strategy firms designing all ads and content in a format that’s optimized for younger viewers — brands can ensure they stay on the right side of recent trends. How BIGEYE helps brands reach young audiences It is our mission to stay at the vanguard of important trends. Whether it involves social, marketing, advertising or technology, we’re always focused on what’s next. If your brand could benefit from a truly forward-focused approach, please reach out today.
A Brand Positioning Agency Changed How America Eats Burritos
For years, Taco Bell had something close to a monopoly on fast Tex-Mex food. The menu certainly wasn’t gourmet — or even particularly good for you — but the company was resoundingly successful. And then Chipotle came along. Though it began as a small operation in Denver in the 1990s, Chipotle expanded fast, thanks in part to its pioneering “fast casual” approach. That was merely the prelude for one of the most extraordinary growth stories in the archives of the food business — a success story that was driven by just one partnership. A brand positioning agency. How brilliant brand positioning helped “Burrito David” challenge “Taco Goliath” In a little more than a decade, Chipotle grew from a modest local Colorado burrito shop to a billion-dollar enterprise with 500 locations. Not only was the company continuously listed among the fastest-growing businesses in the United States, but it was also applauded for the quality and flavor of its products. The truth, however, is that Chipotle didn’t invent its famous overstuffed “mission-style” burrito, a delicacy Californians have enjoyed since the 1960s. They did, however, build one of the restaurant industry’s most effective brand campaigns around their fast-casual offerings. Taco Bell, which owned virtually all of the national fast-food Tex-Mex market, didn’t focus its marketing on food quality, eating experience or health. Instead, Taco Bell ran a multi-year ad campaign detailing the madcap adventures of a taco-crazed Chihuahua. While “Yo queiro Taco Bell” was certainly clever and cute, it also wasn’t in tune with the ever-evolving consumer attitudes and preferences. Cheap, fast food of dubious quality was out — and cleaner, healthier, better-tasting dishes served in brighter and sleeker settings was in. Chipotle’s marketing capitalized on this trend by printing clever jokes on its cups and cultivating a hip environment in its restaurant locations. Their marketing campaigns ruthlessly highlighted the differences between Chipotle’s approach and that of Taco Bell. They made the case that not only was Chipotle higher quality it was also operating on a higher ethical plane. One example: Chipotle commissioned a stop-motion short film that promoted organic, sustainable farming (and their own superior ingredients), set to a soundtrack of Willie Nelson covering Coldplay. Later, in advance of Halloween, they released a Tim Burton-style short film that starred a scarecrow in moral conflict about the (very tangential) role he was playing in factory farming. The video, which was set to Fiona Apple covering a song from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” was also tied into a mobile gaming app with an anti-factory farming message. These clever creative gambits helped position Chipotle as a fast-casual cuisine that you could feel good about eating. Not only was it elevated above the déclassé level of fast food, but it was also smart, ethical and in tune with changing tastes. Though the company eventually had to deal with some turbulence caused by food-borne illnesses, sales are up, and Chipotle’s future is looking brighter than ever. This is the kind of powerful brand positioning that can shake up an industry. In Chipotle’s case, it helped the company become a global juggernaut and the first serious rival to Taco Bell’s Tex-Mex hegemony. What the right brand positioning agency can do for you Even though the company has had some recent, queso-related missteps, Chipotle has always been a favorite at the BIGEYE offices, and it’s not just the bowls and burritos. We’ve loved their story, and you should too. The right brand positioning agency can take a company to the next level — and we’d be happy to show you how. Reach out to our branding team today!
Why preparing your Christmas marketing strategy in July is imperative
The holiday season is of great importance to just about every retailer. In fact, it often makes the difference between a profitable year and one that falls short of expectations. The raw numbers illustrate the scope of the opportunity: In 2017, U.S. retailers reported their largest holiday sales increase since 2011 — 4.9-percent. In total, U.S. consumers spent roughly $680 million during the holiday period. To ensure that your business receives a sizable slice of that pie, it’s imperative to get an early jump on your Christmas marketing strategy and efforts. In fact, the most successful firms take a “Christmas in July” approach to seasonal marketing. Prepping your Christmas marketing strategy five months early The pre-holiday duties for retail marketing are as vast as they are important — holiday decorations, outdoor marketing, merchandise layout designs, the designation of door busters and loss leaders. The key to success in all these activities is simple: Allowing your business sufficient lead time to hit the holiday season running, armed with fully-realized visions and thoroughly-tested tactics. Mobile marketing presents one good example: The rise of mobile has had extraordinary impact on how consumers navigate the process of shopping. Today’s consumers use their mobile devices to check and compare prices, purchase items, redeem coupons, etc. Just as importantly, these coupons (and other promotional messages) are seamlessly delivered via mobile device. Even if your customers don’t redeem a particular offer or engage with a promotion, you can still glean key business intelligence by analyzing their behavior. Metrics such as the number and type of messages opened, the time spent engaging with each message, and amount of social sharing can all offer a window into consumer wants and needs. To get the full advantage of this kind of data, it’s important to start engaging early. If a business begins running A/B testing in July to determine which kind of Christmas marketing strategy works best, they can enter the all-important holiday season armed with the most relevant and engaging content to share with customers. In the context of mobile messaging, this kind of advance work is critical in terms of developing the kind of holiday marketing content that will get people into stores, and ultimately deliver the kind of ROI you’re looking for. Finding the right partner If your business is seeking to raise its game during the upcoming holiday season, now is the time to begin preparing a comprehensive and forward-thinking Christmas marketing strategy. BIGEYE is a leading Orlando marketing agency with extensive experience helping clients create compelling seasonal marketing campaigns that truly move the needle. Contact us today and let’s get your business ready for this holiday season.
How sequential marketing makes property management more profitable
In previous blogs, we’ve detailed the benefits of sequential marketing. By crafting multi-part content that can be delivered across a variety of devices, advertisers can increase engagement, limit fatigue and significantly increase sales –as demonstrated by the Facebook-sponsored study. Consumers move seamlessly across devices, and advertising should follow their cue to be truly effective. One example of how this works can be seen in the property development sphere. If you are a property developer or a multi-family manager, sequential marketing can help you meet your objectives with greater efficiency. To better illustrate this, let’s take a look at a hypothetical scenario that outlines how this innovative technology can be used to identify and attract potential renters. Using sequential marketing to make property ownership more profitable Finding and retaining high-quality tenants is a perennial challenge for property owners and managers. Difficult or slow-to-pay renters can make property ownership less profitable (or perhaps even unprofitable in the worst cases), so effective tenant acquisition is a critical task –and marketing can play a key role in effecting this. Consider the case of a property owner who has a 500 unit residential development. Occupancy rates have been consistently lower than desired. Additionally, the rate of tenants violating the terms of their leases for non-payment or other issues has been consistently elevated. To help get occupancy rates up and payment issues resolved the property owner decides a marketing campaign is necessary. Here’s how that scenario may play out. A conventional approach First, the owner runs a conventional campaign featuring TV ads (expensive, so purchased during off hours to lower costs), advertisements in the local newspaper and some routine social media marketing. None of it proves effective, so the owner seeks the assistance of a local marketing agency. The agency informs the property owner that the previous campaign failed because if used a scattershot approach that wasn’t tailored for the right audience. This time, the property development will create a compelling brand story then distribute that message directly into the hands of prospective renters by using sequential marketing. Developing a compelling, targeted sequential marketing plan Deploying this new strategy, the agency uses data analysis to create ideal buyer personas for the campaign, so the property owner now knows who to target. Content development then gets underway, and the agency crafts a deeply relevant and compelling brand story. In this case, the story is a three-part series of episodes. The first shows a woman unhappy in her existing apartment; it’s too cramped, the children have to share a room and the furnishings are somewhat dreary. The second episode shows the woman searching for a new apartment and coming across the property owner’s development, where she receives a walk-through of what could be her new home. She enjoys bright, open spaces. The concluding sequence of the story shows the woman in her new home, smiling and celebrating a birthday party with her family. The scene fades out and the development’s tagline and contact information are revealed. Choosing the most effective distribution points After the content is created, this brand story is then delivered across multiple devices in perfect, sequential order to people who have been pre-identified as likely, possible renters. The end result? The campaign significantly improves occupancy and default rates because it uses sequential marketing to deliver a resonant and deeply relevant marketing message across multiple devices to a target audience. Prospective tenants can be engaged multiple times across a variety of devices without inducing fatigue. The takeaway If you’re a property developer or manager dealing with tenant acquisition challenges – or you simply aren’t getting sufficient ROI on your current marketing approach – consider the power of sequential marketing for your next campaign. The above example represents just one way this highly effective technique can be deployed to pique renter interest and secure new tenants. Contact our digital marketing gurus for more information on how to merge sequential marketing into your business plan.
6 ways to use social listening to improve your brand
When brands are evaluating their digital teams, the value of social listening and social media managers can be hard to quantify. The ROI – or return on investment – of social media can feel somewhat nebulous when compared to A/B testing or ad spends, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable. Social media is a powerful way to engage customers and build your brand experience in much the same way that public relations initiatives complement your traditional marketing efforts. On the other end of the social spectrum, social listening complements your data analytics work. Social listening provides a wealth of data and information about your customers and your competition. If you’ve never used social listening to gain insight about your brand, you may be unsure where to start. The following six categories are easy places to find actionable insights. 1. SOCIAL LISTENING HELPS YOU DISCOVER PROSPECTS: Before you’ve even received your first follower or decided on your social media handle, you can use social listening to discover prospective customers. Scour Twitter hashtags, Facebook searches, and trending Instagram posts that are aligned to your brand (or other brands like yours from sources such as trade journals, competitors, or aligned products) to discover users and influencers who may be interested in your brand. Follow them, share their content, and engage with them to encourage adoption with your brand, shares and referrals, and even sales. As these prospective customers begin following your social media accounts and opting in to your emails and blog content, you’ll find new opportunities to engage with and convert them from leads to customers. The beauty is that social listening is a self-renewing cycle as new hashtags and trends emerge, so you will never run out of prospects to draw from. 2. INSPIRE COMPETITIVE SWITCHING WITH SOCIAL LISTENING: If you’ve ever seen an AT&T or Sprint advertisement, you’re probably familiar with the idea of competitive switching. The telecommunications industry is famous for generating new customers by preying on the competition’s unhappy users. Any brand with a direct competitive set, or operating in a saturated market, can benefit from using social listening to discover potential converts within their competitive customer base. Listen in to learn where your competition is failing, then do it better, and tell the world. Certain airline brands take it one step farther by using social listening to discover unhappy customers and then reaching out to them directly with promotions and special offers that make those customers’ threats to “never fly their competition’s airline again” possible. As an added benefit, this allows brands in hyper-competitive markets to compete without resorting to downstream price wars that hurt the industry at large. By leveraging service as a reason to switch, your brand can provide deep value and skip the constant promotions. 3. LEVERAGE SOCIAL INFLUENCERS AND TASTEMAKERS: You know the phrase: “the squeaky wheel gets the oil.” And social media is full of squeakers. Many times this isn’t a bad thing. Discover vocal social media power users via social listening and then interact with them to promote your brand and encourage their endorsement. To attract influencers with a lot of clout, consider a “surprise and delight” campaign that captures customers’ attention with a promotion, product sample, or special experience. A great example of this type of outreach is Mastercard’s “Priceless” Twitter campaign, in which the brand used social listening to mine for high-influencers, and then sent them complimentary concert tickets, massages, and restaurant certificates as part of a “Priceless Mastercard experience.” These vocal recipients were loud and proud in sharing Mastercard’s generosity and service. Even if those recipients weren’t actual customers, the appearance was that Mastercard valued and cared deeply for their customer base. Really, the brand endorsements were as priceless as the experiences they gave. 4. KEEP CUSTOMERS HAPPY BY ADDRESSING AND RESOLVING ISSUES: On the flip side, your social listening may uncover unhappy customers who are frustrated with your service experience or products. In these instances, consider social listening as the gift of raw, unfiltered, totally honest feedback. Often times, customers who flock to social media are simply looking for a place to feel heard when the customer service process breaks down. This can serve as a great coaching tool for the individuals who normally address service issues, while giving a voice to your customers that they so desperately need. Address customer concerns as you uncover them, even if it’s just to acknowledge their experience and offer your sympathy. Your company may consider a more robust escalation path for serious issues or completely overhaul your service process as a result. 5. USE SOCIAL LISTENING TO CONDUCT MARKET RESEARCH: Social listening is also a great way to discover general sentiments regarding your brand, a certain product, or the customer service experience. Sure, you can pay for market research, but social listening provides similar data and insights into trends, reach, and forecast for a lot less money. That said, it isn’t the only data tool you should be using. Social listening provides exceptional qualitative insight into your actual customers, rather than the general and quantitatively more powerful insights found in big data market research. For scrappy startups and on the fly research projects, social listening is the perfect answer to your data needs. 6. SOCIAL LISTENING IS ALL ABOUT THE DATA: Because at the end of the day, it’s all about the data. Social media lets you talk to and interact with your customers, while social listening let’s you, well … listen. And listening is the single best way to get data about your customers, make informed decisions based on facts rather than opinions, and help you – once and for all – answer the age old question of how much social media is worth. The stronger your social base, the more data points your listening will uncover. It’s a proprietary pool of information that helps you keep your finger on the pulse of your customers’ needs, track your brand engagement, reach and brand sentiment over time, as
The $65 Billion Question: How To Win With Millennials
Would your company like a piece of the $65 billion market that is millennial shoppers? We thought so. Whether you’re offering a luxury product, consumer packaged goods and staples, or a service, millennials are one of the most sought after demographics since the baby boomers made their fortunes. These emerging shoppers represent some of the most diverse and flexible consumers our market has ever seen (with a disposable income to boot), making them highly desirable for marketers. Everyone is asking how to engage this audience, leveraging new technology to capture their attention, and forging new marketing frontiers to try to attract and keep these young trend setters. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we do have a few answers to some common questions about how to win with Millennials. Here’s how. Q: Are millennials penny wise, and dollar foolish? A: In a nutshell: yes. With millions of dollars in student loan debt, skyrocketing rent and homeowner prices, and inflated costs of living in many cities, most Millennials try to cut costs wherever they can without sacrificing their Instagram-worthy exteriors. About 60% of millennials claim they are as comfortable buying non-name brand items as they are splurging for brands they love. One layer deeper, we learn that millennials are most likely to buy off brand items on everyday goods such as paper towels or butter, but are more inclined to align themselves with big brands on visible investments such as their cars or clothing. In other words, millennials are inclined to save their pennies when they can, but invest in items that will either bring them status, align with lifestyle values they champion on an individual level, or that they believe will serve them for years to come. Knowing where your brand falls on millennials’ perceived value spectrum will help inform your product pricing and placement strategy. If you know your brand can’t deliver a feel-good high like Tom’s (a brand that donates a pair of shoes to children in need every time someone purchase one), consider how to compete in a price sensitive market rather than trying to sell value where it doesn’t exist. On the other hand … it may be time to consider what the next two-for-one charity craze might be. Q: Are brick and mortar stores becoming obsolete? A: Not remotely. It’s true. 92% of millennials say they will purchase something online or on a mobile device this year. Online shopping is quick, convenient, and sometimes cheaper than shopping local or visiting the mall. But that doesn’t change that many stores still draw in as much revenue online as they do offline. For millennials, online shopping versus retail shopping isn’t an “either / or” … it’s an “and.” Shopping is a social activity for millennials, so if you do plan to invest in marketing efforts at your retail locations, consider that your target audience is probably shopping with other people. Leverage the social aspect of brick and mortar stores by introducing “share your discount” offers for groups shopping together, social media discounts for check-in’s, or on-site shopping events (a little champagne never hurt anyone). Similarly, because online shopping is usually done from the privacy of your millennials’ homes, consider how personalized emails and individualized discounts can drive sales online. Q: Are millennials really as narcissistic as we’ve heard? A: That depends who you ask. Millennials are more inclined than any other generation to give their time and money. They love brands that are environmentally conscious and have a positive impact on the global community. They also happen to be the most demanding when it comes to “wanting it all.” They want to work remotely, they don’t want to join the work force right away, and they tend to delay a lot of the adult responsibilities older generations value. Does that make them more narcissistic than other generations? It’s hard to say. But they are image conscious. And one thing is certain: they are redefining the rules of marketing and brand engagement. They are fiercely loyal, so if they do align to a brand, it’s because it speaks to them on a personal level. And once they do, they will share it and wear it loud and proud. When trying to win with millennials, consider that fact. Our Orlando marketing agency prides itself on innovative marketing solutions that target a diverse group of audiences, including millennials. Learn more about how our clients are taking advantage of this unique generation here and be the next to get in on the action.
Beyond Client Services: How to Be Friends With Your clients
It’s no secret that people prefer to work with businesses and individuals they like. At our Orlando marketing agency, we treat each and every one of our clients like members of our family because we aren’t an exception to this rule. Fostering a work-friendly friendship with your prospects can round out your client services experience and make your projects more meaningful for both you and your clients. A connection may start with something as simple as sharing the same alma mater or bonding over a networking dinner, and can radically transform your customer relationships. Here’s how. How friendship supports client services: Building a friendship with your clients can transform your day-to-day client services and allow you to work more closely with your business partners. Friendship builds trust: Friendship often leads to trust and allows you to be more open and direct with good-natured feedback, which in turn, encourages rallying together to overcome obstacles. When your client knows you care about them beyond their retainer fee, they can trust that you have their best interests at heart when you make recommendations or suggest a strategy pivot. This trust helps streamline your client services protocol so decisions can be made more quickly and work can be done more efficiently. Personal vs. transactional work: Being friends with your clients can also help you tackle your work and their problems in more creative and innovative ways. When a client shifts from contract to comrade, your work ceases being transactional and becomes personal. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself leaning into those follow up phone calls, creating a higher-touch client services experience, and caring deeply about the outcome of your clients’ projects. It’s not work when you love what you’re doing and the people you’re doing it with, so don’t be afraid to invest your personal emotions into your clients. Keeps clients (and referrals) coming in: When you and your clients are happy, chances are you’re succeeding together. As friends, you’ll get to know each other better and may find yourselves hatching new ideas, brainstorming new projects, and connecting each other to potential business partners, resources, and future clients together. Your clients will soon become your biggest allies, referral source, and cheerleaders — and you’ll be there’s. Defining business-friendly friendship and flawless client services: The key to building a mutually beneficial business friendship is to do it for the right reasons and in the right ways. This starts by layering some of the fundamental values of friendship into your client services practice. Don’t be right, be helpful: Bridge the gap between client and friendship by demonstrating that your first concern is helping your clients succeed. We know – and they know – you’re an expert in your field (it’s why they hired you), but don’t trade off being right when situations get sticky when you should be bringing solutions to the table. The first tenant of any good client services relationship is to be helpful. From there, friendship can naturally bloom. Communication and transparency are key: Even if you don’t have anything to share with your clients, or you’re still waiting on a project status update, feel free to pick up the phone and give your clients a call. Ask them how they’re doing. Find out how their other projects are developing. Offer to take them to lunch. And yes, we’re going to say it: overshare. We’re not talking about divulging the nitty gritty details of how your weekend went or who you’re dating, but rather, to go over above and beyond the required communication cadence. This sets the tone of your client services and allows your relationship to live outside of the immediate tasks at hand. You’ll find yourself wanting to grab a casual coffee together in no time. Celebrate shared wins: We can’t stress enough how important celebrating shared success is. Taking time to pop some bubbly or to send a client flowers after a major coup shows you care and increases your own investment in your client relationships. There’s also no better way to bring people together than in celebration. Bond over those shared feel-good moments by pulling your respective teams together and vowing not to talk about work for the night beyond the celebratory toast you and your client plan to give. Don’t use friendship as a crutch: Last, but not least, don’t use friendship as a crutch. Once you establish a personal relationship with your client, don’t abuse it by shirking deadlines or taking shortcuts. Your friendship should be an excuse to do your absolute best work rather than the bare minimum. And trust us, your client (no matter how good a friend they are) will see and feel the difference. Give us a call or read more about the relationships we’ve built with clients like you.
Battle of The Brands: make a rockstar brand positioning statement
As one of the pillars of the “Four P’s” – positioning, product, placement, and price – your brand positioning statement serves as a fundamental part of your go-to market strategy. Before you decide what new features your product needs, what stores you want to sell in, and how much you want to charge, you need to clearly define your product position. So let’s get started. If your unique value proposition, or UVP, is why your customers should care about you, then your brand positioning statement is the internal equivalents of what you and your team are trying to accomplish. Your brand positioning statement explains the who and why you believe you’re going to be successful so you can tailor each and every one of your marketing efforts accordingly. Before writing your brand positioning statement, ask yourself the following for questions. To help guide you through this exercise, we’ll use Zipcar as an example. 1. Who is your target audience? No matter what industry you’re in, start with a customer-centric mindset. Ask yourself who your target audience is, what their pain points are, and what they care about most. Answering these questions will allow you to drill into your target audience’s psyche and understand where your product fits into the consumer landscape. Knowing who you are trying to help and what you’re trying to solve for them will inform almost every other decision you make about your product’s brand positioning. Example: Zipcar’s audience are urban, tech-savvy commuters. They are usually between the ages of 30 – 50 and fall in the middle- to upper-class socioeconomic brackets. They care about reliable transportation, and may struggle to find reliable public transportation in cities without developed bus or metro systems, or heavy traffic congestion and limited parking. 2. Competitive combat vs. niche interest? To position your product for your audience, you also need to know whether you’ll be trying to break through your competition’s marketing clutter (in which case, you would be focusing on product differentiators and price points) or whether your product is a niche interest (meaning you’d focus on unique product placement and market education efforts). Do some research about what products fall into your direct competitive and indirect competitive set. Take time to learn about their go-to market strategy and where your target audience overlaps or stands out. Example: Zipcar was one of the first arrivals to the car-sharing market, but have since been joined by direct competition such as Car2Go and indirect competition from ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft. Knowing that Zipcar was one of the original market leaders gives them a unique value statement when positioning their brand as a thought leader and experienced service provider. 3. What’s your category and market context? If you’re redefining or crafting your brand positioning statement for the first time, consider what your share of the industry wallet is. Is your product category new and growing rapidly, or mature and stable? Are people already familiar with products like yours or will you need to spend time educating the market? Are you trying to redefine yourself within a product segment? Is your market necessary (think: toothpaste, food, and gasoline) or elective (think: luxury items, gadgets, and travel). Example: Positioning your product in a mature market, such as the public transit sector, requires a different mindset than pioneering a new way to commute. Zipcar, and the car-sharing market, is a new category that complements the emerging crowdsourcing craze. The market is growing and Zipcar is a market leader. When positioning their brand, Zipcar will want to focus on maintaining their current customer base while educating new entrants into the crowdsourcing craze about their unique option and value proposition. 4. Why does your product matter? If you’ve answered the last four questions, you’ll probably have a good idea about why your product matters. This fundamental question is your customers’ – and your – reason to believe in your product. It ties together any remaining value statements or “perks” associated with your product and allows you to write a stellar brand positioning statement that will guide your marketing strategy and product development roadmap. Example: The finished product for Zipcar reads as follows: “To urban-dwelling, educated techno-savvy consumers, when you use Zipcar car-sharing service instead of owning a car, you save money while reducing your carbon footprint.” This statement clearly explains who needs the product, provides a snapshot into the market context, and tacks on a reason to believe in the product itself. You may not be able to pack every detail from the four positioning questions into your brand positioning statement, but the essence of your own finished product should explain what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how it will transform the market. For more inspiration on how to elevate your brand positioning, read about our work and how we’ve helped brands like yours build their brand positioning statement.
Down and dirty social media: twitter ads like never before
In a recent post, we discussed how Twitter is changing the world and earning you positive brand association, one social media post at a time. Twitter is most known for it’s organic social media advertising potential, but Twitter ads come in several different formats so there are plenty of ways to take advantage of paid advertising within the Twitterverse as well. Here is a quick fact sheet on the three types of Twitter ads you can invest in. Just remember, it’s not an “either vs. or” decision. A strong Twitter ads strategy boosts exposure to unique tweets and compelling blogs alongside timely social media advertising to drive organic and paid traffic simultaneously. 1. Promoted tweet twitter ads: Promoted tweets work best for promotions and short-term offers. Much like paid digital ads, you can pay per impression or click, giving you flexibility in how you want to expose a certain deal. If you already have a strong brand following, but want to run a short term gap closing effort or increase end of quarter sales, this is a great way to kick off your campaign. Simply highlight your offer in 140 characters or less, add a trackable link to your post, and release it into the wild. 2. Promoted account twitter ads: To build brand awareness, consider promoting your account. Instead of highlighting a specific tweet within your follower base, Twitter will recommend your account to users who may be interested in following your content. This is a great tactic for new or growing companies because Twitter can help you segment and target a certain audience within their follower base. You can choose the type of users that will see your brand, serving a warm introduction to your next crop of potential customers. 3. Promoted trends twitter ads: Promoted trends are the least well-known option of Twitter’s advertising arsenal. A promoted trend allows you to create a unique hashtag and begin a movement. We recommend using promoted trends if your marketing needs to fall somewhere between a short-term promotion and large-scale brand awareness. If you plan to run a sponsored event series like a summer concert tour, have partnered on a product launch, or are trying to create a viral movement, a unique hashtag can give this effort momentum to grow. The trick is making sure the campaign has true viral potential and is simple and catchy enough to get off the ground. If you’d like to experiment with Twitter advertising but aren’t sure how your marketing strategy fits into the Twitterverse, we are here to help. Learn how Twitter will benefit your social media initiatives.
