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4 Things You Need (and One You Don’t) to Form Your Brand’s Digital Identity

August 19, 2021 No Comments

This is your essential shortlist of must-haves to form your brand’s digital identity.

The first thing you should do when you begin a new business enterprise is create your company’s digital identity. Essentially, think about all the places where you will want your future marketing campaigns to lead customers: your website, your Google Business listing and your social media. You’ll need to create all of these platforms before you start considering a marketing campaign.

So, to get started, here’s a shortlist of must-haves to set up before bringing on a marketing team. Look at it like a digital package that’s in your hands to complete. Here are the essentials.

Build your website first

Before spreading out across the internet, establish your home base first. Build your website and make sure it’s free of bugs and fully operational before you start sending people to it.

Your website is going to be the conversion point for your products or services. Everything that we touch on after this point is going to be a pathway back to it, so your site really is the most critical aspect of your brand identity.

Some important considerations of a good website include:

Make sure you have a clear and easy to spell domain name
Make sure your domain name is the name of your company if that real estate isn’t already claimed.
Make sure your website hosting is secure and scalable for when it’s time to expand things — for this, I would recommend a dedicated server hosting plan. It’s the more expensive option but you’re getting what you pay for.

Finally, make sure that you have a good grasp on SEO and incorporate all relevant keywords into your site to maximize traffic opportunities. Perform thorough keyword research to anticipate what kind of phrases your customers might be searching for to find the products or services that you provide, and include as many as you possibly can.

Claim your territory on all social media channels

Even if you don’t think your brand will have any use for a Facebook account, claim one anyway. Consistency is key in branding — you have to have a uniform handle across all social media if you can.

Having @mybrand claimed on all social media channels is just safeguarding yourself for the future. First off, it’s just more customer-friendly than having @mybrand on Twitter, @mybrandUS on Instagram, and @therealmybrand on TikTok. Secondly, getting control of your handles across social media will prevent potential interference from competitors who might claim the handle otherwise.

Pay attention to how social media evolves. If a new platform pops up, take five minutes to create a profile and stake your territory.

List your business on Google and everywhere else

Type in the name of a business you frequent into Google or type in the name of a competitor. What should pop up first is their Google My Business listing that will tell you what the company does, where to find them, their contact information, and an aggregate of reviews.

Because of Google’s supremacy over other search engines, this will be the first and last stop for most people trying to look up your business. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t list your business everywhere you can, though. Much like with social media, the main purpose behind this is to claim this spot before a malicious competitor or similarly named business might.

Test out a few email platforms

Email marketing builds credibility, a customer base and content. In short, you need to look into email marketing technology as part of your digital package.

All of the email marketing platforms out there have different pros and cons, so the one you choose should be able to tick the most boxes for your audience. Consider this: 43% of people now check their emails on their smartphones every single day, but does that overlap with your demographic? If your core audience is 50 and over, maybe not, so you don’t have to put as much consideration into mobile optimization as you would if you were targeting millennials.

Also, consider the automation capabilities of these platforms. You do not want to be responding to every email manually. Instead, most platforms have automation software available, so plan out what kind of conversations you and your audience will be having.

Skip advertising — for now

Advertising seems like the way to get your business at the forefront of consumer’s minds, but it isn’t. Upfront, it’s just going to be a waste of your money because if you don’t have your digital pack together, you don’t have anything substantial to advertise. Let’s break this down item by item.

With no social media channels claimed and your website fully operational, where will your advertisements take your customers? Without all the right listings in place, how are customers going to know if the business that pops up on Google is yours or not? At best, they’ll be confused when they don’t find any trace of your digital presence. At worst, they’ll end up giving clicks to a brand with a similar name.

Without your digital identity being fully formed, spending money on advertising is seriously jumping the gun.

Think of your brand and your digital presence as one and the same — you need to force out your identity in every space available in order to gain the greatest momentum. By going through these steps in your digital package, you’ll position yourself to be fully responsive and able to handle an influx of business that will come as the result of your well-planned marketing campaign.

By Christopher Tompkins

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

Netflix readies video games push with hire of Oculus exec

August 18, 2021 No Comments

By Jennifer Faull

Netflix is expanding into gaming opportunities

Netflix is set to bring video games to its platform next year having made its first key hire to lead the push.

Mike Verdu was previously head of virtual and augmented reality at Facebook, where he worked with developers to bring games and other content to Oculus.

Prior to that, he spent his career leading the gaming efforts at companies including EA, Zynga and Kabam.

He will now lead Netflix’s push into creating content beyond TV shows and films. Netflix hasn’t been shy in talking up its ambition to be a major player in the $90bn video games industry.

It’s likely that some games will be tied to its most popular shows, such as Stranger Things. On its most recent earnings call, chief operating officer Greg Peters – who Verdu will report to – said its users “want to immerse themselves more deeply and get to know the characters better and their back stories and all that stuff”.

He said: “Really we’re trying to figure out what are all these different ways that we can increase those points of connection, we can deepen that fandom. And certainly, games is a really interesting component of that.

“And there’s no doubt that games are going to be an important form of entertainment and an important sort of modality to deepen that fan experience. So we’re going to keep going, and we’ll continue to learn and figure it out as we go.”

According to Bloomberg, which first reported Verdu’s hire, the first games are slated to appear on the platform within the next year. Rather than sitting on a separate site, they will appear alongside current content as a new programming genre. It is not expected that users will be charged extra to access games.

The move into gaming comes as Netflix continued to battle it out against Amazon Prime and Disney+ for new users in the competitive streaming market.

Netflix reported a dramatic slowdown in subscribers for the first three months of 2021.

As a result of the pandemic, it added 36 million subscribers in 2020 to pass 200 million subscribers worldwide. It predicted the surge would continue this year and said it expected to add six million users to the platform in the first quarter of the year. However, it only managed to add four million and now expects to add about one million subscribers in the current quarter, which would be its slowest growth on record.

By Jennifer Faull

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Why Every E-Commerce Brand Needs to Be All-In on Email Marketing

August 6, 2021 No Comments

By Ross Andrew Paquette

Email isn’t going anywhere, and it cannot be ignored.

Millions of consumers worldwide use email and its use continues to increase throughout the years. Email is one of the most popular communication channels, and the majority of emails sent daily are business related.

Think of how many emails you receive on a daily and weekly basis — they consume a large part of our life. From notifications to paperless billing — we rely heavily on emails every single day.

Email marketing has continued to be one of the most effective ways for a business to market to its customers. Email is personal and the open rates put your message in front of its intended recipients more than any other channel.

Email isn’t going anywhere, and while SMS marketing may be experiencing industry-high open rates, specifically in the e-commerce industry, email cannot be ignored. Here is why brands need to be all-in on email marketing.

More customizable and personal than social media

E-commerce brands, especially direct-to-consumer brands, love social media. While social media offers a great platform to market to your customers, it isn’t highly customizable or personal.

If a brand has 100,000 followers on Instagram, for example, every Post or Story is broadcast to that entire audience. What if a D2C apparel brand has both men’s and women’s lines? A post highlighting the women’s spring collection is going to be seen by all followers — male and female.

Email, however, allows an e-commerce brand to segment its list based on data. An apparel brand can have a main list that includes all customers, and then segment that into lists according to purchase behaviour.

Sending an email announcing a new women’s line to customers that have previously purchased women’s apparel is going to perform much better than an offer broadcast to the entire list. The same applies to men’s drops.

Email personalization also helps to create a stronger relationship. A post on social media feels generic, whereas an email addressed to the recipient feels more personal.

Highly measurable data

When you take all of the data available to you and break it down, you can make incredible improvements in your future email deployments. You can further segment your list, identifying your best customers and you can also use data to determine the best days of the week and time of day to send messages.

Numbers don’t lie, and when you take the time to analyse your email data, you will find new opportunities and optimize them to improve your overall results. For example, you might find that general newsletters have a significantly higher open rate on Tuesday afternoon, while special offers convert better on Friday mornings.

Access to this data also allows you to send dynamic content within your emails, tailored to each recipient. When you place an offer for a product they were recently viewing on your website in front of them, they are more likely to convert than they would be if it was just a generic blanket offer designed to appeal to the masses.

Consumers have instant access to their email via mobile devices

Mobile devices have the majority of consumers’ email at the tip of their fingers. You don’t have to wait for them to get home or to login to their email on a desktop or laptop. They are notified as soon as that email hits their device.

Whether or not they open your email immediately depends on several factors. If they are busy, they are going to ignore their email until they have time to dive in. A strong Call to Action in the email subject, however, can potentially get your emails opened very quickly.

Most consumers are glued to their mobile phones all day and all night — from the morning when they wake up until it’s time to go to sleep. Even while working or preoccupied, most will at least glance at their notifications.

Email gives you instant access to the majority of your customer base. Remember, you aren’t the only brand vying for their attention. Strong email subjects to draw high click-through rates are important, as is conveying your message within the first few sentences.

The right offer can trigger an immediate action, which is the beauty of email marketing. A consumer could have no intention of making a purchase, but they become intrigued with your offer, and the next thing they know, their credit card is out and they are completing a transaction on your website from their mobile device.

Cost-effective

Online marketing costs are skyrocketing for e-commerce brands. Facebook ads are becoming increasingly popular, therefore driving costs so high that it’s forcing many brands to look for additional channels that provide a more affordable acquisition cost.

Email is hands-down the most cost-effective, as the hard costs to deploy messages are minimal. Customer emails are collected when they make a purchase and via opt-ins on-site. While there is a cost associated with every email address added to a list, that is a one-time cost.

That email list turns into an asset that becomes more valuable as it grows. Large e-commerce brands can send email marketing offers weekly or bi-weekly and generate a substantial amount of revenue each time without the customer acquisition costs that come with Google Ads and Facebook ads.

By Ross Andrew Paquette

Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

In News

3 Ways to Use Authenticity to Build Customer Loyalty

August 5, 2021 No Comments

By Christina-Lauren Pollack,

As Jeff Bezos says, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

In recent years, the word authenticity has become the smart marketer’s approach to building customer loyalty, and with good reason.

The truth is — people are fed up with companies churning out perfectly polished brand images, well-crafted press releases, and corporate statements that sound like a publicist wrote them. They’re tired of some corporations turning a blind eye to the reality of their business (toxic workplaces, unfair wages, and poor working conditions for factory workers), or for that matter, lying about it all.

In reality, customers have become savvier, sassier, and more vocal about what they expect (and often demand) from brands these days. That’s one of the compelling reasons why smart brands are leading with authenticity, rather than relying on it as a last resort.

As Jeff Bezos, the Founder of Amazon says, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” To help create a more influential brand that people rave (instead of rant) about, here are some helpful tips to think about when planning marketing and communications campaigns.

Whether you’re just starting a company or have been in business for decades, here are three ways to use authenticity to build customer loyalty in today’s times.

Engender trust from customers

To start with, authenticity inherently breeds trust. When customers get a better sense of the types of people who run a company, they begin to trust them more. Whether the message is coming from a brand founder or a social media marketing team, one of the keys to engendering trust amongst your customer base is to be open, honest, and transparent with them. Express your values, show your integrity, and share your beliefs in a way that reflects your brand identity.

For example, if you produce goods, consider posting Instagram stories that take your audience on a “behind the scenes” tour of your factory. Show your customers that the factory has undergone a social accountability audit and meets standards (for fair treatment of workers and safe working conditions). These are just some of the things that consumers care about, as human rights have become an aspect that customers consider when deciding which brands to support.

Create deeper connections

Another way to use authenticity in your marketing approach is to think about the human-to-human interaction.

Whenever your brand launches a marketing campaign, posts on social media, or engages with customers online, focus on creating deeper connections with them. They want to know that you care about their needs, are listening to their complaints and value their feedback.

In previous decades, companies would market to consumers like a one-way street. More often than not, their executive teams would hide behind FAQ pages on websites and rely on call centres shielded by 1-800 numbers. But, nowadays, everyone is essentially a click away. This means the power has shifted to give customers a louder voice (which can either be an asset or a liability to you, depending on what they’re saying about your brand).

Smart brands use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to actively engage with their audience. Instead of just constantly promoting and selling, their teams make sure to reply to comments and questions, to answer disgruntled complaints, and to even spotlight raving fans (which make them feel valued and recognized). Just like any relationship, both parties need to feel valued and heard. So, think about your online marketing approach as a two-way dialogue, which will create deeper connections and more loyal customers.

Evoke a sense of humanity

Finally, when you focus on authenticity as a core part of your marketing efforts, you evoke a sense of humanity. Whether your company donates funds to charities or actively supports worthy causes, brands that show care for humanity often go further in the eyes of consumers than those that are only profit-oriented. A perfect example of this is TOMS, the shoe brand that has earned strong brand loyalty through its philanthropic business model.

Authenticity has become one of the most important aspects to incorporate into any marketing and communication strategy. The more effectively that you can connect with, listen to, and relate to your customer base, the more loyal they’ll be. And, that, we know – is one of the keys to a lasting business.

By Christina-Lauren Pollack

Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

In News

7 Ways You Can Use LinkedIn To Blow Up Your Brand

June 18, 2021 No Comments

By Julie Guest.

Over the last three years, LinkedIn‘s active user base grew by a staggering 27 percent, from 500 million in 2018 to 740 million in 2021. Business owners and entrepreneurs can leverage the platform to grow their brand, generate new leads, establish partnerships and make connections.

The following seven ways can help you utilize LinkedIn to grow your brand and gain a competitive edge over your competition.

1. Optimize your company profile and connect with people

If you haven’t worked on your LinkedIn profile, please take some time and perfect it. Make sure it provides all the essential details about your company’s products and services. Put more emphasis on the headline and summary to ensure that it’s compelling, engaging, interesting and professional. Furthermore, optimize it for more B2B and B2C lead generation.

Within no time, you will start seeing the “Someone has viewed your profile” notification. Don’t just view their profile back. Instead, track the individuals who viewed your business’s profile. If they are an ideal prospect, invite them to connect. An individual who views your company profile is most likely finding out more about your brand. There could be a chance they are also interested in your products or services.

2. Post valuable content on LinkedIn publisher

You can use LinkedIn Publisher to publish blog posts that users can engage with and share. With more shares of your blogs, the higher the impact it has on growing your brand. The post can also get prospects interested in your products, triggering an open door for more partnerships.

Make it a habit to publish content on LinkedIn consistently — but remember quality is key. It can build a community of loyal followers who admire your brand. Through them, you have ambassadors who can create a good reputation out there about your business. When users see the value and insights in your content, it gives them the conviction to check out more about your company. It’s one of the most straightforward and subtle ways of promoting your brand on LinkedIn without being pushy.

3. Follow other companies

Don’t forget to follow other businesses within your industry, including those you have partnered with and those who can be potential partners. This way, you have a chance to learn about them and what they offer. Still, don’t limit yourself from poking around as it might be an eye-opener to some techniques other companies use to get more leads. Also, the more you position yourself out there, the higher your chances of getting more returns.

4. Join LinkedIn groups where your target clients gather

The right groups can be a very powerful tool in growing your brand. By using advanced search, you can locate practitioners within your sector and your firm. Group conversations can give you vital insights into your industry. You can also learn about emerging industry pains and the options you can use to solve these issues.

While in the group, learn about the rules to know if content sharing is allowed. If so, create your credibility by sharing relevant content that capture potential prospects. It can include links to articles about your brand, relevant blog posts, event notices for webinars and posts that quote your business. However, make sure the materials you post are a helpful source and avoid dominating the conversation.

5. Utilize plugins

LinkedIn can be an even more powerful lead generation tool by itself when you utilize the complementary add-ons. Tap into the following plugins:

LinkedIn Connection Revealer: The LinkedIn Connection Revealer shows you the following that your connections have. By pinpointing the users who travel in big circles, you can engage with them to leverage their platform and promote your brand.
LinMailPro: It’s a Chrome extension that gives you the capability to automatically find and invite individuals who have recently viewed your profile. You can also send personalized messages to them about your brand or deliver marketing messages.
Headlinr: You may have sponsored a great story, uploaded ads or put up posts, but without a great headline, your potential targets might not click on them. When you use Headlinr, a chrome paid plugin, it automatically generates multiple headline combinations with the keyword you specify depending on your industry. You will get compelling titles that lure users into clicking through your ads and stories.
Rapportive: If you are a Gmail user browsing in Chrome or Firefox, Rapportive can be a handy tool in getting more leads. It enables you to get LinkedIn profiles that have email addresses in your contacts. You can then send them personalized invites to their inbox to help you grow your network.

6. Create a sponsored InMail campaign

By utilizing sponsored InMail campaigns, you have an easier route to cut through the clutter and reach inboxes of individuals who matter to your business. You can send your target prospects compelling offers and rich content.

7. Ask your employees to post your business’s content

In most cases, entrepreneurs search for powerful brand advocates who can share their brand case studies and blogs. Yet, you can also do it through your employees. Research shows that about 50% of employees are already posting on social media platforms about their employers. Ask them to post blog content and other pieces relating to your brand to generate more traffic and leads. In fact, some organizations allow their marketers to pick company-approved content that their employees can share on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn can be a goldmine in attracting new clients and growing your brand, but correct execution is critical. Take your time to create your LinkedIn strategy, get clear about how you can offer prospective clients value first — then implement like crazy!

By Julie Guest

CEO of Bolder and Louder

Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

In News

How creativity can drive business results: Adobe, Lego, Unilever, IBM and Diageo will show the way

April 28, 2021 No Comments

By amit bapna

A year on from Covid-19’s first lockdowns, nations and economies seem to have better control and growth is on the mind as a semblance of recovery is in sight, particularly in Asia Pacific.

Even within this chaotic situation, the region has shown signs of faster recovery than many other parts of the world and are even providing learnings to other parts of the world on how best to navigate through the challenges. While that is heartening news, it also leads to the question on how ready are brands from a creative standpoint to navigate this new and emerging reality?

To help marketers unravel this critical puzzle, The Drum and Adobe have put together a power-packed panel with senior representatives from formidable brands like Lego, Unilever, IBM and Diageo. These top brand leaders will come together for a 60-minute session with live Q&A and deep-dive into the key challenges that the marketers and creatives are facing in producing content that engages customers as well as connects with them, at scale.

The session will discuss how a good mix of talent and technology can help in unlocking the answers to these challenges and allow collaboration to thrive in a new hybrid way of working. It will also look at the following key themes:

The changes that the brands have had to navigate and adapt to since the pandemic began
The evolving creative approaches
Raising the role of creativity in driving business goals
The emerging face of creative collaboration in the new world

The discussion, on 21 April 2021, will be moderated by Charlotte McEleny, The Drum’s Asia Pacific publisher, who will be joined by Michael Stoddart, director, strategic business development (APAC) at Adobe, Grace Astari Italiaander, creative lead – innovation at Diageo, Primus Nair Manokaran, head of creative at The LEGO Agency (APAC), Kartik Chandrasekhar, global brand vice president of Lifebuoy at Unilever and Isabella Bain, sales and creative associate director at IBM.

By amit bapna

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Capsule CEO: Make the Friendliest, Most Human Brand Possible

February 3, 2021 No Comments

By Christine Lagorio-Chafkin

The pharmacy was an old, calcified institution when Eric Kinariwala developed a digital, delivery-based business model. Then he needed to give it a personality.

Your mom.

That’s whom Eric Kinariwala wants his online pharmacy, Capsule, to feel like.

“Everybody needs some looking after sometimes,” Kinariwala says on Inc.’s What I Know podcast. “That’s what we’ve really built the whole business around.”

He says if your mother were a pharmacist, and you were her only patient, she would make sure you knew how to take your medication. You could text her with questions. She’d make sure you got the best price. She’d make sure you never ran out. And of course, she’d bring it right to your door. “Digitizing that idea has always been the driving force of the consumer experience and the brand and what we set out to do in the early days,” Kinariwala says.

A former analyst at Bain Capital and Perry Capital, Kinariwala launched Capsule in 2016, after he had had trouble picking up sinus medication from his local pharmacy. He imagined simplifying the pharmacy interaction for consumers and doctors simultaneously by building a tech platform and prescription-delivery infrastructure. When he dug in, he found an industry that hadn’t budged much in 50 years in the United States.

In his research, Kinariwala found consumers weren’t the only ones with obvious pain points: Doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, and drug companies all had difficulties in communicating with pharmacies. He set out to rebuild the system from the ground up. But he didn’t forget about his initial inspiration, the consumer experience.

A brand can look and feel friendly–have the right fonts, say–but that’s really a small part of your customers’ perception of your brand, Kinariwala says. You cannot forget the human interactions. He adds: “Every interaction that we have with our customers, whether that’s in person with the messenger dropping off their medications, whether that’s how someone responds to your text message, whether that’s how someone answers your question on the phone, whether that’s what the app feels like–you should feel looked after and cared for and loved.”

Listen to the full episode in the player below, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Feature Image Credit: Illustration by Grey Thornberry

By Christine Lagorio-Chafkin

@Lagorio

Sourced from Inc.

In News

Google and Facebook accused of limiting ad competition with ‘sweetheart’ deal

January 27, 2021 No Comments

By John Glenday

Google and Facebook colluded to undermine competition in advertising, according to documents uncovered by the New York Times. Obtained during an antitrust lawsuit in Texas, the documents lift the lid on ‘Jedi Blue’ – a cloak and dagger sweetheart deal between two tech giants that monopolize online advertising.

So what’s the deal?

Google and Facebook are accused of abusing their market position to strike a backroom deal to further their business interests.
The agreement is said to have seen Facebook win more favorable terms when bidding for advertising in return for its support for Google’s Open Bidding platform for selling adverts over header bidding – where advertising space is auctioned across multiple ad exchanges.
Google has long agitated against this method of buying advertising, maintaining that it slows down web pages and causes batteries to drain faster, as well as elevating the risk for fraud and billing errors.
As a result, Facebook gained more time to bid for adverts and was able to strike direct billing deals with sites hosting the ads. The underhand arrangement is also said to have seen Google furnish its rival with its data to enable Facebook to better target audiences.
In a quid pro quo, Facebook consented to bid on a minimum of 90% of ad auctions when it could identify users, with a pledge to spend at least $500m a year.
Such terms handed Facebook an unfair advantage over Google’s other advertising partners according to the New York Times, which spoke with six of these to help build its case. This meant Facebook was almost guaranteed to win a consistent number of adverts.
Evidence of collusion was first obtained from documents filed as part of an antitrust complaint lodged by the Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, amid suspicion the tech pair were getting too cozy.
This relationship even included a clause that committed both companies to ’cooperate and assist’ in the event of any investigation into their business practices.

Why it matters

Should apparent collusion be corroborated it would further undermine confidence in digital advertising – particularly if a guaranteed win rate is confirmed.
In response to the allegations, Google contends that its agreement has been misrepresented, while Facebook maintains that such deals serve to enhance competition.
Irrespective of the truth of the matter, the lack of transparency shown by both parties will do little to instill confidence in competitors or legislators.
Addressing the claims directly, Google director of economic policy Adam Cohen wrote: “Our agreement with Facebook Audience Network (FAN) simply enables them (and the advertisers they represent) to participate in Open Bidding.
“Of course we want FAN to participate because the whole goal of Open Bidding is to work with a range of ad networks and exchanges to increase demand for publishers’ ad space, which helps those publishers earn more revenue.
“AG Paxton inaccurately claims that we manipulate the Open Bidding auction in FAN’s favor. We absolutely don’t. FAN must make the highest bid to win a given impression. If another eligible network or exchange bids higher, they win the auction.
“FAN’s participation in Open Bidding doesn’t prevent Facebook from participating in header bidding or any other similar system. In fact, FAN participates in several similar auctions on rival platforms.”
Both Google and Facebook have been in the eye of an antitrust storm, with Google fending off multiple lawsuits from the Department of Justice and three dozen states centered on its near-monopoly of search and search advertising, as well non-search advertising.
Facebook, meanwhile, has been embroiled in lawsuits filed by the Federal Trade Commission as well as attorney generals from dozens of states that accuse the company of abusing its command of the digital marketplace and engaging in anti-competitive behavior.

By John Glenday

Sourced from The Drum

In News

2021 is the year branded content will come into its own – here’s how CMOs can embrace it

January 25, 2021 No Comments

By Ottavio Nava

Though it got a good start in 2020, 2021 is the year branded content will truly come into its own according to Ottavio Nava, co-founder and chief executive at We Are Social Italy and Spain. To make a success of the medium, he says marketers should glean lessons from the likes of Ben & Jerry’s, Lavazza and Circles.Life.

Branded content reached new heights in 2020. Long seen as a valuable add-on to marketing campaigns, and particularly effective when combined with traditional paid-for models, we are at now seeing just how powerful the medium can be as a strategic brand building tool.

With all the smartest marketers paying attention, I feel safe predicting that 2021 is going to be a memorable year for this highly creative marketing technique.

The pandemic has forced more people then ever consume content digitally at home, which has let brand content has come into its own in recent months. This shift can be put down to the crisis accelerating a number of important on-going trends, just as much as it can be attributed to brands having access to a more captive audience.

Pre-2020, consumer habits were already changing as a result of the ubiquity of smartphones with content available to read, watch, listen to and interact with via a great choice of applications and in a wider array of different contexts than ever before. Brands, meanwhile, were seeking ways to engage in the face of declining engagement by many viewers in live TV advertising – just one result of growing fatigue with traditional media.

Both of these drivers have been significantly uplifted by behavioural changes spurred by Covid-19. People’s digital activity increased significantly, resulting in more eyeballs coming into contact with more brands online. In turn, this has cemented the increasingly central role branded content is now playing in the advertising ecosystem – a role which – when you consider how peripheral it once was – has now changed significantly and irreversibly.

Here are three lessons learned from those brands who have used branded content most effectively in recent months point to how branded content can, and will, evolve further.

The first is a mindset shift to creating content from the get-go to thrive in a more organic, long-term way, irrespective of platform or format. Ben & Jerry’s is a great example of this. It recently launched ’Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America’ – a podcast series comprising six 30-minute episodes about white supremacy in America, developed in partnership with Vox Media.

The SuperSimpleStuff app for Pfizer, which uses a series of micro games where players can fight coronavirus while finding out the best ways to prevent the virus spreading, is just another example of creative content execution. It’s also proof impactive brand content doesn’t just mean video. Elsewhere, Australian mobile network Circles.Life recently paraded a 1.2m sculpture of a hand giving 2020 the middle finger around Sydney as part of its ’Unfuck 2020’ campaign; showing how paid-for content can be funny, engaging and generate organic headlines of its own.

The second lesson for brands is to think and create like entertainers by embracing the rules of publishers and media companies, instead of simply working to a marketing playbook.

Publishers understand who their audiences are and create a product for them. To make effective branded content, CMOs must do the same. The best marketers understand what kind of brand they have and what needs to happen for it to grow.

The ambition here is to create campaigns on the same level as the entertainment people consume, as we did for Lavazza with Coffee Defenders: A Path from Coca to Coffee, which tells the story of a Colombian farmer from a region devastated by civil war who turns land formerly used to cultivate cocaine into a coffee plantation.

This 30-minute video documentary blends the sustainability and communities work championed by the Lavazza Foundation with top entertainment production values. And it was distributed through a carefully considered strategy built to extend brand reach beyond TV ad audiences by focusing on long-form content platforms.

The third, and final, lesson for brand content’s further evolution lies in the growing use of the ‘creative newsroom’ – an approach that allows a brand to blend brand marketing needs with what’s happening in the world and in pop culture.

For our film for Barilla, The Roof Top Match with Roger Federer, a creative newsroom approach informed the idea of bringing together Roger Federer with two girls from a Ligurian village whose rooftop tennis matches during lockdown had become a viral phenomenon. It also shaped a creative strategy that allowed what happened next to naturally unfold, rather than attempting to control it.

These last two examples of successful branded content, in particular, obeyed another publishing rule. For as well as helping to generate profits and hitting KPIs, both – like the best brand content – add real and tangible value to their audience.

While much of 2020 is best left behind us, this revitalised approach to branded content is something that marketers should embrace longer term.

Feature Image Credit: Australian mobile network Circles. Life recently paraded a 1.2m sculpture of a hand giving 2020 the middle finger around Sydney

By Ottavio Nava

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Building a Brand from Scratch? Start With These Tips

January 21, 2021 No Comments

By Sean Peek

Today, it’s more important than ever to create an authentic brand that resonates with your target customers. These tips and tools will help you build a strong brand from scratch.

Your brand is essentiall your business’s identity, including factors like your logo, company colours, voice and “personality.” Having distinct branding helps customers recognize you and makes you stand out among your competition. However, it can be difficult to zero in on an identity, then implement it into a visual style and written tone. Here’s how to build your brand from scratch.

Steps to building a solid business brand

Developing a brand that resonates with your target customer is more important than ever before. In fact, 86% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding what brands they will support. These six steps will help you identify your audience, develop your brand and, most importantly, develop authenticity.

Research your target audience

In order to establish a brand, you need to know who you’re trying to connect with. While your goal may be to reach out to “everyone,” your company should have a dedicated audience as your customer base. Once you have that customer base in mind, research them and their preferences. Read product reviews and subreddits to learn how they feel about similar products and competitors, as well as what they look for in businesses.

Research your competitors

Identify your direct competitors and analyse their established brands. Pay attention to their logo and colour palette, what language they use and how they engage with their customers. Don’t copy what you like and ignore what you don’t; rather, consider what motivates their choices and how you can use that data to inform your own decisions as a business.

Define your company’s purpose and values

Your company’s purpose may be to sell products or provide a service, but it should be based on what motivates you and your employees. Think about the impression you want to leave on your customers and your community and make those values front and centre of your brand.

[Read: CO— Blueprint: Rebuilding Your Brand]

In order to establish a brand, you need to know who you’re trying to connect with.

Establish a voice

It’s important that your brand has a distinct yet authentic voice. Do you write your materials in a formal tone or a more casual one? How do you speak to your customers during pitches and on support calls? Choose words, phrases and a distinct tone that matches your brand.

Create your visuals

Visual representation is one of the most distinct and immediate ways to establish your brand’s uniqueness. Choose a colour palette that conveys the way you want your customers to feel about your services. Design a logo that is easy to read, visually simple and recognizable in any size, be it a website header or Instagram avatar photo.

Build a strong digital presence

With so much business done online and through e-commerce today, it’s important that your brand extends to social media. Ensure that your brand, including its visuals, voice and messaging, is consistent throughout your social media channels and other digital platforms. Through these platforms, engage with customers in a personal sense, answering their inquiries and responding to positive and negative comments.

Tools for building a brand

Creating a distinct look and voice is easier said than done. Here are some tools to help you build your brand.

Canva: Canva is a website and mobile app that turns anyone into a professional graphic designer. Canva’s tools and templates are easy to use no matter your artistic abilities, letting you create graphics for social media, presentations or any other type of visual material.
Designhill: If you need a logo but don’t know any graphic designers, Designhill is a great resource. Simply submit your ideas and logo inspirations and they’ll pair you with their fleet of freelance designers. Or, if you’d rather choose yourself, browse through their list of designers and hire one whose style speaks to you.
Hootsuite: Managing multiple social media accounts can be overwhelming, especially if you have a small team. Hootsuite allows you and your team to plan, create and schedule your social media posts across various platforms all through one easy-to-use hub.
MailChimp: MailChimp is an all-in-one email marketing tool to let you import your contacts, create email campaigns and send them to various contacts. You can even create a landing page that lets people sign up for your marketing services.
HARO: Help a Reporter Out, or HARO, Is a resource that connects journalists and media outlets with professionals who have experience to be used as sources. It’s an easy-to-use and great way to find an expert versus doing hours of search engine research.

CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

Feature Image Credit: Now, more than ever, it’s important to intentionally build your brand. — Getty Images/VioletaStoimenova

By Sean Peek

Sourced from CO U.S. Chamber of Commerce