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3 Branding Goals I Know You Can Accomplish This Year

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By Jeff Shuford.

Establishing and achieving branding goals early on will inevitably leave your clients with a positive perception about your company for years to come.

Developing a robust brand is essential in today’s highly connected, cutting-edge digital landscape. Just ask the celebrities that lose millions of dollars in endorsement money due to adverse press or damaging allegations only minutes after the unfavorable news breaks. A year ago, Chipotle Mexican Grill experienced a food safety crisis that nearly destroyed its brand forever. Although the famous restaurant chain is still feeling the adverse effects of an E. coli outbreak, Market Force reported that the chain was rated No. 1 among its competitors in a recent 2017 study.

Related: The Bodega Effect: Lessons In Branding From the Rise and Fall of a Startup

How can a restaurant chain that suffered the ultimate food safety black eye bounce back so effectively? Two words: brand reputation. Chipotle’s branding goal during the outbreak was to remain in its customer’s minds as the healthier, more socially responsible alternative to fast food. Establishing and achieving branding goals early on will inevitably leave your clients with a positive perception about your company for years to come (and will help your brand during and after a PR nightmare)

Establish your brand’s reputation early and often.

While establishing my technology company, my focus was solely on developing a remarkable product and providing an outstanding value to my customers. Like many entrepreneurs, I neglected to focus on the purpose behind my products and the passion behind my brand. Consequently, I undervalued the importance of establishing a compelling brand story. My website exhibited a lack of personality, and my employees were focused more on making sales than developing relationships.

The turning point came when we were over-negotiating on a mobile application package with a client. Our price points were far lower than our competitors, and our portfolio and client referrals were immaculate. What seemed to be the problem? We lacked an established brand reputation. No brand reputation equaled a lack of trust in the potential customer’s mind. After never successfully acquiring the new client, I decided to focus our attention on building a brand as opposed to a company

Hire a celebrity endorser or spokesperson.

My technology company is fortunate to have a couple of notable NFL veterans that contribute to the success of our brand. After bringing on a celebrity endorser, my business has been featured on Sports Illustrated and the NFL Network among other distinguished publications. Frankly, it all goes back to having a celebrity endorse our brand.

There are celebrities in every industry. Some influencers are local celebrities, like the lawyer that’s always on TV, and some are national celebrities, such as athletes, movie stars and music artist. Luckily for you, celebrities consistently post on social media regarding their future whereabouts and interests. Start attending the same events and functions as the celebrity that you are targeting and you are bound to meet. While networking with the star, align your brand with his goals and beliefs. If the celebrity can see himself aligning well with your brand, you will gain a colleague and a valuable brand evangelist. A brand evangelist can easily convert into a celebrity spokesperson if there is an exchange of actual or perceived monetary value.

Here are a few reasons to bring on a celebrity endorser or spokesperson:

  • You can gain access to the celebrity’s network of followers, fans and business partners.
  • Bringing on a well-known name behind your unknown brand can accelerate your brand’s recognition immediately.
  • Your brand gains a new angle for news stories and media opportunities.
  • Your brand gains the perception of success by association.
  • You can receive valuable business insights from the celebrity regarding your brand’s digital and physical footprint.

Latch onto news stories regarding your target market and industry.

The news cycle is always in a nonstop rotation. Running a veteran-owned company keeps me continually digesting news and data. I have discovered that any and all information that surfaces regarding veteran business matters in the media is ideal for promoting my business. Furthermore, it also presents an excellent opportunity to be invited on TV or radio as a subject matter expert.

Latching onto recent breaking news is not complicated but will require creativity. It also requires, at the very least, that you answer the following questions:

  • How will you use the news story to promote your business?
  • Is your goal to educate or to advertise?
  • Do you want your customers to think about your brand when they think about the news story?
  • What do you want people to remember about this news story?

I host a successful weekly TV segment that covers veteran issues and highlights emerging military entrepreneurs. My producer and I book guests based on their business successes and the current military news cycle. For instance, we booked a Marine veteran that transitioned into civilian life successfully after reading a report concerning veterans that struggle with life after they leave the military. I booked another veteran entrepreneur to discuss his journey from homelessness to entrepreneurship after a report surfaced regarding the increase of homeless veterans. The media needs your story; use the news cycle to accelerate your brand, and to increase your brand’s digital footprint.

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

By Jeff Shuford.

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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The Top 8 Attributes of the World’s Most Successful Brands

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By Paul Suggett

In many respects, a brand’s characteristics are much like those of people or animals. Some people are very confident, or even arrogant, and so are many of the brands you’ve heard of. For example, Nike has a lot of confident swagger (Just Do It), whereas Dollar Shave Club borders on the absurdly arrogant (Our Blades Are F**king Great). Some animals are known to be very loyal or reliable, and so too are certain brands. Amazon has built a fantastic reputation with its fiercely consumer-friendly customer service department, and it’s one of the many reasons the online giant has grown in leaps and bounds.

However, successful brands are also more complex than that. They are not one-dimensional ​and have a wide range of attributes that become part of a well-rounded, and well-loved, brand experience. Here are the top eight, in no particular order.

Really Knowing Their Audience

Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty
Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/143134495

In fact, they don’t just know them…they understand them. It’s easy to get lost in a sea of marketing jargon like demographics, behaviorism, and average HHI (Household Income). But at the end of the day, successful brands completely understand their audience on an emotional level. They are not just numbers on a chart in a PowerPoint slide. They are people, with names, dreams, and histories.

When Dove launched its “campaign for real beauty,” it really understood what women were going through. These impossible standards of beauty portrayed by the media, and the unrealistic expectations that society imposed upon them, were punishing the audience. Dove came out and said, “hey, we get it, and we support you.” The ad showing how a supermodel in an outdoor ad goes from average to outstanding through makeup, lighting, and Photoshop ​became a viral sensation. It touched a nerve, and that is knowing your audience.

Standing for Something

Nike Just Do It
Nike Just Do It. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/527518908

This does not mean a brand must support one of the latest political movement, or be out there stumping for a certain cause or charity. It simply means that the brand puts itself firmly behind an  idea, or ideal. In the case of one of the biggest brands, Nike, it stands for determination. Nike tells you to “Just Do It,” and all of its marketing materials revolve around that idea.

The ability to overcome the pain and the obstacles and push yourself to the limits, and beyond. With Dove, the ideal is real beauty. Dove’s advertising gets behind real women, celebrating the female form in its many incarnations. With Apple, it’s simplicity (or at least, it used to be). A brand should clearly define what it stands for in its advertising, marketing, and public relations materials. If it stands for too many things, they will all get lost in the clutter.

The Ability to Pivot Quickly

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/450831354

A great brand must be nimble. That can be a problem when the brand grows, because the more cogs there are in the machine, the more it gets slowed down. When a brand is in its infancy, it’s easy to move quickly and respond to change. When a brand becomes the size of Microsoft or Amazon, it’s like asking a massive ocean liner to turn around in a few seconds.

However, some large brands have kept their ability to pivot, thanks largely to a streamlined approval process, no micromanagement, and the implementation of social media. Consider the famous Oreo tweet that went out during the Super Bowl blackout; “you can always dunk in the dark.” That was a quick response to a major problem, and people are still talking about it. Then look at a brand like Blockbuster. All the signs were there that it needs to adjust to the rapidly changing digital entertainment landscape. But it dug in and stood its ground. While Netflix dominated, and Amazon jumped on digital media delivery, more and more blockbuster stores started closing. It did not pivot in time. And it died.

Passion and Ambition

Apple's Steve Jobs
Apple’s Steve Jobs. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/690815

The greatest brands ooze passion from every pore. You get excited when you engage with them, and become a brand advocate. You want to wear their brand, or post about it on Facebook and Twitter. Passionate brands are proactive, and the people in charge of the brand are usually driven to the point of obsession.

Look at Steve Jobs and Apple. This was a man who insisted on a specific Pantone color for the case of the Apple Mac, which was almost indistinguishable from the stock color available. It cost many thousands to make that change, but he knew what he wanted, and what the consumer wanted. Steve also refused to put the iPad through focus groups. Again, he knew what people wanted, but realized it would take a few months to get used to the idea.​​

Brands that do not have this passion are not as fun to engage with. When was the last time you talked about the great things happening with Dell, or IBM? And sadly, Dell used to be in this zone. “Dude, You’re Getting a Dell” was exciting and helped make Dell a household name. Never lose the passion. It will sink the brand.

Consistency Through Thick and Thin

Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola Bottle. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/672894574

It can be tough to be a truly consistent brand, especially when everything is changing around you. It can be a lot easier to simply go with the flow, abandon the consistency, and hope things work out for the best. But a brand that remains consistent to its core values will thrive throughout the constantly evolving landscape. Customers who know they can rely on a brand to be there for them will reward that brand with their loyalty.

Coca-Cola is a great example of both sides of the argument. Once, they ditched their formula and brand to try and stay on top of Pepsi (which was number two in the marketplace). New Coke was a disaster, and Pepsi reaped the rewards. Coke’s loyal customers felt betrayed. Now, Coca-Cola is a model of consistency. It knows what it is, what it isn’t, and what to do to keep its message of “sharing and inclusion” top of mind. Lose your consistency, your customers will feel thrown by it. They’ll try something else, and they may not ever come back.

6: Being Genuinely Interesting and Engaging

FedEx
FedEx. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/694228378

Great brands don’t have to work overtime to get a consumer’s interest (or at least, it doesn’t look like hard work). A truly interesting brand will demand attention. You know this yourself just by looking at the brands you follow on social media. What names are on the list? More than likely, they have something interesting to say, and they say it often. Go to Instagram and take a look at the following brands: Letterfolk; Staples; AirBnB; Starbucks; ShakeShack; Nike; Mac Cosmetics; National Geographic; FedEx (yes…FedEx).

The last one on the list should make every brand sit up and take notice. FedEx does a very dull job; it delivers packages. And yet through a genuine desire to entertain and engage the audience, FedEx has almost 74 thousand followers on Instagram. FedEx is not posting pictures of brown boxes, or schedules, or people receiving packages. Instead, the Instagram channel is filled with beautiful shots of planes, trucks in the wilderness, incredible scenery, and people of different cities. The people at FedEx know what’s interesting and they are promoting it. If a package delivery service can get that kind of engagement, anyone can. You just have to tap into something people want to see.

7: Relevancy in an Ever-Changing World

Lego Batman
Lego Batman. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/634445388

It’s been said over and over again; now, more than ever, brands are engaged in a battle for cultural relevancy. Big brands can become dinosaurs, or they can thrive. Small brands can get crushed underfoot, or they can be as small and indestructible as a diamond. It’s all about how relevant that brand is in the current climate. Perhaps one of the greatest brands to pass the relevancy test is Lego. Think about how popular (or not) Lego was 20 years ago. It was a household name, sure, but it was a plastic building toy about to get wiped about the rapidly growing video game industry. Lego adapted.

It bought into huge film and TV franchises, like Star Wars, Batman, Harry Potter, and even Ghostbusters. It created brick and mortar stores that were an experience for kids and adults alike. It became a staple in Disneyland and in malls around the world. It created multiple product lines, like Bionicle, Ninjago, and City. And then, the master stroke, Lego got into the movie-making business. And by hiring some of the best talent in the entertainment industry (Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks), its movies became massive hits. Lego knows relevancy, and it’s bigger than it has ever been at a time when toy stores are going under. How can your brand remain relevant today? What can it do to really connect?

8: Authenticity and Humanity

Target
Target Spot the Dog. http://www.gettyimages.com/license/835672972

Consumers hate fakes and phonies, and when a brand tries and fails to connect on a real, human level, it suffers the consequences. Ironically, Dove has recently come under fire for feeling insincere by continuing its quest to pursue real beauty. The bottles of many shapes and sizes, to represent the many shapes and sizes of its female customers, was a complete disconnect. The consensus from the audience was that this felt like a marketing stunt; something fake and contrived that was designed to get viral hits rather than genuinely connecting to their audience.

“It’s straight-up off-brand,” said Samantha Skey, president of digital media company She Knows Media. “It’s a change in tone for Dove, from ads that are almost painfully sincere and earnest, to something that could literally be a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit. Unless you’re trying to mock everything you stand for, I’m not sure why you would do this.” This was followed by an ad that showed a black woman taking off her clothed to reveal a white woman beneath. While Dove says it was taken out of context, it was another example of Dove missing the mark, and losing its genuine appeal.

However, a brand that continues to be praised for its authenticity is Target. It knows what it is, it knows its customer base, and it continues to treat them with respect. It’s not afraid to poke fun at itself, or admit when it makes a mistake. Because of this, brand loyalty for Target is stronger than it’s ever been.

By Paul Suggett

Sourced from the balance

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Which Metrics Should Your Business Be Using To Measure Influencer Marketing?

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In the past, it was often difficult to accurately measure marketing methods to determine which methods were driving the highest levels of traffic. Today, we have access to a wide array of online marketing methods, including social media and influencer marketing. In fact, a study conducted by SocialChorus found that an influencer marketer campaigns can drive up to 16 times the engagement of owned or paid media.

Compared to traditional forms of marketing, social media offers the ability to create incredibly targeted marketing campaigns while also measuring an array of metrics to determine which methods drive the greatest return on investment (ROI). The same is also true of influencer marketing. Even so, in order to ensure the greatest ROI, it is imperative to track and measure the right metrics. Below, we explore five metrics your business should be using to measure the success of your influencer marketing campaigns.

1. Total Investment

First and foremost, you need to determine how much you are actually investing in influencer marketing before figuring out how much of a return you are receiving on that investment. The cost of your investment could include a variety of expenses, including researching influencers and even setting up an influencer campaign. Other expenses might include the cost of providing free product samples to your influencer and your audience. In the event that you need to set up demos or test areas, you will also need to include those costs for your company to determine the overall investment cost of the influencer campaign.

2. Reach and Ratio

This could actually be two different metrics. It is important to understand the difference between these two metrics and their importance to the success of your campaign. One of the biggest challenges that many businesses encounter when setting up an influencer campaign is trying to differentiate influencers. Not all influencers are the same. More often than not, businesses make the mistake of focusing on the number of followers that an influencer has. While a high number of followers could be advantageous, it does not necessarily guarantee the results you want. For instance, suppose an influencer has a large following but that following is not engaged with the influencer. In this type of situation, the response your brand receives from your influencer campaign may not be as robust as you would like. By comparison, an influencer with a smaller but much more involved and interactive following could drive far better results. Due to these differences, it is important to make sure that you are focusing on the reactions that an influencer receives when sharing your marketing messages as the true gauge of the success of the campaign. If you need help in measuring this metric, a number of tools are available, including Traackr.

3. Sentiment

The main reason that an influencer campaign can be so successful is that it rests on the ability of the influencer to obtain buy-in from the audience. Consequently, it is vital that you measure the sentiment regarding your businesses marketing message.Through evaluating the way in which your brand is perceived by your target audience, you will be better positioned to identify areas that may not resonate as well with your target demographic and adjust your marketing message accordingly. Along the same lines, you can also see which messages receive the most favorable reaction, giving you the opportunity to increase awareness around that message the influencer is delivering.

4. Brand Effect

Of course, ultimately, you need to determine what effect the message had on your brand. As part of the process of measuring brand effect, you need to evaluate such metrics as the amount of traffic generated to your landing page or website, the number of times your product or brand was mentioned online, the number of new subscribers received, or the number of new followers or fans added on social networks.

5. New Sales

For most businesses, the ultimate goal of any influencer marketing campaign will be the number of new sales directly attributed to a marketing message or campaign. Keep in mind that this number may not be readily available immediately following the campaign. The purchasing cycle for your product or service could actually extend far beyond the duration of your marketing campaign, so remember to continue measuring even after the initial campaign has come to an end.

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Sourced from Weigh Your Mind

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Your brand is talking about itself too much

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By John Long.

You’re at a cocktail party, and you find yourself standing next to a guy you’ve never met. He seems pleasant enough at first, offering his name — let’s call him Eric — and a friendly handshake.

But then, unprompted, Eric tells you what he does for a living, where he’s from, where he went to college and what he majored in. And then Eric rattles off all the places he’s worked, what he did at those places — and babbles on about a new project he’s working on — in painstaking, mind-numbing detail — as he produces his business card. Just minutes after meeting him, you’re frantically scanning the room for any to get away.

We’ve all run into that guy. We hate that guy. So don’t let your brand be that guy.

These days, everyone’s trying to figure out “content” (a terrible term, but that’s for another piece) — while, every year, advertising spend on social media spending keeps going up. Given those two trends, it’s surprising how many brands still prattle on incessantly about themselves like that blowhard Eric.

I’m not saying brands no longer need artfully crafted communications about their products and services that are compelling and grounded in a human truth—they still do, and always will. But an important question marketers should be asking today is:

What should my brand talk about other than itself?

This isn’t a new concept. I’m an Ogilvy guy, and one of my favorite ads from the archives is this one for Guinness that ran in Esquire in the early 1950s.

1950s Guinness ad

Now that’s what the kids today call “native content.” And it’s great. A lot of people love oysters, but almost no one knows anything about them. So in addition to its eye-catching art direction that immediately draws you in, the copy holds your interest, in part, because it’s not about Guinness — it’s about a delicious mollusk. And it wasn’t a one-off. There were ads about cheeses, game birds, and steaks. In short, it was a beautiful and highly effective campaign for Guinness that wasn’t about Guinness.

Let’s pause for a minute.

Think about the kind of people you find interesting and enjoy being around. They don’t ramble on endlessly about themselves. They’ve got a knack for finding what interests you—and they always seem to have some interesting tidbit about that subject that captures your attention. They meet you on your level. They listen. They fascinate. And so should brands.

A lot of brands understand this.

Nike doesn’t just talk shoes, they talk about hard work and human achievement. REI doesn’t just talk about ski equipment, they talk about the transformational power of being outdoors. And Apple doesn’t just talk about smartphones, they talk about design and creativity.

But other brands have some catching up to do. Take the major pizza delivery chains. Why do they seem to talk about pizza and prices and little else? People already love pizza, and a dollar here or there isn’t going to buy their loyalty for the long haul. Or consider retailers that dominate a category — like say, toys or music. These brands have a wonderful opportunity to talk about something other than themselves and they’re mostly not taking advantage of it.

So let’s say you’ve accepted my premise. How do you know what your brand should talk about? Two things you need right off the bat are a razor-sharp definition of your brand — yes, brand still really matters — and a deep understanding of your customer. But tread carefully. To enter certain conversations, brands need credibility.

Guinness could credibly talk about oysters and cheese because beer goes pretty well with both. And almost anyone can talk about say, the Olympics. But even if they had done so in a less ham-fisted way, Pepsi didn’t have the credibility to talk about the Arab Spring and Black Lives Matter.

The bottom line: in an increasingly distracting world, brands can’t expect people to be interested in them just because they show up on their television or tablet. They must start with the premise that people just don’t care about their heritage, their ingredients, their propriety processes or their “solutions.”

To attract interest and build loyalty, they need to talk about something besides themselves that’s relevant to their customers in an entertaining or provocative way. In other words, brands should be more like REI and hell of a lot less like Eric.

By John Long.

Sourced from THEDRUM

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5 keys to successful branding

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By Laura Meoli.

Whether you’re clueless about media production, or the next Martin Scorsese, there are endless ways to get your name out there. Modern businesses realize that success means changing with the times, and adapting your brand to current technology. I’m not talking about changing your business plan. Staying current is all about utilizing the FREE resources out there to bring your brand to where your customers live. Local businesses are going to still get people walking in the door, but not every entrepreneur needs to have a store-front to make money.

Your customers are likely glued to their phones- so meet them where they are… on social media. A successful brand has a presence on EVERY social media platform, AND on their own website. For example, Pepsi just happens to be a household name because of it’s long history and expensive advertising campaigns that makes it’s logo, font style and colors instantly recognized. Here are five keys to successful branding, for entrepreneurs and start-ups

Don’t get overwhelmed by social media. Choose Wisely.

For businesses without the history or resources that Pepsi has, you will need to make sure that you have a presence on the social media outlets that your potential customers are using. Not all of them will serve you, so don’t waste your time. I would not recommend using EVERY social media platform, but to choose 2 or 3 that are specific to your potential customer. For example, if you are a crafts artist, I would suggest using Pinterest, because that is where people typically look for arts and crafts. Then, I would think about what is that platform lacking in terms of what you have to deliver. For the crafts artist, you may enjoy teaching certain techniques. Pinterest might be good for that, but bigger more complicated projects need video tutorials- so I would suggest using Facebook and YouTube as well. Facebook will be a place where you can share both videos and photos, and because it is so versatile, I always suggest to my clients to start with Facebook. The most important thing when choosing your social media platforms, is to choose based on how comfortable you are using the platform. You can learn to use ANY platform satisfactorily, but if you are passionate about photos for example, I would suggest using Instagram because that joy will shine through in your posts, and you will engage a more authentic audience.

Automate your content for FREE.

When it comes to social media content, Quality is more important than Quantity. In fact, if you are constantly posting mediocre content without much thought, your followers will likely not see value and will unfollow you because it looks like spam. You don’t have to be a slave to social media. Tools like Hootsuite can allow you the opportunity to schedule all of your content ahead of time, for FREE.

Remember that a potential customer visiting your facebook page today, for example, will likely only see the last few posts you’ve shared. Re-sharing content is OKAY. Bonus points if you re-share content as it relates to something currently relevant in the news. For example, in October, I would suggest using content related to Halloween, and using the hashtag.

Consistency is not only key, it’s the lock, the door, and the digital store-front for your brand.

The number one way to be recognizable is to be consistent. Don’t confuse your potential customer by having different names, logos, banners and branding in all the places you live online. That would be like Pepsi changing their name and expecting the same loyal customers to still buy their products. Make sure your visuals are the same on each social media platform, and even matching your website. This includes your logo, banner (AKA header image, or cover photo), and your branding color(s) and font(s). I suggest having no more than 3 branding colors, and no more than 2 fonts (1 for a headline and the other for your body text). The logo and banner should incorporate these fonts and colors. Websites don’t always have a large availability of font styles, so when it comes to writing blogs, it’s okay to have a basic font for your body text. It’s the logos, banners and images that should ALWAYS stay consistent. The tricky part here is that each social media platform has a different set of specifications and requirements for your banner and logo elements. For example, Youtube’s banner is much more wide and shorter in height than Facebook’s banner. Start by creating your website banner, then download specs for your social media platform banners, and customize your design slightly to fit the specs. Unfortunately, each platform has different specs, so you will likely have to make a few different versions. You want to make sure if you have a photo of yourself in the banner, for example, that your head is not cut off, and that text is fully visible on desktop AND mobile devices. Also, look out for redundancy. Your website banner does not need your web address on it, because people are already there- but your social media pages do! Don’t try to cram a bunch of keywords into your banner image and logo. Keep it clean and stick with your branding colors and font.

For an example, check out my website, facebook, twitter and youtube channels to see how you can customize your banner to fit various platforms.

Bonus Tip: Search engines (such as Google or Yahoo) do not recognize the text content in your photos. So if you have important keywords or copy to share, make sure it is written as text on your websites, and not just in your banner or logo image. Don’t jam pack your banner or logo with keywords, because it doesn’t get read by search engines anyway.

Logos are important. Be original.

There are sites out there like Fiverr.com that claim to create custom logos for $5. I’ve done that about three times and found that these “experts” are just taking stock images with little care, and giving you a very basic result. It isn’t customized, it won’t be what you’re looking for, and it rarely ever helps you build brand recognition. Here’s why… For example, most film production companies will ask for a film clapper, a film reel or a camera as the imagery in their logo. If you use a stock image site like Canva to create your logo, you will have a limited amount of film-related images to choose from. Every film production company is going to look on Canva and use these images for their logos, so by the time you show up wanting to create something unique- it’s too late. That image will already be taken and likely is being used by your direct competition. Think about it- If you have the same logo as your competition, with just your name switched out- how will you stand out? What makes your potential customer want to buy from you rather than the other five companies with the same exact logo?

Search engines aren’t doing you any favors when it comes to putting your content high-up in search results (unless you pay them to do so). And people don’t spend much time searching before deciding who looks legit, and who doesn’t. Your logo and banner is your first impression. Don’t give potential customers a reason to go with the competition. I always recommend hiring a professional to create your high-end LOGO, so you have a custom, personal design. Click here to get a custom, high-quality logo and banner for your website.

Know when to DIY (do it yourself), and when not to.

When it comes to branding, it IS possible to do it yourself. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that people who are super-active on social media don’t have help. Lots of entrepreneurs have interns, and even hire virtual assistants who help with various aspects of their business.

There are a million things to do as an entrepreneur, we can’t always do it all ourselves. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, and use the tools out there to enhance and empower your social media sharing. Outsource the parts of your business that you do not enjoy doing. BUT be clear on how it’s done in the first place so when you do hire someone, you are knowledgeable about potential errors or mistakes that can occur.

I believe that we can learn almost anything. There are just some things that are better left to professionals. For example, I teach video production and podcasting to various people at all skill levels. Some people really enjoy doing their own videos, and depending on their goals, video might be the perfect way to engage their audience. But remember, people don’t spend much time looking in the search results before deciding who looks legit, and who doesn’t. If your logo and banner is your first impression, your videos are the second impression. Don’t give potential customers a reason to go with the competition. You can certainly have videos that you’ve produced yourself on your website, YouTube channel or social media. Your videos don’t need to cost a lot of money to produce- as long as the content is there and consistent with your brand. I suggest having at least 1 professionally produced video that introduces and explains your brand. This video should be strategically placed as the main video on your YouTube channel, featured and starred on Facebook and other social media sites, and shared OFTEN. This will help build that impression of your brand as high-quality, and it will bring your potential customer to your website. From there, you can go nuts creating as much content as you want with your iPhone, because you’ve already hooked them.

Not investing in high-quality video and images is like going to a networking event wearing your pajamas. Since you don’t have a store-front, your online content needs to represent you. What you write is important, but with such short attention spans today, images and videos are your first impression. Make it a good one! LoudaVision Productions can create a custom, high-quality video for your website AND teach you how to increase your own production value for future self-made content.

By Laura Meoli,

Laura Meoli is a Digital Media Producer, Filmmaker and host of the LoudaVision Podcast for creative people.

Website www.LauraMeoli.com

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Soulful Integrated Branding Defined

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Integrated Branding is the use of brand identity, personality, advertising, retail promotions & services, product design, print collateral, website and online marketing, etc. to make your target market associate your particular company with admirable character traits and core values. Integrated branding is also an organizational structure and process that presents a consistent message, image and personality across all marketing efforts. It allows a business and brand to speak with a consistent, unified voice.

What Is Brand Soul? 

Brands with soul share a passion and motivation with their consumers, they have a clear reason for being. The brand soul is not necessarily a mission or a charitable cause, although it can be that. Brand soul is usually related to values and ethics, such as quality, self-esteem, integrity or identity. The brand is a champion of some set of uplifting human values or personality traits. A brand without soul appeals to logic only by relying on a hard sell and is primarily focused on product features. Brands with soul usually have an emotional underpinning around the role (spirit) that their products can provide in the way people experience life. To communicate soul, brands commonly employ emotional communication strategies.

What Is Emotional Branding?

Emotional Branding is a term used within marketing communications that refers to the practice of building brands that appeal directly to consumer’s emotional state, needs and aspirations. Emotional branding is successful when it triggers an emotional response in the consumer, that is, a desire for the advertised brand (or product) that cannot fully be rationalized. Emotional brands have a significant impact when the consumer experiences a strong and lasting attachment to the brand comparable to a feeling of bonding, companionship or love.

The purpose of emotional branding is to create a bond between the consumer and the product by provoking the consumer’s emotion. Vance Packard’s ‘The Hidden Persuaders’ speaks to the emotional response of consumers to advertising. It reads, ” In the buying situation, the consumer generally acts emotionally and compulsively, unconsciously reacting to the images and designs that are associated with the product.” The notion that emotion is not only associated with compulsiveness and irrationality, but is a subconscious reaction, is the framework that drives emotional branding theory.

Today’s most successful companies have built relationships with consumers by engaging them in a personal dialogue that responds to their spoken and tacit needs. Marketers who’ve broken through the clutter have done so by connecting with consumers and, thereby, have created strong emotional bonds through their brands. You have to have a love affair with the consumer – flirt with them, provide that titillating buzz. When that flirtatious relationship becomes a deep relationship, then you have a major brand.

Emotional branding creates a personality for the brand. Identity is recognition. Personality is about character and charisma! Brand identities express a point of difference in the competitive landscape — but that’s just the first step. Brand personalities are special: They evoke an emotional response. The brand personality is crucial in emotional branding.

The combination of all brand touch points and interactions … across all forms of brand communication, the retail space, product design & performance, product packaging and service, make up a customer’s total brand experience. Both customers and prospects form brand perceptions based on all these touch points and interactions. When the brand elements are unique, strong and favorable this is what builds brand equity in the consumer’s mind, and it is composed of four key dimensions: differentiation, relevance, esteem and knowledge. Various branding methods impact different dimensions of brand equity, which must be carefully considered by marketers or brand managers when they are striving to achieve one powerful, integrated brand experience.

1. Differentiation: Perceived distinctiveness of the brand

Differentiation is a brand’s ability to stand apart from others, and to gain consumer choice, preference and loyalty. It is the degree to which consumers find a brand unique. A compelling and memorable brand experience can attract customers’ attention and maintain their interest, and therefore contribute to brand differentiation.

2. Relevance: Personal appropriateness of the brand

Relevance refers to how meaningful a brand is to their target consumers. Relevant brands are both appropriate and appealing. Niche and growing brands may choose to focus first on differentiation and then on relevance, whereas leading brands will excel on all four dimensions.

3. Esteem: Regard for the brand

Esteem measures the degree to which the target audiences regard and respect a brand—in short, how well it is liked. When a company grows larger and becomes more mature, brand esteem becomes more and more important. Today, companies often use both emotional branding strategies in traditional media and indirect experiential branding methods to build brand esteem.

4. Knowledge: Understanding of What the Brand Stands For

Knowledge determines whether there is a true understanding of what a brand stands for. Brand awareness is a sub-component of knowledge. The level of brand knowledge is a signal of the company’s past performance, as well as a foundation for its further development. Positive and accurate understanding of the brand among target consumers results in brand loyalty. However, it is not enough for a brand to tell consumers what their brand means, they have to show them, and what better way to do this than through brand experience.

This is what Apple did with Apple stores, what Nike did with its Nike owned stores and what Starbucks has done with its grand café concept The Roastery.

Brand soul, emotional branding and experiential branding combined, present companies with an opportunity for a powerful, creative and integrated process that focuses on customer experience, contributes to brand differentiation, esteem, relevance, and knowledge, and can offer a more powerful way to build a sustainable brand. Through combining traditional media, interactive technologies, innovative retail spaces, and indirect online brand communication methods, consumers can now see, touch, hear, taste, and smell brands in ways they never could before. Advertising alone or price-slashing product promotions are not sustainable methods for brand building. An integrated and creative approach, with the objective of building lasting and defensible brand equity, has emerged as the most promising and viable alternative.

These and other insights into brand truth, purpose and deep campaigns is covered in greater detail in my book, Soulful Branding – Unlock the Hidden Energy In Your Company and Brand.

Build A Human Centric Brand. Join us for The Un-Conference: 360 Degrees of Brand Strategy for a Changing World, April 2-4, 2018 in San Diego, California. A fun, competitive-learning experience reserved for 50 marketing oriented leaders and professionals. Register before September 25th and SAVE $300!

The Blake Project Can Help: The Brand Positioning Workshop

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

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8 Rules Of Positioning

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By Harsh Pamnani.

In a market crowded with a lot of brands offering similar products, a good positioning makes a brand and its products stand out from the competition

Getting in front of customers and prospects is an important thing, but more important thing is what you will communicate about your brand and product when you are in front of your audience. Positioning helps marketers to connect their brand and products best with their target audience. In a market crowded with a lot of brands offering similar products, a good positioning makes a brand and its products stand out from the competition.

Positioning is one of the most important components of marketing strategy and vital to success of any brand. Al Ries and Jack Trout, in their book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, introduce the subject by saying: Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect.

Let’s have a look at a few important rules of positioning:

1.    Positioning drives marketing strategy: The process of creating positioning statement requires identifying target audience; product category; product’s specific benefit, strengths and weaknesses and differentiation from the nearest competitor. Positioning drives all components of marketing strategy such as advertising, packaging, pricing, distribution, public relations, merchandising and brand communication. Additionally, strong positioning attracts partners, employees, investors, customers to associate with a company owning top positioned brands. Moreover, good positioning attracts influencers such as journalists, analysts, thought leaders etc. to cover a brand in their articles and reports. For example, in extremely competitive, coffee selling business, Starbucks has positioned itself as an upscale brand. Its stores’ locations, service, products display, packaging, socializing environment, pricing etc. are designed according to its positioning of an upscale brand.

2.    Positioning is relative: In any category, customers think about brands relative to other brands in the same category. To gain strong position for its brands, a company must differentiate its brands and products from others in the market. The most important point is that differentiation has to be sustainable. Differentiations such as price and features can be surpassed by competition in some time but it is difficult for competition to surpass the differentiation of quality, service, availability and leadership. For example, there are many digital wallets such as PayTm, MobiKwik, Freecharge, BHIM, State Bank of India’s SBI Buddy etc. All of these wallets have almost similar features and pricing and solve the similar purpose, but in customers’ mind PayTm has taken up the top position and has strong perception of quality and leadership.

3.    Positioning changes as market changes: In today’s fast changing world, products change, markets change, customers’ demands change, competition change, technologies change, regulations change and so on. These changes can create an opportunity for a new player to shake the positioning of an established player. For example, non-polluting electric vehicles are seen as norm of the future and Tesla is a prominent player in elegant electric vehicles. As per an article in recode, the 14-year-old company Tesla is now worth more than 113 year old company Ford. In a way, Tesla’s positioning seems to be surpassing Ford’s position.

4.    Positioning is multidimensional: Positioning has multiple dimensions such as product positioning, market positioning, industry positioning and leaders’ positioning. Product positioning is defined by a company based on its strategy, focus on market segment, price point, distribution channel etc. Market positioning of a brand or product is defined by word of mouth of influencers such as customers, analysts, retailers, journalists, partners etc. Industry positioning is defined by revenue and profit of a company. And most importantly, success of company elevates the positioning of its leader. For example, iPhone is a product brand, Apple is a company brand and Steve Jobs is a leader brand.  iPhone is positioned as a premium smart phone with higher price point targeted towards upper middle class and rich customers and available through selective channels. Positive word of mouth by influencers including customers has helped iPhone in gaining market recognition as the top positioned smart phone. Revenue through sales of iPhone helps Apple in achieving better positions in rankings such as Fortune 500. Success of Apple’s products such as iPhone has contributed to Steve Jobs’ position as one of the best business leaders. Again, Steve Jobs’ positioning as one of the best leaders drives positioning of his company, company’s products and so on.

5.    Positioning evolves over time: As company grows over time, its market segments evolve, its products evolve and it’s positioning in market evolves. If a company is focussed on niche market segment then it has to position itself for niche customers. But over the time, when market segment evolves or when company tries to enter into adjacent market segments then its positioning evolves. For example, when Uber was new in India, smart phones were available with limited number of people and taxi riding was not a preferred option as compared to auto rickshaws. Initially, Uber targeted customers who were looking to enjoy a luxury experience, had smart phones and credit cards. It was positioned as a taxi ride service for classes. Later on, Uber expanded its offerings such as low cost small cars, medium cost sedans and higher cost big cars. It also expanded its services from point to point transfer to outstation travel, taxi hire for personal usage, economical ride sharing etc. Moreover, along with credit card, it started accepting money through PayTm and cash. This evolution not only expanded Uber’s market segment, but also their positions from a transportation option for classes to a transportation option for masses.

6.    Positioning is strongest in the new category: In a mature category, there are already established players and to create its position, a brand has to compete with existing brands. But if a brand is able to create a new category then it can achieve leadership status in that category. For example, fast food is an overcrowded category with many popular brands such as McDonald’s, KFC, Subway, Taco Bell, Dominos, Dunkin Donuts, and Starbucks etc.  But all of these brands have created their leadership positions in separate subcategories within fast food category. For example, McDonald’s is known for burgers, KFC is known for chicken, Subway for sandwiches, Taco Bell for Mexican food, Dominos for pizza delivery, Dunkin Donuts for donuts, Starbucks for coffee and so on. Though all these players try to enter into each other’s’ offerings but their positioning is strongest around their key fast food offerings.

7.    Positioning is internal: The purpose of positioning statement is to align internal stakeholders such as marketing team, sales team, delivery team etc. on a common view of market. This alignment helps in having common interpretation of target audience, product category, differentiation from competitors, benefits for customers and so on. When everybody internally is on the same page, external communication becomes homogenous, relevant, targeted and clear.  For example Harley-Davidson’s internal positioning statement is: The only motorcycle manufacturer that makes big, loud motorcycles for macho guys (and “macho wannabes”) mostly in the United States who wants to join a gang of cowboys in an era of decreasing personal freedom. Taglines are external facing catch phrases that summarize positioning statement extremely concisely. For Harley-Davidson, tagline is “Define your world in a whole new way.”

8.    Positioning gets spoiled by brand extension: Brand extension is a common method used by companies to launch a new product by using an existing brand name on a new product in a different category. A company using brand extension hopes to leverage its existing customer base and brand loyalty to increase its profits with a new product offering. If a company expands its business too fast by launching multiple products using its powerful brand name, then it is necessary for it to maintain quality. If quality of a few of the products of a respected brand is bad, then customers no matter how loyal they are will start rethinking about the brand. Lowered image of a few products in customers’ mind would eventually impact the brand position and the business’ revenue. For example, Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali brand has a strong positioning in Ayurvedic products. But since last few years, Patanjali has been launching many new products in different categories and that’s too fast. There have been incidences when government’s food safety departments have raised questions on a few of the Patanjali’s products. Though strong brand name of Baba Ramdev and Patanjali have helped the company to launch and distribute many new products, quality concerns on a few products, effect overall positioning of the brand Patanjali.

(Views expressed are author’s personal and don’t necessarily represent any company’s opinions.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors’ and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house. Unless otherwise noted, the author is writing in his/her personal capacity. They are not intended and should not be thought to represent official ideas, attitudes, or policies of any agency or institution.

 

By Harsh Pamnani

The author is a Marketer & Author. He is an alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur  More From The Author >>

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Why Going Cheap on Your Branding Is One of the Worst Mistakes You Can Make

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By Andrew Medal.

Going cheap on your brand development could not only lead to a disconnect with potential customers, but could also result in your company shutting its doors as a result of low sales.

Your brand has a life.

Believe it or not, this thing you’ve created has legs to stand on, living and breathing every day. While this may sound high-minded, statistics prove otherwise. According to a study compiled by Bop Design, 54 percent of people don’t trust brands. But for those who do, 64 percent cite sharing a common bond with the brand as their primary reason for following or purchasing from them.

Why is this the case? Because your brand is your business’s first impression, and if done poorly, possibly the last. To some, branding seems like a luxury investment (and in some cases, this is true). However, going cheap on your brand development could not only lead to a disconnect with potential customers, but could also result in your company shutting its doors as a result of low sales. It’s a nightmare scenario for most entrepreneurs, which is why I’m going to go over a few reasons why investing in your brand is one of the wisest investments you could make.

A story you can sink your teeth into.

Breathe life into your business with a brand story or mission statement. Let’s be honest, coming up with your brand’s story is not an easy task. It’s going to take a lot of self-reflection and doubt, running through your purpose as to why your business exists in the first place. Additionally, this mantra will be what dictates every piece of copy or content your company puts out, creating a skeleton of how your voice will sound.

Let’s look at Whole Foods. The company could have created a wholesome-looking logo to lure people through its doors, but the multi-national retailer takes careful measures to back up its introduction to consumers. The brand has built a foundation of offering healthy and nutritious foods, and this foundation informs every marketing initiative and company development. From offering in-store educational experiences to teach consumers about food and emerging brands to getting involved in community-building programs through donating food to shelters and supporting local vendors, Whole Foods doesn’t just view its brand story as a marketing ploy, but leans on its pillars to guide the brand forward.

As Kissmetrics points out, there’s an actual science to what we deem as an authentic brand story. This breaks down to what’s essentially called neural coupling, or the emotional connection we feel when hearing a story. However, reaching this point might not be easily solved on your own, especially if you’re in a time crunch to launch.

While it’s up to you to have an agency or consulting firm take over your entire branding objectives, a lot of this is going to come from you. It’s not a bad idea to gain an outside perspective from someone to ask you the tough questions on why you started your business and what it represents, as well as where exactly you want it to head. The love you feel for what you’ve created is something most will understand, which is why having a third party pull the beauty of that out of you and translate it in a way others can comprehend is vital.

Because once you release your brand to the outside world, the perception of what it represents no longer belongs to only you anymore.

Your brand is more than just a logo.

A common misconception by novices in the branding world is making the assumption that a logo and a brand are synonymous. While your logo is one of the most important visual assets for your company — it is just the beginning. From there, you need bring your brand to life by embodying your values through marketing initiatives, product development and customer experience enhancements. Your brand’s goal is to represent an idea or shared truth between you and your audience, and that shared truth should permeate into the ethos of your business. It’s a common bond that drives towards a specific mission, which is something you’re going to miss the mark on by simply going for a cheap logo with the idea you’ll fix it later on.

When it comes to your logo, this symbol is going to represent an ethos that reflects upon how your company is aiming to change the world. Take the Whole Foods logo, for example. Many consumers in every major market across the country not only instantly recognize the green Whole Foods font, but new consumers also immediately recognize what the Whole Foods brand stands for thanks to the homage its logo pays to fruit and natural foods.

There’s plenty of places you can get a quality logo that won’t break the bank (I recommend checking out Deluxe). Remember, your logo is literally going to be everywhere your company is, so make it worth the ink it’s printed on. Plus, when done right, your logo is going to serve the purpose of telling your brand’s story without saying a word. So you have your logo … now what?

People talk, so you should listen.

How your brand is going to interact with the outside world will largely dictate the success of your company. From trade shows to social media, every interaction can give a valid perspective on who your company actually is. As Pew Research notes, more than 68 percent of all U.S. adults are on social media, so the potential amount of feedback you might receive could be tremendous.

Your brand is going to represent that universal truth you share with your consumers. Although discovering this is going to be tough, the rewards will be tremendous. People will no longer just be fans, but evangelists for what you’re about. Which begs the question: Are you ready to not just tell your story, but make it one that can stand the test of time?

By Andrew Medal.

Andrew Medal is the founder of creative digital agency Agent Beta. He has helped organizations like the California Education Department, Proctor & Gamble, Microsoft, Warner Bros. and Inc. Magazine. He has pro… 

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Why I Think Social Media Is For Branding and Engagement, Not Traffic or Revenue

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By Alfred Lua

Social media is changing.

It used to be a one-to-many channel. Businesses would publish links, photos, and videos on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, hoping to reach as many people as they can and drive a high number of leads and sales.

When marketers first started using social media as a marketing channel, there was less content, less noise, and people were willing to click on almost everything they saw on their news feed.

Then, we hit content shock.

There is now more content on social platforms than people can consume. If a post doesn’t look interesting or useful, people just scroll past it. As Rank Fishkin observed, “Twitter, Facebook, et al. have become more challenging sources from which to drive traffic. Clicks are just harder to come by.”

Social media is no longer a megaphone.

It is now becoming a one-to-few — and often one-to-one — channel. Businesses and organizations that are succeeding on social media now are the ones providing personalized social experiences to their fans such as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, NASA, and Airbnb.

Social media is becoming a conversation. Here’s why…

Social media is incredible for some things but not all things

Social media is often seen as a solution to every marketing problem. And, of course, it’s great for certain aspects of marketing including brand awareness. But the truth is, social media probably isn’t going to help you achieve every business or marketing goal you have.

For example, I believe social media is no longer a great traffic driver for most businesses. The strategy of batching and blasting marketing messages across various platforms might have been an effective way to drive clicks in the past, but not anymore. And, in mind at least, that’s not a bad thing because:

Social media is becoming an engagement channel. 

And with this shift comes new opportunities, such as incredible customer service and one-on-one conversations, which major social media platforms are embracing more and more with platforms and features like Messenger, Instagram Direct, and Twitter Direct Messages.

Engagement is also about the content you create and share across social platforms. Is it entertaining, useful, or unique? Does it encourage your audience to respond? Or is it just there to drive clicks back to your website?

The future of social media (and some might argue the past and the present of social media) is about deepening your relationships with your fans by engaging them and not simply pushing out marketing messages.

Let’s look at why this shift might be true…

4 reasons why engagement is the future of social media

1. Low organic reach and referral traffic

In recent years, organic reach on social media has fallen so low that social media is becoming a less viable channel for traffic.

Businesses are reaching fewer people on social media and getting less traffic from social media through organic means. Even publishers, businesses that heavily rely on social media for referral traffic, are getting less social referral traffic. Many major publishers have been seeing a fall in Facebook referral traffic — some as much as 50 percent.

As the amount of content on social media increases far beyond what we can consume, each social media post becomes less and less likely to be seen.

Here’s a simplified calculation: if 10 million posts are published per day by users and brands and all social media users collectively consume only one million posts per day, each post has a 10 percent chance of being seen. If the number of posts published per day increases to 100 million and all social media users still consume only one million posts per day, each post now has only a one percent chance of being seen.

The reality is that as more content is published on social media, organic reach will naturally fall.

A study by Social@Ogilvy found that Facebook organic reach has fallen to just six percent in 2014.

Declining organic reach on Facebook

The number likely has fallen even further after Facebook made a change to its algorithm to prioritize posts from family and friends over those from Pages.

Social media is losing its potential as a traffic channel as more and more content are posted on social media. As Michael Stelzner, CEO and Founder of Social Media Examiner, said, “Traffic has been going down, down, down and down. For years! That’s the challenge – you’re not getting the reach or visibility and we have to be OK with that reality.”

We have to adapt accordingly.

2. The rise of social messaging (and chatbots)

While social media has been the dominant platform over the last five to 10 years, social messaging apps (messaging apps built around social media platforms) are growing much faster than social media platforms. There are now more people using the top four messaging apps than people using the top four social media apps, as reported by Business Insider.

The top four messaging apps are now bigger than the top four social networks

Activate, a strategy consulting firm, predicted that 1.1 billion more people will use messaging apps by 2018, resulting in 1.5 times more people using messaging apps than people using social media apps.

The rise of social messaging signifies a change in people’s social media behavior and preferences — towards more personal, one-to-one communications. When people view social media, they are no longer just thinking about the posts on their news feed. They are also thinking about reaching your business for customer support through Twitter, receiving timely information or ordering products through your Messenger chatbot.

A company that is at the forefront of this change is KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Apart from posting interesting content on their one-to-many channels, they have invested a lot in one-to-one channels.

By engaging their social media fans on both one-to-many and one-to-one channels, they were able to gain tremendous business value. For instance, their social media efforts helped to increase their Net Promoter Score from 35 in 2015 to an all-time high of 43 in 2016.

Businesses that only push out marketing content on social media will miss out the opportunity to serve customers in meaningful ways and might be left obsolete on social media.

3. People use social media to reach brands

Social media is the first place most people turn to for customer support, as Sprout Social has found. And more and more people are using social media to get help from brands. The average number of social messages that needed a response from brands had increased by 18% from 2015 to 2016.

Social media is the top customer service channel

People are not only using private social media channels such as Messenger or Twitter Direct Messages to reach businesses for help. Take a look at Airbnb’s Facebook Page and you’ll notice that its users are also commenting on its posts to get help. (And Airbnb does a great job responding and helping them.)

There’re benefits to helping customers on social media. Sprout Social also found that being responsive on social media prompts customers to purchase while ignoring customers causes less brand loyalty.

At the same time, it’s becoming easier to help your customers on social media. To meet this trend, social media platforms are developing more customer service tools to help businesses respond to their customers.

Businesses have to change their approach towards social media and go beyond just publishing content. You’ll have to be there and help your customers when they ask for help.

4. Algorithms prioritize engagement

Besides engaging customers through customer service and one-on-one conversations, engagement is also about the quality of your content. Is it engaging enough to elicit positive responses from your fans?

To be seen and heard on social media (organically), you need to create content that engages your fans. The number of engagement on your social media posts influences the number of people who would see them.

If many people engage with your post, social media algorithms will take it as a sign that your post is interesting and will more likely show that post to more people. If there are few interactions (or many negative interactions such as “Hide post” on Facebook) on your post, social media algorithms will assume it is uninteresting, irrelevant, or not useful and not show it to as many people. So the more positive interactions on your posts, the more people you will reach on social media.

If your ultimate goal is traffic, leads, or conversions, then the more of such results you can potentially get. Socialbakers studied 30,000 Facebook posts by over 2,700 businesses and found that the more interactions a Page has, the higher the traffic to its website.

Interactions correlate with site visits

What’s the value of engagement?

I believe businesses will no longer join social media because they see it as a strong referral source or direct revenue channel. The primary reason to be on social media will be to build your brand through engagement.

Many businesses are already doing this — strengthening their brand through social media. Some (like KLM, Starbucks, and Nike ) help their customers quickly resolve issues through social media.

Others share content that their fans like and grow their brand through amplification from existing followers, influencers, and social ads. If you look at the social media profiles of brands like Denny’s, Oreo, and GoPro, you’ll notice how they use their content to reinforce their brand image rather than link their fans to their website or directly sell their products.

GoPro building its brand on Facebook

Social is a way for us to build confidence in the brand by showcasing our personality. Engage with them, inspire them and answer their questions quickly.

Hannah Pilpel, social project manager at MADE.COM

But why brand-building with social media is so important?

A customer’s journey with most businesses is not linear

Most customers rarely go from your Facebook Page to your website to your checkout page. It might look more like this:

➡️ Someone hears about your product through a friend.
➡️ On the same day, the customer sees your Facebook post, enjoys the content, and comments on it.
➡️ The following week, the customer searches on Google for a product that you sell and your website appears on the first page.
➡️ She recognizes your brand and tweeted you a question about your product.
➡️ You promptly replied her, and she decided to order the product from your website.

(Even this is a very simplified version of an actual customer journey.)

A study by Sprout Social found that 85 percent of people have to see something on social media more than once before they would purchase it. But they will also unfollow you if you post too many promotional messages.

Why people unfollow brands

By engaging your customers through timely customer support, one-on-one conversations, and interesting or helpful content, you can strengthen your brand image. Then, when these customers are deciding if they should purchase or continue to purchase from you, this brand equity can help win them over.

And it’s proven by research.

Social media interactions increase customer loyalty

A group of U.S. researchers studied consumers’ interactions with their favorite brands and their relationship with the brands. They found that consumers who engage with their favorite brands on social media have stronger relationships with those brands than consumers who don’t engage with their favorite brands.

Consumers who engage with their favorite brands on social media are more likely:

  • to have a better evaluation of the brands,
  • stay loyal to the brands, and
  • recommend the brands to others.

When they trust your brand, they’re more likely to give you their email address, sign up for a webinar, or purchase your product when you ask. That’s the reason why MailChimp does so much brand marketing. Their brand marketing creates a bias for MailChimp so that when someone is choosing an email marketing platform, she will think of MailChimp first.

Branding sounds good but…

What about measurable ROI like leads and sales?

Yes, they are important, too.

Marketers and businesses will always want to justify the time, energy, and resources they spend on social media. 78 percent of social media marketers discuss social media ROI with their boss, and 42 percent have such discussions frequently, according to Simply Measured.

Social ROI discussions

If social media ROI is important to you and your business, you can still keep an eye on results that are more directly measurable as you focus on brand-building on social media through engagement.

There are several ways you can measure these results such as through Google Analytics, Facebook Analytics, or Facebook Ads Manager if you are using Facebook ads. Also, as social media platforms develop more shopping features such as Pinterest’s Buyable Pins and Instagram shopping, there’ll likely be more robust analytics to show the monetary value of social media.

Here’re a few examples of how businesses are measuring their social media ROI, according to Econsultancy:

It’s important to remember that when you use social media as an engagement and brand-building channel, you might not generate many leads or sales directly from social media. But you would indirectly.

For instance, someone might discover you on social media and, a week later, find you on Google and purchase from you. We will usually credit Google for the purchase when your social media activities actually helped to influence the purchasing decision. Using tools like Google Analytics’ Multi-Channel Funnels or premium social media analytics tools, you can evaluate how your social media activities indirectly helped with lead generation and sales.

Social media assisted conversions

Over to you

People’s behaviors on and expectations of social media are (or have been) changing. Social media platform themselves are also adapting to meet this change.

If you want to succeed on social media, I think your primary goal on social media should be brand-building. You have to focus on the “social” of “social media” and engage your fans.

What do you think?

—

We have built Buffer Reply to help businesses serve and engage with their fans more effectively on social media. If you want to build your brand and give your followers a better experience on social media, we’d love for you to give Buffer Reply a try.

Image credit: Pixabay, (feature image), Econsultancy (quote)

By Alfred Lua

Sourced from Buffer Social

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Identity Marketing Backfires: Don’t Tell a Consumer What they Like

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By MediaStreet Staff Writers

When choosy parents choose Folláin jam and sports fans who call themselves sports fans subscribe to SkySports, identity marketing is hard at work. But what happens when this type of advertising misses the mark?

According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when a person’s sense of ownership and freedom is threatened they are less likely to respond positively to identity marketing campaigns.

“While people may be drawn to brands that fit their identity, they are also more likely to desire a sense of ownership and freedom in how they express that identity. Identity marketing that explicitly links a person’s identity with a brand purchase may actually undermine that sense of freedom and backfire,” write authors Amit Bhattacharjee (Dartmouth College), Jonah Berger (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania), and Geeta Menon (New York University).

The researchers ran a series of five studies that compared two types of identity marketing, messages that simply referenced consumer identity or messages that explicitly tied consumer identity to a brand purchase. Participants were first asked to answer questions about the importance of a given identity in their overall life. They then viewed an advertisement for a brand that appealed to that specific identity. The advertisement used a headline that either referenced the identity or explicitly linked it to a brand. Participants then rated their likelihood to purchase a product from within the brand.

Study results showed that explicit identity marketing messages backfired with consumers who cared about the specific identity and resulted in a lower likelihood to purchase the product. This information may help brands understand why some people react negatively to products used in important areas of their lives.

“Contrary to the traditional thinking about identity marketing, our research shows that people who care deeply about an identity are not receptive to messages that explicitly communicate how a brand fits with their lifestyle,” the authors conclude. “In fact, to restore their sense of freedom, some people may avoid purchasing a product that otherwise appeals to them and fits with who they are.”

There you go marketers. You can suggest your product to your customer using their identity, but not tell your customer that if they are a certain type of person that they will buy it for sure. Humans: we hate being told what to do.

 

 

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