Branding Archives - Page 14 of 15

In News

8 Rules Of Positioning

October 2, 2017 No Comments

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 >>

Sourced from BW BUSINESSWORLD

In News

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

August 29, 2017 No Comments

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… Read more

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

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

August 11, 2017 No Comments

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.

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.

They have over 200 agents who respond to questions on social media in 14 different languages 24/7.
They developed a Messenger chatbot that sends boarding pass, flight information, and updates to their passengers. Their passengers can also get customer support and travel directions directly through Messenger 24/7.
They provide social customer support on WeChat and Kakao Talk, two of the most popular social messaging apps in Asia.

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.

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.

You can let customers send you a direct message on Twitter without needing you to follow them.
You can send automated welcome direct messages on Twitter and prompt people with the best ways to reply.
You can manage all your Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram interactions in a unified inbox.
You can use Smart Replies to automatically answer frequently asked questions for your Facebook Page.

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.

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.

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:

KLM looked at sales generated from customers who visited their site directly from social media and found that these customers contributed €25 million of sales in 2014.
BT calculated a cost saving of £2 million per year from providing social customer support as customer support through social media is cheaper than that through the phone.
MADE.COM compared the average order value of people who went to their site from social and their site average. Their social media fans spend, on average, 4 percent more per order.
Incontact trained half of their sales reps on social selling and found that these sales rep had a 160 percent bigger sales pipeline and achieved 215 percent more revenue than those without.

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

In News

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

August 1, 2017 No Comments

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.

In News

How to Grow a Premium Brand Without Killing its Soul

July 13, 2017 No Comments

Managers of premium brands face a perennial dilemma. How do you grow a premium brand without killing its soul?

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

A unique brand cachet attracts its core high-price-paying customers. But what happens when you seek to expand sales to the masses by offering lower prices? In recent years, outlet stores located hours away from glitzy shopping districts have sprung up everywhere. They are selling off-season and lower-tier merchandise at a fraction of regular retail prices. They have become significant sources of revenues.

The conventional wisdom is that relying on revenues from outlet stores can destroy the brand’s prestige over time. But according to a forthcoming study in the journal Marketing Science, outlet stores may actually help improve the brand’s cachet.

The study, “Why outlet stores exist: averting cannibalisation in product line extensions,” was authored by Donald Ngwe of Harvard Business School.

Ngwe analysed five years of customer sales data covering over 16 million customers and 27 million transactions from a major high-end fashion firm with hundreds of regular and outlet stores around the country. He found that the brand’s core customers are picky about wanting the latest products and are willing to pay premium prices, but are unwilling to travel very far to buy the brand.

In contrast, the larger mass of customers who aspire to consume this brand, but are price sensitive, are not only willing to travel the long distances to outlet stores, but are also not very picky in their tastes for the latest products and willing to tolerate lower quality. Therefore outlet stores expand revenues with limited cannibalisation of revenues from the core high paying customer base.

Taking into account this strong negative correlation between taste for quality and new products and willingness to travel for shopping among the core and mass segments, Ngwe modelled the firm’s product introductions in regular and outlet stores. He found two key results. First, the availability of outlets for selling older products to mass consumers means that firms can take more risk and introduce more new products at faster rates at its regular stores. Second, as outlet stores absorb the customer base of price-conscious customers who need less service, the firm can invest in greater service at regular stores. New product introduction at regular stores increases by as much as 16 percent. Ngwe said, “Here is the kicker. Even as outlet stores generate significant revenues from the masses, they help the brand increase its cachet among its core customers through more new products and higher service.”

The conventional wisdom that outlet stores can be detrimental to a premium brand’s health arises from failing to recognise the positive spillovers from outlet stores on regular retail stores. Ngwe noted, “For the brand we studied, there is little cannibalisation of regular store revenues by outlet stores. Moreover, outlet stores have positive spillovers in terms of higher service and more frequent new products in regular stores. So the net effect of outlet stores is to increase brand cachet.”

However, Ngwe cautioned, “Critical to our conclusion is that core customers would not shop at outlet stores due to their aversion to traveling long distances. This may not be true for customers of other brands, particularly lower end ones. Also, pure online brands cannot use travel distances to separate their core and mass customer segments. Online premium brands will need to find other means to differentiate their upscale and mass offerings.”

The complete paper is available here.

In News

Create an Awesome Brand and Successfully Market to Millennials

June 29, 2017 No Comments

By WittyPen

Millennials are the most educated, open minded and dynamic demographic that exists.

They are independent and have started making their purchasing decisions. For a marketer, they are the most lucrative set of audiences for marketing any product or service.

However, the set of characteristics and traits they possess make them the unique people to market or sell. One can’t use the same marketing strategies to lure them into a brand or acquire, convert and retain them for long. Since they form a huge part of the population, the opportunity is magnanimous.

A marketer can never ignore Millennials and become successful in marketing a brand. Initially, you need to create an excellent brand worth reverence and then implement marketing strategies which millennials respond to.

Let’s see how you can do them right.

Although millennials aren’t as loyal as the older generation is, but they stick to the brand they love.

If they like a brand, they’ll be vocal about it and spread the word. And if they don’t, they’ll be equally expressive about it in any medium they get.

Thus, branding for millennials is a tricky path to tread, but by keeping a few important things in mind, you’ll be able to create a brand they find awesome.

Be authentic to the core

Authenticity breeds trust and trust breeds business. Authenticity matters.

The truthful words said by top LinkedIn influencer and best-selling author, Dave Kerpen.

This stands even truer for millennials who possess an innate ability to sense brands that are fooling around. They look up to brands which are highly authentic in all what they do.

It is very important to create a genuine bond with each of your customers as it helps to evoke a feeling of trust.

Instead of trying to fabricate your brand image, focus on being your self and gain respect for it.

As per a recent research by Cohne & Wolfe, who are known to conduct studies to measure the authenticity of brands, these are the top 100 authentic brands.

If you notice, they truly have worked hard over the years to create an image which people, majorly millennials think as authentic.

Position yourself to please them

Creation of a great brand depends on its positioning in the market. There are several examples of companies failing miserably just because their position wasn’t right.

To reach your target audience and ensure that they are attracted towards your brand, you need to create a desirable position for it.

Millennials are highly diverse, and most of them have unique choices. While building a brand, you must consider their needs and position accordingly. Good positioning also helps in highlighting the characteristics and core attributes of the brand.

Tesla Motors is a great example of positioning a brand to appeal a particular section of people. Electric cars were quite uncool before Tesla came in and took the market by storm. Right from the beginning, Tesla positioned itself as a high-end electric car maker with exemplary aesthetics, all of which the other brands lacked. Rest of all, as they say, is history.

Exude uniqueness

Millennials believe themselves to be unique and they want their brands to resonate their personalities. No matter what products or services your brand offers, the branding needs to be unique in order to appeal the millennials.

Uniqueness depends on perception, but it takes a lot of efforts to stand as a purple cow in a herd full of common brands.

Staying relevant in an age where people have the lowest attention span needs your brand to exude uniqueness and as a marketer, it is your job to make it happen.

Uber has been a fine testimony of unique branding; their service is as simple as it gets. Millennials are always on the move, and Uber has become their go-to app for whenever they are out of the house. Their product as well as the brand they have created widely captures the instinctive nature of millennials.

This TVC by Uber brilliantly empowers every common man to make their dreams come true through Uber and shows a message to #EmpowerAMillion Entrepreneurs by 2018. This is something millennials immediately connect with.

Be admirably interesting

Being interesting as a brand is a different ball game altogether. The Gen-Y simply can’t stand something boring because they live in a world where the most interesting thing gets all the attention and that is all that they crave.

To seek positive attention – which is one of the core aims of marketing – is to become admirably interesting.

A brand seems alive only if it is interesting enough and keeps making efforts to be so.

Google is one of the most interesting brands in the world, and it’s difficult to imagine the internet without it. Although the product seems like the simplest tool for consumers, it takes a lot of efforts to make this simple brand admirably interesting.

Be it the extremely creative Google Doodles, the quirky hidden tricks or the infamous April Fool pranks; they have constantly been the most interesting brand on the planet.

Stand up for what you believe

Millennials have strong opinions, and they like to stand up for what they believe. When a brand does the same, the instantly start liking it.

The reason is the resonance of personalities, when your brand believes in something and advocates it through various campaigns, people who believe in the same thing will form an inclination towards your brand.

Standing up for your brand’s beliefs is a sign of strength which has become necessary in the current times.

Global brands which are loved by millennials have made it a point to strongly voice for the causes they believe in.

Apple Inc. has openly supported the LGBT community by various means, and it won the hearts of many for standing by what it believes in. Although it wasn’t related to the brand or their products the cause affected their consumers, and they showed their unwavering support for it.

This is all you need to build a brand for millennials; these unpredictable personalities can be the biggest source of revenue for your company. Put all your efforts and build a brand which your customers will be proud of.

Top 6 Strategies for Marketing to the Millennials – Acquire, Convert, Retain!

Once you have created a stellar brand, you need to implement marketing strategies specially designed for millennials. They have a blind eye towards cliched campaigns that are uncreative and don’t ring a bell naturally.

Trying to impress millennials through marketing is no easy job, but with the right tactics, you will be able to acquire, convert and retain them in the long haul.

Let’s see some of the most useful ones.

a) Be where the millennials are

Marketers must have a keen eye on all the places where their customers are. This includes venturing into all the exciting platforms millennials share their daily lives on.

If you want to market your brand to millennials and don’t have a presence on social platforms like Instagram and Snapchat Inc., you are doing it all wrong. These platforms provide enough marketing avenues already, and they will keep upgrading their platforms to offer marketers the ultimate value of their efforts.

Thus, they are huge customer acquisition mediums as far as millennials are concerned.

Taco Bell is widely known for their creative and expressive social media campaigns.

Recently, they came up with some unique strategies to reach out to their target audiences, the millennials. This detailed case study shows how they leveraged the power of social media to tap into the lives of Millennials.

Also, their Twitter handle has been very popular lately owing to a superb interactive presence on the platform.

b) Build a relationship

Relationship marketing is an old technique but works like a charm for millennials.

They are always up for a deep bond which needs nurturing, and brands can use the same humane qualities for building a relationship with their customers like they would do for a person.

Although it takes a tonne of efforts to maintain a good relationship, it is well worth in the long haul.

The core aim of relationship marketing is to allow more customer retention and satisfy them with your product or service instead of focusing on sales transactions.

Building a genuine relationship with your customers or users is the best way to retain them for years. Though Coca-Cola just sells flavored sugary water, they know how to build a long-lasting relationship with their customers better than anyone else.

Over the years, they have consistently tried to build a unique rapport with the customers and succeeded in it.

The TVC shows one of the historical brand campaigns ever done. It was majorly targeted towards millennials since they had started losing market share of that age group in Australia.

After the campaign, their sales saw a huge rise, and it proved the prowess of a nicely executed relationship marketing campaign.

c) Content (marketing) is still the king

Many marketers believe that the era of content has passed and they need new techniques to reach customers. This is far from the truth and content or content marketing for that matter is still one of the most effective ways to reach, educate and convert users.

Although mediums of content have evolved over the years it is still as relevant as it was in the initial days, even more.

The rise of social media along with the increased viewership of videos has led to a shift in the way content marketing happens.

Nike is probably the best brand that gets content marketing right for millennials. It owned the top two spots of the most watched videos on YouTube in the year 2014.

They have diversified their content marketing strategies into videos, manuals, fitness tips and much more.

In fact, it began with content marketing right in the 1960s when it came up with a manual titled “A Jogger’s Manual” which is widely termed as the reason for the growing jogger’s culture in the US, ultimately leading to more sales for Nike.

d) Build an awesome product/service

The best marketing one can do for a brand is to create a superior product or service which speaks for itself, majorly through word of mouth.

Although different techniques of marketing are required to ensure a widespread reach for a good product, nothing beats the authentic praise of a customer.

Millennials believe their friends and family more than what any brand’s marketing campaign conveys. Thus, if you want to impress them, better build an awesome product/service and then let them spread the word.

WhatsApp and Truecaller are two outstanding examples of how a good product successfully acquires, converts and retains users without much marketing efforts. Both these brands had barely marketed their apps, but they both turned out to be revolutionary services which we use on a daily basis.

Word of mouth is a huge advantage any brand can have, and it is only possible by creating a product…

e) Provide an amazing customer service

Providing great customer service is a necessity in a time when customers have become knowledgeable and won’t tolerate someone treating them in a frivolous manner.

Your customer service is put into test when a customer faces a bad experience and the way you handle it shows how good you are. Such responses decide how loyal the customers will be in the future. Nailing such situations is one of the core things a brand can do to retain customers.

Amazon is a champion in providing an exceptional customer service.

You will seldom see a customer switching from Amazon because of a delayed or bad experience; they always make sure you have a good time while shopping at their site.

Non-surprisingly, their mission statement reads that they want to “become the most customer-centric company in the world”.

This amazing TVC by Amazon depicts exactly how they are trying to position themselves when it comes to customer service. They are equating themselves with the people of India, who love helping and it strike a chord with many.

f) Offer something in return

Probably every brand these days uses the strategy of providing discounts, cashback or offers to acquire and convert users.

Although this is not a good long-term strategy to retain users, it can work wonders to acquire new users and give them an opportunity to try your product or service.

Millennials are lured by such deals and would probably give your brand a try which can then convert them into regular customers.

Consider all the big e-commerce sites, payment wallets, ride-hailing apps or probably any popular internet service in the recent years, and you will find that this is the major strategy they have leveraged to acquire users because it works.

In fact, there are companies specially built to show the most valuable discounts and offers through many verticals of services.

Conclusion

Branding and marketing are two of the most challenging aspects that every business faces and now you have mastered them both.

When it comes to millennials, creating a successful brand and marketing your products to them in a unique way is essential and non-negotiable.

All the above mentioned popular brands which millennials love have rightly adapted to these branding and marketing strategies over the years to be successful.

However, with ever-evolving consumers, you need to evolve as a brand and advance your marketing strategies consistently to stay relevant.

Now that you know the effective strategies for both, simply create an awesome brand and successfully market them to millennials.

By WittyPen

Sourced from iamwire

In News

Careful Branding Can Make Entrepreneurs Outshine Big Enterprises

June 28, 2017 No Comments

By Maria Estrada.

It is great to meet triumph right after facing the challenge. But it is much better to share such experience with others so that they could also learn something and take advantage from that experience.

There are management books about establishing a brand to boost businesses. But there are small business entrepreneurs who still ask for advice in obtaining the profit or expertise. They bear in mind that knowing the right tips will start a new captivating brand identity for their firm.

Within a continuously developing marketplace, it is important to find a way to drive the business forward while staying responsive and bold to the clients. Here are the top ways to do it as effectively and efficiently as possible:

Identify the positions and promises

Designing a particular brand starts with a careful consideration of who are the customer, what they need, and how to position the brand uniquely just to satisfy them. It might sound like usual business planning, but this mindful process should drive the brand identity.

It is important to have connectivity with a difference through providing excellent customer service, providing the most appropriate products, fulfilling promises and to having a better deal to set a new brand position. “Connectivity without Compromise” is a must.

Placing pins with precision

Some small business owners don’t have a big budget for branding, and it is not an affordable option to splash the brand everywhere with flyer printing just to cause a buzz. The best thing to do is to focus the spending on the things that are important for the customers.

It’s not only about the logo

It may be tempting to spend a lot for a new attractive logo, brochure printing or for a huge sign on the roof that only a few customers can see. It might be nice to have these things if there are enough funds.

But if there is none, it is much better to focus the expenses on the strategic plan to recognize the right-fit brand for the business and the marketing strategies that will influence the brand. After such, expect a great impact from the mass.

Develop stability at every touch-point

Investing in a brand is money down the drain if the customers don’t receive that same experience each time they click or call. It is necessary to think through every ‘touch-point’ the customer has with the business.

Aside from having a friendly customer service representative, it is essential to consider everything from the voice mail system to the client statements and forms. Be mindful whether they are user-friendly and how can they prove the brand promise.

Any entrepreneurs and business owners should provide every employee with the rationale goals for the change, an outline of the brand’s position, and the equipment to integrate it easily into their daily activities.

Prove the promise

A well-written brand promise is tempting. However, how would you interpret those words into emotional benefits and real functional for the customers? And how to provide products and services that fulfil the promise?

It is much better to base the brand on the things that did well, such as providing innovation to customers for a great value. Entrepreneurs and business owners should carefully consider on how they will deliver credibility on their promise to their consumers.

Build a real culture

The most successful companies and businesses make an employee culture which is ineradicable to being true to their brand each day. Then, from every personal meeting to team assembly, they support the message internally at each opportunity.

Mostly, it is the employees who provide the best customer experience, that’s why it is important to make it clear to listen to their feedback and suggestions to help the business stand out. They played an essential role in every aspect of the business transition, from developing the brand up to its launching.

Takeaway

Every brand promise should remind entrepreneurs and small business owners on how they are different from the large enterprises, as well as how they can be able to give smarter connectivity and provide better selections to individuals and businesses.

For any small business owners and entrepreneurs, looking to overcome new markets and fight large competitors, the competitive advantage is the brand that is carefully-executed, consistently delivered, well-thought from each customer touch point, and accepted internally by every employee.

By Maria Estrada

Sourced from iamwire

In News

Travel, the New Currency of Influencer Marketing

June 13, 2017 No Comments

Partnering with influencers is turning out to be a better pay-off than other traditional forms of advertising because of how emotionally invested the community of followers are.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers.

Oh the places you’ll go, and the things you’ll see. Never have Dr. Seuss’ rhymes made more sense to adults today than when you start to examine how influencer marketing has turned the travel industry upside down.

Travel writing was relegated to stuffy travel guides written by yesterday’s travel wordsmiths. Now, influencers …social media stars on all manner of platforms are striking deals with destinations, and with brands, and bringing the places they go and things they see to their dream-filled followers.

Chanel brought Stephanie Liu of Honey & Silk to Grasse, France to experience and share the making of their iconic No. 5 fragrance.

Take Tommy Lei, the Hong Kong born / LA raised photographer behind MYBELONGING for example. In the last six months, Tommy has already travelled to Iceland, Punta Cana, Mexico City, New York, London, and Morocco.

Tommy Lei, cashing in on his trip to Morocco.

Tommy partnered with sandal brand Teva on his last trip through Marrakech to the Sahara, where the goal was a ground-swell of destination specific content – Morocco is an Instagram-worthy destination right now. The program was a smashing success, whereby his branded content generated over 40% engagement from his fans, and he was able to use his talent in photography to deliver a robust package of digital content to the brand. These kinds of collaborations are becoming the new win-win for influence deals, and they will only increase in velocity.

Brands who work with influencers get to be part of aspirational journeys across the globe, capturing audiences in a very visual way. Partnering with influencers is turning out to be a better pay-off than other traditional forms of advertising because of how emotionally invested the community of followers are.

Influencers are using wanderlust apps like Sherpa to share guides with their fans, bringing their trips full circle by establishing themselves as travel experts and brand ambassadors – all rolled into one incredible package.

On the other side of the spectrum, destinations themselves are turning into the clients that want to partner and bring groups of influencers to build the buzz. As David Hoffmann, host for popular YouTube travel channel David’s Been Here, noted, “Influencer marketing has branched out beyond fashion into the travel sphere, giving audiences a taste of what it’s like to quit their jobs, travel the world and create a personal brand doing something that was once considered a far-fetched luxury. Now that millennial influencers have taken Instagram by storm, places like the Maldives and Bali have become some of the hottest destinations, triggering flight deals and affordable hotel packages like never before.”

This is a massive shift in marketing dollars for destinations, and brands are seeing the returns in the form of booked hotels, booked flights and exploding local business. Influencers make travel, that often seems like a far off luxury, real and accessible.

The shift is also changing how other related trades are checking off their own bucket lists. Photographer Champagne Victoria has gone from shooting fashion editorials around Los Angeles to spending a better part of her year across Europe and island chains, because of the global impact of influencer marketing. By bundling trips with several brands projects, Champagne has been able to fully fund these trips, allowing her creativity to expand through different settings, and giving brands – many of which don’t have the big budgets of major labels – the opportunity to be shot in desirable destinations like the islands of Greece, Iceland, St. Lucia and so on.

If you imagine yourself waking up in the south of France, exploring the flower fields of CHANEL No. 5 – well, follow Stephanie of Honey & Silk, and see the dream become a reality. If you wanted to take the best Americana road-trip of your life, say from New Orleans to Boston and back, follow Courtney of Pretty Little Fawn. Influencers + travel are creating an exciting new wave of exploration – and thankfully with so many fashion influencers involved, you’ll finally know what to really wear.

For further reading, you can dig around the content of digital influencer management firm, God & Beauty. They discuss how travel is the new currency of influence and branded content.

In News

5 Ways to Tell Your Brand Story on Social Media

June 2, 2017 No Comments

By Demitra Fields.

Just like the everyday social media user, a successful brand should have its own story and personality.

Brand storytelling, when done properly, allows marketers to build personality and associate emotion with a brand to create (or, at least, attempt to create) a personal connection with the consumer. The prevalence of social media today has driven an interest in leveraging the convergence of content creation and programmatic advertising to tell the story behind a brand.

As co-founder and president of Track Marketing Group, I’ve helped different brands socialize their story using strong visual narratives and integration of live experiences to build engaged communities. Here are five tips to creating your social brand narrative, and hopefully, inspiring your community.

Use Powerful Imagery

It’s often said that good public speakers take their audience on a journey, hopefully leaving it feeling motivated and inspired. Leveraging the power of photography to take the consumer through a visual journey is one of the most powerful ways to tell your brand story across all social platforms.

Use original images. Storytelling is most effective when it’s personalized. Stock images will never do your brand story justice. Make the investment and create original visuals that tell the exact story in your brand voice.
Use social platform-specific visual tactics. With the number of social platforms consumers are using today, it’s safe to say that one size does NOT fit all. Instagram profile grids, the act of taking one single image and sharing it as a grid of several broken images to create a big picture when viewed on the main user profile, might work well on Instagram but lose their effectiveness on Twitter and Snapchat. Know your community and apply the best visuals that work within the confines of the different social platforms.

Limit The Use of Hashtags

Being on the agency side, clients are always looking to sum up their entire brand ethos using one hashtag. Unicorn hashtags — simple premises that the consumer can immediately understand and connect to the brand — are far and in-between.

Use hashtags as a way to corral and enhance your brand story along with the extended consumer chapters and plot twists. The hashtag should not be your brand story

Empower Your Community

One of the most popular story structures is called the “monomyth,” also known as “the hero’s journey.” In monomyths, heroes are called to leave their home and set out on a journey to an unknown place. After overcoming a trial, they return home with newfound wisdom or a reward that they can share with and ultimately help their community.

Social media and the power of user-generated content allow marketers the unique opportunity to allow the consumer to finish the monomyth. The brand’s journey into the unknown can be open ended and completed by the consumer in his or her own words and visuals.

Tactically, we can do this two ways:

Crowdsourced Content. Leveraging crowdsourced images to show the pillars of the brand story through the consumer’s lens and, in turn, bring the brand story into the real world.
Social Listening. Utilize social tools to identify and listen to your brand advocates and engage with them on a one-on-one basis to amplify the story beyond your reach.

Expand Your Message

The greatest stories are those that are broad and relatable to a wide group of people. The best TV shows in history all transcended their specific subject and captured a moment in time in our culture. “Star Wars” is a box office juggernaut because it tells a story that the consumer easily understands.

The best stories are relatable by the average person. Telling your brand story on social means that you have to be unique yet still attainable by the average social media user. If your entire story is only for the one percent on social, that’s not a story – that’s only a chapter.

Let The Words Tell A Story

Storytelling on social media is ultimately driven by words. Whether we are looking to inspire, motivate or galvanize the consumer and community, the copy that we use either as standalone text or as captions to our visuals will dictate the brand story arc(s).

New Balance, one of our agency clients, recently launched its “Always In Beta” campaign telling their brand story of being in a state of relentless improvement — that there is no finish line to what’s possible and that you can always improve with determination.

New Balance has taken its ‘Always in Beta’ brand story to social by creating original content that visually speaks to its performance heritage, yet with words that are broader than footwear and apparel. This has allowed it to become more than just a footwear brand but to enter its consumer’s personal storyline.

Great brands rely on stories to define their brands. With society driven by social media and an “always on” mentality, today’s brand journey must begin, build and extend onto social. Approach your storytelling with an authentic yet broader lens than your brand-specific filter, and you’ll give your consumer the social authority to make your brand story into their personal folktale.

Read more advice on building your brand at Tech.Co

This article is courtesy of BusinessCollective, featuring thought leadership content by ambitious young entrepreneurs, executives & small business owners.

By Demitra Fields

Sourced from TECH.CO

In News

How to Make People Talk about Your Brand in Social Media

May 24, 2017 No Comments

One of the most challenging part in public relations (if you are a startup or a small business) is on how much money you are willing to spend in PR activities to encourage people to talk about your products or services.

Since budget in PR is often limited, you have to find other alternative ways to create awareness about your brand. Fortunately, social media is easy to acquire and has been proven as a very effective PR tool if you are on a budget.

Since social media is very popular and almost all those who have internet access often use it, the need to get your brand in the very centre of where the action happens should be your top priority. The good news is, in social media you can do PR activities within your budget. Because traditional PR is very costly, social media websites are now the best places to make people talk about your products or services.

When people talk about your brand in social media the probability of increasing its visibility is higher because anything that is hot and trending can always spark interest and discussion. It’s just like, when a social influencer talks about your brand and their followers talk about it as well, in no time, you’ll just realise that your content becomes viral and everyone starts talking about your brand. And, you know that this kind of buzz can help you a lot in building your PR.

Now, the important question is, how do you encourage people to talk about your products or services in social media if you are not a well-known brand? This is probably quite challenging because you can’t force people to create a buzz about your business just by asking them. This is where a bit of strategy and understanding your target audience come in a handy.

Create a compelling and controversial content. Compelling in a way that it has the power to grab people’s attention and stick in their thoughts that would prod them to talk about it to others. Controversial in a good way that it would encourage them to discuss about it for days. A good example is featuring current hot and controversial issues that are highly relevant to your target audience. If you are a SEO company, creating and publishing an Infographic that features studies that show how Fortune 500 businesses managed to earn billions through search engine optimisation is definitely a winner.

Blog about a very famous person most of your target audience love. Have you ever asked why entertainment websites are quite popular? It’s because their main topics revolve around very famous celebrities most people love and idolise. Featuring a very famous SEO celebrity and letting your target audience know the most surprising facts they haven’t known about them yet is a good example.

Start a social media contest and encourage influential users to join. This is quite popular and very effective as well. You can start by listing social media influencers whose interest are within your niche. You can start by tapping influential bloggers to join a contest that would measure their online popularity through total number of likes in Facebook. In the entire duration of the contest, people would surely talk about your brand and will become curious that even their favourite bloggers are patronising the contest you organised.

Pioneer a social cause that is highly relevant to your brand. A social cause such as a campaign for “free internet everywhere” is highly regarded by many and would surely catch the interest of your target audience. Pioneering social causes is a way of reaching out to them and making a good impression. In your campaign, you should encourage social media users to use your official brand hashtag every time they mention about your cause.

Promote the use of your official brand hashtag. People won’t talk about your brand if you remain invisible. In social media, hashtags are very powerful features that would allow users to become more familiar with your brand’s name. For example, every time you share a status, a tweet, or a post, always make sure to include your official hashtag and encourage your existing customers to use it as well.

Encouraging people to talk about your brand is no easy task. It would take more effort and time and there’s no absolute formula to do it right the first time. The tips above are not direct solutions but just a few ideas on how you do public relations even with a very limited budget.

Qamar Zaman is a SEO Expert based in Dallas, Texas.