Mediastreet
Tag

marketers

Browsing
In News

AR: what’s next and how can marketers embrace the tech?

No Comments

By Marcus Foley

As augmented reality (AR) progresses and technology continues to evolve, Tommy co-founder and chief growth officer Marcus Foley considers how it can be used in new industries.

AR has moved into the mainstream. For some age groups, it’s phenomenally familiar already. It’s still an exciting and fast-moving growth area for the marketing industry, developing at pace. The global AR market is expected to expand with a 40%+ compound annual growth rate in the next six to eight years. It’s allowing brands to create experiences that only a few years ago we couldn’t imagine delivering on a phone to a waiting crowd of millions (or billions – 3.5 billion users globally, as it stands). Even fewer than this many people would be confident enough to pick it up, play, share and create with it. Now we’re delivering hundreds every few months.

Tommy predict where the evolution of AR will take the advertising industry. Image: Lucrezia Carnelos/Unsplash

Tommy predicts where the evolution of AR will take the advertising industry / Lucrezia Carnelos via Unsplash

At Tommy, we spend a lot of time designing, making and geeking out over AR experiences. This is partly driven by being an official partner for TikTok, and working with a considerable number of household name entertainment brands. AR can be a brilliant tool for famous characters and their fans, and we’ll come on to that, but it is also becoming increasingly important for the retail sector – 71% of shoppers recently reported they would shop with a retailer more often if it offered AR.

Why is AR so attractive to shoppers? For the relevant brands, it’s the ease and speed of product trial, which can be mind-blowing these days. Want to try a new hair color? Click, it’s done. You like it? Click, it’s in your basket. Want to see that new sofa, in your chosen fabric, in your lounge? Click, it’s done. It might save two or three trips to the showroom. What has changed is that it’s become easier to deliver on devices without the need for apps, it’s much easier to use and it’s far more convincing, which has opened up the market. This is without talking about the myriad of fashion brands that have tested, trialled or permanently used AR in their purchase journey. Trying on, personalizing, seeing things in your context – these all de-risk the purchase and give customers the confidence to buy.

What else is pushing AR into familiar spaces and sometimes unexpected hands? Social media, of course. What’s interesting about AR in these spaces is that it has become a part of turning the traditional model of influence on its head. In social media, AR is helping everyday people (not brands or celebrities) to tell more immersive, richer stories with unlimited creative possibilities – without a budget or a studio – from their own special effects lab. Where once the technology barriers and costs kept this as a domain for the few, it’s now in the hands of a huge volume of people. With so many individuals and ideas with such powerful tools, it takes storytelling and share ability to a whole new level.

The younger generations are often the instigator, but all generations are being exposed to AR through their peers, friends and family. It might be in photos and videos using lenses, a shared moment playing a game at a family event, or a website where a convenient trial moment is embedded into the customer journey. If you ask them, ‘Do you use AR?’, they would probably say no, but they are part of a growing number of people who are starting to see the blend of digital and physical imagery as being ‘normal.’ Of course, it’s not just Josephine Bloggs putting bunny ears on Granny – it’s also the creators and brands that are intentionally building an audience that is driving expectation and desire for AR too.

So what about them? For one, the entertainment industry loves AR, and albeit from our slightly biased perspective, is doing some amazing work to bring their IP to people in immersive moments that were previously impossible. Combining novel experiences with getting a fan closer to their favourite characters – in many cases appearing as their favourite foe or hero – can go a long way to encourage people to try, create and share. The noise from each major release ripples through feeds and, once again, AR becomes less novelty and more expected. Those who don’t have it become the odd ones out.

AR is no longer a novelty – and the expectation and desire for it is growing. What does this mean for marketers? It means that it’s time to start having a serious think about AR, and to identify if it works for your product and target market. This is not to advocate for the use of technology where it doesn’t fit, but to encourage you to explore, and at least understand, how your customers are using these tools to engage with people, products and places. It’s great fun, and its capacity to inspire and connect people with pure entertainment moments shouldn’t be overlooked. However, it’s more than that – it’s a shift in the way we experience brand and product that is here to stay.

By Marcus Foley

Sourced from The Drum

Read More
By
In News

How can marketers harness our obsession with nostalgia?

No Comments

By Sam Anderson

At 63, Kate Bush recently claimed a UK number one thanks to 80s nostalgia-fest Stranger Things. Trends all across media and marketing point to a mania for the cultural touchstones of years gone by. How can marketers ride this retro wave? What does our preoccupation with the rear-view mirror say about what people want from their media and ads? We asked seven leaders from The Drum Network.

Kate Cliffen, senior creative lead, Jellyfish

The retro wave shows that people of all demographics are still leaning into nostalgia for relief and comfort because, let’s be honest, the future is scarier than ever.

Brands can ride this wave by creating media that matches their audiences’ moods, but it’s all about finding a balance. Content should not just be about the past, or even pinpointed to a certain era. We can combine the old and new, embracing modern technology and mashing decades together to create something that re-imagines the future that we want to see, rather than the one we’re living in.

The world has changed a lot since the 80s, so while nostalgic content has to feel comforting, it must also be forward-thinking and inclusive to hit.

Music is a form of escapism. If Stranger Things had chosen Rock You Like a Hurricane to save Max, it likely wouldn’t have had the same effect. In Running Up That Hill, Kate Bush is asking God to switch places with a man so he can understand how difficult things are as a woman. Perhaps accidentally, that perfectly lines up with our very current conversations about bodily autonomy. This, combined with the fact that it’s harnessing the power of audio in a time where we have more screen fatigue than ever, creates something powerful.

As marketers, we should be thinking about how we can lean into this even further with 3D audio to create meaningful and dynamic experiences for fans.

Daniel Liddle, search engine optimization lead, Impression

Cultural moments that are considered retro, vintage or passé are often labelled nostalgic, or a pastiche of the past. Often, we’re haunted by a past that is no longer there, or nostalgic for something that never existed (hauntology) in some recent trends.

The key thing with nostalgia is the feeling that something has been lost.

The global pandemic, the war in Ukraine, internet discourse and general economic imbalance are making consumers feel grim about the future, so we’re looking back (rose-tinted-ly) to these imitations of positive cultural events.

With digital marketing, we could cynically tap into this with content and ads that cement the idea of cultural bereavement. It would be more progressive to look to the future than the past. Whether that’s some sort of ecotopia or something else, brands can be drivers of this force. In the words of another Kate Bush song: “I just know that something good is gonna happen.”

Jamie Maple, managing director, Wilderness

The wave that current moments are riding has been cresting for a long time. Back in the early 2010s, almost every band from the 90s got back together and went on tour. Then Disney started to make live-action remakes of every beloved cartoon property. Since then, it’s been a steady stream of reissues, remakes, films, TV, albums and theatre based on pre-existing (and, importantly, pre-sold) intellectual properties.

It has always struck me (a cynic) that the place nostalgia marketing comes from is the fear that unless you have something recognizable and comforting (with a readymade audience) brands are far less likely to take a risk.

Where the creativity and excitement comes from on social is the fan groups curating detailed and niche collections of curiosity for other like-minded culture vultures to engage with and explore: channels such as synthwave1989 (compiling the best 80s aesthetics in one place), retro1sheet (taking classic movie posters and giving them new life) and italysegreta (bringing together beautiful images of an idea of Italy).

It’s not for every brand to jump on a retro trend. What brands can take from these examples is that there’s joy (and engagement and brand loyalty) to be had in exploring the details that make you and your audience unique. Showing passion and knowledge about your area of expertise will bring other passionate and knowledgeable users to your channels, who will be given a reason to follow a brand.

Sophie Lewis, chief strategy officer, M&C Saatchi London

Ahhh nostalgia. Warm, rose-tinted perfection. Looking back and forgetting all the crap bits. A piece of music, a sound, a smell. A place, a person, a chocolate bar.

But beware nostalgia in communications. It’s a dangerous game.

For legacy brands, it’s a tempting place to go. Let’s remind people how much they loved us way back when. Let’s take them back to that school disco, that first kiss, that family dinner around the table – and they will want us again.

But everything is different now, and you can’t go back. Yes, I know things are difficult and we all love the comfort and stability that the ‘old days’ provide. It is a lovely warm feeling in a sea of rubbish.

It’s not that you shouldn’t understand or think about the past. As Sir John Hegarty says: “You’ve got to understand the past to move forward.” But you have got to be moving forward – taking those elements of the past that are still motivating now. Trying to recreate the past will take you down a cul-de-sac. Try it at your peril.

I speak from experience. I’ve tried it. For jeans, for a kids’ chocolate bar, for salad cream – the list goes on. Oh, and Kate Bush? In 1985, Running Up That Hill was a banging track. Go and have a listen now. Still a banging track. It’s not nostalgia. It’s brilliance.

Anna Beynon, strategy director, Anything is Possible

Every generation thinks it invented retro. Marketers need to know how to frame this recurrent behavior to their advantage. In the 00s ‘vintage’ was coined as a new category to create a positive movement around embracing the trends of previous decades. Positivity is key: fond memories, stories from ‘the good old days,’ 80s-themed parties, outfits and hairstyles. In uncertain times that comfort in the known, in what we shared before, is vital for social cohesion.

Generation Z embracing the mid-80s via Stranger Things is interesting: the last pre-internet days. The final moment before we all began living in the permanent ‘now’ of digital. The secret paradox of nostalgia is that it’s not really about a longing for the past, but how we can evolve the now. Sometimes you have to go back in time to find a future that looks more open, positive and full of possibility than our view of it today.

This tells us two things about how to reach gen Z. They grow weary of digital experience, but crave authentic in-person connection. And they want the future to be a better version of what we had before.

Jim Bowes, innovation director at TPXimpact

Tapping in to nostalgia is about taking an edited or curated look at a moment in time and representing that authentically but with a sense of knowing fun. You can’t pretend your audience is a 1980s audience, so breaking the4th wall can offer great results.

This means picking out little details that demonstrate the difference between then and now, while still creating an authentic experience that doesn’t mock what went before. You need to hit notes that appeal to a wide audience, from those that remember it first time around, to those that have no idea. That’s about the narrative being as strong as the context you set it in.

Amy Naughton, client services director at Jaywing

With political turmoil, a cost of living crisis and the backdrop of Covid-19, we’re craving normality: the ability to enjoy experiences, family and friends, or tomorrow without the tempestuous shadow of ‘the world’ hanging over us. Nostalgia isn’t new; every generation looks to the past for comfort in the present.

Even if it’s never been lived in person, the past can feel relatable, and discovering past icons opens gateways for escapism to another time and place. Music especially evokes a time, place and feeling of being where we can self-identify. When you can’t figure out ‘forward’, bind people by looking ‘backward’.

For advertisers, it’s about leveraging that connected feeling. Don’t just pop some neon in your social posts, expecting a facet of your brand that was never iconic to become so now. Take influence from popular culture; use heritage brands; unearth your own classic ads. Find the levers that will collectively connect people with times they remember fondly, not the future that they’re unsure of.

By Sam Anderson

Sourced from The Drum

Read More
By
In News

What Web3 Means for Marketers

No Comments

By Alexandra Bower

Bridging the gap between fandom and ownership

Are you curious about what Web3 is and what it encompasses in its early stages? Wondering what the next era of the internet includes? What is an NFT, anyway? How do you get to the metaverse? Avery Akkineni, president of VaynerNFT, Allison Sturges, head of strategic partnerships at Genies and Rachel Webber, chief brand and strategy officer at Playboy, formed a panel at Social Media Week to break down what Web3 means for marketers.

Unlocking a monumental technology shift

According to Webber, deciding to enter Web3 was easy for Playboy. The brand saw several similarities between its mission and the mission of Web3.

“We really saw an intersection of the core values of Playboy around free expression, serving as a platform for artists, anti-censorship, giving people an ability to participate and feel part of a community,” she said.

Playboy entered the space through the art lens for its first NFT drop, a collaboration with the artist SLIMESUNDAY.

“We gave him access to the Playboy archive to create new original work utilizing previous art and typography that we had,” Webber explained. “We loved the ability of NFT drops to reinvent and show the regenerative nature of an archive and the power of art and photography and the ability to turn that into new collectibles and new consumer experiences.”

Webber said Web3 was an instrumental tool in fostering deeper, more meaningful connections between the Playboy brand and fans.

“For us, access to the Playboy archive, access to a Playboy party, are very much getting access to the Playboy lifestyle, and that’s authentic to the type of experiences that we believe Playboy can offer.”

Bridging the gap between old and new

According to the panellists, Web2 and Web3 work together, and they should be used mutually to help bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3.

“With anything within marketing and social media, you have to understand which metrics are living on which platforms,” Sturges said. “For us, we’ve been able to establish the fact that Twitter and Discord are where the NFT natives are spending their time. So, we leverage both of those platforms to build out our platform. Discord has been a way for us to create directly with our users and get product feedback. It’s a great tool for us to connect and build actual relationships with our users.”

According to Sturges, the ethos of Web3 is all around giving back ownership and freedom as marketing bridges the gap between Web2 social and Web3 ownership.

“I think for brands and marketers, finding ways to provide that ownership and freedom for your users, fans, and customers is key,” she said.

“Back in January, Genies announced we would give full ownership to our creators, users, and talent — really allowing them to have full commercialization rights of any of the creations they create within our ecosystem. That really gives a true sense of their identity. They created this; it’s a part of the digital IP they’re building. And they also have that ownership in what they want to do with it and how it can be leveraged. I think that’s really important as we move into the next stage of the internet.”

Feature Image Credit: Sean T. Smith for Adweek

By Alexandra Bower

Sourced from ADWEEK

Read More
By
In News

Study: 90% of marketing firms will capture zero-party data within a year

No Comments

By Esther Shein

Nearly all marketers are using this approach to respond to data deprecation, but less than half know how to use zero-party data effectively, according to the Forrester study.

Nearly all marketers (97%) agree the personalized digital experience is a cornerstone of marketing programs, and a new study finds 90% of marketers are actively responding to data deprecation by capturing zero-party data within a year.

Data deprecation is occurring because of browser and OS restrictions and privacy laws. This has made it more difficult to capture the data necessary to do personalized marketing, according to the study by Forrester.

The findings also revealed that 85% of marketing firm respondents said zero-party data is critical to creating effective personalized experiences.

Forrester defines zero-party data as data that a customer intentionally and voluntarily shares with a brand. Usually this is done in exchange for a benefit such as an exclusive offer or reward, the firm said

“Zero-party data has emerged as a powerful tool to help deliver personalized experiences. However, many firms underestimate the benefits of zero-party data, even going so far as to unnecessarily limit their use of it to post-acquisition tactics,” the study said.

However, while 82% of respondents said they have access to zero-party data, 42% admitted they don’t know how to use it effectively, according to the study. This means marketers must learn how to acquire and effectively use zero-party data.

Zero-party data: challenges and opportunities

A majority of respondents acknowledged that data deprecation has made it more difficult to acquire customer data, cross sell or upsell, while over half (70%) said it has become more challenging to track customer journeys across channels and touchpoints, the study said.

While most marketers recognize that zero-party data is part of the solution, they are experiencing a number of challenges in acquiring and using zero-party data. The most common challenge reported is that the data is not accurate (36% of respondents). Because consumers are volunteering information about themselves, there is concern that consumers won’t always provide accurate information about who they are or what they want. Additionally, nearly a third (32% of respondents) said they’re concerned that customers won’t share zero-party data, according to the study.

The survey findings also suggest that marketers underestimate how beneficial zero-party data can be. When asked, “How is your organization using or planning to use zero-party data?” less than half (45%) of respondents said, “Deriving customer insights and customer intelligence.” An equal number answered, “Tracking customer journeys across channels and touchpoints,” the study said.

Forty-three percent of respondents said they are using or plan to use zero-party data to learn who their customers are or “create personalized experiences or messages.” Only 35% are using or plan to use zero-party data to remarket to existing customers, cross or up-sell, the study said.

Marketers are investing in technology to leverage zero-party data

As data deprecation threatens the effectiveness of marketing throughout the customer journey, marketers are turning to zero-party data to form direct relationships with prospective customers. As part of their zero-party data strategies, many of the marketers surveyed said they plan to work with partners over the next 12 months.

A top priority for nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) is to use third-party technology to help them “deliver personalized experiences using zero-party data.” For 47% of respondents, utilizing technology is a top priority for verifying the accuracy of zero-party data provided by consumers.

Additionally, 59% said they plan to gather zero-party data by running sweepstakes and giveaways, and 66% said that building or enhancing their existing loyalty programs in order to capture more zero-party data is a top investment priority, according to the study.

“Because zero-party data is entirely opt-in, brands need to open their minds to the multitude of ways they can inspire consumers to provide them with high-quality data,” said Jake Weatherly, CEO of SheerID, which commissioned the study. “The good news is that there are myriad opportunities to do so, ranging from offering VIP services, to discounts on products, to products customized for the individual.”

Marketers who offer real value, Weatherly added, will not only be rewarded with valuable customer data, but also set the stage for long-term customer relationships.

Forrester Consulting surveyed 200 digital marketing decision-makers focused on customer acquisition. The study was conducted in February 2022.

By Esther Shein

Sourced from TechRepublic

 

 

Read More
By
In News

How to Make Your Brand Storytelling More Compelling

No Comments

By Muhammad Khan

Marketers sell you the solution to your problems. A good marketer will make you desire their product, even if you didn’t want it in the first place.

However, your target customer needs to relate to your business on some level. Otherwise, no amount of sugar coating will compel them to buy your product. Therefore, connecting a product to a story is an effective way of marketing as more people will find it relatable.

‘Storytelling’ Marketing has become an effective trend in recent years. Marketers love to present narratives that convince the customers to invest in their products. However, storytelling is an art, and many professionals get it wrong. If you are an aspiring marketer, here’s how you can make your brand’s storytelling more compelling.

Connect to customers with effective brand storytelling

Impressing clients and generating leads are the two main goals of successful marketing. An attractive brand story can achieve both easily. However, coming up with a good enough concept to build your brand’s story is a whole different task altogether. Check out these tips to improve your brand storytelling skills:

1. Understand What Your Target Audience Wants

While marketing their product, many brands’ biggest mistake is ignoring their target audience’s wants. Instead, they’re so invested in the features and attributes of their product they forget about the needs and demands.

Therefore, before you work on any marketing idea, identify the target audience and their needs. Launching your product without planning won’t get you the best results. For example, one audience group might care about what you’re offering, but the other won’t even bat an eye. So, instead, create a brand story that relates to your product’s expertise without forgetting your target audience’s requirements.

2. Emotionally Connect With Your Audience

Boring statistics or data does not attract most consumers. Instead, they want to see an advertisement they can relate to. Naturally, this will eventually lead to better sales. However, if you have to add data to your advertisement, why not fit it into a compelling narrative?

You have to present your data to your target audience so they can get emotionally attached to what you’re offering. For that, you have to be creative and think out of the box instead of simply throwing stats at your clients. For example, brands like Netflix use data to suggest and develop content according to popular demand. The bottom line is, you have to lure your target audience into buying your product or service. Consequently, an emotional brand narrative can increase conversions significantly.

3. Know Your Brand

Besides knowing your target audience, it’s also highly essential to know your brand, its offering, its objectives, and what it believes in. You should know your products’ most significant selling points and give high importance to the features your target audience cares about.

Moreover, it’s also important to analyse your competition and adapt to market trends. Also, it’s important to take the input of all your employees for creative, relevant, and authentic ideas. You can do this by organizing a survey for your employees to ask for suggestions on the product’s launch.

4. Keep it Simple

In marketing, you should never over-complicate things. It’ll only make matters worse. You don’t want to fend off potential customers by presenting a complex and overly-informative narrative. Instead, you should present your brand’s story in a simple, creative, and precise manner.

Only discuss features and details your target customers are interested in. Have you ever seen Apple over-complicating a product launch? No! They keep everything simple and discuss what needs to be discussed. In your launch, you should discuss the problem your product is addressing, its significance, and how your product can turn out to be the best solution.

5. Add Interesting Visuals

Video is the most common medium brands use to market their product through storytelling. Most customers prefer visual media instead of written media. Here’s an interesting trivia; the human brain processes visual content 60,000 times faster than text-based content. However, videos are extremely common these days. Stand out from the rest of the marketing by using original and unique approaches.

For example, you can use attractive animations and visual effects to capture your audience’s attention. You can also use audio advertisements as they’re quite effective as well. Many brands promote their products through podcasts and audio advertisements on audio-streaming platforms like Spotify and Soundcloud. Use interesting creative taglines in your audios or videos as well.

Furthermore, stay updated on modern trends, technology, and media. For example, many professionals use recent sports competitions to market their products. Similarly, you will find popular instances of companies creating memes on social media with creative and humorous product placement.

6. Keep Your Business Model Transparent

Have you ever imagined why Apple is so successful? Whatever they do turns out to be successful. They are so good at selling they might even sell an ordinary piece of rock for hundreds of dollars in their stores. Apple makes so much money because its clientele blindly trusts its quality. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Apple has converted its customers to its brand ambassadors. They present their product with utter transparency and authenticity.

Therefore, you have to make your business model more transparent to your target customers to sell your product. By ensuring authenticity and transparency, you convince your audience to try your services instead of already established brands. Don’t try to scam your consumers by showing something and providing something else. Such gimmicks won’t last long in the current era of social media.

7. Present an Attractive Brand Personality

Last but not least, to captivate your audience, you are required to have an attractive brand personality. Therefore, you need to keep a strong, confident, and persuasive mindset while promoting your product. If you are having difficulties developing such a personality, you can seek the help of a brand communication coach. They’ll help you understand the science behind developing a brand personality that sells.

You should have a persuasive tone while discussing your brand’s story. To this end, share many cases where your product provided customers with an effective solution.

8. Value Your Customers

Customers’ requirements always come first. To sell your product effectively, prioritize your customers in your brand story. Show them how you value their problems and how your product can provide them with the desperately needed solution. Put forward customers’ testimonials where your brand solved their concerns. Be transparent and don’t fool anyone, as trust is one of the biggest factors deciding your brand’s longevity. Once your customers feel valued and respected, they will trust your business and might ditch already established brands for your product.

The Verdict

Marketing techniques can make or break the sales and success of a product. Therefore, telling a brand story that attracts and inspires your consumer base is extremely crucial. Therefore, try to produce a relatable brand story. Furthermore, present it in such a way your consumer has no choice but to go for your product.

By Muhammad Khan

Guest author: Muhammad Jazib Khan works as the Digital Marketing Manager for British Assignments Help, where he creates creative content and ideas to promote educational platforms in the market. As well as aligning the company’s goals with online marketing activities. He contributes articles on digital and content marketing regularly. 

Sourced from Jeff Bullas

He is the owner of jeffbullas.com. Forbes calls him a top influencer of Chief Marketing Officers and the world’s top social marketing talent. Entrepreneur lists him among 50 online marketing influencers to watch. Inc.com has him on the list of 20 digital marketing experts to follow on Twitter. Oanalytica named him #1 Global Content Marketing Influencer. BizHUMM ranks him as the world’s #1 business blogger.

Read More
By
In News

The Most Effective Marketing Channel You’re Probably Not Using, But Should

No Comments

By Nicole Braley

There is one major question facing companies: Is your 2022 marketing plan focused on the right things? As marketers, we’re always tuned in to our audiences. But the last two years may have shifted our approach to clients and prospects. We now understand their need to connect better than ever before, and we’ve been able to adapt, legitimizing their concerns, acting as guides and solving new problems together.

But this approach and renewed focus is not just limited to marketers, it includes employees. After the past two years, we’re more in touch, more empathetic and more motivated to drive opportunity. And this renewed focus on employee experience (EX) is directly related to customer experience (CX).

CX is becoming, more and more, a critical component of the marketing suite. CX looks at the entirety of the lifecycle of the customer, and because of this, many companies are moving CX under marketing. Leaders across all industries are seeing the revenue correlation between EX and CX – engaged employees lead to better customer experience, and thus, better sales – and companies are working to have all cylinders firing to make that a reality. Employee advocacy programs are the most effective and cost-efficient way to do it.

It is incredibly powerful when you have the breadth of your employees promoting and sharing the good news and work of the organization, and amplifying your market messaging to customers and prospects. Not to mention, it’s 100% free. The best kind of marketing!

How To Execute An Employee Advocacy Program

So, what is employee advocacy? Entrepreneur defines it well: “Employee advocacy occurs when employees actively represent the company’s brand on social media channels, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and even specialty hiring sites like Glassdoor. Grassroots social media efforts are effective because the message comes not from executives or from the human resources department — who obviously have a stake in increasing sales or attracting top talent — but from actual employees.”

The first step to building an internal program is getting executive buy-in. Leadership needs to see the value – and model behaviour as such – for the program to take off and maintain its effectiveness.

You also need to get your employees engaged as well. Share messaging internally to explain the program and the benefits for both the company and the employees. Let your team know you’re giving them the opportunity to build their professional reputation online, while also helping spread the word about the brand by sharing stories on their social networks.

Once executives and employees are on board, it’s time to operationalize. There are many web-based platforms to help manage, distribute and publish content. Using technology to help with the content creation and amplification is a must. The goal is to create content on a daily basis so the company has a variety of content to share, and trying to manage that process without the benefit of a platform can be tedious and overwhelming. Plus, tech provides metrics to track employee engagement.

What type of content is populated in an employee advocacy tool? You can promote earned media, the launch of new websites, executive interviews, articles featuring or written by staff, company blog posts, the list goes on. If it features your company or an employee, it’s content worth sharing. And because the content is coming from the marketing team, you get to control the messaging! If you’re in marketing, you know just how crucial that is.

The Most Important Part Of Employee Advocacy

In reality, the execution of a program doesn’t start with the actual doing. It starts with transparency and socialization. Transparency is the single most important way to build trust and awareness company wide. Boil down your plan to the essence of what it’s doing for your customers, and how/why employees should get excited.

Clearly outline to internal business leaders how marketing and employee advocacy will drive business, and through which focus areas. Discussing with them helps get full alignment, and gives internal stakeholders the opportunity to ask questions.

Employee advocacy programs are the best way to help EX drive a better CX. Getting the word out, from the mouths of employees instead of the public relations team, in an authentic way generates positive brand awareness. Your 2022 marketing plans need to include an employee advocacy program.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Nicole Braley

Nicole R. Braley is a marketing executive, servant leader, career coach, and a frequent speaker for business media. Connect today: LinkedIn. Read Nicole Braley’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

Read More
By
In News

Here’s How Top Marketers Are Planning for 2022

No Comments

By Amanda Pressner Kreuser

Top women in content marketing are embracing industry shifts in 2022. Here’s how they’re iterating on their strategies to prepare for another unique year.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Amanda Pressner Kreuser

Co-founder and managing partner, Masthead Media@mastheadmedia

Sourced from Inc.

Read More
By
In News

New Data Shows What Marketers Are Looking for With Media Agency Relationships

No Comments

By Olivia Morley

Tech, co-location and in-housing are top of mind

Today’s marketers expect more from their media agencies and care less about buying clout, according to a new report by global digital agency Kepler, produced in partnership with research company Vanson Bourne.

The Media Investment Evolved report includes data sourced from 150 senior marketers at companies with at least $5 billion in annual revenue across the U.S., U.K. and Asia-Pacific region.

Tech matters more than buying clout

Compared to five years ago, today’s marketers are more concerned with managing and optimizing tech platform relationships with strategic investment planning.

Media buying and trading has also become less of a concern for marketers over time, with 42% indicating they struggled with this five years ago versus only 14% today. Marketers are less focused on traditional buying and more concerned with strategic moves, such as building relationships with platforms and bulking up in-house operations.

With 85% of senior marketers indicating that future media investment performance will be determined by data optimization more than by negotiating media buying at scale, commonly referred to as “buying clout,” agencies may find themselves at a disadvantage with marketers if they can’t utilize the right tech in the right way.

“Even very traditional marketers are becoming much more focused on driving and measuring tangible marketing outcomes,” said Rick Greenberg, Kepler’s global CEO. Today’s advertisers are increasingly aware that a small portion of the population is driving their business, resulting in the need for precision, he continued. “It’s much more about precision than it is just about mass buying clout.”

Marketers are also concerned about building relationships with tech platforms. While this has been a persistent worry over the last five years, it is becoming more so, with 55% saying it was a top concern today compared to 51% five years ago.

A large majority of respondents said they use their media agencies to collect and optimize data, underscoring the relevance of data literacy in today’s market.

In-housing and co-location are the norm

A majority of marketers expressed concern with their media partners, noting that talent and operating models are not evolving fast enough to deliver the support their organizations require. Due to this, in-housing is even more present on marketer’s minds, with 39% indicating they are struggling to develop their own internal media technology now compared to 33% five years ago.

Further, 53% of senior marketers indicating they use agencies to embed their talent within their own organization. Co-location is also a much larger concern for marketers than it was in the past, with 40% indicating they are struggling with embedding agency talent, compared to 21% five years ago, though it is not clear if the pandemic had any effect on marketers’ response to this question.

“We are also seeing many advertisers bring their partners’ staff into their office so they can sit side-by-side and work more closely together and basically achieve in-housing,” Greenberg said. Over half the clients Kepler has won in the last year are utilizing the agency to support their in-house operation.

Many other agencies (41% of respondents) are acting as consultants for brands as they build out in-housing and internal technology.

“There still is need for an expert intermediary or an expert partner to help [clients] navigate [in-housing] and use those tools,” Greenberg said. “I don’t think we should be interpreting the data to say that the age of partners is over. What we’re seeing is a real shift in the sentiment around what that partner should look like and what that partner should be doing.”

In-housing is becoming the standard, and a staggering 83% of brands said they are either currently or planning to expand their in-house media investment technology. That percentage climbed to 92% for brands, with sales higher than $10 billion annually, signalling that big companies will be the first to build out in-house media operations if they haven’t already.

But marketers expressed concerns with their agencies’ ability to work with in-house teams, with almost half indicating that their media agency partners could improve on sharing learnings and consulting with in-house teams. And 78% said that in the future they’d be looking for a talent and trading model that will morph around in-house operations.

“Agencies need to become much more flexible in their engagement models to accommodate or to meet those clients where they are, to not force clients to just adopt the traditional client-vendor arm’s length relationship,” Greenberg said. This extends to providing services that go beyond media buying, including organizational design, training, platform consultation and co-location services.

The changing landscape is pushing media agencies to become much more strategic and consultative, Greenberg added. Tactical execution is now just one piece of the puzzle.

By Olivia Morley

Olivia is Adweek’s senior reporter specializing in media agencies.

Sourced from ADWEEK

 

Read More
By
In News

Marketers Should Prepare for the Great Demographic Disruption

No Comments

By Phil Rowley

We are heading for a demographic disruption that will redefine and reshape our relationship with consumers.

Imagine a demographic chart with age along the vertical axis and gender left and right of the horizontal. Traditionally, the distribution would take the form of a pyramid, with more young people at the bottom, and tapering toward the apex, as fewer people from older generations survive.

However, in the West, our demographic chart is coming to resemble not an Egyptian pyramid, but The Shard in London: fatter for longer and not tapering off until the very top.

In short, we are a society with more older people than ever before, a world where there will soon be more grandparents than grandchildren. And it’s going to intensify. By 2043, the U.K.’s Office of National Statistics projected an average life expectancy of 90.4 years for men and 92.6 years for women, leading commentators to express concerns that current healthcare systems are unsustainable over the long term.

Technology will fill the ‘care gap’

Not only will older people live longer, but there is also a prediction of a global lack of healthcare workers to look after them, with a shortfall of 9.9 million doctors, nurses and midwives expected by 2030. In some countries governments are already reviewing their immigration policies, knowing that carers will need to be secured from a shrinking global pool. Japan, meanwhile, has begun experimenting with robot carers.

This profound shift will require us to get to grips with understanding greater nuance and speciation among older demographics.

Phil Rowley, head of futures, Omnicom Media Group U.K.

Extending that thought, it is possible that tech giants will increasingly look to fill some of that care gap.

Google, Amazon and Apple are starting to view health as “IT for the body,” with investment in the digitization of health expected to reach $379 billion by 2024. Notably, Jeff Bezos has invested in a new “rejuvenation” startup called Altos Labs. Elsewhere, Google has bought Fitbit, and its Deep Mind algorithm is busy using AI to solve challenges with proteins for medication.

Together with the growth in wearables—projected to be worth nearly $120 billion by 2028—we are seeing growing democratization of knowledge of one’s own body, with tech enabling consumers to take a more active and regular role in their own healthcare.

The next stage, however, will be to optimize our organs, turbo-boost our cognitive functions and fine-tune our genetics. We will upgrade our bodies when they begin to wear out. Rebel gerontologist Aubrey de Grey predicts that in the next two decades humans will reach what he coined Longevity Escape Velocity in 2004, meaning the longer we live, the more likely we are to be alive to use ground breaking technologies to extend our lifespans even further.

Whether that happens remains to be seen, but we won’t have to wait long to see how this will impact marketing. There are already hints at how the industry will need a new frame of reference.

Marketing will focus less on young people

You can likely cite many marketing campaigns targeting older audiences, but it is often the younger, more aspirational segments that set the creative direction of messaging strategies. And while using Gen Z as a targeting proxy seems like a blunt instrument for generalizing a younger demo, this pales in comparison to the broad strokes given to older demos.

Look at the checkboxes on any mechanism seeking to segment by age. How often have you seen this: 16-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, and then 55+. It’s as if anyone over 55 is, for all intents and purposes, identical in their needs and aspirations, and are all charting an inexorable course toward irrelevance and senescence.

This won’t cut it in the future. We’ll have to get to grips with the idea that adults will work longer and retire later, but go on living with more energy and more cash, and want the best life has to offer into their 70s, 80s and 90s.

Not only that but given brands have always yearned to be part of culture, consider for a moment the social, political and cultural impact of a generation that lingers. In the U.K., statistically, Brexit was delivered by older cohorts. Also, the rise of “anti-woke culture” is arguably enabled by a more vocal, active and swelling generation of “life veterans” pushing back on trends that don’t fit with their more traditional values. How are brands trading on progressive causes like LGBTQ rights or Black Lives Matter meant to connect with a growing, more influential, conservative cohort?

Is this a new phenomenon? No. Will it become more pronounced as the older generation continues to outnumber the younger generation? Yes.

A strategic shift

Crucially, then, this has important implications for how we pitch goods and services.

This profound shift will require us to get to grips with understanding greater nuance and specialization among older demographics. My previous generalization of the older generation as conservative and intolerant is a good place to start, and we would do well to subdivide this expanding and extended demo into more useful refined cohorts; finessing the messaging we employ, the channels we use, the need states we should be tapping into.

 

This demographic shift and its implications for marketing is likely to be one of the most profound disruptions in centuries.

Within marketing, rather than agencies clamoring to employ people young enough to understand what emerging cultural trends brands should exploit in their campaigns, they may instead need to lean on more experienced veterans and professionals to comprehend the needs of older demos.

Media strategies may come to be led not by the desire to cram more modern technologies into plans, but to work out ways of using existing and well-loved channels with greater efficiency, and to include older cohorts in campaigns rather than intimidate or exclude them. And all without condescension.

Brands, too, may need to work to ensure their products and services are appealing to older generations. Will consumers want a constant procession of new versions and upgrades? Can products be accessed by those impatient with the new intricacies and complexities that modernity inevitably brings?

This demographic shift and its implications for marketing is likely to be one of the most profound disruptions in centuries. With dramatically falling global fertility rates, and a fortified older generation, we’re headed for a planet populated by old people who will remain healthier for longer by using technology to maintain their own bodies.

Thus, the days of marketing sneakers to young people and stairlifts to old people may be coming to an end. Whereas previously we may have intoned “Get with the program, Granddad,” we will be required to get with granddad’s program.

Feature Image Credit: Nick Dolding/Getty Images

By Phil Rowley

Sourced from ADWEEK

Read More
By
In News

TikTok launches new global experience and products for marketers to reach users

No Comments

By Emma Shepherd

TikTok has today launched its first global experience designed to help brands and marketers embrace TikTok and reimagine how they connect with their communities.

TikTok said it’s excited to introduce new creative, branding and commerce solutions to help brands of all sizes drive commercial impact.

TikTok’s general manager, global business solutions, Australia and New Zealand, Brett Armstrong, told Mumbrella what that means for brands and marketers within the local region.

“I’d say that TikTok has now really become established as a mainstream marketing platform in Australia and New Zealand. We’ve seen advertisers from sectors spanning Auto, FMCG, finance, QSR, media, telcos, technology, retail and beauty, collaborating closely with us to drive innovation and creativity in advertising in this region,” Armstrong said.

“I’m really proud of the work we’ve partnered on with highly creative, out-of-the-box marketers like the team at Budget Direct, as well as Optus, who’ve been with us from the start, taking risks and being first movers.”

Armstrong added he’s seen many large-scale brands advertise on the platform, including Macca’s on its 50th birthday, and brands like Athlete’s Foot, Mecca and Afterpay have stretched the platform to develop bespoke campaigns that meet their needs.

“Our agency relationships have also grown from strength-to-strength and our dedicated team are close partners with media groups including Omnicom, WPP, Publicis, Mediabrands and Dentsu, as well as creative agencies like M&C Saatchi, DDB and BMF are also key for TikTok locally,” Armstrong explained.

“We’re bringing some truly innovative solutions to Australian and Kiwi brands. I know that many of our partners will be really excited by our new commerce solutions, these developments have been hotly anticipated. TikTok Shopping is one product that I’m certain will be a game-changer for us, in terms of helping brands reach consumers where they are, in droves – and that’s in-app. Measuring impact continues to be top of mind for both advertisers and agencies locally, and the tools we are announcing in this space are really going to deliver new value for our partners, which I know is news that they’ll respond to,” Armstrong said.

TikTok said it will be strengthening brand and creator collaboration with creative tools. When brands join TikTok, the platform tells them to “think like marketers and act like creators”. 61% of TikTok users say videos on TikTok are more “unique” than on any other platform and seven out of ten say TikTok ads are enjoyable, according to recent data collated by the platform.

TikTik is growing its suite of creative solutions that enable advertisers to embrace creativity on the platform and also to help connect them and collaborate with TikTok’s diverse ecosystem of creators.

TikTok Creator Marketplace is a self-serve portal provides brands with access to a variety of creators, while the Application Interface (API) enables access to the platform’s first-party marketplace data for creator marketing outfits such as Whalar, Influential, Captiv8, to provide brands with services to help manage the entire end-to-end process of creator marketing on TikTok.

Open Application Campaigns mean that brands can post campaign briefs to creators across TikTok Creator Marketplace so that they can self-apply and participate. Branded Content Toggle tool allows creators to mark videos and disclose commercial content without disrupting their creative flow.

Lastly, Customised Instant Page mean brands can create landing pages that load in seconds – 11 times faster than standard mobile pages – to let users dive deeper into a brand’s message by watching videos or swiping through different content.

According to the platform, these solutions will enhance brands’ experience on the platform, how they connect with audiences, and how they are discovered by the community.

TikTok’s global managing director, product marketing and strategy, Jiayi (Ray) Cao, told Mumbrella: “This is the moment that we hope will give the industry more of our insights about TikTok, especially for the commercial products, where we are going. It’s all three components, our creators, we want to really help them thrive on the platform, and how does that really benefit advertisers? We want to be able to connect to dots between our creators and the advertisers and our brands. The second part is really how we enable the committee and the brands to get better connected? Oftentimes, brands are seen as quite alienated from traditional advertising, but TikTok are really trying to help brands relate to their audiences. We’re really building this to help brands unlock new opportunities on the platform.”

“This is the first time the advertisers will be hearing from us directly, which is really exciting. We do have detailed roadmaps for when our products will be rolled out in each region globally. Australia and New Zealand are very important for us, as we have already run some tests of our products in the market. For example, we launched Collection Ads in Australia just six months ago, and now it’s gone global. For shopping, we’re testing aggressively in South-East Asia on our shopping solutions, and that will soon be launched in Australia, at the end of the year,” Cao concluded.

For more on this story, the team spoke about it on the Mumbrellacast

 

By Emma Shepherd

Emma Shepherd is a senior journalist at Mumbrella. With over seven years of print and digital experience in the industry, she’s previously worked as a reporter for media outlets Bauer Media (now Are Media), Yahoo Australia, and The Daily Mail among other positions.

Sourced from Mumbrella

Read More
By
Load More