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How Bad Advertising Helps Competitors

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By Walker Smith

The results here come from a 2016 Kantar Knowledge Point report about five situations in which Kantar data show bad advertising can help competing brands. In other words, spending your ad dollars on behalf of the competition, not yourself.

The five situations:

  1. Similar brands. (When your doppelgänger gets all the credit.)
  2. Similar branding devices. (Imitation is sincere flattery but bad branding).
  3. Parent/sub-brand confusion. (Too much family resemblance.)
  4. Misattribution to market leader. (The big wheel gets all the grease.)
  5. Misattribution to everyone. (Shining a light on everybody.)

To put it another way, these are situations in which a brand fails to create enough difference. Difference builds brand value, but difference is a matter of communication, not product. It is what people believe about a brand—so advertising is critical to difference.

A Multi-Faceted Problem. Bad advertising hurts a brand in many ways. These charts are drawn from Kantar client work on behalf of Brand A, a mobile phone brand. In this category in the markets of interest at this point in time, many brands overlapped in terms of imagery and benefits. Brands A and B, especially. As part of diagnosing what was going on with Brand A, Kantar assessed its advertising. On the left, it’s clear that the ad was bad in multiple ways. To begin with, it failed to break through the attention span of 59 percent of consumers. Then, among those reporting some sort of recognition, just as many attributed it to other brands. Contrast that with the advertising of Brand B, which was working at roughly the level to be expected. However, Brand B had been off-air for a long time, yet, as seen on the right, its reported awareness went up. Courtesy of Brand A’s bad advertising.

How Bad Advertising Helps Competitors

Motivating, Too. What’s examined in the Kantar report from which these results are drawn is memorability, or the power of advertising to bring attention and recognition to a brand. That’s important, but not nearly enough. If the difference communicated—and recognized and properly attributed—is not motivating, then all is for naught. Difference alone is never enough. It’s never a matter of mere difference, even though many discussions of difference talk about it in isolation. It must be a difference that is motivating and meaningful. It must give people a compelling reason to buy. It must solve a need in a unique way. Difference could be trivial. Which is the unexamined part of the results shown here. Brand A’s advertising could be bad because the difference it is communicating is so frivolous that it is forgettable, thus randomly remembered, if at all. Difference must be motivating, too.

Difference In The Doing. High-level plans have to be right, but in the end it all comes down to execution. A lot of emphasis is placed on strategy in marketing. It’s the main focus of most marketing textbooks. It’s the big ideas we like to get on panels to discuss at conferences. It’s the way tales are told and reputations are made in business media. But strategy succeeds or fails on execution. This applies to building difference as well. In whatever way brands are designed and built, if difference is lost in the advertising or other communications, then the strategy fails.

Not because the strategy was bad, but because the strategy was badly executed. This is one reason why there is so much heat in the debate about difference vs. distinctiveness these days. The latter is little strategy and all execution. But there’s a confusion. Just doing things matters, but doing things that push strategic difference will always matter more.

By Walker Smith

Sourced from Branding Strategy Insider

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How To Structure An Influencer Strategy

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By Leslie Licano.

Clients come to our agency looking for ways to take an omnichannel approach to public relations and marketing more frequently now than ever before. In addition to an uptick in traditional media campaigns and innovative social programs, we’ve seen an increase in the return on investment that our clients are seeing through influencer marketing campaigns.

If you’re thinking about starting an influencer campaign, you’re not alone. Influencer marketing is expected to grow from a $2 billion industry in 2017 to a $10 billion industry by 2020. It’s proven to have a strong return on investment, and it allows public relations teams to really dial into a target market. While Instagram is the leading platform for influencer marketing, influencers also can be found on YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and just about any other social media vehicle you can think of.

So how can you structure your influencer strategy to get the most from every post? Here are a few things to consider:

What are the goals of your campaign? Do you want to increase awareness? Generate leads? Drive sales? Boost brand reputation? Determine what you want to accomplish and how you’re going to measure the results. Engagement is a popular data point to measure, but make sure that’s the right fit for your brand. Also, ensure everyone on your team, including the influencer you choose, is aware of goals and measurement plans.

Decide on a budget. It’s important to know how much money you have to spend on an influencer campaign. Most influencers are pay to play, with rates as low as $200 per post up to tens of thousands of dollars per post. Is your budget large enough to get the posting frequency you may need to make an influencer campaign viable? Look at influencer marketing as you would any other marketing campaign — you may have to spend money to get the results you want.

Narrow your demographic, and determine your target market. Your target market for an influencer campaign might be slightly different from your regular target market. Make sure the influencer you select has a majority following within your target demographic. No matter how much you like an influencer or the aesthetics of their posts, if their following doesn’t match your target needs, it doesn’t make sense to engage with them.

Research influencers to find the right fit. This is such an important step, and there’s so much to consider. Before moving forward with any influencer, make sure that they fit your brand naturally. It’s vital to be authentic in these posts, so an influencer who’s excited about your product and has a following comprised of your target demographic is ideal. Another important step is to make sure that the influencer hasn’t embellished their following with bots. Third-party measurement and analytics tools are great for checking out influencers and making sure they’re on the up-and-up.

Determine content with your hired influencer. In general, let the influencer to take the lead here. If the content is going to feel authentic, it likely needs to come from them. Their followers will probably be able to pick out a brand-crafted post from a mile away. That said, provide some guidelines, concept ideas and product information to help them, or you may inadvertently set yourself up to fail. Additionally, make sure that they’re familiar with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines for your type of product. For example, many influencers today are involved in the promotion of health products, which is heavily regulated by the FTC. Influencers may need to announce that the content is sponsored or label it as advertising and ensure that they’re being careful not to make false claims regarding a product’s effectiveness to avoid misleading followers.

So are you ready to get your influencer campaign up and running? Approach influencer strategy as you would any other new campaign. Set your goals, budget and target demographic, and do your research to make sure that the partners you choose are the right fit for your brand — just as you would research any other person you might hire for the team. With a detailed strategy that covers all these bases, you’re likely to see positive results.

By Leslie Licano

Co-Founder of Beyond Fifteen Communications, a SoCal PR and communications firm known for taking clients beyond their 15 minutes of fame.

Sourced from Forbes

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What Does ‘Marketing Strategy’ Really Mean?

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By Shannon Prager

John Wanamaker, marketing pioneer of the 19th century, is famously quoted to have said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Though this statement was made more than 100 years ago, I believe it still rings true for many business-to-business technology companies.

As the founder and president of a B2B marketing firm, I know that unlike Wanamaker, modern companies have advanced marketing automation and analytics platforms at their fingertips. But these platforms alone can’t build a solid strategy. They need input.

Why Marketing Strategy Matters 

In the quest to automate marketing journeys with artificial intelligence and machine learning, it’s easy to overlook the essential element that defines your product or service’s value to the market.

“Marketing strategy” is a loose term few fully understand. It’s not the same as marketing planning or a go-to-market strategy. Let’s define the terms:

• A marketing strategy details a company’s long-term marketing goals and objectives.

• Marketing planning aims to achieve marketing strategy goals with tactical activities and campaigns.

• A go-to-market strategy is the value proposition launched to potential customers. It’s often attached to a company, product or service launch.

The challenge most companies run into, especially in the B2B technology space, is failing to create marketing strategies that are supported by qualitative and quantitative research.

Anyone can write a marketing strategy, but if it’s lacking a clear value proposition based on customer research and buyer personas, it’s unlikely to move your business forward.

Elements Of An Effective Marketing Strategy

The most successful marketing strategies contain three core elements: deep customer knowledge, distinct branding and messaging, and market analysis.

Let’s dig deeper.

1. Understand your customers.

This sounds simple. You probably already have some idea of who your ideal customers are. But do you really know them?

Assuming, rather than asking questions, is where many marketing organizations run into trouble. Quality customer research takes time and needs to be updated a least once per year.

To truly know your customers, you must understand:

• What they want.

• What pains them.

• Where they’re searching for in a solution.

• How to reach them (i.e., content, social media, email, website, etc.).

These dynamics change, and without proper feedback loops, you could miss out on important shifts and opportunities within the marketplace.

At many of the companies we work with, time and resources get in the way of creating and updating effective buyer personas. If companies have them at all, they’re often a few years old and at the bottom of someone’s priority list to update. The companies we see generating the greatest return on investment commit to refreshing customer research and buyer personas annually.

If you are performing the customer research yourself, this yearly refresh may take the form of a nice sample size of interviews with your newest customers to evaluate and restudy their buying patterns. The findings should be captured and collected in a consistent way and shared across your teams so they can be operationalized.

2. Know your brand and messaging.

Clearly defined brands are remembered. Think of Apple or IBM: Their iconic branding didn’t pop up overnight. It was clearly defined, consistently presented and intelligently refreshed over time.

Once you know who your ideal customer is, you can use that data to build a strong brand and value proposition that attracts the right audience. Your value proposition is directly tied to the benefit(s) you offer customers and what sets you apart from your competitors. We find that studying buying patterns and asking the right questions about value and differentiation can give you direct insight into how a customer values and speaks about what sets you apart. Then the heavy work becomes storyboarding it and integrating it across your brand and messaging.

3. Keep tabs on your market position.

Anyone can say they’re No. 1 in a product or service category, but can they back it up? Making grand proclamations without supporting data can set your organization up for disappointment. To stay relevant:

• Routinely review competitor strategies.

• Compare your positioning to competitors.

• Identify what makes your organization special.

• Focus on your unique differentiators in messaging.

• Copyright key phrases and language that’s essential to your brand.

• Call out competitors that “borrow” your messaging.

How To Execute Your Marketing Strategy 

Once you understand your customers and have clear branding and messaging and a way to track your market position, you’re ready to go to market. A strong go-to-market strategy should:

• Be multifaceted.

• Tell your story.

• Be scalable.

• Focus on customers.

The Bottom Line: Research First — Or Accept Mediocre Results 

Before investing a dime on any marketing program or content creation, get to know your ideal target customer first. Skipping this essential first step will mean throwing thousands of dollars down the drain.

The companies we see achieving the highest returns on marketing investments spend time on intensive customer and market research to fully understand their customers and prospects before creating a single program or advertisement to try to catch their attention.

The research tools and resources exist to generate holistic buyer personas that will empower your marketing team to craft more powerful and effective campaigns and messages.

It’s simple, really: Either invest the extra time and effort on customer and market research upfront or pay the price later in conversations.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Shannon Prager

Shannon Prager is President of Leadit Marketing, a marketing and demand gen agency focused on B2B tech and professional services companies. Read Shannon Prager’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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Success Is Hard Because You Overcomplicate It. Keep Your Strategy Simple With These 7 Questions

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By Marla Tabaka

Entrepreneurs who overthink their plan just get stuck. Success is not necessarily easy, but it’s probably simpler than you believe.

They had built a seven-figure business in less than three years. Three years ago, I asked these entrepreneurs, who happen to be my daughter and son-in-law, about their business plan. As they exchanged humoured looks, my son-in-law asked, “What plan?” I laughed because, of course, you have to have a plan. As I persisted, he finally shrugged his shoulders and drew their plan on a napkin. Here’s how it looked:

            $ + $$$ = $$$$$$$$

Translation: Make a little money, put it back into the business, make more money and get rich. Today, they are on their fifth self-funded business–all of them very successful, none of them with a complicated plan.

Why entrepreneurs tend to overcomplicate their strategy.

Conversely, many business owners come to me for help, expecting to develop a plan and strategy the size of Long Island. They need to believe that success is complicated, because if it isn’t, then why haven’t they achieved it already? For some, there’s a sort of security in documenting and analysing every little step before it’s taken. This tendency falls into the categories of procrastination and fear of failure. If you spend more time thinking about your business plan than you do acting on it, this may be your problem.

I’m not sure that everyone has the ability to grow a business from an abstract reference on a cocktail napkin, but I do know that small and midsize business owners who overthink their plan don’t succeed. Begin with these seven questions and stop overcomplicating things. Just get to work.

1. Who is my audience?

If you find yourself using phrases like anyone who, then you don’t know who your audience is. If you could sell to just one person, who would it be? That’s right, one person or industry. I once worked with a professional speaker who thought his audience was any company that had a sales force. He was barely supporting himself. We narrowed it down to the sales force within manufacturers and distributors in the medical supply industry. His business took off within months.

Here’s something that’s very important to know about niching: You don’t have to stick with only one. Start with one and when and if the time is right, create a second silo. Choosing a niche is not as restrictive as you’d believe.

2. How will I reach my audience?

Once you have a niche, you will have a better idea of where they hang out. What are the best social media platforms, the industry events, and associations they’re associated with, and which people in your network are closely associated with them?

3. What makes my product or service different?

This one is difficult for many entrepreneurs. You may believe that one business accounting firm may be just like the next, for instance. When one of my clients differentiated her firm by offering freelance CEO and CFO services, along with 30-minute quarterly meetings with her clients, her practice grew by 34 percent in one year. I call these touches white-glove service. What’s your white glove?

4. What are my costs and margins?

Once you find that amazing accountant, pay the money to have him or her calculate your cost of doing business, as well as your margins. You may be amazed at how many entrepreneurs have no idea where their money is going and what their margins are. I had a client who sold two different product types to two different industries but ran her numbers together. It wasn’t until we began working together that she came to realize that one of her product lines was sucking up profits from the other. It didn’t look that way on paper–until she separated the costs associated with running each side of the business. You may think you understand your numbers, but do you really?

5. How will I manage my company’s growth?

Here’s where entrepreneurs fall into a very problematic trap. They end up wearing the CEO hat, along with the other six or seven hats necessary to run their business. If you have the mind of an entrepreneur, it’s not likely that you will excel in performing every task needed to deliver your end product. When you’re entrenched in the day-to-day operations, you won’t have time or energy to grow the business. Perhaps you don’t need full-time employees, but you do need to outsource. If you try to do it all you will burn out and fail. It’s that simple.

6. What mindset do I need to maintain to become successful?

Do you have a lack mindset or a wealth mindset? If you are constantly worried about money, you fall into the lack category. If you believe with all of your heart that there will always be more than enough, you tend toward the abundant, wealth mindset. This is not to say that you don’t watch your money, but that you understand the need to spend money to make money and you spend it wisely.

Please know that determining and changing your mindset is not likely something you’ll do on your own. Find a coach who specializes in mindset and strategy and invest in yourself. It will be the best money you’ve ever spent.

7. What are my company’s values and how will I develop its culture?

Oblivious to how things must change once they begin to bring employees on board, some entrepreneurs neglect to develop processes and what I call an intentional culture. Before long, the business is a mess. This is a costly oversight.

I use this simple question to help entrepreneurs lay the foundation for a healthy culture: When employees and customers talk about your business, what exactly do you want them to say and how do you want them to feel? I always say that if an entrepreneur does not put effort into building culture, it will build itself–and you won’t like the results.

That’s it. Throw away those pages and pages of notes. Stop losing sleep in search of the magic bullet. If you focus on these seven areas and believe in yourself, you will go much further in life and business.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Marla Tabaka

Sourced from Inc.

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Put on an alternative spread this Easter

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By Caroline Parry

Indulgence and, of course, chocolate will always be crucial to Easter, but increasingly this holiday is seen as a celebration of springtime, and people are seeking gifts and experiences that reflect this shift.

This is no doubt that Easter is important to us, with 57% of consumers considering it to be a “proper” holiday, according to a 2018 YouGov survey. This is compared to say, Mother’s Day, which Britons do not see as such a big occasion.

Its importance in our lives is reflected in our social behaviour with Facebook seeing year-on-year growth of 1.6x in our conversations about Easter in 2017. The top five topics discussed around that time are significant others, food, beverages, parties and events, and travel, while the top trending Easter hashtags are #love, #chocolate and #family.

Let’s take a look at some emerging UK Easter trends for 2019 and supporting marketing activation tips advertisers could consider on Facebook platforms in line with these….

Alternative indulgence

Confectionary sales in the UK grew from £375m in 2017 to £395m in 2018. However, while chocolate will always have a place on the shelves at Easter, increasingly consumers are looking for Easter treats to marry with their growing concerns about sustainability and health. Many more of us will be searching for guilt-free ways to spoil ourselves this Easter!

With reducing plastic waste now high up on the agenda of most consumers, forward-thinking brands are thinking outside the traditional egg box to meet these concerns. Innovative chocolate brands, such as Montezuma, vegan brand Goupie and dairy-free brand Booja Booja, are using recyclable packaging, some of which is reusable.

Treating ourselves isn’t limited to gorging on chocolate, and for many people self-care is becoming the alternative way of indulging. Health and beauty e-tailer Lookfantastic struck a chord last Easter with its £65 Beauty Egg, which offered a limited edition collection of seven ‘must-have’ products packaged in a metal egg. No surprise then that this year’s Easter Beauty Egg Bungle had an early waiting list.

Marketing activation tip: Think outside the Easter egg box, by showing more options than just chocolate in your marketing campaigns. How about a carousel ad format where you can showcase a wider brand story and message through different images? For e.g. chocolate, eco packaging, as well as an idea for guilt-free or healthier indulgence / pampering.

The great Easter escape

With family a top trending hashtag over the Easter break, it is a holiday that is increasingly about sharing special moments together. With 72% of consumers feeling no pressure to buy Easter gifts, according to a 2018 Mintel Seasonal Shopping report, we are increasingly swapping presents for social experiences.

Spending on activities far outpaces gifts, according to the same Mintel report, with an average of £113 spent on sharing experiences together compared to £67 on presents. British adults love to hark back to their childhoods when out with friends, with many getting their Easter fun fix by going bowling or trampolining.

Families also love to get out and about, and the many events staged by brands around Easter are ideal opportunities for spending time together. Crafting days and Easter egg hunts, such as the Cadbury partnership with the National Trust, are always big draws, but alternative events such as the Science Museum’s Power Up, which combines gaming with an exhibition, appeal to both parents and kids.

As people prioritise spending time together and creating that sense of belonging, it is little wonder that 10 times more photos are posted and shared during the Easter breaks than before or after.

Marketing activation tip: You can broadcast direct from events so that a wider audience can join the fun and conversation by using the Instagram live feature! Bridge the real world and digital divide seamlessly. By leveraging Facebook marketing partners you can create ads and messaging which are triggered contingent upon weather. We all know British weather can be unreliable, so it’s handy to have bespoke messaging ready to roll out in rainy or sunny circumstances over the Easter weekend.

Creating a meaningful Easter

With Facebook seeing a spike in conversation around food, beverages and parties on Easter Day itself, we know the Easter feast is a vital part of the holiday. British consumers are investing more time and money in making food more meaningful by buying seasonal produce, often sourcing key ingredients locally at stores or markets.

Supporting British producers and local retailers adds real meaning and a sense of story to our Easter food. It’s the reason that over half of shoppers surveyed by digital marketing agency Silverbean, said it is the time of year when buying home-grown products and using local suppliers is essential.

Spring is a time of abundance when it comes to vegetables, and with interest in organic foods and local, independent shopping spiking around this time of year, many turn to social to celebrate their love for fresh local produce. And they really do love it, #rhubarb and #artichoke boast almost a million tagged boasts between them.

Even the major retailers understand shoppers are looking for ways to show their support for local and British suppliers. Morrisons uses a “blue passport” to mark up its lamb products as British and highlight their home-grown credentials. Meanwhile, Hyke Gin is tackling both local and food waste by taking unwanted grapes from the British supply chain and turning it into gin.

Marketing activation tip: If you have great content like Easter ingredients, recipes and pictures to share, consider trying the Instant Experiences templates to quickly create valuable interactions with your customers. Did you know Instant Experiences are loading faster than ever? – now 15 times faster than standard mobile websites – so you can use them to seamlessly connect to an audience. Also, if you have a great local story to tell about your product, you can geo target ads to a certain audience where that messaging would resonate strongly.

Easter, a season of sun

With Easter bringing the first Bank Holidays of the year, it is an excellent opportunity for a holiday or breaks. Almost half of the £1.1bn spent over the Easter weekend in 2018 was spent on Easter getaways, according to travel website Kayak, and 89% of Easter conversation on Facebook in the UK was on mobile.

After the long winter, many are chasing the sunshine and warmth. Back in 2016, the “cool” and adventurous Scandi destinations were booming, last year saw consumers look to sunnier climes. Dubai was the most booked destination for Easter in 2018, with the perennially popular Spanish cities of Malaga and Alicante close behind.

Once again, environmental issues rate high on the agenda for British consumers. Green mini-breaks are becoming the preferred choice for many consumers. The Hilton London Bankside has responded with the creation of the world’s first vegan hotel room, which features suede-like furnishings made from mushroom matter.

Marketing activation tip: Travel insurance brands may want to up-weight their activity on Facebook and Instagram as we know most people leave it last minute to get their insurance sorted! Geo targeting such ads around airports and stations can prove effective. Hotels and retreats can showcase their unique or new look sustainable offerings in a more immersive way by using the power of 360° videos and boosting that content as ads to maximise reach and amplification.

Summary

Easter is still very much about chocolate eggs and bunnies, but consumers increasingly see it as an opportunity for treating themselves, and for spending time with family and friends by sharing great experiences. It is increasingly important however that enjoying these holiday moments is not at the expense of their wider concerns around health and sustainability.

By Caroline Parry

Sourced from The Drum

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6 Content Marketing Questions: Answers Will Improve Your Strategy

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By Ana Jovanovic

Content marketing is receiving tremendous acknowledgment among advertisers to reach clients. Indeed, 92% of B2B advertisers utilize content marketing to reach their intended interest group, and 86% B2C advertisers consider content marketing a key strategy to target clients, as indicated by the Content Marketing Institute.

In any case, not every single content marketers can accomplish their goals with regards to getting content marketing ROI. Some are effective, while many battles to attempt their content marketing endeavors productive.

In this post, the talk will be about six inquiries that will enable you to adjust your content marketing strategy and guarantee achievement.

1. What Problems Are You Solving?

The primary goal of your content marketing system is to solve your audience’s issues.

So the primary inquiry your content marketing strategy ought to have the capacity to answer what issues you are settling. What’s more, to take care of your clients’ issues, you ought to be very much aware of their pain points.

Here are some approaches to distinguish your clients’ pain points:

  • Conduct qualitative customer research
  • Interview your customers
  • Look at your reviews
  • Run online surveys
  • Scan forums/groups relevant to your niche

Content that goes head to head with the audience’s problems, get noticed, read and shared.

2. Have You set Objectives for Your Content Strategy?

Does your content marketing strategy have composed objectives? If not, you should set objectives now. Without defining objectives, it will resemble flying in obscurity and shooting randomly and hoping to hit the objective. Obviously, this isn’t something that you need to do. So set content marketing objectives. Following are some shared objectives that you might need to accomplish through content marketing:

  • Increase brand awareness
  • Increase traffic to your website
  • Generate Leads
  • Improve retention
  • Create customer loyalty

content marketing

3. Have You Fixed KPIs for Your Content Marketing Goals?

To know how much advancement you are making toward your content marketing objectives, you should track key performance indicators (KPIs).
Have you settled KPIs for your content marketing objectives?
Next, we should talk about regular KPIs you can append to your content marketing objectives:

Brand Awareness– Social share, comments, likes, views from partner sites
Traffic to Your Website– Google Analytics
Lead Generation– Leads generated by content, landing page conversion rate
Customer Loyalty– Repurchase, regular subscription
Leads Conversion– Leads to customer conversions through content pieces

4. Does Content Echo Your Audience’s Tone?

On the off chance that your audience didn’t feel right after reading your content, despite the fact that your content is super helpful, odds are your dialect is excessively straightforward or excessively complex that doesn’t match with the dialect of your audience.
So it is important that your substance should match with your gathering of people’s tone.
Furthermore, to figure out what tone is the best for you to embrace, you should know your audience and discover what they like and how they associate with one another.

5. Do You Have an Aggressive Content Promotion Plan?

Brian Clark, the founder of CopyBlogger, stated:

’’Creating great content and not getting it noticed is an online marketing sin.’’

There is no reason for making content if it doesn’t get noticed, read, and shared by your audience. Do you have a forceful content promotion strategy to make your content reach a vast audience? If not, act quick. You have the accompanying four content promotion channels:

1- Owned Channels– Homepage, email lists, owned communities, blog, app
2- Earned Channels– Influencer Outreach, media outreach, placed content
3- Shared Channels– social media organic, content sharing communities
4- Paid Channels– Native ads, paid social media, display ads, sponsored content

6. Are You Ready to Tweak Your Content Strategy?

A fruitful content marketing strategy requests a consistent cycle of investigation and changes. So you can’t settle your content procedure in a stone. You need to change it and adjust it depending on how your audience reacts to your content. The most ideal way is that you should make a rule of routinely assessing your content marketing strategy after a specific timeframe – track key performance indicators (KPIs) to know your advancement and discover the purposes behind not performing.

You should realize that content marketing sets aside some time to demonstrate results, however, the outcomes remain. It is smarter to set realistic content marketing strategy desires at first.

 

By Ana Jovanovic

Sourced from JOSIC

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3 Reasons You Can’t Have a Nice Social-First Content Marketing Strategy

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“What am I missing? What is the insight I’m not seeing that could make our content marketing strategy make sense?”

An attendee at the 2018 Social Media Strategies Summit conference in San Francisco made that comment. She works for a major non-profit organization. She’s trying to manage through three strategic expectations the senior management team and board have regarding a content marketing strategy:

  1. They want to keep everything on one Facebook page.
  2. They have two important audiences that are each interested in different types of content.
  3. She can’t change either of the first two strategic expectations.

She’s beating herself up for her inability to find an amazing branding strategy insight. The one that would allow her to get around the contradictions posed by her senior management team’s decidedly non-social-first content marketing strategy expectations.

 

As we discussed her organization’s situation, I suggested various ways to target content to the two audiences based on what they are interested in hearing about from the organization. While the ideas were sound strategically, each one directly challenged the expectations in a way she was certain she couldn’t do.

After a few minutes, I assured her that she isn’t missing any big branding strategy insight.

The problem is the management team’s decisions about the content marketing strategy. Their stipulations are all about brand-first, not social-first, content.

She told her management team that she would return from the conference and write the organization’s social media strategy. She didn’t see that happening without the big insight.

I suggested she instead focus on creating a strategic conversation with her management team. Her first step is to address what they want to achieve as an organization with their two audiences. She can then start suggesting how social media contributes to realizing those business objectives. The more they want to push a brand-first content strategy, the less wedging in a few social-first content marketing tactics will successfully fix things.

Maybe THAT is the insight she was seeking: you can’t pursue the smart thing (a social-first content marketing strategy) when management’s every strategic expectation runs counter to doing so.

Not a great situation. As least now, though, she has a pathway to attempt to help them work their way out of it! – Mike Brown

Boost Your Brand’s Social Media Strategy with Social-First Content!

Download the Brainzooming eBook on social-first content strategy. In Giving Your Brand a Boost through Social-First Content, we share actionable, audience-oriented frameworks and exercises to:

  • Understand more comprehensively what interests your audience
  • Find engaging topics your brand can credibly address via social-first content
  • Zero in on the right spots along the social sales continuum to weave your brand messages and offers into your content

Start using Giving Your Brand a Boost through Social-First Content to boost your content marketing strategy success today!

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Sourced from Brainzooming

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8 Rules Of Positioning

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By Harsh Pamnani.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

By Harsh Pamnani

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

Sourced from BW BUSINESSWORLD

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