Marketing Communications 101

Otherwise known as MarCom, marketing communications refers to the combination of promotional tools, channels, messages, and media that brands use to communicate with their audience. The role of marketing communications is to:

1.     Shorten sales funnel

2.     Increase customer loyalty

3.     Increase brand awareness

4.     Create a demand for products/services

5.     Reach the right people

6.     Promote brand innovation

Advertising falls under the umbrella of marketing communications as well as digital marketing, direct marketing, public relations, sales promotion, and branding. Marketing communications strategy falls under the Four P’s. We’ve talked about the Four P’s in past articles, but now it has been updated to the Seven P’s, which are:

1.     Product

2.     Price

3.     Promotion

4.     Place

5.     People

6.     Process

7.     Packaging

Marketing communication channels are important because they are the foundation of all brand marketing. The beauty of the digital age is that you can reach much larger audience pools through social media channels with your marketing communications. Traditional channels, such as print, radio, and television are no longer required to reach your target audience. This is why user-generated content advertising is just getting started. All brands, large or small can benefit from a digital marketing strategy. With UGC, your brand can leverage low-cost digital marketing ads while increasing brand reputation and consumer trust. Pew Research’s recent study showed that “26% of people are online constantly and 43% are on at least once a day.” Digital communications marketing also extends to B2B with some slight differences. B2B will be more logic-focused than emotional. They will also take slightly longer because more than one individual will be involved. The bottom line here is marketing communication strategies have changed vastly over the last decade. Traditional marketing communications aren’t a thing of the past but rather no longer a requirement and can supplement digital marketing efforts. UGC has a place within this new marketing communications world. If you would like to learn more feel free to contact us.

SWOT Analysis

Can you tell me 3 strengths of your brand? What about 3 weaknesses? If you hesitated, had to stop and think for an answer, and maybe found one minute later then you can benefit from SWOT Analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This is a tool to analyze the aspects of your brand to help it improve, grow, rinse, and repeat. Some benefits of conducting a SWOT analysis are:

1.     Brand self-awareness

2.     Recognizing opportunities

3.     Identify threats and mitigating

4.     Plan and make decisions strategically

5.     Optimize Resources

6.     Improved employee collaboration & communication

7.     Tracking performance

SWOT will look at internal and external factors to understand your brand’s position in its field. That said, how can your brand go about conducting the analysis? You need to create a SWOT Matrix. Here is an example of what that will look like.

SWOT Analysis can be a very useful tool for your brand to succeed. We hope this helps you as a starting point to conduct one to improve. It should be noted that there are some common mistakes to avoid when doing this though. Try not to make your lists too long. This can overcomplicate things and make it less feasible to improve. Don’t be vague. Being specific will help provide laser focus on each topic. Do not overlook your weaknesses and be honest. You will only hurt the brand by doing so. Don’t be unrealistic with ideas that may not even be an option yet. It’s great to have future goals but if your brand isn’t there yet, it will be a waste of time and effort. Lastly, do not do the analysis alone. This should be done as team collaboration to make sure you don’t miss anything and build a stronger bond between employees. Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. -Helen Keller

Global Marketing Strategy

Going global is not just for big corporations anymore in the digital world. Any market can be any brand no matter where they are based. Global marketing is a way to market your brand that will encompass many countries from many different regions of the world. This is when global standardization comes into play. This means that your campaign messaging can be used simultaneously in different countries and cultures. You can choose to do your campaigns this way or localize them that are different across markets and countries. However, it is much more cost-effective to use the former. No matter which one you choose a successful global marketing strategy will include understanding your international audiences, setting SMART goals, and knowing your competition. Implementing a global marketing strategy has many benefits aside from the obvious one of further brand reach. It will give your brand a better reputation and will also help you understand your brand identity on a deeper level. Global marketing can help you reinforce your messages and ideas across borders. It can reduce financial waste if you choose to use global standardization and create uniformity across packaging, design, and advertising. However, it can be off-target or culturally insensitive and lack uniqueness. Global marketing success will depend on finding a good balance between standardization and localization.

KISS principle

“I-I-I wanna rock and roll all night…. And party every day! I-I-…” Oh, sorry wrong KISS. The KISS principle stands for, “Keep it Simple Stupid,” and was designed to keep designs and/or systems as simple as possible. It’s used in many fields from science to marketing and advertising. Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it, you don’t understand it well enough.” This is the heart of the principle. It has also been called the, “Keep it Short & Simple,” and the “Keep it Simple & Straightforward” principle. It is also the same idea as Occam’s Razor that we’ve talked about in the past. All this being said, we should preface with the fact that some things are by nature complex. The point of this principle is to keep things as simple as possible when possible. Complexity should be avoided when it only exists for its own sake. Too often, people will overcomplicate things that shouldn’t be. If someone can’t explain to a kindergartener, then chances are they don’t truly understand either. The easier something is to understand; the more likely users will adopt and engage. We can all benefit from this method of thought in every aspect of our lives. There is something very genius about keeping it simple.

Dynamic Marketing

Markets are always changing and evolving, so why wouldn’t your marketing strategies do the same? Dynamic marketing is a strategy that maximizes customer data to create relevant, personalized, and flexible. There are 5 pillars of the dynamic marketing strategy. They are:

1.     Personalization: We’ve stressed the importance of this in every aspect of your business. Customers expect this now. It is the norm. Tailor-made messages guarantee that your audience will be satisfied.

2.     Automation: This involves segmented customer data that is interpreted to create personalized messages. Automation makes this process more streamlined by matching the right automation with the right people.

3.     Tool prioritization: What tools should you prioritize? Many brands have a different tool for each goal. For example, APIs connect people to key pages and information, and AI learns customers’ preferences in real time. More is not necessarily better here. Think less is more. Choose the right tools for the right jobs.

4.     Tracking: Who doesn’t want to know if their efforts are being effective? KPI’s come into play big time here. Set benchmarks and check. Here are some things you should be tracking. Website traffic, clicks, impressions, and lead generation. Once you have established your KPI you can see what is working and what the challenges are. You can use your current success as a starting point here.

5.     Streamlining: Make every interaction with customers and your brand count. Quality over quantity and be flexible to adapt the messages of campaigns.

The point of dynamic marketing is to create a flexible strategy. There are some things to keep up with to do so, such as seasonal changes, tech updates, automation upgrades, and customer journeys. The benefits of a dynamic marketing strategy can be considerable. Some of these include performance-enhanced personalization, responsiveness that leads to higher revenue/profits, data-driven personalization, and long-term customer retention relationships. For your dynamic marketing strategy to work your teams must be unified with goals. It can be a deeply involved strategy but once your team gets a good, unified workflow, you will see substantial results.

Agile Marketing

Agile marketing is a fairly new concept and wasn’t introduced until 2012. It’s a strategy that prioritizes high-value projects and concentrates all resources on them. The team(s) then work in short, intense bursts to complete goals, assess their impacts, and work toward getting better results next time. At the core of this method, its values are:

·      Reacting to change instead of following a plan

·      Rapid repetitions over larger campaigns

·      Testing data and validated learning instead of “rules”

·      People and interactions over large audiences

·      Customer-focused instead of hierarchy

According to the 2022 State of Agile Marketing Report, “555 of agile marketing teams can release things fast, and 48% can change gears quickly when feedback demands it.” Research from McKinsey also found that “agile marketing increases revenue by 20-40%.” You can see the benefits of this method already, so how does one go about implementing it?

1.     Planning: This is a sprint kickoff meeting to determine the priorities of the project. The project will be divided into tasks that are given deadlines, and assigned to team members. It’s important to show that the customer is most important above all else and emphasize speed, collaboration, data, and accountability.

2.     Sprints: Short burst from 2-6 weeks to finish a project.

3.     Stand-up meetings: Every day all team members should meet to go over what each has completed the previous day so that everyone is on the same page moving forward. This is an important step for problem-solving as well.

4.     Board to track progress: Whiteboards, software shared doc, etc. Whatever means necessary to keep everyone on track in the same place.

5.     Teamwork: This goes for any team in any department. Teamwork makes the dream work!

6.     Retrospective: Run by the scrum master for the scrum team. This is where everyone shares what went well and what didn’t. This meeting is for improving on future sprints.

Now that we know the methodology, let’s look at the individuals who make up the agile marketing teams.

Scrum Method:

1.     Scrum: Responsible for keeping the team on track. They facilitate meetings, solve problems, and ensure collaboration and communication between all members.

2.     Product owner: They’re in charge of the why behind the work and ensuring that tasks are being completed promptly. They’re in charge of understanding the audience of the brand the most to provide them value.

3.     Developer: All others in the team are developers. They contribute unique skill sets from different departments that your project falls under.

Kanban Method

1.     Visualization: This method uses visuals to track progress. A board is used and divided into columns for each stage of work. In simple terms; to-do, doing, and done columns. Whatever the task at hand is will determine how many columns to create to track. 

2.     WIP limits: These are boundaries to outline how team members work on the tasks within each column. This places a limit on how many tasks one person can work on or how much time each task has to be completed. This keeps people focused on one job until it’s completed and moving on to the next.

3.     Meeting cadences:  Similar to scrub, planning meetings, daily stand-ups, and retrospective meetings will occur to make sure everyone and everything is on track. The delivery meeting is absent since Kanban doesn’t work on timelines.

Agile marketing can be a great way for marketing departments to react quickly to changes in the market. They can also try a lot of new things in short campaigns to see what will work for your brand and what won’t. But, how do you know if agile marketing is right for your brand? Is your company seeing high turnover rates? Are your employees folding under pressure from immense workloads? These both might be good reasons to try an agile marketing effort. If your team is willing to change and give it a try it’s worth the trial run. A good example would be a trend or challenge happening on the internet. We can help you gather those moments.  The truth is your brand won’t know if it works unless you test it out.

Presentation in Business: Become a Champ at Public Speaking

Did you know that, “About 77% of people have a fear of public speaking,” according to Cross River Therapy Group. Why is having good presentation skills important in business? Well, it can mean the difference between getting a new client, sharing knowledge efficiently with the team, and/or it will improve the impact of your message through a self-assured and grounded persona. Here are some reasons why it is vital in business.

1.     Time management: Inefficient presentation skills can waste unwanted amounts of time. the more efficient your skillset, the more time you will save for everyone.

2.     Leadership: Delivering a message in a confident and inspiring way makes others want to listen. If you’re a leader in the organization, you need to be able to deliver messages this way to keep the respect of your employees.

3.     PR: Good presentation skills can give you a better public image. People tend to judge those in higher positions, so give them a positive one.

4.     Business success: As we stated above, it can be the difference between landing that new client or not. Conveying your presentation with confidence and a little pizazz will increase the likelihood of your business’s success.

This skill takes practice. Trust us. But, the good news is that if you’re not great at it, it can be improved. Here are some tips on how to become a better presenter.

1.     Practice speaking in front of groups: Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. Start small and practice in front of a mirror. Then, increase to a few friends or family members.

2.     Make eye contact: Look at different members of the audience in the eyes throughout your presentation. This will engage them by speaking more directly to them.

3.     Be you! Be your authentic self. This will automatically make the presentation feel more relaxed.  

4.     Pay attention to body language: Your body language can speak volumes for you without saying a word. Make sure to use open and friendly gestures. Don’t cross your arms. Don’t put your hands in your pockets.

5.     Big visuals: A lot of people are visual. Striking visuals will grab attention and make things easier to understand. Simple is not too distracting and will get your points across. Make sure there is a structure that flows as well.

6.     Encourage questions and comments: Make sure your audience knows that comments and questions are welcome. You want to make sure they feel comfortable doing so.

7.     Avoid awkward pauses: Try to refrain from using the word “umm” a lot. Natural pauses should happen so this is another reason why practicing will help you know where those are.

Most people don’t like getting in front of groups of people to speak and that’s ok. However, if you’re in certain fields of work it will require that you do so, whether you like it or not. The good news is, you can take steps to get better at it. They can take time to develop but just can have a very positive impact on your professional career.

Stand Out Advertising: How to Embrace Your Uniqueness

Trends come and go but good advertising lasts forever. We read a great article yesterday on the benefits of standing out from the crowd in the ad business or any business. We couldn’t agree more that it’s easy to go with the flow and just be like everyone else. The hard thing to do is be different and creativity should be wary of consensus. So, as humans how do we step into our uniqueness and let that shine through in a world that attempts to stifle it? Here are some steps you can take to embrace your one-of-a-kind self.

1.     Accept your flaws and imperfections: No one out there is perfect and giving yourself grace is important as you try to better yourself on this journey of life. Accepting them is the first step to improving them. Growth will happen as you attempt to better yourself.

2.     Lean into your strengths and talents: What are you good at? Are you creative with art, writing, and music? Are you more science-minded? Find those things that you are good at but also enjoy doing. The last statement is important here. Just because you are good at something does not necessarily mean you enjoy it. The two must be in tune.

3.     Find like-minded individuals: Being around those who think like you is important. People who accept you for who you are and all those little weird quirks. Those that inspire you to step into your weirdness and power forward through life.

4.     Spend time doing things you enjoy: What are some of your passions? Do you like nature? Do you like baking or cooking? It’s important to find a little time each day to do these things. They

5.     Stop compromising: Don’t be a people pleaser. Stand out from the crowd and do what you want. Real connections are those that accept you unconditionally rather than who they want you to be.

6.     Embrace your beliefs: Everyone has a different belief system based on upbringing and personal experience. Your beliefs represent a large part of who you are. It’s important that you still be open-minded but also don’t be too fluid. Find a good middle ground.

7.     Stop comparing yourself: comparison is the thief of joy. Everyone has a different path of life. You must trust yours and allow it to unfold as it should without judgment.

8.     Stop asking for validation: Self-confidence goes a long way. It’s one thing to ask for advice here and there but if you need constant validation, it means that you aren’t exactly in tune with trusting yourself.

Dare to be different. Dare to be weird. Dare to stand out. Being you is special because there is only one out there just like you. This means that what you bring to the table in the creative world is unique. Your individuality is the best thing about you. It’s why your company hired you over the other guy. Don’t let the world try to convince you that those cookie-cutter styles are the way that you should be. Being different is extraordinary.

Data Storytelling

We’ve talked about good storytelling in past articles but what is data storytelling? Well, it’s just what it sounds like. It’s the usage of contextualized data collected by a business to craft a story that will be presented to your audience. They typically use infographics, visualizations, interactive maps, and articles. Just like any style of storytelling, data storytelling relies on engaging and informative narratives that can take very complex information and put it into laymen’s terms for the public. This is one of the benefits of data storytelling along with the ability to help brands understand their data and make good decisions going forward. Here are a few other reasons why data storytelling could be right for your business.

1.     It’s scalable: Because of the no-code data platforms that exist now, there will be no need for developers. Platforms offer subscriptions that allow you to publish unlimited stories to scale.

2.     Great performance: These tend to perform very well. CTR, social media metrics. You name it and the insights will be positive.

3.     Good for branding: High-quality content is always good for a brand. Since data storytelling uses graphics that catch the user’s eye, it can keep engagement high. It will also clout your brand to be an expert in that particular field.

These are all good reasons to use data storytelling but how do go about creating one? If you’re like us, you still might be a little confused as to how this works so, here are some steps to take to create a good narrative with your data.

1.     Determine what data matters: It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the insane amount of data that is available. Determine what you want to know and go from there. What topics about your business do you want to see insights on?

2.     Find the story: Now that you have determined what data matters, it’s time to find that story. Here is where you determine what the numbers are telling you. Look for correlations between things that may be interesting and this is your starting point.

3.     Analyze data: Now it’s time to find the meaning. Once you have found those correlations, dig into those relationships.

4.     Know your audience: Who is going to be looking at this story? It’s important to know your audience but if you’re a brand that’s been successful, chances are you already do.

5.     Visualizations: A lot of people are visual learners and this is a great way to help your audience understand the information that is being presented to them. Choose which visualizations your brand will use that best represents your data.

6.     Provide context & structure: The audience needs to understand why they are being shown this data. Show the data in terms of why it matters for the brand with any info that the audience may not be aware of. As we talked about before, you must create a story with good structure, even with data. The story must flow naturally with a beginning, middle, and end. Make sure your points are clear and concise.

 Think about the stories that your brand may want to share with its audience. How can your business data help you do this? Make sure that your topic is relevant to your brand and don’t skimp on those visuals. If you need some inspiration, here is a link to a great example of data storytelling on Brexit. With the insurgence of all the digital data we have at our fingertips today, not leveraging it would be a travesty.

Celebrity Endorsement Advertising

Just one endorsement can spell an increase in sales by 4% almost immediately, according to Social Media Week. People idolize celebs and that’s no secret, so when brands use celebrities for their ads people are more interested in that product/service. These ads usually generate a lot of attention. Here are some reasons to use celebrity endorsement in your brand ads.

1.     Builds credibility: People get attached to their favorite famous folks and generally, they trust them although, they don’t know them at all. This will reassure customers that your brand is quality.

2.     Gain a competitive edge: These types of ads can improve brand recall. It will make your brand stand out from the others.

3.     Increase brand awareness: Celebrities already have a brand of their own, so these ads gain traction fast with large names attached to them. Even the use of a small, local celeb can do the trick for a small business owner.

4.     Can open up new audience avenues: People who follow a certain celeb may not follow your brand but will open you up to a new audience.

Celebrity-endorsed ads can help a brand but there are a few words of caution when considering working with someone. They could overshadow your brand and your message will be lost. An obvious con is they are extremely expensive to work with as well. Lastly, celebrity reputations can change and not in a good way. This could affect your brand reputation negatively if a scandal occurs, so you would have to consider the fact of dropping them as an endorsed celebrity. It should be pointed out that just because your brand decides to use a celeb your brand will automatically start raking in the money. It’s not always a guarantee but chances are your sales will increase as a result.

Business Strategy vs. Business Tactic

Strategy: an action plan that you will take to achieve a final goal. These are set to help businesses figure out what their long-term goals are. Tactic: individual steps taken to help the business achieve the end goal. These two work synonymously together to help a brand reach its goals. Both are necessary for brand success. How do you know if you have a good strategy and a good tactics plan?

Good strategies include:

1.     Clear vision and goals

2.     Realistic goals

3.     Back up plans

4.     Efficient resource allocation

5.     Prioritization

6.     Streamlining the team toward common goal

Good tactics include:

1.     Assign specific tasks to those most qualified

2.     Evaluated for effectiveness

3.     Well-reasoned

4.     Have a timeline

5.     Use results for future planning

The relationship between these two but strategy will always come first. The goal must be clear to assign specific tasks on how to get there. Tactics alone will fall short alone. First, identify the overall business goal and then work on tactics on how to get there. Together they will take your brand to new heights.

Sex Appeal Advertising

We’ve all heard the saying, “Sex sells,” but many issues surround this idea of advertising. It is initially meant to evoke positive feelings about a brand association but one study shows that while people prefer ads with high sex appeal at first glance, when they are in the evaluation stage they prefer ads with low sex appeal (National Library of Public Medicine). While sexual imagery can bring attention to an ad it’s always a risky choice. Here we’re going to highlight the pros and cons of sexual advertising.

Pros:

1.     Grabs attention: makes an impression and gets the viewers’ attention quickly.

2.     Improves brand recall: Most people will remember a sexually appealing ad. Although, they may not remember what they were selling, they will remember the ad itself.

3.     Some positive associations: Some brands use this tactic in the “buy this to get this” model. For example, a cologne brand may use risqué imagery to show that using it could make one more attractive, and some people do want that.

Cons:

1.     Not family-friendly: It can limit the amount of people that you can market your brand to. If it’s not wholesome parents won't want it

2.     It promotes sexism: it shows the objectification of bodies. A study done in Italy in 2014 observed that “81.27% of women in advertising are depicted as models, sexually available or pre-orgasmic, used as decoration, or fragmented into body parts, whereas the sum of the corresponding categories for men is under20% (Italian Art Director Club report by Guastini).

3.     Body image dysmorphia: Many women feel pressure from constant advertisements promoting physical attractiveness which can adversely affect women’s body image. Ultra-thing ideals are pushed on women of all ages and this is a concern for many health professionals. 

Whether or not your brand should use sexual advertising is a very important decision to make. Using sex appeal in an appropriate way can depend on the type of brand, but it also has to consider the negative effects it may have on society as a whole or brand image. The choice is going to be different for each brand.

Emotional Advertising: Humor Appeal

Let’s take our PEMCO advertisement for example. It appeals to the humor of insurance through user-generated content videos we licensed for the spot. These videos consisted of “whoops” moments such as throwing a water balloon at the window of the house and breaking it. It’s funny, it’s something that consumers can relate to, and it shows the importance of the product they’re trying to sell: homeowner’s insurance. Humor is a great way to evoke positive emotions from your audience all while conveying a message. We find that funny ads are more memorable for us but that’s us so don’t take our word for it. A study done by the Journal of Marketing discovered that “humor is more likely to enhance recall, evaluation, and purchase intention when the humorous message coincides with ad objectives, is well-integrated, and is viewed as appropriate for the product category.” Under these circumstances, it will:

1.     Grabs the viewer’s attention

2.     Be associated positive emotions with the brand

3.     Make a lasting impression

4.     Increase persuasiveness to purchase

There are different tactics for using humor in your ads, such as surprise, personification, puns, exaggeration, and comparisons. Surprise is just as it sounds and involves a BIG surprise element that shocks the audience. Personification involves giving inanimate objects, plants, or animals humanistic traits. We should all know what a pun is but just in case, a pun involves a play on words. For example, say you’re a cat food brand so you create an ad where something goes wrong and use the statement, “You’ve got to be kitten me right now.” I know that’s not the greatest example but it gets the point across. Exaggeration blows things way out of proportion as the name states. Lastly, the comparison uses a side-by-side comparison with the humor of a particular brand vs another but amplifies the negative aspects of the competitor. All of that said, there are several types of humor that a brand can use in their ads such as:

1.     Irreverent: this style is also called dark humor. Older populations won't respond as well to this style. It also appeals to those that are highly intelligent but isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

2.     Dead Pan: blunt and awkward. Dry and emotionless in style. Good for funnily giving information.

3.     Absurd: as it sounds it’s weird. It pushes boundaries and is typically very silly.

4.     Topical: this is all about trending events. DO NOT do something about tragedies or disasters. You will miss the mark there.

5.     Wordplay: pun intended. You can even play with visuals humor here as well.

6.     Blue: ah, this one is indecent. Usually about sex, it tends to be risqué. You have to be careful with this one though not to offend from being too explicit. You’ll lose business and have to deal with a PR nightmare.

7.     Observational: this turns everyday quirks into relatable scenarios. We can see ourselves doing the funny things that we’re seeing. Important to know your audience on this one.

Humor is a great way to spice up your advertising campaigns and humorous using user-generated content is even better! Get creative here but stay appropriate and make them LOL IRL. And of course, if you need help with finding that perfect funny piece of content, contact us anytime at info@locomotivecontent.co

Marketing for Good: Social Marketing

This style of marketing is sometimes called “marketing for good.” This style of marketing promotes a positive societal transformation that tries to influence positive actions instead of selling a product. Social marketing attempts to change behavior for the benefit of consumers or society. Commercial marketing, on the other hand, will attempt to change behavior for the benefit of the brand, such as sales. Typically, social marketing is used by nonprofits, charities, government organizations, emergency services, police, and fire groups. So, what is involved in social marketing and how do you go about creating a campaign? Here are some things to consider.

1.     What behavior is it that I’m trying to change?

2.     What benefits are there from this behavior change?

3.     Who is the audience?

4.     Are there any barriers preventing this change?

5.     How can I reduce those barriers if so?

Make sure that you test your ideas on smaller groups before “going live” and see how it does. Some benefits of social marketing are promoting greener, more sustainable living, promoting health consciousness, reducing social issues, allowing you to reach a larger audience, and it is cost-effective. If a brand uses social marketing then they will benefit from taking a stance on a topic because people now want to buy from socially and environmentally responsible businesses. In short, some things should happen to have an effective social marketing campaign: create interest/awareness, change attitudes, motivate people to want to change, incite that change, and sustain it. It could take some time to see if the change happened and when we some time, we mean years. It’s not uncommon for social marketing campaign measurements to happen slowly, over time. You will have to be patient but following the right guidelines will almost certainly help you succeed.

Scratch Baking: How to Build an Email List

Email marketing is one of the most effective. A stat according to Statista said that “companies make an average of $36 for every U.S. dollar they spend on email marketing.” That’s some pretty good ROI, right?! But… how do you get a quality email list? First, you have to get quality contact information. Second, you need relevant prospects who will want to buy what you are selling. Lastly, you will need to grow that quality, relevant list to BIG numbers. Here are a couple of ways to start an email list for your brand.

1.     Add an Opt-In button on your website: these could be in the form of “sign up for our newsletter” or “join our community.” It could even be a contact form for inquiries. No matter which one you go with, it should be on every page of your website.

2.     Collect emails in person: if you throw an event or have a brick-and-mortar store, you can collect emails with a sign-up sheet. In-person connections are still the best and produce the best results. Transition your encounters from IRL to URL.

3.     Pop-up offers: these can offer some type of discounted product/service for a signup. This speaks to the gated content we wrote about last week. Offer discounts for submitting email information to receive promotional codes.

No matter which methods you choose to build your email list, it’s important that you obtain permission for their information and never buy email lists. You want quality contacts that fit within your niche. With email marketing your efforts are more precise with targeted audiences and you can personalize their experience with your brand.

Propinquity Effect

Have you ever met someone new and felt that instant click? You somehow knew that the two of you were going to be friends? It may even feel like you’ve known them for years already. You can’t quite put your finger on what it is but you know you’re a match for each other somehow. This is the propinquity effect. This is caused when we meet someone with similar ideologies, attitudes, beliefs, etc. as ourselves. It is also known as the proximity between two individuals as well. When someone is in contact or closer to someone a relationship is more likely to form with that individual. Brands can use this effect to create strong bonds with their brand image and voice to those with similar ideologies, etc. If you create a solid and consistent image of your brand that your audience can relate to and expose them to your image more often, then you are destined for success when using the propinquity effect. This strengthens brand salience. There are two reasons that this effect can take place.

1.     Physical distance from someone: this proposes that the physically closer you are to someone, the more likely you are to have an interaction with them. Typically, interactions are neutral or positive and thus, provoke positive experiences. This is how relationships begin.

2.     Mere exposure effect: if a person is exposed to a particular stimulus more often, then the more favorably that stimulus tends to be evaluated. For example, you have a name that ends in the same last letter as someone in your classroom and therefore, you two are more likely to interact more often due to being seated in alphabetical order.

Proximity and like-minded values will create strong ties with your customers, whether it be B2C or B2B. Actually, “Research shows that the modern B2B prospect gets 57% of the way through the buying decision before ever talking to a sales rep” (Converse Digital). Cultivating brand salience through email, social media presence, and digital advertising is one of the most important.

Guide to Gated Content

“I am Vinz, Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer.Volguus Zildrohar, Lord of the Sebouillia. Are you the Gatekeeper?”

-Ghostbusters  

What is gated content? It is any type of content that viewers can access only after they have given their information, such as email address. This is a way for brands to collect emails for lead generation. It can lead to more sales, and email list growth, and provide insights into your customers. Here are some examples of gated content that your brand can use to generate new leads.

1.     eBooks: these are a quick and easy way to educate your audience without face-to-face contact. Some people prefer information that they can read and ingest on their own time. Typically, these are short and highly specialized.  

2.     White papers: these are usually longer than eBooks. Again, it shows your expertise in a topic area and is very in-depth and informative.

3.     Webinars: this is an educational opportunity for your audience. Not only will you get their information, you will be able to build trust, show your expertise, and inspire.

4.     Templates: we know we’ve downloaded HubSpot’s social media content calendar tracker templates and use them every day. We gave them our email information to receive their daily blogs. We honestly both benefited from that scenario. We love their blogs and we found the scheduler very useful.

5.     Product/service demonstrations: as it sounds, this is a demo of what your brand has to offer. It should show the benefits of the brand’s services/products. This could provide proof that a potential customer will need to pull the trigger on going with your brand over another.

People will assume, and rightfully so, that gated content is more valuable than ungated because they must perform extra steps to obtain it. That said, it’s important to make sure that it does provide value to them. Gated content can help you weed out those who won’t become real customers because they will not want to take the extra steps and give their information. The gated content your brand creates should be well thought out to be valuable and informative. Use your creative juices to appeal to your audience!

Conformity Bias and Social Influence in Advertising

Most people are influenced heavily by society, whether they will admit to it or not. Conformity bias is when we change our behavior to become part of a bigger group or trend. This is the whole concept behind things that are “trending.” Think about hashtag challenges. People swarm for a chance to become part of these in hopes that their videos will go viral. With this in mind, how can your brand leverage conformity bias and social influence? For one, it can help with brand loyalty. Conformity to a particular group can satisfy Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs to belong. “Self-image congruence will reinforce the effect of conformity motivation on brand loyalty” (Journal of Brand Management, 2011). Here are some things that affect conformity bias in your advertising efforts:

1.     Review

2.     Number of followers

3.     Word-of-mouth marketing

4.     Endorsements

In advertising, using these examples listed above can help your campaigns succeed, not only due to the conformity bias and social influence, but also through trust and transparency. Inspiring your audience will almost ensure success.

Project Completion: Dealing with Grief

We never really think about the fact that advertising is a fast-paced industry with high demand. It comes in waves of really, really crazy and stuck in the doldrums. In other words, the highs are high and the lows can be low. We saw an article the other day that talked about dealing with grief when a big project ends. It’s interesting to think about. Sometimes we spend large amounts of time on these projects and we can feel a sense of sadness when they’re over, just like any other art profession. Actors deal with this. Athletes deal with this. Academics deal with this. We will tend to experience post-project depression and it’s a real term known by psychologists. Typically, it’s coupled with triumph and satisfaction but eventually that high wears off and we’re left with sadness. Having a purpose gives you motivation and determination, so it’s good to have these projects that make you feel that way. But that said any change in familiar patterns of behavior can cause conflicted feelings. This is the definition of grief. Here are some ways to deal with career grief after a project ends.

1.     CELEBRATE & REFLECT: celebrate the finish of the project and just give yourself a little time to breathe afterward. This is a time to reflect on your career and its role in your life. This is where you can look at the previous project in depth. What went right and wrong? Did you enjoy the project? How would you do it differently and how did it change your outlook? What else can you do in place of your career that you draw confidence from?

2.     Feel those feelings: it’s important to not push down the feelings you are having. Feel them, make space in your life for them, and let them out, however, you need to through journaling, therapy, etc. Talking it out with someone can help you work through these emotions.

3.     Be patient with yourself: give yourself time to grieve a little and adjust to your new normal. Adjust your routine if you need to fill the gaps where that project took up so much time.

4.     Inspiration: look for new inspiration. What can you do to draw inspiration from? This is especially important for those in the creative fields. I know that I like to run to get my creative thoughts going. So many of my best ideas come to me when I’m just jogging along in the park in the early hours of the morning.

Career-related grief can have a huge impact on your life and your sense of self. You are not defined by your career, so it’s important to have a system in place to create self-worth in other areas of your life as well. Ask yourself these questions: What am I passionate about other than my career? What kinds of things can I do to challenge myself mentally and physically? What kinds of things do I enjoy doing in my free time? What things do I want to prioritize in my life right now?

Acquiescence Effect

Are you a people pleaser? Turns out that since we live in a society with behavior standards and expectations most people want to act a certain way to “fit in”. Acquiescence bias occurs when people agree with sentiments or statements even when they may disagree with them. For example, when a survey is conducted many respondents will answer based on what they think the researchers want to hear instead of what they feel. When conducting market research for your brand it’s important to avoid this effect to obtain accurate responses that will be used for product and service improvements. There are a few things that cause this bias when conducting audience surveys for your brand.

1.     Ideal self-perception: this occurs when people select answers based on their version of themselves that they believe is ideal rather than the reality of who they are. This is because they want to be seen a certain way instead of as they are.

2.     Agreeability: again, what we touched on above. This is the fact that people want to be a certain way and provide feedback that they think is believed to be acceptable.

3.     Social influence: people tend to answer questions of social behavior in a way that portrays them favorably in the community, whether or not they exhibit these said behaviors.

4.     Perceived authority: this is what we touched on above where respondents answer the way they think the researchers want to see. This happens often when the study group is aware of the study’s objectives.

5.     Unengaged respondents: this occurs when people don’t read the questions to provide thoughtful answers. It can happen when a survey is too long and they become uninterested.

Now that we know the reasons for motivating this bias, it’s easier to come up with ways to avoid it. Here are a few ways to avoid acquiescence bias.

1.     Make it short and sweet: it’s less overwhelming when the surveys are quicker and easier to complete. This will reduce the number of unengaged respondents.

2.     Be clear & use intentional language: it’s important to phrase your questions and answers. You don’t want to make your respondents feel as if they’re being judged for their answers and avoid questions that may make people feel negatively.

3.     Open-ended questions: add a text box to fit their exact experiences. Even if the answer explains a negative experience they’re still likely to describe it positively.

4.     Avoid leading questions: leading questions are no good. If they are compelled to respond in a certain way, they will. You want honesty, not bias.

It’s great to see positive reviews about your brand but they mean nothing if they’re affected by a cognitive bias and will likely lead you down the wrong path to improvement. Doing everything in your power to avoid acquiescence bias is crucial to collecting accurate data sets. We work in user-generated content advertising to create organic connections between brand and audience so we value genuine business relationships. When the responses aren’t genuine then it’s essentially a waste of your brand’s time and money. Following proper steps to avoid cognitive bias, such as this one will allow your brand to flourish naturally to the correct audience.