The Sum of Averages: Become the Best Professional Version of Yourself

“You are the average of the top 5 people you spend time with”

-Jim Rohn

We’ve all heard this quote from motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, but how true is it really? We were curious about this so we did a dive into the research and this is what we found. As it turns out your social circle does directly affect you and the kind of life you have, professional and personally. However, it is not limited to the top five people that you spend the most time with. It extends further than that. A study done published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed correlation of obesity to those within a social circle. For example, their results showed that if a friend of yours becomes obese than you have a 45% chance of gaining weight over the next 2-4 years. However, it can extend further than that. If a friend of the friend of your friend becomes obese you still have a 10% chance to gain weight as well. This is an important insight because it will allow you to look further out into your circle to examine it more detail. It’s also important to remember that the person you spend the most time with is yourself so your thoughts will always play an important role in your success and happiness. That being said, let’s stick with the social circle for the purpose of this article. So, how do you know if those around you align with that best version of yourself you’ll always be striving for? Here are some questions to ask yourself.

1. What kind of person do you want to be?

2. Who are the top 5 you spend time with now?

3. Do these people align with who you want to be?

4. Who are 5 people that embody these qualities you want?

   1. This can be anyone dead or alive

5. How can you increase contact with these people?

   1. The person, their work, or visualization

You can literally be fortune teller of your own life here as the people you spend time with elevate your life or bring it down. Hanging out with positive and productive individuals you too will become this way over time. And, make sure to take a look at their circles too since their friends have an effect on your life as well. Are those the kind of people that take responsibility for their lives and grow often? To become the best version of ourselves will require some work and time so it can be awkward at first. Remember to be patient with yourself but try to connect more often with these people to allow consciousness shifts in yourself. Create the version of you that you have always dreamed of!

Mental Health Awareness Month 2023

Did you know that 21% of U.S. adults experienced a mental health condition in 2020? (Forbes) May is Mental Health Awareness Month so we thought it appropriate to support through writing on some ways to support mental health. First, and most importantly, talk openly about mental health issues. People who are suffering should not be afraid of speaking up or hiding their conditions. Make sure to educate yourself and your staff on mental health conditions that are common and the warning signs. You want to create an inclusive work culture that promotes openness about mental health. This is why empathy in the workplace is crucial. You do not know what someone may be going through behind the scenes. Creating an environment that does not support your employees will only hurt the success of your business in the long run anyway. Don’t wait for trouble to act against mental health issues at work either. Here are some other ways you can create a better work culture that supports mental health.

1.     Communication!!

2.     Identify and manage psychological risks: yes, this includes overworking and causing professional burnout

3.     Offer trainings: offer stress management trainings for your employees

4.     No tolerance policies on bullying: this is a no brainer. Come on. We’re not in grade school anymore.

5.     Empower your employees: give your employees control over their schedules and priorities at work

The cost of ignoring mental health is great. Depression has become the leading cause of disability according to the WHO. It’s important to remember that your employees are human and should be treated as such. If you provide a healthy work environment for them, they’ll be happier and you will too. Your business will thrive as you help each other!

Occam’s Razor of Advertising

We often tend to overcomplicate things. But, usually the best answer to anything is the simplest one. This is the principle behind Occam’s Razor. The idea is that the answer to any problem is usually the simplest solution possible. We read an interesting article by Jess Wheeler on the overcomplication in our industry. Usually, the best and most memorable ads are those that are simple and entertaining. It’s not the ads that someone took all this time working on programmatic or re-targeting and lots of CTA’s. A lot of times less is more in this biz. She uses the analogy of, “Will it make the boat go faster?” in which the 1998 British men’s row team applied this question to every aspect of their lives. If the answer was ever, slower, then it was out. If the answer to the question was, faster, then do more of said thing. Guess what? 2 years later they won gold! We love this analogy applied to advertising. Does the idea make the ad better or worse? Because often times the best answer is the simplest one so if the idea doesn’t add value to your campaign, then it time to scrap it.

Direct Mail Marketing

We’ve become so accustomed to email marketing that we sometimes forget that the postal service is still running. Direct mail marketing can be just as effective as email if done correctly. Actually, studies show that it can be more effective and you will probably have less competition. It can help improve brand awareness and memorability, boost engagement and inspire people to act. The ROI is also trackable. Who doesn’t like to see how their marketing efforts are doing? So, how does one go about direct mail marketing? Here are a few tips to get your brand started.

1.     Know you market: define your target market based on your product/service

2.     Generate a mailing list: you need mailing addresses to send your mail to

3.     Decide on design: do you want to do a postcard? Whatever you decide to do it has to be unique. Make them remember who you are and pay attention to details. Make sure to add a call to action, such as QR codes.

4.     Personalize: include personal details, such as their name.

Mail marketing can work for B2B or B2C and don’t forget that it may take a little longer to see results. They don’t call it snail mail for no reason. That being said, adding a QR code or including good offers will help speed up the process. Make sure to follow up and target repeat customers. 

Digital Age: Effects on Creativity

 We heard someone say the other day that their friends’ children were told to go play outside. They then saw the kids have absolutely no idea what to do when technology wasn’t present. They sat there. Doing nothing. Kicking rocks around. This made us start to think about what it was like for our generation growing up without IT. We had to get creative and think of things to do. We made up games, we hunted for critters, we rode bikes or other fun things with wheels. We then started to think, “what if this digital age is going to negatively affect creativity for that younger generation when they enter the work force.” We think that maybe it hasn’t shown its true colors because those creatives working in industry did grow up without these things and know how to tap into their imaginations. What happens when Gen Z comes into the work force? Will their creativity be less than their older counterparts? Turns out that people are already trying to study these effects on creatives. One study found that when professionals were overloaded with technology the cognitive absorption of creativity suffered. They also reported higher levels of burnout with high levels of tech overload, which also led to negative impacts on creativity. Some argue that technology can facilitate creativity. Here are some negative and positive effects of technology on the creative process.

Positive:

1.     It can be a source of information/inspiration

2.     It can help come up with new ideas

3.     Allows for easier collaboration

Negative:

1.     It can be a distraction

2.     It can cause digital burnout/overload

3.     It can cause dependency

4.     Lack of original ideas

We believe that creativity is spawn from the thought processes that it comes from. When we analyze information and need to solve something, it is our critical thinking skills that create innovative ideas. Not Googling it to find the best answers. This diminishes the act of critical thinking. We have a friend who plays a drinking game called, “Not allowed to Google.” They spend the evening hanging out enjoying the evening together with drinks. They’re not allowed to Google any thought or question that they end up talking about for the entire evening. This promotes creative/critical thinking skills. It’s actually very hard to do and really fun to play! This is where we need to be in our professional lives from time to time. Put the phones down and try to solve a creative problem with looking up solutions. We guarantee it will help you increase creativity. We’re not sure where creativity is headed with the younger generation but we sadly think that there will be a decrease in creativity in the near future. Think AI.

Communication Breakdown: Talk is Cheap but Not Talking is Expensive

Did you know that according to research, “the average loss from inadequate communication is $62.4 billion annually for companies with 100K employees?” (David Grossman) The most important thing in a business or anything for matter is good communication! There are many ways for management or upper teams to convey messages and contact others within a company. Texts, emails, calls, weekly meetings in person or via zoom, etc. Being in a top role in a company also means that communication is an essential skill to possess in order to keep your company running smoothly.  You’d be surprised at the lack of communication that exists in companies but it leads to almost every issue within one. It can lead to high turnover rates and cost the brand big time dollars. That said, let’s talk about the positive impacts of good correspondence within a business.

1. Improve employee moral:

   1. Listening to employee feedback: this will boost moral through employees feeling like their needs are being heard and actions are being taken.

   2. Conflict mitigation: any conflicts that may arise in your business can be averted if caught early. Knowing what’s going on with who inside your walls is important to keeping issues from escalating.

   3. Improved job satisfaction: a transparent environment creates trust and will support your employees as they support you.

2. Increase productivity: when employees understand their tasks and what is expected of them they are more productive.

3. Increase Engagement: this can lead to innovative ideas through collaboration efforts between team members. Will inherently improve relationships between all team members as well.

 There are a couple of other things that are important if you’re good to be a good communicator in the work place. The first is active listening. It involves 4 main elements of listening, reflecting, clarifying and summarizing. Paying attention to what the speaker is saying without interjection of opinions or solutions. Reflection means repeating back what they said. Clarifying is then asking the questions for more information. At the end of the conversation summarization with a brief overview of what key points they said. Second, is providing positive feedback and construction criticism. Lastly, in person meetings are a great way to communicate with someone. It’s important for reading body language and getting a sense of the emotional responses they may have. In short, great communication skills lead to a more successful business. Talk is cheap but not talking is expensive.

Jewish Heritage Month

May is known for a few different things and one of them is celebrating Jewish Heritage month. We’ve actually worked on some cool projects in the past for antisemitism that we are very proud of. That aside, there are some other ways that we can all help support Jewish heritage month.

1.     Visit a museum of Jewish history

2.     Read a Jewish book (aka support Jewish authors)

3.     Listen to a Jewish podcast

4.     Attend a Jewish event

5.     Express antisemitism and share things on it

These are just a few snippets of things you can do to support the Jewish community for the month of May. But as always, remember it’s important to celebrate all cultures all times of the year. Celebrate diversity!

Customer Relationship Management: Three’s Company

Yesterday we wrote about Increasing Customer Lifetime Value and customer relationship management goes hand in hand with this topic. The goal here is to improve customer service and in turn, improve relationships with the brand audience.  CMR uses technology, practices and strategies to manage and analyze customer interaction as well as their data throughout their lifetime as your customer. It allows insights into past purchases, customer data and interaction history to deeper understand your audience. There are three main types of CMR: operational, analytical and collaborative.

1. Operational: main purpose is to generate leads, create contacts with their info and capture all details about the client in order to provide quality service throughout their lifetime. Focuses on automation and uses tech to do so in most cases.

   1. Sales automation: automate sales process through acquiring new customers and deal with them by organizing their information. This helps meet their needs more efficiently.

   2. Marketing automation: helps find the best way to advertise product/service to potential customers and concerned with campaign management. Will help decide which channels are best to reach your audience.

   3. Service automation: designed to help support customers to increase satisfaction.

2. Analytical: data analysis from multiple touchpoints of customer journey, in order to gain insights about customers in order to better serve them.

   1. Gather data from different channels

   2. Customer acquisition and retention

   3. Profiling customer personas

   4. Attribution

3. Collaborative:  establishes communication from various places related in your organization or those your brand works with closely. This will help streamline workflow since it helps everyone get on the same page.

   1. Enhances interactions between departments

   2. Document management

   3. Channel management

It’s important to understand the brand’s goals when deciding which CRM strategy is best or maybe all of them. Using these will help increase customer retention through a deeper understanding of your customer as well as increased communication within the company about the audience. The more you understand your audience, the better you can serve them. Since personalization is now the norm, this is a must for your brand to create relationships that will last a long time with your customers.

BFF’s Forever: Increasing Customer Lifetime Value

What is customer lifetime value anyway? It’s how much net profit one customer can generate for your brand over time. it’s common sense that a brand wants to keep their customers for a long time. Customer loyalty plays an important role in revenue and word of mouth marketing. So, how do you keep your customers for the long haul? Here are some of our tips to improve your customer lifetime value.

1.     Feature your customers in your content: this will keep your audience engaged and let them know that you appreciate them!

2.     Take your audience’s advice: create polls & surveys to find out what they want. Keep an eye on impressions on social media, comments, reviews, etc. Collect and implement. Again, they will feel heard and appreciated on top of receiving what they asked for.

3.     Personalize! People spend more money on brands that personalize their experience and about 81% of people expect it anyhow.

4.     Great customer service: offer 24/7 service if you can. Make sure that each person on every channel can help them instead of sending them somewhere else to solve their problems.

5.     Give your audience something that others don’t! provide incredible value. Not through discounts but your product/service. Be more convenient than other brands and make quality your top priority. If you have a customer centric approach with their needs at the heart of your brand, it should ensure the right decisions that will keep them around.

Valuing your customers, whether it’s a B2B or B2C situation, will show that you have them at the top of mind when making decisions. They will feel heard, seen and their loyalty to you in return will skyrocket.

Competitive Positioning Strategy

In what ways does your brand stand out from all the others? What’s the value of choosing your brand over your competitors? Competitive positioning is a marketing strategy the refers to how the brand will do just that. The goal of the competitive positioning strategy is not only to increase sales but can guide your brand with purpose. So, in what ways can your brand make itself stand out?

1.     Excellence /Value

2.     Leadership

3.     Niche

4.     Customer service

The benefits really speak for themselves when winning over your customers through positioning but how do you create a good strategy to do so? Here are some point to help you get started.

1.     Study the competition: see how they perform, what are they lacking that you can offer? Perform SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)

2.     Market research: can help understand size, scope and demographics.

3.     Define your goal: What are the company short and long-term goals? Decide what your brand goal is and this will help the positioning strategy.

4.     Map it out: we mean this literally actually. Create a perceptual graph with two axis and four quadrants. Each line represents an attribute. Remember those x, y axis graphs you used back in algebra. It’s like that. No number though thankfully. Let’s look at an example. One line is for quality and the other price. The positive axis for quality is high quality. The positive for price is high pricing. The negative portion of the axis for quality is equal to low quality and the negative for price would be for low pricing. You can do this to find holes in your particular market niche.

 Ultimately, you started your brand because you knew there was something lacking in your field so finding your niche shouldn’t be too difficult. Mapping out a plan to get others to believe in your dream is another story. It will take planning and time. Make sure to set deadline and goal dates to stay on track. It’s also very motivating for you and your team to see achievement. Happy planning.

Billboard Advertising

Sometimes it seems like our devices can actually read our minds instead of just hear us and send us targeted ads. The other day I was thinking about how much it would cost to advertise on a billboard and if it would even be worth it, as I drove from New Jersey on the Walt Whitman bridge back to Philly. There are tons of billboards as you drive across and I’ll be honest, they do catch my eye. They’re creative and attention grabbing. Not to mention, absolutely massive in size. Shortly after this thought crossed my mind, I got an email from my daily HubSpot with their weekly blogs. Low and behold, there was an article there all about billboard advertising. The web strikes again to read my thoughts and slightly terrify me. Just kidding. But seriously, it turns out this type of marketing isn’t dead. Far from it really. “32% of people like them and 9% like them a lot,” according to a 2022 Statista dataset. Another study from Solomon Partners in the HubSpot blog shows that, when it comes to out of home ads, 86% of people remember printed ads and 84% remember digital.” These are the highest of all types of advertising, which included: T.V. (linear & streaming), audio (podcast & radio), online (mobile & desktop), OOH (print & digital, and lastly, just print ads alone.

There are many benefits to billboard advertising it turns out. It allows brands to target very specific locations to increase brand awareness in that area. There’s also a guarantee that eyes will be on your ad. I know I’m guilty of clicking out of every digital ad that gets in the way of what I’m doing on the web. They’re annoying sometimes. It can help your brand get more exposure and diversify your audience. Oh yea, and they’re up 24/7 for the allotted time frame. Apparently, billboard ads contribute to impulse purchases. For some reason 68% of people make impulse buys while driving (True Impact Media). Who knew right? So, now for that second question. How cost effective is billboard advertising?

There are a few factors to consider when adding up the costs of billboard advertising. Location, demographics of the area, circulation of traffic and impression numbers. These things considered, it can cost roughly $850 for a month. If you’re looking at a rural area it could be as cheap as $250/month. The most expensive places, such as times square could be around $50K.

Impressions are calculate based on:

1.     Circulation of the area

2.     Actual size of the board

3.     How closely it’s placed to the road

4.     Visibility

5.     Traffic speed by the board

So, with all of these factors considered in pricing and benefits, is it worth it? Well, we think so but it will depend on your brand industry. For example, a lot of people learn about local events, insurance, law, etc. if you’re a local venue or business it’s very worth it for your brand. ROI on billboard advertising in general is about 40%, which is actually a little low for advertising standards of 10:1 ratio. You can do the math on those numbers but it isn’t great. There will be many factors to consider when deciding whether or not your brand will benefit from billboard ads. All the information above should be considered as well as your reasoning.

Stress Awareness Month: Managing Stress at Work

April is national stress awareness month. We wanted to support that through our blog this week. Stress has many negative impacts on the human body, such as headaches, high blood pressure, skin conditions, anxiety, depression, and many more. These are just a few of a long list. Chronic stress can have impactful conditions that last a lifetime. It’s very important to know how to deal with stress properly to avoid chronic conditions caused from stress in your life. There are many reasons why stress can arise at work including low pay, work that’s not engaging, excessive overloads and overall lack of support to name a few. It’s crucial to understand ways to manage this properly.

1.     Know your stressors: do you know what is stressing you out at work? How can you avoid these situations or change them? How did you respond? Try keeping a journal if you’re not sure to identify the underlying reasons.

2.     Watch how you respond: now you know what is bothering you at work so how do you cope? Do you go have drinks and eat junk food or do you go burn off your frustrations at the gym? Healthy coping mechanisms are important. Going to the gym, yoga, read. Healthy body = healthy mind.

3.     R&R: it’s important to get enough sleep at night in order to tackle your professional day. You have to also disconnect from your job somehow. May this be putting your phone on “do not disturb”, meditating, zoning out and watching some T.V. to not think about work here and there. Taking a hike and spending time with family outside of work can also help you get good recovery time to recharge your mind and body.

These are just a few ways to learn how to cope with stressors in your professional life. There are many more such as talking to your supervisor, setting work boundaries and finding support with family or even therapists. The happier and healthier you are, the better you will perform on the job. Not only this, you will increase the longevity of your mind, body and quality of life.

Tips for Teamwork

We already know that collaboration is effective in fostering creativity at the workplace but what are some ways to promote good teamwork? We recently read an interesting article written by Rob Schwartz on teamwork that inspired this blog. It’s interesting to think that the one thing that makes humans stand out from other animals is our ability to cooperate in large groups. This is why we are at the top of the food chain. So what elements make a successful team? Here are some key elements that we believe help create a successful team.

1.     Listen: active listening is so important. When someone else is talking are you just thinking and waiting for them to finish to blurt out what you have to say? Or, are you actually listening and processing their words? You can’t properly communicate with one another unless you have the ability to do this!

2.      Clearly define roles and goals: knowing who will do what and why will take out any confusion when working in groups. It helps them stay on task and work efficiently toward the goals set by the team.

3.     Make decisions together: do not make decisions alone and speak for the whole. It’s important that everyone opinion is considered and each member of the group feels heard. This builds trust as you get to know each other on a deeper level.

4.     Celebrate differences: not all of us think the same and we may disagree on many things. This is honestly a beautiful thing. How boring would the world be if we all had the same thoughts and ideas. This is how creative innovation comes about. Different approaches from different viewpoints makes for a great team collaboration.

5.     Promote creativity: this is crucial for a successful team to be creative in their approach to problems within the business. Therefore, the person above them should encourage creative perspectives. 

While some groups put in teams may just hit it off and have a smooth work flow, others may not. While we wish the first scenario for you, it’s important to have ways to help your company teams be successful if they are having difficulties. Research shows that having a collaborative team leads to better outcomes, the team members are more likely to take calculated risks leading to innovative ideas, and finally, increased job satisfaction with reduced work stress. Teamwork really does make the dream work!

Marketing to Older Populations

Did you know that older generations 50-years and above make up 51% of consumer spending? They also spend more time online than most people think. They are not much different than other groups to market to honestly, but they do have some qualities that differ and it will require some adjustments on the brands marketing strategy. Since they take up half of the consumer spending it’s important you get it right or you’re losing out on some big moola. Here are some ways to ensure that your senior marketing strategy will not be lost.

1.     Use language they understand: don’t use catchy, trendy jargon when trying to market to them. They won’t understand it and they won’t care. They just want to know how your product/service is going to improve their life or solve a problem they have.

2.     Make it easy: although a large portion of seniors are online that doesn’t mean they’re really tech savvy. Confusing choices when making purchases online or even while scrolling your website is a great way to frustrate and lose them. Make the process easy and clear.

3.     Personalization is a must: these groups of individuals remember a time when buying was between the merchant and the customer personally. They like to be regarded as an individual. Not only should your message speak to their age group, if you can get a person on the phone with them or name them directly in emails that’s even better.

4.     This generation is LOYAL AF: they are very unlikely to change brands if you get there first. Research shows that actually, “90% of seniors will keep you as their digital go-to if you provide them with their informational needs first“ (Search Engine Journal).

5.     Use multichannel marketing: although this generation is online they still respond well to offline marketing efforts, such as catalogs, T.V. commercials, billboards, etc.

These are our top five but there are so many more ways to effectively market to the senior populations. It should also be noted that there are different categories of seniors and each must be treated slightly different. There is the group of 50-62, 63-74 and 75 and over. Now, everywhere you look these will be divided slightly differently but as long as they’re similar the grouping won’t matter much if it’s a year or two off. This makes sense though if you think about it, you won’t market to your mom the same way you would market to your grandmother, right? Exactly. If your brand involves selling to the senior population it will require a competent amount of research into the best marketing strategies in order to reach them.

Objectives & Goals

What is the difference between a goal and an objective and how can the two work together? Well, let’s start by defining each one. A goal is long-term and typically a broader outcome whereas an objective is short-term and more specific. An objective can help a brand achieve a goal. They are different but objectives can assist goals if used correctly. So, what are the main differences between goals and objectives? Well, let’s take a quick look.

1.     Goals are higher in order than objectives since they have a broader outcome, where objectives will help attain the whole goal.

2.     Objectives are narrower in specific tasks and goals are broader.

3.     Objectives are also more specific than goals. For example, the goal of the brand is to become carbon neutral. This is broad. Objective will help us achieve how we get there. An objective would be to reduce carbon footprint in the quarter by 15%.

4.     Timeframe is longer for goals and shorter for objectives.

5.     Language describing goals tends to be more conceptual and language used for objectives is more creative.

6.     Goals are harder to measure where goals tend to be more tangible.

There are big benefits to setting goals for you brand. It will give your team a direction, help set priorities, motivate everyone to act, and help the brand achieve full potential. Objectives, on the other hand, can help measure progress toward that goal, give short-term sense of achievement, assist in making difficult decisions and confirm confidence in strategy toward your goals. We have all heard of ways to help set good goals, such as the SMART model but what about setting good objectives? Here are a couple of things to consider when setting objectives to help your brand achieve its goals.

1.     Select measurable KPI’s

2.     Set up different sets of objectives

3.     Refine them through feedback and analysis before setting

4.     Make sure they align with overall goals of the brand

5.     They should also follow the SMART model

6.     Describe desired outcome instead of actions and work backwards

A good example of an objective would be to cut down on production costs by 15% in a year. Now, your team will have to work backwards to determine what actions they can take to do this. This could be in conjunction with your brand goal of increasing revenue by the end of the year. By reducing the production costs your revenue will increase as a result of decreased spending. Another objective would be to increase sales through some type of short-term measure. Both of these objectives would feed into the company’s overall goal to increase revenue by the end of the year. Goals won’t work without objectives but objectives alone won't allow your brand to reach its full potential. Using both together will ensure that your brand reaches new heights.

Expanding Creativity Through UGC

Advertising is creativity at its core. Those who think otherwise probably shouldn’t be in this business. Think about it, ads are a creation of creativity that extract an emotional response from the viewers. It’s that emotional response that makes UGC ads stand out from the rest. Their authenticity has the power to provoke stronger emotional connections to the content that real people made that is now being shown in the ad. We are here to argue that using UGC in your campaigns can actually increase your creative power. For example, we get the brief that you send for specific content you’re looking for. Your brand has an idea for a great commercial using UGC found content. We then start searching for the content that fits within the parameters. However, sometimes we come across a gem that may not fit into that box. We will pitch it to your team anyway because sometimes it’s worth a shot. Your team falls in love with the video and decides to take a new approach to the UGC ad. The organic content that someone created just shifted your creative process that you may not have otherwise thought of. Playing around with ideas is the heart of creativity. This is how original ideas come about. UGC is kind of way to collaborate different creative ideas through the creativity of those who created the content. This can expand the team’s creative juices with fresh ideas to come up with new ones for their campaigns. We’ve seen it happen and when it does, the campaigns are one of a kind.  

LOV Movement Fundraiser 2023

Today we’re taking a different take on our blog article in order to promote a good cause. The LOV Movement is a non-profit organization that focuses on love, oneness, and virtue to help real people in underdeveloped communities all over the world. Last year they held their first fundraising event that helped to build a school in the Giotto slum of Kenya for the local children. Here they sponsor fresh, clean drinking water and food. Their mission is to improve lives, and embody them with opportunities such as a higher education. In Los Angeles, they provide food every week to the skid row homeless population as well as water and clothing. 100% of their profits secured go back into service resources for these communities. They are driven through grassroots actions to maximize the value of your dollar. Their next fundraising event will be help May 6th in Santa Clarita from 6-10pm. You can purchase a ticket to attend or sponsor the event HERE. We’re happy to be a sponsor of this event as well as their inaugural fundraiser last year. We will also be attending the event so we hope to see you all there!

Salience Effect: Beyond Brand Salience

Salience is something that has been used for years in marketing techniques. The salience bias is when people tend to focus on items or information that is more noteworthy or unique than those that don’t grab attention. This makes sense if you think about it. With bottles on the shelf that all look the same, your attention will immediately go to the bottle that stands out like a sore thumb. This is great news for brands because that means being unique will help your revenue and reputation. You do this by advertising your product/service as standing out from competition through offering something that they lack and/or design your product so it is visually striking. So, why does this happen? Let’s take a closer look. It arises from contrast between things and their surroundings. It develops as a result of psychological cognitive ease as we become accustomed to our day to day interactions. Think about it like this, you don’t pay attention to the smells around you until you smell something that brings you back to your childhood. It can also come up as something draws us toward a specific aspect of the world. This can be apparent with someone who works in the advertising world and notices catchy and creative ads on billboards while driving. Someone who isn’t in the industry probably wouldn’t notice them unless they’re very striking. No matter what industry you are in, it’s important that you grab the attention of the consumer immediately. Be the brand that stands out as unique from all the rest to harness the power of the salience effect.

Know Your Worth: Value Propositions

We’ve all heard the saying, “Know your worth,” but how can you actually apply this in the business world? Well, one answer could be creating a solid value proposition. A value proposition summarizes why customers should choose your product or service. It will highlight the ways that you stand out from your competition and how that can benefit your customer. A great value proposition is specific, focuses on the problem(s) it solves for the customers and should be front and center on your site. Here are some of our tips to writing a good value proposition.

1.     Use your customers voice: how would your customers describe your brand? How does it improve their lives?

2.     Speak clearly: keep it concise with a few sentences highlighting the product, who should buy it, how it will solve and when it solves their problem and finally, why they should buy it from you and not someone else. Answering these questions will create a solid proposition for your audience.

It seems like a short list but there is a lot of work to be done in these two steps. Identifying your audience voice may require gathering information from them in order to better understand how they feel about you. Once you start to write it, it’s important to answer the questions listed above in bullet point two. This can also take some deeper diving to understand what the answers are and then how to convey them as efficiently as possible. The home page on our Locomotive website is a good example of a value proposition.  We clearly state who we are, what we do and how our business works. This pulls the reader in to diver further down the site for more information on our services. Although our services are catered more to a B2B the concept is the same for any brand.

Anchoring Heuristic in Marketing

As we know by now, psychology plays a critical role in marketing and advertising. Anchoring bias or anchoring heuristic is one of these cognitive characteristics that can be applied to marketing strategies. The anchoring bias describes our human tendency to favor the first piece of information offered about something when making decisions. It is then difficult to part from this once you’ve made up your mind, despite the fact that other options may be more beneficial. Let’s look at an example to further explain how this works. Let’s say that you just went shopping and the first car was a set price. Now everywhere you go look, you refuse to go any higher than this number. This is the base price that has been anchored in your mind. Side note: there are internal and external factors that affect how one uses the anchor based on prior knowledge beliefs, etc. A person’s self-confidence or lack thereof in this case will be more vulnerable to the effect. This type of anchoring bias can be used as a marketing technique for brands.

1.     Higher initial pricing:

2.     Offer packages of services/products at different pricing levels

3.     Persuasive language

4.     Highlight benefits of product/service

Brands should make sure to use social proof when using the anchoring effect. This will establish that others have purchased and believe in the product/service. This will really embed the anchor in their mind. It can help your brand increase sales and let’s be honest, you will get what your business is worth. The anchoring effect can be a very useful tool.