Performance Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing

A hot topic right now is performance marketing. It’s somewhat similar to affiliate marketing but has a lower risk involved and encompasses a wider umbrella that includes affiliate marketing as its sub category. It’s not something that is new but is now rising to the top as a new way to market. Let’s define each for some more clarity. Affiliate marketing is where a relationship is set up between a brand and an individual or organization where partners will receive a percentage commission of the sales they help create. Performance marketing where brands only pay when a certain objective has been met, such as clicks, leads or a sale. Here, advertisers connect with agencies, publishers or influencers to design and place ads on their company channels. Similar to that with affiliate. This is done instead of traditional advertising and now the advertisers pay based on how their ad performs and is measurable in number of impressions, clicks, shares and sales. It’s “performance based,” hence the name. Let’s now talk about the ways in which your brand’s performance-based marketing can be tracked. Here is where you see the difference in payment structure from that of affiliate marketing.

1.     Cost Per Click (CPC): as the name implies, advertisers only pay when their ad is clicked on.

2.     Cost Per Sale (CPS): the advertiser only pays when the sale was driven by the ad. This is what is used for affiliate marketing.

3.     Cost Per Impression (CPM): advertisers pay for every one thousand views. For example, if your ad gets 30K views then they pay their base rate 30x’s.

4.      Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): advertisers pay when consumers complete a specific action, such as giving their contact information, getting a sale, etc.

5.     Cost Per Lead (CPL): advertisers pay when someone signs up for something such as an email newsletter, webinar, etc.

Now that we’ve discussed the ways that advertisers pay for performance marketing let’s talk about some of the benefits. The most important one is that is tends to be lower risk since advertisers only pay after a desired action takes place. This will leave more budgeting wiggle room. Second, it’s very trackable. Performance marketing can be measured to where advertisers can watch the entire journey of their audiences’ buying path. It shows which channels are showing better results. Lastly, it increases brand awareness and increased ROI. This is a way to reach new audiences’ brands have not already tapped into. The pros are the same for affiliate marketing. However, there are some down sides to this style of marketing. Brands will have less creative control, they risk putting their brand’s reputation at jeopardy with an affiliate and most programs rely on third party cookies to measure performance, which will no longer be available when Google phases out 3rd party cookies. In summary, having both marketing strategies in your brand’s back pocket is good. Both have benefits but with the phase out of 3rd party cookies soon performance marketing will be taking a front seat. It’s honestly surprising that it took this long to come to the forefront with all the pros it produces. They both assume the risk of overpaying versus how much sales it generates but with performance marketing the risk is lessened. Could performance marketing be the marketing strategy of the future?

Marketing on a Budget

Inflation is here and it’s having an effect on every industry today. There’s no denying it. With the current state of economic affairs, we thought an article on how to maximize marketing on a budget was beneficial. Here’s a quick bullet point list.

1.     Harness the POWER OF UGC. Of course, we’re bias on this topic since this is what we do. That being said, this is one of the best ways to market on a budget. It can cut the costs of production and according to Hubspot, production takes up to 24% of the marketing budgets. Pre-production and post-production come in at the second highest costs.

2.     Hire student/amateur actors. If the brand does want a produced marketing campaign, then save money by using students or amateurs who aren’t big stars yet. Most times they will be eager to gain experience and do the job for much less or possibly free.

3.     Use free editing software. Mac already includes this with your device. With a PC, Windows Movie Maker can be installed. There are others available online as well.

4.     It’s all about lighting & sound. Don’t waste money and time on equipment that you don’t really need. You can save money here on high end cameras. However, having good lighting and good sound are important. Good lights and good mics are a must have. BUT… you can have your cake and eat it to. There are plenty of lists that experts put there that can help your brand get the best bang for their buck.

5.     Film with your smartphone. Phones have really good cameras now. Some even have cinema mode for cinematographic style shots. This can help your brand save money on equipment as well to be used in other areas of your campaign.

There are plenty of options to help save money when marketing on a budget. We hope that our quick tips helped get your journey started. Video marketing is by far the best way to reach your audience today. You cannot  merely skip out on it because you think you may not have the funds for it. There are plenty of hacks to make video marketing a reality for your brand. It will take some research and planning ahead to stick to the budget that you have allocated while getting the highest quality videos simultaneously.

Multicultural Advertising

Gen Z is the most multicultural generation to date and it’s expected that multicultural advertising budgets are going to increase in the coming years. It’s estimated that the white population in the U.S. will actually be the minority by 2043 according to the U.S. Census. Large cities all across America are now enmeshed with loads of diversity and with the social justice movements during the pandemic, inclusion is now necessity in conducting good business. Yesterday we wrote an article on cross-cultural advertising, so today we’re going to focus on the importance of  multicultural advertising. As essential as it is today, it is still no easy feat to create multicultural ads that resonates with its audience and does not offend or alienate them. Thus, we thought we would put together a tips list to help you get started.

1.     Research and analyze data. Look at multicultural campaigns that have worked. What did they do? A prime example would be Coca-Cola’s “America’s Beautiful”. Also, don’t forget to make sure to do research into specific cultures that you’re trying to reach as well. Understanding the culture will help you know the motivations of the audience as well as what triggers them to buy something.

2.     Have a diverse multicultural marketing/advertising team. Of course, someone from a particular region will understand that place better than anyone. This can help you contextualize your campaigns through your team who has, quite literally, been where your audience is or has been. This diverse team can help you check for accuracy of campaigns.  

3.     Triple check accuracy and authenticity of campaigns. As stated above it’s important to check the accuracy of the multicultural campaigns. Aside from having your diverse team, your brand can run it by colleagues that may also represent that cultural group. Get their feedback. What emotions did it invoke? This can also be done through A/B testing to see what appeals to the group(s) you’re targeting. Whichever way you shake it, having a cultural expert look at your campaigns is a must before they hit the market.

4.     Create empowerment in multicultural communities. How can your campaign create a sense of empowerment? How can you shed some light on issues or diversities that a particular culture has faced? People will trust your brand if you’re authentic in your support to give representation to underrepresented groups!

5.     Overcome preconceived cultural beliefs. This could be thought of as research listed at bullet point number one above. Make sure to study the culture and beliefs are your target audience. Even following influencers in that culture can help you understand the mood of target cultures. Keep an open mind and a humble heart while you learn about new cultural groups.

Overall, in the coming years it will be important to develop deeper and stronger understanding of different cultures. A new ecosystem of advertising space is coming to light and it’s right around the corner. It’s crucial to stay up to date with cultural trends and keeping your work space diverse. We’re excited for this new multicultural advertising space and embrace it with open arms. As a business who holds high DEI standards we couldn’t agree more with the increasing importance of multicultural advertising. To see more great examples of brands that got their multicultural advertisements right click HERE.  

Ethical Advertising

We’ve written about bridging the trust gap between consumers and brands previously. However, another way to strengthen trust in this way is through ethical advertising. The Institute for Advertising Ethics was established to ensure that brands are advertising in a truthful, fair and equitable way. We’re pretty certain that if you’re an advertising agency you already know this, but even though this organization exists to keep brands and agencies in check, it’s interesting to note that when creating advertisements, “most professionals are only influenced by legal considerations; ethics exerts a relatively minor role,” according to a research study. This topic has not been exhausted as many are still very skeptical of the ethics of advertising.  Now more than ever, if done correctly, can be an way to build continued trust between your brand and its audience. A few ways to practice ethical advertising is to attract your customers through transparency with accurate and honest information. Always avoid deceptive advertising and make sure that you ensure the privacy of customer data and their information. With the removal of 3rd party cookies, this last one has never been more crucial. These all fall under the eight ethical standards from the IAE. Another one to consider in today’s social climate is to practice safe production and safe use. According to Forbes, “73% of millennials are willing to pay extra for sustainable offerings.” It could be argued that a new ethical way to produce, do business and advertise is to consider the environmental impacts your brand has due to the climate crisis we are now in. Ethical advertising means always doing the right thing! Your brand needs to be honest with their audience, always, without losing sight of brand purpose. 63% of people have stopped purchasing from a brand because they lost trust and 69% would never purchase from them again for this reason” (Microsoft).  

Efficient Marketing Campaign Planning & Management

Marketing campaigns by definition are an organized, strategized effort that promotes a specific company or brand goal. This could be done for a number of reasons. It could be to promote a new product/service, increase brand awareness, gather feedback, get new leads, increase revenue, boost engagement or promote an upcoming event. Whatever the reason, it is important that the campaign be planned and managed properly. Here are some steps to help your brand efficiently plan for their next marketing campaign.

1. Know the purpose and goal. Use the SMART technique. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. Is your goal to promote a new product? Is it to get more engagement across social media channels? Key Progress Indicators (KPI) will define the goal, show how it will be measured and which metrics will track its progress.

2. Know how you will measure metrics. This will also depend on the goal of the campaign so it will be different for each one and for every brand. For example, say the goal is to increase brand awareness you can measure this goal by keeping track of shares, social mentions and press. Another example would be for increasing revenue. Tracking new leads, sales as well as upsells would be a way to measure the success of the campaign.

3. Know your audience. What are your audience’s interests? Where do they spend time online? Instagram, Facebook, TikTok? What problems do they have that my product will fix? These are all questions that will help define your audience. It’s imperative to understand who they are, what their age range is, if they’re predominantly male or female or both. Knowing their age range and sex will help to determine where they hang out online on social platforms. It also helps to know what you can solve for them. You’re not going to market a joint pain supplement to the age group of 18-25 for example.

4. Know the right management software. There are so many marketing management softwares now. Here’s a short bullet point list of some and what they do.

   a.     Marketing automation & data analytics: offers campaign scheduling, customer segmentation, content creation, and analytics. Helps track campaigns in real time.

   b.    Project management: helps assign employees to tasks and gives an overview of the project when using a multi-team campaign.

   c.     Online advertising: measures ROI across all advertising channels.

   d.    CRM: deals with accounting and reporting so that your team can focus on more important aspects of the campaign.

   e.     Social media marketing: helps schedule content, monitor brand sentiment and gather data.

   f.      Email marketing and lead nurturing: examples are Mail Chimp and Constant Contact. We’ve all heard of these.

   g.     SEO Marketing: 93% of all web traffic comes through search engines according to Search Engine Statistics.  These SEO marketing tools help improve search presence and help with keyword brainstorming. These tools are more relevant than ever before.

   h.    Content and graphic creation: these tools offer consistent graphic design across all channels.

5. Know you have created the perfect team. Make sure to develop the right team. Define clear roles for each employee and an understandable brief. Make sure to keep them motivated. Have check ins often and empower your team through positive and constructive feedback. Don’t forget to celebrate the small wins!

A successful marketing campaign comes from the successful relationships within the team. Having the right people and the right tools ensures a smooth and successful campaign. Therefore, planning the marketing campaign starts with building a good team. Monitoring the success of the campaign in real time allow for adjustments to be made as needed so that success rates are almost certain.

The Rise of Interactive Advertising

Did you know that there is a term called ad blindness? It is a term to explain the phenomenon in response to how people have begun to cope with being subject to constant advertising. People have developed a coping mechanism to subconsciously and sometimes consciously tune out advertisements. In fact, 82% of Gen Z skip or ignore ads completely according to A List Daily. You can check out our article from yesterday on tips to make your advertisements more engaging but there is another kind of ad emerging that seems to increase engagement; interactive advertising. Actually, interactive advertisements have been shown to increase consumer attention by 47% and 32% more memorable according to a study conducted by Magna Global. So, let’s talk about some different types of interactive advertisements.

1.     Playable ads. This type lets the viewer get a taste of what it is like to use their product. Examples can be viewed HERE.

2.     Interactive films. A few movies on Netflix have done this now. It gives the users the options to make certain choices for the narrative giving them control of the how they experience it. Bandersnatch is a great example. We have actually participated in this interactive film.

3.     Interactive display. These expand when clicking or rolling over when viewed on a website. When it is expanded it will reveal the interactive advertisement. Visit this website for some examples.

4.     Augmented reality. Think of filters in social media apps. A great example of this is Taco Bell’s Cinco de Mayo lens on Snapchat that allowed users to turn their heads into tacos. Here’s an interesting take on it.

5.     Interactive voice. These literally speak to the user and engage with them verbally. It allows the user to respond to their voice activated device. You can read more on this HERE.

6.     Interactive video. This can be prompted through polls or trivia, such as on Facebook and allows for real time interaction with the brand audience. People love trivia and they love answering questions about themselves. Wieden + Kennedy created a beautiful ad in this type of interactive space.

Interactive ads might be the advertising of the future. With this new and creative way to engage consumers, marketers have unlimited possibilities to generate higher brand recall, increased engagement and ultimately generation of conversion rates will go up. These ads will keep your audience guessing what type of crazy ad you will come up with next. Encourage your creative team to expand their minds in order to create interactive advertisements that will keep your target audience coming back for more for years to come!

Social Media Stats 2022

Upon all our blog research here at Locomotive, there is always a recurring theme in advertising with social media. It’s now one of the most important parts of an advertising strategy in today’s world. We found some really interesting stats that we wanted to share with all of you. We know it helps us see a clear picture of who is watching what and where. It’s important to know where your target audience is to better serve them.

Pew Research Center:

• In 2005 only 5% of American adults used at least one social platform. In 2021 that number was 72%

• Percentage of adults that say they use at least one social media site by age in 2021:

  • 18-29: 84%

  • 20-49: 81%

  • 50-64: 73%

  • 65+: 45%

• More women typically use social media (78%) than men (66%) in 2021

• YouTube and Facebook are the top most widely used platforms

  • YouTube: 81%, FB: 69%

  • Instagram comes in third at 40%

• 70% of people use Facebook daily

• 59% of people use Instagram daily

These are only some of the current social media stats but in our opinion are extremely useful when looking at where to target your ads. For more interesting statistics visit: Insider Intelligence, Sprout Social and Influencer Marketing Hub.

Ways to Engage Consumers for Advertisements

Whether on a streaming service, online or when watching a video, at some point we’ve all been just waiting for the “skip ad” button to pop up so we can click on it to get to what we’re there for. It occurred to me that I do this almost 100% of the time and I’m not alone. A study done by IPG showed that 65% of people skip video ads as soon as they get the chance. Some even stated that it is purely habit at this point. So, how do advertisers get people engaged to view their advertisements? What makes someone stop what they are doing and watch the ad or forget that the skip button is even there? We decided to do some research to find out the best ways to engage an audience with campaigns and this is what we found.

1.     Know where to advertise. This is number one in our opinion. Putting ads that are similar to content being viewed will most likely pique the interest of a consumer. For example, if someone is reading a running blog an ad for Brooks running shoes would be placed on the site. Programmatic advertising can assist brands with this and increase efficiency. Knowing where your target audience is most engaged is key.

2.     Get straight to the point and keep it short. You’ve got 8 seconds to hook, line and sink er’. That’s the average attention span of Gen Z and it’s still only 12 for Millennials. As we keep saying, attention spans are getting shorter, so don’t lose your audience by creating a 3-minute advertisement.

3.     Throw in something different. Attract immediate attention with something funny, odd or by pointing something important out. You may ask a thought-provoking question or show a compelling image. We know that always gets us to stop and watch. We always appreciate a creative campaign that stands out. Take the recent Liquid Death ad for example.

4.     Tell a story or share a personal experience. Telling a story can be done very well through the use of user generated content in your spots. It will help your audience connect with your brand. Look at our past campaign for Oreo “Stay Playful.” It asks their audience to stay playful and uses shots of UGC of regular people shooting basketballs during March Madness to connect with them.

5.     Be slightly mysterious. A study found that brands who introduced themselves too early look pushy and it will not go over well with your audience. Try to throw it in after the hook in order to help keep them watching until the end.

6.     Don’t be overly positive. This one is odd we know, but it has been shown that people tend to get annoyed when they see an ad that’s seemingly too happy. Although that may seem weird, when someone may not be in a great mood themselves, the last thing that they want to see is overly artificial happiness. Honestly, we’d be bothered by it.

7.     Put the brand logo next to the skip button. This is a little trick. Since people tend to skip video ads, this is to help ensure that they will still remember your brand name after they skip your ad. Although, it’s been disputed that it may not have a high impact, it can’t hurt right?!

There are many types of video ads to promote your product or service such as outstream, instream and social media video. Whatever advertising avenue you choose make sure to get the most eyes on your videos.

Why Customer Reviews Matter

87% of people read reviews when considering a purchase and 79% trust them as much as they would a personal recommendation (Forbes). As we know here at Locomotive, people trust real people when it comes to advertisements and brand recommendations. It’s part of the reason we truly believe in what our company does. But do customer reviews actually correlate to increase or decreased revenue? Do the reviews actually impact the business coming in? The answer is yes, most definitely! Actually, according to a study conducted on hotel sales impacted by online customer reviews in the International Journal of Hospitality Management, there is a “significant relationship between online consumer reviews and business performance of hotels.” This is not really surprising. We all do it. Let’s say that we want to buy something online. So, what is the first thing that we do? We look at the products online reviews to see what others are saying about it. Then we weigh out our options by searching that same product from their competitors. This helps us get a clear picture of what we’re buying before we buy it when we can’t touch or see it in real life. “66% of consumers consider positive reviews to be an important factor in their purchase decision” (SOCi). It makes sense. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful factors in driving business growth. Online reviews are just the digital version of this and it has even been dubbed eWOM, standing for “electronic word of mouth” now. Furthermore, a Hard University Study found that, “a one-star increase in a restaurant’s Yelp rating led to a 9% increase in revenue.” Seems that the numbers cannot be ignored. Customer reviews do affect a business and do matter. It’s important that this is not be ignored and feedback from your audience must be addressed in order to keep a positive light on your brand.

Programmatic Advertising

Some of you may already know what programmatic advertising is but just in case we thought we would explain it for those who may not. Programmatic ads are done through the use of software or AI to buy digital advertising space. This connects publishers who own website domains with advertisers and takes the arduous task away from people having to manually do it. The software uses an algorithm to determine where the ad space is best for your target audience in order to increase your ROI. The brand gives the information of audience specifications, key performance indicators and information on the ad campaigns. The program will then create the algorithm to fit and find the perfect placements for your digital ads. After the ads go live, it will monitor and look for areas of improvement. This type of advertising couldn’t be more critical with the Google phase out of thirds party cookies. We are entering a digital era of personal information confidentiality and it’s only going to get harder to find your online audience with privacy at the forefront. This will be one of the best ways to get your ads in front of the right consumers. Here are some other reasons why it is important.

1.     Real-time adjustments. Since it is being monitored, it can show how the ad is doing based on impressions and can be adjusted as needed.

2.     Larger audience reach. Since there is purchasing power from any ad space, this increases the audience it will reach. Advertisers have a large pool of publishers, which will increase ROI as well.

3.     Efficiency. Budget is better spent. “More relevant ads are served through targeting” (Publift). Taking the human out of the equation who has to search for, inquire, and purchase the spaces makes this more efficient. It is so much faster with software and will save the company money in the end.

The future is digital! Making sure your company is up to date on the newest software and techniques for their advertising is going to be a key component to their success. Taking advantage of software that performs programmatic advertising will save your brand money, streamline your digital ad space buying process and help you reach a wider audience than before. Why wouldn’t your brand want to take advantage of this when it seems like a no brainer right?! Happy advertising! 

Understanding Purchasing Motivations

We all buy things… but why? What is the reason you bought that new pair of shoes? Well, actually there are really only 6 reasons that we buy things. It’s important as a business to understand these motives in order to align your product or service to your audience. You will need to define what problem your product or service solves for the customer in order to define what motive they will have in purchasing from you. Let’s take a look at the 6 buying motivations.

1.     Buying for profit/gain. Marketing for this type of motivation requires showing the benefits of buying. How does it improve someone’s life? Does it have high ROI or great reward? What can one achieve from buying this service or product? The type of products and services that come to mind are investments and education but it is not limited to this type of product or service.

2.     Fear of loss. This type of consumer is not a risk taker… obviously. This will help the consumer hold on to something they already have, such as their home. Products and services that come to mind are home owner’s insurance or further training for employee customer service.

3.     Comfort, convenience and pleasure. This one really speaks for itself. It’s that new blender you bought for smoothies or that newest laptop for work. These purchases make someone’s life easier or more convenient.

4.     Security & protection. This one is similar to fear of loss. Think of home security, cyber security or just the safest decision over another. For example, choosing one brand over another because WOM (word of mouth) recommendations.

5.     Pride of ownership. Remember that time you bought those nice Gucci sunglasses? Was it because you really liked them and they were far superior to others? Probably not 100% true. Sometimes buying something that comes with grandeur due to their reputation can be something we feel we deserve for our hard work. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Marketing to this group of consumers will come with giving them feelings of gratification, dignity as well as a feeling of “high class.”  

6.     Satisfaction of emotion. This stimulates some type of an emotional response. Marketing for this type of audience is probably the easiest in our opinion. Most people are emotional buyers and will then justify their decision with some logic. Let’s look at an example though for clarification. Imagine that someone purchases a repurposed dining room table from a local, small business. This can create a feeling of personal satisfaction from supporting local business as well as feeling a sense of pride from choosing more sustainable options.

Understanding buying motivations is key to your marketing and advertising strategies. Knowing what category your brand falls under in terms of buying motivations will help deepen your understanding of your customer base. Why will your customers be buying your products or services? Will it create convenience or will it be purely for pride of ownership? If your brand understands where it will fall for buying motivation, sales & retention will inherently increase as a result.

Finding Your Brand Target Market

Let’s first talk about the difference between target audience and target market. A target market is a set of consumers that a company plans to sell or reach with marketing activities where a target audience is the group or segment within that target market that is being served ads (Marketing Evolution). In this article we will focus on the target market and how your brand can identify yours. Target market is important for businesses in order to be more efficient on targeting specific groups instead of mass marketing to those who may have no interest. It also builds interest in the brand, loyalty and create a higher potential growth of sales. Here are some tips to start finding your brand’s target market.

1.     Determine what needs your product fills. Analyze your product. Who would buy this product and why? This will help you determine the bullet listed in number 4. Let’s look at an example. Your brand sells home good appliances. Your market then would be older adults who own home or rent.

2.     Collect data. Conduct market research. You can do your own research by drawing on existing data, looking at your own network, or gathering from metrics (Forbes). You can collect data using surveys, focus groups and in person talks and/or observations.

3.     Look at your competition. Conduct a competitor analysis. You can do this by looking at their business background. Where are they located and what type of facilities do they have? Look at their products. How’s the quality? What are they missing that you can offer? Look at their social media and take notes. What are their sales strategies? For more information on how to do this visit this LINK.

4.     Choose demographics & physiographics. Demographics are very important in determining your market as stated above. These include age, location, gender, income, education level, marital status, occupation, and ethnicities. And we’ve all heard of demographics but what are physiographics? These are attributes such as personality, values, lifestyle, interests, attitudes, and hobbies or your target market. All of these combined will help create a complete picture of who you will be selling your products to and how to properly market to them.

Finding your brand’s target market will take some work if you’re a new business breaking into a field. The benefits outweigh the time spent on this research and development toward finding your niche market. Funneling your brand’s audience will assist in being more efficient with time and resources spent on marketing to the correct audience. An audience who is interested in your product will create more sales and overall brand loyalties. Even if you’re a company that has been in business for a while, it’s always good to reassess your target market as trends tend to shift over time.

Omnichannel Marketing Approach

One of advertisings biggest challenges today is to market across multiple platforms. Multi-channel and omnichannel are similar but not interchangeable. Multi-channel marketing is the distribution of content and ads across multiple channels. Omnichannel marketing means that the customer journey will span multiple channels online and off. This omnichannel marketing could be in the form of websites, text, email, social media, and apps to name a few. According to a study done by Harvard Business Reviewdone on 46,000 shoppers, they concluded that, “73% of them used multiple channels through their shopping journey.” This approach is important to creating a seamless and positive customer experience.

So, how does a brand create an effective omnichannel marketing strategy? Let’s look at one example of great omnichannel marketing to start and break it down from there. Take Starbucks for example. They have created an absolutely seamless system within their app. To start, it works as a reward system with each purchase to earn points toward a free drink once it hits a certain number. I mean, who doesn’t like free stuff? Ok, let’s take a look at their app. You can reload your account with your linked card on file. You can do this through their website, over the phone, on the app or at a physical location. Something else they shifted focus on during the pandemic to reduce contact was their order ahead option. Don’t feel like waiting in line? Order ahead and pick it up on your way to work. This increased their revenue by offering another option other than in person ordering. Now they have both. This is seamless omnichannel marketing at is best.

However, one has to keep in mind that every business is not the same and each one will have to make a custom marketing plan. Let’s take a look at how to create one effectively with some tips.

1.     Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Plan their experience with a detailed plan by asking yourself, “what would my customers want?” This will make the brand customer centric in order create a seamless experience for them. Try things out to see what works and what doesn’t flow smoothly.  

2.     Start with website and social media cohesion. Be consistent and on brand within both channels. Using the same message across all channels will help here but don’t use a plug and paste style. They should differ slightly without losing the brand voice.

3.     If your business calls for it, create an app. Almost every industry today could be tapping into the app business. Let’s look at an example here. A family member just called to tell you that your blender broke and you’re hosting a party later today. Now you’re are in the market for a new blender and fast! But… you’re out at the grocery store right now. You don’t have a computer on you and you don’t want to drive around all day looking for the item. What do you do? You get on your phone and do a search. You literally do this in line as you wait to pay for your groceries. You see that a Bed Bath and Beyond nearby has what you want. You download their app for ease of purchasing, use their coupon (since they always seem to have one available) and seamlessly buy your new blender a for pickup. Crisis averted!

4.     Don’t forget your CTA’s! Social ads that finish with call to actions that lead to app downloads. After making a purchase include a CTA to share it on the customer’s social media.

It’s easy to see why having an omnichannel marketing strategy is important in the tech heavy world that we live in today. People want ease. They want personalization. They want to not feel like something other than just another face in the crowd. Creating loyal customers through an omnichannel marketing strategy is a great way to build your brand and bridge the trust between you and your audience.

Tapping Into Gen Z for Advertising

Who’s ready for some changes? We know we are and Gen Z is proving to be new type of market when it comes to the advertising world. They are like no other that came before them. Let’s talk about the biggest difference between Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z. Millennials remember a time before social media whereas Gen Z does not know a world without it. Even more, their Gen X counterparts grew up on MTV with zero social media. I don’t think it really comes as a surprise that Gen Z is a unique group who can’t imagine a world without tech. Actually, 45% of Gen Zers say that they are online almost constantly according to Rolling Stone. Since the insurgence of smartphones, people can watch anything from anywhere and that’s what this generation does. They rely on social media platforms for almost everything. There are a couple of questions to ask yourself when considering how to market to this new breed of consumers.

1.   Can they trust your brand? They want transparency and they want it now. Since this generation can and will find answers to information they have questions for, make sure your brand is be honest. They will also build a relationship with your brand if they feel that they can relate to what your company stands for.

2.     Do you stand for something? Brand neutrality is a no go for this generation. They want brans that stand up for social injustices. They want brands that aren’t afraid to take a stand for what’s right even if that means offending some of their audience.

3.     Are you influencer savvy? They don’t care about celebrities! Relatability takes the driver seat with them. They want people that they can relate to not paid actors. This is another reason UGC is extremely affective to connecting with them!

4.     Can you make it fast? 8 seconds to be exact. That’s the average attention span of this generation according to iab.uk! Are you really that shocked? And before you getting too cheeky, just know that Millennials are right behind them with a whopping 12 seconds.

5.     Do you know how to use each social media platform differently and accordingly? Not only should you diversify your content across each platform it needs to be tailor fit!

Gen Z harnesses the power of $143 billion since they comprise 40% of the U.S. population according to Forbes. If your brand wants to uncover ways to tap into their market it’s important to understand what they value in a company. They’re different. Changes are coming and we think that they’re honestly for the better. Who doesn’t want to support a brand that takes social stances, is trustworthy and transparent?

Friday Fun Favorite 5/20/22

This week’s Friday Fun Favorite goes to the “OutHorse Your Email” campaign to promote tourism to Iceland. This quirky ad says that if people take their vacations in Iceland then horses will write your work email replies for you. Obviously, this is meant to be a joke but the fact that, “41% of people check their work emails 5-6x’s/daily when on vacation,” is no laughing matter. It’s no surprise that only 44% of workers say that they’re actually recharged after their vacations” (AdWeek). As Iceland is one of the most naturally beautiful places to visit, the country wants tourists to really unplug and enjoy all that it has to offer without being bogged down with professional commitments. The ad boasts that your work replies may end up being lllerfiadsk;fn from their world-famous horses, but this service is real and it will create an email bounce back reply while on vacation. This ad was created by SS+K for Visit Iceland , which are known for their humorous campaigns.

Brand Recall

Content is Queen! “Did you know that 65% of people are visual learners and 94% of all communication is visual?” (Vennage). There are many benefits of visual marketing versus pure text as we all now know, but it’s important to make your brand memorable through your visual content advertising. People remember things visually so brand recognition is vitally important. Customers are more likely to remember your brand’s advertisements if they’re associated with something that they can recall easily because it caught their eye in some way. Was it different in some way? Did it make them think and use some brain power? Were they connected on an emotional level? One way to increase brand memorability is to localize your visual content for specific audience areas. For example, in Philadelphia they use the word “Jawn” to describe any person, place or thing. Yes, I know it’s a strange word to describe literally a vast array of anything. Anyway, back to our story… we pass by a billboard every morning for a lawyer named John Morgan. I’m sure you’ve all heard or seen his commercials at some point since he’s America’s largest cliché injury law firm, Morgan & Morgan. On this particular Philly billboard his name is advertised as Jawn Morgan.  This is a prime example of localized advertising at its best and it will make locals remember the brand. The second way is to tell a story. Be sure to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Throw in some emotion and/or humor and stay in your brand’s voice. People love a good story. Especially if it’s one they can relate to. Another fun way to improve the memorability of your ads for your brand is to employ engagement with the viewers. Make them work something out. Use their brains. They’ll eventually have that “aha” moment when the conclusion is realized or given. People tend to remember things more when they have to problem solve. You can use enthymeme’s to achieve this type of recall as well. “Aristotle calls the enthymeme the “body of persuasion ….because we are most easily persuaded when we think that something has been demonstrated” (Aristotle’s Rhetoric). These are only a few ways to improve memorability of your brand and its advertising. It’s interesting to note that if a brand’s advertisement can be remembered after 60 days, “13% of those people are likely to buy the product or service, 38% will think more positively about the brand, and 25% will become ambassadors of the brand, according to a new study done by HAVAS. This goal can be achievable with the right tools and team!

The Importance of Marketing Research

Research shows that businesses are 60% more profitable when they are customer-centric according to an article written by Lucid.  Market research is one of the best ways to do this by getting to know your customer base. This is done through gathering data to learn more about demographics and marketing trends as well as other important aspects of business goals. First, there are many subcategories of marketing research and I will only touch on a few in this article. Let’s first look at branding research. The point of this type of research is to understand what type of impressions your brand is making on the consumer. Do they know who you are and will they buy what you are selling? What qualities are associated with the brand and how it is performing in relation to competitors? This can be conducted through surveys, focus groups, or one-on-one interviews and it will help the brand understand areas that need improvement. Second, let’s talk about customer research. The top three points of this research is to see how satisfied your customers are, what level of loyalty do they have to your brand and who exactly are your customers are. That last one is done through customer segmentation that divides your customers into different subgroups based on their behaviors and preferences. This research is done through looking back at purchasing histories, demographics of client base, customer satisfaction surveys, NPS and customer journey mapping.  A third type of marketing research is competitor research. It’s important to see what your competitors are doing. Where are they succeeding? Where are they lacking? How can you stand out from them as a unique business? This is done by simply finding your competition and doing simple research on them. Let’s also talk about marketing campaign evaluations and research. This is taking data from single campaigns to see how effect they are in the advertising space. How many people have seen your ad? What is the click-through rate? What is the ROI of the campaign? You can use website traffic to track figures from ads run on webpages. You can use social engagement figures, such as clicks, shares, comments and likes. There are many ways to track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. Now that we’ve discussed a few know that there are many types of marketing research we didn’t touch on and so many ways to obtain the data you need. You can read more about them here. So, why is it important to conduct marketing research? Well, knowing your customers on a deeper level will help you build trust and connect with them more effectively. It will also help you see where you need to improve as a business. Most importantly it helps minimize your risks through understanding what customers want and need. Overall, this will keep your business afloat and on top of trends in the years to come. Not only that, it will help you strive and succeed to the best of your abilities!

Friday Fun Fave 5/13/22

This week we’re taking a new direction for our fun favorite pick of the week. With summer right around the corner we are all very much looking forward to sitting out in the sun enjoying time with family and friends. We just came across a new ad by Guinness beer created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. The images are, “Waves crashing against a rock, people lazing on a deck chair on hot beach sand, surfboards glistening in the summer sun… that start of summer is here” (AMVBBDO). This very playful ad shows images that you would typically see in a summer setting. Guinness has then added their logo and, not only that, these particular images themselves all have a striking resemblance to a pint of beer. Genius! They hired London based landscape photographer, Catherine Hyland to take these striking photos. Let’s be real anyone who’s ever seen the Guinness ads over the years or visited the museum in Dublin understands their specific flare for creativity.

Personalized Advertising

We all know the eerie ad that pops up while scrolling through the gram based on a conversation you just had with a friend. This is what is called a personalized advertisement. Companies are investing a lot in this type of advertising now but should they be? Personalized advertising works by using online user data to target users with relevant advertising based on their searches, purchasing history, and now even face recognition to determine the users age, race, gender, etc. Let’s face it, we know that our phones are listening to every conversation that we have. That is definitely some Big Brother stuff. So, what do the numbers say about these types of ads? Well, “companies that use advanced personalization see returns of $20 per 1 cent!” according to a statistic on Startup Bonsai. Therefore, from an advertising standpoint it does have great ROI. However, people do find it creepy when they see a retargeting ad on social sites for items that they have browsed, 35% to be exact (Startup Bonsai). And according to Pew Research, “68% of people view online targeted advertising negatively; they’re averse to targeted ads because they don’t like having their online behavior tracked and analyzed.” BUT, in that same breath, people do want their consumer experience to be somewhat personal and actually, “60% of Millennials said that they would not hesitate from sharing personal information to suit their personal interests” (RRD). It seems to be more of an issue of having their personal information taken without consent in order to tailor their consumer ad experience. Let’s look to Netflix as an example. Users have the option to thumbs up or down the shows that they watch in order to receive a more personalized recommendation to their likes and dislikes. Consumers like this feature because it is of their own accord. That being said, Google has a strict policy regarding personalized advertisements that restricts the use of sensitive interests, clinical trial recruitment, gambling, and more. What is the solution here then? We honestly don’t know but personalized ads do seem to have more ROI than non-targeted advertisements. Although people don’t seem to love the idea of their data being taken and analyzed, they do prefer a more personalized approach when it comes to brand advertising. Seems that some middle ground should be determined in order to please consumers and advertisers alike. We may not know what that looks like just yet but hope to see some compromises in the coming years surrounding privacy.  

Embracing Health & Wellness as a Brand

It seems to be an ongoing trend that we keep finding in all of our advertising research lately here at Locomotive. Consumer mindsets are shifting as a result of the pandemic. People want authenticity. They want transparency. They want brands that care about the environment and social economic issues. And… they want brands that care about health and wellness, not only for their customers but for their staff. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since we all faced a major health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic for over 2 years. Many suffered from a mental health crisis due to mandated lock downs and for some, physical health fell off all together. It’s sad that it took this insane event to make people realize how important mental and physical health and wellness truly are but we say, “better late than never to this party.” Now, health and wellness are at the forefront of everyone’s minds after two plus years of bringing awareness to these topics. People realized how stressed they were in their old “normal” day to day lives with work, life and everything else in between and aren’t planning on going back to that way of life. People now want brands that are transparent about what they put into their products. They want their values to align with what type of impact their products will have on the environment. They want to be sure that what they are bringing into their homes is safe for their families. Today, this is becoming a the major factor in what is driving consumer choices, aside from “price and quality” according to a Media Post article. All brands must embrace this shift in choices by understanding and implementing what their market audience wants when it comes to these things. The health and wellness movement isn’t going anywhere and it shouldn’t. it’s great that this shift in mindset of consumers has happened and it’s an opportunity for every brand to become better.