Mobile Archives : Persona Design

What Customers Want: Top 16 Branding Trends in 2016

December 7, 2015/0 Comments/in Brand Culture, Brand Experience, Brand Personality, Brand Story, Brand Strategy, Branding, Branding Trends, Business, Customer Engagement, Global Branding, Integrated Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Market Insights, Marketing, Millennial Branding, Mobile, Mobile Commerce, Online Marketing, Social Engagement, Technology, Video, YouTube /by Lorraine Carter

More than a half century ago, the customer-centric branding pioneer Walter Landor said, “Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.” [1] In 2016, the path to that consumer experience is a two-way street, and guess who’s in the driver’s seat? Brands with strong personality are the winners, because customers equate great experiences and emotive meaning with strong, distinctive brands.

While Mr. Landor had massively insightful branding vision, he couldn’t have foreseen the challenges brands face in 2016. The 21st century consumer shopping and purchasing experience has changed, and continues to change…fast. Demanding and sophisticated customers no longer simply reach for “new and improved” brands on display shelves.

Digital Developments in Branding

In 2016, any brand overlooking the following trends would do so at their own peril:

• Shift to mobile is the main message for every small, medium, or large-sized brand in 2016. According to Google, “Mobile has forever changed what we expect of brands.” [2]

• Understanding digital is key. For even the smallest brands, the monetization of social platforms means we’re in the “pay-to-play” era. So going forward, every big brand marketing department needs a deep understanding of digital and every small brand needs to maximize their resources.

• Interpreting data tells brand marketers what’s working and what’s not, ensuring that spending choices are made wisely.

Simply put, your customers are online and that’s where you need to be. Specifically, they’re on mobile and increasingly, they’re watching video content to make purchase decisions.

Yes, just when we thought ubiquitous online shopping had tolled a death knell for bricks-and-mortar stores, Amazon introduced its first-ever real physical bookstore in Seattle University Village. [3] What does this signify 20 years after Amazon went live with cut-rate books online that nearly destroyed bookstores? Amazon is connecting the dots between its troves of big data on customer preferences and the 2016 desire for a humanizing browsing and shopping experience. No one is yet pronouncing this first bookstore as a trend, but it’s worth keeping an eye on. (Remember, Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos purchased the Washington Post when everyone said print newspapers were dead.).

Image via www.amazon.com

Branding Studies Highlight Customers Expectations

“Speedy, seamless and sensory,” is the brand experience consumers want in 2016, according to the Landor Associates study released in November 2015.[4] Today’s challenge for brands, says Landor’s CEO, is to continuously evolve, to be utterly relevant, while all the while staying true to the brand’s essence.

The largest group of consumers on the planet are Millennials (born between 1980 and 1995), and they’re adults now. The youngest in this cohort will turn 21 in 2016. As Edelman reveals in their latest worldwide “8095 Survey” of Millennials’ purchasing preferences, brands must surprise and delight to gain loyalty, because average is not acceptable.[5]

Image via www.edelman.com

In PwC’s latest global survey, “Retailers and the Age of Disruption,” the overarching trend is that “…the premium in the future will be on creating unique, brand-defining experiences that keep customers coming back — whatever the channel.” [6]

Branding keywords for 2016 include: personalized, authentic, humanized, interactive, engaging, and mobile.

We take a closer look at some outstanding examples from brands that illustrate key 2016 on-trend pointers to successfully target today’s customers.

Brands Can Flaunt a Sense of Humour

Lowe’s Home Improvement highlights their products by inspiring successful DIY through amusing, real life storytelling videos. The series are short and sweet, showing projects that will make you feel like you can accomplish anything, from painting a room to building an outdoor deck. Anyone who has ever tried to fold a fitted sheet will empathize with this guy.

Brands Are Storytellers

“I don’t think the world is ever going to want to stop hearing stories,” is the sentiment expressed by Angela Ahrendts during her tenure as CEO of Burberry. She emphasized that anyone who is touching your brand wants to see, feel and hear its authentic story. Tell it visually, amplify it with music, create energy around it. Ahrendts obsession about doing all of the above is why she’s America’s highest-compensated female executive as Sr. VP of Apple.

Brands Should Support Good Causes

Aligning with charitable endeavours, championing social issues or running an environmentally sustainable business is good for a brand, its customers and the community at large. Choose wisely, care deeply and gain credibility in the process. Marks & Spencer produced their Oxfam donation partnership called Shwopping profiling celebrity ambassadors, Annie Lennox, Emma Thompson, Twiggy and other leading ladies.

Brands Gain Trust via Authenticity

RED Lookbook is an Estée Lauder advert for their fragrance, Modern Muse Le Rouge. It’s delivered as a feel-good video featuring a “real” person, UK social influencer Fleur DeForce, wearing lots of red and using the fragrance. “Top priorities to succeed have to be authenticity and passion,” the beauty video blogger with 1.3 million subscribers told Digiday. Followers are accustomed to seeing Fleur in intimate, authentic videos relaxing with her husband, friends, dogs and favorite products. The 27-year-old provides a disclaimer, “I only ever work with brands that I personally use and love, and only to promote products I genuinely like and believe in.”

Brands Become Approachable

The evolution of wine reveals a case in point about humanizing a brand. Today’s winemakers are portraying down-to-earth personalities. Even the glamorous bubbly Moët & Chandon, founded in 1743, is behaving in a way that’s anything but stuffy and old fashioned.

Image via www.moet.com

In California wine country, “7 Deadly Zins” from Michael David Winery just knows how to have a good time with their Zinfandel branding, paired with fresh air and a mountain hike.

Image via www.michaeldavidwinery.com

And, there’s a seriously excellent wine inside the bottle illustrated with dancing elephants on a cartoon-like circus label; this Syrah was rated #2 in the world for 2015 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. [7]

Image Courtesy of Lodi Winegrape Commission

Brands Relate To Consumers’ Lifestyles

In just six months, Fitbit has scored 6 million YouTube views for its 30-second rom com, “Know Your Heart.” It’s completely relatable and inexpensive to make. “The campaign plays off the duality of knowing your heart emotionally and physically in a cheeky and relatable, story–driven way that resonates with our brand,” says Fitbit global marketing VP Tim Rosa. “We wanted it to be relatable and charming, while showing that getting fit and healthy is attainable if one sets his/her heart to it.”[8]

Top 16 Brand Trends Checklist for Engaging Customers in 2016

1. Consumers crave brand authenticity. They want personalized, engaging and humanized interaction with brands, even humour that brings a smile to the face.

2. Customers are embracing disruptors, from healthcare wearables to taxi services and non-hotel stays.

3. Consumers are making emotional decisions about brands that feature distinctive, compelling storytelling and a friendly tone of voice, not corporate-speak bravado.

4. Customers want responsibility and accountability from brands. They’re looking deeper into a company’s ethics, environmental position, supply chain, production processes, diversity hiring, mission statement and corporate giving.

5. Consumers are tuned in. They place more value on online reviews from strangers than on brand advertising.

6. Customers are listening to employees as brand champions whose opinions on the brand culture can speak volumes via social media and in person.

7. Consumers are searching and shopping online. They expect fast, seamless, quality brand experiences from super fast mobile websites to free, next day delivery.

8. Consumers are looking at FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) and packaging design that goes beyond a logo, photos or serving suggestions in favour of labels that may reveal personality, tell about a product’s backstory and offer interesting “did you know” facts up front.

9. Consumers continue to relate to brands that relate to their own lifestyle preferences.

10. Consumers are consulting with children living at home in making their purchase decisions, including vacations.

11. Customers require a sense of place when they travel, not cookie-cutter, look-alike hotel and restaurant chains.

12. Customers express themselves through the brands they associate with, including artisan, hand-crafted, small production items from bricks and mortar stores or limited edition and customized products from larger brands.

13. Customers want two-way communication and co-creation with brands that are connecting with their customers and responding to feedback.

14. Consumers are tired of annoying in-your-face advertising that screams a one-way message. Native advertising and re-targeted effective messages that deliver relevance are the way to get attention in 2016.

15. Consumers expect multi-channel agility from brands. They prefer original brand video content and how-to advice to be seamlessly accessible across their multiple devices.

16. Consumers are rejecting photo-shopped, zero-sized beauty definitions in favour of natural and real, wellness and gender-neutral positioning.

Image via www.edelman.com

In conclusion:

• It’s not your brand anymore. It belongs to your customers.

• Brand experiences matter more, not stuff. Bring shareable new ideas to the marketplace.

• Brands must be created and developed using strong well developed personas. Make it personal, emotive, relatable and real.

• Clever and amusing is the new approach. Humanize your brand.

• Brand loyalty must be earned. Sophistication and authenticity are the order of the day for a much more discerning customer.

Ask yourself:

• How many of these 16 trends can you tick off your brand must-do list as part of your brand strategy for the year ahead?

• Has your brand found the right tone of voice for 2016?

• Have you defined your brand’s personality and strategized about how it is being expressed?

• Does your brand require a refresh or a re-branding to resonate with today’s consumers?

• Have you identified your brand’s positioning and unique selling points and successfully incorporated them?

• Has your brand aligned with a charity? Has it embraced sustainability and green initiatives? Is there a corporate social responsibility message that’s making its way to customers’ ears?

• Rebranding Strategy: Why Your Rebrand Must Embrace Storytelling

• Brand Profiling: Top 6 Components to Creating a Strong Brand Personality

• Creating New Brands: Top 10 Tips for Brand Success

• Brand Personality: Is Your Brand’s Character Big Enough to Compete?

• Millennial Branding: 6 Ways Your Brand Can Appeal to Millennial Customers

• Co-Branding: 13 Tips for Growing Your Brand Through Strategic Partnerships

• Video Brand Strategy: Top 11 Tips for How and Why You Need to Use Video

[1] http://www.aiga.org/medalist-walterlandor

[2] https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/micromoments/au.html

[3] http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=13270229011

[4] http://landor.com/news/landor-releases-2016-brand-trends-brick-and-mortar-is-back-and-speedy-seamless-sensory-experiences-are-in-demand

[5] http://www.edelman.com/insights/intellectual-property/8095-exchange

[6] http://pwc.to/1XKvq8G

[7] http://cf.bgwm.co/v1/toplists/2015/wines/BOY_Enth_100_2015.pdf

[8] http://www.fastcocreate.com/3046378/dude-chases-a-girl-and-a-healthier-lifestyle-in-this-new-fitbit-ad

Has Your Brand Leveraged Mobile Marketing and mCommerce Yet?

November 30, 2012/0 Comments/in Brand Strategy, eCommerce, EProducts, Integrated Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Mobile, Mobile Commerce, Online Marketing, Smart Phones, Social Engagement, Social Media /by Lorraine Carter

Four out of every five smart phone users in the US accessed retail content on their device in July 2012, with the retail giant Amazon receiving 49.6 million visitors via mobile devices alone.

Among all interactive marketing platforms, mobile marketing is expected to grow 38% over the next five years with an estimated $8.2 billion being funneled into it by the year 2016. This rapid shift in consumer behaviour is too significant for brands to ignore and survival depends on the ability to adapt to this very dynamic retailing environment.

As Smart phone apps, social media, mCommerce, digital wallets and mobile enabled websites become much more mainstream, there is a rapid need for new thinking and entirely new marketing strategies to capture and leverage this growing and extremely lucrative market.

Brands who best understand consumer behaviour as they engage in mobile interaction will be in the best position to capitalize on the shift in market dynamics. Critically, brands that are early movers and embrace mobile marketing are much more likely to boost bottom line profitability and lead with greatest market share.

Connecting with your Customers 24/7

Adapting to mobile marketing is not as easy as it might seem. The multiple different ways you can communicate with your target audience is vast and growing everyday as new social platforms and apps are launched to market every week.

However the ability to connect in a meaningful way has become increasingly sophisticated and challenging for brands. Customers have a bewildering array of choice. Now its about how you cut through that barrage to attract their attention, give them something they want on their terms and continue to build your brand relationship and meet their needs that is a critical part of the brand strategy mix.

Customers are now connected 24/7, if they choose, through hand held devices such as tablets, mobile devices and particularly smart phones. Shopping, banking, entertainment are just a click away and the ever-expanding array of functions each of these has to offer has led to a massive shift in brand interaction through how and when people buy. Online buying behaviour is very fluid and dynamic.

Consumers now demand seamless interaction across all channels. Brand touch-points through all mediums are now expected rather than seen as a value-adding benefit. Customers want to interact with brands on their own terms and increasingly develop affinity with brands that provide a ubiquitous view of purchases, loyalty points, social media tie-ins and customized experiences. Personalized and location-based marketing techniques are moving from ‘desirable’ to ‘essential’.

3 Tips for Understanding the Right Mobile Strategy for Your Brand

Mobile marketing is not only necessary to meet new customer demands, it also provides brands with a variety of additional marketing tools to drive expanding business needs.

1. Mobile: The Service Enhancer

Apps can be a powerful way to enhance your core product or service and help develop closer relationships with your customers.

Apps such Bank of Ireland’s online banking App, or the RTE player App which allows users to view their favourite shows on the go makes the brand’s core service more attractive to customers. As a result, the mobile application is likely to increase the level of brand-customer interaction and boost brand loyalty.

2. Mobile: The Brand Enhancer

If your aim is to create an app for brand building then you must make it an integrated high engagement component of a wider marketing strategy. Coca-Cola developed a highly integrated brand experiences that encouraged customers to embrace mobile engagement in coordination with offline marketing activities in Hong Kong called ‘Coca-Cola Chok! Chok! Chok!’.

3. Mobile: The Business

Retails brands, particularly those who engage in online selling should explore developing a fully integrated mCommerce strategy and optimize the experience across multiple platforms, for both mobile websites and apps.

Amazon encourages customer interaction via laptops access as well as through apps on multiple mobile devices. Each touch point allows customers to browse, shop, compare prices, read reviews and share products with friends. Amazon adds value to the customer experience by giving them full access to their existing shopping basket, wish lists, payment and order history across every device they use. Shopping on Amazon has never been easier for the customer and the retailer has the profits to prove it.

The Starbucks app uses the smart phone as a loyalty card, making it easier to manage balances and reload money. In some stores, the mobile device can actually be used to pay for purchases. One of the highlights of this app is the ability to create personalized drinks.

Going Mobile? What you need to know

26,000 Apps were submitted to iTunes App store in the first seven months of 2012. With the explosion of Apps in the market place many brands waste huge sums of money investing in an over crowded marketplace. Apps like any digital initiative must be ground in clear strategies that harness specific business needs and user interests.

Whether creating a brand App, developing a mCommerce strategy or fully utilizing a mobile-enabled website, brands must begin by analyzing customer behavior and establishing goals for their mobile strategy. Understanding how to leverage data analysis and reporting to help build a great customer experience is key to becoming successful as a ‘mobile’ brand.

If we have learned anything from Social Media marketing in the last number of years it is that understanding the analytics is key to maximizing ROI. The number of fans, comments and click-throughs do not necessarily translate to bottom line results. Geo location data and advanced analytics need to be incorporated into mobile strategies to understand segments, influencers and customer behaviours.

What is the value of mobile marketing to your brand?

Brands need to develop a clear understanding of the mobile experiences’ value proposition to customers and the potential impact on the core business. Is the mobile experience going to be an additional sales channel? Is it going to enhance the in-store experience? Is it going to increase customer engagement with the brand and build loyalty?

The most important word to consider when adapting to mobile marketing is integration. Mobile marketing and mobile advertising for brands can only be truly successful when it becomes fully integrated into your overall brand strategy. It can be an incredibly powerful tool when it harnesses the synergy offered by linking with the other marketing touch-points. The mobile landscape is changing rapidly. Do not be the brand that gets left behind.

• Have you strategically integrated mobile marketing into your brand strategy?

• Could an ecommerce strategy help grow your bottom line and extend your brand reach?

• How are you going to leverage mCommerce in the coming year to grow your business?

4 Top Tips in Social Media Trends and Brand Strategy Planning for 2013

November 20, 2012/0 Comments/in Brand Strategy, Brand Voice, Branding, Customer Engagement, Facebook, Integrated Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Linkedin, Marketing, Mobile, Online Marketing, Pinterest, Return On Investment, Smart Phones, Social Engagement, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube /by Lorraine Carter

It is hard to believe there are only a number of weeks remaining in 2012. Harder still to understand how in the months since 1st January 2012 the business world has had to adapt and react so rapidly to the ever-evolving social media whirlwind.

The increasing sophistication of the applications themselves was expected but the new ways in which they have be utilized by brands and how it has impacted on the very nature of brand and customer behaviour has surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts.

That said, even social media brand champions don’t have time to be complacent with new trends in social customer behavior and applications already emerging for 2013.

In an attempt to stay somewhat ahead of the curve, brands needed to recognize the shift in consumer behavior on social media sites and be proactive in adapting their own online activity accordingly. Here are some social media trend tips that will increasingly affect brands in 2013.

1. Image Heavy Content

From image specific social networks like Pinterest, to image uploads on the likes of Facebook, pictures are sparking engagement by audiences of all ages and demographics.

Although relatively new to the market Pinterest is now the 3rd largest social network, followed by image-centric Instagram. Brands need to respond to online audience behaviour. Engage your customers by making brand congruent image-content a focal element of your strategy.

Free People clothing capitalized on their customer’s interaction on Instagram to create an engaging social campaign that transferred into offline sales. The brand attached individualized hashtag cards to its jeans. On the cards, customers were encouraged to take a picture of themselves in the jeans, post the photo on Instagram, and tag it with a specific hashtag.

The brand ended up with significantly increased brand engagement as hundreds of great customers photos appeared not only on their own feed but on their follower’s feeds too. The brand selected some of the images to appear on their website, turning its customers into models and engaging with its community in a creatively impactful way, all of which converted into increased sales.

2. More Authentic Voice

By their very nature social network profiles, even those of brands, should reflect the social element of the communication tool. Brands who respond to customers with a tone that reflects that of an actual person, and not an automated system, not only initiates a much better response with customers but can actually enrich the brand experience. Use of humour by brands in their posts has shown to elevate the level of engagement with customers too. A cautionary note though, humour should be used judiciously and congruently with what your brand stands for and is associated with.

3. Evolving Platforms

You might feel that your brand has got a handle on some of the more prominent social networks, and then they evolve, requiring a shift in social content element of your brand strategy.

The last few months has seen significant changes for Brands who utilize Facebook as a tool for brand development and customer interaction. When brands post on their page, it may only reach a limited amount of the people that Like that page. Facebook have now launched Promoted Posts which help increase the people you reach, for a fee.

Brands can now promote their posts so it gets better placement in its Facebook fans’ news feeds. They can also target posts based on specific location or language, and will be able to keep track of how many people saw the post. Your promoted posts will be seen by a larger percentage of the people who like your Page than would normally see it.

While this feature is a benefit to those who have a budget to support frequent sponsored posts, it also requires brands to change their posting activity in a way that encourages increased engagement from the customers that view the posts. Running competition apps encourages customers to engage and share brand content; increasing the visibility of brand posts without having to pay for attention.

Mobile strategy will not be merely an additional option for brands but should be fully integrated into the communication strategy. As more touch points emerge between brands and their customers, your brand strategy needs to be flexible enough to incorporate new technologies and tools that enhance the customer brand experience.

4. Quality Not Quantity

When it comes to online fans, brands are starting to realize that it is not the quantity of fans that counts, but rather identifying who are the quality fans that truly engage with the brand’s online activity.

Brands need to start understanding who, what, when, where, how and why your community engages with the brand page. Which fans are engaging with the brand’s online activity? What content gets the most interaction? And what communities are the fans sharing posts with?

Use insights and analytics to help you understand your actively engaged fans and followers so you can develop the best social marketing strategy for your brand and customers. Identifying, recognizing and rewarding your engaged fans and followers can be far more beneficial in developing brand loyalty and turning online engagement into offline sales.

The quality and use of the content created by brands online will also need to be reexamined. Brands need to stop marketing at their customers and instead increase the dialogue with their fans.

Increase brand affinity by listening to and learning from your customers. There will also be a higher demand for integrating the entire marketing process. The analysis gleaned from fan interaction online should be used to educate sales and customer care departments.

Its time to amplify your brands impact through a fully integrated brand strategy which seamlessly encompasses on and offline – marketing, sales, analysis of customer behaviour through both social media and traditional channels so you can drive your business forward successfully.

Maximize the ROI of your efforts by listening and responding to your most engaged customers and applying what you learn to generate growing sales in the year ahead.

• Are you learning from your social media analytics?

• Are you adapting to the changing online behaviour of your customers?

• Have you adapted your brand strategy to include the rapidly evolving world of social media?

How to Successfully Build Your Brand in a Post-Digital World

August 7, 2012/0 Comments/in Brand Experience, Brand Reputation, Brand Risk Management, Customer Engagement, Customer Service, Integrated Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Mobile, Online Marketing, QR Codes, Social Engagement /by Lorraine Carter

‘Digital’ is no longer a buzz word in business circles, nor is it viewed as another tool in the marketing arsenal. It’s now so integrated into our lives that it underlies everything we do.

Consequently digital has radically changed the rules with regard to managing a brand’s development and reputation. Companies are now operating in a post-digital world, which continues to evolve, and challenges marketeers to constantly update their strategies to stay relevant.

Traditional brand building models are no longer adequate on their own and must be fully underpinned and leveraged with a digital strategy if they are to flourish. Put digital centre stage if you want to succeed. Fully embracing digital is critical to building a brand that remains relevant with today’s customer and enjoys sustainable growth.

Understanding Your Customers Online

Customers are increasingly becoming ‘digital natives’; embracing digital technology in all aspects of their daily lives. Creating a brand that remains relevant in the post-digital world starts with understanding the post-digital global culture.

Digital natives like to converse and share information online. The ease at which today’s customers can talk about a brand online, share their opinions, and influence the market means that, in essence, digital natives have become co-creators of your brand. They drive your image, reputation and bottom line.

As your customers becoming increasingly powerful in shaping your brand it is critical you fully understand they are in effect co-branders. Rather than trying to control customer opinion, successful brands are those who aim to listen, understand and engage with their customers. To succeed you must build your brand strategy with a fully inclusive thought process that respectfully includes, understands and integrates their input.

Your customers will talk about you and disseminate their opinions to the market whether you engage or not. Far better to proactively and responsively be part of the conversations! Anything that hinders speed and agility contributes to failure. The market is littered with disaster case studies of brands that arrogantly ignored or poorly responded to their customers, contributing to their own demise.

Brands that embrace this fluid and constantly changing dynamic with their customers have a far greater capability for exponential growth and lasting success.

Engaging with Your Customers Online

Never before has engaging with digital natives at all touch points been such a critical factor in the development and success of brands. Customers increased access to information, choice, and purchasing opportunities means it is a much more non-linear decision making process.

Customers now are much more influenced in their purchasing decisions by online conversations, reviews and pre-purchase interactions, even if their final actual purchase is made offline. Social endorsement carries huge weight in the purchasing mindset today.

76% of customers recommend companies they trust to a friend or colleague. (Source: Edelman)

The Millennial generation are highly-skeptical of brand content and marketing in social media. Instead 86% of customers in that group say that user-generated content has more influence on what they buy. (Source: Bazaarvoice Study)

62% of all online shoppers read product-related comments from friends on Facebook, with 75% of these shoppers clicking through to the retailers site. (Source: Sociable Labs Social Impact Consumer Study)

With the voice of their peers having greater influence than the voice of the proprietary company, brands must make sure that they solicit feedback from customers in order to ensure their offering remains relevant, satisfies their customers needs and builds customer loyalty. Amazon is a great case in point with its recommendation system, loyalty programme, post purchase feedback and mobile app.

Unsatisfied customers can damage brand reputation at an alarmingly fast rate. By having an appropriate brand strategy and structures in place to respond and engage with your customers at all relevant touch points you can ensure that digital natives are poised to support your brand development in their online interactions. Honesty, integrity and responsive consistency in all your brand interactions is critical to your success, and is the cornerstone to your brand risk management strategy too.

Technology also offers brands new opportunities to engage with their customers e.g. QR codes have been used by multiple B2B and B2C brands such as Irish Management Institute, Guinness, Tesco and Volkswagen to instant purchasing options with apps on mobile devices e.g. Amazon, Ebay and many of the utilities companies too.

The ability to extend the reach of your brand experience has never been greater. By embracing digital in all aspects of your business your brand can offer customers a flexible and consistent experience, which they can also adapt to suit their lifestyles, and you can use to manage their expectations too.

Create a Consistent Brand Experience On and Offline

Customers no longer see a divide between their online and offline experience of a brand. Virtual and real worlds are now merged into a more complex tapestry of ongoing experience. Touch points that range from websites, to apps, social media platforms and face-to-face interactions all offer different kinds influence when it comes to building a positive and consistent brand experience.

Digital is now a fully integrated part of peoples’ lives therefore it should also be fully integrated into your brand strategy so that your online and offline brand activity seamlessly merges into one great experience for your customers and enhances their lives.

Consistency in the brand experience is critical in the building of a relationship with your customer. Customers expect to be able to get feedback, deals and reviews, even while standing in a retail or service environment. Brands must be proactive in order to be relevant.

Apple’s commitment to ‘humanizing technology’ demonstrates success, which includes a formidable combination of its quality products with the experiential “wow” of the Apple Store and it’s ‘genius’ service. This symbiosis between the real and the virtual, including making an appointment online to get customer support at the local store, is a significant contributory element to Apple’s success. Apple seamlessly simplifies and enhances their customers’ lives.

Digital technology has forever changed our cultures, work and home lives around the world including social structures. This needs to be reflected in your business to ensure long-term success and be a critical part of your brand risk management strategy too.

• How thoroughly have you integrated your brand into the post digital world?

• If you are falling short in your online brand strategy, how quickly are you going to address this risk to your business?

Social Media – How to Choose the Right Fit for Your Brand for Effective ROI

August 3, 2012/0 Comments/in Brand Relevance, Brand Strategy, Business, Communication, Customer Engagement, Facebook, Google+, Interactive Marketing, Market Demographics, Marketing, Mobile, Online Marketing, Pinterest, Return On Investment, Social Engagement, Social Media, Target Market, Twitter /by Lorraine Carter

Social media adoption figures have sky rocketed in Ireland in the last few years. The Irish market has shown an engagement with social networks that is among the highest in Europe. We are the 4th heaviest users of social media in the EU, the 2nd highest users of Linkedin after the USA, and 1 of every 5 minutes we spend online is spent on social networks.

In contrast Irish businesses have been relatively slow to adopt social media as a tool to engage with this very active online audience and to leverage it effectively for commercial return.

We have spoken before about the value of social media for building brand awareness online. Implementing a social media strategy for business takes an investment of time and resources. To maximize the return on this investment, it is vital that businesses understand and select the right social media fit for their brand and design content that suits the activity typical of each individual network and their brands relevant target audience. Selecting the right type of social network for your brand requires a number of considerations.

Which social networks suit your brand?

With so many social networks available it is important to pick the type that best fits with your brand image/personality/values etc., your product type, and that has the highest propensity of target market users. Remember, different social networks serve different purposes and target different markets.

For consumer brands operating in Ireland the focus must include Facebook. In both Ireland and worldwide Facebook continues to dominate where consumers spend their time online. It is still a less relevant platform though for B2B interaction compared to other options available.

Twitter should also be considered. Penetration numbers with Irish audiences mean that members of your target audience can be found in that space too but engagement style is quite different to Facebook. Twitter is also a very valuable B2B platform, again depending on your target audience.

YouTube is the second largest social media site after Facebook and the second largest search engine after Google making it one of the hottest social media platforms. It’s an ideal platform B2B or B2C to expand your content marketing and grow your brand awareness, when used appropriately. It also brings your brand alive in a more personal way, in terms of getting a sense of your brand personality.

Linkedin is the professional social media network and very business orientated. With 591,000 Irish users it is a must for any professionally orientated brand serving a B2B market. This audience is typically older, educated and has higher incomes. Three quarters of Linkedin members have a college or university degree. Two thirds are over thirty-five and seven out of ten earn over $60k/€50k.

Pinterest is a more recent social media platform to show significant and very rapid growth globally as well as in Ireland and has passed out Twitter in the US in term of frequency of online activity. It should definitely be considered by brands that have compelling visual content; particularly if they also sell consumer products relating to food, the home, arts & crafts, style & fashion, vacations & travel, inspiration & education etc. It has a very strong female usage bias in the US but is more equally balanced between the genders in the UK.

Google+ is growing at an increasingly fast rate, particularly among males in the 25 – 35 age. It has increased its audience share in Ireland by 13% since the beginning of the year and this looks set to continue.

Where are your brands target customers?

Pick the appropriate social network that contains the maximum number of your brands target audience.

With over 2,093,900 Facebook users in Ireland, 68.5% of the population, it is safe to say that Facebook should be a focus for any consumer brands looking to increase target awareness online, particularly within the Irish market. The same applies with Twitter, who have over 180,000 Irish members and growing daily.

Facebook is more popular among Irish females and the average age of a Facebook user is 30.5 years. While the highest portion of Facebook users are in the 15-35 age bracket, the 55+ is growing at the highest rate.

Why do they use social media and when are they most active?

Depending on your audience type and relevant platform, they are largely using social media for their personal entertainment. However professional platforms like Linkedin are business orientated and used for multiple professionally related reasons e.g. information sources/sharing, building professional profiles and brand awareness, networking and recruitment etc.

This is important to remember when exploring how best to target your online customers. No social demographic wants to read content that is entirely promotional or irrelevant to their interests. All media strives to produce interesting, entertaining, and compelling content and social media should be exactly the same.

Understanding what your target audience is doing online makes it easier to target them with messages that catch their attention and stimulate interaction. Entertaining content typically gets most attention and is usually the most widely shared.

Latest figures from American markets show a growing trend amongst audiences to use social networks, particularly Facebook and Youtube, while watching television and sporting events. Audiences are looking to interact and share their experience in real time.

On the other hand Linkedin often hits peak use at lunchtime in the US through to the afternoon for viewing public profiles, while engaging from their desks, and mobile usage peaks after dinner in the evening as users think about their personal/business goals etc.

It is important for marketers to become skilled in engaging in conversations about hot topics in order to generate relevant customer interest online. Brands who join in conversations and do not simply try to self promote typically create far more valuable interactions with their online audience.

What content will resonate with your audience?

Monitoring the online conversations of target audiences can provide valuable insight into the type of information that engages brand/customer interactions most.

Compelling Content is Key

When it comes to content for social networks it is not one fit for all. Each social network will have unique audience interactions requiring its own brand strategy. Tone, content type, and audience demographic vary between networks. Brands who push the same content on all their social media profiles are wasting a valuable opportunity to increase target awareness.

Posts should be tailored to the fit each individual social network. If your brand uses Facebook to promote sales and promotions then consider using Twitter as a customer services tool. Like any marketing campaign it is important to gage reactions and adjust your social media campaign accordingly.

• Does your brand have a social media strategy?

• Is your brand active in a social network that maximizes target audience reach?

• Can we help you to tailor your online activity to maximize your ROI in social media marketing?

QR Codes – A Hot Trend for Cross Platform Marketing to Grow Your Brand

May 18, 2011/0 Comments/in Advertising, Apparel, Brand Collateral, Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Engagement, EProducts, Estate Agents, Innovation, Integrated Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Market Insights, Market Research, Marketing, Mobile, Online Marketing, Packaging, Packaging Design, Pharmaceutical Industry, Professional Services, Publishers, QR Code Readers, QR Codes, Retailers, Return On Investment, Smart Phones, Social Engagement, Social Media, Target Market, Technology, Tourism, Trends, Wayfinding Systems /by Lorraine Carter

A QR Code (short for Quick Response) is a specific matrix barcode, storing information in both the vertical and horizontal directions, readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and smart phones / camera phones.

QR Codes were originally developed in 1994 and used in the vehicle manufacturing industry for tracking parts etc, but are now being used very successfully in integrated marketing campaigns across the globe. The technology has seen a huge uptake in Japan and South Korea.

A smart phone user can now scan one of these QR Codes in magazines, newspapers, on transport and billboards, business cards, products, packaging, on a PC, TV or cinema screen and it can take the user to a URL (webpage), video, send them a text message, save a vCard or event to the users contact book or calendar and even compose an email. QR Codes effectively create a direct link between the physical world and online arena.

While the adoption of QR Codes in some markets has been slower to take off, the technology is gaining some serious traction in the smartphone market. Ireland has some of the highest smart phone penetration rates in Europe with an estimated 1.3 million users.

Indeed many Android, Nokia, and Blackberry phones come with QR Code readers pre-installed and iphone has a large selection of free downloadable QR Code reader apps available in iTunes. QR reader software is now available for most mobile platforms.

For any savvy business owners, brand custodians and marketeers, QR Codes are of particular interest as they give them the “ability to measure response rates with a high degree of precision” allowing for easier ROI (return on investment) calculation, thus helping assess effective spend in marketing budgets.

Examples of QR Codes Used to Promote & Grow Your Brand:

1. Food & Drink Producers:

QR Codes on packaging, leaflets, posters, vehicle livery, advertising and indoor displays can be used to launch an event or provide information relating to online promotions, Facebook competitions, information about where food/drink/beverages have been grown and produced, consumption suggestions together with recipes and serving suggestions on your brand’s web site.

2. Professional Services:

Add QR Codes to your business cards, stationery, newsletters, white papers, videos and presentations etc. to provide customers with a direct link to additional information about your business and new services, launch a conferences or announce a seminar, identify calendar fixtures (scan the code and save the date, time and place of an event), LinkedIn page and more in-depth news updates.

3. Pharmaceutical Industry:

Use QR Codes to drive your target audience (professionals or consumers) towards accessing more in-depth information specifically about health, therapies, OTC brands, products, usage, white papers, research and development, innovation, responsibility, mission, investors, media releases, seminars, conferences, careers etc.

4. Retailers:

Retailers can use QR Codes printed in window displays or on brand promotion collateral with special offers delivered to the consumers smart phone when scanned, together with appliance/product instructions, new product launches, competitions, Facebook incentives etc. They can also use QR Codes on clothing tags, books, electronic goods and toys. QR Codes can also be used on staff uniforms, name tags and signage.

5. Publishers:

Whether you are producing books, magazines, newspapers or newsletters you can add interactive elements online to support and enhance your hard copy content making your brand material more valuable and a front of mind brand, as a “go-to-resource” for your consumers e.g. more in-depth article analysis, video content and interviews, interactive entertainment guide, sports clips/profiles, interactive exhibition reviews etc.

6. Tourism & Wayfinding Systems:

Restaurateurs, hotels, guest houses, cities, countries (Tourism Ireland) you can use QR Codes on posters, advertising to promote and bring your audience directly to your destination and give them an interactive “feel or experience” using video etc., for what you have to offer, together with incentives such as discount or promotional/ticket codes. QR Codes can also be used to interpret natural and historical points of interest in museums, walking tours and on nature trails, adding to or enhancing the user experience through the signs.

7. Estate Agents:

Put a QR Code beside each property listed, or on “For Sale” signs, and interested customers can scan the relevant code supplying them with information such as GPS coordinates, a Google Map with directions, house plans, property features, launch a video or photo tour of the property etc.

8. Politicians & Celebrities:

Use QR Codes in appropriate locations or in relevant media so the target audience can scan and see the VIP speak about their policies or promote an upcoming event, movie or participate in an interview etc.

Some recent examples of effective use of QR Codes include the following.

In January 2011, the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum launched a line of branded museum t-shirts and apparel which featured museum brand logos and designs on the fronts and a QR Code screened on the right back shoulder, which directed to the museum’s web site or artist interviews.

The U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan in Seoul, South Korea became the first Army organisation to use QR Codes for official media campaigns in January this year.

The Japanese are using QR Codes in cemeteries on grave stones as a way to remember and share more information about their loved ones and unite mourners !

The Lviv Tourism Movement (Ukraine) have placed QR Codes on more than 80 tourism objects helping individual tourists easily access information about the city.

Sun-Maid, that iconic centennial brand, has used QR Codes on its canister and six-pack raisin packaging in a bid to increase brand loyalty/awareness and give it the competitive edge.

In a promotional tie with the Dreamworks animated movie “Kung Fu Panda 2”, debuting later this month, they are using QR Codes to take consumers to a mobile website where they can enter a contest to potentially win the grand prize, a trip for four to Zoo Atlanta. Top winners will get VIP treatment at the Zoos Giant Panda centre and the company will also give out “Kung Fu Panda 2” toys to 100 other sweepstakes winners. Sun-Maid raisins are a favourite brand for kids, so the “Kung Fu Panda 2” cross-promotion is a natural tie-in.

As a brand awareness, marketing and business growth tool QR Codes offer almost limitless innovation and opportunities, with definitive measurability. Be it a teaser, guerrilla marketing campaign, event management or information resource, the list is endless !

Some examples of QR Code readers for your smart phones include:

iphone: Qrafter, i-nigma QR Code Reader

Blackberry: QR Code Scanner, ScanLife 2D Code Reader, ATT Code Scanner

Android: Barcode Scanner

How would you like to leverage the use of QR Codes to grow your brand and increase your sales ?

Give us a call, we’d love to hear your thoughts and share some of our more exciting ideas to make your brand grow and come alive !

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