Branding Category
Bad Brand Strategy Spoils Creative
We view brand strategy as the guidance system of the brand. When smartly researched and articulated, it can transform companies. It’s also the key reason creative work, from social media and web site development to advertising and web marketing goes haywire. Give creative teams garbage, they’ll give it right back to you in crazy ways you never dreamed of.
Here are the elements of a smart strategy:
1. A worthy objective. Ideally it’s attached to a metric. For example: increase sales 20% for BillyBob’s Bar Stools.
2. A clear definition of a single marketing problem that’s standing between your product, and achieving the objective. For example, Billy Bob’s Bar Stools are more expensive than the competition, and Bar Owners won’t to pay the difference.
3. Definition of your target audience. Be as specific as possible: For example, upscale bar owners and restaurant owners that serve microbrews.
4. A single sentence that states your argument. For example, Marketing will convince Bar Owners that Billy Bob’s Bar Stools are a better investment, because they last twice as long as the competition.
5. A convincing and true claim that supports your marketing promise. Billy Bob’s Bar Stools last longer, because they’re manufactured from construction grade steel.Finally, what does your brand sound like? Does Billy Bob sound like a private club, a college bar, or a neighborhood watering hole.
6. Strategy shouldn’t sound sexy, or like advertising. The goal is to present a clear argument for building your brand. As John Lyons said in his book, <i>Guts</i>, Strategy is a well thought out plan to murder the competition.”
With smart strategy, everybody’s happy. Creatives get the input they need. And you, as a marketing manager, will have a benchmark evaluating your agency’s work.
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Motivating Consumers with Altruism
Before you throw a wad of money at your next problem, consider this: Most consumers are more motivated by a pure sense of self-fulfillment than greenbacks. Social psychologist Edward Deci first floated this theory in the 1970s. In a series of experiments, Deci asked two groups of subjects to solve a puzzle. One group was compensated for finding a solution; the other had to make do with the satisfaction of cracking the problem. Deci observed that the unpaid groups outperformed the paid ones in speed, originality and overall satisfaction. We see this effect frequently when consumers perceive an altruistic benefit to a product, an advantage that will often bear a higher price. It’s another vivid difference between a commodity and a brand.
Use the News to Create Buzzy Campaigns
A quick public relations reaction to news that relates to your brand can spur exceptional results. After all, your customers are already tuned into the news. All you need to do is weave in a relevant story about your brand. Procter and Gamble, for example, immediately responds to oil spills by donating Dawn dishwashing detergent. The community relations effort drives millions in free publicity while embedding a key brand message about Dawn’s cleaning power.
You don’t need a billion dollar advertising budget to harness the same concept. After Sony announced that it would cease floppy disk production, Ideopia pounced on this news to unseat one of its client’s competitors, whose medical device is dependant on floppies. Yippee!
The Advantage of News Tie-ins
- Built-in and sensitized audience
- Credibility of third party endorsement, e.g. “Silicon Valley News says the floppy is dead.”
- Relevancy. It’s happening now, not six weeks from now when your next ad campaign launches.
Unearth News Tie-ins for Your Brand
- Monitor keywords and trending topics in social media
- Track online publications using Google Alerts
- Keep micro audiences in mind. It may not be news for June and Ward, but it could blow the top off your industry.
Develop a Quick Response Mentality
- Create an infrastructure that can think and act quickly.
- Social Media and Web: 1-2 hours
- Print: 24 hours
- TV and Radio: 12 hours
Brand Brainwashing with Web Contest.
Promotions and contests can stimulate short-term sales. They’re also a powerful tool for educating consumers about a brand, even the stuff that doesn’t seem so sexy on the surface, and gathering valuable information. A recent web promotion Ideopia created for Reliance Medical Products presented an entertaining quiz that educated prospects about the benefits of dealing with an American Manufacturer. In addition to driving engagement on an important brand value, visitors were required to answer questions before entering the quiz. Just the kind of stuff that you might use for customizing email… who knows? Let us know if you would like a tour of this project.
Learning Marketing from Monkeys
Research conducted on monkeys shows that Biffy’s brain releases dopamine when he gets to absorb knowledge before receiving food or drink. And another phase of the study showed that just the expectation of knowledge and drink released dopamine. Dopamine is like beer for the brain. It’s released when we achieve goals, and triggers the release of our primal urges. Long story short, of course, but it lends even more credence to the need of marketing to educate, entertain and interact with customers. No dopamine. No sales.