Start-ups : 10 things your website must have! We have found that one of the reasons that new or small businesses don't cross the 6 month line, is because their brand is new and unknown - which means customers are not aware they exist, or not aware of their products and services. Recently, StormTank launched a new package specifically designed for small / new start-up businesses. The thinking behind this new strategy was mainly to assist small businesses with 3 categories. The first, and ultimately most important - giving them a web presence where they can advertise their brand, market their products and services, and establish their rightful place in the industry they trade in. The second and third, is a combination of brand awareness and brand association - design a new, modern and suiting logo for their business, and utilize this logo on brand-new designed business cards that they can leave with prospective clients.
The first are of explorations - Websites. Top 10 things that every Small Business WEBSITE needs: 1. Keep it simple. Why influencer marketing scares the pants off advertisers. This is a guest post by Nicolas Chabot, VP EMEA at influencer analytics platform Traackr. Influencer marketing is replacing traditional advertising in social media – and this scares the pants off advertisers. This post continues a conversation started at Social Media Marketing 2012 when Luke Brynley-Jones from Our Social Times stirred up the debate by asking, “if social media was becoming just another advertising platform?”
Let’s put it simply: 1) Yes, advertising agencies and experts will attempt to apply advertising techniques and measurements to social media. 2) No, social media will not become another advertising platform. The reason is that social networks have fundamentally shifted the way organizations communicate. I am aware that the concept of influencer marketing sparks a few questions… How do I reach enough people? Taking the presentation I gave at SMM12 (above) one step further, here are a few initial elements for thought: 5) The Holy Grail? In a nutshell: Scary?
Why Brands Need to Act Like Media Companies. Times are changing. The Internet is cluttered with ads all competing for the attention of consumers. In order to stand out from the masses, brands need to start acting like media companies. Sarah Hofstetter, president of social agency 360i, says that content needs to be part of the marketing mix for brands to stay relevant and constant in today’s world of real-time relevance.
But distribution is key and is often overlooked. Distribution is what ensures that a brand’s content gets shared and should play a big role in the branded content strategy. What’s the role of branded content in an era of real-time relevance? We have been communicating to our clients that they need to think of themselves as media companies in order to be relevant and constant. What’s social media’s role here? Is your branded content strategy synonymous with your social media strategy? What do you see brands getting wrong with content? What are your best practices for content? How to Keep Your Business Communications From Turning into Evidence that Will Blow Up Your Business.
8 Reasons Why Content is King in Social Media. Social Media Marketing is strongly related to content. When starting with social media for business one of the first tips you get is: „Content is King“. That sounds easy enough, but to be honest it is not: content is not necessarily good content, and a lot of content out there in the social networks simply is not king! The easiest way to figure out, what kind of content will rule in the end, you have to understand what you want to achieve with the really good content and what makes content king. Here are our 8 reasons why „Content is King. 1.
Have you ever tried to put all your knowledge and wit, all your character and personality, all your experience and customer feedback into one short, crisp sentence? The right kind of diversified, intelligent, helpful, knowledgeable and entertaining content will prove your expertise and inspire loyalty. This is why, “Content is King.” 2. Trust, reputation and standing out from the masses need times to develop. That is why “Content is King.” 3. 4. 5. 6. Champion Your Expertise: Are You Really Inspiring Trust? Tagging yourself as an 'Expert' does not make you one. Ask yourself if you are creating an environment where your target audience believes your knowledge and has come to rely on your expertise.
A Thumbs Up Does Not Mean Business Business partnerships, cooperation and lasting relationships strongly depend on trust – especially in B2B. This trust is not built in a day nor articulated in the form of a ‘thumbs up’ (whether real or virtual). Real trust in business is based on recommendations, examples, case studies, and shared knowledge; it is established over a longer period of time. In offline business interaction, we build trust with our B2B networks by demonstrating knowledge and expertise in social settings (conferences, luncheons, meetings, etc.). In social media, the concept follows the same general principle: be helpful, reliable, engaging – and others with begin to trust what you have to say. Did You Hear What That Guy Said? Your Content Has Nothing On My Content 1. 2. Brands have too much data and not enough talent.
How many times have you heard the expression “we need a deck…” ? This usually means countless hours of working on a Power Point presentation that is likely to be edited and reedited wasting your time while consumers and customers pass on your brand because you’re too busy creating a presentation. I have been in Power Point hell creating decks as long as 80 pages and it’s not fun. The worst seems to be when someone in the process decides to remove key data or insights.
Here are some suggestions to market your Power Point internally and get your audience to come to the conclusions you want them to come to. 1ne: You should always keep a Power Point “master deck” with information that supports what you are doing. 2wo: Your deck should not be slides with charts and bullet points. 3hree: The less people you get involved in the approval process the less changes you’ll have to make. 4our: Never use colored slides. 5ive: It’s OK to use images but don’t over do it.
Brands Get Users Sharing with Social Video. The power of social video represents an evolution in digital advertising, according to a new eMarketer report, “Social Video: The Next Wave in Digital Advertising.” Marketers are starting to move past the interruptive model of the 15- or 30-second pre-roll ad and toward a broader strategy that includes longer opt-in videos with built-in sharing capabilities.
This branded content is designed to be consumed and shared on the social web, driving earned media and raising the potential for viral success. In some cases, social sharing has resulted in ad campaigns vastly exceeding their original audience targets. A Visible Measures report showed that user-initiated, English-language social video ad views served on its network reached 1.33 billion in Q1 2012, a 77.6% increase over the previous quarter’s total of 747 million. Because of its dominance in the video space, YouTube remains the leading venue for social video campaigns.
How is social video changing the nature of digital advertising? Five Marketing Takeaways from Brandwashed. Branding expert Martin Lindstrom exposes the marketing industry in his critically-acclaimed bestselling book, Brandwashed. You know, we’ve been “Brandwashed” ever since we were inside of our mother's womb. We are continually exposed to different commercials, posters and other marketing strategies employed to attract our attention and make us buy their products, or submit to their services.
However, little do we know that making a purchase of a certain product does not end their advertising efforts. This process gradually becomes a cycle that is so hard to break— since we were intentionally brand washed even inside the womb of our mothers. One man dares to tell it all— Martin Lindstrom. Author of Brandwashed, he is the branding consultant for top executives in numerous Fortune 100 companies including McDonald's Corporation, PepsiCo, American Express, Yellow Pages, Procter & Gamble, Microsoft Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, Unilever, Nokia and GlaxoSmithKline, amongst others.
Brands Will Become Media: Here's How. If your company doesn’t have the below model in place a year from now, you may regret it. You’ve probably felt it for some time, but now the roadmap is becoming clear—companies must build their own media empires. And if they don’t, they risk missing a window of opportunity that provides myriad benefits, whether it’s telling their own stories or becoming more efficient with the media dollars they spend. Trends in media consumption point to the convergence of savvy marketing tactics combined with a real-time newsroom approach for brands to be seen and heard in a collectively social, digital and mobile world.
Facebook: Engagement Isn’t Enough First, let’s start with Facebook which, thanks to an alleged algorithm change, has been at the center of controversy in the marketing world. For starters, it’s not enough to solely engage on Facebook. Sound familiar? The end game in social media won’t be accumulation of fans but rather your ability to reach them and potentially inspire action.
How To Choose Your Personal Brand – Part I. Popular Today in Business: All Popular Articles Do you have your basics covered? If you’re just getting started with personal branding, here’s what you need to keep in mind as you design your brand. If you’ve already chosen a personal brand, use this guide to make sure you haven’t missed anything, or perhaps to realize that you can get better results with a tweaked brand or a whole new one altogether. 1. This is the meat of your personal brand, the impression you want people to associate with you. You will want to be authentic in choosing a brand that’s as close as possible to who you are today. But where does it come from? Start on your own. Next, add existing external feedback. Comments, compliments & constructive criticism people have made (said, yelled, emailed, etc.) to you about youRecommendations and endorsements of any kind, such as letters from teachers, notes attached to exam results, evaluations, reactions on LinkedIn, newspaper reviews, you name it. 2.
Author: 5 Examples of Huge Branding Successes and How You Can Achieve Them Too. One of the most important components of defining your company is defining your brand. To become successful, you need to make sure that your logo is recognized instantly. Not only is this important for advertising reasons, but it is important as your company continues to grow. The trick is figuring out how to develop your company’s brand strategy to make sure it’s up there with the big name brand superstars. Let’s take a look at a few of these companies and how you can learn from their branding tactics.
Coca-Cola How does a soft drink create a brand that is recognized around the world? The best example of a successful Coca-Cola campaign was their 2012 Super Bowl commercial. Marketing takeaway: Relate to your audience and connect with your customers. Geico When you think of Geico, what do you think of? The Geico gecko has revolutionized and defined Geico’s brand. Marketing takeaway: Be creative and find a unique, exciting, and attention-grabbing way to express your message. Apple JetBlue. Engagement With Brands via Facebook Surging in 2012.
Among Facebook audiences worldwide, engagement with brands, via likes, comments, and shares, is surging in 2012, according to report by Adobe. The findings are based on Adobe's Digital Index, which covers some 260 billion ad impressions across 338 companies as well as Facebook activity among roughly 70 million fans. As of the third quarter of 2012, engagement levels with Facebook brand posts jumped 896% over those recorded a year earlier (index base of 100%). The figures below show quarterly index changes over the 3Q11 baseline for brand post engagement: Those increases in engagement are due to three main factors, according to Adobe: Brands' adopting Facebook's Timeline feature, introduced in late 2011.The adoption of new acquisition and engagement metrics.More effective social marketing by brands. Below, other findings issued by Adobe. Smartphones may also have contributed to the spike in engagement.
Other key findings for the third quarter of 2012: The brand and media power shift (and what it means for you) Fifteen years ago, if you were looking for a car, your first stop may have been the right-bottom corner of the grocery store newsstand. You’d scan Car and Driver, Luxury Auto and a slew of publications offering vehicle reviews and advice. Then you would visit dealerships with little to no information about your desired make, model or payment plan. You had no cohesive way to compare the prices and features of your final choices, or hear the opinions of current customers.
After a few weeks of research, you’d make your decision, hand over the money, grab the keys and drive away. In the age of the social customer, where the average shopper consumes 10.4 sources of information before handing over their money, this buying process has changed radically. There are several reasons for this shift, the biggest one being the emergence of the Internet and technology that allow just about anyone the ability publish content that a wide audience can consume and share.
With change comes opportunity.