Surprise! Your Brand is a Media Company now!

What?  Not a funny April Fools joke Chris, we most certainly are NOT a media company.  We make fantastic widgets for crying out loud...

Not so fast my friend.  Look at your brand platform these days - website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube - all sponges requiring brand content and engagement with your core audience.  You are making videos folks, face the facts... YOU are a media company.

In the past, brands such as Tide, Coca-Cola, etc created aspirations for their core audience - i.e. the Brand trended the expectation to the masses - Good mothers use Tide, etc.  The Brand centralized the message back to its product/service. 

 

Nowadays, the customer is making that aspiration due to the immediacy of today's technological innovations.  Our focus as marketers is consumer driven based upon instant feedback received from - you guessed it - our Media Channels!  We are able to interact with our core audience in such a proactive way these days, that what is driving revenues - and Brand loyalty - is the content we create!

Read this article on how Red Bull has lead the way with this view of Brands as Media companies.

Millenials: Can they be loyal to your Brand?

Crazy thing I learned the other day:  A member of the Millennial generation is someone born in the 1980's and turns 21 in the new Millennium.  Makes sense, but from there, defining this new Generation becomes an anomaly to most.

The Millennials grew up with the Internet, cell phones, Apps, Multi-channel TV, and all the instant gratification that this new Age society can create.  But, can they be loyal to anything other than themselves?  If you look at it from an employment perspective - the answer is clearly no.  The long-term "stay until I retire" concept is dead, nowadays its "how quickly can I get promoted, or I'm outta here."

However, when it comes to Brands, 64% of Millennials say they feel the same loyalty to a Brand as their parents do! 




Great news for marketers, but it also comes with a caveat - you are going to have to work harder to keep them.  Social marketing, transparency, and yes, deals all motivate the Millennials.

For more, Read this great Article

Custom Promo Products: How swag can affect customer loyalty

Customer loyalty - it's the holy Grail of marketing y'all.  The customer who is loyal to your brand essentially becomes your Ambassador to the world.  It's why we spend so much money on social media, community outreach, etc.

But... are you thinking about a promotional product as well?  Fact of the matter is, a well placed, branded thank-you gift goes a long way in establishing repeat performances.

 

So... are branded items in your arsenal in creating loyalty?  If not, then you better load your gun... quickly!

Case Studies: Have they become obsolete in the Social age?

In the promotional products industry, case studies are a vital bullet in a salesperson's arsenal.  A strong case study can show a company's creativity, it's project management capabilities, and most importantly it's solution-based initiative.  Case studies also show how important promotional products can be in an overall marketing strategy, and by clearly defining the ROI, gives the salesperson a competitive advantage against the typical "mom and pop" shop.

However, in today's socially-generated ratings world, the case study may be losing it's lustre.  The key knocks are that a case study has a limited shelf life, especially in the Millenial "what have you done for me in the last minute" mindset.  More importantly, a case study is primarily company-driven - i.e. it is designed to show the company in the best light possible. That's all well and good - but can sometimes come off as disingenuous, not a good look for most salespeople...

With the trend towards buying online in the promo products industry, the testimonial has the preferred vehicle of establishing brand trust - look at my website and you'll see the same!  I am as guilty as the next guy when it comes to not showing Case studies, I'd rather have a client speak to our reliability than it come from my mouth.

With Yelp and other review-based methods of 3rd party recommendations, the problem becomes that of control - you piss one person off and it can ruin a good Yelp day...  So, what to do as a promotional marketer?

The answer may be a solid blend of both, I know for me I will be including case studies going forward as a means of differentiation and control of my own brand.

Please read more on this trend Here

Radiant Orchid - Pantone's color of 2014!

Radiant Orchid - let's face it, purple hues are in this year y'all!  As far as trends go, purple has been on the rise in the past few years with a lot of brands going to that color palette for primary or secondary colors.

The Radiant Orchid color is a paler purple look, ideal for secondary color schemes.  Take a look at it here!

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Ron Burgundy - Master content Marketer?

We all saw the Dodge Durango commercials, the incessant teasers of the Anchorman 2 movie, the guest Anchor spots on ABC and a North Dakota news program - Ron Burgundy was all over the place.  The movie was a success, generating over $100 Million in domestic ticket sales, and inevitably creating new movie quotations for years to come.  Over the top - yes.  Borderline obnoxious, some would say yes as well.  But... a marketing genius?   I would absolutely say yes!

By blurring the lines between comedy and advertising, the content strategy used worked across several media platforms generating enormous buzz for the movie - AND created key advertising and product opportunities for brands like Dodge, Jockey, and Ben & Jerry's (who doesn't like Scotchy Scotch Scotch ice cream?)  Ron Burgundy, the Movie character, became a brand ambassador for several key retail brands!

So, do you have what it takes to create a viral buzz across multiple media platforms a la Ron Burgundy?  Will Ferrell and Adam McKay have created a "sucker punch" advertising platform, can you?  Read More

Here's one of Will Ferrell's original commercials for Old Milwaukee:

Twitter tricks for newbies

I am one of the unfortunate few who still has trouble with the pound sign - you know what is now famously known as the hashtag.  I've used them wrong in every form and placement, so yes, I'm a #twittertard (yes I just made that hashtag up, and will probably not get anything from it)

So that being said, here are 10 #twittertricks that can be useful to all

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