Combine your online and offline strategies for an industry-leading brand presence
Branding isn’t just about getting your logo seen everywhere. Your brand is your business. Successful branding is about communicating your values and vision to your target markets to attract, maintain and grow a loyal customer base.
Your brand should instantly communicate why you are better than your competitors, but it takes a lot of work to get to that point. To reach this point you need a branding strategy which incorporates every aspect of your business, from how your CEO behaves and how your employees feel about their jobs right through to the quality of your product or service and the end customer experience. Slideshare features a good deck on how to write a brand plan step by step.
To do this you can use an effective mix of online and offline techniques. However you present your…
Retail examples showing how to bring the on and offline worlds together through social and mobile channels.
I have been following the retail industry as businesses plunge or dip their toes into the omnichannel waters. Some are certainly doing some revolutionary, original campaigns using technology which I'll look at here - do share others you like!
This blog posts sums up my favourite case studies from retailers with some thoughts on how this will impact the modern marketing department’s strategies, as technology drives change.
How are retailers tackling the on and offline world?
Consumers are using multiple devices, screens, and channels to make purchases, but you know this already. Retailers still get a huge chunk of sales in their bricks and mortar outlets, for example clothing and footwear brands in the UK 44% of purchases are done in store*.
In store doesn’t provide the same level of data as their website or digital marketing activities. They will only…
How will Webrooming and Showrooming evolve this year?
The Holiday season has just past, while for some the numbers are still being tallied on whether or not end of year festivities were successful, let’s take a look at how shoppers got into the holiday spirit.
The holiday 2014 shopping season has shown an increase in shoppers’ spending for holiday gifts. Shoppers were eager to get on with the gift buying and avoid uncomfortable overcrowded situations. Online sales up by 8.3 percent in comparison to online sales in 2013. - IBM, 2014. Holiday spending for 2014 will rise by 4.1%, predicts the National Retail Federation predicted.
What is Webrooming and Showrooming?
Shoppers were engaging in two types of shopping behaviour: webrooming and showrooming.
Webrooming is identified by 'the behaviour a consumer takes by researching online, before going into the store to elevate and examine the physical product before purchasing.' [Donnelly,…
Protect your brand in 2015 with the right tools
If you thought brand competition was intense in the real world, you can only imagine what it's like in the free-for-all digital marketplace. Sales online are constantly rising northward, and as someone who expends a lot of energy, time and money in building relationships with your customers, while heightening visibility and increasing rand awareness to grow your brand's bottom line, this post is for you.
Your days can't possibly get any busier. You might be a one-person show. You might have a staff. In either case, while you read this post, you might think your work and of those around you might be heading into overtime. It doesn't have to be that way.
Below are some questions you should consider asking regarding the ever-growing online threats your brand faces. By choosing to implement a brand protection tool, you will be…
Studies showing how investing in branding can make a difference
When you’re running a business, investing in a professional to help you with your branding then it can seem like a costly and unnecessary expense – unless your brand is incredibly outdated a rebrand rarely feels like an essential. But the thing is, it’s probably a more crucial tool for growing your business than you think.
Why a brand matters?
Having a lacklustre brand or one that looks home-made and generally unprofessional will make people question the quality of your service or product – if a company can’t be bothered to invest in itself, why should they?
In today’s market, the internet means the consumer is confronted with an abundance of choice from entering a simple search term – and your business only has a few seconds to make a good first impression. If you website, product and brand don’t look the part, it’s likely you’ll lose…
Plus three ingredients that you can combine to create a powerful name and strap line
The name you select for a brand, product or service will clearly have a major impact on how prospects and customers perceive your service, but what are the options for choosing the best name? There are lots of ways to name a business, a service, or a product. The addition of a strap line can take the name a little further. From nonsensical words, like Google, to highly descriptive names, like Compare the Market – there are just so many ways to think about naming! Whilst it's true that naming is a bit of an art and today we are often constrained by domain name availability, there are certainly a few issues to consider to guide you to choose a name that can work much harder for you.
1. Nonsense names – e.g. Google
The benefit of a name like this is that once you’ve lodged…
Recommendations for a 1 hour brand audit process
There could be a number of reasons for carrying out your brand audit and there are as many metrics to be considered in order to get the answers, as far as the reception of your brand is concerned.
Your brand needs to stand out and a regular brand audit will make sure that you stay different.
So, what is included in a brand audit? The process involves a number of elements which would I will explain. You may be looking to acquire more customers, or your business may have taken a downwards slope, or maybe your revenue is going down. No matter what, even if your business is doing well, it is essential to do a regular online brand audit [see this Smart Insights brand audit template for a suggested structure to…
Tesco International use viral videos to make an impact at a low cost
At our #DigitalImpact2014 conference a range of brands shared their successes and hiccups on Digital Transformation. One example that stood out for me, and I thought would be interesting to share, is this international marketing campaign.
The marketing challenge for this campaign was that Tesco, although a household name in the UK, is entering new markets with its online grocery delivery service without a good level of awareness. It is looking to raise awareness amongst a younger generation who are using TV less than traditionally. Part of the solution was these humorous, lighthearted Youtube videos, which
This example shows how these videos 'went viral' in Poland. It's a great example of a campaign to show how entertaining and tongue in cheek content can appeal to different cultures. It started off as a low budget trial in Poland, and the videos reached…
How to simplify your website localisation project
A decade or two ago the extent of most business's online strategies would have been whether or not to bother having a website. Now there are all sorts of things to consider, from social media marketing to optimising for mobile and, if you are looking to reach an international audience, localising your website.
Localisation can be a huge project but there are ways to simplify the process. It can also be hugely important when it comes to reaching new markets. The World Wide Web theoretically puts the whole world at your fingertips but in practice there are cultural and linguistic barriers to overcome.
There's a temptation to think that a single English language website will suffice but numerous studies have shown this is not the case. A survey by Eurobarometer found that only 18% of EU…
Best practices and examples of building a brand in 2014
For many new businesses and startups, failure is not an option to be considered. Unfortunately, failure is exactly what the majority of new companies face the first time they introduce their brand on the internet. Far too often, e-commerce endeavours fail and the sad part is that most of the time, the owner has no idea what may have happened.
If this sounds like something you have been through, it may be time to take a good, long look at your branding strategy.
Why many branding strategies fail?
Many people do not realize exactly what a brand is or what it means to have one. They have a vague idea… yet never take the time to understand fully the concept or even realize that there is more to it than a recognizable logo. They find an appealing image, slap a catchy phrase onto it,…
