Well, we really went down the rabbit hole on this one. This topic has so many ins and outs that we could write an infinite number of articles about on the different aspects. Let’s start by defining what neuromarketing actually is. You can probably guess, it combines neuroscience and marketing techniques. Neuromarketing studies the neurological responses, including brainwave activity, eye tracking and skin changes to certain marketing stimuli in order to better understand consumer behaviors. It’s fairly new and has only been around since the early 2000’s. Once considered controversial, it is now starting to be viewed as promising, since scientifically it has improved greatly over the past five years and it can be used to test product design, UX testing, A/B testing, CTA, images in ads, rebrand campaigns etc. let’s jump into some of the techniques used to track and what insight each offers to brands and advertisers.
Benefits of Influencer Marketing
We’ve all been hearing about influencer marketing trends recently. It’s expected to grow even more in 2023. But why is this trending? What benefits does influencer marketing offer? We want to touch on why influencers are the hot new thing when it comes to marketing strategy. We’ve licensed a lot of user generated content from influencers for advertising campaigns. There’s a reason it’s successful. Let’s take a look.
Found Content in Holiday Marketing & Advertising
We recently read an interesting article from AdAge about the state of holiday marketing this year and according to them, “promotional tops emotional.” Honestly, it makes sense with the state of the economy being what it is right now. The financial uncertainty during these times makes for a more discretionary consumer. That being said, we firmly believe that you don’t have to remove one to use the other. Why not use promotional and emotional messaging? You can have your cake and eat it to.
Best Social Media Sites for Video Content 2022
Over 58.7% of the global population is on social media and uses it as their primary source of information. That’s roughly around 4.65 billion people. When it comes to social media marketing though, a one size fits all approach does not work. It’s important to know which audience hangs out where so you can know what kind of video content to make and where to put it.
Good Reads for Marketing Businesses
Artificial Intelligence & Marketing
Well everyone, it seems that the future is here. No flying cars just yet but that doesn’t change the fact that artificial intelligence has now become a part of marketing. Strange times we live in, now right?! Seriously though, AI is becoming more important for the improvement of marketing and real-time engagement. Think about the chat box that helps you when you have a question on a website. This is AI but this isn’t all it’s doing now.
Seasonal Campaign Marketing
Every year we watch as department store decor changes looks as summer fades to fall. Then, fall turns winter that eventually circles back to summer. Every season or holiday comes with its very own promotions. This is an opportune time to connect more with audiences through emotional marketing strategies. It can also help reach new audiences.
Email Marketing Stats 2022
We recently did an article on The Power of Email Marketing. We thought it only fitting to follow up with some recent statistics for 2022 to back it up. We like to talk the talk and walk the walk. Here is a list of some of what we consider to be most important.
Generation Alpha
Generation Alpha will outnumber the Baby Boomer generation within the next four years, according to Mccrindle. These numbers are significant as the Boomers were listed on Pew Research Center at about 72 million in 2019 and, according to HubSpot, Gen Alpha is expected to grow to over 2 billion by 2025. Why does this even matter when currently the oldest Gen Alpha is merely 12 years old? It matters because when these little guys and gals grow into adults, they will be the ones that advertisers will be trying to appeal to on top of Gen X, Y, and Z. it will be important to understanding what things makes this generation unique in order to properly advertise to them.
Outbound vs Inbound Marketing
Outbound marketing: traditional form of marketing in which the company/brand initiates contact with potential customers. Inbound marketing: attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences personalized for them. Both have a place in the marketing world but we do favor inbound over outbound in today’s world.
Content Marketing: The Why, The How and The Where
What in the world is content marketing exactly? What makes it different than traditional marketing? Well, “it’s a strategic approach that focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience” (Content Marketing Institute). Think of it this way. It’s much less spammy than traditional ads and doesn’t really pitch your product or services. Instead, it presents your audience with content that helps them solve their issues through the use of videos, blogs, social media, infographics, etc. with the intention of stimulating interest. But why is this type of marketing more prevalent now than it was 20 years ago?
Pareto Principle
I’m sure you’ve all heard of the 80/20 rule but probably not in the way we mean for this article in terms of economics. The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your results come from 20% of causes. It was observed by a man named Vilfredo Pareto in 1896. This principle explains the correlation between effort and outcome. So, how can this be applied to business? Using this technique can help prioritize tasks that are of highest impact throughout your work day. Here are a few detailed ways that you can use the Pareto Principle in your business.
Marketing Myopia
You might be asking yourself right now, what in the world is myopia let alone marketing myopia. The term originated at Harvard Business School by Theodore Levitt who was a professor there in the 1960’s. The term, coined by Levitt, is defined as a short-sighted and inward approach to marketing that has little imagination, foresight, intellectual insight while focusing on the needs of the business rather than on the needs of the customer. There are a few key reasons why this happens within a business.
Importance of Mobile Optimization
We assume that your brand wants to reach every consumer that it can! If this is true, then your business must adopt a mindset that has the mobile experience in the forefront. In our previous article we talked about how different generations require different marketing techniques. Many of these reasons are due to technological preferences across generations. According to the HubSpot State of U.S. Consumer Trends, 56% of people surveyed stated that they use their mobile phones for searches and 44% of those people discover new products through these mobile searches. You’re probably reading this article on your phone right now aren’t you? It’s important that whatever your brand is putting out there not only looks great on desktop format but also on a smartphone. The more user-friendly things are the more likely they are to stay and discover what your brand has to offer them. It should be noted that mobile optimization and mobile friendly are not the same. Mobile friendly will display on smaller screens but mobile optimization will actually reformat itself for a mobile device. Websites should not only be clean but simple to navigate as well. Improving your brands mobile optimization of its website, newsletters, etc. will get you higher search engine rankings, increased positive audience experiences and in turn, more business.
Email Marketing: Avoiding the Spam Folder
Spam filters are a great invention! It saves you from looking at unwanted emails constantly. However, as a brand or business owner, it can be a tough challenge to bypass in order to make sure your newsletters and other forms of email marketing are getting through. Spam filters work by using certain methods to identify potential red flags, such as checking the IP address against a black list of known spammers, deceptive subject lines and content within the email. These are all good things but when it comes to your marketing campaigns not so much. So, what are some solid ways to keep your emails out of the spam folders? Here are some of our tips.
Avoid spam triggers by:
Always using an unsubscribe button
Avoiding subject lines with all caps or exclamation points
Staying away from attachments
Adding too many images
Proof read people! Phishing emails tend to be laden with grammatical errors and can send your email to the spam folder if it contains to many typos.
Always get permission. This one goes without saying but let us reiterate. Make sure that your newsletter email list is full of people who have consented to receive them.
Email your subscribers regularly. This will help the spam checker to weed you out as a real person and not spam since your regularly sending emails to their addresses.
Whitelist your emails. All this means is that your recipients will add your email address to their contact list. Then, the spam checker will tell your emails to go into their inbox instead of the graveyard.
Use spam checkers. This system helps assist you in checking your emails for potential spam-like content. GlockApps and Mailmeteor are two great systems.
We hope this helps you on your email marketing journey. “41.5% of brands state that email marketing is critical to business success,” according to Litmus and we couldn’t agree more. Here at Locomotive we are always looking for more ways to improve our marketing and grateful to share our findings.
Which Social Media Channels are Best for Brands
According to Statista the leading social media platform for brand marketers is Facebook at 93%, with Instagram coming in second at 78%. Even if you’re a content creator, you want to get more engagement and turn followers into customers. We couldn’t agree more with this statistic. Let’s think about why this is. Look at YouTube for example. Sure, you can monetize to make money here but, you can only engage with your followers if they leave comments on your videos.
Neilson Global Marketing Report 2022
Connecting Authentically with Black Americans
Do you know the difference between race and ethnicity? A lot of people are unaware that there is a difference between the two. Race is the division of different groups of people based on physical characteristics, such as skin color, eyes, etc. Ethnicity is a social group of people that share a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, etc. For this reason, African American is no longer an accepted term for people of color. Actually, 1 in 10 Black Americans are foreign born from many countries around the world and therefore, black is a more inclusive, widely accepted term now.
Digital Marketing Trends 2022
Now that we’re at the end of the pandemic we can thankfully say that overall, this year been increasingly better than the previous two. Don’t you agree? Although we’re well into the summer, we’ve put together a quick list of things that are expected to be trending all year. They’ve been gaining steam and aren’t going anywhere. Here are our top 5.
