Trends come and go but good advertising lasts forever. We read a great article yesterday on the benefits of standing out from the crowd in the ad business or any business. We couldn’t agree more that it’s easy to go with the flow and just be like everyone else. The hard thing to do is be different and creativity should be wary of consensus. So, as humans how do we step into our uniqueness and let that shine through in a world that attempts to stifle it? Here are some steps you can take to embrace your one-of-a-kind self.
Ben Franklin Effect on Advertising
Locomotive is now based out of Philadelphia, so what more appropriate topic than the Ben Franklin effect in our home city of the founding father? Otherwise known as the cognitive dissonance theory, the Ben Franklin effect is a phenomenon when asking someone to do you a favor can make them like you more. The idea is that because that person does you a favor they are more likely to be convinced that the person is likable. Here’s how the process works inside our brains:
Content Intelligence
This is a new term being thrown around in the digital space but what is it exactly? It’s a technique that uses AI and software to measure the impact of content in order to give insights on what content should be used the most according to effectiveness. I mean, we do it all the time when we check the insights on Instagram from our posts. This is a human example of creating content intelligence. The beauty of using software & AI is that it streamlines the process for you. Typically, software includes metrics/reporting, analysis, automation and management tools for your brand content. Some benefits include:
Customer Relationship Management: Three’s Company
Yesterday we wrote about Increasing Customer Lifetime Value and customer relationship management goes hand in hand with this topic. The goal here is to improve customer service and in turn, improve relationships with the brand audience. CMR uses technology, practices and strategies to manage and analyze customer interaction as well as their data throughout their lifetime as your customer. It allows insights into past purchases, customer data and interaction history to deeper understand your audience. There are three main types of CMR: operational, analytical and collaborative.
When Hiring Content Creators
We all know by now that content marketing has become the top way to generate more leads, keep reader’s attention, improve loyalty and trust. The list goes on and on. Actually, a stat by demand metric research shows that 86% of businesses use B2C content marketing. As they should, it costs 62% less and the benefits are great (as mentioned above). This being said, there are a lot of content creators out there now so how do you know which one(s) to choose for your brand and its campaigns? There are a lot of things that you should look out for but we’ll list those that we feel are the most important.
Content Creation
We’re a content agency. We love good, quality content. This is a given. We’ve written about content creation in the past but directed it toward the creators. This article will focus on why quality content is important for brands. First, if the content is helpful and insightful, customers will trust you and begin to view you as an expert in your field, according to Forbes. Second, ROI is very high for quality content. 88% of marketers are happy with their return on investment of content. Third, SEO will increase with the right key words to promote your brands website. Lastly, it helps your brand get new leads, especially if the content has a CTA placement. We could go on with a million reasons why good content marketing helps your business grow but we know you get the point by now. Let’s look at how your brand can go about having a good content marketing strategy.
All the same rules for creators apply for brands, except now you have a specific audience to keep in mind. This is where creating a buyer persona comes in handy. A buyer persona is created through research to make a clear picture of the person you want to market to. Think of them as a created character for a story that represents your whole group of target market audience. Here’s a handy tool to help you get started from HubSpot if you’re unsure of where to start with this. Second, your strategy should include goal setting. Use the SMART method to determine them. Now, you have to keep the buyer’s journey in mind. Where are they in their buying process? Is it awareness of the problem? Are they considering a solution (the consideration stage)? Or… are they in the decision-making stage where they’re aware of the solution and ready to solve? You want to make sure that you have content for each stage of your buyer’s journey. The format of the content must also be considered. Is it easy for your audience to view, read, etc.? This brings us to the last topic: the different types of content.
There are many different types of content to consider when creating. There’s content just like the one you are reading: a blog. There are social media posts and stories. Infographics with short bursts of information or GIF’s. Video content is king in today’s world but podcasts are also on the rise. Lastly, there are webinars/seminars for your viewers as well. Which type of content you choose will be brand specific. While all brands will benefit from social media posts and stories, it may not make sense for them to conduct webinars. The type of content that your brand chooses will also determine the style. Blogs and podcasts tend to be conversational whereas webinars and seminars are in more formal setting.
Whatever way you shake it, a quality content creation marketing strategy is key for your brand. Honestly, creating content is super fun, so with the right creative minds behind the work you cannot fail. Collaboration within your company when creating content will ensure its success. Having multiple sets of creative eyes and minds on each piece will make sure that what your team comes up with will be the absolute best through great communication and teamwork.
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.
Silent Video
“Silence is a source of great strength”
-Lao Tzu
Imagine that you’re in a quiet work environment. You get on your phone to look something up. As the page finishes loading, a loud blast of sounds starts coming through and you fumble to get your volume button pressed down to zero. We’ve all had this happen to us. It’s disruptive and it affects people negatively. Turns out that 66% of people hate it when ads automatically play with sound on according to an article by Teads. In response, advertisers are trying to mitigate this by producing ads that begin to play automatically without sound. Since outstreamed videos are going to become a thing of the future, advertisers should focus on silent plays with captions. According to Facebook, captioned video ads increased views by 12%. Ads should be able to convey an emotional message without the use of sound. This can be done with the use of motion graphics and text within the campaign. This new trend will be a way for advertisers to use their creative license to make videos impactful despite not having any sound. We’re certain your team has the creative abilities to do this but here are some quick tips to get you started on ways to make your silent spots stand out and perform well.
1. Use bold visuals and/or animations. This will help catch the viewers eye and keep them engaged. It’s also very visually striking to see good fonts and animations that blend well together within your brand’s signature look.
2. Use Call to Action buttons. Make sure to insert in a way that it is natural flowing. You can even run tests before it launches to see where it receives the most clicks. CTA buttons are imperative to getting conversions. Using a download button seems to yield the best lead results (HubSpot).
3. Subtitles. If your brand feels it won’t be able to get its point across 100% without sounds then subtitles can offer a lot of relief. Facebook now offers a feature where you can automatically add captions to videos.
4. Write unconventional scripts. This is always a fun way to entice viewers to keep watching your campaigns. They’ll want to know what is about to happen next. I know I always appreciate a good creative ad that keeps me on my toes or just completely blows me away with how unconventional it is! A prime example would be the recent OutHorse Your Email Campaign for Visit Iceland.
5. Share your offers/discounts early in the ad. Since attention spans are shorter and shorter each year, you want to get the most important message out first. Research suggests that you have about 10 seconds to hook, line, and sink em’!
6. Be short and concise. Again, for those in the back who didn’t hear. Attention spans continue to lessen so it’s important to make your campaigns shorter than 60 seconds. The ad must also grab the attention of the audience immediately in order to keep them engaged in watching.
7. Don’t ditch the audio. Sometimes people do still listen to ads with sound on. Be able to convey your message without it but really drive the point home with the audio on. Make that emotional connection deeper with your audience.
In the words of the infamous Will Rogers, “Never miss a good chance to shut up!” This is definitely one of those times! A time for advertisers to harness the opportunity to creatively grow through the rise in popularity of silent ads is here. Let your campaigns say a lot through saying nothing at all! Happy creating!
Brand Recall
Content is Queen! “Did you know that 65% of people are visual learners and 94% of all communication is visual?” (Vennage). There are many benefits of visual marketing versus pure text as we all now know, but it’s important to make your brand memorable through your visual content advertising. People remember things visually so brand recognition is vitally important. Customers are more likely to remember your brand’s advertisements if they’re associated with something that they can recall easily because it caught their eye in some way. Was it different in some way? Did it make them think and use some brain power? Were they connected on an emotional level?
Creating Value Driven and Empathetic Content in Advertising
Why is empathy so important right now to consumers? The pandemic was absolutely dreadful BUT… it did drive some good shifts and this was definitely one of them. People want to feel some sort of connection with the brands that they decide to support. Now more so than ever. According to Harvard Business Review, “25% of people are healthy first, 16% planet first, and 15% are now society first.”
Video Advertising
92% of B2B prospects consume online video (Whiteboard Animation). This isn’t surprising since the rise of social media platforms that push video formats in the recent decade. In today’s society, banner advertising is a dying art form and the rise of digital video content advertising is here. There are many reasons for video format being at the forefront of the advertising space and, one of these being that little device that fits in your back pocket.
Harnessing Influencers for Marketing
Influencers… we can all name at least one in this day in age. Jake Paul for example has set out and created a great business for himself through YouTube and now in the boxing arena. Although, let’s be honest the guy can’t box. They just feed him poor old men who were once previously good Mixed Martial Arts fighters. Big difference from real boxers. Nonetheless, he’s made millions through his marketing strategy as an influencer. But how can brands harness the power of these influencers and what are the reasons they would even want to?
Marketing Challenge Predictions 2022
Now nearing the end of the pandemic 2022, the marketing and advertising industries will be facing their own new challenges as a result. There are many different opinions of what types of hurdles will come this year but we’ve put together a list of the top 5 that seem to be on every bullet point list out there right now.
What is the Metaverse?!?
This term metaverse has been popping up everywhere as of late and if you’re like us, you’re still a little confused as to what this actually means and how it will affect businesses. It seems that people are being urged to grab their spot in this virtual world. But why? And to what benefit would one gain from this? We decided to do a little research of our own to better understand what this new virtual world really means
Cost Effectiveness of UGC Marketing & Advertising
World Health Day 2022
The theme of World Health Day this year is “Our Planet, Our Health.” The first thing that comes to mind with this how we should treat our bodies is how we should the planet too. Changing the world begins from the inside out. Mental health directly affects physical health. This is why stress management is so important inside and outside of the workplace. Did you know that we spend 1/3 of our lives working and also, 80% of workers feel stress on the job (American Institute of Stress)? Makes sense then that we should be happy in what we choose for a career as well as the work environment we end up in.
Increasing External Brand Engagement with Sourced Content
Let’s talk about why brand engagement even matters but first, it’s important to know that there are two types of brand engagement: internal and external. Internal is that within the company through engaging with employees. External is engagement with the brand audience and what we will focus on in this article. External customer engagement is all about the emotional connection to the brand itself.
What is it Exactly That We Do?
To sum it all up, sourced content is a fairly new a niche field. Brands go to advertising agencies to create commercials that need user generated content. They then hire us to find that content. We find it. The ad agency decides which content they wish to use. Then, we get the rights for the content by purchasing usage for a specified term, wrap it up all nice a pretty and sent it on back to our clients.
The Continued Rise of UGC
As we are finally seeing the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel we can’t deny that this worldwide crisis changed us all in more ways than one. It shifted our mindsets and priorities in ways that most of us never saw coming. Some for the good and some for the not so good. In any case, it put most professionals from every background in a position of sink or swim. Adapt and evolve or face the consequences. This is also true for the advertising industry. As production shut down we saw a spiked increase in the use of user generated content in ads due to its accessibility and cost effectiveness. I mean, what better way to make the best of a bad situation when you can’t hire a team to shoot your next commercial. Brilliant really. Use what is already there and as an added bonus, people really resonate with content they can share an emotional response with. Think back to all of those “we’re in this together” commercials with clips of people banging pots and pans on their balconies and seeing family through the windows of their homes. All shot by someone who just wanted to capture a moment in time from their life. Every single person on the planet can relate to this content as we were all in the same boat at the same time. Let’s face it, the first time we all saw these commercials we probably all felt the same heartwarming emotions. Although, this type of content marketing was not new, it now took the spotlight. According to Forbes this sourced content marketing is now here to stay and not only that, it is on the rise. This makes sense as companies begin to reap the benefits of this type of advertising. So many in fact I’m not going to name them all here. That’s another blog all in itself. However, I will say that some of the top reasons to utilize UGC is that it is literally everywhere, it is for everyone, and it is authentic (ADAGE). This translates into an unlimited library of freshly uploaded content often. According to an article found in Hubspot, 31% of consumers actually find it more memorable than traditional forms of marketing. Finally, authentic content that is relatable will resonate with consumers. In short, UGC isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s the opposite. As the number of social media users continue to increase (Statista), it seems only natural that digital marketing will turn to sourced content from these platforms for their audiences.
