“85% of the users are found to be more influenced by the UGC than the content made by the brands directly.” We’ve had the pleasure of working with some of these brands on more than one occasion. Here is a list of brands that have experienced the positives effects of UGC advertisements with great spots!
Current State of Remote Work 2023: The Evolution of the Work from Home Model
“As of 2023, 12.7% of full-time employees work from home, while 28.2% work a hybrid model” …. It’s also estimates that, “by 2025, 32.6 million Americans will work remotely.” (Forbes). I think it’s safe to say that the pandemic changed the workforce as we know it but what do management teams think and where is it headed? Certain CEO’s like Bob Iger are announcing that employees are expected to return into office at least four days a week soon and Drum recently reported that companies who “put up with [remote work] for a long time are finally getting sick of it.” Although some report being more productive at home, the data that companies are getting is proving otherwise. Here are there reasonings:
1. Remote work is hard for new hires: the onboarding experience seems to take hold better in person than virtual they say.
2. People work less: everyone says that they work more but some data sets are showing otherwise. People tend to work 3.5 hours less per week when working from home. However, the remote workers argue that they have a better work-life balance and are more focused when at home. Quality of work is much higher.
3. Productivity is very low on days when everyone works remotely: certain CEO’s believe that when their whole team is remote, they are less productive overall. While we can’t speak for an entire group of people, most are just the same if not more productive.
It seems that higher ups are trying to remove remote work from the equation but we think that their efforts won’t pan out. People say that if they aren’t offered the option of at least hybrid work they’ll find a job that will. If bosses want their employees back in the office full-time they’ll have to make a stronger argument. We just don’t think that the “data” they have is feasible enough to require full-time in office employment with all the remote work benefits. Not only is it mentally better for employees, it is better for our planet. We love our remote business structure at Locomotive and we won’t be changing it any time soon.
Benefits of Working in the Ad Industry
We absolutely love what we do! We would scream it to the rooftops if we could. Not only are we part of the advertising industry, we are a niche brand that focuses on user-generated content and found content campaigns, so we get to work with agencies and content creators. We know there are pitfalls in any industry, including the Advertising game, but since we aren’t your typical ad agency, we don’t have to deal with many of the talked about issues. Here are some of our favorite things about working in the industry!
Plastic Free July 2023
1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute (Tenstsile) and it’s estimated that 75-200 million tons of this plastic is currently floating around in the ocean (Recycle Track Systems). If you know us as a brand, you know that we’re passionate about the environment and doing our part to lower emissions to reduce climate change. That said, this month is plastic free July. We ask that you please join us the movement to set forward lifestyle changes that we can pass to future generations. You can start with something as simple as buying a reusable water bottle and coffee cup. If you want to get really into it, you can avoid using single use plastic bathroom supplies by making your own mouthwash. The choice is yours but here are some tips for you to get started for plastic free July.
The Horn Effect
We wrote an article recently on the halo effect and touched briefly on its ugly sibling, the horn effect. But, we didn’t’ dive too deep into the topic so we wanted to circle back here today and chat about it a little. The human brain is such an amazing organ. It categorizes through the lenses of our experiences, creating cognitive bias.
Supporting Content Creators
“44% of content creators say their creator business is their family’s primary source of income,” according to The Tilt, but only “12% of those full-time creators make more than $50K in annual income” (Linktree). If you do the math here that’s not a whole lot of rich and famous for these people. Well, maybe a little bit of famous, minus the rich. Depending on where you live, $50,000 isn’t a whole lot for one person to make annually, especially if they have families to support.
Skills for Success in Advertising
Advertising is a very creative field and if you have a passion for what you do, everything you create will embody this. It’s a very social driven field as well, especially since we specialize in user-generated content. As in any business there are specific traits that will lead to success. Here are our top 5.
Creating a Marketing Strategy That Stands Out
We all know how to create a marketing strategy but with every brand out there doing the same things, how do you make your marketing stand out from all the rest? With advertising overload, it is very important to make your brand stand out. Every brand will start out with the same with usual 7 step guide to create their marketing strategy: 1. Build a marketing plan. 2. Create buyer personas. 3. Identify goals. 4. Select the right tools. 5. Review media. 6. Audit and plan. 7. Create it. Great! Now, you’ve got that same start as every other company out there. So now, let’s talk about some extra things that will help give you that extra push to be different in a sea of similarities.
Increasing Brand Advocacy
We all know that word of mouth marketing is the best type of marketing. So, how does a brand increase its brand advocacy among its loyal audience? Well, it all starts with making sure that your audience and employees are happy. People who enjoy working for you will speak highly about your brand. The same goes for your audience. They can do so through reviews, word of mouth, social media, blogs, etc. UGC is a BIG component here and it’s what we specialize in. Organic brand advocacy is unparalleled. It has a farther reach and it is trusted far more. There are a couple of other things that your brand can do to increase its brand advocacy.
Let’s Get Visual: Importance of Visual Hierarchy in Advertising
The eyes are the window into the soul! But, how do you reach your audience on a deep level through visual mastery? Well, you can achieve this through using the selective arrangements of particular visual elements in a specific order of their importance. This is otherwise known as visual hierarchy. Elements are laid out logically and strategically to guide the viewer through their visual journey. Users tend to act very quickly to decide whether or not they want to stay and read or watch something or not. Their eyes will follow predictable reading paths that are culturally influenced. For example, westerners read left to right whereas Asian cultures will not. These patterns can be followed or broken in order to bring the reader’s attention to certain points on advertisements. You will want to put the most visual things first to make it stand out so they won't miss it. Here are the particular components that can be manipulated to grab the user’s attention:
Corporate Cannibalization
Hello Clarice…. Wait wrong type of cannibalism. Well, now that we have your attention let’s talk about the cannibalization effect in marketing. What is it? How does it work? Cannibalization is a loss in sales that is caused by an intro of a new product that in turn, displaces older ones. This can be done by one’s own company or a competitor. There are a few types of cannibalization: planned, through discounts, and through e-commerce.
Native Advertising
How do you know a native ad when you see one? There are a couple of tell-tale signs, such as a small icon in the top right corner, it’s marked as “suggested post,” or recommended for you. Native ads are paid advertisements that fit “natively” on the web page you’re on. They don’t look like traditional ads and typically don’t disrupt the user’s interaction on the page. They can also be in feed, search and promoted listing as well as content recommendations. There are some good benefits to using native ads instead of traditional.
Pros:
· Resonates without being intrusive
· Optimize targeting capabilities
· Captures audience’s attention
· They perform better: 5-10x higher CTR (Outbrain & CMI)
· High credibility
Native advertising can help build trust and drive more traffic to your website while fighting ad fatigue. Native ads increase purchase intent by 18%, according to Outbrain. However, that all being said, there are some cons to native ads. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
Cons:
· Hard to measure metrics
· Carries and element of deception if done improperly
· It’s labor intensive and time consuming
Digital spaces are a great place to find new audiences and reach the ones you may already have. Native advertising works great because they fit with the content that users are already interested in. This means that it is highly likely that they will be interested in reading about your product/service when they see the ad on the page. It’s a more organic interaction that takes place where they won’t feel like they’re being sold something. They’ll be more apt to engage if it doesn’t feel like a sale.
The Halo Effect
Immigrant Heritage Month
America is built on the backs of our forefathers, most of which immigrated from other countries in search of a better way of living. Here at Locomotive, we are no different either. Our grandparents were from Italy and Ireland. This month is a time to celebrate Immigrant Heritage. Here is a quote from the White House this month on the subject.
Earned Media
Who doesn’t love free publicity? That’s exactly what earned media is. Coverage for your brand through organic means. It can be though reviews, media coverage, mentions, social shares, etc. As nice as it is to get that free shout out, it is also the most difficult to achieve. Let’s think about a consumer review. We all use them. What’s the first thing that most people do after they read a review somewhere? The answer is that they visit the website of that business and on average they will read roughly 10 before they go the site, according to Local Consumer Review Survey, 2020. We can’t stress the importance of getting positive earned media, whether it be through a Google review, an Instagram share, or media coverage. Here are a few tips to ensure that you will get a rave recommendation through earned reviews no matter where it comes from.
Marketing Mix Modeling
The purpose of marketing mix modeling is to understand how various marketing inputs are driving the business metrics of a product or service. A simple way to put this is what is working and what’s not? Otherwise known as MMM, it will determine how each marketing input is contributing to a sale. In turn, you will determine how much to spend on each aspect. There are incremental drivers and base drivers that promote marketing techniques.
Incremental: generated by marketing activities like TV, print ads, digital spends, discounts, social, etc.
ATL (above the line) marketing: non-targeted with a wide reach
BTL (below the line) marketing: specific, direct ads on targeted audience
TTL (through the line) marketing: mix of both
Competition
Halo effect
Cannibalization effect
**more on these last two in future articles**
Base drivers: reached without any ads. Equity over years being the driving factor
Price
Distribution
Seasonality
Macro-econ variables
There are a few reasons to implement MMM, some of which we mentioned already,
Efficient spending
Efficient execution of campaigns
Scenario tests
You can really go down the mix marketing rabbit hole online. There is a vast amount of knowledge out there on the topic that includes words like regression analysis and mathematical equations. We only wanted to touch the surface of the MMM waters in order to hopefully inform someone who didn’t know about it. Now it’s your turn to dive in.
Attention Economy
Did you know that, according to Forbes, we are exposed to an average of 6-10 thousand pieces of advertising per day? That is a lot of information and actually our brains only have a scarce number of things that it can take in with attention. This means that as advertisers, we must stand out from a sea of others in order to reach our audiences. Attention economy was coined in the late 60’s by a guy named Herbert Simon. It’s defined as, “a state in which cognitive resources are focused on certain aspects of the environment rather than on others,” according to the American Psychological Association.
AI Bias
“100% of organizations will be using AI by 2025,” Forrester estimates. One of the benefits of AI is that it can hopefully contain less bias than humans and none at all if programmed correctly. However, it will depend on who programs the machine learning. Humans are the ones who choose what data that the algorithms use and how the results are applied. It will require many tests from many different individuals in order to avoid unconscious biases. But what are some proper steps that programmers can take to avoid these biases? First, educate all staff on responsible AI. Second, let your audience know what you’re doing and be transparent with how your AI algorithms work to make predictions. Lastly, have a team on deck to do damage control if your audience feels that they have been unjustly treated due to AI bias
Gun Violence Awareness Month 2023
Here are some shocking statistics to get you thinking (NY State Division of Criminal Justice):
· Every day more than 100 Americans are shot and killed in the U.S.
· Access to a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it 5x more likely that the woman be killed
· Access to a gun triples the risk of death by suicide
AI Ethics
Artificial intelligence has been a hot button topic for a while now. We’ve written a few articles on it and where we think it’s going. We can tell you that our inboxes are flooded with blogs and news on the topic every day to the point it’s getting a little annoying. That being said, we don’t think AI is going anywhere. In fact, it’s probably just getting started. While we hope it doesn’t take jobs and is used as an added tool in the arsenal for employees, we can’t say for sure how it will pan out. One area of interest when discussing AI is the ethics.
