marlomarketingblog

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Five Fab Tips to Evolve Your Marketing Strategy in the World of Coronavirus Covid-19

In an instant, COVID-19 changed our lives and, in turn, our shopping habits. So how can marketers pivot to respond to dramatically altered consumer buying patterns? Let's start with some of the ways we've seen markets shift:

• Online shopping is surging, and the use of mobile apps has skyrocketed.

• People are cooking at home and no longer eating in restaurants or shifted to carryout.

• Essentials like toilet paper and sanitizer are being gobbled up or unavailable.

• Grocery stores sales have skyrocketed because of panic buying.

• Travel, tourism, and hospitality have been devastated because of travel restrictions.

• People are putting off big-ticket and luxury items and cushioning their savings.

• Industries like automotive have offered deferred payments and online options.

We also need to consider the psychological effect this pandemic is having on people. Some may be happy to shop online and hop right back into stores as soon as they can. Others may feel the effects for a very long time and change their buying habits altogether. So, it is essential marketers understand shifting customer psychology and pivot with them. Many marketers have slashed budgets. But smart marketers are strategically shifting messages and media to capture attention. This means finding where they are and what they want to see.

How Should Marketing Strategies Evolve as Social Distancing and Remote Work Become the New Normal?

To survive during this downturn, marketers need to adopt innovative ideas, be agile, have empathy, and stay resilient! Here are Five Fab Tips to adjust your marketing strategy:

1. Pro-Actively Anticipate Consumer Needs

Fear of the pandemic and Social distancing can cause anxiety, stress, boredom, and a sense of helplessness or loneliness. This makes it crucial to identify individual consumer needs and address them before they become a problem.

All marketing efforts must now be reframed through the lens of COVID-19 and its broader business impact. This means becoming customer-centric. Companies like Costco and Albertson's are doing just that. They now have adjusted shopping hours for seniors, offer curbside pickup, and have limited the number of essential items a customer can buy. Companies like Prada and Nike have even shifted to the production of personal protection equipment. This ingenious new product line is sure to leave a lasting impression.

2. Utilize Technology

Serving customers with limited resources and social distancing constraints has become a challenge. E-commerce giants and other online retailers are over-burdened with rising orders, stocks running out, prioritizing essentials, and ensuring employees' and customers' health.

We have seen online Retailers take numerous measures to support employees, customers, and communities. This means ramping up fulfillment and delivery and hiring to ensuring customer service. New delivery options like 'No-Rush Shipping' and 'Unattended Delivery' have been added to meet the additional demands.

The marketers that make it through this are the ones who can increase customized connectivity and find innovative ways to keep services running with quick changes and updates. Even though customers may not be able to visit your store or restaurant in person, stay top of mind, and consider offering online services as much as possible. For example, Mossy Nissan closed their showrooms, but quickly got up a new Online Power Shopping Tool and offered up No Touch Delivery – allowing customers to shop from the comfort and safety of home! Yoga studios and gyms are now offering online training and personalized instruction.

3. Shift Your Media Dollars To Find People Where They Are

People are staying at home more, so it only makes sense to target them on their mobile devices and online apps. We've seen a massive uptick in the use of OTT streaming platforms, like Netflix and Hulu, for entertainment. Social media sites like TikTok have seen an astronomical surge in users and length of use. And e-commerce portals for shopping have become the number one way to shop. Even though COVID-19 has disrupted some marketing and advertising initiatives, smart brands keep their marketing plans fluid. The pool of available customers has shrunk, so it is more important than ever that brands reallocate budgets and ad campaigns accordingly to reach consumers where they are most active. This means utilizing Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Pinterest for social and using pre-roll advertising on OTT and YouTube.

4. Focus on Customer Experience and Brand Building

In these uncertain times, brands should instill confidence in consumers by giving them the means to cope. Furnishing easy to find information, being empathetic, and prioritizing customer experience will help your brand stand out and build customer loyalty. 

Parents are now working from home, and many must also play teacher to their kids. Creative marketers are helping reduce some of their stress with fun activities. For example, Mossy Nissan offered its customers coloring book pages. Kids can have their work posted to the new Mossy Nissan Art Gallery! Companies like Disney and LegoLand are offering online content like sing-a-longs and contests. Engaging the younger crowd keeps their brands top of mind. Plus, companies like Audible are relationship building by offering free streaming stories. What better way to entertain, teach, and engage children while school is out? DoubleTree Hotel is sharing their "secret" chocolate Chip cookie recipe with those in quarantine. Ideas like this foster goodwill feed our soul during rough times, plus highlight a unique brand differentiation.

5. Create Purpose-Led Branding

Quarantine and lockdown measures have had an impact on mental health. Kids cannot go to schools or play, workers are worried about finances, and seniors are especially stressed. So it's more important than ever to understand how your demographic has changed.

Zappos is one of the companies that jumped in with purpose during this crisis. The online footwear giant has launched a "Customer Service Anything Hotline." People can call for Netflix recommendations or track down necessary grocery items. Plus, it's free to use this service. This might not produce an up in immediate sales, but it goes a long way to building happy, loyal customers. It also is causing quite a stir in the media, which is free advertising!

They've received more than 1,000 calls to the hotline in the first week of service. Inquiries ranging from people looking for recipe recommendations to parents who are "sick of talking to kids and want to have conversations with an adult," said Brian Kalma, Zappos' entrepreneur-in-residence.

The current challenge calls for companies to go beyond selling strategies to focus on supporting cause-related purposes. Empathy is essential right now. A great example of this is the LPGA. Even though they postponed their golf tournaments, they focused instead on the frontline warriors. Their "We Clap For You" campaign reinforces the heart of the LPGA brand and its players. Roberta Bowman, Chief Brand and Communications Officer, says, "In our sport, the golf clap is a universal sign of respect and appreciation. It's a beautiful sound that we can't wait to hear. Until then, we wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you. To everyone on the front lines, to the everyday heroes in our midst, and to our sponsors who have stood with us during this difficult time, on behalf of all of us at the LPGA, #weclapforeyou." 

Survival of The Fittest

Our world has changed and may look quite different after the dust has settled. Hopefully, your teams are strengthening their resolve, staying on top of trends and demographics, and looking for new ways to keep rolling. With hard work and the right strategy, you may even come out of this stronger and with more loyal customers. Those who adapt and adopt will have a competitive advantage over those simply adapting, waiting for things to go back to normal.

No one can predict when this will end. But, to survive and rise, we must act. If you need help with your marketing shift, give us a buzz and let us help you with a quick-fire strategy!

Sources: https://neilpatel.com/blog/coronavirus/

https://www.martechadvisor.com/articles/customer-experience-2/covid-19-marketing-strategy/

https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/zappos-coronavirus-customer-service-hotline-1203561587-1203561587/?es_id=1b73b83150

https://www.lpga.com/news/2020/we-clap-fore-you-campaign

[marlomarketingblog]

10 Tips to Conquer Communication!

One of my favorite recent reads was FIERCE CONVERSATIONS by Susan Scott. It was so helpful we decided to write about it in more depth and summarize the content for our followers. Why? Well, communication is what we do! This book offers helpful insights that can make anyone a better communicator, a more responsive listener, and a solutions powerhouse! There is a treasure trove of valuable content about managing intense discussions with skill. We'll give you the busy person's version!

The Cliff Notes:

So, let's start by breaking down "FIERCE." Fierce basically means real. Fierceness is not about being mean or combative. It's about passion, strength, power, and drive. Getting fierce means telling the truth and letting the truth be told. Every conversation builds up or tears down relationships. Unreal conversations could be costly and are a waste of time. Listen to your team and yourself. Don't change the subject, lie, dodge the issue, or hide behind vague language. When things get intense, take a break. Then set a time to come back to the conversation when you are calm and ready to continue positively.

The ten principles of a fierce conversation are:

Every conversation should is as important.

Be real with the facts.

Ask questions.

Take responsibility for everything you say.

Problems should be dealt with immediately – Today!

Listen to your inner voice.

Silence is a needed part of every conversation. Don't be afraid of it.

Say "and" instead of "but."

Don't talk at people – talk with them.

Remember, the conversation – even the smallest one – is a way to build a relationship.

"The person who can most accurately describe reality without laying blame will emerge the leader."

We've all been in meetings where someone is giving "the corporate nod." Instead of saying what they really think and feel, the person nods and is not really engaged with the conversation one way or another. Get input from EVERYONE on the team. So this book suggests asking some essential questions that each team member should answer BEFORE coming to the meeting.

Pre Meeting Questionnaire

What is the problem or issue, exactly? (You'd be shocked at how different each person might describe the actual situation.)

What are specific examples that illustrate the behavior or situation you want to change?

How do you feel about it?

What are the consequences or implications?

What can you do, or what will you do?

Why is this important to you?

Once you've discussed your question/answers, then each person in the conversation should be invited to respond. Nobody should get a pass! The truth isn't simple. Most people confuse what they think with what is true. To get at the truth, you need to get everyone's perspective. This can be very daunting at times but worth the effort in the long run.

The Blame Game

In the truth-seeking process, don't place blame. Good leaders don't blame; they fact find and lead positive change for the good of all. It's useful to think about the word "but," which implies that someone wins and someone loses. "But" excludes. Say "and" instead; "and" includes. If you get anything out of this blog – try these three things:

Describe reality accurately

Don't place blame

Substitute "but" with "and."

Seek, Don't Hide!

Keep it real, folks. When you don't speak the truth or duck uncomfortable issues, you're just wasting everyone's time! Also, be present in a conversation and take in the other person's truth. Here are some helpful tips:

Give all your conversations your FULL attention.

Look the person you are talking to in the eyes. Not aggressively but with openness.

Listen even when you're on the phone – don't check your e-mail during a conversation.

Engage yourself. Have one-on-one conversations. Don't just say "Good" when somebody asks how it's going. Use that chance to build the relationship.

Have courage.

Remember These 8 "Don'ts"

Don't do all the talking. Make sure you do as much listening.

Don't dominate the conversation. Both people should feel equal.

Don't forget to ask about the other person's feelings.

Don't be vague or skirt the issue.

Don't renege on the appointed time to discuss the issue.

Don't allow interruptions.

Don't finish the conversation because of time. Be sure to schedule a follow-up if more time is needed.

Don't think you got it right the first time. Practice makes… actually; NOBODY is perfect!

Now Is The Time!

Don't put off a challenge. Do the hard things now. The first step is deciding to do something about a problem! Be courageous, involve everyone in this effort, and face facts head-on. Once you identify the problem, the solution will come. You might get some feedback and answers that may not have crossed your mind! Think of a beach ball. Each side is a different color, which represents each team member. They all come at it from a different perspective and have additional insight. Drilling to the core of issues can be difficult if not downright excruciating. The book calls these "Mineral rights conversations." Like all fierce conversations, they require you to risk facing some unpleasant facts. But when you dare to do so, you get the truth and are that much closer to a solution!

We hope you enjoyed our mini replay of Fierce Conversations. We invite YOU to follow our blog and social media pages for more constructive content! 

[marlomarketingblog]

Why YouTube is the Next Marketing Frontier and 8 Tips to Conquer It!

YouTube has nearly 2 billion monthly users, second only to Facebook on the social media landscape. Users spend an average of 40 minutes on the site with each visit, compared to Facebook’s 20 minutes. And most of those users are between the ages of 18-49. If you’re looking to capture that demographic’s attention, YouTube is your way in. YouTube is a discovery machine. It’s the second largest search engine after Google, and because Google is also its parent company, YouTube has total search engine optimization (SEO) on video results for Google searches. Basically, if you have video content–and you should–it’s the best home for it.

Learn From The Pros.

By now, you’ve probably heard from your kids or your coworkers about YouTubers, the new wave of celebrity. These young entrepreneurs have mastered their art, becoming experts in production, editing, and performance to create an online brand out of their personalities and lifestyles. Over 2,400 channels have amassed at least one million subscribers, with the most successful channel, entitled Pewdiepie, about to break 100 million and this is just a regular guy talking about gaming and pop culture. 100 Million!!!!! That’s the population of Egypt. Forbes estimated Felix Kjellberg, the 29-year-old Swedish man behind the channel, made $12 million in 2017 alone. How do YouTubers get a following? Authenticity. People are attracted to it. Whether they follow a personality, a how-to channel, or a gamer, audiences can tell when a YouTuber is passionate about what they are posting. Once an emotional bond forms between the YouTuber and the viewer, trust and loyalty follow. The psychological term is Parasocial Relationship. You develop a one-way relationship with someone you have never actually met in person but feel a bond to. Consistent posting is the next key. Your view return rate is going to directly correlate to how often they can expect something to return to. YouTubers lose subscribers when their posting schedules fall behind, so make video content a consistent priority, and get into a posting routine. It doesn’t have to be weekly. You can post once every two weeks, or once a month, as long as you’re consistent and the gap between videos doesn’t grow unexpectedly.

Let’s Get Started.

Launching a new YouTube channel is just as important as any other product launch. Make sure your channel reflects your brand with the channel art at the top of the page and the icon next to your name – those are like your Facebook cover photo and profile picture, respectively, and they set the tone for your channel. Then, upload your first video. Email the link to your employees and your clients. Invite people over from your other social media channels to get the party started. Creating and posting videos may seem like a daunting task, but there are a few easy guidelines that can make the process easier:

1. Refine your content.

This should go without saying, but make sure your videos are fact-checked and on-brand for your company. Everything they say will reflect on your organization as a whole, and video content is something to be proud of. Open with the broad strokes to keep more viewers interested longer. If you begin with specifics, you may lose viewers before you get to the topics they want to hear about.

2. Hook your audience immediately.

It’s important to find a way to get people hooked right off the bat. So don’t start with boring bits – get right to the juicy stuff so people won’t immediately click off. One way to do this may be by creating some pain. Is there something the viewer may need? Something they don’t know about? Something that has been annoying them that you can tap into?

3. Tag your videos.

When you upload, you’ll see an opportunity to tag your videos. Think about what your target demographic is searching for. Start with broad strokes. If your video is about a new product, say, a toothbrush, start by tagging “hygiene,” “morning routine,” “healthcare,” etc. Then, get specific. Tag “electric toothbrush,” “crest white strips,” “dental care,” etc. For a full guide on tagging, click here. And we also recommend this handy Youtube Tag Generator. For example, we produce a great podcast targeting women in marketing titled “The Show Runner Marketing Podcast“. So tagging is crucial for having our audience find us. Here is what was created from the tag generator in a matter of seconds: podcast, marketing, marketing podcast, women in business, women, women in marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, guerilla marketing to women podcast, web marketing podcast, modern marketing podcast, top marketing podcast, best marketing podcast, video marketing podcast, social media marketing podcast, internet marketing podcast, obm social media marketing podcast, digital marketing podcast, network marketing, marketing tips.

4. Let your tiles and thumbnails do the talking. (The hook before the hook!)

Your title has to engage the potential viewer, but it can’t look like it’s trying too hard. That will take away your authenticity. Give people a reason to click by letting them know you have something to say that they want to hear. “How to…,” “Newest innovation in…,” and “Ever wonder why…?,” are all great ways to begin a snappy title. Your thumbnail is your title’s partner in crime. Highlight the subject of your video with an image of your product, an icon for a social media platform you plan to discuss, or a graph/statistic providing a strategy you’re here to share. Using three to four words on your thumbnail can also capture interest, just don’t repeat the words in your title. If you’re unsure about your thumbnail, make a few versions and send it out to your workforce, ask them to vote on one. Even better, put them out on Twitter and conduct a poll asking which one your followers would rather click on. Asking for help is proof of authenticity.

5. Don’t forget about the description.

In your YouTube Studio, you can set up an automatic description that will be placed under every video. Then, you can add a unique sentence or two to each individual video. In your uniform description, you’ll want: a. A link to your website b. Links to any social media for your company c. Links to related videos, or any videos your reference in your video – give credit where credit is due d. A bullet list of topics the video covers so even if you don’t open with what a viewer came to see, they’ll know you’ll get there eventually and it will come up in their searches

6. Make sure your video gets suggested.

YouTube has a very complex algorithm, but there are ways to play the system. Turn on the “Related Channels” functionality in your YouTube Studio. This will allow your channels to be advertised on established ones. Identify channels like yours and check out their videos. You can search their videos by “most successful”, and get title and thumbnail ideas from those. If one of their videos piques your interest, make a video of your own reacting to it, joining their conversation, and tag them in it. You can network on YouTube.

7. Make your videos accessible.

Closed Captioning is a vastly underused resource. Add subtitles to your videos. YouTube has a tool that will do it for you, all you have to do is give them a quick proofread. Not only will this boost your SEO, it will likely be one of the only videos like it that will be accessible to hearing-impaired consumers because not nearly enough people caption their videos.

8. End your videos with a call to action.

Start by giving viewers some value for their click. Link something useful in your bio, suggest other videos they could be interested in. In return, ask for a like on the video. Get your friends and coworkers to like the video, too. This will boost SEO and get your video suggested as a related video to others like it.

What Else Is YouTube Good For?

YouTube Studio lets you watch your analytics, so you can see your channel grow in real-time. You can see the demographics you’re reaching, and the ones you could be reaching better. If your videos are monetized, you can see how much money you’re making, even though it may not be a significant amount. Videos that are longer than ten minutes get SEO and can be advertised on themselves. YouTubers, the really successful ones, often take brand deals and plug products they believe in, so if you’d like to reach 24-36-year-old women with your product or service, consider approaching a YouTuber who has that demographic in his/her pocket about plugging your company in his/her next video. At the end of the day, YouTube is a lot of fun. Making content, promoting it, and consuming it are great creative outlets and a great way to engage your consumer base.

If you’re still not sure how to go about starting your own channel, give us a buzz and let us help you strategize the best content for your company! Heck, we can even shoot it for you if you’d like. We love new challenges! ; )

[marlomarketingblog]

Don’t be the green ketchup: 4 FABULOUS PHILOSOPHIES FOR COMPANIES TO STAND OUT … The Good Way!

In a sea of capitalist competition in every field, we develop a desire to stand out. Difference is a survival technique, and, if it’s done right, a game-changer. But we have to be conscious of both sides of the coin, being a producer and a consumer simultaneously, to form an objective opinion of our own marketing decisions.

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes.

Neuroscientists refer to our penchant for noticing the unique as “Selective Attention”. It’s a residual instinct left over from our more survivalist days when early humans had to keep note of things like which berries were poisonous or which soil was growing the best plants. Selective attention has two primary functions: 1. Highlighting important parts of high information flow (i.e. conversations, written documents, etc) 2. Holding on to those parts in our minds so we can learn from them and compound our findings This is our minds’ way of filtering information so that we don’t get easily overwhelmed or miss context and patterns. The trick for those seeking the selective attention of others is being the good kind of different.

Don’t be the poisonous berries.

There are two major ways to stand out: being different in who you are and being different in what you do. In the past few years, a new trend dubbed Corporate Twitter has emerged on social media. Brands have begun using their Twitter accounts for more than just basic promotion and announcements – they’re now joining subsects of a-political discourse on the platform, often joking with competitors or adding their take on the meme of the week. While this can be done effectively, there’s also a very thin line that brands tiptoe around when they try to immerse themselves in the zeitgeist and language of such an unpredictable landscape as Twitter. Brands fall off the tightrope when they don’t take into account the perspective of the one tweeting on their behalf. When the PR employee who has always tweeted the website links and the newsletter pull-quotes suddenly proclaims a new product to be “on fleek” or “lit,” they could leave a weird taste in the mouth of the company’s followers. Corporations are not human, and they shouldn’t have to be, but without a sort of tongue-in-cheek humanity in an online presence, human followers will feel like they’re being joked at by a robot, and that’s hard to laugh along with. It can also be all too easy to misstep on something like a rebrand or a new product if the only innovation being made is for the purpose of standing out rather than actually improving what the company has done in the past. People are attracted to authenticity, and it’s so important to keep authentic intention at the heart of every move you make. Authenticity is your guiding light when creating something new, and without it, you get something like green Heinz Ketchup. Back in 2000, Heinz began its foray into colored ketchup with its green iteration, originally intended to promote the movie Shrek. From there, Heinz released purple, blue, and, quite ironically, red ketchups. If you don’t remember this infamous flub of marketing, the new ketchup lined shelves for a shocking six years in bottles more reminiscent of Elmer’s Glue than a condiment before being pulled for declining sales. But it worked at first. The green ketchup had something of an authentic ambition. It was intended to promote Shrek, which did become a major success, and tomatoes are naturally green before fully ripening to red. Green ketchup is not an unreasonable stretch of the imagination. The problems began when Heinz ran with this and created unnatural colors for its ketchup, falling away from the authentic ambition of a Shrek promotion and stumbling into something reminiscent of coulrophobia, or the fear of clowns. People fear clowns because they are a perversion of the recognizable. Clowns are almost human, they are almost in the realm of the familiar – their features are exaggerated to just outside of familiarity, but not far enough that they are clearly unfamiliar. This phenomenon is called the Uncanny Valley, the gap between the believable and the unbelievable where things become inherently uncomfortable to behold. Purple ketchup isn’t unsettling on paper. We are familiar with the color purple and the flavor of ketchup. But mentally and emotionally, we know those things don’t go together, and when you put purple ketchup in an unorthodox bottle, it drops into the Uncanny Valley. No one wants to eat the berries that grow in the Uncanny Valley.

Be the good soil.

Let’s take for example MoonPie. Their corporate Twitter really took off when MoonPie’s account threw all convention out the window and someone well versed in Twitter’s dialect combined the meme discourse with product promotion. One of MoonPie’s great tweets reads, “Mouths are referred to as pie holes for a reason don’t @ me or do what you want twitter likely won’t be policing this particular issue.” Here, MoonPie takes a great deal of agency by proclaiming its product is meant to be eaten, it flawlessly incorporates the popular “don’t @ me” meme, and it subverts its platform, Twitter. This is that tongue-in-cheek humanity to which consumers are attracted. Another good example is Lays release of their first line of barbeque potato chips in 1965. This is a simple innovation: people love potato chips at their barbeques. Why not bring the barbeque to the chip? The ambition is authentic, the execution is straight-forward, and there’s nothing uncanny about it.

Being better is temporary. Be refreshing instead.

Status is so fragile and so fickle. Even if you’re on top today, someone else is going to usurp you tomorrow – or, more likely, this afternoon. You can subvert status, however, but stepping outside a hierarchy mindset and altering your brand holistically instead. To be refreshing is to be desirable in a way that doesn’t depend on others being undesirable. Being refreshing isn’t a competition, and it’s not a finite status. Do you know what’s refreshing? Honesty. Authenticity. It all comes back together. Consumers want to feel as though they can connect to the brand, that the brand has their best interests at heart. It’s easy to be sleazy, to cut costs and raise prices, but there’s a greater rate of return for honesty.

Your company/customer relationship is just that – a relationship. We know what it takes to make you different, better, and refreshing. Give us a buzz and let’s chat about how we can build better relationships with your customers!

[marlomarketingblog]

Tik Tok: Social Media’s New Frontier!

Tik Tok, an app that has perplexed many advertisers and consumers alike, continues to grow in popularity. Is it worth your time to download? Is it worth the time for advertisers to learn to use?

In their latest Podcast Palooza meeting, AM Strategies reviewed the podcast ‘Social Media Marketing Talk Show’ hosted by Social Media Examiner. Guest, Rachel Pederson, talks with the two hosts about her opinions on the app, believing Tik Tok is the real deal and advertisers should pay attention. And she should know! Rachel is a social media strategist recognized by Content Marketing Institute as one of the most influential online marketers. She isn’t just talking about Tik Tok from an outside perspective. She is an active user of the app. With 5600 followers, she has hands on experience and is ‘in the trenches’ of this new short form video frontier.

Tik Tok, which many people first learned of as ‘Music.ly” has made its claim to fame by being a safe place for people to post short, raw videos of themselves. Many find this to be cringy, while others love the authenticity. On an internet full of staged or highly produced content, the oasis of unadulterated personalities can be very appealing.

In this last year, Tik Tok was the most downloaded social app, beating both Facebook’s and Snapchat’s download numbers. With a strong base and demographics of 66%, ages 16-24, Rachel believes this is an amazing opportunity to reach future consumers. And with 34% of Tik Tok users 30 years or older, the bonus of reaching current consumers is too good to pass up.

When asked about the longevity of Tik Tok, Rachel believes the proof is in the celebrities. With big names like Cardi B, Jimmy Fallon and Arnold Schwarzenegger being prominent users of the app.

Celebrities aren’t the only ones using the app, News teams have begun creating content for a heavily sought-after younger audience. News outlets like the Washington Post, NBC News and the Dallas Morning News have begun to use the app to deliver newsworthy information. Click here to check out how they’ve been using Tik Tok!

For the more old school companies, Tik Tok is currently working on an ad-tools platform. So, if reaching your audience by creating content on the app itself seems a bit too flimsy, there will be the more conventional ad platform available.

Not quite convinced Tik Tok is worth your time? Pederson suggests putting down your predispositions, hopping on the app, and giving it a try! You just might find yourself an early adopter of the next great app. The only guarantee is that if you keep waiting, you will miss out.

Want to talk more about social media strategies for your company? Give us a buzz today and let’s grab coffee!

[marlomarketingblog]

Does Your Work Standout? 5 Tips to Make Sure You’re Not “Bad Different”

WE HAVE SOME STRANGE NEED TO BE DIFFERENT, WHY IS THAT?

Obviously, the impulse comes from a desire to stand out. If you are doing what everyone else is doing, how will anyone ever pay attention? When it comes to our work, the quirky differences are what make us interesting to other people. Why is this the case?

1. SELECTIVE ATTENTION

There is a science to why we notice when things that are different. Neuroscientists call this “selective attention.”

Selective Attention has primary functions:

Picking out what’s an important part of a constant flow of information (ie conversation or written document)

Protecting those important things in our mind so we can use and learn from them and not lose them in the sea of other information

Noticing things that are different is a function of filtering information. Meant to keep us from being overwhelmed and from missing important context.

An example: Cavemen would know when a bear might be in the area because the smells in the air may be off or they may hear growling in the distance. They may know when the berries they forged are poisoned when people start dying shortly after eating them.

2. DIFFERENT DOESN’T GUARANTEE GOOD

We generally love it when someone does something that stands out and is different. But just because something is different… doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good.

Brands tweeting “on fleak” or “totally rad” – Most times makes you cringe. Someone should tell those brand ambassadors, “you’re awful, you’re missing the mark and you feel forced. The spirit is missing.”

Many companies try to be different to grab your attention, but in doing so, they end up damaging the image of the product rather than make it stand out.

Heinz may have had many motivators to make colored kinds of ketchup like green and purple, but it didn’t mean it would be an effective approach to standing out. At one point Heinz colored ketchup lined shopping aisles and stood out against a sea of red… however, the colored ketchup appeared unnatural and unnerving, leading to a decline in sales. The impulse for Heinz was the need to be “different.” But this is an example of “Bad Different.”

Another Example: John Delorean had invented the sports car. The 1980s the Delorean car. The super-futuristic robotic hawk with aerodynamic plating. “I want to make great unique cars that people will love,” he said. When released, Delorean manufactured a limited run of 100 of them with 24-carat gold plating at $25,000 each… and only 2 sold. In 1980 no one had heard of “Back to the Future” because the movies didn’t exist. So the car was very different and was not received well. Different and too far out, Different and complicated. Different and bad.

So what is it we should be focusing on instead? BEING BETTER. However…

3. BEING BETTER IS TEMPORARY

Someone can come up with the next “better” tomorrow or in the next hour. Being better is a constant state of work and tireless effort. So instead…

4. TRY TO BE REFRESHING

Believe in doing the best work possible and never settling for average. If all you care about is doing good enough, just getting the numbers to line up, and have no worry in the world about tomorrow, you may have fallen victim to shortcut culture and don’t care about your colleagues, audience or craft… and you might find yourself creating some purple ketchup.

But if you’re focused on being refreshing you should focus on WHO you are being refreshing to.

The audience, the customer, the client, the team, the people you serve. HOW? Honesty.

People who seek shortcuts, who are trying to engage with an audience through ulterior means seem dishonest. Something will be perceived as good because it comes from something real.

5. BEST PRACTICES

Continuously, consistently, genuinely and honestly serve the audience best.

Looking for a free brand assessment to see if you’re “Bad Different”? Give us a buzz!

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AESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE: How it can lift your brand image and increase sales.

We know intelligence – emotional intelligence, artificial intelligence, market intelligence, even design intelligence and how important they are to growth for your brand. But you might not have heard of AESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE. This is a term Pauline Brown, a former chairman of the luxury goods company LVMH coined. She argues that in today’s crowded marketplace, this kind of AI is what will set companies apart — and not just in the consumer products and luxury sectors. B2B or B2C, small or large, digital or bricks-and-mortar, all organizations need to hire and train people to think this way. Brown also authored a book on the subject – “Aesthetic Intelligence: How to Boost It and Use It in Business and Beyond” and has even taught a class on it at Harvard Business School.

WHAT IS AESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE?

Simply put – it’s taste! Not the kind from your taste buds – but the aesthetic kind. Using ALL your senses to elicit pleasurable, positive experiences. My favorite example of this is in a great restaurant. Yes, of course, the food has to be good – but that’s not all you want right? Comfortable seating, great lighting, décor, acoustics, and even the place settings are key to your experience.  They all make up the Aesthetic Intelligence.

This feeds into the new trend of CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE we all are hearing about in marketing these days. Providing products and services is not enough. We need to provide experiences around those products and services that elicit true delight.

In the HBR IdeaCast Podcast from Harvard Business Review, Brown says, “Another example would be what Howard Shultz did with Starbucks. Prior to that, a cup of coffee was a cup of coffee. His genius was taking what is one of the most commoditized products in the market, which is a coffee bean, and saying I can sell it at a premium not because you’re buying coffee, but because you’re buying into a “third space” as he called it. Everything about the Starbucks example was using aesthetic principles to the extreme.”

HOW CAN YOU BENEFIT?

Strategize how your brand can provide a human experience that really lifts the user in ways that no one else in his industry had thought even possible or valuable. The concepts of traditional branding are not as effective as they once were. It is more important than ever to add DELIGHT to your strategy. When you look at the latest neuroscience research, and why anyone will buy one product over another – 80 to 90 percent is based on how that product or service makes the person feel.

Brown goes on to say, “Marketers and researchers are predominately focused on what their customers think about how they would reason the features, the functions, the costs, the benefits. That is not what’s driving buying decisions and yet we really are rather unsophisticated as a marketplace in terms of understanding how people feel, empathizing with it and then actually taping into it. And delivering in ways that are genuine and that are uplifting. People want to dream. They want to aspire.”

THE BOTTOM LINE

Using the strategy of Aesthetic Intelligence will lift your brand image and increase sales.

Want to know more about how YOU can incorporate Aesthetic Intelligence into YOUR BRAND? Give us a buzz! 

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Video is KING! But are you doing it right? Use our handy dandy “SOCIAL VIDEO ADS DONE RIGHT” Checklist and see!  

FORMULA FOR 3 MINUTE SOCIAL VIDEO ADS

□ You have 3-6 seconds to pull the viewer in: Entertain, inform, ask questions, strike a nerve.

□ At the 45-second mark: Describe the avatar for the product.

□ At the 60-second mark: Restate problem: delve deeper into the pain point

□ At the 1:30 mark: Propose a solution.

□ At the 2:00 mark: Show how that solution can be obtained.

□ Work in testimonials Actual proof

□ Encourage subscription to channel.

□ Call to action.

□ End with a picture in picture tag that again encourages the link to be clicked.

FORMULA FOR SHORTER SOCIAL VIDEO ADS

□ You have 6 seconds with movement/curiosity/good question to draw the viewer in.

□ Show the results first – then show how you got there.

□ Benefits of product for 20-30 seconds to keep attention.

□ Back to results – Actual proof: testimonials

□ 5 seconds of branding Call to action.

□ End with a picture in picture tag that again encourages the link to be clicked.

Looking for more social strategy or want to create your own social video? Give us a buzz!

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Pitch Video for Hummer I did back in the day!

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My Co-workers!