Monday, November 23, 2015

Content Marketing

Tutorial #10
Closing: 24.11.15

Problem : Content Marketing 

Learning objectives:
  1. Different types of  content and content creation 
  2. How can your companies content stand out for the rest?
    1. Products & brand content 
  3. How to involve the consumer in content creation marketing?

Different types of  content and content creation 

"good content meets audiences where they are, and it's tailored to them" - Duarte, N 2014
Audiences don't like to be sold things, they want content that's easily available and useful. People will most likely know how to find you if they are interested but to mark yourself as useful or create content that somehow engages the audience, this is more beneficial to the brand long-term.

The Red Bulletin is a monthly magazine produced by Red Bull with sports/ adventure/ etc. stories. This content is very closely associated to what Red Bull sells themselves as a brand. Another inquirie is to sell or to give away for free? Most of the time free will generate more downloads/reads/watches/etc because people don't have to invest but this can ultimately create more traffic for the company. 

Types of content that typically form a content marketing strategy include:
  • Blog posts
  • Guest blog posts
  • E-books
  • Email newsletters
  • PowerPoint presentations
  • Podcasts
  • Standard videos
  • Micro-videos (ie, Vine)
  • Social media posts
  • Live presentations
  • Webinars
  • White papers (states orgs. current position, used for internal purposes)
DeMers, J. 2013. Forbes.
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/creating-content/

In the pyramid, we see when content should be published and of what kind. This will keep audiences engaged and informed. 


How can your companies content stand out for the rest?




Content creation is a tool used to connect with audience on an emotional level. Either to educate or story tell. This is done by addressing their "pain points, thought processes, goals, and preferences.' (178) A study conducted by HubSpot found that companies that have blogs have 55% more vistitos, 97% more inbound links, and 434% more indexed pages. Also that b2c (88%) and b2b (67%) companies have more leads 

Content spamming: Companies that are trying to keep up with content creation but not dedicated to keeping it relevant and read worthy. Search engines like google try to filter out the poor content quality sources. In june 2011 they released Panda 2.2, which is basically a filter that puts premiums on quality content sites. (179) 
Roetzer, R. 2012. The marketing agency blueprint. John Wiley & Sons Inc. Hoboken. 

How to involve the consumer in content creation marketing?

Coca-cola created the share a coke campaign. Starting with their product, introducing the names and allowing the consumer to do the rest. By sharing stories and getting content from the consumer they built their whole campaign around the user.  

American express Open Forum for B2B customers. Posts are centered around business topics ie. leadership, customer service, etc. Gets people involved in a conversation. 

Oreo: asked people to come in and draw ad campaigns, people did and the results were very interesting 


Starbucks: #whitecupcontest Got consumers to doodle on their cups and submit for chance to win prizes Chessman, H. 2015.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Creative idea & messages

Tutorial #9
Closing: 17.11.15

Problem : Creative Idea & messages  

Learning objectives:
  1. The 5 senses 
    1. How do people use them to receive messages?
  2. How to create a message using the 5 senses 
    1. case studies

How do people use the five senses to receive messages?

Background of 5 sensory marketing. Although the concept has been around, it hasn't been consciously used as a marketing scheme like it is today with gum brands like 5 gum - 'stimulate your sense'. Some past examples of sensory marketing is the introduction of lemon scented dish detergent. There's a small correlation of these two things because people associate the smell of lemon as 'clean' & in the past it's been used as a grimefighter they used this to sell more dish soap making people think it would make the dishes cleaner in some way. 

Sensory correlation is a primal human experience, brand names and what's 'hot right now' are only learned. Feeding to the senses will connect to a more rooted part of our beings. 

Sensory signature: A sensory tactic that a brand can use in order for consumers to relate back to. Ie, Singapore Airlines uses a special aroma put into the hot towels and on flight attendants. Making FF feel more at home. 

When bringing a brand into a new place, using this 5 sensory marketing, it's important to know the market thoroughly. enjoyed smells, tastes, sounds  are not universal, it's important to adapt the product to match the place. For example: spicy foods would invoke a taste of home for more Asian cultures than it would for say scandinavian countries. 


How to create a message using the 5 senses?

Customers don't want to be 'sold' on products these days. There are overwhelming amount of generic ads that don't stimulate people enough to be memorable, or even interesting. In an HBR article, they discuss the fact that our senses are more involved in our unconscious decisions that marketers aren't aware of. Lawrence E. Williams and John A. Baurgh conducted studies that show that even temperature can affect a persons decisions

Aradha Krishna, someone considered a specialist in sensory marketing, talks about how some smells or sounds suggest things to the receiver. Like the lemon example before, scent of lemons suggest cleanliness. What's beneficial about using these subtle tools in marketing is that the consumer doesn't see these as marketing schemes so they don't react negatively towards them.

16% Increase in dunkin donuts visits located near bus stops
29% Increase in sales at those locations 
These were the results of a marketing campaign run in South Korea, where the jingle was played in buses an aroma of coffee was sprayed into the bus. 

Research conducted by Krishna and her colleagues proves that the triggered senses can have effects on "attitude, mood and even memory" Subjects given a tea tree scented pencil only had an 8% decrease in recalled information two weeks later whereas subjects given normal pencils had a 73% decrease of retained info. 

It's proven through the studies conducted and the past experience of sensory marketing, that senses do have a big unconcious impact in consumer behaviour. There are no step by step ways of applying sensory marketing. Only that companies should keep an open mind, experiment with different ideas. People relate smells and tastes to different feelings ie. smells of wood and leather = idea of wealth. Depending on the industry there are insights to how people relate certain senses to certain feelings or ideas.

Case studies 

1. Marriot Hotels did a full body experience campaign #teleported where they stood outside City Hall in New York City and took newlywed couples to experience a virtual reality  (The Oculus Rift) 'teleportation' to another hotel in a different place. This encapsulated many sensors with feel and sight. 

2. The british company Lush is a natural bath & body shop, They sell an array of items from bath to make-up products. A way they use sensory marketing (whether intended or not) There products are so powerful in scent that even if you are near a Lush shop you can start to smell the aromas and you yourself start to smell, other people can smell the scent on you even after you've left. They also let you test ANY product in the shop,, they have big bowls for the purpose of showing how products work, feel, etc. So you see the results, smell the products, feel, etc. 


Very interesting Ted talk on our topic. Simon Harrop says 83% of all information received is interpreted visually. However, we distinguish this info using our cortex part of the brain, the rational part. So if we interpret this info incorrectly or are overwhelmed with the info we probably won't hold on to it, it won't be memorable. Whereas our other senses play more to our emotions. 

Monday, November 9, 2015

Media Plan

Tutorial #8
Closing: 10.11.15

Problem : Media Plan 

Learning objectives:
  1. Different channels that can be used for your media plan 
  2. How should you conduct research?
    1. Media habits in the U.S
    2. POE
  3. Roles of different media agencies 
  4. Case studies
Different channels that can be used for your media plan 


The channels available has become increasingly overwhelming, which for a company is a good thing. More opportunities for your brand to make touchpoints with your target audiences. 


Siltala, M. 2009.



Using all touchpoints may be unrealistic and unnecessary but understanding what your options are helps to create an effective media plan. 



How should you conduct research 



Today companies have the help of Big Data to find out who their customer are, where they are and what they like. Through the use of "travelling cookies" and other data collecting methods, companies can track where their consumers are browsing online. This can help in helping target their audience through their interests.  





Media Habits in the U.S






Marketing trends in the u.s..

Personal branding: People are big on personal branding online. Companies are using this to their benefit for example. Toms #withoutshoes campaign donates shoes for everyone posting their shoes to instagram. Also things like #icebucketchallenge and #notmakeupselfie

Getting involved: people want to be involved personally in something good. Creating opportunities to show off brands for good causes. 

Notification management: People want the information to come to them, not the other way around. 



Paid Owned Earned media 


Here we can see the various POE channels associated with each part. There are also interlinking areas that prove that the paid, owned and earned media are not just separate but interlocking structures.


In the purchase funnel, it shows the various effects each type of media and their effect on the audience. This is important to understand that although paid media has its benefits, they can vary from earned for example. So media mix is important to consider when developing a media plan and also an understanding of each channel. 

Media Agencies 

Advertising Agencies: Help creatively convey your message and achieve campaign goals. Once the task and objectives have been agreed upon the advertising agency usually takes over all aspects of the campaign from creating to releasing to the media. Theory is that the ad agencies would have people who are more expert and skilled than the company to create something that target audiences will be attracted to. The downfalls of using agencies is the cost and the ability. If an agency hasn't worked with your company's industry type before they may be limited in what they are able to achieve. 

Media Agencies: They are more involved in the strategic aspect of a specific campaign. They put more analysis into the target audience objective, and the amount, frequency and timing to be most efficient. Usually work with ad agencies to make sure they are in budget and in-line with plan. 

27% of companies are now moving marketing in-house. But why?
  1. Agencies are too slow. Moving in house makes responses to consumer faster. 
  2. Agencies are stuck on advertising. They aren't making the changes companies want, which is company relationships. Not expensive ads. 
  3. Keeping a consistent message is more important than campaigns.
  4. Companies want to keep their customer relationships inside 
  5. Companies want to own data
  6. Their media strategies become cookie cutter, it's not authentic to the company.
Mark W. Schaefer. July 2015. HBR.




Monday, November 2, 2015

Impacts of Social Media on Business

Tutorial #7
Closing: 3.11.15

Problem : Impacts of social media on business

Learning objectives:
  1. Which social media platform is suitable for which purposes?
    1. Dependant on Industry?
    2. B2B vs. B2C
  2. What strategies can be implemented? 
    1. B2B vs. B2C
  3. How to measure social media performance
    1. What tools can be used
    2. What to do with the information 
  4. Case studies


Which social media platform is suitable for which purposes?

The first step is analyzing your own company. What resources do you have? With large companies that have a lot of resources it's possible to be present and successful on all platforms. This obviously gives the company a huge advantage. But if resources or capabilities are small then choosing a platform that most suits your needs is very effective. Levy, S. 2013. How to choose the right social media platform for your business.


B2B

Understanding what platforms your audience is currently using. These are the main ways DeMers believes will help companies find their audience.


The next step would be to look at content. What type of content do you want to be posting or what type of content most relates to what you do.


Based on these the company should be able to chose platforms that best meet their needs:

Pinterest: Image based, b2b infographics

Youtube/vine: Create videos that sell the brand

Linkdin: business social media site where people can network (self explanatory how it benefits b2b)

Twitter and facebook: show of your brand, get info out there, connect

niche networks: active small communities 

google+: more productive community of users willing to discuss new technologies

location based networks: Showing other companies that you are present in the area through the use of foursquare can be beneficial to your presence in a certain area.



Theory
The four c's

Cognize: Understand where the business lies currently in relation to the Honeycomb framework.

Congruity: Develop strategies that suit each social media functionality. How to measure success, etc. The strategy also needs to include how the general public could find your platforms through other various sources. 

Curate: Have an understanding of when is the right time to get involved. When to start discussions or maybe control them. 

Chase: follow the information. See how conversations are going online and learn from what is being said. Also search for information about other social media platforms. 


What strategies can be implemented? 


In a study conducted by HBR, Over 1,100 companies spanning over different industries and countries were analysed to see what social media strategies were being utilized. They were categorized into 4 main different sections:

"The predictive practitioner" - skillful and weary, these companies want to use platforms as a place to interact/get answers. An example of this would be clorox's R&D setting up a web-platform to interact with different consumers to get answers to various questions. This setting is more controllable. 

"The creative experimenter" - These companies embrace uncertainty using platforms such as facebook and twitter to interact with customers. Companies like EMC also used it as a platform to network within the company, with so many employees its a way to connect and source from within before having to look outside the company for help. 

"The social media champion" - Companies using social media as a way to advertise or set up big campaigns. Ford launched their campgn for  the Ford Fiesta via social media and invited people online to test the car to then talk about their experience via various SM sites. 

"Social media transformer" - Large scale interactions in business. Cisco launched the "integrated workforce expeirence" that worked much like a FB wall where people could interact and find recommendations. 

Foster gives applicable tips to creating a social media strategy:
1) Understand goals 
2)create measurable objectives
3)Characterize customers 
4)look at competition 
5)Develop message 
6)choose channels 
7)content plan 


How to measure social media performance

7% of companies say they know the "exact value at stake from digital"
62% of u.s adults say that social media has no influence over purchasing 
5%say it does

so is people are not interested, isn't there still some value in knowing how much attention you and your competition are getting? sometimes. If you're playing clean then you can learn a lot by looking at analytical tools but maybe competition isn't. these days it's possible to purchase, likes, follows, etc. Companies either do this for viral purposes, etc but either way it doesn't depict a true analysis of how successful their online presence is. 

In their article, Fournier and Rietveld discuss the validity of your consumers social media behaviour. They believe that all information gathered from social media should be subject to market research to see whether the opinions expressed are that of an entire group or just a select few with big mouths. 

Focusing on ROI, companies overlook important sharing opportunities online. An example given was a toothbrush campaign via social media. They thought it was a failure because only existing customer responded. They didn't see the value in people talking positively about the products and the brand. 

Samuel argues the point of poor use of analytical tools and their accuracy. In studies it was found that 90%of whats written on social media sites, comes from less than 30% of social media users. This is not by any means the dominating opinions, nor should companies cater only to these voices. If they do, they are excluding a major following of people that aren't active but still follow social media sites. 

Tools
  • google analytics
  • facebook analytics
  • twitter analytics 
    • tweetbinder, hootsuite
  • Iconosquare(insta)
  • Socialbakers
  • Likealyzer
Case Studies 

http://mavsocial.com/b2b-social-media-case-studies/
http://www.newbreedmarketing.com/blog/successful-social-media-campaigns-for-b2b