Branding Rocks!

Duh! Of course we are going to say that. It’s what we do. It’s what we are passionate about! So you have your logo. Sweet! You have a vision. Fantastic! You have beautiful photography. Terrific! But do you have a brand? Not quite.

At the core of every marketer is a storyteller. We love to tell stories about:

• products
• places
• experiences
• … well we don’t really need a list – we just like to tell stories!

Digital media has opened up the communication lines for marketers. In the ‘old days’ (as my children say) you had a story to tell about your company, product, place or experience but you had to pay mightily for that story to be shared. Now there are several public forums that you can utilize to tell your story, which is a MARKETING DREAM.

So what does this have to do with your brand? Your brand is your story and vice versa. Why is it important to have a BRAND strategy in addition to your marketing plan? Here’s 8 reasons (we could give you 80, but we will save some for porch conversations):

#1 Your story makes you uniquely you! No one else is the same, which DIFFERENTIATES you from your competition.

#2 Consistent branding translates into RECOGNITION.

#3 Your brand is a PROMISE to your customers, your team and to the marketplace.

#4 Brands create an EMOTIONAL CONNECTION with your customer.

#5 Branding creates TRUST with all audiences.

#6 An established brand provides BUSINESS VALUE.

#7 A compelling background, history or brand strategy will MOTIVATE your staff and provide DIRECTION.

#8 Branding can FOCUS and guide your marketing efforts, saving time and money.

Sounds pretty good, eh? So what are you waiting for? It’s time to start rockin’ YOUR brand strategy!

Forrester predicts that in 2016, US advertisers will spend more on digital advertising than TV ads. Interactive marketing spend (email marketing, social media, display advertising and search marketing) will be 30% of marketing budgets (up from 24% in 2014).

Whether you are a start-up, a small business, or a business that is well-established, you should give yourself the gift of an interactive marketing strategy in 2016.

An October 2015 study by Pew Research Center found that 65 percent of American adults surveyed use social networking sites. Without social media as part of your interactive plan, you miss delivering your message to two-thirds of the U.S. population!!

Already rockin’ a social media plan? Awesome. Go you!

Let’s talk Facebook. In 2015, Facebook was the only platform to see a drop in active usage (-9% per the chart below). As Facebook fine-tunes their ad machine, organic growth is almost dead, so efforts on this network seem to be for not. In fact, several articles are calling for a move away from Facebook.

*Global Web Index – social-q1-summary-report

But not so fast! Facebook is still the largest social media platform with 1.55 Billion users. YouTube is in second place with 1 Billion. All other platforms are in the millions. So rather than move away from it entirely, we suggest you pay attention and leverage your audience.

Gone are the days of random posts and sporadic efforts. You need a strategy to maximize your investment. Your strategy should include content, consistency, connection and currency (advertising spend). With the right approach you can:

• Maximize your spend
• Reach new customers
• Grow your overall interactive reach

As an example, right now, L’Amour Des Pieds (one of our clients) is running a contest, which is a great way to connect. The marketing goal was to increase e-newsletter subscription, so we used a boosted post on Facebook to promote sign-ups.

Entering the contest is easy:

1. Like the L’Amour Des Pieds Facebook page
2. Sign up for their e-newsletter on lamourdespieds.com
3. Follow L’Amour Des Pieds Instagram (@lamourdespieds)

The contest ends today at 5 p.m. and the email database has already tripled! It goes to show what a focused strategy can accomplish.

Do you have your interactive marketing strategy for 2016? The ‘Porch is ready to help you rock it!

As our Chief Rocker continually espouses, marketing is not a science, it is an art. There is no one size fits all. It is a continual effort to fine tune your strategy including your message and its delivery.

Like an actor playing to an audience, there is a relationship – the transfer of energy and interaction from stage to audience is palpable. If an actor correctly reads the audience’s cues, the energy feeds on itself. The same holds true of marketing a product or service.

As an entrepreneur or small business, you’ve done your demographic research for your target market – your audience. Don’t fail to use it. This is your chance to tell the story of your brand and your value to potential customers and to let them know what makes your product stand apart.

Content and delivery are both important. And as new apps and technologies are continually evolving, it’s important to remain relevant. There is an element of trial and error. Pay attention to shifts. If it’s not working anymore – move on! Remember to know and address your audience.

Melissa McCarthy’s blunt and physical brand of comedy is a sharp contrast to Helen Mirren’s more serious and dramatic performance. While both are wildly talented and entertaining, they each have different “brands” and vastly different audience appeal. Bridesmaids plays to a very different audience than Queen Elizabeth. Both are great. But, there is an audience for each.

Know your audience. Remember, you are telling the story of your brand. Focus on the artistry of conveying your brand’s voice and message.

We love our business and are thrilled by the predictions for expected global growth in video content. Take this statistic, for instance:

• According to Cisco, video will account for 69% of all consumer Internet traffic by 2017 (and some sources take this figure as high as 74%).

Experts indicate that video is the future of content marketing, and that trend is already in full swing. Nielsen claims 64% of marketers expect video marketing to dominate their strategies in the near future.

Our role is to develop clear, concise and engaging video stories for our clients. We know that in this age of information overload people want a quick visual message so they can move on.

In fact, even using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19% and click-through rates by 65%, as reported by Syndacast.

The icing on the cake?

Axxon Research reports seven in 10 folks view brands in a more positive light after watching interesting video content from them.

Videos are a great way to create an emotional connection with your audience and leave a lasting impact long after the video is over. And we love client stories with happy endings!

John Doty, owner of InMotion Imagery, is an Emmy Award winning director and editor who has now worked in broadcast television and video production for more than 25 years. His work has been recognized by, among others, the Telly Awards and The Press Club of Dallas.

Not only is he expert at creating the perfect script-to-screen visual communications tools for clients, but he also directed the construction of InMotion’s sound stages from blueprint to finish. He has led teams of industry experts in producing television programs, live national broadcasts and corporate Webcasts. He’s a member of the Dallas Producers Association.

Like InMotion Imagery on Facebook and follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Vimeo as well.

It started as a typical day, moving forward, stopping at the store to pick up milk. I back out of the parking spot, turn the wheels to drive forward, and realize I’m stuck. In reverse. The gear shift is broken. After several scrapped knee-jerk plans (sit and wait, don’t move, don’t turn off the car, drive the car home in reverse) the final decision is made.

Tow it. Fix it. Move forward. 

During this brief, chaotic situation, it occurred to me that I take two beautiful abilities for granted; the ability to shift gears and the ability to move forward. Thank you, vehicle, for the head smack. How awful it would be to only move backward!! Unfortunately, we find ourselves looking backward far too frequently.

We can’t redo yesterday, last week or 10 years ago, so why do we spin our wheels in reverse?

Companies do this all the time. All the time. How many times have you heard or said:

• We will not carry zuladings because we tried and they don’t sell …
• We will not invest in social media (insert any marketing tactic print, radio, TV, community outreach, etc). We tried and it doesn’t work …

Decisions made from a rear view will hinder future success. 

A couple of real business examples:

1. In 2009, Starbucks breakfast sandwiches were a hard fast no. Too much aroma competition. “Coffee must win.”
2. For most of this decade, Michaels Arts and Crafts’ only mass reach tool was the weekly insert in the Sunday paper. The company would not invest in anything else because, “Only print worked.”
3. In late 2009 Domino’s Pizza changed its pizza recipe! After almost 50 years. “Yes, please” was not the initial response.

In all these cases, they didn’t let their rear view to deter them from moving forward. Yes, history can repeat and lessons should be learned; but what didn’t work once might work today because it is a new day, with a different landscape, different customers, and different needs.

Business strategy should always be forward-thinking and used to drive success.

Everyone has the ability to shift gears and move forward personally and professionally. If something is broke, fix it! By the way, I rode my bike to pick up my repaired vehicle. And you know what’s beautiful about a bike? It only goes forward.

First of all, if you don’t know what a typewriter is, this blog probably isn’t for you. 

It’s for us old geezers who distinctly remember the clickety-click of “secretaries” creating paper office correspondence.

In fact, typewriters were once indispensable tools for practically all businesses.

So what happened? Why aren’t they around anymore? The answer is easy, right?

Technology. We’ve now entered the digital world. Fast forward to laptops, tablets and smart phones that empower paperless communications anytime from virtually anywhere. Duh, you say. What does that have to do with me?

Let’s take a lesson from our typewriting past, and apply it to our future. What seems absolutely critical in today’s business environment that’s going to be obsolete tomorrow? You know the answer – you just don’t want to say it out loud:

Paper.

It’s happening, friends, more quickly than you might imagine. Offices across all industries are conducting more business and storing more documents online.

Real life example: I had a root canal (joy) done more than a year ago. The endodontist’s office was digital – I sat in the waiting room at a laptop station for new patients and “filled out my paperwork” digitally. Crazy, huh? Well, not really.

Back to my point.

Where are you in your paperless journey? Is it even on your radar? Are you ahead of the game, or will you be pulling up the rear, kicking and screaming? If you’re not convinced you need to take action now, then let me hit you with a few impressive facts:

Environmental Impact

• According to reduce.org, the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper a year.
• Conservatree.com has calculated it takes one tree to create 8,333.3 pages of paper.
• Thus, even a small office of 10 people would cost the environment about 12 trees per year.

Now let’s multiply that by the millions of workers in the U.S. I think a whole forest just disappeared. And that doesn’t even account for the negative impact of energy and greenhouse gasses used in paper production or its transportation to retailers and businesses.

Office Efficiency

Well-filed digital documents are easier to find than paper documents, thus saving time, reducing frustration and improving productivity. According to papersave.com:

• The average document is copied 19 times in its life.
• The average time it takes to fax a document is eight minutes.
• Professionals spend 20-30% of their day filing, searching and retrieving information but only 5-15% of their time reading the document.
• It costs companies $20 in labor to file a document, $120 to find a misfiled document and $220 to reproduce a lost document.

Greater efficiency equates to a more streamlined business, which not only enhances profitability, but makes it easier to better satisfy customers.

Economics

• The costs of using paper in the office can run 13 to 31 times the cost of purchasing the paper, per reduce.org. That’s because for each sheet of paper used, a company also incurs costs for storage, copying, printing, distribution, postage, disposal and recycling.
• A survey reported by dentalproductsreport.com indicated that a fully digital dental office saves nearly $9,000 per year.
• On a bigger scale, Citigroup, determined that if each employee used double-sided copying to conserve just one sheet of paper each week, the firm would save $700,000 each year. KA-CHING!

Don’t let mounds of paperwork today get in the way of going paperless tomorrow. It can seem like a daunting task, but to move forward, to be competitive, to be a leader, you have to bite the bullet. It’s good for business, and it’s good for the environment. Just remember the ol’ Underwood typewriter, boxed up in the attic gathering dust …

Enough of my soapbox! Let’s talk about HOW you’re making the transition. Hit me up with your best ideas and let’s make this happen!

Never underestimate the power of simplicity in business. Simplicity in design. Simplicity in communication. Simplicity in life. Less will always be more.

In the art and design world it is known as Minimalism, referring to anything that is stripped to its essentials. In the fashion world simplicity is dubbed the Ultimate Sophistication. Heck, there is an entire magazine with monthly tips for achieving Real Simple. It is full of tips and ideas to help the common gal, “simplify, streamline, and beautifully edit her life, armed with calm, confidence – and the power of the right lipstick.”

Apple is a shining example of simplicity. Steve Jobs’ love of simplicity is the foundation of Apple’s success in design, marketing and customer retention. Jobs developed a product that resonated with consumers because of its intuitive and simple interface.

Nowhere is simplicity more important than communication. Unfortunately, in our never-ending quest to make things bigger, better, stronger and faster, we occasionally overthink and complicate our message, which leaves your customer confused and disengaged. In order to really have your message heard, keep it simple.

A few tips for simple and effective communication:

• Keep your message clear and concise. Avoid the need for interpretation.
• Use short sentences.
• Have a strategy for delivery. Make sure your target audience is engaged.
• Offer a call to action. Inspiration breeds action. Make it easy.
• Communicate in a timely manner.

Communication is critical to building relationships. To capture your audience’s attention and build a relationship, craft a clear message and and then deliver via the correct outlet.

Keep it simple!

Digital Summit Dallas

This week, our team had the opportunity to attend the Dallas Digital Summit, the region’s largest digital gathering, to re-enforce our digital insight strong hold.

Attendees were from a diverse range of organizations including national brands, agencies, technology, media, B2B providers, associations, nonprofits and start-ups. 

The conference was two days of jammed pack information all things digital insight ~ from SEO, email, mobile, social, analytics to cross-channel campaigns, trends and overall digital strategies.

Here’s the top 10 take-ways the team will be rockin’ on the porch in 2015:
1)   It is Search Everything Optimization not Search Engine Optimization
2)   Local SEO is absolutely vital for any business with a physical location
3)   Everyone wants their emails to be meaningful! Change your email strategy and get it opened
4)   Social media is not elective any more
5)   Employees can be the biggest brand ambassadors
6)   Create a behavioral statement to compliment your mission and vision
7)   Watch your inauthentic dislikers ~ it’s ok to ask why they don’t love you anymore
8)   2015 trend watch: more video, more spend on social
9)   Make it pervasive, participatory, personalized and prescriptive
10) Wheel and Spoke – Cross Channel is essential

Need to get started on your 2015 digital plan? Let’s get together on the porch and rock it out.

Multitasking ~ The concept is fantastic. The temptation to work on multiple things at once is great. We all have many demands on our very finite productive time which battle with the seemingly endless list of things to do both at work and at home.

However, it turns out that multitasking is not the most efficient way to work. In fact, many tasks done simultaneously are not as well done, take longer and are more likely to have errors. According to Travis Bradberry in a recent article in Forbes, multitasking can not only be ineffective, but can cause damage to your career and ultimately your brain. Research done at Stanford University found that, “those who multitask a lot and actually feel it boosts their performance, were worse at multitasking than those who like to do a single thing at a time.”

Apparently our brains prefer a single focus.

But … there is a time and place for everything. There is one area where multitasking is not only desirable, but essential. Marketing. It’s critical to have each initiative working as hard as it can simultaneously to intrigue and motivate the consumer to engage. Creative advertising campaigns, artfully crafted messages and carefully chosen images should be designed to make the most of every platform they reach by optimizing key search words. When done well, the consumer will willingly follow, much like Alice trailing the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole and an enticing new world. Your world.

Lead consumers to your world with an effective marketing program. Once they have landed at the bottom of the rabbit hole and are again faced with the realities of looming deadlines and gnawing to do lists, they will agree that the distraction was worth the trip.

Chances are your business is using content marketing as part of your overall marketing plan. The objective of content marketing is to deliver valuable information that will engage your audience. Consumers are tuning out the more intrusive marketing tactics. What they really want is great, customer-focused information that helps them make a decision or solve a problem. That’s what content marketing delivers.

I actually like The Content Marketing Institute’s definition of content marketing the best: “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

So when it comes to content marketing, as a marketing professional, your job is to create and share valuable, free content to attract and convert prospective buyers into customers and engage existing customers so they are repeat buyers. The content you create and share should be closely related to what you sell without selling.

The purpose is to build relationships, awareness, branding and overall establish your company as an expert in your industry. You want to educate people and gain their trust so they do business with you.

There are many types of content that form a content marketing strategy including:

• Blogging
• Guest blog posts
• Social media posts and sharing
• Email marketing
• Infographics
• PowerPoint presentations
• Podcasts
• Standard videos
• Micro-videos (i.e. Vine)
• Public Speaking
• Webinars
• Articles

It’s up to you to know what is the best way for your brand to reach those potential and current customers. Just remember the power of great content marketing can make a person stop, read, think and behave differently. The return on investment for content marketing can be huge if executed correctly. And, it really doesn’t take a significant investment!