Marketing Quote Of The Month

Emmanuel #EKsMarketingViews

Marketing Quote of the Month

Emmanuel #EKsMarketingViews

To be…..

To be a great marketer takes creativity, skill and persistence.

Don’t bombard your audience with jargon, be clear or there will be resistance.

It is not about being a magician and knowing everything

Businesses should invest in training to help their brand stand out and win.

Invest in your employees, they are your backbone.

Without them, your brand can’t grow on its own.

It is fine and good working at a fast pace but …

To know your audience and grow your brand, most times, it’s a marathon, not a race.

Data can be for the greater and help to make planning more at ease

This can result in creating a marketing masterpiece.

Remember with a team together everyone achieves more

This will help keep your customers engaged and waiting for what’s in store.

Until next time…

Emmanuel #EKsMarketingViews

Why employees can be key to making a brand great

Before I begin, let ask you this – what is a customer? To me, a customer can be described in the acronym below:

Why did I ask this question? Well, because what some businesses may fail to realise is that customers are not just external, they are also internal; they are called employees. As much as an organisation wants to and has to adhere to its customers needs, it must never take for granted those that are internal.

When applying for a job, a potential employee researches a company to get an insight into what they are about and what their brand represents. According to HubSpot “86% of workers would not apply for, or continue to work for, a company that has a bad reputation with former employees or the general public”. As much a company believes that employees need them, they need employees just as much to make their brand flourish.

Just like when a customer understands the product or service provided before they make a purchasing decision, potential employees need to understand a business and its brand before accepting a position.  It is not just about what a company does but how they do it and what they offer. Businesses don’t just have to tell a story but sell it too.

You see, many of you that read my blog posts and follow my blog will have heard me say numerous times that customers are the lifeblood of an organisation and without them, a business cannot survive. The lifeblood of an organisation starts internally. For a business and its brand to grow, it starts with employees and the company helping to shape them into being their biggest brand advocates.

Employee engagement

 Employees who are enthusiastic about their work and take positive steps in helping a company grow are those that are engaged. To them,  it is more than just a paycheck because they enjoy what they do and when you enjoy what you do, you put your heart into it. An engaged employee will go the extra mile and think of a company’s brand, values and reputation.  For employee engagement to happen, it starts with communication.   

By having transparency and not being opaque and by employees understanding a companies brand and values from the start, this creates trust. Having internal communication with employees whether it’s through HR or a Communication team, employees want to be kept in the loop of any changes or developments and for them to feel as though they are part of the company this is essential.

Employee productivity 

If employees are engaged, they are going to be more productive. If they feel happy in the environment that they are in, this is going to reflect on their productivity. The more productive employees are the higher quality of work they will produce and there will be an increase in revenue.  However, targets have to be realistic which leads me on to my next point.

Benefits  

Like external customers, internal customers i.e. employees search for the best deal that a business can provide them. It’s not just about having a dress down Friday for example but having a good work like balance and companies thinking about their employees’ overall well-being.

Employee Testimonials

With all the points already mentioned, if adhered to, employees are more likely to give testimonials and positive ones. However, businesses should not just think about testimonials being written but also being visual. By getting video testimonials as well as written and sharing on social media platforms, this will engage customers and potential employees. People will have an insight into a company and an understanding of what their brand represents. 

A very important factor in what a brand represents in employees should also be diversity. It shouldn’t matter what someone’s gender, race or creed is as long as they have the right attitude, aptitude and are coachable. People from different backgrounds can build a formidable team.

In conclusion, employees are key to making a brand great – they are the core of a business. If procedures are put into place internally, it will reflect on customers externally. Let that sink in.

“The purpose of branding is knowing and consistently living from a true identity, from a real story, so that executive leadership, sales, marketing, product, support, operations, and corporate culture all align and mature in a compelling manner that is meaningful to anyone who encounters the collection of people who make up a brand. A brand is the story of people headed in a direction, inviting you to journey with them” – Mojo Media Labs.

Until next time…

Emmanuel #EKsMarketingViews

Marketing Quote of the Month

Emmanuel #EKsMarketingViews

The rest is still unwritten….

As a new decade has begun, the marketing industry will continue to find innovative ways to connect with their target audience but one thing that will remain the same – content is king. As video content will continue to flourish,  and other mediums may be utilised more, one piece of content that should never be taken for granted is written content. Whether you are sending an email, writing a blog post, Instagram caption, a tweet or a Facebook post, written content is key. We’ve all heard the expression that a picture paints a thousand words right? Well, words can paint a thousand pictures so your writing has to clear.

Here is a straight forward list I have devised that I believe can help with written content:

1. Think of your target audience

As obvious as this may sound, the content you produce has to cater to your audience.  If you don’t think of your target audience, messages can become too broad and generic,  often overlooked and ignored. This is because they don’t appeal to anyone. Not EVERYONE is your target audience so do some research before you write your content. Pay attention to details like who your demographic is, social listening – what and who (influences and influencers) are they following on social media and how they make their purchasing decisions. Even looking at the click-through rate on your website can have an impact on how you speak to your target audience.  By focusing on your target audience, it also helps a company to create their brand identity and stand out from their competitors with written content that is relatable, genuine and that matters.

2. Tone of voice

This is something that can be overlooked at times. Even though this isn’t something new, tone of voice represents a brand’s personality. Every organisation wants their written content to be professional, helpful, accessible and human but personality has to come through. Face to face it is easier to show personality whether it is through facial expressions, hand movements, frequency in voice to express a certain emotion but to put it into words within a business context, it is not always easy and can take some practice.

Using punctuation to show personality, for example, an exclamation mark to show excitement or sense of urgency can be effective but the words have to be genuine. How do you want your business to come across, do you want to be empathetic, funny/witty, serious, happy,  it’s all about how you want your organisations brand to be perceived by your target audience. You want to be real but you have to be relatable and make your customers feel as though they can have an open dialogue with you, so put yourself in the customer’s shoes. This draws me on to my next point.

3. K.I.S.S.

The renowned acronym and principle that really is key to content in all forms, KISS  – Keep It Simple, Stupid. With written content, you want to be as clear and as transparent with your audience as possible. It’s not all about using technical jargon that no one understands or it is not explained nor is about using fancy words because they sound good; it is about clarity. Customers will not buy into a product service if it does not resonate with them and the written content provided has to be clear. Keeping it straight forward/ easy for a customer to digest creates trust and can lead to brand loyalty. When executed well, the simplest things really are the most effective.

4. Have a strong opening

In whatever format you are using to create written content, the first paragraph, caption or tweet, has to be strong. What do you want your customers to know in the first few lines or even the first few words? It’s like going to the cinema and watching the trailers on the big screen; you want your audience to be engaged and in doing so they will want to see and find out more. Actions may speak louder the words but words can create an action that leads customers to react by taking the time to invest in your company.

5. Believe in what you write

It’s that simple. If you don’t believe in what you write, it is not going to come across as genuine and there is a very good chance that your customers will sense this. You have to believe in your organisation’s products or services, their ethos and translate this into written content. The more you believe in it, the more your customers will too.

6. Keep drafting and don’t look back

What I mean by this is when you are drafting written content, do not constantly look back on every single sentence or paragraph and edit or think to yourself “That doesn’t sound right”. Keep writing. If you constantly look back, you are wasting time and some of the ideas you had, can be forgotten and then you hit a bit of a block. Instead of writing, you are thinking to yourself “What was it I was going to write again?!” Whilst it is still fresh in your mind, continue writing then go back and edit/make any necessary amendments once you’ve finished.  This leads me on to the next point.

7. Write down all your ideas

Even if you think an idea might be silly, write it down. Don’t knock yourself for having an idea. The more ideas, the better. It shows you are thinking and looking at ways to improve and create fresh content. This is can also be a great way of collaborating with your colleagues and picking each others brains to see what you think will resonate with your target audience. Mind mapping amongst others is a good way of generating ideas for content.

8. Ask questions

If you don’t ask, you don’t receive. By using qualitative and quantitive questions, you engage with your target audience and it can make them feel appreciated and that their opinion matters which it does. By getting feedback from written content, it can also act as a great catalyst in producing more content that caters to your audience and that is a win-win situation for everyone.

To conclude,  writing is not just a way for business to express themselves. It is a way for them to engage with customers, take them on a journey that creates a bond and relationship built on trust and understanding which can result in a return on investment.

Are there any points I have missed or that could be added? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.  Until next time….

 

Emmanuel #EKsMarketingViews

Being Authentic

 Image source: ComicBook.com

Last week, I went to the cinema to see the latest adaptation of a Marvel film Captain Marvel. I had to see the film because it was part of the jigsaw that would link to Avengers End Game which is coming out next month. As I just typed that I have a glint of excitement in my eye.

So before I continue and get into this blog post, I have to advise that there will be *SPOILERS* for those who have not seen the film yet. If you don’t want to continue reading, go watch the film, come back to this blog post and then share your opinion :).

At the beginning of the film, we see a member of an elite intergalactic military Kree unit called Starforce have flashbacks and nightmares from her past. She goes by the name of just ‘Vers’ for now…. As the flashbacks become more prominent and she does not really remember who she is, Vers goes to her mentor and the commander of Starforce Yon-Rogg. He trains her how to use the new powers that she doesn’t remember attaining and advises her to not let her emotion get the better of her.  When she visits the Supreme Intelligence an artificial intelligence and ruler of the Kree, Vers pictures the ruler as the woman in her nightmares but just cannot piece together where she knows her from. She’s advised just like before, to not let her emotions dictate her actions.

With Yon-Rogg, Vers and the other members of the military Kree unit are assigned a mission to infiltrate a group of Skrulls who are shape-shifting aliens that they are at war with. The Skrulls have an undercover operative held hostage and on the Kree’s mission, Vers is captured. The Skrull Commander Talos uses a memory probe to try to get some vital information.  We see different stages from Vers life from when she is a child to when she is a woman and one thing that seems to be a running theme is people questioning her and tell her that she cannot do things – she is not strong enough, is not experienced enough.

As Vers tries to escape, Talos keeps asking her for coordinates but she has no idea what the Skrull commander is talking about and thinks the alien has done something to her that is why is getting flashbacks. After a brief battle with Skrulls, she escapes and crashes down to planet earth and interrupts S.H.E.I.L.D  agents Nick Fury and Phil Coulson’s investigation. She fights Skrulls who are on earth too and  Fury and Coulson follow her to see what is going on as it all seems quite bizarre.

Talos (remember Skrulls can shape-shift) takes the form of S.H.E.I.L.D Director Keller and tells Fury to work with Vers and keep a close eye on her.  Fury takes Vers to a U.S. Airforce base where she stumbles upon files and sees that the woman she was having nightmares about and who she visualises as the Supreme Intelligence, was a scientist called Dr Wendy Lawson who died six years ago as a result of conducting an experiment on an engine she designed. There was another person with her that eventful day and was presumed dead. She was a pilot and Vers looks closer at a picture and realises it was her. She is startled and is trying to piece things together and sees there was another female pilot called Maria Rambeau who was the last person to see Vers and Lawson alive.  She decides to fly to Louisiana with Fury to see Maria after she fends off Talos (who is impersonating Keller) and some agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.

When flying to Louisiana on a cargo jet with Fury they are accompanied by Lawson’s stowaway cat Goose. As the group arrive at Louisana to see Maria Rambeau, the former pilot reveals to Vers that Vers real name is Carol Danvers and that she was a U.S pilot. As they are getting reacquainted, Talos arrives in his natural Skrull form and tells Danvers that he means no harm and tells her to listen to the black box which was recovered from  Lawson’s plane before the crash which will explain everything. Although reluctant at first, she agrees and she starts remembering the eventful day and hears that her Kree mentor Yon-Rogg actually killed Lawson before she could destroy the energy core in the plane so Danvers destroyed it but there was an explosion and she absorbed some of the power in the energy core. Yon-Rogg saw this and took her back to the planet Hala, suppressed some of her power and trained her to be a soldier. During this time Vers has amnesia.

Talos explains that’s Lawson was actually a Kree scientist. Her name was Marvel (pronounced Mar-Vell) and was actually helping the Skrulls to find a home as they were refugees and they did not want to be in a war with other planets and the Kree but just wanted a home. Feeling hurt and betrayed upon this realisation, she agrees to help Talos with the aid of Rambeau and Fury (and Goose) and they go into space using the coordinates where they find Lawson’s Laboratory. When they arrive there, they realise that Lawson/Mar-Vell kept some of the Skrulls there for safety and Talos was reunited with his family. The source of the energy core is in the laboratory and is called the Tesseract (many of you will know this from the previous Marvel films).

The Kree arrive and a fight ensues and Danvers is captured and speaks with the Supreme Intelligence who tells her she is nothing without them and they made her and she cannot defeat them, she cannot keep her emotions in check  – she’s just a human. During this, Danvers has flashbacks from her past at people telling her she shouldn’t and cannot do things like go-kart carting as a child, climbing the rope when training to be a U.S. pilot; at every step, she came up short but never gave up. This gives her fuel and motivation and she removes a Kree implant from her neck that was suppressing some of her powers and overpowers the Supreme Intelligence and breaks free and is more powerful than ever. She fights off the Kree with her powers and tells Fury to keep the Tesseract safe and Goose who turns out to be an alien Flerkin swallows it whole for safety.

Fury, Goose and Rambeau lead Talos and the Skrulls to safety in their jet and Captain Marvel fights off missiles fired by the Kree and their officer Ronan the Accuser ( you may remember him for the Guardians of The Galaxy film; see how Marvel ties the characters together :)) and they flee.

A final battle happens on earth with Danvers/Marvel and her mentor Yon-Rugg and she sends him back to the planet Hala with a stark (Iron Man reference) warning to the Supreme Intelligence. She informs the Skrulls she will help them find a new home and goes back into space with them and states she will continue to fight to put a stop to intergalactic wars. Before she goes, she gives Fury a modified pager and tells him to only use it when there is a serious emergency on earth.

That’s it. The whole film more or less summarised. There are some bits I missed (wink, wink) but that is the gist of it. The film has teachable moments from a life and a marketing perspective. Allow me to explain.

Captain Marvel is not just a strong film about feminism and female empowerment, it also about self-discovery and authenticity. When we see Carol Danvers break free from the Supreme Intelligence she is not just breaking free from being suppressed from the Kree but she is breaking free from restraints that held her back. She has found her true self and calling. Danvers was always told to keep her emotions in check, the thing that was perceived as a weakness was actually her greatest strength. It is what made her unique, what made her strong and ultimately made her Captain Marvel.

In life and business, being yourself is your greatest attribute. In a highly competitive market, businesses have to have a unique selling point that makes them stand out from their competitors. If they don’t and are a carbon copy, it can be very detrimental to their brand and existence. But how do businesses make themselves unique? They have to be genuine and authentic.

Business should look at what their mission statement is and see if it is being reflected in their work every day.  Like Danvers had a strong team to help her find herself, employees are paramount to a business’s success and even having testimonials, not just from clients or customers but employees is crucial. Employees are the ones that help pump the blood into the heart of the business and can make it successful. Teamwork makes the dream work and by investing in your team, they will invest you. Tone of voice is also essential to authenticity and how a message is understood by an audience. One thing all businesses want to come across as is relatable to their target audience.

In the film as Carol Danvers traces back to her past through flashbacks, files, the black box played to her by Talos and by seeing her friend Maria Rambeau. This highlights that data is crucial in creating authenticity. Whether it’s past or present:

By looking at data from a business standpoint, it can help organizations learn about what worked, is working, isn’t working and what can be done to improve a marketing campaign and their overall businesses strategy. Data is a discovery – think about that.

In conclusion, I will finally add one more thing. When you look deep inside your business and start  asking questions and even looking at ways of finding a solution to making things better, always stay true to your brand, customers and employees because they help you find and create  your identity and that can truly make you powerful beyond measure and it will be something that other businesses will ‘marvel’  at.

 

Emmanuel #EksMarketingViews

Social Media Influencers – Fad or Future?

Influence – “The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself”- Dictionary.com

As social media continues to grow exponentially, so has influencer marketing and it has been a very lucrative business for all parties involved. Although some marketers question its sustainability while others believe it is the biggest thing in the realm of social media, influencer marketing is not a new ‘trend’ and has been around for quite some time.

An influencer is a person through reputation, expertise in a specific industry, popularity or mixture of some or all the components mentioned, who has the power to sway others into buying a product or service. From a strategic standpoint, marketers would focus more on the influencers ‘power’ than on their target audience as a whole to get their brands message across to a larger audience.

One of the most famous influencers in the world is Santa Claus – yes Santa Claus. Did you know that the depiction of the jolly rotund man with a white beard that we know and love today first came to light in the 1930s by Coca Cola?

Source: The Coca-Cola Company

Since then, Santa Claus has in a sense become a global and cultural influencer that has not just become synonymous with Christmas but with Coca Cola’s brand as demonstrated by their Christmas adverts (I can hear some of you the humming the holidays are coming).

Even in the last decade alone, Coke’s market share has risen from 17.3% to 17.8 %. Now I am not saying that this is just because of Santa Claus but the introduction of him all those years ago has certainly helped the brand grow. As human beings, we are emotionally driven to making purchasing decisions. Who wouldn’t buy into a person that brings joy to the world at the most wonderful time of the year?

Over the years influencer marketing has changed and adapted with the times. One of the most popular influencers of the 80s and dare I say of all time is the basketball legend Michael Jordan. Deemed by many as the greatest basketball player of all time, in 1984 global sports brand Nike created a shoe for the sports star called Air Jordans.

Source: Getty images

Exclusively made for Jordan early on that year then made for public consumption, later on, the sales for the basketball shoe skyrocketed and the synergy between Michael Jordan and Nike was a mutually beneficial and profitable one. The brand also expanded into athletic and casual clothing. 34 years later, Air Jordans are still very popular.

How many UK readers remember the Ronseal adverts from the mid-’90s? The wood stain, paint and preservative manufacturer devised a campaign when it first came out designed for men and DIY. The man in the video  represented ‘the everyday man’ who at home does DIY. The straight-talking forward approach where a man explains what Ronseal does used the iconic strapline which is now etched into popular culture and the British vernacular which is “Does exactly what it says on the tin”, helped the brand’s sales to shoot up and become a recognizable brand leader.

Even though I touched on it in a previously with Michael Jordan, towards the late 90s early 2000s, influencer marketing became more celebrity-centric. Brands used celebrities to fuel their marketing campaigns and one of the celebrity influencers at the forefront of this was sports personality and cultural icon David Beckham. Working with sports brands such as Adidas (made Adidas Predator Boots the most sort after football boots for young footballers and aspiring ones), carbonated soft drink giant Pepsi, fashion brand Police promoting their sunglasses, Beckham’s cross over appeal generated a substantial increase in sales for those brands and others he has worked with.

Source: Adidas

In around 2010 when social media platforms became prominent, so did influencer marketing and there was a change in the landscape. Businesses realised that potential customers could follow the people they liked and admired and felt closer to them than ever. Fans could become followers and ultimately consumers. Even though influencer marketing was not new, the term ‘Social Media Influencer’ was coined.

Brands were paying key figures to promote their products and services because they believed they could reach a larger audience. A retweet, like or share on social media is basically word of mouth marketing but on an online platform. However, there are a number of variables into how influencers are paid and this includes:

• The number of followers and fans the influencer has
• The amount of engagement their posts generally garner
• The fit of the advertisement with their brand and following
• The number of posts you want
• The type of post (image, video, audio, etc.)
• The amount of effort needed from the influencer (do you provide the image/video or do they?)
• Where the ad will be promoted (will it just be on the influencer’s account? Are you cross-posting it? Are you using it in other efforts?) – taken from CPC Strategy

One of the biggest influencers on social media (especially Instagram) at the moment is reality star, Kylie Jenner. With a following of 125 million people and her posts getting over one million likes whether she is promoting a beauty product or is sponsored by a sports brand such as Adidas, Kylie Jenner reaches a large audience where the majority of her demographic are teenage girls and women in their 20’s.

Source: @kyliejenner

However, some influencers have also come under scrutiny by advertising watchdogs as there has to be transparency in them specifying that their social posts are an ad using the #ad or sponsored ad/ paid partnership.

Source: @georgiakousoulou

This also makes it clear to their followers if the influencer actually uses the product or service or are just being paid to promote it. This brings me onto how there now seems to be a slight paradigm shift with influencers on social media.

Celebrity endorsements and adverts will always be popular to a certain degree. However, Millennials and Generation Z  have disrupted the influencer market as consumers want social proof before they buy a product or service. This has paved a way for new types of influencers known as micro and macro influencers. These influencers may only have a following of a couple of thousands or even a million but they come across more authentic to their followers as they are ‘normal’ people; they are niche market but their content gives followers an insight into their interests and passions.

Micro and macro influencers have two things in common; with their aesthetic posts, whether they are pictures or video demonstrations of them using a product or service, they provide content that comes authentic and relatable. These influencers recommendations come across real and they can range from health enthusiasts talking about a product or equipment they use, makeup artists, bloggers, food vloggers just to name a few and as shown in the example below.

Source: @veganpixie_

For brands, these new type of influencers can also be cost-effective and some can even be free with an incentive such as offering them free products.

The scepticism that some marketers have is that even though social media influencers can reach a larger audience and keep followers engaged, what impact do they have on brands bottom line – their  ROI and is it converting into sales. This is a fair observation and something that has to be considered and continuously looked at.

With social media continuing to grow and being a highly saturated market where brands are competing for attention, influencers can break through the noise and make brands more noticeable but at what cost.

So my question to you is this – “Social media influencers – fad or future?” Let me know your thoughts and leave a comment and or like.  Until next time…

Emmanuel #EKsMarketingViews

Marketing Quote of the Month

 

Emmanuel #EKsMarketingVIews

Marketing Quote of the Month

 

Emmanuel #EKsMarketingViews