Applying the Right Kind of Lens

Just as professional photographers use special lenses for capturing subject matter properly, marketing and brand professionals need special lenses to uncover, analyze, and solve today’s branding challenges.

Agency talent cannot help but apply the lens of advertising to branding challenges – that is, interruptive and message-based creative strategies and tactics. With this lens attached to the camera, the output will always be predictable, common, and formulaic. Consumers have long figured this out. They desire a different landscape – one that they can help shape and control – a landscape created through authentic engagement. The brands that understand this reality are thriving and the others are struggling.

Instead, we should apply the lens of new media to branding. That is, interactivity and iteration. This lens, in combination with holistic experience planning, in place of the traditional media planning lens will open up new ways of seeing, finding and forging innovation in branding.

Let’s face it, in this multi-channel world we need to utilize multi-faceted lenses to breakthrough the clutter. Applying the lens of new media allows branders to gain true “user” insights (which leads to relevant differentiation) because the focus is centered on interaction: understanding pre-and-post purchase journeys, fringe behaviors, territories and barriers, resources and tools (both used and ignored), and influencing trends and social circles.

A wonderful example of this lens in application is Volkswagen’s 2010 GTI vehicle promotion. VW is putting consumers behind the wheel of a new iPhone application. According to BrandWeek, the free Real Racing GTI app lets users race against other cars and post their time on an online leader board. The company hopes to engage consumers by targeting social networking sites, allowing players to post their racing videos on YouTube and communicate with competitors on Twitter.

In the BrandWeek article, Charlie Taylor, general manager for Volkswagen’s digital marketing explains, “our audience is very wired, they are demanding and sophisticated technophiles and for them, media consumption is higher in digital than in broadcast.” Taylor pointed to market research as key in their decision to creating an iPhone app as a promotion. According to what VW found, half of the 20-25 million Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users are male, and a significant portion are part of the 30 to 40 something age of the company’s target audience.

Clearly, the new media lens and interaction focus was the catalyst to this innovative approach.

In support of zooming in with the new media lens, new research by Webtrends found 85% of consumers are positive about brands interacting with them online but 39% said there was too much advertising on social networks. According to the study, 19% of social media users said they would regard brands more highly if they interacted with them on a social media site and, of those who have already interacted with a brand in this way, 74% said their approval of the brand increased.

Sources:
1 - BrandWeek, Volkswagen’s Virtual GTI Launch by Sarah Knapp, Oct 23, 2009
2 – Webtrends Rules of Engagement Survey, Loudhouse UK, released Oct. 15, 2009

Sling-Shooting the Brand Experience In the Digital Domain

In today’s digital domain, there is a dizzying and ever-increasing array of channels to engage people through — Facebook, Twitter, Ad Sense, Youtube, et al. There are so many, in fact, that marketing professionals struggle to maintain consistent Brand messages and effectively reach their target audiences through the noise and variety of tactics.

However, to achieve the best results, we must take a step back and look at the big picture. Taken as a whole, the digital domain can be likened to a solar system.

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Recessionary Marketing: Innovate & Do Something!

Marketers are squeezed like never before. The consumer is more fickle than ever. Every day, there is a new hunt for how to best engage a consumer, how to effectively gain trade support and how to truly measure performance. It is essential that small businesses find the best ways to streamline their processes, market their core products and reach their core audience. Companies who effectively do this will make it out of this recession stronger than ever.

In the current economy, it’s all about cutting costs, not cutting corners. A marketing strategy in ANY economic scenario should always center on targeted, relevant, and timely messages. During a recession, however, companies are obligated to evaluate costs more closely. More often then not, says Bruce Temkin, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, executives make across-the-board cuts that adversely impact any company’s two core concerns: Who represents the target market you’re serving and what is the value proposition you’re delivering?

“In a recession, you don’t have the luxury of making mistakes when it comes to answering those questions,” Temkin says, “You have to more diligently answer those questions because once you do that, you then have a clearer picture of which customer you actively go and continue to market…and what you are going to do or deliver.” In other words, he says, instead of taking a hatchet to your marketing agenda, it’s time to whip out the scalpel.”

In better economic times, Temkin explains, targeting is expected, but “it doesn’t make sense to hold the entire company purely to it.” It’s easier for a company to go outside of its comfort zone when budgets are less restricted. In those times, he says, “you don’t need to be as rigorous.”

When return on investment is the top priority, here are a few low cost options that can help you do more with less:

1. Integrate your marketing channels to avoid redundancy and create a comprehensive view of the customer.
2. Create an internal and/or external blog or discussion board where customers and employees can communicate with upper-level management to create transparency and solicit input.
3. Host virtual events to complement your in-person events.
4. Tap into social networks for advice from your peers.
5. Improve the usability of your customer-facing channels. Especially your website.
6. Switch to cost-per-acquisition networks (like TrialPay) that only charge when you make a sale.

Many times, it takes a crisis for companies to recognize their inefficiencies. The companies that survive will be the ones that know how to get creative and do more with less.

Obviously no recessionary strategy is one-size-fits all, but one overall message should ring out consistently: DO SOMETHING. Don’t hide under the desk and wait it out until next year. During these times - this is when great companies emerge.