Industries ranging from theme parks to sports venues are amplifying the customer experience by diving deeper into data and mining insights that are timely and add value.
Delivering a breakthrough customer experience requires close collaboration between marketing and technology.
A truly collaborative experience depends on employees throughout the organization reaching across the aisle and participating in delighting the customers.
It’s no longer just a marketing function. In today’s digital world brands that are successful recognize that businessintelligence along with analytics are key to driving successful business outcomes.
These brands and categories start out by finding where they can simplify and amplify their brand’s experience.
Brands are starting by identifying pain points in the brand experience journey, then investing big dollars for analytics and innovative technology which can unlock fertile grounds for potential marketing opportunities.
Let’s take sports as our first example…
Sport venues
Sports venues are being faced with several challenges, young fans want to stay connected or else they will lose interest by halftime, sponsors want quantifiable data to justify budgets and the in-home television experience has improved tremendously.
Thus, sport venues across the country are stepping up and elevating the customer experiences by bridging the gaps in marketing with the help of technology.
WiFi is being installed at arenas so fans can stay connected. Beacon transmitters are being used to pinpoint location of the fans. All of which enable fans to have the option to order food from the nearest stalls, check the quickest way to their seats or find the nearest restrooms with the shortest wait times.
In addition, mobile apps are allowing teams to stay connected with fans in and outside the arena by sending actionable marketing messages.
The data collection and analytics is not only helping build a deeper relationship for future activities and purchases, but also providing quantifiable results for sponsors to justify ROI. All of this is elevating the customer experience and increasing revenues.
Historically, the experience at Disney has been anything but magical for parents and children navigating the complex theme park.
Consumers were inundated with various touchpoints throughout their stay. Disney’s insight in to the complex experience of the theme park led to an innovative solution: MyMagic+ bracelet.
The bracelet technology is a wearable device that enables people to have their park passes, room keys, loyalty status and even credit card information all stored on one device. The bracelet acts as a unifying device for all Disney experiences and is a marketing element in itself.
The wearable technology was estimated to cost Disney close to a billion dollars, but it will drastically simplify the way 30+ million visitors a year do just about everything while staying at Disney.
Companies should no longer be viewing technology departments as support staff. Technology is now becoming an integral part of the consumer experience.
Brands across different industries need to invest and partner with technology and mine insights that can elevate customer experience and in turn revenue.
Have you noticed that the world of marketing is changing? And rapidly. Traditional media vehicles are losing effectiveness as people communicate in new and different ways. Mass audiences are fragmented into small segments. Developing a point of difference is harder than ever.
These marketing creativity lessons will show you how though.
Guinness marketing creativity
This Guinness marketing campaign demonstrates that Guinness marketing has certainly noticed.
And Guinness marketing has adapted and come up with some cool new marketing ideas. This new ad from Guinness proves that beer commercials can be so much more than guys and bars.
“Empty Chair,” tells the story of a bartender who leaves a pint of Guinness at an empty table every night amongst birthday celebrations and sports team victories. No one sits at the table, and the woman shoots a dirty look at anyone she catches eyeing one of the empty chairs.
Without fail, the frosted glass is there each and every night. It’s a powerful image that serves as a sign of hope for the bartender. But we aren’t exactly sure who the beer is for until the very end. Everything comes together when a soldier finally returns home to claim his Guinness.
The spot finishes with the tagline “The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character.”
Guinness’s marketing story based on emotion has flipped traditional beer advertising on its head by getting rid of the template and telling a story – a real emotional story – that connects with people. The responses were overwhelmingly positive … customers and particularly the target customers are looking for meaningful stories. The emotion in this marketing strategy certainly is addressing this end state in our opinion.
This Guinness “Empty Chair” commercial salutes the character of a community as they honor one of their own who is out of sight, but not out of mind. They remind us that a true test of character is what you do when no one’s looking.
The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character. Guinness proudly raises a glass to those who are #MadeOfMore.
The spot works in many ways.
First, it breaks through the clutter. It is visually arresting, surprising, and beautiful. After watching it once I wanted to watch it again. There are no better means of influence or the power of persuasion than emotion. Hands down the best, in our opinion. And enhanced with a great dose of curiosity.
Experiences that trigger our emotions are saved and consolidated in lasting memory because the emotions generated by the experiences signal our brains that the experiences are important to remember.
Second, it has solid branding; it is clear that this is for Guinness and the brand’s personality.
Third, it communicates a benefit. The entire spot revolves around the Guinness commitment to people. It is very clear that Guinness has something special and remarkable that they want to share.
The ad has generated an astonishing amount of buzz and attention. It is engaging, well branded, and focused.
The ad was serious and emotional. It is like they left a note that says:
… there will be a seat left open, a light left on, a favorite dinner waiting, a warm bed made…because in your home, in our hearts, you’ve been missed. You’ve been needed, you’ve been cried for, prayed for. You are the reason we push on.
It touches on deep emotions about loss and longing. And the spot worked to build the brand; it made people feel proud of Guinness and its values.
Stories and emotions are the future of great marketing, aren’t they?
Disney marketing creativity
Do you make continuous improvement a focus of your marketing creativity? Most of the best marketing strategies we study and follow certainly do, and that is an awesome way to do marketing. Yes, the creative Disney marketing strategy is making their business better and better all the while. And their growth is all about their marketing creativity. Of course, if you are a family with children or grandchildren you certainly know this.
Have you noticed? It is hard not to notice, isn’t it? Let’s examine some reasons their marketing strategy is so creative:
Content marketing
Build excitement: Let’s face it; Disney is not a low-cost vacation. By providing custom touchpoints filled with useful and exciting content, unique to each family’s post-purchase, Disney is helping to build excitement. It works, and it’s brilliant.
Personalize: All customers are unique, and have different needs, especially in travel. Since this is not a one-size-fits-all world, what everyone needs is different from just about every other person. Disney knew that and deliver a book that is unique for each family. They send a book that was specific to their hotel and reservation details … all the information needed in a custom 15-page book. It works, and it’s brilliant.
Times have changed since Walt Disney’s days but his marketing ideas are still amazing. Let’s take a look at a few of Disney’s tactics:
Continuous promotion – If there was one thing Walt Disney did well it was promoting his business. And he did so continuously. He made sure he kept his organization in your mind. When it came time to think of going on vacation, to a movie, or any of a number of other things Disney always came to mind.
Build lifetime value – Go to a Disney attraction today and find people who have been coming back for decades and many times at that. Disney keeps their customers so happy that they keep coming back, again and again.
It’s the stories
The story is king – Walt knew that the story was the real reason people enjoyed his attractions. Even today, every Disney feature has a story behind it. People relate to these stories. It’s just part of the human condition. They are great at engaging people on a human level. Their stories abound at every turn.
Customer immersion
Always something new: Disney fans keep coming back because there’s always more to see. Disney’s motto isn’t “Lots of Rides”—it’s “The Happiest Place on Earth”. And Disney maintains constant interest by making sure there’s always something else to notice.
Interesting, interactive queuing areas for the rides.
Sporadic “spontaneous” performances by Mary Poppins or Alice and the Mad Hatter at various times of the day.
Rides like the Jungle Cruise are strikingly different at night.
Holiday theming. Different fireworks displays. “Limited-time only” eatables.
BMW marketing creativity
Are these videos a secret marketing strategy? Probably not. But you can certainly learn from them. These BMW marketing videos do display some great hidden truths.
Have you seen these two recent BMW videos? Watch them both here … each is only 60 seconds. We will then examine each video and what contributes to their strengths and weaknesses and their ability to influence or persuade.
How many times do you hear “I want my video to go viral”? To make this happen you have to create content that is pretty innovative, exciting, and cool so that your audience will want to share. Well here’s the kind of video that ticks all those boxes. BMW Canada has released these videos which have been viewed over 7 million times (at the time of writing).
The first one was the most popular and it became the number one worldwide auto video on YouTube after just 2 days. The title of the first video makes you think that you’ll be seeing BMW cars taking on concrete walls and losing. The video is pretty clever and keeps you on the edge of your chair as you watch it.
In marketing or advertising, you need to create information that your customers find interesting and worth talking about and remembering. These videos certainly achieve this goal, don’t you think?
Let’s evaluate other keys to effective marketing strategy in these videos:
Show … don’t tell
Certainly, BMW could have talked about its car’s design features, in all their technical glory. But that is not the best way to create a story that holds an audience’s attention. It is a much better approach to show the capabilities in person, but if that can’t be done, then an effective video is the next best thing. It is the only way to effectively to communicate messages to 7 million+ viewers.
Grab and hold viewers’ attention
Grab attention with interesting information. Keep in mind that people don’t watch ads … they watch what interests them. Your ad messages must be interesting to your target communities. This video certainly grabs and holds attention based on simple emotion.
Influence and persuasion
There are no better means of influence or persuasion than emotion. Emotion is the best, hands down the best, in our opinion. This commercial focuses on emotional appeal in a grand fashion.
It is the secret of these videos’ success and what makes the marketing strategy most creative.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading on marketing strategy from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
13 Remarkable Visual Content Marketing Examples
SEO Mistakes That Will Kill Your Content Marketing Performance
Have you ever defined your favorite brands and questioned why they are favorites? It is a key exercise we often use with our clients. This exercise helps to evaluate what should be the heart of your company’s strong brand identity by examining the best of the best.
Feelings have a critical role in the way customers are influenced.
David Freemantle
We like to quote from the book Funky Business Forever when we discuss brands or branding with our clients:
The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of similar companies, employing similar people, with similar educational backgrounds, coming up with similar ideas, producing similar things, with similar prices and similar quality.
It is not easy being different, is it? But all the more important.
The key to a good brand is being different. There are 4 critical things to remember about brands and branding:
Every business has a brand, whether explicitly defined or not. The important question to be answered is how good is the brand?
Brands deliver an emotional connection to a business’ products and services. Most purchase decisions have critical emotional components.
Your brand represents a collection of your customers’ perceptions of how they see you, how they feel about you, and what they say about you.
Your brand communicates every time it touches a customer. This makes you, as a marketer, responsible for this communication ‘moment of truth’.
Most brands sell products or services. GM sells cars. Borders sell books. Real estate brokerages sell homes. The best brands, however, satisfy a desire to get at the emotional heart of the matter.
Let’s review my favorite 6 brands and why they stand out as the best for me. This is a great way to appreciate the importance of branding and emotion.
KLM Airline
I prefer brands that are most innovative and very eager to try lots of new and different ideas. And not afraid of a failure or two. KLM Airlines certainly deserves to be in this camp. Real social media marketing innovators. They frequently come up when marketers are discussing the best in social media marketing.
KLM Airlines
They have been successfully executing their social media marketing plan for over 4 years, and their strategies have played a key role in their marketing and customer engagement.
If you’re not familiar with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, known by its initials KLM, it is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. With headquarters is in Amsterdam, KLM operates scheduled passenger and cargo services to more than 90 destinations worldwide. It is the oldest airline in the world, still operating under its original name (Founded in 1919).
Their brand identity is built around a culture of innovativeness. Over the past four years, KLM has launched a number of social campaigns – some big, some small. They had a few failures along with great successes but they keep exploring and testing what consumers like the best.
LEGO
The Lego brand is another brand I like best for its ability to adapt and innovate by trying lots of things. They teach us many things through their stories, storytelling, and messages. The words and images they use, then, reflect who they are, what makes them distinctive, and the brand values they want to represent to all their stakeholder communities. The brand represents their ability to influence how people see them, feel about them, and talk to others about the brand.
It is human and emotional, and at that critical time when a customer engages with one of their employees or someone in their channel or even one of their products, their brand comes alive with engagement.
We are big fans of the Lego Company and its products. The LEGO brand is more than simply a familiar logo. It is the expectations that people have of the company towards its products and services, and the accountability that the LEGO Group feels towards the world around it.
When Lego tells its creative branding story, the Lego Brand experience teaches us to create a distinctive voice with unique words, feelings, emotions, and images … dare to create differences with our communities.
JetBlue
I like this brand for creating unique selling propositions that have real value for me. They are my favorite airline, no question. JetBlue’s brand success centers on the achievable – the simple things – they knew would make a difference for their passengers.
This set the stage for direct TV and XM radio, the provision of first-class seats to everyone, more legroom, great snacks, and high-end service at lower end pricing. No other airline offers this unique set of value propositions. They are different and their brand stands out because of those differences.
Simple. Attainable. Targeted. They delivered.
Zappos
Zappos brand is the top of my list for their awesome culture from the top to bottom of their company. They don’t sell shoes. They deliver that extra dose of love we all need from time to time. There is no secret here. Zappos became Zappos because of the fanatical customer support it offered. That is the company’s brand.
As Tony Hsieh, the Zappos CEO, puts it,
Back in 2003, we thought of ourselves as a shoe company that offered great service. Today, we really think of the Zappos brand is about great service, and we just happen to sell shoes.
Starbucks
A favorite of mine for their aggressive innovation style and the way they engage customers. Starbucks brings us a space to enjoy the products they sell, rather than just a product.
Some would say that it fills a psychological need that other companies have not had to do in quite the same way. The emotion is all about uplifting moments and daily rituals. Stimulating all our senses.
Disney
The Disney brand is a huge favorite because I love their products so much. Magical, fantasy entertainment. Being bringers of joy, affirmers of the good in each of us, to be — in subtle ways — teachers.
Disney’s brand does this through great storytelling, by giving guests a few hours in another world where their cares can be momentarily put aside and by creating memories that will remain with them forever. I love living in their world of imagination.
While there are many brands I like very much, this 6 qualify as my favorites. So what stands out the most for your favorite brands?
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you.
It’s up to you to keep improving your branding and brand marketing. Lessons are all around you. In many situations, your competitor may be providing ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to improving your continuous learning for yourself and your team?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading on continuous learning from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
What Everyone Ought to Know About Rebranding a Business
How Creative Branding Helps Your Business Marketing
A Crash Course in Creative Branding by Using a Distinctive Voice
Are you focusing on the use of the Canva remarkable examples and visual inspiration within your social media posts? Want to know how visual marketing can help you stand out online? Sure you do … we all do.
CANVA … an awesome graphic design tool.
Because here’s the reality. If you’re not creating visual marketing inspiration that captures the audience’s attention, your competition is.
Graphics can tell your company story, boost awareness, and drive additional traffic to your product or service.
Nike understands marketing on Instagram as well as the mentality of their target audience. They use this knowledge to showcase their brand effectively.
The brand loves to post inspirational photos showing everyday moments related to sports. The focus is on speaking to everyone who has a dream. Also encouraging them to ”Just do it!”
Volkswagen claims that all people and all things have a story to tell. You see this as evidenced in each of their Facebook posts.
Across their Page are visual stories about VW automobiles and their customers. This is true whether you want to learn about VW history or understand the heritage of the Beetle. Or perhaps just find your next car, Facebook is the place to do it.
Each image is designed to further the culture and experience around the Volkswagen brand. Watch (and learn) as they highlight important milestones within the company by weaving a powerful story into each post.
Canva visual marketing inspiration … Starbucks
Starbucks has a presence on multiple social media platforms. Each one successfully expressing what the brand is all about.
Their use of visual marketing is bursting with personality and originality. Although Starbucks often uses posts to advertise products, it’s done creatively and subtly. They rarely are in a sell mode.
This is a lesson many companies have yet to learn. Sometimes less is more… especially when it comes to visual content and selling.
Target uses several boards on Pinterest to market their store and products. Although each board exemplifies a different marketing strategy, all of them use engaging and informative graphics.
Target doesn’t just post photos of their products like many other brands do. They combine images with text to create fun and shareable images.
Grammarly Cards
Grammarly is an online proofreading and correction service with an excellent visual marketing strategy.
Their Pinterest page is filled with funny and engaging content that people enjoy and frequently share.
The humor and wit are coupled with attractive pictures the Grammarly Cards audience cannot ignore.
Canva visual marketing inspiration … Oreo
Oreo knows how to keep an audience happy and actively engaged.
The visuals the brand posts have it all. The focus includes wit, culture, and parodies. They take any popular event or entertainment update and work their cookie right into it.
This makes Oreo posts fun and shareable.
The time it takes Oreo to react to an unforeseen event is phenomenal. The brand’s fast response to the Superbowl (“You can still dunk in the dark”) won widespread recognition.
Home Depot
Home Depot knows its audience, and the brand effectively markets to them.
Their posts are made for homeowners and those who love creating something practical and good looking.
Their Instagram page is full of practical, original and creative ideas and visual marketing inspiration.
The Disney brand knows better than most how to make their content appealing.
They have a talent for turning their creations into great visuals that are both unique and fun.
The content they post on their web page and other social channels are proof that design is just as important a factor as a written copy.
Coca-Cola
Coca-cola’s content marketing strategy is built on visual marketing. They provide their audience with fun, colorful and quirky visuals. They are easy to like and share.
The company concentrates its efforts on interactive content to keep their audience engaged.
Coca-Cola also has uniquely designed animated gifs and plenty of brand memorabilia that reminds the audience whose page they’re on.
Canva visual marketing inspiration … Aeropostale
Aeropostale knows its fashion-savvy audience and effectively caters to their tastes.
The brand posts simple, yet beautiful, images featuring an ensemble of clothes and accessories that feature one distinct look.
Through this strategy, Aeropostale advertises its clothes (which are at the center of the composition) gives its audience ideas about what goes well with what and creates a definite brand look.
Whole Foods
Besides offering their customers healthy, organic foods, Whole Foods also provides followers with exceptional and informative visual graphics.
This is a brand that knows how to tell a story visually and make it appealing to all.
Although they have some product advertisements, most of their posts include great images combined with valuable advice.
Canva visual marketing inspiration … Taco Bell
Taco Bell knows how to grab their audience’s attention and keep it.
The vibrant colors and artistic look of their graphics get their posts noticed.
Although some of the graphics they post on Instagram are advertising their products, most simply show off the product artistically and attractively.
GoPro
The very nature of the GoPro makes it the perfect brand for visual content marketing.
After all, no words are necessary to market their GoPro cameras. Their photos say it all.
The quality of the photos and their extreme setting help these graphics get shared like wildfire.
This cereal company has long figured out the secret of visual content marketing through social media.
All of their posts on Facebook are visual, and humor is their best weapon. Honey Bunches of Oats creates funny and memorable visuals that are easy to share.
Most of their graphics have the brand’s logo attached to it, so it continues to remind the users who are for the great photos and the witty humor (even if the graphic is taken out of context).
The bottom line
To be effective in this new era, we as marketers need to see our jobs differently. No more just focusing on metrics like clicks, video views, or social media shares.
We must successfully integrate our function with other business functions to create entire brand experiences. Experiences that serve the customer all the way through their experiences throughout the business.
We can do better. Much better. But first, we need to stop seeing ourselves as crafters of clever brand messages. We need to become creators of positive brand experiences.
There can never be enough focus on continuous improvement in brand marketing, independent of how well the business is doing. It seems these exciting brands are looking to take their success to a new level.
This is an excellent time to make a statement with their brand marketing. Changing before you have to is always a good idea.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add to the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading on marketing strategy from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
Because here’s the reality. If you’re not creating visual content marketing inspiration that captures audience attention, your competition is.
Related post: Social Media Platforms … The Magic Every Content Marketer Needs
Visual marketing.
Graphics can tell your company story, boost awareness, and drive additional traffic to your product or service. So how can you create content that helps you better connect with your fans and followers?
Join me in this look at 15 brands. I find them worthy of repeat visits for visual marketing inspiration.
Nike understands marketing on Instagram as well as the mentality of their target audience, and they use this knowledge to showcase their brand effectively.
The brand loves to post inspirational hashtags and photos showing everyday moments related to sports. The focus is on speaking to everyone who has a dream and encouraging them to ”Just do it!”
Volkswagen claims that all people and all things have a story to tell, and you see this evidenced in each of their Facebook posts.
Across their Page are visual stories about VW automobiles and their customers. Whether you want to learn about VW history, understand the heritage of the Beetle or find your next car, Facebook is the place to do it.
Each image is designed to further the culture and experience around the Volkswagen brand. Watch (and learn) as they highlight important milestones within the company by weaving a powerful story into each post.
Starbucks
Starbucks has a presence on multiple social media platforms, each one successfully expressing what the brand is all about.
Their use of visual marketing is bursting with personality and originality, and although Starbucks often uses posts to advertise products, it’s done creatively and subtly.
This is a lesson many companies have yet to learn: Sometimes less is more… especially when it comes to visual content.
Target uses several boards on Pinterest to market their store and products. Although each board exemplifies a different marketing strategy, all of them use engaging and informative graphics.
Target doesn’t just post photos of their products like many other brands do. They combine images with text to create fun and shareable images.
Visual marketing concepts.
Grammarly Cards
Grammarly is an online proofreading and correction service with an excellent visual marketing strategy.
Their Pinterest page is filled with funny and engaging content that people enjoy and frequently share.
The humor and wit are coupled with attractive pictures the Grammarly Cards audience cannot ignore.
Oreo
Oreo knows how to keep an audience happy and actively engaged.
The visuals the brand posts have it all — including wit, culture, and parodies. They take any popular event or entertainment update and work their cookie right into it.
This makes Oreo posts fun and shareable.
The time it takes Oreo to react to an unforeseen event is phenomenal. The brand’s fast response to the Superbowl (“You can still dunk in the dark”) won widespread recognition.
Home Depot
Home Depot knows their audience, and the brand effectively markets to them.
Their posts are made for homeowners and those who love creating something practical and good looking.
Their Instagram page is full practical, original and creativeideas.
The Disney brand knows better than most how to make their content appealing.
They have a talent for turning their creations into great visuals that are both attractive and fun.
The content they post on their web page and other social channels are proof that design is just as important a factor as written copy.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola’s content marketing strategy is built on visual marketing. They provide their audience with fun, colorful and quirky visuals that are easy to like and share.
The company concentrates its efforts on interactive content to keep their audience engaged.
Coca-Cola also has uniquely designed animated gifs and plenty of brand memorabilia that reminds the audience whose page they’re on.
Visual marketing examples.
Aeropostale
Aeropostale knows its fashion-savvy audience and effectively caters to their tastes.
The brand posts simple, yet lovely, images featuring an ensemble of clothes and accessories that go together to create one distinct look.
Through this strategy, Aeropostale advertises its clothes (which are at the center of the composition) gives its audience ideas about what goes well with what and creates a definite brand look.
Whole Foods
Besides offering their customers healthy, organic foods, Whole Foods also provides followers with exceptional and informative visual graphics.
This is a brand that knows how to tell a story visually and make it appealing to all.
Although they have some product advertisements, most of their posts include great images combined with valuable advice.
Taco Bell
Taco Bell knows how to grab their audience’s attention and keep it.
The vibrant colors and artistic look of their graphics get their posts noticed.
Although some of the graphics they post on Instagram are advertising their products, most simply show off the product artistically and attractively.
GoPro
The very nature of the GoPro makes it the perfect brand for visual content marketing.
After all, no words are necessary to market their GoPro cameras – their photos say it all.
The quality of the photos and their extreme setting help these graphics get shared like wildfire.
This cereal company has long figured out the secret of visual content marketing through social media.
All of their posts on Facebook are visual, and humor is their best weapon. Honey Bunches of Oats creates funny and memorable visuals that are easy to share.
Most of their graphics have the brand’s logo attached to it, so it continues to remind the users who are for the great photos and the witty humor (even if the graphic is taken out of context).
The bottom line
To be effective in this new era, we as marketers need to see our jobs differently. No more just focusing on metrics like clicks, video views or social media shares. We must successfully integrate our function with other business functions to create entire brand experiences that serve the customer all the way through their experiences throughout the business.
We can do better. Much better. But first, we need to stop seeing ourselves as crafters of clever brand messages and become creators of positive brand experiences.
There can never be enough focus on continuous improvement on brand marketing, independent of how well the business is doing. It seems these exciting brands are looking to take their success to a new level.
This is an excellent time to make a statement with their brand marketing. Changing before you have to is always a good idea.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Are you devoting enough energy improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.
More reading on social media lessons from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Feelings have a critical role in the way customers are influenced. Yes indeed, David Freemantle. At the heart of a strong brand is the promise they commit to delivering to their clients.
No matter how clever or memorable their brand marketing, if they fail to deliver on that promise, they fail. And those promises represent what the strong brand stands for. Feelings and emotion, as Freemantle states, are critical in the way customers are influenced.
Failure to deliver on your promise or to be what you stand for is like a politician promising no new taxes. Mark my words. Those kinds of promises are a prescription for a marketing disaster.
Importance of branding
We like to quote from the book Funky Business Forever when we discuss brands or branding with our clients:
The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of similar companies, employing similar people, with similar educational backgrounds, coming up with similar ideas, producing similar things, with similar prices and similar quality.
It is not easy being different, is it? But all the more important.
Here is a short video that will refresh a brand for you:
The key to a good brand is being different. There are 4 critical things to remember about brands and branding:
Every business has a brand, whether explicitly defined or not. The important question to be answered is how good is the brand?
Brands deliver an emotional connection to a business’ products and services. Most purchase decisions have critical emotional components.
Your brand represents a collection of your customers’ perceptions of how they see you, how they feel about you, and what they say about you.
Your brand communicates every time it touches a customer. This makes you, as a marketer, responsible for this communication ‘moment of truth’.
Related: Here’s How to Make Your Brand Awesome
Most brands sell products or services. GM sells cars. Borders sells books. Real estate brokerages sell homes. Killer brands, however, satisfy a desire to get at the emotional heart of the matter. Let’s review 10 killer brands and what they stand for. This is the best way to appreciate the importance of branding and emotion.
JetBlue’s brand success centers on the achievable – the simple things – they knew would make a difference for their guests. This set the stage for direct TV and XM radio, the provision of first-class seats to everyone, more legroom, great snacks and high-end service at lower end pricing.
No other airline others these value propositions. They are different and their brand stands out because of those differences.
Simple. Attainable. Targeted. They delivered.
Nike
Ask anyone who works in marketing what Nike stands for and you’re likely to hear the same three words: “authentic athletic performance.” Their goal to be associated with customers that desire to be high performance, high notch athletes, achievers, and winners.
Nike is the name of the winged Greek goddess of victory and the logo represents the spirit of this goddess. Wrapped in emotional appeal.
Ragu
Super convenience in an inconvenient world. Simple as that. But it must achieve a taste appeal, so Ragu has increased its product offering to give the customer more sauce taste options. Super convenience with grandmother’s good taste.
W Hotels
People don’t go there to sleep. They go there to feel glamorous. Style and sizzle remain in the forefront of what this brand stands for. A hotel brand leader in contemporary lifestyle personality.
Strong brand benefits … Zappos
They don’t sell shoes. They deliver that extra dose of love we all need from time to time. There is no secret here. Zappos became Zappos because of the fanatical customer support it offered. That is the company’s brand. As Tony Hsieh, the Zappos CEO puts it,
Back in 2003, we thought of ourselves as a shoe company that offered great service. Today, we really think of the Zappos brand as about great service, and we just happen to sell shoes.
Intel
Look inside to find the best processor technology. The trust mark symbolizing customer trust and faith they are receiving the best in technology. Technology that is life-changing.
Ritz Carlton
Ritz Carlton’s desire is to create guests for life. Stories of extraordinary service. Acts of kindness. Ritz Carlton focuses their attention on impeccable service standards to separate themselves from other Hotels. What Ritz Carlton has done so well is operationalize it so that culture and brand are one.
FedEx
Simply put, the FedEx brand is synonymous with “reliability.” Define your benefit to customers in the most straightforward terms possible. If your promise is reliability, then you need to offer reliability in everything you do — from your products and services to your website and communications.
Peace of mind. FedEx famously built its brand around a singular idea: by coming through when something “absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”
Starbucks
Starbucks brings us a space to enjoy the products they sell, rather than just a product. Some would say that it fills a psychological need that other companies have not had to do in quite the same way. The emotion is all about uplifting moments and daily ritual. Stimulating all our senses.
Magical, fantasy entertainment. Be bringers of joy, to be affirmers of the good in each of us, to be — in subtle ways — teachers. To speak, as Walt once put it:
not to children but to the child in each of us.
Disney’s brand does this through great storytelling, by giving guests a few hours in another world where their cares can be momentarily put aside and by creating memories that will remain with them forever.
The bottom line
So is this what killer branding is all about for companies?
We think so. Not just business … make it personal for customers.
Making promises and keep them.
Some organizations work very hard to weasel in the promises they make. They imply great customer service or amazing results or spectacular quality but don’t deliver. No, they didn’t actually lie, but they came awfully close. The result: angry customers and negative word of mouth.
It’s very easy to overpromise. Tempting to shade the truth a little bit, deliver a little bit less to save a few bucks. Who will notice?
The customers notice. If you need to overpromise to make the sale, don’t bother. It’s not worth it.
The best way to generate killer branding is simple: over-deliver with what your brand stands for.
If digital media is ever going to become a profitable industry, it will have to learn how to build brands, not just produce direct responses. Ironically, to build the consumer brands of the future, today’s digital marketers will probably have to learn a lot from the ad giants of the past.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your branding design strategies? Such as creative branding ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to improving your continuous learning for yourself and your team?
Do you have a lesson about making your brand marketing better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on brands and branding from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Remarkable Branding Design: Spanish Bank Example
Secrets to the Remarkable Innovative Lady Gaga Brand
Here’s How to Make Your Brand Awesome
Branding Lessons Learned from the Beatles Brand
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
