If you wanted to learn more about building the best advertisements, how would you go about it? For us, the answer is pretty simple. We learn best by studying and analyzing impressive social media marketing tips and design examples. In this blog, we will define 13 essential marketing tips and design elements we rely on to create effective advertisement messages. We also illustrate with the best examples of each that we could find.
It is an excellent way to learn and stimulate design ideas. Let’s get started:
Generate fan togetherness
Biltwell makes motorcycle accessories, and they also make great engagement happen on their Facebook page with some fantastic helmet art. Check out this example of the fan helmet art they routinely highlight, which encourages fan submissions and generates a feeling of togetherness around the brand. It seems to be an ongoing campaign of Biltwell’s.
Grab and hold the attention
Did you see Nike’s Re2pect … a Tribute to Yankee Shortstop Derek Jeter? As most of us know, future Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter recently retired. So, one of Jeter’s long-time sponsors, Nike, released a commercial paying tribute to him. The ad’s name “ RE2PECT” is a tip of the cap to Jeter’s jersey number – and a host of athletes and celebrities can be seen paying tribute to the Yankees captain.
Use extraordinary prizes
I think tickets to the World Cup are the single best title that marketers could offer this year, how about you? Hyundai teamed up with YouTube channel Copa90 for a contest with the World Cup of prizes. Check out their video.
Emotional influence
The Zillow real estate company has built an entire marketing campaign on changing home buyers with emotional impact. Have you seen any of them? We like them so much that we have searched for them on YouTube frequently.
“Homecoming” is Zillow’s sixth TV spot, the latest in the company’s highly successful national advertising campaign. You cannot beat these ads. There are no better means of influence or the power of persuasion than emotion. Hands down the best, in our opinion.
Experiences that trigger our emotions are saved and consolidated in lasting memory because the emotions generated by the experiences signal our brains that the skills are important to remember.
The homecoming commercial ending message says it all:
You are not just looking for a house; you are looking for a place for your life to happen.
This commercial focuses on emotional appeal in grand fashion. It is the secret of this business’s success. It creates strong persuasion in our opinion. An excellent example of a successful advertisement design.
If you are going to compete in a picture contest, why not compete in a grand way? National Geography launched a competition on Facebook where fans can experience the thrill of having their photo on a National Geographic magazine cover. Wow, now that is a great incentive, yes? Fans just upload their photos to Facebook, caption it, and they are entered to win a travel package. It seems like a great image generator that fans will also want to share on their Facebook pages.
Social media marketing tips … Four Seasons’ company page
One in three professionals online is on LinkedIn. How many of those are making hotel reservations around the world and spending company money? Plenty. That’s why it’s so smart for Four Seasons to build a helpful, engaging LinkedIn presence.
They feature great videos and graphic content, and they also post job listings. It’s a great example of a LinkedIn company page done well (and they were also selected as one of LinkedIn’s top company pages of 2013).
Social media marketing tips … customer end state needs
Focus on client needs end state and not the means. The end state is the only priority.
A good example of this is this Prudential’s billboard ad. This commercial considers the end state needs of its customers … the retirement needs of target customers are the business’s objective. An excellent interactive graphics drives home the purpose.
Make the message as clean and straightforward as possible. You cannot overachieve on the simplicity of the message. A message that the reader will quickly understand. Keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words.
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. The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character. Guinness proudly raises a glass to those who are #MadeOfMore.
Social media tips and tricks … relevant to your target market
Misty Copeland is only the third African American female soloist ever to dance for the American Ballet Theatre. But her route to the top was anything but an easy one. She only danced ballet for the first time at the age of 13, a full eight years later than most dance pros start training. And when she began to grow into a woman, she developed muscle tone, large breasts, and big feet – not exactly the accepted shape for a ballerina.
However, her refusal to give up on her dream is celebrated in this impressive new campaign for sports brand Under Armour, called ‘I Will What I Want.’
Have you seen this commercial? If not, take the 60 seconds to review it. It will indeed create a topic of discussion for you and your friends. That is certainly Under Armour’s objective, isn’t it?
Build a Best Vine Challenge
Easter social media contests are tricky. There’s only so many bunny or chocolate references that consumers can withstand. I enjoyed how Mashable brought Easter to Vine with this creativity-inspiring campaign. They explain: “In many countries around the world, decorating Easter eggs is an annual spring tradition. So for this week’s Mashable Vine Challenge, we want you to fire up your imagination, and decorate your own.”
Social media design examples … visual elements
Use pictures/visuals to convey the message much better than words. “Seeing is believing” and “actions speak louder than words” are two common sayings that reflect a bias and preference for visual presentation.
Here is a four minute Samsung ad with 15-20 new features shown for their iPhone. No talking. And so simple that you quickly grasp the features and don’t lose interest. And the coordinated music has a way to keep you tied in emotionally. Creating customer interest doesn’t get any simpler than this, does it? A very simple, yet entertaining design, don’t you think?
Letting the visuals totally carry the messages.
Microsoft’s company page
Sometimes overlooked as one of the big social media channels, LinkedIn is actually the third most popular alongside Facebook and Twitter, according to recent research. If you’re looking for ideas on how to kickstart your LinkedIn efforts for marketing, take a page out of Microsoft’s book. They include behind the scenes looks at the company; question-and-answer posts; blogs and thought leadership; and more.
Storytelling
Have you seen the remarkable branding video design from this South African business? The Bell’s TV commercial features a father whose intrepid spirit demonstrates just what it takes to be a true man of character. The video was created to market and build the brand. It is a very simple story.
It advocates learning to read no matter your age or status in society. To us, it creates pure magic with the story, the visuals, the music and the emotion. It certainly finds emotional triggers
If you haven’t seen it, watch it now, it is only 2 minutes and it will inspire you. It is certainly easier in our top 5 of all time.
Social media design examples … authentic
What do you feel is the single most significant factor in the design of an advertisement? Being the most authentic advertisement design is probably not the top factor, but it is certainly in the top 5, don’t you think? It certainly influences the action taken considerably.
We like to examine advertisements to learn what drives the best ones to be the best and the terrible ones to be that bad. Today we will examine one of the best we have seen in a while. Perhaps one that is the most authentic we have ever seen.
Here is the commercial for you to judge for yourself:
Terry Bradshaw Talks Shingles
Integrated campaign
Your ads should be integrated components of an integrated marketing campaign. Remember; stop interrupting what people interested in, and be what people are interested in.
It was in early 2009 when IBM began its Smarter Planet marketing campaign strategy. At the time, the strategy seemed very ambitious … maybe even a bit risky, even for IBM. But their success was based on a strategy to build out a long-term campaign.
To do this they defined a theme around their vision (Smarter Planet). They used the theme to craft a marketing strategy connecting and integrating many smaller marketing objectives and tactics as they could. They also linked their core competencies to this theme, vision and challenge.
This very successful campaign continues today, 6 years later.
The bottom line
Building a positive social media community engagement is very similar to making friends. Keep it simple and be genuine.
Being social with a great positive engagement isn’t a new way of marketing; it’s a way of doing business. Follow these simple initiative examples and you will be leading the way.
Remember, it is not what advertising does with the consumer; it is what the consumer does after reading the advertisement. After looking over these enablers and Allstate’s mayhem ads … how do you think they did?
What are some of your experiences with advertising as a component of an integrated marketing campaign?
Do you have an advertising design experience to share with this community?
Need some help in capturing more customers from your advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your 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 improving your advertising design?
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.
More reading on social media lessons from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Leo Burnett once said: The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships. If you wanted to learn more about building the best advertisements, how would you go about it?
For us, the answer is pretty simple. We learn best by studying and analyzing awesome advertisement examples.
In this blog, we will define 13 important advertisement design elements we rely on to create effective advertisement messages and the best examples of each that we could find.
Did you ever see a commercial that you liked and watched it? Can you remember the brand? We would love to hear what it was (OK to say you can’t remember the brand). Would you do us a favor and tell us in the comments section? It would be greatly appreciated by us and our readers.
It is a great way to learn and stimulate design ideas. Let’s get started:
The Zillow real estate company has built an entire marketing campaign on influencing home buyers with emotional influence. Have you seen any of them? We like them so much that we have searched for them on YouTube frequently.
Related post: Ten Deadly Sins of Advertising Design
“Homecoming” is Zillow’s sixth TV spot, the latest in the company’s highly successful national advertising campaign. You cannot beat these ads. There are no better means of influence or the power of persuasion than emotion. Hands down the best, in our opinion.
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. Check out the homecoming ad.
The homecoming commercial ending message says it all:
You are not just looking for a house, you are looking for a place for your life to happen.
This commercial focuses on emotional appeal in grand fashion. It is the secret of this commercial’s success. It really creates strong persuasion in our opinion. A great example of successful advertisement design.
Do you ever see a commercial that you liked and watch it? Can you remember the brand? We would love to hear what it was. Would you do us a favor and tell us in the comments section? It would be greatly appreciated by us and our readers.
Written advertisement examples … Grab and hold attention
Did you see Nike’s Re2pect … a Tribute to Yankee Shortstop Derek Jeter?
As most of us know, future Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter recently retired. So, one of Jeter’s long-time sponsors, Nike, released a commercial paying tribute to him. The ad’s name “” RE2PECT” is a tip of the cap to Jeter’s jersey number – and a host of athletes and celebrities can be seen paying tribute to the Yankees captain.
The commercial features Jay-Z, Billy Crystal, and Spike Lee – and even a couple of begrudging Red Sox fans – tipping their cap to the Bronx legend. Of course, the sportswear giant’s original sponsorship king — Michael Jordan himself – also makes a cameo.
Define a value proposition
When Panera began, they decided to bake fresh bread from fresh dough. That made them wonder, what else could they do the right way? A great question that made them think differently.
There are several simple ways that Panera highlighted good things that they could do right. Telling you about creating delicious food that you can trust. And most importantly they ended up coming together with their communities to help feed people in need.
Several unique selling points that truly discriminate them from their competition. It is essential that you give your customers reasons to select you. Paint the picture of value … make the value stand out. And advocate for issues your customer community cares about.
Examples of advertising media … customer end state needs
Focus on customer needs end state and not the means. The end state is the only priority.
A good example of this is this Prudential’s billboard ad. This commercial definitely considers the end state needs of its customers … the retirement needs of target customers are the commercial’s objective. A great interactive graphic drives home the objective.
Simple messages
Make the message as clean and simple as possible. You cannot overachieve on the simplicity of the message. A message that the reader will quickly understand. Keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words.
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. The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character. Guinness proudly raises a glass to those who are #MadeOfMore.
Relevant to your target market
Misty Copeland is only the third African American female soloist ever to dance for the American Ballet Theatre. But her route to the top was anything but an easy one.
She only danced ballet for the first time at the age of 13, a full eight years later than most ballet pros start training. And when she started to grow into a woman, she developed muscle tone, large breasts, and big feet – not exactly the accepted shape for a ballerina.
However, her refusal to give up on her dream is celebrated in this awesome new campaign for sports brand Under Armour, called ‘I Will What I Want’.
Have you seen this commercial? If not, take the 60 seconds to review it. It will certainly create a topic of discussion for you and your friends. That is certainly Under Armour’s objective, isn’t it?
Define your positioning
Your positioning is the current frame of reference. Make comparisons to your competitors if you can solidly substantiate the claim.
The uncola campaign, the Avis campaign, or Apple’s think different campaign are all great examples.
Advertisement design examples … visual elements
Use pictures/visuals to convey the message much better than words. “Seeing is believing” and “actions speak louder than words” are two common sayings that reflect a bias and preference for visual presentation.
Here is a 3 minute Samsung ad with 15-20 new features shown for their iPhone. No talking. And so simple that you quickly grasp the features and don’t lose interest. And the coordinated music has a way to keep you tied in emotionally.
Creating customer interest doesn’t get any simpler than this, does it? A very simple, yet entertaining design, don’t you think?
Letting the visuals totally carry the messages.
Advertisement design examples … storytelling
Have you seen the remarkable branding video design from this South African business? The Bell’s TV commercial features a father whose intrepid spirit demonstrates just what it takes to be a true man of character.
The video was created to market and build the brand. It is a very simple story. It advocates learning to read no matter your age or status in society. To us, it creates pure magic with the story, the visuals, the music, and the emotion. It certainly finds emotional triggers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1gxHQlJn3I
If you haven’t seen it, watch it now, it is only 2 minutes and it will inspire you. It is certainly easier in our top 5 of all time.
Authentic advertisement design examples
What do you feel is the single most significant factor in the design of an advertisement? Being the most authentic advertisement design is probably not the top factor, but it is certainly in the top 5, don’t you think? It certainly influences the action taken considerably.
We like to examine advertisements to learn what drives the best ones to be the best and the terrible ones to be that bad. Today we will examine one of the best we have seen in a while. Perhaps one that is the most authentic we have ever seen.
Here is the commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSI2AZQmEsU
Integrated campaign
Your ads should be integrated components of an integrated marketing campaign. Remember, stop interrupting what people interested in, and be what people are interested in.
It was in early 2009 when IBM began its Smarter Planet marketing campaign strategy. At the time, the strategy seemed very ambitious … maybe even a bit risky, even for IBM. But their success was based on a strategy to build out a long term campaign.
To do this they defined a theme around their vision (Smarter Planet). They used the theme to craft a marketing strategy connecting and integrating many smaller marketing objectives and tactics as they could. They also linked their core competencies to this theme, vision, and challenge.
This very successful campaign continues today, 5 years later.
A great ad design element is to match what viewers see with what they hear. Check out this recent Budweiser commercial for great coordinated music and video:
The Budweiser puppy love commercial was, by most accounts, the biggest winner from the 2014 Super Bowl. Check out this ad here:
A great example of a successful advertisement design.
People expect and prefer coordinated audio and visual messages because those messages are easier to process and understand. Audio and visual messages that are out-of-sync may gain attention, but customers usually find them uncomfortable.
The bottom line
Remember, it is not what advertising does with the consumer, it is what the consumer does after reading the advertisement. After looking over these enablers and Allstate’s mayhem ads … how do you think they did?
Look for ways to optimize.
Did you ever see a commercial that you liked and watched it? Can you remember the brand? We would love to hear what it was (OK to say you can’t remember the brand). Would you do us a favor and tell us in the comments section? It would be greatly appreciated by us and our readers.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your 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 advertising design?
Do you have a lesson about making your innovation 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 him on 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:
In this blog, we will define important Neil Patel design examples we rely on to create effective advertisement messages and the best examples of each that we could find. These are social media design examples.
If you wanted to learn more about building the best advertisements, how would you go about it? For us, the answer is pretty simple.
We learn best by studying and analyzing awesome advertisement design examples.
The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.
Related: What Makes These Extraordinary Commercials so Captivating?
It is a great way to learn and stimulate design ideas. Let’s get started:
Neil Patel design examples … generate fan togetherness
Biltwell makes motorcycle accessories, and they also make great engagement happen on their Facebook page with some fantastic helmet art.
Check out this example of the fan helmet art they routinely highlight, which encourages fan submissions and generates a feeling of togetherness around the brand. It seems to be an ongoing campaign of Biltwell’s.
Grab and hold the attention
Did you see Nike’s Re2pect … a Tribute to Yankee Shortstop Derek Jeter? As most of us know, future Baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter recently retired.
So, one of Jeter’s long-time sponsors, Nike, released a commercial paying tribute to him. The ad’s name “ RE2PECT” is a tip of the cap to Jeter’s jersey number – and a host of athletes and celebrities can be seen paying tribute to the Yankees captain.
Watch this cool commercial here.
Social media design examples … use extraordinary prizes
I think tickets to the World Cup are the single best prize that marketers could offer this year, how about you?
Hyundai teamed up with YouTube channel Copa90 for a contest with the World Cup of prizes. Check out their video.
The Zillow real estate company has built an entire marketing campaign on influencing home buyers with emotional influence.
Have you seen any of them? We like them so much that we have searched for them on YouTube frequently.
“Homecoming” is Zillow’s sixth TV spot, the latest in the company’s highly successful national advertising campaign. You cannot beat these ads.
There are no better means of influence or the power of persuasion than emotion. Hands down the best, in our opinion.
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.
The homecoming commercial ending message says it all:
You are not just looking for a house; you are looking for a place for your life to happen.
This commercial focuses on emotional appeal grandly. It is the secret of this commercial’s success. It creates strong persuasion in our opinion. A great example of a successful advertisement design.
Neil Patel design examples … photo contests
If you are going to compete in a photo contest, why not compete in a grand way? National Geography launched a contest on Facebook where fans can experience the thrill of having their photo on a National Geographic magazine cover. Wow, now that is a great incentive, yes?
Fans simply upload their photos through Facebook, caption it, and they are entered to win a travel package. Seems like a great image generator that fans will also want to share on their own Facebook pages.
Neil Patel design examples … Four Seasons’ company page
Neil Patel knows one in three professionals online is on LinkedIn. How many of those are making hotel reservations around the world and spending company money? Plenty.
That’s why it’s so smart for Four Seasons to build a helpful, engaging LinkedIn presence.
They feature great videos and readable content, and they also post job listings. It’s a great example of a LinkedIn company page done well (and they were also selected as one of LinkedIn’s top company pages of 2013).
Customer end state needs
Focus on customer needs end state and not the means. The end state is the only priority.
Here is another excellent example:
That is this Prudential’s billboard ad. This commercial considers the end state needs of its customers … the retirement needs of target customers are the commercial’s objective. A great interactive graphics drives home the objective.
Neil Patel design examples: simple messages
Neil Patel makes the message as clean and simple as possible. You cannot overachieve on the simplicity of the message. A message that the reader will quickly understand.
Now … keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words.
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. The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character. Guinness proudly raises a glass to those who are #MadeOfMore.
Neil Patel design examples … relevant to your target market
You might be wondering …
Misty Copeland is only the third African American female soloist ever to dance for the American Ballet Theatre. But her route to the top was anything but an easy one. She only danced ballet for the first time at the age of 13, a full eight years later than most ballet pros start training.
And when she started to grow into a woman, she developed muscle tone, large breasts, and big feet – not exactly the accepted shape for a ballerina.
However, her refusal to give up on her dream is celebrated in this awesome new campaign for sports brand Under Armour, called ‘I Will What I Want.’
Have you seen this commercial? If not, take the 60 seconds to review it. It will certainly create a topic of discussion for you and your friends. That is certainly Under Armour’s objective, isn’t it?
Visual elements
Neil Patel uses pictures/visuals to convey the message much better than words. “Seeing is believing” and “actions speak louder than words” are two common sayings that reflect a bias and preference for visual presentation.
Here is a four-minute Samsung ad with 15-20 new features shown for their iPhone. No talking. And so simple that you quickly grasp the features and don’t lose interest.
And the coordinated music has a way to keep you tied in emotionally. Creating customer interest doesn’t get any simpler than this, does it? A very simple, yet entertaining design, don’t you think?
Letting the visuals totally carry the messages.
Microsoft’s company page
Sometimes overlooked as one of the big social media channels, LinkedIn is the third most popular alongside Facebook and Twitter, according to recent research.
If you’re looking for ideas on how to kickstart your LinkedIn efforts for marketing, take a page out of Microsoft’s book.
They include behind the scenes looks at the company; question-and-answer posts; blogs and thought leadership; and more.
What does Neil Patel feel is the single most significant factor in the design of an advertisement? Being the most authentic advertisement design is probably not the top factor, but it is certainly in the top 5, don’t you think?
It certainly influences the action taken considerably.
Neil likes to examine advertisements to learn what drives the best ones to be the best and the terrible ones to be that bad.
Today he will examine one of the best we have seen in a while. Perhaps one that is the most authentic we have ever seen.
Here is the commercial for you to judge for yourself:
Terry Bradshaw Talks Shingles
Integrated campaign
Your ads should be integrated components of an integrated marketing campaign.
Remember; stop interrupting what people interested in, and be what people are interested in.
It was in early 2009 when IBM began its Smarter Planet marketing campaign strategy. At the time, the strategy seemed very ambitious … maybe even a bit risky, even for IBM.
But their success was based on a strategy to build out a long-term campaign.
To do this, they defined a theme around their vision (Smarter Planet). They used the theme to craft a marketing strategy connecting and integrating many smaller marketing objectives and tactics as they could.
They also linked their core competencies to this theme, vision, and challenge.
This very successful campaign continues today, six years later.
Here is the bottom line
Building a positive social media community engagement is very similar to making friends. Keep it simple and be genuine.
Being social with a great positive engagement isn’t a new way of marketing; it’s a way of doing business. Follow these simple initiative examples, and you will be leading the way.
Remember, it is not what advertising does with the consumer; it is what the consumer does after reading the advertisement. After looking at these enablers and Allstate’s mayhem ads … how do you think they did?
What are some of your experiences with advertising as a component of an integrated marketing campaign?
Do you have an advertising design experience to share with this community?
Need some help in capturing more customers from your advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your 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 improving your advertising design?
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 related reading from Digital Spark Marketing’s blog 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 G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
Any fool can know. The point is to understand. Well said by Albert Einstein. There are many very good bloggers on the internet, aren’t there? The term “master blogger” seems to pop up now and then, and it is something that many bloggers aspire to be. In my eight years as a blogger, I would say that the definition of “master blogger” has changed. And anyone can notice, but only the masters can
When I think of a master blogger, here are the skills and qualities that I would suggest they have:
Blogging tips … connect with audience
For an audience to read and return, bloggers must learn about people in the audience and engage/connect with as many as possible. This is not just about finding out their interests, but it is finding out who they are. It is essential that we get to know our audience, learn their passions, and help them find out how we can engage them in their interests. If you are not able to do this as a blogger, the following characteristics will be moot.
To be a successful blogger one has to have a clearunderstanding of what he/she is blogging about. That’s the first and the most important equation. Select a niche and stick to it as much as you can. If you have a clear understanding of what you are writing about, then I must say that you are 25% successful.
Educate and entertain or be ignored.
Educate and entertain
Bloggers must ensure that they differentiate learning and work to meet the needs of each reader and understand how they each like to engage and be entertained. I believe that people have differentengagementstyles, and if we can best figure out how to help them meet their needs, the audience will be easily captured.
Quality over quantity
Quality is the only factor that drives visitors back to your blog. Create a strategy and focus on it to impress your readers every time you write an article. Every single article should clearly show your superiority in the niche you are dealing with. I know only a genius can do that, but who knows there might be a genius hiding behind your darker side. Wake him up and try something new to introduce your creativity to the blogosphere.
Blogger design tips … promoting your work
A blog without targeted traffic is worth nothing, even if you can write ten articles every single day. It’s vital that you market your blog in all possible ways to drive targeted traffic. Comments on popular and active blogs, forums posting helps a lot in the beginning but remember it’s not the end. You should make sure that you get some new visitors by writing guest articles, article marketing and by social bookmarking submissions.
Consistency is a key
To be 100% successful, all you have to do is to write quality posts consistently. Make sure you maintain the quality and standards your readers are looking for. Stay patient and work hard. Blogging is a slow process, but once you get attention, you will never look back.
Draw relevance in blogging.
blogging tips … draw relevance
The question of each post, “What does this have to do with real life?” is something that I would prefer never be said. Not because it is not a legitimate question, but because bloggers should show the relevance before there is an opportunity for it to be asked
Not only is it essential that we draw relevance to the subject matter of what we write, but it is also essential that we use mediums that are relevant to where the audience hangs out on the internet. A master blogger knows that it is essential to use technology and mediums to enhance interest in a way that is relevant to their audience.
Master blogger … embody lifelong learning
A master blogger knows that they will never become the “perfect” blogger since that is unattainable. They will look at ways that they can grow along with the members of the audience and develop their skills. Writing and learning will always change, and a master blogger knows that they need to change with it. I have seen bloggers that have proclaimed that they are master bloggers but have not changed their practice in years. Growth is essential as a blogger. Society changes continuously and so do its needs. We need thinkers on the internet and bloggers must show that they are on the leading edge of this.
Learning versus performance
In “Drive” by Dan Pink, he talks about the difference between performance and learning goals. A performance goal would be similar to having a reader wanting to be completely entertained, where a learning goal would be a reader wanting to become fluent in the subject at hand. A master blogger sets his goals based on both learning and performance, depending on his audience.
Passionate about their content
If a blogger works in the area of math and LOVES the subject area that passion will spill over to the audience, he/she works with. As a marketer and blogger, I work hard to help my clients and audience work in subject areas that they are passionate about because I believe that enthusiasm is infectious. A master blogger shares their passion and enthusiasm with those they work with. However, if you are a blogger in an area that you do not “love”, it is important that you find ways to spark that passion for yourself.
Strong communication skills
Obviously, it is important that bloggers can communicate with the audience they target. Sharing knowledge, back and forth with colleagues is essential to the growth of the reader as well as the collective. It is important to continuously develop these skills.
The bottom line
These are the characteristics that I believe make a master blogger. I know that these are the skills that I work towards every day and want to embody. The one thing that I know for sure is that my learning is nowhere near complete, and I can still grow.
Learning from you, what areas do you think I missed on this list? I would love to hear your thoughts as I continue to grow. Need some help in improving the creativity of you and your staff? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your toughest competitors?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote for a workshop on creativity. Learn about some options for creativity workshops to get noticeable results.
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 creative ideas.
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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 creativity from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Emotion is the key to persuasion. Is that a secret? Probably not. But it seems like a hidden truth. Or camouflaged. Certainly, Leo Burnett understands what is needed, though. Certainly something we should learn how to apply well. The Apple marketing strategy certainly has.
The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.
– Leo Burnett
Remember this: My Top SEO Strategies for Content Marketing Success
Apple does what it does so well that there are whole websites out there devoted to nothing but Apple products and Apple marketing. Even high-end journalistic publications like The Atlantic write endlessly about the company, dissecting what it does and how it does it.
I have to admit. I am a big fan of Apple. We have done several analyses of Samsung’s smartphone products.
So it is time to evaluate an Apple ad and marketing strategy. A great competition going on here with two of the world’s heavyweights. Are they great products? Yep, no doubt. Both are even better advertising campaigns.
Have you seen the recent Apple iPhone5 TV ad?
If not, you should invest 1 minute now and check it out. It will prove beneficial in reviewing our ad analysis.
Let’s examine this commercial and what contributes to its strengths and weaknesses. And its ability to influence or persuade.
Marketing or advertising, you need to create information that your customers find interesting and worth talking about and remembering. At the end of this article, please comment on whether this advertisement achieves this goal. Let this community know what you think.
Let’s evaluate whether we believe this is such an effective advertising campaign and why:
Apple marketing strategy … define your positioning
Your frame of reference. Make comparisons to your competitors if you can. Apple certainly knows who its major competitor is … and it is subtly taking on Galaxy in this campaign and this ad. A good move we believe, as there is nothing to be gained by hammering such a great competitor too directly or too hard.
If you have a product that truly discriminates you from your competition, build your messages on these. Give your customers reasons to select you. New features to this phone … technology is moving at warp speed, isn’t it?
But not so many compared to Galaxy products. So don’t push. A simple conclusion about a number of customers will suffice. It is here that they are very subtly taking on Galaxy without saying it. Good strategy.
You can also implement this winning Apple strategy by creating more case studies. Nielsen research on consumer trust in marketing shows that 92% of consumers trust recommendations they get from friends and family, while 70% of shoppers trust opinions from other consumers that are published online, such as reviews.
Be relevant to your target market
Keep in mind that one message does not fit all. It starts with knowing your target market. Here the target markets are families and young people and they are featured prominently in all of the ads. Most of the messages, and there are many good ones, are written for the family members and sharing.
Interesting information, well presented, showing emotion, always holds attention, yes? 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 message certainly grabs and holds attention based on emotion, superb visuals, and a great soundtrack. Letting the visuals totally carry the messages.
Simple messages
Superb visuals and visuals so simple that you quickly grasp them and don’t lose interest. Keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words. And the music has a way to keep you tied in. Creating customer interest does get any simpler than this, does it? A very simple, yet entertaining design, don’t you think? And the real message at the end that is very soft not selling.
Make your ad a component
Always make your ad part of an integrated marketing campaign. There are a series of similar ads in this campaign … all geared to address the iPhone5 value to target customers. All follow the same theme … simply shine a light on the value of the product. Great visuals. Entertaining music. Little talking. Definitely no selling. Taking a page from the Galaxy marketing strategy.
Apple Marketing Strategy … consider the end state values
Customers and particularly the target customers are looking for new technology features. No reason to buy without these and the marketing strategy certainly is addressing this end state in our opinion. The most important value points.
Influence and persuasion
There is no better means of influence or persuasion than emotion. Hands down the best, in our opinion. This commercial focuses on emotional appeal in grand fashion. It is the secret of this commercial’s success.
The bottom line
Remember, it is not what advertising does with the consumer; it is what the consumer does after viewing the advertisement.
We believe the Apple marketing strategy is a winner. Simple, yet interesting. Not selling. What do you think?
Does this commercial persuade you?
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.
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?
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 social media marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
19 Top Marketing Initiatives We Should Be Discussing
Press Coverage … 9 Actionable Ways to Get Good Coverage
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.
