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Branding In A Revolution How can we market or create markets in the middle of a marketing revolution? The usual suspects are going, going and gone. Can't buy TV and print ads and expect to build a brand these days.
Marketers recognize they are spending their money in all the wrong places, but habits die hard. This Curagami post shares a favorite David Edelman Harvard Business Review article and mashes David's conclusions with Bynder's new Branding Report.
Want to know how to brand in a digital age? We share a few of our favorite branding sources, tips and how tos:
http://www.curagami.com/branding-digital-age/
Brand Ideals Learning your company's "brand ideals" may be the most important branding work few startups accomplish. SEO and content take a backseat to widget development for most startups.
Yet isn't the most important question WHERE are the points of connection with potential customers and/or investors? The latter, investors, receive plenty of attention when they are easy. Investors want CONSUMERS and lots of 'em.
So the best way to connect with investors is to connect with consumers and the best way to connect with consumers is to know, articualte and share your "brand ideals":
* Eliciting Joy: Activating experiences of happiness, wonder, and limitless possibility. * Enabling Connection: Enhancing the ability of people to connect with each other and the world in meaningful ways. * Inspiring Exploration: Helping people explore new horizons and new experiences. * Evoking Pride: Giving people increased confidence, strength, security, and vitality. * Impacting Society: Affecting society broadly, including by challenging the status quo and redefining categories.
Those "brand ideals" come from Grow: How Ideals Power Profits At The World's Largest Companies by Jim Stengel and is a must read for any startup entrepreneur who wants investors....after they've won the hearts and minds of consumers.
Marty Note The linked post is important, but not for the reasons they think. The post mentions the factoid that most people wouldn't mind if 73% of brands disappeared. The post discusses brands like Tom's who wins hearts and minds with cause marketing.
We love Tom's too. Yes, what you do with customer money is important these days. We prefer the Cone Communications (http://www.conecomm.com/ ) "social good" study that shows a growing trend. Consumers what to know how your STUFF helps change the world.
People don't BUY brands they JOIN them. Faith Popcorn
Marketing guru Faith Popcorn's quote is a favorite. We would reposition the linked post toward the more important question - how is your brand creating sustainable community. Since most of http://www.Curagami.com customers are online merchants we would write the goal as, "How is your brand creating sustainable ONLINE community".
Online community is the secret to branding and engagement over time. We think of loyalty with two dimensions:
* Engagement over TIME (joining and visiting). * Advocacy (willing to share with friends).
Every visitor can achieve #1, but a tiny % of your website's traffic will ever do #1 due to the 1:9:90 Rule. The 1:9:90 Rule explains the strange math of website visitors:
1% Contributors - 1% of your traffic will contribute content such as comments, reviews and the social shares such User Generated Content (UGC) generate. 9% Supporters - this group loves to share your content especially if it came from the 1%ers. 90% Readers - More important than their label makes them sound, Readders are the core of your visitors and so essential to SEO and your expanding web universe.
The trick to web marketing few discuss is converting that tribe of Contributors, Supporters and Readers into a sustainable online community. Branding creates the shorthand your Contributors and Supports use to ADVOCATE.
When you market by proxy, you are using Contributors and Supporters to reach their friends, you must encapsulate deep meaning into shareable "Made To Stick" bits and bytes. Your advocates can't share if your message is too complicated, so boil it down, mix it up and test, test and test some more. In there somewhere is the strange alchemy your brand needs to compel action (joining and advocating) and so win hearts, minds and loyalty.
BTW, I bent this post toward startups because every startup is tabula rasa when it comes to branding. Startups are blank slates written on by every piece of content, social share and tool created. We don't brand in order to create loyalty we win hearts, minds and loyalty in order to create brands and First Rule of Branding is what the linked post has backwards.
Via Eric_Determined / Eric Silverstein, Michael Allenberg
On “Charlie Rose,” Deena Varshavskaya, founder and chief executive officer at Wanelo. The online social media app connects millions of consumer with some of the biggest brands, as well as the tiniest of independent boutiques.
Marty Note Listening to WaNeLo's founder discuss her experience raising money and goals for her social shopping company made me realize I was listening to the sound of a clean slate brand. Wanelo is the first salvo in the "social shopping" wars sure to erupt.
Rose asks a good question, "Why won't Twitter and Facebook follow your lead?" They will and Deeena's best defense is a good offense. I signed up for Wanelo and its an intriguing play that couldn't exist without smart phones.
There's "mobile first" and then there is a company like Wanelo who is conceived and could only be possible with mobile. When Deena mentioned that more than 80% of their traffic is mobile my heart skipped a beat and I realized how clean slate this affiliate money play really is.
By mashing up retailers and accepting affiliate money Wanelo has to create a fun and exciting interface. They are about half way there. The way you create your store with swiping is cool and a #muststeal idea, but there is little more to recommend or hold interest currently.
Rose asked all the right questions about WHY and being first is a big recommendation, but not the only thing needed to survive. The UI is worth some money and their more than a million young followers are worth a lot too. Deena correctly locates the biggest challenge in today's market - getting people to love and interact with your content NOT mining or creating some unique Intellectual Property (IP) that can be protected and held over others.
Wanelo walks into social shopping, creates a "game console" using smart phones and will probably be adding gamification soon (if they are half as smart as they seem) and there is the first mover advantage. Important interview about the future of "social shopping".
You’ll often find me in some huge debates online on anything related to politics, religion and capitalism… all the red-hot buttons that most people avoid. It’s why I have personal and branded presences across social media. If you want marketing only, follow the brand. If you want me, follow me… but be careful… you get all of me.+ While I’m an unabashed capitalist, I also have a big heart. I believe we should help one another and not depend on bureaucracies that are inefficient and ineffective. I truly believe the way we change things is by taking personal responsibility and helping to be the catalysts for change. Our agency is always donating time, money and other resources to not just help charities… but to also help businesses that don’t have the resources but have promise. + It’s no longer good enough to just have a social media presence. Marketing 3.0 will be won by those who become purpose-driven social brands, and to do so, the CMO, CSO, CSR, and Foundation leads must align to bring a cohesive brand story to life. Check out We First’s infographic below with some cold hard facts that make it clear the future of profit is purpose, and the most iconic brands of the future will be those that drive the most meaningful social change. Simon Mainwaring
It’s not just the right thing to do, being purpose-driven is also becoming an expectation of businesses, the motivation for employees and a growing buying habit by consumers. People want their money to go to businesses that are environmentally aware, treat their employees well, and invest time and energy in making the world a better place. + I’m glad purpose-driven marketing is becoming a growing strategy and topic of conversation – I’ve written before about the frustration I have when people criticize cause marketing (we discussed this with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge… ugh). I’d encourage every company to promote the efforts they’re making to help those around them – this inforgraphic points to why!
Via Brian Yanish - MarketingHits.com, John van den Brink, Ricard Lloria
In last 15 years, eCommerce marketing has evolved a lot. It's no longer confined to keyword stuffing or PPC. In 2013, website optimization, guest blogging and responsive design was in vogue.
* Mobile optimization: Agree! * Mobile advertising: Agree! * Targeting wearable devices: Too Early (talk about more than target in 2014). * Long-form content: Agree! (stories are about to rule the world). * Social and search ads: Agree! * Authorship branding: Agree! * Omni-channel user experience: Agree! * Better delivery: Agree! Local SEO: For some this makes sense. * Marketing automation: Harder to imagine in Ecom, but open to the idea of it.
Via YDeveloper
Choosing between Facebook and LinkedIn might not be an easy choice. You probably know both platforms as a user. Let's try to analyze those two systems in order for you to decide which one to use.
Via Georgina Lester, Mark Gittos
In 2012, Google along with Jim Lecinski published a fantastic book that explored how digital customers made decisions in what Google refers to as "The Zero Moment of Truth."The ZMOT as it's (While slightly dense, this is a good read on digital...
Via Rami Kantari, Thomas Faltin
Social media presence is essential to business success. It is the most efficient way for companies to communicate with their target market and express what they have to offer.
I wrote this piece for New Media Leaders because GROUPON is a brand wrecking ball. Groupons absurd deals destroy years of hard work on small business value propositions.
Least you think I am piling on, Groupon fired Founder Andrew Mason today, I've been meaning to write this article for a long time. Just wasn't mad enough until today (lol).
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Brands should take inspiration from the motivation behind love letters when they communicate with their customers. Marketers can unlock the value of users’
Maybe our web marketing needs to slow down, build online community and curate more? Thomas Hellum's slow TV provides valuable lessons in what's next online.
Here are a few of Slow TV's valuable lessons in the creation of sustainable online community:
- Social media + mobile = powerful community building tools combination.
- Happening NOW creates an “event-like” atmosphere especially if you don’t edit the timeline.
- Pre-sell community with an ASK, “What do you want to see”.
- Use the web for support before, during and after event.
Free Genius Lunches in Columbus Ohio I'm living in Columbus, Ohio at the Blackwell Inn on the Ohio State University's campus from now until December 3rd (being treated by Dr. Byrd at the James Cancer Center). I love meeting, discussing and learning from fellow startups, entrepreneurs, artists and cool smart people.
I'm stealing @Phil Buckley Genius Lunch idea to see what is happening in Columbus. Team Curagami stands ready to answer Internet marketing questions and learn new tips, tricks and ideas. If you would like to have a Genius Lunch in Columbus check the calendar and email when you would like to meet.
Lear More Here http://bit.ly/Free-Genius-Lunch-Columbus
Clean Slate Brands Time doesn't guarantee anything anymore. "Proudly in business for 100 years," sounds great until Uber cleans your clock. http://www.uber.com re-imagined what "cab" means in a mobile / social / reputation time.
I took my first Uber ride in Columbus, Ohio last week and it was EASY. I've also used Columbus Yellow Cab and spoken to the owner. Columbus Yellow Cab provided excellent service minus one important thing - a way to monitor how far my ride is.
Columbus Yellow Cab has an app too, one I will use on my next trip to Columbus this Wednesday, but Uber is a "clean slate" brand with little preconceived notions about owning anything OTHER than the most disruptive technology the cab business has ever seen.
Uber is about to change the very definition of "cab". And Uber isn't alone as this Trendwatching post about Clean Slate Brands shares.
Need Your Help I'm writing the Ultimate Content Curation Guide For Business and need your help. If you love content curation please share thoughts about:
* How would you define content curation for business? * Is content curation different for SMBs than big brands? If yes, how? * How should startups curate content? * What are your favorite content curation tools.
Send your thoughts on these questions or anything content curation related to martin(at)Curagami.com. Thanks, Marty
Great Daniel Ek +Spotify Founder Interview On Utilities As Experiences Great conversation with Spotify's Swedish founder on +The Charlie Rose Show… - Martin W. Smith - Google+
Startup Tips From CEO Dognition - The Personality Test For Dogs
Lunch With Smart Dogs at Triangle Startup Factory Kip Frey (www.linkedin.com/pub/kip-frey/36/b09/384 pictured in middle above) is a smart entrepreneur who one might say has "gone to the dogs". Kip spoke at Free Lunch Friday at +Triangle StartUp Factory today about Dognition (https://www.dognition.com/ ).
Dognition is a Myers/Briggs personality test for dogs. During an hour long fascinating conversation Kip made several points we've heard consistently from Chris and Dave at TSF such as:
* Ideas that "seem true" create their own momentum. * Look for ideas that "create a new category". * Ideas with great partnership hooks work best since partners help create scale with OPL (Other Poeple's Lists) and OPC (Other People's Content).
Dognition is a cool idea since we humans are always anthropomorphizing our animals. Now you can do a test AT HOME with your dog to figure out which one of 9 classifications your dog's personality falls within. You can compare your dog to dogs in your area, across the country or possibly the world (soon Kip mentioned they are already speaking to interested parties in China).
I found Kip and Dognition's #brandingstrategy fascinating. Kip and the team at Dognition spent a year working on the #DIY version of their test. They needed enough data shared by "citizen scientists" after taking their test that the hard work created in the lab held up even in the DIY home version.
"I think people are more interested in their dogs than in their DNA," Kip said at one point and I agree. There are 70M dog owning families in America (so one in three roughly) and each year brings 7M new dogs to market.
_____________________________________ Branding vs Scale
The tension between creating a brand with meaning and the scale necessary to support that meaning was interesting. Kip decided to do a deal with Purina One to gain scale. Sounds like he had to defend the sizable deal with his board because they were worried about "brand purity".
#branding is tricky. Too much scale too fast could marginalize the brand. The science at the core of the test is something that could be seen as goofy in the wrong context. By doing an exclusive with Purina One for 2014 Dognition gets millions in partner ad dollars - the test is a freebie if dog owners complete a 28 day "Purina One 28 Day Challenge" (http://www.purinaone.com/dogs/28-Day-Challenge/main-page ).
Cool promo and great legitimacy for Dognition and possibly just the right amount of scale. Partnerships bring interesting challenges. Dognition can get swallowed whole by Purina, and can anyone spot the BIG #socialmarketing error on the Purina One challenge page? http://www.purinaone.com/dogs/28-Day-Challenge/main-page
ERROR - Love that Purina is using Tweets, but seeing 46 day old Tweets HURTS the social legitimacy of their campaign. A 46 day old tweet from a customer is fine IN ROTATION, but what if the only representation I see has old content?
When curating old and new social content from Purina and users always have something in the roll that is current, only several hours hold max. Using customer Tweets is brave, but stale in its current implementation. Even if the Purina staff creates Tweets today that related to something that happened 46 days ago have something current on social.
Building a #story off of #UGC is what +CrowdFunde is all about. Conversations require different #contentcuration and #contentcreation than promotional push. Purina One's misuse of #SMM is a perfect validation for a tool like CrowdFunde that helps create, curate and converse with the most valuable content on earth - User Generated Content (UGC).
By isolating old tweets without a clear understanding about why they are there, other than being self congratulatory, Purina destroys what they hope to build - active, alive conversations.
We think Dognition will have great conversations since learning your dog's personality feels like something MADE for social shares, but HOW you share social conversations is tricky as a big brand like Purina proves. Turning conversations into #engagemn and #loyalty is trickier still.
Cool talk today with many lessons for #startups and #Internetmarketers . Dognition is going to be on 60 Minutes in April and they will have a reality TV show on Nat Geo Wild so conversations will happen. Team at CrowdFunde wishes our fellow Durham #startup luck and a free CrowdFunde installation if they want to discover how to build community on a scale hard to knock down or duplicate...because building ongoing engagement after initial novelty is based on the quality, frequency and value of Dognition's (and any brand's) CONVERSATIONS!
Thanks to Kip for speaking with TSF startups today! Marty
PS. Kip asked for feedback on the Dognition site and since I know there are a lot of ecommerce conversion experts that follow me send me your thoughts and I will pull together 5 to 10 "would be better if" kinds of feedback for https://www.dognition.com/ .
Startups & Contests Most #startups don't wake up thinking about #contentmarketing. Most startup entrepreneurs are builders. They want to build. Sometimes it is better to let others build FOR YOU.
Better because our new Google marketing world is based on three things:
* What You Say & Do. * What others Think about what you said and did. * Being LOVED by an increasing number of "brand advocates".
Some startups may get all of those things from an APP store, but why risk putting all eggs in a single basket when content marketing isn't hard nor does it need to take much time.
Contests are a favorite of mine. When STUCK and there's no time to cold call or no money to support "outbound sales" create content to bring who you need into your orbit. Contests are great for that. Give away something of value, such as a "better website", and review your entries.
If a contest feels too random you may be right, so don't put all eggs in that basket either. Continue to work your personal network to find great partners and be sure to update your contest. Closer something gets to FULL the more people want it (lol).
Creating A Revoltion is HARD May be hard, but MOVEMENTS are powerful ideas. Campaigns are not movements. Campaigns are more about YOU than THEM. My advice is learn secrets for revolutionaries and remove US vs. THEM makreting in favor of Save The World Marketing.
If after a grinding six months of work you'd told me I would be able to create an ecommerce store in 5 days for FREE (other than my time) I would have said you were crazy. Turns out I did just that over the last four sleepless nights.
The BIG lesson from launching the Story of Caner Store (every dollar raised goes to help the Story of Cancer Foundation and projects such as http://www.curecancerstarter.org) is EVERY business should have a "new ecommerce" store.
Stores provide SEO, branding and customer engagement benefits. If you can achieve ONE of those three things for little of no investment wouldn't you? Most Internet marketing teams would say YES.
I would too.
Hope you will shop the Story of Cancer Store this weekend and appreciate your support. There are some rough edges still, so comment or email MartinSelllingZoe(at)aol and I will fix.
http://storyofcancer.gostorego.com/
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