Event Marketing vs. Experiential Marketing

 

Experiential marketing and event marketing are often used interchangeably by people inside and outside of the industry, but are they the same?

The short answer? No, not quite.

They may sound similar, but experiential and event marketing are two separate tactics that brands can use as part of a larger marketing plan. What exactly is the difference between the two? It has to do with engagement, experience, goals, and time.

Engagement

One of the most prominent differences between experiential and event marketing is how each of these tactics engages the audience. Event marketing uses one-way communication where the brand is speaking directly to the consumer, but the consumer does not have the opportunity to respond. Have you ever attended an event where you passed by multiple booths and were handed marketing brochures about a company? This is a form of one-way communication that is often used at events. The brand is passing along information to the attendee in the form of a promotional pamphlet, but the consumer is not an active participant in the conversation.

On the other hand, experiential marketing uses two-way communication. This allows a brand to interact with a customer to teach them more about the brand’s products and services, and then listen to what the customer has to say in response. Experiential marketers aim to create opportunities where the customer and the brand can come together to engage in conversation and form a strong relationship. For example, Sensodyne hosted an experiential marketing event that invited people with sensitive teeth to try new products, play games, and meet privately with a dentist. Each section of the event was staffed with knowledgeable professionals who were there to interact with guests on a personal level. Although Sensodyne did host an event, this is definitely an example of experiential marketing and not event marketing.

Experience

Guests also experience both event marketing and experiential marketing in different ways. Think of the last time you went to a concert. You and the thousands of other music fans that filled the arena simultaneously watched the same show and left after having the same experience. This is the typical experience people have when it comes to event marketing—all at once, all the same.

However, every guest at an experiential marketing event will walk away with a unique memory of the individual experience they had. To understand this concept, consider Delta’s experiential marketing event known as “Stillness in Motion.” To highlight how Delta promotes rest and relaxation for its travellers, Delta created a spa-like room where guests could come in and try to find stillness on their own. The room was equipped with various sensors that picked up the guest’s heartbeat and changed the surroundings based on its pace. As the heartbeat picked up, the room would flash different colours and create various noises, and as users finally found their stillness, the colours would begin to fade and gentle music would seep into the room. In this example, each user had a unique experience that was powered by his or her heartbeat. This is part of the magic of the experiential marketing.

Goals

Event marketing and experiential marketing are used to achieve different goals, which is one of the reasons why it’s so important to understand the difference between the two. Marketers turn to event marketing when they want to announce a new product, sell products, or get press coverage for the brand. It’s best to think of event marketing as a way to generate buzz around something happening with the brand.

Of course, experiential marketing can also be used to launch new products, sell merchandise, and get in the press, but those aren’t typically the goals of these events. Instead, marketers use experiential marketing to create positive brand associations and grow relationships with their audience. An increase in sales and awareness of a new product can certainly occur as a result of an experiential marketing event, but the focus during the planning process is usually on how to connect with consumers. Going back to the Sensodyne example, inviting guests to meet privately with a dentist will not necessarily lead to an increase in sales. After all, the dentist was not secretly a sales representative who was pitching Sensodyne products. But, when guests left the event, they probably had a more favourable impression of Sensodyne for creating such a memorable experience for them. As a result of this positive association and the knowledge about sensitive teeth that the dentist provided, more customers probably did purchase Sensodyne toothpaste.

Time

Event marketing typically has a start and end time so guests know when to arrive and when the event is over. Once the end time has passed, the event is officially done. Press may cover the event while it is happening or immediately after it is over, but besides this, the buzz tends to die down when the event comes to an end.

Experiential marketing tends to live on much longer than event marketing. Because each guest has a unique experience at an experiential marketing event, guests often feel compelled to share their stories on social media and blogs. The buzz around an experiential marketing campaign can continue to grow as more guests swap stories and discuss the details of the event. Do you remember Coca Cola’s famous “Share A Coke” campaign? Part of the marketing plan for this campaign was hosting experiential marketing events and inviting guests to attend so they could create their own custom bottle of Coca Cola. After making their own bottles, many guests shared pictures of them online, which drew more attention to the campaign and the brand as a whole. If you want to keep the focus on your brand and really make your efforts pay off, choose experiential marketing.

 

Credit: Factory360

25 Tips for Creating Great Marketing Videos

In recent years, videos have been making inroads in digital marketing, emerging as a powerful promotional tool for businesses to promote their wares in an exciting and engaging way. Though when it comes to video marketing, there’s some pretty definitive ‘rules’ businesses should stick to in order to get their videos right. Get them wrong and marketing videos can be more hindering to a company than profiting.

Fortunately, if you’re a business looking to embark on an effective video marketing strategy, you’re in the right place, as Small Business Trends explores 25 tips for creating marketing videos.

Tips for Creating Marketing Videos

Tell a Story

Instead of being overtly salesy, an effective video tells a story. As the Digital Marketing Institute notes, businesses should utilize the emotive power of video by appealing to their customer’s needs and desires.

Make Sure the Introduction Stands Out

A little like how we are unlikely to click on an email if we’re not inspired by the subject line, an incredible one fifth of viewers click off a video within 10 seconds if they’re not interested in what they see. With this in mind, the introduction of the video is vitally important and should be made inspiring, entertaining and informative, to hook the viewer and encourage them to view the whole of the video.

Create a Stimulating Title

By the same token, your video’s title should be stimulating and eye-catching in order to grab a viewer’s attention. Furthermore, by using relevant keywords in a title, the video is likely to show up on the search engines when viewers search for the topic.

Focus on the Mission and Less on the Product

Instead of being overtly focused on the product and all its benefits, channel the message of the video into the mission of the product. Dove, for example, are hailed are being experts in creating emotional viral videos that focus less on their product and more on their mission.

Don’t Be Boring

Who wants to watch a boring video? It goes without saying, if you want your business’s video marketing campaign to be successful, create exciting and inspiring videos that can never be considered boring.

Get a Little Bit Risqué!

While too much naughty content is unlikely to do the credibility of your business many favors, as Inc. writes, just the right amount can be good for page views — as long as not overdone.

Make it Mobile Friendly

With more and more people using mobile devices to get online, it’s imperative corporate videos are mobile friendly. In fact, according to YouTube, mobile video consumption increases 100% every year! Marketing videos therefore need to be able to be downloaded and enjoyed on mobile devices.

Think About SEO

Quite simply, Google loves video content and an effective video marketing campaign should have Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in mind. To ensure maximum SEO value from your videos, accompany the video with a well-written description that is tagged with relevant keywords to help boost the video’s SEO.

Include Your URL in the Video

Displaying your website address in a marketing video is a good way for companies to get exposure and generate traffic to their website through a video.

Educate Your Audience

As the Digital Marketing Institute informs, one of the most powerful ways to implement effective video marketing is to educate viewers. Often videos that offer advice, information, tips and other informative content can be more effective than a solely promotional video.

Make the Video More Atmospheric with Music

Music is a powerful tool on video content, evoking a myriad of emotions. Don’t be afraid to use music in your video that fits the mood of the message and crafts a more exciting and emotive video.

Use Video Content Generated by Customers

Putting your customers behind the camera to talk about how they have used and benefited from your product, can be a powerful way to engage viewers and appeal to prospective customers.

Include a Call to Action

Similar to how all blog posts and content should have a call to action at the end, which invites the reader to take further action, such as signing up to a newsletter, or visiting a website, so too should a marketing video. Ask yourself, what do you want viewers to do when they’ve watched the video and then encourage them to do so without being overtly salesy.

Take Viewers Behind the Scenes

Consumers love to get up close to a brand and video marketing offers the perfect opportunity to take customers behind the scenes and into your business’s ‘natural surroundings.’

Include Tutorial Videos

Posting tutorials that are relevant to your niche is a great way to connect and engage with customers. Tutorials shouldn’t give away all your industry secrets, but should be enough to entice the viewer with informative and useful content, leaving them wanting to learn more.

Keep Them Short

Online viewers often don’t have much time to spare before they’re off looking on a new site and at a new video. In this sense, shorter marketing videos can tend to work better than long ones. As Helen Klein Ross told Kiss Metrics:

“The less you say, the more likely people are to remember.”

Use a Professional Voice

Words spoken with clarity and professionalism will always come out better in a corporate video than an amateur speaker, whose lack of experience speaking on the camera is obvious. With this in mind, it might be a good idea to have an employee that is experienced on speaking in front of the camera record for the video, or even think about calling in a professional.

Use Micro-Video Apps

Along with all this talk of keeping videos short for  the viewer, it’s also true shorter content is a better format for most social platforms. As Forbes notes, short, concise content triumphs over longer forms of content, particularly on social media channels. Video marketers should consider using micro-video apps, which shorten videos to less than 10 seconds, so they’re ideal of sharing on the likes of Instagram and Twitter.

Pose Questions

Strive to create engagement and conversation with your video by asking viewers questions. Ask viewers to leave answers to the questions in a comment section below the video.

Don’t Be Preoccupied with Perfection

Videos for marketing purposes aren’t Hollywood movies and nobody expects perfection. Whilst you want the video to look professional, don’t become too obsessed with perfection that on the 50th take you still haven’t got in right.

But Don’t Forget Production Quality

That said, it’s important a marketing video is produced professionally. From the camera work to lighting, edited to voice overs, it might be a good idea to call upon the expertise of a professional video production company to ensure the video is produced in a high quality.

Use Videos to Help You Create Your Own Effective Video Marketing Strategy

Head to the likes of YouTube to see how businesses are already building videos that have managed to go viral. Featuring the likes of Coca-Cola, these ‘10 Epic Viral Marketing Videos’ on YouTube will give you some pointers on how some of the biggest and well-known brands are producing a video designed to go viral.

Build Hype Around the Launch of the Video

Instead of just going ahead and launching your video, build hype around the video by promoting its launch date on your website, blog and social media channels.

Provide Some Humor

Not all corporate videos need to be serious. On the contrary, some humour can work well in generating more interest in your video. Vidyard gives an example of a humorous marketing video that proved hugely successful — a parody by cloud invoicing provider Taulia of the award-winning commercial series ‘Get Rid of Cable’ by Direct TV. As Vidyard writes:

“The video not only delivers a laugh, but this kind of humorous take on B2B solution can really get your customers feeling connected with your brand and help you stand out in what can be a stuffy market.”

Embed a Video in Landing Pages

Think strategically about where you are going to place your marketing video. Statistics show that embedding videos in landing pages can raise conversion rates by as much as 80 percent.

With video forecast to claim more than 80 percent of all web traffic by 2019 and 90 percent of customers reporting that product videos help them make purchasing decisions, it is imperative companies create videos that resonate with their audience and ultimately help sell their services and products.

Culled from Small Biz Trends

Learn How to Write Flash Fiction

 

Unlike the conventional short stories which take pages to complete, Flash Fictions is a literary genre comprising fiction which can be as short as a two-line paragraph, or even a few words creatively written and still convey meaning. Flash fiction is also referred to as ‘short-short story’, ‘micro-fiction’, or ‘micro-story’. A well-written flash fiction can appear as an allegory usually conveying a deeper meaning other than what is understood from its surface reading.  Flash fiction writing can be such a tedious creative writing, especially because you are aiming to convey meaning in few paragraphs. Here are tips to help you learn how to write a flash fiction.

 

#1. Use Strong Imagery in Your Writing: When writing flash fiction, you should use words that are easy to visualize.

#2. Stick To A Single Scene: When writing a flash fiction, it is best to always have a particular moment in mind, that way you don’t need much words to explain what happens before or thereafter.

#3. Do Not Feature More Than Two Characters In A Flash Fiction: To help you achieve the flash fiction format you want, you should try to revolve your story around one or two characters at most.

#4. Write With A First Person Point Of View: One great way to help your readers connect with a story is by using a first person point of view. Luckily, this works well with flash fiction, and will as well help you economize words.

#5. Thrill Your Readers With Suspense: The beauty of every creative write-up is the ability to not only to keep the readers engaged, but to keep them in suspense throughout the reading. Even if you are writing a popular niche, your manner of conveying the message to your readers should be a different approach entirely.

#6. Take Advantage of Your Title: Since flash fiction does not give you the luxury of time to explain every event in your story using lengthy words, the best way to start your story is by using your title as the prologue to your story. For Instance, Carol Oates in her flash fiction titled, “Widow’s First Year”, used the title to give the readers the idea of what the story entails.

If you found the tips above on how to write flash fiction helpful, we would surely love to read your testimonies in the comment box.

Culled from SOI Publishing

5 Reasons You Should Focus on a Speciality in Your Business

What’s your speciality? This is not a trick question—every business owner should be able to answer it in one concise sentence.

No matter how many products or services your business offers, your business has a core speciality (some call it a core competency) and you should know what it is.

Perhaps you are a professional organizer and your speciality is family moves. Or, you are a caterer, and weddings are your sweet spot. Or, you own a garage, and you are known for being the old cars “whisperer”.

As ambitious, energetic entrepreneurs, many of us think that we should please every customer who walks through the door, regardless of whether their needs match the core competency of our business. After all, it’s crazy to turn a willing, paying customer away. Right?

Wrong.

Choosing a speciality, and sticking to it, is a fundamental Marketing strategy that will not limit your business but will make it stronger.

Here are some of the reasons why you should focus on one area of expertise in your business:

1. It will be easier to promote your business.

When you’re focused on your speciality, you can share with people what you do in a faster, clearer and more memorable way. “I specialize in planning destination weddings” is a much more “sticky” message than “I am an event planner.” Describing your business on your website will also be a breeze—you will be able to communicate what you do in a clear and concise way which your website visitors will appreciate.

2. It will be easier to achieve expert status.

This one is pretty intuitive but let’s discuss it for a minute. The more focused you are on your speciality, the more specialized knowledge you’ll accumulate. If, for example, you are a mechanic and you choose to make fixing old cars your area of expertise, you’ll work on more old cars, you’ll talk to more owners of old cars, and you’ll read more about old cars than most mechanics. Soon you’ll be more experienced and more knowledgeable than most of your colleagues because you stayed focused. An expert status would be much harder to achieve if you chose to be a more “general” car specialist.

3. It will be easier for customers to choose you.

We all look to hire experts. Think about it: if you need a root canal, you go to a dentist who specializes in root canals. If you happen to have a small dog, you look for a vet who is known for specializing in small dogs. Choosing a speciality, and being good at it, will bring to you the exact customers you’re looking to serve. If, on the other hand, you maintain a “general” status, you’ll have a harder time convincing a customer to choose you over a specialist.

4. It will be easier to get to know your customers.

Imagine you own a bookstore. Now, imagine that the only type of books you sell in your store are mystery novels. Clearly, your customers will be mystery novel fans. You will meet and talk with more mystery novel lovers than most people have ever met in their lives. In the process of these interactions, you will get to know a lot about this group of people: you will learn why they like mystery novels, which of the books you sell they like and which ones they don’t like and why, and so on. Naturally, you’ll be able to serve their needs better than any other bookstore in town. This deep understanding of your customer would be difficult, even impossible, to achieve if your bookstore sold books of every possible genre. 

5. It will be easier to show personality in your business.

Because you know your customers very well, you’ll be able to talk directly to them in your advertising—whether it’s a website, a brochure, or whatever other medium you choose. Using language your customers respond to, jokes they find funny and offers they find relevant will keep you close to their hearts and will always make them choose you over the competition. General ads or promotions that some non-specialist may choose to run, meant to attract a general group of people, by promising general benefits would never evoke a similar emotional response.

Choosing a speciality and sticking to it is a powerful way to build your business. So, try to shake the habit of deviating from your chosen niche every time a customer asks you to do something “extra” for them.

All that said, I don’t mean that you should NEVER venture outside of your niche. If and when you’re ready to grow your business, offering additional products or services is a great way to do that. However, such an expansion should not be a casual action. It needs to be planned strategically and launched with diligence and intention, like a pro.

Culled from Built In Chi

3 Tips To Stand Out In A Crowded Market

 

Elevating your brand so that it stands out among all the competition is a tough job.

No matter how much you think your brand or product is unique, there are always going to be similar options out there for people to choose from. The market is oversaturated and people are bombarded by advertisements telling them to buy this and that. Getting their attention and keeping it isn’t easy.

If it really is true that we see around 5000 marketing messages a day, then it goes without saying that differentiating yourself from the competition is absolutely necessary if you want your business to thrive.

If you want to stand out in a crowded market, here are three tips you need to try.

 

How to Stand Out from the Crowd

1. Put the people first

Once you realize not enough businesses prioritize their customers, it’ll become easier to center your strategy around them. You can automatically get ahead of the game by taking extra measures to satisfy your loyal customers.

Show customers you care by taking care of them and they’ll continue coming back. Make yourself stand out as a brand — no matter how popular or widespread you are — by putting people first not just by words like all businesses do, but by actions.

Set up a rewards program for people who keep coming back to you when so many other options exist. Since its app relaunch in 2016, Starbucks introduced their new and improved mobile loyalty rewards program where customers earn stars for every dollar spent and get free food and drink in return.

Users of this program make up a whopping 39 percent of Starbucks’ total sales. That’s an insane amount of revenue just from the app! And it’s only possible because Starbucks puts their customers first.

2. Make it simple

What’s more frustrating than trying to make an online purchase but failing because the process to do it is confusing or irritating? Almost nothing.

Potential customers aren’t going to jump through hoops to buy from you or learn more about your products. You have to make that process as stress-free and simple as possible for them.

On top of that, consumers expect a simple experience. If buying from you is a hassle or takes too much time, they’re going to skip to the next thing. Convenience is key if you want to retain loyal customers.

Scope out existing problems in your business model. Does the mobile experience work as seamlessly as the desktop version? Do glitches or broken links exist on your website? Is it as simple as A to B to C when customers try to check out an item? Is there a lack of customer service?

Apple has a specific formula they follow to ensure a simple and enjoyable experience for their customers which goes by the acronym APPLE:

• Approach customers with a personalized warm welcome
• Probe politely to understand all the customer’s needs
• Present a solution for the customer to take home today
• Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns
• End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return

The truth is, loopholes can exist anywhere in your model. What’s important is identifying them as soon as they occur and resolving the issues as quickly as possible. There are far too many businesses who don’t put themselves into the consumer’s shoes and create a less-than-satisfactory customer experience. You can stand out from the rest by ensuring you have the easiest buying process out there.

3. Humanize your brand

One of the worst mistakes competitors make is centering the buying process around the product and forgetting about the consumer. This is the fastest way to lose their interest and attention. If brands aren’t appealing to the people buying the products, they won’t get sold. Yet so many businesses fail to realize this and implement it into their strategies for better outcomes.

The best way to do this is to start a conversation.

Ask your consumer base what they love about your brand and what they could do without. Find out what makes their experience easier or more difficult. Set up a survey, poll or contact form on your homepage asking consumers what they think about the buying process and how accessible it is. This is the most direct way to get in touch with people’s honest opinions.

Over to you

In business, standing out from all the rest is tricky. You have to know who you’re selling to and what the people want if you’re going to succeed long-term. You also want to think outside the box and cater to your customers who keep coming back to you and love what you do. By centering your business around people instead of products, you’ll get through to a larger consumer base and appeal to people who care about your message.

Culled from Business2Community

7 Tips To Improve Your Brand Communication Strategy

 

Creating a brand is an effective strategy to reach out to your customers. But, it is certainly not a child’s play. Brand communication plays a crucial role in building a sturdy and robust brand. However, there are certain strategies and tactics that can be used in creating a persistent brand name.

How To Improve Your Brand Communication Strategy

How are big brands created? The journey from being an organization to a brand name that resonates with its customers is not an easy one. Brands are not made overnight. It is your customers who hold the power to turn your product/service into a hot selling brand! The key is communication. If the brand communication is clear and hits the audience in the right places, you’ve got a winner.

With social media as a powerful communication tool, every business has the means to directly communicate with its end user. Imagine the power to not just reward a loyal customer instantly, but also handle and retain a disgruntled customer with tact and ingenuity at that very moment when the user shares a bad experience. Here we discuss how you can establish such a resilient brand communication strategy and win your customers’ approval every single time. Even when you goof up. Yes, that’s right. When you build a strong relationship with your consumer based on trust and mutual admiration, your customers become your loyal brand evangelists. And they do forgive a slip up just like they forgive an erring friend. Confused? Let’s understand.

 

Finding Your Brand Voice

To find the right voice for your brand it is imperative to first figure out the following:

• Identify your buyer personas
  Learn and research your core customer groups. It’s the best way to get started when you are still looking for the right voice for your brand. The ideal way to know if you’re touching the right cords with your customers is to know what kind of customers you’re catering to.
• Know your USPs
  Once you figure out who you’re going to talk to, it’s time to understand what you’re going to talk about. What is the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of your product that makes it stand out from others? How is your brand giving value to the customer?
• Build a brand personality
  Given your USPs and buyer personas, choose a personality you wish to showcase to your customers. Ensure that your brand personality remains consistent throughout different channels and touchpoints. This will help consumers identify with your brand and connect in a better way.
• Choose your marketing mix
  With every business going digital, it’s best to recognize the most high-paying and valuable channels for your branding exercises. Choose media that suits your brand and is preferred by your target audience. Whether it’s social media, email marketing, or marketing event presentations, make sure it has the same brand voice.
  
  

How To Follow A Winning Brand Communication Strategy In 7 Easy Steps

1. Be Genuine And Honest

You don’t need celebrity brand ambassadors promoting your brand if your customers become your brand advocates. If they’re the ones talking about your brand, sharing with their peers and spreading positive word-of-mouth publicity for your brand, who needs anybody else. They are your most genuine and authentic agents of brand promotion. Therefore, it is your prerogative to ensure that all brand communication from your end is also genuine and spontaneous. Don’t use automated replies nor respond like a bot. A humanized, empathetic, and authentic brand voice builds an immediate connection with the audience which is built on trust. Don’t make your responses seem forced. Tackle them with a humane touch, always.

2. Create Conversations

When a customer shares a positive experience, go further than just saying ‘thank you’. Give open-ended responses and strike conversations that help your brand find its humanized voice. People love it when a brand takes the time to have a conversation with them – one on one. Even if it’s a fun and playful conversation, people will remember your brand more for how you made them feel. When you reach that stature of having natural real-time and positive conversations with your customers, soon they will be the ones doing your marketing for you.

3. Provide Relevant Content

In the world of brands, content is still the king. Creating content that appeals to the target audience and is yet relevant to your brand needs a bit of skill and practice, but it isn’t rocket science. It’s a wise and smart choice to always ask your audience to share, comment, vote, or suggest what they wish to see more of. When you listen to them, they will listen to you! In this way, your customers become the co-creators of your content.

4. Don’t Always Self-Promote

People don’t like brands that just gloat about themselves. Even in the real world, people don’t like those who can only talk about themselves. Similarly, brands that overtly promote themselves without offering any value to the client, are often at the risk of losing customers, and that too without any apparent reason.

5. Be Transparent

Being open and transparent, and letting your customers in on what’s going behind the scenes helps a brand earn the trust of customers. This practice not only helps the organization educate customers but also dispel rumors and improve brand awareness – all the while attaining a special respectful place in the consumer’s mind.

6. Post Some Content For Pure Fun And Customer Enjoyment

Post content that you think your audience will enjoy, just for the sake of fun and some light-hearted enjoyment. Do not put any link to your blog or any other Call-To-Action. This will send a strong message to your followers that you’re not just here to sell, but to delight and serve your audience. This will make the readers look forward to reading your content and also enhance the confidence they have in your brand.

7. Leverage Consumer-Generated Content

Pay close attention to what your customers are saying or sharing in forums/comments about your brand. And when you know what they want, act quick and give them what they want. Leveraging user-generated content is not as hard as it seems. As customers continue to take co-ownership and influence their favorite brands, companies should work on improving their product offerings based on that. Simply share consumer content and tweak your services/products/communication to give your audience exactly what they want.

With the advent of the digital age, the focus is now not how to market your product to the consumer, but how to market your product with your consumers! With these 7 tips of collaborative marketing, a branding communication strategy will work wonders by targeting its consumers effectively and successfully.

 

Culled from E Learning Industry

7 Steps To Attracting Customers Away From Your Competitors

 

One of the most lucrative ways to improve your business is to attract your competitor’s customers to your business. Consumers will switch brands and businesses if they can see real value, so you need to give them a pretty good reason to choose your business over your competitors.  

Thorough competitor analysis is the strategic way of developing a clearer picture of what’s happening in the market and giving you a basis to develop your own action plan. Follow the steps below to make your business irresistible to your competitor’s customers.

 

How To Attract More Customers (While Pulling Them Away From Your Competitors)

1. Lower your prices

Simply being the cheapest supplier can be an effective way to attract new customers, but what your business sells will have a major impact on how effective this technique will be. If your business sells commodity items such as books, CDs, DVDs etc., which are identical no matter which retailer sells them, consumers will look for the cheapest price. 

Value, however, is often related to price. An item that has a very low price can frequently be perceived as inferior. Look closely at the pricing structure of your competitors before slashing your own prices, as this could damage the brand value of your company.  

And value for money doesn’t simply mean more for your money, as the equation consumers use to decide what price they want to pay for any goods is complex. Attracting customers away from competitors may have a price component, but this isn’t the only factor consumers will use for goods that are not seen as commodities.

2. Create brand loyalty

Inviting customers to become part of your brand can be a powerful attractor. Companies such as Apple illustrate how successful strong brand values can be. Consumers want to be part of a group or tribe that not only delivers great goods or services but, also shows the people in their network they support the values of the brand they associate themselves with.

Trust and interest in a business’ customers and what they do are strong ways your business’ brand can become highly attractive to your competitor’s customers. The emotional ties your business can make via social media for instance can be highly effective. In addition, it has been shown that consumers who are emotionally connected to a brand are less price sensitive, which is why Apple can charge so much more for its products.

3. Raise your profile

As consumers are constantly bombarded with marketing messages, making your business stand out from the crowd is vital. Marketing of course has always been critical to all businesses. 

However, today, social media has enabled direct and highly personal connections to be made with groups and individuals. This granular marketing is a highly effective way to raise your business’ profile in the minds of your competitor’s customers.

Remember though that overt marketing and selling techniques can have a negative impact across social media networks. Discounts and competitions are proven to be highly popular with consumers. Offering these across your social networks could enable you to steal some of your competitor’s customers.

Consumers are also looking for help, support, value and something to share with their networks. Creating content for these groups delivers these shareable materials, which could mean your brand and business becomes more desirable to buy from than your competitors.

4. Encourage brand advocates 

One of the most powerful ways to attract customers from your competitors is via word-of-mouth. A personal recommendation – often on social media – can have a profound impact on consumers looking for goods and services. Indeed, Nielsen discovered that word-of-mouth recommendations are the most credible. No amount of advertising can beat a personal recommendation from a trusted friend, colleague or family member. Look closely at your business’ key influencers. These are groups and individuals that have shown a keen interest in your brand and its goods or services. Your business should support these groups or individuals, as they can often be the start of a recommendation that is then widely disseminated across what could be vast networks. Brands can encourage brand advocacy through referral marketing strategies and techniques. As a small business owner, this can be an effective low-cost acquisition channel if done well.

5. Find the gaps

Think about the market sectors your business is trading within. You should be constantly looking to innovate and fill the gaps with new goods and services. One of the most effective ways to attract customers away from competitors is to not only offer something unique, but something that you know is missing from the market. 

Use social media to constantly assess your market. Ask your customers what goods or services they would love to see become available. Your competitors may come along with something similar later, but your business was first to market, which can gain new loyal customers.

6. Support your customers

According to Oracle, 89% of consumers would move to a competitor if they had a poor customer service experience. Today thanks to social media, customer service has become an almost real-time exercise. Twitter is now one of the most used channels for consumers to contact the businesses they buy from.

Moreover, consumers are using their experience of a business’ customer service support as a means to differentiate businesses in any given market, which they use to decide where to spend their money. Making a personal connection to them is critical. SpotOn revealed that 41% of consumers buy from businesses that send personalized emails.

It’s a simple equation: the better your customer service the more customers your business will attract – and more importantly – retain over the long-term with high levels of loyalty. 

7. Invest in m-commerce

How consumers now connect and buy from businesses has changed. The internet has of course become a massive channel for commerce, but mobile commerce looks set to eclipse even the huge success seen with e-commerce. Businesses that can embrace the mobile space will be highly attractive to customers – especially those in the lucrative millennial group.

Businesses that can use the mobile channel with dedicated websites and apps will be able to gain the customers looking to do even more with their phones and tablets. As figures from eMarketer suggest that nearly 50% of m-commerce sales are completed with smartphones, businesses need to ensure they are fully supporting this burgeoning channel across their businesses.

And the app economy shows no sign of slowing. According to the Business of Apps global revenue from in-app purchases could reach USD $189 billion by 2020. What is clear for all businesses, is if they can expand into m-commerce this could be a massive attractor for competitor customers.

Getting the particulars right can be a big deal. In that case, you need to reach out to a specialist agency like TRW Consult to assist you.

 

Culled from Fleximize

Lady Gaga Taught Me These 4 Secrets To Building A Successful Brand

Lady Gaga is on fire … again. With her recent breakthrough performance in A Star Is Born, she is generating a lot of Oscar buzz. In the film, Gaga plays Ally alongside Bradley Cooper’s Jack — a couple whose personal relationship struggles as Ally’s professional life takes off. With many publications betting she will shine during award season, Gaga is hot.

But, this isn’t Gaga’s first rodeo. Having launched her singing career around 2007, she has been a chart-topping role model for thousands of fans, broken records, taken home countless awards and influenced the industry.

Yes, she is an international star. But, she is also an extremely savvy businesswoman — and I have learned everything from her when it comes to building my successful business, Archangel, which helps mission-driven entrepreneurs, and its annual conference, Archangel Summit.

It was around 2013 when I started following Gaga. I was watching the music industry – and it was in a decline. Yet, there were some artists who were killing it. Lady Gaga was one of them. While she had been around (and super successful for years), she was continuing to get stronger and stronger, despite the current landscape. At the time, I knew nothing about her, but I was intrigued by her success. What was so special about her? I began my quest to figure that out.

 

Secrets to Building a Successful Brand

 

Here is what I learned from Lady Gaga on what it takes to build a successful business – and what you can learn from her, too.

 

1. Get crystal clear on who you want to help.

It is so important to find the right customers for your company.

Like a lot of people, Lady Gaga is attracted to people who were like her. She has written countless times about being bullied in school and feeling like an outsider. It was these same people she went after when she decided to build her community (more on that in a bit).

For me, I needed my perfect avatar to target. I wanted to help entrepreneurs like me: those who are mission-driven and want to create an impact. To find these people, I met with anyone and everyone and started asking a million questions to get to the root issues and how I could be of help. I started to look for patterns to define my mission.

For you, focus on whom you want to help right off the bat. Take a stand. Look at your core values, what issues are important to you and your mission. This will help create cohesion and bonds among your core base. Look for those people who fit into that community. But also, just as importantly, do not try to please everyone. You can’t.

 

2. Build a tribe.

 

Next, you need to find these people — a lot of these people — and build your tribe.

When it came to building her community and ambassadors, Lady Gaga didn’t go for the traditional, top 40 pop audience. She went after the fringe — the people who were bullied, those who didn’t fit in, the outcasts — and made them her family. And then she branded her tribe — “Little Monsters” — which was so important.

Every year, for our Archangel Summit, we sell out, with more than 3,000 people attending. We are able to accomplish this by building our own tribe. When I launched the entire Archangel platform, I didn’t start off with a product, service, experience or event and try to sell people on that business model. Rather, I started off with a tribe and asked out how could I serve them.

By going down this path, it is much easier, in the end, for entrepreneurs to sell. After finding this passionate audience, you can figure out the most common challenges this tribe is facing and how you, as the founder, can be the most helpful.

 

3. Focus on being memorable.

 

Whatever you do, be remembered.

Usually, when artists perform, they do pretty much the same act in each city. It can be a bit, well, blah. But, Gaga customizes her shows to each specific audience — adding in personal touches to make each performance memorable. It is very micro level. So, people throw things on stage, and she interacts with them. I have seen her do it with a Canadian flag, which she danced with; a denim jacket she put over her dress; and a touching moment, when a concertgoer named Brittany tossed up a letter. Lady Gaga stopped the set, opened the letter, learned that the girl had just come out to her parents, who didn’t accept it, and asked Brittany on stage. She then sang directly to her. I am not rehashing this story for no reason; I am doing so because I remember every single moment of that concert.

In each instance, she made people feel special, like they belonged.

For us, I go crazy when it comes to the day of the Archangel Summit event. It isn’t just panels and keynotes, but also Cirque du Soleil-style performances. I do this to not only keep people energized, but because I haven’t seen it anywhere else.

Do the same for your own business. Do things that don’t scale — and they don’t have to be such a grand level as having trapeze artists swinging through your event. For instance, you can insert personalized videos into emails, thanking someone for her purchase. Or send a special thank-you card after your service. Whatever you choose, you just need to show people you care about them.

 

4. Keep the momentum.

 

There are only so many product launches you can have, events you can hold or online courses you can unveil. Between those big milestones, keep the community going.

Lady Gaga does it by creating a special, almost secretive culture. She and her Little Monsters greet each other with the “Monster Claw” sign and use words like “monster hugs” to show affection for each other. They have their own social media platform where they can interact all year round, and a strong Facebook page where Gaga often posts.

What I have done that can work for any founder is create a strong social media group. (Some people do this with Google, others with Facebook.) In it, we highlight stories of community members and the impact they’re creating, we co-create our events with the tribe (for instance, asking which speakers to have for future events) and we share strategies, to name a few ways we engage.

During the year, we also keep people engaged by continuing to educate them with webinars, email newsletters and smaller, more intimate events. These all help to continue to develop this community, so when our next major event occurs, it isn’t hard to sell out.

Culled from Entrepreneur

4 Reasons Why Blogs Are Crucial For Online Reputation Management And Repair

 

What are blogs, and why are they crucial for online reputation management?

Blogs generate good content that eventually pushes down negative links, build trust by showing industry expertise, and is a way to get visible online.

Here are some tips for excellent posts and four ways blogging is important for online reputation repair.

What to Write to Repair a Damaged Online Reputation

A blog is a place for brief, targeted articles online. Knowing what to write and where to post them are crucial details to get right for the repair process.

Blog articles should be at least 500 words long but ideally about 1,000 words (a page or two). The topic should address a specific issue for readers or clients. For example, write about top business-related questions that often get asked, offing some of the best solutions. The idea is to generate good content that people legitimately find interesting and pertinent to them.

Include Keywords, Headings, Images

A blog should include keywords–phrases that are useful for searches, which are related to the topic–sprinkled throughout the article; headings help break the blog into easy to read sections; an image placed at the top, relating to the topic, gives a visual queue to the story; lastly, be sure to include your name or business name a few times, but avoid artificially “stuffing” unnecessarily.

Find the Right Place for the Right Blog

Post to well-trafficked platforms, such as LinkedIn or Facebook, to dedicated industry-specific blog sites such as Avvo.com for law, etc., or general sites, like Medium.com.

The best place, however, is to post an article on one’s own business or personal blog because this generates website traffic, in turn pushing up positive links.

Here’s four reasons why to write blog articles to help repair a damaged online reputation or build a positive one.

1. Blogs Push Down Negative Links

Blogs are powerful tools in the reputation repair process because they can push down negative links. Popular and well-written pieces eventually show up on the top of Google searches, suppress damaging articles posted by competitors, disgruntled ex-clients or employees with an axe to grind.

2. Builds Trust, Showing Industry Expertise

Building trust and showing that you are an expert in your field is another prime benefit of blogging. If someone conducts a Google search–which clients do–and there is little information, the business could be perceived as not being active, inexperienced or not tech savvy. Having a list of articles that address prospective clients’ concerns shows expertise, leading directly to increased sales.

3. Part of a Social Media Strategy

Blogging is, or should be, a vital part of a social media strategy. A great way to generate interest in social media feeds is to write good quality information. Writing a blog post and then sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, etc., not only makes those posts more visible, but they also generate more traffic on those platforms.

4. Blogs Create Backlinks

Blogs are also powerful because they create backlinks–links that go back to your site–which Google finds very favorable and is a key part of its ranking formula. This too is a way to drive up positive articles, helping to push good ones to the top of Google searches, thereby suppressing negative pieces off the first or second page.

Bottom Line

Writing a blog should be an integral part of online reputation management and repair because it pushes down negative links, shows you as an expert, improves existing social media campaigns and helps your Google ranking. The key is constantly writing quality articles.

This article was first published on Recover Reputation