Advertisers face a time when a relentless focus on ROI has left brands more undifferentiated than any time since Bill Bernbach told the world to "Think small."
Are we thinking small?
Spreadsheets do not create desire. In 1959, the call to "Think small" was a revolutionary thought. Today, it is business as usual in both agencies and marketing departments across the country—possibly the globe.
If you're a CMO charged with growing a brand, clearly your digital strategy is an important part of the picture. But you know the answer is not simply a new website or a marginally lower cost per click.
How will you escape commoditization?
The digital landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. For the very first time, people are empowered to consume media on their own terms. Virtually every emerging tactic that has become available to marketers in recent years offers the opportunity for a deeper, more meaningful relationship than in years past—from mobile apps to social networks, from desktop widgets to podcasts, from YouTube channels to DVRs.
The notion of the website as a destination that brands struggle to get people to visit is rapidly becoming obsolete. Meanwhile, 83% of purchase decisions are now influenced by word-of-mouth (according to Forrester). The “sales funnel” as a functional planning tool is dead. The average click- through rate of an online banner is less than half of one percent and the average corporate website is a ghost town. Is this the model your brand should follow?
No, of course it isn’t. This model is being replaced with one where consumers choose platforms that they value and that meld to their lifestyle. An iPhone application, a content channel on YouTube, a website... these are all platforms for the delivery of content and functionality that can enhance a customer’s life.
As a CMO, your ultimate goal is to uncover the unique value that your brand can provide and to create a comprehensive delivery strategy that takes into account the myriad ways your various audiences consume content and experiences every day. Careful consideration must be given to which platforms you will invest in, what functionality they should contain, where content for them will come from and how it will be distributed across them.
At Traction, our core competency is designing brand experiences. We align our clients’ business objectives with human needs, desires and behavior. This is how we create consumable value. And consumable value is what your brand needs to deliver in order to sustain its growth in an increasingly digital, increasingly mobile, increasingly social age.
To be successful at creating value-oriented strategies and conceptual visions, you must have an understanding of both advertising and technology. Technology ideas must be infused with the kind of insight generation that fuels great advertising. It takes both storytellers and user experience designers to craft brand narratives that align with how people actually act. This leads to innovative ideas that are relevant, technology solutions that work, and content that people want to consume.
Understanding your brand essence is mission-critical for the success of this effort. In the mind of the consumer, a brand can be one thing. What is your one thing? What is your powerful emotional draw? What does that brand essence mean to your customers? How is all that expressed in a connected world?
Delivering on this takes a well-articulated strategy for an integrated online presence that creates differentiating value for your brand online and a content strategy based on the reality that consumers are now empowered to consume media on their own terms. And it takes creativity at every turn.
Do you have what you need to deliver?
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