As consumers we know “brands” simply as a particular product or service we like or dislike. However, as a business owner we know there are several factors to be considered before consumers can truly identify and trust a specific brand. In a perfect world, everyone would be a great target for all marking and brand identities but that’s not the case. Let's cover the three main steps to creating an interactive branding message that your consumers can begin to connect with!
1. Logo – (Noun) “A symbol adopted by an organization to identify its products or services” We all know it’s never about what you have, it’s about how you use it that makes the difference! Since you've spent the time and/or money on this masterpiece called your "logo," make sure it shows up everywhere including business cards, social media sites, and any other promotional materials. Your logo is your company's identity in a picture and the more you show it off, the quicker your brand recognition will grow.
Does this really matter, you ask? Consider this… how likely are you to remember a random fast-food restaurant you visited when they use generic bags and soda cups versus the restaurant that brands every cup and... Read more
Tags: advertising, branding, content marketing, Facebook, marketing, online marketing, Social Media
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Perception (Photo credit: Genna G)
A key component of understanding buying decisions is gaining a reality check on how buyers perceive you and whether you match to their criteria. How well organizations are perceived will serve as one of the primary influences shaping buying behaviors and purchase decisions.
Buyer research can reveal many aspects of what comprises buyer perception. Buyer experience is now becoming one of the most important factors contributing to and influencing perceptions. The new digital age is introducing new types of criterion buyers place a value on, which can directly affect their perceptions:
Buyer Experience: previous as well as current experiences can have an enormous impact on how buyers perceive you. Do you think waiting an extra day to return a call was no big deal? Think again.
Engagement: evidence is building on engagement being a factor in shaping buyer perceptions when making purchase decisions. What the "engagement experience" tells buyers can make a big difference. This differs from buyer experience in this way: when you ask customers and prospects to engage - meaning interact - it better not be painful.
Knowledge: the sharing of knowledge and insight is fast emerging as a one area shaping how buyers perceive companies. Content marketers need... Read more
Tags: buyer experience, buyer persona, buyer personas, content marketing, content strategy, marketing, Social Media, Tony Zambito
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Marketo wants to talk revenue cycle and lead nurturing #marketotour (Photo credit: servantofchaos)
A problem facing organizations today is generating more leads. Making this issue even more challenging is changes in buying behavior. Depending on which study to reference, buyers are performing different activities for up to 70% of their buying evaluation before sales intervention.
A recent report by the Aberdeen Group on sales performance shows there is a fair degree of dissatisfaction among sales leaders. 56% saying they were not seeing sufficient growth in top line revenue. Nearly 30% expressed dissatisfaction with lead conversion to sales. A recent CSO Insights report indicated that only 20% of organizations understood their buyer’s buying process. These two perspectives combined point to one of the key issues – targeting the wrong buyer.
Looking back on over 12 years of qualitative buyer research and buyer persona development work, I found in 6 out of every 10 organization– a different buyer was identified than the organization had been targeting! If you are off-target with the buyer – you will be off-target on your demand generation and lead generation.
Getting On Target
Marketing and sales leaders today are looking to increase their percentage of being on target when it comes to lead generation. There... Read more
Tags: buyer persona, buyer persona development, buyer personas, content marketing, demand generation, lead generation, lead nurturing, lead persona, marketing, Sales
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“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
― Ernest Hemmingway
The concept of buyer personas, as a means for understanding buyers, has been around now for over a decade. It is an understatement to say many things have changed in the world of buying and selling since their beginning.
We have witnessed the changing dynamics of the buyer-seller relationship. The dynamics I refer to are buying behaviors and buyer goals. On the other side of the coin, we see marketing and sales making attempts to adapt. The concepts of content marketing, lead nurturing, insight-based selling, customer experience, and brand management emphasized. These practices have been introduced as gateways to connecting with buyers in the new digital age.
Adapting to New Realities
Personas, at their core, were introduced as a tool to communicate the goals and behaviors of users and buyers. Specifically for informing strategies related to product design and marketing to buyers. For B2B Marketing and Sales, a clearer picture has begun to emerge around the goals and behaviors of buyers. Yet, there are many more miles to go. My endeavor and work with organizations over the past decade lead me to... Read more
Tags: brand, buyer behavior, buyer experience, buyer journey, buyer persona, buyer personas, content marketing, customer, demand generation, Digital Marketing, lead generation, marketing, Sales, tonyzambito.com
Posted in Creative Best Practices, Emerging Platforms, Opinions, Research, Social Media, Targeting, Web Analytics, Websites, Wireless, Word of Mouth | 1 Comment »
Posted by
Tony Quin on May 9th, 2013 at 7:45 am
I don’t pretend to be a savvy shopper, but when I dive wallet-first into the clearance section at The Gap, I tend to stock up on accessories in my favorite color — black. Why? It’s a universal truth that black goes with everything.
So does branded journalism. In the words of veteran digital content guru Ann Handley, “Content is the new black.”
Handley is right, branded journalism (also known as brand journalism or branded content) has caught on like a wildfire this year. From Tory Burch’s fantastic branded blog to Mint.com’s MintLife section, brands realize the value of consumer-facing content like articles, photos or videos, and are rushing to create some with the company name on it.
Why? For a lot of the reasons we discussed in the first post in this series and mainly because consumers are demanding it. As brands become more accessible to fans through social media, people want more from brands than their products and services. So much so, even Twitter is looking to hire a Head of News. That leads us to branded journalism.
But branded journalism breaks the natural order of business that advertisers, journalists and businesses have subscribed to for decades. This makes some people nervous, traditionalists... Read more
Tags: brand, branded journalism, branding, content, content marketing, content strategy, creative, marketing, online marketing, Strategy
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