brand alliance & partnership development
We know producing YouTube content is a proven method of increasing search rankings (think that it’s owned by Google might help?).
But the amount of watch time per video, similar to how Nielsen calculates ratings, is also important. It shows engagement with the audience - which helps to strengthen a brand’s message.
Another important element for consideration in 2020 marketing plans.
Some of the top ways to use content marketing in your 2020 marketing plan.
A common topic for discussion, or request for possible assistance, that I receive is how to revitalize a struggling or flat sales program.
While new customers are important, one of the greatest areas of concentration should be on current or past customers. And targeted email campaigns are a critical tool.
Some good stats on reasons why you should look into your customer base.
It doesn’t matter - the product or service.
If your salespeople don’t understand why customers are actually buying from you - what they see as your value, your sales will always be one-offs.
An effective way of moving the needle in sales is to change something in the marketing strategy.
But change is hard. Making new marketing or lead generation decisions can often end up in indecision instead.
And the act of doing nothing could actually result in being a hidden and tangible cost (e.g., losing a repeat sale to an existing customer, missing new prospect groups, etc.).
More often than not, better to try something new if your gut tells you to. Decisions can always be reversed.
Trade associations can provide tremendous opportunities in terms of new customer prospects.
However, nonprofit associations often keep a tight grip on their member contacts - your prospects.
Good news - it is still possible to work with associations to reach those members. Show value for the association and its members - as well as how it will benefit your company (also a member).
Some great insights on audience / customer behavior patterns:
- You know your audience but the audience has changed in what interests them
- Greater importance in trust of your brand
- Changing social media landscape
- Longer-form content generates greater engagement
- Old school tactics (email, video & direct mail) still highly effective method to reach audiences
Word of mouth more important in building brand trust than paid ads.
From Kim Skildum-Reid (www.powersponsorhip.com)
"5 Ways Rightsholders Need to Get Over Themselves"
“Always on” means don’t slow down your marketing during the holidays.
“There are plenty of reasons why building a brand identity is important, including:
* It makes you recognizable: Your company needs to be one that customers automatically think of when a need arises;
* It makes you different: Your brand identity sets you apart from the competition;
* It helps you stay consistent: If you want to set yourself apart, you should be consistent with what makes you different.”
....and email marketing as the distribution method.
Even the Duchess of Cambridge has a social media strategy to control her Royal brand image.
Do you? (It’s really not that hard...)
“Retro” as a tool to get customers looking at you again.
Whether it’s a new product / service, the importance of an initial introduction to a market is often critical in its ultimate success.
It’s not just Benefits, Solutions or Price. Visuals are a critical element in #productmarketing. And targeted #emailmarketing programs remain a highly successful method of #brandbuilding and #customerconversion.
Some good examples here of visual usage best practices in targeted email campaigns and the potential resulting customer engagement.
Influencermarketing - it’s not just about gross numbers reached.
“Savvy companies are shifting their spend to micro-influencers with audiences interested in topics relevant to their brand messages.”
“Running an initial discovery map of key audience segments by interest, identifying key influencers within each segment and learning about the top issues being discussed can save time and money.”
Good piece on taking a focused approach to prospecting, selling and, more importantly, the need to find the best buyer personality type to accept and promote your product/service internally.
While directed at print service providers, the concept is universal to any industry, product or service.
We already know that #contentmarketing is an effective #outboundmarketing method.
However, trying to determine how effective that emailed article is in driving sales, you will probably compare it (that method or even the article itself) with the effectiveness of other marketing channels - but the results do not paint an accurate picture.
Your target audience might not be buying after they read the articles. But your brand awareness and inbound website traffic may have increased along with your search engine results rankings.
You might reinforce your brand position with the articles but sales may come in via other channels instead of the email’s direct call-to-action, resulting in a belief that the articles and your content marketing efforts are seemingly “ineffective”.
Don’t be fooled by oversimplified data analysis.
#leadgeneration, #salesconversion, #customeracquisition, #ROIanalysis
Smart, highly-targeted sponsorship by Athleta (Gap’s women’s athletic wear brand) with USA track and field star, Allyson Felix.
Partnership was signed July 31. This weekend, Allyson broke Usain Bolt’s record by winning her 12th gold medal at the track and field World Championships. She now has won the most gold medals by any athlete at the World Championships.
Smart partnership + smart timing.
#sponsorship, #strategicpartnership, #customeracquisition
Inbound marketing methods need to be leveraged by outbound to be effective.
New groups you may wish to reach may not necessarily be searching for your product / service - or even know you exist. So you may need to initiate the awareness.
“Inbound only” is the easy track but can also lead to a lot of disappointment.
https://www.newbreedmarketing.com/blog/stop-the-inbound-vs-outbound-debate-allbound-is-here
#outboundmarketing, #inboundmarketing, #customeracquisition, #leadgeneration