Strategic branding insights and tips
Alas, this will be the final post of the Audacity blog to grace these pages. But worry not, we have relocated the blog to a new (and better!) home – our new Audacity, Inc. website! From now on, you can go here to check out all of the latest Audacity blogs, news, and twitter updates, including our newest set of topical posts dubbed “Branding Profiles”.
Well, what are you waiting for? Check it out!
People often speculate as to what makes the top tier brands so strong. Well, that common thread is simple – they understand the delicate art of appealing to the consumer’s senses. In an effort to strengthen your business’s foothold on the branding battleground, it warrants a similar strategy. Most businesses make the mistake of attempting to associate their product with only one of the five senses, but as brands like Google, GE, and Coca-Cola reveal, we recall those with whom we connect on more than one level the fastest. Your brand should use all five senses to its advantage. If you do, your chances substantially increase of leaving a strong, positive influence on the mind of your target consumers.
Sight – We are creatures naturally drawn to attractive things, be it an autumn sunset, a fluttering butterfly, or a member of the opposite (or same) sex. Sight represents the simplest sense to understand for good reason; it has everything to do with appearance, a.k.a. “Rule #1” when marketing your brand. Pick strong designs to represent your brand from the logo down to your office layout. Remember, you want the consumer to remember your brand fondly, so consider these traits wisely.
Sound – Sounds are powerful. They tap into something primal within us. Audible brands push us in directions that we unconsciously follow. In one case, a wine shop conducted an experiment using music. The study found that customers were more prone to buy German wine when German music was played in the store and French wine when French music was played. The association of a sound with your brand represents one of the best ways to capture the attention of your target audience. Think commercial jingles like Intel’s simple and instantly repeatable, “Bum… ba, bum, ba, BUM!”
Smell – Unless you are in the food industry, smells are probably the last concern on your list. Rethink that position. Your brand can still use aromas to its benefit. Color your office with a unique, but enjoyable fragrance for meetings or even for your employees. You will be surprised just how quickly it creates an aura of positivity at the office. Just watch as a smile slowly strides across these faces when they think about your brand.
Taste – Just as taste and smell are connected scientifically, so too are they connected by the problems they pose here. Again, unless you are in the food industry, you probably are not concerned with marketing your brand’s “taste”. Why rule out a perfectly good category where your business can flourish? Get creative. Consider a unique co-branding strategy by aligning your brand with a popular food item or local restaurant – a giveaway perhaps. Check out our recent blog on “Co-branding tips for SMBs” if you need ideas getting started.
Touch – Touching a brand is about more than being able to hold a product in the palm of your hand; it is about emotional connection. A recent study out of MIT found that when individuals came into physical contact with certain objects that varied by quality, texture, and material, they were left with feelings of deep emotional resonance. If your brand lacks a similar interactive element – something that the consumer can touch or feel – then you already stand to lose a great deal of business.
We leave you with this last bit of advice. Above all, do not neglect the most valuable sense of all, a sixth sense – common sense. Find a balance between the five senses above to maximize your brand’s exposure without causing unwanted damage to its name in the process.
We all knew it, or at least most of us had inklings about it. With the arrival of Adweek’s CMO special issue this week, one could practically hear the collective sound of marketing experts’ jaws hitting the floor across the globe. Rather than marvel at these new insights as though they paint some dreadful picture of the industry – and more specifically of the CMO’s position as unstable – we should, instead, carefully reflect on the realities surrounding this debatably dreadful state-of-affairs to consider just how much validation they deserve.
When this new information is considered alongside previous research on CMO tenure, it suddenly looks less bleak. Research conducted a little over 5 years ago pegged the average company’s retention of CMOs at just under 2 years for those working with one of the top 100 brands. In this respect, Adweek’s freshly cropped data proves quite enlightening. According to their 2010 survey, the overall average CMO tenure has increased to almost 3 years; a very promising number considering retention was nearly half that six years ago. As tempting as it may become to rejoice at such growth, turnover is still high when discussing specific industries. Telecom companies appointed 13 CMOs in the last 3 years. Retail brands like Best Buy have seen 14 CMOs come and go just as quickly with an average staying time of 2.5 years. But perhaps the most troubling piece of data to come from this report concerns those who were hired as of January 2005. Those individuals stayed no longer than 2 years on average. As one can tell, this last statistic falls firmly in line with what the original research uncovered back in 2004. Does that ultimately mean nothing has changed, or, worse yet, that we are moving backwards?
On the contrary, we are merely witnessing snapshot in time. Better that we consider these facts rationally rather than draw hasty, shortsighted conclusions. Consider that social media trends first began booming around 2005. As companies continuously attempted to retool their strategies around these developments – and still do – naturally some individuals would be left in the dust as the steady pace of global media indulgence quickened. Only recently have some CMOs finally caught on, and yet, many still question the full value that these resources can provide to their businesses.
In the fast-paced nature of marketing, can anyone really be so quick to call the turnaround of CMOs shocking? Funny perhaps – fast food companies are practically churning out CMOs with the same speed as they do their own culinary supply – but shocking… hardly. The marketing world itself already functions as a revolving door of sorts. In this age, it comes as no surprise when a company swaps out ad agencies almost yearly, new agencies rise to prominence overnight, and small agencies regularly vie with one another to acquire new clients. Remember, after all, that many companies are only just starting to jump on the CMO bandwagon, and with the position still in its infancy, like most toddlers, the CMO role is going to need some time before it matures into adulthood. Few companies have taken the time and initiative to establish the type of guidelines, powers, and budgets associated this role that would allow a CMO to truly perform their duties at the level they are capable. Once this happens and duties becomes more uniform across a spectrum, maybe then – and only then – can we become more scrutinizing of CMO retention numbers.
Is this the dawn of a new era in co-branding? Over the last few weeks, the marketing world has witnessed the birth of joint business ventures from such powerhouses as Google and Verizon, Yahoo and Microsoft’s “Bing”, and a host of others. While such partnerships may have consumers buzzing with intrigue, these announcements usually send smaller companies shrinking into dismay. Every SMB dreams of obtaining the level of brand exposure that Microsoft or Google enjoys but often remains unsure on how to actually accomplish this feat. Through co-branding, they may find the means to do so.
Strategic moves like these – at times – can prove difficult to justify. What methods will provide the greatest ROI? What type of partners should you seek? Most importantly, can one insure that the sum of two parts will be greater than the whole? Capturing lighting in a bottle is no easy task to say the least. Try these helpful tips to build the foundation for your co-branding initiative:
Being a SMB never means having to limit your options; it simply means using the resources you have available to better place yourself into an advantageous position.
