Mediaboss Marketing

Comic-Brand Purpose

Marketers are running toward purpose-driven (or values-driven, issues-based, politically and socially-conscious) ads. Its all the rage. Look at Nike. Or Gillette. Or Pepsi. Or Audi. Or Coke. And so on...and so on. Marketers have seemingly bought into a spate of research that suggests consumers want brands to stand for something. I believe marketers are misreading the research. Consumers want brands to make a differencenot talk about how virtuous they are. When it comes to values or purpose, consumers care about what brands donot what they say. And on Super Bowl Sunday, they want ads that entertain.

Because marketers are so committed to purpose-driven advertising, I decided to do a little research. This is not academic quality research. It is a convenience sample of 52 marketers. I asked a simple question: Why do you watch the Super Bowl ads? and gave them choices (1) entertainment value, (2) brand purposepolitical/social stance, (3) have tobecause they are marketers, or (4) some other reason. I also asked them to share their thoughts if they were so inclined.

Interestingly, almost all of the respondents indicated that they watch Super Bowl ads for entertainment value (97%) and/or for learning value because they are marketers (54%). Only one person indicated that they watched them to learn about the political/social (i.e., purpose) stance of brands (and that one person also checked the other categoriesshe watches the ads for all of the provided reasons). Of note, one person indicated he watched the ads because he is an investora novel and unexpected answer.

The takeaway? When marketing leaders put on their consumer hats, they really just want to be entertained. I want to repeat this because of the irony ... marketers dont want to watch issue-driven ads during the Super Bowl. Of course, my next question then is: Why are we making such ads to foist onto our consumers?

Some Reasons Why Marketers Watch Super Bowl Ads

As Jeremy Korst, President GBH Insights (and former executive from Microsoft) said, I watch them for a combination of entertainment value and to enjoy experiencing the creative juices of the best agencies, but also because I love to try to intuit the underlying strategies and trends that the ads imply, e.g, what are the major brands trying to get consumers to do in the coming months and how are they trying to differentially and competitively position themselves?

SVP at large, global CPG firm: The Super Bowl ads are fun to watch as an observer and marketer because its the intersection of creativity and maximum pressure.Most times it does not end well. As an insider to several ads the stakes are higher and that puts more people in the mix and that usually winds up with the safe vanilla flavor of not taking risk or with the kitchen sink of trying too hard.When it works people praise it as massive coverage. When it doesnt, they say it was just another ad day.

Paul Farris, Landmarks Communications Professor Emeritus of Business Administration, suggests: I am always looking to guess both how much the ads cost to produce and how much air time they will get after the game.

Lee Susen, Head of Innovation for E. & J. Gallo, indicates: Im not a football fan, so I usually watch the ads before or after the event because Im a marketer and want to understand how my counterparts are choosing to share their message on this particular stage. I do it because I want to not because I have to though.My rationale is zeitgeistI want to be part of the cultural conversation the days after the Super Bowl. As a marketing professional, I will be asked my opinion (and most definitely wont have one on the game).

Margaret Molloy, Global CMO, Siegel+Gale: I watch the Super Bowl ads to uncover clues as to what todays brands are promising customers. Subsequently, its fascinating to see how this communication maps to real customer experience.

Kristina Loftus, Co-Founder of Rhoback, I watch them primarily for entertainment value. But since starting my own business, Im really interested in learning what other brands are doing to get customers attention (so now its more educational for me).

Judd Marcello, EVP Global Marketing at Cheetah Digital: I always watch the ads ahead of time. The marketer in me is curious about not only who chose to spend the money, but why and how they did. I expect to see some the same brands every year, but I am most interested in the brands buying in for the first time. I want to know the story behind why they felt the need and what they hoped to achieve. Were they launching a product? Was it purely about elevating their brand? Or was it some kind of moonshot play to become part of the conversation?If I see something that really jumps out at me, Ill dig in and look for articles and interviews about it and research what agency makes it.

Tom Gonzales, Consultant at Boston Consulting Group: Its always entertaining to see which social media trends/influencers brands get behind.

Ryan Langan, Assistant Professor, University of San Francisco: I am a football fan, so I watch the Super Bowl primarily for the game itself. However, I watch the ads both for my own entertainment and through the lens of a marketing academicianwhat can I learn that I can share with students or incorporate into research.

Executive at financial services firm: I watch primarily for entertainment, to see what they were able to come up with. However, if a brand takes a significant stance one way or the other on a political or social issue, Id probably take note.Usually not for the positive as I dont think corporations made up of thousands of individuals should take a political stance unless it is to support their business model as there are probably 30-40% of their workforce that may object to that position.

Scott Brinker, VP Platform Ecosystem at Hubspot: The collection of ads that air with the Super Bowl give you a terrific 2-3 hour window into the minds of the top creative leaders in the advertising industry. Not necessarily always aligned with what resonates with consumers. But the misses are as instructive as the hits.

Brand Manager at a large firm (anonymous because of corporate policy): With brands/companies placing big bets on the reach of the Super Bowl as a platform, it's a great way to evaluate these ads for trends, competitive intelligence, and understanding where different industries are lookingfor future growth.

Special thanks to Tom Fishburne for allowing me to use his cartoon (which you can find here). His cartoons are a must-see for anybody interested in marketing (and you can sign up for his newsletter).

Join the Discussion: @KimWhitler

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I Asked Marketers Why They Watch Super Bowl Ads. The Answer Will Surprise You. - Forbes

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and many other websites create a link between your brand and all of your previous customers, allowing you to keep them updated and maintain their interest in your products or services.

Here are the five most effective methods to maximise your customer retention through social media:

Additionally, understanding what concerns our audience allows you to create social media content that will keep them engaged with your brand, which is the first step towards growing retention.

Once you understand where your consumers are 'hiding', you'll know where you should be more active. By focusing on the most relevant website, you'll spend less energy and resources on campaigns that wouldn't be effective.

Keep in mind that your customer fan base can migrate. Therefore, check your data from time to time to make sure that you're still hitting the right mark. Adapting your strategy during the campaign is likely to improve your overall results.

Include content that educates your audience on the effective use of your products. You should also share success stories and allow existing customers to share their voice when it comes to your brand.

Flash sales and promotions are also a great way to reward your loyal consumers. Consider posting discount codes for different products and announcing sales or giveaways to get your fans coming back for more.

Furthermore, you want to grow a close connection with your clients and talking to them is the best way to feel their pulse and convey your concern for their satisfaction. Let your social media account become a part of your customer service. Full-Range customer service is the ultimate client retention candy because consumers want their issues addressed beyond the usual channels.

Building a strong bond with your clients paves the way to their recurring interaction with your brand. It's of utmost importance to understand which platforms hold the most value for your enterprise, as well as which method of interaction is the most suitable for your audience to achieve the highest retention rate results.

For more information, visitwww.superiorpapers.com.

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Originally posted here:
Five ways to improve customer retention with social media Marketing News - Media Update

Social media advertising is increasingly a primary focus for retail brands and one platform dominates.

Fifty-percent of retail advertisers are planning to spend at least half of their annual marketing budget in 2020 on social media ads, according to a survey commissioned by Smartly.io and conducted by WBR Insights, research arm of the eTail event series. Smartlys data indicates that retail marketers plan to allocate nearly $65 billion to social media ads in 2020.

In terms of where retail marketers currently advertise, Facebook is far and away their favorite social advertising platform, with 96% adoption, followed by Twitter (75%) and Instagram (59%).

Thirty-six percent reported that Facebook is the platform they dedicate the most spend toward, and 41% said it also gives them the best return on ad spend (ROAS).

Although marketers see a positive return on their dollar, many said that the process is often still too manual and inefficient to easily manage. According to the survey, 83% feel that there is room for improvement when it comes to automating parts of their ad creation and deployment, and 66% do not use any automation technology. To reduce these inefficiencies, 39% of retail marketing teams indicated that they will invest in more robust social advertising tools in 2020.

Additional findings from the study are below.

When compared to 2019, 96% of respondents plan to bump up their spending on Facebook this year, while Twitter (56%) and Instagram (22%) will also see increases.

Nearly half (48%) of retail marketers feel their performance marketing and creative teams do not collaborate effectively in all stages of the marketing process

Forty-seven percent plan to increase their use of dynamic ads on social media

Thiry-nine percent predict they will manage social advertising in-house

The past decade put social advertising on the map for most retail marketers, and our findings indicate that it will only continue to grow in 2020, said Robert Rothschild, VP and global head of marketing at Smartly.io. Capturing the attention of todays consumer demands that advertisers tell stories that seamlessly blend with the organic content that their audience already consumes. Shifting spend to story ads, diversifying across social networks like Pinterest, bridging the gap between performance and creative teams, and investing in technology to scale creative and deliver incrementality in ad performance are ideal solutions that will allow teams to work faster and smarter in the year to come.

Read more:
Social media advertising by retailers to hit nearly $65 billion - Chain Store Age

Are you looking for ways to improve your B2B marketing strategy for the new year, and indeed, the new decade?

Digital trends evolve so quickly that if you're not regularly updating and evolving your approaches, you can quickly lose traction with your clients. Such shifts are generally more evident in the B2C sector, but there are also clear changes for B2B organizations to note, which can help improve performance, engagement, and eventual results.

So what are the latest B2B marketing trends you need to be aware of in 2020? The team from TD Insights have put together this listing of some of the biggest B2B shifts of note, including a focus on customer experience, personalization, data-driven targeting and more.

You can read TD Insights' full report here, or check out the infographic summary below.

More:
New Year Resolutions that B2B Marketers Should Consider in 2020 [Infographic] - Social Media Today

Its a story of old and new. Of tradition and technology, the latter in the form of social media, digital marketing and e-commerce. New techniques for selling hand-crafted products that have been around for hundreds of years.

Its a story of family ties. And like a toboggan sailing down a hill, its been a joyous ride.

We have this really fascinating story of the man who started this company using a centuries-old process, said Gabriel Harren of Minneapolis, a partner in the family business with his older brother, Jackson, of Warroad. His kids got involved, and its bending wood, (a process) which is fascinating to people.

The story began in the early 90s, when John Harren, a Warroad craftsman with family ties to northern Manitoba, became aware of the need for toboggans in remote communities of the North. He learned the trade through a Thompson, Man., mentor by the name of Milton Chaboyer and started a small shop in Warroad in 1995.

His two sons now own the business Jackson oversees production and manufacturing, and Gabriel handles sales and marketing but the elder Harren remains involved as shop manager as he transitions into retirement.

Jacksons wife, Solveig, runs the administrative side of the business and connects with customers.

Jackson, Solveig, John and Gabriel Harren. (Photo courtesy of Northern Toboggan)

Northern Toboggan products today can be found from the arctic to Arizona; basically, anywhere theres snow. The company markets its products to northern Canada through the Arctic Co-op, a distribution network servicing 32 communities in Nunavut, Northwest Territories, the Yukon and northern Manitoba.

Online sales drive the rest of their business.

Over the years, weve just kind of expanded into different products and to different customers, Jackson Harren said. That kind of led us to what we have today, which is a combination of different sizes of toboggans, sleds, snowshoes and outdoor hand-made quality wooden equipment.

The division of labor comes naturally for the brothers and their respective careers. Jackson manages the engineering department at Marvin, the window and door plant in Warroad, and Gabriel works in IT sales and marketing for Solution Design Group in Golden Valley, Minn.

Ive always been kind of the dreamer/big thinker, and my brother is just a phenomenal systems thinker-executor-leader, Gabriel Harren said in a phone interview. He keeps us grounded, and I keep us looking forward. I think my biggest contributions are driving the strategy of the organization and then the sales and marketing from largely a digital standpoint.

Northern Toboggan, the brothers say, is like a family farm.

Youre born into it its just a way of life, Gabriel said. Weve always worked in a toboggan company. When you have a family farm, you know what youre doing in the spring and fall, right? Youre planting and harvesting. And so were in a very similar situation where it was just always part of our lives.

So its exciting to see the growth. And then theres also just that pigheaded conviction that theres no way this business is going to sunset with Dads retirement. Thats just not an option.

On a cold Friday morning in early January, Jackson, Solveig and their 5-year-old son, Jean-Paul, showed a visitor around the Northern Toboggan shop, situated in a grove of trees east of Warroad and a few miles south of Lake of the Woods.

John Koets, an apprentice craftsman, was at work building toboggans for the U.S. National Toboggan Championships set for Feb. 7-9 in Camden, Maine. A few other projects, including snowshoe frames, awaited completion but overall, the shop was less crowded than it was during the Christmas rush.

John Koets, an apprentice at Northern Toboggan near Warroad, Minn., sands a toboggan Friday, Jan. 10, for the U.S. Toboggan Championships, set for Feb. 7-9 in Camden, Maine. Northern Toboggan is a race sponsor, and members of the family owned business, including brothers Jackson and Gabriel Harren, will be racing in the event, which will feature about 15 Northern Toboggan racing toboggans. (Photo/ Brad Dokken, Grand Forks Herald)

Basic tools of the trade, including saws, sanders, joiners and dust collecting equipment, filled the shop floor.

Thats kind of the basis of any woodshop, Jackson said. But weve upgraded the size of the equipment and the capability, for sure, over the years.

Most of Northern Toboggans products are made from ash, which they order from Wisconsin, and red oak from eastern Canada, which they buy from a distributor in Winnipeg, Jackson says. The timetable from order to shipment typically is about three weeks, he says less if its a product already in stock.

It depends on our backlog, but if you think about a day for wood processing and bending, and then it needs to dry for a week, Jackson said. And then, you know, a few hours to assemble and then it needs to be finished and dried and packaged.

The shop is set up to easily switch from making toboggans to snowshoes or other products as the need arises, he said.

I know thats been a challenge this year for the guys as weve been taking on more and more products and growing our sales more and more, Jackson said. Sometimes, you can hardly walk through here, but we try to just flow things through it.

Snowshoe frames bent into shape stand in a corner of the shop at Northern Toboggan near Warroad, Minn. The second-generation family business produces a variety of toboggans, freight sleds and snowshoes, among other outdoors products. (Photo/ Brad Dokken, Grand Forks Herald)

The brothers also will be racing in the upcoming toboggan championships. The racing toboggans, Jackson says, are pretty well customized to optimize speed. About 16 or 17 Northern Toboggan-crafted racers will compete in the championships, he said.

We have several customers that were working with directly on customization for the race, Jackson said. Its kind of like Ford and NASCAR, right? You want your sleds to win.

While Northern Toboggan has been an event sponsor for previous championships, actually racing will be a first. Competitors race their toboggans down an ice chute, and the event is based on times.

I think you close your eyes and hope for the best, Jackson said with a smile. The engineering and the work and the preparation that you do before they say go is what matters.

Freighter sleds and several different kinds of toboggans are among the products crafted at Northern Toboggan, a second-generation family business in Warroad. (Photo/ Brad Dokken, Grand Forks Herald)

Northern Toboggan recently wrapped up a Kickstarter campaign, offering a prototype 1800s-era toboggan made with traditional 1800s materials in exchange for a pledge of $500 or more. For an additional $150 pledge, Northern Toboggan included a waxed cotton toboggan pad, and pledges of $680 or more received a custom engraved nameplate with text of their choice, in addition to the toboggan and pad.

Anyone who pledged $100 or more received a winter jacket with the Northern Toboggan logo.

A total of 18 backers pledged more than $6,000 during the 30-day funding period that ended in early December, exceeding the familys $5,000 goal.

What it forced us to do is do about a years worth of marketing and PR outreach in 45 days, Gabriel said. So it was pretty intense, and it was successful. Were very excited about the outcome, getting our pledge amounts and then also just the awareness that it brought to Northern Toboggan company.

Whether for utility or recreation, the people who buy Northern Toboggan products are dads and grandpas and people of all ages, Solveig Harren says.

Jean-Paul Harren, 5, enjoys a ride on a toboggan Friday, Jan. 10, outside the Northern Toboggan shop near Warroad, Minn. The family owned business is in its second generation of ownership. (Photo/ Brad Dokken, Grand Forks Herald)

Theyre wanting something that will be long lasting for their family to use for many years, and they remember, they have memories of riding toboggans as kids, she said. And so they usually have a story to tell. And then we can help them continue making stories for their own children and grandchildren.

We feel like we work with happy people when they reach out to us. Theyre excited because they want to play and have good gear to be out and enjoy the winter. They have great questions because they want to educate themselves if theyre going to make that investment. So its fun.

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Northern Toboggan, a family business in Warroad, finds niche in the recreation market - INFORUM