Brand
Collecting Customer Data: The Trust Exchange ~via @InsideCXM
Big Data. Big Brother. The NSA debacle. People in the United States are feeling vulnerable. And with all the publicity surrounding online security hacks and stolen account numbers (not to mention all-out identity theft), is it any wonder that consumers are leery of giving brands their personal information?
In Brands We Trust – Why Brands Must Treat Trust Like Gold
Back in January of this year I wrote a piece which spoke to the need for every marketer to remember a certain nine-letter word: Relevance. And while I firmly stand by what I penned then I am here to tell not just every marketer, but every advertiser and brand under the sun as well that there’s a five-letter word that must be treated like gold for when it is achieved, wondrous things can occur.
The word is trust.
Now the word “trust” in it of itself has many different connotations and in the context of advertising, marketing and branding it comes in different shapes, size and meanings, too.
Learning to speak “Human” #H2H
In his new e-book There is No B2B or B2C: It’s Human to Human: #H2H my good friend Bryan Kramer gives some wise advice to brands: “I don’t care what language you speak, who your brand is or what message you’re trying to send, we all need to speak more human.” I love that statement because it so perfectly reminds us that in the midst of all of our increasingly complex digital sophistication, making the human connection is more important than anything else. Because of the power of social to inform and educate consumers, companies need to be a part of the social scape, and that’s means functioning in the world on a human to human scale. They can no longer afford to hide behind a logo. They have to converse with their market and above all, listen.
Why Music Plays A Big Role When It Comes To Branding
I know, far it be for me to write an article which brings together music and branding. I kid of course for by now you surely know of my love affair with the concept of marrying and meshing the worlds of advertising, marketing and branding with that of pop culture – in this case, music specifically.
Not long ago I read a quote attributed to pop singer Adele in which she says “I don’t make music for eyes. I make music for ears.”
Coming from an artist that makes perfect sense of course.
However, in our world of marketing and advertising — especially in today’s highly visual world where Pinterest, Instagram and other image-based platforms are becoming more popular with each passing day — the need is paramount for the right music to be married to the right brand.
Voting for Marketing Book of The Year is Open & Return on Relationship is on the List, #RonR…
Below originally posted at Marketing Book of The Year 2014
*Vote Here… http://www.marketingbookoftheyear.org/vote-and-win*
| Welcome to Marketing Book of The Year 2014.2013 was a very successful year for marketing books. We saw lots of different titles being published and covering most marketing aspects. |
Consider Social Customer Service to Establish Social Media ROI ~via @ignitesma
This post is right on point and makes a perfect case for Return on Relationship (#RonR) enhancing ROI. See below for the screen shot of a coincidental engagement I had with United Airlines right before I saw this post from John.
Originally posted at Ignite Social Media
“Create smiles… they are the currency of conversations.” #RonR – Ted Rubin
When I tweet a brand, like a growing number of consumers, I expect them to respond, especially if I have a question or a problem. For many, Twitter has become the customer service contact of choice. Even when I don’t have an inquiry, it’s nice to know the brand is there in a humanistic sort of way. Like I know@AmericanAir is there for me, even when i’m not asking for anything:
Creativity in Social Media
I think creativity in social media is at the heart of the problem of realizing and executing the true value of social. Save the creativity for advertising “campaigns,” and get down to the basics of relationship building when it comes to discussions about social and connecting with consumers.
The payoff is a long-term and personal relationship that creates brand advocates and an emotional connection that drives influence. To achieve such an enriching relationship, communication must be relevant and have a distinct and authentic personality. So steer your efforts, and resources, to “creatively” connecting, value added content, and empowering your employees to be a part of solution.
Brands/Companies that use social beyond the campaign will reap the rewards of customer satisfaction, deeper employee loyalty, more effective knowledge sharing, improved brand reputation, lowered costs, and most importantly, increased revenues.
Evolving stories FROM Demographics TO Social Communities
THEME #3 FROM 7 PART POST SERIES EXPLORING THE EVOLUTION OF BRAND STORIES & THEMES
Great brand stories, not unlike human stories, can inspire vibrant conversation, sustained interest and engagement – especially within social communities. But only to the degree to which there is meaningful and mutual interest. Think about the ways we come to understand a person? Our innate social instincts strive to find common points of connection, understand context, and interpret their behavior. In other words, we synthesize what we learn and observe in order to better understand and connect. Contrast this approach to what happens in business when a brand attempts to connect with people. Ironically, the default response is to break down through analysis. Strip down into simplistic demographic terms, and segment in order to shape what is known. This process of re-interpretation is meant to simplify information – but in the long run it produces a distant and simplistic understanding of the customer. The difference of generalizing insight/information vs. pursuing meaningful customer “intelligence,” is not only a difference in philosophy and methodology. More importantly it is proving to be a significant business disadvantage.
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” – Einstein
Brand Adoption Of Instagram Up 80% In One Year
A few weeks ago Jeff Bercovici of Forbes wrote a piece entitled Instagram Launches Ads, Promises, ‘We’ll Start Slow’ in which he told all us Instagram users that “the honeymoon’s over” and that the “long-promised introduction of advertising to the photo-based social network is upon us.”
In his piece Jeff made reference to a post from the official Instagram blog which says they (Instagram) will “focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community.”
Well based on the results of the recently released Instagram brand adoption study from Simply Measured,