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Strategic Marketing

Building a Brand Pyramid

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Lately I’ve been learning a lot about branding, some of it is conventional wisdom that many marketers know but some of it is new to me, and it might just be new to you too. As we’ve been examining our current positioning and brand strategy at my day job, we’ve been approaching this new effort in the context of a “brand pyramid”.  This is a very structured way of crafting a communication strategy that creates brand synergy starting with the features and attributes of a product or service all the way up to the “brand idea”. The “brand idea” being the essence of what you provide to the marketplace, distilled down to one word if at all possible.

Brand Pyramid Template

Level One: Attributes and Features

This is where the heavy lifting begins, especially if you offer a complicated product or service. I’ve found it helpful to separate your product or service features into categories, then focus on those attributes that are most desirable and/or that provide differentiation.

Level Two: Functional Benefits

Identify the tangible benefits that consumers will experience by using your product or service, ie: ROI, cost savings, time savings, enhanced productivity, whiter teeth, a flat stomach…you get the idea

Level Three: Emotional Benefits

This is where the fun really begins, now identify the intangible benefits that consumers will experience, ie: Happiness, confidence, more time, peace of mind, more attention, etc…

Level Four: Brand Personality

Based on what you’ve done so far, think about what your brand personality is. This is where the magic starts to happen. Your brand personality will dictate how consumers respond to your brand on an emotional level. It manifests itself in human characteristics such as sincerity, competence, or fun, just to name a few.

Level Five: Brand Idea

This is the essence of your brand, distilled down as succinctly as your product or service will allow, this is the idea that you want your customers to think of every time they hear or see your brand.

Starting with the foundation of your attributes and features you will needs to roll each level into the next creating a synergistic relationship between each level of the pyramid until it ends with the true essence of your brand. You can use this same structure to build a messaging strategy for different segments of your audience; this certainly applies if you are selling into a B2B situation where people in different roles will experience different benefits from your product.

Of course, this is just one method for clarifying a branding strategy, what are some other methods you’re using?

What can marketers learn from the census?

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The recent U.S. census not only gives us a snapshot of the U.S. population, How can marketers use the census datait can also serve as a free market research tool for marketers, roughly defining the American consumer while also illustrating important demographic shifts. The 2010 census shows some important trends in the American landscape including the continued growth of the Hispanic segment and a sizable increase in multi-generational households.

The census is designed to count the number of people for the purposes of reapportionment and it also functions as the basis for allocating upwards of $400 billion in federal funds. It’s is mandated by congress and has been conducted every ten years since the first one was conducted by then Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson in 1790. It asks some pretty basic questions such as how many people are living in a residence, is that residence owned or rented, and the age, gender, and ethnicity of all residents.

So what can we learn from the 2010 census as marketers? What are the important trends that have emerged in terms of defining the American consumer?

Trend #1: The Growth in the Hispanic Population

Perhaps the most important trend coming out of the 2010 census is the continued growth in the Hispanic population from 35 million in 2000 to around 50 million, making up 13% of the U.S. population, but it’s more than just numbers. Hispanics have branched out geographically as well, expanding out of traditional metropolitan areas like New York, Miami, and L.A. into states like Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina, which saw the largest increase in Hispanic population.  Other ethnic groups have grown too, especially Asian-Americans, but not as significantly, and growth in the African-American population is far more modest. The non-Hispanic white population is growing more slowly than other groups in some places, and is actually declining in other areas because it’s an older population.

Trend #2: Changes in living conditions:

Needless to the say the “Great Recession” has had a significant impact on living conditions. There are indications that the share of Americans living in households with at least two adult generations has risen since 2000, as many millennials are moving in with their parents to save money due to the soft job market and increasing student loan debt. Another factor in the growth in multi-generational living arrangements is the growing number of immigrants moving to the U.S. who are used to living in extended family households. Another trend that has taken root is the overall decline of the traditional two-parent family with children at home.

So, what does all this mean in terms of consumer trends?

There’s certainly been a lot of talk lately about the ‘new American consumer’ lately, especially in terms of spending and saving, which is difficult to define based on census data, but other demographic trends are raising questions and providing some important insights for marketers. The first trend that is apparent in the initial data is that many of the new, young families in America are of other race or ethnic groups (meaning non-white). As baby boomers start turning 65, another question that is of great importance to marketers is, will the new elderly population behave differently than the current elderly population? Pew surveys have already shown some clear differences between baby boomers and the older generations. They have different views on a variety of issues, and seem to be more accepting of the social changes that we’re experiencing as a country, and they are more technically savvy as well. The importance of the latter can’t be overstated when considering purchasing behavior.

One other trend that has emerged is the movement of people back-to-the-city. For the past 30-40 years the trend was that families were consistently moving from cities to the suburbs, but with gas prices at an all time high and new evolutions in the way cities are planned such as increased green space and a new focus on cultural offerings, more people are moving back to American cities. For marketers this is essential information to determine overall planning and whether you need regional or demographic approaches.

How should marketers put this data to use?

Census data should be just one data point among many others. It provides an important framework that will then need to be further substantiated by your own market research and other data points. For example, the census can help businesses evaluate locations for a new retail facility, restaurant, or supermarket based on who is living within a certain radius, but it doesn’t provide any data about the purchasing behavior of that population. Businesses will need to meld different forms of data to draw some firm conclusions about major marketing decisions.

How is your business planning to use the census data?

Additional resources:

http://www.census.gov/

http://pewhispanic.org/

 

4 Tips for Writing Effective Emails Subject Lines

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4 tips for writing effective subject linesWe’ve all done it. You’ve put together a killer email with tight messaging, sharp graphics, a strong call-to-action, and a landing page that’s optimized and ready to convert. Now it’s time to write the dreaded subject line, the most important and most difficult part of the process. We all know that the subject line can make or break an email, a great subject line boosts open rates, and when everything else is in place it ultimately leads to more conversions. So why do so many marketers leave it until the end of the process, as though it was an afterthought? I’m guilty of doing it myself, but I’ve resolved over the past year to do it the right way, giving it the attention and polish it deserves. Below I’ll share four tips that will help give your emails a fighting chance.

1.   Get to the point!

Clarity always trumps clever when it comes to writing effective subject lines. Regardless of the space you’re in, people are inundated with email messages all day. If your email promises a benefit to the consumer, it’s best to get to it right away within the first 30 characters of the subject line. Consider the reason for your email as a first step. Are you trying to share news, or let them know what’s on sale? Is there free shipping, or a valuable resource to download? If so, get right to the point and lead with the benefit.

2.  Take time to brainstorm:

Step back, take a deep breath, and take at least ten solid minutes to brainstorm, preferably with the team involved. This is a good time to engage in “green light” thinking, meaning there is no such thing as a bad idea; you can eliminate the losing choices afterwards. Some things to think about when brainstorming for possible subject lines:

  • Ask a question, ie: “Are You Ready to Learn More about Email Marketing?”
  • How to, ie: “Learn How to Write Killer Subject Lines, Download your Free White Paper Today!”
  • Make it personal (when it’s appropriate).
  • Ask yourself what’s unique about your message. Are you offering something new? Is this the only way they can get what you’re offering?
  • Consider your call-to-action in your subject and try to synchronize the two.

3.   How long should it be?

Once you have your message down, consider how the subject line is truncated. You’ll need to get the thrust of your message across clearly in the first 30 characters. While most clients can accommodate up to 55 characters, it can often be broken up awkwardly due to different email programs and user preferences. Remember, it’s ok to have a long subject line, but putting the most important part of the message in the first 30 characters will assure that it will actually be seen.

4.  Test & Learn:

We all know testing is the key to success in almost every kind of marketing, and this is especially true for email. Test subject line as much as possible. Most email campaign software allows you to split lists with ease, replicate the message and test different subject lines. Another helpful thing to do is to go back and review historical data from previous emails; this can give you a good idea of the kinds of subject lines that have worked for you in the past.

A special note on analyzing the results of your subject lines…don’t just focus on open rates. While this might be the most obvious metric for measuring the impact of a given subject line, you really need to consider the whole picture including click through rates and conversions.  Many email clients, especially Outlook, allow users to “preview” an email without actually opening it, thus skewing the open rate percentages. While this is still a useful benchmark to consider, try not to base decisions on subject lines solely on this metric alone because it’s an inherently faulty measure that doesn’t provide an accurate view of the whole picture.

The Importance of Personality

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Personality in MarketingIt’s hard sometimes. Believe me, I know. But perhaps more than anything else communicating with personality allows you to cut through the clutter, to be different. Personality has a voice. Personality has a point of view. Personality isn’t always safe, and it’s not for everyone. Personality will rub some people the wrong way, but it will make your fans love you even more.

But there’s a catch. If you’re going to use personality in your marketing, do it every time. Every email, every blog post, every advertisement. You’ll know you’re heading in the right direction when you’re writing more like you talk and less like you think you should be writing. Give it a try. In a world gone painfully generic, authenticity may just be the antidote.

Google Announces Change to Search Algorithm

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Whenever Google makes an announcement about it’s complex search algorithm the marketing world takes notice. While most changes are subtle and rarely noticeable by searchers, this new change is relatively significant. Google has been under a lot of pressure to specifically target what are commonly referred to as “content farms” and other sites known as “scrapers”.  Danny Sullivan over at Search Engine Land has an informative look at Google’s announcement here.

Danny defines content farms in the following way:

  • Looks to see what are popular searches in a particular category (news, help topics)
  • Generates content specifically tailored to those searches
  • Usually spends very little time and or money, even perhaps as little as possible, to generate that content

Matt Cutts explains Google’s reasoning here.

This was a pretty targeted launch: slightly over 2% of queries change in some way, but less than half a percent of search results change enough that someone might really notice. The net effect is that searchers are more likely to see the sites that wrote the original content rather than a site that scraped or copied the original site’s content. ~ Matt Cutts

While it doesn’t appear that this change will effect the average search user, it’s an interesting development and acknowledgment that perhaps Google will always be a work in progress.