Author: Evan Hoeflich

The world of marketing is constantly on the move, evolving and shifting. There are certain tactics that worked in the past, but today, they do more harm than good. Some of them can even leave the reputation of the brand in tatters and its customers running to the camp of the competition.

We call them deadly marketing sins because they spell doom for your efforts to win people over and ultimately put a strain on all resources and organizational capacities. The list is long and sinister, but we have narrowed the sins down to those that are the most common and lethal.

Underestimating the consumer 

Consumers are presented with a variety of options on the market and have powerful online tools at their disposal.  They are quite educated and able to sniff out wily marketing. It is quite easy for them to go through multiple sources of information, compare offers, and read customer reviews.

Therefore, it has never been more important to be genuine and honest. Gimmicks do not cut it. For example, campaigns that target women can no longer adhere to the “paint it pink” logic. Recent years have shown that brands cannot publicly argue with customers either: like it or not, they are always right.

Submitting to promotional overload

Nowadays, there are a slew of marketing channels and tools businesses can employ. This is not to say that they should shoot from all cannons. Nobody likes to see an overflowing inbox or a truckload of pop-ups occupying screen space.

It all comes down to building meaningful relationships, not the number of ads you can bombard the customer with. Brands have to realize that the only way to foster trust and loyalty is to add real value with relevant info, great customer service, quality content, interesting events, engaging contests, etc.

Ignoring the competition

Competitive research is an integral part of the modern business game. You can learn a great deal by seeing what mistakes others make, but also how they manage to create campaigns that resonate with their target audience.

Insights you gain that way must be used to form your own unique strategy and flesh out ways of implementing it. In other words, apart from neglecting this dimension, another disastrous thing to do would be to outright copy what your competition is doing. Make an effort to highlight your unique persona and brand.

Putting all eggs in one basket

Digital marketing is stealing the show and it enables companies to achieve unparalleled reach. Still, traditional marketing is far from dead. It allows businesses to avoid the immense noise and crowdedness of the online landscape and easily target local customers.

Take the example of branded promotional USB drives that are exactly the kind of item that delights people in the digital age. You can also opt for other gifts, hand out flyers, make the most of newspaper ads, and create a radio commercial. Finally, remember that no amount of digital claptrap can replace the warmth of face-to-face interactions.

Not measuring results

To figure out what works and what doesn’t, one has to have a solid tracking system in place. Companies that fail to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and take advantage of metrics tools and services are bound to waste precious resources.

In the case of social media campaigns, for instance, it is highly advisable to keep an eye on the number of social signals that the posts generated. Use reports to gauge your performance and fine-tune strategies as needed. It is much better to get back to the drawing board than to stick to ineffective and low-ROI campaigns.

Marketing rites of passage

Marketing is a delicate art. It requires you to influence other people’s opinions and behavior in a way that seems organic and sincere. So, those who don’t want their campaigns to be dead in the water might want to steer away from the deadly sins of marketing.

Center your strategies around customers and always keep your finger on the pulse of what they want and need. Be sterling when crafting campaigns and track your efforts. See what contributes to your goals and dump what hampers your brand. And if you are guilty of any of deadly sins, it’s better to admit it and face the reckoning.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family. Follow Diana her on Twitter and Google+.

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!

Nowadays, the online market is over saturated, to say the least. Online consumers are overrun by various offers on every media channel. There’s too much noise that it makes it difficult for consumers to pick one business over the other, especially since everything looks pretty much the same to them. However, developing a personal brand is a good way to stand out in the crowd and capture the attention of the target audience.

Brands are unique and can establish a more personal relationship with their customers. Nevertheless, simply developing a personal brand isn’t enough to truly inspire engagement and loyalty in customers these days. The main reason is that many brands blindly follow the same strategies and have difficulties differentiating themselves from one another.

Or, simply put, failing to find their unique “x-factor” that will effectively attract their audience. That being said, a brand is more than just a logo or a color palette used to customize the company’s website. What’s more, sacrificing the quality of your product just to lower the price isn’t an effective brand strategy that will help attract customers or help outrun your competition. Here are a few branding strategies you overlooked and why you should start implementing them.

Video content

Visual content is the best marketing strategy a brand can use, with video being the most popular aspect of visual content. It’s no secret that online audiences prefer watching a video rather than reading text. That’s why video content can prove to be much more effective at delivering brand messages about products, services or personalized offers to customers than articles. As a matter of fact, 96% of online consumers stated that product videos are very helpful in their decision-making process.

Moreover, brands can improve their conversion rate by 80% simply by adding video to their landing page. That’s not all that video content can do for a brand. By adding video to an email newsletter, a brand can improve click-through rate (CTR) by 200-300%. Optimizing video content for mobile is also crucial, especially since 53% of mobile users prefer brands that offer video on their mobile sites and apps. A successful branding strategy is meeting customer’ expectations and demands, and that’s where video content can be of great aid.

Storytelling

Businesses develop personal brands, in order to gain competitive advantage and convince their audience that they’re the right brand for them. However, gaining that advantage is more difficult than ever, especially since competition is quite strong. That’s why brands implement creativity and innovation into their strategies to win over customers. In order to achieve that, you need to have at least some kind of grasp of storytelling 101. Basically, you need to use your brand identity in a creative way to tailor your messages, as well as your brand’s story to the audience.

That way, a brand is able to showcase their company mission and their goals in a way that’s appealing to their customers. Moreover, it shows that a brand is much more than just a business behind a logo. Most importantly, it shows the reasons behind the brand’s agenda and how they want to solve problems and serve their customers the best way possible. Simply put, this strategy portrays a brand more human-like, which helps customers develop more personal relationships with that brand.

Social listening

It’s in every brand’s interest to know what their target audience thinks and talks about them, as well as how they are perceived. That information is crucial in developing and growing a brand further. The main reason is that brands are designed in way that’s most appealing to their consumers. For instance, the tone of voice used in communication that will encourage engagement, colors on the brand’s website that trigger specific emotions and much more. Everything a brand does must positively reflect on their audience, in order to inspire loyalty.

Social listening is a good way to find out what your customers think about your brand. Nowadays, it’s difficult to control the flow of information, which means that people will openly and publicly state their opinions on social media and other channels. One dissatisfied customer may easily ruin your entire reputation if you don’t respond accordingly. Moreover, competitors may deliberately try to give out bad reviews in order to undermine you. With social listening, you’re able to track brand mentions across various channels and monitor conversations concerning your brand. That way, you can always zero in on those conversations and respond when a situation requires you to do so.

Hosting and sponsoring an event

Sponsoring or hosting an event is a great way to improve your brand’s visibility and gain favorable reputation. Building an image of success and a business that can meet customers’ expectations is always a good thing. Brand sponsoring means providing funding, services or products to endorse events, trade shows, nonprofit organizations, charities and more, in order to gain more exposure and attract new customers. Event hosting and sponsorship are quite popular these days.

So much in fact, that it’s estimated that sponsor spending will reach $24.2 billion in the U.S. and $65.6 billion worldwide in 2018. The main benefit of hosting or sponsoring an event is placing your brand in front of a large audience. The bigger and more meaningful the event is, the more publicity you’ll be able to gain. What’s more, you’ll able to effectively market your brand to a niche audience and attract more qualified leads. Furthermore, if the event is philanthropic in nature, such as fundraisers or charities, you’ll gain community’s goodwill and positive sentiment from your target audience.

Businesses oftentimes believe that developing a brand is simply adding a fancy logo. Moreover, they believe that if they pronounce themselves a brand it will be enough to cut through the crowded market. In reality, developing a personal brand requires much more dedication and effort. That’s why newly found brands overlook branding strategies that can elevate their business and truly help them stand out in the crowd. The key is to try out different strategies until you find what’s best for your brand.

Author Bio:

Jolene Rutheford is a marketing specialist- turned blogger, currently writing quality content for Technivorz. She is interested in and passionate about media and social media, digital marketing, psychology and much more.  Jolene loves coffee, jazz, dystopian and fantasy movies.

Any questions? Leave them in the comments section below!

Branding your business demands a thorough marketing plan that will be implemented every day, in every situation. It’s a long-lasting process that requires devotion and patience. One of the most important aspects of branding is the humanizing factor. People conceive of corporations as mere profiteers without a soul and a face, and to be fair, they’re often right. They’ve been flooded with tons of commercials every day for the last several decades and they’ve become completely insensitive to typical, obtrusive, obvious and in-your-face advertisements and messages they’re trying to send.

Thus, a good way to stand out is to give your brand a human face. This way you’re not just building your customer base, you’re building a community. You’re putting yourself on the same level as people who buy your stuff, proving that your business also consists of human beings not any different from your customers. Here are a few tips on how to manage to look more like people’s actual friend or advisor and less like a faceless corporation whose only message is “buy our products” and whose only aim is to make piles of money.

Personal brand voice

First of all, to leave a humane impression on people, you need to use a consistent language and tone across all promotional channels and create an illusion of an actual person addressing them, instead of a cold, detached corporation. Of course, you’ll need to know your target audience very well and try using their slang, their common phrases and deal with problems they’re interested in. You can go a step further and design a mascot or pick a face that’ll speak for your brand. However, you should be careful with this, especially if you’re trying to build a reputation as a highly serious business.

Your brand should stick to specific values and define a mission, so that you can tell authentic stories from everyday life that support and promote your message. You can start off with a character that’s more neutral and try experimenting with what works with your audience. Once you have the feedback, you’ll know which approach is the most respected among your audience and then you can focus on building a more specific and more detailed personality of your brand.

Jokes and humor

Nietzsche defines human beings as “animals that laugh”, and undoubtedly, there is something innately humane in laughter and joking. Showing that you’re ready to crack an occasional, spontaneous joke can build closer ties with your customers. Moreover, it proves that you don’t take yourself too seriously, which will in general provoke some positive emotions among your audience.

Reconsider scheduling social media posts

Overall, scheduling posts on social networks can save you a world of effort and substantially simplify your community management. Automation tools do help you a lot in this respect, but there’s a negative effect to it. When people see that you post always at the same time and that you’re generally following an established pattern, they might have a feeling they’re dealing with a robot rather than a human. Therefore, don’t overuse scheduling, no matter how useful it can be sometimes.

Show that you care about the community

If you want to show people you’re not all about profits, then you’ll simply have to stop being all about profits and start practicing what you preach. Show your customers you’re aware that it’s necessary to give something back to the community and that you care about its prosperity and well-being. People can exist only in society, and if your brand wants to put on a human face you’ll have to demonstrate that its life is not separate and independent from the life of its surroundings.

You don’t have to put too much effort into this. A small-scale humanitarian campaign, if well designed, can attract a lot of attention. For instance, you can choose not to charge services that actually cost you nothing and take little of your time, but instead suggest that people put some money in the box located somewhere in your shop. You can later donate the contents of the box to someone in need. If you want to go large-scale, a good idea is to turn to companies and organizations such as Leafcutter. They can help you develop web platforms that would support your idea and even give you a hand with designing an overall digital strategy.

Give your brand a human face – literally

Shedding some light on actual people behind your brand, whether they’re employees, management or influencers that fancy your brand, is also a great idea. If you’re posting stories and photos involving your employees, they should avoid leaving the impression like they’re posing for a cheap stock photo. Try to make them and their stories seem authentic and spontaneous. As for influencers, associating a well-known face to your brand is a great strategy. Just make sure you find the right one, in terms of credibility, field of expertise and target audience.

The process of humanizing your business may seem like a lot of work, but it’s a great way to build a community around your brand, instead of simply attracting a bunch of consumers who blindly and occasionally buy your products. This way you’re actually developing a specific relationship between your brand and the customers. A relationship built in such a manner has a good potential to become solid, long-lasting and at the end of the day, highly profitable.

Author Bio:

Lauren Wiseman is a contributor to bizzmarkblog.com a marketing specialist and an entrepreneur. She helps clients grow their personal and professional brands in fast-changing and demanding markets, strongly believing in a holistic approach to business.

Any questions? Leave them below!