by Belinda Lui | Nov 12, 2013 | Latest, Marketing
In the saturated world of retail marketing, how can you ensure that you will be seen and heard?
There has been a noticeable shift in Retail space over the past five years: a face-lift, if you will, on mass retailers such as Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), Holt Renfrew, and several other major brands. Along with the refresh in storefront appeal, a lot of these brands have also created Smartphone applications and social media fan pages to reinforce their image and sales strategies.
For these retailers, what does it mean to have new competition enter the arena? With emerging brand re-designs, it just takes that much more to stand out. This is where a succinct and detailed brand strategy and an effective social media plan can ensure a more fruitful ROI. Design an effective retail marketing strategy today:
Bonnie Brooks, President and CEO of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), has completely turned the department store into one that deserves an honorable mention. Adopting big name designers, gaining exclusivity to having Top Shop in a couple of HBC locations has already put them ahead of the game. In 5 short years, Brooks has managed to re-position the department store and make it a must-go destination when shopping.
Retail Marketing and more specifically, promotion doesn’t stop at POP banners and weekly flyers, however.
The Hudson’s Bay has a 6.5k following on Instagram. Holt Renfrew has 38k followers on Instagram.Retailers know that to expand their reach, they must turn to the Internet and create an online community to reinforce the offline one.
For a retail company, it’s arguably easier to gain a following on social media sites such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook – and a little more difficult for those who are marketing services (in some cases) to gain traction amongst followers. But in tandem with my previous post (communication in the social age), knowing your audience and understanding their interests and behaviour will give you a vantage point in marketing to them.
Even in social media, there must be consistency and a call-out to one’s brand image. It isn’t ever just posting for the sake of posting. Remember: everything that is viewed in the social media will lead to conclusions being drawn and will either reflect positively or negatively on your brand. Make sure you understand this before posting.
So how do smaller, specialty stores make an impact on the social community? Arguably, social media has afforded smaller brands to make a big impact simply by designing an effective communications strategy that reinforces their brand. I’m convinced that successful social media plans have less to do with the product/service they’re selling and more to do with the impression they leave with the community.
Consider for a moment Canadian fashionista Jaclyn Genovese (Owner, JacFlash, 1036 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1H7, jacflash.net). With a knack for all things fashion and trendy, she has managed to run a flagship store in Toronto as well as a successful e-commerce site. To reinforce her business, she has a substantial 7.2K following on Instagram (@jaclyngenovese) where she doesn’t only promote product but she also promotes herself as the face of JacFlash – and rightfully so, she’s gorgeous.
Running campaigns with hashtags: #fallcontest #HBCrewards, for example are effective ways to trend on sites like Twitter and Instagram. This has proven effective for more than just marketing campaigns; hashtags have been used to organize guest photos at events like weddings.
Although a lot of brands have caught on to this trend and manage excellent social media plans, there are still a lot of companies that need to get on board.
What are some of your favourite brands to follow?
by Maria Mcquire | Nov 4, 2013 | Business Success, Latest, Marketing
No matter what kind of business you have, you need to promote it to profit from it. This rule does not change for automotive business. In order to do this, you can either promote your automotive business with traditional media that are often more costly and time-consuming or you can promote it with the help of online tools. In case you do not know how to promote your automotive business online, here are few tips for you.
Build a website for your automotive business: Today everyone prefers to get information about the product and its pricing along with other relevant details, that’s why it is suggested that you should have a website with updated information about everything that you offer. Also, this website should be convincing. It should be able to attract new customer.
Use Search engines: Most of us in business know how to utilize search engines to our benefit. If you want to promote your online business, then you should use search engine tools as much as possible. In order to do this, you can do search engine optimization evaluation of your website. Promote your automotive website along other related content.
Use Social media: To promote your automotive business you could use a variety of social media websites including Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and many other similar social media properties. The biggest benefit of this utilizing this approach is that you will not only get access to your existing customer, but you will be able to reach to potential customers as well. More importantly, you can communicate with your customer as well and that will increase your credibility in front of your customer.
Use local directories: There are many online local business directories available on the internet and you can list your business in those online directories. Due to this, people will be able to search your website or your business in automotive section and it can also help you to get more customers for your business and as a result of this you can get more profit for your automotive business.
Write blogs: Experts say that content is the king and you can get a lot of content using blogs. Developing content is a great way to do search engine optimization and you can also stay connected with your customers too! With the help of your blogs you can post ideas, tips, and information and similar other things about the automotive business and this can attract potential customers to your website and your automotive business.
In addition to these tips there are so many other ways that you can use to promote your online business. Make a call to dvla telephone number as well and you can ask help from the driving licensing department to advertise your product or services with a small advertising fee.
by Lisa Wedmann | Oct 25, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Communications, Latest, Marketing, PR, Social Media
As social media continues to change marketing landscape, one change I have seen is the convergence of marketing with PR. In the past, if you wanted an advertising campaign, you produced commercials, print ads and maybe some billboards.
If you wanted a Public Relations campaign, you used some of the more traditional tactics: a press conference, sent out a press release to media, product placement and TV appearances.
But today, marketing and Public Relations are closer than ever. No more can you launch a great product, with a big ad campaign, and talk TO the consumer.
You have to take it one step beyond that and bring the product to the people, get it in their hands, and talk with them – not AT them.
The overarching goals of Marketing and PR are the same: get people’s attention, get people to connect with, to talk about and, ultimately, buy your product. And finally, perhaps most importantly, it’s about building brand awareness and loyalty.
But that is where the similarity ends. Marketing is about speaking to the consumer. PR today is about speaking with the public and creating a two-way dialogue. With the growth of social media, and the changing landscape of traditional media, power has shifted to the consumer. It’s not enough to speak loudly and blanket the airwaves with ads.
And even if you do blanket the airwaves, finding that target market is increasingly difficult as more and more people are turning out traditional channels, and the media landscaped continues to fracture. In 2012, one in 50 Canadian TV subscribers cancelled cable in 2012, and 130,000 are expected to follow suit by the end of 2013. And Netflix subscriptions are growing, as is the use of PVR – meaning no more commercials!
This is just where PR comes in. A good PR campaign can get the word out to increasingly niche target markets using a mix of tactics: events, blogger campaigns, product placement, media appearances and social media campaigns. Done right, the message will get out to just the right markets and people, creating buzz, awareness, a relationship with the customer, and, ultimately, sales.
There are multiple benefits to a public relations campaign, including:
- Relationships – A blogging campaign will create brand ambassadors, consumers who will talk about your product, and share this with their followers. They will blog, and share about your product, with links back to your website. This also fits in nicely with social media.
- Social Media: Obviously, thanks to the blogger campaign, your followers will grow, and you will connect with new fans and followers. Once bloggers post, and share, their blogs, you can repost on your page, and retweet their tweets. This provides a gateway to new followers, and consumers.
- SEO: Do you produce your website to maximize SEO? A PR campaign will improve your online presence, with links back to the site, which will help the site ranking.
How do you think Public Relations has changed? How does it fit within the marketing mix?
by Lindsay Sleightholm | Oct 16, 2013 | Branding, Design, Latest, Marketing
Though I’m a big music fan, I’m not going to pretend I know much about the actual music industry. But I do know a lot about graphic design and have my share of marketing know-how. And I recognize that there’s a lot more to creating an iconic band than great guitar riffs and a good-looking lead singer.
Is a band a brand?
Some bands are just bands. They’re not interested in creating an identity for themselves beyond what their music conveys. Although bands who want to get to the next level know that the business of music is not unlike any other business – it requires the use of marketing, advertising and design. Like anything else, good branding can help distinguish them among the competition. Bands have their own identities. Yet as musicians they’re not just creating music, they’re also shaping a brand persona – whether this was their intention or not.
Does a band need marketing and design?
Just like any other brand, a band needs to find its audience and connect with them. This happens of course through their music. However it is also created by the interactions they have with their audience, their public performances and appearances, their official and unofficial videos on YouTube, their presence on social media and their visual identities.
This is where the marketing and design comes in. Visual identities are created in order to market the music. These identities can end up on every facet of their visual branding – from T-shirts to websites. Some of the most successful bands of all time have made great use of this visual medium.
Band brands
So putting my music tastes aside, I’ll throw on my designer hat for my picks of some of the best in band branding.
Kiss
If you google “kiss”, you’ll actually get the band Kiss – which in itself is pretty impressive. Originally known as Wicked Lester, headed by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley in 1971. But it wasn’t until 1973 that the name change to Kiss came about and a new image was born. The Kiss logo was first developed by their original lead guitarist Ace Frehley, later to be polished by designer and illustrator Michael Doret.
Since then, they haven’t just put it on a few posters and T-shirts – they ran with it. Combined with their trademark make-up and costumes, the entire Kiss brand has been built into a music empire spanning over four decades.
Chicago
Starting out as cover band The Big Thing in 1967, a name change to The Chicago Transit Authority in 1968 was short-lived due to the threat of legal action from the actual Chicago Transit Authority. By the 1970’s the band became simply Chicago. Their final name logotype was designed by art director John Berg.
That logo has since fronted nearly all of the band’s album covers – taking on a different illustrative style each time – yet remaining true to its original design. It has also earned its place in design history, with a nod from designer and author Philip B. Meggs, in Type and Image: The Language of Graphic Design.
Daft Punk
The French duo that in 1992 was originally called Darlin’, after the Beach Boys song, quickly re-branded themselves as Daft Punk after receiving a negative review describing their music as “a daft punky thrash”.
By the latter half of the 90’s Daft Punk were beginning to not only carve out a place for their unique sound but their solid, albeit unconventional, visual brand. Known now for their look as much their music, the two robot-human hybrids have created an image for themselves without ever showing their faces.
These bands, although completely different in musical genre, have at least one thing in common, they have really taken advantage of branding to boost their identities – as have hundreds of other music greats. The music is their product, but they’ve also crafted a marketable image. And each is an example of how consistent branding can help propel any brand, or band, to the next level.
As most know, a good one-off will only give you your 15 minutes. But great branding, effective marketing and strong design can take what is already unique and give it the stage to really stand apart.
by Miriam Hara | Sep 13, 2013 | Business Success, Latest, Marketing, Miriamisms, Social Media
The proper definition of an ebook is: A publication consisting of text, images or both in a digital format. No longer is the publishing world restricted only to the print medium! In the business world, the launch of ebooks is a daily occurrence. They’re quick and easy reference tools that give a top-line view on various topics and channels, providing business managers with additional learning resources. Social media and Inbound Marketing (AB testing) opened the door to how-to ebooks for business. After all, as a business manager, if you don’t have the knowledge or understanding you need, then you can’t be expected to manage properly. Two of my favourite ebook resources are Hubspot and Optify. Both offer some good examples of ebooks that are quick, easy reads… and provide knowledge.
In today’s world, all you has to do is google “ebooks” to discover the potential for knowledge is just a click away! You’ll likely find a free ebook on exactly what you were curious about, just waiting for you to download and expand your knowledge base. From a business perspective, you can find ebooks on marketing, social media, design, sales, even human resources… they’re all out there! The proliferation of self published, free ebooks online is astounding. I get an email notification at least once every two days promoting another ebook of some sort.
Writing an ebook is no small task… so you need to ask yourself, “Why do it?”. Here are the reasons:
- Perception is reality.
Consultants, corporations and all types of businesses are out there promoting the services they offer to further establish themselves as experts in their industry. And, they’re providing the information freely. That’s a solid reason for businesses to consider writing ebooks.
- Gathering and generating leads.
It stands to reason that if that if a business is giving out knowledge and information freely, it can minimally ask for an email address, name, company name and coordinates. In cases where the business offering ebooks becomes reputable at providing good, sound information, sales questions can be added to the form that visitors need to fill out in order to download.
- Building on-site traffic.
Just creating and launching an ebook is not enough. You need to promote it. You can do that through LinkedIn by including it in your updates and in the promotions tab of the Groups you are following. Also, don’t forget to use your Twitter account or Facebook Page. Doing all of this and leading it back to your site, assists in building traffic, increasing the profile of your business and providing a good first impression to potential clients. And of course, you need to make sure that your website is up to par as well!
At the risk of sounding self promotional, we at 3H already have a complete “Understood” ebook series. And stay tuned, soon we’ll be launching the first ebook in our new series “re:design” – providing insight into the world of design. Do you have any favourite ebooks? Share them here!
by Miriam Hara | Aug 29, 2013 | Advertising, Communications, Creative, Latest, Marketing
It’s difficult to stay on trend today. Within minutes of an event it’s viral. Next week it’s old news. And it’s not hard to predict. I can safely predict today that by the time you read this blog Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke will be replaced by another event that’s just as newsworthy.
And there’s no greater sure death for any marketing or advertising campaign than being out of date. Like I said it’s not easy to stay on trend. It’s not all bad. We do have some advantage in that we can easily and quickly update our sites and tweet the latest.
But, not every project or campaign can enjoy the velocity of the web. Design takes time. Printing takes time. Radio takes time. Photography takes time. So many aspects of marketing and advertising take time to produce no matter how fast we work.
But there are a few simple strategies that can help you keep on top and stay on trend.
Stay on trend with the classics
There’s a reason something is classic. A classic has stood the test of time and still comes up winning. It’s not simply because it’s a favourite. A classic implies continuance and consistency while at the same time adapting to our conventional point of view.
You can’t get older than ancient Greece. Well yes you can, but you have to agree ancient is pretty old. And you wouldn’t really think that staying on trend would mean stealing from the Greeks. Or would you?
Who could be more on trend than Nike? Yet, Nike chose its name from Greek mythology. Nike is the goddess of victory. A “classic” example where a brand has reached into the past and adapted it to fit the modern market.
We all know Amazon.com and Mars candy bars. The Apollo Theatre is a famous music theatre in New York. And I’m not going to even talk about Trojan.
Stay on trend with old ideas
There are times where an idea didn’t work. It wasn’t a bad idea but it didn’t work during that particular moment. Hang onto these ideas. Next time when you want to jump on trend, resurrect those ideas. You are already ahead of the game. You can capitalize on the time you saved and jump that much faster on trend.
Stay on trend by pulling from the past
Radio and TV and other media outlets create material ahead of time on news that hasn’t happened yet. This allows them to stay on trend and be current. They pull information from the past and use it to provide content to complement upcoming news. For example, there was lots of background material that made it easy to prepare fill in for William and Kate before the birth of Prince George.
And when you take it one step farther, it was easy to prepare two versions of the event. Boy or girl? People want to know what happens to lineage based on the sex of the baby. Easy to prepare ahead of time. As soon as the birth is announced up pops material that was already prepared.
Stay on trend with Mark Twain
There’s no argument that staying on trend means understanding your target market. That’s where your professional ability comes into play. But when staying on trend is getting your frazzled, there is some pleasure in Mark Twain thoughts on the subject.
“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”
Perfectly said!
