by Belinda Lui | Nov 21, 2013 | Interactive, Latest
When we think about a Mobile Application, the first examples that might come to mind may be: Instagram, Angry Birds, or Whatsapp. While some applications are great for socializing and passing time, there is a lot of opportunity for apps to make life easier; to accomplishing a task faster; to finding something in mere seconds. Companies are quickly catching on to the effectiveness of implementing mobile application development into their strategy. These are all great applications with easily accessible user interfaces (UI);
But how can you leverage your Marketing Strategy with mobile application development for the growing SmartPhone community?
I’ve done some research on mobile apps that aren’t games or social networking based. These mobile applications were developed to either leverage a product or a purpose, and that’s something worth mentioning:
1. People For Change
This mobile application, developed by Thinkingbox Media & Design, is an application that leaves you feeling good – by making the people around you feel great. You are randomly given a task to complete that involves making a difference in your community and once accomplished, you share it with your peers. Pay it forward, so to speak.
2. Retail
As if online shopping wasn’t addictive enough; now you can browse an entire Fall/Winter line on your SmartPhone device. Major retailers such as Zara, Target, and Walmart have made it easy for you to see what’s new, on sale, and available to be shipped within the week.
3. Flipp
This app is a handy retail flyer aggregator, designed by Wishabi — designed for the flyer-collecting enthusiast. You can choose which major retailers you prefer from numerous different categories and you will be updated with the most recent flyers daily/weekly. Using location detection, the application will be able to update the flyers you receive based on your postal code.
4. ELLE Canada
Instead of wasting paper (save the earth!), download the ELLE Canada mobile application to be updated on the most current fashion trends and some excellent editorial (and they’re Canadian).
5. Airbnb
Developed by Airbnb, Inc., this mobile application gives you a fiscally responsible alternative to getting a hotel room, in almost any city in the world. You can browse millions of properties available for weekend, monthly, even nightly rentals.
What are some of your favourite mobile applications?
by Lisa Wedmann | Aug 21, 2013 | Branding, Business Success, Latest, Marketing
Big companies spend lots of money and effort to build their brands. Brands help their products stand out. Microsoft, Walmart, Volkswagen. We get it. We know what they do.
But what about building a personal brand. Can building a personal brand help us to become recognized. Can a personal brand help build our careers? Build brand loyalty…to us?
Each one of us has a personal brand whether we consciously created it or not.
Our personal brand is the summary of what defines us as a unique and distinctive individual.
This summary is used when you talk about yourself to others. Or when others talk about you. More importantly when others talk about you… you should be memorable! Wouldn’t you rather someone say “call Joe, he can fix that” rather than “call what was his name… he’s the one that ….…pause…what was his name …?
Unless you want to be called ‘What was his name’, don’t leave your personal brand to chance. Personal branding is a way to make a name for yourself and to sell your talent and your skills. It highlights your values and enhances your reputation.
A strong, solid personal brand will make you stand out from the rest. It will help you when applying for a job, building a business or networking with new friends or associates. A powerful brand defines you at all times and lets others know who you are.
Your personal brand is an investment
When you invest in your personal brand you invest for a lifetime. And like any strong investment, with the right foundation and careful planning it will continue to grow. As it grows it encompasses your values and accomplishments and defines the person you are at any given moment in time.
Your personal brand is based on the thoughts and perception of others. That’s the beauty. Building a personal brand is your opportunity to construct that image. How would you like others to think of you? You have control and you can decide what image you want to project and work on that image.
Name it to claim it
Take the time to consider how you want to be perceived. Be clear about who you are and who you are not. This will become your mantra, your raison d’être. Every action, every activity should reflect that person. Focus your message on who you are and what you have to offer.
Personal branding isn’t easy but it can and will bring impressive results. Just ask Oprah! But no, seriously…if you want to know how to go about building a brand, click here.
by Lisa Wedmann | Aug 9, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Creative, Latest
“Life can be much broader. You can embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.” – Steve Jobs
I was reading about the soon to be released movie “Jobs” with Ashton Kutcher and this quote jumped out at me. So much knowledge packed into one simple sentence.
I get it. I totally agree. Jobs is a testimony to this philosophy. I can easily live vicariously through Jobs and let this knowledge spill into all areas of my life. In this case, it captures my interest in marketing and brand building. Brand can be much broader. You can embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it. It’s about a brand’s life cycle and it being able to live in the now.
Embrace it
There’s much to be said about your product and positioning your brand. But embracing it, now that’s where it gets juicy. Embracing is about nurturing and caring. It’s the point in your product life cycle where you have done your research. You understand what it takes to make your brand strong and resilient. You are not afraid to stand behind your brand and make your mark. You own your product. You protect it. And you embrace it.
Change it
For brands, change is not always good, but sometimes it’s necessary.. Knowing when to tweak an element of your brand or when to re-haul it takes a keen sense of timing and a marketing intuition. In most cases when brands (not products) need a total re-position, it’s because the brand hasn’t had the attention it deserves…for quite some time.
Improve it
Improving your brand is not about changing it. It is about realigning your brand to keep it current. It’s about paying attention and having your brand live in the now. Improving how your brand is presented and keeping it relevant to the market ensures its success. Staying on trend. Being fresh. In today’s marketing landscape, this is keeping current with social media and all that it has to offer.
Make your mark upon it
And here’s where Jobs was so distinctive. We can all agree he made his mark. We are all familiar with the iconic apple symbol, the brand and all that it means, not only as a product, but as an experience and a promise.
Jobs left us the formula for life success that can easily be adopted to brand success
We can all follow in Jobs’ footsteps. He left us the formula albeit, for life. To my way of thinking, Brand has a persona, and therefore, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, Brand has a life. We all refer to a brand and it’s product life cycle. Create a cohesive brand identity. Develop a unique identity that demonstrates your company’s personality. Make your product so impressive that people rush to do business with you and not your competition. Do whatever it takes to make it happen.
by Miriam Hara | Jul 15, 2013 | Branding, Business Success, Latest
Brand naming…why it’s important.
More to the point, what is required for a brand to become like the much covet name brands like Coca Cola, Nike and Apple? It seems that brand names explode in the market…and yet, most take years until they become visible and reach the market consciousness. It’s important to state here that the term brand naming refers to products, service businesses and retail stores.
There are many brand naming agencies and writers who boast of their ability of being name generators. However, whether the business that your are seeking to name is a service or a product or even a retail store, the process of naming should not be taken lightly. Once you settle on a name for your business, it’s with you for a very long time. The process of brand naming is often difficult and should at least include some sort of market research.
Brand naming is only the very first, tiny step in developing a brand. Just as a logo isn’t branding… well, becoming a brand sensation doesn’t happen because you just name it. So what do the most popular brands out there do in order to penetrate the market consciousness? Here’s my take:
1) Create a brand definition. A brand name , especially an awesome one, needs to create an emotional connection. This may be in the form of visual tonality, a tagline, a promise. Make sure that brand definition appears or is stated whenever your brand appears…each and every time.
2) Create sensation: Brand needs to ‘be’. It needs to reach far and wide. After all what’s the use having an awesome brand and you’re 1 of 3 people who know about it. If you’re not out there… then you’re winking in the dark. If you are local retail store, then you need to promote locally, sponsor events, create hype with traditional and social media campaigns such as billboard, radio or print.These, of course, are only a few suggestions.
3) Develop a connection…. or rather community: It’s becoming increasingly easier to create brand connections with your audience. Easier doesn’t make it easy or quick but it is doable. It’s important to have a long term view in developing that brand community… it has to be strategic . With the use of a succinct social media plan, your awesome brand can reach your very select target group…and yes, talk to them. Develop connections that transcends the sell cycle…
4) Be awesome! Whether it’s a business, a product or a service, being branded means that you must deliver on its promise. No brand becomes any name brand unless it speaks, acts and delivers on what it says it will.
We all know that overnight successes often takes years to happen and brands are no different. Developing and creating a brand with a brand name that has market equity takes time and strategy. It’s all in the how to create a brand, that makes it a brand name… and that’s why brand naming is important.
by Miriam Hara | Jun 25, 2013 | Branding, Business Success, Latest
It’s hard to separate personal persona from your brand persona. If you are in charge of marketing for a brand or business you are probably passionate about what you do and how you do it. Being in charge of a brand and its performance can be intoxicating. However, like everything else in life, too much of one thing may be counterproductive. (Who said that?)
Having such a strong connection with the Brand, or as you see it your Brand, can make it very difficult to separate yourself. But you must. As a Brand Manager you are responsible for a brand’s marketing strategy by deciding what makes the most sense. You are the keeper and caretaker for brand character which involves everything from brand and logo guidelines, brand tone, brand voice and brand style… including brand body language. SO… the big question is, how do you as a brand manager separate yourself from the Brand? Chances are, during the course of your marketing career you will be fortunate enough to handle many different brands, even competitive brand. They can’t all be you! Here’s a quick checklist on how to separate yourself from your Brand.
Pleased to meet you: I have always thought of a Brand as a person. When my team and I first come on board to develop campaigns for a brand that we don’t know, we get to know it. We are respectful. We learn about its past, how it came to be, how it evolved, who its friends are and who its foes are (competitors). We discover where it lives and where its market is… and where the Brand needs to be.
Not all change is good: Understand the Brand’s character and its potential to evolve within that character and tone. Too often I have seen new Brand Managers come into an organization and change everything without any thought to the Brand’s franchise, community, marketplace or its potential. Remember it’s easy to judge what you think is right or wrong when you are new to a Brand. But making changes too soon can lead to market confusion. It takes time to nurture a Brand and for it to attain its rightful place in its community and market space. Brand making isn’t cookie cutter… sure, tactics can be interchanged, but brand personality and character need to stay the course in order to prevail and be a Brand.
Brands evolve: Take a very open view of a Brand that you’ve lived with for a long time. Just because you’ve tried a tactic in the past that hasn’t worked, doesn’t mean that same tactic with some tweaks, won’t work today. By the same token, keep your eye on the future. Find out what’s new and what’s exciting, maybe it’s just the thing to rejuvenate your Brand. Make sure you always place the Brand first and always evaluate. If a Brand is its own entity then it has its own style.
Be impartial: Separate your own likes about colour and style from those of the Brand… especially when working on brand creative. Ask yourself if the concern you have is really going to make or break the communications. Don’t strangle the creative process… and don’t confuse what you like with the Brand’s style… you will doing it a big disservice.
Be passionate. Be respectful. Be mindful.
After all, it’s all about the brand persona, Brand’s success… and yours.
