Using customer insight to improve product/market fit?

Building a brand from scratch...

I have worked on over 20 branding projects – from start-ups to government institutions. And in every case, we needed to know the environment of the brand, the shareholders, the stakeholders, the key influencers and key beneficiaries. I needed to know who will be affected by change and what change in selected part of environment I want to achieve. With brand building at the beginning - there is nothing. I have a piece of paper and a pen. For past couple of years I strived to work in 3 steps. Target (aim of the action) Tool (defining and choosing the best tool) Action (don't think -  act) So if my aim is to: Achieve product/market fit with my brand I have to: Know my product and know the target market and then implement that knowledge. So everything starts with blank piece of paper on which we have to organize the knowledge that we have…

Day 1 round-up from Social Media World Forum, June 2015, London

I had the pleasure of attending Day 1 of the Social Media World Forum in London on the 8th June. As you'd expect from an event like this, there was a lot of great stories, insights and new information from the world of social media on topics ranging from humanising your brand and content through to UGC, CGC and online reviews. Instead of producing a round-up of the individual sessions I attended at #SMWF, I thought it better instead to highlight some of the key themes and trends I took from the event. From day 1 alone I picked up on a number of recurring topics, with the top five including: Paid amplification vs. organic growth Reviews, user-generated content (UGC) and community Rational vs. emotional thinking Disrupted business models The power of brand storytelling

1. Paid amplification vs. organic growth

It's been long documented that organic reach on…

A CapGemini survey of 18,000 consumers shows their preferences for apps, social media and other channels

Identifying how consumers interact with both physical and online retailers, their expectations and motivations to buy is important to any business. CapGemini's survey delves into this and explains how 'relevance' is crucial to meeting shoppers' needs and being aware that 'digital shoppers' (who use more than one digital channel along the purchasing funnel) have different needs and shopping behaviours. CapGemini categorises shoppers into 6 groups; for instance the Social Digital Shoppers are confident in sharing their experiences and feel safe buying on their mobile devices. While shopping online, these consumers expect retailers to 'remember their details'.  Value Seekers, as it says on the tin, are influenced by price and obsessed with offers. You can read more about these types of shoppers in their report and Infographic below: You can…

Separating ROI from data noise

Learn what metrics can help you truly understand the value of your spend, and what technologies really deliver on this most important metric. Small-to-medium businesses are investing in their marketing at jaw-dropping new levels. BIA/Kelsey predicts that 2015 will be a banner year for local media expenditure on the part of these organizations, with investment exceeding $50 billion. Digital investments are at the forefront, with 28% of marketers reducing their traditional advertising budget to fund more digital marketing and search marketing capturing the largest share of online spend at 47%, according to Business2Community. But with so many dollars on the line, how can a business know what investments are really paying off? Return on Investment is the gold standard that today’s marketers are seeking. But with each new media channel, there is new complexity in the metrics…

Audience segmentation goes beyond social media with 'Addressable TV'

Digital channels have perfected the art of user-specific advertising. Facebook shows you ads that are relevant to your interests, and you’ll often visit a website and see an ad for an item you recently researched but didn’t purchase. Display ad marketers use 'retargeting' to recapture lost potential sales and drive conversions. Now, this same digital concept can be applied to television which enjoys the largest audience reach of any media today at 96%. Addressable television allows marketers to show specific commercials to certain viewers after segmenting them based on data-driven household profiles; the technology to enable addressable television only requires the IP addresses from set top boxes, which allows a TV’s Nielsen data to be integrated with the data from other devices and databases.

Addressable TV campaign with Chevy and DirectTV &DISH

To get a closer look at how addressable television works, we…

Developing skills needed for data-driven marketers who can understand and apply metrics and analytics

Becoming a data-driven organisation doesn’t just rely on the right technology, structure and processes. The human element is essential, and without the right skills, qualities and roles, any effort to be successful at data-driven marketing is destined to struggle.

The kinds of skills that support a data-driven philosophy are rich and varied

'The team needs to be technically savvy,' says Jim Sterne, Founder of the Digital Analytics Association. "They do not need to be technologists, but they need to understand how the Internet functions at the bits-and-bytes level, so they can make the most of it at the human level. The team needs to understand how data is gathered and where it may have weaknesses so they can make informed decisions about which numbers to trust in which…

It only takes 5 minutes a day on LinkedIn to maximise your presence

Whether you're a new or advanced LinkedIn member, it can be a challenge to make the time to make the most of your account as other priorities arise during the week. In this infographic Bluewiremedia suggests that with a more focused approach, then all you need is 5 minutes a day to connect, acknowledge or share your content depending on how advanced you are with LinkedIn. We're not sure it's this simple, but hope the tips may spark a change in your behaviour and save you some precious time. …

A reference for designers and social media managers to check their social presence

Prohibition HQ's cheat sheet can save you valuable time if you are looking to optimise your videos and pictures/headers across your social media platforms and not sure on the format and the dimensions for each one. With so many different social streams it can be hard to keep them all optimised to look as good as possible. However it is important to make sure all your accounts do have images with the correct images. If you don't they can look blurred and unprofessional. So this infographic can really help you keep track of what sized images you need for each site.

Have the specifications handy

Like content, it should never stay static on social media, so it's a great infographic to pin on your wall to remind you of the specifications. It covers all formats across 12 social media…

The power of branding in the multi-channel retail world

Victor Hugo once said that “no army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come”. In many ways brands can be equally as powerful, inspiring loyalty, love and of course sales! However it’s easy for companies to overlook the power and value of their brands in the frantic search for smarter technology and smarter ways of doing business. Good branding holds the key to cutting through an increasingly fragmented media landscape to ensure a product is front of mind at the moment a consumer decides it is time to buy. Outlined below are a few tips on branding in today’s more complex and fast moving world.

Enough with the complexity already!

In Scott Brinkers Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic below we see a bewildering array of different marketing technology vendors but what’s striking here is that each of these companies represent a technology…

Optimise your content by understanding the power of the brain

Sharing long-form content across social media channels in formats including video, infographics, blogs and other media is becoming more of an 'art', as companies are understanding the importance of 'humanising the brand' to reach higher levels of engagement. This art or skill is through 'storytelling' and it's been around for years. Only last year, Hubspot announced that it 'would be the biggest business skill over the next 5 years'. Creating content is becoming more of a 'science', taking into consideration how the brain processes information - did you know that 'the brain processing images 60% faster than words'? Expert members can learn more in our new guide to Brand Storytelling which will give you a structure and examples for creating brand stories. [si_guide_block id="50995" title="Resource download – Brand Storytelling" description="Our new resource from Brand Psychologist Jonathan Gabay."/] Take a look at Onespot's infographic which explores this…