The Engaging Brand

Introducing the New Social Media Slot Machine

Listening to 99% Invisible podcast with the wonderfully engaging Roman Mars I was intrigued by the story that was told about the gambling industry.....how they moved from one line on their slot machines to 3 lines....to encourage further play. 

Seeing how they 'almost won' encouraged them to try again...Now forget the right and wrongs of gambling it made me think about social media and how social marketing follows a similar marketing plan.

Using social media is like that stray top line lemon.....it is an encouragement that the more they engage with your content marketing, the more they will want to know more, the greater the chance of purchase becomes...

Consumers want to win - get a great deal, gain social currency, improve their lives.....but does your content marketing make that customer want to try one more spin? 

A spin in this sense is the like, the tweet....the newslettersign up, using the RSS feed....or even jumping straight to the jackpot of purchasing - to create a win-win for both them and you.

The question to ask is this....is your content a true lemon in the eyes of your consumer or an insight into what they could win if they take one more step?

How Smart Marketing is about Help Not Hype

This weeks Engaging Brand podcast saw me talking with the wonderful Jay Baer who discussed with me the 'Baer necessities' of smart marketing. 

I know how listeners love it when Bob put's pen to paper and captures the essence of the podcast interviews so here is a Bob-o-graphic on the elements of smart marketing - and what makes content marketing useful.

Show 439 - Smart Marketing is about Help not Hype

The Engaging Brand podcast covering social marketing, business ideas and brand marketing tips has a new episode but first...

The listener winning an Engaging Brand goodie bag - picked from all the people who share, like, tweet about the show to say a BIG thank you from me! - is  Christina Lattimer who wins some Harvard Business Gifts as well!

Anna Farmery discusses with Jay Baer - "a hype-free social media and marketing keynote speaker, author, and consultant" about how social marketing is all about Youtility the concept that Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype 

• Stop trying to be amazing and try to be useful with your brand marketing.
• How content marketing is not a reason - being useful is the purpose for content marketing.
• How the business rules have remained constant no matter what new technology is being created.
• How search engine is decreasing in importance from 84% to just over 60% for finding your website.
• How to watch future trends not just what is happening now....e.g. think voice search and how we speak rather than how we write for search engines.
• How companies will be valued via their apps not their brands in the future.
• Will websites eventually become 'defunct'?
• The importance of creating apps that allow customers to make the purchasing decision by making their life better.
• Case studies on how a horticultural firm create youtility.
• The difference in delivering Youtility for B2B to B2C

I love to hear your thoughts so email me, anna@theengagingbrand.com, join me on twitter , Google+ or Facebook...love to hear your opinion and ideas.

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Engagement Starts with the Why not the How

Remember as a child how you asked "But why?" and how as we grow up and learn that it can irritate people we change to "What do you want to do?"So for this weeks Bab's Booster we explore the power of why and how it creates both personal growth and brand engagement

The fact that we change our words doesn't mean that we change our feelings....the why always stays critical to us. If we explain why... we provide the inspiration for the 'how' and the 'what'.

If you read any books from prisoners or war survivors then they say it is hope that kept them alive...when you lost hope you lost the will to live.

When you take your personal growth or business growth, both start with that idea of why...

Too often we look at the what and the how without understanding the motivation. Think of those leadership presentations.....were they full of what we need to do, how you are expected to do it?

It is the equivalent of being told what to do as a child and as a child we would have screamed "But why?"

As consumers, as employees, as career people.....we may have learned not to ask BUT never, never believe we have lost the desire to know.

The Digital Marketing Streams Of 2013

Over the past couple years there’s been a huge increase in the amount of buzz surrounding certain types digital marketing. Companies are spending more money now on key digital marketing streams than ever before and it’s clear that this is only the beginning. 3 of those key components are as follows...

1. Social Media Marketing

For those of you who aren’t familiar with social media, it’s simply a way of sharing, communicating, and networking via specific online outlets. A few examples of these outlets include websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. As a business owner, social media allows you to connect with your customers on a much more personal level as the primary purpose for social media is for friends and family. The goal with social media marketing is to engage with your customers instead of selling to them. This allows you to build those solid relationships that create long-term customers.

• Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is a general term that covers all the different ways you can marketing to your customers via their mobile devices. Although this can take the shape of several different marketing methods, one of the most common is SMS marketing.

This stream of marketing has exploded with popularity over the last year as it’s proven itself to be one of the easiest and most cost-effective new marketing avenues. It works by inspiring your customer to text a particular keyword to a “shortcode” or short phone number. When they do so, they get an automated reply back that is customizable by you. They are also then added to a database to which you can send infrequent specials and coupons. To learn more about SMS marketing, you can check out Slick Text’s Beginner’s Guide To SMS Marketing.

• Content Marketing

Content marketing is the creation and sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential customers. Examples of content can be blog articles, infographics, tools, videos etc. There has been an exceptional amount of focus on content marketing in the last year as it also really helps with a company’s SEO or “Search Engine Optimization”. Search engines like Google and Yahoo are now rewarding websites that produce steady streams of high quality content to attract users.

The infographic below, entitled “The Digital Marketing Trio Of 2013”,  highlights some impressive statistics of three marketing streams touched on above.

This is a guest post from Matt Baglia who is the CEO of SlickText.com -  a leader in the SMS marketing industry -  who I am interviewing on The Engaging Brand podcast in the next fortnight

Slick Text provides businesses of all sizes with an easy and cost-effective platform for sending targeted, opt-in text messages.

Can your brand benefit from uncertainty?

The principle of uncertainty seems to automatically assumed to be a business problem, yet uncertainty can create the environment for business opportunities.

Uncertainty about economic outlook, uncertainty about marketing trends or consumer confidence can lead to brands defending their position.

When we are unsure human nature looks for security and protection. But here is my problem...standing still with business ideas will mean falling behind the market...so defending is actually self defeating.

Uncertainty is all around but uncertainty should not mean 

• Stop doing things but maybe doing them differently.
• Using budget pressure as an opportunity to do things better for less investment. Creativity can flourish when budgets are tight.
• Can you use the uncertainty as part of your brand narrative? Can you link into the emotional need of your consumers caused by the uncertainty.
• It is a chance to reflect on whether you have drifted from your business vision - so often the case - and refocus on the brand essence, core values and purpose of your business.
• It is a chance to ensure that managers are not taking the easy way of "motivating employees" through pay......yes, pay has to be competitive but motivation needs to come through team engagement.
• During any uncertainty, parts of the market will succeed - look at your outliers, look at the edges of your market to see who is succeeding.
• In times of uncertainty, employees and consumers need hope...and hope is deliverable through engaging communication....and showing how you as a leader or you as a brand can give those people hope is free.....you may sell products or services, but in some way all of us sell hope...what is the hope that you can give?

Uncertainty can lead to good growth when you change the mindset from defending against what might happen to focusing on the marketing, business opportunities that uncertainty brings....

Do you embrace uncertainty or do you fear it...uncertainty smells fear and yet itself fears you embracing it...

What is your brand narrative

Your brand story isn't about a just a slogan or message, it is a package of brand elements. Think about the media industry or films which create strong brands in themselves.

Think about your favourite 'storylines' on TV or film - they share 5 elements

1. Characters have flaws that make them seem human. Brands can learn from this by showing their human side and not portraying themselves as perfect but as perfectly imperfect!
2. Think about how Friends used the cafe, think about the importance of Southfork in building the Ewing brand (for people as old as I am)....the settings are used to enforce the brand. The settings in which your consumer interacts are also a chance to reinforce the brand - be it design, in content, in simplicity of use...in humanness of the connection.
3. There is a strong storyline or plot. It is predictable to allow the consumer to feel good about themselves that they can work out what happens...but the twists keep you engaged. Your brand narrative needs to feel comfortable yet intriguing enough to want to know more..
4. The plot also sets you up with background, it steps you through the main plotline and then it shocks, surprises or finishes with a memorable image or event. Think about how you take this into the purchasing process....do you set up, do you lead them through and do you include an element of surprise at the end.
5. All of the above is brought to life through great actors and great brands are brought to life through talented teams led by leaders(directors) who have a vision of how to bring the brand alive.

3 Tips to Fuel Your Creative Business Side

Being creative in business can so often be interpreted as artistic skill. Yet being creative is inside all of us, it is not about art...it is about how to approach thinking...an idea that I feel passionate about....

We all have a creative side - be it problem solving, DIY, cooking, interior design...we look for ways in our personal life to make our life better....

We have to shuffle finances, we have to find creative ways to juggle work/life balance...we are constantly facing problems that we have to solve, that we have to find a creative solution.

Being creative in business...is not about the lack of creativity inside of you...it is about trusting in your natural ability and being able to apply it in a business environment.

It is the business application that people can struggle with so here are 3 key ways leadership and management can learn about the application part

• Look for examples outside of your business, even industry...and apply to your brand.
• Read to learn not consume - whether it be a blog or a business book - take each key point and think how this could apply in your workplace.
• Don't stop ideas for being ideas....create a business culture that accepts ideas openly and discuss how it would be applied.  Think angels advocate not devils advocate.

Whether we are an accountant or a marketer....a mechanic or musician...we all have that creative gene. It is about giving people the confidence to try it inside the organisation. Think about when you were growing up....parents don't prevent your creativity, they encourage it. Parents don't laugh down an idea, they talk about how talented you are.....

Inside of business we need to create a home culture.....openness to be truthful but supportive enough to try and be creative.

8 Steps to Develop Your Leadership Skills

Self awareness is such an important part of being in business. Working on who you are, what you can bring and how you can create value ensures that your personal growth continues.

This weeks Engaging Brand podcast looked at how to do this...and how you can create a signature voice with Amy Jen Su. 

As people enjoy a summary here is this weeks Bob-o-graphic on how to develop those leadership skills.