Marketing Strategy
Partner With Allies
Marketing partnerships have a number of benefits to push a marketing campaign. For starters, when you collaborate with someone else, you tend to deliver better content. On top of that, marketing partnerships are cheaper to create, see success more quickly and expose your brand to a new audience. For example, prior to being acquired by eBay, Half.com worked the town of Halfway, Oregon to change its name to Half.com in exchange for stock, Internet access, and other giveaways. The tactic gained a lot of attention for the textbook rental company. Another example was when Converse teamed up with Guitar Center to record music entitled Rubber Tracks. The content was then used to create a series of YouTube videos that focused on the musicians. |
Embrace User Generated Content
According to a survey of 839 millennials, they spend "5.4 hours a day with content created by their peers. This represents 30% of their total media time and is rivaled only by all traditional media types combined (print, radio, and television at 33%)." In the same survey, "Millennials reported that UGC is 20% more influential on their purchase decisions than other media." You can achieve this by having customers share personal stories (Estee Lauder's international breast cancer action campaign), exchange ideas (Sales-force's Idea Exchange), giving them the tools to make an ad for you (Nissan's VersaVid campaign that were shared on Instagram and Vine) or through humour (Doritos Roulette bags). |
Collaborate With Influencers
Another way to gain a new audience and extend brand awareness is by collaborating with the top influencers in your industry. Home improvement store Lowe's allowed "top designers and mom bloggers to take over its Instagram account for a few days at a time." By allowing these influencers to share inspirational content, Lowe's was able to tap into a new audience. |
Help Customers Solve a Problem
As perfectly stated on HubSpot, "You're in business because you provide solutions." Some of the ways that you can help customers solve a problem is by creating how-to-content, exclusive offers that make their lives easier, listening/responding to your community, or create apps/tools that resolve a problem. You could also create a campaign like Orca Chevrolet did in Brazil. The company partnered with a local tow company and rescued stranded drivers by arriving in the new Orca. Not only did Chevy save the day, it also gave drivers a chance to test drive the car. |
Let Customers Interact
No matter the product or service you're offering, your customers want to interact with your company, or at the very least other customers. AMC, for example, created an online tool that allowed you "Mad Man Yourself." American Express connects small business owners to each other and helpful resources through its OPEN Forum. |
Experiment With New Channels and Platforms Don't hesitate to try out new channels and platforms to promote your brand. As Clare McDermott, editor of Chief Content Officer magazine and owner of SoloPortfolio, points out on the Content Marketing Institute, the Fours Seasons introduced the Pin.Pack.Go program on Pinterest. This was an industry first campaign that allowed guests to co-curate a customer travel itinerary through a Pinterest board. |
Take a Bite Out of Apple Apple deserves special mention mainly because it's a brand that has created an entire generation of lifelong advocates. How did they accomplish this? Remember when the iPod was introduced? Apple's now-iconic strategy involved empathy, focus and impute when they used silhouettes of people enjoying the iPod. It may not have been the best MP3 player, but it created brand recognition which helped dominate the market. |