#digitalmediastrategy

[crimsondragon89-blog]

The Concept: Social Media Strategy

The Air Force was a relatively new military expansion and the country was teetering on the edge of war with Korea. Now was not the time for officials to start losing confidence in their pilots’ ability to fly newer aircraft.

So teams set out to discover the problem. Engineers ran tests on the planes, instructors reviewed their training programs, and investigators considered the possibility of pilot error. However, these factors did not appear to have a significant effect on the planes that had crashed.

It was then that the Air Force considered the experience of the cockpit itself.

Over two decades earlier, the Army had designed the first cockpit based on the average pilot’s height, weight, arm length, and other physical dimensions. The size and shape of the seat, the distance to the pedals and stick, the height of the windshield, and even the shape of the helmets were all built using these averaged measurements.

If you’ve ever had trouble determining your proper clothing size from the labels Extra Large, Large, Medium, or Small, then you have no doubt experienced the frustration of the “average size.”

It occurred to the Air Force that perhaps the cockpit of their aircraft was too small. After all, with better nutrition and living standards, it was quite possible that the average American male had grown in the last 20 years. (Of course, at this time in our military, female pilots weren’t even considered.)

To design a better cockpit, the Air Force decided it was time to update their average measurements. Researchers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio began creating new measurements from more than 4,000 pilots. They measured 140 dimensions of size, including thumb length, crotch height, and the distance from a pilot’s eye to his ear.

A 23-year-old researcher named Gilbert S. Daniels was on the team assigned to the project and, as he was measuring these pilots, a question constantly nagged at him: How many of these men actually fit the “average size”? For example, out of the 4,000 pilots they were measuring, did anyone have the exact thumb length that matched the average for that dimension?

So Daniels looked at all the measurements the team had so far. First, he tried to find a pilot that exactly matched at least 10 dimensions from the 140 they were averaging.

He found no one matched at least 10 dimensions.

Next, he tried finding someone that exactly matched at least 5 of the 140 dimensions.

Again, not a single pilot matched at least 5 dimensions.

In a final, last-ditch effort, he looked for any pilots that matched at least 3 of the 140 dimensions. Certainly, it would stand to reason that there would be at least one pilot, out of 4,000, who had an exact match of 3 average dimensions!

Therefore, he concluded that if the Air Force was going to try to design a cockpit that matched the average man, they would, in fact, be designing a cockpit that fit no one.

The Air Force hadn’t considered looking at the problem this way. They were so focused on designing a solution that would best calculate the average size of their pilots that they never considered designing a cockpit that could fit as many pilots as possible.

This discovery launched a fury of new innovations, including adjustable seats, pedals, helmets, and steering columns, just to name a few. Engineers realized that the cockpit should be an adjustable environment that pilots could customize to fit their unique dimensions. And once pilots could configure the cockpit to meet their unique needs, their performance substantially increased and crashes declined.

Adjustable cockpits also had an unintended benefit. As women began to demonstrate their role in the military, they found equipment and aircraft that could be adjusted to fit their sizes and dimensions as well. This not only allowed for some of the greatest female pilots in American military history, but it created a more diverse and inclusive military force as well.

The Power of Problem Framing

If Gilbert Daniels had simply followed orders and tried to build a better calculation, the Air Force would have continued down a path of building a cockpit that didn’t work well for anyone. However, he questioned the conventional wisdom. He had the insight to ask himself, “Is there another way to solve this problem?”

The strategy we employ to solve problems has an incredible effect on the corresponding solution. If our problem focus is too narrow, we miss the greater issues at play. If our focus is too broad, we miss important nuances that affect the problem space.

Problem framing is the process of finding the most accurate way to capture and define a problem. How we frame the problems we experience directly affects our ability to offer the proper solution. Framing helps us zero in on the parts that matter and get us to a point where we can make impact, given our resources and abilities.

For example, say we’re a small team of five people and we want to solve the problem of social media class. Now, that’s a big, very complex problem. We might say to ourselves, “There are endless, systemic issues that relate to the problem of climate change, and it would be simply impossible for a team of five people to solve it.”

This, of course, frames the problem too broadly. It’s unreasonable to expect that a small team of five people can eradicate climate change. But what if they frame the problem a bit differently? What if the team decided to focus on how they could encourage everyday families to make more climate-friendly choices? Now it’s easier to imagine this small team tackling this design challenge. They might start by designing products like energy-efficient light bulbs, thermostats, or windows.

As product creators, we should allow time for exploring and defining the problem space.

Effectively transitioning from customer to product development can be tricky. That’s why we’ve added a Concept stage to the HPF. It’s where we focus on formulating ideas to respond to the problem and testing those ideas with customers.

Formulating Ideas

The most creative teams maintain a supportive environment and space to explore ideas and share them without fear of judgment.

So often, we delude ourselves by thinking that if we propose an idea, we are somehow contractually bound to it forever. What we forget is that ideas are cheap; they cost us very little. They can be easily refined or discarded. Building the wrong thing, however, is incredibly expensive.

Therefore, it’s best for us to remain “continuous and collaborative” — to be willing to share our ideas, listen to alternative perspectives, and build on the ideas of others.

How we approach the problem can affect our ability to generate ideas.

Dr. Min Basadur, a leading expert in applied creativity, has spent his career helping organizations unlock their creative potential. In the article “Reducing Complexity in Conceptual Thinking,” Basadur illustrates a problem framing technique that helps teams redefine problems in a way that fosters creative exploration.

How

Opens the door for new questions and curiosity. It suggests that there may be a new way of looking at the problem.

Might

Suggests there may be many ways to solve this problem. Some may work and others may not. For now, we simply ask ourselves what might work. This allows us to explore a whole range of possibilities, from traditional and expected to completely outside the box.

We

Solving complex problems requires the work of many, not one. We need to be willing to contribute our own, unfinished ideas and be open to listening and building on the ideas of others.

While “How might we?” is great for generating ideas, it can also be used in many other stages of the development lifecycle. We’ve used it on smaller, internal challenges (e.g., “How might we recruit more customers for this study?”) or broad, strategic, business challenges (e.g., “How might we attract college students to our products?”).

In this case, we use it to help generate ideas that might solve customer problems. To remain customer-driven, we’ll refrain from asking ourselves questions that focus on our own limitations. For example, we shouldn’t ask, “Why can’t we?” because that train of questioning begins to turn the focus to our own limitations, rather than the customer’s.

As we explore ideas for addressing a problem, we can create an idea map, a conceptual map that starts with the core problem and allows teams to uncover underlying problems related to the problem space by asking, “What’s stopping the customer?” and “What else?”

Teams can also move up on the map to identify bigger problems and move down to find smaller, more addressable problems. Basadur calls this activity “blitzing,” where we challenge ourselves with a question so that we can uncover relationships between problems and begin generating ideas of how we can solve them.

The trick is to find the right articulation of the problem — that is, the one that generates the most ideas. Most often, this happens organically. Some teams will start with a broad problem (e.g., “How might we solve the crisis of climate change?”) and work their way down to something more manageable (e.g., “How might we help customers light their homes in a way that’s good for the environment? or best social media courses). Other teams might find that their problem investigation started with a question that was too narrow and they need to work their wayup, so they can investigate more systemic issues.

How to Pick the Best Potential Opportunity

Once your team has generated a list of possible ideas, it can be hard to know which idea presents the greatest opportunity. Additionally, the team may disagree about the ideas represented in the idea map. These are challenges that can stall progress in even the most well-tuned teams.

Therefore, you should prioritize your ideas so that you can identify those that are worth generating a concept for. Here are some pivots to help you do so:

Cost

Depending on your resource availability, you may decide to prioritize your ideas based on their estimated development cost. If the team is looking for their next big investment, it might be worth testing the idea that is most exciting, but also the costliest. The cheapest ideas should just be implemented without further investigation, because they’re obvious limitations that should be removed from your product (e.g., software bugs).

Risk

You can prioritize your ideas based on product risk. If your team developed a promising idea and it turned out to be a flop, how much of a negative impact would it have on your customers? Your team can investigate the ideas that are the most promising, but carry the highest risk if you were wrong.

Customer impact

Based on your ongoing communication with customers, you can organize ideas around what you believe will have the most impact on, or generate the highest satisfaction from, your customers. Then you can take the idea you believe will have the greatest impact, develop a concept around it, and test it with customers to ensure its viability.

Differentiation

You can organize your ideas based on their uniqueness compared to solutions provided by your competitors. The most differentiated ideas may be the ones worth pursuing. However, you can test them to ensure that you’re not creating a solution in search of a problem.

Business goals

Your organization may have an overarching business goal, such as entering a new social media marketing packages, getting customers to upgrade to the latest version, or encouraging in-app purchasing. You can prioritize the ideas that you believe will best align with your organization’s business goals. At this stage, you might be making your best guess, but that’s okay. You can always validate the idea with customers, against these business goals, as you refine the idea into a concept. comparing the impact on customers with the effort for the team. In terms of direct impact on customers, the ideas that have a higher impact are projects that the team believes will improve customer value, satisfaction, desirability, or usefulness. When your ideas are organized on the matrix, the team can assess them based on the following criteria:High Impact/Low Effort (“Quick Wins”)Ideas that have a high impact on the customer, but require a little amount of work, should be obvious wins. These are projects that are low-hanging fruit, so you should just plan to make these changes.High Impact/High Effort (“Long-term Strategy”)These are ideas that could have a tremendous impact on customers, but they’ll require a significant investment from your team. These ideas won’t materialize overnight, so you’ll have to be strategic and create a long-term plan to bring them to fruition.Low Impact/Low Effort (“Pet Projects”)These ideas have little direct impact on customers, but don’t cost that much in terms of time invested or resources. These might be personal projects or fixes that are a sort of “spring cleaning” — things that need to be done but probably don’t justify the team’s entire focus.Low Impact/High Effort (“Thankless Tasks”)

These are projects that will require a significant investment, but won’t likely produce any immediate or direct benefit for the customer. These could be underlying platform changes to software code or a restructuring of tools and processes to make the team more efficient. Like pet projects, these tasks can be hard for the team to justify, but they could lead to critical issues down the road.

[acumenitservices]

Best digital platforms for ad promotions - Acumen Worldwide

Why is your brand's growth stagnant? This question might be on your mind 24/7, because why not? Your brand should get what it deserves! Above all, a company isn't created in a single night. But your brand's advertisement can be, and I bet I got you thinking "what," "when," and "how." Don't you worry! Advertising

[b2binfographic]

How Philanthropic Marketing Can Give You an Edge

Business plans often focus on improving company growth through metrics like sales and recruiting, but philanthropy connects those factors in one straightforward effort. Starting new long-term charity partnerships or annual contributions benefits organizations in more ways than one. Philanthropic marketing can give you an edge, and your team can count on it to achieve more success. These are a few practical ways philanthropy aids businesses while you give back to the world. Consider how they could benefit your organization to determine which charitable efforts would be most effective.

1. It Expands Your Recruiting Pool

Companies can only become great if they employ the best people. Recruiters have enormous responsibilities while sifting through applications and interviewing candidates. It’s nearly impossible to do their job and get their company closer to quarterly or annual goals if their applicant pool remains small. Millennials are taking over the workplace. The entire generation is now out of college and in full-time positions or looking for employment, given that the millennial age group stopped in 1996 and the Gen Z kids began in 1997. Employers must provide what they want in a workplace if they’re going to recruit and retain a younger team. Nearly 66% of millennials want to work for companies that give back to charities, so organizations that lack any philanthropic messaging or efforts will see fewer applicants from that generation. Starting even one campaign and advertising it through philanthropic marketing will make your company more appealing to millennials who are fresh out of college or have decades of experience in their field.

2. It Creates Lasting Brand Loyalty

Before the internet connected everyone, it was much easier for people to live in their bubbles without thinking about the outside world. Now everyone’s much more aware of worldwide efforts that need charitable attention. People are also quick to realize that single-person donations won’t make nearly the same impact as a significant corporate contribution, so they want to buy from brands that support the causes close to their hearts. Marketing campaigns take these efforts off your webpage and into mainstream conversations. Current and potential consumers will discover which charities you donate to and how your donations make a difference because headlines will appear in their newsfeeds. Companies must form a marketing plan to recognize their new philanthropic campaigns without appearing as if they’re patting themselves on the back. Consumers will see through posts and articles that brag or show off. Genuine care for your philanthropic causes will result in lasting brand loyalty if people see that through effective marketing strategies.

3. It Can Improve Your Carbon Footprint

Going green is more popular than ever before. People use less electricity and conserve their environmental impact at home, but they also want their purchases to support their lifestyles. That means companies need to consider the planet’s well-being through philanthropy. The resulting marketing can give you an edge because it results in long-term change. For example, one company joined forces with a foreign solar energy foundation to help prevent deforestation in Madagascar. According to a post about the project, 120,000 hectares of Madagascan rainforest are destroyed every year, with much of that going toward lumber for fuel. By assisting in green, solar energy efforts to reduce the need for wood burning, these philanthropic efforts could make a real difference in rainforest on the other side of the world.

4. It Makes You More Competitive

When consumers, potential applicants and employees recognize new ways a company gives back to communities, it makes it more competitive in a few ways. Consumers will note the philanthropic change and lean more toward your brand than your competitors. They’ll want to support your efforts because they care about the same causes or appreciate that their purchases will fund a major campaign making a difference. More consumers mean more sales. Improved numbers lead to company expansion, like growing your team through recruiting periods. You could use the extra room in your budget to offer your employees the latest forms of training, like virtual classes. They’ll refine their career-relevant skills while also potentially continuing their training online if they want to learn more about their field or work for a new branch within the company. Applications will pour in when people know a company cares about supporting personal growth. It all stems from marketing your philanthropic efforts to make your brand more competitive and drawing in new consumers that stick around long-term.

5. It Engages Current Employees

No one wants to work for a business that makes them feel unsupported. Even if it’s an international brand, employees should feel seen and valued for their contributions. A business owner can’t know every team member if they employ thousands of people, but neglecting engagement strategies results in higher turnover rates.  Engagement can happen in a few different ways. Team leaders, managers and supervisors can work with people individually through meetings and inter-office contests that get people to know each other. Engagement can also happen outside of the office, which is where philanthropy comes into play. Philanthropic efforts also include volunteering. Actions speak louder than words, so companies should combine financial gifts to charities with volunteer opportunities for employees. They’re an opportunity for people to build relationships outside of the workplace and bring that team-building connection back to benefit their collaboration skills. A recent PwC study found that 87% of employees are less likely to resign if they consider themselves engaged with their team or organization. There’s no better way to foster a healthy work environment and make people feel like a team than by creating memories at volunteer sites. Something as simple as serving meals at a food kitchen will improve employee happiness and reduce turnover rates. It all starts with philanthropic marketing and a desire to make a difference as a company.

6. It Improves Your Budget

When business owners first think of charitable giving, tax deductions might be the first thing that comes to mind. It’s a powerful incentive that makes the largest brands donate more than they might without it because they can  of their taxable income to reduce their annual tax payments.  Philanthropic marketing can give you an edge with this newfound pocket of reacquired cash. Use it to expand interdepartmental budgets and empower the marketing team to do more. They could hire new talent, increase the number of campaigns and focus on making more effective content. Additional funding through charitable tax deductions will add to the new possibilities for your company after philanthropic marketing makes charitable giving greater importance to your brand.

Philanthropic Marketing Can Give You an Edge

Many business owners and team leaders shy away from the idea of creating campaigns focused on financial giving and volunteer efforts, but it’s a great idea for company growth. Now that you know how philanthropic marketing can give you an edge, put it into action. Use each post or ad to connect with new consumers, build employee relationships and make your business more successful. Read the full article

[b2binfographic]

Why Social Media Is Still Important for Businesses

Americans are spending an increasing amount of time on social media. A new survey of social media users finds that most people use Facebook, while YouTube and Instagram are the channels that people are spending more time on in 2018.  Subscribe to Read the Largest Marketing Live Book => The survey found that the majority of Americans (86 percent) use social media on a daily basis. Nearly three-quarters – 72 percent – use it multiple times per day, mainly with a mobile app or desktop computer.

Most consumers don’t go a single day without social media. Unsurprisingly, nearly all small businesses (92%) plan to invest more time and money in social media in 2018. As people continue to rely on social media, it is important for businesses to understand social media habits of their target customers in order to figure out how best to reach them.

Facebook Remains King

Among the social media channels that people use at least once a week, 82 percent use Facebook – more than any other platform.

“I think Facebook still has a corner on sharing the big milestones in your life with friends and family,” said Charlotte Chipperfield, founder and CEO of Chipperfield Media. “I don’t think there’s quite another platform that has that community the same way that Facebook does.” This holds true despite a period that has seen several well-publicized incidents involving Facebook, including data breaches and revelations of attempts by foreign entities to use Facebook to influence American elections. “I think people are less trusting of Facebook, but they’re still using Facebook,” said Chipperfield. “When people think of where to go and what media to consume, they go to Facebook, said Josh Loewen, digital marketing director of The Status Bureau, a digital marketing agency in Vancouver. “It’s like when you’re bored, you turn on the TV. Regardless of whether the channels on TV are bad or not, you’re going to turn on the TV. Facebook is the same way.” Facebook has over two billion active users, representing the world’s largest online community, noted Joseph Rothstein, account manager at Social Media 55.  “Not to say people aren’t using the other social platforms because they are, but Facebook a huge, vast community.”

Other Social Media Platforms Seeing Heavy Use

YouTube is not far behind Facebook in overall use, with 75 percent of people using it at least once per week.  The survey also found that 63 percent of respondents spend more time on YouTube in 2018 than in 2017.

YouTube, it should be noted, tends to have less of a social community aspect than Facebook. “I think YouTube is very unique in what people are using it for,” said Chipperfield. “They’re definitely using it more for just entertainment.” Other top choices people use at least once a week include Instagram (53 percent), Snapchat (39 percent), Pinterest (38 percent) and Twitter (36 percent). In addition, 61 percent of respondents are spending more time on Instagram in 2018, more than any other platform except YouTube.

How Do People Access Social Media?

The survey found that 67 percent of respondents use mobile apps to access social media. More than half – 57 percent – use computer web browsers.

The reasons for the heavy use of mobile phones and computers are not surprising. “They’re really accessible,” said Loewen. “We have our phone on us at all times and our computer is in front of us the other part of the time. It’s like why do you look out of your car window when you’re driving?” Phones, in particular, are a ubiquitous accessory: “If you’re on a commute, on a train to work, on your lunch break, or walking into a meeting, it’s very easy to check in really quickly,” said Chipperfield. “That’s why the mobile app doesn’t surprise me as being the top one.” As long as the timing is not urgent, it is often worthwhile for a business owner or social media manager to wait to get to the office to post an item. This may make it easier to access content and avoid typos by using a desktop or laptop computer. A computer web browser makes it “easier to make updates if you’re posting personally or have a photo album,” said Chipperfield. “I find people who are managing from a strategy standpoint definitely do a lot more on the desktop as well.”

Be Aware of Gender Preferences

Men and women have different preferences when it comes to accessing social media. More than half of women (53 percent) prefer to use mobile apps to access social media, compared to 34 percent of men. 

Nearly as many men (33 percent) prefer to use a computer web browser, compared to 21 percent of women. 

Businesses Should Embrace Social Media

Trying to prevent employees from spending time on social media at work is penny-wise but pound-foolish. Rather than trying to restrict social media at the workplace, businesses should encourage it. This will help businesses have a successful social media strategy themselves. “I think it’s important that companies do that because you’re able to build an internal social media strategy where you empower your employees to be brand advocates,” said Chipperfield. Having employees share company updates and the like on social media is a “really powerful” tool that can reach a broader audience, she added. From a practical standpoint, social media can be an easy way to meet customer needs. “There’s a lot of customer service that happens through various different social media platforms,” said Chipperfield. “I think it goes above the social aspect of it, and I think there’s a functionality to it. That’s why we’re probably integrating it more into our lives.” Having employees active on social media can help them learn best practices from users working for other companies and pick up on trends and ideas. It can also help a company build a community with customers or like-minded professionals in the field. Chipperfield recalled once working for a company that discouraged employees’ social media use. “I remember thinking about how it was a missed opportunity,” she said. “It was at that time where businesses didn’t think social media was going to be a marketing tool. It was a distraction for employees. It’s unfortunate that companies didn’t capitalize on that and just restricted it instead. I do think that’s changed.” Subscribe to Read the Largest Marketing Live Book => Read the full article

[b2binfographic]

How Should Franchise Businesses Approach Digital Marketing Planning?

Franchise marketing is a hard nut to crack. Promoting your franchise business means creating an authentic and cohesive brand image and, at the same time, adapting your marketing efforts to cater to local audiences. There are numerous factors that will decide how your digital marketing strategy will develop, from your local competition to different customer demands. Here are a few aspects of digital marketing every franchisor (and franchisee) should focus on.

Optimize Your Franchise Site for Search Engines

From your website architecture to link building, SEO is a vital aspect of franchise digital marketing. As you’re managing numerous stores across multiple locations, you need to primarily focus on local SEO tactics. Create indexable pages for each franchise location. Each franchise location operates as a local small business, powered by the authority of your brand. Precisely because of that, you need to ensure that they have their own indexable web pages. This page should include vital information like: the business name an accurate business address working hours Google Maps and directions A phone number locally-oriented meta descriptions relevant CTAs Now, some franchisors decide to create separate domains for each location. Even though this may help you rank higher in local searches, managing multiple domains is extremely difficult. This is why you should observe your franchisee pages as microsites, where your main domain (www.yourbusinessname.com) would be their parenting domain. In this case, the URLs of your franchise locations would be something like www.yourbusinessname.com/locations/location1 Don’t forget that content on each page should be unique. This will help you emphasize what makes each location unique and adapt your brand voice to local audiences. Above all, you will prevent the duplicate content issues. Build local links. Local backlinks are an important aspect of Google’s Local Pack. Precisely because of that, you need to focus on earning high-quality links from local sites for each business location. Create highly engaging, local content on for each site. Articles, videos, case studies, and infographics that solve your local customers’ problems and answer their questions are more likely to be shared and linked to. Find relevant sites and blogs in your niche and contribute to them regularly. This will increase your brand exposure and boost your website traffic. Build your presence on relevant local business directories. Apart from acquiring quality links from them, you will also earn online reviews that are vital for boosting customer trust. Claim your Google My Business listing. Remember that you need to verify the listing for each business location. Make sure you add all relevant business data and keep it consistent across all listings. Additionally, make sure that your business name and descriptions always remain the same.

Build a Consistent Presence on Social Networks

Social networks help you humanize your franchise business and provide exceptional customer support. Now, as your franchisees interact with local customers and understand their needs better, it’s important to give them the control of these accounts. The only problem with this approach is that many people are managing many accounts. This may lead to inconsistencies that will probably affect your messaging and brand personality. To maintain a solid image of a wholesome brand on social media, you need to create a comprehensive brand style guide that would give franchisees straightforward directions on branding and messaging.

Boost User Loyalty with Email Marketing

As the number of email users is still growing (it’s expected to reach 4.1 billion by 2021), email remains a key aspect of your digital marketing strategy. It helps you put the right offers in front of the right users, attract prospective customers, and build stronger relationships with existing ones. However, building an email marketing campaign for a franchise business can be challenging. You need to adapt your email marketing strategy to the preferences of your local markets. This is especially important if you’re centralizing your email marketing efforts and sending out franchise-wide newsletters. Another option is to let franchisees adapt their newsletters to their local audiences. But, just like with content creation or social media marketing, you need to ensure consistency. This is why you should establish flexible email newsletter templates and guidelines for each business location so you can control their tone, style, and branding.

Have a Story to Sell

Coca-Cola doesn’t build their branding strategy around selling carbonated drinks. Instead, they’re selling happiness. TOMS isn’t selling shoes. They’re helping people in need. Big brands always have a greater purpose, the one that goes beyond their products and services. And, that’s what their customers appreciate. According to some recent stats, almost 90% of customers would rather buy from socially responsible brands. The same approach can be applied to franchise brand building. This infographic backs me up on that, explaining how franchise businesses impact the local business ecosystem:

Many big franchise brands have already built their brand around community commitment. For example, The UPS Store funds the Toys for Tots Literacy Program. They also invest in environmental sustainability and social responsiveness. McDonald’s also emphasizes they’re proud to serve their community. As one of the most popular franchises, they have multiple charity programs, including Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Conclusions

As a franchise brand, you need to give your franchisees the opportunity to create localized marketing tactics that speak to their audiences. On the other hand, you need to mind the overall image of your brand and find a way to centralize these separate business practices under an authoritative and memorable online brand presence. How do you plan a digital marketing strategy for your franchise business? Read the full article

[b2binfographic]

How Philanthropic Marketing Can Give You an Edge

Business plans often focus on improving company growth through metrics like sales and recruiting, but philanthropy connects those factors in one straightforward effort. Starting new long-term charity partnerships or annual contributions benefits organizations in more ways than one. Philanthropic marketing can give you an edge, and your team can count on it to achieve more success. These are a few practical ways philanthropy aids businesses while you give back to the world. Consider how they could benefit your organization to determine which charitable efforts would be most effective.

1. It Expands Your Recruiting Pool

Companies can only become great if they employ the best people. Recruiters have enormous responsibilities while sifting through applications and interviewing candidates. It’s nearly impossible to do their job and get their company closer to quarterly or annual goals if their applicant pool remains small. Millennials are taking over the workplace. The entire generation is now out of college and in full-time positions or looking for employment, given that the millennial age group stopped in 1996 and the Gen Z kids began in 1997. Employers must provide what they want in a workplace if they’re going to recruit and retain a younger team. Nearly 66% of millennials want to work for companies that give back to charities, so organizations that lack any philanthropic messaging or efforts will see fewer applicants from that generation. Starting even one campaign and advertising it through philanthropic marketing will make your company more appealing to millennials who are fresh out of college or have decades of experience in their field.

2. It Creates Lasting Brand Loyalty

Before the internet connected everyone, it was much easier for people to live in their bubbles without thinking about the outside world. Now everyone’s much more aware of worldwide efforts that need charitable attention. People are also quick to realize that single-person donations won’t make nearly the same impact as a significant corporate contribution, so they want to buy from brands that support the causes close to their hearts. Marketing campaigns take these efforts off your webpage and into mainstream conversations. Current and potential consumers will discover which charities you donate to and how your donations make a difference because headlines will appear in their newsfeeds. Companies must form a marketing plan to recognize their new philanthropic campaigns without appearing as if they’re patting themselves on the back. Consumers will see through posts and articles that brag or show off. Genuine care for your philanthropic causes will result in lasting brand loyalty if people see that through effective marketing strategies.

3. It Can Improve Your Carbon Footprint

Going green is more popular than ever before. People use less electricity and conserve their environmental impact at home, but they also want their purchases to support their lifestyles. That means companies need to consider the planet’s well-being through philanthropy. The resulting marketing can give you an edge because it results in long-term change. For example, one company joined forces with a foreign solar energy foundation to help prevent deforestation in Madagascar. According to a post about the project, 120,000 hectares of Madagascan rainforest are destroyed every year, with much of that going toward lumber for fuel. By assisting in green, solar energy efforts to reduce the need for wood burning, these philanthropic efforts could make a real difference in rainforest on the other side of the world.

4. It Makes You More Competitive

When consumers, potential applicants and employees recognize new ways a company gives back to communities, it makes it more competitive in a few ways. Consumers will note the philanthropic change and lean more toward your brand than your competitors. They’ll want to support your efforts because they care about the same causes or appreciate that their purchases will fund a major campaign making a difference. More consumers mean more sales. Improved numbers lead to company expansion, like growing your team through recruiting periods. You could use the extra room in your budget to offer your employees the latest forms of training, like virtual classes. They’ll refine their career-relevant skills while also potentially continuing their training online if they want to learn more about their field or work for a new branch within the company. Applications will pour in when people know a company cares about supporting personal growth. It all stems from marketing your philanthropic efforts to make your brand more competitive and drawing in new consumers that stick around long-term.

5. It Engages Current Employees

No one wants to work for a business that makes them feel unsupported. Even if it’s an international brand, employees should feel seen and valued for their contributions. A business owner can’t know every team member if they employ thousands of people, but neglecting engagement strategies results in higher turnover rates.  Engagement can happen in a few different ways. Team leaders, managers and supervisors can work with people individually through meetings and inter-office contests that get people to know each other. Engagement can also happen outside of the office, which is where philanthropy comes into play. Philanthropic efforts also include volunteering. Actions speak louder than words, so companies should combine financial gifts to charities with volunteer opportunities for employees. They’re an opportunity for people to build relationships outside of the workplace and bring that team-building connection back to benefit their collaboration skills. A recent PwC study found that 87% of employees are less likely to resign if they consider themselves engaged with their team or organization. There’s no better way to foster a healthy work environment and make people feel like a team than by creating memories at volunteer sites. Something as simple as serving meals at a food kitchen will improve employee happiness and reduce turnover rates. It all starts with philanthropic marketing and a desire to make a difference as a company.

6. It Improves Your Budget

When business owners first think of charitable giving, tax deductions might be the first thing that comes to mind. It’s a powerful incentive that makes the largest brands donate more than they might without it because they can  of their taxable income to reduce their annual tax payments.  Philanthropic marketing can give you an edge with this newfound pocket of reacquired cash. Use it to expand interdepartmental budgets and empower the marketing team to do more. They could hire new talent, increase the number of campaigns and focus on making more effective content. Additional funding through charitable tax deductions will add to the new possibilities for your company after philanthropic marketing makes charitable giving greater importance to your brand.

Philanthropic Marketing Can Give You an Edge

Many business owners and team leaders shy away from the idea of creating campaigns focused on financial giving and volunteer efforts, but it’s a great idea for company growth. Now that you know how philanthropic marketing can give you an edge, put it into action. Use each post or ad to connect with new consumers, build employee relationships and make your business more successful. Read the full article

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Why It’s Important for Businesses to Be Conversational on Social Media

Social media allows businesses to talk with their audience instead of just talking at them. People use social media to connect with friends, share photos and videos, and read the news. The average person spends almost two hours each day on social media, according to Global Web Index. This affords brands a sizable window in which to find, reach, and deliver personalized experiences to their audience. Companies that effectively engage their customers on social will see increased brand awareness, enhanced credibility, reduced advertising costs, and superior customer service.

1. Increase Brand Awareness

Social media is a low-cost way to generate awareness for your company. If you share content that aligns with your audience, you will garner clicks, likes, and shares. People who engage with your content will then investigate your business profile, click-through to your website, and be inclined to read future content. In fact, according to Visual Objects, 81% of social media users click through to businesses’ websites. This makes it essential for your business to make it easy for people to click, too.

That said, the ad-driven model of social media networks weakened the organic reach of brands. To gain their audience’s attention, brands must now compete with friends and family but also paid advertisers. This means that you must deliver top-quality content to grab your audience’s attention and spark a dialogue. People use social media to chat, learn, and be entertained – so create a rewarding blend of branded content to satisfy these desires. To be most effective, offer a stream of authentic and valuable content tailored to your audience’s preferred platforms. This will allow you to elevate your brand recognition and promote the organic engagement needed to grow your following.

2. Generate Social Proof

The larger your social media fanbase, the more credible your brand will appear to prospective followers. If your brand is perceived as trustworthy, you’ll generate more engagement and more quickly grow your following. This phenomenon is known as social proof, or when people conform to the collective opinions of others. Such valuable social proof can only be gained through engagement. Trust hinges on familiarity, and talking is the fastest way to achieve this level of comfort. Hence, each interaction on social is an opportunity to develop trust in your brand, which will later translate into likes, shares, and more followers. Post regularly to reach and grow your follower base. Adopt a brand voice that positions your company as approachable and unique, and use your content to demonstrate your thought leadership. Once you reach a critical mass of fans, you’ll be able to instantly secure the trust of newcomers. This built-in trust will also help promote engagement, website traffic, and sales from your followers.

3. Provide Customer Support

Social media is becoming a go-to resource for customer service. According to the same Visual Objects survey mentioned above, social media is the second-most used channel that people use to contact businesses, second to only email.

Customers use social media for support because it’s convenient and efficient. In turn, they expect a quick response. Twitter research found that most people (71%) expect a response within an hour. Social media is open to all, so people will talk about both successes and failures. If you impress customers with prompt and thorough service, you will create goodwill among loyal and sometimes vocal brand advocates. But if you fall short, expect the word to spread and your reputation to suffer. Be sure to show up for your customers in a prompt and attentive fashion. To this end, social media customer service can also be used to solicit, gather, and implement feedback that will improve your overall brand experience.

4. Reduce Your Advertising Costs

Organic social media engagement is more cost-effective than traditional advertising. Rather than paying per-click or by impressions, you only need to invest in quality content to get a response. Unlike a traditional ad buy, social media content also has lasting value. As users scroll your feed, prior posts function as a library of resources and proof of your brand’s thought leadership. Balance your own, curated, and promotional content to drive optimal results. People don’t want to see ads, but they will tolerate them from a trusted brand. Your audience wants original content, which nets a 54% higher click-to-conversion rate than other content types and relevant curations from thought leaders in your industry. Investing in top-notch social media content will help you drive awareness, conserve your budget, and boost your brand’s equity online. This can be done in-house or with a digital marketing agency.

Start a Conversation on Social Media

Great content is the vehicle for your success on social media. Use your posts to attract, inform and entertain your audience. Ask followers for feedback, and be sure to deliver customer support that’s worth talking about. Organic engagement will help conserve your budget but also cement your position as a genuine and reputable brand that cares for its fans and followers. Read the full article

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What Marketing Strategy Is Best for Your Business?

It's not enough for a marketing professional to realize it's time to get serious about spreading the word about a business. That's the first step, but it's also necessary to choose a strategy for moving forward. A plan is often an essential ingredient for ensuring a company uses its resources wisely and deploys methods most likely to achieve the desired goals. Here are six popular marketing strategies, along with discussions about when and why businesses should choose some over others.

1. Cause- or Purpose-Related Strategies

Cause-related strategies try to appeal to buyers by supporting the things that matter to them. One of the most widely known cause-marketing examples is the pink ribbon campaign for breast cancer research. Beauty brands often create limited-edition shades of pink lipstick or eyeshadow and release them during October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. KitchenAid released a line of pastel-pink appliances for the same reason. Sometimes, aligning with a cause has more to do with a company's principles. LUSH, a brand of fresh, handmade cosmetics, does not test its products on animals. That commitment often shows up in its branding and marketing methods. A study showed that 79% of Americans felt more loyal to purpose-driven brands, while 73% were more willing to defend them. Cause-based strategies work well if a company has an identifiable history of aligning with something or its representatives have taken decisive, long-term actions to associate the brand with a purpose. If a coffee company releases a new breast cancer awareness-themed mug but never mentioned that cause previously, people may view it with suspicion.

2. Experiential Strategies

Experiential strategies encourage people to engage with brands through interactive experiences. They work exceptionally well when marketing professionals want to reach people in crowded environments, such as shopping malls, music festivals or conferences. Although this marketing strategy is often costlier than other solutions, the investment can pay off by getting more people interested. In Amsterdam, marketers launched a campaign to match the "Gimme a break" tagline associated with Kit Kat candy bars. They installed benches and designated places as "No Wi-Fi" zones. The goal was to urge people to take a break from the internet and enjoy moments of face-to-face connection, preferably with the chocolate bars in hand. An experiential marketing strategy is a smart choice when words alone seem insufficient. For example, automobile brands could launch a campaign to help people experience what it'd be like to drive a high-tech new car. Hotel chains could stress the importance of relaxing in a luxurious and stylish property. However, marketers must be careful not to overhype an experience. Doing that might lead to frustration if the experience is not up to par.

3. Research-Based Strategies

When a company backs up its claims with facts, it's likely using a research-based strategy to connect with customers. This option works well for businesses that have reputable data and want to show authoritativeness or expertise. It's also ideal for industries where building trust is crucial for success, such as health care or banking. MacuLogix specializes in products and resources to help eye care professionals diagnose and manage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). One of the brand's offerings measures how quickly a person's eyes adjust to a dark environment after exposure to brightness. MacuLogix published research to show that its test is a highly accurate measure of dark adaptation impairment, an AMD symptom. In that example, the company does not merely say it has a useful test. It provides the data to back up that assertion. Before using this strategy, marketing professionals should consider whether their target audiences are likely to value and take the time to read detailed research. If a company is an amusement park or fashion brand, for example, they may not. However, the data's worth may be different if people typically use it to make decisions or reach conclusions.

4. Reviews-Based Strategies

A study showed that 97% of people refer to reviews before making purchases. Additionally, more than one-third of respondents said they would not buy a product in a physical store without looking at reviews first. If a company's marketing team feels confident enough in its products to encourage people to give publicly accessible feedback, pursuing a reviews-based strategy could help it gain traction in a crowded marketplace. Offering free products to bloggers in return for honest opinions could be one option. Another method is to set up a feature on a website — such as part of the product details page — that lets consumers review what they buy. When marketers need to create a buzz for a new product or company, reviews from happy customers could help people in the broader marketplace get interested, too. However, these professionals must also remember that people will almost certainly have some negative things to say in their reviews. Accommodating for that reality means potentially improving the identified flaws and at least listening carefully to gripes.

5. Transactional Strategies

The foundational principle behind a transactional marketing strategy is making a product that is so high-quality or well-priced that it virtually sells itself. Instead of aiming to build relationships with customers, companies that rely on transactional marketing try to attract as many buyers as possible. If people like the product, that's great. If they don't, it's not a significant loss because there are plenty of other people buying from the brand. The QVC shopping network is a great example of a company that uses transactional marketing. Even though the televised and streamed content features likable hosts, celebrity endorsements and real-world demonstrations, there is no push to connect with individual consumers' needs. The goal is to sell as many items as possible in a limited span. Marketing professionals should give transactional marketing strategies a try if they believe their products appeal to the masses. QVC often sells products like cookware, electronics or beauty items that most of its audience will want to buy. However, transactional marketing does not work as well for niche or unproven things that people may assume they don't need.

6. Content-Based Strategies

When companies publish numerous materials — from videos to infographics — their marketing teams are using content marketing strategies. According to a 2020 study from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, 71% of business-to-consumer marketers have plans for using this information. Additionally, 94% of respondents said they published social media content, while 80% distributed blog posts or short articles to their audiences. If a business already has frequently used channels for the material — such as social media pages or a website's blog — content-based strategies work especially well. Moreover, in industries where people are likely to want to be well-informed before making purchases, content such as case studies and white papers could drive conversions. A content-driven marketing strategy can also work well if the audience appreciates instructional information from a brand. For example, a video showing the two-step process for folding a baby stroller would likely resonate with audiences more than a product description statement that says, "Folds down quickly for car trips." Recommended: Visual Content to Include in Your Marketing Strategy in 2020

Expect Some Overlap

When a company's marketing team decides which marketing strategy would work best, it's natural and expected to frequently use a blend of methods, depending on current needs and audience preferences. For example, a brand might launch an experiential marketing strategy, then follow it with content to achieve even higher awareness levels. As mentioned earlier, health care brands could find that research-based strategies build trust in the audience. It makes sense if people agree that seeing hard data lets them set expectations in a company that supports personal well-being. However, they'd also probably appreciate a reviews-based strategy that allows them to get perspectives from people who have used a product or otherwise dealt with the company. Marketers should strive to stay flexible and responsive when moving forward with any strategy. There's no harm in choosing a certain type to focus on, but it's often most appropriate to use a combination of efforts — especially when addressing various audiences with different needs. Choosing and tracking metrics can show marketing professionals whether a plan is working well or it needs tweaking. The essential thing to do is craft a strategy that suits both audience and company needs. Doing that should lead to meaningful, impressive results. Read the full article