Creative advertising gets more attention from consumers and creates positive attitudes about the marketed product. Ask any marketing professional, and they’ll tell you that creative ads are more memorable, more cost-effective, and build your product’s fan base faster.
Harvard Business Review developed a consumer survey that defined five dimensions of perceived creativity in advertising. Applying these definitions, they were able to examine consumer responses to each type of creativity. They described these five types:
Originality: The ad has unique and surprising elements, and presents an “out of the ordinary” scenario.
Flexibility: The ad shifts between several ideas or scenarios, often demonstrating different uses for the product.
Elaboration: The ad emphasizes intricate or unexpected details, or expands simple ideas into complex ones.
Synthesis: The ad connects normally unrelated ideas or objects to create unusual scenarios.
Artistic Value: The ad is aesthetically appealing. The production quality is high, and may include beautiful visuals, memorable music, or clever dialogue.
The researchers found that more creative campaigns were more effective overall, but that certain dimensions of creativity drove purchases more than others. The most effective combination was Originality + Elaboration. Read the full results at HBR.org.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Growing Opportunities for Design Consulting
John Rousseau of Creative Review makes the case for expanding opportunities for design consultancy—as long as a few challenges can be overcome.
Introducing design into existing companies is complex and expensive. For the best results, design thinking cannot be treated as a fad to be discarded for the next business fad that comes along.
Design teams are groups of people that produce unpredictable yet brilliant results. They are a collection of experts and generalists, and together are greater than the sum of their parts.
Clients of designers are expecting more transparency. They want to be part of the process, to learn about design, to integrate what they have learned into their companies.
Some big opportunities for design firms are: small businesses who don't have an in-house design team, established businesses who want to quickly ramp up innovation, struggling companies who need help reinventing themselves, and enterprise software with millions of neglected users.
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2015/january/case-for-design-consulting
Introducing design into existing companies is complex and expensive. For the best results, design thinking cannot be treated as a fad to be discarded for the next business fad that comes along.
Design teams are groups of people that produce unpredictable yet brilliant results. They are a collection of experts and generalists, and together are greater than the sum of their parts.
Clients of designers are expecting more transparency. They want to be part of the process, to learn about design, to integrate what they have learned into their companies.
Some big opportunities for design firms are: small businesses who don't have an in-house design team, established businesses who want to quickly ramp up innovation, struggling companies who need help reinventing themselves, and enterprise software with millions of neglected users.
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2015/january/case-for-design-consulting
Friday, August 1, 2014
SEO 101
Everyone involved in creating a website should understand the basics of search engine optimization, including the designer. That being said, SEO is not some secret sauce you pour on your website that will make you rich. All it does is help people find you.
I like to work with organizations that are honest and truthful about what they offer. Turns out, that is the best start for good SEO. On the nascent internet of the turn of the century, you could game search engines by stuffing meta tags with repeating search terms. Those days are long gone, and search engines actually work very well now.
As with all marketing, the most important task is to identify your target audience. Who are you talking to? Write your content with a specific visitor in mind. You are better off with one hit from someone truly interested in your business than 100 hits from people who are not prospects. As you craft your message, use words that your target audience will be searching for. Don't be boring! People are not looking for a string of keywords, they are looking for a connection. Show that you understand who they are.
Now, make sure that your page titles and your headings contain keywords that define the essence of your organization. Words in these places carry more weight with search engines, and are also seen by visitors before they read the paragraphs.
One of the best ways to raise your ranking is to have other reputable websites link to yours. This is also the hardest to accomplish. You must have relevant content and take the initiative to ask other websites to add a link to yours. It also helps to have links on your website to reputable outside sources.
Website structure with short, clean URLs and a sitemap are also helpful. For more details, this is a great article: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/seo-guide/
I like to work with organizations that are honest and truthful about what they offer. Turns out, that is the best start for good SEO. On the nascent internet of the turn of the century, you could game search engines by stuffing meta tags with repeating search terms. Those days are long gone, and search engines actually work very well now.
As with all marketing, the most important task is to identify your target audience. Who are you talking to? Write your content with a specific visitor in mind. You are better off with one hit from someone truly interested in your business than 100 hits from people who are not prospects. As you craft your message, use words that your target audience will be searching for. Don't be boring! People are not looking for a string of keywords, they are looking for a connection. Show that you understand who they are.
Now, make sure that your page titles and your headings contain keywords that define the essence of your organization. Words in these places carry more weight with search engines, and are also seen by visitors before they read the paragraphs.
One of the best ways to raise your ranking is to have other reputable websites link to yours. This is also the hardest to accomplish. You must have relevant content and take the initiative to ask other websites to add a link to yours. It also helps to have links on your website to reputable outside sources.
Website structure with short, clean URLs and a sitemap are also helpful. For more details, this is a great article: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/seo-guide/
Sunday, May 25, 2014
The Law of Focus
I am revisiting a book I read called The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. The law that I think is most important, and the one I keep emphasizing to my students, is the law of focus. The more narrowly you can define your audience, the more effective your marketing will be. If you can give your ideal customer a name and a story, you have started to personalize your marketing (thank you Anderson Wiese @2wav for introducing me to this process). Focus also applies to what your business offers.
"The essence of marketing is narrowing the focus. You become stronger when you reduce the scope of your operations. You can’t stand for something if you chase after everything.”
The authors suggest owning a word. For example, Volvo owns “safety.” Crest owns “cavities.” Coke owns “cola.” Many of their examples are now dated, and refer to only fortune 500 companies. I think that smaller companies can also benefit from focus. Stake out your niche and own it. Become the best of class in your narrowly defined category. What word are you going to own?
It occurred to me that most of my clients consider themselves best in class. I work for the best water treatment company in the Chicago area. And the best mediator in Illinois. And the best farmland auction company in the Midwest. And the best independent gynecologist in the region. And the best state university in the country. It is this drive to be the best that makes attention to every detail essential. That includes professional design. You know when something looks well-designed, even if you don’t have the words to explain exaclty why.
The book presents a lot of ideas that are counter-intuitive, and I like that. The authors suggest that presenting reasons that your brand is better won’t work as well as creating a new category and being the only choice. What is the one thing that only you can provide? That is where your marketing focus should be.
"The essence of marketing is narrowing the focus. You become stronger when you reduce the scope of your operations. You can’t stand for something if you chase after everything.”
—Al Ries & Jack Trout, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
The authors suggest owning a word. For example, Volvo owns “safety.” Crest owns “cavities.” Coke owns “cola.” Many of their examples are now dated, and refer to only fortune 500 companies. I think that smaller companies can also benefit from focus. Stake out your niche and own it. Become the best of class in your narrowly defined category. What word are you going to own?
It occurred to me that most of my clients consider themselves best in class. I work for the best water treatment company in the Chicago area. And the best mediator in Illinois. And the best farmland auction company in the Midwest. And the best independent gynecologist in the region. And the best state university in the country. It is this drive to be the best that makes attention to every detail essential. That includes professional design. You know when something looks well-designed, even if you don’t have the words to explain exaclty why.
The book presents a lot of ideas that are counter-intuitive, and I like that. The authors suggest that presenting reasons that your brand is better won’t work as well as creating a new category and being the only choice. What is the one thing that only you can provide? That is where your marketing focus should be.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
The Psychology of Color in Marketing and Branding
A friend sent me this link to the FastCo article about choosing color for logos. I am including the infographics here. The original article has an introduction and additional links.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
The Dictionary of Brand by Marty Neumeier
Wow, just found this beautiful little book (thanks Alfredo Muccino of) presented on SlideShare. Simple and to the point. It explains branding concepts in the form of a dictionary, with lovely illustrations. I wish I could get this book in print.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Opportunities in Social Media Marketing
Social media has created an opportunity for companies to connect with their customers on a more personal level than ever before. Useful Social Media has compiled a series of articles identifying how businesses can best take advantage of social media trends to improve marketing strategies.
Mass advertising is losing efficacy as consumers begin to demand more engagement from companies. Traditional “push” marketing now has a response rate below 2%. But brute force isn’t necessary with social media marketing, which creates “pull” markets of self-identified customers who seek interaction. Now businesses can receive comments directly from customers and style marketing strategies to target individuals rather than demographics.
These consumers are not interested in just coupons and deals. They want content, information, and conversation. Twitter has become the venue for customers to engage companies, allowing for immediate, public discourse. Not only does this communication provide invaluable feedback, but a thoughtful and prompt response increases brand advocacy among all viewers.
Effective communication requires company-wide coordination. Because customers want to have a conversation, businesses need to respond to comments with a consistent and human voice. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems keep track of individual customer interactions and distribute it to all employees and departments, eliminating the alienating “selective memory” effect. A comment alert system and clearly defined roles for social media representatives will lead to quick and relevant responses.
Over time social media may produce a daunting amount of unstructured data. But its precise nature allows marketing tailored to individuals and the ability to anticipate future needs of consumers. Analytic tools exist to help businesses organize social media data.
Developing a new social media community takes time and commitment, and results may come slowly. Staying active in the community is essential. Customers will return only if interesting, relevant content continues to appear. Communities should be built on transparency and trust, and with clearly defined goals in mind.
Mass advertising is losing efficacy as consumers begin to demand more engagement from companies. Traditional “push” marketing now has a response rate below 2%. But brute force isn’t necessary with social media marketing, which creates “pull” markets of self-identified customers who seek interaction. Now businesses can receive comments directly from customers and style marketing strategies to target individuals rather than demographics.
These consumers are not interested in just coupons and deals. They want content, information, and conversation. Twitter has become the venue for customers to engage companies, allowing for immediate, public discourse. Not only does this communication provide invaluable feedback, but a thoughtful and prompt response increases brand advocacy among all viewers.
Effective communication requires company-wide coordination. Because customers want to have a conversation, businesses need to respond to comments with a consistent and human voice. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems keep track of individual customer interactions and distribute it to all employees and departments, eliminating the alienating “selective memory” effect. A comment alert system and clearly defined roles for social media representatives will lead to quick and relevant responses.
Over time social media may produce a daunting amount of unstructured data. But its precise nature allows marketing tailored to individuals and the ability to anticipate future needs of consumers. Analytic tools exist to help businesses organize social media data.
Developing a new social media community takes time and commitment, and results may come slowly. Staying active in the community is essential. Customers will return only if interesting, relevant content continues to appear. Communities should be built on transparency and trust, and with clearly defined goals in mind.
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