Corporate Eye

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Archives for October 2008

Lessons Learned from the LEGO Miniman

In August, the LEGO miniman turned 30 years old.  Brand icons such as the LEGO miniman have a unique way of ingratiating themselves into popular culture.  Consider Ronald McDonald, the Pillsbury Dough Boy or the Michelin Tire Man.  All of these “spokespeople” have become iconic symbols of brands.  Consumers welcome them into their homes like they’re old friends, and that familiarity and relationship leads to comfort with the brand and the products under the brand umbrella.  The end result of popular iconic characters is brand loyalty and a unique form of relationship branding.

According to a LEGO press release, the LEGO miniman is the second successful iconic symbol of the LEGO brand after the LEGO brick.  We’ve established that a brand icon can be powerful, imagine the combined strength of multiple brand icons!  And when one or more of those icons takes on a personality leading to that aforementioned relationship, then a brand has reached nirvana. [Read more…] about Lessons Learned from the LEGO Miniman

The Case for Micromanaging Your Online Marketing Initiatives

Remember when marketers could put together programs and execute them with a carefully planned schedule?  There was time to get everything just right before rolling out new messages and materials. 

With the popularity of the social web in the 21st century, those slow-moving strategies and tactics must be replaced with flexibility, adaptability and ever-changing foresight.  Timeliness is more important than ever, and if you drop the ball, the members of the social web are standing by ready to point out your error for the world to notice and discuss. [Read more…] about The Case for Micromanaging Your Online Marketing Initiatives

Video Blogging: The New Corporate Media – Part II

What Ways Can My Company Benefit From Vlogging?

Vlogging is a combination of video plus blogging and is not a new concept to the business world. Although it’s not new, it’s use of it in online businesses to grow businesses is a concept that is still catching on and making headway in many corporate media sectors. Large companies, both online and offline use the idea of vlogging to bring their business concepts to the forefront of mainstream industries and to give their financial health a much-needed boost in their bank accounts. It is a concept that if properly utilized and strategically marketed, can be a phenomenal addition to media relations and marketing strategies for any business.

Companies can benefit in a myriad of ways, the least of which include a level of branding for the company and any products or services that has the potential to make them a household name. Since branding and brand awareness is an integral part of any business’s model and structure, it is highly preferable to have a video blogging marketing strategy that establishes the company firmly in its niche area. When a corporation is in the blogosphere on a regular basis, their name(s) become synonymous with their product or service. Couple that exposure with video and the company has the (potential) base to explode their sales and service quotas. Vlogging can be a significant boost to any company’s arsenal of marketing power.

Some of the venues that corporations and small businesses alike can use in their vlogging quests are popular social sites like MySpace, YouTube and Yahoo! Video. There are numerous others, but these social networking sites are more frequently accessed and have more general exposure to corporations and online businesses targeted towards consumer and business markets. As a matter-of-fact, many businesses use these sites exclusively to promote their product or service and to publicly announce new product lines and changes in their business offerings.

Tangible Vlogging Benefits

Here are some other areas of benefits where companies can make an impact in the business industry with vlogging:

Exposure

This is undoubtedly one of the major benefits of vlogging for businesses. The exposure that video blogging can bring to any business can be hard to quantify without trackable resources. However, one way to definitely place tracking on this marketing technique is by the number of clicks and comments, if any, left by those that view your video uploads.

Image

Video blogging can be wondrous for a company’s image, no matter what the industry, product or service may be. When customers see the business in action, hear the CEO discuss plans or developments in their niche and get an idea of what direction the company is headed, customer confidence increases and sales likely follow. It also instills good will in customers and exuberates an air of stability and responsibility on behalf of the company.

Confidence

As touched on in Image, consumer confidence is also a potential beneficial increase as a result of video blogging. Economic crises that plague various industries can be attributed to consumer confidence, or, the lack thereof. Instilling or reinforcing that confidence through vlogging can be a plus for large corporations. 

Increased Sales

Finally, what company would not enjoy an increase of sales or an influx of new customers for their business? Video blogging is NOT guaranteed to give the business that, but does offer a leg of potential sales increase by being in front of the consumer on a regular basis.

What other benefits of vlogging can you offer that you think adds to a company’s marketing strategy? Does your compnay vlog? Has it worked well for your industry?