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Lucy Nixon

Lucy Nixon

Measuring the Fragmented Brand Experience Across Multiple Devices

online advertising metricsPage views, clicks, conversions—they’re harder to track today than ever before despite the fact that brand marketers have more tools to do so. The problem is the fragmented brand experience that happens as consumers interact with branded content and communications across multiple devices in a single day, a single hour, and even in a single minute.

Consumer behavior has changed so much in the past few years with the maturation of the mobile device market. Today, consumers spend more time using their mobile devices than they spend watching television or using a computer. Not only do brand marketers have to connect with consumers based on the media channels they prefer and the specific types of content they consume, but brands also have to connect with them on specific devices.

The user experience on one device should rarely be the same as it is on another device. That means brand marketers have to develop more content than ever. Consumers demand personalization and user experiences that fit the media channel and the device. Once that content has been distributed and consumed, brand marketers still have to measure the ROI of their campaigns and efforts.

It wasn’t long ago that getting accurate metrics for online, social, and mobile audiences was challenging. Today, brand marketers have access to a massive amount of data, but the accuracy of that data leaves a lot to be desired. Not only are brand marketers challenged by distorted online advertising metrics due to traffic and click fraud, they’re also fighting against the overall degradation of data and the growing problems related to multi-screen consumers.

Today’s consumers have very fragmented experiences with brands. They’ll visit a brand website, interact with brand content, and see brand communications and ads from their work computers, home computers, smartphones, and tablets. How can brand marketers identify a single consumer who visits through these various devices using different IP addresses and in different locations as the same visitor? They can’t. Instead, the number of unique visitors is artificially inflated.

Similarly, brand marketers cannot accurately track conversions. How did a customer originally learn about a brand offer? It’s not necessarily from the link they followed to land on the brand’s offer page where conversions are tracked. They could have learned about the brand offer when they were using their smartphone and later visited the site from their home computer where they clicked on the link or took the action that put them on the “conversion” list. Brands are missing a huge piece of the buyer journey. As a result, future marketing campaigns could be created that rely on available data rather than “real” data, and those marketing campaigns will deliver poor results.

In short, brand marketers are tasked with delivering metrics, but until accurate metrics are available, particularly metrics that account for fragmented brand experiences across multiple devices, the struggle to calculate ROI continues.

What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Miguel Ugalde

Brand Video Content Converts Better than Other Content

video cameraNearly three out of four brand marketers (71%) who use video as a form of marketing content agree that brand video content converts better than other content, such as text and image content, sales, and downloads.

That comes from the Video Content Marketing: Identifying Metrics and Measuring Impact study conducted by Demand Metric for Vidyard. Of the 235 B2B marketers who responded to the study survey, 86% are actively measuring the effectiveness of their video marketing efforts, and more than two out of three are producing more than 100 content marketing videos per year.

A key finding from the study reveals those brands that distribute their videos through multiple channels are getting the best results. The report explains that 63% of B2B respondents are hosting their brand video content on their own sites as well as on at least one external site such as YouTube or Vimeo. Nearly half (43%) distribute their brand videos only through third party sites, and just 11% host their videos only on their own websites. ROI is reportedly higher for respondents with a multi-channel distribution strategy.

Just nine months ago, I discussed a different brand video content study here on the Corporate Eye blog that showed how much the use of video content marketing has grown in recent years. At the time, the 2013 Online Video Marketing Survey and Business Video Trends Report had just been released by ReelSEO, the Web Marketing Council, and Flimp Media. Of the 600 marketers surveyed as part of the study, 93% of those marketers were using brand video content (up from 81% in 2012) with 82% reporting that video content had a positive effect on their businesses.

Compare those statistics to brand video content data from 2011 and earlier, and there is no doubt that video content has become a critical part of brand marketing strategies. For example, research from Content Wise and the Custom Content Council, which I wrote about here on the Corporate Eye blog in April 2012, found that only 52% of marketers who responded to the study were creating branded video. Back in 2009, only 37% were creating branded video.

Key Takeaways for Brand Marketers

Today, branded video is an integral part of a content marketing strategy, and this new study from Demand Metric and Vidyard sheds light on the importance of diversifying your distribution channels to maximize ROI. As with all content marketing, consumers like to consume content in different ways and in different places. Brand marketers must provide a variety of opportunities for consumers to self-select how they want to interact with the brand’s content. Don’t try to force consumers to watch your branded videos on your website or on YouTube. Give them options to find and consume your video content, and they’re more likely to watch it and share it.

Image: Pawe? Zawistowski

Evolution of the Annual Report

evolution-annual-report

 

One year in, what lessons are there to learn about implementing the new strategic report?

At Communicate’s next conference in London, Evolution of the Annual Report, which will take place in early October, attendees will hear from a variety of speakers to find out how the first year of the new-style report has gone, and to hear best practice advice for next year’s reporting cycle.

We love to discover new best practice, and the topics that catch my eye first are those which discuss how to go about creating the report, and what the benefits might be of this new approach:

  • Creating an annual report contents list
  • Board engagement and perceptions
  • Distilling the DNA of a company
  • Benefits of a clear and concise report
  • Fresh perspectives on the business through reporting
  • Lessons from a first strategic report

There are other subjects to be covered too, such as the technological implications of the changes – and at the final session, FutureValue will confer the Strategic Report Accolades on the winners for 2014.

Speakers come from the full range of organisations – corporates, agencies, government, journalists, professional bodies and regulators – including Rio Tinto, National Grid, the ICSA and Board Intelligence.

Sounds interesting? If this event would be useful to you, find out more on the Communicate website.

Online OnBoarding

If you’re based here in the UK, you’ll be bracing yourself for pictures in the papers tomorrow of young people embracing each other happily, or jumping in the air, waving bits of paper. They’re already on schools’ websites, and online…

Yes, it’s Results Day today, and I’ve been to school twice (A-levels and AS-level results). I did spot a genuine embracing scene (though no jumping).

Of course, things move faster these days than they used to: almost immediately, Daughter 1 received a congratulatory email from the Vice-Chancellor of her chosen university welcoming her, and providing a link to a dedicated set of web pages to help ease her through the onboarding process.

lancaster onboarding

It’s been interesting, over the last year or so, to observe the touch-points that universities are using to target their potential recruits, and to entice them to choose a course at that university – ideas that might be useful to corporate recruiters. (More on this another day).

Obviously I haven’t seen as wide a range of university onboarding techniques as we have of their recruitment techniques, but I thought this approach to it was impressive, and a similar approach would work well for new recruits.

As well as the countdown clock, the onboarding pages provide:

  • a checklist of things to do before arriving (fees, accommodation and pre-registration) with links to travel help and an app
  • things to do on arrival day (dates, finding your room, getting IT/wifi to work, room inventories, how to find a timetable) with links to help services and a list of essential documents
  • things to do in the first week (timetables and events, social media links, transport…)
  • what happens after the first week (studying, events, societies, the surrounding area)
  • and how to find help.

Many of these are things that a new recruit also needs to know – though no doubt there are a few others to be added for the workplace. Providing advice, checklists and documentation online would be reasonably easy to set up, and very helpful to new recruits.

State of Digital Coupons in 2014

digital couponsThe State of Digital Coupons report from RetailMeNot and Forrester Consulting reveals that digital coupons are still a critical method of building brand loyalty and generating sales.

In fact, coupons are the most effective method of influencing customer purchase decisions with survey respondents ranking coupons twice as effective as sales (59% vs. 28%) and more than six times more effective than daily deal vouchers (9%).

Furthermore, more than two out of three consumers believe that coupons effectively build brand awareness and generate loyalty (68% each).

Nearly one in two consumers are more likely to try a new brand when they receive a coupon for it on their smartphone while shopping in a store (47%), and more than one in three consumers are likely to switch brands when they receive a digital coupon on their smartphones while shopping in a store (36%).

Not only are digital coupons effective in driving brand loyalty and sales, they’re also extremely effective at motivating people to visit brick-and-mortar stores. In total, 50% of consumers are more likely to visit a store if they’ve received a digital coupon from that store.

Digital coupons are one of the few marketing messages that consumers truly want to receive from brands. The research found that 60% of consumers love to receive digital coupons. The majority of consumers find digital coupons in email messages that they receive from brands, online searches, coupon mobile apps, and emails sent to them from coupon companies.

It’s important to keep in mind that just because consumers want to receive digital coupons doesn’t mean that all coupons will be successful in generating sales and brand loyalty. The research study found that nine out of 10 consumers use digital coupons within several days of receiving them. In fact, approximately one in three consumers use digital coupons immediately after they receive them, and another one in three uses them within several hours of receiving them.

For brand marketers, digital coupons should be a core component of your retail marketing strategy, but remember, the lifespan of a digital coupon is very short! You need to test and balance your frequency of sending coupon messages with that brief digital coupon lifespan to find the best distribution schedule and method for your brand’s target audience.

Image: mrceviz

How to Build a Company Culture that Supports Your Brand

googleplexWhat does your brand promise to consumers? Does your company culture reflect that promise?

Your employees are your most powerful brand advocates. Do they believe your brand promise? Do they live that promise every day at work?

If your company culture doesn’t match your brand promise, then there is no reason for employees to believe it or advocate your brand. Instead, they’ll be reminded every day that the company’s message to customers is very different from the reality of the company. When these two things don’t get agree, your brand is in trouble.

Internal branding is critical to brand success, which is why it is so important that your company culture reflects and supports your brand. Only then can brand experiences for customers truly resonate as authentic and trustworthy, and without brand trust, your company is in even more trouble!

Here are some of the steps you need to take to develop a company culture that effectively supports your brand. The sooner you get started building the right company culture, the better.

1. Define Your Core Values

This certainly isn’t a new step, but it’s one that is far too often checked off of the To Do list and forgotten. Little thought is given to developing the company’s core values aside from making sure they sound good to anyone who reads them. Actually living those core values is something that rarely happens. However, companies that develop laser-focused, non-negotiable core values that live up to their brands’ promises typically see employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and sales increase.

2. Develop Processes to Integrate Your Core Values into All Aspects of Your Business Operations

Don’t just send the list of core values around to employees, add them to the new hire handbook, and forget about them. Instead, the core values should be evaluated as part of every business process. Commitment to the core values should be a part of every job description and every employee’s performance plan and review. Leadership must take ownership for ensuring the commitment to the company’s core values is made by every employee.

3. Educate Your Employees

You can’t just assume your employees understand and live your core values. You have to educate them—not just on what the core values are but why each one exists and what it means to each employee and each customer. Train them on how to integrate the core values into their daily jobs and decision-making. Expand your Code of Conduct and Ethics to include language related to living the core values in support of the brand promise.

4. Hire People Who Match Your Core Value System

Take the time to evaluate prospective employees for “culture fit.” A qualified applicant might not be the right cultural fit for your company. Personality assessments are particularly effective in identifying employees who will or will not excel in your company’s environment. Invest time into the interviewing process to ensure new hires have a chance for success.

5. Apply Your Company Culture to Brand Experiences

Once your company culture reflects your brand promise, it is far easier to develop effective brand experiences for consumers. Employees will be more supportive of products, services, promotions, new opportunities, and so on. As a result, the brand has a better chance at success.

Bottom-line, your company culture and brand promise must be aligned or your company and brand success will be limited.

Image: Maria Ly licensed CC BY 2.0