Even in the midst of a noisy political season, a time of cord cutters and a plethora of pandemic news, you still can—indeed you still must—market your products and services. And if, like most businesses, your media plan includes digital media—search, streaming and social—the following advice from a variety of media experts will help you get the most bang for your buck in each medium.
No. 1: Search-optimize content for current popular keywords
Online searches for many product categories have spiked in recent months. At the same time, businesses have more data than ever before to tell if their products and services fit the needs and wants of online searchers.
Search experts say you should look to Google Trends for the most popular search keywords at any given moment. This free tool allows you to filter by topic or industry—as well as compare the performance of different keywords over time. Currently, most industries are finding a surge of keywords focused on sanitation and safety.
In the hospitality industry, a term rising in popularity is hotel sanitation. If you are a hotel, it makes sense to optimize for this search trend by adding content to your site with relevant information on the sanitation measures you are taking. The operative term here is relevant information. Search engines are in the business of sending people to the right answers to their questions, and if your content doesn’t have credibility or match the searcher’s intent, this will undermine your SEO efforts. Adding content such as the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau Safe + Clean Pledge and safety messaging from the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance Supporters of Broward (SOB) campaign to your pages are two ways to add credibility.
To maximize your ROI from search optimization, it’s important to revisit the trends and how your content aligns with them—as well as your plans to bring searchers into the sales funnel—at least every few months. If you haven’t revisited your site content and optimization in the last few months, it’s time for an update. Tools that can help include Google Trends (of course), but also Moz, SEM Rush and AHREFS.com. These sites can help you perform keyword research, examine search volume, see what the competition is doing and help with site audits. But, like any tool, these only work if you use them diligently.
No. 2: Stream short videos more effectively with OTT
When cord cutters are watching their favorite shows on ad-supported streaming services like Hulu, Amazon, YouTube and CBS All Access, how do you get the attention of your target audience? For these viewers, it makes sense to bypass the traditional television networks in favor of buying over the top (OTT) advertising. OTT allows you to reach your target audience with a strategic campaign across multiple devices in specific geotargeted areas that matter. This means you’re spending dollars where they count the most. Additionally, videos on these platforms give viewers the opportunity to take an action by clicking, which can become an important part of your lead generation program that adds prospects to your sales funnel.
OTT buys allow for more control over your campaign, frequent changes to keep messaging fresh and relevant, high-view completion rates, in-stream only and non-skippable content—so you only pay for actual ad views and not mere placement.
Digital partners such as iHeartMedia, Effectv and Entercom offer OTT advertising. They provide a great starting point for investigating the possibilities of OTT.
When setting up your paid social media strategy, think about the behaviors that are truly valuable to your business. For instance, if you are still paying money to boost Facebook posts, now’s the time to redirect those dollars. Instead of paying for likes and comments, choose a consideration objective, like video views, to pay as low as a penny per view.
You should also consider running an always-on retargeting campaign. By using your Facebook pixel on high-value website pages, you can recapture visitors to serve them a unique message on social media to multiply your ROI. It’s a great way to close the gap for lead recapture and conversions at lower cost than a prospecting audience.
On the organic side of social media, consider that your employees can be successful micro-influencers when they distribute and promote your business content on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. An example could be a thought leadership piece written by your CEO and distributed by your employees to their networks. It’s quite possibly the lowest-cost way to expand your content reach to those who already have a connection to your company.
Right now, taking smart actions pays even greater dividends
Marketing during a downturn means you enjoy less category competition and greater return on your digital spend. Whether you can use one or all three of these affordable digital marketing strategies, you can expect to see greater ROI now, when every dollar invested in marketing matters more—and that’s definitely a competitive advantage.
3 Marketing Tips You Can Learn From TikTok
With over 2 billion downloads worldwide, TikTok has become the largest growing social media network. Whether it aligns with your content goals or not, there are some serious learnings all marketers should pay attention to.
1. The Riches Are in the Niches
TikTok is more than dance videos and lip syncing. Creators that have seen viral success by finding their tribe through creating consistent niche content. This allows the algorithm to work in your favor to easily be discovered by like-minded people, which validates that TikTok is for everyone.
2. Tell a Short Story
Just like all social platforms storytelling is a must, but getting to the point is key. Creators have up to 60 seconds to do a quick welcome, introduce a topic, deliver usable actionable info and sign off.
Creating a template style format will establish a replicable format that will save time and establish a consistent style for a beginning, middle and end.
3. Perfect Isn’t Authentic
There’s no elaborate set or background. Creators are making videos on the fly and posting them as often as every day. Videos don’t need to be perfect. Users value relevance and timeliness. Over-editing videos can waste time and miss opportunities to connect to your audience. Get your video up and learn and optimize as you go.
Advertisers on TikTok are required to change their creative every two days. That might sound like a lot, but TikTok is really staying true to it’s authentic nature by challenging advertisers to create and distribute content that’s always new and relevant.
Things You Can Do Today
Find your niche and stick to it.
Less is more. Get to the point, and position your most important message to the front.
Stop overthinking and over editing. Set an editing limit, and turn-around creative faster.
Whether we acknowledge it consciously or not, most of us are revisiting the power of words. More time at home means more conversations with friends and family. And nearly 50% of consumers report they are spending more time on social and other online media than they did before the pandemic. During that same time period, nearly 50% have changed brand preferences, as well.
With this new emphasis on conversation, both online and offline, it’s time for every company to renew its focus on brand voice. Broadening your approach to branding beyond just colors, graphics and brandmarks is the key to capitalizing on shifting brand loyalties during this period.
Every brand strives to create a feeling
Carving out a place in a consumer’s mind is a function of how you make that person feel. That’s a core tenet of branding. Brand voice is a critical part of establishing that feeling and, therefore, that place in the mind of a consumer.
Whether you are talking about creating a brandmark or a brand voice, both the personality (how you express outwardly) and the identity (your internal values and company culture) of your brand should merge to create the desired feeling.
Understanding and documenting brand voice
Whereas brand messaging tells you what to say, your brand voice dictates how to say it. This tone and personality aspect of brand voice is what creates a feeling for consumers. Unfortunately, this exercise is often buried or entirely left out of many brand guidelines.
Most branding agencies agree that choosing three or four words or descriptors can help companies guide brand voice. An easy-to-understand example is Coca-Cola. Its three voice descriptors are “positive,” “friendly” and “down to earth.” Its desired place in a consumer’s mind is the happy place that stores positive life experiences. Coca-Cola’s guidelines document those three descriptors and provide written examples of how to use them. This is core material that has guided an almost 130-year-old brand.
Writers love having a well-documented brand voice because it saves a tremendous amount of creative energy and time by creating focus. By demonstrating how the communication should sound and how it should make a consumer feel, you’ve provided effective direction and a way to measure whether that communication is effective. More importantly, it creates messaging consistency that supports brand loyalty, which is so critical today.
Applying brand voice to human-computer interactions
One of the fastest growing human-computer “voice” interactions is guided by a chatbot. And this rapidly growing communications vehicle is a perfect place to demonstrate the power of brand voice.
When you interact with a chatbot when visiting a website or after clicking an ad, the conversation is mostly text—perhaps punctuated by a few emoji. Here, brand voice must stand alone with no graphic support. A great chatbot execution will feel like a human interaction. A bad one can feel robotic and out of sync with your expected brand experience.
Both AI and scripted bots must be “taught” the brand voice to have successful interactions with consumers. Well-written chatbots answer FAQs faster than a link for customers to search. They also help brands learn more about their audiences and define personas.
A well-executed chatbot can become a high-performing sales or customer service representative for your company. A poor one can cause drop-off without finishing the chat. The key differentiator is creating a conversation that feels human and consistent with the brand.
Meet the Virtual Health Care Coordinator
Chatbots are used in almost every industry that needs sales and service. A local example is NSU Health Clinics, which has locations throughout Broward and Miami-Dade counties. It recently launched a chatbot through Facebook to help connect patients with the services they require. A friendly robot inside an animated in-feed ad gets their attention, and patients are introduced to the Virtual Health Care Coordinator.
The Virtual Health Care Coordinator follows the NSU voice of “confident,” “direct,” “smart” and “conversational” while helping patients request appointments, learn about services and explore locations. It also gives the clinics more information about prospective patients’ interests when they arrive at the clinic.
Brand voice is the key to effective, efficient communication
The time is now to update and strengthen your brand voice and continue to carve out that place in your customer’s mind. It’s the key to helping them feel your brand when they hear or see your messages—which is definitely a competitive advantage.
Virtual reality can take higher education to new heights
Hybrid and remote learning are here to stay at U.S. colleges, universities and grade schools. And while these new teaching modalities pose some challenges for professors and students, they also offer opportunities for new interactive educational experiences. In particular, virtual reality provides a perfect platform to erase the distance from distance learning.
For this article we spoke with VR experts, Bryan Yee and Jay Miolla. Jay is a VR veteran and Managing Director of The Cuttlefish, a company that specializes in immersive, location-based experiences. Bryan is a VR developer who is teaching a Cornell University summer workshop entirely in virtual reality. The workshop title Curating the Future is part of the Millstein Program series that encourages students to investigate the social and political context of technology.
Lose your misconceptions about VR in higher education
According to Bryan Yee, “The first misconception you have to get over is that you can’t be effective as an educator in VR. When you understand the medium and tailor your content to it, you can teach in ways that weren’t possible before.”
“Every teacher is figuring out how to be a virtual professor,” says Jay Miolla. “The notion of a virtual professor is changing on the fly. But virtual teaching is absolutely more successful for the people who look for new ways to use the tech.”
Both Bryan and Jay said one of the biggest missteps they see when educational institutions jump into VR is that they try to recreate previous educational experiences in the new space. On the flip side, they recommend embracing once of the best things about VR: that it allows experiential teaching in a new way. You just have to be willing enough to let go of the old so that you can embrace the new possibilities.
When you understand the medium and tailor your content to it, you can teach in ways that weren’t possible before. — Bryan Yee, Workshop Lead at Cornell University
VR allows students to get hands-on
At Cornell, Bryan’s students meet in a VR space called The Platform. The space allows students using an Oculus Quest to interact in VR using their real hands instead of controllers. Immediately, seminar participants began to hug or high-five when they got together—much-needed social connections during a summer of lockdown.
When Bryan realized his students were responding to this pent-up need for physical interaction, he actually modified elements of the curriculum to be more physically interactive. He took greater advantage of the tactile capabilities of the Oculus Quest, and, to introduce the concept, he created a jukebox students could bang to turn on the music, in the style of Arthur Fonzarelli of “Happy Days”. While the cultural reference might have been lost on his Gen Z students, the fun certainly wasn’t.
Put students at the center of the VR education experience
Jay Miolla says, “Zoom is only effective for announcements. Collaboration is a challenge. But there’s potential in creating individualized experiences that can be delivered in education.”
Putting students at the center is one of the core tenets of active learning, and it’s one way that VR excels. Because VR in a shared space is about collaboration—not one-way monologue.
Zoom is only effective for announcements. Collaboration is a challenge. — Jay Miolla, Managing Director, The Cuttlefish.
Bryan’s Curating the Future workshop for Cornell is all about helping students develop skills creating for Unity 3D, the most widely used 3D rendering engine.Following the rollout of the interactive object feature to The Platform, students can now curate their own space and fill it with their own objects created using Unity. This self-guided approach to creation allows them to teach themselves and teach each other — while building confidence in their skills. Bryan joked, “I think they actually teach each other more than I teach them.”
Get ready to experiment
No one has all the solutions at this moment for how to best deliver remote and hybrid learning. It’s about experimenting and adapting. And that means getting comfortable with trying new things. For instance, Bryan Yee and his fellow lecturers started holding faculty meetings in VR to get more people comfortable with the technology.
You’re not just teaching, you’re also learning. — Bryan Yee
Jay Miolla says, “We’re very early in the adoption curve for immersive tech. The pitfall to avoid is using it solely for the whiz-bang value. The real, lasting uses of VR are not the attempts to replace existing classroom experiences, they’re about doing things that you can’t do any other way.”
Bryan adds, “The most important thing to remember is that you’re not just teaching, you’re also learning. You’re learning and exploring how to reach and teach your students. You can modify and be responsive to what you’re seeing. AR, VR, virtual platforms give you more flexibility to shape the experiment with your students.”
Here’s what you can do right now
Both Bryan and Jay recommend that any college, university or grade school interested in offering VR educational experiences should prepare by getting hands on with the technology now. “Getting the equipment is the key,” says Bryan. “Tech equality is an important aspect of making this work. When creating or meeting in VR, it’s about providing students an even playing field.”
Start experimenting now to find your fit. — Jay Miolla
There are many different hardware offerings and scores of software solutions that can be adapted for VR education. “You have to build your curriculum to account for the technology, and that takes some pre-work,” says Bryan Yee. Jay Miolla adds, “Start experimenting now to find your fit. Keep the outcome in mind—it’s about delivering something new and better, rather than replicating what you used to do in the classroom.”
Starmark and our friends, Bryan and Jay, have tons of experience developing and deploying AR and VR experiences that solve modern problems. If you’re not sure where to start, get in touch with us. And definitely check out our eight-step guide to getting your first AR project off the ground.
Five tips for adapting your brand personality to new tech and new media
”They may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.” That Maya Angelou quote comes to us from voice artist Mindy Baer, and it underlines what this entire article is about. Because brand personality, more than anything else, is the way to carve out a space in the minds of consumers by creating an emotional connection.
The future of digital marketing offers space in emerging tech, like voice assistants, and new media, like TikTok. Now, it’s time for companies to consider how well documented and consistent their brand personalities are — because these new opportunities come at the expense of many of the crutches relied upon in the past by logo and design-driven legacy brands.
In this article, a panel of experts offers their advice on what any brand steward or marketing professional needs to know to stick the landing when taking the leap into emerging digital marketing trends and new channels. Because whether 2020 has you looking to take your brand to TikTok, augmented reality, immersive video, voice assistants, chatbots or virtual trade shows, defining your brand personality is the key to getting it right.
What is brand personality?
This is one topic that deserves its own article, which is why we wrote one. But to keep things simple here, think about this: What defines you as a person? Your interests, your mission, your appearance, your voice, your actions and your demeanor — just for a start. A brand is no different. The best, most successful ones are driven by well formed personalities.
Jennifer Whetzel of Ladyjane Branding says, “With my clients, I try to make it simple and fun. I have them take a short quiz that helps me understand who they are, and then we talk through different types of brand archetypes within the cannabis marketplace to help them fully define their brand personality.”
Three of the brand archetypes used by Ladyjane Branding — the Eternal Child, Explorer and Socialite, respectively.
Tip #1: Define your own space in new media
”One misstep we see are companies trying to define themselves purely in relation to their product or service category. When you think about it, those product categories aren’t meaningful to real people out in the real world. They aren’t forming a relationship with your laundry detergent because of how different you are from your competitors,” says Dave Berg of Shepherd. Shepherd specializes in using data-driven audience analysis to help clients uncover new growth opportunities by uncovering the passions that unite people.
Dave adds, “That kind of category-comparative thinking is a relic of a world where you could buy people’s attention. It’s just not the world we’re living in today.”
They aren’t forming a relationship with your laundry detergent because of how different you are from your competitors.” — Dave Berg, Shepherd
The takeaway here is to find your own brand personality that’s authentic and matches your common interests with audiences. Focusing too much on what the competition is doing is a trap.
”We always try to find the clear space in the sports market for our clients,” says Bill Wollert, Managing Director of Optimum Sports, the dedicated sports marketing division of Omnicom. “With a clear brand focus and personality, it’s easier for our team to find the ways they can add value to the space in ways others couldn’t or wouldn’t,” he added.
“With a clear brand focus and personality, it’s easier for our team to find the ways they can add value to the space in ways others couldn’t or wouldn’t.” — Bill Wollert, Optimum Sports/Omnicom
Tip #2: Use your brand personality to eliminate waste
Let’s face it; there’s a cost to creating an AR experience or diving into a new social channel. “Even if it’s not a big deal to fund the up-front development or the ongoing costs of content, if you’re investing in a tool or a channel that doesn’t fit your brand and audience, you’re never going to get the value out of it,” says Sarai Nuñez, social media consultant and professor for University of Miami’s School of Communication.
“One of the first things I work through with many clients is getting past the idea that we’re for everyone. One of the most powerful things about defining your brand personality is it tells you who you’re not. And that helps you make real business decisions about where to invest and what to avoid,” adds Jennifer Whetzel. Ladyjane Branding specializes in helping cannabis brands find their personality and voice in an emerging market.
One of the most powerful things about defining your brand personality is it tells you who you’re not.” – Jennifer Whetzel, Ladyjane Branding
Eliminating the irrelevant is one critical but overlooked function of a documented brand personality. It will help you figure out what audiences aren’t going to be relevant targets. And it will also help you figure out what media just aren’t a good fit for you and the value you offer.
This is a powerful tool for helping you avoid missteps in new media and failed experiments in new tech. Sarai Nuñez says, “Trust the people you’ve hired to help you with your brand. If they’re steering you away from a certain medium or steering you toward something else, it’s because they’re trying to find what fits.” Because for brands, as with people, there are absolutely different strokes for different folks.
Tip 3: Brand development can help you find your tribe
Part of the brand personality process helps you uncover what’s important to you. And those brand passion points are the key to making real connections with new communities. For instance, if you’re a tool brand that values ingenuity, it’s easier to see how you might look beyond your audiences of craftspeople and DIYers to find a shared passion with PC builders and IT professionals.
”When a brand understands who it is, it’s easier to find new growth audiences that make sense. The big data part of what we do helps find those tribes united by a strong shared interest,” says Dave Burg. “A brand that knows itself is going to be able to build authentic relationships in those communities,” he adds.
”As we’ve seen cable TV penetration rates decline and entertainment viewership shift to OTT and VOD services, traditional cable and broadcast sports programming viewership has remained relatively stable — or gone up in some cases. Sports is still a way to deliver massive reach, and these consumption shifts have given advertisers a second chance to rethink their sports strategies. As we’ve seen cable TV penetration rates decline, women’s sports is now one of the more efficient ways to reach female audiences,” says Bill Wollert. “And you’re part of the conversation that you know the audience is passionate about,” he adds.
Tip 4: Figure out what value your brand can provide
According to Bill Wollert of Optimum Sports, the clients who’ve figured out how to add value to the communal experience for sports fans are the ones who’ve benefited most. He went on to say, “When an advertiser is looking to enter into the sports marketplace, we push them to think about how they can bring value to the fans. Sports fans always want to get closer to the game, so figuring out how to do that can unlock new opportunities. It’s all about having a fan-first mindset.”
“When an advertiser is looking to enter into the sports marketplace, we push them to think about how they can bring value to the fans.” – Bill Wollert, Optimum Sports/Omnicom
Credits: Sophie Robbins and Francesca deWeerdt, University of Miami
“The students in my Advanced Creative Development class are great at this because they’re so much closer to emerging trends,” says Sarai Nuñez. “For a COVID-related brief, they came up with an idea for Goodwill; a TikTok challenge to try on everything in your closet and have friends tell you what to keep or donate. We dug into the audiences, really got to know their struggles, and this was a great use of TikTok to escape boredom in quarantine in a way that helps Goodwill restock.”
These service-minded questions are absolutely the crux of any good branding endeavor, and defining those values should be part of your brand personality process. The important thing to remember here is to approach any new marketing technology or new media channel with an idea of how you can make the space better. What fun can you add for users? How can you address a pain point? How can you amplify their passion?
Tip 5: In the world of marketing technology, it pays to make your brand more human
”I have to evaluate every opportunity by considering if I can portray this honestly,” says Mindy Baer. “When I’m creating a promo for a new show, I have to think about the experience of watching it. Does it need to feel like curling up next to your friend on the couch with a glass of wine or is it a late-night true crime nail-biter?”
”The first thing we do is start talking about human characteristics and archetypes, and that’s no accident,” says Jennifer Whetzel. “I really need my clients to think about their brands as real people with real personalities and dimension.”
Developing a real human personality is what allows you to relate to an audience in a way that’s meaningful and authentic. But don’t overcomplicate it. Start by defining the very small number of things that should always be true about any interaction with your brand. Are you absolutely always cheeky and joyful? What about uplifting and supportive? The goal isn’t to define everything you can be, but instead to outline what you must always be to maintain consistency. If this sounds tough, it’s because self-examination always is. And while it’s totally possible to outline your brand personality within your own company, the process is much easier with the help of an outside perspective from an agency partner or consultant.
Your brand personality gives you the power to go forth and conquer
If you haven’t defined your brand personality, we hope these tips have shown you how much you stand to gain by getting real before diving into emerging media or tech. Knowing who you are, definitively, will save you immeasurably in the long run by helping you determine how, where and with whom to play.
This group of experts — from the emerging market of cannabis branding to sports marketing to professional commercial voice work to higher education to audience segmentation and analytics — hopes this article will help you understand and document your brand personality so that you can step more boldly into new spaces. If you want to know more about developing your brand personality in new places, check out our articles on developing your brand personality the easy way, finding your brand personality in your favorite TV characters and how to bring your brand to life in augmented reality.
Thanks again to Jennifer Whetzel of Ladyjane Branding, Voice Artist Mindy Baer, Bill Wollert of Omnicom’s Optimum Sports, Dave Berg of Shepherd and Sarai Nuñez of University of Miami for lending your expertise.
How to show off your brand personality in AR marketing
Brands that want to wow their audiences need to make bold marketing decisions.
Referring to the latest technological trends is always a great place to start; it shows you are progressive and not afraid of change.
However, just because the words “augmented reality” scream, “Cool factor!” doesn’t mean your brand’s AR activation will automatically connect with your audience. A truly great AR execution needs to be driven by your brand personality. The magic is in the little details and touches that make the world you’re creating uniquely you.
So, here are our top tips to bring your corporate identity and brand personality to life in AR — paired with some examples we’ve produced for our clients.
1. Gamify your AR experience with key brand elements
It’s called an AR “experience” for a reason! Give your audience a chance to explore, interact with — and enjoy — the space you’ve created.
The big benefit of AR is you can get audience members absorbed and involved. Use your brand voice to entertain them with quizzes, videos, captions and more brand elements filled with information about what you have to offer. This turns what people may think of as an entirely visual production into something much more.
To promote the FlyGreen MIA sustainability project, we developed the “ARport” app. With a model of the airport itself – complete with patrolling helicopters and a monorail—ARport was an augmented reality trivia scavenger hunt passengers used to uncover all the ways MIA was saving energy and water while also picking up helpful tips for home.
Users could learn who the first U.S. president to install HVAC in the White House was (*cough* President William Howard Taft *cough*) and then gain a fun fact about the new air conditioning system FPL installed at MIA.
The entertaining trivia game backed by strong statistics and brand videos made FPL’s “green” brand personality stand out, even persuading the audience to maintain sustainable lifestyles of their own.
2. Infuse your augmented reality creation with your brand’s reality
Is there something big coming up for your brand? Or maybe there’s just an event next season where you want to make a splash? They say timing is everything, and they’re not wrong.
Tying your AR experience around a specific moment in time will give your audience a good idea of where you’re at as a brand. You can give them something to look forward to, like a portal to a vacation in paradise or a sneak peek at a new building. Either way, you’re letting them in on a secret and getting them excited for what’s next.
The Greater Fort Lauderdale / Broward County Convention Center District is undergoing an epic $1 billion expansion project. Since the construction is expected to take several years, the Group Sales team needed help laying the foundation and maintaining momentum for a successful opening.
Starmark created an AR portal to the newly renovated convention center. Utilized as a sales tool, the portal essentially transported potential bookers to the future. It debuted at the groundbreaking event for the convention center, where attendees could see what’s to come and share in the brand’s anticipation. The portal even had little people roaming the grounds — a small brand personality detail that would make any user smile.
3. Sum up your brand personality using an iconic visual cue
This part of the article is for those that say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” While they clearly may not have met a Copywriter before (no shade), this is one cliché that deserves more attention.
Instagram or Snapchat AR filters can emulate your entire brand personality and tone of voice — especially if they fall into a more playful category. Filters will engage consumers, stand out among the noise and spread like wildfire. All you need is a visual that encapsulates your corporate identity.
AR Marketing Real World Example: Starmark International
We produced an Instagram AR filter to entertain our clients at our annual holiday party. Starmark is all about creating BIG IDEAS that make an impact. So, when the time came to select our filter’s visual cue, a light bulb was a (pun intended) no brainer.
Users could make the lightbulb grow bigger the more and more they opened their mouths, as if experiencing the moment of a big idea. Including movement in AR filters is an immediate attention-grabber and plays well to our light-hearted brand personality. The lightbulb perfectly sums up what we do and who we are.
Tell your brand’s story through AR
Augmented reality is a surprisingly easy and inexpensive way to offer immersive digital experiences that engage consumers. Just remember what really makes them memorable is what makes you memorable. You’re your own cool factor. So get out there, and let it shine.
The success of the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, its first fully virtual event, was evident last month. Over two days, Apple enjoyed a global audience of developers that reached far beyond its previous in-person annual conferences.
Versus a webinar or typical online meeting, the live nature and interactivity of virtual trade shows can replicate the essential business functions of in-person conferences. It’s a chance for exhibitors to showcase new products live. It’s a chance for buyers to ask questions of the experts. And, as in Apple’s case, it’s for businesses to reach an audience that extends far beyond what you could draw to an in-person trade show.
Technology adds advantages to virtual trade shows
Jim Grove, VP of marketing with McVeigh Global in New York, says the technology for virtual trade shows has been around for nearly a decade. “Today, virtual event technologies have advanced significantly, and the investment pales next to the ability to stay in touch with your target customers and build relationships with new prospects.”
“The plus of the virtual technologies is that you can also create an environment that will specifically appeal to your audience targets. Exhibitors can also build content for their virtual presentations that are merged with multiple technologies to allow them to be present in-person at trade shows,” he said. “After the trade shows have ended, attendees can go back and view the products that have interested them and contact organizations for more in-person conversations. So, virtual trade shows can keep on selling for longer periods of time.”
Virtual investment offers better information
Grove also points to the information side of the business being enhanced online by companies like Atlanta-based Avolio. A registration and event management software company, Avolio’s global clients include some exhibitions owned by Informa Markets, which has North American offices in Fort Lauderdale.
Avolio CIO David Fattahian says: “Trade shows and conferences are about information. So, for us, getting that information out for the right people at the right time is what’s important.”
“With virtual trade shows, companies realize a tremendous cost savings from airlines, shipping, even saving on the many gallons of coffee they purchase at physical events,” he said. “However, with a hybrid of the physical and virtual exhibition, companies will not only connect with the 10,000 attendees to the show; they will be able to see 10,000-plus more attendees virtually from the same show investment.”
The future of trade shows
Physical costs aside, Fattahian and Grove agree on the future of trade shows.
“Physical trade shows aren’t going away,” Grove said. “In fact, people are clamoring for the interaction they offer. But really well-produced virtual trade shows are going to have all of the same aspects expected with live events and more. We strive for human interaction, even if the touch has to be virtual.”
Renee Jacobs, executive VP of McVeigh Global in San Diego, said virtual meeting plans for 2021 are a contingency for the company’s clients. Additionally, McVeigh is continuing to offer 2D and 3D virtual technology for events like product demonstrations and workshops. They also offer opportunities for attendees to book online meetings with product experts at exhibit booths.
When the word “virus” was breathed in the media in early 2020, John Cotter, COO of American Meetings in Fort Lauderdale, told me his company was supporting a growing demand for virtual meetings and conferences. Hopefully, his company and others will help businesses come out of the shadows and thrive with these virtual technologies.
We are all living in the online world more than ever before. And we will soon be able to take what we have learned about virtual online technologies and make a hybrid of virtual and physical world experiences to gain more exposure for our businesses globally—definitely a competitive advantage.
How your favorite TV show characters can help you define your brand personality
So you have a brand. You have your tagline. You have your logo. You have your primary and secondary color palettes.
Now what?
Well, just ask the question: “WWDDD?” (What would Don Draper do?)
Ok, maybe the self-described digital Mad Man isn’t the best advertising role model. But the way he carries himself is what we’re really hinting at. Personality, or in his case “confidence,” is everything when it comes to a successful brand.
Defining your brand personality is a necessary step in making your brand memorable, especially if you carry it consistently in everything you do. At Starmark, we use a brand attribute exercise called a “North Star,” where we determine a key phrase for marketers to keep in mind during all creative decisions. Just like Don Draper, brands should use their personality and North Star to power through campaigns, especially in certain types of new media.
Using TV show characters to explain brand personality
In case you haven’t caught on, Starmarkers are huge TV fans, and we decided to highlight some of our beloved TV characters, like Don, to explain just how brand personality works. We took these iconic characters — each known for their unique quirks and epic behaviors — and exhibited why any company should follow their lead.
And…action!
1. Michael Scott, “The Office”
Michael Scott was a boss for a reason. He was proud of his company, always tried to prove himself and committed to a gag no matter how cringey it could be. Most of all — he had a big heart. If your corporate branding is like Dunder Mifflin’s Michael, you’d always surprise your audience with sporadic advertising that is never the same. You’d shamelessly tout your product/service, make people laugh in an uncomfortable silence and show a bit of lovable compassion here and there throughout different types of media.
Brand Attributes:Childish, Dedicated, Vain, Sensitive, Awkward
North Star:Delusional creative
Best Media Fit:Paid Instagram Stories
2. Eleven, “Stranger Things”
At first, Eleven was perceived as a scared, timid child. As time progressed, she grew into her own and became the fierce, caring hero she is today. If your brand is like Eleven, you would keep things understated — with small, brief words in your copy. When the time is right, you would be bold, be unafraid to speak your mind and stand up for what you believe in. Teaser campaigns will be your new best friend (second best to waffles, that is).
Best Media Fit:Teaser guerilla marketing and social media campaigns
3. Tyrion Lannister, “Game of Thrones”
Tyrion has been mistreated his entire life, so he was someone you rooted for to succeed. People underestimated him. He used his sharp tongue to talk himself out of just about everything. If Tyrion resonates with your brand personality, you would write long advertisements disguised as editorial articles with clever videos to prove your brand is a knowledgeable one. Let’s just say your content strategy would be the iron throne in the eyes of your competitors.
First things first, you don’t cross Miranda Bailey. She started out nicknamed “The Nazi” after all, but grew into a well-respected, mothering Chief of Surgery. She’s the epitome of tough love: compassionate to a degree, but unafraid to tell it like it is to teach you a lesson. If Miranda is close to your brand personality, you would interrupt people at just the right time to check up on them, educate and expand their awareness of your brand.
Brand Attributes:Smart, strong, sassy, focused
North Star:No-nonsense mentor
Best Media Fit:Retargeting digital banner ads
5. Barney Stinson, “How I Met Your Mother”
Barney Stinson was a character you’d love to…wait for it…hate. He was the ultimate bro, a shameless womanizer and an uber loyal friend. He also loved playing games, like slap bets and laser tag, and basically had his own brand-isms every episode. Barney was a man of the people, and your brand would have recognizable headlines and legendary activations at every big event in town, plus a surprisingly likable tone of voice. So suit up, and take over the next big thing.
Sue Sylvester’s bright red tracksuit wasn’t her only memorable characteristic. She was brazen, loud and gave insulting monologues that put even Shakespeare to shame. She also had a soft side when it came to her sister, her trusted sidekick Becky Jackson and, yes, even the glee club. Her fearlessness and desire to outshine others makes her willing to take risks. Your brand’s reign as Sue Sylvester would go above and beyond to get your point across — even tackle newer technologies like augmented reality.
Brand Attributes:Entitled, cold, ambitious, conniving and (sometimes) soft
North Star:Proud agitator
Best Media Fit:AR app
Make Your Brand Personality Debut
Flaws and all, these characters are consistently endearing and true to themselves. Strong brands are the same. We’ve determined brand personalities for major companies who were looking to strengthen their voice and newbies who were only just finding their footing. Defining your brand personality doesn’t have to be a drag. It’s as easy as turning on your preferred streaming service and getting to know and love your favorite character. So, let’s uncover your inner Don Draper and get to work.
Defining Your Brand Personality Doesn’t Have to be Hard: The Simple Key to Making More Intuitive Marketing Decisions
If you’ve ever had a baffling interaction with a social media strategist, agency or freelancer where you feel like they just don’t get your brand, then this is the article for you. Making more intuitive, sensible decisions for your brand really is as simple as better defining your brand personality — and documenting it in a way that’s easy to share.
In this article, we’ll cover why this easy-to-overlook exercise is so important, how it can benefit your marketing decision-making and what you can do to get the process started.
Defining your brand personality makes everything easier
Onboarding a new team member or outside resource. Finding your footing in a new technology or a new media channel. Simply defining what’s on-brand or off-base. All of these things become dramatically easier when you have a simple definition of your brand personality.
In an upcoming article, we go into greater depth about how brand personality can help you find your fit in new technologies. But suffice it to say, the same way that understanding your personal values system, identity and personality help you navigate a world of decisions, having that same guidance for your brand makes your marketing decisions more straightforward.
Here’s an example of how a well documented brand personality makes decisions easier
We have a Starmark client in the marine industry whose guiding phrase is to behave like an Empowering First-Mate. This comes from an identity as an open-minded, aware and confident company and a personality that is relatable, supportive and always current.
This client uses this North Star, as we call it, to guide every marketing decision they make. It’s easy to determine whether an Empowering First-Mate would run a TikTok dance account (newsflash: he or she wouldn’t), how that first mate might sound through a website or a voice assistant (relatable, supportive and always current – for a start!) and what that first mate might do to provide value to the captain of a vessel (hint: everything possible to bolster confidence and awareness).
Once your brand personality exists in simple words that defy misunderstanding, evaluating previously subjective marketing decisions becomes a much more objective prospect. It’s a much more efficient way to explore new marketing technologies and new media.
How to get started defining your brand personality
Before the advent of user-centric design and online testing, brand development processes were daunting, costly and time-intensive. Here’s our advice for the modern world: don’t overcomplicate the process of brand development. Just focus on defining your core brand experience to start.
At Starmark, we use a process called North Star to define the important elements of brand identity and brand personality in a way that’s easy to use for decision-making. The half-day session results in a brief that can guide everything from naming to brand mark creation to design to copywriting.
The session helps a team of stakeholders find the core of their brand experience and define the characteristics that must always be true about an interaction with the brand. We provide the expertise and outside perspective to guide the process of self-discovery in a way that’s fast and efficient. Then we validate the resulting work with real users in nearly real time.
Many clients who have been through this process place their North Star at the center of their brand guidelines and content strategy documents. This simple framework gives their entire teams the ability to make more brand-consistent decisions from the start.
We love helping brands discover themselves
We’ve helped define brand personalities for major companies looking to better refine their experience and for startups just beginning their journeys. So, if you’re looking to move more confidently into new marketing technologies or emerging media, contact us, and check out our article: Five tips for adapting your brand personality to new media.
Welcoming Visitors Back to Florida’s Enchanted Island
Starmark and Amelia Island Convention & Visitors Bureau partnered to launch the destination’s comeback campaign from COVID-19. No easy task considering the pandemic’s staggering impact on the global tourism industry.
The Challenge
When travel began to slowly resume during Florida’s phased reopening, Amelia Island CVB needed a plan to welcome visitors back to their sunny shores. As travel behaviors changed, it became clear it was time for a refresh. Starmark was tasked to develop a new campaign that would build on the “Come Make Memories” tagline and communicate the safe attributes of the destination — wide-open spaces, outdoor activities and beautiful beaches — without the crowds.
Three concepts, one comprehensive testing approach
The Starmark creative team developed three concepts utilizing Amelia Island’s existing imagery of the peaceful, uncrowded beaches, so as to not require a new photo/video shoot during the pandemic. The UX team then tested the themes with both loyalists and prospects in drive-market regions. After various rounds and combinations of tests, the “Moments” concept was declared the winner.
The “Moments” campaign resonated the most with copy that spoke to the moments in life that are heightened by extra-sensory experiences so powerful, they become lasting memories. The concept captured those new-found moments in stunning Amelia Island locations, reminding consumers they needed to experience those moments, and come make new memories — now more than ever before.
A roll out that went all out
An open invitation to visit the destination, the “Moments” campaign was leveraged across all of Amelia Island’s media channels. Elements included broadcast spots, out-of-home, print, social, animated and static banners, and a landing page where all assets would drive to.
For social, the team developed several ad units to engage target audiences who were dreaming about their long-overdue vacations while scrolling through their feeds. Units included animated story ads, carousel ads with cinemagraphs, various in-feed ads targeting families and couples, and an in-depth Instant Experience ad.
A 360-degree portal was deployed to take viewers on a journey through the natural beauty of Amelia Island.
The team also developed a Facebook Messenger and website chatbot campaign to facilitate a conversation between readers and the destination, where they could inquire about safety, what’s open and general information about the island. The chatbot linked to the CVB’s online travel guide, where users could explore the best of the destination.
Turning moments into memories
With a fully integrated, timely campaign, Starmark helped ensure Amelia Island would be ready to welcome visitors from drive markets throughout Florida and the Southeast U.S. Whether they were first-timers or frequent guests, the message was clear: Amelia Island was a welcoming, safe choice for a much needed, well-deserved vacation — where new memories were waiting to be made.
And that message clearly resonated with travelers. Here’s what we achieved.
Revenue for August was up 12% over the prior year, thanks to the Recovery Campaign.
In only the first week of running, the AR experience ad had an average view time of 24 seconds, well above industry averages.
The AR experience also garnered an impressive 138 shares, 139 post saves, 160 post comments and 2,054 post reactions.
The click-through rate for the AR portal was 6.5x’s higher than the industry average.
A total of 19,730 people engaged with the chat bot.
NSU brand essence video brings home PRSA Radiance Award
NSU Florida (Nova Southeastern University) was awarded a prestigious PRSA Radiance Award for 2020. The award goes to the newly created NSU Brand Essence Video.
This repositioning for the university is truly a labor of love, and we’re so incredibly honored to be recognized by our peers throughout the state of Florida for what we are doing. – Kyle Fisher, VP for Public Relations and Marketing Communication, NSU
The video was part of Starmark’s repositioning and rebranding exercise for the university to bring to life The NSU Edge, a lifelong competitive advantage that comes from an immersive, career-based curriculum and a network of supportive faculty and alumni. The work has already been honored by distinguished alumni, students and the local American Advertising Awards.
About the Radiance Awards
The PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) Radiance Awards are operated by the PRSA Sunshine District, honoring work from Florida companies that has dramatically shaped public opinion. This submission for NSU was awarded the top honor over all video work submitted throughout the state of Florida.
We’re thrilled with this latest win for our rebranding work. It has been a joy to help NSU rediscover itself through this process – and it’s clear that new positioning resonates with others. – Dale Baron, Executive Creative Director, Starmark
About NSU
NSU is the largest private, not-for-profit university in the state of Florida, providing tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity to the state.
Starmark has worked with NSU for several years. Together, we created a new website and recruited the medical school’s first class of MD students, developed a chatbot-driven appointment scheduling program for NSU Health Clinics and launched the grand opening of it’s Tampa-Clearwater medical campus.
This most recent rebranding effort is designed to reposition the institution to attract and recruit top students nationwide and internationally.
Launching a digital transformation for an electronics leader
Starmark helped launch a new digital experience for engineers and a new intranet for employees in partnership with KEMET Electronics. The comprehensive internal and external launch strategy ensured that the entire KEMET team and its engineering customers were excited about the next steps in the transformation roadmap.
Overcoming Resistance
KEMET Electronics is a worldwide B2B provider of electronic components for technology companies. Their products are used in products that shape the future of healthcare, computing, automotive, telecommunications and consumer electronics.
The company approached Starmark to develop an Agile project roadmap to launch its digital transformation initiative — designed to overhaul the entire digital experience engineers have with investigating, sourcing, evaluating and working with KEMET components. With more than 12,000 worldwide employees and multiple autonomous product teams, launching a company-wide initiative at KEMET would be a challenge. The goal was to involve a broad swatch of KEMET employees with three new offerings: the new KEMET.com, K-SIM and KEMET World.
KEMET.com and K-SIM offered overhauled user experiences to make it easier for engineers to explore applications, find the right parts and examine performance specifications. The new KEMET World was designed to provide a company intranet with more collaboration, sharing and utility.
Further complicating the three-product launch was a staggered timeline where different products were scheduled to go live at different times.
Amping up the Approach
Starmark created a high engagement launch program that spanned multiple social networks, email marketing, as well as presentation content and a manifesto for company-wide town hall meetings and internal communications. In addition to inspiring early product adoption, the approach also solidified the visual and verbal approach for social media and the new KEMET.com.
The Starmark team really made this launch a success for us. Making a great first impression and engaging our audiences from the start with our new digital experience was paramount. This is just the first part of our digital transformation journey and we look forward to making the experience with KEMET best in class. — Jennifer Escobar, Director of Branding and Communications, KEMET Electronics
Starmark started this effort by developing manifestos, campaign concepts and a design language to help tie the digital transformation to the overall company position Built Into Tomorrow. The objective was to further develop the position into a visual language and tone of voice to keep all launch communications cohesive, regardless of what product launch they related to.
Using these building blocks, the team created a series of teaser graphics for each launch to build excitement. Following launch, each product was supported by infographics, animated videos and posts tying into popular social holidays. These assets were used across channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, the KEMET World intranet, internal presentations and customer emails.
To manage staggered go-live timelines and multiple media channels, the Starmark team created a shared rollout calendar so that activities, post dates and changes stayed in sync between the two companies.
Charging Forward
After the success of this initial launch, the next phase of this effort is to roll out optimizations across all of KEMET’s digital properties and throughout its main site. This includes creating visual, verbal and experience consistency across all application sections of KEMET.com, rolling out new user features, migrating Engineering Center tools to the new platform — and communicating all of it using the internal/external launch framework Starmark created.
We look forward to adapting the work to mesh with the Yageo family of brands as the acquisition of KEMET as part of an even larger global enterprise proceeds.
