Adam’s Blog

SUMMARY:

The explosion of advertising and marketing channels has increased competition for the consumers’ attention. Breaking through the noise and conveying your brand’s message has never been so hard.

Read a brand marketing expert’s take on the three factors that are essential to a well-rounded branding strategy.

The world of advertising is a noisy place. Thousands of brands compete for attention in every media channel and on every store shelf. Consumers have a multitude of choices for every purchase they make.

The marketer’s job, of course, is to break through the noise and convince consumers to buy their company’s products. Brands are used as simplifiers to quickly communicate what consumers can expect from a product without doing much research.

“People are living their lives in a very complex media, product and retailing environment. And they’re living their lives in personal rituals that help them simplify living their lives,” says Joel Rubinson, Chief Research Officer, Advertising Research Foundation. “A brand is a simplifying heuristic.”

Convincing consumers to purchase your product requires what Rubinson calls a 360 marketing strategy. The strategy’s goal is to reach consumers in whichever formats they prefer, which will vary with each brand’s audience. Each advertising channel is used to fulfill a specific role in the brand and customer relationship, and each moves customers closer to purchase.

Below, we outline three key factors that Rubinson sees in effective brand marketing in today’s cluttered market place.

> Factor #1. Brand meaning

Rubinson ran a small experiment to see the world of brands from the eyes of a regular person–not an experienced marketer. He kept a journal of every brand he encountered in a single day.

While making coffee he had to write down the brand of the coffee filters, coffee maker, and the coffee itself. When he sat down with the coffee and turned on the TV, he had to write down the brand of the couch on which he sat, the carpet on which he walked, and the television he watched.

Halfway through the day, Rubinson had a list of over 75 brands, and he decided to call it quits. The point had been made: Consumers interact with hundreds of brands each day.

However, looking over his list, he noticed that only about five brands had any meaning for him. He could not recall the attributes of any others.

– Meaningful brands are comforting

Meaningful brands tell consumers something about the product. Without brands, shoppers would have a harder time determining which products best suited their needs.

For example, Rubinson recalls that his daughter recently spent a summer in London and found that grocery shopping was more laborious because she was unfamiliar with the brands in the stores.

“When you find a brand that’s familiar, even if it’s a brand that you don’t buy that often in the U.S., you’re going to almost want to give it a hug and a kiss because you’ve found a brand that you finally understand,” he says. “And that’s because the brand has meaning to you.”

– Television is a leader

The way many brands convey meaning to their customers is through advertising, Rubinson says. Ads that reach a target audience where it’s likely to gather are effective ways of instilling brand meaning.

One of the most effective channels for this is television. Over 95% of video viewing still happens on the boxes in our living rooms, Rubinson says.

“The chances are that all of your consumers are aggregating to watch various TV shows. A smart media plan will enable you to reach them with messaging, and that messaging is important to brand meaning.”

> Factor #2. Accessibility

You must make your brand available for consumers to reach out and get more information or to ask questions. This allows for deeper, more meaningful connections with customers.

Being accessible and building meaning forces marketers into a 360 marketing strategy, Rubinson says. That’s because meaning and accessibility require two different types of marketing — and therefore, different marketing channels.

– Building meaning is a way of reaching consumers when they’re passively consuming your information — such as in between segments on their favorite television show.

– Accessibility requires being available when consumers want to find more information, whether online, on the phone, or in a store.

> Factor #3. Activation

Roughly 50% or more of purchase are made from in-store decisions, Rubinson says. That means about half of consumers’ purchases are up for grabs when they’re shopping.

Activation is the concept of making your brand extremely easy to purchase while customers make their in-store decisions. In-store, shopper marketing can be a very powerful activation tool, Rubinson says.

“Shopper marketing is like recency on steroids. You’re providing the message right at the point of purchase, and it can make a big difference.”

– Partnerships to build activation

In-store placement and marketing can be difficult and expensive to achieve. However, companies without much experience in the area are not without options. They can work with their existing marketing assets and look for good fitting partnerships.

For example, a company with a strong social media presence might have poor in-store placement. By partnering with a major consumer packaged goods manufacturer, the company can gain better in-store exposure while sharing its online social media presence, Rubinson says.

Joel Rubinson is speaking at ad:tech Chicago in September.

USEFUL LINKS RELATED TO THIS ARTICLE:

ad:tech
http://www.ad-tech.com/

The Advertising Research Foundation
http://www.thearf.org/