Corporate Eye

...compare, compete, excel

Playing It Safe with the eBay Rebranding

Playing It Safe with the eBay Rebranding

Whether or not you’ve ever bought or sold anything through eBay, it’s a brand name that the vast majority of people are aware of. The company’s virtual doors opened in 1995, and its logo remained the same until now. Ebay has launched a new logo (shown below) that will roll out in the fall.

ebay old and new logo

Devin Wenig of eBay explains, “Our refreshed logo is rooted in our proud history and reflects a dynamic future. It’s eBay today: a global online marketplace that offers a cleaner, more contemporary and consistent experience, with innovation that makes buying and selling easier and more enjoyable. We retained core elements of our logo, including our iconic color palette. Our vibrant eBay colors and touching letters represent our connected and diverse eBay community — more than 100 million active users and 25 million sellers globally and growing.”

News of the eBay rebranding definitely got my ears perked up. This is a brand that needed a logo overhaul, and it’s a brand that could really think outside the box in its identity creative design.

With Lippincott signed on to create the new eBay brand identity, I couldn’t wait to check out the new logo when it launched. Unfortunately, my excitement ended there. The new logo is a perfect example of playing it safe and avoiding risk at all costs. This happens far too often in brand identity work for large companies where too many cooks spoil the broth and employees worry about job security rather than what’s best for the brand in the long term. Instead of speaking up and pushing the brand in innovative directions, the brand languishes in “safe” territory.

There is nothing wrong with the new eBay logo, it’s just disappointing and reflects a missed opportunity for the company. It looks nice in the conceptual mock-ups of ads and on the Web, but it lacks the “wow” factor many in the branding industry had hoped for.

The lesson to learn is this — don’t play it safe. Extreme risk-aversion means your brand will be mediocre at best.

Online promotion for careers events

It’s no secret that top businesses who want top graduates invest seriously in careers events. Fairs, presentations and promotions are one of the most direct ways to get the right candidates thinking about the positions you have to offer. However much investment these events receive, though, you’re never guaranteed an audience, and even the best names in the business have trouble getting a hundred undergraduates in the same room at the same time.

In the past a flyer or marketing posters might have sufficed, but now the smart recruiters are getting stuck in to social media as a way of promoting an event. There’s no perfect combination of the tools, and finding a way of interacting with candidates that suits your marketing model of course requires a bit of experimentation, but below are a few ideas to get you thinking:

  • Most students will open their laptop before even opening their eyes in the morning: so make your event easily visible on Facebook as soon as it’s organised. A flyer is easily forgotten, but a Facebook feed will be seen a hundred times a day.
  • The beauty of using social media is that it’s open: you don’t need to restrict your audience to a single school or university. Even smaller cities in the UK tend to have more than one university, so why not use a Facebook event to broaden up your audience?
  • Use social media as a tool to measure expected attendance at the same time as promoting it. Ask applicants to confirm their attendance with a retweet for maximum exposure on Twitter.
  • It’s possible to give an air of exclusivity via social media and you can be creative with how you use details. Using secret locations and limited availability can make events seem more desirable, particularly if you’re looking for candidates with a little bit of flair.
  • Social media also works two ways: by advertising online either exclusively or in tandem with printed material you ensure you get the applicants who are competent and regular users of social media.

It’s important to remember that your social media campaign has to compliment your campaign, but you’re almost certain to attract sustained interest solely online. Experiment with the combination of tools you want to use and don’t forget to keep them updated with the latest information: the first port of call for an interested applicant is your social media platform.

Twitter Advertisers Can Now Target Based on Location and Interests

twitter advertising geo-targetingNew Twitter ad targeting options are finally here. Within the last few weeks, Twitter has launched two new forms of ad targeting for its Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts products — enhanced geo-targeting and interest-based targeting.

Twitter’s interest targeting enables advertisers to use 350 targeting criteria categories or create custom segments based on Twitter account @usernames. For example, if you want to target by education, income, hobbies, or pets, you can now do it. If you want to target a specific Twitter user and all of his followers, you can do that, too. With over 140 million active monthly users on Twitter, these new ad targeting features are getting a great deal of attention from brand marketers.

The enhanced geo-targeting capabilities allow advertisers to target Twitter users in new areas of the United Kingdom and Japan in addition to the countries and U.S. cities that have been part of Twitter targeting since earlier this year.

The announcements of new targeting options in Twitter’s Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts products are great news for brands that want to connect with the highly engaged Twitter user audience. Twitter has already reported that brands involved in the ad targeting beta program are seeing significantly increased audience reach and high engagement rates thanks to the Twitter interest-based and location-based targeting options.

Twitter is quick to point out that monetization is a business need but won’t over-run the site and user experience that people expect from the Twitter brand. Kevin Dewell, Director of Project Management for Twitter, explained in a post on the Twitter blog, “We’ve always taken a thoughtful approach to monetization, and early results show interest targeting creates a better experience for marketers and users.”

As long as brands see strong engagement and conversion rates and Twitter’s audience finds the ads unobtrusive, Twitter advertising should continue to grow and improve. What do you think of Twitter advertising for brands and the new targeting options being offered? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Sanja Gjenero

Trust Me, I Know: The Marketing Power of Authoritative Content

When you’re watching television, does an advertisement screaming “48-hour sale!” make you want to jump off the couch and make a beeline for the store? Probably not. It’s more likely to make you reach for the remote control and– click – change the channel.

Marketing and Leadership Strategist David Meerman Scott describes this type of advertising as ‘interruptive advertising’. He defines interruptive advertising as traditional advertising techniques that rely upon “getting prospects to stop what they are doing and pay attention to a message.”

Interruptive advertising not only falls short in its attempt to persuade its target audience into action, it also fails to develop consumer trust.

For numerous years, a popular saying has been used in the web development industry: “Content is King”. This couldn’t be more true. Content is what drives organizations forward: it determines how search engine algorithms are constructed; it determines which websites get traffic; and which websites do not. Most importantly, by itself, content can build consumer trust.  It does so by branding an organization as an authority in the industry.

There are many forms of web content, all of which are important in their own right. When it comes to developing your organizations authoritative image and gaining consumer trust, 3 particular forms of content are important:

  1. Blog articles:  Typically part of a website, a blog is the medium through which organizations can share any ideas or thoughts related to their organization.
  2. White papers: Written in a professional tone and based upon data and formal research, these are meant to be rather intense reads that reflect expertise.
  3. Case studies: These examine a single aspect of the organization, and provide the reader with a formal story of how certain aspects of the organization can benefit the customer or client.

(Source: Handley & Chapman, 2011)

A common persuasive element flows through all three of these formats: consumer trust. This trust is only developed when authoritative content makes its way to the computer screens or mobile devices of potential customers or clients.

The Psychology of Trust

Authoritative content builds trust through a psychological concept termed the association principle, which is a component of the much larger Learning Theory (Hovland, Janis, & Kelley, 1953). On a very micro level, the association principle describes the process that occurs when a positive reaction to one concept is paired with another concept simply because they were encountered at the same time. Now, when applying the association principle to authoritative content, the process is as follows:

  1. A user searches for a topic relevant to your industry.
  2. They come across your authoritative content (i.e. white paper, blog, or case study).
  3. The positive response (i.e. trust) to the authority of your content is then directly paired with your organization
  4. The reader assumes if you have such informative content online, then you must be a leading authority in the industry.
  5. This automatically builds their trust in your organization.
  6. They then visit your site where they will most likely become a client or customer.

The association principle is a tried and true pillar of psychology. Organizations that correctly apply it to their content marketing plan find nothing but success.

References

For more information on authoritative content and social media marketing in general:

Scott, D. M. (2011). The new rules of marketing & PR.  Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/books/the-new-rules-of-marketing-and-pr/

For more information on the association principle and Learning Theory:

Hoveland, C.I., Janis, I.L., & Kelley, H.H. (1953) Communication and persuasion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=1954-05952-000

For more information on blogs, white papers, and case studies, or web content in general:

Handley, A. & Chapman, C.C. (2011). Content rules: How to create killer blogs, podcasts, videos, eBooks, and webinars that engage customers and ignite your business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

http://www.contentrulesbook.com

How to Motivate Your Customers to Market For You: User-Generated Content

A social phenomenon sprouted in the early 1990s with the introduction of the Internet. Since then, traditional customer engagement has been derailed, shifting from one-way marketing to marketing based primarily on consumer trust and loyalty. The appearance of user-generated content in 2005 further fueled this shift. User generated traffic is now the guiding force propelling organizations forward one reader at a time.

User-generated content is any online content produced by a member of the general public as opposed to paid professionals. The most common forms include blogs, forums, wikis, and social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

User-generated content is profitable in several ways:

  1. Enriches user experience: The user feels a sense of community
  2. Increases page rank: Social search is quickly becoming a mainstay in Google’s ranking process
  3. Improves customer loyalty and trust: Direct interaction with the brand and company are far more effective than traditional advertising.
  4. Enhances the interactivity of the website: Interactivity leads to engagement, which then encourages the user to justify their time-investment

But the question lingers…why would someone write for your company? For free?

Motivation: The Remedy for Impossible

There are many theories on sources of motivation. The concepts of implicit and explicit incentives explain why customers will voluntarily create user-generated content.

Implicit incentives meet unconscious needs, and appeal to the emotions and traits. The effects of these types of incentives are stable over time, energizing people through social interaction.

In contrast, explicit incentives meet conscious needs and their effect doesn’t typically last as long. Based on tangible rewards, these incentives appeal to the attitudes and choices of the individual. They are not energizing with mere pursuit; they are only rewarding once the goal has been met.

Connecting with the customer is key when approaching user-generated content.  Once organizations establish trust with their customers, they find that providing the correct type of motivation makes the creation of user generated content much easier.  Here are several motivation tips:

  • Implicitly motivate your customers – This revolves around the concept of community involvement. By offering social incentives that make the user feel part of a community, organizations can increase amounts of user-generated content. Examples include rewarding participation with badges to mark their ‘status’ on the website. Increases in status may or may not be associated with increase in privileges.
  • Explicitly motivate your customers – This involves tangible rewards that directly benefit the user. These can include incentives such as vouchers, financial payment, or coupons that reward the user for creating content.

(Source: www.toluna-group.com)

 As marketing techniques continue to polarize, the divide between online and offline advertising will continue to grow. It is crucial that organizations stay up-to-date on the current trends. But as the Internet continues to consume the marketing turf, it is difficult to know which trends to follow and which trends will fizzle out. User generated content is a trend with well-established reputation for success. Thus it is safe to invest in this rapidly moving social phenomenon.

References

For information on implicit and explicit motivation (Schultheiss et al, 2009)

http://www.psych2.phil.uni-erlangen.de/~oschult/humanlab/publications/skkrr2009.pdf

Marketing, Investor Relations and Customer Service

When institutional investors make purchase and sale decisions regarding stock, it is often done in a complex, multiparty transaction involving sell side analysts, salesmen, buy side analysts, portfolio managers and traders, with information about the company being judged against a competing universe of offerings. Rare is the large institutional stock purchase that is originated and made by a single trader sitting in front of a screen.

More often the trade occurs along the following lines:

  • Joe, a sell side analyst, publishes an analytic piece that sees a strong future for the widget industry. In order to promote his investment views on the widget industry Joe then goes on his firm’s morning call, a daily event that is broadcast out to his firm’s institutional sales force. On the morning call Joe will verbally summarize his investment thesis on the widget industry. Depending on the firm and how busy the morning call schedule is, Joe will have between 2 – 5 minutes to state his case.
  • The next step in the process occurs when Bob, an institutional salesman for Joe’s firm, hears the morning call and decides that investing in the widget industry might be a timely investment decision for some of his sales clients who consist of institutional investors – mutual funds, investment advisors, pension funds and hedge funds. Bob earns his living by knowing the investing preferences of his clients and, while not all will be interested in the widget industry, there are several that might have an interest. He then begins to call these clients and pitch the idea, noting how the widget industry would fit with their current investment philosophy and mentioning the strong research track record of his firm’s analyst, Joe. Depending on the firm that he is calling, Bob may pitch his idea to either an analyst at a buy side firm, a portfolio manager at a buy side firm or people in similar positions at hedge funds. Usually the pitch lasts no more than 1 ½ – 2 minutes.
  • In this case the investment idea resonates with Sally, an analyst at a buy side firm and she asks for a copy of the industry report. The report, which is 15 pages in length, details the reasons why widgets are poised to grow rapidly in the current economic environment and examines the prospects of the firms in the industry. Sally, who is the person in her firm responsible for covering the widget industry, then starts to do more in-depth research.

    Although she has had responsibility for coverage of the widget industry before reading the report, the widget industry is one of many she is responsible for and previously it may not have been a high priority for her. Alternatively, circumstances may have changed in the economy to make the industry more attractive from Sally’s viewpoint. Using the industry report as a base, Sally will now begin to do more investigation of the top two or three firms in the widget industry that fit her firm’s investment profile. This investigation may consist of calling up each company’s investor relations departments to get more detail on their management, business philosophy and strategy, speaking with Joe, the sell side analyst, soliciting the opinions of other sell side analysts, building detailed financial models, further research on the industry generally and speaking with industry sources and experts. When Sally feels she has accumulated enough information to formulate and back up a recommendation, she will propose the idea to her firm’s portfolio managers. The forum for this proposal will vary by firm and it might be made in a research meeting, a portfolio manager’s meeting or individually to selected managers Sally knows might be receptive to the idea.

    Often the portfolio managers will have additional questions that will entail either more research by Sally or more discussions, either by Sally or the portfolio manager, with Joe, the sell side analyst.

  • Finally, after much analysis, Jane, the portfolio manager, will make a decision to purchase a quantity of shares in WidgeCo., a rising star in the widget industry and a company that fits with the growth orientation of her portfolio. In making this decision, Jane will have to decide how many shares to buy, keeping in mind her portfolio’s overall composition. She will also have to decide if shares of other companies in her portfolio need to be sold and if any rebalancing needs to be done to stay within her portfolio guidelines.
  • Once the decision to buy is made, Jane will then call the trading desk at her firm and instruct Barry, the head trader, to execute the purchase and to do the trade through Joe’s (the sell side analyst) firm, so that commissions attributable to the trade will serve as compensation for the research idea that led to the investment decision.

In the foregoing events, there are several marketing fundamentals at play. Because of the length of this post, today we will discuss only the effect of decision complexity. Any time you have complexity in the way a purchase decision is made with lots of competing choices, the process takes a longer period of time to analyze the pertinent data and come to a decision. Rivel Research, a market research firm that specializes in studying investor relations issues, has stated in one of their studies on the buy side that it can take 3 – 5 “touches” with management before a purchase decision on a stock is made[1]. I have personally known investors who took 4 – 5 years of following a company before they made a significant investment decision.

Because these complex purchase decisions require more upfront effort by all parties involved, marketing tells us that investor relations needs to be a relationship business. It is much harder to sell a product (your stock) if you do not have rapport with the customer. On the investor relations side of the fence, this means treating analysts fairly and consistently, helping them understand your company and industry, promptly returning phone calls and meeting requests, chasing down the details that help fill in the picture for the investor and eliminating some of the informational uncertainties that go with buying stocks. In short, performing all of the essentials of good customer service.

[1] Rivel Research, “Perspectives on the Buy Side”, Spring, 2007.