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Turn Brand Negatives into Brand Positives

Is there an aspect of your brand that is viewed negatively by consumers?  If so, it’s quite possible that your brand negative could be repositioned or recommunicated to become a brand positive.  Remember, much of branding and marketing is about consumer perception.  How do consumers perceive your brand, and what is its position in the marketplace relative to other brands?  By massaging consumer perception, you can turn threats into opportunities.

Take a brand like Listerine for example.  Listerine has battled a negative brand image as a mouthwash with a terrible taste since the day it arrived on the market.  In fact, the taste is so awful and the mouthwash is so strong that people have difficulty rinsing for the required 30 seconds recommended on the Listerine label. [Read more…] about Turn Brand Negatives into Brand Positives

Marketing Automation Challenges and Opportunities

growth marketing automationFor brand marketers, automating processes does more than save time. It also increases lead generation and conversions. That means an investment in marketing automation can increase sales revenues.

A new study by Ascend2, the Marketing Automation Benchmark Summary Report, found that of marketers who are already using marketing automation, only 7% believe that it has not be successful in helping them to achieve important objectives. More than one in three marketers (69%) who responded to the Ascend2 survey indicated that marketing automation has been somewhat successful for them, while nearly one in four (24%) believe it has been very successful for them.

Brand marketers are using marketing automation in a variety of ways and few have the skills needed to fully leverage the opportunities it presents. Nearly one in two marketers who responded to this survey have to outsource some (41%) or all (7%) of their automated marketing campaigns.

However, even with great marketing automation tools and external expertise assisting them, brand marketers are still faced with many challenges when it comes to actually making marketing automation work for them. Most marketers struggle with developing an effective strategy (45%), limited budgets (44%), and a lack of skilled staff (40%). Furthermore, more than one in three marketers (34%) identify insufficient data quality as the most challenging obstacle to marketing automation success. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that the top two factors that marketers consider when choosing a marketing automation tool are analytics and reporting (41%) and ease of use (40%).

As with all marketing tools and marketing campaigns, metrics matter. Marketers involved in this study believe that the most useful metrics for measuring marketing automation performance are:

  • Lead conversion rate = 57%
  • Revenue generated = 42%
  • Lead generation ROI = 40%
  • Cost per lead = 32%
  • Leads generated = 32%
  • Pipeline value generated = 29%
  • Open/click-through rate = 21%
  • Website traffic = 17%

There is no doubt that marketing automation tools can help you execute more efficient and more successful marketing programs, but without the right skills to use those tools and accurately analyze the data provided by the tools, your success with them will be limited. I believe that employee training on using marketing automation tools (among others) is an investment that would pay off for almost any company. Would you agree?

How have you effectively integrated marketing automation at your company. Leave a comment and share your success story.

Image: Carl Dwyer

World’s 50 Most Popular Brands

earth globe worldBased on an analysis of billions of online conversations, social media intelligence company Infegy ranked 800 brands to determine which were the world’s 50 most popular brands in 2014. By analyzing billions of online conversations from 2015, Infegy based its ranking on the volume of conversations per brand, the overall positive or negative sentiment for each brand, levels of positive purchase intent, and the topics people reference when talking about brands.

According to the study, Google is the most popular brand of 2014 followed by Twitter, Facebook, Apple, and Tumblr. This is the second year in a row that Google has taken the top spot.

However, it was Disney that got the most positive brand sentiment (86%) in social conversations during 2014 followed by Nordstrom (83%), Mercedes-Benz (81%), Adidas (81%), and BMW (81%). On the other hand, CNN got the most negative brand sentiment in social conversations (52%) of the top 50 most popular brands followed by Fox (52%), Soundcloud (51%), Tumblr (46%), and NBC International (43%).

In terms of purchase intent, FitBit was highest at 36% followed by Amazon.com (23%), Google (22%), PayPal (18%), and Playstation (14%). The brands that ranked lowest of the top 50 most popular brands of 2014 in terms of purchase intent were Soundcloud (0%), CNN (2%), MTV (3%), BBC (3%), and NBA (3%).

The biggest jump in ranking was experienced by Chipotle, which moved up to 46th place (a 13-spot increase) while Chevrolet experienced the biggest fall of the top 50 to 30th place (down from 20th place the prior year).

Five new brands made it onto the list of the 50 most popular brands in 2014. They are Flappy Bird (#39), NBC International (#42), Toyota (#44), Intel (#45), and Fox (#48).

The Infegy data also provides statistics related to brand popularity by gender. According to the report, MTV, Starbucks, Chipotle, BMW, and Flappy Bird ranked highest among women. For men, MLB (Major League Baseball), NBA (National Basketball Association), NFL (National Football League), Playstation, and XBox ranked highest.

Technology brands make up 70% of the top 10 most popular brands of 2014 according to the Infegy study. Those top 10 most popular brands are:

  1. Google
  2. Twitter
  3. Facebook
  4. Apple
  5. Tumblr
  6. Disney
  7. Microsoft
  8. BMW
  9. YouTube
  10. Nike

You can follow the link at the beginning of this article to view the full list of the top 50 most popular brands as well as to see additional data related to brand sentiment, purchase intent, and gender.

Image: Stephanie Hofschlaeger

Brands with the Most Loyal Customers in 2015

shirt shoppingBrand Keys has released its annual ranking of the brands with the most loyal customers. This year’s ranking includes 64 categories and 540 brands that were self-identified by over 36,000 U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 and 65.

Overall, the 2015 ranking includes 36 new brands, which means consumers are actively looking for brand replacements in many categories. Some new brands that made it on the list for the first time this year include Under Armour, Reddit, Lyft, and Microsoft Surface. One of these debut brands ranked first in its category—Air Canada.

Other brands that have been on the list in the past but took the top spot in their categories for the first time in 2015 include Facebook, Chipotle, Exxon Mobile, Travelocity, Nationwide, and Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Breakfast Bars.

Brands that held onto the top spot in their categories since the 2014 ranking include Hyundai, Google, Domino’s, Ford, Avis, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Konica Minolta.

Overall, Apple takes the top spot in the most categories with customers ranking it as the brand they’re most loyal to in three categories: laptop computers, smartphones, and tablets.

Here are the top brands in 2015 based on customer loyalty according to Brand Keys’ in several popular categories:

  • Airline: Air Canada
  • Athletic Footwear: Nike
  • Automotive: Ford and Hyundai
  • Banks: Chase
  • Credit Cards: American Express and Discover
  • Laptop Computers: Apple
  • Online Music: Pandora
  • Online Retailers: Amazon
  • Online Travel Site: Travelocity
  • Online Video Streaming: Netflix
  • Printers: Canon
  • Search Engine: Google
  • Smartphone: Apple
  • Social Networking Sites: Facebook
  • Tablets: Apple

It’s important to note that there is a growing gap between what customers expect to get from brands and what brands are actually delivering to consumers. Brand Keys found that although customer expectations have increased by 28% across all of the categories in the 2015 study, brands have only improved their ability to meet customer expectations by 7% over the prior year.

The most important part of branding is massaging consumer perceptions so they have realistic expectations for your brand (i.e., the expectations that you want them to have) and then meeting or exceeding those expectations in every brand interaction. Today, it’s too easy to switch to a new brand. If your brand fails to meet consumer expectations, they’ll turn away from it and find another that does meet their expectations in every interaction.

Are you meeting your customers’ expectations for your brand? Remember, if your brand lets your customers down, it’s very difficult to regain their trust. Without their trust, there is no loyalty and your brand will fail. Close the gap!

Image: Robert Linder

The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2015

innovation idea lightbulbThe world’s most innovative company in 2015 might surprise you. According to Forbes’ annual ranking, the most innovative company today isn’t Apple (which ranked second on the list), and it’s not Google (which ranked fourth). It’s not Facebook or Twitter (neither company ranked in the list of the 50 most innovative companies, although Facebook’s Instagram did rank in fifth place).

So which company is the most innovative in 2015?

In 2015, the most innovative company in the world is Warby Parker, an eyewear company that started as an ecommerce startup and today has retail locations around the United States with $100 million in revenue. The CEOs of Warby Parker attribute the company’s success to their “deliberate” prioritization of the brand.

Here are the top 10 most innovative brands of 2015 according to the Forbes ranking:

  1. Warby Parker
  2. Apple
  3. Alibaba
  4. Google
  5. Instagram
  6. Color of Change
  7. HBO
  8. Virgin America
  9. IndiGo
  10. Slack

This year’s list of the most innovative companies in the world includes companies from every continent except Antarctica making it a truly global list. The list features newcomers like WeWork and American Giant as well as global companies like Toyota, L’Oreal, and Tesla and Kickstarter companies like Oculus VR and Kano.

Forbes shared 20 lessons of innovation for 2015 that its staff learned while developing this year’s list of the most innovative companies. You can follow the link to read all of the lessons (it’s well worth it!). Five lessons that really caught my attention are:

  • Innovation requires speed, and velocity of change can make or break innovation.
  • Every company is a tech company regardless of the industry they operate in.
  • Platforms are powerful and can drive innovation execution.
  • Innovation follows the traditional bell-curve lifecycle, which means companies that fall off of the list of the most innovative companies can get back on the list as their innovations mature.
  • Collaborative disruption facilitates innovation and partnerships are becoming more common as companies realize the benefits of collaborative innovation.

You can follow the link at the beginning of this article to see the full list of the 50 most innovative companies of 2015 as well as a breakdown of the companies by sector. One thing is certain, it’s great to see a variety of companies on this list rather than the same “innovative” companies that always appear on these lists like Apple and Google.

What do you think? Are you surprised by any of the companies that made the list this year or any of the companies that didn’t make the 2015 list? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on the 50 most innovative companies of 2015.

Image: Raja R

UK Consumers Will Share Private Data with Brands Under Certain Conditions

data sharing privacyWant UK consumers to share their private data with your brand so you can use it to develop personalized and highly targeted brand marketing campaigns? Don’t assume because you’ve been in business a long time or have a lot of positive customer reviews that consumers will start giving you all of the data you ask for. They won’t. However, there is a way to get more UK consumers to share their data with your brand. As eMarketer reports, the key is communication.

Based on the results of a study by DBS Data, the Direct Marketing Association UK, and fast.MAP, UK consumers want two primary things from brands in order to share their private data with them: trust in the brand and a clear and concise data protection policy. Let’s take a closer look at the findings from the study.

Here is the ranking of reasons UK internet users said they believe a brand will handle their data responsibly:

  1. Trust in the brand = 26%
  2. Clear and concise data protection policy = 25%
  3. Ask with whom they can share data = 19%
  4. Give me the option of how to communicate = 19%
  5. Previous experience of good customer service = 18%
  6. Easy-to-use website with obvious security = 15%
  7. Ability to update/edit data held = 11%
  8. Easy to find data protection policy = 10%
  9. Thorough contact details = 9%
  10. High street presence = 8%
  11. Positive customer reviews = 8%
  12. Been in business a long time = 6%

The results of this survey are good news for brands. There are some very specific ways that you can increase consumer trust in your brand and convince them to share their private data with your brand.

First, develop a transparent, easy to read, and easy to understand data protection policy, and make it easy to find and read. Second, give them choices so they feel like they’re in control. Allow them to choose who you can share their data with and how to communicate with you. Third, your customer service team is often the “face” of your brand, and how they treat customers trickles through to affect many aspects of your business, including brand trust and your ability to collect customer data. With that in mind, make sure the customer service team is well-trained not only in serving customers but also in advocating the brand and building brand trust with callers.

Do you collect data from your online customers? Leave a comment and share what works well for your brand.

Image: ilker