Marketing

We all try to show mom we love her, but businesses have always paid careful attention to engage their mom clientele. Since moms differ from one another based on their lifestyles, we analyzed Working Moms—the 40 percent of women who have children under age 18 and hold full-time employment. How do you reach this affluent consumer group in their limited free time? By making their lives easier, anticipating their needs and interests.  

A recently released industry report reveals that the evolving field of experiential, personalized and hyper-local marketing is now rated “very” or “somewhat” important by three out of four consumer brand marketers, and that engagement marketing causes almost nine out of 10 shoppers to add a product to their shopping list.

Since the dawn of modern advertising, marketers have been trying to figure out what works. After years of spreadsheet addiction, educated guesses and gut-based optimization, the advent of advanced analytics tools has provided marketing organizations with far better — and far more automated — decision-making and forecasting capabilities.

Branding has been around for hundreds of years. The word “brand” is derived from the branding or burning of a mark into the hide of cattle to differentiate one from another. Bass & Company claims to have the world’s first trademark with its red triangle logo. Wine jars found at Pompeii have indications of product branding on them. Branding creates differentiation. When done effectively it creates positive awareness and, ultimately, value.

Much talk has surfaced lately about the whether it makes sense to have a total market strategy. Some contend that the intent of a “total market” strategy—to recognize all potential consumers’ needs, culture and behavioral characteristics within a company’s marketing strategy—is too often misunderstood or not understood at all. This assertion has resulted in approaches that homogenize how organizations communicate with consumers, and it underemphasizes and even ignores cultural nuances that work to powerfully connect consumers and brands.  Terry J. Soto, Author and President & CEO, About Marketing Solutions, Inc.

In an online social community flooded with content, attempts to effectively communicate your message can feel like sending a letter out to sea in a bottle.

Content marketers are looking to shift efforts to include more curation, research suggests, but every step along the journey is a struggle.

5 Rules for Storytelling to the Next Generation

Effective storytelling, as it always has, boils down to one thing: knowing your audience. No matter what the technology or the user experience, understanding your consumer’s mindset is paramount to communicating with them.  By Roberto Ruiz – Univision Communications

Everywhere consumers go, they are being bombarded by messages that tell them that brand A is ever so slightly healthier than brand B.  Consumers are noticing, and more purchasing decisions are being made on the basis of health and wellness. The 2013 Food & Health Survey: Consumer Attitudes toward Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health, commissioned by the International Food Information Council Foundation, found that for 64% of consumers, “healthfulness” is considered to be the most important factor driving foods and beverages purchase decisions, up 6 points since 2006 when 58% considered healthfulness the most important purchase driver and trumped only by taste and price.

The need to differentiate from the competition is as great as it has ever been. While global consumer confidence was flat in third-quarter 2013 from the previous quarter, confidence was on the rise in over half of the countries Nielsen surveys, including the U.S. Still, many shoppers remain focused on value for their money. At the same time, e-commerce has attracted a growing number of users. Innovation, however, can give retailers the all-important edge.

Shopping for healthcare has become a frightening experience for 2 million exchange eligible consumers. Although enhancements were made to federal and state exchanges call centers and online platforms, the experience they offered was far from “best-in-class”.  This was especially so for Hispanic and Millennial (ages 18-34) eligibles, who are facing a range of enrollment obstacles that go beyond the now infamous Obamacare site glitches. The lack of truly culturally competent channels for segments with limited healthcare literacy, and the lack of clear explanation of benefits for eligible, have drastically impacted the proportion of Millennials and Hispanics enrolled in ACA exchanges by the deadline for 1/1/14 coverage.

It’s a postholiday tradition up there with returning unwanted gifts and vowing to exercise more: spending a few hours cleaning out your e-mail inbox. If you’re wondering why marketers seem intent on e-mailing you more and more, there’s a simple explanation: it works. E-mail remains a significantly more effective way to acquire customers than social media—nearly 40 times that of Facebook and Twitter combined.

The new model of contextual marketing depends on accessibility and anticipation. Accessibility refers to the technology our customers use to engage with brands (apps, mobile sites, campaign microsites, etc.) and our permission to engage back (subscribes, likes, follows, etc.). It is anticipation, though, that separates the wildly successful marketing campaigns from the mediocre. Anticipating the customer need indicated by a specific social status update, a local cold snap or use of an app at a certain time and place gives you, the marketer, the opportunity to wow consumers through brilliant contextual marketing. Seems great in theory, but can brilliant contextual marketing be achieved at scale? You bet it can.

Influencer marketing is often defined as reaching out to popular bloggers and YouTube celebrities, vying for shout-outs in their latest posts. If this describes your influencer strategy, then you are missing out. Just as digital media doesn’t apply to banner ads alone, influencer marketing is not confined to a one-size-fits-all approach.

The 2014 State of Marketing survey asked marketers about their budgets, priorities, channels, metrics, and strategies for 2014. With more than 2,500 responses, we’ve analyzed their insights to give you a current snapshot of the state of marketing.

This is Ad Age’s 2014 Marketing Fact Pack, our annual guide to marketers, media and agencies. We’ll show you the biggest players, who’s rising and who’s falling, drawing on the Ad Age DataCenter’s rankings and analysis from the past year.

The 21st century has not been kind to the US recording industry. Since peaking at $14.6 billion in 1999, the business has shrunk to less than half its size, barely besting $7 billion in 2012, according to a new eMarketer report, “Marketing Opportunities in Digital and Live Music: More Musicians Say, ‘I’m With the Brand.’”

As we speed toward the end of one year and the start of yet another, here’s a quick look back at some standout 2013 mom-related trends.

Entering 2014, most would agree cross-platform marketing has become a must for any company hoping to reach consumers on their terms. They would also likely concur that such a mandate carries with it an expectation that as marketers tack on additional channels, formats and platforms, they would be met with a proper method to validate those decisions.

International Data Corporation (IDC) hosted a web conference “IDC Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) 2014 Predictions: The Emergence of the Chief ‘Something-or-Other’” highlighting the top 10 market predictions for the year ahead.