My study blog

Hello!

Here we are, starting another blog post. This one is a bit different though, it's going to be the last one! That is why I decided to put some extra effort on the looks of this, I know I haven't been very good doing that, maybe it's because I don't see myself as a blogger-type. Anyways, let's start with the studies!

So, last time we got to decide our own "case", and after some discussion we decided together to got with "What are the trends of future marketing?". I like the word future, especially when we're talking about something I can get geeky with. I like everything involved with new technology, smartphones, tablets and all kinds of different gadgets get my attention if they're successfully launched (unlike the Note 7)! Alright, enough of that, let's move on to the first learning objective:

What will good marketing content be made of?

Hmm. So, what will it be made of? Well, only time will tell. But if we look at current and upcoming trends, I think mobile is the dominating word for the next few years, but, there is however something that will most likely change the way we act in our everyday lives. That is, virtual reality and augmented reality or even mixed reality. Lots of different realities right? Let me open this up for you:

Virtual reality is some content that is created with computers. The idea is that virtual reality "imitates" real life and creates environments that one can feel they are present in. These realities can consist sounds, images and other triggers for the human mind. Virtual reality can be taken further by adding extra equipment as in the picture seen on right. The man is wearing virtual reality glasses, has a gun in his hands that's connected to the device streaming the game to his glasses. He's also plugged in a platform that lets him actually move around in the virtual surrounding he is in. Cool, huh?


Augmented reality is something that "inserts" virtual stuff on a view, for example if you're taking a picture with your phone, with augmented reality you could add a small man walking behind you in that picture. Or a more known explanation: the Pokemon in the popular game Pokemon Go are added on the phone screen when they appear. Like on the picture on right.


And finally, mixed reality. Mixed reality combines virtual and augmented reality and creates something very interesting, at least for me. Microsoft is already working on a device called "Hololens", it has released a developer kit that can be bought by anyone. Below you can see a interesting video demoing the works of mixed reality.

So, I haven't really talked about what will good marketing material be made of but in the future it will for sure be in these before mentioned realities. Mobile marketing will keep rising and evolving as well. We can see already now ads that take advantage of daily routines, location services etc. and combines them.Also, Facebook recently announced the change of WhatsApp's license agreement. It got a lot of attention because of the intentions of this change: in the future Facebook would be able to get information from both your WhatsApp and Facebook accounts and combine them to get more extensive marketing information of you.



But what I think is that, good marketing content will be made of more and more personalized messages to the target audience. With the help of cookies, location services, likes, buying behavior etc. companies can accurately put personalized messages to one single man using his phone. Moreover, those ads will be presented to him in a way that he doesn't even realize he's being advertised to.

Marketing agencies have been coming up with very creative ways of marketing, with the multiple channels available these days, integrated marketing makes sure people are constantly reminded about that campaign.

According to Daniel Newman, users are looking for transparency from brands. This means that genuine brands are the ones winning. He notes that user generated content will be growing, that meaning, blogs, user made reviews etc. will be playing an important role and "content co-creation" with consumers will start rising.

Newman notes that brands will start own their audiences, creating communities and from there people will start "worshiping" a specific brand and proudly wear for example clothing with that company's logo in it. That will be free marketing for the companies. Finally, he states that in the future there will be new analytical tools that give more accurate information of the users.

Fastcocreate interviewed innovators from large successful companies from this years "Most Innovative Companies in Advertising/Marketing" list. I picked up some interesting points I didn't yet cover in this blog post and will list them below:
- Connected everything, soon all our devices will be connected to each other and will create huge potential for future marketing campaigns
- Big Data
- Mobile data in the developing world

Hello!

It is once again time for some studying for our next PBL session. This time about Social Media Marketing (SMM). Last week we had a look at a case about Facebook Live, a similar service as Periscope is, you can live-stream video wherever you are. For this we got three learning objectives:

1. What are the most interesting social media platforms?
2. How can companies utilize SMM?
3. How to integrate SMM to companies' marketing strategies and how to monitor them?

First I'll start off by telling the most interesting platform(s) for me. The ones I use the most are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Whatsapp (yes, I consider Whatsapp as a social media platform). I do have an account in Twitter and Snapchat as well, and google plus because that comes with having a gmail account, but I don't use it.

For me the most interesting ones are Instagram and LinkedIn. Instagram is not (yet) filled with commercials and ads as Facebook is, and I hope they'll keep it that way. It's a nice and clean platform, with some ads naturally included. But the most interesting is that it's mainly about sharing pictures, not writing long texts or chatting etc.

The second one is LinkedIn. I like it because it's a professional networking app. And what makes it interesting is that it's filled with non-"click" articles that are interesting for me as a developing professional. The atmosphere is more adult and there's no pages like "The lad bible" which are just  stupid silly. You can communicate there just as well as in Facebook for example, but at the same time it's like an online CV for you, and anyone can see it and be in touch with you if they get interested. And that's actually happened to me too!

2. How can companies utilize SMM?

Utilizing SMM might sound like being an easy task to do. However, it's not just about registering yourself to Facebook or another platform and start advertising. It's something that requires time and effort. Because social media has brought companies closer to their customers, the demands of the customers have risen.

Studies show that only 1/3 of complaints received in social media are answered within 24 hours and 63% of customers are happy with the response time. Compared to other channels, that is quite bad actually. In other channels (email, telephony etc.) the amount of answers given within 24 hours varied between 44-67%. (http://www.convinceandconvert.com/hug-your-haters/new-research-shows-how-fast-companies-have-to-be-in-social-media/)

The company should also decide which platforms to use. It might be that not all social media platforms are for your company, and it should be carefully evaluated before deciding to join one of them. You wouldn't want your page to be inactive and show people you don't care, would you?

According to Christopher Litster (https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/8-best-practices-to-promote-your-business-on-social-media/) a company should follow the 1-in-7 rule which means that only 1 post of 7 will promote your business, the rest should be about your community or something that gives the customer value. The posts that you do would be good to formulate as questions, that starts a conversation with the receiver and will more likely activate them.

Make your posts visual, pictures tell more than words and will get more attention. If you share videos on Facebook, use text because the videos are automatically muted. Remember to share at the right time, use analytics software to analyse at which time your posts are read the most.

Experiment with different platforms, ways of posting etc to see what interests your audience the most.

3. How to integrate SMM to companies' marketing strategies and how to monitor them?

Hellohello again!

This time I'll be studying about message and communication plans/campaigns. Last time I was unfortunately not able to attend class due to illness but tomorrow I'll participate as the discussion leader.

As usual I'll go through the learning objectives one by one, let's start with the first learning objective:

What are communication planning processes?

First off: Communication is a way of transmitting your ideas and information and it can be transmitted in numerous ways such as news stories (print and broadcast), PR, posters, brochures, events etc.

Creating a communication plan for your business starts by you defining and understanding your objectives of it, what is the current state and where do you want to get with this plan? If you don't focus on this part, it may well turn your business communication into a disaster.

Define your target audience. As always, you have someone you want to  target your message and product(s)/service(s) to, who are they?

The communication plan you are implementing should be consistent throughout the process, both externally and internally. So, you want your employees to understand it as well, wouldn't it be weird if they knew nothing about it, or if everyone had a different idea of what and why you are communicating?

Where and when will you communicate your plan to the target audience? If it's a new gadget targeted to youth's, will it then be on print media or would you rather focus on social media channels? Should the gadget be released somewhere where these youth's gather in the near future, and event maybe? And who will communicate it, the CEO, product developer or someone else?

http://www.marketingforchange.com.au/how-to-write-a-simple-communication-plan/

A communication matrix (on the right side) might help you clear out to who you will communicate your message and through what channels. This way you'll have a clear visual on how to implement your plan. Keep the stakeholders on one axis and the channels on the other one.







Sources: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/objectives-effective-business-communication-plan-13554.html
http://www.marketingforchange.com.au/how-to-write-a-simple-communication-plan/
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Communication-Plan
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/participation/promoting-interest/communication-plan/main

I think that covers all for communication plans, let's move on to the second learning objective:

How to construct a unified global campaign / bring an idea to life?

As in the Snickers case stated, they needed to create a campaign that could be distributed around the world but the initial message should be the same. This was achieved by localization of the ads done, for western countries having known actors from the US, in some other countries an Egyptian actress and in Europe communicating the "you're not yourself when you're hungry" phrase.

It was all about understanding the differences the countries have and adapting the message in accordance to those differences. Timing was also important, the message was communicated during "big, populist TV moments", that meant the Superbowl in the US, and other events in other countries.

The key here is that there is not a global campaign that is same throughout the world, it's something that's localized and personalized and understands the cultural differences of people. For some countries using celebrities work, for some humor etc.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/marketing/create-strong-global-marketing-campaign-01299961#sOlz6DZVAMvuBLjf.97
The case

That's all that I have to say on this learning objective, so let's move on to the last one:

How to translate a message to a global audience?

As I already went through in the second learning objective, key is to understand cultural differences, language differences etc. This is why I suggest to take a same kind of approach as Snickers did, to use what works in which country: actors, humor, reality and appropriate.

By appropriate I mean that different countries have different norms for politics, cultures and social habits. That means that they also have different images, words and scenarios they feel to be appropriate. Some cultures for example have different meanings for different colors (luck, death, etc..). Genders and roles of them are important in some countries, so keep that in mind.

Not all celebrities from Hollywood are known around the world, so be sure to change celebrities to local stars if the situation calls for that.

Humor: All cultures, languages and countries have different ways of perceiving humor. For example, Finns tend to be very sarcastic and self-ironic people, that would well work in here. In other countries, probably not. Use local people to tell you what is funny and what is not.

Reality: Use something that could be real for the target audience, that may start from geographical issues like weather, terrain etc.

It all goes down for a proper research before the actual campaign.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/marketing/create-strong-global-marketing-campaign-01299961#sOlz6DZVAMvuBLjf.97

That's all for today, thank you!


-J

Hello hello!

It's yet again time to do some studies for the class, unfortunately I can't attend it because I'm ill. Last time we talked about brand strategy in class. This lead to having brand strategy as the actual problem of our case, and two learning objectives as follows: 1. What are the brand strategy processes behind strong brands? Explain by example.
2. What are the steps of a re-positioning process behind strong brands? Explain by example.

Hellohello again!

It's time for another set of PBL research. This time about How a brand can be transformed in order to maximize profits!

First, let's start with LO1, What is brand image/brand identity?

Brand identity is something that a corporation creates itself. It's the firms on identity of how it wants to be seen by potential customers and most importantly it's a promise to deliver that product or service that the customer is expecting. So, a well branded company is something that immediately wakes your feelings when you hear/see it, just the name of the company, or logo, or a recognizable product tells you what that company is offering you, is it then high quality service or products, or friendly workers, etc.. that depends on the company.

A brand is thus: a combination of logo, words, type font, design, colors, personality, price, etc.

Brand identity is then, as you guessed, the way the customer actually then perceives the corporation and it's products and/or services. It's what the customer is expecting to get when they enter your store. To create a brand image takes a lot of time, it has to be something that emotionally touches the customer every time they hear or see it.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/loisgeller/2012/05/23/a-brand-is-a-specialized/#2a2df42b504a

The picture on the below explains both words quite well in my opinion.
Source: http://hivedigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/fierce-branding.png

LO2 How to brand, methods, brand identity models etc..

Different brand identity models have been introduced by David Aaker, Jean-Noël Kapferer and Kevin Lane Keller.

The first one is Aaker's brand identity planning model. It suggests that the brand should be looked from for different point-of-views:
1. The brand-as-product.
Product thrust is usually a core element of a brand. The attributes that relates to the purchase of a product may provide both functional and emotional benefits for the buyer.

2. The brand-as-organization
This focuses more on the organizational attributes rather than product-level attributes. This can be innovation, interest in environmental issues, culture etc. of the company.

3. The brand-as-person
A brand can also be perceived as having a its own personality. This attribute can be perceived as more interesting than a brand-as-product. It can become something that helps customers express their own personalities, create relationships between the brand and the customers as personalities affect relationships between people and finally, communicate product attributes.

4. The brand-as-symbol
Visual imagery, metaphors, and brand heritage. These can provide great value to the brand so that it can be recognized and recalled easier.

Source: http://www.zanthus.com/databank/strategy/marketing_strategy.php

Kapferer's brand identity prism:


1. Physique - the main features of the product
2. Personality - the human character and attitude
3. Relationship - includes beliefs and associations about the brand
4. Culture - the integral representation of the brand and the organization
5. Reflection - how the brand is reflected in the customer mind
6. Self-image - the relation of the customer and the brand (can use or buy the product)

Source: http://www.comindwork.com/weekly/2014-12-08/productivity/brand-identity-prism-kapferer

LO3 Good/bad examples of brand identity

Bad example: Posti / Itella name changes etc.

http://www.howdesign.com/design-creativity/award-winning-brand-identity-design/

Yello again!

This time we'll discuss about integrated marketing communication, what it is and why Your company should do it. I will also give and example of a campaign going on at my current workplace! At the last PBL session we came up with three learning objectives as following:

1. What is IMC? And why to do it?
2. What are the elements of a successful IMC?
3. Find some examples. Why do you like / dislike them?

So, let's start with number 1 once again.

IMC or integrated marketing communication is an approach to achieve the goals of a marketing campaign. These goals are reached by using several different promotional tools and methods which are supporting each other. So, in other words: A marketing campaign that gives the same or same kind of message in each channel used and together these channel's not only support each other but strengthens their message.

Sources for LO 1:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2013/09/16/why-integrated-marketing-communications-is-more-important-than-ever/#2f5f24272325
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/integrated-marketing-communications-IMC.html


2. What are the elements of a successful IMC?

The elements of a successful IMC.. Hmm. I believe it's something that draws attention, that gets people to wonder what this is about. An ad that does not tell you everything but "requires" you to check up on it later. Something new that catches your attention, something funny for example. Or an ad or a mixture of ads that you see at bus stops, your smartphone, tv, radio, Youtube etc. Something that you then have constantly in your mind. Something special, as in this Forbes article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michellegreenwald/2015/05/04/three-of-the-years-best-integrated-marketing-programs/#1e757d31b6bd .

A marketing campaign for people who think spaying and neutering your pet is inhumane. This campaign was done in a very clever way. There were "condom vending machines" installed in popular parks around San Francisco and if you took a "condom" out of the machine you could unfold it to a information leaflet. This was one way to spread the word of a serious issue, using humor and imagination.


3. Find some examples. Why do you like / dislike them?

I currently work at DNA, which is the 3rd largest telecommunication operator in Finland. DNA offers services such as mobile phone lines, fixed lines, mobile internet, pay TV-services, selling smartphones and tablets, and lots of other things. DNA recently re-worked its brand and a part of that was the new customer promises: Always from us; 3-year guarantee, affordably, with no extra fee's included and rebate-promise. These are used in every single marketing channel DNA uses and makes up for a great IMC.

In this Youtube ad you can see a new smartphone that was released and the promises communicated in the end of the video:


A same kind of ad can be seen on TV as well. The phone (Honor 8) is also marketed via DNA:s Facebook-page and the front page of DNA:s website. Honor 8 ad's keep rolling in DNA:s stores as well. Also, the customer promises can be seen everywhere. Something that not all people know: DNA actually uses its employees on these ads. The guy in the Youtube-ad is Topi and currently he works at one of Helsinki's DNA-stores. For me that is also a very clever way of marketing. Topi, and other DNA employees that's been seen on the ads have been recognized by many customers which can lead to being able to do more sales.


I did not use as much time to this blog because I'm acting as an observer in our upcoming PBL session!


Over and out,

Joni

Hello!

Unfortunately, I was due to some oversleeping not able to participate in our opening trigger last Friday. However, I had a look at the video provided and what problem and learning objects the rest of the team was able to find during that class! Now I'll give my own contribution by doing some research for these objectives. Here's what I found out:

LO 1: What are the elements of good corporate stories?

A corporate story should always be something the audience is able to relate to. A good story will be remembered, so keep that in mind. The storytelling should not be about Your company, Your product and Your something. Great stories have a beginning, a conflict and an ending where everyone's happy after beating the conflict.

As seen in the video made by Google - it starts with a character many people can relate to. Someone that has lost his friends years ago and is missing him, then there's problem solving and finally, the Grande Finale, the reunion of two once great friends.

In between, the story should include something new, something that everyone's not familiar with. Something that intrigues the audience to keep following the story. In the example video: Simple usage of Google's service's helped finding the lost friend, booking flights, seeing the local weather etc. Everything done with one website, isn't that handy? And I'm sure not all people knew it can be, that's the "wow" in the video and the new thing, one product that solves the problem(s).

Sources for LO 1:
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-5-elements-of-a-good-company-story-2011-4?r=US&IR=T&IR=T
http://www.corporate-eye.com/main/5-key-elements-of-a-great-brand-story/
http://www.womensbusinessinitiative.net/storytelling-in-business/

LO 2: What are the most effective corporate communication channels?

For this I have my own opinion: It depends highly on the target audience. For elderly people it might well be newspapers, radio, TV, call centers (calling the potential customers), face-to-face sales/marketing. For younger generations social media, mobile devices, websites, TV, radio, fairs. Newspapers aren't that attractive to us "youngsters" anymore. Especially mobile commercials have seen huge growth in the last years.

In addition to these, PR is important. It's a channel that the corporation might not have as big possibilities to have an effect on than other channels. Articles about a company, in both good and bad, can have huge effect on the perception people have when they next time hear the company's name. Of course, the smaller the company, the bigger the effect.

Employees: Treat your employees well and they'll do the same for you, you wouldn't want your employees to talk smack about your company because you didn't give a sh*t about them when they worked there? If you're a company that sells products in physical stores, the employees there can be the first and only way of contact for many customers.

Product: Good products can, in a way (in my opinion), also communicate your clients that you care about their needs and not just your profits.

Sources for LO 2:
My own experience
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-external-business-communication-19304.html

LO 3: What is the target audience of the corporations?

Again, depends. It depends on your products and/or services. It depends on who you are selling to, is the end user buying directly from you, or do you sell your products to other companies who then sell the products further to the end user? There are endless possibilities to give an answer to this question.

It starts by looking at you as a company, who do you want to serve? What areas are you an expert on? What are your goals?

But the important thing is that you as a company have to define this target audience. If you do it wrong, you'll probably notice it in your sales. You have to understand what problems your product/service solves. Make a list on what kind of customer is the typical user for this product/service. Where do these people search for this product, is it online, magazines or something else? If you have particular knowledge of a specific geographical area, why not go there? Or are you better with specific kinds of people? Identify substitutes, inferiors and complementary products.

Sources for LO 3:
http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy/your-target-market/six-steps-to-defining-your-target-market
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/08/27/6-steps-to-decoding-your-target-audience/2/#533820f51274