Tag Archive for: branding

What is Content Marketing? A Comprehensive Guide

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Picture this: you’re a talented baker, and you’ve opened up a little bakery in your neighborhood.

You know your pastries are divine, but somehow, customers aren’t lining up at your door.

The culprit?

It’s not the quality of your baked goods but the lack of a specific secret ingredient: content marketing.

In this post, we’ll unravel the mysteries behind this powerful business tool, discover its many forms, and show you how to make it work for you.

By the end, you’ll have the recipe for successful content marketing to keep your customers returning for more.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the calling card of modern companies. Content marketing involves crafting and disseminating valuable, pertinent, and steady material to engage your audience and own your reputation. The goal is to drive profitable customer action and tell your story. However, instead of selling your products or services outright, you provide information that educates, entertains, or inspires your audience, making them more likely to trust your brand and become loyal customers. Content marketing for PR means creating highly trustworthy, premium content that builds your brand and company’s authority. Owned media is today’s calling card for fast-growing companies and ambitious brands.

The Tantalizing Types of Content Marketing

You may be surprised to learn that content marketing comes in many flavors, each with its unique appeal. Here’s an array of the most popular types of content marketing:

Blogs: The quintessential form of content marketing, blogs are excellent for showcasing your expertise, offering helpful advice, and building trust with your audience. They’re also highly shareable, increasing your brand’s visibility on social media.

  • Listicles: These viral blog posts feature lists of tips, tools, or resources, making them easy to digest and highly shareable.
  • How-to Guides: These in-depth articles provide step-by-step instructions for solving specific problems, making them highly valuable to readers looking for solutions.
  • Thought Leadership: By sharing your unique insights and expertise on industry trends and challenges, you can position yourself as a thought leader and build credibility with your audience.

Infographics: Infographics are the perfect way to convey complex data or ideas in an easy-to-understand and visually appealing format. They’re also highly shareable and can drive significant traffic to your website when promoted on social media.

Videos: From how-to tutorials to behind-the-scenes glimpses, videos offer a dynamic and engaging way to connect with your audience. They’re also an excellent format for storytelling, allowing you to convey your brand’s personality and values effectively.

  • Webinars: These live or recorded presentations enable you to dive deep into specific topics and provide value to your audience through expert advice and Q&A sessions.
  • Video Series: By creating episodic video content, you can keep your audience engaged and returning for more.

Podcasts: Audio content is on the rise, and podcasts offer a convenient way to consume information on the go. They’re ideal for sharing interviews, stories, and expert insights and can help you reach a wider audience.

eBooks: If you’ve got a lot to say on a topic, consider creating a comprehensive eBook that provides in-depth insights and establishes you as an authority in your field. eBooks can also serve as lead magnets, enticing visitors to provide their contact information in exchange for valuable content.

Social Media: Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn are excellent ways to share your content, build a community around your brand, and engage with your audience. You can optimize your social media content marketing efforts by tailoring your content to each platform’s unique strengths and audience preferences.

  • LinkedIn: This professional networking platform is ideal for sharing industry news, articles about thought leadership, and company updates.
  • Instagram: This visually driven platform is perfect for sharing eye-catching images, behind-the-scenes looks, and short-form video content.
  • Twitter: With its short-form format, Twitter is ideal for sharing quick updates and news and engaging with your audience in real-time.

 

Case Studies: By showcasing the success stories of your customers, case studies provide social proof and demonstrate the effectiveness of your products or services, which are beneficial for B2B companies looking to build credibility and trust with potential clients.

Email newsletters: A well-crafted email newsletter can help you maintain regular contact with your subscribers, informing them about your latest content, promotions, and company news. Personalization and segmentation can further enhance the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts.

The Irresistible Importance of Content Marketing

“Great,” you might say, “but why should I bother with content marketing?” Here’s a taste of the benefits that successful content marketing campaigns can offer:

  • Builds trust and credibility: By providing valuable information, you demonstrate your expertise and show your audience that you understand their needs and challenges. It helps establish your brand as a trustworthy source of information and advice.
  • Boosts brand awareness: High-quality content gets shared and discussed, increasing your brand’s visibility and attracting more potential customers. Content marketing also enables you to reach new audiences by targeting specific keywords and topics that resonate with them.
  • Improves SEO: Search engines love fresh, relevant content. Regularly updating your website with new content will enhance your search rankings and make it easier for people to find you online. Well-structured content with proper headings, meta tags, and internal linking can improve your SEO efforts.
  • Generates leads: Content marketing enables you to capture leads through forms, gated content, and email subscriptions to give you a direct line of communication with potential customers. By offering valuable content in exchange for their contact information, you can build a robust email list that you can nurture into paying customers.
  • Nurtures relationships: By consistently offering valuable content, you can nurture relationships with your audience, turning casual readers into loyal customers who will spread the word about your brand. Personalized content and targeted email campaigns can further deepen these relationships and increase customer loyalty.

What is Content Marketing of the Future

The world of content marketing is ever-evolving. The future promises even more innovative and exciting ways to connect with your audience. Some content marketing trends to keep an eye on include:

  • Voice Search: As voice-activated devices like Alexa and Google Home continue to gain popularity, optimizing your content for voice search is becoming increasingly crucial. It includes focusing on long-tail keywords, natural language, and conversational tone.
  • Virtual and Augmented Reality: As technology advances, immersive experiences like virtual and augmented reality will offer new ways for brands to engage with their audience and create unique content. It could range from virtual product demos to interactive brand experiences.
  • AI-Generated Content: Artificial intelligence is already making waves in content marketing, with tools that can generate written content, design visuals, and even create personalized content for each user. While AI-generated content might not fully replace human-created content, it can enhance productivity and efficiency in content creation.
  • Interactive Content: From quizzes and polls to interactive infographics, audiences increasingly seek content they can actively engage with, offering brands a chance to stand out. Interactive content can also provide valuable insights into your audience’s preferences and behavior.
  • Web3: Some call this the next evolution of social media: a digital world in which we purchase products and interact with one another and brands.

 

The Art of Content Marketing Activities and Media

Now that you have some basic understanding of content marketing, it’s time to dive into the nitty-gritty. Here’s a rundown of the most shared content marketing activities and media you’ll want to explore:

  • Content Creation: This is where the magic happens. Develop a content strategy that outlines your goals, target audience, and the types of content you’ll create. Ensure your content is well-researched, engaging, and aligned with your brand voice. Allocate resources for content creation, such as hiring writers, designers, or videographers, and invest in tools that can streamline your content production process.
  • Content Curation: You don’t always have to create original content. Curating content from other sources can provide added value to your audience and establish your brand as a thought leader. Share relevant articles, infographics, or videos from industry experts, offering your unique perspective or insights, acknowledging the sources of curated content, and ensuring that the selected material aligns seamlessly with your brand message.
  • Content Distribution: Creating great content is only half the battle. It’s imperative to have a distribution plan that utilizes a variety of channels to guarantee that your content effectively reaches your intended audience. It might include email marketing, social media, guest posting on industry blogs, and syndication platforms. Tailor your distribution strategy to your audience’s preferences and habits, and continuously refine your approach based on performance data.
  • Content Promotion: Boost your content through paid advertising, influencer partnerships, or co-marketing campaigns with complementary brands. Experiment with promotion tactics, such as sponsored social media posts, native advertising, or content discovery platforms, to find your business’s most cost-effective and impactful methods.
  • Content Analytics: Keep track of your content marketing performance by monitoring key metrics like website traffic, social shares, engagement, and conversion rates. Use this data to identify patterns and trends, pinpoint areas for improvement, and make data-driven resolutions about your content strategy. Invest in analytics tools and platforms that can help you collect, analyze, and visualize your performance data.

PR: What is Content Marketing’s Role?

A content marketing campaign is only as good as the strategy behind it.  It takes time and energy to craft delectable content, whether that’s for social media, a blog post, or a compelling video; doing it right in a way that enhances your reputation with all stakeholders is worth the extra effort.  Follow these steps to create a breathtaking plan that will leave your audience craving more:

  • Define your objective: What do you like to achieve with your content marketing efforts? Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads, boosting sales, or improving customer retention, having clear objectives will guide your game plan and help you measure success.
  • Know your audience: Develop detailed buyer personas that outline your target audience’s demographics, preferences, and pain points. By conducting market research and analyzing your customer data to refine your personas, you can create content that resonates with your audience to meet their needs. This approach can help you fine-tune your content creation strategy and ensure your messaging hits the mark.
  • Choose the proper content formats: Based on your audience’s preferences and your brand’s strengths, determine which content formats will be most effective for your campaign. Experiment with various designs and monitor their performance to find the perfect mix for your audience.
  • Audit your existing content: Look at your current content and evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Identify gaps in your content library and brainstorm ideas to fill them. Repurpose high-performing content into new formats to maximize its reach and impact.
  • Create a content calendar: Plan out your content in advance by creating a calendar outlining your content’s topics, formats, and publishing dates. It will help you stay organized, maintain a consistent publishing schedule, and produce fresh content that aligns with your marketing goals.
  • Establish your brand voice and style: To ensure consistency across your content, develop a clear brand voice and style guide. It should include guidelines on tone, language, visuals, and any industry-specific terminology or jargon.
  • Optimize for SEO: Perform keyword research to identify the terms your audience is searching for and incorporate them into your content. In addition, it’s essential to optimize your website for search engines by implementing appropriate meta tags, headings, and URL structures. It can improve your website’s visibility on search engine results pages and drive more traffic.Remember to optimize for voice search and local SEO, as these are becoming increasingly important.
  • Promote your content: A substantial content promotion strategy is essential for reaching your target audience. Leverage owned, earned, and paid channels to amplify your content’s reach. Feel free to repurpose or repackage content for different platforms.
  • Engage with your audience: Encourage them to interact with your content by asking questions, inviting comments, and responding to their feedback. Monitor your audience’s engagement and use the insights to tailor your content strategy and improve your content’s effectiveness. It will help build a community around your brand and foster loyalty.
  • Measure and analyze: Track your content marketing performance using key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, social shares, and conversion rates. Use the data you gather to make data-driven decisions and refine your content strategy for maximum impact.
  • Iterate and improve: Embrace an agile approach to content marketing by constantly testing, learning, and iterating on your strategy. Be prepared to pivot your plan as your audience’s preferences and the content landscape evolve. Always look for new trends and techniques to keep your content fresh and relevant.

Content Marketing Success Awaits

By understanding the importance of content marketing, exploring various types and formats, and crafting a well-thought-out plan, you’ll be well on your way to achieving content marketing success.

As you embark on this journey, always remember that the fundamental element of a prosperous content marketing campaign is generating valuable, engaging, and distinctive material that genuinely connects with your audience. Dare to be bold and innovative, and be proactive in experimenting with new ideas and formats. With creativity, hard work, and persistence, you’ll soon see your content marketing efforts translate into tangible results for your business.

Now conquer the content marketing world, one captivating piece at a time!

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What Is Purpose-Driven PR?

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Purpose-driven public relations means the brand proactively builds incorporates values that impact social, cultural, and environmental issues. A true purpose-driven company makes corporate choices within its purpose framework, even when it means purpose over profits.

Truthfully, public relations aren’t purpose-driven, a brand is purpose-driven. Public relations is simply a lever a purpose-driven brand can use to improve the world around them. Building a purpose-driven brand is an inside-out job. They aren’t PR campaigns or PR ideas; they are a cultural way of thinking that’s internalized by everyone in the company.

[3 minute read]

The Importance of Internalizing Purpose

There are lots of ways a brand can support its customers, community, and the globe meaningfully. Cause partnerships, and donation campaigns, are all relevant PR campaigns, but they aren’t purpose-driven. Purpose-driven companies take the long view on purpose and impact.

Internalization distinguishes purpose-driven brands. When everyone from the Board, to the CEO to the janitor walks the talk of purpose, then a brand has authentically implemented a purpose-driven brand. This also means when employees face choices, they incorporate the purpose into their decision-making. This can include employee hiring, employee programs, purchasing, and product decisions. It also means employees feel safe in making a purpose-informed choice because they know they’re acting within the company’s ethos; their choice is supported and even celebrated.

 

Should Purpose-Driven Initiatives Even Have a PR Component?

The deciding factor on this issue is the “why,” behind the initiative. Every day, businesses from Fortune 500 all the way to emerging industries are making decisions that have a social impact, and most of the time, these decisions don’t get the credit they deserve. But it’s not one decision, or one campaign, or one person who makes purpose – it’s people moving in unison making decisions that impact millions.

For example, let’s take eggs. When you go to the grocery, you face a lot of buying choices. Cage-free eggs, organic eggs, local eggs, inexpensive eggs. Many of these egg producers are balancing product, purpose, and price. Even though the organic or cage-free eggs are more expensive, it’s likely the margins on those eggs are considerably less than the mass-produced eggs. It’s also very likely that the producers of the cage-free or organic eggs are making other choices that cost more – maybe they buy the more expensive food, maybe they supplement their electricity with solar power. These are all purpose-driven decisions that are really important, but they won’t make news. What may make the news is the impact or the multiple steps they take for their purpose might make news. The people behind these choices may have interesting stories to tell. There will be PR opportunities, but they require real storytelling. Therefore, it’s important to have experienced purpose-driven PR agencies who can tell ethos and purpose stories.

Brands should have PR at the table when incorporating purpose-driven ethos, but PR should be part of the purpose, not the purpose of the purpose.

 

Are Purpose-Driven Brands Born or Made?

Both and neither. Some brands are founded in purpose, we can all name a few. Other brands grow into purpose. Both are as legitimate as their ability to stick to their ethos. It’s important for both types of purpose-driven brands to be authentic. Just because a brand is founded in purpose doesn’t mean it won’t lose its way. And just because a brand develops purpose doesn’t entirely absolve them from past actions. All brands should be very careful with their initiatives because consumers are getting fantastic at sniffing out disingenuous missions. These disingenuous missions create consumer distrust and may even run afoul of today’s cancel culture. A brand is better off doing nothing than taking on duplicitous or insincere purpose-driven initiatives.

 

If your company is considering a purpose-driven plan, please download our guide and call us. We can help you and your team navigate the exciting opportunities – and avoid the pitfalls – for purpose-driven brands.

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Why Is Consumer PR Important?

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A solid consumer PR strategy allows your business to enjoy a larger audience and increased exposure. Read on to learn more about consumer PR and its importance in the business world.

What Is Consumer PR?

Public relations refers to how a business maintains relations with its stakeholders, including investors, media, government, other businesses in the industry, and consumers. In this blog, we will specifically talk about consumer PR because every business stakeholder is ultimately a part of the consumer market, whether it’s employees, investors, or the media.

Consumer public relations defines how brands build connections with the public, or more precisely, their target audience. It is all about building positive impressions about your brands, products, and services by disseminating relevant and engaging information to the public with an emphasis on your unique selling points.

Consumer PR – Then & Now

Consumer PR is not a new concept. It has been around for a long time now, although it wasn’t something that businesses purposely considered in earlier times.

The lack of technology meant building and maintaining consumer relations wasn’t as complex or detailed back then. Most of it was just about nicely dealing with the customers face-to-face. Then came the surge of technology, opening up multiple channels for businesses to communicate with their target audience.

At first, business organizations raised brand awareness by placing ads in newspapers, television, and radio. The rapid technological advancement in recent years has further exposed consumers to more advanced and instant ways of consuming media, like social media platforms, websites, and more.

Although companies now have more opportunities to get their message out to the public, it also means the noise and competition in the business world has reached an all-time high. Every brand must have the proper consumer PR strategies to achieve mass exposure and publicity.

Characteristics of Modern Consumer PR

Here are a few prominent characteristics of modern consumer PR dynamics:

Emphasis on Omni-channel Marketing: More is needed for businesses to connect with their target audience through just one or two marketing channels. From interacting with the audience on Twitter to making videos on YouTube, brands must adopt many ways to receive more exposure and build a larger customer base.

Importance of Story-Telling: Earlier, businesses could get away with using only hard-sell strategies because the competition in most industries wasn’t that high. Since consumers now have more choices, they don’t like brands pushing their products on them. This is why brands should back their products with a compelling story and unique insights that make the audience emotionally connect to them.

More Focus on Audience Interactions: Regular interaction with current and potential customers has always been important, but it is more critical than ever. The competition has increased, and you must keep in touch with the audience to stay on their radar. The more you communicate with your audience, the more they trust your brand. But remember to keep the communication swift, transparent, and meaningful.

Consumer PR Agency

Building and sustaining positive relationships with consumers is an ongoing process. It not only takes up significant time, money, and effort but also requires strong interpersonal and communication skills. Therefore, most companies prefer hiring a consumer PR agency rather than handling consumer PR tasks themselves.

Consumer PR agencies help brands build and maintain a consistently positive public image through various activities. More precisely, they interact with a brand’s audience on different platforms, post content on the right platform at the right time, organize or sponsor events, and collect good reviews from third parties.

Another crucial function of these agencies is to filter messages to make sure nothing inappropriate or irrelevant is shared. They also track audience interactions to see how the current public strategies work and what needs improvement. 

The Difference Between Public Relations and Marketing

Consumer public relations sounds very similar to marketing. Although both approaches focus on conveying the brand message to consumers, the difference lies in their objectives.

While the outcome of consumer PR activities is to build and maintain a brand’s positive reputation amongst the public, marketing is more inclined towards increasing the revenue for a business.

Both marketing and consumer PR are equally crucial for businesses to generate a high return on investment in this modern era. Every business should use a blend of marketing and PR strategies to connect with its target audience.

An important point to remember here is that the message conveyed through both consumer PR and marketing should be consistent. Brand messages aligned across all channels strongly impact consumers, making them more inclined to try your products and services.

Why Is Consumer PR Important?

Let’s look at the benefits of consumer PR.

Increases Brand Awareness

The core function of consumer PR tactics is to inform people about a brand, ultimately widening its consumer base. It involves sharing innovative and thought-provoking brand messages over multiple channels to garner more attention.

Builds a Strong Brand Image

Consumer PR not only focuses on creating brand awareness but also helps you reinforce a positive image in the market. With a strong brand image, you can enjoy higher engagements, increased sales, and significant growth in market share.

Promotes Credibility

Consumers trust a brand better if they know how it operates. This is where consumer PR can help. Consumer PR professionals strive to create positive talk about a brand amongst the public in different ways: publishing leadership pieces, building influencer connections, and implementing networking strategies. Your credibility soars high once the positive messages about your brand become common to the public.

If your product helps consumers with a health issue, or a with small children, or helps them navigate a particularly challenge phase of life – building trust with your customers couldn’t be more important.

Helps Manage Reputation

Reputation refers to how people perceive your brand based on what they see and hear about it. It can be positive or negative and change. Reputation management is one of the main functions of consumer PR strategies.

Businesses may often find themselves in unfavorable situations, like negative reviews from a dissatisfied customer or legal problems arising from a misinterpreted advertisement. Consumer PR helps them avoid such problems and repair the damage through media connections and press releases.

Strengthens Your Online Presence

A robust online presence is key to success in today’s era. As a part of consumer PR strategy, a brand can use social media and other digital platforms to talk to its customers, resolve conflicts, and monitor their changing interests.

Consumer PR experts can build a plan to stay active on online platforms to grow relations with all groups of consumers.

Becomes a Source of Added Value 

Your consumer PR strategy can be a significant differentiating factor between you and your competitors, helping your brand shine as an industry leader. It can add value to your business in several ways: by helping you personalize your brand, increasing its visibility, and strengthening the company profile.

Generates Quality Leads

The functions of Consumer PR strategies are not just restricted to reputation management and raising brand awareness. They can also be targeted towards more advanced goals like lead generation and conversions. Posting content on the right platforms, using compelling CTAs, incorporating social proofs to your profiles (reviews and ratings) – all such efforts make more people interested and willing to try out your products and services.

How to Establish a Consumer PR Strategy?

Identify Goals

The first step is to identify the end goal of all your consumer PR activities. It will guide your efforts and help you decide on the appropriate measures for tracking progress. You can aim to achieve increased brand awareness, enhance customer loyalty, build investor confidence, etc.

Choosing a single goal isn’t necessary; you can select a mix of different goals and make separate plans to achieve them. Remember to keep referring to your objective list to ensure you are on the right track.

Focus on Target Audience

The next step is to focus on your target audience. Decide who you want to target at the moment and in the future. You can also target more than one or two groups if you have enough resources to cater to their needs. Research and list all relevant information about your audience groups, like preferences, qualities, demographics, and other activities. This will help you develop messages tailored to their specific requirements.

Analyze Competition

At this point, you should also analyze what other businesses in the industry are doing to grow and maintain their relationships with consumers. You can browse their websites as well as social media profiles and posts to see what works for them and what doesn’t.

Use the Right Consumer PR Content

List down the key messages you want to convey to the public, and later, think about which tactics you want to implement.

Remember that those tactics may not work effectively if you have nothing valuable to share. Nobody will be interested in what you say if it’s not appealing enough.

Some effective consumer PR tools and opportunities are corporate news, an upcoming event, an e-newsletter, or an in-depth article on thought-provoking topics. Don’t forget to add a unique angle to your content, explaining why the audience should care about your brand.

Learn to Pitch the Right Way

Once you have the content ready, pitch it to different platforms through appropriate communication methods. People don’t often have enough time to read or go through lengthy content, so make sure both your content and pitch are concise.

When you pitch other platforms to publish your brand story, introduce yourself briefly, give a short review of your message, and mention why it would interest their viewers.

Examples of Effective Consumer PR Strategies

  • You can support a social cause to build an emotional connection with your audience. Many people agree they are more likely to buy a brand that contributes to society in some way than one that doesn’t. It can be anything, from giving away coats to the needy in winter or donating to the education sector.

 

  • Personalize your brand by interacting with customers on different platforms. They will definitely be willing to buy from you more often if you interact positively with them. You can personalize emails, products, and services for specific audience groups to make them feel more valued.

 

  • Become a thought leader in your industry by leveling up your research and content creation game. Provide consumers with valuable insights on industry trends and events, offer informative courses and presentations on engaging topics, and publish thought-provoking articles backed by facts and figures. Becoming an expert within the industry will help you strengthen your credibility amongst the audience.

 

  • Contribution to the community matters a lot when it comes to setting a strong foothold in the industry. You can donate time, products, facilities, and money in different ways to help with the community development process. For example, you can serve on a community board, volunteer at a homeless shelter, take part in local festivals and parades, and other activities.

Methods and Performance Indicators of Consumer PR Campaigns

Consumer PR experts can use different methods to get their message out to the public, such as:

  • Videos
  • Events
  • Collaborations with Influencers
  • Seasonal News

Here are a few common factors that show the performance of your consumer PR campaigns:

  • Likes, Comments, and Shares on Social Media
  • The Number of Leads and Conversions on the Website
  • Mentions on Social Media

Final Words

To make your consumer PR strategy work best for you, you can combine different approaches and produce a PR calendar that includes all PR activities you plan to incorporate in the coming weeks or months.

Don’t want to go through the hassle? Hire a consumer PR agency specializing in multiple consumer PR tactics like event planning, social media management, content creation, and more.

Feel free to get in touch with us if you want to know more about consumer PR. 

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4 Trends for Marketing and PR During a Recession

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Marketing and PR during a recession? Who does that? Well, the answer may surprise you: brands that grow the fastest. Why? Studies who brands that market during recessions gain additional advantages because it’s less noisy and easier to be seen and heard. Make your marketing and PR budget go further by tapping into these consumer trends.

Consumer Brands: Remember the Lipstick Effect

Coined by Leonard Lauder in 2001, the term “lipstick effect” when he observed that lipstick sales are inversely correlated to economic health. Why? Because consumers still want to treat themselves and small indulgences fit the bill, even during economic downturns. Luxury lifestyle brands do this with their perfume and makeup offerings. Yes, $69 for Hermes lipstick is a lot for lipstick, but for the Hermes customer or aspirational customer, $69 is an easy purchase compared to a $6,000 purse. Consumer PR and marketing during a recession can help you gain market share and grow when you offer your customers a way to sport your brand without making a gigantic purchase.

What’s your brand’s “lipstick”? What is the product that makes customers feel like they’re treating themselves without large expenditure? 

Find the Fun with Your Customers

What did the post-pandemic consumer teach us? They want fun and frivolity in the pandemic’s wake – and they STILL want that, perhaps even more, with all the gloomy news about a recession. While you, as a CEO, or CMO, might feel doubly beat up, it’s really up to you to bring the fun. From marketing to PR, if you give consumers something fun to talk about or a sense of escapism, consumers will find a way to your party, because they really want to have fun. So while you may be cutting your marketing or PR budget, make sure the things you keep are fun-filled. Not only will this improve your bottom line, it will attach fun to your consumer’s experience of your brand, which means they’ll associate you with fun after the recession too.

What’s your customer’s ideal way to escape? Find them and play with them there. 

Make Lasting Memories with Nostalgia

When uncertainty strikes, consumers love to “remember when.” Whether it’s nostalgia-based packaging or scents to connections to movies and songs, yesterday always brings comfort to consumers. If you’re a legacy brand with long-time customers, then you should absolutely take this opportunity to remind your customers of the good ole days you had together. If you’re a new brand and you don’t have that depth, you can trigger fond memories through partnerships and advertising.

What era makes your customers nostalgic?

Avoid Deep Discounts that Train Customers

If you train your customers to wait until the next sale, they will never buy if there isn’t one, whether or not there is a recession. Resist the urge to devalue your own brand right now. Not only do price discounts squeeze your margins during a time when you can least afford them, constant discounting feels desperate. Desperation is never a great look, especially for luxury brands. To maintain brand and positioning, the beloved cupcake brand Sprinkles resisted the urge to discount during the pandemic:

“Customers had been taught by other bakeries to expect that the product at the end of the day was worth less than at the beginning. But with our just-in-time baking system, these cupcakes were as fresh as their morning relatives. Even then, as tempting as it was to sell off those last few cupcakes at a discount right before closing, I knew we had to stand firmly behind the price. I preferred to donate those cupcakes than to eat into the value of our brand.” -Candace Nelson, founder.

The better option is to carve out a single day (or two) that your brand will offer value pricing, and when you do, look for ways to add value to your current price rather than discounting the product itself. You could offer a gift with purchase or a VIP experience.

Budget planning for marketing and PR during a recession feels less fun than when budgets are flush, but the reality is, you can make major headway during a recession AND you can enjoy the process and the output just as much if not more.

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Consumer Mindsets According to Google for Fall 2022

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We’re just about to round the corner to a key consumer buying season: the fall. And about the only thing that’s certain is consumer uncertainty; but consumers aren’t giving up on conscious consumption. Nothing shows that more than the latest consumer trends from Google Searches. What do Google searches have to do with PR? Consumer media outlets keep a strong eye on consumer trends, and usually respond with seasonal content that matches the customer’s mood. Fitting into that season content is key to earning digitally savvy PR during the fall. There’s another important reason to get it right this fall: you’re likely to have a larger share of voice for any of your marketing efforts as some competitors will pull back, so if you’re not pulling back, or you’re jumping into the market now, it’s great timing because research shows that brands who stay with marketing during economic downturns, get ahead.

What does this mean for consumer brands?

It gives you insight into key themes you can use in your PR and marketing this year. While some of these facts seem contradictory, put these in context with what you’re seeing from your customers.

Searches for “specials this week” is up 60% year over year / Searches for “designer outlet” have grown 90% globally year over year

Keep in mind, that consumer spending remains strong, so this is about the consumer feeling the need to feel like they’re getting a deal. 31% of consumers say they are still rewarding themselves by buying things they want. Consumers haven’t stopped loving name brands, they’re just in need of a discount. They also want to feel their brand choices are premium choices.

Luxury and premium brands with strong brand affinity should lead to smaller, more affordable items for the masses, rather than discount the brand. Premium consumer brands can use this mindset with bonus gifts.

Align your brand with premium publishing outlets by getting an early start on your consumer PR and ad re-targeting. Have your programmatic and PR teams talk before they launch their respective campaigns.

Consumer brands should publish any kind of black Friday promotions well in advance, and use competitor pricing as a benchmark (25% less than a comparable brand), to anchor value.

Now is also the time to focus on loyalty for existing customers. Don’t make your customers search you out. Be there during the key buying triggers for your customers. If your customers tend to buy on Fridays, be there on Thursday with the bonus giveaway or loyalty reward.

Searches for “say no to plastic” have grown globally 200% year over year

Consumers want brands who want what they want. This new purpose-driven alignment applies to all consumer brands. Even if you can’t get around plastic packaging (yet), now is the time to celebrate your sustainability efforts. What’s comforting to consumers right now, more than anything is brands they can trust. So if you’ve been working hard on building consumer trust, now is the time for you to celebrate the efforts in a way that reinforces your consumer’s choices.

Consumers want personal content

87% of consumers said they want personal and relevant content. Keep this in mind with your email marketing and social media. Use your own data to ensure your delivering the right message to the right audience. Consumers want to see themselves in your content – by the way, editors know this trend too, so positioning your brand clearly allows editors to follow this content expectation too.

One of the most notable attributes of “relevant” content is content that is emotionally resonant. Your consumers want to know that you understand them. Note that during previous times of uncertainty, nostalgia and comfort messages surge. Very often, this means consumers would prefer to stay with their favored brands, but that favored brands need to continue to provide the experience customers have come to expect.

More than ever, having digitally savvy and data-informed PR, branding, and advertising will make a difference in your seasonal marketing. Now is the time to dig deep into your customer insights and give your agencies the information they need to supercharge their efforts this fall.

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Meet Cannabis Industry Branding Expert Patrick Toste of Highopes

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Cannabis Industry Branding Expert Patrick Toste Urges Cannabis Brands to Cherish Your Customers and Rethink Instagram

In an ongoing series this year, we’d like you to get to know some of the fantastic companies and people we’ve had a chance to collaborate with over the years. Our first interview is with an incredibly talented branding expert, Patrick Toste, co-founder of Seattle-based cannabis branding agency, Highopes. 

 

First, a little background about you: 

I’m originally from Rhode Island and graduated from California State University Long Beach with a BFA in Graphic Design. I’ve been designing for over 10 years and have had the luxury of working with both large and small brands nationwide. I am the Creative Director and Co-Founder of HIGHOPES Design. We are a creative studio that focuses exclusively on helping cannabis businesses nationwide unlock their potential through branding, packaging, web design, and marketing services. Our client list consists of over 30 cannabis companies that include Have A Heart, VidaCann, and Nuvata.

 

When did you first start working in the cannabis industry?

Upon moving to Seattle and experiencing the recreational cannabis market for the first time, I recognized an opportunity, and established a passion for, helping cannabis businesses build successful brands. I captured a handful of freelance projects with cannabis clients in Washington and California that I completed some branding and packaging work for. From there, I decided it was best to brand myself as a more established business than just a freelancer to provide more growth opportunities for myself and my clients.

 

What were you doing prior to the cannabis industry? 

Before diving into the cannabis industry, I worked as a designer on the in-house branding team at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf which is a nationwide coffee chain based in Southern California. In this position, I gained experienced managing and expanding a large brand through packaging design, digital advertising, in-store marketing, and other similar avenues. 

After moving to Seattle from Southern California, I decided to explore the world of advertising by joining the team at Publicis Seattle as a designer. At Publicis, I was able to work with even larger brands like T-Mobile and assist in a variety of nationwide digital advertising projects. However, my true passion for branding was established there when I led the design team on the rebrand of the locally world-famous radio station, KEXP. 

 

What lesson did you learn BEFORE cannabis that’s been most valuable in cannabis?

I’d say the lesson I learned before I entered the cannabis space that has been most valuable to HIGHOPES and our clients is the importance of knowing and understanding your customers. This methodology was something I gained over the years of working with larger, nationwide brands like The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, T-Mobile, and even Under Armour. I was able to realize how these companies were branded and marketing was significantly impacted by what their consumers think, want, need, and feel. 

Something I see all too often in the cannabis industry is a rush to bring a product to the market with the idea of targeting all consumers due to a scarcity mindset. Operationally I understand why these businesses feel this is the right approach, but in hindsight, they realize they do not know who their customer is and what delights them which results in an unfocused and unorganized brand direction. 

 

Is there a particular cannabis branding project you’d like to highlight? 

At HIGHOPES we are extremely proud of all the work we create for all of our clients, but I’d like to highlight the project we did for the California-based vaporizer brand, Nuvata. Nuvata approached our team with only a product and a vision so we assisted in establishing their positioning, messaging, branding, packaging, website, and marketing. Each branding and marketing effort we performed was put through the filter of the established strategy resulting in an immensely focused and concise brand for the market. With the Nuvata team’s help, we were able to identify and understand their target customer and then make every branding and marketing decision with the goal to bring them delight. The end result spoke for itself as within the first year they spread across the entire state of California and gained considerable brand awareness.  


What’s the biggest misconception cannabis companies have about branding? 

I think the biggest misconception about branding in the cannabis industry is that your brand is simply your logo when this could not be farther from the truth. In essence, your brand is actually not controlled by you but rather your customers. A brand is the opinion and feeling a customer has about your company based on a combination of your logo, products, packaging, website, marketing, social media, customer service, and so on. For that reason, cannabis companies can only strive to manipulate the emotional response of their customers with the goal of creating a positively recognized brand. 

 

In your view, what is the biggest branding challenge facing cannabis companies today? 

I think the biggest challenge cannabis companies face today when building a brand is the lack of beneficial advertising and marketing opportunities. As mentioned in my previous response, if your brand is simply the feeling a customer has of your company then it becomes very difficult to establish a positive association with customers when you cannot take advantage of the many ways of influencing their point of view. Additionally, customers cannot begin to create that strong bond with your company when you do not have the ability to raise awareness of your brand through advertising and marketing channels. 

What will be the biggest branding challenge in 2020? 

I believe the biggest branding challenge in 2020 will be establishing and solidifying customer loyalty. Most cannabis markets, both medical and recreational, are seeing a surplus of emerging brands which provides customers with an overwhelming amount of options to choose from. Additionally, product innovation has not kept pace with the number of companies entering the market leaving customers with a plethora of brands essentially selling the same product. These two factors combined prove the importance of understanding your specific customer and catering everything about your brand to what brings them delight. When that emotional bond is created with a customer it creates a sense of loyalty and trust in your brand that becomes invaluable to your success. 

 

What can companies do to alleviate their branding challenges?

When it comes to navigating the regulations around advertising and marketing in the cannabis space companies can look to outside-the-industry partnerships to alleviate these challenges. When a business understands their brand outside the lens of cannabis it allows the possibility of partnering with non-cannabis companies that share the same mission, vision, and values. Through these types of situations, cannabis brands can advertise and market indirectly through their partner to an audience that is similar, if not exactly, their type of customer. For example, Plus Edibles recently partnered with Casper for their line of CBD gummies as both brands can benefit from each other’s audience.

For establishing customer loyalty, cannabis companies simply need to take the time to understand who their target customer base is and either build or shift their branding to align with that audience. The more focused the ideal customer then the easier and more efficiently a brand can market to their wants and needs. Every move a cannabis brand makes should be filtered through the lens of their consumer. 

 

In your view, what is the most under-rated tool in the cannabis branding toolbox for cannabis companies?

I believe the most under-rated tool in the branding toolbox for cannabis companies is their brand website. This goes for cultivators, manufacturers, dispensaries, delivery, and ancillary businesses. With all the regulations surrounding advertising and marketing, your website tends to be the only platform where you can comprehensively communicate to your customer all the details of your brand. Additionally, depending on your business type, it tends to be a major channel in driving sales. For these reasons, the proper investment should be made in creating a website that is aesthetically attractive, engaging with content, and functions as a conversion tool for your business. At the end of the day, no matter who your customer is, people tend to take brands seriously that look like they take themselves seriously and your website is the perfect platform to communicate that. 

 

In your view, what is the most over-rated tool in the cannabis branding toolbox for cannabis companies?

Although still an important cog in a cannabis companies marketing plan, I believe the most over-rated tool in the branding toolbox for cannabis companies is their Instagram profile. Many of the cannabis brands we speak with feel that Instagram will drive a majority of their sales and the data just doesn’t support that theory. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s very critical for cannabis brands to have a consistent Instagram presence to communicate credibility to customers but I don’t think it requires a premium-level investment. The customer journey from Instagram to purchase is long and complicated resulting in frequent drop-offs, especially for CPG brands. Additionally, with the algorithm changes in Instagram, it’s most likely that only a small fraction of a cannabis brand’s followers are even getting fed their posts. My recommendation to our cannabis clients is to invest in their Instagram as a way to raise brand awareness but don’t throw all their marketing dollars at it thinking it will drive sales.

 

What’s the BEST piece of cannabis branding expert advice you give everyone you work with?

Focus on a target audience. Your brand doesn’t need to alienate customers, but it needs to understand who is going to hear you the loudest.

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