The most common understanding of brand value is a percentage
of financial value assigned to the brand’s name. It is an educated guess based
on how much more a customer will pay to be associated with the brand.
Let’s move past the educated guess part and toward the trust
factor associated with the brand.
Nike, BMW, Pampers, and Southwest Airlines all covet their
brand value because it represents a repeatable and trusted experience associated
with the brand. In essence, it’s the brand’s reputation.
Most B-to-B marketers are faced with the dilemma of more marketing channels than resources.
We are living in the age where there is a marketing channel
or marketing platform for almost every aspect of B-to-B marketing. From
outbound channels for customer acquisition to platform channels for managing
the marketing process. It seems there is
a provider at every turn offering the latest marketing technology with promises
that their technology will wholeheartedly produce the marketing results you are
looking for.
I’ve been reading predictions with some amusement about how AI virtual assistants will make our lives easier and better by thinking for us. The prognosticators of AI technology remind me of the early days of social media and its love fest promise of brands building relationships and interacting with their customers. Well, we all know where that got us. Which brings me to AI platforms and big tech.
Do you have the resources to achieve your business goals?
Altimeter Research recently released a new research report entitled Key Elements of a Next-Gen Digital Marketing Strategy. In the report, they correctly identify that marketing is no longer considered a stepchild on the organizational chart but rather a leader in innovation and digital transformation.
Today, achievement of many business goals requires an
integrated digital strategy that encompasses traditional awareness goals as
well as the ability to reach customers on an on-demand personal level thought
to be unachievable just a few years ago.
Below are my thoughts for business-to-business marketers as
they start to navigate the technology and resources needed to achieve their business
goals.
Smaller manufacturing firms are still viewing marketing as an expense rather than an investment.
Why do manufacturing firms treat marketing as an
afterthought?
Currently, I’m in prospecting mode for new business. Saying good bye to Dallas and hello to Denver has required me to rev-up my prospecting skills and make business contacts in a new region. One of the realities I’m seeing is the lack of urgency or thought that manufacturing firms display toward their own brand.
Let me explain. There are fewer big dog companies in Colorado than there are in Texas. This is due to several factors, including cost of living, strain on natural resources, availability of affordable housing, etc. For comparison, the population of Dallas and Fort Worth is greater than the entire state of Colorado. Most of the business activity in state is spread out along the front range. Some market segments such as healthcare and recreation display some pretty savvy branding chops. However, many of the smaller manufacturing firms are still viewing marketing as an expense rather than an investment.
Is there guilt by association for brands on social media platforms?
Well, here we are at another crossroad for social media platforms. Masters of the universe in Silicon Valley are being taken to task for their lack of control and protection of user information and accountability for the content posted to their platforms. Both of these topics are specifically related to trust. Over the past few months, there has been a decline in user participation due to deliberate manipulation of content designed to divide or inflame, user privacy issues, fake news, and a general denial that the above-mentioned are growing problems for these platforms.
Brand enhancement via social media is still viable but vigilance is required.
There are branding benefits that can be derived and measured for brands that choose to participate in social media. However, practicing a “set and forget” social media strategy can have negative branding repercussions.
The day after Fat Tuesday is a time for taking stock of what’s going on in our lives.
Giving up Facebook for the Lenten Season showed me how manipulative it has become.
Go ahead, I DARE you – avoid logging onto Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or whatever your social media platform of choice is for six weeks. This is one way to gain perspective on what a total time suck, and how manipulative these global monsters have become. This is not a rant about Facebook and their apparent disregard for protecting their users private information, there’s enough of that going around already, but rather a reflection on distancing myself a seemingly innocuous part of my daily routine.
Today we live in a two-hour news cycle environment. It’s exhausting, not only for those charged with gathering and reporting the news, but more for us that consume the news. Overload is inevitable, leading to accepting the unacceptable as normal behavior.
Bombarded by the likes of FOX, MSNBC, and the social media channels — Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube — we can find little respite to gather our thoughts and make informed decisions as to what is credible content and the effect it has on us.
Google AdWords experiments provide an avenue to test new ads and keywords.
Google AdWords experiments can provide insight into increasing click-through rates and conversions.
Running successful long-term AdWords campaigns can be a balancing act between key word selection and budget allocation. Google AdWords experiments provide an avenue to test new ads and keywords against existing ads at the same time. However, there can be a downside to running an experiment in the form of a drop-off in click-through rates (CTR) and conversions while the experiment is running.
