Transparency in Business: Why It’s Important
Brand transparency is the key to success in the digital world. Being open in business has never been more important, whether it is content marketing, customer service, business model, or responding to a crisis. Transparency is a great way to gain customers’ trust, following, traffic, loyalty, sales by converting visitors into customers.
In the digital age, customers and your competitors have tons information online available to them than ever before. Brands that follow the model of being transparency win. Companies slowly understand that customers want honesty which begins with knowing your customers or audience by building a community and by engaging in an ongoing dialogue. Customers research and look into different resources before making a purchase. What it means is that people look for the truth and the marketing jargon is becoming outdated.
Companies that take the leap absolutely see the rewards. For example, Moz, a company that sells inbound marketing and marketing analytics software subscriptions. Moz is one of the most recognized marketing technology company and the company is known to be very transparent and authentic. In 2012, Moz published their funding and results in full detail for everyone to see.
Another example is Buffer, a social media management software company. Buffer published the salaries of every employee, including the CEO. This move was very bold and I am sure this move made some of their employees uncomfortable. The results of this transparency were quite amazing, the company was praised for its bravery and they were flooded with resumes and gained a tremendous traffic and engagement on their site. Besides displaying how much each employee is making, but also the formula for how they arrived at such a salary. For example, one blog post received more than 381 comments.
In 2008, Domino’s Pizza surveyed their customers and shared the results/news publicly, which included negative feedbacks. As a result, Domino’s Pizza used the negative feedback to ask their customers to help them fix the problems. By 2009, the company’s stock jumped from $7.73 to $105.11.
There are many other companies that could have changed the outcome of their crisis through being transparent. For example:
Qantas – Twitter Nosedive
Microsoft (Xbox One) – Online Service
Volkswagen- Emissions
Transparency is becoming a cornerstone of brand communication and one of the most important factors in customer engagement. Brands can no longer afford not to align what a brand says and what a brand does. Consumers are becoming more interested in what a brand stand for and seek more information about the brand.
One particular example stands out, during Xbox One launch in the midst of the confusion and anger about their online subscription. One employee tweeted ‘’sorry I don’t get the drama around having an ‘always –on’ console. That’s the world we live in. #dealwithit.’ This angered a lot of customers, and the employee was fired.
This shows that brands should dismantle silos, build a customer centric and transparent business model that must be followed by the entire organization, not by a single department.
So, what do you think about transparency? Share your views.
Beats by Dre
“People aren’t hearing all the music.”
Beats electronics founded in 2006 by legendary producer Andre Young, known as Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. The company slogan is “People aren’t hearing all the music.”Beats family (products) includes headphones, ear buds, speakers and beats music.
In a social context, whoever wears or owns any Beats products are seen as a fashionable, flashy music enthusiast. Beats products are considered fun, trendy, good quality and high-performance products.
In the marketing world, Beats is known for its compelling campaigns and creative marketing strategies. Beats uses its product a certain image which allows the consumers to interact with their products. Beats use an image of quality and style of their product to attract desire. By making their products “cool” and trendy, as one of the strategies that make Beats stand out.
Strategy
It is unusual to see headphones or audio equipment advertising because many companies in this industry relied on the retailer’s recommendation to their clients.
Celebrity Influencers
Beats uses celebrity influencers in their campaigns (musicians, athletes, actors), they believe young people might idolize them. Below are the examples of celebrity influencers:
- JustBeats Solo by Justin Bieber
- Heartbeats by Lady Gaga
- PowerBeats by LeBron James
Compelling Campaigns/Visual Branding
Ambush Marketing
During World Cup 2014 and summer Olympics in London 2012, Beats used ambush marketing to capture their customers. To get its message across at the Olympics, Beats sent every athlete a pair of Beats headphones. Beats was also banned by FIFA at the World Cup 2014 and players from all 32 teams. Sony was the official sponsor. This generated a lot of buzz for Beats and although Sony sent free headphones to every team, players stuck with Beats. Just because the Beats was not the official sponsor, it did not stop them from spreading its message and have a presence. Beats is a fearless brand and it turned a negative situation into an opportunity. Beats used this Ad below:
Emotion
Beats uses emotions in most of their campaigns. For instance, “Hear What you Want” campaign, it uses real stories from athletes. Emotions play a huge role in marketing, and an effective way to connect with your audience/customers. Other companies like Dove have also used this strategy. Even if your product or brand is not emotional, it is important to implement a story that will connect with your consumers.
Beats remain authentic while they take risks, think outside the box and using an emotional feel to their products to boost their brand.
Social Responsibility
Beats by Dre fights for an Aids-free generation by creating (RED) merchandising. Beats contributes $5 from each Solo2 (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition. In addition, $17 from every purchase of Beats Loves (RED) Special Edition T-shirt.
Apple acquired beats music & beats electronics for $3.2 billion. Bingo!
Why Real-Time Marketing is Real
Real-time marketing refers to the speed in which the content hits the market.
Brands can use real-time marketing to monitor their digital environment, respond in real-time, build a relationship, increase and promote participation. Marketers are still trying to figure out how to master this strategy. Real-time marketing requires originality.
It takes grit and creativity for brands to successfully implement real-time marketing into their marketing tactics. It takes creativity to make a clever tweet but it brings a whole new level of creativity for brands to create mini-campaigns to leverage breaking news about their brands in a timely manner.
Oreo, a popular cookie brand, is one brand that introduced and dominated the concept of real-time marketing in the digital world. Oreo cookie released a simple special tweet/image that capitalized on an expected power outage second of half of the Super Bowl in February. Oreo cookie took two minutes after power failure to come up with this concept, the image led to a massive brand awareness boost to the brand. The image was retweeted more than 15,000 times, accrued 19,610 Facebook likes within the first hour.
Oreo’s marketing campaigns always spoke to the target audience. Oreo’s marketing team is definitely taking the digital world by storm; in the 2011 Guinness Book of World Records awarded them with the record of most “likes” on a Facebook post within 24 hours. Today, they have doubled their Facebook likes from 16 million to 32 million. Oreo cookie has one of the most creative and successful real-time marketing campaigns.
Janda Lukin, Brand Director said, “we will continue to look for ways to grow and expand in [the digital] area – always keeping the filter of looking at the world through the eyes of Oreo.
Oreo’s real-time digital marketing efforts have thus far paid off. By observing Oreo’s cookie marketing tactics, one can begin to understand what real-time marketing is and how it can be used with a good humor. Oreo 101-year old cookie has the best digital marketing campaign to date, and they have set a whole new standard for marketing in the digital age.
Zappos Real-Time Marketing
Zappos, an online clothing store. After Kanye West lashed out against Zappos in a radio interview; defaming the company by telling the world that the company sells “Sh*t products”. Zappos’ quick response was a toilet plunger: new product line named “Zappos.com Gear Sh*t Product.”
I applaud Zappos for a quick response to a crisis mixed with good humor. The art of real-time marketing is making sure you’re always ready.
See the picture below.
Thanksgiving openings are the new normal, get with it or get left behind
Thanksgiving brought a huge crowd, with most people substituted turkey for a discount. Every year companies review their competitive market and how consumers are changing their shopping habits, what other retailers are doing and what methods they are espousing.
More than a dozen major retailers from Target to Staples opened on Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving openings come despite planned protests across the country from workers’ groups that are against employees missing Thanksgiving meals and spending time with their beloved ones at home. In the past few years, many retailers were warming to the idea of opening on Thanksgiving night as they have now pushed up discounts that were reserved for Black Friday into early November.
This year, retailers made headlines on Thanksgiving Day in a greater number than ever before. Companies like Wal-Mart had adopted this method before, and more companies are following suit. Wal-Mart said more than 22 million people showed up to its stores on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, with an estimation of 10 million register transactions between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Toys ‘R’ Us in Manhattan had more than 200 people stood in line before its 5 p.m. opening.
Mall stores such as Old Navy and Abercrombie & Fitch also opened Thursday night. Some stores had people waiting to go into specific stores as early as 11 a.m., nine hours earlier than opening. Last year Macy’s, J.C. Penney and Kohl’s didn’t partake, but this year Macy’s drew a record-breaking crowd on Thanksgiving.
Target said it saw lines stretch for several blocks before its 8 p.m. openings. And Toys ‘R’ Us saw crowds gathering at 4:30 p.m. The online sales were also robust, with Adobe says online purchasing surpassed $1 billion for the first time. IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark said Thanksgiving web sales rose 20% from 2012, with an average order value of $127.59. Social media platforms like Instagram announced that Thanksgiving 2013 in the US was the busiest day on Instagram so far.
Thanksgiving opening is getting more popular, and it has in fact taken a bite out of Black Friday sales since last year. Sales on Thanksgiving were $810 million last year, an increase of 55 percent from the previous year as more stores opened on the holiday, according to Chicago research firm ShopperTrak. And sales dropped 1.8% to $11.2 billion on Black Friday, even though it was still the busiest and the biggest shopping day last year.
Color in Branding
We all encounter color in our everyday lives, from traffic lights to the products we buy. Color certainly influences what we read and what we buy. Have you ever thought about the importance of color in branding?
The proper use of color in branding is vital, and it plays an integral part in memory recall. Color stimulates all the senses, instantly conveying a message like no other communication method. Color conveys meaning and message without words and it should represent your brand’s image.
Choosing the correct color for your brand is crucial, the colors you use in your branding efforts should be carefully weighed because it sets you apart from your competitors’ products and logo. Each color triggers certain emotional and psychological reactions.
You want your brand perceived in a way that is rememberable to your customers, some brands are instantly recognizable by their colors. For example, McDonald’s use their brand color “yellow” to great effect. Yellow is the most visible color, which is why the McDonald’s M can be seen from a great distance. (Test your knowledge of trademarked colors by taking this pop quiz)
Visualize the color blue
Blue is a very popular color for corporate websites because it conveys communication, authority, and clarity. Many global companies like IBM, JP Morgan, Samsung, AT&T, BMW and General Electric use blue as the primary color in their logo. And most websites incorporate blue or at least one shade of blue into a design or logo.
Have you ever thought why social media sites use blue? Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress, LinkedIn and Facebook, they all use blue in their brands.
Blue is gender neutral and generally associated with the mind and intellect and it is the most popular color in the universe. This is not a coincidence that all social media giants picked blue. There is no doubt that they must have invested a great deal of money and time to make sure that they chose the right color for their brands.
Blue dominates the world-wide web including my blog header. From Reddit, Skype, Mashable, Foursquare, Digg, MSN Windows Live, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft, Skype, the White House website.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked why he decided to make Facebook blue in an interview. His answer was “Blue is the richest color for me and I can see all of blue”
Color plays an integral factor in the success of your business! Think carefully and choose wisely.
Do you believe there is a psychology of color?
Recognisable Brands Test brand color test
Lastly, if you’re questioning the power of color in branding, look at this example:
Favorite Commercial
After I viewed most of the Ads (new and old) I picked Apple’s 1984 Mac Ad as one of the greatest, even though the budget was $900,000, one of the most expensive advertisements in television’s history. This ad was the birth of Apple; Steve Jobs thought that it would generate a buzz for the Macintosh without even featuring the product itself, this was a genius idea from one of the greatest thinkers ever. The storyboard was amazing, from hundreds of men listening to Big Brother on a huge screen to the model running into the room and destroying the screen with a baseball bat and freeing the men from Big Brothers grasp.
I read online that the response to the ad was so strong that Apple bought months of ad time on ScreenVision, a company that sold ad time in movie theaters. Some owners reaired the ad for months after Apple’s contract ran out with ScreenTime because they were so enamored with the commercial. Great ad and great concept.
Kmart Christmas Ad Airs In September
I watched my first Christmas commercial of the year last week (3 months earlier). The commercial, which features a giant gingerbread man and promotes the company’s layaway program, warns shoppers to not “let the holidays sneak up” on them.
My $0.02
This is a great marketing strategy by Kmart, this means customers can plan ahead of time and spend wisely. Planning well in advance leads to more savings, more creativity, more choices, more flexibility in your schedule that can lead to more generosity. I suppose it also reduces impulse buys, last-minute panics, price gouging and out of stock must haves.
The National Retail Federation says more than 40 percent of holiday shoppers start buying before Halloween. I realize that several retailers have already announced their layaway schemes. I think Costco is one of them, I haven’t been there in a while to confirm this assertion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDSz7APFmAk
What do you think of the timing of Kmart’s Christmas ad?
Too soon or just right? or is it great marketing strategy to make customers become more budget conscious?
The Marketing Explorer 