Life Beyond the Storefront: Breakthrough Branding

Life Beyond the Storefront: Breakthrough Branding

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What constitutes a brand these days? Some MULO (multi-location) brands are known for their shopping bags. We often see Ikea bags in use for moving or other heavy lifting. The iconic blue carry-alls are even available on Amazon. The concept of “bag as brand” has been around for a while. Grocery chain Fairway used to […]

The Paddy Box: For the Irish People in Your Life

The Paddy Box: For the Irish People in Your Life

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Not many people know the origins of the word “paddy,” as it relates to Irish heritage, and its use has a complicated history. In Ireland, “Paddy” is a nickname for Patrick (Ireland’s patron saint). The Irish name for Patrick is Pádraic or Pádraig, hence why you wish someone a happy St. Paddy’s day (not St. […]

The Challenge of Brand Alignment with Social Issues

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Increasingly, brands with high public visibility must articulate their positions on issues the public cares about while avoiding the appearance of exploiting public sentiment for purposes of self-promotion. And whether or not a formal statement makes sense on every issue, companies should be prepared for the day when a consumer comes to them to ask a question or offer feedback about a brand’s actions or values, perhaps in the form of a social post that is there for all to see.

Refocusing the Contextual Advertising Conversation on Outcomes

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It’s time to stop getting hung up in the jargon. Instead, let’s talk about what really matters to marketers: outcomes and how to secure them.

What Becomes of Brand Identity in a World of Changing IDs?

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Branding is in the eye of the beholder. Or, as Al Ries and Jack Trout’s classic marketing text Positioning, the Battle for your Mind puts it, a brand’s positioning is the space it occupies in the mind of the prospect. Decades of the world’s best marketing leaders and agency pros have rallied around this definition. If it’s true, what happens to measuring brand identity and positioning with the dramatic shift in one of the best attribution tools marketers have ever known?

Smart Brand Strategy in an Endemic Era: How to Effectively Gain Trust

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The future of brand strategy is all about increasing engagement with quality interactions in a way that inspires loyalty and trust from a brand’s prospective audience.

How a Brand-First Approach Builds Customer Loyalty

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When every step of the buyer journey reflects your brand, from the time shoppers enter your website to the time they make a purchase, you improve your ability to forge deep and lasting connections with your customers. These customers will become loyal brand ambassadors who will advocate for your business and drive meaningful improvements in revenue and loyalty — metrics that will ultimately determine your business’ success.

Brand Marketing 2.0: Brand is Back, But Expectations Have Changed

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The allure of immediately seeing metrics like clicks, downloads, or form completions outweighed instincts to make investments that pay dividends over the longer term. No longer.

Three Key Shifts the Tech Space Will See in 2021

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What we will see with voice is a gradual-but-growing diversification of product discovery beyond websites and mobile apps. And voice will increasingly be a part of the mix.

How Brands Can Support the Safe Return of Youth Sports to Communities

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As the school year kicks off virtually for many children and families across the nation, all eyes are turning to the possibility that youth sports could help provide much-needed activity, socialization, and emotional support during an otherwise overwhelming and disorienting time. Without a doubt, youth sports in a pandemic must look a lot different than they did in pre-pandemic times, but one thing is truer than ever: Brands can play a valuable role in helping youth sports return safely to the field and enabling the kids who need these activities the most to participate. 

Playing the Long-Game with Today’s Low CPMs

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As companies try to strike the right advertising tone given the global pandemic, it is apparent consumers are getting hit with the same messaging over and over — albeit from completely different brands: ‘Now more than ever’… ‘In these uncertain times’…. ‘The safety and comfort of home’… ‘We’re here to help’… ‘We’ll get through this together’… 

It seems the same playbook for how to engage customers during this time leaked to every team. So how can brands break away from the ‘hipster conundrum’ (trying to be genuine and unique while everyone else floods the market with the same message and approach)? 

Why and How to Take Steps Toward Brand Assurance

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Companies are adapting at breakneck speed. For example, Dick’s Sporting Goods is offering curbside pickup to protect its customers and staff. DoorDash is discounting delivery services to help working parents. Walgreens is making it easier to get critical prescriptions. Measures such as these have been essential in instilling a sense of community, care, and trust.

We must not attempt to carry on business as usual. We can no longer think about marketing and advertising in the same ‘brand vs. demand’ framework. Now is the time for brand assurance — to actively fulfill brand promises, to help customers, and to maintain brand reputation. 

4 Mobile and Location Trends for Brands to Keep an Eye On

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Believe it or not, this is the smartphone’s third decade. When it comes to mobile apps and location-based marketing, so much has changed since the advent of the iPhone in 2007.

While it’s hard to predict what will become of mobile and location-based media in the next 10 years, it’s fair to prognosticate what we can expect for the rest of this year and beyond. Here are four mobile and location trends brand marketers need to watch.

Treat the Economic Symptoms of Coronavirus with Proactive Brand Management

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In the midst of this uncertainty, your business’s online visibility probably isn’t top of mind—rightfully so. 

Nevertheless, communication is key to your brand management strategy in times like these. It’s important to make your customers aware of any changes in your business operations. Below are three tactics you can use to bolster your brand management as the coronavirus sends shockwaves through the global economy.

Creating and Maintaining a Cohesive Digital Brand Image

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Visual consistency is about perception. It’s the ability to pick out, recognize, and immediately understand something you see. Coca-Cola is a great example. You can instantly recognize the simple, iconic red and white colors paired with its cursive font anywhere and in any language. Even for its holiday campaign, Coca-Cola used its colors to its advantage. Remember the famously adorable polar bears wearing red scarves that stood out from its soft, white fur and snowy background? Classic. 

This goes to show the power of strong, cohesive branding. Customizing the language, photography, color palette, layout, and written content of your brand’s digital marketing materials can go a long way. In fact, a recent study by LucidPress discovered that consistent brand presentation increases overall revenue and growth by 33%. 

2020 Arrives: How Brands and Marketers Can Survive the New Decade

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Brands have an obligation to adhere to what their customers care about, but given how easy it is for people to digitally project an aspirational lifestyle, it’s no wonder brands are having a tough time understanding who their consumers are and what they want from the brands they support. To combat this knowledge gap and align what consumers say with what they actually do, we need more real-world intelligence.

Local Search Association Rebrands as Localogy

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In 2019, updates to Google’s local search algorithms and changes in the way consumers use mobile devices caused a shift in the way local businesses marketed themselves online. Digital marketing firms have been quick to pivot to meet market demand. As of today, one of the industry’s most influential not-for-profit associations is making a change as well.

Local Search Association (LSA), a not-for-profit association of companies focused on local and location-based marketing, will now be known as Localogy. The name change is part of a larger rebranding effort as the group looks for ways to better showcase its mission to re-invest in the changing nature of local business.

In 2020, Independent Publishers Must Invest in the Quality of their Brands

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The door is far from closed to success in publishing, and there are clear paths to prosperity for newer and leaner independent and local outfits. Even as more and more ad dollars go to a handful of giants, publishers have a chance to turn the tide, provided they invest in talent, maintain the integrity of their brands, and build an audience advertisers find worth pursuing.

The Risks and Outsize Rewards of Political Branding

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In a time of unprecedented political partisanship, the risks and rewards of corporate political messaging are amplified. Viral marketing strategies including Nike’s partnership with racial justice activist and football star Colin Kaepernick, Gillette’s toxic masculinity ad, and Chick-fil-A’s anti-LGBTQ stances rally political sympathizers to a brand’s side and alienate ideological foes.

Street Fight checked in with Jen Capstraw, director of strategic insights and evangelism at growth marketing company Iterable, to get a sense of how significant the benefits and drawbacks of political branding are, which ideological direction political ads are predominantly taking, and how strong the evidence is for the efficacy of partisan messaging.

Should Small Businesses Participate in Black Friday?

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The total amount spent by shoppers on Black Friday in 2018 was $715.5 billion, according to The Balance. What’s even more noteworthy is the average amount spent per shopper, at $1,007.24. This represents an increase of approximately 4.3% over Black Friday 2017 sales. The numbers show that shoppers are ready and willing to spend on Black Friday. So, rather than leaving it to large-scale retailers, if you’re a small business owner, why not consider joining in?

The truth is, you still might be wondering whether the additional time and investment are worth it. Below, we present some pros and cons of participating in Black Friday you may not have considered.