Fresh eyes
Five simple ways to bring your marketing to life
March 4, 2015
Trying something new in your marketing mix often requires a leap of faith.
For example, you may want to represent your brand in a more visual way, but don’t quite know what the answer is. You may want to get more engagement with customers on social media, but struggle to clearly define your message and point of difference.
When this happens it’s easy to fall back on doing what you’ve always done, but this can make your marketing stale and forgettable. Here’s five simple ideas for evolving your marketing that will help you become more influential.
- Video
For many businesses, video is one of those marketing techniques that will fall under the ‘nice to have, but not essential’ category. It can be hard to convince colleagues of the return on investment and, more specifically, to persuade people to appear in front of a camera.
But the days of the 20-minute-long corporate video that costs thousands of pounds to produce are long gone. If you’re a business it’s all about getting your message across in a punchy and concise way and encouraging others to click and share that content. Here’s an example of one such video we did for global surfaces and coatings manufacturer Sherwin Williams on the launch of a new specialist coating.
Consumers are increasingly watching corporate video content online, with estimates showing it could increase to 67 per cent of all consumer web traffic by 2017. With this in mind, you need to make sure your business is ahead of the curve and assess what video options could add value to your marketing.
- Infographics
The use of infographics has exploded in recent years and it’s not hard to see why. As well as helping businesses to present otherwise dull data in a visually impactful way, they are also great for encouraging social sharing and boosting search engine optimisation.
That’s because a well-designed infographic will be shared across social media platforms and on relevant websites. Google loves to see this natural link building and rewards websites accordingly.
Our Freshfield Christmas infographic was sent out as our official 2014 festive communication and has been one of our most successful pieces of communication to date in terms of driving traffic to our website and client feedback.
- Animation
Similar to the way infographics allow you to present information in a visual way, so too do animated graphics. Whether you use it in videos, like this one we did for Ludlow Wealth Management, or within your website functionality, the use of animation will differentiate your brand and help to tell your story.
- Testimonials
This is one of the oldest tricks in the book, but is often overlooked. To have your customers shout publicly about why they use your products and services will help you create a powerful ‘show, don’t tell’ mentality.
It’s worth putting extra effort into gathering that customer feedback that truly reflects your brand values. As part of a recent rebranding exercise and office refresh for Moore and Smalley, we produced a series of posters featuring quotes from its clients about why they chose the firm. These offered a formidable argument for why businesses should use the firm and helped reflect its Trusted Thinking values.
Testimonials don’t just have to be a static tool though. They can be used within your video strategy, by inviting clients to say on film why they choose you.
- Personalised marketing collateral
This is becoming an often overlooked marketing technique in a digital-heavy marketing world. Therefore, a well thought-out piece of printed marketing collateral can really stand out and offer that personal touch with your current and potential customers.
For example, running alongside our own website, social media and e-news campaigns, we still target potential clients with a high-quality printed document that highlights our credentials in their sector. We get great feedback and enquiries from this activity.
