Business

Marketing Mix
 by Mitchell Cameron

Marketing Mix Tips: 5 Ways to Predict Customers

There is a famous saying in business that states “the customer is always right.” Today companies are getting better at delivering on the desires of customers. I addition customers want companies to serve them at a higher level than in the past. Many of them expect personalized buying experiences. This means companies spend a lot of time and effort to learn how to properly engage their customers. Successful firms incorporate customer expectations into their marketing mix. This has led to an increased foresight and capability to understand the desires of customers. They can then be targeted before they even know they are being marketed to.

A company must focus on things like customer service and satisfaction. This will keep people engaged in their products. Relationship marketing is a huge part of a firm’s marketing mix. This ends up playing a huge role in the profits of an organization. In the past companies relied on testimonies from customers about their products to gain data about them.  Now companies gather data about their customers using technology. Some technologies used today include databases and online information. Analytics are also very important to understand how people differ. For example baby boomers do not respond the same to marketing as a teens. This must be considered when developing your marketing mix.

Developing Your Marketing Mix Can be a Challenge…

It is complicated to adapt to what people want all the time as they are always changing their minds.  As times change or certain trends take over the marketplace it becomes harder for organizations to attain and retain their customers. Customers also have more and more buying power. Now they can purchase online from any store globally.  Globalization makes it important to gather data and stay up to date on what customers want and the best way to reach them. According to New York Times people see or come in contact with up to 20,000 advertisements per day. This makes it very hard for companies to attain a loyal customer base when they have to compete with all this noise. To develop a strong marketing mix the key is to know what customers want by understanding what they are thinking. Here are 5 ways to do that that:

1) Think like Your Customer

This seems simple but is often overlooked by companies. This can be the most useful way to understand the competitors in the marketplace.  By understanding competitors a company can more easily adjust their product or service to offer an advantage to their target market. Learning this will allow a company to look past its core business systems to the front line of where customers are purchasing products.

2) Put Yourself Through the Customer Experience

Experiencing what a customer does at the point of purchase if this is possible can be a very valuable tool. For example many nurses in clinics put themselves through the process of waiting for an appointment. This helps them understand how their patients feel. Interacting with your consumer and experiencing what they do will offer great insight into what is important to them. If it is not possible to experience exactly what your customers do at the point of purchase then role-play each step of the buying process. This will determine some key desires of the customer. From here a company can adjust its marketing mix accordingly.

3) Have a Diverse Customer Service Team

It is important to consider that different types of people can relate and better understand different types of customers. Having a diverse team of service representatives will allow for a company to consider the desires of all its customers. People are very different and are always changing their minds. This means companies must be very diverse because they have to adapt to a huge customer base.

4) Learn With Customers

Another way to gain understanding is to learn with the customer. In some cases companies have invited top customers to their own events and seminars. This is valuable because the company can get a better understanding of the mindset of their customers.  It is also a great time for a company to try to influence the mindset of its customers by directing them toward their own products or services.  A great relationship can be formed with the customers and customer loyalty can begin. To learn with your customer is a creative way to incorporate them directly into your marketing mix.

5) Look to the Future and Anticipate

This is the hardest part of customer service and usually determines the success of a company long-term.  A company must focus on what customers will want in the future. Steve Jobs and Richard Branson are perfect examples of people who were able to look to the future. Looking ahead will also help companies predict the trends in the market that may affect their customers.

To conclude companies have become very good at predicting the wants of their customers. To be able to compete within your industry it is important to know how to do this.  Outlined above are some ways a company can study their customers. Predicting wants are important so that companies can capitalize on opportunities and maintain loyalty from their customers. To develop a strong marketing mix the key is to know what customers want by trying to understand how they think.

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 by Emma Cameron

How To Use Hashtags Effectively

Hashtags are an important part of our social media and tech culture today. So important that in 2010 the Oxford Dictionary added the word, and the board game Scrabble added it to their dictionary. Though most people in the world have heard of hashtags, or have seen them live in action, many still do not know to how to use them effectively. Hashtags are simple to use and can really drive traffic and engagement to your post or content – making them an important tool to know inside out.

 

Choosing The Right One:

It is not effective to just pick any word or phrase and proceed to use it as a hashtag. You should research which ones are already in use and in what context they are being used. For an example, if you come up with a hashtag that fits your brand perfectly, you need to make sure that other brands or individuals are not using that same one in a completely different way. This can cause confusion and a loss opportunity for your brand, and it could pick up some unwanted attention.

 

Pick The Right Social Media Platform:

Different social media platforms yield different returns for your content.

Twitter:

Twitter is the originator of the hashtag, and continues to still be the powerhouse. Tons of research has been done to track the effectiveness of the use of them on Twitter. According to one study, tweets with one or two hashtags can double the chances of engagement. However, if you exceed two per tweet, the chances of engagement actually drops by 17%. Staying within two per tweet limit is crucial. It is also important to note how “engagement” is defined in research. The engagement that is activated by hashtags can include different types of interactions; 22% of engagement comes from replies to brand’s tweets; 78% are retweets; And 92% are link clicks. Depending on the use of them in a tweet, it can either increase or decrease this amount of engagement

Facebook:

Facebook introduced hashtags to their site in 2013, which was a late start for the social media powerhouse. Though Facebook currently ranks the highest for the most used platform in the world, their engagement using hashtags is one of the worst. Studies have shown that Facebook posts with hashtags actually have less engagement than those without. Furthermore, studies have found that Facebook and Twitter are similar in the sense that overuse can also decrease the amount of engagement and interaction. It is more beneficial to keep hashtags down to one or two per post on Facebook in order to receive interaction back.

Instagram:

Instagram is the complete opposite to Twitter and Facebook when it comes to hashtags. Other social media sites diminish your return on engagement with the more hashtags you use per post. Instagram views this in a different light, and the more hashtags that are used the more noticed, liked, shared, and commented your post will get. Post that exceed 11 or more hashtags, are the post that bring in the highest number of interactions. Hashtags can be your best bet for growing a fast following on Instagram.

 

Timing is Everything:

As with most things in life, everything always comes down to timing. The same can be said with using hashtags on social media sites. There are many different online tools that can help you set up and schedule times to post content to your social media sites. This helps with getting content out during times of high usage, and on significant dates (e.g. holidays, campaign launches, etc). This can really help with getting your hashtag out there, and bringing in traffic.

 

Hashtags are a huge part of our social media sites today. Hashtags allow brands to reach more followers, give followers the opportunity to engage and interact with their favourite brand. It is one of the greatest inventions and one of the best things for online marketing.

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 by Emma Cameron

How To Use Snapchat As A Marketing Tool

For years Facebook and Twitter have been the kings of all social media platforms. Combined, these platforms have over 2 billion users and growing, making these platforms one of the most looked at sites for marketers. Recently however, a new social media king has stepped onto the scene, and is bringing brands along with them. Snapchat reports an estimated 6 billion views daily, and has over 100 million active daily users (65% of which contribute content). This portfolio has brands and marketers not only impressed, but jumping at the opportunity to use it as a marketing tool. There are many benefits to advertising on Snapchat, however it has to be the right fit for your company. If you are looking into using Snapchat for your own business, check out what we think are the 4 best ways to utilize it.

 

1.Provides Access to Live Events:

Snapchat is one of the best tools for real-time social media marketing due to the fact that is can give audiences around the world access to live events. Companies can use Snapchat for real-time product launches, trade shows, or one-of-a-kind unique events. It allows consumers to feel involved in events, and engaged to be up-to-date on what their favourite brands are doing.

Lives events that have been successfully featured on Snapchat include the American Music Awards, the Westminster Dog Show, and Oktoberfest.

 

2. Embrace the Time Limit:

Many would say that the time limit that Snapchat offers is a negative for some businesses. However, many marketers and brands do not think this is always the case. The time limit (24 hours) allows for brands to create short videos or photos that last only a few seconds that can be sent to consumers as teasers. These teasers leave viewers wanting more, and creating a demand for these teasers.

Make-up powerhouse brand, NARS, used the app to allow followers an exclusive sneak peek look of their upcoming Guy Bourdin collection. NARS only allowed followers who added their @NARSissist Snapchat the opportunity to preview the collection. Due to the time limit and the ability to send personalized content to followers, this made Snapchat the best possible media for this type of release.

 

3. Offer Contests, Promotions or Perks:

Online consumers repeatedly check brand’s social medias to score on promotions or perks that not all customers get access to. Snapchat is no exception to this. Many consumers flock to Snapchat for the opportunity to see new promotions and contest that are offered by their favourite brands.

GrubHub excels in the Snapchat community by using different promotions and deals to engage their audience online. Grubhub became the first brand to launch a nationwide scavenger hunt campaign in 2014. The campaign lasted for five days, and each day followers were given a new challenge to complete. The winners of the challenges were given a $50 credit to GrubHub and had access to other promotions. GrubHub saw an increase growth of 20 percent in their followers, and found that more than 30 percent of their followers participated in the challenges.

 

 

4. Partner with Individuals with an Audience:

Snapchat can be used to promote brand awareness, brand loyalty, and also be used for product placements. Influencers with a large following can be a vital tool for brands who want to get their product noticed by demographics that are hard to reach through their traditional medias.

During the Superbowl, Audi teamed up with the app and the blog, the Onion, to bring a Snapchat campaign to followers. Photos of “typical things people may exhibit during the game” included humorous captions and drawings. The end result of the 3 hour campaign resulted in an increase of 5,500 new followers to Audi’s Snapchat page, and endless retweets of screen grabs from the campaign.

 

Snapchat is dominating in the app world, and brands are continuously growing their presence on it. Is your company ready to jump on this Bandwagon?

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 by Ramsha Mirza

The Power of Words

Instagram. Pinterest. YouTube. The emphasis on visual and video marketing increases every day in the online world. But in this effort to keep up with the most alluring and visually appealing images and videos, a very important part of marketing often gets neglected: words.

Words are bigger than themselves. They encapsulate worlds. Words can be used to express love. They enlighten and delight. And sometimes, just four simple words – I have a dream – can change our world forever.

To illustrate the understated power of words, I’m going to share one of my recent experiences (you may question where I’m going with this, but keep reading – there’s a very valuable takeaway at the end).

[This is what happened a few days ago…]

I usually try to eat as healthy as I can. However, every girl has her guilty pleasures. For me, it’s always been KitKat. I love KitKat. And once every month (thank Eve for eating that apple), I can consume up to three whole bars. So this morning after breakfast, once my sugar cravings kicked in, I blissfully reached for my giant red bag of KitKat Bites (a slightly healthier alternative to ensure portion control).

kitkatJust for curiosity’s sake, I decided to turn it around and read the ingredients. Expecting something considered “standard unhealthy” like sugar listed before anything else – something horrific caught my eye. An ingredient called Shellac. Shellac? Isn’t that the stuff they use at nail salons? Those extra durable manicures that are guaranteed to be chip-free for 14 days? Question is, WHAT is it doing in my KitKat bites?

Quickly shoving the KitKat bag aside, I pulled out my computer (Google can be your best friend in moments of crisis like these). I was shocked. I read tons of articles that described Shellac as one of the ‘grossest’ ingredients used in foods. This is some of the research I came across:

Derived from the excretions of the Kerria Lacca insect, most commonly found in the forests of Thailand, Shellac is not just used in manicures at nail salons, but is also used as a finish for wood, guitars, and even AK-47s to give them a shiny texture. But what’s disgusting is that it’s also commonly used as a food additive. It is used in jelly beans and candy. It’s used in M&M’s and chocolate bars. And you know those shiny pears and apples you see down the aisles of the grocery store? Yup. Those have been coated with Shellac as well.

By now, I’ve probably convinced you to never pick up a KitKat bar again, right? Some of you may be considering only buying your fruits from the Farmer’s Market or growing apples in your own yard.

But hold on a second.

[Let’s rewind back to my search on Google. Before I went on my Food-Babe and Dr. Oz-inspired health revelation]

Here is shellac described through different words:

You see, deciphering food labels is a tricky business – and that’s something a lot of “experts” have recently leveraged as a means of monetization through their words. Deductive reasoning tells us that just because an ingredient is associated with coating wood, manufactured items – and even nail salons, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad for you. Shellac is actually a resin secreted by Kerria Lacca, an insect found mostly in Thailand. It’s produced through a process similar to how bees make honey. It is then scraped from the bark of trees. When it is dissolved in ethanol (a type of alcohol), it creates liquid shellac – a natural brush-on colorant to give foods and products a shiny glaze.

And here is the best part – I came across an article on ABC News that warned people that shellac is used on organic produce. But wait. For those of us who have studied organic chemistry, we know that shellac itself is an organic compound!

abc

See how I used two different sets of words to influence you to trigger two different perspectives?

This is the essence of marketing. Of copywriting.

You see, more than anything, words have the power to persuade. They have the power to paint pictures and influence people to adopt an opinion, a belief, or even a conviction. What kind of picture are you painting with your words about yourself? Your products? Your business?

Through your words, are you pulling customers towards your business or pushing them away?

Research suggests that content is the present and future of marketing. And the companies who know how to use words to win over customers with their content will have a significant competitive advantage.

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