Looking To Increase Your Brand Engagement Through Promising Media Tools?

Are you sure you are using the right media tools to reach your target audience? Are you thinking of optimizing your brand and using specialized ad units to increase brand awareness or send people to your website using a call to action? Well, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership is comprised of more than 650 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital advertising or marketing campaigns. They have full guidelines to help aid in delivery of the best ads to the public. Many major brands are using mobile and display creative. Below is an example of how Sheetz Inc., used billboard and mobile Interscroller ads on the website called She Knows, which conforms with IAB unit guidelines. This message and channel is specifically targeted to Mom’s. With the right use of interactive banner ads, Sheetz can get their message across clearly to the Mom’s.

Another great example is Red Bull’s billboard Ad unit below on display and on mobile.

The Ad unit know as Mobile Rising Stars, is a very popular ad unit which increases consumer interaction with unit and is known to increase significant branding impact. I would like to discuss a case study conducted by IAB on the brand Oreo. Oreo had created a campaign around using Mobile Rising Stars units to increase their overall brand awareness. After using IAB’s Mobile Rising Star Ad rather than just your regular standard Mobile Banners. They saw an increase in interaction rates by 79%. Below you will see the results on how consumers interact with the Mobile Rising Star Ads versus your traditional ad units. 

Moreover, IAB Mobile Rising Star ads inspired more user interaction, resulting in improved branding performance versus standard mobile banner ads. The study sought to understand how interactivity with an ad impacts branding. For the brand Oreo, the study found that IAB Mobile Rising Star ads had double the interaction rates of standard mobile banner ads. Other major brands such as Nature Valley, FIFA, FedEx, Adidas, Nike, Dove, Samsung and many other had invested in using Mobile Rising Star Ads. 

                                     

Moreover, according to Slegg (2017), Rising Star Ads have 3x the interaction over traditional ads – 34% interaction on Rising Star Ads versus 11% on regular.

Visitors tend to remember the brands they saw much more significantly. There was a 30% more brand lift over traditional and 4x the ad recall on Rising Star Ads over traditional.

Interested in what IAB has to offer, are you ready to increase your consumer engagement? Check them out using the below link to learn more about how your brand can get involved today! http://www.thesempost.com/iabs-large-format-rising-star-ads-3x-ad-interaction-traditional-ads/

How Does Nike Just Do It All?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Companies perform SEO campaigns to create the visibility for a certain service, or product that they sell. In Shoe industry Nike is the best and most preferable brand all over the globe. Using different keyword sentences like “Sport Shoe, Casual Shoe, Basketball Shoe”, Nike is attracting more audience towards its website. Nike is using a Dynamic style on their website.

In the category of sports shopping, Nike’s website traffic is ranked number 1 as comparted to all other sites in the sports category. Nike’s global search engine rank is 433 and 249 in the United States. Nike does a great job in putting their name all over the internet.

Below is an screenshot example of Nike in AdWords. Notice that Nike.com is appearing #1 organically, as well as paying to be in the sponsored section. According to Weinberg (2017), “this reinforces their brand and provides the opportunity to take up more real estate on the page”. Surprisingly many searchers do not understand or recognize the difference between a paid listing and an organic one. Nike is very smart to cover all the bases by ensuring that they are being seen in both places.

The term Nike Shoes is a branded keyword for Nike, and when you type that keyword into Google Nike is listed #1 in AdWords and organic search.

Ranking #1 organically and in paid search ensures that the bulk of people looking for Nike shoes visit the Nike website. According to statics page Similar Web (2017), today 38.96% of Nike’s traffic is from search and 75.89% is from organic. In regards to paid search traffic Nike obtains 24.11%.  Below is a caption from Similar Web Statics on Nike’s top 5 organic keywords and top 5 paid keywords.

Resource: Similar Web Statistics, 2017.

Nike’s Social Media Presence in the Market Today

Moving on to the social media presence of Nike, throughout the years, Nike has been rapidly growing with promoting its brand and products by the use of Internet. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram; these are one of the main social media platforms that Nike uses to communicate and connect with its consumers around the globe, as well as selling its merchandise. Use of famous personalities is very crucial in today’s world, as there are many athletes and celebrities that are influential in peoples buying choices. Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer; the list could go on and on.

Nike does this very well, as they take advantage of this and make limited drops, so there is more demand for a product but limited quantities, so only a certain amount of people will get that specific product.

These types of marketing stuns are one of the main common tools used by Nike to get people’s attention and interest in order to maximize their profits, as well as attract new customers and retain those loyal ones too.

How does Nike do all this?

According to Kwiatkowski (2017), “with over 5 million followers on Twitter, 27.5 million likes on Facebook and 69 million followers on Instagram, Nike makes an effective and dominant online presence as they post daily compelling and engaging materials, which is most likely to be commented on, shared or liked by their followers”. Brand awareness also plays a vital role in the whole process, as Nike operates in nearly every sport around the globe. Eye-catching photos or videos instantly grab consumer’s attention, which could possibly result in them buying that particular product. Updating people around the world with upcoming products increases the chances of more people being interested, which will simply mean that there will be more revenue generated from that specific product. Nike’s search engine is very easy to use when customers are looking for specific products, which can be found within seconds of them typing. Those are little things that make Nike very competitive from the likes of Adidas or Under Armour, especially with the amount of followers that Nike has on different platforms, which can only be seen as an impressive advantage over competitors.

If your not subscribed to receive Nike's email promotions - go to their website and signup - its free!

References

Kwiatkowski, N. (2017, February 12). Nike: Online Presence. Digital Society. Retrieved from https://medium.com/digital-society/nike-online-presence-2dd58bce5d3f

Weinberg, M. (2017, May 10). Nike’s Numer 1 in Google Organically. More Visibility. Retrieved from https://www.morevisibility.com/blogs/sem/tag/black-hat

Similar Web Statistics. (2017). Nike. Retrieved from https://www.similarweb.com/website/nike.com#search

Nike’s Email and Marketing Strategies

Nike follows great email and direct marketing practices. Emailers are consumer targeted based on insights generated from analytics. They follow consumer trends and track consumer behaviors and interests online. Nike is accelerating internet marketing campaigns to diversify extensively on the web. The impact of these promotional strategies can be traced back to the profits at which Nike operates on.Nike has efficiently translated all the key factors in efficient communication. 

According to Gregory (2015), “through their online marketing strategies, they have reached out to an excess amount of audiences and gained a profitable response. They have encoded their ideas, coated them with creativity and pushed them through to be easily decoded by their customers”.

Their messages have been conveyed through a variety of promotional channels including social media, email marketing and through various digital platforms. The feedback and response rate have been overwhelming.

Nike has always been a bold marketer. Nike promotes its brand online by speaking directly to each consumer depending on their interests, demographics and psychographics. For example, topics such as personal health, faith and social inclusion are targeted to consumers based on their preferences.

The reasons why consumers really respond to Nike’s online marketing campaigns, is because Nike always puts their consumer’s interests first. Customers like great products and they like serious benefits. For consumers, things that benefit them personally are easy to justify. For example, when Nike promotes jogging shoes, they provide the benefits of jogging for their consumer’s health. When Nike speaks to its consumers, they do not want to just sell them something, they simply promote something that he believed in and this comes across their website and across various online platforms.

Nike complies with the CAN-SPAM Act and specifically states, that “they do not input false or misleading header information, nor deceptive subject lines. It ensures the senders valid physical postal address and identifies if a message as an advertisement or solicitation” (Nike.com. 2011).

As soon as I signed up to receive Nike’s emailers via their website, their value proposition came across straightforwardly. When I signed up for their list, I started to receive all their latest news and special deals. They only asked for my email, zip code, gender to send more personalized offers, and date of birth, which is usually an indication a birthday coupon will be heading my way.

They also promised not to share my information with anyone – a smart thing to include on their form, as one of the biggest signup barriers for consumers is fear for their privacy.

Once I filled out their signup form, something interesting happens. A lightbox appears with two different CTAs.

The first simply thanks you for signing up and allows you to continue shopping, but the second asks you to upgrade your relationship by becoming a Nike+ member. With a couple of solid benefits, like free shipping and returns, it’s a smart way to draw in people who have already expressed interest in Nike by signing up for their email list.

After signing up, I received this automated welcome email. The subject headline was “You’re In” – which makes you feel as if you’re now part of something exclusive. They did an initially do a good job of setting expectations. The below emailer shows several top styles they think I might like. They are often right in their selections because they track my online shoe searches.

Concluding, based on my analysis of Nike’s website, the company is using the Internet to their fullest advantage. Nike remains to promote their brand values in various online channels and really hitting bold statements, which resonate and connect with users on a whole different level! I am eager to see what they will send me next!

References

Gregory, L. (2015, August 9). Nike’s Promotion – Marketing Communications Mix. Panmore Institute. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/nike-marketing-communications-mix

Nike. (2011). NIKE.COM TERMS OF USE. Retrieved from https://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/help/terms-conditions

A Deep Dive into Tesla's Business Model

Tesla, is an American automaker, energy storage and solar manufacturer. The company is probably the dawn of the greatest revolution in the automotive industry that the world has witnessed since Karl Benz!

Only a few years old and Tesla has gained much attention and significant success. “It’s market value is about $48 billion surpassing Ford at $45 billion” (Dutta, 2017). The company deals in electric cars, lithium-ion battery energy storage and residential solar panels.

What makes Tesla, Inc. different from other automotive companies or rather companies in general? Tesla, Inc. doesn’t have its goals set in producing and manufacturing high-end electric cars for the affluent, to make money and move up on the charts. The mission of the company is this: to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

One of Tesla’s business model’s is direct sales. For Tesla it is all about showing the customer the ultimate experience. Tesla doesn’t adopt the approach of franchise dealerships, unlike most manufacturers. They prefer selling their product directly to the customers through self-owned showrooms across many of the major urban centers in the world. They believe that this method of selling can speed up their product development. But more significant is the customer’s buying experience. Tesla has showrooms, Service Plus centers, a combination of retail and service centers, and service facilities. Tesla has also made use of the Internet sales—consumers can customize and purchase a Tesla online.

This business model has been super successful because Tesla does not have to go through retailers or dealers. Think about it, the worst-case scenario, a company could lose a customer due to poor experiences, and automakers have very little direct influence on these experiences beyond guides and service manuals, due to the inherently indirect nature of the customer relationship. Since dealers generally operate on a very local level, there's not a whole lot of consistency that customers can expect across the board.

On the other hand, since Tesla handles sales and service directly, it's able to better control the customer experience while quickly factoring in customer feedback for future improvements to products and services. Tesla's adaptability and ability to move quickly is often touted as an advantage that the company has over its larger rivals.

According to Niu writer and reporter of the Business Insider (2016), interviews the CIO Insight, Vijayan added:

“Elon's Tesla’s CEO has a vision is to build a vertically integrated organization where information flow happens seamlessly across departments and where we have a closed feedback loop to our customers. By doing this, we can provide the best possible product, service and overall experience to our customers in the fastest way possible, while also operating efficiently as a business”.

An alternative model that Tesla could incorporate to make more money is an Advertising Model, which delivers messages with content across Google, Facebook and LinkedIn. Most car companies spend billions on advertising and publicity. However, Tesla does little to no effort with advertising their products. If Tesla starts to invest more in social media and digital advertising they could make so much more money! Wanting to be at the forefront of the sale with the customer means they should show customer engagement throughout all different types of channels. It is super important for them to get on social and create social promoted posts and digital banner ads to gain a higher level of awareness, engagement and reach.

References:

Niu, E. (2016). This is a big benefit of Tesla's direct sales model. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/benefit-of-teslas-direct-sales-model-2016-3?r=UK&IR=T

Dutta, A. (2017, July 26). A Deep Dive Into Tesla Business Strategy. FeedDough. Retrieved from https://www.feedough.com/tesla-business-strategy-and-business-model/