Multicultural marketing is not a trend, it’s the new norm

Posted on by Anonymous

Who run the world? Girls!

Now, maybe this is just a Beyonce song lyric, but it is not too far from the truth because women’s buying power/influence drives 70%-80% of consumer purchases. Not only do women have more power in the market, but there has been a significant increase in minority groups’ buying power that cannot be ignored.

As Content Marketing Institute (CMI) writes, minority consumer markets are growing faster than the white consumer market. With this is mind, it is now, more than ever, important for brands to ensure they keep a multicultural mindset when creating content. This article dives into 3 key ways all companies can achieve this diverse mindset:  

  1. Remember these are real people, not just facts and numbers
  2. Meet them where they are
  3. Get outside help if needed

Remember these are real people

Though we live in the age of data, the number one thing all marketers need to remember is that there are real people behind the numbers and demographics. They all come from not only different ethnicities, but varying backgrounds and experiences that helped shape their values and beliefs. As the article states, the best way to do this is to explore what makes everyone human – dive into their core beliefs, find what makes your target audience similar, then expand into the nuances.

Though this is stated as a strategy, this article doesn’t do a deep dive into how companies can actually implement this idea. When it comes to understanding exactly who your audience is, I still believe in the tried and trued way – asking them. Find who your target audience is, and create a plan to survey them. This can be done in the form of online surveys, focus groups (which is my personal favorite because you can read emotions on faces in person), etc. Brainstorming in a closed environment is not enough to learn about real people and their core values. Brands can use this information to then create buyer personas and start exploring the groups within their larger target audience.  

Meet them where they are

Coming to an understanding of who your audience is generally not enough by itself. The next step is to gain insight into their decision making process, as this is how and why they will buy your product. Using the methods I listed before (surveys, focus groups, etc.), companies can learn the following about their target audience (and so much more):

  • What problems are they trying to solve?
  • What emotional triggers pushes them towards a certain product/brand?
  • Who in the household makes the decision? Who actually purchases?

Decision makers can vary from culture to culture, along with who also ends up making the purchase. It is important for brands to understand if there is a different person who they are targeting to sell to vs. who is buying.

Get outside help if needed

To avoid a potentially offensive campaign, the article states to start by bringing in a diverse team of input which I wholeheartedly agree with. It is always important to have diverse thought, especially for content meant for the public. However, it is not enough to just have diverse thought because this does not ensure you have captured the entire target audience. Individuals can be diverse, and still have varying beliefs from your audience. For example, as an Indian girl who grew up in NJ, I am not enough to capture the beliefs of girls from NJ or even Indian girls from NJ because we have all grown up differently. The best strategy is always to be in constant conversation with your actual target and test with a small group, if possible. Testing any major content against your consumers will get approval or feedback straight from them that can be taken back to the company. This can help brands hedge against the content they are putting into public eye.

Overall, the article is great in reminding us the importance of having multicultural marketing be the new norm. However, I feel that that there was no deep dive into actual strategies and implementation tactics for application. The points brought up and discussed were very high-level strategies of what brands should already be doing for marketing in general. Individuals cannot read this article and walk away with a clear game plan on how to implement a multicultural mindset for their teams.

4 ways Califia Farms created a “churn-free” website

Posted on by Anonymous

Websites can make or break a business. To build a successful brand, you will need a loyal following and trust and both of these are built over time with the use of a website. The past few years, we have seen an increase in the importance of UX (user experience). Having a great UX for consumers only works in a company’s favor – a Forrester study shows that having a good UX design can boost conversion rates by 400%!

As someone currently transitioning into a plant based diet, I decided to take a look at the website of a brand I have been keeping an eye on for my almond milk, Califia Farms.

When conducting an audit, there are 4 main categories to assess:

  • Design/Aesthetics
  • Content
  • Mobile-First 
  • Path to purchase

Design

The second the webpage loads, you can instantly get a feel for the personality of the brand. Califia is young, fun and vegan! Both the website and packaging reflect the brand image through the use of whitespace and minimalistic appeal. The placement of the various products creates an aesthetically pleasing site that places an emphasis on the milk they are selling, and not overwhelming the users with colors and patterns. The copy is pretty standard, but can be fun at times on the website when it pays homage to being dairy-free (ex: one image states “milk sans moo”). Though the website is not innovative by any means, Califia focuses all their attention on a simple, clean website that creates an easy path to purchase!

Content

Content is key (yes, even for e-commerce)! With the large shift into plant-based diets, there is so much information on the internet about what to eat, what not to eat, how to make the transition, etc. Companies have an opportunity to capitalize on this movement and provide information for their target audience to build trust and loyalty. In addition to vegan recipes, Califia Farms has also started including tips on living the vegan lifestyle, which is very motivating to see!

Brands need to keep elements of fascination in mind while creating their website (see earlier post on importance of fascination). Califia Farms does this is 2 ways:

  • Trust: For full transparency, Califia Farms includes nutritional and ingredient information on product pages along with all reviews (yes, even the bad ones).  
  • Passion: To showcase their passion for the vegan lifestyle, this brand has a great About Us section, filled with history behind the company and the name.

Mobile-First 

In today’s digital age, brands need to adopt a mobile-first strategy, not mobile-friendly. With on the go shoppers, you want to capture your audience that is researching on mobile devices. I was not able to click through the mobile version of the website because every few seconds on the homepage, it would automatically scroll to the bottom (I tried this both on my iPhone and a colleague’s android). Though the rest of the website might be fine, I was instantly turned off and did not want to stay. This is definitely an area of improvement for Califia Farms and should be a key focus because consumers research brands while in store and this could have easily shifted a purchase to another brand!

Path to purchase

The Califia Farms website was built to sell, which becomes clear from the heirarchy of the navigation and the numerous amounts of CTA’s (call-to-actions) posted just on the homepage alone. There are not many clicks before the user can purchase (Homepage > Product > Cart), and this minimizes the times a consumer will leave the funnel before completing the sale. This website makes it very easy to convert users and has designed this site with the purpose of sales in mind!

Overall, Califia Farms has a wonderful desktop website that allowed me to purchase a product easily, and kept me interested and engaged through its content. However, with a large focus on mobile, this brand will need to up its game in responsive design to make it easier for shoppers on the go! When creating a website, remember: it’s all about the user! When you keep this in mind, loyalty and trust follow.

Comment below and let me know of your favorite websites and why!

Why learning about fascination is the first step in self-awareness!

Posted on by Anonymous

When was the last time you remember paying attention to an ad or blog post for more than a few seconds (well, hopefully this doesn’t fall into that category)?

That is where the intersection of marketing and fascination plays a key role. As seen on the How to Fascinate website, “Fascination is a neurological state of intense focus, one that creates an irresistible feeling of engagement. It’s almost the same as falling in love.”

It has been said that as humans in this age of information, our attention spans are now shorter than a goldfish’s. However, seeing as I can easily sit down and binge watch a few seasons of Netflix, I refuse to believe that. I found my answer through a study done by Prezi – that our attention spans are not shrinking, they are evolving and becoming selective. It is now, more than ever, important for content to stand out, be compelling and more fascinating. With content that places individuals into a state of fascination, companies can capture the attention of their audience.

The same goes for people – What is fascinating about you? Why do people gravitate towards you? How do you play to your advantages to increase your influence? People can use this knowledge to help them network, gain influence and progress in their careers!

There are many different types of fascination, something Sally Hogshead (branding expert and author), dives into in her book, How the World Sees You. After reading how my fascination archetype helps me in my day to day, I went ahead and took her Fascination Advantage Personality Test. After answering the quick and painless 28 questions, you will receive your answers. In the results, you will see your:

  • Primary and secondary advantages: describe your most effective modes of communication where you come across as influential and most fascinating
  • Archetype: formed using your primary and secondary advantages
  • Dormant advantage: the one that holds the least amount of potential for you to be fascinating

My results:

When I received my results, my initial reaction was one of shock – mostly because Prestige sounded a bit snobby and obnoxious. However, as I read through the description of each advantage and the archetype, I saw how relevant they were. They described me perfectly! My archetype, The Connoisseur is someone who uses their high standard for details and excellence combined with their passion to influence those around them. After my initial excitement for taking an assessment to gain more insight into how I influence others, a few thoughts came to mind. The biggest being that the assessment is a bit biased. The goal is to find out how the world sees you, what they find most fascinating about you, yet you take the test for yourself. I started connecting my experience with brands and marketing.

Imagine you are Company A, who is thinking of their branding strategy. The key is not looking internally, but first focusing on what your consumers think. Brand perception is key! To understand how your company is viewed in the eyes of the consumer, who would you survey? The internal company or your consumers? That is where I felt a slight disconnect with this assessment. If this was about how everyone else sees me, and I answering my own questions, wouldn’t the answers reflect how I view myself?

While replaying my reaction to the results, I remembered that none of it seemed new to me. As I reflected, I realized that as someone who put a heavy focus on improving myself to becoming a successful entrepreneur, I went through a lot of self-reflection. As Forbes writes, self-awareness is crucial for entrepreneurs. I felt that this assessment is more geared to those who have not spent much time self-reflecting.

Sally Hogshead does a great job relaying the importance of fascination in her book and is definitely something I would recommend to those who are on the path of self-reflection. When it comes to the assessment though, it feels biased to answer your own questions. It can be a good start to those who are new to the workforce. Fascination is an extremely useful topic and should be explored by everyone, whether done informally or through a more formal assessment.

Did you take the assessment? Comment below with your personal experience!  

Olay tackles human emotion in #KillerSkin ad during the 2019 Super Bowl

Posted on by Anonymous

No matter how much we as humans believe in logic, it truly all does come down to one thing: Emotions. This is something we, as marketers, must take into account! As much data and insights we might have, people can be irrational, so though numbers can guide us, it all comes down to understanding human emotion.

We all strive to be part of a community and that sense of belonging comes from a shared interest or feeling. Content marketing is powerful when it evokes emotion, which in turn allows it to be shared authentically. We can pay to have content shared, but what use is impressions if people are not genuinely interested? The Super Bowl that occurred this past weekend is a prime example of brands tackling (HAH – pun intended) human emotion to entice people to share.

After watching the many commercials that get aired during this game, the one that drew me in the most was Olay’s #KillerSkin ad. The two words that come to mind when I think of Olay’s Super Bowl commercial are odd and funny. In between the noise of brands all competing to be seen during this time, playing it safe is not an option. That is exactly why this commercial stood out to me. If you have not seen it yet, see video below (or click here to watch Olay 2019 Super Bowl commercial), I HIGHLY recommend it!

From the beginning, this commercial built anticipation for the viewer (I genuinely thought this was going to be a horror film trailer), but quickly threw them off base through humor. As she states in the ad, it only took 28 days, and she looks so different that even Face ID could not recognize her. What started as a trailer to a slasher film, led to a bit of humor alongside a brand message of what Olay does for the skin.

In addition to tackling human emotion, Olay did a wonderful job when choosing the celebrity, Sarah Michelle Gellar. As someone who is widely known for her works such as, “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, Gellar is a 90s queen that is extremely relatable to the Olay customer. As stated in this Forbes article, even just one endorsement (done properly) can show a 4% increase in sales. The Olay customer who would be using anti-aging products is in the same age group as the women who would have been watching Gellar back in the day!

Of all commercials, I absolutely loved that Olay was a prime example of push vs. pull marketing. Throughout the whole ad, you never felt that they were “pushing” a product onto you. You were able to engage with the story, where they showcase the brand of anti-aging products and that was it. Olay did not promote any specific product, and focused solely on engaging the audience through shareable content. In less than 10 days, the ad garnered over 16M views on YouTube, and the use of #KillerSkin has allowed Olay’s tribe to be a part of the conversation and share their own content. Olay wanted to ensure they spoke to their tribe of women who actively watch the Super Bowl. Though the Super Bowl was traditionally always thought of as a male dominant viewership, this could not be further from the truth. As TVision points out, women paid 26% more attention to the commercials than men, and typically account for nearly half of the NFL audience.

As Stephanie Robertson, Brand Director for Olay, stated, “Olay wants all women to be bold and empowered, and in a way, we’re doing just that, as a brand, by showing up in a place that is historically focused on men.” With this is mind, Olay and others have made a conscious effort to reach the underrepresented female audience!

Comment below and let me know your favorite Super Bowl commercial!

The digital marketing journey begins!

Posted on by Anonymous

What do I believe is the most important skill need to become a successful marketer?

CURIOSITY.

That’s right, it’s not about any fancy tools or technology, but just having an innate sense of curiosity and the willingness to learn.

The world of digital marketing is always evolving and no one person can ever truly know all about this space. There is so much growth in marketing tools and concepts that you can learn one thing, and it can be obsolete by the time you become an expert. That is why the key to marketing is to stay agile and to do that, one must have an innate sense of curiosity.

On this journey into digital marketing, I am hoping to not only keep up to date with what is happening in this space, but also take time to improve my writing skills. Coming in with a background in more strategy and analytics, I am excited to take this chance to research, analyze and then write in a way that is captivating, yet easy to understand for anyone who comes across these posts.

I hope for this to be a place for other aspiring digital marketers to come, and start conversations about new concepts and push discussions so there is learning on both ends. Innovation comes from diversity of thought, and that is what I hope to achieve using this blog. When it comes to learning and knowledge, always be a Hermione Granger.

If you have not already, take a look at the about me page to learn more about how I instilled this sense of curiosity and how I ended up in the world of marketing! This will also give you some insight into why some of you might see Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings references in my future blog posts (crazy fan here)!

Beyond these posts, if you would like to see posts related specifically to marketing analytics for growing a business, feel free to check out my other blog, UnicornCX.

I am so excited to take you all on this journey as I push my knowledge, explore various digital marketing concepts and have open discussions on where the marketing world is going next!