Bloggers and Authors: 3 Tips on the Power of Creative and Visual Storytelling

To increase brand awareness with products and services, an innovative approach to tell brand
stories using consumer insights and product benefits while creating that “eye popping” experience builds measurable results. As a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill, Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) program with an interest in visual storytelling, I have discovered 2 articles you will find interesting and informative. The best way to increase positive human experience and ongoing dialogue is to tell your story with an impactful visual and creative story. In today’s fast paced digital environment, a good visual story with a good caption serves well as people make decisions within seconds as they surf the web.

In, "8 ways to get likes, followers on Instagram," Hannah Clark, Social Media Coordinator of Hootsuite wants to help marketers through the plateau stage of likes and followers. The article discusses ways to leverage Instagram to increase likes and followers.  Ms. Clark suggests that each photograph carry a theme coupled with awesome content. The captions will need to match the photos. To build loyalty and a relationship with followers, stick to a schedule. To create and maintain brand engagement, use unique hashtags to encourage tagging of their photos. Conversations and comments on photos should be in real time to maintain and increase engagement.

Visualize, Create, Be Authentic

In "5 things to pillage from game of thrones," Digital Strategist and NewsCred Blogger, Lauren B. Mangiaforte shared content on how marketers can learn from the HBO television show; Game of Thrones (GoT) amazing storytelling abilities and applies it to marketing strategies. The Game of Throne‘s social media channels are robust with amazing and engaging content. To successfully create good content with the right images, Ms. Mangiaforte suggests that we define and develop meaningful content matched with awesome visual images. To make a larger impact, include traditional marketing in the mix. Once your target audience responds to content, engage, entertain, monitor and build on-going relationships across all necessary platforms (traditional and social media). To increase brand image, give the audience something meaningful and valuable.

After reading these two articles and from my studies in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, I
have three action items you should consider in your next digital story campaign:

• Visualize- an image that will attract your target audience.

• Tell- a story with awesome and meaningful content.

• Schedule- compelling engagement strategies to build an ongoing relationship with your targeted audience.

Visualizing, creating and telling an authentic brand story is an art form. Integrating digital, social and traditional marketing shapes the experience.

My name is Crystal Tousana and I am a Medill, Integrated Marketing Communications Graduate student at Northwestern University. I graduate August 2015 and am passionate about Consumer/Lifestyle Public Relations, Visual Storytelling, Blogging and Photojournalism. You can follower me on Twitter or get connected on LinkedIn.

CMO's- Misunderstand Your Brand Value...and Risk Losing Customers!

As a CMO of any company, establishing brand equity is important because it leads to a supply of loyal customers and helps develop a company’s personality.  As a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill Integrated Marketing Communications program, I have found this topic very insightful and I would like to draw your attention to the following two articles that summarize the importance of brand equity and the ultimate goal of brand loyalty.

The article by Scott Cullather, “The Importance of Brand Equity and How to Maintain it”, focuses on the value of brand equity and the ultimate drive to customer loyalty.  The development of brand equity is important as it allows companies to more effectively engage with their customers in ways that drive brand loyalty, allowing the business to grow.  Brand equity is particularly important to start-ups because it helps them define themselves and their core values as well as steer the company in the appropriate direction towards profitability.  Start-ups also have an advantage, as they have the ability to figure out particularly who they would like to target at an early stage and leverage their customer base accordingly.  This helps them figure out their own niche and maintain a competitive advantage.  The structure of brand equity from an internal company’s standpoint is also very critical, as it can affect the outward brand appeal.  As the business becomes comfortable with its customer base, it is easy for it to lose sight of its core values and therefore affect the internal culture of the company, which in turn, reflects the brand positioning and could eventually lead to problems retaining customers. 

The article by Jennifer Taylor, “The Importance of Brand Equity for your Business”, discusses the importance of building a brand personality through brand equity so that the customer base recognizes the product and product sales lead to profitability in the long run.  It is crucial the brand or product is unique in some fashion and can be differentiated from its competitors.  The ultimate goal of the company is to provide value to the customers through emotional ties and passion.  These emotions lead to sales and lower price sensitivity, which lead to customer loyalty.  Finally, brand equity is the value of the brand that you have created; strong brand equity can lead to higher profit margins and customer retention.

Based on my review of these two articles and my graduate work in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, there are three things you should know to achieve high brand equity:

1.     Figure out who you would like to target- You can’t target everyone at once, your company needs a market to focus on and adjust to.

2.      Turn the customer into a loyal buyer- Make sure your brand is unique enough to be differentiated by the consumer.

3.      Establish and maintain core brand values internally and externally to create a brand personality- although external values are important, if the company employees don’t retain these values in an internal setting, this will eventually be visible to the consumer through external branding and can lead to diminishing customer retention.

In the ever changing business world knowing your customer, staying one step ahead of the competition and developing a brand personality can help you maintain a competitive edge and ultimately create brand loyalty. 

Sources:

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2012/aug/10/brand-equity-start-ups-advantage

 http://www.womensenterprise.ca/blog/importance-brand-equity-your-business
Image- http://growthweaver.com/brand-equity-and-social-media/

Marina Goldshteyn is pursuing a Masters degree in Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) at Northwestern University.  She currently works as a Sr. Marketing Acquisition Associate at Discover Financial Services. She hopes to continue her professional career post graduation to focus on brand strategy and execution. 

Continue the conversation via Twitter @MarinaGoldshte1 or via LinkedIn.

Brand Managers - Drive Passion Using Your Brand Essence

Brand Managers are perennially in search of ways to not only maintain their standing with their customers, but increase excitement and strengthen passion for their products.  I have found articles reiterating the importance of allowing insight gained from your customers to drive innovation; ideas introduced to me as a graduate student at Northwestern University's Medill IMC program.

In the beauty world, there is the tale of two entities. There are the main industry titans and the newcomers garnering lots of buzz with their unique perspective yet both are fighting to attract customers, old and new. The most important action for each is to build desire, a thought expressed by Revlon’s CMO Julia Goldin.  This desire for the newest shades, trends and products helps your brand remain relevant. This is the charge for your brand; build, create and sustain desire.

After listening to your customer, the next and most crucial step is what you do with what you've discovered.  Translate this newfound information into customer-friendly innovation improving the customer experience with the products as done by cosmetic titan, L'Oreal.

How do we create this elusive desire?  The aforementioned articles and my studies in IMC have guided me towards these three items to implement and achieve your desired results. Listen to what your customers are saying and uncover what they are not able to express directly.  This can be done in several ways but none more important than engaging via social media, which provides a unique opportunity to learn more about the ways customers interact and use your product.  Capitalize by listening to your brand community on sites where they interact with each other most; the major social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Read comments left on YouTube video tutorials and gain a deeper understanding never before accessible.  Respond accordingly to customers needs and employ cutting-edge technology to create their desired iterations of products helping you retain and attract them.

In the cosmetics world with infinite possibilities for self-described "beauty junkies" companies are faced with the daunting task of differentiating their brand from competitors. Using the above actions will help your brand achieve the distinguishing qualities that build desire to draw your customer in and keep them coming back for more.

Jaclyn Bivins

@jaclynbivins

Jaclyn Bivins hails from Chicago, Illinois and is a graduate student at Northwestern University in Medill's Integrated Marketing Communications program. After graduation, she hopes to work in brand management and marketing strategy in the cosmetics and beauty industry. 

Social Media in Your Small Business Whether B2B or B2C

I love your title but get rid of everything after the word Business.  You make an impact with the first 1/2 and the B2B and other stuff just ruins it.

Next, check the font on this article.  It appears to be really small.  Make it bigger so it is easier to read.  Check it in the preview.  My response is in Ariel at the Normal level.  See how much bigger it is.  See if it is easier to read.

To start, you really need to do two things.  First, connect with the reader.  Second, establish your expertise.  I would recommend an introductory paragraph of 2 and only 2 sentences to accomplish these objectives.  The first sentence should be something like "As a small business manager, you hear a great deal of talk about how to use social media to reach your customers and prospects.    Next, establish your expertise by saying something like "As a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC marketing program, I have found two articles on social media and small businesses.

Then, go to the first article.  I don;t really see an article here but in the second paragraph, you should just discuss the article.  Cite the article and the authors and put in active links to them.  Be sure the active links open to a new window.

On a day to day basis, I talk with Marketing executives at small businesses regarding how to market their products to both businesses (B2B) and consumers (B2C). Frequently, these discussions include social media; specifically, how to use social media to leverage their profile within a specific space or within a targeted market. In most cases small businesses are not only concerned about leveraging the brand's profile, but are also interested in how to use social in a way that will create a ROI so that their efforts are measurable and have literal value. 

After the first article [paragraph 2] you need a GREAT graphic.  It must be relevant.  Put it between the two articles to draw their eye to the articles.

NOW, paragraph 3 should be a second article.  Again, summarize it for the reader and have the article title and the authors as active links. 

First thing is first, what to communicate to your audience through social? Mashables, Todd Wasserman, encourages small business marketing executives to as yourself: Do you follow a brand? Why? The answer to this question typically falls within one of these three reasons:

· Passion: Connecting with one of your passions and/or interests.

· Personality: Entertaining you with their engaging personality.

· Transparency: Providing interesting and/or important information to you.

After the second article is summarized, paragraph 4 is the most critical one for your blog article.  You should start is with something like "From my analysis of these articles and my social marketing studies at Northwestern, there are three action items all small business owners should do now.  They are:

Then. give me 3 bullet items.  They must be a short 2-3 word action item [in bold] followed by a dash and a single sentence explanation [not bold].  Something like Focus on Passions - then explain    Personality is Important - then an explanation.   If the above bullet points are the ones you want to use, don't cite others but tell them they are your recommendations.

NOW, you need to summarize the blog.  Two sentences max.  Encourage the small business owner to do your three recommended action items and do them now.  Tell them the benefits of doing it.

AFTER the three bullet points, there should be NO OTHER citations or articles.  Just make three great recommendations and then a short summary paragraph.  Everything after the bullet points should either be erased or incorporated elsewhere.

As a small business, these are things you should be thinking about when sharing content to your followers/targeted market. Caitlin Francke, SVP, and Director of Social Strategy at Publicis Kaplan Thaler states that, "These approaches are interchangeable, and a brand can not only switch back and forth between them, but also use two or three at the same time." You can read Wasserman's full article article here: http://mashable.com/2013/02/22/social-media-marketing-strategy/.

It should also be noted that social media is more than just posting pictures and hashtags. Bryan Srabian, from the San Francisco Giants' director of social media, explains that it is important to listen to fans/followers, participate in conversations, and give them a voice to be heard.
NOW you need a italicized paragraph of you and your background.  give them your name and the fact you are a graduate student at Northwestern.  Tell them the career / industry you are seeking and end with your Twitter @ tag.  

Make these changes and then publish and begin testing it.

How to secure the leading position in technology industry?

Market the future concept to show ambition and know the consumers more. 

Technology industry is now competitive than ever. Innovations happen every moment. Biggest challenge for marketers in technology industry: how to help a brand to secure its leading position in the industry? Show the ambition and understand your customers.

Released on April 4^th, Google’s “Project Glass” shows its ambition of future technology. It has already generated 14 million views. Is it a good timing to market the unfinished product – say even a conceptual product? For most of us, as marketers, what we really want to figure out is what does Google want from this marketing campaign? The answer is simple: Consumer feedback and brand image enhancement.

Google is not the only one to pursue this strategy. Microsoft and Samsung unveiled their own conceptual video as well – Microsoft in 2019 and Samsung 2015. Find anything in common among these three cases? Yes, they are all leading companies in the industry. The goal above the line is to show off the company’s capability and creating a blueprint of future life to consumers. Companies want to show to the consumers that they own the industry and is capable to offer the consumers a better future life.

Is there any hidden goal behind the campaign? Those leading companies can look deeper into consumers’ response through this kind of campaign. Project Glass has already generated 14 million views and both positive and negative comments. From all the comments, Google can understand more about the consumers’ imagination towards the future life and see whether the company’s future blueprint will fit or not. By understanding the negative comments, Google is able to identify which kind of technology is unrealistic for consumers and drop it in their future plan.

Marketing in high-tech industry, what can we take advantage from Google’s Project Glass?

1.     Brand image enhancement: If you want to impress the consumers and strengthen your brand image as a leading brand, unveiling your blueprint is not a bad way. Take the inventor spot as quick as you can to impress the consumers.

2.     Creative idea is a must: If you are a marketer, it’s time to come up creative ideas by leveraging the future technology. Get the sense about what consumers expect and how you can utilize the technology as marketing tools.

3.     Take advantage from consumers’ feedback: Listen to the consumers is always the key. Show them your ambitious and listen carefully to what they respond. It would help you to readjust your blueprint.

      Casey Lin is a Medill IMC Graduate student at Northwestern University. She is very enthusiastic about marketing, especially in technology industry. Follower Casey on Twitter  @Caseylin_NW.