Brand Ranch Media Marketing & Advertising Agency News

How to Rebrand for Growth in 2022: Rebranding Checklist

How to Rebrand - Rebranding Checklist

Could your company benefit from a rebrand? Our team at Brand Ranch Media would like to briefly look at why a rebrand may benefit your company, discuss a few differences in rebranding strategy and approach, as well as share a high-level checklist for some things most companies commonly need to address as they go through the rebranding process.

There are many reasons to make a change to your brand and identity. Have your services or products evolved or changed? Do you have a new mission statement and core values? Maybe you are targeting a different demographic or entering a new market and could simply benefit from a refreshed brand to help stand out from the competition. And of course, there is always the “clean slate” approach to help put a troublesome association or negative past behind you.

Rebranding something as important as your company certainly is not as simple as turning the page and swapping out the name and logo. The timing and adjustments required for rebranding success are unique and varied for every company and situation.

Types of Rebranding

There are three basic types of rebranding used to adjust how people identify or perceive a company or product:

Brand Refresh – Changing minor details such as small aspects of your logo like color hues and fonts.
Partial Rebrand – Creating a new logo and slogan but maintaining the same mission.
Full Rebrand – Everything is new. Nothing is carried over from the past brand. It’s like you’re an entirely different company with a new name, new voice, new fonts, new logo, new jingle, new colors, a new slogan, or mission.

Rebranding Process

The rebranding process needs to be planned and thought out. The initial time investment to analyze your current brand’s space and effectiveness in the marketplace can be what makes your rebranding a success or a flop. Take time to analyze what is and isn’t working for your current brand, as well as what is working for your competitors or within other industries attempting to influence your target consumers. This analysis can help point the way for your rebranding efforts and determine which aspects of your brand need to be adjusted to achieve the greatest success.

It takes time to complete many rebranding tasks and finalize the assets that will make your new brand shine. Set up a timeline or planner that allows you and your team to complete all the needed tasks with an official date to launch the new or refreshed brand.

Look at your business cycle and determine if there is a time where the benefits of a re-invigorated brand will give your company the greatest benefit. Nobody wants to be doing deep market and brand analysis during their busiest time of the year, when their organization should be running at full speed and maximum productivity. If your current brand is facing challenges during the busy season, you may need to complete the rebrand before the season ends. An energized and well-targeted rebranding message can deliver more than just positive brand awareness, it can also lead to a spike in sales which will help maximize revenues for that particular timeframe as well as in the future.

Use the rebrand as an opportunity to build some hype. If your current brand has significant positive recognition and recall, tell the world why you’re making the change. We all grow throughout life, so the story of your brand growth and evolution will help personalize it while helping your audience identify and remember you. It’s perfectly fine to go big and show off why you love your new brand, how your company has evolved, and how that growth helps your consumers and target audience! You’ll also want to let your existing customers know about the change so they don’t have issues contacting you for future business needs.

Rebranding Risks

It’s worth mentioning, there are risks to rebranding as well as risks to not rebrand. There are costs to consider: graphics, audio, signs, and marketing campaigns add up, not to mention the investment of time. Time takes its toll on all things and a brand will not keep its “pop” and fresh look forever. Updating to keep up with the times can help your brand stay relevant and top of mind, however if not executed properly, a failed rebrand attempt could lead to getting lost in the market and outpaced by your competition.

If you’re starting your rebrand journey, here’s a high-level checklist to help you along your path. (Please keep in mind that each rebrand is unique and may have additional steps to consider.)

Click to Download Our Rebranding Checklist for FREE

If you’re ready to turn the page and refresh your brand, tackle a partial rebrand, or strategize for a full rebrand we are here to guide you along the way. Brand Ranch Media has successfully helped many brands evolve and grow. Call us today at 713-309-6380 a reach out via our contact form and we can help ensure your rebrand is a success.

2022 Marketing Goals and Resolutions

Happy New Year, folks! For many, a new year is a time for new beginnings and a chance to start things off on the right foot. A “resolution” is a firm decision to do or not to do something. Last year, we shared a few marketing goals and resolutions to practice in 2021. In today’s discussion, we will outline some new marketing initiatives that every company should definitely do in 2022.

Teach First, Sell Later

The marketing playing field is changing as are the rules of the game. Consumers don’t want to be sold a bill of goods but rather they want a more personalized experience where they can have their needs met. Brands need to take a “teach, don’t sell” approach to marketing and effectively communicate their value to the consumer. This can be effectively achieved by becoming a resource for the customer as a provider of expert knowledge related to the goods and services provided. For example, an HVAC company could create a video about tips on changing home air filters and promote it though social media and YouTube. Avoid pitching a product or service and instead, show how it benefits a customer utilizing a compelling story.

Invest in CTV and Video Content

Digital video content is becoming much more relevant with increasing usage and viewership on multiple platforms including ad-based connected TV (CTV) streaming services such as Hulu, YouTube, and Paramount+ as well as on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. In addition, video and animated ads are replacing static image display ads that show on websites and smartphone apps as users are more likely to interact with eye-catching content. Brands should invest in the creation and placement of quality video content on CTV and social media. The videos should tell a story that is relatable to the intended audience. Advertising messages must shift to storytelling in order to gain and keep the attention of an already over-stimulated viewer population. Consumers are bombarded non-stop, all day with an assortment of messaging in our hyper-digital world. To win their attention, video content must be compelling, creative, and relatable. A great example is Progressive Insurance and their latest video campaign featuring “Dr. Rick” who consults adults in their 30s and 40s on how to not become like their parents in everyday life situations.

Use First-Party Data

We’ve discussed this topic in the past and must reiterate that brands MUST start to utilize first-party data collection to use in their digital ad targeting. Six months ago, Apple updated its operating system causing the targeting abilities of advertisers to decline. In the time since, the decrease in user insights has become largely apparent. Companies must learn to utilize their contact and customer lists for different marketing goals on digital ad platforms such as search engines and social media. Retargeting customers is a great way for brands to keep reaching an audience that they know has already purchased their product or service. Companies can utilize different messaging based on the goal of each campaign whether it’s driving sales of every-day goods or the purchase of a maintenance plan on a newly purchased HVAC system.

As a full-service marketing agency, Brand Ranch Media develops and manages diverse marketing strategies that can propel your business into solid year-over-year revenue growth. Our experienced marketing experts bring diverse skillsets and understand all components of successful marketing campaigns. There is always time to adjust your marketing goals and that’s where we come in! Call us at 713-309-6380 or contact us to discuss!

Thankful, Grateful, Blessed at Brand Ranch Media

Tis the season to give thanks and reflect upon the reasons we should be grateful. There are 3 signs on the wall in one of our offices and they read “So very Thankful”, “Unbelievably Blessed”, “Forever Grateful”. It is not really all that hard to maintain a grateful heart when we indeed have a lot to be thankful for. Here at Brand Ranch Media, our blessings are plenty and we wish to express a sincere thanks for all that we are grateful for this holiday season.

It’s All About the People and the Relationships We Build

The reason we have so much to be thankful for is simple… it is the people we work with every day. Our staff who is made up of a true team of dedicated professionals, our clients who are amazing, our vendors who help us deliver high quality marketing solutions to each of our clients, and everyone else that we cross paths with along the journey. At the end of the day, it really is all about the people and the relationships we build along the way.

Our Dedicated Team

We are a small, local, family-owned business with the most amazing and dedicated employees! They work every day to give all that they have to our company and our clients. Each one works hard, plays hard, and they are quite honestly the reason we are successful. We do it together and we depend on each other. Every day is a unique and challenging day in the world of advertising. However, there is no problem too large or complicated for our team. They are solution-oriented and always make time for the things we need to do (and even with a smile, most of the time). 😊 We are so grateful for them and the values they help us uphold and carry out as a small business. To say we are blessed is an understatement. The BRM team is simply incredible.

Our Customers

Our clients at Brand Ranch Media are truly the best partners we could ask for. We work together as a team to help their businesses grow. Our success is dependent upon their success, and that motivates us to always do the best job we can and help them grow and succeed. We are so grateful for our loyal customers, appreciate their business, and look forward to growing together in this journey. Working isn’t really work when you enjoy who you do it for and with. So, we would like to thank you for your partnerships throughout the years. You help make our jobs fun, challenging, always interesting, and we find joy in watching you succeed.

Our Vendors

The account reps that work tirelessly with us to ensure that we only deliver the highest quality media to our clients are seen as an important extension of our business. We value the relationships we have made and appreciate the partnerships we have established. They always help to ensure everything is done with precision and they work with us to ensure we always get ROI for our advertising efforts. These relationships are essential, and we appreciate the work they do. Not to mention our vendors put up with us when we can sometimes be demanding and, of course, we are thankful for that!

Blessed in Multiple Ways

Although it is mainly people that make up the reason are so thankful, there are plenty of other things to be grateful for as well. We live in the wonderful state of Texas and in a free country where we can have freedom and liberty. We can operate our business with our guiding principles and values instead of someone else’s agenda and keep our client’s best interests in mind. We have freedom to be creative and use our God given talents to help each other succeed. We are blessed! Even on the toughest days, there is always something to be grateful for here at Brand Ranch Media. Wishing you and yours a delightfully blessed holiday season. Thanks for reading and hope you leave this message with a grateful heart!

Improve Campaign Performance with Conversion Rate Optimization

Talk to any business owner about their marketing goals and you will likely hear the same thing: they all want to increase their sales. The process to achieve this goal, however, can involve different actions depending upon your marketing strategy. You can spend a great deal of money on advertising to reach your target audience, but wouldn’t it be fantastic to close more sales with the least number of customers? Don’t threaten me with a good time!

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) can be defined as the practice of increasing the percentage of people who perform specific actions on a website, or those who “convert”, based on the goals of your campaign. A conversion can be a purchase, phone call, or form fill among others. An increased conversion rate can yield a greater return on your marketing investment but how does one go about running a successful conversion rate optimization plan?

It’s All About the User

In order to increase the conversion rate, we must understand our customers (website users) and the things that drive them to convert. Without this understanding, we are not able to make data-driven optimizations to ad campaigns or websites and changes made would be baseless. Once we understand our users and their behaviors, we can adjust ads and websites to influence more conversions.

The CRO Toolbox

There are a number of different applications that can help identify user pain points on websites, track user behavior, and provide insights on your audience profile. Hotjar is a website analytics tool that tracks and records user behavior including clicks, scrolling, pageviews, and cursor hover. By viewing recorded web sessions, you can identify areas for improvement in design or functionality and make changes that improve the user experience (UX). Google Optimize is a tool that allows you to easily set up and measure the results of A/B tests of different landing pages. Google’s Analytics tool can help you identify your audience by providing user information such as demographics, interests, and other products that interest them. This can be crucial to helping you form proper messaging within your website and ad copy.

Winning CRO Strategies

Now that you have the tools to help you understand the behaviors and interests of your audience, you can analyze the data and get to work on making and testing website and ad adjustments. The goal of conversion rate optimization is obviously to improve the conversion rate of your campaigns. There are a number of different methods you can practice in order to drive a winning CRO strategy. Since every business and customer profile is different, figuring out which methods work the best is a natural part of the process. Here are some questions you may want to consider:

Does the customer fully understand my product/service and the value it provides?
Does my web page contain too much industry jargon?
Is there a way to convey a sense of urgency that could drive more conversions?
Is the customer left with too many unanswered questions that may cause them to choose to buy from a competitor?

Through an evaluation of your website content using CRO tools, adjusting your web pages might be simple. If you hypothesize that a change might work better than the current content, it’s important to test the hypothesis using methods such as A/B testing (one of the CRO tools). Keep in mind that conversion rate optimization is a cyclical process of collecting data, analyzing data, adjusting content, and testing. Understanding your customers’ interests and behaviors can make a huge difference in revenue.

Improving ad campaign performance through conversion rate optimization is 2^nd nature to us and we love collaborating with businesses and their owners in order to drive campaign success. Give us a call at 713-309-6380 or reach out through our contact form on the website.

Human to Human: How to Personalize Your Marketing

Consumers are getting personal! And they want businesses to treat them like people, too. Personalizing your marketing strategies will go a long way in connecting your business to your customer. We are social animals and need to feel connected to each other. According to Salesforce data, an average of 84% of consumers say being treated like a person is key to winning their business. And over 95% say that they will stay loyal to a company that they trust. Relationships are key to winning and maintaining customers, especially in this day and time where a lot of marketing is done by machines or artificial intelligence. By using the tools available to us today, you can tailor your marketing to reach consumers on a more personal level by leveraging information that is uniquely relevant to them. It’s important to make a strong first impression and follow through with personalized notifications and messaging to make the entire interaction with your ad a personal experience for the consumer. Salesforce suggests there are some important questions you need to ask when preparing your marketing campaign to make sure it focuses on the person you are trying to reach.

Instead of “what do we want to show”, ask “what do they want to see?”
Instead of “what do we want to sell”, ask “how can we show value?”
Ask “what makes us better than everyone else?”
Ask “how will this make our customer feel?”

Focus On Value and Relationships

Don’t assume people care about you or your product! When you focus more on value and relationships, you begin to recognize how your products fit into the lifestyle of your customer. Knowing your audience can help you tailor your marketing efforts to fit their interests, lifestyle, family situation, socioeconomic status, etc. And when you can tap into their trust sensors and understand the emotional impact of your marketing efforts, then you connect the human value. When your customers know you value their business, the relationship will naturally grow.

Marketing to Emotions

Marketing to emotions must be realistic! For instance, when you see ads with people working out – they’re always smiling. That’s not exactly how it works in real life! People working out usually aren’t smiling. The six primary emotions are love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness, and fear. When planning a campaign, stop and ask how your ad might make your customer feel or what it might make them believe about your company and/or product.

Audio can affect emotions too! In a recent article, Spotify and Neuro-Insight studies show that sound can impact our brain by effecting the emotional, memory, and engagement centers. Using four metrics, Spotify explains that through Engagement (relatability & relevance), Emotional Intensity (emotions), Long-Term Memory (memories, feelings, and themes), and Long-Term Memory for Details (specific message), we can create a pretty good picture of how the consumer will connect with the ad and remember it.

Make your Social Content Personal

Most of us share content on social media daily. Is your social media content more personal or more social? Get Response explains LinkedIn data shows how content with a quote will yield a higher click through rate by approximately 30%. LinkedIn also studied social posts comparing images with people vs. objects and the images with people had higher CTR and conversion rates!

*LinkedIn Marketing Solutions/Orbit Media

Keeping your message consistent and authentic can build your brand and increase visibility.

Know Your Audience

Marketing campaigns usually put groups of people into one large demographic (i.e. W 18-34). However, the interests, motivations, and lifestyle within that group could be very different! An 18–20-year-old woman may be single, enjoys going out with friends and partying, and is probably on a fairly tight budget. A woman 30-34 is most likely married, probably with kids, doesn’t go out partying much, and has a little more wiggle room in her budget. Knowing your audience and marketing to those who will find value in your service is key to a successful campaign. People may live in the same city, work in the same industry, or be the same age and/or gender, but that doesn’t mean they will all be interested in the same things.

Tell A Story

Finally, you can make your campaign more memorable by telling a story! People may not always understand your ideas or know all about your product, but they will remember a story – which ties back to the emotions we talked about earlier. Telling your story can take the consumer from the world that is to the world that could be with your brand tying the two together.

Personalizing your marketing strategies will help your customers feel more connected to you and your business. It doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive – it just has to be real.

Achieve your marketing goals and increase brand awareness by personalizing your advertising efforts and focusing on value and relationships.

At Brand Ranch Media, we love helping clients just like you come up with creative ways to utilize available tools to meet your marketing goals. To speak with an expert, give us a call at 713-309-6380 or send us a message on our website.

Marketing Trends in 2022

It’s that time of year again. The final three months of the year are marked with back-to-back-to-back holiday celebrations and most companies already have their holiday marketing plans set. Business owners and marketing professionals alike start setting up marketing initiatives and budgets for the new year. At the end of 2020, we made a few prophetic insights into marketing trends to expect during their 2021 campaigns. Now, we shuffle and flip our tarot cards of advertising and read into the marketing trends to look for in 2022.

Digital marketing automation will continue to evolve.

Google has slowly introduced automated ads into their search and display ad types. These responsive ads take different ad copy and creative input in the platform by the advertiser and use machine learning to show the best performing combinations of the ad assets available to users based on the individual’s preferences. Budget strategies have also become fully automated and are aimed to get the best results based on the goal of each campaign within specific budget parameters. Other digital ad platforms such as Microsoft Ads, Facebook, and LinkedIn utilize similar automation concepts. Expect to see marketing automation continue to improve with new features and better results allowing marketers to focus on other ad management aspects while the automated systems provide support in some of the ad optimization work.

Google’s search algorithms will continue to get smarter which will change website SEO.

In June 2021, Google released an algorithm update it calls, “MUM”. MUM has the ability to translate user searches into different languages as well as go beyond providing results that only answer the original search query. One practical use is utilizing search when in different countries. An English-speaking user on vacation in Italy might want to find fun places to visit in Rome. MUM will bring up local results and translate them from Italian into English so that the user receives localized web results rather than results from an English-language website. MUM can also serve web results that go beyond the initial search query. Using the same travel scenario, when the user is planning a trip, they usually have many questions such as air travel, where to stay, things to do, and how to get around. The MUM update seeks to show results that can answer all of these related questions through only one query. The bottom line for content creators is that keyword placement within content is going to become less and less relevant while focusing on providing well-rounded, quality, and informative content is going to be much more sustainable in the long run.

Image optimization is going to become more vital for SEO.

Image optimization has evolved. Not only do images need to have a descriptive file name and a descriptive alt img tag, they also should be uploaded to websites using proper image formatting and file sizes. Without proper image formatting, websites can load much more slowly which can cause ranking issues. Some companies may have to go back and reformat their website images in order to keep SEO compliant. It might be an expensive process but well worth it considering the amount of business you may lose because of a slow-loading website and a drop in search engine rankings.

Core Web Vitals will find a happy medium.

Launched this past Summer, though announced in 2020, Google provided ample time for website owners to prepare for their Core Web Vitals update. The update added some additional ranking factors to the search algorithm regarding website performance related to site speed in three categories: loading, interactivity, and visual stability. Google also provided a tool to indicate and troubleshoot Core Web Vitals issues through its Chrome Browser called, “Lighthouse”. Our experience working with optimizing for Core Web Vitals and utilizing Lighthouse has shown that the ranking signal is evolving and will likely continue to do so until Google finds a happy medium on just how much ranks will be affected.

Small and medium-sized businesses will invest more into First-Party Data collection and usage.

This one is not only a prediction but also a suggestion. With the almost near extinction of 3^rd party cookie tracking, it is going to be much more difficult (if not nearly impossible) to retarget website visitors in digital marketing campaigns. Facebook’s ads platform is even saying don’t bother with trying to retarget, and if you do, don’t expect to gather very accurate results data (but more on that next). Instead, focusing on collecting first-party data from users is the best method for targeting audiences specifically interested in the services a business provides. The easiest way to start a first-party marketing list is to download and format your customer list so that you can upload to various marketing platforms. There are many different target audiences you can create using this list. If you haven’t already worked this strategy into your marketing plans, do so now.

Facebook ads tracking will get better in a world without third-party cookies.

With the rollouts of iOS14.5 and iOS15 this year, Apple has officially changed the digital advertising game revolving around 3^rd party cookie tracking. With this type of cookie tracking eliminated on iOS devices (or rather, the ability to opt out of this method of tracking), Facebook has been racing to figure out alternative tracking methods to keep their revenue stream, Facebook Ads, relevant and effective. Working within Facebook’s Marketing Expert program, we gain first-hand, direct access to the newest updates within Facebooks ad platform. Thus far, Facebook has done a good job adapting to a cookie-less world and they will continue to improve upon their systems moving forward.

Advertising spend on connected TV will increase.

The 2020 pandemic helped cause a shift in consumer behavior. One of those shifts was viewership of ad supported YouTube video content. Stuck at home, many viewers switched from the smaller phone and tablet versions and started to watch videos on connected TVs. More than half of all YouTube viewers now watch YouTube on TV screens. The cost of advertising on YouTube is much cheaper than cable or broadcast TV and you can still reach a massive audience with better targeting capabilities. Advertising on connected TV is a great marketing strategy that businesses should not ignore.

Email marketing strategy will need to evolve.

Changes in cookie-based tracking has also brought upon changes in the way that email platforms will allow reporting data. Email providers will no longer allow for email marketing platforms to utilize custom tracking code to record click data that occurs within the email itself. Marketers will have to become more creative in bringing users to their website through emails in order to record activity data. Expect marketing emails to be a little more vague while they try to lure you to learn more on their website.

Targeting Your Audience with Streaming Radio Ads

A growing trend in advertising is to tap into the thousands of people listening to online radio streams with Streaming Radio ads. Almost every traditional radio station now offers listeners an online “stream” option of their broadcast via computer or mobile device. Traditional radio advertising does not offer the audience targeting options available through streaming radio ad platforms. Most streaming listeners opt for the ad-support models, meaning they can stream for free – this is where we come in! Statistics show that online listeners stay tuned to the same station for longer periods of time, which means you have a captive audience, so your ad will not only be listened to, but it will be heard!

There are several options for streaming radio ad services, offering a variety of benefits and features. For today, we are going to focus primarily on two of our favorite platforms, Spotify and Pandora. Most of the ads within these two platforms are not skippable, and the number of ads played are limited, which increases engagement.

Spotify

Spotify offers the best all-around service for users, with both ad-supported and subscription-based ad-free versions available. As the most popular music streaming app, with over 70 million tracks, it also boasts over 2 million podcast titles and has over 345 million users worldwide every month, with approximately half of them using the ad-supported (free) version. With this many listeners, you can use content targeting to reach listeners based on their habits, activities, interests, and even narrow it down to a single zip code. Spotify users are logged in – with all day connectivity across multiple devices, which gives you confidence your message will be delivered at the right time on the right platform. Some of the targeting capabilities Spotify offers are listed below:

Country, city, or Designated Market Area (DMA) – based on the users’ IP address
Age, gender, language, genre, playlist, behavioral segments
Sponsored Session – allows the user 30-minutes of ad-free listening on mobile or tablet after your ad in played at 100%.
Audio Ad – a 30-second ad is played every 15 minutes
Display Ad – 30-second clickable ads. 100% visible and will not play if Spotify is minimized
Video Takeover – (Companion Display Unit) Served only on Desktops during commercial breaks. 100% viewable and 100% share of voice

Pandora

Pandora offers a cross-platform dynamic with audio, video, and display availability for advertising. With over 115 million unique listeners each month, Pandora is also integrated into over 200 auto models and over 2,000 connected home devices. With the diversity of ad options offered, your creative is woven seamlessly into the listener’s experience. Pandora also offers several options for targeting your desired audience with over 2,000 categories to choose from including genre, ethnicity, household income, education level, lifestyle, shopping habits, and marital/parental status – just to name a few! Ads can also be personalized based on genre of music, weather, or location. So your ads will display or be heard by someone in your target audience at the right time, on the right platform, and it will be relevant to their interests and activities. Pandora targeting options are listed below:

State, Designated Market Area (DMA), or Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) targeting
Targeting based on age and gender (demographics)
For display and audio, targeting for county, zip code, music genre, or audience segment
Display banners are offered for web/mobile/tablet standard web and mobile banners. These ads are served on user interaction with high viewability and 100% share of the screen until the next interaction
For increased engagement, audio ads stream concurrently on web, mobile, tablet, connected home, and connected car devices.
Video ads offer a full-screen experience and stream on web, mobile, and tablet devices during a station change or a song skip – while listeners are anticipating the next song

As you can see, Spotify and Pandora each offer features and options to help you reach your target audience and achieve marketing goals with streaming radio ads. These two platforms are just a few of the many options available!

Whether you are in the market for streaming radio ad platforms, or any other form of advertising, we are here to help you reach your goals! Our professional team can help you sort through the many options and platforms available to you. To speak with an expert, give us a call at 713-309-6380 or send us a message on our website.

For more information about Streaming Radio ads, see our Blog, “How to Make Streaming Radio Ads Work for Your Business”.

Top 5 Ways to Collect First-Party Data

Collecting first-party data to help drive marketing campaigns has become the hot topic over the past year. Businesses have long relied upon third-party marketing data to hone in on their targeted audience and that practice has left some scrambling to find other ways to reach a more captivated buyer. As search engines have slowly blocked websites and advertising platforms from collecting third-party data on consumers, marketers are having to devise new ways to reach targeted audiences more likely to purchase the products they sell. There are many ways to build a first-party marketing list. In this article, we will discuss our top 5 ways to collect first-party data.

First-Party Data vs. Third-Party Data

Before we dive into some of the best ways to collect this data, it’s important to understand the difference between first-party and third-party marketing data, how it’s collected, and the benefits they provide to digital marketing campaigns. First-party marketing data is contact information collected directly from the customer. This information usually consists of, but is not limited to, an email address, first name, last name, and phone number. First-party data also tracks user behavior collected directly from your website or web application. This data can be uploaded to various digital advertising platforms which will match with digital user profiles allowing advertisers to directly show ads to these users not only based on their contact information, but also based on the various ways they interact with your website or web app.

In contrast, third-party data provides information about a users’ behavior across the internet on other websites they visit. This includes, but is not limited to, purchase behavior such as specific products and product categories, general interests, types of actions they take such as lead generation form fills and phone calls, and much more! Advertisers use this data to create different audience profiles and target their digital marketing efforts towards them.

Goodbye, Third-Party Cookies

In the name of user privacy, search engines and internet browsers are slowly killing off the collection of third-party cookie data leaving many advertisers scratching their heads trying to come up with alternate audience targeting practices. The best type of data to use for audience targeting is your own first-party data. Whether you’re promoting your product to those who have signed up for your email list or retargeting a list of your current or past customers, these types of audiences are going to be your most valuable as they have already expressed interest in your business.

Collecting First-Party Data

Data intelligence software provider, Claravine, compiled a list of various ways to collect first-party data but you have to provide them with your personal first-party information in order to view. We’ll save you the trouble and share our top 5 favorites.

Newsletter Sign-Ups

Most company websites provide a blog to highlight industry-related information, showcase customer success stories, and even share their involvement in community events. Companies can repurpose their blog content and create a newsletter that they periodically send via email. Most people are willing to sign up to receive a newsletter if they feel that they will benefit from its content. This is a great way to advertise promotions and offers as well.

Write Expert Content

Similar to a company blog, creating whitepapers, videos, or eBooks is a great way to collect first-party customer data. The content should go a step further than a typical blog article and provide higher value to the user in order to entice them into giving away their information. This works particularly well in the B2B sales model and can help fill the marketing funnel to target decision-makers more specifically at various stages in the purchasing process.

Discounts and Rewards Programs

Offering a membership-based rewards program will definitely help build first-party data. Consumers are always looking for ways to save money and love the feeling of getting something for “free”. A discount or rewards program will also allow you to collect more information other than just a name and an email address. The more information you can collect from customers, the more targeting capability you will have for your digital marketing campaigns.

Events

Hosting an informative industry event will not only allow the opportunity to collect information from potential customers but it will also provide you valuable face time with key decision-makers. By attending the event, you already know these buyers are serious about your product and the data you collect can be used to focus remarketing efforts or create audience profiles of individuals that share similar traits. An event doesn’t have to be 100% business-centric either. Why not host an old-fashioned cookout and label it as a community social event?

Collaborate with Other Businesses

Partnering with similar businesses can be a win-win situation for the involved parties. For example, a local HVAC company could team with a local Plumbing company and share contacts to include in each of their digital marketing efforts. Businesses can also co-host an event where interested customers can leave their contact information for future follow-up. A business might also consider influencer marketing where they team up with an individual who has a large following such as on social media or a video platform like YouTube. The leads generated by the influencer can be used as first-party marketing data.

Regardless of where your business stands with first-party data, it’s never too late to take strides towards compiling it. A great place to start is with your own customer list. This data can be uploaded to various digital marketing platforms for immediate use in campaign targeting.

At Brand Ranch Media, we love helping clients just like you come up with creative ways to utilize available marketing data to create custom audience targets. To speak with an expert, give us a call at 713-309-6380 or send us a message on our website.

Video Advertising: Targeting the Streaming Audience with Scalable Results

Video Advertising; Targeting the Streaming Audience and Scalable Results

There are so many different streaming platforms available these days! They are like the online versions of traditional radio and television, and almost everything is “on demand.” With all the customizable programming, users create a more personal experience where they can watch and listen to what they want, when they want. As a result, the streaming platforms can collect valuable data about watching and listening behaviors of their users, which can be leveraged to reach target audiences using video advertising.

Nielsen says streaming across all TVs now has a 26% share of total day usage among people age 2+. US total spending on video subscription services grew 21% in the first 6 months of 2021 to $12.2 billion according to Digital Entertainment Group. This is after 2020, a year full of pandemic home viewership increases.

That is no small amount of screen time. Consider the scale of change from a couple of decades ago, when someone would ask, “What’s your favorite TV channel?” Now that question is more likely to be, “What’s your favorite show to binge?”

If media strategies are based on staying in front of enough of the target audience’s eyeballs, it’s safe to say those eyeballs have migrated to media content that’s more, “what we want, when we want it.” It’s also more mobile, as consumers maximize those moments of down time utilizing their smart phones and devices for everything, including entertainment on-the-go.

With large streaming audiences splitting time between paid subscription models, ad supported models, and OTT network streaming services, it’s important to realize that the overlap between platforms and streaming models for all consumer segments is sizable, scalable, and continually growing. With this in mind, video ad content needs to be adjusted accordingly so that it can serve across multiple screens and platforms. Ads need to be edited into multiple lengths and optimal aspect ratios for each platform.

Streaming audiences seem to have no real loyalty to one platform or screen. Favored content wins viewer attention. Ad supported TV platforms like Roku, Tubi, Pluto, Vudu, & IMDb TV make up about a 4% share.

Subscription-based platforms like Prime Video, Disney +, Netflix, & HBO Max take up more viewing time, but that time is divided between multiple services as users often subscribe to more than one paid service. Some platforms like Hulu give you the option of using an ad-supported plan at a discounted rate, or an ad-free, full subscription. There are also platforms using models that blur the lines in between ad- supported and subscription services, with some free streaming content that is ad supported programing, and some featured content requiring a paid membership or direct purchase for access.

With an overlap of streaming services successfully serving audiences on demand content, it’s interesting to note that according to YouTube, about 1 billion hours of video are watched every single day, with 8 out of 10 viewers being 18-49 years of age. Ampere Analysis reports, 55–64-year-old audiences are growing faster on ad supported TV platforms. Perhaps that’s because the content is often from an older library of network tv shows, as opposed to newly produced original content produced for subscription platforms like Amazon Prime and Disney +.

Streaming video platform ad targeting also offers more nuanced and advanced capabilities than traditional broadcast TV, similar to what we have become accustomed to in digital marketing targeting.

Serving video ads across multiple devices and screens has become more effective. And the data provided by the platforms is invaluable for advertisers when it comes to audience behavior.

With so many streaming options on the rise, advertisers shouldn’t feel like they need to pick “one right platform.” Instead, we should follow our target audience beyond individual platforms and use an integrated media approach across multiple screens and interactions throughout the day to achieve the best overall results.

If you’re wondering how to get the best ROI from your streaming video campaign let Brand Ranch Media help you with a more wholistic approach to influencing your target audience. Our expertise will ensure you’re reaching the right audience, at a scalable volume, with measurable results. Please give us a call at 713-309-6380 or reach out through our contact form on the website.

B2B Marketing – How to Successfully Market to Millennials

B2B (business-to-business) marketing is not a new concept. Businesses have been advertising their products to other businesses heavily since the ad boom of the 1920s. In the 1870s, farmers made up over half of the population in the US and Montgomery Ward’s Mail-Order Catalog allowed those with limited access to dry goods and clothing the opportunity to have these products shipped to remote areas via the railroads. Talk about snail-mail! In our current society, organizations have become reliant upon each other to provide products and services needed to complete tasks and ultimately grow. The generation that comprises the modern-day “millennial” has become more and more important to the operation and success of organizations.

Millennials in Business

Depending on who you ask, a millennial is defined as someone born between 1980 and the mid-1990s. This puts them between the ages of 26-41 with the average age of 34. Studies have shown that about two-thirds of millennials are decision-makers when making large purchases for their organization. This is a group that B2B marketers cannot afford to disregard or to assume that the type of marketing tactics successful with the previous generation will continue its success with millennial decision-makers. In the ever-evolving modern business world, marketers must constantly adapt their strategies in order to reach and engage their target audience. In order for B2B marketers to successfully market to millennials, it’s important to understand this group, what’s important to them, and their common values, as well as how they access their information.

Where to Reach Millennials

Millennials are very tech-savvy and tend to gather information through omnichannel resources. For example, 33-year-old Suzie is a department manager for a financial institution. She’s listening to a podcast episode on her iPhone about financial advice for people in their 30s and hears an ad for some financial software that could solve her company’s need for improved reporting analytics. The next day, she’s at work and does a Google Search on her desktop to learn more about this software. She gets served an ad for the software and watches a 4-minute video on the landing page that shows a demo of the software, all of the data that it provides, and how easy it is to use. She then posts on her LinkedIn page asking if any of her peers have used this particular software and learns that her college classmate, John, highly recommends this solution as it has worked wonders for his company’s finance department. Suzie presents all of the information she has gathered to the head of her department, and they decide to purchase the software.

In this example, the marketing department for the software company was able to reach Suzie on multiple devices (mobile and desktop) via a podcast, search ad, and a video. This omnichannel marketing approach successfully leads to a purchase. If the software company decided to only invest in a search ad, Suzie might never have known there was a solution to the reporting issue her department was facing.

Millennials Want to Learn at Ease

In our example above, Suzie is looking for a solution. When she visits the software company’s landing page, the video she watches is very informative and shows actual screenshots of the software functioning. The video provides added value for Suzie because she is able to learn how it works. Watching a video with great visuals and a well-written script makes learning easy. It’s also a very efficient way to provide more information about their product. The ability to learn about a business solution in an efficient and easy-to-understand manner is very appealing to millennials. This approach not only provides added value, but it also avoids the “hard sell”. Most millennials feel bombarded by ads on all media platforms they use. This bombardment has caused this generation to distrust many of the brands that use the hard sell approach. If a business can’t show added value through its marketing efforts, they may as well just set fire to their ad dollars.

Suzie also looked to her peers to see if anyone she was acquainted with had experience with using the software she was looking into for her company. Social media was invented right around the time the oldest millennials were in their early 20s. Those that went to college were either finishing up or had just graduated. Social media made it easier to stay in contact with friends, especially those that had moved on to other cities. It continues to be a way for millennials to keep in touch with friends, obtain information, and ask for recommendations.

Millennials and Values

Corporate responsibility, transparency, and authenticity are values millennials look for when making purchasing decisions. In the consumer world, about 75% of millennials are willing to pay more for a product if it is sustainable. Cruelty-free, Fair Trade, and environmentally friendly are all buzz words that are appealing when buying a product. The same can be said in the B2B model. If Suzie learns that the data software company gives 5% of its profits for research into solar energy, this might help sway her decision over competitors with similar data solutions.

Transparency and authenticity speak to millennials in a B2B environment as well. Similar to the concept of avoiding the hard sell, a company that can pitch their products based on transparent and authentic practices will be more appealing to the millennial generation. The corporate millennial buyer doesn’t want to feel taken advantage of and can tell when they are being sold. A direct and authentic approach will ultimately result in a more comfortable situation relieving any stress or ambiguity to the purchasing process.

B2B marketing will continue to evolve and the millennial buyer is likely to adapt to changes in advertising technology. It will be important for businesses to follow suit and deliver relevant marketing strategies that speak to and are effective with this generational group.

Need help with devising an omnichannel marketing campaign to reach the decision-makers for your B2B needs? Brand Ranch Media can help with a winning strategy! Give us a call at 713-309-6380 or reach out through our contact form on the website.