20 Stats That Make the Case for Co-Marketing Today and in the Future

As a billionaire inventor and CEO, the fictional Tony Stark, also known as Marvel's Iron Man, worked his way to the top of the corporate ladder while repeatedly saving the world on the side.

Despite Stark's impressive achievements, his career success and robotic super-suit weren't what made him a legend.

In fact, Stark’s best Marvel Comics storylines began when he joined The Avengers to save the entire universe.

Although Stark was fully capable of saving Earth alone in his super-suit, he knew teaming up with other superheroes would allow him to save multiple planets.

Marketers can learn a lot from Tony Stark.

While our brands might be capable of reaching basic targets all on their own, pooling marketing resources, combining skill sets, and jointly creating campaigns with other non-competing companies could help us reach much broader audiences. This tactic is known as co-marketing.

Although co-marketing can be incredibly beneficial to you and your partner's brands, it will still take time, planning, and coordination when it comes to finding a co-marketing partner and launching mutually beneficial campaigns.

Like any good marketer considering a new tactic, you’ll want to know that co-marketing can be effective before devoting resources to it. And yes, you'll likely want to research more than just the superhero analogy I've made above.

To help you make the case for co-marketing, here’s a list of 20 statistics that prove why you should consider this strategy.

20 Co-Marketing Stats to Know in 2020

The State of Co-Marketing in 2020

• After seeing co-marketed campaigns, 68% of consumers are able to make buying decisions before even speaking to sales representatives. (PartnerPath, 2019)
• Virtually all companies surveyed in 2018 were already active in internet marketing partnerships and affiliate programs. The few that weren't were active planning to be in the next 12 months. (Partnerize, 2018)
• 54% of companies say partnerships drive more than 20% of total company revenue. (Partnerize, 2018)
• 34% of marketers say that co-marketing or brand partnerships are the most effective ways to increase an email subscriber list. (Ascend2, 2017)
• 74% of companies say partnerships and affiliate marketing campaigns are a high or very high priority for their businesses. (Partnerize, 2018)
• In 2018, just 5% of companies said they'd invested less in partnerships than in 2017. (Partnerize, 2018)
• More than half of respondents in a 2018 partnership survey said partnerships were driving more customers and sales in that year than in 2017. (Partnerize, 2018)

Partnership and Co-Marketing Tactics

• Brand partnerships that leverage digital channels see 4X the pipeline of non-digital partnerships. (Impact, 2019)
• 84% of vendors with brand partners offer money to those partners for co-marketing expenses. (PartnerPath, 2019)
• 30% of vendors will offer co-marketing reimbursement if their brand partner can prove ROI. (PartnerPath, 2019)
• Roughly 11% of marketers say "partnership posts" are their brand's most engaging type of social media content. (HubSpot, 2020)
• Many brands prioritize large partnerships, versus thousands of smaller partnerships. Roughly 34% of leading brands have 50 to 99 partners, while 67% of brands have less than 100. (Partnerize, 2018)
• Only 2% of brands surveyed by Partnerize in 2018 partner with more than 1,000 brands. (Partnerize, 2018)
• In 2018, 33% of CEOs said they planned to prioritize strategic partnerships, which could involve co-marketing partnerships, in 2019. (KPMG, 2018)
• The top brand leader priorities include finding more partners (27%) and strengthening relationships with existing partners (23%). (Partnerize, 2018)

Co-Marketing and Brand Partnership Success Stories

• The Yeezy shoe line, a collaboration between Adidas and Kanye West, enabled Adidas' net annual rose by 19.5% to $1.9 billion in 2019. (Bloomberg, 2019)
• Buffer and Social Chain's Brand 2019 Brand and Social Media Report resulted in 17,000 download page visits in just one week and more than 3,000 shares across social media. These results were higher than an average article shared on either of their sites. (Quuu, 2019)
• When Estée Lauder and a top U.S. retailer created joint Google Ads that promoted the retailer and the brand's fragrance products, the average ad click share rose by 70%. (Google, 2020)
• In 2018, Coors Light teamed up with National Geographic to launch a series of video ads taking place in Iceland. The campaign reached 10.5 million people and resulted in a 6.8 percent lift in brand favorability. (Facebook, 2018)
• In a recent case study, a gaming app company partnered with another brand in a cross-promotional campaign that was coordinated by Aarki -- a mobile marketing agency. The gaming app received a 32% rise in downloads shortly after remarketing ads to the partnering brand's contact list on social media. (Aarki, 2020)

The Benefits of Co-Marketing

Co-marketing can provide a long list of benefits, especially if you want to pool your resources to create a large-scale marketing campaign. Along with the statistical benefits seen above, there are a number of other qualitative perks such as:

• Audience exposure: Through co-marketing and cross-promotion, your content or brand information will be shared with your audiences as well as your brand partner's. This enables your brand to gain increased reach. For example, when local or online stores launch Google Ads showing that they carry Estée Lauder fragrances, fans of the perfume brand might visit or follow that store for the first time.
• Increased trust and favorability: If a prospect trusts the brand you partner with, they might trust you when that brand promotes your name, logo, or content. For example, when Adidas teamed up with Kanye West to create the Yeezy line, people might have bought a pair of Yeezys because they trusted Adidas' quality and West's sense of style.
• Cost-effective content: When you team up with another brand, you might be able to make an agreement where you split time or production costs, or you can trade one brand strength for another. For example, if you're a small brand partnering with a larger brand, you might be able to utilize the bigger brand's budget and gain more exposure on their channels. Meanwhile, the bigger brand might be able to leverage your niche social media audience..

Now that you've learned about the benefits and stats related to co-marketing, get inspiration from these successful real-world examples of the tactic. For more on how to find the right co-marketing partner, check out this handy guide.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

20 Stats That Make the Case for Co-Marketing Today and in the Future was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

Experts Share Their Top 8 Holiday Email Marketing Tips for 2020

Ready or not, the holidays are right around the corner. And that means it's time for email marketers to start planning one of their biggest email campaigns of the year.

To help you prep for all the holiday madness to come, the team at Uplers asked a group of seasoned email experts and industry insiders to share their insights on Holiday Email Marketing Tips and Trends for 2020.

Check out their advice for holiday email trends below, and get inspired to tackle your company's holiday campaign with style.

The Top 8 Holiday Email Marketing Tips of 2020

1. Start planning way before you think you should.

Planning well in advance goes a long way, giving you enough time to ensure your email really stands out.

"Do get started on your holiday email marketing strategy and planning early," advises Christopher Donald, the President of Operations & Managing Partner at InboxArmy. "Create planning, creative, production, and deployment calendars to better execute your campaigns. Don't wait until the last minute to decide what to do."

2. Focus on the customer, not an aggressive sales agenda.

Marketers send more emails than usual during the holiday season, but it's important to remember that there’s a real person at the other end of your email communication. The holidays are a busy, hectic time for everyone (not just marketers!) and they probably won't appreciate having their inbox flooded with hard-sell emails. Respect their time, and adopt a helpful, customer-centric approach.

Kara Trivunovic, VP/GM Client Services, Global Industry Evangelist at Epsilon, believes you need to find out what the subscriber expects from you during the holidays rather than driving your agenda of selling.

It’s the holiday season, after all, so you can’t just pen down some sales-oriented copy and call it a day. Tap into your subscribers’ emotions, and focus the copy on how you can help them spread joy through the gifts they can buy from you. Even a simple holiday greeting can go a long way in building trust with your customers.

For instance, take a look at this email from Kennebunk-based yoga and barre studio The Daily Sweat, which expresses gratitude towards consumers and wishes recipients' a happy and safe holiday season:

3. Interactivity and fallback go hand in hand.

Visual, interactive elements like GIFs, cinemagraphs, and gamification will add interest and flair to your holiday messages this year.

Interactivity in emails is an engagement tactic that will help to drive attention and generate excitement during this holiday season, according to Uplers Director Jaymin Bhuptani.

Innovate content with the help of a drop-down Menu, Accordion, Slider, Flip Effect or maybe gamification in your email. However, with limited email client compatibility, it is essential that you provide fallback support, says Lauren Gentile, VP Creative, Digital solutions at Epsilon. And yes, test, test, and test some more before you send out the emails.

4. Segment and rule.

Segmenting your lists to ensure the content appeals to the recipient is essential all year long, but it becomes even more important during the holidays, when emotions run high.

If you’ve been keeping track of information like what your subscribers browse for on your website and what they’ve purchased from you, segmenting will not seem like a Herculean task. The better you know your subscribers’ preferences the better you can segment them and send targeted emails during the holidays, which will ultimately lead to better, more qualified conversions.

"Data is obviously key all year round, but when it comes to the holiday season, focusing your efforts on key customer groups could be more fruitful and a better use of resources," explains Tink Taylor, the Founder and President of Dotmailer.

5. Get personal.

According to Shanon Strahl, Senior Digital Marketing Leader at Shaw + Scott, personalization will play a pivotal role in the success of your email campaign this holiday season.

Dynamic content created on the basis of subscribers' likes and needs is bound to create a great impression of your brand in the minds of the subscriber and also generate a better ROI for you.

Customize your offers and deals according to the behavioral data you have at hand, or if you don’t have any, ask them what they like or what they would like to see in your holiday emails.

Update the content of your triggered emails. What if someone is signing up to receive your emails around the holiday season? You wouldn’t want to send them your regular welcome template, would you? Don’t let your new subscriber miss out on the holiday fever and holiday-specific promotions.

6. Take the responsive route (it’s not just an 'option' anymore!).

Imagine a subscriber opens your email on a smartphone or iPad and sees a broken design. This is certainly not the user experience you are wanting to provide, especially not during the peak holiday season! What if the subscriber unsubscribes?

Dennis Dayman, Chief Privacy Officer at ReturnPath, is of the opinion that since 46% emails are now opened on mobile devices, there’s no option but to create a responsive design. If you've never designed a responsive email before and don't have a developer at your disposal, these tips can help you keep it streamlined and simple:

1. Single column layout
2. Minimalist design
3. User-friendly navigation and CTA buttons
4. Compact images with proper alt-text

7. Get real with real-time content.

The use of real-time content is increasing, powered by the robust technology to support its integration into emails. "Real-time content can let your emails reflect changes in inventory, among other benefits, which is a major concern for holiday shopping," explains Ryan Phelan, Vice President, Marketing Insights at Adestra. "Having more control over the message means we can make email a more realistic experience instead of the moment-in-time experience it is now."

Adding a dynamic countdown timer is a great way to create urgency in emails, and there’s no better time to use them than the holidays. Use a timer to promote your sales, shipping deadlines, etc.

Take a look at this countdown timer in Joybird's email. Doesn’t it create urgency?

8. Break the boundaries of email and go social.

Your subscribers are looking for gifts for their loved ones (and maybe even themselves too!). But as any holiday shopper knows, you need to browse around for the perfect gift. Offer your subscribers multiple ways to connect and stay in touch, reminding them of your product at every stage of the shopping season.

"Combine social media with email marketing and you're onto a winner! However, don't hijack any trending hashtags without robust prior planning and outcome analysis," advises Sam Hurley, Founder, OPTIM-EYEZ.

For instance, this holiday-themed Harpoon Brewery email includes its social buttons, so subscribers can connect with them on the platform of their choice. 

Ultimately, you'll want to drive additional value and a sense of empathy for email subscribers this holiday season for a lasting effect year-round. From all of us here at HubSpot, happy holidays. 

Editor's note: This post was first published in November 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

 

Experts Share Their Top 8 Holiday Email Marketing Tips for 2020 was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

What Is a Micro Niche ... and Do You Need One?

A micro niche is a business offering that’s highly specific. You may also encounter the term sub-niche to describe these laser-focused products or services. Micro niches drill down from niches, which are already segmented out from a larger market.

Here are a few quick examples to clarify the difference between a market, a niche, and a micro niche:

• Market, outdoor gear; Niche, camping supplies; Micro Niche, high-end mountaineering tents
• Market, tech; Niche, social media platforms; Micro Niche, social platforms targeted to specific interests, such as Ravelry for knitters
• Market, beauty supplies; Niche, cosmetics; Micro Niche, organic vegan cosmetics

Micro niches generally have more adjectives attached (not just ‘food truck,’ but ‘artisan grilled cheese truck featuring locally sourced cheese and bread’) and have a highly specific audience in mind (people who love grilled cheese with fancy additions).

Would your business benefit from a micro niche?

Among the greatest benefits of micro niches is that they pre-qualify customers and clients early in the marketing funnel. People who are looking for outdoor gear may be looking for anything from hiking boots to fly-fishing rods to harnesses for mountain climbing. But people searching specifically for camping supplies can have very different ‘wants’ as well. They may prioritize:

• Affordability
• Ease of use
• Eco-friendly production
• Aesthetics
• Better, best glamping quality
• Mountain-ready ruggedness

Often there will be an overlap of preferred qualities. But if your niche is producing and selling high-quality mountaineering tents, you won’t have to worry about capturing the attention of frugal families or people who want a luxurious camping experience.

The other benefits of a micro niche branch off from there. They include:

• A passionate customer community. People interested in high-quality tents are often interested in clear topic areas related to your offering. This makes it easier to create a content strategy for organic traffic; there’s less guessing what will appeal to your customers. People who want exceptional quality tents for hiking are knowledgeable already. They would likely be interested in a blog or podcast offering specific, expert, or off-the-beaten path advice and recommendations.
• Less competition. In broad markets and even niches, gaining visibility and brand awareness can be a challenge. In a micro niche, it’s easier to earn attention and differentiate yourself because you have fewer competitors. You still have to specify your unique value in the space and clarify that among your discerning audience.
• Brand loyalty. While this isn’t a given and requires meeting the demands of your audience, a sub-niche can foster long-term interest. That’s because micro niches are built on expertise, passion, and customization. It’s more challenging to bring a personal touch to broad markets

Companies can start up with a single micro niche. For example, Bite offers sustainable toothpaste tablets called ‘bits,’ mouthwash bits, floss, and toothbrushes through a subscription plan. Their focus is zero-waste, plastic-free, vegan, and cruelty-free production.

Drybar is another micro niche company that carved a customer base from the hair salon industry. The ‘want’ they leveraged was people interested in a ‘just-from-the-salon’ look between full haircuts and coloring.

Alternatively, companies can add a micro niche after establishing their brand in a larger niche market. The mattress company, Casper, added dog beds to their niche offering. Mattresses, for most of us, are large and infrequent purchases. Although dog beds have a far smaller price point, dog owners are likely to replace them more often. Offering dog beds is also a way to introduce a new audience to the overall Casper brand and the quality of its craftsmanship.

How to discover the best micro niche(s) for your business

1. Identify your strengths.

To discover a micro niche worth developing, start by looking at your strengths — either as an individual, a team, or a company. You’re more likely to find sustainable success in areas that excite you and your team.

Consider a business offering employee recruitment support to companies. Perhaps their team excels when recruiting executives or helping mid-career changers climb the ladder? This could spark a micro niche B2B offering, such as mid-level leadership development services or executive compensation consulting.

2. Focus on the problem.

What issues need solving in your industry or your life? Think about the times you’ve thought “If only we had _____ ” to help with a common problem in day-to-day life, at work, or with a recreational activity. Fill in that blank for a promising micro-niche business idea. Problems you face are likely issues for others as well. Brainstorm different problems and creative solutions, and see which one gets you and trusted peers the most excited.

3. Do your micro-niche market research.

You want to make sure your micro niche has a customer base. Here are some areas on which to focus your research:

• Informal and formal market research. Talk with friends and family about consumer ideas, or reach out to industry peers about business services needs. If you have the budget, send out email or social media surveys about the topic to gauge interest.
• Google Trends. This tool can help you discover micro niches within larger niches, and the overall interest in your micro niche. Search various terms related to your sub-niche and then explore the related topics and queries. You can also find out regional variations in interest.
• Social media and industry organizations. Explore hashtags on social media related to your sub-niche or industry. Also check out associations, professional groups, and organizations within your target industry. What are they discussing or excited about? Do you notice an emerging area of expertise? Do you notice a missing link in the discussions that might be an opportunity?

For example, a search for ‘mountain tent’ reveals strong (and unsurprising) regional interest in Colorado and Idaho. It also shares that ‘hyperlite mountain gear’ is a related topic, which can guide your product development and future marketing content.

4. Check out the competition.

It’s possible you’ll have a eureka moment and land on an untapped idea. But, more often, you’ll find your skills and interests lead you to micro niches with existing businesses. Now, you’ll have to toggle back to research and brainstorming mode. Here’s what you’ll need to figure out:

• Is the market big enough for the two, four, or 15 of you?
• How can you differentiate yourself from the competition? With white-glove service? With a lower or higher price point?
• Where are they falling short?
• How can you do better?

5. Test the waters.

You don’t have to dive into the deep end immediately. It’s smart to test the waters first with a single product offering. The apparel company Bombas launched in 2013 with a single product: comfortable performance socks. It has expanded to other items of clothing, but socks remain at the center of the brand.

Another way to test your idea is with a landing page, which is a simple process with drag-and-drop tools like HubSpot’s Landing Page Builder. Once you have a personalized landing page, begin advertising your product or service with paid search and social media ads. Your proof-of-concept is in the pudding — if the pudding were steady traffic, completed email forms, inbound sales calls, and product pre-orders.

On the landing page, and in your ads, use keywords that clearly define your offering. This way you draw people with authentic interest or buying intent in your micro niche.

6. Trust your instincts.

If you dream up a product or service idea that hasn’t been done before, or hasn’t been done particularly well, in your opinion, consider trusting your gut.

• The company Untuckit was built on the simple premise that men wanted button-front shirts that looked neat untucked, and they were hard to find.
• The e-commerce store Lefty’s sells common kitchen, gardening, school, and work tools designed specifically for people who are left handed.
• Olive & June is a nail polish company that sells kits that make home manicures easy and fun. Their kits come with a holder for your phone, so you can watch a video while your polish dries.

These micro-niche companies often have one thing in common: When they hit the market, people often wonder how the products or services weren’t available before. Find your micro niche, and follow these steps to bring your business to life.

What Is a Micro Niche ... and Do You Need One? was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

Most Consumers Changed Brands in 2020: Research Explains Why

Now that 2020's global pandemic has taught most of the world how to live and work completely from home, marketers planning their 2021 strategy are asking one big question:

“Will this uncertain time change the way people spend money?”

McKinsey -- which recently polled consumers in over 48 countries about their 2020 spending habits -- says, "Yes."

One of the biggest findings in the McKinsey study was that 75% of consumers have changed brands at least once during the pandemic.

McKinsey's research also noted four other key shifts in consumer spending behavior that could majorly impact brands in the near or far future.

In this blog post, we'll walk you through all five shifts noted in the McKinsey study, while giving our insights on how marketers and brands can navigate them.

How Purchasing Behaviors are Changing in 2020

1. Brand loyalty is being tested.

At the beginning of the pandemic, as entire cities began to close non-essential businesses, consumers raced to stores or hopped online to order essential products they'd need in the coming months. This caused a major disruption in supply chains and product shortages around the world.

And, even in the earliest days of the pandemic, consumers were paying heavy attention to how companies handled shortages and bursts in product demand.

While some brands saw an influx of new customers that they once lost to bigger competitors, other companies lost customers to because they simply couldn't keep up with a high demand.

"Over 60% of global consumers have changed shopping behavior, many of them for convenience and value. In the US, the percentage was 75%," the McKinsey study notes.

When it comes brand shifts outside the U.S., a whopping 91% of Indian consumers and 82% of Chinese consumers say they've changed brands at least once since the beginning of the pandemic.

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According to McKinsey, the top three reasons consumers changed their habits or brands were value, availability, and convenience.

As you can guess from the data points above, the risk of losing a customer to another brand is higher than usual in 2020. Even if a product appears essential or valuable to a prospect, they might not buy it if another brand can deliver a similar item faster.

How Brands are Navigating

At this point, some large brands are working to better align teams to ensure that products can be discovered, ordered, and delivered quickly -- even in times of high demand. Meanwhile, some smaller brands are making their products more available online and in-stores to prospective customers who can't get an item quickly enough from brands they've used in the past.

According to a post from Repsly, which included data from anonymous name brands, companies that thrived in 2020 used data and company-wide communication strategies to identify areas at risk of high product demand around March and continued to align with teams including marketing, service, and supply chain teams to ensure their shelves and warehouses stayed stocked.

In another recent report from McKinsey, researchers similarly predict that successful high-demand brands will develop an integrated approach between their supply teams, sales, and marketing departments. McKinsey also discourages brands from raising prices in times of high demand and focusing on other vital business and customer experience strategies instead.

"Operational concerns may be even more important than pricing strategy, including stabilizing the supply chain, keeping products on the shelves, addressing customers’ urgent needs, and maintaining quality," the McKinsey report explains.

2. Consumers aren't rushing to grab their wallets.

Before the pandemic, Gen Z was the major age group that prioritized essential products over other purchases. Meanwhile, other generations were more likely to splurge on products based on their brand name or non-essential perks.

But, after business closures and financial uncertainty related to the pandemic, consumers in all generations are reconsidering spending habits.

Even as cities, businesses, and workplaces slowly reopen, shoppers plan to stay cautious about their budgets.

In the U.S. alone, 40% of consumers say they'll continue to be mindful of where they spend money, while 31% plan to buy less expensive versions of items to save money. And, whenever they make those purchases, 21% of consumers aim to do more brand and product research than they had for pre-pandemic purchases.

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How Brands are Navigating

While consumers might have made purchases with motives related to fun, entertainment, brand name, or other perks before the pandemic, many are now more budget-conscious than ever.

For the most part, consumers are primarily zoning in on essential product purchases. And, if someone does buy a less essential product, such as an item that entertains them, they'll do thorough research to ensure they're getting the best value for their money.

At this point, many essential and non-essential product companies have caught on to consumer budget concerns and have begun to leverage online marketing strategies to ensure that consumers can discover their products, learn about their value, and determine that they're worth purchasing.

Particularly, companies that sell essential products have created campaigns, advertisements, and messaging reminding consumers of how important the items are. Meanwhile, companies that sell less essential items are getting creative to identify new value propositions for their products or brands.

For example, in the ad below, Procter & Gamble acknowledges the COVID-19 crisis, explains how it will be donating products to families and philanthropies in need, emphasizes the importance of their household and health items, and reminds viewers of how its brand has helped consumers disinfect their homes for generations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4xF40TnlS0

The P&G ad is effective because it highlights that the brand offers affordable and available products that people trust for cleanliness, shows how the company is actively aiming to help people impacted by the pandemic, and reminds audiences of how essential its products are to global households.

In another example, Ice Breakers, a mint company that sells products that might be considered less essential, made an ad to highlight how eating mints before you put on a mask can prevent smelling your breath.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXU7JFKaSJQ

While the P&G campaign acknowledges why its brand's products are essential to people around the globe, the Ice Breakers ad cleverly places new value into a non-essential mint product that people might not be rushing out to buy at this time.

3. Shoppers need ecommerce.

McKinsey notes that "most [product] categories have seen more than 10 percent growth in their online customer base during the pandemic."

Additionally, across most product categories, at least 30% of U.S. and U.K. consumers expect to make even more online purchases after the pandemic.

How Brands are Navigating

While many bigger brands are amping up their ecommerce strategies, a few prominent tech giants have begun to offer solutions that can help smaller or medium-sized brands, such as boutiques, retailers, or restaurants, generate revenue online.

For example, Facebook recently launched a tool called Facebook Shops, which enables any company with a Facebook or Instagram Business page to create a mini-online store that links with all platforms owned by the social media brand. Meanwhile, meal delivery apps like DoorDash temporarily reduced commissions of local restaurant orders so those business owners could sell food virtually while earning fee-free revenue for each order.

4. Health plays a role in purchasing decisions.

With the pandemic impacting thousands of Americans, people began to consider their health and safety more than ever before -- even when purchasing products.

In the past, health-conscious consumers might have glanced at back labels of various products, the interest in health and safety has gotten even deeper. Now, they might ask, "What's the packaging process for these products?", "Are the cashiers in the grocery store given PPE?", or "How are businesses actively preventing the spread of germs?"

While health and safety of consumers and brand employees might not be the biggest purchasing motivator, it's one people are thinking about much more in 2020.

Ultimately, when big or small businesses take action to show that they genuinely care about people, consumers might identify with, trust, and value them more.

How Brands are Navigating

Although it might sound easy to buy an ad spot with a commercial that simply says, "Our brand cares about you," this approach might not convince your audiences that the message is authentic.

Many of the brands that are thriving in this time demonstrate how they care, rather than just saying it.

For example, as global mask shortages occurred in the early days of the pandemic, fashion companies like Louis Vuitton and Burberry diverted clothing production to make face coverings.

Aside from creating PPE, other companies have donated to causes related to the pandemic or taking extra steps to keep their customers and staff safe.

Target, which is considered an essential business, has been publishing online content about how the company's aiming to help customers, employees, and communities at this time.

Rather than centering its YouTube page around content that highlights products, sales, and deals, Target features a playlist aimed to help shoppers and communities during COVID-19.

Along with health and safety tips related to shopping, videos on the playlist explain how Target is working to create safe in-store experiences and smooth online shopping options for customers.

Aside from creating videos on how the chain is aiming to help customers navigate COVID-19, the brand has also created a $10 million pandemic relief fund which dedicates $1 million to assisting Target employees. This demonstrates that Target is taking action to help its community, customers, and employees who work in essential in-store roles.

5. Shoppers have become homebodies.

According to the survey, 70% of consumers don't want to resume activities or work outside of their homes just yet, despite pushes to reopen the economy. If they won't leave home to work, travel, or dine out, McKinsey notes that many won't leave home to shop either.

When looking into the near future, "More than 3 out of 4 [consumers] who adjusted their behaviors due to the pandemic said that easing government restrictions will not change their cautious behaviors. Consumers are following guidance from medical experts for reassurance," notes McKinsey.

How Brands are Navigating

Brands can't just assume that people will flock back to stores as businesses reopen. While some consumers might not feel comfortable or safe leaving the house immediately after a pandemic, others won't want to shop in physical stores because they know they can buy almost any product they want online.

At this point, successful brands are trying to continue to meet customers where they are, even if they don't leave the house.

While some brands are building out online stores and digital services, others that don't sell a physical product are launching online events or virtual experiences to gain awareness, continue to generate revenue, and delight their customers.

One example of a brand that made an in-person experience into a virtual offering was an animal sanctuary called Sweet Farm. When the California-based farm, which runs on donation revenue, closed to the public amidst the pandemic, its owners created a virtual offering where businesses or individuals could pay $65 to $750 for a farm animal to guest star in their virtual hang out or meeting.

The campaign was cleverly titled, "Goat-2-Meeting," a play on GoToMeeting -- a popular video meeting software.

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According to Sweet Farm, the campaign, which began in March, was so successful that there was a waitlist for animal meet and greets by April, Sweet Farm has also partnered with more sanctuaries to increase meeting availability and share donation revenue with other organizations that care for animals.

How Marketers Can Navigate 2021 -- and Beyond

This year, marketers and businesses were tested by the global pandemic and economic landscape. As you consider what's next for your brand, keep these consumer behavior trends in mind:

Consumers crave value and availability.

More than ever, consumers will choose to shop from a company because of product value and availability, rather than brand loyalty. Business owners who've relied on loyalty and credibility to make sales should also monitor their supply chain and pricing to ensure that their products are worth the price and accessible to customers. Meanwhile, lesser-known brands can use a competitive analysis or other tactics to learn where they can help consumers that are struggling to find affordable or high-demand products.

Digital transformation is key.

Brands can no longer assume a billboard or foot traffic will generate vital revenue. At this point, many companies that were once mostly physical are building online stores, leveraging different online channels for marketing, and thinking outside of the box to create virtual offerings that will delight and retain customers.

"Human" brands will reap benefits.

In 2020, customers began to care more about how businesses treated employees, how they kept customers safe, and how companies stepped up to help others in times of uncertainty. Ultimately, brands with leaders who genuinely care about people will get better reviews, word of mouth, and positive awareness than brands that throw caution to the wind.

Looking to learn more about how businesses are evolving in 2020? Below you'll find content from HubSpot's Adapt 2020 series:

• Adapt 2020: An Educational Series
• 5 Ways Go-to-Market Strategies Will Change in the Post-Pandemic Economy
• 4 Pivots Companies are Making in Light of COVID-19 [New Data]

Most Consumers Changed Brands in 2020: Research Explains Why was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

5 Social Media Advertising Trends | 2021

While 2020 didn’t pan out the way most digital marketers envisioned, social media advertising has experienced an unprecedented increase.

Shifts in digital behaviour were to be expected as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, there have been some hard-to-ignore, enduring upward shifts that may have changed online habits heading into 2021.

For instance, cybersecurity company Akamai has reported a staggering increase in global internet traffic of up to 30 per cent.

A Datareportal study, in association with We Are Social and Hootsuite, revealed that this traffic surge unsurprisingly also translates to social media growth. The research shows that more than half of the global population now uses social media.

This represents a 10 per cent growth from the previous year. Indeed, users now total 3.96 billion as of July 2020. The adex benchmark 2019 report showed that social media ad spend was higher than €1bn in four markets and €100m in a further 14 – with the increases in users, this growth is set to rise.

Knowing where to concentrate your business’ ad spend, or take advantage of opportunities in this ever evolving online landscape can be the key to success.

In this article, we take you through the upcoming social media advertising trends for 2021 to ensure you can capitalise on the opportunities presented by the increasing popularity of social media.

What 2021 social media advertising trends will we be discussing?

1. The growth of story formats’
2. The continued rise of influencer marketing
3. Creative automation of ad production
4. The continued growth of video formats
5. Giving optimisation algorithms a chance

1. The growth of story formats

Instagram Stories and Snapchat have become so popular that Facebook even snapped up the Stories format for their homepage feed. This type of content is called ephemeral content and is designed to entice the viewer into wanting to discover more about what they’ve just seen.

More about ephemeral content

Why is ephemeral content so effective? It’s quite simple, really – it creates a fear of missing out. Few people enjoy not knowing the conclusion to something and this is what story formats create – the need to want to know more. What this does is provoke an immediate reaction.

Effective use of this on Instagram, for example, is when brands advertise between the stories a user is viewing of those they follow. The latest deal on a coat or a beautiful advert that cuts off could very well see a user not wanting to miss out and therefore clicking through.

Another way brands can effectively use these formats is by posting engaging story content to bring followers back day after day. This will, in turn, increase your regular social media following and increase the number of eyes on your ads when you share them.

2. The continued rise of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing has been a popular method of advertising with marketers for a few years now, but this trend certainly doesn’t look like going away anytime soon. In fact, Instagram Stories has given this method of marketing more wheels.

The beauty of these trends for your social media advertising is that many of these seamlessly slot together. The Stories functionality has increased the possibility for influencers to take on-brand campaigns.

When it was just the platform’s grid, it limited the number of partnerships or advertisements these individuals could take on as users won’t tolerate being spammed. Stories has made it possible for influencers to take on more partnerships. Plus, become more creative with the advertising content they produce, ultimately helping to increase engagement.

Consider micro-influencers

An additional trend for 2021 and beyond is the rise of marketers using micro-influencers to target niche audiences. Micro-influencers have 1,000 to 100,000 followers. Using this type of influencer is increasingly seen as an effective method of advertising. The reason for is the low cost of a campaign in comparison to a macro-influencer.

Creating a positive working relationship with a micro-influencer could be fantastic for your conversions. For either a free product or payment, they will put your brand in front of their followers, further increasing your audience.

Influencer marketing in numbers

Earlier this year, Oberlo collated fascinating influencer marketing statistics that show the future is certainly bright for this method of advertising:

• 9 out of 10 marketers think influencer marketing is effective.
• For every $1 spent on influencer marketing, there’s an expected average return of $18.
• 8 out of 10 consumers have purchased something they’ve seen an influencer recommend.
• By 2022, the influencer marketing industry will reach $15 billion.
• 93% of marketers are using influencer marketing.

Top tip! Oberlo also found Instagram to be the most popular and effective social media platform when it comes to influencer marketing. Something to keep in mind when creating your 2021 strategy.

3. Creative automation of ad production

Employing the invaluable assistance of a Creative Management Platform (CMP) means you can use the ad creator functionality for high-speed social media advertisements.

This is something that you can use for other ad formats, including display, too. Thus your marketing team do everything in once place, saving your business time and maximising ROI.

What does a CMP ad creator do?

A CMP offers your brand the opportunity to get personalised onsite messaging out to your followers at scale. Meaning, you have the power to replace generic customer relationship copy, imagery and video content with HTML5 advert placements. What’s more, these can transform depending on the user! The data you have also helps your management platform pair appropriate content with the customer, live.

The possibilities of what you can achieve for your social media advertising with a CMP in 2021 are extremely exciting. In fact, with Bannerflow, you can publish directly to Facebook and Instagram.

Top tip! Don’t forget to look into the possibility of using social listening as part of your social media advertising strategy. When your followers are chatting or searching for something on social media, the ads surrounding that subject pop up in front of them. Jump on board this strategy before your competitors do!

4. The continued growth of video formats

Video content has been a go-to for brands for years. And 2020 has reaffirmed the role moving pictures can play for any brand looking to advertise on social media!

How TikTok has shaken up the market

The rise of TikTok in 2020 clearly showed advertisers how popular short-form video is and continues to be. While this social platform was released internationally back in 2017 – it was the dawn of social distancing that influenced a surge in the platform’s activity.

March 2020 saw TikTok experience its biggest month with 115 million downloads across the world. With 745k of those came from the UK alone. Its popularity is also set to rise, with predictions expecting the app to reach 10million users in the UK alone by 2021.

Why you should use video for your social advertising

These statistics show that video content is definitely not going away and, in fact, it’s only increasing in popularity. TikTok’s rise even encouraged the already very well-established Instagram to introduce its Reels function.

These numbers are exciting news for the world of social media advertising, as video formats allow brands to get their message across far more efficiently and keep users engaged with creativity.

Top tip! The emergence of TikTok has shown how important it is for brands to diversify in 2021. TikTok has really shaken up the social media space, so reconsidering your strategy to include platforms you may not have previously considered could be a smart move.

5. Giving optimisation algorithms a chance

Even though social media algorithms are largely a mystery, even to experts, 2021 is the year to give them a chance – especially with the increase in potential audience.

What is a social media algorithm?

A social media algorithm selects advertisements it thinks the user will be interested in. This is based on a number of factors, including the advertiser’s targeted demographics, the users’ previous behaviours and interactions and the quality of the ad. As an advertiser, if you set up your campaigns with care, you’re certainly on the right track.

How can you get the most out of a social media algorithm?

Here are some top tips to get the most out of the Facebook algorithm:

• If you’re looking for great engagement, utilise video content.
• Play around with Facebook’s ad formats.
• Stick carefully to the site’s rules to avoid penalties.
• Design your ads to promote positive engagement but avoid anything is clickbait.

Using tactics such as Facebook targeting, the users viewing your ads should be those most likely to interact with your brand and, ultimately, convert to sales.

Conclusion

Despite the events of 2020 creating many barriers for advertisers, the resulting upsurge in social media users presents tantalising prospects for 2021 and beyond.

However, with a vaccine on the horizon, the future is certainly looking brighter! Indeed, harnessing quality audience research, in combination with the power of the latest trends and a robust strategy, and you a recipe for success.

This is where Bannerflow can seamlessly assist your business – get in touch with our experts to learn more about our CMP.

Apply for a demo today and experience the excitement of creating, distributing, and measuring the performance of your digital advertising efforts from one advanced cloud-based platform.

The post 5 Social Media Advertising Trends | 2021 appeared first on Bannerflow.

5 Social Media Advertising Trends | 2021 was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

The 5 Types of Social Media and Pros & Cons of Each

Marketers commonly use social media to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and improve traffic. If you’re tasked with starting a social media strategy for your company, you might be wondering which type of platforms you should be on. Your platform choice will likely change based on your audience.

The list of social media platforms is growing, and well-known platforms like Facebook are always evolving and adding new features. With a greater and greater need for a social presence and an overwhelming amount of platform choices, it can be hard to pick which social channels to use.

You might not want to spread yourself too thin by managing a channel on every imaginable platform, but you also don’t want to miss great brand-awareness opportunities.

To help you make informed decisions about which platforms to use, this post will guide you through some of the core types of social media, examples of platforms within each category, and the pros and cons that each type might present. By the end, you should have a much clearer idea of what kind of social media strategy will work for your business.

Social Networking

Examples of Major Platforms

• Facebook: 2.6 billion monthly active users
• Twitter: 166 million daily active users
• LinkedIn: 160 million users in the U.S. alone

Social networking is possibly the most traditional form of social media.

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are often called “networking” platforms because they allow user accounts to interact with each other in a variety of different ways.

Professional Uses

If you’re a small business, like a restaurant, a platform like Facebook could be a great place to start your social strategy. With Facebook, you can build a business profile that includes links to your website and details about your menu.

Once your profile is all set up, you can post regular updates about your business, “like” other pages, and answer customer post comments or messages. Business profiles also allow other Facebook users to give you reviews.

For companies looking to offer a professional service, B2B or publishing companies, LinkedIn is another great way to grow your following. LinkedIn emphasizes career-related networking.

Brands looking to build an audience of professionals from a certain industry can create a business profile there, categorize it with an industry type, and then use posts and messaging to publish updates. They can also use messaging and comment features to interact with their audiences, or users who comment on their posts.

A Twitter account could be helpful to companies in a wide spectrum of industries, from entertainment to e-commerce. This platform similarly allows you to create a profile where you can list and link company information.

You can then use Twitter to post about company updates, tag companies or customers in posts, retweet positive customer tweets, and respond to customer questions via tweet or direct messages. Like Facebook, you can also post content like photos or videos.

On all three networks, users can easily communicate with others through simple actions like tagging, hashtagging, commenting, private messaging, reacting to posts, and re-sharing content.

Aside from social interaction, newsfeeds on common social networking platforms are designed to show off a mix of text and visuals, rather than one primary content type.

This flexibility makes social networking platforms easy to begin a social strategy on because you can experiment with different forms of content before branching out to platforms that require more specific content types.

Here’s an example of Facebook’s newsfeed:

For those who want to dabble in video or graphics, these platforms could be a great place to test this new content. With the growth of video marketing, many have begun to launch more advanced features like Facebook Stories and Twitter’s live streams.

Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have also started to encourage native video and photo uploads more heavily. Recently, Facebook even adjusted its algorithms to favor live video and image uploads. This has caused these types of native content to gain greater user engagement.

If you’re still not sure where to get started, check out our beginner’s guides for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are some of the most prominently used forms of social media
• Social networking sites often integrate with scheduling tools like HubSpot, Hootsuite, and TweetDeck software
• All platforms have capabilities for photo and video.

Cons

• Those interested in just posting links may have a harder time getting engagement than those uploading photo and video.
• Some platforms, like Facebook, put individual user posts higher than business posts in newsfeeds.

Photo Sharing

Examples of Major Platforms

• Instagram: 1 billion monthly active users
• Pinterest: 367 million monthly active users

Two of the biggest platforms that specialize in photo sharing are Instagram and Pinterest.

Instagram offers a visual feed with posts showing photos and short videos followed by a caption. Users can also post live video or create Instagram Stories that disappear after one day. Like the social networking platforms above, users can interact with others through tags, likes, comments, or direct message.

Professional Uses

This platform would be helpful to companies like restaurants or stores that want to photograph and display and update followers about their food, goods, or products in a crisp, clean way.

Instagram has become a home to influencer marketing, as 93% of influencer campaigns took place on the platform in 2018. It also offers opportunities for advertising and ecommerce because of its highly-visual layout.

Unlike some social platforms, Instagram emphasize visuals and doesn’t allow link sharing directly in posts. Basic users on Instagram can only share links in their bio. Verified users, or accounts with over 10,000 followers, can post links in their Stories.

To show you how visual the platform is, here’s a look at Instagram’s search feed:

Although basic users have minimal linking options, Instagram has tried to make the platform even more friendly for ecommerce businesses with the addition of Shoppable posts.

Pinterest is well-suited for ecommerce companies, such as those who sell home goods, and businesses that would like a place to share crisp standalone product images with links.

It similarly offers a photo-based feed with posts that can include a photo and short description. Unlike Instagram, it allows all users to link directly to websites or product landing pages in posts.

One interesting aspect of the platform is that users can heart posts from others, or assign them to a themed “board.” For example, users might make boards centered around topics like “Inspirational Quotes” or “Bedroom products.”

Once a board is created, other users can also follow it. A business could potentially make a board with their own product posts, or find their products on another user’s board.

Here’s an example of what a board looks like:

Before getting started on one or both of these platforms, you’ll want to determine whether your goal is to gain brand awareness or link-based traffic.

While Instagram and Pinterest can both be helpful tools for product shots and brand awareness, Instagram’s active audience is much larger than Pinterest’s. Instagram has also hosted over 25 million business profiles.

When choosing a platform, you may want to consider your content-related bandwidth. Both require visual imagery, but you might also need to include video creation within your Instagram strategy. Here’s a great guide that demonstrates what it takes to gain followers on Instagram.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Platforms like Instagram help with brand awareness. Approximately 60% of people say they’ve learned about products or services on Instagram.
• Pinterest and Instagram provide an outlet for showing off visual content or product shots.
• Platforms like Instagram also allow you to experiment with visual or short video content

Cons

• Upkeep on these platforms might require a photo budget or dedicated production time.
• Some platforms, like Instagram, require you to post from a mobile app.

Video Sharing

Examples of Major Platforms

• Youtube: Over 2 billion monthly active users
• Vimeo: 240 million monthly viewers

Professional Uses

Roughly 88% of marketers say video gives them a strong ROI and 90% feel the level of video competition has increased. Adding a video platform to your social strategy could make your brand look relevant and keep you up to speed with your competitors.

Video can be helpful to a wide range of industries. While a restaurant could have a vlog with cooking tips, a technology company might focus its video strategy around product demos.

To help you pin down a strategy that’s right for your industry and service, check out our video marketing guide.

When it comes to long-form video, Youtube and Vimeo are the leading platforms. While Youtube has the bigger audience base and better SEO capabilities, Vimeo’s smaller platform is very community driven.

Youtube also seems to have better opportunities for advertisers and monetization, while Vimeo offers viewers the perk of no pre-roll ads.

For a longer list of similarities and differences, check out this head-to-head piece where we compare the business capabilities of Vimeo and YouTube.

Along with Youtube and Vimeo, the more traditional social networking platforms have also begun to embrace video marketing more aggressively. In the last few years, Facebook launched Facebook Stories and Facebook Live, and added a tab on their mobile app dedicated to video. Meanwhile, Twitter has allowed users to launch live video streams which are powered by its Periscope software.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Videos can be longer than on other social platforms.
• Both platforms have website linking capabilities.
• Platforms like Youtube and Vimeo often offer analytics.
• Both Youtube and Vimeo have search optimization features.

Cons

• Content might take more time and money to create.
• These platforms require more backend tasks like SEO.

Interactive Media

Examples of Major Platforms

• Snapchat: 229 daily active users
• TikTok: 100 million monthly active users in the U.S. alone

Apps like Snapchat and TikTok allow users to share photos and videos, they also have a variety of unique interactive and highly experimental features. These two apps include AR/VR filters, musical overlays, and interactive games. Their audience bases are also prominently Gen-Z.

Professional Uses

Because mainly large companies are just starting to experiment with these new applications, marketers who are just beginning a social strategy don’t need to prioritize these interactive apps before traditional social networking platforms.

The large companies on these platforms tend to produce high production-level content. Brands with large followings might also publish Snapchat Stories, or videos that are curated from fans. Without a high-budget or giant online following, these strategies might be difficult for a company that’s just starting out on social.

Brands and influencers on these apps tend to cater their content to the platforms’ younger audiences. For example, on Snapchat, you might see stories that present beauty tutorials, wellness tips, news, or trendy new products.

If you’re really interested in interactive media, there are still a few viable ways you could get involved with Snapchat or TikTok.

While major brands, like VICE and BuzzFeed have become Snapchat Discover partners, the average business can still create a Snapchat business account that can be searched and friended by users. This account allows you to send publish temporary stories, just like individual accounts can. However, those with a business account can also purchase ad space.

Here’s a comprehensive video that explains how to use Snapchat:

If you’ve set up an account, check out this guide to getting started on Snapchat.

TikTok, an app based around short, repetitive clips -- similar to Vine -- offers five types of advertising options for businesses. While large businesses may find value in all five, smaller businesses may lean more towards "In-Feed Ads." These ads are 9-15 second clips that can be skipped by the user.

Guess is one notable brand that has used its account to create trending campaigns with trendy hashtags. Universal Pictures has also had influencers create posts to promote its films.

If you do test out these platforms, you might want to make sure your industry and content fits in with the young age demographic. You should also try to properly estimate the time and money that might go into keeping these accounts up to date and relevant.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• These platforms are very creative and experimental.
• They have young audiences, which can help brands better target Gen-Z.
• Stories can be used to give your following a behind-the-scenes look at your brand.

Cons

• Producing regular content could be expensive and time-consuming.
• Business accounts aren’t promoted up-front on the Snapchat interface. You may want to promote your channel on your website or other social channels because users will need to search for you with your Snapcode or username.
• Snapchat and TikTok are limited to mobile and aren’t as easy to use.

Blogging/Community

Examples of Major Platforms

• Tumblr
• Reddit

Tumblr and Reddit both allow users to post about interesting niche topics, like memes, events, politics, and pop-culture. When users publish a post, these platforms allow other users to share them or add to the conversation with their own commentary.

Professional Uses

Both blogging and community building platforms could be helpful to those who want to encourage discussion around very niche industries or topics. For example, on these platforms, you might see discussion about anything from alternative health to machine learning.

By blogging, you can write posts about topics in your company’s industry and link them to your product or site. While many people have a blog on their website, platforms like Tumblr might be great to use if you haven’t set this feature up -- or just want to see what others in your industry are blogging about.

With a discussion site like Reddit, you could share a link or a post about a specific topic on a discussion board related to your industry and see how users respond. You could also start your own board if a topic you’re looking to encourage discussion on doesn’t have one yet.

These two platforms specifically encourage web chatter and post shares from users that care about the same topics.

Both also allow users to follow you or subscribe to your blogs or Reddit boards so your content could show up on their feeds. Here’s an example of what Reddit’s feed looks like.

When someone publishes something on Reddit, other users can up-vote or down-vote it. Up-voting makes a post show up higher in Reddit feeds while down-voting does the opposite.

On Tumblr, the feeds are organized by time. However, a post can show up higher when it is re-shared by other users. When a user shares or interacts with your Tumblr content, they give it a note. When they reshare, they have the option to post a comment with the post that gets added to a thread.

Here’s an example of how notes and threads can be used to encourage discussion:

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Both platforms allow you to share text posts, photos, and videos about your business, brand, or individual thoughts.
• These platforms enable you to start conversations about a topic.
• Both platforms allow linking to outside websites.

Cons

• Longer blog posts might take time to craft or write.
• Getting downvoted on Reddit or no reaction from Tumblr users means your posts may go unseen.
• Your audience might be too niche or limited to just those on the specific platform you use.

A Few Things to Consider

Before you start logging in and setting up your accounts on a bunch of platforms, be sure to consider these factors:

• How much time do you have to devote to strategizing around a social platform?
• Do you have resources for creating graphics or videos?
• Do your goals involve boosting brand awareness, or traffic and revenue?
• Will you need an additional staff member to run this platform, or will it be easy to maintain?

Once you’re on a platform or two, be sure to stay in the know of how it’s changing and what marketers are doing. For a current outlook, check out our Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing.

The 5 Types of Social Media and Pros & Cons of Each was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

Removing Gatekeepers From Your Marketing

Every marketer has run into one of these roadblocks before:

• They wanted to create an ads audience off of recently closed lost deals, but didn't have access to the customer data in their CRM.
• They needed to change some of the copy on their homepage, but their developers couldn't fit it into their next sprint.
• They needed a quick graphic to illustrate a point they were making in a blog post, but their design team was wrapped up in other projects.

In these scenarios, marketers aren't held back by a lack of good ideas. Instead, marketers are struggling with gatekeepers.

Gatekeepers are unnecessary areas of friction within your growth machine that prevent marketers from providing customers with the best experience possible.

Gatekeepers can be anything from unusable data that's spread across different tools, to a CMS or design solution that's powerful but requires technical expertise to use.

When marketers encounter a gatekeeper, the customer experience inevitably suffers.

Take your website, for instance. HubSpot research shows that a business website is the most used distribution channel for marketers today.

When trying to provide your customers with an amazing experience, nothing is more important than your website. But when asked who is responsible for keeping a website up to date, many marketers pointed to their IT team as owners of their company's site.

This is a classic example of gatekeepers inserting unnecessary friction into your marketing. Your IT team isn't goaled on generating leads, or how customers perceive your brand — so when marketers approach them with an update that needs to be made to their website, it isn't prioritized.

Inevitably, your customers' experience suffers. Imagine if your IT team owned your email marketing, or your social media accounts — how might your customer experience suffer as a result?

Marketers at growing companies need to be the owner of their organization's growth machine. This used to be a given, but as customer journeys have gotten more complex, so have the systems we use to reach our customers.

We've added unnecessary complexity into our internal processes and tools — to the point where only specific people within your organization have access to data that could be used to improve a campaign or the technical ability to update content as needed.

Today's fastest growing companies are doing three things:

1. They're leveraging customer data across all their marketing channels.

2. They're optimizing their marketing efforts by leveraging comprehensive reporting.

And maybe most importantly,

3. They're putting marketers in the driver's seat — removing gatekeepers at every turn so they can act quickly and decisively to best serve their customers.

The need for a clear owner of your business' growth machine has only been heightened by the global pandemic. As external factors force leaders to pivot quickly at a time where collaboration and strategic planning is more difficult than ever before, gatekeepers cannot be tolerated.

By leveraging tools that centralize your data, remove gatekeepers, and make it easy to see what's resonating with your audience, you'll make it easy for your marketers to iterate on the customer experience.

Take stock of your current tech stack. What systems do only certain teams have access to? Is that team best-suited to understand what your customers are looking for from your brand? Are gatekeepers forcing you to make unnecessary tradeoffs between using a powerful tool and one that will empower your marketers to take ownership of your organization's growth machine?

Answering these questions will help ensure that you're able to adapt to whatever 2020 (or 2021) has in store for you.

Removing Gatekeepers From Your Marketing was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

How COVID-19 Changed the Way We Think About Office Technology [New Research]

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we think about a lot of things.

From the size of our weddings and special events to the comfort level of our pajamas and stay-at-home clothes, we’ve reconsidered the size, shape, and necessity of many, many elements in our lives.

Work is one of these elements, if not the main one. We’ve asked ourselves (and our employers) questions like:

• “Can I get as much done at home as I would in the office?”
• “How do I stay connected to my team if we’re all remote?”, and
• “Is it really necessary to have as many meetings as I did before?”

While we’ve all found different answers to these questions, one thing is consistent: COVID-19 has forced us to learn how to stay connected, motivated, and productive in new ways.

Canva + HubSpot Marketing Survey

In October, we teamed up with Canva to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected marketing leaders, their resources, and their teams. We surveyed 502 marketing leaders (mostly senior-level marketing managers, directors, VPs, and CMOs) from across the United States and asked them how COVID-19 has affected their teams, processes, and priorities.

The results are in, and our findings are pointing towards a new way of thinking about work — especially the tools and technologies we use to get stuff done.

Download the research here, and keep reading to unpack some of our most important findings.

How COVID-19 Changed the Way We Think and Use Office Technology

It’s no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic has massively impacted where we now work. Out of 500+ marketing leaders, 73% reported that they’ve been working remotely for over three months.

This will likely be the “new normal” for some. A recent Gartner poll revealed that 48% of employees will likely work remotely at least part of the time after COVID-19, versus 30% doing so before the pandemic.

But COVID-19 hasn’t just affected where we work — it has also changed how we work. Many of the respondents reported new challenges in their day-to-day projects and processes:

• Decision-making: Over 50% agreed that their team’s ability to make decisions has been negatively impacted.

• Planning: 72% agreed that their planning process has been more difficult, and over 70% have seen their planning framework dramatically change with the impact of COVID.

• Feedback: Over 70% agreed that it’s become more difficult to give and receive effective feedback while working remotely.
• Productivity: Over 66% agreed that their team’s productivity has dropped, and nearly 50% said they’ve struggled to motivate their teams.

If you resonate with these findings, you’re not alone. It’s clear the COVID-19 has been tough all around, regardless of your team size or industry. Let’s unpack some more detailed trends — and potentially permanent changes — we’re seeing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some organizations are outsourcing more marketing projects.

Gartner found that the COVID-19 pandemic has led 32% of organizations to replace full-time employees with contingent workers and contractors.

We see some of this reflected in our survey respondents’ post-pandemic resource planning:

Resource	Pre-Pandemic	Post-Pandemic
Growth marketing	Majority in-house (64%)	Shift to more in-house (68%)
Design	Majority outsourced (48%)	Small shift to even more outsourced
Content marketing	Majority in-house (48%)	Evened out
Web development	Majority outsourced (50%)	Shift to more in-house
Social media marketing	Majority in-house (50%)	Shift to more outsourced
Media buying	Majority in-house (51%)	No change
Affiliate marketing	Majority in-house (55%)	Shift to more in-house (58%)
SEO	Majority in-house (55%)	Shift to more outsourced
PR	Majority in-house (55%)	No change

Why might this be? For one, outsourcing is a common cost-saving measure. It can also help meet demand.

50% of respondents reported that it’s been more difficult for their teams to come up with creative content — perhaps outsourcing projects like content marketing and design has helped teams maintain their production cadence during times of stress and burnout (which we’ll explain below).

However, hiring contractors and external agency services requires increased communication and collaboration.

Gone are the days when we could walk across the hall for a chat at a coworker’s desk or host in-person meetings with agencies. During the pandemic, we’ve learned to replace these conversations with quick messages or video calls — most likely using a tool like Slack or Zoom.

Our respondents would agree. 75% reported that instant messaging platforms like Slack were “good” and “exceptional” at supporting collaboration. 72% rated the same for the level of usability for these tools.

If companies and teams weren’t using an instant messaging platform before the pandemic, it’s highly likely that they are now. The need for a tool like this also arises when outsourcing projects. It’s more important than ever to stay aligned — especially when working with third-party contractors.

For those keeping marketing in-house, new tools are needed.

You’ll see in the table above that many of our survey respondents still reported keeping or shifting many resources in-house. This could also be in an effort to save money and meet demand — by using new tools and technologies to compensate for a lack of labor.

For example, 44% of respondents reported that their need for new visual assets and graphic design has increased since the start of the pandemic. 39% reported the demand has mostly stayed the same.

Regardless, this is a vast majority of marketers who need to maintain or boost their graphic design production — in the middle of a pandemic, no less. A similar number of respondents (38%) reported that their graphic design software did a “neutral,” “poor,” or "terrible" job of supporting collaboration within their team.

This presents a unique opportunity to use office technology and tools like Canva — to support increased customer demand while saving costs and supporting remote collaboration.

Another set of respondents (50%) reported seeing traffic to their website increase and the need for regular updates also increase. Our study also revealed that 16% of marketers find the usability and collaboration of their website content management system (CMS) either “neutral,” “poor,” or “terrible.”

For those keeping website management in-house, incorporating a tool like HubSpot CMS can vastly improve your team’s remote collaboration and productivity — all while meeting the increased demand from your customers (which is a good thing!).

Organizations are using technology to monitor and support employees.

We’ve confirmed so far that marketing teams have been pressed for productivity and collaboration while being asked to create more creative content to meet customer needs, employer demand — all in an ever-changing, pandemic-soaked market.

While office technology has never been more critical, neither has recognizing and acknowledging the barriers COVID-19 has created, such as an increased team workload and employee burnout (17%).

This rise in employee burnout has led to more discussion around the responsibility of employers to their staff. A Deloitte study found that, as the “pandemic has put more hours into the working day,” organizations should do more than just foster open dialogue and open practices around well-being. Gartner agrees — they theorize that COVID-19 has expanded employee expectations of their employer as a “social safety net.”

Technology has come in handy for non-work related needs, too. Zoom has equipped teams to host online happy hours, virtual holiday parties, and even team-building activities. Companies are also sponsoring free telehealth and virtual therapy sessions.

Gartner also found that, in a less digital sense, employers are also offering “support includ[ing] enhanced sick leave, financial assistance, adjusted hours of operation and child care provisions.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how employers use office technology to understand not only the employee experience but also remote employee performance. A Gartner study found that 16% of employers are using tools to monitor employees through virtual clocking in and out, tracking work computer usage, and observing employee emails or internal communications.

This trend started well before the pandemic, but it will continue to grow in popularity as more folks opt to permanently work remotely.

Over to You

As large and difficult as these COVID-19 shifts have been, for the time being, they are here to stay.

Listen to these emerging trends and invest in new processes, tools, and technology in 2021. Doing so will help you combat these challenges and better motivate, monitor, and equip your remote teams. Remember, it’s your responsibility to help them be productive at home, stay connected to their teams, and make room for how the pandemic is affecting their personal lives, too.

How COVID-19 Changed the Way We Think About Office Technology [New Research] was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns