Author: Geile/Leon

Branding Your Environment

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Branding Your Environment

General

Our client, St. Louis Science Center, recently won the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2017 Building St. Louis award for the GROW exhibit outdoor Gallery. The award recognizes and honors projects that have created a positive community impact. We were thrilled to be mentioned in their FACEBOOK post along with exhibit and construction contractors Arcturis, Gyroscope Inc., Interface Construction Corporation, and SWT Design.

To be mentioned and acknowledged by our client in this Facebook post got me thinking about how critical it is, when creating an environment for a brand to live, whether it be an exhibit, tradeshow booth, retail store environment, etc., to ensure that the process is a collaborative effort from start to finish with the entire team, including architects, designers and marketers.

Our first assignment was to design the GROW logo and brand identity for the project. We were fortunate to have architect and construction renderings as references to truly visualize the brand experience. This inspired the design and allowed us to incorporate a logo and brand identity that reflected the mission of the exhibit – to bring to life the connection each of us has to agriculture and the journey of food from farm to table. Our logo is prominently portrayed at the entrance of the exhibit, on the website and throughout the marketing campaign.

Understanding the vision of the architects, designers and client helped make the brand experience seamless so we could develop a brand identity and marketing campaign that reflected it perfectly. See our work: St. Louis Science Center – Grow

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The Role of Modern Agencies for CMOs and ROI

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

The Role of Modern Agencies for CMOs and ROI

Full Funnel Marketing

In the life of a CMO, addressing consumer “pain points” is among the most thought and talked about of day-to-day responsibilities. CMOs are being challenged to have their finger on the pulse of the customer. But, who’s looking out for the pain points of CMOs themselves? That’s the role that forward-thinking agencies need to assume in the modern age of marketing.

According to a recent article from marketingcharts.com, pain points for CMOs include, among others, disconnected messaging at different points in the sales funnel and increased pressure to prove marketing’s worth via ROI metrics. But for many CMOs, the ad agencies and marketing partners they rely on to help, are not being charged with helping move customers from awareness, to consideration, to purchase. Each respected agency focuses exclusively on messaging for isolated stages of the marketing funnel and can’t actually help CMOs effectively do their job.

When an agency and the campaign they develop, have an enterprise-wide understanding of the business and work closely with the CMO throughout the entire process from consumer interest to customer loyalty, what used to be pain points is now an effective brand experience for the consumer. And in cases where multiple agencies are being used by a client, it’s imperative that the effort for brand awareness, consideration, and purchase campaign are coordinated in terms of consistent brand messaging.

But according to a recent CMO survey conducted by Duke University, effective CMOs can take it a little bit further – and modern agencies can help. With today’s abundance of available data, it’s no longer enough for CMOs and agencies to analyze only the end result. They need to utilize ROI metrics throughout the entirety of the consumer decision process in two major ways. First, ROI metrics give valuable insight into what marketing efforts are and aren’t working, so you can adjust the messaging accordingly. Second, ROI metrics give CMOs a huge leg-up in being able to not just communicate, but quantify just how valuable marketing is to their business, helping to earn more confidence and budget allocation for their department.

Effective agencies don’t just advertise, they partner with CMOs to market their clients’ business and move consumers through the sales funnel. We call it full-funnel marketing, but you can just think of it as a whole lot of pain relief.

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Trending From G/L: Marketing to Millennial Parents

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending From G/L: Marketing to Millennial Parents

Advertising

ICYMI: Millennials are not just the same old flannel-clad, entitled, couch and career surfers anymore. Millennials are growing. Growing into families that is.

That’s right, almost half of our beloved millennial demographic are becoming mommies and daddies. At least 40% of millennials already have children, and that rate continues to climb as millennials continue to age. Considering millennials make up more than a quarter of the population representing 83.1 million Americans, and surpassing the Baby Boomer generation by over 7 million in population, this life-changing milestone means major lifestyle changes for millennials, and major sales category shifts and opportunities for marketers.

As digital natives, this generation has grown-up with cutting-edge technology at their fingertips and has been exposed to marketing messages coming at them from all angles. Millennials understand that brands are going to target them, and here’s what marketers should consider when communicating with today’s millennial parents:

Authenticity

Millennials recognize that parenting isn’t perfect; it’s messy, it’s stressful, exhausting, and absolutely extraordinary. Therefore, millennial parents prefer to see marketing messages that are authentic and honest about the portrayal of parenting. According to research from BabyCenter, 66% of millennial moms say it’s important for brands to realistically portray the challenges of parenting. Millennials gravitate towards brands that can offer a unique, tailored experience that can connect and relate to their own parenting experiences.

Community

Community is critical for today’s millennial parents. Millennials will seek parenting advice and product recommendations from multiple sources including, their peers, other parents, and oftentimes, community boards to get immediate, real-time responses. Much like millennial’s preferences for authenticity from marketers, according to BabyCenter, 55% millennials would rather seek advice from other parents and influencers who are open and honest about their parenting mishaps. And according to, Cassandra’s 2016 Modern Parents Report, 4 out of 10 millennial parents feel better about parenting when they hear about other parent’s mishaps.

Shared Experiences

Millennial parents want to publicly share their experiences navigating the journey of parenthood; the challenges, the milestones, and the joyous victories, all through the lens of a digital camera and shared via social media. And it’s not enough for millennial parents to just share their own experiences, millennial parents are more likely to engage with other parents, offering words of encouragement, advice, and make product recommendations to other parents via social media and community boards.

As millennials continue to disrupt the parenthood industry, marketers need to be more receptive to these lifestyle changes and tailor their messaging for multiple platforms, while reflecting authentic and honest experiences millennial parents are challenged with today.

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Trending from G/L: Above the Fold is a Myth

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: Above the Fold is a Myth

Design

‘Above the fold’ is a myth. No really, there’s an entire web page and a bunch of data to back up such a bold statement. But we get it; you want your most valuable information to be front-and-center in case visitors don’t scroll.

Here’s the deal, unlike in the nineties when scrolling was mostly discouraged, today, everyone (even your 2-year-old) is predisposed to the habit. So much so, that one study found that at least 91% of visitors not only scrolled below the “fold,” but also almost always scrolled to the bottom of the page, regardless of visual cues. And according to MOVR, on mobile, half of the users start scrolling within 10 seconds, and 90% within 14 seconds.

The Screen Estate Debate

While there doesn’t appear to be much argument that, indeed, visitors do scroll below the “fold,” there is much debate on how long visitors engage with content above and below the “fold.”

Studies have yielded varying results on where most attention is spent. Chartbeat found that 66% of attention on a normal media page is spent below the fold. Conversely, the Nielsen Norman Group showed that users spend 80% of their time looking above the fold.

Even if we can’t agree on how much attention is spent above or below the “fold,” it’s still important to include attention-grabbing content at the forefront of your homepage. After all, your visitors will make their decision to continue scrolling based on the content at the top of your page.

(Web) Design With a Purpose

Marketers and designers should design their websites with intention and purpose. Below are some design principles that can be applied to keep visitors scrolling.

 

  1. Use relevant content:  Your website is competing for your visitor’s attention, and your visitors won’t stay long if they can’t easily access the content they’re looking for. Keep your content relevant and straight to the point.
  2. Break up your content: Instead of squeezing anything and everything above the “fold,” utilize the scroll to separate content to keep visitors engaged and interested. Humans by nature are scanners, and we tend to scan a new web page picking out individual words or sentences. It’s crucial that designers and marketers break up content utilizing eye-catching sub-heads, visuals, keywords, or lists.
  3. Avoid false bottom: False bottom occurs when your web design misleads visitors into believing there is no additional content below. To avoid this, arrange your content so that your additional content, such as a grid or sub-head, is placed just slightly above the fold. You can also create visual cues, such as an arrow, that prompts the visitor to scroll.
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Federal Railroad Administration Conference

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Federal Railroad Administration Conference

Digital

Last week, Geile/Leon President Tim Leon attended the Federal Railroad Administration’s Grade Crossing Research Needs Workshop held in downtown St. Louis. The workshop focused on issues regarding rail safety, including engineering and technology, enforcement, community outreach and education, hazard management, and human factors. The workshop brought together state, federal, and international experts to prioritize specific research needs related to grade crossing safety.Crossing incidents are the second leading cause of rail-related deaths in the United States, which is why rail safety awareness and education are so important to the safety of our communities. Tim helped brainstorm the expanding role digital media can play in community outreach and education surrounding railroad safety. It was a very productive session attended by thought leaders from all facets of the industry.

Tom Lange, our Union Pacific client, was a guest speaker at the workshop. Tom discussed the innovative methods Union Pacific Railroad has implemented to successfully reach targeted audiences with its rail safety message. One of these initiatives included “Your Life is Worth the Wait”, a fully-integrated digital marketing campaign featuring impactful creative that G/L was thrilled to help Union Pacific create. See some of the work below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1oxp1FsdYM

 

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Trending from G/L: McDonald’s delivers fabled famous Szechuan sauce to Rick and Morty fans

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: McDonald’s delivers fabled famous Szechuan sauce to Rick and Morty fans

General

Free earned media. It’s the crown jewel of the marketing world. And it really doesn’t get much better than the McDonald’s-Rick and Morty-Szechuan-Sauce story that’s unfolded.

Image via Justin Roiland

The SparkNotes summary: Hit TV show with a dedicated following, Rick and Morty, referenced an old sauce that McDonald’s once served years ago as part of a tie-in with the 1998 Disney release of Mulan. Fans then became wildly curious about the sauce that had been discontinued nearly 20 years before, with even some McDonald’s higher-ups chiming in about its fabled existence.

It became a viral joke that had the McDonald’s name attached to it at every corner. And of course, they played along. But, they did it in such a natural way that fans, consumers and the like weren’t turned off by it becoming too much of a marketing grab.

In advance of the premiere of the new season of Rick and Morty, McDonald’s sent Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland a bottle of that now-infamous Szechuan sauce, complete with hilarious description and label that played right along with the show. Justin Roiland’s tweet of the bottle and its packaging has, to date, garnered 141,781 retweets and 339,146 likes!

Image via Justin Roiland

But the pursuit of earned media like this almost never yields such incredible results. So what was the difference? Simple: McDonald’s never overplayed their hand. They just played along. And that’s a very big distinction.

Instead of latching onto the sudden and unexpected conversation around their decades old sauce, McDonald’s did no more than what felt natural. They didn’t milk it for some tired, multi-month campaign. Or try to turn it into a hashtag. Or any of the other marketing gimmicks that consumers now roll their eyes at. They put some effort into creating the packaging and remaking the sauce, and then let the internet do its thing. It’s no coincidence that, while they later released a few more bottles to fans via branded posts, the most viral post wasn’t even theirs. They just sent the bottle to Justin Roiland and trusted that his tweet, free of corporate hashtags and paid promotions, would do the rest. And they were right.

It’s an important lesson in an age where brands haphazardly try to insert themselves into the conversation. Don’t overstep your role as a brand. Just play along.

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Trending from G/L: Facebook gets ready to launch Facebook TV

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending from G/L: Facebook gets ready to launch Facebook TV

Trending Now

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Facebook was back on track for releasing Facebook TV, rumored to release later this month. In other words, the company is about to take on user-generated video content giant, YouTube. Shocking? I think not. What is shocking is how long it’s taken a rival to take on the behemoth. Facebook’s rounded-up their fair share of social dynamite over the past few years, including Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook Live and most recently, taking a page from SnapChat’s ever-engaging, ever-addicting, short-lived video/photo messaging content via Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories.

Image via Variety

So what can we expect from Facebook TV? Ridiculously targeted content and world domination. Not necessarily, but you can count on a mix of scripted and user-generated content, that thankfully (at least for now), will not be featured on your News Feed. Facebook’s impressive 2 billion users can catch fresh content on Facebook’s TV designated page. The company aims to create higher-end content compared to YouTube, but supposedly it’s not competing with video producers such as Netflix, HBO and Showtime…sure you aren’t Facebook, not this month.

Facebook’s newest endeavor comes on the heels of the company’s push toward longer-form entertainment and tackling an over-crowded News Feed filled with advertising, as well as incorporating ads into Facebook Messenger. Facebook is funding a set of original programs intended to give the company a slice of the super-sweet $70 billion television advertising market.

Facebook originally expected the project to be ready about a month ago, but it has taken longer than anticipated and further delays could occur, according to Bloomberg.

Now, this new TV venture does not come without its constraints. There’s a risk that Facebook’s users won’t necessarily spend as much time scrolling through Facebook’s News Feed if they start watching long-lasting videos via Facebook TV. “That’s going to have an impact on impression rate growth,” said CFO David Wehner. “So there is, in that sense, a cannibalistic effect of sort happening there.” Indeed advertisers, how will we survive without our traditional News Feed impressions? Video content advertising via Facebook TV, am I right?

We’ll be staying tuned for updates on the company’s latest project and any advertising opportunities that come with it.

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Full-Funnel Marketing: What CMOs want from their Agency Partners

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Full-Funnel Marketing: What CMOs want from their Agency Partners

G/L Approach

Today, marketers and CMO’s are looking at the digital marketing landscape and heavily investing more and more ad dollars to reach audiences. Expectations are high for getting the results, data, metrics, marketing analytics, traffic, engagement, conversions and ROI, and marketing managers and CMO’s are being held accountable. And we believe as their partner, we should be held to the same standards.

According to a 2017 CMO survey, big organizational capability gaps identified by marketing leaders are highest in customer development and engagement and marketing analytics.

Today’s marketers want a fully integrated approach that takes customers through the buying journey from awareness, to consideration, to engagement, to purchase, to loyalty. That’s what Full-Funnel Marketing is all about.

The Full-Funnel Approach

Full-Funnel Marketing is a holistic approach that not only reaches an audience at the top of the funnel, but continues to follow the customer all the way down the funnel to purchase, engaging and nurturing customers each step of the way. Using the data available, we are able to tailor messages delivered throughout the entire purchase decision.

 

 

At the top of the funnel, our goal is to generate favorable brand awareness and help customers understand your brand’s unique position in the market. Through advertising both in digital and traditional landscapes, as well as social media and public relations, we communicate what makes a product or service unique and why your customers should care.

In the lower end of the funnel, it’s all about educating, influencing and engaging customers with your brand. We nurture customers along the way, by giving them the information and resources they need to make an informed purchase decision, while providing marketers/clients a highly targeted prospect list that are ready to convert and make the purchase of your brand.

Finally, it’s up to us to convert these customers into loyal customers and brand ambassadors through retention, loyalty programs and follow-up communications. These are the customers who will write favorable reviews and become advocates for the brand.

Why is it important?

Consumers are heavily influenced in their purchase decision by online reviews, recommendations, social content, etc. They have access to more information about a product or service at their fingertips during each phase of the purchase decision.

It’s critical that marketers use the Full-Funnel Marketing approach and reach customers through multiple platforms both early on in the buying process, and at each stage thereafter. Investing in brand awareness marketing in the upper funnel will keep your brand in the minds of customers even when they aren’t actively considering a purchase.

In a digital age that sees potential customers researching products and brands long before making first contact, it’s no longer enough for marketers to simply focus on consumer awareness of brands and products available to them. Effective marketing in today’s world follows the right customer with the right messaging from awareness to consideration all the way down to purchase decision and thereafter. That’s the Full-Funnel Marketing approach.

Check out the video below and download a free copy of the Full Funnel Marketing Guide.

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Market Targeting – Hit Your Bullseye

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Market Targeting – Hit Your Bullseye

General

This post is the second in a series on digital marketing for online higher education courses. To read last week’s lesson, ‘A Crash Course in Marketing Your Online Courses,’ click here.

Location Targeting

The key to program awareness is to target your ads in the areas where you have real chances to convert students. As an example, many schools striving to promote online courses find that ads targeting within a 50-mile radius of the school tend to be the “sweet spot” for marketing efficiency. And schools competing for students against well-established programs nearby often find marketing efforts outside of a 25-mile radius ineffective. So every situation is different but there is one constant – find your sweet spot.

Working from the inside out will help you determine this “sweet spot” and will ensure that your ads continuously stay relevant to the people seeing them. This also helps advertising messages to be perceived as more personal and relevant to those seeing them. While online courses allow students to receive an education from home, it is still important for students to feel like the university is their university.

Occupation Targeting

Another important factor in developing your digital marketing strategy is to tailor your messaging towards the professional landscape in the area. One of the likely reasons that a prospective student is interested in online education is the ability to remain close to their home and existing job.

That’s why it’s important to understand the industries and opportunities in the area that you’ve targeted. Where in the country will your online programs find the most interested candidates? For example, if your programs are in technology and research, consider targeting the “The Research Triangle” in North Carolina. Finding pockets around the country where you will find a large concentration of interested candidates will lead to greater success by making your marketing dollars more effective.

Time/Day Targeting

Universities can now target prospective students during the times of day days of week when they know someone is actively searching for programs. Through online browsing data, we know that students who are interested in going back to school are doing so towards the first and last part of the week and during their lunch hour and later at night. Messaging can be specifically tailored to those students who are unhappy in their careers or aspire to rise in their careers.

Interested in increasing the efficiency of your online course marketing efforts?

There are many tips and tricks we’ve learned from helping several major universities succeed with their digital marketing campaigns. If you need better results from your online course advertising campaigns, give us a call. We are happy to share our knowledge. Contact Dan Diveley @ 314-727-5850 and let’s get talking!

Next lesson: Ease your budget tension – focus on student retention

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Ease your budget tension – focus on student retention

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Ease your budget tension – focus on student retention

General

This post is the third in a series on digital marketing for online higher education courses. To read last week’s lesson, ‘Market Targeting – Hit Your Bullseye,’ click here.    

It’s among the most well-known business anecdotes – it costs more to acquire a new customer than to retain an old one. And the same idea can be applied to the recruitment and enrollment of your students. To get the most out of your marketing efforts and the best for your students, focus on enrolling and retaining the right students for what your university offers.

Effective marketing gets the right message, on the right media channel, targeting the right people at the right time. That’s why it’s important to understand the relationship between cost per enrollment and cost per retained student. Effective marketing in the world of online education reaches and resonates with the students in your target area who have the motivation and resources to complete their education in its entirety.

Messaging needs to be urgent to the student and aspirational. With digital, we can test multiple messages to learn which one attracts the most valuable student. We can also shift our focus from high-performing programs at any point to concentrate on programs that need more students.

Digital marketing for universities is efficient, effective and agile as a perfect fit for online and offline courses as well as grad, undergrad and certificate programs.

Need help with inspirational advertising?

Learn more about increasing the efficiency of your online course offerings and how Geile/Leon can help. Give us a call to talk about digital marketing solutions for your institution. Maybe we can run a digital audit for you so you can see how you compare to other schools in your consideration set. Contact Dan Diveley @ 314-727-5850.

 

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