Author: Pamela Swift

Categories
Branding

How Luxury Brands Are Using Digital To Create Self-Reflective Campaigns

As consumption of advertising changes, so do people’s attitudes to content and the brands that produce it. People are less likely to swallow the fantasies that brands once marketed themselves with. Today transparency and authenticity have never been more appealing.

Self-reflective marketing is when a brand drops the pretention and promises to create campaigns and content that actually represent reality. The brands who do it well tend to do so with humour and a grain of salt.

Laughing at the expensive

New platforms like social media are flourishing, with luxury brands using them to showcase themselves. Meanwhile, your digital agency , advertising and  are getting some adventurous briefs. Whether they’re selling window cleaner or mountain bikes, being funny is something every brand and their dog are trying to cash in on. Not everyone get it’s right. But it’s safe to say that making yourself the butt of your own joke has a decent success rate.

Luxury brands known for regurgitating ridiculous clichés are finally starting to change their tactics. They’re taking themselves a little less seriously and looking to have fun with their audience. By rethinking their approach to themselves, luxury brands are getting meta in their marketing and using a digital frame to do so.

Punching up

For a long time now, luxury brand advertisements have been parodied by others to make a point. In 2006, Australian Lamb (known for their often controversial sense of humour) aired their “Lâmb: The Fragrance for Women” spot. In time for Mother’s Day, the ad poked fun of the perfume industry’s over-the-top self-aggrandisement.

More recently and in similar fashion, Hyundai went beyond perfume to take jabs at luxury brands more broadly. Using the tagline, “Feel the Feeling” Hyundai launched their N Class high performance model with a series of bizarre ads. One spot features a bathing man being sonically transformed into a horse through N brand headphones, whilst another presents the idea of an N cologne with the scent “L’eau de Burnt Rubber”. Hyundai dubbed the positioning as “ironic premium”.

Turning the tables

Interestingly, it seems that ironic premium has been appropriated by the very people the label makes fun of. Rather than calling on brand development services  to rebrand and try to change consumer perceptions, luxury brands are embracing stereotypes with humour and self-awareness. Meanwhile they’re using the digital space to get their message to a modern audience that not only appreciates a laugh, but wants to get it digitally.

High-fashion brands like Gucci and Balenciaga have been particularly successful at doing this. Last year, Balenciaga presented a series of images featuring their latest range in paparazzi-style situations. They filled their Instagram with celebrities covering their faces with branded bags, walking evasively in glamorous outfits. In this way, Balenciaga made light of their brand perception through self-deprecation. It makes us long for the accessories, not the life it might take to own one.

By contrast, there’s another luxury brand who turned the digital angle on its head using witty self-awareness. Rather than claiming to offer the latest and greatest, high-end hotel brand Kimpton did the exact opposite. Taking shots at futuristic technology like AI, they present the fact that they’re fully human operated as what sets them apart. They call it “The Kimpton O.S.” and the result is hilarious. Because why would you ask Siri for help when you can ask a real person?

These are just a few examples of how the digital realm has been used by luxury brands to create self-reflective campaigns. But they prove just how effective the move can be. As technology, rules and trends change, expect to see more manifestations of this entertaining line of thinking.

Author Bio:

Henry Richards is the senior copywriter and content specialist at brand design agency Sydney, uberbrand. With fluid style and witty turns of phrase, he demonstrated an intuitive understanding of the power of language which helps him nail TOV in copywriting. Written words are his second love, after Jasmine from Aladdin.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Strategies for Millennial Marketing

Millennials are currently the largest generation within the U.S. labor force with a purchasing power up to $200 billion per year. Your business’s success is dependent on marketing to them. Understanding their buying behavior is the first step in this process, so we’re going to go into some of the strategies for millennial marketing.

Influencers

Influencers have the power to be engaging through their content even if it’s promotional. With word-of-mouth weighing heavily on millennial purchasing decisions, an influencer program is definitely something to look into. Aside from generating sales, they also build brand awareness which will grow your social following.

Two-Way Conversation

Millennials are selective with the brands they trust. This means you should be actively trying to build a relationship with them. Utilize social media to increase brand awareness and also to respond to customer’s questions and concerns. By communicating with them through social media, you’re giving them an opportunity to instill confidence and trust within your company. It may also be a good idea to conduct customer interviews, it’s a great way for your business to gain insight on what they’re looking for.

Video Content

Give millennials a digital experience by creating video content. There is 80 percent of millennials that use videos to conduct research so it’s important to have it readily available. It can quickly grab their attention when scrolling through their social feeds and is easy to share among social platforms. You can even be creative about it and give users a digital experience by posting it on a landing webpage, similar to Audi’s.

Transparency

Millennials will do all the necessary research before making a purchase. They are also quick to fact-check what you claim your products to be. Ensure that your marketing efforts don’t include exaggerated ads of any sort and you’re completely transparent about your products and services. If they’re not, it can cause a negative wave of word-of-mouth.

Social Responsibility

If you’re a brand that tries to support causes and gives back to the community, millennials want to see that. They’re looking for companies that are making an impact on the world around them.  If you can effectively communicate exactly what your purpose is, you’ll make an emotional connection with them.

Optimize for Mobile

Most millennials are going to be viewing your content through a mobile device. You want to ensure that your content is mobile friendly. Your landing pages and emails should be optimized and image loading time should be quick. Creating vertical images and videos can also create a better experience for the user.

After having a strong grasp on millennial shopping behavior, start implementing some of these new strategies. Track your analytics to see what’s working and pay attention to those demographics. Once you’ve established your credibility to them, you’ll gain their loyalty.

Byline

This guest post was written by Katherine White. She writes articles for businesses that want to explore different marketing strategies. Currently, she is a contributor for 365 Business Tips and a digital marketing expert.

Categories
Human Resource

SME Growth Plateaued? Try This One Approach To People Management That Will Spur Your Business Forward

When you’re running a business of any size, but in particular a small or medium firm, you can reach something of a plateau or impasse within the first 3-5 years.

Sales are good, they’ve grown and revenues are stable. You’ve increased your number of staff accordingly and a small profit is starting to trickle in on a monthly basis.

But without major investment in the recruitment of more staff or developing new operating systems or product ranges, you know it’s going to be difficult to hit that next level – without mass investment.

This is a critical period in a businesses development where decisions made will either make the company or break it.

Another impasse that business owners may come across is the motivation levels of their staff, especially those that have been there from the start. It takes a special level of candidate to work in and help drive a start-up forward – someone who’s passionate to the cause and company mission. Someone who sees the potential for personal growth and achieving career goals by working hard, often staying late, striving to over-deliver and ultimately, sharing your own passion as leader in the business.

But what happens after that initial 3-5 years of rapid growth and wearing all the hats at once? Motivation can start to fade away. That ‘challenger’ mentally can wear off.

So whilst gaining extra investment would be one option to move your business beyond the current plateaux that many start-ups experience once they’re established, there is another option.

Re-engaging those team members that have been with you from the start and motivating them to become even more productive will help create that extra working capacity to deliver more projects and improve profit margins as a result.

And that alternative is called social employee recognition.

What is social employee recognition?

Social employee recognition is a people management strategy that focuses on recognising individuals and teams for their performance and achievements.

Whilst many SMEs will be aware of traditional employee recognition strategies, which often revolve around the giving of rewards for top performers, social recognition goes deeper and taps into what employees really want in their job – to feel appreciated and that their efforts are recognised.

There has been plenty of wide-ranging studies that highlight how employees value this level of recognition over the majority of other job factors, including bonuses and other monetary schemes, especially amongst younger workforces.

And a recent report by Gartner uncovered how employee engagement comes out top in terms of positive business impact when it comes to people management, above policy compliance and performance incentives.

But just how would running a social employee recognition program boost your business and help beat that SME plateau?

It’s all a question of engagement.

Increased employee engagement = better business outcomes

Employee engagement is the desired end result of any staff perks or recognition strategy. It’s the long-term business benefit that drives employee performance and supports exceptional work.

It’s the first step to creating real work passion within staff, from the top of the managerial pyramid right down to the core workforce.

More engaged staff are highly motivated, they inspire other team members and they’re highly driven. They have more company loyalty too which will have long-term benefits for your recruitment costs.

And engagement has been shown to help support staff who are prone to feeling stress, meaning less employee burnout and long-term absences.

But with all business advice articles, the proof really is in the pudding. So, here are some stats to showcase exactly why creating a highly engaged workforce through a program of social recognition will benefit your business:

  1. Engaged employees are nearly three times less likely to be searching for new employment (Gallup)
  2. Companies with high levels of employee engagement outperform those with low levels of engagement by over 200% (Business2Community)
  3. Businesses with highly engaged workers have a 6% higher net profit margin (SHRM)
  4. Disengaged employees cost businesses around $500bn each year (The Engagement Institute)
  5. Staff engagement strategies can boost profitability per employee by $2,400 a year (Workplace Research Foundation)

And one you might not expect…

  1. Businesses with highly engaged employees can see 26% greater annual revenue and over 230% higher customer loyalty (Aberdeen)

Conclusion

Moving your business forward doesn’t just rely on how much investment you can get in. Ensuring employees are well recognised, appreciated and as such fully engaged will help deliver positive benefits across your business and could be one of the missing links your company needs to make the next step forward.

About the author 

Sinead Healy is the Founder and Managing Director of Fanclub Recognition – a company that helps businesses boost their employee engagement through recognition tools, training, communications and insight.

Categories
Finance & Capital

VAT Strategies for Small Businesses in the UK

If it is true that the only two things in life you can depend on are death and taxes, there is one more we can add for small business owners in the UK: VAT. UK consumers pay VAT on just about everything they purchase. As such, VAT is a normal part of doing business here.

The good news is that VAT doesn’t have to be all consuming. There are ways to address it and still maintain your business sanity. There are certain strategies you can pursue as you maintain compliance and keep your cash flow positive at the same time. Actually, it really boils down to the three key strategies explained below.

1. Choose Standard or Flat Rate

The first strategy is to figure out whether standard VAT or flat rate is better for your business. Let’s start by establishing the fact that there is a certain threshold that establishes whether or not a business is required to register for VAT. That threshold currently sits at £85,000.

Next, companies register for VAT under one of two scenarios. The first is a scenario in which the company acknowledges its revenue generated from non-exempt goods and services over the last 12 months has eclipsed the threshold. The second scenario dictates that, although sales have not yet reached the threshold, they probably will within the next 30 days.

That leads us to the question of which scheme to register for. The key difference between the two is how a company deals with its own VAT purchases:

  • Standard VAT – Under the standard scheme, businesses charge their customers VAT on all non-exempt purchases according to established rates. Then turn around and pay that money to HMRC. They can also reclaim some of the VAT they have paid as a result of operating their businesses.
  • Flat Rate – Under the flat rate scheme, companies pay a fixed rate of VAT determined by the type of business they are involved in. They cannot reclaim VAT on their own purchases except under special circumstances governing capital assets worth more than £2,000.

The primary advantage of flat rate VAT is that the business pays less to HMRC with every tax return. Furthermore, the business gets to keep the difference between what it collects and what it pays. This makes flat rate a better deal for small businesses that do not expect to pay a lot of VAT themselves.

2. Separate VAT Money from General Receipts

This second strategy is one that far too many businesses fail to practice. It is a strategy that dictates all VAT monies be separated from general receipts. In other words, the extra money charged to cover VAT should not be considered revenue. Look at it as tax money you have been given temporary stewardship over. Put it away in a separate account so that it is there when the tax bill comes due.

The highest VAT rate in the UK is 20%. That means for every £1.00 in purchases of qualifying goods or services, the merchant actually collects £1.20. The smart business owner puts £1 in with general receipts and the other £0.20 in a separate account. This strategy guarantees that the money to pay VAT taxes is always available when needed.

If something does go wrong and the money is not there for whatever reason, the business owner should at least think about taking out a Loan To Pay Tax Bill obligations. A VAT loan can be had as a short-term loan with very reasonable rates. Loan charges are offset by the savings in tax penalties.

3. Don’t Wait to Register

Finally, business owners should not wait to register for VAT if they have any expectation of actually having to pay it anyway. You may run a company with annual qualifying revenues of just £60,000. You have not registered for VAT as of yet because you are not required to by law. That’s fine. But because you are not registered, you also cannot reclaim any of your own VAT costs.

Being able to reclaim VAT reduces a company’s overall operating expenses. As such, it increases cash flow, which is critical for small businesses trying to grow. This suggests that if growth is part of your long-term strategy, you will eventually be paying VAT one way or another.

Registering now will allow you to reclaim some of the VAT you pay in pursuit of that growth. Assuming you are investing quite a bit in your company’s future, you might also be paying quite a bit of VAT. Doesn’t it make sense to register now and get some of that money back?

Of course, registering for VAT means your prices will automatically go up. And yes, that may cost you some business. It is not likely to harm your company in the long run, though. UK consumers are so used to paying VAT that it will probably not faze them.

VAT is a fact of life for UK business owners. Hopefully the three strategies you read about here will help you address VAT in such a way that you control it rather than it controlling you. That is the way it should be.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Best Promotional Events For Businesses: 4 Marketing Ideas

A significant proportion of marketing advice for small businesses focuses on digital marketing – using your blog, targeted advertising, or social media – and this approach makes it seem as though digital advertising is the only kind that matters. In doing so, this advice overlooks the power of in-person contact and any exciting and affordable ways to reach your community. Build deeper connections with these classic strategies, standbys from a brick-and-mortar era, that never stopped working.

Join Your Chamber Of Commerce

Your local Chamber of Commerce may seem like a minor organization, especially if you’ve been in business for a few years, but joining forces with your area branch can yield a number of benefits. In particular, the Chamber of Commerce tends to promote new members and can increase the visibility of area businesses through their events, social media activity, and community outreach events. Your Chamber of Commerce also offers valuable networking opportunities, which can create connections and foster cross-promotion with other local businesses.

Try A Trade Show

If you’ve considered attending a trade show in the past but declined, now is the time to try something new, even if you only go to a small or niche show. Trade shows offer you an opportunity to meet others in the field, a kind of real-life LinkedIn, and practice your professional pitch in a place where pitching is expected. Furthermore, you don’t need much to go to a local show: invest in a branded tent, print some fliers, and set up shop. Types of marketing require a big investment, but your first trade show doesn’t need to be.

Create Community Ties

Working with your local Chamber of Commerce isn’t the only way to create ties with your community; in fact, some of the most tried and true options are to sponsor a local sports team or make a float for an area parade. By doing so, you have an opportunity to foster goodwill among a wide range of people and give something back to those who support you. The fact is, even if you don’t have a real interest in being in the local Memorial Day Parade, many people will turn out and see your willingness to participate as a sign that you’re an active member of the community – and that could be the first step towards a sale.

Sponsor Something Special

In addition to sponsoring local sports teams and other extracurricular events, consider planning a business event for other professionals in your community, such as a speaker series or networking event, or bring other businesses together to host a job fair. Don’t aim for anything too big, just something that will increase your opportunity for exposure and enhance your local connections. Despite the shift to online-first marketing, people still prefer to do business with local companies so how you engage with your local community matters.

Even if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar location in your town or make many sales in person, face-to-face marketing opportunities are vital to your success – so don’t overlook them. Whether or not you make a valuable connection that day, those events could be the start of word of mouth promotion and support that will take your business to the next level.