December, 2016

  • Brand Ambassadors: What they do & What are the Benefits

    On: December 14, 2016
    In: Branding, News, Online marketing
    Views: 1295
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    What is a brand ambassador? A brand ambassador is a person who represents the brand by going into the community and increasing brand awareness. They can accomplish this through many different faucets. For instance, they can create events, attend events, create a social media presence, or even use personal experience to spread awareness through word of mouth. Often times around colleges, brand ambassadors are unpaid volunteer positions given to students. If this is not an option, you can easily pay a brand ambassador minimum wage to entice them to help.

    When searching for your perfect brand ambassador it is important to make sure their values align with the brand. In most cases they will have very little supervision when it comes to being out in the community and interacting with potential customers, so you want to make sure what they are saying and how they are acting aligns with your company.

    The Benefits:

    • Inexpensive
    • Creates Positive Word of Mouth
    • Increases Company Awareness
    • Helps Reach Different Geographical Locations
    • Receive Direct Feedback
    • Seen as More Credible

    A brand ambassador can assist in brand awareness and brand image overtime. It also helps to create a direct marketing strategy to better reach your target audience. Remember, you want a brand ambassador to align with your target audience with regards to ethics and personalities.

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  • The Product Lifecycle and Marketing

    On: December 7, 2016
    In: Branding
    Views: 1015
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    The product lifecycle is one of those things you hear about and only think of using when it comes to how long your company will live. Well using this idea with marketing can help you increase the effectiveness of your marketing budget.

    The first stage of the product lifecycle is introduction. This is just like a baby’s first breathes in the world. No one knows about your product or why they need it. The goal of your marketing at this stage should be to give information on the product and explain the usefulness of it. You want people to understand the product especially if it is a new product category. Your main purchasers at this stage will be trendsetters. Trendsetters tend to be the first to try out a product or service and then other consumers follow suit.

    Your next stage is the growth stage. This is a time where you want to increase awareness. You can do this by marketing to a broader audience while still targeting your market. The consumers who are usually next to purchase are mavens and you can utilize them to help market your product.  Now with the internet and icons on social media you are able to use these personalities to help bring awareness and attention to your product.

    The third stage of the lifecycle is the maturity stage. This is the time where people know about your product and may already be using it. This is where you want to have your marketing targeted at reminding consumers. Having a lot of advertisements in different media will help you do this. Another way to remind customers of your product is by launching a new product line. This can not only make your current customer rebuy, but it can help start your product lifecycle over with a new product.

    The last stage is the decline stage. Sadly, this means your company may not last much longer or it may become a novelty product. During this time you should decrease your marketing budget. There is no need to keep marketing a product that has become irrelevant to consumers.

    Overall, you are able to use the product lifecycle stages in order to help you direct your marketing messages. This can help you increase your longevity of your lifecycle while simultaneously increasing your revenues. When to pull out your marketing budget on a product line is a difficult decision and one that most businesses struggle with.

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