Differentiating the overall service and media that one can provide to a brand is one of the most powerful messages a company can invoke to generate confidence to the buyer.
Brand awareness campaigns are not guaranteed to yield what one could consider as a success. Just because success metrics may be perceived as loose or flexible, the fact is that results will not yield a high return if the planning and or strategy is not at an excellent standard.
The best way to win the battle with providing a service is to focus on brand differentiation and this starts with the fundamentals of graphic design intermixed with digital. This approach wins it big for 3 fundamentals:
- Contextuality: The ability to segment your brand with the corresponding interests and or publishers will avoid falling into the trap of low engagement. Instead of going in a broad cross section of say a dozen or so audiences, it can be beneficial to focus on a specific genre in which the competition as overlooked. Consequently, there will be more leeway to scale for visibility and more people will recall brand.
- Recall: When one is viewing pre roll, story ads and or native placements for that matter, it can become tiresome when all the ads seem to blend in grey. Making your campaign as memorable as possible with imagery that sticks with consumers is essential.
- Bidding: Depending how aggressive you want to go; impressions can be ultimately won by bidding and it’s important to bid accordingly – this cannot be relied upon however and it’s important to know benchmarks inside out to remain competitive.
One of the lingering questions would be the specifics on how to execute on these fundamentals and here are some top-level steps:
Campaign optimization. You may be able to tap into exclusive direct publisher deals whereby competitors within your vertical are not present.
Incentives. Don’t be afraid to integrate incentives within your messaging that give way to competitions where your users are directly engaging with your brand.
Design. While following brand guidelines, you can still rearrange branding colours in a way that can change one’s perception of the brand. Small nuances that make a difference.
Audience development. While complimentary to optimization interests’ groups can be interconnected and could really narrow down an audience that is in love with your brand.
It is no secret that many agencies and networks are intertwined making it more and more difficult for brands to differentiate services, media and packages to boot. A suggestion that brand marketers can consider when making a decision on which partners, they would like to work with is to assess the overall offering and whether it not only compliments but differentiates the current strategy in a way that makes sense.
Place close attention to media plans and value-added impressions that can give you an upper hand on reach. Also, the creative component that may go hand in hand with your internal efforts will be worth considering especially when A/B tests can prove the worth of comparison.
Many companies are struggling with owning design internally for example and would benefit widely from leaning on their current or new partners for support. You can never underestimate the small fish in the ocean, it is likely they can make a difference if it looks like the overall presentation, bidding, targeting and planning are correct.
At todoMobile we strive on working exclusively with brands that are interested in distinguishing themselves from their competition. Our services and products are flexible in a way where a simple test can be launched hassle free. Feel free to get in touch for your new campaign at [email protected]
