Tag: marketing

7 Time-Saving Tips for Managing your Branded Marketing Assets

Posted on by Ed Entecott

Any good brand or marketing manager will tell you how hard it is to effectively manage a brand’s marketing assets. When working with multiple files in multiple formats, it can all be very overwhelming trying to manage all these assets. This is particularly true of organisations that operate across multiple locations with large teams distributed across sites.

On average, a marketer will look for an asset up to 16 times a day and fails to find it 35% of the time. This is  a huge waste of time that could be better spent on business activities that actually make money. So how can you reclaim this time and enjoy more profitable collaborations with your colleagues? With the right brand asset management (BAM) platform, you can effectively and efficiently create, edit and distribute all of your marketing assets, giving you greater control.

#1 – Keep all assets in one, central place

Within large organisations, marketing and design teams can spend countless hours creating assets. From uploading branded assets, to incorporating new assets into the creative, a large proportion of the workday is spent handling them. When working with so many files, it can be difficult to manage all assets because the likeliness is they are stored on personal drives or desktops. This in turn makes it difficult for other people to access them when they are needed, especially when an employee leaves, is off sick or is simply away from their desk.

But if you were to store them in one, central repository – this wouldn’t be the case. You would have instant access to the files, without having to field requests from other people. Perfect for those looking to do their job quickly and effectively! By also having one repository, everyone knows exactly where to look when they need an asset.

#2 – Approve assets as they are uploaded

When you are working with hundreds, or even thousands of assets in various formats, checking and approving all assets can be a time-consuming task that slows down time to market. With a BAM, you can upload pre-approved templates with editable elements so that you can ensure all marketing assets produced are on brand. Everyone that has access to the BAM platform with access rights will be able to produce new assets using only the pre-approved templates; removing the need for a designer to artwork smaller jobs. Elements that shouldn’t be changed can be locked down while other elements can be edited with no design skills necessary.

With less time spent approving assets or waiting for assets to be artworked by a designer, marketers and brand managers can spend more time planning and working on the business activities that are actually going to make money.

#3 – Store files online

A recent study conducted found that 80% of organisations still relied on an email system to share brand assets internally. With marketers constantly looking to improve efficiency, storing files online for many has become an indispensable alternative.

By storing files online, brand managers and marketers can gain instant access to all of their latest assets. Assets can be accessed anytime, anywhere in the world using a single sign-on or through a company’s intranet. And because they’re stored off of your internal IT system, you can rest assured that they’re safe in the cloud. This also means that you can upload files from any location in the world, so important assets are available immediately.

#4 – Keep files clean

When handling very large volumes of assets in numerous formats, it can be very easy to fill up computer files with out-of-date assets. It can also be very easy to keep adding to the pile as new assets are created. This can very quickly result in a cluttered mess on your computer which becomes difficult to navigate.

By keeping files tidy and organising assets into clearly labelled files, you’ll always be able to find what you need. Archiving out-of-date assets is also a worthwhile task as they could be recycled or reused at a later date. Although organising existing files may seem like a laborious task, it will be worth it in the end.

#5 – Backup marketing assets

Misplacing or accidentally deleting assets and files is not only inconvenient, it is also costly to a business. One of the largest costs associated with producing assets is the use of a graphic designer’s time. So, the cost of having to reproduce assets from scratch every time they go missing can quickly add up. Backing up your files will ensure that this isn’t an issue. Saving them on a hard drive as well as on the cloud will have you covered from all angles. Your files will be online as well as stored online – meaning you have access at all times.

#6 – Control who can access what

If you have ever gone into a file to find someone has moved, or even worse deleted an asset, you know how irritating it is. With a brand asset management portal, you can limit who has access to what and restrictions can be set. By controlling who has access to your brand assets you can limit this kind of thing happening. If you can limit this kind of error from occurring, then you don’t need to worry about wasting time locating files that have been relocated, or perhaps even having to recreate the asset from scratch.

#7 – Make sure only the most up-to-date assets are available

When  producing assets, there is likely to be various drafts and versions. If various versions of an asset end up on a shared drive, there is a possibility that the wrong version of the asset is going to be used in marketing communications. Not only is this unprofessional, but it can be damaging to your brand. If you have spent the time to build up your brand, you want to protect it. By ensuring only the most up-to-date assets are available to departments, you can rest assured that no one is going to use the wrong version.

Brand Centurion

Would you like assistance when it comes to managing and controlling your assets?

Brand Centurion by Burst Digital can solve many of the issues surrounding asset management. By providing sales and marketing teams with instant access to the right version, of the right asset, every time, organisations are saving both time and money. A dynamic portal that enables organisations to maintain brand consistency, prevent costly mistakes and order branded print marketing materials

How Can a Marketing Portal Support a Successful Rebrand

Posted on by Ed Entecott

In the New Year, many organisations consider a rebrand or a brand refresh to help elevate their brand for the coming year. Rebranding for many organisations can be a daunting task to undertake but if executed correctly, it can be a rewarding process that delivers significant commercial benefits leading to new business, more revenue and a more motivated workforce.

Whether you are looking to change a significant element such as the logo or brand name, or if you are simply looking to alter your messaging to better communicate a more relevant brand promise, you’re going to need to plan your strategy for success. It takes a lot of time, energy and care to launch a rebrand, but careful planning and finding the right tools for the job can mean the difference between success and failure.

During a rebrand, two of the biggest challenges faced by large, multi-site organisations is updating the existing marketing assets with the new branding and ensuring each team member has access to these updated assets. This can be a very time consuming task but is vital as ultimately an inconsistent brand will struggle to distinguish itself in a competitive market. Whether you are still in the planning stages or if your rebranding is already underway, you’ll need to have a solid strategy to address these challenges.

So how can you be sure that a rebranding runs as smoothly as possible? Well that is where a marketing portal can help. While many marketing portals will offer a platform for you to store, design and distribute your own marketing materials in house, they also come with a wealth of other features that can support a rebrand from start to finish.

So how can a marketing portal support a rebrand?

Central Asset Repository

One of the most important the stages of a rebrand is distributing new marketing assets to the appropriate teams. This can slow down the rollout massively, especially if you have multiple teams in various locations, nationally or internationally. With a marketing portal though, you will have a central repository where you can store all of your latest assets. This enables teams instant access to the newest assets, meaning time to market is decreased and you can then concentrate on the more important business activities.

Keyword Tagging

On average, a marketer will spend up to an hour a day fielding requests for design files and marketing assets. With a marketing portal, finding branded assets has never been easier. This is because all you need to do is tag your assets with keywords so that your staff can find them as easily as possible. Gone are the hours spent trawling for assets- they are right at your fingertips whenever you need them.

Improved Brand Consistency

One of the hardest parts of a rebrand is ensuring that everything stays on brand. Consistency ultimately contributes to brand recognition which is vital in the early stages of a rebrand. Inconsistent branding can be very frustrating but can be very easily eradicated with the implementation of a marketing portal. With a marketing portal, brand managers can decide what assets can be made available to employees and which assets can be edited, which will prevent anyone from making unapproved changes or using the wrong version of an asset.

Online Accessibility

Many marketing portals are hosted online which means all updated assets can be uploaded to the cloud. This gives every team member instant access to the newest assets, wherever they are in the world. This means you don’t need to worry employees not being able to complete projects because they can’t access all the files they need. And because many marketing portals work away from your internal IT systems, you can rest assured that your files are safe in the cloud.

Reduced Errors

One of the biggest headaches related to branding is employees not sticking to brand guidelines. With a marketing portal, this headache can be alleviated as employees will only be able to work from pre-approved templates. Brand elements that shouldn’t be changed can be locked down while others can be edited with no design skills necessary. This means you can trust your employees to design marketing collateral and rest assured that it is on brand. This is further supported by the approval process, so nothing is printed or published without going through the processes you set in place first.

Streamlined Print Process

During a rebrand, the likeliness is you will have to reprint many of the existing print assets such as brochures, flyers and business cards. Starting prints runs however can be a notoriously laborious tasks, especially if you have to find a vendor, get quotes, send design files and await proofs. With a marketing portal with web-to-print capabilities, many of these steps are remove. You will have one vendor to handle all your printed materials, you will be able to get real-time quotes online and because you are using pre-approved templates, you don’t have to wait for them to be approved before starting a print run.

And because the portals are hosted online, print runs can be started at the click of a button. Assets can also be instantly converted into either a web-version or a print-ready PDF, meaning they are already in the right format to be sent to the printers.

CRM Integration

When rebranding, it is important to keep you existing customers in the know.  Most marketing portals will allow you to integrate with your existing CRM system or update existing databases. This will enable you to send out personalised, direct communications to keep them in know about the rebrand. This is especially important is you are changing critical elements such as your brand name or logo.

Brand Centurion

Whether you’re going through a rebrand or simply want some more support with your current brand, Brand Centurion can help.

The intuitive nature of Brand Centurion allows, anyone, anywhere the capability to submit customised print ready artwork whilst maintaining and adhering to strict brand guidelines. Brand Centurion also allows business with multiple locations a portal to access, create, monitor and print their latest marketing assets quickly and efficiently. This includes everything from posters to leaflets, business cards to digital assets.

Unwrapped! Seasonal Branding and Marketing Tips for 2016

Posted on by Ed Entecott

You might think it is too early to start talking about Christmas, but when it comes to seasonal marketing, it is never too early. There are some brands that spend their whole year planning their Christmas marketing campaigns and rightly so! In 2015, the UK spent over £70bn between November and the end of December so for brands looking to cash in, it really is the most wonderful time of the year.

Although consumers are naturally spending more money, we’ve unwrapped our top tips to help you get a head-start on your seasonal branding.

Prepare your Content

Preparation really is key when it comes to running a successful Christmas marketing campaign and developing a clear and precise marketing schedule for the entire holiday season is vital. This is best done several months in advance and the sooner you start the better. You may be running several product offerings or sales throughout the months running up to Christmas so you need to ensure you have all your marketing assets prepared.

The likeliness is you will use a combination of assets to make up your campaign so allowing that extra time to prepare your assets will be crucial for your business. You need to have a clear idea of your messaging throughout the season so identify keep dates in the calendar.

Black Friday (November 25th) and Cyber Monday (November 28th) are “holidays” that have only just been introduced to the UK from America but already a lot of big brands such as John Lewis, Amazon and Currys are cashing in. Running sales on these days can be a great way to increase sales and raise brand awareness. Bear this in mind and make note of these important dates in your content calendar.

Calendarise your Content

We all know how tough it is to buy gifts for everyone on your list and for many; Christmas involves a last minute dash to buy those last few bits. Help alleviate this annual tradition by starting your campaign early and encouraging consumers to start their Christmas shopping with you. Promote your best sellers early on in the season and make your marketing message loud and clear.

Remember, customers will typically have five interactions with your brand before they make a final purchase decision. The earlier you start your campaign, the more likely your consumers are going to have those five interactions.  People might scoff when they see Christmas campaigns in late-October but starting the hype early will inevitably work in your favour. The key here is to market little and often to avoid annoying consumers. Depending on your area of business, you could also consider sharing extra seasonal inspiration.

For those people that are last minute panic buying though, why not offer some last minute gift ideas? Once again, promote some of your best sellers but also the ones that won’t break the bank. This is a perfect way to snatch up those last minute sales.

Manage your List and Target your Audience

One of the best ways to engage with you audience is with personalised content. Sending personalised message will increase the chances of them shopping with you over the festive season. Remember, consumers will be looking for the best possible deal but engaging with them on a personal level might just be the tipping point to help you win the sale.

If you have a CRM database, make the most of it with personalised mailers. If you also have data on your consumers buying habits, use this data to re-engage them by sending them offers on products you think they might like. Tracking customers online can also allow you to re-engage with them by sending emails to remind them about the products they might have left in their online basket.

Alternatively, why not reward your regular customers, it is Christmas after all! Send them a promotional voucher or maybe even a small gift. Not only will it bring you extra business, it will also remind your customers why they shop with you. It will also get your customers talking to their friends and family about you, potentially bringing you in even more sales.

Revisit your Branding for the Holiday Season

Whether you have a physical store or an online store, give your store, website and social media channels a slight rebrand. This will inevitably strengthen your brand’s overall position in the consumer’s mind. We’re not saying you need to overhaul your whole website or store as this isn’t cost effective, but there are a few small things you can do to add some festive cheer with the addition of web banners, in-store promotional materials or social-media posts.  After all, nothing gets people in the Christmas mood like the proper decorations and ambience.

Depending on the size of your brand, you may want to produce a new style guide to ensure your colours; fonts and other design elements are on point and this will help with the overall design of your marketing assets and ensure brand consistency across all consumer touch points. Having consistency across all touchpoints will help your consumers distinguish your marketing message from your competitors and consistency makes your recognisable!

So there you have it, a few things to consider help you win those all important holiday sales.

 Brand Centurion

Brand Centurion web-to-print and asset management tool really is the gift that just keeps giving. Store, create and distribute all your seasonal print and digital marketing assets with one, powerful, easy-to-use portal.

We also offer a wide range of print services and seasonal promotional materials to ensure your business is Christmas ready.

For a demo of Brand Centurion or to find out more about our print services, call today on 01293 660722.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital on 10/10/2016

5 Trends that Should Shape your 2017 Marketing Budget

Posted on by Ed Entecott

We’d all like a crystal ball to help us plan next year’s marketing budget so that we could spend more time engaging with our audience and less time planning. How nice would it be to know exactly which emerging technologies and trends are going to have the biggest impact on your bottom line? Or knowing exactly which digital channels your prospective customers will be using?

Unfortunately we can’t predict the future but that doesn’t mean we can’t draw upon some comprehensive research to help us make some informed predictions as to which way things are heading. The way in which the marketing industry drives forward is immense so here are our top five predicted digital marketing trends that should be shaping your 2017 marketing budget.

Video – Live Streaming

In the last year we have seen video skyrocket. Each social network now seems to offer its own video platform but live streaming is still relatively new. The first release of tools like Periscope and Meerkat only came about in early 2015. Facebook very quickly jumped on the bandwagon though and more recently, YouTube has introduced live streaming capabilities.

Live video streams can be used for marketing in various ways. They can build awareness, drive conversion and boost engagement. Very often this will be dependent on using the right social platform for your content though. By supplementing your current social strategy with live video, and hyping the build up to your content, you have a real opportunity to reach the masses. In fact, it is believe that in 2017, 74% of all internet traffic will be to video.

Despite the enormous growth of the apps there are still very few brands that have adopted video. Live content is now getting preference over all other content though. Its rate of user adoption and participation is driving the urgency to include this in marketing strategies. With live video being the best way to bring the full power of personal sales to social media, there is a real opportunity for ROI.

You can only do this though by adding value to your customers, so don’t just go straight in with a sales pitch. Give your customers an insight into the personality of your business. Stream company events, make live announcements, conduct interviews or even run a live video blog. Although it is safe to say that live video is here for the long haul, now is the time to determine how to best use it to build awareness and expand reach.

BoohooMAN recently worked with social media marketing agency Social Chain to deliver the most engaged live video ever. Customers were invited to engage with a live stunt on Facebook that saw air being pumped into a giant water balloon every time someone commented ‘pump’. The last person to comment pump when the balloon burst won a £250 gift voucher. This stunt received on 2 million impressions, 930,000 engagements and over 4,000 comments a minute! By creating content that they knew their target audience would react to, boohooMAN was the most talked about brand on Cyber Monday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Cross-Device Retargeting

Consumers are much harder to reach these days, especially as they switch back and forth between all their different devices. DMA’s Statistical Fact Book reports that the average consumer is now connected through five addressable devices. This in turn means five opportunities to get your brand in front of them. Today’s shopper uses a laptop, a tablet and a smartphone and consumers will bounce back-and-forth between device before making that final purchase decision.

As these consumers move across devices, marketers must engage with them in personalised, meaningful ways. By tagging consumers at their first touch point with your brand and tracking their behaviour across devices, marketers are able to target them with display advertising that is appropriate for the device. This unified view of a customer helps deliver a consistent and engaging message across devices ensuring your brand is always at the forefront of their mind. So rather than sending one message to what appears to be three different consumers, you can reach one consumer three times with a consistent, relevant message.

Google recently announced that advertisers will soon be able to reach users across devices with Google remarketing campaigns. This is a significant development as this isn’t something Google previously supported. This means marketers can now monitor how frequently users see their ads across devices enabling them to seamlessly to deliver a cross-device marketing campaign.

Personalised Content

There is so much content on the web that it can be very difficult for brands to break through the noise. This can also make it difficult for brands to differentiate from other brands, especially if they are offering the same product or service and targeting a wide audience. If you’re producing content to appeal to everyone, it’s not going to be as valuable as content that is targeted. Treating customers and prospects as one homogenous group fails to maximise the potential of your messaging.

Consumers now expect more from brands and as such, are looking for you to add value to their lives, not disrupt it. In exchange, brands get their custom, loyalty and brand advocacy. We can only achieve this though by providing content that our customers actually want to read. If brands have a better understanding of the person they are targeting, they will have a better understanding of the information their customer might be seeking.

It is also vital to consider how your prospects and customers are consuming your content. With mobile traffic now outstripping desktop traffic, the importance of delivering content on the right device, in the right format and at the right time is vital to its success. For example, first thing in the morning on the commute, content should be mobile friendly and easily digestible. However in the evening, when content is more likely to be read on a tablet, it can be longer-form and more in-depth.

For brands to add real value to consumers though, they need to shift their focus towards narrower niches, personalised content and more targeted channels. Although this will undoubtedly generate lower volume, the quality of engagement will be much higher and the content is more likely to resonate.

Optimise for Mobile First

Smartphones have now overtaken laptops as UK Internet user’s number one device. On average, we are spending almost two hours online on our smartphones every day. There has been an emphasis on optimising for mobile traffic for a few years and now it is clear that mobile first should be the mantra for the rest of the year and beyond.

Having a mobile-friendly website or app is just the beginning.  For the first time Google has started widening their first page search results to include mobile apps and they have recently released their “Mobilegeddon” algorithm. This will essentially phase out sites that have not been optimised for mobile access from showing in search results. This is very bad news for companies who have not yet optimised their website as their Google rankings will drop moving them further down the search page. Google has also introduced Mobile Accelerated Pages which delivers a lighter version of a web page that will load ultra-fast on mobile.

Desktop traffic is slowly beginning to fade away, and in order to increase the competitive edge of your company, mobile-focused online marketing is key. As it currently stands, one in seven Brits own wearable technology and the trend is set to continue.  This means marketers need to be prepared to produce content to fit the format, the channel, and the place.

Social Analytics

It may feel like social media has been around for a lifetime but it’s certainly still in its infancy. Although most companies have adopted one or two social media platforms, many of them are still not collecting data. Social media gives businesses an unprecedented opportunity for connecting with customers and prospects but 88% of marketers aren’t sure of the best way to engage their audience on social media which is potentially driving away consumers. With the move to mobile though and more brands relying on social platforms, analytics will offer the greatest opportunities.

The mass-target approach is out, and personalised data-driven marketing plans are in. Social media is competitive and it is crowded so it is essential to test and track results. By making greater use of social analytics, brands are able to drill down and gain valuable insight. There are certain nuggets of valuable data buried within the mountains of social media chatter. Organisations that are looking for a competitive edge can use social analytics to identify patterns in customer sentiment which in turn enables them to gauge their marketing effectiveness. This process goes beyond the usual monitoring of “likes” or retweets to develop an in-depth idea of who their social consumer is and this information is invaluable.

Using social analytics, brands are able to understand how their customers are making use of their services or products and what their views and opinions are about that particular company or product. There are countless blogs, tweets, comments and complaints regarding products and services and social media platforms are now the No.1 place for consumers to complain. This huge volume of information can be used to evaluate consumer’s experience which can then be used to help companies perform better.

Tracking data is also essential in helping brands get better results. If brands aren’t tracking their data, they are wasting their time on hit or miss type campaigns. Social media analytics is often the difference between success and failure for obtaining the results brands want.

So there you have it, five growing trends to watch out for this coming year and to consider adopting in your 2017 marketing strategy.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital, 12/09/2016

Web-to-Print: The Must-Have for Multi-site Marketers

Posted on by Ed Entecott

You may have considered implementing an asset management tool on a number of occasions but not quite got round to it. You always seem find an excuse as to why now is not the right time – i.e. you don’t have the staff to implement the software, you don’t have the budget or maybe you already use Dropbox or other cloud storage tools so you don’t need an asset management tool. With their wealth of benefits though you are potentially missing out on an tool that for many successful marketing departments are indispensable.

There are basic asset management tools will essentially act as centralised repository in which business can efficiently store, organise, access and distribute a large number of marketing assets. Whilst they offer similar benefits to cloud storage, there are a number of asset management tools that can deliver so much more.

When producing large volumes of print marketing content on a regular basis and delivering it to different audiences across different stores,  adopting an asset management tool with web-to-print capabilities offers an array of added benefits.

Brand Uniformity

Your brand is your strongest asset as it represents your company identity and your corporate values so it is vital that this is maintained across all your business locations. Your brand needs to communicate the same message across all channels because a lack of uniformity can weaken your brand. Within large, multi-site organisations, there will be more than one person responsible for branding and if tight controls aren’t in place, branding mistakes will be made. A web-to-print solution improves consistency across all marketing as design elements can be locked down meaning they can’t be changed. This allows you to have tighter control over your marketing assets.

Increased Efficiency

Ordering printed marketing material can be a laborious task. If you have to call multiple vendors, request quotes, design and send files, wait for proofs, make corrections, and wait for your products to arrive all slow down the time to market. This is valuable time that could be spent on more important tasks. A web-to-print solution can eliminate many of these tasks and help avoid costly mistakes. Costs are negotiated ahead of time, approved templates are uploaded onto a web based dashboard so you have instant access, and only agreed elements can be edited prior to printing. The order process can take a matter of minutes – instead of days.

Centralised Purchasing

If you have numerous people ordering printed stationery from numerous vendors, costs can very quickly spiral out of control. It can also become difficult to track what you are spending. With an effective web-to-print solution, you can manage budgets by seeing exactly who is ordering what before approving the order. By using a single vendor, you have tighter controls over your budgets.

Personalised Marketing

A massive 79% of people will act on direct mail if they feel like it is personal to them. Unfortunately though, many marketers are missing opportunities by concentrating their personalised marketing efforts online. With some web-to-print solutions, you can integrate and manage your CRM data to enable personalised marketing.  This means artwork can be pre-populated with personalised information so your direct mail piece makes a greater impact.

Digital Repository

As well as storing print marketing assets, many web-to-print solutions can also be used as a store for digital assets including Facebook banners, email signatures, videos, PDF’s or photography. This makes it incredibly easy to share approved digital assets. This ensures that your teams are using the right version of the right asset ensuring overall brand consistency. And because web-to-print software works away from your internal IT software, you can rest assured that your files are safe.

Cost Saving

One of the biggest costs relating to the production of marketing assets is the use of a graphic designer. From the original designs, to re-edits – the cost can quickly accumulate. Even for the simple task of re-working of business cards can be a huge expense if you have to produce multiple versions for different people. With a web-to-print solution, you can upload pre-approved templates that allow you to customise only the agreed elements. This could include elements such as the name field, telephone number and email address of a business card. With simple drag-and-drop, this removes the need for a designer to artwork these jobs. This means your designers time can be better spent on the more important tasks.

Web Based

As mentioned, web-to-print software works away from your internal IT software. This means there is no software to download and it be accessed 24/7 on any device, anywhere in the world. This also removes the hassle of phone calls and emails to get a print run started – you can do it all from the portal.

Brand Centurion

If web-to-print sounds like something that your organisation could benefit from, Brand Centurion from Burst Digital could be the right solution for you. We can work with you to ensure your branded marketing assets are consistent, accessible and centrally stored so you can access them as soon as you need them.

If you’d like more information about Brand Centurion or a demo, simply call 01293 660722.

Continue Reading: 5 Signs you Need Web-To-Print Software

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 08/08/2016

Direct Marketing Facts & Statistics, CMO Council, 2015

https://www.cmocouncil.org/facts-stats-categories.php?view=all&category=direct-marketing

Packaging Innovations: The Future is Digital

Posted on by Ed Entecott

The potential of digital print is constantly broadening, and its benefits for packaging are only just being realised. In terms of customer engagement, personalisation, and re-usability, digital print has opened up a whole new world of opportunity. As the print quality has improved, the advantages of digital print have become clearer. In 2016, we will see more digitally printed packaging on retail shelves than ever before.

With millennials now considered the most influential generations, the behaviour of brands is changing. Packaging is consistently identified as one of the major influences on everyday purchase decisions and with generations engrossed with anything visual, packaging design characteristically outweighs the practical attributes of a product.

The challenge that is faced by brand owners now is how to leverage digital print to drive profit from innovative marketing campaigns. With customers desire to connect with brands on all levels, brands have to work harder to get their market share by offering consumers a truly special experience with their product.

Personalised Packaging

Personalisation is the latest buzzword and has become a novel way to reach out to the masses. We have seen this from big brands such as Coca-Cola, Nutella and Marmite who have utilised digital print technology to personalise their bottles and jars.

In 2013, Coca-Cola started their infamous ‘Share-A-Coke’ campaign. The campaign saw them print 100,000 of the most popular names on the Coke bottle labels all over the world. This delivered a 6.8% increase in their global Facebook community and their values sales have increased 4.93% year on year since the campaign started.

Personalised packaging has proven popular amongst brand owners. It can give brands more direct contact with customers and strengthens the relationship that they are trying to build. Digital print has enable personalisation on a scale that wouldn’t be possible using the more traditional printing methods.

Interactive Packaging

Packaging has always been interactive. The look, the colour and the shape are just a few elements that subconsciously impact our perception of a brand. As mentioned, the design of the packaging for many is more important than the actual product attributes itself. With this in mind, digital print has allowed brands to explore interactivity with use of electroluminescent inks and conductive inks.

Packaging Oculto Light Up Beer BottleOculto, a lager blended with beer aged on tequila barrel staves recently unveiled two new interactive packaging innovations. These included a first-of-its kind illuminated bottle design that featured smart label technology. The smart label was created using electronic pathways, paper batteries and LED lights that were activated with a pressure switch. The switch was placed where the thumb naturally falls while holding a beer bottle, and once pressed; the LED light began to shine. This technology was a clear demonstration of how packaging and marketing can give customers a full sensory experience.

Brand owners aren’t just concerned with marketing gimmicks though; they are much more concerned with the practicalities interactive packaging can offer. Packaging for prescriptions could soon connect to your phone to give you a reminder when you need to take your next dose. Researchers are also working on an early-warning system that enables packaging to sense changes in the condition of the packaged food. Smart labelling and colour changes would be used to transmit those changes informing the consumer their products are no longer fresh. This development in intelligent packaging could dramatically reduce food waste.

Multi-Use Packaging

Packaging McDonlad's VR Headset

As a nation we have become more conscientious about our waste and the UK now has the fastest growing rates of recycling in the UK. With that in mind, brands are working to transform packaging from otherwise useless receptacles into useful items. Last year saw Ogilvy and Mather Tokyo turn Pizza Hut’s cardboard box into a working film projector. Powered by the user’s smartphone, the box contained a small lens which was inserted into a perforated hole in the side. When the user’s smartphone was placed in the box, the screen was displayed onto the wall.

Brands are also striving to make new technology accessible to all through their packaging. When Google released Cardboard, its paper-and-velcro VR headset, the guys over at McDonald’s Sweden noticed an opportunity. In March of this year, McDonald’s began selling a limited number of Happy Meals in special boxes. With a little construction, these could be transformed into VR headsets. By tearing eyes and nose holes and inserting lenses, kids got free a VR headset. Customers who bought one were then also given an access link to download the Happy Goggles VR game, an animated skiing-race game called ‘Watch Out on the Slopes’. Investing in this new and exciting technology has proven a smart way at making consumers feel involved with a brand.

Retail continues to change at a dramatic pace and the demand for personalised and engaging experiences call for new approaches to packaging. With end users making the move to digital, print is now the major player in bridging the gap between physical products and the digital world.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 27/06/2016

Burst Digital

We are constantly pushing the boundaries with print. We also house some of the latest digital print technology that will allow you to produce dynamic and personalised marketing print assets that will open up channels to your customers and products.

 

 

How to Utilise Your Strongest Asset: Brand Consistency

Posted on by Ed Entecott

Whether you like it or not, every business has a brand and it has the potential to be one of the strongest assets you own. Your brand represents everything your business does and is the impression people have about your brand. For that reason alone, it is vital to nurture your brand and make it a priority. Your brand should convey what you do, what you stand for and what makes you unique. This collection of interlinked attributes essentially give your business its identity.

Branding Blog

Now caring for a brand is often easier said than done. I’m afraid to say it but there is a lot to consider and a lot of work required. Putting your logo on all your marketing materials or using the right pantone is a step in the right direction but it simply doesn’t cover it – building a good brand takes time. Strong, consistent branding reinforces your identity and creates a positive sentiment. This can only be done though by aligning the look, feel and tone of voice throughout your brand messages.

But why is it so important?

Consumers trust brands that they recognise and can get to know of a more personal level. We all know that making a purchase is more of an emotional decision than it is a practical one. John Lewis is one of the UK’s favourite household brands and it is all down to their strong brand identity. The brand resonates and this has allowed customers to connect with the brand. As a result, this has implanted a real sense of loyalty and trust for the brand.

We buy the same brands because we know what to expect, feel at ease purchasing and know we like the product. This same concept can be carried across all our marketing channels to ensure there is a seamless look and feel on all our customer touchpoints. Consumers will feel more comfortable with your brand and are more inclined to become a lifelong customer.

‘Just Do It’ is one of the simplest, most recognisable slogans of all time and is a line that Nike has used for the past 15 years. Compare this with major competitor Reebok though who has changed their slogan 14 times since 1988. Nike’s strong branding has enabled differentiation against the competition as it has allowed people to identify Nike’s products and services at a glance. And it seems Nike’s consistency has paid off as it is now the global market leader in the sports shoe market. Consistency goes far beyond a slogan or a logo though.

Consistency Equals Dependency

Whilst a CMO may have the final say on what marketing content is released, it is at that point that they lose all control. With the array of social media platforms, review sites and blogging sites, customers can constantly talk to each other and share their opinions (both positive and negative) about your brand. People love telling others about the brands they like and this can very easily sway another person’s opinion. Strong brands create followers who are not shy about sharing their stories and these endorsements are extremely important in building a brand’s trust factor.

Coca-Cola is an outstanding example of how brand consistency increase company value,

Without brand consistency, you lose the ability to cut through all this noise and position your brand positively in the consumers’ minds. Consistency across all your marketing channels and customer touch points is essential as brand inconsistency immediately leads to poor brand experiences.

Consistent branding doesn’t mean that all your communications should look exactly the same, far from it in fact. But it does mean you should strive for cohesion by sticking to a set of visual standards that can be developed through your brand guidelines. Keeping your visual identity consistent will help effectively distinguish and give your brand recognition. As a result it creates the ‘desirability’ factor for existing and potential new customers, supporters and stakeholders.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 09/05/2016

Burst Digital

We can help control your brand consistency through a dynamic asset management portal. Brand Centurion allows business with multiple locations a portal to access, create, monitor and print their latest marketing assets quickly and efficiently. This includes everything from posters to leaflets, business cards to digital assets. Brand Centurion can maintain your brand consistency; prevent costly mistakes, save money in reduced design and artwork time and enable you to order your branded print marketing materials instantly.


Ready to up your marketing game? Talk to us today!



Why Personalised Marketing is Critical to your ROI

Posted on by Ed Entecott

When it comes to marketing, a massive 94% of businesses will tell you that personalisation is vital to their strategy. However, only 72% of marketers know how to successfully implement a personalised marketing strategy.
Personalised Direct Mail

In the age of the connected consumer, most marketers focus their personalisation efforts online due to the relative ease associated with it. However, opportunities are being missed by excluding offline personalisation in delivering a multi channel marketing campaign. With the variety of communication and social platforms available, brands have to work harder in getting their message across. Although online personalisation is a cheaper and time saving option, it doesn’t have the same impact as offline marketing.

The importance of personalisation comes from the customers need to be shown that you understand their preferences and their lifestyle. Brands need to be able to talk about individual products and services that may be of interest. When customers like what you have to offer, they are more likely to keep your company on their radars. Relevant and personalised communications across multiple channels can deliver a 20-30% increase in ROI!

How to Add Offline Personalisation into your Multichannel Marketing Campaign

One of the key factors affecting the success of personalisation is the  used to understand your customers behaviours and habits. The more detailed information you hold on your customers, the easier it is to personalise your marketing materials. Collecting data on demographics, preferences, past behaviours and real-time behaviours all help build up a well-rounded picture of the customer as an individual.

Customer data can be gathered through social media profiling tools, customer service interactions, internet searches and transactional data to name but a few. It’s not sufficient enough just having the data though; it’s what you do with it that will impact the success of a campaign. Whether you are sending out personalised marketing by name, location, past transactions, interests or a combination of these, it’s vital to ensure the data you have is correct and up-to-date. There is nothing more frustrating for the customer than receiving personalised marketing with the wrong information. Ensuring your customer data is clean and correct will instil confidence in the customer. It also increases the chances of them responding to your marketing efforts.

The Digital Print Revolution

With the introduction of digital print technologies, the production of relevant and responsive direct mail has now been made easier. The process has become flexible enough that it allows businesses to customise anything from a single line of text to an entirely different piece for each customer or prospect. In a recent survey from the Royal Mail, it was established that it is now 25% less expensive to implement a digitally printed communications than it was 5 years ago.

Personalised campaigns can be rolled out across a number of channels, giving you the opportunity to speak to your customers through their preferred channel. Customers increasingly expect to have a personalised experience when they engage with a brand. The is no secret formula to success with personalised marketing but having a clear understanding of your audience is a great starting point.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 25/04/2016

At Burst Digital we believe that combining print media with smart technology creates better campaigns. We house some of the latest digital printing technology that will allow you to produce dynamic, personalised direct mail that will open up channels to your customers and prospects. In short, it can mean more conversions, more enquiries and more sales.
Ready to up your marketing game? Talk to us today!

Data from Smart Focus, “Why True Personalization is Critical to your Business”, 2016
http://www.smartfocus.com/en/system/files/smartfocus_ebook_-_true_personalization.pdf



Direct Mail: A Vital Tool in Your Marketing Strategy

Posted on by Ed Entecott

Personalised direct mailIn this digital marketing revolution, there has been a rapid change in marketing and communication planning. There are now many marketers who will dismiss direct mail and accuse it of being obsolete. The fact is though mail is still thriving! With the introduction of modern technologies, the way mail can be used has transformed and direct mail no longer has to be considered as just a piece of “junk mail”.

With the availability of refined personalisation techniques and carefully targeted data, a highly creative DM piece should play a vital role in any integrated campaign. You may be surprised to hear it but many people actually miss receiving personally addressed mailings. Customers like to feel that they’re engaging in conversations directly with a brand and this can be done through DM.

A well-crafted piece of personalised mail is hard to ignore and can be a direct entry-point into the consumer’s consciousness. As a result, it can create a pivotal moment in the customer journey. According to the Royal Mail, over 92% of all personalised mail in the UK is opened. Furthermore, a DM piece is essentially delivered directly to the customers’ hands so they’re virtually guaranteed to see your message.

This fact shouldn’t be taken advantage of though. Time still needs to be spent ensuring that a personalised message is relevant to the individual. The more relevant the DM, the more likely it is a consumer will engage and respond. On average, 79% of people will act on a DM if they feel like it is personal and of value to them. However, only 45% of people said they would act on an email, so are you really willing to miss out on potentially reaching that other 34%?

We are not saying that DM is the “silver bullet” and should be sent out as a standalone, but incorporating DM into your overall marketing strategy can act as a pull-through to get your customers talking to you. In conclusion, hitting them with a well thought out DM campaign could be the first step to breaking down walls for closer communication with your potential customers.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 11/04/2016

Burst Digital

We believe that combining print media with smart technology creates better campaigns. Using DM to compliment your campaign will allow you to open up channels to prospects and nurture them into a customer. In short, it can mean more conversions, more enquiries, and more sales. Using our digital printing capabilities, we can create those high-impact pieces that will stand out on the mat.

Ready to up your marketing game? Talk to us today!

Data from Royal Mail, ‘It’s All about Mail and Email’, 2016:
http://www.royalmail.com/corporate/marketing/insights/mail-and-email