It’s important to clarify, however, that by the machinery I’m referring to, I’m not necessarily talking about large budgets. Regardless of the company’s size and its financial goals, having a strategy that defines how you’re going to let the world know your product or service exists is fundamental.
To help companies in this task of making their offerings known, their strategy needs to include marketing campaigns that, through creativity, highlighting the product’s value and why people should have it, make potential customers aware of their existence and eventually lead to a sale.
“The secret of effectiveness”
How do companies achieve such high sales through ads in magazines, online portals, social media, radio and television spots, and the many other advertising channels that have emerged in recent years? It’s not that difficult to find out; just look at the success stories.
This week you could read on Soy.Marketing about the famous Effies, the awards organized by the AVE (Alliance for the Strategic Value of Brands) which aim to lead, inspire and defend the practice of effective marketing.
Based on these awards, the market research agency Kantar conducted a study called “The Secret of Effectiveness,” an analysis of campaigns that have been worthy of an Effie, whether in Mexico or in other Latin American countries.
It’s important to emphasize here that we’re not just talking about creative or highly artistic marketing campaigns, but rather those that have proven to be winning strategies for the business, as evidenced by the numbers. In that sense, Kantar acknowledges in its study that there are no magic formulas, but rather a series of patterns that we can observe among the winning campaigns of recent years.
What are the success factors identified in the study?
A common factor in all of them is that they are based on good intentions, seek to reinforce positive behaviors, break a stereotype, be more inclusive or express a position that speaks beyond the product.
Another point to highlight is that one of the factors that achieves the greatest impact on audiences is leading the consumer to live a brand experience that leaves a pleasant memory and ultimately leads people to recommend it.
Emotional communication, again
In campaigns focused on connectivity, experience, and emerging trends, highly emotional communication is clearly key. In this regard, Kantar identifies four levers that tap into emotions and make brands and their campaigns effective:
1. Be relevant: Align with the deepest needs, that is, the emotional ones.
2. Being different: A quality applied to the creativity, image and functionality of the product or service; it fulfills an unmet consumer need, usually relying more on emotion than on the function itself.
3. To be outstanding: To put the human being and their reality at the center.
4. Be clear: This is fundamental for a message to be easily perceived, and if it is done from an emotional perspective, it will be more effective because it will quickly appeal to the brain.
Following these four levers that drive marketing can be the start of a winning strategy that not only helps launch or refresh your brand, but also meets your company’s numerical expectations.
Ultimately, a dose of empathy can be your best ally in showcasing a brand with emotions that engage not only the minds and hearts of your consumers, but also their loyalty and, of course, their wallets.
Challenge of the week: Comment on social media if you think there’s a factor that’s relevant to building a successful campaign that hasn’t appeared on this list.
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by Roberto Báez
source: soy.marketing
