Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Social Media As A Tool


Social Media Platforms that help you Network:


Blab: It allows you to broadcast your content to your followers and, better still, allows you to invite them into the video conversation. This two-way dialogue is what makes blab a game changer in the industry. Strengths: The two-way capabilities make blab stand out in a crowded field. Weaknesses: It has a small (but growing) user base.

Facebook: Strengths: Widely-adopted by large segments of the population. Weaknesses: Will the younger generation stay on Facebook once Grandma has “friended” them?

Google+: The clean, simple interface makes connecting with friends, family and business associates a piece of cake. Google+ was the fastest-growing social network in history and looks as though it’s here for the foreseeable future. Strengths: Ease-of-use and uncluttered environment. Weaknesses: Competition from other well-established social media platforms.

Friendster: A way to stay connected with everything that’s important to you — hobbies, interests, causes, business, etc. Strengths: A simple web-interface makes this easy-to-use. Weaknesses: Not as widely adopted as some other platform-runs. Might have peaked.

hi5: This is a social networking platform that skews a little younger than LinkedIn. Members can play games, watch videos, flirt, give gifts or just hang out. Strengths: It’s a great alternative to MySpace and/or Facebook for the younger crowd. Weaknesses: It may not be the best social networking platform for business.

LinkedIn: They’ve been around since 2003, which, in social media terms is also known as “since the beginning of time.” Strengths: Everybody’s on LinkedIn. Weaknesses: Most people have trouble knowing what to do with LinkedIn after they upload their business information.

Meerkat: This live streaming social media platform is perfect for people who want to share videos of the special moments in their lives. Perfect for business, social networking, or for close friends, this mobile-only social network is growing quickly and rapidly.

MyLife: A clean, simple site that helps people connect with family, friends and other relationships. Over 750 million profiles. Strengths: The easy-to-use interface is one of the site’s great strengths. Perfect if you’re looking for an engaging, simple way to connect with old friends. Weaknesses: Not as widely adopted as some other sites.

Ning: This site connects groups of people who are passionate about particular interests, topics or hobbies. Co-Founded by Marc Andreessen, who helped launch Netscape. Strengths: Great for connecting with others who are interested in your area of expertise. Weaknesses: The user interface is so simple and uncluttered that getting started can be confusing. But once you’ve figured it out, it can be a good tool.

Periscope: Like its close relative Meerkat, this new video sharing platform is taking the world by storm. Are you interested in using live video to share parts of your life with the world around you? If so, then Periscope is for you.

Plaxo: Currently hosts address books for more than 40 million people. Helps people stay in touch with “Pulse,” which is a dashboard that lets you see what the people you know are sharing all over the web. Strengths: Graphical user interface makes it easy-to-use. Weaknesses: It’s not as widely-adopted as some other platforms such as LinkedIn.

Twitter: A surprisingly-successful tool that is widely-adopted and used for everything from business to fun and games. Strengths: Used by large segments of the population. Weaknesses: Can be a distraction, especially if you have Attention Deficit Disor … wow, look at that bird outside my window!

XING: XING has more than 8 million subscribers worldwide. It has over 34,000 specialized groups and over 150,000 live networking events each year. Strengths: XING adds new developments to their platform on a regular basis. Weaknesses: Not as widely-adopted as some other platforms such as LinkedIn.

Social Media Platforms that help you Promote:


Bing: Bing, Google and Yahoo aren’t technically social media platforms, but they are tools that can be used to promote your product or service, so we’re including all three in this overview. The technique for using any search engine to promote your product or service is the same so you’ll want to optimize your website so that the search engines see it. By doing so, you’ll drive traffic to your website from the people doing searches on specific topics. Strengths: Bing uses “intelligent search” to make searches even more relevant for the user. Weaknesses: It’s fighting against Google, which is a tough battle.

Blogging Platforms: These are tools that are used to create blogs. Some of them, like Blogger, Tumblr, Vox or Xanga are straightforward platforms that are great for people who want to do a simple blog about their vacation, their company or their family reunion. If you’re ready to create a more robust blog that adds a lot of SEO value for your website, you’ll want to useJoomla, Drupal, Typepad or WordPress. These are the blogging platforms used by serious bloggers.

Discussion Boards and Forums: Are you interested in creating an online forum where members of your community can engage with each other and offer each other advice? Then a discussion board or forum is for you. The best-known platforms for forums include Lefora, Zoho, Drupal, PhpBB,Simple Machines, Vanila, JavaBB and vBulletin. Strengths: Forums are a great way to build a relationship with customers and prospects. Weaknesses: They require regular, ongoing time and energy to keep them running properly.

Google: Google is technically not a social media platform, but can be used as a social tool to drive visits to your well-optimized website. Strengths: Ease-of-use and pervasiveness. Weaknesses: Are they spreading their brand across too many channels? Does this confuse people? (Answer: Probably not, but we’re struggling to come up with any weakness for Google. They’re just so darn nice, it’s hard to figure out what they’re not good at. They’re even good at not being evil, you know?)

Email Marketing Platforms: Email can often get overlooked in the world of social media, but if you define social media as tools that help you have a dialogue with your customers and prospects, then email falls into the social media category. Popular email marketing tools include AWeber (affiliate link), Constant Contact, iContact, ExactTarget and others. Strengths: Email is a highly measurable way to connect with customers and prospects. Weaknesses: Email marketing requires a concerted, ongoing effort if you’re going to do it right.

Flickr: This is a photo-sharing site that can be used to build awareness and drive traffic to your product pages. If you’re selling hunting rifles or tennis rackets or widgets, you’ll want to use Flickr to a) build awareness for your product and b) drive people from Flickr to your website. Strengths: Flickr is easy-to-use and has a clean user-interface. Weaknesses: Photo-sharing sites are important, but they’re not the very first thing you’ll want to work on in your social media campaign.

Howcast: Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a website where you could watch “How To” videos on the topic of your choice? Well, there is and it’s called Howcast. It’s an extremely worthy-competitor to YouTube. Strengths: A great place to upload high-quality content. Weaknesses: The default is still YouTube. Most people are conditioned to automatically type “YouTube” into their browser.

iTunes: This is not the only podcasting site, but it’s the best-known and most popular. If you’re doing interviews with industry experts or if you’re creating mini-radio shows, iTunes is the place to be. Strengths: It’s a well-known, well-respected platform. Weaknesses: If you don’t create scintillating content, people won’t come back for more.

MySpace: MySpace. They arguably started this whole social media thing to begin with. Today, MySpace is primarily used as a congregation point for younger people interested in pop culture. They’re evolving and seem to be finding a niche. Strengths: A well-known social media platform that most everybody has visited at one time or another. Weaknesses: They’re not the ubiquitous social media platform they once were.

Picasa: This is a photo organizing, editing and sharing site that’s owned by Google. You can tag photos to enable quick searches by users. Strengths: As with most Google services, Picasa is easy-to-use and loads very quickly. Weaknesses: Photo sharing is important, but it’s not the very first thing you’d want to work on in your social media campaign.

Vimeo: Think of Vimeo as a high-end YouTube. It’s perfect for people interested in sharing their videos with a community of positive, encouraging creative professionals. Strengths: You gotta love a site that oozes upbeat, optimistic, life-affirming energy that Vimeo does. Weaknesses: It’s not a default site the way YouTube is, but that may change in the near future.

Yahoo: Like Google and Bing, this is not technically a social media platform. But it is a tool that ultimately can drive traffic to your website. Be sure to optimize your website so that search engines like Yahoo can see it. Strengths: Yahoo is one of the work horses of the search engine world, so it’s always a good idea to keep it on your radar screen. Weaknesses: Is Yahoo a search engine? An online portal? A web magazine? Perhaps it’s all of these things. And perhaps that’s not a weakness after all.

YouTube: Of course, YouTube is one of the better-known platforms used to promote businesses. The key to YouTube is to keep the videos short and sweet. Make sure they solve the “what’s in it for me” equation. YouTube is perfect for “How To” videos, but it’s not a good place to upload the CEOs annual speech to shareholders. Strengths: YouTube is ubiquitous. Weaknesses: It’s a cluttered environment that can sometimes have some pretty racy videos on it.

Social Media Platforms that help you Share:


Buffer: This social media management tool allows you to schedule Tweets and Facebook updates quickly and easily from your web browser. It’s perfect for people not interested in using TweetDeck or HootSuite. Just sign up, install on your browser and the next time you’re at a web page you want to share, hit the Buffer button and schedule it for sometime in the future. Strengths: An easy way to schedule updates on Twitter and Facebook. Weaknesses: Other platforms offer the same functionality.

Delicious: This is a social bookmarking service owned by Yahoo. When someone tags your article, video or blog post with a Delicious bookmark, it’s the equivalent of a “vote.” The more votes you get, the more visibility your content has on the Delicious website. Strengths: It’s everywhere. Weaknesses: You have to have a lot of traffic and a lot of votes to show up on the radar screen.

Digg: Similar to Delicious in that people vote for articles, videos and blog posts they like. If your content receives enough Diggs, it’s promoted to the front page for millions of visitors to see. Strengths: Like Delicious, Digg is everywhere. Weaknesses: You have to have a lot of traffic and a lot of votes to show up on the radar screen.

HootSuite: This is a tool that allows you to manage multiple social media channels through one dashboard. If you have a company with more than one contributor to your social media program, HootSuite is a good solution. Strengths: A very easy-to-use interface. Simple set-up, yet still powerful. Weaknesses: If your social media program is no more extensive than updating a Twitter account, then HootSuite would be over-kill.

Instagram: A surprisingly fun photography app that’s sweeping the globe. Install Instagram on your smartphone and, next time you take a photo, use it to enhance, stylize and share the photo with others in your network. Strengths: A fun, easy-to-use app. Weaknesses: Other apps provide a similar experience.

LocalVox: This is a social media dashboard that’s similar to HootSuite and TweetDeck. It’s perfect for people who are interested in drilling down a little deeper than either HootSuite or TweetDeck allow you to do. You wouldn’t want to use LocalVox in addition to the others, but instead of. If you need a more in-depth experience, LocalVox may be just what you need.

Path: A location-based social sharing app that allows you to share photos, memories, music, thoughts and other moments with friends in your social media circle. Strengths: A fun way to share your life journey with friends. Weaknesses: Heavy competition from intrenched competitors like Facebook, Google+ and others.

Pinterest: We live in a visual world and Pinterest leverages that. Tired of reading long blog posts (like this one) but still enjoy skimming through images that are worth 1,000 words? If so, then Pinterest is for you. Just visit the site, sign up and start sharing images by re-pinning them to your profile. Strengths: A visually-appealing way to share information with followers. Weaknesses: Competition from a wide variety of other social media platforms.

Quora: This is the perfect place to go if you’re interested in asking a question that requires an expert answer. Just type in a question you have about any topic and Quora will provide answers from other users. Quora is frequented by smart, well-educated users, so the answers tend to be very helpful and well-thought-out. Strengths: A simple, easy-to-use platform. Weaknesses: A simple Google search can sometimes offer the same quality of answers.

Reddit: Similar to Digg and Delicious. Reddit is a source for what’s new and popular on the web. Users can vote articles up or down on the site, so readers can check out the hot, trending topics from blogs, newspapers and other sources around the globe. Strengths: Like Digg and Delicious, Reddit is everywhere. Weaknesses: You have to have a lot of traffic and a lot of votes to show up on the radar screen.

Scribd: This is the largest social publishing and reading site in the world. You simply upload your speech, ebook or PowerPoint presentation to the site so that others can be awed by your wisdom and expertise. Strengths: A great way to potentially get your content in front of thousands of readers. Weaknesses: There are a lot of other people competing for the same eyeballs.

SlideShare: One of the better-known places to upload your content for sharing with others. Take your PowerPoint, your ebook, your Podcast or just about any other content and share it with the SlideShare community. Strengths: Like Scribd, SlideShare is a great way to get in front of a large number of visitors. Weaknesses: There are a lot of other people competing for the same eyeballs.

StumbleUpon: Very similar to Digg, Delicious and Reddit. When you rate a website that you like using StumbleUpon, it’s automatically shared with like-minded people. And it helps you find great sites your friends recommend. Strengths: StumbleUpon helps spread your content to people not regularly exposed to your products and/or services. Weaknesses: Competes with several other well-established tools, like Digg, Delicious and Reddit.

TweetDeck: Like HootSuite, TweetDeck provides a way to track many of your social media channels on one dashboard. It can be a time-saver and a productivity-enhancer, assuming you’re not easily distracted. Strengths: It’s very easy to set-up and get started. Weaknesses: Like all dashboard tools, it can lead to distractions for employees who are easily … Whoa! Is that a fly on the ceiling or just a speck of dust?

Wikipedia: It still amazes us that this user-generated encyclopedia is run by just a few dozen employees (along with hundreds of thousands of contributors around the globe). It’s a great tool for legitimate entries. Don’t try to game the system by adding overly-promotional posts. But if your entry will be helpful to the Wikipedia community at large, have at it. Strengths: It’s a great tool for uploading legitimate, helpful content about your product, service or company. Weaknesses: If your target market is over the age of 40, they might struggle with Wikipedia’s miniscule type.

Yelp: This platform offers user-generated reviews on cool places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play. Yelp has an augmented reality Smart Phone application that makes using it on the run a blast. Strengths: User-generated reviews are a great way for customers and prospects to find out about your business. Weaknesses: Some people try to game the system with faux reviews, but Yelp does a pretty good job of keeping those faux reviews at bay.

Platforms that are exploding in 2016: (60secondmarketer)


Wanelo. Wanelo is a type of social shopping app, and if you’re curious about its name, it’s derived from the words “want, need, love.” Wanelo, once downloaded in app form, allows you to peruse millions of different products offered by major brands, online retailers, and even independent artists and producers like those on Etsy. You can also create wishlists, establish connections, and find out what your friends are interested in. This app could rival Pinterest because of its strong visual components and similar demographics, but is better poised for online shoppers because of its convenient wishlist and product management tools. Expect it to be eyed by Pinterest or see it take off on its own.

2. SlideShare. SlideShare has a decent user base already, but it has a long way to go before it stands among the leaders in the social media world. Through SlideShare, professionals can create slideshow presentations and videos—almost like YouTube, but with a much more professional appeal. Users who appreciate LinkedIn for its professional nature and targeted formatting will appreciate how SlideShare positions itself for its users—and the practicality of the app is useful in almost any business application. Expect to see SlideShare integrated with LinkedIn in multiple ways, or expect to see it used by a greater percentage of active professionals.

3. Shots. Shots’s greatest advantage is also one of its greatest weaknesses; it’s simple. It’s designed almost exclusively for “selfies,” utilizing only the front-facing camera of a phone. Users can connect with each other and send pictures, or scroll down a feed of others’ photos. Commenting on those photos is disabled, but users can chat with each other. In this way, Shots functions like Snapchat, but it’s less concerned with individual privacy and more concerned with connecting users to one another. So far, Shots functions like a weaker hybrid of Snapchat and Instagram, but with the addition of a few new features, it could easily see its audience explode.


4. Ello. Ello is an all-purpose social media network, almost like Facebook or Tumblr, which similarly allows you to forge new connections, share written updates, photos, videos, or any other content that you feel like sharing. The key difference is that Ellostands against advertising, with a full manifesto criticizing other social platforms for being “owned” by advertisers. Ello claims it will never have forced advertising on its platform, nor will it ever sell your information to third parties. Expect Ello to help spark a new trend in anti-advertising in certain circles—though it will probably never replace the ubiquity of Facebook, even with its advertising and privacy concerns.

5. Hyper. Hyper combines a few different social media ideas, but stands on its own as a unique platform. Like Instagram, its primary function is to allow users to post and share photos with one another. Like Reddit, it features an upvote/downvote system that increases the visibility of more popular posts. It also features geographic tags that allow users to discover new things happening in their vicinity. Currently, Hyper is only on iOS and doesn’t have much of a user base, but its unique position and functionality could cause it to grow exponentially by 2016.

6. Bebo. Bebo isn’t technically new. It was one of the original founding social media stars, alongside Facebook and the much less fortunate MySpace. Like with MySpace, Bebo quickly burned out once everyone decided that Facebook was the be-all end-all social platform of choice. However, Bebo has recently relaunched as a completely new app. Now, users can create individual avatars and use custom illustrations and hashtags to communicate with each other. It’s a new form of communication that doesn’t rely on photos like so many new apps today.

Measuring the effectiveness of Social Media Platforms:

1. Google Analytics

Google has a comprehensive analytics service that helps track user activity on your website in real-time. Within a matter of minutes, you can have Google Analytics set up to tell you, among other things, the number of daily visits to your site, the demographics of your users, how they got to your site, how long they stay, and which of your pieces of content are most—and least—popular. Once you’re set up, the real trick will be keeping yourself from spending too much time cutting and re-cutting your graphs. (forbes.com)

2. Klout
The Klout Score measures influence, which Klout defines as “your ability to drive action on social networks,” and, increasingly, in the real world. Specifically, it tells you how many people you influence, how much you influence them, and the influence of your network across your social media platforms. Once you’re signed-up, Klout will let you see a map of your social media activity over the past 90 days, enabling you to cross-reference the exact moments your score increased (under their algorithm, at least) with the content you posted or ways you engaged at that time. (forbes.com)

3. Wildfire’s Social Media Monitor
Wildfire is a social media marketing company that was recently acquired by Google. While the majority of its tools require payment, Wildfire does offer a free social media monitor that can help you understand your Twitter and Facebook presence versus that of your competitors. Wildfire’s tool will let you easily compare the number of likes, check-ins, and followers each page boasts. (forbes.com)

4. My Top Tweet by TwitSprout
Want an easy way to know which of your tweets got the most retweets? Check out My Top Tweet, which ranks your top 10 most-shared tweets and the number of times they were retweeted. Not only is this helpful for your own brand, but it allows you to educate yourself on what works well for other brands—including for your competitors. (forbes.com)



Check Engagement of Fans:

While the number of fans can be a measure of your marketing success, a more accurate measure would be how much your fans are interacting with your page/profile – number of likes, shares, re-tweets and pokes can be an indication of how effective your campaign is.

Check Traffic To Your Website:

The primary aim of any social medial marketing campaign is to send traffic to your website. So check your statistics (through Google Analytics) to see how much of your traffic is coming from social platforms, and is there any increase since the time you’ve intensified your social campaigns.

Check Conversions:

Getting traffic is great, but what if they’re useless to you? The next thing to do is to check if your visitors are taking the desired action. I say desired action because the aim of the marketing campaign may not always be to make a sale. It could also be to make them download an e-book, participate in a contest, or even subscribe to a newsletter. Whatever the aim may be, you’ll need to check that it is being achieved.

Choosing the Right Platform:
There are many things that contribute to the success of any social media marketing campaign, but the most important one is the choice of the platform. Every social media platform has its own features and attracts a certain kind of audience, so if you want to succeed you need to know what suits your business the best.

So how do you make sure that you choose right? Here are a few factors you should consider:

Know Your Audience:

The demographics of your audience plays an important role in choosing the platform. For instance, take a look at the chart below:

The survey takes into consideration the 5 most popular social platforms to show you the demographics of its users. As you can see, in terms of gender, Pinterest is more popular with women while LinkedIn is more popular with men (I have ignored Facebook numbers here as it’s high for all criteria due to sheer high volume of users). Likewise you can do a study of all the criteria, and then decide which platform fits the demographics of your target customer the best.

Know Your Content:

When you’re on social media, you promote your business through content. So the type of content you create will determine the platform you choose. For instance:
Images: If most of your content comprises of images, then image-sharing platforms like Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr are ideal for you.
Videos: If creating awesome videos is your specialty, then you should go for video networks like YouTube, Vimeo and Vine.
Posts: If you’re looking at writing engaging posts for your target audience, you should go for Facebook, Twitter or just plain blogging.

Know What You Want:

Do you want to improve SEO? Do you want more people to walk into your store? Do you want to target smaller niches instead of the social giants mentioned above? Do want to make connections with other businesses? Knowing what you want will decide what social platform fits best.

For instance, if you want *SEO (search Engine Optimization), then its Google+; if you want walk-ins then you’ll have to join location-based networks like Yelp and FourSquare; if you want smaller niches, then the perfect place to start is Reddit; and lastly,LinkedIn will help you make those vital business connections.

*SEO:

SEO is a marketing discipline focused on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results. SEO encompasses both the technical and creative elements required to improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines. There are many aspects to SEO, from the words on your page to the way other sites link to you on the web. Sometimes SEO is simply a matter of making sure your site is structured in a way that search engines understand.

SEO isn't just about building search engine-friendly websites. It's about making your site better for people too.

The Top 5 Social Media Platforms:

Still not too sure? To help you out, here are the top 5 social media platforms and when you should choose them:

Facebook:

Facebook is huge, and this gives you exposure to a much wider audience than any other platform. It is a great platform for sharing interesting posts, pictures and videos that will help the audience connect and engage with your brand better. If that’s what you’re looking for, then go for it.

But there are 2 things that you should keep in mind: First, Facebook is mainly used to connect with friends and family, so it may not (always) be the right place for an out and out promotion campaign. And second, it’s sheer size exposes you to a lot of competition – the newsfeed is perpetually crowded and your message may get lost in all that noise.

Twitter:
Twitter serves to the younger crowd (often referred to as information junkies), and comprises of both men and women. It’s best for those

businesses that want to reach out to their audience through announcements, queries and news.

Apart from the character limit (140 characters per tweet), Twitter can be a challenge to those brands that are not equipped to promptly respond to the statements and queries of it’s fans. Twitter is more “in the moment” hang out place so you need to be on your toes.

LinkedIn:
Like I mentioned above, LinkedIn is great for building connections. In addition, you can also establish yourself as an authority in your niche by participating in groups and discussions and giving out expert advice.

Since LinkedIn is not very visual (as compared to the others), it suits best for businesses that offer services rather than products.

YouTube:
If you can create interesting videos that will engage the audience, then you can opt for YouTube. The best part about this channel is that it also has it’s own video-editing software so that you can edit your videos without any hassle.

The biggest drawback here is severe competition. Every day, millions of videos are getting posted on YouTube, out of which at least a few thousands will be similar to what you’re going to publish. So it becomes a difficult job to promote it in a way that it goes viral.

Pinterest:
Pinterest works great for those businesses that can showcase themselves through visuals. So if you have a lot of visuals, or are creative enough to create interesting visuals, you can sign up with Pinterest.

However, one thing to keep in mind here is that the platform mainly caters to women and categories like food and DIY are the most popular.

Conclusion:

For best results, it is recommended that you promote your business on at least 3-4 social platforms. This ensures that you reach out to a wider audience.

However, do not take on what you can’t handle. Social media marketing is a rigorous process wherein you need to post regular updates and monitor your profiles regularly so that you can respond to comments and queries in a timely manner. So it makes no sense if you sign up for 10 accounts, but fail to keep up with the maintenance of all the 10 profiles. Take on less, and give it your best shot. That way, you’re more likely to succeed.

Sources:

URL: www.60secondmarketer.com

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/08/22/4-ways-to-measure-your-social-media-success/#6723fe14310b




Thursday, March 10, 2016

Marketing Communication Plan

Communication plan

Definition: Communication planning is the art and science of reaching target audiences using marketing communication channels such as advertising, public relations, experiences or direct mail for example. It is concerned with deciding who to target, when, with what message and how. (Wikipedia)



Characteristics of a good communication plan:

  • Participative
  • Dynamic
  • Flexible
  • Audience driven
  • Combines the best of PR and marketing
  • Contains a mix of strategy and tactics
  • Achievable


Design a communication plan


  • Start with identifying the vision and objectives
  • Make use of research tools (Brainstorming sessions, SWOT analysis, Audience discovery interviews, focus groups)
  • Design the framework of the firm's message (positioning:connects with your target group and identify the competitive advantage, tag lining:keywords or phrases to capture what makes the organization special)
  • The framework should include audiences, benefits and attributes, key messages
  • Develop startegies
  • Select communication channels
  • Implement the plan
  • Evaluate the plan
  • Measure the success
Different methods and frameworks for developing marketing communication plan:

POST method:

P: people -- know your target audience and their social behaviors
O: objectives -- What is the firm trying to accomplish
S: Strategy -- How do the firm want the relationship to change with target audience. How do new and traditional media support your objectives.
T: Technology-- Appropriate tools and tactics to address the target audience

SOSTAC model:

S- situation analysis (Where are we now?)
O- objectives (Where do we want to go)
S- strategy (how we get there)
T- Tactics (details of strategy)
A- action (implementation)
C- control (measurement, monitoring)

 Allocating resources
The use able amount of financial resources must be calculated based on company's financial statements and plans.

  • Financial resources
  • Human resources
Resource allocation methods:

  • Basic Allocation --- Which items to fund in the plan, what funding it should recieve and what not to be funded
  • Contingency mechanism-- there is priority ranking of items excluded from the plan showing which items to be funded if more resources become available and then showing which itms to be sacrificed in case of shortage

Measure and monitor the affects of communication plan

Several methods used for measurement:

  • Quantitative methods (phone, email, direct mail, surveys: Asks- how many)
  • Qualitative methods (Interviews, metaphors, stories, rumors, Asks- What and Why)
  • Revenue matrix


Advantages of structured communication plan

  • Firm has set clear goals, identified their objectives and strategies 
  • Better promotion and message delivered in a better way
  • Firm can work in a structured way to achieve its goals


Sources:
https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/2618/Laitinen_Jenni-Mari.pdf
http://www.slideshare.net/kbgluciaja/resource-allocation-16175159
http://www.slideshare.net/ssaurage/measurement-tools-for-communications-and-marketing-strategy


Friday, March 4, 2016

Story telling

Building brand storytelling:
There are no hard-and-fast rules for developing your brand’s stories, but you can go back and look at classic storytelling and structure as a helpful map to guide you. For example, the classic “hero’s journey” from Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, outlines what he calls the “mono myth” — which is a pattern that many believe can be found in almost every narrative around the world. 
Campbell’s point is that storytelling across time shares a fundamental structure and can be summarized into this journey. Later, in 1992, screenwriter and story consultant Christopher Vogler took Campbell’s structure, modernized it for today’s audiences, and reduced it to 12 stages in his book, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers. This made the stages much more approachable for today’s writers — and is now mandatory reading for any novel or screenwriter. Vogler’s hero’s journey is this: 


the hero's journey


  • There are ways to use this hero’s journey to develop your own pillars of content — your own stories.
  • The conventional market:This is your brand’s world — and as you brainstorm your pillars of content, you should know and be able to define the conventional:What does your market look like?Where are your competitors situated?Why do they currently identify with your brand?
  • The challenge: This is your big “What if?“:What if XYZ were actually true?What would the world look like if you could actually realize that “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” (BHAG) that you’ve set out for your brand?What is the call to adventure for your product?What’s the big promise?Why hasn’t this been done?Why haven’t you done it yet?What’s the pain that the conventional market feels now?What will you need to add to your story to let your audience know what will be left behind?Are you conflicted about this?What will be the effect of this change on your existing brand?Who in your company (or outside of it) can help you take this adventure?Who will provide guidance for your brand as it makes this journey? Is it you? Is it your CEO? Or, do you even have that person? Is it more than one person? Can you get someone external for this?Will you need to conjure an imaginary character to act as your sage or mentor?Who can stand in front of the world and credibly tell your audience that you are going on this journey together?
  • The rejection of the challenge
  • Appointment of the sage
  • Crossing into the unfamiliar: This is where you burn the ships so that you can’t go back. Ultimately, in your content marketing, your brand must take a definitive point of view that is differentiated — and it will cross into your new “what if?” idea. This is the unknown — and it’s what you are exploring:How will you communicate this crossing into this new idea — this new adventure?How will you lead your audience into this new unknown with you?
  • Map the road of challenges: Part of this step is unknown to you as an author, but you can use it to determine how you’ll gather friends. Or maybe you’ll take a strong point of view that may actually create enemies, or controversy:Who will your brand align with?How can they help you move forward?What tests to your brand’s legitimacy will it face in the unknown?Who will be the naysayers?What tests and challenges can you plan for?What skills will your brand need to address?
  • The final challenge: As your brand faces these challenges, attracts and aligns with friends, and establishes a differentiated point of view, it should establish itself as differentiated — as a leader:What will it ultimately achieve?What learned skills (or attributes) will your organization take into the final challenge?What will that final challenge be?This is the culmination of your brand story. In the larger sense, you may never want your brand’s (your hero’s) story to end. And this content marketing campaign may be but one episode in your story. But this final challenge is what you have to overcome to get to the possibility of the “what if?“…
  • Looking back: Take a look back at the ordinary world. Your brand is different now. How do you show that differentiation?
  • The final renewal:Your brand’s story is never going to end, and you are now ready to continue on your journey. But you may encounter new, formidable challenges now that you are a changed entity: What ambush could — or will — your brand face now that it is different?What will the competition say about you now — and how do you continue?
  • The celebration: This is you realizing the dream. Celebrating. It’s the final part of your story. There you have it — the structure. It can be used across one small content marketing initiative — or across an entire strategy of content marketing across the enterprise. Changing the level of hero from product, to brand, to service can make it more interesting, and enables you to explore ever more creative “webs” of stories among them.
This story structure — which is inherently linear — can also help you structure your content into a story map. The story map helps to organize your pieces of content across a timeline. It compels you to think of your content pieces as “chapters” or “scenes,” and can help reveal the gaps. It may resemble a high-level editorial calendar — but is structured with a focus on telling your complete brand story as you continue along your content development process.
Sources:
contentmarketinginstitute.com, "brand-storytelling-content-marketing-heros-journey"
Paulus, Trena M.; Marianne Woodside; Mary Ziegler (2007). ""Determined women at work" Group construction of narrative meaning". 
Jump up"Stories are also growing". www.playbacktheatre.org.
Jump upLord, Albert Bates (2000). The singer of tales, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Jump upPrice, Reynolds (1978). A Palpable God, New York:Atheneum, p.3.
Jump upStorytellingday.net. "Oral Traditions In Storytelling ." Retrieved November 21, 2013.
Jump upAtta-Alla, M.N. (2012). Integrating language skills through storytelling. English Language Teaching Journal, 
Jump upDavidson, Michelle (2004). "A phenomenological evaluation: using storytelling as a primary teaching method". 




Thursday, March 3, 2016

Integrated Marketing Communication

How to Construct an effective integrated marketing communications system?


IMC: "A planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.”
(American Marketing Association)

ExampleThe IMC planning process has been compared to composing a musical score. In a piece of music, while every instrument has a specific task, the goal is to have them come together in a way that produces beautiful music. It’s the same in IMC, where advertising might be your violin, social media your piano, public relations your trumpet and so on.



Different Channels/ Communication Tools 


  • Marketing
  • Advertising
  • Sales
  • Promotional tools (Search engine optimization (SEO) tactics
  • Banner advertisements
  • Webinars
  • Blogs
  • Traditional marketing communication channels (newspapers, billboards, magazines)
NB: It is important to choose the appropriate combination of digital and traditional communication tools for the target audience to build a strong brand consumer relationship. (boundless.com)

How to Choose the channels

"Hitting a Hole in One"

  • Have a clear understanding about your target audience. That includes attitudes, interests, behaviors and expectations along with demographic factors. Think about their motivations and how they like to be communicated to. Which marketing channels they use. If they use social media, what are they talking about.
  • Configure the pros and cons of marketing channels and select the most effective one to deliver the message than to focus on all of them

.




How to ensure successful integration internally and externally

Integration begins with the way a company and its agencies organize the process for creating and building brand images.
Internally, companies need to create a better working environment where everyone works together ensuring that all departments are integrated. Companies tend to have very well planned for communicating internally. Everyone should be aware of the IMC objectives of the company and should focus on working together towards them.
External integration is usually represented by a company's check over the outsourced activities or helping agents. This can be done through a representative or all employees could have access to outsourced activities.

When and Why Outsource

Outsourcing is needed when companies lack a specific expertise or bandwidth or a specific technology. A better approach is to outsource several marketing functions to specialists who use leading edge technologies. 
Companies want to manage more costs as variable expenses. Specific cost of outsourcing might appear to be higher than doing it yourself, there are internal costs hidden in maintaining internal fixed marketing assets. These include delays due to changing priorities, lack of support when it is needed etc.
Companies want to focus on insight than operations and need to grow more rapidly. During a high-growth phase, it is usually faster and often cheaper to outsource.
Companies want to mitigate their legal risk or launch an additional customer channel through outsourcing.

What kind of agencies are there ?
There are many agencies available in the market with different strengths and expertise but the company need to focus on which expertise are required to achieve their objective of IMC. Agencies use multiple communication channels to deliver the message and are expert in their field.

References

Forbes, Steve Olenski, Last assessed: Sep 16, 2013
URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2013/09/16/why-integrated-marketing-communications-is-more-important-than-ever/#7915ac0d2325
URL: http://www.cmo.com/slide-shows/10-reasons-to-outsource-more-of-your-marketing.html

American Association of Marketing, 
URL: http://imc.wvu.edu/about/what_is_imc

Marketing Communication, An integrated Approach by Paul Russell Smith 
URL: https://books.google.fi/books

URL: http://www.outsourcemarketing.com/whitepaper/why_outsource.pdf



Brand Identity and Brand Image

Brand Identity 

Concept: The visible elements of a brand such as colors, design, logotype, name, symbol that together identify and distinguish the brand in consumer's mind. (Business dictionary)

Examples: Signature tunes like Britannia “ting-ting-ta-ding”), trademark colors (- Blue color with Pepsi), logo ( - Nike), tagline ( - Apple’s tagline “Think different”),etc.

An organization is responsible for creating a distinguished product with unique characteristics. It is how an organization seeks to identify itself. It represents how an organization wants to be perceived in the market. An organization communicates its identity to the consumers through its branding and marketing strategies. A brand is unique due to its identity. Brand identity includes following elements:

  • Brand vision     vision of the company delivered to the customers through their brand 
  • Brand culture    set of symbols, values and behaviors that a specific company or brand reflects. It is the organizational culture of the business. According to numerous marketing studies, consumers of the products prefer to buy brands that possess symbols, values and behaviors that match their own culture, values and behaviors.
  • Positioning       an activity of creating a brand offer in such a manner that it occupies a distinctive place and value in the minds of the target customers        
  • Personality       something to which the consumer can relate
  • Relationship     is the relationship that consumers, think, feel, and have with a product or company brand.
  • Presentation      The way a brand is presented in the eyes of the customers


Differences Between Brand Identity and Brand Image

 
BRAND IDENTITY
BRAND IMAGE
Develops from the source or the company
Perceived by consumer
Tied together with the company’s message
Brand message is untied
General meaning is “who the company is”
General meaning is “how market perceives “
Substance oriented or strategic
Appearance oriented or tactical
Enduring
Superficial
Total promise that a company makes to consumers
Total consumer’s perception about the brand
Signifies: ”what the company wants to be”
Signifies: “what the company has got”


Brand Identity Models
Brand Identity was mentioned for the first time in Europe by Kapferer in 1986. His model explains the brand identity as physique, personality, culture, self image, reflection and relationship:
Dove example of a Kapferer model.


Importance of Building Strong Brands

Strong brands can impact organizations across a variety of fronts:
  • They support price premiums over competitors
  • They attract new customers
  • They help block new competitors, as loyal customers are less likely to switch to new or different brands
  • They help protect a business during economic downturns
  • They create reservoirs of goodwill that can blunt the impact of business crises
  • They create a bigger footprint to enable expansion into new markets
Realizing such benefits takes a brand building strategy that is built around trust, recognition and a positive image.
Re-branding

Concept: Re-branding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors, competitors, and other stakeholders.

How to Re-brand
  • Give your brand a story
  • Do not compromise brand equity
  • Streamline your identity
  • Do not confuse the consumers
  • Revitalize to broaden your appeal
  • Do not re-brand if you are just changing the name
  • Create buzz to reach new target demographics
Why to Re-brand
  • To re-position the brand in the minds of consumers and market
  • Differentiating the situation for stakeholders
  • To distance the company from certain negative connotations of the previous brand
  • To stay modern, signal a change in attitude, focus, direction or strategy
  • Differentiating from competitors

Advantages of Re-branding

  • Stay current
  • Differentiate the company
  • Reflect a shift in focus
  • Capitalize on advances
  • Connect with new demographics

Sources:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-brand-culture.htm#didyouknowout
http://managementstudyguide.com/brand-positioning.htm
http://www.slideshare.net/Zeynepkn/kapferer-brand-identity-prism
http://marketinglessons.in/2015/03/16/aaker-model-defining-brand-identity/
http://essentialsofbusiness.ufexec.ufl.edu/resources/marketing/the-importance-of-building-a-brand/#.VryXV7R97IU
Muzellec, L. and Lambkin, M. C. 2006. Corporate Rebranding: the art of destroying, transferring and recreating brand equity?. European Journal Of Marketing, 40, 7/8, pp803-824
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237296


http://refinerysource.com/branding/the-benefits-of-rebranding/

Brand Portfolio

International Brand Architecture
A coherent international brand architecture is a key component of the firm's overall international marketing strategy as it provides a structure to leverage strong brands into other markets, assimilate acquired brands, and rationalize the firm's international branding strategy.

Developed frameworks of Branding Structure or Brand Architecture:
Olins (1989) has identified three branding structures

  • Monolithic, i.e. a corporation uses one name and identity worldwide, for example, Kellogg or Shell; 
  • Endorsed, where the corporate name is used in association with a subsidiary or product brand, for example, Cadbury's Dairy Milk, and 
  • Branded, which emphasizes multiple product-level brands, for example, P&G with brands such as Tide, Camay, etc.
Laforet and Saunders (1994) examined the structure of brands among a sample of 20 grocery manufacturers in the U.K., and concluded that brand structures were inherently more complex than that proposed by Olins. They identified three principal categories similar to those identified by Olins, corporate brands, mixed brands, and brand dominant. Each of these categories included sub-categories. The corporate dominant group was divided into corporate brands, where the corporate name was used, and house brands where the subsidiary or product division names were used, as for example, the Walls, Good Humor and Ola ice-cream brands of Unilever. Mixed brands include endorsed brands (a product-level brand is endorsed by a corporate name), as for example, Nestlé's KitKat, and mixed brands, where two or more brands were given equal prominence, e.g. Colgate-Palmolive. The third category brand-dominant consisted of single product level brands and furtive brands, where the corporate identity is omitted e.g. Darkie toothpaste owned by Colgate Palmolive, or 'I Can't believe its Butter' of van den Bergh (Unilever). Not only was the structure considerably more complex than commonly assumed, but in addition, all the companies studied used more than one approach, often adopting different options for different product lines or businesses.
As the firm expands in international market, issues relating to brand architecture or brand structure become even more complex. In addition to considering the number of levels in the hierarchy, another dimension, namely the degree of brand coordination or standardization across countries, needs to be determined. Especially if the company expands through acquisition or strategic alliances, the question of whether and how brand architectures of different firms are merged, arises. Irrespective of the expansion process, companies have to determine an appropriate brand architecture that transcends national boundaries and how far branding is integrated or standardized across countries.

Development of International Brand Architecture:
A field study of consumer goods companies based in Europe was conducted to gain some insights into international brand structures, how these were evolving and the underlying drivers of brand structure. Of particular interest was whether or not the firm had an explicit international brand architecture and if so, how this was managed. The study was based on semi-structured interviews conducted with senior executives at the product division level in companies, as well as executives in advertising agencies, market research companies, and consulting companies who were responsible for international brands and branding strategies.
Consistent with the findings of Laforet and Saunders, the study revealed three major patterns of brand architecture: corporate-dominant, product-dominant and hybrid or mixed structures.
Corporate-dominant architecture tended to be most common among firms with a relatively limited range of products or product divisions, or with a clearly defined target market, e.g. Shell, Kelloggs, Nike, Benneton, etc. Product dominant architecture, on the other hand, was typically found among firms such as Akzo Nobel with multiple national or local brands, or firms such as P&G or Mars that had expanded internationally by leveraging "power" brands.
The most common were hybrid or mixed structures, consisting of a mix of global corporate, regional and national product-level brands, or corporate endorsement of product brands or different structures for different product divisions.
Both corporate and product dominant structures were evolving towards hybrid structures. Firms with corporate dominant structures were adding brands at other levels, for example, the house or product level, to differentiate between different product divisions. Product-dominant structures, on the other hand, especially where these emphasized multiple local (national) brands were moving toward greater integration or co-ordination across markets through corporate endorsement of local products. These companies also varied in the extent to which they had a clearly articulated international brand architecture to guide this evolution. Some, for example, laid out the different levels at which brands were to be used, the interrelation between brands at different levels, the geographic scope of each brand and the product lines on which a brand was to be used, while others had few or no guidelines concerning international branding.

Drivers of International Branding Strategy:
Brand architecture is essentially fashioned by three major factors:

  • firm-based characteristics, 
  • product market characteristics and 
  • underlying market dynamics 

Firm-Based drivers:
In the first place, the firm's administrative heritage and in particular, its organizational structure, establish the template for its brand architecture. Secondly, the firm's international expansion strategy and notably the mode of expansion, i.e. via acquisition or organic growth affect how brand structure evolves over time.

Administrative heritage: The firm's administrative heritage is central to understanding its branding strategy (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1989). A firm that has historically operated on a highly decentralized basis where country managers have substantial autonomy and control over strategy as well as day-to-day operations is likely to have a substantial number of local brands. In some cases, the same product may be sold under different brand names in different countries, e.g. Unilever's yellow fat brands, Promise and Flora. In other cases, a product may be sold under the same brand name but have a different positioning or formulation in certain countries e.g. Haagen-Daz.

Firms with a centralized organizational structure and global product divisions, such as Sony or Siemens, are more likely to have global brands. Both Siemens and Sony adopt a corporate branding strategy emphasizing the quality and reliability of their products. Product lines are typically standardized worldwide, with minor variations in styling and features for local country markets.

Expansion strategy: Closely related to the firm's administrative heritage is its international expansion strategy. Here of particular importance in determining the number and composition of the brands owned by the firm is its mode of expansion, i.e., whether it has expanded through organic or greenfield growth or through acquisitions and strategic alliances.
Firms that expand internationally by acquiring local companies, even where the primary goal is to gain access to distribution channels, will typically also acquire local brands. Where these brands have high local recognition or a strong customer or distributor franchise, the company will normally retain the brand. This is particularly likely if the brand does not occupy a similar positioning to that of another brand currently owned by the firm. Best Foods typically expands internationally through acquisitions and has, for example, acquired Pfanni, a German company selling mashed potatoes and dumplings, Telna, a soup company in Israel and a sauce company in Chile. These companies are then used as a platform to distribute Best's other brands.

Sometimes, a company expands by acquiring companies in the same or related product businesses. For example, when Kimberley Clark acquired Scott Paper, it also acquired a number of paper product companies in Europe, some of whom had strong local brands. Kimberley Clark decided to adopt a transition strategy, gradually changing local brands to the Kleenex brand. For example, Kimberley Clark acquired Page, the leading Dutch brand of tissues, toilet paper and paper towels, and placed the Kleenex brand on all Page products. The Kleenex name and little dog logo was also used in all promotional campaigns. Over time it is expected that the local brand will become smaller and possibly eventually be phased out.

Other companies have expanded and diversified at the same time through a strategy of acquisition. Nestlé, for example, has expanded by acquiring companies in a range of different product markets, mostly food and beverage. These range from well known global brands in mineral water such as Perrier and San Pellegrino, confectionery companies such as Rowntree and Perugina, to pet food companies and brands such as Spillers and Alpo and grocery companies such as Buitoni, Crosse and Blackwell and Herta. The proliferation of brands obtained through this acquisition from 1960-1990 generated a need to consolidate and integrate company branding structures. Consequently, the Nestlé branding tree was established (Figure 2). This consists of ten worldwide corporate brands, such as Nestlé, Carnation and Buitoni; 45 worldwide strategic product brands such as KitKat, Polo and After Eight (these are always endorsed by a corporate level brand); 25 regional corporate brands; 100 regional product brands, such as Contadina and Stouffer; 700 local strategic brands, and approximately 7,000 local brands (Parsons 1996).

Firms that have expanded predominantly by extending strong domestic brands into international markets tend to have a product-level brand strategy. For example, Procter & Gamble has rolled out a number of its personal products brands such as Camay, and Pampers, into international markets. This strategy appears most effective, where customer interests and desired product attributes are similar worldwide and where brand image is an important cue for the consumer.

Importance of corporate identity: The relative importance placed by the firm on its corporate identity, also influences brand structure. Companies such as IBM and Apple, place considerable emphasis on corporate identity (Schmitt and Simenson 1997). In the case of IBM, "Big Blue" is associated with a solid corporate reputation and reflects the company's desire to project an image of a large reliable computer company, providing products and services worldwide. The IBM logo is featured on products and advertising worldwide in order to convey this image. Equally, Apple used its colored apple logo to project the image of a vibrant challenger in the personal computer market.

Japanese companies also frequently emphasize corporate identity as a means of reassuring customers and distributors that the company is reliable and stands behind its products. As a result, even companies with highly diverse product lines such as Kao with detergents, personal care products and computer floppy disks and records, rely on the corporate brand name (and its logo) to project an image of reliability.

Product diversity: A fourth issue concerns the diversity or conversely, the interrelatedness of the product businesses in which the firm is involved. Firms that are involved in closely related product lines or businesses that share a common technology or rely on similar core competencies, often emphasize corporate brands. GE, for example, is involved in a range of product businesses worldwide from aerospace and electric generators to medical equipment. All rely heavily on engineering skills. Use of the GE name provides reassurance and reinforces the firm's reputation for engineering competency and reliable products worldwide.

Conversely, when firms are involved in a range of diverse product businesses that target different customer segments, and have different associations, they sometimes opt to develop separate identities and associations for individual product businesses or products. For example, Unilever has no corporate brand and emphasizes either product or house brands, thus establishing separate identities for its businesses such as food, personal care, and detergents. It was considered particularly desirable to avoid association between the (now sold) chemicals business and foods products. Similarly, Procter and Gamble has emphasized product brands in its detergents business in order to target distinct market segments, and avoid creating an impression of market dominance.


Three factors play an important role in brand architecture:

  • the nature and scope of the target market, 
  • the degree of market integration, and 
  • the cultural embeddedness of the product.
Target market: Global branding is frequently an effective means of reaching target markets with relatively homogeneous needs and interests and similar sociodemographic profiles and media habits worldwide (Hassan and Katsanis 1996). Luxury brands such as Godiva, Moet and Chandon, Louis Vuitton and Aveda as well as brands such as Bodyshop or Benneton are all targeted to the same market segment worldwide, and benefit from the cachet provided by their appeal to a global consumer group.

Market integration: Another factor impacting the firm's brand architecture is the degree of product market integration. This can be viewed not only in terms of whether the same customers are present in different country markets or regions and have similar purchase needs and interests worldwide, but also whether the same competitors are present in these markets (Douglas and Craig 1996). Where markets are fully integrated and the same competitors compete in these markets worldwide, as in aerospace, use of global brands help to provide competitive differentiation on a global basis. Where the same competitors compete in all or most markets, but local competitors are also present, use of a multi-tier branding structure, including global corporate or product brands as well as local brands is desirable. Coca-Cola, for example, not only has its global brand of colas, but also numerous local and regional brands catering to specific market tastes.

Cultural embeddedness: A final, and in many cases, critical factor influencing brand architecture is the degree of cultural embeddedness of a product. As noted earlier, markets where demand is relatively homogeneous worldwide are likely to be prime candidates for global branding at either the corporate or product level. Products which are deeply culturally embedded, as for example, food or in some cases, household products are on the other hand, more likely to thrive as local brands. In some cases, they may be products which cater to specific local tastes, such as food products. Particularly, where these are traditional products and market tastes have evolved little over time, a well-established local brand name may have substantial value. In some instances, where the product is associated with local cultural habits and tastes, use of a local sounding brand name may be preferable.

Market Dynamics:
Advances in global communication technology and the internationalization of retailing further facilitate the growth of international branding and stimulate a shift towards international brands (de Mooij 1997). Increased consumer mobility enhances the value of establishing a global identity and potential synergies from establishing a global presence.
Political and economic integration: Increasing political and economic integration in many parts of the world has been a key factor stimulating the growth of international branding. As governments remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to business transactions and trade with other countries, and people and information move easily across borders, the climate has become more favorable to the marketing of international brands. Firms no longer need to modify products to meet local requirements, and develop specific variants for local markets, but can market standardized products with the same brand name in multiple country markets. In many instances, harmonization of product regulation across borders has further facilitated this trend.

Infrastructure: The growth of a global market infrastructure has acted as a major catalyst to the spread of international brands. Global and regional media provide an economical and effective vehicle for advertising international brands, particularly where these brands are targeted to focused global and regional market segments, as for example, upscale and more affluent consumers, teenagers, etc. (Hassan and Katsanis 1996). At the same time, global media play an active role in laying the groundwork for consumer acceptance of and interest in international brands by developing awareness of these brands and the life-styles with which they are associated in other countries. In many instances, this stimulates a desire for the brands consumers perceive as symbolic of a coveted life-style.

The internationalization of retailing has further facilitated and stimulated the development of international manufacturer brands. As retailers move across international borders they provide an effective channel for international brands, but at the same time, their power increases. Consequently, manufacturers need to develop strong brands with high market share in multiple countries in order to obtain adequate retail space for these brands and minimize slotting allowances (Barwise and Robertson 1992). Strong international brands can also be extended to provide manufacturers with an effective negotiating tool and to ensure the placement of new products.

Consumer mobility: A final factor underlying the power of international brands is increased consumer mobility. While global media provide passive exposure to brands, increasing international travel and movement of customers across national boundaries provides active exposure to brands in different countries (Alden, Steenkamp and Batra 1999). Awareness of the availability and high visibility of an international brand in multiple countries enhances its value to consumers, and provides reassurance of its strength and reliability. Increased exposure to and familiarity with new and diverse products, and the life-styles and cultures in which they are embedded also generates greater receptivity to products of foreign origin or those perceived as "international" rather than domestic (Featherstone 1990). All these factors help to create a climate more favorable to international brands.

In brief, while, on the one hand, firm-based drivers, often responding to product market structure, influence the formation of international brand architecture, market drivers provide a continually changing environmental context to which this architecture must be adapted in order to be effective. At the same time, the image and strength of the firm's brands in the marketplace changes, as the firm enters new countries or markets, acquired brands are integrated into the architecture, new brand extensions or product lines are added, or a positioning is modified or radically changed. As a result, brand architecture is continually evolving both in terms of structure and scope.

Designing International Brand Architecture:
First, management needs to design an efficient harmonious brand architecture that spans operations in different countries and product lines. This establishes the framework for decisions relating to the firm's brands in international markets. It should clearly define the importance and role of each level of branding, as, for example, at the corporate, product division or product brand level, as well as the interrelation or overlap of branding at each level. It should also determine the appropriate geographic scope for each level relative to the firm's current organizational structure.

The design of this architecture should satisfy a number of key principles:

1. Parsimony: The brand architecture should incorporate all of the firm's existing brands, whether developed internally or acquired. It should provide a framework for consolidation in order to reduce the number of brands and strengthen the role of individual brands. Brands that are acquired need to be melded into the existing structure, especially where these brands occupy similar market positions to those of existing brands. Equally, when the same or similar products are sold under different brand names or have different positionings in each country, ways to harmonize these should be examined.

2. Consistency: Another important element of brand architecture is its consistency relative to the number and diversity of products and product lines within the company. A balance needs to be struck between the extent to which brand names serve to differentiate product lines, or alternatively, establish a common identity across different products. Establishment of strong and distinctive brand images for different product lines helps to establish their separate identities and diversify risk of negative associations (for example between food and chemicals). Conversely, use of a common brand name consolidates effort and can produce synergies.

3. Endorsement: The value of corporate brand endorsement across different products and product lines, and at lower levels of the brand hierarchy also needs to be assessed. Use of corporate brand endorsement either as a name identifier or logo identifies the product with the company, and provides reassurance for the customer. In international markets, corporate brand endorsement acts an integrative force unifying different brand identities across national boundaries. At the same time, corporate endorsement of a highly diverse range of product lines can result in dilution of image. Equally, negative effects or associations can harm and have long-lasting effects across multiple product lines. Thus, both aspects need to be weighed in determining the role of corporate brand endorsement in brand architecture.

Brand Portfolio:

The total collection of trade marks that a company applies to its products and services. (business dictionary)
When large businesses operate under multiple different brands, services and companies, a brand portfolio is used to encompass all these entities under one umbrella. Often, each of these brands has its own separate trademarks and operates as an individual business entity. However, for marketing purposes, a brand portfolio is used to group them all together. Brand portfolios are also used to lessen consumer confusion in regard to who owns particular brands.

Examples of Brand Portfolios

To better explain what a brand portfolio looks like, consider the Hilton brand. In addition to the Hilton Hotels and Resorts brand, the company also owns numerous other business entities, which are all grouped under the brand portfolio name Hilton Worldwide. A few of the other brands under Hilton Worldwide include the Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts, Embassy Suites Hotels and Homewood Suites. As another example, consider PepsiCo. PepsiCo is the brand portfolio name of several food and beverage companies that include not only Pepsi, but also brands such as Frito Lay, Quaker and Tropicana.


Advantages of Using a Brand Portfolio

When businesses try to run each of their brands completely separate from one another, confusion and inefficiency can prevail. In contrast, by utilizing a brand portfolio, the business is able to focus on the big picture, causing resources to be better allocated to where they can do the most good, thus creating the most value, and reducing unnecessary overlap. For example, if a new brand with potential is left solely to its own resources, it could be starved out of resources before ever having a chance to get off the ground.

Guidelines for a successful brand portfolio strategy:

David Aaker's has proposed 10 guidelines for building a strong brand portfolio strategy.
  1. Make sure each brand has a well defined role or set of roles to play
  2. Identify the strategic brands that will play a driver role in supporting major businesses or product platforms in the future
  3. Understand the role of sub-brands and endorsed brands when deciding how to brand a new offering
  4. Brand portfolio strategy is intimately connected to the business strategy
  5. Find or create branded differentiators
  6. Almost all brands could use more energy
  7. Leverage strong brands through brand extensions
  8. Vertical extensions are risky but sometimes necessary when creating a new brand is simply not feasible
  9. A corporate brand could be powerful master brand or endorser
  10. Reduce the size of the portfolio when possible


Sources:

https://www.prophet.com/theinspiratory/2012/09/12/10-steps-to-a-successful-brand-portfolio-strategy/
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