Why A Quiet Place is a great piece of content ? (A Digital Marketing eye on silence)

Other than dominating the movie theaters by becoming the number 1 movie in USA,
getting recognized by the king of horror himself,
being the second highest domestic opening of the year.

A Quiet Place is a great piece of content and digital marketers can view this movie
not just as a successful cinematic experience but a great piece of content as well.

According to Think With Google there has been 60% Growth in mobile searches
for "__ for me" in the past two years and 80% Growth in mobile searches for "__ should I __" in the past two years.

This leads to more personal and intimate approach of marketing,
where the audience receive tailored marketing message that fits their personal criteria.

Even the B2B world is adapting this personal approach through
ABM (Account Based Marketing);
ABM is when an organization takes an individual prospect or customer account
-- these are companies, not individual people -- and treats it like its very own market,
or a market of one.

In this post I am looking at two factors that made this piece of content uniquely different.

personalized content and the way that the audience consumed the content.

Personal vs. Personalized Content

With the rise of personal search
comes a rise of personal content & personal marketing campaigns.

A Quiet Place has created a personalized not personal experience,
the actors didn't call upon the audience by name,
instead they have invited the audience to share the experience
with the small family since scene one.

The first line that the audience read is day 89
then a cut into more or less of a ghost town then another cut into a wall of missing people.

This is not personal content yet it is deeply personalized,

as you as a part of the audience is invited to write the beginning of this story,
you get to create a personalized story based on personal experience.

If you believe in aliens then that's day 89 after the invasion,
if you lean towards dystopian apocalyptic nuclear war world,
then that's day 89 after the incident happened.

 

This is an open invitation throughout the movie,
you unfold the story with the characters of the movie,
the deep silence lets you decide the danger sources,why does this family the way they do?

Being part of the story plays an even bigger role in the second point;
which how the content was consumed in the film?

Content Consumption

Neurologists identify nine or more human senses, and some list as many as twenty one.
Some of these other senses are the sense of balance,
the proprioception sense which is the ability to tell where your body parts are,
relative to other body parts.

One of the senses that was very active during the movie were the Tension Sensors:
These are found in such places as your muscles
and allow the brain the ability to monitor muscle tension,
by not relying fully on visual triggers;
the film allowed the audience to consume the content differently.

In the age of massive video content production,
the thumb stoppers, the scroll blockers and the extremely polished shiny superheros,
this movie was able to transform the experience
from visually stimulating to cinematically pleasing.

Part of telling a good story is to manage expectations,
one of the ways for digital content creators to manage the audience expectations
is through the way these audience consume their content.

If a brand is choosing to implement a specific digital tactic like live-streaming features,
ephemeral content,UGC, podcasting. How this story will be delivered,
consumed and most importantly felt by the audience is vital.

A Quiet Place created an immersive state.

Every close-up, every subtle gesture,
every facial expression meant something to both the audience and to the storytellers.

If the question brands are asking is what reaction we would like to get from the audience?

What emotion we would like to evoke producing this content?

Then start by watching A Quiet Place.

Written by: Fouad Khafaga
Twitter: @Fouad_Khafaga

Managing Social Media Crisis, What you need to know?

Digital Marketing Manager, Fouad Khafaga Talks About Crisis Management

Why and how should a business prepare for Crisis Management?


The answer to why is because it will happen. Every business in the world either faced or will face some kind of crisis; that tests everything the brand stands for.


Some brands have an active inertia effect – they work in their business not on their business. Meaning they get engaged and overwhelmed by the day to day activities, that they there is a little thought goes into such strategic problems like crisis management.


The answer to how – is like a story about a King that had to punish his son by throwing a big rock at him. The issue here is that because he is the king he had to follow the law, and because he is a father he didn’t want to hurt his son. He struggled until a tribe leader from his people told him to break that rock into very small stones which then will have minimal effect on the son.


In other words, breaking a crisis down into minimal manageable problems, and having the respective teams deal with those problems to dissolve the crisis is far more likely to prevent the crisis.
Looking at social media, for example with a brand hiding, deleting, ignoring and not responding in a timely manner to their community.


If a brand is that fragile to negative exposure, then that brand is more likely not to survive an avalanche of negative reviews (crisis) when an event goes not as planned.


What’s the worst that could happen?
Brand losses brand equity and ultimately credibility.
A real-life example of a crisis that was managed well would be at an event we recently attended.
We had a total shut down of the internet – the hotel we were in just had Wi-Fi problems, so we were totally cut off not just from producing and publishing content but from updates, behind the scenes work, major events moments, etc.

We were not even able to respond and interact with the audience already present at the event.
The solution was actually dividing the crisis into urgent situations that needed to be solved

• We had a situation room set up (before the event) in a different place with monitoring screen just for social listening, monitoring and interacting with existing audience
• Before the event we had already scheduled content ( quotes, opening remarks, awards announcements ). That content was published by publishing tools
• We had 3 members of the team capture key moments and event milestone live on different platforms through data plan
• Finally we created an event summary videos to make sure that the offline experience was captured online

Steps to Take

As we discussed, there are different types of crises – and planning and forethought can potentially prevent many of them from ever developing; and even if a crisis does then arise, with clear procedure or a chain of command available, the impact can be lessened.


By taking a proactive approach to your business, and putting safeguards and strategies in place, you put your company in a stronger position to deal with any issues that arise.
Actions to take before a Crisis occurs:

1. Develop Clear Social Media Strategies – such as Social Media Management
2. Use Data Analytics to Monitor your Brand – utilized Social Listening to understand your audience
3. Train Your Staff to recognize changes in attitude and trends online and in the venue
4. Brainstorm various situations and make plans for the ones that seem more likely to occur
5. Establish a clear chain of command and assign roles so your staff know who to speak with

Actions to take during a Crisis

1. Gauge the public mood and prepare an appropriate response
2. Be honest and transparent – let your customers hear from you and not a third party
3. Give relevant updates regularly
4. Respond to questions and comments where possible
5. If not possible, post a list of frequently asked questions and direct your audience to those
6. If it has affected people directly – apologies, be humble.

Actions to take after a Crisis

1. Continue monitoring the data analytics to be sure that the situation is resolved
2. Thank people for their patience and encourage their continued support
3. Avoid phrases such as ‘lessons learned’ – give concrete evidence of any changes being made
4. Don’t pretend it didn’t happen – learn from it and grow
   
   
   This post was originally posted here http://bit.ly/2wO7mz7
   Would love to talk more on twitter @Fouad_Khafaga

Brand Biology Survival by Customer Perception

Think of a bird.

Let me rephrase that when you read the word “Bird” what are the first three bird species that comes to mind?

Most people wouldn't choose (penguin- chicken and an ostrich) in one set. There is a neurological reason for that, it has to do with not just the way we as humans think but with how do we categorize information cognitively.

The human brain - Includes your brand’s audience brains - tend to take mental shortcuts known as cognitive heuristics.

In concept they are simple, efficient rules, hard-coded by evolutionary processes or learned, which have been proposed to explain how people make decisions, come to judgments, and solve problems, typically when facing complex problems or incomplete information.

Brands are victims to both the overwhelming amount of data produced and heuristics of customers minds.

Both of these factors are very difficult to control that the only way to for a brand to survive and eventually evolve is to understand both phenomenons and to create an evolution ability characteristics in order to survive such a tough environment

Organizing information and raw data are not an exception  in his book the organized mind Daniel Levitin asks the question How are categories formed in our brains?

There are three ways in which we categories information and by extension perceive such data based on former heuristics those three categories are

• Based on mere appearance
  when we read or hear words like ( Car, trees, fish, books) we have a visual description of what that is with degrees of variance.
  
• Based on functionality
  if we look at a tool box the tools inside doesn't look the same yet all of them serve a common function they fix things .
  
• Based on concept
  the wallet not everything inside a wallet is looking the same or serve the same function by conceptually they are things you need while you are physically outside your home

Remember the types of bird question? As it turns out that penguins, chicken and ostrich doesn't fit our perception of what a bird is according to these three basis.They don't fly, not covered with flying feathers and don't really fit our concept of flying creatures. 

So what does this all means for brands? 

Based on appearance

From the caves of France to the tombs of Egypt visual storytelling was a vital element of human heritage

Nearly 70 % of all the sensory receptors of the whole body is in the eyes. Back in 2004 there was an article from the University of Cambridge titled seeing things part of the team conclusion was that “The visual appearance of products plays a significant role in determining consumer response” & “product appearance influences commercial success and consumer quality-of-life.”

So it’s no wonder to find that visual mediums gaining global traction considering that Pinterest has 150 million active uses, Instagram has 600 million active user and YouTube has 1000 million active users.

Brands doesn’t just need to be present in such mediums they have to tell meaningful stories that will enhance users experience of life through adding visual value to the brand.

Based on functionality

Functionality in branding can fall into 2 categories that functionally of the brand itself as what is the function of the product or the service that the brand offers, how does a brand demonstrate functionality through different tools.

One of the brands that demonstrate usefulness in itself is Google, other than being a

Verb, according to the useful brand report the brand is viewed as “useful because it  connects users to what they need to know, the way they want that information. Google scores particularly high relative to its peers for being quick, easy to use”.

Other demonstration of functionality is the functionality through tools and platforms,  @Hiltonsuggests Is a twitter handle with a bio that says:

“Exploring a new city & looking for insider tips? We're here to help! We're @HiltonNewsroom tweeps sharing our favorite travel suggestions.” 

The idea is that this twitter handle offers expertise on travel and travel tips to travelers whether they are Hilton residence or not. The brand is not converting or making sales or selling offers and discounts on this account, this handle serves one function only providing travel advice to travels.

Another F&B brand is using Snapchat as a customer service feedback medium, if customers have a complain about your plate, food is not hot enough, and other restaurant related complains. That goes directly to snapchat.

Snapchat depends on ephemeral content and because of this dynamic the tool serves the function of the ultimate customer service tool.

Complaints answered within one day and at the same time doesn't live on the restaurant reputation forever like a shipwreck survivor who has only one story to tell.

Based on conceptual perception 

At the core of it. the idea of branding is a conceptual idea.

There is a core concept that the brand stands for, this concept is crystallized, revived and asserted every step of the brands journey by all means available and necessary.  

The revolution of the digital world made it possible for brands to leverage that sense of belonging to the core idea of the brand, creating communities and thought leaders that embrace, enhance and amplify this core idea. In other words creating digital tribes.

Sports brands for example are not just about the sports. It’s about the concepts that the sport represent (competition, victory, hometown, nostalgic attachments).

Some brands evoke that conceptually on specific campaigns not the whole branding strategy Like the dodge campaign (God Made A Farmer). 

Red Bull is not about the energy drink, yes we can argue that this is the ultimate goal is to increase brand equity and sales yet what the brand promotes is the sense of adventure the challenge of human limits.

Final Thoughts  

According to the T3 report 87% of the brands were not seen as being “very useful”,

62% of the brands fell in the middle of the bell curve and were seen as undifferentiated, 88% of consumers do not rely heavily on advertising to inform their decisions.

Keeping in mind that companies introduce 30,000 products every year, but 70% to 90% of them don’t stay on store shelves for more than 12 months.

One of the things that these facts suggest is that brands needs to get out of the egocentricity of how great, innovative or revolutionary the brand is.

And get into their customer's mind through their behavioral and cognitive patterns not just to influence but to enhance the human experience.

References:

http://bit.ly/1NcoGP6

http://bit.ly/2rDqpKK

http://bit.ly/2sFjXTq

http://bit.ly/2sdCsNv

http://bit.ly/1Uk1C5h

http://bit.ly/2mquoYF

http://bit.ly/2snQElC

http://bit.ly/2rCQpGh

http://bit.ly/2sKI5no

Brand Biology - Evolution by Customer Selection

90% of startups fail, 80% of product launches are not successful and 60% of the fortune 500 companies in the 1970’s do not exist today.

Your species (brands) are dying in an alarming rates.

In face of such grim truth brands and brand managers should seek survival tools. In this article I will cover two survival tactics and strategies of those who were able to survive the wild of the markets, those who were heard among the white noise and stand out from the crowd.

“If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough.”

― Mario Andretti

1- Survival of the fastest:

One of the reasons of extinction for brands is refusing to adapt or not adapting fast enough to new technology, even tho their markets and their customers has adapted to it.

The simple and most obvious example of that is websites adapting to mobile technology even tho:

• Google is now penalising websites that are non-mobile friendly.  

• Two-thirds of smartphone users say a mobile-friendly site makes them more likely to buy a company's product or service.
• 61% says that if they don't find what they're looking for (probably within about five seconds), they'll click away to another site.

We are still faced with the fact that 91% of small business’ websites are not optimized for mobile use.

Adapting fast to technological shifts is a key tool to a brand’s survival.

Borders didn't think they need to adapt to amazon fast. Blockbuster video didn't think that Netflix was a threat and that digital was a threat that needs to be  eliminated fast.

Borders closed all of its retail locations and sold off its customer loyalty list, comprising millions of names, to competitor Barnes & Noble for $13.9 million. Borders' locations have been purchased and re-purposed by other large retailers.

Saddled itself with over $1 billion in debt and was unable to make the transition to digital. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and has been replaced by Netflix and other digital services.

Fast adaption is a survival tool as customers don't select slow brands, they let them slowly perish in a non digital world for maybe a nostalgic to revive  them in a casual conversation.

“It’s easy to predict the future, just remove the fragile elements from the present”

Nssim Taleb

2- Survival of the Antifragile:

“Fragile” if you read this word written on a box that is delivered to you, normally other words that associate with this box are handle with care,easily broken or caution.

The Oxford dictionary defines fragile as ”easily broken or damaged”.

In his book “Antifragile” Nassim Taleb asks, what is the opposite of the word fragile?

What would be written on that box if the item inside is the opposite of fragile.

Words like strong, robust and solid doesn't really mean anti-fragile. Because a fragile object is very risk sensitive where those words describe more of a risk neutral case, where the pressure or risk doesn't really harm the items yet it definitely doesn't benefit it.

If there is an antifragile item in that box the words on that box could read as please mishandle, add pressure or the item inside gains from risk. In this case the objects actually benefit from risk and pressure.

Some brands were able to find a lifeline, a cure from fragileness and a process to becoming an antifragile brand. Introduce risk in fractions so your brand can survive, this process is called 70 - 20 - 10.

Where 70% of the Brands investment is in “Now”, or established and successful programs; 20% goes to “new,” or emerging trends that are starting to gain traction; and 10% goes to “next”.

This concept can be applied to any brand’s activities where 70% of the activities are safe, familiar and cash cows, 20% of the activities are for the stars, trendy and new and finally 10% is for the risky more dangerous activities. This process seeks sustainable growth and most importantly antifragility.

 

Customers tend to abandoned fragile brands and leave them to the memory of textbooks and academic studies of worst case scenarios.

These are two branding survival tools in this series of articles. We will be unlocking more branding ecology mysteries and other survival mechanism in the coming articles.

15 Digital Marketing Podcasts That Deserve Your Undivided Attention

Name: Albert CostillSource : http://bit.ly/1CQHolL

Last September, SEJ introduced Marketing Nerds, a weekly podcast that discusses everything from SEO to social media and entrepreneurship. The podcast was created because SEJ’s audience wanted to listen to the advice that the SEJ community provides. And, who can blame them?
For anyone who has enjoyed listening to their favorite show, whether it’s Serial, WTF with Marc Maron, or The BS Report, you already understand the convenience of podcasts. You can listen to them while commuting to work, when working out, cooking dinner, or during a break from work. In short, you can listen to a podcast whenever, where ever you want to.

Image Source: Patrick Breitenbach/Flickr

As for marketers, podcasting has some major potential to reach new audiences and advertise your products or services. Consider the following:

·         17 percent of US adults had listened to a podcast during the month leading up to annual survey in 2014. That was a 9 percent increase from 2008. (Source)

·         In 2013, Apple surpassed 1 billion podcast subscriptions. (Source)

·         1 in 4 podcast listeners plug their smartphone or MP3 player into their car audio system. (Source)

·         By 2025, 50 percent of cars will have Internet connectivity. (Source)

·         As of 2014, 58 percent of Americans own a smartphone. (Source)

·         67 percent of podcast listeners don’t mind sponsorship messages and occasionally find them useful, compared to only 6 percent positive sentiment expressed for the advertising approaches of television or commercial radio. (Source)

·         Only 3 percent of marketers are currently using podcasting in their social media marketing strategy. However, 32 percent have a desire to learn how to use podcasting in their marketing efforts and 23 percent have plans to increase their podcasting activities in 2013. (Source)

In other words, it may be worth your time to investigate whether or not a podcast can improve your marketing efforts.
Besides using podcasting as a marketing tool, what can you me fellow marketers learn from podcasts? On top of Marketing Nerds, here are fifteen other informative marketing podcasts – in no particular order – that every marketer, small business owner, and entrepreneur should follow.

This Old Marketing Podcast

This weekly podcast is hosted by Joe Pulizzi (founder of the Content Marketing Institute) and Robert Rose (Chief Strategy Officer for the Content Marketing Institute ). The hour-long podcast features Joe and Robert discussing the latest news impacting the industry, a one-minute rant, and past example of an amazing piece of content marketing. Joe and Robert also take questions from their audience by using the #ThisOldMarketing hashtag on Twitter. This Old Marketing Podcast is consistently rated as one of the top marketing podcasts on iTunes.

Content Warfare Podcast

Ryan Hanley launched his content marketing blog on 2009 to share his real-world marketing knowledge in the insurance industry, which has now grown to include this powerful podcast. Every week Ryan shares the secrets of increasing your online visibility, telling your brand’s story and achieving success through content marketing, social media, and podcasting. Ryan also conducts interviews influential guests like Jay Baer, Mark Schaefer, Chris Brogan, Gini Dietrich, and Marcus Sheridan. You can subscribe on either iTunes or Stitcher.

Social Pros Podcast

Fully titled “Social Pros Podcast: Real People Doing Real Work in Social Media,” this weekly podcast features two of the industry’s leading thought leaders Jay Baer (Convince and Convert) and  Jeff Rohrs (Salesforce). The podcast contains insights from a leading social media strategist and highlights the work people are doing for real-word companies – a recent episode featured Natanya Anderson (Global Director of Social Media, CRM, and Customer Service at Whole Foods) on how the company uses social media to address customer needs. One of the more unique features of this podcast is  the Social Media Stat of the Week, which is either debunked or verified by Jay.

Duct Tape Marketing

Hosted by John Jantsch, the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast has been going strong since 2009. It’s a weekly podcast that shares advice and interviews with some of the biggest names in marketing and startups. Guests have included Guy Kawasaki, Neil Patel, Ann Handley, John Lee Dumas, and Pat Flynn. A more recent episode featured Ted Wright, CEO of word of mouth marketing firm Fizz, where the definition, origins, and best practices of word-of-mouth marketing were discussed.

Rainmaker.FM

Brian Clark’s Copyblogger is one of the best resources for anyone wanting to learn how to compose engaging content and copy. The Copyblogger brand has now expanded to include this digital marketing podcast network. The network includes:

·         Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer – Content Marketing from Sonia Simone.

·         Editor-in-Chief – Stefanie Flaxman shares tips to help make you a stronger writer.

·         Hack the Entrepreneur – Jon Nastor provides advice and strategies for aspiring entrepreneurs.

·         Hit Publish – A great podcast for beginning online marketers with Pamela Wilson

·         The Lede – Jerod Morris and Demian Farnworth answer questions regarding content marketing, email marketing and copywriting.

·         The Mainframe – Chris Garrett and Tony Clark discuss the technology you need to use for effective content marketing.

·         New Rainmaker – Brian Clark and Robert Bruce assist you with starting your own digital platform for marketing and sales.

·         No Sidebar – Brian Gardner helps you remove the obstacles from starting your own business.

·         Rough Draft – Writing advice from Demian Farnworth.

·         Search and Deploy – SEJ founder Loren Baker shares the latest insights in SEO.

Six Pixels of Separation

Mitch Joel is the president of the digital marketing agency Twist Image and is considered a visionary in the industry. He’s also the author of the book and blog Six Pixels of Separation, as well as the host of the podcast of the same name. Every week Mitch and his guests share digital marketing essentials and what to keep an eye on the future.

Marketing Over Coffee

Hosted by John J. Wall (Vice President of Marketing at EventHero) and Christopher Penn (co-founder of PodCamp) this weekly podcast covers classic and new marketing aspects. The program also features special guests, such as HubSpot’s CMO Mike Volpe who discussed inbound and outbound growth. This is a great listen for seasoned marketers. And, if you’re curious about the name of the show, it’s because it’s recorded at a coffee shop just outside of Boston.

The Marketing Companion

Hosted by Mark Schaefer (author of Social Media Explained and founder of Schaefer Marketing Solutions) and Tom Webster (Vice President, Strategy and Marketing of Edison Research), The Marketing Companion is an informative and entertaining show that is published twice a month. Mark and Tom answer important questions, such as what determines the success of your marketing program, to covering controversial industry topics like ad blocking and banning social media in the workplace.

The Social Media Examiner Show and the Social Media Marketing Podcast

Social Media Examiner doesn’t have just one podcast, it has two powerful shows for all of your business and marketing needs. The Social Media Examiner Show is a 10-minute daily show that provides quick and effective social media tips to help market your business. The second show, the Social Media Marketing Podcast, is a 45-minute show that is published weekly. This podcast shares successful examples of marketing, new marketing strategies, and interviews with leading social media marketing experts.

The BeanCast™ Marketing Podcast

Hosted by Bob Knorpp, who is also the founder of the Cool Beans Bean and host of the Ad Age Outlook podcast, this is an award-winning program that covers the latest industry news, as well advertising, marketing, and public relations perspectives through a weekly roundtable discussion. One of the most recent episodes featured Tedd Aurelius, Saul Colt, and Peter Corbett who discussed Google Fiber, social media BlackOps and the boundaries for religious advertising.

The #AskGaryVee Show

After helping his family liquor store grow to a $60 million business, thanks to WineLibrary.com, Gary Vaynerchuk began to share his business knowledge on Wine Library TV. In 2009 Gary and his brother launched the strategic creative agency VaynerMedia. With the The #AskGaryVee Show, he answers questions regarding social media, marketing, and entrepreneurship on an almost daily basis. You can ask a question at #AskGaryVee on Twitter. While the show is primarily intended for video use, it is transcribed for podcasts.

SEO Podcast – Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing

Hosted by Chris Burres (owner of E-Webstyle and formerly SES Research) and Charles Lewis (Internet Marketing Specialist at E-Webstyle), this podcast is one of the most popular internet marketing podcasts on iTunes. The hosts answer questions ranging from what content is the most valuable, how to use relevant links to avoid Google penalties, why you should use email marketing, and what the most promising online marketing strategies are going to be in the coming year.

HBR IdeaCast

The Harvard Business Review is an incredible resource for marketers, managers, and business owners. With this weekly podcast, however, you can take those key findings found in the publication and listen to them wherever you go. The podcasts include interviews and discussions with leading thought leaders who provide insights and advice in their respective fields. Recent episodes include Set Habits You’ll Actually Keep, Goldie Hawn on Female Leadership, and Be Less Reactive and More Proactive.

The Mad Marketing Podcast

In 2001 Marcus Sheridan founded River Pools and Spas, which lead him to become a HubSpot Partner and author the Sales Lion blog. His Mad Marketing podcast is an extension of his blog where Marcus dishes out some top-notch advice on marketing from questions that were asked of him. Without many interviews, Marcus discusses everything, including SEO Tips, selfie sticks, getting sued for content marketing, how to motivate employees, family, and the secrets of content marketing.

Marketing Smarts

Hosted and produced by Kerry O’Shea Gorgone, an instructional design manager and enterprise trainer at MarketingProfs, the Marketing Smarts podcast is a weekly podcast that features in-depth interviews with leading marketers who share their success with real-world marketing. Recent episodes have included Guy Kawasaki discussing the Art of Social Media and How Happy Employees Make for Better Marketing with author Chris Reimer.

Conclusion

That was our list of fifteen amazing marketing podcasts that you should listen to. Is there a marketing podcast you’re a fan that we left out? If so, please let us know in the comments section.

Featured Image Source: Pixabay