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Learning From ....The Best Global Brands 2

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 16:43:47 GMT

Learning From The Best Blog Part 2

Welcome to our short blog looking at Best of Global Brands . Part 2/ 4 Part blog.

Part 1 focused on some of the key distinguishing features common to all, or most of the top global brands. Technology First , Sustainability, Brands who encouraged and participated in ongoing Business to Consumer dialogue Brands who are distinctive, coherent and participative.

In this blog - Part 2 - we shall look at the Biggest Risers in the report as well as Brand RELEVANCE as a factor of Brand Strenght.

Not too surprisingly amid Covid Lockdowns in 2020 the biggest risers were identified as Amazon, Spotify and Netflix with growth rates of 60%, 52% and 41% respectively.

These fastest risers outperformed other brands on three key

BRAND STRENGHTS

1. Empathy

2. Agility

3. Affinity

Microsoft has displayed empathy as a brand where leadership continually "connects the core of the business to customer needs through a deep sense of empathy" Interbrand Report 2020

Another top rising brand is Amazon. Amazon invested over $28 billion on R&D in 2018

" making agility exponential ".

Between category changing iconic moves and daily one to one interactions Amazon has successfully shifted all of our expectations for speedy and efficient fulfilment and delivery.

It is also interesting to note that

50% + of worlds top growing brands have

SUBSCRIPTION MODEL BUSINESSES Interbrand Report 2020

Not too surprisingly either in 2020 there was a huge uptake in Brands that CONNECT us.

Brands involved in communications and social media experienced bumper months in 2020 globally with Zoom coming in at (#100) , Youtube (#30) and Instagram (#19). These brands were included in the rankings as top global brands for the first time ever.

Changes in consumers lifestyles , working arrangements led to a much higher uptake in technologies that enabled working remotely , e-events. e-conferencing with revenues at Zoom up 270% in the first half 2020.

In terms of brand strenght the RELEVANCE of the brand was highlighted as a key factor.

Brand Relevance is all to do with presence, trust and also the affinity we have to the brand .

Top performing strong brands display high levels of presence " the degree to which a brand feels omnipresent to relevant audiences , is talked about positively and is easily recalled when a customer has a need in the brands category " Interbrand Report 2020

Mary Morgan MMII MBS

Mary Morgan Marketing

Learning From The Best - Best Global Brands 2020

RG297584 — Sun, 03 Oct 2021 19:12:52 GMT

Learning From The Best Brands Part 1

Looking at global best brands and their marketing strategies can be an effective way of gaining insight on what's working what's not in marketing and branding today. What exactly are they doing so well in these turbulent and fast changing times? It proves interesting because very often elements of their best practice strategies can be incorporated into the marketing and branding activities of other less well known, less global, prehaps less successful brands, small scale & start up businesses to improve, engage more gain increased trust and grow.

The Interbrand Best Global Brand Report 2020 makes for a fascinating read.

The report identifies the Top 100 Best Global Brands featuring many well known and iconic brands.

Apple, Amazon. Google , Microsoft , Samsung, Coca- Cola, Toyota, Mercedes, McDonalds and Disney are listed in the Top 10 followed by BMW, Intel, Facebook, IBM, Nike, Cisco and Louis Vitton.

So what lessons can we take-away from this report which may be helpful and valuable when crafting your own marketing and branding plans..... Well for starters strong resilient brands became much stronger in 2020 due to Covid. Reading through the report it quickly becomes obvious that key to most, if not all of these great brands is their focus on technology to innovate and grow.

" Technology First Brands Dominate " Interbrand Report 2020

A further factor of importance is the issue of SUSTAINABILITY .

Going forward this issue can no longer be an optional side thought it has to be a top priority now for all brands hoping to succeed.

The rapidly changing consumer - business relationship is highlighted and viewed now as a relationship based on a set of shared values. Consumers now engage with brands not as

" unconditional faithful customers

but as active constituents, collaborators "

Interbrand Best Global Brands 2020.

Creating powerful engagement is important to the top 100 Global brands.

Key to their engagement success is being DISTINCTIVE, COHERENT, PARTCIPATIVE.

According to S Nadella CEO Microsoft " Brands need to listen more, talk less and be decisive when the time comes ". Great quote and something for brands and businesses to really consider.

Other key factors for Brand Success include fostering a dialogue between the brand and consumers, constituents , inviting co-operation and creating a real following. Small acts displaying empathy , gratitude and vulnerability are now as important for the brands as iconic moves that solve unmet customer needs.

There is so much more contained within the report that we plan to blog about it over the coming weeks in a four part series. In the meantime the key takeaways for me were the importance of technology & sustainability in building brands and the recognition that brand relevance, brand trust and empathy are becoming even more critical components of successful brand building than ever before.

Mary Morgan MMII MBS Mary Morgan Marketing

Mary Morgan is a Master in Business Graduate from Dublin Business School Ireland with extensive corporate experience in Sales, Business Development & Marketing at Multinational Companies - Baxter Healthcare ,Janssen Cilag, United drug - as well as consultancy experience working with Irish micro, small and SME's. Mary also delivers marketing and business lectures on a part time basis, previously in WIT, Griffith College Dublin and currently at Dublin City University LS. She currently offers business and marketing consulting services, experiential marketing event management, online workshops and talks. Follow on facebook.com/marymorganmarketing, linkedin and IG www.marymorganmarketing.ie

The Importance of Doing A Marketing Plan

Sun, 26 Sep 2021 14:52:41 GMT

The Importance of Marketing Plans

A solid marketing plan is a really invaluable tool for your business.

It provides clarity for your business practices and a clear ROADMAP for you and your team to follow to ensure succcess in the marketplace.

A well executed marketing plan defines clearly the marketing GOALS and OBJECTIVES for your business and brand as well as examining in detail the STRENGHTS WEAKNESSES within the company and the OPPORTUNITIES & THREATS outside ( SWOT Analysis )

The Marketing Plan will ensure everyone in the business is on the same page regarding Marketing Goals , Objectives, Strategy helping to streamline business practices and make the business more PROACTIVE & less REACTIVE.

A Basic Marketing Plan should include

The Executive Summary
Situation Analysis
Competitor Analysis
Market Strategy
Target Markets - Ideal Customers, How to Reach them ,
Promotional Plans
Marketing Mix
Marketing Budgets

The marketing plan for small businesses should prove a helpful guide for both the owner / founder and all the team = clearly providing frameworks to measure success and ensuring budgets and spend are defined and allocated in the best possible ways to achieve optimum results. ( ROMS ) Return On Marketing Spend

This should not be a document that is researched, produced and filed away. Instead it should be a live blueprint roadmap to ensure all the team is informed, on target and on track knowing who the ideal customer is, what exactly are their needs and wants and the most effective & efficient ways to reach out to that segment of the market with valuable content and winning product and service solutions.

Chat to us if you require a Marketing Plan Business Plan or Marketing Consultations.

Mary Morgan MMII MBS of Mary Morgan Marketing offers services in Marketing Consultations, Workshops, Talks, Lectures, Market Plans , Business Plans, Boost Your Brand Programmes and much more

www.marymorganmarketing.ie info@marymorganmarketing.ie 00 353 87 798 26 26

Marketing In An ECommerce World

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 08:39:50 GMT

Marketing In An Ecommerce World

ECommerce represents a significant opportunity for ALL businesses.

Whereas before the market for startups and small businesses was very often limited to a local area, immediate neighbourhood, town, city or country there is now real potential for SME's , small & micro businesses to reach some of the over 2 Billion online shoppers, make a real connection and a sale.

" Global Ecommerce Market

$4.8 Trillion 2021 "

Source.....Forbes 2021

Marketing has traditionally concerned itself with the CUSTOMER, their needs & wants, satisfying those needs and wants. That was drummed into us all at marketing colleges and it still holds true even in this day of fast speedy transactions with very often no physical contact along the journey. So at all times the CUSTOMER and their experience both on and offline with your brand and business is CRUCIAL. Plenty of research and stats showing how customers will

abandon a business or brand if website is too slow too tricky to navigate, too complex to read . Customers today want a SEAMLESS experience across all devices - tablet, desktop, mobile - they want SIMPLICITY and they want it FAST.

Continue to research who your customers are, where they are, their needs, wants and concerns. Address those needs wants concerns. Market Research Data must be analysed continually to improve the customer experience CX and the product or services offerings. For small businesses and startups without a marketing research budget important information can be gained from simply analyzing data from social media platforms, your website, review platforms and online marketplaces.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE CX is still vitally important to the success or other of your business.

Research indicates that customers abandon shopping carts & exit your site due to high shipping costs and long delivery times. So worth giving that consideration and work at ongoing improvements with shipping & delivery.

Critical areas for any ecommerce business to pay particular attention to are...

Website Design, Functionality and Security

The building & ongoing maintainence of the ecommerce webstore can be outsourced to a website developer if budget allows. Another option is to go with the simple website builder packages now being offered by many hosting companies (ie www.register365.com) Wix, Weebly, GoDaddy, Duda One, SquareSpace, or WordPress with plugins Woo commerce, Magento, Shopify are also options to consider. There are so many options for superb low cost ecommerce websites optimised for mobile & social with advanced functionality, easy to navigate design & a full range of secure payment options. The important thing is that the site functions well, is fully secure and the design attracts and retains visitors.

Payments, Shipping & Delivery
Require special attention to ensure the overall experience for your customer online is excellent. Secure payment systems are essential as too are low cost shipping or even better free, fast delivery that is on time and accurate with product delivered intact and as ordered. For small businesses with limited budgets this can represent a challenge but with correct planning , focus and support from local enterprise boards or granting bodies it can be done well.

Join Me for an live online interactive 10 week Diploma Course in Ecommerce at City Colleges Dublin www.citycolleges.ie Dublin Ireland commencing early October 2021. We will explore so much more about ecommerce, trends , what future holds, building and deveoping an ecommerce site, role of social media and much more! www.marymorganmarketing.ie

BRAND LOYALTY

Sun, 12 Sep 2021 11:50:53 GMT

Loyalt
Brand Loyalty

Its a well known fact that .....Acquiring new customers is a much more costly exercise than retaining existing customers.

Much has been written previously on Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) but keeping it simple so we will just explore some easy ways to ensure customers remain LOYAL to your brand & your business.

Lifelong loyal customers are valuable to any business & should be treated as such.

Simple but effective measures include Loyalty programmes, discount offerings, free gifts can be a great way to recognise and reward them for their continued loyalty to your brand. Research regularly what your customer cares about , their changing needs and wants and how best your brand , products and services can match up. Remember to analyse the data too. A SMILE goes a really long way in offline customer service, costs nothing & makes the bearer feel good too! Online respond promptly across your social media channels, engage regularily and make sure you are responding to good and not so good reviews.

Exceptional Customer Service is great for brand loyalty. Customer experience CX both on and offline is just so important that it has to be a top priority - customers want speedy & efficient service, fast delivery, reduced shipping or free shipping costs, quality products and helpful responses to their concerns or queries.

If they are not getting these essentials they tend to go elsewhere, fast. No one expects any business to get everything right spot on all of the time and customers do tend to be very forgiving if their concerns are responded to and an effort, however small is made to rectify or improve.

A recent study from Salesforce particularily relevant...

80%

customers said

Customer Experience

as important to them as the product &

57%

go elsewhere if they do not get it

**********************

Other important measures include an effective communications programme both on and offline, managing content effectively, ensuring brand messages and values are consistent across all channels with ongoing research and analysis. These measures will be each explored in more detail in separate upcoming blogs.

Mary Morgan www.marymorganmarketing.ie

Keep in touch with site visitors and boost loyalty

websitebuilder-hub@register365.ie (admin admin) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 17:08:48 GMT

There are so many good reasons to communicate with site visitors. Tell them about sales and new products or update them with tips and information.

Here are some reasons to make blogging part of your regular routine.

Blogging is an easy way to engage with site visitors

Writing a blog post is easy once you get the hang of it. Posts don’t need to be long or complicated. Just write about what you know, and do your best to write well.

Show customers your personality

When you write a blog post, you can really let your personality shine through. This can be a great tool for showing your distinct personality.

Blogging is a terrific form of communication

Blogs are a great communication tool. They tend to be longer than social media posts, which gives you plenty of space for sharing insights, handy tips and more.

It’s a great way to support and boost SEO

Search engines like sites that regularly post fresh content, and a blog is a great way of doing this. With relevant metadata for every post so search engines can find your content.

Drive traffic to your site

Every time you add a new post, people who have subscribed to it will have a reason to come back to your site. If the post is a good read, they’ll share it with others, bringing even more traffic!

Blogging is free

Maintaining a blog on your site is absolutely free. You can hire bloggers if you like or assign regularly blogging tasks to everyone in your company.

A natural way to build your brand

A blog is a wonderful way to build your brand’s distinct voice. Write about issues that are related to your industry and your customers.

Tips for writing great posts that increase your site traffic

websitebuilder-hub@register365.ie (admin admin) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 17:08:47 GMT

Write about something you know. If you don’t know much about a specific topic that will interest your readers, invite an expert to write about it.

Speak to your audience

You know your audience better than anyone else, so keep them in mind as you write your blog posts. Write about things they care about. If you have a company Facebook page, look here to find topics to write about

Take a few moments to plan your post

Once you have a great idea for a post, write the first draft. Some people like to start with the title and then work on the paragraphs. Other people like to start with subtitles and go from there. Choose the method that works for you.

Don’t forget to add images

Be sure to include a few high-quality images in your blog. Images break up the text and make it more readable. They can also convey emotions or ideas that are hard to put into words.

Edit carefully before posting

Once you’re happy with the text, put it aside for a day or two, and then re-read it. You’ll probably find a few things you want to add, and a couple more that you want to remove. Have a friend or colleague look it over to make sure there are no mistakes. When your post is error-free, set it up in your blog and publish.