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The Best Branding of 2021

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Brand recognition has never been more important than in 2021. Consumers have unlimited choices and are constantly interacting with branded content. To be successful, your brand must stand out. To do this, you will need to reinvent yourself using successful branding trends continually.

Marketing and branding trends are helpful, but they also go out of style over time. Likewise, they become irrelevant to your product or target audience. Commonly used branding trends include quirky art in logos or putting a face with the name. These trends make branding recognition much more accessible and help ensure your customers will keep your brand fresh in their minds long after they have purchased something from you.

Why Is Brand Recognition Important?

Brand recognition is the ability of consumers to quickly identify specific companies simply by looking at their logo. It helps a business gain higher profits by building consumer loyalty. That encourages repeat purchases, allowing companies to grow their shares of the marketplace. Once your customers become familiar with your brand’s logo, they will remember the services you offer whenever they need them.

Brand recognition is an essential factor when introducing new products and services to your customers. This awareness can impact a consumer’s decision and will encourage them to become repeat customers. That, in turn, increases your brand’s market shares and profits.

Another reason why brand awareness is critical is that it allows you to achieve various business goals and objectives. This recognition aids in expanding your target audience while increasing the daily traffic to your company’s website and developing brand affinity.

What Is Great Branding?

Great branding includes:

  • The promise of a great experience – Consumers want to purchase high-quality products from companies that value them. 
  • Clear brand values and personality – Consumers prefer to patronize companies that reflect who they want to be.
  • Strong brand recognition – Consumers buy from companies they easily remember.

So how can you ensure your brand’s marketing strategies are better than your competitors? Take the time to research current trends and see how you compare to your competitors in these areas.

Younger markets, including Gen Z and Millennials, often want their favorite brands to take a stand and offer something positive to the world aside from their products or services. They like the brands they follow to be environmentally friendly, economical, and passionate about important causes. 

That’s why one of the most important marketing trends in recent years is for brands to take a side on social issues. You can even make your cause a part of your brand’s identity. There are many business models that the owners built around brands that stood for a substantial issue. Here’s how the three best brands of 2021 put this into practice. 

Warby Parker

Warby Parker’s mission statement is compelling and clear: “to offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price while leading the way for socially-conscious businesses.” Consumers can feel good about their purchases because Warby Parker donates a pair of glasses to charity for every pair sold. The brand’s blue-and-white logo is modern, stylish, and recognizable.

The company focuses on core values, and that is something other brands should learn from. The owners of Warby Parker believe that companies should serve more than their customers and shareholders. To prove their point, they started donating one pair of eyeglasses to someone in need for each pair that the company sold.

Oreo

Despite increased awareness around healthy eating, Oreo remains profoundly relevant. The brand’s presence on social media is both artistic and playful. Its slogan, “filling your world with joyful moments,” captures the simplicity and nostalgia of childhood. Limited releases with everyone from Lady Gaga to the NBA engage key demographics and make a classic cookie new.

While Oreo may have changed its marketing strategies and package design over the years, one thing has remained consistent: its flavor. The classic chocolate and crème filled cookies remind us of a simpler time and are a nostalgic snack we can enjoy at any age. The Nabisco brand uses multiple outlets to market Oreos, including social media, TV commercials, and eyecatching store displays.

Dunkin’

Dunkin’ recently implemented free donut Wednesdays for its DD Perks Members. This promotion rewards loyal customers while ensuring they keep coming back. Dunkin’s 1970s-era orange-and-pink logo remains a ubiquitous mainstay. At the same time, the company is engaging a younger demographic through social media. The company’s collaboration with Tik Tok star Charli D’Amelio makes it the trendy coffee choice for Gen Z.

In recent years, Dunkin has simplified their menu, offering a small variety of new foods and snacks that pair well with its famous coffee blend. They also tried out a snacking menu where sweet and salty items like donut fries or Munchkin Dippers were available to purchase for just two dollars.

Learn More About the Elements of Great Branding from Our Marketing Experts

At Web Content Development, we offer a broad range of marketing services to ensure your brand becomes recognized more often by consumers. We can assist you with social media marketing, reputation management, and provide you with unique content for your blog. Contact us today by visiting our website or giving us a call at (800) 316-9664.

Drybar: Creating an In-Demand Mainstream Luxury

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Who would have imagined some 10 years ago that a multi-million beauty empire could be born out of something as simple as a hair blowout? Probably none! But not Alli Webb, a mother of two who founded Drybar in 2008. What started out as a one-woman business has grown so big that Drybar locations, as at last count, numbers over 70.

Now, there’s nothing particularly special about Drybar’s offering – it’s still pretty much a hair salon. The question is, how were they able to grow this big on something as trivial as hair blowout? How have they managed to stay ahead of the competition in an industry with little entrant barrier? Brand management is the answer. Webb, at the outset of her entrepreneurial career, understood the power of brand management, and so leveraged it.

For new businesses looking to grow even in the face of stiff competition, there’s a lot to be learned from Webb’s approach to brand marketing. So read on! [Read more…] about Drybar: Creating an In-Demand Mainstream Luxury

Why Target Appeals To Millennials

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Millennials are the largest generation in United States history, and that makes them a huge target audience for marketing today.  The shopping habits of the millennial generation differ from generations past. As such, retailers cannot rely on marketing strategies that worked in previous years.  Instead, they must tailor the shopping experience they offer–both online and in brick-and-mortar stores–to fit millennial trends. Target stores are taking the lead here, responding to this dynamic marketplace in order to appeal to millennials.

Target Store: Technology and Millennials

Millennials have grown up surrounded by technology.  As a result, technology is integrated into their daily lives.  Millennials use technology, primarily their cell phones, for everything: entertainment, keeping up with friends, banking, bill paying, hailing an Uber, ordering takeout.  And, of course, shopping. Technology has so seamlessly fused with their lives that they expect it to be a part of their everyday experiences. That can mean ordering dinner, then taking a picture of the food for social media, then rating the restaurant on an online platform.  The millennial generation does not compartmentalize their online life and their in-person life–they are one and the same. In terms of shopping, that means that millennials expect the in-person experience to be seamlessly integrated with the online shopping component.

What does that online/in-real-life integration of the shopping experience look like?  It means that millennial shoppers expect that if they are interested in a product, they can

  • Research it online
  • View anything available online in the brick-and-mortar store
  • Pay for it online
  • Have it shipped OR pick it up in-person
  • Share the experience on social media
  • Gain peer feedback online
  • Use photo sharing for brand engagement

Stores that want to draw in millennials consumers need to address these expectations.

Millennial Trends

Technological trends are not the only trends impacting millennials.  The millennial generation is also very socially conscious. Brands hoping to woo millennials must focus on the social ideals prominent in millennials.  Millennial trends include environmental consciousness and activism, health consciousness, gender identity, and fluid family models. Marketing strategies should appeal to these trends in order to draw in millennial consumers.

Target Marketing Strategies and Millennials

The retail giant, Target, has focused on the millennial experience in order to bring in these buyers.  Stores are currently implementing changes in order to appeal more to millennials. Some of these Target marketing strategies focus on millennial social trends.  For example, Target stores are revamping their grocery departments to reflect health and environmental trends. Stores will focus on increasing organic, natural, less-processed, and gluten-free options to appeal to health trends.  The amount of packaging will be reduced to become more environmentally friendly. Target stores are also changing up their personal product, clothing, and home decor lines to appeal to millennial families. Children’s decor will now be available in gender-neutral styles.  Target will introduce four new brands of beauty products featuring reduced packaging and better ingredients.

Target marketing strategies are also working to integrate the online/in-person experience.  Shoppers will be able to view merchandise online, but Target stores will also increase in-store displays for better in-person viewing.  This will include an increased number of mannequins to show how clothing fits and a showroom section of the store to display home decor.

 

Due to the sheer size of the millennial generation and the buying power that comes with it, millennial trends will continue to impact marketing and brand management for years to come.  For more information on brand management, contact Web Content Development today.

 

Crisis Management: Facebook’s Recovery from the Cambridge Analytica Scandal

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In March, the New York Times, in collaboration with The Observer in London, published an article that led to Facebook’s biggest challenge yet. You’re probably familiar with the Cambridge Analytica Scandal. The data firm, Cambridge Analytica, improperly obtained user data from Facebook in order to build and sell psychological profiles to political campaigns. This user data was then used to manipulate Facebook users in various ways throughout the presidential election. Facebook has been under fire ever since, with many people electing to remove themselves from the service altogether.

In an attempt to save face and rebuild trust in the brand, Facebook has been undergoing crisis management since the March article’s release. Reputation management and crisis management is key for any business. Perhaps, by looking at Facebook’s handling of the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, we can gain valuable insight for how to, or how not to, handle a crisis.

Building Distance

Facebook is now attempting to distance itself from terms like “data misuse” and “fake news,” heavy-hitting keywords associated with the scandal. The new marketing campaigns have focused on data transparency for its users. Denouncing fake news and data misuse are expected, of course. But, regulators are still on the case and the Facebook brand is still trending downward. As much as they have tried to make themselves look like the trustworthy good guy, the jury is still out.

Found Guilty

In the UK., the Information Commissioner’s Office, or ICO, found Facebook guilty of failure to safeguard users’ data. They also found them guilty of failing to be transparent about how that user data was used by third parties, issuing a £500,000 fine. Facebook admits it made a mistake. But, it remains unclear whether they intend to pay the fine (pocket change for such a large company).

Slow to Act

When the news originally broke, Facebook – specifically Mark Zuckerberg – was slow to issue a response. As celebrities bashed Facebook on social media and encouraged others to quit their accounts, the lack of any public response from the heads of the company seemed to fester negative public perception.

Key Takeaways: Crisis Management

Many companies today rely on the data of their users, data which can be exceptionally marketable to third parties. The way in which you protect this data is essentially the way you protect the future of your business. And, transparency is always key. You may find yourself in a situation like that of Facebook’s. Here are several key takeaways that will help you in a time of crisis management.

  • Act Fast – If your business finds itself in a crisis, it is best to acknowledge any mistake as quickly – and publicly – as possible. Sincerity here will also go a long way, particularly if an apology is necessary.
  • Be Transparent – When attempting to regain the trust of customers, marketing attempts that aim to rebuild brand awareness should focus on honesty and transparency.
  • Embrace Change – If change is in order, whatever the issue, don’t be afraid to make it. Facebook changed the way they communicate, share, and handle user data as a result of the Cambridge Analytica Scandal. If they can do it, so can you.
  • Rely on your Core Team – As the leader of your company or brand, it will be important to rely on the core individuals that you trust, those that believe in your leadership and support you. Crisis management is difficult. Many will question you, which is necessary. However, keeping a core team in place will provide a foundation on which your leadership. Therefore, your business, can thrive upon.
Crisis Management with Web Content Development

For more information about crisis management, reputation management or how to build your brand, contact Web Content Development today.

KFC’s PR Crisis: Reputation Management Warning Signs

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Does everyone hate your company and you don’t know why? No, probably not. That may be a bit extreme. However, there are probably some negative reviews floating around online.

Reviews that could be damaging your company’s online reputation. Maintaining your online reputation is a big responsibility. A big part of that is having a dynamic action plan for reputation management. You may think that you already have good relationships with your customers. Or, that your business is too small to have to worry about. Not necessarily.

What is Crisis Management?

Let’s say your customers are generally satisfied. But what about the general public? What about your suppliers? Pleasing your customers is just one part of having a good online reputation. And, even if your company has a solid reputation, one misstep in crisis management could spell disaster.

Take Kentucky Fried Chicken, for example. Families have been enjoying their southern-fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and coleslaw for years. But, did you know they once ran out of chicken?

Kentucky Fried Chicken, the nation’s second-largest fast-food chain ran out of the one item that is their business title. Many customers were dissatisfied with the company. They did not hesitate to make their complaints heard via social media. If a company like KFC can have their reputation endangered by a scandal, then imagine how much worse it could be for a smaller company.

The Kentucky Fried Chicken Brand

Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders in Kentucky in 1930. What started off as a place called Sanders’ Court & Cafe’ ended up being a hugely successful North American franchise. They eventually expanded to Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, and the United Kingdom by the ‘60s. The thing that set them apart from other fried chicken restaurants was the use of 11 herbs and spices. A trade secret that many have tried to imitate.  They now have almost 20,000 locations worldwide. They are in 123 countries and territories.

In recent years, KFC’s marketing campaign has been focused on having different celebrities playing the role of the beloved Colonel Sanders. Celebrities like Darrell Hammond, Norm Macdonald, and most recently Reba McEntire have appeared on tv and radio commercials. They have all been encouraging people to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

6 Ways to Tell You Need Reputation Management

  1. You don’t have a consolidated, real-time view of your online reputation. Perhaps, a customer has a negative experience with your business. They write a bad review online. A reputation management team will be able to address the negative review. And immediately resolve the issue with the customer. If you don’t know the review is there, how can you respond to the customer and alleviate their frustration?
  2. You’ve seen an increase in customer service issues. Have you been getting a lot of negative feedback regarding your customer service? A reputation management company can recognize patterns in reviews and help you address the issue.
  3. Increased Negative Sentiment. You have noticed a largely negative response to your online presence.
  4. Talking positively about your competition. Doing things like trash-talking your clients or competition to get ahead will reflect poorly on your business character.
  5. Your negative reviews are seen more than your positive reviews. If the negative is all people can find online, they will focus on the negative.
  6. Shrinking Leads or Conversions. The sales team is converting fewer leads. This is despite increasing your advertising dollars. You’re losing your leads because of your reputation management issue. 
5 Steps in Repairing your Online Reputation
  1. Encourage customer reviews! Make sure you give a little nudge to your daily satisfied customers. Encourage them to write you a positive review.
  2. Quick Response. Be upfront with your customers about what went wrong. Discuss what you’ll do to fix the current situation, and how you’ll do better going forward.
  3. Start monitoring your positive and negative reviews. You should be aware of someone damaging your reputation. It will be difficult to fix it if you’re not. 
  4. Invest in a good reputation management software.
  5. Make sure you are monitoring search engines for any business-related keywords daily.

Having an actionable crisis management plan in place is invaluable to any business. It doesn’t matter how big or small the business is. By staying ahead of any possible problem, you will be able to make decisions that will ultimately improve your online reputation. This will drive up your ROI. Did you know that every one-star improvement typically results in a net revenue increase of anywhere from 5-9%? You will be able to keep track of your detractors and advocates. And, be able to capitalize on trends through this feedback.

KFC did the following when they experienced their chicken shortage in the United Kingdom. They responded quickly and with exactly the right attitude. KFC released a statement in the newspaper. They did this with the company’s initials scrambled around to read “FCK”. Their social media account was transparent with its customers. It kept a humorous attitude throughout the whole ordeal.

By having a reputation management company working for your business will ensure you are prepared for any crisis! Reach out to us for custom online reputation management strategies. 

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