Menu

February 2018

vuyfuyfj

Effective marketing for local brands

As a Sales Executive within the Media Partnership department, I have the opportunity to work with a variety of clients day to day. These clients range from the local church in the city, to the local Nandos. Each client ultimately has the same goal in mind. How do they reach out and advertise to students?

With this question in mind, I build bespoke packages to match clients needs and objectives. This could be their first time advertising to students at university, or they could have been advertising to students unsuccessfully for some time. In order to make sure each client advertises to students successfully, I take into account their aims and objectives, and put together recommendations for them. Ultimately there is a route for everyone to connect with students, regardless of which industry you are in or what your budget is, and it’s my role to find which route is best for their university student campaign.

Advertise to students

These recommendations can range from advertising to students during Freshers at their local Freshers Fair on the university campus, where they can speak to up to 11,000 students per day, to sending out an email campaign to c188,000 students in our media partner’s database. I provide guidance and make recommendations on how best to target this lucrative market throughout the client’s journey.

A local business may need some ideas on how to advertise to students and grab their attention whilst attending a university student marketing event. Based on their aims and objectives I will make recommendations on how to make their stand as attractive as possible and therefore get the results they want! At BAM we also offer a variety of services which can be of benefit to local companies such as engaging promotional staff, data capture apps and experiential stand creation.

Once a client has decided on the best route to advertise to students at university, I follow their campaign right through to the very end, from planning and tailoring their campaign, to project management and aftercare. It’s great being their sole point of contact and following their journey from the start. The most rewarding feeling of working within the Media Partnership department is being able to grow local businesses, from taking their first steps in to the student market to watching them come back year after year.

If you’re a local business and are looking to advertise to students at university in your local area, please get in touch with me today to see how I can assist you with your student marketing campaign.

Written by: Emma Lawrence, Sales Executive, BAM Agency Ltd

kdfjk

How to be a creative corporate brand

You can mimic a result but not the creativity.

As technology continues to progress and its developments surpass our expectations year on year, it is becoming abundantly clear that creativity really is key. 20 years ago the idea of machines carrying out human jobs was exactly that, just an idea. However, with the advancements we have seen over past decades it is now a reality that one day soon filling even the most traditional of jobs will become a competition between man and machine.

There is however, one thing machines will always fail to replicate, human creativity. Creativity and innovation are now critical to any business if it aims to thrive in our ever changing world, stay ahead of trends and look towards the future.

Even the most corporate of businesses are starting to see the importance of creativity, it’s ability to problem solve and outdo the competition. In the words of Albert Einstein “Imagination is more important than knowledge” but when every aspect of your business appears to be nothing but corporate, how do you showcase creativity?

Social Media

There really is an endless possibility of content that you can post and share on social media, but regardless of your sector or product offering there is one thing that all businesses should aim to incorporate in order to nail creative social. Storytelling.

Storytelling has always, and will likely always play a large part in successful marketing, so you can afford to get creative with it! From blogs to videos and still imagery to gifs, the social world is your oyster. Stories help enable businesses and brands to portray personality, create connections and weave a creative narrative into a seemingly corporate company.

If you really are struggling to shine a creative light on your business, visuals are a great place to start. Eye-catching, engaging and memorable imagery will help captivate your audience when scrolling through their news feed. Behind the scenes, product teasers, company treats and the occasional work place boomerang are just a few examples of imagery than can get the creative ball rolling on social.

Creative advertising

Sponsorships

Making unsexy brands sexy since the beginning of time.

Cool by association is real and it’s something even the most corporate of brands continue to take advantage of. From DHL sponsoring London Fashion Week to Mastercard sponsoring The BRITS, these unlikely partnerships are both mutually beneficial and effective when showcasing your creative side.

Sponsorship’s increase brand awareness while allowing consumers and companies to connect through real-time, meaningful and genuine interactions (Markgrowth, 2017). However, it’s important to pick a brand that’s target market align with yours. When chosen carefully the right event sponsorship will bring your target audience directly to you.

DHL and London Fashion Week may seem like world’s apart, but the two are a match made in heaven. With the immense pressures designers are facing with shipments and equipment arriving on time, DHL are there to help ease that pressure and help put designer’s minds at ease.

The association and connection is then continued even after the shows have finished, as DHL continue to deliver each designer’s branded goods, securing a connection every step of the way from catwalk to the consumer clothes rail.

Creative advertising

Campaigns

Whether you’re a bank or a brick manufacturer, your campaigns don’t have to be boring. Ranging from the humorous to the shocking, the light-hearted to the thought-provoking, campaigns need to make an impact and you need to think outside the box. Once again, creativity is key.

With a corporate business in 2018 it’s easier than ever to get caught up in the potential of technology and data to optimise the delivery of your ad, but the creativity and original idea behind the ad has to be good otherwise it will be all for nothing!

The power of creative campaigns to transform businesses and inspire consumers can never be underestimated, one ad that makes the world take note, stop and think can revolutionise your brand’s reputation, drive emotion and most importantly showcase your creative ability. After all, great strategy without great creative is like clapping with one hand.

If you would like to know how BAM can help your brand get creative with your next campaign, please get in touch with our team.

Mark Growth. (2017). Connect with your target market. Why sponsor and event?. Available: https://blog.markgrowth.com/connect-with-your-target-market-why-sponsor-an-event-5339f1ea988e. Last accessed 20th Feb 2018.

shutterstock_image-38

Branding; Everything you need to know

If you’re reading this it’s likely that you’ve realised branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, regardless of its size or product offering. Businesses large or small, selling business to business or business to consumer all have one thing in common, branding.

When you first think of branding you may just imagine the visual aspects of a brand, but in fact branding encompasses more than you think, a whole strategy in fact! In today’s increasingly competitive market a highly effective branding strategy is now essential if you want to make it to the top. But what are the three key elements of a branding strategy that you need to nail in order to achieve this?

Everything you need to know about branding

Bad Logo, bad look, bad luck

Number one is your logo. The foundation of your brand is your logo, it really is that straight forward. Make it memorable, make it modern and make it magnetise.

You need to view your logo as much more than just the symbol or design that goes along with your brand name, your logo will likely be used across your packaging, website, products and will often take pride of place on any promotional materials.

For this reason your logo needs to become the face of your brand, it should be used to effectively communicate your brand with the aim of it becoming recognisable without the need to spell out the whole business. Mcdonald’s, Nike and Apple are just three prime examples of a logo done right, Even without their brand names incorporated into their design, it’s said that over half the people on the planet could recognise the brand name behind the logos, now that really is branding done right! (Decker, 2017)

Everything you need to know about branding

Find your voice

It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it.

The second crucial element to successful branding is establishing your brands tone of voice. Your tone of voice should be seen as an expression of your company’s way of thinking, you should view it as the way you would want your brand to act and sound if it was a real life living person.

If your target consumers are students or teenagers your tone of voice should reflect this, make it audience appropriate and keep it light-hearted. If you’re selling to the 50+ age demographic, or you’re hoping to attract more business minded men and women, don’t pretend like you’re down with the kids, it’s just not cool, and more importantly it’s not going to work.

When you successfully master you’re tone of voice, you’ll see your customers not only identifying your brand look, but your brand personality too. They will start to form an image of the person behind the brand name, resulting in a deeper connection between the business and the consumer, helping develop a sense of trust, familiarity and eventually brand loyalty.

Everything you need to know about branding

Tell your story

Every great brand has a story behind it. Every business started somewhere and every business was once just an idea on paper.

It is likely that your brand also started as a thought of creating a solution to a need that wasn’t currently being met, with this idea being driven by your passion to fill this gap. You have this passion, so you need to shout about it!

Everything that makes your brand different from the rest and ensures you stand out from the crowd needs to be championed in your branding, whether this is through your slogan, through your Social Media or through your brand values. People love to get behind a cause, especially if it benefits or helps them in any way. This is why you need to make your story known. You had a dream and your dream is becoming a reality, you haven’t forgotten where you’ve come from, you’re sticking to your roots and your vision has always been clear.

Want to find out more about the importance of branding? Get in touch with our team today

Decker, K. (2017). The importance of a logo—5 reasons you must have one. Available: https://99designs.co.uk/blog/tips-en-gb/logo-importance/. Last accessed 13th Feb 2018.

kfdshj-1

New York Times Brand Ambassador Campaign

Brief

In August 2017, BAM were briefed by global news outlet, The New York Times to implement a strategic Brand Ambassador programme on campus to introduce UK students to the brand. We worked to the following objectives:

  1. Engage with generation Z students during the first semester of the academic year
  2. Successfully lay the foundations of a Brand Ambassador programme (including the provision of training and management throughout)
  3. Increase brand awareness of The New York Times on campus
  4. Achieve a minimum of 600 new subscribers

New York Times Brand Ambassador Training

Concept

In order to successfully achieve the objectives set, BAM kick-started the campaign by building a fully branded Brand Ambassador recruitment page which supported online applications from potential candidates.  

We conducted an exhaustive yet targeted recruitment drive through multiple mediums. At BAM we know the best route to market directly to students on mass is at Freshers Fairs, so we orchestrated a Freshers tour, as it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce students to the New York Times brand. BAM organised everything from booking the onsite space to recruiting promotional staff from our extensive database. The promotional staff were fully trained and briefed in order to successfully promote New York Times, driving digital subscriptions and promoting the Brand Ambassador programme. 

New York Times Brand Ambassador Campaign

Following the application deadline in early October, BAM undertook a strategic and thorough interview process, before shortlisting the successful candidates. In mid-October we delivered an extensive training programme to ensure that our eight enthusiastic and dedicated Brand Ambassadors had the tools and knowledge to be able to succeed in the role. 

During the 10-week campaign, the Brand Ambassadors were required to work 8 hours a week, which they were able to to fit around their studies. We used our Brand Ambassador portal which enables us to allocate missions on a weekly basis to challenge the Brand Ambassadors to achieve different objectives, keeping them engaged and productive. Brand Ambassadors would log onto the portal, accept the missions and once completed submit evidence of their work.

New York Times Brand Ambassador Campaign

Our team would be on hand for any questions or queries they had and also provided advice and guidance to get the best results. We required the Brand Ambassadors to submit a weekly report that detailed the activity they had completed that week with any relevant feedback and details on their plans for future activity. This enabled us to obtain valuable insights into what methods were the most effective at each University in terms of engaging students. With Brand Ambassadors being our ‘boots on the ground’ their insight and findings were pivotal to the campaign’s success. 

BAM provided full in house management of the Brand Ambassadors which included:

  • Round-the-clock support via email, phone and a dedicated messaging group
  • Face to face meetings with the Brand Ambassadors
  • Weekly check-ins
  • Brainstorming support
  • Organisation of activities
  • Setting of missions via the Brand Bmbassador portal
  • Purchasing media spaces at universities
  • Organisation and processing of payroll
 

Results

The campaign was a huge success and we found that students were very interested in becoming subscribers to The New York Times and as a result we exceeded the subscription targets for this international brand. Not only exceeding the subscription target, we increased brand presence and awareness on campus and recruited eight brand loyal and confident Brand Ambassadors to positively represent the New York Times.

With the right Brand Ambassadors, peer influence is a strong marketing tool. The millennial generation trust the opinion of their peers and influencer’s making a Brand Ambassador campaign one of the most effective ways to get you brand seen and heard on campus.