Marketing 101

What is product marketing, and how can a brand do it well?

This year, the TV industry has an opportunity to unlock the identity crisis, writing a new story based on data transparency and proving value for both the buy and sell sides.

New research from Sailthru and Coresight Research indicates that retailers, specifically DTC brands, lean on targeted promotions 20 percent more than other retailers. With wild success using promotion-driven display advertising on sites like Instagram, it’s no surprise that DTC marketers favor the same concept on channels like email and SMS.

Organizations hoping to pursue a brand purpose that focuses on more than mere lucre frequently have the best of intentions; however, those good intentions don’t prevent many efforts at brand purpose from failing. Guests on the ANA Center for Brand Purpose’s Beyond Profit podcast often reflect on the sources of such failure, and below are eight of the causes that they identify. Those championing brand purpose in their organizations will find the following quotes helpful in their own efforts as cautions against common pitfalls.

It has become rather trendy to question — or even speak out against — the value of brand purpose. That mountain of studies from trusted sources about consumers preferring to support, buy from, and work for purpose-led brands? Overblown and misleading, the skeptics say. The idea that a deeply embedded purpose can drive business strategy and operations, improve organizational culture, and lead to solutions that address societal issues? Perhaps, but at what cost to the business in time and effort? The notion that purpose can spur sales, business growth, and competitive advantage? Oh, please.

Net0 defines net zero emissions as “the balance between the greenhouse gases that have been emitted and the offsets that have brought those emissions to zero. Zero carbon is when no GHGs were emitted to begin with. Successful carbon reduction strategies include lower emissions targets every year until zero emissions are achieved.

A rising number of B2B marketers are starting to adopt account-based marketing (ABM) strategies. But developing ABM programs can't be done quickly, and it requires a concerted effort to align sales and marketing departments.

Marketing to any demographic includes looking at sets of trends and profile basics to craft a message that will reach them most effectively (the explosion of articles discussing "marketing to millennials" is an easy way to see this in action). The issue with reducing groups of a similar generation, race, or preferences to a target on a marketing calendar, however, is that it forgets the individual, and betrays strong consumer preferences for personalization.

QR Codes are an extension of the barcode, and were first introduced as a way for manufacturers to scan larger amounts of data quickly. By 2011, retailers and trade shows were able to take advantage of smartphone technology to utilize QR codes in their inventories, badging, and check-ins — and slowly there emerged consumer usage in the form of online offers.

SEO was a lot simpler in a less-crowded marketplace; you could optimize by keyword for your product, industry, or customer demographics and watch your traffic grow. In 2021, however, not only is the online space left with little metaphorical keyword elbow room, but search engines have gotten smarter to keep up with consumer demand.

As more customers flock to social media to discover the next big trend, research future purchases, and engage with influencer content, brands have become savvy at meshing their content into our daily digital lives. And with so many options to choose from, customers have grown increasingly fond of the brands that give them new and convenient ways to buy their products, which is why more and more companies are offering a Buy Now, Pay Later across their digital platforms.

The metaverse is all about bringing customer experience to the forefront of marketing in a whole new way. The pandemic gave way to a boom in virtual shopping methodologies, and the response of the consumer market speaks well to the future possibilities of marketing in the metaverse.

As the viewer experience evolves, converged TV, which encompasses premium, professionally produced content across linear and digital TV and multiple platforms and devices, has taken a front seat to both digital video and traditional linear markets. Advertisers are recognizing the need to bring all forms of premium video into one view rather than keeping digital and TV budgets in silos.

ANA’s Ask the Expert research service answers the question, “How can my brand partner with others to maximize our marketing output?"

We might sometimes be tempted to think of brand purpose as something that organizations pursue strictly out of altruistic motives. However, the power of brand purpose lies in its ability to drive all aspects of a business and galvanize the workplace.

E-commerce brands often spend substantial resources on ads to drive website traffic, but rarely optimize conversion rates enough to turn increased traffic into sales.

ALSAC (the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) is undergoing a transformation in its marketing organization, breaking down functional and operating silos to create a new future-fit model that will fuel the next generation of storytelling.

Jamie Lewis from The Wonderful Company discusses how to evaluate when a company should use an in-house agency.

The oldest gen Zers will turn 25 years old in 2022. That’s old enough to be starting their adult lives: buying cars, grocery shopping for themselves, and deciding where to get their news and entertainment. Email is already an important channel for gen Z.In a recent study by CM Group, 23 percent of gen Z obtains news and information from newsletters, the same as millennials.

Abandoned carts are the cause of billions in lost revenue each year. But with the shift to all things digital, how can brands succeed at regaining the attention of hyper-distracted, overstimulated customers with so many competing options just a click or scroll away?