Branding Tactics From Kreative Clan

Competitions

Humans are built with a competitive mind. We are jealous of people who are doing better than us. We want to win. Giving the opportunity to compete in simple things is a way to engage with customers. Being part of a competition will stay in the customers mind.

When your brand runs a competition your audience try to be a part of it. And they wait for the results. They check back in with you every once in a while, to get an update on the results. What did we achieve here? We achieved Brand Recall.

If you are a restaurant you can have food photography contest, Guess as many ingredients as possible contest. Or even better, an eating competition. If you are a musical instrument brand you can have a performance music competition. If you are fitness brand you can have fitness test contest on social media. Challenges.

In all of these cases your participants become a marketing engine for you on their social media. You force them to create user generated content, which is whole new tactic by itself. We will talk about that in another episode.

Now let us look at some examples. Mahindra thar. The automobile giants conducts thar fest every year. Part of the fest is an Offroad competition. Crazy offroaders from all parts of the country travel 1000’s of kilometres with their custom built vehicle to participate. And their fan following awaits the results. Even I am part of an offroad club and I have travelled with my club to participate in these events. I haven’t raced myself but, being part of it was exhilarating. The point is, as a result of these competitions, Mahindra is branded as a bad-ass sturdy automobile that can cross any obstacles. The crazy mods on these vehicles makes regular customers wanna buy more accessories for their thar boosting another segment sales for them.

Another example is Redbull. Redbull is a marketing machine. They run competitions all over the world on all different segments. If its crazy Redbull funds it. Their brand name resonates with energy. It’s a drink with a lot of caffeine in it. But they never talk about their product. They just associate themselves with energy. I personally don’t think there is any secret sauce in their drink. But the secret sauce is in their marketing. They are one of the best marketing companies in the world.

You want more examples. Lets go for it. I will educate. That is my purpose in life. Let me think. Yes. The beauty product brand Dove. I get chills when I think about their contest. Real beauty should be shared. They ran a fill in the blanks contest with photos. Participants were supposed to share two things that makes their friend beautiful with a photo attached and share it on social media. And the grand prize, not TV’s or Ipads or product coupons. Winners will become part of their Instore branding. The result, they get real genuine beauties to represent their brand and associated themselves with real beauty sharing. Spot-On right. They hit the branding bulls-eye.

While the first two examples are pricey and needs sizable budgets, the third one doesn’t. You just have think creative. Or hire someone who can be creative.

As a business who is your biggest advocate, Of course its your most satisfied customers. Oh they are the best. They love you. I have witnessed few of my clients taking an hour out of their time to really push my services. And I love them for it.

When you are looking to buy something new, who do you talk to. People who have already bought the product. If you don’t know anyone personally you search the internet for them. And what is their opinion called? Yes its called a Testimonial.

Hello this is Harry, and you are listening to Branding Tactics.

So you have heard about Testimonials right. Of course you have.  And you know its importance too. Let me ask you a few questions? The answer to that will teach you the importance of Testimonials.

Have you ever bought anything from amazon without looking at the ratings.

Have you ever bought any electronics items without checking out YouTube reviews.

Have you ever selected a restaurant on Zomato with out looking at customer reviews.

When you are driving, you wanna find a place to eat. Don’t you look at the ratings even though you are extremely hungry.

Don’t you research for at least 3 months before buying a car.

To be specific, You spend a lot of time, researching about the quality of the product or service you wanna buy.

But, have you filled your brands digital platforms with customer testimonials? Do you ask your customers to leave a review? Almost never right? Why the hell not. Cos you feel shy. You think you are above all that. No you are not.

Let me telling you some thing, your satisfied customers will be more than happy to leave a review for you. If you have to ask a customer to leave a review, you have to give them good service. So it is mutually beneficial.

So where do you ask them to post these testimonials or reviews.

There are lot of platforms.

No 1 Google. Are you B2B linked is a good platform. Are you restaurant, Facebook and Instagram will do wonders for you. Ask your customers to post pictures and tag you.

So basically where ever your customers spend time online you should have an account there. Lets say, you are consultant and a subject matter expert, you must have a LinkedIn account where you post opinions regularly and recommendations from your customers.

So I will list down the platforms where you should have reviews.

1) Google

2) Facebook ratings and testimonials

3) Instagram testimonials

4) LinkedIn recommendations and endorsements

5) Which ever ecommerce platforms you are available on, Own website, Amazon Flipkart, Nyka

6) Blogs

7) Your own website

8) YouTube video testimonials

9) Business listing websites like Indiamart, Just dial etc.

Before you become lazy to ask for reviews, ask yourselves this. Have you ever bought product rated below 4 stars, unless that’s the only piece available in the market and there is no other way. Answer is no.

It has more value than a celebrities endorsement. Why because celebrities are doing it for money. But if a customer has to same something good about you it is because they are happy.