Sincerely Silver Customizing Experiences

The new way to connect with customers today is through customization and it’s becoming more and more prevalent across industries. No matter if you’re a global brand, start-up or indie brand customization is something that’s worth taking a look at. It’s the way to attract new customers and keep your current ones coming back to you over and over again. 

In fact, this is a great example of a woman's lifestyle jewelry brand, Sincerely Silver which has mastered customization that has women clamoring over their pieces. They create a collection of simple and classy jewelry for everyday wear as can be seen in the handwriting disc pendant. The personalized jewelry company offers customers the opportunity to have their own personal messages engraved onto jewelry pieces to add a more meaningful touch

As a brand primarily focusing on personalization, Sincerely Silver is highly invested in the modern movement of feminism as it encourages the stories of women everywhere. They want to be a source of inspiration for all, and to encourage women to tell their stories in various ways, whether through personalized jewelry or social media stories.

This small, family-owned business is setting out to create personalized pieces that hold as much meaning as possible for the wearer while being versatile. So their pieces could be for long-distance relationships, memorial pieces, or just a special piece to have forever. According to the brand spokesperson, Kayla Stefaner “We make everything custom made to order by hand and go through a multi-step process to make sure each piece will be perfect for the recipient. We are also constantly looking to inspire and empower women through our pieces & their stories.” 

By staying true to its brand value, Sincerely Silver continues to create innovative designs, unveiling its newest collection, the fingerprint jewelry line. So if you're wondering what can we expect to see in the future of jewelry customization when it comes to this little powerful brand? Customers can expect this brand to continue to push forward in the realm of customization while staying true to their ethos of women supporting women in ways that truly touch the human spirit. 

This is a brand that utilizes inspiration and customization to really capture the hearts of customers. When brands master these strategies they become powerful brands in the marketplace that have staying power. Customers today want to know that they have options while standing alongside a brand whose values align with their own. So how will your brand customize in the future?

Co-Branding Is Trending Again

There always seems to be a new marketing trend on the horizon so is co-branding the next “it” trend? Whether you call it a partnership, collaboration or anything in that realm it all falls under the marketing concept of co-branding. So what exactly makes co-branding the next it thing? 

As more brands clamor into the marketplace, the competition will become stiff. In order for newcomers to quickly scale their brand, they’ll adopt co-branding as a way to build brand awareness and customers. The idea is to work with another brand that reaches a similar customer as your brand yet doesn’t compete for the customer’s attention.

What exactly are the benefits of co-branding and how do you even start looking for a brand partner? 

1. Reach New Customers 

When you partner with the right brand you will have an opportunity to reach new customers that you wouldn’t have reached alone. This also allows your brand the opportunity to engage with these new customers to not just potentially make a sale but also get inspiration to better your brand. 

2. Create Unique Marketing Campaigns 

This is an opportunity to allow you to come up with unique marketing strategies with your partner brand. Here you can test different marketing campaigns to see what will resonate with customers. Cross promoting contests on social media is a sure way to gain eyeballs for both brands, as well as increasing followers. 

3. Be Clear on Your Brand Values 

It very important that you are clear on what your brand values are because you want to make sure these values also align with your partner brand. If they don’t then the partnership won’t work. Brand values are simply what your brand believes in and that usually comes from the founder or CEO. 

4. Authenticity With Your Partner Brand 

Be clear with your partner brand what you’re looking to gain for the partnership. Is it sales? Profit-sharing? Or maybe it’s something else. Make sure it's spoken about early on before you launch a campaign together. 

5. Platform to Beta Test 

This could also be a great opportunity for your brand to have a platform to beta test any new product or services on a small scale. 

We listed some of the benefits, but how do you go about finding the right co-branding partner? Well, it’s actually quite easy. 

1. Be Clear on Your Brand Values 

It very important that you are clear on what your brand values are because you want to make sure these values also align with your partner brand. If they don’t then the partnership won’t work. Brand values are simply what your brand believes in and that usually comes from the founder or CEO. 

2. Getting Clear With Your Partner Brand 

Be clear with your partner brand what you’re looking to gain for the partnership. Is it sales? Profit-sharing? Or maybe it’s something else. Make sure it's spoken about early on before you launch a campaign together. 

3. Look Within Your Industry 

Find other brands that are within your space but always make sure that the products or services they offer don’t compete with yours. You want to make sure that you both create a unique end product together. 

4. Dare To Be Bold  

Sometimes you can even look outside of your industry for co-branding partners. The most important part is that you need to figure out how both products will complement each other. It has to make sense or there’s no reason to create co-branding partnerships. 

5. Be Honest About Money 

When you create co-branding opportunities be courageous and have that uncomfortable conversation about money. It’s important to set the expectations early on in the game. This allows both sides to really know what to expect whether it’s the cost or the profits. 

7 Marketing Trends Brands Can't Ignore

The marketing landscape is changing at what seems like lightning speeds. It seemed like it was just yesterday when banner ads seem to be the hottest thing. Fast forward and we’re now debating all types of different content and if they are still even relevant to consumers. 

As we shift in the way we as consumers consume content, brands need to be nimble enough to shift alongside their customers to meet their needs. If all this seems daunting or scary to you don’t fret, technology can not and will not take over the human to human interaction. Matter of fact human interaction will still be key but technology will just be a conduit or complement to human interaction. 

So what’s really shaping up to be some of the marketing trends that we no longer can ignore? Here are the top 8 marketing trends brands need to pay attention to:

1. Voice Search 

This category isn’t going away, a matter of fact it’s going to be growing even more so. Think Alexa and Siri. With the increasing popularity of voice search make sure your brand is optimizing all or part of your content marketing. So what do you optimize for search? Well to start with, the important aspect of your business, the short blurb that shows up on search results. 

2. Relevant and Creative Content 

Consumers are still interested in content that will relate to them. Relevant content is shown to increase sales and create original content that positively engages your customers. 

3. Different Content-Length To Better Connect 

Today our customers will connect with you differently so by making sure that you have content at every length and style is going to be key. Some customers are still into the old fashioned reading a blog post while others want to listen in on a podcast driving to work. Or maybe they want to watch a 15-second video. Whatever content you create keep in mind that different customers want different types of content. 

4. Engagement Is The New Metric 

It’s easy to buy followers now and brands are starting to get hip to the game so they are now using engagement as one of the measures of success. Based on recent study brands across industries are stating that look for 3% or more engagement rate when working with influencers. 

5. Social Media Stories 

Lately with all the algorithm changes on Instagram has many of us a bit lost in the sauce. But do start to take a look at integrating social media stories into your marketing campaign. It’s a fun and quick way that customers get a glimpse of your brand. 

6. Choose The Right Influencers 

There are plenty of influencers out there who create all types of content. Make sure your brand is picking the right influencer(s) to align with your messaging. Do some research about your picks. 

7. Rise of AI

AI is a growing category as it can collect large amounts of data for businesses. If left to humans it would take a lot of manpower and not to mention hours to collect all the information. AI is also a tool that businesses are using to create lead generation. 

Organic Marketing, 7 Things to Know Before Starting

Organic marketing has been as close to word of mouth these days. So what exactly is it and why does it matter? Well for starters organic marketing has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than paid marketing. Not only does it tout better results but it also harnesses a community of customers who provide feedback or start a conversation about your brand. 

If you’re wondering how to create a successful organic marketing strategy here are 7 things to consider before starting: 

1. Company Soul Searching 

Take a look at the competitive landscape get to know who are the players in your space, get to know your brand and make sure you can honestly answer these questions before you delve into organic marketing.  

• What are your brand’s strengths and weaknesses. 

• What is your brand known for? 

• What are your competitors doing differently? 

• Is the market saturated or open? 

• Who are the market leaders? 

• What is your share of the market? 

2. Your Audience 

Are they B2B (Business to Business) or B2C (Business to Consumers). It will be helpful to have a demographic profile of your customer, gender, age, race, location etc. 

3. Setting Goals 

Are you looking to increase web traffic or social media reach? Maybe it’s increasing sales of a particular product or even a new product. 

4. Define Your Methods and Tactics

Brands need to consider how are their customers being motivated. Is i by greed? Fear? Or maybe it’s something else 

5. Your Platform and Content 

Here you want to ask what do I want to say, and who do I want to say it to? Where do you want to deliver this message?

6. Budget 

The ultimate marketing question that makes or breaks. You want to be honest and really know what you can spend when it comes to organic marketing. 

7. Evaluate and Improve 

Like anything else in business, there’s no perfect formula that fits with every brand. So it’s going to be about testing, validating and being flexible in your approach. 

6 Types of Frictionless Retail Experience

One of the biggest retail pain points is the check out lines. The perfect example is checking out of the supermarket on the weekends. It’s seems like the lines are never ending and you wait forever. These days more people are abandoning the brick and mortar shopping experience and moving to online shopping and because of this reason retailers have started to focus on building experiences along with relationships with their customers. 

Frictionless retail has become an emerging trend where it removes all barriers that are in front of the customer. Many might assume that it’s humanless checkout but brands such as Apple and Macy’s has now armed their staff with mobile devices for simplified check out. 

A report by Global Data provided by the 4A’s identifies six types of frictionless retail that are poised to change the customer experience forever:

 1. Ease Of Access: Focuses on how fast the customer finds what they are looking for and how quickly they can pay for it. Apple Stores are a great example of this. 

 2. Fulfillment: Online has shifted the responsibility of order fulfillment to retailers and it’s all due in part to Amazon. 

 3. Multichannel Alignment: Providing customer options with how they would like to purchase. 

 4. Payment Options: The instant 1-click payment such as Apple/ Android Pay is also a form of frictionless retail that many stores are now making available to customers.  

 5. Personalization: This is going to be a continuous trend into 2020 where retailers tailor services to customer needs. A great example is Under Armour’s embedded chip inside show that can measure how much a person runs. 

 6. Positive Friction: Enhancing or adding to the purchasing experience such as recommending complementary products which is a strategy many luxury brands use. 

 In order to be successful at frictionless retailing you have to consider what will slow down the customer from completing the purchase and this goes for both online and offline experiences. 

Happiness Branding WTH?

It’s by popular misconception that branding is simply about a snazzy website, cool looking logo and some fancy fonts. We’re here to tell you that branding is far from just those touchpoints. In fact, your website, logo, and fonts are just triggers that help customers remember your brand. 

What allows brands to become brands is the kind of experience you deliver to your customers both online and offline. It starts from the inception of where you first meet your customers all the way to post-sale customer support. That’s the reality of it and the reason why brands need to create an all-encompassing approach when it comes to branding. 

The best way to have your customers coming back to you over and over again is by creating positive experiences because when we have the ability to change our customers’ lives they engage long term. That’s the reason why brands need to carefully think about how they create “happy experiences”. Let’s face it who wants to have an unhappy experience especially if they’re going to spend their hard-earned cash with your business. 

Scientific studies around happiness have shown that the body releases dopamine, for pleasure-seeking, Oxytocin for bonding which by the way also correlates to romantic attachment and Endorphin, the body’s natural pain killer. Now with all these natural chemicals flowing at once throughout the body, it’s no wonder why so many of us seem to be on this unending quest for happiness. This idea spills over to brand experiences that we curate for our customers, it’s important to always create happiness if we’re looking to make repeat sales. 

Here are four things to consider when it comes to happiness branding: 

1. Pleasure: How can brands deliver immediate reward that allows customers to savor the experience over time? 

2. Flow: Help customers achieve new skills or goals. Make sure the goals feel challenging for most people but also still attainable. 

3. Deep Satisfaction: Create ways that our products or services make a positive and lasting impact on our customers’ lives. 

4. Meaning: Help your customers make their lives meaningful through your products. 

Happiness branding isn’t just some fun hippie term, it’s something that brands need to live by. If you take a look at the brands that have gained massive success across industries from beauty to even life coaches you’ll see that the one thing they all have in common is that they bring on the happiness and its authentic happiness. So how will your brand design it’s next happiness experience? 

What We Know About Gen Z's

The ever growing marketplace is preparing to usher in the newest generation with massive buying power- Gen Z. This is a generation that grew up on social media, 13-22 year olds are already taking note of generations of the past by monetizing their content therefore driving the influencer marketing industry even further. 

JWT calls this generation, “Super Creatives: the supercharged multidisciplinary future of creative talent. And your new consumers.” This generation is extremely comfortable in the digital arena and know how to navigate around it. 

Brands need to learn how to co-navigate with this generation utilizing creative marketing to not only engage them but to also invite them to share their creativity as part of your brand experience. Keep in mind that Gen Z’s are raised by millennials so they are used to being heard, notably their voice matters as this is one of the values instilled in them since birth. 
According to a survey by JWT Intelligence  

• Over half (51%) of Z’s feel they are more creative than the previous generations 

• More than half (55%)  Z’s say they find social apps and the internet are more creative spaces than what they experience offline 

• 56% use social apps to creatively express themselves

• Among Gen Zers, 27% have hacked or adapted an app or website’s features to do something that isn't typically available, such as using separate apps to add sound, video, imagery, or music

Reaching Z’s have become a whole new set of marketing rules as 33% of them want brands to reach them through email. What’s interesting is that Gen Z’s are interested in cool products versus cool experiences compared to Millennials who are interested in cool experiences.

The ultimate place for Z’s to gather information seems to be YouTube.  As many experts have expressed that video is will be the wave of how content is delivered. Across social media platforms such as Instagram, Linkedin, and Facebook video still continues to be an all time favorite. 

Fantasy Experience Meets Real World Brands

There’s something about a fantasy experience that has us all mesmerized. But what happens when the fantasy experience meets real-world brands? It’s a concept that not far-reaching as brands bring to life some of our most beloved digital fantasies. According to a Nielsen report, “US adults now spend 11 hours a day interacting with media, and for those aged 18-34 over half (57%) this time isn’t spent with passive media (TV and radio) but with interactive digital media.”

Still not convinced? Let’s take a look at what’s trending in the fantasy world which is now part of our lives.

Emoticon Pillows
Many of us are have seen these hanging at retail stores, different emoticon pillows from a smiley face to winky eyes in the form of bright yellow plush squeeze pillows. These pillows have also transformed from home decor to dog toys.

E-Sports
This is a category that colleges to mainstream stadiums are embracing. Players get to interact with each other digitally through video games. Its also become a spectator sport that has brought together people from all over the world.

I-Robots
This lifelike robot has the ability to now become a real-life companion and perform daily tasks. Hotels have started to experiment with i-robots for room service in order to create a cost-effective and efficient guest experience.

Hotels
Lisboeta hotel in Macau recently announced that they will be recreating a theme around Line friends. Line is the Japanese messaging app that has grown wildly popular with the Asian community. The Casa de Amigo’s room will feature designs around various Line Friends as part of enhancing the guest experience. The brand is looking to reach more Millennial families. Line Friends derived from the cute stickers that are sent between users.  

In order to create brand experiences that really speak to your customer brands need to be aware of what cultural trends are happening right now. Experiences that also incorporate these trends attract customers who want to be part of your brand journey while creating a community. So major cultural trends will your brand be embracing?

Emotional Experiences Create Memories

Brand experiences that tap into the emotions of our customers have the ability to create memories. Emotional experiences speak to the core of who we are as humans. If you think about this, emotions are a very universal language. You go anywhere in the world if we see someone crying we know that they’re sad. If they’re smiling from ear to ear we know that they are happy. Emotions are the same driver that has many of us chasing after love, happiness, freedom, peace and more.

When brands tap into these positive emotions they create a bond with their customers. Remember when you first saw Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches commercial? Did it make you cry or maybe it was a moment of realization for you? The powerful video had the world talking and till this day it’s probably one of the first commercials that really spoke to us on a humanistic emotional level.

But today’s there’s something happening in our oversaturated hyper-data world, customers are being bombarded with billions of messages which means their emotions are being pulled in many directions. It’s because of this very reason that brands need to be deliberate in designing their experiences. They need to be aware of the type of emotion or emotions they want customers to experience in order to craft the right experience.

In creating experiences there are 2 key questions we must ask at every step of the experience. One is am I saving my customer time and two am I seizing their attention. Your experience design must start precisely the first place you meet your new customer. Maybe you’re meeting them in person, online, social media, through a blog or even an email but wherever you meet them you must start asking those questions.

Here’s how these experiences would look like:

Collectible Experience (Seizing Their Attention)

Think of it as doing it for Instagram. Essentially these are experiences customers can easily snap and post onto social media. A perfect example of this would be Refinery 29’s, 29 Rooms.

The drivers of collectible experiences are:

1. Broken rules of engagement -When brands operate out of the normal parameters. The Beer Dog Brewery opens up a beer-centric hotel in Ohio called The Dog House. It features an interactive beer museum, beer-infused spa treatments, and an in-shower minibar.

2. Status- social media platforms have allowed people to upload live experiences and share it globally where it’s seen by billions.

3. The rise of expert- customers are picking easy and cheap products such as Pandora or Spotify “Music on tap”.

Saving them time

This is an automated experience, it’s seamless and happily forgotten. Financial institutions frequently use this type of experience. In the beginning, customers will love this experience, take it away from them and they become irritated.

The drivers for this kind of experience are:

1. On-demand economy- customer are getting used to instant gratification. That is why brands such as Uber, Netflix, and Amazon are wildly successful, with one click customers can fulfill their needs.

2. Verbal Intelligence- using voice-activated products such as Google Home, Alexa, Siri

3. Cool to be busy- being too busy is a status symbol now. If we go onto Instagram and look up #hustle #workhard #workhardplayhard, you’ll see billions of posts attributed to these hashtags.

Start-Up Brands Love Guerrilla Marketing

When it comes to startups and creating experiences it can be a huge challenge due to a lack of cash flow. Which means many startups fail to create those experiences that truly connect with customers. They function primarily on a very basic means of building brand awareness which is just social media but it doesn’t have to be this way. Startup brands must have a love for guerrilla marketing in order to succeed.

The concept of guerrilla marketing has been around for many years. By marketing your brand in this way it can build awareness. Guerrilla marketing is a very grassroots hybrid way of getting your business out into the world. It’s one that focuses on having a dialogue with your customers, encouraging them to engage with you. Versus traditional marketing which is very much a one-way dialogue, where brands tell the world I have this product, buy it.

One of the key components to building brands is to really ask yourself, “what do I want to do?” What solution(s) is your brand offering to solve a problem in the world? By creating this core concept it provides your brand a Northstar and streamlines a lot of your efforts when it comes to marketing as well as creating brand experiences. The idea is to start with one sentence, cut it down to 7 words and then finally 3 words that describe what you do.

So the question becomes how do we use guerrilla marketing to encourage a conversation with our customers? It simply starts with these:

Asking Customers to Register For Something

Maybe you want them to register for a demo of your product or a chance to meet the founder of your company. This is also going to be a great way for you to start collecting email address of those who are interested in what you have to offer.  

Newsletter Signups

This is the most common ways of encouraging a conversation. Those who sign up for your newsletters find some kind of value in what you’re offering. They want to know more and this is the chance for your brand to shine and educate those qualified customers.

Giveaways and Contests

We see this a lot on Instagram these days where brands ask you to follow, tag a few friends in order to win something from them. If you want new followers for social media this will be the quickest way to do it.

Online polls

Is another way to get the conversation going. It’s also a great market research tool where you really get a glimpse into the mindset of your customers. Feedback is always great and this is a very non-invasive way of getting it.

With all these options which one really works? That’s going to take trial and tribulations because not every brand will have the same goals nor will the audience respond in the same way. It will depend on how you craft these experiences and what your goals are. You need a marketing combination, it’s no longer about just about a singular channel of marketing.

Startups with limited budgets can try creating a website, canvassing, telephone marketing, circulars, brochures, signs on bulletins, personal letters, classified ads, direct mail, outdoor signs, billboards (ask for remnant inventory it’s cheaper), demonstrations, seminars, event sponsorships, trade shows, Public Relations, T-shirts, free gift giveaways, newspapers, magazine ads, radio, or television.

Yes, some of these sound like dinosaur advertising methodologies, but I invite you to think about if a marketplace is very noisy, where you’re aggressively competing for attention would your brand be seen? So why not try an area where not many people are playing in.

Cutie Con, Cuteness Overload

Cuteness, who can resist it? The cute industry is one that is experiencing exponential growth. It’s quite prevalent that it isn’t going away anytime soon. In NYC alone there are cute retail stores popping up left and right. Line Friends launched the first flagship store in Times Square just two years ago. Smaller brands like Rilakkuma has opted for a pop-up shop while rumors swirl of a flagship retail store located in the Hudson Yards, NYC. Even more recently news broke that Japanese dollar store, Daiso which offers a plethora of cute items will also be making its mark in the New York City area.

Brands are looking to make their mark in NYC capitalizing on the expected population growth of up to 9 million by the year 2040 as reported by NYC. So it’s no wonder the cute industry is in a race to capture the NYC market share. But with all these cute retailers popping up is there any more room in NYC for yet another cute store? Most definitely!

Meet the newest player in the cute market that’s making its splashy debut Summer of 2020. Cutie Con Expo touts that it will attract over 100K in global attendees, influencers, and media while featuring 300+ exhibitors from food, beauty, media, film, books, accessories, fashion, toys, tech and more. In addition to new cute brands launching for the first time at the expo, Cutie Con will also showcase expert speakers in the cute industry.

This new expo is already planning its stay looking to expand overseas within the next five years. There are no specific details yet as to which countries they are looking to target. To date, the expo hasn’t officially announced where it will showcase this massive event but we suspect that it will take place either in Manhattan or Brooklyn. A representative from Cutie Con stated, “We are currently in the planning stages looking for sponsors and locations that can offer at least 125K sq. feet in order to house the event. The goal of Cutie Con is to bring a nostalgic, impactful, and joyous experience to global consumers and give brands an opportunity to network and elevate business endeavors within the cute market.”

So what exactly is the deal behind all things cute? There’s actually scientific evidence that proves cute objects bring feelings of joy to the users, hence so many brands use some sort of cuteness as part of their marketing initiatives. According to Google trends, the worldwide cute interest has exponentially reached its peak and popularity over the last 10 years.

If you’re wondering what else is in store for Cutie Con, we’ll just have to stay tuned to find out what cuteness they will be bringing to NYC. But we’re positive that whatever cuteness they have in store will have us all saying “awww that’s so cute!”

6 Winning Elements of Customer Experience

Our customer’s experience has the ability to make or break our brands. In fact, without winning elements of customer experience your brand will not be able to create that connective tissue to customers. In today’s marketplace, it’s not enough to have a winning product but experiences that inspire and make our customers’ lives easier have a greater staying power. Customers are demanding experiences that are meaningfully tailored to them.

It’s imperative that you get to know your customers, not just who they are on paper but also what are their pains, wants, needs, desires even before they realize it. Experiences that keep our customers engaged is mostly due to brands truly understanding and listening to their customers.

What exactly are the elements that create a positive experience for your customers?

1. Personalization

Customers want experiences that connect with them. It needs to have some sort of meaning for them. Whether it’s saving them time, making their lives easier or even automating a decision, it needs to be relevant.

2. Meeting Customer Expectations

Our customers have set expectations when it comes to brand loyalty. When a customer first meets a new brand they are asking themselves two critical questions. One can I trust this brand? Two can I respect this brand? In their minds, they have already decided what they would like to experience with a certain brand.

3. Addressing Conflicts

Conflicts will arise, not every customer will love your brand. In today’s e-comm society a bad review can quickly ruin a brand. It can also have the ability to boost a brand to the next level as we’ve seen countless times with Influencer marketing. When it comes to conflict you must address it right away, don’t let that angry customer simmer and stew. You also want to make sure that if the conflict is on an online platform that you utilize the 2 message rule. First apologizing and second asking the customer if they’d be willing to continue the conversation offline.

4. Building Rapport

Relationships are the key to retaining customers, that is why so many brands are carefully curating their social media experiences with their customers. When you build a strong rapport with your customers or tribe you increase brand loyalty. You'll also be able to get honest feedback about your brand.

5. Creating Seamless Experiences

Experience both online and offline has to maintain some fluidity and flexibility that creates a cohesive experience for customers. It’s also the way in which customers will remember your brand. It allows them to quickly pull your brand from memory.

6. Brand Trust

Customers want to know that they can trust the brands that they are using. They want to know that brands are transparent, honest, and have their well-being in mind. Trust is also another crucial component for brand loyalty. Once the trust is broken it is very difficult to mend or even get back.

Marketing to Chinese & Japanese Luxury Consumer

The Asian consumer market has always been an interesting area for many brands, especially luxury brands. As brands look towards expansion efforts and marketing to Chinese and Japanese luxury consumers there are key differences to consider. These are two of the strongest Asian countries that have the highest luxury consumption.  

According to consulting firm McKinsey, Japanese consumers spend about $33 billion on luxury goods each year, making it 2017’s second largest luxury market in the world. Meanwhile, China’s consumer only spent $7.4 billion.

There are some key mindset differentiators between the two groups that brands must take into consideration when designing a marketing strategy and brand experience.

Digital Laggards vs. Early Adopters

Japanese luxury consumers place a high value on in-store interactions, as this indicator has high expectancy among this group. Salespeople who are kind, easy to talk to, have vast product knowledge, receiving personal and exclusive attention, attribute to in-store satisfaction according to McKinsey.

The Japanese market also lacks in a robust e-commerce market which is reflected in consumers payment habits. 93% of consumers preferred credit card payments in Japan, while WeChat accounts for only 1% of sales. Interestingly, personal beauty products such as makeup and skincare are frequently purchased online by Japanese consumers more than any other type of luxury goods.

Chinese consumers’ perspective greater differs when it comes to online payments. This group of luxury consumers relies heavily on Internet-based payments for efficiency. Total e-commerce sales in China hit $598 billion in 2016. This number is larger than the e-commerce markets of the United States and the United Kingdom combined. Chinese buyers see mobile payments as more secure than in-store purchases.

Rational vs. Experiential Buying

Japanese consumers have a rational mentality as they seek products which are of quality and durability. They tend to associate luxury with “expensive” and “high quality” and less likely to respond to social influence or status. They are also less likely to respond emotionally. This according to a report from Agility Research & Strategy on Affluent Insights from Japan. In fact, these consumers are motivated to buy for craftsmanship (56%), design/style (40%), and service (26%)

On the other spectrum, Chinese consumers have elevated to simply buying to invest in luxury lifestyles which include an expansion into health, travel, and art.

When it comes to social media influencers/ KOL (Key Opinion Leaders), Chinese consumers rely heavily on social media word-of-mouth for many of their purchasing decisions. But their Japanese counterparts place very little value on social media and influencers when choosing their luxury brands. Instead Japanese consumers’ place more value on direct interactions with brands (33%), online ads and content (excluding social media), and traditional media, including TV, radio, print and outdoor ads (20%).

Pessimistic vs. Optimistic Consumers

According to Agility’s report, Japanese consumers have a pessimistic view on wealth as one in three Japanese consumers think they will have more disposable income and have confidence that their investments will increase in the next 12 months. While one in four Japanese consumers plan on purchasing more luxury goods which are lower when compared to other Asian-Pacific markets.

In China, the luxury consumer is expected to spend more this year with incremental spend from already wealthy consumers. This will create over half the anticipated growth in Chinese luxury spending from 2016 to 2025, according to McKinsey.

Marketing to Gen Z’s

Brands are scrambling to learn as much as they can about the newest generation with buying power that’s entering the market- Gen Z’s. This is a generation that’s known as the “voice of an individualized generation; one that is made up of the many distinct voices that represent its cultural groups, subgroups, and individuals.”

By 2020 they will make up 40% of consumers, a quarter of the American population will be comprised of Gen Z’s and they will influence up to $600 billion of family spending. These stats say it all so marketers are scratching their heads trying to figure out how they can appeal to this group of new buyers when they just started to understand Millennials. When brands start to design experiences and market their themselves here are a few things to really consider when it comes to Gen Z’s.

Value of Diversity
This has been a buzzword that’s been overused but in actuality, this is a reality for Gen Z’s. They grew up in a time where the message of inclusivity has been stressed over and over again. So to them, this is a must when it comes to how brands will reach them.

Engagement and Value
Brands will really need to figure out innovative ways to create engagement through content that is valuable. Customers are being bombarded with billions of message on a daily basis so how will your brand’s experience be valuable enough to change the lives of your customer while keeping them fully engaged. Attention acquisition will be key for brands. It’s not just about the data and metrics with this generation authentic and transparent value will be important to them. The question you want to ask yourself is, “does my content not just bring value to my customers but does it elevate them?”

Gen Z’s in Developing Nations
Most of the Gen Z population globally will be in emerging markets such as India and Nigeria. Which means that the vitality of your brand may be reliant on a mobile-only strategy. So developing a concise mobile brand experience will also be key for many brands who are looking to reach a global audience.  

Inspire Them
Brands that have the ability to inspire and aspire will have longevity in the marketplace. Everyone is looking to level up in life, be better and this generation knows too well the value of what it means to be better. Help them learn and experiment with the world around them using your brand. Creating possibilities for your customers can be a way brands can distinguish themselves from the competitor.

The Brand Experience That No One Talks About

Brand experiences are becoming a critical part of brands but there’s still so much that’s unknown about this concept. Here we want to break down the brand experience that no one talks about. In order to do that we need to start by understanding what exactly is the brand experience. Essentially brand experience is that subjective tangible experience that your customer has when they interact with your brand or products. In simple terms, it’s the way your brand delivers its brand promise.

Brand experience is a cycle that happens when consumers search for products, shop for them, receive service, and finally when they consume your products. That is why the brand experience needs to be consistent whether it’s online or offline. Brand experiences include a multitude of specific sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioral responses triggered by a certain brand-related stimulus. Brand stimulus can include a brand’s design and identity (ie: name, logo, signage), packaging, and marketing communications (ie: advertisements, brochures, Web sites).

The challenge is that just like brand awareness there hasn’t been a sure shot standard of measurement that’s been developed yet. But there are some goals that brands have used as a way of measuring brand experience. Some are brand love, brand loyalty, brand community or even through customer engagement and feedback whether it’s on social media, surveys, or offline. Another challenge is that the since brand experiences are subjective, it can vary in the way each consumer experiences your brand. This is where it’s your brand’s responsibility to really get to know who your customer is, not just the demographics of your customer but really painting a picture of who they are.

Here are some examples of brand experience from the perspective of consumers who are using these brands.

American Express

• It’s an interactive experience

• Part of luxury, sophistication, and exclusivity

• Because of sponsoring activities, I feel fun, excitement, and entertainment

W Hotel

• Being part of something fun, happening, and exciting

• It was an amazing feeling to hang out in the lobby

• Service is disappointing

Google

• The search is elegant; it creates a mood of playfulness and curiosity

• I feel happy and proud because I am “smart” and “in-the-know.”

• With Google, I change the way I organize and interact with information

Target

• Shopping experience is very pleasant

• Products are displayed to please the eye

• Many stores are putting in Starbucks for an even more enhanced shopping experience

Disney

• Stimulates my senses

• I feel like a child; I feel warm and safe; I want to discover things; the brand reminds me to use my imagination

• I feel part of the magic

Customization The Winning Strategy

Today's customer is looking for products to be tailored to them. They want brands that better their lives, therefore, customization is the winning strategy to help fulfill this need. Too often brands are focused on products and branding but that is only part of creating a robust brand that customers remember, love and are loyal to.

Customization should be available offline but also online. Brands who are serious about customization have the ability to retain customers in the long run. There are a few things to consider when it comes to crafting that special experience for customers.

Make It Easy

When customers’ lives are filled with things that require their constant attention, brands need to make the purchasing process as streamlined and simple as possible. Simplicity is key here. Make it easy for your customers to talk about how great your brand is. When we overcomplicate the process customers get turned off and leave the buying cycle. Think about yourself, when you visit a website that takes too long to download, what happens? Most of us would simply click the “X”, jump over to another site or maybe even hit refresh. When the challenge persists that's when we lost that customer indefinitely.

Providing Exceptional Customer Service

This goes without saying but when your brand goes above and beyond what has been considered the “norm” of customer service, customers start to experience something positive with your brand. It shows that, as a brand, you value your customers.

Get Personal With Customers  

In a society of oversharing it’s easy to get personal. Customers will happily share with you their woes. Learn to know your customers’ wants, needs, and pains. Listen to what they will say because they will leave clues for you. Learn the exact words they are using to describe a certain problem or pain that your brand has a solution for.

Customize Your Experience

Experiences are very personal to our customers and everyone has a different idea of what a positive experience entails. Make sure you know who your customer is and design experiences that speak to that customer, capture their attention and make their lives better.

Brands that inspire and aspire their customers have massive staying power and also the ability to create loyal followers.

To Emoji or Not

Brand superstars out there it’s time to ask- “To emoji or not?” Using emojis has been something that a lot of brands swiftly utilizing. It conveys a message that’s fun and quick. So we’re going to talk about when you should and shouldn’t use emojis.

First off let’s take a look at some popular emojis and what it says about the brands who are using it. Based on a study by Swiftkey Emoji report These are the popular emojis and the breakdown of how often they are used. The survey found that  Brands who use smiley faces are usually more agreeable. The same applies to those who use facial expression emojis. 

In another finding, they found that those who used emojis are socially receptive and empathetic. As you can see out of all the emojis the smiley face emoji is one that is used the most 44.8% out of all the other emojis.

Brands or people who use sad face emojis tend to worry about how they come across to others Just a note when you consider a person’s age it also plays a role in their use of emojis. The study also found that 80% of us use it in texts, 76% of us use it on FB while 15% use it in emails. The good news out there is that if your brand uses emojis it means that you are a great communicator

We wanted to dig a little deeper into this so we did our own little curiosity project. Here we looked at the heart emoji. This is the one emoji that is universal but it has so many different meanings behind it. I was curious to see if there was a science behind these colors. Here’s what we discovered:

Red Heart- passionate love, it’s the classic way we express love

Black Heart- Morbidity, dark humor, death, evil, emotionally cold

Yellow Heart- Friendship, happiness, trustful love

Green Heart- Envy, jealousness, or possessive love

Blue Heart- Deep and stable love, trust, loyalty, harmony, peace

Purple Heart- Compassionate love, duty, honor, royalty, good judgment

This is just a reminder when you are sending out emails you probably don’t want to include emojis since emails are still a professional way of communicating. If you are posting on social media such as FB, IG, or Twitter feel free to use your emojis happily.

E-commerce Experience Done Right

Brands today are relying more and more on e-commerce as a means to create a direct to consumer approach. When your e-commerce experience is done right it can create customer bliss and even much-coveted customer loyalty. Customers today are looking for ease of purchase along with experiences that change their lives.

Now with all those different approaches to really solidifying your e-commerce experience what the things that brands should be paying attention to and even religiously employing?

Here are the top 6:

1. In-stock status

Letting customers know when an item(s) is back in stock

“Don’t Only 15 left in stock. Have that right under the price”

“Do the Last run! Be one of the last 9 people to own this credenza design, OMG!”

“Click, click, click!”

“1 in-stock in-store next to your office”

2. Life of current price

When you announce how long customers can get an item for a discounted price

“This price is guaranteed for the next 12 hours”

“This price reflects the highest discount in the past 8 weeks”

“Seasonal Promotion! Expires Saturday”

“Price reduced by 10% since your last visit”

“Limited-time offer applied to the price you see”

3. Direct competitor comparisons

Utilizing your competitor’s pricing to reflect why your’s is better. This also creates for consumers the “fear of missing out.”
“Only at Best Buy, this item comes with a free warranty”

“38% cheaper than Neiman Marcus”

4. Delivery times based on mobile phone location

Show customers how many days it would take to deliver item(s) to their location.

5. Social cues to the rescue

“Our most tweeted shorts”

“Over 2000 pins for this dress on Pinterest”

“125 people in California have booked this hotel in the last 30 days”

“People have shared this blouse 23 times in the last hour on Instagram”

6. Personalization

Personalization gives your brand the ultimate edge as customers look for customization.

What's Shaping Brand Experiences

Brand experiences have the tremendous responsibility of shaping our brands. Customers today have the deep desire to experience brands and be part of a brand’s journey. They don't want to be only told why a brand is superior. As brands, we need to be deliberate in shaping our brand experiences. It needs to be thoughtful and have the ability to change our customers’ lives.

It’s easy for brands to get lost in their own hype, forgetting that at the end of the day our brand is made up of customers who purchase our products. The question becomes how do we create meaningful experiences? What’s that secret formula to shaping brand experiences that get our customers’ to evoke curiosity?

Connect Emotionally
Emotions are the key to tapping into our customers' desires. It’s also through emotions that we create a bond. Most buying decisions are made on emotions, designing emotional experiences will give brands the ability to create better relationships.

Authentically Transparent
This has been something that’s been drilled over so many times but it’s worth the reminder. Transparency has been a big thing for the millennials. Today it's more prevalent as these millennial parents are raising Gen Z’s in the same way. Consumers want to know what and brands must make the information available in order to retain the trust.

Cross-Functioning Experience
The brand experience isn’t just outward facing to our customers but it also has to be represented in-house. If your employees are not on board with the experience, it becomes harder for them to really deliver that same experience to customers. The brand experience must be demonstrated across all departments whether it’s HR, marketing, sales, operations, etc.

Customer Collabs are Key
We mentioned before that customers want to be part of your brand’s journey, so getting them involved is a great way to also get feedback. For example getting them to participate in a challenge alongside your brand. Think about why Drake’s #inmyfeelings challenge was so wildly popular? It allowed listeners to be part of something that’s real. Who doesn’t have feelings and who doesn’t want to express themselves to be seen and heard?

Cross-Channel Marketing
Gone are the days of utilizing a singular form of marketing. In today’s hyper content-driven world we are consuming content in many various forms. Customers connect with brands through many different medians so brands need to have a 360 approach to how they reach their future customers which includes both online and offline experiences. Whatever channel you choose to express your experiences the one thing to keep in mind is that it must be consistent.

Emotion AI Changing Lives

Technology is getting smarter and smarter as each year passes and brands are grappling with how to incorporate the newest tech into their experiences. It seems like we can never keep up in time. But there are industries that are spearheading innovative ways to adjust to the fast pace of tech changes. Emotion AI is changing lives and the way we learn about each other and our customers. Today brands are striving to level up and really craft those personalized experiences that can only be done through understanding emotions and intent.

Here are some really creative ways industries and brands are including emotion AI into their offerings:

1. Autonomous car. In the future, autonomous cars will have many interior sensors, including cameras and microphones, to monitor what is happening and to understand how users view the driving experience.

2. Video gaming. Uses computer vision, the game console/video game to detect emotions via facial expressions during the game and adapts to it.

3. Education. Learning software prototypes have been developed to adapt to kids’ emotions. When a child becomes frustrated because a task is too difficult or too simple, the program adapts the task so it becomes less or more challenging. Another learning system helps autistic children recognize other people’s emotions.

4. Medical diagnosis. The software can now help doctors diagnose diseases such as depression and dementia by using voice analysis.

5. Employee safety. Based on Gartner client inquiries, demand for employee safety solutions. Emotion AI help to analyze the stress and anxiety levels of employees with very demanding jobs such as first responders.

6. Car safety. Automotive vendors use computer vision tech to monitor the driver’s emotional state. An extreme emotional state or drowsiness will trigger an alert for the driver.

7. Public service. Partnerships between emotion AI technology vendors and surveillance camera providers have emerged. Cameras in public places in the United Arabic Emirates can detect people’s facial expressions and, hence, understand the general mood of the population. This project was initiated by the country’s Ministry of Happiness.

8. Patient care. A ‘nurse bot’ not only reminds older patients to take their medication but also converses with them every day to monitor overall wellbeing.

9. Fraud detection. Insurance use voice analysis to detect whether a customer is telling the truth when submitting a claim.

10. Recruiting. The software is used during job interviews to understand a candidate’s credibility

11. Call center intelligent routing. An angry customer can be detected from the beginning and can be routed to a well-trained agent who can also monitor in real-time.

12. Connected home. A VPA-enabled speaker can recognize the mood of the person interacting with it and respond accordingly.

13. Retail. Retailers have started looking into installing computer vision emotion AI technology in stores to capture demographic information and visitors’ mood and reactions.