Tag Archive for: Marketing

Evolving Trends in Holiday Marketing: Navigating Gen Z’s Shopping Landscape in 2023

 

As the holiday season approaches, it’s important to recognize the way businesses market their products has drastically changed. We can see this shift especially in how younger buyers, specifically Gen Z, engage with marketing efforts. McConnell Marketing has recognized the immense impact of social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram on the preferences of young buyers and today we’re giving you some insights into these new trends.

Rethinking Traditional Methods

The traditional reliance on Google and print ads for reaching younger consumers, while still useful, is no longer as effective with younger audiences. The focus has moved to TikTok and Instagram, where influencer marketing, peer trust and the simplicity of direct purchasing links have significantly influenced the preferences of the younger demographic.

 

Influencer marketing, whether through macro or micro influencers, has become pivotal in driving the purchasing decisions of Gen Z. Sending products to influencers who genuinely recommend and provide direct purchase links has become a potent tool for brands targeting younger buyers.

Social Media’s Role in Shopping

Maintaining a robust social media presence is crucial. Leveraging Instagram and TikTok ad buys has allowed businesses to seamlessly integrate themselves into the feeds of their target audience. These platforms have transformed into virtual shopping hubs, merging entertainment and commerce effectively.

 

The resurgence of Pinterest among younger demographics, particularly among 13-17-year-olds, is noteworthy. Brands can capitalize on this renewed interest, as younger users are actively showcasing brands and products, making Pinterest a valuable marketing channel once again.

 

MyGemma, a brand specializing in luxury items, expects that 15% of its total revenue for 2023 will come from the live streams across TikTok, Instagram and Whatnot. Their success underscores the increasing importance of these platforms in driving sales and revenue.

Adapting to Changing Trends

McConnell Marketing emphasizes adaptability as the key focus for businesses. Those pivoting towards social media, embracing influencer marketing and revisiting platforms like Pinterest are best positioned to resonate with the evolving shopping behaviors of younger demographics.

 

As the marketing sphere experiences a transformative shift, we urge businesses to embrace social media and influencer marketing to connect effectively with Gen Z. Staying agile and aligning with these emerging trends will ensure a prosperous holiday season in 2023 and beyond!

 

If your business needs assistance applying these trends to your marketing efforts, contact us today at 330-286-0487 or email us to get a custom quote. Also, don’t forget to follow us on all of our social platforms. Stay up to date on our monthly newsletters, full of more helpful tips and tricks!

Elevate Your Brand with Custom Holiday Marketing Materials from McConnell Marketing

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Tis’ the season! Even though it’s only October, it’s time to start preparing for the holiday season. At McConnell Marketing, we believe in the magic of the holiday season, not just as a time for giving and celebration but also as an incredible opportunity for businesses to connect with their customers in meaningful ways. Over the years, our team has created a variety of holiday marketing materials and today we’re going to share some of our favorites with you!

1. Holiday ECards and Newsletters

During the holidays, people are more open to businesses and their messages. Holiday ecards and newsletters let businesses engage with customers in a festive and personal manner. This helps strengthen the brand’s bond with customers on an emotional level. Are you ready to reach your audience with digital holiday cheer? Request a quote today.

 

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2. Printed Holiday Cards and Envelopes

Sending out customized printed holiday cards and envelopes sends a positive message about your brand. It shows that your business values its customers and is willing to make them feel appreciated. This can boost your brand’s reputation and build customer loyalty. Get a quote for your custom holiday cards today.

 

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3. Social Media Content Creation

Creating holiday-themed content on social media is crucial for increasing your brand’s visibility during the holiday season. Holiday posts tend to be shared and engaged with more, expanding your reach and attracting new customers. Consistent and appealing social media content also keeps your brand top-of-mind. Contact us today to get the most out of your social accounts.

 

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4. A Complete Holiday Package

Our complete holiday package offers a comprehensive holiday marketing approach. We combine digital (ecards and social media) and traditional (printed cards, envelopes and flyers) marketing channels as well as event promotion tactics to create an effective strategy. This package ensures your brand’s message reaches customers through multiple channels, maximizing its impact. Are you looking to elevate your holiday social media marketing this year? Reach out to us today for a custom quote.

 

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These holiday marketing materials are crucial and valuable tools for businesses during the holiday season. They help with customer engagement, branding and sales, all while saving businesses time and presenting a unified marketing effort.

 

If you or your business needs help creating any of these or other holiday marketing materials, contact us today at 330-286-0487 or email us to get a custom quote. Also, don’t forget to follow us on all of our social platforms. Stay up to date on our monthly newsletters, full of more helpful tips and tricks!

Marketing Lessons from the NBA Playoffs

Since we’re pretty much thinking of marketing 24/7 (seriously we’re nerds like that) watching the Cavaliers beat the Raptors in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals last weekend made us realize that there are some takeaways from the NBA Playoffs that every marketer should take to heart.

Storytelling is Key

Which of these two descriptions of the NBA Finals is more interesting? 

Version 1:

“Last year the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors in a 7 game series to win their first NBA title.”

Version 2:

“Last year Cleveland’s prodigal son, LeBron James, delivered the city its first NBA championship while defying overwhelming odds by defeating the heavily favored Golden State Warriors.”

Obviously the second version is better. It’s more colorful, descriptive and dramatic. Storytelling is a powerful thing and the way we feel about a certain set of facts can be completely changed just based on how they are presented.

If you listen to an NBA broadcast for more than 5 minutes you’ll hear some type of reference to a storyline. “What’s wrong with Houston?” “What would another championship mean for LeBron’s legacy?” “Are the Golden State Warriors an unbeatable super team?” Are just a few of the countless examples of narratives surrounding the playoffs.

Marketing Lesson: 

The takeaway here is that sports are built on stories and we as marketers should take note. Look for narrative opportunities in all your marketing projects. What is the brand story? How can you take dry facts and make them into something fascinating?

Think Big Picture

The NBA is about a lot more than basketball. It’s about city pride, tradition, legacy and memories. Most sports leagues in the U.S. stand for more than just the product they put on the field or court. For example, the NFL uses the slogan “Family is Football” which resonates well with anyone who remembers growing up with their favorite team, or recalls time spent with loved ones watching the big game.

The NFL knows it’s selling entertaining memories and fun experiences that fans will remember throughout their lives. The NBA knows that it’s not just selling basketball, it’s selling city pride. Winning a championship isn’t about LeBron James or Kyrie Irving it’s about the city of Cleveland.

Cleveland’s “Defend the Land” playoff slogan is a great example of the element of city pride in the NBA.

Marketing Lesson: 

So what’s the bigger picture with the brand you’re trying to establish or promote? Do people visit your hotel because it has a pool or because they expect to have a certain experience? Are people buying your car because it has the best fuel efficiency or because they identify as a Ford person or a Chevy person? While your customer’s motivations are often obvious, don’t be afraid to step back and look at the bigger picture now and then.

Do you learn anything about marketing from watching sports? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below and until next time, be well.

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BACK TO SCHOOL: A MARKETING 101 REFRESHER FOR HOSPITALITY PROS (PART 4/4)

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With September over, it’s time to wrap up our Back-to-School blog series. Over the last month, we’ve been posting about concepts commonly taught in marketing classes that have real-world marketing applications.

Our final post in the series is about IMC or Integrated Marketing Communications, something that’s used in just about every modern marketing strategy.

IMC Defined

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The American Marketing Association defines IMC as the following:

A planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.

The key takeaway from this definition are the words “relevant and consistent.” The reason that phrase is so important is because it lays the groundwork for reinforcement. IMC is useful because it creates a marketing situation where brand messages reinforce each other.

Hotel Example

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Let’s say you’re an independent luxury hotel with limited marketing materials, but you’re looking to expand your marketing efforts. Here’s how you would apply IMC to make sure your marketing efforts were as effective as possible.

What’s your brand message? 
You’d start by identifying your brand messaging. Do you have a logo, word mark, or other branding tools? Are you using a specific color scheme? What about messaging; what tagline, phrase or attitude are you trying to convey? The most important part of this stage of the process is to make clear decisions about your brand message. You can’t be conflicted or unsure about a logo or color scheme.

Is your brand message being applied properly?
Once you’ve decided on a clear brand message and know how to communicate it, make sure that it’s being applied across all of your marketing materials. Review not only your current marketing materials but anywhere where customers have an opportunity to interact with your brand.

Think about all the times a guest can interact with your brand during their stay.

There are plenty of opportunities to reinforce your brand over the course of a guest’s stay.

Some lesser used areas where an  IMC approach can be applied: 
Presentation Slides – Consistent template for power points that reflect color scheme logo branding.

Social Media Photographs –  Original images can include a subtle logo in the corner, often images get shared so much on social media that the original source is forgotten. Adding a logo can solve this problem, the same goes for infographics.

Hashtags – Make a hashtag that works with your branding. For example, W hotels uses the catchphrase “whatever-whenever” which they recently incorporated into a photo contest on their twitter account by prompting guests to take pictures and tag them with #posewhenever

Answering the Phone- Another favorite of W-Hotels is to use their catchphrase when answering the phone, “This the W-Hotel New York, where it’s whatever whenever.” While this tactic can be easily overused, W-Hotels pulls it off well.

That’s it. Implementing IMC is really just about those two stages – First, identifying or creating your brand message, and second applying that message. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Just remember that the more consistent and clear your messaging the easier it will be to apply.

Hope you learned something! Be sure to check out our entire “Back to School” Blog Series

Part 1: Segmentation-Targeting-Positioning

Part 2: Unique Selling Proposition

Part 3: The 4 PS 

 

4 Surprising Marketing Lessons from a Dead Plant

A few months ago, McConnell Marketing lost a beloved friend.

His name was Mr. Tea and , despite being a tea plant, he was a valued member of our team. We were all excited for the day we’d be able to harvest his leaves and enjoy some office-grown tea.

Unfortunately Mr. Tea didn’t get to live out his life’s purpose,  but that doesn’t mean he still can’t give us something of value. In fact, here are some lessons from our brief adventure into to  tea cultivation that are just as true for marketing! 

 

1. Sometimes, despite plenty of love and nurturing… it’s just not meant to be.

We’ve had other plants in our office before… they’ve all died. It’s not a matter of effort, it just doesn’t work out. There’s just something about our office that kills them.

Marketing can be like that too. Sometimes your idea, design or strategy is just wrong. It doesn’t matter how well you execute it, how much preparation you put in or how good you think it is, it just isn’t the right fit.

The worst thing you can do in this situation is  continue to pour energy and resources into something that you know won’t work. Step up and cut your losses instead of continuing to water a dead plant!

2. Failure comes quickly when you set yourself up for it.

Tea isn’t meant to be grown in Ohio, it’s not a very hardy plant. Tea needs a warm, sub-tropical climate to thrive.

Trying to grow tea in our office was an exercise in setting ourselves up for failure.

Think about that idea when it comes to your next project. Are you setting yourself up to fail ? Can you avoid it?  Step back from the whiteboard for a minute and try to identify disadvantages and obstacles to success before you encounter them! You might be amazed at the results.

3. Fluorescent bulbs are not an acceptable substitute for sunlight. 

Mr. Tea first started to show signs of distress after being moved away from his window ledge due to a construction project. The problem was  that the light from the office’s fluorescent light bulbs was not a good substitute for natural sunlight.

“All that glitters is not gold” comes to mind in this situation as does The idea that some things are too good to be true.  It’s important to keep in mind that all alternatives are not the same when it comes to a problem.

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Don’t tell him that bling isn’t real

An obvious example of this in marketing is in communication. Just because you can communicate the same message through email as you can in a meeting, does not mean that you should. The social cues that come along with a face-to-face meeting just can’t be matched by a Skype meeting or phone call.

Be wary of options and why you’re choosing them. Is it out of convenience and ease, or is it really the best choice?

4. Never, Ever give up. 

We recently replaced Mr. Tea’s empty spot on our ledge with a bromeliad. It’s a hardy plant that requires little attention and grows in a variety of conditions. Hopefully we’ve learned from our mistakes and aren’t setting ourselves up for failure this time. We’ll do our best to keep this guy in real sunlight and if he dies, we’ll probably get another plant.

You might think that this lesson conflicts with our first one, but it doesn’t. Cutting your losses and quitting are very different things.

Not giving up means that after you kill that bad idea you attack again from a different angle. You try a different solution. You try until you succeed.

Mr. Tea never succeeded in becoming the full grown harvested tea plant we all wanted him to be, but we’re sure if he had a choice, he would never have stopped trying. RIP Mr. Tea.

 

What marketing lessons have you learned from common office decorations? Let us know in our comments section below!