The Trending 7: Brainstorming Ideas and Spinning A PR Crisis
The world of advertising and marketing is constantly evolving, with new tech, trends and best practices popping up nearly every day. We've rounded up this week's most compelling facts and insights so that you can stay in the know and ahead of the game.
The Art and Science of Generating Ideas
Summary: Many people dream of having that a-ha moment where they suddenly come up with the idea of a lifetime. The reality is, though, that this isn't actually one isolated moment. Instead, it's one person's ability to tap into their own life experiences and apply them in a new and useful way. So keep your brain active and keep brainstorming-- that next big idea might be right around the corner.
Key Takeaway: Big moments of inspiration don't come out of nowhere, they come from inside your brain. If you can learn to access your memories and insights, you can use them to generate the next great idea.
Summary: No one likes a crisis, but if there's one thing we've learned, it's that ignoring the problem and hoping that it goes away never really works. Instead, companies facing a crisis should acknowledge the problem, accept responsibility, accept concern and put their money where their mouth is. Customers will appreciate this honesty and transparency, and they'll likely stick with you over time.
Key Takeaway: Never try to pull the wool over your customer's eyes by ignoring a PR crisis when it pops up. In marketing, as in life, it's always more effective to accept responsibility, offer a solution and move forward.
How To Keep The Momentum Going From Your Hashtag Campaign
Summary: Many marketers spend the majority of their time planning and executing marketing campaigns, only to let their efforts fizzle out once the campaign is finished. This is a huge mistake. By simply continuing to display their campaign's user-generated content (UGC) after it's over, they can boost engagement, visibility, and revenue. It's more exposure with the same amount of work.
Key Takeaway: To get the maximum impact from any of your campaigns, keep the momentum going. This will increase your revenue, social engagement and connection to your customers, making your efforts that much more worthwhile.
Pinterest Announces Pin Collective, Connecting Businesses With Content Creators
Summary: Pinterest has just announced the launch of Pin Collective, a new feature that will connect businesses with Pinterest's top content creators. The point is to pair real companies with Pinterest experts who know the platform and exactly what kind of content to create. This means higher quality content and more internal bandwidth for those that join in. Sounds like a win-win.
Key Takeaway: The new Pin Collective will take the stress out of content creation for many companies by putting a team of top Pinterest content creators at their fingertips.
How To Create a Social Media Style Guide For Your Business
Summary: For your marketing efforts to be effective, there needs to be clarity and consistency between all of the team members involved. A well-developed social media style guide can make this happen, taking your company's marketing to the next level.
Key Takeaway: Social media is an essential component of marketing today and a well-developed social media style guide can be the cornerstone of your entire social media strategy. This article breaks down how to develop a comprehensive social media style guide for your brand.
How to Achieve Authenticity in Your Marketing
Summary: It may sound gimmicky, but achieving authenticity can be extremely important for marketers today. Customers simply don't want to be “sold,” and they tend to be loyal to the brand that they can identify with in some way. In order to get this right, marketers have to understand their audience, commit to them, and try to find the balance between keeping it real and keeping their revenue - all of which can be pretty scary.
Key Takeaway: When done correctly, authenticity can effectively complement your other marketing efforts and help your brand stand out from the competition.
It's Time For the CMO and CFO to Get Connected: BFFs of the C-Suite
Summary: In most companies, the leaders of marketing (CMO) and finance (CFO) are fundamentally unaligned, with different goals, metrics, and visions in mind. However, in order for the ship to sail smoothly, these two have to find a middle ground and open the lines of communication. This will benefit both sides, increasing profit margins and providing more opportunities for company-wide growth.
Key Takeaway: For a company to be extremely effective, its marketing and finance teams have to align and use the same language, metrics, and data.
This week's new insights are all about taking that leap of faith to generate real long-term results. Don't be afraid to explore a new social media tool, another part of your company, or a new part of your mind-- you never know what kind of results you will find. Check in next week to stay informed about the latest and greatest updates in the world of marketing and advertising.
