DIGITAL MARKETING: BRAND FOUNDATIONS Login: shortcourses Univ3rsitY2 Files: http://bit.ly/2Gdxp4C

LESSON OVERVIEW In this lesson you will learn how to develop a strong brand message, and how creating a persona for you, your client type and your competitors adds value to your business, giving you a foundation to build your marketing campaigns on.

Slogans A short and striking phrase, to stick in your customer’s memory. Needs to be representative of your brand as a whole, while also being marketable. Ascesis: Powering Lightbulb Moments

Slogans A slogan is a short, striking and memorable phrase that is used in advertising. A slogan is also defined as small group of words that are combined to identify a company. A slogan is used to convey a message about the product or service that it is representing. It can have a musical tone or jingle to it. It is an audible representation of a brand, with the logo being the visual. It is often used to capture the attention of the audience it is trying to reach. It should be memorable/catchy in order for the consumer to associate it with the product it is representing. In commercial advertising, companies will use a slogan as part of promotional activity. Slogans can influence they way consumers behave when choosing a product. Slogans can become a global way of identifying goods or services, for example Nike's slogan "Just Do It" helped establish Nike as an identifiable brand worldwide.

Slogans

USP (Unique Selling Point) What makes you unique? What do you offer that other companies don't? What experience and results do you have that others don't? Do you have specialised training or certificates that set you apart? Why should people do business with you?

USP (Unique Selling Point)

Value Proposition Why do you exist? What do they want to see happen? Why do they want to achieve that goal? What are you passionate about? What do you do best? What would clients miss if youdidn't exist tomorrow? What is their purpose?

Value Proposition

Benefit Statement A benefit statement is simply a statement that answers why someone should buy your product or service. The benefit statement needs to be more than just listing your best features; it needs to talk about how these features can benefit the customer. Ask: What problem is the customer having that we can solve? What do we offer that would benefit the customer? Fundamentally - what is in it for the customer? How will it benefit them? “X means you can…”

Value Proposition

Task 1: Using your ideas, come up with a slogan, USP, Benefit Statment and Value Proposition for your business. (30 mins)

What Is a Persona? All about you (and your business’) personality. A personification of a business, audience or competitor

Customer Personas Before looking at yourself, it is vital to understand your audience. Your customers’ personalities will directly influence the persona of your business.

Who Are Your Customers? Think about who you wish to appeal to with your business / product Is there a trend you can use to personify them as a whole? Try to avoid stereotypes – this can adversely affect your marketing

Competitor Personas Your competitors will have gone through a similar process to design their own personas. It can be useful to examine their brands to help find a niche for your own.

Competitor Analysis Choose your top 3 competitors Analyse your competitors’ brands Take notes of their audience, style, tone of voice etc.

Task 1: Write 1-2 short personas for your audience. (15 minutes)

Task 2: From your observations, write short personas for your top competitors. (15 mins)

Persona - Characters It can be easier to develop a persona through the use of a character. This can be physical, e.g. Aleksandr the Meerkat (CompareTheMarket)… Or hidden, and simply used to draw inspiration from.

Your Character It is always useful to have a character, even one not used in your physical marketing. Can help give your company a voice. Gives you a technique to creating your social media/vocal presence.

Meet Henrik Morgan Ostergaard Ascesis’ Character and Persona. Gifted entrepreneur Stylish and sophisticated Professionally arrogant – but with good reason Creative and skilful in his endeavours See handout for a full character bio of Henrik.

Task 4: Create a character to suit your brand Task 4: Create a character to suit your brand. Think about image, personality, background, voice etc. Draw a picture if you want! (25 mins)

Seventeen Magazine Clear understanding of audience Playful, girly persona to appeal to customers Content focused on stories and styles that will appeal to teenage girls

iPod Sleek, stylish yet powerful Made to appeal to a specific audience, but striking imagery attracts attention regardless Apple caters its marketing depending on the specific product it is selling – e.g. iPad Pro’s marketing is much more professional

HOMEWORK – For Next Week Finish off your brand persona Think of 10 “Keywords” to suit your business; words that customers would Google to find you online.