10 emotional motivators you should be looking out for

Marketing is a lot about harnessing the power of emotions towards your brands. In November's Harvard Business Review, these were the 10 emotional motivators that were highlighted:

- Stand out from the crowd

- Have confidence in the future

- Enjoy a sense of well-being

- Feel a sense of freedom

- Feel a sense of thrill

- Feel a sense of belonging

- Protect the environment

- Be the person I want to be

- Feel secure

- Succeed in life

Always think on how to position your brand on these motivators (which ones are relevant for your brand, market and product) and track its effect on sales (not easy) and how you stand. Only do it if you want your brand to be successful.

How the Mad Men lost the plot - my key thought on Ian Leslie's article

I am sure you have read Ian Leslie's "How the Mad Men lost the plot" - and if you didn't, you should. It is a magnificent reflection on the years of the advertising industry, showcasing the move to digital advertising and the effects that is having in the commercial's world.

But when I read it, and though I agreed with most of it, I could not helping thinking I have a fundamental difference versus the text - and maybe versus the way advertising is thought as a business nowadays. The truth is, for me, digital (being it social media, brand websites, digital pages with its ads,...) is just the media - there is a deep, fundamental work on advertising that is about the creative idea and its campaign. And when we put it in alignment with the consumers we want to impact, that is the heart of impact and advertising. Media is an important part of the balance, but brand and creative idea need to encompass consumer and product if an advertising campaign wants to be successful. Media is the means to reach the consumer physically, but the creative idea is the way we reach it emotionally.

Fake online reviews

And if I told that for 2 dollars a fake positive review can be done for your product and placed in Amazon, TripAdviser, Yelp... ( http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/technology/for-2-a-star-a-retailer-gets-5-star-reviews.html?_r=2&hp ). This article was from 2012, but this is still a major battle area for online retailers, given the importance of reviews on onsite search and consumer preference for a new buy. Online retailers and review-based-sites have the huge task and responsibility of keeping fake reviews and bay, if they want their business model to keep on thriving - as it is.

Sometimes we just want to indulge in great advertising

Should you disturb them?

All subscription services have those customers who are on the wrong subscription plan (they are paying too much for their consumption, or end up consuming a lot more than their plafond and spend more because of that) and don't actively try to change. They seem to be passive on what regards those subscriptions, which, from an Economy science point of view it doesn't make sense - but hey, this is Human nature, and it doesn't abide by perfect laws.

A study published in HBR shows that an incredible percentage of consumers that are contacted by their service provider and offered a better, more suitable plan, actually move out after being contacted (10%, vs 6.4% in a control group that had not been contacted). Probably the contact is the eye opening that they are not losing money or trigger to break passiveness - either way, it seems the company actually increases the chances of losing a customer by contacting this group. So, should they not do it?

Not so fast! One should not forget the message - how are the customers contacted, how good is the offer, what is the objective of the contact. This was overlooked in the HBR study and is actually key for retaining and maximizing a customer's profitability. So, before rushing to contact your passive customer, just put yourself in his / her shoes, design a good approach strategy that is aligned with your objectives and be sensitive in the message you are conveying. That should be the way to do it.

And just one day I talked about authenticity...

... we have Volkswagen scandal, that illustrates how a brand can lose its equity and consumers' confidence with the wrong (and truly unethical and illegal) choice. Let's see where this ends, but, for the VW brand, this is a really harsh blow.

Don't ruin your brand's authenticity

For the past 6 months, "gym brand X" advertised that their competitors were not giving towel, or a gym bag for free - that everything was actually paid by the consumers. Which, makes sense, actually. But what doesn't make sense is that, now, "gym brand X" is starting a "get back to the gym" promo... offering a... new gym bag...

Guys, don't you ever do this! This ruins your brand's authenticity! The consumers that actually agreed with you, nodded, and said "we can't trust these gyms that are saying that they offer us stuff that we pay in our monthly fees; I am lucky because I can trust "gym brand X"" now look at your promo and realise that was just a marketing move - and they will not like it. Consumers are smart people (they are like you and me, we are consumers, actually...), they remember, they can see the dotted lines. So don't try to fool them.

Consumers nowadays have plenty of choice. Which is a great thing! And means that they can be pickier than before and simply choose or reject a brand based on values. Which makes a marketeer job even more exciting, and implies we know, defend and grow our brand's values and purposes. Your brand needs to stand for something, and you need to stand for your brand at the eyes of consumer. 

So, a piece of advice. Be authentic in every marketing move you do.