Make Tangible Brand Connections with Experiential Marketing

More experiences. Less stuff. That pretty much sums up the millennial mindset. Today, more young adults are choosing experiences over possessions…like travel over a new car; or concert tickets instead of designer shoes.

Experiences matter—not only in everyday life, but also in marketing. The rise of experiential marketing gives today’s mobile-driven consumers what they want: A firsthand, engaging and tangible connection with your brand.

Creating these brand experiences is simply smart business: According to data from the Event Marketing Institute, 72% of consumers say they view brands that provide quality experiences more positively, and nearly three-quarters said that when they can engage with a brand's experience, they're more likely to invest in its products or services.

When you consider that 49% of people create mobile video at branded events — 39% of which is shared on Twitter — it makes sense to incorporate subtle branding in a way that can be shared socially to drive recognition beyond the event or experience.

A great example of experiential marketing done right is Google’s Mini Donut Shop experience: To promote the new Google Home Mini automated assistant—which happens to be the size of a donut—Google opened pop-up donut stores in strategic cities. They welcomed visitors inside where they were met by conveyor belts moving donuts and Google Minis throughout the space. When the customer asked the Mini a question, a donut box slid down the conveyor and onto the counter—some boxes contained donuts, and others, the new Google Home Mini. Watch the video:


Google Home Mini Donut Shop

The campaign was a success because it was engaging, unexpected and multi-sensory—there was a “sprinkle” booth that showered customers with confetti. Combining Google and irresistible donuts was a genius idea that created a viral celebration surrounding the brand.
If you can’t go as big as Google with a pop-up store experience, consider borrowing a few of the essential elements from the campaign: Create a non-venue venue (in a park, a neighborhood, a lobby, etc.); create/encourage interaction with your product; provide a giveaway; and create a hashtag to drive social media sharing.

Can you think of an experiential marketing campaign that caught your attention? Join the conversation on Facebook.

The benefits of nurturing a philanthropic corporate culture

Summertime is non-stop busy. Barbeques, vacations, reunions—this is the time of year to enjoy and make memories. It’s also a great time to do good for those in need. At Shamrock, our team organizes charitable giving and volunteer opportunities year-round. And we don’t take the summer off.

The recent and tragic losses of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have made us all pay closer attention to our family, friends and colleagues—to how they’re feeling, to how their words or actions might be a call for help. It’s an awareness that we all ought to bring into our everyday focus.

Each quarter, Shamrock chooses an organization to benefit from our fundraising and volunteer effort. Fittingly, our benefactor this quarter is The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (www.afsp.org), the nation's largest non-profit dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide.

Last quarter, we raised funds for Fisher House Foundation (www.fisherhouse.org.) which builds comfort homes where military and veterans’ families can stay free of charge, while a loved one is in the hospital.

While I feel blessed to be able to help and lend support to these organizations, I’m even more proud that this philanthropic effort wasn’t my idea.

We have a dedicated team of people at Shamrock who spearhead community involvement efforts, providing all of us here with opportunities to serve. They meet monthly and discuss ways that we, as a company, can help in our community and even beyond. Having the discipline—and the desire—is what has helped to make philanthropy a core element of our corporate culture at Shamrock.

What’s important to our employees’ hearts is what’s important to us as a company: That’s always been who we are and how we operate. But being philanthropic is very personal. I think what has made our efforts at Shamrock so successful is that we take everyone’s input and ideas and passions—and then we provide opportunities for our employees to plug in and join in where they feel most compelled to help. 

As with any effort, there must be leadership by example for it to really succeed. And we have that here. All of us at Shamrock—and at every level—take pride in being part of our community efforts. It’s a source of camaraderie. The result is that, as a group, Shamrock has been able to make a big difference in the lives of many people who are in need. It’s a satisfying feeling—and it’s also motivating.

If you’re looking for ideas to help get your own community involvement program off the ground, send me an email and I’ll connect you with some of the people here who do it best. tconnor@shamrockcompanies.net

Tim Connor
https://www.fisherhouse.org/

Tips for running effective meetings

How productive was your last team meeting? Workplace studies show that most of us aren’t fully engaged during work meetings. On average, 91% of us daydream during meetings and 39% admit to falling asleep. Maybe that’s because we have too many meetings on our calendars: Americans attend an average of 60+ meetings each month; and with half of every meeting flagged as wasted time, that equals 31 unproductive hours per month. That’s a lot of lost time—and money.

But, the fact is that internal business meetings are essential for gathering people together to share ideas, garner input and solve problems. So, how we do we make meetings more productive?

This graphic from Entrepreneur magazine is a great resource, so I’m posting it in its entirety:

Click here to view

Work meetings aren’t going anywhere—they are a necessary part of everyday operations for many of our businesses. Implementing these simple, practical ideas can help you make those sessions more productive, and even, enjoyable.

Are there any tips you’d add to that list? Join the discussion on Facebook.

Good luck,
Tim Connor  

Grow your customer base: Tips for marketing to new movers

If you market your products or services to consumers, there’s a viable opportunity for expanding your customer base right in your own backyard. The target: New movers. With more than 35.1 million Americans moving annually—that’s 15.3 million households—this consumer demographic offers great potential, as they’re eager to establish relationships with businesses in their new neighborhoods.

Consider that 65% of moves are interstate (MyMovingReviews Data Report 2017). So, it’s likely these consumers are new to the area—thus, are not familiar with local businesses and services—making them prime new-customer prospects for a variety of businesses:

• Home services contractors: Landscapers, pest control, painters, plumbers, interior decorators
• Retailers, restaurants, food delivery services
• Banks/financial institutions
• Physicians, dentists, emergency-care clinics, fitness centers/gyms
• Salons/barbers, dry cleaners, tailors
• Schools, daycare centers, kids’ camps and enrichment programs

Click here to view

New mover campaigns bring a higher return on investment than any other customer acquisition method. If you can capture the business of a new mover, you have a higher chance of keeping that business for as long as the consumer stays in the home.

So, how do you make that initial contact count? At Shamrock, we help businesses make powerful connections with consumers through integrated branded marketing campaigns. Here’s a few new mover campaign tips:

Start with solid data. Using data analytics, gather information about these potential customers—details that will help to shape focused, targeted messaging and delivery methods that resonate with new movers and bring them to your business.

Maintain brand consistency across all channels. Integrated campaigns include multiple touches: Direct mail postcards, emails, social media, event-based marketing and signage. It’s important to not only identify the channels that best connect with your demographic, but also to create content/messaging that speaks to that audience, while being true to your brand. 

Test and redeploy. An essential part of comprehensive program management is post-campaign reporting—and then redeploying in segment areas, as appropriate (i.e. follow-up email or social media touches).

If you’re interested in learning more, I’d like to share with you some of our new mover marketing success stories. Connect with me at tconnor@shamrockcompanies.net or call me direct at 440-250-2155.

Tim Connor