Are you a brand advocate? Does your brand have brand advocates?

The value of having brand advocates is priceless. Imagine having people spreading information about their personal experience of your brand on a weekly basis!

There are 7 types of brand advocates you need to know about:

• The Titanic Tweeter
• The Passionate Pilgrim
• The Heroic Hipster
• The Megaphone Millionaire
• The Giving Guru
• The Curious Curator
• The Noiseless Ninja

Reference 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2013/07/29/the-7-brand-advocate-types-you-need-to-know-infographic/

Brand advocates are:

• 5X more valuable than average customers
• Spend at least 2X as much as average customers
• Spend 3X as much as average customers over their lifetime of their relationship with a company or brand
• Reach 150 people in social media every time they advocate a product or service
• 92% of consumers trust brand advocates

Read more: http://barnraisersllc.com/2013/12/case-studies-prove-roi-brand-advocates/

 

To gain brand advocates you will need branded contents.

All your brand’s contents have to be in line with your corporate brand, business objectives and marketing objectives. At LINs.AD, we have helped thousands of brands develop branded contents and events over the last 25 years.

 

Find out more at www.linsad.com.my!

Contact us for an obligation-free consultation at 03-9221 3388 (ask for Mickie, Shirly or Bernard), or email linsweb@linsad.com.my.

The Shocking Truth: Over 50% of SMEs & SMIs Underestimate the Power of Brand-Building

Based on a recent study, only a minority of SME/SMI owners understands the importance of brand-building.

“Brand equity is that incremental value that accrues to a product when it is branded. Simple brand awareness is one source of brand equity. If you can get your name to pop up in people’s minds when they think of the product category, you’ve won a big part of the battle,” says V. “Seenu” Srinivasan, the Adams Distinguished Professor in Management at the Graduate School of Business.

Read more: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/mktg_srinivasan_brandequity.shtml

 

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, consumers buy brands, NOT products.

 

We at LINs.AD have a mission: To help SMEs and SMIs achieve their business goals, with branding as a long-term strategy.

 

Find out more at www.linsad.com.my!

Contact us today for an obligation-free consultation at 03-9221 3388 (ask for Mickie, Shirly or Bernard), or drop us an email at linsweb@linsad.com.my or visit www.linsad.com.my / www.facebook.com/linsadv.

Pepsi evolved over time. What about you?

 

 

How your logo evolves (or doesn’t) has the potential to make or break your brand.

Consider the case of “Pepsico”. The evolution of the “Pepsi” logo over the decades was strategically executed to enhance the company’s brand value, and also maintain its connection with customers.

Despite a permit from the company to use its logo costing US$1 million upfront, many continue to vie in featuring this logo, due to the company’s solid brand reputation.

So, under what circumstances should a brand owner consider tweaking or even changing the brand’s logo?

1. When the current logo isn’t relevant anymore vis-à-vis the modern media. Cross-channel and integrated media network distribution play important roles in this information age. Consumers get confused when they see different logos of different sizes on different platforms! If you happen to have this concern, it’s time to consider standardizing – and changing – your logo.

2. Your business has evolved over the years, but you’re still using the same logo! Your existing logo might not resemble your business’s nature, anymore.

3. Your competitors have a better, more applicable or more interesting logo than you do. A cleaner, more professional look may just be what you need.

4. Your logo is too complicated – having too many unnecessary lines or effects! Take a look at the world’s top brands’ logos. Clean, clear designs are the ones that usually withstand the test of time.

5. You’ve been using a DIY logo since your start-up days. Your design may well be outdated, or your business may have transformed significantly since then.

 

A skilfully-designed logo is one that resonates and connects with people from all walks, ages, languages, culture and nationalities of life.

But how would you evaluate whether your brand’s logo is doing what it should?

The best way to know is to talk to pros who have been working on brand logos for more than 20 years. Only a professional agency, powered by professional designers would be able to allay any doubts you have, and help you realign your thoughts on your brand.

Let us be your strategic branding partner, providing you with the essential marketing tools and insights that ensure your brand’s longevity – no matter the economic conditions that may come.

Contact us today for an obligation-free consultation at 03-9221 3388 (ask for Mickie, Shirly or Bernard), or drop us an email at linsweb@linsad.com.my or visit www.linsad.com.my / www.facebook.com/linsadv!

 

 

 

Discover how Blue Color defines your Brand Identity

BLUE For Business

Blue is the most universally favored color of all and therefore the safest to use. It relates to trust, honesty and dependability, therefore helping to build customer loyalty.

It relates to one-to-one communication rather than mass communication. It inspires wisdom and higher ideals but is also conservative and predictable.

Blue works well for the corporate world and is often used for more conservative types of businesses such as accountants, insurance companies, banks and other financial companies where trust and reliability are important.

Blue is best used for conservative corporate businesses where trust, dependability and honesty are important.

Communication websites which market to individual customers on a one-to-one basis would benefit with some blue in their marketing.

Hi-tech and computer technology businesses can benefit from most shades of blue combined with gray.

Websites promoting technology, medical equipment, cleanliness, male and female products should use some blue in their colors.

 

Positive Color Meanings in Business:

• loyalty, trust and integrity
• tactful, caring and concerned
• reliability and responsibility
• conservatism and perseverance
• idealistic and orderly
• authority, devotion and contemplation
• peace and calm

Negative Color Meanings in Business:

• rigid, deceitful and spiteful
• self-righteous, superstitious and emotionally unstable
• too conservative, predictable and weak
• unforgiving and frigid
• manipulation, unfaithfulness and distrust

We see ourselves as your strategic branding partner, providing you with the essential marketing tools and insights that ensure your brand’s longevity, no matter the economic conditions that may come.

So contact us today for an obligation-free consultation at 03-9221 3388 (ask for Mickie, Shirly or Bernard), or drop us an email at linsweb@linsad.com.my or visit www.linsad.com.my / www.facebook.com/linsadv.

Are Your Marketing Channels Integrated?

Integrated Marketing Communications Planning

Disclaimer: All copyrighted materials and information are the intellectual property of their respective owners. LINs.AD does not own or claim credit for materials/information of this nature.

7 Essential Components of Integrated Marketing Communication Development

• Your business objective(s)
• Marketing Plan Development
• Consumer Focus Strategy Development
• Construction of Communication Messages Specific to the Target Audience
• Selection of Marketing Communication Channels
• Integration between Selected Platforms
• ROI Measurement

To be able to construct a successful Integrated Marketing Campaign, we require equally integrated teams that encompass the creative team, copywriting team, market research team, web programmer/developer team, social media engagement team etc.

A one man/woman show doesn’t work in integrated marketing campaign; let us help you achieve your business objectives. Find out more at http://www.linsad.com.my!

Most Successful Re-Branding Campaign Ever

Burberry was considered “gang-wear”; today, it’s worn by the likes of Emma Watson and Kate Moss

 

Harley-Davidson almost went bankrupt; now they are considered one of the most reliable motorcycle brands

 

Apple was nearly bankrupt; now it `rules’ the world

Why Re-Brand? Top 5 WHYs

1.You will create a platform to establish a leadership position in your category and more importantly create alignment inside your company. It’s another chance to get things right.

2.Your vision, purpose and core values are reflected in your new brand identity that you and your team can be immensely proud of.

3.You will attract the right talent to your company.

4.Your brand architecture (the relationship between your company, divisions, product/service categories and products/services) is planned out so it makes sense now and in the future.

5.You get a brand standards’ guide to make sure your brand is consistent across all forms of communication – a key ingredient to managing a strong brand.

 

We see ourselves as your strategic branding partner, providing you with the essential marketing tools and insights that ensure your brand’s longevity, no matter the economic conditions that may come.

So contact us today for an obligation-free consultation at 03-9221 3388 (ask for Mickie, Shirly or Bernard), or drop us an email at linsweb@linsad.com.my or visit www.linsad.com.my / www.facebook.com/linsadv.

 

SMEs/SMIs: Do You Need An Agency?

The role of agencies in Brand-Building & Communications

Advertising is the form of communication used to persuade or influence prospects to buy your product or service. It is about taking the client’s marketing strategy, and converting it into salient, memorable consumer messages.

Advertising

Marketing, meanwhile, is the process of communicating the value of your product or service to customers with the intention of selling it to them. To do so, you need to be able to assume your customers’ point of view, and convert it into a conscious, structured marketing strategy.

Marketing

And this brings us to branding, which is your company’s core philosophy, intended to differentiate your product or service from those of your competitors’, thereby allowing you to establish a niche market for your company.

branding

So branding is the main philosophy, with marketing as part of the philosophy, propelled by advertising.

This is where a reputable, full-service agency comes in handy – as an advertising, marketing and branding partner, in helping you carve a niche for yourself in the market.

Agency Services

A full-service agency provides the following services:

	Market Research & Analysis Market segmentation Target market research Marketing plan development Objective: To know and serve your clients, better
	Media Planning & Buying Media selection Objective: To ensure that the media selected is aligned to your marketing plans
	Public Relations Media invitations to events/launches Press release development & distribution Objective: Earned media coverage is more valuable than paid media coverage (plus, most in-house marketing execs are too busy with marketing campaigns and daily operations to have sufficient time to see to this)
	Sales & Marketing Alignment Are your ads trying to push `Product A’, but your sales team is too focused on `Product B’? If you launch too many ads simultaneously, with inadequate support from your sales team to boot, you will only confuse prospective customers A marketing message has to be focused, with one thing done at a time An agency offers an impartial 3rd party perspective about your business, which may elude your internal marketing or sales director
	Creative Marketing & Strategy Development There are many types of marketing channels and mediums available, today These range from below-the-line (BTL) to above-the-line (ATL), and offline events to online e-commerce A coherent strategy is hence needed to ensure that your marketing effort reaches your intended consumer, thus resulting in tangible sales A beautifully-designed brochure does not necessarily ensure that prospects will buy; it is only through a creative mix of marketing mediums and channels that a greater impact can be made Here, only marketing and branding agencies will have the expertise you need
	Strategic Brand Management All branding efforts should share congruence, right from the brand’s logo, to its website’s copy tone and style, to the directors’ signatures There should also be an alignment of creative concepts in all marketing materials Your customers’ perception of your brand is comprehensive and multi-dimensional; beautifully-designed products and ads might bring you customers, but it’s the brand experience that retains you your customers Objective: To reflect brand image and company culture, as intended
	ROI & Marketing Analytics Anything that’s measurable is improvable To ensure that the amount of money invested into marketing generates acceptable ROI, marketing analytics are required While internal marketing managers are capable of providing simple analyses with the help of relevant software, such analyses may not include real feedback from customers
	Product Development & Design Product packaging and idea seedling from a marketing perspective Pricing and competitor analyses Pre-sale offers and marketing Product launch sequence Objective: To tap into the agency’s experience on multiple product launches, in determining your product’s success over the first 6 months, especially if you are in the FMCG industry

	Event Management Press conference Product launching Opening ceremony Concert Games and contests Other `brand experience’ campaigns Our Objective: To provide your customers a great brand experience, the A to Z of this experience should be well thought out and executed
	Digital Marketing Consumer behaviour online Cross-media integration Interactive media development Website and apps development Traffic generation You’ve only 2 seconds to engage customers in this digital age The maximum time spent on an online ad, over the past 5 years, has dropped from 11 seconds to 8 seconds Customers’ attention spans have also dropped dramatically Technology changes so fast that not even the most well-equipped marketing team will be able to keep up with it A freelance website developer will only be able to construct your website for you, but won’t be able to market it effectively for you Our Objective: To harness the technical expertise and experience of an integrated, full-service agency as your best choice of digital marketing partner
	Talent/Ambassador Search Brand personality: Your choice of a brand ambassador can boost or tarnish your brand The selection of the ambassador is hence important, as are the development of campaigns that revolve around your products or services vis-à-vis your brand ambassador Here again, only a professional agency will be able to execute this effectively, on your behalf

As an integrated provider of 360^o advertising, marketing and branding solutions, LINs.AD has had the privilege of working with a diverse range of clients, ranging from sole proprietorships to MNCs, in addressing their equally diverse needs.

What’s more, we turn 25 this year! And our list of clients has long surpassed the 1,000 mark, since our inception in 1989. We’ve been through the booms and busts of the markets over the decades, and have worked with brands to capitalize on the booms, and to sustain themselves during the busts.

We see ourselves as your strategic branding partner, providing you with the essential marketing tools and insights that ensure your brand’s longevity, no matter the economic conditions that may come.

So contact us today for an obligation-free consultation at 03-9221 3388 (ask for Mickie, Shirly or Bernard), or drop us an email at linsweb@linsad.com.my or visit www.linsad.com.my / www.facebook.com/linsadv.