3 Changes in 2017 for Successful Branding and Marketing – Featured at CES

Yesterday I caught the BrandX ranking for the top brands in the industry and looked at how these success cases are modeling the way for branding!

3 Top Trends Are New Marketing & Branding Ala CES:

1.  Design and Experiences.   Brand will increase their use of video in 2017 to tell stories.  While traditional imagery is static, video is dynamic.  Women in particular are visual buyers.  The prediction of  clear visual communication — meaning focusing more on bringing forth the user content rather than the UI, will help to draw in women buyers — who today control approximately 75% of the consumer spend.

2.  Changing Customer Behavior + Expectations Releases the Power of Technology for New Experiences and Content .  Shawn DuBravac, the chief economist for CTA, dished on AI, AR, VR and Iot in the annual show kickoff as part of the 5 major trendBut the trend is not just for products incorporating these technologies but how companies are using them to market as well.  For instance, Lowe’s is using VR powerfully to help you imagine your new kitchen and companies like Under Armour use AI to provide personalized recommendations.

3.  Path to Purchase.   Today’s world is more complicated than the past in how the client purchases.   In 2017, the path to purchase is now more complicated.  I loved the Nielson presentation on the new startups that have created solutions to help  decipher the complexity of the path to purchase that exists through Social Media, Ads, TV, Mobile, and now AI, VR and new devices.

I am thrilled to be on the panel with Lisa Johnston, digital editor at TWICE magazine on Friday at CES!   Hope to see you there!

The post 3 Changes in 2017 for Successful Branding and Marketing – Featured at CES appeared first on Social Business Sandy.

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San Francisco SmartCamp Winner Revolutionizes Farming!

I loved seeing the San Francisco Smart Camp live!   First I got to see Jason and then I got to see amazing solutions on style, live streaming, farmers, and more!

san fran winner

For farmers, understanding farm conditions can be quite cumbersome, that's why we're excited about San Francsico's SmartCamp winner FarmHub who has just made it that much easier!

In the city of tech, winning this stage of SmartCamps is no small feat, congratulations to FarmHub for their innovative solution that makes monitoring agricultural fields easy and efficient.

How does it work? With FarmHub's weather stations and web solutions, you can connect dozens of field sensors to the cloud without the hassles of cumbersome technology. Gaining remote access to real-time conditions across the farm is as simple as turning it on.

FarmHub measures conditions like: air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction, rainfall, solar radition and UV Index, visible light intensity and soil moisture. The hardware even provides camera snapshots of crop fields.

san fran smart camp

Let's hear from the founder.

"The IBM mentorship was really top notch. Very seasoned investors who listened and looked at what we had done. The review team cut to the chase with very targeted, constructive criticism that we are immediately taking action on at FarmHub. We are excited to go to the next stage and continue to gain benefit from the IBM Smart Camp program." Louis Thiery

Congratulations again to FarmHub. Follow their story on Twitter at @farm_hub.

Louis_Thiery-FarmHub_large

For a complete look at application deadlines and public SmartCamp events, click here: http://www.smartcamp2015.com/cities/. Stay tuned for more SmartCamp stories in your city.


Back to school! Note in a lunch box - Is Twitter your note to your followers?

When school starts, and I pack my kid's lunches, I always finish them off with a special note to encourage them in the day.

For instance, with my youngest Kassie I did a bunch of K's that I think are special for her!

  • K is for Kisses!
  • K is for Krazy special -- for the special girl that you are!
  • K is for Kind - be kind to your friends today -- for they are precious!

kassie

My kids say that it is a moment in the day -- among hard work, getting teased, and questioning their confidence --- that they pause to know that someone really cares for them!

As I was thinking about how my oldest daughter carefully folds and saves each note, I wondered how much we all need that encouragement.

  • How could I place a "virtual note in each of my team's lunch box" ?
  • What would it say?
  • Would they appreciate it like my kids?
  • And what would I want my note to say if someone left one for me!

But then I thought -- do we do this each day -- through Twitter?  For instance, when I share quotes or welcome the beautiful sunrise, is that the same?

Is that the new form of the lunch box note?

What do you think?


Effective Social Media Communications - 3 Tips For Friday!

I am riding in the car today with my 16 year old daughter.   She was looking for a specific song on the radio.  While constantly switching stations she was listening carefully but selectively scanning out the 'wrong' songs.  Station after station was rejected until she heard the familiar song she was seeking.

This experience made me think of social media communications.   How do you break through all the other "stations" out there and have your audience search for yours?

Here's 3 tips for our Friday!

  • Make it noticeable.  The song my daughter was searching for had a certain beat.  Does your message have the characteristics that will help it to break through the barrage of messages that bombards everyone every day.   Should you use video?  a Podcast or a blog?   How do you express yourself?  Make sure you have listened to the right influencers and plan purposefully the message.
  • Make it targeted.   If you use channels creatively and mix them well, you're much more likely to get your message to those for whom it's intended. The channels have to be ones that your target audience is exposed to.  My daughter's song was on her favorite rock station, not my jazz station.   Make sure you are where your audience is.
  • Make it crowd sourced.   Testing your messaging can help you really ensure that you nailed it.  I heard that Taylor Swift gets many bits of feedback on her songs from focus groups, family, and informally with fans.  Sometimes you think you got it, but you missed something of importance!

 


3 Things I have learned from my daughters about Disruption and Social

Yes, my 2 daughters have shared with me

  1. Dude Perfect.   There are 5 guys who were friends at Texas (and a Panda) that have a cool and fun YouTube channel.   They started with basketball tricks and earned "endorsements" from their videos.   Now they do comedy like sterotypes and more sports tricks. Now they have added games, books, and more.    What I learned:  My daughters love the quirky video fun and can't wait for the next episodes.  Their use of social is amazing and they have taken their passion and used it as a great example of the power of social and passion!
  2. Augmented reality (AR) art.   My daughters recently showed me 2 postcards with art on them that came alive with a small AR app on my phone.  Simply put -- wow!  The art came alive with flames that were painted and then on the phone it was real!    What I learned:  The world is changing to such a visual experience.   My daughters expect an experience -- whether it is AR or IoT sensors embedded to create an experience.  A good lesson to learn and experiment with!
  3. They want our help.   My daughters showed me today this note that a mom wrote to her son's facebook friends.  They wanted to chat on it but it was interesting that they "liked" reluctantly what the mom had done.  What I learned:  Kids do like help on social.  My daughters AHA moment was her telling me that the accountability I have with her on Instagram helps her maintain "her" standards.