9 minute read
The digital differentiator
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Nadia Hearn, founder of Get Published, discusses the importance of creating brand purpose through digital and emotional communication strategies.
In today’s vast, ever-changing market, it has become vital to connect customers with the business and its brand story. Brands that have clarity on their purpose digitally are known to financially outperform those that do not.
Having seen the benefits of shifting and gearing brand communications towards new digital cultures, understanding emotional branding and marketing is more important than ever before.
Even during Covid-19 lockdown and beyond, actioning strategic and tactical shifts towards digital communication platforms is crucial to business survival – communication has moved completely into a digital focus over the last few months, particularly as remote working and stayat-home regulations pushed audiences online. Sadly, traditional media houses shutting their doors is a clear indicator that spend has shifted largely towards digital communication media.
CONNECT MEANINGFULLY WITH AUDIENCES In order for businesses to still reach their markets and minimise a dip in overall sales, they need to allocate marketing funding and activities to smart digital solutions. It is key for brands to ensure maximum engagement digitally, and the businesses that understand the emotional element of communicating how they support other business, or the public, have in most instances found the increased shift to digital less painful.
Not only do businesses compete with innovative trends among their industry peers and need to stay abreast with disruptive technologies that may provide them with leading unique selling points (USPs), but they also contest with consumers’ low confidence and high budgetary caution.
The solution to this is to define the brand purpose of the business – an ownable point of view that delivers genuine value to consumers.
Those that already understand how to engage and keep their customers emotionally invested in their brand and organisational offerings will have buy-in because it is clear to customers why they need to be part of their brand. This is also often referred to as the brand story. In short, it is the intention of the business as envisioned by its founders.
OWN IT As we battle out the economic impact of Covid-19, it is a good time to consider reviewing
ABOUT NADIA HEARN
Nadia Hearn is a leading brand authority for South Africa’s small business sector. She is an international speaker, a radio talk show host on 2oceansvibe Radio and the founder of Get Published.
If you enjoyed this article, follow Nadia Hearn on social media or sign up for her blog at nadiahearn.co.za.
how successful a brand positioning strategy defines the brand as ‘ownable’. What is the actionable impact of the brand? How does it influence the lives of its target market? This positioning resides at the juncture of what the brand offers the world and its intended target customer’s deepest cares and desires.
Why is it important to businesses? It is proven that ‘me too’ companies struggle and fail compared to businesses that can connect and engage their target customer with their brand story. With almost all communications moving digital, engagement is the ‘now’ gold currency
It is not enough just to make a brand promise of low prices, good products, or services; it is no longer what separates one brand from another, rather it is through having a defined brand purpose
in branding. This is simply because a brand is the relationship the target market or public have with the brand, including their thoughts and feelings – also often referred to as brand perception. Their relationship with the brand is what will develop into brand loyalty and later brand insistence – the sweet spot any brand would like to be in.
The intention of the brand is the key. Think of Apple or Nike, who sell a lifestyle and not a product. Lockdown or no lockdown, do we change our brand preferences? No, not where there is an emotional investment. Their customers insist on buying their products because they have already bought into the brand intention, or story.
There are two foundational questions that should be posed to establish the purpose statement. First, what is the brand’s ultimate reason for being? And second, if the brand had to disappear tomorrow, what gap would there be?
Working on the purpose statement aligns the brand with its brand purpose. A company whose employees can answer a key question – “Why are we here?” – will also be the brand that makes stronger connections with customers in search of solutions to life’s new challenges.
CLEAR PURPOSE The importance of building a brand on a purpose, not simply a promise, is also critical to help employees, or associates – in fact, all stakeholders – understand ‘why they are here’. The key is to work on an internal communications strategy that engages employees to understand their reason for being, and then the reason for being at work.
It needs to clarify their roles and signify their intrinsic value to the organisation. Get the in-house in order, as this is where true brand reputation is born. Align the remote work cultures, enable them to be able to pass this on in all daily communication.
With the above in mind, people care only about the ‘why’. Why must they trust, try, engage, care, want and share with your brand?
Forget about positioning brands around the benefits and ‘what’ it is; focus on this approach,
the core is always the ‘why’ – the very reason for the business and brand’s existence.
Ensure the ‘why’ is communicated first in the brand message across all your platforms, so that it can resonate with the intended audience. Then, unpack the ‘how’ it does what it does; this is what makes the brand different.
Other tactics include highlighting the consumer pain or problem and connecting how the brand offers an answer or solution. Think digital – you have a split second to catch your audience’s eye and to get their attention.
Once an emotional connection with why it matters to them has been established, they will be engaged and listen to what exactly it is that will solve, impact or improve themselves or their business.
+27 (0)74 923 3835 +27 (0)21 556 3217 nadia@get-published.co.za get-published.co.za
RETURNS HOME WHEN THE WORLD
Africa Travel Week Connect – a virtual hub packed with interesting content, industry news and insights as well as the opportunity to hear from experts on a variety of topics in our new monthly webinar series. All with the aim to keep all of us in the travel and tourism industry connected. ATW Connect will focus on inbound and outbound markets for general leisure tourism, luxury travel, LGBTQ+ travel and the MICE/business travel sector as well as travel technology.
WHERE THE WORLD RETURNS HOME
Reed Exhibitions Africa has kept its finger on the pulse and overhauled Africa Travel Week to chart a course ahead for the future of the African travel trade.
Over the past few weeks, the Africa Travel Week team at Reed Exhibitions Africa have had their ear to the ground, catching up with all the key players and listening to the travel industry’s needs in this uncertain time. And, what they found was that the industry needs to connect with each other more than ever. It is for this very reason that Reed Exhibitions Africa has revitalised Africa Travel Week (ATW). The rebrand promotes the beauty of the African continent and invites the “world to return home”.
What the current situation has highlighted is that nothing will ever truly replace the importance and benefits of face-to-face interaction – particularly in our industry. We hope that ATW Connect will become a go-to resource for the industry to access critical information and share creative ways to remain relevant.
ATW comprises World Travel Market Africa (WTMA), International Luxury Travel Market Africa (ILTMA), EQUAL Africa, ibtm Africa, Travel Forward, and the African Travel and +SETE & ATIS.
ATW will bring these premier B2B travel trade entities in the host city of Cape Town with WTM Africa scheduled to kick off the week at the CTICC from 7 to 9 April 2021. The event will be more important than ever for the travel and tourism sector to secure business following a devastating halt due to Covid-19.
CONNECTING DIGITALLY In parallel, ATW has been working very hard to bring you ATW Connect – a virtual hub bursting with interesting content, industry news and insights, and the opportunity to hear from experts on a variety of topics.
“Events as we know them have been disrupted and we have been forced to embrace new solutions for our partners. Adversity often helps us to foster innovation and our current reality has prompted the rapid development of online platforms,” says Megan Oberholzer, portfolio director for the Travel, Tourism & Creative Industries Department.
“ATW Connect is full of information about how to survive, and grow travel-related businesses at a time when at least 146 countries have imposed travel restrictions for the foreseeable future,” she says.
It is estimated that 91% of the world’s population, or 7.1 billion people, currently live in countries where borders are shut, or only open for essential travel.
FOCUS POINTS Digital resource ATW Connect will focus on inbound and outbound markets for general
leisure tourism, luxury travel, LGBTQ+ travel and the MICE/business travel sector, as well as travel technology. A key aim of ATW is to provide ways for travel industry professionals to support each other and share vital information that will allow the industry to survive this tumultuous time – and be ready to grow the industry again when travel restrictions are lifted. The hub will feature four sections: • The Knowledge Centre is comprised of mustread articles with updates and trends from key industry professionals and experts focusing on LGBTQ+ travel, luxury travel, business travel, responsible travel and travel technology. • Industry Connect is a place to share positive news from travel professionals and will contain a library of videos from industry speakers and professionals, offering information and inspiration. • Destination Focus keeps the travel dream alive by putting a spotlight on various destinations that form part of the ATW family. • Armchair Travel showcases the beauty of Africa and ATW exhibitors’ incredible destinations and products.
