Month: April 2016

With such a stress and emphasis put on marketing with the right strategies and reaching the right audiences, over complication can be at the forefront of business digital marketing techniques these days, and what do people enjoy the most? well, having fun of course. this is where Gamification comes into play, put simply, it is where you acquire something pre existing and implement game mechanics into it, increasing participating customers experience, driving engagement  and furthermore inflating customer loyalty through boosted competition, point scoring or an opportunity to win (Conaway, 2014).

Disregarded by some, the idea of gamification and its benefits to a digital marketing campaign have been explored by Lucassen et al (2014) . the idea is that essentially gamification acts as a benefactor to the marketing mix, driving basic elements of awareness, engagement and loyalty. Its an exciting era to ditching the traditional campaign model and introducing innovative movement.

Awareness:

This idea can be argued to be the most important, the use of converting your marketing strategy into a gamified process, increases word of mouth about the product therefore creating more brand awareness. This can be exemplified by the way in which Dominoes incorporated gamification into their mobile pizza ordering process, mirroring the idea of roulette, where users can shake their smart phone or android and the app will pick the toppings at random.

Engagement:

Competition is embedded in our very own human nature, and what better way to engage a consumer than to touch on their competitive side? Point scoring, leader boards, prize draws and lucky dips all engage a consumer on a deeper emotional level than a traditional marketing campaign, highlighted by Lucassen (2014) who found that with an increased competitive edge, consumers are engaged by up to 68% more. A good example of this consumer engagement is McDonalds monopoly prize draw, where customers rip tickets off meals and collect them to win prizes.

Loyalty:

Interlinked with engagement, Lucassen (2014) found that with a higher commitment on an emotional level that customer loyalty will increase. The company POPchips executed this well by temaing up with a mobile game company that when certain levels of points were scored on the game, prize draws were given out, a basic premise that is very effective in keeping the same customers returning.

Just to emphasise the importance of this Gartner Inc (2011) argues that by 2015 50% or more companies that managed innovative marketing processes gamified those procedures, and that by the year 2014 these very movements became as important as the likes of Facebook, eBay or amazon.

Gartner identified four main principles for gamification:

1. Accelerated feedback cycles. In the real world, feedback loops are slow (e.g., annual performance appraisals) with long periods between milestones. Gamification increases the velocity of feedback loops to maintain engagement.

2. Clear goals and rules of play. In the real world, where goals are fuzzy and rules selectively applied, gamification provides clear goals and well-defined rules of play to ensure players feel empowered to achieve goals.

3. A compelling narrative. While real-world activities are rarely compelling, gamification builds a narrative that engages players to participate and achieve the goals of the activity.

4. Tasks that are challenging but achievable. While there is no shortage of challenges in the real world, they tend to be large and long-term. Gamification provides many short-term, achievable goals to maintain engagement.

(source: Gartner)

The innovative capacity of gamification process in the marketing mix stands companies at a competitive edge, but many cases show that it needs to be used correctly or else a fail could be on the cards!

References:

Conaway, R. (2014). Gamification and service marketing. Springerplus. 3 (1), p358-387.

Lucassen, G. (2014). Gamification in Consumer Marketing – Future or Fallacy? .Procedia – Social and Behvioral Sciences. 148 (1), p194-202.

 

Standing as a public figure to represent a company, brand ambassadors enlighten the wider image of the given brand in the upmost positive light possible. They are understood to be the pure embodiment of the image that the company wants to portray, creating a cohesive and easily understood bond online between followers and admirers. There are a few different ways in which an online ambassador is able to drive forwards new target markets and connect on a deeper emotional level with existing clients, below a few of these are discussed:

• The power of word of mouth

As a study completed by the ‘Keller Group’ found that only 8% of word of mouth brand conversations are essentially pessimistic, and an overwhelming 66% being inherently positive, the question is raised, as to where the negatives of word of mouth are? Understandably, its hard to find some. Andersson & Ekman (2009) narrate how “not only is it cost effective” but further more relative against other promotional tools, it excels in building a more confident and elusive brand image but also influencing target groups, known as ‘place buyers’. This idea of word of mouth also allows an infective knowledge among target groups that otherwise may have been unreachable from the coordinator, ever expanding the brand image.  Audiences are able to also build a deeper trust with the brand through word of mouth, as they are able to hold greater confidence in the products through peer reviews, rather than wide spread monotonous advertising, that Huffington post suggest we are exposed to over 250 per day. Another benefit that arises is that the network is seen as a channel of development rather than a one way communication platform, acting as a subsidiary to the overall cutthroat manner of the place. As argued by Kotler (1999), the capability of word of mouth is highly uncontested in the world of marketing research.

• Humanizing your product

In the world of online shopping and digital marketing it is important not to loose touch of face to face brand interaction, with world wide recognition or international purchasing this may become more difficult to for a firm to achieve, but this is where recognised brand ambassadors play a beneficial role in enhancing the lost world of a ‘local’ feel. With personality traits and brand passion being at the forefront of their agenda in whatever they do, customers are able to recognise that the brand is being humanised, personalised and real, creating an emotional connection on both a wide scale national or international setting or tailored to individual purchases. In turn making the followers feel connected with the brand, and cared for.

• The customer drive

The emotional engagement created through efficient brand ambassadors creates the idea that customer satisfaction process is further driven forward by their own contribution in the purchasing method or brand experience. It solidifies the idea that loyal cliental will positively make an effort to increase the satisfaction of the brand engagement experience along with the brand its self, such as; a more increased social media awareness, with increased brand participation with ‘shares’, ‘likes’, ‘retweets’, ‘regrams’ and ‘tagging’ peers and associates that result in new target markets, again driving reach further and further. This inherent drive in the customer to positively participate with the brand is known as ‘The Ripple Effect’ , coinciding with the word of mouth theory, the analogy of throwing a pebble into a still pond is used, a small cause creating a big effect. Again another powerful tool in the marketing mix to ensure a successful expansion of business into new targets and markets.

Three very simple yet devastatingly effective strategies that if used correctly can cause a wild fire of growth. Although we may be moving forward into a cyber reality, the real strength of advertising success lays in the very foundations of businesses, that is, the customer and their voice.