I did it. I have finally moved to an exciting new place on the internet complete with a portfolio, new blog layout and most excitingly, my own domain name!
Soon this page will no longer exist so if you would like to keep hearing from me (I promise I will be getting back to regularly posting again!) or if you are just curious about what my new site looks like click here!
The semester is coming to a rapid end and with that comes the flood of client projects. One, in particular, was very special. This client was Parfait. We developed both a content marketing plan and a social media plan for this client. Content marketing is a great long term marketing strategy as it is something that will keep your customers engaged with the brand. It moves away from a hard sell type of content and towards something that reaches your customers on a personal level and helps to drive customer loyalty. The 80-20 rule is still a large factor.Content marketing speaks to that 20%. It also helps to increase your search engine ranking and social media traction. Want to learn more? The Content Marketing Institute has a great read on why this type of marketing should be at the core of all of your marketing plans.
Parfait is a local frozen yoghurt and speciality coffee bar in downtown Kingston. Their appealing storefront and prime location on Princess street draw a student and a young business professional crowd. They use high-quality products and locally sourced ones when possible. Their largest competition is Menchies due to their strong online presence and current downtown location. Their biggest issue is awareness, they have only been in business a matter of months.
Our strategy to help solve the issues of awareness is a content marketing plan that focuses on customer loyalty, trust, and engagement. Ultimately, these customers will become brand evangelists and continue to spread the word about Parfait. For now, the focus of the strategy is to reach the target audience as a friend and helpful source. To achieve this we developed content that is helpful and the target audience can relate to. It speaks directly to their pain points. This content is meant to help them either with tips and tricks, making them laugh or teaching them a new skill. that for both targets are a busy life. They are on the go either with school or work. A full editorial calendar was developed to demonstrate the type of content that would be used. Some examples can be seen below.
Blog
Blogs are a great way to communicate larger messages. When done right they are extremely engaging and easy for the reader to share with others. They increase search engine ranking and increase social currency. They can really be about anything and are a great way to pad any content marketing strategy. They plant a seed in a customer’s mind that will be shared with others either online or through word of mouth. If that isn’t enough, 77% of internet users read blogs. (source) This particular blog post is directed at students. It talks about ways to survive the first month back to school. It will be posted mid-way through September and talk about different activities or things that make school life survivable. It is short and sweet but gets the message across in a funny way.
To read the post, click through here.
Infographic
Infographics are great shareable content that teaches the user something. They are very engaging and easy to understand thanks to the design elements and don’t take up a lot of the customers time. The infographic that was developed for the client targets both students and young professionals. It shows them how to properly tie a tie. This content is very useful and helps to ease some morning stress.
Video
Videos have become one of the most popular ways to share content over the last few years. They are engaging and easily shared. With features on Facebook like autoplay, it makes it easy to increase views and draw in an audience as the video begins for them to see. Our video focuses on the holiday season. Both of our target audiences can be engaged with these style videos. During this time of year, people want to see happy and heartwarming video content. This video fits perfectly into that description. People are also more forgiving about production value and really want to see content they enjoy watching.
Memes
Memes are a hugely successful trend that brings a humorous human element to social media in a way that has not been done before. They bridge social media, human emotions and pop culture together to create extremely engaging content. These memes will be released in November to bring a smile to very stressed students as they prepare for finals. The memes below relate to student life in a humorous way. They are easy to share and very easy to engage with.
All in all, this has been a challenging learning experience. After 2 years of focusing on primarily promotional marketing, moving 100% away from that too strict content marketing took a lot to get my head around. But I know see the huge upside of content marketing for all businesses, not just Parfait.
Someone recently told me that the way that I show I care about people is wrong. For a while, I thought about it and considered the way that I show I care. But here is the thing about love and affection, everyone shows and perceives it differently. It’s like marketing that way. If two people who have had different life experiences, different interests and different mindsets sit and watch the same advertisement they will get different things out of it.
I mean it makes perfect sense marketing like love and affection is not a perfect science, it is not even a science at all, really it’s an art. One that is not perfect and never will be. For marketers this can be an issue, how do you get 1000 people who all are different to understand the same message? Frankly, you don’t. In my opinion, this is way diversity in messaging comes into play. Once you understand the way your audience communicates, you can develop one message that can be shown in many ways.
Then all of sudden your message is understood by 990 people instead of 500.
Just something to ponder,
-M
THIS IS CONTENT PRODUCED FOR A CLASS ASSIGNMENT ONLY.
With classes approaching, your bank account breaking, and your teachers breathing down your back, being a student is harder than it has ever been. This is your third and last year at university and September is here, meaning your life is about to flip. They say your uni years are the easiest you’ll ever have in your life, but we’d argue that being a poor, knackered, perpetually hungover student does come with its challenges, too!
We’re here to share our 7 September Survival Skills. Don’t let September beat you.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/niralishah/gr8-in-bed
https://www.bodybuildertime.com/may-top-10-gym-memes/
http://www.hercampus.com/school/wpunj/10-reasons-follow-twillyp
http://giphy.com/gifs/J2szWbDQaXQ6Q
Whether you’re off to college or university, September marks the beginning of a new year full of new opportunities. You’re going to meet people of all different kinds, make the worst mistakes of your life, burn your dinner, gain a few pounds and probably fail a text or two and that’s part of all the fun. Either way, you’ve almost made it. You’ve almost crossed the finish line. So, have a great year, focus, have fun, and just do your thing.
Brand storytelling is always something that has struck home with me (something the Blue Jays couldn’t figure out…) anyone can see this by digging through the archives of this blog. From Air Canada, West Jet, Apple, and Coke; even British grocery stores have been found in here and all celebrated for the same reason: they tell stories. These brands below are no different.
Well, kind of different. One brand hit the home run and sent the Jays to the world series (I will get over it one day). The other missed the bases and struck out three straight to end the inning and send the fans home in tears. There will always be next year *sigh*.
Airbnb shows a beautiful story of a daughter who found a way to help her father heal. The spot talks about the pain in Germany during and after the wall and how many are still affected to this day. It showcases a human bond that will never be broken and a heart that needed to return and see all the beauty that Berlin is today. This story was yes made possible by the service Airbnb provides but it was and is a real story that happened to real people, not a creative director in a shiny office tower in NYC. Real humans who feel, eat, sleep and mourn for the Jays. It is a stunning animated take on a human experience. I love it. I love the story and the way it is shown. As a marketing student, we know that brands who show value and share relevant information are the brands that have followers who will demand product at local stores. And isn’t that the goal? Check out the video below.
The other story is a brand that lost their way and their own story. It has turned into an underdog story that pulls at true American classic heart strings; Levi Strauss.
Image taken from levistrauss.com
Love the logo? Check out the story here
This brand went from the top of the world to the bottom of the donation bin in about 8 years flat. They have hung on and battled back. Through their tried and true use of being the “everyman’s jean” while introducing new product lines to help solve the problems of the modern woman, they have started to turn a scary drop around. Now, like the article says, they need to find their story and tell it. The Unzipped Blog, is one of the ways they are starting to do that. Like Airbnb, they need to step away from advertising and towards telling the stories of those who wear their jeans. Like The Story of Telling blog says, they need to overdeliver on their service to their customers to help create the crazy loyal customers they once had, a great way to do that is to celebrate the community they have in front of them. People want to have their stories told and to have brands pay attention to them. I mean how great is it when your favourite brand pays attention to you? And with Levi’s being the brand of revolutions it is perfectly fitting for them to tell many stories.
What are your favourite brand stories?
-M
Apple; the world’s leader in creating a cult-like following. Yet their latest makes me want to gag. Maybe that’s the point but frankly, it’s weak compared to their normal high standards and emotional appeal strategy. The video below features James Corden, The Late Late Show Host, pitching ad ideas to Apple execs. He is great. The ideas are wild and outlandish but the lady with the iPad ruins it with her awkward and clearly placed and scripted banter. You’ll see what I mean below.
It makes me sad to see this obvious slide from their former glory. I have always marveled at the advertising creativity to come out of this company and hopefully this is just a tiny bump in what is to come. Maybe they’ll even bring back to glorious Mac vs. PC ads!
-M
Today is earth day. Today is the the day, at the UN, 175 countries joined together and signed a treaty. Not just any treaty, a treaty in which the world said in unison enough. Enough of the systematic slaughter of our country. Today was a historic day. And today, I will do my part. I have decided to become a vegetarian.
Recently, I watched Vegucated. This was eye opening to say the least. Not only is the beef industry awful to animals but beef production is a large contributor to green house gases. In fact, you are doing more for the environment by cutting out beef consumption for a year than you are but parking your car for the same amount of time. (non-believer, please watch Vegucated. It’s on Netflix).
This is all coming from a girl who salivates at a 8 ounce bacon wrapped fillet cut of perfectly grilled AAA sterling cut Alberta beef. Trust me this was not an easy decision. I still bleed my Alberta blue.
But after many days of hard thought I have decided to change my world, for my health, for the planets health and well for my budget.
So dear readers, wish me luck. These next few weeks will not be easy.
-M
Coke remastered their classic ad from 1971. One that I truly love. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.
Now, if you will excuse me, I will be over here watching Mad Men. Again.
-M
Today I was going to write about a lovely new coffee shop in downtown Kingston. I logged on to my computer, opened the internet and read about 3 bombings in Brussels this morning that have already claimed the lives of 26 people. I could not bare to go on and write about something like coffee on a morning where innocent lives were taking simply because they had the courage to carry out their day.
Canada recently pulled out of Syria, leaving the bombing of ISIS to other countries. I look at what happened to the people of Belgium today and wonder if we have really made the right decision. The act of terror that was carried out this morning is one that has become all to frequent.
Yes, there are many beautiful things that have happened in the world recently and yes Canada has done wondrous things for the refugees fleeing the war torn Syria, but when do we start to be proactive and protect ourselves? All the humanitarian aid in the world will not protect us when ISIS starts to hurt us.
So on the day of the unveiling of the federal budget, I ask you, Mr. Trudeau, in your budget, is there money to protect Canadians?
-M
Okay I may be the only human in a relationship on the planet who is not celebrating valentines day. At all. My idea of a “special” date is literally doing the same thing that happens every weekend.
SO! I can still appreciate the beauty of Netflix and chill V-Day version…
The scary part is how well Netflix knows us. And knows our streaming habits. There is nothing healthy about it but it is what it is. So, happy streaming day!
-M
Marketing and Me 
