Have your brand
stand out

Find out how to gain your customers’ attention and loyalty with these tips.

The holiday season is the biggest opportunity in the calendar year for your business to drive revenue and close out the year with a bang. However, it understandably comes as the period when the competition among brands is fiercest, each vying for a slice of the Christmas pie.

How can your brand rise above the rest and reach out to your customers in the most effective manner? Here are some tips to help your brand become a talking point over the festivities.

As smartphones continue to improve in processing and computing power, customers today are more likely to interact with your brand on mobile.

As such, ensure that your brand is well developed and maintained on social channels that are predominantly mobile like Facebook and Instagram. Social media is where engagement with your customers truly takes off. Use the platform to have conversations both light-hearted and serious to hear directly from your customers what they like.

When your customers are ready to learn more about your brand and its products, they can then move on to your website for more information.

Since most traffic comes from mobile these days, you need to have a mobile version of your website. This means webpage layouts that fits the screen of mobile devices and works well with touch controls - typically a minimalist approach that retains only the most important elements. You can also streamline the purchase process and make it easy for customers to buy your products through a well-built mobile e-store.

To further extend your brand’s reach, form relationships and networks with industry partners. For example, if you’re operating in the F&B space, there is a whole host of platforms like Chope, Quandoo, Deliveroo and Entertainer that each offers different value, be it reservation, delivery or promotions.

It’s all too easy and convenient to fall into the trap of adopting conventional themes of Christmas that are universally understood.

But in reality, it’s safe to say that there are way fewer Singaporean families who have turkey together to celebrate Thanksgiving, relative to their American counterparts.

“There’s a certain magic to localisation that can’t be explained. People react and respond very differently to advertising that’s tailor-made for their country, for their state, for their city, for them. Localisation shows that a brand cares about its customers and genuinely pays attention to their unique needs.”

– Eugene Lee, marketing directory at McDonald’s Malaysiaⁱ

To appeal to a local audience, create content that they can identify with as a part of their own lives. It’s almost like sharing an inside joke, creating a sense of belonging and exclusivity. For example, a visual of Santa Claus riding on a motorcycle to deliver your steaming-hot Dim Sum spread is much more likely to catch the attention of your customers and win their hearts than one in which he’s climbing down a chimney when most of us live in high-rise apartments.

This holiday season, shine the spotlight not on your products, but on your customers.

Celebrate their uniqueness by giving them a platform to share their Christmas stories, posting user features as Instagram stories on your brand’s page, or empower them to come up with limited-edition Christmas designs that will be produced in time for the festivities. This shows that you value your customers and their inputs, rather than just looking to sell them your goods.

If your customers need a bit of encouragement, consider providing incentives to make that extra effort worth their while, for example through contests to win prizes – all in the spirit of giving.

When customers know that they might have a part to play or to own something, they are more vested in your brand, enhancing interest and engagement. Doing so helps to drive deeper, more meaningful connections between brand and customer.

One of the most fundamental concepts of marketing that has stood the test of time is that appealing to emotions is more effective than to logic.

With the new year incoming, it’s common practice to look back at the past year and revisit what we did or did not manage to accomplish. Why not take the chance to show appreciation for your customers? Send a heartfelt message of gratitude to your customers for being a part of your brand’s growth.

Another possibility is to build on the theme of family reunions, sharing beautiful memories, and cherishing happy times together with our loved ones. Tie your brand to such positive feelings for your customers to make the association.

It’ll also help for you to know that many of your customers will be receiving year-end bonuses. This is the perfect time to give them something to look forward to and get excited about by teasing next year’s new releases, such as feature updates or even launches of entirely new products.

In spite of the competition that will be going on, don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s the holidays. Kick back and let loose a little, don’t be afraid to break away from the norm and just have a little fun. It’s the time for developing closer ties, so relate to your customers as a real person and your brand will have cause for celebration.

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ⁱ https://www.marketing-interactive.com/how-localisation-is-changing-marketing/