digital marketing Archives - All Points Agency

Mastering the Art of Advertising in an Election Year

This article was originally published on Forbes.com.

In a presidential election year with a challenging economic environment and tensions growing across the planet, U.S. consumers are understandably uneasy. Advertisers are facing a challenging scenario that requires agility, foresight and possibly a touch of ESP. Understanding the dynamics of digital advertising—and how real-world events impact them—is critical to success now more than ever.

Election Year Drama

The atmosphere of an election year is always charged with heightened emotions and amplified media consumption. Consumers actively engage in content around topics they care about, research candidates and issues, and watch coverage of political events and debates. This surge in engagement opens up both opportunities and challenges. For brands and advertisers, it translates to intensified competition and increased advertising costs. It also heightens the need for caution regarding placements and adjacencies.

Political campaigns dominate traditional and digital media, vying for voter attention. Consequently, nonpolitical advertisers often find themselves competing for a share of voice and facing inflated ad rates due to heightened demand. On top of that, brands have to be vigilant about where ads appear, as advertising on certain outlets may be construed as a political endorsement. Similarly, a placement adjacent to a political ad or hot-button topic could have a positive effect or a harmful one, depending on the viewer.

Spending On Digital Political Ads Is Expected To Surge

When candidates began capitalizing on digital media in the early 2000s, the landscape was still nascent, so there was little impact on inventory or pricing. It wasn’t until the 2016 presidential election that digital ads became a staple. That year, internet advertising also saw a spending surge, leading to increased competition and higher costs. Political ad spending continued to grow, reaching $8.5 billion in the 2020 election cycle.

This election, political ad spending is expected to grow by more than 30% from 2020 to $12.32 billion, with digital media accounting for almost a third of it. The digital investment is expected to spike 156% over 2020 levels, hitting $3.46 billion. Of that, $1.56 billion will likely go to connected TV, an increase of over 500% since 2020. Google is expected to see $553.2 million; $605 million will likely go to social media networks.

This increase in spending across the digital advertising landscape will have a monumental impact on brands, which will have to navigate fluctuations in competition, cost and inventory.

Will Media Fatigue Have An Impact?

Even as media consumption remains high, there is another hurdle for advertisers: fatigue and polarization. Exhaustion from an overload of politics or feeling misinformed may lead some audiences to disengage to avoid political news. Some users may pivot to platforms with lighter, fluffier content instead. This diversion can present challenges to finding your customers where they are, but you’ll also have opportunities to test new tactics, like contextual advertising, curated site lists or connected TV.

During the last presidential election, more people than ever reported being exhausted with the user experience on social media due to political content, though it did not decrease social media engagement overall. However, this election may play out differently. Meta appears to have recognized how politics can dominate its platforms and is intentionally shifting its platforms away from political discourse. It’s also requiring advertisers to disclose that their campaigns promote political or social issues, and is ceasing to recommend political content in feeds on Instagram and Threads. Per Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, “Our goal is to preserve the ability for people to choose to interact with political content, while respecting each person’s appetite for it.” It will be interesting to see how all this affects advertisers.

What Should Advertisers Do?

It may be tempting to sit it out or slow it down, but resist. Pulling back advertising spend during challenging times can hinder growth. As evidenced by research from McKinsey, marketing during uncertain times can drive resilience. Maintaining a thoughtful presence across advertising channels will yield dividends during challenging times as it can help you create more distance between yourself and your competitors, which pays off in the long run. Watch campaigns closely, be patient and move quickly when you need to.

During an election year, it can be tough to test and learn effectively, but you can’t count on the things that have always worked to remain effective, so you must adapt.

A successful playbook includes some key activities:

Critically analyze every element of every ad, keeping in mind context and adjacencies. The tone and messaging of your ads will be closely scrutinized this year; accept that you’ll need to be more vigilant in putting the right campaigns out there and actively monitoring the response.
Take the time to review your media partners, whitelists and blocklists. Set dedicated time on your calendar to do this on an ongoing basis.
In the spirit of failing fast, when testing a new tactic or campaign, keep budgets modest at first and be prepared to pull non-performers quickly.
Be more agile. You will need to optimize campaigns more frequently and with a more critical eye during this time. Prepare your resources and establish new processes to foster a more agile campaign management approach.

Brands can thrive, even amid the uncertainty of an election cycle, by studying the past, staying tuned in to customer behavior and finding every opportunity to outdo their competitors. The savviest advertisers are the ones who take advantage of every relevant trend and opportunity, safeguard their brands more effectively, and optimize most efficiently to get results. Accept uncertainty, but face it with the right playbook, and you can position your brand for success during turbulent times—and thrive when calmer days eventually arrive.

7 Steps to Brand Building on Social Media

A strong social media presence is essential for any business looking to build and maintain a successful brand identity, which can help you rise above your competitors. Social media platforms present unique challenges and opportunities, and a compelling brand presence can set your business apart in this crowded landscape in order to grow awareness and drive conversions. Surprisingly, many brands often have a disconnect on social compared to their brand identity on other channels. This can be due to a variety of reasons:

Utilizing a lot of user-generated content (UGC), creator content, and influencer content, which puts your brand identity in the hands of your audience and can reduce cohesion across your social posts and with other brand assets.
Leaning into trends that work on social, like memes and short-form video can feel off-brand compared to your more polished brand materials.
Trying to be everything to everyone without a focused content strategy.
Assuming that your audience knows you, and forgetting to highlight your brand attributes frequently.
Disconnected social teams that aren’t aligned with marketing and brand strategy, which might happen when social lives under PR or customer service in an organization, or is outsourced to a freelancer or agency that is siloed from other tactics.

Wondering how can you can cultivate a stronger brand identity across your social media channels while leaning into what works to drive results? Let’s dive into brand building on social media in 2024.

What is Brand Identity?

At its core, a brand identity must include the basics: a unique and memorable color palette, a well-designed logo, meticulously chosen fonts, a cohesive visual aesthetic made up of imagery and video, and an identifiable tone of voice. But a really well-defined brand identity becomes the personality of your brand and its promise to your customers. Hubspot defines brand identity as what your brand says, its values, how you communicate your product or service, and how you want people to feel when they interact with your brand. In short, a well-defined brand identity helps you stand out from the crowd while also building trust, fostering customer loyalty, and creating a strong emotional connection with your audience.

Brand Identity Examples

Nike: Known for its “Just Do It” slogan, Nike’s brand identity is all about empowerment, athleticism, and inspiration. Their consistent use of the swoosh logo, bold imagery, and motivational messaging reinforces this identity across all platforms.
Apple: Apple’s brand identity revolves around innovation, simplicity, and premium quality. The minimalist design, clean lines, and sleek product presentations on their social media reflect these core values.
Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola’s brand identity is built on happiness, friendship, and tradition. Their consistent use of the iconic red and white color scheme – along with feel-good advertising campaigns – helps maintain this identity.

7 Steps to Brand Building on Social Media

In order to build s strong brand identity on social media, you need to first understand your brand and the appeal it has for consumers, and build everything around that. Here are 7 steps to help you define and activate your brand identity for successful brand building on social media.

Define Who You Are and Your Core Differentiators: Start by identifying and articulating your brand’s mission, key values, and competitive advantage. These should align with your target audience’s beliefs and aspirations. Ask yourself: What does my brand stand for? What do I want my customers to feel when they interact with my brand, particularly on social media? What are my competitors doing? How can I stand out?
Analyze Your Target Audience: Critically analyze every aspect of your audience. Delve into the analytics, as well as messages and comments to understand their preferences, behaviors, and pain points. This helps in crafting social media messages that resonate and engage effectively. Use tools like Instagram Insights and Sprout Social to help you analyze.
Develop Visual Consistency: Choose colors for social that reflect your overall brand colors and brand’s personality, and consistently use them across all visual content. This helps in creating a recognizable and cohesive brand image. Build an asset library of images, videos, graphics, colors, fonts, and tone that align with your brand image and ensure all team members understand the visual requirements. Use tools like Canva to help you centralize creative asset design among core team members.
Focus Your Efforts on the Right Platforms. Does TikTok feel off brand? Does Linkedin feel too formal? Is Instagram too visual for your business? You don’t have to be everywhere if it doesn’t align with who you are as a brand. Analyze social media platform demographics and identify where your target audience is most active. Focus your efforts on key platforms to maximize engagement and avoid spreading your brand too thin. If you’re already live on multiple channels, decide which you can lose and let your audience there know to follow you on your primary accounts.
Craft a Unique Voice and Activate with Storytelling: Is your brand an authority or thought leader? Are you funny or serious? Elevated or down to earth? Define your brand tone and create messaging guidelines for social media communication. Whether it’s witty, professional, or friendly, your voice should resonate with your audience so your brand comes alive and attracts your customers.
Build a Content Strategy that Encompasses Everything You’ve Learned: Develop content pillars, themes, and topics that align with who you are, what sets you apart, and what your audience wants. Share brand stories through your authentic voice to connect with your audience on an emotional level, using storytelling to humanize your brand and make it more relatable.
Adapt Your Brand Identity to Each Platform: Tailor your social media content for each key channel where you will remain active, while utilizing consistent brand elements. For example, Instagram should focus on visual storytelling through video and images with a cohesive color palette and creative that visually showcases your brand’s personality – while X might highlight short snippets of thought leadership through that compelling voice and brand messaging you developed to set your brand apart, with graphics that utilize the same consistent brand elements.

Bring Your Brand to Life on Social Media

Building and maintaining a strong brand identity on social media is an ongoing process. It requires a clear understanding of your core values, unique selling propositions, target audience, and the unique voice that sets you apart. By implementing consistent visual and messaging strategies across all platforms, you can create a compelling and recognizable social presence that builds your brand over time.

Encourage continuous social media brand evolution by staying attuned to changes in your audience’s preferences and the ever-changing digital landscape. Revisit how you’re activating your brand on social quarterly and analyze if there are things you can do better. For further assistance and professional guidance on crafting a robust social media strategy, reach out to us! Your brand’s identity is its most valuable asset. Invest in it wisely.

Influencer Marketing 101: A Guide to Getting Started

In today’s dynamic digital landscape, social media platforms have become a multipurpose spectrum where individuals can get everything from national news to the latest trending beauty products. Influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful force shaping consumer behavior and brand strategies. The intersection of technology and social influence has given rise to a new era in marketing, where individuals with significant online followings hold the key to reaching and engaging millions of people in some cases.

As we delve into the realm of influencer marketing, it’s essential to explore its pros and cons, how influencer marketing has changed over time, strategies brands are implementing, and whether brands should be incorporating influencer marketing into their marketing budgets.

Influencer Marketing: Pros and Cons

There are equally as many pros to influencer marketing as there are cons. Brands must weigh whether or not they should be investing more time and money into their influencer marketing strategy. The initial investment may potentially be small, but the return on impressions, engagement, and eventually conversions should ideally surpass partnership fees. For the Gen Z audience, influencers are their main source of truth when it comes to where to get the best products for various categories, offer the best tips, and make an overall powerful impact on the purchases they ultimately make – aka what we used to know as “word-of-mouth” marketing.

More than ⅓ of Gen Z customers have purchased products based on an influencer’s social media content. However, a notable drawback that’s been gaining traction revolves around the perceived lack of authenticity in promoted content. The key lies in seamlessly integrating promotional material, a practice that has garnered positive responses from audiences as seen in the engagement. In essence, it becomes imperative for brands to collaborate with influencers whose message, audience alignment, and overall synergy align with their own values.

The Evolution of Influencers

Over the last 10 years or so, influencer marketing has changed in many ways. Early collaborations were based on personal relationships between brands and content creators on various platforms, including blogs. Surprising personal collaborations often yielded the best results, captivating audiences with unexpected connections. The element of surprise, stemming from previously unknown associations, generated considerable buzz around these collaborations.

As these collaborations gained traction, influencers began to see their value in the amount of engagement and impressions their partnership content received. They developed media kits, set prices, and established guidelines. Brands saw the impact this had on sales, and they began to understand the value partnerships brought to their business – and so they began to carve out influencer marketing and brand partnership budgets.

What to Consider with an Influencer Marketing Strategy

Choosing the right type of campaign, message, and influencer partnership is essential to a successful collaboration on either end. Partnering with an influencer who can effectively communicate your brand’s message while maintaining authenticity with their own voice and identity is crucial. This is especially important as a significant number of individuals consuming advertising content tend to avoid posts that appear overly promotional or lack a seamless integration. It plays better when followers don’t even notice ad content on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

Before diving into any sort of influencer marketing strategy, you must define your brand’s target audience and goals, and find a personality to mesh well with these. Collaborations now more than ever need to be genuine and seamless to elicit better engagement and increased brand awareness to lead to conversions.

So, is Influencer Marketing Right for Your Brand?

Does every brand need to utilize or include influencer marketing in their overall brand marketing strategy? The short answer is no. As with all aspects of marketing, it depends on the brand, your goals, and your audience.

And, you have to understand that this strategy is often part of a long game. An initial surge in results may diminish over time, especially in the ever-changing and fast-evolving social media landscape.

Influencer marketing is all about building sustainable success over time. Take charge by optimizing your strategies and allocating your resources. But don’t let perceived cost or workload prevent you from exploring influencer marketing. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and you’d be surprised at just how well the right micro-influencer can work for your audience vs. vying for the attention of a major personality.

Ultimately, you want to focus on getting your product into the hands of someone who has an audience and can authentically weave your brand, your product, and your messaging into their lifestyle.

Ready to get started? Reach out to us to explore strategies that make sense for your brand.