Rain was born on a sunny day in Paris…

We created RAIN on the eve of the pandemic while sitting in a Paris cafe, excitedly mapping out our vision for a revolutionary new branding agency. An agency that would allow a group of passionate Franco-American (more “American” than “Franco”) marketing and communications experts to provide professional services to companies looking to expand their brand internationally.

Little did we foresee that in just a few hours our lives would permanently be changed: borders closing, countries going into lockdown, markets reeling and all that has become our new normal.

At first, as was the case with many of our clients, we despaired. Was this a good or bad time to start a business? How would this impact our clients? What changes were ahead? Will anyone really care about branding anyway?!

All this was a challenge to our resilience but encouraged us to move on, to beat the odds. During this time, we learned about the grit of humanity and how to ignore the skeptics. But, we also learned that branding is more important than ever for companies finding new ways to reach their customers and for customers trying to find new ways to live in an unfamiliar new world.

COVID-19 represents a gigantic global and social experiment; one fraught with responsibilities for leaders of companies to lead and to find new paths. When reflecting on RAIN’s purpose, to help brands find relevance in these chaotic times, we came across the Man in the Arena speech by Theodore Roosevelt and felt his words rang true to us:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Our purpose as a company is to stand by the leaders who are navigating these choppy waters and to help them put into action their plans for a new tomorrow. It’s also a time to learn from each other and to find strength in the opportunity to together build our future.

If you are a business leader trying to understand how to continue running a global business, you know the importance of understanding how each market is unique and loyal to its beliefs and ways. Having been in this arena for a long time, we know that listening and understanding the dynamics and differences is what makes our relationship with our clients a partnership.

Our mission is to be the doer, the partner in the arena – ‘doing the rough work of a workaday world.’ Never letting our well-versed knowledge of our crafts keep us from doing the work.
As we create our company and our brand in this new tomorrow, we are excited in the prospects of helping business leaders rethink their business and accompany them through the dust, sweat and blood.

Looking forward to working together,
The Team at RAIN

A Group of Paris-based Americans Form A Creative Collective Aimed at Helping Brands Make A Bigger Splash on The Global Market

Paris, December 8, 2020 – The pandemic may have closed borders, killed budgets, and wreaked havoc on the business world, but many independent professionals have seen it as an ideal time to leverage their expertise and re-channel their offering. Such was the case for Rain’s co-founders.

Just before Covid-19 hit, four expats – Noel Thevenet, Susan Langmann, Chris Clark, and Bill Fahber, along with their skilled French tech partner Fabrice Climence – were wrapping up a project together. Each of them had been working for years in Paris, but this was the first time they all ended up on a predominately American creative team.

They found it unusually rewarding to share a common American mindset in terms of strategy, design, and content. And because their skills fit together in such a complementary way, the prospect of joining forces and merging their talents into a single offering had become a serious discussion. And then, Covid-19 came to France and made the whole concept even more pertinent.

In their view, communication would no longer just be about sunshine and happy days. It would be about embracing the unpredictable, navigating through the gloom and doom, and, above all, continuing to nurture growth. Rain would, therefore, be the perfect metaphor for their new venture.

As Noel Thevenet describes it, “There we were, four Americans sitting in a Parisian café, celebrating a recent project, and gleefully mapping out our vision for the future. Little did we know, Covid-19 was about to change everything. We had to ask ourselves, ‘What now? Is anyone even going to care about branding anymore?’”

Fortunately, the team found the answer to be a resounding “yes.” Branding wouldn’t just be relevant. For many companies, it would be the key to survival. “The purpose of Rain is to help brands grow intelligently and find relevance in these crazy times,” explains Chris Clark. “To not just sit back and wait for the sun to come out, but to stand stronger, be tougher, and work smarter. To play in the global marketing mud and get dirty – and like it.”

Although their services are open to any company profile, Rain offers an unusually advantageous structure for French brands looking to reinforce their global presence: A fully American team of senior specialists, all bilingual, averaging 20 years’ experience each, and covering the entire scope of international communications, from brand strategy and tactical marketing to hands-on creative services.

Since going live, the Rain team has been busy on multiple international projects and is already considering future steps to expand its scope.

For more information –  www.make-rain.com

Press contact – Noel Thevenet +33 6 20 12 77 91 / noel@make-rain.com

_{About Us}

_{Rain is a Paris-based group of multi-lingual senior branding professionals specialized in tactical brand marketing and creative communications for businesses developing internationally or commercializing innovative services and products.}

When did taglines stop asking us to think?

Taglines and slogans try for a lot of different things. Some tell you who the brand is. Some tell you who you are. Some tell you what to do. Or how to do it. And some even let the customer do the talking – as with “I’m lovin’ it” by McDonald’s.

For a few years, I’ve been analyzing taglines with my students to better understand the various ways in which brands speak to their audiences. At first, I compiled about a hundred of the most celebrated taglines and slogans of all time – basically the ones hailed in those “best of” lists by the likes of Ad Week and Advertising Age.

While exploring the different approaches, I became curious about what, if anything, might have changed over the years. So I decided to compare these mostly older classics with a second sample group: the big brands of today, based on Forbes’s list of most valuable brands.

Granted, this is not a perfect apples-to-apples assessment. And I do realize there’s some gray area between taglines and slogans (quite often, campaign slogans become taglines). The idea wasn’t so much to conduct an in-depth study but rather to put together enough then-and-now samples to see how the trends might have evolved.

So what has changed between the all-time classics and the modern-day giants?

In some ways, not much. The average tagline is still about four words long. And the average number of syllables between these two sample groups is almost identical at 6.2. (Walmart’s “Save Money. Live Better.” represents the typical size and format.)

There was, however, one blaring omission: questions! Where the heck did they go? Not a single brand from the Forbes list asks a question in their current-day tagline.

Taglines stopped asking questions

Why? Do they assume we don’t have time to think? Do they even want us to?

Rhetorical questions are an effective way to make readers doubt, contemplate and wonder. And this is true way beyond marketing.

American academic Michael J. Marquardt once said, “Questions wake people up. They prompt new ideas. They show people new places, new ways of doing things.” And Irish novelist Joseph O’Connor had a similar take: “The quality of a question is not judged by its complexity but by the complexity of the thinking it provokes.”

Makes sense, right? Just think about it… Which of these is most likely to get your brain juices flowing…?

“You should get life insurance” or “Are you really ready to die?”

“Save $500” or “What would you do with an extra $500?”

The assertive statements might get you to click and convert. But the questions put you in a problem-solving mindset and force you to ponder. Taglines are not about direct-response gimmicks. They’re about planting ideas into people’s heads. Questions help do that.

While question taglines were always a minority, they were some of the most memorable catchphrases in history.

In the golden age of advertising, Clairol famously incited women to question each other’s natural hair color by asking “Does she or doesn’t she?” (Dye her hair, that is.)

In the 1980s, Wendy’s made us wonder, “Where’s the beef?” coining what might be the single most famous brand question of all time.

The California Milk Processor Board constantly badgered us about our fridge contents with “Got milk?”

And when Yahoo! started getting insecure about Google’s rising influence, they had to anxiously check our loyalty with, “Do you Yahoo?” (followed by that annoying yodel that still rings in my ears today).

Question taglines were always part of branding. So what happened?

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that no brands ever ask questions anymore. Last time I checked, Capital One is still pestering people about what’s in their wallet. And just in case you tried to brush them off, they hired the unignorable Samuel L Jackson to sit you up straight and make you listen.

Someone added Jackson’s trademark R-rated language in this clip. Wasn’t me.

Sure, some brands are still asking questions. But given the impact of such hugely iconic questions in advertising history, how could it be that not one of the top 50 brands asks a question in any of their current taglines? Not one.

Is it the shoes? (and the Macs?)

To what extent are today’s increasingly assertive taglines overly influenced by two of the most dominant global brands on Earth? Nike and Apple simply told their consumers what to do and how to think. And they did so quickly and poignantly.

Of course, their taglines aren’t new. “Think different” is already two decades old. And when “Just do it” came out, Michael Jordan hadn’t even won an NBA championship yet. However, both mantras had incredible staying power and are still popular today.

From what I’ve seen in my own client experiences, these two case studies have had a gigantic impact on tone of voice over the past couple decades. The conventional wisdom being, if short and catchy affirmations could work so well for these insanely successful market leaders, maybe we should all be replicating their approach.

Telling people what to do was always commonplace, but it’s much trendier now. Imperative-verb framing – like American Express’s “Don’t leave home without it” – accounted for about a quarter of the classic taglines and slogans I analyzed. Among the 50 most valuable brands today, that portion is around 25% larger.

To see how French taglines measured up, I had a look at France’s most valuable brands, as ranked by marketing-data leader Kantar. And wouldn’t you know it – even in the land of intellectual enlightenment and long-winded philosophical reflection, there was only one question to be found. That was Tefal’s “Comment s’en passer?” which loosely translates as “How can you do without it?”

Personally, I’ve worked on a lot of taglines over the years, but I’ve never been able to sell a question. Often, the client will like the idea, but once they’ve reflected, shared, discussed, re-briefed, shared and discussed some more, the question taglines usually fade away into oblivion – almost always in favor of the beloved three- or four-word assertions.

If you’re a copywriter, marketer or aspiring disrupter, maybe consider a question for your next tagline. At least you’ll stand out. And who knows – you just might make someone think.

In other news: size matters

By the way, while we’re on the topic of tagline insights, here’s another tidbit I find interesting. In most circles of marketing, conventional wisdom posits that shorter taglines are better. Or, if not better, at least preferable. Is it true? Who knows?

Personally, I’ve always been skeptical about such blanket statements. Perhaps they sound better when you read them, but that doesn’t necessarily make them more impactful, much less memorable. Now, I’m not saying taglines have to be long either. It’s just that efficacy is hard to quantify.

So, what types of taglines do people truly remember?

When I begin my class on taglines, I like to warm up the students with a quick game. I split them up into teams and show them brand taglines one by one, and they have to identify the brand that goes with each tagline. It’s a fun exercise, and it’s actually harder than you might think.

It will come as no surprise, they all instantly recognize the mega-stars – e.g. “Because I’m worth it.” But even with their personal and professional interest in advertising, they barely recognize many of the quick and snappy, usually imperative, taglines.

Here are a few…

“Do more.”

“Go further.”

“Good fun.”

“Run better.”

“Rule the air.”

“Make it matter.”

Seriously, no cheating – how many of these did you know? Honestly, five minutes after pasting them from my Excel spreadsheet, I already can’t remember which brands they’re from. And these all come from Forbes’ 50 most valuable brands. And did I mention, I work in advertising?

Image by Marlene Oliveira

In contrast, would you like to see a few of the wordier catchphrases that many – dare I say, most – people are able to recognize? OK. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…

“The milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hands.”

Fourteen syllables and thoroughly recognized worldwide. (Later shortened to just “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.”)

“There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s (mm, mm, mm).”

Seventeen syllables and thoroughly recognized worldwide.

And, of course, there is my all-time favorite 23-syllable interrupter of primetime 80s shows…

“The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever so you can rest medicine.”

Yes, that’s 23 syllables. But to be fair, only people in my age group actually remember this one. But remember it they do.

A dose of vintage Nyquil for the old-timers

So what’s the right answer? Question? Statement? Short? Long? It’s hard to say. There isn’t one cookie-cutter approach to how a brand should speak. One thing is certain though: for better or for worse, as media transforms and brands fight for consumers’ attention, taglines have gotten bossier.

There’s no question about it.

As companies—solo to giant—begin the ardent process of finding their new normal during the COVID-19 era, it is vital to assess shifts in brand value.

Brand value evolves inherently over time due to shifts in competition, new technologies, and changing demographics and tastes. The changes are often gradual. On the other hand, a pandemic causes significant shifts in market dynamics and influences how brands and their products and services are viewed in the eyes of the customers.

As the c-suite deals with market and cash flow uncertainties, it is equally important for marketers to foresee shifts in brand value.

In today’s environment, how do B2B marketers assess and realign their brands in the new normal?

Elements of Value

A good place to start is to take your brand through a value exercise. “The Elements of Value,” published in Harvard Business Review in 2016, is as relevant today as ever. Based on the research of Bain & Company, the authors identified 30 elements of value that drive consumer decision-making.

The attributes that comprise the elements of value are built on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs by focusing on “people as consumers” and looking at their “behavior as it relates to products and services.” Their heuristic model is easy to understand and use as building blocks for developing brand messaging.

They are grouped into four discrete sets (functional, emotional, life-changing, and social impact) and explain the inward- and outward-facing needs of consumers.

Building Blocks of Brand Value

What makes the firm’s study viable is the research behind it. Bain & Company used client observation and analysis to correlate the 30 elements of value with business performance. Surveying 10,000 U.S. consumers on their perceptions of nearly 50 companies based in the U.S. through the use of a Net Promoter Score (NPS), they paired the results with revenue growth.

The pairing proved that companies doing well on multiple elements would have more loyal customers and grow revenue faster.

What’s important is how these elements influence business performance and their impact.

The Importance of Quality

As can be expected, quality is the essential element of the 30, so much so that a product or service that does not attain a minimum quality score can’t make up for the lack of it through the other elements.

Scoring Higher Up the Pyramid is Also Crucial

The study showed that to gain brand loyalty, a brand must score high on elements that are tied to emotional feelings. For example, digital-only retailers perform well on functional elements like “saves time” and “reduces effort,” but fall short on “emotional connection.”

This finding may be why digital-only retailers changed their business model (pre-COVID-19) and started to open physical stores.

As the study’s authors point out, “digital technologies are transforming physical businesses too rather than annihilating them.” An example is eBay’s “Up & Running” program for brick-and-mortar-only retailers.

Of course, how the digital versus physical will play out now and post-COVID-19 is unknown. Will the fusion of digital and physical channels be strengthened or weakened?

For smaller businesses, a digital focus is indisputable for ensuring resiliency during the pandemic. But what about large companies like Apple, where their physical stores are why the company scores high on the emotional elements? And, even beyond retail, B2B brands that relied on shows and conferences to strengthen brand loyalty are now faced with a digital-only sales model.

Navigate Brand Value in a New Era

Understanding where your brand stands on value is critical, and aligning the “elements of value” to the company messaging is essential.

Do your products or services have hidden “elements of value” that are now relevant to your customers? Is your brand messaging aligned to these?

There are often hidden values that can help a brand stand out from the competition and meet customers’ needs better without the necessity of a product or service overhaul. The “hunt for value” mindset is critical.

The current pandemic may have shifted what your customers perceive as necessary and who the competition is.

For example, a digital product feature or service available a few months ago and not considered critical is now a game-changer in gaining market share. During the pandemic, brands that were able to move quickly by offering digital alternatives are the ones that have survived (so far) the best.

Brand Value Tweaks

Here’s how some brands realigned their “elements of value” and leveraged the current situation to adapt and meet their customers in a way that resonates and speaks to their needs.

Dads with Kids Post Lockdown

BMW TV ad “Rejoin the Road” centered not only on its traditional key elements of sensory appeal for guys (acceleration) but also on post-lockdown dads getting some much-needed drive time (while tending to their kids).

Building on Strong Brand Values Even Further

Zappos, known for its customer service, leveraged their strengths in “saves time” and “avoids hassles,” to further their market lead by adding a “Customer Service for Anything” campaign during COVID-19.

Skechers, even in a time of stores being closed, substantially grew online sales by focusing brand messaging on comfort and quality to resonate with quarantined consumers.

Creating New Ways to Connect

Airbnb, hit hard as travel came to a complete halt, came up with an innovative way to keep both hosts and travelers connected. The Company’s Online Experiences lets virtual travelers experience woolly sheep in New Zealand, pasta making with Silvia in Italy, or dancing like a K-pop star in South Korea.

Treasure Hunt from Within

Home products brand Simplehuman quickly learned its touch-free features were important to consumers who were mindful of virus-carrying germs. Known as “tools for efficient living,” the company leveraged its “keep yourself healthy and touch-free” messaging to gain greater customer appeal and new customers.

Crisis in a New Normal

eBay launched an accelerator program for brick-and-mortar-only retailers (no e-commerce site) to help them transition to the digital space. Called “Up & Running,” it allows new businesses to run an eBay store for free for three months with no selling fees, and even take advantage of free educational webinars and business support. It is an innovative yet simple way to reach a new market segment for the company while building its brand image.

These brands demonstrate how, even in a crisis, there are hidden opportunities, and by assessing their elements of value and realigning brand messaging, they can create new markets and better brand loyalty.

As Stanford economist Paul Romer stated, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”

Get ready to build more brand value and customer loyalty.

The time is now.

As the summer season comes to an end and companies brace themselves for a rocky end-of-year, meeting sales targets is getting harder.

In the last months, we’ve seen unprecedented government stimulus plans in the trillions of euros, unemployment rates hitting all-time highs, and long-standing companies filing for bankruptcy. 

Our personal lives have also taken a significant tumble in the mists of lockdowns, closed borders, racial equality protests, homeschooling, and remote work.

It’s been a year we’ll all remember and gladly bid au revoir come January.

Until then, marketers are finding new ways of driving business, putting in place digital-first (or only) marketing plans as in-person events and meetings are canceled or postponed, managing remote employees while delivering fast turnaround in sales campaigns, and rethinking content and exploring new digital mediums, while (of course) keeping peace at home. 

And it also means that B2B customers must adapt and change how they search and select suppliers. 

Daunting? Absolutely. 

B2Bs Prefer the Consumer Way of Buying

In a recent McKinsey study of decision-makers in 11 countries and across seven sectors, it comes perhaps as no surprise that digital marketing and remote work in the months ahead will be instrumental parts of the sales process. This trend toward digital interactions isn’t new, but what came out in the study is how critical it is now. 

Not only have 90 percent of sales interactions gone remote—using video conferencing, phone, or a web-sales model—decision-makers in the McKinsey study see digital interactions to be two to three times more critical to their B2B clients than traditional sales interactions.

Although the study did show that some remain skeptical in the long-term, more than half saw remote sales as equally or more effective than sales models used prior to COVID-19. 

This move to placing greater importance on digital interactions reflects changes in the B2B buying behavior trends seen during the past couple of years and that have now been amplified due to the pandemic.

Not surprising, as B2B customers adjust to online buying, they will naturally compare it to their personal B2C experiences. In the McKinsey 2019 study (pre-COVID-19), this trend was already emerging; the survey highlighted suppliers who provided “outstanding digital experiences to buyers” to be twice as likely to be chosen as primary suppliers than those who provided “poor digital experiences.”

The Company Website Is Instrumental in B2B Sales

This unprecedented move to a digital-first approach for B2B companies isn’t only on the buyer side; the sales side is pivoting at speeds never seen before. In a recent Contently article, a marketer from a sizable company had—pre-pandemic—set 80 percent of the marketing budget for in-person events. As most—or all—events move to digital-only, it means that every touchpoint within the sales cycle becomes even more critical, and that includes the company website.

In recent years, we’ve seen B2B brands boost their websites and leverage them beyond just branding, placing a greater focus on sales, from lead generation to acquisition. 

Needless to say, in the current environment, a B2B’s website plays an even more significant role in demonstrating a customer-first approach and hence driving future sales. 

With little or no face-to-face interaction now, the B2B seller must establish a humanlike connection and answer the potential buyer’s pain points at each touchpoint on the website. It’s not an easy feat, especially when the products or services offered are complex.

As marketing often manages the digital experience, how it works with sales is fundamental in a digital-first (B2B) buyer journey. This interlinking is dependant on how well B2B decision-makers embrace (or not) a digital sales model. The McKinsey study referenced earlier provides some insights by country; perhaps it is not surprising that most U.S. decision-makers favor going digital.

How B2B companies transition to a digital sales model will be primarily determined by their willingness to adapt to their potential customers’ needs and how they organize internally to be continually agile. And, as seen on multiple fronts, the cross-over of B2C marketing tactics into the B2B space will continue, as demonstrated in the McKinsey 2019 study.

The study revealed how offering the option of live chat in the research stage was rated as one of the top three requirements for a “best in class supplier” by 33 percent of those surveyed. When asked to list the top three most frustrating issues with suppliers’ websites, decision-makers in the McKinsey survey cited the length of the ordering process, difficulty finding products, and technical glitches with ordering. In addition, respondents also cited confusing websites, lack of information on delivery and technical support, and difficulty setting up payments.

One can argue that these are the same pain points and frustrations experienced by consumers on B2C sites in the early days of e-commerce. 

The Heightened Importance of Good Content

As sales rely more heavily on content to feed demand generation, the content creation hit-miss strategy is no longer sustainable. For too long, marketers have pushed out so-so content and overly focused on the Google rank war, often to the demise of sales-worthy conversion rates. 

Now that digital is the lifeline to sales, content creation and distribution that addresses the buyers’ pain points and aligned to the buyer journey is critical. B2B customers want content that is fresh, new, cutting-edge, thought-provoking, and, yes, answers to their pain points.

For too long, the race has been to get anyone—yes, anyone—to land on a webpage thanks to a quick search in Google. Even though search engines have vastly improved search results, brand responsibility lies in serving the right content, at the right moment, to the right audience. It shouldn’t be—nor does it need to be—a hit-or-miss strategy. Getting there means a more intentional sales funnel and buyer-lifecycle approach to content creation and distribution and meeting the audience at each stage of their buying journey. It is at this point that content plays a role in bettering the buyer experience and is of real value to sales and the financial well-being of a company.

As B2B brands move to a digital-first sales model, the opportunity to build relevant and timely content increases through listening to the audiences’ needs and pivoting when needed. Digital channels provide a broad spectrum of opportunities to connect, listen, and interact with potential, current, and past buyers; this means that when companies strategically use content marketing, they have a competitive advantage through their in-depth knowledge of their audiences’ needs. Being open to new channels can mean interacting with potential customers throughout the buying process in ways seldom used pre-COVID-19. 

Rarely seen before the coronavirus, but now almost standard practice, are B2B brands running Twitter chats, virtual coffee breaks, LinkedIn lives, and digital-only events. To highlight this change even further is the doubling of webinar ads run by B2B marketers, as reported by MediaRadar.

Leveraging Podcasts To Drive Brand Awareness and Trust

There are likely a few B2B brands that have dabbled in podcasts, guesting on niche podcasts, posting the episode on their blog page, or maybe even attempting to start a podcast. Either way, as audio becomes more prevalent in building brand trust and awareness, the podcast medium may be the next big sales driver for B2Bs.

As the number of podcasts continues to grow year-on-year, so does their popularity. Unlike blogs, where readers tend to skim and drop off quickly, podcast listeners tend to spend more time engaged in the content. 

According to Edison Research’s 2019 study, 52 percent of podcast audiences will listen to the entire audio episode, and they tend to listen to most of the shows they download on their smartphones and other mobile devices. Of those surveyed, 58 percent will listen to between 76 percent and 100 percent of the shows they download. 

The shelf-life of podcast episodes also tends to be longer, with listeners often going back and revisiting older episodes. 

As podcasts continue to gain popularity across markets, they can be an excellent channel for building brand awareness and trust and connecting to a broad audience of active listeners.

Perhaps their most compelling benefit is podcasts’ ability to connect listeners in a more personal way and, therefore, build relationships to a level that is difficult to achieve through, for example, a blog. 

And the beauty of podcasts is that brands can start their own or actively guest on podcasts that align with their products and service offerings or potential growth markets. 

Making It All Work Together in Times of Remote Work

The announcement by Google’s CEO that the company would extend its remote work policy well into 2021 was a wake-up call to companies around the world that how they manage their workforce is going to be a long sprint into the unknown.

Other tech giants have followed suit, with Mark Zuckerberg expecting half of Facebook’s workforce to be remote within the decade and Twitter telling its employees they can stay home permanently.

The challenge is to keep remote employees working together and meeting sales targets in the coming months. For marketing, this means rolling out vital campaigns quickly. NewsCreds’ Insight report, which was released in June of this year, provides a glimpse of how marketers foresee a shift to digital and a heavier reliance on marketing technologies (martech) to manage campaigns in the future. According to the study, the acceleration of campaign execution was a top priority for 70 percent of the marketers surveyed, possibly driving increased spending of martech in the months to come. This was echoed in Gartner’s CMO survey released in July. The research firm projects that spending levels on martech will stay at 26 percent of the marketing budgets in 2020; of the 432 CMOs surveyed, 68 percent foresee an increase in martech investments in the next 12 months.

Even as spending levels remain at pre-COVID-19 levels, most markets still struggle with utilizing the full capabilities of their martech platforms. For example, marketers in the Gartner study report using only 58 percent of their martech stack’s full capabilities.

As the world awaits a vaccine, companies are bracing for extended remote work of their employees, which could drive martech spending above current projections, as marketing teams must rely on technology to collaborate on campaigns and manage work. 

In the U.S., according to a recent survey by economists from the Harvard Business School, one in six workers is forecasted to continue to work from home or to co-work for at least two days a week. This change in the work environment plays a significant role in how platforms can keep teams on track and working together. Managers will need to foresee these changes and ensure they have the necessary tools in place. 

A survey of hiring managers on Upwork felt that one-fifth of the workforce might end up being entirely remote after the pandemic. 

As C-suites tackle financial and market uncertainties in the months to come, how marketing budgets end up remains to be seen. 

Even as the CMOs surveyed in Gartner’s survey remain optimistic, they feel that they are out of sync with the rest of the C-suite. 

“Marketers remain stoic in the face of adversity and are significantly out of step with other C-suite members,” said Ewan McIntyre, Vice-President Analyst for Gartner for Marketers. “We see a significant number of CEOs and CFOs building scenario plans that include a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we progress into the ‘recover’ and ‘renew’ phases of this pandemic, CFOs will turn their attention to profitability, and marketing has the dubious honor of topping the list of functions where finance will look to trim expenses even further.”

It is difficult to predict how the remaining quarter of 2020 will end up. As countries brace for a potential second-wave of lockdowns due to increased coronavirus cases following the summer months, companies will likely initiate budget cuts. In Gartner’s study, more than 44 percent of the CMOs surveyed had mid-year budget reductions due to COVID-19, and of those, 10.7 percent expect additional cuts of more than 15 percent.

The larger question is whether a digital-first approach can build and sustain companies in the coming months and into 2021.

As we can all attest to, 2020 has been quite a year. Our personal lives were turned upside down overnight, while our professional world continues to take a significant nosedive.

We’ve seen governments issue unprecedented stimulus plans in the trillions, unemployment climb to all-time highs, companies on the verge of bankruptcy, and adults scrambling to keep peace at home as stay-at-home policies stretch into 2021 (and beyond). 

It has also left many companies scrambling to figure out how to market and sell their products and services in a world rift of lockdowns and closed borders and racial equality protests.  

In times like these, what’s a marketer to do? 

In a recent Contently article, one marketer of a sizable company had – pre-pandemic – set 80 percent of the marketing budget for in-person events. Now that most events are either canceled or postponed, marketers have the inevitable task of designing a digital-first (or only) marketing plan. For the lucky few, they are already entirely digital, so it’s just business as usual. But for the vast majority of companies, a digital-first (and only) go-to-market strategy is like an interstellar voyage into the unknown. 

As the pandemic transforms the face-to-face economy, it also narrows the divide between work and home for many workers.

In the Digital-First World series, we’ll look at how companies – both large and small – are pivoting and serving their customers better. We’ll explore how content creation is changing, how visual branding is evolving, how virtual in-person can build strong customer bonds, and how marketing technology is helping remote teams.

How companies and individuals adjust to and view their new world will be seen in the months ahead. In the meantime, instead of talking about a new normal, let’s aim for a new better.

Marketers have long known that pushing out too much so-so content and climbing the Google rank-war is a path to dismal conversion rates. Content that is fresh, new, leading-edge, thought-provoking, and yes, answering the readers’ pain points has become rarer. The result is, we’ve gone from expanding knowledge to narrowing it.

How many listicles can a person read, anyway? Or, the rank-ready top 10 list. Marketers can do better.

For too long, the race has been to get anyone – yes anyone – to land on a webpage thanks to a quick search in Google. Even though search engines have vastly improved search results, brand responsibility lies in serving the right content, at the right moment, to the right audience. It shouldn’t be a hit or miss strategy.

Now that digital is the lifeline to sales taking a buyer-journey approach to content creation and distribution may finally get its moment.

To get there, it means a pivot to a more sales funnel and buyer lifecycle approach. And the good news is, a pivot is often a game-changer. Remember the movie JAWS directed by Steven Spielberg? What people don’t know is the significant script and photograph pivot Spielberg had to make due to mechanical problems with the animatronic shark. Instead of seeing the shark throughout the film (as planned), moviegoers saw only its terrorizing and looming fin. That pivot, though, made the film a blockbuster and famous.  

The now-famous animatronic shark and the pivot Spielberg had to make due to mechanical problems made JAWS a blockbuster and famous.

The JAWS analogy is a backdrop to how significant change makes us better if we take the right mindset. By not bemoaning the now, but instead seeing the present as a new opportunity, innovative possibilities can begin. 

Spielberg could have scrapped the film, but instead, he saw how changing the script brought the film even closer to the experience his customers wanted. How does this relate to content creation? Simple. 

By improving the targeted audience’s experience and understanding where they are in their pain-point search and meeting them at each stage of their buying journey, can content be of value to sales and the financial well-being of a company.

As companies move to a digital-first approach, the opportunity to serve better content increases through listening to the audiences’ needs and pivoting when needed. Digital provides a wealth of ways to connect, listen, and interact with potential, current, and past buyers; this means that when companies strategically use content marketing, they have a competitive advantage through their in-depth knowledge of their audiences’ needs.  

To highlight this is the doubling of webinar ads run by B2B marketers to fill the gap left by cancelled events and the decline of in-person contact with prospects as reported by MediaRadar. As companies look to new ways to reach potential customers, they look beyond traditional channels and are open to new marketing tactics. As B2B marketing leader Jay Hinman puts it, we are in the “current golden age of online, digital-only events.”

Virtual interactions with customers and prospects can lead to a more personalized and relationship-building approach to understanding and building content tailored to each stage of the buyer’s decision-making journey. Seldom used pre-COVID-19, but now being used more are Twitter chats, virtual coffee breaks, LinkedIn lives, to name just a few. 

It is not only the C-suite who are holding these virtual sessions; employees in diverse roles are now meeting prospects and customers for the first time.

Only time will tell how it will all play out in the long run. As the barriers between sales and marketing slowly dissolve, and as companies look to new and innovative ways to communicate with prospects and customers, content marketing will play an even more vital role.

Next in the Digital-First series, we’ll look at how podcasts provide opportunities for B2B companies to reach new audiences and build trust with them.

The number of podcasts continues to grow year-on-year, and it offers a wealth of opportunity for B2B companies. As podcasts continue their climb and become increasingly popular in the B2B marketing space, it can be a perfect channel to reach potential leads. Its personable nature enables companies to increase their visibility, become an industry expert, and ultimately grow sales. Podcasts also have a longer shelf life than, for example, blogs, as past episodes are frequently revisited or listened to for the first time.  

As companies explore digital-first options, guesting or creating a podcast is a viable option for B2B companies. As conferences go digital and there is less opportunity to meet new, potential buyers, podcasts open the door to reaching a broad audience of active listeners. The medium provides a way to build trust and connection – essential in B2B sales.

Remember, the needs of the audience are the core and the foundation of every content strategy. And as our world evolves daily, deep customer relations provide the knowledge to create meaningful content that turns prospects into future customers and brand ambassadors.

Is it time to turn sales staff as industry experts, and could podcast be the next big sales driver?  

Highly successful solo entrepreneurs have used podcasts to build, scale, and grow their tribe of loyal customers for the past decade. Their agile business structure means they can easily hit the record button, distribute their content freely and pivot when necessary. 

The US market is ripe with entrepreneurs who have built international audiences using podcasts. In essence, it sparked entrepreneurs and companies to either better utilize or duplicate the podcast sales channel. These entrepreneurs use their podcasts to get to know their listeners’ pain points, develop audience personas, tailor content, and develop and drive sales of their products and services while leveraging referral and affiliate marketing. Notable American entrepreneurs such as Tony Robbins, Pat Flynn, and Tim Ferriss, to name just a few, continue to build their audiences with podcasting.

The beauty of podcasts is brands can start their own or actively guest on podcasts that align with their product and service offerings or potential growth markets.  

For example, a software as a service (SaaS) brand may want to expand into a new vertical market that doesn’t traditionally use its products. Linking with the vertical through influencers and getting on their podcasts provides the brand with the opportunity to build awareness, trust, and interests.

Unlike blogs, where readers tend to skim and drop off quickly, podcasts listeners multitask and spend more time engaged in the content. According to Edison Research’s 2019 study, 52 percent of podcast users listen to the entire audio episode. They listen to most of the shows they download on their smartphones and other mobile devices, and 58 percent of podcast listeners listen to between 76 percent and 100 percent of the shows they download.

Perhaps the most compelling benefit is that podcasts connect the listener on a more personal level and build more readily a relationship with an audience that prefers to listen to their content.

This might be the right moment to hit ‘record.’

Next in the Digital-First World series, we’ll look at how new marketing technologies (martech) is being used by companies to collaborate on campaigns and manage work.

NewsCreds’ Insight report published in June of this year gives a glimpse of howmarketers will reinvest their budgets in the COVID-19 era as marketing budgets shift to digital-first programs and how teams will continue to collaborate remotely.  

As stay-at-home policies are extended, and as pressure to execute campaigns quickly increases, marketing technologies (martech) may well continue its projected growth trajectory and exceed pre-COVID-19 spend levels according to NewsCred.  

In Gartner’s CMO survey released in July, the research firm projects spend levels on martech to stay at 26 percent of marketing budgets in 2020. Of the 432 CMOs surveyed, 68 percent foresee an increase in martech investment in the next 12 months.

Even as spend levels remain at pre-COVID-19 levels, most markets still struggle with utilizing the full capabilities of their martech platforms as marketers in the Gartner study report using only 58 percent of their martech stack’s full capabilities; this will be an instrumental force in whether martech spend levels remain or diminish in the coming months.

The announcement by Google’s CEO that it would extend its remote work policy well into 2021 sent a clear message to CEOs around the world that how companies manage their workforce is a long-sprint into the unknown.

Other tech giants have followed suit with Mark Zuckerberg expecting half of Facebook’s workforce to be remote within the decade and Twitter telling its employees they can stay home permanently.

As the world awaits a vaccine, companies are bracing for extended remote work of its employees that could drive martech spends above current projections as marketing teams must rely on technology to collaborate on campaigns and manage work.  

In the U.S., according to a recent survey by economists at Harvard Business School, one in six workers is forecasted to continue to work from home or co-working at least two days a week. This change in the work environment plays a significant role in how platforms can keep teams on track and working together. Managers will need to foresee these changes and ensure they have the tools in place. A survey of hiring managers by Upwork felt that one-fifth of the workforce might end up being entirely remote after the pandemic. 

In the NewsCred study, the acceleration of campaign execution is a top priority of 70 percent of the marketers surveyed. As C-suites tackle financial and market uncertainties in the months to come, how marketing budgets end up is still to be seen.  

Tied to faster execution of campaigns will be sales. If marketing teams prove their worth, then budget allocations to marketing could remain stable or even grow. 

Even as the CMOs surveyed in Gartner’s survey remain optimistic, there is a feeling that they are out of sync with the rest of the C-suite. 

“Marketers remain stoic in the face of adversity and are significantly out of step with other members of the C-suite,” said Ewan McIntyre, vice president analyst for Gartner for Marketers. “We are seeing a significant number of CEOs and CFOs building scenario plans that include a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we progress into the ‘recover’ and ‘renew’ phases of this pandemic, CFOs will turn their attention to profitability, and marketing has the dubious honor of topping the list of functions where finance will look to trim expenses even further.”

Could Going Digital-First Save Marketing?

It is difficult to predict how the remaining quarters of 2020 will end up. As countries brace for a potential second-wave of lockdowns due to increased COVID-19 cases following the summer months, companies will likely initiate budget cuts. In Gartner’s study, more than 44 percent of the CMOs surveyed had mid-year budget reductions due to COVID-19, and of those, 10.7 percent expect additional cuts of more than 15 percent.

The larger question is whether a digital-first approach can build and sustain companies in the coming months and 2021.

Next in the Digital-First World series, we’ll explore the world of logos and brand identity and the changes to come.

When a carmaker changes its logo design, that’s a big deal. Not only does it get car enthusiasts arguing (and debating) on the old vs. new design; it has vast implications on the mechanics of how it will be placed (and look) on a broad spectrum of models; and how it will play out in its massive multi-channel marketing machine. 

In July, Nissan announced its new logo design. Marketers were quick to think it meant 3D logos were dead, and that brands would move to 2D logos for a better ‘digital-first’ experience.

In the case of Nissan, and most arguably all big brands, the process is long and arduous. Let’s not assume Nissan woke up in March and decided to redesign its brand for a digital world. In fact, Nissan began its redesign process (way) back in 2017.  

Here’s a snippet of the Nissan logo redesign story published on the company website. It illustrates the complexity and the variables the design team took into consideration.  

“The journey began in the summer of 2017, when Alfonso Albaisa, Nissan’s senior vice president of global design, began to study potential changes to Nissan’s logo and brand identity. He set up a design team led by Tsutomu Matsuo, deputy general manager of Nissan’s advanced design department, to study everything from a subtle evolution to a complete reinvention. Albaisa offered the keywords “thin, light, and flexible,” and set Matsuo and his team on their journey.

“Inspiration was drawn from breakthroughs in science, technology, and connectivity. How these have brought fundamental changes to customers,” said Albaisa. “As you can imagine, visions of digitalization started swirling in our heads.”

The team needed to consider several variables, including an early decision for the logo to be illuminated on upcoming all-electric models. This presented technical challenges, such as gauging the thickness of the logo’s outline to ensure a crisp impression when lit, and of course, compliance with government regulations for illuminated elements on cars. The logo also needed to make a strong impression when not illuminated, such as when it appeared digitally or on paper.

Smart logo design begins with understanding how it is used across various mediums, as the Nissan example illustrates. 

With digital playing a more significant role in marketing, it is understandable that even automobile makers are taking the leap to refine their logos to give them a sleeker, more polished look. With Nissan, the new design provides the company with a logo that enhances its current electric car Ariya and future models, moves in unison with its future product direction, and works well in digital usage.

We’ve seen other brands make major redesigns to fit both the physical and digital look of the logo and reflect product direction. Look no further than your iPhone. Hard to imagine the first Apple logo on today’s MacBook or iPhone.

Some claim 3D logo designs are dead. In the case of Nissan, apparently not. Nissan’s mix of logo renderings does include 3D, so the company sees a 3D world out there.  

This most likely says that good logo design includes a mix of options to take into account the diverse platforms brands use to promote and communicate in today’s multi-channel world. Hello Mars.

While Pantone, the authority on all things colors, predicts the end of gray in the near future, is gray really off the table? Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, says, “now is not the time for grays.” She recommends meditative nature shades like blues, greens, and browns as calming options. Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2020 is Classic Blue. Selected in 2019 and as a cultural statement, the institute sees it as a color that fosters resilience and is protective.

As an agency CEO stated, global fusion design will increase as remote and dispersed teams come together on projects.

Will logos go towards safer colors in the months ahead, or will grays be seen as a safer bet?.  Time will tell.

Next in the Digital-First World series, we’ll examine how sales and marketing and B2B customers are evolving as remote work becomes the norm.