Branding You couldn't find yourself a nicer bunch of people to make the branding process more seamless. Some people chose to be investment bankers, some people chose to be pilots, some people chose to be doctors - we chose branding! It is what we do, all day, every day, and sometimes even in our sleep. We know how to write the brief, understand the brief, design stunning brands, present to numerous stakeholders and bring them all together. We know how to test the design so it works in every conceivable environment, and when it's finalised we most certainly know how to apply it to brochures, creative direct mail pieces and powerful adverts (cause we have teams that do that too). We love branding projects, and we can't wait to talk to you about yours. If you would like to find out more about how we can help, call Bulent on 0208 133 2147 email us             info(@)oxmediadigital.com

BRAND STRATEGY

The key constituent to any successful campaign is a clear strategy packaged up in a clear concise brief. So, for us, the aim of any strategic process is not only the insight that can be fed back into the business strategy, staff communications, and general marketing effort, it's most crucially the output of a 'creative brief'. Because with this to hand, we can start work.

If a project is more straightforward, our account management and creative team will work with the client to document the strategy and creative brief, and where there are complex issues or multiple stakeholders involved, our brand planners will conduct workshops and interviews with management, staff, and clients.

The calibre of our planning and creative teams, and the speed that we turn work around, has attracted some significant consumer and business brands. Call us for help with anything from a complete brand positioning exercise or just to identify messaging for an individual project.

Our strategic services include:

• Brainstorm facilitation
• Consumer research
• Trade interviews
• Brand positioning
• Communication planning
• Acquisition strategies
• Retention strategies
• Campaign messaging

A full brand strategy project would follow these steps:

Target Proposition

• Identification of the key characteristics that define the industry and mapping in which direction it is heading.
• This will enable classification of the company's key competitors and analysis of their individual positions in the market.
• Investigate and examine the industry’s perception of the company's position in the market and evaluate whether this is the correct positioning or whether some adjustment is necessary to achieve a higher profile and sustainable growth.

Branding

• Analysis of client's unique qualities and values and recommendation of how they should be used to achieve the recommended market place positioning.
• This would include a review of the existing brand (if one exists), to see if it currently reflects the right message/image, or whether tweaks are necessary in look and feel as well as in tone and phrasing.
• Examination of whether a strapline would help to underline the brand values to prospective and existing clients, to enable a greater understanding of the business philosophy.

Target Audience

• Clarifying the proposition and to whom it could or should be offered.
• Analysis, prioritisation and segmentation of buyers and decision makers of each service, their positions and roles, and the triggers that engage each of them with the brand, leading to a purchase.
• Definition of the considerations in a decision to switch and/or change working practices to use the company's services.

Customer Acquisition

• Using the above conclusions; formulation of a clear and targeted message that describes a precise picture of the services the company offers and the benefits of engaging them.
• Definition of the key marketing channels that should be used to draw-in new clients or convert existing leads (some analysis of the leads database will be required).
• How each medium e.g. direct mail, web, advertising, email, viral marketing, promotion etc., should be used independently and collectively to achieve maximum return on marketing investment.

Customer Retention

• Develop a programme to build and nurture relationships on an ongoing basis to resell and cross sell services, (again some examination of the database will be required).
• Definition of the key messages that should be used to achieve repeat and cross sales from existing clients, including feasibility of using subtle but established methods to identify cross selling opportunities once a client has engaged with their customer.
• Recommendation of specific marketing initiatives to strengthen and increase profitability of client relationships.

Implementation

• After agreement of strategy, prioritisation of recommended campaigns and marketing initiatives, concepts for each communication can then be formulated.
• Develop strong headlines, imagery and ideas. Deliver to the right target audience at the right time. Campaign to be handled in a slick and professional manner, involving client only at predefined stages for key sign-offs, unless otherwise requested.

In our opinion this is an extremely robust approach that will give a client the impetus to enhance year on year growth. This work will clarify exactly which elements are important to communicate, to achieve success in the market. It will focus efforts on the Client's core values in order to generate revenue.

 

BRAND DESIGN

A name and brand identity must reflect and emphasise the intrinsic qualities that a company considers to be important so that it sends out the right message to your prospective customers.

Your brand can be crafted and subtly repositioned by identifying the 'triggers' that motivate the target audience towards a buying decision.

Our brand design services include:

• Logos & Identities
• Brand Guidelines
• Stationery
• Brochures
• Newsletters
• Brochures
• Printing Services
• Promotional Gifts

ADVERTISING

Advertising is arguably the most glamorous side of marketing, which is shame because we are selective in recommending it to our clients.

Why? Well, there's no doubt about the power of strategically placed press and radio adverts to achieve brand awareness and direct response, but unless you have a sustainable budget, we may be able to find more measurable ways to increase your revenue by looking at online alternatives.

That said, the use of above-the-line advertising is still always a key consideration in the planning of any campaign, and we have a number of case studies where it was a key constituent to a campaign and generated impressive results.

As it's easier for a target customer to catch one ball than three, the special ingredient to a successful advert is to devise one strong 'single minded' message. This means that out of the many benefits of a client's product or service, we identify just one idea that underpins them all.

Call us to captivate new and existing customers with powerful headlines, compelling imagery and sharp, concise copy.

Our advertising services include:

• Press
• Outdoor Posters
• Radio
• Direct Mail
• Door Drops
• Inserts
• Leafleting

DIRECT MAIL

Oxmedia Digital offers creative direct mail. Our best thoughts on this area are summarised in an interview with our MD, by a Marketing Magazine.

What do you consider to be the key benefits of a direct marketing campaign?
Direct Mail is one of the principal methods to begin the "conversation", and its purpose is to drive interest from prospective customers. This means that any communication used must not simply standout and create awareness, it will need to spark positive client-action.
 

What do you think is the reason that some companies go wrong with their direct marketing campaigns?
A common error is that much direct mail material attempts to make the "sale" too early in the buying process, by overloading the prospective customer with too much information. Often there is a misunderstanding of the difference between brochures and direct mail pieces, resulting in the thinking that because a brochure is sent through the post, it's a direct mailer when it's not.

 

What type of audience do you think is best suited to being targeted by direct marketing campaigns?
Any audience - provided the marketing agency understands the product and the appropriate market. If the budgets are realistic, the direct mail pack should be creatively powerful enough to have the desired effect, regardless of the type of recipient.

 

What should qualities should one look for when choosing a direct marketing company?
The company executive should know from the first introductory meeting whether the agency understands the complexities of marketing. In addition the agency must demonstrate how direct mail fits together with other elements in the marketing process, to generate sales. An agency specialising in direct mail that ignores the importance of other critical communications should, regardless of their creativity, be avoided.
Agencies with an experienced creative team that know what works and what does not, are obviously front-runners to win your account. An integrated agency will enable you to create the other vital supporting material, decreasing your overall costs. This makes the campaign quicker and more efficient to deliver.

 

What do you think are the pros and cons of creating your own direct marketing campaign in-house?
The only advantage is reduced cost, but by not engaging specialists, this advantage is correspondingly negated by the reduced effectiveness of the campaign and thus the ROI.
Professional and creative concepts, design, production, quality databases, slick fulfilment are all the agency's responsibility. It's worth the additional expense to ensure the campaign is fully maximised. A realistic budget could be the difference between generating revenue or merely wasting resources.

 

What are the typical costs of a direct marketing campaign?
A professional creative direct mail campaign to 1000 customers is likely to start at £10,000. However, the focus should be on the required response rates and return on investment (ROI). (See our ROI calculator).

 

Is there an optimal time of day/week to send out direct marketing campaign material?
Fridays are generally avoided to prevent it being there on a Monday morning when the addressee turns up for work, it having arrived on a Saturday. This is so they've organised themselves so they can concentrate on the pack when they receive it rather than immediately putting it aside to come back to it later, which would lose the impact.

 

What are considered to be good response rates for this medium?
It depends. The greater the spend per pack, the more the response rate should increase. Again it's all about ROI. (See the ROI calculator on our website www.oxmediadigital.com/roicalculator).

 

What are the best response rates you've achieved with a direct marketing campaign? Why do you think this was?
It was a two-part mailer. The first day sets the scene and the follow-up pack was used to create the call-to-action. Not only was there a "single minded proposition", but each communication was designed to first shock, and secondly, one to encourage action.

 

What is the main piece of advice you'd give a company that was thinking of undertaking a direct marketing campaign?
Take advantage of the experience of an agency. The creative team apply themselves to these ideas, day in day out. They know what works and why, and they are best placed to make the most from the available budget.