Five Tips on How to Host a Memorable Event

A PR event is all about showcasing your brand to the public and reaching as many people as possible with your brand message.

We love working with our clients to bring events to life here at Sabio, so we’ve pulled together some of our tips and tricks to create a memorable event experience for your guests.

Tip 1: The Who's Who - create the perfect guest list

A PR event is all about generating buzz, brand awareness and of course publicity, so developing the perfect guest list is key. While it can be tempting to invite the hottest and biggest names, it pays to assess the audience relevance and brand fit of each possible attendee to maximise the payoff of their attendance. We recommend building a guest list with influential identities who are a natural fit with your brand – that could be because they have engaged with your brand before, share similar values or X – and who speak to your target audiences. Doing so will ensure your event is a valuable exercise. Make sure to invite media contacts that you know are brand aligned and could have a vested interest in the brand, they might even be able to offer some coverage off the back of it!

Tip 2: Suppliers are everything - choose the right event stylist

How you style the space sets the tone for the entire event. If you’re launching a new venue, be sure to choose theming that will enhance the space you’ve worked so hard on creating but that doesn’t give the public a false sense of what to expect when visiting for themselves. We know the power of event styling as a key component to ensuring a successful and visually stunning event.

Tip 3: Plan for everything - run sheets are key

A good run sheet can mean the difference between a well thought-out, expertly timed event and one that falls a bit flat (or goes off the rails). As they say, failing to plan is planning to fail! A run sheet should be highly detailed and cover every element of the event – from supplier arrival times to when guests will arrive, food will be served and speeches or other activities will commence. The run sheet is your bible for the night, so make sure you invest the time into it.

Tip 4: Don’t let your guests go home hungry (or thirsty)

If you plan to serve food at your event, do it in abundance. It doesn’t matter what type of event you’re hosting; guests always remember the food and you never want a guest to remember that they left hungry. Make sure the team is briefed on how many guests will be in attendance to ensure the kitchen can prepare accordingly, and so that there are enough staff on show so guests are served efficiently. Food is also a chance to make a memorable moment. Think highly visual grazing boards, creative or quirky canapes or branded cocktails that can be as formal or casual as the event demands. Ensure a good first impression by offering guests a drink on arrival.

Tip 5: it’s all about the visual opportunities

A great way to increase the social media reach is by creating brand moments that demand to be captured. Create engaging and visual moments through aesthetically pleasing, interactive and high-impact décor like photo walls, unique entertainers and immersive experiences. These not only create great visuals that will inspire guests to share on their social channels, but also enhances the overall experience. If budget allows, hire a professional photographer to capture still and video footage during the event. This also means any content can be used on your social media channels, or be sent to media that couldn’t attend but might want to publish something post-event. Your guests will also love looking out for pics to share on their socials post-event!

If you need a hand planning your next big event – talk to our team of experts and connect with our Operations Director, Laura Carlin at [email protected].

Branding:
why is it so important?

Branding is a powerful tool that extends far beyond company logos and taglines.

It incorporates the entire experience a brand offers, encompassing everything from visual elements to messaging and customer interactions.
In today’s interconnected world, branding has transcended its traditional boundaries and virtually applies to everything. From businesses and products to individuals and causes, effective branding plays a pivotal role in establishing a strong identity, creating emotional connections and forging lasting relationships with target audiences. In this blog, we will explore the benefits of effective branding and dive into how everyday design elements enhance a brand’s ability to engage with its target audience.

The power of branding

Differentiation

In a crowded marketplace, branding can help a business stand out from its competitors. By creating a unique identity, a brand becomes easily recognisable and memorable. Differentiation cultivates a sense of trust and loyalty among consumers, leading to repeat business and increased customer retention. Nike who have significantly invested in their brands positioning, are now easily recognisable by their iconic swoosh allows the business to generate wide margins and strong profitability.

Emotional connection

Strong branding taps into the emotions of consumers. It creates an emotional connection by aligning with their values, aspirations and desires. When individuals resonate with a brand, they form an emotional bond, leading to long-term brand loyalty. For example, Coca-Cola has successfully positioned itself as a symbol of happiness and togetherness. By excelling at storytelling through their content strategy, which is embodied in their TVCs, Coca-Cola has created a product which is considered by consumers for events, BBQs and more.

Trust and credibility

Strong branding instils trust and credibility in consumers. Customers are more likely to choose a brand they trust over unknown or lesser-known alternatives. Consistent branding across various touchpoints, such as websites, social media and packaging enhances the trust-building process. Apple’s minimalist and sleek design aesthetic consistently permeates its products, packaging and marketing materials, creating a seamless experience that resonates with its target audience of tech-savvy individuals.

Everyday design elements and it’s impact on branding

Logo and visual identity

A logo is the face of a brand and serves as a visual representation of its values, personality and offering. Consistency in a brand’s visual identity such as colour palette, typography and graphic elements will strengthen brand recognition and helps consumers identify and connect with the brand.

Website design

In the digital age, a brand’s website is often the first point of contact for potential customers. A thoughtfully designed website that reflects the brand’s identity and values enhances the user experience and can captivate visitors and encourage them to explore further. Smooth navigation, visually appealing layouts and compelling content all contribute to creating a positive brand experience.

Packaging and product design

Packaging plays a crucial role in creating a memorable brand experience. It serves as a physical representation of a brand and its values. Innovative, visually appealing packaging that aligns with the brand’s aesthetics and messaging can help products stand out on shelves and generate interest among consumers.

Advertising and
marketing collateral

From print ads to social media campaigns, consistent branding across all marketing collateral ensures a cohesive and recognisable brand presence. Imagery, colours and language should be in sync with the brand’s overall identity, allowing consumers to easily associate the collateral with the brand. Well-executed advertising campaigns have the potential to leave a lasting impact by fostering brand recall.

Branding in action

Enaex

As a new player in the Australian market, Enaex needed to build brand recognition and engage their workforce. By crafting a robust brand positioning strategy, Enaex were able to successfully build a brand that resonated with mining companies across the globe. Positioning themselves as a premium blasting solutions company, Enaex built a unique and clean identity, that has become easily recognisable and is evident at each of their touchpoints. This ensures that wherever the target audience interacts with their brand a visual representation of its values, personality and offering is conveyed. By fostering a sense of connection and reliability, Enaex has transformed the way people think about explosives and robotics and has redefined the blasting experience.

St Hilda’s School

Following a comprehensive review and analysis of St Hilda’s
marketing footprint, a subtle brand refresh was delivered across social media, online, print, radio and internal marketing collateral. This elevated the look and feel of the St Hilda’s brand and is now one that captures the school’s endless experiences and inspires a new generation of empowered women. A curated selection of layouts and templates created an emotional connection with new and potential families and continues to forge a trusting relationship with target audiences.

Overview

Effective branding helps establish a strong identity, creates emotional connectio and builds trust and credibility. The benefits of branding, such as differentiation, emotional connection and trust are invaluable in today’s competitive landscape. By examining successful brand examples like Enaex and St Hilda’s, we witness the power of branding in action and how it has propelled these brands to prominence.

In considering design elements such as logos, website design, packaging and marketing collateral, brands can enhance their ability to connect with their target audience. Consistency and thoughtful execution across these touchpoints not only reinforce the brand’s values but also leave a lasting impression, ensuring a loyal customer base and sustainable success.

If you are interested in finding out how you can elevate your business and make sure your branding is consistent across each customer touchpoint, contact our Creative Director Bec at [email protected].

The importance of marketing in tough economic times.

Will Australia enter a recession?

If one thing is for certain, it is that with rising interest rates and
stagnant or decreasing savings, consumers have the unpleasant feeling that their disposable
incomes are quickly diminishing.

And what the market thinks is what matters, so learn about the importance of marketing in tough economic times.

Is Australia in recession?

Cutting marketing costs, a shortsighted mistake

Despite enticing marketing, consumer confidence ultimately influences purchasing decisions, with consumer beliefs outweighing flashy campaigns, shaping economic outlook and spending habits. In 2023, concerns about the country’s financial state surge, reflected in search queries like “is Australia in recession” and “cost of living”.

In times of uncertainty, households become cautious, altering spending habits and favoring essential
purchases over indulgences; postponable expenses will be planned for later and treats might
become less frequent. And, in an absolute nightmare for all B2C brands, brand loyalty wavers as
consumers sometimes consider opting for cheaper alternatives.

In response to these market signals, companies often cut costs and postpone investments, too often
making the marketing and communication expenditures their first targets – a shortsighted mistake.
Studies on the rise and fall of companies through financial and economic crises since the 70s have
found patterns in business strategies that have caused the success or failure of businesses. While
cost-cutting is a necessary evil during these times, companies that have maintained their marketing
efforts, emphasised customer experience and adapted their offering, ultimately positioned
themselves for future success.

So, we’re going to share with you our ideas on how to trim your costs in a clever way without jeopardising the success of tomorrow.

Reassess your offering

Start by taking a deep dive into your products and services; how likely are they to be impacted by
the crisis? Which ones have the strongest chance of thriving in this market and which ones should be abandoned for now? Is your core target market strongly hit by the rising cost of living or is it more sheltered than the average population?

Focusing on products or services that have the highest likelihood of resilience and on your core
audience will allow you to concentrate your marketing bucks on them to achieve the best cost-efficiency possible. Other products or services and secondary target markets might have to be tabled until more prosperous times.

Gaining in visibility and market share

As some of your competitors reduce their marketing and advertising efforts, what used to be noisy
markets suddenly become much quieter. This creates opportunities for your business to gain market
share and attract more prospects similar to your existing customers which diversifies your client
base. With fewer active brands, your own advertising costs will ultimately decrease too, providing
more value on your investment. Explore new channels and ad types, reach out to new prospects and
secure yourself the lion’s share to invest in your future growth.

Some digital channels you can test to achieve this are the ones that are designed to yield great reach and awareness at a low cost, such as Google display ads, YouTube ads (if you have video content available), or campaigns on any social platforms that suits your business. Capitalise on competitors reducing their digital marketing efforts, for example by running Google search ads for users looking for their brand names and positioning yourself as an alternative, potentially gaining new customers. You can read more about these different digital channels here.

In the world of PR, companies who continue to invest in an ‘always on’ media relations strategy will
thrive as they have the opportunity to capitalise on a quieter news cycle and speak louder to target
markets which will influencer consumer behaviour.

Branding and core values

Maintaining brand integrity is pivotal amid challenges. Resist the urge to dilute your core values to attract temporary customers to ensure you don’t alienate your loyal ones. Even if the temptation is strong to focus solely on the next day when things get tough, it’s crucial to continue to invest in the long term. If you don’t, you risk losing your loyal customer base by trying to momentarily acquire new customers who won’t serve you long term once there is an up-tick in the market again. Furthermore, you would be running the risk of ruffling some feathers with your competitors, whose markets and positionings you will have entered. Despite limited funds, stabilising your brand and emphasising unique selling points is wise. Learn more about the different ways to support your branding here.

Building new creative assets that go back-to-basics by truly reflecting your brand identity and its elements that people recognise and recall is usually a good idea. These assets, spanning from your website to your marketing collaterals, digital campaigns and social media platforms enhance brand recognition. Balancing adaptability with brand stability ensures sustained customer loyalty and market relevance.

Focus on your customers

While market forces and competitors are beyond your control, maintaining a strong connection with
loyal customers is within your grasp. If you have built and maintained your first-party database over
the years, then utilise this to create a unique dialogue with your core audience, acknowledging their
challenges and expressing gratitude for their support through these tough times. Ensure your
communication adds value, aligns with your brand values and most importantly, is genuine.

Direct channels such as email and SMS marketing, when tailored for VIP customers, can show them
how important they are to you. If you cannot afford offers, simply share meaningful updates about
your company, but always keeping in mind that you have to offer something valuable and not simply
talk about what you want to say. Other ways to care for your clients include improving your website
UX and overall customer experience from the first touch point with your business all the way
through to the after care. Authenticity and value-driven communication form the foundation of
lasting customer relationships, empowering your brand amidst market uncertainties.

Plan for the future

Prepare an implementation plan for post-recovery to outpace your competitors. Embrace innovation, introduce new products or services, messages (but still aligned to your core brand values), campaigns, and brand ambassadors that align with your core values.

By planning for it during the quiet period, you will be the first one ready to implement it when the time is right. By engaging your team in the process and encouraging to envision a bright future, you can boost staff retention and productivity. Companies that have been able to strengthen the bond with their teams during hardships have seen evident signs of increased staff loyalty and advocacy, which allows for a higher quality of work from the existing team and is a fantastic leverage to attracting new talents.

Despite budget constraints, prioritise marketing; it’s vital for survival. Explore cost-effective strategies and leverage your team’s collective creativity.

Ten heads work better than one! If in need of marketing ideas, collaborate with our Sabio team for an obligation-free catch-up or introductory consultation. Stay proactive to ensure your business not only survives, but thrives in the evolving market landscape.

Connect with our Digital Director, Sophie Viallard, via [email protected], to find out how our digital experts can support you.

The power of video

How to enhance your video content and harness its power to build trust

If you aren’t taking advantage of video in your marketing mix, there is a big chance you’re missing out on an opportunity to introduce more customers to your brand. Video content is a must, for almost every objective. Let’s talk about what video is, why it’s something your audience wants to see more of and how you can use it to build trust with your customers.

What is
video marketing

Video content can help brands explain a product, service and/or raise brand awareness. Videos are usually published on popular social media sites such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn as well as other platforms such as Vimeo or self-hosted sites. Video content can also be in the form of live videos, webinars, and courses.

When video is done well, it has the potential to generate a substantial return on investment.

Check out our blog on: What role does design play in marketing

Why include video into
your marketing strategy

Video content is the favoured medium among consumers with 54% wanting to see more video content from a brand they support (1). As content on social media increases, audience attention spans are decreasing. Video format is not only easy-to-digest, it’s entertaining and can tell powerful stories within a few minutes or less. Video is a powerful storytelling tool which can encourage emotional connection and engagement with your brand, product, or service. When so much of our lives are consumed by the digital world, it is no surprise that video has garnered a lot of our attention; 72% of customers said they would rather learn about a product or service through video content (2).

The emotional bond gained through video can build brand trust and lead to sales. 64% of consumers say that watching a video makes them more likely to buy (3). So, by implementing an engaging video content strategy you can increase the chances of gaining new customers, inspire likability and create loyalty, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates.

How does video drive and convert leads?

Harness that power of video and convert consumers’ interest into leads. Below are some examples of the types of video content you could be utilising during each stage of the sales funnel to lead your customers into loyal advocators.

Awareness

At the top of the sales funnel is the awareness stage. At this stage, your audience is typically new to your brand or product– it might be the first interaction they’ve had with your brand or product, so you’ll want your videos to be informative, fun, and express your point of difference. Types of video content that can garner awareness can include:

Brand films

Brand films are used to familiarise your audience with your brand’s vision, mission and core values. You can use this type of video content to bond with the audience who are still learning about your brand or offering. It’s especially powerful when done with a storytelling approach and focus on a specific message to make it memorable and give it that ‘wow’ factor. Check out our video for St Joseph’s Nudgee College the weaves a powerful message to drive donations.

Educational

This format is great to help your audience discover and learn more about you by blending information and entertainment about your product or service. It can come in the form of explainer videos, how-to’s or tutorials. To successfully keep your audience engaged you’ll want to keep these videos brief and targeted on learning goals.

Promotional

Now that you have your target audience’s attention and they’re considering your brand, it’s important to nurture that relationship and further prove why you’re the best! This format works by focusing on the benefits of the purchase and how the product or service solves their problem to increase confidence with your brand. A few examples of this are:

Video emails

Keep your audience engaged by surprising them with video content in email. Initial emails including video have a 96% higher click-through rate than those without.(4)

Product videos

Showcase your product or service in action. This is an effective way to convince your customer by allowing them to see exactly how it solves their problem, which in turn can inspire belief and instil trust with your brand.

Decision stage

We’ve talked about creating and establishing a relationship between your brand and your audience, but how do you drive home why they should choose you over your competition? Easy! Show them what life would look like after they’ve made their purchase and address any fears or questions they may have along the way.

Here are a few video types that can help are:

Testimonials

Similar to product videos, this format can further prove how the product or service solves a problem. When we see others positively speaking about their purchase, it’s an authentic way to encourage action and build credibility with your audience and customers.

Demos/webinars

When you’ve already captured your audience’s attention, they are often more willing to engage longer with you. At this stage, it is beneficial to provide long-form videos to further explain the details and benefits of your brand. Webinars are a great opportunity to engage with your audience and answer and questions or concerns they may have.

Enhancing your video content

Now that you are familiar with content types, here are a few important steps to make the most out of your video content.

Define the purpose

Why are you creating this video? Where is it going to be housed? Consider all aspects as this will define the rest of the video and help guide what formats and length it should be and the story you should tell to create the biggest impact. Recently we created the Sabio work life balance video with a clearly defined purpose to inspire our audience and showcase our new policies.

Play Video about Screen Shot 2022 09 28 At 9.36.12 Am

Tell a story

It’s important to keep your video concise with one clear message so you don’t confuse or lose the viewers’ attention. A well scripted story can help you achieve this. By using a storyboard to conceptualise every step of your video, you can pinpoint the element that will make your video memorable and drive impact. For our client, Personalise Plates Queensland (PPQ), we produced and filmed a video to tell the story of 10 Cent Tom. The video focused on reflecting his unique cheery personality and showcasing his PPQ’s plates. Check out the case study here.

Show personality

Your brand should shine through every video you create if you want your audience to remember and recall who you are. An established tone of voice, brand guidelines and characteristics that make your brand unique are vital in playing a part to generating and nurturing leads. If you want to know more about brand design, check out our blog here. Consistency with those elements is key and you can further expand your brand personality in video through colour grading, intro and outro animations and lower thirds – the possibilities are endless, so get creative!

Guide the viewers
with a call to action

Including a call to action (CTA) in your video content is crucial so there is a clear action for your consumer. This could be guiding viewers to visit your website, donate, or sign up to your newsletter.

Video is a powerful tool because of its versatility and impact, whether your key objective is to raise brand awareness or convert your customers by educating them on a product or service, video can be used to deliver results.

If you need help in taking full advantage of video and level up your marketing strategy, reach out to our Creative Director, Bec Kowald and book a complimentary consultation. – [email protected]

Social commerce: the future of shopping.

The future of online shopping is here – are you ready for it?

It’s official, the time has come for businesses to meet their customers in their domain. Whether they’re lounging on the couch at home, commuting to work or simply filling in time, consumers are growing hungry for effortless ways to get a hit of those virtual checkout induced endorphins.

And where are your customers hanging out almost every day? Social media.

The context

So, what is social commerce?

A beacon for online businesses, social commerce is the process of selling products through social media outlets – a handy combination of the brilliant elements of ecommerce and social media that we have all come to know and love. Think of it as an extension to your existing storefront, both brick-and-mortar and online, here to help you increase overall brand awareness and revenue.

With COVID-19 turning more customers towards online shopping methods (and forcing new audiences to trust the online world), the use of social commerce has skyrocketed, leaving the ability for customers to have the option of making a purchase within the realm of their social platform more popular than ever. More than a simple sales transaction, social commerce encapsulates the entire customer journey, all the way from product discovery to customer service. The entire buying process is happening right at their fingertips – and we recommend you jump on the bandwagon.

The benefits

Reach new customers daily with an ever-growing audience

If your social journey has already commenced, your brand will likely have begun to foster a community of loyal followers – also known as the perfect target audience to help you achieve those business goals. Not only does implementing social commerce within your marketing strategy offer the opportunity to convert existing audiences into return customers, but it increases the likelihood of garnering new clients. With social platforms currently housing over 4 billion active social media users worldwide, there is an ever-growing market right at your doorstep.

Creating a compelling customer experience that’s unique to social media

Compared to typical ecommerce methods, social commerce offers an interactive experience through a personalised shopping journey that is only possible thanks to the help of social media. Not only can customers get the hit of their social shopping day out by conferring online with friends, but they can show off any new purchase to their personal followings, giving your brand VIP access to your own library of user generated content (USG).

Methods such as USG allow brands to promote their satisfied customers while also showcasing their product range – a win, win that offers you an evergreen content base, while also providing users with a sense of social proof to increase the likelihood of potential customers. There also lies the opportunity for brands to customise their customer experience through engaging with their audiences using community management methods, increasing brand touchpoints and brand trust.

The opportunities

Now, is investing in a social commerce strategy really a necessity for your brand? If you’re looking to drive sales and open up new revenue streams, the short answer is yes.

Social commerce is on track to nearly triple by 2025, boosting it to become a $1.2trillion channel. With the appetite for online shopping growing in popularity across the globe, social media is no longer simply a space for brands to foster a community and build brand awareness. Instead, it’s a powerful avenue available to businesses to directly influence how the average consumer shops (and who they shop with!).

The ability to shop via social media allows customers to readily find new brands to connect with, and new holy-grail products to *add to cart*. You want to make sure your catalogue is ready and waiting to be browsed by the 81% of shoppers that use Instagram and Facebook to window shop during their consideration phase. Offering your online community a no-fuss shopping experience that doesn’t involve a mad dash to their local Westfield also helps to remove barriers or pain points that the everyday customer may face, helping to make the buying process as easy as the tap of a button.

The options

Instagram Shopping

From their discovery feature to collections, Instagram has quickly become a fantastic way for businesses to elevate sales thanks to the platform’s snazzy range of e-commerce features and its visual content focus. With straightforward options that are easy-to-use for both buyer and seller alike, Instagram helps funnel existing followers to your product pages, while also allowing new fans to effortlessly browse your catalogue. To put the playing field that awaits you into context, 130 million people tap on an Instagram shopping post each month, with 44% of users using the platform to shop weekly – all we can say is, wow.

Facebook Shopping

Social media marketing is about making the most of all opportunities that come your way – and we would call Facebook offering businesses the ability to reach over 250 million shoppers through their shop feature a big opportunity. With the mobile-optimised shop also accessible through Instagram, users can have new experiences with your brand and products daily through the likes of custom collections and tags. With one million sellers already taking advantage of the feature, if you don’t jump into the social shopping arena and join them, you’ll be left behind.

Pinterest Shopping

Did you know that 9 out of 10 users visit Pinterest to pin inspiration for their next purchase? Well, you do now!

Users are logging on to save the items that they love as part of the consideration phase of their buying process, and with 64% of pinners visiting the platform just to shop – it’s safe to say purchasing is on their mind. We can all acknowledge that the platform is not the simple hub of DIY ideas and recipes that it was once upon a time, and with options available such as product pins and shopping lists there are countless opportunities for your brand to boost sales.

Opportunity is knocking – it’s time to elevate your social media strategy

Now, we aren’t saying that your product pages and online storefronts will see an influx of customers from near and far without effort on your part. From getting more eyes on your products to driving sale numbers, it’s important to ensure your pages are implementing a strong strategy with clear goals to ensure the success of your social commerce outlets.

If you want to learn more about how you can elevate your social commerce strategy, connect with our Digital Director, Sophie Viallard, via [email protected] to find out how our digital experts can support you.

What role does design play in marketing?

Behind every successful marketing campaign is considered design – so considered, in fact, you may not even notice it.

Design is marketing’s superpower. It is there to bring the brand to life and convey a campaign’s message, without overwhelming the audience.

Everywhere you look you’ll see something that has been strategically designed to capture your attention – from the billboard you drive past each morning, to the scroll-stopping Instagram posts you engage with – but have you ever thought about the theory behind the e design decisions? Good design drives the message home and evokes a response, whether it be feeling, an emotion, or hitting that glorious ‘ADD TO CART’ button.

In this blog we’ll discuss the role design plays in marketing and how it can impact the success of your next campaign.

Building trust with your brand

The purpose of most campaigns is two-fold – to build brand awareness and inspire your customer to do an action.

To motivate potential customers to engage in an impactful way, you need one thing – trust.

Every touchpoint your customer has with your brand must communicate a message, and you want your message consistent across all touchpoints. From billboards, digital advertising, social media content, sponsored content, EDM’s to instore – the design of your content needs to hit the mark every time and tell the true story of your brand.

In the early phases of a business, brand consistency can be challenging, but getting it right is critical to building a strong foundation.

The first step towards success is developing your brand strategy.. This will be your ‘brand bible’ and a robust reference point for brand application. From here, you can then begin building your brand identity with templates that are consistent and easy to roll out across all touchpoints.

Want to know more check out our blog on: Brand identity Vs brand strategy: what’s the difference?

Design testing

Understanding what content resonates with your target market is critical if you want to impact your bottom line. This can be achieved through A/B testing in your digital campaigns. A/B testing gives you the opportunity to test and analyse different messages and designs. When you find a winner, you can roll this out across other brand touchpoints.

To get started, the placement of your ‘call to action’ (CTA) button, and the colour of the button, can determine if your customer will act in the way you need them to. Nailing this design element can hugely impact your success, as the button is the gateway between your content and a sale.

Once you’ve nailed your CTA button, you can move on to testing different design layouts and different copy. Does an image of a person resonate with your customes more than an image of the product? Do certain image styles illicit a greater response?

To make the most of any digital campaigns , you can design, test, analyse data, improve design and test again! If you recognise a visual is resonating more with your audience, you can leverage that design to make a bigger impact.

Social media

Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools and a social media strategy will set you apart from your competitors. Before you post, you’ll need to think about:

Your brand’s tone of voice, how are you talking to your customers? What language do you use? What is your brand identity?
Ensuring your aesthetic is consistent across all of the social media platforms you use (IG, FB, Tik Tok etc)
Creative output – would this message be conveyed better via video, animation, carousel or a static image?

Building a consistent brand across your social media platforms can lead to increased brand loyalty and heightens the opportunity to market to your audience in an organic way.

Video, another marketing superpower

In 2022, audiences are spending an average 19 hours per week watching online videos… that’s almost 3 hours per day! Video can be used to educate a new audience, generate leads and convert customers.

The power of video is the ability it gives you to communicate a message in a short amount of time. Instead of going to your website and reading through pages of content to understand the benefits of your business, customers can now watch a 30sec video that tells them everything they need to know.

Benefits of including video in your marketing strategy:

Educates and builds trust
Communicates a message, fast
Encourages social media shares, brand awareness
Improves SEO ranking
Anywhere, anytime.

The beauty of video is that it doesn’t have to be a high-quality production to get cut-through – what matters most is that the message is clear, you know your audience, you are adding value and that it aligns with your brand.

It has been scientifically proven that the human brain understands visual information better than written, therefore carefully chosen images, or a thought-provoking video can say more to your target audience than a few hundred words.

If you need help communicating your message through design, you’ve come to the right place! Reach out to our Creative Director, Bec Kowald, to book a complimentary brand consultation – [email protected]

Brand identity Vs brand strategy: what’s the difference?

We’ve all heard of the term ‘branding’, but what exactly does this mean?

For starters, branding is not your logo, colour palette, website or business name. Although these are important and necessary elements to building your brand and business, they aren’t exactly your brand.

In this blog, we’ll discuss the differences between a brand, brand identity and brand strategy and answer questions such as “how can branding benefit my business”.

Let’s start with the basics.

What is a brand?

A brand is the thread that runs through every inch of your business – have you heard of the saying “perception is reality”?

The perception someone has with your brand is influenced by the design, client experience and quality of your product – your brand is the all-encompassing experience people have with every touchpoint of your business.

Think of your brand as a person. What they wear, how they make you feel, their mannerisms and what they believe in are all representations of a person. Your brand is the same. It’s the experience a person has navigating your website, how you respond to customers or engage with stakeholders, the state of your office and bathroom – all of this creates an experience and leaves an impression.

Thinking of your business, ask yourself:

How do potential clients feel when they interact with my business?
What do people say about my business?
What do people think about my business?

Your answers should be consistent across all touchpoints for the most cohesive brand experience. If it’s not, you’re likely attracting the wrong clients (or no clients!).

When it comes to your brand, high standards are key for establishing authority and trust – but how?

What is brand strategy?

If we imagine that brand identity is what your audience consumes, brand strategy is the vehicle within which the goods are delivered. It’s a long-term commitment between your brand and your audience. This shouldn’t be confused with a marketing strategy, which is a short-term commitment and is influenced depending on time of the year and trends, for example.

Without a strategy, your brand is just sitting there, looking nice and pretty.

Brand strategy establishes what you do, how you do it and why you do it. All of this helps a designer create a brand that resonates with the right audience. A great brand strategy should be able to answer key questions about your business before you even think about what colour to use in your logo – like why your business exists? What is your mission? Who are your competition? etc.

Working with a designer or agency on your strategy before your identity is essential to ensure the creative and strategy can work together, harmoniously.

Once you’ve established your brands strategic roadmap, it’s time to craft the identity.

What is brand identity?

A brand identity should be created intentionally and well informed by your brand strategy: cleverly aligning your brand strategy into visuals. This is the part where colours, fonts and shapes all play an important role, and each decision must be backed by your strategy.

Brands perception can be experiential or visual, but when it comes down to it, identity and strategy work hand-in-hand, so both need to be exceptional.

Good branding is often simple and clearly communicated; think of Target with its red circles, or Nike with its swoosh tick. In most cases, memorable, distinct brands abide by less is more.

How does branding benefit your business?

We have discussed the difference between a brand, brand identity and brand strategy, but how do these align to benefit your business? Five reasons include:

Increased brand awareness. This helps your audience differentiate your product or service from its competitors.
A coherent brand gives you credibility by looking professional and organised.
Good branding builds loyal brand ambassadors who share similar values to your brand. This will develop an emotional connection between them and your brand.
A great brand experience often leads to referrals and returning customers.
A solid brand strategy and identity makes it easier for a brand to grow as it sets the tone for everything that you do. Your products and services should always align with your brand’s mission and goals.

Brands are likely the most powerful business tool ever invented. If you’re a business owner wanting to progress your business and create a point of difference, a solid brand identity and strategy is a fundamental place to start. If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of branding, a creative agency like Sabio, is the perfect place to start.

Get in touch with our Creative Director, Bec Kowald, via [email protected] or on our contact page to see how our team of creatives can help.

Written by: Haylea Paul

Use these three Instagram video tools to achieve maximum engagement

Power to content creators as short-form video captivates the world!

As our media-dominated society continues to evolve, so do the platforms we use. Instagram, like all others, is no stranger to an update. Over the years, the app has evolved from a photo sharing tool to a platform that encompasses the most used features of all your go-to social media apps.

Short-form video currently takes the cake, dominating the social media game on platforms such as Instagram (reels) and Tik Tok. Packed with features to create hard-hitting content, short-form video gives content creators the tools needed to get on the trend… and do it right!

According to a survey from HubSpot that interviewed 500 marketing gurus, 85% of marketers say short-form is the most effective video style they leverage. Videos are a unique and effective tool for marketers, opening the door to the limitless potential to influence their audience in a way that sits beyond your average text or image.

Video content is paramount to ensuring engagement on your social profile. But you can’t just post any video.

So how exactly should you use video? Platforms like Instagram host different short-form video options and In-feed, Reels and Instagram Stories are our favourites.

In-feed Videos

In-feed Instagram videos allow for planning and are usually specifically curated as these videos are displayed directly on your grid. In-feed Instagram videos can be up to 60 seconds long and are perfect for interviews, product launches or behind-the-scenes footage.

Instagram Stories

Instagram stories are the playful sister. Perfect for on-a-whim content, Instagram stories are the shortest video format. Truly capturing a moment in time, stories disappear within 24 hours, however you can pin them on a story highlight if you want to make that moment last just a little bit longer. Stories are versatile and can be used to engage with your audience through a conversational informal tone. Whether you are filming yourself talking to your followers or capturing a pretty sunset, stories include a beautiful array of stickers and gifs to help elevate your content to the next level.

From an interaction perspective, Instagram stories include features that allow viewers to engage, quite literally, with your content. From polls and Q&As, to links and hashtags, your audience can tell you exactly what is on their mind. Users can even participate alongside you via Instagram’s new ‘add yours’ sticker, allowing them to join a chain of responses and share their own take on the creators prompt – often these explode worldwide.

Reels

The reel showstopper when it comes to Instagram video tools is Instagram Reels. Instagram’s most recent video tool, reels, allow users to create 30-second multi-clip videos with text, stickers, AR filters and audio. Reels can be used to share highlights from your feed or totally new content. Through Instagram reels, trends are born. Users can collaborate, discover, and challenge other creators – sending shareable moments right across the world.

Warning: Instagram reels are addicting. You will find yourself mindlessly scrolling.

Now that you know what kind of videos you could make, here are our top tips for optimising engagement, no matter the video tool you choose!

Keep your short-form videos…Short. The same HubSpot research discovered that the Instagram videos that got the most comments averaged just 26 seconds.
Add an enticing thumbnail. It doesn’t have to be complicated – just choose a slide that matches your brand’s aesthetic. Then just add some text to create a title so the viewer knows what the video is about. This brief title will increase curiosity and persuade people to click to watch
Simplify the language. If your video includes speech, use simplified language as to not overpower the audience with too much information. Generally speaking, people tend to have a short attention span, so keep all information direct and to the point.
Play around with the array of video editing tools out there! Instagram itself offers great simplified editing tools on their platform already. You can easily trim videos and add filters or text and not require a third-party application or software.
Hit them from the first second. Make those first few moments of the video count with a compelling hook right off the bat that encourages people to watch instead of scroll – cut out fillers and waffle and get straight to the good stuff.
Incorporate engagement features like stickers and polls when creating Stories to really drive up your audience interaction.

Instagram Videos can create multiple opportunities for your online brand. Here are some of our favourites:

Assists in diversifying your marketing strategy
Gives you the opportunity for real-time marketing
Increases sale opportunities
Great reach and engagement levels
Can add personality to your brand and is great for brand story telling

So, get creative and play around with the variety of video features that Instagram has to offer. You never know when you might go viral!

Looking to create engaging video content? Get in touch with our Creative Director, Bec Kowald, via [email protected] to see how our team of creatives can help.

Our best practice email marketing trends for 2022

In the ever-changing digital landscape, email marketing remains one of the oldest, yet most effective digital channels of today, with no signs of slowing down in 2022.

Email marketing is often described as “the glue that sticks digital marketing channels together” and is a key platform that can be used to directly communicate with and inform your audiences. With 4 billion email users daily, email marketing continues to stand as one of the most powerful communication tools used to connect and engage online audiences (HubSpot, 2022).

This year presents new opportunities, growth, and innovation for email marketing – so if you aren’t currently harnessing the power of your email marketing strategy, you are ignoring a key channel that otherwise could be utilised to connect with your audience and drive ROI.

To help your brand stand out in a cluttered inbox, stay ahead of competitors and drive conversions this year, we’ve put together our best practice email trends for 2022.

Clean your mailing list regularly

Many people assume that the more subscribers in your database, the better. However, while having a larger audience may be tempting, it can be detrimental to your email campaign – effecting your open rate, click-through rate and ultimately limiting your campaign from driving valuable results.

Removing unengaged contacts is vital to keeping your email database clean, improving your overall deliverability, trusted sender status and ensuring that you are getting an accurate open and click-through rate. Not only will this allow you to remove inactive subscribers but it will also save you money and cut down unnecessary costs – the more subscribers you have, the more expensive it is to run your account.

If you are seeing a high number of bounces, spam complaints, or declining open or click-through rates, that is an indicator it’s time to start cleaning your email lists in 2022. Think quality over quantity!

Utilise sleek email designs

Research shows the average humans attention span is now officially shorter than a goldfish, which means to drive conversions, the design of your email campaign is king. Emails must be visually friendly with eye-catching aesthetics, meaningful copy and a consistent, on-brand look and feel that will be easy for readers to navigate.

The forecasted trends for 2022 highlight a key shift towards efficient, simple, clean graphics – getting rid of unwanted and unnecessary content that may deter viewers. The main rule of thumb? Stick to fewer than three type-faces to avoid clutter and create a seamless visual experience for your audiences and keep your email around 500 to 650 pixels wide for functionality. Remember, it’s all about the aesthetics!

Optimise subject lines and preview text

Hundreds of emails flood your audiences inbox each day – so your email marketing campaign needs to stand out with a killer subject line and compelling preview text to capture the attention of your readers.

Draw in your audiences with a short and snappy subject line that offers a strong call to action and a sense of urgency – then use the preview text that sits underneath to briefly expand on the content of the email and excite your audiences.

Audiences don’t want to read the same message twice, so be sure to differentiate your preview text from your subject line to further engage and entice your readers. As best practice, a subject line should only contain between 30 and 50 characters (including spaces), as email providers will often cut off any text that exceeds this length. Subject lines and preview text could mean the difference between your reader deciding to open or ignore your message – so make it count!

Personalisation

Generic email sends are officially a thing of the past. There, we said it!

In 2022, we’ll see a strong shift towards personalised content that is relevant and tailored to the behaviours of your subscribers. An email campaign that packs personality and personalisation is more likely to appeal to your audiences and drive strong engagement and return on investment (ROI).

Utilise your subscribers data and incorporate custom fields to offer your audiences personalised email greetings, subject lines, and promotions to gain trust and build a relationship with your readers. To connect and resonate with audiences, personalise your “to” and “from fields” in your emails, this assists in ensuring they recognisee your email came from an actual human, rather than just a business. Personalisation will be key in allowing your readers to feel heard and seen, all whilst standing out in their inbox and driving conversions.

Desktop vs mobile

This year mobile phone usage is expected to increase and will continue to overtake desktop. With 60% of emails now being viewed on mobile, ensuring your email is mobile-friendly should be a top priority, rather than an afterthought (Truelist, 2021).

Ensure your call-to-action (CTA) buttons stand out front and centre with contrasting colours and enough padding to ensure that your readers can easily tap their finger through to where you want them to go. “Padding” refers to the spacing that surrounds your button, and if it is structured correctly with enough spacing, it will make it easier for readers to click through to the correct button, rather than using intext links.

Ensuring your email is optimised for dark mode will be key this year, with 91.8% of people now choosing to switch to the dark mode theme since its launch in 2019 (Uplers, 2020). Essentially, dark mode is a user interface theme that displays light text on a dark background, and its use is intended to reduce light exposure and reduce eyestrain. While the popularity of the dark mode continues to grow, you’ll need to pay special attention to your email’s design – and use transparent images wherever possible.

Lastly, test, test, and test again! Be sure to send preview tests and view your emails on multiple devices to ensure your email functions and is formatted correctly across different screens.

Digital marketing is constantly changing and evolving, but email marketing is here to stay. Make certain to keep email marketing at the forefront of your digital strategy to remain competitive, connect with your audiences and drive engagement in 2022.

Want to stay on top of email marketing trends this year? Get in touch with our Digital Director, Sophie Viallard, via [email protected] to see how our team of digital experts can help.