campaign – Voltage X

The Power of User Generated Content (UGC) in Content Marketing

Voltage X — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 04:59:01 +0000

Ever thought your customers’ selfies could bring valuable (and effortless) advertising opportunities? Images, videos, text, and even podcasts created and shared by customers across different public platforms can all be forms of user-generated content (UGC). Given its organic nature, UGC often surpasses the social engagement levels generated by official brand representatives.

Why is UGC getting popular?

In the age of artificial intelligence, authentic content that features experiences of real people is particularly captivating. Thanks to the prevalence of social media, most users have become habitual voluntary content creators. The extensive usage of reels and hashtags has also significantly simplified the creation of UGC, making the content easily accessible. More importantly, UGC helps nurture a virtual community that gives users a sense of belonging, especially among Gen Z. According to a recent research by InMobi, 61% of Gen Z prefer UGC over other content formats*.

The Many Benefits of UGC

Simply said, UGC is a digitalised version of word-of-mouth marketing. Similar to traditional word of mouth, UGC is a powerful form of marketing with the potential to bring maximal effect at virtually zero cost.

1. Authenticity & Relatability

Since UGC is generated by real-life users, it establishes a sense of trust and credibility among prospective customers. As the creators are genuine customers of your products, they are more capable of resonating with fellow customers and putting your products in an everyday context.

2. Organic Engagement

Since UGC creators are not obligated to endorse the brand, their presentation is often less in-your-face than conventional advertising, evoking interest more spontaneously. Some UGC creators may have substantial social media followings, which enable you to reach a broader spectrum of audiences.

3. Endless Possibilities

Your marketing team is no doubt talented but admittedly they can’t beat thousands of netizens active around the world and around the clock. You are likely to discover innovative ways to present your brand and products.

Key Points to Note When Using UGC

While the use of UGC is practically free, there are things to keep in mind when utilising it.

1. Quality Control

Due to UGC’s spontaneous nature, the presentation and quality can vary drastically. It may not be consistent with your brand values or match your current campaigns, bringing unpredictability to the picture.

2. Time Cost

While you can save time producing the content, it takes time to locate the suitable UGC for your products. It may also be time-consuming to obtain permission from users.

3. The Right Campaign

To regulate the vast realm of UGC, it is more effective to initiate a campaign with fitting hashtags to invite target campaign-specific content.

Final Thought

UGC speaks for itself as a precious piece of customer loyalty. Despite the time and effort required to collect and monitor the relevant UGC materials, it is more than worth it to harness their marketing potential.

Voltage X has been assisting clients to source and manage UGC on social media. Iconic boutique hotel The Fleming, for instance, utilises photos from guests, complemented by our insightful copywriting, for its entire Instagram account. Let us know about your marketing objectives and we can develop campaigns by leveraging UGC in innovative, impactful ways.

Seize on the Emerging Recruitment Marketing Trend

Voltage X — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 04:15:46 +0000

Rewind the clock to the time when you were still a fresh graduate. Would you be drawn to a serious recruitment ad with an overwhelming job description? Or would an ingenious recruitment campaign that reflects the company’s character win your heart?

Employees are one of a company’s greatest assets. This holds even greater truth amid the latest ‘competition for talents’ phenomenon. With a growing preference for working as slashers or digital nomads, the struggle to recruit and retain top candidates has become even more intense among corporations.

Now is the best time to rethink your recruitment approach, and recruitment marketing is something worth giving a serious thought.

What is Recruitment Marketing?

Recruitment marketing involves adopting marketing strategies to promote your company as a desirable employer. Similar to product marketing, the tactics can be as diverse as your creativity goes, from social media advertising to offline guerrilla marketing – just that the ‘product’ you are selling is your own company.

While recruitment marketing is still a new concept in Hong Kong, it has been prevalent for years around the world. OgilvyOne launched ‘The World’s Greatest Salesperson’ campaign in 2010 and invited applicants to sell them a brick. In 2007, Volkswagen hid their recruitment message physically under cars to be repaired targeting skilled mechanics.

Earlier this month, a major bank in Hong Kong initiated an online and offline 24-hour campaign to recruit frontline staff. By answering five simple questions on an Instagram story, applicants could gain a chance to get shortlisted. The unconventional recruitment approach not only appeals to potential candidates but also helps build the bank’s image as an open-minded employer.

Tips to Initiate Your Recruitment Marketing

There is no hard and fast rule to recruitment marketing but a few essential elements can get you started.

1. Think like your target candidates:

Bear in mind your recruitment is not speaking to just anyone, but your target audience, i.e. top candidates. Bright applicants would not settle for less. With more options than an average candidate, they tend to be pickier. Yet, try not to please by saying something high-flown. More often than not, telling candidates what your company truly is would be the best tactic. In fact, emphasising that your company adheres to stringent standards is a selling point, for top candidates are looking for top employers too.

2. Connect emotionally:

You are not offering a job, but a career prospect. Present the company benefits with reasons addressing candidates’ personal needs. Show them you genuinely care. Many corporations sponsor employee’s further education but your rationale behind it could be different (i.e. more meaningful). Trust us, your package will sound even more attractive.

3. Dare to be creative:

Based on the qualities of your ideal candidates, think out of the box and develop tailored approaches to reach out directly to your target candidates. Offline recruitment campaigns, for instance, may give that extra human touch to exemplify your company image. As recruitment marketing is still new in Hong Kong, you have a lot of space to be original.

Final Thought

Recruitment marketing is basically a way to show the world who and what your company is. In other words, you are consolidating your brand identity while looking for prospective colleagues. Be one of the very first companies to impress job-seekers in your industry with an outstanding recruitment campaign and talented applicants will naturally come forward.

Voltage X is keen to create bespoke recruitment marketing campaigns with you. Our integrated strategies encompass online, offline and online-merge-offline (OMO) approaches to engage with your target candidates. Let’s explore the possibilities of recruitment marketing together.

Programmatic in Digital Advertising

Voltage X — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 02:00:00 +0000

By leveraging technology and data-driven insights, programmatic marketing enables advertisers to deliver highly targeted and personalized messages at scale. In this article, we’ll delve into the intricacies of programmatic marketing and explore how it’s revolutionizing the advertising landscape.

What is Programmatic Marketing?

At its core, programmatic marketing involves using automated technology to purchase and optimize digital ad placements in real-time. This method replaces traditional manual processes, eliminating the need for negotiation and manual insertion orders. Instead, it relies on algorithms and data to ensure that ads are shown to the right people, in the right context, at the right time.

Key Elements

1. Real-time Bidding (RTB):

Programmatic marketing’s core is RTB, enabling real-time bidding on ad inventory. When users visit a site, their data is analyzed, allowing advertisers to bid on relevant ad placements instantly.

2. Data-Driven Insights:

Data shapes programmatic marketing. Advertisers use demographics, browsing, and purchase data to tailor ads to specific audience segments.

3. Ad Exchanges, demand-side platforms (DSPs) and supply-side platforms (SSPs):

Ad exchanges offer ad inventory, while DSPs help manage campaigns, refine targeting, and optimize bids, streamlining processes. SSPs enable publishers to manage and optimize their advertising inventory for programmatic buying.

4. AI and Machine Learning:

AI and machine learning optimize bidding, identify top-performing placements, and personalize ad content using user behavior data.

How does it work?

Programmatic marketing utilizes automated technology and algorithms to streamline the buying and selling of ad inventory in real-time auctions. Advertisers use Demand-side Platforms (DSPs) to specify their target audience, budget, and campaign goals. The DSPs then bid for ad impressions on ad exchanges, where publishers make their inventory available through Supply-side Platforms (SSPs). The highest bidder wins the auction and their ad is instantly displayed to the targeted user. This automated process allows for precise targeting, efficient campaign management, and effective optimization, resulting in more relevant and impactful advertising experiences.

Advantages of Programmatic Marketing

1. Precision Targeting: Programmatic marketing allows for hyper-targeted campaigns, ensuring your ads reach the right audience with minimal wastage.

2. Efficiency and Automation: By automating the buying process, programmatic marketing reduces manual efforts, saves time, and increases campaign efficiency.

3. Real-time Optimization: Ad placements and bids are adjusted in real-time based on performance data, ensuring optimal results throughout the campaign.

4. Data-Driven Decision Making: Access to real-time data empowers advertisers to make informed decisions, refine strategies, and maximize ROI.

5. Scale and Reach: Programmatic marketing enables advertisers to reach a broader audience across various websites and platforms, all managed from a centralized platform.

6. Personalization: With AI-driven insights, advertisers can personalize ad content to align with the preferences and behaviors of individual users.

Final Thought

Personalized programmatic marketing drives impactful campaigns by leveraging automation, data-driven insights, and precise targeting. Join us to create compelling marketing strategies that resonate with your audience and inspire action. Let’s make marketing that leaves a lasting impact.

Psychology of Successful Marketing Campaigns

Voltage X — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 02:00:00 +0000

Marketing is all about understanding consumer behavior and decision-making. To create more effective marketing strategies, it’s essential to tap into certain psychological triggers. Here are some of the key factors that may influence buying decisions.

Case Study: Sixes Hotpot

Sixes Hotspot incorporated psychological triggers into their marketing campaign by offering a limited time summer discount that varied based on the temperature. This created a sense of urgency and exclusivity, driving results and increasing sales.

Understanding these psychological factors not just helps create a new PR angle for promoting the business, it can also assist on formulating an effective marketing campaign that showcase your brand’s unique values and messaging.

To start, you’ll need to identify your brand’s unique selling proposition (USP) and tailor your messaging to appeal to your target audience. This can be achieved through customer research, competitor analysis, and market trends. Once you have your USP and messaging, you can begin to incorporate the following psychological triggers into your marketing strategy:

7 Factors that Influence Buying Decisions

Scarcity
Imposing time limits, limited stock, or exclusive access creates a sense of scarcity, making people perceive something as more valuable and prompting them to act fast before it’s “gone.”
Social proof
Highlighting positive reviews, recommendations, and endorsements from influencers signals that a product is popular and worth buying, giving consumers social permission to buy.
Liking and familiarity
Repetition through consistent branding, jingles, slogans, and promotions makes products feel familiar and more attractive over time.
Authority and expertise
Highlighting credentials, celebrity/KOL endorsements, awards and accolades, positions products as trusted choices backed by legitimate authorities, engendering customer confidence.
Stories
Marketers use stories to create an emotional connection with consumers, tapping into feelings like joy, nostalgia, empathy, and aspiration to make products desirable.
Self-image and identities
People make purchases to express who they are and the type of person they want to become. Marketing that positions products as a means of fulfilling aspirations, ideals, and desired identities will have greater resonance and influence buying decisions.
Habit formation
Marketers build habits through loyalty programs, reminders, defaults, and easy access – making their products the “default choice” that comes to mind automatically.

Incorporate psychological triggers into marketing campaigns

To create marketing that resonates with your audience and drives results, it’s important to segment your audience and tailor your messaging based on the psychological triggers that are most relevant for each segment. Test different strategies, creative elements, and campaigns to see what works best in inspiring purchases, and always measure key metrics to continually improve your marketing approach. By understanding the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior, you can create more effective marketing strategies that resonate with your audience and deliver results.

Final Thought

At Voltage X, we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Our team segments your audience and tailors messaging based on the psychological triggers most relevant to each group. By harnessing the power of psychological triggers, we create resonant marketing that drives results and fosters stronger consumer connections. Ready to dive deeper into the psychology of your consumers and create more impactful marketing campaigns? Let’s create marketing that not only speaks to your audience but also compels them to action.

Tips For Brands Marketing To Gen Z

Voltage X — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 08:26:00 +0000

As the first generation to grow up with the presence of technology from the very beginning, Generation Z’s identity is synonymous with technology. Born between 1994 and 2010, these digital natives are changing the consumer landscape unlike anything before. As global connectivity soars, young people can now influence people of all ages, incomes, and backgrounds affecting the way people consume and relate to brands. With a growing market for the uprising generation, it’s time to look into the marketing tactics brands can explore to attract these digital natives.

1. Consumer and Brand Identity

The core of Gen Z revolves around the idea of finding an individual identity. No longer about buying, wearing, or associating with brands to fit in, consumption has now become a form of self-expression and identity. Gen Z consumers are not only looking for unique and personalized products, but they are also willing to pay extra to brands that enable them to express themselves and highlight their individuality. This is why maintaining a brand identity is important if your target audience is Gen Z. Brand personality attracts Gen Z to the brand itself— these digital natives associate themselves with brands that share values and ideas synonymous with their identity.

2. Impact and Inclusivity

Incorporating social good in your business and marketing strategies will benefit your brand in the long run. Gen Z wants brands that are both inclusive and value the impact they are making. While Gen Zers want to positively change the world around them, thus, it only makes sense that they want to associate with brands that have similar ideals. The digital natives expect brands to actively speak out and use their platform for positive change; they want to actively see the impact brands have on combating global issues like climate change and racial injustice. And, as Gen Z increasingly expects brands to take a stand- brand neutrality on societal issues due to fear of offending consumers is no longer a viable strategy.

A company’s actions must also match the causes they support; for example, if a brand supports climate change causes, partaking in unethical trade and unsuitable practices would be extremely hypocritical and against advocated ideals. In addition to advocating for social issues, Gen Z favours brands that consistently incorporate diversity and inclusivity. Brands that are more racially, culturally, gender, and size-inclusive tend to stand out and have a greater appeal to Gen Z.

3. Real and Relatable

Inclusivity also allows for content to be more real and relatable. If the target audience feels represented, they are more likely to support and promote the brand. While inclusivity is important, maintaining authenticity is just as valuable to Gen Z. In an ever-growing digital world, Gen Z craves brands that portray the raw and real perspectives that they can relate to. Marketing campaigns that portray authentic and relatable people and circumstances are more effective and favoured for Gen Z audiences.

For the brand campaigns to be successful, the people featured need to share the same struggles or have the same beliefs as your Gen Z audience. Gen Z’s need and want to be represented must be taken into consideration when brands develop their marketing strategies. Thus, rather than adopting traditional advertising methods in your marketing campaigns, branching out to use micro-influencers and YouTubers is a great way to advertise to Gen Z in a relatively more relatable and real way. It’s also a more engaging and effective method that helps develop a strong and successful brand personality.

4. Short and Sweet

While Gen Z may be a curious generation at large, it is also important to note that their attention spans are relatively short. The average Gen Z has an attention span of eight seconds when browsing content on social media. The digital natives have grown up constantly being served so much information that they’re now accustomed to filtering out whatever is not relevant to them. To increase brand awareness, brands need to communicate through content that is timely and interesting. Keep the content short but make sure it also captures your audience’s attention. With a combination of catchy music and engaging graphics, short videos like TikTok and Reels are an extremely effective way to attract Gen Z on social media. Keeping up with social media trends and taking advantage of them by either creating a new trend or engaging in an existing one is also a creative marketing strategy that brands should utilise when targeting Gen Z.

Final Thought

Marketing to Gen Z can be tricky, but if done correctly, it provides brands with endless opportunities. Establishing a consumer and brand identity, making sure your brand is impactful and inclusive, keeping it real and relatable, and making sure content is short and sweet, are all tips that focus on marketing to Gen Z. As brands and businesses move into the uncharted territory of marketing to a digitally native generation, it’s vital for marketers, strategists, and brands to have a firm understanding of how to successfully market to the uprising generation.

Looking to plan your brand’s PR and marketing strategy targeted towards Gen Z? Feel free to contact us and discuss the perfect Gen Z marketing campaign for your brand.

3 Simple Steps to Kickstart Your Influencer Campaign

Voltage X — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 11:13:00 +0000

Influencer campaign has been around for decades, but this powerful marketing strategy is now more important than ever to help increase your brand awareness, get leads, and drive major sales!

To get started with influencer marketing for your business, we have 3 simple tips for you to kickstart your influencer campaign.

To get a better insight into micro-influencers, we’d like to share our client, Avobar’s success story first:

Objective: Increase general branding awareness more specifically to increase online presence in a short amount of time.

Action: We selected a number of micro-influencers (between 5K-15K followers on Instagram) and invited them to visit Avobar for a tasting to promote our restaurant offerings, including the signature Matcha Pancakes & Superfood Lattes.

Results: In return, we received a large amount of coverage through Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook and OpenRice, and succeeded in generating brand awareness for Avobar.

And now that you’re convinced, we’ve narrowed down the process into 3 simple steps for you:

Step 1: Define Your Objectives

Decide what the objective of your influencer campaign will be. Are you hoping to enhance your brand image? Drive sales? Or target a new audience?

Step 2: Find the Optimal Micro-influencer

Condense your influencer list to those who engage in topics as closely related to your brand’s products and services. To make this process more efficient, seek help from a PR agency to intervene.

Step 3: Let the influence do their thing

Looking to enhance your brand image? Have your micro-influencer participate in an “account takeover”, or have them write a blog post on your company’s website to generate brand awareness and credibility.

Overall, while incorporating micro-influencers may be worth the investment to enhance your overall branding strategy, we recommend sourcing additional strategies to create an integrated marketing plan for long-term success.

Interested in how we can achieve your marketing goals? Feel free to reach out to us now!