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.

總結

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.

總結

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.

總結

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.

總結

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.

針對 Z 世代市場的品牌營銷策略

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

作為第一個從出生起就接觸科技的世代，Z 世代的身份與科技同義，出生於 1994 年至 2010 年之間的他們，正在前所未有地改變著消費者的景觀。隨著全球網絡迅速發展，年輕人可以透過影響各年齡、收入和背景的人，從而改變人們的消費方式和與品牌之間關係模式。隨著 Z 世代市場不斷擴大，現在是時候讓品牌研究有哪些營銷策略可以吸引這些「數位原住民」。

1. 消費者與品牌定位

Z 世代的核心觀念圍繞著尋找個人身份，意思是消費已不再是單純的購買、穿戴或與品牌聯繫，而是成為了一種自我表達和身份認同。Z 世代的消費者不僅在尋找獨特和個性化的產品，而且願意為那些能夠讓他們表達自己並突顯個性的品牌支付額外費用。這就是為什麼如果你的目標受眾是 Z 世代的話，保持品牌身份尤其重要。品牌個性吸引 Z 世代對品牌本身的關注- 這些數位原住民將那些跟自己身份相符的價值觀和想法相同的品牌與自己聯繫在一起。

2. 影響力與包容性

在你的企業和營銷策略中融入社會公益將對您的品牌帶來長期的好處。Z 世代希望品牌具有包容性並重視他們正在產生的影響。由於 Z 世代想要積極改變他們周圍的世界，因此他們希望與具有相似理念的品牌聯繫。數位原住民們期望品牌積極發聲並利用其平台進行積極的改變；他們希望看到品牌在努力解決全球問題，如氣候變化、種族歧視等方面所產生的影響。隨著 Z 世代越來越期望品牌發聲，在社會問題上因擔心冒犯消費者而保持中立不再是可行的策略。

企業的行動也必須與他們所支持的事業相符；例如，倘若一個品牌支持氣候變化、參與不道德貿易及使用不恰當做法等，將被視爲極其虛偽及違背其所提倡的理念。除了支持社會問題外，Z 世代更偏向那些多元化和包容性高的品牌。在種族、文化、性別和體型上更具包容性的品牌往往在 Z 世代眼中更為突出、更具吸引力。

3. 真實與共鳴

包容性亦能夠使內容更真實且更易於產生共鳴。如果目標認爲品牌能夠代表自己，他們更有可能支持和宣傳該品牌。儘管包容性很重要，但對 Z 世代而言，保持自身特色同樣極具價值。在一個不斷增長的數字世界中，Z 世代期盼品牌展現能夠引起他們共鳴的自身真實的觀點。因此，在制定營銷活動時，加入真實且易於引起共鳴的人和情境，更能吸引 Z 世代。

要使品牌活動成功，所展示的人必須與你的 Z 世代受眾擁有相似的困難、經歷與信仰。當品牌制定營銷策略時，必須考慮到 Z 世代的需求和其渴望被表達的内心。因此，與其在營銷活動中採用傳統的廣告方法，與微影響者和 YouTuber 合作，針對 Z 世代受眾而言，是更爲真實和相關的宣傳方法，能夠增加與 Z 世代的互動同時，有助於企業成功發展品牌個性。

4. 精簡而吸引

儘管 Z 世代的好奇心旺盛，但他們的注意力相對地短暫。當在社交媒體上瀏覽時，Z 世代的平均注意力只有八秒。這些數位原住民從小就接收大量信息，現在已經習慣過濾掉與他們無關的內容。為了增加品牌知名度，品牌需要通過簡而精的內容與 Z 世代進行溝通，在讓內容盡量簡約的同時，也要吸引到受眾的注意力。將流行音樂和引人入勝的圖形結合起來，例如 TikTok 和 Reels 等這類型的短片，對在社交媒體上吸引 Z 世代而言非常有效。跟上社交媒體的潮流，利用它們創造一個新趨勢或參與現有趨勢也是品牌在瞄準 Z 世代時應該考慮的創意營銷策略。

總結

瞄準 Z 世代進行營銷可能會有一些棘手的地方，但倘若做得恰當，這將會為品牌提供無盡商機。建立消費者和品牌形象、確保品牌擁有影響力和包容性、保持真實和易於產生共鳴、確保內容簡短而精確，這些都是瞄準 Z 世代進行營銷的策略。隨著時代的變遷，對營銷人員和品牌來說，了解如何成功地瞄準 Z 世代進行營銷至關重要。

想要規劃針對 Z 世代的品牌營銷策略嗎？歡迎聯絡我們以進一步討論，為你的品牌打造完美的 Z 世代營銷活動。

3個簡單步驟即啟動您的影響力行銷活動

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

影響力行銷活動雖然已經存在數十年，但此時此刻，在幫助增加您的品牌知名度、獲得潛在客戶並推動銷售方面，這項強大的營銷策略比以往任何時候都更加重要。

以下將有三個簡單的步驟，來幫助您的業務開始影響力行銷。

為了更好地了解微影響者，我們想首先分享我們的客戶—— Avobar的成功故事：

目標： 透過更具體地增加品牌的整體知名度來在短時間內增加網上曝光率。

行動： 我們選擇了一些微影響者（在Instagram上擁有5K-15K的粉絲數量），邀請他們來Avobar品嚐我們的餐廳美食，包括招牌抹茶班戟和拿鐵，為我們的餐廳產品作宣傳。

成果： 我們通過Instagram、Tik Tok、Facebook和OpenRice等平台獲得了大量報導，成功為Avobar創造了品牌知名度。

現在，我們將這個行動過程縮小為三個簡單的步驟，供您參考：

第一步：訂立明確的目標

明確地訂立您的影響力行銷活動的目標是什麼。您是希望增強品牌形象？推動銷售？還是瞄準新的受眾？

第二步：尋找最適合的微影響者

收窄您的影響者名單，尋找那些活躍於與您的品牌產品和服務密切相關的領域的微影響者。為了使這個過程更有效率，您可以尋求公關公司的幫助。

第三步：讓影響者發揮

倘若希望增強品牌形象，您可以讓微影響者在他們的賬戶上為您的公司作宣傳，或者請他們在您公司的網站上撰寫帖文，以提高品牌知名度和可信度。

總括而言，微影響者或許值得您的投資，以增強您的整體品牌策略。與此同時，我們亦建議尋找更多方法，透過創建一個全面的營銷策略來獲取長遠的成功。

如果您對如何實現您的營銷目標感興趣，歡迎隨時聯繫我們！