Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
Friday, May 27th, 2011
Packaging design is a critical decision making criteria for consumers. The first sense we use when we shop is our sight, which means we see packaging before we see the actual product. Marketers need to make sure packaging is appealing so it will entice consumers to make a choice and purchase. A new trend in packaging is going back in time and creating a retro look and feel. Retro packaging design adds a dash of nostalgia and curiosity. Below are three products that have embraced the retro trend and used the idea in their packaging design.
Doritos wanted to relaunch their taco flavor chips so they decided to reintroduce them in the original 1960s packaging. Consumers have made comments online about how much they miss the taco flavor. So Doritos listened to those people and brought the taco flavor and its retro packaging back to life. They also announced that the taco flavor will remain in the permanent product line-up.
When the very first washing machine was invented, Tide was a choice for detergent. Today Tide is still a choice for getting clothes clean. Tide wants consumers to enjoy their retro packaging, hoping it will bring some past memories back to life. Tide has been a trusted brand for over 50 years, and its retro packaging showcases how this brand has grown. The retro and vintage look of Tide’s limited edition packaging shows how it looked years ago, but has the same performance qualities we know today.
Celebrity Apprentice finalists meet 7UP as they designed retro packaging for their final task on the show. The retro look for 7UP displays the brand’s legacy from the 1970s and the 1980s. The retro designs showcase how 7UP is “The Uncola” with its crisp lemon-lime taste. It has been a great tasting brand for over 80 years, and the retro packaging lets consumers know how much it has evolved and stayed true to its roots.
Retro packaging is a creative way to bring nostalgia and uniqueness to packaging. It gives consumers a chance to see how packaging has evolved and grown. For others, it takes them back to when they got their first washing machine and used Tide to clean their clothes, or when they drank 7UP at a family picnic, or when they ate Taco Flavored Doritos when listening to the radio. Retro packaging lets consumers get involved with the packaging and product, giving them a chance to experience something vintage.
Tags:7UP, Celebrity Apprentice, consumers, creativity, design, Doritos, marketers, Marketing, nostalgia, packaging, Packaging Design, packaging trends, retro packaging, Tide, trend, vintage packaging
Posted in Custom Packaging Products, Marketing, Product Information | No Comments »
Monday, May 16th, 2011
Custom Marketing Kits
Marketing kits provide a great opportunity to represent and differentiate your company or brand. Take a look at this kit for example. The customer was able to promote their company with an extraordinary marketing kit that demanded attention.
The kit is wrapped with an artificial suede-like material that wraps around the outside and inside of the piece giving it rich texture and a high class look. A gate fold opening brings you inside of the kit where you’ll see literature space in the center as well as the turned edge pockets on the inside panels. A riveted magnet closure with sharp foil stamping bring this kit together making it extremely compelling.
As you can imagine, this customer was amazed at the end result and was looking forward to the tremendous reaction they were anticipating from their customers and prospects. Custom Marketing Kits are the way to go to set yourself apart from your competitors.
Watch a video on how turned edge products are made
Contact Sunrise Packaging about Custom Marketing Kits
Tags:custom marketing kits, custom packaging, foil stamping, Marketing, sales kits, turned edge
Posted in Case Studies, Custom Packaging Products, Marketing, Packaging Design | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
Traditional marketing has been centered around companies taking action to initiate a conversation, meaning companies are focused on finding customers. This is done by sending out a message to an audience through TV commercials, print ads, and cold calling. This form of marketing is called outbound marketing and it is starting to lose its effectiveness. We now have technologies like spam filtering, caller id, Tivo, and other measures to block out these outbound marketing techniques. It is also costly to create outbound marketing messages and difficult to track how successful or unsuccessful the campaign was.
We live in a world where things change everyday. Even the way we market has changed immensely. We have turned away from our traditional forms of marketing and have adapted something different called inbound marketing. This new form of marketing is centered around being found by customers. Companies that participate in inbound marketing take the stress of hoping the money they spent on expensive ads will somehow attract some new customers. Companies using inbound marketing utilize techniques such as writing a blog, creating a YouTube video, and constructing a presence via social media to draw customers in.
Inbound marketing is an efficient way to attract customers. It is less costly than outbound marketing, especially since many social media outlets are free to use. It also allows for more accurate targeting. Instead of sending a message to a large amount of people, inbound marketing allows messages to be formed specifically to certain people that you want to hear the message. The secret to a valuable inbound marketing campaign is through content and communication. If a company focuses on useful and confident content, people will find it and like it. Communication is also key to creating a conversation with potential customers because it could turn into a beneficial business relationship.
Tags:Blog, business, communication, content, conversation, customers, inbound marketing, Marketing, marketing message, outbound marketing, relationship, Social Media, targeting, youtube
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »
Friday, May 6th, 2011
I never really knew or understood what the purpose of a blog was until I started writing blog entries. I used to think blogs were just for individuals who wrote about their lives, sort of like an online journal. But little did I know that businesses also use blogs to try to increase traffic and search rankings. Business blogs produce a wealth of information about a variety of topics. They are one of the key ingredients to a successful internet marketing plan.
Business blogs are a form of social media that is a communication mechanism used to create and build relationships. Content is key when initiating a blog for your business. Online users are eager to dive into information that is meaningful and engaging. Blogging also allows a business to have a personality. It gives customers a chance to get to know a business on a different level. This also gives businesses a chance to hear feedback that they probably normally wouldn’t hear. Feedback, whether it is positive or negative, is beneficial for a business because it produces interaction. Businesses need interaction to start the communication process.
Blogs are a fun way to share important content and information to customers. A blog will give a business a personality, express creativity, and produce a positive business culture.
Tags:Blog, blogging, business, communication, content, conversation, feedback, information, interaction, Marketing, marketing plan, personality, search engine optimization, Social Media, traffic
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011
If you read our blog post from May 5th, 2010, we shared a study conducted by University of Maryland’s International Center for Media & the Public Agenda. This study featured 200 students who had to live 24 hours without social media. This meant no access to Twitter, Facebook, email, and even texting. The students in this study wrote blogs about their experience without social media and lets just say it was a traumatic challenge.
Now a year later a new study is released that went global this time. They asked 1,000 students from the United States, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia to abstain from social media for 24 hours They were asked to report on any successes and failures during the experience.
Highlights of the study were interesting. Students actually used the word addiction when asked about their social media usage. Some reported that they felt depressed, lonely, and even shaky without having a social media connection. They also reported that they felt like they lost apart of themselves without social media. This led to confusion and a sense of loss. It wasn’t just access to social media these students lost for a day, they also lost email, music, news, and entertainment. So not only is social media how we stay connected with others and the world, but it is also a way of life. Social media is how people manage their lives and how they communicate.
Although this study shows that a year later we are still addicted to social media, it also helped students realize their dependence. As we are becoming a society that uses social media in our everyday lives, businesses should put their own perspective on the matter. Marketers and advertisers should harness the benefits of social media for their business. This study should help businesses learn how to use social media and understand how consumers use it. Marketers and advertisers will be at full advantage if they can figure out how to use social media to better their business and attract new customers. Social media has so many facets to choose from, giving businesses the chance to experiment and find what works and what does not.
Tags:addiction, advertisers, business, communication, education, facebook, marketers, Marketing, Social Media, social media addiction, students, study, Twitter, University of Maryland
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »
Friday, April 29th, 2011
Millions upon millions of people have created their own presence via social media. It isn’t just a place for individuals to keep in touch with family and friends, it has also grown into an extraordinary marketing tool that businesses should take advantage of. Facebook and Twitter for example have upwards of 600 million and 400 million users respectively, providing businesses and marketers with a vast platform of people to market to. Marketing is an action businesses need to take to attract consumers to their products or services. Social media marketing is just a new form of marketing in the new digital age we are living in.
Social media marketing has many benefits for businesses. Here are 4 ways social media marketing can help businesses and marketers.
1. Increase exposure: If social media is just used at its simplest form by just minimally creating a presence and updating it on occasion, you are still creating exposure to your business. Social media marketing allows for your name to be seen. Since millions of people participate in social media, the more you use social media increases your chances for exposure.
2. Increased traffic: Social media marketing allows for traffic to be increased. One benefit of social media is that you can provide links to your website or anything else related to your business. By providing links and information for people, there is a higher probability of creating traffic as your exposure becomes more proficient.
3. Lead Generation: If you think just teens and college students are using social media you are wrong. Businesses all over the world are using social media for marketing. This provides businesses with another way to generate leads and interact with them. Social media networks also provide a wider reach and database of people who could be leads.
4. Advertising: One of the main benefits of social media is that most sites are free. This gives companies the ability to have their name present without spending a dime. The best part of using social media for advertising is that users that know and like you are automatically endorsing you.
Marketing via social media is a great way for businesses to get noticed. It is easy to get started as well as easy to maintain. Social media is changing the way we market businesses, products, and services.
Tags:advertising, business, consumers, exposure, facebook, lead generation, marketers, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, traffic, Twitter
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
Twitter was created in 2006 and since then it has grown into a social media empire. The 140 characters or less network is a place for users to tweet about anything imaginable whether its sharing a blog, providing a helpful link, or tweeting about a celebrity, Twitter allows all possibilities and levels of creativity. Since Twitter is a fairly new social media site, have you ever wondered who uses it and what they use it for? There are 6 categories of users on Twitter, see if you or someone you know fits in one of these groups.
1. The Rookie: This user joins Twitter right away, but then is wary and unsure how to use it. The lingo Twitter has adopted confuses the rookie, but they still try it out because friends or family they know are on Twitter. These users are the ones that tweet messages such as “I am going to take a nap” or “Just went shopping”. The rookie will realize that no one cares about their tweets and they usually abandon after 3 months.
2. The Social Bug: This user is present in all sorts of social media sites, not just Twitter. They think of themselves as a social media guru and want their followers to know that. Their tweets consist of informing others about articles, publications, postings, ect that are concerned with social media.
3. The Reaction Queen/King: This user is the typical “I can sing better than the candidates on American Idol” or “Did you see that new movie? What were they thinking? ” tweeter. They voice their opinions in an annoying fashion about celebrities in the media at a particular time.
4. The Info-Nator: This users is very knowledgeable about a certain field and they use Twitter to promote themselves. The intention of this user is to create a network of people who are interested in their same field. This user will post tweets containing helpful links or sharing what they know.
5. The Helping Hand: This user is the user to follow. They operate with great honor and integrity as they try to help others find answers. This user will use Twitter to look and observe others and use their own expertise and knowledge to help those needing questions answered. They provide helpful links relating to all sorts of things and are available within an instant.
6. The Professional: Twitter is a great tool for those in business and other professional sectors. This user will tweet about information related to their specific type of business. They may use Twitter to tweet about specials and promotions, provide coupon codes, or give links to their website and other pages. The professional either works in some type of social media marketing department of the company, interns, or is in charge of social media. This user is knowledgeable about social media with the intention of attracting people to become followers, hoping they become attracted to their product, brand, or service.
Tags:brand, brand awareness, followers, links, Marketing, marketing tool, network, Social Media, social media sites, tweet, tweeting, Twitter, users
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
I’m sure you have heard of Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. But have you heard of Generation Z yet? These are people born between 1992 and 2010. They have witnessed 9/11, an economic recession, wars in Iraq, a growing environmentally friendly conscience, the first African American President, and a world that changes everyday. Some categorized in this generation are just learning how to walk and talk but yet they changing the way products are bought, services are used, and how communication works. This generation is very interesting because they have never known a life without personal computers, mobile phones, MP3 players, and the Internet. These are the true people within the digital age that are very comfortable with technology and are used to it changing.
The way this generation communicates is intriguing. Their main way of communicating is through mobile devices and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Marketing efforts via social media will be important in attracting this generation to become potential consumers of products and services. One thing marketers need to understand is that Generation Z’ers are not your typical consumers. They do not take well to branding initiatives, considering how everything around them changes so fast. They expect constant feedback and instant results, meaning marketers need to keep pace with these individuals. Creativity needs to be used to reach this generation. Marketers also need to be aware that one form of marketing to this generation will not be enough. They are notorious for being multi-taskers, which means they are checking multiple social network sites at once, or shopping online at more than one store. To reach these people, multiple outlets need to be used.
Generation Z will be a fun generation to market too. They already have a knack for technology, which will allow marketers to use creativity to attract this generation as potential consumers.
Tags:Blu-Ray technology, environmentally-friendly, facebook, Gneration Z, internet, Marketing, mobile devices, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, technology, Twitter
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 15th, 2011
Basically everything we do is online. The Internet is where we communicate, shop, watch videos, read the news, listen to music, and many other things. What you may not know under a business perspective, companies use the Internet to generate leads. They do this by setting up online queries for potential customers to get information. For successful interaction with these potential customers, some contacting needs to be done. Firms are not acting fast enough to follow up on leads.
In a study reported in the Harvard Business Review showed that 37% responded to a lead with in an hour, but 23% never responded at all. The issue here is that online leads go colder faster than any other type of lead. Since the Internet is a giant marketplace for anything imaginable, it is easy for a potential customer to go looking somewhere else. It was also found in the same study that U.S. firms who tried to contact potential customers within an hour of their online query were nearly 7 times as likely to have a meaningful conversation and create communication. This then can turn into a business relationship that could potentially turn into a sale.
The moral of this story is that companies need to focus on following up on online queries faster, otherwise the chance to communicate with a potential customer will vanish quickly. All it takes is one phone call with in an hour of the query to increase chances of qualifying a lead.
Tags:business, communication, follow up, Harvard Business Review, internet, leads, Marketing, online queries, qualify a lead, relationships
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Marketing is an activity and process for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value. It is how products and services gain a voice for customers, clients, and businesses to know they exist. Marketing is an aspect of business that has been around for many years. Have you ever wondered how it all started though? Marketing is based on the technologies of the era, because those technologies is how marketing messages were pushed through channels. Technology has evolved rapidly and continues to change everyday. We have things like social media and Internet today that is a must use tool for marketers, but it didn’t start out that way.
If we take a step way back to the Stone Age, messages were communicated by cave paintings and carvings. Since then, our lives started to evolve and stepping towards advancement. The Renaissance Era in the 15th century produced learning and research as we stepped out of the Dark Ages. We then entered the Age of Discovery, and in 1450 is when things started to change. The Gutenberg press was created, allowing for type to be movable, which is where mail order catalogs got their start. The Industrial Revolution in the 1800s increased demand for manufacturers to market their goods. The 1900s helped develop the marketing concept as science and technology started to change. Competition, communication, advertising, and branding become key factors in business. The focus on selling also grew. Direct marketing surfaced in the 1950s and telemarketing in the 1970s.
The 1990s were characterized by the boom of the Internet, which led to a vast amount of marketing platforms. The early 2000s sparked the launches of Wikipedia, Apple iTunes Store, and Gmail. YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter followed. Today we are in the midst of the social media and mobile era. How ironic is it that we started out writing on walls to communicate and now we continue to do just that only not literally this time. The future holds potential for more advances in technology, which will be interesting to see what will happen next.
Tags:communication, facebook, history, internet, market, Marketing, science, Social Media, technology, Twitter, youtube
Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »
