For any business, the goal is to create sustainable and systematic customer acquisition strategies that keep revenue and profits flowing while keeping up with industry trends. As more brands increase ad spending across various channels to acquire new customers, the average cost of expanding your customer base continues to climb yearly.

The Cost Of Getting Customer Attention

The average consumer’s attention is now worth billions of dollars because that’s how much companies spend on their user acquisition efforts across mobile, desktop, television, radio, and voice assistants. Every digital interaction is an opportunity for brands to bombard users with advertisements to turn their attention toward their product or service.

Your Attention Please!

For every <a href="https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/lean-ai/9781492059301/ch01.html?ref=hackernoon.com">24 hours, Americans spend on average only 5.94 online</a>, which means that companies only have those six hours every day to get the right messaging in front of the right audience and convert them into customers. With endless demand and a finite supply, human attention is arguably one of the most valuable resources in the world—companies are constantly competing for your attention and your wallet.The race for your time and money has only gotten tighter thanks to the addition of the apps and channels we use to live, work, learn, and play like Google, Facebook, IG, TikTok and Netflix.

The Race For Your Time And Money

On social media, streaming and gaming sites reduce “marketable” hours to a small fraction of each day. But that’s where the challenge, and the opportunity, lies.How you bring new consumers to your business is customer acquisition, also sometimes referred to as “user acquisition,” depending on the type of products or services you’re offering. Given the demand to command human attention, one of the top challenges for any startup is cost-effectively acquiring and retaining new customers.

They Are After Your Eyeballs

Regardless of your business or startup size, acquiring customers profitably is critical to running a business. It also provides traction for your startup to customers, partners, investors, influencers, and prospects. All future startup growth depends on two things: acquire customers fast and acquire customers sustainably. Most startups generally work with contractors or marketing agencies in the early days to help with growth marketing. The general approach tests different paid and organic user acquisition channels to determine what works and doesn’t.

Getting Customers Is Critical

The secret to scaling customer growth in a startup is running as many A/B tests as possible. A/B testing, as it’s commonly referred to, involves testing a set of independent variables (offer, copy, pricing, etc.) to find statistically significant improvements toward reaching your business goals.This approach would lead you to test, learn, and iterate as quickly as possible by finding small wins that end up compounding into massive growth. The A/B testing and hypothesis development must be scientifically based on best practices, observable evidence, and statistical significance.

A/B Testing

Today, we can leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance and manage your user acquisition channels, radically accelerate the velocity of A/B testing all the key variables (like audiences, geographic markets, creatives), and process all your user data faster to uncover better insights and make smarter decisions on where to invest your user acquisition budget to get the best ROI.

Enter AI And Machine Learning(ML)

These powerful marketing platforms have application programming interface (API) connections, making capturing and sharing data much easier to automate the critical levers for optimizing campaigns without being dependent on humans.There is no better time to leverage these ideas, strategies, tools, and technologies to scale up your startup growth and stack the odds for success in your favour.

The Bottom Line

May I have your attention, please? It is worth a billion dollars.

The average consumer’s attention is now worth billions of dollars because that’s how much companies spend on their user acquisition efforts.

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

business

Business

The Attention Economy is Worth Billions of Dollars

Your brand is no longer just about you or your company. Now, branding is all about the individual. They are seen as symbols representing some part of a customer's personality, and 89% of customers will stay loyal to a brand that matches their personal values, according to a 2017 study by the Global Digital Agency.
Someone who proudly wears Nike is likely into health and physical activity, someone who is an animal rights supporter will shop for cruelty-free brands and a woman of color will likely take pride in supporting brands owned by other women of color.

Branding Is All About The Individual

Fortune 100 media chairman and self-made entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, better known by his online handle GaryVee, has mastered the art of building a community around himself. His <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@garyvee?lang=en">TikTok</a> has 13.3 million followers, and he regularly focuses on creating on-trend content that grabs attention while imparting knowledge and wisdom. Further, he is a master at creating a community that reaches beyond surface-level connections, and as a result there are very few people who don't at least know his name.

Gary Vaynerchuk’s cult of personality is a TikTok hit

British fitness apparel brand Gymshark knows that sometimes the best approach to community is laughter. Its main Twitter account is less focused on marketing activewear and more on bringing fans together with funny and relatable tweets. It now boasts a Twitter community of nearly 330,000 members, which grows steadily.Cultivating a true community on Twitter is often tricky because the platform isn't as popular as it once was, but this brand has successfully drawn supporters in with cheeky, on-topic campaigns like live-tweeting the Superbowl or sharing a Monday motivation workout playlist.

Gymshark's Twitter Approach Is Full of Fun 

The 33,000-plus-store multinational chain is a shining example of taking a grassroots community and transforming it into a global phenomenon. Every single person involved with Starbucks is united under its iconic siren logo. From farmers and suppliers to employees (referred to as “partners”) and patrons, the company consistently creates a single thread of community that makes everyone feel like they're part of something larger than themselves.Starbucks is also well-known for a culture of social change and positive impact, from its stores to its online presence.

Starbucks Unifies Its Customers, Suppliers and Employees Across Platforms

From Gary Vaynerchuk's cult of personality to Starbucks' cross-platform mastery, tales of genuine and profitable community building. 

Discover the world of business and economics.

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Economics

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Society, Arts & Culture

3 Examples of How to Build a Strong Brand Community

How should you think about evolving the brand identity of your own organization, and when is the opportune moment to do so? It’s important to understand that this process should not happen in a vacuum. 
Every successful brand refresh is the product of intentional, mission-driven reasoning, in-depth discussions with key stakeholders, and rigorous qualitative and quantitative data collection around your key audiences.

Rebranding: A New Identity

If you’re thinking about revamping your organization’s brand identity, consider what’s driving you to do so. And the answer to “why now?” should extend beyond “why not now?” What factors—whether internal, external, or both—are contributing to the desire to reconsider your organization’s branding? Is the organization at a point in its growth where a refresh would allow you to better connect with your key audiences?
You are able to articulate what is moving your brand evolution forward and that your reasoning authentically ties back to your organization’s mission and value proposition.

Know The Why Behind The Rebranding

Once you have articulated the “why” behind your organization’s brand refresh, qualitative and quantitative insights gathered through research and testing are integral to ensure authenticity and resonance with your key audiences. 
Be intentional with the research and testing you undertake, partnering with the communities you serve (consumers, employees, stakeholders, and more) to ensure their perspectives inform any changes being made.

Research And Testing

Don’t let potential criticism or hesitation ruffle you. So long as you’ve been thorough in your research, intentional in your decision-making, and feel confident that you’ve taken necessary perspectives into consideration, it’s ok if everyone isn’t immediately excited about your new look, feel, name, logo, or website. 
It’s natural to go through a period of adjustment while everyone gets used to your new presentation. Stay grounded during this inevitable period and don’t become reactive.

Allow Adjustment Time

This age of content creation, consumption, and engagement, in conjunction with rapid technology proliferation, can feel overwhelming. But it also provides an opportunity to take another look at your brand identity during perhaps one of the most exciting times in history to define and cultivate a space for your organization. 
The opportunities are endless.

The Bottomline

As long as you’re unequivocally clear about who you are and what you stand for, and begin with the structural, big-picture ideation, you should be on your way to executing a successful, cohesive rebrand.

startup

Startups

So you’re thinking about a rebrand? Here’s where to begin

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Luxury_brands">Luxury </a>doesn’t meet a need or solve a problem. Luxury consumers aren’t interested in more features giving better value for money. Luxury consumers are interested in a brand’s heritage, prestige and uniqueness. The identity is important rather than a competitive edge.&nbsp;

Luxury Brand

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-difference-between-luxury-premium-brand-asra-eftekhari">Premium brands </a>are the ones that give you the best features at the best value.&nbsp; They operate with a close to one ratio of functionality and price. Consumers pay them a high price for their features and quality.

Premium Brand

<ul><li>Luxury brands have a high price compared to what they are offering.&nbsp;</li><li>Premium brand tries to offer the best value for customers.&nbsp;</li></ul>

Price

<ul><li>Luxury Brands don’t have to care about features. They can sell shiny rocks at a high cost.</li><li>Premium brands define the industry benchmarks for quality and quantity of features.&nbsp;</li></ul>

Features

<ul><li>Luxury is for those who want to feel like they are unique. It isn't for those who are price sensitive.</li><li>Premium brands are for customers who can pay for the best product in the market.</li></ul>

Target Audience

<ul><li>Luxury brands rarely go for mass manufacturing. They take pride in using experts to create things and even offer high customizability to their customers.&nbsp;</li><li>Premium brands do mass manufacture while carefully maintaining high standards.&nbsp;</li></ul>

Manufacturing

Typical masstige brands are in between luxury and premium. They combine the pride and prestige of luxury with the quality and accessibility of the premium. Masstige brands include Zara, Coach, Godiva, Starbucks and Victoria's Secret. These brands generate quite a lot of cachet with their consumers while practising as a premium brand.

Masstige Brands

It’s easy for us to confuse between these two. But when it comes to branding there is a clear difference. Luxury doesn’t meet a need or solve a problem. Luxury consumers aren’t interested in more…

LUXURY VS PREMIUM BRAND

<ul><li>First, you get a letter and/or a call with the exciting news that you’ve been selected.</li><li>The letter then states that only a small percentage of people in your field have been recognised and as a result, your company will be listed in a published source.</li><li>The listing is free, but "why not take advantage of the honour?" they ask.</li></ul> Then numerous marketing opportunities are presented - advertising upsells in the publication, marketing slicks, and wall plaques to hang with the phrase "award-winning" on it.

Business “Awards” Are a Scam

Do good work, but be on the lookout for this marketing scam.Under the FAQ item “Shouldn’t my award be free?”, they explain their scam to you:<blockquote>No, most business organizations charge their members annual dues and with that money sponsor an annual award program. The Award Program does not charge membership dues and as an award recipient, there is no membership requirement. We simply ask each award recipient to pay for the cost of their awards</blockquote>

Don't be drawn into a marketing scam

Years ago, one of my clients used to pridefully boast that he’d been recognized as one of the top consultants in his field. Here’s how that sort of thing usually transpires: Following that last…

Why Most Business “Awards” Are a Scam, Preying on Pride

Consider how much effort and money you put into your Shopify store trying to make it look flawless and convert well.&nbsp; You go over the home page, collection pages and product pages to ensure nothing is out of place that would discourage a potential customer to make a purchase. But then the checkout page looks very bland, doesn't have a logo, the colour of the button and textbox doesn't match the brand colours, making it look untrustworthy and not "legit".&nbsp;

Pay Attention to the Checkout Page

<ul><li>Upload your logo to your checkout page and match your colours.</li><li>Add a countdown timer to your checkout page. It creates an urgency for your visitors to finish their purchase right away.</li><li>Add card badges to your checkout page. Allow customers to see what type of credit cards and other payment methods you use to created trust.</li><li>Make the progress bar more visible. The Shopify checkout page doesn't indicate how many steps you have left.</li><li>Add a "why choose us" section. Use the right-hand side under the order summary to add a "why choose us" section.</li></ul>

Optimise your Shopify Checkout Page

Think about how much time and money you put into your Shopify store trying to make it look perfect and convert well. You go over the home page, collection pages and product pages with a fine tooth…

5 Ways You Can Optimize Your Shopify Checkout Page To Increase Conversions

Public service advertisements are often the first things considered when people discuss the positives of advertisements. These advertisements market a social concept of importance to the general public. Many public service announcements run messages about health, safety and national security.&nbsp;

Public Service Advertisements

Traditional advertisements that market a product or service can offer social benefits. This is especially true in countries where free speech has been suppressed. Advertising, especially when it comes from the Western world where free speech is embraced, can encourage the idea that free speech is important. Freedom of choice and advertising-supported entertainment is often a promoter of social change.

Social Benefits

According to the International Advertising Association, advertising can encourage companies to compete and provide new products. This encourages more consumers to buy as these products meet the needs and desires of more consumers.&nbsp;More people are needed to manufacture, supply, ship, and test those products and services. Thus, more jobs are created.&nbsp;

Economic Benefits

Public health experts realized that a diet consisting of more fibre could help prevent cancer. The National Cancer Institute did not have the resources to get the word out.&nbsp; The Kellogg All-Bran Campaign promptly grabbed the opportunity in the situation because their cereal contained “nine grams of fibre”. With the information from the NCI, Kellogg began running “fibre-cancer ads”.&nbsp;

Public Health -1970’ Kellogg All-Bran Campaign

Sellers are less likely to stretch the truth when they know it may incite a relentless response from injured competitors. This means that if one company advertises their product in a misleading way, another company with a similar product can be ruthless with comparative advertising.&nbsp;

Comparative Advertising

Advertising has little power over the consumer, if any at all. Companies support entertainment with their ads, while receiving limited benefits. This is evident in the cases of sponsorship, in events like the Super Bowl or the Olympics.&nbsp;

Free Entertainment

Many marketers understand that their ads do not affect the consumer. However, they do affect how they are viewed by distributors and retailers.&nbsp; As long as the ad can influence investors, salespeople and retailers, the company will prosper.

Company Image

Advertisement ensures that many forms of mass media such as newspapers, radio, magazines, and television, continue to exist. Advertising impacts society in a positive way because it helps to maintain mass communications media, making them much less expensive for the public.&nbsp;

Mass Communications

<ul><li>Misrepresentation. Advertising strives to present a product in the best light possible, causing a potentially false representation of a product.</li><li>False Images. Advertising influences what people believe about themselves. Images are often unrealistic and unattainable.</li><li>Unrealistic Expectations. A study found that direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs has resulted in unrealistic expectations about the effectiveness of drugs and their side effects.</li><li>Political Influence. Conventional wisdom holds that political advertising in general is harmful to democracy.</li></ul>

Negative effects of  advertising

Searching for a better understanding of advertising as a communication model has led to some interesting research. As an engineer, I naturally want to apply science and mathematics to the equation…

Negative & Positive Effects of Advertising

&nbsp;The right retailer or experience can boost the whole mall provided it is fit for the mall context. <ul><li>High-End Malls benefit from art galleries, activewear shops and salons/barber shops.</li><li>Mid-Range Malls can profit from sports bars, movie theatres and arcades.</li><li>Budget Malls do best with gyms/fitness centres and burger shops.</li></ul>


Invest in the right ideas

The malls are often viewed as failing because chains expanded too fast, malls are overbuilt, or eCommerce is replacing brick &amp; mortar shopping.&nbsp;&nbsp; This cause mall operators, developers, retail brands, restaurants, analysts, and commercial real estate brokers to want to know what the data says about the "Mall of the Future." The trick to saving a mall is opening venues that attract people by complementing the existing ecosystem.

The Mall of the Future: Shopping trends

Consumers visit malls with certain expectations. Therefore, a new tenant should invite similar expectations of the existing consumer set. For example, a mid-range mall usually will not succeed by adding discount stores or luxury experiences.

Know your audience

Restaurant categories matter.<ul><li>A mid-range mall with typical retail stores do well with dining options like seafood restaurants and quick lunch spots. The aim is to attract repeat visitors.</li><li>In high-end malls, foot traffic increases when trendy food establishments are added, such as salad places, Mediterranean restaurants, juice bars, and sushi restaurants.</li><li>Burger joints attract shoppers in all mall categories.</li></ul>

Add the right food options

Comic shops, toy/game stores, automotive shops, and arts &amp; crafts stores universally correlate with lower foot traffic. It could be because these categories are more affected by e-commerce.&nbsp;Mobile phone shops also have a negative effect on foot traffic.

Avoid hobby shops

We’ve all heard about the retail apocalypse and the supposed demise of malls. It’s a familiar refrain: chains expanded too fast, and malls, especially in the mid-tier, are overbuilt and dying…

Surviving the Retail Apocalypse

Before Facebook and Google, there was no effective way to target individuals searching for niche products, so the companies that succeeded offered products that appealed to broad swaths of people, and advertised by reaching thousands, and in many cases, millions of people at once.&nbsp;The companies that ran successful advertising campaigns through these mediums tended to be of a certain ilk: restaurant chains, car brands, department stores, insurance agencies, or brands under the umbrella of a larger consumer goods company.

Advertising before Facebook

Now, the distance between buyer and seller no longer constrains sales. The internet has given buyers and sellers unprecedented access to one another; it has never been easier for a buyer to find a seller who has what they need, just as it has never been easier for a seller to find a user who needs what they have.Advertising is not “dying,” per se, but what is dying are the brands that succeeded in a world without the unparalleled access that Facebook and Google afford consumers and producers to each other — brands that succeeded precisely because Facebook and Google did not yet exist.

Advertising in the present

Google and Facebook ads are a microcosm of this shift from mass market to niche. No longer is the cost of individual consumer acquisition so high that reaching a million consumers at once is the only effective way to advertise.&nbsp;Now, through Google and Facebook, niche businesses can target specific individuals whose data determines that they are prime candidates for said niche product or service.

The shift from mass to niche

The shotgun approach is defined by blasting ads to huge audiences and seeing what sticks. Coca-Cola and McDonald’s used it to ensure that today, there are few soda machines in the world devoid of Coke, and likely even fewer adults in the United States who do not recognize the golden arches as a symbol of consistency.

The shotgun approach in advertising

This will eventually give rise to a world in which every consumer can be paired up with goods that meet their biological rather than consumptive tendencies. This world will also be devoid of branding because, in a world that relies on perfect information, there will be no need for branded trust.&nbsp;The cheaper of two identical goods will always and everywhere be purchased, as opposed to what happens now, when a consumer pays more for Motrin, the brand, than ibuprofen, the drug, even though they’re the same thing. The aim of advertising in this world will be to pair niche consumers and products.

The perfection of data 

As Facebook and Google destroy the traditional mass-market advertising model, smaller companies are taking advantage of data to target customers like never before.

The Death of Advertising

If you can’t sell, you probably shouldn’t be an entrepreneur or in marketing. You’ll always be selling your products to customers, selling your ideas to investors, or selling yourself to win deals.&nbsp;This is one aspect founders should never outsource 100% in the beginning.

SELLING

The company who can leverage storytelling in their marketing will do well. You can have effective marketing and crappy products, but you can’t have crappy marketing and effective products.If you tell the right story to the right people, you get their attention to sell them. With that, the company and the customer stories end well.

STORYTELLING

It means that you must tell stories that are native to that specific platform. A marketing platform is any structure or channel that can be used to launch a message. A platform is essentially a marketer’s soapbox or podiumSince there are so many platforms, marketers should just focus on a few that their customer base uses the most. Once you learn how to bring people into the story leveraging a platform, you can send them to your website or store where the customer journey really begins.

NATIVE PLATFORM MASTERY

There are so many skills you need to have to excel at marketing today. However, I can narrow it down to the top three. This is my perspective from being a marketing director. I’ve worked with many…

The Attention Economy is Worth Billions of Dollars

3 Examples of How to Build a Strong Brand Community

So you’re thinking about a rebrand? Here’s where to begin

LUXURY VS PREMIUM BRAND

Why Most Business “Awards” Are a Scam, Preying on Pride

Dustin Spencer