A successful marketing boss without advertising？

About one year ago, the group marketing director of Pret A Manger, Mark Palmer, was confident that he could boost the sales by improving the in-store experience without much advertising: “For us, ad spend is improving the menu or optimizing the impact of our window displays. We don’t put out paid for traditional ads and that is unlikely to change.” (Pret A Manger’s marketing boss on succeeding without advertising, By Thomas Hobbs)

How about now?

The above screenshot indicates a type of native advertising because it showed up unexpectedly while I was browsing what my friends had posted on Facebook. According to this campaign, it advocates consumers to try Pret A Manger’s new drinks for summer by adding a link to its official website. The campaign has been placed on the homepage of the website, so it’s obvious that it’s an important promotion for the company lately.

What is this?

Based on this kind of paid advertising, Pret A Manger gets to reach its target customers by choosing certain traits of audiences when it creates the campaign.

Facebook Ad Basics

It can also provide opportunities to reach the existed customers by the email addresses the company has already collected linked to Facebook, as well as the new customers by looking for lookalike audiences, under privacy security. The core competence is that Facebook exposes relevant ads to its users depend on their interests, which has guaranteed that it is an useful and powerful tool for the businesses.

What does the bill look like?

Compared to banners, promoting the business in this way tends to cost more.

How Much Do Facebook Ads Cost?

It seems that you have a lot of freedom when you decide to release the ads-you can choose how much money you are planning to spend on the ads each day-even only $5 a day is acceptable. However, there are tons of brands on Facebook desiring to reach the customers at the same time. Thus you have to bid for the more chances-after all, it’s impossible for Facebook to display so many ads for one user a day. It would push customers away and cause losses to both of Facebook itself and the advertisers as well.

How would I like it?

Yes, I like it for two reasons. First, although it feels a little “helpless” that I may have to bid for the ads, especially if I were the owner of a small business, Facebook charges advertisers only when the ads reach the people on Facebook and there is an upper limit of cost that I can set and change at any times. No matter how much budget I have, I can always make some progress. At least it gives me a feeling that every penny I spend would be worth it.

Secondly, the function of Track Actions on Your Website makes it much easier for me to assess the result of each campaign and compare the effects, which would help a lot to my digital marketing activities in the future. It can tell me how to improve my campaign and how the visitors behave on my website, which offers further insight into the analysis of consumers’ behavior. To realize this function, all you need to do is inserting a small code given by Facebook before running a campaign.

All in all, it’ simple to use the tool, free to make budget, easy to reach the customers, achievable to evaluate the results.

 

A simple but complex App for me

 

Why it’s simple

Just two main functions

There are only two major functions on this App. The first one is about finding a Pret A Manger beside you and the second one is telling you some specific information about the food they provide.

Very easy to navigate

Thanks to the simple functions, the whole process of navigation is very clear and won’t cause any confusions at all.

Why it’s complex

I can find three different languages in a single interface unexpectedly

Although my phone setting is Chinese, I downloaded it in USA AppStore. On this page, there are three languages, including English, French, and Chinese. Throughout the App, English is the most prevalent one when it comes to concrete contents while its homepage is all about French. Chinese would show up casually as well.

Why I won’t keep it on my phone

Poor UI design-out of date

It seems that it doesn’t use flat UI design-the most popular one and the one that people have gotten used to on their smartphones. We can figure it out easily just by looking at the two items on its homepage-this style is more common found on iPhone 4, which was favored several years ago. What’s more, it’s obvious that the time placed on the top is weird… You would realize how awkward it is when compared with other Apps. When you switch to this App, you would notice that the font size of the time on the top suddenly becomes bigger, seems like changing to another phone. 

Fail to meet my basic demand

By using an App for a restaurant, I not only want to know its locations and products, but also have the desire to explore more related information, such as reviews, delivery services, healthy-eating trends and so on. If it can provide some opportunities to get reward points or discount coupons like other similar-type Apps, it would be much better.

But I still appreciate two things of this App

It especially cares about pregnant women

Regardless of all the discussions above, the App has some shining points. It has posted all the information you are interested in learning about the food you select, including the instruction of ingredients and the knowledge regarding to nutrition. What has attracted me most is the second part of this session-something about allergens. In the food industry, health issues are the most important stuffs all the time. Therefore, it’s a smart move for the company to point it out. What’s more, there is always a sentence following the substance-it tells you whether it’s suitable for pregnant women! Even though I am not a pregnant woman yet, seeing this notification makes me feel that I am cared about deeply and the company is selling robust food. It’s definitely a plus for this App!

You can search the food by your preference

I am very glad to see that there is an option for preference here. Sometimes it really causes headache for us to choose food throughout the menu when we haven’t tried any of them before or we wish to experience some new flavors. Furthermore, it’s hard to read the swarms of ingredients below each dish especially when we don’t know some of them exactly look like and taste like. Therefore, the best way to choose food under this circumstance is to use exclusive method. We may not know what we want occasionally but we firmly believe that we know what we don’t want to eat.

Although it can not be called a successful App, it has showed its concepts for food and its concerns for people. Not bad though.

 

Are you the one will get $5000?

Open Volkswagen’s page on Facebook, scroll down for a bit while, you will find something interesting.

They have posted something at least every other day since the beginning of this year. However, during September to December last year, they barely posted anything. What happened?

One of the breaking news this week, it’s about Volkswagen. Again.

Volkswagen’s Ex-CEO Martin Winterkorn Faces Probe Over Emissions Scandal

It has been near a year.

On September 18, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) accused Volkswagen of installing software called a “defeat device” on 482,000 diesel cars in the U.S. to evade federal emission regulations and trick regulators into thinking that the cars met the standards of the Clean Air Act, potentially exposing people to up to 40 times the standard level of harmful pollutants, which can worsen respiratory conditions such as asthma.

According to data from Networked Insights, an analytics software company based in Chicago, 83% of the emotionally-driven conversations mentioning Volkswagen on social media were negative 7 days after the disclosure. By contrast, during the 10 days ahead of the news of emissions scandal started to spread, just 20% of the conversations were negative. On Sept. 18, the majority of social media chatter on Volkswagen remained positive, with about 39% taking a more pessimistic tone. And about 12% of conversations were actually about how much people like Volkswagen and saying their cars had passed emissions tests (Refers to Volkswagen’s Big Scandal — Social Media Shows How Big a Blow Emissions Scandal Is, By Emily Stewart). It’s obvious that at this point, even though some people were doubting about the brand, there were still many faithful supporters on the social media. From my point of view, if VW had admitted it promptly, part of these supporters would not have reacted to it so adversely afterwards. As expected, when Volkswagen admitted it on Sept. 22, those lingering positive sentiments all but disappeared. 93 percent of emotionally-driven conversations expressed negative feelings, including senses of stress and shame.

In fact, the tone on social media can switch to positive just as fast as it goes to negative. I think if VW had taken actions right after the accusation, the situation would be better now. It postponed the time of confession and have missed the prime time to make up for the faults. I know there must be many other legal reasons for VW to decide not to admit it at once or not to make a sincere apology resoundingly. But from a customer’s angle, we expect an immediate explanation soon after we feel that we are fooled, especially when it comes to health issues.

The company took a first step by naming a new CEO, Matthias Müller.

Let’s see some details. In the first following week after the accusation, from Sept. 18~Sept. 24, before the nomination of the new CEO on Sept. 25, VW kept tweeting something irrelevant to the scandal at least three times a day, seemed like they wanted to divert attention and pretended that nothing had happened. Then it had been in silence for a while until October came. Some pictures with encouraging words from employees and supporters were posted. In November, it looked like it had forgotten about the scandal completely and began to post fancy pictures and appealing videos to attract customers.

Until now, they have had no formal apologies or any explanations specially designed on social media, just have showed the desire to cover the unhappiness by advocating their new products and new concepts. But in my opinion, even the audience have moved on to a new topic, it doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten. Brand damage can be insidious.

As its new CEO Miller said, “Depending on the scale of a scandal, consumers often discuss the topic for a short while and then forget. We saw this with the FIFA scandal, along with other social-media blunders like Starbucks’ RaceTogether campaign.”

Maybe that’s why they think we will forget about it soon by being immersed in new information about the company. It’s a good move to reconnect with their customers by pushing aggressively into electric vehicles and new technology services. However, if they think changing another CEO could solve the problem, why not let the new CEO record a video to show their regrets? When it’s about an astounding scandal, like the crisis of confidence, the role of CEO is the most important-it’s his responsibility to repair the company’s reputation. It’s more about PR, not only marketing strategies. Apparently the situation has been out of the CMO’s control. PR should collaborate with marketing department under this circumstance.

Today, Volkswagen announced that it would pay diesel car owners at least $5,100 on top of buyback or fix. But if you take a look at its social media platforms, you still can’t find anything… They are celebrating Beetle Day now.

For VW, there is a long road ahead.

How Manger Manages

Open Pret A Manger‘s website, the theme color of its homepage gives me a feeling more like a company in B2B industries. Yes, the purplish red is professional and earnest, but it’s a little serious-not so kind to a hungry customer who is hunting for food. That’s why I like the green theme of logo much better…which can conjure up the imagination of organic and healthy food and can make audience feel much more relaxed! What’s worse, the blurry short video in the background boosts the feeling of solemnity. To be honest, the first look at the homepage evokes sense of entering into a website for selling cooking appliances or for culinary arts/chef training!

On the top left corner, we can see the links to its social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I think its Facebook page is the most successful one among the three platforms of the company since there are near 30,000 likes for the page and hundreds of likes for each post. Moreover, the employees respond to each comment quickly and efficiently. Twitter is where I found the green logo of Pret A Manger. Personally I like it very much! As for Instagram, there are a lot of high-quality pictures, but the number of followers is less than 4,000, which is a small crowd compared to other similar accounts. What attracts me most is the funny pear on it. There is no doubt that the pear represents the spirit of innovation in this company. “Freshly prepared for summer. New salads, wraps, and flatbreads have arrived.” The design is provocative and the concept is distinct. It conveys a message that a brand new lifestyle for this summer is coming by virtue of Pret A Manger’s new products.

Now, let’s go back to the website. It becomes more appealing when you scroll down. The food in the pictures seems fresh and healthy,which reveals the personality of the brand. The quick links on the homepage are very useful. It can lead you to the most popular information you want to know about Pret A Manger. Therefore, it’s very convenient and confusion-cleared.

• WEEKLY SOUPS
• OUR MENU
• FIND A PRET
• PRET CATERING
• PRET CARD
• TALK TO PRET

Content Marketing: Newsletter and CEO blog

At the bottom of the homepage, there is a form for you to sigh up to its newsletter by filling in your email address. The CEO blog also advocates the core idea and the latest news of the company to build its image everywhere. It also tells you some chicken soup for the soul, such as THREE SIMPLE RULES TO GET AHEAD and RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS, which has been an effort to the construction of the company’s culture.

Yes, it’s mobile friendly. Very comfortable.

When I log into the website on my iPhone, the interface still works well. It’s a pleasure to use it! All the items are listed clearly and the pictures are pleasing. It’s easy for you to find the quick links, sign up to their newsletter, follow them on social media as well. None of the functions has been weakened because of the smaller screen. Although Pret A Manger doesn’t have an App yet, it isn’t a big deal-nothing different from the website. Of course, the fold navigation bar on the left side is the key to its mobile version’s success.

DOING THE RIGHT THING

There is a special column on Pret A Manger’s homepage: DOING THE RIGHT THING.

DOING GOOD

• SUSTAINABILITY
• PRET FOUNDATION
• CHARITY PARTNERS

From my point of view, it’s an excellent move for the company to have this session on the shinning spot. It has left consumers a good impression on the brand. Caring about the human beings’ health, environmental sustainability, as well as the local charities’ development convinces the audience that Pret A Manger is a trustworthy healthy brand devoting all the resource to depict a beautiful future for the world.

All in all, Manger has managed its website well-except the theme color haha~ Do you think so? Oh! And…

How about replacing CATERING with ORDER NOW?

Both of my friend and I were confused when we looked at this word, as English is our second language… I even didn’t think they offered the delivery service at the very beginning.

But, it’s an important service right?!

And there are tons of people whose mother language is not English here in America, especially in New York~ Make it easy to detect this function for everyone in this country!

 

The Flying Pig-Xiaomi

I am not a geek, nor a gadget lover. I am just a vain girl who always has a latest iPhone in her hands since she was in senior high school. But I do admire a brand so much even though I only have one product under its full wings. Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company, has become the world’s 5th largest smartphone maker in 2015. Its founder, Jun Lei, has a Flying Pig Theory for entrepreneurship, which has engaged me a lot, along with the company’s extraordinary marketing strategies.

According to the theory, to be an entrepreneur, is like to be a pig standing in a windy spot. If you have chosen the right spot, you can still fly up high with the power of the wind even if you are a heavy pig. To be more specific, to be successful, you are supposed to accumulate experiences and to spend a lot of time recognizing trends and the real opportunity in the market, which makes you prosperous much easier. Now, after six-year dedication, Xiaomi has had a wide range of electronic devices, including smartphone, pad, headphones, TV set-top box, power bank and so on. It’s famous for its high cost-effective and has represented an unique lifestyle for its fans, whom are called Mifen.

When I was an entrepreneur about 1 year ago, the kind and savvy technician in our team recommended me to read a book when we were discussing about how to do the marketing work for our start-up. The book is named  The Xiaomi Way-Customer Engagement Strategies That Built One of the Largest Smartphone Companies in the World. It was the first time that I was truly drew attention to this already-popular company in China and was tremendously impressed by its marketing concepts. In the book, it introduces how Xiaomi encourages its customers, most of whom are gadget lovers, to participate in its product design and improvement through its own media, a science Internet forum. From the forum, Xiaomi gets to know what its customers care about most and how they feel about the products by the first-hand data. What’s more, it gives their consumers a sense of involvement, leading to a feeling that the refined products are contributed to the fans of Xiaomi since most of them are tech hobbyists, knowing a lot about technical things and offering helps.

I still remember when I read that it cost Jun several months to look for the partners and to talk with them uninterruptedly day and night, I felt that I had made some fatal mistakes from the very beginning. All his team members are the skillful veterans in the technological circles and he has picked them up meticulously after long conversations and negotiations. I finally realized that Xiaomi’s success is on the foundation of its  CEO’s rich experience and elaborated plans.The excellent team guarantees the great designs and the high performance of the products, as well as has allured millions of fans to support the brand. In 2013, Xiaomi has been No.1 among national mobile brands. 

What’s more, Xiaomi’s marketing cost is very low. It just has promoted itself through social media, like Weibo(Chinese’ Twitter), WeChat(Chinese’ WhatsUp) and the forum I mentioned before, initiating topics to engage people to comment and forward the information about the products. It even established a festival for its Mifen culture. During the festival, the fans(consumers) get to communicate with the company face to face and play the high-tech stuff with the team members. All the Mifen are very excited in the festival and looking forward to more fan meetings.

However, Xiaomi has received some critics on its excessive marketing. Yes, everything is about a balance. If you display too much, someone may get bored and it may give your components opportunities to denounce you. In today’s social world, everything would be exaggerated instantly. Virus Marketing(showy slogans to attract zealots) and hunger marketing(limited editions for certain series) are always the marketing strategies for Xiaomi, which are easy to be noticed and easy to be disdained as well.

It’s obvious that Xiaomi’s story is consistent across all channels. It believes that the social intercourse is the core driving force of its enhancements and profits. Jun himself likes cellphones so much that he has over 60 cellphones in his cabinet but he said he wasn’t satisfied with anyone of them-the message was spread out then-that everyone can join Xiaomi to create a cellphone that caters to you most.

What a great flying pig!

WELCOME TO YINGYING’S HOME!

2016 has been a struggling year for me. After recovering from the death of my father 6 years ago, I have lost my dearest grandfather who raised me up and my 6-year-relationship boyfriend who tore me up in the first half of this year.

I am turning to 24 years old at the end of this year. Yes, I am the “Monkey”. According to Chinese traditional saying, there is always something really bad happening when someone is in his or her year. At the beginning of this year, to refrain from the wicked power, I had worn several red decorations all over my body, like red bracelets and red waist lines, before the Spring Festival was coming.

However, nothing could stop the evil seeds from growing and blossoming.

I admit that since I have been in New York for these days, the pain during I am awake has been weakened a lot by the far distance from China. However, the recurrent terrible dreams at nights have reminded me of the hurts again, again and again. Finally, I have made the decision to write something to record this special year and the turning point of my life.

In my blog, I will share my feelings about my loses of my family members. I will recollect the stories between the three men and I and will tell you how they have told me to grow up and to be a sound person. Let’s taste the sweet, face the pain, and learn how to stand up again together.

I will share some adjustments of my career plans accompanying with these big changes of my life as well. I was once an entrepreneur when I was in college.  In the past, I could rely on others and did what I want without thinking about the outcomes. Now, I have to be independent totally and elaborate my future in details. I want to be a marketing researcher here, in New York, based on my knowledge of math and economics, which I studied during undergraduate courses. Therefore, in my blogs, I will pay attention to marketing and talk something about brands.

I am very glad that finally I have found a place to let out all my emotions. Because Chinese young people tend to post stuffs on Wechat, which is the most popular social media in China, it’s hard for me to narrate something in details. More importantly, no one has the willing to read them all if you post long paragraphs on social media like Wechat or Facebook. Most of your friends are just killing their time by consuming hundreds of pieces of short contents and don’t have the patience to be touched by any lengthy texts.

As an international student, I am also experiencing culture shock and considering about whether to be a Christian. When I was in China, I didn’t believe there is any god in this world at all. Now, I have totally changed. I realized that not everything could be explained in science and it would be more like being designed by someone from the very beginning. At the same time when I am suffering from the agonies, I am being influenced by the events related to religions and beliefs. It’s not a coincidence. Maybe it’s part of god’s plan.

I know it’s a long path to walk to god. I am reading a book called Mere Christianity recommended by one of my Christian friends here . I will share my thought about the process of being a Christian from a secular view as well.

I am lucky I am still young. I am lucky I can write down all the feelings I want to share with you. We are lucky because god loves us.