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Meme of the week #10 – It won’t fly!

Art and science blog

The current era for marketing needs to find the right balance of art and science.

The ‘art roots’ of marketing and advertising are still crucial for creating emotional success. But they now need the counterbalance of data, analytics, and AI to prove performance and inform decision-making.

Pursuing emotional engagement through creative cannot now live in isolation. Similarly, insights won’t fly without the right vehicle for doing the job.

Check out the meme, ‘It won’t fly!’. Have you been guilty of not getting the right balance?

Art and Science Meme

The challenges represented by ‘It won’t fly’ relate to; 

  • Campaign managers and planners looking to mobilise the right resources and experts 
  • Heads of marketing planning team resources and skill-sets 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Meme of the week #9 – The C Bomb

Compliant data blog

‘Is the data compliant?’ There’s rarely a question more guaranteed to stop the client in their tracks as they head towards the campaign launch.

Most marketers recognise the role of the various data protection standards in achieving the right balance of value and privacy, but responsibility for the final decision is often passed around the team and stakeholders like the ticking bomb in this clip.

How often has the campaign launch been delayed because this question lacked a definitive answer? And how often has the ‘legitimate interest’ card been played in place of it?

Check out the meme, ‘The C Bomb‘. Recognise these marketing team behaviours?

Data Complient Meme

The challenges represented by ‘The C Bomb’ relate to; 

  • Marketing and programme managers planning and mobilising campaigns  
  • ABM strategists planning GTM channels and activities 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Meme of the week #8 – Over-blending

Over blending blog

Lack of decisiveness? Possibly. Being too polite? Maybe.

Whatever the reason, ‘over-blending’ is a pet hate of agencies and creative teams. You spend all your time crafting an approach that addresses a singular message or assertion, and the client wants it all mixed together.

Now that’s not to say that all ‘fusion’ is bad – but there’s sometimes a fine line between asserting multiple messages and creating a ‘$#^! Soup’ 

Check out the meme, ‘Over-blending‘. Is this something that makes you or colleagues cringe?

Blend 3 Ideas Together Meme

The challenges represented by ‘Over-blending’ relate to; 

  • Campaign managers consolidating feedback from product, brand and sales teams 
  • Content managers developing assets with too many perspectives and viewpoints 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Meme of the week #7 – Squeeeeze it in

Explainer video blog

‘And another thing...’ ‘Could you just add....’

We’ve all been there, colleagues or clients trying to shoehorn far too much into a particular marketing asset – especially explainers.

While content and creative pro’s do a great of job at distillation and reduction, sometimes there’s just too much crammed into that kitchen sink of an explainer video.

Check out the meme, ‘Squeeeeze it in‘. How often have you suffered this in producing assets?

Explainer video meme

The challenges represented by ‘Squeeeeze it in’ relate to; 

  • Content marketers and their associate writers and agencies charged with production 
  • Product marketers who may be under pressure to over-expand the explainer video mandate to cover too many agendas and messages 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Meme of the week #6 – WTF is our purpose???

Band promise blog

No, it’s not your value proposition. No, it’s not your difference, It’s not even your USP or the portfolio of what you sell.

It’s the very reason that you’re in business doing what you do, and the impact you bring to those around you.

So, why is it that so many marketing, sales and other customer-facing professionals don’t know their company purpose or brand promise? 

Check out the meme, ‘WTF is our purpose???‘. Sound familiar?

Brand promise meme

The challenges represented by ‘WTF is our purpose?’ relate to; 

  • Sales and enablement leads driving teams with key corporate initiatives  
  • Marketing leaders managing teams with a close and influential role with sellers 
  • Corporate brand strategists and internal communicators charged with internal adoption 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Meme of the week #5 – Duck tape won’t do

Plaster over crack

We all know about the rise of content over the last few years - and we’ve always recognised the importance of the marketing required for all stages of the funnel.

But this focus on continually feeding the pipeline brings some issues. Too frequently, poorly formed, low-quality and value-misleading content is offered at ‘top-of-funnel’. It’s time to say ‘Enough!’

Why offer a piece of gated content thats going to underwhelm or even set expectations too high? It damages goodwill, brand perception, and any supporting efforts that will try and progress that lead through the system.  

Check out the meme, ‘Duck tape won’t do’. Sound familiar?

Low Quality Content Meme

The challenges represented by ‘Duck tape won’t do’ relate to; 

  • Marketing managers and their marketing agencies developing campaigns with brown-field collateral and assets 
  • Marketing, content and campaign managers auditing the value of existing assets 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Meme of the week #4 – Rabbit v Duck Season

Alignment meeting blog

There’s nothing like the ‘creative friction’ of the agency doing battle with ‘Team Brand’

We’re marketers, so we all know the impact that great brand stewardship can have on the tech business. But, for this to work for bigger businesses at scale, you need the optimum mix of internal brand custodianship and external agency vitality.

The winners and losers in our markets are often predicated on it. But, the combination of differences in creative ideology and conceptual boundaries (with a heady mix of egos and not-invented-here syndrome) can often create some (aherm) interesting dynamics.

Check out the meme, ‘Rabbit v Duck season‘. Press any buttons with you?

Project Disagreement Meme

The challenges represented by ‘Rabbit v Duck season’ relate to; 

  • Marketing managers charged with ensuring external agency programmes align with corporate agendas and principles 
  • Campaign heads leading the internal development of initiatives requiring brand sign-off before external go-live 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Meme of the week #3 – ABMmmmmm

ABM targeting blog

I bet ABM has cropped-up in your marketing planning. Has it had this response?

Roll-on the discipline that’s ABM. Quite rightly, tech businesses of all segments and sizes have either considered, piloted or deployed an ABM programme for selling their stuff over the last few years. But with this brave decision to focus effort, $$$ and resources on a select group of accounts comes with the onus of ‘who’.

Check out the meme, ‘ABMmmmmm‘. Press any buttons with you?

Who are we targeting meme

The challenges represented by ‘ABMmmmmm’ relate to; 

  • Heads of sales, marketing and channels recognising the need to consider ABM, but not quite knowing where to start 
  • ABM managers starting to mobilise the conversation and motions within the business 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Meme of the week #2 – Sales AWOL

Sales enablement day blog

Upcoming sales kick-off? Does this sound familiar?

Good luck and best wishes to the unsung heroes in product management, marketing, business development, strategy or sales enablement who are planning a SKO.

You’ve probably been ‘upping the ante’ throughout December and the holiday season while your colleagues have activated the OOO. Good on you and we hope you get the recognition you deserve.

Check out the meme, ‘Sales AWOL’. Press any buttons with you?

Sales Enablement Day Meme

The challenges represented by ‘Sales AWOL’ relate to; 

  • Product / programme / content marketers and sales management charged with developing influential content for the SKO
  • Sales enablement leads shaping the delivery of training and enablement days 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Meme of the week #1 – Not me

Customer Journey blog

Planning a content journey or proposition cascade?

If you’re improving your CX with the aid of more enhanced or comprehensive marketing, then you need to know the pathway the customer takes and the journey they experience. You’ll need to be aware of the routes, conditions, signs, diversions and occasional car crashes they need to navigate along the way.

The customer journey map is a no-brainer. It also comes in useful (albeit to a lesser extent) if you’re planning a new ABM campaign, nurture streams or digital journeys too. So where is it? Who’s mapped it? You’re not going to find success without it.

Check out the meme, ‘Not me’. Press any buttons with you? 

Customer Journey Meme

The challenges represented relate to; 

  • Heads of marketing looking to increase their marketing influence on the customer experience 
  • CX leads wanting to reduce the friction, increase self-sufficiency and consolidate the customer journey 

This post is 1:50 from #WhenTheAgency, a witty collection of observations through the eyes of the tech marketing agency. All memes are available to drag and drop into presentations or social posts. Visitors are encouraged to share and create knowing smiles amongst your colleagues and peers.

The full library of memes for #WhenTheAgency is available here. Enjoy!

Discover the five silver linings of new tech marketing outlook.

Silver lining playbook blog header

Let’s face it, 2020 didn’t go to plan for anyone. The technology sector is no exception and, like every other business sector, is having to anticipate and deal with the direct and indirect effects of ‘C-19’.

2020 has been a lesson in expecting the unexpected. As the uncertainty continues, the impact of dealing with a global pandemic has challenged business and market sectors in different ways – with some feeling more disruption and financial pain than others.

As a breed, marketers are perhaps more prepared to catch a curved ball when it’s thrown in their direction. As practitioners in the art of anticipating and meeting demand with changing market dynamics, marketers are ready to zig when circumstances zag.

Looking to the horizon, we see clouds growing in the shape of reduced marketing budgets and customer spending. But even in this general climate of uncertainty it is, believe it or not, possible to pick out some silver linings – that can turn challenges into opportunities.

Find out more, get your free copy of Silver Linings Playbook for Tech Marketers.

Video focus – a guide for technology marketers

Video focus – a guide for Technology Marketers

Edited around 9 chapters on producing best practice content, 'Video focus - A guide for Technology Marketers' is a new free guide published by The Rubicon Agency.

Based on years of writing and producing influential B2B video content, the guide is aimed at any technology marketer who suspects or already knows that video can be a uniquely effective medium for strategic and tactical purposes.

Video marketing – an increasingly influential and integrated channel

With the rapid growth and acceptance of video in all marketing, senior tech marketers are increasing their investment in corporate, industry and open channels that broadcast this content – accelerated by the growing commitment to the medium from publishers and social platforms.

Marketing teams are expected to demonstrate the flare, innovation and communications clarity that they apply to other marketing assets, without necessarily having the training and skills development required to deliver a quality product.

Distilling over a decade of expertise in video production

The guide distils over 10 years of experience, insights, practices and pragmatism from a marketing agency dedicated exclusively to the technology sector. It’s not a comprehensive DIY guide or a geek’s guide to video technology – nor is it a budget-busting view from a creative ivory tower.

Written in a no-nonsense, plain English style, the guide provides a broad overview of the key principles and considerations for various types and formats of video.

What types of video are covered in this guide?

Check out the chapters contained within the guide:

Take 1: About this guide
Take 2: Video types
Take 3: Three considerations for a teaser video
Take 4: Why make a trailer video?
Take 5: The explainer video in three acts
Take 6: Show and tell with a demo video
Take 7: When it’s showcase time
Take 8: Keeping it real with a documentary video
Take 9: What makes a good vision video?
Take 10: Specialist agency or production company?
Take 11: The closing shot

At The Rubicon Agency, we are enthusiastic and experienced advocates of video as a technology marketing asset. From launch trailers to aspirational vision videos, they have a unique ability to stimulate interest, accelerate understanding and influence decision makers – three key goals for any tech marketer.

Download your copy of the guide today, or check out our video gallery if you need some inspiration.

Video focus #7: What makes a good explainer video?

What makes a good explainer video?

From launch trailers to the presentation of an aspirational vision, videos have a unique ability to stimulate interest, accelerate understanding and influence decision makers – three key goals for any tech marketer.

Establishing the format for a video is the first step that makes the rest of the process easier to manage by setting expectations about purpose, content and budget. Broadly speaking, there are seven formats which can accommodate most tech marketing objectives. Here’s how the explainer video should work:

The explainer video is one of the more commonly used formats for tech marketing. It’s usually aimed at an audience that has influence or a decision-making role in a business or technical capacity. While not as detailed as a demo video, it can alternate between ‘lite’ explanation of a technology solution (for example) and the translation of features into business benefits and advantages.

The explainer video in three acts

With a typical running time of 1.5 to 3.5 minutes, an explainer video works best with a script that has a clear ‘arc’. Just as mainstream movies have a tried and tested formula, the explainer video can move through three ‘acts’.

The first act is the establishment of a ‘current state’. This could be a quick summary of current technology options and their limitations or challenges.

The second act is longer than the first and third and introduces an alternative solution that challenges the norm. The solution is explained in a reasonable amount of detail and usually compared to alternatives.

The third act presents a resolution; explaining how the audience can move from their existing technology with a reiteration of the benefits and advantages to be gained.

Finally, a clear call-to-action is offered. This can take the form of a consultative workshop, a white paper, a market briefing or possibly a customised app that can assist decision making.

Explaining technology can be a challenge when you’re using the highly visual medium of video to articulate intangible solutions. That’s why animated infographics, on-screen text, interviews and moving footage (to show context) offer a video toolkit that can educate an audience while identifying with their world and their needs.

The Rubicon Agency is an experienced advocate of video for technology marketing. We’ve categorised examples of our work into the seven most common formats, covering a range of subjects. What they share in common is the advantage of our tech sector expertise and market insight combined with our creative but pragmatic approach to production. Each of these videos has created measurable impact and return on marketing investment for our clients.

Watch an explainer video from The Rubicon agency Video Gallery now

Video focus #6: Specialist agency or production company?

Specialist agency or production company

As a marketing medium, video is in the ascendency. For tech marketers, video can be a powerful asset with a unique ability to stimulate interest, accelerate understanding and influence decision makers.

Video can also be one of the more costly assets in a campaign or programme so it’s critical that as a marketer you can be confident you’re making the right choice when looking for a capable video production partner.

The choice typically falls between a video production company or your marketing agency.

While a video production company may seem like a valid choice there are clear advantages to be gained from opting for a specialist technology marketing agency. Here are four reasons why:

1. The learning curve

While most video production companies will be used to dealing with a range of sectors and subjects, a specialist agency will have a more immediate grasp of the tech sector, your audience, the decision-making dynamics and even your competition. They will also have an experienced creative team on tap who are well-versed in audience care abouts and the development of technology propositions and messaging.

2. Content creation

Content and purpose should determine the choice of format for your video. With seven types to choose from, you need to be confident that your video partner has the experience to know which will suit. This requires an understanding of the bigger picture such as your audience and market positioning and experience of integration with other assets within a campaign or programme.

With a specialist tech marketing agency you can also expect an incisive approach to the concept for a video; with content that is purposed to articulate and support a clear technology proposition or explain a technology innovation. It’s also particularly valuable to have a specialist agency writer when you need to include interview footage with subject matter experts or sales people who may need coaching to get the best result for an explainer, showcase or demo video.

3. Consistency

If your agency is not only working on your video but also other assets, as part of an integrated campaign or programme, you not only gain economies of scale in content creation but also ensure message consistency and a joined-up approach to audience targetting.

If your current agency doesn’t have video expertise, you have the opportunity to introduce a specialist tech marketing agency with the potential and commitment to add more value than a video production company that will simply be waiting for the next video brief.

4. Cost

Video production companies generally like to impress – even if it’s at the expense of your marketing budget. The business model for video production also tends to be based on outsourcing and a fairly rigid approach to manning a shoot. For scripting, they will typically draft in a freelance writer, especially if the subject matter is as specialised as technology. These factors can combine to create unnecessary or inflated costs.

Alternatively, a specialised technology marketing agency will have the insight and experience to manage both client budget and production values without compromising the purpose and impact of the video. Efficiency and cost gains will also come from the agency being more immediately up to speed on the technology sector, market and audience.

The Rubicon Agency is an experienced advocate of video for technology marketing. We’ve categorised examples of our work into the seven most common formats, covering a range of subjects. What they share in common is the advantage of our tech sector expertise and market insight combined with our creative but pragmatic approach to production. Each of these videos has created measurable impact and return on marketing investment for our clients.

Watch a video from The Rubicon Agency Video Gallery now.