Finding the Right Marketing Team
We believe every brand should be able to articulate its unique value proposition in just a few words, not a few paragraphs. Summer Friday’s? Culture above all. Hear our President Rob Simone talk about that and more on Nick Westergaard’s On Brand podcast: Listen
You don’t need another agency. You need a strategic partner. UK
Global companies may believe that there’s a trade-off between:
It’s all about building
a strategic foundation
We start by looking at your unique short and long-term needs and co-create a plan of action – bringing in our strategy and creative teams who can make it all happen – right from the start.
Brand Development & Refresh
Go-to-Market Strategy & Execution
Content Optimization & Refinement
From tech challengers to financial powerhouses, our clients are as varied as their needs.
Strategic and creative support to launch National Grid New York’s Project C campaign, including messaging matrices, campaign brand development, website, social, email, and print.
J.P.Morgan wanted its 2020 Outlook to stand apart from its many competitors who were offering up a similar solution. “Focus” was the resulting cross-platform creative content experience.
Tradestation’s growth strategy aimed to capitalize on a new, younger audience. A social-first and publisher-like approach allowed for always-on content development to command attention in their feeds.
You don’t need another agency. You need a strategic partner.
Too many early-stage companies believe that:
But we’ve learned firsthand: It’s not too soon, it doesn’t have to be too expensive, and you are ready.
It’s all about building
a strategic foundation
Our nimble approach allows us to balance big-picture strategic initiatives with immediate priorities. We start by looking at your unique short- and long-term needs, then we develop a brand identity and communications plan to fit those needs — with a creative team who can make it all happen.
Brand Development & Refresh
Go-to-Market Strategy
Content Optimization & Refinement
Media Strategy
Seeing is believing
These are a few of the early-stage companies we’ve helped bring to life.
Hear about how we leveraged our research to inform brand development in the fintech space.
Learn about our experience building this brand identity — from developing a name and logo to launching a website.
Find out how we reassessed iFlip’s marketing strategy to drive immediate, high-value leads while establishing a model for long-term growth and customer lifetime value.
Shifting to customer centricity: Three challenges financial service brands face
If there’s one thing we’ve learned in 2020, it’s that customer centricity equals relevancy — and financial services are no exception. Customers have increasingly high expectations for what the digital landscape can provide, and there’s no shortage of competitors vying for attention with flashy new capabilities and content. For financial services, a major shift from product centricity to customer centricity is imperative to keep up with the times, but it’s easier said than done.
At Summer Friday, we’ve seen financial service brands face three main challenges as they shift gears to a more customer-centric approach:
1. Data collection
Many financial institutions are working to bring their manual customer data collection methods into the digital age. Large, established brands have the furthest to go, with traditional business silos and legacy technologies that lend themselves to outdated and incomplete data.
But the heavy lifting is worth the payoff. From now on, content will constantly be tailored to customers based on traditional criteria, like which stage of the buying journey they’re in. But it will also be based on much more nuanced data, like time of day, customer location, and the customer’s recent social media engagement. Seamless multichannel communications and the ability to effectively and consistently manage customer data become critical to keep up with this demand.
And procuring the data is only the first step. At Summer Friday, we harness that data to make connections and find insights that improve engagement and conversion.
2. Quality content at scale
While data collection is its own challenge, there’s a second hurdle to overcome — shifting to a publisher model and creating quality content at scale. Brands already need engaging, high-quality content. Now, they also need that content to add value and build relationships with customers using targeted, audience-specific calls to action at each stage of the customer journey.
At Summer Friday, we understand this is no small task. Targeting customers throughout their brand experience necessitates a robust and segmented content calendar. Without the right content partner, this undertaking quickly becomes cumbersome and difficult to sustain.
We have a few guiding principles that keep us on track while producing content at scale:
Surrender your ego. Your audience knows what they like and don’t like. Your content is there to serve them.
Consider the back button. The back button defines what is and isn’t seen, so create something that makes its use impossible.
Behave like the guest you’d want to host. Practice good digital manners and be open and honest with your intentions.
3. Culture
Another challenge brands face while shifting to customer centricity is implementing a cultural adjustment. It’s not easy to evolve a brand of any size from the mindset of “How can we sell products?” to a mentality of “What does the customer really want, and how can we provide it?” But this commitment is just as crucial as streamlining data collection if you want your business to be customer-centric and competitive in the current digital landscape.
With how quickly things can change, staying relevant and culturally involved is a 24-hour operation. Summer Friday approaches this challenge with a publisher mindset and “always on” content studio. We understand that even the most meticulously planned content calendars must leave room to evolve with what’s happening in real time, and we’ve done just that for many brands, including our work with TradeStation.
Reach out and we’d love to talk more about what your brand can do to begin or continue your journey toward customer centricity.
Shifting to customer centricity: Three challenges brands face
If there’s one thing we’ve learned in 2020, it’s that customer centricity equals relevancy. Customers have increasingly high expectations for what the digital landscape can provide, and there’s no shortage of competitors vying for attention with flashy new capabilities and content. A major shift from product centricity to customer centricity is imperative to keep up with the times, but it’s easier said than done.
At Summer Friday, we’ve seen brands face three main challenges as they shift gears to a more customer-centric approach:
1. Data collection
Many institutions are working to bring their manual customer data collection methods into the digital age. Large, established brands have the furthest to go, with traditional business silos and legacy technologies that lend themselves to outdated and incomplete data.
But the heavy lifting is worth the payoff. From now on, content will constantly be tailored to customers based on traditional criteria, like which stage of the buying journey they’re in. But it will also be based on much more nuanced data, like time of day, customer location, and the customer’s recent social media engagement. Seamless multichannel communications and the ability to effectively and consistently manage customer data become critical to keep up with this demand.
And procuring the data is only the first step. At Summer Friday, we harness that data to make connections and find insights that improve engagement and conversion.
2. Quality content at scale
While data collection is its own challenge, there’s a second hurdle to overcome — shifting to a publisher model and creating quality content at scale. Brands already need engaging, high-quality content. Now, they also need that content to add value and build relationships with customers using targeted, audience-specific calls to action at each stage of the customer journey.
At Summer Friday, we understand this is no small task. Targeting customers throughout their brand experience necessitates a robust and segmented content calendar. Without the right content partner, this undertaking quickly becomes cumbersome and difficult to sustain.
We have a few guiding principles that keep us on track while producing content at scale:
Surrender your ego. Your audience knows what they like and don’t like. Your content is there to serve them.
Consider the back button. The back button defines what is and isn’t seen, so create something that makes its use impossible.
Behave like the guest you’d want to host. Practice good digital manners and be open and honest with your intentions.
3. Culture
Another challenge brands face while shifting to customer centricity is implementing a cultural adjustment. It’s not easy to evolve a brand of any size from the mindset of “How can we sell products?” to a mentality of “What does the customer really want, and how can we provide it?” But this commitment is just as crucial as streamlining data collection if you want your business to be customer-centric and competitive in the current digital landscape.
With how quickly things can change, staying relevant and culturally involved is a 24-hour operation. Summer Friday approaches this challenge with a publisher mindset and “always on” content studio. We understand that even the most meticulously planned content calendars must leave room to evolve with what’s happening in real time, and we’ve done just that for many brands, including our work with TradeStation.
Reach out and we’d love to talk more about what your brand can do to begin or continue your journey toward customer centricity.
How personalized should your content be? 2
HOW
PERSONALIZED
SHOULD YOUR CONTENT BE?
You can’t attend a marketing webinar without hearing “personalization” 50 times in the first minute. And it’s no wonder — personalization has proven to be extremely effective, with up to a 6X higher conversion rate and a 19% uplift in sales. But while the world struggles to engage their target audience on a one-to-one level, sometimes the solution can be much simpler.
So when does it make sense to go all in on personalization, and what are your alternatives? At Summer Friday, we’ve produced content across the spectrum of personalization and we can make a recommendation that’s right for your audience, your objective, and your budget. Here are three approaches for content personalization we’ve used in the past:
1. Versioned Content
Versioned content is the first step toward personalization. It takes into account that your entire audience isn’t looking for the exact same thing, so it targets broad customer segments with slightly varied visuals and/or messaging vs. one mass piece of content that goes to everyone.
2. Segmented Content
Taking personalization a step further, segmented content goes deeper into the demographic nuances of your audience and serves them content that is directly relevant to them, personally. Modular videos fit into this category -- a number of scenes are created and customers see a video that includes only the modules (or scenes) that are specifically applicable to them.
2. Segmented Content
Taking personalization a step further, segmented content goes deeper into the demographic nuances of your audience and serves them content that is directly relevant to them, personally. Modular videos fit into this category -- a number of scenes are created and customers see a video that includes only the modules (or scenes) that are specifically applicable to them.
Full 1:1 Personalization
Fully personalized content speaks directly to each individual customer. For example, details like the customer’s name, account number, or when their next bill is due can all be included in a fully personalized video. These elements can even be updated in real time, so that personal details will refresh if a customer watches the same video again later.
There are certainly best practices and uses for all three levels of personalization, and we’d love to talk about the best approach to fit your needs!
How personalized should your content be?
HOW
PERSONALIZED
SHOULD YOUR CONTENT BE?
You can’t attend a financial marketing webinar without hearing “personalization” 50 times in the first minute. And it’s no wonder — personalization has proven to be extremely effective, with up to a 6X higher conversion rate and a 19% uplift in sales. But while the world struggles to engage their target audience on a one-to-one level, sometimes the solution can be much simpler.
So when does it make sense to go all in on personalization, and what are your alternatives? At Summer Friday, we’ve produced content across the spectrum of personalization and we can make a recommendation that’s right for your audience, your objective, and your budget. Here are three approaches for content personalization we’ve used in the past:
1. Versioned Content
Versioned content is the first step toward personalization. It takes into account that your entire audience isn’t looking for the exact same thing, so it targets broad customer segments with slightly varied visuals and/or messaging vs. one mass piece of content that goes to everyone.
2. Segmented Content
Taking personalization a step further, segmented content goes deeper into the demographic nuances of your audience and serves them content that is directly relevant to them, personally. Modular videos fit into this category -- a number of scenes are created and customers see a video that includes only the modules (or scenes) that are specifically applicable to them.
2. Segmented Content
Taking personalization a step further, segmented content goes deeper into the demographic nuances of your audience and serves them content that is directly relevant to them, personally. Modular videos fit into this category -- a number of scenes are created and customers see a video that includes only the modules (or scenes) that are specifically applicable to them.
Full 1:1 Personalization
Fully personalized content speaks directly to each individual customer. For example, details like the customer’s name, how much money they have in their account, or when their next bill is due can all be included in a fully personalized video. These elements can even be updated in real time, so that personal details will refresh if a customer watches the same video again later.
There are certainly best practices and uses for all three levels of personalization, and we’d love to talk about the best approach to fit your needs!
Content Discontent: How to Build the Strategic Structure to React to Crises 2
CONTENT
DISCONTENT
PART 2:
HOW TO BUILD THE STRATEGIC
STRUCTURE TO REACT TO CRISES
CONTENT
DISCONTENT
PART 2:
HOW TO BUILD THE STRATEGIC STRUCTURE TO REACT TO CRISES
In our last post, we highlighted four reasons why brands lose control of the narrative in times of crisis. Now, let’s look at how brands can solve those challenges and build a culture, infrastructure and process to bring effective content to life in real time.
1. Create defined content guidelines.
When the conversation is happening, you need to use your brand voice to guide it. Be an effective moderator.
Your brand is a living, breathing entity, so think about how you want it to look, feel and sound. The world is different now than it was even a year ago, so revisit your brand guide and make sure it’s up-to-date. Build templates and guardrails that enable you to create (and approve) content quickly.
But most importantly, think about your brand’s purpose — what you authentically stand for and what message you want to put out into the world.
2. Break down internal silos to open up collaboration.
Content is king. Collaboration is what allows that content to reign. Just like King Arthur’s Round Table, all internal stakeholders deserve a seat. Involve legal and compliance from the beginning. Establish parameters for revisions and approvals so that you save hours of time and frustration during this crucial step. Everyone needs to be on the same page to present a unified message quickly and effectively, because every hour you delay is an hour someone else is writing your story.
3. Re-evaluate processes to identify efficiencies.
The ability to respond swiftly can be the difference between a hiccup and a crisis. So, take a bird’s eye view of your content creation process. Who is involved at each step? Where can you become more efficient? How can you leverage content more strategically, day in and day out?
With strong processes in place, your team will be ready to jump into action and create content that engages with events in real time.
4. Consider content partnerships.
The right partner can ensure your content reaches the right audience on the right platform at the right time.
At Summer Friday, we live at the intersection of big ideas and nimble execution. Our team is built around an always-on publisher mindset. That means when strategizing and conceptualizing, we aren’t thinking of one-off scenarios, but rather building content and solutions that are adaptable and expandable across platforms and mediums so that they work in real-time settings.
Our entire creative team works and thinks collaboratively in order to deliver high-volume, quality content, quickly and efficiently, so that our partners can tell their story on their own terms. In times of crisis, that kind of partnership can save the day.
Content Discontent: How to Build the Strategic Structure to React to Crises
CONTENT
DISCONTENT
PART 2:
HOW TO BUILD THE STRATEGIC
STRUCTURE TO REACT TO CRISES
CONTENT
DISCONTENT
PART 2:
HOW TO BUILD THE STRATEGIC STRUCTURE TO REACT TO CRISES
In our last post, we highlighted four reasons why brands lose control of the narrative in times of crisis. Now, let’s look at how brands can solve those challenges and build a culture, infrastructure and process to bring effective content to life in real time.
1. Create defined content guidelines.
When the conversation is happening, you need to use your brand voice to guide it. Be an effective moderator.
Your brand is a living, breathing entity, so think about how you want it to look, feel and sound. The world is different now than it was even a year ago, so revisit your brand guide and make sure it’s up-to-date. Build templates and guardrails that enable you to create (and approve) content quickly.
But most importantly, think about your brand’s purpose — what you authentically stand for and what message you want to put out into the world.
2. Break down internal silos to open up collaboration.
Content is king. Collaboration is what allows that content to reign. Just like King Arthur’s Round Table, all internal stakeholders deserve a seat. Involve legal and compliance from the beginning. Establish parameters for revisions and approvals so that you save hours of time and frustration during this crucial step. Everyone needs to be on the same page to present a unified message quickly and effectively, because every hour you delay is an hour someone else is writing your story.
3. Re-evaluate processes to identify efficiencies.
The ability to respond swiftly can be the difference between a hiccup and a crisis. So, take a bird’s eye view of your content creation process. Who is involved at each step? Where can you become more efficient? How can you leverage content more strategically, day in and day out?
With strong processes in place, your team will be ready to jump into action and create content that engages with events in real time.
4. Consider content partnerships.
The right partner can ensure your content reaches the right audience on the right platform at the right time.
At Summer Friday, we live at the intersection of big ideas and nimble execution. Our team is built around an always-on publisher mindset. That means when strategizing and conceptualizing, we aren’t thinking of one-off scenarios, but rather building content and solutions that are adaptable and expandable across platforms and mediums so that they work in real-time settings.
Our entire creative team works and thinks collaboratively in order to deliver high-volume, quality content, quickly and efficiently, so that our partners can tell their story on their own terms. In times of crisis, that kind of partnership can save the day.