Strategy/Campaign planning never stops.

With Christmas and the holiday season on the horizon, now is the perfect time to hatch a plan 6 months from now. Mainly because every year around Christmas a bunch of clients appear with concerns that could easily be prevented. What is more surprising is that the pattern tends to repeat itself over time and time again. This is why it’s extremely important to tune into your marketing strategy that major campaigns or holidays should be planned 6 months ahead.

The last few years have made people cautious regarding marketing and this has resulted in marketing on-the-go. Ultimately this fear leads to stagnation, or even worse. In marketing, generating and developing ideas on-the-run can be a complex and a difficult task to begin with. So, wouldn’t it be good if some of the work was already done? Instead of constantly brainstorming and planning for the short term, it can be extremely useful to create a 6-month strategy not only to avoid drowning into work, but also improve the quality of your work.

Always set a goal to work towards

As Lao Tzu said: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. In marketing terms this reflects that one’s journey towards success starts with setting marketing goals and actively working on them. Believe me, results will come in much faster than leaving it for the universe or chance to decide. Traditionally, major campaigns are planned around preset holidays, seasons and major events like the start of school. As holidays and school dates recur yearly, it’s easy to plan ahead. What is important is to have a strategy for off-season as well, when most of the brands have clearance sales or other major discounts. This means a company or a brand has to have a goal and a plan throughout the year to achieve its goals by actively developing the brand and increasing its market share.

It is also very useful to compare the forecasts with the actual results at the end of every month. This helps to make more realistic forecasts and also gives insight into how strategy and marketing are working, which trends are ongoing and what drives the consumer behaviour, what worked and whatnot.

Planning

Developing a marketing plan and strategy consists of several steps. First and foremost, set a timeframe, your objectives and ask yourself what you want to achieve in said timeframe and what resources you are prepared to use to achieve your goals.

Once you’ve set your goals, it’s time to put down on paper a strategy for how you can achieve them most effectively. To do this, it’s a good idea to look back in time and think about what has and hasn’t worked for your company’s marketing in the past – have you encountered some obstacles in the past that you could now approach in an alternative way? Past marketing reports and statistics will also help you to build a strategy, as you can draw conclusions about what worked and what didn’t.

Why plan that much ahead?

In fact, there are several reasons why we recommend planning marketing six months in advance. First of all, it gives you the opportunity to polish up campaigns that have already been planned in advance, if necessary. This means that the quality of the work is higher and therefore the brand image and tone-of-voice is better heard. For new product launches, a longer marketing plan will help to set the parameters of how to generate the necessary buzz around the product so that by the time it is launched it is already accepted by consumers. The pre-planned strategy and marketing can also be adapted on-the-go to help adapt to the ongoing trends and consumer culture.

The media and media platforms also play a major role in marketing planning. Planning media on-the-go can present a sad reality by the time you want it. More than usual it is either sold out or costs many times more than it would’ve if you had booked it in advance. So it is always a good idea to think a few steps ahead.

Success does not come by itself

6 months is a long time and a lot can happen in that time, but it’s important to set goals and targets to reach new heights. Planning and strategy is a skill that develops over time. Even the mighty Hannibal Smith started from scratch before he could utter his famous words: “I love when a plan comes together!”.

“If you’re not on Facebook, you don’t exist,” was a quote that went viral last decade. Although it was meant more as a  at the time, its meaning is still relevant. Today, just being online is not enough. It’s about being visible and keeping up with the trends – that’s what content marketing is all about.

Content marketing is no longer just a trend, it has grown into a full-blown strategy in its own right. The aim of meaningful content marketing is to nurture a brand and spread its wings organically. To advocate its profile and value, consumer and follower base. Content marketing is extremely useful to create a digital environment, handwriting and a narrative that helps a brand to establish itself amongst consumers, to grow organically and to stand out from the general advertisement flow..

Content marketing has been in the spotlight for some time.. But.. What exactly is it?

To put it short – content marketing is all about planning, creating, distributing, sharing and publishing content to social media, blogs, websites, podcasts, press releases, print publications, etc. A great thing about the digital era is that content marketing allows you to communicate and reach your target audience and consumers more directly and faster than ever before. Parallelly, content marketing expands brands’ horizons, raises its awareness by engaging people, builds brand loyalty and ultimately, market share.

Consumer habits, just like marketing, have changed over the years. Therefore, it is firsthand essential to develop a strategy and set parameters to reach customers. Today, the most consumed content is content that first and foremost has value and the potential to spread organically. Content has value if it provides insight, for example, into how your service, product or brand solves consumers’ problems and fulfils their desires. By killing two birds with one stone, it solves the duality of how to reach consumers organically by solving problem x or desire y for them, and at the same time creating value via marketing the brand, product or service.

What are the benefits of content marketing?

Today’s digital flow is mostly controlled by two giants’ algorithms – Facebook’s and Google’s. One of the goals of content marketing is to help people find their way to your business from a massive amount of data. Here, a simple rule applies – the more content you spread, the easier it is to find you online. It is always important to remember that people have the right to choose what content they consume. Today, as we swim in a sea of information, relevant content always attracts and grabs attention, helping people find their way to your brand. This is important because people tend to prefer and affiliate with brands they already know or are familiar with.

Content marketing is the underbelly which complements other digital marketing strategies.

If you’ve been wondering how to make your digital marketing strategy more effective, content marketing is one of the most effective ways to achieve this. First and foremost, you need to develop a strategy and a budget that can engage audiences in a fruitful and cost-effective way. In this way, the brand gains attraction and added value, paving the way for brand awareness, turnover and market share.

Content marketing with La Ecwador

Just as effective strategy is important, it is also important to create genuinely engaging and differentiated content with each channel having its own channel-based approach. Also it is important to remember that what works on Facebook is highly unlikely to work on Instagram and TikTok and vice versa.

La Ecwador has extensive experience in content marketing strategies and content creation –  both in social media – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn platforms. Also we are on par with Google and other media platforms such as broadcast, newspapers, blogs and SEO-based articles.

If you desire to bring your brand to life and take your content marketing methods to the next stage, contact the project manager of the La Ecwador Digital team at rezete@laecwador.ee. Together, we will find the best solution for your business to help you stand out and expand your brand awareness and market share.

Written by Karl-Lennart

13 and Friday doesn’t always have negative outcomes. This year on this date the most anticipated event of the year in the advertising scene, The Golden Egg Awards, took place.
Four of our works were nominated and were shortlisted this year and La Ecwador were awarded with a shiny Silver Egg from one of the grandest categories.

The Silver Egg was awarded in the category of Social/Responsible Communication to a PR-campaign done for Re-Use Centre, a campaign called “Give Things a New Life”.

The Re-Use Centre needed a new “Give Back!” donation campaign, which would raise the Centre’s profile during the quiet pandemic period and which would improve attitude towards recycling, would encourage people to donate items that are in good condition during the annual spring clean-up and would reduce our carbon footprint.

We developed a new slogan and teamed up with well-known people who volunteered to become ambassadors for the campaign. The Re-Use Centre gained wider recognition, the number of quality donations increased and a new trend of travelling recycling bins in businesses throughout Estonia emerged.

This year’s Silver Egg is close to the heart in many ways. The campaign wasn’t just an ordinary campaign as it was born out of the belief that the world can be a better and a cleaner place!

Our shortlist entries were further divided into the following categories:

DESIGN AND MASTERY – Cross-environmental Solution – SHORTLIST

Client: Norman-Optika – “Virtual Test Booth”.

The project was brought to life by facing a big problem during the pandemic period: how to engage consumers in the process of buying and trying on sunglasses at a time when there was a widespread pandemic in the country, unnecessary contact was avoided and shops were partially closed throughout the country.

As a result of the campaign, over 6,000 people tried on the sunglasses in the virtual trial booth, with a conversion rate of ~10%. Website traffic increased by 31% during the campaign period. Over 150 pairs of sunglasses were photographed by us for the website.

MARKETING COMMUNICATION – Digital advertising – SHORTLIST

Client: Ministry of Social Affairs – “Digital Thank You for Parents”

The “Thank you!” campaign allowed everyone to say “Thank you!” publicly. The campaign
was a direct way to give back to the parents who selflessly supported their children during the pandemic.
On the campaign’s landing page, one could enter the names of the parents one wished to thank and in addition to that, a special solution was implemented on Postimees’ portal. The names of the parents could be entered, which then were displayed on digital billboards both online and in urban spaces all over Estonia. 9 267 names were entered via the campaign’s landing page and 1 691 via the special solution.

PR CAMPAIGN – Public Sector Communication – SHORTLIST

Client: Ministry of Social Affairs – “Digital Thank You for Parents”

The Ministry of Social Affairs wanted to praise Estonian parents for their extraordinary efforts during the school year who were under immense pressure during the pandemic. Due to the uniqueness of the campaign it reached hundreds of thousands of parents who were thanked via a digital web solution and a “Thank You” song collaborated with children’s choir Laulupesa. The song itself was an immediate hit and was shared on social media by the President of the Republic of Estonia, most ministries, television and radio. Within a week it had been listened to around 150 000 times.

Our sincerest thanks to our wonderful customers and beloved partners! Until the next Golden Egg Awards!

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you say soft drink? Or a sweets manufacturer? Or a building supply store? For the vast majority, a specific product, brand or logo comes to mind.

In the Estonian context we can say that a couple of decades ago mostly manufacturers and companies came to people’s minds. However today the paradigm has shifted and brands created by companies, products, events and applications rise above all else.

Today the elder part of Generation Z already are conscious and knowledgeable consumers who base their purchasing (and non-purchasing) decision largely on brands.
What is a brand? What does it stand for? How does it relate to the consumer? How is it represented? What is its reputation? Brand and branding itself have a direct impact on consumer behaviour, and top-of-mind brands who have made it there, do not need to undertake major campaigns or extensive marketing projects to maintain their position as the preferred provider in their segment.

While everyone knows that a brand must have a distinctive and memorable logo, generally only people involved in the industry know that branding has a wide range of activities and information. There is nothing random or idiosyncratic about branding. Everything is well thought out, considered and purposeful. For example, to maintain a successful brand, you need a style book to set the tone for all advertising which helps you maintain a coherent tone throughout your brand communication. Consistency and coherence help anchor the branding by making it credible and recognisable to customers in every activity. When a company is successful at this, it creates very strong associations and emotions among consumers to associate the brand (organisation, event, product, service) with ensuring a strong competitive advantage whilst increasing the value of its activities.

While at the B2C level everything is largely subordinated to different brands, in the B2B context there is still a lot of company-based communication in Estonia. Perhaps the legal name of the company, the management team and maybe even their financial results are known, but what happens when generations change or you want to conquer new markets? What do you rely on? If an organisation has strong branding and a clear set of values, it will make entering new markets and reaching new clientele much more effective.

La Ecwador works on a daily basis maintaining, developing and building various brands. Thanks to the last year in particular, we are able to bring you successful examples of how an (already) existing activity or company has improved its position thanks to changes in branding.

An event to remember

This March, the BMW IBU World Cup Biathlon Otepää Ski World Cup was held in Tehvandi Sports Centre. IBU Otepää, the organiser of the first major event in the Baltics, recognised that their current, now previous branding and visual language was seriously outdated. We were honoured to be the design partner for the historic event.

Although the initial plan was just to refresh the existing visual identity, we also proposed a new branding on our own initiative, including a new concept, logo, messages and visual language. So what was really behind such a proposal?

The previous branding had a very high sentimental value, especially for the locals and people who know Otepää as a winter sports capital. However, during a weekend when the cameras, eyes and microphones of the whole downhill skiing world were turned towards Otepää, the branding needed to tell a story of Otepää and Estonia to the whole world. The branding of the MK stage had to create a platform to make the event memorable, enjoyable and attractive. Among other things, it had to have a direct impact on Estonia’s image as an organiser of top sporting events.

The outcome was not just a logo. Its use and colour scheme created a brand concept that set the tone for the whole event – from the slogan and style to the signage and social media design. The fruits of a year and a half-long process were seen during four days in March on screens and portals all over the world and, of course, the might of the branding was experienced by everyone in Otepää who attended the event.

In addition to large-scale branding projects, we also help a variety of clients on a daily basis with smaller jobs such as designing layouts and websites that give businesses a distinctive style, differentiation, brand strategy and showcase their best features. Branding doesn’t necessarily mean a very long process and a big invoice when the work is done. Depending on the sector, the material available and the objectives, a proper branding can be completed in a few months. Recently, an attractive and user-friendly web design was created for a new rental company which will help to achieve a solid market position among Estonian car-rental companies. A modern service and a constantly evolving marketing environment also require development of the brand and branding. VANSCAPE fills a gap in the market and with the arrival of the summer, there will be a strong demand for said service. However, the question is how to make the user experience and service experience memorable, so that its use does not remain a one-off event. This is where branding has a huge role to play.

CorpoWear started selling work gloves in 2010 under the name Kindakeskus. Although the company grew rapidly before the worldwide pandemic by tapping into selling tools, workwear and dispensing machines, they became an indispensable partner for their customers during pandemic by selling personal protective equipment. Their older name Kindakeskus needed rebranding to keep up with expansion.
All the more – the company’s strategy was to expand its reach and become the partner by choice in foreign markets to potential new customers.

Although the company had grown rapidly, their brand had not grown with them and no longer expressed their core and essence. During the health crisis, the company gained an even more important position that accelerated the branding process. This set the stage for a process in which we paid tribute to the Kindakeskus brand and developed a dignified, modern and aspirational branding known as CorpoWear.

The CorpoWear brand came into existence with the client’s team. This was due to the time factor, the speed and the principle that behind this brand are certain people who will become daily brand ambassadors. Already in the development phase, the brand went beyond being just a provider of personal protective equipment and a retail outlet, mapping out its product lines, digital services and potential areas where CorpoWear has its eyes set.

With a keen sense of the perceptions and orientations of society, La Ecwador can offer best ways to communicate the nature and value of their business to current and new potential clients. We have extensive experience in both large-scale branding projects and smaller projects such as logo and website design.

If you feel that your company also needs help with a full branding concept or even some smaller tasks, feel free to contact us at info@laecwador.ee.

Summer’s finally here and the first part of the year for La Ecwador has welcomed many new clients and successful projects.

At the beginning of the year, La Ecwador developed an internal communication solution called “TS Factor” for the honoured Port of Tallinn, presenting the company’s next year goals and visions to their employees. Led by beloved TV-host Urmas Vaino, we included various people from Port of Tallinn in the programme through news clips and reports, who helped to convey necessary corporate messages.
In early spring we helped to produce the Port of Tallinn’s General Assembly Webinar 2022. A live and a dubbed broadcast that lasted nearly one and a half hours, the company’s results were reviewed and new goals for the future were set.

La Ecwador is the social media partner for Luminor Estonia

In April, the agency welcomed Luminor Estonia as a new client. For the next few years, La Ecwador will be the social media creative partner for the bank’s Estonian branch, which operates throughout the Baltics. “Luminor’s team has a very modern mindset and their vision of working with the agency is refreshing, because we don’t want to work in a traditional client-agency relationship, but to bring people together in a common creative unit, which will create the basis for a fruitful collaboration,” said Helen Kaljusaar, copywriter for the Creative team. The first projects have already taken off and several joint projects already are cooking.

Employer branding is more than just recruitment marketing

Recent years have changed the role of employer branding in Estonia, and this has been directly influenced by the complex challenges of recruitment and staffing. Although recruitment marketing is constantly seen in the media in the form of various campaigns, it is only the tip of the iceberg.

The Estiko Group has more than 25 companies and 325 employees. Estiko is mainly known as Estiko Plastar, a manufacturing company providing packaging solutions, while in addition to manufacturing, the group also includes hospitality, energy and real estate, with its units and core largely concentrated in Southern-Estonia.

“We see recruitment campaigns everywhere today – marketing and HR departments are working closely with agencies to be out there with the best messages and stories to attract new people. But in reality, the realisation of recruitment marketing should only be the final stage of the whole process. Before inviting new members and staff, it is still a good idea to tidy up the room and prepare the ‘home’ so to say. The Estiko Group has been very exemplary investing in streamlining internal processes, on top of which a strong, unambiguous brand and a comprehensive recruitment marketing plan can be built,” says Taavi Lehari, Creative Director of La Ecwador and coordinator of Estiko’s employer branding team.