Marketing used to be about messaging, promoting, and advertising. Messages were drafted, refined, tested, honed, and pushed out to consumers in the brand's target market and location. Print, radio, television, billboards...
Now, we have a global marketplace. People are connected though the World Wide Web, and buy and sell with each other across time zones and borders.
At the same time, people are becoming overwhelmed with and hardened to advertising. Estimates vary about the number, but, each and every one of us probably sees thousands of brand messages each day. People start to block them out.
So, what do people still pay attention to? Their friends and family. So, a newer goal of marketing is to get people to tell their friends and share information about your brand. There are lots of ways to entice people to share messages about your brand online - discounts and perks, appeal to their emotions, or just ask. But, that tends to lead to them posting a lot of generic, cookie cutter messages. These are of the "I did this you should too" variety. Not very engaging and it does not get people talking about your brand. You want a more organic conversation.
How can you get people talking about your brand? How do you spark that organic conversation? Give them something to talk about. Give them an experience. A brand experience.
While the idea of brand experience marketing seems simple, making it really work is difficult.
Recently, I was in New York City with my husband and my son to visit a friend. After lunch, we went to the Nespresso Cafe for coffee and pastries.
Nespresso creates a very tangible brand experience for their guests. At Nespresso cafés the coffee brand is expressed both subtly (through environment and atmosphere) and openly (through logos, products, and design elements). The atmosphere evokes luxury, calm, and comfort, reminding customers that their coffee is an approachable luxury. The design and products continuously remind customers about the brand, and that products can be conveniently purchased upstairs. The message is simple: this is the perfect cup of coffee and you can bring it home.
Did I buy any products? No, but obviously, I remember the experience. And, my husband took photos and posted them on Facebook. Smiles, espresso, and the brand. That's a win for Nespresso.
So, what's the lesson? Don't just give people an experience, give them a share-worthy experience.
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
August 25, 2014
July 11, 2014
Got You Attention?
I was recently asked, what I do to ensure content is tweet-worthy and captures people's attention. While there is no way to guarantee a piece of content will grab your audience's attention, here are some things that I think are important to write engaging content, for Twitter, other social media, the web, and other channels.
Plain language is important. If people don’t understand what you’re trying to tell them, it definitely won’t get their attention. I know that sounds obvious, but it’s important to emphasize. All social media posts and marketing content should be written in simple, plain language that is easy for your audience to understand. Avoid uncommon terms, acronyms, complex sentences, etc.
Tell them why it matters to them. In other words, the social media post or marketing content should not be about your organization's announcement, it should be about how that announcement will impact the individual reading about it. You want to tell the reader why they should care and how it will make their life better. (For example, instead of saying “Our agency is announcing new cleanliness standards for chocolate manufacturers,” you could say, “We’re making the chocolate safer and better for you.”)
Write in a first person voice and be conversational for social media. Tweets and social media posts should be written to sound like you’re sitting across a coffee table from the reader having a conversation. This helps make your organization sound more human and approachable.
Don’t be afraid to be creative and push the envelope. I know this can be challenging in communicators and marketers working in the government, or other conservative organizations, but little creativity can make a big difference.
Plain language is important. If people don’t understand what you’re trying to tell them, it definitely won’t get their attention. I know that sounds obvious, but it’s important to emphasize. All social media posts and marketing content should be written in simple, plain language that is easy for your audience to understand. Avoid uncommon terms, acronyms, complex sentences, etc.
Tell them why it matters to them. In other words, the social media post or marketing content should not be about your organization's announcement, it should be about how that announcement will impact the individual reading about it. You want to tell the reader why they should care and how it will make their life better. (For example, instead of saying “Our agency is announcing new cleanliness standards for chocolate manufacturers,” you could say, “We’re making the chocolate safer and better for you.”)
Write in a first person voice and be conversational for social media. Tweets and social media posts should be written to sound like you’re sitting across a coffee table from the reader having a conversation. This helps make your organization sound more human and approachable.
Don’t be afraid to be creative and push the envelope. I know this can be challenging in communicators and marketers working in the government, or other conservative organizations, but little creativity can make a big difference.
May 25, 2012
A List Worth Sharing
Here is a list that I think is worth sharing. It was created by John Haydon.11 Things You Need To Know About Social Media
January 7, 2010
Promoting BLANK in the Social Media Era
A friend sent me a link to this YouTube video recently:
The goal of every marketeer is to convince customers to buy his or her goods or services whatever they may be. There have always been many ways to communicate with customers – advertising, media, word of mouth, endorsements, direct marketing, etc. Now, there is another medium customers are trusting more and more – social media.
In this video is a consumer decides he wants a BLANK. He learns about BLANK though social media and word of mouth. He researches BLANK through blogs, online peer recommendations and endorsements, and conversations with with people he trusts. At no point does he see an advertisement or commercial for BLANK – he instead relies on the social web and the advice of friends and family to gather the information.
The consumer then decides that he must have a BLANK and which BLANK he wants to buy. Again he uses the web and social media as information sources for these decisions.
So, given this knowledge how does a marketeer go about increasing the odds that this consumer will buy the BLANK his or her company is selling?
This video made me think about this question. What is changing in about the ways we gather information and make purchase decisions and what is staying the same? And how can I, as a marketeer and communicator, use these changes to my advantage?
Social media has created new communications channels, but it has also created new challenges. As I have previously discussed on this blog, authenticity is extremely important on the social web. So, is transparency. There is also an element of unpredictability on the social web that does not exist in traditional advertising and marketing communications channels.
Traditional advertising is like a window through which the consumer is shown the most desirable aspects of a given BLANK. When using the social web to promote a BLANK the window is gone and all the aspects of the BLANK are exposed. Now, a marketeer can still focus his or her marketing and advertising communications on the BLANK's positive points of differentiation, but he or she must be ready to respond to community discussions and reactions to the BLANK's weaknesses. Therefore, I think it is important that a marketeer must focus less on message control and more on discussion participation.
The social web is a particisipatory place, by standers get left behind. Brands are must participate or risk becoming only memories. A recent New York Times article discussed how Burberry recently launched one of the first interactive marketing websites for a luxury brand. The site – http://artofthetrench.com/ – is a collage of photographs of people wearing the brands coats. Consumers can browse the images, comment on the photos, share images with friends, and submit their own images. The site links to Facebook. This is a not new marketing technique – several other brands have created interactive, social media marketing campaigns – but it is new for a luxury brand and indicates that this type of communication is becoming more mainstream. And luxury brands do not want to get left behind.
So, what is the answer? What is the magic key? I do not think there is one answer. I think working with social media it is more of a learning process. A journey. The space is evolving and will continue to evolve. How we utilize social media and the social web – as individuals, as professionals, as brands, as companies, as organizations, and as nations – must also evolve.
The goal of every marketeer is to convince customers to buy his or her goods or services whatever they may be. There have always been many ways to communicate with customers – advertising, media, word of mouth, endorsements, direct marketing, etc. Now, there is another medium customers are trusting more and more – social media.
In this video is a consumer decides he wants a BLANK. He learns about BLANK though social media and word of mouth. He researches BLANK through blogs, online peer recommendations and endorsements, and conversations with with people he trusts. At no point does he see an advertisement or commercial for BLANK – he instead relies on the social web and the advice of friends and family to gather the information.
The consumer then decides that he must have a BLANK and which BLANK he wants to buy. Again he uses the web and social media as information sources for these decisions.
So, given this knowledge how does a marketeer go about increasing the odds that this consumer will buy the BLANK his or her company is selling?
This video made me think about this question. What is changing in about the ways we gather information and make purchase decisions and what is staying the same? And how can I, as a marketeer and communicator, use these changes to my advantage?
Social media has created new communications channels, but it has also created new challenges. As I have previously discussed on this blog, authenticity is extremely important on the social web. So, is transparency. There is also an element of unpredictability on the social web that does not exist in traditional advertising and marketing communications channels.
Traditional advertising is like a window through which the consumer is shown the most desirable aspects of a given BLANK. When using the social web to promote a BLANK the window is gone and all the aspects of the BLANK are exposed. Now, a marketeer can still focus his or her marketing and advertising communications on the BLANK's positive points of differentiation, but he or she must be ready to respond to community discussions and reactions to the BLANK's weaknesses. Therefore, I think it is important that a marketeer must focus less on message control and more on discussion participation.
The social web is a particisipatory place, by standers get left behind. Brands are must participate or risk becoming only memories. A recent New York Times article discussed how Burberry recently launched one of the first interactive marketing websites for a luxury brand. The site – http://artofthetrench.com/ – is a collage of photographs of people wearing the brands coats. Consumers can browse the images, comment on the photos, share images with friends, and submit their own images. The site links to Facebook. This is a not new marketing technique – several other brands have created interactive, social media marketing campaigns – but it is new for a luxury brand and indicates that this type of communication is becoming more mainstream. And luxury brands do not want to get left behind.
So, what is the answer? What is the magic key? I do not think there is one answer. I think working with social media it is more of a learning process. A journey. The space is evolving and will continue to evolve. How we utilize social media and the social web – as individuals, as professionals, as brands, as companies, as organizations, and as nations – must also evolve.
October 29, 2009
The Right Words and Pictures
Recently I was asked what I consider the most important aspect of a good marketing campaign. A simple enough question at face value – but really a very complex debate beneath the surface. I wanted to give a clean, precise answer but one does not really exist. It could be argued that the most complete answer to this question is my favorite answer – “It depends”. However, in this situation I wanted to be more specific than that. So, after a few minutes of thought I said that I thought the most important thing in any marketing (whether it be a complete marketing campaign, a single advertisement, or a direct marketing message) is good messaging.
Why do I consider good messaging the most important aspect in marketing?
Marketing is about persuasion. And it is about communication. The goal of every marketer is to convince the audience to either change – or continue – a certain behavior.
Buy this product. Eat at this restaurant. Shop here again. Read this newspaper. Watch this television channel. Drive this kind of car. Wear that brand. Go to this salon. Take this drug. Aspire to look like this. Vacation in this country. Visit this museum. Drink this brand of bottled water. Register to vote. Get this credit card. Save your money at this bank. Look more beautiful. Attend this school. Report crimes to the police. Serve your country. Go to this church. Read this book. Believe this philosophy. Want this object. Shop at this store. Spend your money here.
People all over the world receive many different – and often conflicting marketing messages every day. The goal of the marketer is to create a message (or advertisement) that will cause his or her audience to do what he or she wants (change – or maintain – a certain behavior). In other words, the marketer's goal is to create a message that is memorable and stands out in the noise. So, he or she must create a good message, one that resinates with the audience. That brings us to this question –
What makes a marketing message (or advertisement) good?
Answer? The right words and / or pictures. Sounds so simple, but in practice is extremely difficult. The right words form a unique message and communicate the idea clearly without any confusion or possible misinterpretation. Finding the right words and tying them together to create the right phrase is challenging – but it is essential for excellence in marketing. The right pictures create a spark in the mind of the viewer. Together good words and pictures create lasting memories.
Why do I consider good messaging the most important aspect in marketing?
Marketing is about persuasion. And it is about communication. The goal of every marketer is to convince the audience to either change – or continue – a certain behavior.
Buy this product. Eat at this restaurant. Shop here again. Read this newspaper. Watch this television channel. Drive this kind of car. Wear that brand. Go to this salon. Take this drug. Aspire to look like this. Vacation in this country. Visit this museum. Drink this brand of bottled water. Register to vote. Get this credit card. Save your money at this bank. Look more beautiful. Attend this school. Report crimes to the police. Serve your country. Go to this church. Read this book. Believe this philosophy. Want this object. Shop at this store. Spend your money here.
People all over the world receive many different – and often conflicting marketing messages every day. The goal of the marketer is to create a message (or advertisement) that will cause his or her audience to do what he or she wants (change – or maintain – a certain behavior). In other words, the marketer's goal is to create a message that is memorable and stands out in the noise. So, he or she must create a good message, one that resinates with the audience. That brings us to this question –
What makes a marketing message (or advertisement) good?
Answer? The right words and / or pictures. Sounds so simple, but in practice is extremely difficult. The right words form a unique message and communicate the idea clearly without any confusion or possible misinterpretation. Finding the right words and tying them together to create the right phrase is challenging – but it is essential for excellence in marketing. The right pictures create a spark in the mind of the viewer. Together good words and pictures create lasting memories.
September 25, 2009
Be Authentic and Engage!
Social media can be overwhelming. Especially when using the platforms for marketing. Which platform, how to participate, what is expectable protocol? Lots of questions. And there is lots of advice from lots of different experts trying to tell you which answer is right.
Let me start by saying this: I do not consider myself an expert; I am still learning. Social media is a rapidly evolving landscape. As new platforms emerge and new communities form every day.
So, what do I think is most important when participating in social media? Audience engagement, content, messaging, timing, what?
Choosing the proper place to communicate with your audience is essential. Content is important. It must relevant and valuable. The information must be presented in a manner that is appropriate to the forum (wording, images, level of formality). The timing of a message can be very consequential to the outcome of the campaign. In the world of social media information can spread virally or get lost in the fray. All these things are necessary to consider, as are other traditional marketing factors.
Be authentic and engage! Social media forums are where people go to engage in conversations and share information. People expect two way dialogue when they react to something. This is not the place to polished, one-way advertisements and then walk away. It is a place to share information in an honest and authentic manner.
Be you. Be true to your brand. Engage in the conversation.
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