Have you ever tried to drink out of a fire hose? Neither have we. But attending the Digital Summit a few weeks ago was as close as we’ve gotten. The Digital Summit only comes to 12 cities in the country and over the course of two days, gave us a thorough drenching with the latest in digital marketing. We not only took away different tactics, strategies and mindsets, but also a deeper understanding of the WHY behind a lot of what we do.
To give you a taste of what we learned, we are sharing our 3 Tips from the Top.
Uniqueness, Belonging and Marketing to the Individual
(AKA How do you get someone to tell their friends about you)
You just went to a new pizza place that has slices the size of your face (literally) and you love the vibe and location. What do you do? Take a shot of your pizza slice and then text the top 3 people who have GOT to know about it. Why?
Take this punnett square for example (don’t worry, we won’t make you remember anything from your biology class).
So what does this mean? As it relates to your brand, most people fit in one of four categories:
- Stable Likers | Put the people (like your mom) who will always be a fan of your company. No matter what anyone says or what happens, they are in your corner. You shouldn’t spend the bulk of your marketing budget on these people, because they don’t need to be convinced. They are on your team for LIFE.
- Unstable Likers | The pizza infatuation described earlier is an example of an unstable liker. Unstable likers love to tell people what they are into because they 1. Don’t want to be alone 2. Feel like it’s something special. They are your ambassadors and are a key marketing target.
- Stable Dislikers | These types of people are in touch with your brand to know what they don’t like about it. While you may feel like ignoring stable dislikers, don’t. Despite their dislike, they are the best people to target for critique in your brand. They will be honest (and rational) with you about what they are attracted to and let you know the real reasons why they view your brand as negative.
- Unstable Dislikers | (AKA hipsters) Don’t stress yourself paying attention to this category of people. Unstable dislikers are constantly disliking and liking different brands, sometimes just based on their moods. However, they can be useful in telling us what to exclude in our content.
Overall, these categories help us narrow marketing targets, carefully craft messaging and design to match and ultimately know how to better predict behaviors.
Formula to Content Marketing (Think like a publisher)
(AKA Why you should think like a publisher..not just a designer)
This isn’t really new “news” but content marketing is king. (Not sure what content marketing is? At its simplest, content marketing is giving useful content to potential customers through blogs, newsletter, emails, webinars etc. without selling or interrupting them). With the rise of content marketing, it’s critical to not just “put it out there” and hope it works. It takes strategy. Here are some questions to ask yourself about your content:
- What content do you currently have? | Take a content inventory. Go through your existing content and remove any duplication, gaps and out of date material.
- Who is your audience? | Are you looking to reach your current clients or potential clients? Do you want an audience that targets a specific location? Do you need seasonal clients? If you don’t know your audience, you might be targeting the wrong people.
- Why are you creating this content? | Knowing your motivation helps define what content needs to be created. Ask yourself these questions: Do you want to increase revenue? Do you want customer retention? Do you want to be seen as a thought leadership? Do you want to open new markets? Are you trying to lower customer service costs? Do you need a lead generator?
The Science behind Customer Experience
(AKA What makes people approach or avoid you?)
Sometimes you just get a bad “vibe” about a company. You don’t even know if you can put your finger on it, but you subconsciously don’t like what they do/represent/feel like. This may be because you don’t know what their intention is. Turns out there’s science behind that “vibe,” called the SCARF model. If one element is off, our natural (often subconscious) response is to avoid the situation as a whole.
S= Status
This means that your relationship to a company is important. Especially if association makes you raises your importance in the eyes of others. For example, people drive Mercedes in part because it stands for a certain status.
C= Certainty
Nobody wants to get aboard a ship that is going down. Nobody wants to endorse, follow, love a brand that they are uncertain about. Whether it’s your brand as a whole or individual experience, users want to feel confident in what is coming next.
A= Autonomy
People like to feel some sort of control. Interacting with your company on social media, responding to newsletters, commenting on blogs are all ways that people feel like they have a voice and are in control.
R= Relatedness
People long to connect. This bond to others is one of the reasons why someone may not be a part of your brand. Can they relate with you? If they can’t, then this might be a reason why they aren’t part of the bandwagon.
F= Fairness
If you’ve ever gone into a different grocery store to buy your usual breakfast items and realized that the prices are WAY more than usual, you probably won’t go again. Because you don’t feel like those prices are as fair as they could be. Having people perceive your brand is fair is important in establishing your relationship with them.
Whew! See what we mean by drinking out of a firehose? We’re excited to keep digesting this content and dreaming up what it means for our clients. Do you need help putting these tips into action? Let’s talk! Shoot us an email or give us a call here.
