For as long as I’ve worked in this sector, clients have been asking where should they put the budget? What’s going to make the difference? What’s the ROI on this and that?
These are perfectly valid questions, but I feel that they are the result of not asking themselves right questions. If I’m to really help a business connect with more people I need to know who it is that we are talking to in the first place and several other things.
Who are we talking to?
You’d be amazed how often the reply is ‘our customers’, with the client exclaiming that they want more of the same. In reality that’s seldom the case. For a start we need to know who those customers are… and top tip, they are not one amorphous blob of people, there will be several sub-groups and sections, each with its own motivations, needs and pinch points. It’s much more nuanced than people like to think, and there-in lies a fear which brings with it, paralysis.
More of the same
Such is the fear and the hope – they are both there in abundance – that many businesses go for ‘more of the same’ for fear of loosing people and hope that they can attract more with what worked before.
Consistency
Another tip, that I frequently reference is consistency. Showing up in the right places with a product or service that is pertinent to those people, in that moment is key.
From a client perspective, consistency can often feel boring, due to the time the client team have been involved with the product or service, and the number of ways they have played out the core proposition with their customers in the past. The internal marketing team get bored, assume that the customers are bored and jump to something new until that feels boring again, and they jump again, and again, and again. Hence many marketing teams are actively chasing trends, assuming, hoping and sometimes I think praying, that this will work for their business and confirm them as professionals who know what they are doing.
The importance of pealing back the layers, getting into the detail and being savvy
There was a time when any kind of business communication was very straight-forward and linear, whether you were a B2B or B2C business. Sure it required investment in time and skills to collate figures, correlate patterns and build insights into your customers activities, but the report that came at the end of those endeavours would either confirm or deny pre-conceptions, focus thinking and pave the way ahead.
And unless you were really tone-deaf, that report would stand you in good stead for at least half the year, maybe longer, depending upon what happened in and around your sector/business. Effort in, reward out – it’s always been thus.
It’s fair to say that the measuring of any kind of campaign activity was also a lot of work, this prevented many mid-sized businesses from making these investments. Whilst all of the publications, TV and radio stations – complete with their media teams – would be able to give you all kinds of over-riding details about who watched/read/walked past what, when etc.
Goals -what’s real? What’s attainable?
All of which was useful information, you also needed to match this info with what type of campaign you were running, what were the goals, timing and budget. And when I say goals, ‘selling more stuff’ is not a goal, it’s a dream that demonstrates a serious lack of customer empathy and knowledge.
Building trust
As you can tell it’s complicated and we haven’t even started drilling down into the details yet! For example, different types of campaign require different media, timing and actions. For example, building brand awareness takes time, new brands would need to maintain a steady through-put of awareness campaigns for years before they can think about the possibility of people trusting them enough to make a purchase or any other kind of transaction, because people need to feel that they know the business and understand it’s values.
Reality check…nothing is free
Then came the digital-age of the internet, websites, social media and SEO. Where the channel operatives ‘gave’ you free access to all manner of tools that would allow you to measure the effectiveness of your brand communications with your audience, all built-in to the channel itself and because it was digital, it had to be honest and true, right? In fact they went one-step further, they gave you and your customers free access to these spaces.
Two aspects here that should have got everyone worried. First and foremost, the platforms are literally marking their own homework with a huge bias towards extracting further ad spend from you.
Second and believe it or not, I think many people still ignore this, access to social channels is ‘free’. Which for any business sounds fantastic, the reality is that you and your content are the product – creating all of that content, the strategic ideas, the planning and execution all come with significant price tags – whether these processes are done internally or externally. So much for the free, this is a money-making masterclass.
Addiction
For me, the worst part of the digital-age has been the addictive nature of the devices we use, and the nature of the channels themselves. Let’s start with the devices.
We let these devices into every aspect of our lives and never questioned it. They are quite literally everywhere. Their bright, colourful backlit screens entice us in. Once there, the apps are full of videos and pictures that often look better on these small screens than in reality.
It’s a huge rush, that’s seriously addictive and compounding the problem are the algorithms, playing fast and loose with what they ‘serve us’. Many people still assume incorrectly that their feed is curated around their preferences. The reality is the feed is curated around how much the platform thinks it can make out of you – not that they actually sell you anything. Oh no they are far too honest and upholding to be tarnished with the advertiser brush. They have cleverly taken the position of ‘ad dealer’, not producing the product or service themselves, but very happy to distribute it, going so far as to force feed it at times.
In amongst all of this they give you, the user, just enough of the things that you want, for you to accept all of the stuff that you don’t want. It’s very clever and highly deceptive.
TLDR or just lack of resources?
The above section is very complicated and opinionated (sorry, not sorry) that’s why many clients stop asking and go with hunches, simply repeating past processes where they believe that they saw improvements. That leaves you with essentially two options – repeat the past or do something different.
Repeat the past or do something different?
I’m really pleased to say that I’m seeing more and more businesses looking at their communications through fresh eyes and saying ‘it’s time to change’. The promise of social has not been realised for most businesses. We were told this was where you could connect with real customers. Unfortunately the real customers weren’t told that this space was a meat-market of advertising, they thought they were there to socialise, to have a good time.
Enough! We’ve reached saturation.
As I said above, I’m seeing a lot of clients stepping away from being digitally driven to look at how people interact with their service or product. What that space looks like and whether or not they are able to add value – genuine, tangible value – not some bells and whistles that simply add to the distraction.
The importance of the briefing sessions and documents
The questions I pose and the information that I’ll be looking for from you is a huge part of what success looks like because all too often clients haven’t stopped to ask ‘why?’
As I’ve already covered, we know lots about the other two W’s, ‘where’ and ‘when’. But all of that is irrelevant unless you understand your why, and more importantly clearly tell your customers why, whether they are brand new or long standing, loyal users, they need to know ‘why’ you, why your product or service.
And if you don’t or can’t tell me that in a briefing, then we don’t really have anything to work with. Strategic development should always be rooted in customer research and sound data. It’s the foundations that we’re going to build upon.
If this subject and the associated aspects of branding, brand building and brand development are something that you’d like to explore, let’s talk…
