It Takes More to Keep Our Attention

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Advances in technology and industry have made it harder to please people.  We are a society that is often distracted, busy, impatient and easily bored.  Look at how children stay entertained or at least what is manufactured and marketed to keep them entertained.  A long, long time ago, just a rock, forked twig and a rubber band could keep a kid entertained.  Then came hula hoops, toy cars (plastic and wooden), bikes and video games.  Video games are what brought kids inside and they too have evolved from a yellow blob that eats ghosts to interactive dances and internet connectivity to play with friends.

Connectivity through the internet has allowed us to consume what we want, when we want and how we want it.  If your favorite show is coming on too late; you DVR it or catch it later OnDemand or on HULU.  If you don’t want to see what your friend is posting about; you can delete, block or hide them and their posts.  Don’t want to see ads on your favorite game or app; you can pay a premium to make them disappear.  As a consumer, it seems like we have more choices that allow us to dodge and avoid advertisers; while at the same time being bombarded by them.

It is becoming harder and harder for advertisers to find ways to reach consumers.  Trends do not seem to stay trends for long.  The advertising world is moving just as quickly as technology.  Just as soon as a strategy works and is the “it thing” to do, “it” changes.  I think it is because of the connectivity and far reach of the internet.  An idea can spread a lot more quickly than it could back when print advertisements and media placements were the primary methods.  At that time, you were limited by the readership/viewership and frequency of a publication.  Today, you can post something online and potentially reach thousands in a few hours.

Consumers are also more savvy and adept and recognizing veiled sales attempts, pr stunts, and other marketing methods.  Partially because the word has spread, thanks in part to the internet…and Reddit.  So marketers are left with brainstorming and coming up with new and inventive ways to wow, shock, and reach consumers.  I’ve noticed more brands are trying to use humorous/wacky concepts or trying to appeal to a more diverse group of people. Check out the example ads below:

What are your thoughts on why it is getting harder to reach consumers?

Why I Love Marketing

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I had a conversation with my brother over the weekend about why we love marketing.  He graduated with a degree in marketing and we talked about some of the reasons why he wanted to get into the field.  As a designer, I was instantly thrust into the field the minute I landed my first job out of college and it lead to me later pursuing a MBA in Marketing.  Marketing fascinates us.  It is truly fascinating to see how wording a message slightly differently or changing a color scheme can have a significant impact on sales or any other measured result.  Marketing, plain and simple, is manipulation and can be used in any aspect of life.  It is manipulation to get a desired result.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not in love with marketing because I like manipulating people, but because I am fascinated by human behavior.  When I was a kid I used to people watch while I quietly waited for my mom to finish running her errands.  I liked to watch the way people interacted, the different tones in voices, facial expressions and body language cues to spin stories in my head about those people and their lives.  As an adult, I am curious as to what makes people respond and act in certain ways to various stimuli.  I analyze myself all of the time to figure out why I am upset about something, or enamored by it.

Marketing takes all of this information and combines the necessary stimuli to get the needed result.  It is a powerful tool that like a superhero with special powers, can be used for good or for evil.  Evil would be selling you a knowingly defective or harmful product for the pure sake of making money.  It can be used for benevolent good by helping a charity create awareness and the means to enact change.  It can be used to help you land a job or a significant other – both of those could be for bad or for good.

Once I entered the world of marketing, I never looked at anything the same.  Sometimes I feel a bit paranoid because I feel that I can see the marketing behind almost everything that is presented to me.  I follow the marketing trends of different brands almost in the same way a stock analyst follows stocks or a groupie follows a band.  Well, maybe not quite that bad.  I am constantly saying, “Oh, I see what they are doing and where they are going with that.  Pretty smart!”  I guess in some ways the people watching I did as a kid, morphed into brand marketing watching.

Marketing is like a secret super power that in the wrong hands can be a weapon of destruction.  In the right hands, it can be a powerful tool for good or just keep a roof over your head.  That juxtaposition fascinates me!

why-i-love-marketing

If You Build It, They Will Come…Nope, Not Really.

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If you build it (website, mobile app, web app, etc.), they will come.

Not likely; at least not if you don’t market it and drive traffic to it.  You just had a great website, mobile app or something else built and launched?  Great!  However, I don’t know you or that it even exists, so I probably will never see it and all of it’s awesomeness.  The point?  During the planning stages, you should also be thinking about your marketing strategy to get people to actually see and experience all of the greatness you are having built.  Do not assume that just because you put it “out there,” people will magically and mysteriously gravitate towards it.

If you tweet it, post it, or pin it; people will see it and share.

Not if you don’t have an audience or it’s not relevant to the interests of your audience.  If you have 2 followers, you are not even guaranteed that they will see it.  Not unless you post it at the exact moment that their eyes are viewing that social media network and they aren’t following a million other people posting at that same moment.  The point?  Putting it “out there” is not a guarantee that eyes will see, love and spread the word by sharing.  Build (not purchase) an audience, engage and post things relevant to what they want to see and read.

What else did I miss?  What misconceptions about digital content and business have you heard or perhaps thought?

Lack of Engagement is like Giving a Customer the Cold Shoulder

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I feel that it is very important for businesses that market in the digital arena to be engaging with their audience.  If you use social media, respond and interact with your audience as opposed to just posting.  If you use your blog as a marketing vehicle, respond to comments and shares of your posts.  If you are listed on review sites like Angie’s List, Yelp or Kudzu and you receive a bad review, try to reach out to that consumer to see how you can make things better.

Sometimes people see digital marketing methods or business practices as a bit impersonal and cold, but it does not have to be.  I truly believe that it is possible to show a human side, engage, interact and really connect with people without physical contact.  Maybe I feel this way because I am an introvert and consider myself to be pretty good at forming strong bonds digitally.  Too me, the digital sphere is no different than the physical one.  If someone said “hi, I like your blouse” to me in real life, in the physical world; I would respond kindly with a “thank you” and probably a bunch of gibberish about how I found it at a thrift store, which one, on which sale day…I digress.  The point is that I would engage with them.  They took a moment of their time to reach out and pay me a compliment, to let me know that they noticed something about me and they liked it.  They did not have to do this.

If I had ignored them, I would have been giving them the cold shoulder and probably a negative impression as to who I am as a person.  This is the same for businesses and anyone that markets in the digital spectrum.  Respond, comment, connect and engage.  My (digital) friend Tracy over at Tracyville, wrote a post on responding to blog comments here that I thought was pretty good (check her out!).  She hit the nail on the head when she mentioned how it makes people feel to be responded to or not responded to.  We as marketers, have to be mindful to stay “human” and practice the same principles of physical interactions with our digital ones.

Brand Marketing Trend: Inclusion

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I’m noticing that brands are really trying to dial in to their customers and are crafting messages that subtly speak to them.  I say subtly because most are doing it in ways that are not bold enough to alienate or piss off customers (at least in some cases).  I’m seeing it more with the visuals that are presented along with their sales pitches.  The demographics of the actors in commercials and visual graphics; the make-up of a family unit; the ages, shapes and sizes of characters being used to promote the brand…even the language used.

The message is inclusion.  Brands are trying to say, “yes, we serve everyone; including you.”  However, it seems to be a very fine and tricky line to navigate.  Marketing to the masses and including everyone within that mass, is difficult to do without alienating large groups that may not like the inclusive message.  An example of this would be the Coca Cola Superbowl ad that featured Americans singing “America the Beautiful” in different languages that were a part of their culture.  A large number of people were upset to hear the song sung and featured in languages other than English.  It was a topic of debate on the local news in Atlanta for a few days and at the end of the day, was utterly ridiculous.  Coke’s message was inclusion and a celebration of the melting pot of cultures that is America.  In this case, it was viewed as bold and pissed off many.

Cheerios faced some wrath about a year ago with a commercial that featured a bi-racial family.  Again, inclusion; Cheerios created a visual that did not just speak to one group of people.  They were also acknowledging that families do not all have the same make-up.  The new Chevrolet Cruze commercial, points out that it’s a “new world” and that we are not all so different after all.  I think brands’ realize that consumers no longer seem to fall into just one bracket set of interests and demographics.  Their customers fall across a range and to better reach them; the advertising has to be more inclusive.

Have you noticed more of a trend for inclusion in advertising?

 

Coke Superbowl Ad

http://youtu.be/443Vy3I0gJs

 

Cheerios’ Ad

http://youtu.be/kYofm5d5Xdw

 

Chevrolet’s Ad