Tag: content marketing

What might be

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you only look at what was and what is to shape what might be, things are going to be extremely difficult.

At any point in time, the market is cluttered. It is challenging to compete with incumbents, new players, alternatives, and outsiders. If you want to excel, it is going to be an uphill battle, on many fronts, and more often than we care to admit we do not have a good enough product or service to win this.

If we take a look at the future from any point in time, instead, a wealth of possibilities open up. Among those is the market that is not cluttered now, but will be soon enough.

That is where you want to be.

Pull the plug

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you have a hunch something is not working, pull the plug on it.

And actually, we should regularly pull the plug on the things that take most of our time, and see which ones we are truly going to miss.

This is clearly really applicable when it comes to marketing tactics. If there is something you consistently put your budget behind, pull the plug on it for one month. What happens? When the impact on key metrics is zero (or close to it), you have a great candidate for costs savings.

Who knows where programmatic advertising would be if more companies would regularly pull the plug.

Communication matters

FabrizioLeave a comment

A message we got this week about a coronavirus infection at the school where our elder kid goes (roughly translated from Finnish).

Sender: the principal

Subject: Some of the school’s students and staff have been quarantined for exposure to the coronavirus – a separate message has been sent to those quarantined.

Dear guardian,

The Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district has confirmed new coronavirus infections. One of the infections happened in the school areas. Not all students and staff have been exposed. The City of Espoo Infectious Diseases Authority has quarantined the students and staff who have been exposed.

Your kid has not been quarantined. They can go to school and meet other people normally.

According to current information, the symptoms of coronavirus infections remain typically mild in children and adolescent.

For further information, visit …

Best regards.

Espoo Infectious Diseases Unit

Communication matters.

Few thoughts.

Before I get to what truly is relevant for me (my kid is fine), I have to read 72 words (a bit more than 450 characters), including a very lengthy subject line. What matters to the reader should always be the opener.

The whole communication is vague, and the feeling is similar to being on a roller coaster. Some have been infected, one at school, not all have been infected, those infected have been quarantined, your kid is ok, kids generally are. One clear concept is more than enough for a message this short.

There are four institutions named (the principal, Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District, The City of Espoo Infectious Diseases Authority, and The City of Espoo Infectious Diseases Unit). The reader rarely cares about a chain of command, and showing some empathy (the name of a person, a phone number) in such a message in this period could be a good idea.

And finally. Perhaps this message was truly necessary, parents need to know. In general, though, a good rule of thumb is to communicate only things that have a tangible impact on the lives of the audience.

Changing behavior

FabrizioLeave a comment

Marketing is about changing behavior.

And what marketers often fail to grasp is that the change is not about a transaction. It is about a connection.

When you make it about a transaction it is the here and now, this is what we have, this is what you need, take it, here is how much it costs. Next.

When you make it about a connection it is about giving, this is for you, take it and enjoy it, and perhaps think about us the next time you need what we do.

Here is a brilliant example.

Choice

FabrizioLeave a comment

When you have the choice, when no one is watching, do you choose the product or service you are trying to sell, or one of the alternatives?

This might seem like an unnecessary question, yet honest answers could surprise, particularly when digging into the various uses a product or service is supposed to have. At the very least, it is a good way to set expectations on what can be achieved.