Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Vine, websites, popup ads, oh my! How much stuff can we all, as marketers, put out there in hopes to catch the right eyeballs to look at our brands? I’m guilty, I’m adding to the clutter right here, right now with this message!
With an ever-increasing legion of brands (B2C and B2B) taking on content marketing, how does one rise above them all and be seen, be noticed, and be engaging?
The simple answer isn’t one blog post, one cool video, or one creative Tweet.
It takes a village!
It takes a village of authentic messaging to drive awareness, interest, and ultimately engagement.
We have several clients who already have a large social media following; they are the lucky ones. They have built their social media brand into millions of “fans.” With the heavy lifting in place, now they merely need to generate content that those consumers want to see.
Of course, this is no small task either but at least they have the fan base part of the equation down!
So, as experiential marketers, we encourage them to allow us to capture authentic content as we engage consumers on their behalf all over the country.
For one client we spend each day catching what we call the “A-ha!” moment. You know, that moment when the consumer discovers how wonderful your product is through a natural and authentic experience. It’s the process of going from awareness to truly understanding the product’s value.
For this tour, we go to retailers who sell their line of products, allowing consumers the opportunity to physically pick up their hand tool, use it in a way they would use it at home and see the superior quality of the product. We also allow consumers to compare our client’s product to a competitor’s product on the shelf to truly get the “A-ha!” moment. The look on the consumers face is real, and when they shout out, “it cuts like butter,” we have truly remarkable and authentic content marketing opportunity. By filming these interactions, we’re able to instantly connect with consumers onsite and in the digital world.
When we are looking at social media analytics for this specific program, the videos we are capturing have received hundreds of thousands of hits in the first few weeks on Facebook alone!
Sure, they could have hired some celebrity like Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs to tell their story, but the fact that non-paid people like you and I are singing the praises of these products is so much more impressive and effective.
According to a recent survey, 62% of American consumers say they want original content from their favorite brands. It’s more authentic, more memorable, and it drives sales too!
It is not uncommon for us to sell out the shelf at a retail stop because consumers truly go from triers to buyers.
Isn’t that what you want from your marketing spend?
When people ask me what Pro Motion is all about, I tell them, “You know how your product just needs to be experienced in person for people to really understand it? That’s what we do!“
Maybe I should just start telling them we create “A-ha!” moments for brands.
photo credit: Le Projet, Aveyron (Lot Valley), France, 1993 via photopin (license)