Marketing messaging can be challenging. If you start with a single person in mind when developing a message, the process is much more efficient and usually more successful. Recognizing the human that is reading or watching the message is critical, so create a space for them to feel special. The trend of customizing messages is on point, but the application has to be thought out to be or appear customized.
This email I received is a perfect example of how not to do it. I had a pair of Black Loafers in my shopping cart and they sent an autoresponder telling me if I love Black Loafers, I’ll love flowery purses…hmmm, not a good match. Someone on the COACH marketing team needs to review the recommendation parameters to ensure the AI engine is doing its job for recommendations. Make sure you have someone on your team managing the messages of autoresponders so they are coherent to the humans reading them.
A few key elements of a marketing message are your product, target market, persona, pain point of that persona, keywords and phrases, written content that is the basis for video, podcast, memes, and other social media posts, and that you have outlined KPIs. That can be a complicated situation for what takes priority. The reality of a marketing campaign is that the priority of this list of activities is based on the persona/person and the method of communication they prefer and how it is delivered – email, blog, video, etc. For instance, an email requires different thoughts than an SEO-optimized landing page or direct mail letter.
The method of communication to your targeted persona is dependent on how they prefer to “consume” content. Persona designation is based on demographics (statistical characteristics of a human) and psychographics (characteristics of their attitudes and aspirations). Then there are assumptions, which need testing to validate. If you are marketing to 40-year-old women who are entrepreneurs, Pinterest (users are 70% Female) and LinkedIn (43% Female, but business-focused) may be equally as likely spots to get in front of them. But you have to generate content and track results to validate that speculation.Creating a clear path by means of a Lead Map of persona, message, medium, channel, and KPI will allow for a campaign that can be innovated. If you are looking for female business buyers, it is critical to go to the platforms they use for information about business solutions. Recently I heard a story about a company that has a very clear B2B product line that has focused almost all of its resources on Facebook posts and ads for lead generation for a US company. While it is true that there is an enormous audience on Facebook, they are not usually there for business solutions but instead are there to post a picture of their cat or argue about politics :). LinkedIn is typically the recommended solution for B2B for leads, due to the nature of the network and the ages of the people on it. We trained a client of ours that is in the B2B space to utilize LinkedIn for leads and connections and he finds on average about 15 meaningful connections each month that create business for him. In this case, it is worth the 10 minutes per day he spends investing in that platform. The key takeaway from this piece is to target 1 person with the right message, track the results and then replicate it as needed to generate the results you are focused on.
Thanks to Khoros.com for the stats on Social Media Usage.