As we come to the end of what seems to be another year that has flown by, I thought about what pearls of wisdom I could offer you going into 2018 and I was reminded of a fascinating workshop by two of the UKs leading and progressive thinkers on branding and marketing that I attended recently.
Linzi Boyd, author of book called Brand Famous, and marketing expert Grant Leboff hosted a hugely thought-provoking session at a recent Entrepreneurs Forum event in Newcastle, and both offered up some priceless takeaways that we could all give considered thought on how to successfully communicate with our audiences over the next 12 months.
Attention has become the most valuable asset
Most people’s attention spans have become alarmingly low. Attracting and maintaining it has become the most hardly-fought battle ground. People bury their heads in their phones, flipping at finger-swiping pace from one source to another or rapidly through their timeline looking for the next thing to pique their interest. What are you going to do to grab that attention, and more importantly keep it?
Most people's attention spans have become alarmingly low. Attracting and maintaining it has become the most hardly-fought battle ground.
Christian Cerisola, W Comms NorthWhen studying a recent campaign for a client, we saw big six-figure views on a particular Facebook video post. Targeted and demographically and geographically relevant, there were high fives all round. Then we checked to see how many actually watched the 50 second clip beyond ten seconds. Less than one in five. It taught us a lot in how we then developed future clips. We all have to work so hard not just to attract attention, but to keep it too.
Put people first
In the last five or six years, Simon Sinek has probably been one of the best to extol the virtues of identifying and communicating the Why in your business as a valuable route to driving brand loyalty. Many will continue to maintain a cause related path with good justification, but now it is becoming just as important to have clarity on the Who.
It’s nothing new to suggest people like doing business with people, but the digital era now allows us to make pre-determined judgements. We don’t need to meet people to form an opinion of them. Test yourself: Google your own name and see what comes up. Is it a clear message of what you and your business is about? It’s what potential customers and clients will be doing before they meet you or commit to your product or service. Start making your own message very clear in 2018.
You have your own channels. Understand how to use them
Traditional media outlets will continue to hold tremendously powerful influence in 2018, and indeed beyond. But all these platforms now available at our own fingertips allow us to speak directly to the people we want to speak to without the need to go through a third party. More importantly, they give us the ability to listen to these very same people. If you’re scratching your head wondering what your customers want, it’s really not that hard to find them online and track the conversations they’re having. Be a part of, and contribute to these conversations in a meaningful way.
Keep it consistent
Putting people first chimes with W Communications’ own ethos that B2B or B2C doesn’t really exist anymore. With everyone having the capacity and ability to create their own channels, you can start to target your customers directly. It’s business to everyone, and everyone now has the ability to take a close look at you.
People aren’t going to sit idly by while you go three, four or five weeks without an update, a post, a video or some form of quality content that gets people drawn in and engaged. They’re going to drift and find other, more regular sources. Figure your content and engagement strategy well in advance. Be honest, how unimpressed do you feel when you visit a site or a social feed whose last post was nine months ago?
Grant Leboff made a very valid point at the session. We all run two businesses now. One is our core business, the other is the media business we now all must run alongside that.
Don’t underestimate Facebook
Like the Daily Express predicts wintry UK Armageddon every year (and it never actually comes true) then so do many social commentators annually predict the death of Facebook. Yes, it has its challenges, but the numbers remain staggering. If you’re not seriously considering a site that is inhabited daily by more than 35 million people in the UK then you absolutely should be. Remember, this is the business to everyone era.
