A very clever marketer we met this week came up with a thought that could benefit you when it comes to the value of ad agencies.
He pointed out that boring content and brilliant content usually costs you the same.
In other words, the agency’s stuff that falls flat on its face and bores you to death costs you in all ways.
Of course, that marketer wants what you want – to maximize his budget and take the risk out of investing marketing dollars.
One way to lower the risk is to hold on to existing customers while attracting interest from those who may not be looking for you.
Nothing new about that.
But how do you get to those who don’t know you and those who are buying from of your competitors?
You could start by ditching the yakking-on about yourself. That incessant ‘we’ has to go.
Instead, come up with fresh ideas to replace self-involved content that’s impenetrable because it’s not about the person who might buy your product.
Why get lost in a story that’s solely about you and ignores the very real problems, needs, desires and opportunities of your target audience?
As they say in Australia, that’s as dry as a kookaburra’s khyber*.
To get your audiences’ attention, engage their interest and change their behavior one thing’s for sure, you’re better off with strategies and content of the brilliant kind.
On balance, they’ll make you better able to compete.
But in the digital age, what is it that can convince someone to pay more for something that may be no better than an alternative?
How about this? Content that goes beyond the mere features of a product to dramatize its benefits to the user.
It’s the kind of content that has enough wit, charm and reasoned arguments to make what’s familiar about your brand seem brand new.
To achieve this, there are your solutions as well as other possible solutions.
So why be easily satisfied? Keep looking, keep thinking. Be judgmental.
As you evaluate what’s right and wrong, make sure you’re not creating strategies or content by habit.
Those without the flexibility to absorb new viewpoints and adapt to change may not be doing enough to fulfill their brand’s potential.
After all, well-judged strategies and thinking helps you avoid drab, inert, wearily familiar content that puts no premium on engagement.
Amazing how many people ignore this.
In the digital age, technology and new media channels are great. Actually, make that super-great.
Reaching out to prospects has never been more exciting. Technology certainly delivers the message.
But strong ideas deliver the sales.
So keep asking yourself this … ‘is your content working to create the moment someone buys?’
Content from the smartest agencies usually does that.
At probably the same cost of content from lesser agencies.
Share your take on marketing thinking with us. How do you ensure your content is working for you? Thanks, Steve Ulin
*Khyber Pass is rhyming slang for ass. But that gets shortened to ‘Khyber’ as you see above. It comes from the fact that a pass that splits the mountains can make them look like an ass. And ‘pass’ rhymes with ass.