More likely than not, you are an old-school marketer but don’t know it. And in today’s digital age, that would simply destroy your brand. Here’s a simple guide that will help you recognize key elements in your marketing strategy that might require some changes. It’s time your brand shines on digital!
Permission for Attention
If you find yourself implementing sales-driven strategies for social media or posting content that you think will influence your target audience’s habits, then you’re just interrupting them. That means that you are pushing an agenda on consumers without first understanding their interests or getting their permission for attention.
Your target audience is all leading digital lives now and knows exactly what they want. Contrary to popular belief, this is not limited to Gen Z. Everyone appreciates brand permission. If your audience shows you interest, that’s when you can approach them. Before you do, ensure you also understand their personas, interests and beliefs.
Simply put, your audience should not only be an active part of your marketing communications, but it should be an essential one. Let them lead your strategy, not the other way around.
Consumer Interest Shift
Ever since the pandemic, consumer behaviour has immensely changed, and we’ve seen this across different social and business domains. One major behavioural change that affects all brands is the shift in interest from being on an individual level to a collective one.
Consumers once only cared about how they could use a product or benefit from a service, but today they care about what the brand is doing to help the community and the future of the planet and humankind. If your strategy is still product-centric, you’re in trouble.
The only way to a consumer’s heart today is to put them first, always.
Some questions are: What am I doing to improve the consumer’s experience? How can I build an emotional connection with them? Is my brand sustainable? You could start with an initiative and let your audience help you grow it.
Change the Sentiment
One crucial aspect is the negative sentiment around your brand or products. Many brands choose to showcase a shiny presence on digital by removing any backlash or negative comments, but that would be a huge mistake.
Only those interested in your offer will care enough to write about it, so they’re precisely who you should be targeting. Understanding what they have to say and addressing their issues could create wonders for your brand image and love.
Content Creators
With the rise of social media, the golden rule was for brands to act like humans on digital to resonate with their audience. This should be a given today, but unfortunately, brands are using social media as a cheaper means for their traditional ads.
Having a macro influencer post a digital version of your dream TVC is not the way to influence your audience – utilizing the right content creators is. Everyone is a content creator across the different social media platforms, whether they’re publicly famous or not. Who you need to collaborate with depends on your key objectives at any given time. It’s essential that they are relevant to your brand and can create genuine content that does not seem forced to the audience.
Remember: always put your audience first; your brand will thank you.
If you would like to talk to D/A about better understanding your audience and potential audiences for segmentation, targeting and messaging across GCC markets, demographics and languages, get in touch today.
Dina Husseini, Account Manager. D/A.
