Clarity Digital Marketing Dallas Fort Worth

Experts in Defining Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Digital Marketing

3 Steps To Get Your Content To Connect To Start Conversations That Convert

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Robert Riggs Brad Besancon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyday in the digital industry we see so called Gurus and Ninjas speak and write about how business should use content and social media in marketing.  They use statements like “engaging content” and be sure “your content and social media is relevant.” What the heck does that mean?

Is what’s relevant to you relevant to me?  Probably not. So why don’t we look at some real-world concepts that we’ve learned in our experiences that should help answer these questions. [Read more…] about 3 Steps To Get Your Content To Connect To Start Conversations That Convert

Did You Make The Mistake Of Creating An Accidental Brand?

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Accidental Branding or Intentional Branding?

We interview Bill Peel about the smart approach to branding your business.

Transcript

The Accidental Brand Versus The Intentional Brand

Robert Riggs: Hi, it’s Robert and Brad with the Clarity Digital Clip of the Week. And we’re talking to Bill Peel with 40 years of experience of marketing and branding experience.

Bill Peel: That’s correct.

Robert Riggs: So I know one of your favorite topics is the accidental brand. How does that happen?

Bill Peel: Well, it is my favorite topic, Robert, because I think if you’re not careful with the business and actually with your personal brand for that matter, and you don’t protect it and are not intentional with your decisions around your brand that you’re going to end up with whatever brand the marketplace assigns to you. And that can sometimes work in your favor and other times, it can be disastrous.

So the real message is, think very strategically and very intentionally about all your brand decisions, everything from the color, to the mark, to the name. And I know in today’s world, we’ve got a wide range of names that have popped up like Uber and Google and Amazon. It’s almost any name goes in today’s world. But I will say that you want to make very sure that you’re extremely about it, you understand all the implications.

And on an international level, how does it translate? There are words and there are marks that work very well in western culture. And when you go to Europe or you go to the Pacific Rim or you go to Latin America, and it takes on a whole entirely different connotation. So the message is to be very intentional about your brand.

Robert Riggs: Where do you start?

Bill Peel: Well, you start with a great name. And I think that you guys have a fabulous name. My mother should know. But you start with your name.

Brad Besancon: He helped us create it.

Robert Riggs: One day on a whiteboard.

Brad Besancon: One day on a whiteboard.

Bill Peel: Well, I think the key is that you have – your name should reflect what you do. Now, there are people that will look around and say, “Well, why does Amazon reflect a massive distribution company or what does Uber have to do with cars?”

Well, when you introduce a name like that, one of these new millennial type names, you really have to have a strong rationale behind it and explain what that means. So it’s really best if your name is reflective of what you do or more importantly, reflective of your value proposition. What are you delivering on the marketplace?

In your case, you’re adding clarity to people’s business. So I think you start with a good name. I think you can start with keeping it very simple. What I see more often is these brands are too heavily articulated. There are too many aligns, too many messages, too taglines. Sometimes you have a very simple and then the taglines, a sentence long trying explain. If you have to explain that much about the mark or about the name, you probably need to go back and revisit the name.

Do You Define Yourself or Company Brand on a Daily Basis?

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If Your Personal or Company Brand Is Not Clearly Defined, It May Get Hijacked

Transcript

Robert: If you don’t tell your own story, someone else will tell it for you.

Brad: Absolutely.

Robert: If something is happening around your company and you’re not out there, your competitor, an upset customer, they will tell that story for you.

Brad: One crisis.

Robert: Right. If you do not define yourself, if you haven’t defined yourself in the bio, the description on your webpage, all your social media, somebody is going to define you in the terms that you do not like.

Brad: And it’s a daily thing or a weekly thing for companies out there in the digital world. You say it all the time. Be your own publisher. Be your own – pump out good quality content. What does that mean? Well, that’s back to audience speak and understanding all that. We’ve talked to that ad nauseam.

But you’ve always said – we’ve had a couple of clients where there has been a midlevel crisis I would say because of a couple of complaints.

Robert: Yeah.

Brad: What are some of the things that happened that we had to spend six months fixing it?

Robert: Well, they sat with the lawyers for days. Days, twiddling thumbs. You cannot do that. Literally, it’s seconds. There are precious seconds or you’ve lost it. It has gone away on you. You have to immediately show that you are what – you’re aware of the problem. You’re dealing with the problem. You don’t have to take a stance about the problem necessarily. But you better show people that hey, we’re on it.

Brad: You got to have a plan.

Robert: Right.

Brad: Right? The bottom line is in – United Airlines.

Robert: Yes.

Brad: In a matter of seconds, literally seconds, maybe minutes on the high end, their reputation was destroyed when that gentleman was taken off the plane.

Robert: Well, I mean here’s what every company, anybody in business needs to know and they need to – they need to school their – all of their employees on it. You’re always on camera now. You’re on – it is –

Brad: Every action.

Robert: Every action you take is being scrutinized by someone who has got their cell phone out. It’s going to be on social. It’s going to be – you need this awareness that you are always on. You’re always subject to being criticized, evaluated and hey, sometimes, good things happen and people put them off as well.

Brad: And guess who else has got that camera. Your competitors and that’s the whole key of the discussion is putting yourself out of business before they do.

Robert: Yeah.

Brad: So have those conversations.

Robert: Oh, and, you know – hey listen. If I’m a guerilla marketer and my competitor, like a United, that happens, oh, I’m going to get out there on the backend of the dark web and everything else.

Brad: Yeah.

Robert: And I’m going to really –

Brad: Lots of stories.

Robert: Yes. I’m going to really boost that.

Brad: Lots of stories.

Robert: I’m really going to help it.

Brad: Yeah.

Robert: Yeah. So there are a lot of people that are better than the Russians at this.

Brad: Yeah. And they do it every day.

Robert: Yeah, yeah.

[End of transcript]

Debunking The Rule of 7 Impressions

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Is the Rule of Seven in Marketing Outdated in the Digital Age?

One of marketing’s oldest concepts is the rule of seven. It states that a prospective buyer needs to hear or see the marketing message at least seven times before they buy it from you.

Brad and Robert explore that rule today.

Transcript

Robert: Hello. I’m Robert. This is Brad and we’re here today with Clarity to debunk the “rule of 7”. That you got to have seven impressions before somebody will buy something. What’s wrong with that in the digital age?

Brad: Yeah. I don’t know if there’s anything wrong with it. But there has been a lot of talk recently. A Forbes article really highlighted what’s really critical in today’s kind of marketing world, if you will, with the consumers.

You know, and one of the key things they said was is that only about three percent of your clientele or your particular audience, that we always like to say, is ready to buy. So why are we hounding and hounding and hounding and hounding all these people? I mean I think at some point, you do have to reach a large audience. So you have to have reach and impressions. But how much benefits are you actually getting?

We always get told ROI, ROI, ROI. So you have to think about that. One of the things the article highlighted, which is what we’ve been saying for a while, is with product or your brand, you have to kind of create a journey through that sales funnel, right?

Robert: Yes.

Brad: Old school sales funnel and that experience and that journey with your product or your service, by basically just becoming a resource for them, information on how to use the product, things that are associated with your product or service, it doesn’t necessarily – it’s about your product or service.

Robert: Well, give your current customers and your prospects helpful, useful information to solve the simple pain points in their life and then –

Brad: Everyday things.

Robert: If you build their trust, then you might get that call. They might become –

Brad: Yeah. I think the key is, is that building that trust will eventually – you have to – the bottom line is you have to connect at a different level and just come buy my product and we can solve the problem A, right? You have to also be B, C, D, E and F nowadays because the consumer is education, you know.

Me and you were talking earlier about a headset. You know, Robert bought a headset. He didn’t just go buy a headset anymore because somebody says, “Hey, this is a good headset.” He goes and reads reviews. He goes on price checks. He goes and checks on products, service.

Robert: Yes.

Brad: Maybe even a warranty or whatever. So it’s an educated customer. So you have to play a different role.

Robert: And then after I had it, one of my friends called me and said, “You know, I really need a headset like yours. I drive a lot and all. What do you have? Will you send me a link?”

Brad: Link. Yeah.

Robert: Send a link to Amazon. And you know what? He bought it. He looked at comparisons. His friend had suggested it. That’s how digital has done the paradigm shift.

Brad: Yeah, it’s all in the palm of your hands that we’ve always talked about. It’s mobile, mobile, mobile. It’s right here now.

Robert: But talk to them about the – well, first off, I like what you say. You talked about you got to make the connection where.

Brad: Yeah. It has got –

Robert: In the heart.

Brad: It can’t just be in the pocketbook anymore. You can’t just sell on features and benefits and say, “Well, this is a great product and this is a great price.”

It has got to be – you’ve got to hit them here. I recently bought a new set of golf clubs. Not new. They were used. But one of the things that always comes up with golfers and any kind – anybody that has a hobby, whether it’s bike riding, mountain bike riding, golfing, camping, appearance is important, right?

Robert: Oh, yeah. You like the look of the club. When you hold the club in your hand, it sits on the ground. It looks good on the ground. It feels good in your hand. You swing it. You hit the ball. Same thing with everything. I sit on the bike. It feels good. It rides good. I go to the next brand. Maybe it doesn’t feel the same or whatever.

So it’s making that connection at different levels amongst the whole experience around that product. So sure, I may be on a mountain bike that’s $4000. But I might have had a better experience from a product standpoint on one that was $800 because it fit better.

Robert: Yeah.

Brad: And I liked it more or whatever. I’m still in the same place, right? I’m still in the same environment. I’m still in the same mountain. But because the product made a different connection with me, in my heart if you will, then I bought that product and I had a better experience.

Robert: So I think you’ve said the most important thing here to close the zone and it’s that people don’t buy features and benefits. That comes into it later. They buy experience.

Brad: You’re buying an experience. So if you’re not creating experiences in social and your website and information and content – it’s always about content – then you’re losing audience.

Robert: That’s the Clarity Clip of the week. Focus on experiences.

Brad: Have a good one, guys.

[End of transcript]