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ENGAGING MARKETING MINDS<br />
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong><br />
DRIVING<br />
CONSENSUS<br />
WITHIN<br />
YOUR<br />
ORGANIZATION<br />
ONBOARD
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publisher’s note<br />
in this issue<br />
IMPERFECT<br />
Do you aim to be perfect? Because most of us are wired<br />
to pursue total bliss, we don’t always give ourselves<br />
permission to allow some level of dissatisfaction in<br />
our world. In other words, we strive to be perfect. This<br />
belief that it’s not okay to be inadequate sometimes<br />
dominates our culture but, listen, it’s okay to be<br />
imperfect. Rarely are our mistakes life or death.<br />
Allowing ourselves the chance to make mistakes and be “less than” in<br />
some areas heightens our opportunities in other areas of our lives. We<br />
have permission to reorient our expectations and choose what’s important<br />
and what’s not. Developing this ability leads to a level of enlightenment<br />
and allows us to be better for others.<br />
When it comes to the business aspect of our lives, the concept that<br />
some level of suffering is inevitable is just as relevant as it is in our<br />
personal lives. When we embrace the idea that mistakes will be made<br />
and change is inescapable, we lose the fear of failure and, in a way, we<br />
become invincible. After all, the only way to overcome pain is to learn<br />
how to bear it.<br />
There is no guide to marketing<br />
greatness. If there were, everyone would<br />
read it and the competitive advantage<br />
would evaporate. When we embrace<br />
change and the struggles within business,<br />
we tend to perform better and with more meaning. We have more<br />
compassion and humility. We can listen more attentively and be better<br />
attuned to our markets.<br />
We hope this issue reminds you to let go, focus on what matters and<br />
forget about striving for perfection. Specifically, our cover story, “Onboard<br />
– Using Consensus As A Competitive Advantage,” looks at how and why<br />
it’s important to have your team (and brand) unified around a plan, though<br />
it is not likely to be perfect in everyone’s view.<br />
And because we realize that nobody is perfect and everyone is different,<br />
our second feature, “Personification,” gives perspective on buyer personas.<br />
We can learn about our consumers when we let go of our expectations so<br />
that we can explore all of the imperfect people out there in our market.<br />
Ultimately, your goal is to capture the interest of all segments of your<br />
audience and convert that interest into sales. Now, that would be perfect.<br />
Building<br />
your base<br />
08<br />
5 steps to<br />
achieving<br />
consensus<br />
05<br />
02 Cover Story....................................................................Onboard<br />
06 Feature...............................................................Personification<br />
10 Quick Hits.............................................................................Insights<br />
12 Infographic.......................................Custom content vs.<br />
Traditional advertising<br />
13 Trending With....................................Martin Lindstrom<br />
WHEN WE EMBRACE CHANGE AND THE<br />
STRUGGLES WITHIN BUSINESS, WE TEND TO<br />
PERFORM BETTER AND WITH MORE MEANING.<br />
Publisher<br />
Jim Riley<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Brad Garlich<br />
Editorial & Creative Direction<br />
Conduit, Inc. - www.conduit-inc.com<br />
Warmest regards,<br />
Jim Riley<br />
President and CEO<br />
Reach <strong>Magazine</strong> is published bimonthly<br />
by RBO PrintLogistix, ©<strong>2017</strong>.<br />
All rights reserved.<br />
For more information, contact<br />
reachmag@rboinc.com<br />
www.rboinc.com<br />
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE<br />
1
2 <strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong>
USING<br />
CONSENSUS AS<br />
A COMPETITIVE<br />
ADVANTAGE<br />
BY<br />
MICHAEL J.<br />
PALLERINO<br />
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE<br />
3
With the pressure on, the blame<br />
game was in full stride. Ask sales<br />
to define the problem, and it said<br />
marketing wasn’t doing its fair share.<br />
Good leads, strong marketing materials<br />
and demos result in more closed deals<br />
– period. Ask marketing and the story<br />
was flipped. You cannot close deals<br />
using antiquated sales techniques.<br />
Once these beliefs had calcified in<br />
the minds of the teams, they were<br />
hard to dislodge. They had all allowed<br />
themselves to succumb to willful<br />
blindness. They ignored the facts that<br />
supported the other side of the issue.<br />
As Setili recalls, the heads of sales<br />
and marketing called their respective<br />
teams together and demanded that<br />
they find a resolution. Their pitch<br />
was to come up with a joint plan for<br />
AMANDA SETILI REMEMBERS IT<br />
AS A TEACHING MOMENT. AFTER<br />
A STRING OF STRONG REVENUE<br />
GROWTH INEXPLICABLY BEGAN TO<br />
PLATEAU, HER COMPANY’S SALES<br />
AND MARKETING TEAMS WERE<br />
WORKING AMID A DEADLOCKED,<br />
AWKWARD SILENCE. NOTHING<br />
EITHER TEAM DID SEEMED TO<br />
BE ABLE TO REVIVE THE ONCE<br />
ROBUST NUMBERS.<br />
demonstrating sales growth in just four<br />
of the 25 sales districts. “By forcing the<br />
teams to develop a plan, and limiting<br />
the scope to a controllable subset of<br />
prospects and customers, the problem<br />
became much more manageable,”<br />
says Setili, who now runs the strategy<br />
consulting firm Setili & Associates.<br />
The prospects in each district were<br />
split into two groups, giving sales and<br />
marketing two different approaches<br />
to test. The discoveries from the pilot<br />
revealed quite a few surprises on both<br />
sides of the argument.<br />
“The intent to reach consensus can<br />
be either an ally or a roadblock in the<br />
team environment,” Setili says. “When<br />
the stakes are high and leaders need to<br />
make a fast decision on which course<br />
of action is best, it’s tempting to allow<br />
different factions and functions to<br />
act autonomously.”<br />
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff<br />
Bezos calls the strategy “disagree<br />
and commit.” Bezos believes that<br />
constructive debate is a crucial<br />
component of good decision-making<br />
and that it’s actually a bad sign if<br />
everyone is in agreement.<br />
Gaining input from across<br />
your company – from different<br />
geographic regions, functions, levels<br />
and perspectives – is critical when<br />
entering uncharted territory. “You<br />
want to have a diverse team made up<br />
of some who are especially creative,<br />
some who are very analytical, some<br />
who know the nuts and bolts of how<br />
things work, and some who are good<br />
at building buy-in to the decision<br />
reached,” Setili says.<br />
Having diversity of thoughts,<br />
perspectives, propensities and<br />
experience enables you to build a<br />
more robust and practical plan and to<br />
anticipate and prepare for roadblocks.<br />
And here’s the thing – Setili says<br />
you need to add a few skeptics and<br />
naysayers into the mix.<br />
These are the kinds of conversations<br />
that Setili has with her clients today,<br />
which include brands like Coca-Cola,<br />
Delta Airlines, The Home Depot, UPS<br />
“To move<br />
forward with<br />
the speed<br />
needed to<br />
succeed today,<br />
you simply need<br />
to reach a point<br />
at which a few<br />
stakeholders<br />
define the best<br />
course of action<br />
and their<br />
colleagues can<br />
live with the<br />
decision.”<br />
– AMANDA SETILI,<br />
PRESIDENT,<br />
SETILI & ASSOCIATES<br />
4 <strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong>
and Wal-Mart. The crux of her message is that<br />
in today’s fast-paced world, there is great<br />
uncertainty surrounding almost every decision<br />
you make. And, when you have uncertainty, you’re<br />
going to have many different opinions about the<br />
best path forward.<br />
“Reaching consensus is important because we<br />
need all functions and players in our organization<br />
to be aligned, moving in the same direction,” she<br />
says. “Organizations can get stuck at a crossroads,<br />
unable to pick a path forward, when they place<br />
too much emphasis on getting everyone on board<br />
with a controversial decision. To move forward<br />
with the speed needed to succeed today, you<br />
need to reach a point at which a few stakeholders<br />
define the best course of action and their<br />
colleagues can live with the decision.”<br />
Building bridges<br />
Can you imagine a rowing team that didn’t have<br />
a consensus? Think about that for a minute. A<br />
rower who could not agree on the direction would<br />
cause everyone else to overcorrect and work<br />
harder than necessary to maintain direction.<br />
Brian Braudis says the same thing is true for<br />
the direction of an organization. If divisions or<br />
branches within your company don’t agree with<br />
your vision or mission, your energy and effort is<br />
wasted. Each day should build on the momentum<br />
from the day before. If your team lacks consensus<br />
in its message, it can be a huge vulnerability.<br />
“The act of building consensus is the investment<br />
that keeps on giving,” says Braudis, a highly<br />
sought-after human potential expert, certified<br />
coach and author of “High-Impact Leadership:<br />
10 Action Strategies for Your Ascent.” “It fosters<br />
employee engagement. When you involve people,<br />
you can count on their commitment, and that<br />
commitment builds and creates momentum.”<br />
Build, cultivate and instill consensus. Those<br />
are the keys to creating an environment that can<br />
compete in today’s highly competitive landscape.<br />
But even then, Braudis says you must approach<br />
consensus with your eyes wide open.<br />
“Remember, consensus does not mean<br />
complete agreement, but rather seeking a<br />
way forward where everyone is reasonably<br />
comfortable,” he says. “Diversity of thought and<br />
varying backgrounds of individuals is important.<br />
Different approaches to looking at problems and<br />
problem solving give you a wide variety of ideas<br />
and opinions for getting to yes. When everyone<br />
is aligned around your vision, mission and values,<br />
you’re pulling in the same winning direction. That’s<br />
a lot of power and a competitive advantage that’s<br />
not easily duplicated.”<br />
“The act of building consensus is the<br />
investment that keeps on giving.<br />
When you involve people, you can<br />
count on their commitment, and<br />
that commitment builds and<br />
creates momentum.”<br />
– BRIAN BRAUDIS, AUTHOR OF “HIGH-IMPACT LEADERSHIP:<br />
10 ACTION STRATEGIES FOR YOUR ASCENT”<br />
1<br />
STEPS TO<br />
ACHIEVING<br />
CONSENSUS<br />
Identify and enlist stakeholders – Represent all the mostimpacted<br />
groups, but don’t go overboard on inviting everyone into the<br />
conversation. A group of 5-12 people will be much more effective in settling<br />
differences and devising compromises than a larger group would be.<br />
2Define objectives – This may require more thought than you think.<br />
Detail the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative.<br />
3Define criteria for evaluating alternatives – List both the<br />
quantitative and qualitative criteria that the consensus-based answer<br />
must meet. Criteria may include caps on the amount the chosen solution<br />
can cost, how long the solution can take to implement or how much risk is<br />
acceptable. Be clear about which criteria the solution must solve, and which<br />
criteria are merely “nice to have.”<br />
4<br />
Develop alternative courses of action – Creative thinking comes<br />
in at this point. What are all the different ways that you can solve your<br />
problem?<br />
5<br />
Evaluate and select a course of action – Here’s where it’s most<br />
important to consider the facts from all angles, and make a choice that<br />
best accomplishes the objective, meets at least the “must” criteria, and on<br />
which most of the stakeholders can agree. Remember, not everyone has<br />
to be crazy about the action plan, but no one should be saying, “I absolutely<br />
cannot live with this.”<br />
SOURCE: AMANDA SETILI, PRESIDENT, SETILI & ASSOCIATES<br />
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE<br />
5
PER<br />
SON<br />
I FI<br />
CA<br />
TION<br />
Building your customers’ buyer personas<br />
Now that consumers are fully tethered to social<br />
media and the internet with their buying habits,<br />
it’s time for brands to relax with their sales<br />
megaphones. Sellers have to tone down their<br />
sales talk and become skilled listeners engaged in<br />
a two-way conversation with the consumer.<br />
The buyer personas – the fictional and<br />
generalized representations of real people – are<br />
sitting at their computers ready to share intimate<br />
By Ray Glier<br />
THE BRAND<br />
THAT CAN<br />
DEVELOP AN<br />
ACCURATE PICTURE<br />
OF ITS BUYERS –<br />
EVEN IF IT IS ONE<br />
AT A TIME – HAS A<br />
POWERFUL TOOL<br />
BECAUSE NOW<br />
IT KNOWS WHAT<br />
IS ACTUALLY<br />
IMPORTANT TO ITS<br />
REAL CUSTOMERS.<br />
6 <strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong>
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE<br />
7
BUILDING YOUR BASE<br />
information. The seller, if they listen<br />
carefully and ask questions artfully, can<br />
build a better buyer persona with the help<br />
of social media and the internet.<br />
If they are ready to listen.<br />
“It is really important brands become<br />
listeners, rather than talkers,” says Sundar<br />
Bharadwaj, a professor of marketing in the<br />
Terry College of Business at the University<br />
of Georgia. Then, they need to start asking<br />
questions about what is motivating or<br />
demotivating buyers.<br />
Building the buyer persona in today’s<br />
marketplace is all about personalization.<br />
Bharadwaj can’t emphasize that enough.<br />
Sure, your product has benefits. But, relax,<br />
you need to first find out if a particular<br />
consumer sees the product the same way<br />
that you do, or figure out why they do not.<br />
Norty Cohen’s forthcoming<br />
book, “The Participation<br />
Game: How The Top 100<br />
Brands Build Loyalty In A<br />
Skeptical World,” is full of in-depth<br />
research on buying personas and<br />
building a loyal customer base, including<br />
via social media.<br />
“You can figure out the buying<br />
persona because there is so much<br />
interaction,” Cohen says. “And once you<br />
figure out who your audience is, you<br />
can start talking to them. “Friends and<br />
family and online and word-of-mouth<br />
dominate and have 2 1 / 2 times greater<br />
impact than Facebook ads, TV ads and<br />
YouTube ads combined.” If one buyer<br />
talks to another buyer on social media,<br />
the brand can mine that conversation<br />
for clues, as well.<br />
That’s why we must look for<br />
content that’s strong enough to create<br />
consumer involvement. “Once we do<br />
that and we find out the consumer<br />
likes the brands, they are willing to<br />
talk about it,” Cohen says. “We get the<br />
endorsement and we also get the reach,<br />
which is the multiplier effect.”<br />
What happens is that once a<br />
brand gets a consumer talking about<br />
them, it builds an audience. There is<br />
authentication of the brand, and it<br />
creates a groundswell. Now the brand<br />
can start eavesdropping and studying<br />
buying habits, asking the right questions<br />
and following the buying journey.<br />
“You have to get to the target’s target<br />
in order to get that word of mouth<br />
going,” Cohen says. “You<br />
need that for the context of<br />
people recommending. You<br />
want to do what your friends<br />
are doing. Are you willing to<br />
pass along branded content?<br />
Will you put the brand logo<br />
on your laptop? Will you<br />
wear the brand’s shirt? The<br />
value is in consumers pushing<br />
the message through for<br />
you. Once you have people<br />
saying it for you, then you’ve<br />
achieved it.”<br />
Cohen’s conclusion is that<br />
word-of-mouth – consumers<br />
talking to consumers – is vital<br />
to the success of a brand.<br />
The one-way conversation<br />
– brands to consumers – is<br />
disingenuous.<br />
“They can fast forward<br />
through it,” he says.<br />
“Consumers are DVRing their<br />
way through TV and only a<br />
third of TV is watched live.”<br />
Cohen conducted five years<br />
of research for his book,<br />
8 <strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong>
“You can’t have the urge to pitch,”<br />
Bharadwaj says. “Building the buying<br />
persona is not your sales task. It is<br />
learning about your customer so you can<br />
communicate your offering better.<br />
The salespeople need to know that the<br />
biggest thing they can do is go back to<br />
the company and communicate to staff<br />
that “Our current offering doesn’t cut it.”<br />
Or, “People love what we are selling.”<br />
The brand has to understand why<br />
the consumer buys from them. That<br />
communication forms the platform for<br />
the buying persona.<br />
“IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT BRANDS BECOME<br />
LISTENERS, RATHER THAN TALKERS. THEN,<br />
THEY NEED THE ABILITY TO FOLLOW<br />
THROUGH AND KEEP ASKING THE QUESTION<br />
THAT STARTS WITH ‘WHY’.”<br />
–SUNDAR BHARADWAJ, PROFESSOR,<br />
TERRY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA<br />
which was all about asking questions<br />
and personalizing the buyer’s journey.<br />
“We wanted to find out how and why<br />
consumers adopt brands,” he says. “So<br />
we decided that we were going to talk<br />
to 1,000 consumers and ask them what<br />
their favorite brands are and how they<br />
became their favorite brands and how<br />
they connect.”<br />
Cohen, the founder and CEO of<br />
Moosylvania (a digital and experiential<br />
marketing agency) is constantly asking,<br />
“How and why did you get there?” The<br />
creed of the company is to “build one<br />
believer at a time.”<br />
The brand that can develop an<br />
accurate picture of its buyers – even if<br />
it is one at a time – has a powerful tool<br />
because now it knows what is actually<br />
important to its real customers. Then, it<br />
can find other customers, just like those<br />
who are loyal.<br />
Bharadwaj says the steady stream<br />
of questions toward the consumer<br />
does not focus on the features of the<br />
product, but the benefits.<br />
“What keeps them up at night? What<br />
are some challenges they face on a<br />
daily basis? And, getting some personal<br />
accounts from them,” Bharadwaj says.<br />
“Getting to know them a bit more so<br />
you understand how they are being<br />
evaluated in their job, how are they<br />
motivated, the daily drivers in their life.<br />
You need a ‘Day in the Life,’ and then go<br />
from there.”<br />
WHERE TO START<br />
So, you want to create an accurate buyer<br />
persona? Here are some suggestions<br />
from the acclaimed inbound marketing<br />
blog Hubspot.<br />
GET BASIC, GET PERSONAL.<br />
Collect demographic information, such<br />
as (but not limited to) annual household<br />
income, where they live, age, if they have<br />
children and educational background.<br />
LOOK FOR SOME DETAILS OF THEIR<br />
CAREER PATH. How did they end up<br />
where they are? Did they switch from<br />
another industry?<br />
LEARN ABOUT HIS OR HER COMPANY.<br />
What is the size your persona’s company?<br />
What is their role inside the company?<br />
FIND OUT ABOUT THEIR WORK DAY.<br />
How is your persona evaluated day<br />
to day? Do they have to hit certain<br />
numbers? If your persona had to write a<br />
job description what would it be? And,<br />
what tools do they use on the job? What<br />
is the persona’s biggest challenge at<br />
work? What is their primary goal at work?<br />
Knowing these things will help you learn<br />
what you can do to help your persona<br />
achieve their goals.<br />
INVESTIGATE A DAY-IN-THE-LIFE OF<br />
YOUR PERSONA. What do they like to<br />
do for fun? What kind of car would they<br />
like to drive? What TV shows do they<br />
watch? The key is to get personal with<br />
these questions.<br />
EXPLORE HOW THEY GET NEW<br />
INFORMATION. Which associations or<br />
trade groups does your persona belong<br />
to? What do they read? What social media<br />
do they use? Do they use the internet to<br />
research vendors? How do they search?<br />
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE<br />
9
INSIGHTS<br />
Technology might change<br />
what I call ‘think jobs’ and<br />
the ‘do jobs,’ but the ‘feel<br />
jobs’ of building emotional<br />
connection and storytelling are the<br />
jobs of tomorrow that technology<br />
cannot change. Storytelling<br />
becomes that powerful weapon<br />
for every marketer to go master<br />
and become effective at.”<br />
– Chandar Pattabhiram, CMO of Marketo, on why<br />
storytelling will be an even greater asset moving forward<br />
WORKS<br />
OF ART<br />
If every picture tells a story,<br />
some of today’s retail brands<br />
are spinning some captivating<br />
yarns of late. Thanks to<br />
a 23 percent increase in<br />
response rates, the print<br />
catalog is making a comeback,<br />
according to Data & <strong>Marketing</strong><br />
Association’s “<strong>2017</strong> DMA<br />
Statistical Fact Book.” The<br />
increase comes on the heels<br />
of recent announcements<br />
from retailers like Bonobos<br />
and Tommy Bahama, who say<br />
that they are rolling out print<br />
catalogs that resemble<br />
high-end art books.<br />
92<br />
That’s the percentage of<br />
respondents who say that<br />
their organization views<br />
their content as a business<br />
asset, according to data<br />
from a Content <strong>Marketing</strong><br />
Institute (CMI) “Content<br />
Management & Strategy<br />
Survey.” The report also<br />
shows that 69 percent<br />
have some system in place<br />
to scale their content.<br />
WORD POWER PLAY<br />
What you say matters. Don’t think so? According to<br />
Edelman’s “How Thought Leadership Impacts B2B<br />
Demand Generation” report, 63 percent of decisionmakers<br />
say that thought leadership is one of the best<br />
ways to gauge what a brand is likely to deliver. Note<br />
that 45 percent<br />
say that thought<br />
leadership<br />
has directly<br />
led them to<br />
decide to do<br />
business with a<br />
company. And<br />
beyond driving<br />
awareness,<br />
being a thought leader is generating business<br />
opportunities. The report shows that 42 percent<br />
of creators who publish thought leadership believe<br />
it delivers more requests for proposal (RFP)<br />
opportunities. The survey queried more than 1,300<br />
U.S. business decision-makers.<br />
10 <strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong>
Synced up<br />
SURVEY SHOWS HOW CONSUMERS ENGAGE WITH BRANDS<br />
In the age of consumer connectivity,<br />
the key to staying engaged with your<br />
customers is straightforward – keep it<br />
simple. According to “The Customer<br />
in Context” study by the CMO Council<br />
and SAP Hybris, only 15 percent<br />
expect brands to be everywhere –<br />
but they do want options. The survey,<br />
which gathered insights from more<br />
than 2,000 consumers, shows that<br />
consumers don’t care if they engage<br />
offline or online – they just want<br />
service and experience wherever<br />
they go. Here’s a look at how they<br />
are connecting:<br />
27%<br />
TRADITIONAL<br />
ADVERTISING<br />
17%<br />
DIRECT<br />
MAIL<br />
27%<br />
SOCIAL<br />
MEDIA<br />
58%<br />
WEBSITE<br />
29%<br />
WORD<br />
OF<br />
MOUTH<br />
30%<br />
IN PERSON<br />
46%<br />
PHONE<br />
52%<br />
EMAIL<br />
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE<br />
11
CUSTOM<br />
CONTENT<br />
VS<br />
TRADITIONAL<br />
ADVERTISING<br />
AND THE<br />
WINNER IS....<br />
The power of content<br />
continues to make its<br />
presence felt. According to<br />
Time Inc.’s “How Custom<br />
Content Inspires Consumers”<br />
study, two in three consumers<br />
have greater trust in custom<br />
content than traditional<br />
advertising. In addition to<br />
trust, the study (which<br />
queried more than 17,000<br />
Millennials, Gen Z and Gen<br />
Xers) shows that custom<br />
content is perceived as<br />
thoughtful and provides value.<br />
HERE’S A LOOK<br />
AT SOME OF<br />
THE STUDY’S<br />
HIGHLIGHTS:<br />
93%<br />
like brands sharing interesting things they may not have otherwise seen<br />
92%<br />
believe brands have expertise on topics and add value to content<br />
57%<br />
feel brands put more thought into being creative and interesting<br />
56%<br />
like that brands are not just trying to sell, but are sharing something cool or teaching them<br />
56%<br />
appreciate brands that partner with sources they trust<br />
12 <strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong>
Trending with...<br />
Noted brand sleuth<br />
Martin Lindstrom on the<br />
search for the next big thing<br />
What strategies are reaching<br />
the masses today?<br />
It all comes down to empowerment.<br />
When brands empower prospects<br />
to make smarter purchases, and<br />
empower customers to get more value<br />
out of the products they purchase,<br />
it naturally creates meaningful<br />
conversations. People don’t simply<br />
want to be interrupted with slick<br />
ad campaigns. They want brands<br />
to help them remove friction and<br />
solve problems. That’s what leads<br />
to engagement and conversations.<br />
These conversations frequently<br />
happen online, but it’s important to<br />
remember the power of impassioned<br />
offline conversations as well. Great<br />
brands are built, not bought. They<br />
need to build great experiences. Once<br />
they do that successfully, they can<br />
invest in traditional marketing to build<br />
awareness and traffic.<br />
Who’s doing it the right way?<br />
One of the best examples is Patagonia.<br />
They fight friction by defending the<br />
environment. It builds immersive<br />
experiences – website, documentaries,<br />
retail events – that educate the<br />
audience about how they can take<br />
small actions that will make a big<br />
difference. Yeti is also amazing. It has<br />
built a series of amazing videos that<br />
are truly inspiration. Each one is about<br />
eight minutes long, which is amazing<br />
given the typical digital ad exposure is<br />
only about 1.6 seconds.<br />
Successful companies provide<br />
the critical emotional and rational<br />
information that prospects need<br />
at each step of the journey. The<br />
brand story grows and is optimized<br />
for each channel. It’s not the same<br />
message repeated over and over.<br />
Martin Lindstrom has seen human<br />
tendencies close up and devoted<br />
countless hours to studying<br />
them. What he has discovered<br />
is that our desires manifest<br />
themselves in hundreds of ways each day, from<br />
the computer passwords we choose, to where<br />
we place refrigerator magnets, and the way in which we take selfies or use<br />
emojis. In his book, “Small Data: The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends,”<br />
the bestselling author and noted branding expert reveals how these intricate<br />
pieces of information can decipher what reams of big data cannot – how<br />
unmet human desires can unlock the next brand breakthrough. The man who<br />
Time <strong>Magazine</strong> once listed as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in<br />
the World” has been called a modern day Sherlock Holmes. We sat down with<br />
him to get his take what today’s consumers are really looking for.<br />
As consumers interact with each<br />
touch point, they produce behavioral<br />
data that enables the brand to<br />
optimize their sales and marketing<br />
efforts. It helps them understand<br />
the psychographic profile of each<br />
prospect and identifying their<br />
unmet needs. It’s all about providing<br />
value. Successful brands empower<br />
prospects at every step of the journey.<br />
Do buyers have all the control today?<br />
Yes. It’s because brands are completely<br />
transparent. Thanks to the infinite<br />
amount of information available<br />
through search, social and mobile<br />
technology, buyers can see through<br />
exaggerated brand messages and<br />
can ignore clever jingles. Brands<br />
keep investing in interruptions and<br />
the audience keeps running away.<br />
Consumers want immersive content<br />
and tools that fight friction. They<br />
have the power to ignore traditional<br />
messages.<br />
How can brands flip the switch?<br />
Successful brands are simply taking<br />
a portion of their paid media budget<br />
and applying it to owned and earned<br />
media. That means rather than buying<br />
ads, they are building content and<br />
tools that empower the audience.<br />
Personal interaction is everything. It<br />
enables us to pick up emotional data –<br />
“the chemistry”, “the aspirations”, the<br />
“desires” and the “out of balances.”<br />
Each of these factors form the<br />
foundation for successful brands.<br />
What are today’s consumers really<br />
looking for?<br />
One of the things I point out in my<br />
book is how the community is dying.<br />
The reality is that we’ve migrated<br />
our social interactions online, and we<br />
rarely meet people in our day-to-day<br />
life. This is increasingly creating an<br />
out of balance in our lives – and thus<br />
a gap for a new brand or need. Most<br />
consumers are still not aware of this.<br />
They just somehow feel they’re missing<br />
something, that tactical interaction, the<br />
smells and sounds – the camaraderie<br />
– the kids playing on the street – the<br />
unlocked door. That trend – more than<br />
anything – will turn into something<br />
major very soon.<br />
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER <strong>2017</strong><br />
<strong>REACH</strong> MAGAZINE<br />
13
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PROMO PRODUCTS<br />
MAKE A LASTING IMPRESSION<br />
Nearly 9 in 10<br />
consumers will<br />
remember your<br />
brand from a<br />
promo product.<br />
81% of<br />
consumers keep<br />
promo products<br />
for more than<br />
one year.<br />
1 in 2 consumers<br />
walk around with a<br />
wearable or pocket<br />
promo product.<br />
Nearly 79%<br />
of consumers<br />
have looked up<br />
a brand online<br />
from a promo<br />
product.<br />
CHECK OUT OUR PRODUCT CATALOG ONLINE!<br />
rboinc.com/promotional-products<br />
St. Louis Chicago Web<br />
2463 Schuetz Rd. 81 South McLean Blvd. rboinc.com<br />
Maryland Heights, MO 63043 South Elgin, IL 60177<br />
T. 800-315-1636 T. 847-496-3296<br />
Research provided by “Mapping Out The Modern Consumer” <strong>2017</strong> PPAI Consumer Study (PPAI Research, December 2016)