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REACH Marketing Magazine - September/October 2017

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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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Only use blue and/or white.<br />

For more details check out our<br />

Brand Guidelines.<br />

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)

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