I recently posted two blogs on LinkedIn all about the importance of both automation in marketing and the human element.
In Machine Learning Magic & the Intelligent app Revolution I covered the amazing power of targeting and interaction that can be unleashed by Machine Learning “ML” and provide some commentary on the state of that industry and what companies who want to knock it out of the park will need to do.
In You Can’t Automate Trust (aka “Personal Marketing at Scale”) I dig into the importance of the human factor in the Customer Action equation. There are unique and brilliant aspects of the human mind that are not being commoditized… not just yet, and by all measures not for some considerable time.
What I’m driving at is that marketing that just served brands has a limited shelf life, and much of it is festering. Marketing that also has value in and of itself, for the customer, is what modern marketing is increasingly looking like.
Do you ever feel sold to, even by the shorter, cutesy, more entertaining advertisements? We all do and that is the crux of the issue. The best marketing and advertising crops up for you when it is most relevant and helpful to you. The challenge for all marketers is creating the right content and finding the best places to put it so that can happen.
Disclaimer: This post involves fast cars and the drinking of beer.
Here’s the scenario; you are at a dinner party, you meet a new person, maybe you are introduced, maybe you introduce yourself. Either way the experience is one of discovery, “What can I say that will interest this person and get me permission to continue the conversation?” Even if you don’t think this, your amazing and ancient brain is doing it on auto pilot for you.
As marketers we have an opportunity to infuse our message with storytelling, and I mean real stories. Ones with heroes, villains, inciting incidents, conflict overcoming of adversity and dealing with change. When we do this we open the door to a journey, one where our customer will want to join us for the experience.
“Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.” – Kurt Vonnegut
Here are two examples of content I recently created designed to help break the ice at that proverbial dinner party and connect you with something that could be of value to you. The videos below are designed so that you should find the content innately interesting. You may want to learn more about the story. And if you are in my target audience you will certainly want to do so. And if I earn your permission further still I then connect you to find out more about what we can do for you so that you can have an experience like the one that got your attention in the first place.
That being said I have two questions for you, and some FUN content.
#1 – Q: Do you like either cars, high-tech, or auto-sports?
#2 – Are you interested in Craft Beer (or foods), or businesses that care not just about money but positively impacting the environment and the world we live in?
Was your time waste with this? With the videos? How do you approach content marketing and the customer experience when it comes to your content?
Epilogue
When I consider existing customers or prospects and the services, and apps we provide I have one key thing in mind “why should they care?”. There are many potential paths in actions you take but having this singular question held front and center is critical.
When serving up content we have to consider the whole experience of the customer. From never even knowing about our apps and services to being a RAVING fan.
In many ways I like to think of existing customers as prospects, that we should work hard to keep them engaged and interested. When someone at a [potential] customer company is already a fan you have trust, you can go to certain conversations more quickly than with a person with whom you haven’t yet built that trust. However there is always a place to invest more in a relationship, to reinforce that trust, to keep the romance alive.
I’ve recently been filming two sets of videos for work, the narrative and content is yet to be revealed. You can however get some glimpses behind the scenes with these two galleries.
It’s been a fun project melding visual and verbal story telling and I’m excited to share the actual pieces with you. Until them take a look at some of these fun photos. Which of course in their own way are also a story.
Matthew Woodget's blog 