No-one cares.
‘No-one cares’… the new marketing philosophy to sweep 2018.
🙋♂️ *holds hand up for high 5*
No? Just me then.
Over the last 10-20 years the internet has diluted the amount of content we can consume, shifting the focus for content creators and news providers to get a quick win at all costs. This means, for better or for worse, the information and general content that your business puts out there needs to be as relevant as you can possibly make it. Snappy, funny, interesting, visual – as many of these as you can combine.
When you post something on social media, a blog, a news article, an event, ask yourself… does anyone actually care?
NO-ONE CARES.
Sometimes that tunnel vision, lack of understanding or resistance to self evaluation can mean that frequently small/medium sized businesses post mind numbing nonsense that literally serves no purpose. The worst one I’ve seen recently is repeatedly linking to the new website on social media, using a plain graphic with the website URL on. Seeing that once is boring, never mind the next 14 times – it’s a real pet hate of mine!
Whilst we’re on digital content pet hates…
- Overselling on social media. Stop talking about yourself and your products and services. If they’ve followed your page, chances are they know what you do. When you compare “We can do this for your business at just £999” and “Take a look at our amazing new products” compared to “Take a look at this cat upside down sleeping”, there’s only one winner. Be interesting! Be self critical!
- Social media automation gone mad. Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read the new Superfly blog! Read it yet? Nope. Unfollowed? Yep.
- Crap design. This is me being a design snob, but if you’re using clipart on your social media posts step away from the computer and re-evaluate your life now. You might think it looks brilliant, but those glasses have red tints on them.
- Letting Twitter automatically post from Facebook, leaving half a tweet and a rubbish link to Facebook. “It saves time!”, I hear you cry. You’d be better off not doing it all, as it just looks lazy and doesn’t work.
- Not speaking to your audience. If this blog was about the Battle of Hastings in depth you’d be waiting for the marketing reference/twist and feel confused when you didn’t find one (you could argue that’d be more interesting than marketing to be honest BUT that’s a different topic entirely). Are you confident that your followers want to hear about what you’re talking about? If not – ask them, do some research.
- Website structure mess – Don’t make it incredibly difficult to buy products or work out actually what on earth you’re offering. I might know what “Big Data Programmatic Advertising” means but do you care? No. Think about what people will be searching for on Google and create an easy to navigate page for each of your main services and products.
ACTUALLY… PEOPLE DO CARE. SELF EVALUATE, THEN ACT.
Chances are, people actually do care about your business, your products and the people that work there. Your stakeholders and target market should be at the forefront of your thoughts when thinking about your marketing strategy, not your own. Stubbornness out the window guys…
Take a look at your entire social media activity, blogging, email marketing (anything content related) etc. and evaluate exactly what reached the most people and stimulates engagement. If you can, try and find out where people are discovering your products/services by asking them – this can often be the most powerful information. You’ll often be surprised by what works and what doesn’t, make sure you don’t base your marketing activities purely on YOUR OWN assumptions. Once you’ve established this, here’s some tips on how to cut through the noise:
- Be personal – “People buy from people” – You heard it here first guys! Clichés aside, businesses are powered by the people that work there whether they’re huge corporations or small one man bands. Adding a personal touch to websites, blog posts and especially visual social media posts will make your brand relatable, which in turn increases brand trust and should lead to more sales. Show off your personalities and you as individuals!
- Make things looks nice – Putting it as bluntly as possible, ensure your online marketing content looks good. It really does make a difference, even more so with a younger target market. Professional, clear and creative graphics/posts/website content will always have more chance of penetrating through the internet noise.
- Your website – Nice and simple, loads of images and loads of ‘call to actions’. Simple. Think about what people will be searching for on Google and create an easy to navigate page for each of your main services and products.
- Less automation, more thought – We’ve all seen that automated tweet with a link to Facebook next to it on Twitter. Treat your social media websites as separate entities and make the most out of their individual strengths and weaknesses. By all means post similar content on all the platforms, but use different graphics/images and potentially re-word posts with an aim at increasing engagement. 1 good, well thought out tweet is better than 12 boring tweets.
- Be different and awesome! – Don’t be afraid to be different and creative, especially on social media. Try and speak the language of your target market and don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Social media posts can often be edited and taken down worse case scenario, but as long as you keep your posts professional and positive you’re bound to get good engagement.
- Have a strategy – Whether it’s a 12 month plan or just a rough guide of what you’ll be pushing out this month, plan what content you’re going to create and think about the best way to deliver your messages. Blogs? Social graphics? Infographics? Social ads? Make decisions based on what you think people will engage with, or what people have engaged with in the past. Not what you would engage with.
To sum up, if you don’t have an objective and open-minded attitude towards marketing, your brand will suffer. Put personal stubbornness aside and make way for a forward thinking, creative approach to your marketing strategy with an aim of engaging with your target market at the forefront. By having a great attitude and consistent self evaluation, people will care – most importantly your new customers will care.
PS. I had to Google what “Big Data Programmatic Advertising” means.