Does my content marketing look big in this?
Hello, dear reader, and welcome to the third in my blog series about applying EAST behavioural insights to a content marketing campaign. Today I’m talking about the second element of EAST: attractive.
So: what does attractive mean in this context? There are some elements of the aesthetic about this, however EAST goes deeper than that – and so, down the rabbit hole we go!
Add tangible value for the consumer
A simple and direct way of making your content marketing more ‘attractive’ to consumers is to value-add. This can be achieved in different ways, depending on your service offering and what your aim is.
For example, if you want to build your social media sales channel, you might offer a discount code to everyone who enters your sales portal via Facebook. If you are trying to build a user base for a new service, you might make this more attractive by unlocking certain features for the first 100 users, or giving a priority discount to ‘foundation members’.
There is plenty of research out there showing that giving freebies works – that’s why so many companies do it. It’s easy, consumers understand the value (which makes it attractive), and if you have a good strategy for implementation, it can really help to drive people through the gates. Which, after all, is one key intention of a good marketing strategy.
Intangible brand value
This one is a little trickier and it can take some time to achieve, but oh boy does it work! We’re moving into consumer wants vs needs territory here; it has a little to do with supply and demand, and a little to do with the social value that consumers place on certain things. There are some great rewards for building ‘attractive’ into your brand in an intangible way – not just right now, but down the line. Intangible brand value is a long term strategy for success – just ask Gucci. Or Apple. Or Tiffany’s.
So how can we add intangible value to a content marketing campaign? Try limiting the amount of time that an item will be available – there is a lot of inherent value (and a lot of brand power) in a ‘limited edition’. A longer-term marketing strategy you could try to boost the ‘attractive’-factor (depending on your product and target market), is to create scarcity. This is a powerful strategy which can work incredibly well in some cases. The basic idea is, the fewer the number of items available, the more valuable they are.
How does this translate? Well, do you only make 50 of each item? Fantastic! Build a count-down into your online campaign and show your customers just how close they are to missing out. Boom! Suddenly that item has a lot more inherent value, and is potentially that much more attractive to consumers.
Look at me!
Finally, let’s talk about making both your content marketing and your product or service, physically attractive to consumers. There are a couple of elements to this: aesthetics, and personalisation.
I don’t know about you (actually, yes I do) but I’m much more likely to click on something if it looks good. Not “wow that giant burger looks good”-good; I’m talking professional design work, consistent branding, good imagery – all the stuff that builds the basis of an appealing brand. So invest in some solid design work, and make sure your marketing materials look attractive.
The second element is personalisation. This comes in many forms. Some brands tailor their content marketing by targeting it to customers who have purchased or looked at similar things. You know the ‘Recommended for you’ list on Netflix? Prime example. We are much more likely to interact with something that has been specifically chosen for us based on our past experiences. Netflix is actually a great overall example for this, because not only is the service itself personalised (and personalisable), but the external ‘push’ marketing is too. Email marketing from Netflix is always addressed to you by name, not “To the account holder”; it always has a greeting at the very beginning instead of just launching into sales; and it gives you a reason to look at what it wants to show you.
So make your brand interactions as good-lookin’ and personalised as possible (just, you know, not in a weird way – let’s keep it professional, people).
Content marketing – so hot right now
There it is: some easy ways to make your content marketing strategy more attractive to consumers! Next up, I’ll be talking about bringing a social element into that campaign – and I’m not just talking about Instagram. While you’re waiting, catch up on some of my other blogs, or drop me a line if you want to talk more about how a targeted marketing campaign could help you!
Thanks so much for sticking with the series!
Is there something you’d like me to cover next? Do you have a comment you’d like to share? Post below or hit me up on social, and let’s talk about it!
Image credits:
Zoolander, Paramount Pictures (2001)
Mean Girls, Paramount Pictures (2004)
