I recently got a request from a Real Estate client to build a campaign around Father’s Day! Now, wishing the men in your database a happy father’s day is a trick played to death, with virtually no impact coming off it. It got me thinking what could be the best way to leverage the occasion. Marketing the product and allied services is obviously the objective with which the Client approached me, but I had a different take on it. It was time to think beyond the product. It was the time to rise above the “sales pipeline” and think bigger, think long term!
Many a times marketers are caught between pressures to deliver optics that barely survive beyond a moment and a long term investment which will have no visible impact here and now. There is a bandwagon and everyone is crazy to board it, lest you are left behind. But as a Marketer, it is important for us to choose the battles we want to fight and how! Not every occasion is a marketing opportunity, but it definitely is an opportunity to communicate. At times it pays to remain in background and facilitate interaction that may or may not impact your MQL table. Take this instance of a Real Estate company planning a Father’s Day campaign – a home is not what you buy off the shelf – discounts and privileges would not mean much if you are not already ready to invest. What then can we do? A lot, in fact. Park the home / property investment for a while. Fathers: men, breadwinners, providers, Superheroes – there is so much to talk about, to discover, to share. In short there is so much to communicate.
Brands need to talk, or rather facilitate discussions. The discussions then take form of a cause or lead us to issues that can transform into a campaign. Pushing out content and expecting people to react to it is not the best foot forward. Listening before you talk is often more rewarding. The idea is to bring people together on a platform and allow them to share, debate, deliberate and decide. The bottomline is driving engagement and building a sustainable dialogue that goes beyond the immediate occasion. Companies that invest in building a community and facilitating discourse acquire marketing edge over time. They build a loyal following whose allegiance to the brands go beyond product or service. It is the bond that matters, and it takes patient nurturing.
Market today is swayed on a single sentiment – trust. Engagement is a crucial engagement that drives trust. Consumers do not expect you to be infallible, they want you to be transparent, open and communicable. Thinking beyond immediate returns and closing deals, marketing needs to be people sensitive and must build an emotional bond with consumers. Man is an emotional being and while appealing to his logical side is what brands most often prefer, it is the softer connect that make relationships strive.
So if you were giving final touches to your Father’s Day EDMs, think again.
Published with permission.
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