Three Key Ingredients to Effective Digital Marketing

Written by Matt Carroll

1: Understand Your Audience.

Too many brands think only about consumers, when they should be engaging with audiences. While in reality these people are often one and the same, a consumer is someone you sell to and an audience needs to be entertained. They’re very different mind-states.

Many brands (and agencies) talk about being ‘relevant’, making things ‘meaningful’ and telling ‘inspiring stories’, but very few give enough thought as to the mind-set of the people they’re targeting, from one channel to the next.

Be mindful who you’re talking to at any given moment.

Understand your audience.

2: Identify Your Brand Stories That Really Matter.

You may ‘passionately believe in craftsmanship and quality’. You may want to share ‘amazing recipe ideas’ using the products you sell – but is this really what your audience wants? Or are they things that you’d like your consumers to be buying.

Regardless of what field you’re in, most people respond to relevance, trust and credibility – especially when you’re online. I’m not talking about whether or not you’re going to fleece someone or deliver poor service. In this case Trust comes from the belief that they have a connection with you as a brand – that you understand them; that you value the same things. That you’re being sincere.

 Passion and sincerity are very powerful assets (and effective triggers), so don’t shy away from being honest about who you are as a brand – and convey this in the assets you’re putting out.

Key to achieving this is finding the stories about your brand that really matter. Every brand has them – whether it’s about the founder, the people within your business or something else. By taking an audience-centric, editorial approach to your digital comms (versus a consumer-centric one), you’ll go a long way to creating long-term meaningful engagement. And that, ultimately, leads to sales.

3: Ask The Question Why

FIRSTLY: Why are you doing this? Perhaps it’s to sell more product, maybe it’s to build brand awareness, or it could be to grow your market share. In fact it could be all three. But be clear about your objectives, and the purpose of your project.

Commissioning videos, stills or articles simply because everyone else is – or you need to fill your channels – is not a good reason to be spending budget.

SECONDLY: Why is anyone going to be interested? Pretty pictures and snackable clips often just add to the overall noise. You may get a smile or a like, but you’ll quickly be swiped and filed along with all the other ‘stuff’ people get bombarded with each day.

Instead, think about how you can create something your audience will want to talk about – and ideally think about – long after they’ve gone offline.

Because once you’re on someone’s mind, chances are they’ll come back for more.