As a marketer, I was always taught to prioritize content development as a major driver for business or product growth. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with this, but years into my career, I do think it limits what marketing can actually bring to the table.
To create content that provides an emotional appeal to your buyer, the process includes understanding your market, competitors, target audience and creating a consumer journey. Within that journey, what is your experience missing? What product or service do no not offer that the market is looking for? If you identify your audience as prioritizing a certain factor, such as convenience or style, what new offering could your company or organization offer to reflect this? If your audience prioritizes receiving information in a different way, what new distribution channels can you recommend?
It’s not just about identifying what’s missing, it’s also about thinking ahead in terms of market growth. You’re already doing the hard part through your research, so you might as well spend some time considering alternate options or additions.
One example from my own experience is with Keurig. As Keurig looked to appeal to millennials, they naturally turned to college marketing and alumni groups. At first, we focused on creating content that appealed to this audience showcasing the convenience factor with a campaign, What Do You Do While Your Brew? As we researched further though, we also understood that this group valued style in addition to understanding where they were purchasing product. The result was a co-branded licensing deal with several universities around the country. Incoming students shopping at Target could purchase their school’s Keurig brewer and alumni and fans could purchase online.
Another example is the development of university athletic apps. Instead of trying to create a game day experience to distract fans from their phone, we decided to add to their experience by creating an app that added to it. This app was intended to personalize the game day experience including interactive stadium maps, live game audio, social media feeds and updated scores and stats. From there you can both extend your brand throughout the experience plus add new revenue streams such as ads or in app purchases.
As a marketer, you’re doing the work anyway. Spend some time focusing on what you’re missing and what could be added to the consumer experience plus drive new and additional revenue for the company.
