Kevin Adema 14 November 2016

Categories Advertising, Content, Customer Experience, Email & eCRM, Social Media, Strategy & Operations

Content: The Digital Elixir…

If you want to realize engagement through enabled dialogue, you have to understand the why of people.

It goes without saying that marketers understand the critical importance of knowing a customer. Customer knowledge leads to a relevant brand whereas treating customers generically has dire consequences: loss of interest, lower conversion rates, confusion and mistrust and ultimately, impeded consideration and delayed sales / transactions.

In today’s business / brand landscape, content is the elixir (the magic potion) of embracing the digital-first, Dialogue Age’s shift: realizing 2-way dialogue and shaping brands around customers. What you say, where you say it, how you say it are now not only being read but that same content is being talked about and commented on.

According to Forbes: “despite the fact that content is proven to be a key, strategic brand asset, only 32% of executive marketers believe their digital brands are executing effectively.”

And however you want to interpret “effectively”: clicks, shares, likes, referrals, transactions, etc. etc. the blatant insight of course is that brands are not engaging with targets or more importantly, targets / customers are not engaging with brands.

To address this engagement gap, marketers must not simply look at the content itself but moreover, marketers must look at the drivers of their target audiences that would make the brand’s content relevant. Drivers fundamentally are the intrinsic motivational factors that cause a person to either act (engage) or not act.

When a brand understands the why behind a target audience’s action(s), then and only then will the brand’s voice through content result in:

1. enabled dialogue
2. understanding customers
3. positively affecting changed behavior

But before marketers look at their content plans, they have to strategically address and understand two key elements:

1. What is my target audience’s situation?
2. Why would my target audience want it to change?

Then, if the brand’s content seeks to relate to the customer’s situation and can help the person change based on the customer’s desire to change, you’ll get the engagement you’re after.

IF

You want long-term connection, engagement & loyalty

THEN

You must focus on the people that drive the behavior.

Dialogue Age digital content is no different than any fundamental human relationships: Dialogue…you speak, I listen. I speak you listen. But if I only speak about what I want to talk about, I doubt the relationship will grow and develop. Conversely, if I take time to listen and understand and sincerely reach out, long-term relationship happens.

“God gave you two ears and only one mouth for a reason”

• Ancient Irish proverb