The Spark has an announcement, your case studies might not be cutting it, and "uncertain times" messaging is getting stale.
Your weekly digital marketing matchbox to kindle creative content.
April 24, 2020
Dear readers,
Our goal is to be your go-to digestible resource for all things digital marketing. So, to better serve you, we’re changing our send time to Thursday morning at 6 am. That way, whether you browse your inbox with coffee or prefer a mid-morning news dive, we’ll be ready when you are.
We can’t wait to see you bright and early next Thursday!
Case Study à La Mode
If creating content is like cooking, then developing a customer case study is cheffing up the most intricate dish on the menu. The recipe calls for quite a few ingredients, but when you get it right, the results can be oh so sweet. While few types of content can be as delectable to prospective leads, case studies often miss the mark. How? The client isn't the main ingredient of your project. When case studies are too focused on your product or leave out the client’s voice, they fall flat or feel overly promotional. So focus on telling a story — both written and visual — where your client is the hero (and your business was there to help them find their superpower). That way, you’ll both shine, and your content will drive engagement with current and future customers. Because when it comes to case studies, a dash of humility is the secret sauce.
Uncertain and Unprecedented
As brands aim to strike the right tone in their recent communications, many have ended up sounding almost exactly the same. (Seriously. Watch this.) Audiences have settled into this new normal (as much as they can), but it’s time for marketers to flip the switch from seemingly carbon-copy concern to forward-thinking and healthy optimism. While it can be tricky and a bit nerve-wracking to find a unique voice for your brand right now, sometimes a little discomfort is the best catalyst for creativity. Marketers who tap into that and create content that's both authentic and encouraging will emerge from this with respect from audiences long after these unprecedented times are over.
Sitting, Waiting, Wishing
Great things come to those who wait, and LinkedIn loves to make marketers do just that for features standard on other social media. Take polling, for example. The platform is finally developing a post option that will let pages poll followers — meaning brands can learn more about their audience’s interests, gather feedback, and keep them engaged between campaigns. LinkedIn is also working on a not-so-common feature: Hashtag “presentation mode,” which will display a full-screen view of posts containing a specific hashtag. It looks similar to TweetDeck and could be super handy for conversation tracking and social listening in real time. Talk about some pleasant little surprises for LinkedIn lovers.
WHAT LIT US UP THIS WEEK
Go Get Those Bells
Fishing, hanging with friends, planting flowers, being in debt to a kindly raccoon … The newly released Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a popular social simulator game on the Nintendo Switch console, is everywhere lately, and brands are starting to notice. Highsnobiety and 100 Thieves both created free clothing lines specifically for avatars to wear in-game. And in an avante garde move, the Los Angeles Getty Museum has released an art generator that allows players to download images of famous artwork to hang in their characters' virtual homes.
While these brands, among others, aren’t actually making real money through Animal Crossing, they are getting their names in front of vast numbers of people. As COVID-19 has thrown the traditional marketing playbook out the window, finding new and creative opportunities to get in front of an audience is paramount. Consumers may be slow to spend right now, but building brand awareness and loyalty is a long game that will reverberate far beyond the time of social distancing. And that might just mean meeting and engaging with audiences through unexpected mediums — like the virtual world of Animal Crossing.
