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October 11, 2022 //  //       //  Opinion

Where Creative Falls Short

I have a colleague in the UK who is constantly bombarded by television ads for a food delivery service. The ads are lighthearted and fun – the kind that you remember throughout your day. There’s just one small catch: This colleague doesn’t live in a major metropolitan area, and the delivery service in question isn’t even available to him. 

The experience illuminates a fundamental challenge and frustration we often see in our industry: even if you have great storytelling or engaging creative, it doesn’t provide any return if it doesn’t reach its target audience. The same is true on the earned media side – you could have a very powerful story, but if you’re placing it in a publication that your audience doesn’t read, then you’re just shouting good news into a void.  

There are several tools and insights available today that allow marketers to not only reach the right consumers – but reach them at the opportune time to spark action. As marketing communications professionals, it’s up to us to understand and act on this kind of data if we truly want to craft communications programs that drive impact for our clients.  

Here are a few ways we can work smarter, not harder, and marry data with creative storytelling to drive results. 

Know Thy Customer as Thyself 

It seems basic, but too often brands neglect to truly define and understand their audience’s persona. This goes beyond just demographic and income features and encompasses details such as self-perceptions, key issues of importance, interests and hobbies, and media consumption habits.  

Understanding your audience at this level allows you to build a relationship that spans beyond the purely transactional (but which is often rewarded with ongoing transactions). It can also inform the kind of creative and storytelling that allows you to make the greatest impact.  

For example, if your core audience tends to view mental health as a critical need or area of concern, then you might use this insight to inform CSR programming or marketing efforts / PR campaigns that promote a holistic approach to mental wellbeing. Doing so shows you are in tune with what your audience values and can foster greater brand love. 

Understand the Customer Journey  

We all know that purchases don’t just magically happen. There are many different touchpoints that occur before a customer actually decides to buy a product – everything from becoming aware of that product, to forgetting about it, to seeing an ad for it and researching it, to signing up for the brand’s newsletter, to hearing someone else mention it and finally deciding to buy it for oneself.  

Understanding the different points on this journey – and where a customer is more likely to fall off vs. convert – allows marketers to determine the best place where they can intervene with the right content to influence action.  

For example, if customers typically make purchases on Thursdays, and reviews are often the last thing researched prior to purchase, then consider showcasing testimonial reviews through paid social on Thursdays. Or if a prospect is within a certain radius of a brand’s retail location, a well-timed push notification with a promotional offer could result in a store visit that day.  

Understanding not only the customer’s persona, but their behavior patterns, will help you tailor content to give them what they need when they need it. 

Marry the Data with Earned Strategy 

Earned media – often the heart of any public relations program – is notoriously challenging in today’s day and age. Brand storytellers must contend with smaller newsrooms and a constantly shifting news cycle. Having a refined sense of storytelling, an ability to connect brand news to broader contexts and a strong understanding of individual journalists’ needs are all critical to secure earned coverage that drives top-of-funnel awareness and goodwill for a brand. Beyond having this artful sense for storytelling, imagine the possibilities when earned media teams layer data into their approach as well. 

For example, audience persona identification can help uncover not only the types of publications that customers are reading most, but also the journalists they are following and engaging. Having this kind of insight can help prioritize key publications for outreach or contacts for relationship building. This understanding can also enhance amplification efforts once a story is placed by informing channels for promotion to ensure the article is getting shares and clicks (a valuable metric for any journalist). 

At the end of the day, our work must be equal parts art and science if it is going to drive results. Taking data and balancing it with real-world experience, an understanding of storytelling and a human touch, can drive a communications program that not only reaches audiences and influences action – but ultimately, is unstoppable. 

Cathy Planchard is a partner and the global president of the Marketing Innovation Team, the firm’s global integrated marketing offering. She focuses on evolving the agency’s capabilities into storytelling services critical for program success, and has oversight of the brand, marketing, creative, research and analytics teams. 

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