I recently had a very dramatic haircut. Before and after picture to the right. As a result I have had more than the normal number of people comment. Positive comments of course, but they usually come in the following format:
Person: You got your hair cut?!!
Me: Yes. Time for a change.
Person: Wow! You really made a change. It looks really great!
Me: Thank you.
And that, awkwardly, is usually the end of the conversation. The other person is stunned by the change, and I’m stunned by the need for the other person to tell me what I already know. It’s part of human nature to notice changes to someone’s appearance (my fiancé Bradley would disagree that I notice, but that is a blog post for another day). We start to recognize people by their signature hair style or color, and when it changes our recognition engines are thrown off.
The marketer in me completely understands why stating the obvious is necessary, but the normal person in me wonders at how often people do it.
Marketers are guilty of telling people what they may or may not already know all the time. It’s our job to promote the products and services of our employer or client, and unfortunately that often includes repetitively showing what our company can do.
So, what do marketers do?
Share the right information.
Based on company objectives and what our audience likes to learn, we share information to help people make decisions about a product or service. This information varies from promotions designed to entice purchase, to informational posts meant to educate, to news about features and services available.
At the right time.
The right information based on the preference of your audience must be shared at the right time. Consideration of the journey your customer takes from learning about your company, to inquiring about your product or service, to actually purchasing, and then becoming a current customer makes a huge difference in the information they received and when.
A potential customer may be given an ebook of information about how to do or plan what your product or service delivers. But, a current customer may get a mix of information that gives how tos about features. Each of these people is in a different stage of the customer journey, and will require information that fits their circumstance.
Using the right platform.
The right information, delivered at the right time is only as good as the platform where it is consumed. Using analytics from various tools such as Google analytics, email marketing systems and social media, it is possible to determine the device/platform where your audience reads the information you send.
For example, if you know that your audience reads most of your information on a phone, you wouldn’t send them an ebook. It would make more sense to send a graphic that can easily be consumed on a small screen.
The right information, delivered at the right time on the right platform. Your audience will appreciate that you consider how they consume your information. And, they will come back more often for information.
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