Have We Gone Identity Mad?

Love the song “Grace Kelly” by Mika. “I can brown, I can be blue, I can be violet sky.  I can be hurtful, I can be purple,  I can be anything you like.”  And it made me think of how we behave in our campaigns online.  I see so much of, “I can be what you want!!!”  It begs the question, how are we using research to identify our brands?

Now, don’t get me wrong – solid research is the foundation of finding our buyers and their hot buttons.  But, I wonder if we go too far simply trying to service the “numbers” and changing our campaigns and brand identity online to only realize the “surface” indicators.

Now, we’ve seen some historically bad campaigns.  And, we know that the agencies behind them were trying to target people based on what they thought the research told them would “make them buy!”  I found this hilarious blog about “Six Idiotic Ad Campaigns” posted by Mom Logic.  Clicker beware, these really stupid ads are targeted for women with our, ummm … women issues.

What were they thinking??  Well, you have to know that it probably came from someone who misread the indicators and thought these were clever and nifty.  Let’s stick to who we are in order to relate to our customers.

You wouldn’t change who you are in order to date someone who wasn’t like you.  Why would we do this in our campaigns?  Here are a few key questions to look beyond the research and create the reality of who your brand really is.  And, to inspire action from those people behind the research.

When you are devising a campaign, ask yourself:

1.    Am I offending my target audience? (See Idiotic Campaigns)

2.    Am I too generic with my ad?  Are people gonna go, “Eh … whatever”.  Take some risks, just be smart about inspiring ACTION.

3.    What do my buyers/customers really NEED?  This is a point often lost in “slickness”.  You must listen to needs.  Past research, what are your buyers faced with?  Recession issues?  Overworked?  More convenience?  SOLVE their problems and you will get solid response.

4.    Is this campaign an INSPIRATION or PROMOTION?  Very different strategies here.  Inspire action for B2B marketing.  Avoid the direct campaigns with “I know you are busy, but….”  Business consumers always stop at the “But”, because we know whatever comes after it is the real motive, and it seems sneaky and unrealistic.  It’s like a guy saying “I love you … but, your ass is fat.”  Promotions are reserved for B2C Consumer Marketing.  We wanna play, click, be personalized … have you tell us who we are as people.  Promotions need to be multifaceted.  I wonder how the Idiotic Campaigns integrated with the web?  Stop sending banners to a landing page without something for consumers to DO besides buy.  We KNOW you want us to buy … but warm us up, buy us dinner.  Promotions need play.

5.    Have I covered all bases? This is definitely about integration from our last point.  Do you know (from your research) where your customers are?  The answer “Internet” is as broad, and uninformative as saying “they read”.  What do they read?  Where do they read it?  Where do they shop for that book/mag/newspaper?  We have much more knowledge about our traditional buyers than our Interactive buyers – generally speaking, that is.

Of course, there are agencies and marketing companies who “get it”.  But they don’t need to follow these tips.

When you’re marketing online – what sites do your users visit?  How long are they there?  Do they read email or RSS?  Are they on a smart phone 10 hours a day?  Go deep with campaign integration online.  PPC and banners don’t cut it, unless you understand the tips above:  Give them NEED, INSPIRATION, TEASE THEM, and make them BRAND HAPPY!

Past the campaign, though – please look at your overall brand.  Can I go to your site, cover up your logo and know who YOU are?  Know what it is about your product/destination/service that is uniquely you?  I once heard a tag line: “Like nowhere else”.  Well, Hell is like nowhere else either, but I don’t want to visit.  Seek uniqueness past the numbers.

May the brand power be with you,

Jenn

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