The value of a creator’s relationship with their audience is much more than just “product placements”.
People live in and buy “moments”. The main job of every marketer is to find out what those moments are and be present when they arise. It is possible to do that partnering with creators. Why not utilise their authentic, true relationship with their audience to get insights about your brand?
One of the most memorable conversations I’ve had during my time at Google, was with the purchasing head of a multinational about programmatic advertising. He said, “ I know you guys don’t like it but, don’t underestimate TV. It has worked for over 50 years and delivers with a decent level of measurement”.
Except for the arguable last bit, that statement paused me for a second; is mass marketing still effective, have we gone too far with the exact audience and precision targeting?
“Continuously reach all buyers of the category, via communication (mental availability) and distribution (physical availability), don’t ever be silent”
Byron Sharp
Despite the fact that you always needed to cast a wider net to get the best results, reaching the right audience was the tagline for a long time for platforms (which still is). There are many benefits of advertising platforms (including programmatic TV) but it changed the way we talk about consumers, and not always in a good way.
It’s the data, idiot!
Demography, geo-location, affinity, interests… all of which have been collected based on the consumers interactions with the platform itself (or estimated in case of not enough data) and used for user targeting. As a result, our marketing IQ has increased a ton, but what about “building memory structures” and “creating emotional connections for consumers with the brand” which is the reason why they buy what they buy in the end?
Think of all the brands you made that connection with, here are a few of mine:
🧴 Nivea sunscreen — age 6, swimming in the Mediterranean with a silly, inflatable flamingo float
🧼 Sebamed soap — age 14, need it for the stubborn acnes, smells nice though
🚗 Fiat Regata- age 16, sat the first time in the driver seat and hit the accelerator instead of the breaks!
🍪 Oreos — ageless, twist and lick the cream first and demolish the biscuits in under a second
People live in and buy “moments”
All of us have these memories, fully intact with sensory links to the brands that were there, with us, when we needed them. So the main job of any brand marketer is;
- to find out what those moments are
- how they can be recreated
- and how to be present when they arise
Between you and me
Figuring out those moments for consumers is not easy for marketers. One of the most common ways that marketers use is the online survey. They either use their own customer database or pay for third party user databases to do this research. However, this is a limited and not informative enough approach because:
- Multiple choice is limited
- You can’t ask follow up questions
- Results are unreliable & inauthentic
- Rate of response is low
Whereas, there’s a much better way of getting these insights for a brand from their existing and would-be consumers; creators.
To tell you the truth
The most successful creators of our time on any platform are the ones who were born out of genuine relationships with their followers. They tell their audience the truth, and their audience reciprocates in kind.
When brands run influencer campaigns, they tend to think about brand awareness with certain vanity metrics in mind and try to measure the impact on their sales (not so successfully).
The value of a creator’s relationship with their audience is much much more than that.
Why not utilise that authentic, true relationship to get insights about your brand? Instead of simply “showing” your products, imagine your creators asking questions to their audience in the moments that matter;
- Choosing a dress together for their best friend’s wedding
- Buying a buggy for their newborn
- Renting a van for their first family vacation with their toddler child
On live streams, in real time with:
- dynamic polls
- live maps (to visualise places mentioned in the chat)
- word clouds (to understand what’s top of mind for viewers)
- ask-me-anything (where questions are organised by topic)
People like talking about their lives, their dreams and what really matters to them. They like being heard.
The way to understand these insights for marketers is to invest in brand EQ as much as brand IQ, utilising the power they already have with their creators / influencers.
Multytude provides gamified insights via live streams hosted by creators.
www.multytude.com
squad@multytude.com
