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This means there is a lot of opportunity, but also a need for additional caution during a time when emotions are higher and tolerance for brand mess-ups are likely lower. It also means that marketers need to make some shifts in their strategy, and acquire new skills to help them cut through the additional noise online.
#1 Shift messaging to be more human-centric than product-centric
If you work for a brand that is used to a strategy heavily geared toward push marketing, this is the time to start being more human than product-centric. Some companies will be able to do this better than others. If you work for a company that sells yoga pants, your marketing may not need to change as much as a restaurant or an airline. But even then, the best companies aren’t doing the hard sell on their products.
This image from Adobe is a fantastic example of a company that understands that people need a few more virtual hugs and encouragement than normal, and they do so while still showcasing what is important to the brand-good design.
#2 Revisit your company values
This goes back to being more human-centric. There is a lot of unrest and uncertainty in the world right now, both in the area of public health, but also minority injustice. Too many companies have not paused their marketing to take a look at whether their messaging could be re-examined to better fit into the overarching concerns of the world.
Now is a good time to remind employees of guidelines related to social media so their missteps aren’t a reflection upon the company, even indirectly. It may also be a good time to revisit the values of the company and what really matters to the founders, the stakeholders, and employees. More and more companies are putting a stake in the ground when it comes to equality, even if it might be controversial, such as this post from Lululemon.
Coca-Cola even took on the tricky world of NASCAR, partnering with them and their drivers to work toward ending systemic racism.
.@NASCAR knows together we must end systemic racism. That’s why drivers Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suárez, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman are speaking out on ways to bring change. pic.twitter.com/vpWvmOjiBG
— Coca-Cola (@CocaCola) June 26, 2020
If your brand chooses to go this route, be thoughtful, and have a plan in place to deal with any backlash that you might face. Make sure you also have a great social listening tool in place, like Talkwalker, to be able to monitor the conversation along the way.
Additionally, make sure that if you choose to adjust your marketing strategy for a cause, do so for the right reasons, not just because it’s trendy or for momentary likes and thumbs up. Commit to really making a difference, otherwise you risk coming across as disingenuous, and that could prove more disastrous in the long run.
#3 Go back to school
Ok, I’m a bit biased here, in that I teach for HubSpot Academy, but this summer truly is the perfect time to hone your skills and to learn new ones. There are so many wonderful possibilities online these days. Here are a few free courses to get you started.
- Diversity Beyond the Checkbox
- Effective Problem-Solving and Decision Making
- Self-Made Entrepreneurship with Sara Blakely (founder of Spanx)
- Ignite Your Everyday Creativity
#4 Start experimenting
The most successful marketers are always tweaking their strategies and looking for ways to become more efficient, or to push themselves to find better ways to reach their audience. At HubSpot, one of the things our team does is divvy up specific types of experiments to each team member. For example, in the areas of boosting NPS (Net Promoter Score), optimizing offers or portions of our website, or finding better ways to coordinate with sales. Each member of the team is responsible for researching their problem, developing experiments to test hypotheses, and reporting back on the results using Loom to do presentations that are shared throughout the team. At that point the experiment goes into a next phase or the team member takes on a new experiment challenge.
#5 Read more
When Warren Buffet was asked what the key to success was, he replied. “Read 50 pages every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”
For many of us this summer, we’re spending a lot of time at home, trying to stay safe amidst a pandemic. Give your TV or computer a rest and pick up a book and expand that knowledge. Read widely, for new ideas, to gain empathy, and to make discoveries that will make you not just a better marketer, but a better person. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
- Fanocracy: Turning Fans Into Customers and Customers Into Fans by David Meerman Scott and Reiko Scott
- The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
- The Miracle Morning for Network Marketers: Grow Yourself FIRST to Grow Your Business Fast by Honoree Corder and Hal Elrod
- The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
- Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Revised) by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
What are you planning to do differently this summer?
About the author
Crystal King is a Social Media Professor for HubSpot Academy. Crystal created HubSpot Academy’s popular Social Media Marketing Course which has awarded over 50,000 certifications to professionals across the globe. Crystal has led global social media programs for companies such as Keurig and CA Technologies, and taught classes in writing, creativity, and social media at Harvard Extension School, Boston University, UMass Boston, and GrubStreet, one of the leading creative writing centers in the US. She is also the author of two novels, The Chef’s Secret and Feast of Sorrow. Follow her on Twitter: @crystallyn.
