Magnetic Marketing

The shift from the Advertising Age to today’s “Age of the Consumer” brought with it a fundamental shift in the role of the Brand…

Previously, marketing was used to seek out consumers. Now it’s the consumers that seek out trustworthy marketing to inform them on brands and products. Accessibility and convenience is key in this shift because it allows the consumer to seek out information on their own time, in their favorite forms of media and within their own boundaries of control.

Traditional platforms, like newspapers or print collateral, still rely on a push-style strategy rather than providing an engaging message that catches potential consumers’ attention or utilizes pull marketing strategies to forge the relationship between the individual and the brand.

Pull, Don’t Push!

Interactive marketing relies on “technographics” (technology-based user segmentation) rather than demographics. Therefore, the segmentation is dependent on the role that technology plays in the consumers’ lives. This means it is imperative to focus your pull strategy on the customer behavior and make sure the message is about your audience, posing your brand or product as a solution to their specific needs. It’s about the brand’s ability to add value for the individual through credible relationship building reinforced via technological mediums that they use and trust.

“Research by the Keller Fay Group finds that only

7 percent of word of mouth happens online.”

-Jonah Berger, Contagious: Why Things Catch On

While social media platforms do play to the sense of “community” that inspires online engagement and social sharing, it is not nearly as high of an impact as one might think. In fact, often online content that “goes viral” surrounds an experience, event or engagement activity that is at some point captured (intentionally or by an engaged user) and then posted online.

The key is an experience that is appealing enough to cause non-participants to wish they were part of that experience too. For example, the Boy Scouts of America Holodeck proved such a unique experience that participants were excited to take photos and videos to share with family and friends both online and offline. That degree of organic excitement exponentially increases opportunities for far-reaching exposure above and beyond the immediate target audience. Video footage of an interactive experience provides additional online content for easy viral social sharing and ensures both the experience and its take-aways work in tandem alongside existing digital marketing goals, reaching your ideal “technographics.”

Ultimately, the greatest long-term value in experiential marketing is the ability to transform content into a personal, immersive connection with the consumer, inspiring the consumer’s emotional investment in becoming a co-creator of ongoing value for themselves and the brand.

Want to learn more? Visit 900lbs.com and explore some incredible interactive experiences for yourself!