Marketing Man

The following is a post originally written for the FUSE Marketing Group Blog. You can read the original + comments here. 

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You know when little Johnny comes into the house, face covered with a wide-mouthed grin and something hidden in his hand? He says to momma bear, “I have a present for you”, and her hopes flare, thinking she’s about to receive a lawn-grown daisy or perhaps a custom-tailored pet rock. But then Johnny takes his hand out from behind his back and the aforementioned “gift” turns out to be a steaming pile of Whiskers’ cat turds?

Right. That’s kind of like bad digital marketing strategies.

See, online marketing has its heart in all the right places. Over the last 10 years, their version of the Internet has gone from directory to sales channel to friend finder. Instead of simply hawking product, brands now want to engage and communicate with consumers.

Enter the “value-add”. Value-add content can be defined (by me) as additional consumer-centric information & opportunities that go above and beyond the standard offering. In other words, it’s the (usually free) cherry on top of the sundae; a little bit extra at no charge. The thinking is simple: help people in the hopes that they’ll be more likely to buy your thing.

Value-add content can take many forms but most commonly lives online; auto brand x has a blog about car racing? That’s value-add. College y has a “tips on saving for school” section on their website? Value-add. Those are the good examples. They’re offering pertinent info that their consumers are already looking for, and due to the nature of their brand, they’ve earned the right to consult on the matter.

But it doesn’t always feel so authentic. Too often, content is tailored towards a demographic or space that a brand WANTS to own and not what they DESERVE to own. Hypothetical example: Red Bull is an energy drink that’s organically associated with action and attitude. As a result, their attempt to “own” extreme sports makes total sense. But say Red Bull suddenly made the decision to target dairy farmers. Cool. The dairy farmer segment is rich with potential (and calcium) and could possibly open up a whole new legion of energy drink consumers. So, Red Bull – knowing that the fastest way to a consumer’s wallet is through his or her heart – decides to launch a value-add campaign, creating a microsite that’s full of agricultural tips and tricks. Got a manure question? Looking to connect with the online cattle community? Just go to RedCow.ca and let Red Bull help. Perhaps they’d even launch an XTREME CATTLE RANCH event where they have milk-offs, marathon plowing matches, and whatever else it is that dairy farmers do in their spare time.

Of course, this would be ridiculous. Red Bull has nothing to do with livestock or, for that matter, the people who raise them. Value-add is not a penetration strategy. If your pre-existing audience isn’t asking for it, nobody will see it. If I wanted to learn about bison branding, I’d turn to Agri-Food Canada or one of the hundreds of other official sources that’s so easily available to me.

How does that old proverb go? “Never take investment advice from your dentist”? Something like that. You get the point – people want to hear from the ones who know what they’re talking about. In the age of access, consulting the experts is no longer a preference – it’s a requirement.

So don’t try and fake it.