Naturalizing Your Marketing Approach: Effort Wins Out

In other words, it’s easy to get behind the times or be exposed for a lack of understanding because, nowadays, consumers are the perfect critics. 

More than ever, the eyes that absorb marketing content become all the more critical — smarter, cunning, aware of the intent behind the poster.
Likewise, authority is being questioned much more routinely and skepticism is an every day tool rather than a practice reserved for certain minds only. 

And so, the effect of a marketing effort that misses its mark on social media or with an advertisement is amplified all the more. In a world of intricate niches, informed consumers, and increasingly raised standards of advertising content, the proper approach is an absolute must.

There are countless reasons for this, the fundamental one of which revolves around the idea of formulating a genuinely authentic relationship built upon bilateral respect and engagement between producer and consumer.

The question thus becomes: how do we ensure the right approach?

One way, among countless ways, is to simply and instinctively lean towards the creation of (and adherence to) a natural feeling associated with the delivery of the content. Admittedly, it’s easier said than done.

For instance, if the targeted consumers are in a more youthful and energetic age group, any effective marketing efforts ought to be constructed in their style and delivered — appropriately —  into the mediums that they utilize. To go deeper with an example — a company selling athletic attire to younger generations, say students, will want to post visually-vibrant and trendy photos on Instagram and Pinterest rather than parlay scientific wording or wordy descriptions on those platforms. Said company will want to generate buzz, not evidence and convince the eyes more than the minds. Similarly, if that same company were targeting older generations, they’d want the wordy science, the substantiating evidence and seek to go beyond appealing visuals — they’d heed the need for depth and some style (whether it be intellectual, financial, or emotional) of persuasion, maybe taking to Facebook or Medium to unravel a convincing narrative. 

More than anything, however, it’s the simple effort and attempt to build a brand that translates into success. It sounds like hokum but it works — to be brand-conscious, to get thinking on a deeper level about the directions and the pools of target consumers — this is what separates the generic companies from the unique ones, what allows some to stand out over others. 

48% of smaller organizations have a documented content strategy (Source: Content Marketing Institute) 

With anything, nothing’s achieved without the attempt — that much is clear. As long as the effort is made in the first place, the effort to do away with common and templated approaches, diluted beyond any recognizable distinctiveness. It’s the effort to infuse a brand with sentiment, with meaning, that carries it towards eventual success. 

To act natural and be ourselves — a timeless truism that holds water in any application. To over-reach, to be out of place, to not consider it in the first place — this squanders the effort and muddles the waters of brand-building, largely because it doesn't bother to respectfully invite the attention of a consumer as much as it simply shouts of like a street vendor among a sea of street vendors. 

And so, it’s vital that we let the brand build itself naturally, that we don’t force it into something it shouldn’t be and that we don’t just let layers of dust build upon the potential for a brand to grow into itself. Instinct helps, as does feedback. Even the big guys get it wrong every now and again — it’s an ever-evolving flux of staying relevant, staying cool, and constantly redefining. Trial and error, persistently pursued, wins out eventually, so long as the attempt is made in the first place.

Sources 

https://neilpatel.com/blog/38-content-marketing-stats-that-every-marketer-needs-to-know/

https://www.academia.edu/8127297/Content_Marketing