“Miguel, I haven’t owned or leased a Nissan Murano for six years,” I texted back. Text messaging is a wonderfully powerful way to communicate with customers, prospects, leads, and even former customers. I don’t even know your CEO’s name and I was a customer for 16 years.) Having sat through dozens of content marketing agency pitches in the last four years (and having pitched content marketing accounts for over a decade), I know how much you love to teach content marketing. But this is not Content Marketing 101. They all explained how the world has changed and how content marketing is a slow game. Instead of being the fourth executive in four weeks to explain content marketing, here’s what I need you to try: Assume your prospects know everything they need to know about content marketing. Here’s the deal: If you invert your pitch at your next agency pitch meeting and you don’t win the account, I’ll spend an hour with you working on the presentation. You’re calling them “buyer personas” when what you’re describing is more aptly named “audience personas.” Here’s the thing: The most successful content marketing personas aim to build an audience of people who aren’t yet buyers – in other words, you’re reaching people before they need you (or before they know they need you). Are there companies whose marketing could benefit from some advice they don’t know they need?
Some of the best gifts are those you don’t realize you need, but once opened, you immediately see how useful they can be.
Unsolicited advice doesn’t always fall into that welcome-gift category. But Andrew Davis’ Unsolicited Advice column in Chief Content Officer typically does. He gives an unsuspecting company the benefit of his keen insight into how marketers veer off course and suggests how to get back on track.
Andrew delivers his helpful perspective with a dose of humor and generous offers to help. We share it now in the hope the lessons bring you good cheer.
1. Don’t let Miguel text (unless he can text back too)
Daniele Schillaci
Executive Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing
Nissan Motor Co.
Just because your dealers have the technology to send text messages to every single person who’s ever leased a Nissan vehicle doesn’t mean they should.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Nissan. In fact, I’ve leased three Nissan Muranos over the course of nine years. Each one of those vehicles was reliable, comfortable, affordable, and fast.
However, when I received the following text message from Miguel, I was shocked at how miserable your marketing is.
“Hey Andrew, I’m very excited to talk to you about your Nissan Murano,” the text message read.
“Miguel, I haven’t owned or leased a Nissan Murano for six years,” I texted back.
Miguel’s response? Crickets.
Text messaging is a wonderfully powerful way to communicate with customers, prospects, leads, and even former customers. However, if you’re going to make the best use of text-message marketing technology, maybe you should teach your dealers and sales staff to segment their lists.
Maybe you think text messages like the one Miguel sent are simply a minor annoyance. Or maybe you believe irritating some people to generate a few hot leads is a good strategy. However, they make your brand look ignorant and uncaring.
Text messaging is an interpersonal marketing medium and while I haven’t owned a Nissan for years, it’s a great opportunity to build an intimate relationship between a salesperson and a prospect like me. Who knows, maybe I’m in the market for a new car?
A few hours later I texted Miguel again: “What happened, not so excited to talk anymore?”
Crickets.
Here’s the deal. If you commit to teaching your dealers and their teams how to use new technology (like text messaging) to build better relationships with your customers, I’ll host a free webinar or speak at one of your dealer events for free.
I’d love to be part of the solution. What do you say? Do we have a deal?
Whether you wanted it or not,
Andrew Davis (November 2018)
2. Take a human cue from T-Mobile’s CEO
Diego Scotti
Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Verizon
Have you considered leveraging your people to power your brand?
I love your new Humanability campaign. I get it; you’re trying to show the world that you’re more than just a wireless network. You’re making the world a better place. I appreciate that. I do.
We don’t wait for the future. We build it. We’re helping support the next generation by giving kids access to the tools they need to achieve more in this world. We call it #humanability, discover more. https://t.co/199gR6UjTx pic.twitter.com/PAldZPc2vU
— Verizon Biz Markets (@VZBizMarkets) November 27, 2018
But have you seen what John Legere at T-Mobile is doing? Besides wooing over a million customers from Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T every quarter (for 19 straight quarters), he’s attached a person to the brand and is killing it. You have no idea what you’re missing if you haven’t tuned into John’s Slow Cooker Sunday show on Facebook. (Notice how I refer…
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