On the image above from Smart Insights are additional prisms. I added this to show you the wealth of tools available for businesses. The key is not to try and use them all, I didn’t write this to overwhelm you. I just want to show you that there’s a universe out there that is much more than the top two or three which is Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. There are many that are quite specialist, therefore they create an opportunity for smaller brands, because the big brands dominate the big platforms. So the next point to think about is that when you’re operating your PR. It used to be that you’d send a press release or do an interview and then you get a daily newspaper, or a monthly magazine or see it on the news, people are at a fixed place when they absorb and consume that content; because they sat down to watch TV with their family, or got the newspaper with a cup of tea.
You couldn’t access people at a certain time or place, now that’s changing. What it means is that customers have got a journey and you’re with an audience, possibly 24 hours a day across their whole lifestyle. People are buying and acquiring, they’re owning and serving, and they are researching in real time from anywhere. They’re evaluating and then they’re buying, they’re getting delivery, then using, then maintaining and possibly advocating. They may recommend, or give a bad rating. I tried the other day to buy a new Logitech HD camera for my sister who is a world authority on light and who is in demand as a speaker, but now these are all sold out on Amazon. The product ratings are so high that products like this become a manufacturers dream product; a convergence of need and spontaneous consumer referrals driving sales. So companies can start to think about when you want their different audiences to see on their journey. Are they going to work or are they staying at home? Are they beginning their day, are they ending their day?
The message that we give is different and tailored to the time and place it will be seen; you might still see some ads on LinkedIn for a famous Asian car manufacturer. They were still running ads for a showroom promotion about a month ago in the UK. People are in lock down, why are they running an ad saying ‘come to the showroom for a test drive’ when no one can get out? It just shows that they were completely out of touch with what their audience is living through.
This week one of our team members had a sofa and furniture delivered. The issue was that the delivery men left it on the doorstep. They told him that he should have had an email to explain that they couldn’t enter the house. He’s alone with 2 small kids! He checked the email which was sent only days before the furniture was due to be delivered and apparently it doesn’t explain this — but more over how is he supposed to get the furniture into his home? He’s been waiting 8 weeks for this new sofa. His family are all eating Friday night dinner sitting on the floor again tonight. So the mission of this company isn’t to delight the consumer with a comfortable sofa it is simply to sell a product, drag and drop. The men could have worn masks, or asked everyone to say 2 metres away. This kind of experience then will become folklore and will be shared on social media.
There’s so much content generated by the company itself, and now by consumers, that as a company it’s almost impossible to engage and to reassure and to inform your customers and your allies and your staff without a concerted and concentrated campaign. Companies should think about the complete cycle of events and how they can start to engage with those people on a more consistent basis.
[We built some tools that we work with our clients on that I think you can use, and that are available free here on our website ]
Originally published at https://www.eastwestpr.com.
