A nude way of marketing

Whatever you think of Dr Victoria Bateman’s ideas on Brexit* … I’m guessing that this video will get your attention!

*Personally, I don’t have any strong views on the issue. I’m just keen, as I suspect most of us are, for us to get past this ghastly period of uncertainty.

And, getting people’s attention (being heard) is a ‘must do’ element of marketing for most businesses – big or small.

So, let’s look at this awareness/attention grabbing stage of marketing and explore some powerful ways of getting more of it… for your business or any other campaign your working on.

BTW relationship marketing also includes:

1. Interest / information giving
2. Engagement
3. Trial
4. Adoption
5. Loyalty and
6. Advocacy

And if you’d like more ideas on these matters… and some high impact and proven sales ideas in the future, sign up to my newsletter here

Marketing alone won’t cut it

Now, before we get into this attention-grabbing subject let’s just get clear on one, perhaps obvious, point.

Whatever your products or services – they have to be good. And that means they must deliver a real ‘gain’ to your customers.

The vast majority of businesses deliver valuable services but, I think it’s worth reinforcing this point in this digital age …

… because there are some who offer nothing more than an attention-grabbing promise.

They’re selling the ‘sizzle’ if you like and there’s no sausage to back it up!

Clearly, Victoria Bateman is a lady of academic substance – you don’t get to become a fellow in economics at Cambridge or receive masters and doctorate degrees from Oxford, unless you know a good deal about your subject.

But because publishing is relatively easy these days, there are a growing number of ‘gurus’ selling some very expensive courses that promise to make you a ‘guru’ too … even if you don’t have much expertise at all. This trend will fade but in the meantime be sure not to spend a fortune with these folk. You simply don’t need to.

Just remember to get your own content/product/service in good shape before seeking attention for it.

Now sharpening your business proposition is something I’ll come back to in a future Insight… and, if that’s of interest, get my Newsletter updates. 

Here we’ll focus on the attention seeking stage of marketing.

Words matter and less is more

Victoria Bateman is smart when it comes to message marketing.

Of course, giving nude talks as a fellow of Cambridge (and going nude on the BBC’s  ‘Today Programme’) has grabbed some headlines for her … but she’s also attending to the other essentials of marketing.

She clearly knows that words matter and that less is more … 

…or to put that another way… short sentences have more impact.

So, for example, the words on her body, ‘Brexit leaves Britain naked’  are easy to remember… and they make you think (and ask ‘how?’) even if, as I said earlier, you don’t agree with her ideas.

To see how important this is, let me ask you a question.

Can you remember all 6 of Labour’s 6 tests of a good Brexit?

Or were there 5?

Indeed, can you remember a single one of them?

No?

Well, nor can I… and I’d bet a pound to a penny that 99.9% of the population don’t know what those tests were either.

You see, research shows that, without using clever tricks, we can typically only carry three or four items in our working memory.

That’s why we tend to chunk our telephone numbers into groups or 3 or 4 digits.

So, Labour’s communications team did a bad job there and they need to learn from it.

Here’s a classic, easy to remember quote… and note how it’s broken into two 3 word elements … easy to remember right? 😉

Appeal to people’s emotions

This is a big subject which we’ll come back to – with a list of the core emotions you can focus on when developing your messages.

For now, let’s just think what emotions Victoria Bateman might be appealing to here…

… the fear of losing out (through Brexit) of course …

… but perhaps she’s also appealing to people’s sense of vulnerability – by making herself visibly vulnerable on stage.

Certainly, there’s a lot to think about when it comes to emotional marketing – and this is probably the most important aspect to master.

So, add yourself onto my newsletter list if you’d like to learn more

Use Imagery – it’s more powerful

Words and text can be super powerful but the truth is they don’t grab your attention like images and videos.

Now, I’d not suggest that we all try Victoria’s nude videos to bring attention to ourselves for three reasons.

First, because ‘nude’ would not be shocking/newsworthy if we all did it!

Second because we clearly risk alienating ourselves from certain (dare I say prudish?) elements of society. And if we want to win an argument as big as Brexit – we probably want to be as inclusive as possible.

And third, because we risk becoming famous for our ‘shock’ tactic rather than the content of our message.

So, we need to be careful about the images we use.

A shocking image can work wonders sometimes but just make sure it aligns with your brand and message.

And, in fairness to Victoria, I think the nude image works well for her messages.

And use video – it’s super powerful

There’s a lot of research that will tell you how video grabs more attention than words and images alone.

But, as with most investments, the stuff that gives you potentially high returns often comes with high risks attached.

So, if you’re going to create videos, I’d strongly suggest that you prepare and execute them well.

Sure, we all know it’s easy to create and post selfie videos on our phones these days.

And if you’re already famous (or you’re particularly cute – or both) that might work fine for you.

But for the rest of us 😉 our videos need to focus on adding value to the viewer …

… something that very few of the millions of selfie videos out there achieve.

So, not surprisingly, we’re getting tired of the volume of these videos now.

You know the ones I’m talking about – the piece to camera from the cheery person who doesn’t really understand their subject matter and is more interested in saying “hello” to their FB live watchers than adding any value to your life!

The idea that we should all make these videos is well past its sell by date now and thank goodness for that.

The evidence is that what’s gaining traction now is …

… better quality thinking from experts who communicate clearly.

Which is another reason you might want to listen to Victoria Bateman – if only for a coherently argued alternate viewpoint 😉

And a lot of the other noise on Social Media is simply going down the tubes!

More on that here.

Get seen in the right places at the right time

Finally, when it comes to grabbing attention to your message you need to be seen in the right places.

So, if your target audience is on Twitter or Facebook, it makes sense to build an audience on those platforms …

… and post (or advertise to precisely the group of people you want to  – in the locations you want) at the best time of day to catch your audience scrolling.

But be aware, that cracking a cost-effective campaign with FB Ads or Google Ads is not easy.

So, it’s a story we’ll come back to another time. 

Alternatively, you can take out Ads in local papers or specialist magazines, taking care to use only those magazines most read by your target market.

Or, as with Dr Victoria here, you can go for awareness raising big time – and get yourself interviewed by a national newspaper or the BBC.

Again, you could gain a massive audience by going for the big national media outlets but the risks are big too and especially on live radio or TV.

So prepare well, and perhaps invest in some media training if you’re going for media interviews.

The truth is that a lot of journalists are rascals – and they simply want a ‘story’ …

… so, they’re often more keen to find holes (forgive the pun) in your arguments or approach than they are to actually listen to what you have to say.

And I’d say this is well proven in the John Humphries (BBC R4) interview of Victoria Bateman. 

I hope that offers some food for thought.

If you want help in developing great content for your website or developing your core marketing messages or more generally to make your sales more effective – give me a shout.

Otherwise, until next time

All the best for now

Paul 

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