For certain businesses, developing a dynamic marketing campaign is extra challenging due to products that are quite boring to the average consumer. However, these products don't have to be boring. A creative, exciting marketing campaign can make any product seem interesting, even remote servers and email hosting.
Fashioning an engaging marketing campaign requires an awareness of the needs of the consumer. A recent survey conducted by Lightspeed Research and the Internet Advertising Bureau found that the top three components wanted in advertisements are relevance, usefulness, and a discount. Younger adults were more focused on the inclusion of entertainment, while older adults were insistent that advertisements should concentrate on presenting significant information.
Examples of Smart Marketing
With these points in mind, the marketing strategy for your "boring" product must first consider the desires of your target consumer. One example of a company that has capitalized on the needs of the consumer is Dropbox. Using an innovative referral marketing strategy, Dropbox has generated an impressive consumer base that continues to grow. By offering customers incentives for referrals, Dropbox relied primarily on word-of-mouth promotion to gain popularity in the "boring" but competitive industry of cloud storage.
The primary lesson to learn from the example of the Dropbox marketing campaign is to play to your strengths by developing an understanding of what does and doesn't work for your campaign. When Dropbox first launched, traditional marketing didn't do the company a whole lot of good. However, analysis of the company's growth showed the marketing team that word-of-mouth marketing was the most effective component of their campaign. Once the marketing campaign shifted towards a focus on word-of-mouth and referral marketing, the company really took off.
A second recent example of a company creating an exciting marketing campaign for "boring" products is General Electric, which realized that their marketing department was ineffective in making decisions about the company's promotional strategies, so the business came up with an entirely new approach to marketing. The new marketing strategy was concerned with eight disciplines that the company found to be significant in developing a marketing campaign. In addition, the marketing department identified four important roles that marketers had to play in creating an effective campaign. With this well-defined new approach General Electric entered a new era of intentional promotion for its products instead of relying on the high quality of the products to speak for themselves.
How To Develop Brilliant Marketing
The first step in producing a dynamic marketing campaign for your "boring" product is to ask the right questions about the industry that will allow you to understand what customers want in a product. Competitive analysis might help in this part of the process. Most importantly, learn to empathize with your customers so that you can present content that will be useful and relevant to their needs. As you determine who will be your target audience, generate a conceptual customer persona to whom you will address your content.
Successful content will be helpful and educational to your audience. Even if the product seems boring, informational content that addresses any questions or problems the customers might face will be valuable to your audience. In order to create this kind of beneficial content, avoid generic content and instead generate content specific to the customers' concerns. Your understanding of the industry will assist you in coming up with particular topics that uniquely appeal to your target audience.
Your interesting marketing campaign doesn't have to be silly. You may see viral videos and memes that promote a product and think that you have to create something goofy to grab attention, but depending on your industry, dignified content may be more productive. Try incorporating different types of attention grabbing content, such as an interview with an authority in your field, a helpful infographic, or a shocking statistic. Don't shy away from humor, but incorporate humor that appeals specifically to your target audience.
Don't forget to build a space where your customers can engage with your brand. Have a place to answer questions, offer a forum, or produce a podcast that takes customer calls. If your customers see your company as a source of information, they will keep coming back.
Building Great Content
As you create your content, remember that quality content requires the investment of your time. Find a tone for your content that is relatable and not over-bearing. Take time to make sure that any written content is high quality and easily readable - try adding bold font or bullet points to make the content look more appealing. Don't be afraid to present static content - if the information is useful to your audience, it will remain relevant and continue generating interest in your brand.
Once you have implemented these strategies in your campaign for your "boring" product, take time to analyze the results of your marketing tactics. Follow the example of Dropbox and identify your greatest strengths so that you can capitalize on them and continue to produce a dynamic campaign that makes your product seem vital and exciting.
About the Author
Amie Marse, is the founder and managing partner of Content Equals Money, a content writing service for agencies and Web-based clients.
