From ‘Targeting’ To Traveling Together
Invite your conscious audiences so you can #TravelTogether
The most loved brands have cultures, systems and platforms that consistently allow their audiences to be an intimate part of the brand.
May be their leaderships are intuitively aware of this truth or it was a deliberate strategy in masterful tribe-building. But it is undeniable that these brands have assiduously cultivated audience love by making them part of the brand’s journey.
This approach is imperative for purpose-led brands. For conscious audiences seek and reward brands that have actionable and tangible ways to be a part of the brand’s purpose journey.
Leadership teams must realize that pretty much all ‘causes’ are works in progress. We are at the ’baby steps’ stage of solving the world’s challenges.
From Climate change to fair trade to zero waste to body positivity and pretty much everything in between, we are just getting started. Some of these will take decades to be realized. Some sooner.
So when a brand takes up a cause and seeks attention from conscious audiences, it is critical that it clearly demonstrates that it is in it for real and for the long-haul. To be taken seriously by it’s most valuable audiences.
This calls for an evolutionary shift in marketing think.
Several brands have already shown the way for the rest of us. Patagonia, Ben and Jerry’s are but a couple of examples of putting money where the brand’s voice is.
This evolution in marketing think starts with moving away for running just ‘campaigns’ that ‘targets’ people to building audience journeys that are inviting and inclusive.
Personally, I have always felt irked by the excessive use of term ‘targeting’ when it comes to marketing / media engagements. Every time I used that word, all I could visualize was a dart board against someone’s back. It has a very ‘going to war like’ energy to it.
Contrast that with a more audience-collaborative opportunities like the ones created by conscious fashion brand @prana or carbon-neutral @wind.mobility.
Team @prana sharing it’s measurable impact
@wind.mobility involving their customers to be their experiential ambassadors
Each one weaves the customer experience of the brand-purpose as an integral part of the brand experience. Stories that invite the audiences to travel together towards a more conscious future is central to their growth story.
‘Campaign thinking' by nature is time-boxed and ‘Targeting’ by virtue is ‘one-sided’.
Collaborative narratives across touch points that allow for audiences to be a part of the brand experience is where the magic of building a truly sustainable ‘sustainable’ brand lies.
You don’t have to take my word for it.
Just listen to this truth telling by Kimberly Paige, the CMO of BET during a recent AdAge virtual town hall. Sharing her views around ‘Multicultural Marketing’, she emphasized her truths…
“You will never hear me as a marketer talk about ‘Targeting’. I never say..’who are we targeting?’. That is a term that I think is predatory in nature and if you think about it, when you are being ‘targeted’ by someone, you are really in someone’s crosshairs. Right? Who want’s to be in that situation?”
It is better you listen to this and other gems of wisdom from her own voice. 20 minutes of truth telling to set your marketing team in motion.
As you start your week and close out the year, the question to ask really is:
How can we invite our audiences into our brand story?
And one last thing.
After listening to her voice out what was my ‘secret’ truth about ‘targeting’, I truly felt seen + right + aligned with what I am doing here through resonant.
Have a wonderful ‘week before Christmas week’!. Till next time.
Ram