Above and beyond advertising

How brands should act in a converging world

It was my second morning at the LOGIN tech conference and with my eyes still closing in, I went to see Dr. Peter Petermann‘s presentation. Maybe it was the coffee, or maybe it was Petermann‘s speech that hit me with a straight doze of energy.

Petermann from Carat Germany, an international media planning company, was talking about brands in a converging world. Not the convergence between devices which has been happening for the past decade, but the convergence between people.

People are coming together and forming communities
around the things they love.

While this activity is not revolutionary in itself, what changed is the ability to share content.

Thanks to all the technology and devices, we are able to share content anytime anywhere.

If you have an interest for books, you no longer have to attend book club meetings once a month to share it — you can tell your community about a book you‘ve read instantly through reviews, ratings, tweets and Facebook posts.

What‘s important is that this convergence between people has one crucial attribute — the content they share is always relevant to their interests.

Petermann suggests brands do the same. Currently most of them are trying to advertise but people are not interested in advertising. Why? Because it‘s general. When you advertise your brand, you are talking about the features inside your category. If you‘re a car company, you will be talking about speed, safety, design. Just like every other brand in that category.

Brands need to be relevant to their consumers.
Above and beyond advertising.

Marketers should understand that the tools are already provided — thanks to all the modern devices, brands can be always present to their consumers: when they shop, when they party, when they rest, etc. Think of geo-targeting your users, giving them special offers/discounts when they‘re close to your shop.

Just like those shared-interest people communities, brands can provide relevant content every minute of the day. What‘s the benefit?

According to Petermann, the point of engagement and the point of transaction are coming together, thus culturally relevant brands can earn more from simply being more engaged with their consumers.

Yet, the point of engagement is not easy to find and to maintain. Suggestion is to look for “white spaces”.

Listen to consumers.
Identify biggest areas of their passion.
Find the unfulfilled gaps.
Conquer!

I know it’s easier said than done. And we surely don’t need every brand doing that. But such strategies can really benefit smaller businesses which are really passionate about their work but struggle to compete with the bigger guys in the market.

Heck, I hope this will help us finally kick WordPress’s ass!