We encounter message saturation a lot with newsletter lists and social networking: there’s only so many times you can contact them before eyes start to gloss over and they don’t read what you’re saying anymore.
So what do you do? Can you market your brand without branding it that way so people start reading again?
Co-brand or sponsor an event, or chain of messages with a strategic partner. The branding of the marketing message completely changes to theirs, which will then catch your followers attention again.
Actors do it (getting married or into a wildly tabloid-friendly relationship to get more press), so why can’t you? Coat tailing on another product is perfectly acceptable so long as they are applicable and you both benefit. Given everything out there, you can find countless ways to co-brand your product with others either in actual products or events in order to shake up the normal messages that you send out in any given cycle.
Music and wine, service and products – think outside the box a little to think if quirky things your followers and customers like or enjoy doing and jump on it. It’s just another form of advertising, but where we see it most beneficial is in re-engaging people in your customer lists.
One of our clients used to run raffles and giveaways on a regular basis. After time, however, the number of people entering to win progressively decreased (even though the followers and newsletter lists continued to grow. Bottom line is the message and incentive got tired. A few quick emails and phone calls partnered up with a magazine publisher with whom this company often places ads. The prize was exactly the same as the past raffles, but it was branded under the publishers name and logo as the exclusive sponsor of the “new” giveaway event. This re-branding resulted in nearly 400% more entries into the raffle for the same prize, and sent to the same lists. A simple co-branding made all the difference.
The moral: don’t be afraid to let your logo be in the background when marketing your brand. People have short attention spans and will (I promise you) take your presence in their social stream or inbox for granted (translation: they won’t even read it b/c they assume they know what it says). So find a wingman! Get a half dozen or so with whom you develop campaigns that are new… but the same. 😉 You’ll easily venture into some new markets, get some new awareness, and kick your current lists in the head a little bit so they start reading your marketing message again. All good.
Intel, meet PC. Apple, meet Nike. Hershey’s, meet Betty Crocker.
