Sell the Experience, Not the Product

Sell The Experience Featured Image

Brands are feeling the pressure now more than ever to foster deeper connections with their audiences. Content Marketing opens the door for brands to develop more intimate and empathetic customer-brand relationships. Despite the tools laid out before them, many brands are still struggling to figure out how to use them. Consumers are no longer interested in simply being pitched a product – a pretty little sign and large font saying, “Buy me!” No, they’re looking for something far more memorable, a brand that they can trust and rely on. That’s why our strategists have seen amazing successes in marketing by focusing on “selling the experience, not the product.”

How do you do this? Keep reading to find out. 

Tell a Story

Telling your story is the one of the purposes of content marketing. Simply pitching your product or service is no longer an effective strategy to connect with consumers – who now long for an experience that will show them how their product will solve their problems or help them achieve a goal. Brands should use this insight to create more detailed narratives for their target audiences to connect; that is where a deeper bond will be formed.

What does it look like when your customers’ problems are solved by your product or service? What does it feel like? Are they smiling? Relieved? Relaxed, or excited?

Use images, videos, sound, and other content that will visually communicate the desired experience that your product or service can create for your target audience. Tell a story, fictional or with true-life testimonies, of a person that has achieved that desired experience. Describe the challenges they overcame that motivated them to seek your brand’s solutions to their problems. The content from that story will resonate with a certain audience(s) with similar situations and create that FOMO feeling that will encourage them to desire and seek that same experience.

That’s why your content is a critical element in building the story that represents the value of your brand – a story that, if done correctly, will draw your audience in. It drives the development from a simple product to the broader brand experience. As with all stories, of course, it must flow well, be consistent, and be relevant for the consumer to take what they want from it…and feel good about what they got out of it.

Emotive Engagement

Evoking the desired emotional reaction is key when it comes to customers allowing brands into their personal lives. No matter what the product or service is that you are offering, you should always aim to create a personal and human-to-human connection with your consumer audience. 

Need an example? Old Navy’s’ recent commercial is a brilliant illustration of how brands can connect with consumers by relating to the current social-cultural climate across the United States. The video showcased models that look like the people who might watch the ad, connected through acts and verbiage regarding unity and togetherness, and presented the prospective audience with a thoughtful and memorable visual narrative.

Emotional engagement rooted in the way of thinking that identifies that ‘we are all human and that should reflect in a brand’s marketing messaging’, presents a new way to communicate with consumers while also promoting your brand.

Build a Relationship

A large benefit of content marketing is the ability to build strong, lasting relationships with the target audience. By creating relatable and personalized content across your social publishing platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc), you begin to build a bond with your audience that goes behind the ‘copy and paste’ strategy which enables you to create a unique conversation between your brand and audience(s).

In short, the key is to create a bridge with your consumers built on brand loyalty, brand responsiveness, and brand reputability.

Lots and Lots of Data

So here’s the deal: crafting relatable, personalized content helps to build a bond between you and your audience.

In order to produce this personalized content, however, a brand must draw on data to pull out the necessary insights. Without tangible data insights, marketers are basically shooting in the dark and hoping that something sticks.

But (there’s always a ‘but’ with Content Marketing), once you draw on these insights and use the data to your advantage, you have the necessary information to produce targeted content that will stick with your audience and make your brand stick out.

Be Memorable

Customers today are often easily distracted, multitasking and dual-screening, so it’s now more important than ever to make sure your brand is memorable. Brands now need to work harder to grab and keep their target audience’s attention; fortunately, Content Marketing strategies can be a big help in these situations.

Going back to the data insight we discussed before, drawing on that data and using it to make attention-grabbing content is just one way to make sure that your brand is memorable and keep the attention of your target audience. Remember to keep your audience’s needs in mind, and create content that excites and delights to create a memorable experience.

Brands must begin to place more emphasis on the entire experience as a whole, rather than just trying to sell their product or service.

For more tips and strategies on how to use Content Marketing to attract and engage your target audiences, comment “I Want More Sales” below and we’ll send you a copy of our FREE “Content Is Queen” eBook.

Share:

Add comment: