2020 has turned out to be one of the most challenging years for businesses and marketers. With the constant flood of new information on politics, COVID, protests, quarantine, and the myriad of pop-culture memes — it can be exhausting.
The average consumer is faced with two major dilemmas:
1. They are overwhelmed by new messages.
2. They are being asked to support and care about more causes than ever before.
The number of new messages coming at a consumer have grown at a staggering rate, simply because businesses, politicians, and any company that operated in the “physical world” primarily are now funneling their dollars into “digital” advertising.
This means a flood of new competition is paying higher prices for ads and driving out smaller players.
The second element is that the number of polarizing topics and movements occurring is dramatic. Big meaty topics that ask us to deeply care and trigger some major emotions.
So the question is: do we just hide until this is all over before spending more ad dollars?
The short answer is no. This pandemic has put more eyeballs online than ever before. The difference is not where we communicate or when. It is how we position our message in this noisy environment that matters.
If consumers are being bombarded with pushy sales tactics, we go the other direction. Nearly every movement at the moment is negative in tone.
This means consumers are seeing negativity and push messages on their Facebook feed, in the news, and almost anywhere you look. These are usually bold headlines with a lot of jarring images or copy.
The answer to standing out is to tell stories of positivity and hope.
As consumers are hit with negativity, the interrupt we present them with is a positive story about how someone went out of their way to help others or their community related to what you do.
The second element is to tell the story in the first person. As people, we can’t identify with statistics, only our own experiences as an individual. This is why big scary statistics for smoking never changed behavior, but sharing individual stories in the antismoking “Truth campaign” changed perceptions on smoke and made it uncool.
So, as you build out your campaign, you can use some basic story prompts to get you started.
• I can remember when I…..
• They stood out against the….
• I never would have known this unless….
• After she did this it all changed…
Your story is your power. Tell it well and often to cut through the noise. Use it in your ads, your blog, your videos, and be seen, heard, and felt.
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Photo Credit: @austindistel on Unsplash