The New Digital Campaign isn't All Digital

Everyone wants their campaigns to be digital nowadays. In pursuing this requests more than a few times now, I've noticed something... 

The Realization

A "digital campaign" doesn't mean executing solely on digital platforms – banners, apps, videos — it means getting ways to get consumers to interact with content digitally... because that's where it gets shown to more people. Showrooming and third screen behavior were the first ways we saw consumers blurring the lines between "digital" and "real" world. Advertising and sharing is surely next.

The Reason

With mobile taking over digital consumption, people are exploring around the web less, clicking less, and are less likely to come across that sweet video you spent $2 million on or that contest landing page you worked for 6 months on (don't even get me started on legal). Have you guys heard of Camel's new game app? Didn't think so.

What to do About It

Find ways to get consumers to share your content or interact with your content on already populated mobile apps. Is there something you can put around town that they will want to take a selfie with? Use the new shazam visual scanner with your posters or sidewalk chalk drawings. Send people to a party where a photo booth tweets their images from their account. Get in touch for more ideas...

What Makes People Click vs Tick

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Sometimes I write to the customers' own language, ideas, likes — what makes them tick. But, if the main goal is to get them to click, I write to the customers' psyche and sub conscious.

Like great graphic design, the urge to click something should feel natural and go unnoticed. The moment a user of your digital experience has to think about what they are clicking, you’ve lost them to their thinking. There is a psychology behind what makes people click, and it’s not always the same as what makes them tick.

Tell Them Something They Didn’t Know

Nobody likes being told something they already know — it feels like a waste of time, and it’s boring. Don’t be that brand. Starting with an idea that tells something new or intrigues with new ideas will make people want to know more and reach your click. Starting with something that makes them tick by using phrases and ideas they already know, might seem like you’ve hit the jackpot, but it makes it harder to stand out, and to get people to click or want to see more. Sometimes it’s nice to tell them something new about what makes them tick, but it’s gotta be something great and really new.

Give Them Something to Grab Onto

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If I don’t grasp why you’re talking to me, then I’m not going to trust your content enough to read on or see more. Take a step back and ask, what you want your audience to grab onto, to click onto. Taking up someones time or attention with something that makes them tick, but doesn’t seem to have a purpose, makes your product or content easier to forget and less trustworthy. Use ingredients of what makes them tick (like a soccer ball for soccer fans) but make sure there’s a purpose there too. What you want them to grab onto could range from motivation to the need for a better, new soccer ball.

Complete the Story

Of course I’m going to click on “See More” if it completes, or is the next step in, the story I’ve been shown so far. Using CTA’s that fit within the story you are telling makes people click. Using a CTA that just makes people tick with words you think they’ll like and sound fun, might be exciting, but it creates a break in the flow.

Amazon Fire + Showrooming

Amazon released their first smart phone yesterday, Fire.

They have included a bunch of unique, forward-thinking features with Fire, but one that I'm interested in at this very moment is the ability to recognized real world products and find them on Amazon in seconds.

What does this mean for brick-and-mortar retail stores? How can they win this battle against showrooming?

How Retail Stores Can Beat Showrooming

They can't. 

What Retail Stores Should Do About Showrooming

A man walks into a store, sees something he likes and buys it. This is the retail store process put simply, with showrooming or not. The only difference is how he buys it.

He looks online to see if it's selling for a lower price, and if it is he buys it there.

He has a date or a meeting and doesn't want to schlep something around, so he finds it online and gets it delivered to his door.

He doesn't want to carry it, so he finds it online and gets it delivered to his door.

He looks online and sees it's selling for the same price, but will take two days to get there and he wants it now, he's on his way home or has a car with him, he buys it at the store.

In some rearrangement of the above scenarios lies the secret to dealing with showrooming. As long as you have a retail store, showrooming will happen, there's no stopping it. So you can join it. 

Do some showrooming yourself of your own store and get rid of the stuff that you can get online and for cheaper. What you can offer that can't be found online? Sell your shit online, on amazon so when people shop there, they're still buying from you. Offer some of the same services that shopping online offers, like delivering to people's homes and comparison shopping.

For bigger brands that can't just get rid of their retail store offerings if it's sold online, don't get rid of things, but add unique items to brick and mortar. For bigger stores that sell wildly accessible items, like books, Levi's or detergent — get smart with location recognition and be preemptive. Give your walk-in customers a prompt to compare prices and shop on their phones in YOUR app or mobile web.

That's all I have to offer now.