Marketing in 2014 is all About Your Avatar- Dove Gets it Spot On
We started blogging on ActiveRain in 2007. It will be 7 years this year. During the past 7 years Google has made numerous updates to the way that their algorithm finds content on the internet and how it verifies the validity of that content, quality of that content and authority of that website.
The one thing that has remained a constant has been: write good quality content that your reader would like to read.
That has not changed in the last 10 years. For SEO purposes you still need to add keywords and become an authority site.
But once your blog or site is found~ there must be a reason for your reader to stay there to read what you wrote.
Companies, agents, writers and marketers who get this one part right will weather any SEO storm that Google decides to send out.
- Know your avatar.
- Speak to your avatar.
Your avatar is the one person who wants to buy a house from you ~ not hundreds of people who want to buy a house in your market.
Your avatar is the one person who wants to sell your house with you ~ not hundreds of people who have a home to sell.
Once you know and understand your avatar~ you then write directly to your avatar invoking emotion, establishing a relationship of trust and helping the avatar to understand and know you.
This goes back to the original reason that never changes of how people buy: know, like, trust.
An example of this that I found recently was the Dove company. They have really embraced social media that speaks to their avatar and they have done a brilliant job of this.
In this particular campaign the Dove company speaks to their avatar ~ who is a woman who is prettier than she believes herself to be. So the avatar is a middle aged woman who does not have the greatest self esteem. There is a lot more to their avatar but we won't go into the entire phsyche of the avatar at this time.
This video to the Dove avatar is effective and invokes emotion. It touches a woman in her heart and soul. This connection develops an emotional attachment that can even become one of defending Dove creating a “fan”. This video has nearly 62 million views.
Steve Jobs and Apple did this same marketing strategy brilliantly. Apple “fans” ( including myself) are more than just buyers, we become salespeople for Apple and don't even get paid a commission to do so. That is a raving fan.
You may need to get your tissue ready as you watch this video from Dove. While it is hard to watch this video from just purely a marketing standpoint, because it will draw you in emotionally, try to. I had to watch it a few times before I could separate the emotion from the strategy. But once you can do this, I want you to see HOW Dove is speaking and connecting with their avatar. The engagement is key.
Engaging your avatar and forming that relationship with you is how you know you are adding the right content so that when your ideal prospect finds your blog or website, they will stay to read what you spent your time writing.
And as an aside ~ If you don't think you are pretty or beautiful then you most definately must watch this video. You should show this video to your daughters and your sisters.