It seems that almost every six months or so there is another new platform to engage consumers. To steal their time, their eyeballs, their attention. And that can be particularly dizzying for agencies and our clients as we chase consumer behavior the way some disingenuous politicians chase voters. “Research says you like the environment – so do I!” Ugh. Fake and transparent. That’s not what I want advertising to be.
Instead, I believe it makes more sense to focus on the consumers, or as I like to call them, the users.
Cold and impersonal, I know, but “user” is a more precise, more comprehensive description than “consumer.” A user doesn’t just consume products and services, she does things. Lots of things.
She seeks information from friends, she web surfs from link to link, she glances up from her tablet to sneak a peek at Boardwalk Empire while writing a TripAdvisor review. The user, in short, uses. And if we can be disciplined enough to focus on the user above all else, insights come into focus: her needs and fears and wants, her journey through the day, her guilty pleasures and her trusted sources. The totality of the culture that influences her life will be brought to the forefront. And that’s a potent resource for agencies to mine.
Get the user right and you can sit down with your client and discuss: “Who is the best user for your brand and why do we deserve them?”
Do so and you will find that, as with marriage and other meaningful relationships, honesty rules. What does our brand do best for this user? Does she have other and better choices? Why? What could we provide for her that might make her love us? And the answers will be diverse – a product innovation, a cause she can rally around or a simple belief she can relate to.
Be brutal with your questions and fair with your answers, and ye shall reap the rewards. Strategies will flow forth like a river. Platforms, habits and behaviors emerge. Partnerships present themselves; nontraditional opportunities show up unannounced. And that’s because this user-focused thinking forces you to come at the problem differently – not on the one-way street from brand to consumer, but rather at the intersection of user, brand and culture.
Even if you don’t ultimately present this thinking to your client in this way, no worries. It’s still a really healthy process for creating smart, compelling and relevant marketing strategies.
Always with the brand in mind, but placing the user at the center. Most important, with focus.
And that’s what our clients pay us to do, right?