Relevance Has a Deadline: How To Be Ready for Real-Time Marketing
Sponsor Post: People react in real-time. So should your content marketing.
When a period TV series from the 1960s closely resembles today's agency and client staff model, perhaps it's time for a change.
Today, real-time marketing has become one of the most powerful methods of storytelling for brands. With new digital trends also comes a new set of expectations. For brands, the two critical consumer expectations for content are immediacy and relevance. In order to engage in a conversation, or start one, a brand needs to understand these two expectations. Unfortunately, today's agency and brand infrastructure is not conducive to the requirements of real time marketing.
NewsCred worked with six leaders to compile wisdom on what it takes to get real-time marketing right. According to DigitasLBi's Eric Korsh, VP/Group Director of Brand Content, here are the four things that need to change.
TEAMS – Broader Expertise, Fewer People
The agency-client working dynamic were built to produce campaign work supporting long gestation efforts such as product launches and brand positioning. Real-time marketing teams need to be made up of new, hybrid roles where individuals have multiple areas of expertise. That way, you shrink the meeting size and increase the speed of reaction.
PROCESS – Faster and Shorter
Long lead times for content development and publication across limited channels has led to a slow and cumbersome assembly line. Real-time marketing requires the urgency of "Broadcast News" not the slow pace of "Mad Men" -- and all parties need to reimagine the lengthy, linear process and work on parallel paths with fewer steps across creation and approval.
TRANSLATION – Say Everything...in 140 Characters
Understanding how to craft value in an interactive and always-on environment is critical to success. It's a difficult thing to translate brand values, promise and efficacy across the terrain of modern channels of communication. In order to turn real-time moments into long-term success, brands need to be able to translate their assets into consumer value on everything from Pinterest to Vine to Twitter.
MINDSET – Fearlessness and Consumer Orientation
No more navel gazing or crude messaging. In these real-time channels, brands need to be risk-taking and authentic instead of unoriginal and censored. This is arguably anathema to our industry and perhaps the most difficult change to make. All parties involved must regularly challenge the older ways of doing things, and work together to keep focus on providing value to the consumer.
Download Relevance Has a Deadline for case studies from across the industry, researched extensively to bring you a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute guide on brand storytelling at the speed of social.
