You’ve done everything right – drilled down on audience segmentation, played Meta’s advertising game of shifting goalposts, refined your SEO, posted on socials… and all you have to show are hours wasted and massive frustration.
So why do your digital marketing efforts and results suck, despite you throwing everything at it (including wanting to throw in the towel)?
Because you’re playing it safe. And in digital marketing, safe = boring. You need to introduce some risks into your marketing to see results. Like anything in life, the magic happens when you push out of your comfort zone and try something different, creative and bold enough to grab attention.
It’s not you – it’s them
Firstly, we get it. Nailing your brand’s digital marketing is a massive investment in time and money. And when results don’t translate to increased sales, you can understand why your company’s higher-ups might want to pull the plug.
Digital paid ad campaigns can be expensive and time-consuming to get right. With the global social media advertising market currently valued at US$136 billion and predicted to increase to $237 billion by 2030, the competition is only getting stronger.
And all it takes is one of the big tech companies to have an official or even unofficial update and your results can experience extreme volatility.
All of this is to say that you need to get away from the mindset of ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ to ‘let’s try a different tactic and see what happens.’ Here’s how.
Campaign inspo
Bonds had massive success with their recent Bonds x Robert Irwin ‘Made for Down Under’ campaign. By featuring wholesome, nature-loving Robert Irwin stripped down to his undies while draped in snakes, the campaign was soon at the top of the world’s For You pages on socials and generated much chatter on social and traditional media.
This buzz equated to improved brand awareness for Bonds to enter the highly competitive US market, and relied on Irwin’s massive digital following to get the campaign in front of new customers.
Another brand that created a recent stir with their campaign was beauty brand Nude by Nature. They created a stunt that got Sydney talking by spray-painting the word ‘cheater’ across a high-end 4WD and driving it around exclusive Eastern suburbs areas. Naturally, people uploaded the image to social media, and soon images of the tagged Range Rover were everywhere. The car also included a QR code, which activated a special offer for those who scanned it.
This campaign successfully combined activations with digital marketing to get people talking while driving sales.
Anything but boring
If you’re not familiar with how US fast food chain Wendy’s has won social media lately, you’re not paying attention. Instead of toeing the corporate line and posting bland, inoffensive content on social media, Wendy’s has created a format of roasting its competitors, unhappy customers, and anyone else who dares challenge it. It’s done it in a humorous way that results in multiple shares and reposts, driving engagement, brand engagement and sales.
Another international brand that threw out the corporate playbook is budget airline Ryanair. Notorious throughout Europe for cheap seats and no-frills experiences, they’ve created a social media experience that is as entertaining as it is controversial. Even their Insta bio – ‘catch flights, not feelings, with Europe’s favourite airline’ – is setting up the joke. Their posts include ‘top 3 places to go when you have money’, with the three destinations being a job centre, job ads, and googling ‘jobs near me.’ Again, their campaigns go viral and improve reach and sales.
How to make edgy campaigns work for your brand
Before you go rogue with your social media, check that you’re not doing anything that could get your company sued or you fired. Knowing your target audience inside out is essential – you should have a deep understanding of what works, what they enjoy seeing, and what the limit is. If in doubt, chat with your head of marketing and see what they recommend. There’s a fine line between being funny and being provocative, and most brands can’t afford to alienate customers with posts that offend rather than entertain.
Take a leaf out of Nude by Nature’s book and experiment with campaigns that combine real-world activations with digital media. A mobile activation lets you move from city to city or suburb to suburb, creating a bigger reach, better online engagement and increased ROI. QR codes are a cheap, easy and instant way to track audiences and how they are reacting to the campaign.
Lastly, go slowly. Avoid jumping in with a sassy new tone on socials that may confuse your customers, or roasting customers in response to genuine questions about your brand’s offerings. Start by writing content that might be different to what your audience is used to seeing – maybe a provocative EDM headline, or create content in response to a controversial global issue that is aligned to your brand. For instant, fast fashion brands could post about the environmental impact of cheap clothes, which could also include the company’s sustainability efforts.
Life is short – be bold
It really doesn’t matter how you experiment with bold marketing – as long as you give it a go. Savvy customers can easily read through corporate spin and can unfollow accounts churning generic copy. Audiences want authenticity and entertainment and if your digital marketing can deliver, you’re on your way to getting out that sucky marketing hole and into a world of increased sales and brand awareness.
