Focus on the message, not the medium

A company selling budget travel packages to exotic destinations got in touch with us seeking our expertise. They had spent a lot on roping in a social media influencer. Based on the influencer’s advice, they spent a lot of money on running a series of sponsored posts on a social media platform that primarily promotes video content. These posts featured the influencer traveling to various exotic vacation destinations across India. They company had hoped that their high spends would help promote their brand and their vacation packages.

However, reality hit them hard when they evaluated the return on their investment after three quarters. Surely, their followership on the said social media platform had grown. But, despite all their efforts and spends, their holiday packages remained unsold.

When we sat down with them, we asked them a simple question:

“Is your objective to grow your social media following or is it to sell your holiday packages?”
“Clearly, we want to sell our vacation packages. We are hungry for sales and
growth,” exclaimed their CEO.

We told the CEO that his company was making a classic mistake: They had focused on the medium. Not the message. They were focused on tailoring their marketing content to suit what the social media platform’s users preferred seeing – beautiful-looking videos – instead of upselling their service and their packages.

Marketers must understand an undeniable truth about marketing: The message is always more important than the medium. Now, the medium may change every couple of decades. For instance, almost a century ago, hand bills gave way to print media advertising. Then came TV commercials. And now there are sponsored social media videos and online ads. But the golden principle of marketing does not ever change. Your marketing effort must lead to the prospective customer either wanting to know more about your product or service, or better still, wanting to buy it. No advertising is worth it, if it can’t answer a simple, straightforward question: What do you want the customer, who is seeing your advertising, to do?

We advised the company to edit their travel videos so that they explicitly invited the customer to buy their packages. Their social media influencer was given a fresh, sharp brief: Pitch the travel packages directly. And, no prizes for guessing, this strategy worked wonders in record time.

Within a quarter, we advised the company to shoot short videos of customer stories of authentic experiences as testimonials and use them on the same social media platform. By the second half of the year, sales had grown by over 80%.

At firebrand labs (FBL), we encourage our clients to answer the following questions when we engage with them:

• Why are your marketing your product or service?
• What do you want your marketing effort/advertising to deliver?
• What are the top price and functional features of your product or service?
• Why should your customer choose your product or service over similar competing offers?
• What must the customer do to buy your product or service immediately?

Evidently, these questions are not medium-specific. They are message-specific. The answers that our clients give us in response to these questions help us to help them sharpen their marketing pitch. They help us develop a very
impactful message that spur the client’s customers to act – to, importantly, make a purchase.

When marketing, no matter what technology or medium you use, focus on the message. When the message is clear, a brand gains by way of sales and memorability. Conversely, when the message is lost, is missing or confusing, the medium gains.