Emotions in Marketing: The Art of Anticipatory Customer Experience – The CMO Whisperer’s Friday Fast Five

Happy Friday everyone! Five curated articles you need to read and why presented in a very condensed (fast) manner.

 

  • Emotions in Marketing: The Art of Anticipatory Customer Experience 

Source: CMS Wire 

Why you need to read it: The subhead says it all: “Creating a customer for life isn’t done through promotional activities or pricing strategies. It’s done by activating and evoking emotions.” We could not have said it any better. Remember, the more people feel, the more they buy. 

What you need to learn from it: The author shares a fond childhood memory which, while it applies to the world of digital commerce and the anticipatory nature of buying online, only – there are undeniable lessons for ANY brand in ANY industry to apply in their overall marketing strategies.  

Click here to read the full article. 

TL;DR: “Creating a customer for life isn’t done through promotional activities or pricing strategies. It’s done by activating and evoking emotions in marketing.” The author repeats this line just as I am because it is that important and worth repeating.   

In his book Look out, System1 chief innovation officer Orlando Wood, echoes this same sentiment writing “advertising that elicits an emotional response and captures broad-beam attention is how you build and maintain strong brands.” 

 

  • Top Advertising Trends to Watch In 2024 

Source: Ad Age 

Why you need to read it: The article features predictions from a variety of leaders in the advertising space from around the world. I believe it’s always better to get thoughts from many vs. one single writer or source and then draw your own conclusions as to which trend(s) will impact you and your brand.  

What you need to learn from it: As you would imagine the topic of AI is front and center among many of the predictions. I particularly like this one, which is more reminder than prediction: “While we know AI isn’t an end-all-be-all solution, it is important to acknowledge its limitless potential in helping us concept and visualize ideas at scale—something that simply wasn’t possible unless you had unlimited resources.” 

Click here to read the full article. 

TL;DR: From AI and influencer marketing to purpose marketing and data, marketers grapple with the big trends on tap for next year. 

 

  • You Need More Than Data to Understand Your Customers

Source: HBR   

Why you need to read it: Because for as much data as brands have on consumers – and getting more by the second – many of these same brands, as the writer points out, “find themselves extracting comparatively marginal insight about who these people truly are.” 

What you need to learn from it: “Today’s marketers have mistaken information for intimacy.” I love this line. And it speaks to the fact that far too many marketers are focusing on the wrong data/metrics i.e., search behavior instead of more “intimate” metrics such as engagement on social networking platforms. 

Click here to read the full article. 

TL;DR: “It’s through intimacy that we get understanding, not the data alone. Intimacy drives connection, and connection drives behavior.” 

 

  • The DOOH Frontier: the Advertiser’s Playbook for 2024

Source: The Drum  

Why you need to read it: While this is essentially a landing page to download the report, it is still worth the read for sure as the writer points out that the combination of the sheer scale of the DOOH market, together with the targeting prowess and transparency of programmatic DOOH, is continuing to attract advertisers from a whole range of industries.  

What you need to learn from it: Walls are coming down between internal media teams says Lucy Markowitz, senior vice-president of the US marketplace, Vistar Media: “With more digital OOH screens and new technological capabilities available, the walls between media teams are starting to break down as the industry wakes up to the smart combination of old and new media, art and science, for impactful storytelling on real-world canvases.” 

Bonus learning: Last year, research from System1, Lumen Research and JCDecaux revealed that creativity is a key driver for DOOH effectiveness. Read all about it here 

Click here to download the full report.  

TL;DR: As the lines blur between traditional OOH and DOOH, and media teams, it’s vitally important to take full advantage of the opportunities that will arise in 2024.  

 

  • Gartner Predicts 50% of Consumers will Significantly Limit their Interactions with Social Media by 2025

Source: Gartner  

Why you need to read it: According to Gartner, consumers are sharing less of their own lives and content. This is extremely important when you factor in the pending 3rd party cookie deprecation. All of this adds up to brands having less data and information on consumers  

What you need to learn from it: 53% of consumers believe the current state of social media has decayed compared to either the prior year or to five years ago with 70% of consumers believing greater integration of GenAI into social media will harm user experience. 

Click here to read the full article. 

TL;DR: “As the nature of social media use and the experience of the platforms changes, CMOs must refocus their customer acquisition and loyalty retention strategies in response.” 

Less social media interaction plus loss of 3rd party cookies squarely puts the emphasis on creative to drive engagement, awareness and of course, sales. And the best way to use creative to do all of this is by tapping into consumers’ emotions And the best way to do that is by working with System1 to test creative to ensure not only that emotion is felt but the right emotions as well.