Ralphie Parker didn’t just ask for a BB gun, he knew exactly what he wanted. He knew he wanted the gun with “the compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time.” How did he know that was the one he wanted? Why did he drink all that Ovaltine? Good marketing.
The makers and marketers of the Red Ryder BB gun used advertising to show how their gun was the rootin’ tootin’-est of them all. The use of the image of Red Ryder in advertising let little boys dream of being cowboys. They dreamed of growing up to be strong and heroic and masculine (possibly a very early version of the Old Spice Guy?) Ovaltine created “Annie’s Secret Circle” to market to children. To join this exclusive club & get your decoder ring, you needed to send in box tops from Ovaltine. They created an honorable society for children to join to help save the world.
Those companies both knew how to speak to their audience (children) and stay “top of mind”. Appearing in department store windows and sponsoring a favorite radio program put them both in front of the end user. In turn, the children took over for the marketers and hit the pocketbooks; I mean parents with a barrage of wish lists and buy me’s.
With social media every person, business, product and brand has an opportunity to become the one people remember. Joining existing communities of people who are part of your target audience gives you a chance to get to know and be known without direct selling to anyone. A makeup artist who gives a daily skin care tip, a travel agent who posts a different foreign glossary term every day or a fitness club that posts a work out of the week are examples of ways to be out and present, showing expertise while not being “salesy”.
The best part of using social media for B to B as well as B to C is being able to be present among a community of people you want to do business with/for.
How do you stay present? What do you do to stay top of mind? What makes you the Red Ryder of your market?
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