It’s Valentine’s Day! And it’s sure to be filled with lots of candy and treats. While examining all of the traditional Valentine’s treats, we came across that little box of candy conversation hearts that we all know so well from our early childhood days. The words on those tiny hearts have made such an impact on many of us and it inspired us to think about the things we can learn from these candies that pertain to marketing.
Keeping Your Message Short and Sweet
On candy hearts, you have a minimal number of characters to make your message come across. It is kind of the same in marketing. Attention spans are getting shorter. If you want to grab the attention of your consumer, you will need to do so quickly. This means sticking to a clear, short message that is memorable and has them excited to learn more.
Be Open to Change
Conversation candy hearts did not get their start as hearts at all. In 1847, a Boston pharmacist, Olive Chase wanted to get his foot in the door with the apothecary lozenge craze. At the time, they were much larger wafers, instead of the popular trademarked hearts. It was not until 1866, when he was inspired by the popularization of Valentine’s Cards, that he tried his hand at printing words on the candy with vegetable dye. Over the years, several changes have been made from going from mottos to just a few words on a heart and going from larger to small candies.
In marketing, an important lesson we can learn from this is the ability to adapt and think outside of the box. It is important to keep an eye out to see what your competitors are doing, but being one step ahead of them with your next creative idea. Adapting is important because you don’t know what is coming at you. Maybe you will have the answer to the next crisis or craze.
Be Direct
Have you read those little candies lately? Some of the hearts read with messages like TEXT ME or SAY YES. The hearts are pretty direct in the message they are trying to get across. In marketing, you also need a clear, direct message. You want direct calls-to-action that can be used on your website, in your email marketing, on social media and in your ads to make it easy for your customer to contact you.
Use the Right Medium
MARRY ME on a tiny heart seems like a cute thing to put on the candy heart, but I think most women can agree that that is not their dream proposal. Think of something bigger and outside the box.
The same can be said with your marketing. You aren’t posting a novel of content on your social media page or utilizing your social media page instead of directing people to your website for information. Be sure you are utilizing the correct platforms and marketing mediums to promote yourself.
At SJC Marketing, we are always looking for inspiration to help make our client’s brand shine. We can look at a piece of candy and be inspired. Just think about what we can do for your brand with a little brainstorming and a few candy hearts with our coffee!