It’s hot, muggy and you’re sticky with sweat and bug spray. Your stomach is expressing its disapproval of today’s diet of hot dogs and chips and you’re pretty sure you’re going to oversleep for work tomorrow. But there’s no way you’d miss the 4th of July fireworks display.
You might not have heard that a great marketing strategy is a lot like a fantastic fireworks show. But stay with us, and you’ll begin to see the connection.
You’ve seen good fireworks year after year, and you know what makes for a good Independence Day celebration: coordinated music, lots of color and pizzazz and a grand finale that leaves your ears ringing. And in order to create a good marketing strategy, the design needs to be just as intentional. Take a look at some types of fireworks that can represent marketing techniques and the role they play in a good strategy:
Snaps: The favorite of everybody’s brother too young to handle a lighter, snaps are those tiny bundles of friction-sensitive material that make a loud “bang” when they hit against a hard surface, like a sidewalk. Usually next to your sandaled foot.
Marketing fads are a bit like Snaps. You might want to join in on the latest joke on social media or riff on a current event, but it’s not something that you want to invest a lot of time in creating. It’s a one-liner, a 15-second video, a mention on a podcast. Like the Snap, it has little effect and is forgotten pretty quickly. It’s just for fun.
Sparklers: Nobody ever air-wrote their name in cursive better than when using a sparkler. Sure, you might have burned a finger or two, but who can pass up a sparkler as part of a 4th of July party?
In marketing terms, the sparkler is another relatively short-lived effort, but it’s festive and creates memories. This might be your social media polls, your fun and email promotion in honor of Pi Day or some other minor or made-up holiday. It’s a chance to connect with your audiences but you’re not counting on it having a major, lasting presence.
Smoke Bombs: Before you start arguing about whether these truly count as a type of fireworks, let’s talk about their notable qualities. Available in a range of colors and emitting a smelly and easily-identifiable smoke, smoke bombs really let you know where the party is.
In marketing, smoke bombs might be the equivalent of your efforts to raise brand awareness. You’re out there, posting regularly on social media, sponsoring local events and offering valuable content to your followers. As you keep getting out there, people are increasingly aware you’re out there. You’ve got a voice that’s unmistakably you. And you smell waaaay better than smoke bombs.
Spinners, Roman Candles and Rockets: These are the main investment of any good backyard 4th of July celebration. They are the meat-and-potatoes of a suburban homeowner with $500 to burn. Yep, literally.
When you put this into a marketing model, these types of fireworks are like your consistent, scheduled content strategy. You’re not just tossing things out there and lighting them on fire. Instead, you have a coordinated content calendar, with strategic topics, regular posting dates and some metrics to see if your efforts are resulting in growth.
There are elements of your marketing strategy that add a lot of value. You’re answering pressing questions in a blog, filming a how-to video of your newest product or offering a free webinar on a new technology. These are the activities in your marketing that help build your reputation as an expert and cause people to turn to you first when they want to learn more or make a purchase.
The Music: Maybe this element is reserved for the most advanced backyard celebrations, but having great music is a fun way to make your display memorable. It will take some planning, but a well-coordinated playlist sets your show apart.
Your voice and tone are a lot like the music that people set to fireworks. You want there to be a certain feel to your marketing and determining that your voice is funny or serious or a little teasing can be a great way to make your content more memorable.
The Grand Finale: When you’re coordinating a celebration on Independence Day, you know the importance of wrapping up your fireworks with a few zingers that will make your get-together the most talked-about event of the summer. You’ve got to put some thought into this.
You don’t plan your finale on the 4th. You start with the finale and work your way backward, saving the best and most powerful elements for this last hurrah.
The grand finale of your 4th of July fireworks display is like your marketing strategy. You need to begin by assessing who you are as a company and then determining what you want to accomplish. All of your marketing ideas will flow from these initial discussions.
At SJC Marketing, we get super excited to celebrate Independence Day with some fireworks. And it fits with our passion: making your brand shine. To learn more about getting a marketing strategy that is as coordinated and impressive as your most memorable fireworks display, contact us today.