This article is by Jeffrey K. Rohrs, VP, Marketing Insights for the Salesforce
A couple of years ago, Seth Casteel was your average photographer, struggling to make ends meet. After splurging on an underwater camera, he happened upon a moment that would change his life forever. It was the moment he photographed his first “underwater dog.”
The process was simple. Throw a ball into a swimming pool and then capture each canine, eyes bulging and mouths agape, as they scrambled to retrieve it. The resulting images were so downright hilarious that Seth posted them to his e-commerce site, shared the link with a few friends, and went to bed satisfied. When he awoke the next day, his website was inundated with orders and his bank balance was on the rise. It turned out that people like underwater dogs almost as much as they like cats doing anything.
Today, Seth has published Underwater Dogs, the book, the children’s book, the calendar, the day planner, and the puzzle – this September, he’s set to unleash Underwater Puppies on the world. He has built an entire career on a moment that escaped the notice of others – a moment that’s been happening daily around the world since the first dog jumped in the first swimming pool. Seth didn’t make the moment, he just made it matter – and understanding how he did so provides a valuable lesson to today’s marketing organizations.
Uncover new moments that matter – don’t just optimize the old ones.
Seth probably could have eked out a living doing standard animal photography, improving his technique with each shoot. Instead, however, he went on the hunt for something new and different, and he emerged with a career-making moment.
The best marketing teams are built not only to optimize existing efforts but also to discover new moments along the customer journey that could yield positive business results. Through its “Delta Innovation Class” promotion, Delta Airlines is hoping it has found one such moment in the form of a business class seat next to some of today’s leading inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs. While only select, lucky travelers will get to network at 35,000 feet, the creation of these moments that matter have already increased Delta’s social media reach.
Get creative with technology.
Underwater Dogs was not only the product of Seth’s creative mind but also the technology at his disposal. Without his underwater camera, there would have been no underwater dogs.
In marketing today, the best ideas are often those that take into consideration the combined forces of technology, connectivity, mobility, and data to generate outcomes that would have been impossible a few short years ago. Consider New England BioLabs (NEB). For years, they have provided academic and industry clients with on-site freezers in which to store NEB-provided enzymes for scientific research. While the service was appreciated by clients, it left NEB blind as to the exact product inventory in each freezer.
Enter the Smart Freezer. NEB worked with salesforce.com to leverage its CRM data and inventory management system to retrofit the freezers with keypads and barcode scanners. To retrieve a needed enzyme, customers enter their user name, scan the product to be removed, and go about their way. That data is then transmitted to an app where the facility and NEB can keep track of its inventory. Now, NEB can not only replenish out-of-stock items automatically, but also look for usage patterns that yield product packaging ideas. Is it customer service? Is it inventory management? Is it marketing? Yes, yes, and yes. And each interaction with the freezer is now a moment that matters.
Share for feedback, not just amplification.
Admittedly, Seth caught some serious lightning in a bottle with his first emails and posts sharing his photos. Not even he could have predicted how quickly word (and sales) would spread based on the amplification of a few friends via Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter.
And yet, Seth’s success is a lesson for all marketers because he didn’t just share to sell – he shared in order to get feedback from his trusted circle of friends. As this generation of marketers have learned through trial and error, social media is not a one-way, promotional street. It is a dialogue, a conversation in which brands listen as much – if not more – than they talk.
Leverage your best content across channels.
Once his initial underwater dog photos took off, Seth branched out into other formats ranging from coffee table books to children’s books to calendars to puzzles and more. This not only provided his most loyal fans with new products to purchase, but it also put his brand in front of new audiences who may have otherwise missed out on the wonder that is Underwater Dogs.
With myriad channels at marketers’ disposal today, brands have an unprecedented ability to test out new content with small audiences to see what is worth pushing more broadly. Similarly, when a TV commercial resonates, they also have the ability to push it to YouTube where it can get thousands more—and sometimes, millions more—views. But beware—simply reproducing content from one channel into another isn’t enough. You must tailor it to leverage the unique attributes of each channel.
Build direct audiences for the future.
Seth’s studio, LittleFriendsPhoto, now commands more than 175,000 fans on Facebook as well as a healthy Twitter following and email subscriber base. Each channel is a springboard upon which he can launch any new product, promote an event or engage to test out new creative ideas – all at little or no cost to him.
When looking to uncover new moments that matter along their customer’s journey, brands should also be looking to build their direct audiences for the future. While we all hope for viral, Underwater Dog-sized home runs, the truth is that marketing is a game of singles and doubles. If your brand can increase the size, engagement, and value of its direct audiences via each moment that matters, you will have a bigger springboard for success the next time around.
So with summer nearly upon us, it’s the perfect time to get outside and find the “underwater dogs” – the hidden moments that connect with customers – so you can unleash your full marketing potential. In today’s business environment, old tricks will only take you so far.
