Real Time Marketing Strategy
In fast-moving times such as the ones we are currently living in it is not enough to have a cutting-edge mindset, with a team that creates powerful and distinctive branded content for your channels. You might have heard of real time marketing over the news, reading about it in some blog or in a casual conversation with colleagues, but nowadays it is crucial for you to not only know the meaning, but start practicing it as soon as possible.
First of all, to give this topic a bit of context in case you are wondering what real time marketing is, we could say: Real time marketing is a strategy based on the creation of real time content using news or events to gain a highly viral approach, awareness between users and, ultimately, organic media coverage. So why do you need a real time marketing approach? Easy: to stand out from the rest. Usually you have a person among your social media team to cover this type of action, but either way what you need to keep in mind is the following.
· You have to be as fast as you can - what is new now won’t be new in two weeks’ time
· Be prepared - make a protocol, a how to, a line-up with how you are going to react
· Think Social - Although some real time marketing campaigns have had their moments on traditional media, 99% of the time they work best in instant platforms such as social media
· Be clear, creative and link it with your target. Do not forget to be relevant and direct. It is not only about standing-out, it is about doing it respecting your identity
Having said this, there is one substantial part that a Brand must take very good care of: the interaction. If you are going to pursue a real time marketing action, you have to be ready to receive a lot of comments and reactions in a very short amount of time. You need to be in top shape when responding and generating even more fuzz: it is not only about the message; it is also about the conversation.
During the last weeks, Brands have gone a step further and actually adapted their whole visual identity and business purpose to the Corona virus crisis.
Famous logos that have been remade such as Starbucks, Mastercard, Olympic Games, LinkedIn, NBA and Nike, amongst others, aim to react, reshape and reconnect with their target, as well as to send a social message that can catch new followers.
But the actions are not only focused on Branding. Zara producing medical clothes? Diageo making disinfectant alcohol? Levi’s donating millions to fight COVID-19? You name it. But you have to keep in mind that consumers are not fools and if they don’t believe what you are doing or perceive that this is just a way of “cleaning” your image doing something nice, they will not forget it (nor forgive it).
Real time marketing is a very interesting strategy that despite of the industry and type of product, can bring a lot of awareness and generate interesting conversations with consumers and followers. But, as everything in marketing, it has to be part of your strategy (not something impulsive that you think could give a hype) to reach success.