When Was the Last Time You Checked in with Your Brand's Long-Time Fans?
Erika Heald
B2B Content Marketing Consultant | Fractional Head of Content Marketing | Gluten-free Blogger | Author | Speaker
I’ve been a gamer since I got my first TI994A computer and popped in a racing game cartridge my uncle sent me for Christmas. I’ve had over a dozen computers and game systems since then and played hundreds of games over the decades.
Eventually, I settled into being a Mac person, which is great for the work that I do. But it’s incredibly limiting when it comes to the online multiplayer games I like to play, which is part of the reason why I’ve been a World of Warcraft player for 18 years.
I wasn’t planning to buy their latest expansion, which launches at the end of this month. Nothing I’d seen about the new story particularly grabbed me. And I’ve got presentations to write!
But then, I got glutened. I felt too ill to read or do anything productive. I needed something relaxing and time-consuming. So, I logged in and started doing my pre-expansion bank purges across my various guilds.
While putting my garage sale organization skills to work virtually, I happened to find a new quality of life feature I’d wanted for years was now in the game. And there was an easy catch-up mechanism for leveling the characters I’d sorely neglected over the past two years.
As I logged in to my favorite characters on my various realms to level them up, I got to catch up and chat with many of my online friends whom I hadn’t talked to in years. The sense of community we’d forged was still there.
And it got me thinking about content marketing, of course.
It can be easy to assume that our subscribers who never open our emails are just not interested in what we have to offer anymore.
But, sometimes, that’s not the case. It’s just that how we’re approaching these folks doesn’t connect.
We’re using memes they don’t connect with (very demure, very mindful, what?) We’re sending them emails focusing on things they’ve never engaged with. We’re seeing them as a persona or a mass audience, not as a human being.
We used to be able to point at our budgets as an excuse.
Tailoring our content for people’s experiences and preferences and interests was complicated and expensive!
But that’s changing every day.
And if you don’t make creating that know-you experience a priority, chances are that someone else will.
What can you start doing today to reach out to the people who’ve been long-time brand fans but haven’t felt seen or included in a while? If you’re not sure, now is the perfect time to just ask them.
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Until next time, stay safe and be well!
Cheers,
Erika