How To Reconnect During The Holidays

Dear Reader,

Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season.

Thank you so much for your readership and support. It’s the best gift you can give me.

Actionable Marketing Lesson of the Week

► Communications Matter

This year COVID has done a better job of preparing for the holidays than we have. Despite best medical practices and record-breakingly quick vaccine development, a number of variants of the pandemic, notably Delta and Omicron, are infecting diverse populations.

Communications and information distribution are at the heart of containing this fast spreading disease and its variants. Unlike your marketing, where you control messaging across your organization. COVID-related communications get delivered through a wide variety of spokespeople, influencers and platforms.

In a highly tribalized environment, these messages can take on additional values causing people to make decisions that unintentionally help spread the disease.

Among these factors are:

Information source. People trust medical experts more than public officials, such as a person associated with a research or university institution over a member of the government.
Relationship with information source. People trust people they know, such as their personal doctor.
Media used to deliver information. People prefer to assess the information they get and determine the trustworthiness of the source.

Business becomes only trusted institution

Voice Notes

► Do You Talk To Your Car?

Having watched more than my share of holiday movies lately, I spotted Bruce Willis’s hacker partner use a voice-enabled service to remotely start a car in Live Free or Die Hard, made in 2007.

Fast forward, at least 3 car brands advertised voice-enabled functionality. But these ads don’t clarify what the in-car voice functionality does that a smartphone doesn’t do.

Automotive AI including hardware, software and services are projected to grow from $2 billion in 2021 to $26.5 billion in 2025. (Source)

Market growth for automotive AI

What 3 trends are driving this exponential revenue growth?

Auto makers increasingly integrating voice functionality;
Drivers are loyal to auto brands that provide better owner experiences; and
Car companies seek to expand revenue opportunities.

Social Scene

► Reconnecting

After almost 2 years of limited in-person activities, we all long for getting together.

While New York started to light up again at the beginning of November, the surge in the number of new and break-through COVID cases has darkened Broadway and other activities across the city.

What does this mean for you and your marketing?

Use this opportunity to reach out to your family, friends and colleagues to reconnect.

Actionable Marketing Take-Aways:

Go beyond a Teflon email that will sink to the bottom of their bottomless, over-stuffed inbox. Try something as old fashioned and easy as picking up the phone and saying hello. At a minimum, you can leave a personal message.