Dear Reader,
Last week New York City felt like an oven someone turned up to bake banana bread.
Also, Google I/O took place last week. It’s the firm’s event for major announcements.
As a marketer you may not know about Google I/O since it targets developers.
Look closer, attendees include the tech community, employees, investors and competitors. So, it’s a key element of their marketing and probably has a sizable budget.
And it has lessons to apply to your marketing regardless of your business focus. (Editor’s Note: I only attended the keynotes and announcements.)
Why Does Presentation Marketing Matter to Your Results?
Google I/O was a mix of outdoor and virtual presentations. During CEO Sundar Pichai’s opening presentation, the camera panned across the small live audience seated in wooden Adirondack chairs like you’d find at a summer resort. This detracted from the professional quality of the meeting.
You’d never see a presentation like this from Steve Jobs. He understood the importance and power of key announcements and events.
Nor would you see it from Tamsen Webster, author of Find Your Red Thread. She grounds every presentation in a story to hook her audience.
Actionable Marketing Tips:
- Presentation and staging matter. After a year of remote meetings people have screen fatigue. So make your event a better viewing experience on screens.During COVID Drew Davis used his television experience to improve his presentations. He takes his audience on an adventure. See how Drew set up his home studio!
RECOMMENDED READING:
- Sign up for Drew Davis’s Loyalty Loop blog.
- Use some presentation budget to help people hurt by COVID. Since businesses announced remote work until July 2021 or January 2022, Google knew this event would be largely virtual. They could have tapped actors and others who lacked work during and post-COVID.Alternatively, they could have donated the money to neighborhoods hurt by the pandemic, namely Black, Brown, Hispanic, Native American, low income, LGBTQ+, and others to provide free WiFi and/other services.Post-COVID Edelman’s Trust Barometer showed employees and local communities looked to corporations to fill the gap government didn’t.
Why Me-too Functionality and Content Marketing Fail
Google added functionality to its Google Docs. Its office functionality and productivity tools look a lot like those of their competitive set.
These improvements translate to:
“Pay attention Microsoft – We’re eyeing the enterprise market!”
This Me-Too Approach is happening in other business categories. As Axios pointed out, functionality across social media platforms continues to look very similar.
BTW: Want to improve your agency’s approach to social media? Then sign up for AgoraPulse’s Agency Summit on Wednesday, June 23, 2021.
Content Marketers: What Can You Do to Stand Out?
In his new revision of Content, Inc., Joe Pulizzi says to find your “Tilt.”
How do you do this?
- “Figure out something that nobody else is doing and look to create a monopoly in some area that nobody else is …” – Peter Thiel
Joe outlines the entire business plan in his significantly updated Content Inc. While targeting contentrepreneurs, it applies to businesses beyond those focused on content.
RECOMMENDED READING:
See what Joe Pulizzi has to say about content marketing, newsletters and more in our Content Inc. Interview with Joe Pulizzi.
Actionable Marketing Tip:
- Honor the editing process. (Hat tip: Ann Handley). Never write and immediately publish! For reference, Ann averages 4 edits per piece. Typeset Research 2021 conducted by Mantis Research showed that marketers need to clean up their writing. Get a proofreader and a fact checker involved. Also, use software to check for plagiarism.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Sign up for Ann Handley’s Newsletter.
- Make your content worth reading. As someone commented in a recent chat I attended, “Aren’t all martech firms content farms?” Translation: Your business and content marketing must distinguish you from the pack. Otherwise your readers have no reason to consume it.
RECOMMENDED EVENT:
Want to improve your content strategy? Then join me at MarketMuse’s “Content Strategy Collective Live” (June 22-June 24).
Is Your Message Understood By Your Prime Audience?
Many of Google’s announcements got lost due to the lack of cohesive presentation. Further, they appeared to be a list of small hits, not worthy of this type of event. For example, the major quantum computing announcement, the Qubit, missed many people’s lists.
Why?
As a complex topic, its presentation didn’t provide much viewer insight.
To tell you the truth, I had to look Qubit up on Wikipedia to get a general understanding of this new form of technology. Google’s shiny new hardware is grounded in Quantum Mechanics.
So how did I know it was important?
The announcement followed the CEO’s opening speech.
Like an office seating arrangement, the order of presentations at a major show or conference highlights what’s important.
So what’s the big deal about a Qubit?
Qubits are at the heart of the next form of computing and can solve some types of computing problems exponentially faster than current computers.
More importantly, it signals that Google is moving to the forefront of the chip business. This matters to investors and other chip manufacturers, not Google’s usual competitive set.
When you examine Google I/O’s announcements as targeted to the investor community and competitors, it look very different.
Actionable Marketing Tip:
- Pay attention to announcements from major players even if they’re not in your competitive set. Because they’re always looking for new opportunities.
Voice Marketing: How Do You Make The Business Case?
Are you considering adding voice to your marketing mix?
Then use this help to make the business case to your senior management.
Why add voice marketing?
- Increase brand reach beyond the purchase process.
- Expand your audience. In addition to people with low vision, include people who listen to content while they do something else.
- Support purchase process and beyond by shortening the sales process and improving end-user on-boarding.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Want to learn more about voice marketing?
Join me on Friday, June 4th, at noon ET, 9am PT and 6pm CET for Voice Lunch Marketing. We will discuss Voice and Marketing Persona.
Editor’s Note: #VoiceLunch handles the notices; you must sign up for them.
Sign up for your invitation link
RECOMMENDED READING:
Does Your Work Space Need A Makeover?
Andy Crestodina examined 27 marketers’ desks to help improve your processes.
Personally, I love Katie Martell’s pops of bright pink in her office set up. Like Drew Davis, Katie improve her virtual presentations during COVID.
Welcome new subscribers: Soni, Vesna, Siddharth, Arun, Paweł, Roxana, Gift, Yeboah, Nick, Ankita, Sumedh, Madhawa, Lim and Silvia.
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Happy Marketing,
Heidi
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The fine print
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