FUNCAT: How To Develop Impactful Content In The Water And Wastewater Market
Recently, best-selling author and marketing expert Chris Brogan spoke at the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council Conference in San Francisco. His request was poignant and abrupt. He simply asked marketers to “Stop putting junky marketing out into the universe.”
His session was dubbed “Get Spicy: Content Marketing for Credit Unions.” But his message is universal in practice. B2B, B2C, water market, bubble gum industry, these simple truths hold true across all.
I’ve spoken at length about making an impact in your marketing. Brogan defines impact as having, “a mix of clear, important, and obvious with a dash of compelling on top. No matter the format, your goal is to drive an open, then a read, and then action.”
In his session Brogan speaks about six characteristics of high-impact content marketing which can be summarized by the acronym FUNCAT:
It breaks down like this:
- Familiarity: "When we see something that reminds us of home, family, or self, we feel the impact on a tribal level,” Brogan says. “Tribes are how we get together, but most marketing doesn’t reflect that. You need your inside jokes. Market to your tribe.” Seth Godin wrote a fantastic book on the concept of Tribes. I suggest you give it a read.
- Urgency: I’m not saying we should force a deadline on customers and prospects every chance we get, but in some cases a pinch of urgency may help them take the next step WITH YOU in their journey.
- Novelty: The definition of the word is the quality of being new, original, or unusual. If your content does not have some semblance of novelty, you run the risk of being over-looked (NOTE: Being overtly promotional is NOT novel).
- Clarity: Brogan said, and this is backed by science, that “Our brains turn off the moment we perceive something to be confusing or vague.”
- Action-Driven: “If you can push me forward, you’re making an impact,” he says.
- Threat Perception: When people feel safe physically, they don’t need to pay attention to potential threats. The same holds true for “safe” marketing.
Keep these in mind when trying to determine the best way to position your brand. Remember that this is a process and every process has steps. You shouldn’t feel obligated to touch on all of the FUNCAT concepts but it makes sense to test each piece against a couple of these principles. When done right, this will quickly become the most impactful method of brand extension and sales opportunity growth your company has seen in many years.
Image credit: "Gangsta Cat," Petful © 2012, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/