5 minute read
THE PR SHOP
WITH DAVE BULLARD, CFEE
MAKE THE CUSTOMER THE HERO
A few years back, I was just starting a marketing project with a local non-profit. The director wanted me to meet – and convince – the board president that I could be helpful. He started to rattle off all the things they did. The list went on for a couple of minutes. When he stopped for air, I shrugged my shoulders and said, “So what?”
This board president, well-off owner of his own company and generally not accustomed to being challenged, let alone by a stranger, raised both his eyebrows and his defenses. Quickly, I explained that all the things you offer are not as relevant to the people you want to reach as you think they are. It’s never the features you offer; it’s always the benefits the user derives from your features that determine whether they want to do business with you.
It helps explain why fast-food joints like McDonald’s rule the restaurant world when there’s far better food out there at similar price points. It can also be one explanation why a competitor’s festival or event is both inferior to yours and better attended.
April Sunshine Hawkins of the Marketing Made Simple podcast sums up the imperative as well as anyone when she says that marketers forget one thing: You’re not the hero of the story – your customer is.
Makes sense, yes? We create events to make other people happy. It doesn’t matter whether a given event is about a thrilling experience or to highlight and help a worthy cause. If people aren’t happy to come, they won’t come. If they don’t enjoy themselves, they won’t come back.
And yet too many of us approach our broadcast commercials, print ads and social media posts by highlighting all the things our events do. I’d be rich if I had a nickel for every TV spot that sounded like this: “The West Nowhere Chicken Fat Festival is back! Enjoy great food, exciting rides, fantastic music and top arts and crafts….”
So what?
Nearly every festival on earth, tens of thousands of them, can say the same thing with minor variations. This kind of marketing makes the festival the hero of the story.
Step one to making the customer the hero of the story begins with the customer. You need to know why they come and what they get out of your event. Surveys are key. Always ask the “on a scale of 1 to 10”-type questions about your event’s features but add questions that probe the visitor’s experience and satisfaction. The other key piece is to ask open-ended questions that get at the reasons why people come and what they get out of coming.
When I was at the Great New York State Fair, it was the combination of rating-type questions and open-ended questions (put into word clouds to highlight common words and feelings) that gave me the light-bulb moment that reshaped our marketing.
The three most often-used words in our surveys: Family, Tradition, Love. The telling data point: Only about 5% of attendees came alone. Whether with family, friends, work pals, or for a first date or anniversary (and occasionally, an actual wedding), they came to be with other people. Blend it with the keywords and you get this benefit statement: “People come to have another great day with people they love.”
So, in three simple steps:
Talk about the customer’s experience;
Understand deeply why they come and remind them every time;
Make their emotional experience the focus of your marketing vocabulary.
It is my opinion that the area of event marketing most lacking in solid emotional appeals is in social media. I have reviewed dozens of festival social sites and hundreds of posts for this article and I continue to see some variation of “music, food, rides and games, vendors, art and more” as the focus of the piece. I guarantee you’ve written some form of this list-as-focus. Let’s see how we can improve this:
“It’s time again (calls out tradition) for your favorite weekend with your favorite people (family). The Big Festival’s back with the food, music and arts that you love (tradition and emotion) and new experiences to explore. Make memories you’ll share forever (family; tradition) – it starts when you buy tickets for the whole gang here:(URL).”
I’ve seen a bunch of posts that solicit signups for internships, memberships, board positions and more and almost none of them touch on the *emotional* reasons someone would want to do this. Interview 10 former interns. Ask them why they did it, what they got out of it and, crucially, how it made them feel and how it made their lives better. Then rewrite that post (and the website copy and the press release).
Bottom line: People are not rational; they are emotional. Rational appeals – lists of features – need to be secondary to the emotional reasons they come to your festival and why they can’t wait to come back. After all, it’s not about your festival. It’s about them. Make them the heroes of the story.
If you’d like a free copy consultation, email me at debullard@ gmail.com. I’m happy to – gently – offer suggestions and ideas.
Dave Bullard, CFEE is owner of FanFirst Events and Influence, consulting on production, public relations and marketing for events and festivals. He served for 10 years as PR and Marketing Manager of the Great New York State Fair, directing a $1 million marketing budget for the 1.3 million-attendance festival. Dave is available anytime to IFEA members to kick around ideas and brainstorm solutions. He also moderates the IFEA PR & Marketing Affinity Group. He’s at debullard@gmail.com and 315-575-6320.
