The typical particular person sees over 4,000 adverts every day, will get 121 emails, and is usually flooded with advertising and gross sales pitches. One-off campaigns and messages simply don’t work in 2024. To chop via the noise, that you must market in a constant and memorable method.
And what’s a easy, but neglected, method to attain this and get probably the most out of your advertising efforts?
Thematic advertising.
Themes are precisely what they sound like. They focus your advertising throughout all channels round one idea, or theme. It may very well be a selected downside, a function, or an occasion. You’ll be able to keep on with a theme all through your advertising actions for as lengthy or as brief as crucial. It gives a cohesive framework that aligns along with your advertising technique.
In my profession of driving progress at fast-growing startups and main advertising groups of as much as 30 folks at Assist Scout and G2 — each acknowledged amongst America’s fastest-growing corporations, I’ve realized a ton. I’ve discovered that themed campaigns are one of many few constant ways in which work throughout corporations no matter trade or measurement.
On this article, we’ll delve into tips on how to undertake a thematic method to advertising and what it may possibly unlock for you.
The chaos of promoting
Advertising groups are consistently pulled in 1,000,000 completely different instructions. At some point you are crafting an e mail marketing campaign; the subsequent you are planning a webinar. By the tip of the week, you are scrambling to place collectively social media posts.
It’s arduous to construct a cohesive model story while you’re leaping from one marketing campaign to the subsequent, every with its remoted focus. This fragmented method not solely drains your sources but additionally dilutes your message.
Add to this the fact of minimize budgets and restricted sources, and you have a recipe for chaos.
The truth of minimize budgets and restricted sources
Advertising departments are sometimes the primary to really feel the pinch when budgets are tightened. The stress to do extra with much less can result in hasty choices, rushed campaigns, and a disjointed model message.
And let’s not neglect the inner silos. Even inside advertising groups, there’s typically an absence of cohesion. Content material groups, demand era, and product entrepreneurs work of their bubbles, not often collaborating on a unified technique. This not solely wastes sources but additionally undermines the potential for impactful, built-in campaigns.
Why themes matter
In any given quarter, you in all probability have emails, adverts, webinars, outbound campaigns, podcasts, and occasions occurring. These are normally handled as one-off campaigns. One-off campaigns can create buzz, however they’re typically short-lived. As soon as the marketing campaign ends, the group goes again to brainstorming the subsequent attention-grabber, typically shedding the momentum you simply constructed.
As a substitute, think about constructing a theme round a month or 1 / 4. It may very well be about maximizing productiveness, guaranteeing knowledge safety, or facilitating distant work. Select a theme that aligns along with your product’s strengths and your viewers’s ache factors.
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The advantages of themed campaigns
Though themes could not assure success, you acquire effectivity in your advertising efforts. It ensures that each piece of content material, each marketing campaign, and each interplay contributes to a much bigger image. Right here’s why themes are the key sauce for environment friendly progress:
- Seamless storytelling: As a substitute of remoted campaigns, a themed marketing campaign affords a cohesive narrative. This consistency makes it simpler on your viewers to observe and have interaction along with your story.
- Bolstered model positioning: Let’s be sincere: Most individuals gained’t bear in mind a message they see as soon as. Within the crowded SaaS area, a constant theme helps reinforce your model, making you extra memorable.
- Optimized sources: Groups can produce content material, instruments, and sources extra effectively when specializing in a theme. You get extra ROI for every advertising effort as a result of every can construct off the opposite. Your social posts can level to your weblog posts, which supply a extra in-depth dive through a webinar, and so forth.
Find out how to implement themes in your advertising
Implementing themes in your advertising could be carried out in 4 steps.
Step 1: Select a related theme
First, decide a theme that aligns along with your product’s strengths and your viewers’s wants. For instance, in case your product is a mission administration software, you may select themes that maximize productiveness, guarantee knowledge safety, or facilitate distant work. The secret is to pick out a theme that resonates along with your target market and addresses their ache factors.
Step 2: Plan throughout a number of channels
After you have your theme, plan tips on how to talk it throughout a number of channels. Create a content material calendar that outlines how the theme will probably be expressed in webinars, weblog posts, social media snippets, e mail campaigns, and different advertising actions. The purpose is to make sure that each piece of content material reinforces the theme and contributes to a cohesive narrative.
Step 3: Create engagement loops
One of many vital benefits of thematic advertising is the flexibility to create engagement loops. For instance, a weblog publish can introduce the theme and supply a hyperlink to a associated webinar. The webinar, in flip, can promote a sequence of social media posts that delve deeper into particular features of the theme. This method retains the viewers engaged and encourages them to work together along with your model throughout completely different platforms.
Step 4: Monitor and modify
As with every advertising technique, it’s important to watch the efficiency of your thematic campaigns and modify as wanted. Use analytics instruments to trace engagement, conversion charges, and different key metrics. Take note of viewers suggestions and be able to tweak your content material and method based mostly on what works finest.
Thematic advertising in motion
So how do you select the appropriate theme on your advertising? There are many methods to go about it and no fallacious approaches so long as it aligns along with your product’s strengths and your viewers’s ache factors.
Let’s discover how one can successfully implement thematic advertising by specializing in three frequent approaches: particular options, concentrating on specific verticals, and selling key advertising messages.
Concentrate on a selected function
Think about you are advertising a mission administration software with a brand new function for real-time collaboration. For the quarter, you select the theme “Actual-Time Collaboration for Seamless Challenge Administration.” Every bit of content material will now revolve round this theme within the following methods.
- Webinars: Host a sequence of webinars demonstrating how real-time collaboration enhances productiveness and streamlines mission workflows.
- Weblog posts: Write articles showcasing case research and success tales of groups which have benefited from the function.
- Social media: Share suggestions, infographics, and brief movies highlighting the advantages and finest practices of real-time collaboration on social media.
- Electronic mail campaigns: Ship focused emails emphasizing the brand new function to your customers and leads, inviting them to attend your webinars or learn your weblog posts.
Concentrating on a selected vertical
Suppose you need to increase into the healthcare trade along with your knowledge safety software program. You select the theme “Securing Affected person Knowledge in Healthcare” for the quarter. Right here’s what you are able to do:
- Webinars: Arrange webinars with trade consultants discussing the significance of information safety in healthcare and the way your software program may also help.
- Weblog posts: Publish articles on the newest traits in healthcare knowledge safety, regulatory necessities, and the way your product meets these wants.
- Social media: Share related information, suggestions, and success tales from the healthcare trade to interact along with your target market.
- Electronic mail campaigns: Craft emails tailor-made to healthcare professionals, highlighting how your knowledge safety options shield affected person data and guarantee compliance.
Selling a selected advertising message
Let’s say you need to market your distant collaboration software with the message “Empowering Distant Work.” This turns into your theme for the quarter. You might take the next steps in your advertising marketing campaign:
- Webinars: Host classes on distant work finest practices, that includes visitor audio system who’re leaders in distant work.
- Weblog posts: Write in regards to the challenges of distant work and the way your software can clear up these points, offering real-life examples and suggestions.
- Social media: Run a sequence of posts highlighting options that make distant work simpler and extra productive, together with person testimonials.
- Electronic mail campaigns: Ship out newsletters and promotional emails specializing in distant work options, providing free trials or reductions to draw new customers.
Select correctly!
Thematic advertising is a robust but underutilized technique that may considerably improve your advertising efforts. By selecting a related theme and speaking it constantly throughout a number of channels, you’ll be able to create a cohesive narrative that engages your viewers, reinforces your model positioning, and optimizes your sources.
Earlier than leaping headfirst into one other standalone marketing campaign, take a step again. You might and must be telling a extra compelling, longer-lasting story. Ask your self — What’s your theme going into the subsequent quarter?
Keep in mind, it isn’t about reinventing the wheel each single time. It is about driving it in a course that builds momentum, traction, and impression.