Millennials: that group born after 1980 and the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. They’re also the group that is most skeptical of traditional marketing messaging. The usual “Make New Connections! See New Products! Get New Ideas!” draws a collective “meh” from the millennial crowd. But it goes beyond millennials. Many audiences have turned a deaf ear to the same old, same old. So what’s a marketing professional to do—or say? Enter disruptive messaging. Here are some questions to consider, ensuring your message breaks through:
Know What Makes Your Audience Tick
First, be sure you are able to connect with your audience in an authentic way. Demographics—good. Psychographics—even better. Imagine for a moment a single member of your audience. Establish a persona. Give him or her a name. Think about how this person dresses on the job. Walk in their shoes for a day-in-the-life scenario to craft a message that will resonate in a genuine way. This unexpected approach may be that first critical step in opening the lines of communication. And remember, in today’s digital world, it is a dialogue where this genuine voice must persist.
Be Brief. Be Bold. Be Gone.
With the sheer volume of content and information being generated and consumed daily, there is increased urgency for event marketers to make a statement—succinctly. Sometimes, less is more. Would a series of two-word phrases better reach your prospect than dense (blah, blah, blah) adjective-laden sentences?
The Medium IS the Message
Consider your message delivery method. Maybe an email isn’t the best way to target that up-and-coming trade professional. Perhaps it’s a text message or a sound-chip-embedded card sent by snail mail that offers a quick, pithy audio clip when opened by the recipient. These unexpected messaging tactics will do more than get the eyes and ears of your prospect; they will also send a subliminal—but important—message to your prospect to react with a hearty, “Hey, you get me!”
Talk the Talk
Many audiences have a lexicon that is uniquely theirs. What’s more, evolution and revolution seem to be a constant in some industries. This evolution may mean prospects will be left in the dust by their absence at an event. Be certain you are in tune with your industry and the trends influencing its direction. SEMICON West 2016, for example, sought to resonate with prospects—engineers in search of facts and figures—through a series of emails speaking to the disruptive trends driving the market. Its overarching “Definitely Not Business As Usual” campaign used industry-centric vernacular to connect with audience prospects in a bold and direct way.
By surprising your audience with the unexpected, marketers can establish connections to more quickly fill seats at conferences, reach the prospects who really do need their services and get the attention they truly deserve.
