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Bon’s Eye talks a lot about being an authentic, human brand.

Today’s consumers want a whole experience – something that connects with them beyond merely product or service specs.

We believe it all starts with how businesses speak to others.

We’ve written plenty of blogs and produced B2B podcasts about establishing a thoughtful, empathetic voice. You’ll often hear us say that great brands build relationships by telling it like it is. They don’t woo with over-the-head jargon, but rather invite others in through a relatable story. It’s less about verbal glitz and more about meaningful narratives.

At Bon’s Eye, we build brands on these principles of realness. So, it only makes sense we apply the same standards to our communications. That’s why in 2020 we’re calling ourselves out when we veer into cliché marketing talk.

Introducing the BEM Jargon Jar.

For the team’s New Year’s resolution, we’re throwing money into this bad boy every time we utter a branding buzzword or trendy industry phrase. It’s about to rain up in here.

No more lingo drops like, Evergreen Content, Growth Hacking, Gamify, Thought Leader, Data-Driven, Design Thinking, Localization, etc. We’re going to do our damnedest to avoid these tempting, but obnoxious gems.

Let’s be really clear here – we will slip! We need you guys to point it out, and we’ll pony up. The money accumulated in the jar will be used to buy Bon’s Eye swag for our supporters, so check in on giveaways.

Cheers to a New Year filled with genuine brand interactions and jargon-free conversations.

Your Bon’s Eye Crew!

Cruising Now, But Who’s Driving?

Over the last few miles, your brand has really picked up speed. You’re turning heads, and a crowd of new customers has flagged down your business for a lift. They want your products or services and are eager to invite others along the way. Yeah, it’s turning into one hell of a ride, but to where?

It’s easy to let the thrill of high-performance, accelerated growth drive you. Still, someone needs to take the wheel and steer – at least if you want to avoid hitting a wall. If your only destination point is, “Until the gas runs out,” the best that can happen is you drift to an idle stop. It’s a scenario that can be a death kiss to a business on the move.

In the world of brand management, someone’s always watching the road ahead while keeping an eye on the rear-view mirror.

They oversee everything from market navigation, speed, mileage, and direction. There’s always a Point A and Point B to each leg of the journey. There’s clear vision, and the brand never runs out of fuel.

If you don’t have someone doing this in your business right now, buckle up. You’re in a moving vehicle without a driver.

Develop A Brand Story that Attracts

If you have a brand, it has a story. When crafted properly, this narrative can attract people far and wide for many, many years. The secret to others wanting to step closer and listen to your story relies on its ability to entertain, offer some type of valuable information, or resonate with them on a personal level.

To do this, brand copywriting must follow some basic rules of thumb – all of which require creating outside of yourself. The best ones:

• Continuously observe, and speak to, their audience’s state of mind – their wants, needs, emotions, triggers.
• Adapt their tone based on the audience’s personality and mood.
• Identify the brand’s plot, main characters (including customers), settings, twists, themes, and morals.
• Throw away useless words and anecdotes that sound clever, but don’t provide any real value to the larger message.
• Know how to take complex topics and present them in a way the audience can understand.
• Don’t fall in love with their work. They realize some people will always critique style and delivery.

99 percent of failed messaging comes down to content that appeals more to the creator than the target audience. It’s produced by and for them. We call it ego writing!

It’s much more effective for brands to develop a narrative that welcomes customers into the journey and inspires them to keep turning the proverbial page. After all, if you want people to invest their time and money into your story, it’s best to pen a Choose Your Own Adventure than a single-focus autobiography.

Willpower Gets You to New Places. Not the Map.

At some point in life, we’ve all had big plans. Big plans to learn a new skill. Big plans to get into better shape. Big plans to try something we’ve never attempted before. In some form or fashion, we’ve all had big plans to advance ourselves on this journey.

Many of us spent quite a bit of time and thought towards this end. We dug deep into our psyche, exploring the “why?” and “what ifs?” of such change. We wrestled with the idea of commitment. We weighed the benefits of potential outcome against the comforts of our current position.

In the end, we formulated a plan – a map – based on all of this data. We outlined a starting point, milestones and desired destination. Now all that stood in the way of us progressing was physical execution.

It’s at this defining moment, so many big plans devolve into colossal energy wastes. In some cases, we succumbed to analysis paralysis. “What foot should I lead with to get the biggest push off?” Other times we become overwhelmed by the breadth of scope, too exhausted to carry out under the weight of our own self-imposed hype. It’s a Screw It point that keeps our feet planted exactly where we stood from the outset.

The real secret behind big plan success isn’t so much adhering to the map, but rather tapping into willpower… staying driven and committed. After all, there are many different ways to reach a destination. Pathways will washout and detours will arise. However, no one ever went anywhere without movement – and that must be frequent and unwavering if you’re looking to go new places.

There are two parts to every marketing push. The vehicle and the content.

The vehicle is systematic. It’s a marketing machine to deliver the content to your audience. Your website, social media channels, digital billboards, ad platforms… They’re all positioning tools, designed to move your brand to many places at once.

The second part, the content, is your appeal to the people. It’s the welcoming creative used to secure your audience’s attention and buy-in. A relevant message, captivating narrative, eye-catching visual… They’re all your business’ charisma, designed to tell your story in the most compelling terms.

Vehicles undergo constant improvement, forever being overhauled with faster engines, precision routing and more advanced automation. They change as quickly as technology allows.

Content also is in a constant state of growth, at least if your brand is evolving (and it always should be). It’s the only way to articulate your progress and invite others to experience it firsthand.

Results of both vehicle and content rely on one another. A great vehicle with weak content is worthless, and vice versa. Many businesses overlook this equation, investing the lion’s share of time and money in one over the other.

They bank on the latest vehicle innovation to get them in front of millions more. It’s expected to move them to measurable outcomes, because that’s what it was built to do. But when their brand reaches the masses, it’s dead on arrival because the content lacks purpose. In other cases, businesses get lost in the possibilities of creative, neglecting the importance of good placement.

Simply put, you need to adjust your marketing machine if your brand finds itself:

A. Painstakingly perfecting content that usually never sees the light of day
B. Forever searching for a new vehicle, because nothing seems to stick

Influencer marketing is a hybrid of two positioning strategies. The first being celebrity endorsements. The second being social media. The influencer – who generally isn’t a celebrity but has a large following on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc. – promotes a company’s product or services.

So Why Does This Work?

The influencer provides the brand with instant, 24/7 access to an already captive audience… their loyal fans. It’s an unspoken rule that influencers only promote the brands they believe in. This goes a long way in compelling their followers to buy in. Some reports show as high as 49% of Twitter users rely on influencer recommendations when making a buying decision.

There are two different ways that a brand can curate a relationship with a digital marketing influencer. The first is to formally contact them and send “free” products in exchange for a quick plug on their social media feeds. Keep in mind, there’s no certainty this approach will work in your brand’s favor. If a product is blindly sent as part of a PR push, the influencer could opt to focus on the negatives. Since they’ve worked hard to earn the trust of their audience, most aren’t scared to call out flaws in their effort to present authentic information.

The second, and more sure-fire, way to build a relationship is for the brand to actually employ the influencer. The brand pays them for so many endorsements. In these cases, terms can be more defined because the influencer is under contract.

In either case, it’s important to seek an influencer that aligns with your brand’s personality and offerings. You wouldn’t want someone with an older following advertising products designed for younger consumers. To that same point, you would not want someone with questionable character representing your brand.

Influencer Marketing: Is It Worth It?

If you decide to engage with an influencer, the great ones will be able to tell you:

1. Number of followers
2. Their conversion rate (how many purchases associated with their posts)
3. Post frequency
4. Other products they represent

Influencer marketing is hardly a fleeting trend. In fact, some celebrities have cashed in big time, using it as a side stream of revenue. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, Kim Kardashian makes roughly $270,000 per post. While that might not be the route for your brand, remembering these few simple points can help you in getting the most out of your influencer experience.