Want to connect with your customers? Capture their attention through pop culture. Dictionary.com defines pop culture as the “cultural activities reflecting, suited to or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people.” When you consider that you are targeting masses of people through pop culture, you should also consider how this can influence your business. Take, for example, the recent Pokemon craze or the marketing chaos that the U.S. presidential elections brought to life. There are countless ways in which pop culture can influence consumers, but the main takeaway Gigprenuers, entrepreneurs and businesses in general need to narrow in on is how their businesses can benefit from pop culture. Among these ways include the following.
When it comes to reacting to pop culture, timing is everything. Often, the message you can share has such a limited window to gain a reaction from consumers that you have to be quick thinking and act fast in order to attach your brand to pop culture. Some ways in which this may happen, for example, may include the day following a national sports championships – such as the recent World Series that the Chicago Cubs won. In order to gain from this, your reaction would have to be immediate in order to generate a response. You could offer to make a graphic of someone holding a Chicago Cubs player in the air or you could offer to write a five sentence poem about your love for the Cubs using key words shared by the client. The ideas are endless, but timing isn’t. React timely in order to benefit from marketing your business in response to pop culture.
When reacting to pop culture, the key is to do so with ease and a light-heartedness. Avoid negativity, frustration, judgment or anything else that may be perceived by others in a different light than you aim to share. Keep it humorous, informative and positive. For example, you could use home runs hit in the final game of the World Series as an incentive for a promotional offering for your business. No harm and only gain when offering something customers can enjoy – despite the outcome of who won the game. The main takeaway is this… embrace pop culture with ease and then react to it in the same fashion. This neutral approach welcomes a more broad range of customers to respond to it – which is ideal since pop culture is intended to reach the masses when it comes to people.
Reacting to pop culture has many benefits, but among the best is to gain attention – plain and simple. Often, customers don’t react to promotions, sales, incentives or other efforts you may put forth in terms of marketing because they aren’t feeling connected to it. But pop culture is something many people connect to… so embrace that, and embrace the attention that follows as a result. Sales may not be strong for every pop culture plug you make, but consistency pays off. When you introduce pop culture into your marketing strategy, you introduce opportunity, as well.
Remember, pop culture changes everyday. Be timely, react effectively and embrace the attention. These combined efforts can help your business gain more visibility and sales – a winning combo that even the 2016 World Series Chicago Cubs would be proud of!
Have you utilized pop culture or timely moments in your marketing techniques? How’d it work? Tell us below!
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