Last week my husband and I traveled over an hour to attend an event in Silver Spring, MD for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Heritage Week. The weather was not great for driving, but we decided to go and listen to a panel of veteran ocean explorers, archaeologists and scientists discuss their first hand experiences studying some of the world’s most famous shipwrecks, the Titanic and the USS Monitor — the famous Civil War ironclad that sank in 1862. NOAA had sent out a great email blast in full color using a picture that mimicked Indiana Jones, but the star was replaced with a retired NOAA employee who had some fun with the theme. It was great. The stage was designed as though the speakers were standing on an upper deck of a wooden schooner, using several large wooden chests (instead of barrels) and a large wooden plank that read “Shipwrecks” across the center of the stage placed below the video screen.
The overall theme was “Preserving America.” That was the reason why I was there. It’s a subject that resonates with me and is very important. As I sat and listened to these speakers I could feel and hear their intense passion as they spoke about the fate of these two ships. What was interesting is that these scientists did not bore us with long drawn out descriptions of the science and new technologies they used in mapping and surveying, but they focused on the human interest side of their projects, the part that gave them the passion to do what they do and to deliver a great presentation. Looking around the stage and auditorium I saw the audience and NOAA employees participating and genuinely enjoying all of the presentations.
Being a marketer, I’m reminded of the emotional similarities of what makes social networking such a powerful tool in marketing company brands — outreach and attitudes. Humans are moved emotionally by our basic values, beliefs and attitudes, which are considered the greatest set of targeting attributes you can define for your brand. This data gives powerful insight for your product benefits and overall messaging. Attitudinal marketing will give perspective and depth to your targeted messaging connecting your customer to your brand — just like passion grabbed my attention and kept it throughout the presentations. Yes, there are other important attributes like online browsing behaviors, purchase behaviors, interests and even ideologies, but these are secondary. I keep going back to the importance of human nature and what makes us unique — our emotions. So let’s forget about our analytical side for awhile and concentrate on our emotional side. Once we target that, the analytical side will be much easier to convince because facts tell and stories sell, so Make Your Message Matter®.
Kathie Libert has more than 20 years experience providing client services and brand marketing communications to clients within the private and public sectors. As a marketing communications specialist for LeapFrog Solutions, Kathie develops, manages and delivers integrated campaigns that utilize both traditional and new media marketing strategies for international corporations, retail businesses, professional services, nonprofit organizations and government contractors.
