Looking at the emotion of the customer
Thanks to Lauren McMenemy below is my contribution to her article for Skyword
“Content from All Angles: Are SEO Content, PR Content, and Content Marketing All That Different?”
I don’t care about your ego or what your textbooks told you: Content and story are the nucleus of all communications. It’s true whether you’re looking at it as a brand manager, an SEO specialist, a PR manager, a content writer, or any number of other roles found in the modern marketing organization. Before you create a website, contact a journalist, or engage a prospect, you need to know what story you’re telling, to whom, and why.
Does that mean all content is the same? Not exactly. There are some nuances in how we approach content depending on both its objectives and its eventual home. And even though objectives and distribution methods still differ across marketing functions, we’re now seeing a merging of disciplines, finding ways to use the same content to suit multiple purposes.
Let me demonstrate this through a story of my own: When looking for people to speak with to gather insights for this article, https://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/author/sw-59942/
Borkowski, a PR veteran of more than 30 years, believes “we’re being blinded by science” and not focusing on what matters: the story, the people.
“No one has a solution yet because no one is really thinking about the audience and the primal things that move the audience and how we link those things together, because that does not change,” he says. “We are at our base still driven by primeval desires of nesting and feeding, which turned into consumerism. We’re confused by a world that is more dangerous, that is complex, and yet we still want to buy ridiculous PR campaigns and advertising messages.
“People are not looking at the emotion of the customer, but are trying to sell systems and conglomerate around advertising and media companies. It’s just a male ego play at the end of the day, because while people are asking questions and while people are winning business on providing something that’s interesting and different, they’re actually not moving the needle. And that’s why the world is getting more confused and intense.”
Borkowski believes things will only change when clients do—and he says there are some smart clients and smart campaigns out there.
“Clients have to operate differently in this world. At the moment it’s all about money, it’s not about purpose. Ultimately, how do we crush greed?
“My obsession is getting on with the now. There are lots of really interesting things you can meld and mold into every campaign. Always, always what lets you change things is brilliant clients. I think we will begin to see a lot more purpose, a lot more people thinking about not just how they produce but clearly the effectiveness—it’s going to be a massive change in everything. We can’t get lost in the bullshit.”
He talks about a campaign he’s currently working on with a Germany company, looking at migration. This company is investing six months in working with the agency to develop the campaign to its fullest.
“I think more and more clients want to work with the agency to come up with a set of solutions and working relationships, and I think that’s where PR is changing at the moment. It has the ability to take the lead as long as it gets away from selling stupid ideas that culminate in some ridiculous stunt that does nothing but create more noise. There’s a lot more people investing in strategy and actually not looking for a quick win. They’re looking at where they will be in three years’ time, and I think the most interesting thing is what we will see from those companies from investing in that. The best-case scenarios will be coming down the pipe in five to six years’ time.
“There’s less budget, less money, and people are expecting agencies to work a lot smarter, which is attracting clever people. When parents say, ‘My child wants to get into PR; what should they do?’, I say get an anthropology degree to understand behavior. Behavior and strategy and long-term programming will be the things that we will see change the industry.”