Many businesses still act like it’s the early 2000s, constantly pushing out digital content like it’s a form of ‘old school’ direct mail. The problem is that traditional forms of advertising are losing their effectiveness. Society is starting to get very very good at putting up their guard to anything that comes across as a sales pitch.

A classic example is recorded television. Everyone I know with Foxtel IQ will fast forward every single advertisement. Consumers are sick of ads. What’s worse is businesses that use their website and social media channels as a giant ad platform. Constantly bombarding their audience with pitch after pitch will result in diminishing returns. Let’s take a retail shoe store as an example..

Their Facebook page or blog content is full of push marketing, such as “buy these shoes”, “buy 2 pairs and get a 3rd free”, “check out our discount on these nikes” “look what we have planned” “buy these for $99″ “sign up and get 10% off”.

They are attempting to pitch you something with every single post. It might result in a few sales but what they fail to realise is their ‘audience’ will start ‘tuning them out’. They are sacrificing the value of a lifetime customer for the sake of a short term win.

And another thing. Don’t be fooled in to thinking that just because your business has 1,000 fans that you are executing a successful digital strategy. The total number doesn’t matter. It matters how many of that total actually listening to what you have to say – not simply hiding your updates because they are sick of you.

Moving on…

Thanks to the internet and its infrastructures, every business now has an opportunity to publish content that will create a longer term relationships with their audience. And even more importantly, make sure that audience is actually looking forward to hearing from them.

A fantastic modern example is Vinomofo, who topped Deloitte’s Fast 50 Awards after increasing their revenue by 1723% in 3 years. After hearing their accomplishments I went back and re-listened to a podcast from September 2012 where their founder Andre Eikmeier talks content strategy. Andre views Facebook as a channel to engage with their audience about interesting things outside of selling wine. He said it gave Vinomofo an opportunity to talk about funny stuff that is related to wine that wine lovers would be interested in reading or watching.

A couple of recent examples:
Our top 5 wine region experiences
Wine and Cheese Pairing
Training Your Palate
and How to Taste Wine without looking like a wanker:

By executing their strategy, which involves informally educating their followers about wine and providing the odd laugh, they have built up a thriving community of wine lovers. That community is far less likely to buy wine from their competitors because they trust what these guys have to say. Most importantly they are going to stick around for a long time and NOT tune them out whenever they post a status update or Facebook or send them an email.

By committing to content marketing and building up a following they have grown their business dramatically. Because when one of their fans needs to stock up their cellar, they will always look for a Vinomofo deal.

And yes it takes time and it is easier to spend a few thousand dollars on traditional advertising tactics. But with a short term mind set you miss out on retaining a ‘tuned in’ audience that will power your business for many years to come.