Remington Begg
How many different ice cream flavors are there? A thousand? A million? I know that when I go to the Royal Scoop, my favorite ice cream joint here in Southwest Florida, my eyes get big and I marvel at all the different flavors. There's so many, which one do I choose?!
The selection process can be daunting. So many different flavors staring at you with their funky names and delicious textures. It's relatable to how we, as marketers, have to stand out and grab the consumer's attention. Breaking through the noise is the challenge, being REMARKABLE is the solution.
Being REMARKABLE isn't easy, but it's how you breakthrough through the noise of average marketers and set your business up for success.
I've come up with three different levels of website marketing and how they relate to the flavors of ice cream. No, I'm not crazy! You want to be the Double Nut Crunch Chocolate and Peanut Butter Super Flavor of ice cream, not the Vanilla. Keep reading and I guarantee you will learn how to stand out from the crowd and be REMARKABLE! You might even be a little hungry for a frozen treat by the time you're done reading!
The Basics
Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Cherry--these are basic ice cream flavors. They have their place, they are traditional, and you know what you're getting. No surprises here.
I would relate these flavors to basic online brochure style websites. They have information about the company, a few photos, and a contact page. You can spot these sites because they are super simple, have a total of maybe 5 pages, and all the copy is sensationalized. It is all about the business and what they offer, not the customer and what they need. These are static sites that don't change, and probably look very out of date. They aren't going to scream out and give you that "wow" feeling. Nor are they going to dazzle Google and get ranked for keywords customers are looking for.
The Good
Butter Pecan, Red Velvet, Vanilla Bean, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Rocky Road--these are all examples of ice cream flavors that broke away from the traditional and took our taste buds to another level.
These flavors relate to companies that understand that people have different tastes and can be reached in different ways. Their website marketing efforts go beyond the simple brochure style website. They probably have a blog and publish company information on it, maybe even give an entertaining behind the scenes look at company culture. They are trying hard and understand the value of doing more.
This is the largest group out there. It represents over half of the internet marketers and their websites. These companies are doing a good job, but as I like to say, good is the enemy of great. Great is being REMARKABLE. Don't rest on just being average, be great! Be like the REMARKABLE flavors below.
The Remarkable
Garbage Can, Peanut Buttah Madness, Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Therapy, Chubby Hubby, Chunky Monkey, Karamel Sutra, Hazed & Confused--these are ice cream flavors that stand out. They buck tradition and thrive on creative names and flavors. The offer different serving sizes and listen to what their target market needs and wants. Then they give it to them. They blasted through the walls of ice cream limitations. These are what I call REMARKABLE ice cream flavors.
Companies with REMARKABLE website marketing strategies also crash through walls of limitations and give users that WOW factor. They have interesting blogs that are consistently active (posting a minimum of twice a week), they create content that solves problems, entertains and educates the right buyer personas. They effectively move blog readers down the sales funnel with relevant call-to-actions. There is a strategy behind ever post, every interaction. There's no posting content just for the sake of posting like The Good category above, there's always a goal. That goal is to help customers and potential customers solve problems and answer questions.
REMARKABLE companies attract people just like amazing ice cream flavors do. When people get excited they tell others. "Oh my gosh Susie, you have to try this flavor, it is to die for. I've never had anything like it in my life!" Design your website to do the same thing. Excite those visitors and they will shout praise from the mountaintops! Those mountaintops being social networks where the story can quickly spread to thousands.
These companies understand REMARKABLE and put a strategy to it. Then they work their faces off to stand out amongst all the noise in creative customer-centric ways.
So in a world with a bazillion choices--business, ice cream or otherwise--how do you choose to succeed? Are you going with a more traditional vanilla approach, the follow-the-leader Butter Pecan approach, or are you going to be the Cherry Garcia of the online marketing world? The choice is yours.
I told you you'd be hungry be the time you got done reading this!
