Test 1 : An Instagram contest where participants had to follow the Shogun account, tag 2 friends, and guess the type of fish in a photo. One winner would win a $10 gift card to Shogun.
Test 2 : I ran 2 ads to drive people to this contest, against two different Audiences: Mothers living in Albany and surrounding areas and Students living in Albany and surrounding areas.
I thought if I sold more sushi, I’d earn my dad’s respect.
On paper, offering to help with marketing for one of the family restaurants made sense: I knew the food. I knew marketing. And I was a millennial, so obviously I knew Instagram, #natch.
The upside potential was high. It was also a good way to give back to the family.
However, if I peel back all the layers of resume speak, the naked truth was much simpler:
I wanted to impress my dad. I wanted his approval. So I spent a lot of 2019 working on this, on the side.
If you have a family business, you can learn from my approach to marketing our family restaurant, what I experimented with, and why I failed.
I asked a group of 3,000 smart, ambitious millennials: “What are the best email newsletters right now — the ones you open every time?” Here’s what they’re reading:
My friend landed his first job in the marketing field. “Any books or resources or tips you’d recommend for marketing?” he asked.
There are so many different philosophical approaches (e.g. direct sales vs. permission marketing), digital vs. traditional (email vs. direct mail), parts of the funnel (acquisition vs. retention), and channels (e.g. social vs. SEO)… Where should you start?
Or, if I had to learn marketing from scratch, what would I do?
The first time I visited Times Square in New York City, I spent the entire day enthralled by the city’s lights and 30 foot billboards.
Today, it’s just another stop on the subway where I have to dodge tourists and selfie sticks to get where I’m going.
This is exactly how I feel about the wave of online courses popping up on my Facebook and Instagram feed this past year. I’ve been playing in the online course sandbox for the last 3 years. 90% of the time, I scroll right past these ads — they’re basically invisible.
So, when I do SEE one… And it gets me to read… And to watch the video… And sign up for the webinar… I spend the time to think about WHY.
In a sea of ads that all fade away like elevator music, why did THIS one stick out to me?
Here’s the advertisement that popped up in my Facebook feed, from Wilco de Kreij.
Here’s my mental journey that got me to read, watch, and sign-up:
He nailed the pain point.
The ad started strong, hitting the pain of what it takes to build a list… and the idea that there has to be a better way (other than more opt-in widgets).
Positioning of the solution.
The solution is positioned as something new that I haven’t tried yet.
Overcame a “silent objection.”
A silent objection is one I feel in my gut… but can’t quite put into words.
(For example, ever meet someone who for all intensive purposes seems nice, but you don’t trust? That’s your mind’s pattern recognition at work, silently objecting.)
The copy, “without relying on existing traffic sources or spending a dime on advertising traffic” addressed that silent objection… And got me to click on the video.
A video pitch that felt REAL.
I was impressed by the video, not because it was beautifully shot or because of the polished delivery. In fact, it was the opposite. Wilco stuttered. He didn’t maintain eye contact. He felt a little awkward on video.
I loved it. I never felt like I was being sold to by a pro. It was the difference between buying a used car from a loud salesman in a poor fitting suit, and buying at a Mercedes-Benz dealership.
Was the ad perfect?
Definitely not. For example, the moment he shed even a tiny bit of detail on the “system,” alarm bells went off in my head.
I had another silent objection (“so I’m just asking people to share content? I don’t want to do that…”) and that objection was left unanswered.
And ultimately I didn’t convert. In other words, I signed up for the webinar, briefly watched the replay, but didn’t finish and didn’t buy. “Building a list” was too far away from my real desire of “make money” and “social influence”, and Wilco didn’t do enough to bridge the two in my mind.
So I didn’t feel like I HAD to add this to my calendar and move things around in my schedule to attend this webinar. But the ad did get me to click, so that part of the funnel was successful.
She never got into it. And if she’s not into it, that tells me her friends probably aren’t on there either. Instead, her first social app was Instagram.
2. She curates on Instagram.
In other words, she has less than 50 photos on her account. She’s probably posted at least a hundred more, but she goes back and deletes posts.
How does she decide which posts to delete? If they don’t get enough likes. If it’s no longer a reflection of how she sees herself (“I had a bunch of photos of when I was in middle school, why would I want anyone to see that? And my first photo was a cup of yogurt. Like, why?”)
In other words, Instagram is a snapshot of who she is NOW.
Compare that to how I (and many peers) use Instagram: As an archive of everything we were and are, told through filters.
3. How does she know whether to like or delete a photo?
“Today, if a photo gets less than 100 likes, I’ll probably delete it (she has about 250 followers and a private account). It used to be 50 likes, more lately I’ve been getting a lot more.”
