Years ago, back when I spent all day, every day, doing tourism content marketing, I discovered something that really frustrated brand agencies.
For a particular southern destination, famous for its beaches, I stumbled upon the discovery that the fancy, branded graphics created by the brand agency didn’t perform near as well on social media as photos of empty beaches, contributed by real visitors.
In fact, a grainy photo (with that weird digital timestamp cameras used to add) that featured miles of empty sand and blue ocean would outperform polished, high production value imagery any day of the week.
Because people want to see what they want to see, not what we want them to see.
The brand agency wanted them to see, well, the brand. All the expensive logos, iconography, styling, modelling talent, and art direction they’d invested millions of dollars into.
While I just wanted people to visit the destination.
And I knew that those people wanted to see the beaches they could visit or fantasize about visiting, not a logo or a model they couldn’t relate to at all.
My work has never been overly flashy because, even as a kid, I always wanted to know how things functioned.
In fact, I would never be certain I knew what something did until I knew how it worked.
So when I started working in marketing, my question would always be, “But did it work?” Not, did people notice. Not, did it win an award. Not, did it look flashy and impressive to my peers.
But did it work.
It’s tempting to think marketing needs to be about us, but it’s actually about them.
What they want, not what we want them to want.
So before you invest thousands or millions into flash, prestige, or peer-focused advertising, ask yourself this:
What do my customers want to see? And am I showing them?
Or am I showing them what I want them to see?
Kelford Inc. shows you the way to always knowing what to say.