It started in early 2020 as our weekly “Marketing Amid Corona” update. It merged with the B2CRM news work we do here on PostFunnel – to become our popular Tuesday newsletter (for subscribers only).

But throughout all its revisions and changes, one thing remained constant: our attempt to bring you insights that would help you become better relationship marketers.

We do it with links, tips, and our news coverage, but also with the email’s opening section, which we call “our take,” where insights can come from anywhere – from marketing news to world news, pop culture to finance, sports events to the White House.

The article below brings you these “our take” segments of our past newsletters. Subscribe to get it in realtime.

 

Now, we all know what really matters for brands on social media (Aug 24, 2021)

Yesterday, the marketing world learned a fantastic lesson about “brand personality marketability.” For free, courtesy of SportsPro’s list of the world’s 50 most marketable athletes right now.

Glancing over it is a baffling experience for sports fans. Okay, Simone Biles at #1, but Lionel Messi out of the top 10? Lebron James not in the top 20? Tom Brady not even on the list? And how come Naomi Osaka is #2, and the top 10 is including three female soccer players and a Greek tennis dude?

But for marketers, it’s an exhilarating, exciting list – because it reaffirms what many of us know (think? Okay, know!) about what makes influenceability tick in late 2021: It is all. About. Transparency.

Openly exhibiting who you are, what makes you-you, is key in driving engagement on social media. Revealing how you deal with success and with failures, with ups and downs, while not shying away from criticism or adversity. Putting your personality out there – not “your brand.” The more your brand relies on your human nature – the better your chances are of coming across as transparent and authentic.

It wasn’t always like that. Previous years’ lists are more “traditional”. But something seriously changed over the last year in how people on social media expect “official pages” to conduct themselves.

In a way, it’s an evolution of the “telling it like it is” wave that Donald Trump rode all the way to the American Presidency back in 2015. But with the twist that it’s no longer about “calling others out” – nowadays, it’s about putting your authentic self out there. Not in a cruel way, but still in a direct, non-apologetic way. It may sound subtle, but there’s a difference there, and it’s an important one.

The list aims to show which athletes brand should most want to be working with. But not everyone can afford to endorse these famous sportspeople. And so, a closer examination is needed here. And what such a look reveals is how brands themselves should “behave”/come across over social media if they want to create influential relationships with customers.

Kim Kardashian West teaches us branding (Aug 17, 2021)

Since Dax Shepard’s podcast moved exclusively to Spotify, the show’s feed on other podcast apps did not stay deserted. Instead, Dax and his team are using it to post the show’s little sister, “We Are Supported by…”, hosted by Kristen Bell and Monica Padman.

It’s a smart way to expose it to a new audience. But it’s not why we’re talking about it.

“We’re Supported by” is a 10 episode limited series that dives deep with women “who have put a crack in the glass ceiling.” And while putting such focus on these women is intelligent and practical and on-point with the zeitgeist, which we applaud – it’s the episode with Kim Kardashian West that really caught our ears and full attention.

You see, KKW is a hugeeee brand. But, she’s also a human being. And the best way she can strengthen her brand is by exposing the good sides of who she is as a person.

It’s not an easy task – attention is naturally drawn to the sensational. But, when done right, with a good mix of short and long-form, and with dedication and purpose – putting the good sides of people next to the brand they represent/work for, is how you build a brand people want to be associated with, even if just as customers.

You should listen to that episode. You should be a KKW fan. And, you should humanize your brand, too.

 

The responsibility for solving a global problem- as a marketer, you can’t sit this one out (August 10, 2021)

If you want your customers to develop a meaningful connection with your brand through the way you communicate with them, making global responsibility a recurring theme is a must.

Crowdless Tokyo Olympic games are behind us, clearing the global headlines to the most alarming Climate report as of date – in itself published after long meetings over video calls, for the same reason that kept in a bubble all that wonderful Sports we’ve seen in the past three weeks – COVID.

Are you sensing a theme here?

It’s Crisis. Capital C. Plural. Global Crisis, to be exact.

And you, as a marketer, as a person in charge of how a brand is communicating, as a professional with a platform, as a citizen of the world with an audience – can’t sit this one out.

The responsibility for solving a global problem – lays on global shoulders. Including us. Including you. It’s the humane thing to do. But – thanks to a very active and responsible new generation that is coming of age as we speak – it is also the right business move.

Especially from a CRM standpoint.

 

“Selling” transparency is crucial. Do you know why? (Aug 3, 2021)

You want Gen Z-ers and young millennials to love you, your brand, and your products. Even if they’re not your natural target audience – you still want that. They move the needle socially now. And they’re tomorrow’s big spenders.

And so, if you want meaningful relationships with them – you should start by listening to them. Lucky you, this past week provided two fantastic reminders into what they are saying.

The main message: Transparency first.

It started with Simone Bile’s openness about her mental struggles last week, with Naomi Osaka’s Netflix miniseries (which deals with similar issues) in the background of it all. And then came Billie Eilish.

To The Guardian, she said that “when I’m on stage, I have to disassociate from the ideas I have of my body. What looks real can be fake. I mean, I’m very confident in who I am. I’m also obviously not happy with my body, but who is?”

This is the level of transparency that younger generations appreciate. It’s a brutally honest mix of vulnerability, crossed with humanity, crossed with self-confidence, crossed with empowerment. And it cannot be faked.

 

What can your brand learn from Simone Biles’ struggles? (July 27, 2021)

For decades, the advertising industry sold people on perfect dreams. The information age made this strategy much less effective because, when people know more, it’s harder to protect those perfect images.

Simone Biles entered the Tokyo Olympics as a perfect athlete, an unbreakable competitor, unbeatable gymnast – a face in charge of carrying and selling not only the US gymnastics team but women empowerment as a whole, as well as many commercial brands.

Was this too good to be true?

Yesterday, on her Instagram account, she admitted she feels like she’s carrying the weight of the world. Today, she quit the Team Finals after one round – with a perceived injury and reported mental difficulties.

An image disaster? Not necessarily. Because 2021 is not 1998, when Nike forced a broken-down Ronaldo to play the World Cup final, a story it took years to verify amid stubborn denials.

2021 is a world where another huge star of the Olympic games, Naomi Osaka, competed while her Netflix miniseries openly dealt with the mental struggles involved in her profession and stature.

The way Biles quickly returned to stand by her teammates’ side after first leaving the gym and the way early reports talked about that mental aspect – remind us how in the current zeitgesit, huge brands should not be afraid to exhibit a wide range of values. The victorious side, and the more fragile one.

Biles, as a brand, was never more human than she is right now. Owning it is the only way to move forward.

 

Mila Kunis’ NFT lesson for CRM Marketers (July 20, 2021)

Mila Kunis knows more about NFTs and Crypto than you do. I know, that’s annoying. But, instead of only getting pissed off over it, let’s channel this energy to good customer marketing!

See, today, building meaningful relationships with customers is more than ever based on emotions and offering rewarding loyalty programs. Customers want to buy from brands they identify and can connect with on a more personal level.

And what’s more connecting than allowing customers to not only own your products – but also have some real skin in the game?

Kunis is about to release an animated show that in order to watch it, customers will have to buy one of its unique NFTs (“access tokens”), using the cryptocurrency Ethereum – which will give them the right to view any future content under that title.

It’s basically crowdfunding crossed with pay-per-view crossed with blockchain. It’s not as complicated as it may sound, and it’s all the rage. But more, it creates scarcity out of thin air while also bringing real product and real value and allowing customers to feel more involved with your brand’s success.

And so, yes, Mila still knows more than you about blockchain. But don’t get mad, get even.

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