Is your brand getting the RIGHT kind of attention?

“Treat others the way you want to be treated.”

I remember a billboard I used to drive by that asked me if I was suffering from a list of pregnancy symptoms. It always struck me as absurd.

I was just one guy who found the billboard irrelevant. What about the number of post-menopausal women, the number of women not currently pregnant, and all the guys who glanced up at it on their way by?

That billboard was probably relevant to 2% of the people who saw it.

The rest of us would have preferred to drive by a nice green shrub.

Sure, we want brand attention for our business — but is all attention good attention?

Even if your audience targeting is on-point, and you’re getting the right eyeballs on your advertising, how it’s landing is a whole other ball of bologna.

Every time is a good time to apply the Golden Rule.

Whether you sell something people want, or you’re in the business of bearing bad news, it’s a good practice to consider how your audience would prefer to hear from you. 

Let’s start with the context.

Imagine you’re on a double-date, enjoying a steak and beers over great conversation with your spouse and two friends. You’re in the middle of laughing at a story your friend just shared, and a male stranger in a tie approaches the table with a syrupy grin. He asks if you’d like to purchase insurance.

As much as we all need insurance, you’re never going to buy insurance from this guy. Ever. If he gives you his business card, you’ll keep it in order to warn friends and family that he’s a bit of a ding-dong.

The same rules apply to your brand.

Whether I’m in a steakhouse with friends or watching YouTube at home in my underwear, I don’t want my laugh interrupted by a sales pitch.

Don’t buy your audience’s attention with paid advertising if it’s going to be a killjoy to their experience.

Making your potential customers aware of your brand is only part of the equation.

First, consider how your audience would like to be reached.

4 more people now know that the weird guy in the tie sells insurance. It doesn’t mean they like him, trust him, and want to buy from him.

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How can your brand apply the Golden Rule through content?

Your content strategy should start with your organizational goals and then quickly shift to empathy for the people you need on board to meet those goals.

If we don’t enter the conversation with a listener’s attitude, we’re going to fall on deaf ears— no matter how big the advertising budget.

How our video production company got into the business of podcast production

We’ve produced a boatload of videos for a shedload of brands over the past 10 years. And the demand and consumption of video content is only growing. 

But video is only one way to reach and impact people. 

A move beyond video

The Simcoe Muskoka Catholic Schoolboard (SMCDSB) approached us to produce some video content for them. They were hosting resource nights for parents; the evenings featured experts with helpful insights on issues facing students. They were value-packed with great content, but there was a problem: The information only ever reached a small fraction of the parents and guardians. 

As a parent with school-kids, I can tell you that getting into my car on a dark February week night to attend an educational event ranks low on my list of priorities. Much lower than turning on Netflix and enjoying a beer when the kids are asleep.

The communications team saw this obstacle but also knew the resources shared at these gatherings could really help parents and guardians. 

The problem wasn’t with the content; it was with the context.

They wanted to reach and help more people, and a video series looked like a good option.

As we talked, we got thinking about the lifestyle of parents with kids. Parent life is a busy life.

Are the parents who don’t show up to these information sessions going to make time to watch a 20-minute resource video?

We weren’t convinced.

So we thought, what about a podcast?

A podcast would mean parents could gain insight while doing the dishes, jogging, or driving to work. We’d keep the content short and to-the-point, and include key takeaways that parents could use right away. 

New circumstances require deeper listening

It was during an early meeting with the communications team that a phone call came in; the schools would be moving into a lockdown.

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 meant we had to shift gears on how the podcast would look.

It was a blessing in disguise. 

Interviews would now happen remotely, which meant we could record screencasts of the podcast alongside the audio using a company called Riverside.fm. 

Almost by accident, we’d come full-circle. We were now producing not only the podcast but video content too.

With these videos, we could provide quick and snappy value for parents scrolling Facebook and Instagram. We’d export short video snippets from the podcast (value to the viewer), and invite them to listen to the entire episode (promotional material for our client).

The Golden Rule requires us to listen and adapt — continually

We all want our brands to make a bigger impact. If we want a chance to make that happen, we need to dedicate ourselves to really understanding our client’s needs and adapt accordingly.

Sometimes adapting will take a small shift, and other times it’ll require an entirely new initiative. Putting effort into making these changes shows our customers that we’re tuned into their needs, and that we care.

If we want to build trust and grow our influence with our brands, we’ll continue to find ways to to apply the Golden Rule to our marketing.