Authenticity sells, now more than ever. Learn why you have to start marketing with user-generated content.
Authenticity sells.
Real stories told by real people receive 4x higher click-through-rates at half the cost. So really...
Authenticity sells at a fraction of the cost PLUS more engagement.
We could end the blog post right there. That sounds pretty good already.
But maybe you need more than just one statistic to convince you why authentic marketing is so important in this futuristic year of 2021.
Maybe you think this is something that will be quickly forgotten, like parachute pants or Quibi.
That’s fine. You didn’t get to your marketing position without being a little skeptical about the ever-changing marketing landscape.
So let’s get started.
The Millennial and Gen Z generation are 139 million strong in the U.S. And you know what?
They don’t like marketing.
Well, they don’t like marketing when it feels like marketing. In fact, more than 30% of millennials have unfollowed a brand due to inauthentic content.
20-40 year olds want to spend their hard-earned money on brands that are “real and organic” and not “perfect and well-packaged.”
They actually prefer a scrappy little video made by some random dude over a polished commercial.
Just think about that: you can save MILLIONS of dollars reaching out to your customers to record videos instead of producing a flashy ad.
And you’d get a stronger response from 139 million people.
It’s hard to tell what’s real these days. That’s why we crave it so much.
And when we see a real human tell their very real story, that connects with us. It’s that emotional bond we feel with humanity.
Touch a person’s heart, and they will feel linked with your brand emotionally. A consumer who connects emotionally to a brand has a lifetime value 306% higher than a consumer who doesn’t. That connected consumer will recommend the brand 71% of the time instead of 45%, and they stay with the brand an average of 1.7 years longer.
Tap into your customers’ emotions.
Is this manipulative? No!
These are authentic stories told by actual people. It’s not some actor who memorized lines or a cartoon llama.
Take UPS for example. You might just think of them as a shipping company, but each package they ship has a person with a story. They tapped into this emotional angle with their #theupsstorecustomer Instagram campaign. They re-framed their entire business to say it’s not about the package, it’s about the person.
Consumers are hearing a story from its source, and that’s a very powerful message.
How many people have actually experienced a car like those TV commercials you always see? Have you ever driven through snow capped mountains in your sleek new car?
Probably not.
But you might have had to fit a bunch of stuff in your trunk.
Believe it or not, someone showing how big their trunk is by recording themselves fitting a big cooler in there can get a stronger response from consumers.
Plus, how many car companies are posting content about relatable ideas like trunk space? Most are still in the “majestic mountain drive TV commercial” mindset.
Authentic marketing will make you stand out from the more traditional ads. Heck, it might even go viral.
It wasn’t even an ad from the company, but the guy who drank Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice on a skateboard helped the juice company’s bottom line. After that TikTok video went viral, Ocean Spray reported an 11% sales growth in the juice and 3-4% for the entire franchise.
Simple is good, and relatable is even better.
People see themselves in user-generated content.
So if you get authentic marketing content from the right people, then you’ll get even more people like that interested in your brand.
Authentic marketing helps “self select” your new, future customers. And with all the ways to hyper target audiences on digital advertising platforms, you’ll eliminate a lot of fat and get to keep your budget nice and lean.
These days, people want to interact with brands and products. And reaching out to your customers or audience for their thoughts makes it easy.
You could have them talk about the new product you just launched, a personal story about how your brand affects their life, or take a poll about what new update you should do next.
Really, anything that gets them talking with you and putting your brand in a positive light is great.
Encourage a dialogue with your audience. They’ll be grateful you listened.
Don’t be a marketing dinosaur.
This is the year to embrace this new, exciting way of marketing with user-generated content.
Still a little hesitant? How about this...
Try Capsule free for 14 days and take it for a test drive. See how powerful authentic, user-generated content can be for your marketing. Democratize your marketing and experience the impressive results.
You won’t get to drive it through rugged mountainous terrain like in those TV commercials, but that wouldn’t be relatable anyways.
And it’s all about relatability now.
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system. added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
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Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
