Does the Marketing Unicorn Exist?
Freya Smale — April 19, 2017 — April 19, 2017
A Unicorn, a mythical creature of legend, that is as rare as it is majestic, has ignited a craze recently that many a marketer is looking to leverage.
Take Starbucks for example, who today launched their ‘Unicorn Frappuccino’, a brightly colored drink that changes color and taste as you drink it.
Starbucks announcement of the Unicorn Frappuccino on Twitter
With all this talk of unicorns, it got me thinking about if the Marketing Unicorn exists.
Who is the Marketing Unicorn?
Marketing in recent years has become strategically vital to any company’s long-term success. It has also developed the reputation for being a creative, agile, and digital career choice. Whilst this is in part true, marketing is indeed a job for the creative and agile, the Marketing Unicorn knows not to limit the focus to the digital.
Instead, they limit their focus to the customer. The increasingly rare Marketing Unicorn sees the customer first and foremost, and understand that the customer does not always favor digital.
Customers use multiple channels, and yes absolutely, a large proportion of the most popular channels are digital. Whilst, it is foolish not to leverage digital marketing tools in this age of digital transformation, there is something worse – not using the tools that will spark the desired response from your customer. The most powerful examples of marketing can all be traced back to one common characteristic. They put the customer first.
In fact, marketing failures can also be traced back to the customer and failing to put them first. Take Pepsi, who recently found out how disastrous misreading customer sentiment can be with their television commercial featuring Kendall Jenner. Instead of inspiring of a message of unity, it provoked a huge, negative reaction on social media. Many accused the Pepsi of adopting the spirit and imagery of the anti-Trump resistance, Black Lives Matter, and other movements to sell soda.
How to recognize a Marketing Unicorn?
- The word Customer, not the word Digital, makes up 50% of their sentences.
It’s almost impossible to have a conversation with a marketer these days without them talking digital or social media. In fact, if you were to ask a marketer to explain what’s integral to their strategy in under 60 seconds, I guarantee you’ll hear digital or social media a minimum 5 times.
The Marketing Unicorn, however, would say customer 5 times. Their explanation would be littered with references to customer needs or experience. They talk of personalization, targeting, the value of customer feedback, and continually work to engage differently with their target markets.
Not to say that digital tools, like social media, are not extremely effective. But what is more effective, is choosing the tools that engage the customer directly, in a unique way. Successful examples of digital marketing do just that.
- Their Power comes from Data.
Mythical creatures often have a source of power. In the case of the Unicorn, the source is the single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. For the Marketing Unicorn, this source is data.
Data is more abundant than ever. Marketers who use data to their advantage are more powerful. They come armed to meetings with statistics and have consumer insight that sounds almost fabricated in its specificity.
The Marketing Unicorn can also take this data to the next level, channeling their power to predict the future. This ability enables them to stay one step ahead of consumer trends. It also helps them assess marketing channels, and choose the MarTech that will enhance their efforts.
- The Supervillain of their Story is…
Dr. Buzzword! An evil force that focuses on the latest trend, not the customer. In other words, a business leader who thinks trend-first, trapping the Unicorn in a cage and preventing the formulation of a marketing strategy that thinks customer-first.
What to do if you find a Marketing Unicorn?
Don’t scare it away.
Don’t be Dr. Buzzword and trap this rare creature in a cage.
Nurture it.
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