- Successful marketers need to remain relevant, updated
and innovative to stay ahead.
- Are you doing the job that the customer hired you for?
And I think if you always think about that at the core,
no matter what the product you're selling and thinking
about at scale, you will always serve your customer right.
- And while constantly trying to come up with new
and better ideas can seem like an overwhelming task,
there are a few proven things that you can do
that are going to make your job a whole lot easier
and more profitable.
(screen whooshing)
I'm Adam Erhart, and today I wanna unpack a recent episode
of Connections, the show for marketers on Salesforce+.
In this episode, Poshmark CMO Steven Tristan Young talks
about innovation and trends, lessons that you can learn
from other industries, the power of listening
to your consumers and embracing what makes your brand
and your company special and unique.
I'm gonna take some of the bigger picture ideas he shares
and translate them into proven
and profitable marketing strategies, tactics and frameworks
that you can use right now in order to build a relevant
and resilient brand that customers love
because with over 80 million users,
Poshmark is clearly onto something here.
Before we start, if you wanna check out the full episode,
you can right after this on Salesforce+.
It's completely 100% free to watch
and there are a ton of other great episodes
on there as well.
So I'll make sure to put a link down in the description
for you to check out right after this video.
For now, let's dive right in by taking a look at one
of the least obvious but most beneficial places to get ideas
and inspiration from: other industries.
(pen scratching)
- It's incredibly important to work in different industries
because you see how different companies try
to solve the same problem
about how to drive consumer adoption,
how to change behavior
and ultimately, how to win consumers' hearts and minds.
For me, as a marketer,
it's been fundamentally interesting to be able to say,
"Hmm, I remember how we solved this problem
at that X company.
Maybe we could take parts of that solution
and see how we can apply it to us,"
which I think allows for pattern recognition at scale.
And as a marketer, I think that's one
of your biggest weapons is to be able to do that.
- As Steven said, pattern recognition at scale
is what allows you to look at the bigger picture
for changes in consumer behavior,
perceptions and shifts taking place in your industry,
as well as keeping your finger
on the pulse of the market in general.
So how are you actually supposed to learn
and apply this to your business?
The first way is to make sure you've got the fundamentals
of marketing on lock.
Things like knowing your audience and brand positioning
and understanding what makes your company different
from your competition.
The second way is to get out of your comfort zone
and introduce yourself to new industries.
And the third way is the easiest and most fun way of all
and that is to take up a new hobby,
go see a new movie, or travel to a new location.
Creativity comes from connecting existing ideas,
rather than coming up with new ones.
And giving your brain a constant stream
of new ideas and experiences is one
of the fastest ways to always be innovating.
And often the best source for great ideas is right
in front of you in your existing customers and community.
(screen whooshing) (pen scratching)
A great way to stay relevant is to tear down as many walls
as possible between your business and your customers.
- One thing I'm incredibly proud of is a lot
of our customers have a direct line to my CEO,
to a lot of our senior leaders, our founders.
And I think most of the time,
your best customers just wanna be heard.
(screen whooshing)
- Customers love to share their opinions and their ideas.
And customer feedback is always valuable to us as marketers.
Good marketers know that listening to customers,
taking their ideas, advice and input
and letting them know that you appreciate them sharing leads
to more satisfied customers, leads to more engagement
by showing other customers that your brand is open
and receptive, leads to more interaction
on social media where much of this communication takes place
and leads to more information available for your business
about what customers actually care about, which results
in better data-driven decisions for you moving forward.
So clearly, there's a ton of power
in listening to your customers.
And another one of the key ways to build community,
increase engagement and stay relevant
to your market is to share your values
and be human, authentic, and real.
Or in other words, do as Steven suggests
and embrace your weirdness.
(screen whooshing) (pen scratching)
- And the value is called embrace your weirdness.
- Oh, I love this.
- And for me, that has always been my core,
what makes me love marketing.
And I think just noting also
that embracing that weirdness allows you to be vulnerable,
allows you to just admit who you are.
We want people to be who they are.
- Steven's line there about wanting people
to be who they are is more powerful than you might think
because we're all looking for acceptance.
So any time you have the option to include messaging
in your marketing that affirms someone's identity,
either current or aspirational,
you're doing good things for both them and your brand.
This is probably not gonna come as a surprise
but people like to do business with the brands
and businesses that represent their personal values,
attitudes, beliefs, and lifestyles.
In psychology, this is called similarity,
which says we like people who are just like us.
Hey, you're a lot like me, I like you.
But there's another psychology hack at play here as well
called the liking principle.
And that shows how we're more likely to be persuaded
by people we like and those we want to be like.
So the big question then is how do you tap
into the psychological powers of the liking principle
and similarity in order to stay relevant,
increase engagement, and build your business?
Well, my friend, here's the secret.
Stand up, stand out and stand for.
Stand up by not being afraid to say who you are
and what matters most to you.
Stand out by not being afraid to be different
or as Steven says here, embrace.
- Embrace your weirdness.
- And stand for something by talking about
and sharing your brand's values and personality.
Doing this will allow you to attract more super fans
to your business who value and understand your brand instead
of customers who are a ton of work
'cause they just don't get it.
And when you do this right, you build a brand
like Poshmark has done that makes learning, innovating
and connecting with your customers easy and automatic.
And if you'd like even more details
on how to make this all happen,
as well as get even more of the latest
and greatest marketing tools, tips, and tactics,
you can check out the full-length episode,
alongside a ton more great takeaways
and lessons from not only this episode of Connections
but the entire series where we're talking
with some of the world's most creative CMOs
and you can stream it now completely free on Salesforce+
just by clicking the link
in the descriptions below this video.
And for more actionable takeaways
to help you grow your business,
make sure to check out the video
I've got linked up right here.
Talk to you again soon.