Too often entrepreneurs and business owners spend most of their time looking for the latest and great when it comes to marketing to grow their business. Not enough spend more time on proven marketing strategies to grow their business.
Top companies and entrepreneurs all over the world have been doing so, yet small business owners get stuck in the shiny object syndrome always looking for the magic pill.
Recently marketer extraordinaire Russell Brunson at his click funnels event spent a lot of time talking about how he used marketing strategies he learned that were written many years ago by Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer to drive his wildly successful online business.
There are several reasons for using proven marketing strategies to grow your business the first of which is it’s proven to have worked!!! In many cases it is proven to work more than once in different industries.
I want to focus on one specific tried, true and proven marketing strategy. For you online, shiny object folks out there, I’ll even share examples of how it’s being used in online, social media and the tech industry.
As I mentioned there are a number of proven strategies I can talk about, with this blog post, today I’m going to focus on one specific strategy that anyone can integrate into their own business with relative ease and little cost.
In a world where 71% of buyers are more likely to buy a product that appeals to them on a personal level, nostalgia marketing is your chance to connect with your audience through the emotions that are linked to their deepest, fondest memories. By taking that experience to social media, you increase the impact of your campaign instantly, by naturally starting conversations about those memories.
A few examples of how nostalgic marketing is used everyday in products and services we all recognize.
Coca-Cola, how many times have we seen them bring back the polar bears at Christmas time? In some cases they just re-run past popular commercials.
Budweiser is another who keeps bringing back their Clydesdale commercials, especially around Christmas. In fact a few years ago when they said they were going to retire their Clydesdale commercials there was an overwhelming amount of pushback from consumers. Then the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales starred in a new ad amid the coronavirus pandemic.
And there is Nintendo, the video game industry might be one of the biggest areas to benefit from the growing popularity of nostalgia marketing. Millennials are by far the most responsive to nostalgia in advertising, and they’re also the generation that grew up playing games on consoles made by Nintendo, Sony, and Sega. This might be why Nintendo was so quick to jump on the Nostalgia marketing strategy idea, by creating a mini version of their NES, complete with 30 games.
Nintendo says “the NES classic model is a great way to soothe your nostalgic urges if you miss the games of the past, and want a break from the ever-changing marketplace.”
Then there is Facebook with the “This Time x Years Ago” story that is created for users (by Facebook) individually. In the same breath, they celebrate “friend-versaries” on Facebook, and we already know why that it is under the social media giant’s best interests to keep us coming back to their site with a dosage of nostalgia.
A few tips about using nostalgia in marketing your business.
The good news. You don’t have to be a decades-old business to enjoy the power of a nostalgia marketing strategy. Any company has the capacity to connect with old ideas and beloved concepts. With a little planning, even the most modern company can join the retro revolution and come up with a heart-warming nostalgia marketing strategy. For many it can be as simple as tapping into something in your past.
On many occasions I have been able to help consulting clients find things in their business or past to leverage when it comes to a tie to nostalgic ads. Too often business owners aren’t able to see what I’m trained to see. If you’d like to set up a time to determine if it would be a fit for you to work with me to develop a nostalgic marketing campaign for your business contact Lois in our office at Lois@GreatResultsMarketing.com to set up a call.
Start with knowing your purpose. No matter the theme or drive, a good marketing strategy should always have a purpose. If you want to use retro ideas effectively in a new campaign, then you need to ask yourself: “Why is it a good selling point for my brand?” How can you make nostalgia work well for your current product or service?
Keep your audience and personality in mind. The key to any marketing campaign is understanding the needs and preferences of YOUR clients and/or prospects. Before you can engage in a powerful nostalgia marketing strategy, you need to make sure that you’re drawing images and ideas from the right generation, to appeal to the right demographic. Think about the age-range of your target audience, and make sure your campaign is a fit for that target, whether it’s for your client list, your “target” prospects or both.
Integrate nostalgia with social media. If nostalgia is the bait for your marketing campaign, then social media should be your fishing rod. It’s an ideal way to start introducing your audience to your latest strategy, as nostalgia is an inherently emotional experience. People don’t just want to enjoy the memories of a nostalgic image or sound, they want to be able to link their friends and family members to the experience and say “Hey, remember this?”. Be sure to find the right images to help link those memories to appeal to them emotionally.
Why Nostalgic Works So Well. It’s understandable why companies would want to use a tried-and-tested formula, but why do we, as human beings fall for the gimmick? In the age of innovation, why do we like things that are retro?
The explanation might be two-fold. First, we tend to romanticize our past. Don’t think so, stop into a Crackle Barrel restaurant, walk around the store filled with products and food from the past, listen and watch the others in the store react to what they’re seeing. The conversations usually start with “Oh, remember this…” or “I remember my grandparents had this” and is accompanied with a smile or smiles.
Any revisiting of the past usually takes us back to the joyous memories we hold it in esteem, and who doesn’t want a warm fuzzy feeling associated with their brand?
Secondly, we all have a “grass is greener” outlook, which is why we think back to lower gas prices, lower movie ticket prices, and a time when life was simpler.
Finally, Does It Work?
So, THE question: does nostalgia marketing work? The answer is YES, it does! Why?
Because it, Nostalgia is a powerful thing.
In a world that seems to be evolving at break-neck speed, immersing yourself in nostalgia is like wrapping yourself in a comfortable blanket of “the good ol’ days”, when things were simpler.
Take time to find a way to use this powerful strategy in your business or contact my office via Info@GreatResultsMarketing.com to find out how we can help you develop a campaign for your business that will be a fit for your target market.