Digithoughts

Marketing as we know it is changing. Typically marketing has been focused on the sole task of promoting a product, with whatever end goal the marketer had in mind (i.e. generating awareness). To do this, marketers began distributing their messages via different media channels. Soon however, marketers found that their own message was getting lost among their competitors’ messages. This phenomenon became known as “clutter.”

To combat this, marketers attempted to break through the clutter by creating compelling messaging that caught our (the consumer's) attention.

In that sense, marketing added value to our lives through the entertainment it provided us. A wonderful example of this is the “Real Facts” located under the cap of a Snapple bottle. In addition to purchasing a cool, refreshing beverage, the consumer receives a small amount of joy from learning that, “Giraffes can lick their own eyes.” Real Fact #214.

The idea is to get the consumer to enjoy reading the fun fact just as much as they enjoy drinking the delicious beverage. Many beverage companies have mastered this type of messaging.

However, entertainment as a value-add is only one small fraction of what is available to marketers, specifically for websites desiring increased traffic. Now, websites must find ways to attract visitors and links (as inbound links are an important component of SEO) by creating a product (generally free) that is not their core offering but related to it.

This new product adds a value beyond entertainment, such as a useful tool that educates consumers, performs a complicated function, or genuinely makes our lives easier. This is the purest form of karmic marketing. The marketer is working hard to give something away that will improve our lives, with only the hope of reciprocation on the part of their audience. 

One particularly good example of a marketing tool adding increased value is of an online shoe retailer that wanted to drive more traffic to their site and increase their organic search rankings through link acquisition. This retailer attentively had its interns spend countless hours manually measuring differences in shoe sizes between brands in order to create an accurate shoe size converter tool. Over time, so many people found this tool to be useful that they linked to it in their own online retail shops, blogs, and articles; ultimately helping the shoe retailer hit its traffic goals. 

Now if you’re thinking: “This sounds an awful lot like link bait.” I’m going to agree and say yes, it does sound like it. While this does follow the basic premise of link baiting, the intention and execution are far different.

The intentions of these free tools are to provide a valued product first, and through that value acquire traffic and links. Link baiting, however, is upside down in its core principles and has gained a negative connotation because much of link baiting involves creating controversial or false content.

This new concept, marketing as a product itself, suggests that this product be supported just like any other. This means that it should have its own resources dedicated to creating a marketing plan, R&D, and customer support. Some companies create these free services as part of their core offering, often following an ad monetization model; Google being notably the most famous but Pandora or Mint are also great examples.

The aforementioned shoe retailer, however, is a good example of a company that dedicated internal time and money to create a free product that's sole purpose is to market through attracting links and creating good faith.

When executed correctly, consumers will interact with your brand without ever realizing that they were marketed to.

General Discussion:

Do you or your company use this form of karmic marketing? If you have seen any products on the web that serve the purpose of this type of marketing, be sure to send it our way. We would love to do a follow up to this entry with solid case studies of these products.

What kind of products would you expect an agency like Digitaria to hand out as a freebie in order for you to use on a day-to-day basis? Send us your suggestions; our R&D gurus, engineers and designers have your full attention!

Dan Huss Sales Solution Associate

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