Chelsea:
We had a little fun with this week's episode since it is Halloween. So a trick or a treat in marketing, what we mean by this is we're going to go through some topics, some examples, and we're going to explain why it's a trick or a treat.
So I'm going to start with a trick. We're going to talk about big brands doing meme marketing. I want to preface this by saying, not all big brands do meme marketing wrong. Great example is Duolingo, right? We've seen them really master meme marketing and really capture the Gen Z audience. However, other brands will do this and it's not good, right? I personally especially hate when big brands try to do the Gen Z talk, but they're not doing it right or it feels very forced, and doesn't relate to their brand. It feels very cringy, very fake and it's just poorly executed, right? Because they're trying so hard to be relatable. So my specific example of this is going to be, Vivian, do you remember in 2014 the whole Doge meme? It's spelled D-O-G-E, so it's not just dog, right? Right. Okay. It's the memes where it's the dog and it's all cutesy and the weird speak, the "very wow" sort of thing. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Vivian:
Vaguely. I kind of know what you're talking about.
Chelsea:
If you're not watching on YouTube, maybe go do that because I'm going to add a picture of my specific example. In 2014, the US Department of Health and Human Services shared this meme and they tried to make it about health insurance. And it was weird. And it really pissed off their audience. For one, healthcare is such a hot ticket item in the United States and for the US Health Department to post this, it's a sheba in the snow and it says, "wow, very benefits. Many coverage, much affordable." It's so bad. It's so bad. So that's a trick. That's a fail. That's a "let's not do that."
Vivian:
What I want to know is if the intern that recommended this got fired or hired. Was this a test to get hired into the US Department of Health Services?
Chelsea:
I love that you think an intern suggested this because I see this and I think a higher up was like, we should totally do this. The intern's like, are you sure? The higher up says, "no, no, no, it's totally going to work. It's really popular right now."
Vivian:
Now, I mean, it could go both ways, right? Either way, I agree with you on the assessment that it missed the mark. I see where they thought, let's do something relatable. Let's do something that's trending and let's just convert it over to something specific to us. Right? It's a cute dog jumping in the snow and it says, "wow, very benefits, many coverage, much affordable such healthcare.gov." So it even included their website. The other thing is: these trending things make sense at the time because everybody's doing it, right? Kind of like the Barbie trend. When we look back on this Barbie trend, 20 years from now, we're going be like, what were people doing, why were they doing that? But it made sense because the Barbie movie was out, right? So I guess this is also one of those memes that when you're looking at it 10 years later, first of all, the sentences aren't complete. Right? I will say like that they executed it correctly because that was the trend at the time with that format with that meme specifically.
Chelsea:
So execution, yes, it's just that why? It didn't bring any meaning. There was no substance behind it. If you look at the comments on this post, it just made people mad.
Vivian:
Ding dong, trick or treat. Which one was it, Chelsea?
Chelsea:
This one was a trick. The trick here is, because they overlooked the fact that when it comes to healthcare, especially when it's expensive and we feel like we're not getting enough coverage, this and that. Probably not a place where you want to be trying to encourage people to do anything through a meme.
Vivian:
You know, the fact that it's a government office doing this just kind of feels a little weird.
Chelsea:
I've seen government officials do meme marketing well. It's just knowing your target audience is very important. Knowing if it's going to be relatable in a way that doesn't anger people. I think because this is healthcare, it really, really missed the mark because healthcare is again, a hot topic here in the United States.
We can turn this into a treat specifically for small business owners. Small business owners can do meme marketing really well. Again, if you know what you're doing, if you know the meme, if you know your target audience, you know that there's going to be an overlap, that they're going to understand it. If you don't really understand the meme, please don't try it. Please don't. I have a great example of this too.
Vivian, have you seen the videos where people are saying, my Gen Z employee wrote my script? That is a great example of doing this correctly. Love those. The videos are people using Gen Z lingo to talk about their business, but it actually makes sense, right? For example, "this room in our bed and breakfast understood the assignment. Very demure, very mindful." That's a very specific example, but they know the meme and they know the terms so that it works. Again, if you don't know what you're talking about, then it's just going to be uncomfy.
Vivian:
As a 40 something year old, y'all, I'm just going to admit, I am uncomfy with the whole lingo, the whole meme stuff. I get some of it, but other ones, I'm just like, that's weird. I don't really understand it and I would never be able to apply it to something I'm personally doing. So I just stay away from it. Not going to be doing meme marketing anytime soon.
Chelsea though, you did say that for most small business owners, it is something that's looked at a little differently because, you have a brand that is super personable. I think it translates a little differently whenever it's a local or small business that's doing it, just because you have that connection with your followers or your audience a little better than a big brand like the Department of Health. So it just feels a little different. So knock knock, trick or treat. That was a...
Chelsea:
It is a treat if you're a small business and if you do it correctly.
Vivian:
Perfect. So I'm going to start with the trick because it's always easier just to give the bad news first, right? Yeah. My trick is I really do not like when brands try to share information or experiences and combine it with menial tasks. I get why people do this because we say, Hey, if you're going to show up on social media, share information or education while you're doing something right. It is important because it gives people something to watch, right? Instead just doing a floating head video. All right, but there is somebody locally and I'm not going to name names. She's an investigative crime reporter and she does these segments where she meshes it with a recipe and cooking. It came across my feed. I saw it the first time and, I don't know why I can't watch this, but it's just not doing it for me. Okay. I think it was the fact that she was, I don't know, making some type of homemade recipe and trying to tell you how to make this dish while she's talking about someone that got murdered. I just don't think that in my head it feels right to mix cooking with murder. I don't know what it is. Can I tell you, this is our big popular newspaper around here.
Chelsea:
Okay, is she's like, "this person got murdered. Anyways, you're gonna add flour to this". Or is it like a voiceover? How is she doing it?
Vivian:
No, it's not a voiceover. Let's say she's baking cookies. She's getting the ingredients and she's talking about the crime, the case. Then she says, I'm going to mix in this, this, and this. Then she continues talking about the case.
Chelsea:
Okay. So she actually switches back and forth, now I see the problem.
Vivian:
I think that's what I can't, and y'all please leave us a comment about this. Is this just a Vivian and Chelsea thing? Is this just something that we're icky about or do you get the same feeling? I think what it is, is it confuses my brain because what I'm watching on the screen is something that's very menial. Okay. There's a part of me that's interested in the dip she's making. Then there's a part of me that's like, wait, I feel conflicted because she's talking about something so serious. So I almost feel like my brain can't compute doing something that's just not important with then pairing it with information that's super important.
Chelsea:
So knock, knock, trick or treat.
Vivian:
This one's a trick. I did not like that one. So let me give you the treat though. I was scrolling through social media the other day and a example of this would be a creator or a small business owner that's doing the same thing, but they're flexing their creativity to take something that's happened and turn it into a positive or a shared experience. So the example is there is a musician. I had scrolled through her account and I guess she does maybe a little theater, a little music here and there, but her account was very, very small. Then her boyfriend broke up with her and she basically used her creativity and her knowledge of music to write songs and she translated it and turned this terrible experience that she had into a song. The song was a comedy. It was like, crap, this is terrible. But she somehow put humor in it and it's funny.
So basically the lyrics of the song with something like, I was living out in LA with my boyfriend for four years. Everything was growing fine. He then asked if we can move to Texas because he wanted to be closer to his dad. I said, yes, we get to Texas. We move into a house, I've basically sold everything because the move was expensive. We settled into this house, we're making it our own. Then he basically comes to me and says, I don't want to be with you any longer. I literally have nothing and I have to go live with my mom again. That's the synopsis of the story. That is such a treat, I think, because in the same vein as what the reporter's doing, where they're delivering some type of information, she did the same exact thing except she flexed her creativity and she packaged it in a way where people were interested. It was done in a way I think only a creator or a small business owner can do.
Chelsea:
I love that. Knock, knock. Trick or treat.
Vivian:
That was a treat.
Chelsea:
Okay. My next one is going to be big brands trying too hard to make a grand statement, I don't want to say to be political, but to make that kind of statement. Okay. It will make sense when I explain the examples I have. Vivian, do you remember the Pepsi and Kendall Jenner fiasco?
Vivian:
I do not have a clue what you're talking about.
Chelsea:
You do not? my God. Okay. So in 2017, Pepsi released this commercial with Kendall Jenner in it. It was a protest. People are protesting. Then there's Kendall Jenner, she comes in and she hands a cop a Pepsi and then everything's fine.
Vivian:
Cause a Pepsi fixes everything.
Chelsea:
Yeah. People were like, "what the f**k is this?" Pepsi was trying to say, their product is a unifying force, but to do it with a protest and to try to use movements. It just, it fell very flat. It was.
I hope you guys are following with me. I hope this makes sense. I have another example and that this one's more recent. Target trying to capitalize on Pride Month. Then they back down because people were mad about Pride Month. You're being wishy washy. If you are going to make a statement like that, if you're going to say, happy pride, you have got to stick with it because now everyone knows, I mean, when everyone knew to begin with, but everyone knows you were just trying to do a cash grab and now you just look greedy.
Vivian:
People think it's important and they think that there needs to be attention on certain things. I wonder if in defense of these big brands trying to make a statement of some type, if maybe the reason it comes off in wishy washy is because they would rather not make a statement, but they feel pressured to do something because they feel like if they don't, they're going to get a backlash. Then when they do, they get backlash. So either way, they're getting a backlash.
Chelsea:
Yeah. no, that's exactly it. That's why this is a trick for big brands, but it's going to be a treat for small business owners. Hello, Vivian. Let me explain why it's a treat for small business owners. Small business owners, you are your business, right? If you want to make a statement, if you want to say, I am pro-choice, I am LGBTQ friendly, I am supporting Palestine, whatever you want to do, you can make that statement. Remember, you need to stick with it. You need to actually believe in that. You don't want to look wishy washy, but it's easier for you to do that because you're not representing a big corporation. You're just you. You can make that statement.
Don't forget though, you will most likely get backlash and you might get some negative feedback. At the end of the day, as long as your target audience aligns with your ideals, you should be fine.
Vivian:
I think let's stick with the, "it's your small business. You can do what you wish." Same token though. It's your small business. Please don't feel pressured to do anything. The thing is, I'm sorry, I'm an old 40 something year old lady, Chelsea. I'm in the camp of sometimes I just don't want to speak about things. Sometimes I don't want to, you know, like it's in, that is a right in itself where like, I don't have to.
All right. So knock, trick or treat.
Chelsea:
That is a treat if you are a small business.
Vivian:
Awesome. So mine is going to be a trick, and it is sharing advice, but leaving out key elements in a story. The reason I say this is you and I, Chelsea, have talked at length here on this podcast about let's not compare ourselves. Y'all are never going to have all of the elements to a story to be able to appropriately compare your situation or your small business to somebody else's. There's just too much there. I saw recently, I'm not going to share the name of the business, but it was a small business that not too long ago was sharing a success of theirs. Okay. They were saying, Hey, we got this new signage and it's converted already to phone calls. It was great. I understand the reason she was sharing that and that was fabulous. However, I think that when small business owners, so maybe the trick here isn't on the small business owner that shared her success. Maybe the trick here is on you as small business owners, if you are listening to this and you take advice from people online that you do not know, that you've never met, and you just take it for what it is and then you feel bad about yourself because you can't get the same results. That's the trick because you're comparing yourself to something that you don't have all the information about. The key point there was, she was sharing advice. It wasn't bad advice. It was good advice. However, it's not advice that would translate to everybody because she forgot to share the fact that she's located on a very busy street with high traffic coming through there. There also happens to be a stoplight that's located right in front of her building, right? So when someone is sitting there looking around, they're naturally going to see the sign. I think that's where I feel like she could have added a couple more elements in there to accurately portray what was actually occurring. "Hey, I have a brick and mortar store that's in a highly visible and prime location. Therefore, when I upgraded my signage, it made a big improvement in my business, and it translated to more sales." Just saying, "hey, I got new signage and it translated to sales" isn't going to work for someone who's located off the beaten path and doesn't get high traffic volume. I mean, it's going to help people know that your business is there, but it may not translate monetarily to what she was trying to make it seem like it would for everybody.
Chelsea:
Yeah, I love that one. Okay, trick or treat?
Vivian:
Yeah, that one is a trick. Okay. Now let me give you the treat version of that, which is going to be when people show you their true journey and you can see all of the elements and then you can decide on your own whether or not that's going to translate to your business. There is a business that does this now. He's grown a pretty big following on Instagram, so he's no longer like...I mean, he's a small business owner in his own sense because it's just him running the agency, but he's got a massive following and his name is heytony.agency. That's what he goes by under his Instagram handle. The reason I love what he's doing is because he gets on there, no fluff videos, and he literally shows you he's a search engine optimization guy. He's an SEO guy. So he basically tells you how to get more people onto your website or onto your blog post. He will get on there and he will share stories like, I lost $6,000 for this client or something. Like e shared the bad part of the journey, but then he showed you how he kind of. He shared the bad part of the journey, but then he showed you how he kind of redeemed himself within the next month. What he did was this new SEO strategy that he had, he made them tear down what they were doing, which made them take a step back, but then it more than compensated in the next two months. So what he was showing was that basically SEO is a long-term game and that sometimes you can't see the positive impacts of an SEO strategy for months on out. That's what I really love is that he will show you every part of his journey, good, bad, or indifferent. If you want to do this SEO strategy, just be sure that you know that your numbers are going to go to zero, but then they're going to triple or whatever else.
Chelsea:
Love. So, trick or treat?
Vivian Walton:
That's a treat.
Chelsea:
Okay, so my next example can be a trick or a treat, not only for small businesses, but also larger businesses and corporations, just judging by how well it is executed and how well the brand is liked. Hashtag campaigns. Whether you decide to create one or you try to capitalize on a trending hashtag, it can go really well, it can be a treat or it can go really poorly and it can be a trick. So I have an example of a hashtag going wrong. This is a trick. Vivian, did you hear about the DiGiorno "why I stayed" hashtag? So DiGiorno tried to capitalize on the trending hashtag, #WhyIStayed. They did not do the research on what the hashtag was about, and they did not understand that the hashtag was about victims of domestic abuse sharing their stories on how difficult it is to leave an abusive situation. So they had shared a tweet that said, "you had pizza #why I stayed." Ooh, ooh, was that a mistake.
It went so poorly because everyone was obviously so upset. And for good reason, it made it feel like they were making fun of the whole situation, right? Making it a joke. It was a very serious situation that if they had taken the time to research what the hashtag was about, instead of just seeing the hashtag and going, I can make something out of this, it could of been avoided. This should be a cautionary tale to everybody out there who is thinking about starting a hashtag trend for their small business. Please, please, please, please do some research. Okay. Type in the hashtag and see what populates for you.
Vivian:
I think that's definitely the trick part of this thing. If you guys are thinking, well, all they have to do is delete the pose. You can't delete it because people have already seen it. So now if you delete it, that's even more insensitive.
Chelsea:
I think what DiGiorno did is they added to the thread saying, we're so sorry. You know, we didn't do the due diligence. People were still upset. There's only so much you can do.
Vivian:
Can we give them a little kudos then though? I get it was super insensitive and it should never happened. However, for them to go back and try to at least admit that there was a mistake that was made, okay? It would have been different had they ignored it. If they did address it, then at least it showed up on the radar.
Chelsea:
Yeah. I do have another example of creating a hashtag campaign and then it's still going wrong. McDonald's, they wanted to create a hashtag for their audience so that they could share all of the good experiences they've had with McDonald's - not realizing that they actually had a lot more negative experiences and negative stories at the time. So all of the negative just took over the hashtag.
Vivian:
Was the hashtag, hashtag McFlurry machine working?
Chelsea:
Yeah, exactly.
I didn't write down specifically what the hashtag was. I just remember seeing that they tried to do a hashtag campaign and they just got a lot more negative feedback than they got positive, which y'all if you're asking for feedback, that could happen. Just be prepared.
Vivian:
All right. So knock, knock, trick or treat.
Chelsea:
It's both. I feel like all of mine are, it's a treat if you do it correctly.
Vivian:
No, agree. So sticking to that similar sentiment, Chelsea. My number three trick was actually the Gen Z lingo done wrong. That thing that you actually started the beginning of this conversation with, that's the one thing that I feel for me is so cringe worthy when businesses try to take that and it just falls flat, they don't do it well for whatever reason. Then the treat part of that is when the businesses actually do get into it and do it well. For me, I saw one...please go onto Instagram and follow the Seminole Classic Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Okay. They nailed this. They had an older gentleman. It's an older casino and it looks a little older. Okay. They had an older gentleman that basically was "when your Gen Z person writes the script" and he is executing it so great that everyone was basically saying he's allowed in. He's actually a Gen Z but undercover, right? So go check it out. I do think that what makes it interesting for me is, the reason things fall flat for big brands is because they want to ride the train, but they're not fully on board. So they're just kind of riding the coattails of this trend because they think it's going to get them a lot of eyeballs, but they're not committed to the part. If you are going to try a trend like that, please make sure you're putting effort into it. Just make it a priority to try to execute it well.
Chelsea:
Yeah. Absolutely. Well, knock, knock - trick or treat.
Vivian:
Trick and treat both in one.
Chelsea:
Y'all, it's all about execution. If you're going to try to execute any marketing initiative, anything you try to do, you need to try to do it well. It's okay if you make mistakes, but I want to make it very clear, putting in 80 % of the effort, not taking the time to actually figure something out could really hurt you.
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