Any good salesperson will tell you that sales is about listening. You need to determine your audience’s pain points so you can show them how your product solves the problem. This is as true in mass marketing as it is in personal selling. Some of our clients ask me to do their social media listening for them. By monitoring social media channels and mainstream digital news feeds, I find out what the public ‒ and the media ‒ are saying about our clients’ product categories and industries.
Listening to your audience helps you discern what kind of message will be most convincing for them. By watching the correct social media platforms, I find people discussing our clients’ product online, in real time. I study their common questions or concerns. This helps our clients understand their key audience demographics. Further, listening helps me discover what consumers don’t know about a product or category.
As a publicist, listening takes some of the guesswork out of what story ideas to pitch to the media. I learn what topics reporters are covering. If reporters are not currently running stories about our clients’ products, I introduce the products to them. If reporters are already talking about the products, I create new angles. Staying on top of the latest trends help me pitch stories with a sense of urgency. I can explain to reporters that consumers are interested in a breaking trend and how our client’s product plays into it.
When you listen, you never know what you may find out. Be prepared for some surprises. You may discover that customers are interested in topics you thought had long since been forgotten. For example, there are health topics that have been discussed for years that still grab consumers’ attention. When I find issues that sustain consumers’ interest, I consider, how can ourclient’s product play into this fascination? Is there a new presentation style that would attract media attention?
Listening isn’t just for learning what people are saying about our clients’ products. It’s also for monitoring our clients’ competitors. I find out what kinds of social media posts are helping the competition attract attention, and evaluate if our clients should run a similar type of post.
Listening provides useful business intelligence. When you monitor consumers, the media and competitors, it’s pretty likely you’ll find some changes that should be made to your promotional strategy. I work closely with our clients to use what I find. We generate new ideas, attuned to current consumer sentiments, to promote their products. Since Media Relations is a full-service agency, we can use these ideas to improve clients’ media coverage, website content, social media posts and advertising.
Monitoring mainstream news and social media channels can be time consuming. I’m sure your workday is full already. You can arrange for me to spend a certain amount of time per day listening to the media and the public on your behalf. Call me at 612-790-0872 or complete our contact form. I’ll tell you what people really think about your product.
