Marketing Things #4: Virality, Content, Casper and Cookies šŖ
Marketing Things Editorās Note
This week my inbox has been filled with emails about Black Friday discounts.
It got me thinking and I did a bit of research. Some key facts that I learned:
90% of items bought during Black Friday are the same price or cheaper in the six months before the event
In general couponing tends to be less effective over time because consumers report their purchase until the reduced price event
This is partly why Groupon failed
However, cultural context is important here. In some Asian countries like Singapore thereās an always-on flow of price reductions and temporary price reductions are not that interesting compared to the āregularā price.
Anyways, because Black Friday has been the talk of the week Iāve decided not to share articles on the topic. Instead this week weāll focus on:
A method to finding the language that will make customers tick
Human drivers that make a piece of content go viral
How and Why Casper became a superstar brand (yet failed its IPO)
The tension between brand and performance marketing (brandformance?)
How the disparition of the cookie will impact you, dear reader.
Enjoy š
Bryan
P.S: If you enjoy this post please share it with your friends or subscribe. Since this is quite new for me Iām super keen to hear your feedback so please reply to this post if you have any.
Articles
Finding Language/Market Fit
When launching a product/website one of the most pressing tasks is finding the right headline to put on the website as itās almost the only thing that people will read. To make sure those words have the maximum impact, they should be crafted only after talking with the relevant stakeholders. This article gives you a framework to do so. READ on First Round Review
The Psychology behind āGoing Viralā
Iāve sat in a few meetings in which someone said āletās make this viralā. Unfortunately itās not as simple as it sounds. On top of requiring top notch content making content viral requires activating a few human psychology levers. This article covers the 8 main motivations behind sharing content. READ on NFX
Casper Mattresses, the definitive case study
Mattresses are being sold online now more than ever. Online which represented only 13% of mattress sales in 2015 now accounts for roughly 30% of total mattresses sold. Casper is one of the biggest sellers in the US, partly thanks to a super well oiled marketing machine. This article details their tactics. READ on Sleeknote
Balancing Brand and Performance Marketing
The everlasting tension in a marketing organisation. To get short term revenue gains the quickest method is performance marketing: pump a few thousand dollars in Google Ads and if not managed too badly you should get a few customers. However, a lot of the tactics used in performance marketing are deeply incompatible with brand marketing (think short term coupons, conversion-inspired messaging rather than inspiration-based, etc). This article explores the tension between the two kinds READ on Wes Kao
The Disparation of the Cookie, explained simply.
Iāve mentioned the disparition of the cookie (not this one šŖ) in a few meetings at work. Quite often I donāt have time to dive into all the ramifications and (negative) impacts it will have on paid acquisition. This article explains this difficult topic with simple words. READ on The Drum
Tweet of the Week
Shopify almost created a category when it launched (online selling tools for the masses) and had to do a lot of convincing to get their first users. This thread (click on tweet to open) details one of the ideas that propelled them.
Number
1/4th - The part of profitable companies among new IPOs, used to be 75% in the 1980s - source
Video of the Week
No need to understand French to appreciate this French ad from the 90s for cleaning powder manufacturer OMO.