We binge watch TV shows through streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. Once we get hooked, it is hard to stop because the content is compelling and keeps us watching. Can a brand’s content be binge-able too? And what is binge marketing?
Think about a showrunner for TV or films to help understand binge marketing.
A showrunner is a person who has overall creative authority and management responsibility for a television program. One of the great showrunners is Shonda Rhimes. She is an American television producer, screenwriter, and author. She is best known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the television medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, its spin-off Private Practice, and the political thriller series Scandal.
Shonda keeps her audience coming back over and over and over. This framework of binge marketing like a showrunner comes from Carlijn Postma’s new book called Binge Marketing. She offers a compelling argument about marketing content creation that is more like how a showrunner would produce TV.
One Strong Point of View
How do you build a brand in a time of information overload where the media are so fragmented that you can barely get your audience’s attention? How do you ensure that everyone on a brand team tells the same story on all those channels? Whether your content marketing is written, visual, audio, or experiential – your content is how you tell your story and educates, entertain, and entices a potential customer.
Carlijn Postma takes you to the place where content is the product and where people know how to attract and retain an audience: Hollywood.
Binge Marketing is a refreshing look at marketing in the 21st century through the lens of binging.
Compare your brand with the scenario of an outstanding television series and consider every single statement and marketing activity you put out there as an episode of that series. As a true showrunner for your brand, you can build on your own loyal and involved audience.
Episodes versus Campaigns in the Digital Age
Marketing tends to be campaign-driven, where the story is being told without someone managing all communications aspects. But imagine what happens if you had a plot summary for your brand that narrates the journey you want to take your prospects. It isn’t filled with limited events but has a well-designed narrative that takes you along for a ride. A brand manager should be the showrunner – but often their role is filled with P&L responsibility and their focus can get diluted.
Content marketing uses a lot of platforms from blogs, infographics, video, audio, events, tradeshows, etc. But without a narrative plan, your storytelling can be all over the place.
And like an aimless movie, without a plot thread, you quickly change the channel.
An Example
What would Shonda Rhimes do?
Imagine having a showrunner for a new wine brand. The first thing the brand showrunner should do is create a story narrative. She would own the brand’s creative vision and how the story will be told to help keep an audience interested.
She would begin by writing a storyline that teases, entices, and sucks you into the world of that wine. Slowly and deliberately, you’d be curious and want to keep reading (watching/listening) to their content because it piques your interest. The story would be fresh and original and grab you by the glasses – the wine glasses.
Maybe you tell this wine story through a podcast, a short film, or a serial series of blog posts. Consumers would binge on your content and, become part of your brand’s loyal community of followers.
19 Crimes Wine used an imaginative app that brings their story alive via the label. This wine from Treasury Estates illustrates this notion of creating a binge-able brand.
A showrunner’s framework gives a brand a voice and a soundtrack to bring the wine alive. This mindset is to not only attract the right audience but to keep them coming back again and again.
Let’s face it, most wineries content on their blogs has little to keep you coming back repeatedly. There is no tension, drama, or flair – mostly dull stats and overused cliches. And it feels episodic and unimaginative. “Oh, look, it’s Mother’s Day – let’s celebrate with our new, rose wine.”
In the hands of a master storyteller, a brand comes to life in a novel and entertaining way. You want to keep watching or listening or reading. Creating this content with a fresh twist and turn means that your marketing content keeps the consumer coming back for more.
I’m intrigued by this framework since getting someone to pay attention and care about your brand is a marketer’s day job.
What brands have you been binging on lately?
Need help with your content marketing strategy?
I can help. You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Photo by Mollie Sivaram on Unsplash
