“They’re vain. Obsessed with their looks. Consider saving money is pointless. And never spend two minutes without checking their smartphone, facebook and texting their friends.” Who wants customer like these? You do!

We’ve worked with major brands in the Health and Beauty sector. Global brands including Imedeen and Dove. We’re a digital, social media and data-driven agency. Our business is to help change conversations in the world’s growing ‘conversation economy’.

In 2014, digital and social marketing will enter more challenging territory. This will affect your sector particularly. But positively! So we hope you won’t mind if we share our views with you. About what’s new and why we believe we can help your brand make a difference in this evolving environment.

We’ve kept this short and ‘note-y’. Because we know you’re busy. And worth it! So just five main points. We don’t want to trespass on your time. But, hey... it’s still the New Year and we’re all resolved to do great things in 2014.

So here goes: helping your brand change the conversation.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE*

The vast increase in consumer power which digital makes available has already given us the ‘always on’ customer. But now ‘always relevant’ and ‘always responsive’ consumers will want marketing that demonstrates brands understand them and provides interesting content, immediately.

CONTROLLING YOUR BRAND WHILE SETTING IT FREE

There’s three main reasons for this:

• search technology has made product information ubiquitous

• social media encourages consumers to share and compare as well as rant, rate and ra-a-a-ve about their experiences

• mobile devices add a ‘wherever’ dimension to this whatever environment.

Good content, that keeps your customers feeling ‘connected’, is the first step in encouraging them to say nice things about you.

CONCEDING CONTROL

Some brands have taken note: they’re becoming a bit more like publishers. More will follow in 2014. The clever ones will go on to become ‘activists’. Here’s how:

• by creating more storytelling content will emerge to create emotional traction

• ramping up their efforts to provide useful and usable content and monitoring the subsequent activity on social channels

• advocacy will be ‘engineered’ by serving customers easy and entertaining ways to shop, share and shout about their great brands.

And if customers Pick up, Play with and Pass on your brand’s “stuff ’... that’s great. Especially when they’re driven to make a Purchase, too. See what we did

there? Those are our 4 P’s of marketing!

But just as good is ‘losing control’. This happens when customers like, share and co-create

what they’re finding. For when customers truly love your brand,

that love becomes a kind of madness. So they’ll make it

their own. And it’ll stay in their hearts. Ahh…

* ‘millennials’ – defined as those born between 1981-2000Imedeen®

www.gravitythinking.com

BUT NOT ALL PEOPLE ARE CREATED EQUAL

No, they’re not. And we’re really only talking one key people segment. This bunch – we’re calling them ‘Millennials’ – will put wings on the above processes as brands feed their passion for all things digital. And social.

These Millennials are very valuable. They spend disproportionately. You want them on your side. Here’s four ways to get them:

What Millennials want...

• everything ‘now’: interaction with brands at any time is just normal

• new ways of doing things: brands need to keep them wowed but in a way that creates ‘value’

• ‘It’s all about me – make it personal’ is their unspoken every demand

• simplicity: too many clicks and you’re toast.

MILLENNIALS? HAH! ISN’T THISSUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT HEALTH AND BEAUTY?

It is. But millennials are a key audience. Let’s make this absolutely clear: they offer a huge commercial opportunity for beauty brands. But mainstream advertising approaches are so-o-o 2013.

These high value shoppers demand much more!

Our final four reasons for you: why they’re so important for your brand:

• They’re digitally savvy ‘social shoppers’ influenced by blogs, social networks and smartphone apps; they’re community / sharing folk

• They’re vain! Self-expression drives their decision-making and their values and attitudes focus on £££, body image, hair and personal expression which they also want to share and flaunt − and if you’ve got it, why not?

• Spending power and a desire to be first means they’ll pay more…more than any other generation before them. As self-confessed ‘trend setters’, price is far less important than pride in being first

• Give, give, give. They’re always in receive mode, but only if it’s useful, usable and entertaining. Then they’ll be in share mode. So give them stuff.

HOW WE CAN HELP YOU FIND ANDKEEP THEM:

We speak their language.

As a brand building social and digital agency it’s natural for us.

We create a brand’s relevant online personality. We fashion its distinctive tone of voice and way of behaving that will resonate with customers. On a multi-platform basis.

All the things which make the brand original and authentic; helps make it influential This is how we connect with these digitally savvy, high-value consumers.

We’ll also find the most influential among them and get them talking.

Through managing large social communities such as Glenfiddich, Specialized and Callaway we understand the importance of influencers and their ability to generate credible “money can’t buy” word-of-mouth. They key is finding them and getting them talking about your brand in a way that this audience will understand.

It’s our way of thinking!

www.gravitythinking.comwww.gravitythinking.com