Knowledge marketing

Every day a new form of marketing strategy is born, especially when it comes to digital, at the end of the day, all strategies go in the same direction, creating brand reputation, strengthening the relationship, positioning the brand and after All this, generate sales, which is the ultimate goal of any company.

Over the years, we have seen several strategies emerging, but, in my humble opinion, three strategies are ahead of all others, when we think about something in the medium to long term: content, branding and SEO. I’m not saying that they are the best and that we should forget the others, but for me, these should be the main ones, because there are many digital tactics that vary from these three macro strategies:

Content: website, hotsite, influencer, creators, Social Networks, email marketing, blog, WhatsApp Business, webinars, applications and newsletter;

Branding: programmatic media, YouTube, media on portals, media on social networks, storytelling, branded content and affiliates;

SEO: link building, press relations, sponsored links, content on the website.

All these paths lead to sales, that’s a fact, but for you to work on knowledge marketing you need to create a whole brand atmosphere and then sell; hubspot points out that 3% of people convert on their first impact with the brand after an inbound marketing strategy, that is, 97% do not buy the first time, and this can be a series of problems, including a lack of brand awareness , product or service.

It’s not me, Felipe, the creator of this topic, when Google “content marketing” thousands of results appear, however, I’ve been thinking about this topic more carefully for some time. I recently introduced it into a client’s brand strategy, it was well accepted, now it’s time to execute, however, what gave me the strength to write this article was the podcast I recently listened to on the B9 platform, together with Ana Couto.

How iFood builds brand and segment
Ana Gabriela Lopes, director of marketing, insights and branding at iFood, was interviewed and talked about the way in which iFood built its brand while helping to build the category. Ordering food over the phone was very common, however, always done through a catalog that people received at home, iFood came to make everything simpler and faster, all through the app with just a few clicks, it was a new category in the market, which , for being the pioneer and showing how it worked, became the reference, and when a brand becomes a reference, that’s when it wins people’s hearts.

Currently, there are more than 30 million iFood users, around 14% of the Brazilian population uses the application, generating 31.8 billion reais per year, which represents 0.43% of the national GDP, that is, in fact iFood it consolidated a market, eliminated some competitors and was just considered the most loved brand in the country, as a curiosity, however, it is also interesting as a case showing that knowledge marketing can help a lot with sales.

People need to know who you are
According to mLabs, branded content should be: “80% of the content should be about what the brand knows, to help the consumer solve a problem; 20% of the content should be about what the brand sells, to present their solutions and the value they deliver to customers”, which is in line with what we are talking about here about knowledge marketing.

One point is certain: people buy from those they trust. Particularly, I have never seen a big brand creating lead campaigns, it may happen and I myself don’t remember when writing this article, this made me reflect that marketing knowledge is important, because if big companies don’t do this type of strategy , but which moves billions annually, is because some company does, therefore, small and medium-sized companies, which today represent 75% of the more than 22 million active CNPJs.

These are companies that have a loyal audience, but they always want to grow and become bigger, after all, there is not a single company that started out giant and every entrepreneur, or entrepreneur, when they create their brand, dreams of being a giant, that’s how Nestlé, Mercedes-Benz, Apple, iFood, Itaú among other brands, got to where they are, starting small, creating a strong brand and growing, knowledge generates security and with that, generates sales.

Price is no longer a difference
Price is no longer the only way to ensure consumers make purchases. Today the big challenge for retailers is to add value to their brand, which undoubtedly must have significant differences and a value proposition that the brand benefits from. People buy what they trust, this is a theory that retailers have understood for years, but it seems that in the information age as we are today, where we no longer seek it, but the information that reaches us, is being overlooked. You don’t make a sale just because the Instagram post is beautiful, it’s a gimmick, it sells because people feel trust in some way, be it in the brand, the product or even the poster boy.

Knowledge marketing is important as it is capable of helping the brand grow without much investment. Of the tactics described above, we know that not all of them can be executed by companies, given that one of the major limitations to a company’s growth is its limited investment capacity.

The cafeteria next to your house may be very good, but McDonalds’ budget is infinitely higher than that of this cafeteria, which is why it sells 50 sandwiches per day, while McDonalds sells over 1 million Big Macs per day in all over the planet, but McDonalds is known, it has invested heavily in marketing for decades, without a doubt, but it’s worth remembering that they started in a small town in the interior of the USA.

Knowledge marketing
Fundamental for your brand to grow, because I reinforce, you only buy what you know. I, for example, bought a car over the phone, and it wasn’t a cheap car. When I tell people this, they have the same reaction as you, they think I’m a lunatic, but let’s understand the power of knowledge marketing in this case.

I dreamed of having a Ford Edge. It was my dream car. One day, in 2017, Diogo called me offering me one. It wasn’t the black one I wanted, but the silver one, my 3rd purchase option. At the time, I had a Honda CRV. Diogo called me, told me the price of the car, how much I would pay for my CRV and the amount of the installment. I closed immediately and a few days later, I went to Diogo’s store to pick up the car, I had to wait a few days for the inspection and insurance. And where does knowledge marketing come in?

The first car I bought with Diogo was in 2010, a Jetta Variant. By 2017, between me, my wife, sister-in-law, sister and father, we had already bought 10 cars with him, that is, Diogo, owner of a car store, was a great acquaintance of ours, at the same time as I was his, so He also evaluated my car over the phone, without even caring if there was any damage, because he knew, if there was, I would tell him. The fact made me and Diogo meet me, a long time ago, created a great bond between us, in fact, to this day, my wife and I still buy cars from him.

Knowledge marketing is the same thing. When a person knows a brand very well, they buy “with their eyes closed”, whereas when a brand knows its consumer well it creates campaigns, products and services that make total sense for that consumer, which makes them even more loyal, marketing of knowledge aims, at the end of the day, not just to sell, but to build loyalty, after all, loyal customers don’t betray and buy more.

Do you certainly have a company to which you have the same loyalty that I have with Diogo, who by the way, from 2010 to the present day has closed his store, worked in 5 others and whenever I want to change the car, it is with I do it, no matter what store he is in. Which brand do you have this loyalty? Think right after finishing this article, think about why you have this loyalty, it’s probably because you know the brand in depth, and certainly the sellers, and they know you, your family, what you do, this is a strategy of knowing well Before selling, the oldest management books had already defended this for decades, but it seems that today, marketing has a great myopia which is to think about sales and not about people.

If people buy what they know, how do you want them to buy from you without you introducing yourself to them? Here is the reflection of this article.

*Felipe Morais is Director of FM Consultoria em Planning and author of several books, such as Digital Strategic Planning (Ed. Saraiva Uni).