Tattoo!

Tattoo moments and identityWe are what we are because of what we were where we have been and whom we have intersected with We are in large part what we rememberOften we try to define a person by demographic or behavioral criteria We segment by media exposure search history geographic location political affiliation product ownership and leisure activitiesThe fumes of people39s digital usage and external badging are read like entrails to understand and reveal motivations But do they truly paint a picture of who a person is what they care about or what makes them tickData data everywhereSo much data under which we sinkData data everywhereDoes it paint a picture or help us think Imagine getting all the data you could collect about a person to paint a profile The reality is any individual is many different people depending on the specific mood and situation and in many ways may not be knowable So we will parse the data depending on what we are looking forAs has been written quotWe see as we arequot Imagine if instead you could have a conversation with that person and ask questions like theseWhat events and or people in your past have made you who you are today WhyWhat beliefs have you given up on andor what beliefs have you aligned with more strongly WhyWhat makes you most happy and most fearfulWe might understand someone as a person and a human versus a consumer user or target We are not a collection of our purchases downloads page views or other numerical juxtapositions The meaning is not often in the mathTattoo moments and marketingFor decades marketers have found certain stages in a person39s life where they are more susceptible to messaging and marketing Whether it is the impending birth of a child to a physical relocation there are times when people are more open to change or to paying attentionMarketers also recognize that there are moments of interaction when upselling or crossselling is likely to be more successful such as when someone is opening an account or when one is about to pay for items in one39s real or digital shopping cartBasically marketers look for moments of greatest attention and interest The challenge is that everybody knows these rituals and some combination of high costs and fees to show up at these moments or a certain weariness and understanding by people of what is happening makes these less and less ownable or differentiableIf instead of thinking only about where someone is on a customerpurchase journey we think about where we can surprise them positively the most or turn a negative to a positive we find compelling tattoo momentsFor instance if we want to get people to speak well about our product or service instead of advertising to them or desperately try to get likes or influencer mentions why not give them a sample of the product for free Why not reallocate a portion of the communication budget to enhance the quality of the product or service which will then speak for itself and get its satisfied users to speak about it In today39s world brands are more likely to scale through people if they have a superior product or service rather than just telling people they have a superior product or serviceImagine if you were a cable company or publisher and reallocate the quotstop them from unsubscribingquot budget where you slash prices increase channels in a bundle or enhance broadband speeds to people who are quitting to instead reward the most loyal customers by going to them and cutting their fees andor upgrading their services to simply say quotthank youquotWhen someone least expects an act of generosity it has a tattoo like impact It means they are special and they are not being taken for grantedSo many marketers promise to quotsurprise and delightquot customers but do we really Instead of a yearlong spray of pellets that have little impact why not focus spending by delivering a couple of cannon balls of high impact interactions gifts or surprisesOne or two quotsurprise and delightsquot might be worth a year of messaging Less is more The rare is meaningful The special resonates Traffic in scarcity to stand out in a world of abundance sameness and noise Find and fund the tattoo moments by asking quotWhat can we do and where can we do something that will make someone come away differentquotTattoo Moments and TalentA combination of new technologies and the challenges of COVID19 have forever changed the future of work and how talent views things A colleague of mine recently noted that most work could be segmented as quotheads downquot quotheads upquot or quotheads togetherquot quotHeads downquot would be tasks like reading documents working on developing content and other primarily solo work quotHeads Upquot is where we attend presentations and meetings primarily to share and gain information quotHeads togetherquot is when we need to work together to collaborate brainstorm and networkCultures are important to companies Connections with other people in the analog world can be important for people particularly early in their careers to learn and build relationships While much of the quotheads downquot and a majority of the quotheads upquot work can be done in a distributed and unbundled fashion a large part of the quotheads togetherquot work can gain from inperson connections particularly early in a project or when teams are first getting togetherBut the reality is that for most people the five day or even the threedayaweek model may be replaced by a few team interactions per quarter and many of these may happen outside the office at an offsite event a restaurant or a conferenceCompanies are going to have far fewer opportunities to build the fabric of their cultures and managers are going to have far fewer inperson opportunities to interact with their teams Therefore every company must rethink how to manage the growth and development of their talent the fabric of their culture and the strength of human connection when there will be just a few occasions a yearHow does a company make these interactions count and meaningfulA significant investment in great training to help people grow themselves is a way companies will create tattoo moments that matterEnsuring that managers are trained to make the most of inperson interaction and learning to empathize with the situation of their teams family or other pressures need for flexibility or enable acts of generosity and kindness that will forge emotional links between people is another area that companies should focus onIncreasingly companies will recognize that attracting and retaining talent means sculpting moments that matter Powerful experiences employee joy and a diverse fearfree culture can be built around a few tattoo momentsIn the meantime we can all make our mark on each day by living it italicized bold and with an exclamation mark Every day we should ask what made it memorable and special and how we tried with each interaction to help someone come away different and betterClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Rishad Tobaccowala

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