The Rule of Thirds and The Marketing Matrix
Perhaps one of the greatest ongoing marketing-related challenges a business faces is content creation.
Having to create genuine, authentic and interesting content that both reflects the culture and ethos of your business, and at the same time adds value to your potential customers and clients - whew, that sounds like a big ask!
What is also daunting, is the sheer volume of online content that we are all consistently consuming. The current consumers that have just graduated from university are of the TikTok generation. This means that we have about 15 seconds to communicate a message that sows a seed, invites engagement or provokes a purchase.
Psychology gave us the Human Information Processing matrix, spearheaded by American Psychologist George Miller in the 1950s, which gives us a bit of a picture at how our brains are stimulated and ultimately retain the marketing messages being sent.
The Human Information Processing Matrix
As we can see, there are a few ‘touches’ that need to happen before the message is committed to memory. So, with this in mind, how do we begin to communicate to our potential clients and customers in a meaningful and productive way?
context, context, context
In photography there is a guideline called, “the rule of thirds”
In essence, this guideline places the subject of the photograph in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two thirds more open. You know those lines that are on your camera or phone that divides a photo into nine equal parts? Those lines split the images by two equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines - those lines give us a grid that we can use, which we call the ‘Rule of Thirds’.
Try taking a photo, and place the subject of your picture where two of the lines intersect.
When you use the rule of thirds, it creates context in an image. Yes the subject is in focus, but we begin to see the story behind the picture.
This well composed and captivating photograph by Kevin Noble makes use of the rule of thirds to give context to the image.
This rule is transferable for marketing your business.
The temptation for every business owner is to promote the products and services that they have on offer. It’s the reason we’re here, and we’re meeting the need of our customers, so let’s get the word out there. Sell, Sell, Sell!
That, however, is only part of the picture. We need more context. We need to learn to communicate a story, and then invite people into being a part of that story.
At De Lasa Design, this is how we break it down with our clients, in this order:
Rule #1 - Original Brand Content
What we mean by this is the type of content that only you can create, and the type of content that tells the story behind the brand. In other words, it displays the personality of the business, and shows that it’s not just a clinical, faceless company, but a community of people with a variety of interesting stories! Here are some ways to begin to do this,
The art of celebration - find as many opportunities as possible to celebrate your staff, and also the achievements of your local community. Find out when it’s someone’s birthdays, if anyone has unique hobbies. Also, look for local businesses around you that aren’t direct competitors, but provide a great service to your business, ie a local coffee shop that helps your team beat the afternoon slump with the smoothest flat whites this side of the city.
Give people a sneak peek - get some behind the scenes footage on your socials.
Use testimonials well and wisely. Testimonials are such a fantastic tool, but don’t over-use them to promote your product/service here. Use them celebrate your customer’s story, and they will celebrate you by sharing the word to friends and family.
Rule #2 - Thought Leadership
Thought leadership is the writing of blogs or articles that demonstrate your expertise in the demographic of your business. Ultimately, whenever someone needs the service that you provide, and seeks advice on it - we want them to think that your business is the expert in that field! This is a brilliant tool to have, because it will drive people to your website for exclusive, and free, content. Blogs and articles will begin to drive over 80% + traffic to your site.
Start by giving away free thought leadership articles. Some hard earned insights that people won’t get just anywhere, but they’ll get it from you!
Rule #3 - Promotional Content
We’re familiar with this one! This is all about the products and services that you provide. Just some tips when you’re creating content around promotions,
Keep it Image and video-rich!
Have clear messaging
Research what type of copy works best with your audience
Offer some type of exclusivity to your followers
True value for money is not giving away your product at a discounted price (as tempting as it may be). Value for money is giving people more for the price that they pay. Keep the value of your brand high!
Don’t flood your timeline with promotions
Leverage paid advertising through ad accounts on socials, (business.facebook.com, ads.twitter.com etc). This is a big world, and it’s what we do at De Lasa Design. If you want more one-on-one advice about using paid advertising on socials, make sure to drop us a message or avail of our free social media consultation page.
Once you’re ready to get started, we’ve create a free marketing calendar template to help you organise your posts. We’ve made it easy by even suggesting the types of content on the calendar. Hopefully it makes taking the next step a little easier for you and your business.
I hope this helps, if you have some questions, ask in the comments below or send us a message!
Paddy
