Curiosity may have killed the cat (or so they say). But it can actually be beneficial for marketers.
In fact, curiosity is essential for the modern marketer. It helps them to remain competitive, meet the ever-increasing demands of their audience, and produce the best possible results for their business.
But despite its power, curiosity isn’t something that’s spoken about very often in marketing.
We hear about data, automation, personalisation, AI and AR. But rarely curiosity as a tactic.
So for those who haven’t considered the benefits that curiosity brings to a business, here are our 6 reasons why curiosity is essential for every marketer.
Be at the forefront of marketing innovation
Marketing is a rapidly evolving industry.
There are new strategies, features, functionalities, tools, and tactics being hailed seemingly every day. And we’re not going to lie, it can be hard to keep up.
But for those marketers who remain curious, the ever-changing marketing landscape provides a wealth of new information for them to sink their teeth into.
By keeping up with marketing publications, industry experts, events, and webinars, marketers can source endless inspiration and learnings to feed into their own marketing strategy.
They can continually experiment and test these new ideas to establish what works, and what doesn’t work, for their own audience. And while they’re at it, soon make a name for themselves as leaders in the marketing space.
Walk in the shoes of their audience
Curious marketers want to get under the skin of their audience.
They want to understand their challenges, their goals, their aspirations, and what makes them buy.
All of this information is essential to any successful marketing campaign. From understanding the basic purchasing journey of an audience, all the way through to the copy and design of the marketing communications.
By fully understanding an audience, every element of marketing can be directly tailored towards them.
And of course, a curious marketer won’t be held back by their own knowledge in this quest for tailored campaigns.
These marketers know the wealth of information that is stored in audience data; offering them the ultimate source of information to further personalise their campaigns and communications. From first name personalisation and birthday celebrations, to recommended products and geotargeting.
Understand what works (and why)
Knowing that a tactic or strategy is successful is not enough for a curious marketer. Instead, they need to understand why.
And of course, by understanding what works and why it works, marketers can replicate, build on, and improve their most successful marketing activities. As well as implementing other similar marketing initiatives that address the why.
For curious marketers, this will mean digging deep into their analytics to understand the campaigns that are generating the best results. Whilst also cross-referencing with sales and customer service teams to combine with qualitative, experiential information.
Crave feedback
Part of understanding why something is working is asking for feedback.
Curious marketers are desperate to know what their audience thinks of their efforts, and they are never afraid to ask.
Whether it be by asking for reviews or ratings, sending feedback surveys, or directly contacting customers themselves. Feedback offers endless information and possibilities for targeted improvements for the marketer.
It offers qualitative insight into areas which their audience love, and areas which they hate, that quantitative analytics may not give access to.
This could include feedback on branding, imagery, tone of voice, and support. To name just a few areas. All offering further areas for improvement.
Understand the competition
When it comes to marketing, sometimes being the best means just being better than the competition.
Yet many marketers forget to prioritise keeping an eye on the competition. Instead, choosing to forge ahead with their own activity, without taking a moment to see how it compares to others in their industry.
Curious marketers, on the other hand, will be keen to understand what their competitors are doing. They will want to know about their successes and failures. Their new customer wins. The events they attend. The software they use. And the data they have access to.
Understanding your competitors doesn’t have to be an underhand tactic. We’re not suggesting you outwardly poach your competitors’ customers, or bad-mouth their brand. But instead, competitor insight focuses industry and marketing research. And can guide marketers as to where they should be concentrating their efforts.
Never work in a vacuum
It’s easy for brands to fall into the trap of making decisions in a vacuum. Relying on internal (and sometimes just departmental), subjective opinions to lead their marketing initiatives.
Curious marketers, on the other hand, will always be keen to hear other’s thoughts, both internally and externally.
This could include gaining initial thoughts and feedback on designs and campaign ideas from their colleagues.
But where the really useful feedback comes from is the marketer’s audience. Curious marketers can go as far as to hold focus groups, or to have a select group of ‘pilot’ customers who they can go to for feedback in the form of surveys and telephone calls.
And while it’s important not to get overwhelmed by everyone’s thoughts and opinions. The curious marketer can use this information to check that they are still in tune with their audience. And can cross-reference subjective opinions with more objective data. To ensure they’re on the right track.
Do you want to reignite your marketing curiosity?
Then why not check out our resources? We offer guides, blog posts, and webinars to help other curious marketers learn and grow.
Alternatively, get in touch to see how we can help guide your curiosity with our all-in-one AI email and web marketing platform and our Customer Success Team whose sole mission is to get you better results.