According to R-Squared, owning the narrative in marketing involves looking at something topical or talkable as it happens and brands being on social media, radio or on TV and putting their own spin on it – gaining new followers and further entrenching themselves as innovative, cheeky and irreverent.
There is a South Africa-born flame-grilled chicken restaurant that is as famous for its chicken as it is for its incredibly clever and on-point marketing. The secret to their success? Owning the narrative. Other brands look on with envy. Marketers try to find the formula. Consumers eagerly await the next instalment, but it is not rocket science.
What sets this brand apart is not some deeply guarded secret, it is something that any brand can take advantage of: agility. The ability to think on your feet and to not only react to situations but to actively take reaction and convert it into positive pro-action.
It is something that is uniquely suited to influencer marketing. Big advertising campaigns take months to see the light of day. Traditional marketing campaigns take weeks of planning to ensure alignment with strategies, goals and KPIs and the different divisions of a corporate entity. And this is right. Big brands have a responsibility to make sure that what they are sending out is consistent and in line with what they are trying to achieve and what they are portraying to the public, but it leaves them vulnerable to playing catch-up. It makes owning the narrative complicated and taking advantage of a situation instantly almost impossible.
Expert influencers, and expert influencer marketers, are by their very nature adaptable and agile. You have to be to stay relevant in a fast-changing and dynamic industry.
Always on dynamic campaigns
Always on is not referring to a campaign that runs 24/7, it is referring to teams that are always on point and in-touch with the world around them, leading to dynamic opportunities for brands to engage instantly with their audience whenever the opportunity arises. But this is not just some influencer posting random, stream of consciousness fluff for the sake of being ‘hip’. This is an expertly managed tool to promote their clients’ agility.
By sourcing a custom pool of influencers specifically for a client – a pool of influencers who are pre-vetted, trusted and have a connection with the brand – they are creating an agile and adaptable team ready to be activated at any time and for any message.
Influencer marketing is not just another advertising platform, it is a personal, one-on-one conversation between you the brand and your audience. And like any real conversation, you need to be able to mix and match topics, change the direction, be serious one moment and light-hearted the next. Engagement is all about adaptability, agility and having a real conversation.
