How the Rosanne revival’s marketing worked on me and what B2B marketers can learn

 

Nostalgia is a funny thing. Most people know it as that sentimental longing for the past, typically a time or place with happy personal associations. Its true origins are in fact weirder, the term being coined by 17^th-century medical students to describe the anxieties displayed by Swiss mercenaries fighting away from home (they described it as a medical condition – a form of melancholy). In the last decade or so the concept has been increasingly hijacked by marketers, with cola brands, movie studios and even tech companies infusing it into their campaigns to sell products.

Which is why I find it so odd that as I type “where can I watch all of Rosanne” into Google I’m not doing it out of a sense of nostalgia. I didn’t watch Rosanne as a kid. Being an 80’s baby I am in the prime target audience that would have had feelings of nostalgia evoked based on its revival. But again, 6-year-old Robert was not in front of the TV when it aired in the late 80’s early 90’s. So why am I hooked now? The answer is simple, their marketing worked on me. Below I will outline four old school tactics that enabled this, and how B2B marketers can update them for the digital world.

1. General Advertising

ABC announced in May of 2017 their plans to revive the series. I’m not sure when exactly I first heard about it, I am not glued to the entertainment industry such that I would have been alerted by that announcement, but as the premier approached a few weeks ago, I had been generally aware that it was happening. I had seen ads, heard snippets of promos, heard acquaintances discussing it, etc. And that was thanks to all the money ABC dumped into advertising.

This type of advertising has become increasingly scrutinized by B2B marketers these days, as it is admittedly hard to track and show a tangible return on investment (what, you’re not impressed by 5 million impressions Mr. CEO??). While I am a staunch supporter of proving ROI on marketing campaigns and connecting marketing spend to revenue, I think the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of “if it doesn’t get me an email address, I don’t want to hear about it.”

There’s a reason people still put up billboards, make radio commercials, invest in banner ads, heck throw ads in print magazines or newspapers… because it is still an effective way to increase general awareness of your product or service. And it’s this general awareness that lays the foundation for all subsequent marketing tactics and strategies. Employing any of the below tactics without also investing in some general awareness is like having surgery without anesthesia – you can do it, but it’s going to hurt.

B2B Takeaway Yet I get the sense these days that many B2B marketers have lost the courage to stand up and fight for advertising and awareness plays, skipping instead to down funnel tactics requiring registration, because at least then we can show a more tangible return (database contacts). But you’re shooting yourself in the foot by not investing in telling people who you are first via ads, banners, promoted content, sponsorships, branding, etc. So stand up for these tactics and don’t let them get stripped out of marketing budgets by people who cannot see past the next email address.

2. Referral (Word of Mouth)

On the day of the premier, one of my friends asked a simple question on our email chain: Who is watching Rosanne tonight? Note this isn’t the ringing endorsement we so often ask our customers to give, no promo code or refer a friend incentive, the question simply… exists. And it was enough to continue me down my buyer’s journey to watching Rosanne.

Did I watch it that night live? No. Did it keep it top of mind for me, and on my radar for a potential watch in the coming days/ weeks? Absolutely! In B2B marketing speak that’s called an effective touchpoint. The win at this stage is not to necessarily convert me, it’s to not lose me to the infinite number of other things to which I could devote brain space.

Many companies execute successful advertising campaigns all the time, but if they are here today and gone tomorrow, you haven’t achieved anything other than an initial surge of awareness. If you’re selling a cheap commodity that initial surge may be all you need, but most B2B marketers are selling complex products and services, with long and many times convoluted sales cycles. So if that initial surge isn’t followed up with ongoing touchpoints that keep it top of mind, your audience’s general awareness is going to decrease over time, and that’s going to hurt you down the line. It’s like in football when the running back doesn’t stretch or take the hit to gain that extra yard – it doesn’t kill you on 1^st down, but can haunt you on 4^th down.

B2B Takeaway Keep your audience talking. Encourage and enable genuine, authentic dialogue amongst your members. Since most audiences are online these days, hire community managers to stoke and mange discussions. Go out of your way to engage and then respond to them, and show that you truly care. My friend asked that question in our email chain because he views Rosanne as a quality product, and wanted to share that with his personal network. That doesn’t happen unless he’s a satisfied customer.

3. Public Relations (PR) and Media

I bought a new car this summer and with it came a free trial of Sirius XM satellite radio. I liked it so much I signed up for a year and have since been listening to the Howard Stern show a lot. I’ve never been a huge Stern fan, but he’s slowly converted me to a daily listener. And on the day of the premier he had both Rosanne and John Goodman on the couch for an interview.

Let’s stop and think about where I am on my buyer’s journey. I’m generally aware of Rosanne due to advertising, and my interest has been further piqued by a friend. The next touchpoint interested Rosanne into an already established (media) channel that I respect and engage with regularly.

Public Relations (PR) in B2B companies is in what I’d describe as an extended flux or transition period. It isn’t the powerhouse it once was, as communication has shifted away from “one to many” in favor of the “many to many” environment of today. However PR departments and professionals are still around, working diligently at media placements, journalist pitches, messaging and the like. But the main problem I see is they are doing all this in their own silo, not coordinating with social, demand gen and other “modern” marketing departments. Which is opportunity left on the table at best and a full-blown problem at worst.

B2B Takeaway Integrate your PR teams with your other marketing units. They should not function as their own department as is so often the case in organizations. PR is simply another tactic that should be planned, executed and measured in conjunction with all your other marketing tactics. PR activities should be assigned credit in attribution models as well, so you can determine how much it’s influencing pipeline. And lastly, your social media team and your PR department should be BFFs – if not one integrated team. Often today, PR teams manage journalists and media professionals, while social media teams manage “influencers” and “thought leaders.” This should be approached as a single work stream for your company to manage the flow of information to external ecosystem inhabitants. This is how you’ll achieve an integrated approach and get your message into the established channels with which your audience engages consistently.

4. Free Trial (Try and Buy)

Now that I’m out of my party hardy stage, I often find myself looking forward to a quiet Friday night with not much planned but some Netflix and an early bed time. And that has led me to discover one of the best kept secrets 30-somethings keep from 20-somethings: Saturday mornings without a hangover. What a glorious time. You’re up early, feeling fresh with no work and a blank canvas.

 

On the Saturday after the Rosanne premier, as I was sipping my coffee and channel surfing, I stumbled upon you guessed it, reruns of Rosanne on TV Land. Normally I would have passed right by it, however this was no normal day. This day represented an inflection point in my Rosanne buyer’s journey. I’ve been exposed to the advertising and observed a friend endorse it (Awareness stage), I’ve listened to an hour-long interview which allowed me to learn about the actors, characters and show (Research stage) and now I have a chance to try the product (Consideration stage).

I ended up watching two episodes over coffee, and really enjoyed them. I had always heard Rosanne was a smart, funny show that didn’t shy away from touchy subject material, and that’s exactly what they delivered. It goes without saying that the quality of the product must deliver here, but that aside, the ability to “try the product” (watch the show) before committing to “buying” (adding yet another show to an already maxed out list of things to watch) was instrumental in converting me to a “paying customer” (viewer and fan of the show).

B2B Takeaway You’ll note that the A) Availability and B) Timing of the free trial was crucial. As I stated above, had I come across that free trial earlier in the buyer’s journey, or while not on a relevant buyer’s journey, I wouldn’t have paid it any mind (channel surfed right past it). But the fact that I had been slowly exposed to more and more Rosanne over a contained time period is what really drove the conversion on that “consideration content” and ultimately my “Decision” (the last stage in the buyer’s journey) to become a regular viewer.

Not every product or service lends itself to a free trial, however I’d recommend you constantly re-evaluate that mindset as it’s one of the highest producing methods to convert prospects to customers. But even businesses that have and promote free trials should take note of the timing. Prospects should not be overly exposed to a free trial until they have engaged with the appropriate top and mid-funnel content. B2B firms consistently do two things that deceases the effectiveness of their marketing:

• Send lower funnel content (ie product and company-related) to top and mid-funnel prospects
• Don’t track behavioral engagement data over time to determine when to send what content

In Rosanne’s case, they couldn’t really track my buyer’s journey at all (other than making assumptions about how their marketing worked based on viewership numbers), however B2B marketers do have this capability. In the digital world, so much is trackable. Downloads, page views, social engagement, form fills, video viewing and so much more can be used to determine where someone is in their journey, and most importantly, when to send them the next-level down (the funnel) content. This is the difference between marketing being largely ignored and marketing working as it should.

–Final Thought–

Marketers are susceptible to overcomplicating things. We have so much data and technology at our disposal these days that it’s hard not to. But it’s important to remember that people have been trying to sell other people things for a long, long time. Some methods and approaches have been proven over time, and it’s up to us as modern marketers to translate them to the digital world.