• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, July 3, 2024

At the core of what I do and who I am from a career perspective, I am a media person.  At the core of media is mathematics, and an understanding of how to balance prices with personas, reach with frequency, and the basic metrics required for measuring the efficacy of advertising.

I’ve been reminded lately of the value of those metrics and the complexity they present when you are trying to weave a narrative.  Digital media is filled with metrics, but what we should keep track of is the emotional impact behind those metrics.

We think of impressions and clicks, awareness and recall.  We look at site visits and whether a visitor fills out a form. But what do those metrics mean?  If you’re showing your message to the correct audience on a repeated basis, what the math refers to as impressions and frequency, you’re building a mental connection between your message and your brand in the eyes of the people you’re talking to.

The important element of that sentence is the word “people.”  These are real people, and sometimes your message resonates faster than you can even anticipate.  When someone clicks on your ad or visits your site, they are expressing a sense of connection with your message.  They are reaching out because you provide something of value -- something that fills a gap they are looking for, whether that gap be a need or simply a want.

When a person reaches out to your brand, you need to engage with them.   You can qualify or disqualify them as you and the numbers determine is appropriate, but you should always respond.  Some people who reach out to your brand and look to engage are never going to become a customer, but you can’t really know unless you respond and engage.

Does this mean you have to engage manually on every inbound communication?  You can’t do that, but you can set up systems that enable engagement in any way possible. If they continue to engage, or continue to generate scores that trigger a response, you must respond.  You must do so because they are a person, and not a lead.  A person may not become a customer, but they can an evangelist for your brand and engage others on behalf of your brand.  If you ignored them, they may speak negatively.  You can’t really know, but you can almost guarantee they will become a positive evangelist of your brand if you treat them like a real person and not just a lead.

Even though I’m a media person at heart, I have to call out the need to be more than the numbers. You have to be a psychologist who understands the people you are messaging to.  It starts with treating those leads as real people. You have to understand the emotions behind the numbers and the insights they create when you consider these are real people.  Once you do that, your campaigns will perform better because you start thinking about the way to connect creativity and emotion to your campaign.  This is the first step toward creating a more effective campaign.