Cocktail Party Marketing

Imagine you’re at a swanky cocktail party and the only person you know is the host; all the other guests are unfamiliar. Although you’re shy, you welcome the opportunity to meet some new people. With drink in hand, you stand near a circle of people talking. When the chatter pauses, someone turns to you and introduces himself. The next thing you know, you’re meeting and greeting everyone in the circle.

Eventually a lady in the circle asks, “And what do you do?” You say…

“I’m a wealthy business owner married to a former Miss America winner, and we have two beautiful teenage children who have just been early-accepted to Harvard. I have an IQ of 142 and speak five languages fluently. My wife and I just got back from a world cruise that took us to 14 countries, and I just acquired a new Ferrari 458 Italia sports car that I paid $233,000 for. All of you will just HAVE to visit my 17-room country estate some time and see what $4.7 million can buy…”

The secret to marketing — especially content marketing — is to treat it like a cocktail party. If all you do is talk about yourself, people will soon lose interest, go mingle with someone else, and be GONE.

Just like at a cocktail party, in marketing you need to frame your message around what is of interest to other people. That’s how to get them to engage with you. Keep your message focused on the people around you and what THEY want to know, and at the end of the party, everyone will remember you and just how knowledgeable and intriguing you really are.

They may even talk about you to other people. (What a gift for you and your "brand.")

Marketing really IS just one big cocktail party!

For more ideas on how to get better results with your content marketing, check out these posts: 5 Tips to Outwit the “5-Second Rule” of Email Marketing and Using a Team Approach to Content Marketing.

Got a question about how to frame YOUR message to leave readers wanting more? Send us an email. Get your groove on, and join us at the Content Marketing PARTY!