Let’s Break Down Marketing for Everyone from Baby Boomers to GenZ!

Leads, workflows, content calendars – where to begin?

Thanksgiving is almost here! Whether you’ve already traveled to your destination, having a stay-cation, or still staring at the clothes you didn’t put away from your last trip, we all dread those questions from the family we know we’ll encounter:

“When are you going to settle down?” “Are you ever going to pick a date?” “When will I be a grandmother?” And for those who moved far away, “We miss you; when are you going to move back home?”

They never ask about your job, because let’s be real, our parents (and most of our family, for that matter) have no idea what we do all day. If you’d like to quickly get off the subject of your romantic and/or reproductive life and talk about work, we’ve provided a few ways to explain what you do in layman’s terms.

For a few basic reasons, finding the right words to describe inbound marketing might be difficult:

Marketing is a relatively new notion in today’s world. Every day, the definition and practices that underpin the sector evolve and change.

Accepting this new style of marketing as a respectable technique makes people uneasy since its main principles violate prior conventions – and people are always wary of the unfamiliar.

In order to understand inbound marketing, your audience must have a fundamental understanding of digital marketing, social media platforms, search engine capabilities, and so on.

Let’s face it: inbound marketing rocks, and you want your family to know about it. However, each guest at your Thanksgiving dinner is unique, necessitating a unique approach. So, let’s take a round around the table.

1. Try The Simplest One First

Writing articles has been in practice for centuries now. From one’s grandparents to all the uncles to even younger brothers and sisters around the Thanksgiving table would be able to relate to this. To be honest, writing articles for the internet is a critical element of digital marketing. Even though this may raise a few eyebrows as to how one makes a living out of writing, this is one of the simplest, though not the most accurate way, to explain what you do in marketing.

Yes, marketing is not really about just writing about your feelings and involves a lot more legwork but then you can get into details if anyone takes the bait. Though this may not really make you the coolest around the table, it will definitely help you get others off your back so you can focus on the food – that’s really what we’re here for. Yes, it is not the whole truth, but does it really matter?

2. Try Using Real-Life Examples of Spam Calls

Let’s be honest. Almost everyone around the table who owns a mobile phone or a telephone would have experienced the nuances of outbound marketing and sales calls, and these are not only unwanted but are also highly distracting and impersonal in nature. If you know of one such experience that the person asking you had experienced, use it to your advantage to explain all about what you do.

The key here is to lead them towards the unpleasant experiences they had with these calls and highlight how your work helps them get rid of these calls and, instead, target them with content that is both informative and targeted only when they are looking for something in particular.

3. To Showcase The Good, Let Them Experience Pain First

Spoiler Alert: While this method can genuinely work, it requires an accomplice and, if not planned and executed well, this could backfire too.

So, you know that inbound marketing has been a boon not just for the brands; it works in favor of the customers too. So why not give the customers around you, your family, a taste of what they experience every day and then highlight how your work helps them? How does this work? Well, all you need is to plan this out with an accomplice and make sure that he/she has their phone with them while dining on Thanksgiving.

The moment someone asks you about what you do for a living, excuse yourself from the table, head to a different room, and call your accomplice as if you are a sales agent. Make sure your accomplice uses products to make everyone around the table understand that it is a pesky sales call. Repeat this a couple of times, and the message about the disadvantages of outbound marketing becomes loud and clear. For Example Fresh Turkey:

“You’re getting in the way of my Thanksgiving dinner with this inapt phone call,” or “Don’t you think it’s a little late to be phoning me for a turkey?” are good words to employ. “I wish you had sent me personalized emails about those fresh turkeys at the beginning of November— I would have pre-ordered them,” or, if you really want to go wild, “I wish you had sent me a targeted, personalized email about those types of meat in November — I would have pre-ordered them alongside my turkey.”

Then tell them to slam the device down on a table. You are free to return from your break “See?” you can say after a break. Telemarketing, or any other form of interruptive marketing, is extremely irritating. My profession requires me to produce marketing that benefits people rather than annoys them.”

The scene comes to a close.

Once you believe everyone understands the nuisance of these pesky calls, return to the table and steal the show by explaining how your work actually saves them from these pesky calls and become the knight in the shining armor that you really are.

4. Lead Nurturing is like Cooked Food

Thanksgiving is all about food, and whether people understand marketing or not, they understand food and, more importantly, understand cooked food versus uncooked dishes. In order to explain all about lead nurturing and marketing, it helps to draw an analogy with food. After all, sending unprepared leads to sales is similar to serving uncooked food, tasteless and without any appeal. Nurturing leads before they are shared with sales helps get better returns and conversions from the leads as compared to leads that are not.

5. Explain AED – The 3 Objectives from Inbound Marketing

For those absolutely passionate about inbound marketing and would like to explain its benefits to the family, you can always define the three primary objectives achieved from Inbound marketing – Attract, Engage, and Delight.

Use examples of how inbound marketing helps them in each area, and explain why this method helps both the brand and the customer.

For example, you could tell Mommy or grandpa: “Attract means attracting the appropriate individuals by providing useful information and engaging in conversation that establishes you as a trustworthy adviser they want to work with.

Engage means presenting insights and solutions that connect with their pain areas and aspirations will increase their likelihood of purchasing from you. And delight entails offering guidance and support to your consumers in assisting them to succeed with their purchases.” Though not the easiest to execute, this method is by far one of the most substantial ways to deliver the message of what you do.

This Thanksgiving, don’t be tongue-tied by marketing’s inner workings! Use these techniques to master the question-and-answer portion of dinner and focus on what matters most: a wonderful meal and quality time with family and friends.

Here’s wishing everyone a delightful and safe 2021 Thanksgiving.