Are You Defining the “Cool" Factor in Your Marketing?

Written by: Jaime Lim

Like most people with a social media account, my feed is oversaturated with random acts of content – written pieces without any strategy or value – and so I’ve become very selective about what I allow onto my reading list.

There was one headline, however, that I think is worth discussing: Is Indianapolis Cool Enough for Amazon?

This piece in the New York Times defends the Midwestern city as a headquarters choice for the media and distribution giant. As someone that works in content, this immediately spoke to me because the word “cool” has layers of meaning. Cool factor can mean how Instagram-worthy something is, or how much it appeals to the Millenial audience (both major issues in current-day marketing).

But in this case, I took this article as Indianapolis’ attempt at a rebrand of the city. They are trying to change public perception.

Here at FiComm, we frequently deal with rebranding efforts, and at the heart of all these projects is perceived value. It’s knowing not only what makes your company different, but why your target audience should care.

Related: One Year Ago, I Warned You About a Coming Stock Market Correction: Were You Ready?

Getting your branding and communications right is a great balancing act in which you’re constantly trying to stay ahead of your industry while never losing sight of why your advisor clients found your services valuable in the first place. Megan Carpenter put it best when she said, “Learn to see things from the advisor’s perspective. Advisors aren’t big corporations. They’re entrepreneurs. Garage bands. They operate in constant protection mode.”

So if you’re a vendor marketing your cutting-edge technology to advisors, you have to keep in mind that something safe and proven may have more value to an advisor than something new. So what line do you tread? Cool factor is that line; being both innovative and specifically relevant.

Good communications can make or break any company. You could have the “coolest” product in the world, but unless you position it with an eye towards value, it won’t go far.