K atie c ouric

Ask Your Consumers Questions and Think from
Their Point of View
Arneson adds that it’s important to create clear distinctions between what
you’re testing. Don’t simply change a word—that’s not different enough.
Test fundamentally different messages. That way you’ll have a good
understanding of what people prefer. Ask your consumer questions by
giving them different messages to choose from. If you put four clearly
distinct messages out there, and your audience overwhelmingly gravitates
toward one of them, you’ll have no doubt about what they’re interested in.
This is a different approach than what I use since Arneson comes from
the movie industry, where testing different messages is critical to
understanding how to tap into a specific audience. I agree with what he’s
saying, but I also like to tweak different words to see if some slight
variation can dramatically increase performance in some way. It doesn’t
always work, but sometimes it can take you by surprise.
Try to think from your consumers’ point of view. What is your audience
going to experience when they see your content? What, if anything, do they
already know about your brand? If they’ve experienced anything about your
brand in the past, do you think they’ll remember it? Understand who the

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consumers are and where they’re at in terms of knowledge of your content
and brand.
Another reason it’s important to test and listen to your specific
consumers is to find your most original and compelling voice. Often, we
think that a content strategy we’ve seen work for other brands will
automatically work for our brand as well. But this isn’t always the case. Just
because other brands and people are using a specific format to market a
product or content doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best way to approach
marketing 
your
brand or 
your
message.
Dollar Shave Club is a perfect example of a brand that found an original
way to market its content. Before it came along, shaving razors were mostly
sold through TV spots, and Gillette was the predominant player. Then
Dollar Shave Club came out with a funny, crazy, tongue-in-cheek online
video that represented its new brand
2
and gained more than four million
views. At the time, Dollar Shave Club was a young start-up, and it was hard
to compete with Gillette, but by understanding social media, listening to its
audience, approaching things differently, and testing they were able to break
into a highly competitive industry.
3
With this campaign, Dollar Shave Club started a trend, and since then
people have copied it again and again. But it doesn’t always give its
competitors the results they desire. Each brand needs to figure out its own
identity and what its specific audience is interested in. And you need to do
that too.