Archive for category: nostalgia in content

 

When executed successfully, a celebrity endorsement lets you leverage their fame and influence. But, even if all that’s happened is that you’ve met a former celebrity, you can leverage the nostalgia and authenticity it provides. “Brands have long realized that tapping into fond memories isn’t just a feel-good moment; it’s a powerful marketing strategy,” the mediaant.com points out.

Fifteen years ago, as president of my Indiana chapter of the National Speakers’ Association, I attended the NSA Winter Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Country music star Mel Tillis led a breakout discussion, ending by inviting all of us to attend the Grand Ole Opry performance he was hosting later that day.

There are two special points Mel Tillis made during the question/answer session about communicating with an audience (None of us could help noticing his stutter, which he explained would disappear when he was performing music):

1.  “I’m always coming up with new anecdotes and stories.” It’s important for any speaker to keep coming up with new anecdotes and stories to illustrate each point, Tillis stressed. That’s a lesson content marketers need to learn, for sure, since maintaining high rankings on search engines means creating content again and again over long periods of time. Anecdotes and stories keep the material fresh.
2. 2. “Sure, I get tired, like if I have to sing ‘Coca Cola Cowboy’ one more time, I think I’m gonna die. But what you need to do is act like it’s the first time you’ve ever done it. After all, every time I walk out there, it’s a different audience.” In “pull marketing” through content, you are attracting only searchers who have a need relating to what you do, what you sell, or what you know about. You may be “tired” of “same old, same old”, but, for most of those searchers, it will be the first time they’ve ever read your content.

 No, I don’t have a celebrity endorsement from country singer Mel Tillus (The singer died in 2017, after performing onstage for fifty-two years), but I wanted to share with my content marketing friends the nostalgia and authenticity of this memorable and inspiring “Grand Ole Opry” encounter.