What we can learn from Oprah
January 25, 2011
Oprah is Everywhere.
On TV, both on her talk show and now with her OWN Network. She's online with her vast website. She's in your mailbox, on the cover of O: The Oprah Winfrey Magazine, and as her 25-year run on daytime television draws to a close, more and more magazines with articles and interviews. She's even on your iPad now, with a digital version of her magazine to flip through.
She is the Queen of Media.
So what can we pick up from the Queen to help us in our own business marketing? A few key elements that require neither the budget nor the exposure she commands, but will certainly go a long way towards building your business' empire.
Recently, Oprah was in Australia, and her show was a weeklong extravaganza of all things Aussie. While watching the final show, sometime after they had festooned the Sidney Harbor Bridge with a giant “O” but before Hugh Jackman busted up his eye during a dramatic entrance, I was taken aback by something she brought up. While interviewing U2 frontman Bono, she discussed visiting with him and guitarist The Edge in New York City during rehearsals for their Broadway Musical “Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark”. She spoke about how fired up, creatively, she was and what an inspiration this was to her.
Earlier in the week we had received our copy of her magazine. It's focus was “Imagine!” (the exclamation point is theirs, really) and was full of articles on finding the creative energy in your own, day to day life. On the very last page of the magazine, Oprah has her “What I Know for Sure” feature, and lo and behold, there is Bono and The Edge from U2, during rehearsals for “Spiderman”, chumming it up with Oprah, and a whole page worth of Oprah's take on the creative energy she walked away with after meeting them.
Listening to Oprah discuss creativity on her program, echoing the themes featured in her magazine which arrived that same week, was compelling enough for me to delve deeper into the articles in the magazine.
Why?
Because she had tied the two together by simply bringing up something that appeared in her magazine during an interview on her program in such a subtle, yet noticeable way that I was compelled to act.
Not everyone has such a lofty platform from which to send their brand's message, but we can all take a few valuable lessons from this:
1) If you've got multiple platforms for marketing, and we all do now thanks to the internet, make sure they work together. If you're doing a direct mail campaign, use the same imagery and verbiage on your website to draw people in and create an experience.
2) Timing is everything! Oprah's people made sure we got her magazine in advance of that interview with Bono, knowing that there would be themes echoed from one to the other. Time your marketing & mailings to work with each other.
3) Use the platforms you've got to reference and drive attention to the others. Your direct mail, radio spot or print ads should attract viewers to your website, and your website should reflect the look, feel and sound of your marketing efforts. Even the colors Oprah used on her stage felt similar to the colors used in the magazine that landed the same week.
All these factors show your audience that your business is well put together, well composed and well thought out, and there is value in that. In an age where everything is a visual experience, from paying the bills online to dialing aunt Minnie on your iPhone, companies that project a consistent visual image will hold a higher place in the minds of their existing and potential customers.
Oh, and if you can get Bono to stop in, that can't hurt, either.
While we can't hook you up with Bono or Oprah, our own superstar CSR Team is ready to help you swing, Spiderman-like, into action! Contact us now to get your next project started!
