Louis Bedigian

You must first consider how many audiences you actually have. Are you contributing to a company blog? Are you working for an agency and writing for several different companies? The more people you get in the room, the more your audiences begin to populate. A byline about autonomous cars may have to appeal to: (1) The agency you work for. (2) The client. (3) The editor of the publication where you'd like the byline published. (4) The readers of that publication. Suddenly you're no longer writing for just one audience, you're writing for four, and every one of them is likely to have a different view of what's important. Thus, writing isn't just about knowing one audience, it's about knowing every possible audience in the mix.

Any upsell attempts during the consideration stage should be designed to seamlessly follow the path of the customer. If the customer is expected to visit your website first (or if you have an email that's engaging enough to warrant an open), quotes/testimonials and reviews can and should be interwoven to highlight any customer praise. Case studies are great (for B2B - less so for B2C), but you have to intrigue customers before they will have any interest in reading them. That's where a short testimonial/review can make a difference and begin to persuade customers to at least learn more. Demos can do wonders for sales - but again, you have to inspire customers to watch/sign up to attend. Thus, every touchpoint should build on the last.

As marketers rush to upsell, they need to be mindful of the risk in being too salesy (ex: buy this - buy, buy, buy!) or in applying too much pressure (ex: buy now, time is running out!). This is especially true at the awareness stage. The best content is genuine, engaging and makes people want to continue consuming it -- for example, an outstanding newsletter that, first and foremost, provides day-to-day value to all who subscribe. There absolutely should be a component included to explain, highlight and educate the customer about the benefits of an upgrade. But if the sole purpose of the content is marketing, consumers will feel it, become disengaged and tune out. This eliminates any hope of an upsell.

Risk-taking is important, but it can be a double-edge sword. Consider The Marvels ($200M+ budget, lowest Marvel opening). The risk wasn't in the story or concept, it was in the belief that an oversized budget guarantees massive returns. Now consider Five Nights at Freddy's ($20M budget, $80M opening). Here, the risk wasn't in the budget, it was in the concept and the day-and-date on release on Peacock. Consumers could have streamed the movie at home - they went to theaters instead. All business decisions should be informed by sound data, not assumptions or guesswork. If there isn't enough data to substantiate the risk, it is best to focus on smaller, less expensive projects that can be more easily overcome in the event of a failure.