We’ve had it all wrong: We’ve always encouraged thought leaders to create new, compelling content, but the data suggests you will get more conversions if you actually spent more time promoting your winners than creating new pieces.
We know that the term “unicorns” might evoke images of a whimsical theme that would captivate a 7-year-old girl, but bear with us – there is a compelling marketing concept behind this seemingly fanciful term.
Larry Kim, a celebrated figure in the Marketing and SaaS landscape, developed a unique and potent marketing philosophy known as “Donkeys vs. Unicorns.” At the core of his thesis is the observation that, often in our pursuit to carve a niche as thought leaders, there’s an overzealous inclination to churn out new ideas at a rapid-fire pace. Contrarily, Kim posits that more substantial outcomes could be realized by adopting a different tack – specifically, by identifying and focusing on the content that has previously struck a chord with the audience. By doubling down on such content that has already proven its mettle, rather than being on a relentless quest for the elusive ‘next big thing,’ one can more effectively harness and maximize the existing potentials.
Breaking Down Donkeys & Unicorns
“Donkeys” are the typical content or marketing campaigns that perform average or below average. They are common, not very exciting, and don’t usually achieve exceptional results. They may still perform a function but are not remarkable in any way.
On the other hand, “Unicorns” represent the top 1-3% of marketing efforts or content that perform exceptionally well compared to the rest. These Unicorns are the campaigns or pieces of content that go viral, generate a massive amount of leads, or have an incredibly high engagement rate.
- Know your baseline analytics before you start? It’s imperative to have a firm grasp on your data before embarking on the unicorn marketing approach. First and foremost, develop baseline analytics, as this is crucial for understanding your starting point. Knowing where you currently stand enables you to analyze and plan the direction in which you want to head. The hallmark of exceptional marketing lies in making data-driven decisions. Too often, marketing ideas are conjured based on hunches, hacks, or imitating others without considering if these strategies align with your unique objectives. When analytics are implemented correctly, they should render insights that are not only informative but actionable as well. This empowers you to make well-informed decisions tailored to achieving your goals.
- Eliminate RAM: Random Acts of Marketing: Random acts of marketing are not something that a company intentionally sets out to do. Often, a marketing department has a robust idea that they work diligently to realize. However, once that initiative is complete, they shift gears to a different idea and another idea and so on and so on. These new initiatives are seldom integrated into a comprehensive digital marketing plan, and as a result, they lack cohesion with other marketing materials. Essentially, these ideas operate in isolation, much like silos. When marketing is approached in this manner, it rarely yields compounding benefits.
- Develop an editorial calendar you can pull the Unicorn Alarm: Great companies market proactively vs. reactively. An editorial calendar is a tool that helps reactive marketers turn into proactive Marketers. The editorial calendar allows you to know what content is going to be going out in the next 30 days 60 days 90 days sometimes even a year. This consistency of content allows you to put a lot of really great ideas out into the universe. As an idea takes hold and starts to get more engagement and it has reached “unicorn status” you need to have an internal system that recognize that this piece of content is a unicorn and you need to respond accordingly with all of your effort. It is what we call “pulling the unicorn alarm”
- Be Nimble to the extreme: Once the ‘Unicorn alarm’ is triggered, it’s essential to act swiftly. Even though you are adhering to an editorial calendar, it’s prudent to momentarily pause that and any other initiatives, devoting all your time and energy toward maximizing that piece of content by repurposing it into various formats. For instance, if one of your blog posts achieves unicorn status, consider transforming it into an infographic, producing a video, discussing the topic in-depth on different podcasts, and even contemplating the use of paid advertisements to reach new, targeted audiences. It’s imperative to resist the urge to move on prematurely. Remain focused your unicorn until the data indicates that there’s no further mileage to be gained from the idea.
- Squeeze Every last drop: When Marvel movies are released, Marvel creates 3 to 6 different trailers for the same movie. Why do they do this? Because they understand the importance of promoting the movie with every ounce of energy they have. Music labels are aware that while having a one-hit-wonder is fantastic, it’s incredibly challenging to produce another hit song, and then another. Since hit songs (Like Unicorn content) are rare, it’s vital to squeeze every last drop out of the success you are experiencing before moving on to a new hit song or idea. If you move on too quickly, you might find yourself expending an excessive amount of time, energy, and money nurturing content that turns out to be mediocre (“donkey content”) and will ultimately yield fewer conversions than the high-performing content (“unicorn”) you abandoned. This might occur simply because you feel compelled as a thought leader to continuously produce new content – “Because after all, that is what thought leaders do.”
In Summary:
We recommend that you begin with casting a wide net through a comprehensive marketing strategy, which should include a well-structured editorial calendar, to pinpoint which pieces of content have the potential to attain “unicorn status.” Subsequently, ensure that your analytics are properly configured to recognize when a piece of content has evolved into a unicorn. When such content is identified, it is important to pull the “unicorn alarm,” and at this juncture, it’s crucial to be agile enough to drop other engagements and double down on this content without delay, as hesitating could result in losing momentum. Lastly, extract maximum value from that unicorn content by capitalizing on its success, rather than prematurely diverting your focus to something new.
As a marketing team, we have recently come across some truly thought-provoking videos on the subject of AI that have left a lasting impact on us. In this edition, we are excited to share these insightful videos that have sparked our curiosity and fueled our creative endeavors:
