The Nigerian 1% may not relate to, or even begin to understand the activities that goes on in a Molue bus, but what everyone can relate to is the techniques of persuasion, especially in communications.
This is gonna get a little academic, but don’t worry, I won’t bore youuu ?
Oxford Dictionary defined strategy as ‘A plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim’.
A lot of communication professionals don’t know the clear and practical distinction between strategies and tactics, so then a month into their campaign they run out of content because they used a tactic as the bedrock of their campaign instead of a proper juicy and longstanding strategy. But that is not the focus of this article, if you want to know more, see what ADWEEK has to say about the matter.
Okay enough of the classroom brouhaha.
Anyone that has entered public transport in Nigeria before knows how these vendors position themselves. Some of them even have partnerships with conductors and drivers.
Now, I’ve entered public transport all my life, and what I really found interesting about these guys was their ability to hold your attention for a long period of time, especially when you are on the move and literally anything can grab your attention.
At the time, I wasn’t really concerned about who sold more, or who didn’t see anyone to even say “Bring one”. I was more concerned about the hilarity or complete absurdity of the stories they tell, but then, I suddenly found myself working in the communications industry and now when I enter public transport, the question that is more important to me is why would one woman sell more than the other woman? Was she more relatable? More hilarious?
What can I learn from these guys about meeting the KPIs for my campaigns?
It’s easy, we can break their strategies into 3 main categories that research has shown works, over the years, but that people still struggle with it’s application in their day to day communication activities.
THEY MAKE YOU LAUGH
I don’t know what drugs some of these guys are on, but when they fully get in their elements, they will give your favourite comedians a run for their money. A lot of communication consultants are jumping on the ‘Instagram comic’ wave for almost all their campaigns and that strategy isn’t even being milked properly. Most times, it’s being used more as a tactic, than a proper strategy.
I tell my interns every time that the popular saying “The sky is big enough for everyone to fly” is not cliché at all, it’s valid. A million agencies can be doing the same things for their different clients, but the style you choose to adopt is what would set you apart, always.
THEY SHOCK YOU
Shock, would be the number one tool most of these public transport vendors use to capture their audience. One even went as far as trying to bring his privates out to describe and explain, until everyone in the bus revolted.
I’m not saying post nudes in a bid to trend, I’m saying, think of absurdities when you are creating a content strategy, so far it’s within the rational bracket of what ethics and your brand manager would allow, then by all means, go ahead. Normal doesn’t go viral, remember this.
THEY MAKE YOU SCARED
Public transport vendors, in a bit to sell out, would tell you, everyone is walking around but can drop dead any minute because of poor health management. They will tell you, if you continue eating and drinking certain products, it may affect your reproductive cycle or your ability to get it up. This ‘fear’ strategy works, cause then you will see everyone rushing to buy drugs they may stop using after two days, but guess what? The vendor has made his money.
I don’t expect you to scare the shit out of your target audience like these guys would, but there is something called FOMO (fear of missing out) in communications, very effective for social media. You can make your target audience thirst for interesting features that relates to your campaign, especially when it comes to the ‘call to action’ phase of your campaign. It just depends on the style you choose to adopt.