We all intersect with so many people, in so many ways. In my work life, I have overlaps with friends, community service, kids, sports, my second home community, boards, and my vast circles of the people who know the people we trust. My work life has been blessed and I know people from my time in hedge funds, ETFs, advertising, publishing, software, i-banking and so much more.
I have hit 3,000 LinkedIn connections, and although I’m aware there are people with tens of thousands more, I have met all but a couple hundred without having uploaded my primary contact list in recent years. They, in turn, are connected to people, forming easier circles to access than ever before in history.
As I need to accomplish things – personal, business or community service – tapping my network is a road to better ideas, participation and success, regardless of the goal. Additionally posting to a timeline, ideas are shared, advice is seen by more than two in a conversation, and what would have been distant contacts are today, far more easily connected. This is the premise of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even LinkedIn.
In my work, we focus on gaining behavioral data to mix with demographic data at scale, to develop “look-a-likes” for engaging even broader circles for our clients. Leveraging data and communications far exceeds any sales team’s ability to call or email their inner or even outer circle. Engaging look-a-likes welcomes interested people to a specific topic, at that moment, bringing more people under the tent and ultimately into a new rung of the circle. Each experiences a controlled message about your firm, brand, product, service, or project.
Some of the business world has captured this mindset through content marketing, the concept of something going viral beyond your immediate network. We can take that data and increase your reach to look-a-likes that have a high probability to have an affinity to the concept enlarging your circle even further.
This is the heart of modern communications. It is personal, relevant, and is at the same time, at scale.
In our work, we are able to hone, tweak and optimize these concepts. We create programs and campaigns that tells a story from the heart, is personal to a segment, and yet can reach so many people simultaneously.
Businesses, investment companies and non-profits can capitalize on this for so many purposes. Big data, predictive analytics, creative storytelling and multiple media (digital, print, TV, radio, etc.) are the tools. Strategy, allocating tool sets, and setting measurements for success are a new part of marketing already embraced by us, and those seeking success at scale.