Tentpole marketing is about centring your promotional activities around big events. The term was first coined in Hollywood to describe the hype surrounding popular movies, as interest levels peak over opening weekend. In an effort to secure bums on seats, marketers devote big bucks when release dates near, and this spike in engagement is said to represent a tentpole propping a canvas of anticipation.
Take a look at this brief summary from BSVPTV:
The big occasions that you decide to focus activities around will vary depending on your business, but a good place to start is with popular holidays, such as Christmas and Halloween. Tying-in your marketing drive with these festivities allows you to piggyback on the associated buzz. Here are some tips for getting it right:
Tailor your content
Whether you're producing videos, blog posts or social content, you should tailor output around upcoming events. For example, if you run a clothing company, it would make sense to promote your fitness gear in the run up to a big sporting event, such as the Rugby World Cup.
Be careful with copyright here, however, as often you're not allowed to directly name these events in association with your brand. It's okay to say 'the rugby', or allude to an upcoming clash between two teams, but this is a grey area so consult your legal team to play it safe.
Videos are key
With all the buzz surrounding big events, it makes sense to capitalise on this with clever video content. You need to make YouTube work for your brand with the right tags, titles and descriptions. Nailing these will help you pick up views as interest levels build and associated search terms become popular.
Sports car manufacturer, Infiniti, recently participated at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and commissioned video content to capture their involvement. Exhibiting their latest model at such a prestigious event is a great example of 'tent-poling' their way into the minds of a very relevant target audience, and the resultant videos have become a timeless centrepiece of the marketing drive.
Plan ahead
Forming a strategy allows you to focus marketing efforts around upcoming tentpole events, ensuring you'll always be current and won't be scrabbling for last minute content when everyone starts jabbering on about something big.
Plan out the year ahead and review which dates in the calendar would suit your company's attention. You don't need to pin down your exact marketing strategy, but make sure you're ahead of the game and know what's coming up. Coca Cola does this brilliantly.
Be reactive
While planning ahead works to a certain extent, you should always keep an eye out for big news stories that pop up all of a sudden. For example, if you work in the environmental sector, you'd be silly not to jump on the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Car manufacturers are all talking about their green credentials, and this is a fantastic opportunity for anyone in related fields to comment on the story.
Always keep an eye on the news and think of ways to spin stories to fit your business and its goals. Much of the time this will mean turning content around quickly, but you'll definitely benefit from being amongst the first to react. Look out for trending topics on social media and think about how you can use hashtags to maximise your potential audience.
Whether you choose to focus marketing efforts on national holidays, sporting events, anniversaries or a product launch, you can get people excited about your brand through a mix of forward thinking and being quick on your toes. Make sure to utilise all the marketing tools at your disposal to keep that buzz going for a while after the event has passed, too!