Binge Marketing: Q&A with Carlijn Postma

1: What is binge marketing – and why should brands / marketers care about it?

With Binge Marketing I’m trying to inspire brands and marketers to focus on a sustainable marketing strategy. Not running from one campaign to another. Rather look at the creators of films and series. 

They focus on engaging an audience and creating the right story to do so. They are creating a database of evergreens. The audience can watch the episodes/series whenever they are up for it. Not only when it’s being broadcasted. In fact, one could compare a campaign with linear tv. And audiences are way past that too. 

What if we took notice of something Ted Sarandos, co-CEO and Chief Content Officer at Netflix, said when he was interviewed in Cannes by Kara Swisher: “We don’t do live news and we don’t do live sports, because we are on-demand”. What if brands drove their marketing as if they were ‘on-demand’? It would make them work even harder to create relevant quality content – content meant to entertain, no matter when it’s viewed. It would eliminate the perceived need for so much single-use disposable content. Brands would see their content as valuable instead of disposable, which would kickstart actual change. If any industry is capable of that, it is the creative industry. 

As for the definition of Binge Marketing I’ve put it like this:

Binge marketing is a sustainable marketing strategy that allows you to build a long-term relationship with your audience through the use of serial content, based on the common interests of your audience and your brand. This will gain trust and is the basis for achieving your marketing goals.

I always point out three things: 

1. Sustainable marketing strategy, because of evergreen and long-term focus
2. Focus on audiences, instead of target groups (an audience chooses to be an audience and a target group is pointed out by the brand. I prefer having an engaged audience over reach within a target group)
3. Always create in series. Never give away the whole story in 1 episode, you won’t be able to build an audience in one episode. Use tricks from the creators of the series and add recaps and cliffhangers, create seasons and episodes. 

2: How are you supporting / working with Biites? 

One of the important things with Binge Marketing is the distribution of your series. It needs time to evolve and you really want your audience to pay attention. The ultimate distributors of your brand series are of course the streaming services like Netflix and Amazon etc. But that is a bridge too far for most brands. That leaves partnering with other broadcasters, but usually you don’t own your series. 

So, brands massively go to YouTube. And they will continue to do so. But, if you really want your audience to lean in, not get distracted and give them the real streaming experience, I hadn’t found an option for that. And then I ran into Biites. This is exactly what our media ecosystem was lacking as far as I can tell. 

People who know about Binge Marketing and know about Biites will immediately understand it matches perfectly. 

What I do with Biites is trying to get brands and marketers to see the opportunity. As an author and speaker I get to talk about brand storytelling and Binge Marketing. You could call it influencing the market, but as a matter of fact, I am just telling an inspiring story. 

After Nina, Helle and I talked more and more they were talking about expanding to the Netherlands. That was when I thought, if anyone is opening up the Dutch market, it should be me. As I am from there, founded (and sold) a content marketing agency. Became Content Marketing Woman of 2017 and wrote 4 books in Dutch. I am not the sales representative for Biites, but I’m creating awareness to pave the way for Biites sales team to enter the market. 

3: Do you have examples of work you’ve helped deliver for Biites recently?

All the Dutch content comes from my network. These were the launching brands to start talking about Biites in the Netherlands. From these examples, the series of CameraNu is a great example of serial content. And I also love a simple, but effective series as In Perspectief from VisitOost. 

And this film also needs time to get the whole story through to the audiences, which means it is perfect to show on Biites.

4: What do brands / marketers need to do to harness / benefit from binge marketing?

They have to create a story that connects with their audiences. Learn from the creators of films and series, they are the best (content) marketers in the world, because they know how to attract and retain an audience. Not by pushing products, but by telling stories and engaging audiences. That will eventually result in selling products.  

In my book Binge Marketing I also explain the ‘how to’. But the first threshold is always a twist in mindset with the marketing department: Not the product or the sales are your gold, but the story is. With that story you do your campaigns and your sales. 

5: What do you think the future (next 5-10 years) of advertising looks like – and how canbrands/marketers prepare? What will be the key trends to get ready for?

More and more brands will start looking for new ways to connect with their audiences. And I honestly believe the explosive growth of streaming services kickstarted a new era of advertising. Advertising has the habit of following audiences in our media landscape. But in the past decades it became overwhelming, and it resulted in a lot of single-used, disposable content spread out over too many channels. I believe brands will redefine their story and take control over that. 

The resistance I run into on many occasions: ‘brands can’t create films and series like they do in Hollywood’ will become the challenge they’ll pursue. Not only because they can, but because it’s mandatory to engage audiences in the future if you don’t want to be dependent on big tech companies and paid advertising. This will result in brand funded entertainment and full brand series and movies. Like HBO Max’ The Day Sports Stood Still. And Headspace’s ‘Guide to meditation’ on Netflix. 

It will lead to a grand shift in the world of advertising. Creative teams as we know them will have to work with screenwriters and production companies in different ways. Not as their client who tells them what to create, but as part of the creative team. Or maybe it will even shift 180 degrees. Who knows?

Carlijn Postma, Founder at content marketing agency The Post, represents global video platform Biites in the Benelux. For more information visit: business.biites.com

  Biites, Binge Marketing, Carlijn Postma, Opinion Piece