We undeniably live in a time where almost all of people’s faces are glued to illuminated magic rectangles. Visiting a subway station is enough to get proof that we’re all hooked on our precious digital candy bars, a.k.a smartphones. Is this phenomenon going to reverse on a broad scale or perhaps rather amplify, you may ask? It’s hard to say.
Digital devices are most likely not going away anytime soon. After all, they are amazing tools and handy extensions of our limiting human selves. In fact, thanks to them we can more or less be considered cyborgs already if you ask Elon Musk. But there are certainly some indications pointing towards a slowly rising era of digital detoxing. For instance, the hashtag #DigitalDetox managed to collect a fairly impressive 100,000 tags on Instagram in 2018. Furthermore, according to Mintel, 56% of 18-23-year-olds in the US say they are trying to reduce the time spent on social media.
The term digital detox is far away from new. But the concept of digital detox marketing might be less familiar to you. This marketing approach is basically about taking advantage of the digital detox trend to connect with your audience as a brand. We at Dreamify want to give you a few ideas on how you as a marketer, business owner or startup can leverage this potentially exploding digital detox trend in your marketing.
Make fun of digital obsession
A good old laugh goes a long way in the world of marketing. One way of reaching the hearts of digital detoxers is to use humor in your marketing campaign by making fun of digital obsession. The absurdity of staring into a screen for 11+ hours a day is something that I think most people can both relate to (including myself) and also laugh at. You can use this to your brand’s advantage by strengthening the confirmation bias of your digital detoxer audience. If they see an ad where a smartphone addict accidentally pour coffee in his or her bowl of cereals when playing candy crush, they may have an easier time continuing their digital detox lifestyle as well as relating to your brand. Other mortal souls who are chronic smartphone addicts will probably also be able to relate and enjoy the ad as well. So it’s a win for your brand in any case.
At Dreamify we believe digital detox marketing should be fun because really, digital obsession is a pretty heavy subject and considered a relatively serious issue by a lot of people. So let’s cleanse ourselves with a splurge of humor when brainstorming on our next marketing campaign aimed at digital detoxers.
Showcase your care for nature
Let’s admit it, everyone likes nature and its stunning beauty, mystery and peacefulness. If you don’t, you probably don’t like yourself either, as you are in fact an intertwined part of nature. But that’s okay, we still like you a lot for taking the time to read this article. Our next advice on the list is to incorporate a lot of love for nature in your marketing. By displaying your care for nature and mother earth, you show a tender and analog side of your brand that hopefully pulls the heartstrings of those in favor of digital detox.
Studies show that just by looking at an image of nature will lower stress levels. So the next time you want to find the perfect scenery for shooting your product pitch or recruitment video, pick a forest. Those green and soothing video shots will activate the parasympathetic nervous systems of your audience resulting in lower stress levels, which in term may increase their trust for your brand. And trust is everything. While showing magnificent pictures of nature, you could also take the opportunity to brag about all the great stuff your company is currently doing to save the planet.
“If you can showcase the value of balancing the digital world and the real world, digital detoxers will be all ears. They, along with many digital addicts as well, will listen because deep down they know that you are telling the truth.”
So how about running a look-up-contest on social media? Encourage your followers to record a video of what they see in front of them in their surroundings while commenting on all the different things that they admire in that moment. The winner of the contest gets to visit a digital detox retreat, located deep in the woods where no wifi signal or digital device have ever lived. Let he or she indulge in daily group meditations, yoga classes and tea drinking ceremonies held in complete silence. And please remember to forget your iPhone.
Create seamless and efficient user experiences
Lastly, a digital detox marketer needs to design digital experiences that allow the user to be as efficient as possible. He or she neither have the patience nor time to waste an extra five seconds on a poorly designed payment process. Your actual digital presence, such as your website or product design is thus itself one of your most important marketing assets. It is oftentimes the final frontier of interaction between your customer and your brand that will either make all your previous marketing efforts well worthwhile or completely wasted.
Since digital experiences of many kinds will continue to be a natural part of our lives, we might as well design them in a way that makes them as seamless, time efficient and non-intrusive as possible. No matter if you’re an advocate for digital detoxing or not.
Now, take these tips and share them with the world and show it how digital detox marketing should or could be done.