Sebastian Wolf – Territory

Sebastian Wolf is the Director of Strategy & Concept at the Territory communications agency in Munich. The company offers agency services and digital products, working with passion and conviction to define content territories for companies and their brands. They continuously update them with content, campaigns and services to stay relevant and gain attention.

USING 3C ANALYSIS TO CREATE THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

What spontaneously comes to Sebastian Wolf’s mind as a Moment of Truth (MoT) as well as the moment of first contact that turns an unknown brand into a well-known brand is a sales or brand funnel. He adds that, in the agency world as well as among agency clients, there are a variety of different perceptions of what the most important MoT actually is and where the crucial contacts are made. He explains: “We always try to identify a territory. This territory consists of three insights that we develop based on general analysis. Each of these insights is a MoT, which are then combined into the largest MoT with which the communication can then be designed. This is a typical 3C analysis, where we look at what makes the company tick, what it has to offer, what the consumer actually needs and what the competition looks like. From that, we then define this territory, which is the actual MoT. We then look to see whether we can successfully communicate it, so people understand it and that it drives up the KPIs for which we have established targets”.

TRUE STORIES WORK

According to Sebastian Wolf, Territory specifically relies on storytelling when it comes to customer projects: “We try to create a stronger bond between customers and the company by using substantial communication. Territory comes from the publishing world and has a strong journalistic bend. We believe that ‘true’ works. True stories that companies tell about themselves build a closer relationship between the company and the customer. We do that across all touchpoints”.

Benchmarking also helps the agency expose weaknesses and optimise its clients’ communicative MoTs: “We use the AIDA model; conversions from one stage to the next basically represent our different MoTs. We adjust our strategy accordingly based on the respective metrics. Depending on where the ‘valleys of death’ are, you are basically below the benchmark. That’s where you have to push with the communication”.

TIKTOKISATION OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

According to Sebastian Wolf, one of the most important trends and a pitfall for many marketers is the evolution of social media toward entertainment platforms. He explains: “We’re on social media a lot. A lot of people still think that good content sells itself. The truth is anything but. Social media platforms have been normal publishing platforms for years where you have to buy your exposure. This is further reinforced by the ‘TikTokisation’ of the platforms. It’s no longer about acting as a social media platform and building relationships between customers and businesses but simply about being an entertainment platform that creates as many contacts as possible.

Evidence-based marketing supports the understanding that what matters is the number of new customer contacts and not driving high loyalty through as many brand fans as possible. Many marketers still get this wrong and think that you have to have a few thousand fans to grow as a brand. I see social media as an important platform, but it’s not enough to have a channel on Facebook, TikTok, etc. You have to find out how ads work best on this channel”.

TAKING A MORE HOLISTIC LOOK AT THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY

For the future, the communications expert hopes that the digital precision hype will gradually pass and that marketers will once again take a more holistic view of the customer journey: “There is still too much tunnel vision when it comes to assessments. It is like a horse with blinders in the digital area – whatever is easy to measure is measured to death. But what is harder to measure or what is even more important is not measured at all.

“Its like a horse with blinders in the digital era. But what is harder to measure or what is even more important is not measured at all”

That’s why so many still rely on last-click attribution models instead of doing real marketing mix modelling or working with statistical methods that provide information about which channels ultimately generate how much in sales. Going forward, I believe that this horse with blinders will be put to pasture and that marketers will once again take a more holistic view of the customer journey”.