Remarkable Content with Ian Faison Vanderpump Rules: B2B Marketing Lessons on Sexy Unique Content with Director of Content & Communications at UserGems, Amber Rhodes
Vanderpump Rules is proof that a spinoff can not only be hugely successful, but be its own Sexy Unique Content. Not only did the show capitalize on the success of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but on the star power of Lisa Vanderpump.
Those are a few of the things we’re talking about today with the Senior Content & Communications Manager at UserGems, Amber Rhodes.
Together, we explore the marketing lessons of Vanderpump Rules, including capitalizing on the moment, using character-driven storytelling, and much more.
About our guest, Amber Rhodes
Amber Rhodes is Senior Content & Communications Manager at UserGems. She joined the company in December 2021 as a Content Marketing Specialist. She is also the host of the podcast Everything’s Coming Up Marketing. Amber previously served as a Content Strategist at EmberTribe and a Communications Specialist at Galactic Fed. Outside of work, she likes to watch reality TV, read and hang out with her beagle.
What B2B Companies Can Learn From Vanderpump Rules:
- Capitalize on the moment. Take advantage of what’s working or effective and make the most of it. Lean into that strategy or tactic and see where it takes you. Ian says, “A lot of marketers try to capitalize on the moment, when they're trend-jacking or doing things like that. And you see a lot of great marketers creating moments, too.” Vanderpump Rules is a great example of capitalizing on the moment, because Bravo was seeing the success of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and combined that with the screen time and star power of Lisa Vanderpump to create a massive hit they knew would work, because it had already been proven popular on Real Housewives.
- If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If you are already seeing results with your marketing, keep it going. Amber says that for your audience, “Sometimes people just like what's comfortable. They like the consistency, the repetition, the comfort. They like coming back to the same things. You don't need to always push it.” This applies to Vanderpump Rules too. Amber says, “The original cast is pretty much what stuck around. There was a time where they tried to add in new people and the audience was not having it. There was something about the lightning in the bottle of the original cast, and when they tried to add in other people and manufacture drama in that way, it just didn’t work.”
- Use character-driven storytelling. Focus on the people, their personal stories, their drama. Ian says, “The character is the key thing here. And in the B2B world, we are trying to create characters out of real people, out of the CIO or the VP of data. And we do an absolute crap job of creating the character a lot of times. They’re not quirky, they’re not weird. They aren’t mean or spiteful. They don't do all the things that make people human. And I think if we stop telling stories with rose-colored glasses, then perhaps we would find more authentic storytelling and more believable storytelling. Tell stories that have thorns, not just roses.” Vanderpump Rules is compelling because it explores a range of human emotion, not just the positive.
Quotes
*”I'm trying to find the feedback loop between social and content. How do we use content to distribute on social? How do we use social to listen to conversations that should then be content that we are creating? And create that wheel so that we're always having fresh conversations about the topics that we need to educate our audience on.”
*”Original research is going to be a big differentiator for content teams. We'll ask the questions the same way that you do. No one else will be able to put your own spin on that data like you do.”
*”I think that probably the best thing that you could do is ask for help early and often. You'll want to prove yourself [as a new content marketer], but there's only so much that you can actually know. So I think asking a lot of questions early and often, and getting used to setting expectations only helps everyone.”
Time Stamps
[0:55] Meet Amber Rhodes, Director of Content & Communications at UserGems
[2:37] Exploring UserGems: Innovations in B2B Marketing
[4:11] The Vanderpump Phenomenon: Lessons for Marketers
[10:46] Marketing Mastery: Capitalizing on Moments and Character-Driven Storytelling
[19:50] Behind the Scenes at UserGems: Content Strategy and Impact
[31:11] Advice for B2B Marketers
Links
Connect with Amber on LinkedIn
About Remarkable!
Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com.
In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK.
Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.