How to Evoke Nostalgia Through Your Written Content
When creating quality content, there's plenty to consider. Each piece requires time and expertise, from defining your audience to building an SEO strategy. However, your ROI will suffer if your content fails to connect with readers. Engaging the reader is crucial, so you must invest in top-notch content that draws your audience in and keeps them coming back for more.
One way to do so is to evoke nostalgia. An emotional connection with your content can make all the difference when aiming to create deeper, more meaningful bonds. Here's how to make it happen.
What Is Nostalgia?
Nostalgia is a sentimental reminder of the past — often something one longs for again. Psychological feelings can flood the mind following something as simple as the smell of baked goods, bringing you back to your grandma's kitchen. A similar experience often results from hearing a favorite song from childhood. You're instantly transported through time in these moments, and intense emotions can follow.
Since nostalgia can shape our memories and identity, marketers often leverage this tactic to capitalize on positive feelings. The goal is to build an emotional connection with a targeted audience to boost conversion rates. In most cases, the objective is higher sales.
So, how do you achieve this?
Through the power of optimized, strategic content, of course. This tactic should be part of your overall marketing strategy, focusing on nostalgia combined with modern innovation.
Why Consider Nostalgia in Your Marketing Strategy?
Fond memories of the past can create an instant connection, which is why nostalgia is far more than entertainment. In many cases, nostalgia brings people back to a simpler time. For example, if you're targeting 40-year-old moms, reminders of the 80s and 90s could instantly take this audience back to the carefree days of their childhood and youth. The impact can be powerful, as nostalgia is a highly emotional experience that unifies.
This relationship has been studied for years. For example, research shows that using nostalgic concepts positively affects consumers' perception of brands. Nostalgic advertisements are rated more positively by consumers, and those positive feelings are transferred to the brand. The emotions that arise while reminiscing can instantly influence a consumer's attitude towards a brand and whatever it is they offer.
For example, SodaStream partnered with Tori Spelling from 90210 to release its limited-edition, neon, and transparent sparkling water maker. This product was designed to target those who once enjoyed the popular 90s teen drama series while focusing on current issues surrounding sustainability. This advertising shows how familiar, beloved concepts from previous decades can build trust. Taking this approach can help bridge the gap between you and your audience.
While this concept seems simple, there's a lot to consider, and if you don't get it right, you could miss the mark.
4 Tips to Leverage Nostalgic Associations in Your Content
Whether you're creating video scripts, blog posts, or social media content, nostalgia-focused marketing can significantly impact consumers. You can rebrand using nostalgic trends, but it's a balancing act. You must focus on both the past and present to succeed. Your content could be viewed as irrelevant if you can't effectively incorporate the past into the modern world.
1. Know your audience without being too narrow
This tip is pivotal across all content marketing tactics and strategies because if you don't know exactly who you're speaking to, your content will fall short. In this case, you must focus on concepts that resonate with your audience.
While this tactic appears as though it would narrow your audience, you can implement several eras to ensure a portion of your audience doesn't feel out of the loop. For example, while you may focus on memories of the 90s, you could incorporate references or music from the 70s — if it makes sense to do so based on your target market. General Mills is an excellent example of how effective it can be when you target a spectrum of audiences. To celebrate the company's 50th anniversary, they combined favorites like Yummy Mummy, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula, resonating with cereal lovers from the 70s to the 90s. However, the company released its remake of the 1962 song, Monster Mash, in what they call a Monster Miracle.
The strategy makes sense when it's possible to identify with consumers across varying generations. However, if it makes more sense for your to dial in on Gen Zs vs. Boomers or Millenials, you need to do what makes sense for your campaign. The most important consideration is that your message, content, and overall approach align with your brand's tone and values.
Read more: The Beginner's Guide to Market Research
2. Lean on the power of social platforms
Social media is an excellent channel for reaching a specific audience and works for many brands. So, it's no wonder social media ad spend will reach $225 billion by 2024, representing an average annual growth rate of 14.8% between 2021 and 2024. There are massive opportunities ahead, but only for brands prioritizing personalization and relevance.
This channel can be especially effective when kickstarting a nostalgic campaign because your message will likely make your audience feel good, increasing the probability that they'll share, repost, retweet, etc. You can also include popular hashtags to expand your reaches, like #WaybackWednesday or #ThrowbackThursday.
You humanize your brand by creating content that highlights positive references.
3. Create new campaigns based on seasonal triggers
Whether expanding your technology-based blog or building an email marketing campaign for your home decor business, why not take advantage of the nature nostalgia surrounding seasonal changes and holidays? This approach can be both fun and highly successful.
The classic example is Coca-Cola and Christmas — a marketing strategy the global grand has been building since the 30s. Today, the company continues to revolutionize its holiday presence with new uses of nostalgia to reinforce the link between Coca-Cola and Santa. McDonald's has also tapped into nostalgic offerings several times, including relaunching the beloved Halloween Boo Buckets from 1986. In 2022, McDonald's took their campaign further with a sustainability-inspired social media campaign. They showcased five fan-inspired ways to reuse the bail, teaming up with TikTok influencers.
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When creating your content schedule, consider major themes throughout the year and how they relate to your brand. For example, if you're in the home and garden industry, seasonal changes associated with the weather may be a key opportunity to focus on the upcoming growing season and garden preparation. You could pan a blog post highlighting the top nostalgic DIY gardening ideas — for example, "15 Feel-Good Vintage Garden Decoration Projects" or "How to Use Upcycled Vintage Pieces in Your Garden."
Regardless of what seasons you'll focus on, ensure your content is created and ready to publish well in advance.
4. Write nostalgic pieces with universal themes
Sometimes, you don't need to cover anything overly specific. Instead, reminisce about a universal theme for a broad audience — something everyone can relate to, even when you put a more personalized spin on it. For example, landing your first job, getting married, your school days, a classic sporting event, etc. You can also create nostalgic content inspired by the anniversary of a significant social, political, or cultural event.
The fun part about this approach for your reader is that they can reflect on their nostalgic memories based on your article. Be creative and engaging, yet factual. When reflecting on an event, you must ensure accuracy to build trust and authority. For example, don't rely solely on your memory if you're tying in a metaphor about the 1998 France-Brazil World Cup match. In this case, if you make a mistake, someone will likely catch it. After all, millions of viewers watched this match. Get your facts straight and create magic through the power of words.
Partner With Scripted to Nail Your Next Campaign
Understanding how to incorporate nostalgia into your content marketing strategy is just the beginning. To drive high conversion rates and boost your ROI, you must consistently publish quality content that's informative, inspiring, entertaining or all of the above.
The best way to ensure you tick all the above boxes, and then some, is to partner with professional freelance writers. When you partner with Scripted, you gain access to the following:
- Highly-vetted, industry-specific writers
- Unmatched support throughout the entire process, from ideation to optimization
- Plan flexibility
- An all-in-one platform that makes content creation seamless
- A 100% quality guarantee
From whitepapers to social media content, blog posts to product descriptions, our talented writers will help your ideas come to life. When your next campaign aims to spark an emotional, nostalgic connection between your brand and your readers, Scripted has the team and tools you need to succeed.
