When you’re taught to surf you’re constantly reminded to be aware of the rip. Rips can appear in different locations across a beach and if you find yourself caught in a strong rip it can drag you away from the shoreline. To combat the rip you think and act differently. You swim across the rip rather than against the rip. It’s counterintuitive.
Choppy times in business…
There are circumstances where we have to think differently. Market conditions force us to. Selling umbrellas during a long dry summer. The benefit is shade rather than protection from the rain. The large dark coloured umbrellas will be replaced with small bright shades to guide the thought process of the buying public.
In less turbulent times
There’s an ease in which a marketer can settle into autopilot mode. You can remind your audience of your existence. Make a few tweaks and adjustments across your channels. Maybe run a competition? Voila. You’re continuing on course to hit forecast. Monthly targets set and adjusted by the powers that be.
Those additions, tweaks and adjustments can keep us very busy. They take place across multiple platforms. The ‘July offer’ now becomes the ‘last chance August offer’. The ‘limited time 3 for 2’ has been extended for one more month. We’re telling our customers to hurry rather than telling our customers the stories that bring them closer to our brands.
The same old, same old tactics
You witness the same messages across all retail sectors. Big brands. Established brands. Heritage brands. Niche brands. Luxury brands. We’re throwing our products at our consumer base (and through opt-in email this can be deemed your loyal consumer base) in hope that an offer will stick. And it’s all getting a little mundane.
I’m glutton for punishment. I’ve registered for 100+ retail newsletters. At this stage I’d like to thank the marvellous people who make email filtering so simple. It’s the same old message from the same old merchants.
They’re all at it….
300 year old heritage brands such as Twinings Tea are putting out ‘Free Delivery This Weekend Only’ messages pretty much every other weekend (sorry to sound hazy, but that’s how it feels).
Yankee Candles… hey, it’s another 25% off when I buy online today.
There’s a melee of discounts being thrown at me as I journey across the Internet thanks to retargeting.
I’m losing my understanding of what ‘value’ a lot of brands offer me. That’s the problem. We’re being conditioned to buy on price and price alone. Is this the fault of the consumer or the retailer?
I love Banana Republic shirts. They fit perfectly (even the ‘Slim Fit’ appears to be tailored for the not so slim) and the delivery times are excellent. But, I’ve fallen into the trap. I only buy when I’m incentivised. That usually takes place every couple of months when I receive my ‘limited time’ 25% or 30% discount code via email. My buying patterns are being conditioned by the frequency of offers.
There is a logic … and a pattern…
The retail brands that appear more frivolous with their offers are those that retail direct. Margins that would otherwise be allocated to distributors or retailers are being passed on to the customer directly. That’s nice of them. However, it’s training me to shop on price and price alone.
These are the people that know their brands inside out. These are the people that should understand what it means to their consumer when they purchase their products. Unfortunately though, the online retail arms of these businesses are being pressed to hit their monthly figures. What else are digital marketers meant to do? “Let’s pop out another 25% discount offer on Tuesday so we can hit our monthly targets…” Done.
What can be done?
Twinings? I buy your herbal teas because of the vast array of (and sometimes fun) varieties you have on offer. Peppermint and Nettle? Sure, I’ll give that a go! Mango and Raspberry? Interesting.. I’ll pick up a box.
Don’t masquerade your exceptional brand behind a ‘Free Delivery’ offer when I can just as easily pop down to my local shop (you’re everywhere) and pickup a few boxes. Breed loyalty by whetting my appetite and tuning my brain to think ‘which flavour of Twinings should I drink now’ rather than ‘which brand of herbal tea do I fancy’.
The tea market is changing. Twinings confirmed this themselves in 2006 – “the market for all fruit and herbal infused teas grew 6.3% in revenue terms last year, and that for specialty black teas rose 3.1%, compared with just 2.5% for standard blends”. People are already looking beyond the traditional pot of tea. There’s 300 years of customer experience Twinings can tap into… why aren’t they utilising their market powers and testing responsiveness to new products online?
Yankee Candle…. you’re next. I loved the Cinnamon aromas your candles provided us over Christmas time. It’s now the summer. Take a leaf out of Lunn Poly’s book. We associate the smell of coconut with that all too rare feeling as we kick off our sandals, apply the sun cream, settle back and bake our bodies in the Mediterranean sunshine. Lunn Poly sold holidays on the back of this. You can sell candles applying the same logic and imagery.
The list is endless
Companies with a wealth of history, expertise and fascinating stories who still view the Internet as a sales channel. Why? Because there’s an insistence upon placing direct accountability (costs vs revenues) against their online expenditure. And it’s a command that comes from the very top. For many, that’s where the conventions are clearly cast and set across the decades.
Twinings ‘history’ page offers their most loyal advocate the following
A 3 year old narrative supported by one stock photo. Think about it. What would you be doing if you were planning a brand experience with the opening paragraph of ‘Our story started in 1706′?
The undisrupted marketplace
Between you and me we could list dozens, if not hundreds, of brands that are perched at the top of their market with matchsticks. The startups are coming after them. There’s a storm brewing (tea pun intended).
Start-up businesses, just like The Bathory are readying themselves and fully prepared to take on the bath oil market. The pampering time. They’re changing the way their audience perceives their market. The markets where we indulge, pamper ourselves and aren’t afraid to treat ourselves once in a while. Why buy a bath oil off the shelf when I can take charge and create my own ‘bath soak’ experience with the help of The Bathory?
Why treat myself to a new pair of work shoes off the shelf, when I can design a pair of shoes that suit my own style at Awl & Sundry?
Heritage brands shouldn’t be looking over their shoulder. The time they were granted to do that has now expired. The startups are coming. The impact won’t be immediate. Fledgling startups are already changing the way we, as consumers, choose and buy our products. No market is immune.
Markets are being reinvented. Left. Right & Centre
I saw this during my 3 years at Priceline.com. We were changing the way people shopped for travel. The market challenge we put forward was to ‘Name Your Own Price’. For hotels. For air travel. For car rentals. Our audience responded in their droves. Priceline now has market cap of $64 billion dollars. All down to reinventing the way people buy supported by a brilliant story. Breaking convention in the way an industry operates, the way people think and the way people buy. Forever.
What can established brands now do?
Now, more than ever, is the time to breed brand loyalty. The brands I’ve mentioned so far. They’re using their most precious digital commodity, their existing consumers, as a sales channel. These are consumers that have bought from you. They haven’t bought into you. A huge difference.
The challenge is for marketers to demand change from the very top. It’s a daunting task. Something needs to be done. Convention needs to be broken. For the boardroom to understand what’s really taking place within their industry and to allow marketers the opportunity to reshape and reenergise their thinking and doing. This isn’t a cultural shakeup. It’s a brand revolution.
Twinings, don’t tell me to buy from you. Tell me again and again why I should be buying into you.
Just like Singapore Airlines do as they show us the lengths that they go to
or how Birchbox deliver a beauty product selection unique to their customer’s needs & habits:
Birchbox from Birchbox TV on Vimeo.
I have only so much time to invest in a brand love-in. Make it happen with your brand. I’d love to know what you have up your sleeve. I really hope you have something up your sleeve. If not? A business is readying themselves to change the way I buy my tea. Be prepared.
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