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Branding

Brandless: Why They Didn’t Make it, and What We Can Learn From This?

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The initial idea sounded good. Skip the branding and the inherent costs involved, and offer DTC products at a flat-rate. Brandless, launched in 2017, promised to ‘shake-up’ the packaged goods industry by skipping the expenses of brand-marketing. The company offered essentials like groceries and home goods. Each product was priced at a flat rate of three dollars. That was pretty cool. But, unexpectedly, Brandless went belly-up on February 10, 2020.

Why did Brandless ‘Tank’?

While each component of the business model might have seemed healthy at first glance, Brandless fell victim to a common problem that new businesses face. The components of their business model could stand alone, just not together. At the end of the day, marketing is the keystone of cohesion. 

The first of a few mistakes that the hopeful company made was its brand strategy. Simply put; they spread themselves too thin. They wanted to offer everyday consumer goods at a low price. However, they also tried to market them as ‘wholesome’ or ‘good for you’ etc. Throw in the fact that they had such a low price-point and their marketing strategy was inherently ‘anemic’ in the way of advertising and packaging. Therefore, the company was doomed for eventual demise. 

But What is so Bad About Cheap Products That are Good for You?

Yes, from the standpoint of a consumer, it does seem quite appealing. The problem is that the competition is steep on all fronts. Think about it. The market for groceries and consumer goods offered by Brandless is already flooded. On one hand, you have big chain stores like Walmart. They offer similar products for cheap. Also, companies such as Amazon that offer consumer goods at a low price with the convenience of being able to order products online. DTC products at low prices have become available everywhere. 

The competition is enormous. On the other hand, there are plenty of companies out there that offer organic foods and luxury home goods that are quite expensive. However, they are purported to be of high quality and ‘different’ from the rest. Again, the competition is steep. Without a strong marketing strategy and a streamlined mission statement, Brandless became ‘lost in the wash’.

Shouldn’t the Flat-Cost Strategy Work, Though?

The idea was not all that bad. The problem was consistency. Sure, there were people that tried it out, but the problem had everything to do with consistency. While three dollars is not a lot of money for some of the kitchen wares, three dollars is quite a lot for a run-of-the-mill toothbrush, etc.  In order for this aspect of Brandless’s strategy to have worked, the simpler items would need to be of consistent and outstanding quality. Their quality just didn’t cut the mustard.

The Nail in the Brandless Coffin

At the end of the day, the glue that holds a good brand strategy together is marketing. Often, consumers believe what they are told about what they are buying. The trick is, you have got to tell them. Marketing does not have to be expensive to be effective. Of course, if the brand itself doesn’t have a clear direction or definitive focus, how can you be certain that the consumer will? 

What Can We Learn?

The moral of the story is that every company, like it or not, has a brand. Even DTC products need methodical marketing with a clear strategy. A quality product or a low price will do no good if the consumer is not aware of it. It is also crucial that the consumer knows why he or she should buy the product. In today’s world, every market has become saturated. The key is making your brand and your product known, despite all of the chatter. Click here to learn more about smart marketing strategies and branding.

What Impact Will Coronavirus Have on the Corona Brand?

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Have you ever considered how current and national events relate to a brand strategy? As the coronavirus sweeps the globe, products still practically fly off of the shelves. As a matter of fact, products like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant cannot be kept in stock. This is no surprise. The fear and perceived need to stock up on necessities become inevitable with an ensuing pandemic. However, this begs the question: “What about the sales of other non-necessities?”.

Though it may seem counter-intuitive, sales of other items will, for the most part, remain unaffected. The possible exception to this might be the businesses that deal with activities and travel. As is the nature of such a pandemic, the coronavirus has increased the risks involved with travel and interactions with large groups of people. 

Brands’ slogans, logos, and names are powerful symbols in today’s society. It is hard not to associate everyday words, shapes, and colors with popular brands on the market. The image of an apple with a bite taken out of it, for instance, will most likely evoke thoughts of cell phones, laptops, and watches. The phrase “Have it your way.”, on the other hand, might bring to mind a burger and fries. These associations can be powerful tools in brand marketing strategies and are just a few brand strategy examples. Many of these strategies are meticulously planned and fostered to bring specific attention to a brand.

Is Negative Attention Bad or a Brand Strategy?

A common misconception is that negativity will hurt a brand. This is not necessarily true. When it comes to brands and brand marketing strategy, the quality of attention that a brand receives is not as important as the quantity. The more attention a particular brand or product receives, the better. The power of repetition is immense, as is the power of suggestion. The goal of many marketing strategies is to simply ‘plant’ associations into the consumers’ minds that are strong enough to ensure a product or brand is the first thing that comes to mind with the intended prompt.

Sometimes, a company will ‘get lucky’ (or perhaps unlucky) with certain current events or connotations. As long as the ‘unlucky’ connotations do not directly impact or correlate with the integrity of the brand or the image of the brand, unlucky connotations can still give a brand an advantage.

What Does Beer Have to Do With It?

By this point, you are probably already considering the effects of the coronavirus on Corona beer. Corona beer has, in fact, not been negatively affected by the stigma of the coronavirus. Thus far, the coronavirus has only put the Corona brand at the forefront of consumers’ minds. Even simply contemplating the question “Has the coronavirus affected the sales of Corona beer?” ensures that when the subject of beer is brought up, Corona is the first brand to come to mind. 

Repetition is a brands’ best friend. 

Another avenue of indirect attention that the brand Corona is currently benefiting from is happening online. It is no secret that search engines and websites keep track of the frequent use of words. This is to keep tabs on market trends and to ‘tailor’ advertisements to fit users and their demographics etc. Keywords and keyword research play a huge role in marketing in the online realm. The more a word is searched by a user, the more related advertisements a user will see.

It is easy to see how this relates to Corona beer and the online attention that the coronavirus is getting. Therefore, it should be no secret that the Corona brand is receiving and benefitting from all of the hype about our recent pandemic. It would also be no surprise if the brand even used the hype in upcoming marketing strategies. 

Click here to learn more about brand strategy and how to increase the attention that your brand or business is getting. Sometimes, it only takes a few strategic nudges in the right direction to bring your product the attention it deserves!

Why Tesla’s Brand Strategy Stands Out During a Car Industry Crisis

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In the long run, a brand strategy is what will keep a business alive. This long-term plan will help a company develop a successful product and reach their short term and long term goals. A well-done brand strategy will affect every aspect of a business and is directly linked to a consumer’s needs. When it comes to brand strategies, Tesla provides some amazing brand strategy examples that anyone could apply to their business. Even if carmakers manage to copy Tesla’s model, they will fail due to the lack of brand marketing strategy that Tesla has. 

History of Tesla

Tesla.Inc was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. This company was created after General Motors forced a recall on all of their EV-1 electric cars from their customers and destroyed them in a junkyard. Elon Musk, the catalyst of Tesla, joined the company in 2004 with the necessary capital to run the company. Musk’s main goal was (and still is) to demolish the need for oil in cars and offering affordable electric cars. This leads to Tesla’s mission statement: “Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Social Media Engagement

Many CEOs are reluctant to use social media for their business. To them, social media means potential controversy and requires careful work. Elon Musk, however, threw that fear right out the window. Elon Musk engages with Twitter about two to three times a day, either through retweets or his own posts. Currently, Elon Musk has 29.9 million followers. 

You may expect that Musk simply promotes Tesla on his twitter with well-worded tweets, but it’s the opposite. Elon Musk is very human on his twitter account. He complained about his account getting locked, posts memes, and has live-broadcasts rocket launches. 95% of those looking to buy a car research their choices online. Elon Musk’s personal approach to marketing certainly has attracted an interested audience. While it is obviously risky to be so free on social media as the CEO of a multi-billion dollar, Elon Musk does it artfully well. 

Being Hard to Get is a Brand Strategy

In order to even test drive a Tesla, you must pay $5,000. Teslas are extraordinarily hard to get, which draws even more attention to the brand. There are no Tesla dealerships, all transactions are conducted online, the price is not negotiated, and you may wait months (or even years) to get your car. 

How does this attract consumers if it is so difficult to get? It attracts consumers for that very reason, it’s hard to get. Everybody wants the best pick of the bunch. The difficult road to obtain a Tesla makes the cars even more appetizing, as they almost seem forbidden. In the midst of a crisis within the car industry, Tesla is admirably brave to require so much in order to purchase a car. 

These hurdles do not exist for no reason, however. Teslas are often produced in a scarce amount, not mass-produced. The longer it takes for a person to obtain a Tesla, the longer Tesla has to create more cars. 

Brand Management for Your Business

Looking for an efficient brand marketing strategy? Need some more brand strategy examples that you can apply to your business? Web Content Development provides brand management services that will change the way consumers look at your business for the best. We know what approaches will work the best and are excited to help you and your business succeed.

Drybar: Creating an In-Demand Mainstream Luxury

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Who would have imagined some 10 years ago that a multi-million beauty empire could be born out of something as simple as a hair blowout? Probably none! But not Alli Webb, a mother of two who founded Drybar in 2008. What started out as a one-woman business has grown so big that Drybar locations, as at last count, numbers over 70.

Now, there’s nothing particularly special about Drybar’s offering – it’s still pretty much a hair salon. The question is, how were they able to grow this big on something as trivial as hair blowout? How have they managed to stay ahead of the competition in an industry with little entrant barrier? Brand management is the answer. Webb, at the outset of her entrepreneurial career, understood the power of brand management, and so leveraged it.

For new businesses looking to grow even in the face of stiff competition, there’s a lot to be learned from Webb’s approach to brand marketing. So read on! [Read more…] about Drybar: Creating an In-Demand Mainstream Luxury

In the Age of Fandoms: Creating a Following For Your Brand Marketing

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In a fiercely competitive market where there’s so much noise, having a loyal fan base is everything for a brand. Ever wondered why established names like Coca-Cola, Nike, Pepsi, and the likes keep spending millions on their brand marketing? The reason isn’t far-fetched: they understand that a loyal fan base is the lifeblood of a business.

So, as the new kid on the block looking to get a fair share of the market, how do you create a following for your brand? If you are lucky enough to have some serious funding, things might be easier. At least you would have enough to pay experts to work on your brand strategy. But chances are you are on a lean budget. So you are your own brand strategist. Does that mean you’ve lost out of the race even before it started? No! [Read more…] about In the Age of Fandoms: Creating a Following For Your Brand Marketing

How To Market To Create an Emotional Connection in 2019

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Customers are inundated with choices.  Are they are choosing to buy groceries at the local mom-and-pop store versus the chain retailer? Picking up clothes at a high-end retailer versus a massive superstore? Maybe they’re deciding to cut their own grass versus hiring a lawn care company. Customers make choices every single day.  

The advent of web-based retail and advertising has only increased the number of choices to be made and the number of options available. If you own a business, whether it is small or large, online-only or brick-and-mortar, you need to reach out to your target audience so that they know you are there and they choose you out of all the other options.  Historically, marketing strategies focused on large segments of the population, such as older men, housewives, families, young singles, etc. But recent marketing research has shown the value in appealing to the emotions and feelings that influence purchases — an emotional marketing strategy. Increasingly, businesses are choosing to target marketing strategies on creating an emotional connection with the customer.

What is An Emotional Marketing Strategy?

Emotional marketing strategy is a term that captures a variety of marketing techniques that have one thing in common: they target the audience’s emotions and seek to create an emotional connection with that audience.  Research demonstrates that people make decisions based on emotions, not facts. We are not the rational creatures we think we are! No matter how much we may pour over facts and figures before making a purchase, most of us buy with our hearts, not our heads.  

We may be able to deliver a speech about why a certain car was the best choice, but the truth of the matter is that we buy the same brand of car that our beloved grandad always did. A good marketing strategy utilizes that information. Instead of persuading the potential buyer with rational reasons to purchase a product or service, you can generate a good feeling through marketing.  That’s easy enough to say, but how to actually do it?

Market to the Person, Not the Segment

Use personalized data, when available, to individually market your product or service.  If you own a local business, send out individual postcards as a thank you or including a free offer for stopping by the store.  If you run a blog, take a survey asking for input on future posts. Follow up by thanking your readers and tailoring future posts to their responses.

Tell a Story

When people hear an emotionally charged story they generate strong memories about it.  Marketing strategies that tell a story create a memory in the customer’s mind. That memory is associated with the product or service in question.  This connection is the goal of so many commercials. While the commercial may not overtly advertise the product, the consumer associates the product with this emotional memory of the story.

Use Images

People remember pictures more than words.  A good graphic will stick in the customer’s mind much longer than a well-crafted sentence.  Use striking images and graphs where appropriate.

Social Media

Humans are social creatures  We inherently rely on the judgment and experience of others when making our own decisions. Use that to your advantage by seeking out reviews and testimonials on social media and posting positive feedback.  

If you would like to learn more about how to target marketing strategies toward emotional marketing, reach out to the marketing professionals at Web Content Development today.