In today’s fast-paced digital world, the challenge of acquiring and retaining customers has never been more complicated. With shifting consumer preferences, an influx of competitors and generative AI entering the fray, companies have to be nimble and develop strategies to stand out.
However, by the sounds of it, there’s a lot companies can achieve by sticking to the basics: knowing who your customer is and creating content that speaks to them. Below, we wrap up a few key takeaways from our chat with Corinne Aaron, CMO of electric autonomous vehicle startup Einride; Fabio Bin, cofounder and CMO of traveltech WeRoad and Marni Allen, CMO of personalised supplements startup Bioniq.
Nuance your messaging based on region
Do your research to understand the nuances that differentiate customers from one country to another. For example, personalised supplements company Bioniq has three major markets: the US (its top market), the UK and the Middle East. Consumers in each of those places have different perspectives on and experiences with personalised supplements. In the US, says Bioniq’s CMO Marni, the supplements market is very crowded and customers are generally used to using products like Persona, which offers personalised daily vitamin packs. By contrast, in the Middle East, the supplements space is less saturated and personalised nutritional products are less widely adopted — which naturally demands a different kind of messaging.
Marni says what works for Bioniq is to focus on its biggest market first and then figure out how to make messaging around the product relevant for the other markets. In some cases, you might be speaking to a market where customers are new to, or even sceptical about, a product — in which case, it’s a good idea to lead with more factual, science-based information.
Craft messaging that resonates with your customers
When it comes to building brand awareness and attracting new customers, WeRoad cofounder and CMO Fabio says it’s all about being relatable to the customer. His company — which offers group trips on the road to destinations worldwide — rarely communicates about its product, but tailors its messaging to resonate with people’s life experiences that are tied to the topic of travel. For example, its recent campaign posed the question: “How to make friends in your 30s?” with an arrow leading to the ultimate answer of ‘travelling the world with a bunch of strangers’. That tapped into the human desire to travel, meet people and have novel experiences. WeRoad also makes use of user-generated content, sharing and reposting pictures of real people on their travels around the world, to build engagement.
Have a financial strategy for content
Advertising via Meta or Google is pretty expensive, especially for young startups, so organic growth is very important. Companies need to build a strategy to stimulate organic growth — for example via user-generated content — which can then pay for ‘paid’ marketing via Meta or Google ads. The idea is to make these two things work together, says Fabio. He also hires full-stack marketers to his team that are capable of producing great creative content (the organic growth part) as well as paid-for ads on a variety of platforms.
Marni adds that companies shouldn’t rely too much on paid advertising and should find other ways to acquire customers cheaply. In Bioniq’s case, the marketing team realised that people were organically referring their friends to the company before it had a dedicated referral programme — so naturally, it created one to get even more customers. The cost for Bioniq of acquiring a customer via a referral is a quarter of the cost of acquiring one through a Meta ad, says Marni.
Make use of influencers — but be careful who you choose
Brands can spread the word by getting influencers to sign up for referral programmes — where influencers get a reward for posting about the product or service and bringing in a certain amount of customers as a result. This worked well at Tesla, says Einride CMO Corinne, who formerly worked at the company: the company never paid influencers outright, but dished out prizes such as free supercharging, discounts on car purchases or even trips to California for product launches, which was all managed inside the Tesla app.
Other brands use celebrity endorsements to spread the word, often via paid partnerships. Bioniq, however, has been able to attract a few famous customers, such as Manchester United players and YouTubers, who post about the brand because they love it and aren’t paid by the company. The downside, Marni says, is that the company has less control over what these celebrities post.
Marni adds that celebrity influencers aren’t always the best way to get the right kind of customers engaging with your brand. For example, the sports stars that post about Bioniq bring in a younger, predominantly male following, who are less likely to join the subscription programme and stay for the long run. Yet, Bioniq’s most attractive customer group is US women between the ages of 45 and 55 who are overweight and not very active — but it doesn’t have endorsers for this.
When it comes to celebrity influencers, Corinne emphasises the importance of being careful of who you attach your brand to: celebrities are often embroiled in mishaps and scandals, which companies should try to stay clear of.
On the subject of… marketing strategy
1. How to create a B2B social media strategy.
2. Create user-generated content. It’s the easiest way brands can get their community to do the selling for them.
3. How to design an AI marketing strategy.
4. Use TikTok for marketing. Here’s how to get started.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/marketing-strategy-how-to-tips/
