SUMMARY
Several D2C brands often find themselves questioning if they should prioritise brand marketing over sales or growth in the long run
While it’s incredibly obvious to generate revenue as a business to thrive, the focus naturally falls on focussing on growth
In the D2C business long-term growth won’t be possible without a solid brand marketing foundation in place
I am frequently asked whether D2C brands should prioritise brand marketing over sales or growth in the long run.
While it’s incredibly obvious to generate revenue as a business to thrive, the focus naturally falls on focussing on growth. Unfortunately in the D2C business long-term growth won’t be possible without a solid brand marketing foundation in place.
Besides the obvious benefits of building brand awareness, and differentiating the brand, it’s incredibly beneficial to building customer loyalty and improving customer experience.
Brands like Boomerang, Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters, Mamaearth, and FabIndia have focused on building a strong brand identity through a range of brand marketing efforts. This includes developing a strong online presence through social media marketing and collaborating with influencers. For instance, the Delhi-based online speciality coffee retailer, Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters has even hosted events and workshops to educate customers about coffee.
Convinced? Good, because here are a few strategies on how to focus on brand marketing.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has become an increasingly popular marketing strategy for D2C brands. In recent years, there has been a shift in the way influencer marketing is being used, with product seeding becoming a more preferred and effective method for many D2C brands.
Product seeding occurs when brands send free products to a carefully selected group of influencers. In exchange, influencers post about the item and share photos and opinions with their followers.
Brands like The Man Company and MyGlamm have often associated with leading or upcoming influencers to promote their products through product seeding, allowing influencers to try and review the products on their social media channels.
This strategy has often been attributed as a key aspect of their digital brand strategy. Going forward, it seems product seeding will be preferable — both as a way to showcase one’s product and sometimes even as a negotiation tool with upcoming influencers.
Conversation Commerce
Conversation commerce involves using messaging platforms like WhatsApp to communicate with customers and facilitate sales. It has become an increasingly popular strategy for D2C brands. Here are 2 ways that D2C brands can use this approach:
- Integrate WhatsApp Into The Customer Journey: D2C brands can integrate WhatsApp into their customer journey by providing a WhatsApp chat option on their website or through social media channels. This allows customers to easily reach out to the brand with questions or to place an order.
- Use WhatsApp Automation Tools: These tools can be used to send automated messages, such as order confirmations or shipping updates to customers.
D2C brands may see the value in creating non-sales experiences and features on WhatsApp as a way to engage with their customers and build brand loyalty.
It can be used as an avenue for creating educational content to provide value to their customers and position themselves as a trusted source of information, as a customer service mechanism or even to provide personalised content.
Video First Approach
If Elon Musk wanted to add this as a feature for Twitter, I wonder why you’re not doing it for your D2C brand.
A video-first approach can be a powerful tool for D2C brands looking to engage with their audience, improve their storytelling, and drive conversions. Apart from being an effective mechanism for enhanced product demonstrations (particularly for products that may be difficult to understand through text or images alone), videos allow D2C brands to tell a more compelling brand story. This can help brands connect with their audience on an emotional level and effectively communicate the benefits of their products.
Meme Marketing
Last but not the least, who doesn’t love meme marketing? Usually, this involves using memes or internet-based humour to promote a brand or product and can be a helpful marketing strategy for D2C brands in 2023.
Fintech company, Slice took this strategy to the next level by hiring Garv Malik, as their Chief Meme Officer (His JD reads “Yup. That’s a legit designation. Yes, I get paid to make memes.”). The most obvious benefit of using meme marketing is that it allows D2C brands to showcase their personality and sense of humour, which can be particularly appealing to younger audiences.
Precisely speaking, 2023 will be a test for many brands on their fundamentals. Brands which are building or scaling D2C business on first principle fundamentals will be trending and outperforming their competition.
By focusing on customer needs, product quality, building a strong brand identity, fostering customer loyalty, and investing in technology, brands can build a successful D2C business on first principle fundamentals in 2023.
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See you next Saturday.
