Marketing Recovery Series: Nurture growth and brand discovery with your marketing

Emerging from lockdown, we’re evaluating its effect. As consumers, did we stockpile, buy more online and shop local or spend less and become more charitable? Did we cling to familiar brands or try new things? As marketers, did we search for behavioural trends and track changes in media consumption? Now, in the scramble for audience share, is the fear of losing customers matched by the danger of relying on promotions?

Explore your marketing blind spots for growth potential

Getting people to buy more for less doesn’t lead to long-term growth. During isolation, some brands added value and volume, others were unsure of their consumers and levels of loyalty. Now is your opportunity to examine blind spots. Where is the growth potential? Can you serve your current customers, as well as fresh or overlooked audiences, in newly relevant ways? Let’s move mindsets from volume to impact – focusing on customer potential rather than order size.

People are rethinking your brand. You can rethink them too, and uncover overlooked needs or tap into underserviced audiences.

We have more blind spots now – potentially missed opportunities to impact audiences and nurture new customers. Old habits have been shaken up, so decision making will become more considered, more nuanced and less predictable.

Nurture your audience and increase brand discovery

Focus on discovery to nurture audience potential. Uncover the impact of the pandemic recession on your category and customers. With so many people online right now, pay attention to search to reveal interest trends, needs and shopping behaviours. Monitor customer service for the same. Whether B2C or B2B, think about how you can use different channels to increase brand discovery. Bring impact and trial together – using ‘tryvertising’ to turn discovery into habit-forming interactions.

Look for inspiration from nurturing brands

We’ve been impressed by these nurturing brands who don’t take their audiences for granted:

• The IKEA ThisAbles project created mutual value when a small group of under-represented customers became a growth audience and underlined the company’s inclusive purpose.
• Remember Pebbles? The overlooked cereal brand has turned its box into a web series featuring artists, dancers and magicians. They’ve nurtured interest by helping parents, kids and out-of-work creatives make it through their day.
• Recognizing the uptick in skincare needs, Canadian brand DECIEM has turned store staff into online ambassadors, launching virtual DECIEM AT HOME consultations to support customers and recognize the power of human connection.

Tell your story and use direct mail to enhance your marketing mix to encourage brand discovery

Throughout lockdown, online and offline channels have stepped into the void left by physical distancing. Children have connected with parents and grandparents over Zoom. Instead of birthday hugs, we’ve mailed cards and handwritten letters. Personal or professional, these connections are noticed and amplified on social media.

Digital spaces contain skippable advertising, ad blocking and algorithms favouring existing preferences. With a much higher dwell time, direct mail can enhance at-home discoverability and engagement. Use search, site traffic and social data along with postal codes to enhance targeting relevance. Direct mail is the perfect ‘tryvertising’ channel. Storytelling through direct mail allows brands and customers to go deeper than digital retargeting. Formats like postcards, samples, catalogues and custom pieces help audiences discover your brand and uncover its value.

See more great advice in our other Marketing Recovery Series blogs.