apt blog

The Importance of Your Brand's Original Market

After reading an article in Marketing Week from Michael Barnett who advises how brands can ‘stay cool’ it really highlights the importance of not forgetting your original, niche market in order to become mainstream.

Converse has always had an ‘alternative’ association, but it is a well known brand bought by many.  They stay in touch with their key market using a number of elements, particularly through music: they sponsor monthly gigs at the 100 Club in London, own a New York recording studio called Rubber Tracks, collaborate with artists such as Gorillaz and create shoe designs inspired by musicians.

The target audience is also reached through Facebook allowing consumers to provide Converse with feedback and advice, in a sense, providing them with free research and fresh ideas so that they do not lose this audience.

French Connection UK On the other hand has overused the FCUK brand losing the shock factor it originally created. In order to reposition themselves, French Connection UK refocused its design and is now marketing to a more focussed audience rather than trying to interest the mainstream markets.

It is important for brands to not forget their original markets – Even if they become mainstream. Converse is a prime example of how to manage both audiences without “selling out”. Communication is key – ask for feedback - make sure your original market is being listened to as they are the people who are shaping your brand, and if you lose them, the rest will soon follow. 

apt Team Member Cooking for Royalty!

Our very own Business Development Manager, Jules, will be helping to supervise the preparation and service of food for The Queen by representatives from her daughter’s school, as one of the winners of the ‘Cook for The Queen’ competition.

The competition was bought to Jules’s attention after her daughter read about it online. Asking for her Mum’s help, Jules was quick off the mark to agree it with the school and help to pull together a supervisory team. 

The competition was open to schools all over the UK and Eastington Primary School in Gloucestershire won, along with 3 other schools out of a whopping 208 entries!

With a bit of adult supervision from Jules and the teachers, the pupils enthusiastically sourced local produce for their recipes. Sample ideas were produced and judged by a panel of 60 people including some of the local producers and suppliers before ‘qualifying’ for presentation to The Queen.

The winning pupils and teachers will be helping Royal Chef, Mark Flanagan, to prepare, cook and serve their meals at a special reception attended by The Queen and The Duchess of Cornwall as a tribute to The Queen for the Diamond Jubilee.

The winning menu from Eastington Primary School is as follows:

Savoury:

Camilla's Cucumber Crowns filled with Wye salmon smoked over tea
Asparagus Encrusted Diamonds - asparagus with a lemon hollandaise served in a diamond shaped vol-au-vent
Rarebits of Diamond - Godsell Gloucester diamond shaped cheese rarebit sandwiches with local homemade apple chutney
Beefeater's Delight - Duchess potatoes with seasonal horseradish and Gloucester beef
Will's Spot of Windsor - Gloucester Old Spot shredded belly pork served on a courgette and potato rosti with Windsor apple sauce and apple jus.
Harry's Hungry Hunt - wood pigeon skewers served with spiced beetroot and pomegranate molasses chutney.

Sweet:

Luv’lee Jub’lee Bub’lee - elderflower strawberry and champagne soup
Royal Rhubarb Trumpet - English rhubarb syllabub cream trumpets
Buckingham Biscuits - lemon shortbread with apple and lavender sorbet
Queen's Crumble - Gooseberry crumble with elderflower and gooseberry ice cream
Union Jack Pudding - Rice pudding layered with raspberries, blueberries, and Gloucester honey served in shot glasses
Royal Mint Princess's Pudding - Chocolate pound cake covered in royal mint icing

Well done to the school and good luck with cooking your goodies to perfection! (... And, of course, enjoy the day Jules!)

 

HOW NOT TO: When discounting devalues your brand...

As a consumer, I love a bargain and in the current climate, I've come to expect nothing less! Feeling like I've got a good deal gives me a great buzz and seeing something that's good value makes me more likely to purchase; whilst I expect a discount every once in a while, do it too often and you'll totally devalue your brand. Here's why:

At the end of last year, I purchased a present for a friend just before Christmas from a well-known online retailer (who shall remain nameless). They were offering 3 for 2 on selected products and I ended up buying a little something for myself too. (That's right, I do operate the one for me, one for you method of shopping!)

At the time, I felt like I'd got a great deal, despite spending more than I had planned, and they had sucessfully upsold and generated extra revenue. A win-win I'm sure! Since then however, I've been added to their mailing database and have been nothing short of bombarded via email ever since! And that's not the worst of it as you'll find out later on!

To give you an idea, the company has sent me 63 emails since the 1st January 2012 which is just under 1 email every 2 days. Now that's an over-communication in its' own right, so let's not get started on that one! Couple that with the fact that all except one of the emails has come with a discount and I'm starting to see a pattern. The one exception was a 3 for 2 offer, but all the rest have given me between 20% and 64% (yes you read that right) off selected lines.

So what's the problem with that?

Initially, I thought it was a bargain, a month (January) full of sale items to keep me spending. Wrong! Having continued for four and a half months, this 'marketing campaign' they're running has seriously undermined my confidence in them as a consumer because:

• Having been bombarded with emails, I've become immune to the "enticing" offers
• Having been offered a minimum of 20% off and even up to 64% off, I will never in a million years pay full price for the products again
• I no longer believe the full-price products are worth more than half of their advertised value
• Despite purchasing from the company due to my (obviously perceived) idea of their quality, I'll now go for a cheaper brand because the former no longer seem worth the money.

Let's look instead to ASOS...

I'm also on the ASOS mailing list; unlike the other unnamed company, they email me once a week (roughly) and they spend their lives telling me how great they are. Yes, they'll discount every once in a while with a flash sale to get me spending, but their whole marketing campaign just serves to make me perceive value and quality.

Some of the things they send me:

• Free postage and packing - to me this is a goodwill gesture that still saves me money
• The opportunity to upgrade to a premier account where I'll get 24 hours of purchasing before standard clients on selected lines for this seasons 'must-haves'
• Emails about the latest 'must-haves' once they're publicly released
• Fashion-led emails about changing trends that don't push product

Where ASOS has succeeded is that they have established themselves as an 'expert' in their field and whilst I may only skim-read the expertise, they reinforce themselves as a credible, quality brand. They then succeed in upselling and adding value with the occassional straight-forward discount that leaves me feeling like I've got a bargain without undermining the value of the brand!

Tips you can take from this:

1. Try to add value for your customers. Whether that's with knowledge/expertise, that you have and they don't, or with added extras that make them choose you e.g. free postage. Added value supports the brand proposition and encourages purchase without undermining your bottom line.
2. Try to remind users of your brand with regular communication, but make you don't "pester" them for business.
3. Don't make the mistake of undervaluing yourself - a recession does not mean you have to slash prices, it means you have to get cleverer about communicating with your customers and encourage them to purchase in other ways!

An extra note: I have since remembered to unsubscribe from the enewsletter and am much happier not being bombarded!

Google to inject more 'facts' into searches

This morning, I read a slightly disturbing article in Marketing Magazine about yet another change by Google to their searches. Powered by a new service dubbed 'Knowledge Graph', Google is soon to be rolling out a search engine change that incorporates 'facts' into peoples listings.

When you search, the page will include a panel on the right-hand-side which is designed to help users find relevant information more easily. Great, I can actually see a huge application for this from a consumer perspective - if you're looking for a definition, you can find it within seconds etc., however what about brands?

At the moment, brands are collectively spending millions of pounds trying to keep up with Google's algorithmic changes which dictate your website positioning in searches. We're all grumbling that we're constantly having to adapt, but at least these changes mean that "better quality" listings rise to the top (at least according to Google); yet reading about this new change, I can't help but wonder what the negative affects for brands will be.

It's commonly known that search engine rankings are (amongst other things) affected by the number of visitors a site receives and the time they then spend on the site. Remove the need for users to even click-through to the site and you'll significantly affect these stats. This in turn will affect the rankings. Surely this is a negative downward spiral that aids consumers at the expense of brands? As a consumer, I can understand and even agree with this development, but as a marketeer, it worries me what the long-term implications will be for us and our clients.

Don't get me wrong, I know this won't affect everything; someone looking to shop online will not be able to buy without clicking on the site (but who knows, that might be next) and there are still other sites which people will habitually visit, but my worry is that this latest development will really hurt the little guy; that less-well-known brand who really relys on search engine visits for their business.

Google is said to be testing this at the moment in the US with the view to rolling it out 'in the next few days' so all we can do is wait and see, but it'll be an interesting one to watch the effects of! What does everyone else think?

A morning of Great Expectations! Breakfast Briefing

On Tuesday, our client Expectations! Recruitment Services hosted a Breakfast Briefing with Sustainability Consultant Sarah Daly from MyGreenEye.

Expectations! Recruitment Services hosted this quarterly Breakfast Briefing at Hatherley Manor Hotel, informing and updating attendees on how and why ‘green credentials’ can increase workplace productivity.

During her time as the Managing Director of an architectural firm in Gloucestershire, Sarah Daly recognised that there was a clear disconnect between the external building and the internal working environment; particularly for new build projects. Since setting up her own sustainability consultancy, she has worked with companies to demonstrate and quantify the relationship between energy saving and productivity. She has discovered that whilst many companies don’t understand or value the relationship between the working environment and productivity, the relationship is so strong, minor changes can result in significant improvements in staff output.

The seminar covered the key workplace environment factors that affect staff productivity, the case for businesses looking to improve productivity, simple changes which can be made within the workplace and funding streams that are available.

The seminar was well-attended and guests from the information stimulating, informative and useful. Images of the event can be found on our Flickr account here...

Anyone wishing to be added to the list for future breakfast briefings should contact Expectations here and the next scheduled briefing will be held in September.