Geoff Wolf, EVP Client Strategy
“Let’s go shopping after Thanksgiving dinner!” said the text from Aunt Karen.
Black Friday shopping with my family in Philadelphia a few weeks ago resulted in an experience where a sticky brand message was powered by technology to define marketing success. The brand messaging was amplified by television and mobile to generate new customer acquisition.
After a huge turkey dinner, the main stop was Aunt Karen’s favorite department store – Kohl’s. My daughters had heard of Kohl’s through various media, but had never shopped their website or been to a Kohl’s store, as the nearest location is 200 miles from where we live in Colorado. But thanks to technology, both girls had an initial positive awareness of the brand promise from ads on television. They explained it as “a department store with great savings on clothing, shoes, toys, home décor, appliances and electronics for the whole family,” and they were excited to have that shopping experience.
As midnight approached, deals were truly awesome and the clothes fit everyone well. In this case, an existing customer (Aunt Karen) introduced new consumers (my daughters) to a brand experience that they were semi-familiar with, and immediately turned them into customers. The reason this happened so quickly was twofold: 1) Positive brand equity already existed thanks to technology serving up a sticky brand message, and 2) Kohl’s delivered on their brand promise.
Takeaway #1: A brand message must be “sticky” as it hangs out there until the time comes for a chance to make good on that promise.
Mobile was next in helping to deliver the brand message and drive incremental sales. My daughters took photos inside the store and immediately shared them with Mom to get another shopping opinion. Like her daughters, Mom had the brand message well embedded in her mind but was lacking the experience itself. Sharing photos served as a virtual customer review and brought the Kohl’s brand yet another prospect where it could deliver on its brand promise through technology.
The significant value of peer communication around the shopping experience is amplified by technology and offers exponential opportunities for brand messaging to deliver on its promise. Brand messaging and promises should be sticky and delivered every day, every hour and for every experience. In the example for Kohl’s, all three new customers are now regular Kohl’s customers… and I can assure you their lifetime value will be exceptional!
Kohl’s also has a kiosk in their store where customers can order online, get free shipping and have merchandise delivered to their homes. Technology is firmly embedded into the Kohl’s brand, as a shopper can bypass the checkout lines and improve how the brand delivers on its message. In addition, for anyone traveling, this combination of brand and technology gives their customers online access to the brand from anywhere a retail store is located.
Takeaway #2: Technology serves as a megaphone and amplifies opportunities for a brand to deliver on its brand message and promise.
And now, for the biggest challenge of all: Can we measure this stuff? In the case of a brand with retail locations, the answer is yes. For brands without a point of sale presence, the challenge is more daunting, though doable in a directional sense.
A point of sale location serves as a stake in the ground from which we can measure. Geography is the key for tracking the amplification of brand messaging. Kohl’s has data to reveal how many purchases occur from buyers who live outside their targeted market. It is a conservative view, as only credit card transactions and email signups provide that level of detail. Even so, marketers can still measure increases in those metrics year over year. New customers can be segmented by their addresses and those shopping outside a retail store targeted market area can be tracked.
In cases where a POS location is not available, marketers must rely on promotional reference codes to serve as the stakes in the ground. For example, marketers can use a hashtag to deliver a brand message and then track how often that message is passed along, as well as the click-throughs to the website and eventual path to purchase. The brand message and promise already exist, and are hopefully sticky enough that the consumers receiving the message are already aware of the brand. Technology amplifies the message through mobile, and there is plenty of data to report on.
Social marketing platforms can also serve as stakes in the ground for measuring amplification of brand messages. Similar to mobile technology, marketers can promote a call to action that starts with a link of some type. Once that link has a reference code embedded into it, success occurs when that message is passed along. A data trail is established and can be reported on to measure success.
Takeaway #3: The key to all brand measurement opportunities is a message that is powerful enough for consumers to pass along to their friends and families through trackable technology.
Regardless of the shopping platform being a department store, mobile phone or social marketing platform, humans love to communicate about and share shopping experiences. Technology is extremely powerful and will drive the success of great brand messages.
Want to chat more about the relationship between brand and technology? I’m your guy. Send me an email at geoffw@jschmid.com
Tags: Black Friday, Brand Message, branding, customers, Kohls, measurable, Mobile, POS, shopping, Technology