Additionally, the latter often engage or interact with customers more as users than as customers. The online study described surveyed over 5,000 American consumers, asking questions about 50 different brands and mixing in products and services from both traditional, or legacy, companies, as well as from newer, digital ones. The survey went on to categorize a number of companies into two specific groups, “usage brands” and “purchase brands.” Crieriafor those categories were: Purchase brands Focus on creating demand to buy the product Emphasize promotion Put a lot of emphasis and strategy into what they say to their customers Attempt to shape their brand’s perception (in a consumer's mind) along the path-to-purchase Usage Brands Focus on creating demand for the use of the product Emphasize on building consumer advocacy Listen to what customers are saying to one other Care about and try to influence what is the customer’s experience at every touchpoint Related: Facebook's Latest Feature Highlights the Importance of User Experience and Website Speed Real-life examples of purchase vs. usage brands The study then presented scenarios using these marketing strategies. What are the benefits for a brand that makes the shift from purchase to usage strategies? According to the data from the consumers surveyed: Consumers are more loyal to a usage brand. In a digital world, a brand and the experience of using its products are becoming one and the same. Therefore, these brands' marketing and advertising is focused on creating useful content and experiences withtheir customers. Airbnb is a digital usage brand that builds content. How are people actually using the product? Sometimes, the experience is the product, and the superior experience of using a product makes turns customers into life-long brand enthusiasts.
Legacy companies focus their marketing efforts on positioning their brands in the minds of consumers. Digitally forward-thinking startups position their brand in the ‘lives’ of their consumers.
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In our digitally connected world, what defines or makes a company successful? The brand design agency Siegel+Gale teamed up with SAP and Shift Thinking for a joint consumer survey study whose findings indicated that successful brands that had invested in a digital transformation both both thought and did things differently.
Specifically: Legacy companies focus their marketing efforts on positioning their brands in the minds of their consumers, while digitally forward-thinking startups focus on positioning their brand in the lives of their consumers.
Additionally, the latter often engage or interact with customers more as users than as customers. This means they shift their marketing-strategy investments from pre-promotion and sales to after-purchase brand loyalty. This builds brand-value advocacy in their consumers’ lives rather than accomplishing the short-lived benefit of a one-off sale.
Digitally savvy startup brands, in fact, obsess over experience, not revenue.
The online study described surveyed over 5,000 American consumers, asking questions about 50 different brands and mixing in products and services from both traditional, or legacy, companies, as well as from newer, digital ones.
The study revealed stark contrasts among legacy brands and digital startup ones. Participants were asked to compare their perceptions of two brands from the same industry — one a legacy brand, and the other a newer, disruptive digital brand.
In terms of whether a brand was one that people looked up to versus one that made their lives easier, participants said that they saw legacy brands as those that people looked up to, whereas newer, digital brands were more often seen as “making my life easier.” Some examples of these company pairs in the survey were:
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Airbnb vs. Hilton/Marriott
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Dollar Shave vs. Gillette
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Tesla vs. BMW
The majority of survey participants agreed that people were more likely to have heard about an older legacy brand through traditional TV advertising and media, whereas they had discovered most digital startup brands through word of mouth from friends, and from social media.
The survey went on to categorize a number of companies into two specific groups, “usage brands” and “purchase brands.” Crieriafor those categories were:
Purchase brands
-
Focus on creating demand to buy the product
-
Emphasize promotion
-
Put a lot of emphasis and strategy into what they say to their customers
-
Attempt to shape their brand’s perception (in a consumer’s mind) along the path-to-purchase
Usage Brands
-
Focus on creating demand for the use of the product
-
Emphasize on building consumer advocacy
-
Listen to what customers are saying to one other
-
Care about and try to influence what is the customer’s experience at every touchpoint
Related: Facebook’s Latest Feature Highlights the Importance of User Experience and Website Speed
Real-life examples of purchase vs. usage brands
The study then presented scenarios using these marketing strategies. For example, most established ski resorts focus on giving discounts to incentivize ticket and season pass-holder sales or to market their snowmaking and park-jump capabilities.
But Vail is a resort that has taken a different kind of engagement strategy. The Colorado ski giant developed a social network mobile app called EpiMix for skiers that encourages social sharing of photos and performance data (e.g., how many vertical feet a skier rode). Gamification elements figure in, to persuade skiers to use the app and share their photos and data with friends.
This concept is akin to that of a Fitbit getting people to compete and take their daily “10,000 steps,” thus…
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