Strong Disruptive Marketing Strategy – sounds like an oxymoron, correct?
Well, interestingly, in the contemporary digital age, disruption is a buzzword we’ve been hearing for quite some time now. Indeed it involves fresh perspectives and relentless ideations, but it is often more than just that particularly in the context of marketing communications. Brands that have been harbouring traditional approaches and carrying out conventional practices, rules and ideas need to up the ante and attempt something completely different!
Putting together a disruptive marketing strategy is all about flexing ones’ creative muscles. The ‘norms’ of communication must be challenged to forge a unique brand positioning that would enable brands to create a niche market for themselves. Disruptive Marketing has the power to set brands apart from competitors while opening doors to new business opportunities.
So how to build a strong disruptive marketing strategy?
Know Your Industry
An in-depth study of the industry involves a few essential questions to be addressed. For instance, at what pricing range are the competitors’ products placed? What do customers feel about those products? Is there any potential pain points left unaddressed? It is wise to remember that any challenge, setback or roadblock is an opportunity in disguise. Brands that have successfully driven market disruption are the ones who tackled these weaknesses head-on and leveraged their untapped potential by bringing forth innovative solutions to resolve the same.
Whirlpool Bangladesh saw a huge business opportunity when adoption of digital technologies led to widespread awareness about hygiene and sanitization measures during the pandemic. The growing affinity towards washing machines with advanced hygiene and washing features, prohibition of housemaids from doing chores and increased demand for washing machines with germ-removal features played to its advantage. Accordingly, washing machine sales growth forecast for July – October 2020 rose to a whopping 300%. Whirlpool maximized its brand outreach through persuasive and engaging digital content, which effectively communicated the sanitization and hygiene benefits of the Whirlpool washing machine range with heater models to the target consumer.
Know Your Customer
More than knowing what the target consumers want, brands must provide an enhanced focus on what more can they add to it in order to exceed consumer expectations. In today’s phygital world, it has become all the more imperative to establish a human connection that ensures improved consumer experiences. Deploying digital tools such as Google Analytics can provide accurate and deeper insights into how the consumers’ minds work before, during and after their purchase cycle. This can empower brands to stand out from the crowd while boosting the quality of their consumer-brand interactions.
Take the Path Less Travelled
As mentioned earlier, disruption is all about treading into unexplored territories, in this case, the market and consumer perspectives.
When AR (Augmented Reality) filters were being used for leisure, Avon India, a leading cosmetics company decided to give it a twist by introducing interactive ‘try and buy’ filters, emojis, festive filters and more. In addition to seeing increased brand engagement, Avon disrupted the market through their visually entertaining digital content.
Redefine Consumer Journey
Today’s consumer does not just look for products to fulfill needs. What is the value-addition towards one’s lifestyle? Is there any added benefit or reward once the purchase is made? Addressing such questions might prove beneficial to brands in the long run. For instance, BMW Motorrad faced unprecedented challenges in the form of a sudden dip in brand interaction. Due to health and safety concerns, new prospects were unwilling to visit brick and mortar stores, take test rides, and buy new luxury motorbikes. They leveraged the opportunity by:
- Revamping their website with interactive features
- Igniting brand conversations across social channels
- Spreading personalized content illuminating superior dynamic riding experiences with luxury bikes
- Eye-grabbing visuals showcasing the latest models
and
This enabled them to create desired brand resonance along with increased lead and conversion rates.
Keep innovating
The term ‘disruptive’ in the market scenario is characterized by two main elements.
- A lower-end market foothold
- A technology that is easily accessible to the masses.
Innovations are the lifeline of any business. In this digital age, innovations can help provide the competitive edge for brands to stay ahead of the game. With the changing consumer landscape and internet awareness, Bridgestone desired to improve its brand connect with target consumers. It started off with an innovative sales tool that empowered its sales team to boost customer confidence using interactive features and engaging content illuminating its latest products and services. Eventually, it succeeded in turning audience purchase decisions towards them leading to a spike in lead and conversion rate.
We are at an era of digital transformation where there is no dearth of possibilities. Calculated-risks, innovative solutions and value-added propositions might be one of the best chances brands have to create a lasting impression on their audience and the industry. It is time to unlock hidden possibilities, explore the unexplored and achieve the unachievable through disruptive marketing.
