How do you tell whether your marketing approach is still in line with what the world and your customers are looking for, and willing to pay for?
Julie Bornstein, often called the ‘queen of e-commerce’, is one of those people who have shaped the past twenty-plus years at the intersection of technology, shopping and innovation. Among other things, she was a director at Pinterest, COO at Stitch Fix, the data-driven clothing styling and delivery platform, and for almost a decade she led the transformation as Chief Digital Officer at Sephora, one of the most influential global cosmetics chains under the LVMH conglomerate, from purely physical retail into the boundless field of digital.
‘Change is inevitable. And if you don’t make it yourself, others will overtake you.’
In an interview with Harvard Business Review, Julie Bornstein said that the biggest growth at the companies she worked for, as a rule, came at exactly the moments when she recognised that their tone and approach had become too classic and too monotonous. ‘The audience had outpaced the communication the company was offering them. And that happens faster than you think,’ she explains.
When the market becomes too fast for the pace at which you are evolving, it isn’t only your traditional competitors that catch up with you. There are also the new startups, with no historical baggage, no entrenched moulds and processes, free to test new approaches without brakes. If you don’t act in time, you can find yourself on the sidelines before you even realise you have started losing touch with your target audience.
Read on to see how to spot the traps and the 5 steps you can take to avoid falling into them.
1. Your tone is always the same, and that isn’t a compliment
A recognisable tone and style are desirable, but not without limits. Does your audience already ‘hear you in their head’ before they even see your new ad or read a post on social media? That can be a sign that your tone has become too predictable. A brand’s content voice has to be recognisable, but it shouldn’t repeat itself like an old gramophone.
What to do?
Review the last 10 posts, newsletters or campaigns. If you could swap your brand name for another in the same industry and not spot the difference, you have a problem.
2. You are using channels your audience is leaving
Your marketing team may be producing content every week for a channel that, in the eyes of the audience, is already ‘dead’. That doesn’t mean you have to close it down right away. It does mean it is time to look at reach, engagement and real role. If, for example, you have been tweeting regularly and deliberately for years without sparking any response, while your competitor publishes seemingly trivial little stories on TikTok and users share them en masse, you are in a dead end.
What to do?
Review the channels where you invest the most time, and compare them with the analytics. What is genuinely getting a response? Where might you need to start testing something new?
3. Your visual identity no longer looks fresh
If your digital presence still shows clear design trends from several years ago, that affects how your relevance is perceived too. A visual refresh, which can be a refresh of colours, a new graphic element, or a very considered, subtle adjustment to the brand’s key visuals, isn’t a luxury project. It is a way of staying in touch with your audience in a dynamic digital environment.
What to do?
Prepare a mini analysis of your visual identity: from the logo and typography to the colour scheme and the look of your social media profiles. If you are unsure, ask a younger colleague (or family member) for an honest opinion.
4. You repeat the same types of campaigns, just with new products
Even though your products or services are evolving, your communication may be staying in the same place. New content doesn’t have to be explained every time with a different tone and a new story. But if you appear in the field of view in exactly the same way every time, in the same format and with the same approach, the audience quickly loses interest.
What to do?
Review the last three campaigns. Are they similar in layout, channel and CTA? If the answer is yes, now is a great moment for an experiment with a different approach.
5. The team has no time to think, only to execute
The biggest risk of going stale isn’t that you have overlooked or deliberately skipped something. The challenge is when you are aware of the need for a refresh, but don’t have the time to check whether what you are doing is even still working. If your team has no space for reflection, testing or research, your marketing will always be one step behind.
What to do?
Take time for reflection. Which questions are open and most pressing? What has been bothering you for a long time without time to address it? What can you do differently?
You aren’t alone on the journey
If you want to stay relevant, you have to know how to turn a perceived lag into a strategic challenge. Your brand can’t just exist, it has to grow.
Time isn’t on your side. Every extra day of waiting is another step lost to the competition.
If you want to refresh your marketing approach, get in touch today.
