DTC Newsletter: BRAND PROPOSITION AND LOCALISATION - Whitepaper Part 5
WHITEPAPER ONE - PART FIVE - BRAND PROPOSITION AND LOCALISATION
Welcome back! ?? and here is Part 5 in our 9 part series of:
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Well if you missed my previous additions they are right here ??
Over the series, we will be covering the following steps...
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PART FIVE - BRAND PROPOSITION AND LOCALISATION
When it comes to launching DTC into the beauty market, making sure you understand the local nuances of that market is so important.?
You need to understand how your brand objective allows you to tap into that market growth – and to do this, you must ascertain how this business problem translates into a human product. So many times, brands assume that international growth is easy – they see the opportunity, and understandably want to grow into that market quickly. But until you understand the context and consumer problem within that market, and most importantly, how your brand offers a solution to that, it is not possible to achieve sustainable growth
Brand context matters - coming in with a unique solution is crucial
Determining how your brand can uniquely offer a solution to the consumer problem is especially important in the UK beauty space. This aspect of brand proposition feeds into strategic planning - looking at competitors and conducting a thorough analysis of the market is a big part of understanding how you can differentiate yourself from other brands.
Going in with the same proposition will not work in the crowded UK beauty space. For the consumer, browsing and considering a product where all available seem the same leaves them baffled with choice – and less likely to buy. In this case, it often comes down to who gives the best offer or lowest price – unless they have a compelling reason to believe in the product, such as an authentic brand identity which resonates with who they are as a consumer.
Don’t put yourself out there in the middle of a saturated market and take that risk. Scoping out the market and really defining how your brand can resonate with your consumer before you go to the point of activation and consider coming over from the US to the UK, is key.?
Visibility and relevancy
Being visible in the right place is crucial. If your market is millennials, where are they? Are they gen Z or baby boomers?
When putting a brand out there, it is essential to understand how consumers navigate the market and let them find you there. Don’t assume social will provide a steady sales stream alone – and use other tools alongside Google to maximise your potential pool of exposure to consumers.
For example, lots of beauty consumers research “discover beauty brands” on beauty retail sites, which sounds contradictory when discussing DTC. Many use Amazon as a search engine not just a retailer, then come to buy direct. Pinterest is another source of ‘inspiration’ that often becomes a source of sales. Where are consumers not only searching, but researching? How might they discover your brand by accident?
The third (and often overlooked) place consumers go to research beauty brands is YouTube. Consumers are searching for beauty regimes or solutions to common problems and then watching content featuring influencers using brands as part of their regime. Driving awareness and discovery of products is all about identifying search engines that are not necessarily search engines.
Taking a holistic and considered approach to growth and localisation and appreciating the many ways in which consumers are discovering brands rather than jumping straight to social is crucial. When it comes to engaging with your brand and furthering that initial connection, social media comes into play.?
Clever creative that subconsciously speaks to your consumer
The important thing (not just for beauty brands but regarding branding in general), for those looking to expand into various locations, is curating a tone of voice and identity, much like a personality that resonates with consumers. Where a transition from the US to the UK is concerned, you need to know the specific ways in which your brand is imprinted in consumer hearts and minds in the US, and how that compares to the UK market. This emotional connection and the feeling consumers get when they interact with you is a massive aspect of brand success.
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In the US, each state has its own feeling, tone, and approach - almost like individual territories. We do not have that problem over here, so in some respects it can be easier taking a brand from the US into the UK. Here, your target market is wider, and therefore simplified – so how your brand speaks to consumers in the UK does not need to differentiate as it does in the US such as between the deep south and NY, for example.
One aspect that can pose a challenge for beauty brands entering new territories is brand name, and how that translates into another market. Will your current brand name in the US work in another territory, in this case the UK? There are many examples of this to study and compare – such as Ulay/Olay, Jif/Cif. Your brand name is a massive part of your brand identity and therefore your connection with consumers
If you bring a brand to another country and the name itself jars, you are up against it straight away. One example of this is Ikea – renowned for their product names worldwide, yet they quickly realised that the children’s workbench called ‘Fartfull’ (meaning ‘speedy’ in Swedish) would never work in the UK and promptly pulled it from their website. This is an extreme example, but it demonstrates how a lot of time and effort needs to be given to both your brand name and product names to ensure they are primed for success in a UK market.
In the same vein, it is important to work out whether there are any brands within the same sector (or even within a different sector) with similar brand names. If this is the case, you may have to change your brand name either due to a copyright challenge or consumer conflation with a brand with conflicting values. You do not want to be competing in the same sector or in a completely different sector (both from an SEO and an awareness perspective). But equally considering and choosing a new name for your brand that still encompasses who you are and links back to your US presence can be challenging.
There may also be legal requirements to meet surrounding names aside from copyright challenges. There is the possibility there will be pitfalls from a legal standpoint, so be sure to conduct due diligence before bringing your brand to the UK.?
Localised language and content considerations?
Language is massive – encompassing how you share your offering and considering diverse ways of speaking and tone of voice. Compared with the wide variety of speaking styles and writing approaches throughout the 50 states of the US, the UK is undoubtedly more straightforward as tone does not need to be adapted here beyond ensuring it is aligned with an English way of speaking.
Although we speak differently in varying accents, from a copywriting perspective (geographically) we can adopt the same tone of voice. Of course, consideration still needs to be made for tone with your target consumer in mind in terms of age and approach (casual, formal, luxury, slang).?
???? Design differences must be integrated ????
Between the UK and the US, site design and brand presentation tend to differ quite significantly. In the UK, e-Commerce sites usually use quite simple colourways and typefaces compared to a more extravagant, colourful approach in the US.
This also translates to your social media presence. Consider opening UK-only social channels to appropriately target UK consumers. This is a major?consideration - sometimes minor tweaks are needed, and sometimes how you present your brand on social platforms will need to look quite different. Bear in mind also, that some US brands make a lot of noise and are passionate from a patriotic perspective – it is very ‘stars and stripes,’ which does not translate well over here and would cheapen a brand. Being mindful of how what you currently do will be received in a new territory is key here.?
Product designs may also differ
Before entering the UK market, you will also need to assess your packaging, and determine whether it will work in its current state or may need to be adapted. In many instances, packaging will work across both regions – adaptation for the UK market has more to do with the details than the overall design itself. A tiny change can make a massive difference. From a branding perspective it is important to be looking at all these added elements and running various tests to produce something that works with minor tweaks across all territories. Be sure to analyse and test, using your own data and industry data – you cannot presume anything at this stage.?
Beyond design, the biggest consideration when it comes to packaging is redesigning to accommodate legal and labelling requirements. There may be ingredients you need to change or omit entirely in the UK for example and claims you cannot make that are central to your brand’s offering currently.?
Legal requirements will influence your packaging design and presentation in the UK – there may be?products you cannot sell at all in the UK, or at least, not in the same way.
Certain ingredients may be banned or require different labelling. Animal testing and marketing laws surrounding product claims are quite different. Once you start looking into individual aspects such as this, it may alter your brand as it stands now, not just in terms of product names but the whole idea and look of that product.?
The implications of this can be significant – in some cases, it is necessary to change the whole brand position. For example, if you are specific about being cruelty free and vegan, but your ingredients must change, or definitions of those qualities vary in the UK - your brand may need to be reworked drastically. There are so many details that are tiny on paper but can have massive implications for your brand.
Often the aesthetic, look and feel of a product overall is similar but it is when you peel back and get under that first layer – that is when the substantial changes may need to happen.
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