Evolving brands in times of change (Part 1)

In a post-pandemic world, the past two years have taught us how to pivot in difficult circumstances, and yet still succeed against all odds, in the midst of a crisis. The goal post keeps shifting in the wonderful land of marketers; be it everything from performance marketing to cookie consent demands. Today’s tactics are tomorrow's history. In days like this, it’s playing the patient long-game of applying what's worked over the decades or centuries, that will successfully steer you through the the fluctuant tides and turbulences of the unpredictable world of marketing

Stay on the front foot

What’s stood the test of time is always worth applying. Alongside this, making tweaks and adaptations to your brand whilst staying true to the core aspects of it has always been a winning formula. Devise a hypothesis. Take it to the market. See how they react and iterate until your marketplace and brand hypothesis successfully overlap. The businesses that have lasted the longest have been the ones who have best adapted to the shift in culture, consumerism and market climate.

Measure all touchpoints

It takes up to 6-8 marketing touchpoints for a customer lead on average to convert to a buyer. This confirms the importance of allowing customers to experience and engage with your brand on different levels and platforms, whilst measuring the engagement levels and effectiveness of this, so necessary optimisations can be made. A customer-centric approach is key in this modern age. Although the phasing out of third-party cookies may impact the way customer touchpoints are established in terms of performance marketing, brands must find a way to leverage first-party data to make a similar impact. 

Timeless principles

Core marketing principles are agnostic of whatever era of time you are in. Times can change, but classic marketing principles don’t either, but merely evolve. For instance, originally it was 4P’s (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). Now we have 7P’s (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Packaging, Positioning and People). Creativity which has always been the lifeblood of marketing, is also never going away, but just being re-packed in different formats and platforms. Behavioural marketing is another one too (e.g. monitoring where, how and why your customers shop or interact with a particular brand, in a particular way).

Adrian is a SaaS ( Software-as-a-service) professional with six years experience in the industry. He currently works for a software subscription company, iubenda, which focuses on helping over 90,0000 enterprise businesses and SMEs websites and apps stay compliant with the law across multiple countries and legislations with their 360 solutions. He also consults and has experience in the Infoproduct, Podcasting and Startup industry.