Big brands understand things that service providers haven't cottoned onto just yet. They've got the budget, market research, & teams to test things. We should watch them and learn from them.
Here are just 3 of the ways consumer brands are growing today, and how we can adopt their methods in our own brands to start blooming 🌹
① Audience before Product
Today's brands know that the way to grow your brand is to first grow a community around your POV + expertise.
Take Vacation Inc. When they dropped onto the scene with a cheeky and nostalgic suncare, they built their audience first.
They launched Poolside.fm, a website with soothing music and other delights, and grew a community on Instagram using music and nostalgia to over 80,000 members before launching Vacation Inc.
So many creative service providers stay in tinker town, crafting the perfect website, pouring over their offer suite again and again, when really they could be growing a community by simply showing up consistently every day as themselves.
Start growing your community.
② One Product Per Solution
Most service providers out there have a bunch of offers that are all crammed full of deliverables.
In one offer get strategy, creative direction, brand design, website design, copy, website design, social media graphics.
In the next offer you get strategy, creative direction, brand design, and socials.
Your ideal client visits your website, gets overwhelmed, and peaces out.
And we wonder why we are so burnt out all the time.
Take Rhode Beauty. They came onto the scene in 2022 with three products: the Peptide Glazing Fluid, the Barrier Restore Cream, and the Peptide Lip Treatment.
Think of your offer suite in the same way. Focus on simplicity and each offer having one specific solution.
What you create is repeat customers, way more profit, and an offer ecosystem that is built around your specialty rather than being for everyone and whatever anyone wants.
③ Make It An Experience
When I ordered AG1 last year, it didn't feel like I was buying a daily supplement. It felt like I was joining a movement.
Everything from checkout, to the emails I received after, to the monthly packaging I received from them felt like they really valued me as a customer. That just by clicking purchase, I started a transformational journey.
I see so many service providers websites and socials that feel transactional. Here's this package. Here's that package. Here's what's included. Here's a form to fill out.
The transformation our clients experience shouldn't begin when they start working with us. It should start from the moment they land in your brand garden via socials, newsletters, websites, etc.
The minute they encounter your brand, they need to be able to see themselves at the other side of working with you.
This includes visuals, words, but also YOU as the founder of your brand walking the talk. Being freaking hype at what you do. And frequently inviting people to experience it for themselves.
In Conclusion
Stepping into the big brand energy isn't just about emulating the successful; it's about recognizing and harnessing the core principles that make them thrive: prioritizing our audience, streamlining our offerings, and elevating the customer experience. By adopting these big brand strategies, we're not just making incremental changes; we're taking quantum leaps towards the vision we hold for our brands.
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