Lifestyle brands happen organically, right? Wrong. More information and action steps to become a lifestyle brand versus a product-centric one.
This is the second in a series of articles exploring the rise of lifestyle brands. You can read the first article here.
So maybe you came across my first article in this series and convinced you to explore what it takes to become a lifestyle brand. However, like many CX and marketing leaders, you might be skeptical: Lifestyle brands just happen organically, right? They are just a magical alchemy of having the right customers with a common set of beliefs around the right products at the right time.
Right? Wrong.
This article will walk you through three concrete steps businesses need to take to transition from a product-based business to a lifestyle brand. The goal is to show you that it can happen through careful planning and execution.
What are lifestyle brands, again?
First, a quick summary. As I explained in the first article, lifestyle brands are defined by the strength and fervor of the customer communities that surround them. However, instead of concentrating on one product or set of products, lifestyle brands focus on purpose and mission.
Through relentless upholding of that mission, and by building customer communities of like-minded individuals, lifestyle brands can retain and attract more customers, charge more for their products than competitors, and navigate through turbulent economic conditions (or so I say). ). Notable examples of lifestyle brands include YETI, Black Rifle Coffee, Patagonia, and Barstool Sports.
Related Article: Only Brands With Purpose Can Achieve Lifestyle Brand Status
Going from a product-based company to a lifestyle brand
To make the transition from a product-driven company to a lifestyle brand, there is one prerequisite: You must have at least one really great first product or set of products that attract and keep initial customers.
For YETI, it was their notoriously durable coolers that kept the liquid cool for insane periods of time.
For Barstool Sports, regardless of whether you agree with their political and social stances, it was all about personality-driven blog content hyper-targeted at “bro” culture.
For A24, perhaps the only movie studio that’s also a lifestyle brand, it was early movies like Spring Breakers that received critical acclaim.
YETI, Barstool Sports and A24 have virtually nothing in common when it comes to their beliefs or mission. However, they all made the same conscious decision after finding initial success: follow a product roadmap that aligns with brand purpose, rather than trying to fit a brand around an expanding set of similar products. .
This is a subtle, but important, difference in product strategy. Most companies will try to take their product experience and apply it to new adjacent products. A company known for its excellent t-shirts will make a polo shirt, for example.
See everything
Action Steps for Lifestyle Status
However, one of Barstool Sports’ first forays outside of blog content wasn’t podcasts or movies, but rather its infamous “Blackout Party Tour” series of events, which, as you might imagine given its name, further infused the brand in the “brother” lifestyle. .
To cultivate its outdoor image, YETI began making products like outdoor chairs, sleeping bag blankets, and even dog beds. Even A24 has followed an unorthodox filmography strategy: experiencing initial success with quirky satire on youth culture with Spring Breakers and The Bling Ring, but quickly moving on to high-concept sci-fi thrillers with Under the Skin and Enemy. A24 made a conscious decision to become a production company not known for one genre, but for the lifestyle of the movie fanatic.
Related article: Why strategy is not an option in content marketing
Content to align with brand purpose
Lifestyle brands need to invest heavily in content that helps their customers engage with the brand purpose. I would say that if you are not also known as a content factory, then you are not successfully executing a lifestyle brand strategy.
YETI has a podcast, a short film production wing, and an entire content series focused on its customer ambassadors. A24 sells screenplay books and fans can subscribe to a monthly magazine with special editors like Jonah Hill.
One of my favorite examples of this comes from the Haus cocktail company. They squarely target the casual, laid-back, at-home drinking lifestyle that may be appealing to older millennials, and have curated playlists you can find on Spotify that are designed to facilitate those exact types of social gatherings. . They’re making it easier to literally bring their lifestyle into your living room.
Wear the brand loud and proud
Finally, the merchandise and equipment are the trademarks of the lifestyle brand. If you can generate a return on investment with bumper stickers, you’ll know you’ve done it. Check out the YETI site, or Barstool Sports. If you weren’t completely familiar with their products, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that they are first and foremost an apparel company. Clothing gives fans of the brand the opportunity to proudly and publicly display their allegiance to that brand’s purpose and mission. It allows them to tell the world what they believe and who they are in a fast and efficient way. My favorite recent example of this is electric truck company Rivian’s “Forever” line of t-shirts. As the motto says: “A t-shirt to celebrate our shared vision is to keep the planet intact for our children’s children.”
Hopefully, the above paragraphs will give you some inspiration if you’re also thinking of pursuing a lifestyle branding strategy. However, none of these tactics will matter if you’re not willing to take a stand and display a set of beliefs. As a lifestyle brand, you will not be able to appeal to all consumers. It might even spawn some “enemies”.
But by offering a wide range of products, all dedicated to one lifestyle, and investing in high-quality content and merchandise, you’ll go a long way toward cultivating a rabid, loyal customer base that would be the envy of your more traditionally minded competitors. .
Source: www.cmswire.com