Advertising is everywhere, which is why it’s easy to overlook the fact that marketing is more than just advertising and promotion. In reality, if the customer sees it or interacts with it, it is part of the overall marketing strategy. Marketing spans all customer touchpoints at every stage of the buying cycle. Organizations often assume that sticky advertising is the only way to drive revenue and forget about the rest of the customer journey. At best, the result is budget waste. At worst, the result is irreparable brand damage.
There’s no greater example of this than Kmart’s 2013 Ship My Pants advertising campaign. Kmart wanted to attract a younger and trendier demographic with significant disposable income to reverse its slumping sales. With the retail industry as a whole floundering, Kmart hired an ad agency to generate brand buzz around a new initiative they were debuting. The TV commercial was a genius bit of advertising– informing consumers that they would now be able to order merchandise from the store and have it shipped directly to them in a way that was exceedingly clever. Forbes immediately praised the ad campaign by saying, “Amidst the doom and gloom that has been the retail beat, a welcome commercial break from an unexpected source offers a breath of fresh air. Kmart’s new ad campaign hasn’t even aired yet, but the ‘Ship My Pants’ video is already a viral hit.” And they were right! It was an overnight sensation.
The commercial sparked consumer interest, and consumers decided to give Kmart a shot. Customers were greeted with dirty floors, unorganized shelves, and disengaged employees, utterly opposite from the pristine store and happy employees seen on the commercials. Consumers couldn’t find the products they were looking for and were uninterested in paying retail prices after seeing the bargain shopper appearance of the store. The problem was that Kmart’s customer experience didn’t live up to what the targeted demographic expected. This disconnect turned off many shoppers indefinitely.
A marketing strategy cannot succeed unless an organization understands its audience. But this requires more than just demographic information and purchase pattern data; it necessitates a comprehensive understanding of their motivation as well. Homing in on preferences, pain points, and desires is essential to truly understand a consumer segment’s mindset and leveraging that to drives sales.
Kmart’s marketing team identified a gap in traditional retail offerings and offered to fix it. This marketing approach solved a common problem and offered to make Kmart relevant again in the rising age of eCommerce shopping domination. However, shoppers looking for an enjoyable shopping experience were then inconvenienced and unimpressed when they arrived at disorganized and outdated stores. The unappealing physical space and lackluster customer service still dated back to a time when Kmart had far less competition and subsequently didn’t have to do much to woo consumers. Kmart was stuck in a rut of just doing what they had always done while the industry evolved around them. The result was a mismatch of customer expectations and experiences, which turned off a demographic that could have revived the brand.
So, how can you do better?
When you are trying to expand or reach a new demographic, ask your team essential questions like:
- Have you clearly articulated who the new customers are?
- Do new customers require different customer experiences or marketing?
- How will new customers interact with your brand? How do your current customers interact with your brand?
- Are your marketing efforts aligned with your vision and the customer segment’s needs?
- Do your employees treat customers like they’re important? Are you promoting a customer-centric perspective among non-customer facing staff as well?
- Should your team handle/address a new customer group differently?
- What is the product/service experience like from a customer’s perspective?
- Which customer pain points is your organization ignoring? How could you address them?
- Are you the best solution for your customer’s needs, or are you just the best solution right now? Are your customers waiting for another company you provide a better solution? What does a better solution look like?
- How should the customer experience be different or the same as your current customers?
- Are all of your internal departments aligned with your goals and capable of solving the customer’s needs? Evaluate everyone from the front desk to maintenance (has an IT person ever spoken to your customers?)
- Are additional internal changes (such as training, new staff, or infrastructure) required to serve the correct customer experience to the right customers?
- Will you miss out on opportunities if you keep your customer experience the same for all customer experiences?
These questions will always be necessary, but they’re especially critical when expanding marketing efforts to try to reach new customer segments. The biggest lesson to learn from Kmart’s marketing failure is to ensure every step of the customer experience aligns with the expectations of the customer segment. Believing that regardless of the customer segment, the mindset of “our way works” is a dangerous perspective. Brand positioning has to be as dynamic as the marketing that’s promoting it, and brands have to be willing to redefine themselves when necessary.
Remember, advertising alone cannot right the ship if it’s sinking. Advertising efforts, in particular, must be synched with everything else along the customer journey. Overhauling the entire customer experience may not always be necessary – small tweaks can also pay huge dividends. But when it is long overdue, failure to address a broken customer purchase journey will sink even the best-executed advertising.
What have you done in your company to provide a better customer experience?