Once or Twice Marketing
Marketing for a Once or Twice product or service requires a tailored approach, embracing core marketing principles in a considered way, to ensure success when you have just one chance.
Marketing is a universal discipline – the core principles and foundations of marketing can be effectively applied to any industry or product to deliver highly successful commercial results. But, whilst the fundamentals of marketing are universal – there is a need to adapt and apply them correctly to any given situation, and this absolutely applies to the specific nature of Once or Twice businesses.
When developing a marketing strategy or campaign plan for Once or Twice purchases, these are just some of the key marketing principles and techniques that need to be considered.
The Long and the Short of It
A seminal piece of work on the effectiveness of marketing, Les Binet and Peter Field published The Long and the Short It, which argues the need for both long term brand building and short term activation for sustainable marketing success.
The application of the learnings from this is particularly relevant to Once or Twice purchases – where the long game of building a brand will reach your audience before they even need your product or service, improving the chance of recognition and consideration. Then the most effective short-term activation activity is necessary to convert that recognition into a sale when it matters.
Diagnosis and Market Orientation
Any strategy must be grounded in solid diagnosis and understanding. Knowing your market and audience is essential for any business, and developing your ideal target customer profiles will support your marketing effectiveness. Although the work required here can be broad, one point is particularly relevant for Once or Twice. It is perhaps easy to identify the profile of a customer at the moment of purchase, which many businesses may be able to achieve. The difficultly comes in establishing the timeline and route to that moment, to try and understand the pathway someone’s life may take, and whether they will eventually transition into your target customer profile and when that will happen.
Differentiated AND Distinctive
More work from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, this time from Professor Jenni Romaniuk, highlights the importance of being Distinctive – having a set of brand codes and distinctive assets that help you stand out and be recognised when a customer is in market.
At the same time it is important to have a Distinctive proposition, something that separates you from your competition beyond just your appearance – what makes your product or service different to the competition. For Once or Twice businesses, differentiation and distinctiveness are crucial to simplifying the decision process and ensuring your brand stands out when customers finally enter the market.
95:5 heuristic, but perhaps even more extreme
Research published by Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute highlights that for a lot of B2B products, only 20% of your audience may be in the market to buy each year – equating to around 5% each quarter. This means 95% of your audience is NOT in the market to buy each quarter. For Once or Twice purchases, this could be even more extreme with 99% of your potential market not ready to buy in the year. This underscores the need for continuous marketing and communication, ensuring your brand remains top-of-mind even when customers are not actively in the market.
Physical and Mental Availability
Fundamental to work presented in How Brands Grow, by Professor Byron Sharp, is the concept of Physical and Mental Availability – and although relevant to all brands it is especially important for Once or Twice businesses.
Mental Availability is the result of marketing efforts that ensures your brand is associated with the category when the customers think of the need – it is closely tied to long-term brand building, impacting the customer sometimes many years in advance of the actual need for the product or service.
Physical Availability means being present and available in places where the customer goes looking for a supplier – this could be appearing in search results or having a physical location nearby. When the customer is entering the market just Once, being thought of at that moment is essential – and it is also paramount that when they go looking, they can find you, because if they can’t find you first time, you won’t get a second chance.
Ensuring a Good Ending
For Once or Twice businesses the relationship with the customer is finite and, in most cases, will have a clear end point. Ensuring this conclusion is positive and memorable can turn this one-time transaction into a powerful source of advocacy and reputation. Creating an off-boarding process may feel unnatural, but for Once or Twice businesses having this in place can be a clear differentiator and a mark of truly understanding your customer.
Reviews, Recommendations, Social Proof – and ultimately Trust
Trust is paramount for customers making Once or Twice purchases. In the absence of prior experience and knowledge, reviews, recommendations, and social proof play a critical role in building this trust. Having a slick and efficient process to capture testimonials and turn these into marketing assets is particularly important for Once or Twice businesses.
Getting the 4 P’s Right
The classic marketing mix remains as relevant as ever, and especially so for Once or Twice businesses. Ensuring your Product meets high customer expectations. Pricing plays an important role, as people will stretch budgets but also use price as a default comparison. Place is essential with a lot of products or services requiring a localised delivery. And finally, Promotion to ensure you are known before the need is even there, and you can be found when the need finally arises.
A Carefully Crafted Strategy and Tactical Plan
Although not a specific technique, a strong strategy and tactical plan is essential for any successful business and is especially important for Once or Twice businesses. To succeed you need to be prepared, which means having a plan and following it. When you have just one chance to win a customer, you need to have a strategy on how you will reach that customer and ultimately convert them into a sale. You will likely have a 3 to 5 year business strategy, which should incorporate some long term marketing objectives, but you also need an annual brand strategy that is developed each year to ensure you remain market oriented.
The Importance of Excess Share of Voice (ESOV)
In order to grow you need to achieve an Excess Share of Voice – which means you have a greater share of the marketing activity in the market than what your current sales market share is. In Once or Twice markets, where awareness must often be built over long periods, understanding, monitoring and maintaining an excess share of voice ensures your brand remains competitive and visible.
The successful marketing of a Once or Twice business takes time and commitment. The principles and frameworks above are just part of detailed and considered process that any business needs to go through. It requires knowledge, skill and expertise to amalgamate all the necessary marketing techniques and develop a winning strategy. At Once or Twice, we provide a full range of services to support businesses – from developing a full comprehensive strategy through to providing support and oversight in the execution of campaigns. Learn more about how we can support your business with tailored strategies and expert guidance in our Services section, or contact us to discuss your needs directly.
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Once or Twice businesses
4 categories that define Once or Twice businesses
Understanding Once or Twice buyer behaviour
Key behaviours to be aware of for Once or Twice businesses
Once or Twice businesses
4 categories that define Once or Twice businesses
Understanding Once or Twice buyer behaviour
Key behaviours to be aware of for Once or Twice businesses