How do you define marketing?
Great question. Marketing is about reaching out to potential customers, to inform them of your product or service. It is not only about communicating a message to a specific consumer base, it’s about engagement. In an age when consumers see 5,000 marketing messages a day, marketing needs to be a two way process in order to be effective and generate cut-through. Brands need to listen and conduct a two-way conversation with consumers in order to build trust and loyalty, especially in the age of social media. It’s a communications revolution.
What marketing trend is dominating your job at the moment?
Social media has always formed the crux of our marketing activity at Zaggora. When we started the company in 2011 selling HotPants™ we simply didn’t have the budget to activate aggressive ATL campaigns so we reached out to bloggers via Twitter to generate trial and review of our product. We sold over 100,000 pairs of HotPants™ in 10 weeks. To this day, Facebook and Twitter remain our most effective means of marketing to consumers, with 450,000 fans and 30,000 followers respectively.
If you had three wishes for your brand, what would they be?
To sell in every country – we are currently in 126! To become a household name by 2015 in the UK & US. To be known for making people’s lives healthier, happier and HOTTER!
If you had one recommendation for those looking to maximize the level of engagement with their brand, what would it be?
Listen to your consumers and act on their recommendation. I literally read Facebook comments and customer emails in my own time. I also randomly email customers to ask them about their experience at Zaggora.com. There is no point second-guessing what consumers want when it is easy to have a direct dialogue with them.
What has been the most successful tool in optimising your brand engagement and maximising returns?
Facebook!
What do you hope to gain/takeaway from gathering with other marketing leaders at BrandMAX 2013?
To discuss issues that affect all of us daily.
What session, other than your own, are you most looking forward to at BrandMAX 2013?
All of them!
Malcolm will be speaking at BrandMAX 2013 on ‘The Start-Up Story – The Winning Formula Behind A Growing, Relevant Brand’ – an inspiring story offering insight into the product development, team structure, marketing channels, leadership and ideas that really made a positive different to this business and enabled it to weather the economic storm and make their brand flourish from scratch.
26 September 2013, St. Paul’s, London -
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