3 Marketing Lessons From the TOMS Store
I'm not a TOMS person... yet. But I'm going to buy from them
Maybe a pair of basic oh-so-hip sneakers to match my even hipper Linus bike. Or perhaps a bomb pattern-pocket Venice T-shirt. Maybe even a pair of sunglasses… even though I already have two great pairs. I don't know when I'll buy something and truthfully I don't really need anything. But TOMS might as well consider me an invoice because I know I am going to buy.
Late last year, TOMS opened their only retail store on Abbott Kinney, just a few blocks away from my house. Their beautiful store carries their full product line and includes a "backyard" area that showcases Venice's perfect, seasonally agnostic weather all year. But none of this alone would compel me to pick up a product and ring it up. It's something else entirely… the coffee.
The coffee bar welcomes you as you walk into the store. And the coffee is freaking good… their baristas are great… and their outdoor seating area is the best on Abbott Kinney. Plus they have free wifi, a bunch of books, and a ton of cute dogs walking around. I quickly became a regular, stopping by every other morning and a few afternoons a week. In fact, I'm drafting this there right now.
I have a happy relationship with TOMS cafe. More happy than any other cafe. But here's the kicker… when I walk towards the outdoor seating area, I see that Venice t-shirt every day. When I sit down to type, I sit front row to the retail experience. A dozen of people crowded around TOMS shoes, trying em on, talking to the charming sales staff, smiling and joking and wearing ironic (but are they…?) hats. Some of them may be wearing TOMS sunglasses.
And each day I sit in this environment, happy as a clam, productive and caffeinated, I get closer and closer to buying something other than coffee from TOMS. It might be today (though the fact that I'm so conscious of their seduction today may just save me).
I'm taking inspiration from all over to build out the best inbound marketing machine in existence at ZEFR. And that $28 T-shirt will be a small price to pay for this experiential TOMS marketing masterclass. Here's what I learned about selling software from the TOMS cafe experience;
Familiarity and frequency
I don't frequently think about buying shoes (or apparel, really). The same wardrobe followed me from college to real life. But when I really need something, I go through a brief, intense period of comparative shopping to find the very best product at the very best price that I can find at that moment.
The software buying process is similar. A company doesn't think about, say, a software that helps them turn insights from YouTube into actionable marketing and strategy decisions often (ahem, if this sounds interesting to you, tweet at me… our beta just kicked off), but when they realize it's available and decide they need it, they'll rally resources and consume everything available to try and find the right solution for their company. Google calls this moment of realization the "Zero Moment of Truth".
So your solution better come up during that search. That's what fundamental inbound marketing is all about: showing up when prospects realize they want what you offer.
But imagine if companies got to potential customers before the Zero Moment by offering something they want right now while introducing a solution they may want down the line. That's what TOMS cafe does. I needed caffeine and a chill place to work. In exchange, they placed their products all around me. And as any marketer or psychologist knows, familiarity is one of the most powerful tool to influence a consumer's preferences.
How can you do this as a software company? Know your target audience and give them things they want today while tactfully introducing them to your brand and your products. For us, one of our customers is the brand manager. That brand manager probably wants to learn how they can better leverage YouTube alone before they're ready to buy a software. So before hitting them over the head with content specific to our product, we should help them become the smartest YouTube cat in their organization. And just like I go to TOMS every time I want coffee, they'll come to us whenever they want to be a better marketer.
Before working here at TOMS, I knew almost nothing about the brand except that a lot of cute hip girls wore them and they gave a pair when I bought a pair. I didn't know if they were comfortable and whether people were satisfied after buying them. But there's no longer any doubt in my mind that these are great products… not because I've even tried them on, but the vibe in this store is so great that I wouldn't be surprised if buying TOMS product directly leads to happiness. The sun shines through, drenching everyone with radiance and powering a roomful of smiles. Kids squeal with excitement as they unbox their new shoes and fluffy dogs lounge about patiently waiting for their owners to grab their new socially conscious gear.
If all of these happy, attractive people love TOMS, so should I!
Customer testimonials and referrals aren't new to software companies… in fact, they're so ingrained that they've become the norm. The "meet our customers" panel just becomes another page on the website… about as effective as if I read through TOMS testimonials on their website or twitter.
But there's something unique and attractive about the personal connection I get from the physical presence of these happy customers. It's real and authentic and raw and not embellished or over engineered. I trust it and that makes me trust TOMS.
Though software companies might not replicate this window into a live buying experience, we can get closer with every step we take towards personalization. SalesForce Marketing Cloud does a terrific job with their high production testimonial videos highlighting the individuals responsible for using their products. A brand testimonial becomes a personal testimonial. But real-life interaction is even better… so they throw an annual conference called DreamForce where they invite all their customers and high potential prospects to a blow out event in San Francisco. Part of the conference serves to associate a great, memorable experience with their brand, but it's also a huge opportunity to get potential customers to interact with glowing evangelists for their product.
I have a feeling that we haven't yet scratched the surface of what's possible when it comes to building that raw social proof for software.
If the coffee at TOMS wasn't the best on Abbott Kinney, I probably wouldn't come and pay the $2.50 a cup, I wouldn't spend hours pecking at my computer on their patio, I wouldn't know I was going to buy their products. But their coffee is the best and their patio rules, so here I am.
It's the best cafe experience around, and I associate that experience with their product. The positive emotions I get from the cafe spill over to their brand and their products. It's synesthesia… my happy experience buying coffee convinces me I'd have a happy experience buying shoes.
The obvious corollary in software is the content they publish. I'm building out a marketing machine, so I'm on the cusp of buying an inbound marketing solution. At the end of the day, I might try three or four of them, but there's no way I'll personally evaluate all of them. As I got smart on the ecosystem, I read nearly one hundred articles on the topic. You know who killed it? Hubspot, KISSmetrics, Moz, 37Signals and a few others. These guys provided a delightful reading experience, so I start to assume they'll provide a delightful product experience.
This goes doubly true for companies that sell multiple products. Give your customers a phenomenal experience with one product or service, and it'll get easier to cross-sell or up-sell. If it's just average, they'll assume your other offering is just as average. The same principles apply when considering co-branding with another company.
So thanks TOMS, for the education
We'll be trying to replicate your success to provide our audience frequent, personal, delightful interactions with ZEFR. Remind me how much that shirt is again?
