IT'S NOT A FUNNEL
What used to work like a funnel — many brands slowly narrowed down to just a few purchased — now works like, well, a busted funnel. With more sources of information and immediate feedback, fewer brands are initially considered, and consumers can fall in love at first purchase. It's all part of a new model called The Consumer Decision Journey*.
While the Consider and Evaluate stages are typically handled by above-the-line agencies, Switch specializes in the stages leading up to and within the Loyalty Loop - a series of key experiential marketing tactics we like to call our Sweet Spot
Consider
Where do consumers start? Still with a whole lot of brands, assembled from ads, displays, word-of-mouth and other messaging sources. But now with more information and immediate feedback, fewer brands make the cut.
Evaluate
Next, consumers get picky, swapping out some brands for other brands, adding new ones, and dropping others entirely as they get feedback from peers, reviewers, retailers, brand competitors and especially online sources.
Try
This is where the Switch Sweet Spot starts, giving your brand the edge with experiential tactics. What’s that mean? We give consumers one-on-one brand experiences with one powerful insight in mind – 60% of consumers who sample or try a product say they plan to buy it in the future.
Buy
Switch continues to make your brand a star using experiential in-store messaging, reaching consumers at the point of purchase, where increasingly they wait to make a purchase decision influenced by placement, packaging, availability, pricing and sales interactions.
Enjoy, Advocate, Bond
Now that the cake's been baked, Switch is going to ice it. With a strong experiential foundation in place, consumers form a deeper connection with your brand post-purchase than was possible with the old funnel model. And Switch strengthens this bond even further with follow-up digital and social touch points.
Our Sweet Spot
These are the key stages Switch specializes in - a series of experiential marketing tactics including trial, POP promotions and post-purchase engagement that lead directly into the Loyalty Loop. Once there, a consumer is committed to your brand and repeats the Buy, Enjoy, Advocate and Bond stages in a loop, never again to return to the Consider and Evaluate stages!
*McKinsey Quarterly, David Court, Dave Elzinga, Susan Mulder, and Ole Jorgen, Vetvik, June 2009