This was an idea I came across at the beginning of my e-concept development education and it has fundamentally changed the way I view marketing. Many of the marketing and business theories I learnt during my education focused on making the numbers and statistics work, it was all focusing on getting more customers and make more money.
Rather than asking myself how I can simply improve sales, I ask myself how I can provide more value for the customer.
Learning about Simon Sinek's theory changed my perspective and it has changed how I work. Rather than asking myself how I can simply improve sales, I ask myself how I can provide more value for the customer. I realized that if I could clearly communicate the values of the brand and its products the customers who just "get it" will come, and they did.
During my internship at BLINK I developed a new strategy for Idyllien, a small webshop focusing on products in the everyday luxury category. My experience of e-commerce in small businesses were rather limited and my understanding of everyday luxury products like scented candles and soaps was even worse.
But within only a couple of weeks I managed to turn that around and by gaining a deeper understanding of Idyllien and its customers. From the start my focus was on improving the customer experience and provide more value rather than working with short term strategies to boost sales.
I did this by looking at what Idyllien had to offer and what other people in the business had done, not only Idyllien's competitors but businesses that distinguished their products by turning them into an experience.
In the end I'm happy I stuck with it because this strategy had resulted in more visitors and they stayed longer on the website visiting more pages which in the end made quite a significant increase in profits.
I kept this focus from the website to the use of social media, newsletters and even Spotify despite the fact that my boss kept asking me to push sales by offering discounts and other short term strategies that temporarily boost sales. In the end I'm happy I stuck with it because this strategy had resulted in more visitors and they stayed longer on the website visiting more pages which in the end made quite a significant increase in profits.