For marketers, there is one important question that is constantly on their minds: how do we stay relevant?
Relevancy is paramount to a company’s success. If an organization is no longer relevant, it is no longer on the forefront of consumer’s minds. In today’s competitive business environment, customers can only realistically choose between so many options. For example, let’s say you and a friend are going out to grab some fast food. Are you going to take the time to evaluate and choose between the hundreds of fast food chains in the US, or are you going to pick between the manageable handful that come to your mind first. Odds are, you are going to go with the second option, and debate between a few different selections.
Now, why do certain fast food locations come to mind first over others? Maybe you live close to one fast food restaurant, while you enjoy the variety in milkshakes offered by the second restaurant, and you also just heard a comical ad from the third restaurant on TikTok. All of these factors are relevant to you as a consumer.
Proximity
As marketers, we can not try to ensure relevancy to everyone by setting up operations near every potential consumer. Take the previous case for example: this would mean the same quick service restaurant opening on every street corner! However, this can lead to a problem known as cannibalization. This phenomenon occurs when too many of the same franchise open up in too close of proximity to one another that they compete for one another’s customers. For example, when Starbucks experienced a rise in popularity in the early 2000s, they began a period of rapid expansion. However, in some areas, there were too many Starbucks locations that were all competing for resources and customers. Thus, Starbucks closed down certain locations [1]. Instead, in part to avoid cannibalization and in part due to logistics, we want to ensure that our product or service is front of mind even if it is not the closest option for a given consumer.
Product Variability
Product variability is another way to stay relevant. Companies can adapt their products to create updated versions that are more compatible with evolving consumer tastes and to gain publicity through product launches. For example, the company behind Shark Tank’s famous Scrub Daddy sponge released the Scrub Mommy sponge several years later. While not vastly different in intended use and outcome, the continuation of the memorable product name paired with the new pink color revitalized the Scrub Daddy company as a whole [2]. However, similar to striving for increased proximity to customers, there are limits on how many product offerings a company can logistically produce and sell to market, as questions regarding supply chain costs and channels, resource allotment, budgeting, and personnel availability impact a company’s ability to take on new products.
Digital Marketing
This leaves us with a very popular way to stay relevant amongst consumers in 2023: digital advertising. A huge component of digital marketing is social media. In 2023, more than 60% of people worldwide use social media, and this number is continuing to grow [3]. Furthermore, the average time spent on social media per day is 2 hours and 24 minutes [4]. This is a lot of time per day that consumers can be exposed to advertising whether through paid ads, sponsorships, collaboration, or free positive word of mouth from satisfied customers.
The trick to staying relevant with digital advertising is that you must also know what is relevant in the realm of social media. Memes, trends, tags, and challenges all rise in fall in popularity. One moment, a specific meme format can garner millions of likes and drive engagement, and the next, it can enter obscurity. With a wide breadth of social media platforms on the market, each with billions of users and endless content, it is impossible for one person, or even a group of people, to stay aware of what is trending on various sides of the internet. It is even harder to predict what will go viral. Below are several strategies to identify marketing avenues on social media that can be used to stay relevant.
- Follow relevant social media accounts. Influencers, industry leaders, and even successful meme accounts can all clue you in as to what people are currently focusing on [5].
- Set up notifications, such as Google Alerts, to stay updated on when certain industries or products are trending [6].
- Crowdsource from your own team. You don’t have to only pay attention to what external customers are engaging with on social media; ask your colleagues what they have been following recently to brainstorm ideas [7].
Real World Example: Relevancy Driving Development
Let’s look at a current example of staying relevant that blends several strategies. Grammy winning singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has been on a hot streak, maintaining her presence as a global superstar, and thus, a global influencer. Recently, a picture of Swift was posted by a fan account with the caption “Taylor Swift was eating a piece of chicken with ketchup and seemingly ranch!” [8]. This post received immense amounts of engagement, with people noting the remarkable power of Swift’s influence on society that this was regarded as breaking news and with people laughing over the comical inclusion of the word “seemingly”.
In their mission to stay relevant, company after company began posting “seemingly ranch” memes, sometimes connecting the joke to their own company. For example, Walmart posted a photo shopped picture of one of their aisles dedicated solely to ranch, McDonalds was promoting their chicken nuggets as “Definitely McNuggets” on their app, and even the Empire State Building was lit up with red and white lights to symbolize ketchup and ranch [9].
For one company, however, the idea to capitalize on this opportunity to stay relevant did not stop with digital advertising. Heinz, famous for their condiments, announced that they were introducing a new, limited bottle of what they were calling “Heinz Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch” [10]. This new product offering took Heinz’s relevancy campaign to the next level, as Heinz will directly profit off of it. Heinz did not come up with this meme nor did they collaborate with Swift; however, they acted fast, and capitalized on their position to use this trend as their own marketing concept. This is an interesting case to examine, as in an effort to be more relevant than competitors, Heinz used their digital marketing to inspire their product development, as opposed to the common flow of a product being developed, and then a marketing strategy being created to follow.
Questions marketing managers would consider:
- What are some challenges that companies face when trying to stay relevant?
- What are some current trends, platforms, or events that a company can utilize as a marketing tactic today?
References
[1] Delventhal, Shoshanna. (25 June 2019). Starbucks Stores Are Finally Cannibalizing Each Other: BMO Downgrades. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/news/starbucks-stores-are-finally-cannibalizing-each-other-bmo-downgrades/
[2] D’Agnese, Melissa. (25 July 2023). Scrub Daddy vs. Scrub Mommy: Experts Weigh in on These Game-Changing Sponges. First For Women. https://www.firstforwomen.com/posts/cleaning/scrub-daddy-vs-scrub-mommy
[3] Chaffey, Dave. (7 June 2023). Global social media statistics research summary 2023. Smart Insights. https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/
[4] Chaffey, Dave. (7 June 2023). Global social media statistics research summary 2023. Smart Insights. https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/
[5] Lawlor, Jessica. (16 June 2022). 5 Ways to Stay on Top of Marketing Trends. Digital Ink. https://www.digital.ink/blog/marketing-trends/
[6] Lawlor, Jessica. (16 June 2022). 5 Ways to Stay on Top of Marketing Trends. Digital Ink. https://www.digital.ink/blog/marketing-trends/
[7] Lawlor, Jessica. (16 June 2022). 5 Ways to Stay on Top of Marketing Trends. Digital Ink. https://www.digital.ink/blog/marketing-trends/
[8] Treisman, Rachel. (28 Sept. 2023). The journey of ‘seemingly ranch,’ from meme to top of the Empire State Building. NPR. https://www.wpr.org/journey-seemingly-ranch-meme-top-empire-state-building
[9] Treisman, Rachel. (28 Sept. 2023). The journey of ‘seemingly ranch,’ from meme to top of the Empire State Building. NPR. https://www.wpr.org/journey-seemingly-ranch-meme-top-empire-state-building
[10] Romero, Gabby. (28 Sept. 2023). Heinz Is Releasing Limited-Edition Bottles Of Ketchup And ‘Seemingly Ranch’ In Honor Of Taylor Swift. Delish. https://www.delish.com/food-news/a45360156/heinz-ketchup-seemingly-ranch/
Images:
Image 1: https://mondo.com/insights/influencer-marketing-roles-to-hire-for/
Image 2: https://www.nrn.com/beverage-trends/starbucks-allow-reusable-cups-starting-june-22
Image 3: https://cleanpost.co.nz/blogs/news/what-the-difference-between-a-scrub-daddy-and-scrub-mommy
Image 4: https://grammarist.com/usage/relevance-relevancy/
Image 5: https://www.delish.com/food-news/a45360156/heinz-ketchup-seemingly-ranch/
Image 6: https://www.delish.com/food-news/a45360156/heinz-ketchup-seemingly-ranch/
Image 7: https://www.delish.com/food-news/a45360156/heinz-ketchup-seemingly-ranch/
Marketing Management 