On Wednesday 2nd February we hosted our Second Breakfast Panel at The Haymarket Hotel in London, discussing Slow Marketing and CRM with a panel made up of Jad Rahme, Head of CRM and Loyalty Marketing at Mindful Chef, Noa Mokhnachi, CRM manager at L’Occitane and Kate Bosomworth, Founder of Platform Agency and ex-CMO of M&C Saatchi.
It wasn’t just the speakers who were notable. The audience was packed with other great brands including Bloom & Wild, Boodles, Black Tomato and Olivia Von Halle, ready to hear from the panelists, challenge their own misconceptions, enjoy a delicious breakfast and leave feeling inspired.
So, what were the main takeaways from the event?
Panelists shared what they think the latest consumer trends are; L’Occitane said that “online and offline have blurred together. You need to measure success within physical stores rather than just online. This includes connecting with your customers, it has to be an omni-channel experience - this way you can create a more loyal customer base.”
When discussing how businesses need to listen to customers, Jad, Mindful Chef, stated that “CRM Teams need to represent and act as the voice of the customer inside the company." Jad continued that there needs to be a balance between what the customer wants and what the business wants. Following up on this, Kate from Platform mentioned that “businesses need to build cross-functional teams. Not only for better ROI but due to the fact that different departments are often separated, when they need to be more closely connected, especially when it comes to a customer's values”.
The panelists discussed slow marketing as a strategy and Charlotte, our CEO, stated that, “...businesses need to think about their customer first. Moving quickly isn’t the answer. You need to build - this way you can be more thoughtful and care about what you’re doing, driving longer term results.
Supporting this, Mindful Chef stated they used to “push a lot of things out at the same time, but this won’t achieve your goal as it doesn’t help you get your primary message across. Slowing down communications is the best way, as the company stops and listens to what their customers are asking from them."
Top Tips from our Panellists
Towards the end of the event, the three panelists and host, Charlotte Pearce, offered a top tip each. Overall, they agreed that businesses need to put customers at the heart of everything they do.
Kate Bosomworth also said “businesses and brands need to think about what emotional category they’re in, as it’s not just being a sports brand in a sports category. Is the business goal to motivate, to inspire? Acknowledging your emotional category can impact your customer engagement and connect them on a deeper, emotional level”.
E.g you are not a gymwear brand - you are a self-belief brand.
Kate also went on to say that “Brands and businesses need to stop thinking and talking about authenticity and move more to empathy. As well as brands investing more in the right customers that they want for their brand. This can be done with polite and friendly staff being more welcoming and building a relationship with regular customers who want to represent their brands.”
Noa at L’Occitane discussed how they are used to having a ‘quick fix’ strategy in order to drive sales. But due to the pandemic, as most of their sales were through their physical stores, they had to think outside the box, moving away from the quick fix tactic. Noa explained that “we needed to drive long-term sales online, have long-term KPI’s and change their mindset by rewarding their customers, without expecting anything in return”.
Finally Jad reminded us that it is all about listening and communicating, "Listen, listen to your customer, it is a relationship, why does someone fall in love with you? You need to find that reason and nurture it...listen to your other half and nurture it, like in any relationship." He also added that there are customers who are simply not going to be a product fit and you can't spend too much time worrying about them.
It is impossible to fit everything which was discussed into one blog but please if you would like to find out more about Slow Marketing, Inkpact or are interested in attending one of our events, send me an email: annie@inkpact.com
