Subscription box marketing
It seems the subscription box market is on the up, with projections showing that the sector will be worth over £1 billion in the UK by 2022. With this increase in demand comes more competition as more businesses look to take their market share. Therefore, marketing is becoming more important than ever to achieve an increase in subscribers. This market is vast, ranging from beauty products to meal kits, from collectables to beer. This means that marketing plans will have to be adjusted depending on the type of subscription box you are providing.
Our marketing and PR team have compiled some universal tips to get you started with your subscription box marketing.
Design.
So, you have decided what you are going to include in your box. Now you have to make it desirable to your target consumers. Creating your branding is so much more than coming up with a cool logo. Your design needs to be carried across every aspect of your business. Even the way your box is packaged will affect your consumers purchasing decision. Therefore, the design should match the products inside and the feeling you want the customer to have when they receive it. For example, if your subscription box is offering high-end beauty products you want the box to radiate quality and luxury. If it contains craft beer, you will need to be a bit ‘edgy’.
Website & SEO.
Just as your box needs to look the part so does your website. You need to ensure that it is consistent with your brand and that it is easy to use. Your site is where you will close the sale; as it is where people will be signing up to subscribe. With this in mind, you must spend time making sure that your website looks trustworthy. Referring back to the previous example of the high-end beauty subscription box; the landing page will need to match the customer’s expectations. It will be detrimental to the brand if you have an outdated website riddled with poor content. Once you have a site to be proud of, you need to start showing it off.
The best way to do this is to work on your SEO. By creating an SEO strategy, you can start to improve your search rankings on certain key phrases related to your niche. There are multiple ways you can do this. One way that you can start to improve your SEO is to create a blog page on your website. A blog not only gives you the perfect opportunity to organically include relevant key phrases, but it also provides your visitors with value in the form of tips and knowledge.
Social media.
Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are great tools for marketing subscription boxes. With billions of people using social media, it is easy to find your target audience on platforms such as Instagram. This is another method of creating brand exposure and allows you direct access to your potential consumers. You should once again carry your branding across to your social media channels, ensuring that your posts are of a quality that you would want to be associated with your business. Encourage your subscribers to tag your page in reveal videos and photos. This will generate more exposure for your brand while giving you more content to potentially reuse. By sharing your subscriber’s posts you show a good customer relationship while making your brand more personable.
Influencer marketing.
An extra avenue to explore with social media is influencer marketing. If you are an avid user of Instagram then you have probably come across your fair share of this already. A great way to promote your brand to a large audience is to ask these online celebrities to endorse your box. You will need to do a bit of research to find several influencers that have the following matching that of your target consumer.
Once you have your list you can start to communicate with them. Be friendly and ask them if they would be happy to give your box a shout out on their social channels. At this point, they will probably start to negotiate a fee. Influencers fees range from simply gifting them the product, to paying thousands of pounds for a video endorsement. The beauty of influencer marketing though is that there are thousands to choose from so if you aren’t able to meet one of their rates you can ask another.
REACH OUT TO BLOGGERS.
In the same way you reach out to influencers you can also reach out to bloggers and vloggers. A lot of the time bloggers and vloggers will be more than happy to review your box if you are kind enough to gift it to them. This marketing tactic works in a similar way to influencer marketing only with the result of not being limited to social media. Bloggers, just like influencers, will have a loyal following of their own. By having them endorse your subscription box their followers are likely to trust your brand as it is now associated with someone they admire. Another bonus is that bloggers can link to your website which can go towards helping your SEO.
PUBLIC RELATIONS TELLS A STORY.
It has been said that public relations is the art of reputation management, As a B2C business, you will need to ensure that your reputation is one to be proud of. The best way to gain a great reputation, besides offering a fantastic consumer experience is to gain press exposure. It can be difficult to gain media exposure if you do not have good connections with journalists and media outlets.
We recommend outsourcing your PR activity to an agency that has built up great media connections and can guarantee results. By having your subscription box business feature in the national press, you benefit from a huge audience seeing your product and brand. This tactic works even better if you can put a face to the brand and talk about the story behind your business.
If you are looking to gain brand exposure and grow your customer base;, then why not give our friendly team a call on 01376 386850. Alternatively, send us a message by clicking here. We would love to help you with your subscription box marketing and PR.