Niche-Out© Marketing
Boxing, CrossFit, Ninja Warrior, Parkour, Lacrosse, Track & Field, Frisbee Golf and any sport that receives a small amount of coverage are niche sports. MMA and UFC are growing, but can also be considered niche. These lesser known athletic events, when marketed the correct way, can help both brands and retailers establish long-term connection to fans of brands and those new to the footwear and apparel of both retail and brands.
Why is this important? Brands without an established history will not attain the growth they seek in fashion. As sportswear becomes more about the casual potential of the gear being created, brands will have to create performance gear that is just as comfortable on the court as it is in the boardroom and in day to day wear. New footwear brands simply don’t have the heritage to ride the wave of retro or to call on models from archives to deliver a breadth of products that will appeal to a customer who is smarter and more informed than they’ve ever been. The brand cache for older sportswear companies are too rich to overcome for new brands trying to transition into the footwear and apparel that people will wear casually.
Retailers are in a similar box, with a different problem. As brands become more focused on controlling inventory, and as they see the benefits of increased DTC, traditional retail accounts are going to feel pressure in both brick and mortar locations as well as online. Stores who don’t have the physical footprint of a Foot Locker will struggle in the new retail environment. Retailers who lack the digital savvy of a brand like Nike will also suffer in e-commerce. Retailers are no longer allowed to simply be boxes with product.
Retailers and brands both have to diversify their marketing strategies. The new marketing strategy will have to incorporate a variety of mediums to bring the customer to the site or store on a regular basis.
All new/newer brands whether performance or casual and all retail outlets are in a special position to utilize what I call a “niche-out” strategy in marketing. Niche-Out for brands and retailers must take place through a subversive approach that is a combination of content to drive engagement with not only the athletes, but the designers. Brands have to build a narrative that becomes the layer beneath all of the hype. The content created by retail and brands has to be more consistent. It has to become daily written content, video content, photography and all of these mediums will have to promote fitness as well as lifestyle. The niche is right where marketing needs to be for both stores and sportswear companies.
E.N.D.E.A.R.S©
Niche-Out will only work when a company spends the money that has been placed in the hands of influencers and endorsed athletes into departments helmed by designers, videographers, photographers and writers. Basically brands and retailers should become in-house marketing units that control their message via their platform and then begin to share that message from the inside – out. This is a slower, long term process, but ultimately as social media shifts, the peaks and valleys leave brands scrambling to reach consumers. The teams built in house will generate content. While many brands are becoming intent on utilizing Social Media in lieu of sharing information from the inside out, this is a mistake. Social media information is not indexed and searchable. Website content/blogs (vlogs embedded into the blog/news area of a website) is indexed via Webmaster Tools and the information improves search.
While social is a great tool to build qualitative marketing campaigns, the reality is that conversions, where the purchase takes place, happens on the brand’s site, not within social media. Website traffic is generated primarily by search. Successful sites that are converting buyers tend to have very developed “blog” styled information platforms. A product is no longer bought because of “just” the athlete, or just a picture. The story has to be delivered via what I’ve labeled as E.N.D.E.A.R.S.
For Example Nike is the largest sports brand. Here is a breakdown of the website traffic for Nike.com, Reebok.com, Puma.com and adidas.com (via Similarweb):
If every brand’s primary source of traffic is Direct and Search, brands spending more on influencer marketing and endorsers can be considered a questionable strategy; especially when the athlete isn’t named LeBron James and the influencer isn’t Rihanna. I operated one of the best online shops on Amazon Marketplace. There is a reason Amazon is so powerful and it’s not just that Amazon Prime gives the company an annual supply of cash. Amazon has become more prominent as a search engine behind Google. People use Amazon to search for products. As brands and retailers continue to give away an extensive amount of money and energy to social media, their e-commerce will suffer and ultimately this will shape the company negatively.
What is E.N.D.E.A.R.S.?
Educate the consumer and the athlete about the process that is being started (internal education and external education).
Notate and document the creation process and the discovery process (the athlete is educated and shares via their social a more informed story and the company shares the story via their site).
Designer is just as important as the athlete. The story of how the idea was generated is shared and analyzed by the company’s content creators (designer and athlete create a three headed content distribution team).
Entertain the consumer with important facts. The assumption that the consumer can be influenced with a poster or by the word of the athlete is a myth in today’s environment. The consumer is smart and if they are treated as such then they gain respect for the creation.
Athlete or artist or advocate whoever the person is in the development process all have to deliver the message. This is an extension of the Notate process.
Reason with the consumer and by giving the reason, what has been created is important and the consumer might buy it. At least you(the brand in this instance) creates the likelihood that the consumer will be engaged.
Story is vital. The entire process is the story and the end result whether a product, mission or idea is conveyed via the process and the story the process has created.
If you are a brand or retailer I’d like to bring my experience and time to your business and help you to create a more consistent method of building ecommerce and brand loyalty. Let’s talk and build from the Niche-Out by Endearing your brand or retail outlets to the people who are looking for your product.
