As a marketer, could anything be better than getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a successful company? If so, it must be a glimpse that also reveals how that company is reconciling challenges just like yours.
L'Oreal, the global cosmetics company, offers a tantalizing glimpse into how it is integrating consumers' preference for mobile, digital interactions – meaning, both information and purchases. You may wish to take a page out of L'Oreal's playbook if you share its goal: “We recognized that digital couldn't continue being its own channel,” Chief Marketing Office Marie Gulin-Merle says. “It had to be a part of everything we do.”
Company sought a digital transformation
Gulin-Marie sets the record straight right from the start: “There wasn't one single instance that made me realize we needed to rethink our customer experience if we wanted to remain relevant. It was more a series of discoveries.”
Those discoveries were triggered by the realization that on-the-go consumers were carrying a powerful tool of visual persuasion right in the palm of their hands.
“Being able to help a consumer as they test a hairstyle in front of the mirror anytime, anywhere in the world, used to feel like an unattainable dream for beauty marketers,” Gulin-Merle said. “But thanks to mobile, it's now a reality. Pretty quickly, we realized we needed to digitally transform to truly reinvent the way we meet our consumers' needs in the moment.”
Like a helpful makeup lesson, L'Oreal launched a three-step “makeover”:
Makeover move 1: Get personal
L'Oreal developed Makeup Genius, a mobile app that scans a customer's face, analyzes more than 60 characteristics and then displays how various L'Oreal products can be used to achieve different looks. Consumers can select their favorite look and order the products with the press of a button. The real beauty of this app: it tailors future messages based on what a customer purchased.
Makeover move 2: Learn and then deliver what customers want
L'Oreal partnered with Google and found many customers wanted to learn how to contour. L'Oreal probed the specific questions and concerns customers had – no matter how elementary – so it could meet their needs. The result: a series of YouTube videos that explained the process in three steps to no fewer than 9 million people. “That's 9 million times we were able to help consumers find the contouring tips they were looking for and lower the barrier to purchase,” Gulin-Merle says.
Makeover move 3: Revel in short but meaningful stories
With so many messages competing for the attention of consumers, marketers must be quick and compelling. L'Oreal created a short YouTube ad that demonstrated the “core value” of a root coverup spray in six seconds flat. “Consumers who loved what they were seeing could then choose to watch the full video and learn more,” Gulin-Merle says.
As helpful as it can be to learn about the moves other marketers are making, it's something different to replicate those moves yourself. The marketing professionals at ADTACK can help.Download our Defining: Digital Marketing guide and then call us for a consultation. We can help you triumph over your marketing challenges with the same skill as L'Oreal – and with equally ravishing results.
