Lifestyle marketing refers to the method of aligning your brand and its mission, values, beliefs, actions, and messages with those of your ideal customer's lifestyle. This way, your product or service isn't just a benefit to your audience's life, it’s an essential part of it.
For example, consumers who prioritize everything in their lives to be eco-friendly and beneficial for the planet. Lifestyle brands that make the same environmentally friendly commitment — not only in their products but also in their creative process and partnerships — will easily become a part of these individuals' lifestyle choices.
Fortunately, the popular marketing method isn't solely implemented by large corporations. It's also beneficial for small businesses committed to improving their relationships with local consumers and expanding awareness among new audiences in the same target market.
Here are some top Gulf Coast lifestyle marketing tips for integrating this popular strategy into your campaign.
Sponsor Segments On Local Lifestyle TV Stations
TV's reach is still an astonishing 90%, making it the perfect place to start with lifestyle marketing. This is especially true when you combine TV and digital because you can reach your audience on various platforms at the same time. You can sponsor segments to show off your brand on local TV and use the segment's social media to continue advertising your business.
Take, for instance, lifestyle marketing show Studio 10. Segments include entertainment, lifestyle, food (a cooking segment is in every show!), fashion, and more. The one you choose will depend on what you do — i.e., clothing products would be featured in fashion, and cooking services/products would be sponsored in food segments. Even better, it's posted to Studio 10's page and links are provided for social media for sharing.
The benefits here are that you get more time to introduce and highlight your offer, and it's presented in such a friendly manner that it makes your brand more memorable and inviting.
Create Product Demonstration Videos
Product demonstration videos are a great way to enhance the consumer experience with your products by showing better ways to use them or alternative options they may not have known about otherwise. 73% of consumers who watch product videos will purchase, and 71% prefer video over any other marketing content.
You can use your own website to post product demonstration videos to show what your product does or offer tips on how customers can use it. Take, for instance, baking soda. Before it was introduced as a food ingredient in 1843, it had many historical uses, from mummification to teeth-brushing and washing laundry. Today, it can nearly be used for virtually anything, thanks to product demonstrations highlighting its many uses for consumers.
Utilize Your Website
Your website can also be a great place to show off your company culture by doing profiles of employees and your business itself to give customers a behind-the-scenes look at who you are. In lifestyle marketing, this is essential because your audience is making human connections with your brand, and that's much easier to do when they see real faces behind the products.
Connect To Your Audience Using Social Media
Social media is one of the best places to continue your interactions with your audience in a way that builds loyalty and makes you a substantial part of their life. There a more than 3.78 billion social media users (almost half of the population — 48%) you can reach on the top platforms, with Facebook the market leader (68% of U.S. adults).
Use this opportunity to promote your product and engage with your customers on social media, letting you build more trust with your audience by addressing their concerns directly. You can organize events or hashtags relating to your products. For example, if you're a cooking product, you can make a hashtag encouraging people to cook something and post it.
You should note that you'll be able to develop your brand voice and tone through audience engagement. It's important that it aligns with your ideal customers and speaks to them in a way that resonates.
Lifestyle Marketing: A Friendly, Indirect Approach
Lifestyle marketing uses a friendly, indirect approach to encourage customers to purchase from you via mutual values and styles of living. This has become significant in today's market because most (77%) consumers buy from brands that share the same values as them, and an incredible 89% say they will stay loyal to brands that share their values. Lifestyle marketing focuses on the value you bring to a customer's life rather than in a moment of need — appealing to the majority of your target audience who is firm in their beliefs and way of life.
Better yet, you can work with a media partner to integrate lifestyle marketing into your campaign so flawlessly that your consumers don't even notice the change until they've already increased their loyalty to your brand.