👥 A demographic is safer than a subculture.
No brand’s target audience is “everyone.”
But, if you’re too laser-focused on 1 sliver of an audience, and you’re NOT a specialty product, you may be thinking too small.
A scrubs brand like FIGS should prioritize the professional medical community that wears its apparel.
That makes sense.
A mass-market footwear brand like Allbirds should put its efforts into reaching more consumers in more contexts.
It’s basic diversification.
This is how you future-proof and stay relevant to someone (anyone!), even if your OG audience persona moves on.
Don’t put all your eggs in 1 “Brad from SF, HHI $150K+” basket.
🧠 Apathy’s the scariest churn signal.
The only thing worse than bad reviews is NO reviews.
No customer support tickets.
No annoying DMs.
Until the silence is deafening.
It’s easy for teams to miss when customers are disengaged and indifferent. Metrics like NPS won’t recognize it.
This is why you have to eavesdrop on customers every chance you get.
Proactively check-in and force/reward them for talking to you.
Listen to what they’re NOT saying.
Customers “forget” or just stop caring about a brand when retention, remarketing, and storytelling are underpowered.
Marketing teams can turn this around.
They HAVE to.
🧱 Your “why now” has to evolve.
Sustainability was a key part of Allbirds’ initial value prop.
Eventually, that wasn’t a compelling differentiator.
You need to rethink your “why now” if…
📍: The landscape’s significantly changed
🌊: Your original audience has drifted away, and no one’s replaced them
🚨: It feels like competitors are getting a littletooclose for comfort
The marketing that got you THERE won’t keep you HERE.
Start with the most critical messaging and then audit EVERY channel, page, influencer, UGC creator…
It’s tedious and cringey and worth it.
🧬 When your brand’s part of a uniform, differentiation must evolve faster than the trend cycle.
This is obvious, right?
Uniforms are trend-aligned, despite what all the “quiet luxury” proponents would have you believe.
The moment you’re currently on-trend, you need to start researching the NEXT trend.
Nothing’s cool forever, unless you work at Phoebe Philo, which…
Honestly, I’m just flattered you’re reading this!
Before you can know your audience, you have to know your brand.
We’re so in the weeds every day that we don’t always think about what story we’re telling.
Or how it’s resonating with customers right now.
Here’s a way to start, whatever your industry.
