SATORI COMMUNICATIONS
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Satori helps brands make the connection to enlighten the customers shopping experience
Satori
Moment? In this article by our guest writer, Jay Togawa of Satori Communications explains how brands can make a connection with customers – wherever they are from [SA•TO•RI] – A Japanese Buddhist word meaning moment of enlightenment was a natural fit in naming our company, says Satori Communications’ Jay Togawa. As marketers, we all seek that elusive “Aha” moment when a consumer makes a connection with our brand. Whether it be introducing a new product or opening a customer’s eyes to a familiar brand in an unfamiliar way, we call this the Satori Moment and it is the foundation of how we lead our clients’ travel retail consumer engagement strategies. Making your brand stand out and achieving that “Aha” moment when there is a barrage of choice, exclusive items, and promotions can be a challenge. Here are our top three ways to achieve your brand’s Satori Moment.
1. Product Demonstrations & Trial From sipping a fine whisky to savoring a decadent chocolate to exploring a new fragrance to stroking a luxurious leather bag, recent studies have shown that consumers are 53-72% more likely to purchase after touching, tasting or testing. However, we feel strongly that just trying a product isn’t enough; in order to truly create that moment of enlightenment, you need to invest the consumer into your brand. Consider the last time you sampled something, do you remember now what you tried? Beyond a sale price, what reason was given to you to put that item in your basket? To create that spark, that intent to purchase, that lasting impression, we need to educate a consumer on a brand, its differentiators, its heritage and even the overall category. Consider again that last sampling experience: what if, instead of just trying a sample, you were told about the handcrafted ingredients, the recipe being handed down from generation to generation, etc, would that 70
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impact your intent to purchase? We feel that this brand knowledge is what truly breaks down barriers and opens consumers up to wanting to learn more (which ultimately leads to purchase).
2. Sales Support Scott David Cook of Intuit [US-based software company] said: “A brand is no longer what we tell consumers it is, it is what consumers tell each other it is.” At a retail level, consumers need to see themselves reflected in the brand and the salesperson. In travel retail more than any other retail market, our customers are global travelers with vastly different cultural backgrounds, purchase drivers, influences and barriers to buy. On a very basic level, they may not even speak the same language. That peer-topeer relationship is key in connecting and understanding consumer needs. For many brands, driving sales can be easily achieved by supporting their full-time brand champions with a support team who are part of a specific consumer
group. Providing Mandarin in-language sales support, for example, has proven to be an extremely effective way to support many of our clients in driving sales to that consumer demographic.
3. Associate Trainings Let’s face it, you can arm your full-time team to be your brand champions but having dedicated coverage in every store, in every market, all of the time is a near impossible task. What if a general floor staffer knew your brand had a new exclusive scent or a cashier knew your brand had a BOGO offer running, would that drive sales? A good training session means all associates, regardless of their role, walk away armed with 3-5 points that will help them sell your brand. There are new innovations, promotions and exclusives – the travel retail brand landscapes are constantly evolving. We support our clients by extending the reach and frequency of their associate trainings through our Train the Trainer program, ensuring their in-store partners across all airports and borders have the most up-todate knowledge and tools to drive sales. As the consumer path to purchase continues to evolve in the travel retail space, turning a customer’s head and finding that Satori Moment becomes more and more difficult. At Satori, our goal is to create rich personalized experiences that impact travelers in authentic ways – sharing that “Aha” moment with a customer is our true measure of success.