Now the company has actually had a lot of success while making these videos, it’s encountered a problem – how to differentiate between its audiences.
On the one hand, there are plenty of consumers who love these videos and just want to see stuff get destroyed. But there are others who just enjoy watching videos of BlendTec demonstrating how to use their products to cook good food, looking for recipes and other similar resources.
These two groups don‘t necessarily overlap, and the company has to be distinct in approaching either one, Dickson warns. Otherwise, they’ll show them videos they don’t want to see, and end up turning them away.
One of the best things about these viral campaigns is that they’re cheap. You don’t need to spend any money on them – and Dickson says that’s exactly what you should be aiming for.
“We see the demand, and we see the value here. I really don’t like spending a lot of money on print ads, or the normal types of conventional marketing.”
“By doing this type of viral campaign, we understand the loyalty loop and what we can do through working with our customers.”
A marketing campaign wouldn’t be worth anything if it didn’t incorporate a sales tracking element. And that’s exactly what BlendTec has done here.
The number of companies which don’t monitor sales generated through sites such as Facebook and Twitter is staggering. Social networks are getting you sales, and you need to be tracking just how much they’re working for you.
Dickson says BlendTec’s sales increased by up to 1,000% in the past six years. It now sells blenders in 90 countries, and is catering more to the residential market than the commercial scene.
But it’s only been able to do that by tracking its sales.
“We have that ability now, and we’ve built quite a department in terms of the analytics part of the business,” he says.
“Of course, we’re highly involved in social networking and have people involved in all of those areas. So we have plenty of help in determining our analytics and tracking sales in that way.”
That tracking has allowed BlendTec to focus on new opportunities. Now, the company sells more residential blenders than it does to its commercial partners – all because it simply created demand that wasn’t there in the first place.
“Our popularity has grown to the point where there are these young 16-year-old kids thinking our videos were cool. But not only them; the demographics are getting older and older.”
“But you also have younger people going with their parents to make purchase decisions, and all of a sudden you have kids saying, ‘buy this blender, it was on that video’.”
“Our sales are up for the household by 1,000%. We’re selling more residential blenders now than commercial models.”
BlendTec changed its model – all because it was not only able to create demand, but track it accurately.
Blenders aren’t a product you’d typically market to a younger audience. But Dickson says when in doubt, it’s best to market to the tech savvy.
This also applies to hiring the right marketing team. Dickson says the campaign wouldn’t have been able to resonate unless it was driven by people who are in-touch with the right marketing techniques – and that’s often a younger generation.
“One person can’t know everything. I’m a CEO, and this is all new to me. In reality, it’s our people that understand it well, and it’s not old people like me – it’s young people like my children and grandchildren.”
“These are the kinds of people that understand this type of marketing.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
