While sampling is a time-honored marketing practice that can provide significant brand building benefits, it can be one of the most expensive forms of marketing. Not only do marketers have to pay for the cost of goods to produce and ship samples, but also they must pay retailers, event organizers, and other vendors for space to distribute products and engage with prospective consumers. 

There is the constant worry of poor targeting and product or resource waste, and with people still adjusting to a post-pandemic world weary of traditional sampling, marketers have had to get creative in how to get free product samples into the hands of consumers. 

That’s why product sampling should be a part of every marketer’s toolkit. But why is digital product sampling so important, and how is it different than in-store sampling? And most importantly, how can you ensure success for your brand? Let’s talk about it. 

In this post, you will find:

• What is digital product sampling?
• Digital product sampling vs. in-store sampling
• Examples of digital product sampling

What is Digital Product Sampling?

Digital product sampling is a marketing strategy of soliciting consumers to opt-in online to try a product sample that is then mailed to them. 

It relies heavily on data to fuel outreach efforts. This gives marketers the power to activate specific audiences by sending physical samples to their doorsteps and tracking and remarketing to those consumers. Marketers can reach people who match the ideal consumer, considerably boosting the potential purchase rate.

The definition of a “sample” is expanding and some brands are even creating interactive digital environments that allow consumers to try their products virtually. 

Digital Product Sampling vs. In-store Sampling 

For highly experiential brands like food, beverage, beauty, and more, in-store sampling and digital product sampling are proven brand building tactics to drive new customer acquisition, boost brand equity, and help secure brand loyalty. 

Brands and retailers use in-store samples to engage with prospective or existing shoppers by allowing consumers to experience the product before buying. 

This can range from a sample being passed out at a boutique to an on-pack sample available at shelf to an in-store product demonstration at a mass retailer. 

In-store sampling is often a part of a more comprehensive retail and shopper marketing strategy to maximize scale and impact. This might include point-of-purchase displays, promotional offers, and strategic retail partnerships. 

Digital Product Sampling

• Non-intrusive online opt-in 
• Brand experience is typically first felt in the “unboxing” and usually requires artistic packaging and must account for shipping costs 
• Can be highly targeted to reduce product waste and boost repurchase 
• Can be gated to ensure list building 
• Conversion typically happens on the next shopping trip or through an online offer
• Conducive to online word-of-mouth and social sharing 

In-Store Product Sampling 

• In-person opt-in (sometimes intrusive)
• Brand experience is typically first felt in the person-to-person interaction and usually requires visually grabbing displays 
• Difficult to target and can result in a non-ideal trial
• Low barrier for a shopper – a person typically doesn’t have to give any information to try a sample 
• Conversion can happen within the same shopping trip
• Not very conducive to sharing outside of retail

What are Some Examples of Digital Product Sampling? 

There are numerous ways to execute a sampling campaign, and it’s important to think about which subset of the internet would be most beneficial as each has pros and cons.

The four most common ways to execute an effective strategy include: 

• “Open” digital product sampling via online opt-in
• Social sampling through a brand advocate community or social influencers 
• E-commerce sampling 
• Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) curated products and minis

Read our short Guide to Sampling Community to learn more about these types of sampling, best practices, and which brands are getting it right. 

Open digital product sampling via online opt-in

This type of sampling is typically done through a dedicated landing page where consumers can sign up for a free product sample. While this is a great way to collect leads and build databases for retargeting, controlling the audience receiving a sample is challenging. 

Social sampling through a brand advocate community or social influencers

Social sampling involves delivering a free product sample to people passionate about your brand or influential and socially connected consumers. The specific goal is to drive them to post their experience online and persuade the purchase decisions of their friends, followers, and other like-minded consumers on retail sites. 

Ecommerce digital product sampling 

Typically a surprise & delight moment for consumers when opening a package from an online purchase. This sampling method became hugely necessary during the height of the COVID pandemic when in-store sampling was unavailable. 

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) curated sampling and minis 

A form of digital product sampling that has become popular in the beauty world is curated DTC sampling, where brands are included in a larger group of products shipped to a consumer. 

This can be done through a third-party service, most notably pioneered by companies like Birchbox, which shepherded the launch of hundreds of subscription boxes. 

How to Get Started with Digital Product Sampling

Step 1 – Identify key objectives to determine the best kind of digital product sampling. 

Step 2 – Find the right platforms and/or partners to distribute samples 

Step 3 – Design a remarketing strategy for consumers 

Step 4 – Track and measure results 

How Can TINT Help with Product Sampling? 

Effective digital product sampling must be interwoven with an inviting consumer experience that is personalized, purpose-driven, and emotionally engaging to deliver a lasting consumer relationship ultimately. 

An online brand community is the solution to distribute samples to targeted audiences and communicate with them throughout their experience. You can also activate your community to spread the word about online sampling opportunities and create user-generated content. 

Questions about how to do product sampling? 

The TINT team is always here to answer your product sampling questions. Reach out to us – we’re happy to help. 

The post How to Do Digital Product Sampling appeared first on TINT.

Like most things, technology has revolutionized how we approach age-old marketing tactics. In the past decade, digital product sampling has become a staple in any marketer’s toolbox. But with the vastness of options available in our online worlds, digital product sampling is not a one-size-fits-all approach and typically falls into four different categories:

• Open digital sampling via online opt-in 
• Social sampling 
• Ecommerce sampling 
• Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) curated sampling 

Today, we’re going to focus on social sampling and how you can use this method to achieve maximum business results. 

What is social sampling?

Social sampling involves delivering a free product sample to people passionate about your brand and/or to influential people online, with the goal of them posting their experience and persuading friends, followers, subscribers, and other like-minded consumers to purchase.

What are the benefits of social sampling?

Scalable word-of-mouth

Unlike traditional sampling where brands distribute tens of thousands (or millions) of samples, social sampling involves fewer actual products being tried and relies on the impact and value of a word-of-mouth recommendation from one consumer to another. 

Word-of-mouth advocacy is still the holy grail for brands. A groundswell of online conversation is critical for brand building and driving awareness and conversion. This is especially crucial for new product launches where things like ratings and reviews can make or break success. 

Most marketers can appreciate utilizing product samples as a means to facilitate word-of-mouth. But for a long time, it was considered a value-add instead of a dedicated business strategy—the reason why has always been the challenge of scale. 

With social media and the explosion of ecommerce reviews, brands finally had a way to deliver reach and impact that contended with traditional advertising channels. Thus, social sampling was born and became a bonafide business investment.  

The question then became how to identify, mobilize, and activate consumers to start doing the talking. 

Highly targeted and measurable 

Compared to other methods of product sampling, social sampling is often highly targeted. Authenticity is why word-of-mouth works; the right person must talk about your product or service to the right people.

With social sampling, brands can identify consumers not just by basic demographics or purchases but also by more qualitative characteristics like shopping preferences, lifestyle behaviors, and personal values. 

Sometimes product sampling can get a bad rap as just a bunch of people looking to get free stuff. When social sampling is done with the right context, the marketing “waste” is substantially less, and the user-generated content is much more impactful. 

Additionally, social sampling is highly measurable. Brands can measure the number of reviews and user-generated content created, as well as clicks, likes, shares, and ultimately purchases from friends and followers. 

Easy access to insights and product feedback 

Social sampling is a natural opportunity to collect user opinions, and consumers appreciate it when brands consider their sentiments. In fact, 77% of consumers say they favor brands that ask for and accept customer feedback. 

Anup Shah, vice president and chief marketing officer of the juice portfolio at PepsiCo Beverages, said sampling not only helps connect consumers with its new products — but the practice also allows the company to know how its items are doing and potential tweaks it may need to make. 

Successful social sampling will almost always involve a post-campaign survey to organize overall feedback and gain consumer insights. This helps understand what is working and what’s not and reinforces relationship-building and loyalty. 

How to do social sampling to drive reviews and results  

Social sampling can be done in three ways: 

• Activating your community of brand advocates 
• Leveraging a third party “rented” audience 
• Paying influencers to create sponsored content

Social sampling to an online brand community of advocates 

At TINT, we believe every brand has a community of consumers. It’s just about cultivating those relationships and engaging with your community meaningfully. An online brand community is an excellent channel for social sampling as it is seeded with consumers eager to recommend your brand to others. 

Your online brand community must be able to target consumers and make it easy for them to share on desired retail websites or with their online networks. 

Digestive and probiotic brand Culturelle knows how necessary social proof and referrals are to drive sales. They aimed to spark meaningful conversation among parent audiences while activating authentic word-of-mouth with targeted social sampling. 

With TINT’s help, Culturelle launched its online brand community, the Culturelle Clubhouse. The brand mobilizes and activates targeted consumers to share reviews, UGC photos and videos, and much more. 

Their strategy has paid off in multiple ways, and the brand has amassed more than 22,000 brand advocates who have reached 20 million consumer-generated impressions. 

Culturelle’s brand manager, Eric Bianco, says, “Our community is extremely engaged whether it is helping pick a new flavor for our next product launch, trialing a new product, or posting on their social channels to drive advocacy amongst other parents.”

Social sampling to a “rented” third party audience 

For many up-and-coming brands, partnering with an established online community might make sense to help spark social conversation. 

TINT’s peer influencer community, Smiley360, was first launched over 12 years ago to offer brands just that. Smiley360 is a community of more than a million socially connected people who enjoy discovering new brands and sharing their opinions. You can quickly rally a group of ideal consumers, deliver a free product sample, and drive reviews, social conversation, and photo and video UGC.

Gold Eagle’s brand, 303® Automotive, has been the premium choice for auto detailing products. Still, after adding several new auto care products into its line, 303® struggled with driving awareness in a highly competitive marketplace. 

They mobilized 900 identified car enthusiasts from the Smiley360 community, delivered a free product sample, and prompted participants to share their experiences across social media, explicitly encouraging friends and followers to try the product at retailers like AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts. 

From these 900 consumers, 303® saw a whopping 11,800 pieces of user-generated content and a 20% increase in online share-of-voice. Their social sampling campaign with Smiley360 was highly attributed to helping the brand achieve a 135% increase in unit sales year over year. 

Social sampling to paid influencers for sponsored content 

Social sampling to celebrity influencers and popular online creators has been a prevalent tactic for marketers for many years. Dozens of influencer marketplaces and agencies have sprouted up to help marketers partner with top-tier influencers. 

An organized social sampling campaign for sponsored content can effectively drive awareness as many of these influencers command a large and dedicated following. It’s important to remember, however, that most influencers require payment in addition to a complimentary product experience. 

Additionally, as the future of social media continues to evolve, a growing market of consumers is ready to move on from carefully curated, polished creator content on sites like Instagram. We’ve seen this trend with the rise of sites like BeReal, where a friend enjoying your product or service in a totally boring setting is perfectly acceptable and possibly even more influential than a glossy, staged, filtered, sponsored partnership.

Final Thoughts

According to a study from HubSpot, consumers discuss specific brands casually around 90 times per week. Additionally, 88% of shoppers like the idea of free samples, with more than half willing to write a review of the product and a third willing to post about it on social media. Make no mistake; consumers are eager to talk about the brands they’ve tried. Incorporating social sampling into your product sampling marketing supercharges your word-of-mouth and achieves advocacy at scale. 

Questions about social sampling? 

The TINT team is always here to answer your social sampling questions. Reach out to us – we’re happy to help. 

The post Social Sampling That Gets Results appeared first on TINT.

From virtual demos to ecommerce sampling to social sampling, brands have countless avenues to drive trial and influence purchase. Today we’re going to talk about one of those channels: a product sampling community. 

What is a product sampling community? 

A sampling community is a dedicated online environment for brands to deliver targeted samples to new and existing consumers. 

In a sampling community, consumers can try products and share their experiences with like-minded consumers, whether with fellow community members or with their outside circle of friends and followers. 

What are some examples of sampling communities? 

Brand-owned product sampling community

A brand-owned product sampling community is built and managed by a brand. This could be one brand or a portfolio of brands under one corporate entity. 

An example of a singular brand-owned community is the fast-growing skincare brand Hero Cosmetics, which created the Hero Skin Squad as a dedicated home for targeted product trial and brand interaction. 

As a brand-owned asset, the Hero Skin Squad Community serves as a home base for consumers to connect and participate in interactive brand experiences, including trying product samples, accessing promotional offers, taking surveys and polls, and engaging in community discussions.

Many brands are a part of a more extensive company portfolio, and sometimes the corporate entity behind various brands will start a product sampling community. 

DSE Healthcare Solutions runs a portfolio of specialty health brands. To stay on top of trends and create brand engagement, they created The Upside Community, an online destination for consumers to connect on healthy living while also getting the opportunity to sample a variety of different products.  

Retailer-owned sampling community 

Some retailers also develop their own product sampling community as a means to engage both shoppers and manufacturing partners. 

Although it is currently invite-only, Target’s Hey Bullseye program and Walmart’s Customer Spark community serve as a place for shoppers to connect with the retailer, try products for free, and give their opinions and reviews. 

Third party or publisher-owned product sampling community  

Many organizations have spent years cultivating large online audiences of consumers who are socially connected and eager to share their opinions. 

Brand marketers can work directly with a third party community to access their audience to deliver samples. 

TINT’s Smiley360 peer influencer sampling community was created for just that purpose. Smiley360 is a community of more than a million people who enjoy trying products and sharing their authentic thoughts, feedback, and reviews with others. 

When brands partner with Smiley360, they can identify people who meet their ideal target, deliver a product sample, and prompt them to share their experience with their circles of friends and followers. These brands achieve tremendous scale as TINT’s platform syndicates reviews across today’s most popular social networking sites and retailer websites. Other examples include the Try It sampling community.

With thousands of tea products in the market, TAZO needed a way to boost awareness of a new product launch and drive trial in key retail stores. They partnered with Smiley360 to activate 4,100 tea lovers in the Smiley360 community. Participants received complimentary TAZO Chai Tea product samples and were prompted to share their #SweetMeetsSpicy content. They also received a special coupon for friends and followers to try the product. 

What are the advantages of a sampling community? 

A product sampling community can offer numerous brand building benefits. In 2020, Harvard Business Review proclaimed in their article “When Community Becomes Your Competitive Advantage” that “communities are going to change the nature of how we interact with brands, products and other people.”

They are an engine for word-of-mouth, especially with new product launches 

Nielsen innovation data shows a new product is launched to the U.S. marketplace every two minutes, translating to more than 30,000 new products yearly. To stand out, you must invest heavily in driving awareness, yet most consumers are numb to advertising. 

This is one of the key reasons consumers rely so heavily on recommendations from people they know or other consumers like them. According to a study from HubSpot, 71% of people trust consumer reviews online. 

A product sampling community is primed with people willing to spread the word to the market. 88% of shoppers like the idea of free samples, with more than half willing to write a review of the product and a third willing to post about it on social media. Make no mistake; consumers are eager to talk about the brands they’ve tried. 

Generate loyalty through personalized brand engagement 

Data has been the biggest driver by far of digital product sampling. It empowers your brand to leverage information a consumer shares to deliver a relevant future product experience that drives brand affinity, while also offering significant transparency in tracking the conversion results and user-generated content created. 

The past decade will likely be remembered as the wild wild west era for data collection, but new regulations and scrutiny on privacy will change how you can use data in your product sampling. 

With third party cookies on their way out, investing in cultivating owned data – namely first and zero party data – is imperative. This kind of data allows you to build a valuable relationship with consumers while future-proofing your brand from sweeping industry changes. 

A product sampling community is an excellent place to foster loyalty through data-driven personalized engagement. When a consumer opts in to receive a free sample, you can capture highly prized information about shopping behaviors, lifestyle habits, and even personal values. As brand loyalty becomes more about value alignment, consumers expect digital environments to bring that to life. 

A place to gather insights and feedback for product development 

Product sampling marketing is a natural opportunity to collect user opinions, and consumers appreciate it when brands consider their sentiments. In fact, 77% of consumers say they favor brands that ask for and accept customer feedback. 

With a product sampling community, brands get direct access to consumers to gather critical information that helps to map consumer journeys, create accurate and detailed personas, gain validation for investments, and stay ahead of trends. 

Getting Started Building a Community

With the right community platform software, mobilizing a product sampling community is more efficient today than ever. 

It’s important to remember that community-building should be considered akin to gardening, not carpentry. The goal is to cultivate consumer relationships that grow, not just a place to hammer your own brand with product samples. 

Cultivate an online destination as your “home” for product sampling off your brand website  

Every brand has an audience of consumers. A product sampling community is simply a way to mobilize those consumers in one place and bring forth their existing values and energy. With TINT’s customizable online community platform, you can create a product sampling community that seamlessly matches your other digital assets. 

Invite existing consumers to join your product sampling community

Perhaps you have a Facebook fan page that has been hard to activate, an email database that needs more engagement, or a CRM or loyalty program that could be so much more. You can invite those consumers to seed your online community while driving more signups from social sharing and community activity.

Collect information on your community members 

Amassing zero party data should be a delicate dance of asking and receiving, and it only works when the consumers believe they are receiving something valuable. A free product trial is highly valuable to consumers. Unlike other marketing initiatives that are considered intrusive and annoying, consumers love samples and they will happily give up their information. 

Send targeted invitations for product samples

This is when your data rubber meets the road. For example, suppose you delivered a survey or lifestyle quiz asking consumers to share their hobbies, and a consumer identified they had an interest in entertaining or hosting parties. In that case, a product sample to be used in an appetizer or for party planning would be ideal and significantly increase the likelihood of this consumer converting to a full-size product. 

Prompt consumers to share their experiences

A product sampling community must always come equipped with social sharing tools, or you’ll greatly miss out on the benefits of scalable brand advocacy. Brands that use the TINT platform have a dedicated discussion forum for consumers to exchange opinions and has dedicated sharing tools connected to the most popular social networking sites and retailer websites via our Single-Click Sharing technology. 

Drive friends and followers to your brand for purchase 

A huge missed opportunity is not offering a distinct call-to-action for social circles. This can be as simple as a dedicated digital coupon, promo code, sweepstakes, or even a free sample opt-in. When Snapple launched its Straight Up Tea product at Target using a product sampling community, it achieved a digital couple redemption rate almost double that of other marketing initiatives. 

How TINT Can Help You Access, or Launch Your Own Sampling Community 

At TINT, we’re on a mission to create technology that empowers marketers to elevate their digital presence, make better decisions with predictive insights, and transform audiences into lasting brand advocates. 

We believe that new-age product sampling must be interwoven with an inviting consumer experience that is personalized, purpose-driven, and emotionally engaging, ultimately delivering a consumer relationship. TINT’s platform empowers consumers to share word-of-mouth advocacy, user-generated content and product ratings & reviews and then amplifies and syndicates social proof.

Our online community platform is designed to connect brands with their consumers are deliver meaningful brand experiences. In as little as four weeks, you can create a customized community pre-loaded with product sampling activation. 

Questions about product sampling communities?

We’re here to provide you with the tools and strategies you need to run effective product sampling campaigns. Reach out to us with your questions—we would love to help.

Sign up for a demo today.

The post Product Sampling Community Guide appeared first on TINT.

Vice president of shopper and omnichannel marketing at Campbell Soup once said, “Sampling is this amazing and beautiful thing. There is nothing better than actually seeing and tasting the product versus seeing a digital ad or TV. As much as the world gets complicated, sampling will always be there.”

The vice president of marketing at global wholesale beauty supplier, Qosmedix, says, “Samples are so accessible to more consumers now,” adding, “Consumer behavior has also changed. Consumers are no longer loyal to one brand. Sampling and mini sizes provide a way for new types of beauty consumers to continually try new products.”

But what makes product sampling programs so effective for brands, and why do they matter? And how do you measure a product sampling campaign to determine its success?

What is a product sampling program?

A product sampling program is an organized marketing campaign to deliver a complimentary brand experience to prospective customers.

Most brands will manufacture sample-sized or mini versions of their products for this very purpose – hoping to entice people to purchase the full-size product.

How do you do product sampling?

There are many different ways to conduct product sampling, with innovations gaining traction yearly. The four most popular ways to execute a product sampling program are:

1. Direct sampling
2. Event-based sampling
3. Digital & social sampling
4. Ecommerce sampling

Direct product sampling

Direct sampling involves delivering a brand experience at either a point of purchase or a point of usage.

A snack brand distributing samples at a grocery store would be considered a point of purchase sampling program, while a deodorant brand distributing samples at a popular gym chain would be regarded as point of usage.

No other name is associated more with in-store product sampling than Costco. While Costco is often quiet about the effectiveness of this marketing strategy, an executive told The Atlantic that samples of frozen pizza helped boost sales of that pizza product by 600% at national chains, saying, “When we compare it to other in-store mediums … in-store product demonstration has the highest [sales] lift.”

It’s essential to consider your consumer’s path to purchase when deciding what kind of direct sampling is needed.

For highly experiential products such as food, beverages, and some beauty, point of purchase product sampling is an effective way to generate trial and conversion immediately. Once you have a nibble of a yummy snack, you’re likely to want to buy more to take home with you.

For products that require multiple uses to achieve desired results or can only be used in specific settings (i.e., a shampoo sampled at a hotel), it makes more sense to research sampling venues where a consumer is most likely to try your product.

Event-based product sampling

Event-based product sampling involves partnering with a dedicated event organizer and distributing samples to their attendees. This typically involves face-to-face interaction between brand representatives and prospective consumers.

When determining an event-based product sampling program, it is important to consider the audience. For brands targeting Gen Z, college campus events are a prime opportunity to drive trial. College is also a key transitional period for consumers when brand loyalty can be easily captured and sustained for long periods.

With event-based sampling, the presentation of your product is everything. This could include a promotional brand booth, dedicated street teams, and partnering with event entertainment. Your brand representatives must be knowledgeable, engaging, and offer clear next steps to help drive future purchases or further brand communication.

Digital & social sampling

Our online worlds are more important than ever, and it is no surprise that brands want to utilize this channel for product sampling.

Digital product sampling is a method of soliciting consumers to opt-in online to try a product sample that is mailed to them. Social sampling involves an organized effort to deliver samples to targeted consumers and prompt social sharing, with the goal of driving word-of-mouth on social media platforms.

The most obvious advantage of digital product sampling and social product sampling is the data you can collect and the content generated, but there are many benefits to utilizing this channel for your brand. TINT’s online community platform has helped hundreds of brands to leverage online and social sampling to drive trial, awareness, and purchase. This kind of product sampling program can be done in several ways.

“Open” sampling via a public opt-in form – this kind of online sampling is typically done through a dedicated landing page where consumers can sign up to receive a sample. While this is a great way to collect leads and build databases for retargeting, it is challenging to control the audience who is receiving a sample.

Sampling to a brand advocate community – brand advocates are a vast resource. Designing a product sampling program for brand advocates not only drives trial, but also empowers you to spark word-of-mouth, product ratings & reviews, and user-generated content. Brands can also go back to consumers to collect product feedback and consumer insights to fuel product development.

Take a look at Hero Cosmetics, a brand that generated more than 400 product reviews in just 100 days after launching sampling programs through its Hero Skin Squad community. Recommendations are still considered the most effective form of advertising, and a product sampling program to a community of brand advocates is a surefire way to generate advocacy.

Personalized sampling – using consumer data, you can deliver samples tailored to specific preferences and interests, making a full purchase much more likely. Some brands like MAC Cosmetics have even utilized augmented reality and artificial intelligence to help determine the right shade for consumers to sample their products.

Ecommerce sampling

Ecommerce sampling is another flavor of digital product sampling, but it is typically a surprise & delight moment for consumers when opening a package from an online purchase. This sampling method became hugely necessary during the height of the COVID pandemic when physical sampling was unavailable.

With ecommerce sampling, you can often use data and purchase history to determine the right audience and lifestyle. When consumers receive their online order in the mail, they will find a free product to try. To help drive conversion, you can include a unique QR code or exclusive offer to drive signup or purchase.

While ecommerce sampling is often a surprise, some retailers make it a part of their shopping experience. Sephora famously allows shoppers to select multiple samples to be delivered in-home with their purchase.

Another trend is consumer-paid sampling. This is seen in many subscription boxes such as Birchbox, FabFitFun, and BarkBox, where consumers are offered an elevated sampling experience.

What are the objectives of product sampling?

Like any marketing strategy, it’s important to have clear objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your product sampling program.

Product sampling programs can serve your business in many ways, including:

Generate interest and awareness – this is especially important for new product launches. Sampling cuts through the clutter of other marketing messages.

Drive purchase and new customer acquisition – according to research, 73% of consumers said they were likely to buy a product after trying it. Only 25% said the same thing about seeing a television commercial. Product sampling is an incredibly effective way to spark new purchases.

Fuel word-of-mouth and brand advocacy – consumers heavily rely on digital neighbors to determine which products to buy. Product sampling programs supercharge your word-of-mouth and achieve advocacy at scale. A solid product sampling program strategy will produce a steady pipeline of compelling user-generated content.

Gather feedback and insights – product sampling programs are a natural opportunity to solicit opinions from consumers about their experiences. This helps brands avoid market risks by making strategic tweaks.

What are the benefits of using a software platform for product sampling?

For today’s discerning marketers, using technology to execute your product sampling programs is not a luxury. Software platforms are especially critical in online sampling, whether through social media, online communities, or ecommerce.

Product sampling software ensures your product sampling programs are not disjointed and that you don’t lose valuable consumer information. Nothing is worse than a consumer who tries and likes your product but can’t find a way to connect with you.

Before anyone feels, smells, or tastes your product, technology can help you with targeting and ensure the right person is trying your product at the right time.

The product sample itself is often the gateway to starting a brand relationship. Software can help you collect and store key consumer data to trigger personalized engagement.

An online community platform is an excellent choice for product sampling programs as it empowers you to distribute samples to targeted audiences and communicate with them throughout their experience. You can also activate your community to spread the word about online sampling opportunities and create user-generated content.

Finally, software can help you measure your product sampling programs and demonstrate ROI. This can include monitoring the number of samples distributed, surveying consumers to understand product trial, capturing social conversation and retail reviews, and tracking conversion to purchase.

Questions about product sampling programs?

We’re here to answer your product sampling questions.

Sign up for a demo today

The post Product Sampling Programs – Why Do They Matter? appeared first on TINT.

Product sampling marketing is especially relevant in highly experiential categories such as consumer packaged goods (CPG) like food & beverage and beauty & personal care. The third-largest driver of full-size beauty product purchases is (you guessed it) trying a sample. 

Facilitating a brand experience via product sampling marketing is a surefire way to drive conversion, word-of-mouth advocacy, and overall market awareness. 

What is Product Sampling Marketing? 

Product sampling marketing is an organized business strategy to entice prospective buyers with a free version of your product to generate awareness among your target market and drive purchases. 

Unlike other marketing initiatives that are considered intrusive and annoying, consumers love samples. It’s basically on par with a free t-shirt at a sporting event. 

Nearly half of consumers indicate they are actively looking for new products. Product sampling marketing invites prospective customers to do just that. 

Why is product sampling necessary in marketing?

Product sampling marketing drives business value in several areas. 

• Generates interest and awareness 
• Drives purchase and new customer acquisition
• Fuels word-of-mouth, reviews, and brand advocacy 
• Gathers feedback and consumer insights 

Generate new customer interest and awareness

Nielsen innovation data shows that in 2019, a new product was launched to the U.S. marketplace every two minutes, translating to more than 30,000 new products yearly. To stand out, most marketers today invest heavily in advertising. Yet, digital marketing experts estimate that most Americans are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads daily. 

Sampling cuts through the clutter as it offers a direct, personal experience with your brand that you can’t get from an advertisement. 

Take it from Stephen Chris, vice president of shopper and omnichannel marketing at Campbell Soup, who said, “Sampling is this amazing and beautiful thing. There is nothing better than actually seeing and tasting the product versus seeing a digital ad or T.V. As much as the world gets complicated, Sampling will always be there.”

Product sampling marketing drives purchase and new customer acquisition

A study found shoppers who sampled a product were 11% more likely to buy it during a 20-week period. In a post-pandemic world, many brands had to rethink Sampling entirely. While Sampling mainly was geared toward places like events and retail, digital product sampling has grown significantly. 

Sampling communities rely heavily on data and insights to fuel outreach efforts. This gives marketers the power to activate specific audiences by sending physical samples to their doorsteps and tracking and re-marketing to those consumers.

This way, marketers can reach people who match the ideal consumer, considerably boosting the potential purchase rate.

The types of samping available will become even more interesting in the years to come as voice assistants like Alexa could send you a free product to try. In 2020, people could ask their Alexa voice assistant to send them a free sample of the new Coca-Cola Energy. The promotional deal between Amazon and Coca-Cola started with a Super Bowl commercial that was part of the energy drink’s launch.

Drives word-of-mouth, reviews, and brand advocacy 

Consumers today rely on social proof more than ever to discover new brands. Sampling is a great way to spark this conversation, especially when designing a product sampling program with seamless social sharing as part of the experience.  

According to a study from HubSpot, consumers discuss specific brands casually around 90 times per week. The study also found that 71% of people trust consumer reviews online. 

Additionally, 88% of shoppers like the idea of free samples, with more than half willing to write a review of the product and a third willing to post about it on social media. Make no mistake; consumers are eager to talk about the brands they’ve tried. 

Incorporating social sharing into your product sampling marketing supercharges your word-of-mouth and achieves advocacy at scale. 

Hero Cosmetics, a fast-growing premium beauty brand, activated their online brand community, Hero Skin Squad, to distribute targeted samples and drive social advocacy. By delivering a brand experience and encouraging their community to share, they drove over 400 product reviews on key retail e-commerce websites. This is truly an example of using your best customers to find your next customers. 

A solid product sampling marketing strategy can lead to a steady pipeline of high-quality user-generated content and product reviews. 

Gather feedback and consumer insights 

Product sampling marketing is a natural opportunity to collect user opinions, and consumers appreciate it when brands consider their sentiments. In fact, 77% of consumers say they favor brands that ask for and accept customer feedback. 

Anup Shah, vice president and chief marketing officer of the juice portfolio at PepsiCo Beverages, said Sampling not only helps connect consumers with its new products — but the practice also allows the company to know how its items are doing and potential tweaks it may need to make. 

One of our clients, a fast-growing frozen food brand, Veggies Made Great, leveraged its online community with Sampling to dodge product launch risk. The brand targeted and solicited feedback from community members throughout the U.S. to capture a variety of tastes and, within a week, had insights to deliver to the product development team. With necessary modifications, the brand avoided releasing a product that didn’t meet consumer needs.

Why does product sampling marketing work?

While Sampling’s effectiveness might seem intuitive, there are actually several layers as to why it works. Like all marketing, most of it is a deep dive into the psychology of people. 

Reciprocity 

In social psychology, reciprocity is the social norm of responding to a positive action with another positive action. Humans seek balance in their relationships, and if we receive something from someone for free, we often feel motivated to give them something of value in return. 

When receiving a free sample, consumers feel motivated to become paying customers. Whether through a sense of guilt or goodwill, product sampling reciprocity is one reason it works so well. 

Providing a sample often leads to a short-term purchase. Still, the more significant business opportunity and value of reciprocity is forming a positive consumer relationship, which will lead to further purchases and overall loyalty. 

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

Coined from a tactic used by the door-to-door salesmen, the foot-in-the-door phenomenon is the tendency for people to comply with some large request after first agreeing to a small request. The saying refers to a door-to-door salesman who keeps the door from shutting with his foot, giving the customer no choice but to listen to the sales pitch. 

The person who agrees to a small request feels compelled to continue agreeing to stay consistent with their original decision. This technique is used in many ways and is a well-researched tactic for getting people to comply with requests. 

When a consumer agrees to sample and review products, it becomes easier to get them to agree to purchase a full-priced version and to become a frequent customer. When someone expresses support for your brand, they are more likely to remain consistent by committing to it more concretely. 

Risk aversion 

While most of us like to try new things, we often stick with what we know and gravitate toward the familiar. 

Many people practice risk aversion, where they choose a sure outcome over a gamble. It’s a simple economic practice of preferring certainty to uncertainty. 

We’ve all experienced buyer’s remorse. Many consumers are hesitant to buy your brand outright, fearing wasting money or time and receiving a poor experience. Giving away free samples allows consumers to “gamble” with no risk. 

When you not only remove risk and fear but also delight your prospective buyers with a positive brand experience, you’ve already established yourself as a brand that exceeds expectations. 

Product sampling marketing mistakes to avoid 

We get it; Sampling is expensive. Not only do you have to pay for distribution access, but also you must pay for the cost of goods. While product sampling marketing is incredibly effective, it is also one of the more expensive forms of marketing. It must be done strategically to drive a positive return on investment. 

Here are three mistakes to avoid in your product sampling marketing. 

Giving away samples with no further action 

Remember the foot-in-the-door phenomenon; if consumers agree to try your product, they are more likely to agree to another ask. Not having a call-to-action as a next step after trying your product is a huge missed opportunity. 

You might be tempted to make your call-to-action a request to purchase (which, hey, if you don’t ask, you don’t get), but consider offering another communication touchpoint, especially if your brand has a high price point. Whether it’s a discount coupon, an invite to an online brand community, or joining an email newsletter, it’s essential to keep the conversation going. 

Limiting sampling to in-store retail  

Cindy Johnson, a veteran of Procter & Gamble, turned sampling consultant, has urged brands to consider where their product sampling marketing will be most effective: in-store at point of purchase; through a partnership that facilitates point of use; or through request-based targeted Sampling. 

For example, Johnson says she doesn’t recommend personal care, beauty, or healthcare brands sample in stores. “If you get a sample of shampoo and conditioner in the mail, you might need two or three months to get consumers to try it, because they might have a couple of bottles of shampoo at home. They might not even try it until they go on vacation.” For these products, Johnson suggests point-of-use sampling. “For antiperspirants, for instance, sampling at a fitness club is a good idea,” she says. “Put the sample where the consumer is most likely to try it.” 

Over-complicating the product experience 

Marketers are creative by nature, and sometimes we can get carried away by the creative when we really just need to let the product do the talking. 

Nick Adams, CEO of marketing agency Sense, writes, “With trial, put the product first. Any creative approach should let the product talk. You don’t need a 10-minute audience interaction to get the message across, so the creative need not be complex. In fact, a three-second rule should apply, after which time even a dis-engaged audience should know the product name, when they should be using it and why.”

Product sampling marketing ideas and inspiration 

MAC Cosmetics and personalized Sampling 

MAC Cosmetics launched a sampling program with augmented reality, where consumers participate in a product-matching virtual try-on experience. After the automatic shade match, the customers claim their sample. The experience combines A.R. try-on and personalized A.I. shade matching with the convenience of physical product sampling. It aims to bridge the gap between online and offline, allowing more confident sampling and purchase decisions.

Sambucol and sampling through an online brand community

Immune support supplement brand, Sambucol, aimed to boost knowledge of Elderberry while turning customers into brand advocates. The brand built the SambuCrew, an online brand community that served as a vibrant home for customers. Whether it’s a new product that needs a boost or general brand awareness, Sambucol distributes targeted samples via their community, leading to more than 10,000 pieces of user-generated content in just one year.  

Special K and sampling through eCommerce 

Special K partnered with Missguided and ASOS, online fashion retailers, sending samples of portion-size boxes of its brand new cereal, Nourish, with customer orders. Customers were pleasantly surprised to receive an unexpected treat in their expected delivery, and that delight ultimately reached over 865,000 people through social responses and tweets about the campaign. 

Heineken and sampling through brand partnerships 

For Heineken USA, sampling is among its most valuable tools to connect with consumers in a crowded alcohol space. For their non-alcoholic product, Heineken 0.0, sampling has proven to be particularly effective, with 30% of consumers who try it becoming regular buyers. To drive trial, the brand partnered with meal kit service, HelloFresh. It allowed shoppers to get a sample added to their order with the hope of enhancing the idea of preparing a fresh dinner with a low-calorie non-alcoholic beer. 

How TINT delivers in product sampling marketing 

Sampling has expanded beyond traditional location-based instances in the past ten years and has become an integral pillar in e-commerce customer experience (CX) and social engagement. We help brands design successful sampling strategies using online brand communities powered by our technology.

New-age Sampling must be interwoven with an inviting consumer experience that is personalized, purpose-driven, and emotionally engaging, ultimately delivering a consumer relationship. TINT’s platform powers sampling through zero-party data targeting that empowers advocacy amplification and review syndication, and seamlessly collects valuable feedback from consumer experiences. 

Using our online brand community platform, marketers can utilize this age-old tactic to yield strong relationships, authentic advocacy, and valuable insights that will grab the attention of top company executives.

Questions about product sampling marketing?

Our platform is all about providing brands with the tools they need to run effective product sampling campaigns. Reach out to us with your questions—we would love to help.

Book a demo today

The post Product Sampling Marketing – The Complete Guide appeared first on TINT.

So we thought we’d let one of the many brands that are reaping the benefits of an online brand community tell you about the impact and ROI themselves. 

Read on to learn how one of our clients, Hero Cosmetics, has turned their community into their marketing superpower, driving soaring advocacy, consumer acquisition, and loyalty. 

Who is Hero Cosmetics?

Hero Cosmetics is a fast-growing, premium beauty brand that empowers people with acne-prone skin. Their first product was Mighty Patch—an acne patch that minimizes pimples without stripping or agitation. Since then, the brand has been on a meteoric rise, adding over 30 products to their line. 

The primary focus of Hero Cosmetics products is ingredients. Hero believes in restricting all of the ingredients that could cause irritation, understanding that customers with sensitive skin have trouble trusting new skin care products. 

A Hero’s Journey

As with all hero’s journeys, Hero Cosmetics has faced challenges along the way, fighting to get their voice heard in the highly competitive beauty and skincare space. 

As a true skin champion, they had a passionate consumer base but no way to cultivate and harness those relationships.

They also wanted to take their product sampling to the next level, driving influential, authentic reviews and valuable insights that they could use in future marketing campaigns. 

In their search for solutions, Hero Cosmetics determined that an online brand community would enable them to quickly and efficiently scale up their sampling and relationship-building efforts, providing an engaging destination where they could nurture and mobilize their fans to drive advocacy and insights. 

The Hero Skin Squad 

With the help of TINT, Hero Cosmetics established an online brand community: The Hero Skin Squad. The community’s mission is to provide a space where people can connect and communicate about their skincare journey, helping consumers find the skin they want and the confidence boost that comes with it. 

In addition to fun interactive brand experiences such as discussions, polls, and promotional offers, the Hero Skin Squad offers consumer activations, which harness community members as a guerilla marketing team to generate brand awareness, in-store traffic, high-quality ratings and reviews, and user-generated content. 

For example, when their new Clear Collective line launched at Target, the brand ran a shopper marketing campaign to elevate in-store traffic and sell-through and generate brand buzz. Community members were mobilized to head to their local Target and share a photo or video of themselves with the new products for a chance to win a stocked swag bag from the brand. Hero supported its launch at Ulta Beauty in a similar fashion. 

These activities help Hero Cosmetics to increase awareness surrounding both new and old products by generating authentic video and photo reviews. It also helps create high-quality UGC for the brand to use. 

Hero was able to tap into TINT’s in-platform survey tools to immediately begin gathering zero-party data to drive segmentation and personalization, supercharging its sampling efforts by hyper targeting members with the right skin tone and type. It also helped the brand team get a read on emerging skincare trends, such as “slugging” (check out this article from Elle if you’re curious).

In addition to rewarding Community members with opportunities to win product and branded swag, Hero awards points for every action and contribution to the community. These points are converted to coins in Hero’s rewards program, allowing more ways for the brand to foster brand affinity and loyalty from its biggest fans. 

The Results 

“We are incredibly excited to see the immediate impact our community is having on our brand. The Hero Skin Squad is actively sharing their positive experiences with our products, participating in product development, and helping us spread the word about our new launches. The activities and insights coming out of our community are creating great value for Hero” – Amy Calhoun Robb, VP of Marketing, Hero Cosmetics  

With the help of their online brand community, Hero Cosmetics has quickly racked up amazing results. 

In just one year, the community has managed to generate 690 high-quality product reviews and over 7,500 pieces of user-generated content, supplying invaluable social proof. 

Hero Cosmetics also saw a 23% increase in Net Promoter Score. With more people likely to spread the positive word about their brand, they’re able to organically raise brand awareness and reach. 

And Hero Cosmetics drove powerful sales growth, increasing average spend per community member by 25%, as well as achieving a 67% increase in members who have 3+ Hero products stocked in their homes. 

Drive Product Sampling, Authentic Reviews, and More With An Online Brand Community

The results that Hero Cosmetics saw with their online brand community speak for themselves. 

From increased word-of-mouth and reviews to elevated sales and increased basket size,  there’s no doubt that an online brand community is one of the most effective marketing channels for increasing awareness, acquisition, and growth. 

If you want to see results like Hero Cosmetics, an online brand community is the superpower you need. 

Your audience is waiting. 

Questions About Online Brand Communities?

We’re here to answer any questions you have about how communities can drive authentic reviews and UGC, or any other community questions you have. 

Sign up for a demo today.

The post Driving Sampling & Authentic Reviews With Community – How Hero Cosmetics Did It appeared first on TINT.

It’s no wonder brands struggle to break through and reach new customers. But one of marketing’s oldest tools still works in today’s world. That’s right, we’re talking about sampling. 

A program for consumers to sample and review products is one of the easiest ways to start building loyalty and familiarize your audience with your brand.

Let’s dive into sampling community, the types of sampling programs out there, and how TINT can help.

What is a Sample and Review program? 

As we noted, product sampling marketing isn’t new. Back in the 19th century, the practice of handing out free samples was popularized by a renowned soap maker, Benjamin Babbitt. He understood that most customers would stay loyal to a brand they’ve been using for years and that it would be difficult to get a new product into their hands. By offering the product for free to try, he gave them a chance to see what they were missing. 

While the methods we use today may differ, many of the benefits and reasons we use product sampling remain the same.

Product sampling tends to be most common in the world of consumer packaged goods (CPG). In fact, one CPG company found that 68% of their consumers were persuaded to make a purchase after receiving free samples.

However, other industries benefit from sampling too, such as apparel and technology. 

Why is a Sample and Review Products Program Important for Your Brand? 

There are numerous benefits to an effective product sampling program.

Building brand awareness

As Babbitt discovered in the 19th century, when consumers are loyal to a particular brand, it can be extremely difficult to get them to try anything else. 

When you offer free samples of your product, you remove the risk for the consumer. They get the chance to try your product without any upfront investment and potential buyer’s remorse. 

Think about a customer going to a grocery store. Many of them already have a list written down of their needs. If you’re not on that list – or their radar – it won’t matter if you’re right in front of their nose. 

Conversely, handing out a sample of your product in the middle of the store instantly gets you noticed. 

Giving your customers the chance to experience your product first hand before purchase gives you a much higher chance of boosting your brand awareness. For example, Snack Factory ran a product sampling program for a brand new product: Flat pretzel crackers. They targeted both pretzel and chip lovers with their samples, and although this new product was completely unknown to their audience, they reached conversion rates of 25 – 30% from the campaign. 

Sample and review programs produce more user-generated content

We’ve all seen the stats but it bears repeating –  90% of consumers read reviews before making a purchase. Generating more customer reviews for your product is critical. 

An effective product sampling program provides the perfect opportunity to generate more ratings, reviews, and additional user-generated content. By offering free products in exchange for feedback, you’ll see a massive upswing in ratings and reviews. 

Begin building a relationship 

A product sampling program is particularly helpful when launching a new brand or product within a brand. 

Every customer counts, but when you’re at this stage, they count even more. It’s vitally important to establish positive relationships with every potential customer. 

By providing potential customers with your products to sample and review, you begin to build the foundation of trust and loyalty. You might not get it from everyone, but for many, the option of trying a product and getting to experience it first hand before purchase is the ultimate form of brand trust and relationship building. 

Types of Sample and Review Programs

Although many types of sampling programs exist, they can generally be divided into two categories:

1. Traditional product sampling
2. Digital product sampling

Traditional product sampling

Traditional product sampling is the in-person or event-based sampling method. 

Think of when you walk through Costco and you see the vendors handing out free samples. Or when beauty brands offer free skincare samples. That’s the epitome of traditional product sampling. 

Traditional product sampling provides an immersive experience by allowing potential consumers to experience your products. It also promotes brand awareness and gets your product in front of people who may have never heard of you. 

However, with traditional product sampling, audience targeting is usually out of reach since your samples are handed out to whoever is there, rather than a targeted audience. And remarketing opportunities are largely non-existent since samples are typically handed out in passing with little chance for a follow-up. 

Digital product sampling 

Digital product sampling is far more in-depth than traditional product sampling. It starts with creating profiles for your potential customers, gathering data through questionnaires and other consumer insight-gathering tactics. This data can include everything from age and location to more targeted questions, such as dietary preferences and shopping habits, depending on the industry.

Once profiles are created, potential customers receive relevant samples or digital offers that match their profile, creating a highly personalized product sampling program.  

Digital product sampling, contrary to traditional product sampling, offers many opportunities for both laser-focused audience targeting and for remarketing. It allows you to reach customers in their homes instead of relying on in-person meetings and catching them at the right place and right time. 

One of the biggest benefits of digital product sampling is the ability to capitalize on what product sampling programs are all about—collecting more ratings and reviews. 

How TINT Helps With a Product Sampling Program 

Your online brand community can be used to create an effective product sampling program from start to finish. 

Digital product sampling programs require effective audience targeting. The TINT platform creates progressive profiles of members, continually collecting and adding zero-party data and first-party data. This allows for hyper-segmentation and targeting of audiences to reach the right individual to meet the brand’s needs for each campaign. 

Once targeting is accomplished, UGC, testimonials, and reviews can be generated in real-time within the platform as community members receive their samples. 

Short on samples? TINT can deliver free product coupons to allow members to pick up your product in store, or perform receipt verification to reimburse members for their purchase. The platform can also identify community members that have already purchased your product and reward them for posting UGC or making a review.

The platform’s robust, cloud-based reporting capabilities make it easy to access real-time sampling and review data. From there, it’s easier than ever to get the most out of your product sampling program.

Most importantly, TINT can help you leverage your sampling efforts, making it more than a simple one-off activity to generate UGC or support product launches. It can be part of a holistic, long-term strategy for customer acquisition, loyalty-building, and generating consumer insights. 

Product Sampling Programs Build Lasting Loyalty and Create Connections With Consumers

For new brands or existing brands with new products, product sampling is a one-way ticket for getting your product into the hands of potential customers. 

It’s tough to build loyalty, and customers who are already loyal to other brands are unlikely to try anything new. But with a sampling community, you eliminate the risk for them and create the ultimate form of value: A free product for them to try and to see everything you have to offer.

Questions about programs to sample and review products?

Reach out to us with any questions you have about product sampling programs, from general questions to how we can help you get more from your sampling investments. We’re here to help.

Sign up for a demo today

The post Sample and Review Products Guide for Brands appeared first on TINT.

When executing in-store sampling, they would pay anywhere between one thousand dollars to $2,500 per day for the privilege (depending on the retailer). For that day, and a few days after, the client would notice their coupons being used, and would see a lift in sales – but then sales would go flat or even down again. They were frustrated with the lack of longevity or lasting returns. They had fallen into the exhilarating trap of the quick hit for short-term gain.

Good, Better, Best Types of Sampling

While in-store sampling may be good to inspire trial and make introductions at the moment, brands miss the opportunity to build meaningful connections with consumers. In my experience, typical product sampling programs do not convert consumers in the long run. It’s a marketing drive by. Does the brand have any idea who these sampling consumers are? Do these passersby qualify as the brand’s target? What brand are they using now? Maybe they already are a user? Who knows?

And sure, some of these random shoppers might give the brand a spin – but maybe they are solely value seekers, and the coupon was just that compelling. Are these random shoppers representative of the population? More often than not, consumers in these types of sampling scenarios tend to go back to their habitual brand or the one offering the next promotional temptation. And if competitor loyalists are the target, it’s even harder to win them over because they are more likely to be the most advertising and promotion blind.

For trial and launch, brands might also rely on street events. But hitting the consumer target in these situations can be even more haphazard, and often these events result in a high amount of waste. We have even heard of products being stolen and later sold on the black market. Recently, a popular energy drink with an impressive street value had inventory disappear off sampling trucks and then turn up on the street at half the price. Safe to say, that wasn’t in the marketing plan.

There are better ways to leverage product sampling. For example, working with a company that can deliver the product into highly targeted hands and homes is more effective. But the best approach to sample and review products are targeted systematic sampling strategies that drive advocacy and long-term loyalty – especially among competitor stalwarts.

Targeted Sampling  + Advocacy = Long-Term Gains

To convert competitor loyalists, marketers need to chip away with smart tactics that are proven to drive advocacy and long-term loyalty. Marketers should consider a social sampling initiative within a community environment that enables consumers (particularly those of competitive products) to opt-in, use the brand in a meaningful context, provide feedback, and share their experience with their friends, family, and social network.

Time and again, this strategy has proven effective in helping convert and grow loyalty for brands. Best of all, the advocacy portion not only attracts new converts, but it also reinforces the decision to purchase among the initially converted. Research has shown that seventy-six percent of consumers who try a brand and then recommend it to others are more likely to repurchase it themselves.

Advocates Make it Ok to Switch and Spread the Joy

Peer to peer recommendations are the most powerful – especially those based on authentic, non-paid product use. Genuine, uncompensated praise in the targeted sampler’s own words reverberates with family, friends and extended social circles, in real life and online. Think about your own behavior – the people you trust and gravitate to in life have a greater influence on your behavior and choices than advertising. This is particularly the case when it comes to the most brand-loyal consumers.

In this age of the empowered, connected, content-filtering consumer, brand advocates will help marketers get through all that insulation. Providing consumers who have sampled a product with a platform and tools to reach and inspire others to join the brand clan is one of the most productive investments a marketer can make today.

Interested in more?

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