In a recent project we were tasked with writing short book reports our client could send to their clients to add value. We read all these incredible business books and created synopses to provide quick advice to business people all over the province, but it also gave us a chance to examine what makes a business successful.
Perfect Project
It was like being paid to do my favourite thing - research - combined with my other favourite thing - helping businesses succeed! Inevitably, I began looking at our business through a different, more practical, lens.
One of the books we were asked to create a short synopsis of was Zero to One by Peter Thiel. He was the cofounder of PayPal and the first outsider to invest in Facebook, a world-renowned venture capitalist who seemingly sees the future, and in this book he talks about doing just that through challenging conventional thinking.
Keep Reading
Then I read this wicked-smart article The Future of Marketing is Bespoke Everything in The Atlantic about the future of beauty brands and how personalizing them for the hair type or skin conditions is the future of the industry.
“A few months ago, Prose, a start-up that offers personalized, custom-blended hair-care products based on customers’ responses to a lengthy survey, wore me down with an alluring marketing tactic: beautiful Instagram ads indulging the idea that what’s going on on my head might be too unique for whatever Sephora has to offer,” writes Amanda Mull, a regular contributor to the magazine.
Creamy Customization
It brought to mind Third Love, a bra company that sells itself on half-sizes and the best fitting bra you ever tried on, and then Curology, which mixes custom creams based on your internet survey responses. The fact is, customization HAS completely taken over the beauty industry, and it’s part of the future that every other industry can learn from too.
My Precious
Everyone wants to feel special (not just millennials, believe it or not). We all think that we have unique needs and mass-produced products in various colours are the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to personalization. Just look at the Bullet Journal craze where people everywhere are customizing day planners with stickers and unique art to the tune of $210 million on specialized notebooks and writing implements between 2017 and 2018. After all, there’s nothing more personalized than the diaries we keep.
Imminent, Impending, Innovation
What does this mean for your business? Customization and curation is a significant opportunity for the foreseeable future - whether it’s phone cases, T-shirts, or even hamburgers (Burger King has been letting us “Have it Your Way” since the ’70s).
As for our business, we’ve already been customizing everything from your quote to your marketing plan - it’s is how marketers have been operating since the Mad Men era. But the entire industry will have to start thinking harder about specialized audiences, niche markets, and one-to-one sales tactics.
Whatchu Gonna Do?
Now you have to look at your company. What do you need help with? Getting the message out about that customized product? Curated content that feels like it’s made just to connect with the person or people you’re reaching out to?
Customization is the future of all our businesses, and it just so happens we’ve been doing it for years. Get in touch to find out how to really reach your custom audience.