Hunting and Outdoor

A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that eighty percent of consumers look at online reviews before making major purchases, and a host of other studies have recorded the strong influence those reviews have on the decisions people make.

Social media has accelerated the trend to an astonishing degree: a dud product can become a laughingstock in a matter of hours. In the old days, you might buy a Remington hunting rifle or Bear Bow because that’s what your dad hunted with. Today, such considerations to brand loyalty matter much less due to the availability of customer reviews. Now, each product has to prove itself on its own.

A dissatisfied customer will tell between 9-15 people about their experience. Around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people. – Office of Consumer Affairs

If you have a great hunting, outdoor or firearm product and are looking for ways to maximize outdoor industry marketing or your branding to increase sales and build your reputation in the industry—here are 8 sure-fire ideas to help turn your customers into raving fans that will increase your bottom line and build your hunting brand.  

1. Be somebody

The old saying goes, “you can’t be everything to everyone.” Companies must find a way to stand out among the marketplace clutter and find the “whitespace” to stand for something. Don’t just tell your customer your products are quality, superior or dominating—demonstrate it. Prove to them you are worth their time by demonstrating your brand values, mission and how it will benefit them.

 

2. Make them feel something

The best way to connect in today’s digital world is through storytelling and contextual marketing. Our ancestors sat around a fire telling stories since the dawn of time, and this still continues today—except now we get it from the Sportsman Channel, the internet or social media. There is something intrinsically valuable to storytelling. When you connect with people at the heart level and make them feel something—your message will go a long way. Today’s marketing isn’t about highlighting features and benefits, it’s about “celebrating the benefit in the way it impacts other people’s lives,” says Simon Mainwaring, author of “We First.”  Put your product in context of real everyday stories for greater impact.

“People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.”

3. Be authentic

The best way to be authentic is to just to be yourself. Too many hunting and firearm brands try to be something they’re not. Weave your personality into your content, messaging and imagery. Through authentic and good-willed communication, customers will innately share your message and bring it to life.

4. Delight them after the sale

Do not have a “one and done” mentality. At the end of the sales process and after the product has been delivered, add value to your customers through events, continued education or through helpful content that continues to solve their problems. This will increase their loyalty to your brand. Show them you care after the sale. It costs 5 times more to acquire new customers than it does to keep current ones. (Source: Forbes) 

5. Make your hunting brand all about them

Every product or service should be centered around what is called a buyer persona. If you don’t know who your customer is, you leave a lot of opportunity on the table.  Make your customer the superstar of your business.

Here are a few examples:

• I’m in the market to buy a new rifle and I can’t figure out which brand I like better: Bergara, Remington or Winchester. I may find an ebook on Bergara’s website “How to choose the right hunting rifle.” In an easy to understand format, it provides me options, use, price and customer reviews to help me make a better decision. I’ll most likely develop a strong preference to choose a Bergara. 
• I’m a gun store owner looking for information on how to best track my inventory. A manufacturer may send me a case study on how other gun store owners are using their product to help them to keep track of their firearms and remain compliant. The manufacturer then follows up with a series of emails that builds trust.
• I’m a hunter who is not sure what kind of bow I will need for an upcoming elk hunt. A manufacturer might send me their top 3 bow recommendations based on my stated preferences.

6. Talk their language

Don’t use fancy terms and ‘gobblygook’. Talk their language. Using the examples above, meet them on the range, in their facility or on the mountain. Talk to them like an old friend. You have to earn your customer’s money more than ever.

7. Give them what they want

Do your absolute best to make a great product and don’t cut corners. If enough customers ask for something—give it to them. Give them a way to sound off on what is needed to make your products better. You can create a customer support portal with an area titled “Submit product ideas” to encourage participation in your product development. Don’t let Facebook be the platform they choose to voice their disapproval if something with your product goes wrong. 

8. Fanatical customer support

Last, but not least is customer service. When you provide great customer experience and give excellent support, you are much more likely to have that experience passed on via word-of-mouth.

A survey by Harvard Business Review concludes that customers want knowledgeable front line customer service reps and that the problem be resolved on the first call. On average, 40% of customers who suffer through bad experiences stop doing business with the offending company. This points to the importance of companies hiring people who align and know their brand(s) products best. Hire your customers.

Companies Who Said They Were Focused On Experience Grew 40% Faster And Increased Customer Lifetime Value By More Than 60% Versus Those Who Weren’t. – Forrester Research

Are you in a boring industry segment? Then the focus should be shifted to recruitment and employer branding. There are 1.6 million people who work in the hunting industry (Source: Congressional Sportsman Foundation). Are the best people working for you?

A great non-industry example is Zappos, the shoe company. Who gets excited about selling shoes? At Zappos, the culture is the product and shoes are what they do on the side. Create a great culture to work at and the boring product stuff becomes fun. 

“So many people when they go to the office, they leave a little bit of themselves at home, or a lot of themselves at home. And they have to put on this different persona in the office, especially in corporate environments. And our whole…there’s a lot of talk about work life separation or balance and so on, whereas our whole thing is about work life integration. It’s just life.”— Tony Hsieh, CEO

In conclusion, it all starts with a great product that solves a problem on a massive scale. To connect that great product with your customer—you must be somebody, you must be authentic, play the guide, not the hero in their story, make your brand all about them, talk their language, give them what they want and provide outstanding customer service above all else so that good customer reviews come natural. 

 

Sometimes, a brand comes along that is really different—and goes against the grain of everything else you’ve been accustomed to. With over $40 million dollars in revenue in 2012 (Source: Wikipedia), and the number one cable show in history, no one can deny that the Robertson Family/Duck Commander/Duck Dynasty brand has done something right.

If Willie Robertson were to sit down in my office (see end of this post), and I was able to ask him what advice he had for hunting and outdoor business owners and marketers about building their brand, I think this is what he would say…

1. Be authentic

One thing that Willie Robertson would say about your branding efforts is to be authentic. This has been one of the genuine traits of the Duck Commander/Duck Dynasty brand. No fluff, no gloss, no razzle-dazzle. Customers feel a real connection to the Robertson’s and buy their products because they are real.  A lot of companies develop their brands that feel and look manufactured. For decades we’ve been soaked with Madison Avenue style advertising that it’s become something we naturally ignore. Kind of like air. You know it’s there, but you don’t really think about it. By being authentic your chances of cutting through the clutter increase.

2. Keep it real

Willie would say keep it real. Don’t be something you’re not. Your company starts with the personality and character of you—the founder. Don’t loose that one thing that separates you from everyone else—you. Great brands are built on men and women who keep it real. Look at Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, Chuck Buck and Howard Shultz.

3. Know your customer

Willie says, know your customer. Duck Commander and Buck Commander as well as the Duck Dynasty and Robertson brand all meticulously built their brands around their customer that truly connects on a personal level. Research and interview your customers—find out who your ideal customer is. Build your brand and your branding efforts around them. Talk like they talk, do what they like to do, hang out where they hang out.  Engage them, solve their problems. This is the most important step in developing a brand.

4. Hire your customers

Willie only hires people who are hunting fanatics and who adhere to their cultural virtues. Hire people who are naturally passionate about what you do. This will pay considerable dividends from a customer service and standpoint and reduce turnover costs. Customers generally turn out to be among the best performers when they become employees. You already know them and they know you. (SOURCE: ERE)

5. Sell the experience

The old saying “your brand is your product” certainly applies here. I would bet that like Harley Davidson, most of Duck Commander’s revenue is made through shirts, hats and other branded apparel—people aren’t necessarily buying just duck calls. People want to be associated with the Duck Commander/Duck Dynasty experience—which is another reason why the brand is so powerful. They want to feel like they are apart of the family or out in the blinds with them.

Whether you like Duck Dynasty or not, as a hunting and outdoor business owner you have to admit that what makes this brand unique is its authenticity, their approach to keeping it real, their intimate knowledge of their customers, the experience they sell and the people they hire. The brand’s story and ability to connect with millions of people make it a great brand to emulate and apply to your own company’s branding efforts.

Photo Credit: Jeff Riedel

Your hunting, outdoor or firearms company’s website is an immense investment of time and money in your ability to enhance your business and brand online. It must be responsive (mobile, tablet and desktop viewable), it must be easy to understand, informative and entertaining. However, most marketers and business owners in the industry minimize this aspect during the design phase and forget to think about how to effectively keep visitors coming back after they’ve visited. It’s typical to be more focused on graphics and aesthetics—but just having an awesome looking website will only get you so far in today’s digital environment.   It doesn’t matter what size of a company you are—a small business of 10 employees or 5,000, every visit is an opportunity to build a relationship, customer or lifetime promoter of your brand. Below are six simple tips you can use to turn your website into a traffic and lead generating machine.

1. Write your content based on your customer

According to recent statistics, over 90% of visitors to your website never come back. The reason they don’t come back is because they didn’t find anything to keep them coming back. To keep them coming back, target three potential customers or buyer personas and write helpful, relevant content specifically for them—that solves a problem they have one at a time.  Learn about their pain points, where they hang out on social media and how they talk. Implement this across every page of your website and watch those bounce rates decline. 

2. Optimize your content

It goes without saying that all websites should be optimized, but I am always amazed on how many marketing people skip this crucial step. Today, Google accounts for over 65% of web searches. The most important aspects of your hunting and outdoor website for SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) are title tags. Make sure they accurately describe what your page is about with the keywords in the title and URL. The title tag should be under 60 characters and the description tag under 160 characters. Keep them short and pithy. Look to sprinkle your keywords throughout your page 2-3 times over 500 words—if it makes sense. Write naturally and don’t stuff your keywords. Write for humans, not search engines. 

3. Create free downloadable content

60% of the sales cycle is over before a buyer talks to your salesperson. Consumers today behave in a way that requires you to establish trust. The years of broken brand promises by politicians, get rich quick schemes and magic pills have taken a toll on the consumer market and with the economy in its current state—consumers don’t blow money like they used to. No matter what type of product you sell, you are an expert in something. Write about it, package it and offer it to your customers. Parallel this with follow up emails and other content as you create it. This simple tip can begin building trust with your customers and will grease the wheels come hunting season.

4. Create a strong call-to-action

Make your downloadable content irresistible to your visitors. For example: “6 Elk Hunting Secrets from Today’s Top Trophy Hunters.” I think we’d all like to download and read this offer! If you are offering up relevant content that solves your customer’s problems, the call to action should be designed to entice them to fill out a form, send an email or pick up the phone and contact you. Experiment with different colors and different headlines to optimize your offers.

5. Blog weekly

Companies that blog receive 97% more inbound links. (HubSpot State of Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Report) The more blogging you do, the higher your rankings will be on SERPS—which means more traffic—which means more customers. Almost everyone these days has a blog, but now it’s more important than ever to keep that content fresh and flowing. Make a commitment to start a blog and maintain it weekly. All content is not created the same. Make sure you are blogging on topics that solve your customer’s problems and use titles like “How-to’s”, “Tips on…”, and other enticing subject matter geared specifically for your audience. Google’s latest algorithm changes suggest that stagnant websites are no longer useful for users. 

6. Get social

Social media has an 80% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing. (State of Inbound Marketing). Every page on your site should have a way for users to share content. If it’s not shareable, you loose out on your content being spread. Social media will become more important to hunting and outdoor brands than ever before. Try to personalize your posts as well. People want to work with people. The number of businesses that say Facebook is critical or important to their business has increased by 75%. Use social media to expand your message, expertise, and personality. The simple tips above you can begin to shape and optimize your hunting or outdoor business’ website for more traffic and leads.