When you’re releasing a lifestyle product, it’s imperative that your go-to-market strategy resonates with your ideal users and excites them about using your product. What you’re offering must align with the consumer’s ideals, aspirations and aesthetic; it must create a connection and fit perfectly into their lifestyle.
You have a vision for who will buy your product, but now how do you reach them?
Christian Scott, VP of Global Marketing at OPKIX, has direct experience working with unique lifestyle products, so he shared some advice for crafting the perfect marketing strategy.
Align your value props with how you envision your target audience using your product
Observe the unique ways your product is being used and let this inform the adaptation of your strategy
Have fun with it! Be creative, look for ways to push the envelope, and always be open to feedback from your customers
The video is only 5 minutes. Watch it now to hear Christian’s advice (and learn about his super cool product)!
CAROLINE: Hi, today I'm here with Christian Scott. Christian is a sports marketing expert. He has worked with some of the largest brands. So, we are really excited to have him here with us today and he is also the VP of global marketing at OPKIX. Christian, thank you so much for being with me today.
CHRISTIAN: Oh, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
CAROLINE: Same, same. So, today, because right now you're working at OPKIX, which is super cool. If you don't know about this brand, it is a super cool portable camera product. And so, it's kind of a lifestyle product, right? And so, what I would like to talk about is, how can marketers go about launching a lifestyle product, targeting the right target, right? For the initial go-to market. And how can they reach that target?
CHRISTIAN: Yeah, I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head. I mean, OPKIX, it's a small camera that you can wear on your glasses, or your hat and it's supposed to be very easy to use. So, not too technical. A lot of people get very intimidated by technology. So, our goal is really to have a hands-free experience, filming family, friends, or whatever it is. It's one button on, one button off, but really just kinda keeping it simple and really being in the moment without having to worry about too many distractions from a technology piece.
So, that's really kind of our goal and for us, yes, it is a lifestyle piece. We look to really focus on people that wanna film themselves and edit and share it, but in a very simple way. And it's families, like I was saying, it's not very - we're not looking at athletes that are trying to really push the envelope of their different sports or whatever they might be doing. It's really sort of those other ones that are inspired by them, that like to just kinda go out and have fun and kinda stay mellow and still use their cameras. So, that's what we try to target.
CAROLINE: Nice. Nice. So, the audience is people that just want to like have fun and have like an easy kind of product too. How do you target these people? Where do you find them? Where do you target them?
CHRISTIAN: Yeah, so, the fun part about the brand is that it's a camera, right? So, it's interesting when you put kind of cameras out in the wild, and you start to get them out there, to see what people come back with, you know. So, a lot of times in our mind what we think, "oh, this camera's great for skiing or snowboarding or riding a bike and things like that, kayaking." You know, really what we've found is a lot of people using it, because it's so small, it's really the size of your pinkie and it only weighs 12 grams, so, people would put it on their hats and glasses and do sports and activities that we didn't have on our radar, right?
So, things like, beach volleyball. We did a piece with beach volleyball. People didn't love the POV, the setter and spike, and really came with a different unique angle that most people haven't seen in that sport. Paint ball is another big one. So, a lot of people like it, it's so small, you can put it on the barrel of the paintball gun. One can go out, one can come back. So, it looks like a video game. So, people love that. In Japan, airsoft is a big one for us right now. Airsoft guns are the same thing, cause it's so small. So, it's just kind of a fun way to really see how people are using it. The idea of like trying to connect with each one of them, you know, is really making sure that you're focused on what the camera can do, and what you can do with the camera, and then allowing people to take that and use it in their world. So that's kind of how we approach it.
CAROLINE: Right, right, right. Basically, inform then your strategy with what you're getting back from the market, right?
CHRISTIAN: Right, right. I mean, so with the camera, you know, our mantra is basically, "it's small". When you get unique angles, your video gets a lot more views because people are like, "oh, I've never seen that before." You know, very obvious, but this camera can be placed in such different spots that people really do some unique things. Easy to edit and post. So, when you start to think about that, you know, you can do that if you're kayaking, you can do that if you're baking. We have a mixology, some people making drinks. It just depends on what you have. You know, and people when they put it on their eyewear or their glasses, well, then you can do anything. So, really, it's kind of fun to see what people come back with.
CAROLINE: That's really, really interesting. You know, I was just thinking, "oh, what a perfect tool to actually, like, recall life moments that are important to you, right?" Because I was just thinking of a kid's birthday party when you are talking about families. And there's something quite wonderful about bringing that cake and seeing the kid's face, right? And you can replicate this. So, there are like so many users. And I think it's really interesting to let your users come back with those stories and inform your strategy, right?
CHRISTIAN: Yeah. Totally. I mean, I think even with like a cake, it's an amazing, it's so small. You can literally put it on a candle, as a little child comes in to blow it out, you get that perspective, you know? Cause it's really that small. So yeah, you're absolutely right. When you start to think about all those different places or activities and places where you can actually put it, you can have some fun with it.
CAROLINE: Well, this is fantastic, Christian. I really appreciate this. I think the moral of the story here is, really, like, put your project in the wild, listen to your users and, you know, use their content, use their feedback to inform your strategy. Thank you so much for sharing this. I think that was so interesting.
CHRISTIAN: Yeah. I mean it's fun, right? That's the best part, is connecting with those communities and then learning from them and growing. So that's the best part about it, cause it's always moving, you know, it's not a static thing at all, so it's fun to do for sure.
CAROLINE: Right, right, right. Yeah. That's excellent. Well, Christian, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
CHRISTIAN: Thank you for having me. I appreciate your time. And it's always good to, kind of talk about these things. So, I appreciate you having me on today.