Occasion-based marketing - Discover the golden moments for brands to take advantage of

What is occasion-based marketing?

Occasion-based marketing is a strategy to help brands connect customers on special occasions. By showing up at the right time, touching the specific needs of the customer at the time, the level of engagement and purchasing intention will increase. Occasion-based marketing helps customers answer  when they should buy products of a brand, giving customers reasons and occasions to remember the brand.

How does occasion-based marketing help your brand?

- Connect with target customers:

Just by correctly identifying the concerns during a special occasion, the brand will able to reach customers. This is something not easy to identify on “normal occasions”

Event-Based Marketing is a solution that helps marketers target a group of concerns that have a strong impact on a large number of customers but only appear in a short period of time

- Increase revenue:

There are many shopping decisions that are made at special occasions. If the brand is able to connect with customers on these occasions, the chances of being remembered and chosen by customers will be higher. Occasion-based marketing also helps increase consumption by encouraging users to use the product at more times.

It is advised to consider the case of 7Up Revive Isotonic Drinking Water. Since 2014, 7Up Revive is the brand of energy-intensive sports activities. Since 2016, 7Up Revive has been associated with everyday activities such as walking, playing or working in sunny weather. Thus, Revive has expanded the theme of products from “exercise/sports” to “dehydrated activities” to increase product consumption.

- Brand positioning by moment:

In a more strategic perspective, occasion-based marketing is used to emphasize the differences between brands.,especially in the catering industry (F&B) - where dining activities are heavily dominated by the times.

Kitkat is one of the best examples of using occasion-based marketing to strengthen brand positioning.

In Vietnam, occasion-based marketing is most popular on major holidays such as: New Year, Summer holidays. However, there are still many other special occasions and moments that the brand can take advantage of to attract more customers.

ll. There are 4 types of special occasions that brands can consider for occasion-based marketing.

For the convenience of determining the tactics of choosing a special occasion, Buzzmetrics divides all types of special occasions into 4 categories based on differences in characteristics, frequency of occurrence, and time of occurrence:

1. Special Day

Especially suitable for brands that want to take over the platform by creating a big bang throughout the year, to help customers remember them every day.

2. A special moment

Usually suitable for brands that want to appears frequently, every day, tightly tied to the life of the consumer.

See also: WHAT TIME OF THE DAY DO YOUNG PEOPLE CRAVE MILK TEA THE MOST?

There are so many moments in life when a consumer becomes especially “sensitive”, letting unexpected concerns and needs appear. With the advent of social networks, consumers tend to share more oftenabout each moment in their lives in search of empathy. Especially at sensitive times, consumers are more motivated to share these things on social media as well as seek out people with similar situation, to talk about common concerns. This makes it possible for the social network to record such special emotional moments of a consumer. There are more and more “Special Moments” that social media marketers can exploit to help brands find new opportunities. For example:

• For girls: the moment of feeling “Not enough clothes to wear”, the moment of loneliness, the moment of wanting to take care of yourself...
• For people who work: the time of waiting for wages, late wages, pressure, deadlines... or simply the time of drowsiness, lethargy, fatigue, loss of motivation.

These “Special Moments” are predicted to be the future of Occasion based marketing because of the high frequency of repetition (usually daily/weekly/monthly). The brand only needs to capture a “Special Moment” to become a part of a customer's daily life.

3. Special seasons

Special seasons are similar to special days. They are for brands that want to put resources into a specific period of a year, using different tactics to convey brand message. Special seasons last longer than special days, which is suitable for brands telling a longer story. They are recommended for brands that want to change a longtime habit or behaviour of consumers, which is not easy to adjust in a short time (1 day/1 week).

See also: THE TOPICS MOST DISCUSSED BY STUDENTS AT THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR.

4. Special Events, Hot Events

Hot events are often predictable and therefore difficult to plan in advance. However, a hot event really needs to be taken advantage of when the target customer is the most affected in that event. This is a golden opportunity for the brand to get closer to its target consumer, sharing the same atmosphere and concerns.

Hot events are a must since a brand can gain high attention in a short period of time. However, if the brand image is in contrast or irrelevant to the theme of the hot event, trying to make use of that event will bring no benefit.  In fact, brands can experience negative feedback when they try to become “an attention freak” in the eyes of consumers. More dangerously, brand image and personality will likely suffer greatly, and leave a bad impression on consumers.

What Brands Should Consider When Using Occasion-Based Marketing

- Relevance: There are many special moments but depending on each brand, only some moments are worth using.

- “Deep” or “wide”: If your brand is overly focused on a special moment, you can miss other moments. You can try to "conquer" one special moment, but please be aware of the others.

- Understand the target customer: Look closely at every moment in the life of your target customer. There are very ordinary moments In everyday life that can provide opportunities for brands to engage with customers.

- Target customers are always changing: Always listening to consumers to discover a new special moment and connect with consumers through that moment.

Learn about Buzzmetrics' Syndicated Report Hub online reporting library here.

The Syndicated Report Hub online reporting library aggregates research proactively conducted by Buzzmetrics based on observations of common market needs. These studies do not serve a specific customer but will provide a panoramic view of users and the goods industry on the social network.