From URL to IRL: How Top Brands Are Meeting Consumers Where They Are

When the pandemic hit, people started shopping online, making brands realize that as important as their offline stores are, having an online presence and website is also really important.

So how are top brands meeting consumers where they are? Well, they are meeting them both online and offline in the following way:

1.Creating a website: A lot of the time, consumers are just window shopping when they come to your store, but if they really like something in the store and it sticks with them, the chances are they will go home and order it online. That is why it is very important to have both online and offline experience, as a consumer sees something online store and purchases it in an offline store and vice-versa.

2. Brand ambassador: If you are a top brand that wants to gain trust and eyeballs for your customers, then you should collaborate with influencers that are both known for their URL and IRL presence. For example, Deepika Padukon is someone who has an amazing social media presence as well as an offline presence, making her the perfect go-to brand ambassador for your brand.

3. Collaboration: Collaborate with different brands to get more customers. For example, the Sabyasachi and Starbucks collections used both digital marketing and word of mouth to gain consumers.

4. Advertisement: As a top brand, it is very important for you to have advertisements on every platform, be it IRL or URL so that you leave no chance to target your audience.

5. Rebranding: As a brand, if you are just known for either IRL or URL presence and you want to grow. Then you need to be present both IRL and URL and have to rebrand yourself according to the platform.

6. Lifestyle: When you are a top brand, you are not selling the product, you are selling a lifestyle and you have to understand that and make sure to target consumers where they are and show them the lifestyle you can offer them as a brand.

7. Interactive advertisement: If you want to see how your target audience is interacting with your brand, create an interactive advertisement such as giving them a discount code and seeing if they are using it or not, or conduct a live stream on social media and see if they are joining in for it or not. Doing this interactive session with the audience would make you aware of what is working and what is not.

8. Experience: Be it URL or IRL, the consumer experience is very important and you have to make sure that the consumer has a good experience while they are on your store or your website.

So, whether it is URL or IRL, as a top brand, you have to make sure that you find your audience and connect with them no matter whether that is online or in real life.