How Char-Broil Used OmniChannel Marketing to Influence and Grow Sales– | EP. #81

On this 81st episode of The E-Comm Show, our host, and BlueTuskr CEO Andrew Maff is with Amanda Patton of Char-Broil, one of the oldest and top-performing brands for charcoal grills on the market. Learn how Amanda, the Senior Director of Omnichannel, leverages this multi-faceted marketing channel to reach her consumers across all channels to improve sales and customer loyalty! 

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How Char-Broil Used OmniChannel Marketing to Influence and Grow Sales

SPEAKER

Andrew Maff and Amanda Patton

CONNECT WITH OUR HOST: AndrewMaff.com  |  Twitter: @AndrewMaff | LinkedIn: @AndrewMaff 

Amanda Patton

Senior Director of Omnichannel

Transcript: 

00:00

Space that I think most companies will understand that the omni channel journey isn't just a digital journey. It is really the organization holding hands and working together to make sure that there's a cohesive from the thought appearing in their mind at the consumer all the way to when they want to repurchase again.

Andrew Maff  00:24

Hey everyone, this is Nezar Akeel from MaxPro. Hi, I'm Linda and I'm Paul and we're the Love and Pebble. Hi, this is Lopa Van Der Merch from RASA you're listening to, and you're listening, and you are listening to The E-Comm Show.

00:44

Welcome to The E-Comm Show, presented by BlueTuskr, the number one place to hear the inside scoop from other e-commerce experts. They share their secrets on how they scaled their business and are now living the dream. Now, here's your host, 

Andrew Maff  01:01

Andrew Maff. Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of The E-Comm Show. I'm your host Andrew Maff. And today I'm joined by the amazing Amanda Patton, who is the Senior Director of Omni-channel over at CharBroil. Amanda, how are you doing? You're ever good show. I am I'm excited

01:18

to share our thoughts and where our company is taking the omni channel journey. And you know, just hear feedback too.

Andrew Maff  01:28

Beautiful. I am very excited about this episode. I'm a big Omni channel fan. And it's very rare I ever get to talk to someone who understands that same concept. Plus, we're changing it up today. I actually appreciate keeping this just audio because I am getting zoom fatigue, which I think should be something therapists should be aware of. But I digress. So what I'd like to do is the stereotypical thing and give you a minute here to tell us a little bit more about yourself about what you do over a char broil and we'll take it from there.

02:05

Sure. So I'm actually newer to the space, I'm a pretty traditional brand marketer, started my career off at Philip Morris in the sales arena, and then progressed after my MBA into more of a brand space. So very traditional CPG background. As I became closer and closer to the business in different industries, I saw a thread coming through which was the sort of Omni channel and that multi-channel experience really kind of pushing its way to the forefront. So while I at my heart believe the brand is super important. I also believe having the message, the message in multiple places where people are receptive to receiving it is important. So about a year and a half ago, I transitioned fully from brand marketing into the omnichannel space with char broil. I spoke with our EVP Tom Penner, and he had an amazing opportunity for me to come to char broil and start up the omnichannel team. The way we're structured at CharBroil is there's a DTC business and they operate just like a customer team. So everything from our.com to the consumer service side, then the sort of the counterpart, there is an e-commerce site where they handle all of our major customers. And they really build our go-to-market strategy with established retailers, both brick and mortar and with pure play and marketplace. And then sandwiched in the middle is sort of our commercialization of how we make strategic decisions between our brick and mortar. And between our digital channels? And where do we put the right products so that we're hitting the needs of consumers where they're looking? So that's sort of like the in-between making sure that we're connecting needs with who's shopping. So I've been in the role for about a year and a half, we've learned a lot we've done a lot of research. And I think that we're evolving into a space that I think most companies will understand that the omni channel journey isn't just a digital journey. It is really the organization holding hands and working together to make sure that there's a cohesive from the thought appearing in their mind at the consumer all the way to when they want to repurchase again.

Andrew Maff  04:40

Beautiful. So, when let's pretend that no one knows what omni channel is. And the reason I'm going to ask you to define it yourself is simply that I feel that every time I ask someone I get a different answer. So I'm curious So as to how you and obviously how char Broil define what omnichannel marketing is. Yeah, I

05:06

think it's, I would define it as anywhere that you can be influenced to decide to purchase a product. So whether that's social channels, whether that's TV, whether that's in store, whether that's influencer word, word of mouth, there are all different channels that are connecting with the consumer. So while the purists would say that trade channels were the definition of Omni channels, and you have to be, you know, presenting yourself the same way, in each, I say that it's expensive. It's kind of expanded, and there's a spectrum of places where people are influenced. So I guess I'm less of a purist in the ways that you can be influenced so many different places. And you should be thinking about how you connect at each of those points.

Andrew Maff  05:57

Yeah, definitely makes sense. And then obviously, at a company like CharBroil, it's clearly not small. You've got retail, you've got your own website, you've got all the different marketplaces you're on, as you mentioned, you've got a TV, you've got social like you're all over the place. So how do you kind of how do you basically facilitate all of those different channels to make sure that, you know, the user experience is the same or the brand is cohesive across the board? Like, what is that whole approach? Like?

06:29

Yeah, and so I think that I think it's evolving, right? So previously, people use the traditional marketing 360 as being an omnichannel experience, I actually think there are a lot more organic ways to influence and the way people are getting their information is no longer controlled by us. So we really think of it because we're durable goods as a journey over that we've got about anywhere between a two and four-week period, on average to influence that purchase. And especially since we're a seasonal good, you know, we have, we have a very quick window. So the way we've really boiled it down in our omni channel journey, or our consumer journey is really putting a lot of effort upfront when you identify the need all the way to when you are getting ready to make the purchase. So we segmented into three categories. So first is that traditional funnel approach with your inspiration, or you can call it a path to purchase. The second phase of our consumer journey is about really about the post-purchase everything from when they click the button to purchase your product, they've made the decision, but you know, they haven't quite received it. So how did they then receive your product? How did they get the support that they need? How do they then become successful? So we think of it almost as a click to cook, right? You click it and purchase it? And how do we make it so that that is a goof-proof, foolproof experience of success? And then our final, real exploratory phase is what we call the loyalty loop is that as we as an organization, our durable goods are only going to buy our products once every three years. So how do we keep them engaged with us through content, that's through our consumables, that is through making sure that they have that personalized journey for success with our products? So we're doing a lot of work, they're trying to see how we keep that loop going, because a big purchase, you're going to do your research. So we've already won them over once they make that decision to purchase, how do we keep them coming back? And so we've broken it down into those three phases. Right now we're super, super focused, it's beginning of season, we're trying to make sure that we have a full foolproof plan in that prior to purchase or the path to purchase so that people are aware of what we have a very high awareness rate. But then as we get to consideration, how do we put our competitive advantage forward to really win the sale?

Andrew Maff  08:56

Beautiful? What is your opinion or theory, I guess, of where you believe omni channel is going, especially with, I would say with like, a lot of people catering to you know, the Amazons of the world or all these different marketplaces that tend to start popping up now. Like, how do you control all that? How do you control it? You know, making sure the brand is cohesive across the board? And how to do you? Or where do you think this might end up going? Yeah, so

09:29

I think not only do people not are there multiple channels, they have to be very cohesive, but they're cross-shopping those channels. So from my research, I've seen that a lot of people will go to Amazon as their source of truth to say, what are my options out there and they build their list across, you know, based on the search parameters that Amazon brings back. Then they start looking and this is from a durable goods perspective because it's highly sensorial. They're going to want to go touch feel and see the quality under Stand Up brands. So they will cross-shop into brick-and-mortar. Like we are. We are heavily partnered with Lowe's. So they have, that retail experience and really get a good feel for what CharBroil offers. Then, many times when we see them on their journeys, they go back home and they start cross-shopping, they say, where can I get the best deal? Where can I get the best terms, you know, so there are a lot of things? So on average, there are six touch points between the Hey, I think I need a new grill, or I need to replace a new grill all the way to purchase. So we have to make sure that at each touch point, we're addressing the barrier to purchase differently. So again, like you think of when you're a Lowe's and you're touching the grill, like do you want the information right in front of you? Do you want to see retail tainment, behind you showing what you could be doing with this product? Those are all the things that you have to say, what's the question that I need to answer in this particular channel in order to get them to that next point, or even to convert as their next step?

Andrew Maff  11:04

Beautiful, interesting. So how do you map that out? Because if you think about like, you know, someone sees something on social or someone sees a commercial or something, and then maybe they go to your website, then they go over to Amazon, or maybe they end up at a retail location. How do you map out what that customer journey is and continue to optimize it? Yeah, it's

11:29

real. I mean, truthfully, I think you just need to make sure as you get down the funnel that your proposition is getting tighter. When you see people add to a cart when you know, you start giving them offers or you start retargeting based on where they are, in the purchase process. So a lot of times when they are on Amazon, it's their first step. But if they see the right product with the right offer, they'll convert right there. So you think of it more as a ping pong ball kind of going back and forth, you just need to make sure that you're tracking their journey. And we're doing a lot with data and analytics to see how we get tighter and tighter. And we continue to optimize our LTV. But I think that it's just it's sort of an art not necessarily quite as science.

Andrew Maff  12:18

Interesting. So how do you draw the line between art and science?

12:23

Well, as we're getting tighter and tighter in the consumer journey and continue to do a search, we're continuing to experiment. So we're trying certain offers when we see them going to the car we're trying certain offers when we're doing our TechSmith messaging platforms. So again, I think each industry is going to be different in what that conversion or that moment of conversion will offer that gets you there. So we are playing with it, experimenting, reporting back our results, and seeing which really worked for us.

Andrew Maff  13:01

So what's your theory on the connections of some of these channels, like, for example, the most obvious one I can think of is Amazon, obviously releasing that whole like buy with the prime thing where you can have that option on your site for people to kind of have the one-click Checkout through prime directly on a site, to me that while that is allowing the customer to have a better experience, obviously, there's pros and cons of that from a more financial standpoint of you know, fees and things like that from Amazon. But are you? Are you constantly directing people only from a marketing standpoint to your website? Or are you kind of letting them shop where they're most comfortable? Are you directing them to retail or the marketplace? Like what is that approach usually look like?

13:44

Yeah, so while our messaging is all cohesive, and pretty much the same, as far as like, if you're looking at a four burner, commercial series, you know, you're gonna see very similar description imagery because our digital shelf is pretty, pretty cohesive. We do allow our sales team as well as our DTC business to run like true businesses. So if they want to, they want to compete on a different promotion, they're allowed to so we will use our own assets to direct to our website and those are, you know, similar to how Lowe's has owned assets. So they are really like little mini businesses and are allowed to act like many businesses that can build their own promotions and build their own promotion plans. We allow that sort of constructive competition if you will.

Andrew Maff  14:37

Interesting so you so when you just to clarify. So you have let's say like a marketplace division, you have your DTC side you have your retail side, and you allow them to operate individually for you know, different promotions or things that they're doing Correct.

14:54

Yes. So they all have their budgets that they're going to place big bets on they're gonna know their specific audience, they're going to tailor their audience, their offers to their audience and what resonates, then they'll deploy their tools to kind of build out their marketing campaign in 360. You know, as far as our strategic partners, you know, we have an individual strategy for each of our major accounts. So it makes sense for our D to see they exist as a major account for us and operate, you know, as a small business within a bigger business.

Andrew Maff  15:33

So is that that same approach when you do product launches, so your launch some kind of some new girls coming out, and you're obviously doing a big promotion, probably, I assume, at least across the board through all the businesses, they still have their own control over which promotions, they may or may not offer for it.

15:51

Yep. And then I mean, so I'm talking about non-mapped products, specifically. But let's say, when we are looking at how we allocate new innovations, we do make sure that we're going to target rich environments. So if we know somebody has a higher willingness to pay, or a consumer base that has a higher willingness to pay, we try to make sure that we're segmenting out our products that will then best connect with those consumers. Again, if we have somebody more price sensitive, then we're going to put them more price sensitive offerings in there. So we are trying to minimize our channel conflict so that there is that unique tailored offer to each of our customers. So then I go back to then we have the unique tailored offers, we have the unique tailored promotions, it's very individualized based on the target market that they're trying to focus on, or the one that resonates best with their consumer group.

Andrew Maff  16:47

Interesting. That is very interesting, because, I would feel that sometimes it would be beneficial for them to work together. However, I also see from just a budgetary standpoint that being very complicated. So how is your role obviously, from an omnichannel approach, making sure that each of those is working together cohesively outside of any promotions or something that they would be doing correctly,

17:14

yes. And what we've seen in the past is that if you have the same products everywhere, at the same price point, it then becomes a competition to race to the bottom right, like I've got to offer the lowest price that people buy here. And that's not what we want to offer to our customers. We want to allow them to have a unique offering tailored to their particular consumer group. So that then they can make the margin and the profit that they're looking for, as well as have something differentiated based on who's shopping there, versus everybody down the street having the same exact thing offering the same thing every day of the week. And it's really a price differentiation.

Andrew Maff  17:52

Interesting. So what is your day to day of managing all that? Because it sounds very complicated to manage?

18:01

Well, and so we have two pretty robust product management teams that we've been building out over the last year, year and a half. And so it is talking about what are the unique needs of each of our major customers, what do they need? What are their price bands, would they? What do they need to differentiate, lots of times people will rely on exclusives. But if you use the right segmentation strategy for your products, you don't have to live on exclusives. And when you start getting into exclusives, it goes, you know, nobody can have this name or knowing then you've got 1000 brand names right out there. So this actually gives us the ability to have the same line but custom offerings to customers based on their customer consumer base. We do before a product launch, we spend a lot of time thinking about our distribution strategy, where are they on the innovation curves? Are they innovators? Are they late adopters? Is this new technology or this new product line something that is going to require a significant amount of explaining or education? And then we take that into account as we approach different retailers about the level of acceptance the market is going to have. So while it is more it is slower for like some of our newer innovations. It is very intentional to make sure that we're getting the right adoption as it goes down the curve of you know, acceptance across new technology.

Andrew Maff  19:38

Where do you think most brands are messing up from an omnichannel approach? Because I feel like a lot of the brands, at least I've spoken to take they've taken I want to say they've taken a slightly different approach, at least from maybe slightly less of a segmentation side. Granted, I've spoken to others who are wildly more segmented. But where do you think brands will be most successful from an omnichannel approach?

20:10

I think that you just have to be really intentional about your intention. Trying to think you have to be really intentional about what you're going to be and what you're using each channel for, whether it's information gathering, whether it's conversion, and then making sure that you have the right products, with the consumers that want them. I think, in the past, people have peanut butter spreads so much, but we have so much data and so much analytics to tell you what the willingness to spend, why put something that is outside of the price range or below the price range of what people are willing to spend. So as we get tighter and tighter with our data, we should become almost surgical with how we use our channels. I think that that is one of the things that I've learned as I've gotten to know our retail universe more is that, yes, there's a spectrum but there's a pretty usual suspect that's going into that particular location. So how do we tailor the offering set to best fit their needs? And or how do we expand there? There is just a lot of I think about other companies, I've been to that we put everything everywhere, and it loses its cachet or it loses something special specialness about it. But when you tailor your offers, and you're very thoughtful about your assortment becomes a win for the retailer as well as for the manufacturer.

Andrew Maff  21:43

So it sounds like really know the tools you're using really know the channels you're on and the audiences that are the channels and obviously the locations that you're in know the audiences that are using said channels are visiting said locations, and while keeping the brand cohesive across the board, personalize the experience enough to cater to those audiences that are using those channels and visiting those locations.

22:13

Yes, absolutely. Even with our D to C site, we're looking at more ways to personalize whether it's configured it configuring your own grill or your accessories, or how you want you to know different features. So it is very much about that personalized experience and making sure that you can then deliver through the channel that people want to be delivered through.

Andrew Maff  22:40

Beautiful, love it. Amanda, thank you so much for being on the show. Obviously, everyone who tuned in thanks you as well. Per usual make sure you rate reviews, subscribe to all that fun stuff or head over to the calm show.com And check out any of our past episodes but as normal. We will see you all next time and thanks for joining us have a good

23:00

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