Evite has been around since 1998. The startup that has grown into a brand that, to many, is synonymous with sending online invitations. In fact, we recently celebrated a milestone of sending two billion Evite invitations.
The company has, for the most part, spread by word of mouth—before anyone was even talking about social media—and is still widely shared today through legions of fans who send more than 20,000 invitations an hour.
So where do you start as the new marketing guy?
Here are four guidelines that I’ve followed since joining Evite as the company’s new VP of marketing.
1. Understand your brand heritage.
As a marketer new to a brand, it’s critical to understand the brand’s heritage, including how and why the brand has been successful, any high points and low points over time, and what consumers think of your brand. Taking the time to familiarize yourself with these pieces of information can help you see where you can naturally reach and market to customers and prospects, or, alternately, where you need to invest more time and effort to be successful.
At Evite, for example, our brand heritage has been built on solving truly important customer needs and wants over the years. Knowing this legacy enables us to logically take the brand into an ever-changing world where our customers want more on-the-go mobile experiences and apps, as well as ways to make their events more fun and social.
2. Uncover what your true customer value proposition is today.
While it’s amazing to have a great customer following over time, it’s every new marketer’s nightmare to have historical data and conventional wisdom outweigh marketing innovation. My suggestion here: Value the lessons that those who have gone before you have learned, but don’t be afraid to test new theories, experiment, and explore. Take a pulse of your customers and marketplace to see if what you’re delivering is of real value to your customers versus what is perceived as historical value from inside your own walls.
At Evite, we focus on what our customers believe is of real importance—whether that’s watching trends to create fresh, one-of-a-kind invitation designs or thinking beyond the invitation to send gifts instantly with an RSVP.
3. Foster collaboration and communication with internal teams, as well as with customers.
Long-standing brands often come with legacy teams and mindsets. But for your new marketing programs and campaigns to be effective, you need to bring the rest of the organization along for the ride. Just make sure that your customer is front and center in that journey.
Introduce yourself to as many employees and teams as you can, so you can tear down any real or perceived team barriers. Also, get out there and talk to your customers and potential customers; listen to what they say, and watch what they do.
4. Identify key partners and strategic connections for added customer value.
As you’re planning your initial marketing strategies, don’t underestimate the power of new partners and networks to deliver added value to your customers. Heritage brands such as Evite have the inherent advantage of vast customer and Web reach; just look around for clues.
For example, during my first days on the job I was impressed by the number of bloggers and contributors on social media that were organically engaging with us in genuine, real ways. As a result, we’ve recently rolled out a special engagement program with affiliates, influencers, and ambassadors to provide our customers with steady, consistent access to even more great entertaining and inspirational content from additional trusted sources.
As the new marketer on board, be sure to focus on consistency. These four tips should get you off on the right foot, but remember: Good marketers are strong leaders who have a good game plan and adjust often, whereas, great marketers do so consistently over time and build great teams in the process.
About the author:
Robert McDaniel is VP of marketing, merchandising, and design at Evite. Prior to Evite, he led marketing and branding teams for several other world-class brands, including Eastman Kodak (Kodak Gallery), Intuit, Office Depot, Sunbeam Appliances, and Coleman Camping. He specializes in bringing advertisers, brands, and marketers together to solve creative challenges.
