Anthropologie Sells the Freespirited Lifestyle on Instagram
Marketing Showcase: Anthropologie's Laser-Focused Marketing Strategy on Instagram
If you've been bitten by the Anthropologie bug, you already know what I'm talking about when I say, Anthropologie is not just a brand, it's a lifestyle. And with a carefully cultivated feed, they are making the most out of Instagram's visual platform.
Anthropologie is one brand who has their customer nailed down. Digging around on their website, I found an "Our Story" link which takes you here:
Not only do they have a rock-solid idea of who their ideal customer is, they market to that demographic aggressively on their Instagram feed. Don't believe me? Let's take a look:
What:
Anthropologie's Instagram feed is a visual wonderland. If you've ever picked up one of their catalogues, you know they've unequivocally mastered the art of making you want to fall into the pages of that marketing piece and never leave. Their Instagram account does the same thing. Every post is chosen not only for its aesthetics, but its ability to resonate with their ideal customer.
Why It's Notable:
Every brand knows they're supposed to figure out who their ideal customer is and design their marketing around that. The vast majority of brands fail miserably at it.
Anthropologie does two important things really, really well:
1) They do lots of regrams from their customer base.
This is important because these are real women styling, modeling, and wearing their clothes in every day life.
Ok, so maybe some of them are sort of Instagram famous and the shoots are staged. Some of them might have an influencer agreement with Anthropologie to wear/use their products. Doesn't matter. These are still real women, not catalogue models. And if that women who's roughly the same age and build as you can rock an Anthro top, then by golly so can you!
2) They know how to cultivate a feeling.
If there's one thing you can depend on about people, it's that we're always thinking about the future. Whether it's the change of the season, our next dinner party, our planned vacation to the beach, we are absolutely obsessed with daydreaming about the future and being elsewhere.
Anthropologie knows this and capitalizes on it. The photos they pick to showcase all contain a sense of wanderlust, of being somewhere other than where you are. And every picture makes it almost impossible to not doubletap on, save, or send to a friend.
And that feeling of wanderlust? It's right there in the vision they've laid out of their ideal customer.
How You Can Apply It In Your Own Marketing:
The cornerstone of Anthropologie's marketing is that they have a very clear idea of who their customer is and they don't stray from that. They're not shy about it. They state it very clearly on their website. They are specifically catering to affluent women between the ages of 30-45. Not broke college girls. Not grandma. They know who their customer is and they are laser-focused on appealing to her.
Think about your own brand. Who's your ideal customer? If your answer is is something along the lines of, "Well, anyone really", Stop. Back up. Reevaluate. There are very few industries and even fewer brands where appealing to the masses makes sense as a marketing strategy. Most brands need to be crystal-clear on who they're trying to attract and who they're not trying to attract.
The difference between achieving moderate success with your brand and achieving stratospheric success is in how focused your marketing efforts are. Take time to drill down and get really, really, really clear on who your ideal customer is.
To see more about how Anthropologie is marketing their lifestyle brand on Instagram, check them out here.
If this marketing showcase was helpful to you, leave me a comment below! Is there a great brand whose marketing you love? Let me know, I would love to check them out!