Unit 2 - Assignment 3, Task 1

 

Inbound Marketing – An analysis of ASOS and Gymshark

 

Company 1: ASOS 

Inbound marketing is centered around the idea of bringing the consumer to you. The way to do this is focus your marketing on the sample persona, get this right, and they will come to you and be long lasting customers. For ASOS, their sample persona would be a young person, who is interested in fashion and trends, and has disposable income to spend on their clothes.

In terms of the consumer being able to find ASOS, they use SEO to ensure the consumer is able to find their website with the relevant search terms. For example, when I searched ‘UK Fashion’ ASOS was on the first page of Google. They also appear when searching for more specific items, for example when I searched for ‘black heeled boots’ the second organic link was ASOS. Although ASOS used to use blog posts on their website regularly, even breaking down these blog posts into specific groups such as fashion, skincare, haircare etc. ASOS also produced a well-received magazine, focusing on the latest trends which you could then shop online at ASOS, but this was closed at the end of 2019. It appears that ASOS used blog posts and educational content when it was growing, and now it focuses more on it’s social media content and reach.

Once on the homepage, the website is easy to navigate for the user. The consumer is met with visually pleasing images of in trend fashion for both men and women and can seamlessly switch between categories with the navigation at the top of the website. The homepage gives you all the information you need without endless scrolling, which makes it simplistic for the consumer. It is professional looking which gives the consumer confidence and makes the consumer trust the retailer. On the homepage alone, there are calls to action to ‘Shop women’ or ‘Shop men’ which can then be changed to ‘Shop now’ for certain items. Furthermore, in certain periods of high consumers coming to the website – such as black Friday, ASOS can add an additional call to action of signing up to Newsletters.  

A notable mention for ASOS is the creation of their app, and although this is not an inbound marketing specific technique, it speaks to their sample persona. A young person, interested in trends and is likely to spend a lot of time on their phone. The app makes it easier for the consumer to shop with the brand, and build a lasting consumer relationship. 

Company 2: Gymshark

In comparison, Gymshark’s sample persona would be a young person interested in fitness and thus activewear, perhaps also interested in nutrition and fitness influencers and is looking for activewear to feel confident in the gym.

In terms of their SEO, Gymshark is active in appearing on searches such as ‘UK Gymwear’ and ‘Two piece gym set’ appearing on the first page of Google for both searches. It is also easy to find Gymshark due to the vast amount of education content that they put out on a separate website called ‘Gymshark Central’. These blogs range from workout ideas, nutrition advice and deals on their website. The blogs are categorized via a navigation at the top of the page into Home, Gymshark, Product & Style, Conditioning and Health. For example, if you search ‘The best dumbbell exercises you can do at home’, the blog from Gymshark Central comes up on the first page of Google. Thus, getting their ideal sample persona to come to them.

Once on the main Gymshark website, you are met with visual images of people wearing a particular collection of activewear called the ‘Adapt’ collection. When you scroll down the page slightly there is a call to action to sign up to their newsletters. There is also a call to action to ‘Shop now’ on the Adapt collection, these are also changed regularly to be ‘Shop women’ or ‘Shop men’, similar to the ASOS homepage. Similar to ASOS also, is the easy navigation at the top of the homepage and broken down into the categories Men, Women and Accessories. The website is intuitive for the consumer, making it simple for them to find what they are looking for.

In terms of Gymsharks CRM, they subgroup the CRM based on the information they have about the consumer. Such as gender and previous shopping habits. This means the consumer has a more personalised email marketing campaign which speaks to the sample persona.

Gymshark use a variety of user generated content across their social media channels as well as on the website. One thing Gymshark have focused on more recently is diversity in their models, which is particularly rare for the fitness industry, this will also speak to the sample persona, as a lot of people get into fitness to change their body, so seeing someone who looks like them modelling the clothes will make them feel validated and accepted by the brand.

 

In conclusion, inbound marketing techniques are used by companies to get the ‘Sample Personas’ for that company to come to them. From these evaluations, it is clear that both ASOS and Gymshark use a variety of inbound marketing techniques, including SEO and educational or informative information to bring the customer to the website. They have both also ensured that once on the website, the consumer can intuitively use it to find the products they are looking for. In my opinion, due to the sheer range of educational and informative information that Gymshark currently possess, they will be easily attracting their Sample Personas.