People are nervous about being the first to try something but there are benefits to聽being a sector leader, says Paperplanes founder and MD Daniel Dunn.
Launched in February 2017 Paperplanes sends out personalised physical marketing material to customers based on their online journey.
For example, if a customer is browsing but doesn鈥檛 make a purchase they would receive post containing similar product ideas several days later, which has greater impact than online marketing says Dunn.
Now the company has the likes of Benefit Cosmetics on its roster but Dunn told 老九品茶Cloud being a first-to-market isn鈥檛 always viewed as a positive.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very hard to find people who want to be the first to try something,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 worked on the assumption people would want to be first, and went out聽brazenly saying 鈥榶ou鈥檒l be the first ones to do this鈥� but found out early on that鈥檚 not always a good thing.
鈥淏rands are more comfortable with others trialling something first and seeing the case studies. They want to be the second one or one who does something better off the back of initial learning.鈥�
However innovative businesses will always find those that are willing to be the first to try their product and once that happens there are benefits to being a thought-leader says Dunn.
鈥淵ou can always find someone to be the first to try your service but it can be like finding that special needle in the haystack,鈥� he said.
鈥淥nce we got the campaigns up and running our results out-perform anything the brands have been doing on other channels.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got 100 per cent repeat business so far because the results speak for themselves.
鈥淲e鈥檙e taking direct mail and making it relevant for brands today and once they see results coming through they鈥檙e really proving to be the test case for us.鈥�
Being seen as the authority on a subject can also open doors Dunn has found.
鈥淵ou can shape and inform how a brand utilises the product and we鈥檝e had incredible opportunities,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e work closely with Royal Mail in terms of driving relevance and have been on stage speaking with Jonathan Harman, managing director at聽Royal Mail听惭补谤办别迟搁别补肠丑.
鈥淚t also gives the opportunity to lead the market in thinking.鈥�
While not all brands will want to be the first to test an area, all brands should be innovating says Dunn.
鈥淭hings change so quickly nowadays and tech allows us to mobilise new ideas so fast that in order to differentiate themselves brands always need to be thinking about innovation and the next thing,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ig opportunities come from brands who can identify what the new capabilities are and how they can make them relevant and work for them as quickly as possible.鈥�