Sometimes the best marketing campaign is the one you never expected. In an age when every shareable moment matters, and getting consumers to engage with your product can feel tiresome, Ring has built an empire of smart-home devices off those shareable moments.

“Our marketing teams are very performance-driven in terms of where we’re spending our dollars and certainly paying attention to things. [We pay a lot of attention to] shared voice and earned media engagement and we have teams that are really aware of what’s happening and how those videos are really powerful in terms of delivering context behind our products and what they’re doing.”

Founded in 2014, Ring has grown from its humble origins as a video doorbell into a full-fledged line of products and services that includes security cameras, smart lights and security systems.

On this episode of Marketing Trends, Mimi Swain, the Chief Revenue Officer at Ring, offers up examples of how Ring uses the shareable moments to build a community of loyal users and also expands on how Ring expanded its product line from a modest doorbell to a robust offering. Plus, Mimi dives into how Ring capitalizes off the community of users its Neighbors app has built and the importance of showing up where your customers are.

Main Takeaways

• Showing Up Matters: In order to drive product growth, it’s important to think about the areas your product is showing up — whether that’s on an ecommerce website or at stores such as Home Depot and Best Buy, your product needs to be visible in the channels that consumers expect them to be in and also wherever your target consumers typically shop.
• Customer Feedback is More Important than Customer Data: Data is important to create a clear view of your customers, but data alone will not paint a full picture of what your customer likes and dislikes about the product. The feedback you receive from your customers is far more valuable in building a memorable and seamless customer experience. Make sure you are consistently engaging with your customers to understand the areas of the product they love, but also their pain points so that you can continue to innovate.
• Teachable Moments Lead to Product Innovation: When product teams have the freedom to openly innovate and try new things, those moments of experimentation can lead to real opportunities to drive deeper engagement with the products because they are able to freely learn about the products and understand where they fit best.

Key Quotes:

“Our marketing teams are very performance driven in terms of where we’re spending our dollars and certainly paying attention to things. [We pay a lot of attention to] shared voice and earned media engagement and we have teams that are really aware of what’s happening and how those videos are really powerful in terms of delivering context behind our products and what they’re doing.”

“Everything we do is a learning experience. We’re big on experimenting and trying things out to see the results and there’s a real openness to experimenting, which I think is great for teams to drive deeper engagement because they feel like they’re learning things and they’re trying things out.”

“I think about some of the metrics that are important to look at when you’re growing your brand and product, obviously star ratings are really important, but I think if you think about the category that you’re playing in, it’s important to look at your share of voice, feedback, the attention of those engagements, and measures to see if your messages are resonating in the way that you want them to. And then closely track attribution conversion and anything tied to specific marketing spin that we’re doing.”

“We are really focused on getting less data on our customers, but more feedback in terms of how they’re using our products.”

“We really approached our go-to-market strategy from the beginning as retailers being the place that customers were shopping for these solutions. We always thought of just having that real estate in-store as a marketing investment. To be there, and be relevant and have those eyeballs every day of people that were shopping the store was really important to us.”

“We believe in that customer choice — not just across the portfolio or price points, but also where neighbors can buy our products. We have a very broad distribution network in terms of where consumers can buy our products. Target, Home Depot or Lowe’s, and Amazon or QVC. We’ve really used retail as a way to ensure that we were available and relevant in those channels where neighbors are looking for solutions.”

Bio

Mimi Swain oversees all of the revenue streams at Ring, a leading smart home security company owned by Amazon known for its line of connected video doorbells, security cameras, smart lights, and security systems. Mimi first learned about Ring while working on a smart home concept with Sonos and Target. She was amazed by Ring’s mission and commitment to invention, which led her to send Jamie a cold email, secure a meeting with him, and join the company shortly after.

Mimi has proven experience in trade marketing, brand management, and product development. Her work at Ring is focused on delivering profitable solutions to drive sales, attract/maintain customers, and build a strong corporate brand.

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