COLGATE: CREATING TRUST

Toothpaste.

It’s something we don’t put much thought into when buying.

However, over 50% of the people reading this article opt for Colgate toothpaste.

Don’t believe me?

You should! Colgate is the only brand that is bought by more than fifty percent of households in the world. (Source)

Yes, one in every two houses you enter will have purchased Colgate toothpaste.

Now, that is some feat.

So, how does Colgate manage to get over half the households on the planet to purchase their toothpaste, instead of all the other great options?

You guessed it!

Through awesome marketing & branding!

Company Overview

Colgate is an American brand, principally used for oral hygiene products such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwashes and dental floss.

Although, Colgate is just a small fish compared to the likes of Amazon, Apple and Microsoft; it certainly isn’t a company to be underestimated. Just take a look at their financials:

Revenue 2020: $16.47 Billion (Source)

Market Cap: $64 Billion (Source)

1y Estimated Growth: 14.7% (Source)

Breaking Down The Strategy

After hearing all the numbers, stats and facts I wouldn’t blame you for beginning to wonder how Colgate manages to sell so many tubes of toothpaste. Special formula? Revolutionary product?

Wrong.

Colgate sells millions upon millions of tubes of toothpaste each year, not because of what’s inside the tube. Instead, it’s because the Colgate name is on the outside. It’s the Colgate name that sells.

When it comes to selling toothpaste - or any health-related product for that matter - you have to understand that the consumer’s decision to buy products is based on very different factors than usual products. More often than not that consumers decision to purchase goods in the health sector comes down to trust.

If people don’t trust your health-related product, then they are going to stay well clear of it. It is one of the biggest problems for companies bringing health-related products to market - establishing that trust.

This, however, is one of the biggest reasons for Colgate’s success. They identified trust as a leading influence behind their target markets purchasing decisions. They then structured the vast majority of their marketing to help establish this trust with the consumer.

Here are just a few of their most successful methods:

• Education - A huge amount of Colgates marketing consists of educating customers on oral care & hygiene, the benefits of their products and the reasoning why people should be using them. They even started an Oral Care Center, where they provide people with valuable information like how can you prevent cavities, how can you keep your oral hygiene, how to stop developing sensitivity, how to brush & floss effectively, and so on.As boring as this may sound to people uninterested in oral care. What Colgate is doing here is showing potential customers how in-depth their knowledge is on the topics of oral care. People trust “experts” and the way Colgate shows its education in the field to the consumer presents them as just that. This is a huge factor in why so many people trust the brand. The video below taken from Colgate’s YouTube channel is a great example of this strategy in action. They have no intention to sell products from this video, it is merely just educational.

• Recommendations - Another method Colgate lean towards is recommendations. Rather than actually presenting themselves and branding themselves as experts, Colgate sometimes skips that part and instead just gets a direct recommendation from an expert (the ad below is a perfect example of this). This follows the same concept as the education strategy - consumers trust experts. In this case though, as mentioned, Colgate creates trust through recommendations rather than simply establishing themselves as experts.

This all may seem simple, but it is actually out and out genius. Colgate doesn’t spend too much time selling their actual product. You don’t hear anything about Colgate tasting great or the properties that go into the toothpaste. Instead, they focus on promoting Colgate - the brand - as a company with expertise in the oral hygiene space.

It’s all about trust and Colgate absolutely nails it with their marketing & branding.

The Lesson

It’s not always about the product!

This is a recurring lesson in our breakdowns, however, it’s one many business owners still don’t understand.

It just goes to show once again that there are many ways to make sales, even without having a revolutionary new product. With great marketing, you can sell ice to the Eskimos - as the saying goes.

I’m sure Colgate has great products. But honestly, when I - and I’m sure the same goes for many others - go to buy toothpaste, I have no idea which specific toothpaste is going to be better for my oral health; I simply buy a brand I trust. For over 50% of households, Colgate is that trusted brand.

How You Can Implement It

This strategy may seem obvious for a company within the health sector. However, this can be utilised in virtually every market.

No matter what the product is - a car, bike, bag, water bottle - people are always going to be more likely to go with a brand that they trust.

Not to mention, who wouldn’t love free information and recommendations on the products they are thinking of buying?

To implement a similar strategy into your business consider these questions:

• What do your consumers really want to know?

• What information would make the purchase decision easier?

• Who’s recommendations would your potential customer’s trust? Experts? Influencers? Users?

Don’t forget to think about how you can tie in the problem your product/service solves with the information you are offering.

This has been a breakdown of Colgate’s marketing strategy. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy into your business!

Don’t forget to subscribe to get next week’s breakdown straight to your inbox!

I’ll see you next Sunday!