Made in Colorado: Melanzana

ORIGINAL. FUNCTIONAL. SOULFUL.

Melanzana is a homegrown, hometown, truly local outdoor clothing company named after the Italian word for eggplant. The company calls Leadville, CO home and has been in business since 1994. Melanzana has an impressive cult following across the US. In this week’s edition of Made in Colorado I will be speaking to word of mouth marketing (WOMM) and the concept of “tribes.” I will be excluding influencer marketing in this post as I believe there are key differences between WOMM and influencer marketing.

If you were to look at Melanzana’s website, social media presence or advertising you’d have a tough time believing this company has been in business for over 20 years. But, Melanzana isn’t your typical small business. They don’t advertise, they don’t update their social channels often and their website runs on old school PHP scripting. What Melanzana does have is a strong cult following and exponential WOMM.

WOMM is an organic way information is disseminated which utilizes components of viral marketing but spreads via more natural channels. The best part about WOMM is it is a free form of advertising and promotion that is triggered by an event the customer experienced.

Remember your sociology textbook? Tribes are not a new concept. The internet is crawling with groups of people, subconsciously forming tribes in many niche markets. Tribes have a solid foundation around the belief of faith; faith in an idea, product or a community. Tribes are an updated version of niche marketing. And, this is where marketers have an amazing opportunity, but only when they are authentic and have integrity!

Melanzana has done well in attaining the highest level of emotional connection to their consumer with their product design and craftsmanship, but more than this, they sell a lifestyle. Successful cult brands fundamentally create a new universe revolving around their offering and the customer is the center of their world. Cult brands join love and madness. Melanzana has created an extremely fanatic customer-base through well-made products that exude a true Colorado outdoor lifestyle but they haven’t “sold out” like many other winter apparel brands. All Melan-heads have their psychological needs met when they believe they are part of this tribe. The tribe disseminates positive WOM, creates content, provides free advertising to their friends and family and stays steadfast to the company in spite of everything.

Here are my three tips for creating a tribe like Melanzana:

Membership is ALWAYS voluntary, if you force membership you will not be successful,
Tribes aren’t sheep – don’t try and pull the wool over their eyes,
All tribes need a leader – this can be your CEO, a well-known public figure or simply the head of your marketing department. Your tribe leader will need to accept criticism and be willing to share details with the tribe.

It is my belief WOMM never really went away, even though some companies would have you think differently. For me, it was Amazon who brought word-of-mouth back into the light with the option to leave a product review (an awesome SEO and UGC strategy by the way.) In the beginning Amazon had customers review books for potential readers. One thing led to another and now most consumers will read a review before the company’s product description. Melanzana doesn’t have a review option on their website consequently Melan-heads have taken to spreading the word through different means. One is tagging Melanzana in social posts; another has been influencing editorial content. However Melanzana’s has created the majority of their WOMM through the customer experience in their brick and mortar store.

Here are three effective way to boost your word-of-mouth:

Have a good founding story – Melanzana’s Founder Fritz Howard was quoted saying, "we're authentic without having to say we are," and "I just wanted to live in a mountain town and do my own thing, really."
Customers are your gold – Melanzana makes you feel right at home when you enter their store, this allows a customer to be their authentic self and feel accepted.
Offer a unique, shareworthy experience – With the little marketing Melanzana does, they present their product as the perfect item for the outdoors. The previous two strategies in addition to imagery and video, creates a lifestyle that invokes the sense of belonging and thus free UGC.

Melanzana is a strong, down-home business with integrity and authenticity. They aren’t trying to be a textile giant; they only wish to provide quality products. It is this integrity that has created their positive WOM which has held over the business for many years. The tribe of Melezana followers is proof that a brand doesn’t have to go over the top on advertising to create a vibe. Tribes are essential to your business. I would strongly encourage all marketers to take a look at Melanzana through a different lens and look at the brilliance of this unintentional marketing strategy.