You get a 330 ml Limca Can under ₹40 in India. But when you opt for a San Pellegrino Lemon Drink, you’ll have to pay ₹290. Why do people pay 728.5% more for two almost identical drinks? And what can SaaS brands learn from this? Let’s find out!
San Pellegrino, today we are talking about a brand that dates as far back as 1899. Today, it’s marketed as a luxury brand produced and bottled by Nestle.
Though people in every part of this world consume S. Pellegrino, the ones living in Switzerland have an affair with this drink.
But let’s leave the history aside and jump directly into what makes San Pellegrino what it is and why it appeals to people to pay more for it.
Let’s dive right in!
What makes San Pellegrino premium?
You would not want something not premium to be at your wedding, would you? So let’s start by answering — which of the following two would you have at your wedding?
I asked 30 people in my circle the same question — 24 of those said they would go with San Pellegrino, and I guess the remaining 6 just loved and were loyal to Limca.
I also asked them why they picked the drink they did. And the 24 responses I got revolved around how cool and premium San Pellegrino looks.
If you ask me, I would also go for S. Pellegrino. And my reason is the same — look at the foil lid on top of the can.
While the Limca may taste better for those 6 people, the visual appearance of the can is quite basic. It doesn’t stand out.
Adding a factor as simple as a foil lid changes the meaning of the brand. Now, rational people would say we can do a little cost-cutting by removing that foil, but with foil, you also cut the brand short of its meaning.
So, one of the biggest reasons I feel this brand feels premium is because of its aesthetics. And the aesthetic is not limited to packaging only. They also have a beautiful, modern, eye-catching website filled with interesting information and images that you want to keep looking at.
Remember this lesson now — visual appearance and going slightly irrational is one significant part of marketing that can’t be compromised. So the next time your graphic designer or product-design expert suggests something, listen to them.
Did you know San Pellegrino uses content marketing?
San Pellegrino is a huge international brand distributing its products to more than 130 countries.
To ensure it appeals to its international markets, this brand focuses on creating content. They’re not lazy to focus solely on its Italian origins.
Across the website and social pages of San Pellegrino, you will find influences from countries like Canada, South Africa, Hungary, Switzerland, and the list goes on. You create a checklist of all the countries, and there are hardly any that you won’t find a mention of on their website.
Now, you would think social media platforms are Facebook and Instagram are better to market a beverage company. No doubt they are.
But the marketing team of San Pellegrino is not dumb.
They know that social media is not in their control. Meta can be a pain in the ass with its new algorithms and features, decreasing the reach of the brand. This is one of the reasons why their website has a significant content distribution share.
San Pellegrino has also launched a digital magazine for food enthusiasts around the world — FineDiningLovers.com.
Their social media is used to drive traffic to this magazine, which builds a relationship between food lovers and the brand. What this also does is it associates San Pellegrino drink with premium quality food, making the brand premium-er.
Don’t you wonder why I’ve shared this food brand marketing strategy on a SaaS marketing blog? Well, first of all — marketing is marketing. Consumers are people. And we should learn from wherever we can. Secondly, the content marketing strategy it follows has some great lessons for SaaS brands.
What SaaS brands can learn from San Pellegriono’s marketing?
I won’t take a lot of your time. Think about why brands want to go premium. To be able to get more revenue from the same product.
So, if SaaS companies want to charge a premium amount for their product, their marketing strategy should be focused on that.
Here’s a great post by Vanhishikha Bhargava, founder of Contensify, with experience of almost a decade in the SaaS ecosystem and one of the best SaaS marketers that I have across.
She says, “Better marketing leads to a higher perceived value in the market, directly impacting your pricing and margins.”
Remember how you also wanted San Pellegrino at your wedding and not Limca, even though Limca is a renowned brand?
Vanhishikha mentions it’s because of “perceived value” that customers spend more on a product even though there are cheaper and almost the same quality alternatives available.
And here’s how she suggests, SaaS brands can charge more for the same product:
Now, San Pellegrino doesn’t run a lot of ads. Or at least, they have never relied on ads to make their brand premium because that never works.
Similarly, your SaaS product, I know how premium you think it is, is not premium as long as you’re only getting conversion via ads.
To make it premium, however, you need to make the “perceived value” premium. And to create “perceived value,” you need to provide value to your target audience first.
What can you do to ensure that your SaaS brand is the first brand to hit customers’ minds when they think of something?
You should invest in, as Vanhishikha suggests:
- consistent messaging and branding
- creating educational content
- thought leadership across channels
- multi-channel touchpoints (search, social, communities, email, etc.)
- contextual collaborations
Brands are not built in 30-60-90 days. And they’re certainly not built via ad campaigns (don’t stop running them, LOL, you need them as much.)
You need to give meaning to your brands. And you can start today by investing in content marketing. I can help you with it. Vanhishikha can help you with it. Or any other SaaS content marketer you trust can help you with it. But it’s you who need to take the first step.
That’s it for today. I’ll come again with more such marketing insights to help you position your SaaS product better.
Navneet Jha, B2B SaaS Marketer, signing off!