Looking to communicate with your best consumers?

The people who spend more for quality, influence their friends and networks and remain fiercely brand-loyal.

Every category is being affected by a new wave of interest in living longer, eating better, and demanding more. The pursuit of an active healthy lifestyle is changing the loyalty equation for millions of customers worldwide, and if your company is not speaking to these values and thinking that Active Explorers aren’t relevant to your brand, we urge you to take a second look. Brands don’t have to be active healthy lifestyle companies or have a consumer product. There’s a reason why McDonald’s is retooling menus to include healthy options, why Costco is the number one seller of organic goods in the world, and why GE puts the human experience forward and advertises on TV. Each of them is making a big push into this demographic – and reaping the rewards.

There’s a few ways you can be better at communicating with this mindset in mind.

HAVE PURPOSE. It matters where your company started, what it believes in, and where it’s going. Embrace your place in your ecosystem and celebrate where you are and why you do what you do.

LESS IS MORE. Active explorers aren’t looking for bargains so much as they are looking to make investments in their bodies, their lives, and their values that matter most. They’ll wait for the right thing rather than be motivated by a sale on the next-best.

YOU’RE NOT FOR EVERYONE. Your brand is a club, and clubs are by definition exclusive. You can’t appeal to everyone, so don’t even try. Increasingly, active explorers are attracted to brands who plant a flag and have a point?of view that aligns with their own.

INSTANT FEEDBACK. One of the fueling factors behind our increased fitness awareness is the rise of the quantified self. From smartphones to FitBits to Apple Watches, we’re able?to count our movement by the calorie?and track our progress as we get stronger, faster, and lighter. It’s one thing to go?for a ten-mile bike ride. It’s another to bask in the accomplishment of a new personal record.

BE ASPIRATIONAL. People will buy your brand for the life they want, not the life they have. Let your customers imagine their lives with your product, and then make them wonder how they could ever live without it.

INNOVATION NEEDS A STORY. Too many products innovate because they can, not because they should. In the Active Explorer mindset, every new product comes out of a need – or a drive to be better, stronger, or faster. Find that story, and tell it well.

QUALITY IS JOB ONE. Even if you’re purely functional or parity, your brand has badge value. Make sure your product is one people are proud to use and talk about.

LET YOUR FREAK FLAG FLY. Tribes aren’t formed around brands trying to be everything to everyone. Find your rallying cry and dare others to follow. You’ll be shocked by who shows up.

That’s just a few of the way brands can become better connected with their customers, employees and stakeholders. There is an opportunity, right here, today. But it won’t last. An opportunity for you to craft a message that appeals to the healthy, curious, inspired Active Explorer in all of us, a message that separates you from the pack.

To learn more about this audience and order a free printed copy of our field guide please visit http://williams-helde.com/explore/.

About the Author

Marc Williams is a second generation owner of Williams Helde Marketing Communications in Seattle. Founded in 1969, Williams Helde is a marketing communications agency focused on inspiring, connecting and awakening the active healthy lifestyle inherent in every great brand. You can learn more about this audience and download the latest report focused on travel at http://williams-helde.com/pdf/TravelBlogchure.pdf