We’re about cultivating a smaller customer base consisting of people who genuinely enjoy Crolles, rather than a huge customer base consisting of people pulled in by persuasive marketing campaigns (hence the absence of a complex marketing campaign – more on our business strategy to follow). But for now, a word on the product itself, and how we cannot conceive of Crolles being suitable for every single curly and coily haired individual.
The Crolles emphasis on natural, simple, base layer beauty might not be for everyone. We know there are some people out there who prefer scented shampoos, or liquid shampoos. For whom travelability and long lasting value are not primary concerns. We don’t make it our business to “convert” anyone.
If Crolles is not for you, we’d rather you continue with products better suited to you. Rather than wasting efforts on converting non-Crolles folk into Crolles folk, we spend our communications energy painting an honest, clear picture of exactly what Crolles is so that we can attract those in alignment with us.
By rejecting the grab-as-many-customers-as-possible “strategy”, we’re sure to never compromise on our values. Instead we can focus on strengthening our existing product values, while generating new ones as we open up the feedback dialogue with our growing Crolles community.
“If they don’t want to be with you, why would you want to be with them?” is a treasured pearl of relationship wisdom which Crolles lives by: we trust that standing firmly by our values will attract customers truly suited to Crolles – better for us, better for you.
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One of the key marketing strategies used in the hair care industry to ensure large numbers of returning customers involves intentionally including harmful ingredients.
It works like this:
Harmful ingredients cause distinctive signs of damage, which the hair care provider then uses as the relatable ‘pain point’ for their next marketing campaign. For instance, sulphates → dry hair → same product marketed to “cure” dry hair. The customer is tricked into “fixing” their hair with more of the product that damaged it.
By educating ourselves on strategies like these, Crolles has been able to steer itself against the flow of manipulative schemes. We understand that even when an individual is equipped with knowledge of these schemes, it is still exhausting, overwhelming and time consuming to try to discern the genuine, quality-oriented brands. This shouldn’t be on the customer: it’s the responsibility of each brand to do better.
We don’t envision a world where Crolles is the only product on the curly/coily market. But we do believe that Crolles is a step in the right direction. By being more than just a bar – a community; an awareness campaign – we hope to initiate a shift towards integrity (which in turn means quality) in the textured hair industry.
And this isn’t just an ethical issue. To talk purely business for a moment, the above strategy makes no sense. At least not for any business in it for the long game. A marketing strategy that brings in numerous customers to begin with might boost revenue and brand awareness for a while, but only for so long. When the illusion shatters, so does the customer base.
By rejecting the impossible and contradictory task of making a product suitable for absolutely everyone (or employing schemes to trick people into Crolles) we define the vision of our dream consumer base.
So when we say Crolles is not for everyone, what we mean is, it’s for you.