Beachbum’s smart positioning statement

Full disclosure: this is our work. We know it's a bit self-indulgent to include stuff we've worked on.

But we're really proud of this one and it's doing something really handy that you can pinch, so we're holding our noses and including it.

The outdoor industry has a very established voice. Peak chasing. Technical gear. Strava screenshots. "You earned this."

Almost all outdoor messaging is about achievement, effort and an almost literary seriousness. Poetic lines. Quotes from Kerouac. That kind of thing.

And the result? A huge chunk of people who genuinely love being outside don't see themselves reflected in it that language.

And it's that group of people that are Beachbum's target audience.

The problem was: their audience contains people who goes for a paddle after work to unwind, families that hit the beach at the weekend, people on the school run, parents on the sidelines on a wet Sunday morning... and we had to write in a way that spoke to all of them.

And after 50+ crappy lines trying to the "whether you're out on the water or taking the dog for a walk" thing, we tried something different.

We looked for the emotional theme that connected everyone.

And that was that being outside made their day better.

(We got there by doing an analysis of 6000+ reviews and bits of voice of customer research.)

Suddenly, it all clicked into place.

Using "happy place" is almost a deliberate act of anti-snobbery. It reclaims the casual, joy-led relationship with the outdoors that most people have and invites them in without asking them to prove anything first.

And their brand name being a noun that people can wear as an identity? That was the cherry on the top.

It invites people in. It makes people feel seen. And, importantly, it widens your customer pool, not shrinks it. (Which, as we saw with La Vie, is how brands grow.)

We're pretty proud of ourselves for this one.

But you don't need to hire us to do the same thing for your brand. Here's how to nick this move:

When you're writing for a broad audience, look for the emotional specificity, not the habit. If you can find a feeling that's true for all of them, you can write lines that feel specific and like they're speaking to everyone without needing to ignore a chunk of potential customers.

And if you're not sure what that truth is, your reviews are the place to start. What feelings do people mention or evoke with their reviews? That's where the gold is.