Marketing as we know it is no longer effective in reaching customers. The global landscape, saturated by competition, excessive advertising, and digital platforms, has resulted in a brand war where the customer has the final say. As the market changes, marketing must also evolve and transform, reorienting all business strategies toward the customer in order to achieve profitability.
Philip Kotler, the father of Social Marketing, has been observing and warning about the need to completely change old marketing strategies to adapt to new challenges posed by the market and the customer's newfound central role in business processes. Customers have stopped being passive consumers without decision-making power and have taken on a critical role in comparing, valuing, choosing, and rejecting.
However, the urgency in seeking short-term results has become one of the main problems of today's marketing. The limited time available to develop more comprehensive strategies has resulted in a focus on the product and its sales as the only goal, leading to an over-saturation of customers with ineffective advertising, promotions, mass mailings, sales calls, and sponsorships.
So, if Bizztactics analysis finds that the marketing we currently conceive no longer works, what should we do to generate strategies that lead to business profitability?
The answer to this can be summarized in the following 6 points, which should be the new focus of our actions:
- It is vital to capture our customer's perceptions.
No customer is the same as another, so proper market segmentation, differentiation of values between consumer groups, and adapting the commercial offering to customer tastes are key.
- Uniquely position the brand or product.
This involves finding the differentiating attributes and making them the main characteristic element.
- Find ideas for new innovative products and services.
Creativity for the development of new products can be based on lateral marketing, which focuses horizontally instead of vertically. Opt for synergies with other elements, and subject the products to new situations that end up transforming and generating different value propositions.
- Communicate for greater impact.
This can be achieved through Value Marketing, where messages are directed to the customer's mind, heart, and spirit. At the same time, the company must determine, for each of these dimensions, a mission (why), a vision (what), and specific values (how).
- Quantify the financial impact.
The value of the company depends on its ability to organize its sales and distribution systems. The value of the marketing proposal will reside in the clear definition of a differentiating element that is to be added to the product or service offering. The value of the customer will depend on…
For a better understanding of customer centricity, the following books can be helpful:
- “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott
- “Contagious: How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age” by Jonah Berger
- “Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers” by Jay Baer
Bizztactics also offers personalized consulting services to help increase sales and improve customer service.
