Customers are no longer sitting ducks waiting to be bombarded with marketing messages that are completely out of context and delivered at a time not of their choosing, writes Grant Leboff in ‘ Sticky Marketing ’ (www.vivagroupindia.com). Today’s customers browse, research and buy at their convenience, and the Internet is enabling people to achieve instant gratification in many areas of their lives, he finds. “The result is that customers tend to search for new products or services almost at the exact point they decide they are required, because the expectation is that they will be readily available.”
From who to when
With the new value in immediacy, where consumers are not tolerant of having to wait for anything at all, we are moving to a world in which ‘who’ is buying is no longer important, the author observes. “Rather, increasingly, the vital detail is when they purchase.”
The lesson for marketers, therefore, is not to waste efforts in shouting ‘out of context’ but to recognise the changing nature of segmentation. In Leboff’s view, strategies solely based on segmentation such as age, gender, ethnicity, income and so on are no longer satisfactory; segmentation is more about customer behaviour than demographics.
He frets, however, that when businesses use new technology such as GPS and apply it to the old rules of mass marketing, they could completely miss the point. “Imagine a visit to a high street, airport or shopping centre where your mobile device is bombarded with messages. If this were to happen, most of us would try to stop receiving them, or screen them out, as they quickly went from novelty to annoyance.”
An experience, on its own merit
An instructive section on ‘the power of context’ opens by stating that new marketing has to be consumer led. “It should not be the case that marketers use the mobile devices as a way of trying to reach people all the time. On the other hand, people can now reach marketing at all times.”
When shouting has become less effective as a way of communicating a message, the only way for marketing to engage and ultimately be successful is to provide value to the customer in their particular situation, says Leboff.
He argues that marketing is no longer a means to an end; it provides an experience, on its own merit, by adding value to the context and situation in which a particular person decides to interact. “As products and services become completely commoditised, the value and differentiation that customers receive are in the experience provided, rather than the tangible goods or services themselves.”
Power of conversations
A sobering message to old-time marketers is in the title of a chapter: ‘Message to conversations.’ In a world where we all have a voice, a growing number of us are not just passively listening, but partaking by posting ideas, views, and comments, reminds the author.
Since this information is then available for everyone else to see, we are all now marketers, having the ability to communicate our likes and dislikes on a massive scale, he reasons. “We are more likely to be influenced by the views of other consumers rather than companies themselves. We identify with other customers because we believe they are like us. Unlike companies, we also assume that they do not have any vested interest in the comments they make.”
The new reality, as Leboff sums up, is that more marketing messages are created by the public than by the marketing departments; and that the people have more influence on brands than the companies themselves.
From image to reputation
One other big shift highlighted in the book is the transition from image to reputation. With image, what was most important was what a company said about itself, explains Leboff. In a connected Internet-enabled world, where conversations matter, the most important factor is what others say, and this is not image, but reputation, he adds.
“Image is directed by a company itself, but a company cannot control the conversation. It can participate, it can add value and comment, it can even facilitate discussions, but it cannot control… People will participate on their terms and not yours.” The author’s advice to companies, therefore, is to build credibility and demonstrate expertise and knowledge, by supplying good content, as a way to enhance reputation.
Exaggerated imagery and grandiose claims belonged to the era of traditional marketing, which was one step removed from the product or service people bought, because marketing was then simply a vehicle for driving the customer to the offering and nothing more, Leboff traces. “However, if you are selling experiences, this changes. Every single interaction and message from your company is part of the experience.”
A high-impact book.
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