Let’s first get the basics and fundamentals, a re-think, reset if you will.
Traditionally products were manufactured, packaged
with a label and a name and sold in market-place that got re-sold,
re-distributed to smaller communities eventually reaching an end-consumer.
Money in the chain could be 5-stage in modern management terms. (i) Consumer
pays (ii) the Manufacturer; (ii) the marketplace, distributor, stockist
retailer, warehousing shared some of the profit; (iv) in-logistics had to be
paid to reach the marketplace and (v) out-logistics costs money to reach the
consumer. I call this a 5-leaf-clover.
(While a 4-leaf clover brings you luck, the a 5-leaf one is what exists
only if you see it that way).
How does anyone get to know
about the product? Advertising emerged
for years dominated by radio, TV and press.
Call it above the line, and don’t argue about radio for the moment. Let us leave below-the-line, hoardings,
banners, events, point-of-sale and all that jargon for the moment. Any and all
cash or money comes from the ONE product the manufacturer sold to the ONE
customer.
The “town crier” was your first
ad. spend for a long time. Perhaps we
are going back to the good old days and long for our own “Town crier”.
Things have changed and are
changing every day. HOWEVER some things do not chage at all.
So what are the change elements?
1.
SERVICES : It is no longer products only. Services are being paid for and consumed.
Scribes, Doctors, lawyers, entertainers … with money exchange at Supply point,
consumption point or intermediate points.
2.
DIGITAL : More complex services are emerging such as
digital assets, eForms, ePaperwork, eEVERYTHING.
3.
INTERNET : Is now a utility and a near-essential at every
establishment like power, water inflow, sewage outflow, phone, radio or
TV. Each may be connected, networked
AND wired or wireless. Let us not get
into the variants, exceptions and add-ons.
Allows communications between 1 to 1, 1 to few, 1 to many and 1 to all. The combinations of these 4 produce further
combos such as many to many, few to few, all to all.
4.
MOBILE : Allows mobility. Anytime. Anywhere. Any media
(audio, video, text, images), 24x7x365, any device. On the move, at-work, at-home, midnight or 3 AM.
5.
ON-DEMAND : Unlike press, TV or radio a big change is
consumption is not PUSHED to me; BUT what I what is when I want it and in the
way I want it I have PULLED what I need.
6.
RADIO : A personal belief is that radio is going to play a
much more significant part. Aural, music, audio. We can do other things whilst
listening to the radio. Efficacy is going to fall into place especially with
internet radio overtaking AM/FM at some near point of time. It is one of the most cost-effective means
at the moment.
7.
CONTENT : A catch-all phrase that is a problem. Data,
knowledge, information, analytics, reports, eBooks, digital assets, images,
video, audio, text, education, entertainment everything is content whether
structured or un-structured, with or without meta-data bibliography whether
visual, aural, sensory recipes or more.
8.
PLATFORM : What brings the “5-leaf-clover” and all the
above together? You can miss the woods for the trees such as cloud, apps,
internet, smartphones, eGovernance it is firms such as Uber, Airbnb or
Coursera, Amazon, Alibaba or Flipkart which provide a whole integrated
disruptive system. You either create it
or be a part of it. It’s the way of
doing business in the 21st century.
Creating product, service OR
“Brand” awareness, desire, interest and action (AIDA) within the above
Pandora’s box is impossible. Period. Forget it. One dollar spent is one dollar
too many.
Now let us flip this back to the
5-step marketplace of yore. As a
consumer I still need products, services, brands. You have to be there when I need it. I should be able to reach
you in 3 steps. I should get it yesterday and free if that’s possible. I can
see it before I buy it, return it, exchange it or gift it. I do trust a “few’ individuals whom I know
in “this regard” and will take their word before I buy this. Because they may
have bought it before. Used it. Is an expert.
Is recommending it. It is the
best, the cheapest, the fastest, coolest, hottest, quietest, sturdiest,
outlandish, quaintest or what attribute I may attach to the product or service
that I want right now at this point in time.
80% of the time I go back to where I originally bought things and will
buy again from there. 96% of the time if I am unhappy with your product I will
just go away without telling you BUT I will tell everyone else not to buy from
you and how bad you were the last time.
The marketplace works on Demand & Supply. If
there is more demand than supply you win, if there is more supply then demand
then I win. Rarely is there a win-win
in this gap of economic elasticity. You
can appeal to my greed or fear as I see fit.
It’s your job to have a portfolio of all your
products, services and brands and have them available by geography, demography
and psychography, Grouped and listed ABC-wise or XYZ-wise, by prioritization
by-cost, colour, sizes, styles, features, benefits, ROI (Return on Investment),
TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), adwords, meta-tags, attributes, characters or
whatever.
The challenge for you is “to be
found” by me when I want it. I may Google for it. I may phone a friend, I may
call a phone company, I may look up the Yellow pages, I may walk into your
showroom, a dealer shop or a pre-owned ware-blouse. I consume but I may not be the Buyer, there may be other Users, I
do not take all the Decisions though I perhaps am an Influencer (BUDI factor). You have to reach all of us, else you can’t sell your product to
us.
I recommend
I
think you get the picture. Talk to us to work through every piece of this
complex jigsaw unique to you and your customers and to put this into place as your …
a. MASTER-STRATEGY for stakeholders direction. “A roadmap”.
b. TACTICAL boundaries for management. “Decision Execution System”
c. OPERATIONAL workflow and Standard Operating
Procedures (SOP) for process improvement and operational individual, team and
enterprise effectiveness.
q
Product (and/or
Service) portfolio maps are to be constructed.
q
All channels
including TV. Press, Radio, Internet, Mobile & Social media to be
considered.
q
Digital marketing is
ONLY a part of the mix, but an important one. It rarely brings results despite
all the hype – however well-leveraged it does create companies, products,
services, wealth, money and is creating the 21st century – but only
if you RESET your thinking.
q
The 1, few, many
AND/OR all to be clearly listed as well as the Geography, Demography &
Psychography of your target prospect customer base.
q
Niche and specific
engagement, conversation, dialogue, interaction, face-to-face, feedback,
objection handling, educating with every single consumer as if he or she were
the only one and the last.
How
to identify, design, architect, enter, comply, risk-mitigate, govern, leverage
the “5-leaf-clover” in your industry or the industry of your customer,
supplier, customer’s customer and supplier’s supplier maybe critical to your
very survival let alone growth and scale as a brand.
