At New Brand Vision, we believe that the purpose of "marketing" is to support sales process. Therefore, one of the basic principles we employ is the concept of the customer buying-decision process. This helps us understand the path a potential customer takes from discovering a company, product or service through to actually making a purchase decision. Failure to understand these clear series of steps is the reason why much marketing material falls short of its objectives.
Successful marketing campaigns follow this path by providing suitable communications with appropriate messages at each step, to drive prospective customers further along the path towards the purchase decision. The content and type will be adapted, depending on the target audience and the product or service.
A common error is that much marketing material, attempts to make the sale in the first communication, by overloading the prospective customer with information too early in the process. For example: by using a detailed brochure when only a simple leaflet was appropriate. The initial marketing effort should simply provoke sufficient interest to engage attention.
Formulating the Strategy:
When planning a programme there are generally two types of marketing approaches to consider: the proactive and the reactive (often referred to as collateral). One informs the customer of the existence of a firm, product or service, e.g. advertising, direct mail, PR, and the other provides the information required to support the close of the sale, e.g. logo/branding, signage, website, brochure, stationery. Any implementation of strategy should achieve a good balance between the two.
One of the greatest problems that many of our clients experience is the difficult selection of the appropriate marketing tools to drive business forward. Designing a logo and brochure that is simply appealing, is one way to approach a project, but our recommendation would be to gain a thorough understanding of the nature and motivation of prospective purchasers. By doing so, the logo, identity and marketing material that can then be created is far likelier to inspire and excite them, and the results are more powerful and successful in assisting the sales process.
Building Relationships with Customers:
Depending on whether a company's target market is Business-to-Consumer or Business-to-Business, the marketing tools and strategy will differ. However, what they do have in common is the need to establish a relationship with customers for greater long term profitability.
The aim of any customer relationship-building programme should be to build step-by-step towards a mutually advantageous association. This ideal is achieved when the client enjoys engaging with the company/brand in a way that encourages them to make repeat purchases of the range of products or services on offer.
In addition, their satisfaction leads them to become your firm's advocate, by personally recommending family, friends and colleagues. This swings both ways, as you will be content because you are achieving sales and returns on your marketing investment. Such an ideal position can be reached by two courses of action; the initial acquisition of a customer, and their subsequent development.
We have developed the diagram below to help visualise the process of achieving an ongoing client-relationship. It shows that the more we learn about customer-information, the more personalised the marketing approach, and in turn the more valuable the relationship can become.
Therefore, as part of any secondary strategy, a series of communications, should be developed to resell, cross sell, encourage word of mouth, and recommend or bring-a-friend initiatives.
Customer Acquisition: ("Business-to-Consumer" & "Business-to-Business")
"Customer Acquisition" strategies are designed to assist a company to launch a brand, product or service, and to attract the greatest number of customers. With clear positioning and a defined target audience, acquisition becomes very much simpler.
The concept of the customer buying decision process is relevant to achieve this objective. It is essential to understand who they are and what will motivate them. By doing so we will be able to slot the appropriate reactive and proactive initiatives into the correct stages of the customer journey, and to define what messages to use, and how best to deliver them.
For a product to gain acceptance by the mass market, it often needs to be endorsed by the early adopters. If the budget is limited, the campaign should start focused by appealing to this group. Even small budgets should set in motion good penetration across that group, enough to begin a trend. The drawback with launching direct to the mass market is that if they are not copying the group to which they aspire to be a part, they will need much reassuring that the product is okay to buy, there is a significant cost in achieving this, and the result is certainly not guaranteed.
The diagram below depicts the consumer market place, and it is important to understand how it can be exploited. The top of the triangle represents a small group of consumers that are affluent and seek out new trends. The bottom of the triangle represents lower income groups or those slow to adopt new ideas. In our experience, each group removed from the top, strives to emulate those above.
This for example, is how Burberrys in the fashion industry has achieved so much success in recent years. After a prolonged period of sluggish sales to a minority market, their products enjoyed a resurgence as trendy high fashion items, worn by the wealthy and those generally in the know. They have only several years later trickled down the socio-economic groups, reaching the market stalls, where the brand is still held to be fashionable, long after the early adopters have moved on to the next new thing.
Customer Development:
Our "Customer Relationship or development" strategies are designed to strengthen relationships with existing customers, promoting repeat purchase, additional sales and personal recommendations.
We all know that it is cheaper and more cost-effective to persuade a past or existing customer to buy again, rather than to acquire a new one. To do so successfully will require the identification of your most valuable customers, and to routinely communicate directly with them.
It is important here to identify re-selling and cross-selling opportunities as well as customer relationship programmes to create loyalty, encourage repeat purchase and accelerate recommendation by word-of-mouth.
Customer Data:
With marketing budgets being scrutinised and reduced, we believe this is a timely reminder for companies to exploit one of the greatest untapped assets, their customers, (or specifically their customer data).
It is vital for the development of your customers' potential to be able to answer the following questions:
- Who are your most valuable customers?
- What, when and how much do they buy?
- What else might they like to buy?
- Are they recognised and given preferential treatment?
- Do you differentiate your promotions and marketing accordingly?
- Are you wasting budget on customers that never buy?
- Are you losing your customers, and if so, when and why?
- Are your customers recommending you?
Customer data is one of today's biggest untapped business assets, which is surprising, since making constructive use of it to encourage 'repeat' and 'additional' sales is one of the fastest and lowest cost initiatives.
Name and Brand & Identity:
Your company name, logo and stationery are the starting points for the establishment of any new business entity. A company's image should create an identity that reflects and emphasises the intrinsic qualities that are considered to be important. The impression generated will be utilised in brand-building, strategic sales and marketing campaigns, as well as all other areas of your marketing activity. It must therefore, send the right message to prospective customers.
The rule with all brands is that whilst they encapsulate the core essence of a company, they tend to take on a meaning only when the message behind that company is communicated. The more a customer understands about a firm or product, the more meaningful and memorable the identity becomes.
Website:
A poor website in terms of design, layout and navigation, undermines credibility and places doubt in the user's mind. A disappointed visit to a site is a missed opportunity. A positive reaction creates the potential to do business.
In our view the principal purpose of any site would be to provide absolute clarity as to the product or service, and should move a prospective customer nearer to a buying decision. Too many sites are overloaded with pointless information and that have no identifiable structure.
It is vital that a website should be specifically constructed so that information for the acquisition of customers is as far as possible, separated from that needed to retain and develop their potential. If the website is successful in achieving this, then we would hope the prospect�s details can be collected for use in future sales communications. The more customer-data that can be collected, the more targeted the marketing can become, and the less wastage occurs.
The acquisition process needs to be kept simple and straightforward so that in a couple of clicks the visitor will know very much more about the offering, how to get it and what they should do next. Answering the question, "what should they do next?" is most important, as the web experience must move the prospect nearer to making the purchase-decision, leaving them with a clear sense of action.
New Brand Vision regards the web as an integral part of this buying process. It is an interactive medium than can accurately reflect the qualities of a brand in a way that brochures, direct mail and advertising alone simply cannot, although these other marketing tools are essentially required to provide the initial traffic to the website.
Although this is a subjective area, good design and layout obviously will have a positive effect on the user. Flashy graphics are not necessarily required, when simplicity and content will appeal more to the prospective customer.
We strongly believe that effort is required to encourage customer action to get in touch; how that contact is managed at your end, will have a direct bearing on the possibility of closing the sale.
Search Engine Marketing:
The most opportune time to engage with a potential customer is when they are already online. To achieve this, it will therefore be important to optimise the website so that it achieves a good natural listing on search engines, as well as using other options to boost rankings.
Pay-per-click advertising on Google can be very effective; although it is limited to generating traffic solely from the Google search engine and can be expensive.
Public Relations (PR):
Engaging in PR activity helps to provide exposure in publications (and on radio & TV), that limited budgets would otherwise prohibit. It also stretches a budget to achieve wider reach. Whilst the results cannot be guaranteed it is generally a crucial factor in the success of marketing campaigns. The result is the establishment of brand awareness, and credibility.
Advertising: Press, Outdoor, Radio, TV:
In most cases we reject the idea of advertising in preference to direct mail or other pro-active marketing tools, however the objectives of a campaign to drive awareness (to specific target groups) lends itself well to advertising. Having said this, if the initial budget does not allow for this activity, it could be introduced at a later stage. The successful launch of the product is not dependant on it; although some advertising, particularly in appropriate magazine titles, could provide crucial support to a PR programme and is likely to boost sales.
Direct Mail:
The fundamental requirement of any campaign undertaken is to drive interest from prospective customers. It will mean that any communication used must not just standout and create awareness; it will need to spark positive client action. Either by exploiting names in your own database or the purchase of one would form the basis for any direct mailing campaign.
When the target audience receives an initial communication, it will have to strike an immediate chord and to stimulate their consciousness regarding your product or service. Follow-up and subsequent communications will seek to drive them to take an active interest in finding out more. Direct Mail is one of the main methods to begin the conversation.
It is essential to devise a campaign that not only applies a professional design, image and headline to a flyer, but that its envelope is directed to a specific name and address. It will be the task of our team to devise a creative and effective way of eliciting a positive response.
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing is where one person knowingly passes your marketing material to another. An interactive digital application that is both fun and that engages the customer is potentially virulent. Viral marketing is a great method of spreading brand awareness and collecting data.
Emails
We believe emails to be integral with website marketing and add value to the overall programme. They are transporters; they take people from a remote place (an email in their inbox) and connect them to a central one where they can be engaged (a company's website). It is easy however to overload emails, especially when the site cannot be easily updated. Long emails are generally difficult to read, and busy people have little patience.
We would not recommend emails for initial customer-acquisition purposes. Email can still be perceived to be intrusive. However, for follow-ups to those that have registered online, we would recommend this technique. Innovative and compelling ways can be found that will drive the customer nearer to purchase or re-purchase.
Point of Sale:
This is no doubt a very important medium for the retail sector. The careful selection of outlets that will reach your target market is crucial, and the appropriate design of the product packaging, the display stand and in-store marketing is essential.
Funding:
In our experience of working and talking with start-ups and investors, the funding process can often be extremely slow. It is widely known that funding can be difficult to attain when operations are not already underway, partly because Venture Capitalists like to monitor a going concern to see whether projected sales targets are met, as an indication to the reliability of a business plan.
For this reason we tend to break projects down into parts. We encourage clients to remain big in their thinking, but to start small. It should be ensured that the work is still produced at an optimal level to be scaled later, to prioritise tasks, prove the business case, and learn from successes and failures. It can then be determined what investment is required for marketing, to take the business to the next level.
Further Information
For more information, please do not hesitate to contact, Ben Harris or Steve Bustin on 0845 123 2900 or by email bharris@newbrandvision.com.
