Changes in the way we communicate, buy, inform, relate, are producing transformations both at the corporate level and in our individual behaviors.
by Claudio Fazzone*
In this new digital and mobile communications stage, the great change occurs in the way we communicate, and the availability of resources we have today has multiplied our options to be able to establish contacts with other people.
Thinking about this new reality, the implementation of new marketing strategies, which seek to seduce a consumer who is in processes of change using the new digital media to communicate, relate and buy, still, in our paint market, is in a stage of learning and trial of error. It is at this stage where companies that envision and understand change, or that have the culture of permanent change, begin to take advantage of the rest.
Undoubtedly, the cultural profile of the company begins to be the key to knowing if it will be successful or not. The focus on the internal and external customer, listening, giving answers, working together, being efficient, moving fast, are some of the aspects of this new culture that will determine the profile of a successful company for the coming years.
Trends to consider
Understanding the new consumer, knowing what their concerns are, their priorities, their new scale of value or their new needs, is, as it has always been, fundamental to be able to captivate them and generate preference.
Broadly speaking, we want to list some global trends that we understand we must consider when developing new marketing actions.
Regardless of whether we know that consumers have different needs and priorities, that markets differ in their level of development and culture, we know that if they are considered when defining new strategies, adapting products and services to them, the chances of success will be greater.
Based on this we recommend the elaboration of marketing actions taking into account the following trends:
- Digital Tools
- Collaborative Marketing
- Green Awareness
- Retail Experience
- Concept of Value
We develop the concept of each of these trends proposing or exemplifying specific marketing actions, in such a way that we understand that far beyond the characteristics of our company, the common denominator in this new stage is accessibility to perform actions. Today more than ever, creativity and customer focus culture are beginning to be as or more decisive than marketing budgets.
Digital tools
If you are on the right track you will see how your digital marketing budget is growing to the detriment of actions in traditional media. The growth rate of smartphones is showing us that we are permanently communicated and that immediacy is one of the characteristics of the new communication.
For our paint markets, the great advantage offered by this tool is to bring the act of painting to a tangible plane. Taking a photo of an environment, uploading it to a company site to suggest color combinations, uploading it to Facebook and asking our contacts to vote for the ones they think is best, is one of the many examples that illustrate the new actions we must develop.
Today, the way of communicating and the service provided through optimizing digital media will help us generate competitive advantages.
Collaborative marketing
With the use of digital tools, with a focus on social networks, we can think about creating actions that aim to develop direct communication with the consumer. Based on this, one of the aspects that the current consumer values most is to assert their decision-making power, since they know the weight of their opinion and want to get the most out of it.
To the extent that we work on Collaborative Marketing actions we will generate a large number of followers of the brand linked to it. Some of the actions that we can think of in this sense may be linked to social or solidarity actions; for example, suggest what color we could paint a school, a library, a hospital, selecting the color among the community and, of course, providing material for its realization.
Another action could be to develop new colors, shades or combinations that are suggested through social networks, to vote on these options and identify them with the names of those who had the most votes. In this way we could propose a specific collection with tones such as Celeste Mario, Cyan Susana, Rojo Lucrecia.
The main objective of these actions is to understand the needs and concerns of people, listen to them, make them participants and, something very important: recognize their contributions.
Green awareness
The world will be green, or it won't be!
We are becoming increasingly aware of the need to improve the environment. This is already moving from being a concern only of the most developed countries to being part of a global concern. In this sense, many paint companies have developed lines with low VOC content, development of aqueous lines and other advantages to take care of the planet.
However, there is much to be done with the consumer in this regard. We must analyze how we are educating it to know what to do with the residues of the paint and accessories we use. How we clean them, how we protect ourselves when painting; educating the consumer in this regard will demonstrate a real concern of a company/brand for the consumer and for society.
Retail experience
Although what we sell is related to the fact of decorating, there are few markets where the points of sale are related to this concept. Let's think that at the individual level women begin to represent more and more an important participation in the purchase of products, but in many Latin American countries the points of sale are not prepared for the female segment to be attracted to the store where they buy. Today it is a priority that we must consider when rethinking the development of stores.
When we talk about Retail Experience we refer to the degree of satisfaction that the customer reaches to the extent that the facilities of the store, the attention of the staff, the variety of brands / colors, the advice, the training talks, among other elements that make up the attributes of the brand of the store, show a development according to their expectations.
Thinking not only about developing new paints, but also about how they are going to be sold, should be part of the brand's comprehensive strategy.
Concept of value
Beyond the economic value of the product, the true differential will be given by the added value that this product will have over another.
Within this we point out that working on the previous points: communicating and relating through digital media, giving customers the opportunity to collaborate, recognize them, care responsibly about the care of the environment, offer them an adequate space for what we sell or a decoration product, will increase the concept of value that the consumer has on our brand, thus generating preference.
* Claudio Fazzone is the director of Venmark Argentina, a business and brand development company. For more information: [email protected]
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