Billions of advertising money is expended to draw attention of current and potential customers, drive their buying behaviours favourably and develop their loyalty. These days, marketing Gurus have been professing a lot for digital marketing and usage of the traditional media continue to rule the roost. Does anyone really care much about the advertisements, collaterals, emails, Whatsapp messages, Facebook posts, social recommendations? Considering the traffic conditions that we all deal with, does anyone really notice these messages? How can a marketer and a business leader get the maximum bang for their buck?
Our attention span has been on the decline. Number of messages has been on the rise. People tend to multi-task these days which reduces the probability of the advertiser really drawing the attention of a potential customer. Over the last decade, as web technologies have improved, various ad-blockers have emerged and people tend to stay away from the adverts, howsoever targeted they might be. Even if a message pops up, there is a chance that the target is busy on something else and hence, the message does not deliver the impact. The Chief Marketing Officers know all of these; the advertisers know all of these. Yet, they all have been trying to find smarter alternatives of delivering the message. Why don’t they listen to customer behaviours?
We all know, today’s customer has very less time at hand to consume unsolicited information and forms opinions after gathering inputs from several sources. Why can’t we capitalise on this trend and ride this wave?
Customers – current as well as potential are tuning in to know about the experiences of the others irrespective of the category of products that they buy – right from toothpaste, airline tickets, restaurants, mobile phones to industrial products like pumps, switchgear, cement and so on. So, it is important that brands deliver positive experience on all contacts that they do with a customer. Marketing dollars cannot guarantee that each customer gets the desired level of attention, receives appropriate information nd understands how its products and services are unique. The sales teams, customer service teams, operations teams, finance, HR, IT, almost everyone in the company has a responsibility to ensure that their actions are aligned with what the company is trying to deliver. The role of CMO needs to change as the reality has been changing!
Secondly, the message needs to be comprehensive, brief, timely, believable and address the interest of the target group. Several times, customers lose their interest in the communication and the brand loses an opportunity to impress upon its customers. Given the competitive environment in which companies operate, they have to work hard to retain their talent, preserve the spirit of their brand, engage with their customers in a way that makes sense to them.
Last but not the least, the brand has to create a platform for its customers to share their stories and experiences. In today’s world of connectedness and changing trends in buyers’ behaviours to gather inputs from multiple sources, nothing is more powerful than sharing and spreading positive stories.
CEOs need to think how they can transform the role of CMOs and the way in which business teams collaborate with Marketing in the organization. Customers do not care about the traditional tools of marketing. The new tool box is here – the Board rooms need to adapt!
Source : https://thoughtsaroundwethepeople.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/do-customers-care-about-advertisements/
