Alibaba’s Jack Ma stood at the podium of a packed auditorium and said once : ”Believe in your dreams, find good people, and make sure the customer is happy. I see a lot of US companies sending professional managers to China. They are making their boss in the US happy but not the Chinese customers. ”
Any company that neglects the customer in their home market, has already lost the journey to prosperity and success. Days of ‘the customer is king’ still prevail. You have the option to be a Queen to this king or just another pawn.
At the time of a move, a purchase, does your customer prefer your brand? Is your brand name synonymous with a particular service or commodity? Do they trust your brand name?
Should they?
Yes?
Then make them.
The customer is not entitled to care if the seller has had his three healthy meals to grow and be a big strong boy. Whether you have your mental health in check or you lasted 3 months in the Arctic to find that perfect recipe for your cold coffee. The benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker is often neglected by customers because of the brand themselves.
Your inability to create a sense of synonym with your brand name to the product which you sell, is your own fault.
Becoming a “familiar brand” is not half as easy as it was many decades ago. Your competition is higher and growing. You must stand out, and you can in a hundred ways.
But is that enough? No?
Then what is?
Your primary duty is to sell good products or services and satisfy the customer. In this process, the business has to earn a decent profit, adequate returns on investment, etc. This requires a long-term strategy. A little carelessness or oversight can lead to disaster. One may never recover from a fall caused by mistakes.
The mighty Napoleon lost his Battle of Waterloo. His generals had failed to position the cannons on terra firma, and on the crucial morning , it rained, and the ground was slippery and muddy.
You might have the canons (marketing mediums), cannonballs of gold (your product/service), generals (marketing experts) with enough expertise to conquer half the world, but you are never prone to mistakes, nobody is.
But you can avoid these most common mistakes in marketing.
1. Never neglect the Mobile
For any business to thrive, the buyer and the seller must come together. Where everyone comes together in today’s digital era is on the internet, social media platforms. More than 68% of this online presence happens through mobile devices, phones and tablets.
Your advertisements should always be tested on the mobile platforms. They should be brief, matter-of-fact, imaginatively showcased, and socially graceful. Never be negative.
Your website should speak on your behalf and keep the USP in front of the customer’s eye, at all times.
Do not neglect other physical aspects of society either- personal contacts, conferences, billboards, meetups, .etc are just as important to socialise and promote your brand to the right audience.
Balance the web and offline marketing by understanding your audience.
2. Don’t be ignorant of your consumers, their needs and wants are your own
Gathering data on consumer behaviors and patterns can help define your marketing channel, set yourself apart from the market leaders, and offer exactly what your consumers are looking for. A refined and complete product or service, unlike any other.
Give them what they want and not what you want to sell them.
3. Ignoring competition is certain ruin
Buyers go for the best products. Options are always endless. There is no more monopoly of brands anymore, especially not in India. How your competition sustains and grows is through innovation.
Good competition will always have you on your toes. You must reciprocate by investing in research and development, designs and content, delivery and after-sales.
For centuries, Poland had the best infantry in Europe until other nations upgraded to cavalry. It took a while for the Polish to get off their high horses and make the decision to catch up, but when they did, others had artillery and tanks soon after.
The competitor also makes changes to their product just as you will, so in order to keep up, you must always keep them on your radar until you get ahead….
After that, keep watching them in your rearview mirror.
4. Quality check
Invest greatly in checking your product, constant checking of the process, parts, assembly and packaging. Always have your product and delivery under expert observation.
The end product or service takes your brand name forward; the advertisements and online marketing are mere pushes.
5. Do not fix what is not broken
Especially in marketing, if a certain marketing technique works wonders for you, do not change it. Most old brands tend to do this nowadays, simply because they think “new” is always better.
New is better, mostly, but new doesn’t always mean better.
You will benefit greatly by sticking with what you have been doing and serving your loyal customers better. You can draw inspiration from such activities and run additional initiatives by giving them a new-age ‘digital twist’.
The rule is to wait and watch, running an experiment on a selected target market if necessary.
Change is not always necessary or good.
There is an old Roman quote which can be loosely translated as:
“He who stands should be cautious lest he fall!”
Those standing strong and tall, should and are always to be cautious not to fall.
The world of marketing is a jungle, but you can always prevent these mistakes and avoid a bad fall. You’re welcome.
