Whom are we speaking to?

Scene- My desk, on Phone

Me: Hello, I am Vikas Sachdeva, I am in Marketing Team, Can you please help me with the sub categories of awards for the entry - Advertising, Events, Print ads, TV ads,Communication collaterals, any research insights, concept innovation etc?  I have sent all the entries for the awards.

Other side: Yes, I will mail you all the details.

Scene 2, A glass cabin mixed with few walls 

Me: Sir, I will be getting the details of sub categories of awards

Other side: whom did you speak to?

Me: Some representative from awards, but i don't know the name.

Other side: Its always good to know who is the person we are speaking to, at least the name.

Though this conversation has become the pretext of the thought , I have been thinking for last 6-7 months about

Whom brands/marketers speak to promoting their products/services/brands/companies/offerings.


I read somewhere "Marketing for prospective customers needs to be different than Marketing for already acquired customers"

So whom are we speaking to?

Only communication perspective

Prospect 

Brands speak very nicely to him/her, he/she is the most pampered person on this earth, he is approached/influenced on everything, Which car he should buy, which phone is best for his/her needs etc , Brands make him believe that they are the only best choice available to him if he wants to redeem himself.

If we are speaking to prospect, In our communication, We should be

• Giving him knowledge about the product/service than pushing it 
• Giving him experience of our brand/product service first than telling him its advantages over others
• Lucrative incentives to try  

As a prospect, i may not know what to buy, it is the trials with the different brands which will help me choose. Better is the experience , better are the chances of getting picked.

Through deal sites like Snap-deal/group on, what they do is, they discount the full time service/product to trial mode, customer pays say Rs 599 for a spa treatment where he/she experiences services and then choose full time packages.

 If a toothpaste or a cream continuously speak about how it is better than others, beyond a point people start mistrusting the same.

Customer

It is the most misunderstood word, There is a distinct difference between customer and a user. I may be a customer of a hypermarket when i buy detergent but i am not the end user. The requirements of end user may be different than a customer. While I may choose X brand based on availability/location of the hypermarket/convenience while end user may think of price/quality of the product.

If we are speaking to a end user

• Focusing on targeting/communication based on quality of the product/durability/tangible aspects. He/she always looks for functional aspects first
• Comparisons with other brands/services, challenging his rational mind to think, giving him reasons to choose your product/service rather than you pushing it
• Offers/discounting

In the end , I should be proud of my decision in choosing the brand/product/service. If i as a end user have not got kick of purchase, if my rational mind is not happy, all in vain.

If we are speaking to a customer

• Focusing on targeting his triggers of choosing the products/service, We need to involve the customer into our journey, how this product/service is made, how it started, engaging him more through story telling.
• Giving him more reasons to be loyal, family outings in the plant where we manufacture the products, making him feel special, making him feel important and valued
• Involvement of his friends/family in your business
• Involvement of his in new product/service design
• Understand his/her emotional needs

Today thanks to tight budgets over variety of media options available, same communication is released for all types ( prospects/customer/end user), then we wait and wait for the results. 

We need to craft tailor made programs for each type we are targeting and administer each program effectively.  

At the end, i would like all of us to think " Communication/Marketing for Prospect/Customer/End user is distinctively different from each other, we need to think differently for each set" 

By the way, Just 20 days left , we will have new government at the center.

Keep smiling!

Vikas Sachdeva

I am a customer

I AM A CUSTOMER

I am a customer, lot many companies approach me daily, I get flooded by calls from credit card companies, everybody is trying to give me money, every product is claiming to change my life, every brand takes care of my comfort, whether my room is cool or not, whether there are mosquitoes in my room, whether my telephone bill is more, whenever I walk on the road, every hoarding is telling me I am the best, when I sit down and read newspaper, then also every brand is shouting I am the best! Everybody is decreasing prices for me, giving me plenty of discounts.

They have made me the king.

What they want in return is loyalty , I should stick to them forever but the problem is how I can be loyal to all the brands, so I asked all of them a question.

Are you loyal to me?

No brand spoke, silence!

I asked few more questions!

Have you understood me well enough?

Do you know what problems I face daily? Have you tried to understand what makes me happy? Do you  know which color I like? Do you know what my family loves the most? No, you are just throwing some freebies for me, some discounts for me, ok, I will be happy for that moment when I have to pay less price for buying your product, but in the long run, when I will have choice, I will move to the product which understands me better! I will move to brand who genuinely thinks about me, plays with me, display love for me when required, feels happy for me and you thought that you can play with greed forever! NO!

What Special you are doing for me?

Tell me, why I should buy you? What special you have done for me? Just spend some time will with my family and you will realize that what it means when somebody sends a birthday cake on my son’s birthday? When pizza guy comes, takes the money and says “ apni family ke saath khana, acha lagega!

When I am sitting in a flight and attendant plays with my daughter!

When doctor says, “ Koi baat nahi paisa phir kabhi aa jaayega, aap healthy raho”!

Try to do special for me then I will feel special about you!

Have you made my life simple or complex?

I really feel bad when you don’t mention delivery charges extra explicitly whenever I order online, you try to fool me by showing lesser price and then adding huge amount of delivery charges! Mention the price directly and say ‘delivery charges are included in the price’, I will be clear what I will have to pay. You do multiple verifications when you have to sell a credit card but when due to slow internet , transaction fails, then you say that we will revert to you in 7 days

Why 7 days?

Why can’t you check things online and call me next day and update me with the status.

Why inspite of heavy luxury tax, service tax paid by me in your restaurant, your waiter returns the change in coins? So as I can leave few coins for him.

Why don’t you try to simplify my life, once you do that, we both will grow!

Don’t overpromise if you can’t deliver!

Don’t overpromise, you don’t know how many people apply your fairness cream because you promise that they will be fair someday, Instead say it improves skin texture.

Deliver the parcel in time committed to the customer; someone may be waiting for the parcel.

Don’t say yes when you know it is no.

Don’t think I am angry at you; I just want to say that if you are seeking loyalty from me, then you should also be loyal to me!

Sincerely

A customer!