The businesses have grown, the markets have grown and so have the customers. Gone are the days when the companies could impose just anything or any kind of product or service on the consumers. The market is trending towards self-educated buyers. These buyers know what they are doing and how exactly. A highly competitive and shrinking world provides them the information about the things and the choice between different alternatives.
In such a scenario, only those companies that have customer centric values will be able to survive in the end. A consumer value centric marketing strategy will help in bringing down costs enhancing the profitability of the company.
Capitalizing on self educated buyers
Today the consumer is highly conscious. He does a lot of research on the internet before settling to buy a thing or hiring a service. However, reading the preferences of such a well researching and conscious buyer is not a tough nut to crack after all. The various social media sites, discussion forums, and blogs provide ample of information on the new trends setting in and an organization can tailor cut its own strategy based on a research on buyers carried on by it.
Forceful selling vs. marketing
Forceful selling is obsolete today. Taking a cue from the door-to-door sale, the modern marketing strategists too in not so recent past aimed at targeting particular customers with telephonic calls and emails to direct them towards a particular product. This practice is today seen as obnoxious and unsolicited calls from the companies in fact sometimes have a negative impact on the buying decision of the prospective customer.
Value for a company lies in adopting such market strategies that facilitate in the buying decision of a person and helping him in choosing from the different alternatives. The businesses just needs to be informative that what is on offer and about the merit of goods and services offered. The rest should be left to the decision of the customer.
Market, do not sell the product
Marketing is a broad based activity that if handled properly, will reap rich dividends for the company. Sale oriented data and market trending data are important feelers about the buyer’s preferences, and these will definitely benefit the company in charting its course of action. Knowing exactly what the customers want, or what they will want in the future, will save on unnecessary costs and enhance the profitability of the company.
Customer retention and building new customer relations is the key
A car manufacturing company may, for example, organize education camps to teach the interested learner a few tips about the maintenance of the car. In the broader act of educating, the company can inform the people of some of the finer features of the company’s own car. This will definitely draw the people in buying the car sometime in the future. Such out of the store activities help in creating a bond between the customer and the company, which is very good for the long-term consumer relations of the company. Moreover, the company will also get first hand information on the tastes and preferences of the consumers and feedback from them.
Keeping a customer centric view of marketing will help in building a marketing relationship. This involves aligning with the customers lifelong and sizing up the business with their demands. The customer has therefore to be the beginning, the centre and the end of marketing strategy for a business.
