Marketing is one of the most powerful & interesting aspects of business but at the same time it draws scepticism from the consumer and is often considered a gimmick. Many marketing gurus today are talking about the potential of marketing as a problem-solving tool rather than a selling tool.
Consumers have become averse to salesy content, especially with the internet bombarding them with ads, across different platforms, every second, and so contemporary marketing techniques have shifted the focus from the product/service to the consumer.
How?
By stimulating a need based on the problems faced by the consumer. Every consumer has a pain point and is looking for a product/service to get rid of that pain point or to solve a problem, and that is exactly how marketers are positioning their brands today. B2B and B2B marketing both have realised that campaigns need to drive home simple solutions to the consumers’ problem, and once they have created basic curiosity in the consumer they elaborate on the features & benefits.
So how have companies shifted focus from product to consumer?
- Leveraging the customer’s fear of losing out: Creating a sense of urgency with limited time/limited quantity offers: ‘out of stock’ daily deals, “like Wednesday Discounts”
- Using user-generated content like reviews instead of celebrities as ambassadors
- Developing a content strategy based on consumers’ search for solutions for their problems-concentrating on selling experience and solution rather than selling the product
- Focusing on micro influencers rather celebrities or macro influencers
- Following customer feedback and constantly innovating based on feedback
For eg:
If you are selling space saving furniture you don’t need to focus on hydraulic engineering but on how space-saving furniture can help declutter your consumer’s house.
Or if you are selling a software to boost field productivity you can move on to the location-based intelligence your software has a little later and initially just focus on how companies can avoid delays and poor business decisions with timely real-time data collection.
So if you want to a hit a jackpot with marketing, you know whom to focus on….yes that’s right give your product a break and get around solving problems of your potential target group!
