Aspiration vs Perception

All consumer products ultimate connect with the consumer is based on whether their offering meets the aspiration of the target audience. Its no secret that every human has some unfulfilled aspiration. It could be about tangible products like cars, house or intangibles such as recognition, reward, power etc. Marketing delves deeper and says that the 'tangibles' are a form of expression of the consumer about their emotional needs. For example, conventional marketing speaks about owning a house would give a sense of security, cars would make you feel 'arrrived', good brands would make a statement about you-so on and so forth. Obviously, every consumer brand fills this emotional gap that is unmet in the consumer's mind and says, well this is THE brand that can make you feel confident, wanted, popular etc. There are numerous examples of brands creating successful campaigns based on this concept.

The point in question is whether the consumer aspires for something to fulfil his want or whether he 'feels' that his want would be fulfilled based on his perception about how people think!
For example, he may want a car not because he has an aspiration for it but because 'he feels' that people would relate to him as successful. Or he may not buy a particular brand of laptop because 'he feels' others may think about him being outdated. This also raises whether you and me buy because ' I want to' or whether ' I don't want to' ( being thought of as uncool, out-of-sync etc.) The driving emotions in both cases also differ. The case for aspiration is driven by a positive one and the latter is a negative emotion in this case. Needless, to mention, which emotion dominates our life more is everyone's guess.

However, all this is built on our own perceptions about how we feel people will react, think and judge. We are concerned with trying to shield ourselves from all this and well, thats where we find brands as the best protectors. And this is an ongoing process. As I feel, we are humans and being aspirational is no crime. For me travelling, seeing new places gives me a high!

I think if we are aspirational in the true sense, we would choose brands that make good sense- emotionally as well as rationally. Also, while aspiration is more absolute and is not necessarily based on other people's reactions, perception is all about 'others'.

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Power of scent in marketing

While I was out recently in a super market, I walked past the counter for fruits and was really struck by the strong smell of oranges coming from the shelves.  Neither did it divert my attention to it but also compelled me to buy a kilo.

It reminded me about how powerful our senses are in marketing. Without the use of smell, I wouldn’t have given the oranges a second glance, but of course with a great orangey smell that stopped me in my tracks and influenced by behaviour.  Most of the communication is directed for the eyes as it is said that 80% of our decisions are influenced by what we see. Therefore, marketers often scramble for appealing to the eyes, through printed materials, TV ads etc.  when using  smell can really add to the effectiveness of marketing.

Smell is one of the most powerful senses that a human has. Recall, memories, emotions, feelings, and associations are quite easily accessed via sense of smell than through any other channel.

In humans, there are four genes for vision, whereas there are 1,000 allocated to scent, which means we have the ability to differentiate more than 10,000 odours. According to the Sense of Smell Institute, 75 percent of all emotions we generate are due to what we smell. Marketers are well aware of this and for years they have used the power of scent as an important marketing tool.

The power of smell is so powerful that it influences our decision whether to buy a product or not, whether to visit a particular restaurant or not and also to an extent it impact our recommendation for a particular product or service.

The most prominent products that use this power are perfumes and deodorants. Walk into any large super store or a mall and you would find the counters of all perfume brands right at the entrance. All that the sales staff is asking you to do is have a “free trial”. They know it so well that there are every chances of conversion for those who go for this freebie. In fact, that’s the best possible way to create a sale in this industry. However scent marketing is not only restricted to perfumes and deos. I remember walking down a street near a tube station in London and there was a bakery house right near the exit. Now the aromas of its freshly made bread and pastries used to spread right through its strategically placed window. Surely, that drove footfalls inside this bakery and eventually sales. Aroma branding is not just restricted to spreading inviting scents but also used to create a brand experience that would result in positive associations and aid brand recall. Also called olfactory branding, it is something that remains with the consumer in his memory and is better suited than reaching for the “eyeballs” which are difficult to reach in a crowded media bazaar.

As a strategy, cafes are very good examples and a coffee store must make sure that the customer who walks in is greeted by the smell of fresh beans. In fact, there would be a difference in the smell of beans when you compare one coffee shop to another. When you think of launching a new product in a market place, for example a soap,  a marketer looks into which “positioning” is unoccupied in the minds of the consumer and thus fill it with his unique offer. Smell becomes an important factor here too. Look at all soap brands and all of them carry a distinct “position” in terms of their fragrance.

Smell can also be used to whet your appetite in restaurants and therefore, you have these open kitchens where food is cooked in an open place which obviously is meant to stimulate your urge for eating.  While natural fragrance cannot be produced always, artificial fragrance is also used and the ones that are commonly used are those of fresh bread and bakery products.

Smell as a branding tool is not new but is gaining prominence mainly because of the media clutter and it being an important element in creating a “brand experience”.  Every brand is striving to create its signature aroma which will not only help in creating an association for the brand but help in recall and influence buying decisions.

Effective online marketing

Companies are using the web for a spectrum of marketing activities, from brand building, after sales service to lead generation. The most popular tools that are used are e-mail, website,  display ads and now recently, social networks. I would like to focus on some basics of how online marketing can be made effective :

1. Website: Your website is like a 24X7 store/office where people can visit, look at your products, understand your company and decide whether they want to deal with you or not. For new visitors, a website gives an idea about the offerings and how much they could trust the same. For existing customers, they could find new updates on your company. It is important that the website be made user friendly so that people can easily get the information they seek in a proper sequence. I have seen websites where you have to spend a lot of time search basic information like, “contact us”. It may be mentioned in a place where the customer may have to really do some hard work to locate it. A company spends so many resources in making the perfect office but if your potential customer has a poor online experience, is that affordable?  Having a proper content is another important aspect that is often overlooked.  In fact, the more (relevant) content you can upload, the better it is. Remember, the website is viewed by the visitor at a time convenient to him. As a result, he may be really interested in knowing more about the company and thats where having a good content in place works to your advantage.

2. E mail: Perhaps the most undermined and abused form of online marketing is email. It’s a no brainer when it comes to telling someone to carry out an e-mail marketing campaign. However,the most common mistake that is done is sending bulk emails. There cannot be any result expected from such campaigns mainly because the chances of your email landing in spam is quite high and even if they don’t, receivers tend to ignore bulk mails. I have also noticed that many mail drafts are also done in a very casual manner.  One does need to adopt some basic business letter writing skills to draft a professional email. It should carry an attractive subject line, the matter should contain the purpose for the mail, brief introduction about the company and products and the expected reply from the prospect. At the end of the mail, it does not require  a great deal of any effort to have a signature that contains your name, website address, office address and contact numbers. If you are sending attachment with the mail, make sure it is properly made in terms of content and design. If its a brochure one can either get it a done from a professional designer or else can do it by himself by using images, word design templates etc. It is always better that the e-brochure is send in a pdf format.
3. Social media:  Names like Facebook, Linkedin, Blogs are commonly known but their potential for business or marketing is not so well known. Many businesses, small and big have leveraged the power of the social media for revenue generation or brand building. Dell is an excellent example of the power of social media in business. Starting a  profile on a facebook or linkedin is very easy and if one follows basic instructions, you can have a profile ready in no time. If you notice, Facebook has recently introduced a feature that asks you about your work information. Needless to say, Facebook knows that many people would like to share details about their work and others would like to know. Linkedin is a professional social network and its USP is that it is meant for everything that is work related including jobs. Social networks are a revolutionary concept because you can network with any body from any part of the world which without this concept would have been difficult. If you are opening a profile on Linkedin, make sure you write the content that gives your description in the most effective manner rather than writing too much or irrelevant stuff. Many times, information that could be most impactful can be missed out. For starters, you could possibly get feedback from your friends on how they liked the introduction etc mentioned on your profile. Get as many testimonials as possible, again it is a simple tool but very effective. If you are looking for conversions in business, you must get this one right.

Blogs are another effective tools in social media, according to me. If one doesn’t have a website, he can use a blog which if done well, can be as effective as a website and it is free. The best aspect of a blog is that you can upload unlimited content, can attach photos or videos with every posting. One cannot possibly mention on a website that is not relevant to the company or product because the mindset that a visitor has is to know about the company or its products. Whereas, on a blog, you can write about the industry, tips on how to use, random thoughts etc. Of course, it always helps to have a defined strategy in place so that all that doesn’t go directionless.

I think these are the most important tools that one needs to take advantage of on the web.  One may already be doing it, but whether they are creating the desired impact is important to know.  

How excellence in service can impact organisations

Service is an integrated aspect in almost all industries particularly those in the service industry like retail,hotels,hospitals,showrooms, franchise outlets, travel etc. Other "non service" industries also have a service component since every business has a customer and one needs to service him. In most businesses, particularly medium scale service oriented, most of the time the owner/manager gets absorbed into daily running of these businesses like finances, purchase, administration, HR related tasks and marketing mainly advertising. As a result, he cannot devote much of his time to look into whether the customer service aspect is looked into or not. Whether the frontline sales person servicing customers and whether he is doing it the right way is not known. The owner/manager can step in at times but at the end of the day he has time only to look at the bottom lines and to a certain extent look into issues that the sales person has faced. In fact, the only time that he gives service a serious thought to the "service aspect" is when something goes wrong. But post-mortem analysis in business is no use.

Many fail to realise that the frontline staff who handles the customer is actually the face of the organisation. The amount of money spent on decorating the interiors, installing hi tech gadgets, having an impressive product line etc. have no value if there is no proper service, if the person doesn't know how to talk and conduct himself. The fault doesn't lie with the sales/customer service guy because like all of us, he is learnt to approach in a particular way, he makes mistakes like a normal human being. However, it is important that he be trained periodically in ways to satisfy a customer so that he knows different ways to do so, introspect where he can improve and provide an experience that wows the customer.

Important aspects on which the training must happen are :understanding quality service, key skills for customer service, dealing with customers, conducting himself resolving a breakdown and how to deal with it.

The results that a training of this nature would generate would be in the form of improved customer service, retention of staff,impact on customer relationship, better relationship between staff and management, ability to understand customer better, improved customer experience and a positive word of mouth. Of course, the final outcome that interests all business-sales would be a natural product.

21 Social Media Predictions and Trends for 2011 | ClickZ

21 Social Media Predictions and Trends for 2011 | ClickZ

Social media and sociological impact on communities

Social media has clearly shown how the communities are being impacted and a shift thats visible. Traditionally, we saw communities built on the basis of region,language, religion and caste to name a few. Later, developmental factors/technologies such as education, transportation facilities, telephone helped build new communities and maintain them better. For instance, either of these factors would be important for me to keep in touch with my school/college mates often. And as we all experience, these chums are close to us and influence our decision making at various aspects of life.This was an important shift because, these communities were built completely based on one's will and choice and were not sort of "imposed". Many times, our relatives are nothing but extra and unwanted baggage that rarely come to any productive use. So, my friends, for example were my  source of strength and inspiration and what empowered me most that I made a choice to build my own community. Then came the web and it has fast paced and overpowered all other developments in community building. So the reason of building a community was to get the "best of the lot". For example, I may not know someone for a long time but when it comes to taking decisions on traveling, I would trust his opinion since he is a frequent traveler. This, according to me is a radical shift in terms community building compared to earlier times. Because, you are valuing a person based on his knowledge and giving a lower priority to acquaintance. There may not have been much of sharing of information and getting-to-know between you and him ( which is how, traditionally, communities were built). I would still trust my friend's opinion more ( which is to say that the importance of the traditional concept of community has not diminished), however there is a chance that he may not know much about the place that I want to travel. Therefore, I resort to the Mr. knowledgeable. I am not suggesting a specific person in this, in fact, it could be a community on Facebook or My Space which could be live and offering discussions, interactions on the topic of my choice. Another aspect of community building compared to earlier times is that no one wants to maintain a community for long and kind of be "attached". This again goes contrary to the earlier ways, when there was a lot of thought about "long term relationship building" and "we would be there for each other"  for ever. Its more of build-use-exit. You may or may not exit but there is no strong intention not to exit. So communities would be transient, temporary and only "for now". Another reason that choices are becoming more specific and specialized that no one community can suffice one's needs. For example, a person may offer great advice on travel to the UK and the do's and dont's. But how far would he know about, for example, Coventry Cathedral in West Midlands and its history and his own experience would be questionable. So I would then ask someone/community who knows about this piece of information better.

So to summarise, the take aways are that a. there is a dramatic shift in communities building b. communities are not built to last c. information is going to be very important to build a community and sustain it.

Considering all these factors, social media has a big role to play and there is no doubt that it is till evolving.

Five questions you need to ask before you THINK about social media

Its really become a cliche' to speak about social media by all and sundry especially by those with some basic knowledge of Facebook and Twitter can one profess to be an "expert". And to make matters worse, social media is free-so to say. Therefore, attaching a value to social media for marketing can be difficult; I have experienced that people find it difficult to comprehend the reason why one has to pay when its all "free". For many, ( including those offering social media services) the conversations start and end with opening profiles on Facebook and Twitter and getting people to "follow". Understandably, this is the most visible output that one sees so getting someone to cut through this impression initially can be difficult. However, whatever perceptions people have about social media and its application, its important to reason whether there really is a need and what should one ask oneself before adopting this new age media.

 Here are some five questions that one needs to ask oneself before thinking of using social media for marketing.

1. Do you really need social media and if yes, what are your goals?
2. Have you done an online marketing audit to understand your company/brand's online presence? What mentions do you see of your company/brand? What message is being communicated, if any?
3. Who is going to manage social media once its set up? Its a no brainer to open up profiles but you need to manage it and clearly you shouldn't employ an intern for this job.
4. Do you have a social media plan in place or you are doing it just because everybody does and its "free"? Are you aware of the results that can accomplished?
5. Do you have a social media policy in place? Are your employees, customers and other stake holders aware about your social media plans and whether you intend to educate them about it?

I think before jumping on to the social media bandwagon and doing it like you could be losing out on something really important, it would be helpful if you ask these questions before you think about social media. Once this is done, I think one could have a better perspective and then, social media could be an important ingredient in one's overall marketing plan.