Marketing and Consumer Advertising is everywhere, from billboards on the street to ads on smartphones. For example, Zomato bombarding consumers with enticing offers whenever they are craving anything. The pattern repeats with countless other brands, each vying for consumer attention and loyalty.
But, how exactly does marketing influence people? Many entrepreneurs take marketing as sales whereas, in reality, they are the polar opposite. The sales department drives business and generates profits whereas marketing is a strategy that is created over time. They build campaigns to make people aware of the product and service a brand provides. Marketers don’t have short-term plans they have long-term goals. They lay the foundation for brands that build a reputation among consumers.
Even if consumers aren’t consciously affected by marketing efforts, they are subconsciously absorbing it. Regular exposure to advertisements builds brand image and memory within consumers’ minds. Over time, this transforms a business into a recognizable brand, ultimately influencing consumer behavior on a significant scale.
What are the Best Ways to Influence People?
These days marketing is not just targeting but it is actually, dating. According to the EY Future Consumer Index, there are five types of characteristics of consumers.
- Affordability: 32% of consumers have started focusing on the budget more than brands.
- Health: Around 25% prioritize health and choose products they feel are trustworthy.
- Sustainability: These days saving planet Earth is also the top need of 16% of consumers, they are shifting to brands whose products reflect such beliefs in their product and service.
- Society: When any brand is honest and transparent approximately 15% of consumers buy from them for the greater good.
- Experience: Our new generation has “live in the moment”, making around 12% of consumers open to new products and experiences.
Therefore, these metrics show us that our consumers have shifted from brand name to brand values. Now, effective consumer advertising target aspirations, combine bottom-funnel strategies with top-funnel strategies for brand growth. Employee treatment and testaments can determine the type of candidates who join your brand. Thus,
The marketing cycle starts with employees and not with your consumers.
Incorporating fresh perspectives and modern strategies, rather than relying on traditional methods, drives success. By aligning with consumer research and public sentiment, brands can expand their customer base.
Types of Consumers
We as humans are enigmatic and think in broad terms. Thus, brands are more focused on human desires, motivations, and interactions rather than just business transactions. While exploring your consumers you can observe these four types:
- Loyal Customer: When a consumer returns to buy the same product and service from your brand. That means you have attracted a loyal customer and their retention means success.
- Need-Based Customer: Some consumers buy your products when they are urgent. If your products serve such urgency then you can create a campaign around that or get help from experts in curating that. Click Now!
- Impulse Shoppers: Happy, Excited, Sad! Every emotion either needs a celebration or escape. These impulse shoppers are very random and change their mindset in any instance. But, you can hook these consumers using lucrative offers.
- Bargain Hunters: Bargain hunters are always in seek of sales. You can also use push notifications, email marketing, and many more features to attract your consumer.
- Wandering Consumers: Scrolling through the web and social media is in fashion. This results in wandering customers, who click but don’t buy. Whereas, their buying nature can vary based on circumstances.
How can you make your brand stand out?
Marketing = Pain points X Strategies
This formula states that marketing is a product of pain points and strategies. Therefore, as a brand, analyze your target audience’s pain points (either they are the problems or the offers they are awaiting). The common trend that you can witness for B2C or D2C brands is the use of perspectives and worries to target consumers successfully converting prospects into buyers. Whereas, B2B brands develop market research to develop a list of the target audience needs and preferences. Thus, effectively using consumer advertising to appeal to them in their products and services.
Regardless, of all this you can start working on other dimensions also to make your brand stand out.
Unique Value Proposition (UVP):
Define what sets your brand apart from competitors. It’s not just about the product or features, you can add a special twist in packaging, tagline, or a combination of these factors. Take the Coca-Cola campaign; Share a Coke, becoming a hit in the marketplace. In return they expanded the campaign and introduced personalized coke bottles thus, increasing the sales by 15%.
Targeted Marketing Campaigns:
Marketing campaigns hold the utmost importance for every brand. They are the stories that you link with your target audience. Sometimes, brands just follow the trend and don’t see behind the curtains.
Think outside the box, to stand out from the crowd.
Look at Cadbury’s 5-star, this Valentine’s instead of targeting couples, targeted people who hate Valentine’s. The campaign “Do Nothing” is already a hit and is getting viral across social media. Without a word, they have showcased the power of marketing and emotion in their campaigns.
Brand Storytelling:
Every single person while starting a brand has a story connected to it. For a brand to connect with people you can either build or share a story with them. Just like Apple does in each of their campaigns. Remember, Shot on iPhone where people started sharing their skills, and stories by capturing moments on their Apple device. This campaign became a sensation, with even celebrities joining in. By leveraging storytelling in this way, Apple effectively engaged with its audience and solidified its brand identity.
Exceptional Customer Experience:
Make your products so good, paying attention to every detail from packaging to overall quality. Let your consumers fall in love!
For digital products, infuse quirky elements into your services that delight and bring a smile to your consumers’ faces. Take inspiration from top brands like Zomato, Nykaa, and Myntra. Adding a touch of personality and playfulness allows you to forge deeper connections with your audience and set your brand apart from the competition.
For B2B brands, bring in your services with expertise and professionalism. If you find it challenging to cultivate such a reputation for your brand, we’re here to help. Partner with us to leverage expert services and elevate your brand identity, leading to atleast an 8x increase in revenue.
Maximize your brand ROI!
Social Responsibility and Impact:
These days some amount is taken out of the marketing budget and allotted for CSR. Thus, working for something good creates employment or improves lives. Those kinds of acts also make a big impact on the brand image.
Key Takeaways
Marketing and consumer advertising aren’t endeavors to be taken lightly. It takes thousands of creative ideas, brainstorming, strategies, and research before placing it before your target audience. When you explore marketing and advertising in-depth, it’s about more than just improving your brand’s financial performance—it’s about driving change, shaping identity, and setting standards.
So, when you are coming up with a marketing strategy next time, do remember the E Jerome McCarthy 4 P’s;
Product
Learn about your product in-depth, don’t just launch a product. Buy it, explore it, and consider it as a product. This way you can evaluate your product and improve it.
Marketers are amazing listeners.
Also, collect reviews and listen to the objections of the consumers. Because you are not competing with others, you are competing with the last best experience your customer had. Adding and improving on this can take your product to the next level. Also improving it, will increase the retention rate which is a catch of every established brand.
Price
Usually, when it comes to selling, most business owners drop their product and service costs just to attract customers. But, this is not advisable, establish the supremacy of your products to justify the price.
Place
If you have a store or office location, then it should match your pricing. If the place where you are selling doesn’t match your standard. It can affect your brand image to the extremities. Thus, justify your location and services to make a big impact, because location is a big investment.
Promotion
Marketing is all about promotion and awareness which is the first step in the sales funnel. You can even add some sustainable features while marketing to make a better and more memorable impact on your brand. And do remember, marketing doesn’t focus on sales; it is a by-product of marketing.
If you’re struggling to make your brand shine, don’t hesitate to make an investment in, Your Marketing Team. With their expertise and support, you can execute your marketing initiatives in the most effective and impactful way possible, driving success for your brand.
