Effective marketing is more than taking a good product, pricing it well, and getting it to market. Businesses must also connect with new and existing customers. For most businesses is not whether to communicate. Rather it’s more about what to say and where to say it.
The Ever-Changing Consumer
Consumers are taking a more active role in the communication process with marketing than ever before. Now, instead of sitting passively in front of a tv watching commercials aired by big corporations, people decide how and where they want to be informed.
Social Media & Marketing Communications
Consumers today are more likely to interact on social media with “influencers” who test products they are interested in than they are to read about a product in a magazine or newspaper they may decide to purchase in the future. Given the new appetite that consumers have for interaction with the marketing processes, holistic marketers now must creatively engage their customers on multiple social media platforms to inform, persuade, and connect to sell their products and services.
The Role of Marketing Communications
Done right, marketing communications can have huge payoffs. Companies that can inform and persuade consumers can generate significant cash flows. Marketing communications ultimately becomes the voice of the company, and having a voice, ensures that a business can converse with its target audience and build lasting relationships that sustain and grow revenue.
Changing Market Environment
Technology and consumer habits have dramatically changed over relatively short time periods. In the 1960’s Proctor and Gamble (P&G) could reach 80% of American women with one 30-second Tide commercial that was aired simultaneously on three television networks – ABC, CBS, and NBC. Today, to reach that same audience P&G would have to run the same ad on 100 channels, most of which would be deleted if digitally recorded, muted if watched live and “skipped” if encountered in a pop-up ad while watching YouTube.
Elaine Allan, BA, MBA
Technology & Business Blogger,
Vancouver, BC, Canada