‘Customer-Centric Intelligence’ series, 2003
Focus on just one basic attribute
So far, our Smart Marketing series has concentrated on getting your own house in order in order to adopt a successful Customer-Centric Intelligence approach. Scoping your business and marketplace, doing some internal and external research, and implementing efficiency-gaining management practices are all key things to get right before doing anything the consumer might actually notice.
This week the focus turns towards developing the actual marketing strategy, remembering that a core tenet of Customer-Centric Intelligence is to be customer-focused. As discussed in earlier Smart Marketing columns, using the learnings gained from reviews of your company’s existing or specifically commissioned market research is an important starting point – it’s not just about pushing product to the masses anymore.
It’s also important to remember that companies shouldn’t try to be exceptional at everything, no matter how noble such a goal may seem. Especially when “being exceptional” is a judgement made by consumers who can be completely irrational and hard to persuade – perception is truth, after all.
So rather than striving for universal excellence, companies should first consider the five basic attributes of any commercial transaction –
- access,
- experience,
- price,
- product and
- service.
The Customer-Centric Intelligence approach focuses efforts on just one of these primary attributes on which to dominate the market. For example, dominating on ‘access’ means being the provider who is always there to provide the solution (witness the McDonald’s and Starbucks growth curves – in categories dominated by impulse decisions, these brands have worked to ensure they are the dominant provider when those impulses are felt). Dominating on product, by comparison, means generating inspiration and elation amongst a product’s consumers – e.g. users of Apple PCs and new VW Beetles.
Secondly, the Customer-Centric Intelligence approach seeks to identify the secondary attribute where the brand can be differentiated, without necessarily pulling out all stops in order to dominate. So, for example, it would be difficult for The Warehouse to dominate on price (which it does), as well as product reliability. Therefore the Warehouse has added the differentiator of its “easy return” policy, taking what is essentially the Consumer Guarantees Act (which all retailers are subject to anyway), and promoting their adherence to it as a point of difference. Differentiators need not be important – but they can be made to appear that way.
The remaining three of the five factors can simply be provided at industry par – it may seem unusual not to try and dominate on these factors as well, but realistically they are probably already ‘owned’ by competitors and it will take disproportionate levels of distracting energy to spread the marketing and management so thinly. Attacking at one key point maximizes the efficiency and effect.
It must be recognized throughout this that the choice of which factors you are going to dominate and differentiate upon must be believable by the consumers, as well as being deliverable. Ideally the factors must also be represented and delivered in an manner which supports the growing importance being placed by modern consumers on values like honesty, trust, respect, dignity and fairness. These values may seem like intangible “warm fuzzies” in the business environment but they clearly add value to brands such as Hubbards and Sanitarium, and when they appear to be lacking their absence can prove a formidable challenge – just witness how small-town New Zealand opposes The Warehouse – it may dominate on price, differentiate on easy returns, but in the eyes of many retailers The Warehouse fails when it comes to fairness and trust – witness the recent protests in KeriKeri. Nike is the classic example of a brand leading on product and experience, but which lost when uncovered as a dishonest and unfair corporate citizen.
Finally, the Customer-Centric Intelligence practitioner must recognize that these values and strengths have to be delivered throughout your organization, and at every consumer touchpoint. Big promises with strings attached risk becoming demonstrations of dishonesty and disrespect – and modern consumers are saying ‘no’ to that.