The absolute basic requirement
for sustenance of any business is revenue generation.
Revenue is simply the inflow of
money against the outflow of products and/ or services. For the cash inflow to
take place, there needs to be a buyer for the services or products offered. The
various categories of buyers are ‘consumers’, ‘customers’, ‘retailers’, ‘clients’,
‘policy holders’ etc.
These are the people who will pay
a business for the utilization of its services or to consume its products. The
big question here is:
What makes the buyer make a
purchase/ buy a particular product or service?
This is THE question that
marketers across the globe have to answer.
Once this question is answered
for the marketer’s target set of buyers, the business can lay down its strategy
and plan for carrying out marketing initiatives.
This article will deal with the
key factors that determine the success of a marketing campaign. We will also
look into the various kinds of campaigns and their impact based on geographies and
target cluster in the remaining articles of this series.
The key parameters that have to
be met and which collate to signify the level of success of a campaign are discussed
below.
Awareness
If you are launching a new brand,
product or service, the market and your audience needs to know about it before
they even consider buying it. Unless you create awareness about your existence,
there is no way a customer will think of you when they have the need.
Thus, the first, foremost and the
most essential part of any campaign is to create awareness.
Interest
I may be aware of the release of
a particular movie, but nothing about it has enticed me to find out more about
the movie, let alone watch it. The campaign needs to be enticing for the
customer to want to know more. It is at this stage that you have caught his
attention and are not a mere brand name that he has come across.
Creating interest is the first
step to winning a customer.
Conversion
Being in a sales job and being an
avid follower of marketing campaigns, I have tracked the on-going evolution in
marketing. There are many new strategies that have been incorporated because
competition is cut-throat and the battle is fierce. Sitting far away from the
consumer on a hoarding can get you their attention and interest, but this does
not and cannot guarantee conversion.
The sales guys have to be
credited for the conversions that take place. This is so because, once the
interest is generated and the customer starts evaluating if he wants to buy or
not, he gets on to a platform where yours is not the only product. All your
marketing campaigns could have given competition an easy win, just because - Of
the 2 companies displaying the same product, your competitor had a special
offer and won the customer on price benefit.
Three aspects of the product that
the sales person takes to the customer are:
Feature
The features of the product need
to be showcased to the customer to tap their interest.
Advantage
The advantage of buying the
product or service has to be explained. ‘Unless your product or service give me
an advantage which is worth the spend you are asking me to make, there is no
chance I will pull cash out of my pocket.’ This is the policy of each buyer.
Thus, advantage is your trump card to get the buyer to put his hand in
the pocket (initializing spend).
Benefit
How does the customer benefit by utilizing
the product or service offered. This is the most critical part of closing a
sale. It is the benefit that addresses the ‘NEED’ and makes the customer feel
like a king.
A sales person has a sure shot
sale at hand if he can convince the prospective buyer basis on the benefit
aspect of the product.
As your sales team works in
perfect sync with your marketing initiatives, you have a SALE! The first
revenue from this particular client stands generated.
Now comes the part where your
operations team and the teams that make and manage your products or services play
their role. Their performance will determine whether you have a loyal customer
or was it a one-time stand.
Loyalty is portrayed through
different mediums and at different levels:
If the customer continues to
utilize your offerings, then you have earned a loyal customer.
If the customer not only consumes
your offerings himself, but also recommends it to others, you have earned a recommender! This is the most difficult
and the most time consuming return-on-investment.
But the wait and persistence yield sweet fruits.
