When developing and launching a new product, the brand marketer
needs consumer insight to get the market positioning right. So how do you begin
the process, and how have others succeeded in the past?
The kind of
consumer insight needed when developing a new product or brand is all about
what target consumers are saying and thinking, and what truly matters to them.
With that kind of insight in hand, we can create a product that fully delivers
the benefit highlighted by the insight - and then 'hit a homerun' executionally
with advertising, packaging, and marketing that highlights the benefit and
sells it in a believable way.
Smart and
successful marketing executives know how to juggle all these factors and still
end up with a great new product that fulfils the terrific idea you started off
with. The key is simple: managing the consumer insight. In other words, you
have to keep the insight in sight. By finding and then keeping the insight in
focus, it becomes the guide - the pathway to your product's ultimate success in
the marketplace. Or to look at it another way, if your product isn't relevant
to the target audience, or it goes against the way they think or feel, it won't
succeed.
J. Walker
Smith, president of Yankelovich Partners, one of America’s leading analysts in
consumer trends, believes that many “came out of the nineties feeling
prosperous, self-confident, and in control.” However, consumers now are at a
point where especially the baby boomers need to feel a sense of satisfaction
with products that are “nonmaterial and intangible”.
Research
done by their associates has found that when consumers are looking to purchase
certain items, they turn to certain kinds of media. The television seems to
have a major impact on consumers who are looking to purchase less expensive
items such as medications or household items. The newspaper has an influence
among consumers looking to purchase appliances or investment items such as
stocks. In addition, magazine articles tend to influence larger purchases like
computers or vehicles.
Along with
the decision to purchase also comes the need for a certain level of education.
In this regard, researchers say that television is a medium used by many who
have little or no education while those who are “highly” educated turn to print
media like magazine articles and newspaper advertisements. The Internet also
seems to have an impact on large numbers of consumers who are turning to the
web for customized items. Internet research allows consumers the flexibility to
virtually create their items as they would like them. For instance with
vehicles, the consumer can choose the color they want for the vehicle, decide
on what options they want, and even have the choice of having it delivered to
their homes. Similar options are available for computers.
When
consumers are deciding to purchase items, the question of how credible the
companies are comes into play. Consumers turn to a variety of sources when it
comes to determining how credible the product’s brand is. Some of those sources
are consumer reports, friends, radio news, network television, news articles,
and the Internet. Everyone is different and depending on your level of
education, one has the right to determine what sources are believable, somewhat
believable, or not believable at all.
The key to finding a big new insight is
understanding consumer needs, wants, and how they view and use the category.
Trying to "sell the consumer" on your views is seldom successful, but
listening to their language and watching their actions will point you straight
to terrific new insights. Ask yourself this: what is it about your product (or
organisation) that triggers an emotional response stronger than the commodity
itself? A truly good insight has the ability to be executed in many different
ways. If you can develop only one possible concept from an insight, it is
simply not an insight. Insights allow for multiple executions - so when you
have identified all of these directions, you can develop the concept executions
and screen them to find the most compelling (and unique) delivery of your
insight. Having identified the right concept, developing the product to deliver
on the promises of the concept (delivering the insight through product performance)
is critical. The product must live up to the promises made in the concept, or
your business proposition will fail. At this stage, your concept fulfilment,
estimates, and volumetrics can tell you if you have been successful.
As marketers begin trying to appeal to their
audience, they also have to take into consideration whether or not consumers
will be satisfied with their products. So remember that you
owe your insight to the consumer, who should always drive your efforts. If you
get off track and the consumers tell you, you must listen. This is the reason
you have to keep checking with them, to make sure you have stayed true to their
original guidance. Simply listen to consumers, because it's the best way to
improve any new product, advertising, marketing, and packaging.
No comments:
Post a Comment