How To Understand Your Customers
It’s 2021: Navigating New Consumer Realities in Digital Marketing
In the wake of 2020, the world underwent a seismic transformation, pushing companies and systems to adapt at an unprecedented pace. Digital marketing, the ever-evolving frontier, faced its own tectonic shifts to accommodate pandemic-induced changes. This transformation birthed a new lexicon of online interactions between companies and consumers, changing the way we communicate and engage.
Is Your Company a Cause Worth Supporting?
The era of the “conscious consumer” is upon us, prompting brands to reconsider their core values and operations. Advocacy against the status quo has prompted consumers to scrutinize brands' alignment with their beliefs. Companies that fail to resonate with their audience's values find themselves at risk of losing customer loyalty.
However, authenticity is key in this new landscape. Attempting to ride trendy waves for superficial gains is transparent to savvy consumers, potentially causing more harm than good. The emphasis now rests on a deeper truth rather than fleeting trends.
Quality of Life Over Mere Transactions
Does your product offer lasting value beyond the fleeting joy of a purchase? In an era of tightened purse strings and widening economic disparities, consumers meticulously research products before buying. They consider whether a purchase truly enhances their lives and if comparable options exist for less.
Your brand's success hinges on its capacity to enrich lives authentically. Consumers seek a genuine connection, believing that your brand genuinely cares for their well-being, not just their wallets.
Speak to the Right Crowd, Not Everyone
At inception, businesses often construct a target audience or buyer persona to focus their marketing efforts. Trying to appeal to everyone dilutes your message and appeal. Remember, not everyone will resonate with your brand, and that's okay.
Creating a well-defined buyer persona provides your company with a clear trajectory. While demographic shifts may occur, nurturing your target audience fosters loyalty and creates brand advocates. Personal connections wield formidable influence.
In a Forbes interview, Mayur Gupta – Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer of Gannett, encapsulates this ethos:
“It’s your Purpose that defines your Why, your soul as a business. And then the Promise you make with your customers, your community which should ladder up to your Purpose. And lastly, the Product you deliver that ladders up to your Promise.” – Mayur Gupta, Forbes 2021 Interview.
