Fan of thumb twiddling marketing?

Are you a fan of thumbs twiddling marketing?

As a marketer, there are various tactics and strategies from marketer’ playbook to solve various funnel problems. The marketer needs to be crystal clear with what problem is he/she solving? And not get swayed by the means or solve being deployed.

In today’s world, everything can get swayed to creation of content. Content that moves the audience so much that they like, comment, share, trend your brand. Marketers keep thumping thier chests with numerous anecdotes, comments people are saying about the coolness of the brand and get into the spiral of mindless engagement.

The ad that you put out in the newspaper (a lot more cerebral in nature and yes edgy n creative), so much so that it creates conversations across marketing eco chambers and platforms start circulating ‘how this brand gone viral’ across marketing fraternity. And may be win a few awards too.

But the biggest peril of all the above is that if the consumer completely misses seeing it or worst, sees but doesn’t understand your edgy piece of content (that got so many likes and comments from junta that may be not your target audience or still sitting on the other side of fence) and hence doesn’t ring the cash registers, then you are doomed.

Then, you look back and ask where did it go wrong? The answer being in the questions of ‘who is my customer’ and ‘what barriers or fears they have for your brand stories to actually solve’. Then, you realise what you call your brand and awareness and engagement, is all not passing the smell test of classical marketing -

#Marketing is the art and science of making your product first ‘sell’ and, as early as possible or eventually at a ‘profit’!

Its easy to get swayed by shiny bling things that engagement can bring and lose the core objective of any initiative. 'we got something' doesnt work. Once, the core objective, outputs, measures are defined it is much clearer on 'why' to deploy any tool from the marketer toolkit.

Thoughts?

#digitalamarketing #contentmarketing

Building memorable Consumer Experiences - Recipe

Recipe of building a memorable #consumer experience?

Case study - Indian Weddings

Indian Weddings try thier level best to have elements which make the experience memorable for the couple in question. How?

1. Raised stakes - Its not a get together of few but a large display of strength. There is an inherent element of social display and publicity that X & Y are getting married. A procession of hundreds on the road, a dinner for thousands!

2. Heightened sensory appeal - Its about decoration, stage (revolving, jutting out, techno and what not), multi-cusine food, dance programs and more. All trying to make you remember this peak event in your life. The gather

3. Elevation for key people - For the couple, there needs to be an experience which is so heightened that it stays forever.  The groom is put on a horse in the middle of the road while bride walks amongst hundreds with a garland & leaves in a hand-driven Doli! How arbitrary these might be, but i wow at the thinking of the designer.

4. Breaking the script - An experience stays with us longer if it challenges are linear thinking and does something unexpected - be it positive or negative. The marriage is a moment of breaking the script - you no longer are solo - You walk into the house with a small ceremony with bride knocking off a vessel filled with rice. You get involved in rituals which might seem inane but add to breaking off from routine - 7 feras or games couple play after feras!

Not to say i support some of the above given a lot of these defy logic and principles of minimalism & simple living, however i see learnings on what goes into designing peaks in consumer experiences by businesses!

In the book, 'power of moments', authors Chip & Dan heath talk about a budget hotel called Magic Castle Hotel in LA which is has 3000+ reviews with people rating it as best hotel in LA. It doesnt have any of the fancy things a Four Seasons or the iconic Bel-Air offers - grand building, luxurious rooms, grand pools, landscaping and what not.

What it offered to guests staying was a surprising popsicle moment by the pool - You have a red phone called The Popsicle hotline by the pool where once ordered, you get a butler delivering colourful popsicles in a silver tray while wearing butler uniform and white gloves..as you sit by the pool. And many more such unusual experiences.

Its a great book for all #CX/UX practitioners especially for those who design a #brand story with experiences (stores, services..) vs who just measure feedback and #NPS! And thats not just #consumerexperience all about, only.

Fintech - A $10Tn opportunity in India

Which app do you open to scan a QR?

Fintech in India is flourishing with so many tailwinds-

1. Changed User behaviour - To change user, one needs to build category education, drive incentives and acquire customers to adopt the new bahaviour. This herculean task got done partially thanks to demonetization earlier and then covid. So, sight of a QR on a thela (handridden cart) is not an unusual sight anymore.
> #Digital txns now make up ~40% of all value of transactions, up by 33% in FY22 over 21.

2. Increasing Smartphones penetration - 62% penetration and increased internet usage ( 74 cr smartphones out of 118 cr phones) is clearly the enabler. Govt now is even thinking low internet BW transactions and even offline payment platform for feature phones. This is bound to go up.

3. Realised convenience - This one is killer. Given the charges and fees are nil for users and merchants at least on #UPI (which is the biggest of them - 46%), both parties are happy to use this convenience offered to them. With time stickiness will ensure that difficult things like insurance, loans etc can be availed via apps itself...obviously thats the goal for fintech companies.

#Fintech is estimated to $3Tn currently as per a recent report and supposed to more than triple to $10Tn by 2026.

However, most apps are trying to be the ONE app while for consumer its just a scan app. So we have seen incentivization, Gamification and what not.

In long run, it will be about intuitive UI/UX that can get things done in seconds for consumers. And even solve a problem of say keeping track of cashback, reversals, etc.

For merchants also is about getting one app that can help maintain a proper ledger, no delayed status confirmations, less failures etc. Frequent dialoguing, helpdesk, education on problem solving are other facets of thier experience and thus retention ...And yes, larger the merchant penetration of any app, better the chances of having a larger pie of future!

Otherwise, #consumer doesnt give a damn to which app to open and scan the QR with? Do you? Thoughts?

#CX