“New Normal” Marketing and Business Strategy
….how to avoid a new dangerous trend called TIAS
A dangerous new trend is appearing in businesses and could be happening in yours right now.
This new trend has a name “Try It And See (TIAS)”
Meaning: We are not sure what is working anymore so let us throw some money into this and TIAS
For one, this is madness because for the first time in our history we know what consumers are thinking worldwide.
All we have to do as business owners are deliver the right message, to the right person, at the right time.
To be successful through these changing times and come out on the other side you need to look deeper than your normal business and marketing strategies.
Human Behaviour has fundamentally changed and what you have always done will not get you what you always had.
You need answers to these types of questions:
• What is ‘Our Why’ as the purpose is everything?
• How do we tell our team and customers we are there for them?
• Will your brand still be here in a few months?
• Is the message you are sending right for your customers?
By applying behavioural science to your marketing and communicating your message clearly to the right people your marketing strategy should be more effective than ever before.
Stop wasting money on TIAS campaigns.
Here are three strategies you need to implement right now to pivot your business to a New Normal Marketing and Business Strategy.
Strategy #1 – Create an Impact Survey
The key here is to ask better questions and reframe from asking questions “simply because we can”.
By structuring these questions well, we can understand what your customers and team members feel and more importantly believe.
Some example questions below, I would recommend you use multichoice answers with numbers ranging 0 – 10 in experience and/or a series of Angry to Happy Faces.
This will provide you with more honest answers.
Example Question Set for Consumers:
• How Old Are You?
• How has the lockdown impacted your shopping/buying behaviour?
• What social distancing and other precautionary measures are you following?
• In what way has your employment status changed in the last 12 weeks?
• What plans have you put off because of the current situation?
• What major purchases have you delayed?
• In thinking about your current spending behaviour, how have the purchases of the following changed as a result of COVID-19?
Example Question Set for Large Teams
• About You
o Name
o Business Unit
o Usual Workplace Address
o Email
o Phone
• Are You Currently Working from home?
• Did you work from home prior to the COVID-19 pandemic?
• As restrictions are lifted in relation to COVID-19, and plans are made for staff to return to office/workplaces, are you interested in exploring options to continue to work from home?
• What makes working from home successful for you?
• Do you have any concerns about returning to your usual place of work?
These are just some examples to help you get started! Any questions on how to construct an Impact Survey based on Behavioural Science please feel to reach out to me.
Strategy #2 – Create Deep Human Behaviour Based Avatars
Customer Avatar, Customer Profile, Buyer persona, Marketing persona, target market profile….
These are the phrases that are used interchangeably to describe the fictional, generalised representations of the buyer persona most likely to purchase from you.
It is critically important to the success of your marketing, sales, product development, and delivery of services that you have a deep understanding of who your customer avatar is more than ever before.
Define your detailed customer/team member avatar:
1. Demographic traits: List out your avatar’s demographic traits (e.g., age, sex, education level, income level, marital status, occupation, religion, and average family size). This area is typically easy to define.
2. Psychographic traits: These are a little more complicated and require a deeper understanding of your customer avatar. They’re based on values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyle. Examples include wanting a healthy lifestyle, valuing time with family, using Pinterest to do home DIY projects.
3. Name your avatar: Naming your avatar humanizes the profile. If you are targeting both men and women, you’ll want to create a male and female name.
4. Put a face to their name: Find a picture online in stock photos that best represent what your avatar looks like visually.
5. Design a dossier: A dossier is a one-page collection of information about your avatar that includes its name, picture, information, and story.
6. Customer Journey Story: Write one about your customer avatar. Imagine you are your avatar and are journaling about the discovery of your product or service. What were they thinking before they bought your product? How were they feeling? Why were they feeling that way? What were they looking for? What were they hoping to solve or accomplish? How did they find you or hear about you? How did they feel once they purchased your product or service?
By combing the updated data, you get from your Impact Surveys and creating new in-depth Avatars this will provide you clear and defined information to base a new solid strategy.
Strategy #3 – The Current Sales Funnel Is Broken, You Need To Create A New One
Mostly we all operate in a crowded marketplace where competition is high for a similar audience. In the last few months, we have seen accelerated growth in Technology.
In fact, we have seen 25 years’ worth of technology growth and advancement just in the last few months.
This has a constant influence on consumer behaviour which has changed our intent in the way we search for products and services.
No two customer journeys are exactly the same, research shows the journey is as unique as each consumer.
It might surprise you that now you need anywhere between 20 – 500 touchpoints for a customer to make a purchase decision. Recent data is showing that the average purchase time has been extended by 46% and given the current situation may have been cancelled completely.
• Be Everywhere – People now expect to be assisted everywhere they are 24 /7 You need to look past clicks, impressions, conversions and create a holistic business dashboard to connect all the dots to revenue, gross and net profit, cost per touchpoint. Understand your customer intent, the type of interactions and key touchpoints that signal growth.
• Be Useful – Consumers have more choice than ever and are in control of who, what and how they listen to brands. You need to connect to your consumer on a much deeper level and understand their needs. Optimise your marketing and media to the lifetime value (LTV) of your customer. Stop marketing to the average and understand that some customers will spend more than others and in many cases a lot more. Be really clear which customer profiles yield a Gross and Net Profit over ones that do not.
• Be Automated – Being able to deliver the right message, to the right person at the right time can ONLY be achieved if you Automate Everything (or as much as you can). People want experiences delivered fast and that is frictionless when they want them. Create an automation strategy and embrace technology using Behavioural Science and Nudge them in the direction that you want.
Summary
Businesses and brands of any size can benefit by applying these three strategies above. It will provide you with clarity in a situation where there is confusion.
You have an opportunity right now to expand your business and grow quickly just by researching what your customers and teams are thinking and applying Human Behaviour Strategies to deliver what people want.
If you are using any of the above strategies I would love to hear the results you have achieved. If you are unsure on any of the above and need assistance, please comment below.