By Harsh S Kedia
With the festive season in full swing, brands are leaving no stone unturned to reach a wider set of audiences for pocketing more market share and profitability.
After a hiatus of two long years, a fully unrestricted festive season is upon us. There are a lot of things going in the favour of the economy – sentiments are bullish, customers are ready, and brands are all set to take advantage of prevailing fervour and gaiety. However, cashing in on this festive season is not an easy task. With a plethora of choices around, brands might find it difficult to reach and catch the attention of prospective buyers. To attract a wider set of customers this festive season, brands must focus on “creating, communicating, and delivering” superior value to customers. This “value-driven” approach can become a key differentiator and help brands reach new customer segments while strengthening their base among existing buyers. What else brands can do this festive season to widen their reach and influence; here are the details:
1) New Launches/Upgraded Portfolios: One of the easiest methods to extend the reach among prospective customers is to launch new products or upgrade existing portfolios of products and services. Of course, the launch of new products in the market is a resource-intensive exercise though nothing can beat its ability to draw in new customers to the company’s fold. In case an organisation is constrained by its resources, upgrading or refurbishing existing portfolios is the next best option that can be utilized to boost the reach and influence of brands among new sets of consumers.
2) Holistic Branding: Festive season offers brands a unique opportunity to create a lasting bond with customers. To maximize the impact, companies should focus on creating unique festive-oriented brand personalities by carefully choosing the elements of the marketing mix. From Product and price to place and promotion, the choice of marketing channels, discount offers, communication strategies, and brand touchpoints must be aligned and complement each other. In other words, brands should strive for a holistic and integrated marketing strategy to maximize their reach and profitability among new territories and target audiences.
3) Personalized offerings: One of the cost-effective yet extremely powerful strategies to arrest the attention of prospective buyers is the personalized approach to deliver value to end consumers. Customers pay special attention to brands which offer customized solutions aligned with their specific requirements. This implies that organisations should focus on tailor-made experiences that, in turn, will extend their appeal among the widest possible set of consumers. Some specific strategies that can help in pursuing personalization include bundle pricing, practical gifts, and offering an extensive range of products among others. Using people-based marketing is the next go to thing in audience based digital marketing to go hyper personalized with your audience.
4) Harness Digital Media: The role and importance of digital media in this day and age couldn’t be overemphasized. While leading brands across the globe are using social media to connect with their prospective buyers, you can harness the enormous potential of digital platforms such as OTT, Podcast, Music streaming apps, this festive season to reach new-age customers across the globe. Also, keep your brand messaging consistent and coherent throughout platforms and choose a theme that is well-aligned with ongoing festivity.
5) Offering Discounts: While it’s natural for customers to expect festive discounts at this time of the year, brands need to adopt a balanced approach and be careful not to cross the red line on margins. Remember, discounts eat into brands’ profitability and by constricting the flow of money, these could force organizations to squeeze the money for marketing and promotional activities; thereby hampering brands’ abilities to approach new customers and reach new segments of prospective buyers. It’s, therefore, recommended that brands must resist the temptation of offering comprehensive discounts and rather focus on delivering superior quality and service to the target market.
6) Acquire Competitors: One of the fastest ways to expand your reach among new and existing customer segments is to acquire a competitor in the marketplace. This inorganic method will instantly boost your market share and offer you access to the product and service portfolio offered by the acquired firm. As acquisitions involve a lot of money, brands must anchor the buying decision on important strategic factors such as market cap, product portfolio, brand equity, and customer loyalty among others.
To maximize reach among potential customers, brands need to adopt a comprehensive and holistic strategy to segment the market, target the customers, and position their offerings. Remember, all these processes must have customers at the epicentre as the level of customer-centricity will ultimately determine whether the product or service will find favour with target audiences or not.
The author is CEO and co-founder, Auburn Digital Solutions