The famous quote, “The Customer is not a Moron. She’s your Wife.” Is attributed to Mr. David Ogilvy who is known as the Father of Advertising, in his book, “Confessions of an Advertising Man.” These golden words hold great depth for all marketers out there than to just have a laugh and move on. It is a point to sit down and think that if your marketing strategies are not working then go back to the basics.
The idea that David Ogilvy wanted to pass on was basically to understand your customer so deeply that it is no less than understanding your wife. It is as simple as this, you don’t make your wife happy, and you won’t get good dinner on the table or no dinner at all for that matter. However, on a more compelling note, your relationship with your customers should be as compassionate as it is with your spouse. As your wife changes through time, your customer does the same in terms of taste, trends, fashion, etc. If you don’t cater to their needs smartly, there is going to come a time when the customer is no longer interested in you and will decide to take off.
Efficient and well-executed marketing is not just bound by good creative or how frequently your customer is exposed to your advertising but it is purely based on how well we understand the needs of our customers. If you give them that, you not just build trust that leads to an enhanced brand image but create a strong competitive edge that helps in taking preemptive measures in the evolving marketing world.
If we go back to the basics of marketing and understand what it really is, it is simply to understand your customer and satisfy them profitably. The shortcomings of a few marketers or agencies is that they misunderstand this definition and take marketing as simply creative advertising and campaigns executed through various media vehicles. The fact is that this is only the tip of the marketing iceberg and marketing in reality, is much more than that.
Let’s take an example of Coca-Cola for instance, we know how creative and mesmerizing their TV commercials and engaging campaigns are. Not only are their customers engaged and talking about the brand during an ongoing campaign but can remember a particular ad or a campaign even after years. To the readers that lived in the 70’s, you might remember the ad, “I’d like to buy the world a Coke”, where a group of young boys and girls are shown with diverse ethnicity, culture and traditions, belonging to different countries of the world, all standing together with a bottle of Coke and displaying how the drink is so unifying that no matter the differences, we all love to have Coke.
Coca-Cola has been the pioneer in the beverage industry since its inception in 1886 and has been the favorite drink of consumers globally. Come to think of it, it’s just another Cola that is comprised mostly of ingredients that other Cola brands use for their products. So is there really a secret ingredient? Yes there is, but it’s not in the drink, it’s in their marketing strategy. What sets Coca-Cola apart is the experience that they sell with their drink.
It’s not just a drink, it’s a way of life. Whether it is an occasion of joy, religion, sports, cultural heritage, Coca-Cola is everywhere. If we imagine a world without Coke, it would surely be a boring and dull one. But why so? One thing that is clear in the brand’s strategy is that it is so well embedded in its customers’ minds that they cannot even imagine a world without Coke. Coke is a brand that sells happiness, all the good moments in your life, to refresh your spirit, to be part of all your happy times in life. What enables it to come so close to you is because it knows you so well, it understands your likes and dislikes, your favorite occasions, the times when you rejoice the most. Moreover, since its beginning, Coke has been up with the changing trends and evolving with time due to which it has been able to come so far and is still one of the 10 most popular brands of the world.
We’re not finished yet, head over to “3 Reasons why Nike is on top of the Athletic Goods Industry” to find out how Nike is one top of its game by understanding customer needs and catering to them efficiently.
