Just realized I need to find some links pretty soon…will do my best to look around.
Midterm was okay, even though a bit stressful like any UBC midterm. And rather testing a lot of basic knowledge than a few challenging and analytical ones. Gonna take some time to adjust to that I guess.
As I promised last time, this post is gonna be about people who act as friends and salesmen at the same time. Made famous by Tupperware, today many companies have realized the advantages of letting their customers do the promotion for them. This way, the companies can reach out to customers who are not easily targeted by conventional marketing methods.
One company that has this marketing model as an integral part of their business plan is the Personal Beauty brand “Mary Kay”. Sales of their products are done exclusively by “mini consultants” who throw “parties” and personal demonstrations of the company’s products.
These demonstrations are usually as much about meeting other people and having a good time as acquiring the actual products. This way, the customers will connect the products with a positive feeling of belonging and friendship, thus creating value and adding to the customers’ loyalty. Aside from the obvious advantages of having customers prefer your brand over other’s, the meetings increase sales by putting customers in more situations where they consider a purchase. A customer who just made a purchase wouldn’t normally be interested in looking for more products of its kind. However, they might still consider going to a “party” for social reasons. Once there, they can easily end up buying products they wouldn’t consider otherwise.
I think this is a good example of a company that focuses on relationships with its customers for long time sales. Although losing out on some transactional opportunities, its promotion and distribution strategies gives them loyal customers who will contribute considerably to sales over a long time.
That’s all for this week. Next time, I’ll try to find a company that is a bit more manly!
Two days ago I went to listen to Daniel Korten, a former Stanford Ph.D and Harvard professor. The theme was “Creating a Real Wealth Economy for a Just and Sustainable Future”. In essence, his message was that we should try to create an economy that focuses more on “non-monetary” success such as environmental and social improvement of the community. He argued, quite well, against the notion that today’s economic system is “pre-determined” and that a transformation would go against man’s natural will for (self)-improvement. His argument was that what we measure as “improvement” is determined by the system, and this system can be changed.
As he believed structural change has to come from the bottom, his chosen marketing strategy was to employ grassroots marketing. By traveling around to universities, non-profit organizations and local communities to promote his books and, more importantly, his message, he hoped to start a discussion. This strategy encourages people to think for themselves and to evolve their ideas by exchanging ideas with fellow-minded. Also, it makes people feel like they are an active part of the change, which motivates them to continue to spread the world and keeps them believing that change is possible.
Grassroots marketing is getting more and more popular and it’s easy to see why. In an increasingly noisy world people are getting tired of the “buy this”-message and grassroots marketing is generally perceived as a more “honest” way to market your products. People tend to trust persons who they regard as peers rather than salesmen and marketers. Off course, the industry has caught up on this and it can already be hard to determine who is a friend personally recommending a product and who is a company sponsored salesman in disguise. Or is there really a difference?
More on this in next weeks blog!