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Marketing Recruitment February 2010
Marketing News |
09/02/2010
With the advent of the internet and ecommerce, consumers appear more than ever before to be the masters of their own destiny.
As the UK exits recession consumer choice has never been greater, with competition for trade particularly fierce among both old and new businesses.
Companies must clearly fight hard to gain an edge over their rivals, employing specialist professionals where necessary to make their voice heard in an increasingly cluttered marketplace.
Employers seem to be recognising this ? the Ashdown Group Jobs Index has reported a 6.41 per cent increase in vacancies for marketing professionals during January.
However, with the days of unwavering brand loyalty a fading memory, marketers must start to think more creatively if they wish to stand out from the crowd.
Research firm Gartner says they need to do more in terms of bringing goods and services to the consumer, actually demonstrating the benefits of products rather than waxing lyrical about them.
With this in mind, the company is urging businesses to embrace the concept of thought leadership marketing (TLM), a process which involves providing potential customers with a taster of the products on offer.
While the discipline may be something of a leap of faith, with firms understandably being keen to guard their intellectual property prior to a sale - allowing product trials may be necessary to secure customer commitment, Gartner says.
After all, customers can now log on to the web and search for a rival vendor at the drop of a hat.
By providing samples, trials, taster sessions or even free advice, businesses may be able to encourage an increase in customer sentiment. And if the product is of sufficient quality, the client may be left wondering how they ever coped without it.
Rolf Jester, a vice-president at Gartner, explained that the essence of TLM is to show, rather than tell what a company can do, in a way that differentiates the company's offering from its rivals for the chosen target audience.
He suggested that TLM can be opportunistic and short-termist, or viewed as an evolving door-opening process, but either way, it serves the purpose of engaging with increasingly empowered and connected customers.
And while traditional direct marketing, media advertising and promotions have lost none of their value, this slight variation in approach may well pay dividends for some businesses.
Offering a quality product or service is one thing, but convincing the consumer they will not find a better offer is an altogether different proposition.
So when marketers start to become customer relationship managers, before the first transaction has even been made, this is when they really start to prove their worth to employers.
Posted by Jon Aspinell
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