Customers don't want it!

I just saw this heading and had to write a quick piece about what could easily be a crime against marketing- this is the sub-heading of an article in Autocar magazine this week which discusses hybrid powertrains for Rolls Royce cars, but it is the wording of the sub-heading which caught my attention. Why would anyone want to do something which their customers wouldn't like? It is an attitude I have heard from a few people and organisations - this is the way we are going to do this whether our customers like it or not. What a strange attitude - find out if customers like it, and if not, don't do it but if they do, do it! It should be pretty simple really. 

As a brief explanation of the article, Rolls Royce build a prototype electric car and customers didn't like it because of the limited range provided. Rolls Royce dropped the idea but with increasing regulatory pressure it is very likely that to drive in some cities in the future it will be essential to have electric power so the solution is hybrid - electric for short range and petrol elsewhere. It may not be what customers want, but if it is the only way they can use their cars they will probably realise they need it!

Cold calling by phone

Whilst at home this morning I received a phone call which started with a recorded message telling me about refunds I was due. I am sure most people have received similar calls, you are invited to press 9 to remove your number from the list or 5 for more details and to discuss your "refund". I chose to press 5 so I could speak to someone and explain why I wanted my number removed and to ask them to pass it back through any chain which might exist of databases. As is often the case, once I said I wasn't prepared to give my name but I did want my number removed the person hung up immediately. How incredibly rude is that! As there was actually a number on caller display from them I decided to call back, only to receive another recorded message. The reason for mentioning all of this on this blog - the message said that I had been called for sales and marketing purposes and no action was required, they would call back if necessary. Obviously another organisation who have no idea what marketing actually is, and are bringing the profession into disrepute. No true marketing organisation would operate in such a way, they are simply very, very poor sales organisations who have more in common with con-artists than professional organisations as far as I am concerned. And as a final point, there was an option to press 9 again to have my number taken off their list so I did and the call immediately hung up - why no simple confirmation that it had happened?

Marketing is Dead - or is it?

Somewhat belatedly I have just read this blog - Marketing is Dead - on the Harvard Business Review (HBR) website. As a marketer, obviously I wondered on seeing the title if my career was doomed but reading the blog I guess it isn't, it just needs to change in ways which I have already been doing. As is so often the case, the word "marketing" has been mis-used here, it should say  be titled "Advertising is Dead". The copy points out that traditional communication methods - those which Seth Godin refers to as interrupt marketing - are no longer effective. I sort of agree and disagree with that, it is certainly the case that customers of all types are using recommendations from others as a major part of their purchase decision, but I do think there is a place for good, traditional advertising, to make people aware of a new product or service - the only people who will recommend at that stage are those who have been paid to do so, directly or indirectly. 

A customer needs to be made aware of a product before they will investigate if it is what they want, and good advertising, online or offline, can create that awareness. Take the traditional purchase decision model:

Need recognition and problem awareness

¦

Information search

¦

Evaluation of alternatives

¦

Purchase

¦

Post purchase evaluation

The basic process still applies, but now rather than talking to the supplier or their representative at the information search stage we may ask for solutions to the problem online, and then evaluate the alternatives through recommendations. But if something is new and different, solving a problem people don't know they have, the awareness has to be generated somehow and that is where traditional marketing still has a role to play, but it may need to be much more creative than was previously the case.

What do you think?