We marketers love to do stuff. Let’s get the ad in the papers and fast. Let’s print flyers. And lately, let’s put some ads on Facebook and Google. We go to the how without thinking through the what. And far too often, from my observation, the what translates into two extremes, both in the promotions area.
On the one hand, for example, some FMCG marketers bank on trade push. So buying shelf space, hiring merchandisers, sampling and gondola end promos is their mantra. For others, it’s all about using a combination of advertising, PR, brand activation and digital to create consumer pull. Both sides give most of their company’s energy to execution and far too much to promotions. But we should not act if we don’t set the right goals. Just like we don’t jump in our car to go pick up our newspaper on the curb.
So start with the strategy; Become the #2 in the market. And use all the customer touch points to help you achieve that not just “advertising”. Hire a mystery shopper to see what kind of experience your customers are having. Do a price/value study to see if customers think they are getting fair value; you might find out that you are leaving money on the table. Is there a customer need you are not currently serving?
Use all the customer touch points to get to #2, not just the newspapers.
