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TRIMILLENNIUM MANAGEMENT : CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS A century of customerised communications By Bharat Patel
Did they advertise in the press media in the first half of
the last century like they did in the next half? Did they advertise on TV 50 years back like they have begun
doing in the last 20-30 years? Did companies even think of using the Web for advertising
10 years back? Yes. You can lay a safe bet: the means of communicating to the customer, the form in which you do it, and the medium through which you do it are going to change in this millennium. Can we predict what is going be the shape of things to come? May be not. But we can certainly consider the possibilities. When you talk of communications, some key issues come to mind: one-to-one connectivity with the consumer, the speed of reaching out to her, two-way interactivity between the consumer and the organisation, the relevance of communication and bonding with the consumer. You could break up this jumble of issues into 3 critical factors that will determine the future of communications in this country and the world: mass customisation, relationship marketing, and a technological revolution. Why mass customisation? Before we even look at the future of communications, let us first look at what is it that you will want to communicate to the consumer. It would be what it has been for all these years: a product, a service, or whatever else that will fulfill the consumer's needs. In today's situation, and increasingly in the future, however, the biggest difference in selling this proposition will be that the product you offer will have to suit the individual consumer's needs as opposed to a consumer segment's needs. With more competition, more choice, and more products, it will become imperative for an organisation to mass customise. As you do that, it is critical that your communication is also mass customised. Equally critical is going to be the importance of relationship marketing in your entire marketing strategy. Relationship marketing could become a powerful driver of the communication medium and the communication tool you choose. Customers have to be viewed from a lifetime value perspective. It costs 6 times as much to acquire a new customer than it does to retain a current one. So, it makes sense to keep established customers satisfied. CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS AND RELATIONSHIP BUILDING. Why is customer communication so important to relationship marketing? Customers appreciate it when you take the time to talk and listen. One wouldn't try to enhance and build a personal relationship without some form of interaction. The same holds true for building customer relationships. One-on-one communication with the consumer is critical. This is because competition has intensified; the consumer has more choice, and, therefore, needs more information if she has to acquire confidence in you and your brand. This will mean that advertising research will need to get insights on how advertising works in a two-way communication typical of interactive media as opposed to what has been happening till now in a one-way communication context. What are the levels of consumer involvement across the course of an interactive communication session? Thus, new models of how communication works that companies use must account for not only the direction and intensity of the communication, but for the reciprocity or mutual exchange of it too. We have to remind ourselves that certain media decline over time while others flourish. This is inevitable, and in-sync with the evolution of any species in the natural world. THE INFOTECH REVOLUTION. Technological breakthroughs will shake up the face of advertising in this millennium. The computer revolution is not just about the enhanced computing power of machines, but about the fact that so many people can get connected today. No, it is not the latest Intel chip, but the newest innovations in the speed of access to the Net. The modem that sits on our tables at home and the office will, eventually, dictate the terms of communications. It would not be presumptuous to assume that the encroachment on the consumer's privacy-be it by interrupting her favourite serial with ad jingles or breaking her afternoon siesta with the ringing of the doorbell by a saleswoman or a market researcher-will have to come to an end. Soon, her TV will become a pc because of convergence. She can click on your ad and watch the creative unfold and hear the jingle only if, or when, she wants her break. You can do your research, your sampling, and your selling all through the boob tube if not the pc. We are at the start of a communications revolution. Because of socio-economic conditions, it might take a while to impact everyone. But it will happen. This does not mean that the TV is going to be replaced. Or that the press will become redundant. The time when every human living on this planet carries a notebook or whatever new technology is introduced by then is still far away. But that too will happen. Will the Web take over? None of the Fortune-500 companies you talk to today will say that more than 5 per cent of their sales comes from Net advertising. That is largely because you don't know who is visiting your site. But consider the progress and surprises that technological revolutions hit companies with in the 20th Century. If it was telephone in the 1800s, it was TV, the computer, and the radio that completely changed our lives and communication tools in the 1900s. Consider what will happen beyond 2000. There is a possibility that the Net will enable you to enhance the possibilities of database marketing. Having said all this, we should also bear in mind the fact that conventional marketing is not a thing of the past. Think of the audiences who have not been exposed to and do not understand how the Net works. Right now, they are still the majority. The cutting-edge would be in investing in keeping your organisation abreast of technological revolutions. For, customer communication in this millennium will mean connecting directly with the consumer, connecting fast, connecting in her desired media environment at her convenience, and with her desired product. What and how to communicate is an entirely different story. But there will be even more demand for the great advertising story-tellers. Bharat Patel is the CEO of P&G India
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Do companies advertise the way they did in the 1800s?