Your brand opportunities

Pet humanisation

Pet humanisation is a phenomenon that has been growing steadily for many years. Pets are increasingly perceived as being a part of the family or, in somecases, even as a substitute for children. This trend is no longer visible only in developed pet markets; developing markets all over the world are also increasingly treating pets as they would their family members.

The market for human-inspired pet products is booming, and encompasses a myriad of products ranging from pet food with human-grade ingredients, product claims responding to human food trends – grain-free, all-natural, etc. – pet care services including insurance policies, pet spas, funeral servicesand pet tattooing, all the way to fashion for dogs and apps to entertain cats.

The consumer experience

Amidst all this, consumers are quickly numbed by the overkill in product offer. How do you build brand loyalty in a world like this? From customer service to the digital journey and retail ambiance, our association with a brand is based on how it makes us feel. “Customer experience is that last durable way to build loyalty and advocacy with consumers,” says Gartner’s Jake Sorofman. This means that it is essential for companies to connect to their customers in a way that goes further than the usual ‘brandconsumer’ relationship. The key is to ‘wow’ consumers by offering value that exceeds their expectations at all times.

Social care

Most marketers have finally recognized social media as a channel rather than a marketing strategy. And it is not just a marketing channel; it is a customer experience channel. As Daniel Newman wrote in a Forbes article: “Are you bombarding your audience with advertisements and products or services you are hoping to sell? Instead, focus on engaging your audience; asking them for their opinions, comments, and ideas on how you could make things better for them. Although pertinent data can be gathered from social media platforms, the main focus should be on listening to the customer.” (source: onforb.es/1NaUAZx)

Transparency and integrity

Newman hits the nail right on the head, as the most important values to today’s consumers are transparency and integrity. If a consumer does not like the way you do business, they will be sure to find a replacement. The ability to create customer loyalty completely depends on the extent to which you are being honest about your brand values and live up to them on a daily basis.

Convenience

In today’s hectic and time-crunched world, convenience is one of the most important decisionfactors in brand selection for most consumers, whether consciously or unconsciously. In all your customer processes, offering the ‘shortest and easiest way to the prize’ is essential, as any delay or hurdle they come across is sure to scare them away and into the arms of a competing brand or product. Think carefully about your brand’s convenience strategy and optimize it wherever you can. Convenience covers all aspects of a sale – from before, during, to after a sale is made. Make it your challenge to optimize the customer journey at every step of the way.

Mobile integration

One of the most convenient tools to reach customers is through their mobile phones or tablets. In its 2016 Mobile Economy report (source: gsmamobileeconomy.com), the GSMA sketches the world’s mobile see next page industry: “2015 has been a year of continued growth in the mobile industry. With more than 7.6 billion mobile connections (representing 4.7 billion unique subscribers) and operator revenues of more than $1 trillion (€0.88 trillion), the global subscriber penetration rate now stands at 63%. The global subscriber base will reach 5.6 billion by the end of the decade, by which point over 70% of the world’s population will have a mobile subscription.” And this is just the market for mobile subscribers, not taking into account pre-paid phones and tablets. According to Statista data, roughly 35% of the global population will use a smartphone by 2019.

That ‘mobile’ is a marketing channel no brand can dismiss seems clear, but how to make the most of this? Having a mobile strategy that only includes a mobile website or an app is not enough… You need an integrated mobile strategy that aligns with your overall business growth endeavours. This means at every step of the customer journey, from first product orientation to after-sales services, consumers should have direct access on their mobile device. Multichannel branding is essential for this, as 90% of multiple device owners switch between screens to complete tasks.

Omni-channel retail

In retail, omni-channel has been a buzzword for quite some time now. Now that most retailers have set a firm omni-channel strategy, it is time to further optimize it. Many benefits can be obtained by focussing on the supply chain. Improving a supply chains efficiency will definitely be worth theinvestments.

Another aspect to improve is your location – your virtual location, that is. How easy is your store to find – not just physical, but in terms of search result ranking in response to a consumer need, as expressed in results from Google and other search engines.

Big data and consumer tracking

The early adopters among brands make use of big data that is being generated from social media, mobile usage and online search. The insights that can be gained from this data can be of tremendous value to any brand. A trend towards tracking technologies is currently underway, allowing brands to monitor consumers in a legal way, so that additional context can be applied for better targeting. Just imagine theworld of opportunities this might open up.