Touch points to Tipping Point

One of the frequent and anxious question asked by the client to ad-agency is ..

"I spent Rs. 40000 on that news-paper ad!
 I got only 4 phone-calls. Why?"

"I distributed 10000 leaflets last week!
 Only 7 Customers walked in! Why?"

Sometimes, the ad-agency is even accused of making the client over-spend or for bad creative execution.

This anguish is pretty reasonable, if the Client's Product is of reasonable quality, the price is competitive and it does satisfy some specific need of the target audience. The Client expected the target audience to respond, but he is left grumbling - 

“I have offered a fair deal.
Why is the Customer not coming in and purchasing the product?!”

Why this big difference between Expectation and Reality, when it comes to generating sales?!

Well, the marketing reality which one finds out over time is -
"Customers don't make a purchasing decision impulsively;
especially, more the value of the purchase, more the Customer deliberates."

Why this deliberation?
A potential customer needs reassurance of his choice and this happens over a sequence of Touchpoints with the brand. 

A typical scenario will be as follows -
Let’s assume you are keen to buy a car. Unconsciously you start noticing car advertisements - (Touchpoint No:1).
Then you keep staring at various makes and models of cars, while commuting. In course of time your heart starts short-listing some favourites - (Touchpoint No:2). 
One day while filling up fuel you strike up a conversation with the driver of the nearby car, which is one of your short-listed choice - (Touchpoint No:3). 
Another time, you pick up a auto magazine and read a review of the car - (Touchpoint No:4). 
You pick the brain of the mechanic, at the garage where you go regularly (Touchpoint No:5). 
In the meanwhile you see more of advertisements of the car you like most (Touchpoint No:6).
You go online and read various review sites. You compare your choice with competing models (Touchpoint No:7). 
You go to the car dealer and experience a test drive(Touchpoint No:8).
Now you have decided in favour of the car and sit down with your chequebook.

A minimum of 7 touchpoints with the brand has to happen, before the tipping point to make the purchase decision happens.

The critical point for the Client to note, every touchpoint has to reassure the Customer and reinforce his initial opinion. Your product, pricing and promotion has to work coherently, without any dissonance.

So next time, don’t panic if the Customer doesn’t come barging in immediately after seeing your advertisement. Give him time and nurture him till the tipping point.

(In the next blog, I will talk of the kinds of Customers, which is another variable affecting the purchase decision.)
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Please leave your comments and suggestions below.

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SreeRam is a marketing communications consultant for SMBs – based in Chennai, South India.
The work of his consultancy firm can be viewed by clicking on NATHAN’S MEDIA GROUP.
He can be reached by calling 0-934 000 66 00 or mailing - nathansmedia@gmail.com

Case Study Papers - How to make them a killer marcom tool

 Recently the design team at my client eNoah Solutions wanted to pick my brain on the case-studies they would like to have on their website. I told them I will come back to them with a structure and sat down to write the salient points of a good case-study paper.
Then it dawned on me "Why not use this opportunity to practice what I preach!" So here its a sample case study on case-study!
(Right Click on the image below and open in NEW WINDOW for a readable view)

CASE-STUDY PAPER

Had fun doing this.. so more to follow on similar communication tools
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Please leave your comments and suggestions below.

If you like this post, share it with your friends using the Social links on the right side of this post

……………………………………………………………………………………
SreeRam is a marketing communications consultant for SMBs – based in Chennai, South India.
The work of his consultancy firm can be viewed by clicking on NATHAN’S MEDIA GROUP.
He can be reached by calling 0-934 000 66 00 or mailing - nathansmedia@gmail.com

5 ways to be a success on Facebook

5 ways to be a success on Facebook -

         1.       Be Regular

         2.       Be Relevant

         3.       Be Fun

         4.       Be Varied

         5.       Be Family

Earlier I had given tips on better blogging, effective emails and productive PR. Now I share a few tips on facebook marketing, after running my personal page and a page for passion/business- since 2008.

Be Regular -

·         * Anything done in a sporadic manner lacks credibility.

      Your audience will start doubting your commitment to them.

·        *  Even in bad times don't stop communicating.
      A classic example from politics is DMK leader Karunanidhi. He was out of power for 14 years when MGR was Chief Minister of TamilNadu. But Karuna held the DMK party together through the trough. DMK's vote share took only a small beating, since he was engaging his cadres with activities. Eventually, when MGR died, Karuna could win the next election easily – after 14 years!

That’s the power of constant engagement.

Be Relevant -

·        *  Fix objectives for your page.
Ask yourself "Why I am communicating on FB? What am I trying to achieve?" Once the goal is defined, all your posts, replies and comments should reinforce that objective.

·         * What could be the Objectives, is a separate post, which will follow at a later date.

·         However tempting it may be to post something interesting but not relevant to the product / service, DON’T post.

You are giving your audience opportunity to go off on a tangent.
If it happens regularly, your community will stop looking at you as a subject-matter expert. The intense committed audience will go away and you will be left with the periphery crowd.  

Your rejoinder may be "Won't I bore my audience?!"

Be Fun -

·         * Sticking to the objective doesn't necessarily mean you have to dour and monotonous.
 Change your tone and let your hair down once in a while. That will be refreshing.

·         * Take off the Teacher or Parent hat and wear the Friend hat once in a while
Being academic and always advising is one of the effective ways of putting off your people. Haven't we seen enough self-righteous Teachers and Parents!

Be Varied -

·        *  Engage your audience with multimedia.
Even while not deviating from the core offering, give images, jokes, real incidents, blogs, news and videos. Research has clearly shown that a post with visual content has higher chances of getting read than a plain text one.

·         * Remember you are creating touch points with somebody
Even if you don’t see Likes or Comments don't give up. Be pragmatic to the fact that majority don’t take the effort to react openly in a forum.
I post cartoons regularly on my personal page. When I meet some friends they mention they loved some cartoon of mine, even though they haven’t responded on the page. That’s how some people are! Accept it.

Be Family -

·         * Do NOT assume all conversations have to originate from you.
Encourage people to have their own discussions, as long as it is relevant.

·         * It’s a sign of a good healthy community, when all participants talk and interact amongst themselves.
You can be happy you have done your job in converting 'your' facebook page to 'their' page

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Please leave your comments and suggestions below.

If you like this post, share it with your friends using the Social links on the right side of this post

……………………………………………………………………………………
SreeRam is a marketing communications consultant for SMBs – based in Chennai, South India.
The work of his consultancy firm can be viewed by clicking on NATHAN’S MEDIA GROUP.
He can be reached by calling 0-934 000 66 00 or mailing - nathansmedia@gmail.com

TIPS ON BLOGGING

"Ever since her grand son taught her to blog,
she never pampers us"

Everybody and his uncle is into blogging.. 

which just shows how dormant creativity is waiting to be unleashed inside everyone of us.

Here are some tips to make your blogs more engaging.. 

Imperative if you are blogging with a commercial agenda …
just useful if you are blogging to make the world know your viewpoint.

MAKE YOUR BLOG POSTS SHORT

• Ideally the posts should be between 300 to 500 words.
• Don't demand people's attention for more than a few minutes.

TREAT BLOGS LIKE A SHORT STORY

• One Post = One Idea
• Take one idea and stick to it. No need for extensive elaboration.
  
  in other words...

 ENTER LATE. EXIT EARLY

• This is a rule in constructing a scene in movies - Without getting embroiled in what happened before this scene, the narration starts with some minimum cues to make sense for the viewer..and, once the purpose of the scene in the story is served, narration moves on to next scene.
• Similarly, edit your preamble and summing ups.

ATLEAST BE HUMOUROUS, IF YOU CANNOT BE FUNNY

• Everybody likes to smile..so avoid being morose and monotonous.

IF YOU CAN’T BE HUMOUROUS, ATLEAST BE PASSIONATE

• Bare your heart and be provocative
• Remember, you can be either loved or hated, but never ignored.

IF YOUR SUBJECT IS SERIOUS OR ELABORATE, MAKE IT AN EXTERNAL LINK

• If your subject is serious and cannot brook any dilution, make the blog post short and indicate what the reader can expect if he wants to dig down further, by clicking that link.

BE CONSISTENT IN TONE & CONTENT

• Branding is a long term exercise and it’s all about taking up a Character & Attitude.
• So your language and presentation should be consistent enough to reinforce the mental image you want to portray.

BE REGULAR

• ..unlike me.

     SreeRam, Communications Consultant,
Chennai, India.

     9340006600, nathansmedia@gmail.com
FACEBOOK - http://bit.ly/nmg_fb
LINKED IN -  http://in.linkedin.com/in/ksr96
TWEET - @kravMagaSreeRam