How are your customers changing?
Big picture demographic, economic and social trends show us how our customer base is changing. But these trends are only part of the story as our customers themselves are changing.Australian research by well-known social commentator Hugh Mackay in 2005 confirms that while some consumers are defining ‘value’ as the balance of the price–quality equation, for many others ‘value’ is the whole transaction. The whole transaction embodies the product or service, of course, as well as the manufacturer, seller and consumer in a package that Mackay says is driven by the desire to feel better about oneself. In this sense, value is less about trading off quality against price, and more about looking for a relationship with the seller that makes the buyer feel good about themselves.
The concept of value is a big deal to big business. Big business responses to customer concerns about value and trust have been to throw more weight behind brands and branding, and to elevate the concept of a brand to an almost imaginary level.
Two marketing tricks we explore are the notion of authenticity in business and in marketing, and loyalty. The worldwide head of advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi wrote in his 2003 book Lovemarks about the imperative for big business to reach through scepticism and cynicism to emotionally meet their customers:
“Lovemarks are brands that inspire loyalty beyond reason. People love them because of what they are, not because of what they do.”
High aims indeed, and it is of course small businesses that are best positioned to engage and meet their customers’ needs on a whole range of levels – including emotionally!
Big business is trying to bridge the trust gap partly by strengthening branding even further. But it is not the only trick up its sleeve. Big business is also trying to overturn the negativity of global mass production by starting to customise and personalise its products - enabling customers to get the ‘personal touch’ they are looking for.
This is a delightful paradox – mass production processes changing to yield small, customised production runs. But it is a paradox that makes perfect sense.
A global brand is one way to hold increasingly disaffected and fickle consumers. But with global products not carrying the weight they used to, some big businesses are starting to move away from homogenised mass production into customised and personalised production, to appeal to the individual within each consumer.
New generation automated production systems are enabling some large manufacturers to respond to these new demands by offering customised products at a modest price premium.
Perfume must be one of the most brand-driven products on the market. We don’t just pay hundreds of dollars for a tiny bottle of liquid, we pay for what the brand means to us and how the scent makes us feel. But even this most branded and global of products is being customised and personalised. The Body Shop, a global brand of its own, enables customers to Invent Your Scent by choosing from a palette of nine fragrant and symbolic ingredients to mix and match your own ‘lasting impression’.
In our Small Business Futures Workshops we take participating business owners through a personal assessment of how their own customer base is changing, focusing on the quest to capture value in transactions. We take the time to help participants exploit the negativity in perceptions of big business to position their small business to build on its genuine personal relationships with customers.
Implications for small business
How can your business sell on value rather than price?
How do you personalise your products or services?
How do you keep your customers coming back?