Promise of value customer expects. Customer
makes a
commitment before he actually experience the product.
In anticipation of value, he makes investment in you,
commit to you.
Customer often asks---What’s In IT For Me ?? What do I
get from your brand!!
A
set of promises/benefits that u make to a defined target audience that are
differentiated from other alternatives that a customer might consider and these
claims are backed up by reasons to believe.
These benefits are of 3 types:-
1. Functional Benefit -
Features
2. Economic Benefit—Time &
Money Savings
3. Emotional Benefits –
Feelings & Affiliations
These Alternatives are also of 3 types:-
1. A customer may choose your
competitor
2. A customer may choose to but
nothing –maintaining the status-quo
3. Yourself – Why to shift to
the next version? Paradoxically need to differentiate yourself from yourself. Cannibalize
Yourself. Hence a competing Alternative.
Specific Target Audience:-
Value
is contextual, it is in the eye of beholders. Hence do specify : Who is this
for? What type of situations/scenarios, these products & services are best
designed for?
Eg: Mcds has a lot of value for
me for a quick n convenient bite. But if I am going out for a special dinner,
it’s a different sense of value. The same me but the context changes and
becomes important and a game changer.
Final
idea- make claims – backed up by evidence. Reasons to believe or support.
Evidence are of 3 types :-
1. Objective Features
2. Testimonials
3. 3rd party rating
agencies
Marketing is about creating value for the
customers in exchange transactions. So how can
Marketers connect with customers better and create superior value for them.
Triangle of Customer Value:-
So which one of these
dimensions should a company focus on?
Actually they can use any of these.
Dell/HP : Sells on Functional Value
Tablets :
Positioned in terms of Economics, Lower Cost Of Ownership
Apple :
Sets apart in terms of Emotional Connect with its customers. Benefit is Loyalty
to the Brand as opposed to Loyalty to Features & Lower Cost in above two
options. It will give the company a sustainable competitive
advantage, and it will become harder to compete against this company because Love is Blind and once customer
starts to love u they forget a lot of your sense. It’s a rare company who is
able to manage such emotional connections.
So If company has choice, it should try to
elevate its value proposition to the Emotional value but it’s not easy to do as
it has to start out by earning its strives either to better economics or better
functionality.
But just like we climb Maslow’s Hierarchy Needs
Pyramid from going to the basic needs to higher level-self actualization.
Similarly as a marketer, start with good functionality, better economics but
eventually climb the ladder of relationship with your customer to connect at
the level of emotional value.
Ref: Kotler, Mohan Vir Sawhney
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