You’re Not The Boss of Me (Craig Douglass On Consumers)

In the retail relationship, consumers are the boss. And don’t you forget it!

The retail relationship we speak of includes marketing strategies informed by how companies or other relation-based enterprises understand consumer behavior in what is called the customer lifecycle. (This includes voter participation in support and approval of public policies or political personalities through elections.) The objective is to manage customer interactions with the brand in order to encourage trial, nurture the satisfaction of the experience, retain the customer and promote repeat purchases. All achieving the goal of growing sales.

In marketing, the program is called CRM — customer relationship management. And there are myriad programs and platforms designed to research, develop and implement the strategy.

The end point of the cycle is the purchase or the vote, whether initial or repeat. While it would seem logical that consumers would prefer to weigh in on what they want in a product or service (or candidate or issue), the fact is that consumers want to be given specific options. They want to be led. So the marketer’s job is to create the product, then test its appeal with the target audience to gain knowledge on whether it is desired or preferred. And how it competes in its category; how it could be improved, priced, promoted and distributed; and what promise, need or desire the product fulfills and how it fulfills it? Those are questions research can answer.

It’s a paradox: Consumers want to be led, yes. But they also want to be in the discussion about the veracity of the product, cause or campaign. They want more and more to be in dialogue with creators and marketers. And they want more information.

As Rachel Meranus put it, “This means companies are investing heavily in educating their buyer long before that buyer makes a purchase. They are investing in content that identifies a need or a challenge and provides a way to navigate and solve for that challenge. If a company tries to sell their product or service (too soon), they will lose their audience. If, however, they invest in informing and educating their buyer … their buyer might just stay engaged long enough to hear the pitch.”

Meranus is the chief marketing officer at Olapic, a company that helps brands increase sales through user-generated images from social media. She’s all about engaging customers, learning from them and then leading them.

As the mid-1800s the French politician Alexander Auguste Ledru-Rollin said, “There go my people. I must find out where they are going, for I am their leader!” Get it?

We generally know what retail consumers and political consumers want: products and policies that work, that make their lives better. The trick is to uncover the specific building blocks of those desires and craft our wares accordingly.

Two examples: One from a project I am concluding; one from a project I am beginning.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation (formerly the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department), recently posted a brief survey on their website regarding how improving highways should be funded. If the responder agrees there is a need, they are given six funding options, and a space to include “Other” ideas. (See the survey at ArkansasHighways.com.)

Our work on highway funding issues the past seven years has seen some success and some failure. But always an opportunity to learn. ArDOT is asking stakeholders to weigh in on what they would support to increase highway revenue. Our previous research can answer these questions. What is needed now is answering the questions about how voters will be informed and how they will be led to accept the most viable options, based on need. How will they be encouraged to participate in the solution?

The second example is recycling. Without an informed consumer, recycling won’t work. The consumer’s educated and led participation is vital to the efficient processing of recyclable materials. What is needed here is a focused and consistent education program instructing consumers how to participate, and the benefits that accrue to them for that participation.

We look forward to the success of both programs. Remembering all the time that we aren’t the boss. The consumers are. Our job is to find out where they want to go, and lead them there.

Craig Douglass of Little Rock is an advertising agency owner and marketing and research consultant. He is also the former executive director of the Arkansas Good Roads Foundation, and will soon be leading the Regional Recycling & Waste Reduction District. Email him at Craig@CraigDouglass.com.