What’s market orientation and why is it one of the most important things in business?
Back to front, inside out, market driven, or customer focused…these are all terms to describe market orientation. Fundamentally they are the same thing. Whichever term you choose to use is down to your own personal preference, as long as the core principles are the same, call it whatever you like. Market orientation in a nutshell, is an approach that identifies the needs and desires of consumers. It enables you to create products and provide services that satisfy your customer – making sure not to be biased in your own preferences as this can be dangerous and fundamentally wrong. The realisation that you are not the customer is paramount in the success of any marketing strategy. In the words of Peter Drucker: ‘The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.’ (The Essential Drucker)
Why do businesses fail to see their customers’ desires first?
Essentially businesses forget that they themselves are not the customer. There are a number of reasons that companies fail to put themselves in the shoes of their customers, which are:
Time – ‘We don’t have the time to carry out research into your consumers.’
This is the point where you need to make time in your marketing plan to stop and listen to your customers/consumers. It can be easier said than done, but you must fight this demon.
Cost – ‘We don’t have the money to research’
Often it is not as expensive as first thought, think of it as an investment. You will get a higher return in your end results with well thought out initial research which is accurate.
Arrogance – ‘I already know this, I’ve been in the industry for years’
Argh! Be humble, don’t be arrogant, listen to customers.
Assumptions – ‘I like this logo and my customers will too’
It is dangerous when assumptions turn into facts, without the research or customer knowledge to back it up. It is often a fight to cross these barriers, however it is so important to do so in order to have a successful marketing strategy.
Getting over the hurdle of becoming aware
Once you have become aware about the fundamentals of market orientation, how can you get your organisation to be market oriented? Go back to the beginning and ask yourself some basic questions to put yourself in the customer’s shoes, for example, is this product price right? Is the product’s functionality right? Are we communicating to our customers in the right way? You will have the tools and capabilities to find these questions out.
Putting Market Orientation into practice
Gillette is a well known global brand, and when launching a new product they implemented a very successful marketing strategy, but which most importantly used market orientation. They wanted to move consumers from Mac 3 to their new product, Gillette Fusion. All was going well with 70% successfully migrating, however then the GFC (Guilt Free Consumption) hit and sales halted. They halted because consumers were purchasing a cheaper alternative, so now Gillette needed a new approach because the market had changed. How could they get customers to purchase their higher cost product again?
They went back and looked at their target audience, by carrying out research they narrowed their current Mac 3 user to 18-35 year old males, who had low to middle incomes, shopped at Walmart and enjoyed sports and computer gaming. They went one step further to find out that their target audience was not necessarily unhappy with the old Mac 3 product, he expects the razor upgrades to be costly and he is always in re-fill mode.
The strategy was to:
- Convert – Mac 3 users to Gillette Fusion
- Target – 18-35 year old men, who use Mac 3 and shop in Walmart
- Position – Look their best, play their best
The objectives were to:
- Break the loyal cycle of refilling cartridges
- Present something which has relevance and value to the consumer
- Convert Mac 3 users to Gillette Fusion
- Increase Fusion share at Walmart
Gillette tied in their product to sports and video games. They offered a one time, special edition razor which was endorsed by their local football team alongside being launched at the sametime as the video game Madden 10. To promote the product, Gillette used a number of different media outlets, from print ads in sports magazines to radio ads which were played before the consumer got to Walmart and made their purchase. The radio adverts were able to take advantage of the products being localised and could therefore target consumers more specifically. Gillette understood that this targeted segment of the market was digitally focused, therefore ads were placed on eCommerce sites and banner ads. Google Ads were also used in case a consumer looked at purchasing the Fusion online, Google would direct them to a Walmart store quickly. Once Gillette had the consumer in a Walmart store, they still had to convert them, they did this by spending a significant amount of money on point of purchase displays. They not only displayed them in the drugs section of Walmart, but also in breakout areas of the store, to disrupt their behavior once reinforce their strategy and objectives.
The result? Their campaign was successful! There was a 20% increase in Gillette Fusion sales in Walmart. This is not only great news for Walmart, but as Walmart is such a powerhouse brand, it will mean in turn that sales will continue to be on the up for Fusion in other areas of the country also.
The takeaways from this are that Gillette really understood their market, they then went that step further to target a small specific target segment which they found and understood through research and asking those important basic questions. They didn’t assume who their target segment was, they didn’t use reuse methods that had worked in the past and they weren’t afraid to ask why sales were down. They spent time and money in carrying out good, effective market research, which enabled them to figure out who to specifically target. Gillette are fortunate enough to have a global presence which they can use inline with smaller campaigns such as this one – using both smaller campaigns and global presence helps boost overall awareness and inturn increase sales.
In conclusion
Fundamentally, it’s so important to remember that you are not the consumer, but in fact you can connect with them to get the right answers. Always be aware that your personal opinions are neither here nor there, and they shouldn’t influence your final decision making.
Whatever you are dealing with within your industry, diagnose the problem, understand what’s going on, understand the market before strategy and tactics begin.
