TOW#543– Now is the time to invest in trade marketing
This week you can read InStore magazine’s interview with Petar Lazarov, talking about our experience during this unprecedented situation.
How did the pandemic affect your marketing department and how did you organize your operations during this period?
Just like everyone else, we weren’t spared the effects of the pandemic and everything that happened and is still happening in Macedonia and the world. We had to pause some parts of our business, but others have continued working normally. Our training and consultancy services, as well as exports in the non-food sector, declined significantly, but things are normal with food exports. Of course, we had to adapt to the new, more difficult conditions (production, transport, processes, etc.), but in general that sector ‘overcame’ the virus. Regarding those parts of our work that suffered the biggest blow, we didn’t sit around and wait to see what would happen, but we worked actively on preparation and planning, as well as establishing initial contacts with potential customers. In this way, we hope that when things return to normal, we’ll have an already established work plan and initial interest from potential buyers.
What kind of relationship should a brand be building during this situation? What are the key messages that it needs to convey to consumers, and how?
Now is the best time to see how brands are working, and how much they know. It’ll now be possible to differentiate between those that are doing branding properly, and those that think the branding’s done if they’ve got the packaging and label sorted.
Psychologically speaking, not only in terms of the brand but in general, consumers today (after this situation with the pandemic) are much more skeptical and scared. Customers can usually be divided into various groups (engineers, creatives, doubly-cautious, politicians, etc., you’ll find many different groupings), but now we can comfortably place most of them in the doubly-cautious group. What does that mean in practical terms and in terms of communicating with them? It means that they’ll have less confidence in what brands are saying, they won’t buy things impulsively or emotionally, but they’ll think more rationally about whether they need it, how much they need it, and so on. They’ll want you to justify to them the price of your product and how it’ll help them. In any case, whether in this current situation or not, we always, at least for our brands, try to be open and honest (the ‘genuine approach’), as well as witty, as long as the situation allows. I’m certain than in this state of fear, negative thoughts, and all kinds of other pressures, you’ll certainly earn some points if you manage to make your customers smile.
What is your view on investing in marketing in times of crisis, taking into account the long-term effects?
If you stop interacting with customers about your brand, then the end is nigh. Either other will take from your cut, or someone stronger than you will appear and destroy you. One of the basic elements of branding is continuous communication with your customers. And figuring out ways to touch their hearts. The brand, in addition to making money, should have an emotional impact and connect with customers. This can’t be achieved through selling and sales activities alone.
What I advise all companies is to continue to work on the two basic areas of promotion, sales marketing (trade-marketing), and working on their image. But during this particular period, they need to increase their budget for trade marketing. That means promotional activities geared towards helping sales.
Which channels of communication will you invest most in and why?
Part of the answer lies in what I said previously, about investing in promotional activities that support sales. Or, as it’s officially called — trade marketing. If we take into account that more than 70% of someone’s decision to buy something is made on the spot, i.e. in the shop (store, salon), then having good positions at sales points, good communication elements, on-site actions, and activations are of immense importance for a brand. The same goes for e-sales. Your website should be active and attractive for customers, i.e. guide them through the sales process. Of course, social media must be considered the leading channel for communication, both because of its growing place in the world of marketing and because the current situation has meant we’re looking at our computers and phones more. This means that companies should now focus on establishing a closer and friendlier relationship with customers, and figure out how to touch their hearts.
The most important thing in this situation is that many things have changed, and new ways have been created to work, shop, and spend time. Before making any communication (promotional) strategy for a brand, a revision must be made of the brand’s current overall strategy. Mainly to see to what extent the strategy we’ve had thus far is applicable to the new situation, and whether something structural needs to change or perhaps be adapted somehow. Then, based on that strategy, to make a new version 2.0 of the communication plan.
According to some, every crisis creates certain opportunities. Do you see such an opportunity for your brands in this situation, and if so, in which area?
Naturally, we’re monitoring the situation closely and we’re changing and adapting to the conditions. Regarding the products we’re working on (or preparing) from the food sector, we hope they’ll be successful and will find their place under the sun. Food is something that will grow both in demand and in price in the upcoming period. Our target market is always the entire world, which means that the potential is huge, so we just have to find the gap. It’s a little more difficult with the other (non-food) products we work with, but that’s why we’re revising our current sales approach, constantly thinking up new tactics and techniques, and hopefully, we’ll succeed with them too.
What are your plans for creating brand-marketing during this period and immediately after?
During this stormy time, in addition to some of the current activities we’ve been working on, we’ve also been busy preparing two new brands which should be launched in a month, as well as a third we expect to unveil in autumn. This means that not only are we not reducing our activities, and/or cutting them, we’re actually stepping them up and investing in the development and establishment of our brands on the world market. So, we’re currently planning how to be at our strongest!
Wishing you success with the changes to come,
Petar Lazarov
Member of the Team
MACEDONIA-EXPORT Consulting
*If you want to read the original interview follow the link.
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