“My business doesn’t really get shopper” is a common refrain. Whenever we do conferences, or webinars, many of the most common questions revolve around how to get shopper marketing moving in their business. Many companies don’t have large shopper marketing teams (many don’t have shopper marketing teams at all!) Even more don’t have large shopper research budgets. And even where there is a shopper marketing team, we see time and again that shopper marketing professionals sometimes struggle to get others in their business to think shopper. Its fine if you are the CEO, or the VP Marketing or Sales, but how about everyone else? How about individuals working for agencies serving these companies? How can they get some traction and begin to make their business more shoppercentric?
Shopper marketing is a process, not a function
The good news is that you don’t need to have a shopper marketing team to start the process of making your business more shoppercentric. And you don’t have to be a business leader, either! Shopper marketing is a way of working. By focusing on this, and using the engage shopper marketing five-step process to guide whatever you do, you can begin to bring shopper thinking into your business. So, if you believe in shopper marketing, and want to get your peers, your team, or even your boss to start thinking shopper marketing, how should you do it? Here are six things that everyone can do to begin their own shopper marketing revolution!
Ask better questions to make your business more shoppercentric:
When developing anything—a strategy, a plan, a promotion, a new product, a TV commercial, or a Facebook page, ask yourself these five questions. When you develop a brief for an agency, or receive one from a client. Whenever you are presented with anything, use the five-step approach to frame a set of killer questions:
- What specifically is the consumer opportunity we are targeting? Who will consume differently, and how much is that worth?
- Who is the target shopper? What do they do right now, and what do they need to do in the future to to enable the consumption defined? Why do we believe the change could happen?
- In which channels could this change in shopping behavior take place? Which channels are most important?
- What marketing activities are required to create the change in shopping behavior?
- What investment in which customers is required? Does the total growth opportunity justify the total investment across consumer, shopper, and customer?
By consistently asking these questions of your team, you will condition the team to answer them and then to pose the questions to their own units. Questions change behavior, and behavior drives culture.
Shoppercentric starts with understanding shoppers
Understanding is the starting point of all marketing, and marketing to shoppers is no different. We’re not necessarily advocating a rush to divert budgets toward expensive shopper research projects; instead, we recommend a review of what the organization already knows, followed by an effort to use that information to glean shopper-related knowledge. Spend time in stores—get to know your shopper in whatever ways you can. And, yes, if you can justify the investment, invest in appropriate research.
Challenge working practices
Ask questions of yourself, your team, and your peers. Ask about the shopper in every decision. Challenge every process that impacts shoppers but does not include a shopper point of view. Even if the process works well today, ask how it would stand up in a more complex, connected world. How would this work with more channels, more segments, more complexity? Is it fit for yesterday, or will it hold up to tomorrow’s changes?
The five-step model helps make the business shoppercentric
Print it out from here. Share it with everyone. Use it to frame everything you do. Go on. You know you want to!
Adopt a clear definition of what you mean by shopper marketing
There are lots of definitions, and we’re by no means precious about our own. However we do have a definition of shopper marketing, and we find it works really well.
Be ready for tomorrow
Whatever happens today, tomorrow will be different. Ensure you, your team and your peers are up to speed. Buy them a copy of “The Shopper Marketing Revolution”. Sign up for Shopper Marketing Experts – a new online community. Subscribe to this blog. The world of shoppers and retail is changing fast, but there are a surprisingly large number of free or affordable resources to help you on your way.
Image: Flickr