Week 2: Sept 19-25

GROUP: CARPE DIEM

a) What is the main message of the report?

The McKinsey report consist of vital information of the consumer decision making process and how marketers can included themselves in this journey. This process can be as easy as understanding who our consumers are, and their needs. Although deciding who you see your consumers are may be the easy part, it’s also important that they understand your directing your product at them. Consumers are constantly in the same room as an advertisement, but the timing may not be right to purchase a new flat screen TV. However, when that time comes it's crucial that markets make the timing match. One option of many in the report is to guide them through by the use of tools you have, like the internet, or word of mouth. Use the internet to your advantage. Consumers are more helpful not only to other consumers but also to the companies they are buying from. So, make your websites informative and also instructive. By provisioning your website to be more consumer friendly, markets can make the information search process easier for their consumers, in which, can create word of mouth flow. In this matter, if your company was institutionally not in the initial consideration set of consumers, this is just one way of inching you closer. Another important factor mentioned, is to not only present the company through advertisements, internet, or word of mouth, but also to meet your consumers at the on-site interactions. This stage could mean your brand awareness has worked thus far to see consumers inside your store. This may mean the timing is right, and in order to sale you may need to make your products look more attractive, by influencing your customers through the final purchases. Conclusive to the report is the result of brand awareness in the initial consideration process for consumers.

b) what are the key differences between the traditional understanding of consumers decision journey and the one proposed by McKinsey? Compare and contrast 3-4 major features.

As represented in the report the consumer decision-making journey process, is a more circular journey (McKinsey Quarterly, pg3). One feature of the differences in traditional marketing is the research done by consumers. Because of the internet, consumers have many options in gaining information about products before they consider purchasing. Such thing as reviews, question, and answers presented by the company is one process consumers missed out on before the internet. There are so many sources a consumer can go to in order to find the products that best suit their lifestyles. Nowadays a company is critiqued by the feedback of their consumers, viewed by many and anyone. In which can cause a break in the process, to a new awareness that may not have been recognized before. This gives more marketers the opportunity to take advantage of this slot and fill it with their product name, and make it a contender in the initial consideration set. Also, consumers feed off the information search on numerous accounts of repurchased decisions. When marketers before were pushing advertisements in consumers face, they are now looking for the right kind of information. In many ways, consumers look into marketing tools to help make the decision easier and more informative. Not only are consumers interested in information, but it can be considered necessary for them to acknowledge your product. Another difference is that of the loyalty factor, between consumers and their go-to purchases. Consumers are looking to what these products can do for them in their lives, as in what more does this product have to offer? One example may be a credit card, companies offer different terms of the credit card usage that fit better in certain people’s lives. For instances, say you enjoy dinning out often, it would be in your best interest to choose a credit card that gives points back for all of your dining out experiences. Thus, gaining loyalty from a consumer, this happens in different aspects for buyers but the point is what you can do for your consumers in order to gain that loyalty from them. And why this is different is because of the post purchase response from the consumers that also excludes word of mouth through feedback.

c) The report details two types of loyalty: what are they? and what does it mean for social media marketing?

The two types of loyalties are active loyalists and passive loyalists. Active loyalists are consumers who stick with a certain brand, but also recommend it. They do this by posting reviews on the Internet, as well as putting word-of-mouth recommendations explaining their experiences and the benefits of the brand. Passive loyalists are consumers who stay with a brand without being committed to it. This means passive loyalists are open to switching to a competitors brand if they give them a reason to do so. Marketers need to challenge companies to reinvigorate their loyalty programs and also the way they manage the customer experience. In order to keep active loyalists, marketers need to identify them through customer research, find out what drives that loyalty and how to harness it with word-of-mouth programs.

d) In your own words, explain the key suggestions of the report for marketing in the new reality.

Some suggestions in this report would be that consumers focus on advertisements, news report, conversations with family and friends, and product experiences when buying a product. Consumer-driven marketing is one of the important suggestions made because customers receive information helpful to them when they take control of the process. Some examples would be Internet reviews, word-of-mouth recommendations, and in-store interactions and recollections of past experiences. Consumers nowadays wait until they’re in a store to make a purchase. An excellent way to catch the consumers’ attention into buying a product would be the attractiveness of the package, a favorable shelf position, forceful fixtures, and on-shelf messaging. Also, you first need to discover based on what the consumer makes their decision on when choosing a brand. Another way to market in the new reality would be the outreach of consumers to marketers rather than marketers to consumers, meaning that marketers should not accept the consumers brand options due to the fact that this approach failed to reach the right consumers at the right time. Changes in the consumer decision making process means that marketers need to regulate their spending. Also the changes made should not be viewed as a loss of power over consumers, but as an advantage to be in the right place and the right time, acknowledging them the information and support needed to make the correct decisions.