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Building Relationships with the Consumer

An important factor in the success of a business is maintaining a good relationship with the consumers. Creating a relationship with consumers boils down to the service they are given throughout their experience with your brand. Playing a part in this is the product’s marketing, quality, and customer interaction, this is essential whether the company is big, or small.

Tailoring Products to the Consumer

Creating a relationship with consumers, making them feel like the brand/product has been tailored for them, is the best type of connection a brand can have with the consumer. By rejecting the one-size-fits-all approach, the user will feel like the brand has not made the product for one type of person, and they have in fact approached the user as an individual rather than a paying customer. Successful examples of this can be seen in clothing companies providing clothing for all users, ensuring that no one feels left out. A company that has utilized this method is Jacamo. Specializing in making men’s clothing, Jacamo designs clothes for the larger person, usually for those who struggle to buy clothing to fit them elsewhere. Although you could say they are not inclusive of those who are smaller, they have built that relationship with a niche market and have provided a service for users that felt forgotten.

In order for a brand to sell a product, the users have to be able to imagine themselves using it. For example, Dove, a women’s skincare brand, was highly celebrated for their marketing campaign which featured women of all shapes, sizes and ethnicities. This opened their target market as a broader spectrum of customers felt able to buy the product. Once the advert was aired, the consumer had a relatable figure using the product which would have resulted in additional sales from a wider consumer pool.

How to Build Customer Relations through Social Media

The most popular and efficient way of connecting with consumers is through social media. LinkedIn is a professional platform for businesses to promote content, connect with employees and publish professional content. However, this is not the connectivity that resonates most with consumers now. Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram allow brands to jump on internet trends and weigh in on topics that are big amongst the younger generation. This is seen in a tweet from the U.S. restaurant, IHOP, “Pancakes on fleek”. Here they have attached the brand and a product to a current trend among the younger generation, cementing the brand as relatable, funny, and current.

Giving your audience an opportunity to get involved with decisions being made within a brand has numerous benefits. This can be done through questions posed to followers on various platforms, competitions and giveaways, and Twitter polls. Just having information tweeted and posted at you is far less efficient than being able to vote and get involved with a brand, alongside everyone else who supports and follows the brand.

Contributor: Harry Parsons, Marketing Assistant Arena International

http://www.arena-international.com/execshopper


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