Future-proofing marketing strategies for a brand simply mean creating strategies that will stand the test of time and changing trends. If a brand or company wants to create marketing strategies that can accommodate changing trends, it must be agile enough to adapt. The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector is India’s fourth-largest sector. To survive the highly competitive and changing market, consumer brands need to invest in their marketing strategies, while reworking the same from time to time. The economic landscape has changed dramatically over the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses need to adapt to the changing landscape by using innovative marketing strategies, to survive and thrive.
Businesses need to ask themselves what their brand strategy in the next five years will be. In addition to this, they need to be flexible and fast enough for any change in trends like consumer preferences and changing technology that comes their way. Market conditions change rapidly, and technology progresses even faster. For instance, the DVD sector boomed at a time, but once digital technology thrived, it became obsolete as the new technology allowed people to download films to their laptops.
So, all it takes is one stronger competitor, one new trend or one new technology to make your business outdated. This is where the concept of futureproofing comes into play. The basic idea is to use a well-thought-out and planned set of strategies, approaches, and changes to make a marketing strategy less susceptible to emerging threats in the future.
Consumer brands need to guard against threats like competition and rapidly changing consumer technology. Here are some best ways to do it:
Offer an experience, rather than a product: Products can be easily replaced but experience lasts forever. Brands need to make sure that their marketing campaign emphasizes the overall experience that a consumer will get, rather than just products or services they are advertising.
Understanding of your target market: Every consumer brand has a target market to reach. Once the demographics of the target audience is figured out, brands can easily create a buyer’s persona. In fact, the buyer’s persona is the secret weapon used by successful marketing companies. It includes information such as age, gender, and income. The motive is to know how and where companies can focus their sales and distribution, to get maximum profit.
In addition to this, companies can track their marketing data with the help of marketing tools like Google Analytics. Consumer brands can track which web pages are generating the most clicks, how long visitors are staying on pages, where site visitors are coming from, and much more.
Communicating the value of a product to your customers: The mostwell-drafted marketing strategies in the world won’t work unless the value of a product or service is not communicated to consumers. Brands need to clearly communicate exactly what their product offers and what makes it different and special in a huge market, where consumers have a lot of choices.
Apart from that, brands need to find technology that they can grow with, refrain from locking themselves into anyone’s strategy and focus on building brand power. What works today can be obsolete by tomorrow, so future-proofing marketing strategies can ensure that a product will survive and remain strong. It is important to have a brand that continuously evolves through technological and social developments and is in keeping with advancements in the wider world. A well-thought-out strategy, extensive insight, and good management are therefore crucial.
Indian consumer durables market is attracting marketers from across the world. It is broadly segregated into urban and rural markets. Global corporations view India as one of the key markets from where future growth is likely to emerge.
This article is Authored by Amrinder Singh, Director, Bonn Group of Industries.
