By Prerna M
Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: In a rustic with 63 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), customers stay flooded with decisions between a mess of commodities with no distinctive differentiation and offered in widespread worth buckets. This makes it tough for companies to retain clients. MSMEs can clear up this drawback by going past branding and making a lovemark for his or her model, in response to Dr Rajendra Prasad Sharma, Professor of Marketing, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT).
In a masterclass session on “How Creating a Lovemark for Your MSME Products Cost Less Than Traditional Branding” at FE MSME Business Conclave final week, Sharma emphasised the significance of lovemark within the Indian market as customers are unable to attach with manufacturers emotionally. This arises as a result of a scarcity of differentiation within the worth proposition of the commodities offered.
Lovemark is basically a advertising and marketing idea launched by Kevin Roberts, who headed a distinguished promoting agency Saatchi & Saatchi based mostly within the UK, in his e book Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands. The idea focuses on growing an emotional connection between the model and the buyer.
Sharma described commodities as “products with low respect and love, for example, cement.” While cement in itself doesn’t signify a singular emotion to the buyer, ‘Ambuja Cement’ as a model symbolises energy. It has a excessive degree of affection and respect because it offers customers a promise of security.
Consumer respect and love will be monetized by way of a premium charged on services and products as a result of customers need to pay for the product in addition to the model. Hence the “commodity business” of promoting services and products should rework right into a lovemark by establishing an emotional reference to customers, Sharma defined.
Providing Value to Consumers
Branding is a talent important to each entrepreneur and each enterprise should model itself to keep away from being part of the “surplus society” stuffed with interchangeable commodities, Sharma famous. Entrepreneurs should model themselves as educated and problem-solving people with sound data of their trade and model their companies as a price system with a precept.
Sharma stated, “It’s a differentiate or die world,” with worth propositions like ‘best price’ and ‘best quality’ changing into over-used. Sharma really useful newer worth propositions similar to socially acutely aware, contactless, digital, and tech-enabled to extend the standard of their customers’ lives by way of manufacturers.
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Furthermore, companies should not operate with a revenue motive alone. It have to be purpose-driven. This is mirrored in numbers as properly, on condition that through the pandemic purpose-driven manufacturers outperformed profit-oriented manufacturers.
Brand Positioning
“Differentiation is what you do to a product and positioning is what you do to the minds of consumers,” stated Sharma, citing the instance of aerated comfortable drinks. Although most comfortable drinks style related, every model’s positioning offers its customers a special worth. “In India, people believe Thumbs Up tastes better as the tagline suggests ‘Taste the Thunder’ to represent a macho and youthful image,” he famous.
Rather than moving into the aggressive panorama and changing into a ‘me-too’, companies ought to create a price proposition that addresses shopper issues, Sharma added. “The perfect combination of positioning and differentiation is at the intersection of what a business can provide and what consumers want. This intersection provides a high customer value proposition.”
Establishing Lovemark
Importantly, lovemark can’t be created by way of market share or thoughts share however coronary heart share with creation, communication, and supply of worth, stated Sharma. The model should shift from self-centricity to customer-centricity. It should consider customers first and merchandise second.
Sharing the instance of Nestle’s Milkmaid Condensed Milk, which publishes recipes of their customers on the packaging of their product, Sharma stated though this doesn’t value an additional penny, it makes customers really feel particular.
Tools for Promotion
Citing the e book ‘The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR’ by Al Ries and Laura Ries, Sharma stated promoting for enterprise is now not related. The manner ahead is to ascertain an emotional connection by way of public relations (PR). Brands should faucet into direct advertising and marketing by sustaining a database of their clients and creating D2C channels to work together with their customers frequently. These channels can evolve into model communities to create a loyal model following resulting in referrals from customers to their family and friends.
“For example, if consumers think of a well-fitted suit for men, they connect it to Raymond. They believe that it is the product for ‘A Complete Man’,” stated Sharma. This model recognition creates word-of-mouth advertising and marketing and optimises customers as unpaid entrepreneurs for the model.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”