In todays time we are bombarded by advertisements everywhere we go. There are ads displayed through all mediums: TV, billboards, markets, malls including the web. Advertisements are to be found everywhere and the reason it is so is owing to the heavy investments companies make in advertising campaigns, considering it essential for a successful business model. Though it has started to create an air of unease among consumers who have so much to choose from without knowing where exactly is that they can avail the best services and products from in order to improve their lives. For instance, people immediately tend to hang up their phones when a random call-center tries to sell them some kind of products/services.
Talking particularly about technology and this recent wave of online businesses, what businesses require is a friendly approach toward culturing new trends for bettering our society and engaging their consumers instead of spending fortunes on advertisement and quite less on making better, the customer service relationship. Discussions about improving society and providing quality services are more than enough, just like ads – but the question is: are you willing to hand over the driving wheel to consumers?
Every organization has a set of ideas for launching and promoting its products and these are very much aligned with the market trends. However, there is no finality to its execution – trends can be set. Markets change and everyone follows new trends because there is always someone who is taking a different route and creating new trends. Organizations and individuals learn a lot while going through the experience of executing their ideas. Every idea does not arrive completely symmetrical, honed and packaged from the very beginning; it hatches with time and so does the understanding of execution. Do you think simply marketing everywhere is compulsory for the survival and stable growth of a business or an organization?
As organizations, individuals, we learn a lot while going through the experience of executing our ideas – the idea is not there from the very beginning. It is not necessary that every trend emerging in the market is essential for the survival and stable growth of a business or an organization. There are companies in the West, they are cutting short on their advertising budget and using that money to increase customer services and quality. And it has definitely worked positively because with all that money invested in better quality and rich services, consumers simply feel irresistible. Moreover, it is bridging the trust between consumers and organizations.
In Pakistan, there are several companies that are active with their corporate social responsibility but there is a huge space to be filled out there. It’s not just about conducting social activities and playing a part – it’s about playing an integral part that lasts longer and aids profitability as well. Companies do invest in sponsoring social events but they fail to catch that attraction due to lack of deals for consumers on a day-to-day basis. All the money spent on ads only focuses on sparking interest and engaging consumers – but this interest is irrespective of how much money you spent, because at the end of the day it revolves around what you actually have to offer.
For consumers, experience is what matters. But how many of consumers are actually looking forward to enrich their experience? Majority of people do not review the products they use; and most of them do not even complain for a bad experience. Instead, they permanently refrain from using a particular product again and look for an alternate solution. We barely have time to pinpoint the flaws of a particular service/company and add to its value by suggesting what we really wanted from it and how well it can be groomed. It’s not just about market and products and business, it has more to do with how we are actually shaping our future.
There are 2.5 billion searches conducted on Google every single day. People are searching for what they need and are demanding loudly what they want. Some are reviewing every product and service they use and putting it online on their blogs and video channels – people are really either offending business companies or encouraging them to make better products. It’s a collective effort because people living in tech-culture are aware of how the future will transform on technological grounds. On the other hand, businesses are always looking for new ideas, to peek into a consumer’s mind and add more values just to harness their bond of trust and loyalty; and at the same time understand what more they can add to their businesses for better performance. So, they are actually looking forward to everyone’s views and very steadily, especially with online social platform, people are beginning to talk about it.
