Search engines such as Google or Yahoo! have changed the way
marketing is done. Behind are the days where companies would create a product
or service, create an ad, put it on a mass media and hope to have consumer buying
from them. In those days, the key was not only on the good or service, but
creating a good ad that will serve as incentive for consumption. The idea was
simple, tell the consumer what you want to be known and persuade them to buy.
While this was a pragmatic idea, the world no longer functions that
way. With the rise of the Internet, and more importantly the rise of search
engines, companies no longer have tight control on what they want consumers to
know. Everything is online and it’s getting to a point where information leaks
before it is officially released. (iPhone 5 anyone?)
Marketers need to worry not only about reaching consumers but also
about being reached. In the new model of marketing, consumers may hear about a
new product or service through mass media or the internet but rather than going directly into purchase mode, they go online from their computers, phones, or
media players and do their own informal secondary research to have a better
idea about the offering, and make sure what they saw in the ads is true. As
Google has come to call it, this is really is the Zero Moment of Truth. Failure at
this stage will make or break your company.
In the old days, consumers would see on TV an ad for a steam iron
that could make any wrinkles disappear on any fabric selling for 4 payments of
$19.99, or 3 payments if they would call in the next 3 minutes. Too good to be
true? Absolutely, but consumers found out the hard way. After getting the
product that would leak hot water and didn’t work properly, the only thing they
could do was call it a loss and talk about it with the neighbors.
At this point in time, the picture is much more different. The same
ad may be seen but the next step after that is not the impulse call to get the
one payment off. Now consumers, especially those that grew up with the Internet
being just another aspect of their everyday life, will “Google” the name of the
item and find out reviews. If they see a
trend of bad reviews by different people and different online communities
chances are they will abandon the purchase process right away. If they purchase
and the expectations are not met, then they will become one more voice of those
disappointed consumers.
There are two things companies must make sure to do. First, create a
good product/service. Mediocrity is no longer easy to disguise in the market.
Second, make sure that they answer what consumers may wonder after they see
ads. Consumers are now searching for
companies and products, not the other way around.
Demystifying Marketing
We’ve all heard it before: “marketing is evil”, “marketing is
deceitful”. History tells us that perhaps there were valid reasons for such
claims. But that was the past, now consumers have in their hands the tools to
make sure everything they see in an ad is true or false. I will go as far as to
say that anybody deceived by marketing today deserves to be so. The amount of
information available on many products and services is abundant and all it
takes is a 5-minute search on Google. There is no excuse to be an uneducated
consumer in 2012. No excuse at all.
Oh, and the steam iron is called: The Tobi. Horrible product.
