Jan
29
2010

Hey marketers, need a quick way to improve sales? Listen to your customers.

Armed with a toolbox of data tracking tools and our computer, we as marketers have never been better poised to quickly learn and react to what our consumers are telling us.

Let’s take a lesson from Pepsi. Sure Pepsi is a marketing giant, but all sizes of businesses can learn from their marketing decisions.

Pepsi launched retro inspired “real sugar” formulations of their signature drinks (Pepsi and Mountain Dew) last Spring as a short-term promotion to boost sales. No surprise there.  Product differentiation and innovation (or going retro in this case) combined with a limited time offer can stimulate interest and sales.

Pepsi Throwback was launched with an integrated marketing plan featuring promotional advertising and online support including a Throwback multi-media hub complete with a Facebook app that would “retro” your look (very cool).  No surprise there, either. Any good marketing campaign needs a smart, integrated communication plan that engages the right audience with the right message to create the urgency to buy.

So what happened?

Sales were great, but the viral buzz was enormous.  You can’t very well ignore over 2 million website mentions, 24,000 blog posts, hundreds of YouTube videos combined with a whirlwind of Facebook and Twitter activity.  People engaged the product and really liked it (for the most part) and told the world all about their thirst for the product.

Pepsi listened.

They responded by relaunching Throwback just a few months later with new packaging (even more retro) and new promotional contests to keep the buzz around Throwback going.

Throwback lovers everywhere are happy and even more loyal since they have been heard.

Consumers want to be heard and they will tell us:

• What important to them, if we listen to what they say
• What they want our products to do or not do, if we listen to their suggestions
• What promotional offers and messaging to use, if we track what they respond to
• Where to advertise, if we track where they come from
• Where to sell, if we track where they buy

The scenarios are endless.  And whether your customer feedback comes to you through sales data, tweets, blog posts, old school customer suggestion cards or a passing conversation at the cash register, each comment can make us better marketers.  Of course, hearing something is only helpful when you actually listen with the intent to do something with the information.

If you want to learn more about how to develop ways to listen to your customers and how they can impact your brand development, give Point to Point a call…we’re listening.

Flickr image courtesy of Darin.