The Marketing Mindset - Part 02

Chapter 02: The fisherman and the hungry fish

The following article is the first chapter of the book "Marketing Mindset" - published by?Thiago la Torre?and?Matheus Schmidt

Introduction: Analyzing Demands

Whenever we need to develop a campaign, we usually think of the marketing professional as an old fisherman who needs to catch as many fish as possible - in this case, customers.

The first question a fisherman asks when starting his activities is always the same: are the fish biting today? If the answer is yes, the solution is quite simple: put bait on the hook and throw it into the water. The hungry animals will be attracted, and the fishing is done.

If that's not the case, fishing becomes a bit more complicated, and the professional needs to choose a more effective bait (one that induces some fish species to consume it). For didactic purposes, let's assume that this fisherman does not have the resources to search for other lakes around the world and that it is not possible to choose another place to fish.

Where there are no hungry fish, fishing with a fishing rod is useless: you have to use a harpoon.?

Thiago la Torre

Within the communication theory, promotional actions work in a very similar way to fishing and are divided into two main groups:

Pull Actions:?

Pull communication actions are used when the fish are biting. In this case, the first step is to confirm that there is an active demand for our type of product or service (meaning that buyers are already interested in it and actively seek it in some way).

The main practical example for this type of action would be placing our product in a classifieds channel - whether in print media (such as newspapers or specialized magazines) or digital media (such as Google? or Yahoo?).

We estimate that the average conversion rate of leads (potential consumers who have contacted the brand) for this type is around 3% - meaning that out of every 100 people who visit your business, about three will make a purchase.

Push Actions:?

Push strategies are used when the fish are not hungry and need to be "convinced" to bite the bait in some way. This happens when customer demand - in this case, the fish - is already being met by some other source.

A practical example for this type of action would be distributing flyers or advertising on Facebook - in the hope that the audience recognizes your unique selling points and becomes interested in your brand.

We estimate that the average conversion rate for actions of this type is around 1.8%.

Practical example:

Imagine that you sell ice, and you do two types of actions: first, advertising on Google? with the keyword "buy ice near me." Second, a Facebook? post saying, "Buy ice and keep your barbecue beer cold."

In the first case, we are "pulling" the consumer who is already advanced in the purchasing decision process - meaning they have decided they need ice and searched on Google? for a place that sells that specific product.

In the second case, we are targeting an audience that has the potential to buy (people having a barbecue) and trying to "push" the service to them.

Of course, selling ice to people who are having a barbecue (and initially not considering buying ice) is more challenging than selling ice to people who are already looking for it. Thus, our hypothesis that the result of a push action is usually lower than that of a pull action becomes quite logical, supported by the previous data.

Now, if you thought about marketing, probably the first action that came to your mind was a push action. Why does this happen? For some reason, as business owners, we have the impression that the interested audience will somehow find our product or service without us making an effort for it. We have the mistaken idea that the "real result" comes from persuading new people to consume our product, and often we don't worry about ensuring that we are visible to those who are already decided to make a purchase.

A smart fisherman, therefore, first catches all the hungry fish and then goes after the rest. Before taking push actions, make sure you have exhausted all the potential of pull actions.

Conclusion

When conducting a promotional campaign, whether it's push or pull, the first step is to define a message that aligns with your positioning and place it in channels that reach your target audience, in order to achieve the widest reach possible.

As for the attractiveness of the campaign, you simply need to ensure that it will be interesting enough for the potential consumer to stop what they're doing and pay attention to the conveyed message.

This message can have an institutional nature, reinforcing the brand and helping potential consumers to remember its unique selling points, or a promotional nature, urging potential consumers to take immediate action.

It is important for the business to strike a balance between the quantity of promotional and institutional messages it conveys, depending on the market stage and the internal needs of the segment it operates in. A brand that only conducts promotional actions tends to be seen as a popular brand that is always eager and in need of selling at any cost. Conversely, a brand that only conducts institutional actions tends to be seen as sober, more focused on reinforcing its differentiators than just making sales.

Promotional messages tend to have more immediate returns, as they require a specific action from the consumer. On the other hand, institutional messages are characterized by long-term returns, aiming to establish a hook in the consumer's mind.

References:

CHAFFEY, 2018. Ecommerce Conversion Rates. https://www.smartinsights.com/ecommerce/ecommerce-analytics/ecommerce-conversion-rates/

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