Reverse Marketing - Why do brands need to change their game?

Old marketing is dead.

Reverse marketing is the future.

Reverse marketing is the concept of marketing, in which the customer seeks the firm rather than marketers seeking the customer.

Traditional marketing is about shouting from the rooftop that your products are better than anybody else.

You hire Shah Rukh Khan, or Virat Kohli to convince people that being a smart person, you will buy their product.

It is all right to manipulate your customers.

Reverse marketing is about doing everything which Traditional marketers will not do.

It is about providing great value without expecting sales from the activity.

It is about being genuine and authentic.

It is about being a humane brand.

It is caring about society and the environment.

It is about being sensitive and emotional about customers’ belief systems.

Reverse marketing is about knowing “why” you want to be in business.

How you can bring a change in society.?

How you can bring a change in the culture?

It is not about TV and Facebook ads and low prices.

Apple prides itself on making products with great design. Steve Jobs had said that he wanted to make the keys of his computers so appealing, that people would want to lick them.

It is not surprising that people wait for even twelve hours for stores to open in the morning, whenever a new Apple product is launched.

For the company, that wants to be a reverse marketeer, the most popular and effective method is to provide value to your target customer.

Depending on your product category, you can provide free information about health, beauty, how to make more money, how to find the cheapest hotels, etc.

As a company, you can set up hospitals, build toilets and create social awareness about relevant subjects.

But, not even once, have you said - Buy my product.

HSBC has become the first carbon-neutral bank. Coca-Cola cares about the environment and believes in recycling the packaging ( I must admit, that they do great advertising too).

Green marketing is the new buzzword for today’s companies, as it creates a perception that the company is socially responsible.

Why are these companies doing these activities?

Customers increasingly distrust organizations. They want to associate with good, honest and caring companies.

I have come across many young people, who want to join companies like Tatas, even at a lower salary.

Lack of credibility and trust is going to affect brands.

Unless organizations engage with customers apart from regular marketing, it will be difficult for customers to develop trust.

Every buying decision takes place after the initial trust level has been established.

Trust makes buying decisions easier.

The brand is trust. Period.

How do you start the reverse marketing process?

Social media is an example of reverse marketing. Customers are marketing to other customers and to organizations. If your company has done something worthwhile, it will be shared by social media members.

Search, by a potential client, is an example of reverse marketing. A typical search is an advertisement.

A search for a “cheap smartphone” asks organizations to respond to your specific request for a good value phone. The more clever the organization, the more specific its response will be.

Testimonials and product reviews are great examples of reverse marketing. The best reviews are authentic. They are by real people writing about things they really care about, or by experts whose integrity is unquestionable. It builds confidence before the buying process starts.

Research has shown that more than 80 % of online buyers look at reviews and testimonials, before buying a product.

How can you implement a Reverse Marketing campaign?

Though there are many different ways to use reverse marketing strategies, every method follows the same principles:

Know what is important to your customer.

Give the customer a reason to come to you.

Offer the customer something of value, before attempting to close a sale.

I believe that the future is?Reverse Marketing, where customers must seek the brand, instead of the brand running after the customers.

If you can provide the reason to customers why they should trust and love you- you are able to play the game.

Winning the game is the next step.?

Old marketing is dead.

Reverse marketing is the future.

Who can use Reverse Marketing?

A business that sells goods or services can use reverse marketing to improve the company's brand or image, rather than just raising awareness about products.

You don’t sell the products; you sell the philosophy behind your existence.

For example, the Tata Tea campaign consisted of ads that featured many of the company's products, but the message of the ads was about the principles of the company itself. By redirecting attention away from goods and toward the message, any company using reverse marketing techniques can create customer loyalty, regardless of what its products are.

Service providers use reverse marketing to avoid what is known as “coercive” marketing. Coercive marketing tells customers that they should want a service, like getting an insurance policy, for a particular reason. The Insurance Company might use coercive advertising materials to suggest that people who don't take insurance may suffer in the future. They market fear of not taking insurance.

Using a reverse marketing strategy, an insurance company like Aviva India uses ads to tell customers that, they are already leading a good life and the company would like them to learn new and interesting things to make their life more beautiful. This message is intended to create a positive, confidence-boosting association between the insurance company and the customer, which increases the likelihood that the customer will choose to opt for the insurance on his or her own.

Reverse marketing is also very useful for companies that can offer valuable information to customers free of charge, as a way to establish the company as an authority. People trust businesses that make them feel informed about their purchasing decisions.

I wanted to buy insurance for my car, and Policy Bazaar helped me get comparative quotes and gave me useful advice for free. I did not buy the insurance from them, but I developed a positive feeling about the company for the future. A bookstore, for instance, could offer anyone who visits the store a free newsletter that includes book reviews and recommendations.

How to Make a Reverse Marketing Plan

The first step of any reverse marketing plan should be an honest assessment of the company's current image, the customers it wants to attract, and what those customers value. This is vital to creating marketing materials that will connect with customers in a meaningful way.

Understanding what your potential customers would find most meaningful in life shows that the company cares. There is a pharma company, Swati Spentose, in Mumbai, which has started a foundation for Rare and neglected diseases to assist people who suffer from neglected diseases like Kidney Inflammation, Bone Disorder, Urological Disorders, and Alzheimer’s. This

the company wants to genuinely help patients, and this is the perfect example, where a small but growing company can initiate the reverse marketing process in a true sense by showing concern and care for such patients.

Reverse marketing is about giving control to the customer. It is about being highly responsive to customer requirements. It is about being loyal and caring

to the customer. It is about listening first and speaking later. It is about being useful to the customer through continuous engagement.

Inreversemarketing, the marketers need to behave as if they are the customers of the customer.

Building value is the central me of reverse marketing.

#reversemarketing #marketingstrategy #branding #marketingplan #success

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