Why The Customer Is At The Centre Of Field Marketing

What the most important thing for a business? Profits? Perks? No. The most important thing is who your business serves the customer, be it the person on the street, another business or a government body. If your business is field marketing, this statement is even more true, but not just your customers but the customers that are served by your client.

In order to stand out in an ever more cluttered marketplace, the budding businessman, marketer or entrepreneur must realise the importance of branding. A brand can be promoted and marketed in a way that allows the customer to become familiar with it, then trust it, then rely on it. By building a relationship with the customer, brands can ensure repeat custom and free publicity as customers will tell their friends, who in turn could also become regular customers.

The days of the overbearing and pushy salesperson are over- thankfully. Consumer relationships with brands can be strong, but they are also more fragile. Poor customer service from in-store or call centre staff can lead to negative online reviews and badmouthing on social media platforms so it is important that customer interfacing regulations are flexible, changeable and exhibit a modicum of common sense.

If you have a new brand to promote, the first thing to consider should always be 'who is the customer?' If you cannot pinpoint a specific demographic, maybe more thought needs to go into the marketing strategy. If you have a specific customer target, be careful not to patronise, talk down to or insult them in your promotional literature and media. It is not enough for the marketing team to have a good understanding of who the customer is, every member of staff should have a good awareness of who the brand targets and what their role is in making sales happen- after all, without the customer, none of you would have jobs.

If you are targeting a demographic you know little about- do your homework. Painfully under-researched marketing strategies have the potential to do more harm than good, especially in the age of social media, where poor PR can snowball into widespread criticism of brands and businesses in a matter of hours. Take the time to read up on your target audience, use market research to learn more about them too, but most importantly- use the market research. It could prove invaluable.

Never assume you know what your customers want. Talk to them. Ask them. Only then will you be able to know for sure what they want and how they view your brand. Finding out may be a long and laborious process but if the end result is success, sales and profit, it should be worth it.