Whilst shopper marketing is finally being seen as a priority for many businesses across Asia, it is clearly hampered in its development by a lack of quality talent. Our recent survey of executives held that a lack of talent, together with a lack of clear business processes, were the two main factors which were holding back shopper marketing from realizing its full potential in their businesses. Given that shopper marketing is a marketing discipline, wouldn’t it make sense for consumer marketers to populate this exciting new marketing frontier? So why is shopper marketing struggling to attract individuals with consumer marketing skills and talent?
Unfortunately to too many members of the consumer marketing fraternity, ‘shopper’ is a dirty word. Tainted by its association with trade marketing and sales, and a perception that shopper marketing is all cardboard and discounts – shopper marketing seemed saddled with an image of being at the bottom end of the marketing spectrum. Clearly, as our recent survey of executives* shows, shopper marketing is beginning to emerge as a strategic priority for businesses. Yet there is a gap between the strategic focus senior managers want to put on shopper marketing, and its image amongst marketers. Arguably, for shopper marketing to grow – this needs to change. So CEOs (who depend on shopper marketing success) and CMOs (who should realize that they depend on shopper marketing success too) and shopper marketing leaders – what can you do to change this?
How to attract marketing skills to shopper marketing
Be an ally, not a threat – Perhaps some consumer marketers are guarded about shopper marketing because they see it as a threat to their very existence. In a world where the consumer is king, then shopper marketing is a dangerous revolutionary attempting to overthrow the status quo – think about the increases in funding and attention that shopper marketing gets these days. Leaders must explain that shopper marketing is not challenging the primacy of the consumer: merely explaining that there is another target customer – the shopper – who needs to be considered and marketed to. Further, that marketing to the shopper, when done effectively, can enhance consumer marketing efforts. Far from usurping the consumer world, shopper marketing will enhance and improve it.
Do more marketing in shopper marketing – If shopper marketers did more marketing, it would make it far more approachable to consumer marketers. Perhaps dimming the focus on analytics, and focusing on insights. Talking (and working on) key marketing disciplines such as targeting and segmentation would make shopper marketing far more strategic, far more effective, and far more comprehensible to consumer marketers. And by this I don’t mean adopting a segmentation model from a retailer, or from an agency. That wouldn’t wash for a consumer marketing team; it isn’t good enough for shopper marketers either. If shopper marketing wants to be taken seriously, it needs to start doing more serious marketing.
Show results – Simple, but effective. Results speak louder than pretty much anything else. Everyone likes to be on the winning team, and getting great, measurable results is a great way of demonstrating that shopper marketing is a winner worth backing, and one which has staying power too.
Changing what shopper marketing means to consumer marketers – Finally, it is important to acknowledge that in many ways shopper marketing has an image problem. If shopper marketing were to employ a branding agency, the agency would almost certainly recommend ditching the word ‘shopper’ as it is a major turn off to many marketers who have been brought up on a diet of ‘the consumer is king’. But if we cannot drop the word, then a major repositioning is required. Leaders need to communicate exactly what they mean by shopper marketing (otherwise folks will get drawn to misleading definitions such as that on Wikipedia). Assuming the first few points above have been adhered to, leaders should emphasize that their version of shopper marketing is strategic, is marketing, and gets results.
Successful brands need shopper marketers with better marketing skills
Consumer marketers will not achieve the results they need without effective shopper marketing. Shopper marketing teams desperately need a marketing talent injection. And whilst I have no data to support it, I would posit that marketers who have experience in both camps would on the whole be more effective in either as consumer marketers or shopper marketers in the future. For more on the organizational implications of shopper marketing, how to integrate consumer and shopper marketing efforts, and how to get started in shopper marketing as an individual, a team or a company, a great first step would be to read “The Shopper Marketing Revolution” and get started on a new Total Marketing approach.
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