By Ricardo Pomeranz

Concerned that her daughter was still single at the age of 30, the mother decided to help her with a tip. “Put on some nice clothes and makeup in order to look attractive. Go to a bar frequented by men and wait for the suitor to arrive. When he approaches you, ask him to marry you. If no one talks to you, come home, put on some prettier clothes, change your hairstyle and go back to the bar. If those who were interested in you don’t want to talk about marriage immediately, change bars and start all over again. Remember: be brief with the suitors in order to have time to speak to as many of them as possible. The more people you get to know, the better the chances you have of finding a good husband.”

Whoever invests in a strategy like this? Oddly enough, many companies use this ‘method’ to win over consumers. They hire an agency to create a communication campaign that is launched at those points that are most accessed by the audience and is frequently aired. If they don’t do so they’ll not distinguish themselves from the competition. As a result, companies expect consumers to appear and sales to increase. But when research shows that the campaign recall rate is low, a new piece of communication is created. If sales don’t materialize, other vehicles are selected in an attempt to reach more people.

This rationale assumes that there are only two groups of individuals: those who are interested in the offer and those who are not. In this view, the whole investment is allocated to discovering the group of interested people and the rest of the audience is disregarded. But reality shows that the public’s behaviour in relation to communication is much more complex. Of course there are those who disregard the message as being irrelevant. But there are also those who would like more detailed information in order to make a decision. They have specific doubts about how it works, price, ways of paying, and various other aspects. There is also the segment of potential buyers; those who already know the offer, who prefer the brand over the competition, but who are waiting for a promotion or some other form of incentive before they actually buy it. The group of those who respond immediately to the offer and buy represents a small percentage of the public, which is why investments only in this particular public are a waste of resources.

In some cases, the evolution is rapid. In others, you need to build up the relationship with more interaction. The more advanced they are, the more personalized the messages must be. Each group wants to receive information that meets their own expectations and the outcome will depend on the ability of the company – whatever it is – to serve the interested parties without being tempted to standardize the communication.

To increase the effectiveness of campaigns, relevant messages need to be sent to each group, and an attempt must always be made to move people to stages that are closer to the purchase. This cannot be done with traditional marketing, where messages are the same for everyone. In digital marketing, it’s possible to create individualized communication, directing personalized messages at each potential consumer, according to their stage of relationship with the brand. Feeding the relationship with each person differently over time increases the conversion rate and the return on investment.

As for the recipe for a good marriage, it can work if the daughter is lucky enough to find someone who accepts her request to marry her the first time they meet. But her chances will increase if she cultivates the relationship on a day-by-day basis, first meeting the suitor, then dating and finally getting married.

Author

Ricardo Pomeranz is Joint CEO of Rapp Brasil, and a specialist and consultant in digital transformation

Article originally published in the Brasilturis newspaper

The opinions expressed in this text are the author’s opinion and do not necessarily reflect the position of WTM Latin America.