By Dave Wendland, vice president, strategic relations, for the Resolutions blog series
The days of promoting a consumer packaged goods (CPG) product to appeal to the masses are long gone. Consumers' expectations have increased, and their desire to receive content and product information that relates to their individual persona have been fueled by the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Expedia, Pandora, and Netflix, among others.
Many CPG brands face daunting challenges in regards to genuine relationship building. To overcome these obstacles, they need to resolve to do things differently. Traditional (legacy) approaches have far less resonance with consumers in today’s fast-paced, digital, and personalized era. Brands must commit to pursuing one-to-one, long-lasting relationships with consumers. It is vital to remember that most consumers expect value from a brand long before they ever feel connected to it.
More nimble, pioneering brands have effectively used digital technologies to create highly-personalized experiences that make their products seem relevant to individual consumers, whether they’re having one-to-one conversations on social media, or simply sharing targeted content to better engage. For an industry that was built on brand marketing (think companies like P&G and their incredible branding machine) and traditional advertising campaigns, CPG marketers are under significant pressure to quickly modify their marketing strategies to create more customized brand experiences for specific consumers. This has created a new era of brand marketing for CPG companies — one that requires focus on customer connections to create more meaningful engagements.
Make no mistake, personalization is a huge undertaking. Gaining key stakeholder buy-in may be difficult and finding internal resources able to adjust their thinking to develop strategies that hit the mark will not be easy. However, for brands that find a way to involve key leadership, brand management, sales teams, and the oft-overlooked IT department in these discussions, bringing personalized brand experiences to market will emerge.
The bottom line is that successful CPG firms will use personalization to attract consumers’ attention and foster meaningful relationships with their brand. Others slow to adapt this philosophy will experience a faltering bottom line.