The Rise of Human Era in Brand Strategy - Essay Example

The Rise of Human Era in Brand Strategy College The Rise of Human Era in Brand Strategy In the 21st century, marketing isone of the areas in business organizations that have experienced a paradigm shift. The challenges of marketing have result to the shift from the institutional era into the human era brand marketing. In the ‘human era’ brand strategy, managers have to personify their brands in a way that brands communicate to their customers. Modern marketing strategies require that brands be capable of establishing a warm relationship with the customers. Unlike in the institutional era when organizations communicated the value of their products, the human era requires that brands speak for themselves. The evolution of technology has fuelled the internationalisation of business, hence reducing human to human interaction. Online business has disconnected managers from their customer and brands have to establish unique relationships with their customers. Therefore, managers need to develop new tactics to promote their products to communicate efficiently with the customers if they have to survive the challenges of the ‘human era’. Notably, the complex dynamics in the business environment has rendered traditional marketing approaches obsolete. Changes in the market environment and rise of business competition have threatened the survival of organizations that still adopt traditional marketing approaches (Ahmad & Thyagaraj, 2014). One great challenge has come about as a result of the evolution of information technology and its availability within the public. While organizations still want to connect with people, the internet has broken this switch and established a contact between brands and their customers. For instance, online purchasing has become popular after the internet development. The web 2.0 platform has given organizations to target wider geographical business coverage, which is crucial in increasing the target customers (Chahal, 2014). However, it comes with the challenge that it reduces interaction between marketers and the customers. Resultantly, the brands have to speak for themselves, and establish a mutual trust with the customers. Apart from communicating the quality of their products, organizations have to ensure that the products meet these qualities. Therefore, the human era is a change whose time has come and a valuable strategy for organizations that intend to remain profitable in a competitive era. Customer behaviour is one of the factors underpinning the shift from institutional era to the human era. In the past, organizations have had focussed on short-term strategies to profit from inferior brands. Organizations have been selfish in creating organizations and brands that are selfish and ones that only benefit the organizations. However, it is clear that customer behaviour has changed and there is need for companies to establish long-term relationships with their customers. Customers have an opportunity to interact with brands in a more active manner and to determine the qualities that they desire in their products (Duboff, 2014). As organizations develop a new variety of products, customer bargaining power has increased as they have a wide variety to purchase from (Quinton, 2013). Resultantly, the idea that big organizations are desirable has changed. Customers now pay attention to those organizations that can establish long-term relationships with them. Therefore, it does not matter the advertisement strategies that organizations use, but the value that these products provide to the customers. Change in customer behaviour has pushed organizations to develop products that speak for themselves, rather than products they have to talk about. Consequently, customers have learnt to judge brands the same way they judge other human beings. Human beings judge one another from the nature from the way they speak, interact and the value that they gain from relationships with them. The same way, customers use form relationships with products from the value they get from interaction with them. Customers are attracted, not by the names of companies but by the quality and flexibility that the products offer. Therefore, it has become a challenge for organizations to develop products that satisfy the diverse population characteristics. The complexity of human behaviour in different target markets has posed a challenge for organizations to satisfy different customer tastes. As organizations go international, they encounter customer behaviours that they have to satisfy if they have to survive in the market (Puzakova, Kwak & Rocereto, 2009). Therefore, it has become crucial for organizations to develop products that have desirable qualities for specific target markets. Delivering human-like products that can speak for themselves has been the ultimate solution to challenges of the new market environment. From this point of view, organizations have to find new tactics survive in the Human era brand strategy. One important tactic that modest organizations are deploying to make products that can communicate is development of transparent brands. Transparent implies that organizations have to provide transparent information while marketing their brands, rather than propaganda. Unlike in the era of customer naivety, the current business era gives the customer the privilege to verify any information that a brand claims. In the era of internet technology, customers can easily access any information online about whichever product. Internet communication has given customer the opportunity to share information and to acquire it in the shortest time possible. For instance, Coca-Cola is an organization that has maintains transparency by printing the nutritional information of its drinks on the bottle to ensure customers the exact product characteristics. Another example if the Corner bakery that provides customer with a nutrition calculator to compute nutritional value of their products. This gives customer the opportunity to know healthy brands at a time when customers are sensitive to nutrition. This shows that organizations have a responsibility to deliver on the brand qualities that they promise to the public. Therefore, transparency will go a long way in creating customer trust and hence winning their loyalty in the long-run. In the era of internet, and open online communication, social media has become a marketing avenue to help organizations to push their business into the international scope and increase their range of customers. Social sites such as Facebook and Twitter have worked well in business optimization, paving way for a new communication approach (Parmentier, Fischer & Reuber, 2013). Organizations have endeavored to launch their products online, communicate their qualities and deliver them to the people. Samsung is an electronics company that has profited from the development of a concrete online presence. For instance, they have targeted African countries through social media sites such as Facebook, by allowing customers to tweet and communicate with the brands (Harper, 2011: Smith, 2013). The company uses social media as a platform to communicate product qualities and to establish a cordial relationship with the customers. For instance, the company can receive feedback from the people about their products and respond to their queries. Therefore, internet has made it possible for organizations to establish a two way communication between the brands and the customers. Therefore, adopting technology has become a key milestone in entering the human era of brand marketing. Brand storytelling has become a key tool in the exit of the traditional institutional era and entry into the new business era. Brand storytelling involves creating a history of organizational brands as part of their personification procedures (Papadatos, 2006). Just like human beings have a history, products to have their history describing how they have evolved (Mathieu, 2014). Organizations such as Starbucks have used the web platform as an avenue to provide stories about their brands. From the website, customers can study the evolution of their products and the reason behind these changes. Consequently, Starbucks has been able to create an emotional connection with their customers. One brand that has won the customers emotional connection is the ‘sweet smelling coffee brand”. This explains why Starbucks storytelling strategy has contributed to its strong relationship with customers. Another example is the Guinness alcohol brand advertisement that features a group of guys, one if a wheelchair playing basketball. This story helps the company to paint the picture of dedication, loyalty and friendship that alcohol brings to the people. To this end, this approach is no more a point of consideration for organizations but an imperative approach for organizations that intend to derive emotional connection with the customers. However, this seems to be a big challenge for organizations that have remained static while the market needs are rapidly changing. In conclusion, the dynamics of business environment has posed serious challenges for organizational marketing. Resultantly, it has become an imperative strategy for organizations to shift from institution brand marketing to the human are brand marketing strategies. The evolution of customer behavior and development of complex marketing platforms has forced companies to change their marketing strategies. Evidently customers have shed their naivety and have the privilege of accessing information regarding products in the market. This compels organizations to be transparent and to repeatedly prove that their products are unique and consumer friendly. In addition, the customers now demand products that best satisfy their tastes not only in the short-term but also in the long-term. Therefore, organizations have to develop products that can communicate their target customers and be able to influence their purchasing behavior. The rise in technology era has increased the interaction between the customers and the products. On this note, the product experience shapes the purchasing pattern of customers. On this ground, it is crucial for customer to actively engage in creating a warm relationship between consumers characterized by emotional attraction and effective communication. Bibliography Ahmad, A, & Thyagaraj, K 2014, Brand Personality and Brand Equity Research: Past Developments and Future Directions, IUP Journal Of Brand Management, 11, 3, pp. 19-56, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 25 November 2014. Chahal, M 2014, How to be a human era brand, Marketing Week, p. 2, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 25 November 2014. Duboff, S, 2014, Brands, like people, have personalities. Marketing News, 20(1), 8. Harper, N., 2011, The Current and the Future of m-Commerce in the Caribbean. OECD Technology Foresight Forum, Paris. 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Smith, S 2013, Conceptualising and evaluating experiences with brands on Facebook, International Journal Of Market Research, 55, 3, pp. 357-374, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 25 November 2014. Read More