Has your brand fallen on deaf ears?

How do you resolve it?

Pushing the brand and its many attributes should do the trick, but the deafening silence is worse.

A well-known direct-marketing Chinese brand has swept opposition off social media with its relentless advertising. At first, it was alluring, then exciting, with a touch of ‘gambling’ for cheap products. However, the company’s persistence is backfiring as customer satisfaction wanes.

Did the company research its customer base? Although direct marketing has always been extremely popular, South Africans value quality. Consumers like bargains but not trash.

Is the ‘in-your-face’ approach unattractive to people? It is even more unpleasant for your customers.

You know you have a great product, so your customers initially approached you. Now that they have it, you must engage with them to discuss how you can improve their experience.

It is all about customer engagement

Learn to listen to your customers and make them the centre of your communication strategy. You must understand them and discover who they are and what they want to know.

• Talk about their problems.
  
• Find out what they are searching for.
  
• Make them heroes of their narrative.
  
• Show them how they can resolve their problems with your help.

You need to be their guide to help them reach their objective. You can best assist your customers in moving from where they are now - with a problem - to where they want to be - where they have overcome it and accomplished their objective - by serving as their mentor.

Customers will pay attention if you reframe your advertising to centre around them rather than just showcasing your benefits.