Focus on client needs and satisfaction, not sales, is key to success of brands

What you need to know:

Companies often err in selling products by concentrating on features, functions rather than buyers’ wants.

The quest for better nutrition in a bid to head off lifestyles diseases is driving a profound shift in the food market in Kenya, and globally, with global research firm, Ken Research, forecasting significant diary market growth in Kenya by 2020 due to the increasing demand for yoghurt from health conscious consumers.

“The per capita consumption of yoghurt has increased from two kilogrammes in 2013 to three in 2015, thus for a new player to penetrate the market their products should be of low fat content and high nutritional value,” reported Ken Research.

Relating new dairy products to these health-related features also opens the door to higher pricing, more so in developing markets than in developed markets, according to a 2015 research by Nielsen.

“A willingness to pay a premium for health benefits is higher in developing markets than elsewhere. More than nine-in-10 respondents in Latin America (94 per cent), Asia-Pacific (93 per cent ), and Africa/Middle East (92 per cent) said they were willing to pay more for foods with health attributes to some degree, compared to eight in 10 in Europe (79 per cent) and North America (80 per cent),” reported Nielsen.

Capturing this consumer trend depends, however, on addressing customer’s actual needs.

In his McKinsey award winning article, Marketing Myopia, Harvard economist Prof Theodore Levitt noted that one of the common errors that companies make in selling their products is concentrating on features, functions and efficient production, a strategy that leads to failure. Instead companies need to meet consumers’ needs by adapting to their expectations and anticipating their future desires.

“The customers’ satisfaction and needs is not considered to be the problem — not because there is any certain belief that no such problem exists, but because an organisational lifetime has conditioned management to look in the opposite direction. Marketing is a stepchild,” said Levitt.

“Companies concentrate on selling, failing short on marketing. Selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their money for your product. It is not concerned with the values that exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariably does, view the entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse and satisfy customer needs.”

Such was the case with technology firm Philips in 1994 when it first launched its super energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulb that was designed to be environmentally friendly compared to the traditional energy-intensive incandescent bulb.

The company, however, did not take into consideration the consumer’s needs, that they would benefit from using such a bulb. The bulb was incompatible with most conventional lamps, leading to a plunge in sales and seeing it pulled from the market.

“Philips called its original entry ‘EarthLight’ to communicate the CFL bulbs’ environmental advantage. While noble, the benefit only appealed to the deepest green niche of consumers. The vast majority of consumers, however, asked, ‘If I use ‘green’ products, what is in it for me?’’’ said Jacquelyn A. Ottman in her article, Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia.

“In practice, green appeals are not likely to attract mainstream consumers unless they also offer a desirable benefit, such as cost-savings or improved product performance.”

And this is what Philips addressed after studying consumers response. It relaunched the CFL bulbs in 2000 under the name Marathon, this time marketing its five year life span, its new design which offered the look and versatility of conventional incandescent light bulbs and the promise of more than $20 (Sh2,020) in energy savings over the product’s lifespan compared to incandescent bulbs.

This led to an annual growth sale of 12 per cent.

Faced with such facts, Kenyan brands can stand to benefit from consumer trends, but only by marketing their products according to consumer needs.

- African Laughter