UNDERSTANDING WHAT MATTERS

UNDERSTANDING WHAT MATTERS

Frustrated by his inability to explain to the market what he has to offer, a packaging client this week pleaded with me "How can we tell our clients everything we can do for them?" It’s a fair question and one that we hear often.My response was probably not what he was initially after. I suggested that he sit down and talk to his clients, find what they want and what really ‘matters’ to them. Then work out how to meet their needs and wants better than the competition.

I suggested that only by understanding what his customers really need and then meeting those needs, would he be granted an opportunity to build the client relationship to a level that will allow him to connect with the client.From this position, because they’d already have explained what was important to them, he'd then have a much better chance of being able to tell his clients what he could do for them. This simple, direct, customer focused thinking is at the heart of strategic marketing. Unlike marketing communications (or marcoms), strategic marketing answers the strategic questions of when? where? and how? a company should compete.

As for my client? He said I’d given him something to think about.