The Covid-19 pandemic really dealt a deadly blow on businesses across the globe in 2020, however, this year many industry analysts have predicted high hopes for the global economic recovery.
It is expected that the year 2021 will turn out to be a period of supersonic recovery for businesses, as key issues have been effectively tackled and lovely plans have been put in place to yield better results.
The success of the Covid-19 vaccine has been viewed as a huge breakthrough that will definitely stabilize the world’s economy not excluding Nigeria.
Before the pandemic, most conscious organisations took customer-centricity very important. They believe that being customer-centric is more than just offering a good product or staffing a contact center. It has become a cultural way of life for these organisations to impact all, from employee engagement to customer experience.
They regularly prioritize their customers with innovative solutions and sustainability efforts, as well as digital convenience and personalization, but they also make extra efforts during challenging times.
A customer is described as a person or company that receives, consumes or buys a product or a service and can choose between different goods and suppliers. The main goal of all commercial enterprises is to attract customers or clients, and make them purchase what they have for sales. They also try to encourage them to keep coming back.
With this assertion, a customer is firmly in the driving seat and organisations that put their customers at the heart of their operations, experience increase in customers’ lifetime value. They often build and nurture relationships with potentials and existing customers.
However, a customer-centric way of doing business is a strategy that is based on putting the customer first and at the core of the business in order to provide a positive experience and build long-term relationships.
In today’s marketplace, brands across the globe are beginning to forget the product and sales-driven marketing strategy to become more consumer-centric in all their dealings. Businesses now focus their marketing strategies on providing a positive personal experience for their customers by getting to know their customers, understanding who they are, their buying behaviour, carrying out researches on what they need, and also launching platforms that enable personalised interactions and feedbacks.
In Nigeria, therefore, there are many brands and agencies that have over the years invested heavily in this strategy of creating culture around customer and their needs. They achieved this feat by disrupting their industries and they are often rewarded with growth and increased revenue.
During the pandemic, some of these organizations find it necessary to sustain the tradition of putting their customers at the forefront of their businesses. Many of them donated their resources during the turbulent period as way of showing concern to their customers.
These organisations include FirstBank of Nigeria, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Stanbic IBTC Holding PLC, MultiChoice Nigeria, Access Bank, Polaris Bank, Union Bank, Wema Bank, Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank, GTBank, Dangote Group, 7-Up Bottling Company and Coca-Cola Nigeria. They formed the Coalition Against COVID-19, known as CACOVID.
Some agencies in the Nigerian marketing communications industry also displayed some level of customer-centric ways of doing business. They tried in their little way to support the fight against the pandemic, one of such agencies is Oracle Experience. The agency through its CSR arm, Felix King Foundation, donated several relief materials worth millions of naira to Nigerians in order to keep them safe.
Some other agencies that towed the line are Noah’s Ark Communications, Maxx Connection, Keskese, Linkpoint Int’l Resources, Route 712, PHD Media, Cognition, MediaReach OMD, Havas Africa, TBWA Concept and M778NG.
It is obvious that with the over N25billion committed by Nigerian corporate organisations towards the fight against COVID-19 war-chest, signaled that these organizations take their customers so dearly and there are great lessons to be learnt from this experience.
Benefits Research has shown that customers always respond positively and embrace swiftly any brand that speaks their language, empathises and bonds with them. It shows that relevant words and trends or popular (pop) culture are a useful weapon of marketing. Similarly, many have come to embrace the fact that talking like a real person or interacting with consumers is far more engaging as a form of brand storytelling than using dry, corporate and professional jargon-filled language.
According to Professor Chris Ogbechie, Professor of Strategic Management, Lagos Business School, “in today’s marketing world, the key issue is to create emotional brand attachment in all marketing communications, therefore, brands need to actively cultivate relationships with customers”.
He added that “historically, brands in Nigeria have been known to connect with customers or consumers by speaking their language. Brands understand the influence of this on consumers’ purchasing and buying patterns.
“Year 2020 came with lots of intrigues and challenges for the business environment. The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the economy is a case in point. Notwithstanding the challenges of the year, some brands still remain focused on serving the customers using superior insights to connect, build a community with them and above all, place the customers at the heart of their marketing initiatives through contents that resonate”, he said.
Ultimately, brands that connect with the customers are more likely to win in the marketplace and take the leadership position irrespective of the sector they belong.
Learning Curves
Consumer-centric marketing should not just end in promotional materials. It should be consistent in the mind of the brand and the minds of the people interacting with the business. Although it can take a significant amount of effort to find the balance between content that promotes the organization and customer’s interest. An effective customer-centric marketing plan should go beyond creating the perfect ads.
According to marketing communication strategist and publisher of Marketing Edge Magazine, John Ajayi, “today’s brands no longer distance themselves from the consumers, brands do all in their powers to connect, relate and even customize. It is indeed a brand-new epoch in the competitive Nigeria marketing environment.
Ajayi in an interview published on marketingedge.com.ng explained that “in the sellers’ market of old, consumers were practically at the mercy of product manufacturers and suppliers. They had no options than to accept whatever products they were offered. This was because the options were very few. But in the buyers’ market, consumers have options and even motley of varieties of products and brands struggling in the red ocean of their respective segments”.
He maintained that not only do the consumers have options in the buyers’ market of today, emphasizing that they are baited with exciting and mouthwatering offers to woo them (consumers) against competitors’ offerings.
