How brands should focus in present era to connect with consumers?

I think Innovation is key while operating in country like India, I am not saying innovation is not important in other countries, India is a special place with so much diversity, brands needs to cater here to everybody not the least to the maximum chunk of people, so innovation here in India is far more difficult in that regard. What is important is to note that innovation for the sake of innovation often fails to find its feet most of the times.

Also, many a time companies are often too focused on being the first to market, and they forget that the real objective should rather be “right to market”.  when one takes that perspective into account, one realises that a slight delay is inconsequential if it enables a company to offer a better proposition to its consumers.

here its goes there are thousand of brands in market, but only the well known brands are leading the market, if your are launching a new product, then understand the product market and how it will going to help customer, put add that will create curiousity among customer, a big launch of the product will assure you 80% success depending upon the kind of marketing you did.

Its easy to get attaintion  but hard to maintain it, if you are no good they you will thrown away like you didnt exist.

In today's constantly evolving & changing lifestyles, there is a need to understand the Recent Trends of lifestyle and then these trends are to be Re-designed according to the Demographic Sensibilities. Brands need to undertake serious lessons of Anthropology, in order to successfully Re-design, Re-Invent or Re-Position the Solution.

My "IDEA" is "Insurance Data Execution Assistance". If I have to sell Insurance on-line, "idea" can be this.

Insurance is a game of documents & so is most of Banking.

Execution of various doc.s & assisting for proper data is possible on line & I feel the above branding by me iwill catch the imagination of insuring public & benefit in the present era to connect with consumers of "Insurance" products, which are very wide range, with varying premium structures, claims processing & policy doc.s

Krishna Burli

In these challenging times it is difficult to lay your hopes on any one media it has to be a mix with internet also proving itself to be a very far reaching medium

This is my way to focus!! I would like the brand to be very local in terms of representation and sensibilities. It should encompass my universe of what is the truth, attractive, effective and most important sustained utility (Consistent Quality).

If these attributes can be focussed on, I think the brand stands a brilliant chance to enhance itself to be accepted globally because it is then trained for LOCAL acceptance anywhere it goes in terms of sensibility and utility and Consistency in quality would mean easier acceptance wherever you go!! Thanks for the reference Purvi! :)

For any brand to touch the peak of success the ultimate challenge is creating Brand Ambassadors out of ordinary people like you and me.

There are very few brands that have been able to do this and they have become iconic. For example even today most of us refer Xeror machine(aka Photocoy) or a Parle G( rather than Glucose biscuit).

A Lesson or two may be learned from Religion branding that have been able to create Brand Ambassadors decade after decade for millenniums together and have survived even today

Brand creation is the job a master. It is not to manufacture what you have to sell but what will sale. What will really sale without efforts is  creating a well- design product and manufacturing it  what consumers are looking for. Just think of Ambassador and fiat cars that were easily taken over by Maruti. The real reason for Maruti’s success was a new design for a new lifestyle at just R.60, 000 for Maruti 800. The whole of Indian market was filled with Maruti cars  and everyone wanted to have one. Even the richest persons wanted to have a Maruti 800. Today the Mauti market is almost dead and Nano has taken over by designing a car that has the best value at just one lakh. The same consumer mania has gripped the market what Maruti had experienced in the past. What TATA has created for the market is the real value for money for those who were driving a scooter or bike in a city like Mumbai and  were frantically  aspiring for a car they could afford buying. Tata has made the first market survey in Mumbai only and could read in between the lines. Tatas were committed to satisfy this market segment and that is why their cars were picked up smoothly without any specialized efforts.

When you project your country’s image abroad this the type of value oriented products only  can project the real image of the country. Today India has become the world leader in small and low priced car segment. Others are emulating TATA’s  Nano to come out with such dream cars. Similar brand image was created in the beginning of the millennium when Indian software engineers hit the world through their technical capabilities to deliver vale laden services at low cost. This very IT service brought India to  the forefront of fast developing countries in   the global scenario. What is required toward brand building whether out of a product or the country is to find the holes in the market and produce such products that can fit in the hole with most competitiveness and durability and prove to the world that others can not do that with greater efficiency as Indians can do? This is what Americas and Europeans have done in the past.

Microsolar Brain

Todays customer is an informed one who is not taken in by mere advertising words like "All new", Now with active...", etc. Even if they are in, they would not return to the product if they dont derive a value on the money spent on the particular brand.

So one has to focus on giving a sound value for the price quoted. It is not that todays customer is averse to trying out premium products, but they are vary if the product doesnt live up to the expectations generated due to the costs involved.

To capture the customers focus today, one has to arrive at the right product mix at a decent price which is not a loss for the manufacturer and at the same time doesnt burn a hole in the consumers pocket. Once you acieve this then the customers connect will happen automatically. To sustain the customers interest one has to take and act on their feedback constructively.

This in short would be the mantra in the days to come.

How brands should focus in present era to connect with consumers?

To me

As we live with fast changing taste and preference and   this is a new but very slowly and steadily cultivated phenomena.  So the significance of brand some what change to an extent from the very past.  So we are facing challenges to give a proper dimension to the brand for which it stands with everlasting flavor.

To me now a days brands segregate their market in innumerable bricks …to focus  and so as to satisfy customer  and again obviously its for their own existence or own survival . as they face a tremendous competition from other competitive brand.

So the cut throat competition sensed that it is very high time to change the thinking pattern of common mass through different medium results an abnormal/ normal preference pattern.

So again, to me the fast changing preference pattern is also feeded to the mind of customer and it is very created as well.

So we need not to overwhelmed with the exact trend ( yes we need to watch out). It entirely  depends on the creator. If they have enough potentiality to make people think differently with the help of innovation, then the story can be change from this very point of time.

Brands should create a unique experience to the consumer, according to the specific caracteristics and culture of the market to be targeted.

According to a study conducted by research firm Glass, Lewis & Co., nearly 70% of the internal control weaknesses of companies that reported control deficiencies in the post–Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) era were attributable to financial systems/procedures (59%) and revenue recognition–related (11%) issues. A study by Weili Ge and Sarah McVay (“The Disclosure of Material Weaknesses in Internal Controls After the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,” Accounting Horizons, September 2005) obtained a similar proportion for revenue recognition–related weaknesses; it also documented that 40% of these were in the computer industry and 12% were from the pharmaceutical sector. In the post-SOX environment, CEOs and CFOs face a higher level of scrutiny with regard to complex revenue-recognition issues, such as those involving sales through distribution channels, and have a greater responsibility to identify, document, and test internal controls of their revenue cycles. Auditors of companies that sell through distribution channels must be alert to potential revenue-recognition risks like “channel stuffing” (i.e., significant increases in inventory in customers’ distribution systems).

I believe companies should every possible means to reach to consumer.Viral marketing is  one of the important area where every company is striving hard since it provide one to one connect with the masses.

Rural marketing is yet another area where a lot of work has to be done , one will have be reach there in their ways to develop credence with rural masses , which will become largest revenue generator in future.

we focus on brand's grade on value to strengthen the brand in the long term. Consumers seldom forget a company compromising its brand values for short term gain particularly, if that saves their hard earned money. Unlike others, Indian consumers have a totally different value direction, making them the most judicious consumers, with a high degree of Point of Reference which broadens to their relations and friend

The key to connect with the customer is delivering what the customer wants and that is possible when the top management interacts with the customers on a frequent basis.There should be random visits to the suppliers,customers to get the feedback and then to use this feedback as a means of improving the product...Undoubtedly customer is the kin so deliver what the customer wants.

Wht I feel the basic problem we are facing is the lack of communication , understanding , product & pricing strategies etc , due to which most of the companies are not able to focus on thier customer in a right way & with the right solution in hand.Innovation is required here but to certain extent it may be helpful provided all the other factors also equaly being supported.One thing I would like to mention here that one should not be mistaken here in terms of innovation coz it is something which will follow you by product provided if the centre theme of your overall strategy has been successfully built upon.dont put innovation on the centre theme of your stratey rather ignoring your customer interest...Your brand should have the power to speak itself in the market in terms of its price , design ,uniqueness , availability , different features & characteristics which may help it to create a position which would sustain longer in the mind & the heart of the polulation.We have to create a kind of system or in simple terms Synergy would be the right name which has to be created among all the factors , entities & its atttributes. Lets' my customer design their own product with the help of this Synergy having all the information , power & capability which may satisfy their different requirement & needs.

In my view company innovation is important but besides this quality of the product and after sales service is very important. Any brand name which attracts the customer is not built in a day. Sometimes some companies in hurry of launching a product in the market forget to think about these aspects.if company takes all these point into consideration in a planned way it will be definatly get the success in connecting customers and building a good market for the products

In modern days the social networking is the biggest network that anyone had before. It is the best place and customer ground to be connected with the companies. This decade has more than 50% youth as their customer and youth is engaged at social networking sites like Facebook,orkut,etc. So marketing your products there is good idea to get connected with the customers.

I feel to fight in such a highly competitive world, one product has to integrate with the other to overcome such tough competition and to survive. I mean, one product such as " Colgate Paste " should integrate their selling or marketing strategy with another product such as " Zig-Zag Tooth Brush ", these two being completely different company's brand. By doing so, i feel both the companies can sell their products and also the consumer can benefit with such a combo offer by getting the best two company's offer at lower rate when compared he will have to shell out more if he/she goes with single purchase. .. Thank you, Manish N

Cheers!!

No doubt today is an era of brands. brands must focus on values, beliefs and perception of the consumers.

All of these should be done with innovation to attract consumers. Brands should never ever compromise with quality of product.