Walking backwards – a marketing lesson
What can walking backwards for 25 years teach us about marketing? Apparently, quite a lot.
Mani Manithan has spent the past 25 years walking backwards. It began as a form of protest. But as the years have passed he now finds walking normally to be a challenge and uncomfortable.
Face forward
Does Mani’s problem sound familiar? Trying something new – or something long-forgotten – isn’t always that easy for people in the financial services industry. As a result, it’s possible for sales and marketing groups to avoid the new and become set in their ways.
Maybe that comfort in the status quo is where the old adage if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it came from?
However, we financial services marketers operate in a rapidly changing business environment where it can become absolutely necessary to relearn how to “walk normally” just like Mani needs to. Don’t take a backwards approach – keep pushing ahead!
We financial services marketers operate in a rapidly changing business environment where it can become absolutely necessary to relearn how to “walk normally.”
Stop before you walk
So you’ve turned around to the possibility of change. But it’s important to avoid changing just for the sake of change.
Ask why are we going to walk down this path of change?
Think about the current focus on the customer-centric, advice-based marketing model for instance. It was born out of the proliferation of investment products. Those companies that weren’t prepared to change course – away from a pure product push toward a more client-oriented approach – may have found their messages falling flat.
Today, we face other great challenges and are, in turn, presented with tremendous opportunities. One example is the great shift in communications and how people receive messages from companies. Social media, mobile and more engaging digital options should be on every financial services marketer’s mind … and their to-do list.
Find a strong footing
There are a number of new ways to get your message out – microsites, infographics, digital flipbooks, videos/animated vignettes and all of the possible tie-ins with social media. Each offers a unique way to convey a message and value proposition – to tell your story – to new and existing clients.
If your clients and prospects want this type of communication, give it to them.