Chapter 2

Marketing 4.0 in the Digital Economy

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UNIT 2 Syllabus: Marketing 4.0 in the Digital Economy

2. Marketing 4.0 in the Digital Economy:

2.1 Moving from Traditional to Digital Marketing, Integrating Traditional and Digital Marketing,

2.2 Technologies that drive digital economy, digitally empowered entrants, combining online and offline

interaction, Blending style with substance, The New Customer Path.

2.3 Brand clarification of characters and codes-Brand positioning, consistency in Brand characters, Brand

differentiation based on Human-to Human touch, Four Ps to 4Cs, Commercializing 4C’s

2.4 Understanding How People Buy: From Four A’s to Five A’s, Aware, Appeal, Ask, Act, and Advocate.

2.5 Driving from Awareness to Advocacy: The O Zone (O3)

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Marketing 4.0 in the Digital Economy
• McKinsey lists top innovations that have had the most significant economic impact, including

mobile internet, automation of knowledge work, the internet of things, cloud technology,

advanced robotics, and 3-D printing, among others

• These digital technologies have been around for some years but their impact reached the

highest point only recently, fueled by the convergence of multiple technologies.

• These technologies help develop multiple sectors in the economy such as retail (e-commerce),

transportation (automated vehicles), education (massive open online courses), health

(electronic record and personalized medicine), as well as social interactions (social networks).

• However, many of the same technologies that drive the digital economy are also disrupting key

industries and upsetting major incumbents.

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• Adapting to the emerging disruptive technologies, most
customers are excited and anxious at the same time

• The most significant dilemma is perhaps caused by the

mobile internet

• as the drive toward digital economy intensifies, customers

are longing for the perfect application of technologies that
allows them to self-actualize while becoming empathetic
at the same time.

• Marketing 4.0 is a marketing approach that combines

online and offline interaction between companies and
customers.

• in an increasingly online world, offline touch represents a

strong differentiation.

• Marketing 4.0 also blends style with substance.

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 Moving from Traditional to Digital Marketing
• Traditionally, marketing always starts with segmentation, typically followed by targeting

• Segmentation and targeting are both fundamental aspects of a brand’s strategy. They allow for efficient
resource allocation and sharper positioning. They also help marketers to serve multiple segments, each
with differentiated offerings.

• Segmentation and targeting are unilateral decisions made by marketers without the consent of their
customers

• Being “targets,” customers often feel intruded upon and annoyed by irrelevant messages aimed toward
them
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 Moving from Traditional to Digital Marketing
• In the digital economy, customers are socially connected with one another in horizontal webs of
communities. Today, communities are the new segments

• Unlike segments, communities are naturally formed by customers within the boundaries that they
themselves define

• . Customer communities are immune to spamming and irrelevant advertising

• To effectively engage with a community of customers, brands must ask for permission. Permission
marketing, introduced by Seth Godin, revolves around this idea of asking for customers’ consent prior to
delivering marketing messages

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2.1 Moving from Traditional to Digital Marketing, Integrating Traditional and Digital
Marketing:

Traditional and Digital Marketing:

What is Traditional Marketing?

Traditional marketing encompasses several different mediums. All of these mediums

essentially existed and were the chosen method for companies to reach their target
markets, and those target markets to be exposed to advertising prior to the invention and
rise of the internet.

Traditional marketing can be broken down into five main categories:

• Print Marketing

• Broadcast Marketing

• Direct Mail Marketing

• Telephone Marketing

• Outdoor Marketing
 Integrating Traditional and Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is not
meant to replace traditional
marketing. Instead, the two
should coexist with
interchanging roles across
the customer path
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 Integrating Traditional and Digital Marketing
• traditional marketing plays a major role in building awareness and interest.

• As the interaction progresses and customers demand closer relationships with

companies, digital marketing rises in importance.

• The most important role of digital marketing is to drive action and advocacy.

• Since digital marketing is more accountable than traditional marketing, its focus is to
drive results whereas traditional marketing’s focus is on initiating customer interaction

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Integrating Traditional and Digital Marketing:
• Will Digital Marketing Replace Traditional Marketing? NO.

• While traditional marketing is clearly not as relative as it used to be, it can still effective in specific markets. Depending on your budget, location and market goals,

traditional forms of advertising are still used for many companies. In fact, billboard advertising is still highly effective because of the amount of time people spend in a

car. For example, Americans spend an average of 17,600 minutes in their car every year (according to a study from Arbitron). That’s 293 hours total. Adults also travel

an average of 13,506 miles per year, making them a captive driving audience for hundreds of hours and thousands of miles a year. As long as we are spending time out

in the world, there will always be a place for outdoor advertising. This form of traditional advertising has also started to blend with the digital world, making it a hybrid

form of marketing. For example, digital billboards utilize the technology of digital marketing to convey many different ads and target certain groups, but the traditional

placements and locations of outdoor media.

• There are also still forms of traditional marketing that are actively growing, like broadcast marketing, and a large sector of the population still trusts traditional ads.

That’s what they grew up with and that’s what they are most accustomed to. It’s impossible to predict what the future holds hundreds of years from now, but in the

near future traditional marketing, while not growing nearly as quickly as digital, still has a place for certain businesses and in certain places. It may not be the first

place a business should look to promote their brand, but it can be effective especially in conjunction with digital marketing efforts.

• So to make a long story short, digital marketing will not replace traditional marketing entirely but has unquestionably taken a huge portion of the market
Digital Marketing:

• It includes things like optimizing a website

and all its content to appear higher in
search engine rankings, targeting social
media users with promoted and
sponsored content, or running ads on
popular websites like Google or
Facebook. Email marketing campaigns are
another popular method, too!

• Digital marketing manages to satisfy the

four P’s of marketing strategy: product,
price, place, and promotion all on a user’s
daily interaction with the internet.
Technologies that drive digital economy:
Facts on Technologies Driving The Digital Economy

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Internet of things.

• Blockchain.

• Augmented reality and virtual reality.

• Mobile.

• Big data.

• Machine learning and Deep learning.

• Robots and drones.

• Cloud Computing

• Privacy and security

Technologies that drive digital economy:

Internet of Things:

• The Internet of Things (IoT) connects the digital and physical worlds by collecting, measuring, and
analysing data to predict and automate business processes.

• As sensor prices continue to drop, we are on the cusp of an era where everything can be connected
– people, businesses, devices, and processes – to each other. The melding of the physical and digital
world brings every asset into a digital domain where software dominates.

• IoT solutions enable businesses to analyse data generated by sensors on physical objects in a world
of intelligent, connected devices. This data can transform businesses, revealing hidden patterns and
insights that can help you make more informed decisions and take action more quickly.
Technologies that drive digital economy:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Venture capital on AI rose by a sixfold since 2000 and related Jobs to AI increased by a whopping 450% in

the last five years.What’s more, global retail spending on AI will grow by to $7.3 billion a year in the next five years.

• Internet of things: There are more internet-connected ‘things’ than the whole population of 2008, and what’s more dumbfounding

is that this is only 0.06% of all devices with IoT potential. No wonder, the number is expected to scale to 50 billion by 2020.

• Blockchain: So far approximately $270 billion has been transacted through the technology that powers the digital currency, bitcoin.

In 2017, the market has grown to $708 million, but experts predict that it will hit $60.7 billion by 2024.

• Augmented reality and virtual reality: The technology that gave the gaming industry a new meaning, AR and VR, continues to make

waves in other sectors. The global AR and VR market is $27 billion which is expected to cross the $200 billion thresholds by 2022.

For reference, the global gaming market is currently $137.9 Billion.

• Mobile: There are 3.7 billion unique mobile internet users globally accounting for 51.2 percent of web page views worldwide. It has

become mandatory to optimized websites as mobile-friendly as it is five times more likely for mobile users to abandon a site if it is

not optimized for mobile.

Technologies that drive Digital economy:

• Big data: Every little information entered into the internet is processed and turned into data. By 2020, a single person will generate 1.7 megabytes of new

information; this may not be a big surprise considering 40,000 search queries are being performed per second just on Google itself.

• Machine learning and Deep learning: The technology that is powering most of the leading E-retailers marketing strategy, ML and DL saved Netflix $1 billion

in 2017 by personalizing the TV show and movie recommendations to its subscribers.

• Robots and drones: Robot imports have doubled from around 100,000 in 2000 to roughly 250,000 in 2015 globally. The global spending is currently 95.9

billion, and it is estimated to increase to $201 billion by 2022, where industrial robotic solutions will account for the largest share.

• Cloud Computing: The technology at the heart of the digital economy, cloud computing, continues to take on more workload as the digital transformation

continues to pervade every business sector. 95% of the workload is expected to be run on public cloud platforms by 2022.

• Privacy and security: The one area which is lacking behind in terms of progress but is of utmost importance in the economy where the biggest factor is

information, privacy, and security technologies needs much improvement. 7 out of 10 organizations in the US still experienced a data breach in recent years

and on average it takes 191 days on average to identify a data breach. But Governments around the world have begun to take matters into their own hands, 

GDPR, a new digital privacy regulation that was introduced on May 25th, 2018.
 digitally empowered entrants
• These technologies (technologies that drive digital economy) help develop multiple sectors in the economy such as retail (e-commerce),

transportation (automated vehicles), education (massive open online courses), health (electronic record and personalized medicine), as well as

social interactions (social networks).

• However, many of the same technologies that drive the digital economy are also disrupting key industries and upsetting major incumbents.

• Large retailers such as Borders and Blockbuster, for instance, experienced the disruptions caused by digitally empowered entrants in their

respective industries.

• These digitally empowered entrants— Amazon and Netflix—are now the new major incumbents in their industries. Interestingly, even the past

disrupters may experience the same fate. Apple’s iTunes, which once successfully disrupted the brick-and-mortar music retailers with its online

music retailing, has been disrupted by Spotify and its music-streaming business model. Apple’s revenue from music sales has been in decline

since its peak in the early 2000s. Apple launched its own music-streaming service, Apple Music, in mid-2015 to rival Spotify.
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Digitally Empowered Entrants:
Digital empowerment is itself creating an organisational environment in which Digital Transformation flourishes rather than an
organisation led and controlled by the outside digital world. Digital empowerment, to us, falls under the culture and engagement of the
people of an organization.
Combining Online and Offline Interaction:

Why do people shop in store?

A lot of the time, customers want reassurance around a purchasing decision. Without seeing the product in question and getting a ‘real-life’ sense for it, some

customers are reluctant to purchase.

• Crossing channels: If you want to better integrate your online and offline interactions, you need to bridge the gap between on-offline experience in a consistent

and effective manner

• 94% of consumers carry out online research before heading to a store. Having a great website with a fantastic design is important in its own right, as is having an

exciting offering in store. But if you can meld online and offline for customers and provide them with an experience that covers all they need, you can boost your

chances of a sale.

• For example, if you have a live inventory facility on your website for each of your stores, a customer can decide whether they’re going to head to your bricks and

mortar store. This can be achieved by integrating stock and pricing between ecommerce websites, marketplaces and the backoffice ERP.

• If they head to a store in the hope that a product will be in stock and it’s not, that’s a negative customer experience that can be hard to recover from.

• Equally, if your customers are searching for an item to see if it’s in store and it’s not, your site could offer them alternatives that are in stock. 

• According to the same research, 81% of consumers said they have looked up inventory on a retailer’s website before visiting the store.
Doing more with Data

Collecting customer data in store can be so advantageous. If you can collect an email address or
help them set up a customer account with you, it becomes far easier to develop realistic customer
profiles.

Once a customer profile takes shape, intelligent, contextualized email marketing techniques can be

utilised. For example, if the weather’s sunny and you have items that may be of interest due to this,
you can send out emails to customers highlighting relevant offers. Or perhaps product
recommendations can be made based on previous purchases.

It’s all about gaining a better understanding of what your customers want from you and identifying
the best way of delivering this.
Blending style with substance:

Substance meaning physical material from which something is made or which has discrete
existence. 

“Style over Substance“: meaning although someone looks immaculately (in a perfectly clean,
neat, or tidy manner) dressed or styled, behind the facade, there is no substance or content.
This might sound very harsh, but in a competitive world, knowing how to avoid style over
substance is crucial for success. Or we can say blending style with substance is essential.

Where people focus mostly on one side, those who emphasize style tend to succeed in the
short term while those who just go for substance are more likely to succeed in the longer term.
The New Customer Path
• with increased mobility and connectivity, customers already have limited time to consider and evaluate brands.

• across multiple channels—online and offline— customers continue to be exposed to too much of everything: product features, brand promises, and sales talk.

• Confused by too-good-to-be­true advertising messages, customers often ignore them and instead turn to trustworthy sources of advice: their social circle of friends and
family.

• Companies need to realize that more touchpoints and higher vol­ume in messages do not necessarily translate into increased influence

• In fact, just one moment of unexpected delight from a brand is all it takes to transform a customer into the brand’s loyal advocate. To be able to do so, com­ panies
should map the customer path to purchase

• They should focus their efforts—intensifying communi­cations, strengthening channel presence, and improving customer interface—to improve those critical
touchpoints as well as to introduce strong differentiation

• Moreover, companies need to leverage the power of customer connectivity and advocacy. Nowadays, peer-to-peer conversation among customers is the most effective
form of media

• the ultimate goal is to delight customers and convert them into loyal advocates.

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2.3 Brand clarification of characters and codes - Brand positioning, consistency in Brand characters, Brand differentiation

based on Human-to Human touch, Four Ps to 4Cs, Commercializing 4C’s:

Brand positioning: Brand positioning is the process of positioning your brand in the mind of your customers. More than a

tagline or a fancy logo, brand positioning is the strategy used to set your business apart from the rest.

Tesla has effectively differentiated themselves from other luxury vehicle brands like Mercedes Benz or eco-friendly cars like the

Toyota Prius, but Toyota and Mercedes Benz still have effective brand positioning that resonates with their consumers.

Effective brand positioning happens when a brand is perceived as favorable, valuable, and credible to the consumer. The sum

of those three becomes unique to your business, and as a result, your customers carve out a place for you in their minds.

Expert Will Barron at Salesman.org — he says, "You only get the opportunity to position your brand when you’re doing

something remarkable. Anything else and it’s just comparison.“ Examples of strong brand positioning: Tesla, Apple, Nike,

Hubspot,
Consistency in Brand characters:

Brand consistency is the delivery of brand messaging in line with the brand identity, values, and strategy
over time. Consistency means your target audience is being exposed to core messages, visual branding, and
other brand elements repeatedly, which can help to solidify brand recognition.

• Definition of Brand Consistency

• Brand consistency is the practice of always delivering messages aligned with the core brand values in the
same tone, presenting the brand logo in a similar way, and repeating the same colors throughout your visual
brand elements.

• Over time, these elements become ingrained in the minds of consumers, and they’re more likely to
remember your brand. Brand consistency also ensures that your brand is easily recognizable
across marketing channels and touch points.
Consistency in Brand characters:

CustomerThink identifies three critical areas where brands must be consistent to drive customer
loyalty:

• Customer Experience – Providing a consistent customer experience fosters trust and confidence
in your brand.

• Values – Back up your words with actions.

• Brand Identity Elements – These are the visual brand components that make your brand
recognizable and help you stand out from the competition.

Benefits of Brand Consistency:

1) Shaping brand perception

2) Evoking positive emotions

3) Building trust and loyalty 

4) Differentiating your brand 

Brand differentiation based on Human-to-Human Touch:
• How can your brand develop a powerful differential based on human-to-human touch in the digital world.

• The brand can maximize human interaction by building a solid customer loyalty program. After every group outing, our reservations officer are tasked to contact
the guests and as on how did their outing go. The resort asks for feedback and pictures of their best shots.

• Aside from acknowledging their visit, we feature then in our FB wall. The team makes sure that there are after sale service and we talk to the guest directly via
FB messenger and email.

• Their pictures are also added to the website gallery, not just to have fresh content but to make them feel that they are a part of the family and how thankful we
are for having them at the resort.

• The resort monitors tweets, Instagram posts and answers all mobile inquiries. Our team is ready to respond via text to assist to their needs.

• Mobile and Facebook has served as a front desk support as well. It is not used only to close deals but to monitor the guests during the day of their outing,
assisting them when they get lost along the way and checking up on them after the experience.

• The company would not go below 95% response rate on answering FB messages. Speed and urgency are qualities that we leverage to give exceptional customer
service.
 Understanding How People Buy
• One of the earliest and widely used frameworks to describe the customer path
is AIDA: attention, interest, desire, and action

• AIDA was coined by an advertising and sales pioneer, E. St. Elmo Lewis, and
was first adopted in the fields of advertising and sales

• The advertising copy and sales pitch should grab attention, initiate interest,
strengthen desire, and ultimately drive action.
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Understanding How People Buy
• Derek Rucker of the Kellogg School of Management offers a modification of AIDA that he calls the four A’s:
aware, attitude, act, and act again.

• In this more recent framework, the interest and desire stages are simplified into attitude and a new stage, act
again, is added.

• Customers learn about a brand (aware), like or dislike the brand (attitude), decide whether to purchase it (act),
and decide whether the brand is worth a repeat purchase (act again).

• . People who like the brand must have known the brand before. People who purchase the brand must have
liked the brand before.

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Conversion from Four Ps to 4Cs:
Conversion from Four Ps to 4Cs:
Shifting from Four Ps to 4Cs:
Conversion from Four Ps to 4Cs:

• The traditional 4 P’s or product, price, placing and promotion has evolved to 4 C’s which now takes into consideration the co-creation, currency,
communal activation and conversation about a brand.

• 4 C’s: 1) Co-creation is the new age of product development strategy where customers are involved in the formulation of ideas and concepts because
they have the opportunity to personalize products and services. Ex- Lego, Tour packages.

• 2) Currency is the new pricing scheme. Analytics plays an important role of understating the spending pattern of consumer then customizes the price
based on historical purchase pattern, proximity to store to be able to convert more customers. Ex- Dynamic pricing, different pricing for different
customers etc

• 3) Communal activation is the placing and distribution in the old 4 P’s method. Products are now made available in a peer to peer concept
maximizing technologies like 3D and online portals where customers can access products anytime and it can be delivered to your doorstep unlike the
conventional shopping.

• 4) Promotion is the old Conversation in the 4C’s. In today’s generation, the evolution is from TV promotion to reviews or word of mouth in any social
media platform. Traditional customers are passive objects of selling techniques while in digital, it is commercial value plus engaged customers.
Commercializing 4C’s:

In a connected world, the concept of marketing mix has evolved to accommodate more consumer participation. Marketing mix (the four P’s) should be redefined as the four C’s (co-creation,

currency, communal activation, and conversation).

• co-creation: In the digital economy, co-creation is the new product development strategy. Through co-creation and involving customers early in the ideation stage, companies can improve the

success rate of new product development. Co creation also allows consumers to customize and personalize products and services, thereby creating superior value propositions.

1) Currency: The concept of pricing is also evolving in the digital era from standardized to dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing—setting flexible prices based on market demand and capacity

utilization—is not new in some industries such as hospitality and airlines. But advancement in technology has brought the practice to other industries. Online retailers, for instance, collect a

massive amount of data, which allows them to perform big-data analytics and in turn to offer a unique pricing for each consumer. With dynamic pricing, companies can optimize profitability

by charging different consumers differently based on historical purchase patterns, proximity to store locations, and other consumer-profile aspects

2) communal activation: The concept of channel is also changing. In the sharing economy, the most potent distribution concept is peer-to-peer distribution. Players such as Airbnb, Uber,

Zipcar, and Lending Club are disrupting the hotel, taxi, auto rental, and banking industries, respectively. They provide consumers easy access to the products and services not owned by them

but by other consumers. In a connected world, consumers demand access to products and services almost instantly, which can only be served with their peers in close proximity. This is the

essence of communal activation.

3) Conversation: Traditionally, promotion has always been a one-sided affair, with companies sending messages to consumers as audiences. Today, the proliferation of social media enables

consumers to respond to those messages. It also allows consumers to converse about the messages with other customers. The rise of consumer- rating systems such as TripAdvisor and Yelp

provide a platform for consumers to have conversations about and offer evaluations of brands they have interacted with.
 Understanding How People Buy :
From Four A’s to Five A’s
• Today, in the era of connectivity, the straightforward and personal funnel-like process of the four A’s needs an update

• In the pre-connectivity era, an individual customer determined his or her own attitude toward a brand. In the
connectivity era, the initial appeal of a brand is influenced by the community sur­ rounding the customer to determine
the final attitude

• In the pre-connectivity era, loyalty was often defined as retention and repurchase. In the connectivity era, loyalty is
ultimately defined as the willingness to advocate a brand

• Based on these requirements, the customer path should be rewritten as the five A’s: aware, appeal, ask, act, and
advocate

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• In the aware phase, customers are passively exposed to a long list of brands from past experience, marketing
communications, and/or the advocacy of others. This is the gateway to the entire customer path. A customer who has
previous experience with a brand will likely be able to recall and recognize the brand

• Aware of several brands, customers then process all the messages they are exposed to—creating short-term memory
or amplifying long- term memory—and become attracted only to a short list of brands. This is the appeal phase

• Prompted by their curiosity, customers usually follow up by actively researching the brands they are attracted to for
more informa­tion from friends and family, from the media, and/or directly from the brands. This is the ask stage

• If they are convinced by further information in the ask stage, cus­tomers will decide to act

• Over time, customers may develop a sense of strong loyalty to the brand, as reflected in retention, repurchase, and
ultimately advocacy to others. This is the advocate stage

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• The stages in the five A’s are not always straightforward and are sometimes even spiral, similar to the way women buy

• With attention deficit, customers might skip a certain phase along the customer path.

• It means that the customer skips appeal and goes directly from aware to ask. On the other hand, it is also possible that some

customers skip ask and impulsively act solely based on the initial awareness and appeal.

• In other cases (e.g., in scarce and highly popular categories), loyal advocates might not necessarily be actual buyers. Tesla

products, for example, are well advocated by non-buyers. This means that customers skip act and go directly to advocate

• The new customer path might also be a spiral, in which cus­tomers return to previous stages, creating a feedback loop. A cus­

tomer who asks questions might add new brands to the “awareness list” or find a particular brand much more appealing

• Since the path might be a spiral, the number of brands considered throughout the customer path might also fluctu­ate across

the five A’s.

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• The five A’s framework is a flexible tool that is applicable to all industries.

• When used to describe customer behavior, it draws a pic­ture that is closer to the
actual customer path.

• It allows for cross- industry comparisons, which reveal insights into industry character­
istics.

• It also provides insights into a company’s relationship with cus­tomers in comparison

with its competitors

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 Driving from Awareness to Advocacy: The O
Zone (O3)
• The ultimate goal of Marketing 4.0 is to drive customers from awareness to advocacy

• In general, there are three main sources of influence mar­keters can use to do so.

• A customer’s decisions across the five A’s are usually influenced by a combination of their –
• own influence,
• others’ influence,

• and outer influence.

• Let us call them the O Zone (O3).

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 The outer influence
• The outer influence comes from external sources

• The outer influence comes from external sources communications

• It may also come from other customer interfaces such as sales force and customer service staff

• From a brand’s standpoint, outer influence is still manageable and controllable.

• The message, the media, and the frequency can be planned.

• The overall customer touchpoints can be designed, although the resulting customer percep­tions may
still vary depending on how satisfactory the experience is

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 The others influence
• others’ influence also comes from the external environ­ment.

• Typically, it comes from a close circle of friends and family as word of mouth. Others’ influence can also come from a broader but

independent community to which customers belong.

• For example, customers may be influenced by conversations they heard on social networking platforms. Customers may also be

influenced by commu­nal rating systems such as TripAdvisor and Yelp. Not all sources of others’ influence are equal.

• Among many segments, the youth, women, and netizens (YWN) are the most influential. Others’ influence coming from them is

often the major driver of purchase.

• Despite a brand’s effort, it is essentially difficult to manage and control the outcome of others’ influence.

• The only way for a brand to do so is through community marketing. Companies cannot directly control the conversation within the

community, but they may facili­tate discussion with the help of loyal customers

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 The own influence
• own influence comes from within oneself.

• It is a result of past experience and interaction with several brands, personal

judgment and evaluation of the brands, and ultimately individual preference
toward the chosen brand(s).

• Often, personal preference (own) is swayed toward certain brands by word of

mouth (others’ ) and advertising (outer).

• Indeed, the three major sources of influence are always intertwined.

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 Putting them together

• Outer influence often reaches customers first. If a brand success­fully triggers conversation with Outer influence, it is usually followed

by others’ influence.

• Ultimately, the way these two sources of influence interact will shape customers’ own influence

• Any particular customer is usually influenced by all three types, though with different proportions. Some customers have stronger per­

sonal preferences and are not influenced too much by an advertisement or a friend’s recommendation.

• Some rely heavily on the recommen­dation of others, and some believe in the advertisers.

• Despite individ­ual variations, today’s customers rely more on others’ influence than their own and outer influence for reasons we

have already discussed. Research by Nielsen in 2015 reveals that 83 percent of respondents in 60 countries rely on friends and family

as the most trusted source of “advertising,” and 66 percent pay attention to the opinions of others posted online.
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 Putting them together
• Across the five A’s, customers are most open to influence during the
ask and act stages

• In ask, customers seek advice and absorb as much information as

possible from others’ and outer influence

• As they become more experienced after a few rounds of purchase,

they rely more on others’, sometimes skip the appeal stage, and
perhaps switch brands.

• The O3 is another tool that helps marketers to optimize their

marketing efforts

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 Putting them together

• When marketers manage to identify the importance of outer, others’, and own influence, they will be
able to decide which activities to focus on

• When outer influence is more important than the rest, marketers can focus more on marketing
communications activi­ties.

• On the other hand, when others’ influence is the most important, marketers should rely on community
marketing activities.

• But when own influence is the most important, marketers should put more emphasis on building the
post-purchase customer experience.
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 From Customer Service Processes to
Collaborative Customer Care
• Prior to purchase, customers are treated as targets. Once they decide to buy, they are considered kings in a traditional customer-

service perspective.

• Shifting to the customer-care approach, companies view customers as equals. Instead of serving customers, a company

demonstrates its genuine concern for the customer by listening, responding, and consistently following through on terms dictated

by both the company and the customer.

• In traditional customer-service, personnel are responsible for per forming specific roles and processes according to strict

guidelines and standard operating procedures. This situation often puts service personnel in a dilemma over conflicting objectives.

In a connected world, collaboration is the key to customer-care success. Collaboration happens when companies invite customers

to participate in the process by using self-service facilities.

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• Thank you

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