As prices on many products have increased in recent months companies are looking at how they should respond. Our advice for businesses? Keep your marketing strongly focused on what people need.
As prices rise, consumers often tighten their belts. But a great number of companies began life during challenging economic times. (Disney, CNN, Apple, the Jim Henson Company are just a few examples). These companies realised that regardless of economic circumstance, people still had needs and they took the opportunity to help fill them.
The best products fill a need
Author and innovation expert Jeremy Gutsche talks about how the best products fill a need and therefore tread a more even line through financial cycles. The best products, he says:
- Make or save people money
- Help people to learn
- Are products that entertain
- Make life healthy or comfortable
- Save time and effort
We would add a few further, that good products help people socialise and communicate with one another, help people to feel good about themselves and, for travel particularly, are products that help people to feel safe.
Reductions in price can devalue a brand
The great behavioural economists Kahneman and Tversky found that people make decisions on price relative to a reference point. Reductions in price can actually devalue a brand but a gift with purchase could be seen as an additional gain. A practical or functional gift can even have a higher sales impact if it supports the use of the main product or is essential for everyday life.
MaCher helps its customers focus their marketing dollars on creating useful and usable promotional items:
- Water bottles and insulated/compactable coffee cups – save people money
- Umbrellas and towels – make people prepared
- Backpacks/bags – make life comfortable and save effort
- Gadget cases, adapters and power banks – help people communicate
We also make of these products with recycled or sustainable materials. This then has added benefits of ensuring the products support the planet and of making people feel good about themselves when they are using them.
It is important that companies communicate and show how what they do fills a need. This comes from being better communicators with their customers on the one hand, but also by making products that customers actually use and value in their daily lives.
Please contact MaCher to help your business focus its marketing dollars on meeting people’s needs.