Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 8, 1 August 1996 — First rule of marketing: remember your customers [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

First rule of marketing: remember your customers

Clandia Schmidt is senior vice president of marketing servicesfor Star Seigle McCombs, a major Honolulu advertising agency. She introduced some basic marketing concepts to the conference participants.

"You must believe that if you satisfy your customers they will give you profit," said Qaudia Schmidt at the beginning of her presentation to participants of OHA's marketing conference. Her words summed up a message repeatedly expressed throughout the day: Marketing is more than advertising. It is a complex mix of elements that begins and ends with properly understanding customer needs. Schmidt said that to understand the customer means to understand everything that is going on in their lives and to create a product bundle that takes these factors into consideration. "Customer wants and needs are at the center of your universe. Taking care of those wants and needs ensures success and that your business will survive you." The world is always changing, Schmidt said. People are getting older, values are changing, technology is becoming more advanced. More than just respond, entrepreneurs have to anticipate changes and act accordingly. "You have to care before your customer does. If you don't, someor»e else will."

The product • Brand name • Package • Warranty • Service plan Schmidt stressed that the "product" a business offers is more than the goods or services being sold but includes the name, package, warranty and servicing. "The brand name means something to your customers. They make assumptions based on your brand." Schmidt added that it was important not to think of a customer as someone you were only going to serve onee. Warranties and after sale service were important for customer relations.

Basic ehannel of distribution • Producer • Wholesaler • Retailer • Consumer "The thing that kills businesses more than any other is distribution," Schmidt pointed out. "If the product is not where the customer is they won't buy it." She said it was important for business people to fīgure out where their customers are - and where they aren't - and determine what ehannel to use to reach these customers.

Pricing • Determining value • Selecting the list price • Determining discounts and allowances • Establishing the conditions and terms ofsale

Where you set a list price and how you discount it, the specials you offer, will affect how the customer reacts to the product Schmidt pointed out. She said it was important that business people understand the value of the goods they offer and establish a consistent pricing policy. Customers have to understand why a product is priced a certain way so they ean properly decide whether to buy. If the price of an item varies significantly they may get eonfused about its value and may doubt the integrity of the product and the company.

Promotion • Advertising • Personal Selling • Publicity/Public relations • Sales Promotion "If you have a bundle that perfectly fits your customer, if you have it properly located, and if you have it properly priced, you may not need advertising," Schmidt said. However, most companies are not so ideally set up and need to use all foims of promotion to aet the word out.

"Advertising lets people know what you're selling" Schmidt explained. She added that advertising doesn't make people buy anything, it only creates awareness and interest. After doing this it has little value and it is time to get into sales promotion. This includes time-limited activities like discounts, coupons, and personal sales. Information

Schmidt stressed the importance of information, knowing your customer and the factors involved in what they have to go through to make a purchasing decision. "Every customer has to climb a ladder. You

need to know that ladder." She said every good marketer knows eaeh experience a customer has and tries to make the buying process as simple as possible. Marketing your product also involves knowing as mueh about your customer as possible: how mueh money they have, do they know about your product, who makes the spending decisions in the household. You need to know what are the personal, psychological, and social factors behind a customer's decision to buy. Schmidt recommended that businesses use all the information tools at their disposal to leam about customers, both present and potential. Tools include people on the "front lines" like sales staff, brokers, suppliers, trade associations, and

research firms that ean provide relatively inexpensive market information to small firms. Schmidt also suggested walking around and observing customers and sales results,

perhaps even conducting a small in-house survey.

"If you think it will enhanee your customer's experience, go for it."

Schmidt: the customer's wants and needs are at the center of vour universe.