INNOVATION
Is Your Company
Selling Value Or Selling
Products
By Eugene Wanekeya
D
ebate has been rife among
marketing
professionals
on
whether it’s ethical for Airtel to
brazenly engage in a ‘negative’ ad campaign
against Safaricom. Notice the deliberate
use of Airtel quotes on the negative. The
jury is still out on whether a company
leveraging on supposed consumer
perceptions about their competitor’s brand
can be termed as being negative.
Taking a mental note of this, let’s jump
into the topic at hand. Is your company
selling value or are you focused on selling
your products? Most importantly, do you
know the difference?
Let’s come back to the controversial
Airtel ads. It’s my humble opinion that
there won’t be an ROI on that particular
campaign reason being, Airtel was more
focused on selling its products as opposed
to selling value. What do I mean by
this? There is a common misconception
by players in the telecommunications
industry in Kenya that low prices is a key
value proposition. They cannot be further
off the mark.
Whereas affordable services is something
that a mobile subscriber would appreciate,
ultimately it’s not what will influence their
decision to subscribe. Don’t get me wrong,
some will purchase your sim card as their
second line, only to take advantage of
your promos but they will rarely make it
their primary line. It’s therefore necessary
to look beyond the cost of your products
and put your focus on how your customer
interacts with your products. This way, you
can establish value.
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MAL30/19 ISSUE
Taking telecoms companies as an
example, the intangible benefit that comes
with good service provision will always
outweigh the tangible. For instance, being
able to conveniently pay a hospital bill
for a loved one from miles away, beats
being able to simply send money at a
lower cost. Whereas it’s the same service,
the messaging around it differs therefore,
bringing out different value propositions.
The focus of the latter is on the lower cost
of the service whereas, the former tackles
the emotional aspect of being there for a
loved one in need, without having to be
physically present.
With this in mind, you will understand
why Safaricom continues to increase
its revenues year on year in spite of the
perceived ‘negativity’ surrounding its
products. Ultimately, subscribers don’t
seem to mind that they are paying a
premium for these products because the
value seems to be worthwhile.
The challenge in differentiating between
selling products and selling value cuts
across all industries. A quick spot check
on some of the dominant ad campaigns
running on our broadcast stations as well
as online will reveal that most companies
are struggling to tell the difference
between the two. Whereas some have
got it spot on, a significant number are
missing the mark.
In an effort to sell value, brands are going
for emotional appeals simply because they
are trendy, and have worked for other
brands. The net result is misuse of popular
appeals such as humor, endorsement,
social and personal appeals. There’s often
a mismatch between the product and the
appeal that has been used in the ad. I’m
pretty sure you have noticed a number of
ads that have left you confused, wondering
what the subject matter had to do with the
product being advertised.
In my opinion, I think the plot gets lost
when brands entrust all the work of
conceptualizing and producing their ads to
ad companies. When you as a brand make
an assumption that a third party knows
your product and your customers better
than you do, just because they made a really
catchy pitch, it creates the impression that
you are not gathering sufficient customer
data. If you did, you would understand
exactly how your customers are interacting
with your products therefore would be
on the driver’s seat in determining the
creative direction for your ad campaigns.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly okay to
get an ad company to conceptualize and
produce your ads however, the decision
on which audience to target and how
to appeal to them must come from your
company and not the ad company. With
proper insights on your products and your
customer, you will be in a better position
to articulate value.
Eugene Wanekeya is the Head of PR
and Communications at ATLANCIS
Technologies, an Innovative IT
Solutions provider transforming the
ICT landscape in Africa. To interact
with and get to know more about this
trend spotter, you can reach him via
mail at: [email protected]