SME MARKETING
Three Marketing
Excellence Challenges
That You Can Quickly
Overcome
By Valerie Ambetsa Siganga
2
020 has kicked off, and it looks like
it will be a great year. The enthusiasm
of a new year is almost palpable -
especially in the world of marketing. There
are many companies both large and small
creating their annual marketing plans
right now and engaging in one of my
favourite activities - allocating budgets.
Even with the best laid plans, there are
three excellence challenges you may face
that could be the difference between
making it big, or just scraping by.
Challenge 1: Looking at the
Surface Issue
My domestic manager (DM) recently
travelled upcountry and returned from
her Christmas break. When updating me
of the latest happenings in her village,
she mentioned that there was a company
offering them power solutions. They were
charging Kshs 15 per day, translating to
Kshs 450 per month, which many in her
village could not afford.
Now, I am sure that before these charges
were put in place, the power solutions
provider had done some research, received
demographical information and set up a
price that would result in acceptable levels
of profit. By the end of the conversation,
my DM mentioned that “Sisi watu wa
kijiji hatuna hiyo pesa. (Us village people
do not have that money).”
My take from the conversation - SMEs
have an opportunity to cater to the needs
of their customers by creating customized
solutions and keeping away from offering
one size fits all options. This needs direct
interaction, to the point of sitting with the
customer and walking them through every
aspect of the product or service.
Looking way beyond the surface can reveal
something hidden that could lead to an
incredible unique competitive advantage.
Gaining insights through direct research
Without knowing the why and how they
are doing their activity, it would not be
advisable to simply copy competition.
The best way to react to competition is
to take time to better understand the
seller and the customer. Find out what
will make both the seller and customer
say yes to your product and capitalise
on that.
84 MAL34/20 ISSUE
is incredibly valuable. This may not require
a full-on research campaign, but rather, a
brand champion engaging the customer
face to face. This may help any brand
understand the nuances affecting the
population in an area.
Challenge 2: Getting 99%
Right, and Ignoring the 1%
Another example of a product comes
to mind, and this time, it was a home
cleaning product that I was once asked
to promote. Everything was perfect, the
pricing, the packaging, the potential
distribution, the benefits of the product,
and the value it delivered. It was the ideal
product to position in a kiosk within any
lower income area, and being offered by
a big brand, the expectation was it would
automatically take off.
Basic on ground research revealed that
customers wanted to buy the product but
were not willing to be early adopters. The
reason, the product was designed to clean
bathrooms and kitchens, many of which
are shared spaces within the customers
living quarters. The contention was one
person would buy the product for the
benefit of everyone else, who may decide it
was not worth it. Therefore, the customers
preferred to maintain the status quo and
just use water.
My take from this experience was the
power of a pilot program and direct
to customer testing. This can be done
without revealing the brand so as not to
cloud perceptions. It would involve direct
engagement with the potential customer,