In Acumen, we use both head and heart to know consumers
We have heard time and time again about the importance of deep consumer understanding in building business. But why is it really that important to know our target consumers? And what do we need to know to be able to say we ‘deeply’ know them?
The market is an ever-changing landscape. As consumers move from one life stage to another and with competition regularly coming up with innovations to address their needs, consumer preferences also change.
The strategies that may have brought a company to where it is now may no longer be what it needs to keep growing. Hence, the need to regularly update and validate their understanding of their target consumers is imperative.
Consumer journey mapping is one way a company can organize and capture its understanding of its target market. It is the visual mapping of the various stages a consumer goes through and their decision criteria for buying a product/service and remaining loyal as a user.
Normally, businesses stop at painting the picture of their target market. It is an overall description of the target market’s life and how the product or service may fit their needs. That is a good start but may not be enough.
The reality is that consumers go through stages in the way they interact with any product/service. It starts from recognizing that they have a need, moving to an awareness of their options, to trial/purchase, repurchase, and loyalty.
At any point in time, the consumer has an option to stay or to leave the product/service.
At every stage, they make decisions based on what they know, their actual experience at the first point of contact, and their experience with the succeeding purchase or usage until loyalty. That is why it is important to understand consumers deeply at every stage and not to stay at the overall target market definition.
DISCOVERY
Acumen has a program called Growth Accelerator™ to help companies answer the business challenge of “How to sustainably grow revenue?” using a rigorous data-driven process. It starts with a comprehensive Discovery phase where we analyze our client’s business and identify the key business drivers. At the end of this phase, we define the key strategic imperatives, i.e. the most important issues that need to be addressed.
Often, a key issue is the unclear definition of the target market, and therefore the need to use existing data and/or to conduct more research to understand the consumers better.
We work with our clients to define their target market not just in terms of demographics but also behavioral and psychographic standpoints. We visually map what consumers look for in a product or service from the time they realize they have a need, where they get their information, what considerations they have in evaluating their options, what will prompt them to buy or try, what would make them repeat and become loyal to the point that they would becomes advocates and create positive word-of-mouth.
We also look at how the brand/product is performing versus competition, where each of the consumer options is tripping, falling, or even failing to convert consumers and why. This consumer journey map also identifies the various touch points of a consumer with the brand or product, so it helps in the development of the go-to-market execution.
While Acumen uses a lot of data in consumer understanding, it goes much deeper than using data. We understand that 95% of the consumers’ decisions and behaviors are driven by emotion. Consumers have more than the functional need a product can serve, they also have emotional and even life-needs that need to be understood. We work collaboratively with our clients to identify the motivations, pain points, and desires that drive their target markets’ behaviors.
In Acumen, we use both head (analytical) and heart (understanding and empathy) to gain a deep knowledge of consumers. We use quantitative and qualitative research to answer the business questions of our clients to include mapping out their target market’s consumer journey.
KEY PARTNER
For over 20 years, Acumen has had the honor to be a trusted advisor for many of the top 100 corporations in the Philippines like JG Summit Holdings Inc., Cebu Pacific, URC, BPI and Globe, and some multinational companies like Hershey’s and Reckitt Benckiser. It has worked with companies in practically all major industries including but not limited to banking and finance, fast moving consumer goods, and telecommunications.
Many of the companies that have worked with Acumen in the past continue to work with us up to now. Tanduay is one of them and it has been a key partner in the last decade. In 2014, Acumen was instrumental in turning around its business performance and its collaborative work with the client has brought forth the successful campaign “Tibay ng loob, Tibay Tanduay”, which remains its campaign until now. Armed with the right strategies and plans and three years of Tanduay’s hard work, it became the no. 1 rhum in the world. A deep understanding of the business, strong collaboration in understanding its consumers, and consistent execution of the right strategies and plans have been key reasons for the success of Tanduay.
Why would a company want to work with Acumen in addressing their business issues?
There are at least 3 reasons:
1) Acumen Strategic Consulting company has over 20 years of experience in providing strategic advisory services to clients in the Philippines with a strong record of success,
2) It has a very deep and wide bench of senior consultants who were C-suite general management and brand management practitioners in a wide range of industries and they have deep knowledge of the Philippine market,
3) Its key differentiator is in RVA — Relevant, Value-Added, and Actionable recommendations. RVA is what sets Acumen apart from other consultancy companies, it takes pride in ensuring that strategic recommendations can be actionable and of value to the clients and not simply good on paper.
— Barbara Young, Vice-President Commercial Strategy, Acumen Strategy Consultants, acumen.com.ph
