Today the management of marketing strategists and managers is not the same as a year ago. The COVID era every day demands new challenges and brings with it new problems and complications. The strategies and advertising for opening and reactivation are completely different from the strategies and advertising for isolation and closings and the same happens when the strategy and advertising are for face-to-face consumer and virtual consumer. Budgets, far from being what they were before, are becoming more and more tight and restricted, but the demands are greater from a dissatisfied consumer who does not understand and does not adapt to the new dynamics. Every week something different happens and this demands new challenges for which it is a reality, no matter how studied, experienced and visionary we are, we were not ready or prepared.
Everything projected in December 2020 for 2021 for the time being went up in smoke. We have 3 weeks of closings, curfews, strict quarantines by localities, peak and ID, etc., due to the clear abuses and extreme situations committed by irresponsible and unconscious consumers; that beyond thinking about the seriousness of the situation the world is going through, they think about their selfish and petty interests that obviously do not contribute to a possible reactivation in the first quarter or semester of 2021.
Millions of deaths, millions of infected, millions of patients, clinics and hospitals at their maximum capacity and on the verge of collapse, the hopes placed on a vaccine that at least in Colombia today is not true at all but is very uncertain, a National Government and a District Administration that do not comply with the management, work and results that would be expected at all, are not enough reasons for people to create collective conscience, I acted in accordance with the parameters established by culture and citizen education to May this lead us all to unite and thus be part of the solution and not the opposite, to each act on their own and be part of the problem as we are clearly being.
And after all this, I ask myself: How has telework affected the performance of marketing strategists?
Companies in the region should focus on more profitable and key products and services for their clients, as well as transform themselves into more resilient organizations, says Deloitte Latin America.
Before the pandemic, 57% of the organizations associated with the American Chambers of Commerce (AMCHAM) did not have teleworking. However, during the health crisis, 76% of them have adopted it and between 50 and 100% of the workforce has been involved in this modality, revealed Sofía Calderón, a specialist at Deloitte Latin America.
He explained that these findings are part of a study carried out on companies in the region associated with AMCHAM, and that it was carried out between the months of July and September 2020. During the regional webcast entitled Driving the recovery stage: Interlacing ideas for effective activation , Calderón assured that another finding of the study shows that 59% of the organizations claim to have a “high interest” in maintaining the workforce in a hybrid scheme, which alternates telework and face-to-face modalities.
Among the work areas, which with greater security can be maintained under the teleworking modality during the recovery stage and after it, Marketing, Finance and Technology are mentioned, which are part of the administrative workforce.
Remote work is a trend that has grown a lot during the last 10 months in Colombia, it allows us to connect with work areas in different cities, reduce costs in time, travel and travel and take advantage of the skills and contribution of several people integrating different areas of the companies despite the distances.
However, there are activities in which this work model is not adapted in the best way and is not a viable alternative in definitive roles for productivity and the good performance of the company’s profits and the business purpose.
Remote marketing work for me presents the following obstacles:
The basis of marketing are experiences and socialization, feelings, emotions, personal contact to conquer the customer, the shopping experience, the value associated with interaction and quality of service, all this is the key to reach to the heart of the consumer earning their loyalty and loyalty. According to a survey carried out by Cifras & Conceptos in the 12 most important sectors and in the 4 main cities of the country, only 3 out of 10 Colombians are satisfied with the level of service received.
If this reflected the survey when customer service was mostly face-to-face, I don’t even want to imagine the results of this survey if it were conducted today where some service agents even have the audacity to hang up the call. The series of abuses and outrages committed by companies taking advantage of technology, virtuality and not facing the customer, have no precedent in this country.
Gabriel Vallejo López, writer of the book “The two faces of service” says: Thinking that the country is going to go digital and that everything will be through electronic commerce transactions, must be taken with nuances, because 50% of the work in Colombia it is informal. In addition, only 60% of homes have a computer and in a lesser percentage connectivity and internet. And the other thing, which is the underlying issue, is that I believe a lot in technology and artificial intelligence, but you have to understand that no matter how many developments we have, human interaction will NEVER be completely replaced.
People have talked a lot about how the customer will change after the pandemic. But I think it will be the same, it may change some specific needs and habits, but in essence it will be the same. For this reason, companies are called upon to adapt because the value given to customers after COVID will be their greatest treasure, if in times of a pandemic they do not generate loyalty and loyalty, this customer is lost. The pandemic is going to pass and there will be the clients who will remember the companies that in this crisis have remembered them, they will be their greatest value as a company.
From my personal experience with many public and private companies, I can conclude that very few of us care about clients and citizens in general. I say this with deep sadness and disappointment.
Experience marketing, which for me is the absolute definition of marketing, is achieved by socializing and humanizing brands, humanizing is linked to a purpose, and that purpose transcends time, it must be nourished day by day and supported by good service.
Brands do not begin to be part of the consumer’s life from the coldness and impersonality of a computer or a telephone, they are molded through emotions and direct contact with consumers. Never offer empty feelings to generate sales, today the networks offer the consumer complete information and it is very easy to know and establish where your brand is limping.
The perception of productivity in marketing from teleworking changes a lot from the perspective of the senior executive or marketing manager and the middle and professional managers. A study carried out in the USA a few months ago pointed out that only 1% of marketers want to return to the usual office in the post-COVID world, 69% expect to be able to work remotely when required, but the data changes when the focus is placed on the heads of these people: a study by Global eMarketing that tries to outline how marketing areas will work once the coronavirus crisis passes, reflects that for those who make decisions in marketing teams the situation today does not It is clear, in fact, according to the data, which comes from figures from the World Federation of Advertisers, 35% of senior marketing executives say that when the crisis is over they will return to the office and work as it was known in the world pre COVID.
Marketing itself lives in limbo, the personal connection with office colleagues and clients has been eliminated, the brainstorming meetings that contribute so much and contribute to debate, creativity and strategy are part of a past that many strategists yearn for, there are clear communication and teamwork difficulties, defining the limit between work and free time, as a result of the flexible hours it has setbacks, there is no bridge between personal and work life and this must be added, day-to-day distractions that bring with them inattention, inability to concentrate and therefore, a decrease in productivity affecting and delaying processes (phone calls, visits, family demands, noise in the neighbors’ house, the union of the domestic chores and work obligations, childcare, home school accompaniment, etc.).
Never attack your image, your corporate reputation and your brand. Go out on the street, live day to day with your consumer, offer him emotions that conquer his soul and heart and make him remember him, own what your consumer wants to feel and if it is in your hands, become a friend and be the best ally of your clients. And if you can’t go out today, pick up a phone and call him, send him a detail, write him a message, but always be in continuous communication and in contact with your customers, emotional branding is very effective, I recommend feeding that engagement that makes the relationship is reciprocal.
María Eugenia Saldarriaga O. | Expert consultant in marketing, reputation and corporate image and customer loyalty and loyalty | Cel. 310 3216527 | [email protected] |
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