Drinking a little Service Dominant Logic (SD-Logic) juice, I feel that the value the majority of organizations offer centers on the use of our products and services. The actual value a customer derives from our product or service. Few of us would argue, but most of us continue to focus on the function of our product, what and how it does it. That is the primary driver for a customer, the pain and/or gain we solve for the customer. Our solution to a given problem.
Another marketing area of our product/service is branding. We all know how important that is and building a strong brand often is the primary focus of marketing efforts so that an emotional connection is made.
From a previous blog post of mine:
It is in the use of the product/service that value is derived. I think of value in 3 ways: Functional, Emotional, Social. Thinking of a Ferrari (example from my esteem colleague Graham Hill), I use it to drive (functional), makes me feel good (emotional) and what others think – I am successful (social). All provide value but without the latter two, I could buy a bike. Using this as a guideline, value (Functional, Emotional, Social) is embedded in the use of the product rather than the price.
Today’s buyers seem less and less concerned about function. The reason is that most products/services have been commoditized, and we have multiple choices. The other emotional side may also be minimized somewhat when viewing from the Branding aspect and the less loyalty that has been exhibited in the marketplace. That leaves us the opportunity to focus on the social side of marketing. Which to me is extremely important and centers on much of my work. It is the social connection that we can make with our product that creates the majority of opportunity in the marketplace.
I have always learned “a lot” from the non-profit world about marketing. One of the ideas that I adhere to is the idea of social marketing. It certainly has helped me in building influence marketing campaigns and developing networks.
Social marketing is defined as using marketing concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioral goals for social good. Don’t confuse it with “social networking,” which typically refers to online communities like Facebook, or with “social media marketing,” which refers to using Web 2.0 tools like blogs, online video, and other social media (including social networking sites) to market a product or service. – Kivi Leroux Miller
In the SaaS world when we are addressing markets, often times it is more about behavior change that are marketing needs to be centered around. It is our ability to influence others within the organization. Sales people are seemingly becoming internal change agents within our customer’s organization. It is seldom about function but the ability to create an acceptable, a more “social” outcome throughout our customer’s organization.
Kivi in her book, The Nonprofit Marketing Guide, explains the use of the “Five Ps of social marketing” which I have listed below:
- Product. The behavior you want to bring about and any items needed to support that behavior. In other words, what do you want people to do and what items do they need in order to do it?
- Price. What is the cost to make this behavior change, including money, time, status, inconvenience, social stigma, and so on? Price is very closely related to the values of your specific target audience. Is it worth it?
- Place. Where does this behavior change need to take place? When do people think about it? How do the surroundings help or hurt?
- Promotion. What messages will make sense to your target audience and how should they be delivered?
- Policy. What policies, rules, or requirements help or hurt when trying to change behaviors?
Evaluating these 5 Ps affords us the opportunity to view our marketing within the social context of our customer’s organization. Decisions are guided around how comfortable your product/service adapts and adjusts to the behaviors of your customer. Addressing those needs are imperative in achieving a successful outcome for both participants.