Back to the basics: P&G to focus on product benefits

The most basic and traditional approach has always been focus on the product-tangible attributes such as price, qualities, utility, and convenience of access among others. These are attributes that strategic managers find significantly risky because it is easy for competitors to develop substitutes. If the main focus is utility, there is no guarantee that an organisation will not lose its customers to rivals offering products that have similar qualities. It is an approach that is said to be highly risky and often one that generates the lowest level of customer loyalty.

In order to overcome the vulnerability associated with utility-focused brand identities; marketers seek to focus on creating emotional connection between consumers and their brands. The brands are associated with personalities and emotions that consumers can identify with and be attached to. The interesting thing about brands is that they allow people to interact with organisations and sustain bonds in much the same way that natural persons could. Each bond is expected to be unique and often difficult to replicate. This means that customers will not easily be taken over by rivals. Since value per consumer increases as loyal customers continue patronising a business, the emotional branding approach helps in many ways to make the organisation more competitive.

Even though P&G has thrived and grown into a global brand by building trust with its consumers, it is now focused on returning to the basics where its marketing messages are to focus on highlighting the benefits of its products. It is not expected that this would be an exclusive strategy with analysts predicting that it will continue strengthening its brand. Focusing on the basics helps to draw in first-time customers. Highlighting the benefits of a product promotes need-recognition. This is the first stage in the purchasing decision making process of the consumers. It is only when consumers recognise their needs that they set out in the process of searching for products and services that will satisfy such needs. The organisation could either wait for the consumers to recognise their needs and embark on the process of satisfying it; or seek to promote need recognition. Need recognition is promoted when the marketer highlights the benefits of a product through consistent marketing messages; expecting to draw the attention of these consumers to the needs in question.

P&G’s focus is to draw the attention of target customers to their needs and promote need recognition. This is consistent with its goal of attracting new customers. Through a mixture of digital and traditional marketing approaches, the organisation will be advertising aggressively to reach a wide range of consumers. The organisation is yet to come up with a clear niche that it is to target. This implies that it will be focusing on attracting the mass market which comprises of the different niches that are likely to be attracted to its different products. But there are mixed interpretations on the extent to which P&G’s strategy can be expected to contribute to success as projected. The company’s strategy raises questions on whether marketing to new consumers could be as effective as focusing on customer loyalty in attracting new customers.