Moves by Colgate to refine its targeting strategy

Colgate has for long designed its marketing messages to be relevant to the mass market. It has basically targeted ‘everyone with teeth’ in the past. This has been a strategy that has left it vulnerable to competition hence provoking reflections on effective strategic brand management and considerations of the brand image that ought to be brought out to inspire customer loyalty. Organisations that focus strictly on utility run a high risk of losing market share to competitors that are able to meet the needs satisfied just as effectively. This was the challenge that organisations faced in the commoditisation era; leading to branding being developed as a means of differentiation. But the differentiation strategies employed have not necessarily yielded fruit for brands such as Colgate. This has been with reference to its wide focus that has compelled it to use general messages that are applicable to a wide audience.

While targeting for Colgate will essentially be ‘people with teeth’, the company has launched plans to refine its marketing approach. In this new approach, Colgate intends to use data analytics to segment its customers into clusters of people with distinct characteristics. This is in line with the current trend in strategic marketing in which customer characteristics have become the main basis for designing marketing messages. Colgate intends to modify its marketing communication strategy and move away from uniform advertisement into a variable approach where different clusters receive different messages.

The strategic importance of this niche marketing approach is that different groups can be appealed to using messages that are most relevant to them. Products will under normal circumstances be complex and multi-purpose in terms of the number of needs they meet. This is especially with reference to emotional and cognitive needs. For instance, for a young lady of dating age, Colgate would help make them look appealing to the opposite sex. For a young professional, Colgate would be enabling them to look presentable for professional purposes. And for the older customers, Colgate would be strengthening their teeth hence reducing their tendency to decay or break. With these distinct differences, it is unfeasible to appeal to different customers at a time. It increases the risk that the segment not covered at a time would be swayed by a competitor who sends the right message. This is the motivation for Colgate turning to data analytics for effective marketing message design.

To implement this effectively, Colgate has embarked on the development of a data management platform. This platform enables the organisation to interact with customers and draw information about their characteristics and lifestyles. The information is fed into a database and warehoused for analysis at a later time. Customer engagement centres are also to be introduced in different locations in the markets served by the organisation. The customer engagement is expected to get customers sharing with company employees about their perceptions of the product and other relevant pieces of information. This approach is of strategic importance to Colgate because it not only helps in collection of data but also helps to build a strong bond between the brand and the customers.