Task 1
Most companies in the modern world are taking advantage of building consumer communities since it is a new marketing strategy that seems quite effective. According to Hoyer et al. (2010), companies are now looking for advanced skills of getting consumers to advocate for what they offer, to contribute in development of services and products, and to influence other consumers. Additionally, Brodie et al. (2013) state that capturing and creating that type of value from customer relationships takes time and effort no matter how good services and products are. Therefore, this type of marketing strategy requires advanced value proposition. While constructing an online company, it is vital to build brand communities. A clear customer community creates customer loyalty to people who support and trust a company’s brand. As a result, the consumer community serves as loyal customers, the company’s constant, and unofficial and free spokespeople of the brand.
Characteristics of Consumer Communities
A consumer community is identified by different characteristics which include; traditions and rituals, shared consciousness, and moral responsibility. Shared consciousness is a connection among members of a certain group which dictates their different perspective from outsiders about products and services offered by a given company (Zhou et al., 2012). Shared traditions and rituals perpetuate the common history of the given community; for instance Saab owners who wave at each other when they meet on the road. Moral responsibility refers to a sense of obligation and duty to community members (Zhou et al., 2012). Customer communities may feel obliged to assist fellow members to solve problems; they may train each other on better ways of performing various tasks, and recruit new members (Zhou et al., 2012). For instance, Macintosh members give repair techniques and troubleshooting advice to each other.
Importance of Creating Consumer Communities
Creation of customers’ loyalty. Consumers of particular services or goods offered by a company return to make purchases from the given company because they are part of the product’s/service community building. Hur, Ahn, and Kim (2011) posit that the more energy and time a company invests in establishing a consumer community, the more loyal customers become. The company should thus ensure that the expectations of consumers are met all through to avoid disappointments. Such expectations can be met through interacting with different brand experts who can offer advice to consumers about products and services offered. The interactions between consumers, the company’s employees and brand experts facilitate sharing of information. Consumers are able to understand outstanding features of products offered as well as other advantages of purchasing from the company such as things to do with quality, coupons, product upgrades, and discounts (Hur et al., 2011). Knowledge about such types of information boosts sales and attracts new customers. Customers also become part of the brand as they watch it grow through the changes they often see. As a result, consumers trust in the given brand. They tend to look out for the latest products, discounts, coupons, or upgraded and upgradeable features so that they may make purchases (Hur et al., 2011). The overall effect of creating a customer community in this case is creation of a strong sense of commitment and loyalty of customers to their favorite products and brand.
Customer connection. Since there is stiff competition among companies offering similar products in the modern world, establishing close connection and social networking with customers is a vital element in ensuring that a business is successful. Wirtz et al. (2013) note that companies can no longer just depend on research and expert testimonies to understand their position; they have to create connections that enable them to follow up on their products. In today’s business world, companies engage customers to provide them with caring services and a sense of personal connection. Consumer communities provide companies with an easy way of answering questions, interacting with each other in a friendly manner, and providing reliable and fast customer services (Wirtz et al., 2013). Such interactive and energizing consumer communities are now the main marketing strategies of modern businesses that ensure solid customer retention and provision of cutting edge solutions while at the same time making sure that customers are part of the company’s business activities.
Increased recommendations. According to Stokburger-Sauer (2010), when a company forms a consumer community, customers become vocal about products and services offered. They, therefore, tend to talk more about the commodities offered by the company thus informing others. They provide relatives and close friends with recommendations about commodities giving reasons as to why they believe in the brand. Consumers also give testimonies about the products. Other people who have never bought the items or experienced the services being talked about get curious and conduct their own investigations to understand the product (Stokburger-Sauer, 2010). As a result, they end up buying or asking others about the same. Once they make purchases and like the product, they may become part of the consumer community where they may recommend others to experience the same (Stokburger-Sauer, 2010). People love buying products following recommendations from people they know since more trust is given to them. An example of a consumer community is a huge following of customers of a given company on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. Such a community recommends the products to other people and tends to buy the latest products from the company.
Marketing research and ideas. Most of the new ideas implemented by companies come from their consumer community. When members of a given community recommend product changes, exchange ideas, and share their stories, they provide information to the research team without incurring extra costs of coordinating research activities (Hur et al., 2011). Companies make use of such questions, comments, and consumer comments to implement requests and to innovate new designs which will satisfy the customers (Hur et al., 2011). Consumer communities enable companies to ascertain that customers are fully satisfied with what they offer.
Examples of Customer Communities
The American Porsche Club is a private club composed of Porsche car enthusiasts and owners. This customer community is well organized and structured into clubs found in different parts of Canada and United States (Deighton, Avery & Fear, 2011). Club dinners, meetings, and social events are held regularly alongside track events and driving instructions. Some of the characteristics of this community include prestige, tradition and exclusivity (Deighton et al., 2011). Such members inform each other on better ways of handling the car. The car manufacturers could also get information about car performance from the same community which enables them to implement changes.
Macintosh user group is also a good example of customer community. This type of group is made up of users who are dedicated to using the Macintosh platform, software, and Apple computers among others (Wang et al., 2013). Members of the club offer product reviews, training sessions, and technical support. Additionally, group members share similar characteristics such as loyalty to Apple products, independence, and individualism (Wang, Chan, & Yang, 2013). Apple Company may use information from the consumer community to identify where they should improve and to understand what customers want.
Fig 1: Customer engagement Model (Source: Hayer, 2015).
This model shows the different stages of how customers engage. The community refers to the group of users or customers, company refers to the brand, success team is the employees who get information directly from consumers, and the product refers to what the company offers (Hayer, 2015). The relationship between the above factors leads to the success of a brand. The customer community provides information about the products and services offered by the company. Through interactions with the company, customers are able to enjoy improved products because their concerns are taken into consideration. The company is also able to get feedback from consumers that help them to make changes and to implement ideas. The success team on the other hand understands customer demands and attends to their requests for example, answering questions raised, teaching consumers how to use products, and any other type of help (Hayer, 2015). In the long run, the company offers high quality products and services that are reliable, time saving, energy saving, and cost effective.
Task 2: Brand Community
Arcadia Group Ltd. is a retailing company whose headquarters are located in London. The cloth brand has approximately 2,500 outlets in the United Kingdom and franchises in many other countries worldwide (Arcadia, 2017). The company operates top fashion retailers in the United Kingdom such as Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Wallis, Topshop, Topman, and Tammy among others. In early 2000s the company came up with a strategy to ensure that it only operates high performing retailers by scaling down or closing the less performing brand (Arcadia, 2017). There are a lot of strategies that this company could implement to improve its marketing strategy. This section discusses a realistic way in which the company can build a consumer community to gain customer loyalty, to attract more customers, to boost sales, and gain a competitive advantage over other companies.
Creating a brand identity also goes in line with targeting the market. Business with a narrow and focused target market connect more successfully with customers. The Arcadia Group should, therefore, conduct research to determine the preferences and needs of their customers. After doing so, the company will be able to describe their ideal customers and develop a good strategy of identifying and reaching them thus stimulating the formation of a brand community. Most brands fail because in most cases, they do not make customers part of their business activities (Wheeler, 2013). A company can increase its success rate by understanding its customers and forming a relationship with them that allows free flow of information to both parties.
According to Wirtz et al. (2013), differentiating services and products helps to enable a business to stand out from the rest. Customers do not want to look the same, most of them want to look different. Some of strategies that could be used in differentiating the Arcadia Company include focusing on operational efficiency, customer intimacy, and product leadership. The company should build close relationships with consumers by providing services that customers do not expect. For instance, the company may follow up on its customers to understand their feeling after the purchase of their products. The consumer will feel free to give feedback to the company to let them know about the products sold (Wirtz et al., 2013). The company can give recommendations to customers, make improvements on other products or give them another item on discount. This type of relationship creates a unique identity that enables the customer to feel as part of the brand.
Creating a brand identity is an important thing that should be taken into consideration by companies. He, Li, and Harris (2012) assert that a strong brand is a good marketing strategy that attracts a large customer community. Arcadia Company should articulate the focus of the brand and carefully design customer experience needs. The company can thus concentrate its resources and energy on building a good reputation in few brands. For instance, it may consider engaging in business with a specific line of brands offering high quality clothes for a particular group of clients (He et al., 2012). This strategy will enable customers to identify themselves as one community with similar tastes and preferences.
Sahin, Zehir, and Kitapçı (2011) opine that creating brand experiences is also a good strategy of ensuring that customers have a hand on experience and a rich experience with a brand. For instance, jeep car owners go camping annually where they learn new driving skills as they connect with others. The Arcadia Company should, therefore, organize educational and training events that allow consumers to learn new things and to connect with others.
According to Kapferer (2012), cultivating influential opinion leaders such as leading academics, technical experts, and early adopters among others is vital to businesses today. These people influence the public to experience the brand because they can easily be trusted since they are highly knowledgeable. Customers assume that opinions and recommendations given by such people are the best. In most cases, information may only be passed through word of mouth (Kapferer, 2012). The company should make efforts to search for influential opinion leaders in media outlets, technical organizations, universities, and bulletin boards among others. The company can also take advantage of connectors and mavens to boost sales and to attract more customers. Mavens refer to individuals who understand unique features of services and goods and recommend them to others so that they may experience the same. On the other hand, connectors are individuals with a wide social circle and many friends from all walks of life (Kapferer, 2012). Such people can give positive information about a certain brand thus attracting their friends too. The group of friends or the social circle will identify themselves as part of a particular brand thus creating a customer community.
A corporate personality should also be put into consideration when facilitating formation to customer communities. Shamma (2012) asserts that people are able to relate freely with each o+ther when they communicate face to face as compared to corporate, faceless bureaucracy. A business should have a spokesperson that can create relationships with consumers and represent the brand accordingly. The chief executive officer of the company should act as the brand champion and as the spokesperson of the business to represent experiences derived from using services and products from their companies. An example of such a CEO is Steve Jobs who represented experiences of Apple products. This strategy could be used by Arcadia Group where the chief executive officer serves as the spokesperson of the company. Such a person should dress in clothing offered by the brands to show that they are of high quality and value. Customers will want to associate themselves with buying and wearing clothes from the company to feel that they belong to the same class as the company’s CEO thus creating a brand community.
Customer dialogue is also an effective marketing strategy that makes it easy to create a customer community. Kapferer (2012) notes that moderated chats focus groups, and communicating via the website opens free dialogue with customers. This strategy should be applied by the Arcadia group to facilitate communication between the company and consumers. Establishing a two-way communication enables both parties to get feedback from each other. This communication will allow the company to tailor its products and to engage consumers to understand their tastes and preferences. The company should consider using online platforms to connect with consumers which inspire them to cooperate, meet, and interact with each other.
Focusing on design also helps to distinguish the services and products offered by a company (Hur et al., 2011). Arcadia Company should come up with good designs applied to corporate identity and in marketing communications to establish a close relationship with customers and to offer something outstanding. Such designs should be made consistent and professional to avoid unreliability and inconveniences to customers. Customers prefer buying from brands that focus on personality because they feel that the goods and services offered by the business best suits them (Hur et al., 2011). Arcadia group can, therefore, make adjustments to the design of their products to ensure that commodities offered indicate identity. For instance, customization of packaging will allow consumers to feel as part of the brand thus boosting sales and increasing customers’ loyalty.
References
Arcadia. (2017). Our Brands. Arcadiagroup.co.uk. Retrieved from https://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/brands
Brodie, R. J., Ilic, A., Juric, B., & Hollebeek, L. (2013). Consumer engagement in a virtual brand community: An exploratory analysis. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), 105-114.
Deighton, J., Avery, J., & Fear, J. (2011). Porsche: the Cayenne launch. Harvard Business School Marketing Unit Case No. 511-068. Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2021456##.
Hayer, K. (2015, September 8). Customer engagement model – community. The success league. Retrieved from http://www.thesuccessleague.io/blog/2015/9/8/customer-engagement-model-community
He, H., Li, Y., & Harris, L. (2012). Social identity perspective on brand loyalty. Journal of Business Research, 65(5), 648-657.
Hoyer, W. D., Chandy, R., Dorotic, M., Krafft, M., & Singh, S. S. (2010). Consumer cocreation in new product development. Journal of service research, 13(3), 283-296.
Hur, W. M., Ahn, K. H., & Kim, M. (2011). Building brand loyalty through managing brand community commitment. Management Decision, 49(7), 1194-1213.
Kapferer, J. N. (2012). The new strategic brand management: Advanced insights and strategic thinking. London: Kogan page publishers.
Shamma, H. M. (2012). Toward a comprehensive understanding of corporate reputation: Concept, measurement and implications. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(16), 151-169.
Sahin, A., Zehir, C., & Kitapçı, H. (2011). The effects of brand experiences, trust and satisfaction on building brand loyalty; an empirical research on global brands. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 24, 1288-1301.
Stokburger‐Sauer, N. (2010). Brand community: Drivers and outcomes. Psychology & Marketing, 27(4), 347-368.
Wang, Y., Chan, S. F., & Yang, Z. (2013). Customers’ perceived benefits of interacting in a virtual brand community in China. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 14(1), 49-66.
Wirtz, J., den Ambtman, A., Bloemer, J., Horváth, C., Ramaseshan, B., van de Klundert, J., … Kandampully, J. (2013). Managing brands and customer engagement in online brand communities. Journal of Service Management, 24(3), 223-244.
Wheeler, A. (2013). Designing brand identity: An essential guide for the whole branding team. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
Zhou, Z., Zhang, Q., Su, C., & Zhou, N. (2012). How do brand communities generate brand relationships? Intermediate mechanisms. Journal of Business Research, 65(7), 890-895.
