Why FMCG brands should be marketed on the web

So why would you market a consumable on the internet - isn't this a niche medium that targets approximately only 10% of the South African public?

Well here's one theory...

You need to market FMCG products on the internet because these are brands that rely on the relationships they have formed with their consumers.

When you buy your favourite brand of peanut butter, yoghurt, milk, washing-up liquid, it is because you feel a familiarity with your chosen brands - it is a relationship based on trust developed out of years of quality delivery. You might say these brands have become like familiar friends you wouldn't want to lose.

The challenge is for FMCG marketers to develop and maintain these relationships with their loyal market base and not to let them stray to other, more innovative, maybe new, brands on the block.

According to Andy Taoushiani, MD Artifact Advertising and head of the Artifact Group, this is where they see marketing on the internet being vital for FMCG brands.

The group's digital marketing company, Artifact Online, views the integration of online marketing activities into a typical FMCG marketing mix as such:

• TV/ radio/ print - selling your product to a mass audience that fits your demographic, driving the consumer to the store.
  
• Instore Marketing - making sure you grab the consumer in the aisle and close the sale at point of purchase
  
• Online marketing - a tool to establish, reward, and revitalise the relationship your consumers have with your brand. A tool to encourage those consumers to interact with you and entrench their loyalty to your brand.

Apart from the obvious big players, for example Coke and Nike who have been active on the internet for years, it was interesting to see a recent example of a South African brand effectively using this channel as part of their marketing mix.

Pyotts Pro-vita recently launched an interactive website with a Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator and even a “build-a-sandwich” section with built-in calorie counter. Pyotts has also launched a party website which enables you to create your e-vites online and manage your RSVPs to any party.

Pro-vita consumers should be impressed by their innovation and would hopefully remember to visit the party site to create e-vites for their next function as this is a tool worth using.

If other brands were to concentrate efforts instore, using traditional media, email campaigns and sms communication to drive consumers to an interactive fun site and reward them for doing so, then they would be entrenching loyalty amongst a significant segment of their consumer base.

A solid online media campaign on South Africa's high traffic sites would also ensure they reach a significant number of new consumers. The reach of these sites should not be underestimated.

So that's why you would market a consumable on the internet - a “not that niche” medium that has the potential to reach over 5 million of your South African consumers.