How to effectively tap into the consumer ecosystem

We highlighted the fact that truly understanding your consumers requires that you look beyond their individual choices and responses, and tap into their contextual ecosystems to get a full picture of why they do what they do, and buy what they buy.

Tapping into the consumer market

Marketers need to get out into their market to gain an in-depth understanding of the daily worries, needs and drivers of their market - and even just to see how their consumers talk about brands.

For instance, if you immersed yourself in the local mass market, you would know that a 'Checkers' is used to describe any plastic bag regardless of where it comes from, and a Hansa is often called an 'R.D.P' (real deal pilsner).

Understanding consumers' ecosystems helps brands create products, services and experiences that fit into their consumers' world, add value and 'feel right'.

Red Bull does this particularly well. They build a world that their consumers want to step into (e.g. the Red Bull Vlugtag and Red Bull Kart Fight events) because they understand the passions, interests and lifestyles of their consumers. To build this type of world requires brands to be able to answer some key questions about their consumers:

• Where do my consumers live, work, play and socialise?
• What do my consumers care about? (society, culture, environment)
• Who do my consumers socialise with, online and off?
• What daily activities / needs / concerns can I help my consumer with?
• How can I be what my consumers want to listen to?

Another two brands that have done this exceptionally well are Carling Black Label and IKEA.

Carling Black Label - Tapping into the ultimate passion point of South Africans

Carling Black Label understood how passionate their consumers were about football and knew that they were getting frustrated with the foreign coaches that managed the national team. Carling Black Label therefore came up with the idea to give the power to the fans by launching the Carling Black Label Cup where, for the first time ever, the fans could "be the coach".

This meant that the fans could select their team before the game and could make live substitutions at any time using social media and cellphones.

This campaign was so massively successful because it demonstrated that Carling Black Label really 'got' their consumers. They understood their lives, frustrations and social situations, and knew how to add value to them in a relevant and engaging way.

IKEA - Tapping into the dreaded experience males have when going shopping with their partner

Megastores like IKEA, where shoppers can spend up to five hours strolling through the aisles, do not appeal to everyone - and it didn't take IKEA too long to realise this. IKEA knew that many men would prefer to be at home watching TV rather than shopping with their partners, so they came up with an idea to keep both male and female shoppers happy - the ingenious "Man-Land".

Female shoppers simply check their men into "Man-Land" and have a peaceful day shopping. The men get to sit back and relax, watch sport, eat hotdogs and play TV games in a specially created area of IKEA.

By understanding the situational context of IKEA shopping trips, and how they could help ease the frustration their shoppers face, IKEA managed to get their shoppers to enjoy spending more time and money in store. It's all based on the simple but important insight that men don't really want to be there.

So what practical things can marketers do to better tap into their consumers' ecosystems?

1. Live, think and act like a consumer: to truly understand your consumer, place yourself in their shoes and mental model.

Try not to think as you do; think as they do. This allows you to draw real, hands-on insight.

2. Listen to the right conversations: Interact with and listen to consumers, but filter out the noise and focus on what is relevant.

Define key words, Subscribe to RSS feeds, follow influencer and consumer conversations on social media.

3. Listen beyond your category: Creating a relevant world for your consumers requires understanding their lives, loves and passions beyond how they interact with your category.

Try to envision a day in the life of your consumer. Where do they go, what do they do there and who are they with? Knowing this will help you find a way to make your brand a part of their life.

4. Remember, you are not the target market: Placing yourself in your consumers' shoes is important for empathetic understanding, but it is important to trust your consumers' perspective over your own.

Sometimes our own perspective can hinder true insight. Validate your research by testing it on someone in your target audience.

Conclusion

Tapping into your consumers' ecosystem will help you understand that consumer better than anyone else. However, understanding will only get you so far.

To be truly relevant, you need to apply that understanding. Brands need to use the insight they have to positively impact the lives of their consumers. It's time to act or be irrelevant!